Heritage Hill Reps - possible NP Buster...

New Ergomo, so k-factor subject to verification...

But if it stands this would be an NP Buster... (more likely k-factor needs revision down...)

This was 12 reps of five minutes..

1. 700m @ 7%, L5
2. 500m @ 0%, L4
3. 400m @ -12%, rest

Assuming Ergomo ok... NPavg was 300 watts. VI 1.17 which is insanely high, TSS 110... so most likely Ergomo has to be revised down.

I'll do a CT Ramp test tomorrow to see what k-factor should be. I would have done that today but didn't get home until 4:00 and had only two hours of day light left... So just did offset test and headed out.

BVC Friday Racing - Kierin, Scratch

We did kierins tonight... I was with 4 A's... and even though I got up to 60km/h in the final lap I was still 10m back from the other four riders in the last lap...

The other race was a A/B 30 lap Scratch. Did manage to almost stay on the front group... With some fairly hard bridging managed to get to a small group of two other riders about 50m back from the main group of five A riders with three laps to go... 

Finished with 20 minutes of L4.

BVC Structured Workout - Team Pursuit Drills

Tonight was Team Pursuit Drills, flying 1km.

Then 1x20 SST and 2x500m TT's.

BVC Structure Workout - Take-a-lap drills

It was a horrible weekend... Had to take a Traffic Control Course (now the munipalities are making us take courses before we can be volunteers at races...) on Saturday while the sun was out... Then on Sunday it rained... So had to do two days of Computrainer...

Then yesterday I looked out and it looked suitable to play hookey, and by the time I got upstairs it had started to rain again... And forecast for today was more rain and turning to snow tomorrow...

So I zipped over to the track this morning for the Tuesday morning structured workout. Three sets of take-a-lap drills. The Tuesday morning group is smaller than Wednesday's. So you get to go through the drill a few extra times... Also the track is quieter, just the 8 people doing the workout (Wednesday's we have 20 people doing the drills and another 10-15 doing other things...) So it was easy to go harder ...

The only downside is the track is only open until noon. So couldn't do much after..

Lynx Pictures - yes fuzzy at best

I mentioned previously that I saw some Lynx's while cycling up the hill from the Buntzen Thermal Power Plant... 

Well the data cable finally arrived ($4.95 shipped from Hong Kong...)

Then it took an hour to find out how/what to download the pictures (Samsung SPH-M300, drivers from Samsung, CDMA Serial, BitPim, success...)

As expected (this is a really low end phone) the pictures are pretty fuzzy. 

The first one is about the best, showing the larger (male) looking back.

The other two show the two of them walking away from me.

These pictures don't show the overall terrain. The reason the Lynx's had to keep walking along that stretch of open ground is that it is the top of a steep bluff right above the main switch yard for the thermal plant. And to the left across the road is a steep rock bluff.

Robo-Taxis - A concept for the (near) future

Brad Templeton (another verteran of the very very very early internet and pre-internet days) has an interesting and thought provoking set of essays on his blog describing the robo-taxi concept.

The main point being that we can with current technology implement a transportation system that uses distributed intelligence to allow computer powered robotic taxis to take over the job of driving us around.

• These type of vehicles can provide a solution that reduces traffic fatalites dramatically (think saving 40,000 lives a year in North America.) 
• Transportation costs (think oil and CO2) far lower than either mass transit or any current car or vehicle. 
• Implementation does not require multi-billion (trillions globally) local investments in infrastructure.

All utilizing most of the existing infrastructure:

• municipal road systems
• exising car and vehicle manufactures
• exising local support (sales, repair, recycling)
• adoption is done in a gradual and progressive manner over decades

There are no silver bullets required. Current battery technologies are adequate (you don't need super long range batteries when you can swap vehicles if your taxi has a low charge, and then it just drives itself to a charging station.)

Its green. Its cost effective. It will save lives. 

And remember, as a bike rider, one of those lives may be you or one of your cycling friends.

RIP Doug Preston 1957-2009

BVC Racing - AB again, I tried, but no results...

No results to speak of tonight. A few new A type riders showed up and we raced a combined A/B evening... So big field (17-19 starters) and fast...

First up was a 25 Lap Tempo Race. (2 points to first person across finish line each lap, 1 to second). So this went out very very very fast... After about 5 or 6 laps at 50 km/h... I got gapped at the back...  Tried my best to get back on but the main group was just motoring on... So I dropped out.

