Sunday, December 13, 2009

BVC Racing, Computrainer


Friday was the last of the fall series... three nice races, Elimination, 30 lap Scratch and 5x10 Points.. not that I was competitive, but probably my best efforts for the last month or two... I was on my training wheel as the disc was at home with a flat. So moved from my typical 50x14 (93.1") to 52x15 (90.4") and that actually felt like a reasonable gearing.

Lungs starting to feel better, GP gave me s stronger puffer, Alvesco, to help get the bronchitis under control. And also some Naproxen for the shoulders (its the next step up from Ibuprofen apparently... still prescription in BC, but OTC in the rest of Canada and US...) So that is letting me get a little more focussed.


Did an easy two hour L2 ride on the Computrainer yesterday (75TSS).

Today an L3/L4 workout today (130TSS). First Adnan's Three minute hill repeats (erg mode, power setting 200 moving to 300 over three minutes, then three minutes at 200, repeat eight times.) I tried to do the L3/L4 efforts at a cadence of 100+ with reasonable success for the first five or six...

Then another 20 minutes of my 2k loop as L4 and then 20 minutes cool down.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Getting things running again


Busy, sick, work, and multiple computer crashes... what a fun month...

The bad news (other than being sick) was my new (July this year) Vista box crashed and burned a couple of weeks ago.. What looked like a bad hard drive turned out after buying a replacement (did you know you can't get 1TB drives anymore... 1.5TB is all of $119CDN though) to be a bad MB. The hard disk controller. Windows Install DVD wouldn't even recognize the new drive to install on it.

But by the time I got the MB replaced the old drives where corrupted enough that Vista wouldn't boot. So I installed Win7 on the new 1.5TB drive... Two weeks Plus later and I'm still looking for things to re-install. I do have most of my old files AND the older stuff from my (still running) WinXP box (prior to July 2009)...

Interestingly, the new 2008 Excel under Vista didn't like my spreadsheet for generating the TSB graphic and PMC chart ... But under Win7 it looks like it may be working again. Not quite working but possibly close enough that I can start generating the PMC chart again.. (TSB was ok).

Between work and reinstalling I also spent another week and a half off the bike in November. Another "cold" and again bronchitis...

And I've been running around to Xmas parties and planning meetings for next years Road Racing...

So CTL is still low.... and I'm still either getting lapped if I race in the A's (last week) or just managing to stay at the back in the B's (this week)...

Anyway, last night I was at the track. B group. Forgot the Ergomo. So est 75TSS for the night.

Today I was back on the Computrainer. My ever favourite 2kloop. Which gives me a nice L3 ride with some small "hills" to sprint on for 20-30 seconds.


Sunday, November 8, 2009

Computrainer - Track simulation


It was a Computrainer weekend. The Soloist is still at the shop with the busted derailleur. And I didn't feel like sorting out some training wheels for the TT bike just to go out in the cold wet rain...

Yesterday I did an hour plus L2/L3 ride. At least according to the CT numbers. But really it felt a lot harder. Only 73TSS points for an hour and fifteen minutes. But I could barely walk after..

Today for fun I built a Track simulation 3d course. 200m, flat about the right dimensions....

This was fairly interesting. I did my normal "paced" type ride. I.e. set the CT pacer going with its constant wattage and then just try and stay in its draft. Again this felt harder and for what should have been equivalent to the track, a lot slower. Normally an easy pace spinning around would be about 35-38kph. The CT with about 200w was only getting me about 29-30kph.

I then tried to do the equivalent of a Take-a-lap drill. Normally at the track the group goes around at about 33-35kph and when the coach whistles the front person jumps off the front and rides hard until he catches up to the back of the group. Usually, depending on how fast you go, about 3-4 laps, 50-70 seconds.

When I tried this on the CT I basically failed miserably. Very hard to moderate the power to something I could hold and then just wasn't going fast enough. Even though the starting speed was only 28 I only was able to push and hold about 38 and just never made it all the way around.

So then I changed the drag to 50% AND lowered the pacer wattage to about 125 Watts... So it was only going about 25kph. Even then I was only JUST able to get around and then die...

Not quite sure what this says about the CT.. We know that the power numbers "seem" low. But here what we see is the speed for both power AND Perceived Effort being to low. I have never failed to catch the group in a take-a-lap drill on the track. Here I failed miserably with lower emulated speed and watts and higher perceived efforts.

A very good workout. I just would like to know if I can believe the numbers or should bias them up. Before it was easy to say that perhaps the Ergomo was too high... But here is some empirical, although still somewhat subjective, evidence that the CT "game physics" is not quite right.


Saturday, November 7, 2009

BVC Friday - Back to B

It was back to the B group this week. I had been racing in the A's just to get a longer workout and fill in the numbers a bit. But there where record numbers out on Friday (16A, 20B, 16C, 6N) so they didn't need any extra people up there, especially people who wouldn't be able to keep up and would be getting lapped, repeatedly...


Even in the B's the low CTL and negative TSB meant I was just doing my thing at the back of the bus. Fun racing. But no real change to do much with my present state of fitness.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Pez on Warm up

Pez has a good summary of warm up requirements here.


While he is using Cross and running late due to shorter daylight hours etc etc.... One of the studies he references is about tests using a 3km TT.

The results are not astounding but worth repeating:
In summary, any kind of moderate to hard warm-up seems infinitely preferable to no warm-up at all. Therefore, set your departure time and stick to it! Also, do whatever you need to in order to trim and optimize your on-site preparation so that you’re not fiddling away precious time once you arrive.
I know that I always seem to find a million things to do other than getting on the bike and getting warmed up... And typically don't want to fatigue myself and probably then don't do enough Tempo.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Computrainer ERG files

See here for a large number of Computrainer ERG workout files from Velotraining with a writeup here.

He has ERG workout files for many of the common workouts (e.g. L3 2x20 minutes) and then generated customized versions of them based on your FTP. Where FTP is anywhere from 100 watts to 500 watts. Each workout has an appropriate warmup and cool down.

You can also see the workout chart for each.


This is L3 3x20 @ 76-90%.



Sunday, November 1, 2009

JRA - Exploding derailleurs


Bummer, half way across the Golden Ears Bridge, JRA (Just Riding Along) and all of a sudden the rear wheel skids to an abrupt halt. Upon inspection I see the dérailleur hanging from the chain jammed into the spokes of my training wheel! The hanger broke allowing it to get pulled around the cassette. Fortunately neither of the stays OR the wheel seems to have been damaged. I think just replace the dérailleur and chain ...

