Full range of motion with long cranks.

If you’ve ever done squats in the weights room – you’ll know that you can cheat by not squatting all the way.  You can seemingly lift more weight – but it’s a false economy as you don’t get the full strength gains that a deep squat can give.

So what’s this got to do with cycling?  Well for me it’s the difference between 175mm cranks and the 210mm cranks that are proportional to my size on my Zinn.  I’ve been adding a few interval sessions to my training lately – and one in particular is seated big gear climbs…  Where I find a gentle (ish) climb and put it in the big chain ring and climb with a low cadence.   It’s very much like doing weights on the bike.  Certainly makes you strong.  But also – it’s something where I feel I can make even better gains because of the long cranks on my bike.  Full range of motion can only help strength development.  The long levers of the Zinn custom cranks enable me to really develop the advantage I already have with the long levers of my body.  Means I can really get into the nooks and crannies of strength development – so to speak…

So what else have I been doing?

Well – we’ve had an awesome summer down here in New Zealand.  So, just as things are starting to cool down, I pick that as the time to ramp up my training.  Seems like I’m doing things backwards…

But – though it’s nice to go for a ride on a beautiful day – there is some perverse satisfaction to be had from gutsing it out into a stiff breeze in the dark on a long commute home.

I’m slowly but surely picking up my training volume.   I’m very mindful of the fact that when I last did a long lead in to an event I was training for – that I had a hiccup – in that I trained like a demon to start with and was making fantastic progress – only to be stopped in my tracks with a mystery illness that put a major dent in my training.  Whether or not that was caused by the training I was doing is hard to know – but I’m taking a bit more of a measured approach this time.

I’m adding volume by adding midweek rides.  I work 50km from home so I’m adding 1 or 2 one way trips (in the dark) to my schedule as work allows.  And I’m increasing the distance of my Sunday rides (that are normally done with a group) – pushing that out to 80 to 100km.    And I’ve started adding a few of those interval sessions.

Intervals are something I really enjoy – in a twisted sort of way.  Sure they hurt and you want to puke sometimes – but I love them.  I guess it’s some sort of learned hardship that I picked up from my rugby playing days – where we did a lot of interval training.  I know that my body seems to respond well to intervals –so they are something that will always be a part of my regime…

But they hurt bad when you haven’t done them for a while – and when your aerobic base isn’t what it was

So anyway – I’m increasing volume – and slowly introducing some interval work.  There is a Winter Series of races coming up in 6 weeks or so – so I’ll be targeting that as my first hit out with some intensity.  And will be racing as often as I can from then on in…

205 days till my first major goal which is the Taupo Cycle Challenge – so – steady as she goes….

Adrian

Zinn Dolomite road bike goes into TT mode…

My day at the New Zealand Road Nationals Time Trial was the culmination of a year’s worth of focus.

I'd made huge advances with my Zinn - so wanted to now see how far I could go with some serious work.

A year ago I’d decided to take on a coach – train seriously – aimed at the Nationals TT –  and see what I could do.  I’d only ever ridden in a handful of TT’s at that stage – but figured that would be a good place to aim – as it takes the size element out of the equation to a degree.

So this was it!

Not quite do or die – as apart from me – no one would really care a jot about how I went.  But it was going to be a serious test of my years’ worth of work.

And I was worried about how I’d go.

I’d made really big gains in the first half of my year – which showed up in the difference in the test results from the start and then halfway through the year.  But then I’d hit problems.  I had a big performance drop – which saw me heading to the doctors for a full round of medical test.  Tests came back fine – but showed that I had very high blood pressure – which we dealt with via medication.  This didn’t really explain the drop in performance however and in the end it looked like the probable cause was some sort of virus.  Anyhow it took me a long time to come right from that – and it was only in the weeks leading up to the Nationals that I was starting to feel like I did at the time of the previous test just before things went haywire.

And in the TT rides I’d done up to the nationals – I hadn’t gone as well as I would have liked.  One of the early markers that I’d set myself was to break a 40km/hr average in a TT – and this was something I thought I would’ve cracked pretty quickly with training.  But here I was at the Nationals – still having not got past the elusive 40km/hr in a TT.  I was seriously beginning to think that maybe it was beyond me.

