Sitting on my bike at the starting of my first race, I never would have expected what obstacles were ahead of me, aside from seven miles of single track mountain bike trail. A trail ridden with huge tree roots and rocks bigger than my kitchen stove. Before the starting gun goes off I had already made my first mistake. My bike is at least ten pounds heavier than everyone else racing beginner class cross country. My bike was specifically designed for enduro races meaning It is equipt with a generous ammount of travel in the soft front suspension. This makes the bike extremely inefficiant for a long distance cross country race. I definitely did not retain an apt amount of sleep the night before due to the butterflies constantly burdening my stomach. I was racing on about 4 hours of sleep, a sausage and egg biscuit from mcdonalds, and the small ammount of caffine still in my system from my coffee. The taste of that coffeel remained in my mouth and upset my stomach for the duration of the race. …show more content…
All I can think about is getting ahead of my opponents on the grass straighaway before entering the woods. Doing so I took the idea of pacing myself and tossed it directly out the window. About 2 miles into the race my rear tire is completely flat. I jog alongside my bike to minimize the loss of time as I wait for another racer to come along with a replacement innertube. An expert class racer sped past me and slid to a stop to generously gift me two innertubes. I wasted another 10 minutes replacing the innertube and redistributing air to the tire using my underpowered portable pump my mother threw into the car last minute. Off i go again, just starting to feel a nice cramp in my lower
Race day will either be filled with one race of a few, very fast miles or a fraction of that in dead sprint. While a track athlete can always count on racing around the oval in track, and never lose sight of the finish line; cross country sees a course of winding hills and trails that can leave me wishing it were track season. No matter the sport, I am running against the clock at the bang of the gun. I always find myself pushing harder and harder to beat not only the clock, but the next girl in front of me. For both of these sports race day is a little different, but it is always the most
I was feeling really good in this mud. My new bike was cornering perfect and hooked up so well. I was flying by guys! Half of the guys in the practice raced open class and were on 450s. I raced the lites class on a 250. You could tell if you passed a 450 just by the deep thumping sound that they made. After passing 15 to 20 guys I got really squirrely in the whoops. Almost losing it and going down, a couple guys closed up the gap I had between us. I proceeded riding not letting up a bit. Coming around the first corner on my last lap, I passed a rider on a 450. On the exit of the corner my front tire cross rutted and I slid out. In my mind I had to get up very quickly. I jumped up, grabbed my handle bars. I had my bike up and was about to hop on. All of the sudden I am on the ground and there is the guy I just passed going over the bars after hitting me. I tried to get up but I couldn’t. Trying and trying my legs were not cooperating. Bikes were flying around me. I finally crawled off the track not getting any yellow flags from the track officials. Finally, one of the track guys came over to me. I was very angry at the time. He asked me, “Are you okay?” I responded in a shout, “Do I look okay? I just crawled off the track with 20
Four days after winning the Seagate 100 km Ultramarathon in Toledo, Ohio, I was hospitalized for 11 days with Acute Kidney Failure, a direct consequence of the race, possibly exacerbated by the 2400 mg of ibuprofen that I took during the race. In this article, I will describe my race and my hospitalization, discuss similar experiences of two runners after the 1994 Western States (WS) 100 Mile Endurance Run, and tell what I have learned that might be of general interest.
like the windedness of the runner or the leg burn of the biker but an
At least half a week before your meet it is important to drink plenty of water and eat fairly healthy. Hydrating your body all through this half week can actually help during the race. The things you eat can either slow you down or help you out. For example, drinking a soda the day before the race will just slow you down because of all
Caffeine is a very popular stimulant among athletes because most believe that it provides energy, increases alertness, and quickens reaction time. When in beverage form, caffeine reaches all body tissues within five minutes of ingestion. However, peak blood levels are reached in thirty minutes. Therefore, many cyclists consume a cup of coffee half an hour before short races begin. Others drink a bottle of coke diluted with water during the last half of longer races (http://www.roble.net/marquis/caffeine). The use of caffeine is controversial in the sports world, because it is a stimulant. In fact, the UCI forbids drinking caffeine in large quantities prior to competitions. But, why is there such a desire amongst athletes to consume this drug? Are its results really that effective? To answer these questions one must investigate how caffeine works.
The rest of practice was pretty normal. I even shaved thirty second off of my five mile time! Which would’ve been great if I didn’t have this major pain in my chest the whole time. Weird. . .
