Rosser Chiropractic

Recently I found a great list of tips for taking care of aching knees in Rene Wenzel’s book Bike Racing 101. First of all, the book is great, and filled with tips and useful information for anyone who wants to race or understand bike racing more. I fall into both of those categories, and a third one, which is taking care of people who ride bikes. Drum roll………..

1. Wear leg warmers or tights when the temperature is below 75 degrees. (My comment: Most people will don tights when it’s much colder than this, raining, or snowing. The knee is constantly exposed to the wind and is constantly having heat sapped away from it. This can cause muscles to tighten up and create compression and stress in the knee joint.)

2. Get your bike properly fitted by a professional. Position on the bike can change muscle activation patterns and wear and tear on joints and soft tissue. (My comment: Due to the high repetition involved with cycling ..pedaling 90rpm for a 1 hour ride can result in 54,000 pedalstrokes… small errors in fitting can lead to mechanical stress over a short period of time.)

3. Use a good quality stiff-soled cycling shoe. Experiment with float in the pedal for increased comfort. (My comment: A great deal of stress can be taken off the knees by improving the efficiency of energy transfer… cycling shoes accomplish this by limiting wasted energy going into bending a shoe.)

4. Get orthotics fit to your feet or use a stock model from a store for arch support if you have flat feet. (My Comment: I often recommend that someone try superfeet or another stock orthotic that can be purchased at a running/sports store or podiatry office. Pronated feet cause excessive wear and tear on the underside of the kneecap.)

5. Learn to spin. Pushing against big gears can lead to excessive stress on the knees. (My Comment: True enough. If I had one thing to change about my cycling skills as a kid, it would be to spin rather than push heavy gears. Who knew I was going to get older?)

6. Train consistently. Corralling all of your training to one or two days a week or taking time off the bike creates large gaps of training stress on the body, and it’s easy to over do it when you get back on the bike again. (My comment: If your weekend rides turn into races and that’s the only time you get to ride, your body could be missing out on valuable adaptation time that it needs by having lighter sessions of training on a more consistent basis.)

Since I can’t, of course, tell you directly or indirectly who I see in my office (sorry, but, I can’t tell you if I see Bono and the guys or not…), I can use stories to help in my cause of public education. I recently saw a patient in my office who was the bike rider involved in a bike vs. van accident and it was a helmet, without a doubt, that played a serious role in the outcome of the contest. The bike rider had to brake suddenly to avoid a van that was coming directly at her. She quickly ended up on the ground when she lost control of the bike and was then struck in the head by the van’s front bumper. The helmet she was wearing was destroyed, but, luckily, her head and brain were not. I have little doubt that she will have a very good recovery from her injuries, and have only superficial scars left for show. She is a very lucky woman who is grateful that she has her memories right now. If you don’t wear a helmet when you ride a bicycle, you are making a very risky gamble. Please encourage everyone you know who rides a bicycle to wear a properly fitted helmet. It can make all the difference in the world.

As I went down to my office to get my bike and gear today, I stepped out into 29F weather, fog, and 96% humidity. That has been pretty much the norm since last Sunday’s “Grit Ride.” To my surprise, there were daffodil bulbs poking up out of the ground about 2 inches. I waited a few seconds before asking them if they really thought they were ready to come up, yet. They stiffly nodded “yes,” as if to say, “If not now, when?” May God help them in their quest.

As for me, today is our first “mock race.” As a team, we’ll be warming up together from the Valley out to the Boston Harbor Circuit race course for a lap. Then, we’ll split into categories and leave in 30 second intervals as category teams, with the Cat 1-2’s leaving last. The idea will be to try and maintain a breakaway as long as we can as a team before being swallowed by the swelling peleton. Then, whatever is left over after 6 laps at the end gets put into the finishline. 🙂

Last year, I did this race and got dropped on the first lap as we passed in front of the start/finish. That left me to ride by myself for 4 of 5 laps. Hopefully, today, I’ll have more gas in the tank. Besides, now I have some very sturdy daffodils to inspire me to go for it, no matter whether it seems like the right time or not.