So how did I go?…

There were 2 of in our club having a crack in the TT – and we drove up together on the day.  We met up with Bob and Derek, who were the officials from our club, at their motel.

I’d woken up that day feeling pretty nervous and this was building as I got closer to start time.  But it was that good sort of nervous energy that I hadn’t experienced since my days playing in big rugby matches.  So I took this as a good sign.  We got changed at the motel and performed all the pre ride rituals – pinning the number on the jersey – checking the bike – pre ride meal etc etc.

Nerves, nerves, nerves!

How would I go?  Would I come last? It wouldn’t really matter if I did come last – but please don’t let me come last!!!

So with these sorts of thoughts going through my head – we headed over to the course.  I’d already figured I was going to commit a big no no – in changing what I normally did.  My plan was to do a long warm up of 1.5 hrs.  I’d never warmed up for that length of time before – but I’d never really had the chance as most of the TT’s I’d done up to now were evening events after work – so no opportunity to warm up for that amount of time.  And I know I often struggled early on in races and got more comfortable as things progressed – so I figured I’d do a long warmup that started slow and build the intensity into the last half hour.

So that’s what I did – and it was absolutely the right thing to do.   Spent best part of an hour just going for a ride – nice and relaxed.  I stayed pretty close to the Start/Finish just in case I had any bike problems – and I tried not to see all the very flash TT specific bikes and the riders with the skinsuits and all the TT bling.  It’s the rider that counts the most right?

Then with a little over half an hour to go – I came back to the club trailer and Bob and Derek swapped the wheels on my bike over to the quick SRAM S80 wheels that I’d borrowed for the event.  (a bit of bling of my own).  Put on my borrowed TT helmet – and headed off again to build a bit of intensity and get a real sweat up.

Intervals went well – wheels sounded cool (very important J) and  before I knew it – it was time to head to the start.

Still feeling nervous – but still good nervous – amped, focussed, buzzing, ready to go…

Had to get through the scrutineering – where they measured my bike to make sure it complied with UCI regulations.   If you’ve read the rest of my blog you will know that as I’m 6’7” and have a custom built bike – no – it didn’t meet with the UCI’s restrictive regulations (specifically the front half of the bike was too long and the bottom bracket was too high off the ground).  But I’d made sure that I’d complied as much as I possibly could – especially in the setup of the handlebars and seat.  I’d been in touch with the commissairs before the event to let them know my circumstances and they’d told me that if my bike didn’t comply – they’d let me ride but that I wouldn’t be an official part of the results.  They also then went on to tell me how my bike was all wrong and had very strange geometry – which I didn’t appreciate as I wasn’t asking them what they thought of my bike – I was asking if it complied with their rules.  By now I’m used to people questioning the validity of the design.  It’s nice to let the results speak for themselves…

So as I rolled up – the commisaire said “So this is the famous bike”.  Here we go I thought.

In TT mode. Managed to get the seat forward with seatpost turned backwards - so the offset was forward.

He put it up against their jig and saw that the bars and seat were inside the prescribed measurements – and told me that I’d done well to make it comply – off you go…  Wow!   The measurements that my bike fails on – weren’t even on the jig!!!

So I was going to be part of the results…

So that left me with a 5 min wait until my start – in the start box (once you’ve been measured – you can’t leave the start area).  They offered me a seat – but I couldn’t sit – had to keep moving.  Bob came and was a calming influence – focussing on the process I was about to start.

Bob and I in the pre-start area. I think the bike's a little too big for him

Got on the bike with about 30 seconds to go – there was a starter counting me down – and a guy to hold my bike.  I reminded him that I was probably double the weight of most of the other riders – so make sure you get a good hold…

Bob was talking to me as the clock counted down – which was really good stuff – breathing, focus, power etc etc

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!

The plan – that my coach and I had come up with – was to start in a controlled fashion for the first few km.  In the past I’d been guilty of going out too fast too soon and blowing up.  I’d done that in the Wellington Centre TT Champs only a few weeks previously – and had come second in a TT I should have won.  So – start in a biggish gear and keep the heart rate down a bit just to settle in – and then give it death!