Next was a 4x10 Progress Points race (1 point for first in first sprint, 2 points for first in second etc etc). I tagged along at the back for the first two sprints. Then got gapped and had to bridge back to the front. Managed to stay with them. Going into the final sprint down to 6 riders, managed to get on Bruce Denis's wheel for the bell lap. But had to go over a lapped rider and that allowed 2-3 riders to get ahead in the sprint...

The last race was a 5x10 Points. Again tagged along at the back, again got gapped and bridged over... Managed to tag along for the ride until the end. Managed a 5th place in the final sprint...

All in all a very hard set of races... Fun but no cigar...

BVC Structured Training - Motorpacing, 500mTT practice

BVC Structured Workout and some more 500m TT drills.

It was Motorpace night. We did two sets of take-a-lap. First solo and then as a small group of three. Finished with sprint drills, from back of line to front.

Afterwords, I did four 500m TT practice drills. Two each with 51x14 and 50x14 gearing (95.6 and 93.8 as measured.) Results where only slightly conclusive. Looking at the best two, one each was with each gearing. Both times the second test with that gear...

This shows the power profiles. The first 51x14(1) was the only one that seems drastically different. I think I didn't start hard enough. That effort finishes best (power wise). The other efforts are more comparable. With the 50x14(2) ramping the fastest and ending the lowest.

This shows the actual distance travelled by time. Showing that the 50x14(2) effort was (slightly) better than the 51x14(2) effort.

This shows the WKO workout graph. From this perspective it was very difficult to tell which was best. Even comparing the average watts didn't help.

1. 51x14(1) - 493, fourth
2. 51x14(2) - 438, second
3. 50x14(1) - 500, third
4. 50x14(2) - 470, first

The tentative conclusions are:

• go out hard
• try a slightly smaller gear (49x14?)

N.B. There where other riders on the track. And at least one effort required some slightly sub-optimal track riding (up track). I think it was the 50x14(1) effort. But can't remember for sure.

N.B. The power and distance graphs where generated by exporting the numbers from WKO as an SRM text file. This was imported into Excel and the relevant portions cut and pasted to another spreadsheet to generate the graphs.

Computrainer 2k loop L2/L3

Boring, just under 2 hours on the Computrainer... L2/L3...

Looking forward to tomorrow night... motor pacing at the track.

ErgVideo - now with Threshold 20 minute test

I've been meaning to give ErgVideo a try for some time... 

It apparently brings the Computrainer into the 21st century software wise. While the CT is a very solid and accurate (when properly warmed up and calibrated) unit, the coaching software and 3d software harken back to windows 95 and dos vintage software. 

The original ErgVideo software was getting rave reviews from people who found it much easier to use and stay interested while doing a multi-hour workout.

There are some recent additions though that make it better. For example there is now a standardized 20 minute (60 minute optional) threshold test. This takes you through a 26 minute warmup, then you do a 20 minute ITT effort. The result can be used to estimate your FTP. The big advantage of this method is that it is very reproducible. You get the exact same test every time.

Anyway Pez has done a nice review here

And the ErgVide site  is here.

Two days L2/L3

Yesterday was Anmore Tour, mostly L2... 

Today was supposed to be Ford Road, but I had a problem with RR bike's Ergomo so went home and got the TT bike... So just went out to McNeal Road and back... Mostly L2, but with 4x50 second L7/L6 intervals.

I'm trying to determine a power effort profile for ab0ut 40 seconds L7/L6. That approximates the 500mTT which is one of the events at the Track Nationals in August. I need to first find out what gearing is best and second practice that specific distance. Last years best time was just over 38 seconds. So I need to get under that :-)

The interval protocol was to start as close to a stop as possible and then push as hard as possible (L7)  for about 10 seconds; then L6 for 10-15 seconds; then finish as L5. All done in the starting gear.

The gear restriction is the primary problem in this event. You have to pick a gear small enough to be able to get up to speed quickly. But big enough that you get to your highest speed without spinning out and carry through.

The estimated gearing today was 93", 87", 82" and 73".  I was able to complete all except the last at 73". I was spinning too high and bouncing, not able to get full watts out...

There was very little difference between 87" and 82" for resulting speed. The power profile was different, 82" getting higher and falling faster. But the resulting speed was almost identical.

The best speed was 93". Not much slower in ramping up, but overall speed was several km/h better. Or about 22m farter in 40s compared to 87" and 82".