I’ve been keeping in touch with the Tour of California in a pretty interesting way: Via Twitter. For about the past week, I have been getting “personal” text messages from stars and coaches of the Tour. For instance, I’ve pretty much known every time Lance is getting a massage, eating, or harassing his teammate Chris Horner. (I feel your pain, Chris.) I’ve also heard quite a bit from Ivan Basso who has returned to cycling after an enforced, um, break from competition. I think some of my favorites have come from him because of his broken English which comes through quite heavily on his postings. My favorite posting, by far is “i eat now.” Got it! 🙂

After a long weekend of riding, I got the chance today to have a nice low pace ride with a few hills. Also we stopped off at JoyRide today to pick up a new pump since I am tired of carrying around CO2 cartridges and not using them because I think they are a waste. I’d rather have the pump, you know. Seems like the right thing. I got a Topeak Morph with a pressure guage. One of my teammates helped me out with it on one of my flats over the weekend. It worked so smoothly, it was like using my floor pump at home. There’s nothing worse than having a soft tire when I’m tired and working hard. Anyway, my latest bike crush is the Topeak Morph Road G Master Blaster. Happy riding!

Last weekend I was able to do both team rides leaving from the Valley at 10am. Usually my family is in town and I spend one of those days with them, but since they are out of town, I splurged to see what I could do. Looking ahead, I am trying very hard to play it smart and build the endurance to go the distance on Feb. 28 and Mar. 1, 2009, which is our team training camp. Over that weekend, there are two 100 mile rides planned in and around Centralia, WA.

Saturday’s ride took us from Olympia to several of the points out into the Sound. We had a nice ride down to the water via French Loop and finally over to Steamboat Island Rd, which I’d never done before. I’d also never gone around Gravelly Beach Loop with the team, and “ouch” was that a burner. I did reached my max speed of 42.5 mph at the start of the loop and that was fun for sure.

I woke up Sunday morning feeling very tired and has some nausea of unknown origin. I didn’t really feel sick, but just a little run down, I guess. The previous day of riding was a big stretch for me. I think I knew I was looking down the barrel of another day like it. Fortunately, it was a little lighter duty starting out and we rolled quickly down to Rochester and beyond at a fairly mild pace that I could hang with. I made my way up an incredibly steep hill I’d never been up before, which felt great. (not the right word, maybe proud?) Anyway, I made my way back and made it fairly close to town before the pace picked up and dropped me off the back. Considering the weekend and how far the riding was, I’d say I got an A. Nice to be my own teacher. I was also happy to get some “way to go’s” as I was being dropped. I think it was some recognition for hard work. Believe me I know this project takes a long time, and I love seeing little days where it looks like it’s paying off a bit. 🙂

Sadly, I heard news that a local bike racer was killed in a traffic accident in Ballard, WA. It’s sobering to hear the news and I know that it brings a lot of sadness to his family and the many who raced with him. To me, this has a balancing effect and I know I will have it on my mind the next time I go riding. Bike riding is a bitter sweet joy sometimes.

It seems more meaningful than ever to pass along news about a joint program between the Capital Bicycle Club and the City of Olympia. They are putting together a series of workshops to cover the basics of navigating the streets safely on a bicycle. It’s called Urban Cycling and more info can be found here: http://www.olympiawa.gov/events/pwevents/workshop_bike.htm

A few days ago, I saw an interview with Robbie McEwen after he had just won the Tour Down Under Classic in Downtown Adelaide, Australia. Because this was also the first race of Lance Armstrong’s return, a question was asked about Armstrong’s performance. McEwen said he looked good, etc., but what really struck me was that he said that Lance wouldn’t shake his hand because he didn’t want to take his hands off the bars. For many years I’ve been fascinated with Lance, and this fits with the stories of his meticulous attention to detail. Unfortunately, my fascination deepens… So does the deep stirring of interest in myself as to what I take seriously, what I focus my attention on, and what I hope to achieve.

