Blog Posts From Active Expert: Gale Bernhardt Tagged With mountain_bike

List of Training Information Columns by Category

Gale Bernhardt — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:40:35 GMT

In the last month I received three requests for a listing of the columns I've written, by category. I figured three requests was some sort of signal that people needed information in a way that I wasn't providing, so I went to work. Below, you'll find a listing of most of the columns I've written for the Active Network organized by category and title to make it easier for you to find the information you need. Every few months I'll update this blog with new links. I believe if you are a column subscriber you should get notice when the blog is updated.

Athletes ~ Thanks for reading and thanks for asking ~

Swimming

Set a Benchmark with a Time Trial

Swim Lessons from the World's Best Swimmers - Part I

Swim Lessons from the World's Best Swimmers - Part II

Swim Workouts for Triathletes

Cycling

8 Ways to Get a Jump Start on Next Season

9 Reasons You Should Try Cyclocross

10 Easy Ways to Ruin Your Race

10 Riding Tips for Organized Tours

10 Tips for Your Fall Century Ride

10 Tips From Hard-Core Bike Commuters

Basic Skills for Group Riding

Cold Weather Riding

Customize Your Fork and Shocks for Optimal Performance

Do Indoor Spin Classes Help or Hurt Fitness?

Don’t Leave Safety to Event Organizers

Group Rides All Year?

Indoor Trainer Workouts

Miracle Intervals to Boost Fitness

Packing Tips for Traveling With a Bike

Return to Racing, a Post-Crash Training Plan – Part I

Return to Racing, a Post-Crash Training Plan – Part II

Strategy and Gear List for Cold Weather Riding

The Dangers of Bee Stings While Cycling

Two Bikes to Improve Performance

Transitioning from Pavement to Dirt

Training for a Time Trial, Riding the Race of Truth

Want to Be Competitive? Tips.
Warm up or Die

When Flesh Meets Earth – Wound Care

Mountain Bike

10 Easy Ways to Ruin Your Race

Acclimating to Altitude Before a Race Part I

Acclimating to Altitude Before a Race Part II

Customize Your Fork and Shocks for Optimal Performance

How to Win the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race, An Interview with Dave Wiens Part I

How to Win the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race, An Interview with Dave Wiens Part II

Get Involved in Building and Maintaining Mountain Bike Trails

Q&A: Training Challenge, Off-Road Tris and a 100-Mile Mountain Bike Race

Race Across the Sky: The Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race – Part I

Race Across the Sky: The Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race – Part II

Return to Racing, a Post-Crash Training Plan

Rattlesnake!

Transitioning from Pavement to Dirt

Want to Be Competitive? Tips.

When Flesh Meets Earth – Wound Care

Running

Avoiding Blisters

Cold Weather Running with Your Dog

Faster Run in Triathlon

Hit the Treadmill for a Fast 10K

Rattlesnake!

Running with Your Dog in Summer Heat

Swimming After Running Improves Recovery

Treadmill Workout: Free Speed

Treadmill Threshold Workouts

Triathlon

Avoiding Blisters on the Run

10 Easy Ways to Ruin Your Race

10 Tips for First-Time Triathletes

10 Tips for the New Year

11 Tips for Success From a Navy Seal

Brick Workouts Help You Finish Fast

Don’t Leave Safety to Event Organizers

Don't Let Fear-Based Training Sabotage Your Next Race

Fast Transitions: Socks or No Socks

How has Training Changed in 20 Years?

How to Test Your 5K Running Speed

How to Train for Your First Ironman

Ironman Mentality

One of My Favorite Fast Swim Workouts

Packing Tips for Traveling With a Bike

Q&A: Am I Ready for an Ironman?

Q&A: Can I Keep the Competitive Fires Burning in the Off Season?

Q&A: Can I Eliminate Cramps?

Q&A: Can My Bike Training be Done on an Indoor Trainer?

Q&A: Explain “Intervals”

Q&A: Does Lactate Threshold Change in the Off Season?

Q&A: How do I Select the Right Training Plan?

Q&A: How Can I Adjust My Training Plan to Real Life?

Q&A: What Can I Do For Achilles Tendonitis?

