Mid-Georgia Mid-Pack Training

Winter Weights and Sprinting Data

2010-09-13T12:05:00.002-04:00

There are more articles out there than you'd ever care to read that debate the benefits of weight lifting for road cyclists. But this chart tells me all I need to know about what lifting does for me. I did winter strength work (squats, lunges, and box jumps mainly) in the winters before the 2008 and 2010 seasons. That work appears to have benefited my top end sprint power by about 90 watts in those years compared with 2007 and 2009, when I did no lifting. I can see no other pattern after peak 6 seconds or so.

Is the effort worth it? Does the benefit transfer to longer duration power? I don't know; but at least now I know I do get some tangible benefit for my strength work other than just feeling better.

Macon Cycling Classic

2010-05-03T15:19:00.008-04:00

The venue and the weather were perfect for our first annual Macon Cycling Classic crit on Saturday. Thanks to sponsors, volunteers, and teams that participated. We're ready to ramp it up again for 2011.

Chad Madan of Litespeed takes a dig in the P12 race.

Bruce Dickman, our announcer, gets a nice thank you from our podium ladies.

Dale Vaugn of the Macon Chain Gang

Slocum Sizes up his Fat Tire Competition

Men P12 Podium - Tony Scott, Jon Atkins, and Benjy Coil

Local women racers Elizabeth Lee, Betty Jean Jordan, and Lauren Clayton

Macon Cycling Classic joins SEW Race Series

2010-04-22T21:45:00.002-04:00

The Macon Cycling Classic Criterium, held next Saturday, May 1st, will now be a part of the Southeast Women's Cycling race series.

It's also a part of the Georgia Bicycle Racing Association Best All-around Rider Competition and the Lance Armstrong Junior Olympic Race Series. We look forward to a strong women's field and a great event including food and beer vendors, a first-and-out fat tire crit, a kids race, good payouts, and lots of product primes. A 5K running event will cap off the evening after the P12 men's event. Join us for a great race.

TT Basics

2010-04-21T11:59:00.001-04:00

I have sucked at TT efforts this year. It's mainly becuase I haven't trained much on the TT bike (funny how that correlation works out).

Here is a nice summary of an old-school, non-technical method of setting up and training for TTs. I stole the Andy Coggan quote from Stuart Lynn's blog.

If my goal were to set myself up in an aero position with minimal drag and I didn't have access to a wind tunnel, I'd just drop the elbow pads far enough down below the saddle that my shoulders (acromion process) were within a couple of inches of being level with my hips (head of greater trochanter), move the elbow pads in to where my arms were as narrow or perhaps narrower than my thighs when viewed from the front, tilt the aero bars up ever-so-slightly, and keep my head down. I'd then go out and ride the bike - hard - in that position and see how far foward (and thus up) I needed to move the saddle to where my thigh-torso angle was similar to the "working position" on my road bike. I'd then ride the TT bike for at least one hour - hard! - each week for at least 6 weeks before any race. Sounds crude, I know, but for a flat TT this neandrathal approach will probably get you to within about 1 km/h of your maximal speed.

Since we're talking old school, here are a few shots from my triathlon days in the early '00s:

Il Porcellino

2010-04-19T10:03:00.001-04:00

Italian renaissance art in Bradley - It is a replica of Tacca’s “Il Porcellino”. The original bronze was cast/made by Pietro Tacca in 1612 and is in the Uffizi gallery in Florence, Italy. Tacca supposedly created a bronze copy of a Hellenistic marble statue from the 600’s, which was destroyed. It is a copy from Tacca’s original mold and was cast by Giuseppi Benelli in 1857. There are very few of these in the world from the original mold because the Florentine galleries don’t just let anyone get their hands on a mold. The most famous “original” copy is near Mercato Nuovo in Florence, Italy. The date in Latin is cast on the side. It is supposedly good luck to rub its nose. And as you might be able to see in the picture, the nose is shiny from rubbing.

Above info compliments of Jake Andrews, Italian Art Specialist, Gray, GA.

Keep it Simple Stupid

2010-04-14T20:20:00.001-04:00

I'm brainstorming myself a new training method. It'll basically be Friel Lite. It'll keep a three-hard, one-easy weekly periodization cycle, and will have three yearly macrocycles:

Preseason
Early Season
Late Season

and three training levels:

Easy
Hard
Attack

The main caveats: in order to use it successfully you'll have to know what threshold feels like, know yourself, and be experienced in training yourself. No power meter required.

Friel's plan is great and it works. But I think I can get indistinguishable results with 30% of the structure.

This is gonna be fun - I get to make up names for stuff. I'll keep you posted.

Walthall Oil Cyling Team

2010-04-07T16:52:00.001-04:00

Fools

2010-04-01T09:30:00.005-04:00

Things are strange in Macon - seem backwards and upside down,
not sure what to make of it all - let's take a look around:

Todd says he wants three more kits - John says to make his smalls.
Robert's giving up road races - only crits from here till fall.

Jeff and Drew are halving a Power Tap - need numbers for their new blogs,
Bill's gotten back to just swimming - he's got no more bones for the dogs.

Jakey's lettin his legs grow out - to fit in better with Freds?
Douggie's into the doobie hard - to market the old rich heads.

Chad's given up on that Apple crap - thinks PCs are the Bomb!
Ron cries himself to sleep every night - learning Campy's moving to Guam.

Trey's back up to 15 a week - he's built up a cast-iron taint,
Eddie's Georgia Cup only now - if you're racin the classics, he aint.

Happy April Fools day, Blackshirts.

Go Little Contractors

2010-03-22T10:16:00.003-04:00

I haven't had much to say lately, so I've just kept my mouth shut and ridden my bike. And I've been riding it pretty hard recently, having just entered my Build 1 phase of training.

After about three months of endurance and sub-threshold work, I was very happy to feel the burn again starting a few weeks ago. As I've mentioned in prior posts, my training is more structured this year than it's ever been. I've made efforts at organized periodization training before; but the training calendar usually falls apart towards the end of Base phase. I'm sticking with it so far this year, and my legs have responded well to this point. It's still very early in the process, so it'll be interesting to see how it shakes out later in the spring.

Yesterday's Union City RR was my last day in tough 3-week Build phase. I was tired, but I rode ok. Now I'm looking forward to a nice week of bike walks while the little contractor cells do their thing on my mitochondria.

Macon Cycling Classic - May 1

2010-03-19T08:46:00.002-04:00

Registration is open for our May 1st Crit in Macon - The Macon Cycling Classic, at http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=10563. The race website is http://www.maconcyclingclassic.com/.

The course loops around Tatnall Square Park in Macon adjacent to Mercer University - a perfect venue. We'll have good payouts, a fat tire crit, music, food vendors, podium girls, a beer vendor, and a 5K at the end of the day - so bring a runner with you.

The race is part of the GBRA BAR series and the Lance Armstrong Juniors Series.

Christian Parrett

2010-03-08T19:17:00.002-05:00

An accomplished young cyclist from Macon,Georgia, Christian Parrett, has signed his first professional contract with Team Sprocket Pro Cycling, based in Wales, Great Britain. The team is led by director sportif Magnus Backstedt. Christian will be the lone American on the international team. I'm sure he's in for some interesting adventures. Best of luck to you, Christian. Make 'em hurt.

Follow his first pro season at http://www.christianparrett.com/ and at http://www.teamsprocketprocycling.com/.

Albany 2008

2010-03-05T08:42:00.005-05:00

At Albany in 2008, our kits and our team were brand new:

We raced as Security Bank Cycling Team then; we're Walthall Oil now. Most of us were 4s and 5s at the time. We're scattered over fields from Cat 4 to Masters to Cat 2 now, so it's a little harder to organize a train! Good times.

And it's ironic that the most noticable burr in our saddle in the 2008 Albany RR, Mr. John Stowe, who single-leggedly chased down all of our attacks that year, is now a part of our Walthall team. We're glad to have John on board.

Good luck to all the Oilers heading to Albany tomorrow to start another successful season.

Tell 'em bout it Yehuda

2010-02-26T19:22:00.002-05:00

Yehuda Moon - try it. It'll grow on you.

Good Night, and Good Luck

2010-02-17T12:34:00.001-05:00

Colin Griffith hangs it up:
Colin's Biking Bits

Hope you enjoy the new phase of cycling, Colin. I enjoyed reading your stuff.

Tundra TT Winner

2010-02-13T09:12:00.001-05:00

Photo compliments of Reality Bikes

Cervelo: P3 vs P2K

2010-02-03T18:20:00.004-05:00

I moved all my components over from the P2K frame to the P3 frame and did another round of Chung testing. I'm not surprised at the results - the frames are identical except for the seat tube and seat stay shapes.

My average of three Chung test days on the P2K was CdA=0.231. My CdA on the P3 was measured today at 0.232 in perfect, calm conditions - very clean data. At least I'm finding the method consistent; and apparently I did a good job of getting my setup the same on the P3 as on the P2K (most drag is the result of body position).

Any changes from here on out will be with body position.

More on Chung Testing

2010-01-16T12:06:00.003-05:00

It's been impossible to do much testing in the past two months due to weather. I can't get out there in a skinsuit if the temp is below 55 degrees - it's just too uncomfortable. And any breeze at all invalidates the data; so that eliminates lots of days.

But yesterday I was able to get another set of data collected on my P2K. So now I have three data sets with the same setup. My CdA results from three different days on the same test course are 0.228, 0.230, and 0.235. Based on n=3, my average CdA is 0.231 and the standard deviation is 0.0036. These numbers reflect skinsuit, TT helmet, shoe covers, no gloves, Zipp 303 front wheel, and power tap with Kinlin XR-300 (30mm) rear wheel.

My Cervelo P2K frame was slightly damaged in a crash last year, so I'm about to move my P2K components over to a Cervelo P3 frame a teammate recently gave me. I'll set it up exactly the same as my P2K, except I'll run a Zipp 404 on the front instead of a Zipp 303. The only difference between the new test setup and race setup will be the absence of my disc wheel during testing.

These aren't my bikes, but depict my old P2K frame and new P3 frame:

I'll be interested to see how much difference the frame change and 303 vs 404 change make to my CdA.

Lyle and I are a Little Different

2009-12-30T08:37:00.007-05:00

I've always wobbled in the saddle. Always. I've been riding a bike for 25 years and I've always been told that I need to lower my saddle or do this or do that to correct my wobble.

Well I have tried. Many times. To no avail. I studied the issue quite a bit a couple of years ago. You can read about my ponderings in my 2006 posts: Saddle Height and at Saddle Height/Q-Rings.

A friend graciously reopened that conversation for me the other day. This time I thought about it some more and decided to check LLD - leg length discrepancy. I carefully measured my trochanter heights - the height from the floor to the tip of the little bony protrusion on your hip bone. It's the most lateral protrusion of the greater trochanter in this image:

One trochanter is 35” from the floor. The other is 34.25” from the floor. Hmmmm. It seems that in LLD speak that's about a mile.

I did some Google work and found lots of people rushing to their doctors and trashing all thier shoes because they had a leg length discrepancy of ¼” or ½”.

I seem to have a ¾” LLD goin’ on.

I’m leaning towards the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it approach; but we’ll see. I'd like to fix the wobble; and I think the LLD is the likely cause. But I suspect there's a good chance I'd screw something else up if I started adding shims, et cetera. And all that would be a pain in the arse, even if only figuratively.

And I haven't had any pain or discomfort, just an occasional snickering teammate. I can live with that. Lyle and I don't want to be like the rest of you anyway.

Force Reps

2009-12-23T18:37:00.004-05:00

Base HR Distribution

2009-12-20T16:23:00.003-05:00

My heart rate distribution for the past 28 days:

Power distribution for the same period:

The next few weeks will see an increase in Temop and Threshold percentage.

Force Reps

2009-12-08T20:00:00.004-05:00

I was just looking at data from a force reps session (each interval is 18-20 pedal strokes at max pedal force in the 53-12). My wattage is typically a consistent 600 watts for the efforts. But the thing that caught my attention was the torque.

WKO+ tells me that my peak crank torque (actually it's virtual crank torque, which is calculated from PT rear hub wattage and cadence) at the max efforts is about 1160 lb-inches. If you divide that by the length of my cranks, 172.5 mm (6.89 inches), you get 168 pounds (1160 lb-in divided by 6.89 inches).

My max squat is just a little more than that. I don't really know my max squat weight, because I never do (and don't plan to ever do) 1-rep max squats. But based on the rep chart in "The Cyclist's Training Bible" I think it's about 190 lbs, which would be about 1.3 time my body weight, which is fairly typical.

The thing that has me a bit confused is that I'd assume most of the pedal force is coming from the down-stroke. If that's the case, I'd only be able to put out a little more than half of my max squat force when pedaling (if you assume the upstroke has maybe 20% of the max downstroke force, it'd be 70% max squat force, or 0.7 x 190 = 133 lbs right?).

I need to think on this one for a while. Feel free to enlighten me in the comments section if I've missed something or messed up the calculations. Am I putting out more force than I think with my upstroke? Am I putting out more than I think with my downstroke due to momentum and body weight factors?

Decoupling Test

2009-12-06T17:02:00.003-05:00

Either Friel's decoupling theory* is bogus, or I'm definately ready for the transition to more intense work.

The results of my 2-hour decoupling test at high L2 today: -2.88% decoupling. Yes, that's a negative sign. I guess maybe I warmed up and became more efficient as the ride went on?

*Friel's decoupling theory: if heartrate to power ratio increases (drifts) more than 5% over a long ride, then you need more aerobic development prior to moving out of the base periods and on to more intense training.

Winter Weights and Cycling

2009-12-02T09:10:00.011-05:00

Every year this time (base period/off season for most cyclists in North America), there begins a flurry of on-line discussion and argument about the benefits and risks of strength training for cyclists. It's not hard to find well-known coaches and physiologists to argue either side of the issue. Coggan thinks weights are useless and that the fatigue generated by strength workouts can be harmful to endurance athletes because time is taken away from productive training; Friel has always (at least since the '80s) been a proponent of strength training in the base training periods.

I have a lot of respect for some of the folks on Google Wattage (where many of the heated discussions occur) who dismiss the use of weights and/or strength training because “the research does not show that it helps; therefore it’s a waste of time so it hurts.” Research and real scientific results are crucial to learning how to use your training time most efficiently. It’s perilous to ignore the results of multiple legitimate scientific studies. But I think the anti-weights voices are a little too stubborn in their narrow, but very consistent, response: “the research does not show that weights make you faster.”

