So Many Races!

Hey there sports fans!

Been busy training and racing, feeling pretty good right now! My first 'big' event is this Sunday, the Bastion Square crit, i'm pretty excited for this! Lots of good events the last week+, let's do a quick recap:

Wed, May 12th - BMX!

First time riding a BMX course on an actual BMX bike for the Kid's Club day! Super fun, got a wee bit of air, but moved through pretty quick. Legs fried from the Tue 1min efforts the day before, but hey. I put my Garmin Edge 500 on it, hilarious map:



The kids just rode around doing their own thing...most don't seem too eager to actually race, so kept it casual.

Fri, May 14th - Capital City Cycles Street Sprints

Another night of drag races thanks to CCC! This was day 4 in-a-row for me. The 1mins on Tue, BMX (sprinting) on Wed, and a 2.5hr EM ride on the Thu...

First one felt alright, but second one against Mitch and Jordon (Mitch was previously the overall champ, and Jordon raced me in the final last time, tough match!!) i had no 'overdrive', and was eliminated. Made them work for it tho! Final match was trackie Marcus and Pro City Jamie, and i told Marcus 'don't underestimate him, just GO.' He didn't listen, and Jamie kicked it in the last 100m and took it - nice!!

Anyway, here's the wattage from my two efforts, both in the 50t x 15t:


#1 - ?? (Only 200m)
Duration: 16.4
Ave Spd: 40.1
Max Spd: 49.4
Ave Cad: 112
Max Cad: 124
Ave Wts: 890
Max Wts: 1212


#2 - Mitch & Jordon (Full 300m, i stopped pedalling ~20m to go)
Duration: 27.7
Ave Spd: 38.8
Max Spd: 51.1
Ave Cad: 115
Max Cad: 128
Ave Wts: 808
Max Wts: 1184

For comparison, here's the best effort from last time:

#2 - 3-up Mitch & ?
Duration: 26.46
Ave Spd: 43.7
Max Spd: 51.6
Ave Cad: 111
Max Cad: 122
Ave Wts: 828
Max Wts: 1177

Pretty similar!

Sunday, May 16th - Island Cup MTB Race: Cobble Hill

Day 6 of 6 riding...did a shorter OBB ride the day before.

Race went surprisingly well, i'm getting rather 'tough'. I'm very surprised that after 6 days of pretty solid riding, i had *any* motivation. Well, i had quite a bit!

Got a lift out with Halldor (thanks!!) and we pre-rode the course together. An improvement from last year which was basically up and up and up, then a wee bit of singletrack, and a quick fireroad drop to the bottom, and repeat!!

There was a lot more singletrack at the top, and much more on the descent. Still, not quite enough to really allow for too much make-up on the descent...ahh well.

We finished our pre-ride just in time to get in line, not a prob, nice and warm!

We started off, and i was in the top 5 off the top. It went pretty much straight into a steep climb... Scott Mitchel(Pro City) launched and flew up the hill, never to be seen again. Jamie Emery(Pro City) lead the chase (well, i wondered if he was blocking/defending, but i wouldn't have wanted to go much harder.)

I sat on his wheel and we climbed and climbed and climbed... About 2/3rds of the way up, Roland made a move and i let him by (i'm such a sporting fellow. ;) There was a small group of about 4 that pursued. Roland thought he had the front, and was going for the King of the Mountain prize...sucker! =P

With 3/4 of the climbing done, i was pretty fried, and had to ease off...our small group, including Halldor(Capital City Cycles) eased by. I cheered him on. =)

Kept climbing, i think another rider passed...then hit the top, and kept the speed up, dropping a wheel that was getting too close for comfort behind me. On the way down near the bottom i saw Jamie Emery off his bike, turns out he busted his collarbone. =(

Started my second lap, not quite as peppy as the first, but i put in a good effort. A few more bikes eased by, and my climb was a fair bit slower...by about 2mins. I actually shaved a few seconds off on the descent.

Finished 10th (out of ~30) in Intermediate, pretty happy with that on a course that did NOT suit me.. With the exception of Scott, the Top 12 or so were all within' a few minutes of each other, so it was actually a pretty well matched race.

