Cold Fusion

Totally opposite, Power & Passion vs Grace & Style, but fused in friendship, making the sport better, TOGETHER!

Gino blogged his progress in the Giretto, that 415 mile ride in Italy that happened during the Giro d’Italia race.  These blogs were posted at CyclingFusion.   What is this Cycling Fusion thing?

Like most everything involving human interaction, it’s easy to form, for lack of a better term, walled communities.  The outdoor cyclists look down on the indoor folks, saying “why Spin for an hour when you can just go outside”, and the indoor folk similarly go “there’s no way I’m going outside. I don’t like  bugs or traffic.  And  I’m having way too much fun inside.  I dig the music”  *Every* community sees this.  I make animal balloons for stress-relief, I see similar schisms in the balloon twisting community.  Yeah, those clowns.

Cycling Fusion is about building a community to bridge the gap: bringing outdoor cyclists indoors for targeted training and hooking them on the fun of a high-energy indoor class. Teaching indoor riders many bike skills, such as good pedaling form, being aware of your cadence, and proper standing form, for transfer outside.  By mixing the two, you can reach your goals faster.  Getting fitter.  Going farther.  And maximizing the fun factor.

A similar schism exists in the training community.  There are heart rate proponents, many who dismiss power, and there are power proponents, many who dismiss heart-rate training.  Gino’s also working hard to help bring those two worlds together.  Ultimately, by combining the best of indoor and outdoor, and the best of heart rate and power, we’ll all be unstoppable. Or at least a lot fitter and having more fun outdoors and indoors.

How could someone not love heart zones?

Heart rate training has two main problem.  First, your heart rate lags your effort.  You turn up the resistance 5 gears and it takes several seconds for your heart rate to catch up.  You might be exerting yourself in a high Zone 5 (remember that’s where you’re generating muscle waste faster than you can clean it) and not realize it until 10-15 seconds later.

Also, heart rate is very sensitive to your overall body condition.  Depending on your mood, life stress, recent diet, and overall training load, you may be doing less work but still be in higher heart rate zones.  It’s not an ideal way to measure effort.

How could someone not love power zones?

Similarly, the main problem with power has been the difficulty of measurement.  Power measurement in scientific labs is complicated.  You can equip your bike with expensive gadgets to directly measure power output on the road.  Even the Keiser bikes don’t actually measure your power output, but instead calculate it using the power formula based on your current gear and cadence.  Power only measures the energy being put into the pedals.  There is no direct connection between the power being produced, and the condition of the person generating it.  The display may say 200 watts, but it doesn’t show whether you’re whistling along with the music or drenched in sweat gasping for oxygen.

So which one is better?  Yes!

Rather than arguing about which is better, why not combine them?  That’s where true awesomeness lies. Huh?  How is that awesome?  Your power tells you your performance.  Your heart rate tells you how your body is reacting to generating that power.

Let’s say you weigh 180 pounds, and you want to ride outside in western PA.  You’ll need to generate that 1 watt/lb.  You come to an indoor class, and start cranking 180 watts (after warmup).  If you’re hanging out in heart Zone 3, you’re good to go.  You know you’re replenishing your muscle’s fuel from your fat stores.  If you notice your heart rate climbing, and climbing, and eventually hitting Zone 5, then you know your body is just not generating power efficiently enough. You need to work on your fitness awhile before you try again.

Similarly, you can track your fitness by seeing what wattage you can generate while staying in a particular heart zone.  Say Zone 3.  One week it may be 140 watts.  The next week it might be 150.  You can track your average wattage and see your fitness improving.  And if you notice your heart rate is higher than it has been, or you’re generating fewer watts in a certain heart zone, then you know you may be getting sick (take a rest!) or overtraining (take a rest!).  There’s no shame in spending a class in an easy recovery mode.

We’re almost to the end of my little series of articles, and you’ll see how it finishes next time.  Stay tuned.