Went for the first outdoor ride around here yesterday. It was BEAUTIFUL! 52km of sunshine and low winds. (Headwinds all the way, but only at 10km/hr, I could pretend that it wasn't there.) The temp was around 10C. This morning there's a fresh 3 or 4 inches of snow on the ground. YUCK! It'll be another week before I'm able to get back outside for a ride!
I also did a little run - only 3km - just to make sure that I got some running time in. Weight loss did not do so well this last week. My body must be making some changes or something, 'cause my min goal was 184, and I only hit 184.36 - so we'll see what happens this next week. Hopefully it's a better week!
Today is the dreaded Sunday lag - so I'm going to be extra diligent on my eating today and hope that I can break this poor eating pattern.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Weekend troubles
The weekend continues to give me troubles. Not as bad this time, but my eating on Sunday was really bad. I followed it up with a not-great Monday. I did, however, get some swimming time in on Monday, and I really enjoyed drowning - I mean, swimming again! My weightt is up from Saturdays, but still coming down over-all. If I can just get rid of the Sunday "jump" I think I could have a really big weight loss week!
My family has been selected to participate in a study regarding the activity of Canadians. As part of that, they sent us pedometers for each of the kids. We've been doing it for 3 days now (we do it for one week.) Some of the patterns I've already seen developing from this have been very interesting.
We all know that kids seem to have an easier time eating tons of food that's not great for them, but not putting weight on. (I've got twin boys that can pound back a gallon of ice cream and not put a single pound on.) - well, the pedometer is answering some of those questions already. My kids, so far, on an average day, without any "excercise" are taking 2, 3, and sometimes 4 times as many steps every day than I do. Add that up over a year and you're talking about a significant difference in activity levels. When the week is done I'll post the day by day numbers and you can see what I mean. The numbers do include excercise time, so when you see my numbers catch up to the kids, it's from going on a 10k run or something.
I'm seriously thinking of continuing this study for my family - the kids all seem to be getting a kick out of it, and the patterns that this information is already beginning to show could be life-changing.
We've gotta get out of our cars people! We live in a small town, we need to slow down and WALK a few more places rather than drive everywhere.
There's a lady that lives just around the corner from me that has lost aLOT of weight - and she's done it with a two-pronged attack. Of course, she's watching what she's eating, but she's WALKED everywhere. I rarely see her driving. I thought it was all a bunch of, well, you know. But, I now realize that something as simple as WALKING can make a very significant difference.
I'm not saying we need to never drive again - but we sure drive alot more than we need to. I'm going to talk to my family some more about this, but I really think we can cut back on the gas-bill, save some repairs to the vehicles, and get a little healthier while we're at it.
My family has been selected to participate in a study regarding the activity of Canadians. As part of that, they sent us pedometers for each of the kids. We've been doing it for 3 days now (we do it for one week.) Some of the patterns I've already seen developing from this have been very interesting.
We all know that kids seem to have an easier time eating tons of food that's not great for them, but not putting weight on. (I've got twin boys that can pound back a gallon of ice cream and not put a single pound on.) - well, the pedometer is answering some of those questions already. My kids, so far, on an average day, without any "excercise" are taking 2, 3, and sometimes 4 times as many steps every day than I do. Add that up over a year and you're talking about a significant difference in activity levels. When the week is done I'll post the day by day numbers and you can see what I mean. The numbers do include excercise time, so when you see my numbers catch up to the kids, it's from going on a 10k run or something.
I'm seriously thinking of continuing this study for my family - the kids all seem to be getting a kick out of it, and the patterns that this information is already beginning to show could be life-changing.
We've gotta get out of our cars people! We live in a small town, we need to slow down and WALK a few more places rather than drive everywhere.
There's a lady that lives just around the corner from me that has lost aLOT of weight - and she's done it with a two-pronged attack. Of course, she's watching what she's eating, but she's WALKED everywhere. I rarely see her driving. I thought it was all a bunch of, well, you know. But, I now realize that something as simple as WALKING can make a very significant difference.
I'm not saying we need to never drive again - but we sure drive alot more than we need to. I'm going to talk to my family some more about this, but I really think we can cut back on the gas-bill, save some repairs to the vehicles, and get a little healthier while we're at it.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Humbled
My little girl helped put things into perspective for me this week. In her school class her teacher has her write in a journal. Every month or two she sends all the journals home for the parents to read. One day, this was her entry:
"I like my parents because they help me. My mom is cool. My dad is old."
Keisha is always good for a laugh or two. Like today she had a friend over to play. We generally try to keep them pretty active when the kids have friends over, so when it was discovered that they were in the basement watching TV my wife went down to see if she could get them to do something a little more active.
"But we're playing!" Keisha cried.
Just exactly what were they playing?
"We're playing that we're supermodels - but we're just lazy supermodels so all we do is sit around and watch tv."
On to my work-outs - it's been tough. Wed I missed my bike time, as I had a full day of work/travel. (Which also made eating tough.) Today I was supposed to do a T-max interval and then some easy spinning, but my legs were tired, so I bagged the T-max and just did some high-cadence spinning for an hour.
Tomorrow I'm going to do a 10km run BEFORE I do any biking just to get a baseline of what kind of a 10k time I can turn in. That'll be somewhere around an hour of running, and then I'll spend two hours on the bike. Gonna be a hard day. I'm HOPING that after the run it'll be warm enough outside to be able to get outside for the bike! (snow is melted off the highways, so if it's not too cold it could be fun.)
"I like my parents because they help me. My mom is cool. My dad is old."
Keisha is always good for a laugh or two. Like today she had a friend over to play. We generally try to keep them pretty active when the kids have friends over, so when it was discovered that they were in the basement watching TV my wife went down to see if she could get them to do something a little more active.
"But we're playing!" Keisha cried.
Just exactly what were they playing?
"We're playing that we're supermodels - but we're just lazy supermodels so all we do is sit around and watch tv."
On to my work-outs - it's been tough. Wed I missed my bike time, as I had a full day of work/travel. (Which also made eating tough.) Today I was supposed to do a T-max interval and then some easy spinning, but my legs were tired, so I bagged the T-max and just did some high-cadence spinning for an hour.
Tomorrow I'm going to do a 10km run BEFORE I do any biking just to get a baseline of what kind of a 10k time I can turn in. That'll be somewhere around an hour of running, and then I'll spend two hours on the bike. Gonna be a hard day. I'm HOPING that after the run it'll be warm enough outside to be able to get outside for the bike! (snow is melted off the highways, so if it's not too cold it could be fun.)
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Saturday
My eating program continues to stay more or less on track. Yesterday was a bit of a step out - we went to the Rotary Dine and Dance last night, so it was a roast beef dinner. I thought I did pretty good by limiting my beef to just one slice and potatoes to just two spoonfuls. The rest was all salad and veggies. I splurged and allowed myself some of the ice cream with strawberries. My big weakness came latter in the evening while waiting for my kids to get home. I ended up eating a sandwhich and a couple of mugs of Hot Chocolate. Definitely not over-the-top like I would've done before, but not exactly "on program."
