Are we there yet?



It has been a while since I have updated my progress, too much racing and training. I won't bore everyone with the details of my racing, but just say while wins have been few and far between, I have had a great season thus far and have accomplished a lot. More importantly I have learned a lot. Just got through my 1st peak and am gearing up for my 1st Pro/1/2 race next weekend. While I will certainly be training hard and trying to continue improvement on my fitness, my main focus is going to be learning the ropes racing at such a high level. I really have no result oriented goal for the rest of the season, the primary focus will be to learn as much as I possibly can and figure out where I need to get to next season. And, to help me get to where I need to be I have invested in a power setup that I will train/race with full time, no more basing info off of the computrainer. This is good and bad because now that I have a couple races under my belt with it, I have realized I am much stronger than I thought, but must be lacking somewhat in race strategy. Which goes back to my focus for the rest of the year, focus on racing
 
js, nice and it looks like you had a good time out there.

bg, going from a Cat 5 last year to entering a Pro/1/2 race this year is amazing. I guess it would be no surprise that you would not have the same race strategy as those guys that may have gone up the ranks at a slower pace picking up a lot more race experience, but it sounds like you are doing an amazing job training and racing. I look forward to hearing how you continue to progress.
 
Well this could be quite the first pro/1/2 race. The USA pro crit is the day before a couple hours away and it seems that at least 1 UCI team has decided to come over and race. It is going to be a first experiance as it is, if more teams decide to join it could be really interesting.
 
Hold onto your hats if the fast lads hit the afterburners. Take your best 5 minute effort done in training, make it last 20 minutes... and that's just when you're sitting on wheels as everyone is strung out like spaghetti that's just waiting to snap. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/ROTF.gif

I remember one year riding the Eddy Soens race in England and the North Wirral Velo team of Boardman (after he won the Olympics on the Lotus bike but before his first hour record) were there with their new bikes, skinsuits and trispokes. The team was basically three of the four England team time trial squad and a few really fast track lads chucked in for good measure. Everyone knew what was gonna happen and it happened. The pain - unreal as was the speed. The only time I'd ever gone that fast on a bike on the flat for longer than a mile was behind a double decker bus. It's a handicap road race with the fast lads off last and the fast lads went really fecking fast. I can't remember who won - I was in oxygen debt for the remainder of the month.
 
Well had my 1st Pro/1/2 road race, second P/1/2 race (we won't discuss the results of last weeks crit). All I can say is I will be needing some recovery. It was 72 miles, 6,000 feet of climbing and strong headwinds on the "flat" sections. TSS (including warmup/cool down)-343 3hr NP-325 2hr NP-336 1hr NP-365 It was just a pure race of attrition. I missed the winning break of 10 guys and managed a 14th place finish, which I am real satisfied with. I was experancing severe leg cramps the last 1/3 of the race, which made climbing pure hell. Plus I got taken down in the feed! I really don't think I have had such a hard day in the saddle ever! Next week will be further and more climbing!
 
Told ya ;)

Nice. Sounded like you had fun. Give it a few months of doing events like that and it'll start to click and the leg cramps might subside due to increased fitness.

Looking forward to hearing about the next one!
 
I expected fast, what I didn't expect was how fast things move. I started on the front and by the second corner I had retreated to the back out of shear terror. Tail gunning in a crit like that was difficult to say the least.
 
Originally Posted by bgoetz .

I expected fast, what I didn't expect was how fast things move. I started on the front and by the second corner I had retreated to the back out of shear terror. Tail gunning in a crit like that was difficult to say the least.
That's exactly why I said "Hold onto your hats if the fast lads hit the afterburners" LOL

Take a good look at the list of riders. Try and keep tabs on who are the shakers and movers and make it your sole mission in the race to try and keep them in your sights. I'm not saying this in a snide way but chances are for a while you'll suffer... lots.

If you can hold on at the back then life up front would have been much easier. The top riders, apart from when they're attacking, make things smoother than butter - it's the folks in the middle that spoil it for the folks at the back.
 
