Welcome to the Big Gear Interactive. In 1991, the Yale team grew to such unprecedented numbers that a newsletter was produced and sent out to Yale Station Post office boxes and alumni around the world in order to keep in touch. This year, with the tradition of kicking butt firmly re-established, we re- introduce the Big Gear with the aid of modern technology. Wanted: anyone with some HTML skills to help with production.

***Pay your dues. They're $40, and they gain you all the rights and privileges of being on the Yale Cycling Team, including: -access to our training equipment at the gym (soon to be replenished,) -entry to team races in the spring -access to outrageous bargains from our product sponsors

***Cannondale Order: We're lucky to be sponsored again this year by Cannondale. As many new members are in need of bikes ASAP, we're putting in the order on November 1^st. No later. Contact Ed to view catalogues and place orders. You'll get no better deal on high quality bike s, clothing, and accessories.

***Weather: It's getting cold, so start thinking about stocking up on clothes to take you through the winter. The Cannondale catalogue contains everything you're likely to need, so start there. For those not familiar with New England weather, Luke's guide to winter riding is particularly helpful:
winter fashion

***From now on, El Capitan will maintain a page of suggested workouts on the Training Page. Read the following feature on principals of training and then refer to the training page for suggested workouts.

***We've secured a room on the 4^th floor of the gym for indoor workouts/spin classes on Wednesday nights for all of November through February. We'll start at 7pm- be there on November 3^rd for our inaugural spin.

We need to start thinking about a solid plan for the rest of the year, leading up to the Collegiate race season. If you don't f eel like you're in shape to start a real training plan, you need to ramp up the exercise through this month.

Homework: There are a whole lot of books out there that describe training for cycling. I suggest Joe Friel's book, "A cyclist's training bible." Here's a highlight from the opening pages: 10 commandments
Why should we train? Read the following article to get an idea of what you r body needs to accomplish by March: Endurance

For the training plan in a nuts hell, check out these tidbits that Friel has published on the velonews website. One on how to make a Training Plan, one all about weight training for cycling.

We'll work on specifics soon, but now our job is to evaluate what commitment we can make to training, and plan our time wisely. The general progression Friel suggests has brought results to your teammates in the past, and I'll push it. Make a plan, and keep a training journal. You'll see the value in it after you've got a few month's entries. It's valuable because your body is painfully predictable. If you know how it responded to training last week/month/year, you'll know what to do in the future.

I've prepared a chart that summarizes an implementation of the general plan for us, with the collegiate season in mind. The weekly training hours are from the training bible, and are in my experience a good estimate of what training commitment you can expect to be necessary for success given your racing category. You can expect to be at the front of the pack at the end of your races if you follow through- Race saavy will mean the difference between being top-20 and being a winner, but only training will get the opportunity to be either. Check out our training calendar

The chart of training hours is truncated: In the training bible, it goes right on up to 1200 yearly hours. This, of course, is a laughable commitment for an amateur athlete. Our challenge is to maximize the efficacy of the hours we do have to train. Unfortunately, your body requires training on a very deliberate schedule, quite unlike your academic schedule. Try to phase out the procrastination in your academic life so that you can do this cycling thing right. We want to aim for the consistent training that's described in the calendar. You need to work out at least three times a week to maintain fitness, 4 times to see any gains. Unlike schoolwork, if you procrastinate with training you go backwards. Don't overestimate what you can do on the bike- it's better to put in 5 hours a week every week than to put in 10 until you get into trouble and then take a week or two off while you write papers and study for exams.

You'd think that bear right and keep a strait line would be obvious, but riders in our own ranks have been seen doing less than that lately. The Connecticut Bicycle Coalition has recently prepared a section to be added to the CT new drivers manual. I think it's good and long overdue. Take a look at the draft, and pay attention to "what drivers can expect of cyclists-" this should be you.

Sharing the Road with Bicyclists- draft copy

Big Gear, Sept. 99 | Yale Cycling Mainpage | Team News