BVC Structured Workout - Points Race Workout

Points Race workout. Group of four, six laps at about 38kph, then sprint for one. Repeat for next rider. Repeat twice for each rider.

Sounds easy, but the sprints add up....

Finished with 12 minutes L4 workout. This is starting to feel a little better and feel more like TT workouts from the summer. Although still about 30-40 watts lower average.

Peak 10min (307 watts):

Duration: 10:00
Work: 184 kJ
TSS: 16.7 (intensity factor 1)
Norm Power: 310
VI: 1.01
Distance: 6.991 km
Elevation Gain: 17 m
Elevation Loss: 18 m
Grade: -0.0 % (-1 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 74 642 307 watts
Heart rate: 163 185 177 bpm
Cadence: 85 102 94 rpm
Speed: 37.5 45.4 41.9 kph
Pace 1:19 1:36 1:26 min/km
Altitude: 126 129 127 m
Crank Torque: 7.7 64.5 31.0 N-m
Temperature: 16 17 16.7 Celsius

I also noticed tonight that I'm getting higher average heart rate numbers than I have previously been able to do. From years of riding and two years of road and track I "know" that my VO2Max HRM is about 172, and I can do about 180-181 without "blowing up". But if I go much over 181 for any amount of time I "blow up" and need to spend significant time at a slow pace to get it back under control (i.e. back to about 172...)

Tonight half way through the L4 session I noticed that I was at about 181 and not really feeling any effects... A few minutes later I was at about 184 and *still* not feeling like I was having any problems. WKO says my best 1 minute was 185, best 2 minutes 184.

Not quite sure how to interpret that. In theory max heart rate is about 186-188... and it seems unusual to be able to sit at 184 for that length of time...

New Teamate - good aero position

We're always interested in getting our teammates outfitted in the latest gear so they can be as fast as possible.

BVC Structured Workout - 3x3

Structured workout at the track, 3x3, three laps at VO2Max, three laps recovery, repeat 6-8 times. Rest, repeat...

Actually did 9 and 13 reps, with a couple 4x4 thrown in to get some times over a minute (so WKO+ would see best of 60 seconds etc.)

Entire workout (215 watts):

Duration: 1:41:01 (2:39:12)
Work: 1302 kJ
TSS: 126.6 (intensity factor 0.867)
Norm Power: 269
VI: 1.25
Distance: 55.674 km
Elevation Gain: 140 m
Elevation Loss: 139 m
Grade: 0.0 % (1 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 660 215 watts
Heart rate: 0 188 148 bpm
Cadence: 24 117 78 rpm
Speed: 0 52.2 33.1 kph
Pace 1:09 0:00 1:49 min/km
Altitude: 118 131 126 m
Crank Torque: 0 102.3 25.0 N-m
Temperature: 14 22 15.1 Celsius

Two days outside - mostly L2/L3

Two days outside, 2 hours on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. Was supposed to do 4 on Sunday but I was too cold and wet to go much longer than 3 hours.

BVC Pictures - Chris Reynolds

Thanks to Chris Reynolds Flickr site, a couple of good track shots.

This is the B group lining up for the start.








Anthony King and unidentified (:-) ) rider.

BVC Friday - 4th and 3rd

Three races tonight: 4th in 30 lap Scratch, 1st eliminated in Elimination to Scratch and 3rd in 4x10 Points race.

In the 30 lap Scratch race I hung out at the back for the first two thirds of the race and then bridged up to the lead group with about 6 laps to go. Just got on when they ramped up the speed (52kph avg) for 2 laps. I think that was a premature move and the leaders couldn't keep it up, they slowed down to a (relatively) modest 46kph avg with 2 laps to go. I was able to get underneath and follow the fast group make their move into the last 1.5 lap sprint, got over top the slowest rider to get 4th.

Next was an Elimination to Scratch. I wasn't aggressive enough and got locked out on the first sprint...


