This blog/site is a collection of my thoughts, articles and
other general excitement tied into cycling, training and competing
as a vegan bike racer and athlete.
Last week i went to the track to do my 2x20m session, and i thought i'd try a few different positions while i was out there, and see if there was much of a difference (i think this is a variation of the Chung Test!)
Since it was 2x20min, i figured i'd try different hand positions for 10min periods. The weather was pretty good, but cool. Very little breeze. The only significant change was that the sun was setting so the first 20min i was in the sun and the area was a bit warmer. It felt cooler the second effort...in theory that ought to mean a slightly slower time, but it's probably not a significant issue in this case.
I was on my winter bike (fenders) and my hand positions were:
#1 - middle of the bar tops
#2 - hoods, arms flatish, bent over a bit more
#3 - middle of the tops, same as #1, maybe a bit lower
#4 - drops
Here's the wattage (AP) and speed for each 10min segment:
#1 and #3 are fairly close, as expected. #2 and #4 are more interesting. It's a bit more speed in the first, and #4 is really significant as the watts were a fair bit lower (getting tired), but the speed was about the same as riding 10w harder - so in theory at ~35kph riding in the drops saves me over 10w.
I'll try to mirror this in my next few efforts, see what results!
Also, the first Island Cup MTB race was last Sunday here at Hartland (The Dump!), and i had a pretty good event. There were some good duels with other riders, and my main focus was maintaining a certain pacing strategy - ensuring i ease off on the gas before particular technical sections (like the technical bits going up Crazy Horse, Rollie Ridge and that nasty grade at the end of Crossover) and i managed to get PBs in my lap times (30min, 32mins), and much better than i was expecting (32-35min). Last year i was so gassed that i'd hit a few of these sections and have to get off the bike to get over the technical bits. This year i planned to get off and use my CX skills in a few spots (that nasty bit on the climb on Crazy Horse, and the big, wide rocky corner on Skull Trail, which i normally ride, but knew it'd be faster just to run), and then ensure i have gas in the tank for the others (which i did!) So, well planned.
Admittedly i eased off on the first half of Shock Treatment as it was really muddy and got some in my eye the first lap...so could have snipped a little more time if i wasn't slowing down for puddles...i'm such a fair-weather weeny. ;)
I rolled into the finish, and goofed around before the line, delaying 10-15seconds, and then there was a riding coming up behind so i weaved over across the line, but they scored him in front of me - boo! So 11th in Intermediate (B) Men. Whatev's, i know i beat that guy. =P
Planning to head up to Cobble Hill next week for #2 in the series, and avoid the second VCL (local road race series) on a hilly course.
Safe riding!
PS - here's the poll from my last entry, if you haven't voted already, when do you find you perform best?
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...
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:
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:
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!
First time doing these on flat ground (usually climbing up the Observatory), felt about the same..maybe the Under sections felt a bit easier as i could maintain a higher cadence...still need to work on getting it even higher tho. Doing the loops out around Sidney should be fine tho.
Friday - MTB w/Jenny Skinner
Jenny recently picked up an MTB, and i offered to take her out to the Dump and help her get going... We practiced some skills in the TTA, and then did a recon loop of the race course, it was pretty fun! It was actually snowy when we got there, and the first part of our ride was in slush...the sun was out en force tho, and it was quite nice overall.
Jenny rode really well, trying out stuff and taking a few tumbles, but no major injuries! Really great considering the adverse conditions - she'll be tearing up the trails in no time. =)
Alright, first 'big' race of the year!! Got there early, thanks for the ride from Halldor! Met Alyssa, and we went and pre-rode the course (again for me) with Raphael. Conditions were MUCH improved from Sunday! Rocks mostly dry, everything totally ridable.
I felt pretty good...haven't ridden four days in a row for a while, so was a bit nervous, but legs felt about as good as usual! Which is a good thing. =)
The loop went well, and i felt confident with the course. I must have made a wrong turn on Friday tho, the rocky double-up climb that i was concerned about wasn't on the course...good news, one less thing to worry about! It took 36mins, and that was a pretty casual pace. I was thinking i'd have to re-evaluate my guess of 30min lap-times. Definitely sub-30mins.
Pro City did an AWESOME job organizing this, the trails were exceptionally well marked - not for a moment did i wonder if i was off-course. And great selection of trails too, with a great compliment of technical terrain.
On final reflection, i think it was a pretty tough and demanding course. Typical 'Dump' riding. Lots of short, steep climbing efforts. While the overall altitude change was less than 100m, each lap ended up around 160m of climbing with all the ups and downs...and several sections were quite technical, with steep rock or protruding roots in the way much of the time. As i said, typical Hartland! I didn't really feel like there was anywhere i could really recover. My HR was pretty much around 180bpm the entire time, peaking at 192bpm a few times. It got as low as 172 for a few seconds on Shock Treatment i believe. There were no extended descents.
I was in the 2nd row. Roland had gotten a prime spot at the front.. Raphael and Regan were the main people i wanted to keep an eye on. Oh, and Geoff Pendrel of course! There were nearly 40 of us lined up in Intermediate - big field! I think i was the only one in a skinsuit tho. ;)
So we were give then start, and i jumped ahead of most of the people in my line, rolled up the first rocky climb no prob, got around the first corner on the way to Pooh Corner and i was up with five riders motoring along. Felt great, we were clear of the pack.
Hit Pooh Hill, and worked our way up. I saw Raph tear away off the front, and that was the last any of us would see of him!! He ended up winning the race by a huge margin, and would have finished around 6th (behind Drew Mac) in the Expert race based on his insane lap times!