Today was my "long slow" day. So, I did a couple of hours on the computrainer - ended up a little over 67 km - and then went to the gymn and did an hour at a slow 5.5 pace. Good thing. It's been awhile since I've run much, and my knees were feeling a little sore. I may have to make sure and limit some of the running intervals for the first week or so and get some more running base miles in. Then I did some core excercises (amazing how little time those take!) and I'm done for the day. Just need to do some more stretching this afternoon.
The weight continues to come off right now. It's exciting to see it falling. I'm getting more and more optimistic that by May my weight will be down to a range that will make me competitive on the bike.
Today was my "long slow" day. So, I did a couple of hours on the computrainer - ended up a little over 67 km - and then went to the gymn and did an hour at a slow 5.5 pace. Good thing. It's been awhile since I've run much, and my knees were feeling a little sore. I may have to make sure and limit some of the running intervals for the first week or so and get some more running base miles in. Then I did some core excercises (amazing how little time those take!) and I'm done for the day. Just need to do some more stretching this afternoon.
The weight continues to come off right now. It's exciting to see it falling. I'm getting more and more optimistic that by May my weight will be down to a range that will make me competitive on the bike.
Friday, March 06, 2009
To The Pain!
I hurt. I hurt all over, but especially my legs.
Yesterday I did a nice recovery ride. Kept my HR down and just spun along. I didn't let myself get sucked into a race against the computer guy - I just drafted him and kept my HR under 135.
Then, last night, I met with Corey - a local personal trainer. He got me set up on a workout routine that would help me deal with a big weakness of mine - my core and upper-body.
This morning I did my first work-out. Ran for 1 mile (warm-up) - then did the work-out Corey gave me. That took about 40 minutes - parts of it I simply wasn't able to complete 'cause I'm just not strong enough yet. Then I did a 1 mile cool-down run. Head for home.
Jump on the bike and did 4 T-max intervals. The last 2 of those were pretty sloppy. I couldn't do all 6. My calves were cramping a bit, and I was just plain TIRED!
Tomorrow is a "long, slow" day. I'll probably do 90 minutes on the bike and then maybe another hour running. Will make sure not to push it hard, but I think that running will really help get the weight off.
Eating has been good - I was surprised yesterday. Got to the end of the day and still had another carb and a half to eat, but had no appetite to eat anymore. Weight has started to come off again - hopefully this week will fire that up and help me stay on track for my weight loss goals (right now I'm about 1/2 pound ahead of my goals.)
I'll probably go for a light spin again later this afternoon just to loosen the legs up a little. Won't be a very long one, that's for sure!
Yesterday I did a nice recovery ride. Kept my HR down and just spun along. I didn't let myself get sucked into a race against the computer guy - I just drafted him and kept my HR under 135.
Then, last night, I met with Corey - a local personal trainer. He got me set up on a workout routine that would help me deal with a big weakness of mine - my core and upper-body.
This morning I did my first work-out. Ran for 1 mile (warm-up) - then did the work-out Corey gave me. That took about 40 minutes - parts of it I simply wasn't able to complete 'cause I'm just not strong enough yet. Then I did a 1 mile cool-down run. Head for home.
Jump on the bike and did 4 T-max intervals. The last 2 of those were pretty sloppy. I couldn't do all 6. My calves were cramping a bit, and I was just plain TIRED!
Tomorrow is a "long, slow" day. I'll probably do 90 minutes on the bike and then maybe another hour running. Will make sure not to push it hard, but I think that running will really help get the weight off.
Eating has been good - I was surprised yesterday. Got to the end of the day and still had another carb and a half to eat, but had no appetite to eat anymore. Weight has started to come off again - hopefully this week will fire that up and help me stay on track for my weight loss goals (right now I'm about 1/2 pound ahead of my goals.)
I'll probably go for a light spin again later this afternoon just to loosen the legs up a little. Won't be a very long one, that's for sure!
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Stick to the plan?
Today was supposed to be a recovery ride. So, to keep my competitive juices from pushing me harder than I'm supposed to, I set the little computer guy to 150 watts. I figured that'd keep my HR nice and low. And it worked - for awhile.
Okay, I'll admit it. I got bored. I was spinning along nicely at 130-150 watts and listening to last night's American Idol. (my way of not really wasting time watching it - I'm working out!) Maybe it was the American Idol. I don't know, but I was feeling a little bored so I decided to do a little sprint. Nothing really tough, just see how quickly I could open a gap on my 150 watt pace friend.
I didn't pound it hard - in fact I only put out about 325 watts for that 10 or 15 seconds (I was watching my HR a little, you know.) But suddenly there was this gap of 30 lengths. And my legs still weren't really warmed up, so I didn't want to push it hard, but it was so boring just spinning! So I kicked the pace up a little.
When I'm time trialing I tend to do some "mental math" games in my head - if I can hold this speed for 10 more minutes, how much will that shave off my over-all time? Stuff like that. I started doing that. Before I knew it I was holding 300 watts for 2 or 3 minutes intervals, and then only letting it drop to 225 or so for recovery. The gap started to widen on my 150watt man.
Then I said to myself, "self, what's the biggest gap you've ever had on watt-man?" Realizing that number was only about 1km - mostly 'cause I don't usually give myself such an easy target of 150 watts, but that didn't matter this morning. I decided to CRUSH 150watt man!
I laid it down. 30 minutes into the ride I realized that my legs really were a little tired from yesterday's effort, and I really could have used a recovery ride today - but it was too late. I was gonna crush 150watt-man.
2km, 3km, 2.88 (Even 150 watts is fast when going down 5.6% grades while I'm climbing 3.6% grades!), 3km, 4km, 5km... yup. 5km is what I beat him by! I ended up averaging 209 watts. No, not a monstrous number - but I also kept my Aver HR under 158 - though at the end I did hit 178 while generating 429 watts in my sprint for the line. (Hey, who knows, maybe somebody picks him up and gives him a ride to the line sprint?! Always go hard for line sprints!!)
On a completely unrelated note - I've begun to put together a list of people in the area who would be interested in riding so that we can get some group rides together. Should be a fun year on the bike!
On a sadder note - no weight loss today. I'm thinking I must be eating stuff that I'm not calculating, so I've gone back to a notebook and will record everything I eat - and when. This weight MUST leave this year!
Okay, I'll admit it. I got bored. I was spinning along nicely at 130-150 watts and listening to last night's American Idol. (my way of not really wasting time watching it - I'm working out!) Maybe it was the American Idol. I don't know, but I was feeling a little bored so I decided to do a little sprint. Nothing really tough, just see how quickly I could open a gap on my 150 watt pace friend.
I didn't pound it hard - in fact I only put out about 325 watts for that 10 or 15 seconds (I was watching my HR a little, you know.) But suddenly there was this gap of 30 lengths. And my legs still weren't really warmed up, so I didn't want to push it hard, but it was so boring just spinning! So I kicked the pace up a little.
When I'm time trialing I tend to do some "mental math" games in my head - if I can hold this speed for 10 more minutes, how much will that shave off my over-all time? Stuff like that. I started doing that. Before I knew it I was holding 300 watts for 2 or 3 minutes intervals, and then only letting it drop to 225 or so for recovery. The gap started to widen on my 150watt man.
