adding extra weight for training?

Mon said:

How do people add extra weight to their bicycles for training anyway?

By filling the tubes with the bikes' retail price in quarters.

That's why lighter bikes are better for training. They'll hold more quarters.
--
zk

In article <[email hidden]>,

kak61 said:

How do people add extra weight to their bicycles for training anyway? Well, since I don't have a
rack, I've cut the tops off my two bottles and stuffed solid lead pipes into them. I've also
securely strapped two baseball bat-sized cast iron pipes under the toptube. The seatpost is
wrapped around with a large waistpouch filled with wet sand.

I add extra weight to my bike using something called "Christmas Dinner at Mom's." Works quite
effectively.

Seriously, if you really want to increase training effort, why not reduce your aerodynamics? Wear a
baggy jacket, put one of those [censored] catchers on the downtube, I'm sure you can think of others. The
advantage is that adding weight only makes your riding more laboured on slopes, while aero deficits
make you slower everywhere you get above 15 km/h.

In general, the beauty of cycling is that if you want your workout to be harder, you can just ride
faster or try a higher gear. "Weight training" might be good for the psychological advantage it
gives you on race day (when you suddenly lose several pounds), but the physiological advantages over
other forms of training don't seem to be there. At least, I don't hear about a lot of pro training
regimes that involve weighted bikes. About the only "artificial" training most cyclists do is
motorpacing.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] sfu.ca~rcousineOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

Ryan Cousineau said:

... Seriously, if you really want to increase training effort, why not reduce your aerodynamics?
Wear a baggy jacket, put one of those [censored] catchers on the downtube, I'm sure you can think of
others....

But think of the horror of being seen by other cyclists when looking like a fred - almost as bad as
being seen on a recumbent. 😉 Remember, What Would Fabrizio Do?

Quoted message said:

In general, the beauty of cycling is that if you want your workout to be harder, you can just ride
faster or try a higher gear. "Weight training" might be good for the psychological advantage it
gives you on race day (when you suddenly lose several pounds), but the physiological advantages
over other forms of training don't seem to be there....

One advantage of a "handicap" would be to increase the workout level while riding with a particular
group of riders (since not all people have the option of switching to a faster group).

Tom Sherman - Planet Earth

In article <[email hidden]>,

Ryan Cousineau said:

In general, the beauty of cycling is that if you want your workout to be harder, you can just ride
faster or try a higher gear. "Weight training"

Training? I thought it was for penance, like wearing a hair jersey, or using a BMX saddle.

Quoted message said:

At least, I don't hear about a lot of pro training regimes that involve weighted bikes.

While one could drag a short length of anchor hawser around, the simplest thing is probably to just
let some air out of the tires.

cheers, & damn the pinch flats -- full speed ahead, Tom

--
-- Powered by FreeBSD Above address is just a spam midden. I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn
[point] bc [point] ca

kak61 said:

How do people add extra weight to their bicycles for training anyway? Well,

Personally, I don't. I'd probably just put the bike in a higher gear and try to go faster.

Quoted message said:

bat-sized cast iron pipes under the toptube. The seatpost is wrapped around with a large waistpouch
filled with wet sand.

You could just get those weights that wrap around your wrist/ankle for walking / jogging / aerobics.
Those ought to wrap around the seatpost, top tube, downtube, maybe even the seat tube if there's
clearance for the wheel.

Or, you could buy a $50 full suspension MTB at Wal Mart. That ought to weigh enough...

You could also get a trailer and fill it with whatever you want.
--
Rick Onanian

kak61 said:

How do people add extra weight to their bicycles for training anyway? Well, since I don't have a
rack, I've cut the tops off my two bottles and stuffed solid lead pipes into them. I've also
securely strapped two baseball bat-sized cast iron pipes under the toptube. The seatpost is
wrapped around with a large waistpouch filled with wet sand.

