Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

by **Deanj** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:00 pm

Shame you didn't have the power meter back for the ride. Probably also a good thing at the same time though, its a harsh 'smack in the face' watching your power disappear when you start to feel like that! Have seen it a few times

The axel of mine came loose the weekend and gave loads of play in the wheel.

by **BNA** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:08 pm

by **toolonglegs** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:08 pm

Deanj wrote:Shame you didn't have the power meter back for the ride. Probably also a good thing at the same time though, its a harsh 'smack in the face' watching your power disappear when you start to feel like that! Have seen it a few times

The axel of mine came loose the weekend and gave loads of play in the wheel.

All I had was my CS200 showing total elapsed time...nothing else...watching 8kmph on Ventoux wouldn't have been nice!.
Hopefully my wheel will be back next Monday.

by **Deanj** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:17 pm

Just seen this article about the ride if you haven't seen it

by **Ant.** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:31 pm

Ahh, tempo ride today on the TT bike in some excellent wet and windy conditions, half a dozen more watts than last week's MIET on the TT bike, and felt easier too. I think the power is getting closer to being equal on roadie and on TT. Either that, or these new fandangled science in sport products that turned up on my doorstep the other day have some extra watts in the ingredients.

Big day tomorrow, 3hr ET with a undefined handful of Z6 hill efforts lasting up to 5mins thrown into the fold. Probably can't find enough hills to make me happy, so will do some on the flats.
As always, looking forward to Friday's 2x20s (confessions of a time trialler). 305W x 2, here we come

Tipped the scales at 66.5kg this morning, gosh, seeing all those incredibly prominent cheekbones of the riders in the tdf :shock:

I feel fatter than I am. Would be cool to know their bodyfat levels, and know mine. Killergrams coming down slowly, aiming for my previous 64kg figure. No teenage-girl diets for me, and the biggest change: no teenage-girl ice-cream tub sessions on the couch. Connoisseur cookies and cream, my achilles heel :roll:

by **RobRollin** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 8:54 am

Nice work Ant!

No Chain this morning for me. It was a great ride, 27ks, 53mins, avg 29kmh. I am working hard on my weight. Hopefully my new training program will help with that. I want to come down to 80kgs.

by **Ant.** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 4:10 pm

Well now it's my powertap's turn to magically stop working :roll:

You guys jynxed me :lol:

by **toolonglegs** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 6:04 pm

Of course my powertap has been working fine since arriving for service in the UK :roll:

...but Alex at Paligap said if he can't find a problem he will replace the torque tube anyway in the hub...it was also out on the adjustment...not sure what that means...hopefully under reading!....also has had new bearings after just 2000km :shock:

.But service is very good to deal with!.Hopefully have it back next week...just after mates leave and I resume normal riding

.
I would have really liked to have had the data from the Etape as I hopefully would have been able to work out why I blew...with coach's help...but now it can only really be guess work.Ok I have never raced over that length to start with.I did eat a lot all the way but definately ran out of food in the last hour.Also the heat would have got me...until Ventoux I had averaged 32km till the 150km mark with a lot of climbing...but on Ventoux an average of 10kmph would have increased my body temp very quickly,add on running out of water for 3 km...or maybe I went too hard early on!...grrrr....oh well.Will be fun watching the tour on Saturday,they will fly over the first 150km because if I didn't find the climbing hard then they won't even notice it!.

by **RobRollin** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:59 am

Last nights ride was attrocious. 25kmh to 30kmh winds, sleet, rain, the roads were dangerously slippery.

by **Alex Simmons/RST** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 12:59 pm

Yesterday was ridiculous. It's middle of winter right? So I went to the park for a few 5-min TTIs and it's 25C, sunny as blazes, just superb!

Today a ride with a buddy - Jayson - the hour record guy I coach - he's been back on the bike for 2 weeks after a long slow recovery from his accident and operations. Another lovely sunny day for a ride.

by **twizzle** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 1:32 pm

Hit the trainer again last night 2x20 in an hour session, sitting on 36km/h (est. 337W) for most of the time. Faded away to 34.5km/h (~300W) in the closing minutes of the second session after the HR climbed from 162 to 168. I must say, I'm pretty surprised just how much of an impact these session are having on my fitness - after just a couple of weeks it's very noticeable how much harder I can push for the same HR.

Still boring as. :roll:

I need a TV in the kitchen.

by **matt#73** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 1:42 pm

Last night was a blast.

Got on bike at 9:30pm rode up Mt Tamborine to Nth Tamborine then through Gallery Walk and back down to home again. Seem all normal, great weather stars not many cars all good. Then on my decent I passed 2 cars and was almost down when coming the other way car car had some strange red & blue lights on top? What tha?

I pulled over and the 2 cops came up to me laughing and asked if I knew what speed I was doing? My reply was sorry know it was a bit dark to see the computer. He then showed me the radar of 78km/h and its a 60km/h zone.

After about a 10min chat they said take it easy and let me off with a warning, when got home I checked my computer and I had a top of 81.4km/h :lol:

Still good workout and has kept me smiling eversince..
:twisted:

Matt

by **twizzle** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:00 pm

matt#73 wrote:I pulled over and the 2 cops came up to me laughing and asked if I knew what speed I was doing? My reply was sorry know it was a bit dark to see the computer. He then showed me the radar of 78km/h and its a 60km/h zone.

