Zen & The Art of Bicycle Maintenance

I ask loads of questions of my certified bike fitters. I recall years ago, how I struggled for longer, to dismantle and assemble my racing-bike at overseas races. I was, deliberately, clueless about how the physical features and properties of a bike. I was a bike dummy and had to learn pronto!

Subsequently, I learnt to do tasks like:

1)    Repair a punctured tyre.

2)    Disassemble a bike.

3)    Pack a bike into a bike-case, and protecting it.

4)    Assemble a bike.

5)    Conduct basic checks after assembling.

6)    Fix bike accessories (install new pedals, cleats on shoes, X-Lab post).

7)    Cleaning the chain (degreasing) and lubricating vulnerable bike parts that rust.

8)    Make important tape markings (position of seat-post, cleat position on shoes).

9)   Ensure speedometer works.

This basic knowledge is important and relevant, as paying a bike mechanic to do so may be costly. This is also expected of traveling participants. I recall studying my copy of Lennard Zinn’s book The Art of Road Bike Maintenance.

You enjoy a sense of pride and accomplishment for putting a bike together. It is similar to assembling home furnishing from IKEA. More importantly, it is applying existing knowledge before it fades.

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Packing my bike tonight. I will use my new Edge wheels – it reminds me of my ZIPPS 404s. The X-Lab adaptor is up with two transferred carbon Gorilla (anti-launch) cages. I will be riding minimalist with adequate gels in gel-bottles (stuffed in my racing-top), working off the aid-stations (Gatorade Endurance and water), and my Special Needs bag. The Bento box may come off – I will decide shortly, as my racing attire and creative use of duct-tape will allow me easy access of my gels and Power-Bars.

Get Packing For the Pecking Order

Prior to your next Ironman or 70.3 race, here are some packing considerations:

1)    Get a ‘what-to-bring’ list drawn up first.

2)    Place your race-kit aside (racing attire, helmet, race-belt, shoes, heart-rate monitor, speedometer, Bento-box, sun-shades, wetsuit, Ziploc bags, and nutrition).

3)    Check the condition of your race-kit for potential wardrobe malfunction or mechanical malfunction.

4)    Bring extra socks, energy gels, goggles, and salt-tablets.

5)    Pack your bike into bike-case (dismantle/loosen cockpit, saddle/seat-post, pedals).

6)    Nutritional package for your Special Needs bag (including solid/comfort food to be purchased from the supermarket).

7)    Prepare both wet-weather/cold-day attire and nutritional support.

8)    Pack your tools in the bike-case (Allan-keys, spare-tubes/tyres, duct-tape/masking tape, foldable scissors, and old water-bottles to discard at aid-stations).

9)    Re-check your list (see if you left out anything).

10) Buy your CO2 canisters at the race-fair (anything else, bring from home. Bring enough money for the pre-race and post-race merchandise shopping. If you are an iPod person, bring your digital music along.

While we are on the subject of preparation, here are some splendid short articles worth your attention.

Here are useful open-water swimming considerations by Swim coach, Kevin Koskella.

What is like to complete a Deca-Ironman? Results of this year’s races here.

Pre-Race, Stress-Free, Thoughts

Pete Jacobs tweeted this a few days ago: Good 23k run. 21k under 4min pace. Am running faster than before Hawaii, but is the endurance going to be there for ironman WA?

For a sub-1:24 for the 21K during training, Jacobs will be a force to be reckoned with; he will be racing at IMWA this Sunday. He is an excellent swimmer and very strong runner. If the recent wins by Crowie, Macca and Rinnie are an indication the Australian professionals seem to be dominating the marathon and swims at Kona, Hawaii.

I was fortunate to have attended running and swim session with Jacobs. He taught me to lean more forward and run on my forefoot, to which I have enhanced my cadence and speed.

Massimo Cygana and Belinda Granger won the 2010 Laguna Phuket Tri Championships yesterday! There will be the 70.3 format this coming weekend in Phuket, as there will be the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon. I wish my friends a good race on Sunday morning!

Thank you to those who send me tweets, text messages and e-mails to wish me well for Ironman Western Australia. I appreciate them very much.

Here, courtesy of John Cooke of Perth, an article on tapering by the irreverent but relevant Chucky V. I enjoyed reading John’s weekly blogs on his journey leading up to IMWA. If you would like to start a blog, consider this article.

Meanwhile, taper well, and have a great week ahead. 

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The article on peeing on the ride and run generated significant comments, including from seasoned racers. It is interesting that on this side of the pond, that minimizing down time in the most natural and uncomplicated way can be viewed as unpleasant. I merely shared my experience, and reiterated this practice with Chrissy Wellington’s latest blog post. It was not meant to repulse. Necessity dictates creating options. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Onward!