Maybe they don’t make you faster. But I can tell you from n=1 that they make you feel faster. That’s worth something. They make you feel more confident. That’s worth something. They might make your bones healthier and more dense. That’s worth something. They make you less prone to injury. That’s worth something. They make you look and feel better. That’s worth something. They make winter training less monotonous. That's worth something. And a whole big bunch of very successful cyclists and coaches have reached the conclusion, for a variety of reasons, that weights are worth the time. That’s worth something.

For me, all those minor ‘somethings’ add up to a lot. So I’m sticking with the weights for a few decades until the researchers get it sorted out.

L2 Rides and November Centuries

2009-12-01T11:00:00.009-05:00

This is a good post by Joe Friel explaining some benefits of the long L2 ride. There is no doubt that significant ride time at L3 and L4 are both important for aerobic system development in the winter/base period of the year. But there are things L2 can give you that L3 and L4 don't.

The Aerobic Base Ride

On a related note, I found this statement by Hunter Allen yesterday on Google Wattage; it sums up my thoughts on doing century-length rides in November and December:

"One other point is that longer rides made up of the components above (L1, L2, and L3) can help you make the next quantum leap in FTP. I have seen so many Masters riders that are restricted to 8-12 hours a week and no matter how hard and smart they train, just never are able to get to 'the next level'. Only when they can introduce a 2-3x a month long ride into their training plan that tax both the cardiovascular and muscular endurance components are they able to make the quantum leap. It doesn't mean that every weekend has to be a 100+ mile ride, but 2-3 a month can make a difference even if you never, ever race near that distance or to that level of fatigue."

I understand the 'only train as long as your longest race' philosophy. I just don't agree with it.

Walthall Oil Kits

2009-11-28T11:00:00.005-05:00

2010 Walthall Oil Cycling kits. Thanks to a great group of sponsors and to Kristy for help with design.

Quadrant Analysis

2009-11-26T16:51:00.009-05:00

Here's a quadrant analysis chart of two very different efforts. The one in green is a force rep workout (20-sec of hard low-cadence interval with spinning in between). The one in purple is the 2008 Elberton Crit. All the points above the red line represent segments of effort above my threshold power.

I'm not sure what to do with the information yet, but it's interesting to look at. The most obvious use would be to compare race efforts to training efforts to see if my training is properly race-specific.

PT Calibration Curve

2009-11-22T16:02:00.005-05:00

It's raining, I'm in a rest week, and I needed a break from house chores and work; so instead of a ride today I did a full range of Power Tap static calibration tests, as suggested by Dr. Chung.

I found that my PT is pretty accurate. It appears to read an average of about 2.3% low overall, which is within the advertised range, I think.

The errors are slightly larger than that (up to 4-5%) when I'm in my 25-tooth cog or in my 12-tooth cog (climbing or sprinting, just when I'd like to see big numbers the most!). The errors are slightly lower than that (0-2%) when I'm in my middle cogs (16-19 tooth range). It makes sense that the PT strain gauges might have more trouble measuring torque when it's applied to the very ends of the measuring cylinder (hub body).

Errors that small won't make bit of difference to riders when using their PTs for training. But I can use the information when Chung testing to get more accurate results. I'll just keep the chain on the 17 cog and scale my power numbers back by about 1.5% before doing the calcs.

And I'll run a few tests every 3 months or so to give me confidence that my PM calibration isn't drifting.

Chasing Neo

2009-11-20T18:58:00.010-05:00

I did an FTP test today on the Cervelo - first of the season - and it hurt. I have a very aggressive position (CdA 0.217). My FTP on the TT bike was 96% of what I recently tested on my Tarmac, but my pacing was terrible (the first 5 minutes was 108% of road bike FTP - my PT head unit was in my back pocket and I couldn't see it). My threshold heartrate - last 20 min ave - was exactly the same as on my Tarmac, 162 bpm, so I know I was going just as hard (it hit 168 during my too-fast first 5 min, though).

But that was 'bout what I expected. Good pacing today might have yielded 98% of road bike FTP. I want 99% road bike FTP and CdA=0.210 by February. A new tri-spoke or deep rim front wheel with 20mm tubular running at 160 psi will probably lower my Crr to maybe 0.0045 also.

I'm going to keep my head unit out of sight so I can learn proper pacing based on perceived exertion. I won't have the PT to help me pace when I mount my Zipp disc aero daddy for the Tundra in Feb. But I think I will mount a Polar CS200 on the stem so I can use HR to prevent overcooking the start.

You'd better add an extra interval tomorrow Neo; I'm coming after you.

Power Tap Static Torque Test

2009-11-18T13:21:00.003-05:00

I performed a static torque test on my Power Tap at lunch today.

I took three weights:

1 - a 45 lb olympic plate (which actually weighed in at 45.5 lbs)
2 - two 45 lb olympic plates (90.5 lbs)
3 - my body weight

I ran three tests. The instructions say to use 50-lbs or more, which might explain why the first test at 45.5 lbs was off a little. In the first two tests, I hung the weights from the right pedal when it was parallel with the floor and the rear brake was locked. In the third test, I balanced myself in a door jamb such that all my weight was on the right pedal and the front brake was locked. (hanging 90 lbs from the pedal of your bike is more difficult than you might imagine).

It turns out that my PT is DOBA (dead on balls accurate) at the two higher weights. That makes me feel better about my recent testing. Now I need to do the same thing with my teammate's PT to see if I can eliminate a source of potential error with his results.

My results:

Test 1: expected 69.96 in-lbs, measured 63.0 in-lbs (thought maybe I was in trouble here)
Test 2: expected 138.39 in-lbs, measured 139 in-lbs (DOBA)
Test 3: expected 239.86 in-lbs, measured 240 in-lbs (double-DOBA)

Here are instructions for performing the Power Tap static torque test (I swiped them from a wattage Q&A posted by Dr. Coggan):

Technically, the PowerTap cannot be user-calibrated, but its accuracy can be checked using a simple test that is similar to the SRM
calibration check. First, check that the transmission icon is on, and if not, give the rear wheel a spin. Then, enter the torque
mode by holding the “Select” button down for 2 seconds or longer (the “WATTS” designation will disappear from the top line.) Apply
the rear brake sufficiently to lock up the rear wheel. Now, measure torque as follows: with the cranks exactly horizontal (right
crank at 3 o’clock), hang a known weight of at least 50 lbs from the right crank, or simply stand on it – hence the name ‘stomp test’!
Measured torque = (weight in lbs) × (crank length in mm) × (1 in/25.4 mm) × (cog teeth/chainring teeth).
For a 159 lb rider standing on a 175 mm crank, with the chain on the 39 tooth ring and the 23 tooth cog, 159 lbs × 175 mm ×
1 in/25.4 mm × 23/39 = 646 in-lbs. Compare this to the displayed value by calculating % error as
(measured torque - displayed torque)/measured torque.

So if you find your strain gagues are not calibrated properly, there's nothing you can do but send it to Saris for recalibration, I guess. You can rezero the thing yourself (actually most PTs are set up to re-zero themselves while you are coasting), but you can't modify the strain gauge settings yourself.

Ok, Grasshoppa - time to rush home and hang weights on your cranks to see what's up.

Stumped

2009-11-17T22:39:00.002-05:00

My last post presented my nice neat Chung results. Everything turned out exactly as expected once I measured my test hill and input the real numbers.

But now I have a problem. A teammate tested with me on the same hill at the same time. He used a power tap just like me, he weighed in and weighed out after each test segment just like me. The weather conditions were the same. The course was the same.

But when I processed his numbers, the only way I could get the virtual hill to be the right height was to use an unrealistically large Crr, 0.007. That yeilded an unrealistically low CdA for him - 0.190 m^2 (he's 6'3" and about 180 lbs - I don't think he has a CdA under 0.2).

So I looked at all the inputs. Most were identical to my tests as mentioned above. Same spreadsheet, too.

I looked at weight: he tested using two different bikes, so his weight was actually about 2 pounds different between runs, but the two runs still yeilded exactly the same Crr. That tells me the weights were right (and we used the same scale).

What about distance/speed? We both calibrated our Power Taps using a three-revolution weighted rollout, averaging three rollouts, before the test. And I checked the distance measurement of the hill versus both of our data sets and everything matches there. So I don't think the problem is distance/velocity.

That leaves the Power Tap power measurement as the only other source of error I can think of. I thought I had a culprit. To obtain a data set that would give me a Crr for him on my hill near the expected 0.005, I was required to lower all of his power numbers to 95% of their measured values. That got the hill height right, but his CdA would still be around 0.210 on his TT bike and around 0.260 on his road bike. I don't believe his Power Tap is wrong AND he has an unrealistically low CdAs. I'm stumped - but only temporarily - I'll figure it out.

My next steps - let him do runs using my Power Tap and put him on my calibrated Computrainer to see if the Power Taps read the same. Then we'll go from there.

Chung TT Bike Results

2009-11-17T22:22:00.008-05:00

This plot shows the results of my recent Chung Method aerodynamics testing with my Cervelo P2K. I wore full aero gear (skinsuit, TT helmet, shoe covers, aero front wheel), but used my standard Powertap wheel on the rear.

Because there is very little air resistance on an 8% climb at 150 watts, I was able to accurately discern my Crr using the climb side of the virtual profile. Then with a little iteration, the descent side of the profile, where CdA greatly overwhelms Crr as a force against the bike at 43 mph, allowed me to determine my CdA. I found it to be very close to the CdA result I got about a year ago when I did extensive coast-down testing on a 1/2-mile 3% descent. I found it to be 0.232 then, and this week's testing shows0.230. That's a pretty good number, but I'm not a big guy (5'9" and 146 lbs) and I ride in a very aggressive position, so it's not completely unexpected.

The first set of runs is with the setup I used for most of this season. For the second set of runs, I moved my aerobars from 4" apart to 3-1/4" apart (moved each of them inward 3/8", or 9.5mm). It was definately enough of a change to feel on the bike. I felt narrower. I didn't expect to see a difference in CdA from the Chung testing, but I did. My next task is to do repeat runs on different days to check precision/repeatability.

I trimmed all my data away except for the climb and the descent for each run, and I reset each run's virtual elevation at the known elevation.

The Chung Method is No Joke

2009-11-16T09:30:00.006-05:00

I did TT tests yesterday at my Brookhollow course. When messing with the data last night, I came to the conclusion that my test hill must be four feet higher than the 83.1 vertical feet it was designed and staked out to be. Increasing the vertical drop by 4 feet was the only way I could get everything to work out with reasonable Crr and CdA numbers.

I couldn't stand the suspense, so I took a survey instrument (my trusty Topcon GPT-3000 W, shown at left) out there this morning to check it out. Guess what? The contractor built the road with 3.51' more vertical drop than it was supposed to have according to my design (I guess he wanted to save some cash on fill dirt).

The Chung Method is definitely no joke if you use it right. I don't know what Garmin Slipstream pays for tunnel time, but I think I have a comparable tool now for free.

I moved each of my aerobars inward by 3/8" yesterday, and apparently I was able to discern the difference in CdAs from that tiny change (which, by the way, would mean 11 seconds in a 40k TT). If I can see that type of change, this process is going to be fun (and fruitful).

More details to come.

Chung Spreadsheet - Better Acceleration Calculation

2009-11-15T13:06:00.015-05:00

The CdAs I calculated for my road bike seemed a little lower than what I would have expected. After reading 106 miles on my Power Tap odometer yesterday for a Claxton Century course that was advertised as 104 miles, I figured the problem might be my PT odometer. I did a very accurate 3-revolution, weighted calibration of my PT wheel this morning and found the circumference to be dead on 2100 mm. I had had the PT programmed to 2098 mm. That means I'm going 2100/2098=1.00095 times as fast/far as I'd thought. Not only is that probably insignificant, it would LOWER my CdA calculations, not raise them. (A quick check revealed that my fastest CdA - when I was in the drops - was lowered by 0.001 m^2 by accounting for the PT circumference change). So I can scratch that as a significant source of error, although the fact that I picked up any change in CdA at all from a 0.095% change in speed is surprising - this method really does provide incredible data resolution).

Then I read Dr. Chung's comment on my last post: He noticed that I had used a simple approximation of acceleration in my Chung Method spreadsheet. To calculate acceleration, I used: change in velocity from T1 to T2 divided by the time interval a = (t2-t1)/dt.

That seemed correct to me. But he suggested I use a more robust approximation suggested by Adam Haile: a = (t2^2-t1^2)/(2*t2*(t2-t1))

As you can see in the highlighted columns in this screen shot of my spreadsheet, the two methods result in very similar, but differing, values of a.

It turns out those differences are enough to change my CdA calculations significantly. My road bike CdAs for hoods, horns, and drops changed from 0.310, 0.245, and 0.240 to 0.338, 0.258, and 0.255, respectively. Those numbers seem more realistic, although they are still lower than I would have guessed.

My Crr changed from 0.0054 to 0.0055 (a difference that is probably not within the resolution of the method).

I think I have everything ready now to do some baseline TT bike tests. Then I'll begin to tinker with my position and see what happens.

Chung Method Aerodynamic Testing

2009-11-13T18:57:00.017-05:00

I've always wanted my own wind tunnel. Now I sort of have one.

A couple of years ago I read Robert Chung's presentation, "Estimating CdA with a Power Meter," on aerodynamic testing using nothing more than a known road profile, internet weather info, a bathroom scale, and a power meter.

I remember finding it interesting at the time; but I didn't follow up because I didn't have a power meter on my TT bike. And I didn't really care what my CdA was on my road bike.

A few weeks ago, I read about Colin Griffiths's recent Chung testing in the UK. I now have a Power Tap wheel that I can easily move to my Cervelo TT bike, so re-enter Chung testing.

Basically, Robert Chung took the equation for all the forces acting on a rider: power, air drag (CdA), rolling resistance (Crr), and gravity:

w = wrr + wPE + wKE + waero
w = Crr m v g + s m v g + a m v + CdA ρ vair 2v / 2

and he solved the equation for slope:

s = w/(m g v) – Crr – a/g – (ρ CdA v2)/(2 m g)

Then he used slope and known horizontal position at each time interval to build a virtual profile (using a spreadsheet). By adjusting values of CdA and Crr until the virtual profile matches the real world profile, you are able to solve for both.