Now that's something that doesn't happen every day. But... was that an official warning that goes on your record?

by **matt#73** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:03 pm

twizzle wrote:
Now that's something that doesn't happen every day. But... was that an official warning that goes on your record?

No just a friendly take it easy. They were nice guys.

Matt

by **Ant.** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:14 pm

Ant. wrote:Well now it's my powertap's turn to magically stop working

You guys jynxed me

Note to self: batteries need replacing from time to time :oops:

All good

Time trial on the TV tonight, 20min intervals tomorrow, ohhh yeah - match made in heaven.

by **tripstobaltimore** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 1:33 pm

today was a sweet day for a ride. Rode about 70k's with the triathlon club, including a 25k time trial, then decided to continue on and do some hill work as well. Total k's came in just over 100, my first century.

by **Alex Simmons/RST** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 1:46 pm

75km this morning, just a 2.5hr LR solo ride. Cool today but lovely and sunny and light winds, although direction changed not in my favour - headwind both ways :lol:

Yesterday arvo went to the track for a spin and a few start / sprint efforts. Peaked at 1169W.

by **RobRollin** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 3:33 pm

42k ride this morning 1hr 32mins including two hill sprints. Warm today no wind.

by **USM TOM** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 4:49 pm

todays ride was HARD

ive been out of action for a month and half with back problems and for some silly reason i decided to do a 50km ride with mate up the highway

as my first ride
we still maintained a decent average of 32.5 but it would have been higher if i wasnt so slow

my lungs still feel good but my legs started to feel it pretty quickly and there nice and sore now

it can only get better from here though (hopefully)

by **1q2w3e4r** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 6:05 pm

Quick report. I've just finished my first training program Alex devised for me and was more than surprised and impressed with the results, I figured I was building some good form in a recent MB event but I was still surprised.

I started the program Alex drew up toward the end of April after the B2B ride which I went into with a good level of fitness.

The initial MAP test on April 21 was 283 watts.

I followed the training program to the letter and didn't deviate, I was lucky (and careful) not to get sick during the period although I wound up getting crook for about 5 days, luckily it coincided with a rest period in the program so didn't interrupt my training.

I've just finished the final week of the training program today and had a MAP test scheduled for earlier in the week (23rd July). This resulted in a 329 watt output with a new max HR of 210.

So a 46 watt increase in 13 weeks (a 16% improvement in 3 months). I was quietly hoping for something in the 300-305 watt region so I'm pretty chuffed with the results to say the least!

I'm (obviously) going to have a crack at another one as I find it immensely helpful in training as it takes out any guesswork or wasted time on the bike which is important however its still easy enough to do group rides with friends. For anyone considering it, I highly recommend they give it a go.

by **Deanj** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 7:09 pm

Good stuff!

Handicapped road race today on a pretty flat course. A fast race but a group in front stayed away, but it came close at the end.

86.34km with Avg 41.4km/hr
Avg 268w 283nw

Got a 2-2.5 mtb race tomorrow, think thats going to be 'even' more painfull than normal :lol:

Deserved rest day Monday.

by **Alex Simmons/RST** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 7:13 pm

1q2w3e4r wrote:So a 46 watt increase in 13 weeks (a 16% improvement in 3 months).

On how many hours per week, on average?
5-6 hours IIRC.

by **1q2w3e4r** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 7:55 pm

Deanj wrote:Good stuff!

Handicapped road race today on a pretty flat course. A fast race but a group in front stayed away, but it came close at the end.

86.34km with Avg 41.4km/hr
Avg 268w 283nw

That's fast!

Alex Simmons/RST wrote:
1q2w3e4r wrote:So a 46 watt increase in 13 weeks (a 16% improvement in 3 months).

On how many hours per week, on average?
5-6 hours IIRC.

Yeah, that's on 5-6 hours a week, probably should have quantified that!

by **Ant.** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:22 pm

307W and 308W 20min intervals, and the feeling of still having something in the tank afterwards. Ahh I remember the day of throwing up in minute 17 of a 240W effort :mrgreen:

Before signing up with coaching (yeah yeah, I know, this isn't a 'praise RST thread'), I secretly wanted a 300W FTP, but was too hesistant to say it, for fear of being too ambitious. Now I have another number in my head, again a bit hesitant to say: 350W. That will take some serious work I imagine.

Battling with a continual negative torque on the powertap hub (re-zeroing it from negative multiple times per ride) for one reason or another, so hopefully that explains the dwindling 10sec sprint watts today.

Looking forward to time trialling the s%^t out of my (ex) rivals next season

by **Hebden** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 1:07 pm

Alex Simmons/RST wrote:
1q2w3e4r wrote:So a 46 watt increase in 13 weeks (a 16% improvement in 3 months).

On how many hours per week, on average?
5-6 hours IIRC.

5-6HRS!

Good lord what the hell am I doing?

by **Ant.** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 6:36 pm

Holy sore neck batman. Went out for 2.5hrs on the TT bike. Maybe I should put some velcro on the back of my skinsuit and on the tip of my aero helmet...

Hebden wrote:
Alex Simmons/RST wrote:
1q2w3e4r wrote:So a 46 watt increase in 13 weeks (a 16% improvement in 3 months).

On how many hours per week, on average?
5-6 hours IIRC.

5-6HRS!

Good lord what the hell am I doing?

Talking yourself into how good a RST training plan would be for you perhaps :?: