IN HONOUR OF RAPDADDYO - Great advice



Sillyoldtwit

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Jan 13, 2006
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I decided to show my appreciation of all the help RapDaddyo gave me in the 'Killing me' thread.
Without his taking all the time he did to guide me to undreamt of power levels,
I would probably have hung up my pedals by now.
Each week I will post one of his quotes. In these quotes there's a mine of good advice, which if heeded will hopefully improve your cycling beyond your dreams.

To start us off I have chosen a light-hearted quote. However, even this quote is full of wisdom.

The only thing I am 100% sure of is that I am not 100% sure of anything in this sport. Actually, I take that back. I am 100% sure there are cyclists with more power than me.
 
This is a great idea of yours Tyson! I'll be looking forward to any new post and will inhale as much as possible again (as I did when reading throught he entire "It's killing me..." thread). It's always good to be reminded of good things.

What happened to him by the way?

Take care,
bigwillie013
 
I've realised that I have so many quotes in my desktop file, that I'd better post 2 quotes a week or we'll be here forever. Tyson

As for the whereabouts of RD - who knows!
 
Sillyoldtwit said:
I've realised that I have so many quotes in my desktop file, that I'd better post 2 quotes a week or we'll be here forever. Tyson

As for the whereabouts of RD - who knows!

Very nice.

By the way what ever happened to the 'training manual' he was developing... :confused:
 
Did anyone ever figure out what happened to him? Did he...you know....kick the bucket?

I sent e-mails to an address he was using to communicate with me outside of the forums, and there is no response anymore. I sure hope he's okay.
 
Yojimbo_ said:
Did anyone ever figure out what happened to him? Did he...you know....kick the bucket?
I certainly hope not.:eek:

Can't someone just ring up CSI and track him down? :)

AFAIK he was setting up a new club/venture at the start of 2007. A little CSI sleuthing of my own suggests it may have been a group sponsored by Pro Cyclery in Las Vegas but I'm only guessing. If there are any locals from the area - what say you?
 
When I was in Vegas (three time this year) doing Blue Diamond Loop and Mt Charleston I went by that shop and asked if they knew of anyone who goes on forums by Rapdaddyo. They had never heard of such a fellow.

Now that I have this new piece of info about his club/venture maybe it will be more helpful. Did anyone get an idea of his age or his race? That could be helpful for my next trip or any other types of unique info?

-js

Alex Simmons said:
I certainly hope not.:eek:

Can't someone just ring up CSI and track him down? :)

AFAIK he was setting up a new club/venture at the start of 2007. A little CSI sleuthing of my own suggests it may have been a group sponsored by Pro Cyclery in Las Vegas but I'm only guessing. If there are any locals from the area - what say you?
 
jsirabella said:
When I was in Vegas (three time this year) doing Blue Diamond Loop and Mt Charleston I went by that shop and asked if they knew of anyone who goes on forums by Rapdaddyo. They had never heard of such a fellow.

Now that I have this new piece of info about his club/venture maybe it will be more helpful. Did anyone get an idea of his age or his race? That could be helpful for my next trip or any other types of unique info?

-js
RAPDADDYO WE MISS YOU!!!!!

Jsirabella do you think a picture will work?
 
There is a picture of him?

Ofcourse this could be very helpful. I may be going again to Vegas come the end of the year. Do tell.


PaulMD said:
RAPDADDYO WE MISS YOU!!!!!

Jsirabella do you think a picture will work?
 
From an old post in my archive:

rapdaddyo.jpg
 
Here is an excerpt from an e-mail response I received from him back in Feb '07:

Thanks for the email. Actually, I have just been busy. It's an intense phase in the development of [...my latest project...]. And, I am working with my daughter on development of a very interesting [...new project...] that offers some new and unique features compared with anything available today. Pretty exciting stuff, but it has been all-consuming. I keep telling myself to log onto the forum and check out some of the threads of greatest interest, but I just haven't had the time since XMAS.
Sounded like he was doing fine and still riding occasionally, but just too busy for internet discussions like we have here.

Let the legend live on. :)
 
In the e-mails I had from him, he called himself Paul Rachel. (At least, that's what I remember - I've deleted those emails now).
 
Yojimbo_ said:
In the e-mails I had from him, he called himself Paul Rachel. (At least, that's what I remember - I've deleted those emails now).

Spot on. That's his name. ;)
 
Following on from the first post with regard to comparing your FTP with others.