This test is just a starting point.  For example the overall weight was much higher (probably 5kg or more) compared to track bike. While I was on the TT bike I was decidely non-aero otherwise. Finally, there is a definite differenc in cadence and power stroke for fixed gear and free-wheel. (Free wheel you get a short dead spot, fixed gear pushes the pedal through that allowing you to attack the next down stroke at higher speed.)

The other caveat is that there are various other external factors, wind, slope of road, order of test etc... 

So I'll have to repeat this type of test at the track. But today's tests serve as a base to compare against and give us a first idea as to where to focus future tests.

Anyway, I have until June for the Provincial's and August for the National's.

BVC Friday - 1st and 3rd in A Group!

It was a small A field tonight so a couple of us B's got drafted to fill in. Luckily none of the fast A's where there (Kirk Obee, Jacob Swingthboth, etc...) Mostly it was Jeff Ains and Mike Roethengatter who are fast... But they don't pull up the pace quite as high by themselves...

The first race was a 10 lap Scratch. Far to fast for me to get up to speed. I did manage to stay with the group until the last lap... almost...

Next up was a 4x10 Points race. I hung out at the back with Andy George for the first 20 laps. Then moved forward through the rotation. Only seven riders, so that was fast and easy. 

With about 2-3 laps to go to the third sprint, I was at the front when Keith Jones made a small move over top of me. I managed to bridge over to him. Looked back to find that we had put a little gap between us and the field. I yelled at him to take half lap pulls to see if we could stay off for the sprint. But after he pulled up he wasn't able to get back onto my wheel. I took first in the third sprint. Looked back and I had about a third of a lap gap so just kept going. I had been doing close to 50km/h. Slowed that down to about 46km/h and just kept going, and going, and going.. After about six laps I had actually put some more room between me and the field. Was less than a half lap to catch them. 

Pulled the speed up gradually to about 48km/h with two to go so that they would hopefully not be able to sprint over to me... Still had a half lap when I got the bell, and took 1st in the final sprint. Which was enough (barely, 10 points to Jeff Ain's 9 points) to get 1st.

I was off the front for about 16 laps (3.3 km). Peak watts 704, average 365.  This was actually about 1:11 average 440. 2:04 average 340 and then finished with :47 average 366 watts.  But overall very comparable to my 20 lap L5 workouts. So I had some idea what speed I could maintain and for how long. 

I suspect that the field somehow just didn't see Keith and I go off of the front and thought I was a lap down. So didn't think they had to catch me.

The final race was a 5x5 Progressive Points race.  I hung out for the first two sprints and then mad a big effor to get a third in the third sprint. And then just hang on at the front. Followed Dave Gerth through the fourth sprint to take a 3rd. And Managed a 4th in the final sprint. To take 3rd overall.

The third sprint was the hardest. 769 peak watts, 621 average for 20 seconds. And then get the heart rate back down from 186 to 180 in 4 laps so I could work for the next sprint. 

BVC Structured Workout - flying 500's, L4, L5

Structured workout at the track..

• 5 x 500m Flying 500's
• quarter lap sprint drill
• 12 minutes L2

Then:

• 20 Laps L5 - 45km/h, 338 watts average
• 50 Laps L4 - 42km/h, 301 watts average

Computrainer - big ring repeats on 2k loop

Back to the Computrainer and the very flexibile 2k loop. This time it was WU, then 5 minutes @ FTP and then an hour of big ring sprints. On the second little hill, climb, seated, in 53x13 with as much power as possible for 20+ seconds. Repeat each lap (about 4 minutes.)

Anmore Tour - Another 3 hours of L2, Lynx

Another long 3 hour ride @ L2. Push up CTL...  Now over 70, five weeks ahead of last year.  Glad the program was L2 with a little L3. The legs felt really really heavy today. No mojo over 300 watts, and even getting up to L3 territory (240 watts say) was hard and got me out of breath. But with a -34 TSB that is probably to be expected.

Climbing up from the Buntzen Power Plant I saw a pair of Lynx's walking up the road. Fairly sure they were a male and female. They had to follow the road for a couple hundred yards and the bigger (male) kept looking back at me to see if I was a threat. While the smaller (female) moved a bit faster to where they wanted to go. There was a bunch of crows circling above them giving them a hard time.

I managed to get some (probably very fuzzy) pictures on my cell phone. Assuming I can find a USB cable for a Samsung I'll try and get them downloaded and uploaded if the Lynx's are actually visible.

