What if I'm Wrong?: Electronic Shifting & Rucking

“What if I’m wrong?” is one of the most significant and important questions we can ask ourselves as we navigate our lives.  We do not know everything, and even what we think we “know” may prove to be incorrect.  It’s important to understand when things have shifted and admit it when they have.

Sources:

The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self by Michael Easter

Coach Tip Tuesday: Face the Discomfort Dragon

Coach Tip Tuesday: The Case for Walking

ROAR: How to Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong, Lean Body for Life by Dr. Stacy Sims with Selene Yeager

Next Level: Your Guide to Kicking Ass, Feeling Great, and Crushing Goals Through Menopause and Beyond by Dr. Stacy Sims with Selene Yeager

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Disclaimer: The information shared in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or health goals. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you heard on this podcast. Reliance on any information provided is solely at your own risk.

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening
• 0:16 Things Change
• 2:06 Electronic Shifting
• 9:55 Rucking
• 18:04 The Bottom Line
• 19:00 Closing

Transcript

(0:04 - 0:29)
Hello, and welcome to the Full Circle Podcast, your source for insights into the science and art of endurance sports training and racing. I'm your host, Coach Laura Henry. What if I'm wrong? This is such an important question, and really, I think that it is one of the more important questions that people can ask themselves as they move through their lives.

(0:29 - 0:49)
In the world of endurance sports, things change all the time. When I answer questions asked by the athletes who I coach, it's not uncommon for me to give an answer and then follow it up with, I reserve the right to change my mind. I have a lot of education and experience when it does come to endurance sports.

(0:50 - 1:26)
And that being said, it's not uncommon for something to change because something new came out, some new study was conducted, there was new anecdotal experience that was had, or something else. So even though I may think something is true at one point in time, it's entirely possible that my perspective on that very same thing may shift with time as I get more information or I have more experience. When that happens, I think it's really, really important to evolve and to evolve my thinking, even if that means admitting that what I previously thought about something isn't true or is isn't the same anymore.

(1:26 - 1:41)
In short, it's important to admit when I was wrong. So this episode is the first of what I'm going to be calling the, what if I'm wrong series. At least one or two times a year, I realize that something I previously thought isn't true anymore.

(1:41 - 1:50)
And quite frankly, it's probably more than that. But typically there's like one or two big things every year that I'm like, Ooh, that's different than what I used to think. Like it's very noticeable.

(1:50 - 2:13)
And I think it's important both as a coach and as a human to discuss when this happens and what information or experience caused that perspective to shift. So this week I'm going to talk about how my perspective has changed about two specific things, electronic shifting and rucking. An electronic gear shifting system, more commonly known as electronic shifting, is a method of changing gears on a bicycle.

(2:13 - 2:43)
Riders shift using electronic switches and buttons instead of using conventional control levers and mechanical cables. The switches and or the buttons are connected by wire or wirelessly to a battery pack and to a small electric motor that drives the derailers, which switches the chain from cog to cog in the rear cassette or from chain ring to chain ring in the front, the big chain rings in the front of the bicycles drive train. Electronic shifting has been available for consumers since 2009 and Shimano was the first company to develop it.

(2:44 - 2:55)
They called it digital integrated intelligence. And we know that more commonly as Di2. Campagnolo bought an electronic shifting product to the market in 2011 and then SRAM followed in 2016.

(2:56 - 3:22)
Originally, all electronic shifting devices were wired technologies, but that has now shifted, pun intended, to be wireless technology. There are advantages and disadvantages to electronic shifting, and some of the advantages are that electronic shifting makes it possible to shift gears faster and more smoothly. And because the system does not use actual mechanical cables, it can calibrate itself and it may require less maintenance for that reason.

(3:22 - 3:40)
Some of the disadvantages of electronic shifting are that it is reliant on electronics, not mechanics, and that requires a battery and charging and all the things that come with that. And as anyone who does use electronic devices knows, they like to fail on you at the most inconvenient times. So that can be very frustrating.