And the course played into this plan for me – as just after getting up to speed from the start – it headed slightly downhill for a good bit and this let me comfortably get in a big gear and settle in without pushing too hard.

It’s a fine line however…

I knew the course – which helped – I’d come up a few weeks previously and had ridden it.  It was an out and back that followed the river upstream in the first half.  So was slightly uphill on the way out – but I knew that it was really a series of flats with short steps up in between.  So push hard on the steps and back under control on the flats.

And it went fantastically well on the way out.  I wasn’t riding with either a heart rate monitor or a speedo – but I knew I felt good and comfortable and that I was pushing a big gear – even on the slightly uphill bits.  And I also saw that I could see the rider that started a minute in front of me and that I was slowly catching him!  Cool – I had someone to chase.  Turns out I caught this guy easily – and he was in fact the guy that had started 2 mins ahead of me – and he’d already been caught by the guy in front of me.   It really is the best feeling to blast by someone – and it also meant something very important – I wasn’t the slowest!

Then I started seeing another rider up ahead – my minute man.  And I was catching him too – not as fast – but definitely catching.  Yeee Haaa!

At the turnaround – I was about 20secs behind him – and had 12.5km of slightly downhill to go.  And when you are my size – slightly downhill is your friend…

I caught him with about 6km to go.  He had a beautiful TT bike, skinsuit and all the bling – so it was a nice feeling to pass him on my road bike with clipon TT bars.

Then it was a matter of hanging on.  I was tiring – and finally had to change down a gear – but I knew I was going way faster than I ever had before.   I died a bit on the uphill bits before the finish – and had absolutely nothing left for a sprint.

I finished in 36:08 – and an average speed of 41.5km/hr!  (click here to see results)  Very very happy – didn’t just break the seemingly unbreakable 40km/hr barrier – but absolutely smashed it!

Looking back now – I think I had the perfect day.  I really don’t think I could have gone any faster.  Terry Gyde (my coach) really did a great job preparing me – especially in the last few weeks.  He’d told me a few weeks before the event – that I would average between 41 and 42 – and I didn’t believe him.  I guess that’s why he’s the coach.

To be sure – I think I can definitely go faster – but that will take more training, hard work and focus.  And Terry agrees “I’m picking you have a lot more development left in you”.  He and I are working together again to see what I can do in the Masters 3 division.

I’d love to have a TT bike for the next one – but I don’t think it’s going to happen (I’m still buying the lottery tickets).  But my beautiful Zinn once again proved itself the perfect vehicle for me to get power down on the road.  I know as a rule people seem to ride longer cranks in TT’s – but I bet not many are riding 210mm beauty’s!  Being a road bike – It’s certainly not the ideal platform for TT’s – and I will need to figure a way to get the bars lower still so I can get more aero.  But I think the proportional length cranks more than made up for any shortcomings.   When I do go for a TT bike – it’ll definitely be a custom built Zinn – so I can take advantage of the proportional cranks…  No brainer for me.  Can do things on the Zinn I could never have done before.   Did a seriously competitive time on a road bike with clip on aero bars!  And as far as I could see – I was the only one in my grade not on a TT bike.    So that bike geometry is not so silly after all

Custom cranks are winning races. From Kieran Cox

Kieran Cox is a long time Zinn Cycles customer, and advocate of proper frame design and crank length for tall riders. Here is some interesting data he has developed with our custom cranks.

Hi Lennard,

It’s kinda crazy, but finally there is some data to back up what you’ve observed along with every other notably taller person has seen while riding custom cranks. It was always the faster jump in combination with VO2 efficiency that was creating gains.
I think a better way to test the “whole picture” is standing start 250m or 500m time trials. That way everything is included in the test,  and the stopwatch tells all. I tried suggesting that to Andy and crew, but they were VERY against it. Basically worried about it introducing too many variables, but apparently it introduces the most significant ones of all, the speed/time of acceleration and VO2 efficiency at max power.

