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EMC2 - A Cycling Team's View
by Tim Radcliff
Albert Einstein is perhaps the most famous scientist of this century. One of his most well-known accomplishments is the formula E = mc2. And yes, a knock-off of his formula happens to be featured on the team kits of Elmhurst Masters Competition Cycling. Drop the 'equals sign,' and you have our team logo.Most people associate this formula with something about 'energy,' so it seemed a simple, clever idea when we used it as the acronym for Elmhurst Masters Competition Cycling. But after a season of training and racing during our inagural year, Team EMC2 has come to mean something more than simply linking our name to a recognizeable equation. Allow me to make a clumsy attempt as to why EMC2 is more than an acronym for our team.
Let's first start with a deeper dive into the definition of E = mc2. Bear with me, please.
One of Einstein's great insights was to realize that matter and energy are really different forms of the same thing. Matter can be turned into energy, and energy into matter. Einstein's formula tells us the amount of energy a mass would be equivalent to if it were all suddenly turned into energy. It says that to find the energy, you multiply the mass by the square of the speed of light, this number being 300,000,000 meters per second (a very large number). This is an incredible amount of energy! And this will be the foundation for observation 1 below. Something small can release a large amount of energy.
The only way for ALL the energy in something to be released is for that something to be totally annhilated. This process involves the complete destruction of matter, and occurs only when that matter meets an equal amount of antimatter ... a substance composed of mass with a negative charge. I will ask you to hang in there as I make point number 2 with this in mind. We release the full potential of our team when our individuals place a greater value on the team, not themselves.
Another phenomenon peculiar to small elementary particles like protons is that they combine. A single proton forms the nucleus of a hydrogen atom. Two protons are found in the nucleus of a helium atom, and so on. This is how the elements are formed ... all the way up to the heaviest naturally occuring substance which has 92 protons in its nucleus.
What makes it interesting is that when the two protons are forced to combine, they don't need as much of their energy (or mass). Two protons stuck together have less mass than two single separate protons! When the protons are forced together, this extra mass is released ... as energy! Yes, this will be point number 3. Our team working together is more powerful than the sum of its members.
Now hang in there as I stretch to complete this science lesson as a metaphor for our team.
Point 1) Matter can be turned into energy, and energy into matter, and something small can release large amounts of energy. I can spin this so many ways when I think of our team. I am not proposing we weigh
our team members to derive our mass. Nor do I think we race at "the universal constant" speed of light. What I do believe is the greater energy of Team EMC2 is a result of our own unique chemistry. Our small team takes individual riders, their ideas, their strengths, and their skills and turns it into something more. And when we are all riding well together, or racing, we can be a big and powerful force. We converted something small into something big.This year, group morning rides became team training rides. Enthusiasm for the sport evolved to rider, team and racing goals. The early morning alarm clock manifested itself in faster riding and racing. There was a paradigm shift as individuals now trained as a team. The formula for Elmhurst Masters Competition Cycling takes our own individual regimens and releases a powerful team dynamic. This energy strengthened the team. And the team amplified the energy.
Point 2) Energy is released only when the matter is annhilated. In this metaphor, the "matter" is self interest. Look no further than the 4 person TTT for this. The fastest combination of strength and speed occurs when the team annhilates the idea of riding only for one's self.
In the TTT, Dave Reed could have ridden all three teammates off his wheel. But instead he managed the pace, motivated his team, and drove to the end with
the team in mind, not the individual. Yes, he could have gone a lot faster. But he sacrificed individual performance for the results of teammates. He does this in training rides as well. And the team became faster than the individual. It happens in virtually every bike race.Mike Fox coached his TTT team to avoid early spikes in pace as well. Instead, he used his individual experience to turn his team into a freight train, riding together, building momentum. And witnessing their finish, they timed their peak output perfectly at the finish.
During training rides, there is coaching of newer riders, as well as correction of unsafe riding. This is not to say "we annhilate" unsafe riders, but we do seek to make sure the actions of one do not bring down a rolling peloton. We look out for each other and for their safety. We generally wait for dropped riders to ensure they are OK. We wait for flats. There is a team mentality. And the dynamic energy of our team is greater than the ego of one.