Lucky for me, I'm an engineer and a surveyor (lucky in this example, anyway - most of the time I'd rather be a rocket scientist or the base player for the Stones). And lucky for me, a few years ago I designed and staked out a new subdivision street about a mile from my house, so I know the EXACT profile of the road. And lucky for me, the developer has barely sold a single lot in the subdivision, so there is ZERO traffic. And lucky for me, the profile is a perfect U shape with cul-de-sacs at each end so that I can turn around at both ends without touching the brakes. And lastly, the road is very well protected by tall pines, reducing any minor breezes that might interfere with my results.

So as a test run, today I Chung-tested my Tarmac, and I got perfect results. Here's the procedure:

Get on the web and get the temperature, pressure, and humidity for the test location.

Dress for riding and weigh yourself with your bike, bottles, everything.

Ride a known profile (really all you need to know is the elevations of the high points and low points).

Keep EXACTLY the same position on the bike for the duration of the test.

Do not ever touch the brakes - the formula can't account for deceleration due to braking).

Record several runs over/through the known profile.

Return home and record weight and weather data again and average start/finish numbers.

Set up a spreadsheet to plot a virtual profile of your course using the Chung Method.

Adjust the CdA and Crr until you get a constant amplitude and crest height.

Here's a screen shot of the spreadsheet I created to do all of this. Download it from my eSnips account if you want a copy.

It worked like a charm. I did three runs of the course in each of three different positions: 1 - on the hoods; 2 - on the "horns" (hands wrapped around the tops of my Shimano shifters and elbows sort of low; and 3 - in the drops.

I did a trial-and-error adjustment the CdAs for all three positions to get an almost perfect and consistent profile. What little profile variation I saw was likely due to a very light breeze or hitting a rock in the road. A little tweaking of the Crr (rolling resistance coefficient) got the amplitudes right.

Here's what it looked like when I was done. Remember, this is a VIRTUAL profile. It's not measured elevations, it's calculated elevations assuming all the different forces on the rider. It looks to be so accurate and precise that I could literally use it to perform asbuilt surveys on finished roadways (Causey will find that idea intriguing, I think).

The fact that it worked is cool enough. But now comes the fun part: using the new technique to play around with different positions and equipment on my TT bike.

I also learned something very interesting and useful that I will use while training and racing on the road bike. I've always wondered how much more aerodynamic it was to ride in the drops as compared to on the horns. On the horns is so much more comfortable and seems more powerful, too. I turns out that my CdA on the horns is a LOT lower than on the hoods (somewhat expected), and only very slightly less aero than riding in the drops (I was surprised the difference was so little).

So there will be no more training or riding in the drops for me. The almost immeasurable benefit isn't worth the more aggressive, less comfortable position. I'll just ride on the horns. I guess I'll only use the drops for standing and sprinting.

Trainer vs. Road

2009-11-09T20:53:00.007-05:00

Ok - this is a work in progress. I don't have as much data as I'd like to have, but the general trend is clear. The problem with collecting additional data is that my aerobic system is improving, which makes establishing a true best-fit line a little like trying to hit a moving target. But you'll get the gist of it. The magenta line is a best fit for trainer data. The red line is a best fit for road data.

The not-so-surprising result: it's harder to ride the trainer than to ride on the road at the same power (all the power data was collected using my Power Tap). For now I'll target my training zones on the trainer using a target heartrate along with the trainer curve to get a target power range. Later I'll do a CP30 test on the trainer, set up power zones from that and see how they compare to the first method. I find it interesting that the difference in NP vs AHR is lower close to threshold than at lower efforts. I would have expected the opposite effect.

Gotta do something to keep the trainer workouts interesting, right? But I have discovered a new indoor toy for indoor rides: I downloaded the new Computrainer scenery pack. Now I can ride cyclocross trails through downtown Atlanta scenery. That's different.

2010 Annual Training Plan

2009-10-18T14:48:00.012-04:00

Here's my plan for 2010. Those of you familiar with various popular training approaches will recognize this training philosophy and structure as Joe Friel's. I used a Friel plan in 2006, but that doesn't really count because I didn't start training for cycling exclusively until April 2006. So this will be my first full year on an Friel-based structure.

The most significant changes from my 2008 and 2009 plans are:

A greater emphasis on macroperiodization -- base1, base2, et cetera as shown below.

An increase from 425 training hours per year to 505 training hours per year.

A greater emphasis on weekly microperiodization (rest weeks following work weeks).

Re-introduction of strength training. I lifted for 10 weeks in winter 2007/2008.

Strength maintenance work throughout the season.

By May I'll know once and for all if Friel's philosophy works.

New Title Sponsor

2009-10-16T21:59:00.005-04:00

I'm pleased to announce that Georgia Cycling, Inc., formerly racing as Security Bank Cycling Team, will race in 2010 as Walthall Oil Company Cycling Team. We are excited about our new sponsor and can't wait to see how the new kits turn out.

The Peach Peloton

2009-10-16T21:57:00.003-04:00

It will be good to get back home to my fourth year of the Peach Peloton.

Macon Cyclocross Race

2009-10-06T11:05:00.003-04:00

I bought a Redline Conquest Pro cross bike last fall to use for winter dirt road training. We have a million miles of dirt roads in Jasper County. It's a size too big, but with a short stem it works quite well for winter training. But I havent' raced the bike until this past weekend in Macon.

The race was every bit as fun as I had been told to expect. The racing was crit-like intensity with a laid-back atmosphere. I loved it.

Here's a video Dan Coy made at the first barrier in the first lap in the CX4 race. I started at the back of the 63-rider group 'cause I had no idea what to expect and didn't want to pull a rookie move and create a big pile of 4s in the first turn. So I had to soft pedal a while while it thinned out. I think I was about 30 seconds back from the front group after half a lap! I come through in the video at about 23 seconds - notice my flawless form, particularly on the re-mount. I think that needs a little work, ya think?

Unfortunately my 2010 training schedule won't allow more of these this year, but I may have to shuffle things around to accomodate at least a short cross season next fall.

2010 Georgia Road Racing Schedule (preliminary)

2009-10-04T17:16:00.003-04:00

Here's the preliminary bike racing schedule for 2010 as discussed at the Georgia Bicycle Racing Association meeting on October 3rd:

Feb 13 - Tundra Time Trial - Rockmart
Mar 6/7 - Albany (omnium/stage?)
March 13/14 - Perry Roubaix Omnium
March 20/21 - Union City Stage Race (new TT course)
March 28 - Newton County TT
April 10/11 - Chattanooga Stage Race (hilltop finish on 1-mi climb this year)
April 17/18 - Sunny King/Cheeha(sp) RR
April 24/25 - Twilight Criterium/Roswell Crit
May 1 - Aarons 'Cross Crit
May 2 - Sandy Springs Crit
May 15/16 - Tour de Gaps Omnium - Dahlonega
May 22/23 - Elberton (omnium/stage?)
May 28-31 - Tour of Atlanta (TT and three RRs included)
June 5 - Cherokee RR
June 6 - Cycle for Parkinsons crit
June 12/13 - Rome Stage Race
July 10/11 - Gainesville Stage Race
July 31/Aug 1 - Marietta ?
August 21 - Macon Crit
August 22 - Grant Park Crit

There will also be a time trial series with 8 or 10 events not listed here.

Why didn't I think of that?

2009-09-30T15:53:00.001-04:00

Three Years of Tuesday Worlds: AP vs NP

2009-09-10T08:56:00.006-04:00

I've had some discussions with a teammate recently regarding Average Power (AP) vs Normalized Power (NP). Although the data shows that for most time intervals my maximum average power hasn't changed drastically, I posed to him that I believe I can repeat the hard efforts more frequently in race-type situations. He responded that "it's probably just NP busters messing up your data due to different types of interval sessions you're doing this year." I thought he might be right, so I've developed a way to check.

I wanted a way to compare apples to apples so that variations in my training plan (different types of workouts) would not affect the result. I have power data for at least a portion of each of the past three seasons of Tuesday Worlds group rides - 2007, 2008, and 2009. So I made mean maximum power (MMP) and mean maximum normalized (MMNP) power charts using only those rides for each of those years. They are shown below. As you can see, 2008 was a crappier year than I thought. But more importantly, look at the huge jump in my MMNP in 2009 relative to the jump in MMP. I've sacrificed FTP by doing more L5 intervals and fewer TT training rides, but it's definately benefited my ability to repeat hard short-term efforts in RR (or crit) type events. That's the only conclusion I can draw so far - I'll keep pondering it.

Next year the goal is to move both lines to the northeast while maintaining a good aerobic engine for TTs also.

Negative Decoupling at 175 Watts

2009-09-07T14:34:00.005-04:00

My 225-watt test showed 8% decoupling in a 30-min test. (later determined that it wasn't really 8%, more like 3-5% if I used the correct calculation method). I wanted to see the results of a lower wattage test, so I did an 80-min decoupling test at 175 watts.

Not only did I not find any evidence at all of decoupling, the result was NEGATIVE 2%. First 37 min: 176w at 123 bpm; Second 37 min: 177w at 122 bpm. Go figure.

I'll do the 225w test again to see if I can repeat the 8% decoupling result. If I can, then the next step will be to see at what wattage the decoupling effect starts to occur. Will it be at an abrupt wattage or will it gradually decouple?

If I find that it's an abrupt point, will additional aerobic system training raise the 'decoupling point?' Will additional aerobic training lower the 8% decoupling I see at 225 watts? Lots to investigate; but that's ok - I have until Spring.

More on Friel's Decoupling

2009-09-02T14:23:00.003-04:00

Friel has a simple summary of his decoupling thesis at: http://home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/cycling/aerobic-endurance-and-decoupling.aspx

I'll summarize it even more: He says that for serious cyclists, aerobic fitness is best developed by riding at 65% to 75% of FTP. That puts me at about 200 watts, or upper portion of L2. He says if I'm training for longer road races, my decoupling should be less than 5% for 2 to 4 hours.

Calculate it by taking NP for the 1st half of the workout and dividing by average HR for 1st half of workout to get (NP/HRave) = A. Do the same for the 2nd half of the workout to get B.

Then check the percent increase by taking [(B-A)/A] x 100. If this percent decoupling is greater than 5%, aerobic fitness is not fully developed (unless heat or improper hydration have played a role).

I'm going to try a longer, slightly lower power test today (maybe 200w for an hour) to see how the decoupling looks.

Decoupling

2009-09-01T08:18:00.006-04:00

Joe Friel has written lately about decoupling. That's when you're exercising aerobically (at sub-threshold) and your heartrate is not consistent with your power output. I used to use a coupling test when I was training for triathlon. I'd hold my heartrate constant while running on a track. The further I had run after 20 minutes, the more aerobically fit I was. I was amazed at the variation throught the trainign season back then (2001).

So I decided to do a coupling test on the bike yesterday. I put on the heartrate monitor, warmed up, and did 30 minutes at tempo (225 watts for me). I felt nice and steady for the whole interval and was on Hwy 11, which is flat. Wind was minimal.

The ride felt very consistent, so I was surprised to see later that my heartrate gradually rose during the interval, starting in the low 140s and finishing around 150. My threshold HR is about 160. I sort of had a plateau in the middle, but it didn't last.

Supposedly this means that my aerobic system is not well-developed at the moment. I look forward to doing more aerobic work during the fall and winter to see if I get a more coupled 30-min tempo result. If that does happen, maybe I can use this very easy test throughout the season to monitor my aerobic fitness and do more aerobic work when I see things start to "come apart."

Unique

2009-08-15T16:29:00.001-04:00

TTT Pacing

2009-08-14T11:03:00.009-04:00

Below are some interesting charts related to TTT pacing. Two very similar teams (only one rider different on a 4-man squad) did the same course (at least up till mile 17.5) under very similar conditions about two months apart - both in competition. The first time we went out much too hard and had trouble at the end. The second time we might have gone out too easy - it's hard to say for sure. On the second attempt (August), we were lagging behind the first attempt (June) pace until very late in the race, when we easily caught and 'passed' ourselves.

The course was more difficult in the second half, which makes the interpretation a little more complicated.

More consistent speed in August:

Making up major time toward the end (10-20 seconds per mile):

Course was tougher in 2nd half, but not too much speed was lost in August:

Ready for the Mountains

2009-08-06T20:39:00.002-04:00

295/65=4.54

Fall Training Plan

2009-07-27T09:21:00.002-04:00

This'll take me through the end of the season:

Macro Periodization

2009-07-24T17:08:00.005-04:00

If you saw me race in the Gainesville crit last weekend you'll know the obvious: I didn't get my ass handed to me, I got it thrown at me. It was very ugly. And the worst part was that my legs were fine and my power was decent. I was just outclassed by my competition in an 8-man masters field with nowhere to hide.

Anyone who's read anything about training is familiar with periodization. You work harder and harder for two or three weeks, then take an week so the body can supercompensate.

Well I guess I've sort of unintentionally done that on a macro scale. We'll call 2001 through 2005 my base period. I was a triathlete then and probably averaged about 75 to 100 miles per week on the bike - mostly at tempo. I got stronger on the bike each year, but never got very fast.

In 2006 I discovered bike racing. I'm not sure how it happened, really - I guess I'll go back and read my blog - that's why I starting writing this stuff, anyway - so I could see trends. I delved into all sorts of training literature and worked pretty hard to get better. And I did get better. I trained with structure for three years, 2006, 2007, and 2008. I could barely hang onto the back of the cat5 pack when I raced in Gainesville in spring 2006. I catted up to cat 4 for 2008, where my biggest achievements were winning the Tour of Atlanta and getting a 2nd in the Elberton road race in a 40-mile break. I think I was on the cusp of getting some real results.

Then in fall 2008 my power meter crapped out and I didn't replace it. Then 2009 started out poorly - I had a bad crash at my very first race in early March that messed me up for a while and caused a bad back that lingered for a couple more months. The end result is that I really have not 'trained' this year at all. I've ridden a decent amount, averaging about 8 hours per week since February. But I've done no intervals and had no training structure. Basically, I've taken the year off from training. So we'll call this my recovery year. Also, my Tarmac SL downtube cracked for no reason that I know of and Calfee is working to repair it (it really has been a tough year). And to make it just a little bit tougher on myself, I catted up to 3 (a move of true genius, I see now).

