Race Camp in Greenville, SC... "Kenda Team"

Race camp for the Kenda Pro Team just went down. Wow! It was based in downtown Greenville, SC and tons of work. The land of George Hincapie and his company Hincapie Sports Wear who was part of the camp. George's brother Rich runs the Hincapie Sports Wear. We even had some meetings in their office.

I already knew why a pro roadie like George Hincapie would want to live in an area, its the rides, some of the best in the US, over hanging trees, banked curves, steep uphills and downhills. The land of NASCAR, you learn how to drive on banked roads, there are few straigths! Miss a turn and you go off a mountain! Don't ride in the back of the car or you will get car sick! The drive ways are even steep enough for car tires to leave skid ma

rks on dry surfaces! Maybe that's why German BMW make their cars here? A good test track every where you go! Put rain or snow on these roads and look out!

Lot of uphill rides that head up to the mountains of N.C. If you've ever watched "The Last Mohican" it was made just north of here in the mountains of N.C. Some very long uphill rides up some very narrow roads with a lot of turns. One is Caesars Head Rd. that heads up from Travelers, S.C., to the alpine town of Brevard, NC where I grew up! We even had a mountain home up at Caesars Head area and recall my dad driving the car down our mountain road like a bob-sled run "the roads are very banked" and that day it had snowed 2 1/2 feet. I know the roads very well, steep and tons of banked curves!

Only about 100 hours of work to do in 5 days! Things start at 7am and go none stop, no lunch, like last night till 1 am, just lucky to have 5 WN dealers on hand to be of help! With all the work, people can make mistakes and they did. The main point is we work things out before we all leave. Think about the 20 pro and being willing to try something new? But it can work!

It's not easy to do a whole team and with multi USA Championship like Scottie Weiss who does the design work for Hincapie Sports Wear you need to pay attention! He knows what his body can and can't do! We had so much going on the first day that a mistake was made on the degree angle of his seat post. First ride, going hard, he knew it!

"Any time you think you have influence, try ordering around someone else's dog."

That's all it takes, enter a wrong number and the solution will be off. It goes to show you how important and concise our numbers are. After re-measurement, we had Scottie Weiss right where he had taken 20 years to learn, but even more refined! On top of that, we found a leg difference of 1cm on his left leg due to a very bad bike wreck, he fractured his hip.

Once again, it shows how important it is to find the bones (hard parts) and their shapes! This would not had been found with just video, as the muscles of the hips hinder a lot. Even if we place a (led) or dot, that dot or (led) is going to move because it is on the bibs, or skin.

All solutions done, Sunday races canceled, and the temps are really dropping. We have a 2 hour drive in what looks like a river on the road while we are pulling a trailer and by the time we get near our airport, it is snowing and I mean as hard! Cars wrecked everywhere. It only took 2 days to get home and one of my friends Remi, long time WN user, also a USA National Elite Road Champ, wife is headed to bring their new baby into the world.

Race camp never stops for us, it is what we do for a living, 24/7! We not only stack the bones correctly, teach you what you need to work on, but get results e.g. getting people into breakaways like the Tour of CA.

The new Kenda Pro Team has new members on staff and two that worked with Rock Racing last year. They tell us that most of the team had major knees issues all year with their bike set ups! Careful you don't use someone who thinks they know what you need and hang a plum line. And we know why! All the new and old ideas will be tested! Simply put, if you are not in the game, game over!

We think it is important that we don't pay our racers to use our solutions! Many of pros even pay for their solutions even when they are on another team that has a fitting solution?

We have helped take many people to world championships not once, but repeats. After they make it to the top, most get a job with a major bike company who pays them to use their bikes and then their fitting methods. They have to make a living and we understand. We know that we are a major part of them getting to the top! That is why we keep our data on them!

Just like in pro NFL player leaving one team for another for the "sell out" or the finanical or material benefit. It does make you wonder why if you win the world championships doing something, why would you change what got you there? Answer: Money or material and perhaps you know you are not going to be racing in the near future, perhaps it is your last year. Best be thick skin in this game!

