Greetings!
It's March and
we bet you're itching to race! If so, check out
the article "Attack the Early Season" by coach
Rich Cramer. This month we also congratulate
Coach of the Month Liz Varner and welcome new
Wenzel Coach Jenni Gaertner of Coeur d'Alene,
Idaho. We've added a new rotating feature this
month: the Maintenance Tip of the Month.
As always, we
welcome your feedback. Please write to
newsletter@wenzelcoaching.com or call
503-233-4346 with your comments, race stories
and ideas.
~Kendra Wenzel, Scott Saifer and
the Staff of Wenzel Coaching
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Attend a Wenzel Coaching Camp or Clinic this
Year
 Wenzel
Coaching will present a number of camps and
clinics this year. There's still time to make a
last minute trip to Mallorca for our GoFast Camp
starting this Sunday. Next on the calendar is a
Women's Bike Racing 101 Clinic in Helena, MT.
Check out the
camp and clinic listings here. Check back
frequently for details and new listings!
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Coach of the Month: Liz Varner
 Liz
is both a triathlon and cycling coach in the Bay
Area of Northern California. She is also directly
involved in the development of Custom and
Semicustom programs for Wenzel clients. She has
competed in gymnastics, mountain and road biking,
running and endurance rowing. Liz has a diverse
client pool and coaches everyone from competitive
cyclists and triathletes to individuals looking
to improve their lifestyle through endurance
activities.
"Liz Varner was my coach last season. Although I
am not currently racing (due to an extremely busy
school and work schedule), the fact that she and I
still talk is a testament to her ability to see an
athlete as a "whole person." She is adept at
helping her clients juggle family, work, school,
and racing commitments and asking questions to
evaluate motivation, stress levels, and other
factors that might help or hinder a racer."
~Audra DeWitt
Learn more about Liz... |
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Power-Training Tip of the Month
Use your
power meter to refine your equipment and clothing
choices. Try different wheels, shoe covers, jersey
and shorts versus skin-suit, etc repeatedly along
the same stretch of road. The equipment that gives
you the highest speed at the same power or the
lowest power for the same speed is your best
equipment for that type of terrain. Test your
choices on flats and uphill as the results will
likely be different. You'll need to try each
position several times to average out the effects
of changing wind and other variables. |
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New Coach Jenni Gaertner
 Jenni
Gaertner has over 13 years of experience in
mountain and road racing, triathlon, and 24 hour
mountain bike racing. She holds degrees in Health
and Human Performance, Physical Therapy and
Education. Her diverse background and education
help her understand and help clients that juggle
work, family, school while training and racing.
Learn more about Jenni... |
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Quote of the Month
"You have to work hard for a long time without
results. And you'll feel like you're putting
yourself into a hole, but you just have to stay
focused. You have to have the faith that if you're
doing the work now, you'll get there sometime."
~Nicole Reinhart,
two time gold medalist at the Pan American Games
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Client Successes
Matt Dion takes 1st place in the CCCX MTB Race
in the Junior 14-18 category
Kyle Boudreaux takes 3rd at Rouge Roubaix, Cat3
Melissa Sanborn sprints to win the first Banana
Belt road race in Cat 1/2/3 women
Sue Butler takes 3rd place in the Banana Belt #1
race in Cat 1/2/3 women
David Fultz achieved his goal of making it into a
surviving break in a criterium
Joan Case finishes 14th in the Foothills Road Race
in the Cat 3/4 women, her first race of the season
Gale Beatty achieved his goal of finishing a race
with the main field
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Maintenance Tip: Weekly Bolt Check-up
Your stem should turn on the steerer if one
elephant hits your wheel and another hits the
bars, or if the bike hits the ground hard in just
the right way, but now with any lesser force.
Before you race, grasp the wheel between your legs
and wrench hard on the bars. If the stem turns,
it was too loose. Loosen it, straighten it and
tighten it again, harder*. Double-check the
headset for play or sticking at the same time.
Similarly, get in front of the bike and really
push down hard with your full weight and a punch
on the brake hoods. This is the force the bars
experience when you hit a hard bump in a race. If
the bars drop, loosen them, put them back where
they were and tighten them again*. Pound on the
side of the seat. If the post twists in the frame,
loosen it, straighten it and tighten it some
more*. You'll notice that a lot of new bike parts
have torque specs printed on them. I've used a
torque wrench a few times to achieve those specs,
and bolts need to be surprisingly tight to reach
the specs for the most part, especially if you are
using a hand-size allen key or allen key set.
Do not get in the habit of just tightening
everything on the bike every week though. You can
often tighten a bolt just a little more if you
push hard enough. That doesn't mean the bolt was
loose. If you keep tightening a bolt that already
seemed tight, you are actually stretching the
bolt. Eventually you stretch it past the "elastic
limit", meaning that it actually begins to deform
permanently. Once that happens it breaks just a
hair of tightening later, or maybe when you hit a
bump just the right way.
* If you have a torque wrench and parts with
specified torques on them, tighten bolts to spec.
If the parts are still not secure, toss them. If
you have carbon-fiber parts, get a torque wrench
that measures in the suggested range.
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Wenzel Coaching thanks you for your business!
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Attack the Early Season Racing!
Depending on where you live, the 2007 race season has
started or soon will. You may or may not be prepared
to race, whether due to fitness, mental state or
schedule. If you find yourself on the
side of fairly fit but unsure if you want to devote
the time and energy to taking spring races seriously,
consider this a golden opportunity.
Read more... |
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