Thanks to the folks at Cobble Hill for organizing it, i love the Island Cups. =)

Here's my power data:

MTB Race:
    Duration:      1:05:44
    Work:          878 kJ
    TSS:           109.3 (intensity factor 0.999)
    Norm Power:    267
    VI:            1.2
    Distance:      13.459 km
    Elevation Gain:        474 m
    Elevation Loss:        481 m
                     Min   Max    Avg
    Power:           0     825    223     watts
    Heart Rate:      127   191    182     bpm
    Cadence:         42    201    81      rpm
    Speed:           0     42.2   12.2    kph
    Altitude:        97    291    202     m

Yep, held threshold (NP) for over an hour. Not bad after 6 days. I managed to average 294w (actual power) for 16.5mins, up the first lap. Can't complain. Fun day, anyway. Enjoyed the day off on Monday. Here's the Garmin data:



Tuesday - OA TT

Okay, time for ANOTHER race. The third instalment of the OA-TT (email if interested in joining us!)

Warmest night so far, but just as windy as the first session, and same direction. Don Gillmore (The Immortal!) made it out. He flew by me, set a new course record of 19' flat!

I managed to shake off a few more seconds, down to 22'28. Unfortunately my wattage data is screwy, i zero'd it before i went, but the bike had been sitting in the sun, and i think it warmed up and that threw everything off, cutting the actual wattage by quite a bit. The times are accurate, and i'll include estimates of what i think i did. I'm guessing i averaged 286w (rather than 274w), one more watt than last time...a fair guesstimate. (Weird, spellcheck isn't complaining about 'guesstimate', but it is about spellcheck...haha)

Here it is, broken into the three portions of the course, at each corner:

Effort #3, May 18th

Section:  #1    #2    #3    TOT

Time:     8:36  8:57  4:56  22:28

Watts:    281w  270w  268w  274w

Est.Wts:  292w  281w  279w  286w

HR:       175   185   187   182

RPM:      101   102   103   102

Spd:      33.8  37.1  42.1  36.9
So the Est. Wts are bumped up about 4.2% (ie, 274w to 286w.) It looks about right compared to the other efforts... Note that i kept my cadence a lot higher! For comparison, here's the last two times i did this:

Effort #1, Apr 20th

Section:  #1    #2    #3    TOT

Time:     8:30  9:10  4:56  22:36

Watts:    305w  267w  274w  283w

HR:       174   182   184   180

RPM:      97    97    99    97

Spd:      34.4  36.4  41.5  36.8

Effort #2, May 4th

Section:  #1    #2    #3    TOT

Time:     8:24  9:01  5:08  22:32

Watts:    291w  278w  286w  285w

HR:       174   184   186   181

RPM:      99    99    102   100

Spd:      34.7  36.7  40.7  36.8
That's the fastest 'middle' portion and closing i've done. I felt better this time too, esp. with the higher cadence. I felt like i was holding the pace with a bit of comfort, instead of struggling to maintain the watts...i like that better. ;)

Sunday - Masters TT & Crit (in Nanaimo)

So i took Thu & Fri off, did a short OBB ride on Sat, and headed up to Nanaimo for the Master's TT & Crit.

The River Road TT was pretty tough, similar rolling course to the OA-TT. It was 20km, and i was hoping for a 30min time. Checked my wattage PB for 30min, and it was 274w, so i decided to aim to average 280w.

Went out, did it! Actually managed 284w, new 30min PB! Here's the #s:

TT:
    Duration:      31:19
    Work:          532 kJ
    TSS:           62.1 (intensity factor 1.091)
    Norm Power:    291
    VI:            1.03
    Distance:      20.392 km
                     Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0      793    283     watts
    Heart Rate:      124    189    183     bpm
    Cadence:         33     131    104     rpm
    Speed:           13.4   61.4   39.1    kph

Pretty happy with that. The time recorded was 31:23. Managed a nice high cadence as well. Finished a fair bit down in the 'overall' (fast old guys!), but i got a gold medal in my age group (30-34).

The crit later in the day was really much more up my alley! We rode a few laps and i was a bit concerned with the elevation on the back side...something like 6 or 8m per lap, with two little pitches. This is the new Boxwood crit course in Nanaimo.

Anyway, the group of 8 of us took off. Emile was the known 'threat', i didn't really know anyone else in the bunch... We kept together for a few laps, and then Emile began to pick up the pace, and attacked on the front. I 'chased' up the back and around the corner, and let him get away.

Andrew Brown (riding for the new Eatmore team! He raced the BC Cup MTB race earlier too) lead the chase after that, and tried to get the troops going. Took them a few laps to realize that i wasn't going to do any pulling, and that the other guy in green was my teammate. ;)

It was pretty disorganized tho, and no one besides Andrew really felt like doing any work.. I just sat in, enjoying the draft.. I let a bunch of laps go by, and at about 25min in, during a lull on the fast front section, i sprinted away!

