Yearly Archives: 2016

Racing Dehydrated/Lighter

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling on by .

I am finally reading my emails and got one last night from my friend, Jimmy Mac, that had a link to a Cyclingnews article.  The article was on “functional dehydration” relating to Chris Froome’s ability to climb faster at the Tour de France.  Jimmy Mac said I did an interview with him at Mountain Bike Action, over 10 years ago, with me saying the same thing.  I don’t remember that interview, but I’ve always had that view.

I think it is a personal thing how much water you need to consume while riding, or racing. Some guys need to drink constantly, others hardly at all.   I’ve read a bunch of articles stating how quickly an athlete’s performance declines with a small amount of dehydration.  I don’t have that problem.

Here is my example.  I raced the Pro Road Championships in Philadelphia multiple times.   The race was always in June and many times the temperature and humidity were close to awful.

One year, we were staying at a nice hotel, pretty much on the course.  The hotel had a scale in the bathroom.  I weighed myself right before I got dressed to ride to the start.  The race was hot, in the lower 90’s, with the humidity close to matching.  I took a bottle nearly time I went by the feed zone, but that was over 10 miles I think.

As usual, the race got faster at the end and I was feeling better and better.  There was a big split on the Manayunk Wall, which I made easily.  The finish laps were faster than any other time of the race, and I was riding faster, I felt better.  I don’t remember how I finished, but good.  I probably drank a beer and then rode back to the hotel.

When I got to the hotel, I striped down to shower and saw the scale.  I weighed myself and was 13 lbs. lighter than when I left.  That surprised me.  That was after drinking close to 15 bottles and a beer the previous 7 hours.  I was riding much better than last hour of a 6 hour race, having lost over 13 lbs, mainly through water loss.  That would have been close to a gallon and a half of water, by weight.

I started thinking about this for MTB racing.  I had heard that a few guys, had been taking diuretics before the races, which was completely illegal.  That they were shedding 8 lbs or so before the start.  We were talking about it and most the guys thought that it would be insane to be that dehydrated that much before a race.   I think that is wrong.  Here is a link to a abstract that says 3% weight loss through dehydration doesn’t affect performance.

I disagreed.  We’d done a study with the USOC, Olympic Training Center, getting weighed and hematocrit tested, before and after the races.  In a 2 1/2 race, most the guys lost somewhere around 6 pounds, which was on par with what I lost in Philadelphia, considering the time. Here’s a link to an abstract that says that being 3% light, through dehydration, doesn’t affect performance.

If I would have started the race 6 pounds lighter, because of dehydration, then I would have lost the 6 pounds and been close to the weight I finished Pro Nationals.  And I had ridden good at that weight, that dehydrated, on the road.

If I was climbing on a MTB that light, over 10 lbs., it is nearly a chainring difference, half the weight of my bike.  I’ve done this through dieting, but it only works for one race.  I have tried staying that light and always got sick after a couple weeks.

I typically don’t drink much training.  I think this season, early, I didn’t touch a water bottle the first couple months I rode.  Kansas isn’t that hot, but can be pretty hot sometimes.  I’ve ridden, many times, where I drink as much water as I can on a ride.  I fill up my bottles a couple times on a 5 hour ride.  Usually stopping and buying something ice cold about 1/2 way in.  Even so, I can come back 8-12 pounds lighter after a 5-6 hour ride.  (I’m really don’t sweat that much, like I don’t drip sweat all the time.) That is with consuming as much liquid I can find.  (I don’t use a Camelback.)

Anyway,  a Sky doctor saying that Froome being 2 kgs. lighter, through water loss, would aid in his ability to climb, wouldn’t surprise me at all.

I've done a fair amount of testing, most times, sweating a ton. My wattage historically has stayed constant.

I’ve done a fair amount of testing, most times, sweating a ton. My wattage historically has stayed constant.

 

Shipping Stuff is Fickle

This entry was posted in Just Life on by .

One thing that has really changed in my lifetime is the cost and speediness of shipping stuff.  And I don’t really understand it very well.

I remember one of the first times I was in Europe, I sent a lot of letters to friends and family.  My grandmother got the letter more than a month after I was home.  I shipped a box of extra stuff home from an Italian post office.  It took something like 3 months.

Then a couple years ago, I bought some VIttoria tubular tires from eBay.   They were from Italy. I emailed the seller and he said it would be $50 to ship them to me.  There were 25 tires and they were super cheap, so I figured $2 a tire was okay.  That was on a Monday, late.  Wednesday morning there was a box sitting on my front porch with the tires.   The tires got there nearly faster than I could have gotten home.

Now, if you buy a bike part from one of those British bike shops, the shipping is free and the stuff gets to your house super fast, like less than a week.  I have no idea how much it would cost me to ship a box to England, but I’d think it would seem like a lot.  And they include free shipping on bike parts that are less than 50% the cost here in the US.  Strange.

Getting you bike around is crazy now too.  For the first 15 years I raced, bike flew free, just counted as luggage.  Then they went up to $25.  Now, it is nuts.  Some airlines charge $200 each way.  I try to fly Southwest as often as possible because it is “only” $75 each way.  That, and that you can cancel your flight and still have use of the money you paid to fly later.

I’d heard a ton of good things about BikeFlights.  I just used it a couple days ago, but not for a bike.  I shipped a box of stuff to LA.  It was super reasonable and really easy to navigate.   I think a bike usually costs less than $40, at least that is what I’ve heard.  Pretty good deal if you’re flying on one of those airlines that make you bend over if you happen to be travelling with a bike.  They use FedEx.

So, stuff costs a lot to ship around the country.  I say that, but online shopping is at an all time record.  Two day shipping with Amazon is “free” if you belong to Prime.  But, Amazon Prime costs $99 a year,  so you have to add that in.

It seems like businesses and people that ship a ton get a better deal than us that just take our stuff to UPS or the post office.  I remember Keith Walberg used to be able to ship a bike from where he worked for about 1/2 the price than what it would cost me to take it directly to UPS.

What got me thinking about this is yesterday I received a ton of boxes from Amazon.  I’d ordered some Nite Ize dog lights and they were back ordered or something.  They were on sale for $1.56 when they normally are $5-8.  Yesterday, something like 8 boxes showed up. Each one, other than one, had one light in it.  These lights are miniature and weigh nothing. I didn’t get it.  They all came from the same place and all were shipped at the same time.  It had to have cost more for the boxes and shipping than it did for the lights.

And the batteries for the lights.  I can order them on eBay from China for $5 for 100 when they cost $3.95 each here.  That includes shipping, which is sometimes pretty quick.  I don’t understand how they can even ship them here for that price?

Maybe I just need to learn more about the cost to ship packages.  I use USPS, UPS and Fed Ex. Like I said above, BikeFlights ships all size packages.  RIght now, I might just use them a few more times and compare costs.

Each box had one light ,except one, with 6. Weird.

Each box had one light ,except one, with 6. Weird.

A pile of Nite Ize lights. The pink ones were the cheapest, but they really aren't that pink. Tucker can somehow chew them off his collar when he is bored. He goes through a lot of them if I am forgetful and don't take them off after he walks.

A pile of Nite Ize lights. The pink ones were the cheapest, but they really aren’t that pink. Tucker can somehow chew them off his collar when he is bored. He goes through a lot of them if I am forgetful and don’t take them off after he walks.