Friday night I was back at the track for three hard races with the A's... I'm still really out classed there. I should be racing in the B's.. But the A's seemed to need some more riders to fill things in a bit (pack fodder) and where doing longer races than the B's so I stayed with them to get a better workout. Still bloody embarrassing putting in many many laps off the back ...

I did manage to get some points in the first face. It was a Tempo and for some reason the pack let me jump off the front and take the first five laps... I think they where just being kind and knew that it wouldn't really matter HOW many laps I got... And of course they where right, that got my wind up so I was not even able to hang in with them as they sped by.


Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Peter Reichman 1943 -- 2009

Peter Reichman 1943 -- 2009
Long-time cyclist, race director and friend to many Vancouver Velo Vet, BCMCA and Burnaby Velodrome members, Peter Reichman died on October 18.


Peter had been recovering from the "brain event" that surfaced late this summer when riding in the race up Seymour Mountain. A tough competitor and strong supporter of masters cycling, Peter will be missed by the cycling community

REICHMAN - Peter February 6th, 1943 - October 18th, 2009 Peter is survived by his partner Peggy Riley, daughters Kathi (Rodney Galetti) and Kim (Scott Ashe), stepson David Gheriani and stepdaughter Sarah Gheriani, grandchildren Brandon, Ryan, and Sotia. Peter will be fondly remembered by his family and friends. Since his retirement in 1999, Peter has been able to enjoy cycling with the Vancouver Velo Vets, BC Masters Cycling Association, and Burnaby Velodrome Club. A celebration of his life was be held at Boal Chapel, 1505 Lillooet Road, North Vancouver, BC on Monday, October 26th 2009 at 2:00 P.m. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Neaves Road - L3


Out to Neaves Rd in Pitt Meadows. The new Pitt River Bridge open in both directions now, including the bike lane... Mainly doing about an hours worth of L3, then some short hill climbs in Westwood on the way home. Didn't get all the way up Westwood though as the temperature dropped from about 9C to about 3C within minutes when the Sun set. So I went half way up and then scooted across on Panorama Dr. before I froze to death.

Friday, October 23, 2009

BVC Friday NIght - A group - still out the back

More A group racing.... 15 lap Scratch and 4x10 Points race. Not so many of the really fast young guys... but still 10 people. And fast enough. I'm still fairly weak from my month off so pretty much just out the back. Only lapped once in the Points race though :-)

Thursday, October 22, 2009

BVC Workout - Whistle Drill, some SST


Last night was two SST hill climbs. Twice up Westwood. About 16 and 17 minutes respectively. Not too bad for coolish day (10C) with winter training tires etc. PB this summer was 15 even. About 130TSS points.

Tonight was BVC Workout. Whistle drill for three sessions. Then 10 minutes at SST, then about 15 minutes SST.

The extended time off has pushed CTL way down (hit about 40)... Now pushing back up. ATL has swung and that is pushing TSB negative. I suspect that the next few weeks I'll not be terribly competitive on Friday nights. Especially if the juniors keep showing up. The B group looks better all the time.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

BVC Friday NIght - A group - out the back


So after watching from the sidelines while a nice comfy A group race for the first three weeks... I get out for my first night and think, well A might be ok.. And then Jacob Swingboth and Cody Campbell show up (both National Junior Track Champs...) And me at a very low ebb in training... so out the back was I.

Anyway. I"ll see what the signup is like next week... Dave Kosick is doing well in the B's so maybe that would be a better spot :-)

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Back to the track...

Well actually I was back two weeks ago... nice workout, but then at exactly 15 minutes after midnight... the nose felt funny and by 12:30... cold... That has now done what colds always do caused bronchitis to flair up.


But anyway, not infectious, not really sick. So time to get back on the bike. I did an easy L2/L3 ride on the weekend (Ford Road.).

Tonight was the Wednesday BVC Structured Workout. Two sets of groups of four doing four laps tempo and then one sprinting. Then finished with take-a-half lap whistle drill with the group split into two groups of eight.
Finished with about 20 minutes of SST paceline work. Bruce Denis and a couple of other people, doing 42+ kmh workout. Last four-five minutes moving up to 44.

I've missed the first three weeks of the Friday nighters... Will get back out this Friday.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Home Wind Tunnel Kit at Costco!

Available now at your local CostCo...


When I saw this at CostCo today I couldn't help think that at last someone was finally making a Home Wind Tunnel Kit for doing low cost Time Trial aero testing... Given the number of Tri-athletes around these days you never know, it could happen.

Alas the tunnel portion appears to be only about 12" across... and at $649 ($449 today with $200 coupon!!!!) probably not quite what I'm hoping for.


Track Racing starts this week, time to set goals for next year

But I'm taking a week off... at least...


BVC is starting the Fall track series a week or two early this year.... after we pushed the road season late into September and I did the BC Senior Games...

And we are having unseasonably warm weather.... the last few days would have counted as a heat wave most summers in Vancouver...

Sigh :-(

Anyway, I'm staying off the bike until probably next week. Maybe, if the the weather holds I'll do a social ride on the weekend... just to keep the legs limber... Can't actually remember the last time I went on a social ride.

I will be at the track on Friday for the racing... Pick up the results and I got voted onto the BVC Board, first meeting this Friday after racing.

Also time to think of goals for next year..
Need to determine goals for 2010... So I can start working on them ....
  1. Higher FTP for TT
  2. Higher one minute power for RR
  3. Extend RR endurance from 1.5 hour to 2 plus hours
I'm hoping to get more weekly practice TT's happening locally next year and a couple more TT races. That will both help build FTP and benefit from a higher FTP.

The second and third goals would (hopefully) get me fast enough to actually get on the podium for some Cat 4 type races. I was reasonably good at staying with the peloton this year in the sanctioned races, only to get dropped either at the last sprint hill or during the final sprint.

Or just running out of gas, especially on hot days with lots of Anaerobic and Endurance work. Dove Creek RR being a good example.. Pulled everyone around and ended up with leg cramps in the last lap..

It may be an idea to do the "B" group in Spring Series next year. They race between 80 and 120 km (C only does about 60-70.)


