"The Ice Man Cometh"

I was pretty grateful for my trainer today.  I don't dislike winter at all but just the thought of riding my bike out there makers me shiver.  But I'm grateful for my trainer for other reasons as well.  I had kind of an a-hah moment today when I learned something that I thought I already know.  Here's the scoop!

Most people have probably heard of fast twitch muscles, and slow twitch muscles, and have some idea of the difference.  That's me!  I have some idea.  For instance I know that Ben Johnson used primarily fast twitch muscles (well, and a bit of stanozolol) to run 100 metres in something under 10 seconds.  I also know that Wilson Kipsang used primarily slow twitch muscles when he set a new world record for the marathon a few months ago.

I also know that fast twitch muscle primarily burns glycogen, which is stored in the muscle, and once used up is slow to be replaced.  Slow twitch muscles however tend to burn fat before glycogen, and fat lasts much longer. Trust me on that one....

So from that bit of knowledge a fellow might jump to the conclusion that when he pedals his bike very fast he would be using fast twitch muscles, and burning his limited supply of glycogen.  And conversely when he reduces his cadence, he would be burning fat and saving up his glycogen.  Right?

Right!

But wait!  Just the other day I told you that pedalling faster is easier over time, and in actual fact saves your muscles from burnout??  That's a clear contradiction!

So off to the Internet to understand this, and now I got it!  It was damn near some kind of epiphany!  You see I had this idea that a fast muscle contraction meant fast twitch.  Nope, nope, nope!

You see it's the force of the muscle contraction which determines the type of muscle fibre that is engaged, rather than the speed of the contraction.  Which explains another thing which I already knew but never connected, and that is the fact that weight lifting is primarily a fast twitch, anaerobic activity.

So there you have it.  When you pedal fast (but easy) you save your muscles.  When you push a big gear you're asking for trouble.  Nowhere is this more true than in long distance triathlon when you have to have enough left in the tank after your bike ride to be able to run a marathon.  I always knew that, but somehow understanding it better, motivates me to focus on it.  I can tell you that I have never used a cadence sensor on my bike, but I can also tell you that will change in the spring.  Of course  the beauty of the trainer, and the other previously mentioned reason why I appreciate it, is that it gives you constant feedback both on power output, and cadence.  Here's a nice article explaining the merits of good cadence.

And that's where my readers come in.  I need to find some work so I can raise an extra $2000 so I can get a pair of these. 

You see I can't go to Roo cause I've been giving her the gears about cutting back our spending, but I really want to have them.  They will in essence give me all the same data I get riding on the trainer.  And the beauty of it is that all that data can be displayed on the bike computer I already own!!  So if you need a ditch dug, or a laneway shovelled please let me know.  Of course if you just want to donate the 2 grand that would be okay as well.  Again, let me know.

Computrainer ride 1.5 hours,  average 94 RPM (that's over 8000 revolutions of the pedals)

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."---Mario Andretti

"You get old, you slow down."---Ben Affleck

Love Peter