billycraig

Cholesterol is an interesting story. The original research in 1924 was a disastrous year for nutritional science, scientists fed lots of cholesterol to Rabbits whose arteries got clogged and they died. Terrific work except that rabbits have digestive systems nothing like a human, they are vegetarian and have no way of dealing with dietary cholesterol. In the early part of the twentieth century heart disease was practically unheard of the diet was around 83% of the total fat was from saturated fat as opposed to now which is around 58% and heart disease is a massive problem. We figured out quite a few places where my 21 seconds went, my mum waiting till the bike had been fueled before feeding me cost a bit but above all i'll be riding with a catheter this year

I admit it wasn't nice, even worse when i got the order wrong and ate the lamb first and had to ride of eating lamb flavored yogurt. Worked though, i might actually mix it with the banana this year and make a proper drink. I'm not to fussed about what it looks like as long as it does its job. A practitioner i work with in San Diego who does a lot of ironmans swears by tuna and banana mixed together, which makes me seem normal (yeah right). Back in the day when i worked in gyms their was a program on about bodybuilders in which one guy made tuna milkshakes (to save time??), the following day everyone was drinking them and they only stopped when i asked why they couldn't drink the shake and then eat the tuna separately.

Or did you use the Michael Phelps training plan and get the munchies?

A good place to start is with your plate split with 50% protein and carbohydrate, within half an hour to an hour of finishing the meal notice how you feel (obviously do this on a normal day not when your competing). If you feel sluggish, dulled, feel full yet hungry i.e craving something sweet then the ratio is probably a little high in protein. If you feel wired then tired (your blood sugar goes up then crashes), you get ADHD/ADD symptoms its too high in carbohydrate. For water take your weight in kg x 0.033 = litres required per day of clean pure water. This doesn't take into account any exercise you may be doing or anything else you may consume such as caffeine. I drink 2.5 liters a day minimum. For the Scott i drank around 3 litres on the journey from derbyshire to yorkshire, another litre (which was the highest mineral content i could find) once i arrived and then had 500ml attached to each fuel can. I drank another litre on my way back home. So 8 litres in total and the following day i rode again and had 6 litres in total due more to removing the toxins (lactic acid build up) rather than the severity of the trial (although any trial is tough the day after the scott. For the athletes i train i keep them to a natural wholefood diet wherever possible. Come race/game day if they need the kick of a (high quality) glucose shot i allow them. It works like rocket fuel as its an extra kick rather than a necessity. My marathon runner client started eating naturally, stopped carb loading and increased his carbohydrate intake by one extra carrot pre race and took 20 mins of a time he'd been doing consistantly for many years. My triathlete increased her protein as recommended (took a while to convince her) and took 30 seconds of her sprint swim time in training. Eat as naturally as you can, work on an 80/20 rule, drink your beer BUT and if you don't want a big butt or a budweiser belly realise the effect it will have on your blood sugar level and make sure you combine it with adequate protein. Steak and a pint not that bad a diet really is it..

For me personally i require a dense protein/fat diet, give me pasta, wholegrain etc and i become fatigued, i found this out at world biketrials rounds when being fed pasta the day before and finding all i wanted to do was sleep. While I personally need lots of protein I do, despite what most people think, eat carbohydrate i just make sure its in the correct %'s. A meal for me when not training will be 3 portions of protein: 1 portion of carbohydrate, when training or competing i will increase the carbohydrate by 1 portion. For the scott i required greater carbohydrate to replenish the glucose stores. So at every petrol stop i had a quick drink of RAW goat yogurt, 1/2 a banana and a small piece of lamb which i ate as i rode off. No energy drinks were used, i felt energized all day, felt a real difference everytime i refueled. The only issue i had was getting to the final petrol stop before my parents and missing out on getting food :-( Scotland was different as the energy demand was slightly different, I'd typically eat, sausage, eggs, mushrooms for breakfast, beef burgers and a pear at the lunch break and then something similar in the evening. I suffered no muscle ache other than when i ended up repairing other riders through the week. The easiest way to think of yourself is as either a diesel or petrol (gas) vehicle. I require diesel (dense protein) which burns slower in me. Theirs not a great abundance of carbohydrate around me for most of the year as the ground freezes (yes i know we have supermarkets nowadays). Give me petrol (carbohydrate) and I won't brake like a car would, but I'll get slower and slower. The easiest thing is to work out your own fuel mix and go from there. I'll send you a video from my tutor about it. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll be happy to help Disclaimer: Do not copy my diet (i doubt you will) as its specific to MY requirements and you may be the polar opposite.