Pre-Race Tapering Time: Keep It Simple!

Editor: This is a contribution I requested my Coach, Craig ‘Fox’ Holland to share with fellow participants to Ironman Western Australia. The race is a week from now, on 5 December, in Busselton, Perth. Fox – who finished the World Championships in Kona in 2005 - will be racing with us. He is an international management consultant, and online triathlon coach. We interviewed him last year.

Much has been written about taper time. However, all athletes respond differently. As with coaching individual athletes, I believe there is no one solution that will suit all. Every one reacts differently depending on your genetics, athletic ability, recovery time, work/life priorities, and the way you handle stress.

However if you are in doubt, don’t do it! REST UP…!

Tapering allows the body and mind to recover and freshen up, replenish glycogen and motivation levels. Enjoy the moment and start visualising yourself succeeding on race day.

I do not recommend doing nothing. Past experience indicates most athletes will benefit from a reduction in training volume in the last week by around 50 to 75%. You may feel frustrated but, realistically, you don't need to do much except keep the system alive and sharp. Some short sharp intervals will be sufficient. Cramming in extra sessions now will be detrimental.

If you can, have a sports massage and stretch as often as you can. Stay relaxed.

Maintain normal sleeping patterns, and get quality sleep. In the morning before race day, take your bike for a last short spin/check out incorporating a few surges to lift the heart rate.

Rest and get off your legs for most of the day. Do not stand around all day at the expo or do a tourist adventure, mountain climb, etc. with your loved ones. Save it for post-race activities.

Do not do anything in taper week in terms of diet and fluid intake that you do not do normally. There are no special supplements or drinks that are going to increase your performance, except for a little increase of carbohydrates.

Stick with what your body already knows. Race-week is not the time to be experimenting.

Essay & Photo-credit: Craig Holland

If You Got To Go, You Got To Go!

I posted this link to Chrissy Wellington’s blog on the Triathlon Family Forum. I enjoyed the honesty and realism behind her race preparation and racing psychology. Most of all, I wanted to highlight the fact about the dilemma that professional triathletes have when racing, and needing to relieve themselves, tactically.

In the past, some of my triathlon buddies scoffed at my practice of, occasionally, relieving myself on the ride. My Coach, the Fox, instructed me to learn how to do it. He had asked me if I noticed if professionals take a pee break. I have not. I discovered that they do it on the ride; female pros included. In Chrissy’s recent blog, she confessed that she relieved herself six times! At least she was adequately hydrated. My friend, Hui Koon remarked in his forum posting today, that he could have been dehydrated during races. I actually rode to a PB in Ironman Malaysia in 2008 when I kept to my bike throughout. Roadies have told me about their one-handed technique for relieving themselves on long rides – I was impressed.

If you don’t pee often during the race, you may be dehydrated. Dehydration may cost you your race. Your body’s ability to process oxygen may be impeded when your blood is thick due to inadequate fluid intake. Dehydration leads to loss of power on the ride and reduced stamina on the run. Urine is sterile. When you drink enough, your urine is clear and odourless.

Why do you choose to be sickened by bodily discharge? Let’s be clear: nobody is attractive and glamorous as they cross the finishing line. Sweat-stained, attire blended with nasal and oral discharge, are not particularly attractive even to your embracing family members. Hey – we stink! And that’s the truth. Showers and baths will do the trick of smelling good.

If you want to save precious time for your PB, and wish to relieve yourself on the swim, ride and run then consider the following:

1)    Practise in training. Many people cannot pee on command. You got to train for it.

2)    Pee in your wetsuit – not a major issue. Pee on your ride and run, rinse immediately with water. Use your bidon to squirt the residue away by aiming at your groin. Some of it will run into one shoe, and you can wash it after the race.

3)    See before you pee: watch if there is anyone behind you. It is not courteous to leave your trail without warning.

4)    Do it as you cruise downhill, or have a freewheeling moment.

5)    If modesty or habit does not allow, then head for a porta-loo. Aim for an empty one, or the shortest queue. From experience, I’d head for an all-guy queue. Don’t take it personally.

6)    After the race, give your bike a wipe through. Degrease and clean. Salt water does the most damage to metallic parts of your bike.

7)    I am not selling bike, and my seat can be replaced through time.

Your Customers’ Experiences Matter

‘The customer can fire anybody, including me.’ ~ SAM WALTON, Founder, Wal-Mart.

Upset a customer, and you lose a customer. Upset many customers, and risk losing your business.

Read about Virgin Group’s Sir Richard Branson blog about customer service here. By the way, the 60-year-old Chairman ran his first marathon this year in 5:02, mentored and accompanied by world-record holder, Tegla LaRoupe.

