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Upper Body Steadiness?

Great Greyhound's picture
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started by Great Greyhound on May 4, 2005

Went for a ride today, and had my lovely wife and Pit Crew follow me in the car, since I was pre-riding a race course for next month, and several of the roads were going to be busy.

After about 20 minutes, my wife pulled up next to me, and yelled at me something fierce. Words like "#$%@$ would you hold your upper body still! You're wiggling all over the road."

I thought I was holding still, but after concentrating, I realized I was wiggling around. I also noticed when I really thought about it, my wheel tracking improved, and I seemed to ride in straighter lines.

Anything that I can do for this besides think, think, think about this while riding?

Darrell "Legs 'n Lungs" Lenkner
in West Chester, Oh.
Check here for Images of us.

PrinceofClydes's picture
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PrinceofClydes posted 3 years ago.

Hey GG,
I coach a lot of sports and this related advice might help:

1) Keep your head still.
Racquet sports require this to focus on the object of attention: the ball.
So..

2)focus your eyes on a specific object on the road ahead, like a line, or rock that you want to avoid, on the vanishing point if you like. Find a focus point that works for you.
To shoot a basketball accurately you must keep the head still and focus on the target, the same principle should work for cycling.

3) Lastly, that's all about treating the symptoms, but what is the cause?
Possibly, you are trying to drive too big a gear. When TdF riders start rocking and rolling it is because they are tired, going uphill, and the lowest gear they have is still too big. So try riding in a lower gear and spinning. The cycle stroke, if performed well, should stabilize your upper body.

your fellow Clyde,
PoC

"Pain doesn't last, chicks dig scars, glory is forever!"
- Shane Falco.

Great Greyhound's picture
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1294 days
Great Greyhound posted 3 years ago.

Thanks, I think #3 is probably my problem. I've been trying to keep my cadence above 90rpm, maybe I need to try and bump it up to 95rpm. I've been working on cadence drills, where I keep increasing my rpms until I start to bounce. Right now, I get to 115-120 rpm before my rear starts to bounce, when that happens, I really start wiggling on the seat.

When I get tired, I find myself looking down more, and I've noticed when this happens, my HR jumps, I'm guessing it's from me closing up my chest from slumping the neck down.

I ran the Flying Pig Marathon on Sunday, and finished 6th of 115 in the Clydesdale 200 pound class. I'm tickled pink with a 3:35:09!!!!

Back to the bike, and thanks!

Darrell "Legs 'n Lungs" Lenkner
in West Chester, Oh.
Check here for Images of us.

PrinceofClydes's picture
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PrinceofClydes posted 3 years ago.

Well done, that's a terrific time!
What's your secret?

PoC

"Pain doesn't last, chicks dig scars, glory is forever!"
- Shane Falco.

rjkowski's picture
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rjkowski posted 3 years ago.

This past winter I spent spent a lot of time riding indoors on a set of rollers. When you ride on rollers, it forces you to keep your upper body still and it will force you to hold a straight line. The time on the rollers paid off when I finally got on the road this spring!

If you do decide to ride rollers, I recommend setting them up in a doorway so that your shoulders will be inline with the door jambs. That way if you fall off (and you will the first couple of times!) you can catch yourself and not get hurt.

Great Greyhound's picture
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Great Greyhound posted 3 years ago.

My secret for the 3:35 marathon time is twofold, one I run with a group on Saturdays of FAST guys, most of them have run under 3:30, and a couple have run under 3 hours. And two, I ride with a fast group on Wednesday nights. On most of the fast rides, I end up getting dropped after 15 or 20 miles, but since last year I've gotten much better. I used to get dropped in the first 2 or 3 miles. The area we ride in runs into and out of a gorge multiple times, so every ride has 5 or 6 really steep climbs.

As for riding rollers, I like the idea of setting it up in a doorway, but unfortunately for me, all of my doorways seem to have stairs associated with them, or sharp corners and breakable things!

Darrell "Legs 'n Lungs" Lenkner
in West Chester, Oh.
Check here for Images of us.