SBR Utopia Season II - OPEN (Page 146)

Thanks for having my back Marc.  I don't expect them to honor the contract now...  However I think what he wrote, and what we both picked up on, is a bit distrubing.  That if after taking signups the $$s don't work out, they simply cancel.....  You being pissed is now getting me a little pissed....   which is hard because my limited dealings with them they've been a good company, and they seem to be standup folks about their business (i.e., the bikes that got stolen recently).

What was interesting was that for Honu 70.3, TBT does pick up from Oahu and ship to Kona since there are about 250 Oahu athletes that do the race.  So it makes sense for them.  For the Kona IM, you can imagine that there are a lot less Oahu athletes that participate...maybe about 25.  On their website, it showed that the same LBS that accepted bikes on Oahu for Honu, would also accept bikes for Kona IM.  So that was my original plan.  In July, I was one step away from paying in full...but I decided to wait...you know...just in case.

1 week before the drop off date in September, I was ready to pay, and noticed that the LBS on Oahu were no longer an option.  I called the LBS and they had no idea TBT was even working with them for Kona and said traditionally they only work with them for Honu.  Interesting....  So I emailed TBT, and got a response a few days later saying that they put those LBS on their website in error, but were offereing to find a way to get my bike shipped anyway.  I imagine all the bikes come from the mainland to Oahu first anyway...and it was just a matter of getting my bike on the plane with the bikes from Oahu to Kona.  I ignored the email though...thinking I didn't want to chance something going wrong.  I already had a bike box, and I was willing to pay more for TBT because of simplicity.  It's only $35 each way to fly with my box...TBT was charging $180 for Hawaii residents.  So they were willing to make it right on their mistake...I just didn't take it up with them.  Had I paid back in July, and did not have a bike box...I would have freaked out.

ETA: Everyone I know who has used TBT for Honu have been extremely happy with them.  I will probably use them in the future for Honu just because packing your bike the day after a race sucks (or more likely the afternoon after the race).  If I was planning on staying over a few days after the race...then I'd probably use the box.

Marc has a good point.

Chris, I know they offered to pay for packing and shipping, but I would ask TBT to take it a step further.  Tell them you will pack the bike, drop off the bike at whatever courier they choose (FedEx, UPS, etc), but you will ship it to whatever location in New Orleans TBT wants to pick it up.  They are responsible for unpacking, and assembling your bike so it's ready to go when you arrive...just like it would be if TBT honored their normal service.  After the race, you drop your bike off to them as you would have...and they are responsible for packing your bike back up, and dropping it off at the courier of their choice and send it wherever you want (either to your home, office, LBS, etc).

TBT should take care of all the costs given you already paid them.  They already have mechanics on hand at NOLA...so having them unpack and repack a bike shouldn't cost them anything extra.  You're still left with the job of packing your bike up before the race, and unpacking after the race, but I think that would be a fair compromise on your part.

(Nicole, nothing to see here)

Sufferfest's ISLAGIATT, near 2 hrs hitting 308 NP overall. 365 on the 8' interval (~1:30 in).

NP: Normalized Power

The video has 15', 20', 20' intervals done somewhere in the 90's as a % of FTP, then the (really) hard 8', then 7:30 attacking that's all over the place. Various recovery intervals between each. The entire thing is ~1 hr 56' depending how fast you get on the bike from starting the vid. I really like this one.  A good, solid warm-up and into a lot of strong work right where I like to go at, kind of on the aggressive end of sweet spot.

Ben, do you go into something like that with a target power in mind for those intervals or just a range and whatever you hit, you hit?

I looked back to 2012 when I was probably in my best cycling shape and I did a group ride where for 1.5 hours, I held 201w AP, but NP was 283.  That was a make you want to puke ride.  It did include about 15 minutes of stoppage time, but it definitely felt a lot harder than averaging 201 watts over 1.5 hours.  The VI for that ride portion of the ride was 1.41.  Lots of accelerations, attacking, etc.

I have no clue how Ben holds 308 NP for 2 hours. 

Ever have one of those long runs where your pace is way faster than normal?  Today I had a 75 min run (so not terribly long) and it was just supposed to be a steady easy paced run.  Usually I would do something like this in the 5:10-5:15/km average pace range - on a good day maybe 5:05.  For some reason today's run was at a 4:45/km pace and felt really easy.  I could have kept going at that effort for quite a while.

No idea where it came from.  I was even questioning my watch thinking maybe the GPS was going haywire.  I mapped it out on mapmyrun after and it was right on for distance.  I'm sure I'll be back to reality on my next run.

Snort!

(that was my rum and diet coke coming out of my nose)

Seriously though, I don't know how Jason or Ben or…. all you other sickos do it.  Strava don't lie.  

Matt

Those usually precede a viral illness for me.  Not sure why, but right before I feel punk for a couple days I will have my best workouts.

For you, though, I'm sure it's just a sign of being a beast.  

Matt

I don't really have a specific target for the overall, but since I'm getting more familiar with this ride I'll have an idea of about where it'll be. Along with what TSS will be. I'm still more mindful of what's going on in the intervals. I try not to place too much emphasis on the overall even though I do look at it. Helps to make sure I do the intervals where they're supposed to be. Warm-up and cool-down can vary considerably for me. Sometimes I'm up to speed rather quickly, but others I need more time. That variation is enough that intervals (and recovery) could be altered noticeably to compensate. That will affect my ability to execute both this workout and also anything in the next 2-3 days or so.

Love what this faux British autocorrect has been doing to your posts lately. 

What do you rides look like when you say "flat"? For my harder rides, I generally have pretty good size intervals in them. Like 20' or bigger very often. And I tend to hit the intervals right about or just over 90%. With everything going on at this time of year, I cut out some of the workouts. Both not quite as often and a little less time, but I'm also pushing a few % harder. When things calm down after the holidays, I'll go back to bigger, but a bit less intensity.

Do know that I am about 180 and 34, though I'll be aging up next year (Hi Arend!)

Once in awhile, yes, though it hasn't preceded sickness for me.  These are fun days, but have to be careful not to get carried away or I'll be feeling it over the next couple days.

I had one run like that...sometime before Honu 70.3.  I remember it was the first time I ever did a training run under 8:00 flat...let alone one that was nearly 14 miles long.  I was negative splitting as well.  It wasn't quite an "easy run," but I didn't feel like I was racing it either.  It didn't show up at Honu though...LOL. 

On a more bike related note...my legs did feel a lot better on today's ride.  I think the training stress from that monster ride I did 2.5 weeks ago is finally transferring from fatigue to fitness.  Right about on cue from my experience.  Usually after a big ride/week, I'll feel a bump about 3 weeks later.  Something I'm keeping in mind for planning my training.  This is the sort of thing training with power allows me to look back on for the past 3.5 years with the PMC.