CLUB NOTES

Post date: Dec 11, 2012 8:19:36 PM

Youghal Cycling Club Notes – Sunday 2nd December 2012

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Club Spins The last two Sundays can only be described as Wet Wet Wet. With Club members wisely taking to the road at every opportunity during the week and on Saturday’s, you would think that the inclement weather we woke up to for the past two Sunday’s would have enticed the men and women of Youghal Cycling Club to roll over and take in a lazy Sunday. Made of stronger stuff some people would say, others are heard to mumble pure stupid, but whatever your thoughts we still had crews on the road donning the club colours and spinning out the legs in the pouring rain. Departing from Lidl carpark at 9am, the routes were cut back to 60-70km distances, with the regular coffee stop being abandoned to keep warm and get home the little bit earlier.

On a serious note the winter training has been going very well for the past 6-8 weeks with the new members of the club bringing up their endurance levels while getting used to riding in groups. The more experienced club cyclists have also used this time to spin out the legs and get a welcome break after a long seasons riding. Over the coming weeks we will slowly see some climbing introduced and the pace increased in line with the groups ability. These coming months are key to setting a base for the next seasons cycling and we encourage all cyclists to make the organised spins to maintain fitness levels.

Membership Club membership is now due and we would ask all members to make contact with Club Treasurer, John Walsh, regarding this.

Club Merchandise Please note that we are currently looking at ordering some more Club kit. We are getting numbers for Cycling Kit, Polo Tops & Leisure Jackets. Anyone interested is asked to contact John Walsh.

Bike Setup Setting the correct seat height would seem to be such a fundamental part of cycling that you would have thought the boffins had agreed long ago on the best method. But you’d be wrong. One thing all the experts agree on however is that if you get the height wrong, the effects can be catastrophic. A brand new study suggests that setting the height too low can decrease time to exhaustion by as much as 12 per cent. One method of setting saddle height is the heel method. This is the one every bike shop owner or gym assistant will tell you whenever you clamber onto the saddle. You place the heel of your shoe on the pedal and set the saddle height so your leg is straight at the bottom of the pedal cycle with the pelvis remaining in a horizontal position. Note that there is a weakness in this method as it does not take into account individual variations in foot length. So if you have a large/small foot you may need to add in or take down a few additional cm’s.