But through all this year's problems, I've still gotten a little stronger. A friend loaned me a SRM for the past month with a loaner frame when mine cracked. It has confirmed what I felt - that my MMP curve has moved northeastward even with no structured training (I'll post the curve later). I'm slightly stronger in almost all time intervals.

So now I guess it's time for me to start another four-year cycle. Last week I created and initiated a training plan to take me through October (I'll post that later, too). Today I ordered a Power Tap which will be here by mid-week. Since I catted up to 3, I figure I have no choice but to get stronger if I want to continue enjoying racing.

So it's time for me to get stronger.

BBQ Bass 2009

2009-07-13T12:52:00.012-04:00

Thanks to everyone who joined us for the BBQ Bass ride on Saturday.

At Hog Wild BBQ in Hillsboro

Betty Jean lobbies for "BBQ Bass Banana Ride"

Bill explores the mysteries of his new Blackberry.

Macon Race Weekend

2009-06-15T08:50:00.011-04:00

There's far too much to try and say in one blog at 8:30 on Monday morning about our Macon race weekend; so I'll let the words ease out over the next week or two. But I will say it was a tremendous success. Thanks so much to our volunteers for frying in the sun for two days to make it a great success. And thanks to our sponsors for their support of cycling.

Here are a few of the many great pics from the weekend:

Our new 55+ Crit State Champion

The Masters State Champs

Chad's rewarded for his 2nd state champ jersey in as many months.

My sister with her family watch their first bike race.

Security Bank riders called up for the Masters Crit

Drew with two of our fabulous podium girls.

My wife, Betty Jean, and I warm up for the Prologue.

Macon Criterium State Championship

2009-06-03T13:57:00.006-04:00

Security Bank Cycling Team (Georgia Cycling, Inc.) has been in existence now for two seasons. Since the start it's been our goal to host a quality event in Macon. We'll take a shot at it on June 13th and 14th when we partner with Georgia Cup to bring the Georgia Crit Championship along with a prologue and road race to Macon. The courses are great; we'll have Chad Andrews as announcer; we have customized medals for the crit winners; we have Harleys and Mustang convertibles as lead vehicles; Nu-Way Wieners will provide hot dogs at the crit; we'll have champagne for the cat 1 podium; and we have podium girls. Lots of good stuff.

We couldn't do it without these folks' help. Thank you sponsors:

Caught Some Breaks

2009-05-29T09:55:00.005-04:00

On my last post I was bitching that I can't catch a break. Well yesterday and today I caught several of 'em. Just as I was about to cancel my Dahlonega race weekend plans, a friend loaned me a frame. The guys at our sponsor, Bike Tech graciously dropped what they were doing and moved my components over to it.

But wait, there's more: my Specialized BB wouldn't fit the loaner frame (a Blue RC-7). I was offered an SRM BB/cranks to get me by temporarily.

Then I realized the bike fit was perfect except for a slightly long reach. A teammate offered to drive out to L.H. Thomson Co, another sponsor, and pick up a shorter stem for me, then drop it off with yet another teammate who will bring it to Dahlonega for me.

Now that's what I call catching great breaks. Huge thanks to all involved.

Now I need to ride hard this weekend and catch a different sort of break. And then try to stay there.

Can't Catch a Break

2009-05-23T13:25:00.009-04:00

It's been sort of a frustrating spring. Nothing terrible, just a bunch of annoying things.

First, I was hit head-on by another cyclist while I was warming up for a prologue. For a few mintes I thought that one might go in the 'terrible' category, but luckily not. That put me out of commission for a couple of weeks and broke my HED tri-spoke front wheel and TT helmet.

About the time I began to feel normal again. I strained my back lifting something stupid. Two more uncomfortable weeks. The back is almost normal again.

Last week my eye became infected somehow and I battled that for a week or so.

I've been able to train and race through much of the spring, so my form is pretty good. I was happy to finally be training and racing pain-free this weekend.

On this morning's ride I broke a rear derailleur cable about mid-ride. Shimano cables need frequent replacement and I didn't do a very good job of it. Oh, well - a good excuse for some good muscle tension training.

After the ride I went to Bike Tech to get a new cable installed. While replacing the cable, Lou found a big crack in my Specialized Tarmac SL frame! It's on the downtube about 2 inches above the bottom bracket (about where the internal lug would connect to the tubing). It couldn't have been there very long because I'd have seen it while cleaning the bike. It looks like the type of crack that could cause a serious problem if it decided to suddenly fail. It would be a cat's ass trophe for sure.

Now I'm not sure if I'll be racing on Monday and don't really have a plan for what to ride in the immediate future. If I'm lucky, Specialized, a first class company from what I can tell, (are you reading Specialized? You guys are the best. A really, really great outfit. Best damned bike company in the world is what I always say.) will replace the frame. I haven't crashed it since I bought it. If not, I'm screwed. Guess I'll be riding the black 1983 Cannondale 3.0 series I have on the trainer in the basement. It has Suntour Superbe Pro components! And down-tube shifters! Eight gears, I think.

Here she is, but this one's a lot better looking than the one in my basement:

Great Form

2009-05-21T19:15:00.003-04:00

I have no idea why, but my legs are super this week. Mondays hill repeats were easy and I broke all sorts of personal records on my little test hill. Yesterday's 90min tempo ride was a no-chainer. Today I got on the computrainer to do 1-hr tempo. My last 45 minutes normalized power was 265 watts. Thats an IF of 0.92 based on what I thought my FTP was (I'm now sure my recent estimates have been low).

This is the sort of week that sends you to your training log to see what the heck caused it. I couldn't find anything significant. I've had a solid spring, but nothing exceptional. On Saturday I raced in the masters Georgia state championship RR. It was pretty well attended by strong riders - more than a couple strong cat 1s and very strong masters veterans. I had my arse handed to me, making a short day of it (90 min - some of it at pretty high intensity).

My best guess is that the old rule that to taper you need to cut back on volume and keep the intensity high is accurate. That's sort of what I've done lately. Problem is, I'm not trying to taper for anything. Guess I'll just enjoy the good form on training rides.

Consistent

2009-05-13T19:02:00.003-04:00

I just noticed this is my 200th blog post - interesting.

Checked my season mileage a minutes ago. Last year on May 12th I was at 4399 miles. This year I'm at 4362. I need to find 37 miles somewhere to catch up.

Alex

2009-05-08T10:21:00.005-04:00

If TT stuff interests you, then you'll probably enjoy this blog post by Alex Simmons. It describes his coaching of Jayson Austin, a masters athlete, for the Australian 1-hour record. Bradley McGee holds the Australian record, but Jayson established the 2nd best distance with 10% less power than our man Chad Davies can hold for an hour. Chad, maybe there is a record attempt in your future if you can turn your self into a human bullet and afford a front Zipp disc?

http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com/2009/05/another-hour-of-power.html

Alex was a strong time trialist when he hit a newly installed and unmarked bar-gate on his regular training route a couple of years ago. He lost his leg due to the crash but has battled back to ride again.

A Cure-All for the Hypochondriac

2009-05-05T21:48:00.005-04:00

It appears that I'm guilty as charged: hypochondriac. Twice in one week, no less.

On Thursday of last week, I was reaching out to lift my bike out of the back of my XTerra and I tweaked my back. At least tweaked is what I thought at first. Two hours later I was dreading walking to the coffee pot at work due to the severe pain. Thursday night I barely slept because every time I moved I woke up.

Friday was a little better, but I was extremely doubtful that I'd be able to get into TT position and put out any kind of power for Saturday's time trial in Juliette. Saturday morning things felt OK. After 45 minutes on the trainer, I loosened up. The back didn't bother me much during the race. I had sort of been cured by the bike, I guess.

Sunday morning I performed the ultimate stupid move. I picked up a big 50-pound potted plant and carried it to the truck (a task I would have thought impossible 48 hours prior). It didn't hurt much at first. But throughout the day it got worse. By Monday morning it was worse than the prior Thursday morning. By Tuesday morning it was a little better. A painful, short, easy ride Monday afternoon confirmed that Tuesday Night Worlds was probably out of the question for this week.

Arriving at TNW I still thought I'd have to tool around with a slower group. But with eight teammates there, I had to at least start out with the group, right? As I rode, my back started to loosen a bit. As the effort increased, the pain did not, so I kept riding - staying seated and maintaining a high cadence to minimize torque, both of which seemed to help minimize what by then was only minor discomfort. By the end of the ride only a hint of soreness remained. My back felt better than it had since Saturday.

So I confess to being a hypochondriac regarding my back, I guess. I really did think I couldn't ride both times. And both times I was cured by the bike.

Ron Hill doled out a little nugget of his aged wisdom as we started out on Tuesday. When I said I didn't want to ride hard enough to mess up my back, he said, "It's hard to mess anything up on the bike." Wisdom - and truth.

So add "bad back" to the long list of mental and physical ills that can be cured by the bicycle. But it would still be a good idea to avoid large flower pots.

Ah Ha!

2009-04-14T10:21:00.004-04:00

I feel dumb for not figuring it out before now. Over the winter I made some TT position adjustments, but nothing drastic. I lowered my bars about a centimeter. And I switched stems - same length and angle, but went to a Thomson stem, which has a much narrower witdth at the handlebar clamp than my old one. When I was switching stems, I thought, 'this would be a good time to flip the little clamps that hold my aerobars to my base bars.' That will allow me to move the aerobars closer together and narrow my position.

So I did both. I added a narrower stem and flipped the clamps. I used to be able to sit a water bottle on the top of my front tire while warming up on the trainer. My aerobars were just the right distance apart and just the right height above the tire to hold the bottle. After the adjustment, I couldn't even come close to getting a bottle between the bars, but it felt ok, so I went with it.

Well, I think the narrow arm position, while aero, I'm sure, limited my leverage at the front end and drastically reduced my power output. Think about trying to crank out lots of wattage if you can only grab the stem on your bike with both hands while pedaling. That's an extreme example, but it's sort of what I was trying to do.

I haven't done any power testing, but based on how I felt on my first TT ride after widening the bars, I think I'm onto something. Wider bars, 1cm higher bars, and seat forward 2cm to open my hips a little more: hopefully those changes will combine to bring my TT mojo back. I hope so, because it really sucks being slow.

I am a Homosexual Communist Yankee.

2009-04-10T09:58:00.017-04:00

Where to start?

First, I’ll say that the stretch of Silver Comet Trail between Rockmart and Cedartown is a rare gift to cyclists that I had not before experienced. A 10’ strip of concrete laid out among some of the most pastoral landscapes in Georgia. I rode it on a 75-degree sunny Thursday afternoon when there was rarely a soul to be seen on that stretch -- just cows, squirrels, and the occasional sluggish snake. I’m going to go back there – it was too good a ride not to repeat. I might also call the Path Foundation to find out who was most responsible for establishing that section of trail. They deserve a thank you letter.

Now for the other part of my afternoon tale:
“blah, b-blah, b-blahblahblah, FAGGOT COMMIE” from the one in the passenger seat. “Go home YANKEE BASTARD” from the one in the truck bed. Wow. Impressive. Perfect images of redneck anti-cyclists were made flesh before mine eyes. They were either more quick-witted than the average fat rubes or had practiced the insults in the mirror of their F-350 for weeks to get it juuuust right. Whatever the case, I was surprised and amused all at once as they hauled ass away, delivering enough black smoke out of the 6” tailpipe of the monster truck to prompt an edit of “An Inconvenient Truth.”

I’d like to investigate the motive, but first allow me to address my accusers.

Homosexual. I readily admit that from time to time I am overcome by the bulging, ripped, muscular gluteus maximii of my Security Bank teammates, covered by only embrocation and a fraction of a millimeter of lycra, ripping up Pate Hill. But I really, really, really like girls. A lot. So I think the gluteus thing must be more power envy than desire to bed a Banker. I’m sure there are homosexuals in the peloton, but as long as they don’t grab my ass or half-wheel me in a group ride, I really don’t care who they snuggle up with afterwards.

Communist. The guy must have been over 40, because I perceive “commie” to be a very 1980s flavor of insult – you know: Reagan, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” and all that? Well, there was the time that, after a half bottle of Jack Daniels, I thought about giving all my crap to my neighbor, riding my ‘cross bike to Crater Lake, starting a bike taxi service, and living on Gu in an abandoned school bus. But when I sobered up, I realized that I really like all of my stuff and would like very much for it to remain mine. I might even like to have more stuff one day. A die-hard capitalist with moderate tendencies? Yes. A communist? Not so much.

Yankee. Hmmmm. That one’s pretty funny. I do live north of Macon. But I’ve heard tell that my great grandfather went quite a bit out of his way during the (not so) Recent Unpleasantness to kill as many Damn Yankees as he possibly could before turning 17 and enduring reconstruction eating sweet potatoes three meals a day in a 2-room dirt-floor cabin after Bill Sherman made his brutal march and killed all the family livestock. In 2009 Monticello may be a lot of things, but a Yankee hangout it is not. So I think I’ve established that insult as more than a little hollow.

So why was I the target of the unprompted verbal salvo by the big bubbas? I wasn’t even on THEIR road – I was on a prissy little big-city funded side trail and completely out of their precious way. Funny thing is, I can shift pretty smoothly from cyclist to redneck when I want to. I guess that makes me a double agent? I hunt, drive a truck (sort of), eat cornbread, drink sweet tea, and can talk real rural like. I think Lewis Grizzard was great and that the SEC can kick the PAC 10’s ass. So what’s the root of his hostility?

Maybe they saw my chiseled calves and thought I’d steal their women? I’ve got news for them: I’ve got a woman that is, by observation and by definition, smarter and finer than anything they could ever lure into the black hole of enlightenment they call existence. So there’s no threat to them there.

Maybe they want all the 2010 earmark money for more lanes on Highway 278. Maybe they thought I might use my faggot wiles and communist trickery to successfully lobby for more miles of trail, taking their tax money and limiting them to four lanes, requiring them to slow to 80 mph the next time three people decide to drive from Rockmart to High Point in the same afternoon.

Or maybe they are simple prudes. Maybe the sight of my gleaming bare flesh and the bulges in my bibshorts reminded them of their mothers’ beating the crap out of them for looking at girly magazines before they turned 35 and finally moved away from home.