Anyone have any ideas what a big 30 sec # would be? I think my 30 second power may be a strength that I have, but can't really find any #s for comparrison. We finished up a club race tonight and I went from a ways out and ripped off 948 watts for 30 seconds, and I am kind of curious to see how it compares to the rest of my #s. Maybe it falls in line and it is not as big of a strength as I think, or maybe I need to start my sprints from 300 meters.
 
948 watts for 30 seconds sounds awesome to me. My best 30 seconds is 690 watts, but I cannot compete with the Cat 4/5's in my area. I don't know of any published data to compare yourself to directly. Allen and Coggan published a chart of watts/kg, but I don't know your weight and they didn't include data for 30 seconds. If I assume you are 70 kg and I then extrapolate from their data using my eyeballs, I would say you are in the Cat II range.
 
I am a 2, but I am 82kg. I am familiar with the chart, but I don't think there is really a good linear relationship when you are talking in terms of seconds. I don't get too hung up on #s, it just seemed like a pretty solid, and I was curious.
 
Originally Posted by bgoetz .

I am a 2, but I am 82kg. I am familiar with the chart, but I don't think there is really a good linear relationship when you are talking in terms of seconds. I don't get too hung up on #s, it just seemed like a pretty solid, and I was curious.
ya, its not linear. What I did is brought up my Mean Maximal Power Curve in WKO+, put my finger at 947 watts and 30 seconds, moved downwards at the same slope as my curve until I reached 60 seconds. I then took that number of watts and compared it to the chart in Allen and Coggan, i.e. I eyeballed it.
 
Hey all,

Been a while as been busy with shooting but I figured since the studio is no longer connected to the office and is in NJ I thought would be a great op to get in the miles pretty regular (20 miles each way) and tried today for the first time to ride from NYC to Belleville. Man I learned the hard way that most of my ride is right on the ridge between NJ and NY to get to Belleville and that damn fort lee road is a biatch. Plenty of signs with 9% inclines. Man it was killer. Which app tells you, how much climbing you do for a given route?

But on a general level, been still taking the bike while traveling and looking forward to Denver next week. Did alot of the mid-west with Columbus, OH, IN and MI. My CTL is god awful ~50 as just too many days of travel and can not ride everyday of travel.

I hope to change that around and get in some good miles now with a mix of trainer and outdoor and make next year a come back year for events!!

-js
 
Originally Posted by jsirabella .


Been a while as been busy

I hope to change that around and get in some good miles now with a mix of trainer and outdoor and make next year a come back year for events!!

-js
Good to hear you are still around and looking for a return.
 
felt->Nah too old, too stubborn and too dumb to stop.

Hey btw just saw The Raid, it is on amazon vod but you must see it if you love good marshal arts. Amazing stuff.

Also check out the series I am working on. Do not have the big budgets but got the action where I can afford it.

http://www.hulu.com/shinobi-girl

Saw your thread about the bike and sweat. Man I have never seen a hole like on your bike but I have pretty much destroyed the CT. Running on duct tape making it work.
 
Bookmarked shinobi-girl. Look forward to checking it out.

I'll be watching for your to return to those epic 2 hour CT sessions. Better add some more duct tape.
 
I have to admit felt this is becoming more of a challenge than I thought and may make for an interesting study in will power and improvement. I just can not get a good number of consecutive days in. I go for 2-3 days and than have to take off 2-3 days cause of work. Not sure how to handle it as I was always used to have CTL in the 80's-90's and now can barley get out of the 50s.

I really miss the 3 hour jaunts on the CT but I am hoping as the winter is approaching and travel will calm down that I can make it work. Not sure...

Hope your training and schedule are doing better than mine!

-js
 
Originally Posted by jsirabella .

Saw your thread about the bike and sweat. Man I have never seen a hole like on your bike but I have pretty much destroyed the CT. Running on duct tape making it work.
If you get to the point the CT cannot be used another hour there is an interesting indoor trainer coming to market this winter. I am very interesed in this trainer and the price point will be lower than the CT. I like this trainer for being ANT+, no tire resistance issues (no messing around with slippage, tire wear, appropriate friction) and supposedly it is very quiet among some other interesting attributes.

I will probably wait until it has been out long enough to see what buyers think.

Wahoo Kickr

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2012/08/first-look-at-wahoo-fitness-kickr.html
 

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