Dialed Blog
I want a new bike, but...
I really want a new bike, but… (insert one of many reasons here). Sound familiar? Well, just about all of us have been there. That said, let’s see if Dialed Cycling Lab can help you navigate some of those road blocks that might be in your way! Problem #1: I need to sell my current bike first. Solution: Let Dialed Cycling Lab take care of that for you! Our bicycle consignment program could not be any easier. You drop off your bike and we take care of the rest, which includes cleaning, inspecting, repairing, tuning, marketing, and selling it. We also toss in a 3-month service warranty. This makes buyers VERY happy, and they like buying from a shop – nothing personal against private sellers, but it’s just great peace of mind! What does this cost, you ask? Well, if you were just doing the consignment and nothing else, the fee is 20%. Here is the cool part though… if you buy a new bike from Dialed, we will discount your NEW BIKE the same amount as what the consignment fee worked out to be (not valid with sale bikes and cannot be combined with any other discounts or offers). Pretty awesome, right?! Next thing you know, you’re out pedaling around on your new steed and happy as a clam! Problem #2: Bikes are expensive and I need to save up some money, so I need to hold off for a bit. Solution: Waiting and saving is actually a financially sound approach, but if you think you can save up the money you need in six months or less, this might be a fantastic solution to help you get a bike now! Dialed Cycling is linked up with PayPal Credit and Affirm financing, which can afford you the magic of time! When you need to buy something (**cough-BIKE-cough**), you don’t always want to wait. Buying with the power to pay as you choose and still enjoying the security and reliability of these powerful institutions… Now that’s magic! Problem #3: My ‘Significant Other’ will kill me if I get a new bike, another bike, or any bike! Solution: Besides flowers, honey-do’s, foot rubs, dishes, laundry, etc… (I’ve personally been there many times!), your best bet is to get them out there on a bike too. Invite them out to one of our intro rides and let us get them hooked. Nothing like a little peer pressure! In all seriousness though, the cycling lifestyle is tough to beat on so many levels, which you are probably fully aware of… you are reading about how to get a new bike after all! If none of this works, well, there’s always the old switcharoo… Pro Tip: Make sure the new bike is the same color as the old bike so that they don’t notice that upgraded ultralight beauty dressed in electronic shifting and carbon wheels. Just kidding, we would never suggest this terrible level of deceit… or would we? 😉 Problem #4: I love the idea of getting a new bike and I really want to get into cycling, but I just don’t think I have the free time to warrant buying a bike. Solution: Unplug, optimize, prioritize, and connect! I know, this all sounds great in theory, but you might be thinking it feels a little unrealistic. Our response? Non-sense. Making time for fitness, fun, and friendships is completely attainable and we have the people to prove it! Our cycling team is comprised of some pretty awesome people who are the best role models when it comes to balancing family, work, and riding. These fantastic cyclists are having a blast, they are fit, and they are logging rides all the time! Doctors, small business owners, professionals, and more… they are still getting it done! But how? Well, it really boils down to taking an honest look at how you are spending your typical day and how you are truly prioritizing your time. Time has a way of really escaping us and it’s funny when you really start paying attention to where the hours go every day, week, month, and year. The first one is pretty simple. How much time do you spend staring at a screen every day? Yep, this one is a major time suck! I’m not saying to quit it all cold-turkey, but take a hard look at how you can cut back. How about cooking dinners? Ever considered a program like Wild Tree / Freezer Meal workshops? These programs are awesome! You prep healthy, clean food, and here is the best part… you can knock out 10 dinners in about 2 hours, toss them in the freezer, and BAM, you’ve got some serious free time on your hands! And guess what? You’re eating a whole heck of a lot healthier too. Winning! Finally, where there is a will, there is a way. In the 20 plus years that I’ve been helping people find time for fitness, there have been very few roadblocks that could not be circumvented. Yes, there are some scenarios that just can’t be helped, and for those who are completely stuck, I’m truly sorry. However, there is always that “someday” that can come to fruition if you make it a priority and a goal. You’ve got this! Problem #5: I’m all in on getting a new bike, but I’m a bit scared that I don’t know what I’m doing and have nobody to ride with. Solution: We love nothing more than getting folks into the sport of cycling. You can also add to this that we love educating people about all things bikes. So, consider this: 1. We go through the basics with everyone before they take their new bike home. 2. We ensure that you have the proper equipment. 3. We provide workshops and services that will help bring out your inner grease monkey when it comes to turning wrenches on your bike. 4. We have a great (and growing!) network of super cool people (check out our Strava group page) who are always out riding and looking for more people to ride with. Be careful though, we might get you out there racing too! 🙂 So, in summary, let’s say this out loud… “I really want a new bike, and I know how I’m gonna make it happen!” There is the rule of N+1 too, and you can argue with the rules of cycling! 😉 Help me get a NEW bike!
