The Return of "Big Ring"!!!

Joy here...Last summer and then into this early spring, I earned a nickname amongst my cycling friends, "Big Ring."  It was mostly due to my penchant for pedalling in a hard gear and grinding rather than holding a nice, high cadence.  Cycling aficionados debate whether high cadence (smaller gear, faster spinning) is a better method that a lower cadence (bigger gear, slower pedalling).  Naturally I tend to favour a big gear and slow turning legs.  I've worked hard throughout the summer, and especially since changing over to this my own sole-authored blog (in comparison to my past, co-written one) and getting my cycling coach, Andrew, to help me out.

My inner Jan Ullrich (look at his chain
on the front...ON THE BIG RING).

So when Coach Andrew told me that this week's workout would include a Big Ring workout, I was stoked.  I was ready to channel my inner Jan Ullrich, noted East German Tour de France winner (and Armstrong runner up) whose big gear grinding was a stark contrast to Lance's high rpms.

I had a warm up that would take me just over 30 minutes with various drills and intensity to work through, and then I would have 30 minutes of big ring drills.  The plan was that I would do 4 minutes in the big ring, in a hard gear, and pedal at a low cadence, and then do 6 minutes still in the big ring, but with a higher cadence (and in an easier gear on the back), and then I would do that all over again 2 more times.  Then I was to do some light pedalling in a high gear to loosen up my legs, and then it would be all done.

So I hopped on the bike in the basement with The Lord of the Rings on my DVD player (hey...for a Big Ring workout, why not watch a movie about the "one ring"???).  I did my warm up as planned and then started the Big Ring section.  The first 4 minutes were really hard, I was pedalling slowly, and I could almost feel my whole body rocking on the bike with the effort; by the next 4 minute set I was already telling myself that I'd skip the final set and just tell Coach Andrew that I miscalculated or didn't watch my time or something.  As I pounded away on that big gear, the gears in my head were turning over, coming up with lame excuse after lame excuse.  But then when my third set was about to start, I used the same kind of willpower that little Frodo used to resist putting on the ring in the presence of the Wraiths, and I just pedalled right on through that third set, finishing my workout as planned and finally hitting my workout to my full satisfaction.

Boooyah!

Big Ring is back in business!

Over and out,
Joy (aka Big Ring)