Then I said to myself, "self, what's the biggest gap you've ever had on watt-man?" Realizing that number was only about 1km - mostly 'cause I don't usually give myself such an easy target of 150 watts, but that didn't matter this morning. I decided to CRUSH 150watt man!
I laid it down. 30 minutes into the ride I realized that my legs really were a little tired from yesterday's effort, and I really could have used a recovery ride today - but it was too late. I was gonna crush 150watt-man.
2km, 3km, 2.88 (Even 150 watts is fast when going down 5.6% grades while I'm climbing 3.6% grades!), 3km, 4km, 5km... yup. 5km is what I beat him by! I ended up averaging 209 watts. No, not a monstrous number - but I also kept my Aver HR under 158 - though at the end I did hit 178 while generating 429 watts in my sprint for the line. (Hey, who knows, maybe somebody picks him up and gives him a ride to the line sprint?! Always go hard for line sprints!!)
On a completely unrelated note - I've begun to put together a list of people in the area who would be interested in riding so that we can get some group rides together. Should be a fun year on the bike!
On a sadder note - no weight loss today. I'm thinking I must be eating stuff that I'm not calculating, so I've gone back to a notebook and will record everything I eat - and when. This weight MUST leave this year!
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
2 FER!
I didn't get anything posted yesterday, so today is a 2 for one!
The weekend came back out to get me again - I never weighed yesterday, but I felt heavier. Yuck. Did really good on Saturday again, and then Sunday let things slide a bit.
Yeterday I did my first T-max interval session. I just used the one that John and I created last year. To be honest, I didn't find it that tough. Time to re-test and recreate it. Friday might be a good day for that.
For those who are not familiar with T-max, here's the story. T-max is defined as the maximum amount of time that you can hold your peak power output without succcumbing to exhaustion. (Get out the puke-buckets folks! This one's gonna hurt!)
To create the T-max interval:
1) Determine Your Peak Power Output. Using a power-measuring device from PowerTap, Polar, SRM or CompuTrainer, begin riding at 100 watts. Increase power by 30 watts every minute until you reach exhaustion. Laursen deemed test subjects fully exhausted when they could not keep their cadence above 60 rpm. You can use that benchmark, but let's be honest, you'll know when you're done. The number of watts you produce just before collapsing is your peak power output, or PPO.
2) Find Your T-Max. Rest for a day or two. Again using a power meter, ride at your PPO until you can no longer sustain that level of output. The amount of time you can hold your PPO is your T-Max. For most of us, that's between four and six minutes.
3) Calculate Your Ultimate Interval. Multiply your T-Max time by 0.6. This is the work phase of your interval. Double the work phase to set your recovery time between efforts.
That's it! So what I was doing wasn't exactly a full T-max - 'cause when we set it up I couldn't do it. I'm going to run the test again, and see where it puts me. Yesterday I did 6 intervals. Each interval was 2:30 long at 320 watts with a 5 minutes recovery in between (spinning at 125 watts.)
Friday will be the stage one of the test - warm up good (about 20 minutes) and then do the test. I'll keep a puke bucket close by so my wife doesn't have a mess to clean up.
Saturday will be recovery ride, Sunday completely off, and the Monday the second part of the test - riding at max PPO for as long as possible. Then I'll rebuild the program.
For the whole skinny on T-max intervals, you can read all about it at the Bicycling web site: http://www.bicycling.com/article/0,6610,s-4-41-16493-1,00.html
Today I did a hard ITT on the imn_thirty course. I managaed to average 219 watts and finished the course in just over 52 minutes. Definitely improvement!
Food today, so far, has been excellent. More control over evening eating (Khan was late coming in last night and I stayed up with him and ended up eating a bit of crap-food.)
My weight had jumped up a couple of pounds since Saturday's weigh in. Must continue to work - this week I must be below 188 by Friday.
The weekend came back out to get me again - I never weighed yesterday, but I felt heavier. Yuck. Did really good on Saturday again, and then Sunday let things slide a bit.
Yeterday I did my first T-max interval session. I just used the one that John and I created last year. To be honest, I didn't find it that tough. Time to re-test and recreate it. Friday might be a good day for that.
For those who are not familiar with T-max, here's the story. T-max is defined as the maximum amount of time that you can hold your peak power output without succcumbing to exhaustion. (Get out the puke-buckets folks! This one's gonna hurt!)
To create the T-max interval:
1) Determine Your Peak Power Output. Using a power-measuring device from PowerTap, Polar, SRM or CompuTrainer, begin riding at 100 watts. Increase power by 30 watts every minute until you reach exhaustion. Laursen deemed test subjects fully exhausted when they could not keep their cadence above 60 rpm. You can use that benchmark, but let's be honest, you'll know when you're done. The number of watts you produce just before collapsing is your peak power output, or PPO.
2) Find Your T-Max. Rest for a day or two. Again using a power meter, ride at your PPO until you can no longer sustain that level of output. The amount of time you can hold your PPO is your T-Max. For most of us, that's between four and six minutes.
3) Calculate Your Ultimate Interval. Multiply your T-Max time by 0.6. This is the work phase of your interval. Double the work phase to set your recovery time between efforts.
That's it! So what I was doing wasn't exactly a full T-max - 'cause when we set it up I couldn't do it. I'm going to run the test again, and see where it puts me. Yesterday I did 6 intervals. Each interval was 2:30 long at 320 watts with a 5 minutes recovery in between (spinning at 125 watts.)
Friday will be the stage one of the test - warm up good (about 20 minutes) and then do the test. I'll keep a puke bucket close by so my wife doesn't have a mess to clean up.
Saturday will be recovery ride, Sunday completely off, and the Monday the second part of the test - riding at max PPO for as long as possible. Then I'll rebuild the program.
For the whole skinny on T-max intervals, you can read all about it at the Bicycling web site: http://www.bicycling.com/article/0,6610,s-4-41-16493-1,00.html
Today I did a hard ITT on the imn_thirty course. I managaed to average 219 watts and finished the course in just over 52 minutes. Definitely improvement!
Food today, so far, has been excellent. More control over evening eating (Khan was late coming in last night and I stayed up with him and ended up eating a bit of crap-food.)
My weight had jumped up a couple of pounds since Saturday's weigh in. Must continue to work - this week I must be below 188 by Friday.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
An easy ride - no weight loss today
The title says it all! Did an easy 90 minutes on the computrainer this morning. Just spinning along - average wattage was only 135, so you can tell that I really wasn't doing much. Watched last night's "Numbers" and "Battlestar Galactica" while spinning. Man, that's a great way to not just sit there and waste time watching a show! (By fast-forwarding through the commercials each 1hr show only takes about 45 minutes to watch.)
My weight is up about half a pound from yesterday, but I'm guessing it's mostly water weight as I didn't eat badly yesterday, but I was thirsty all day so drank a ton.
I'm hoping my back will start to really feel better soon so that I can start throwing a few runs in every week.
My weight is up about half a pound from yesterday, but I'm guessing it's mostly water weight as I didn't eat badly yesterday, but I was thirsty all day so drank a ton.
