gtrob

Im starting the 3400km drive home tomorrow, time for a rest week, and back to the track next weekend. As much as I have loved riding in the sun for 2 months Im looking forward to going back to riding in circles in a dusty old building.

dro.pru

carelton: I thought they didn't make 12T cogs for fixed....

i had a roller race in the beginning of march and the gear restriction was 51:14. I don't think I could run that at a track anytime soon. I've been road riding on 49:18 working on cadence and efforts. Some decent hills where I live (nothing like the AZ climbs gtrob just finished)so the uphills I put the effort and then on the other side work on the spinning. I was never good at spinning.

Went for two rides last week, both with flat tires before the terminus (and not riding with spares...tsk tsk... i know). So that was eh.... I also started spring off with popping a tendon in my middle finger at work (dalai probably knows how/why)...it's healing nicely and I should still be able to wrap my hands around handlebars. Regardless, both rides felt great until they were cut short. Maybe it is just excitement that spring is here, maybe it is actual improvement.

I just bought my USAC license and my track's season pass is next as soon as I get my paycheck this week. So there is no turning back now from the season

Also upgraded my wheels (Surly hubs to velocity rims) and crankset/bottom bracket (Miche advanced). Humble upgrades with noticeable improvements than what came on the stock Windsor Hour. (eventually change everything and upgrade the frame as time/money permits)

carleton

Yeah, a few companies make them: Milwaukee Bikes (aka Ben's Cycle) and Euro Asia Imports "Gold Medal". You need to buy a special lockring to go with it, otherwise the chain will catch on a normal lockring.

Shimano only goes to 13t.

dro.pru

thanks, maybe one day i'll grab one.

Quinn8it

im not sure how you could even ride a bike without one…

(highly caffeinated and Sarcastic morning over here)

Hermes

FWIW, small cogs have a lot of friction between the chain and the cog due to the short radius. I would go bigger on the front for a larger gear. Most pursuiters use a 15 on the rear and go with a 54 or 55 on the front (or less). I can see a 12t or 13t for over gear training. And my mindset is that of incremental gains. I try to pick a couple watts here and their. As on politician once said, a billion dollars here and and billion there and pretty soon it adds up to some real money.

carleton

BTW, I don't use my 12 for racing. I just use it for severe over-gear training.

The biggest chainring I own is a 51. It's cheaper to buy a 12t for $30 than it is to buy 52t and 53t chainrings

Quinn8it

Status:
sick! Haven't trained since Friday..

Depression hot-line on speed dial

dro.pru

yeah, i wouldn't use one for racing due to friction and extra small bend ratio on the chain.

sorry to hear that

queerpunk

Actually... I think they made a 12t for a while.
Because I've seen one with the eyes in my face.

Unless it's actually a Superbe Pro cog and I'm misremembering.

queerpunk

how sick?
squat it out, bro.

carleton

I think it's Superbe Pro. I've never seen a Shimano 12t.

Superbe 12t:

Baby Puke

Hurt the back in the gym again today. This is getting downright ridiculous. It's not serious, but it will knock me out of training for a few days. I'm not sure whether I should de-load drastically and come at it yet again or just restrict myself to exercises that don't get that heavy, like maybe zercher or squatting to a box with a full stop on the box at the bottom. At this point I'm leaning towards the latter. Perhaps big back squats are just not for me.

Quinn8it

I'm really sorry to hear this Babypuke!

I know we have talked about it a little... But remind me...
are you wearing a 4" wide weight belt made from 10mm thick laminated leather, that is the same width for it's entire length?
and are you wearing the belt so tight that it can not be worn except for the few seconds before/during/after your set?
Are you doing the Vasalva for the entire execution of the rep?

This is as much about my general interest in injuries and safety of the lifts as anything..

Anyway- I'm really bummed to hear you are hurt- I hope it's just one of those pulls that eases up quickly..

JMR

I've got a Sugino Gigas one... rike this:





JMR

Velocirapture

Sorry to hear that have you considered getting yourself checked out by a biokineticist/ chiropractor to make sure there are no muscle imbalances or postural issues anywhere that are predisposing you to this?

Top of mind at the moment, because I woke up after the first day of my racing a week ago, with a pinched nerve in my neck. Off the bike for a week as a result, and although i trained last night again, i discovered a lot of muscle-weakness in my left arm from the pinch. (Not easy to jump into a flying lap from top edge with a spaghetti-arm.. o.O).

Check out your niggles people!

Its really not worth ignoring them until they turn into something serious. Pain is only your friend 'cos its telling you something is wrong..

Baby Puke

Thanks Quinn. Yes to all your questions except the belt tightness. It is tight, but maybe I need to make a couple of new holes as the next pair are just too tight, but the ones I'm on are maybe too livable. This isn't bad, I can ride rollers so mobility is not affected and it's not really painful. I'll be back at it minus two 45's in a few days.

Baby Puke

Thanks, and I think you may be onto something Velocirapture. Something like this just makes sense as these things tend to hit me with no warning. I'll have to look into whether y insurance covers chiro.

DanAVL

You've very likely already done this, but I'll ask anyway. Have you ever had a knowledgeable lifter or coach look at your technique? 9/10 when I run into someone with chronic pain from a lift, their technique is less than ideal and placing them in a weak or potentially dangerous situation.

Baby Puke

I've had "personal trainers" watch me and I've also given video to someone who coached me in the past. I do have a smidge of "butt-wink" at the bottom of the lift, though I think it's lessened in the last couple of years as I've been working really hard on hamstring flexibility. I can now put my palms flat on the floor with my knees locked out so I think flexibility is pretty good.

This actually happened after I'd finished my 5X5 squat session, and was into my dead lift warm up. Have never hurt myself dead lifting, so this is a first. I was not yet wearing a belt as I was just doing a triple of 225 preparing to do a set of 5 at 295. I do know that when the dead gets heavy, my low back is the limiter and sometimes fails to stay locked out in lordotic curve as it should. That is the only known form issue that I've got.

Just gonna proceed with lighter weights on lifts that stress me without getting really heavy. Goodbye to straight back squats for now. Anybody have comments about sumo dead lift?

Thanks guys.

DanAVL

So you're currently back squatting and pulling in the same workout?

Baby Puke

Yep. Basic Starting Strength stuff.

DanAVL

If you have already reset on more than one occasion I would strongly recommend moving onto intermediate programming that spreads out your workload a bit more. Once you're past the absolute beginner stage, maintaining linear progression while squatting and pulling in the same session is a very tall order.

Quinn8it

sounds like you are going by the book.

I like a lever belt- like the Inzer, although recently there are a ton of them being made by others. With a prong belt you have to be able to tighten the belt more than where it will be during the set, in order to engage the prong. The lever belt avoids this- and makes it a really really quick process, which let's you run it a smidge tighter than you might. I've gotten in the habit if running the belt quite tight.

What size increments are you going up?
i am using fractional plates and going up 1lb a week on squat.

Another option could be switching over to the Texas Method. This would lower you to 1 set of 5 at your current work weight, and bring in a volume day of 5X5 at 90%, and an easy "active recovery" day.. Could be that the volume will bring up your supporting muscles, and it would limit the reps under high weight..

Baby Puke

Hey Quinn, I had been going up 5 lbs a week as I'm still 20lbs off my previous PB.Will get the belt tighter and see if that helps, and I'll cut the volume at work weight.

What do you think about Dan AVL's idea of splitting pulls into a separate day? This does make some sense. Could be something like:

Day one: Squats, press

Day two: Cleans, Dead lift, pull up

Day three: Volume- squat, RDL

Thoughts?