Point 3) When two elements are combined, they don't need as much energy. And this energy is released. The first part of this should seem intuitive to bike racers. We might call it drafting, or sitting in the peloton. The bottom line is that combining riders can dramatically increase speed - the energy - of the rolling train. Two riding together are faster and more efficient than two riding separately.
But let's take that concept further, as it is an extension of point 2 above. It applies to the chemisty or dynamic of the group, both on and off the bike. Combining the right people is the pursuit of corporate America, clubs, and sports organizations - to build teams that work well together and complement each other. At Team EMC2, we seek to find a combination of skills, strengths, and attitudes that when combined, result in a sum greater than the parts.
Team EMC2 identified early on that this was a key ingredient to our recipe for success. We knew we already had something that worked in our group rides from Lombard. Accordingly, we are deliberate in preserving that unique chemistry, because we recognize that the energy of the team is far greater than that of the individual. Being realistic about it, we are a non-sponsored club of grounded enthusiasts and competitive riders. We don't need a Terrell Owens. We don't need a Mario Cippolini. We are honored to have elite athletes on our team, and we do. But they complement and elevate the group. They don't detract from it.When you put together the right mix of riders, their skills, and their personalities, you can create a team that can build upon itself, handle adversity, and keep moving to the next level. We all have witnessed companies fail due to the selfish actions of one. We have seen teams crumble as they were built upon weak foundations of egotistical individuals. Having the wrong rider in a team can be a silent cancer. Team EMC2 is very focused upon preserving the camraderie with the competition.
But don't let our laid-back culture fool you. We train, ride and race very hard. . .simply not at the expense of our unique, durable, and energetic chemistry.
The sum of our parts is far more powerful than any individual on our team. Team EMC2 is way more than a clever use of Einstein's equation.
August 2009
This month's submission for the Peloton Report comes from Andrew Stevens, a transplant from the U.K. Andrew brings a unique perspective to Team EMC2, and he writes below about cycling in his native country.
Great Britain Cycling
by Andrew Stevens
Road racing and Grand Tours have been around for over a century and have been part of the fabric of society for Western Europeans for that long as well. So why the absence of representation, let alone actual winners of the Grand Tours come from Britain? The highest British finish in the Tour de France is 4th - matched this year by the Ventoux heroics of Bradley Wiggins.(you have to take a moment to at least see the video portion)
first British Team in the tour - 2 of the 10 finished. One of the finishers, Brian Robinson, went on to complete 7 tours and became the first Brit to win a stage and to finish in the top 20 (14th &19th). Then came Tom Simpson, the first to wear the yellow jersey, the first top 10 finisher (6th), and he completed 5 of 7 tours - one of the DNF was caused by his death on stage 13 of the 1967 tour. His death was preceded that morning by a mouthful of amphetamines (he showed this mouthful to the press!!) a fair chunk of a bottle of brandy during the day and more alcohol at a roadside bar at the bottom of the climb - he was a systematic drug taker.
finishing 14,4,11, 19, 10, 18 in that period and winning 3 stages and the 1984 King of the Mountains . In fact from 1984-90, Millar was in the top 10 in one of the major tours - Italy, France, Spain - every season. He finished 2nd in the Vuelta (twice) and the Giro and could have won these races had he not been forced to ride 2+ grand tours in a season, he did not have the physique to do this. He was a complex individual which would take too much time to go into but when he came down with a knee injury in the early 90's he put it down to his own calculation that he had conducted 70 million pedal revs in his pro career... he cut his ties with cycling in the late 90's and has barely been heard of since. Some reports say he is living as a woman somewhere in Southern England but this is unconfirmed.
1994 saw the arrival of Chris Boardman - a non drug user at the height of drug abuse. He wore the yellow jersey on 3 separate occasions mainly due to his prowess in the prologue, not a person who I liked at the time but have grown to respect for his quality, capability and being 'clean'. 2000 saw the arrival of David Millar - we all know what happened there and I do respect him for not denying drug use, serving his time and coming back respectably. Following Lottery funding (the UK national lottery allocates money to British sport) cycling has exploded via the track and as we saw this year we are now seeing the results on the road. Cavendish is a phenomenon, unbeatable right now and Wiggins has made a fabulous transition from triple Olympic medalist on the track to a potential podium contender in a grand tour. There seem to be plenty more coming through. Cycling has seen a revitalization in the UK in recent years - a 91% increase in London between 2000-2007 so hopefully more to come. 