Hmmm. I seem to have mentioned glutes, calves, and bare flesh a lot – maybe I’m seeing a common thread here?

Whatever the reason, they can both kiss my narrow ass, because although there are many that feel and act exactly as they do, the fact that I can ride from Rockmart to Cedartown and beyond on a path dedicated to cyclists and other non-motorists, built partly with our precious transportation funding proves that they are beginning to lose the battle. There are people in Polk County, even a few heterosexual capitalist southerners, who like the Comet; they appreciate it and support it. Thanks goes out to all of them. I know it’s not so easy to be on that side of the argument. And I don’t mean to pick on Rockmart and Cedartown. The situation is similar throughout these parts.

Too Aero - No Powero

2009-04-01T09:30:00.005-04:00

I think I've overshot my optimization point. I've continued to lower the bars on my Cervelo over the past two years to get more aero. It's a process that takes time because your body has to adapt to the new position every time you change it.

I know the last change improved aerodynamics, because I proved that in coast-down testing last month. But my TT results have been sub-par lately. My road power has not suffered -- if anything, it's higher than a year ago. I suspect my TT problems are due to a loss of power related to my more aggressive position and more acute hip angle. I have the tools to test on the computrainer in various TT positions to check the theory, but it's tedious, painful, and 'trainer season' is over for me. So I think I'll start by flipping my 10-degree Thomson stem to the 'up' position to raise my bars a couple of centimeters and see what happens.

I've been playing around with this stuff for a couple of years using trial and error and my 'poor man's wind tunnel.' I have definitely made progress, but I think it's time to visit the low-speed wind tunnel with Nathan O'Neill in North Carolina this winter to take my positioning to the next level.

What If?

2009-03-03T19:38:00.004-05:00

The field was small and the weather was cold and crappy. My teammate launched a parking lot attack from kilometer zero, which surprised me. It lasted about half a mile. Good try, but not gonna work today with only 20 riders in the field - even a small break of strong riders might hold off 15 or 16 not-quite-so-stong ones. I countered at kilometer 1 - as soon as my teammate was caught - just to see what would happen, and to wake up my legs. After a few miles it became obvious that I was going nowhere and that nobody thought enough of my early effort to take a chance on joining me up the road as I'd hoped. Just one guy rolling the dice and I would have kept the pedal to the floor, but not by myself.

After 5 laps the little hills narrowed the field to nine. I was never concerned that I'd be dropped on the hills, just that maybe two or three would get away without me. Maybe we should have let two or three get away for a while. Maybe we'd have gradually pulled them back -- tired out the most adventurous and aggressive (and maybe the strongest) riders in our small race. Maybe I could have countered when we caught them and maybe I'd have been the strongest among the counterers. Why didn't I try it?

Then at the end. With 1k to go I took off up a small rise as everyone marked everyone else. Nobody went with me. At the top of the rise I made a fatal mistake - I looked back. When I saw the group of eight, even though they were 50m back and slowly gaining, I sat up, jumped in, and finished fourth. What if I'd stayed on the gas for 10 more seconds? Would the group of eight chasers have turned into four? Would I have stayed away for 200 meters more and then been consumed and dropped before the finish? Until I grow balls enough to be ok with finishing last, I guess I'll never know.

East German Training Plan

2009-03-02T09:23:00.006-05:00

from Michael Barry of Comumbia:

"..... The Germans are known in the peloton for their work ethic. Never scared to sit on their bikes for half a day, tapping out intervals, and pedaling on the prescribed work load they have both logged thousands of kilometers in the last month riding for more hours than many people work at their office desk.

The East German system they grew up in has hardened them in a way that is foreign to the majority of the peloton. Grabsch confirmed a story that the former East German coaches demanded they ride hometrainers, in front of a brick wall without music or entertainment, for four or more hours, to toughen them mentally. "

And I thought two hours on a trainer with an iPod was boring.

DZ Manipulates the Earth's Forces

2009-02-20T09:20:00.004-05:00

I'm plaigerizing again, but I could not resist. I'm fascinated with the mental aspects of time trialing. A teammate sent me a great article by Juliet Macur of the New York Times (thanks Doug): As Leipheimer Coasts at Tour of California, Armstrong Is Part of the Pack

I encourage you to read the article, but in case you don't, here are some of my favorite parts and quotes:

Other riders agree that tunes about being happy and carefree should never be the soundtrack for a time trial, an individual race against the clock that is often synonymous with pain.

But, Lim said, the winner of the time trial will need another quality to be the fastest on the course: the ability to manage pain better than anyone else.

As soon as a rider takes off, his body starts hinting at betrayal. His legs start to feel like anchors. His lungs start to burn. His arms start to ache from holding onto the handlebars with death grips.

"Your body feels pain as a protective mechanism, so when you are going as hard as you can, all your body wants to do is fight it," Lim said. "It's telling you: 'Why are we doing this? What bear is chasing us? What are we doing this for? Stop this, just stop this right now.' "

"I told him, 'Maybe it's not anger that motivates you anymore,' " Lim said. " 'Maybe it's love.' And [DZ] said: 'Ooh, love. O.K., man.' And that was that."

"Being good at the time trial, it's mostly mental," Zabriskie said. "If you think you are having a good day, you are probably not going fast enough.

"I truly believe I can manipulate the earth's forces and use them to my advantage," [DZ] said.

Making FTP Progress by Taking it Easy

2009-02-18T08:33:00.008-05:00

Last year I was able to maintain FTP growth through January 8th - then my results flattened out. It's probably not a coincidence that I started doing much more VO2max and anaerobic work in January last year. Either then intensity somehow stunted my FTP progress or, more likely, the reduced time available for SST and L4 work stopped my FTP improvement.

This year I've pretty much stayed away from high intensity work except for what I got in the Peach Peloton attack zones. I did my first set of hill repeats for 2009 on Monday.

Yesterday I did another FTP test. It appears that my FTP is still creeping upward. That's good news, but it makes me wonder if I should continue to hold off on intensity training even longer into the year. Oddly enough, I don't feel that my anaerobic system is suffering much from the lack of training. One thing's for sure, the absence of intensity in January and February has me feeling much fresher and I've not been sick since last spring.

I guess if the training program ain't broke, don't try to fix it. So for now I'll let my intensity mostly come from races and see what happens. I'll probably know in my first crit if the lack of anaerobic work has set me back in that area. My current FTP chart is below. I probably should do at least FTP test in my recently modified TT position to see how that stands. But I've been putting it off because, well, hurts a lot to be in that position for 45 minutes - I really didn't develop the new position for longer races.

Clean that Chamois!

2009-02-17T08:10:00.005-05:00

The cyclist never should have been in that lane, but once he was there, he did a pretty good job of not becoming a hood ornament. I think the award for evasive maneuvers goes to the 2nd motorcyclist, though.

The Plagiarist

2009-01-29T20:08:00.012-05:00

I always try to resist the temptation to play copycat, but I could not resist plagiarizing this little section from "Coppi and Me, Part II" by Padrig over at Belgium Kneewarmers.

In the series Gino Bartali reminisces about racing against Fausto Coppi in the 1940s and 1950s. They were both good friends and bitter rivals. The segment below is what Bartali had to say about Coppi's Achilles heel. It reminded me of the almost imperceptable signals I get from some of my companions where they are in difficulty (hollow eyes or barely perceptable changes in hand position on the bars).

It is a perfect metaphor for the intricacies of cycling and the sometimes frivolous and comic nature of our great sport.

Bartali recalls:

"So I studied him, I looked at him, I scrutinized him, passing all I observed through a sort of sieve set to catch the least eccentricity that would imply fallibility. And then, one day, my tenacity was repaid. I perceived something. Finally, I had it!

Behind the right knee a vein inflated along 5 or 6 centimeters, apparently under the pressure of ridding his leg of toxic waste. This apparition made itself obvious between 160 and 180 kms into a race. At this moment Fausto became vulnerable and he lost a bit of that fluid plastic motion he normally displayed.

One day, in the 1948 Tour of Italy, the stage to Naples, I decided to see if I could profit from my research. I told my lieutenant, Corrieri, to survey the hollow behind Coppi’s right knee and let me know if he saw any change. Sure enough, right about the time I expected, Corrieri came rolling through the peloton crying at the top of his voice, ‘The vein! The vein!’ Of course no one knew what he was yelling about, least of all Fausto, but I knew and I slid through the group to verify the good Giovannino’s spy operation. One look and I could see the vein was indeed inflated!

’Go! Go!’ I yelled to Van Steenbergen, to Koblet, to Kubler, and anyone else around me. ‘Coppi is in difficulty!’

‘Are you nuts?’ queried Van Steenbergen.

'Follow me!’ I yelled.

Everyone attacked, and at the finish Fausto had lost four minutes!"

What a great story. This past weekend I think I discovered a 'vein' in one of my more genetically gifted associates. It'll be fun to test my theory on the roads this summer!

The Vein!, The Vein! also reminded me of Tatoo:

The Plane!, The Plane!

2009 Coast-Down Aero Testing

2009-01-25T19:08:00.016-05:00

Every winter I try to improve my time trial position, and every winter so far I've been able to do it. This year I lowered the bike's front end, narrowed my elbows, and moved my hands closer together. Also, in the middle of last season - since my last aero test - I replaced my front American Classic 50mm deep section wheel with a HED tri-spoke wheel and Veloflex Record 19mm tubular. I'm still using a non-dimpled Zipp 900 disc rear wheel and riding a 2001 Cervelo P2K. I test in a short-sleeved skinsuit with a Louis Garneu Rocket TT helmet and shoe covers - no gloves, no glasses. I perform the test at 25 mph entry speed and ghost pedal during the test (In case y'all are wondering why I give so much detail: this is where I'll come next winter to review my last test and prepare to do it again).

Here are my aero testing results for the past three years along with my FTP in TT position, my theoretical speed on a flat road at FTP, and my theoretical 40k TT time on a flat course at FTP. All of this assumes a Crr=0.005, a weight of 172.5 pounds for bike and rider, 80 degrees Fahrenheit, 1022 kPa air pressure, and relative humidity 50% on a calm day.

___________________________________________________

2007: CdA = 0.269 m^2 ------257 watts ------ 24.27 mph ----- 1:01:26

2008: CdA = 0.233 m^2 ------271 watts ------ 25.91 mph ----- 0:57:33

2009: CdA = 0.219 m^2 ------278 watts ------ 26.64 mph ----- 0:55:59

These drag coefficient (CdA) numbers were all developed on the same test course with the exact same testing protocol, so even if the absolute numbers are a little off -- maybe because I estimated the hill slope wrong or assumed a bad rolling resistance coefficient, Crr -- at least I know that I'm more aero than I've ever been.

The coast-down test results were amazingly repeatable. I performed 5 test runs. On the first run 4 cars passed, so I threw that one out. The times on the last four runs were 79.6 sec, 79.4 sec, 79.8 sec, and 79.6 sec.

Testing results don't guarantee race results, but the added confidence sure doesn't hurt.

If you haven't played around with aerodynamics and tested your CdA, you should - it's free speed. My improvement from 2008 to 2009, which is only 0.233-0.219=0.014 m^2, will save me 57 seconds on a 40k TT (the equivalent of 15 more average watts on a flat course). Or more realistically, about 30 seconds on the shorter TTs that I'll do. If you want to play around with the calculation spreadsheet, get it from Badger3 and input your numbers.

Or if you're not the number crunching type, just take a piece of chalk and your TT setup to any hill that bottoms out and starts back up. Start at the top at a consistent speed. Coast down the hill and keep rolling until you stop. Mark a spot with the chalk where your front wheel stops. Do it a few times to get a good average. Then change something - your helmet, skinsuit, wheels, position, etc. and do the test again under the exact same conditions (temperature, weight, humidity, etc.) on a calm day. If you pass your prior mark on the road, you are more aero and therefore are faster (as long as your power output is the same).

The Black Box

2009-01-23T21:35:00.007-05:00

In the process of researching how to calculate one's highest possible FTP from VO2max, I've investigated the relationship of many different physiological variables. I didn't want the work to go to waste, so I've taken many of the relationships and built them into a spreadsheet that links them together. Here's a screen view of the spreadsheet with my numbers intered into it:

Here's a link to the spreadsheet in Google Docs (click on "edit this page" at the bottom of the sheet to enter your own numbers in the green boxes):
The Black Box

I haven't locked any of the cells, so the Google Docs spreadsheet might get screwed up. If that happens, you can download a copy of the spreadsheet in Excel format at FTP from Calculate VO2 from FTP.

And finally, I've created the ultimate black box. This spreadsheet pushes each of the physiological variables to the limit. It assumes that you have excellent genetics and that you are training to the absolute max with the best available techniques and coaches. If all of that were true, this spreadsheet would tell you your FTP. If you produced above that number for an extended period in the Tour, you'd get a one-way ticket home. Here's that Pro max spreadsheet with Lance's numbers entered:

Here's a link to the Google Docs Pro max sheet (click on "edit this page" at the bottom of the page to enter your own numbers in the green boxes:
Pro Max spreadsheet

Here's the Excel version for download:
Theoretical max FTP from VO2max

I think drug testing based on power is a crazy and unworkable idea, but it's interesting to ponder.

Lance Stats From TdU

2009-01-23T08:37:00.005-05:00

Lance said his average power was 340 watts after 2 hours of yesterday’s stage of the Tour Down Under. Assuming a variability index (VI) of 1.1 (which I’ve found to be typical for hard paceline riding on rolling terrain), then his Normalized Power (NP) for that period would have been about 340 watts x 1.1 = 374 watts for that period. If his FTP is around 420 watts (about 5.7 w/kg, I think), http://www.bicycling.com/article/0,6610,s-1-9-18332-1,00.html, then his intensity factor (IF) for that two hour period was 0.89. That lines up with the IF values I see for a very hard Tuesday Worlds ride for me. It’s very hard, but not impossible. So it sounds like the numbers work based on those assumptions.

Heartrate and VO2max Predicts Cycling FTP

2009-01-13T08:22:00.006-05:00

In my research of the relationship of VO2max and max potential FTP, I stumbled on this calculator: http://www.braydenwm.com/calburn.htm.

I've seen lots of littel cutesy calculators like this; but for fun I input my data: male, 150 lbs, age 40, ave HR (at FTP) 162 bpm, VO2max = 70 ml/kg/min. I was quite amazed to find that it predicted my power output at FTP (based on average heartrate) to be 290.46 watts. My last two FTP test results are 290 watts and 292 watts.

