Happy Old Year!

Yes, that's right - HAPPY OLD YEAR! Or, at least, i hope you had one! How was it? Did you do many of the things you wanted to? Were you happy with what you got up to? Sure, it's nice to say 'Happy New Year', but there's not much of a commitment to that..and literally ignores the fact a year just went by and perhaps deserves some reflection...

Anywhat, enough of the Dave-style mental deconstructionism, what's been going on? Lots!

Tuesday (Dec 29th) - 2.5hr Ride w/Emile

Another dry day, made it out on the Noah again, Emile joined me for the spin, nice to have some company during a weekly ride.  Not much to report, here's the numbers:

Entire workout (194 watts):
    Duration:      2:19:21 (2:28:19)
    Work:          1603 kJ
    TSS:           155.9 (intensity factor 0.823)
    Norm Power:    214
    VI:            1.11
    Distance:      65.986 km
                        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    889    194     watts
    Heart Rate:      73    174    148     bpm
    Cadence:         33    126    90     rpm
    Speed:           3.7    56.7    28.7     kph

Wed - Climb!

Another 2.5hrs hang time with Kelly, i was pretty fatigued, nothing much to report.

Thu - Rest Day!

haha - it had been over 2 weeks since i had a full day off, and it was POURING out, so i took this one off.

Fri - MTB w/Halldor

New Years Day - time to ride! Went out for a short session with Halldor, planning to hit Hindgrinder (it's off Breathless.) When we got to the top at Sofa King, we were surprised to find Roland, Katie, Glenowyn and Emily (who i know from the Durian Cup MTB race OA Victoria organized, the 'B' winner!) It was a pretty wet day and Halldor suggested cruising back down with them, and so we did! Fun ride! No broken bones for Roland, maybe he'll MTB with me again some day..

Entire workout (162 watts):
    Duration:      55:14 (1:34:37)
    Work:          538 kJ
    TSS:           61.9 (intensity factor 0.82)
    Norm Power:    213
    VI:            1.31
    Distance:      8.267 km
                        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    1041    162     watts
    Heart Rate:      70    187    152     bpm
    Cadence:         33    196    72     rpm
    Speed:           3.9    36.5    9.2     kph

Sat - OBB Ride

Decent sized group, lots of the regular offenders. ;)

Pretty mellow overall... We took a slightly skewed route outside of Sidney, hitting some roads i'd never been on. Pancake flat too, i liked them!!  Alex had a flat at the Sidney stop, but unfortunately we never saw him again.  On Daffodil Road, Emile's bottle and cage fell off, so i fell back with him to collect it, and we did a little bit of work to catch back up to the group.

I was actually feeling pretty darn good, and did a fair bit of work up W. Saanich and on Interurban. Dave MacLeod once again gave a strong lead-out, and come the hill i was 3rd wheel, with Matt Dilay in front of me, who i was keeping an eye on... We started up the hill and i began the work of inching my way up beside him....i was actually making progress, jamming the pedals hard as i could....the line was fast approaching tho!

I'm sure i grunted a few times, didn't see anyone else around, so it was just us fighting for the line....a few more hard pedal strokes, and we hit the line......i'm not sure who got it first, so we agreed to call it a draw. I can live with that. =)

Held nearly 900w for 20 seconds there (897w), peaked at 1043w...just a good, hard, effort...got it up above 800w, and held it as i worked my way up beside Matt. Peter Lawless was apparently behind us for 3rd, i jumped on Matt's wheel before he had a chance..haha.. ;)

Bit of an easier ride overall... Took the Overpass uncontested once again...haha..

Entire workout (169 watts):
    Duration:      2:59:57 (3:12:01)
    Work:          1802 kJ
    TSS:           219.6 (intensity factor 0.861)
    Norm Power:    224
    VI:            1.33
    Distance:      88.574 km
                       Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    1043    169     watts
    Heart Rate:      88    195    141     bpm
    Cadence:         25    236    89     rpm
    Speed:           0    63.8    29.7     kph

Sunday - Ride & Climb

Headed out around 11am, went the 'reverse' route of the Burnside group, B-lining it up to Gorden Head & Arbutus, and then riding 'towards' them. Oddly, never found them...made it out to Mt. Newton, and then came back.