Work on your balance first without the bike; Single leg balance, you should be bare foot and able to maintain 30 seconds to a minute without too much effort. Look for signs that its difficult such as having to shift bodyweight or gripping the floor with your toes. Progress to the same with eyes shut, can be made more difficult by adding ear defenders but make sure your in a clear space. When your good at that work on your tilting and righting reflexes. Use a wobble board or swiss ball to work on your tilting reflexes which is obviously useful in trials. Next have someone gently throw a ball etc for you to catch which will help you work on righting reflexes (think like when you step on a moving walkway at the airport and you have to catch your balance quickly). Then to make it a little more functional do the same on a bike, have someone gently push you while you maintain your balance.

I'm much happier with them, but I come from a Biketrial background so i tended to struggle a little with harder trials and not being able to stop. Never quite felt safe throwing myself at something knowing i wasn't quite on line. I had some pretty big crashes last year (i know i could of stopped if i'd ended up of line but i think that bit of my brain is missing) and my fellow student physio's got some pretty good practice out of me. I felt happier being observed as well, in quite a few big trials last year i got penalized for stopping while better riders who were in with a chance of winning got some leeway. I also found that quite a few trials ended up with some observers allowing a momentary stop, others a full stop and some giving a 5 if you even thought of stopping. Theirs noway of satisfying everyone and although i prefer it this way I'm just happy riding whatever the rules.

Will be good to see you back, don't make him too good just yet though. Courting?? I was, then i wasn't, and now I am again, a change of model for the new year Yeah my folks are good, i always pick him back up when he falls off like he used to do for me years ago..

Hello Ray, we'll be seeing you back at a few trials now then.

Already...stop borrowing it of Rob

As long as you can still have that same enthusiasm on the saturday you'll be laughing mate.

As soon as i saw the post i knew it could only be you mate

Thanks John, think its sorted now as i got a message from Kirsty saying a new one was in the post so their must of been a glitch in the website enquiry form. Every year its always arrived a few days after the confirmation email which is why i became concerned when my father received his. Half my mail seems to go missing but hopefully I should receive this one fingers crossed. Thanks for your help

Not long mate, got my fingers crossed for you

Does anybody have any names for anyone i can contact at the ACU. Myself and my father sent our 2009 applications of in the same envelope along time ago. We both got the usual email messages to say they were being done, my father received his but mine never arrived. Nobody is replying to the emails I've sent and I'm not usually free in the day to call so does anyone know whose the best point of contact in the licence department? Cheers

Most cases that i see, and i see a growing amount are due to a Kyphotic posture which sadly we're prone to in trials Kyphosis Site As the head moves forward and the shoulders pronate it causes problems with the radial nerve. It runs from cervical 7 and 8 in the neck and can sometimes be attributed to radial tunnel syndrome rather than tennis elbow . In most cases i see its usually a little of both issues. Mobilize the nerve using some stretches, place the arm against a wall with the wrist extended and stretch it within pain free range, next move around into further positions in order to floss the nerve. Its also worth stretching Pec Major and Minor and looking at the alignment of the neck. Try to rest it and build up slowly and it should be fine in no time. Hope that makes some sort of sense.

Stafford Auto is pretty good, their next trial is Boxing Day.