(3:40 - 3:53)
And my experience with electronic shifting has been that all parts in the system are specific to that system. So it may not always be possible to quickly repair or resolve an issue if you're having it. It's not uncommon to have to special order parts or to wait for them to come in.

(3:53 - 4:16)
So you can't just like pop into a bike shop and have them instantly be able to fix all issues that you may be having with an electronic shifting system. Because some shops may not have the right software to deal with the firmware issues with that system. So for instance, with Shimano, there's a very specific firmware or software that you need in order to install firmware updates, and a shop may or may not have that.

(4:16 - 4:31)
This is evolving. The companies are now coming out with more apps that they can update things over the air via Bluetooth and wireless technologies. And so I don't think that that's going to be the same forever, but that's what it's been for the last, you know, 15 or so years.

(4:31 - 4:47)
And finally, perhaps the most significant disadvantage to electronic shifting is that it is very expensive. It's an upgrade if you have already have a bike that can cost at least $1,000 to $2,000. And that's a lot of money, especially when we're only talking about a single feature on that bicycle.

(4:48 - 5:04)
I mean, a really important feature, but only one feature of the bicycle, there's a lot of other parts to the bicycle than just the shifting mechanisms on it. Should I get electronic shifting? That's a common question that athletes ask me. And up until about a year ago, I told athletes that electronic shifting was a nice to have.

(5:04 - 5:17)
And then I also told them that it was best done as part of a new bike purchase versus an upgrade or an add-on later on. I honestly didn't think that the juice was worth the squeeze on it for most age group athletes. And so I want to make something clear.

(5:17 - 5:31)
I have always believed and will always believe, I don't think my thinking will shift on this, that people can spend their money however they like. You have the money, you can spend it on anything you want. But when athletes are asking me about whether or not they should spend money on something, I take that very seriously.

(5:32 - 5:42)
And that's especially true if the cost is high. I feel a responsibility when someone asks me my opinion to really weigh all of the considerations. And part of that is finances.

(5:42 - 6:05)
And I know that athletes are coming to me because of my experience and that they're going to take what I say seriously, or I like to think that they do. And so as a result of that, I'm very thoughtful about the feedback I give and the advice I give, especially when it comes to spending money. I don't want someone spending thousands of dollars on something because I said it was a good idea if it wasn't actually a good idea, and if it's not going to actually be helpful to them.

(6:05 - 6:25)
I personally have had electronic shifting on my road bike since 2019, so about five years now. I got it as part of a new bike purchase that year, and it's definitely very nice to have. And for me, this is especially true because I have an impairment in my left arm that specifically limits my dexterity, and it makes it hard for me to squeeze and grip things.

(6:25 - 6:55)
Since my arm and hand impairment happened, it's not uncommon for me to lose control of my hand or for it to stop working if I use it too much. I broke my arm pretty catastrophically in 2015, and I severed some of the nerves that control my fingers in my left hand, and I have limited use of some things. And while it looks fine to a lot of people, like there are some really specific things that I find really challenging to do, and gripping things for a long period of time that does include bicycle handlebars is one of those things.

(6:55 - 7:09)
And then when I grip something for a long period of time, my hand basically fatigues out. The best way I know to describe this is it's like a dimmer switch on a light switch. Sometimes it's closer to full brightness, and other times it's just like way down at the bottom.

(7:09 - 7:27)
And that's literally because of the neurological impairments that I have in my left arm. And so when it starts working, it makes it really hard for me to shift and to break while riding a bicycle, and I think that's for obvious reasons. Changing to electronic shifting delayed when my hand stops working, and that's been really nice.

(7:28 - 7:52)
Pushing buttons is less work than actually moving a lever, especially on a road bike where you have to turn your hand and have that rotational movement of your wrist and your hand to shift the levers in a mechanical shifting setup. And that motion, that specific motion, that rotational motion is actually one of the motions I don't have good control of or even full range on. So switching to electronic shifting was really, really great for me on my road bike for a lot of really specific reasons to my impairment.

