Red Leader's Tips

Cyclists and postmen are longtime favourite playthings for dogs and provide lots of fun for man's best friends everywhere. Unfortunately the deeper you get into Bandit Country (certain areas of inner Cornwall - we all know where) and the poorer regions of the world, dogs tend to lose their sense of humour. They abandon the chase and the 'let's bark at the funny cyclist' game and replace it with the 'let's bark and kill the cyclist' game as previously practised by their South African police-dog cousins - the much feared Rhodesian Ridgeback - on anti-apartheid protestors in the last century. Cyclists really have to watch out for these cyclist hating foreign satan spawn as they carry rabies. 20,000 people a year die of rabies in India alone. (I don't think the Falmouth Wheelers'll be going there then.) So what do you do when they come-a-barking-with-their-teeth-a flashing at you? Scream? Shout? Cry? Most dogs just want to give chase and have a bit of a laugh. They hang about on remote farms all day long, all their lives for that matter, bored out of their minds with nothing to do and then a group of nancy-boys in lycra appear over the horizon. Not only that but as soon as they bark at the cyclists they obligingly  pedal  away which, joy of joys, signals to all dogs everywhere just one thing - the chase is on!

Dogs have learnt this game from their parents and their parents before them. You can trace it back to the wolf where running away can trigger the hunting/killing instinct. It runs in the blood. The good news is that to spoil their fun all you have to do is stop. The bad news is you've got to stay calm. And show no fear. (Unfortunately it is true that dogs can sense fear and after a lifetime of being kicked around by a grizzled old farmer the opportunity to sink some teeth into a human may prove to be irrisistable.

The SAS's advice is to simply grab both the front legs (as the dog obligingly goes for your throat) and then quickly twist and pull the legs apart which should do enough damage for you to escape - sounds easy doesn't it? Obviously there's no single answer to avoid being chased or bitten, it'll happen to you one day.

Want the look? Master these three techniques and you'll be on your way.

1. Relax. Great athletes in any sport let it flow, making impossible moves and extreme effort look easy. Here's how to be loose as a goose on the bike:

• Face Off . If your facial muscles are tight, your whole body follows. Consciously relax your face and neck. Loosen your jaw muscles. Don't clench your teeth in grim-faced determination.

• No Turtles . Tense riders hunch their shoulders until their ears disappear. Drop your shoulders and relax the muscles that run from the top of the shoulder to your neck. Don't look like a turtle hiding from danger.

• Get a (Light) Grip . Bend your elbows slightly and relax your forearms and hands. If you hit a bump or get bumped, loose arms absorb the blow without affecting the front wheel. You keep your line and stay in control.

2. Pedal Smoothly. It's easy to spot the smooth pedal stroke of a pro compared to a novice's lumpy plodding. Here's how to get supple stroke:

• Practice Slowly . A rapid cadence of 90 to 110 revolutions per minute is efficient and stylish. But it's hard for your brain to keep up with your feet going that fast. Practice at a slower rpm of 60 to 70 so you can concentrate on your stroke all the way around.

• Remember Mud.  Three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond first gave us this tip in 1985, and it's just as helpful today: When you pull your foot through the bottom of the stroke, imagine you're scraping mud off your shoe. This will help you pull your foot through smoothly with added power. Try it and see how well it works.

• Knee the Bar. As your foot comes up and over the top, pull your knee forward like you want it to touch the handlebar. This adds power to the weakest part of the stroke.

3. Recover Fast . Pro riders can do a three-week race and go just as hard on Day 20 as in the prologue time trial. Here's how to recover like a stage racer:

• Pump Fluids . The loss of as little as one percent of body weight as sweat can compromise your performance. So drink at least one bottle of sports drink each hour you're on the bike. After the ride, drink more until your weight is back to normal. If you aren't getting up twice each night to urinate, you aren't sufficiently hydrated.

• Replenish Glycogen Supplies . A 150-pound cyclist needs 80 to 100 grams of carbohydrate in the two hours immediately after riding. An energy bar contains about 40 grams of carb, a bagel and banana about 60.

• Rest . Pros sleep nine or ten hours a night and often take an afternoon nap after training. We can't do that because we have real jobs and the boss would frown. But because sufficient rest is crucial to recovery, try to fit in at least eight restful hours of sleep each night and catch a 15-minute “power nap" in the afternoon.

The most common mistake made in cycling, and training for cycling, especially among casual cyclists is to push too big a gear, too slowly. You see cyclists plodding along with very slow leg movement.Everyone should learn to spin their pedals. For several reasons spinning, or a high cadence which is the term used to describe the rate of spinning in rpm, is the key to fitness and specifically to increasing aerobic fitness.

First, we have what we call the muscle pump. When you contract a muscle, the muscle cells shorten and get fatter. When they get fatter, they put pressure on surrounding blood vessels forcing the blood out of them and towards the heart in a forward direction. This accelerates the flow of blood through the body while decreasing the workload on the heart, if the contractions are short and fast. If the contractions are significantly longer, this causes a backpressure against the heart forcing the heart to work harder and slowing the blood flow through the body. This backpressure is OK for the short distances a racer may need to make a break, jump a gap or chase a group but work against you for the longer distances.

Second, it is easier to control your speed and keep it smooth and steady when you spin. Pushing too big a gear does not provide a good feel for your speed and your speed subsequently fluctuates up and down which beats up your legs very quickly. Spinning will also improve your bike control.

It is generally thought that a cadence, the rate of spinning, should be between 80-100 rpm. In research carried out on Russian cyclists they found that the optimum cadence is 92 rpm. It probably applies to cyclists even if you are not Russian!          

One of the greatest exponents of spinning at a high cadence, even whilst climbing mountains, was the American Lance Armstrong,   multiple winner of the Tour de France.