Recent Blog Posts

Knee Angle - Maximum

Ideally the knee should extend to between 145° and 150° at maximum extension. Often an attempt to open the knee angle by raising the saddle will just open up the ankle joint instead. If set too high, the hips will rock, causing lower back pain and saddle sores.

See Saddle Position and Crank Arm Length

Read the entire article on BikeDynamics

By all indicators, 2010 should be a banner year for EVCC:

• All recruiting goals were met, with the result of really rounding out the team
• Addtional opportunities for team members to excel (tri and CX teams, etc)
• Sponsorship seems to be holding up nicely
• All the team members seem healthy
• The team's reputation is still very positive and improving all the time

Current team and club members shoudl be very happy with this list as it reflects directly on them and their successes. We welcome all of our new members and are certain that they will continue and build on the success to date.

Onward and upward!

From Dr. Gabe Mirkin newsletter #9156 http://www.drmirkin.com/f...

 Maximum Heart Rate Formula

Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

Many exercise programs and tests used to measure heart function are based on an unreliable MAXIMUM HEART RATE formula that predicts the fastest your heart can beat and still pump blood through your body. Although this formula is the golden standard used today, it is not based on science.

Dr. Sam Fox is one of the most respected heart specialists in the world. In the 1960s, he was very helpful to me when I was competing, planning and setting up running programs. In 1970 he was the director of the United States Public Health Service Program to Prevent heart disease. He and a young researcher named William Haskell were flying to a meeting. They put together several studies comparing maximum heart rate and age. Sam Fox took out a pencil and plotted a graph of age verses maximum heart rate and noticed that maximum heart rate appeared to equal to 220 minus a person's age. They reported this observation, and for the last 40 years, the formula has been taught in physical education courses and used to test heart function and athletic fitness. The whole concept of maximum heart rate and the formula that it is equal to 220 minus your age is flawed.

The formula is wrong because your legs drive your heart rate; your heart does not drive your legs. Maximum heart rate depends on the strength of your legs, not the strength of your heart. When you contract your leg muscles, they squeeze against the blood vessels near them to pump blood from your leg veins toward your heart. When your leg muscle relax, your leg veins fill with blood. So your leg muscles pump increased amounts of blood toward your heart. This increased blood fills the heart and causes your heart to be faster and with more force. This is called the Bainbridge reflex,taught to doctors in their first year of medical school. The stronger your legs are, the more blood they can pump, which causes your heart to beat faster.

A study of 43 different formulae for maximum Heart Rate concluded that 1) " No "acceptable" formula currently existed". 2) The formula that fit age better than others is: HRmax = 205.8 - (0.685 ? age). It has a standard deviation that is 6.4 beats per minute which is very large (1).

A study from Liverpool, England shows that the maximum heart rate for athletes is lower than for aged-matched sedentary people. The maximum heart rate of male athletes was calculated to be 202 - 0.55 ? age, and for female athletes, 216 - 1.09 ? age. Both weight lifters and runners had similar maximum heart rates, which were significantly lower than the age-matched sedentary people. The athletes have hearts that can pump more blood with each beat than the hearts of sedentary people, so they do not beat as often (2).

Another study from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan showed that the standard MHR formula overestimated the maximum heart rate for younger exercisers and underestimated the maximum rate for older ones (3).

All MHR formulae are based on averages. They can be used to help you plan and monitor your exercise program, but should not be interpreted as absolute limits or goals. If you want to train to become fast, use the following: Three times a week, never on consecutive days, either race or push the pace so that you are at your anaerobic threshold and then use bursts to exceed it to become short of breath. On the other four days, take it easy and do not put pressure on your muscles. The standard Maximum Heart Rate formula (MHR = 220 - age) does not apply to highly fit athletes.

1) Robergs R and Landwehr R., "The Surprising History of the "HRmax=220-age" Equation". Journal of Exercise Physiology 2002;5 (2): 1-10

2) International Journal of Sports Medicine, January 2008

3) Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, May 2007

Installment #2 of the Nebraska Peloton. .

Correction

I stand corrected: Bryan Redemske is actually the sales manager at Trek Stores of Omaha right now. His promotion will be to shop manager. Congratulations Bryan. Where does this leave Mark Savery? He is moving up the ladder as well, becoming more involved with the operation of the entire chain of Trek stores that includes the Omaha store. He will also be more involved with VeloGear, a sister company.

More Team Kaos information

Sources close to the Kaos organization report:

- The team has switched shops to Joyride, out of Lincoln. Prior to his move, the team was affiliated with Bike Masters.
- They'll be on Specialized bikes instead of Felt.
- Jarred Berger has returned to the area, and I am told will be returning to the Kaos fold.
- Kaos is now a sponsor of UNL Cycling, which will serve as a feeder program for Kaos.

CX season continues

Several Nebraska riders are still tearing it up regionally in cyclocross. Randall Crist, Troy Krause, Craig Schmidt, Rich Anderson, Kevin Murray, Matt Farnham, and Nate Woodman have been hitting it hard and gearing up for the Nebraska CX Championships later this month. You can follow their progress at these sites:

Troy Krause http://tekvelolincoln.blo...

Nate Woodman http://monkeywrenchcycles...

Randall Crist http://www.omaha-velo-club.blogspot.com/

Also follow CX Nebraska for more news at http://www.cxnebraska.blo...

Cranksgiving this weekend

Want to help those less fortunate have a good holiday season? One good way is to participate in Cranksgiving 2009. All the details are here:

http://cranksgiving-omaha.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading!

News, rumors, gossip? Send them to jon.m.downey@gmail.com