(7:53 - 8:12)
And so if I'm being honest, I think that this is foreshadowing. I think that my perspective was clouded because of my impairment. So all this to say, I have experience firsthand with electronic shifting, and while I found it useful, especially in my situation, I honestly didn't think that I would have found it as exciting or good if I didn't have an impairment in my left hand.

(8:13 - 8:34)
Like I said, I think that my impairment clouded my perspective on this, and I specifically didn't think that I would have found the cost of it worth it without an impairment. And my thinking on this has shifted, pun intended again, in the last year. One reason is that the pricing is coming down a bit on electronic shifting systems and wireless electronic shifting setups are a bit less of a hassle than wired systems.

(8:34 - 8:52)
But really the biggest reason is this. I realized that exactly what was making it easier for me to ride a bike with electronic shifting would also make it easier for everyone to ride a bike. If you don't need to move your hand to shift the bicycle, you can maintain a better grip on the bicycle and more control on the bicycle.

(8:52 - 9:17)
That's really important, especially if you're newer rider or if you're a more timid rider and for expert riders or higher level riders, that is just going to increase how fast they can go or how comfortable they're feeling. It's not uncommon for me to hear athletes saying that they stop pedaling, especially timid riders when they stop pedaling, when they shift or that they get nervous if they're moving their hands around on the handlebars. And so you don't have to do that.

(9:17 - 9:22)
It's going to increase a lot of people's riding confidence. And that's really important. I don't think we can understate how important that is.

(9:23 - 9:36)
And this improves handling for everyone, not just me. Better handling is such a wonderful thing. So, yes, it did take me quite a while, including four years of owning an electronic shifting system myself to realize this.

(9:36 - 9:40)
But hey, better late than never. I was wrong. Electronic shifting is a good thing.

(9:40 - 9:55)
That being said, I do stand by that it is cheaper and better to get it as part of a new bike purchase. An upgrade, it is still expensive. So if you are considering it and you are considering a new bike, I definitely recommend considering getting the option of the bicycle that includes electronic shifting.

(9:56 - 10:02)
And rucking. What is rucking? Rucking is walking with weight. That's the simplest definition of what rucking is.

(10:02 - 10:12)
And specifically, it's walking with a backpack that is weighted. And that backpack is called a ruck. A ruck is a backpack that military members use to carry their gear into field or into war.

(10:12 - 10:32)
To be honest, when I first learned about rucking, I thought it was a way for people to make something simple, walking, unnecessarily complicated or hard for the sake of feeling like they were doing something hard or worthwhile. And I also thought that some people were doing rucking to try to recapture a period of time in their own lives. So perhaps as a soldier, a Marine, a police officer, etc.

(10:33 - 10:53)
As someone who did have to carry 40 pounds of gear in addition to my body weight for a job in my former life, I was actually a nuclear security officer at a nuclear power plant and that job required me to carry a lot of tactical gear on my body, on my person. I didn't understand why anyone would intentionally want to recreate that in a civilian scenario or situation. It just seemed wild to me.

(10:53 - 11:03)
It seemed unnecessary to me. So in other words, I scoffed at rucking and I dismissed it, if I'm being honest. In 2023, I read The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter.

(11:03 - 11:08)
This is a fantastic book. I cannot recommend it enough. And I've talked about it and I've referenced it before.

(11:08 - 11:26)
I even talked about it in Episode 9, Face the Discomfort Dragon, if you want to go back and listen to that. In The Comfort Crisis, Michael Easter does a really deep dive on what rucking is and why it's something worthwhile. After reading that book, my perspective on rucking, which I had had for literally years, instantly shifted.

(11:27 - 11:39)
What Michael Easter explains in The Comfort Crisis made so much sense to me. He talked about how soldiers have been carrying gear into battle and humans have been carrying heavy things for as long as we have been a species. So this is literally for tens of thousands of years.

(11:40 - 11:55)
Humans are relatively weak compared to other animals and we're not very fast. I knew that, but him talking about this in this context really hit home for me. Despite the fact that we're relatively weak compared to other animals and we're not very fast, we became apex predators, top of the food chain.