Andrew Stevens resides in Glen Ellyn, IL.
July 2009 We all do it. We watch the pros and think: we can ride just like him/her. It’s just turning pedals. Of course, besides the fact that most pros are genetic freaks, the average pro is riding 20 to 30 hours a week, receives massages when done, and when not riding, has his legs up and is resting. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the rest of us have other things in our lives, such as a real job and family obligations. For most of us, if we can get in six to ten weekly hours of riding we consider ourselves fortunate. Chris Carmichael addresses this dilemma in his new book, “The Time Crunched Cyclist”. His point is that the average cyclist does not have 20 to 30 hours a week to train, but more like six to eight hours a week. The common belief is that to ride well, you must train like a pro. The Pro Training Model For decades pro athletes have spent a significant portions of the fall and winter engaged in high-volume, low- to moderate-intensity training. This was followed by a gradual increase in intensity and the inclusion of some longer intervals at intensities around lactate threshold (lactate threshold is discussed below). Hard intervals and training races were then thrown into the mix in the four to eight weeks prior to racing. All of this took a good deal of training volume. The coaching world would take a pro type schedule and scale it back for working stiffs like us. By doing so, the time spent at high intensity was correspondingly shortened. As time went on, The Boring Science Stuff Before talking about Thus, in the traditional pro model noted above, training begins with long periods of low- to moderate-intensity training: development of the aerobic system. As the year progresses, more and more stress is put on the glycolytic system: over lactate threshold intervals, sprint intervals, etc. But the idea is that before the hard intervals begin, the aerobic system must go through a long period of training, and that kind of training takes a lot of time. A New Idea In the absence of time, intensity is the key to performance. Workload is the product of time and intensity, so if you want to keep the workload constant as time decreases, then intensity must increase. For a training program to work on fewer than 8 hours a week, you pretty much have to focus entirely on intensity. Intensity means primarily training the glycolytic system. The program is 12 weeks long, and consists of a maximum of four workouts per week, and generally comes down to a combination of the following: The program is a limited time offer. The program is designed to deliver peak performance at about week 8, and then provides training necessary for maintaining this level of fitness for another 3 weeks. Depending largely on your fitness level at the beginning of the program, you may find you can maintain race-winning performance levels all the way through week 11, but it’s not unlikely for racing performances to start declining at week 10. The more you rely on glycolosis, the faster you will fatigue. This not only applies to individual efforts and training sessions, but also means that your body has to work harder to perform and recover as the weeks of high-intensity training build up. You will gain fitness and power rapidly, but 10 to 12 weeks after you start the program, you’ll have to back off and recover. This program can be used two or three times in a 12-month period, but you can’t run through the 11 weeks and then immediately start over at week 1. The book contains a detailed 12 week program, with each week’s workouts described. The types of workouts include: An example of a typical week (week 7 of the program) is as follows:
Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday 7 Rest day 60-90 min EM with 3 x [3x2 min. PI (2 min RBI)] (6 min. RBS) Rest day 60-90 min EM with 3 x [3x2 min. PI (2 min RBI)] (6 min. RBS) Rest day 90-120 min. EM with 1x[6x3 min. PI (3 min. RBI)] 90-150 EM or group ride
This report was submitted by Jim Landenberger.
A Different Mousetrap(or How to Get Faster When You Have A Life)
By Jim Landenberger
RBI-Rest between intervals
RBS-Rest between sets
As can be noticed in the typical week, the workouts are slanted to high intensity intervals: with Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday heavy into PowerIntervals (maximum efforts).
In addition to the 12 week peak fitness limitation, there are some inescapable consequences to having only 6-10 hours a week to train for an endurance sport, and there are limitations on the types and lengths of events that this program will optimally prepare you for. With only 6-10 hours available to train each week, your best performances will come in rides and events that are 3 hours or less. Considering that most of us are riding in road races, criteriums and time trials that are at most one hour, this limitation does not seem unreasonable.
