QUOTE(miaopurr @ Jan 3 2013, 10:50 PM)
butthead, the toupe is significantly lower than arione. so when mounted it on my seatpost, i had increased the height to the same height as where the arione was. but when i sat on it, it felt tall and and i had to put a little more effort to pedal.
is this normal? could it be because the toupe is a flat saddle?
it could be due to a lower rail or the shell of the flat saddle is lower than the more rounded ones...
more effort to pedal? not too sure how a flat saddle could cause that.. in fact, flat saddles should be providing more support than rounded ones.... i am guessing it's the shape of the saddle that you are not getting used to... the arione looks to flare out in a more subtle fashion compared to the toupe and in theory.. the shape of the toupe might have your legs closer together when you pedal..
it might or it might not have caused you the little more effort... i am guessing it is more of the new feel that you are not getting used to...
it might be good to try new saddle height and fore / aft settings since this is a different saddle shape, coupled with a possible different stack height of your arione vs toupe ... the old height measured to the crank spindle might not be good for this saddle as leg extension might be affected by it...
not the most scientific method... but an overlap of both saddles does show quite a number of difference...
you can see the arione seems to aim downwards more than the toupe..
another thing i forgot to tell you as well.. not sure if i mentioned before.. most spez saddles especially when seasoned... tends to sag down in the middle, not sure if due to material or other factors or it's just my weight... when new, you can see that the spez saddle curves down in the middle slightly in between front end and back... while the arione in comparison is almost flat front to back... that could contribute to a lower sit height if you sit in that area... i think...
and this is the part that has some shape difference.. in theory, if my cloudy brain in the morning is working properly... the spez should be allowing you to extend your leg a bit longer as the curvature is further back.... in theory...
Added on January 4, 2013, 10:07 amQUOTE(Mac Wai @ Jan 3 2013, 09:07 PM)
Any cycling training plan that you would recommend to achieve my objective? I find that cycling everyday hampers my recovery from fatigue. Is it better to cycle on alternate days?
QUOTE(Mac Wai @ Jan 3 2013, 09:45 PM)
20 to 30 km a day. About an hour +-. Majority of the time is uphill and down.
every training plan has to have an aim... you have to start off with a target.. fitness improvement is very general word to use as it covers many things... all the way from power output to endurance and any specific targets...
i would be tempted to say mileage is good but there is times when short runs with burst-ful efforts is good in your training plan as well...
i would not say to ride everyday as you are working i presume.. riding everyday saps energy never the less...and you need recovery time in between... i would prefer to sparse it out more and plan according to your targets...
you have to choose to have a combination of group rides, long mileage stable rides and intensive rides to mix it up and build all your bases at the same time...
in the schedule of a week... choose to have at least a day where you ride in a group, preferably a fast ride on flat or rolling roads.. this helps you acquire skills to maneuver around in a group and it allows you to benchmark yourself.. and it forces you into reality of your level against your ride buddies... in other words, forces you to up your pace if you are slow in order to tag onto their wheels or you get left behind..
solitary rides are important part of a training plan too, but as mentioned above... solitary ride sometimes does not let you realize your level on whether you need improving or are you already ahead of your group...
it is important to ride longer rides, 20-30k in places like genting sempah or KKB-Gap is good or you can do 100K flats at moderate paces... just within your limits but not exceeding them... this long steady rides are good for conditioning and building your base endurance...
then you need to plan for days where you can do intervals where you practically ride your balls off for a pre-determined distance or time (usually quite short), rest and repeat and progressively increase the effort or distance until you can no longer hold it... this will be essential for building power... doing short hill climb loops repeatedly at maximum efforts is an example of it...
recovery planning is also important which is why i think a sparse training plan over a week is better than having everything concentrated on only the weekends... something like a fast group night ride middle of the week, intense / intervals session on saturday and long rides on sunday to aid recover or sort of cooling down from the week...
that's what i think would be a better training plan that covers all bases... if you have specific aims, you might want to double up on certain things... and you'll be constantly fine tuning your plans as you progressively improve...
change routes / switch ups / reversals from time to time to keep things interesting as trainings can get quite boring...and if you are bored, you don't get the motivation to ride...training is a lot of repetitive stuff, find your own ways to spruce things up whether it is listening to tunes (which can be dangerous) or having pictures of pamela anderson on your stem... whatever yanks your chain..
This post has been edited by butthead: Jan 4 2013, 10:24 AM 
Jan 3 2013, 05:38 PM
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