Just a few tid-bits to help with the small problems that come up for all of us
Have you ever been training and come across a problem that seems so simple but proves difficult to overcome? We all have had some little issue in training that threw a wrench in our day or leaves us with questions to be answered. Here are a few tips from the road that have proved helpful with the small stuff.
Water fountain with no pressure? Take off your bottle top and use it to fill your bottle... sure it takes a bit longer but you can top your bottle off and stay hydrated.
How do I know how many calories I ate? A few easy ways to explore: (1) Save your wrappers and add the calories when you finish (2) Keep a log of how many calories you left with and came back with (3) mark your bottle with total calories in it (4) mark any bags of powdered drink mix with how many calories you have store in it for your re-fill... keeping logs of calories burned, consumed and conditions present (weather, intensity, etc...) goes a long way to understanding what your body needs.
Am I drinking enough? A good practice is to weigh yourself before and after training... the difference in mainly water and you can adjust consumption levels accordingly. It's also a good practice to check urine volume and color... a well hydrated person will have clear urine with high volume. You can also use a calculator such as this one from PowerBar
I can't seem to ever get my rear wheel back into the dropout... what's the trick? Simple answer: shift into your smallest cog in the cluster and your small chain ring on the crank... this will align your rear derailleur so that your wheel comes out easily (remember to release your brake too). Be sure to put the chain back on the small cog when putting your wheel back on the bike to ensure proper alignment.
How do I stop my bike from "ghost shifting" during my ride? Generally this is a simple case of cable tension... many bikes have cable tensioners installed on your cables in a safe location to twist (to add or decrease cable tension) on the fly to stop your gears from shifting or just rubbing the gear. You can also stop, dismount and give your rear derailleur cable adjuster a few turns to add or release tension to solve the problem.
How do I know how many calories I ate? A few easy ways to explore: (1) Save your wrappers and add the calories when you finish (2) Keep a log of how many calories you left with and came back with (3) mark your bottle with total calories in it (4) mark any bags of powdered drink mix with how many calories you have store in it for your re-fill... keeping logs of calories burned, consumed and conditions present (weather, intensity, etc...) goes a long way to understanding what your body needs.
Am I drinking enough? A good practice is to weigh yourself before and after training... the difference in mainly water and you can adjust consumption levels accordingly. It's also a good practice to check urine volume and color... a well hydrated person will have clear urine with high volume. You can also use a calculator such as this one from PowerBar
I can't seem to ever get my rear wheel back into the dropout... what's the trick? Simple answer: shift into your smallest cog in the cluster and your small chain ring on the crank... this will align your rear derailleur so that your wheel comes out easily (remember to release your brake too). Be sure to put the chain back on the small cog when putting your wheel back on the bike to ensure proper alignment.
How do I stop my bike from "ghost shifting" during my ride? Generally this is a simple case of cable tension... many bikes have cable tensioners installed on your cables in a safe location to twist (to add or decrease cable tension) on the fly to stop your gears from shifting or just rubbing the gear. You can also stop, dismount and give your rear derailleur cable adjuster a few turns to add or release tension to solve the problem.
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