The final race was a 4x10 Points race (40 laps, 4 sprints). My goal was to hang on for the first two sprints and see if I could do anything in the last two after the other riders started to tire out.

But beggars can't be choosers :-) After 8 laps, with 2 laps to go for the first sprint, the field (pretty much the entire group, 10 out of 14 riders..) slowed down and to a man went up to the Blue line. I was at the back of this group, just above the sprinters lane, just at the beginning of the straightway, about 40m from the finish line. So I jumped from the back underneath everyone. Weird move. But totally unexpected.

And it worked, I got a good gap (apparently about 5m). And just rode it out. Thirty seconds, average power 614 watts, max 841 watts.. Someone actually tried to get around me at the finish line with one lap to go (stupid move on his part) but lacked the power to pull over top, and I maintained the lead to get 1st in the 1st sprint..

That was several matches burnt though. I was off the back for the next two sprints. But managed to get back into the front group (3 other riders) with about 6 laps to go. We gapped the field and maintained that until the final lap. The field did bridge back up and catch us with exactly 1 lap to go, but didn't manage to get around us. I was able to get up and over one other rider and take 3rd for that sprint. Which gave me 3rd overall.

Adnan has tips on dressing for cold...

Adnan's has a nice discussion of Dressing for cold weather.

How, what and why to keep warm, must reading for anyone in the Northern Hemisphere whose coach makes them train outside at this time of year.

Update: less than an hour after putting up this post, I saw the following at Pez, the Weather Warrior. Which is a little vest for in between days (too warm to carrier a wind vest, but not quite warm enough that you won't need one at some point in your ride..)

BVC Structured Workout - Flying 500's

Four rep's Flying 500. Then 25 minute Tempo/L3 workout with 10 minutes at Threshold/L4 (average speed about 41kph). Finished with 20 minutes endurance/L2 and cool down.

The first 3 Flying 500's where with 50x15 (about 87"). I switched to 50x14 (93") for the last and left that on for the Tempo and Endurance workouts.

I still find that gearing (50x14) more comfortable and seem to be able to get a higher average wattage for longer with it. Even though it was the 4th attempt, the last with the bigger gear was had the best average speed (53kph compared to 52.5, 52.8 and 51.2). And the 10 minutes I spent at L4 felt easier than previous nights. I could cruise along at 42 fairly easily, breathing hard (not heavy). And if I dropped back to 40 I wasn't even breathing hard...

BVC Structured Workout - Point-a-lap Drill

Nice workout today. Three point-a-lap drills. Pace line maintains about 36-38kph, man on front goes at best speed until he catches up. Next person on front goes.

Typically about 50 seconds to 1.5 minutes depending on sprint speed and how fast the pace line is going.


Best Sprint:

Duration: 0:55
Work: 24 kJ
TSS: 3.5 (intensity factor 1.524)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 709 m
Elevation Gain: 1 m
Elevation Loss: 4 m
Grade: -0.4 % (-3 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 162 851 428 watts
Heart rate: 0 0 0 bpm
Cadence: 78 130 109 rpm
Speed: 35.1 55.9 46.4 kph
Pace 1:04 1:43 1:18 min/km
Altitude: 129 132 130 m
Crank Torque: 16.1 74.5 36.9 N-m
Temperature: 16 16 16.0 Celsius

Hopefully I can get some good workouts in this weekend, ATL dropped precipitously because of missed Saturday and low numbers on Sunday...

Computrainer 10k TT and Erg workout

It was raining (and I was too tired...) to get up for the Velovets 10K TT on Saturday morning. Today would have required a wet suit to go out (although when I went out to the store I saw three mountain bikers climbing up Heritage Mtn in the rain, silly mountain bikers :-) ).

I did get a chance to get on the Computrainer for a bit. So did the Computrainer 10k TT, not great time, 15:57. And then Adnan's Three minute Seven Hill Erg workout (7 reps of 3 minutes at 200, then 3 minute ramp from 200 to 290, with 15 minute warmup and 18 minute cooldown.)