Try stealing a drugchute from a dragster. Even downhill will be a pain in the ass then 😉

--
Perre

You have to be smarter than a robot to reply.

Rick Onanian said:

kak61 said:

How do people add extra weight to their bicycles for training anyway? Well,

Personally, I don't. I'd probably just put the bike in a higher gear and try to go faster.

You could just get those weights that wrap around your wrist/ankle for walking / jogging /
aerobics. Those ought to wrap around the seatpost, top tube, downtube, maybe even the seat tube if
there's clearance for the wheel.

Or, you could buy a $50 full suspension MTB at Wal Mart. That ought to weigh enough...

You could also get a trailer and fill it with whatever you want.

Been there, done that. Actually, I've done all these things to increase my "resistance".

I wear a bulky rain jacket/windbreaker, had ridden with low tire pressure, WalMart bike (47lbs), too
low seat, riding in too high a gear. ;-)

See, someday, when I get good, I'll switch to the racing togs and my Trek bike, tuned up and it will
be really, really cool. It's all part of the plan. Yeah, that's the ticket!

Or put a nice piece of plexiglass up front, like a faring, only not aerodynamic! I'd say a
triangular shaped 'windshield' would generate a lot of resistance to battle.

Wind resistance would be vastly superior to adding weights, which might prematurely wear the bike,
plus the vector of weights is perpendicular to the direction of travel.

-B

"Rick Onanian" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

You could also get a trailer and fill it with whatever you want.

I second the trailer suggestion. Get a good non-aerodynamic one for wind resistance and add up to
100 lbs for climbing those hills. I can tell you that my trailer, filled with kids, riding into the
wind, is one heck of a workout.

-Buck

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Rick Onanian said:

kak61 said:

How do people add extra weight to their bicycles for training anyway? Well,

Personally, I don't. I'd probably just put the bike in a higher gear and try to go faster.

You could just get those weights that wrap around your wrist/ankle for walking / jogging /
aerobics. Those ought to wrap around the seatpost, top tube, downtube, maybe even the seat tube
if there's clearance for the wheel.

Or, you could buy a $50 full suspension MTB at Wal Mart. That ought to weigh enough...

You could also get a trailer and fill it with whatever you want.

Been there, done that. Actually, I've done all these things to increase my "resistance".

I wear a bulky rain jacket/windbreaker, had ridden with low tire pressure, WalMart bike (47lbs),
too low seat, riding in too high a gear. ;-)

See, someday, when I get good, I'll switch to the racing togs and my Trek bike, tuned up and it
will be really, really cool. It's all part of the plan. Yeah, that's the ticket!

Or put a nice piece of plexiglass up front, like a faring, only not aerodynamic! I'd say a
triangular shaped 'windshield' would generate a lot of resistance to battle.

Wind resistance would be vastly superior to adding weights, which might prematurely wear the bike,
plus the vector of weights is perpendicular to the direction of travel.

The idea of weights is to make you a better climber by adding load to the hills. Of course if you
don't have any, it won't make any difference, and as you say, you need to add wind resistance.

--
Dave Kerber Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

(Tom Keats) said:

simplest thing is probably to just let some air out of the tires.

Or, get really gnarly mountain bike tires. I've got a worn Trek Big Kahuna that is almost like
riding square wheels....

Quoted message said:

cheers, & damn the pinch flats -- full speed ahead, Tom

--
Rick Onanian

On Mon, 01 Dec 2003 20:50:13 GMT, "Buck" <s c h w i n n _ f o r _ s a l e @ h o t m a i l . c

o m said:

"Rick Onanian" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

You could also get a trailer and fill it with whatever you want.

I second the trailer suggestion. Get a good non-aerodynamic one for wind resistance and add up to
100 lbs for climbing those hills. I can tell you that my trailer, filled with kids, riding into the
wind, is one heck of a workout.

Strange. I didn't remember until just now...last night, I had a dream where I was riding to some
sort of bicyclist meeting, which coincidentally was just around the corner from my house, when I saw
some tools, barely visible in the grass up against the curb.