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2016 Ugly Sweater Ride
We will be meeting at the Starbucks on 192nd & 34th. I will have a bin to hold the unwrapped toys if anyone would like to contribute to this cause. We will then ride out to Frenchman’s Bar, which should make for a nice base ride. The ride should be roughly 40 miles, but it is mostly flat. If you want to get after it a little once we get out to the lake, go for it and we can regroup at Frenchman’s. Based on a show of hands, I thought we could swing by a coffee shop in downtown Vancouver on the way back for a quick pitstop so you guys can show off your sweaters. I’ve got a little prize for the best ‘ugly sweater’ as well, so have some fun with it! Finally, please feel free to invite all of your cycling friends… more the merrier! Start looking for your ugly sweater in the mean time and light that bad boy up like a Christmas tree! Feel free to invite friends as well… this will be more of an easy paced social ride with no drops and we will ride rain or shine. I’m also hoping that everyone can bring at least one new unwrapped toy that will be taken to the Portland Salvation Army and given to less fortunate kids in need of some Christmas spirt this year. Thank you for your consideration and helping those in need! As always, please RSVP on Strava so that we know you’re coming. You can also contact me via phone, text, or email. Stay tuned for more information soon… Thanks!
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Passion Blindness
There are time when you are too close to the topic and you are no longer objective. Your passion for your sport can work the same way. Athletes gearing up for an event can and often do lose proper judgment regarding their preparation. Sadly, this impaired judgment can rob the athlete of a peak performance. Here are a few tips to avoid this condition and optimize your race performance. Hire a Coach Number one way to avoid Passion Blindness mistakes is hire a coach. Coaches love peak performance, but can remain objective about your training. We coaches tend to look at the numbers in a cold objective kind of way. Many of the top world class athletes have coaching only for this reason. As you know, so many tour riders have trained for 20+ years at the top of their game. They should know how to train themselves pretty well. So why does each one of them have a coach? The main reason is objectivity. In the world class stress level of pre-tour preparation, pro cyclists surround themselves with grounding personnel. Point is, anyone can get stirred up and lose “it” while under stress, so the smart ones will hire objectivity and encouragement with a great coach. You recover better with low levels of stress. So a good coach can do wonders in this department. Have a Plan The second thing you can do is premeditate your training year in advance. You can make objective training choices before you get into the ocean of pre-race emotion. In the calm off season you should identify your key races and put them on the calendar. Then you should pen in all your training around those key races. So you can see the timing of your heavy training, your rest weeks, and your taper schedule from a relaxed macro viewpoint. Here too, you might consider a coach who can set up your schedule. This is gives even more confidence and that reduces the guesswork stress. A good coach has developed 100’s of plans and leaves you feeling excited to get going. The guess work has been removed. As racing approaches, you can lean on that plan when the stress might otherwise cloud your objectivity. Plan your work, and work your plan on purpose. Bio Feedback The third and last tip is stay objective through honest feedback. Use a heart rate monitor and power meter! You cannot get any more honest bio feedback than this. You may have a coach who mandates that you have this equipment prior to him working with you. They do this because they know that with Watts and Heart Rate (W&HR) you cannot hide what’s going on inside. You may “feel” like you need to train harder, but the W&HR will reveal the facts. For example, I was recently beginning a long endurance ride. Normally I can push out about 270 watts at my endurance HR of 140. On this day I was seeing the HR at 140 and watts were really low at 195-210. Even after the warm up the watts were 50 low at the 140 HR. I did the right thing and turned around at 30 minutes and went home. I was taxed either from fatigue or illness (sometimes both). Turns out the next day I woke up with the flu. Most interestingly, if I was working only with HR I would have had no clue that I was to abandon the ride to make gains in fitness. I had no trouble producing a 140 HR, the only clue would have been a slower pace. Since pace varies so much on course or conditions, I would have likely executed my pre-thought training plan, and been even sicker the next day. HR is good, but watts is real time hard science. You can also see your training working or failing with watts. I have many athletes do standardized fitness testing each week in 20 minute intervals. These are point to point TT’s and each week you should be about the same or a little higher as you are training up the effect. These are all out and really hard. Most of the times we see great watt/kilo number increases as the season progresses. This weekly test really quantifies fitness gains (or losses) with a number. Say an athlete starts his season at 310 NP watts for the test and weighs in at 72 Kilos. Well the math would say his current 20 minute number is 4.3. We know this same athlete ran a 4.9 w/k in the previous season. So we know he lost 12.25% fitness in his off season break. As we plan his season, we come up with two major objectives. One, we need to get his power back, and plan on achieving 350 watts on the 20 TT. (10 watts higher than the previous season peak) That will come with correct training cycles. Two, we decide to get his number even higher by reducing his racing body weight to 69 kilos. Weight loss for athletes is 90% what they eat, so a diet has to be planed and implemented. Slow weight loss is a must as we are also attempting to gain power at the same time. Yup, time to refine and count calories. So what makes this athlete excited? The number 5 w/k! That number will allow him to win races, and that makes it worth it to him. So we implement the plan for on and off the bike, and honestly monitor progress both off and on the bike. Closing Thoughts The best solution is all the above! If you are the “do it yourself” mentality, that is great, but get your feedback from W&HR and be honest. Plan your own training and then work your plan and watch your numbers. If the numbers are tracking good progress, the plan is solid and working. If you are not making progress, then spend the cash and hire a coach. Many non-coached athletes bounce ideas off their training partners to stay objective. Be careful with this, it can work sometimes well, but other times it can backfire. Too many times free advice is given with out taking into account your whole training schedule and load. The advice is usually well intended and pretty good in general. But what you need is specific to you advice after much care has been taken to consider your current fitness level and future objectives. Regardless of your plan, please just work it! I do not want you paying the price only to not realize your full potential because of common passion blindness mistakes. Instead, I love it when an athlete goes far beyond their pre-season objectives and is blown away by their own ability!
