SBR Utopia Season II - OPEN (Page 49)

I think I would remove the power data as well.  Get it paired and recording but don't use it.

Anyone racing this weekend?  I am doing an Olympic (with a slightly long bike @ 42.6k) and I think Jason was doing a go for broke bike race.

"Go to work" - as in go inside from the deck?  

Yep.  172.5; 53/39.  So, should be minimal difference (hopefully none) for the race.

I had considered getting a 170mm or even 165mm, but have not had any issues with hip angle/running after, so thought this was too good a deal to pass up and not likely to be a problem. 

When I get good enough (or ride an aggressive enough position) to notice 2.5mm, I'll happily deal with the issue then. 

Also thought about a mid-compact (which I have on my road bike), but have been riding the 53/39 11/25 combo even on hills for a few months without blowing up, so feel OK with this, as well.  I'm really curious to see my power profile after the race and see if that's true or if my power goes nuts on a hill even sitting up and spinning.

As for taping over the power number, I certainly take the point.  I'll likely have it displayed in a smaller box on the 800, though, more to prevent spiking than anything.  I still plan to pace the overall effort by HR and will use the 1s or 3s power to keep from hammering anything, rather than for pacing.

As for wondering why I'm not putting out enough power or going fast enough, well let's just say that I'm used to that and don't expect it to alter my strategy much... 

Matt

Hey everyone - I am going to try to hop back into this group/thread.

We had our second child in late May and training is a whole lot tougher with two kids in diapers.  The little man is starting to get into a schedule so things have been getting more normal.  

I have only raced one triathlon this year and am now just concentrating on biking and running and doing a couple late season half marathons, possibly a duathlon as well.

Look forward to catching up with everyone again.

Ryan

OK, going to interrupt all this speedy power chat with a request for some bike 101 input/help. Early this year (in what seemed like a good idea at the time) I signed up for the NJ GranFondo which is 9/8.  107 miles approx 9k feet elevation.  It's local. I can ride a couple miles to the race start/finish. 

Here is the route:  http://ridewithgps.com/routes/509536  It's got some hills. The ones that cincern me are after mile 70. My longest ride this year is 60 miles and it wasn't recent.

My BT log is up to date and you can see the routes I've been riding on strava here:   http://www.strava.com/dashboard?feed_type=my_activity

This would be a ride for me, not a race. The time limit is 10 hours, including any lunch/rest stops. I ride 14-15 mph pace on most solo training rides depending on traffic/hills etc so I'm on the slow end of the spectrum. Current cassette is 12-27. Older shimano 105 and compact up front. 

Here is what I'm thinking:  I need some more gears for those late hills.  I have a spare wheel set (old mavic open pro's with newer 12-30 tiagra cassette which I've used on the trainer.) I can either swap out the cassette (will need LBS to do this) or just use the open pro wheels and swap out the tires.  I have mavic aksiums on the bike with Conti GP 4000's.  

I think I need to get at least one long ride of 75-80 miles in the next few weeks. Planning to ride 60 on Sunday, including some of the route. I've also backed off running and am trying to get as many rides in during the week as possible. This may all be good but too late.

What am I missing? need to do differently? etc???? If all else fails, I can drop down to the Medio Fondo which is 63 miles. I'm not ready to make that decision yet but totally ok with it if necessary. I have until mile 33 on the day to make that call but would prefer to go into the ride with the route decided.  Thanks for any thoughts. 

Originally posted by GoFaster

Originally posted by rymac

Hey everyone - I am going to try to hop back into this group/thread.

We had our second child in late May and training is a whole lot tougher with two kids in diapers.  The little man is starting to get into a schedule so things have been getting more normal.  

I have only raced one triathlon this year and am now just concentrating on biking and running and doing a couple late season half marathons, possibly a duathlon as well.

Look forward to catching up with everyone again.

Ryan

Welcome back Ryan - congrats on the recent addition. It doesn't get any easier even once they are out of diapers....

Oh I know.  I just miss my 5 -7 am guaranteed work out slot!!  I just need the little guy to make it all the way through the night.

If it were me, I'd have the power data paired and recording, but put it on a separate screen and minimize the number of times you allow yourself to use it.  In fact, that's my plan for tomorrow....I've been off the bike for about a month now, so I'm going to go out for an easy ride, and then analyze it afterward.  After a little bit time back on the bike, I'll knuckle down and do a new power test.

Best of luck to everyone racing this weekend.  An Oly, a bike race, Age Group Nationals!!!  Will be anxiously awaiting RR's from everyone

Here's what I'm thinking (worth what you pay, mind you):  I'd switch the cassette, keep the aksium/GP set but more gears (I can see why you'd want them - some good climbing in there).

Wrt your training, first let me say I'm impressed by the consistency of the strength and swim blocks (more than I can manage!).  As for the bike, you seem to have decent base and mileage, despite maybe a smaller bike week or two recently.  As this is a ride rather than a race, you basically have 3+ weeks to build and then a few days of tapering down (shouldn't need too too much if it's not a race and you manage intensity well the last week of building, I think).

You can do the next 2 weeks as longer ones with good climbs (the Strava link only showed my activities, not yours, so I don't know your routes but imagine you can find some hills if you're riding long) and reassess how you feel after that, adjusting your fondo distance accordingly.  If a 70 miler croaks you, that's one thing.  If it's a long day in the saddle but you're OK, that's another, yes?

My gut says you'll have a long day at the Fondo but will be fine (and have an Epic Suffer Score after!!).  What's your gut tell you?

Matt

How big of an event is this participant wise?  If it's a big event you are likely to be riding a group and will get lots of draft benefits, assuming you are comfortable doing so.  I'd use the 12-30 cassette if possible.  Ride lots between now and then and be careful on the early hills and I think you'll be fine.