Internal customers are your colleagues. Your infernal customers can also be your colleagues. Most staff are skillful at playing dysfunctional dynamics – Blamer, Victim and Rescuers – the basis of office politics. This is an annoying and vicious cycle that propagates and perpetrates unhealthy propositions, wasteful energies, and negative emotional responses. These downfallen relationships sap us of our earthy goodness and humanity.

In the past year, you read it here about Branded Customer Experiences (BCE), a term suggested by Reeves Lim Leong of INGENS. About 16 years ago, Gary Yardley and Jan Kelly (co-creators of the Experience Orientated Management technology) predicted that in the future three things will truly matter: Relationships, Potential and Experiences. This also strongly applies to managers who wish to lead into a future of successful business, loyalty at work, and worthwhile employee experiences.

Consumer experiences matter, or they will continue to consider shopping online. We know who we are! Retailers should awake from the slumber of the last decade and focus on the sunrise of the next decade. This also applies to educational institutions, banking institutions, event organizers, hospitality, and airlines. With the capabilities afforded by Social Media 2.0 and Personal Branding, both positive and negative word-of-mouth influence can impact your fanciest, cleverest, copy-written advertisement. Give it time – you will be revealed!

Do your customers return to your bicycle shop to hang out because they enjoy the atmosphere?

Do you respond to online feedback and change the format of your races?

Do you consider a wider demographic that is more family-friendly?

Is your special deal really ‘special’ or a ploy?

Do the students you coach stay as students, and extend their invitation to their friends?

Does your recommendation and critique hold weight, or it is just a superficial judgement?

Are you representing your brands well?

Do your best staff stay?

Caveat emptor! Do more good. Be better!

Photo-credit: Richard Branson, courtesy of Virgin.com

Inform, Educate and Entertain

The above title is a minimalist mantra of major newspapers. There is a large degree of truth to that, with caveats.

KISS: An acronym for 'Keep it simple, stupid'! Or, was that ‘Keep it short and sweet’? Either way, I was being cheeky and irreverent, or was I being lazy and lackadaisical? To use big words could mean referring to a dictionary, and that would amount to education. Wishful thinking on my part, I suppose…whimsical and willful me.

A club-member of mine, asked me on Saturday how I continue to post one blog a day, everyday for the last year and a half – my answer was simple, but not easy. I have, successfully, maintained my one blog/day average, although I have gone AWOL whilst on sabbatical (aka vacation, overseas races). I assure you I have been suitably concerned about not sustaining and delivering on my journalistic duties. Meeting datelines was and is, my occupational hazard (four years in trade journals and lifestyle magazines).

I hope that this blog meets the criteria of edutainment – catchphrase of the education business: interviews with excellent people, announcements, critiques, referencing, wisdom, expert advice, cartoons, and the occasional gossip. To educate and entertain: should there be a balance? In my experience, and my educated guess would be, there should be a priority of education over entertainment. There can be entertainment value in learning; focusing on methodology that engages, excites and integrates the enhancement of skills and acquisition of experiences. The learning needs and approach for Gen-X and Gen-Y are narrowing in its perceived margin. Adults want to learn, provided it impacts them positively and with direct relevance. Still, whenever they can, they appreciate a good time while learning. 

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11 Days Out to the Big Roll at the Finish Line: Recent weather report for Busselton, Perth: It was 37 degrees Celcius in Western Australia today. Winds are expected to hit Force 5: about 29-38 kilometre per hour next week. If it does descend upon us participants of Ironman Western Australia 2010 next Sunday, I hope it will be erratic instead of ‘head-on’. I intend to brave and embrace the day ‘full on’.

John Cooke posts on his blog some major considerations for Ironman Race Day. I urge you to read it.

Leadership Raw and Unbridled!

I was watching K.F. Seetoh host Makansutra Raw – where he pops in unannounced to the best eateries in Singapore and gives his informed commentaries and critique. Raw is being prepared for the camera-crew, and being measured by a paying customer. I observed that more than half of the hawkers and restaurateurs were extremely camera-shy and averse to being filmed. Here was a golden opportunity to be filmed and assessed by a fair and friendly food critic and yet, they vehemently refused to consider the opportunity for publicity. I call this is the Star Trek ‘teleportation’ moment – Beam me down, Scotty! It is real, raw and unscripted. One can only be as genuine as one can be; it cannot be contrived, rehearsed and pretend.

I wonder if the level of fear was equated with a lack of education about business tools? Retailers enjoy walk-in, sell-by-itself status; fine when you enjoy popularity, and positive word-of-mouth marketing status. It is when customers stop coming to your stall that incurs their deepest worries. Are they worried that a critic might call their bluff? Stop serving bad food and raise the bar of quality. Not every business is designed to last; that is why fly-by-night businesses have short live-spans. It is deliberate, tactical and deadly. Long-term business requires strategies, deep thought, living by a credo of values that attract and attach customers to us.