BVC Friday Races - a 4th

Three races, all fast...

4x4 Win-and-out. I didn't get out... finished near the end of the pack. Hadn't had an adequate warmup... and this was a short (16 lap) race.. so just used it as a (hard) warm up. Tony Zachary took first.

25 lap Point-a-lap. This moved along at a very fast pace, 44.8 kph average speed! Not the highest I've seen in B group, but fairly close (we did an 80 lap Points race at the six day last year that averaged 45.6!)

25 lap Point-a-Lap:

Duration: 7:27
Work: 145 kJ
TSS: 15.4 (intensity factor 1.115)
Norm Power: 346
VI: 1.06
Distance: 5.566 km
Elevation Gain: 9 m
Elevation Loss: 16 m
Grade: -0.1 % (-7 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 789 325 watts
Heart rate: 0 0 0 bpm
Cadence: 31 130 106 rpm
Speed: 17.8 54.7 44.8 kph
Pace 1:06 3:22 1:20 min/km
Altitude: 122 129 126 m
Crank Torque: 0 67.8 29.0 N-m
Temperature: 18 19 18.9 Celsius

At about lap 18 I was part of a small dropped group with about 4-5 fast riders in the lead group. I managed to bridge back up to them. Then after a short half lap went through that group to get a point. I kept going and it became apparent that there was no-one behind me... They apparently where all bagged as I went on to get the next 4 lap points as well.

At the line with one lap to go I was pretty much all out, could hear riders behind me, pushed to get that point and then went up track to let them by... And there was really only one rider (I think Iona Wynter Parks, Team Colavita) close! If I had known I could (well maybe...) have kept on their draft and taken another point at the finish (double points for final lap, 2 for first and 1 for second.)



Ended up with a 4th... score one for being able to go long and hard after doing the bridge!



Final race was a 35 lap Scratch. A little slower 42.5 kph average speed, but unlike last week everyone attached and kept the pace up straight through to the finish. Tony Zachary managed a great sprint from about 5 riders back to take first. I was watching from the far side, too bagged to try and keep up with the sprinters on their final lap..

We have out of town visitors this weekend... So probably won't be able to get back on the bike until Monday.. Then Tuesday will be doing BVC Structured workout (Whistle drill again...). Goal is to push high end (L4-L6) and just maintain CTL at or near where it is now through Oct/Nov.

With luck (well more like with hard work) come out next spring with FTP near where it was last season (320 watts) but with 5 sec and 1 minute power numbers way up.

Update 2007-10-26: apparently I got a 2nd in the Point-a-lap... Nick Berry was first.

Pez Toolbox - Zone 3 Syndrome

Pez Toolbox has another good training article.

I know my coach will see this and say I told you so....

But I don't think I'm guilty of all six of the diagnostic questions...

The Zone 3 Syndrome- by Josh Horowitz

The best way to train is by going as hard as you can for as long as you can on every ride you do, right? As we begin the off-season in the northern hemisphere, let’s start a periodic series on the idea of base training. First up, we discuss the dreaded “Zone 3 Plateau” and how to begin getting out of the cycle of constant hammering.

The point is well made that you need to train fast to go fast, if you spend all of your time doing L3 then you just get good at doing L3. You need to spend time in your higher zones and you need to speed time in your lower zones to allow ample recovery time to allow your body to adapt.

I take heart that at this point in the season I'm switching to mostly track riding because we have an indoor track locally. That is getting me a fair amount of work at higher levels. And on the occasional days outside it tends to be to cold to go hard..

BVC Workout - 3 x 500m TT

Wednesday night at the track. Wanted to try doing 500m TT, to get some base times. Three tries, two 48x15 and one 50x15. All about 41 +/1 1 second. It's hard to get really good numbers as I didn't have a starter, so have to get clipped in etc. Also I'm using computers idea of 500m, which is probably a little low..

