Seminar Expo

Saturday (May 6th) was a super cool bike rally overload day. This year they introduced a Seminar Expo for those whose schedules don't permit going to all of the individual seminars. For me, it sounded like a perfect idea.

The day started with a Bike Fit seminar which covered a number of common problems people face with getting their bike to fit them properly. Each type of pain or discomfort tends to have an associated adjustment on the bike causing it. Provided that the frame is the right size, it's possible to adjust almost any other part of the bike to ensure a pain-free ride.

Next was a seminar which covered media relations. We talked about how to speak to the media if we have an opportunity, and when to involve Friends For Life Bike Rally organizers. Some of what was covered in this seminar could also be transferred to fundraising efforts.

The nutrition seminar was a great lesson in the way that diet and meal / snack schedules and quantities can influence your performance. As we discussed glycogen availability and aerobic versus anaerobic metabolic pathways I couldn't help but recall my biochem days at McMaster, and all the metabolic pathways I had to learn. In short, if you don't fuel up properly for a long ride, and don't drink the right amount of fluids, you'll run into trouble. If you do prepare correctly, your aerobic system can keep you biking for hours at a time.

The strength training session offered some great tips for training to increase endurance and strength, and provided some excellent tips for warming up and stretching for a ride. It didn't hurt that our instructor was a treat to watch ;-)

Over lunch we had a great informal chat about camping preparation, and overall questions around logistics of the ride. Kevin asked a great question about the "guest policy" for the night of our arrival in Montreal. You should ask him about it some time, it's worth a good giggle.

The fundraising seminar was pretty good for covering approaches for inviting others to support the Rally. Raising $2,000 seems pretty hard, but when you consider the magnitude of this event, it's easy to see how people can become excited and engergized to contribute to the cause. With 250 cyclists travelling over 600 km in six days, it's an extraordinary feat. Few people travel over 100 km in a day under their own power. When you consider the services that the Toronto People With Aids Foundation offers, and the number of lives that are touched through this fundraising event, it's easy to see how good it can feel to help make a difference. So, if you're reading this blog, and think you'd like to learn more, check out the links to your right, then send a donation to Kevin or me. By helping each of us reach our fundraising goal, you'll become a part of a huge event!

After the seminar expo was over, we had our hill training clinic. The ride up to Sunnybrook Park was pretty nice, then we covered some techniques to help with climbing hills. Cadence is key, so it's certainly important to select the appropriate gear, and to do it early enough that you're not exhausting your muscles and creating lactic acid buildup. There are disadvantages and advantages to getting out of your saddle. Peddling in a full circular motion helps too (of course, you need clipless pedals, or cages to do this). Lucinda has a great article on the Bike Rally site that covers this in much more detail.

Overall, it's great to see the amount of information that is available for our training efforts. Training is quickly taking up more and more of our time, but it's going to help us get to Montreal in one piece!