As Andy Applegate and Craig Upton put it, our tt fit is so good, you are mostly only teaching the person how to hold a better aero position. We know of no other way to stack your bones with anything that is as concise as our CAD. Then we focus on your pedal stroke with the Dartfish.

Our results and trends to this year have been the best! We where the first to perform fits online and now many have followed that method. Now the major bike makers are attempting to perform fits, copy Dartfish only after their reps said we would never make it, saying we could not do what we do a few years ago! The nature of the beast!

What will they sell us next?

Another Day at the Office!

Innovations come from learning a few things and not being a copy cat! To be competitive you can't just copy someone else; you will only obtain the same result if you’re lucky. Most will just attempt to copy the lead of others! Then it is only luck!

We have thousands of fits on record! We know the constraints of many and that helps us know how they obtained their great performances! People in our data base continue to create successful performances (trends) and at the hardest of races.

Science is in our nature! It is just hard to show what we do! We’re working hard every day on our latest technological innovation that will once again revolutionize the sport. The people who are in our data base will improve their game once again and run at the top!

What is technology? Anything that makes a difference in performance from a form of applied sciences.

What is the specific benefit of something? Modification's that can't be seen but provide gains, things that allow you to interact with the bike and provide improvement in your ability. Things that excel at distance events. Simply put, you go more distance easier!

What other features are improved! New technology at the micro level will make a difference, it's just hard to prove and achievements are measured by the smallest %. You have to take it to the race and see if it holds water, and if it is competitive? And only then can you say you see a trend.

A good analogy is how a bicycle chain, although made of metal, bends due to flex points in the links. Now plug that in the “human link chain”. Does a human eye or video see a chain bend?

Experience on the course is great for the office. We draw more truth from the many pros who believe what we do! Another breakaway and two racers fitted by Craig Upton using our Wobble-naught & Myo-facts sEMG/Dartfish know-how are hard at work! Jeff Louder (BMC) and Glen Chadwick (Rock Racing) out making a living when many are out of business!

Perhaps it’s the "best deal for any wheel."

In today's day & time it’s good to have a job. Sure it’s hard work but only the best of the best are successful and have a job. You have to be "the real deal."

Go see Craig Upton at Performance Labs, only if you want to learn how to break away from the norms! Craig has well over 1,000 fits under his belt and he uses our data for each and everyone one of them! How else would we know the numbers?

Once again, you never know who is in our data base until after their performance! The Amgen Tour of CA is the real deal and it has the best in the world racing, and they are racing hard!

Ultra Endurance Opener! Rebecca Rusch gets Early Points!

The ultra endurance opener, a 100 kilometer cross-country race was held Feb. 14th in Terlinga, Texas.  It is part of the USA Cycling Ultra Endurance cross-country mtb calendar.

The season is already here, and snow is still on the ground in Idaho. This is a relatively short race for Rebecca, but she was thankful that the race wasn't 1 km longer.  She was pushed from the start, as she could not get her times or placing. She was the Queen of the Mountain and took the cash and broke the female course record by 6 minutes!   Goes to show you, if your bike is dialed,  and you can focus on each and every pedal stroke, the muscles can work correctly!

This early season success is great for points for the USA Cycling Ultra Endurance Series!

Once again, Rebecca Rusch (Specialized-Red Bull) is now motivated for the 2009 season.

We think it is good that she does other sports.  Too often people burn out by being on the bike too much!

Who Critique's your Needs?

If you have no will to change it, you have no right to critique it!

Below is a image of the hardest thing in the body to alter! 

It is also the coordinating center that can really make a difference in your game!  Some cerebellum's execute the highly skilled movements better than others!

Serious attention and consideration applied to doing something correctly is key.

If you don't care or not willing, it doesn't matter!

Why do the sport?

Go wake up your luck!

Revolutionizing any sport is a long and a hard piece of work. Advancements in the history of cycling have been slow to come forth.  For most, you have to see if all the talk is true.  You HAVE to try it to believe it.  

We love the race!  So many teams, so many ideas, so many opinions!  Take all the ideas to the race and let the ideas fall as they will!  It is not a place for the faint of heart or of the thin of skin, you have to be your own person and not easy be influenced by others.  Offensive words will be uttered, to gain an advantage or to exploit a temporary distraction, since your are an opponent.  Their quest, to get in your head and curse you up one-side and down-the-other, in an attempt to anger or be a annoyance to you.  Words are power both in the media and sport!

