Nothing says S&M superhero quite like an oil slick bootie. Besides making me feel slightly naughty (sadly, this may be the most risqué piece of clothing I own), the rainBootie_S7 performed impressively in Portland’s persistently rainy conditions. The 434 stretch fabric is coated with a proprietary polyurethane that Assos developed specifically for this purpose: the result is an incredibly elastic final material that is also reasonably durable. The Assos website advises care when putting these on and taking them off, but I wore them through an entire Fall and Winter season and only just now discovered a small hole on the bottom. That said, I treat them with a pretty delicate hand.

Nylon reinforcement at the toe and heel further increased resistance against abrasion. The tight gripper at the top of the cuff successfully minimizes the amount of rain that drips down into your shoe and the reflective zipper locks in place at the top. While the wind and rain protection is second-to-none, these booties do not provide much by way of insulation: once the temperature dips below about 48, I switch to something a little beefier.

As with all Assos products, you’re going to pay through the nose for these, so I had to score them pretty low on value. Still, a damn sexy shoe cover that I turn to more often than I’d like to admit.

rainBootie_S7
$159.95

Performance: 8/10
Style: 9/10
Durability: 6/10
Value: 4/10

Overall: 6.5/10

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Traci took a wrong turn.

I had stopped to wait for the rest of the group. I was standing at the crossroads when she went by.

I knew she was going the wrong way, but instead of telling her, I snapped this photo.

She was too happy and it was too beautiful and I was too sun-drunk to call after her. The white roads will do this to you. Mindless elation, all cares discarded.

We caught up to her later, riding back toward us up the hill.

She was still smiling.

***

We are in the process of finalizing dates for the 2014 InGamba schedule. I have reserved some spots for my trips, so if you’d like to stay in the loop about dates, please shoot me a note.

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I found Kathryn Bertine’s writing about her ultimately unsuccessful campaign to make the 2012 Olympic team both poignant and riveting – a true glimpse into what drives us as athletes. This documentary is important on many levels and as the conversation about equality – in cycling and in general – escalates, I think this film will add a long overdue comprehensive look at the lay of the land.

If you agree, consider supporting the production and distribution. Bertine and Kevin Tokstad completed filming on a $10,000 budget by “surviving on meals purchased at gas stations, bedbuggy motels, and the generosity of strangers”. The funding push will help finish what passion and persistence started.

Click here to view details about the project or make a donation.

“Half The Road” trailer from kevin tokstad on Vimeo.

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87 degrees and a little muggy. Portland explodes with people. In the park, white bodies sprawl across the grass, sail through the air after frisbees. Dogs and humanity. Babies and bums. Bodies moist with sweat, hearts saturated with sunshine.

At the bottle shop, a Pliny the Elder.

At the next stop, a celeste-and-gold Ducati.

At the wine shop, something French and 4 crystal wine glasses to drink it from.

Fill front baskets.

Ride home carefully.

Punch drunk on the first summer day.

I QOM’ed the joy segment. Shot film. Wanted to rotate this to the left but Sal said, “No, leave it like it is. It’s perfect.”

He’s right more often than I care to admit.

Yashica T4 with Portra.

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Efficient, detail-oriented, clever, charming and hard-working; all the characteristics you would look for in a guide. He knows what you want before you want it, remembers how you like your bottles, drives a mean support van and tells jokes, some of which are actually funny.

Big gold heart, big blue eyes, fairly small feet.

We tested him during InGamba women’s week. We made boob jokes. Lots of them. We were crass and sarcastic. We occasionally made him blush. We demanded Cokes. We asked for gelato. We drank him under the table. We kept him up too late.

We loved the hell out of him. And now we miss him.

What makes this week magical is as much about the people as it is about the place.

Thanks for taking care of us, Rippers. Thanks for taking our shit, holding our rain bags and stealing our hearts.

I present to you a final bit of harassment: the photo series of Luis unzipping you in Castelnuovo Berardenga.

We are in the process of finalizing dates for the 2014 InGamba schedule. I have reserved some spots for my trips, so if you’d like to stay in the loop about dates, please shoot me a note.

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Five relative strangers in front of a coffee shop, grinning. Five women with five versions of the most amazing coffee you’ve ever had. Five pastries. One long climb ahead.