I am often asked by my patients why their pain feels so much worse when they are stressed out or feeling in the dumps. Today, I found a review of the best reason I’ve ever heard, and the new explaination I’ll give to my patients. Believe me, in the field of healthcare there is something new to learn every day. As a take home point from this article, I’d say that it is to do whatever you can to increase your positive outlook on the world, especially if you have a new injury or suffer from chronic pain. Your good health depends on it. Here’s the entire review from the fantastic group at the Neuro Orthopaedic Institute Australasia (noigroup.com):

“The article (Edwards RR et al 2008 Association of catastrophising with interleukin-6 responses to acute pain. Pain 140: 135-144 ) really struck home. In essence, these authors demonstrated a link between catastrophisation and elevated levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is one of a number of pro-inflammatory molecules produced by immune organs and cells (eg bone marrow, macrophages, glial cells) and is known to be involved in hypersensitivity, such as the aching you get when you get the flu, but also related to the severity of pain in back pain, fibromyalgia, OA and RA and neuropathic pains. This study basically says that the more you catastrophise, the higher the levels of and influence of IL-6 (and surely other cytokines such as TNF alpha). Cognitions and emotional responses are translated into known chemistry. It harks back to Candice Pert’s “Molecules of Emotion.”

The research adds to the growing literature that proinflammatory cytokines play a role in the development and maintenance of persistent pain syndromes. (Watkins and Maier 2002; Marchand, Perretti et al. 2005; Thacker, Clark et al. 2007)

The author’s suggestion is that a range of ongoing pain states such as Type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease, known to be associated with IL-6 levels, may be influenced by catastrophisation and therapy could be directed to it. Said in another way – catastrophisation can lead to tissue inflammation and damage. It is not too much of an extrapolation to add low back pain, whiplash and neuropathic pains to the list – indeed any persistent pain state. By the way, as the authors remind us, catastrophisation is a complex response to varied stimuli and the influences on immune cells and inflammation and pain may be just one of a number of influential pathways. For example, IL-6 can also blunt the endogenous opioid system.” (NOI group newsletter – www.noigroup.com)

Here’s the view from 6 feet 6 inches off the ground:

Total Ride Time: 3:59:16
Total Distance: 75.09
Ave Speed: 18.90 (for real?)
APR Ave HR: 146 (middle top of Zone 2)
APR Max HR: 168 (Zone 5a… oops)

Today’s ride was probably my best personal ride with the team. About this time last year, I could hold similar effort but only for about 35 miles then I’d have my SLOW rides back home. On this 70+ mile ride I spent a lot of time hanging at the back, though I did take turns through on the rotations. I found that I was really feeling it after my week, and couldn’t stay more than about 45-60 sec. At least I know the feeling and what to do now. Bail. My 168 max for this ride is about 10 beats below my MAX hr, so I was burning pretty hot on the climbing in Independance Valley. It was great to see this course, though, because last time I was here was when I raced here last year. I never made it up the first hill with the group and ended up riding three laps by myself or with other stragglers (who all told me that they had just gotten on their bikes for the first time after months of being off. Whatever.) I ended up finishing with the group which made all the work feel very good. Not sure if I’ll see this course again before racing on it in the spring.

Well, there it is. The first race in the world has started the 2009 year off with a bang! I watched the Tour Down Under online this morning and remembered how exciting it is to watch everything that happens in a race. According to VeloNews, there were about 140,000 spectators there to watch. To tell you the truth, I would have wanted to be there myself. I am a Lance Armstrong fan and to see him race again is very exciting for me. Watching him dominate in the TDF for years is one of the inspirations that got me back on my bike after many years of ignoring it.

Hearing Phil Liggett announcing the racing was very reminiscent of staying up late on summer nights watching the TDF and trying not to doze off until everyone started getting “twitchy” which would keep me awake.

No matter what Lance does in these first races, one of my main interests is watching what happens to him through the year. He is doing a very interesting experiment with his body. I hate to say it, but his birthday is September 18, 1971, and that sort of rhymes with December 18, 1971, which is mine… So, in a way, I’m interested in what he’s doing because it inspires me and gives me something to think about that is bigger than me.

In his commentary during the pre-Tour Down Under criterium, Phil Liggett made a statement that Lance Armstrong has been training like a “madman.” (Referencing Lance Armstrongs unprescedented January form. This leads me to smile a bit because I know from my studies and interactions with his doctor (Jeff Spencer), that while he is indeed training hard, he’s resting even more. I smile because Phil Liggett has inspired me to set the tone and focus of my writing in this blog to the topic of maximizing RECOVERY in cycling.

G’day, Andy