Either this is a really cool coincidence, or there is some good science in the paper on which the calculator is based, found at http://www.braydenwm.com/cal_vs_hr_ref_paper.pdf. I haven't read it yet, but I will.

This is the formula used in the calculator:
kCal/min = (-59.3954 + (-36.3781 + 0.271 x age + 0.394 x weight(kg) + 0.404 x VO2max(ml/kg/min) + 0.634 x HR(bpm)))/4.184

I don't know what each factor means yet, but I probably will after I go through the research paper.

Calories burned vs oxygen intake is relatively well understood. Oxygen intake is commonly measured (it's VO2max). And I know that the calculator assumes a 24% efficiency from chemical to mechanical work for cycling, which is a commonly-used and accepted factor (it usually ranges from 20% to 25%).

Now if I can find good data relating FTP and % VO2 max for elite cyclists, I should be able to set up a direct relationship between VO2max and FTP in well-trained cyclists. This would be the relationship that LeMond is proposing to use in evaluating power output of riders in the pro peloton to test for doping.

Hippodrome

2009-01-12T18:58:00.006-05:00

This is a good winter trainer workout for gradually transitioning from pure FTP build into a little more intense L5 work. It'll give you 55 quality minutes and 66 TSS.

WU: 15 min @ 65% FTP (L2)
Then do this set 3 times:

5 min @ 88% FTP (SST)
3 min @ 112% FTP (L5)
2 min @ L2

Then:

5 min solid tempo
5 min cooldown spin

Google is very helpful in making up workout names: In 532 AD, the Nika Riot occurred in Constantinople, and about 30,000 people were killed in the Hippodrome (horse track). Also, 532 AD was the first year that the Anno Domini calendar was ever used.

Ouch.

2009-01-08T14:39:00.005-05:00

Since 2000/2001 my winter training plan has included at least one day per week on the TT bike. This winter is no different. In November and December I've done one SST workout per week on the Cervelo.

Winter is also the time to do position tweaks. A few days ago I added a new Thomson stem to my P2K. It is the same length as my old stem, but has a 10-degree downward angle (the old one had a zero angle). That lowered the front end 16 millimeters [90cm x sin(10 deg) = 16mm]. I also moved the tri-bar extensions forward about 15 mm. To maintain a similar reach, I shifted my saddle forward about 1.5 cm forward. Shifting the saddle forward meant that I had to raise it a little to keep the same height from the BB. I had to add new shifter cables and cable housing due to the extended new position. To polish it all off, I sawed 2.5 cm off the top of my fork, steerer tube, whatever you call that thing, and took off several spacers.

As I mentioned, up 'till now I've only done SST workouts - 85% to 90% of FTP.

After I made the adjustments, I did a 45 minute workout including 4 threshold power intervals - 100% of FTP - each 7 minutes long. Not what I would call a difficult workout.

For two days after the workout I have been extremely sore. Legs, back, shoulders - it's been hard to sleep, even. I don't know if it was the slightly different position, the slightly higher intensity, the fact that it's my first winter over 40, or maybe all three. But it hurts like hell.

The experience has changed the way I'll approach my TT training for the rest of the winter. After a few more workouts to hopefully 'stop the hurt,' I'll start doing shorter, harder intervals on the TT bike. If many of my TT efforts this year will be prologues or very short TTs in the Georgia Cup series, I'd better get used to VO2max level efforts on the Cervelo. So from here out, it's weekly 355s on the TT bike: 3x5min@L5 (L5 is 110% FTP power).

If I find that there is as much difference between the 355s and the FTP efforts on the Cervelo as I found between SST and FTP, then there's probably more soreness in my future.

Five Pain Portraits

2009-01-04T10:34:00.014-05:00

I've recently administered FTP tests for a few other riders - 45 minutes - as hard as you can go and still finish the test. All of them were strong and experienced racers. But as you can see from the charts below, none of them had the same approach to the test. It was fun, and sometimes very painful, to watch.

This guy started too easy and probably had too much left at the end:

This guy started too hard and struggled at the finish:

This guy's approach took him to all sorts of highs and lows. A premature finishing push and subsequent burnout probably cost him a few watts:

This guy had good, if slightly undulating, pacing and turned himself inside out, in and out of the saddle, to maintain his number in the closing minutes:

This guy's metronomic output was juuuuusst right (guess who's the experiened time trial specialist of the group?). Amazing consistency and near-perfect pacing.

I expect higher numbers from the first three riders if they choose to test again later in the season - from better pacing strategy if not also from improved fitness. If the last two want higher numbers, they'd better just "Ride Lots."

Seven Stages of Road Racing

2008-12-31T11:53:00.004-05:00

The holidays gave me a few minutes to browse other cycling blogs, something I haven't done in a while. I saw this post on Stuart Lynne's blog and found it amusing:

http://tt-training.blogspot.com/2008/03/seven-stages-of-road-racing.html

Sounds just like my 2006 season.

CTL and FTP History

2008-12-31T09:27:00.009-05:00

One of the useful things about power data is that a watt in 2006 is the same as a watt in 2009. So chronic training load (CTL) and functional threshold power (FTP) are reliable in comparing training and fitness across multiple years. If your power meter is giving you good numbers (close your eyes and accept it, Hoppa, it won't hurt), then CTL and FTP are 100% valid indicators of how hard you've worked in any year and what FTP benefit you developed from the work. The comparison works best in the winter FTP-build phase.

The comparison is a good test of your training program's effectiveness. There are important contributors to, and indicators of, fitness and succes other than CTL and FTP (genetics, luck, nutrition, weight, confidence, stress level, sleep quality, team strenth, equipment weight and quality, spousal support, tactics, strategy, motivation, sprint power, crank torque, 5-min power, cadence, CdA), but for me they are the ones that matter the most.

LeMond, Armstrong, and the SRM Dope Dog

2008-12-28T19:33:00.008-05:00

I’ve been studying cycling from every angle for the last few years. It’s increasingly rare that I encounter a truly new idea or perspective that “opens a new door” or provides me a completely original line of thinking about cycling performance or culture. But I stumbled upon one on Friday.

A little background: In preparing for a 3-hour drive to Ringgold to see the inlaws (a visit which was enhanced by a 40-mile ride over new Tennessee roads with my Lovely Wife), I downloaded onto my Shuffle several cycling-related podcasts: a couple Fredcasts and a couple from The Spokesman. One of them contained stuff from Interbike 2008. That’s where Lance gave a press conference this fall to discuss his return to competitive cycling. A sort-of-hard-to-hear recording of his press conference was included in the podcast.

I already knew that Greg LeMond had attended Lance’s press conference and, based on what I’d heard, had made an ass of himself with all of his repeated questions about Lance’s new doping controls. Lance has, in lieu of a salary, requested that Astana hire a dope testing specialist to set up and carry out a continuous testing program for Lance for the 2009 season. All of his data will be published on the web in real time.

Well, Greg repeatedly attempted to grill Lance and his consultant about it. In the recording you couldn’t hear the questions very well, but you could tell that Lance and pretty much everyone else in the room wished he would just shut up and go back to selling bikes.

Greg and Lance in '94 - before they had much to argue about.

But that’s not the interesting part. Greg’s been doing that for years and everyone’s used to it. The guy who runs the Fredcast hung around to work on some technical stuff after the press conference. A little while later, Greg LeMond and Lance’s drug testing consultant entered the room and continued in private their heated discussion. As Greg turned to leave, he held a brief interview with three or four journalists. That’s the part that got me thinking.

One last caveat before I finally get to my point: Although I’m an admirer of Greg LeMond for his accomplishments and for what he’s contributed to American cycling, I’m not particularly fond of his constant Lance attacks (airing of American cycling’s dirty laundry in public goes against my grain and hints at a character flaw in LeMond – although Lance has his share of those as well).

In the interview after the press conference, which can be heard at http://www.thefredcast.com/?p=406, Greg made his point. Essentially, he said that no matter how the doping labs test professional riders, and no matter how sophisticated their testing methods get, the riders and some of their teams will always be a step ahead and be able to evade some of the testing. Maybe that’s true. I have very little doubt that Lance will race clean in 2009, but will everyone in the peloton be clean – no. CERA stays in your system for about 60 hours. Blood doping with your own blood is virtually undetectable.

LeMond proposed that there is one ironclad way to catch dopers: use an SRM. Measure their race power output.

He argues that through chemistry, physics, and physiology, we’ve established very accurately the relationships governing the energy systems of cycling. A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. And a watt is a watt is a watt. VO2max, or the amount of oxygen that your body can process per minute, limits and controls how much energy your body can produce. Everyone's career-best FTP (and other power outputs) has a set ceiling.

Your VO2max is largely determined by genetics. Training level and age can also play roles. For a 25-year-old, very highly trained cyclist it’s virtually a constant number. It will drop slightly with age, but not much until you reach your upper thirties or forties. And even then it changes pretty slowly if you remain highly trained. {And for Causey and Ron I think it’s a universal constant.}

Improvements in racing tactics, training methods, teammates, nutrition, and your mental approach can all make you a more successful cyclist. But if you are a very highly trained professional cyclist (alreadying eating and training at the highest level possible) your maximum power output won’t change much after a young age even though your endurance can be greatly improved with additional years.

LeMond argues (and he has physiologists to back up his argument) that there should be a baseline VO2max established for every professional rider. Based on that VO2max, assuming the highest mechanical and metabolic efficiency that’s possible for humans, there would be a maximum functional threshold power (FTP) calculated for every rider in the peloton. Competitors (randomly or all of them – he doesn’t say) would have their bikes fitted with SRM power meters during race stages. Any rider who demonstrated long-term power output exceeding the theoretical maximum would be considered a doper and immediately removed from the sport for life – end of rule. LeMond says riders like Merckx and Anquetil never produced a FTP of 8 watts per kilo and doesn’t think modern riders are doing it honestly. (Van de Velde reportedly stayed with the front Tour group in the mountains in 2008 with 5.85 watts/kilo – something he’d not been able to do in the past with the same power output).

While this approach would be a very radical idea - I’m certainly not sold on it -- it’s a fascinating one. It would also be terrible for cycling and cycling fans.

Would the SRM dope dog weed out dopers of all types – I don’t see why not. But it would turn professional cycling into more of a video game than it already has become. It would be like having Johan Bruneel, Bjarne Riis, and Jonathan Vaughters sitting across the table from each other with monitors and joysticks. Dopers would shift their focus from max power output to maximum recovery ability, and the dope race would continue.

Knowing the exact FTP of every rider in the peloton and having race radios to completely control all of them would remove from cycling what magic that remains in the sport. The echoes of Anquetil and Merckx would finally and completely be dampened by technology and the modern era. Let's find another way.

Jaques Anquetil

Eddie Merckx

Bike Food

2008-12-21T13:25:00.008-05:00

It's obvious that if you do long rides you have to eat and drink or you will endure much suffering.

When my wife's legs stopped working at mile 48 of our 76-mile group ride yesterday, I asked her what was wrong. She said, "I don't know, but I can barely turn the pedals." After she'd struggled to the finish, I asked her what she'd had to eat and drink, and it became obvious that she'd staged her own littel hunger strike in the Peach Peloton.

My rule of thumb is that for rides over about 30 miles, I make sure to consume at least 200 calories per hour even if I have to choke it down. That's usually in the form of a Hammer gel or half a Hammer bar along with one bottle of Heed per hour. I noticed one rider in our group yesterday drank two large bottles of energy drink every hour. Everybody's different, and I guess he prefers liquid calories. If I tried that I'd be chasing back on from lots of one-man nature breaks.

If you're so inclined, enter your preferenced in the poll to the right.

Poll results:
Calories per hour on the bike:
Random - 16%
100 - 0%
200 - 8%
300 - 16%
>300 - 58%

Type of food:
Energy Drink - 66%
Energy Bars - 75%
Gels - 66%
Fruit - 25%
Store stop food - 50%
Salty foods - 33%

6789 SST

2008-12-10T10:05:00.007-05:00

I 'invented' a new trainer FTP-build workout last night (boredom is the mother of many new workouts). I’ll call it 6789 STT. (SST is sweet spot training – 90% of FTP - not a new idea, but probably a pretty good one). It goes like this:

Begin riding at L2 effort. At 14 min, do 6 min of SST. At 23 min, do 7 minutes of SST. At 32 min, do 8 min of SST. And at 41min, do 9 min of SST. L2 effort between sets and for the last 10 minutes to make an hour-long workout.

Figure by Andy Coggan, PhD

Suffering

2008-12-04T08:08:00.005-05:00

Last night I finished the hardest workout I've ever done. Honestly. It wasn't complicated - just get on the computrainer and go as hard as I could for 45 minutes.

The cave result was a good one for me - 290 watts (4.34 w/kg), only about 22 watts lower than the number that big 'Hoppa stamped out down there a couple of weeks ago.

But the new level of suffering started me wondering - are the higher numbers due more to adaptive physiology or psycology? Have I become a stronger cyclist or a better sufferer? I guess in the end it doesn't matter how much of each has contributed, because racing requires plenty of both.

It's been plenty cold this week, at least by Georgia standards. So I'm throwing in a couple of zaps from the BBQ ride - when it was a little warmer. One of the reasons why we suffer on the trainer in the winter:

Upgrading the Tarmac

2008-11-19T08:24:00.006-05:00

I did a 2-hr ride on the Tarmac yesterday and was pleased with it. My first impressions compared with the Orca:

Tarmac has slightly more responsive steering, which means slightly less stable (a little more twitchy), and seemed to be a little more responsive to accelerations.
Tarmac is about 1.5 lbs lighter than the Orbea (around 15.3 with pedals) and I think I did notice some difference.
Tarmac seems to dampen road vibration a little bit more, but it might be the Roval Fusee wheels as much as the frame.
The S-Works Toupe saddle is nice and very light, but I like my slightly heavier and more boring Fizik Arione better.
I don't care for the S-Works stem, so I'll replace it with a Thomson X2.
The reach was about a centimeter too long, so I'll install a shorter stem.
I like the Roval Fusee wheels very much. They are very light (1500g/pair), stiff, and more aero than my Ksyrium SLs that I have been using for training.
2008 Dura-Ace shifting was smooth for the most part. I'd say rear derailleur works as well or a little better than my 4-year-old Campagnolo Record, but the front derailleur is slightly inferior to Record (not quite as smooth when upshifting under power).
I don't the like Dura-Ace hood shape, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. The cockpit isn't as clean looking due to the Dura Ace non-internal cables, but I'll get used to that, too. The Campy hoods provide a much flatter top-of-bars platform, which I like. I think the 2009 Dura Ace has copied Campy (and SRAM) and have a flatter top and routed cables.
The only component that I really did not like was the S-Works carbon bars. First, they have the flattened, ergo oval shape to the top horizontals - I don't care for those. But the biggist issue is the vertical slant to the bars as you move from the top horizontals and begin to curve around to the hoods. I like bars that stay horizontal in that top curve before turning down to the hood locations.

