Greenville Spring Series #3

I'm here in Greenville staying with Rick and Gail again. Also here is a Cat1 that Rick is coaching. I came up yesterday to show Evan the way to Paris Mtn for some leg openers. A little more than I'm used to, but the legs felt good. The weather did not. Rain and 50 degrees. So the turnout was small and the 3 and 4 fields were combined for 45miles (3 laps), there were about 50 on the line. I got a decent spot in the second row and we were off. I looked around and knew the guys to watch would be the Hincapie Barkley, and Barley's teams. I stayed close to the front and tryed to stay out of the wind, pulling through when my time came but making my pulls reasonable. There was an attack about 10 miles in that I went with, the counter was pretty hard and I drifted back a bit. By this time the field was being thinned out rapidly. I had worked my way back near the front when we went around a turn 5 miles into lap 2. I pulled on the breaks and had very little stopping power. I rolled into a parking lot to get out of the way since it was that or ride into some poor guy's wheel. I told the motor official I was dropping out, and rode 50 feet behind the pack for a few miles before a sag picked me up. It turns out the road grime chewed my brake pads up. I would love to have finished that race because I was doing well, but I guess we all have to have a mechanical sometimes. Yes, I am racing tomorrow. It will be 40 degrees, rain, and wind, fun times.

A Little Different

Yesterday I had no legs. Nothing at all, so I didn't ride.
I was supposed to do jumps and sprints but I went out with Casey since she's back in town. It was pretty easy for 2 hours, but we met up with Tom S, Phillip, and the juniors. We did the "iron cross" which is all of Dixie and down Wildcat. I wanted to test the legs a little so I attacked on a small hill about 20 minutes in. That lasted 2 minutes. Things were together at the bottom and top of the nasty kicker on Wildcat that leads to Dixie. As soon as we hit Dixie I attacked, hoping the hill had gassed them enough to stay away. I was caught a little less than 5 minutes later and had to respond to the counters. Eventually Phillip got a gap and no one else would chase, so he rode solo to the end. It was a nice little workout, and the legs seem good.
Tomorrow I'm back on schedule.

Perspective

While I wasn't terribly pleased with the results of the weekend there is always a bright side. There was a nasty crash in the Cat3 race yesterday that tore a couple of guys up pretty bad. Bikes busted, bodies torn up pretty good, that sort of thing. There were a few moments in my races that could have turned bad. On the last lap yesterday one guy rode by me on a hill and promtly put his hips into my handlebars, taking most of my control of the bike away from me. No one went down, I did yell at him.
So my races may not have been what I hoped, but I am home with my bike and body intact and I have have a full season ahead of me.

Let's be thankful, lets freaking race!

Race Weekend #1

I'm sitting here, and I hardly feel like writing this. I've played these races in my head multiple times, reviewed the power files and sent the gritty details to my coach. It just sucks.

First things, fitness is not my problem. I just made dumb mistakes.

Race 1: I was at the front during the first 2 laps. I allowed myself to move too far back in the pack and spent most of the race trying, and failing to move up. It's hard to move up when you are stacked 4-5 wide all race. The one positive I took away is that my comfort in a pack has improved markedly since last year. I'm guessing the mountain bike helped out there.
Anyways, I got a pack finish.

Race 2: Quite possibly the suckiest race I have ever done. It even beats out the 60 miler I did in July, in Ga, in 100* weather. It was mid-40s with massive massive wind. I got spit of the back in 10 minutes, and it was my own dumb fault. I was 4th at the top of the biggest hill (roller) that was on the course when the 3 guys in front rolled away from the group, sweet. Except that we turned into a crosswind and I fell off the wheel. When the pack caught me I let them pass on the side that left me to be pummelled by the crosswind. I lost contact, the end, I sucked.

I'm looking to be just a hair smarter next weekend.

Charts from the Slugfest

This first graph is the 2 hills that lead up to and include Congress Rd. It's 10 minutes AP, not NP, at 243W with several spikes over 400W. My FTP being somewhere between 255-265W. I put myself into difficulty at minute 96, I shouldn't have pushed as hard.