In any case, this year I’ve been lifting a lot of weights as part of my training. Mostly with my crossfit gym which focuses on Olympic style lifting. The results have been shocking, I’ve won a couple races this year and placed in a few others. What has been shocking is I’ve been sprinting from about 15-20 wheels back, and passing almost everyone on the last 600m typically holding over 1000W for over 20s (nearly 30 in one case) at an rpm of around 120.  So sure my max power isn’t higher on the 200′s but I can hold it a LOT longer and when I jump I gap the guys in my draft, which is what wins races in a sprint.

Here is the video from a sprint from 20th place to win at a criterium a month ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwCJDPQaO2A

Attached is the picture from the Burlingame Criterium (Cat 3) a week ago. I’ll be either forced to upgrade to a 2 by the end of the season or I will just upgrade at the end of the season to start next year as a 2 on the road. I’ll let you know how racing in the P/1/2 field goes.

Here are the power files (and race reports) from each race, notice the cadence and power at the end:
Davis: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/96953987
Burlingame: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95039152
Wente: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/82934903

-Kieran

Here’s what happens when you get a Zinn…

Finished up our season down here in NZ with our club AGM and prizegiving.

Here’s what happens when you get a bike that fits properly…

It was given with the comment that I was the only one considered for the award as I’d had such a massive improvement.

I have to say I was very nervous when I ordered the bike – because I was taking a bit of a leap of faith.  I remember telling someone from my cycling club about it after I ordered it and he was very sceptical - especially about the long cranks (and this is someone who’s been around bike racing for many years).   So I had a big smile on my face the other day when he questioned whether the long cranks were legal – because he reckons it’s given me an unfair advantage.   I told him it’s not unfair – it’s just a bike that finally lets me use the mechanical advantage that a taller rider has.

I then rode off into the distance

So thanks Lennard and Nick for putting together such an awesome machine.

Bigger things are to come! (I’m going to try blogging about my upcoming year http://everydaytallstories.wordpress.com/)

Cheers

Adrian.

Impressions of a Zinn.

Howdy – I’m Adrian McKenzie - a new member of Team Zinn,  from New Zealand.  

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I took delivery of my new Zinn Dolomite Ti a few weeks back and after a wee while on it, I posted the following review on the www.roadcycling.co.nz website (I’ve edited it a bit to explain a couple of things that might not make sense to non kiwis – and added a couple of extra photos)…

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And now – for something a little different…

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This bike is a little different from most road bikes out there.  But its design differences have been tried and tested over many years of building bikes for hard to fit customers.  The differences make absolute sense when you ride it – and the proof is in the pudding – when you see the jump in performance that comes with it.

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So in light of that synopsis – a little background is needed…

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I’m 6’7″ and 125kg and and a few broken frames over the years had convinced me that – damn it – I needed to go custom.

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A couple of years ago I’d found a company in the US called Zinn Cycles that builds custom bikes – with a focus on building for hard to fit people.  The guy behind the company is Lennard Zinn whose name you might recognise from his books – especially one titled “Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Mainenance”.  And he also writes a regular technical column for the VeloNews website.  Lennard is 6’6″ himself and his company grew out of his own desire for better bikes and components to suit his own needs when he was a top ranked rider in America.

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So here I’d found custom built bikes for tall people built by a tall guy who’s been there and done that, and knows what works.  Sounded like the perfect fit for me.

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So I got in touch with the team at Zinn Cycles and eventually ordered the Dolomite Ti – which comes from their custom built series called ‘Project Big’.  The process consisted submitting a series of detailed measurements and discussing my needs and desires – as well as detailing what sort of riding I’d be doing. It’s a collaborative process, with draft designs submitted and discussed then tweaked as needs be.

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So what exactly is different?

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Well I guess the best place to start is with the design philosophy of custom length cranks.  Experimenting initially on himself – Lennard’s found over the years that proportional length cranks make a big difference in comfort and performance for tall riders (and short ones).  The bike is designed around the common sense idea – that a taller rider, with longer legs should be pedalling proportionally the same sized circle as a shorter person.  So this means a crank that’s a lot longer than then standard 175mm.  They have settled on the formula of inseam x 0.216, which in my case corresponded to a crank length of 210mm!

