Hi from USA

Hi Daniel and Anna and all the STEAM team,

Well we have done 710klms over the last 3 days and we're still in Montana.  I have sore bits on my sore bits and pains in my aches. But its really a great ride.  The scenery is so not-Australian. Everywhere we ride we r surrounded by 6,000 ft high mountains only sparsely covered in pine trees.  Awesome.  Its a bit different to the Nat Park and Stanwell tops !!

The ride is so well organised its amazing.  The guys that run Pac Tours have done the Race across America about a dozen times between them; and its around 5,000 klms in 8 days.  So they have it all worked out from seat of the pants experience.

The group is pretty friendly, although many of them crash to bed soon after arrival at our nite's motel, and thus aren't much social company.  Some of them are serial ultra-distance riders.  For eg, one guy John has ridden about 22,000 klms already this year.  I reckon that wouldn't leave much time for anything else in his life except eating and sleeping.  Sounds like being a coach with STEAM !!

The accomodation is really good.  In Country USA a twin room comes std with 2 queen size beds.  Great idea; shld do it in Australia.

I seem to be fit enough by the grp stds, although today I found myself in the front grp by accident.  We averaged 32kph over the 165 klms today, and that incl 4,280 ft of climbing.  So the pace was up a bit.  Oh well 165 klms is regarded as a "short rest day" by Pac Tour stds, and I am alive to tell the tale.  Still the plan tomorrow is for a more relaxed pace as we r only 3 days done out of 18, and I don't want to explode.

Hope all is well with u at home, and everyone is riding safely and having fun.  I reckon when I come back I will be as strong as an Ox, and about as slow !!

Cheers
Neil

The two areas of the pedal stroke that most cyclists can make tremendous efficiency gains on are at the top and bottom. At the top of the pedal stroke from roughly 10:30 to one o'clock is generally a neglected area. Efficiency research done on cyclists has shown that pushing the pedal forward, then forward and down produces an effective force. The resultant forward momentum generated is worth the energy cost. The same was found for the bottom of the pedal stroke from five o'clock to 7:30. At the top of the pedal stroke think about pushing your toes into the front of your shoes before pushing down. At the bottom of the pedal stroke think about pulling back then up like you were scraping dirt off the bottom of your shoe. The main difference between a masher pedaling style and a spinning pedaling style is the amount of the pedal revolution that is being effectively used. A masher stomps on the pedals from about two o'clock through five o'clock. A spinner effectively uses more of the pedal stroke by pedaling the way described in the previous paragraph. Comparing the power outputs of the two styles is interesting. Take two riders both at 90 rpm and producing an average of 250 watts. One cyclist is a spinner and the other is a masher. The peak power output during one pedal revolution for the masher is 500 watts. The spinner is using more of the pedal stroke and the peak power output for the spinner is 400 watts. The masher is revving his engine higher than the spinner to achieve the same average power output. This may be an effective strategy for a very short race such as a track sprint. For any endurance-based event, however, spinning is the more efficient style. To analyze this comparison a little further we can assume that there is a ceiling to the peak power output per pedal revolution that any rider can achieve. As that ceiling is approached the energy cost rises exponentially. Comparing the two riders above who are putting out the same average power, you can see that the masher style rider is closer to this theoretical ceiling. This uses more energy for the same average power output than the spinning style, assuming that the maximum peak power output both of these riders can achieve is equal. The spinning style rider can increase their average power output to a higher level before hitting their theoretical ceiling than the masher. If you have managed to follow all of my assumptions and jargon, good job! Basically what I am saying is that if you train your legs to spin rather than mash, you increase your fatigue ceiling and can become a faster rider. That is what most of us are after isn't it..

Forster Half Accomodation

Peter Lee has a spare room available for the HIM at Forster in October if anyone is looking for accomodation up there. peterleegb@yahoo.com