Last April/May 2010 Slaney Cycling Club ran a league race for A4's, beginners and novices. All was run on a flat circuit with generous handicaps devised to make the A4s work hard and improve fitness and make the beginners/novices get some thrill of competing with a realistic chance of winning. On the first night Keith Cullen was in the group with myself and Damian Heffernan. Many had gone up the road ahead of us after the A4s caught us on the third lap. Now we contemplated in our own heads what to do - race to try in some vain attempt to catch them or sit up and just ride in. We collectively, but silently decided to do something in between and ride hard but never enough to blow up.
What struck me that night was the strength of Keith Cullen. He rode at the front of our group at a fast, steady pace. Damian, in his infancy of racing like my latest return, had enough and let Keith ride away. I couldn't catch him. So, curious on where Keith had learned this ability from, he told me of the strength training of Total Fitness Systems on a Wednesday night.
Today I realised that benefit too. Riding on my favourite Kilmore Quay-and-Back route I put on a 50x15 gear and steadily rode at 18-20mph into the wind. More like 19-22mph in a tail wind. I didn't have the fitness or miles to hit a 95rpm 34x15/14 ratio but had plenty of power to just sit and turn a gear with little effort. The kettlebell work had strengthened the core, back & hips to put the strength of the legs to the pedals. All previous ailments like the neck spasms & shoulder tightness were non-existent.
The combination of bell & bike certainly proves positives for both sports.
No comments:
Post a Comment