Wow thats cool, I'd rather watch that than F1

Wore Alpinestars last year after several years in Hebo's, the Alpinestars were amazingly comfy but didn't last long. I got a full year out of a pair of Hebo's and the Alpinestars were ditched by the end of the scottish so 5 months. Been watching the MRS riders this year and have been impressed with the Quality of Gaerne so i tried a pair on at the Dirt Bike Show. They feel comfier than my last boots and a lot tougher. Hopefully they'll last a fair amount of time.

Comfiest boots I've owned but they don't seem to last long. Mine are ditched but i'll be having another pair

Well rehab and performance training is my career and i'm a firm believer in "walking my talk". I'm 32 as well, at 18 i was eating all the pasta i could lay my hands on and suffering fatigue at World Biketrials as well as numerous injuries. If i knew then what i've studied know i might of actually got there. I weigh 12 stone as well and am quite athletically built so we're on a par there :-) I haven't been running for over 5 years since i stopped teaching spin classes 4 times a week. From the moment i stopped teaching them and started "training not draining" I've seen my fitness improve with very little time which is what stops most people engaging. The time i do use in perfectly programmed (i'm bound to say that with my

I get what your saying but the pure physical effort of lugging a bike round becomes anaerobic, its easier to think of a footballer. A coach i train from a Premiership club batters his players with aerobic exercise (or he did till i stopped them), most sports science books state that football is 90% anaerobic 10% aerobic (rough figures from memory as i left my books in my gym). The footballer is making constant sprints etc not running at a steady state as in a marathon. In trials especially the scott and ssdt us lower level riders are def not at a constant state. I don't think anyone will ever do a research study on it as theirs not really enough interest (maybe i'll do my dissertation on it if i get enough volunteers) but from my research i was happy enough to work around 80% anaerobic 20% aerobic. Its hardly a blind study but i didn't suffer with arm pump, cramp etc all day so I'm pretty happy with it for now as it was a massive improvement over 2007. Diet is very very individual, marathon runners typically carb load which causes calcium balance issues (stress fractures). I personally need a pretty high protein diet so my snacks for the day were 1/2 a banana, 1/2 a lamb burger and a bit of raw goat yogurt all carried by my trusty mother who incidentally used to eat a massive carb diet and ended up quite ill from it. Yeah their great parents, followed me all round europe doing world biketrials and their still loving it now. Not many sports nowadays where whole families support each other, ex world champions help riders through sections rather than storm off when their days over and riders politely ask if they can come through and then say thanks (dibs, wiggy and graham)

Hey Dave, Yeah its one hell of a trial, my goal was just to make it round but its changed now to being in time. My program started just after the SSDT with one 20 minute program 3 x's a week. I worked on intensity and manipulated the variables such as tempo of reps and rest periods to get the anerobic effect i desired. I personally didn't feel the need to pound out the hours on a bike or treadmill as its not really aerobic fitness for the scott or trials in general. I did lots of Front Squats to work on being able to hold my posture for such a long time. I ended up doing 60kg front squats which is a serious amount to lift just resting on your arms. I used Sumo Deadlifts to strength my Sacroilliac Joint and avoid back pain. Lots of pull ups at a 45 deg incline and normal ones just for pain tolerance. Towards the end i really ramped it up but it never went over 40 mins a session. If you can work any longer then its not really hard enough. I also was more focused on my recovery times rather than actual weight lifted. I put on around 1/2 stone of muscle for both the Scott and SSDT which felt about right, i never suffered with any arm pump or cramp and my food/energy worked pretty good until the final fuel check when i missed getting anything :-( Let me know what you did training wise and I'll see what i think. When i type up my new plan I'll post it on here as long as you don't beat me next year

Wicked shots thanks Yeah your right, I've just spent 3 hours designing another training plan to take me through to the Scottish and next years Scott. Pretty impressed with the improvements i made in fitness over last years so fingers crossed a few refinements should see me there next year a tad faster. Got 2 weeks off from training now and then I'm starting training for next year, hopefully dedication can make up for lack of talent.