TT Gear

Planning on my first time trial being in April in Dayton unless the weather improves for a March event. When the time comes I'll be back on the following: HED Wheels with front tri-spoke (super fast when you get over 25 mph) and the rear Stinger Disc. I know Zipp gets all of the press but I think that the HED products perform just as well and at a better price. I don;t think that any spoke wheel, no matter the deepness of the rim, compares with the tri-spoke. My Bike is the Giant Trinity Composite 0 with the Shimano Ultegra Di2 shifting. I've owned tt bikes from Cannondale, HED AeroLab, Kuota Kalibur, custom Serotta Legend and Specialized Transition. The Giant is the best of those. It handles well (the Transition was a issue going into all turns…felt like it didn't want to turn) and has great power transfer. Very stiff. For the tires I use a tubular Continental on the rear and a Vittoria on the front. Both are rated very highly on the rolling resistance charts. I use a Profile Design Aero HC bottle between the bars. My Stages power crank arm is going toe be installed in a couple of weeks.

USAC 2012 Cycling Summit DVD's

I bought the 12 hour conference so I can get at least 20 and possibly 30 CEU's. Don't need them for another couple of years but this will take care of 50-75% of the required 40. So far, about 1/3 of the way through them, have to say it's great information. The talk on training master age athletes covered the 1 beat per year drop in max HR from age 35 on and the yearly drop in VO2 (from .5 to 1% per year). The best ways to combat this (you can't stop it) is to keep training with intensity, add weight training to your weekly schedule and keep it there year-round, and get more sleep so that you replenish your growth hormones. Also listened to a webinar last Thursday on drug use in cycling. Across the sport we can count on about 6% of the competitors to be cheating. Over 130 riders were caught in the prior year. The feeling of the presenter was that the suspensions for amateurs was too mild and that those caught unwittingly using banned substances through what they thought were safe supplements of food should face lesser suspensions. I'd agree with both thoughts.

Indispensable Piece of Equipment: Cycle Ops Indoor 400

With the winter season almost over, hopefully, and having on ridden outside twice since December I've come to appreciate my Cycle-Ops Indoor 400 even more than in the past. I've had it for about 4 years and just two weeks ago made the first adjustment to the chain. Other than that it has been rock solid. I've likely put about 30,000 miles on it. The PowerTap data on the Joule 3 is comprehensive with IF, TSS, NP, and all of the typical current and averages for HR, speed, miles per hour, etc. People will always mention that the roughly $2500 price tag is steep but given the use I've gotten out of it and will continue to get and the quality training it offers with the ability to choose power or 11-21 gears or -10 to +10 slope, I couldn't be happier. Its also quiet and never gets a flat tire. hands down the best money I ever spent on indoor riding. I don't have the option to ride courses but I don;t really care. Most of my training is strictly riding within a set range of power.

Todays Efforts

Today called for 7 minutes tempo, 5 minutes steady state and 2 minutes at power interval effort. Held 290/320/363 and 287/319/368. Will repeat these on Friday. Took yesterday off completely after doing about 2 hours endurance on Sunday preceded by 3 hours of hiking on both Friday and Saturday and the 100 mile ride on Thursday.

view from the by-pass at about mile 90 on the century ride on Thursday

Time Tennessee

Just got back from 3.5 days in Tennessee. Rode 30 late on Wednesday and then did 100 miles on Thursday. Temps were in the 70's so I went to Cades Cove, Tremont, Elkmont, Chimney Tops and the by-pass. Long day with a little over 6 hours on the bike, 7 total for the trip with stops to take photos/ Hauled my Nikon gear in a backpack for all 100 miles. Hiked Chimney Tops on Friday and Cades Cove loop on Saturday. Back on the bike today for spin class and and another hour of endurance in the basement.

more tempo

Rode 65 miles inside today with 3x20 minutes at tempo or 290 watts. Taking tomorrow off.

60 minute tempo

I was scheduled to do 3x20 minutes but just went for it and did one solid hour at 290. Still below the goal of 300 watts but for an inside effort, good enough. Have another 3x20 day tomorrow.

Long Tempo Effort, the graph

Last Indoor TT, comments

Rode 1 second off my best ever and I think I did that two years ago. The CompuTrainer showed me with an average of around 380+ watts or 4.9 watts/kg. I forgot, once again, to hit the INT button at the end so I didn't get the exact start to finish but it looks like I was in the 350's on the powertap. I do think that my power was a little more steady throughout this time other than the end when I pushed it up above 450 and then above 500. HR hit 177 and avg'd 170. I was happy with that. Had 5 other riders in my heat and the all took off at 400+ watts for the first two miles. I was in 5th place for that time. Thats a hard pace to maintain. Eventually I took over first and held it until the end. Overall I had the third fastest time today with a couple of 30/40 year olds beating me by a few seconds. Also won the 50+ for the series. Next TT will be outside…thankfully!

Last Indoor TT, graph

Steady State-Time Trial-Tempo, comments

Todays efforts were 4 minutes at steady state, 3 at time trial, and 2 at tempo wattage x 4. Held 320/340/284, 321/350/289, 320/347/289 and 323/350/291. Another day inside with the cold weather.

Steady State-Time Trial-Tempo efforts