Comparing Apples to Apples

One week ago, I did a solo ride which covered 57 miles in 3:10:40. Yesterday (Saturday 4/5/08), I set out to repeat this same route- one which criss crosses itself many times and keeps me reasonably close to home- one with relentless climbing and rolling hills. I really love this ride because it zig zags across West Warwick, Coventry, Scituate and Craston.. and it's just plain challenging. One day I'll ride it with my Polar S710i and show you the profile.. Okay long story short- I did the ride today in 2:59:55 and averaged 19 miles an hour. That is not all. The really interesting thing about today's ride is that the PowerTap gives an average watt reading of 210 watts today- last week it was 211! How is this possible? How can a ride which is almost 11 minutes faster have average power that is lower? Well for one, the Powertap is known to have a margin of error that is up to 5%.. which is why there's no reason to celebrate when we up our FTP by a few watts. At any rate, the key is in the normalized power! Yes, today's normalized power was about 5 watts higher than last week. What does this mean exactly? I think it means that when I was climbing, I dug deeper and produced more watts- which is easily proven by the 11 minutes I saved completing today's ride. But, for the average watts to be a touch lower, it also means that I required more recovery in between climbs. In the end, today's ride as fully one mile an hour faster than last Saturday- 19 mph. All things considered, I'm happy to see that I had it in me to do that. When I first started out, I did not feel very strong.. but heck if I was any good at training and racing 'by feel' I wouldn't have any need for a power meter, would I?
Now for some very cool charts:

Above is last Saturday, below is yesterday- one week apart, same exact ride. As I suspected, the low end and the top end power ranges (zone 1 active recovery, and zone 5b anaerobic capacity) are both a lot higher in the second ride, the one which was completed in 11 fewer minutes. To wit, the zone 1 changed from 37 minutes to 48 minutes, and the zone 5b changed from 13 minutes to 18 minutes.. Which goes to show you that for every extra 1 minute I spent in zone 5b, I needed an extra 2 minutes in zone 1.

Another chart:

This one is called the Mean Maximal Power Curve. It plots a multitude of durations against the corresponding maximum number of watts I did. Here, I've plotted both last Saturday's ride (in yellow) and yesterday's ride (dashed). It's hard to tell by looking so let me give you the wattage differences (last week vs this week) for CP1 (340:381), CP2 (307:324), CP5 (280:272), CP10 (255:246), CP20 (237:234), CP30 (same) and CP60 (same). Here again, we can see that I drilled it harder on the climbs- none of which were over a mile- most were 1/4 to 1/2 mile rollers. Here's what I get out of this (and it really comes as no surprise): I perform better when there is a lot of variability. I can wind it up into zone 5 -repeatedly- and recover from it quickly. which also explains why I suffer and perform poorly in situations where a steady zone 4 grind is required. I do a lousy job of "time trialing" and a lousy job of being in a break, especially on a flat course. I'm working on this weakness, of course, and that means I need to get into as many breaks as possible. I need to tough it out to the end just once and break the spell.

Another interesting nugget: Last week's CP60 occured between 90 and 150 minutes. Yesterday, it was minute 1 thru 60 of my ride. Both averaged 226 watts, but normalized watts (243:252) and cadence (86:90) were higher in the 2nd ride's CP60.

Lastly, overall average cadence of both rides was exactly the same: 87. That's not something I plan, it just happens.

Mean Maximal Power Curve

The above chart graphs two sets of data. On the bottom: duration. On the left: Maximal Power. This represents the best level of sustained power, ever, for the corresponding duration. The reason there are two graphs is because one of them represents my 2007 season (in dashed lines) and the other represents 2008 year to date. The very best data comes from racing of course, and since racing thus far has been limited, there is a large disparity, especially in the durations under 5 minutes. In Peaks software, if I drag the cursor over the graph, it gives the peak watts for that duration, along with the date when it was achieved. I've given an example up there. Pretty slick if you ask me..

HRM [can] = Under-training

The great thing about commuting (and my boss is perfectly aware of this): It makes me jump out of bed earlier (with vigor and vim) and I actually arrive at the office earlier than when I drive in, and more awake too.