Q&A: Scary Swim Starts

Q&A: Training for Running Races After the Tri Season

Q&A: Training Challenge, Off-Road Tris and a 100-Mile Mountain Bike Race

Q&A: Weight Room or No Weight Room?

Q&A: Winter Training Mix?

Screaming Fast Transitions

Swim Fast to Get Fast, Getting Started

Swim Fast to Get Fast, 50s

Transition from Triathlons to Fall Cycling

Triathlon History Part I

Triathlon History Part II

Triathlon History Part III

Want to Be Competitive? Tips.

What is Your Personal Triathlon History?

What to do When Pre-Race Neurosis Takes Hold

Winter Triathlon 101

Health and First Aid

Examining Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Athletes

Determining Exercise-Induced Asthma Symptoms in Athletes

Exercise and Thyroid Disease: Part One

Exercise and Thyroid Disease: Part Two

Twirlie Hot Dogs to the Refueling Rescue

When Flesh Meets Earth – Wound Care

Endurance Sports General

10 Things That Can Hold You Back

10 Tips for Finding the Right Coach

Athletic Inspiration -- Steve Ackerman

Cerebral Fitness, Mastering the Mental Game

Characteristics of Good, Challenging Goals

Cracking the Code on Hydration

Cracking the Code on Sweat Rate

Drop Weight, Not Performance

Fueling and Hydration Formulas – Your Body Lies

Hair Removal Methods for Athletes

Heart Rate Readings, What do They Mean?

How Much Does a Pint of Sweat Weigh?

How to Keep Great Summer Fitness

How to Maintain Your Lean Mean Racing Machine

How to Unravel Your Goals with Impatience

How to Stay Race Ready When Crossing Time Zones

Keeping Your Great Summer Fitness

Negative-Split Strategies

Negative-Split Strategies: Part II

The Perfect Fat Burning Zone

Race Recovery Time

Rattlesnake!

The Taper Blues

Ten Things to do When You Finish the Last Race of the Season

Tips for Succeeding at Long Distance Travel

Training Journal Lessons -- Your Memory is Not Reliable

Travel and Lower Leg Swelling

Olympics

2008 An Olympic Year

Designing an Olympic Selection Process

Getting a Spot on the Olympic Start Line

ITU Racing You Don’t Want to Miss

Men’s Olympic Spot at Risk

Space at the Olympics is Limited

Taking a Nation to the Olympic Games

The Road to Beijing Goes Through Iowa

Women’s Corner

Bike Fit for Women

Cycling During Pregnancy, Yes or No?

Find the Perfect Bike Fit and Frame Dimensions

Women-Only Cycling Issues Explained

Mountain bike fork and shock PUSHed – update

Gale Bernhardt — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:01:12 GMT

In the November cycling newsletter, I wrote a story about getting your fork and shock customized to improve performance. I mentioned in the column that I had not had my equipment “PUSHed” yet and I’d let you know when I did and the results.

Before telling you the results, first I have to let you know the type of riding that I do and what is important to me for performance. The trail I ride most often is “Devil’s Backbone” located just at the western edge of town. It has loose sections, multiple rock gardens, smooth trail, some small drops (I don’t think anything is over a couple of feet), a short steep climb (Heart Attack Hill) and a few sections I find perfectly walkable. My suspension gets a workout on this trail.

Though “bump sensitivity” is important to me, the key races I do include sections where I want to be able to lock the fork and shock out. I won’t sacrifice this feature for more bump sensitivity.

When I went out on ride #1, post-PUSH, I found that many of the bumpy sections where I’d get tossed around some, were now smooth. The fork and shock took all of the bumps and I have to say the ride was remarkably smoother and it was easier to navigate the rock gardens. Yahoo!

I did find on my first ride out that when I went down one of the drops I used nearly all of the front fork and had a feeling of nearly going over the bars. Unfortunately, I did not bring my shock pump with me and couldn’t play with the air pressure while I was on the ride. (Rookie move.)

