Ever since I heard about FLYWHEEL, a new Indoor Cycling system in New York City I’ve been trying to learn about how their new technology called the TorqBoard worked. They apparently developed “add on” technology to an existing Red Knob bike. “Red Knob bikes” are what I call ALL the pre-power bikes of the current era – the standard type that have no gears or indicator values for resistance. This add-on was supposed to measure Power as well as RPM. Being the power partisan that I …

If you’ve followed this blog for any amount of time, you know that I have a passion to see Indoor Cycling become all it can be. The desire to share the joys of riding outside with those whose only experience is in the gym has translated to many new riders hitting the trails, roads and single track outside in PA. At the same time, I’ve finally convinced enough of our “elite” racers to give the Indoor Cycling program a good try to see the results for themsleves. …

Yes, I do love indoor training when it is done right, but the weather has finally turned consistently warmer (at least in PA), and it’s time to get outside and soak up some of that beautiful sunshine. Especially if you have been training for a big outdoor charity ride, like one of the MS 150s or even a 30 or 50 mile Epic ride of sorts, it’s time to log some outdoor miles.

Being a Power Training fanatic that I am, I also regularly monitor the forums and various blogs about power on the internet. I came across a fantastic thread of conversations on the Google Wattage forum (a place where serious cyclists, with serious money, talk about serious power). If you don’t ride outside, you might not be aware that there is a general disdain from cyclists about indoor cycling, and especially Spinning®. They lump all indoor riding into the same bucket and consider it a last resort for …

Tomorrow we officially hit the half way point of our 16 week Winter Training program at the Global Ride Training Center. We’ve employed the Keiser M3 power indoor bikes and Cycling Fusion principals to maximize our use of the indoor environment. We are preparing for personal bests and new levels in the great outdoors on two wheels.

Well, it’s midway through February, and there’s good news and bad news – the good news is that we are almost half way through the winter, the bad news is that if you haven’t started your Winter Training yet, you better get started or you will miss the best “Base Building” time of the year. if you haven’t started preparing for the Spring season, it’s not too late. There is plenty of crappy winter weather left (if you don’t enjoy winter sports that is), and so Indoor training …

We have become a nation of excuse makers. Instead of admitting we are lazy, we say we are busy. Instead of being honest about our eating, we claim we just “can’t seem to do anything to lose weight”. Instead of being disciplined with our time, we complain that there just aren’t enough hours in the day. We have become overweight, out of shape, and worst of all, we feel justified because everyone else tells us that it’s “OK”.

WOW, time flies when you are doing a kazillion things at once. If I could only get to a billion, I’d almost be half sane. Oh yeah, let me finish my title – Winter Training Starts in 18 Days – now as I was saying, YIKES!

In a previous post (Formulas Don’t Work), I bemoaned the continual use of “220-age” as the basis for CVT (Cardio Vascular Training).  In a first here at the Fanatics blog, I’ve invited the real expert to “splain” it to us – why this thing just doesn’t work.  You can also download the original white paper by Sally Edwards from her website, complete with detailed scientific references if you want to share it with others that need to know.  Here is the body of that paper:

We Americans really like our quick fixes – fast food, miracle diet pills, get rich schemes, drive through funeral parlors, and more recently I’ve even heard about a drive through polititian in my home state of PA (Yikes!  Just when you think government couldn’t get more screwed up).  So, it’s no wonder that the MAX heart rate formula of 220 minus your age has hung around exercise junkies and fitness facilities since the flawed formula was first offered up.