The no so great thing (in my boss' eyes) is that I tend to leave the office a little earlier too, on those day that I ride home. It's hard to resist.. I want to leave right now and it's only 4:37..

Gonna make it a nice 90 minute endurance ride. I did miserable FTP intervals of 10 and 20 minutes last night..indoors.. especially hard because we just recently upped my FTP by many many watts. See that's the great thing about training with a power meter! You are required to adjust your intensity periodically. As much as I respect the HRM, you can't do that without a power meter and without Peaks software. If I used a HRM, I'd be at the same "LT" threshhold heart rate all season, even after the legs have adapted and gotten stronger and zones have shifted. For example, back in January, my tempo zone was 175 to 210 watts. Today, it's 205 to 245. Big difference. How hard would I be pushing myself after this much adaptation, if I followed my HRM?  

If you're not careful, using only a HRM can mean you are under-training. Not pushing hard enough, not stressing systems enough (especially after a steep curve of adaptation).. next thing you know, you're performance is flat-lining. Thoughts? Discuss.

Stop

I'm going 1 million miles an hour at work lately and I need to just stop for a moment and remind myself that I'm human.. A few deep breaths.. A pause for reflection.. Lots of FTP work awaits me tonight on the trainer. I can't wait.. Outside would have been swell, but look out there- it's warm but raining sideways! As predicted, I really felt the stress of Saturday's ride at Wells Ave on Sunday. A break of six formed and held a 20-30 second gap on us until the end. I contributed to the chase most every lap but blockers were doing a very good job.. We had them in our sights the whole time! Frustrating that I didn't have it in me to just bridge across solo. Saturday took a lot out of me though.. Found myself third across the line in the field sprint. Great to see team mates Joe B. and Michael S. there by my side. Good times were had by all.

3+ hours.. again

I don't think I've ridden as many 3+ hour rides in the past three years, as I have in these past three months. Weird.. Today was no exception. Yeah it took some willpower to get out there today- the cold temp and wind was not attractive- but the sunny weather made it bearable. I often do a huge 60 mile loop on such days- that is, on the days when I don't quite have my heart into freezing my kahunas off for three hours. When you pick a big route, there's no way weenie out of it. Today I decided to play it close to home, so I guess in the back of my mind, I trusted myself to do exactly what I'm supposed to do: 3-1/2 hours of hilly endurance- riding FT on all the climbs. I did a familiar ride which criss crosses all over the climbs of Coventry and Scituate and ends with a high speed descent into Cranston and back into West Warwick on the bike path.
I did the ride a little differently today: insead of displaying avg watts, I wanted to see current watts- how else will I meter my FT efforts on the climbs? Long story short, without seeing the average watts, I dug a little too deep in between climbing, and ended up with an average power for the 3+ hours, of 212 (normalized about 240). Meaningless to you, I know.. until I tell you that my zone 3 tempo range begins at 204.. so this was no endurance ride. I don't usually pay much attention to average speeds, but today's was a little over 18 mph, so I noticed.. Adaptation! Who's happier than me? Of course the legs are a little bit thrashed, so I'll feel this tomorrow at Wells Ave. Thanks.

He's going the distance.. he's going for speed..

Funny song.. Long week, but it went by fast! Here we are on Friday.. and with rain threatening all week, it's a surprise that I managed to commute to work by bike every singe day (including today!) I am very happy about that. Happiness for me usually involves doing things I don't feel like doing, but which I know I must do.. Discipline. Keeping promises to myself. 

All tricked out in my new bike uniforms, I feel pretty good. The whole team looks great. Looking good is a part of feeling good, no denying that.. or at least that the reverse is true.

Selling kid's bikes! We're going to grow this business if it kills us. Lots of incredible ideas and plans have been developing behind the scenes between dear wife and I. The "blogsite was updated recently, mainly to announce the arrival of new colors of the LikeaBike Jumper- red, white and blue. See for yourself. We sold a few bikes this past week and that's always great. I love it when the Crackberry goes off to announce that someone bought a bike out of our inventory from our Ebay store. Lately, with the dollar so weak, most bikes are being sold to outside of the US.. Fine and dandy. I shipped a bike to Canada yesterday.

Training program has been different this week- primarily because it was all performed outside for a change! I was apprehensive at first, because of the cold and wind, which I hate. Suffering through intervals is bad enough without fighting the cold and wind and traffic.. Plus with my newly rated Functional Threshold Power, I was worried that I was going to blow my wad and ride to failure on Tues and Thurs. Turns out I am a lot stronger than I give myself credit for. On Tuesday I trounced through my three ten minute intervals at FTP (271 with 10 min recovery in between) - actually I held back a few watts on the first two and then nailed it on the third one. Then last night a series of ten FT+10% (300w) intervals 1 min on 1 min off, followed by three more 3 min intervals at FT+5% (285w), 3 min recovery in between. This looks to be the first week in 2008 where I break 200 miles. The bike commuting helps. The pounds will now really begin to melt away! Thanks for reading.

New FTP established

These e-mails sure put a spring in my step!:

 

From: "Todd Scheske"

To: "'Murat Altinbasak'"
Subject: RE: charts Sat Sun
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 08:13:03 -0400

Look at your MMP chart with NP and then look at what the 1:00 NP is.  271.  I notice that you like to grab the "peak 60 minutes", but that isn't necessarily and often is NOT the CP60 you want.  The peak 60 minutes is the best ave watts for an hour.

 

I also noticed that you coasted 18% of the time in the race – so it looks like you were not out there just pulling the field around.  And no surprise then that you got something in the end too.

 

---

From: Murat Altinbasak
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 8:02 AM
To: Todd Scheske
Subject: RE: charts Sat Sun

 

Please tell me where you see such a nice FTP..

I look at CP60 for yesterday- it's 220 I think. Normalized CP60 is 258 or 264. (I'm at work- going by memory)

Do you see something which I don't see?

I mean.. you made my day, really.. I'm psyched.. but I need to buy into it a little more.

Help me understand!

Nice ride and now you have a GOOD measure of your CP60.  I bumped your FTP to 271 starting Saturday based on Sunday's race numbers.

 

TTYL...

 

Todd

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Murat Altinbasak

Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 2:27 PM
To: Todd Scheske
Subject: charts Sat Sun

 

Raced today up at Wells. Huge field!

Lucky break of 12 got away early and lapped the field.

I took 8th in the final field sprint, which included the guys in the break. Felt good, just some soreness and acidity left over from yesterday. Getting better at accelerating.

ttyl. 

Week No 4: Wells Avenue No 2

The Reader's Digest version goes like this:
Well attended race included Brendan and Murat of the Millwork One Racing team. Someone sat up and deliberately let a gap open early on, 12 guys rode away unfettered never to be seen again.. until they lapped/re-joined us about 50 minutes later.. Sickening. Brendan and Murat spent untold laps at the front pulling/chasing/fighting to close said gap, along with other frustrated guys like Matt K., Kyle G., Eric M.. Final sprint included everyone and their brother with two watts left to rub together. Yours Truly is 8th in the field sprint.. meaning I wasted at least five of those who were in the break.. probably more. Brendan hot on my heels and looking as solid as ever after a tough day of racing Saturday at Charge Pond. In our new uniforms we looked pretty slick too. Power Meter numbers tell a promising story- my form today is very close towhat it was in July 2007, based upon today's CP20 and CP60 values. Yesterday's ride was 270 TSS- so the legs were pretty thrashed even before racing started today. Thanks for reading.

Tour of Turkey boosted by five ProTour teams

by Jean-François Quénet

While cycling in the sport's traditional European countries has been complicated this year by political battles, there are big ambitions for the sport in new areas of development. The Presidential Tour of Turkey is one race which has gained more attention with an upgrade to the 2.1 category, luring five ProTour teams for its 44th edition from April 13 to 20. The event was won last year by Bulgarian Ivailo Gabrovski when it was still a 2.2 race.

The Tour of Turkey will feature 25 teams, among them five ProTour teams: Milram, Lampre, Saunier Duval, Silence-Lotto and Astana. The Kazakh team is expected to line up Andreas Klöden, Vladimir Gusev and Tomas Vaitkus. The biggest name on the start list should be Alessandro Petacchi who used to take part – and win most of the stages – in the Niedersachsen Rundfahrt but the historical German race is cancelled this year due to a lack of funds.