I think that a new 500m TT record for my age group, 50-54 was set yesterday at the World Masters Track event in Sydney. That shows David La Grys finishing in 34.138, average speed of 52.73! The previous best was Ray Simonson, 34.834 in 2002.


My second attempt using 48x15 was highest overall wattage:

500m TT #2 48x15:

Duration: 0:41
Work: 23 kJ
TSS: 4.4 (intensity factor 1.964)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 508 m
Elevation Gain: 0 m
Elevation Loss: 1 m
Grade: -0.2 % (-1 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 802 565 watts
Heart rate: 107 180 158 bpm
Cadence: 33 132 110 rpm
Speed: 13.3 53.2 44.6 kph
Pace 1:08 4:31 1:21 min/km
Altitude: 128 129 128 m
Crank Torque: 0 100.6 52.1 N-m
Temperature: 18 18 18.0 Celsius

The best try (although still within the margin of error) was the last using 50x15. Maximum watts where lower (which makes sense, the highest watts are in the initial half lap and it's harder to ramp up the bigger gear) but the average watts where higher (579 vs. 565). Although again, probably within the margin of error for a test this short. Max cadence was also a little lower (I'm not great on high cadence power.)

500m TT #3 50x15:

Duration: 0:40
Work: 23 kJ
TSS: 4.5 (intensity factor 2.007)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 507 m
Elevation Gain: 1 m
Elevation Loss: 3 m
Grade: -0.4 % (-2 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 19 732 579 watts
Heart rate: 122 179 155 bpm
Cadence: 26 127 106 rpm
Speed: 18.7 54.3 45.6 kph
Pace 1:06 3:13 1:19 min/km
Altitude: 127 130 128 m
Crank Torque: 7 108.8 53.4 N-m
Temperature: 17 17 17.0 Celsius

I have two problems to solve. First getting my short term (5-10 second) max wattage up. Second being able to get my cadence much higher. I tend to top out at 130RPM... I need to move that *wayyyy* up. Some of the sprinters at BVC can get over 200RPM... Don't know if they can get peak power out way up there. But certainly their peak is much higher than 130!

Another note, the Ergomo can't give a TSS number for workouts this short. It was showing TSS as 0 or 1. WKO+ correctly computes the TSS, showing 4.5 for the 40 second effort.

If you could do this once every three minutes (hah!) you would still be under 100 TSS for one hour. Which is of course the definition of FTP, you get 100 TSS if you maintain your FTP (functional threshold power) for one hour (and FTP is by definition the power you *can* maintain for one hour in a TT type event.)

BVC Structured Workout - Whistle Drill - 48x15

Missed workout yesterday. Combination of work and other commitments and weather...

Today's forecast was rain as well, so I decided to go to the Tuesday morning track session. There was a structured workout so I did that. Whistle Drill, which means sit on the blue line, wait for whistle, then (after shoulder check) drop to sprinters lane and sprint until the next whistle. Three sessions (5, 8 and 8 minutes).

Harder than it sounds... here is sample session.

Golden Ears - 3.5 hour endurance

Nothing exciting, just a 3.5 hour endurance ride. Out to Golden Ears park and back.

Did have some mechanical problems, the lock ring on the cassette decided to unlock... So the small 11 cog came loose. Put it back together, did it again... So put it back together again and then stayed out of that gear (not hard really on an endurance ride).

Entire workout (161 watts):

Duration: 3:47:57 (4:05:18)
Work: 2208 kJ
TSS: 178.5 (intensity factor 0.685)
Norm Power: 212
VI: 1.32
Distance: 95.147 km
Elevation Gain: 1159 m
Elevation Loss: 1148 m
Grade: 0.0 % (11 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 765 161 watts
Heart rate: 0 0 0 bpm
Cadence: 25 107 65 rpm
Speed: 1.8 52.6 25.0 kph
Pace 1:08 33:20 2:24 min/km
Altitude: 55 371 145 m
Crank Torque: 0 105.6 24.3 N-m
Temperature: 14 22 18.3 Celsius

Anmore Tour - endurance/tempo

Anmore Tour extended version, mostly endurance / tempo pace.