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Now if you put that sized crank on a regular bike you’d be scraping the ground at the mearest hint of a corner – so what they do is to build the bottom bracket higher off the ground to eliminate any clearance problems.  And this has the added advantage of making the frame smaller from the bottom up.  It means a shorter downtube, shorter chainstays and shorter seat tube – all big benefits in a big frame.  And it’s a compact design with the top tube lowered so that the frame is shorter from the top down also – further adding to the strength.

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The front end geometry is also different in that there is a relaxed head tube angle to give the bike more fork trail and hence stability.  This eliminates the shimmy that commonly affects big frames that often have steep head angles to keep the wheelbase short.  The Alpha Q Z-Pro fork they use on all their Project Big bikes, is also specifically designed for Zinn.  It has a beefed up carbon steerer that minimises any flex that can occur inside the big head tube of a large frame.

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They make bikes out of steel, aluminium and also magnesium – but I’d settled on their flagship model – with a full titanium frame.

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So how does this all work in the real world?

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Well I took delivery of the bike the day before Taupo!  (which is a hilly 100 mile ride round Lake Taupo in the central North Island.  Taupo is the premier challenge ride on our calendar – with over 12,000 riders taking on the course).  And I figured there was no way I was going to ride Taupo on my old repaired steel bike knowing I had a brand new custom build titanium beast in the garage at home.

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So I rocked up the next morning having ridden only about a couple of km’s on the bike (and most of that on the way to the start).  I was a bit worried about how the bike would perform.  Especially since the long cranks felt very weird when I first hopped on the bike.  But I needn’t have worried as the bike performed beautifully.  I started well up towards the front fully expecting to be left behind on the hills like normal – but found to my delight – that I wasn’t getting dropped.  The long cranks while still feeling a little odd – were enabling me to climb with much more ease and hang with the weight weenies.
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Took 30mins out of my best time to record a 4:49 which I was extremely happy with for a 125kg rider on a brand new bike.  The long cranks felt more and more comfortable as the ride went on – and I suspect I’ll only get better as I get more used to them.  They certainly enabled me to get more power on the road.

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And a good proof of that came a week later when I lined up on the start line to take on the clock in my club’s hill climb champs.  The 2km Maungakotukutuku hill behind Paraparaumu is a regular lunchtime ride of mine and I had ridden the course at my maximum on my old bike a couple of weeks previously so I could compare to the Zinn.

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The proof of the long cranks effectiveness shone through as I beat that time (which was a personal best) on the Zinn by 44 seconds – which over a 2km climb is massive.

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I’ve also raced on it a few times and in the space of a few weeks have moved 2 groups – from break3 to break.  I can get on top of the gears so much quicker and the accelerations that would have spat me out the back in the past are now manageable.  (There have been a few raised eyebrows and accusations of drug taking with my new found speed )

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It’s a custom build – so you dictate the components – from a just a frame and fork right through a full bike with you dream componentry.  I went for a full build – and my budget allowed for a mixture of Ultegra and 105 componentry (with a SRAM red ceramic bottom bracket).  They also built up a super strong wheelset for me with 36 spoke Ultegra hubs and DT Swiss 7.1 rims front and rear.  The full bike weighs in at a tad over 9kg which for a huge bike with 72 spokes – is very very good. (I’m sure that will drop significantly with a lighter wheelset – but I took the horses for courses approach)
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So all in all – I’m supremely happy with it.  The workmanship on the bike is just exquisite.  It’s a joy to ride with all the renowned benefits of a full titanium frame and is a thing of absolute beauty. But beauty that comes with – I think – unparalleled functionality for someone my size.  It’s meant I can finally use my long levers to get more power down on the road – and subsequently my performance has jumped massively. And that’s made me hungry for more.

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If anyone is interested in more detail – drop me a line at bam@paradise.net.nz and I can send you a more detailed review with a whole heap of detailled photos that I’ve taken of the bike.
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Below is a a short montage of shots that I did of the first 24hrs with the bike…

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