Saturday, September 19, 2009

BC Senior Games Wrapup - 2 Gold, 1 Bronze


BC Senior Games finished... results the same as the Comox weekend earlier this summer. I finished 1st for TT and HC, 3rd for the RR. Bill Yearwood was 2nd for the TT and HC and 1st for the RR.

The RR was going reasonably well until the finish. The plan was to follow Dave Kosick and Bill Yearwood through the final corner and then sprint to the finish (about 300m).

Unfortunately we caught up with a lapped rider right at the corner... Bill and Dave managed to get by him but then he turned across me so I had to go really wide loosing all my speed and letting Bill and Dave get (at least) a 30-40m gap...

Then with the bumps and whatnot getting around the obstacles my chained dropped to the little ring and I was sitting there spinning... took a few seconds to find a cog suitable allowing Pat Ferris (I think) to almost get by me... Got a gear with about 100m to go and managed to get back to 3rd just at the line.

Today was the HC... As planned I did it on the TT bike. I knew that Bill and Dave would do well over that distance. Both are strong but don't have as much endurance. I can beat them on longer TT's and HC's (like Seymour, Cypress or Mt Washington...) but 4-5 minutes would be a lot tougher.


The end result was 4:24. Bill at 4:33 and Dave at 4:36.

Neither of them used their TT bikes (although Bill did use an aero helmet.)

So assuming I was correct in thinking 15-20 seconds advantage for the TT bike... it looks like that got me the Gold... :-)

The TT bike was setup with my climbing wheelset (Bontragger XXX Carbon Wheels with Vittoria EVO CS Tubulars) which are about 500 grams lighter than my normal race or TT wheels.. and a 12x27 cassette.

I started in the big ring and shifted to the little ring about .6km in where the grade gets over 3.5%. Then shifted back to the big ring at 1.45km where the grade drops back down below 4%. This worked reasonably well to allow me to keep my cadence up. Overall cadence averaged 89. Which was quite comfortable for the TT bike.


Thursday, September 17, 2009

BC Senior Games ITT - 1st 22:13


BC Senior Games 15.8km ITT today.

Managed 22.13 for 1st 55-59 and best time overall by about a minute...

See here for Bikely Route. This is a reasonably difficult course.

The first 4km goes out from Ferguson Road to under the bridge and back, averaged 40.9 km/h... Hard to get any speed up.

Then it was out to Iona with a tail wind, average 46.2 km/h.

They ran us right into the parking lot with the turn-a-round right where next to where the park toilets are. Caused a certain amount of futzing about getting through the parking lot.

And then crunch time all the way back against the wind... 40.7 km/h.

Overall, 42.7 km/h. 292 PAvg and 293 NPAvg.



Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Rich Wharton had a tweat pointing at a Paul Smelders blog post here titled What EXACTLY is happening when you can’t keep up on the CT.

He gives some of the math involved and explains why you can or can't keep up when doing an ERG mode workout.

An ERG mode workout is where the CT attempts to keep you at a specific wattage. You cadence (speed of wheel effectively) is ignored. Just what your power output (watts) is. If you are putting out too much, the CT lowers its braking, not enough and it increases the braking so that you need to increase torque and therefore increase power.

This is great as long as you are in a Zone where you CAN keep up... Say the target is 220 watts... Go a little high and it eases you off. Go a little low and it pushes you back up... Net result is you do 220 watts +/- a very small amount for the prescribed time.

But if you are in a Zone where you CANNOT keep up... Say the target is 350 watts, now for the first while things go well. You hit the target and the CT keeps you there... But as you fatigue and can no longer stay at 350 watts, the CT notices and wants you to go up... So it increases the breaking so that you will increase torque.. Of course if that is more than you can do, more likely it will cause you to fall farther back as your cadence slows, and the CT will then increase breaking, and the end result is you stop completely....

This was timely... I missed getting out on the bike yesterday as I had to run out to Richmond to get the "race package" for the BC Senior Games... And it was a beautiful evening... Today I need to do a race tuneup ride for the ITT tomorrow and it is raining... So I may end up on the CT...





Monday, September 14, 2009

Peak Athletic Performance and Vitamin D (updated)

Of course you say you can always find a study that proves what you want... etc etc...


But as this article by John Jacob Cannell MD points out, Vitamin D is actually a steroid hormone and there are multiple research studies showing that IFF you are Vitamin D deficient (and almost everyone is...) you can improve your performance by getting your Vitamin D levels up to "normal" (as in what you would get if you where twenty again, and working outdoors in the summer at a temperate latitude if you are light skinned or farther south for darker skin.)


And here is a Citation for Athletic Performance and Vitamin D

Update 2009-09-14: The above is only available behind a PayWall.... I did managed to find another summary and comments from another Natural Health Doctor Blogger.... (this site does require "free" registration...) He points out something I missed early, that Cannell suggests that there is a correlation between Vitamin D and Fast Twitch muscles...

My goal this winter is to, somehow, increase my anaerobic power, which as I understand things means more fast twitch...


Saturday, September 12, 2009

Cypress Part Deux HC - 1st 55-64

An absolutely fantastic day for a fall hill climb.... A nice turn out.... With 13 people in my 55-64 age class.


My time was about 38:30. Should have been about 10 seconds faster. The guy I lead into the very last turn finished 38:20 and I would have been there with him, except I hit a pothole and blew out my rear tubular.. So had to limp up the last 200m to the finish line.

Luckily (didn't know it at the time) another 55-64 rider, Michael McPhalen was right on my rear wheel, so almost lost 1st place... He was only 3 seconds back at the finish...

Michel Pelletier was just a little way back from me most of the way up. He took 1st in the Clydesdale division with 38:44... This was just a warmup for him, he is doing the Mt. Baker climb tomorrow.

Overall I was 22 out of 118 men. So not too bad.

Fastest time up was Sebastian Salas with 29:54.


The course was slightly different from the spring version...

Here are the two bikely maps:
  1. Chicks
  2. Glotman Simpson
The Chicks race starts at the bottom (Cypress Lane) and goes to to under the Power Lines.

Glotman Simpson started at the works yard and went to the turn off to the cross country area, then followed that up a few hundred meters.
  • Length: 11.82 - 12.24
  • Elevation gain: 675 - 681
Very comparable... But with a difference in times.
  • Time: 38:20 - 36:54
The time difference is due to the first part of the Chicks version being flat enough that the Mass Start gets a lot of speed up on the first 1.5km. The Glotman Simposon race extends past the Chicks finish by a similar amount but you don't get the same speed.
  • Chicks First 1.5km - 2:45
  • Glotman Simpson last 1.5km - 4:55
So that easily explains the 1:30 difference in my time today.