It’s hard to say why it happened in that moment. Maybe it was the bench, our proximity to one another – shoulder to shoulder and glistening from 2 hours pedaling uphill in the sun. Or the fact that everyone – even Raul and Nate – had worn matching InGamba kit that day. We rolled like a crew. Maybe we finally felt a little like a team.

We all had decent legs. We were happy, we were full, we were warm. Raul was singing. In the support van Luis had followed us closely up the last climb, blaring bad Euro electronic pop. It was the kind of thump-thump that could help you tap out a respectable cadence

On that bench in that sun, we laughed even more than we had all week. We spoke the InGamba dialect: a funny mix of Italian, Portuguese and English (and occasionally French or German, depending on the mix of guests). We ate pocket snacks and swiped Cokes from the van. We refilled bottles and rolled out to face the final major climb of the day, which was long but not too long and steep but not too steep.

Later there would be massages, naps, Florentine steak from the famous butcher. We would refill each other’s wine glasses without asking, having finally learned the rhythm of the dinner table together. Amidst the clatter of plates and flatware, we would talk about that coffee stop in Dudda – the one where everything was somehow just perfect, where we became friends and not just riders.

This is not a bike tour. This is an invitation to become part of something – to grow and learn and ride and connect. An invitation to a lovely little town that Joao Correia once called home (and that I also now think of as a kind of home), to pull up a chair at the table, to talk and joke and debate like family. To gesticulate wildly and flash the whites of your eyes while exclaiming, “This is the best thing EVER. I mean… EVER!”

If a little wine gets spilled in the process, all the better. Allegria, ladies. Allegria.

Grazie mille. Grazie grazie grazie.

Check out the Dudda ride (short version) on Strava.

**

We are in the process of finalizing dates for the 2014 InGamba schedule. I have reserved some spots for my trips, so if you’d like to stay in the loop about dates, please shoot me a note.

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Here’s what he had to say: 

We could debate the benefits of slower or faster cadences, but I’d leave it at this:  It’s good to understand the use of different cadences and to determine what cadence is best for your abilities and goals.  I won’t say one cadence is better across the board, because that’s not true, but I will recommend paying attention to cadence and working some drills into your training.

Think about your goals and ambitions.  If you are a competitive road cyclist, you should work on high cadence and high force.  This is the skill-set needed to be smooth in the peloton, to accelerate with the surges of the pack, and to sprint and attack.  If you are training for a European cycling tour with lot’s of mountains, then I’d recommend incorporating low cadence/high force intervals into your training.

Discipline-Specific Considerations 

Now, why do different disciplines use different techniques?  Two reasons:  physiological benefit and equipment constraints.  For flat road racing, gearing is plentiful so a rider can pedal as fast or slow as they choose.  Pedaling faster means lower force for the same given wattage.  The philosophy here is less force leads to recruitment bias of aerobic muscle fibers. Utilizing aerobic energy means longer endurance and sparing of glycogen (sugar) based metabolism.  So pedal faster to pedal longer. [i.e. Your heart and lungs can take repeated punishment for long periods of time and they recovery quickly after hard efforts, while your muscles will fatigue relatively quickly]. Also, a smooth, fast cadence keeps you from getting bogged down in your gearing with fluctuations in pace in the field.

On the other hand, a slower cadence taxes your  high-force-producing skeletal muscles, specifically your quads, which burn glycogen for fuel, which is stored in the muscles and is in relatively short supply. For this reason, these big muscles will tire more easily and recover less quickly than your heart and lungs. These anaerobic efforts should be used sparingly, as that is a limited energy source. For individual time trials, one might use a lower cadence because the race will be over quickly and using glycogen might be a good strategy.

Neuromuscular Demand

Training and intervals are most often described in terms of metabolic intensity and time periods.  For example, 2 x 20 minute intervals at 88-92% of Threshold with a 10 minute rest interval.  This is excellent and we use intervals like this all the time!  But also think about the neuromuscular demand of cycling as they relate to cadence. Different disciplines will have different demands and your intervals should reflect this.

