Building Champions in Our Youth for Life...
|
Building Champions in Our Youth for Life... |
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Sponsors
 
   
   
Affiliations
|
Tech Tips
Your road bike probably came stock with a 53t or 52t big ring in the front and an 11t or 12t high gear on the rear cassette. The least expensive way to meet rollout is to blockout the high gears on the bike by adjusting the derailleur limit screws. If you have a 52t big ring on the front, adjust the rear derailleur limit screws so that the highest available gear is the 14t. If you have a 53t big front ring, then you will need to limit the rear derailleur so that the highest rear cog available is 15t. This will limit the rider's gear selection during a race, but it will make the bike race legal without any additional equipment. We recommend this approach for new racers. Instructions for adjusting rear derailleur. If your high gear on the rear cassette is a 12t, you can maximize your gear ratio by replacing your front big ring with a 45t. Salsa and Shimano make a 45t 130bcd big ring. This upgrade will leave you more available gears. It will allow you to keep your rear cassette stock and you will be able to borrow pit wheels from adult riders. Another very common option, if your bike came stock with a 52t front big ring, is to change the rear cassette for one having a 14t as the highest gear. 14-25 cassettes are available as a special order item from most bicycle shops. The disadvantage of this option is that your bike will fail rollout following a race if you borrow a pit wheel from an adult rider. Other minor disadvantages with this setup are that 14-25t cassette are not widely available and will weigh more than your stock cassette due to the size of the first position cog which includes a forged spacer. None of these suggestions can guarantee that your bike will pass a rollout test. The diameter of your wheels and size of your tires can make a difference. As a final test, use some tape to mark off a 26' section of sidewalk. Line your back wheel up so that it is centered on the tape. Put the cranks in the 6/12 o'clock position. Lift the front wheel up and walk the bike backwards. As you are rolling the bike, watch the crank arm. If the crank makes at least one full revolution while rolling it 26', the bike meets the restriction. More resources from USA Cycling:
Slideboard trainers are used by olympic speed skaters, cyclists, skiiers and other athletes for cross training. This is low impact training using a similar motion to speed skating.  Materials list:
Instructions: In the kitchen/bath section of Home Depot you will find some large sheets of white "tile board." It's sold in 4x8' sheets. Pick the one without any pattern, just a smooth white finish. Take it over to their panel saw and ask them to cut it in half, leaving a couple of 2x8' strips. This is enough material for two slide trainers. If you don't have any scrap lumber at home, check the scrap cart at Home Depot (near the chop saw). You should be able to pick up enough wood for your end blocks out of their scrap bin. Each end block needs to be 2' wide, or the width of your panel. Cedar 2x4s will work great. Cut the 2x4's to the width of your slide board (2'). Use three or four drywall screws to attach the 2x4s to each end of the tileboard. These will serve as stop blocks to push off. You may also wish to wrap the 2x4 with some padding so that it will be easier on your feet. You will find rolls of shelf liner material at Home Depot in 12" and 14" widths. This material is white, about 3/8" thick foam rubber, and makes a nice cushion. Of course, you could also use a scrap of carpet, carpet pad, shop floor rubber mat, or most anything. Optional: If you have a band saw at home, cut the 2x4s on an angle so that they will be easier on your feet to push off. A 30 degree angle from horizontal is pretty good. The angled blocks will make it much easier to push off. If you get the right angle on the wood, you won't need any padding. Do a light sanding of all corners and surfaces to reduce the chance of getting a splinter. After assembly, apply a couple of coats of car wax. The slickest car wax will contain carnuba. Buff until it's slick. We found that with the right socks, this will glide beautifully. However, if you still want more glide, you can try some of the powder shuffleboard waxes.  Try to find some old ski socks. The best kind will be thick, contain some poly content, and have a terry lining. Wear the socks inside out so that the terry is in contact with the slide board. Different sock materials can make a big difference in terms of resistance. You can actually vary resistance by using different types of socks (slow to fast: cotton, wool, poly). Put on the socks and test the trainer. Try pushing off of one block and gliding to the other. If you have difficulty making it all the way, then you may want to reduce the length of the trainer. It will take a pretty powerful kick to glide the full 8', but this is really where you will get the greatest benefit. This also takes some balance and you want to bend your legs and get as low as possible when you kick off of the end blocks. Staying low will increase your balance and power. Depending on your size/power, you may need to shorten the board by mounting the push blocks closer together. If you find your slide board moving around too much on the floor, you can do the following. Use a paint roller to apply Snow Roof Systems Elasto Seal Rubber Undercoat primer to the bottom of the tile board (brown side of the tile board). Make sure this is good and dry before letting it come in contact with your floor. The rubber latex roof coating is very grippy and works wonderfully, leaving a portable and relatively light slide board that won't budge when you push off the blocks. There are also some non slip rug pads that may work, many of which are sold in dimensions for 2x8' runners. Sliding is fun. Give it a shot. Speed: try timing yourself to see how fast you can slide back and forth 100 times. Power: try doing this continuously for 15 minutes. Crank up your favorite music and start ripping. Guaranteed to improve power.
Ever had your knee warmers slide down your legs during a race? Juniors have skinny legs. Some of our younger juniors actually wear adult arm warmers on their legs. If they are tight enough, but are still sliding down during races, here's a tip. Purchase some clear aquarium silicone (available at pet supply outlets and hardware stores). Turn the leg warmer inside-out and find the inside edge of the elastic band. Apply a bead of the aquarium silicone to the inside edge of the elastic band. Let it cure for 24 hours before attempting to wear the warmers. The silicone will form an elastic gripping surface that will not easily slide down your legs, even when pedaling hard in a race. Note that you must use care when washing items treated in this way. Machine wash on cold and hang dry.
This tip is as old as the hills, but still doesn't seem to have penetrated very far into bicycling society. We use Johnson and Johnson's Baby Powder at the store, for that clean, baby-fresh smell...Seriously, talcum powder acts as a dry lubricant to help cut down on the dreaded "pinch flats" that plague many cyclists. Basically, the slippery talcum dust allows the inner tube to "squirt" out of harms way moments before getting "pinched." Anyways, it seems to work, and the fresh scent alone could be worth the trouble.
|
Bulletin
 Labor Day 2008 CX Race AnnouncementEventsRoadLAJORS '08State ChampionshipsJunior's TourMTB Indie Series, 2/24-7/21Cyclocross Labor Day ChampionshipsCX Nats KCSeattle Cyclocross Series|ASC Calendar|ResultsJunior's TourLAJORSIndie SeriesW Side MTB Series #1Cyclocross | ||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Meeting junior road gear restrictions.
