I can’t believe it’s that time already. Time that is, to announce the Cyclodam Christmas Party! And I can’t say I’m not a little excited.

We’ve come a long way in the past 6 months, and 2012 is only set to be bigger and better (which we hope to be announcing very soon). And, it wouldn’t be a true celebration if it wasn’t with the members who have made us what we are today.

So, dust off your santa suit, put on your drinking cap and join us for some festive celebrations on Saturday December 10th. Details of the evening and venue will be annoucnced shortly – but in the meantime make sure you RSVP to stay up to date with the plans.

Oh, and if you haven’t previously joined us for a ride or a social, why not make this your first? We’re always happy to meet new members!

By Monica:

The days are getting colder, it’s dark by 5pm, and a few of our crew are finding their bodies worn down as they finish off a big year of riding and/or triathlon. What’s happening? We’re heading into the off season !

The Science behind having an Off Season
I’m the first to admit: I’ve trained with an old-school coach and find it difficult adapting to these crazy, new aged notions of having an “off season”. My years in Australia consisted of cross country /marathon season, followed by triathlon season. But I have read a lot of books & articles, listened to a lot of podcasts, and done a lot of training in a more “new school” manner this year – and I’m coming around!

We need to give our bodies time to rest and recover. Our bodies have been working really hard all year. Many training programs recommend a three weeks hard/one week recovery approach – and it’s during the week of recovery that our bodies are able to adapt to the training we have done, recharge, and make those tremendous leaps forward in our fitness.

Similarly, taking a few weeks off at the end of the season allows our bodies and minds to have a break from the rigour and stress of training. Our bodies recover. Our minds are refreshed. And we are ready to hit the next season hard.

Plus it’s Cold!!!
Yeah, it’s clearly the Aussie writing this one. It is getting much, much colder. I even heard it might snow! And riding in snow would require a whole new skill set…

So let’s not get cold & miserable riding outside. While you’re taking time off – enjoy the warmth!

So what are Cyclodam’s off season plans?
1. Some easier rides
We will still be posting a number of rides, but many will include an easy spin option. If you still want to hammer it, go for it! But easy options are definitely there. Maybe a good time to bring along newbies, introduce your friends to road cycling … ?

2. Finding ways to deal with winte
Cycling in the dead of winter sounds pretty miserable to this Aussie – and the ice factor makes it seem a bit dangerous. So we’re looking at other ways to stay fit – including Thomas’ introduction to crossfit- a resistance programme which cuts down time needs for training, but gets serious results. Come along to that one!

3. Enjoying time off
A week or two of not cycling may do you more good than you might think. So in that busy Christmas – New Year period, don’t stress if you can’t fit training in. If you’re going skiing or snowboarding – enjoy! Go enjoy après ski instead of tying yourself to the gym.

4. Socials!
Finally, we want to do something really important: celebrate the successes of 2011. Cyclodam has grown from a relatively ad hoc cycling meetup group, to a cohesive team, growing in strength. Let’s celebrate that with an end of season/Christmas social event! Details will follow:)

Winter. It’s cold. It’s wet. It’s dark. Lots of cyclist use the winter to start their off-season training and I would like to use this opportunity to introduce you to CrossFit. If you spend hours in the gym, you should spend them effectively.

CrossFit is a core strength and conditioning program. The ultimate goal of Crossfit is to maximize work potential across broad time and modal domains using constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movement. Instead of repeating the same exercises over and over, CrossFit exposes you to different fields of fitness. Instead of endless hours doing the same exercises, you will be exposed to short, but high intensity work outs. Instead of doing exercises for isolated movements, you will be exposed to full body movements. CrossFit improves your strengths by curing your weaknesses

I’m planning an Introduction to CrossFit for you. I’ll cover the basics of CrossFit before we move on to three of the nine key exercises. We’ll finish off with a workout of constantly varied, high-intensity and functional movements.

• What is CrossFit? (CrossFit Journal)
• CrossFit Exercises

If you have questions, please let me know.

Thomas

Monica’s Ride Report

It was another super six ride on Saturday. It would have been a bigger group but we lost a few as Friday night progressed (including a 4am pull out on the way home from the pub).
 
We headed out towards Bloemendaal, enjoying a fast pace (maybe courtesy of the wind) …
 
At Bloemendaal we stopped for a caffeine hit, before heading to the dunes.
 
“So, we’ll stick together, right?” we agreed. And we did … for about 30 seconds. Then Thomas and Richard were quickly away. I thought Hayley and I stuck together quite well … until I turned to ask her to take the lead and realised I’d lost her. So it was a bit of a messy group ride!

But at the sand dunes there’s always a chance to re-group … before turning around for the return through the dunes … and losing the formation again!
 
It was a great mix of newbies, oldies, and returnees. We’ve got some exciting stuff planned, with Thomas offering us an introduction to cross-fit session (google it – it’s all about getting fast by doing less!) and of course the Saturday night social: it’s museum night, and the Nemo Museum is putting on something especially for the Cyclodammers: wielrennen.