Hit my peak watts there (1198w), and for nearly 3mins i powered away at 360w, trying to drop the pack. There was one rider who sort of bridged up (didn't quite make contact) - i kept looking back hoping he'd be able to help...but no dice... When the chasing pack was ~30m away, i eased off and sat back in. 3mins later, Emile turned up! He lapped us, woot!

So we played at the front a few laps, doing a few small attacks, to see how the field would respond. And a few mins later we broke away. Emile started it, and i took a turn or two. One other rider came with us. Unfortunately, he didn't do any work, so i was splitting the effort with Emile to enlarge the gap....and when Emile picked it up a bit, i got dropped! Gah!! I didn't really have time to recover fully from my previous big effort!

I watched them ride away, but put my head down and continued to chase. Who knows, maybe i'd be able to stay away...or more likely, the other rider would get dropped. (Well, you'd think Emile would drop him on purpose to allow me to catch him!)

I settled into a nice rhythm, i'd ease up a bit on the front/fast section, and then power up around 325-350w up the back/hilly side. It was about 35mins in, and the race was 40min plus 3 laps. Hmmmm.... I'm not really much of a solo artist....but was curious to see what i could do.

Each lap i would look back as i turned onto the front straight...but never saw the pack.. Kept it going... 3 laps to go... Oh boy! I'd lapped Andrew Brown somewhere in there...poor guy...doing an MTB race before must not have been very fun! Brutal course too from what i hear, well over 1000m of climbing.

Anyway, final lap, i powered up the back straight, completed the final corner, looked back...still no one to be seen! Finally, i relaxed and cruised across the line. 3rd place - yay! Again, Gold Medal for my age group.

Turns out the other rider stuck with Emile, who didn't bother trying to drop him....some team mate!! =P

Hugh Trenchard was out as well, but slowed-up when it started to rain (yes, another rainy race!) Turns out we nearly lapped him! But he rallied, and he actually caught the group (while i was off the front) and was in the process of chasing me down..! Eeeep! Emile also caught and passed the group a 2nd time. I remained only one lap down...heh..

Some pretty decent wattage numbers.. While i was soloing, i averaged 281w for 14mins. Certainly not a record for me, but pretty solid after a longish TT, and not really having recovered a previous hard attack, and that was also 'recovering' from getting dropped by Emile. Here are the numbers from the whole effort:

Crit:
    Duration:      47:33
    Work:          771 kJ
    TSS:           97.7 (intensity factor 1.11)
    Norm Power:    296
    VI:            1.1
    Pw:HR:          -7.18%
    Pa:HR:          2.4%
    Distance:      31.106 km
                     Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0     1198    270     watts
    Heart Rate:      111    192    178     bpm
    Cadence:         n/a    n/a    n/a     rpm
    Speed:           17.5  59.2    39.4     kph

Pretty surprised with the NP, 296w! Not sure if it was the rain after the TT, but my cadence crapped out..gotta figure out what's up there.

Crazy that my TSS was 97 for 48mins of riding... I felt really good in the crit tho. My position on the bike is PERFECT. (I'd say about 90% for TT's). I'm super-comfortable, and the bike handles amazingly. Super-happy with the Noah for crits. The corners were a breeze.

Okay, it's late, and this is very long!

I'm quite excited for Bastion next Sunday, come check it out if you're in town, my Cat3 race begins at 9:45am!

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Operation Overkill: Mission Successful!

So this week was 'Operation Overkill'. The goal: go hard, hurt the legs, unleash fury. (The following week will be a recovery week. ;)

Plan: Tue, 2.5hrs w/4x O/U; Thu, 3hrs w/4xO/U; Fri, Street Sprints; Sat, OBB Ride

All were a success! And despite the fact that i came into this pre-stressed, with lots of hard riding the week before... Monday my TSB was -16, which usually isn't a sign of a 'great' workout to come..

Let's begin. You will know it is time to turn the page when you hear Chewbacca howl like this: RRRRrrAAWWWaaaAAAHHH

Tuesday - 4x O/U

Gorgeous day, i finally stripped off the two pairs of booties from my shoes, and put on the toe warmer! Also, rode with knee warmers for the first time on the road this year. Sunny and bright.