Our group chased, up and up. I had a dab on that section up to Crazy Horse, stupid root! I never ride this section either.. Finished riding up, and a sharp left turn into a tricky rocky section...had to dab again, and Geoff came TEARING by! Hello good-bye! I carried on and tried to edge back up...that was the top however, and i was about 7th overall at that point - sweet! How did i ever manage to climb so fast?!!
So the chase began, and worked my way down the trails..started to close the gap, a bit, but then got caught by Regan and another..damn.. They got away and Guy Gensey and another caught me. Funny, as we would often end up duking it out in the Cross on the Rocks races!
We stuck together up cross-over, down N-Trail, and then at the tricky rocky section at the bottom Guy biffed in the spot where all the water collects.. I tried to navigate around, and i guess i caught my rear wheel on a rock because FFFFFFFFFF! I lost a bunch of air! GAH!
I tried to roll through, but the rear end was REALLY squishy. Frack!
I stopped and worked my pump free. I had taped it to my fender..haha.. (Didn't want sticky gunk on my new frame!) Took me a minute just to get it off!! It's my mini Lezyne pump, which has the hose...i didn't really expect to have a flat! I've never burped a tire before either! (With tubeless tires, sometimes you 'burp' a tire, causing the rim and tire to separate for a second, letting out air..)
I assembled the pump, and pumped away... Disassembled the pump, and jumped back on the bike. Started to pedal...and the rear was too squishy. DAMN. Got off. Rebuilt the pump, started pumping.. By then over a dozen riders had passed, including Halldor and Roland.
I jumped back on, and got moving again. Tire was good. I had a lot of time to make-up for tho...i was off the bike for 5mins.
Caught a couple riders fairly early, rode Shock Treatment, passed another rider or two...got to the lap-point, hit the button on the Garmin - under 27mins first lap - nice! Too bad there was the 5mins stop...
I powered along, caught a couple more riders before Pooh Hill. Passed Adam Lawrence on the way up! Rode hard up to the top, nearly exploded myself! Of course, no real recovery, and carried on along Crazy Horse and Rollie Ridge..didn't see too many more people for a while.. Passed a rider just before i crossed the bridge on the beginning of Crossover, saw Alyssa there:
Checking the time stamps, i was 3mins behind Roland.. I rode and rode some more, and eventually crossed the line. Finished 16th out of 34 starters:
Checking the times, if i hadn't been delayed, my time would have been in the 55min range, and so i would have finished near Guy in 7th...oh well! I did manage to shave another minute off my time from Roland at the bridge. ;)
Raph for sure will have to move up to Expert.. I think Scott and Regan (and a few others) ought to move up as well, they would easily be in the Top 20 in Expert, possibly Top 10.
So, first big race out of the way! I'm really happy with my effort...not really sure what i could have done differently. Will bring a different pump..haha..
I rode about as strong as i could, Normalized Power was at my threshold - 264w. AP was 230w. There were LOTS of peaks, and i hit near my max wattage a few times, surprisingly (peak of 1156w). As mentioned, my HR was pinned. Second lap was a bit weaker than the first..but i held it surprisingly high! So a big improvement there (where i'd normally fade.) Lap times were about 26:30 and 29.
Here's the WKO+ 3.0 data, broke down each lap, and also the full race:
First, i upgraded WKO+ - so now have the current version of 3.0. The Quadrant Analysis is kind of neat. Will be interesting to import directly from the Garmin as well...maybe drop down to one computer on the MTB..heh..
Also, i'd been looking into new pedals for the MTB and CX. I've been riding Crank Bros Egg Beaters on the MTB, and Candy SL's on the 'cross bike. I was burned by my Candy's at the Blubberburn event, when my pedal died (and so apparently did the photos i took!) It literally blew off the end, and the pedal body came off the shaft/spindle.. (It actually happened prior to the race as i was riding around.)
I decided that was the last straw. I've had some complaints about Crank Bros pedal designs for some time.. Mainly:
* difficult step-through for CX - pedal/cleat doesn't allow for a smooth step-through, unless you're really careful..so i'd just do the 'step-back', but that's slower, and i think it's what fucked-up my ankle and foot early on in the 'cross season...landing on a stopping/sliding foot at 40kph+ can't be good for it.
* difficult to unclip at some angles: such as the very top of the pedal stroke while on a steep ride-up. There've been several times where i've stalled out, and tried to unclip, and it wouldn't, and i'd take a tumble. Not fun. Happened on the day of Blubberburn actually.
* crappy bearing/friction: the pedals never seemed to 'spin' on the axle, and there's always some friction there. Oddly, they seemed to spin more with less lube. It's a poor design, imo. Easy to rebuild, but they make them so it's rather necessary.
They're great in mud and snow - doubtless there..but these factors just don't make it worthwhile, not to mention the pedal itself doesn't have a very solid engagement, and feels like you're standing on ice.
I was hoping to adopt something else, but ended up getting some Shimano XT pedals today for the MTB. I know they work well. Solid engagement. You know you're clipped in. You can feel where you clip out.
They spin SO NICELY off the top, and stay that way. Pedals are an AWFUL place to have friction, as there's so much movement/rotation there...not a place you want resistance.
It'll be nice to do step-throughs in CX as well. Not as great in the mud...but that's a fair trade-off and minimal experience compared to everything else.
Alright, those are the main details! I updated my RideCam album as well, here's the latest:
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