(11:55 - 12:07)
One reason is definitely the development of our brain. We are different than all other species on the earth this way. But another reason, which Michael Easter does talk about in the book, is our ability as a species to carry stuff over a notable distance.

(12:07 - 12:24)
We are the only animal on earth and in the history of the planet earth that can do this. This gives us a tremendously huge advantage over other species from an evolutionary perspective. Michael Easter writes, Endurance running and carrying are, quite literally, acts that made us human.

(12:24 - 12:44)
The human body is built the way it is so that we could slowly but surely run down prey for miles and miles in the heat until the animal toppled over from exhaustion. Then we'd kill it and carry it back to camp. This is why we have two legs, springy arches in our feet, big butt muscles, sweat glands across our body, no fur, short torsos, and strong grips.

(12:45 - 13:08)
Anthropological data shows that females specifically are good at this, both because they have carried children throughout our history as a species and also because they've carried heavy things such as water jugs and animal carcasses along with carrying children throughout our history as a species. So even in the present day, women are actually better at endurance than men. Dr. Stacey Sims' research backs this up if you want to reference her books, Roar and Next Level.

(13:08 - 13:25)
And this is one of the hypotheses why women have literally carried heavy things for a long period of time throughout our history as a species. As rucking relates to us today, Michael Easter discusses how rucking is cardio for people who hate running and lifting, for people who hate the gym. Rucking combines endurance and strength.

(13:25 - 13:34)
In other words, it's cardio and strength all in one activity. There are a lot of benefits to rucking. It's honestly very accessible, which is a huge pro in my book.

(13:34 - 13:52)
It's almost as accessible as walking. You can use any backpack or any type of weight, though they are nice, you don't necessarily need a backpack or weight plates that are specifically designed for rucking. According to Dr. Robert Wormers, a bone disease specialist with the Mayo Clinic, the best way to stop and even avoid bone loss is to do aerobic walking where you're bearing weight.

(13:52 - 14:04)
Weight bearing is really important. At the very least, it tells your body not to get rid of bone density or muscles. And in the best case scenario, weight bearing stimulates muscle growth and bone density by telling your body that it needs more of each to effectively carry loads.

(14:05 - 14:16)
Once we reach our thirties, we have a decline in bone density and muscle mass for the rest of our lives. We can't stop this, but we can slow it down. And weight bearing is one of the ways we can do this.

(14:16 - 14:36)
It's one of the reasons why I talk about how strength training should be the backbone of endurance sports training. It's so critical to try to preserve our bone density and muscle mass as much as possible throughout our lives, not only for performance as athletes, but just for overall health, mobility, and wellness. Another advantage to rucking is that it burns two to three times as many calories as walking.

(14:36 - 14:51)
And listen, I'm not one who encourages movement and exercise for the caloric burn. In this case, I'm bringing this up because caloric burn is a way to demonstrate how much work you're actually doing when you're rucking. That's because caloric expenditure is a measure of work done in the human body.

(14:51 - 15:14)
We burn calories and that shows us how hard we're working. And so if we're burning two to three times as many calories as walking, it provides a nice illustration of how effective this is. Rucking also helps train better and good posture because it's impossible to slouch around your shoulders or put your head very far forward of your body or your shoulders when you are carrying a weighted backpack, when that backpack is resting on your shoulders.

(15:14 - 15:30)
That backpack is going to pull your shoulders backwards. And finally, rucking causes fewer injuries than running or lifting. In one study, researchers found that people were six more times likely to get injured running and 2.3 times more likely to get injured lifting than they were to get injured from rucking.

(15:31 - 15:40)
I actually knew a lot of these things in isolation. I knew that weight bearing is important for slowing bone loss and muscle loss. I knew that we needed to train endurance and it was important to train endurance.