 Entire workout (197 watts):
    Duration:      1:48:29 (1:52:04)
    Work:          1269 kJ
    TSS:           120.3 (intensity factor 0.819)
    Norm Power:    213
    VI:            1.08
    Distance:      50.873 km
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    911    197     watts
    Heart Rate:      83    177    153     bpm
    Cadence:         20    118    90     rpm
    Speed:           4    61.4    28.4     kph

Also met up with Tom Skinner and friend (Eva?) in the late afternoon for a shortish 2hr climbing session. My plan was mainly to keep it easy, as i was going out again the following night. Played around on easier climbs getting warmed up, and then finally cleaned the 'Orange 10b' that had been confounding me..got my footwork right and made it up and over - yip!! I think that was my first 10b cleaned since i've been back. Nice.

Also started working on a 10c overhang i'd been ignoring... It's a long route, which finishes overhanging, and there's a 5.8 on it as well. I figured i'd get a few holds in on the 10c, and then switch over. Turns out i made it nearly to the top!!! The final two holds are KILLER, but it was a very nice climb leading up to that. Will be looking forward to cleaning that one soon too...

Tom's a solid climber considering he's pretty green to the sport. Showed me a cool way to avoid a spot i disliked on a 5.9, one of the nice things about climbing with other people...they can give you ideas. Eva(?) also climbed very well, also pretty new to the sport. Hopefully our schedules will mesh for future sessions!

Monday - Climb Part Deux

This time with Kelly. Another shorter sesh, around 2hrs. I was afraid i'd be wiped, but the fingers were holding up surprisingly well! For lunch i'd had barley, corn and shitake mushrooms, gotta remember that for the future! (Note that Roman Gladiators apparently ate vegan, and barley was a mainstaple..maybe there's something to that..)

Warmed up and played around for a while, and decided to give the 'yellow' 10c a go. I've nearly cleaned this a few times...theres's a spot 3/4 of the way up, where i end up getting my feet too high, and it makes reaching the hold a very awkward manoeuvrer...so i was mindful of this, kept low, and made the hold! I kept pushing, and WHAM! 10c cleaned!

YEAH! Very happy with my progress, esp. after a slow week last week. Confidence is up, and it turned out my muscle endurance is looking up as well, i kept climbing 10a's, expecting my hands to fail, but they just kept on going.

Still a few other tough 10c's to work on...and there's a shortage of 10d's, only one i can think of.. And then the scary 11's....eeep!

Tue - Ride to the Velodrome

Lucked out with another dry day....overcast and wet roads, so not a day for the Ridley, but got out for nearly 2hrs...was a bit of work talking myself into it.

Opted to make it a destination day: checked out the new paved section of the Goose out in Colwood - it's very nice! Leads nicely to the velodrome, which was my destination.

Wanted to check it out, see how it's holding up.. Looks like someone snapped the cable that was strung across it...scofflaws and ruffians...haha..although no one's going to be able to ride it until mid-Feb at the earliest, it'll be wet until then.

I also rode up and around to the Wildplay Park, behind the track in the trees. I was very surprised to see that it's completely 'open' - as in i can get off my bike and walk/climb up into the bridges and lines....

Isn't that a bit of a hazard?

Like, the gashole Mayor Dave Saunders and West Shore Parks and Recreation Society have declared the track facility a national state of emergency, fencing in the whole track, for fear of people dying by tripping on a seam on the Astroturf....but this zipline contraption can sit there open and exposed?? This makes no sense to me. The reason Saunders and the WSPRS say the track is closed is because it's dangerous. What about this new facility?! Or the BMX track? There are crashes EXPECTED on the BMX track every time kids get on it...yet the velodrome is Public Enemy #1 at the Juan de Fuca centre?

This makes NO sense to me. (What makes this all the more frustrating is that it's never been more bike-friendly to actually GET to the track. There's full bike lane on the highway up to the JdF, and this new paved section of the Goose is also an excellent way to get there avoiding 99% of the roads.) GAAAH....

Anyway, here's what does make sense, my numbers from the ride. I rode back in the way i came out, and rode the water up to Haultain to get a few more kms in.

Entire workout (202 watts):
    Duration:      1:48:08 (1:55:36)
    Work:          1295 kJ
    TSS:           133.1 (intensity factor 0.865)
    Norm Power:    225
    VI:            1.11
    Distance:      51.287 km
                        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    991    202     watts
    Heart Rate:      81    179    154     bpm
    Cadence:         23    131    93     rpm
    Speed:           3.8    52.5    28.8     kph

The rest of my week is pretty straight-forward, climb tomorrow (Wed), another ride Thu (looking like it might be a Ridley day!) - time to start figuring out some training-specific intervals.. Perhaps climb on Fri. Skipping the OBB ride on Saturday, as there's a free seminar on training w/power at the PCC. Prolly will ride out, and continue my ride after that.

Sunday, hopefully back on the MTB!

Keep them wheels spinning! =)

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