So possibly a slightly better overall result than the Spring.

Now it is out to the garage to rip the tubular off that wheel and prep it for a new one. It is the light Bontrager XXX Carbon that I use for hill climbs and I'll want it next week.


Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Wow - 45 days of racing so far this year

Just reviewing the year so far.... I'm up to 45 days of racing...


That's counting one for each day or evening of track racing.... and allowing one each for the DoveCreek TT and Mt Washington HC even though they where on the same day.

And still have the Cypress HC, BC Senior Games for road and the Fall Track Season...

Good thing I don't do Cyclocross...

Monday, September 7, 2009

Cherry Point RR - Photo Finish





A wet but luckily not cold day... Derek Tripp was pushing the pace all day to try and catch Dave Mercer and Ray Morrison (over sixty group) for the overall race...

Ray Waggoner took my advice and got off the front on the long backside climb with one and a half laps to go. And managed to stay away.


The rest our 50-59 group was down to about five people (and I think an over 60 who grabbed our wheels when we caught up with them.) Two young guys (Shane Savage and someone else) caught us with one lap to go. We simply couldn't stay on their wheel as we went up the long backside climbs.



That trimmed our group down to three, Derek Tripp, Bill Yearwood and myself. Bill lead us into the finish followed by myself and Derek. I jumped with about 300m to go. Probably a bit early as there is a little rise there... Derek managed to get around on the outside for a win by about a half a wheel... Bill and I where within about a half a tire width... Consensus was that I was second and Bill third. Could have gone either way.

The sprint climb was the hard part of this course. 420m, 30m of climbing. Average 6.6% grade, but actually a bit steeper at the bottom and top... We where averaging about 1:05 seconds, about 380 watts average.

Ergomo had a problem, the CPU stopped recording altitude properly after we went through a heavy rain shower in lap four and five. Hopefully it will be ok after it dries out.

Thanks to Duane Martindale for the photos...



Wednesday, September 2, 2009

David HillClimb - TT and Standing

Three tries on my short practice David Hill Climb. Twice on the TT bike and once standing up on the Road Bike.


The TT bike comes in as the clear winner... 4:14, 4:22 (with 10 second wait for traffic light!) and 4:26 for the standing attempt. So it appears that TT has clear 10 second benefit compared to standing and "sprinting" the entire way (which in turn appears from last weekend's testing to be slightly faster than sitting.)

I'll try and get some ideas on the Spanish Bank HC this weekend if the weather co-operates... VVV 10k ITT is on Saturday morning. I'll head over to Spanish Banks after that.

For now looking at a profile from last year (we went up it for the Pacific Populaire) it appears that the main part of the climb will be 3.4% over 2km. And the Bikely profile seems to agree with that. There may be an extra few hundred meters at the bottom and top that will reduce overall grade.

The average speed for David HC was about 22kmh. I'm expecting for Spanish Banks will be more than 27kmh. So the benefit from the TT bike will increase.

Monday, August 31, 2009

D3O - new style body armour

This is an interesting new technology... D3O is an orange goo that is soft and mold able but when impacted it turns into a solid...


Watch the video here as the test subject gets whacked on the head and knees with a snow shovel.

The assumption is that you change a sharp blow from a high load impact on a small point to a low load over a much larger area. Which is standard for body armor. The point being that this may be lighter and more comfortable to wear for many applications.




Sunday, August 30, 2009

Ceder Photos












Thanks to Duane Martindale for pictures...


Saturday, August 29, 2009

BCMCA Nanaimo Ceder RR - 1st


Very nice but long day... Park-n-Ride from Horseshoe Bay, 25 minute ride to the venue... warmup, race....


Ceder is a long 20km course, we do it three times... I got a small gap, 300-400m about half way through the second lap. Ray Wagner and Derek Tripp eventually bridged over and we managed to stay away from the 50's and most of the 60's (who we had just caught)... Never did catch Dave Mercer and Ray Morrison though.

Nice finish, I managed to stay behind Ray and Derek in the last km.... jumped with 400m and finished with about a 6-8 bike lengths.

So 1st in 50-59 and 3rd overall.

Then it was 25 minute ride back to the ferry... As I rode out of the parking lot to head back the rear dérailleur cable broke so I was stuck in the small cog with only the front big and small rings... Luckily no big hills... Luckily it broke after the race...

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Training for Short HC in Senior Games

The BC Senior Games is in a couple of weeks... and it has a short hill climb, the climb from Spanish Banks up to UBC.


Just long enough to be an HC... about 2km at 3.6% grade. Probably, I think, about 4:00 minutes.

The bigger question is how to train for it.. I'm looking for a similar climb close by. It appears that the best I can find is David Ave. Steeper and shorter. But perhaps close enough to simulate.


Using the bike calculator I get the followingUsing the bike calculator I get the following..

I'm not quite sure I believe the time. The only time I can find in my power files for the SP HC was 4:39 in the Pacific Populaire last year. And that was slightly lower for watts, higher for weight, lower temp etc etc...

But certainly it appears that doing 1.65 along David should give me a reasonable simulation.


I did 3 tests on the David HC today: 4:34-4:25 ... so I think a good test. The 4:25 number was staying up in the sprint position for the entire climb. Almost 10 seconds faster even though more aero.


Are you getting enough Vitamin D?

What do you do when you are out on those long and solitary training rides in the country... I listen to podcasts... Not too loud so I can't hear traffic and just some human voices to keep me sane..


One of them is Security Now! featuring Steve Gibson, normally expounding at (very) great length on various security (for your Windows system generally) issues. Always at length and in depth.

Another popular one is ABC's (that's A for Australian) Ockham's Razor. A short weekly podcast given to lectures by scientists (yes real actual scientists...) and other educated types. The point they are intended to illustrate is Ochkam's Razor, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one (that simplifies it but that suffices for a description..)

By coincidence both of these podcasts had the same or similar topic a few weeks ago. Ockams Razor had Prof. Christopher Nordin presenting a short talk entitled "Preventing osteoporosis", (listen or read here.) One of the main suggestions being that Vitamin D supplementation would be greatly beneficial (and save millions of dollars a year in hip replacements alone in elderly patients if supplementation was started in mid-life.)