(15:41 - 15:55)
I knew that walking is one of the best movements that we can do for our overall health and wellness. And I actually just talked about this in episode 27, the case for walking. I knew that our overall posture as a species is rapidly changing and that rounded shoulders and a forward head position are more and more common.

(15:55 - 16:03)
This is especially true since the advent of computers and the smartphone. Just look around the world, folks. Everybody's got their head bent down and their shoulders rolled forward, staring down at their phones.

(16:03 - 16:16)
They're not looking up. But what I hadn't done is put all the pieces together and think about how rucking combines a lot of the things that I knew to be true. My scoffing and my dismissiveness of rucking caused me to be blind to this.

(16:17 - 16:39)
And reading The Comfort Crisis was the catalyst that I needed to get me to do this, to put these pieces together and to therefore think in a different way and to recognize that what I had previously thought about rucking was completely inaccurate and quite frankly, kind of juvenile the way I just dismissed it. So how do you ruck? You get a backpack. Remember, doesn't have to be a rucking specific backpack.

(16:39 - 16:48)
You put weight in it and you can use anything for the weight. Something like a book or multiple books is something that you might already have, or you can buy weight plates. And then you go for a walk with your weighted backpack.

(16:49 - 17:03)
If you're not used to rucking, you start with 10 to 15 pounds in your backpack and start for 10 to 15 minutes per day. Do not fall into the trap of doing too much too soon. Start with lighter weight and shorter durations and then gradually increase the weight and the durations.

(17:03 - 17:15)
You can increase the weight up to 50 pounds. Numerous studies have shown that 50 pounds is a sweet spot where humans are able to still carry weight and be mobile and agile. More than 50 pounds, we start losing our mobility and our agility.

(17:15 - 17:39)
The length that you go can be determined by you, though most people find that 30 to 45 minutes is a good duration, a sustainable duration or range. But if you're training for longer events, especially things like longer hikes, through hiking trips, back country camping or hunting trips, you may want to increase to longer durations beyond 45 minutes. You don't want to run with a ruck on because running is already a corrosive activity with just your body weight.

(17:39 - 17:53)
When you run, your body, especially your lower extremities are weight bearing at a rate of up to seven times greater than your body weight. So you don't need to impose more weight than that. That's going to make running even more corrosive and make it even more likely that you sustain a running related injury.

(17:53 - 18:06)
So don't just think that because I'm endorsing rucking now and carrying weight that it means carrying weight all the time for all activities is a good thing. I'm talking about this specifically as it pertains to walking with weight. So the bottom line is folks, we don't know everything.

(18:06 - 18:22)
In fact, the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know and that I have yet to learn. Sometimes paradoxically, I feel more dumb even when I know I'm acquiring more information and getting smarter and more knowledgeable. And even if we think we know something, what we think we know might be wrong or it might be wrong in the future.

(18:23 - 18:37)
Maybe it's right today and new information is going to come along and show us in the future that we're wrong. Going through life open to asking yourself the question, what if I'm wrong is liberating and profoundly positive in my experience. It keeps you humble and it keeps a lot of things in perspective.

(18:37 - 18:52)
I know I've been wrong many times and I know that there are many things that I'll be wrong about in the future. Remember, I reserve the right to change my mind. Being curious and open to the possibility of continued learning is, in my humble opinion, a lovely way to experience life.

(18:52 - 19:18)
So I encourage you to approach tomorrow and the next day and the day after that and all the days left in your life with the question, what if I'm wrong? That was another episode of the Full Circle Podcast. Subscribe to the Full Circle Podcast wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. If you like what you listen to, please be sure to leave us a rating and review as this goes a long way in helping us reach others.

(19:19 - 19:36)
The thoughts and opinions expressed on the Full Circle Podcast are those of the individual. As always, we'd love to hear from you and we value your feedback. Please send us an email at podcast at fullcircleendurance.com or visit us at fullcircleendurance.com backslash podcast.

(19:36 - 19:46)
To find training plans, see what other coaching services we offer, or to join our community, please visit fullcircleendurance.com. I'm Coach Laura Henry. Thanks for listening.