In answer to my worrying about plateauing:-

Originally Posted by Sillyoldtwit
I put my thrill factor at around 250/260W No, I tell a lie, 280W I think would give me a certain degree of satisfaction. For the mo my current power numbers are a bit depressing. I know it takes time, so I shall have to be patient.  Horrible thought: what if I plateau out around 230W say.


RapDaddyo replied:

I don't think the absolute number is what is important. I think simply being able to say that one has reached his or her physiological limit is a great achievement. The issue isn't whether your mountain is taller than someone else's mountain. The issue is that you reached the top of your mountain. Hey, Lance makes most of us look like pikers.
 
RapDaddyo on the importance of consistency.

And, I continue to be amazed at how the body responds if one is consistent, week to week, at logging minutes in the ranges that result in increased sustainable power (L4-L7). What an amazing thing, the human body.

Note the absence of L2/L3.
 
PaulMD said:
From an old post in my archive:

rapdaddyo.jpg
With an authentic Harvard University jersey, of the previous generation. The current generation is white. I wonder if he's an alumnus. (I'm not but I see the HU kids all the time.)
 
Steve_B said:
With an authentic Harvard University jersey, of the previous generation. The current generation is white. I wonder if he's an alumnus. (I'm not but I see the HU kids all the time.)

Yes he is and he in fact got permission from the Uni to wear that top in the Mt Charleston race.
 
Structured training all nicely laid out.

The purpose of training is adaptations, physiological and/or psychological. The "Big 5" adaptations are endurance, aerobic efficiency (LT), VO2MAX, AWC and neuromuscular. Each adaptation is targeted with a power/duration combination. While there are an infinite number of power/duration combinations that will result in at least some adaptation, some are better (i.e., more efficient) than others.

My view is that L1-L3 targets endurance.

Anything >=91%FT and >=10mins in duration (L4) targets aerobic efficiency, with 2x20 being the common set but many variations are equally effective. I do L4 efforts at every duration from 10-90 minutes. BTW, if you think a 90min L4 effort (even at the bottom of the power range) is a piece of cake, think again. It's a *****.

Anything >=106%FT and >=3mins in duration (L5) targets VO2MAX. My preference is to use ~120%FT and ~5mins duration as a very efficient effort for targeting VO2MAX. But, you might have to ride at 120%FT in 3min durations. No problem, just do more of them. If you use an equal recovery duration, there's no difference in the time it takes to do 20mins of L5 efforts at 3mins per effort versus 5mins per effort. It's still 40mins total (20m on + 20m off).

Anything >=121%FT and >=30sec in duration (L6) targets AWC. I prefer the longer end of the duration range (2-3mins) at ~90% of whatever my max power is for that duration (from my CP curve). This is usually ~150%FT. Full power efforts for ~15-20secs targets neuromuscular. I prefer to do 60-160rpm accelerations in one gear for these, beginning at ~12mph. My goal is to get to 160rpm absolutely as fast as possible. I try to accelerate cadence with each stroke with each leg. IOW, I'm not trying to push as hard as possible, I'm trying to increase cadence as much as possible. My only goal is to get to 160rpm. When I get to 160, I'm done. If I can get there in 5 secs, great (but I can't).

As to your comment about 6x30seconds @ 350W, it's not that it has no value. It's that it's too long for neuromuscular and is not very efficient for AWC. It's in sort of "no man's land."
 
That is a great quote I almost forgot what RD sounded like thanks for reposting it. It all sounds like good target durations except for:

"BTW, if you think a 90min L4 effort (even at the bottom of the power range) is a piece of cake, think again. It's a *****."

I don't think that would be a repeatable workout if I did that I would need two days off.
 
RapDaddyo on the real man's FTP test. :D


First of all, a full hour at your max power is a very hard ride mentally. Physically it is demanding, but mentally it is brutal. It's just a very long time to have to concentrate so intensely. So, it takes a very high degree of motivation to ride a full hour at FT. And, if you think that's hard, try a 2 hour hillclimb TT with sweat pouring off your forehead and stinging your eyes and when you look up the road all you see is mountain road rising up to meet the sky, forever it seems. In the last couple of miles, you'd sell your bike for $1. Only then does a 1 hr FT ride seem pleasant and that only lasts for about a month. Then, it's hard as hell again. If you took a poll of those in this forum that ride full hour FT performance tests on a regular basis, I'll bet it's less than 10%. Second, nobody in his right mind rides a full hour at FT unless he is really well rested.
 

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