Security Now! had a change of pace with Steve going over at great length what he has found out about Vitamin D and its possible role in our health. (listen or read here.)

The main point is that there appears to be an epidemic of Vitamin D deficiency. Mainly due to less exposure to sun as people stay indoors and cover up more and use sun blockers when outdoors. But also because as people age it becomes much harder to get sufficient Vitamin D as your skin becomes less able to produce it using sunlight.

The second point being that there appears to be wide spread correlations between low Vitamin D and a large number of different ailments. As suggested in the Ockham's Razor podcast osteoporosis (from lack of calcium which in turn may be due to low Vitamin D); possible links to flu, Seasonal Affective Disorder, autism, various cancers etc.

Finally that the only way to get sufficient Vitamin D is through supplementation (especially as you get older). And that like treating Anemia with iron, you need to do blood testing to ensure you are not too low (more supplemenation) or too high (less.)

I have trouble with Anemia and yes, there also appears to be a link between that and Vitamin D...

There are some other interesting points concerning the type of Vitamin D to supplement with (you want D3, D2 is converted by your body to D3, and you need more of it.) And the amounts. The current suggested allowance of 400 IU appears to be far too low (possibly set from amount of Vit D in tablespoon of Cod Liver Oil, known to prevent Rickets and not cause any problems.) The conservative safe upper limit is suggested as 2000 IU.

The good news is that Vitamin D supplements are cheap. Steve quotes about $10 to get a 120 6000 IU pills. Take one every three days. Literally pennies a day..

Why don't we hear more about this? One of the problems is that Vitamin D supplements are cheap and patent free. So big pharma has little or no interest in studying the subject.. Unless they can come up with something they can get a patent on they will not spend money or doing trials or studies. So this research must be publically funded and done on a more ad hoc basis.


So, are you getting enough of Vitamin D? The answer could be important to your overall health.

Live long and prosper.... take your Iron and Vitamin D pills.


Wednesday, August 26, 2009

PezToolbox: Toolbox: Time Trial Basics – Part II

Pez Toolbox has another good article on TimeTrialing here.


They go over a number of basics to practice. As always some good advice.


Canadian Track Nationals - Silver

Andy George proved to be the better over 50 go-to-guy yesterday... We had a very small turn out. Only five riders. Three local, one from Vancouver Island and one from Ontario.


Andy had the best pursuit time (2:36 vs 2:41 for me...) Then managed to stay on my wheel for almost the entire 25 lap Scratch race, to take first with me a couple of bike lengths behind..

They shortened the points race to 40 laps (originally billed as 50). It proved to be cat and mouse the entire way. With me on Andy's wheel or him on mine. Early on Dave Kosick gapped us and nobody bothered to track him down. So he took the first two sprints. With Andy and myself duking it out for 2nd and 3rd... I almost got the 3rd sprint with a jump that got a bit of a gap. But Andy got me at the line by about 5-10cm...

It didn't seem to matter if I went first or followed, I couldn't quite match his finish...

Anyway, Silver for the overall. I'll have to work on the sprinting for next year.

No power file for the race as they don't let you use bike computers... :-(

I'll have to add a workout with guestimatted TSS for the day.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

BCMCA Langley RR


Also known as the 0 Ave and 232 St course...


I was under strict orders to NOT get out front and work hard today.. saving the legs for Tuesday and Track Nationals...

So a pretty easy day overall. We (the Fifties group) caught the Sixties on the last lap on 0 Ave... and almost immediately after that we where all caught by the Forties... Then had the fun of doing the last half lap with the bigger pack. They pushed the pace on the final little hill before the dog leg before the uphill sprint finish... I had a bad position around the turn and never did get close to Bill Yearwood (who is far far far better than I am at cornering...) on the final sprint.

Most likely we could have stayed off the forties if I had pushed the pace up a bit by working the front. We averaged > 40kmh on laps 2 and 3. But then for the next four laps we dropped back down to about 38-39kmh. There wasn't quite enough interest to get organized and really push up the pace.

Next week we are over in Nanaimo for the Cedar course.. I'll won't be constrained like today.

N.B. The PMC graphic at the top left of the blog is not being updated currently. I just upgraded to Vista and the new version of Office Excel doesn't like the spreadsheet that generates the graph... Haven't had time to figure out why.


Sunday, August 16, 2009

BC RR Champs - Atomic Course


As expected a tough race.. 80km... While they where awarding prizes based on Masters A/B/C we all raced together. About 20 Masters A, 30 Master B and 16 Master C riders.

This lead to the expected, with most of the Master C riders getting dropped. I don't have the final results yet, but it appears that 3 or 4 survived to the finish. Then a couple of straglers (including me). Over half either gave up or where pulled when they where lapped.

The pace today was a killer. The first three lap times where 15:57, 15:06 and 15:36. The C group in Spring Series was averaging about 18 minutes (that was a colder day too though, 15C, today was close 28C.) Last year in the Atomic RR we did a couple of laps at 16+...

With this setup (racing all Masters together) there is a significant advantage to the lighter hill climbers. They can get up the climbs and then get dragged around the course by the younger guys. If we started just the Masters C's together, they might be able to get up the climbs faster, but its unlikely they could stay away as they endurance riders would track them down on the flat parts.

Effectively they end up as a breakaway (WRT to the rest of the Master C's) that are taking advantage of another category. Normally of course that would not be allowed. But here it is allowed.

IMHO this goes against the purpose of the race which is to find the best BC RR rider in each age category. They even banned radios to (presumably) eliminate team tactics. But then then effectively allow some riders to draft off another category to stay away from their peer group.



Friday, August 14, 2009

Door Zone Video.

As one of the comments says, why do they paint lines that put me where I can get killed...

Please see this Door Zone Video... it could save your life.

Please try and get your local politicians and police to watch it as well.



Monday, August 10, 2009

BC TT Champ - Tony Routley giving me physio

Usually I can only get my arm that high under the strict supervision of my physiotherapist....


The earlier pictures had a nice CBC sign behind the podium... the wind blew it down.

Tony was 2nd... Bill Riley was 3rd and couldn't wait for awards.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Mt Seymour HC - 46:00.450


Close enough... 46:00.450 was the official time...


Would have been a bit faster but we had a miserable wet day ... Not as cold as last year but enough rain that we where soaking by about half way up...

So I'm quite happy with my time. Over a minute faster than last year..

I'll post more once the full results are available.

