Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Ride Preparation - Part III

Part I in prepairing for the California Coastal Challenge is raising money for the Arthritis Foundation. You have helped tremendously in this effort. Thank you!

Part II is improving my fitness and endurance on the bicycle. I have adapted a program based on Joe Friel's book Cycling Past 50. (Even though I'm not 50.) I highly recommend this book to anyone serious about cycling.

Part III may be the hardest part. According to Friel, getting over long and steep hills is largely a function of your strength-to-body weight ratio. (There will be many long hill climbs in my 500 mile ride-I am sure.) As strength goes up and excess body weight goes down, climbing improves. Friel states that the best professional hill climbers weigh less than two pounds per inch of height. There are no pros at 2.5 pounds per inch or greater. So . . . Guess what Part III is? My goal is to get between 2.2 to 2.3 pounds per inch of height. Stay tuned to hear how.

2 comments:

JIMBO said...

Hey Mike
Just use Ted's diet of diet Pepsi and Tortilla chips.. You should be there in no time.

mknakata said...

Jim,

You forgot the M&M's.