I saw a single Lynx on the other road through Belcarra Park last year. And a Cougar near White Pine Beach the year before that. Great to see that they can co-exist so close.

Ford Road - 3 hours of L2

Long and slightly more leisurely Ford Road today... with the normal climb up and over Westwood on the end plus a few extra little hills after that on the way back home. Managed to get up to 177 TSS points... Which helped get a big jump in CTL. 

BVC Friday Racing - 2x1sts

Three races: 20 lap Scratch, Elimination to 5 lap Scratch and 5x10 Points. Finally have the Zipp Disc back with a new Vittoria Pista Evo CS...

I managed a nice lead out to the beginning of the 20 Lap Scratch. I was hoping to pull the speed up to about 48 over 3 laps and then pull up and find an hole about half way back in the group. There was a large number of starters (17 or 18). So I didn't really want to end up at the back in such a short race. Unfortunately there was no good spot to move back in and I ended up at the back. 

Trying to move over the top to get to the front with about five laps to go, I managed to get about half way across when there was a small jump at the front and some less confident riders moved up in front of me and slowed down, making me move up to the rail... By the time I got around we had less than four laps and the small front group (7-8 riders) where almost a half lap away... I managed to bridge over, but just caught onto the back as they got the bell.. No chance of getting any where near the front.

The second race was an Elimination to Five Lap Scratch. Eighteen starters with nine eliminations. I jumped to the front at the beginning and lead the group out with enough speed to keep most people working hard enough to stretch out and not be interested in challenging me for the lead.  

Started at about 47km/h and gradually moved the speed down as we went. Overall did about 14 laps with overall averaged speed of 45.8km/h. With two eliminations to go Stewart Bowner came over me and pushed the speed up to about 48km/h for the next four laps. After the last elimination he waffled a bit moving up track pulling me with him.. Which was not where I wanted to be.  I had to jump under him (apolgies to Anselmo who was below us...) and managed to get a nice gap and carried through for the last three laps to take first.

This started out with me at the back and some of the younger guys pushing the pace into the first sprint... Shortly after that there was a small break away, two people getting off the front. They took the second sprint. I had managed to get gapped (behind the wrong people) so had to do a big effort to bridge up. I did that just after the second sprint hoping that the front group would slow down a bit. 

That worked and I got to the front. Found another rider to work with  and took the first in the next two sprints. The follow on riders managed to catch us about then.  And after some jockeying around Stewart Bowner and I ended up high over the blue with about four laps to go. He jumped. I followed. I almost got over top of him in the last corner, but he is a sprinter and had enough in reserve to take the 1st by a half wheel... (well almost ... at least a tire width or two, Jeremie took a few seconds to think about it before giving it to Stewart...)

But I still had enough points to get 1st overall, 14 points to Bowners 12.

It felt nice to have the Zipp Disc back. It had a flat back in late November and it took me a while to get some tubulars ordered... Decided to try some less expensive Vittoria Pistas, 220 TPI, about $35 Cdn from Probikekit in the UK (free shipping...) Then took a while to get one prepped and glued on.. Then after getting it on the disc, the last step is to pump it up... discovered that the stem was double length and while it "fit" into the disc hole, there was simply no way to get the pump "hash pipe" onto it. So I had to rip that one off.. Very annoying, neither Vittoria or the Probikekit site specified the stem length, so I had just assumed it was the standard length.

Then had to order some of the better Vittoria Pesta Evo CS (about $65Cdn) 290TPI tubulars. Those arrived last week, but too late to get glued on. So tonight was finally back to normal.

Subjectively at least, I think this certainly makes the long endurance type leadouts (like the Elimination tonight) easier. It probably adds a 1km/h to those types of efforts (for the same power output) compared to the training wheel (simple 32 spoke, narrow Mavic rim with mid-range Tufo..) Better aero and better CRR.

Finished the night with 20 minutes L3/SST type effort.

BVC Structured Workout

Last night was 2x20 SST, then 30 minutes L4, my 2km loop with high and low cadence drills.

Tonight BVC Structured workout 3 x flying 2km in groups of 5. Rest, then 10 laps @ 46km/h, 4 repeats of 6 laps rest, 2 sprint laps. Rest, then 30 minutes L3.

Computrainer - 8KTT and 1.5 Hour L2

Did the Computrainer 7 Springs 8K TT, then one and a half hours of L2 (Giro Bufallo Course.)