One minor screwup... The Ergomo went to sleep just before we started... didn't notice for 30 seconds :-(


BC TT Champs - 1st Master C

I'll post more details once I have the complete results...


But I managed a PB for the Squamish TT course, 51:38.

This got me first in Master C by almost 2 minutes (next up was Tony Routley).

From what I could see in the posted results the only people faster where the elite men and one Cat 3 and one Master B rider.

Tomorrow is Mt. Seymour... 46 minutes or bust...

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

BVC Workout - pursuit and L2/L3


Track tonight. Did a 2k practice pursuit in 2:38. Which is pretty good, adding aero helmet, skinsuit etc should get that well under the 2:36 I need for Track Nationals...

Which are only three weeks away... and my chief (I think) competition, Andy George is racking up Gold Medals in the Police Games.. :-(

Finished with a half hour of L2/L3...

Another Tale from the Amazing Coincidences Department.... The 4-Runner has been exhibiting symptoms that some friends diagnosed as probably requiring a new starter... turn the key to start and just a a click, try again and it would work... Gradually getting worse, taking 2, 3 even 4 or 5 tries... Finally today I took it down to the local Toyota dealer for diagnosis and schedule an appointment. Pulling into the parking area in front of the service department I turned it off... To no effect, the starter was permanently engaged... Turn the key back on and the engine started. Turn it off and the starter would keep cranking... Well it just couldn't pick a better spot to fail... I just left it running and let the service guy handle it (he had to disconnect the battery...) Anyway, they will replace starter and hopefully we will regain possession tomorrow.. I'm just glad it failed at the dealership and not while wife was out in Surrey or I was up in Squamish etc..

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Westwood - new PB and a blowout



Out late to beat the heat again... actually quite cool.

Managed a new PB up Westwood (the direct route) 14:33, about 25 seconds faster. Nice little effort, Pavg 317. Wasn't actually pushing things until the last 4-5 minutes...

Unfortunately a blow out when I got back to the bottom so didn't get to do the second climb.

The new set of Bontrager Aeolus wheels seem to have the same problem as the old... I can ride them all day in a race, or anything flat... Do a long descent with a FULL STOP at the bottom and about 30 seconds later, BANG! The temperature of the rim is not that high... But it seems that it is high enough that if you don't keep the wheel rotating the casing can separate, the tube pushes out and we get a blow out. Probably not an issue for racing, not too many stop signs you have to stop for... but a bit disconcerting and annoying.

Things seem to look ok for both events this weekend. Good time until blowout on Saturday, equal too, possibly slightly better than last years pre-ride for the BC TT (and may have got the bad luck over in the pre-ride this year....) And hitting PB's on the HC would seem to be a good way to go into Sundays Mt. Seymour HC....

Cerevellum Cyclometer Ant+ with Video


Here is a cool idea.... Ant+ cyclometer with integrated video recorder that acts as a rear view mirror.... It comes with a small video unit that attaches to the seat post.

You can save 30 second video clips.

Hopefully with enough clarity for law enforcment to hand out tickets to those idiots who think buzzing a cyclist with accompaning screams and honking is such a lot of fun.

I don't particularily like the idea of a Big Brother society but the bad and dangerous behaviour of some parts of our society can only be changed if they can no longer get away with it. Laws are being changed to prohibit bad behaviour (South Carolina, vis minimum distance and throwing things at cyclists). Now we may a way to document offences which previously would more typically been a "he says she says" scenario.

Even without law enforement we can look forward to Best of Bad Drivers YouTube websites that can help educate people (and politicians) on how cyclists are endangered every day while riding.





Saturday, August 1, 2009

VVV TT - new PB 13:36, Squamish - Flat


Two TT's today... VVV 10k in the morning and then we pre-rode the Squamish TT.


Managed a new PB on the Velovets course. 13:36, 44.3 kmh average. I suspect that the hot humid weather helped...

Then it was out to Squamish... I was having a reasonably good ride I thought, with the typical slow down on the way back.. Then hit a massive set of pot holes with 6km to go and got a pinch flat. Comparing to last years pre-ride, I was almost identical in time to the turn around, about 24:55 and to the same point again almost identical time 43:35 to the 30.75 mark. So presumably would have finished about the same as last years pre-ride, about 52 minutes. Overall conditions where almost identical.

So presumably I'm in comparable shape to last year. That ride was after a rest day. Today was after doing a PB on the VVV TT...

Anthony King was up with a friend, he also flatted on the same pothole. Michel and George and I went to home depot and got some marking paint and did some work to try and make the potholes a bit more visible. The one really bad set (where we flatted) should probably have a marshall or at least some cones during the race. It is almost impossible to ride through them at speed without hitting one or more. Which may lead people into crossing the yellow line which could be bad... Better to get them slowed down. At 40+ you pinch flat (or worse...) at 20kmh you just get a bumpy ride...

Friday, July 31, 2009

Beat the heat - ride at night

Too hot... yesterday it was about 32C in Port Moody for most of the day... So I ate supper and then just went out at midnight... Still very warm, about 25C, but with no sun actually very pleasant.


Did some easy hill climbs on Westwood Plateau. That kept me close to home and on mostly residential streets. Low traffic, good pavement, well lit.

Legs where still sore from the sprinting at the track on Wed...

Tomorrow we will be out to VVV 10k ITT in the morning. Then up to Squamish to pre-ride the BC TT course. Hopefully it won't be too hot up there... I'm just hoping that the good weather lasts at least another 8 days. Last year we had a thunderstorm roll through and I did my 53 minutes soaking wet... Started in the worst part of the deluge.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Back to the track

With the current heat wave it has been hard to get motivated and go outside..


But at least it is not too hot at the track.... So tonight I was out and got some practice time in on the pursuit bars... Managed a 2:45 for 2k. So still need to get another 10 seconds off that. Aero helmet and skinsuit etc will help.

Also did some practice starts, a flying 200, and some tempo riding.

Track Nationals only a month away....

Sunday, July 26, 2009

WarpSpeed


WarpSpeed went ahead reasonably well today... Mostly because of the various volunteers knew what they where doing.... The race organizers mostly just got in the way and helped as much as we could....