I'm hoping my back will start to really feel better soon so that I can start throwing a few runs in every week.
Friday, February 27, 2009
40km
For the first time today, I did a forty km computrainer ride. I did the imn_forty. It's got about 161 meters of climbing in it, and I don't do any drafting (kind of defeats the purpose of the training ride.)
It took me 1:12 to complete it - gonna be alot of hard work between now and June to get that time down to hour! I was only able to average 190watts, and my HR averaged 168. My cadence was a little slower, too. That says to me that today wasn't a particularly strong day. HR high, but not able to push it (legs felt a little tired.) and wattage was down as was cadence.
I was originally planning on doing intervals, but I couldn't find the program that I'd written for it, so rather than waste time looking for it, I decided to do a 40km test as a baseline to see where I'm at.
My weight was down again today, and my diet this last week has been pretty good. The challenge will be to stay motivated as I exceed my 2 pounds/week goal and still not get carried away. I've lost the weight before - and in some cases done it very quickly. What I want to do is lose it steadily in the hopes that this time it will stay off. So far, so good.
Now, as bad as the ride felt this morning, I still had a watts/kg of 2.6.
I know that I've got to fit some upper-body /core work-outs into my schedule. Don't know exactly WHAT I'm going to do yet, but I know I've gotta get something put together!
It took me 1:12 to complete it - gonna be alot of hard work between now and June to get that time down to hour! I was only able to average 190watts, and my HR averaged 168. My cadence was a little slower, too. That says to me that today wasn't a particularly strong day. HR high, but not able to push it (legs felt a little tired.) and wattage was down as was cadence.
I was originally planning on doing intervals, but I couldn't find the program that I'd written for it, so rather than waste time looking for it, I decided to do a 40km test as a baseline to see where I'm at.
My weight was down again today, and my diet this last week has been pretty good. The challenge will be to stay motivated as I exceed my 2 pounds/week goal and still not get carried away. I've lost the weight before - and in some cases done it very quickly. What I want to do is lose it steadily in the hopes that this time it will stay off. So far, so good.
Now, as bad as the ride felt this morning, I still had a watts/kg of 2.6.
I know that I've got to fit some upper-body /core work-outs into my schedule. Don't know exactly WHAT I'm going to do yet, but I know I've gotta get something put together!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
20 Minutes of pain
Well, I did it. OUCH!
I started off with a good 18 minute warm-up, and then let my HR drop for a couple of minutes. Then it was time. After 5 minutes I was really wondering if I could hold this pace for another 15! As it turns out - I couldn't. I dropped off a fair bit over the next 5 minutes.
I ended up averaging 231 watts for the 20 minutes. At 86kg, that gives me a watts /kg of 2.67. That puts me as a middle of the pack cat 5 racer. Not what I'll need to be able to win. Interestingly - by hitting my weight goal, without increasing my wattage output, I can boost that to 3.07 - middle of the pack cat 4. That should be enough to win some races and get boosted up to cat 4. Hopefully I'll be able to increase my wattage output, as well.
Average HR for the test was 174, and I maxed out at 186. I never felt like I was "sprinting" - so I could've probably pushed my max HR another few points higher, but I don't think I'd have been able to hold it long enough to have any impact on my average wattage. (Max wattage for the test was 471). Average Cadence was 92. Over-all, a good work-out.
So, the baseline has been laid down. I think I'll try and test myself once/month to see what kind of progress I'm making. Tomorrow will be a recovery ride for one hour - Friday will be a hard interval session - I'm thinking of trying the intervals that John and I built last year. That'll hurt, but I should see rapid growth doing those a couple of times / week. Saturday will be a long recovery ride.
The real challenge is going to continue to be the food intake. My weight has gotta fall.
I started off with a good 18 minute warm-up, and then let my HR drop for a couple of minutes. Then it was time. After 5 minutes I was really wondering if I could hold this pace for another 15! As it turns out - I couldn't. I dropped off a fair bit over the next 5 minutes.
I ended up averaging 231 watts for the 20 minutes. At 86kg, that gives me a watts /kg of 2.67. That puts me as a middle of the pack cat 5 racer. Not what I'll need to be able to win. Interestingly - by hitting my weight goal, without increasing my wattage output, I can boost that to 3.07 - middle of the pack cat 4. That should be enough to win some races and get boosted up to cat 4. Hopefully I'll be able to increase my wattage output, as well.
Average HR for the test was 174, and I maxed out at 186. I never felt like I was "sprinting" - so I could've probably pushed my max HR another few points higher, but I don't think I'd have been able to hold it long enough to have any impact on my average wattage. (Max wattage for the test was 471). Average Cadence was 92. Over-all, a good work-out.
So, the baseline has been laid down. I think I'll try and test myself once/month to see what kind of progress I'm making. Tomorrow will be a recovery ride for one hour - Friday will be a hard interval session - I'm thinking of trying the intervals that John and I built last year. That'll hurt, but I should see rapid growth doing those a couple of times / week. Saturday will be a long recovery ride.
The real challenge is going to continue to be the food intake. My weight has gotta fall.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
WATTS!
Well, in my workouts, I've gradually seen myself starting to get a little faster. Given that I've got some racing I want to do this year, I wanted to get a baseline of where my wattage output was going to need to be. Given my current wattage output, the fast way to get faster is going to be to get lighter.
The measurement to look for is watts/kg of body weight. Many top coaches have said that in order for a cyclist to win the Tour de France the magic number is 7. Seven watts/kg. While out looking for some more information on this, I came across a great article on it by Druber at True Sport.
Here's a link to the article Druber put up - it's got a great chart that gives some general information on what it takes. http://www.truesport.com/Bike/2007/articles/druber/druber15.html The chart shows that to be competitive at the Cat 5 level I need to be looking at generating 2.81 watts/kg
So where am I currently at? A measely 2.3 (upper end of "untrained") - but that's also for a one-hour effort, not a 20 minute one. I'm thinking that tomorrow, instead of doing my planned interval session, I'm going to do a nice little warm-up for 15-20 minutes, then do a flat-out 20 minute test to see where I'm at. This should fit in well, as today was a recovery ride. (I just rode for 1 hour with my HR around the 145 mark. I did let it climb a bit at the end.)
I also found a pdf book along with some computrainer files that I'm going to download. They're about $21.50 USD. Hopefully this will help in better developing my work-out program.
Diet is still my major issue. I seem to do well all week, but on weekends, specifically on Sundays, I do not do as well. I have managed to keep my 2 pounds/week pace going, but know it should be more like 3 or 4 and eventually this "easy" weight is going to be gone.
The measurement to look for is watts/kg of body weight. Many top coaches have said that in order for a cyclist to win the Tour de France the magic number is 7. Seven watts/kg. While out looking for some more information on this, I came across a great article on it by Druber at True Sport.