You will even have some character change the fit on a racer, they will do anything to win, just look at all the drugs in all sports, not just cycling!  We had that happen at Worlds with Sue Butler!  The spacer was on the wrong side of the stem?  Perhaps it was a simple mistake, but Sue knew she was not able to do what we have worked long and hard on for her.

Think about someone stealing you bikes i.e. Lance's at the Amgen Tour of CA!  Its a tough game!

I can't tell you how many times someone has been across the pond, and moved one our racers setup because they used their opinion, not knowing what we really do. Opinions don't always address the the unseen quality or worth of something.  

Then you are always going to have people who are attempting to sway you. 

Are they attempting to make a living in their sport?   Are their judgements holding the merits of the sport. These people have a way to question and make things seem true or probable to you at the time.  They base their feelings or biases more on a record to see who they can sway, or income, to get more people in their camp.

There will always be people who make judgement, or arguments in the world of sport.  Have they earned the worthy merit of their approach or attention within the sport?  That depends on the track record or the history of the evidence about the past!  

 Aren't you glad someone was paying attention in science class?

That is the only evidence we know, as it provides the sum of the past achievements or performances!  That is the only reference we can provide, it is the best source of true facts!

People will have strong convictions, a strong belief (that it was no accident) that is unshakable because you want to believe that it's true rather than because there is evidence proving it so.

Just look at all the different brands of bikes out on course and at any given day, one can win over another brand.

Competition drives the high-tech in the commercial or sporting arena.  With all the newer high-tech, both growth and death will come forth, depending on gaining a share of the limited resources.  We have seen a lot of folks and their living in cycling go away!  

The ideas that don't hold water will be tested!  If you don't have a means of well established system you are gone!  High-tech keeps things moving from the "stone ages" of even 10 years ago!  The stone age covers a period of about 2.5 million years, it was a time where the ancestors of man first used tools.  Paleolithic, to Mesolithic, to Neolithic periods, succeed in Europe by the Bronze Age (Copper Age) only about 4,00o years ago.

Wow!  It sure has taken a man a long time to learn how to use tools?  And we are still learning! 

See you Wobble-naught & Myo-facts sEMG/Dartfish dealer so you can see - hear- and feel the ultimate cycling experience. We are expanding the joy of cycling!

I guess that is why we have new dealers coming to Boise, ID to train?

Jeff Louder (BMC) Impressive Effort in Amgen Tour of CA!

Wow! It was a action packed day in CA.  Levi goes down from Lance's rear wheel and Jeff Louder who was fit by Craig Upton, owner of Performance Labs was in a foursome break-away!

Jeff Louder is in our data base, as is many other top pros.  Mr. Louder was Fit 10637 performed by Craig Upton.  We track every fit!  We have thousands and thousands of fits.  Jeff has not changed for something else?  Because it works!  In fact, I think Craig is Jeff's coach.  Jeff liked the fit so much he got his dad Ken Louder to even come to us for his tt and road and we understand is also being coached by Craig.  Ken had been in the wind tunnel and after our fit even found improvements. If you can't make power, being too aero will not make you go!

At 6 foot and 165 lbs., Jeff has had some very good races and is a powerful climber. He did very well at the 2008 Tour of Utah - and today had another super performance.

Jeff with 3 other racers made the breakaway from the gun for most of the 104 miles and only had about few hundred meters before the sprinters showed up.

If you know what to look for, with the use of our Dartfish, we can see his moves in the real world.  Not in a trainer! But, just connecting the dots, or watching the "human link chain" is not enough.  YOU have to understand the forces at the joints i.e.  compression, tension, shearing. We're not sharing his fit values, nor his fit computations and that holds true for many of the best racers in the world.  We have a rich history of racers trying new ideas and then coming home to something that gets them results!  You can't just focus on the muscles, you have to focus on the bones!  You would have to get a MRI of every joint in the body to do better, but then you still have to learn how to pedal!