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10 Tips to Developing a Training Routine You Can Keep!
A routine is defined as “A sequence of actions regularly followed, a fixed program.” Are you looking to start a fitness routine? Have you been down this road before only to find yourself falling off the wagon? Here are a 10 tips that we give to our clients at MVP Sports Center & Physical Therapy that greatly increases the chances of keeping your routine and finding success. 1: Commit to a 40 day workout plan: To develop a routine that will become a positive habit, you should start by dedicating yourself to your new routine for 40 days. Accomplish this and you’re looking at a MUCH greater level of success! Write down your goal, devise a plan and get to it! 2: Making your workout routine a daily habit: A daily routine will create a sense of consistency that will be crucial to your success. Doing something daily will eliminate the “day off” that turns into “days off” and eventually a routine that has become abandoned. Your training program will have different levels of intensity and time requirements, so doing something everyday will not be “too much”. A daily routine will also eliminate the pitfalls that come with doing something every couple of days. Working with a coach or trainer will definitely help you in the process. Our staff can take all of the guessing out of the program design and hold you accountable for holding up your end of the bargain! 3: Starting your workout routine and keeping it simple: Don’t try to do too much in a day as you get started… think: “Crawl before you walk” and so on. Coming out of the gates too fast will not only discourage you because you can’t even get out of bed in the morning, but you will begin to questions how in the world you are supposed to keep this all up!. Let’s keep it simple and work up to those tougher days. You will actually learn to enjoy your fitness routine and all of the positive benefits it will add to your life! Working with a coach is a good way to develop a good and sustainable program that you can KEEP while getting you acclimated over an appropriate time period! 4: Keep yourself reminded of what you are doing: There are so many things that you can do to keep yourself reminded of why you are looking to keep your workout routine. Here are a couple ideas: Tell someone what you are setting out to accomplish and let them reward you with sticking to the routine. Enlist a friend (and even family members) to do this with you and to keep you accountable. Put stickies up in key places to remind yourself of what you need to do AND not do. Build your schedule on a calendar that includes your routine. Putting it on your daily calendar and scheduling around it will eliminate the excuse of “I just don’t have time”. Write a journal entry every day or blog your daily events. Use an App to track your daily accomplishments – we like “Cal Tracker” as an example Working with a coach or trainer is a great way to have someone to keep you accountable to your routine and overall program. Subscribe to a daily email reminder service – there are a bunch of them out there! 5: Staying Consistent: A great way to stay consistent is to have a well thought out and documented plan of attack that can be easily accomplished. Your routine should not require too many obstacles to complete your fitness routine. Your routine should be a part of your daily ritual…just like waking up or having dinner. Have the appropriate amount of time carved out for each day and try to keep this time around the same time of the day. This consistency will help elicit that innate response to starting your routine and accomplishing your tasks for the day! 6: Eliminate the “Time Wasters”: We all have them and it is amazing how much time they can take up in our day. If you are having an issue with finding the time to make your workout routine a blazing success, take a look at your typical day and be honest with yourself… what is taking up chunks of your time that you could otherwise dedicate to your routine or other productive tasks? Is it TV, video games, surfing the web, too many unnecessary commitments or procrastination? Next time you feel the urge to give some of your time to one of these unproductive habits, take that as a cue to do something different and productively manage your time so that you can keep your routine! This is a hard one, but you can do it! 7: Don’t get discouraged: We are all human and we will make mistakes, so don’t expect to be perfect…ever! Challenges, frustration, hiccups and mistakes will happen along the way. This is all normal, but how you deal with them will be the key to your success. You need to expect these bumps in the road though. Knowing they are coming and know what you need to do to get past them will be your best plan of attack! Stay positive, keep yourself supported, know that you are getting better at your routine each day and that you are one day closer to success! 8: Remove the temptation: Letting temptation remain on the table during your process of developing your workout routine will serve as a recipe for disaster. You know your weaknesses and temptations better than anyone, so be honest with yourself in the beginning and remove them from your environment. A good way to go about this is to confide in your friend(s), coach or trainer who is supporting you through this process and have them help you eliminate the temptations. You need support! Giving yourself a forcefield of support against these temptations through a support system will yield much greater success. 9. Be with “like minded” people: Its a funny thing when we look at how much our behaviors can be influenced by the people we spend time with. You truly become like the people you spend the most time with, so choose wisely and find some good role models! This is a time tested truth. 10. Visualize – See yourself crossing the finish line: Develop and keep a mental image of yourself crossing that finish line! Imagine the hardships you will be confronted with along the way and how you will over come them. Know what the consequences of failing are so you can better understand why you are doing this. Simply put, have a good mental image of everything you are going to deal with so you can literally go from imagining this process to physically crossing the finish line as a success! Do you need help with starting a routine?