The grass, strangely, was where I'd expect to see pavement against the curb; looking down and to my
right, I see grass against the left side of the curb, with the curb rising up from it; but looking
straight down, I was on pavement. I didn't see the transition.

Anyway, I stopped, figuring I'd take 'em; they were obviously abandoned, a minor amount of rust
showing and they were quite overgrown with that grass, barely visible. I couldn't figure out where
I'd put them, but I suddenly remembered that I had a trailer hooked up to my bike (I was on my road
bike, BTW). I opened the trailer to put the tools in. The trailer looked inside very much like the
inside of a construction worker's dirty truck box, with a sliding tray near the top, everything
covered in black grime and miscellaneous tools and garbage filling it.

I started loading them in, pulling them out of the grass and dirt, some of them quite embedded. I
was surprised at how much of this stuff I found. I didn't consider it in my dream, but the trailer
was huge (like that construction worker's grimy truck crossover toolbox) inside while being small
outside (it was kinda like a Bob Yak but in a hard/clamshell style). It really must have weighed a
lot after loading all those tools in it (or even before).

This all happened right around the corner, and in my dream I thought it was across the street from
one person that I dislike, but the location in my dream is actually across the street from a
_different_ person who I dislike; both live on that street, though.

What does all this mean? Does it mean that we need a new newsfroup called
rec.bicycles.dream-interpretation?

Quoted message said:

-Buck

--
Rick Onanian

Rick Onanian said:

What does all this mean? Does it mean that we need a new newsfroup called
rec.bicycles.dream-interpretation?

Simple enough. You just need to do something else for a while. I know all about those symptoms, so I
started building wheels instead. Whoops that didn't help either 😉

--
Perre

You have to be smarter than a robot to reply.

How about a diving belt full of Weights, change your wheels and tires. Put cheap/heavy ones on, and
keep the "good ones" for later. Get a wedge bag and fill with more weight.

Seriously, there are plenty of ways to add weight. How much do you want to add? I would think an
extra 20 lbs would be quite easy.

- Chris - customgetaways.comcustomgetaways.comOpen ↗ Sport Vacations (Multisport, Cycling,
Marathons, etc...)

(CTRDY01) from AOL url='http://www.aol.com/'http://www.aol.com/url said:

How about a diving belt full of Weights, change your wheels and tires. Put cheap/heavy ones on, and
keep the "good ones" for later. Get a wedge bag and fill with more weight.

Seriously, there are plenty of ways to add weight. How much do you want to add? I would think an
extra 20 lbs would be quite easy.

I'm commuting on a fixed gear, and I carry all my extra stuff around in a back pack. With U-lock,
tools, clothes, books, and sundry, the thing adds an extra 30 pounds easy. Yesterday, I rode my Trek
racing bike in the whole spandex getup. I definitely developed some leg muscle and improved cadence.
I was just cruising along not really putting any effort in, and I looked down at the computer to see
I was doing 20. Previously, that would have been a somewhat strenuous speed.

--
real e-mail addy: kevansmith23 at yahoo dot com Here I am in the POSTERIOR OLFACTORY LOBULE but I
don't see CARL SAGAN anywhere!!

Per Elmsäter said:

Try stealing a drugchute from a dragster. Even downhill will be a pain in the ass then 😉

If all he wants is anal discomfort, I'm sure almost everybody here can recommend a saddle.
--
Rick Onanian

Rick Onanian said:

Per Elmsäter said:

Try stealing a drugchute from a dragster. Even downhill will be a pain in the ass then 😉

If all he wants is anal discomfort, I'm sure almost everybody here can recommend a saddle.

A lousy saddle will be nothing compared to a drugchute securely anchored up his ass. This will
actually be the perfect way to achieve his goals. A 30 pound anchor up the ass with a 5 foot chain
attached to a drugchute. The anchor and chain will take care of climbing and the chute will take
care of the decents. Wonder if that could be marketed?