Kim - Swap the cassette and make sure the rear derailleur is properly tuned to it.  I don't think I've ever done a really long ride with lots of climbing where I wish I didn't have another easy gear.  You may not use the 30t that much...but there may be a 5-10 minute stretch out of those 8-10 hours where you really wish you had it and it may make a huge difference.  Other than that, go out for some long rides make sure you eat enough.  The great thing about long rides like these where it's not really a race is that it's easier to eat more, and you can stop off at a 7-11 or something to get in some real food (or a coke) now and then.

Matt - I agree with Marc that you need to make sure that you properly calibrate your new PM and test it if you plan to look at it.  I blew up big time because I tried to use my Quarq right out of the box (well, I did have one test ride but didn't calibrate properly) for an uphill TT.  I think I was pushing 20 watts too high for the first 5 minutes of what should have been a 21ish minute race.

Ryan - welcome back

As for me, yesterday I tried to take back a KOM.  Short 3/4ish mile hill at 8%.  It was windy, and straight into the headwind so I knew it would be tough (my best time was on a calm day) but I just went for it and stayed in the big chain ring.  Missed the KOM by 3 seconds, but cut 9 seconds off my previous best.  393 watts for 3:20 and 422 watts for the first 2:40.  I sort of blew up once the road flattened out a bit.  Strava showed I pulled even to the KOM leader with about 200m to go, but "got dropped" after that.  My throat/lungs were absolutely burning afterwards and it took me a good 10 minutes before the pain subsided. 

Thanks everyone for the feedback, much appreciated. I've never used the 34/30 on the trainer so I'll have the LBS do the swap and derailleur adjustment.  Last year the full fondo had 600 riders and there are plenty of teams that will be racing for awards. The shorter routes are more casual. This year Hincapie is grand marshall and they had good coverage by Bicycling Mag so they may get a bigger turnout from NY/PA/CT.   I'm fine in a group and drafting but may still be doing the latter part of the ride solo. My only riding partners that like going longer did IMLP and have zero interest in doing this with me. I'll pace with the assumption that it's going to be a long day. 

Good luck to all the racers this weekend!!!

This sounds a bit like some of the rides I've been doing then. Draft and hang out with other people when you can as it will help, but it won't magically help this become a piece of cake ride. It'll just make it a bit easier to get through. And if those hills are anything like the ones I see, drafting won't do a thing on them as the speeds get very slow. No more than light jogging to even walking for some. For me, there just is no way to truly go easy up them without mountain bike gearing. You're getting rides in, but not entirely sure what you're doing on them besides riding. Even for a "just make it" I'd recommend some harder work in there with hills like that. At the very least, it's better safe than sorry. I have things logged, as do others in the group for ideas of what to do there. As for the gearing, look into having the lowest gears you can have on there and know that you may need more parts to make it work. If you need them, well, that's up to you if you want to spend for them.

On the ride, definitely make sure you're taking it easy between the hills, drafting as mentioned, and keeping the effort low enough that you are recovering well. When there are rest stops, take them. Get off the bike and walk around. Take in food there, but just don't stuff yourself as that can make bring on some drowsiness. Normally I recommend keeping these to 5 minutes or less for just a quick break. In this case you may want to consider going longer, but if you do make it a much bigger break. Not just a couple minutes longer. Longer than ~5 minutes and you'll likely have to go through a warm-up period again, so I'd just as soon say make the rest period at the stop count. Anyone else have thoughts on this type of strategy?

Just chiming in late on the VI issue, I agree (with marc?) that VI is not necessarily be all and end all, especially for hilly courses.   I haven't been analyzing the VI over the course of the total ride, but within segments that mimic the IM bike course.  So, if it's a descent, I don't really care about the VI, except to be mindful for other reasons (that are reflected in VI) that if there is a small uphill on a descent I don't want to be hammering up it in the 50/12 and at 400 plus watts.

My last ride my overall VI was 1.11 (which isn't all that bad) but the segments I was tracking were in teh 1.02-.08 range.   I did have a 2.22 on a descent and a 1.18 in another troubling section.  I find when I start getting tired/hungry/cranky, I lose focus and the VI reflects this.  The last segment, just getting thru the end of the ride, was 1.26

I agree with this.  It will be tempting to rest longer.  Don't.  It will make it that much harder on you.  I also agree on making sure you do not eat too much.  I did a mountain bike ride once where they had a supported stop and the food was sooooo darn good and I ate way to much.  I felt fine but once I got back on that bike I realized my mistake and was miserable for a bit during the best part of the trail.

A good man!  You have to enable and FEED the obsession, right?  

I took the kids to a swim meet this morning so Kim (better half) could get her pace run in before it got sweltering.  All good stuff!

Your GF is lucky!

Matt

I was actually having a sharp pain in my chest.  I've had it before for short periods (maybe 5ish minutes before it went away...sometimes once a week for a few weeks, sometimes not for a whole year) but this time it lasted about 12 hours and the pain was worse.  It hurt every time I inhaled.  It didn't feel like it was my heart, but around the area.  Internet doctor and it seems like it's some sort of inflammation around the ligament where the rib meets the breast bone and all the symptoms matched up.  I was worried for a bit that I may not be able to race tomorrow if it didn't subside, but I went out for an easy run this morning to see if I could manage the pain.  The first 3 miles were a bit rough, but slowly the pain started to dull, and by the time I got out of the shower after my run, the pain was completely gone.

Hopefully a couple of anti inflammatory will prevent it from coming back before tomorrow.  Late breakfast and a movie today...GF is also racing tomorrow.  I'm going to hide her power data on the 500 though.

You forgot to mention the part where your going to follow up with the real dr.