Entire workout (171 watts):

Duration: 2:46:42 (2:47:57)
Work: 1705 kJ
TSS: 166.7 (intensity factor 0.775)
Norm Power: 240
VI: 1.41
Distance: 54.533 km
Elevation Gain: 1572 m
Elevation Loss: 1565 m
Grade: 0.0 % (7 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 886 171 watts
Heart rate: 0 0 0 bpm
Cadence: 24 136 58 rpm
Speed: 1.8 59.5 19.6 kph
Pace 1:01 33:20 3:03 min/km
Altitude: 18 288 126 m
Crank Torque: 0 113.7 29.2 N-m
Temperature: 14 18 15.8 Celsius

BVC Friday - no wins

As predicted, B group is very fast, and building. Thirteen riders tonight..

First race was an Elim-2-scratch, I got boxed into the sprinters lane and was first out :-(

Second race was 4x10 points race. Again fast paced. I think I managed to squeak out a 4th in the first sprint. The rest of the race I was just trying to stay near the front. But there where always at least 4-5 faster riders leading out for the sprint. Avg and norm power numbers did move up a bit from last week.

Points 4x10:

Duration: 12:00
Work: 211 kJ
TSS: 20.8 (intensity factor 1.02)
Norm Power: 316
VI: 1.08
Distance: 8.7 km
Elevation Gain: 18 m
Elevation Loss: 17 m
Grade: 0.0 % (1 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 740 294 watts
Heart rate: 110 182 171 bpm
Cadence: 40 123 101 rpm
Speed: 12.6 53.2 43.5 kph
Pace 1:08 4:46 1:23 min/km
Altitude: 127 131 129 m
Crank Torque: 0 67.9 27.6 N-m
Temperature: 17 17 17.0 Celsius

Final race was a 25 lap scratch race. No one wanted to get a pace line going, there where 2 or 3 attempted breaks that we managed to bridge back up to. I ended up at the front with 6 laps to go, way up above the blue line, with no-one wanting to pass or make a move. I knew that Anthony King was close behind so I dived down with about 3.5 laps to go and lead him out. He really enjoyed that, coming around with a half lap to take first.

Scratch 25 lap:

Duration: 7:52
Work: 147 kJ
TSS: 15.6 (intensity factor 1.09)
Norm Power: 338
VI: 1.09
Distance: 5.537 km
Elevation Gain: 11 m
Elevation Loss: 15 m
Grade: -0.1 % (-4 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 42 743 311 watts
Heart rate: 125 184 170 bpm
Cadence: 40 121 98 rpm
Speed: 21.7 52.2 42.2 kph
Pace 1:09 2:46 1:25 min/km
Altitude: 125 129 127 m
Crank Torque: 4.3 65.7 30.2 N-m
Temperature: 16 16 16.0 Celsius

This did give me some nice power numbers over 1-2 minutes. But at the end I was down to 323 watts, need to be able to do 400 for one minute.

Final Sprint:

Duration: 0:55
Work: 25 kJ
TSS: 3.7 (intensity factor 1.555)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 747 m
Elevation Gain: 0 m
Elevation Loss: 2 m
Grade: -0.3 % (-2 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 237 743 460 watts
Heart rate: 173 184 180 bpm
Cadence: 95 121 113 rpm
Speed: 41.1 52.2 48.9 kph
Pace 1:09 1:28 1:14 min/km
Altitude: 125 127 125 m
Crank Torque: 23.8 64.1 38.7 N-m
Temperature: 16 16 16.0 Celsius

Coggan Training Levels - from two-wheel blog

Nice overview of Coggan (L1-L7) training levels over on two-wheel blog.

This is also covered in the Cyclists training bible (my blog post here), but this is a nice explanation with some new observations.

Ergomo Display - updated

Robert Jordan has a nice overview of how he is changing his ergomo display here.

