the cold

Why we do it.

(re-blogged from Belgium Knee Warmers)

-dg

work out roll call

what have you done in the past 7 days to get faster? leave it as a comment...

Good rubbers

Where the rubber meets the road you'll find all the salt, sand, rocks, metal shards, and glass that accumulates on the shoulder during winter. I put a new set of Michelin Krylion Carbon http://tinyurl.com/gyefq on my winter bike at the start of outdoor base training. When you are 35 miles from home and its 25 degrees, knowing that you've got some good rubber on your hoops brings confidence. Besides, you owe it to your fellow riders in the group.

Anyway, the Krylions, good rubber. Tonight I was inspecting the tires and I removed four sharp objects embedded in the rubber. The smooth tread is several millimeters thick. Money well spent.

Frozen Fritter

Although I rather lost track of the route in my hypoxic daze, it included the Escarpment, Stovepipe, Cass Hill, and some roads only Chuck would consider rideable (and one that he finally conceded was not).

Q and I set out on our cross bikes yesterday for a little "mixed-use-road" adventure. At one point, on one of his secret passageway climbs, we encountered what seemed to be more frozen stream bed than road. Not much point in riding it, but we tried and ended up on the ground several times. Other than that dark moment of walking up a frozen waterfall carrying a bike, the ride was sublime. We passed incredible views and smiling, friendly folks (typically shaking their heads with that "look at that idiot trying to ride a bike on a snowmobile trail" smile on their faces).

I had not planned to be doing tons of climbing this early in the season (especially in a 42/26), but it felt great. And the new cross bike handles and rides like a dream.

-deegee

Turn up the base

A good weekend of base training. Hopefully we will continue to get good weather in the weeks ahead and we can keep on track.

Steve, Jim, and I followed up Andy's Saturday ride with a 54 miler this afternoon. We had no problems for 98% of the ride but 10 min from home, in the span of about 200 meters, Jim broke a spoke, and the three of us almost crashed while avoiding a minivan that turned at us.

See everyone Tuesday.

Sunday 01.27.08








Saturday 01.26.08

Does Chuck Norris ride a bike?

I laughed so hard at some of these I started
to sweat.
http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/
Maybe we should make a site like this
for our own Chuck, or maybe Lance.
Here are some of my favorites:

Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.

Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC,
claiming Law and Order are trademarked
names for his left and right legs.

Chuck Norris counted to infinity - twice.

There is no chin behind Chuck Norris’ beard.
There is only another fist.

Chuck Norris's hand is the only hand that
can beat a Royal Flush.

Chuck Norris doesn’t wear a watch,
HE decides what time it is.

Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them
down until he gets the information he wants.

Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.

Chuck Norris does not get frostbite.
Chuck Norris bites frost.

Chuck Norris has two speeds. Walk, and Kill.

They are not all good but some are jems.

lt recovrey critical power workout blah blah blah

here's some data from my first work out of the year based on Monday's test:

6, 2 min. intervals at 300w. 30 seconds recovery. 2 sets for 12 total intervals.


The chat looks messed up for some reason. My power dropped more then it appears to between intervals during the first set. The second set looks right. I have no idea why the it looks like this, as the on bike readout showed much lower watts between intervals then what appears here.

Here's the total ride sunmary:
Since it was an interval workout data based on the total average isn't too useful, but the total work done will be an interesting number to compare at as I collect more ride data.

The theory with this is workout is that it should hastens recovery. By holding critical power multiple times with little recovery in between it should improve recovery at that wattage, enabling repeated efforts above LT without a long recovery time.

As it turns out I may have had the interval length set too long and the power a little low. As I was recovering okay, but never getting my hr to average above my LT HR during the interval. I averaged in the 160s for each interval - should have been in the 170s.

So next time - 320 watts, probably for 1 min or 1:30, with 30 seconds recovery. Getting the hr up above lt is pretty much critical to making this workout do anything. I doubt I can repeat 320w efforts multiple times if I hold it 2 minutes, so the interval time will have to be reduced and number of intervals increased.

so, next week look for a 3 set workout with 6x 1:00 intervals at 320w. We'll see how that goes.

In other news, It looks like some back country skiing is in the works. I prefer to get my base miles on snow when possible...

later.

Winter Conconi Test

Ok, here are my results. Looks like my critical power is around 315 watts (Fig 2). My LT seems to be around 172 bpm and the power at LT about 277 watts (Fig 2). I averaged 314 watts for 3 min 30 sec during the critical power test (Fig 1). I'll check back with this test maybe after Johnny Cake Lane training series, about 2 months. The Cat4 group also plans to do an outdoor test at the office campus near the end of February. It will be a 3 lap TT with a possible extension to complete a 20 test as suggested by H. Allen and A. Coggan.

Power Test...

James and I did a Conconi Power Test last night. Start riding at 130w, increase 10w/min until your crack. The point where your heart rate jumps and your power output flattens out is roughly your LT.

