Training films: the importance of.

A standard procedure for trainers is to film the riders without their knowledge. This enables us to identify and isolate any careless habits that may be developing and these habits are more likely to be evident if the cyclist is unaware they are being filmed.

Another essential part of the trainer’s job is to establish what the primary motivation of each rider is in order to get the best performance from her. Mum1 usually responds well and will achieve the required work rate if she is rewarded with a single shot of coffee mixed with sugary chocolate powder. This is not a drink approved of by one of the Bikeonmums team, a qualified fitness and dietary expert, who would prefer me to provide Mum1 with a protein shake.

Mum4 who is a registered clinical psychologist was consulted on whether it would be wise to make such a drastic change to Mum1’s training program.  Mum4 is of the opinion that Mum1 may not willingly accept this suggestion as Mum1 has on several occasions exhibited some difficulty with authority and this behaviour is clearly in evidence in Mum1’s most recent training video as she continually backchats and blatantly disobeys simple instructions.

 (Although in fairness this personality trait is not seen as wholly negative at Bikeonmums as independence of spirit is valued and appreciated).

Indoor training.

^{This week Mum1 was invited to a supervised wind training session at her house. Not that I don’t believe she uses her own wind trainer on a sufficiently regular basis, ie every day, but there is nothing better for motivation than to have the helpful support of someone next to you encouraging you to keep going in a friendly manner. And I have never seen Mum1 so well exercised. (Photographic evidence was destroyed in the interests of continuing friendship). We used a training dvd, the usual sort of thing showing a bunch of ageing guys racing a criterion course and  taking themselves very seriously. Some people are scornful of these dvds but not us here, we approve of them. They are visually highly entertaining and useful for picking up all sorts of jargon.  I left the official Bikeonmums road bike at her house for her to play with as eventually Mum1 will need to get one of these....} 

^{less expensive than a boat}

As expected the Tour is causing a slight drop in productivity. Niki Terpstra from the Quick Step Cycling team came close to being dropped from the Bikeonmums Tour de France favourites after winning the most aggressive rider award in Stage 15. Aggression is disapproved of at Bikeonmums as a non-feminine characteristic but Mum4 argued successfully that reasonableness is a feminine characteristic and on that basis one mistake should be allowed. Hard to argue with that; even though arguing is allowed.

Mum6 gets her first accessory.

Mum1 dusted the cobwebs of her bike this morning for a spin through the countryside. It has been previously noted that about half way through every pre-agreed route she attempts, usually successfully, to make some kind of change and today, unsurprisingly, instead of repeating the circuit as instructed she tried to return via a different and possibly shorter way but I was prepared and shouted at her and for the first time ever she gave in. At the end of the ride we went looking for Mum5 and found her lurking suspiciously in her bike shop. Now that Mum3 has spent some money on new and essential equipment we think that we might need stuff too. We just don’t know quite what. Mum6, our newest rider, reports that she has been getting out and about on her bike and enjoying it. She is getting more confident at getting on and off-- thankfully as that can be quite a key part of cycling. She has fixed an old basket to the front for her little dog to ride in; the perfect accessory.

Mum 4 has been beside herself with the excitement and annoyance during the last few stages of the Tour de France. She went off on an absolute rant when Johnny Hoogeland from her favourite team Vacansoleil-DCM was injured in a crash after a Team Sky rider was hit by a car and only calmed down when I was able to change to the interesting topic of whether she thought Thomas Voeckler looks better in his green Europcar team jersey or in the yellow jersey? Green. And how feminine is it to change the colour of your bike to match the colour of your jersey? Very.

                 Feminine style

Bikeonmum3 - New Clothes

Well I have done what I said I was going to do last week and went out and spent a small fortune on cycle gear.  No treats for the family for the rest of the year, but at least I will be warm and cosy when I go out cycling.

As bikeonmum3 is want to do, when I get into a shopping mood I do tend to go for it.  So Saturday afternoon found me wondering around Wellington central looking for the Icebreaker shop and I came across Capital Cycles.  A very helpful gentleman gave me lots of assistance and he wasn't an overseller either and I managed to get new cycle shoes, booties, new full leggings, leg warmers, ear cosey and a new jacket.  Each option I asked him not to tell me the prices but to let me see what each item felt like, fitted, etc.   This store isn't the biggest but I managed to have about every shoe box open, clothes were strewn everywhere and I totally croweded out anyone else who wanted to try something on. Just my luck everything I liked was top of the range(figures) however I made some good choices and it will be stuff that will last.  I could have shopped around but as far as I am concerned I got everything I needed in one place and negotiated a good discount.  My key purchase was the shoes and I went top shelf SIDI from Italy and they are gorgeous. 