Not too much to report, pretty happy with all four efforts. #2 was interrupted by some traffic, but nothing too crazy. Fast day, nice speeds. Still not averaging 300w (which i was doing on the Observatory), but 296w is the 'magic number', if i do it perfectly. These aren't too far off...it's hard to stay perfectly focused, dealing with traffic, debris, other cyclists, and what-not. (Thank you Colwood Mayor Dave Saunders for making sure we can't use the velodrome. You're a real champ. And by 'champ' i mean 'enema sack'.)

Here's the intervals:

Ave Wts: 288

Ave HR: 177

Max HR: 189

Ave Cad: 105

Ave Spd: 37.1

#2

Ave Wts: 288

Ave HR: 178

Max HR: 189

Ave Cad: 106

Ave Spd: 36.8

#3

Ave Wts: 294

Ave HR: 176

Max HR:188

Ave Cad: 106

Ave Spd: 35.9

#4

Ave Wts: 291

Ave HR: 175

Max HR:187

Ave Cad: 107

Ave Spd: 38.8

Fast day...nice to be moving. I really tried hard on #3, and kept my cadence up for all.

Here's the Garmin file: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/27876625

And the full data: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_338ggjgxhb

Thursday - 4x O/U

Another nice day, Gillian joined me out to Mattick's and then turned back, she had some paper to work on, or so she said. ;)

Today i knew i would be escalating the riding, going at least 3hrs as well. (It's also worth noting that i got in over an hour of 'commuting' riding...it was a pretty easy pace, but something to consider..)

Started the intervals, felt pretty good, here's the numbers:

#1

Ave Wts: 285

Ave HR: 173

Max HR: 187

Ave Cad: 102

Ave Spd: 38

#2

Ave Wts: 290

Ave HR: 177

Max HR: 190

Ave Cad: 105

Ave Spd: 38.5

#3

Ave Wts: 284

Ave HR: 175

Max HR: 188

Ave Cad: 106

Ave Spd: 39.7

#4

Ave Wts: 286

Ave HR: 172

Max HR: 184

Ave Cad: 101

Ave Spd: 33.9

Even faster day! The 350w 'Over' portions felt not too bad, but when dropping down to 265w for the 'Under', i felt like they were harder to maintain.. #3 was tough, and i took an extra minute to recover (usually 4mins rest between efforts.) I didn't feel super-motivated and attack the final one, i think i really just wanted to get it over..haha..

Finished the intervals, and rode back down Lockside Dr to Sidney, stopped in the Lifestyle Markets there for a water refill, and continued through and across the highway, and rode the East side of the airport to Panorama, and back into town. Remember, i wanted to add more miles today.

I decided early on that if i had a lot of time when i reached the Observatory, i'd do it as well...and i was only about 2hrs in when i reached it, so i also did a 'firm' effort up the Observatory:

Observatory: 7'39

Ave Wts: 299

Ave HR: 179

Max HR: 186

Ave Cad: 79

Ave Spd: 17.4

That's to the fire hydrant at the top. Certainly not my hardest effort or fastest time, but it was another tough effort to throw in. I burned back down the hill, and actually sprinted near the bottom to get myself up to 68kph. =)

Continued back into town, and for some reason i felt really motivated, and just kept powering along and a fairly high pace. My 3hr NP (Normalized Power, sort of like 'average' without zeros) was 235w - that's pretty freaking high for me, esp. for that length of time...!! I was powering along at the 3hr mark, and felt pretty good...that's *really* odd for me. I seem to have suddenly developed this long-distance endurance and depth.. Well, at least for me. It sure ain't going to win the Tour de France, let alone a Cat3 race....but it's pretty cool to somehow develop this...

Anyways, here's the Garmin file: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/28045840

And what WKO spits out: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_34gpw7pvhc

Wasn't too terribly fatigued after that either, surprisingly...and i think this was one of the harder individual training sessions i've ever done - it was about as hard as an OBB ride for me. =)

Fri - Capital City Cycle Sprints

Part III of Operation Overkill. I jumped into one last year, it's a pretty fun event, and track sprinters should be all over this.

It's over on Harbour Rd (left over the Blue Bridge, Goose runs along there), which is actually a perfect location for this. They start at 7:30pm, and are pretty informal. Most of the participants are fixie and courier peeps, but the spandex is beginning to invade. ;)

The format is pretty simple, it's a 2-up drag race over 300m. You start with a trackstand, and one of you counts down, and then it's go time! It's from the far side towards downtown, so a slight downhill.

I don't know if it'll work the same each time, but last night it was elimination style, so if you lost your sprint, you were out. There were about 18 people to start.