Once you find that point, you recover and then go to that power and hold it as long as possible. Here's what my chart looked like:

17-18 min interval:

18-19 min interval:

19-20 min interval:

Okay, this doesn't look like much on its own, so let me explain. From minutes 0-17 my heart rate climbed slowly per ten watt increase, hitting 160 in the 12th minute at 240 watts. It took 290 watts to get my hr up past 170, but at 300 watts it went to 177. My attempt at holding 310 watts fell short, maxing only 306 for the 19-20 minute period. My heart rate continued to fly up, hitting at 180 during the same time.

The point where wattage flattened out and heart rate soared - right about 300 watts and 175 bpm - is a good indicator of my LT right now.

The second part of test involves holding your LT power as long as possible. This is an important piece of information as its used to calculate the length of various intervals. I was able to hold 305w for 3:06.

What does this all mean?

To quicken recovery near LT, I'll do 130 second intervals at 300-310 watts. Six per set, with 30 second recovery. (70% of max time effort at lt = interval length). I'll do this work out twice a week.

To build power I'll do intervals at 150 percent of lt power, 30 seconds x 5-8 with full recovery. Here that's 450w if my math is right. I'll do this once a week.

So there you have it, a simple plan for getting faster on the trainer with three rides a week. I'll mix in lifting and skiing and the occasional ride outside ride when weather cooperates, and by the end of February I'll do the test again. Hopefully wattage will go up compared to heart rate.

The beauty of this test is its non-invasive, in other words you don't have to over extend yourself with a massive effort like many other tests require to get decent data. Once you see your heart rate spike and power flatten out, you can stop.

If you found this interesting- great, if not, well, there are plenty of non-cycling related posts on this blog already, so scroll down and see how many monkey meters you can kick a ball.

later.

Quickening

Headed south again this week. Temps in the high 20s low 30s, mostly cloudy, some wind.
Sixteen in the group all with good fitness for this time of year, the pace was pretty quick. We rode down around the Alcove Reservoir making for slightly more elevation than past weeks. About 3500 ft total. My legs were toast by the end. Good to see everyone getting out.

Bode training methods

The training contraptions in the video rule. Who needs a gym membership? Weld some metal together to build yourself a squat rack. Push an old asphalt compactor up a hill. Get tough.

not really related to bike racing, but Bode is the man.

check out the wall ride:

Navigationally Challenged

So--I roll up to the Andy ride at the Park & Ride in Delmar this morning and announce that I will have to peel off early to make it home by 1:30. Hang with the group for a while, which is quite nice. Then Utah Rob and I decide to double back (he being stressed about his dissertation, me having to get back for 2nd shift and take my daughter to a birthday party). Do not ever ask either one of us for directions. We finally stopped at 144 and the Thruway (near Selkirk) and got our bearings. I am a top candidate for a GPS, if ever there was one. Getting a new phone today, dammit.

Even with the low-level stress of being lost and late, Rob and I had an awesome early-season-pace ride. So where did the rest of the group go and what time did you roll back up to the P&R?

-deegee

Never too early to think 'cross!

I know we're all like building base miles and LSD and spinning and suffering and (gasp!) lifting weights in the gym and (what are you looking at?) even maybe doing stuff like yoga and getting all focused on the road season and all that nonsense, but truly--all I can think about is next 'cross season. Hmmm--I can't figure out why...

Monkey Game

Emm-ohh-enn-kay-eee-why

Increase your watts/kg this spring,

start eating this now.

I am strong!

I rode the Panasonic to school today. Going up New Scotland Ave with 30 pounds of law books in my bag I felt surprisingly strong. Must be that lifting weights is actually doing something. Now, if road races were only 6 blocks long, contested on 1980s lugged steal fixxie conversions, and required riding with a bag full of stuff, then I would be champion.

Go to a GYM, squat many pounds! RIGHT NOW!

Wicked!

Winter Flat 40

The RW,PB,JD trifecta. Good ride. Nice temps. Forty degrees and some sun. The bridge crossing was a little sketchy. We figured the snow would have been all melted but a few inches remained.

Another good base ride

We've had some good weather the past few weeks. There is some speak of trainers and such but the road is always best. The group was a good size, 20-25. We headed south along the river into Greene County and back, some higher speeds this week.

Hey, knock knock. Anyone out there?

Clothes Orders are due. Contact me and I can take your order. Funds are due up front. Let Eric or me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Mark

CBRC spinning, opening night

My results from the first CBRC spin session. We did some sweet spot training as the bulk of the workout. Eight of us were there. I suspect many people were outside since we set record high temperatures - 60 degrees in Jan.

But be careful who you say that to, we really don't need to see stuff like this:

Highly recomend snowshoe tromping through the woods, charging up & down snowy hills, ice forming on your eye lashes. 1 hour workout, 132 avg HR, and NOT on a trainer in the basement. I'm still always awed at how effective the body is at producing heat.

Remember this as you train for all those big races next year against seemingly insurmountable odds.

Ok, Now we're moving in the right direction. Weather looks great for this weekend so we should get in 2 days of solid base miles. If I survive tonights' snow showing. Nothing extreme but more the newbie issues.

Renew your membership, application is on the yahoo groups site. Get pamphlets out to your local gym and convince women to start racing. Empire Qualifiers are a short 6 months away and it would be a new experience to go to it with 3 women riders