Bikeonmum3 hubby changed out my pedals last night so I went for a slightly smaller ride today to try out the new gear and especially the new shoes/pedals.  Shoes seemed easier to clip out of than my current mountainbike ones and the knees felt good at the end of the ride.  The long leggings are fantastic and my layered icebreaker stuff was great against the windy conditions today. The jacket doesnt turn up until Tuesday but as it was in the daylight I didnt need it.   Hubby thought that I needed a full head warmer but to be honest the ear cosey was great and the ponytail fitted better around it.

Now I have no excuses not to get out and cycle:)

Times and placings

It has come to our attention here at Bikeonmums HQ that some Mums may not be taking the recording of their times and kilometers seriously. (Not you Mum3, we know that you keep very detailed performance statistics- others could learn from your example). Results are very important and people better have found their notebooks before my next visit.

Other important results after Stage 7.
Sandy Casar 66th
Niki Sorensen 118th
Nicki Terpsta 181th
Fortunately these riders were not caught up in the Stage 7 crashes. Bikeonmums hope they can finish the tour while keeping in mind the two most important criteria in a race. 1- don't finish last and 2- make sure someone younger finishes behind you.


Most feminine round-the neck-hug of the day.

Stage 5

Bikeonmums who by definition know something about pain watched with interest the crash filled Stage 5. Some of the riders had painful or as we call them ‘manful’ injuries but we all agreed that Nicki Sorensen showed his feminine side, by getting up and carrying on to finish the stage after being knocked off his bike by a motorbike, as did Tom Boonen who not only completed the stage after his nasty crash thereby showing a huge amount of feminine determination but he also wore the nicest necklace. 

Bettini

Stages 3 and 4

Mum4 was beside herself at the finish of Stage 3 when Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM) almost took the Stage win. We can only hope that inspires her to get out on her own bike this week. Mum1also has not had a good week of cycling; she has been sighted near her bike but not on it or pedalling it- circumstances have been against her though so there will be no punishment.


Stage 4 question; what does Frank Schleck find so interesting in the crowd?

Stage 2

Disappointment for Mum4 as the Vacancesoleil-DCM team could only mange 20th place in the team time trial. She explains that this poor result would not have been the case had the formidable Thomas De Gendt not fallen in Stage1 and injured his collarbone. De Gendt spoke of the injury ''Niet het breukje veroorzaakt de pijn, maar de speiren en de ligamenten.'' That is terrible. However Mum4 was very happy that Lieuwe Westra is currently in 9th place with 17 points.

Tour de France Stage1

After watching the first stage of the Tour De France and after much heated debate Bikeonmums democratically decided which individual riders we would follow. Many factors were taken into consideration but the most important was; does he have a girls name?
So in no particular order we here at Bikeonmums favour; Nicki Sorenson, Sandy Casar, and Niki Terpstra.

Mum4 who is very studious and Belgian and also knows a lot about bike design proposed that we should follow the Vacansoleil-DCM team as they are riding the exceptional Ridley bikes. No one else cared either way, to Mum4's disgust, so this suggestion was unanimously accepted. The Ridley philosophy is Form Follows Function which coincidentally ties in nicely with Bikeonmums own philosophy Function Follows Form.

Special mention today goes to Allesandro Petacch, pictured below, for his amazingly feminine necklace.

photo credit: R Bettini

Bikeonmum3 Back on Target

Its been a while since I updated whats going on with me but here goes...

Since May I have been slightly distracted with a new job and though I have had every intention and motivation to get out on the bike it hasn't happened like I would wish and add in the Welly weather and my lack of adequate winter clothing and its been abit of a disaster.  Towards the end of May I meet with one of the Revolve ladies who set me up with a cycle and fitness five month programme to get me to a reasonable condition to have a go at Round Lake Taupo.  Well I started out well but then crumbled fast so during June I managed only 4 outings with the target supposed to be 8 outings.  One positive aspect was I did keep up the gym workouts side of things.

So I am starting again and today went out for a nice little 40k ride and though I still need to get better clothing it felt good. However, I did freeze and by the time I had got back to Miramar I had to stop and get a takeaway cup of tea(which is like so uncool as apparently cyclists drink coffee!!) This week I am off to icebreaker and also to get new shoes and booties.  I am going to watch the Tour de France as well so that will be hugely inspirational and motivational...I hope.

PS I managed to lose a little bit of weight over the last couple of months and got to say it does make life easier getting up the Brooklyn Hill.