Here's a link to the article Druber put up - it's got a great chart that gives some general information on what it takes. http://www.truesport.com/Bike/2007/articles/druber/druber15.html The chart shows that to be competitive at the Cat 5 level I need to be looking at generating 2.81 watts/kg
So where am I currently at? A measely 2.3 (upper end of "untrained") - but that's also for a one-hour effort, not a 20 minute one. I'm thinking that tomorrow, instead of doing my planned interval session, I'm going to do a nice little warm-up for 15-20 minutes, then do a flat-out 20 minute test to see where I'm at. This should fit in well, as today was a recovery ride. (I just rode for 1 hour with my HR around the 145 mark. I did let it climb a bit at the end.)
I also found a pdf book along with some computrainer files that I'm going to download. They're about $21.50 USD. Hopefully this will help in better developing my work-out program.
Diet is still my major issue. I seem to do well all week, but on weekends, specifically on Sundays, I do not do as well. I have managed to keep my 2 pounds/week pace going, but know it should be more like 3 or 4 and eventually this "easy" weight is going to be gone.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Back on the bike - sort of
It's been so long since I've been riding. So, this last week I finally got my computrainer back up and running and started riding. I was shocked on Monday at how much it hurt to do just 30 minutes. Wow. Lost a lot.
Tuesday was more of the same, though I went a little faster and pushed a little harder - and went 35 minutes instead of 30.
Wed I took some heat from Johnny - he was going on about how I just wasn't cutting it. He was riding for an hour on the Canmore TT course at just shy of 200 watts and his HR at around 165. I rode for 40 minutes, averaged 180 watts and my HR was over 175 for a good chunk of the ride. I warned him to be careful, 'cause now I was gonna have to kick his butt!
Thurs was an easy spin for 45 min.
Fri was my first shot at the Canmore course - rode an hour at 204 watts and a HR of 166. Look out Johnny! I'm on my way.
Today I did 90 minutes, keeping my average HR at 150, average wattage was just 154. (I did do a little sprint where I kicked the wattage up to 700 watts and a HR of 185, but I kept that pretty short. Just trying to get some saddle time so that my butt can start handling longer rides again.
My weight continues to come off at a regular rate - nothing really fast. I'm now under 189. I'm trying to hold to 2lbs/week. So far that's doing good.
Tuesday was more of the same, though I went a little faster and pushed a little harder - and went 35 minutes instead of 30.
Wed I took some heat from Johnny - he was going on about how I just wasn't cutting it. He was riding for an hour on the Canmore TT course at just shy of 200 watts and his HR at around 165. I rode for 40 minutes, averaged 180 watts and my HR was over 175 for a good chunk of the ride. I warned him to be careful, 'cause now I was gonna have to kick his butt!
Thurs was an easy spin for 45 min.
Fri was my first shot at the Canmore course - rode an hour at 204 watts and a HR of 166. Look out Johnny! I'm on my way.
Today I did 90 minutes, keeping my average HR at 150, average wattage was just 154. (I did do a little sprint where I kicked the wattage up to 700 watts and a HR of 185, but I kept that pretty short. Just trying to get some saddle time so that my butt can start handling longer rides again.
My weight continues to come off at a regular rate - nothing really fast. I'm now under 189. I'm trying to hold to 2lbs/week. So far that's doing good.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Just checking in
Man, it's been along time since I've posted anything! Life has definitely been running fast for me, and I've been having a difficult time keeping up.
Just wanted to check in and say, yes, I'm alive, and I'll post more when I've actually got something worthwhile saying!
Just wanted to check in and say, yes, I'm alive, and I'll post more when I've actually got something worthwhile saying!
Friday, April 25, 2008
You're Doing What??!
I can't believe I haven't posted since December. It's been a long, hard 4 months full of great personal growth and introspection. I'm not going to go into the details here, but the stress was high enough that it stripped alot of weight off of me. Not a plan I'd recomend to others trying to get some weight off, but it did work.
I'm in a much better place now. I'm still working hard at getting things right, and putting "first things first".
The good news? Well, In December I'd hit a weight of 196 lbs - creeping awfully close to that 200 lb mark again. Today I'm down to 170lb, and the weight is coming off in more manageable amounts. I've been running lots - and haven't been on my bike more than a couple of times in the last 4 months. (It's been cold and snowy around here!)
In some ways I wish I was more able to completely open up about this last 4 months worth of introspection and growth, as it's been a real learning experience - but they're the kind of thing I feel is better shared in a more personal way.
So, as part of my new look on life, I've decided to really become a triathlete. I'm already signed up for the 2 Olympic distance events I've done for the last couple of years - Magrath and Fort McLeod. But now I've decided to really suffer. While still wanting to do some crit, ITT, and road racing - I'm also going to try and do a 1/2 Ironman race. For those of you who don't know exactly how stupid this is, it's 1.9km swim, 90km bike, and 21km run. Needless to add, my training has become a little more focused. I'm going to try and complete the Sylvan Lake Half Ironman - that only gives me 12 weeks to get ready for it. I've run more than the run distance this year - back in Feb - but wow. I'm a little scared and intimidated by this one.
I wake up everything morning now thinking to myself, "You're Doing What?! you NUT!"
I'm in a much better place now. I'm still working hard at getting things right, and putting "first things first".
The good news? Well, In December I'd hit a weight of 196 lbs - creeping awfully close to that 200 lb mark again. Today I'm down to 170lb, and the weight is coming off in more manageable amounts. I've been running lots - and haven't been on my bike more than a couple of times in the last 4 months. (It's been cold and snowy around here!)
In some ways I wish I was more able to completely open up about this last 4 months worth of introspection and growth, as it's been a real learning experience - but they're the kind of thing I feel is better shared in a more personal way.
So, as part of my new look on life, I've decided to really become a triathlete. I'm already signed up for the 2 Olympic distance events I've done for the last couple of years - Magrath and Fort McLeod. But now I've decided to really suffer. While still wanting to do some crit, ITT, and road racing - I'm also going to try and do a 1/2 Ironman race. For those of you who don't know exactly how stupid this is, it's 1.9km swim, 90km bike, and 21km run. Needless to add, my training has become a little more focused. I'm going to try and complete the Sylvan Lake Half Ironman - that only gives me 12 weeks to get ready for it. I've run more than the run distance this year - back in Feb - but wow. I'm a little scared and intimidated by this one.
I wake up everything morning now thinking to myself, "You're Doing What?! you NUT!"
Monday, December 31, 2007
Doping In Sport
You'll note I called this doping in sport, and not doping in cycling. Sports, in general, have had this issue thrust in their face recently, but it's not a new problem. The solutions are not going to be quick, and they are not going to be cheap.
Recently I had a discussion on bikejournal where one particular poster posted the idea of "who care? Let 'em dope. It doesn't affect me." I'd like to first address that issue.
What drives us to watch sport? In my own life I've found that it's the possibility of of seeing a human being lift themselves up to overcome. One of my all-time favorite movies, Vision Quest, has a scene where the wrestling hero, Louden, is wondering why his friend, a short-order cook, would take time off of work to come watch him - after all, it's just a wrestling match, and it's only 5 minutes! His friends reply says it all. He tells him that it's not the time, but what happens in that time. That sometimes an athlete lifts himself above a challenge and excels, and when he does that it lifts everybody that's watching it. Doping cheapens that. Suddenly it's not the human spirit over-coming, it's drugs.