How ready are we for the incessant assaults of the world? How fully prepared are we for the next challenge that is flung our way? How do you anticipate the changes in your career and business? How do we stay raw and ready as leaders within our teams?

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Last night, I decided to run a half-marathon (with nutritional support) instead of a fast ride. I made a good decision, as I tested out my race pace on my K-Swiss training shoes. I ran about 4:50 min/K for the first 11K and then 5:10 for the next 10K. My target pace would be 5:45 min/K for that would be within my prescribed race-day, running heart rate. As it was humid, I had to ensure adequate hydration and I made my necessary but time-consuming, drinking-from-the-tap stops. It was not my best pace for a stand-alone marathon, however it was the pace for my dream Ironman marathon. I am aiming for four hours, and less for this flat course. If my riding legs hold and I pace myself well, I should be able to make a crack for it. Time to decide which running shoes to put into my Run bag…

Time to Rethink Time Management

Have you ever attended a workshop on time management?

What did you learn from it? Did you consider why you attended that session? Are time management workshops for people who cannot manage their time?

Time management is more than scheduling and prioritizing. Are we expected to do more in a day? Time is a finite measure. There are only 24 hours in a day, and how we utilize each moment is dependent on what we decide as important. I have always been concerned that some trainers of time management workshops do not adequately demonstrate their teaching. If your trainer did not make time to exercise, or decide to eat and sleep properly then I would question their ability to optimize their waking hours.

The reality is: we can make time for whatever we want to accommodate into our day, and our lifestyle. The quality of life corresponds to our quality of time invested into our tasks, relationships and thinking. There is a value attached to our time.

According to recent research, the concept of managing time is about managing your energy. Managing energy means being fit, well rested and focused in our use of energy. Without adequate energy, we cannot lead as effectively as we intend to. Energy is the fuel for sustained motivation, passion and enthusiasm.

When we are energetic, we are capable of doing more things. We can more effectively shift our perspectives and positions. Recall when you are sick, how did you feel about your energy? Did you experience lethargy and a general disinterest in unimportant things? Movement took a colossal effort, and it left you spent and over-extended; energy was siphoned from your resources.

Motivation is about movement, motility and motive. It engages us to do things we like, or dislike. We are motivated by pain or pleasure. Humans tend to move away from our prejudices and move towards our preferences.

Energy comes from our food. Nutrients from our food give us our source of bio-chemicals to create energy. Vitamins, minerals, water, carbohydrates, fats and protein are what our body needs to repair, fuel and grow itself. Rest and recuperation allows our body to heal, get stronger through a process of adaptation.

Having been an endurance athlete for the last six years, I have learnt to appreciate what it has been like to train for marathons (42km) and Ironman triathlons (226km). I have also applied this mindset and lifestyle of an amateur triathlete into my profession. Working longer hours and training about 15-20 hours per week parallels each other. You have to decide on how you use your time, have adequate rest/sleep, and recover fully from each day. You put out what you put into your body. By becoming fit, we can:

1.    Sleep less, and function at a high level

2.    Do more things per unit time (be productive)

3.    Stay alert (at the most critical moments)

4.    Lead others to more purposeful things

5.    Become more “centred” and “focused”

6.    Be less prone to panic during crisis

7.    Make sense of the confusing, and consider multiple perspectives

If you lack the energy, strength and fitness you will be limited in your actions. So, manage your time by managing your energy. It is our source of sustenance and motivation, and our continued interests in others, and ourselves.

Unstoppable!

Watch this new film, starring Denzel Washington (Training Day) and Chris Pine (Star Trek, 2009). Two railway operators – one a veteran engineer and one a rookie conductor – decide to stop a runaway train from colliding into a town by chasing it in another locomotive -driven in reverse. The train is armed with carriages that are filled with phenol, or some toxic and volatile material. It is a race against time, odds, information delivery, and poor leadership (under crisis situation).

Once again, Denzel is Da Man! His acting is A1. Watching him is bliss. Pine complements him very well. They could have played up the role of rail controller, Rosario Dawson. Tony Scott directs effectively this fast-paced film; rarely a dull moment. My easy scale ranking is 4/5 stars. Watch it!

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Less than two weeks to Busselton – and distractions from new Cairns Challenge is emerging. The last two weeks during tapering is critical and crucial to triathlon success. I suspect my sprained wrist includes a hairline fracture; it is manageable for now. Time to prepare more intensively my race-gear. More biking and run/swim speed work. Thinking about the ultra-marathon three weeks after Busso. Decisions, decisions!