Over one hundred years ago, police departments routinely patrolled cities and towns by bicycle. The bike was tremendously popular only until the advent of the automobile. The bicycle then disappeared from policing. It wasn’t until the late 1980’s that the bicycle made a comeback. In 1988, Sergeant Paul Grady of the Seattle Police Department convinced his superiors that mountain bikes could be a viable patrol vehicle in the congested downtown area, waterfront parks, and market districts. Seattle believed that the bicycle could prove to be an invaluable tool. They were faced with problems such as vehicle congestion, vagrants, gang activity, purse snatchings, and auto burglaries. A solution to this problem seemed to be the mountain bike. It enabled officers to be mobile enough to respond quickly to calls for service with the ability to maneuver through gridlock traffic, congested sidewalks, and lots. It also enabled them to chase down fleeing suspects. Gradys implementation of the mountain bike soon led to the rest of the country’s use the modern mountain bicycle. By late 1993, it was estimated that over 400 law enforcement agencies had some type of bike patrol program. Presently there is a vast group of agencies that use the mountain bike for patrol operations they are:
During the race, I experienced a side cramp and it was uncomfortable. I was thinking about why I signed up for this and how I don’t have to be here running. The race was painful, but I did want to give up. I came to practice everyday and I wanted to keep improving.
Completing an ultramarathon a feat for anyone. However, for a 16 year old girl it seemed impossible. So why not? As a varsity cross country runner I am no stranger to running. The contradictory love-hate relationship strains the mind and body like to no other. My Junior year I started falling out of love with cross country, the distances, the races, and the running in general had gotten monotonous. I live by the phrase “You must be comfortable with being uncomfortable.” I constantly seek new challenges pushing myself beyond normal bounds. I wanted to do something incredible, so when I saw a sign for a 50k (31.5 mile) race in a few months I knew that it will be perfect!
Weightlifting, recently, or working out, has been a big part of my life. For a little over 21 years of my life I was a small framed person. No, I didn’t like it but I dealt with it. I joined the military in September of 2012, weighing a measly 145lb at 6’0”. Over the first couple months in the military, through Basic and AIT, I gained close to 20lb. Some fat, some muscle. I felt better about myself. I didn’t look “small” anymore.
For optimal performance, she may want to consider carbohydrate loading. Carbohydrates provide the most readily available source of energy for muscles to use in both moderate and high intensity exercise, (“Triathlon Training Diet – Endurance Sports Nutrition”). The purpose of carbohydrate loading is to delay fatigue during the event and enable to body to be able to maintain a high intensity for longer periods of time. By loading up on carbohydrates, we are increasing the amount of stored glycogen by 200-300%; therefore giving the body that extra boost it may need during this triathlon. Samantha should begin carbohydrate loading three to four days before the event. In order for it to work correctly, exercise should be tapered while increasing her carbohydrate intake. For most athletes, five to seven grams of carbohydrates are usually acceptable during carbohydrate loading. However, for endurance runners and triathlon competitors, the amount of grams should be increased to between ten and twelve grams of carbohydrates should be consumed per kilograms of body weight, (Mayo Clinic, “Carbohydrate-Loading Diet”). To figure this, let’s multiply ten by her body weight of 59.02. This method of preparation training would require Samantha to begin consuming 590.20 grams of carbohydrates a day three to four days before the event. The best way to do this is to replace most of the fat in her diet with carbohydrates. This
We think it would be interesting to quote first Harley-Davidson's mission, in order to get a first approach of what is the purpose of the company from their point of view. The mission talks first about dreams, rather than motorcycles, which is what the public has in mind. This mission says:
Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but later on enhanced features designed to make durability and performance in rough terrain easier to maintain. Mountain biking can be broken down into different categories, cross country which is mostly flat, trail riding is the way people usually ride and consist of mostly flat riding, but also some up and down, all mountain consist of riding uphill and downhill , downhill is strictly all down with very technical riding, and freeride is just like downhill but has jumps and berms. Mountain Biking has some controversies, but also has a variety of outcomes, such as health, community, environmental, and wildlife benefits.
Training for a marathon is a huge commitment which calls for a large amount of time, energy, and physical strain. The key to training is staying motivated, practicing safe and smart training, and following a nutritious diet(“How to Train for a Marathon”). Fi...