By using power meters, athletes and trainers are getting more and more detailed with their programs.  By power, we mean watts. Wattage = force x cadence.  For a given wattage, you’ve got two options then, right?  You can pedal harder or you can pedal faster.  What is best for you?  There are 4 types options for technique:

• High Cadence, High Force -> Example: Sprinting

• High Cadence, Low force -> Example: Mass Start road racing, in a peloton

• Low Cadence, Low Force ->Example: Recovery ride

• Low Cadence, High Force -> Example: Mt Biking, steep road climbing

Technology

This has changed a lot over the years!  In the 1980s, ten-speeds were all we had!  Since then, the gears have more then doubled, with 22 gears on a many modern road bikes.  And the largest cog in the rear was once a 23 tooth sprocket paired with a 39 inner front ring.  Now, we have a compact front set, which is perfect for most riders.  Why so many cyclists think they need the same gearing as Alberto Contador, I do not know!  Compact is an excellent option for most cyclists living anywhere with hills.  And the cassettes have a huge amount of options now.  You can now go up to a 32 tooth gear in the back cassette, making it possible to maintain a higher cadence up steep hills.  This technology is out there and should be a serious consideration when setting up your bike.

Now that you’ve thought about your goals and the neuromuscular demands, AND you’ve put the proper gearing on your bike, you are ready to start incorporating this into your training.  There are many different ways to do this, but here are a few drills.

Drills

• High Cadence Drills:  Pedal as fast as you can for 30-60 second intervals without bouncing or rocking and then rest for 60 seconds.  Repeat this 3-5 times per ride.  Note your average high cadence during the intervals and you should see this improve over the next 4-6 weeks.

• Big Gear Intervals:  From a stop or slow speed, shift into the biggest gear that will allow you to reach 100rpm in 10 seconds.  Stay seated, with a stable core and controlled breathing, and push hard on your pedals to accelerate to 100rpm as fast as you can.  Stop to rest after 10 seconds, then repeat after 1 minute rest interval.  Repeat 5-10 times.

• Climbing Intervals:  Keeping a steady wattage/pace, alternate 1 minute standing at 70-80rpm and 1 minute sitting at 90-110rpm.  Do this for the duration of a 10-20 minute hill with a moderate grade.

To summarize, cadence is not to be overlooked.  It’s a key component to being an efficient cyclist and should be addressed in your preparation. Consider the demands of your discipline and work this into your training for an increase in your fitness, health, and performance.

About Russell Cree, DPT 

Russell is a Physical Therapist and Cycling Coach at Upper Echelon Fitness and Rehabilitation in Portland, OR.  He uses his background in cycling training, bike fitting, and Physical Therapy to train and rehab all levels of cyclists and triathletes.  More information:  www.UpperEchelon.com

You can read part one, “Pro Tips: Talking Cadence with Julie Krasniak” here.

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Despite a glove drawer overflowing with high-tech options, I reach for these about 80% of the time.

What makes them so awesome?

• Range. They keep me comfortable from mid-30′s up to mid-60′s.
• Breathability. They’re wool – I find my hands are less prone to overheating and getting prune-y from sweat.
• Warm when wet. Unless it’s pouring, these gloves do just fine in the rain. Because they’re wool, they stay surprisingly warm even when they get wet.
• Easy access. I put my gloves off and on a lot, mostly because I am annoying the people around me by taking too many photos. Nothing pisses me off more than gloves that are hard to get in and out of.
• Low profile. They don’t take up much pocket space when you do need to stuff them.
• Secure. The grippy surface on the palm works great. I’ve never had a problem with slipping.
• Affordable. Retail is $22.95. I’ve often seen them on sale for as low as $16.00.
• Versatile. I’ve used these for snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, city riding, road riding, and even a few cross races. When I travel, it’s a great all-arounder glove to have along.

Lovely Bicycle also reviewed these gloves about a year ago.

Basically the best photo I have ever taken. :)

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I average 80-85RPMs for most rides. I don’t think about it much. But what if I did? What if I could bump it up a bit? Would there be any benefits? Would it make me more efficient. I started asking around to find answers and I started at the original source: Julie herself. Krasniak is a pro cyclist with the Rapha Focus, a 4th generation bicycle racer and 12-time French National Champion. She was kind enough to answer a few questions for me via email. In the next installment, Coach Russell Cree of Upper Echelon Fitness and Rehabilitation will break down some of the science and training strategy behind the things that Krasniak mentions here.