This graph is the 5 minutes I chased Marc W. I was riding smart here and not giving too much on the hills. I was reeling him in and was content to ride within myself 'till I made the catch. (Smoothing of 2 factors)

This last graph (smoothing of 5 factors) shows us working together to get to the gas station at the end of Chain Gang to regroup with the rest of the guys. I'm pretty happy with this one, Marc and I worked very well together and did a nice little Team Time Trial.

This is the same graph as above sans the smoothing. It becomes apparent where I pulled as the cadence goes bonkers while I'm drafting.

Post #101 and a Sunday Stroll (or not)

I just realized that my last post was my 1ooth blog entry, so this is number 101.

I heard through the twitter-sphere that today's ride was going to be a pre-racing tune-up so I made sure to actually wake up and get to it. I was not disappointed. We were slated for 70 miles at a hard pace so my plan was to sit in, suck wheel, and take reasonable pulls (sage advice Rich) when I came through the line. By the time we reached 601 the group was whittled down to those that would finish, and I was happy to be there. When we reached the hill on Congress Rd I gave a little too much gas at the bottom and dropped off the back. I grouped with Mark W and we traded pulls to the gas station to regroup. When we got to the fort the attacks started up again, and my legs were pretty sore and tired. Jay went up the road and Rich thought it would be a good idea to tell me to chase him down. My oxygen deprived brain found this to be a brilliant idea and I blew myself up 20-30 seconds later. Thanks Rich :)

I'll have to look at my average power and other stuff later, I'm going to take a nap now. I feel really good about starting the race season next week!

15 minutes

Yup, yesterday's prescription was 3 x 15 minute intervals with 3 minutes of rest, so I headed down to the crit course to get it on. Rich was there and we chatted while I warmed up. He pointed out that the Power Meter can be used as a governor to remind you not to go too hard in the beginning. Armed with that advice I set out to ride in the 240-250Watt range. I made sure not burn though the first 3 minutes and ended up doing pretty well. I had 255W, 247W, and 249W. Pacing like that really worked well. Upon review, my coach said my pacing "in particular is very good". Very good to hear.Of course, he also points out that my average cadence dropped for each interval, meaning that I push a bigger gear and get sloppy as I fatigue. That's something to work on.

Tomorrow is a group ride with 3x25min at the end, so I need to get some quality sleep this evening.

Busta Lung

Armed with the PowerTap and warm weather I started the short stuff in earnest this week.
Yesterday I went out to that road that intersects Bluff that the Elon ride goes down (name? I'm in too much oxygen debt by that time to look at road signs). I had 4x5 minutes on the menu and that did not happen. I started out and was feeling like superman, I rode 425W for the first minute and suddenly I was scrambling to hold power. It fell to 375 and I keeled over at 2:15. Ok, so going downhill, even slightly, kills power. Also, that first minute at 425W, held for 3:3x would be close to enough power to put me on the podium at any International Paracycling Track Race. Overshooting much? So I did 3 sorta halfhearted efforts and quit. tsk tsk

Today I set out with resolve, a repeat of yesterday was not going to happen. The pain of the day was to be delivered in 2 parts. Part A was downhill sprints times 5 with nearly full recovery. Wattage was a little sub max, but that may be because of the hill I came flying down? I was starting between 25 and 30mph and managed to hit 35-36. Still not a sprinter, haha.

Part B was more painful. 30 seconds all out, followed by 1:30 rest times 5. Each interval was a little less powerful than the previous and the graph looks like an AT&T wireless commercial.
My best 30 second wattage was 630, so that continues to climb.

Weight, I'm not quite 132 like I thought, but am sitting at 135lbs/61.2kg.

Edit: At my weight, 425W for 3:35 may very well send me to the Olympics. haha

Sunday

Today was gorgeous.
75 miles in 4 hours 40 minutes, not very fast, but I racked up 2180 kJ points. I almost bonked on Mt Elon Rd from a lack of food but we got to G-Mart just in time for an Oatmeal Cream Pie and Coke.
I'm tired as all get out.

The New Bike

18.99lbs with pedals, cages, and an Aluminum shelled PowerTap Pro laced to a Mavic Open Pro rim with 32 spokes. That's 1.5 lbs lighter than the old Trek and I can drop more with a wheel switch. I'll take the data over the weight.