Carmichael also describes something that he refers to as Endurance Blocks that can be thrown in when you might have more time over a one or two week period. Through these Endurance Blocks, in a short time you can develop more aerobic fitness to supplement the low-volume, high-intensity training from the program. The intensity during these Endurance Blocks is lower, since training volume is increased. The workouts would be great to use during a one week training camp, which could be done if at an away from home training camp or one that you structure at home.
|
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
Sunday |
|
Rest Day |
1-1.5 hr. interval ride |
1 hr EM |
Rest Day |
2.5-3 hr. EM Work half day |
3-4 hr. EM |
3-4 hr. EM |
|
1 hr. recovery ride |
2 hr. EM with 30-45 min. T |
2-3 hr. EM with 30-45 min. T Work half day if possible |
1 hr. EM |
4 hr. EM Personal day or half day |
4-5 hr. ride (may include group ride) |
4-5 hr. EM with 45-60 min. T |
|
4 hr.EM Personal day |
Rest day |
Rest day |
1 hr, EM |
1 hr. EM |
2-3 hr. EM |
2-3 hr. EM |
EM=EnduranceMiles
T=Tempo
During the first week, the block really begins on the first Friday and continues on until the following Sunday. The workouts before and after the Endurance Block are relatively easy, both in terms of volume and intensity.
Will it work for me?
This program is obviously not for everyone. Some of us just want to ride with a group and not worry about structure. We get out when we get out and ride what we think is hard from start to finish. But even without using the program in total, the concepts can be carried over into group riding. With typical group rides, the pace is pretty high throughout the ride, but it is also at a relatively constant rate. When high end efforts do occur, they may only occur once or twice during a ride. In order to be successful in road races and criteriums, constant accelerations are key. The secret to good interval training is good rest between intervals. A constant relative hard ride neither goes hard enough for the hard part of the interval nor easy enough for the rest period between the hard intervals. If time is short, ultra hard intervals have to occur.
I know this has been a lot of technical stuff, and if you lasted this long you deserve a medal.
As we move into the prime time of cycling and summer hours give us more time to train, we cannot overlook the importance of taking care of our own engines. With this in mind, this article was submitted from Dr. Mike Calcagno who runs Olympic Chiropractic in Elmhurst, and works with some of the area's most elite athletes. When you walk into his office, you see photos of elite athletes from a variety of sports on the walls, all thanking him for his work in helping them attain their goals.
Cyclists are no different in their need for proper evaluation and maintenance - perhaps even more so given the position on a racing bike. Accordingly, I asked Dr. Mike to author the following contribution to the Peloton Report. Enjoy.
FUNCTIONAL, FAST AND EFFICIENT
by Dr. Mike Calcagno
As an amateur cyclist, you likely spend a significant amount of time and money finding the right bicycle and the right fit for your body type. Each year there are more and more advances with the mechanics, components and wheels of our bicycles. Could you imagine if we spent this much time working on improving our engines? What would you feel like? How fast would you be able to ride? How long could you go at such speed?
"The bicycle is a curious vehicle. Its passenger is his engine." -John Howard
Do bigger muscles equal stronger, faster, more explosive athletes? The answer is very simply, no. Functional strength, functional movement, and functional neurology all play major roles in our constant drive for improving performance. Consider this: A runner gets on a bicycle thinking he/she is in good shape. Thirty minutes in to a ride, their quads are burning, their lower back is sore and very tight. Why? Functional strength is developed in different ways. One way to improve functional strength is to do that specific activity routinely. Other ways athletes, and in particular - cyclists, can sharpen their performance is by:
- Developing strength in their hip flexors
- Supporting endurance of their hamstrings, gluteus maximus, gluteus medius
- Stretching properly before and after riding events and on off days
These simple steps, once entirely overlooked, have now become compulsory for serious cyclists to limit injury and decrease recovery time.
How do you know what muscles to improve? One way to improve your core (the engine room of muscles) is to be evaluated by a skilled physical therapist and/or chiropractor who specialize with active athletes. If you can get both specialists working together on a program, you will see a significant jump in all your vital cycling statistics. The chiropractor will evaluate the symmetrical movement of your body to determine if the spinal and pelvic bowl(s) are moving efficiently. The physical therapist coordinates the musculature that may not working properly. And through precise therapeutic exercises, those deficiencies can be eliminated.