Krasniak recently moved from France to Portland and is improving her English language skills at an impressive rate. I have left her responses mostly un-altered, except where necessary for clarification. 

1. I’ve heard you spin a pretty mean cadence. How many RPM’s do you average on a ride? How many RPMs were you averaging when you were riding on junior gearing?

I try do be around 110. When I was junior and before, our game was to be around 120 because it was the cadence of guys on track who were beating chrono!

2. Is it the same on a hilly ride or a very long ride?

You can’t do it on a hilly ride, but you can try. The goal is to get closer and have everytime the right gears to take the best of a high cadence, it’s never spinning and you everytime have to feel pressure on the pedal.

3. Where did you learn this?

My dad was a bikeracer then a coach, and he was really focus on that because it’s how he was training when he was on national team, in Poland and in France. Also it’s the best way to improve. When you pro, you ride everyday anyway, everybody do the same kind of intervals, the trick is to focus on how you do it, you have to focus on details to be better.

4. Obviously, you’ve been very successful with it, why do you think it works? What are the advantages?

I wasn’t that successful. But I believe I did good on races because of that. I was a small format, climber profile; small muscles, fragile health, but I do have really high endurance capacity since very young, and I did win or do really well at races on flat because I mixed this natural capacity with a work on my cadence. It was really important for TT and I liked to race it. If you able to keep high cadence, whatever the ride, you can be 100% all the time when other competitor will need rest. It’s why riding on a [stationary] trainer is so hard, because you never stop to turn your legs, you get no rest. You want be able to do that on race, give everything. Training that way is a good way to be ready. On mountain bike, you can’t never let your focus go down, so even you are on a downhill, you body keep the effort and it make you confident to keep pedaling. Same when you escape on the road, it’s time to never stop to pedaling until the line, which it’s not the case if you are on the pack.

5. I noticed when riding the Tour de France last year in a peloton of older Dutch men that most of them push a very big gear, turning over maybe 65-70 RPMs. Is that a Dutch thing? :)

Well, push a big gears works, to win a sprint or for cyclo. But if you want win Tour des Flandres, you need a different strategy! Cancellara dropped Sagan, seat on his saddle, and you can see his cadence is higher than the one of Sagan, who have to sprint to try to keep up, and then he just explode, while Cancellara just seat on line, aero, keep turning his legs without showing a shadow of pain. Cancellara is a great example of what you can accomplish working on your cadence – be world champ of TT, yellow jersey on Tour de France, eventually win Tour des Flandres and Roubaix in a row… Be like Bo Jackson, be good at everything because you get good skills!…

6. Any tips for how to increase cadence? Drills your coach taught you or things you learned along the way that help?

A screen with a number, I believe you have to practice for years with a Garmin or a Polar to start to feel what is your more efficience cadence. Each person is different, you can’t really do it if you are not ” a big engine”, have natural huge lung and a heart with great potential. High cadence will make work your body faster, it’s like an engine on a car which will rev high, some will get burn if you go too high…!… It’s something you can improve just for fun, for some reason, the fiber on your muscle you use on high cadence will regenerate as it go, while using just power [spinning a lower cadence] will make you tired faster and will need days to make new fibers. Or you can be dutch :-). Don’t go from 90 to 110 in a day. Do it step by step and be aware of what you are before start this kind of new stuff in your training. If you don’t like TT or win race in a break, well, you maybe don’t need to change anything!

I took this photo of Julie Krasniak while laying on the concrete in a parking lot in Metz, France. Krasniak had come to meet us at the end of one of the stages of the Tour de France and had been waiting hours for our arrival. I cannot tell you how much her visit lifted our spirits!

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Hawaii was almost sullen. Bodies beached and burning. Languid. Languishing?

We dove in, full-on tourist style except for a few excursions to secret beaches revealed to us by friends with local knowledge. At the Royal Kona Resort octogenarians in bright red lipstick and head kerchiefs owned the late afternoon bar scene. We stayed in a lovely condo just south of the main fray.

The sky was bright. Then not so bright. Overcast and breezy, the whole island seem to pout.

I spent my time drinking, sleeping, sunning and photographing strangers with my YashicaT4.

As down-time goes, it was right lovely. As paradise goes, it was complicated.

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