Additionally, younger athletes look to those at higher levels for inspiration and direction in sport. If they're using it influences younger kids to use.
Who cares? I do.
Doping, and other forms of cheating, is not some recent discovery. In the late 70's and early 1980's it became a joke that the women competing for the Soviet Union could beat most of the men competing because they LOOKED like men. EVERYBODY knew that the Soviet's were using. This created the thought that anybody who could beat them must also be using. Evelyn Ashford ran into this when she beat the Soviet women (and later won the gold medal in the 100m sprint at the 1984 Olympics). The saying went, if she was able to beat the "shemales" she must be using herself.
It's common knowledge in cycling, especially the Tour de France, that there have been cheats. Everything from hitching a ride, to using amphetamines. Although it was well known there were cheats, there was a general belief amongst competitors that you could win clean. That all began to change in the mid 1980's. And, not just in the cycling world.
The Soviets dominated almost every sport at the Olympics. Women's sports, especially, were made a joke. I remember watching women's swimming events and being amazed at the masculine features of these swimmers. Initially Soviet dominance was credited with the fact that these athletes were able to train full-time - they were basically professionals but still credited as being amatuers. That story didn't last long.
Soon it became policy for everybody else to use some form of doping. Until just after the 1984 Olympics the practice of blood doping (removing your own blood and later tranfusing it back to you) was NOT illegal. It was policy within the USCF that you blood doped. I find it incredulous that a single cyclist on the 1984 team would even attempt to try and convince the public that he didn't blood dope.
The real problem that developed was that athletes started to believe that the only way to win was to dope. If everybody else is doing it, you're only levelling the playing field, right? I recently read the story of two Olympians in the 1970's. They were friends, one from the Soviet Bloc, the other from the US. They traded victories and records. Before they competed at the Olympics they got together to discuss their training. One told the other what drugs he was using. "Sounds like the program I'm on." was his reply. One won gold, the other silver.
One of the best articles I've read on doping in sport is a recent article (from which I pulled the above story) in RUNNING TIMES - a running magazine. It's in the Jan/Feb 2008 issue and is called "Protect The Innocent."
The bottom line to busting doping in sport is to create the biological passports that cycling teams like Slipstream and Team High Road are putting together, and that now the UCI is promoting. There is no way that testing is ever going to catch all the cheats. There will always be a new drug that can't be identified. (To this day there is not a test that can realiabley detect transfusing your own blood, though one is in the works.) Testing, by it's very nature, will always be one step behind the dopers. However, by creating a profile of an athlete it is possible to detect changes in their physiology that are sudden and enexplainable. The kinds of results that doping creates. Now you're not testing for a specific drug, but the physiological changes a drug is creating.
It also eliminates the ability of an athlete to challenge a test. The fact is the equipment used to run these tests is VERY complicated, and very sensitive. To get accurate readings it requires exact protocols to be followed. I've spoken with people who work on these things and all that I've spoken to say clearly that if the protocols aren't followed exactly the results can't be trusted. Guilty athletes rely on this to create doubt. Innocent athletes could get rail-roaded if these protocols aren't followed. A passport provides an avenue for an athlete to prove his innocence. In an ideal world he shouldn't have to. Everyone should be competing for the love of sport and honor - in the real world we know there are cheats, and the only way to catch them and level the playing field for those who are competing clean is to use the passport.
Doping is a complex problem. It's going to require complex solutions to get rid of it. The only solution I've seen that I would have any faith in is the passport. Is it perfect? Not a chance. There will be some who slip through the cracks - but combined with testing (note: I'm not advocating eliminating testing.) it will make it more difficult for athletes to dope.
The fact is: we KNOW of dopers who were NEVER caught by testing. I'm absolutely convinced that the only people who get caught doping are those who are stupid or who make mistakes. (The case of Tyler Hamilton and Perriero come to mind.)
Dopers suck. Let's get rid of them and return sport to that place where we can all be inspired by amazing performances.
Recently I had a discussion on bikejournal where one particular poster posted the idea of "who care? Let 'em dope. It doesn't affect me." I'd like to first address that issue.
What drives us to watch sport? In my own life I've found that it's the possibility of of seeing a human being lift themselves up to overcome. One of my all-time favorite movies, Vision Quest, has a scene where the wrestling hero, Louden, is wondering why his friend, a short-order cook, would take time off of work to come watch him - after all, it's just a wrestling match, and it's only 5 minutes! His friends reply says it all. He tells him that it's not the time, but what happens in that time. That sometimes an athlete lifts himself above a challenge and excels, and when he does that it lifts everybody that's watching it. Doping cheapens that. Suddenly it's not the human spirit over-coming, it's drugs.
Additionally, younger athletes look to those at higher levels for inspiration and direction in sport. If they're using it influences younger kids to use.
Who cares? I do.
Doping, and other forms of cheating, is not some recent discovery. In the late 70's and early 1980's it became a joke that the women competing for the Soviet Union could beat most of the men competing because they LOOKED like men. EVERYBODY knew that the Soviet's were using. This created the thought that anybody who could beat them must also be using. Evelyn Ashford ran into this when she beat the Soviet women (and later won the gold medal in the 100m sprint at the 1984 Olympics). The saying went, if she was able to beat the "shemales" she must be using herself.
It's common knowledge in cycling, especially the Tour de France, that there have been cheats. Everything from hitching a ride, to using amphetamines. Although it was well known there were cheats, there was a general belief amongst competitors that you could win clean. That all began to change in the mid 1980's. And, not just in the cycling world.
The Soviets dominated almost every sport at the Olympics. Women's sports, especially, were made a joke. I remember watching women's swimming events and being amazed at the masculine features of these swimmers. Initially Soviet dominance was credited with the fact that these athletes were able to train full-time - they were basically professionals but still credited as being amatuers. That story didn't last long.
Soon it became policy for everybody else to use some form of doping. Until just after the 1984 Olympics the practice of blood doping (removing your own blood and later tranfusing it back to you) was NOT illegal. It was policy within the USCF that you blood doped. I find it incredulous that a single cyclist on the 1984 team would even attempt to try and convince the public that he didn't blood dope.
The real problem that developed was that athletes started to believe that the only way to win was to dope. If everybody else is doing it, you're only levelling the playing field, right? I recently read the story of two Olympians in the 1970's. They were friends, one from the Soviet Bloc, the other from the US. They traded victories and records. Before they competed at the Olympics they got together to discuss their training. One told the other what drugs he was using. "Sounds like the program I'm on." was his reply. One won gold, the other silver.
One of the best articles I've read on doping in sport is a recent article (from which I pulled the above story) in RUNNING TIMES - a running magazine. It's in the Jan/Feb 2008 issue and is called "Protect The Innocent."
The bottom line to busting doping in sport is to create the biological passports that cycling teams like Slipstream and Team High Road are putting together, and that now the UCI is promoting. There is no way that testing is ever going to catch all the cheats. There will always be a new drug that can't be identified. (To this day there is not a test that can realiabley detect transfusing your own blood, though one is in the works.) Testing, by it's very nature, will always be one step behind the dopers. However, by creating a profile of an athlete it is possible to detect changes in their physiology that are sudden and enexplainable. The kinds of results that doping creates. Now you're not testing for a specific drug, but the physiological changes a drug is creating.
