Case Study: How to be a better cyclist
Author’s Note: Folks, whatever I am going to write here about my training and all, it is my impression of myself and knowing how capable I really am. I know most “normal” people don’t even come close to level I am at on my bad days and I am in no way, shape or form demeaning anyone. I am not “normal”, I find “normal” boring and I love find a little bit of exceptional everywhere I go.
After almost a month of swim training, I feel like I am getting a bit of swimming fitness back. The feel for the water is better. A lot of that has to do with the plans on my Form swim goggles.(No, this is not a sponsored post. Who will sponsor a guy with 38 followers? Even though, Jesus only needed 12. Just sayin’.)
A lot has to do also with this great YouTube channel: Effortless Swimming. Give them a follow, they put great content and it has really helped me. My SWOLF score is reduced by 50% and is closer to high 40s low 50s. (Told you I would work on it. It’s still pretty shit though.).
Anyways, it’s been 5 years since my last Ironman. Weird segue, but bear with me.
In my last Ironman, I swam on average once every week. Mostly never over 2k and in 2017 I was still “sincere”. I did brick workouts, I rode 120k-125k and then ran 25k-30k off the bike. (I am reading my logs from those days. Man I was a pussy. Such a whiny little runt.) I mean, honestly I am so ashamed of looking at that training block and the fact that I thought I would break 11 hours. Anyways, I swam 1h 14 in that Ironman.
Before that, in Mallorca, I had swum 1h 08. And that Ironman was really terrible. If I am so disgusted by my prep in 2017, you can imagine the sheer hate in my heart for the 2015 Arunaabh Shah. I want to slap that moron in the face. “India’s fastest Ironman”. Hah. Anyways like I said, I put a lot more work in the bike and run in 2017. But I PRed by only 22 minutes on the bike, and well, 50 minutes on the run (but it is hard not to better a 4:55 marathon. India’s fastest 🤣. I am dying laughing, what was I even thinking?)
Ok, some of my swim “speed” might have come from the fact that I was bigger (10–15 kgs heavier) guy back then and fat guys float better (there, I said it). But literally without training, I was able to pull off half decent swims. Even the Ultraman in 2016, I did no training and still floated 10k in 4 hours. I have swum consistently all of last month, found and worked on my flaws and maybe I will swim better in an Ironman swim now (not that I am doing an Ironman ever.) But my point is that my bike was still utterly shit compared to the swim despite riding a lot more. And it was so shit that it completely ruined my run. Man, I can run under 4 hours for a marathon now. Like literally right now. I have not run for a month, I am exhausted, it is 8 p.m and I ate dinner an hour ago. But if you told me to run a marathon, I would easily run under 4 hours even now.
To struggle to a 4 hour marathon was a direct result of wrecking myself on a shitty 6 + hour bike leg. Good Ironman athletes ride Sub 5 hours on the bike and then are able to run a decent 3 hour marathon because the 5 hour bike didn’t take out much from them. My struggles on the bike were very real and they made me a terrible triathlete.
With your head under the water, you have a lot of time to think. And I was analyzing why I struggled with my Ironman bike leg:
- I rode mostly on the bike trainer without any feedback. I might as well have done a spin class in a gym. Or worn a skirt, put on a basket in front of my bike and picked daisies.
- Riding on the trainer had another disadvantage. Growing up in Delhi, I grew up with zero bike handling skills. Plus, I was a wuss and was afraid of falling. So I learnt to take zero risks. Having no bike handling skills doesn’t help at all in courses where you have to descend and you end up being a grandma, pressing the brakes where you are supposed to let it flow. Man, I still descend like a grandmother. Like, literally, last Sunday, I was so fucking afraid on the downhills, I grabbed on my brakes all the way down. I swear my brakes don’t work and it might as well be because I am grabbing onto them for the entirety of the downhill. Ok yes, I don’t like to take unnecessary risks but I don’t even take the necessary ones.
