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Lot's more riding going on!

Thu, Aug 5th - Over/Under's

Back up to the Ob for my pre-CX prep, the lovely Over/Under intervals. Tonight looked something like:

2mins U (260w) - get's me past the second gate
1min O (350w) - ends a bit before the first little steep bit before the switchback
2min U - gets me about 1/2 way up the first steep bit after the switchback
1min O - gets me to the first level of buildings
1min U - gets me about to the fire hydrant
1min O - top!

4mins rest ride back to the bottom...

293w total average suggests a 'perfect' effort (ie, 5x260w + 3x350w /8), and they looked a little like this:

#1 - 298w
#2 - 292w
#3 - 290w
#4 - 289w

Slacking a bit for the final one, but overall pretty happy with my first set for the season.

Sat, Aug 7 - CCC Dallas Drag!

Another awesome event from Capital City Cycles, it was a wet night (after a couple days of rain) but didn't actually rain. Rode the OBB ride in the morning, logged 1.75hrs there, went moderately hard...solo'd away from the pack, made it to the sprint point with lots of time to spare, so stopped and took pics of the rest of the 'sprint'...no one really very eager in the rain...haha

But the Dallas Drag was a hoot, about 20 peeps out, mostly fixies. Course started at the top of Beacon Hill, and then basically along Dallas and Beach Dr to the Gyro Park in the Caddy Bay village.

I was expecting an ITT, but turned out to be a mass-start event...wooot! I wasn't feeling terribly motivated, so this was prolly helpful for results...hehe..

We all took off, and after a minute a group of us formed along Dallas, strung out..sat in for a few mins, then got to the front and eased up the pace, pulling up by St Charles, and pulling off there. Halldor and Colin were still in contact, i got on the back..

On KGT (King George Terrace) Halldor hammered up (he was riding fixed). I wasn't too worried, i knew he'd lose speed on the descent so i just maintained a strong chase. Unfortunately Colin underestimated how hard we'd hit it, so he fell back..

Came down the other side, and caught Halldor fairly quickly, passed by and maintained a steady pace. Colin had just about bridged up, but we were heading up the hilly by the golf course, which is deceptively tough...not a lot of elevation, but long enough to make people suffer.

Halldor set the pace up the hill and Colin fell further back. We rolled along Beach Drive, exchanging pulls, keeping a nice steady pace. We were approaching the incline by Willow's, and i was contemplating making a move there....we got up the hill and decided to leave it for the final...i was feeling fairly good, but Halldor had lasted this long, so i would really have to hurt myself to get away, and then have to sustain that...hahaha

I figured early on the race would be won on the final, Uplands hill, if there were anyone still together....

Halldor pulled off for me to lead the beginning of the ascent. That made me a little nervous, i wouldn't be able to see him if he attacked... But given that he's riding a fixed, and pretty big gear at that, i eased up...harder to spin up a big gear like that. ;)

He didn't like that tho, and picked up the pace, expressing concern about Colin who was gaining on us.

The thing about the Uplands hill is that the incline isn't what gets you, it's the 250m or so at the top before the ascent...so i sat on Halldor's wheel and planned my move for that. He was really hoofing it at this point, 20 seconds above 500w. He would have to be a monster to be able to sustain that, so i just stayed on him....

At the top he pulled off, and i responded by maintaining that pace. I put it all on, averaging nearly 400w for a minute and a half, and pulling clear of Halldor and making some solid distance as i hit the final descent.

I looked back, and had 50m on him - woot!! Who loves what's essentially a sprint after a hard climb? =P

I eased off and was able to coast pretty much the rest of the way...

Entire effort was 22:21, averaged 276w (321NP), but i coasted the last minute plus. Up to then, i averaged 295w for 20mins, which is a new PB for me! (NP 327w.) Course was about 13.9km (just a hair longer than the OA-TT.) Less elevation on this one tho.

Halldor finished maybe 30 seconds off, and Colin, who worked his ass off all alone, was pretty close just behind him. Lot's of great efforts from the other fixies and riders, great to see peeps putting it out there!!

Looking forward to doing this again some time. =)

Tue, Aug 10 - OA-TT

Speaking of which, back at it! A little bit slower, but i was feeling fairly fatigued...

Anyway, here's the breakdown:

Effort #6, Aug 10rd

Section:  #1    #2    #3    TOT

Time:     7:43  8:36  5:08  21:21

Watts:    290w  266w  279w  278w

HR:       174   182   184   180

RPM:      102   104   105   103

Spd:      38.1  38.4  40.1  38.8

I got really hung up at Corner #1, a truck towing a boat was turning right in front of me, had to slow down quite a bit... Scroll down to the last entry to compare my previous five efforts. HR was a LOT lower than the last few times...another sign of my fatigue. Watts were a bit lower, but again, i think i'm putting out more when needed, and easing off when not....NP was 291w, so where they ought to be.

Good efforts from other riders, nice to see Hugh out! Don set a new course record, down to 18:23... If this heat continues, it may fall again this Tuesday! Details here: http://bit.ly/oavic-tt

Sun, Aug 15th - SIMBS Poker Run

Rode the Russ Hayes ride on Thursday, decided i was a bit too tired to do intervals, and would just try and sit in... It was a slower ride overall, but still went harder than i would have liked...haha Sat planned the same thing, some big efforts around the airport and up Panorama, but managed to hang with the front. Eased off quite a bit after that.

Sunday rode out to the Dump with Chelsea and Halldor for the SIMBS Poker Run, a fun 'orienteering' type event where you ride to four different points at the Dump, and collect poker cards at each one, and then play at the end. Rode with Chelsea and Emily for this (Halldor wanted to hammer, and took off like a bullet!) We cruised and rode most of my regular route, getting cards along the way.

Got back, and had crappy cards, which worked out fine as i won 'Worst Hand', 9 high! hahaha

Fun day:



Lotsa riding this week, got my TSS a bit too high, so will suffer next week, methinks:

Ending     Duration Distance Weight HR  TSS kJ

15/08/2010 11:36:58 313.48   72.0   152 779 7164

Yerp...better off just edging over 700, not working my way through it...hehe..

So this week, OA-TT on Tue, more O/U intervals on Thu if feeling decent, easier OBB ride on Sat as i'm hoping to jump in on the Pro City Hurricane Ridge ride.....yip! Gotta get up that hill some time this year...

Ride on!

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