Team Evergreen Racing Weekly News - Thursday January 31st, 2008

• Welcome to the TER weekly news.  This email news goes out to all team members early Thursday mornings.

• News from Bicycle Colorado about TER member Rolo - "Please join us in welcoming Rolando Luarca as our new Business Manager. Rolando is an avid road and mountain bicyclist who brings valuable background and skills to Bicycle Colorado. He has professional degrees in both business and law, has special expertise with bicycle retail, and is a long-time volunteer with Team Evergreen as the Team Evergreen Racing Treasurer and Sponsorship Co- Chair."

• Team Clothing – our TER kits have been ordered from Pactimo and the socks from DeFeet. They are advertising about 8 weeks for production, so I would think that means that we will have our clothing by the end of March. If you want to order an additional TER kit item (race jersey, shorts/bibs or socks), you can still do so. Print out page 4? of the membership application that you originally sent in containing the extra clothing order form, fill it out, cut a check and send it to Rene Pirolt. We can add this to your original order. You can not order these items in the Team Store. We ordered approximately 10% extra of the team kit items in all sizes to cover future new members and members wanting additional clothing, so we should have you covered, literally!

  Team Store - The Team Store is OPEN for business - it will close on Saturday, Feb. 9th. I think that means it will be open all day that day, but please try to order before then, just in case I am wrong. You have more than a week left. If you have trouble with getting your account confirmed, please email me. I can have the Pactimo rep confirm your account from the 'backside'. Some folks have had problems with the confirmation email not getting thru their Spam and junk email filters. Per the Pactimo terms for Team Stores, they have a 5 item minimum for all items before they will be produced. No, that does not mean you have to order a minimum of 5 of an item, but that the total for the Team must be at least 5! At present, we are coming up short on ALL items - especially the skinsuits, jackets and vests, Yellow jerseys and Womens Ascent short. Of course this is the first time we have had a Team Store, so we are getting the feel for what the demand for these items is. Obviously, if we can't sell at least 5 of any item, there is probably not much interest in it. So please order as much as your wallet can stand! If we don't get orders for the 5 minimum, those particular items will not be produced and you will receive a refund from Pactimo. I do have access to the order status, so check the TER website FORUM for updates on this. Any questions about any clothing related issues, do not hesitate to contact me via email.  Contact: Cory Kramer.

• Winter Training - START TIME 10:00 AM. The winter training ride will be show and go this week. Plan to gather at the usual meeting spot at 10:00 and decide where to ride as a group. Contact Mike McKenna (mikejavamck@yahoo.com home: 303 932-1958 cell: 303 847-6102) for more information.

• Cramping Your Style?

After skiing to one of the 10th Mountain Division Huts last weekend, I was making myself comfortable and playing guitar when – WHAMO! Cramp city! My Sartorius was locked up tight. This one was bad. It was so sudden and painful that my ears where ringing. I broke out in sweat and did my best to get it under control without alarming our cabin-mates. It finally subsided and I was able to think clearly again. (It’s funny how training article ideas come to you sometimes.)

I’ve had trouble with cramping before – during the 24 Hours of Steamboat I was cramping on every lap. During one lap it was the quads of each leg and a hamstring! I could barely walk and had to toss the baton to my partner at the transition.

It’s frustrating, but despite being otherwise healthy and fit individuals, athletes do experience exercise-associated muscle cramps periodically. Some people are more prone than others, so knowing whether you are susceptible goes a long way in preventing their occurrence.

There are four contributors that play a primary role and deserve consideration: inadequate hydration; imbalance of electrolytes; insufficient stretching; and insufficient training.

To ensure that your fluid intake replenishes what you sweat, weigh yourself before and after your workout. Ideally, you net zero weight gain/loss. To replace the fluids you have lost, just remember “a pint’s a pound the world around”. For every pound of weight you’re down, you’ll need about a pint of fluid to replace what you’ve lost (water or sports drink).

If you sweat excessively, or are training in hot conditions, you will need to consider means of replacing electrolytes lost through sweat as well. Long rides and warm conditions can lead to electrolyte depletion. If you’re out for 3 to 5 hours, take along a complex sports drink with electrolytes.

Stretching is really important. You’ll feel better, move some lactic acid out of your muscles, and be more flexible and capable of doing whatever it is you’re doing. Myofacial stretching – like using a foam roller – can bring enormous benefits. It’s worth checking out.

That leaves us with training. I attribute my cramping at the cabin to two of our four identified areas. First, though in pretty good shape for the season, this was the first time I’ve lugged a 35 lb. pack on skis this year. Skiing and skinning take specific muscle coordination and use and I wasn’t in the condition to set the pace we did. I over-exerted. Second, I didn’t drink enough water either on the way up or on arrival. My hydration bladder froze and burst on a previous trip, so I had my water in a less-accessible bottle. I didn’t do enough to replenish the lost fluids on arrival. It caught up with me.

For more information specific to hydration, see Elizabeth Quinn’s great articles on About.com, especially “Proper Hydration for Exercise - Water or Sports Drinks”.

Cheers, David
 

• Bike Fit - Gain a month's worth of fitness in less that 90 minutes.
  Most cyclists can dramatically improve their race times through lower relative heart rates, increased power output, and have less overuse injuries if they improve their economy. But one of the simplest ways to improve economy is by having your bike position analyzed through a bike fit.
  GMS is now the exclusive bike dealer in the Denver Front range to obtain and use the Retul System. This is the same system used by Chris Carmichael and his company, Carmichael Training System.
  For the month of January, GMS is offering Team Evergreen Racing 25% off a dynamic fit using the Retul system. Regular $300, Team Evergreen Racer's investment is $224.
  Call Corky at GMS (303-987-8758) to set up an appointment.
  For more information, see www.retul.com or email Rolo.

• Accelerade - Take advantage of this TER deal on their products.

 If you have news to add for next weeks blast email send it to news@teamevergreenracing.com

Team Evergreen Racing 2007     PO Box 3804, Evergreen, Colorado 80437          webpage version