I could have roatated the S-Works bars clockwise and moved the brake hoods downward on the bars, but then the oval top tube would be sloping back at a weird angle and the drops would have been sloping toward the ground more than I like.

So last night I gave the Tarmac a litte makeover. I made (or will make) the following changes:

Swapped the stock 100mm stem for a 90mm Thompson X2.
Swapped the white and blue S-Works Toupe saddle for a black Fizik Arione.
Swapped the S-Works carbon seatpost with a Thompson Masterpiece seatpost.
Swapped the Michelin Pro Race 3 tires for Maxxis Cormets.
Swapped the threaded-stem tubes with smooth-stemmed Specialized tubes (easier on the pump gasket).
Swapped the heavy, bulky-looking Profile design bottle cages with carbon Bontragers.
Swapped the carbon ergo bars for FSA Energy aluminum bars (which are lighter, by the way - which surprised me).
Will remove the blue bar tape and replace with black for winter. I'll likely go to white in April.

Now I'm good to go. Anybody want to buy a bunch of Campy shop tools?

Adiós Orca, Nga'aiho Tarmac

2008-11-18T15:30:00.007-05:00

I can't say enough good things about my 2005 Orbea Orca. It's been a great bike. But I have a new one now, so I guess the Orca will be eBay fodder soon.

2008 Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL

In a couple of weeks I'll give a comparison between the bikes.

FTP Paradigm Shift

2008-11-04T13:56:00.005-05:00

Three weeks ago I had a very poor time trial result in Ringgold. I felt mentally with it and well-motivated during the race, but in reflection I realized that I never exhibited the 'symptoms' that I normally do in an all-out TT effort. In a good TT, a couple of strange things normally happen to me:

1-At least once or twice during the effort, I convince myself that I've ramped up the power too hard, totally screwed up my pacing, and honestly question if I'll be able to finish the course. I can remember sorting through false excuses in my mind to explain to my teammates why I didn't show up at the finish line ("I got tired" doesn't sound too hot). It's never happened, and I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's absolutely true. Your mind can play tricks on you in a hard TT.

2 - At least a couple of times during the effort, I involuntarily cuss, shout, talk, or whatever. It's like I've contracted Tourettes Syndrome and have no control of my speech. It's really very strange. I've startled a few volunteers by doing it.

Neither of those things happened in Ringgold. I think that means I didn't leave it all out there. I'm not sure why that happened - end of a long, hard season, I guess. Come to think of it, neither of those things has happened in my TTTs, either. I wonder if that's because I'm not giving it everything or because I have rest intervals?

The day after the Ringgold TT, I did a FTP test on the Computrainer. Near the beginning of the test, my computer monitor went out. It got so fuzzy that I couldn't read the wattage on the screen. I continued working hard and completed the test. I was expecting a good result, but when I downloaded the data I found that my FTP was only 264 watts. I had expected it to be around 280, at least. I was disappointed in the result, but in a way I was relieved. I figured it had been a long year and it was normal for me not to be able to maintain my FTP from January to October, and that's why I performed poorly in Ringgold. It all seemed to fit, and it gave me an easy out. I looked forward to starting a new FTP ramp in November.

But yesterday, November 3rd, I performed another FTP test. This time I had a new monitor and could use the average wattage number as a carrott during the test. Guess what? My FTP is 286 watts!

All of this shifts my training paradigm and convinces me of three things. First, the Ringgold thing was a failure of my mind, not my legs. Second, I have to get an Ergomo BB for my TT bike before February to give me a carrott and maximize my power output. And third, I'm starting my FTP ramp for 2009 about 2 watts higher than the end of my 2008 FTP ramp.

Can I gain 20 watts in 14 weeks this winter like I did last winter? I have no idea. Either I'll have lots of work with no improvement this winter, or I'll move to a 300-watt FTP, 4.6 watts/kg. Most likely it'll be something in between.

2008's a Wrap

2008-11-03T14:10:00.007-05:00

The season is officially over. My 2008 was very successful both individually and from a team perspective. We have a great group of sponsors for 2009 and I look forward to the difficult task of topping this year's results in 2009 with Security Bank Cycling Team.

Here's a look at my yearlong Performance Manager Chart. The most notable parts of the graph are the long, slow CTL buildup over the winter (the long Peach Peloton rides make it look like a regular heartbeat). I began peaking much too early, in February. As a result I was forced to put my CTL into a dive in late March and early April in order to have time to rebuild a peak for the Tour of Atlanta in late May - my most important target. The strategy worked and I had a very successful ToA.

My CTL held pretty steady throughout the summer. I saw a late-season bump around Six Gap Century and my training for the State TT Championship, then a tail-off as I took it easy in late October. The CTL ramp for the State TT was too steep and I'd lost too much FTP by late summer, resulting in a poor performance in Ringgold.

It's interesting to note that many of my power records were set in late June and early July following a slight dip in CTL after the ToA - just as would be expected.

Most of my racing will be March through June next year. That will make a two-peak season pretty much impossible. So I plan to push more of my intensity training into January or February and ramp it up more slowly.

Apocalypse Bike

2008-10-27T08:33:00.005-04:00

If the bomb hits and I have to flee civilization, then I'm takin' this one with me. It can go anywhere.

2008 Redline Conquest Pro

I should have bought one of these a long time ago.

Georgia State TT Championship

2008-10-19T13:46:00.005-04:00

First, a lot of credit where credit is due: Congratulations to Steve Murray of Columbus Bicycle Racing on an incredible ride and win in Ringgold. Steve finished in 50:16 with an average speed of 24.94 mph. That doesn't sound incredibly fast, but on that course it was smokin'. The course was H-shaped, with three very tight u-turns. It was very hilly -- it didn't have many real climbs, but the rollers were constant. It was twisty and technical. But most of all there was what seemed like a constant very blustery head wind for the last half of the ride. Steve's time was good enough to win the Cat 4 division by over a minute and a half over the 2nd placed rider. He would have also won the overall in the masters division by a minute and 15 seconds.

I had what felt like a pretty good day on the bike. I thought I'd paced myself pretty well and was feeling confident and passing other riders. But at the 35-minute point when I was passed by Shannon Wredge of Fulton Flyers, who had started a minute behind me, I knew I was toast. I can't say I had a bad day, bad luck, or didn't ride well (I averaged 23.3 mph). There were simply 8 riders in my category who rode faster. There's always next year.

Cross Bike Turkey Hunting

2008-10-08T09:18:00.007-04:00

When I was in high school in the mid 1980s, wild turkeys were very rare in middle Georgia. My friend, Mike, was the closest thing I knew to an expert turkey hunter, so I bought a 10-guage, single-shot cannon and tagged along in a gilly suit listening to him make squeaking noises with his various turkey calls. In two years of effort we got within sight of a turkey maybe twice.

Yesterday I was hauling down a grassy road on my new cross bike, which I've found is great fun. I rounded a tight corner and rode directly into a flock of about 25 wild turkeys. They flew and ran in all

directions, one of them hitting me in the shoulder on the way by. I'm sure they're still wondering what the hell I was. Mike's never going to believe me.

Six Cramp

2008-09-29T10:59:00.010-04:00

2008 Six Gap Century: I felt pretty good early on. The Black Mountain rollers and the Neels climb went fine. I caught up with some Macon riders somewhere near the Apple store. I stayed within sight of them up Jacks even though they pulled away a little bit. I started to feel an unusual twinge in my hamstrings at the bottom of the climb, but it went away pretty quickly so I forgot about it.

I was out of water already at the top of Jack's (unusual for me), so I stopped quickly to fill up both bottles. I jumped in a fast little group and caught the Macon group on the long, gradual descent. As we turned the corner and started climbing Unicoi, I got sudden painful cramps in both hamstrings. I’ve never had cramps, so I didn’t know how to handle the situation. I mentioned it to Drew and he just said "wine" (I had done a bike tour of wineries on Saturday).

I stayed on the bike, standing and sitting until the pain eased a little. The Macon guys pulled away up the climb. Once I worked out the cramps and got back into my rhythm I felt fine. I passed a few folks on the climb and felt good by the time I reached the top. I caught Drew at the bottom of the Unicoi descent and we rode in a group of 6 or 8 to the Hogpen turn. As I approached the right turn to Hogpen my hammies locked up completely. It was both strange and intense. I've had cramps off the bike sitting on the sofa, but not on the bike. I couldn’t turn the pedals - now I know what people mean when they say "my legs locked up." If we’d been on a climb I guess I’d have fallen off the bike. I worked it out again and caught back to Drew’s group just as they crossed the timing wire to start Hogpen.

I had very little power climbing Hogpen - on a few sections I was climbing just fast enough to stay upright and was kicking myself for not putting on the 12-29 pansy cassette (I rode a 12-26). Just after the first ‘false downhill’ on Hogpen, my hamstrings locked up again. It hit me fast and I yelled so loud that I scared the crap out of two guys riding beside me who had entered a silent Zen state. This time I couldn’t coast, so I laid down in the grass on my back and massaged the knots out. The pain stopped after a minute or two. The rest of the climb hurt some, but the cramps did not come back. At the top of Hogpen I took an Advil, two race caps, drank about a gallon of water, refilled my bottles, and scarfed down a bunch of PB&Js and apples. I cramped some on the descent, but they gradually went away by the time I reached the base of the Wolfpen climb. I climbed it pretty slowly but faster then Hogpen. I felt better by the time I got to Woody, and then limped home solo on rollers that felt much bigger than they really were; finishing time 6:07.

Next year I’ll chase every glass of wine on Saturday with a glass of water. It had to be the dehydration. I ate and drank everything in sight for the next 12 hours and still only weighed 147 pounds the next morning (after weighing about 150 on Friday). I’d bet I weighed just barely over 140 at the top of Hogpen. I drank 8 bottles on my bike plus several cupfuls of Gatorade at the Hogpen stop and didn’t stop for a single nature break. Live and learn.

Dahlonega Race Report

2008-09-15T09:15:00.004-04:00

"KOM Championship"
This was an interesting idea, but it didn't work. We mass-started (combined Competitive 34- and 35+) in Suches and raced 7 miles to the top of Wolfpen. It was a 7-mile road race. Our race was slow until the bottom of the climb. I felt terrible that morning and was at the back as we approached the bottom. I popped immediately and finished 8th in Competitive 35+. I think Stoney attacked early and was caught on the climb, finishing about 12th in Elite. Christian said he had bad tactics - I think he finished 5th in Pro12. If this had been a time trial, it would have been a fun course and good stage, but as it was, Jay shouldn't repeat it next year.

Circuit Race
2-loop, 9-mile rolling circuit. I still wasn't feeling 100%, so I sat at the back of a very small Competitive 35+ field (maybe 20?). The race wasn't all that hard in the back and I felt better as it progressed. I was sitting about 10th as we made the last right turn to a 3 or 4% uphill finish. I passed a few guys and finished 8th in the sprint. Steve Murray was at the very back talking to the official about whether they were planning to open both lanes for the finish. When he realized we were there, he got a late start on the sprint but ended up winning it. I guess everyone else went way too early. Jeff took 5th in a good sprint. I think Christian took 4th or 5th also.

Road Race
I thought the new road race course was great and I felt much better on Sunday. The start was interesting: a 2- or 3-mile twisting descent right from the gun. At 3 miles in, I found myself in a group of 5 about a minute back from the front. There were other groups behind us. A little early work was required to bring it all back together. We caught and passed the under 34 peloton about 15 miles into the course after giving them a 10-minute head start. I guess they were taking it easy while we were chasing guys off the front.

At Skeena Gap, about half way through the 45-mile course, our group split into two packs of about 20 each. I was in the front group, but could tell that the rear group was gradually coming back, so I sat in and waited. Some of the front group was trying to organize a rotation to stay away from the rear group, but I figured even if they caught us they wouldn't be climbing competition on Wolfpen, so why work to stay away from them.

Soon after they rejoined us, the steeper short hills started. Over the next 15 miles the hills (particularly on Owltown road) whittled the front group down to about 13 or 14 riders as we began the climb onto Wolfpen. As we passed Vogel, I went into time trial mode for the climb. The group broke up and I passed a few guys, finishing somewhere around 10 or 12th, I'd guess. Probably good enough for a top 5 GC, but not what I had hoped for the Dahlonega weekend.

Stoney was in a break that was caught late and he finished about 10th or 12th, I think. At Moe's after the race, the guy behind me got a text saying that Parrett was in a break off the front of the P12. I don't know how he finished.

Tour Average Speeds

2008-08-19T08:26:00.004-04:00

Scientific American, August 2008

There are lots of ways to interpret this graph - throw out your two cents to the right. (The consensus was that there are too many variables for the chart to show a meaningful trend.)

Maxxis Cormet

2008-08-14T14:07:00.005-04:00

In general, I try to stay away from doing product reviews. I think to be legitimate, I'd have to try lots of similar products (lots of time and cost) and do some kind of structured testing and comparison to provide any useful information. And even then there might not be clear results.

I put a big skid mark on my rear tire in Saturday's crash, so I installed new Maxxis Cormet tires on my Zip 303s yesterday. I've ridden Michelin Pro Race, Contenental somethingoranothers, and Maxxis Courcheval tires in the past few years. For the past two years it's been the Courchevals. I've been happy with them.

But compared to the Courchevals, the Cormets feel like butter. That's the only way I know to describe them. They feel smoother and more supple than the Courchevals. Maybe it's the 170 threads per inch instead of the 120 TPI?

I dont' know how they corner, how long they last, or how puncture resistant they are. But they feel much faster and smoother - more like the Veloflex Record tubulars on my TT bike. The specs are below - I suggest you give them a try.