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Flat protocols - Fast & Safe Roadside Repair Steps
You are riding along loving the experience when you feel the rear tire getting squishy. You look down and confirm you are rapidly losing pressure. Yikes! A flat. Don’t panic, here is what to do for a fast and safe repair. Look for a safe place to fix the flat. Many law enforcement officials will tell you get as far away from cars as you can to repair you tire. (On you car) On your bike this is even more important. Use whatever ride time you have left to select the safest repair spot. I have Look for a comfortable place to enact your repair. If there is a park with grass and trees, head for it! (Kind of Ideal). You can sit on the grass, away from traffic, and take your time with the repair. I tend to look for a comfortable place to work the tire, and a safe place to lay or hang the bike. For example, many of the streets are manicured with a grass section between the curb and the sidewalk. These areas typically have trees planted in them as well. I pull over at the curb, step on the the grass with the bike, unclamp the brake and quick release, pull the wheel off, and hang the bike by the seat from a low hanging tree branch. If no tree works, I lay the bike on its side with the drive train up. (Grass is nice here). Now I can fix the flat in comfort and safety. Flat fix tips. Before you remove the rear wheel, shift to the small front chain ring and shift the 2nd or 3rd smallest cog on the rear cassette. This makes removal and re-installation much easier. Remove the wheel. Look at the outside of the tire for your puncture pest. It could be glass, a nail, a tack, or other. If you can see it, remove it from the tire if you can. Use you tire iron next to unbend one side of the tire. Extract the tube with the tire still half mounted on the bike via one bead. Once the tube is off, check the inside of the tire for Puncture pests. Have to find and remove those pest now, or you new $8 tube will flat just like the last one. Get the pest out! Run your though through the tires casing to palpate and locate. Careful. Next remove your new tube, unscrew the valve into the open position, and blow some air into the tube with your mouth. It will give the tube some shape to work with. Instal the tube starting with the valve stem and working your way around the tire. With your hands, bead the tire onto the rim. Many tires can be beading entirely by hand which is preferred. If you need to use tire irons as a last resort. Be very careful NOT to pinch the tube with your irons. Once the tire is beaded, check the only side possible for tucked tube. The tube should be Tucked between the beads of the tire and therefore not visible when you pull the tire away from the rim. It is called a “clean bead”, meaning the tire is ready to safely inflate to pressure. Too many repairs end in a load CO2 induced bang when the tube was not “clean beaded” and blew out the side of the tire. Once the tire is inflated, and holding air, it is time to reassemble you bike and be on your way. Remember which gear you exited in, and therefore how to align you chain on the rear cassette. Once you bike is reassembled and ready, police your repair area so you do not forget your tire irons or leave a tube as trash. Gather up all of it. No road side trash allowed. Collect yourself and ride on!