The door is open for improvement for all of us. Who will walk through it?
This process does not happen overnight, however. Through diligence and commitment, you will be an improved, happy, healthy and faster rider. Not a single one of us will get younger this year. Our ambition grows, and our intensity is stoked. But will our preparation help us meet our expectations and goals?
Clearly, we have an increased knowledge base and improved technology with our equipment to augment our physical training. But should we continually overlook and ignore our most prized possession – OUR BODY? The answers are simple; prepare, train and race hard. If you do what you know you can and should do, you will have success on the bike if you take the necessary steps.
Bike Fitting
Each individual that gets on a bike has a unique anatomy. Those anatomical variations affect each rider in many different ways. Injuries, slow times, and uncomfortable rides are three major problems that result from not being efficiently and properly fit on your bike. Is your bike set up for a century at a very comfortable pace or for a 40k TT? The demands that you put on your body and bike will vary accordingly.
Once you set your goals for the season, you should call an expert of bicycle efficiency and get a proper fit. Anthony at the Bike Shop of Glen Ellyn has been riding long distances, studying cyclists and fitting their bikes for a long time. This particular expert has a great eye and great technology available to evaluate the proper, most efficient position for you - with your goals in mind. With cameras focused on your pelvic bowl, lateral angulations of hips, knees and feet, he will evaluate you to get you ready to be powerful in the saddle.
If we neglect this process, the repetitive activity of cycling will develop injuries commonly seen in knees and hips. Patella and quadriceps tendonitis, iliotibial band irritation are some typical injuries seen with improper bike fit.
Proper bike preparation and fittings will lead to a better performance. Yet so much attention goes into our bicycle that we often forget that we need to complement our performance by improving our biomechanics within our bodies. Chiropractic and physical therapy complement any sports performance, especially cycling where repetition, power and efficiency are so critical.
At Olympic Chiropractic and Physical Therapy high end technology is used to increase movement and performance. The computer-aided adjusting tool, the Pro-Adjuster, evaluates motion and then stimulates types 1,2,3 mechanoreceptors within the nervous system to improve biomechanics. This state of art technology was first started by NASA scientists. Through years of work, those scientists have enabled an elite group of chiropractors to be on the cutting edge of physical health care.
When highly driven athletes want to improve performance without breaking the rules, you have to look for ways to improve naturally. Some ways to do that is to:
- Improve your muscular output
- Improve biomechanics with proper chiropractic care at Olympic Chiropractic by calling 630-833-4437 (check out www.OlympicChiropractic.com)
- Gain proper bike fit at the Bike Shop of Glen Ellyn with Anthony by calling 630-793-4030
Take action and the results will come.
"The Doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his or her patients in the care of the human frame, in a proper diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease."
Thomas Edison
Dr. Michael Calcagno
OLYMPIC CHIROPRACTIC AND PHYSICAL THERAPY
Team EMC2 Featured Cyclist: Jim Landenberger
If you look up the word "dedicated" in Webster's dictionary you will see the following:
ded·i·cat·ed
Function: adjective
1 : devoted to a cause, ideal, or purpose : zealous <a dedicated scholar> 2 : given over to a particular purpose
What you should see is a picture of Jim Landenberger.
Jim is the member of Team EMC2 who almost never misses the weekday rides, which require a 4am wake-up call. He consistently puts in hours each day on an indoor trainer when the weather does not cooperate. And even when questionable weather turns most riders indoors, or provides them with the convenient excuse not to ride, Jim puts in the miles. Relentlessly.
He is a student of our sport, reading all there is to read about training, tactics, mechanics, and racing. Maybe this should not suprise us. This may be a byproduct of being an attorney and General Counsel of a Chicago-based bank. Law school requires alot of reading, near as I can tell . . . But only someone completely dedicated to the sport of competitive cycling devours as much cycling information as Jim.
Jim began riding competitively just over a decade ago and connected early with Tim Radcliff for some solid riding. These initial rides eventually led to a couple of mountain bike adventures in Arizona and locally at Palos. However, mountain biking did not last long. After a broken collar bone and toe from a mountian biking "yard sale", Jim decided to stick to the more predictable pavement. And since then, he has become nothing but faster.Jim Landenberger has developed into a strong member of Team EMC2. When escapes form during more aggressive training rides, it's Jim that reels them in. His sprinting has come along way as well, as he contests each sprint zone. Jim has gone from just 'hanging on' a decade ago, to now driving the peloton around the Western suburbs of Chicago.
