America's #1 Balance Bike Destination

America's #1 Balance Bike Destination
America's #1 Balance Bike Destination

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Week of unrest (?)

Three hour ride after work today- rode home in the moonlight.. Who does three hour rides during a "rest week"?
Did 57 miles in 3:09:20.. same exact route as I did a couple Saturdays ago.
Was supposed to be a zone 2 leg opener, and it was.. Only 180w averaged.. but how on earth did I take a minute off of a previous time which required 211 watts? Was it the excess apparel? Extra bottle? Wind? Extra food I was carrying? Colder temp? Shoe covers? I don't know! but today's 30 watt drop SHOULD have given a time that was SLOWER, not faster. Maybe I just need to zero the torque or something.. Regardless- I took it real easy tonight- no mistake about that! In the small ring for most of the ride! Got out of the saddle for every little rise.. Never put myself in difficulty.. Maybe it's the new Continental 4000S tires I mounted last week? Seriously, this is weird. I guess training in nice weather requires less power.. Either that or my PT is an unreliable POS.

6 comments:

solobreak said...

Clothing can make a huge difference. That and hard rides often have a slower average speed, especially when you jam the hills. Going steady is more efficient. Hope you get the rest you need with this program...

IMA said...

Actually I took Monday off and rode an easy hour on Tuesday.. Maybe the 3 hour ride was prep for Sunday's GVCC Classic- a rolling 68 mile road race in Bloomfield NY. I have a tendency to feel stale after a rest week- maybe this ride will keep me on my toes..
Today and tomorrow are easy..
I got to bed nice and early last night.. if I can repeat it tonight and tomorrow I will be rested for Saturday/Sunday.

gewilli said...

oh btw - I noticed it a lot last year... weather change of more than a handful of degrees REQUIRED a recalibration of the torque

zero it or your numbers are effed.

seriously.

Like today for example. Below freezing on the ride in, almost 70 degrees on the way home.

zero would be off by a handful...

but weather, clothes, outside air temp, air pressure, tires, all that make a difference.

Take the rehoboth TT. One ride at 300 watts for me was a couple minutes slower than another ride at lower wattage (tire and bike choice change) with similar weather...

anyway...

you should really do battenkill ;)

Gulay said...

or maybe you are seeing the results of your slavish addiction...err I mean training. The question you should ask yourself is how did I feel? if you stayed in the granny ring then chances are this was an easy ride. When running the definition of an easy run is can you hold an almost normal conversation...well could you if so it was an easy or recovery ride.

If I was you I would now plan a TT or say 1 hour ride I do regularly so that I know where I am, leave the toys except for the computer and red line the route, you know ants in the legs and cheeks cos of oxygen deficiency, and see how it compares....then you know where you are cos the TT is the ultimate, not riding with a bunch around a circuit and cruising in someones slipstream.....or are you always on the front?

Andy not Gulay...

IMA said...

Andy- the three hour ride/route I refer to is always done solo- not a group ride.
and yes I just putzed along on Wednesday without really breaking a sweat or ever breathing hard.
I like to think that I'm just plain stronger!

Gulay said...

if as you say you hardly broke sweat then it sounds like you are getting stringer and your scientific approach has worked....good on ya...everyone needs a plan and if it works for you then who cares what others think...now you just got to win a race