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Why Fitness is Important for Everyone
Overall Health A regular fitness routine helps in improve your overall health and the positive effects become very evident when you invest time exercise. An energetic walk for 30 plus minute and some basic resistance training is all you need to get the ball rolling. This will get blood circulating, burns those pesky calories, and improves immunity… who doesn’t need an elevated immune system. The basic take away? Be consistent! Boosts Energy Just about all of us could use a boost in the energy department! If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, you’ll see what we mean after you feel the difference from a simple workout out, or after a good cardio session. You’ll also feel rejuvenated and energized throughout the day. Contrary to this, if your lifestyle is sedentary, you will feel tired and sluggish… not good. Therefore, be intentional about being active and get fit doing it! A win-win situation for sure. Weight Reduction Dropping pounds is the one of the primary advantages of being fit. Working out regularly simply gets the fat burning fire roaring, and with time, you will see the noticeable difference. This is obviously rhetorical – we know what we *should* be doing to stay fit, but we all need a reminder from time to time. You can burn extra calories by simply getting yourself moving, which is definitely healthy for the body. In doing so, you start to see the numbers game – calories in vs. calories out – take affect on your body composition. Keep this up over time and you will like what you see and how you feel . Therefore, weight reduction is one of the important benefits of physical fitness. Strong Build Staying fit with regular workouts and resistance training makes your bones strong. Additionally, people suffering from back issues, shoulder pain, etc. must be regular with certain exercises… Just ask your Physical Therapist! If you diligently follow a program, the pain is bound to reduce. Properly increasing muscle strength throughout your body also lends itself to better posture, joint support, muscle balance and it will increase your overall metabolic rate, which will effectively cause your body to naturally burn more calories throughout the day. All are great side effects! Mental Strength A fit body is not only physically strong but mentally strong a well. A routine that includes proper exercise and diet has a positive effect on brain function as well. It elevates blood flow to brain and enhances one’s brain function. Personality Development Staying fit helps keep you looking good! The more you indulge yourself in to healthy habits, the more you improve your overall look. This increases your confidence level and transcends to your overall disposition and self image. You feel fresh, you have a spring in your step, and you feel rejuvenated throughout the day. Your mood remains happy and optimistic too. Win! Importance for Kids Kids today are more fond of computers, video games and digital devices… in short, they are simply plugged into something… All. The. time. They can be plugged in for hours on end, which really needs to be addressed as the trend is deeply concerning. As a result, there’s no physical activity. If muscles and bones are not properly engaged at this age, they fail properly mature. Engaging in outdoor games like, basketball, volleyball, football, cycling and swimming helps them to stay active. Today, childhood obesity and the subsequent diseases have been elevated to the level of an epidemic. This is mostly due to sedentary lifestyles, eating fast foods, and lack of physical activities. If the body is properly treated, such disorders at an early age can definitely be avoided. Be Inspired I hope more folks can grasp why is fitness important… it simply transcends all aspects of our life in one way or another. Transforming your lifestyle can make all the difference in the world and it is almost never too late to take the first step. If you have more questions on health, fitness and overall wellness, let us help inspire you to achieve a level of fitness that will server you for the rest of your life! You got this.
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Are you getting enough sleep?
Hormones That Help Us As we engage in a fitness or training routine, we need to understand how truly important sleep is because of how it affects hormonal release that occurs during sleep. We release growth hormones at their highest concentrations during the period when you’re in slow wave sleep during the night. Since growth hormones play a big part in the increase of lean muscle mass, it is very important that you maximize the availability of this hormone to your body by getting enough good quality sleep for better workout results. Lack of sleep can also suppress thyroid activity, which can affect the main regulator of your Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR (how many calories you burn on a daily basis just to exist). If you’re trying to burn fat, it’s important that you maximize your metabolism by getting enough sleep for better results from your diet and workout routine. Hormones Working Against Us Cortisol is a hormone that directly opposes muscle building. Instead of encouraging repair and new tissue growth during the day, it encourages the breakdown of body tissue. Normally, it’s present in the body at higher levels in the morning, and at its lowest at night. Although stress isn’t the only reason that cortisol is secreted into the bloodstream, it has been termed “the stress hormone” because it’s also secreted in higher levels during the body’s ‘fight or flight’ response to stress, and is responsible for several stress-related changes in the body. In addition to NOT getting enough growth hormone, those who don’t get enough sleep also tend to show a higher resting cortisol level in their body. The result of this is that the higher level of cortisol keeps you from your optimum recovery state that you want to be in before your next workout. This is one major factor of why sleep is essential. To keep cortisol levels healthy and under control, the body’s relaxation response should be activated with sleep being the ideal solution. You can also learn to relax your body with various stress management techniques, and you can make lifestyle changes in order to keep your body from reacting to stress in the first place, but good sleep must occur. Sleep and Muscle Repair Muscle repair occurs while you’re asleep, more proof of the need for sleep when you are working your backside off in your training routine. When you workout and overload your muscles, you create tiny micro-tears in the muscle tissue. When these micro-tears are repaired and strengthened, you gain strength. A lack of sufficient sleep severely limits this process. During the physically restorative phases of non-REM deep sleep, your blood pressure drops and your breathing becomes deeper and slower. Your brain is resting with very little activity, so the blood supply available to your muscles increases, delivering extra amounts of oxygen and nutrients which facilitate their healing and growth. Muscles and tissues are rejuvenated and new cells are regenerated during this phase of sleep. Sleep and How It Affects Your Overall Health While you’re asleep, your immune system is working overtime to repair your body of all the damage it’s received during the day, which includes everything from head to toe and inside to out. If you don’t give yourself enough time to carry out these repairs, you might not get the muscle recovery you need. This will leave you weaker entering your next workout which will ultimately slow your progress and delay you reaching your fitness goals. How Much Sleep Do I Need? You are considered to be sleep deprived if you sleep four hours or less per night, while eight hours constitutes normal sleep. The National Sleep Foundations sleep guidelines recommend seven to nine hours for the average adult. One night of missed sleep will probably do little harm, but the cumulative effect of poor sleep will have a negative impact on your muscles.
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That's Bananas!