Buy the best golf club in the world, pay the most money for it, have it custom fitted to you and you will still not hit the perfect ball every time.  You have to learn to do that!  Then you have to get off the practice tee and get in the real world, on the course!  Then you might learn how to play the game against hard core rivals.  

Some will protest!  Statement's from our rivals, that our name is not on their kits or they don't have our stickers on their bikes.  We are OK with that! We don't have the huge money to buy a team.  And we know how it works, most of the GM's will not make a racer use a certain fit over the other!  It's like making them eat certain foods, they will do what they want!  Our satisfaction comes when you have a person on your setup and they race the world's best and do well. Top performances and results are the real deal over marketing!  

We know it is only one race, one day, but it was a very taxing race with hard climbs and nasty weather.  A true test of the human body.

Every fit idea in the world was at that race and we had one of our fits almost pull it off!  We are knocking on the door!

One of the foursome "Mollema" went off with Jeff, passed him and Jeff had to work very hard to grab his wheel.  Once Jeff got on, Mollema would not keep the pace "sat-up" in front of Jeff to slow things down. That is all it takes! During the last finish circuit in Modesto, they had the sprinters on them for the last few meters.

What a super effort, to ride that many miles with only a foursome! 

Way to go!  That's racing and racing hard!

2009 Watch "Monavie -Cannondale MTB TEAM"

Not unlike NASCAR, each year things change! This past year has seen a great deal of change!

In the ever evolving world of cycling, technological advancements are offering exciting opportunities for cycling at all levels to improve their cycling skills.

You might want to keep a eye on the 2009 Monavie-Cannondale MTB Team!

We have been working with Monavie - Cannondale since they started and we are pleased to still be working with a World Level MTB Team.

Stay Tune!

World Special Olympics - Idaho

"Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each others eyes" - Thoreau

I recall a close friend attending a Special Olympic Games in BC. He pointed out that, even after reaching his goal, the PSIA Demo Team changed his outlook on sport. It helped with the promotion of understanding, acceptance and inclusion between people. Something as a coach or teacher needs to be learned and understood. Far too often a person makes it to the top only to forget where they started. What is the point of reaching the top if you play dirty, take drugs, or are not liked?

Thousands of of athletes, coaches, families and fans from around the world are here in Idaho for the 2009 Special Olympics Winter Games.

The Special Olympics athlete oath:

"Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."

Not all people can be the most-advanced athlete like a Lance Armstrong. It is said, the games will change the way a person view others with developmental disabilities and it is a matter of language and attitude.

Athletics’ even from the least advanced competition challenges not just its participants, but each of us in strengths, values and differences. There is always going to be language barriers, those who view this as insignificant and take it less seriously, very sad, smiles are infectious on all levels.

If it is the Tour de France, or Tour de CA, or Special Olympics Games, we all win!

Ideas are being introduced to crowds at all events. One that stands out is adopting the term "diffability" in place of "disability," because every person has different abilities and learning styles from the person next to them. Boy Howdy!

Idahoans have a unique opportunity watching exciting competition from McCall, ID, Bogus Basin, ID, Sun Valley, ID and at Boise's Qwest Arena.

A message can be strong enough, and creative enough, to spread. Games are important for us all!

Getting to the bottom of it! "The Future is Near".

The body is an amazing machine! Countless coordinated events occur simultaneously, that allow complex functions, and almost all your body systems will be called into action, including the many layers of muscle, all the way down to the bone in which they move. 

We urge you to be forever curious and always learning, and we have the same goals.  First is keeping up to date, second is sharing the love of the movements with each of the athletes.  We are devoted to the goals of techniques that are natural to you and make you not just better, but good, rather exceptional.

So you have some folks you are working with and you want to share your "how to".  How many skills do you need? The first one is being a keen student of bio-mechanics and physics.  No one excels on all fronts of "how to", to teach cycling skills, and technical technique is first!  That requires knowledge, time, effort.  One needs to transmit to the athlete the high energy, enthusiasm or the love of the movement that is so often killed by a strong ego.

It is best to swallow the pride, overcome the instincts, and have the technical down before you move the the other skills like training, habit, tactics, etc...  You don't want to compensate.  Only a small number of people are born with an ideal body and the rest have a wise technical coach should they wish to be their best.

The Future is near!

We have a vision, and it is going to be on our front page as a service to address your bio-mechanics needs!  Its been a long time in the making, but we have a new "Vision Quest", what the future will be for you learning over the internet.  Live anywhere in the world and we will be able to help. 

The hip is functionally and structurally a very complex joint holding many muscles.  Structurally, it consists of the acetabulum, the femoral articulation, and the supporting soft tissue, muscle, and cartilaginous structures.

We are not all the same, No two hips are the same, we can have a normal femoral angulation or a anteversion or retroversion angle. These things make a difference and should not be over looked by basic fitting tools.

Many things can limit the movements of this area.  Perhaps the greatest is your conscious effort, a better understanding, enabling you to successfully exercise.

We have watched a very large % teachers duck this responsibility. 
The teaching needs to be done right and we don't care how they justify their mass marketing tools.  It is not enough to provide some form of alignment, but to provide better understanding of why.

We all know if you continue a routine daily for weeks or months and gradually increase the duration and intensity, your body will adapt and have some % of improvement. But what if you have a the wrong set up?  It will place limits to the adaption and "Boy Howdy" have we watched a few top guns fall in their performance.  The reason, you might be on a team who doesn't like or buy into the other line of thinking. Technical attention has been low, but yet is a significant element to your success.  Keep moving things around and the body will not adapt and that can hold you back.  The season is long!

It's good to have to greater depth of understanding,  given the many muscle layers, their actions and the forces. There are many interrelationships. 

The need to synthesize anatomy and mechanics in a conceptual mode is the most effective in teaching and applying these concepts.

Greater strength comes from a qualitative approach to the study of human movement facilitating more effective teaching, learning, and retention of biomechanical concepts.

Biomechanical principles govern the effectiveness of human movement and our intent is on presenting competen movement analysis within a conceptual framework. The illustrations are used as a source of information as well as an example of concepts.

There are many areas of study that can lead to a broad definition of human movement and from a variety of perspectives: biomechanical, psychological, philosophical, sociological or physiological.

You can get lost with the sub-disciplines, the curriculum, and associate one with the other. Biomechanical knowledge and its disciplines including biology, ergonomics, engineering , physiology, medicine, and mechanical physics.

A biomedical engineer may study the biological and material properties of the human body and appropriate mechanical aspects to understand the flow of blood within the arteries. The knowledge gained may be applied to reduce or solve circulatory problems.

Understanding the physical characteristics of the human body and mechanical physics will guide a performer to a mechanically effective performance.


Exercise physiology is the study of how bodies are altered when it is exposed to acute and chronic bouts of exercise. Sport physiology further applies the concepts of training the athlete.

It helps to distinguish between the two closely related branches.
Exercise physiology helps better understand how bodies derive energy from foods.

Sport physiology then takes the above info, realizing that the body has limited energy stores.

It is hard to clearly distinguish the exercise physiology from sport physiology?

Biomechanics is the area of study wherein knowledge and methods of mechanics are applied to the structure and function of the living human system.

Kinesiology is the study of human movement from an anatomical or mechanical perspective or both. It has more to do with body positions and movements in space.

How do you know that certain muscles are doing the work. It is no wonder its hard to find your best solution given the many shapes and sizes.

Many of our new dealers have a passion, a history of attending the many fitting ideas schools that are out there.

Many move with fitting systems to get the brand of bike in their store. Their way or the high-way!

We know that muscle strains can occur at any part of the body, but they can occur within the complex hip.

They are also graded.

Grade 1 may be a simple muscle spasm or cramp.

Grade 2 may result from "true overuse" from the activity and usually resolves with some rest.

Grade 3 is a true muscle tear that can occur within the muscle. It doesn't occur at the belly of the muscle due to the cross section.

It occurs at the muscle-tendon junction, or at the origin or insertion of the muscle.

So if you don't know the shape of your hip and how it makes contact with the saddle you can cause some very real issues.

How do you know where the hard parts are and where the muscles attach?

Why would you push a muscle into tension, if we don't go there with your best fit solution. The belly of the muscle is where you get more cross-section? Where you get more work.