Once everything was finished and cleaned up I managed to get out and do a ride for my own time. Managed to finish in 26:52, only a second slower than last year... Would have put me first in Cat 4 by a minute and about 3rd in Cat 3.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Heritage - Hour of Power - 12x2.5m L5


I have been incredibly busy this week getting ready to put on WarpSpeed ITT this weekend... Running around getting signs and safety vests, make sure we have enough volunteers.. Make sure someone will show up with some stopwatches (my backup was using my iPod.... it has an absoultely braindead StopWatch app, only does "lap" times and looses about 30 seconds in an hour... probably not a great option...) Anyway missed the Crit last night...


And tonight I got a really late start, not out until about 8:00PM... with only an hour before dark... No time to ride anywhere, no time to warm up... Wasn't properly motivated, hungry (actually ate some energy "beans" that I got a race somewhere, they where sitting on the bench...) Anyway, pretty much the only option was to just zip around my Heritage Mtn. loop. Its only about a 4-5 minute ride from home, and when I'm finished only a couple of minutes back...

Suprisingly as I got going I got going... actually started feeling better after a few laps... My goal initially was maybe do 10 laps in an hour and head home... Ended up doing 12 in reasonably good time (under an hour) and with reasonably good climb times... Best 2:30, worst about 2:42... so not too bad...

Not quite an NP Buster... but possibly close... Over 100 TSS points in 60 minutes.. But the offical definition needs > 105 :-)

The composition of my training and racing over the last six months seems to be making this type of workout a little easier compared to a flat out TT style workout... Normalized power today was 288 for 60 minutes... Last Saturday doing a practice TT NP for 60 minutes was 266.

I have been using 290 for FTP... Which for todays workout seems about right... But doing a TT workout, which is the official way to test FTP, makes that seem high... But if I reduce FTP to match the TT workout, then that would make todays workout an NP Buster...

So I may reduce FTP to 280, that would put todays workout close to an NP Buster, but not quite.... And be closer to what I managed last week. We'll be out to Squamish next week to pre-ride the TT course. That will give me another data point.


Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Ford Road - 20xL3, 5x2 Cadence Drill, 15m HC


Back to the grind... Ford Road, 20m L3... then coming back 5x2m high cadence (>105RPM) drill... Finally, as the sun set and it cooled down a bit, a fast (well not that fast) climb up Westwood...


The weekend was busy, no time to blog...

Sunday I spent about 4 hours following the Cat 1/2 Mens peloton around the Tour de White Rock RR course.. I take absolutely NO responsibility for the mistakes made in counting their laps... Jen and I tried, yes, really tried to tell the comissars that we had only done 100km (10 laps) and therefore they shouldn't be going onto the short course... but no one listens to the service vehicle people...

Saturday I did a one hour TT practice on the Neaves Rd. practice course. Averaged 42.1 kmh, but that was with seven turn arounds at about twenty seconds each... Taking out six of the turn arounds would give me an average speed of about 43.5kmh. Average power was low, about 260 watts... I have not done enough efforts like this this year.

Hopefully I can still do well in the BC TT champs in early Aug. Goal is to get under 52 minutes. Or perhaps 53 minutes, the race organiziers may extend the course by about .8km this year (a cattle guard has been removed allowing the course to be extended 400m...) I have had two bad years at BC TT, flat two years ago, and starting in a deluge last year... Both years I did a pre-ride faster than the actual race... As a bonus the new organizers may also seperate out age classes, so I could even hope to take the 55-59 prize...

Tomorrow night hopefully back to the track.... pursuit practice and some tempo riding to keep the legs used to track cycling... maybe I can convince Mike R. to do some motor pacing.

Thursday its out to Richmond with Ryan to do the crit... hopefully no crashes this week.

This weekend is WarpSpeed TT.... Unfortunately I'll be unable to ride in it as I'm the Race Director...



Wednesday, July 15, 2009

BVC Workout - motor pacing and practice 2km pursuit

Quick workout at the track...


Two motorpace sessions. The second was fun, 5 laps @ 40kmh, 5@48, repeat three times, with the last ramping after 5 to a sprint finish...

Also did a practice 2km pursuit, non-aero, about 2:54. Which is only 18 seconds off my goal time for Track Nationals (2:36). PAvg was 381 watts. I suspect that with aero gear (helmet, bars, skinsuit etc) that this would get me under 2:36.. I'll try that next Wed.

Comox ITT Results

Some results are in... [updated, Don Gilmore got me his correct time]


For the Comox TT, I was third overall in real time and second in age adjusted time for BCMCA riders. STill can't believe Dave Mercers 25:11... He was just a minute behind me in the hill climb too.

  • Time Standard Rider Age Time Standard STD +/-
  • 1 8 Don Gillmore 42 21:12 25:22 04:11
  • 2 7 Ray Wagner 50 22:47 26:54 04:07
  • 3 2 Stuart Lynne 55 23:03 27:54 04:51
  • 4 18 Shane Savage 33 23:32 23:54 00:22
  • Time Standard Rider Age STD +/-
  • 10 1 Dave Mercer 66 25:11 30:14 05:03
  • 3 2 Stuart Lynne 55 23:03 27:54 04:51
  • 7 3 Duane Martindale 58 23:48 28:30 04:42
  • 8 4 Ray Morrison 24:18 28:56 04:38
  • 5 5 Bill Yearwood 57 23:41 28:18 04:37

Update: Don Gilmore let me know that course record was 21:27... now 21:12 So I'm only 1:51 off that. So not too bad.




Sunday, July 12, 2009

BCMCA Comox RR, TT, HC

Great weekend... Hot... but lots of fun.


Saturday was the Dove Creek RR. This was the Comox Cycling Club's race weekend, so BC Masters riiders fit in with their catagories. Up to age 54 raced in the A catagory, 55-69 in the B catagory and 70 and up in C.

Dove Creek is a 16km loop with a single short climb and some rolles (about 100m total climbing per loop.) We did four loops. I spent a large amount of time at the front... Which was a lot of fun, but I ran out of fluids (two bottles...) and ended up with leg twitches in the last lap, which made the final sprint a bit difficult. Pretty much everybody sprinted over me... But I had a good time regardless.

This morning was the 16km D0ve Creen ITT. Same course... I was hoping to beat my time from two years ago, 23:15. Managed 23:03. Average speed 42.4 which is not bad given the 108m of climbing. That was good enough to win the B catagory, the 55-59 Masters and 3rd overall masters.