Bananas are a great food source to consider when you are looking to maintain a healthy intake of calories while engaged in a fitness routine, training for a sport or getting ready for competition. On average, bananas are packed with about 110 calories and a bunch of other vitamins & minerals that work in our favor. Bananas are also convenient because you can carry them with you whenever you are in a hurry. Knowing the banana health benefits and the other positive things that bananas can be used for will likely give you a new appreciation for this popular fruit. In fact, bananas have several positive benefits that many other fruits do not have. Let’s take a look! HIgh in Potassium Most of us know that bananas are known for their high potassium content. The average banana is packed with over 400 mg of potassium. According to Colorado State University Extension, potassium is necessary for good nerve and muscle function as well as for maintaining a healthy balance of fluids in the body. The potassium in bananas can help prevent muscle cramps after exercise. If you have endured a cramp during exercise of a competition, you know that it is game over Vitamin C & B-6 Just like many other fruits, bananas contain a good amount of vitamin C. One banana provides about 10 mg of vitamin C, or about 15 percent of your daily recommended amount. Vitamin C helps boost your immune system and cell health while improving the absorption of other nutrients such as iron. B vitamins are most commonly found in animal products, so it may come as a surprise that bananas are an excellent source of vitamin B-6! One banana supplies 35 percent of your daily B-6 requirement. Your body uses vitamin B-6 to grow new cells. No Fat and No Cholesterol Bananas are naturally fat and cholesterol free. You can also use mashed bananas to substitute for some or all of the butter or oil when making cookies, for example, for a healthier treat. Another tip here for cooking is using apple sauce in lieu of eggs when baking, you will love how moist your little treat turns out! Fiber & Manganese According to the USDA, one banana has about 3 g of fiber. Dietary fiber can help you feel fuller longer and also keep your digestive processes running smoothly. Bananas are also a good source of manganese, with one medium banana providing about .3 mg. Adults need between 1.8 and 2.3 mg of manganese daily. Manganese is necessary for bone health and metabolism. Carbohydrates Your body uses carbohydrates as a primary source of energy. Eat a banana after a workout to refuel. A banana with breakfast will start your day off right and will give you the energy to make it through to lunch without snacking. Other Vitamins & Minerals Bananas also deliver small amounts of other vitamins and minerals. A banana provides iron, magnesium, calcium and phosphorus as well as vitamins A and E, folate, carotene and choline. Bananas also contain trace amounts of many amino acids. Talk about one action packet fruit! Easy on the Digestive Tract Bananas are easy to digest. When you’re sick with a virus or indigestion, bananas can be an appealing way to get some important nutrients into your system without upsetting your stomach. Mashed bananas are also often used as an introduction to solid foods for babies.
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Bottoms up! Hydro time...
As the weather warms up and we become more active with our outside activities, little rhetorical reminders can sometimes be a nice thing. Even as I write this, I’m kicking myself in the butt for not diligently following my own advice that I’m always preaching. Something as simple as taking in enough water seems so easy, but it somehow seems to allude us, me included! That said, here is your reminder… Water Basics Bar none, water is one of the most essential components of the human body. Water regulates the body’s temperature, cushions and protects vital organs, and aids the digestive system. Water not only composes 75 percent of all muscle tissue and about 10 percent of fatty tissue, it also acts within each cell to transport nutrients and helps the body discard waste. Due to the fact that water composes more than half of our body, it is impossible to sustain life for more than a week without it. This is pretty important stuff to say the least, which is why we at Dialed Cycling Lab would like to share a few solid points, facts and tips! Dehydration For those engaged in a fitness regimen, maintaining a consistent supply of water to the body is absolutely necessary to your performance. Dehydration leads to muscle fatigue, loss of coordination and decreased energy levels. Even small amounts of water loss may throw a wrench in our overall performance. When the body becomes dehydrated, it is unable properly thermoregulate (cool itself efficiently), leading to heat exhaustion and possibly heat stroke… no bueno! Without proper intake of water, the body will lack energy, muscles may develop cramps and we will begin to lose focus. To prevent dehydration, you MUST drink proper fluids before, during and after your workout. Hydration and Athletic Performance Hydration is absolutely essential to maximize athletic performance. When you do not drink or consume proper fluid levels to stay appropriately hydrated, your check fluid lights come on and it could be too late to keep your performance optimized for competition during your event. Inadequate hydration, as we have already stated, will fatigue your muscles, reduce your coordination and causes muscle cramps. While working out or competing in athletics, dehydration will compromise your body’s ability to cool itself through sweating (that thermoregulation thing again!). This can lead to heat exhaustion and in extreme cases it can end up as a life-threatening condition called heat stroke. Hydration and Weight Loss – Quick tip! This is a great tip for those of us looking to drop a few pounds or if you simply want to maintain your chiseled physique! Drink part of your daily recommended water before your meals to control your appetite. This tip comes to us from a study done by researchers from Virginia Tech and reported at the 2010 National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Drinking 16 oz. of water before meals three times a day over a 12-week period increased average weight loss by about 5 lbs., compared with those who did not increase water intake. Researchers could not definitively say what caused the additional weight loss but they speculate that it fills up the stomach thus making you feel fuller. How easy is that?!! Some Hydration Considerations There are certain health conditions that increase the amount of water we are required to consume in order to stay properly hydrated. If you have kidney stones, a bladder infection, have been vomiting or have diarrhea, your doctor may recommend that you increase your water consumption. If you are exercising (inside or outside), especially during hot weather, this will also require more water to stay properly hydrated due to increased perspiration and respiration. Looking at the color of your urine is another way to know if you are properly hydrated. Light yellow or colorless urine typically indicates proper hydration, but dark yellow urine is a common indicator of dehydration. Yep, toilet check time! Hydration Tips You need to hydrate before the signs of thirst appear, which is you body saying that you are already dehydrated. On that note, it is recommended that you follow these tips: Drink 17-20 ounces of water two to three hours before the start of exercise. Drink 8 ounces of fluid 20 to 30 minutes prior to exercise or during warm-up. Drink 7-10 ounces of fluid every 10 to 20 minutes during exercise. Drink an additional 8 ounces of fluid within 30 minutes after exercising. Drink 16-24 ounces of fluid for every pound of body weight lost after exercise. Stay hydrated, my friends, and go ride your bike!