Today was really my first day to get out on the road on the new bike and I was pleased! The biggest difference was how much road buzz got soaked up, the old bike was a little jarring to ride, especially on the fort. Not so on the six13.
Another difference was power delivery. The six13 is more direct, stomp and go.
And the handling is snappier. A shorter wheelbase will do that, and the new bike begs to tossed around corners.

I'm very happy.

A Power File to Feel Good About

Last night I was out late with my friends, I figured it would be a good weekend to get it out of my system before the racing starts. I woke up this AM to meet my former debate coach to ride with her for a while. Back-story: I was on the debate team my senior year of high school, team policy FTW! She hasn't ridden much recently so we rode at her pace through the fort, accompanied by the most beautiful weather I have seen since the week before Christmas. It was fun and a pretty chill ride. We ate lunch at Earthfare, then I set out to do 3x20 minute intervals at 90-95% PE since I wasn't wearing the HRM strap. The results: 248W, 234W, 243W. When I dropped out the first and last 4 seconds it went up to 249W, 234W, and 245W. The lesson here is that I can't ease up at the end, gotta drive hard right though the 'line'. If you spotted the outlier, the 2nd interval, that was mental drift. I let my mind wander and it showed. Considering that I did 255W for 20 minutes in December at an all-out-I-can-taste-battery-acid-and-see-the-white-light effort I think it was a pretty good training session. On top of that, my weight went from 62.27kg to 60kg over that time. More power, less weight. W/kg FTW!

Charts and Graphs Telling on Me

I slogged away on the trainer for and hour and was supposed to do 15 minutes 3 times. And I did 1 of them. My 5 minute power peak was 281W, while my avg over the 15 dropped to 245 because I took a few rests that killed my average. Blast it all. And then I was fried so I averaged 150W for the last half hour for an overall average of of 167W.

These Power Meters are unrelenting, ease up for just a little bit and they go blab you out.

Trainer Sprints

I did them. The trainer isn't great, but blasting some music through the IRiver helps. Today it was Chevelle, and while Chevelle may not be the most musically inspired band in the world, there aren't a lot of other bands that make me want to break things (like cranks, or windows, or legs[see, cycling is good for me, keeps me from breaking things!]).

I spent a few hours searching for and downloading drivers to get the PowerTap to link with my computer this afternoon. I also can't get it to read with Power Agent, so I have to DL the file in PowerTap Link (a very archaic power analyzing program), save it to the computer, then open it in Power Agent. It a hoop jumping game, but it takes all of 30 seconds and I get what I need. It's cool to look at the data and start seeing patterns.

As Promised

The lighting is pretty terrible, but this is what the new steed looks like. I'll take it out for its madien voyage in a few hours!

Andy Hatcher

This may well be the best picture, or dare I say photograph, I have ever taken.

Subject: William "Andy" Hatcher. Also known as "The Hatch". Also known as the (self-proclaimed) best looking male on the US Paracycling Team

Location: Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs

Time: Sept 2008. Paracycling Camp. Prior to the Road TT. Andy is cool as a Cucumber.

Anyways, I forgot about this picture, but I think it turned out great. I met Andy back in June at Para-nationals and saw him at camp in September. He's a great guy, and he is quite hilarious. Andy is a bit of a larger than life character and I think the picture really captures this part of him.

The Last Week

Wed on the trainer. *unimpressed Aaron is unimpressed*

Thursday: picked up Rich's PowerTap to borrow and spent 3 hours trying to get it working and didn't ride. *wags finger at self*

Friday: off. *boredom sets in after 2 days off* (I worked at a party hosted by my boss which I found to be entertaining)

Sat: 2.5 hours at Harbison on the MTB. I fell down an embankment. *falling and landing lower than your bike is unsettling*

Sun: 4 hours, 70 or so miles. I met up with Sammy and we rode through the fort and Hopkins for a while. *I done with this style commentary*

The problem with the PT was the wiring harness, it was faulty. Rich obtained another from Jay, so I will be training with power this week, thanks guys.

Something new is coming; I'll have pictures soon.