It also eliminates the ability of an athlete to challenge a test. The fact is the equipment used to run these tests is VERY complicated, and very sensitive. To get accurate readings it requires exact protocols to be followed. I've spoken with people who work on these things and all that I've spoken to say clearly that if the protocols aren't followed exactly the results can't be trusted. Guilty athletes rely on this to create doubt. Innocent athletes could get rail-roaded if these protocols aren't followed. A passport provides an avenue for an athlete to prove his innocence. In an ideal world he shouldn't have to. Everyone should be competing for the love of sport and honor - in the real world we know there are cheats, and the only way to catch them and level the playing field for those who are competing clean is to use the passport.
Doping is a complex problem. It's going to require complex solutions to get rid of it. The only solution I've seen that I would have any faith in is the passport. Is it perfect? Not a chance. There will be some who slip through the cracks - but combined with testing (note: I'm not advocating eliminating testing.) it will make it more difficult for athletes to dope.
The fact is: we KNOW of dopers who were NEVER caught by testing. I'm absolutely convinced that the only people who get caught doping are those who are stupid or who make mistakes. (The case of Tyler Hamilton and Perriero come to mind.)
Dopers suck. Let's get rid of them and return sport to that place where we can all be inspired by amazing performances.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Friday sufferring
Well, it looks like computrainer problems are completely resolved. GREAT! Friday is my scheduled T-max interval day. wooohooo!
I had a few problems at the beginning - but they weren't the same kind of troubles. Looks like someone was messing around with me bike and the cadence magnet and pickup were moved. One of my kids is gonna be in trouble. A little frustrating to have to mess around with that, but it's done and off I went for my T-max.
I had changed the interval session slightly - increased the wattage on the recovery space by 25 watts, and decreased the interval wattage by 20 watts. My reasoning was that I haven't been able to keep the cadence up during the intervals, and that's one of the areas that I'm working on - so, I figured a slightly lower interval wattage would lead to higher cadence. I was right.
I was only able to do 3 of the intervals instead of the scheduled 6 due to some time issues (amazing how much having to mess around with equipment before a ride can eat into available time!)
I was able to keep my average cadence at 95 and kept the interval cadence over 90. That's a huge improvement. So, my intervals wattage was 300 watts even. 2.5 minutes at 300 watts. I was definitely working, but even at that, my max HR only got to 175, so I know I had more to go.
Later today Steve and I are hoping to be able to get a T-max test in for him.
TO THE PAIN!!
I had a few problems at the beginning - but they weren't the same kind of troubles. Looks like someone was messing around with me bike and the cadence magnet and pickup were moved. One of my kids is gonna be in trouble. A little frustrating to have to mess around with that, but it's done and off I went for my T-max.
I had changed the interval session slightly - increased the wattage on the recovery space by 25 watts, and decreased the interval wattage by 20 watts. My reasoning was that I haven't been able to keep the cadence up during the intervals, and that's one of the areas that I'm working on - so, I figured a slightly lower interval wattage would lead to higher cadence. I was right.
I was only able to do 3 of the intervals instead of the scheduled 6 due to some time issues (amazing how much having to mess around with equipment before a ride can eat into available time!)
I was able to keep my average cadence at 95 and kept the interval cadence over 90. That's a huge improvement. So, my intervals wattage was 300 watts even. 2.5 minutes at 300 watts. I was definitely working, but even at that, my max HR only got to 175, so I know I had more to go.
Later today Steve and I are hoping to be able to get a T-max test in for him.
TO THE PAIN!!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Computrainer frustrations
A short post this go round - I'm getting really frustrated with my computrainer - well, not really my computrainer, but my computer.
For the last few rides - for about a week - every time I get to 30 minutes or so the computer loses the connection with the computrainer and my ride program is effectively over. I've been chatting with Computrainer about (their customer service is fantastic!) but as far as we can tell, something, somewhere, has been changed on my computer and it's making the program do wacko things.
Hopefully the changes I made tonight will allow me to go for a full ride tomorrow morning. As it is, I've just been getting warmed up when it goes Kapute!
For the last few rides - for about a week - every time I get to 30 minutes or so the computer loses the connection with the computrainer and my ride program is effectively over. I've been chatting with Computrainer about (their customer service is fantastic!) but as far as we can tell, something, somewhere, has been changed on my computer and it's making the program do wacko things.
Hopefully the changes I made tonight will allow me to go for a full ride tomorrow morning. As it is, I've just been getting warmed up when it goes Kapute!
Friday, December 07, 2007
Friday Night Thoughts
My son and two of his friends are currently downstairs watching Mr. Bean. This means that I will be awake, upstairs, waiting for the show to end (it's not cool for Dad to be down there watching it with them, ya know.) and then driving 'em all home. So, I decided I'd blog a little.
The last couple of days I've done something I wasn't going to do - I've posted a few times to Bikejournal. I guess I really can't keep my mouth shut!
A few things that I've seen re-emphasized to me lately. I'm seeing more and more intolerance. Especially in the anonymous world of the internet - but not just there.
Yesterday morning Mitt Romney was basically forced to give a speech on religous tolerance and freedom. Being a bit of a student of politics I found his thoughts and comments especially uplifting. He didn't get into trying to defend his faith in terms of doctrine. He simply emphasized the founding fathers conviction that freedom of religion, faith, and values contribute to freedom in a general sense. I've recorded his speech so I can make my kids watch it - though I know that's not going to help any. Anyway, here's some links to the speech:
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Back to my original train of thought. I posted on the low carb weight loss thread at bikejournal because I was getting tired of the intolerant expressions that were creaping up there. As much as I try to stay out of the way of some of this stuff, I really do believe the saying of "all that's needed for evil to triumph is for good men to sit idly by." - so I posted.
The last couple of days I've done something I wasn't going to do - I've posted a few times to Bikejournal. I guess I really can't keep my mouth shut!
A few things that I've seen re-emphasized to me lately. I'm seeing more and more intolerance. Especially in the anonymous world of the internet - but not just there.
Yesterday morning Mitt Romney was basically forced to give a speech on religous tolerance and freedom. Being a bit of a student of politics I found his thoughts and comments especially uplifting. He didn't get into trying to defend his faith in terms of doctrine. He simply emphasized the founding fathers conviction that freedom of religion, faith, and values contribute to freedom in a general sense. I've recorded his speech so I can make my kids watch it - though I know that's not going to help any. Anyway, here's some links to the speech:
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Back to my original train of thought. I posted on the low carb weight loss thread at bikejournal because I was getting tired of the intolerant expressions that were creaping up there. As much as I try to stay out of the way of some of this stuff, I really do believe the saying of "all that's needed for evil to triumph is for good men to sit idly by." - so I posted.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Time Trialing
Tomorrow my TT bike will be ready to go. I probably won't actually get it picked up until Tuesday - so pics will be a few more days - but here's what I've got.