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Why do I keep getting flats?
Flats are not the reason we ride! Not even close. Flats by yourself are very bad. It used to be worse before the cell phone was invented… ah, the good old days! Even worse is when you flat on a group ride. If they are the type that waits for you, it is especially bad. You are effectively robbing the gang of their ride time while they wait for you to enact your repair. Ever feel like an Indy 500 pit stop team sometimes with an unspoken group feeling of “please hurry up so we can all get on with our ride”? Worse even than that maybe is being left behind as the group just does not wait. Yup, there are group rides like that if you didn’t know. And here is the worst. You flat, they wait, you repair, and your off to only flat again! Ugh! Here are a few tips on how to avoid flats and not be “that rider” that gets them. Tires do Make a difference: I was rolling with a group when it happened, not to me, but to the wife of another bike shop owner. She had flatted the Saturday before as well. Hmmm. I looked at her new ride equipped with Specialized tires, and knew then what the challenge was. Tires matter. She was running what I kindly call “crap tires.” What are crap tires? Simple, the ones that are prone to flats. How do you know which they are? Ask around and you’ll get a few recommendations. Experience is the best though. If you flat within every 10 rides, that is NOT normal. Get new tires. Oh, and please do not run the tire liners, goo filled, or extra thick tubes. Crazy approaches that effect the handling and balance of a tire. Just get a great tire, yes, spend the money and buy the tire. It turns out it is cheaper than flat repairs. Here is my go to tire choice: Continental Gator Skin, or any of Continental tire with “Black Chile Pepper” flat resistant technology. Continental just makes a great tire. Yes there are others, but there seems to be a general consensus around our neck of the woods that the Continentals are a go to choice. ($60 – $80 / tire) Weight makes a difference: Riders under 170 lbs have an advantage. Lighter means less pressure. Less pressure means less flats. It is just gravity and aside from losing weight, there isn’t much you can do about it. The “crap tires” are your worst enemy at if you fall into the 200+ lbs. category. Almost all of my cycling friends who are seasoned cyclists are rolling the same tires: Continental. Road selection makes a difference: Let’s face it, some roads are not conducive to a flat free ride. Roads with gravel, glass, nails, tacks, and seasonal thorns are to be avoided. A flat on a tubular can run you $70 per tire replacement. Clincher flats can cost up to $10 for the tube replacement and CO2 cartridge to replace. So, avoid roads like this, it is just not worth it. I was on the nice road after I had set up a brand new Continental GartorSkin, and got a flat. Impossible I said to myself, I have not flatted one of these in forever! Next week, I was on the same road, different bike with clincher wheels, and flatted again! The guy I was with said he has had a few flats on that road too. I asked what he thought it was, and his answer was profound enough to keep me off the road. The road lead straight to the local metal recycling facility! Turns out that this road was frequently traveled by vehicles loaded with all sorts of scrap metal that finds its way to the road and litter the shoulders with all kinds of puncture prone goodies. I now avoid the road as it has cost me far too much time and money in flats. Lesson learned! Paying attention makes a difference: Watch the road in front of you. Often (not always) you can see a flat obstacle coming at you. Please don’t be that cyclist who runs over everything in the road. Rolls through glass instead of checking traffic and swinging around it is going to cost you and anyone riding with you time and money. Please don’t be drilling the front of a pace line with your cycling friends, and led them right into unavoidable obstacles that will lead to more flats, or worse yet, debris that can cause crashed! Yes, there is plenty of stuff out there that os serious to case plenty of carnage, which will cause you to be very unpopular and untrusted. Look, if you are on the front of the group, make sure you look for and point out obstacles like rocks, glass, and trash or road kill. We have all been guilty on this one, but hopefully we learn from our mistakes. Tire wear makes a difference: If the threads are showing, that means the rubber is worn off. Rubber is your flat protection and keeps the tire sticking to the road or trail. Worn off rubber anywhere on the tire means time to replace. Do I really have to include this? Well apparently yes, because some of you guys try to squeeze every last mile out of those old tires. You know who you are 🙂 You just got a flat, now what? As you pull your tube out, make note of the tube’s orientation to where is was at in your tire so you can reference where the puncture occurred. Once you find that pin hole or puncture spot, lay the tube over the tire so you can determine the spot on the tire where the puncture occurred. Now, make sure to check the tire for glass, metal, or any debris that may still be in the rubber. You’ll want to gently use your fingers (don’t press too hard and potentially cut yourself – remember, what ever caused your flat was able to puncture some pretty sturdy rubber) to sweep the inside of the tire to feel for debris around the puncture area as well as the entire inside area of the tire. You’ll also want to look for small slits or embedded debris in the exterior part of the rubber. If you find that nasty little bugger, dig it out with something like the multi-tool you cary with you. You carry a multi tool, right?! Don’t miss this last step… The last thing you want to experience is another puncture from the same piece of shrapnel that got you in the first place. Trust me, this is very disheartening! I hope this helped you a little and that you stay dialed in while out riding! PS- If you’re riding in the Camas / Vancouver / Washougal area and you do find yourself stranded, please check out our Stranded Rider / SAG Support program and get on our list! Link for more information: Stranded Rider / SAG Support Error: Contact form not found.
