Audax Malaysia BRM200 & randonneuring (2 of 2)

Part 2

Like everything else in life, there is always a learning curve when it comes to mastering something. Along the way you meet new people and make new friends. Perhaps even learn new tricks. I've had my fair share of mistakes and errors in the past, but in the end its always the combination of knowledge and experience which fruits wisdom.

1. Overcoming heat

I personally feel there is a lot of tips about this where you can find over the internet, but what I would like to remind my fellow randonneurs is that long exposure to heat dehydrates the brain too. Isotonic drinks and cramp pills mostly help the body balance the acidity from the lactic acid build up in all our muscles but a lot of people seem to overlook the fact that when you are mentally battling the heat, your mind tends to lose focus and this is where riders are usually unaware of incoming traffic (from the back) or unable to avoid sharp stones or pot holes. In extreme cases some even follow the wrong direction or miss a turning.

So as a reminder, if you are too tired and beginning to lose focus - take a break. Slowing down your pace can be a good idea to recover, but bear in mind that going too slow would make you a nuisance on the road or you could faint and fall off the bike.

2. Perseverance to ride

In this aspect, I am referring to our own will to ride. Are we willing to ride under extremely hot weather? What about rain or night time? Well, since randonneuring has a time limit, weather challenges does not really apply to a randonneur. I've had my fare share of wet rides, and in some aspects riding in the rain can be advantageous. As most riders will avoid riding in the rain, this would be a perfect time to catch up on your mileage.

Practice changing your tubes at home (if you are running on tubes) and for those on tubeless, just be sure to have tire patches ready. Some of the good brands that I know of are Continental Gatorskin and Vittoria Corsa Evo X. For some, it would be gaining the confidence. Then again, not all road bikers out there are century riders - and not all century riders are randonneurs. But randonneurs are not tourers though (in our training sessions it does seem like we are touring though - cycling pass estates and villages).

3. Cadence and kiloWatts

When I first heard or read about kiloWatts in cycling, it made me wonder how much electricity we can generate by cycling. I did look it up and it seems that to power a household electricity (averaging from 3,000 - 5,000 Watts) will require 10 Tour de France athletes cycle non stop for a few hours (1 rider can generate 300-400kW on a flat road, and up to 700kW climbing uphill). Nope I'm not going to do the math here hehe. But you get the picture.

So, that's just power. What does that have to do with our cadence?

Good question.

To make this simple, imagine cycling on a flat road and maintaining a speed of 35kph. Sounds easy if you're on a trainer or if you're somewhere in the middle of a big peloton. But to maintain that speed riding alone, you have a few choices in your gearing :-

i. Using the big ring on the front derailleur and only shift the cassette (or rear derailleur) as you feel fit.
ii. Using the smaller ring on the front derailleur and only use the smallest ring on your cassette (no shifting to big ring unless its a downhill).

Frankly speaking, there is no right or wrong here. Of course, the right answer would be to use the big ring on the front derailleur but if you are suffering from an injury, or just beginning to develop your leg muscles - maintaining cadence on the big ring can be quite a challenge.

Reason being, is because some or most Ultegra groupsets I noticed are compact cranksets. As the setup are more suitable for climbing, to generate more power on a flat road one has to pedal harder - ie spin more. So using the smaller front ring will only give you a certain amount of kilowatts, but certainly not enough for you to generate more speed or accelerate. However, do note that if you are encountering heavy headwinds, using the smaller ring will definitely help you a lot as using the big ring will only use up more energy to overcome the opposite force.

Those with standard cranksets will not have to spin so much because of the extra teeth on the front crank as well as the bigger size in diameter. However those with standard cranksets will definitely struggle climbing up steep hills. Unless the rear cassette is a cyclo touring cassette or a gearing larger than 11/28.

Funny thing is, back in 1904 there was no such thing as gears. They only had 1 gear. They didn't even have quick-release skewers like all of us do nowadays. How fortunate we are.

4. Body conditioning

Any rider will have to go through this stage. As the distance becomes longer and tougher, our body needs to adapt to those conditions. Your first heat ride, your first long ride, your first saddle, everything is a small step to a bigger step - to adapt yourself to the longer durations of being on a road bike. My personal experience though, after I climbed Fraser's Hill for the first time on my hybrid mountain bike I felt like my leg muscles expanded and gave me the confidence to ride further and tougher. Once I joined PCC Interstate, I understood exactly how these century riders manage to cover long distances in a short period of time.