Their marketing text:

Stepping it up a notch-and-a-half, Maxxis introduces the Cormet with ONE70 Technology. ONE70 utilizes special high thread count fabric in the casing,reducing rolling resistance even further than our other racing tires. ONE70 Technology also provides better road feel and weight savings over other racing tires. From the most aggressive crit to the most epic climb, the new Maxxis Cormet with ONE70 technology is destined for racing greatness.

ONE70 technology.
Pro road competition tire.
2-ply nylon breaker for increased puncture resistance.
170 TPI
0.474 lbs

Damn Crashes (and Dog Days Race Report)

2008-08-10T15:38:00.008-04:00

If you're going to race, crashes are unavoidable, I realize that -- but they still suck. I've had more than my share of crashes this year, three. I figure one per year is inevitable, but three is more than I bargained for. If I was a sprinter mixing it up to every line, I'd expect it more. If I raced the under 35 division, or in cat 5, they say I should expect it more. If I raced crits a lot, I should expect it more. But my crashes have been in training rides, 35+ road races, and straight 4 road races. So much for those theories.

In March, I think it was (I'm sure Trey can tell you the exact date), Trey and I both went down at probably 15 mph on a gravelly turn on a training ride. I got road rash, an involuntary goatee from my inability to shave my chin, and soreness for a week - he got a fractured trochanter and an unfortunate end to a season that had barely begun.

On June 22nd in the LaGrange RR -- about 300 m from the finish -- we were winding up for the sprint on an uphill grade. The guy in front of me touched a wheel, I guess, went down and I went over the top of him at 23.5 mph. I think it was my hardest crash ever, but luckily I escaped with lots of road rash, a black eye, a week-long limp from a swollen hip joint, broken handlebars, and a snapped brake lever. I think I broke my finger, too - it's still swollen almost 60 days later - but it still works.

Yesterday at the Dog Days Road Race in Canton we were approaching the finish line (200m?). I was accelerating steadily, moving up the right side, and looking for a top 10 sprint finish (that would have been a good result for me because I can't sprint at all). Just as I stood up to begin my last kick, the two guys in front of me decided to zig/zag different directions at the same time. As I remember it, the guy on the right swerved hard left and the guy on the left swerved hard right. They hit each other hard and went down hard. I had probably a full second to anticipate going over the top of them. At the crash I was at 121 rpm, 442 watts, and 42.2 mph (see graph).

Oddly enough, I only got relatively minor road rash in all the normal places -- elbow, knee, and hip - and no bike damage, although I did total my helmet. You'd think the faster the crash, the more injured you'd get. But so far there's not much correlation. Maybe there's really something to the skidding hypothesis.

I've had three crashes (so far) this year. If you 'believe' in statistics, that means 2009 will be completely crash-free. Maybe I'll only order two kits for next year.

One last crash note: On Jake's advice (and he should know), I bought some Nexcare Tegaderm transparent 'fake skin', I guess you'd call it. It works like a charm - good call - highly recommended. And it even has picture of a cyclist on the front:

Dog Days Road Race

The Cat 4 division rode three 16-mile laps of a rolling, somewhat technical loop. I had no teammates -- Iron Data, Reality Bikes, Cycleworks/HDR, and Aarons seemed to have the biggest numbers. I thought the race was a little harder than our typical GA Cup 4/5 races. I jumped off the front and bridged to other jumpers a few times, trying to get a successful break going, but was having no luck making anything stick. About a quarter of the way into the last lap, I ended up off the front with riders from Iron Data, Reality Bikes, and Aarons. I thought we had the right combination to stay away, but we were reeled in - by Cycleworks, I guess. Everything stayed together until the finish. I moved to the front without too much difficulty with a couple of miles to go. I think I was in a pretty tired field. There was a little two-tiered climb up to a right turn with about a mile to go till the finish. I figured if there was any way I could gather enough juice to jump at that point, I might get away. But the climb took so much out of me (and everyone else, I guess) that I could not make a jump. I was sitting about 10th in the field as we started the long downhill sprint. We had a headwind, so I planned to wait as long as possible to make my final jump (there was actually a pay-0ut to 6th place - wow). Then there was the crash.

A rider in front of Bill went down and Bill went over him in the Cat 5 race. He didn't have too much road rash, but he injured his hip that was broken a couple of years ago. He was hobbling around, but hopefully will just be sore for a few days.

I understand that Doug and Jeff did lots of good work for Jake in the Cat 3 race. Doug was sick and didn't contest the finish. Jake made a very last second, very fast punch to the line and took 2nd in the Cat 3 race. From where I stood, it looked like he passed 20 guys in the last 20 meters and would have won it if he'd had 25 more meters to the line. Congratulations.

I'm not sure how Eduardo fared other than he finished with the pack.

Elberton Race Report

2008-08-04T09:09:00.003-04:00

State Championship TTT
Bill pulled the 5-man train out of town very quickly. We caught our first 2-minute team at about 10 minutes into the 19.5-mile course. We were rolling very fast at mile 9 when Chad flatted (the 2nd TTT flat he's had this year - very disappointing). We didn't miss a beat and four of us kept rolling. At about mile 9.3 I noticed that the back end of my bike felt 'loose.' When I realized I had a slow leak, I chanced one more pull downhill, then faded to the back and told my teammates that I'd flatted also - extremely disappointing. Todd hung in and powered for a while with his recently-installed disc wheel, then handed it over to Bill and Ron, who finished the ride alone and won the event for us by over 2 minutes over the 2nd placed team. A great ride by the elderly contingent.

Criterium
I almost arrived late to the start line after warming up away from the course and lined up at the back. When the race started, a little lane opened up, so I shot through it and kept on the gas. By the first turn I had a little gap, so I kept pedalling. I was joined by two others and we stayed a short distance off the front for about the first 8 or 10 minutes. It was our plan to make other teams work early so Bill could attack later, but we initiated the plan a little quicker than I expected. When my group was caught, Bill attacked. At first he was hanging by himself about 10 seconds off the front. When Randall Roland from Antarus bridged up, I knew they had a good chance to stay away. They had 45 seconds on the field with 2 laps to go and Bill flatted in corner 4. A missed victory opportunity for Bill and more terrible luck with flats for Security Bank.

Road Race
We traversed a 30-mile loop twice. It was a little technical with some rollers, but not much climbing. It was very hot. Bill was tied for 2nd in the GC with Ron not far behind, so Chad and I planned to work for them by attacking early and chasing breaks. At about 7 miles into the race, Outspokin, who had a guy tied with Bill in GC, were sitting 3-abrest at the front and controlling the pace. Then their GC guy flatted. All three of them pulled off to help and to try and pace him back (they never did). Bill attacked immediately, about 2 miles from the first of two KOMs. He stayed away over the KOM and picked up 7 KOM points. He sat up and we regouped. A mile or two later, at about mile 10, all four of us were on the front. I increased my speed a little and noticed that I had a 20-yd gap on the field, so I kept on the gas. I glanced back again and saw that I had 200m and they weren't chasing. I decided it was too early for a break to stick, but that I'd just keep it on 300 watts and not look back until I was caught. At least the other teams would have to do some work.

After about 5 minutes, I heard someone shift behind me. I figured it was the peloton. It was a welcome sight to see only two guys - Star Bridges from UCBI and Andrew Stephenson from ATS, a great pair - they both had teammates behind us. We worked together well, increasing the gap from 30 seconds to two minutes pretty quickly. Eventually we stretched the gap to 4 minutes at the 2nd KOM - mile 40 of 60. Andrew cramped badly with about 5 miles to go, but stayed ahead of the pack to take 3rd.

I was positioned perfectly behind Star for the sprint, but every time I 'found another gear' on the sprint, so did he. I could not come around him on the downhill sprint. He took first with me sitting on his wheel. It's great when a break sticks, and even better when you're in it!

Jake had a similar day in Elite - he finshed 2nd in a four-man, 52-mile break. I think Bill took 2nd in GC and Ron likely had a high GC finish as well. Elberton brought lots of racing success and was a great venue.

Good Racing Names

2008-07-30T16:30:00.008-04:00

Part of the fun of watching Phil, Paul, and Bob comment of the Tour is the rider names. Each of them seem to pronounce the riders’ names differently – and there are some very interesting names in the tour. Those that have watched for a few years have become so familiar with some of the international names that they don’t sound strange anymore -- Hushovd, Ciolek, Zabel, Cancellara, Pozzato, Efimkin, Freire, Siutsou.

You’d think that the Georgia Cup race series, located in the southeastern US, would be full of Anglo-American names like Todd Wilson, Jake Andrews, and Ron Hill. There are a few of those, but many of the guys riding beside us in those rural pelotons have names that sound like they could have come right out of the Tour roster. Here’s a sampling of some I’ve noticed:

Andrew Schluck (Andy Schleck)
Carlos Saavedra (Carlos Sastra)

Olbap Rojas
Wael Amara
Jan Kolar
Eduardo Avila
Victor Karm
Julio Quinpana
Jordy Wetzel
Predrag Prokic
LaFayette Brazil
Keir Plaice
Sven Eisenhour
Nello Teer
Nicholas Savadelis
Xavier Cortez
Javier Rozo
Vincent Maggioni
Faizal Glen
Enrique DeAgostini
Ernesto Lua
Leigh Valletti
Karel Sumbal

I wonder if a Belgian guy playing baseball would feel more powerful at the plate if his opponents had names like Todd Wilson, Jake Andrews, and Ron Hill? I wonder if any Belgian guys play baseball?

2008 Racing MMP

2008-07-24T22:45:00.010-04:00

Jtheskier from New England suggested I compare mean maximal power from race to race. I thought it was a good idea, so here are MMP charts for some crits and road races. These are cat 4 races, mostly in the Georgia Cup series - all in 2008.

I found it interesting that in crits and road races, I come nearest my season-best power in the 2-4 minute range. For those wanting to convert to w/kg, I weigh 66.8 kg (147 lbs).

Category 4 Racing and Training Normalized Power

2008-07-24T10:12:00.005-04:00

Back in 2004 and 2005 I was racing exclusively triathlons. At that time I didn't know what a watt was, but I wondered how difficult a Cat 5 road race or crit would be. When I started dabbling in Cat 5 races, I wondered how difficult Cat 4 races would be, etc.

I don't have a straight answer, but the following graph provides more data than I ever found back when I was looking for information.

As you can see, I was dropped from three races this year. The first Gainesville crit was very hard, a hard effort and a dirt road dropped me in Perry, and the huge effort on the climbs in Rome was more than I could do. Most of the crits were 30 minutes, the road races were mostly about 45-65 miles, and the Worlds numbers reflect 90-min to 2-hr Tuesday training rides ignoring the first 15 minutes. Ignore the x-axis. I couldn't get it to work right.

"Just shut up and do it."

2008-07-09T08:57:00.004-04:00

I liked the way Jens Voigt described the mental side of time trialing, which is often overlooked. It went something like: "Your mind tells your body to work. If your body complains, your mind says 'Just shut up and do it.'" I guess that's the German version of the Nike slogan.

Another interesting comment during yesterday's Tour coverage came from the guy sitting behind Jonathan Vaughters in the Garmin Chipotle team car. He said David Miller could hold 430 watts for more than an hour and a half. That seems like a hell of a lot of power for 90 minutes, even for a pro TT specialist. But assuming Miller weights 170 or so, it lines up with the Coggan power profile.

Below is an interesting clip of Voigt behind the scenes that I found while looking unsuccessfully for the clip above. It looks like Jens takes his breakfast as seriously as Jake does.

Rome Race Report

2008-06-30T10:00:00.003-04:00

We started the TTT with five riders. Four minutes into the ride Chad flatted, which was a disappointing loss for us. We reorganized without any trouble and had a pretty strong ride. I ended the ride with a bone-headed decision: I did one last hard pull about 300 m from the finish, and since I suck at the u-turns, I figured Bill and Todd should sprint it out to the finish without me (time was taken on the 2nd rider). I sat up and rolled in about 15 seconds behind them. Due to the gap I didn't get any omnium points. My personal finish time was 32:50. The biggest disappointment came when the results showed us riding the course in about 34 and a half minutes. The timing official added 2 minutes to our time. I pointed out the error, but he basically said "tough luck." Maybe they added 2 minutes to all the other teams' times also -- I don't know. All I know is that we had at least two clocks that showed Bill and Todd finishing in a time no worse than 32:35 (around 28 mph).

The second night a big fight broke out just outside our hotel room door. It sounded damn serious. Jake looked out and saw two different guys fly out of a door, then run back in for more. It turns out we were rooming next to some of the competitors in the Rome cage fights or ultimate fights or whatever they call it. I guess they were getting in a little training.

The crit had a lot of climbing. I thought it would suit me, but I found out differently. I held onto the main group for a few laps, then slowly slipped off the back with a group of three or four and was pulled 20 minutes into the race. Bill and Todd hung tough and finished with a final group of about 15 riders. I figured I'd just had a bad day, but my numbers show that I rode OK but was just outridden on a tough course. My NP for the first 15 minutes of the race was about 315 watts. So my expected power was there, I just needed more of it for that field.
Rome Crit Video

The first lap of the road race was pretty uneventful for me. I got into a pretty good rhythm on the first climb and was less than a minute behind the leader at the top (AP 315W, NP 317W for about 10:45, 7.5% average grade with a 39-26). I chased back on with others. Bill got a rotation going up front and I jumped in. Only a few folks wanted to work in our group of 19, and eventually everyone decided to take it easy and wait for climb two. I didn't want to be caught by the other 25 riders behind us, and most of the 19 riders in our group had outclimbed me the first time over -- I didn't expect a great finishing result. So I went to the front and did tempo to the base of the 2nd climb just to set a decent pace. I finished the RR in 16th. Bill climbed very well and finished 14th, almost a minute ahead of me.

Come-Back Shot

2008-06-22T16:41:00.007-04:00

Those of you who weren't asleep in math class might remember what an asymptotic curve looks like. Like it or not, my cycling ability is beginning to asymptotically approach the level that I can reach while keeping a job and a wife. It's getting harder to see improvement. That just makes it sweeter when I do set a new power record or accomplish a goal. In the KOM on Sunday, I decapitated my previous 1-minute power record, as shown below. When I was addicted to golf, I'd call that a come-back shot - the one shot of 80 or howevermany that makes you want to come back and tee it up again next weekend.