And I previously blogged about it here. But realized that after using the new display I ended up changing it again, and that I've been happy with that for several months now. So I thought I would update here.

The Ergomo has two display screens accessed by the top orange button.

Note that the middle line containing watts and speed is the same on both screens. This is the most important (usually) information, and I find it slightly easier to find and read in the middle line.

I view the main display as my "working" screen, showing:

cadence, grade,
watts, speed,
average watts, average speed,
trip time, trip distance

The main display is what I normally use when racing or time trialling. It gives me the current conditions (grade, speed, watts, cadence etc.)



And the alternate display is the "training screen":

heart rate, total climbing
watts, speed
normalized watts, TSS
trip time, clock time

The alternate display is what I spend most time in when training... So I can monitor heart rate, work done (TSS), amount climbed etc. Also shows wall clock time so I know when I'm late for dinner.

Actually having wall clock time is also important for getting to the start line for time trials... just make sure that you keep it accurate and check with the official starter to see if his "official" time is different.

BVC Tempo / L3 - 1:14

Got into a pace line with Murray Soelim, ended up going for 1:14... Good L3 workout.

Entire workout (250 watts):

Duration: 1:14:37
Work: 1119 kJ
TSS: 91.2 (intensity factor 0.856)
Norm Power: 265
VI: 1.06
Distance: 47.086 km
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 654 250 watts
Heart rate: 0 0 0 bpm
Cadence: 24 111 92 rpm
Speed: 1.8 46 37.9 kph
Pace 1:18 33:20 1:35 min/km
Crank Torque: 0 76.2 25.6 N-m

Best 30 minutes was 40.5kph, with best 60 minutes not too far back with 39.7kph.. Still low wattage numbers though compared to TT on the road.

Tomorrow is a rest day. Back to the track on Friday for 2nd race night of the fall series.

Pez reviews Bontrager Aeolus 5.0

I know I like my Aeolus 6.5's, here is what Pez says about the 5.0.

My defining moment with aero wheels came unexpectedly, quickly, and at surprisingly low speed. It happened at the Amstel Gold cyclosportif ride in April, as I was coasting along chatting to some other riders. It made a believer outta me – both in aero wheels – and these Bontrager Aeolus 5.0 carbon clinchers…

Go here for the full review PezCycling

BVC Testing - 2k

BVC Coach Jeremie Storie was doing testing at the track this morning as part of the masters structured workouts.

Just a 2k (10 lap) effort at VO2Max.

2k test:

Duration: 2:49
Work: 61 kJ
TSS: 6.3 (intensity factor 1.156)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 2.067 km
Min Max Avg
Power: 246 486 358 watts
Heart rate: 0 0 0 bpm
Cadence: 96 110 104 rpm
Speed: 41.1 46.8 44.0 kph
Pace 1:17 1:28 1:22 min/km
Crank Torque: 24.5 44.7 32.9 N-m

I'm still surprised at how hard I find it to maintain this power level over this short a distance on the track compared to (e.g. Ryder) TT for 8-10k distances. Not sure if it is bike positioning or fit, or just fixed gear versus normal etc.

Also did a warm up and then a 30 minute tempo workout.

And of course because I got up early and went to the track the predicted 1" of rain never materialized...

Ford Road - L3, FTP lower

It was raining when I got up, but cleared by mid-afternoon. So I was able to get in a 2:30 ride. Ford Road, Tempo. Nice boost to CTL.


Entire workout (170 watts):

Duration: 2:28:08 (2:37:53)
Work: 1513 kJ
TSS: 128.2 (intensity factor 0.721)
Norm Power: 223
VI: 1.31
Distance: 60.766 km
Elevation Gain: 565 m
Elevation Loss: 581 m
Grade: -0.0 % (-16 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 600 170 watts
Heart rate: 0 0 0 bpm
Cadence: 25 100 68 rpm
Speed: 1.6 55.2 24.6 kph
Pace 1:05 37:30 2:26 min/km
Altitude: 58 363 112 m
Crank Torque: 0 112.2 25.2 N-m
Temperature: 12 21 13.6 Celsius

After reviewing the last months training and the Mt. Washington HC I suspect that my mid-summer FTP (320 watts) has dropped a bit. I'm guessing 310, probably from about the first week or two of September. This of course makes keeping CTL up a little easier... but of course indicates a loss of overall fitness.