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Stranded Rider / SAG Support
STRANDED RIDER / SAG SUPPORT It has happened to just about all of us… You’re standing on the side of the road or trail and out of options to fix your normally trustworthy steed. No one is around to help you, you can’t seem to get anyone on the phone, and you are now crunching numbers to determine just how long that walk home is going to take. Yep, it’s a real bummer. Well, let us try to help! We hold the mantra of “paying it forward” near and dear to our hearts, so we would love to help you if at all possible… for free… SERIOUSLY! If you’re in the city of Camas (or close by – Washougal or Vancouver) and stuck on the side of the road or trail, CALL US! We will do our best to come help you get your bike rolling again or provide that needed lift home. We keep spare tubes, tires, patch kits, floor pumps, CO2 cartridges, chain links, loaner wheels, first aid kits, and our mechanic skills all handy so you are not stranded due to a mechanical, or worse yet, a crash. Best of all, we do our absolute best to provide this help for FREE as a way of giving back to the cycling community that we love. Many of these parts are “used” or from our “Pay it Forward” stash that has accumulated from all of our customers over the years, which is perfect to get you going again. We hope this never happens to you, but we are here in case you ever need help! Put us in your phone, put us on speed dial, put us in the back of your head as a friend who is there to help! Shoot us a text that you’ve done this and we will add your contact information with an SOS tag so we can be on alert. We’ve got your back! (360) 828-1436 (shop) (360) 474-7275 (text) Want to volunteer and give back our cycling community? Join the DIALED SAG Support Network! Got some old parts that you would like to donate to the Pay it Forward stash? Want to be on our SOS list? Contact Us for more information, like us on Facebook, subscribe to our little Blog, like us on Instagram and join our Strava group page! Tell your cycling friend too 🙂
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Chain Life
Keeping tabs on your chain’s life can make riding a much more pleasant and less expensive experience. Your chain wears much quicker than all of your other drivetrain components, which is why you need to be mindful of its lifecycle. Here are a couple things you should know about your chain that could save you a lot of frustration and money: Over stretched chains will eat your cassette and chain rings for lunch! When you get a new chain, it should measure at a .25 on the Park Tool Chain Checker, which happens to be our preferred tool for measurement. Once you start to approach the .75 mark, it is time for a new chain. Going beyond this measurement will cause premature wear on your cassette cogs and chain rings. This is bad for both your riding experience and wallet! A new chain will set you back about $40-$100+ while a new cassette and chain rings can cost you as much as $300 and up. The dollars definitely make sense here! The chain becomes noisy, and nobody likes a noisy bike! You also need to keep your chain clean and lubed to get optimal performance and life out of your drivetrain. Your bike’s performance will begin to suffer as you start to experience ghost shifting, chain drops and chain suck. Many times, these issues can lead to further damage to your bike and even put you in harms way. Additionally, if you are racing, this time lost can be the difference between a podium finish and bringing up the rear. This is all easily avoidable! There are many factors that weigh in when it comes to how quickly your chain will wear. Variables include how much you weigh, the amount of climbing you do, how much power you put into the bike, what kind of weather you ride in, the volume of riding you are doing and how well you take care of your drivetrain. As you can see, there are many items to take into consideration, so everyone’s chain life will differ. If you are unsure of where your chain is at in its lifecycle or if you would simply like to have it measured, feel free to bring your bike by Dialed Cycling Lab for a free measurement. If you are in need of a new chain, we would be happy to help you there too! Happy riding! Park Tool Chain Checker – Also available at DIALED CYCLING LAB
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