Well, the Orca has been in the shop over the holiday due to a frozen carbon seatpost stuck in the frame. My seat kept sliding back on me so I decided to swap out the post for the one on my 5200. HEY! I can't get the dang thing out. As opposed to me potentially doing something hazardous to my bike, I took it to where I bought it (Ipro) to have Roger give it a try. Hopefully, I'll get it back today but in the meantime I've been riding my time trial bike as that's the only other bike I currently have ready to ride. I did my weekly time trial on it this past Wednesday and bombed out as that TT course doesn't suit the TT bike (how's that for stupid?). Anyway today was no different as I locked the bike on the trainer for an hour of tempo. Tempo wattage is much easier on the time trial bike than the Orca. The more forward I sit, the more wattage I can push, but the more tired I get. I threw in a bunch of 20-60 second intervals as well.
T-minus one week and one day until the first race of the season. Crap, that's quick!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Did I say 282?
I meant 267. Oops. my time this week was 16:06, not my worst or my best. I chose to eat a bagel with salmon on it two hours before the ride. That shall be my excuse for the sad effort.
Anyway, I hit the trainer for 24.82 miles today, most of it (including the time trial!!) at a high intensity. Hopefully, schedule will allow for a longer ride tomorrow. It's supposed to be dry and mid 30's. If it's dry, I'm heading out during the day as I'm quite sick of the trainer even though I'm doing low volume. It's hard for me to fathom that at this time last year I was riding 3 hours on that damn thing at a clip. No thanky.
I hate the long range forecast as it says it will be nearly 50 and dry on Saturday. I doubt that will happen for some stupid reason. BUT if it does, the Orca will once again be yanked off the trainer to meet some pavement.
Anyway, I hit the trainer for 24.82 miles today, most of it (including the time trial!!) at a high intensity. Hopefully, schedule will allow for a longer ride tomorrow. It's supposed to be dry and mid 30's. If it's dry, I'm heading out during the day as I'm quite sick of the trainer even though I'm doing low volume. It's hard for me to fathom that at this time last year I was riding 3 hours on that damn thing at a clip. No thanky.
I hate the long range forecast as it says it will be nearly 50 and dry on Saturday. I doubt that will happen for some stupid reason. BUT if it does, the Orca will once again be yanked off the trainer to meet some pavement.
Monday, December 17, 2007
First race of 2008 coming sooner than I thought
Neo Limits is hosting a computrainer time trial series with the first race being January 6th. Good thing I've been doing simulations every freaking Tuesday for the last month of the course! It will be interesting to see how my simulation goes tomorrow as I rode today since I missed Sunday due to working all day. The last week and a half have been full of short (1 hour) rides, but hard. Been a combination of short length intervals and "micro intervals" mostly. Anywhere from 10 seconds to 5 minutes. What has been great is how easy 300-350 watt intervals are when you just wrapped up a few at 500. If I only weighed a buck forty!
Of course tomorrow will be a 15-16 minute "interval" shooting for 282 or higher average.
I really really really want this for Christmas:
It would make my TT bike a full pound lighter than it is with the current VisionTech base bar/Profile Design T2 combo. And an 808 front wheel to go with my Powertapped 808 rear.........dreamy
Of course tomorrow will be a 15-16 minute "interval" shooting for 282 or higher average.
I really really really want this for Christmas:
It would make my TT bike a full pound lighter than it is with the current VisionTech base bar/Profile Design T2 combo. And an 808 front wheel to go with my Powertapped 808 rear.........dreamy
Friday, December 7, 2007
Rest week - sort of
Yesterday's ride (on the trainer) sucked. Lack of motivation, general grumpiness and a restless night of sleep last night earns a day off and an easy ride for Saturday.
Tuesday I did my 6.4 time trial simulation in exactly the same time as last week BUT with 14 more watts. Huh.
Wednesday was more SST/Hard-Tempo/zone 3/3.5/4/whatever-you-want-to-call-it and some micro intervals. I love all these sweet new words now that I have a power meter. It makes me an automatic superstar. Now I can impress my wife with acronyms like FTP, CP, W/Kg, SST. I think I just heard her yawn. "Guess what honey, I rode SST intervals at 85% of FTP for a heart rate of only 80% LT!" I feel like an idiot sometimes. She sees me on the trainer and says "You're not riding hard enough" and I am forced to retort that "I am on a rest interval"...nah nah nah.