This afternoon was the Mt Washington HC (abridged version.) This was 10km, 607m of climbing. But unlike Cypress or Seymour Hill Climbs which have a very steady and consistant grade, this has everything from short downhills up to 10-11%... I did it in 35:30, which I think was a couple of minutes faster than next over 55 BC Masters... 1st in B catagory, 1st 55-59 group.

While not an exact comparison, I looked up my climb from two years ago and last year... And then looked at the equivalent last 10.13km to compare times... Remember though that those had 6.3km and 427m of climbing BEFORE doing the last 10km that we did today...
  • 2007 - 36:54/59:37 - fresh legs,
  • 2008 - 41:08/1:07:37 - tired legs, RR day before
  • 2009 - 35:30 - tired legs, RR day before, 16km ITT same day
So I would say I probably was on about the same form overall this year compared to two years ago, and definitely better than last year.

Also interesting is to compre to the Cypress HC a few weeks ago...
  • Mt Washington 2007 - 58:37, 298PAvg, 306NP
  • Cypress HC - 36:54, 288 PAvg, 299NP
  • Mt Washington HC - 35:30, 266PAvg, 274NP
From this it looks like the tired legs cost me probably about 25watts overall. So estimated time to do this ride with fresh legs would be about 2:00 minutes faster.

The HC was fun, it started fast with Dave Mercer jumping to the front (except for some of the young A guys...) I stayed on his wheel for not quite a km... Mike Sevcov then went to the front and picked the picked the pace up a bit... He lasted almost 2km... seven minutes.. but I could see he was getting tired. Just as we where coming up to a slightly flatter bit (5-6% grade instead o 9-10% we where on..) I jumped past and got a good gap, pushing up to some juniors. I then worked with them to pull away from everyone else in my catagory (B and 55+ masters.)

I don't have the rest of the finishing times, I'll update when they are available.








Friday, July 10, 2009

Thursday Crit

Had a fun time at the Thursday Crit. Upgraded to Cat 4. They race with the Cat 3's. So starting was about 50 Cat 3/4 riders. The race was 17 laps of the 1.3km course. Other than the Preme laps I spent a whole bunch of time up at the front really enjoying myself... Average speed about 41-42kmh. This is supper flat course with broad curves. So easy to treat it like a track race.


For the last of the three Preme laps I ended up doing a nice lead-out for Ryan Cousineau who then managed to sprint over and take the Preme... Great work!

The commute over went well. I picked Ryan up in New West near Douglas College and we parked just off Westminster Highway in Richmond. Easy half hour ride through mostly flat and rural roads over to the venue. After the race and easy half hour back. Worked well. Just using the 4-Runner to get over the bridge and through bike unfriendly New West and Coquitlam... Saved about a half hour each way, of unpleasant urban cycling..


Monday, July 6, 2009

IFAC - International Federation of Apparel Conformance bust

The IFAC busts Speed Shop... video at 11:00...


"Cycling is supposed to be miserable, it is a natural obstacle of the sport ....."

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Lance's new TT helmet

Did you notice the Giro LiveStrong TT helmet Lance was using for the Stage 1 TT.... aka GT 248 TT.


BikeRadar has a nice write up here.

Not quite as long a tail and Giro claims it is the "fastest" now available... Well available to us the unwahsed public in 2010...

VVV Iona 10km ITT - new PB 13:47

New PB on the Iona course... 13:47...


Previous best was 13:48 2007-07-14...


The wind was about 10km from the west, so big advantage going out, and clawing our way back. Average speed on the way out was just under 49kmh, and barely over 40kmh on the way back.

I had a bad turn around with a car insisting on passing between me and the turn pylon... Not quite sure what goes through the mind of a driver following somebody on a bike doing 50kmh who slows down and changes course coming up to an orange pylon with a couple of people standing around it.. But it shows why you have to do that shoulder check.

N.B. The speeds in the above graphic are too high, I forgot to set the wheel circumference. The correction factor is 2080/2133 or about .97.


Thursday, July 2, 2009

Thursday Crit

Finally got enough spare time on a Thursday to head over and do the Thursday Night Crit...


Did the Cat 5 race. Managed to stay towards the front and get lots of work in... Next week (assuming I can get away) I think I'll upgrade to the Cat 4 race. It is a much bigger field (tonight 12 versus about 30) as they race Cat 3 and Cat 4 together. Tonight Bruce Denis got into a break away with another cat 3 rider...

According to google maps I'm 44 minutes away from the Thursday Crit, 43 from the Wednesday Crit (Mission) and 54 minutes from the Tuesday (UBC) Crit...

With the UBC number probably being optimistic as you get to crawl through Vancouver .... Going to Richmond I have to get through New West and onto the Queensborough Bridge, after that its 100+ the rest of the trip... Mission is farther, but depending on traffic across the Pitt River bridge and through Haney could be faster.

Riding to the venue is almost possible... UBC is 36.6km, Richmond 38.6km, Mission 46km.

Mass transit can help.... I can get about a 10km boost to either Richmond or UBC using Skytrain (Lougheed either West or South...) Or to Mission I can take the WestCoast Express, at least to get out there. Next year after the RAV line opens I would actually be able to get to within about 5km... (but its a bus to Lougheed, Skytrain to Commercial, another Syktrain to Cambie and then Rav to Richmond...)


In the end it means I have to be on the road or bike or bus by 4:30-5:00....


Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Anmore Tour - new PB

Skipped doing the Canada Day randeneur ride... Shoulders get too sore after 2-3 hours... 140km takes about 5+ hours... Hurts just thinking about it.


Did my Anmore Tour (Buntzen, Whitepine, Belcarra, Thermal Plant...) and managed a PB. Slow start, 50 seconds off my time at Buntzen (18:10 vs 17:20); almost 2 minutes at WhitePine (36:40 vs 34:40); but 20 seconds back at Belcarra (45:30 vs 45:10); and 40 seconds ahead by the Thermal Plant (57:30 vs 58:16). Then 25 seconds ahead at the finish (1:35:36 vs 1:36:00).

Probably could have done better with a proper warmup... Didn't actually go out with a plan to do a PB... Kind of clicked around WhitePine... Some of the speedup was due to the nice weather... But then the previous PB's where in June... so probably not too much.

I've been doing this route for years.... my spreadsheet goes back to 2002, although those where on a mountain bike. Back then times to the power plant where about 72 minutes.. I broke 60 minutes for the first time in 2006 (once) and then a couple of times in 2007. Getting down to 57:30 is pretty good. Although, some of that is nice weather and fast descents.