And if additional adrenalin is involved, Jim rides at a different level. I recall mis-timing our descent back to Santa Barbara from what turned out to be a cold and snowy mountain. We were heading down the mountain way too close to sundown, and the temperature was dropping quickly. When we hit smoother roads closer to sea level, Jim lit the match and rocketed off. There was no hanging on. Mike Fox went so far as to propose that "someone punch Jim in the head if we all need to go faster."
Jim does not only ride locally. He has taken his bike to France, Arizona, Seattle, Colorado, and California, to name a few favorites. He has crested the highest paved road in the US (Trail Ridge Road) in Colorado, and climbed several Tour De France peaks, including Alp d'Huez and the Galibier.
Jim's next destination should be Belgium. This region is often associated with racing and training in brutal, unrelenting conditions. The best riders regularly self-inflict pain and discomfort as they pursue their goals and dreams in rain, sleet and snow, up and down leg-rattling hills. They endure the poor weather and challenging roads in the name of cycling - a sport they pursue with a passion. I can't think of a better way to describe Jim's pursuit -- Belgian-like dedication.
This article submitted by Tim Radcliff
This month's contribution comes from Tony Brooks, a sports journalist who has interviewed and profiled numerous athletes across a variety of sports, and frequently contributes to BSTM. Tony Brooks met our teammate last year while interviewing Rashaan Bahati of Rock Racing.
Team EMC2 Featured Cyclist: Tony Meadors
Then Came Tony
by Tony Brooks
Tony Meadors and TV character Jim Bronson of Then Came Bronson
have much in common. The 1969-70 show opened with Bronson on a Harley Sportster pulling up next to a San Francisco commuter in a station wagon while stuck in traffic. With sad eyes and a longing heart, the commuter looks at Bronson and says, “Man, I wish I was you.” Bronson tells him to “hang in there,” then he throttles off in search of adventure.
Tony grew up in the famed Hype Park neighborhood of Chicago, and like most Hyde Park boys do, they cruised over to the lakefront on their Schwinns and Raleighs, heading north – destination unknown. After all, at that age, it’s not so much about the destination as it is about the journey and the bike that gets you there.
Tony graduated from Lincoln Park’s Francis Parker High School, a liberal free thinking school where you learn to trust your instincts, and let your thoughts fly. He would later earn a B.S. degree in Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Tony sought adventures on the high seas and enlisted in the United States Navy. It was in the military that Tony met a guy who was into bike touring and influenced him to take up some serious biking. In 1987-88, Tony started participating in Triathlons. His goal was to mainly do running and cycling events as a serious competitor. And after joining the USA Cycling Federation, Tony’s aperture focused on racing.
Tony got a call from a member of the Apache Cycling Team and was invited to ride. He started racing more competitively from 1989-1994. During this time, Tony competed in a number of races, including time trials and road races, and was a key contributor to the success of Team Apache. His accomplishments include competing in the Masters National Time Trial, and he took third in the Illinois State Road race, Masters 30+, which included the likes of Fabio Orlandi and the Pepsi team.
Now, Tony is back at it again. As one of the founders of the Elmhurst Masters Competition Cycling team, he is using his experience and form to crank up the speeds. Tony may not have the bursts of an all- out sprinter, but he has the power to ratchet up the tempo and hold his competitors to uncomfortably high speeds for extended periods of time. His locomotive-like pulls leave the back of the pack grasping for a draft.
In addition to managing his staff at work, Tony finds time to fire up his bass guitar and lay down some heart thumping, foot stomping cords with his rock band. Tony Meadors, like Thomas the train engine, thinks – He Can. And, He Does.
Tony Brooks
Sports Journalist
Thank you, Andrew Stevens for this video contribution. Danny MacAskill may not be found pulling our training group along, but this is absolutely unbelievable. If you think we spend alot of time on the bike, imagine how much he rides.
Perhaps you have seen this awareness test on the web. If not, it is worth taking this test to count how many passes the team in white makes. Great message for cyclists. YouTube Awareness test