I knew about a quarter of the peeps. Trackies Jimmy Holtz (Holtz! HOLTZ!) came out, as well as Chris Anstey. (Dr. Wayne Walker came out to watch.)

From the MTB scene were Halldor and Mitch. A number of people were excited that Mitch and i would finally square off... Traditionally he's been the guy to win all the sprints...what would happen when he faced his first vegan?

Jeff, owner of Capital City Cycles (who host the event) was out of course to race, and the rest i don't know as well. Fixie Dave made it out, but has been ill, so didn't race.

So things got started, and there were some pretty tight races!!

Quarter-final: Me vs Jim Holtz. Eeep! I know he's got a pretty solid 500m time, so i didn't give him a chance. I decided to ride my 50Tx17T (on my Ridley of course), which is about 80". Pretty light from a track perspective...but it was chill out (maybe 9C), and i wanted to make a quicker start..which i did.

I blasted off the start, and just hammered. My main goal is to get a few good sprint efforts in, so i didn't look back, but just put my head down and drove for the line. (Normally i'd try to keep an eye out, and if i'm ahead, keep it 'close'..i think it's more sporting. But again, my main focus that night was a good workout.)

In Jim's defense, he used a really light gear..i felt bad eliminating him. : \

2nd Quarter-final: the only 3-up of the night, with Mitch and another rider i didn't catch the name of... But this was the show-down... I had a good 20min rest, so was feeling good. (Well, as good as i could after all the riding i've done!)

I'm not a 3-up fan for sprints...but hey.. I was eager to race Mitch tho. We lined up, and i believe Mitch counted down, and we were off!

Well, he was! I felt the last gear was a bit spinny, so dropped down to 50x16, which is about 84". With the bigger gear, and a bit more fatigue, there was a noticeable delay in my start...and i haven't done standing starts in..oh...about a year. My form was shit. But, i got the gear turning over, and started my chase!

I got up to speed, and started to worry... Mitch was still ahead!!! The line isn't terribly clear during most of the approach...! I continued to pump and spin, and began to creep up on him....i edged past and continued to pound the pedals, motivated!! I jammed and jammed and wham - there was the line! I'd made a few bike lengths, but it was closer than i'd prefer...he really spun it out! But that was two more riders down... Vegan power!

Semi-Final: Oh my, now it was Halldor. And looking at my file, there was about 8 minutes that passed since the last sprint, and when i started this one. I was feeling tired now..

We lined up, and Halldor counted down. Wham - we're off. Once again, Halldor was off, but i got my legs spinning seemingly faster, and powered through, leaving him behind at the line. I was pretty fried after that. No mercy from Halldor.

The Finale: There can only be one, and it was between a rider i don't really know, i believe his name is Andrew. (Sorry if i got it wrong!!)

Again, looking at my file, i had a whopping 7mins of rest between the last sprint and this start. Gah. No freaking bike race in the world has you doing three standing starts in the span of 15mins. Owwie!! And Andrew got to recover while Halldor tore my legs off.

Okay, enough whining..haha.. We lined up, he counted down, and ZOOM - he was freaking GONE. I was really feeling it at this point, but i put my head down and jammed the pedals hard as i could. He was still well ahead by the time i got up to speed (if you can call it that at this point) and sat down.... I did all i could: spin my legs. I crept up. It was soooo slow. I clawed my way up to him, and again made it past, and jammed for the line. I knew it was mine before i hit it...VICTORY!!! It was over!!!

There was the awards ceremony, and prizes were handed out. Very cool. If you're interested in coming out, details are here in this awesome poster. If you're on the Facebook, join the event page, and post fun stuff on the wall. =)

Next sprint is April 23rd, mark your calendars!

Here's a summary of my four efforts:

#1 - Jimmy

Duration: 25.2

Ave Spd: 43.1

Max Spd: 51.6

Ave Cad: 117

Max Cad: 128

Ave Wts: 802

Max Wts: 1168

#2 - 3-up Mitch & ?

Duration: 26.46

Ave Spd: 43.7

Max Spd: 51.6

Ave Cad: 111

Max Cad: 122

Ave Wts: 828

Max Wts: 1177

#3 - Halldor

Duration: 27.72

Ave Spd: 41.6

Max Spd: 50.6

Ave Cad: 107

Max Cad: 118

Ave Wts: 765

Max Wts: 1096

#4 - Andrew (?)

Duration: 26.46

Ave Spd: 40.1

Max Spd: 49.1

Ave Cad: 104

Max Cad: 116

Ave Wts: 676

Max Wts: 1054

You can see i was getting TIRED. Reminder the 1st was in the 50x17, and rest were 50x16 (if memory serves..makes sense based on the cadence and speed.)