There are a lot of debates (arguments really) currently going on about the use of power meters for non professional riders. Some find it a total waste of money, and others justify it through all the bells and whistles and feedback it gives you. I simply enjoy riding more with one. I am a techno geek and love gadgets. Will a PowerTap make me a better rider over the winter than I would be without it? Who knows? It's not up to someone else whether or not I'm a poseur for riding an expensive bike with a power meter during a training crit along side some crash happy monkeys. My justification is not up for debate. It's like a debate of expensive bikes vs inexpensive bikes (or really more like overpriced vs REALLY overpriced bikes). I don't care what bike this or that guy has. If you show up and ride the shit out what you brought, no matter what you brought, I love you for it.
That being said, I do cringe every time I see a guy in a cat 5 crit wearing a full US Postal kit, with matching Giro helmet riding a Trek, but I'm an ass like that. Hey, I have a Trek too, but I was more fond of the ONCE team kit. While I was riding my Giant TCR. With my ONCE labeled Giro Pnuemo helmet. Shut up.
Tuesday I did my 6.4 time trial simulation in exactly the same time as last week BUT with 14 more watts. Huh.
Wednesday was more SST/Hard-Tempo/zone 3/3.5/4/whatever-you-want-to-call-it and some micro intervals. I love all these sweet new words now that I have a power meter. It makes me an automatic superstar. Now I can impress my wife with acronyms like FTP, CP, W/Kg, SST. I think I just heard her yawn. "Guess what honey, I rode SST intervals at 85% of FTP for a heart rate of only 80% LT!" I feel like an idiot sometimes. She sees me on the trainer and says "You're not riding hard enough" and I am forced to retort that "I am on a rest interval"...nah nah nah.
There are a lot of debates (arguments really) currently going on about the use of power meters for non professional riders. Some find it a total waste of money, and others justify it through all the bells and whistles and feedback it gives you. I simply enjoy riding more with one. I am a techno geek and love gadgets. Will a PowerTap make me a better rider over the winter than I would be without it? Who knows? It's not up to someone else whether or not I'm a poseur for riding an expensive bike with a power meter during a training crit along side some crash happy monkeys. My justification is not up for debate. It's like a debate of expensive bikes vs inexpensive bikes (or really more like overpriced vs REALLY overpriced bikes). I don't care what bike this or that guy has. If you show up and ride the shit out what you brought, no matter what you brought, I love you for it.
That being said, I do cringe every time I see a guy in a cat 5 crit wearing a full US Postal kit, with matching Giro helmet riding a Trek, but I'm an ass like that. Hey, I have a Trek too, but I was more fond of the ONCE team kit. While I was riding my Giant TCR. With my ONCE labeled Giro Pnuemo helmet. Shut up.
Monday, December 3, 2007
2.5 weeks in...
That ended my 2nd full week back. Low in volume, but stupid in intensity.
Tuesday I took 30-some seconds off my 6.4 mile time trial. It's 6.4 miles and change as measured by the powertap vs 6.2 on the RealAxiom....? I know the PT to be accurate, so ok. Anyway, the weekly time trial was 15:47, 24.4mph, 268 watt average, 170 heart rate average (low). I get to do this every week on Tuesday.
Not much else to talk about since 5 of my 6 rides last week were on the trainer. Due to the lack of a whole lot of riding time, I'm at least trying to make up for it in intensity. It seems like I'm on conference calls for hours every day. Sucks the wind right out of you.
Tuesday I took 30-some seconds off my 6.4 mile time trial. It's 6.4 miles and change as measured by the powertap vs 6.2 on the RealAxiom....? I know the PT to be accurate, so ok. Anyway, the weekly time trial was 15:47, 24.4mph, 268 watt average, 170 heart rate average (low). I get to do this every week on Tuesday.
Not much else to talk about since 5 of my 6 rides last week were on the trainer. Due to the lack of a whole lot of riding time, I'm at least trying to make up for it in intensity. It seems like I'm on conference calls for hours every day. Sucks the wind right out of you.
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