Prior to ride #2, I added 5 psi to the fork and did the same to the rear shock (still within the pressure ranges PUSH recommended). I didn’t feel like I lost any of the plush ride on the bumps, due to the increased pressure. On this ride, there is a long, steep service road climb and descent. (The Towers Road at Horsetooth… fyi to locals.) I was able to descend at a decent rate of speed without using the brakes due to chatter and the bike feeling like it would slide out from under me. In fact, I could have gone faster if the road wouldn’t have been a little wet, tossing mud and sand into my glasses and eyes. The bike felt stable underneath me. Sweet!

I am still able to lock the fork and the shock out for riding on pavement and hard dirt surfaces. Seems like the custom blend they did is perfect for me. I would never have guessed that customizing the suspension would have made such a difference, but it does.

Now I’m hoping the snow melts quickly and the trails dry so I can get out and play some more. Darren tells me it takes some 4 to 6 hours to fully break in the new parts (I’ve got about 4.5 hours on it now) and I will need to make minor adjustments when the weather gets warmer (the last two rides have been in the mid to high 30s).

Fun!

(BTW - notice the link at the end of the column. PUSH will be offering December specials.)

Sovereign Trail and Flat Pass - Moab

Gale Bernhardt — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:47:42 GMT

Continuing from the post yesterday, the first day that the five of us were together, we didn't do a great job of taking photos. We don't have a single photo of the Sovereign Trail and that's too bad because it's a cool trail. On the Sovereign day, we ended up riding 4:00 hours, but we were out 6:20. There were NUMEROUS occasions of map checking.

The second ride day was the Flat Pass loop. This trail includes several large and small ledge sections. (Photo 1 I am on the left and Dennis Andersen on the right.) In addition to the ledges, there is loose sand and rocks. Maintaining a certain, relatively high, speed is critical so you can float over the terrain. Going too slow leads to augering the front wheel in the sand. The LOOK full suspension bike just floated over the rock gardens. Fun! To see how deep the sand is on these sections, double-click on the second photo.

One of the nice things about the trail/jeep road is there are usually options to ride an easy side or a more difficult side of most sections. This helps minimize walking by tired or less-skilled riders.

Back to the ledges, double click on the third photo of Todd Singiser. Look at how compressed his front tire and shock are. Though not easy to see in the third photo, this was a good-sized ledge he climbed.

The fourth shot is a view of the La Salle mountains from Flat Pass.

The final shot in this post is a timer-shot taken on the overlook of the last big rocky drop on Flat Pass. Left to right is Dennis, Bill Frielingsdorf, Todd, me and Scott Ellis.

Fruita and Moab mountain bike adventure

Gale Bernhardt — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:04:12 GMT

As I mentioned in my last blog, a group of us headed west to do some mountain biking in Fruita, Colorado and Moab, Utah. Today is my first day back in the office, so I'm a little jammed for time; but I did want to post a couple of photos and a cool link.

Day 1, my buddy Scott Ellis and I rode some trails just outside of Fruita, Colorado. Below is a shot of Scott on either Mary's Loop, or Horsethief Bench. (I can't remember which trail we were on when I took the photo.) If you want to check out a cool video, see this link and select the Horsethief Bench option. Watch half of the video if you're pinched for time.

No, I didn't ride down (or back up) the hairy descent to get to Horsethief, I considered it perfectly walkable. Once down that section, it's a cool trail. On the link I sent you, one guy does make it down the entire section.

For anyone that's tried to video or take a photo of a hairy section of trail, you know it never looks as scary on photo or video.

Day 2, the rest of our crew (Todd Singiser, Dennis Andersen and Bill Frielingsdorf) were still stuck in Colorado due to the nasty snowstorm. They began driving late Friday afternoon and got turned around by a closed Vail Pass and horrible driving conditions in the mountains. Vail Pass remained closed from about 4:30 pm on Friday night until late Saturday morning. While they were en route to Moab, Scott and I rode with Todd's friend, Sam Walls, and his gang.

We rode Porcupine Rim (which remains my favorite Moab trail) as a loop from our condo in downtown Moab. Below is a shot of Sam on the rock that hangs out over the rim at the overlook spot. Sam was the king of cleaning and descending tough obstacles that day.

Old Flowers Mountain Bike Ride

Gale Bernhardt — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:27:32 GMT

A couple of weeks ago several of us met at the Stove Prairie School, just west of Ft. Collins, Colorado and headed out for one of my favorite rides - the Old Flowers Road. It is indeed a road and there's no single track; but that doesn't make this an easy ride.