- I focused so much on the bike equipment, I forgot to focus on the fact that I was a fat moron who was doing zero strength training. Without core strength, without flexibility, I struggled to be on the bike for long hours and fatigued myself to a point where running was a struggle. Also, for all the money I spent on Zipp wheels, I didn’t even get a bike fit done. Or get a power meter. Or get a bike computer. But Zipp wheels, why not.
- It is not about the quantity but the quality. Yes I rode 150k, but how did I ride the 150k? Yes, I ran 25k off the bike, but how did I run the 25k? Mileage for mileage sake produces “a result”.
I will write down how to rectify these problems, but before that I would like to apologize to Subbu who was my coach back then. I feel so frustrated with my old self right now, I cannot imagine how you felt back then and I am surprised you didn’t fly over from Boston to Lausanne and murder me.
Ok, now if I was a coach to the 27 year old Arunaabh Shah (the 25 year old was just hopeless. He was too far gone.), I would have suggested the following rectifications:
- Trainer rides are good but take off your skirt. (Wait, where is this going?)
What I mean is, get feedback. Like now, I have a smart trainer (ok, back then I could not afford one but still, the setup could have been a little better.) With a smart trainer, you have power output and you have direct feedback. Plus you can do quality workouts to improve your FTP and even simulate climbs. (I got 4 W/kg on Alpe de Zwift last season. Not mind-blowing but not completely shit either. Just a little shit.) - Bike handling is so crucial. Riding outside in the rain is very important because I still remember in 2017, Subbu told me (when I was saying I will ride indoors because it might rain) “What if it rains during the race?”.
Ok, if you have time go to Patrick Lemieux’s Instagram and check out a video of his 4 year old son riding on the pump track. The kid, Stanley, he has better bike handling skills than me. I was told the same by my colleague, who is a fantastic descender that he grew up cycling and he also does a lot of downhill skiing in the winter, so he has less fear.
What I don’t know still is how I can improve my bike handling skills at age 32. Bombing down hills takes a bit of control over the ol’ amygdala. And confidence on your brakes. I can build that confidence by maybe replacing the brakes. But how do I build that confidence on the bike? I would love to have some thoughts on that.
3. Strength training/Stretching is now a daily occurence. I work on my core strength, back strength and even on my flexibility. It helped me a lot with my running.
As for the equipment, I would sell those goddamn Zipp wheels. They are pointless for a person without the bike handling skills needed. If you guys saw Wout Van Aert a few days ago, how he survived being so close to a car and yet not falling off, that is skill level 100. That guy can ride in a crosswind with a 40 mm wheel. I cannot. What I would spend my money on is 200 bucks on a bike fit and 200 bucks on a power meter, so that I can read the power I am generating and can put that power in the right area.
4. Mileage for Mileage sake is a pointless endeavour. Riding 120k at 28–30 kmph would result in a race day result of the same caliber. I ran my runs at a 3h30 marathon pace too, but they always had a gap from the bike if they were at that pace. Or if they were immediately after, they were much slower.
Instead of expecting to be better on race day, be better on your training days. Doing 120k is ok, but add race pace efforts to them. Run distance but add quality in it too. And make sure to simulate the race effort. Add a swim in there to make it more realistic.
And above all, the pressure is all in your head little Arunaabh. Nobody lapping you in the pool is judging you, people will drop you on the bike and people will run faster than you. You are just another athlete. When you don’t let yourself get affected by others and what you think they are saying, when you stay in your head and you put in the work, work which is honest to yourself and you align your expectations to that, your results will reflect that.
In 2020, in the middle of a massive running block, having run 180k in the week before, and 140k in 6 days before the 10k race, I still ran a 32 minute 10k. It happened because I was honest about the work I had done, I had worked hard and result was a direct consequence. Now, when I ride my bike or I swim, I try to take the same work ethic there too. I am sure I can be better as a biker, but I would love to have your (the reader’s) input on improving bike handling skills.
I hope this blog is useful for someone who wants to do an Ironman but just like the 25 year old me is lost in an imaginary world. Or for someone, who just wants to do something better their life but doesn’t realise that their own mindset is their biggest problem. Like I said, don’t expect or hope to be better. Just be better. It will make a world of difference.