Comparing two track races (year to year)

Two similar track races... Point-a-Lap from last December compared to the Tempo from Friday. Slightly longer and faster race (8:58/7:18 45.1/43.5kph) . Power about 20 watts higher on average.

This was probably the peak of last falls track season. So probably not quite a fair comparison. But worth doing if I want to know where I need to get to fairly quickly.


Avg Watts for the Point-a-Lap was 331 with NP 354.


So Avg watts at 309 and NP at 328 seems a little bit down..

Anmore Tour - Endurance (raining, cold)

VVV 10k TT ended up as a no-show. Only 3 riders turned up (and about another 4-5 to help but not ride...) Nobody wanted to go out and get wet... including us... So we voted to postpone.

Picked up some new and water resistant (well more so) booties and neoprene gloves and went out to do an endurance ride. Just to get some miles in. Still got wet and cold. But at least I managed to last for two hours...

Did Anmore Tour as it never gets that far from home. I could always abandon and get home in under 30 minutes... Ford Road would have been more enjoyable, but it gets me up to an hour or more away from home depending on which way I do it. And doing an hour+ if you get too cold is just miserable..

I think the forecast for tomorrow is for more of the same.. hope the shoes, gloves and over boots dry out over night :-)

Back to the track - going to be a tough series

First night of the BVC Weekly Track Racing for the fall. There where about 10 riders in each of A, B and C/Novice.

Our B group has a bunch of new and fast riders. We started out with a 4 lap Chariot Race. Five up and I only managed to get 3rd. So only got to try for the consolation round and then only manged 2nd.. I think I was under geared (50x15), I was leading the sprint through the last lap and could feel that I was a max RPM (125) but not going fast enough to hold off the two younger guys on my tail.

4 Lap Chariot (3rd):

Duration: 1:05
Work: 31 kJ
TSS: 3.9 (intensity factor 1.46)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 857 m
Elevation Gain: 1 m
Elevation Loss: 2 m
Grade: -0.1 % (-1 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 8 738 470 watts
Heart rate: 125 177 163 bpm
Cadence: 57 125 112 rpm
Speed: 26.8 53.6 47.5 kph
Pace 1:07 2:14 1:16 min/km
Altitude: 129 131 130 m
Crank Torque: 0.7 98.5 41.4 N-m
Temperature: 19 19 19.0 Celsius

Second race was a 25 Lap Tempo race. Two points for first and one point for second for every lap. I swapped the big ring so I was on a 51x15, about 92inches. Managed to stay at the front and take a fair number of 2nd places and a few firsts. Average speed was high for B's, 43.5kph. For the most part everyone else was coming up and taking 1-2 firsts and then dropping back. So I managed a 2nd place.

25 Lap Temp (2nd):

Duration: 7:18
Work: 135 kJ
TSS: 12.8 (intensity factor 1.025)
Norm Power: 328
VI: 1.06
Distance: 5.295 km
Elevation Gain: 11 m
Elevation Loss: 12 m
Grade: -0.0 % (-1 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 713 309 watts
Heart rate: 0 181 170 bpm
Cadence: 40 122 101 rpm
Speed: 9.6 52.9 43.5 kph
Pace 1:08 6:15 1:23 min/km
Altitude: 128 131 130 m
Crank Torque: 0 66.1 29.1 N-m
Temperature: 19 19 19.0 Celsius

Final race was a 30 lap Scratch race. I was doing well and keeping a reasonably good position and then managed to get boxed in for the final lap sprint. So only got 5th.

