Cycling & Track Racing, Vegan-Style!: A Gov'ner of Giv'ner

Training updates, easy conversion of your bike to a single-speed and some interesting news items!

Training

I think my training session on Tuesday (Monday was a rest day) might have been one of the hardest i've ever done..!

Much like my previous effort, i did more of the 8min Over/Under intervals at the Observatory. This time, i succeeded in doing five, 3x 'hard' and 2x 'easy'. Hard and easy are relative of course, 'hard' just means i start off with the 'over' and do them all earlier.. 'Easy' means i ease into it, but in the end i'm doing the same thing. No matter the order, there's 5mins at ~260w (my 1hr Lactic Threshold/Functional Threshold Power) and 3mins above 350w, which is definitely an anaerobic effort for me. I can sustain that for perhaps 5mins, so doing 3mins mixed in with virtually no recovery at 260w means it's hurt time.

So my intervals looked something like this, unfortunately my HR strap wasn't picking up, i'm sure i was well above 190bpm for most of these. Also, rested 5mins between each effort (mainly descending the hill):

#1 1O/1U/1O/2U/1O/2U
Watts: 303 (feeling good)

#2 1O/1U/1O/2U/1O/2U
Watts: 301 (feeling it)

#3 1O/1U/1O/2U/1O/2U
Watts: 299 (seriously - owwie)

#4 2U/1O/2U/1O/1U/1O
Watts: 303 (booya!)

#5 2U/1O/2U/1O/1U/1O
Watts: 299 (holy crap)

I'm pretty pleased with myself, there's some real improvement! A couple weeks ago i was barely holding 293w on the 4th effort, and didn't even try a 5th! For the 1hr my Normalized Power was 276w, which is WAY above my actual FTP (260w.) I also got a TSS score of 113 in that hour. Scary when 40mins was actual 'work'. So in summary, there was 40mins averaging ~300w, and 15mins of that was above 350w. Earlier in the summer my *hard* workouts had me achieving maybe 32mins @300w (steady, TT effort). I'm pretty sure that's a new high for me!

TrainingPeaks WKO+ summary for the entire ride:

Entire workout (193 watts):
    Duration:     2:35:03 (2:50:48)
    Work:          1772 kJ
    TSS:           224.4 (intensity factor 0.937)
    Norm Power:    244
    VI:            1.26
    Distance:     66.062 km
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    896    193     watts
    Heart Rate:     86    174    152     bpm (incomplete)
    Cadence:         23    149    87     rpm
    Speed:           3.7    63.8    25.8     kph

The rest of the ride was pretty straight-forward, from Oak Bay took Richardson across through downtown, onto the Goose, met training buddy Lysanne at the Trestle, rode out along the Goose and Interurban. (EM pace, 220-240w). Did intervals, suffered, thanks to the cheering and encouragement of Lysanne and friend Mark who also came out. EM ride back continued along W.Saanich to the rolly Sparton/Oldfield/Brookleigh, across the highway and Santa Clara/Claremont/Blenkinsop/MacKenzie/Henderson/Foul Bay. Nice day for it too, btw.

VCX practice race tonight, and it was WET!! Much smaller group out, maybe 25 of us. (There have been upwards of 70 some nights!) It was nice to get some practice in the rain tho, and slipping around in the mud, since it's been sooo dry!! The green Michelin Mud tires (original tread) are amazing. The Mud2's are pretty much the standard tire around here, but the originals are even better...will definitely be nabbing any more i ever see. Apparently there's a petition out there to get Michelin to produce them again, i totally understand why. Here's a shot of me from tonight:

It's not too clear in the shot, but i was pretty covered in mud. =)

Got in about 28mins of racing, my first few laps were great! I started off at the back, and moved up a bunch of positions, catching the group my main rival Roland was in, and managed to work my way up to the front of that! Cleared the group and had a pretty solid gap (wtf?!) but the climb became REALLY slick, and my tire slid and i came to an utter halt. I was pushing it pretty good, and so just stalled there...everyone caught and passed me, and i took a moment to get my momentum up again..haha.. Chased again after that, but i was pretty wiped by then...maybe 28mins of racing? I also basically TT'd it to get there, since i was running late. =P

For the rest of my week, i'll prolly just chill, maybe head out for an hour on Friday. Saturday is the SingleSpeed Championships of the Universe in Errington (near Parksville), part of the Cross on the Rock series! I'm looking forward to this mostly..will be interesting to see what gear i'll want...

Elegant, Simple Way to Convert Your Bike to SingleSpeed

And how will i be making my Campy drivetrain a single-speed? It's easy: three zipties. One on each lever, preventing the upshift (around the brake and shift lever.) To prevent downshifting, a third ziptie goes around the down or toptube over the shift cables (don't cover the brake!) If you hit the thumb lever on the shifter, the cable goes lax, but if the ziptie is tight, it won't drop.

SRAM is the easiest, two zip ties on the levers. No more shifting. Do it to your buddies on the road. =P

Shimano is annoying, and takes a bit more. Zip ties on levers prevents downshifting. Two small bolt'n'nuts are needed directly on the cables where they first come out (on the toptube or downtube right at the headtube.) Bolt 'em on nice and close to the housing stop, and you're good as gold.

Post any other tips in the comments section!

News of Interest

A few news stories that have crossed my way that are of interest to the cycling and vegan world.

Worldwatch Institute: "Livestock and Climate Change"
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6294
WW challenges the claims of the UN's FAO report "Livestock's Long Shadow", which asserts that ~18% of all greenhouse emissions come from animal agriculture. (Which is higher than the entire transportation sector: cars, trains, planes, boats, etc..) WW insists that the FAO is off significantly, and the actual number is in the range of 51% of all global emissions. The article even encourages getting kids to eat 'analogs' like veggie burgers and soy milk. Amazing. Note that this hasn't gone unchallenged, and i've noticed many claiming that respiration, which wasn't factored into the FAO report, shouldn't be included. WW says it should be included, and if i understood the report, it's based on the fact that we're adding ~50 billion breathing creatures, and at the loss of carbon-sequestering forests and plains, for both the animals themselves, and the fields for all the food they need. One critique is here from Stephen Walsh of the Vegan Society.

NYTimes: "To Cut Global Warming, Swedes Study Their Plates"
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/world/europe/23degrees.html?_r=1
Tied in with the above piece, foods in Sweden are being labeled with their carbon emissions.

NYTimes: "The Sex of Athletes: One Issue, Many Variables"
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/sports/25intersex.html?_r=3&ref=global
A thoughtful piece on gender in sports.

Cyclingnews.com: Katie Compton's 'Cross Bike
http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/katie-comptons-planet-bike-stevens-cyclocross-carbon-team
A few interesting tweaks and parts on the bike. I agree that the Crank Bros pedals are pretty slick if you're not clipped in!

Velonation: Bruyneel: Armstrong close to quitting after collarbone mishap
http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/2066/Bruyneel-Armstrong-close-to-quitting-after-collarbone-mishap.aspx
Subject says it all..a bit on the team tension with Contador as well.