5. Bike fitting

I won't say much about this. You can find a lot of videos on this, and when all else fails you can always go to a bike shop and get this done. What I want to highlight though is the fact that getting the right stem length, saddle material and size, as well as saddle height will help you in the long run. The only difference is how fast you need to get 'there'. It's all about the journey.

6. Cyclo touring/touring vs randonneuring

Touring has no time limit. Depending on how much a tourer carries, the rider can basically camp anywhere he/she sees fit. The end game is reaching the destination.

A randonneur on the other hand has a time limit to keep to:-

13:30 for 200 KM,
20:00 for 300 KM,
27:00 for 400 KM,
40:00 for 600 KM, and
75:00 for 1000 KM.

As you can see, the time limit for each brevet seems achievable. From the naked eye of course. Haven't you heard of the term - never trust a road biker?

Audax riders who aim to ride the 1,200km in Paris are required to cycle on routes which have elevation of at least 10,000m. This is because the last PBP they passed (climbed and downhill) through 22 mountains. There is a video about the ride which someone recorded with his GoPro. Here is the elevation chart :

http://www.randonneurs.bc.ca/pbp/route/profiles.html

7. Add-on features

i. cross bar/tri bar
This is a useful gadget if you are on a route with plenty of head/side wind. It will add some weight to your bike, depending if you already swapped your handle bars to a lighter one or the flat type (see below). Either way, Audax or randonneuring is not a race. It is a challenge of self supported ride, with minimum luggage. The first finisher is not called the winner but he is awarded the prize since the rider finished first as told by the ACP president.

In any case, having an aerodynamic advantage will definitely help you power through rough winds. Especially if you have high profile rims.

ii. high profile rims
Interestingly enough, anyone who is anyone who upgrades his/her rims will always go for a semi or high profile rims. I'm talking about those 30mm, 50mm, 55mm, and the list goes on until a full profile rim (used in velodrome competitions). Its convenient to have a rim that can slice through air and helps you deliver more speed. The setback to this is however, if you are using anything more than a 30mm profile you are likely to have a hard time cycling through cross wind sections. Plus since some of these rims are made from high density carbon, they pack quite a weight (to increase durability) but for long and rough rides these rims will most likely not be able to handle our rough roads. Either your spokes will get damaged or the rims itself will be chipped off.

iii. aero helmet
Again, Audax is not a race. Long distance rides on an Ironman/triathlon setup will certainly be very uncomfortable in the long run. In the example of the helmet, Specialized has came up with a helmet design which is perfected from their wind tunnel lab in North Carolina. However, with the achievement of speed comes the sacrifice of comfort. It is relatively hot, wearing these aero helmets. They have lesser holes for ventilation and the inner paddings will wear twice as fast compared to a regular helmet.

iv. flat handle bars
I was tempted to get this, as it would make my bike slightly more aerodynamic. But after an advice from a friend who used it before, its all about the comfort in riding long distance. If you want aero, rims itself is already a huge leap and will have the most effect (which makes sense, because our tires are the ones slicing the air). Flat handle bars only shaves off a few grams and you cant rest your palms on the handle bar like you would on a round shaped handle bar.

v. durable tires and tubes

If you are planning on cycling long distance, then investing on a good set of tires and tubes should be sufficient. Also, since endurance riders usually ride a lot (to maintain their body conditioning and improve strength) the first and foremost receiving the impact will be our tires and tubes. So taking care of them while you are not riding is very important. Deflate them so that the compound can rest and function normally in your next ride.

vi. Oval cranks and blind spots

This is relatively new in the market, when we discovered that the human legs (toe ball joint) does not form a perfect circle if rotated in a circular motion. Instead, with the legs moving in a circular motion there is a lot of blind spots in the cadence. Hence, the oval rings were introduced and it helps riders a lot when it comes to climbing steep hills. In my opinion this is a good investment. Unless someone had a bad experience with this then I need to know what the downside is. 

I hope that's not too long. Signing off for now...

-My 2 wheels-