The times don't line up really, as the PowerTap recorder ever 1.3 seconds or so...not the *best* for sprint efforts.. I eased off before the line on #4, so it was actually a bit longer (obviously, since it was slower. ;)

Halldor posted a bunch of pics here. Here's a few highlights:



Jimmy and me!



Gunning for the line! This is the first side photo of me on the Ridley - i'd say my position is pretty good!! Nice flat back in the drops.



The racers and cheerers!



It's not a smile. It's a grimace.



My opponent for the finale, give him a bigger gear and we all better look out!!

Here's the Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/28207128

Note i rode a bit before, and if you click the Splits page, Lap #2 is the full drag. ~300m, and a bit of a drop in elevation. (It's not a full meter i don't think.)

And, as always, here's my full WKO+ Power Data: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_35fxc6vzff

Fun fact: each sprint burned about 20 calories. Also, my TSS for ~20mins of EM, 4 30sec sprints, and a bunch of light riding was 96 for one hour. NP 247w. Insane. Sprinting counts for a lot in the TSS world!

No PBs, as expected..too tired. My 30sec peak was 727w, not *too* far off my PB. The course was too short, i would have topped that if i could go a full 30sec.

Finally, here's two graphs from WKO that are kinda neat - the first is my first sprint - notice the steady speed and cadence.. The second is my last (4th) sprint...starting to fade!

Sat - OBB Ride

Part IV: Operation Overkill. Overkill Overdrive.

heh - maybe that's a bit dramatic. =)

Keeping this short, but a pretty firm ride. Lotsa headwind on the way back. Smaller group of us took off from Sidney, missing many of the big hitters..and Craig was going for a longer ride, so wasn't really putting too much effort into the pace.

The pace was firm the whole time. We got onto Interurban and there was a small break off the front with (San Fran)Kevin, Lawrence and Jeff (a newer person on the ride). I knew they didn't have the gas to stay away, but Ryan decided to bridge it up.. We went down the hill just before Camosun and Barbara sprinted away..again, not a threat... Funnily, her husband Dave bridged us back up..haha..

Kevin took off after that, i got on his wheel, but it was short lived. We approached the hill, Barb had gone off again. Over the hill, Kevin went again, i was hoping he was planning some kind of lead-out, so i got on...but he eased up well before the bottom of the hill.....this put me in a shitty place at the front of the pack in the wind going uphill....with Ryan and Mike Elkink right on my wheel.

I didn't have much choice, and hoped for a wee bit of surprise so i got out of the saddle and started jamming it a bit early... No luck, Ryan shot by, and Mike was right beside me. I kicked like Carman having a tantrum over getting a new Ultra-Mega-Mega-Man, but Mike kept me at bay and beat me by a couple centimeters....arrrgh!! Ryan, of course, had it by a landslide.

I don't know if Mike was giving it 100%, but i would like to think that. =)

The group was virtually nil by then...no one challenged me for the Overpass (yay me!), and by the Trestle i was riding solo. I planned to do my 'full loop' (105km, around the water to Haultain), and so carried on. Legs still felt good!

Ran into Charles Durrant as i got onto Dallas. We chatted until St. Charles where he turned off. Hope i talked him into coming out to the next sprint!

I carried on, the winner of the OBB ride. Even as i hit Haultain, i felt really good, and dare i say it: i wanted to keep on riding. I think that's the first time in my life where i've ridden more than 3hrs and actually WANTED to keep it going.

But alas, i had a schedule to stick to, and had fried myself sufficiently. I turned off, and dropped down to a recovery pace for the final 10min home. Finally, a tailwind. =P

Here's the Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/28207104

And, WKO: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_36pdx4gsdt

Nothing spectacular, peak hour was just under Threshold power, normalized. Sprint wasn't terribly impressive of course, but solid.

And that concludes Operation Overkill! I really pushed it, and totally flayed myself. I'm pretty happy. Here's the week's summary so far:

Ending           Duration    Distance    Weight       HR           TSS           kJ
28/03/2010    10:05:40      301.44        72.0          154           804           6818

I generally try to keep my TSS under 800 for a full week...and it'll cap 900 as i've still got a couple hours to ride tomorrow, although admittedly it'll be a pretty tame pace. I'm thinking i'll head out to Newton to watch and cheer. I'm also eager to do a lap and collect the elevation data. ;)

That's it for now, bye everybody bye!!

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