It helps to know the relation of all the muscles and not place one into more stress over the others. They need to work together in concert!

If you have a poor pedal stroke, you can hurt your muscles!

Does it not make sense that you would not want a given muscle doing all the work?

There are always things outside a performance that we have no control i.e. gravity and mass marketing! Money buys the media! Place ads on a cycling site and you have a better chance of cutting a deal with them and getting press. Out of our control.

We do have a little control of your brain and with some effort teach you more truth. We can show you both the data and the pics in hopes you learn. It is not our ego, rather its providing tools that make a difference for you to learn. We have methods that enable you to successfully
move your physical characteristics. Knowing your anthropometrics and each segment makes a huge difference, perhaps allowing you to be the best in the world. But can you stay there?

That's the hard part, as we have taken people to the top of their game. Then after getting them to that level, loose them, as someone else gets in their head, or they get paid by them to use their methods.

Marketing has an impact on what you think, if it is the truth or not or if it is best for you?

Some point out to us that we are not on a certain pro kits, yet we hold the data of certain persons or we don't have a sticker on a team bike. True, we don't pay for the billboard space on any team kit. Never have! Many, who want to promote their services have given money to be on a (x,y,z) kit if they provide a service or not.

In most teams, the team description or rules doesn't demand what that person can eat, drink, or have for their bike solution. Most GM's inform us they allow a person to have any solution they want and some will even have a different bike brand and just paint it so it looks like a team bike. That is very much part of the game. In most cases, we don't have any control on these things.

One constant we can do have control is your gravity. Everyone has the same (g) until you move it. Big over a small time or small over a longer time. In both cases you fight gravity. That is where we make a difference.

When watching someone from the outside using led, video, you can't see the inside forces (compression, shearing, tension). In fact the skin moves and that causes a misreading of what the joints are doing with the gravity and the forces of greater effort. Think of the femur neck alone and how it moves.

The next time you look at a string instrument, try to guess the tension of a given string. You can't by just watching it. It might make bad music if it is out of tone or if the strings don't work together!

2009 Cyclo-cross Worlds

Many learn that in a 40 min. race, getting a good start can be an effective move.  A crash at the start split the field into small race groups.  

Rock hard road conditions in Hoogerheide, The Netherlands, rewards those who have more track and road time.  Marianne Vos, a sprint specialist used those skills to obtain her 2nd World Cyclo-cross rainbow jersey.   She won a gold last summer in track, at the games.

Top American, Katie Compton shot off the front and was able to get a 17 second lead, only to be reeled in later in the frozen hard-pack.  At the end of the race, Compton kept the pace high in an attempt to take the sprinters out, it did not work.  Vos still had a little tt in her at the end, for a sprint that decided the winner over Kupfernagel and Compton.  When you race each other as much as these gals, you know you skills and you know if can  successfully perform a sprint over your rivals.  It goes to show that when someone gets  in the top 5, you have had a super race!   

A crash just after the start of the race, killed the hopes of many, including Georgia Gould.  She pointed out that she had no interest in killing herself for top-15, having to get off the bike and walk through the crash. After finishing 3rd at a World Cup, the expectations can really make the outcome very clear!  She just worked on improving her position.  

The season has been long!

Results

1. Marianne Vos (Net)                          42.39

2. Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger)                  0.01

3. Katie Compton         (USA)                0.02

4. Sanne Van Paassen   (Net)                 0.29

5. Caroline Mani            (France)

6. Sanne Cant                (Bel) 

7. Daphny Van Den Brand  (Net)          0.30

8. Mirjam Melchers            (Net)          0.31

9. Eva Lechner                   (Italy)         

10. Maryline Salvetat      (France)

11. Rachel Lloyd                (USA)           0.32

12. Christel Ferrier          (France)        0.37

13. Georgia Gould            (USA)            1.02

14. Nikki Harris         (Great Britain)   1.13

15. Joyce Vanderbeken      (Bel)            1.34

16. Helen Wyman      (Great Britain)   2.03

17. Sue Butler             (USA)                   2.04

18. Wendy Sims          (Canada)             2.30

19. Laura Van Gilder   (USA)                 2.57

20. Pauline Ferrand Prevot (France)   2.58