I have been riding a GURU trilite bike, but last year at a Provincial ITT 40km race my bike didn't pass inspection - I couldn't get the seat moved far enough back to meet UCI regulations. I made some adjustments, and I can now make it work, but I decided that eventually I was going to do something different.
Then one day last month, as I was doing my usual searches on ebay I found a Specialized Transition from 2006 that was for sale and coming up in a couple of hours, and at only $150. No, it's not the unbelievable machine that the 2008 Transition is, but the 2008 runs $8500. I decided to follow this bike, and if it went cheap enough I was gonna jump on it. I ended up getting the frame for $400.05 plus $70 shipping.
I then picked up a Renn 575 disc clincher wheel with rubber, cassette and skewer for $400.
As I started swapping components over I decided that I wanted more adjustability than what my Oval Concept A700 bars allowed, so I picked up a T2 base bar and mounted my T2+ clip ons onto it.
As I started putting things together I realized I really didn't want to have to fish the cables through the internal routing - so I took the bike into Ascent Cycle and asked them to put it together for me. I picked up a new chain and cables from them, too.
So, the finished bike will have: Dura Ace 7700 Front der and rear der, Dura Ace 7800 bar end shifters, Ultegra 6600 cassette, Ultegra 6500 brake calipers, and some inexpensive Tektro brake levers. I'll be running my Roval Rapide Star front wheel (the stuff I've been reading says that it's faster than the Specialized 3 spoke wheel is) and my Renn disc. I'll need to pick up some new rubber - as I want to put 20 mm tires on 'em.
I've also picked up a new TT helmet - a Giro Advantage 2.
One of the best articles I've ever read on aerodynamics and equipment can be found at http://home.hia.no/~stephens/aero.htm It's written in every day language and allows you to make some good predictions of what kinds of times your equipment will save you.
One of the big surprises I found was that slower riders actually benefit more in time saved than a faster rider does from some equipment changes. However, the biggest single factor is rider position, specifically, getting the back flat.
This year I really want to break one hour for 40km. An "excellent" body position with my current wattage output should be able to get me there. Of course, I'm going to be working on increasing my wattage output. Right now I'm able to hold about 225watts for an hour. (That's average wattage for an hour - with the hills there's points where I jump up well over 300 for brief periods.)
Me and my computrainer begin our December program tomorrow morning. In the words of Monty Python... TO THE PAIN!
I have been riding a GURU trilite bike, but last year at a Provincial ITT 40km race my bike didn't pass inspection - I couldn't get the seat moved far enough back to meet UCI regulations. I made some adjustments, and I can now make it work, but I decided that eventually I was going to do something different.
Then one day last month, as I was doing my usual searches on ebay I found a Specialized Transition from 2006 that was for sale and coming up in a couple of hours, and at only $150. No, it's not the unbelievable machine that the 2008 Transition is, but the 2008 runs $8500. I decided to follow this bike, and if it went cheap enough I was gonna jump on it. I ended up getting the frame for $400.05 plus $70 shipping.
I then picked up a Renn 575 disc clincher wheel with rubber, cassette and skewer for $400.
As I started swapping components over I decided that I wanted more adjustability than what my Oval Concept A700 bars allowed, so I picked up a T2 base bar and mounted my T2+ clip ons onto it.
As I started putting things together I realized I really didn't want to have to fish the cables through the internal routing - so I took the bike into Ascent Cycle and asked them to put it together for me. I picked up a new chain and cables from them, too.
So, the finished bike will have: Dura Ace 7700 Front der and rear der, Dura Ace 7800 bar end shifters, Ultegra 6600 cassette, Ultegra 6500 brake calipers, and some inexpensive Tektro brake levers. I'll be running my Roval Rapide Star front wheel (the stuff I've been reading says that it's faster than the Specialized 3 spoke wheel is) and my Renn disc. I'll need to pick up some new rubber - as I want to put 20 mm tires on 'em.
I've also picked up a new TT helmet - a Giro Advantage 2.
One of the best articles I've ever read on aerodynamics and equipment can be found at http://home.hia.no/~stephens/aero.htm It's written in every day language and allows you to make some good predictions of what kinds of times your equipment will save you.
One of the big surprises I found was that slower riders actually benefit more in time saved than a faster rider does from some equipment changes. However, the biggest single factor is rider position, specifically, getting the back flat.
This year I really want to break one hour for 40km. An "excellent" body position with my current wattage output should be able to get me there. Of course, I'm going to be working on increasing my wattage output. Right now I'm able to hold about 225watts for an hour. (That's average wattage for an hour - with the hills there's points where I jump up well over 300 for brief periods.)
Me and my computrainer begin our December program tomorrow morning. In the words of Monty Python... TO THE PAIN!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Riding in each State
A couple of years ago I decided that I wanted to ride my bike in each state - and see where it went from there. Yet, I've never actually sat down and made a list that I could update as I went along. So, I've decided to make this entry my list, at least for now. I'll try and add more details as I work my way through my journal. This post will definitely be a continually updated one!
Arizona - Nov/07 El Tour de Tucson
Arkansas - BJ First Union 2004
California - Death Valley Double March 2006
Colorado - Triple Bypass 2007
Idaho - Far too many to mention
Illionois - BJ Reunion 2006
Montana - Tailwinds N/S Tour 2004
New Mexico - BJ First Union trip 2004
Oklahoma - BJ First Union 2004
Texas - HHH 2005 & 2006
Utah - SLC century and Alpine Loop, And Zion's Century, St. George (amongst others.)
Wyoming - Tailwinds N/S Tour 2004
Outside of the US I've ridden in Queensland, Australia and British Columbia
I also thought I'd keep a list of organized rides I've done, but will not include here the races I've done in Alberta.
HHH 2005 & 2006
SLC 2005, 2006, & 2007
El Tour de Tucson 2007
Zion's Century 2005
Death Valley Double Spring 2006
Bike Journal First Union 2004
Bike Journal Reunion pre-ride 2005
Bike Journal Reunion 2006
Triple Bypass 2007
Well, that's all I can think of off the top of my head. As I go through my journals, I'm sure more will come to mind.
Arizona - Nov/07 El Tour de Tucson
Arkansas - BJ First Union 2004
California - Death Valley Double March 2006
Colorado - Triple Bypass 2007
Idaho - Far too many to mention
Illionois - BJ Reunion 2006
Montana - Tailwinds N/S Tour 2004
New Mexico - BJ First Union trip 2004
Oklahoma - BJ First Union 2004
Texas - HHH 2005 & 2006
Utah - SLC century and Alpine Loop, And Zion's Century, St. George (amongst others.)
Wyoming - Tailwinds N/S Tour 2004
Outside of the US I've ridden in Queensland, Australia and British Columbia
I also thought I'd keep a list of organized rides I've done, but will not include here the races I've done in Alberta.
HHH 2005 & 2006
SLC 2005, 2006, & 2007
El Tour de Tucson 2007
Zion's Century 2005
Death Valley Double Spring 2006
Bike Journal First Union 2004
Bike Journal Reunion pre-ride 2005
Bike Journal Reunion 2006
Triple Bypass 2007
Well, that's all I can think of off the top of my head. As I go through my journals, I'm sure more will come to mind.
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