A good sized group of Steve, Michael, Ron, Dave, Mike, Todd, Scott, Mike, Bill, Mike and me started the ride. Yes, you read correctly, a four-Mike ride.

I didn't get a start photo and unfortunately, three of the guys - three Mikes to be exact - had to head back early. The sort of half-way photo is below with Bill F., Michael, Dave, Steve, me, Todd, Ron and Scott.

The spot where the photo was taken is the intersection of Old Flowers and Monument Gulch Road. We did some exploring in the Monument Gulch area before heading back.

Ron logged the ride and you can view it if you have Google Earth. (If you don't have Google Earth, it's a free download on the left side of the hot link in the last sentence.)

The file is attached to this blog. If you don't see the file, click on the title for the blog and look at the bottom of the blog.

If you haven't played with Google Earth, it is really fun. You can zoom in, pan the view and a host of other fun stuff.

On this particular ride, I was consumed by learning how to operate a new camera and didn't bring any gadgets along - other than the camera.

So...I'm going to ask for some help from the other riders. Mike - you collected climbing data, right? Can you post how many feet we climbed in how many miles on that first section?

Others, how would you describe the ride? Can we get descriptions from both experienced Flowers riders and first timers?

On this ride, I remember Bill F. saying something about the second section of climbs, "You know it's steep when you can't keep your front wheel on the ground."

On a past ride, a new Flowers rider (Bill Beyers) turned to the group after climbing the toughest hill triplet and said, "Don is the devil." (Don was the guy that talked Bill Beyers into doing the ride. Don is also the moto specialist from a few blogs ago.)

Steve Douglas posted some comments in his blog. (Notice Scott trying to push me out of the camera shot? He is such a photo-ham.)

Dave took more photos too. Dave can you post a group photo at the beginning in the comment box? I think that's possible.

In advance, thanks for the help...

PS...Mark Kuusick: This is the ride we finished last year when we met you and your buddies on your self-designed bike trip.

Riding Bikes around Colorado, Part 5 of 7 Mountain Bike at Grand Lake

Gale Bernhardt — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:38:40 GMT

Yesterday was a great day of dirt in Winter Park. For today, with transportation and optimizing-sag-personnel-time issues, we made a decision to drive everyone to Grand Lake, get an early check-in at the Mountain Lakes Lodge and then just mountain bike around the Grand Lake area.

Because Grand Lake is not particularly known for mountain bike riding, we figured we'd do a shorter ride today and then drive back to Winter Park or Solvista for a dirt day tomorrow.

We ended up being out, wearing chamois and near bicycles, for about 3:30 today. We explored several trails on the west side of Highway 34, near our lodge. While the ATV crowd has some of the trails torn up with very deep ruts and loose rocks, we did stumble on to some sweet single track. We figured out how to do a loop that began via Highway 34 and County Road 4, near the lodge. The loop dropped out on Highway 34 just north of Grand Lake.

We decided the trails were sweet enough that didn't have to drive somewhere for Day 6, but do more exploring around Grand Lake.

I, again, managed to leave the camera in the lodge. (Body fatigue and brain fade?) So, I'll leave you with the following, non-trail photos:

Sag team logistics

The sag team needed the vehicle-room to rescue cyclists off of high mountain passes, should the weather turn bad. (This has happened before on Trail Ridge Road and other high mountain road rides.) The team also had to have the capability to transport two bikes per rider and a few sag-team bikes as well. The line-up can be seen below:

Wildlife

Other than cyclists, there was plenty of wildlife to enjoy. Del caught this coyote hunting, and scoring, breakfast on the last day of the trip. Cool:

Tomorrow, Day 6...Mountain Bike at Grand Lake

Riding Bikes around Colorado, Part 4 of 7 - Mountain Bike in Winter Park

Gale Bernhardt — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:35:39 GMT

After a shorter day yesterday, the plan for today was to mountain bike the reputable Tipperary Creek route used for the Winter Park mountain bike race. I was eager to do this trail again. The last time I rode it was during my first mountain bike stage race. Another story all together...