30 Lap Scratch (4th):

Duration: 9:29
Work: 153 kJ
TSS: 13.5 (intensity factor 0.924)
Norm Power: 296
VI: 1.1
Distance: 6.543 km
Elevation Gain: 8 m
Elevation Loss: 9 m
Grade: -0.0 % (-1 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 694 269 watts
Heart rate: 0 184 170 bpm
Cadence: 38 127 96 rpm
Speed: 20.9 55.5 41.4 kph
Pace 1:05 2:52 1:27 min/km
Altitude: 129 131 130 m
Crank Torque: 0 67.9 26.7 N-m
Temperature: 17 18 17.8 Celsius

Typically things pick up after the first few weeks ... so it looks like this will be a very competitive series. We could end up with a very large B group. In theory 20 is the max for the size of the track. But anything over 15 for weekly races is a bit dicey. Hopefully there will be another group added (D or B+/A-?) if there are too many riders.

Assuming the weather holds (two gorgeous fall days in a row, with me taking one day off and one day on the track.. figures) the final VVV 10k tomorrow morning. That will be fun after the racing tonight...

MacGyver Ergomo Mount

My impression over the past few track sessions was that my power was a little low. So I did some preliminary bike fit changes. This involved swapping the stem which also meant swapping the bars, getting new bar tape etc (I had the stem and bars, easier to swap than to get a new stem...) to move the bars out and up.

Of course this meant that I got to the track tonight without a mount for the Ergomo...





So we now present the MacGyver Ergomo Bike mount.









Did three sessions, endurance/tempo paced. just getting the track legs back.

Entire workout (218 watts):

Duration: 1:35:41 (2:52:38)
Work: 1252 kJ
TSS: 92.5 (intensity factor 0.762)
Norm Power: 244
VI: 1.12
Distance: 56.802 km
Elevation Gain: 212 m
Elevation Loss: 85 m
Grade: 0.2 % (127 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 729 218 watts
Heart rate: 0 0 0 bpm
Cadence: 24 121 87 rpm
Speed: 0 51.5 35.6 kph
Pace 1:10 0:00 1:41 min/km
Altitude: 32 163 104 m
Crank Torque: 0 70.7 23.4 N-m
Temperature: 17 21 19.4 Celsius

KtownLong 56k = Computrainer

The rainy season has indeed arrived in Vancouver :-(

So back to the Computrainer today. Did KtownLong56k, a rolling course, moderate climbing as endurance ride.

Entire workout (191 watts):

Duration: 1:45:09
Work: 1230 kJ
TSS: 69.8 (intensity factor 0.631)
Norm Power: 202
VI: 1.04
Distance: 55.819 km
Elevation Gain: 585 m
Elevation Loss: 597 m
Grade: -0.0 % (-7 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 519 195 watts
Cadence: 3 108 82 rpm
Speed: 0 46.5 31.9 kph
Pace 1:17 0:00 1:53 min/km
Altitude: -16 85 34 m
Crank Torque: 0 92.3 22.7 N-m

Tomorrow it's back to the track to get ready for the start of the BVC Friday racing which starts this Friday.

Computrainer 3d Software - new and improved with TSS/IF/NP

Racermate put out new 3d and coaching software updates over the summer:

Software download

Of note, the 3d software has several new options.

First you can specify a "drag factor" percentage in the race window. Default is 100%. The intent (I think) is to allow for more reasonable numbers if you are simulating a more aero position...

Second you can now re-calibrate during a session. Simply use F1 to pause. Then F3 will get you to the normal calibration setting in the handlebar unit. Redo calibration (spin up to over 25, coast, save etc..) then F1 to restart.

Finally you can now enable display of TSS/IF/NP numbers. Look in the options screen and check the TSS/IF/NP box. Don't forget to edit your athlete profile and specify an FTP.

Computrainer charts.ini

For coaching software, you can get an auto-export of the converted CDF file (which you need for import to WKO+) by editing the charts.ini file:

autoexport=true