--
Perre

You have to be smarter than a robot to reply.

(Zoot Katz) said:

Mon, 1 Dec 2003 11:59:10 +0800, <[email hidden]>, "kak61"

Quoted message said:

How do people add extra weight to their bicycles for training anyway?

By filling the tubes with the bikes' retail price in quarters.

That's why lighter bikes are better for training. They'll hold more quarters.

I've got a Cannondale with those large-diameter tubes... should I use (Susan B. Anthony / Sacagawea)
dollar coins instead? 😉

--
Perfer et obdura; dolor hic tibi proderit olim. | dan.birchalls.netdan.birchalls.netOpen ↗

In article <[email hidden]>,

Tom Sherman said:

Ryan Cousineau said:

... Seriously, if you really want to increase training effort, why not reduce your aerodynamics?
Wear a baggy jacket, put one of those [censored] catchers on the downtube, I'm sure you can think of
others....

But think of the horror of being seen by other cyclists when looking like a fred - almost as bad
as being seen on a recumbent. 😉 Remember, What Would Fabrizio Do?

You're stalking me, aren't you?

At this time of year, serious cyclists can be found in North America's Only Indoor Velodrome, or
possibly on their trainers. It's getting awfully lonely on the roads, with all but the deadest of
die-hards and a few very miserable-looking DUI-riders. The student with the really nice road bike
has continued to ride to school, though, and bully for her. It goes without saying that the only
weather that has stopped me so far was a recent snowfall (if it was -10C, I might try it. Vancouver
snow is more like fluffy ice).

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

In general, the beauty of cycling is that if you want your workout to be harder, you can just
ride faster or try a higher gear. "Weight training" might be good for the psychological
advantage it gives you on race day (when you suddenly lose several pounds), but the
physiological advantages over other forms of training don't seem to be there....

One advantage of a "handicap" would be to increase the workout level while riding with a
particular group of riders (since not all people have the option of switching to a faster group).

Ironically, this is one motive I have had for finally building myself another fixed-gear bike: make
it easier for my slow friends to keep up with me. Savour the irony that I expect my lightest bike to
be my slowest bike.

The other thing I do with friends is take longer pulls at the front. This has the double effect of
tiring me more and easing their load. The extreme case was my first metric century: I did it with an
experienced randonneur who turned out to be a bit slower than me. So I took the lead for nearly the
entire ride, and the pace turned out just about right. Of course, I injured my achilles tendon so
badly I was off work for several days afterwards (I could barely walk), but that was because I had
fit issues.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] sfu.ca~rcousineOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

(Rick Onanian) said:

(Tom Keats) said:

simplest thing is probably to just let some air out of the tires.

Or, get really gnarly mountain bike tires. I've got a worn Trek Big Kahuna that is almost like
riding square wheels....

Ugh. You're not kidding. My ride ('98 Cannondale XR800 cyclocross) came with IRC V-Cross 700x38c
knobbies. If I never rode on the road, and had little in the way of a sense of balance for off-road,
I might have been happy with those, but I grew up riding clunky 10-speeds with 27x1.25" tires in
sand pits (all my friends had ATV's) and came to the XR from an '88 SR500 roadie with some seriously
skinny rubber, so I couldn't stand them. Felt like I had a tractor-pull sled hitched to the bike. I
think I went to Vittoria Lizards first, either 700x32 or 700x35, and now I've got some 700x30
Ritchey SpeedMax Cross Kevlar's on it. Very little in the way of tread on the center of the tires,
all the knobs are on the sides where they don't get in the way of those "speed limit? what speed
limit?" downhill rides on twisty roads through residential areas... Whee! 🙂

-Dan (wondering if the local radar-using cops read RBM...)

--
Perfer et obdura; dolor hic tibi proderit olim. | dan.birchalls.netdan.birchalls.netOpen ↗