Gale: "How much further to the finish? I think I have enough water."

Sweet volunteer: "Oh honey, you're only half way!"

Gale: "Guess I'll take some of that water."

Based on the Rollins Pass snow report from the bike shops and Ernie's ride from Winter Park up Rollins Pass until he hit snow and snow removal equipment, we decided to check on the Tippearary Creek trail condition.

One of the bike shop employees at Grand Sports told us that at 10,000 feet the trail becomes impassable due to fields of snow. Darn. I didn't get his name, but he was very helpful to map out routes that were in good condition.

Some video from the King of the Rockies race can be found here. Winter Park maps can be found here.

Some of us stayed at the Vintage Hotel (very dog-friendly) which is between Winter Park and Mary Jane. A couple of people stayed downtown. The goal was to ride a big loop so no one had to drive. We did manage a nice loop.

We rode from Winter Park to Fraser and then up Elk Creek Road. From there we took Creekside to Spruce Creek, Sunken Bridges, D2, WTB, D4 and from there I'm not sure. We did finish at the Winter Park base area via a trail that had ramps, jumps and sweet banked turns. One turn was built high - around 5 feet or so. This one required a do-again by Bill so he could rail the turn.

There were multiple stops to look at maps to be sure we were heading in the right direction. We wanted to avoid closed trails and trails that were gushing with runoff water.

Unfortunately, I left my camera at the condo, so I didn't get any photos from the day. I think Scott got some, so maybe I'll add one later.

Snowballs were thrown and there were issues with migratory rocks. (Ernie, FYI, after you left to drive home, you were implicated in the rock "incidents".)

Actual ride time was not recorded. Out time was 4:48. Since we are in our chamois, this is considered training time. This spring we saw Georgia Gould, who lives in Ft. Collins near us, and she told us "as long as you're in a chamois, you're training". She's fast, and the first woman to clinch a spot on the USA Cycling Olympic team on the mountain side, so we have adopted this philosophy. BIG congrats to Georgia for making the team.

Since I'd like to leave you with photos, below is a snapshot of Craig Singiser and the two giant fish he pulled out of the canal between Shadow Mountain Lake and Lake Granby. The Brown was three pounds!

The next photo is Meeka on cyclist patrol, looking for "her" cyclists.

Tomorrow, Day 5...Road bike to Grand Lake, mountain bike in Winter Park, or mountain bike in

Moab, Utah and Migratory Rocks

Gale Bernhardt — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:28:34 GMT

This recent May, a group of us took a trip to Moab, Utah for some mountain biking. When we drove over Vail Pass on Friday, May 2, it was snowing. Winter did not want to lose grip on Colorado.

On the way to Moab, we stopped outside of Fruita, Colorado to try out the Western Rim Trail. We were running late and didn't get a chance to do the whole trail, but everyone agreed it was worth the stop.

One issue with a stop of any kind, is the migratory rock issue. If you don't know about rock migration, perhaps I can give you a heads-up.

It seems that rocks find a way to migrate into hydration packs, looking to be located somewhere new. How they find their way into a pack has not been documented. There are many theories about how a rock might appear in the pack of an unsuspecting rider, but none of these theories have been caught or documented by a camera.

What has been caught on camera is owners of packs finding these migratory rocks. Dennis Andersen can be seen below, removing a migratory rock from his hydration pack. There is some speculation that he carried this rock in his pack for an entire day of riding on the Soverign Trail system. Though he had three people riding with him, not one of them noticed the rock fly/roll/jump/crawl into his pack.

Make no mistake, rocks are sneaky.

Blog Posts From Active Expert: Gale Bernhardt Tagged With mountain_bike

List of Training Information Columns by Category

Mountain bike fork and shock PUSHed – update

Sovereign Trail and Flat Pass - Moab

Fruita and Moab mountain bike adventure

Old Flowers Mountain Bike Ride

Riding Bikes around Colorado, Part 5 of 7  Mountain Bike at Grand Lake

Riding Bikes around Colorado, Part 4 of 7 - Mountain Bike in Winter Park

Moab, Utah and Migratory Rocks

Riding Bikes around Colorado, Part 5 of 7 Mountain Bike at Grand Lake