The Presidential Tour of Turkey will start on the same day as Paris-Roubaix with a 79km criterium in Istanbul. The riders will then fly to Izmir and ride along the Mediterranean coastal side to Alanya. An extremely scenic route will welcome to the stars of cycling.

The participants:
ProTour Teams: Milram (Ger), Lampre (Ita), Saunier Duval (Spa), Silence-Lotto (Bel), Astana (Lux)
Professional Continental teams: Benfica (Por), Karpin-Galicia (Spa), Mitsubishi-Jartazi (Est), Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni (Ven), CSF Group-Navigare (Ita), NGC Medical (Swi), PSK Whirlpool (Cze)
Continental teams: Bourgas (Bul), Team Ista (Ger), Cosmote Kastro (Gre), Atlas-Römers (Swi), Liberty Seguros (Por), Tyrol-Team Radland (Aut), Sparta Praha (Cze), Partizan (Ser), Stegcomputer-CKT (Swi); 4 national teams: Netherlands, Ireland, Turkey, Brisa

The route.
April 13: Criterium Istanbul, 79.2km.
April 14: Izmir-Kusadasi, 132.7km
April 15: Kusadasi-Bodrum, 165.9km
April 16: Bodrum-Marmaris, 166.8km
April 17: Marmaris-Oludeniz, 177.7km
April 18: Kalkan-Finike, 100.1km
April 19: Finike-Antalya, 115.8km
April 20: Antalya-Alanya, 136.6km

Official Tour of Turkey website.

 

Looks like Murat's hopes are dashed! In years past, the overall purse was only about 15,000 Euros. This year, it's ten fold.. and has attracted the ProTour teams to prove it. I've chatted with Joe Papp who won stages there a few years ago.. I reached out to him because I wanted to make a good call about trying to get my ass in there. He said it would be the hardest thing I've ever done but that I'd regret it forever if I didn't try. I agreed.. but that was before I discovered that the 44th edition would include real pro teams. It used to be a bunch of Eastern European and Middle Eastern teams that I believe I could survive racing with..I've raced with the elites and National Team members in Turkey before- kicked all their asses back in 1989 when I was a junior in fact.. Not anymore! They've evolved into quite a force.. or at least they better have if they want to make the time cuts.. Maybe I should just go to Turkey in June for Masters Nationals where I actually have a realistic chance at the podium.

Word of the Day: "Expeleration"

For the past two Saturdays, I've trained indoors to avoid the terrible climate outside. This means that an otherwise three hour endurance ride has to be modified for indoor duration and intensity. So what I do is repeat Tuesday night's workout and add 30 minutes of zone 2 to the end. Tuesday's program goes like this:
20 minute warm up
3 minutes FT+10% (for me this is about 270 watts, right now)
3 minutes Recovery
Repeat 2 more times
10 minute Recovery
3 minutes FT+10%
Repeat 1 more time
5 minutes recovery
Let me give you a visual of the meat and potatoes of this workout:

I applied 30 second smoothing so the data isn't so choppy. Please bear in mind that during the intervals, my PT display is set to show average watts, so I don't know when I've spiked or dropped wattage, I'm just aiming to manipulate the average as I go. Also notice the heart rate and how it increases during the interval, peaking at the last second. Not for nothing, but I believe that trying to do this workout with a HRM would attain a much different result in output- not necessarily a bad thing- just different. But that's coming from an admitted sufferer of OCD.. which will explain my infatuation with power data.. Anywho.. As you can see, I'm already tired going into this session. Each interval starts out strong and there's some weakness in the middle and then a strong finish at the end. It so happens that this past weekend was the final two days of a pretty stressful 4 week build, which the chart at the top will attest to.

Long story short, this means that I was not prepared to be a strong contender at either Bethel last Sunday, or at Ninigret yesterday. Fresh legs were needed, and mine were over-cooked. What I seem to have built up over the past 2000+ miles which began on Nov 18th is: cruising speed. Yesterday I can go at a pretty good clip and make average Joe suffer and wince in my wake- so long as the tempo didn't change.. but as soon as someone jumped and the speed of the pack went up 5 mph in an instant, I experienced something I will call "Expeleration™".. which is defined as "an acceleration which causes one to have sensations of riding their bike in reverse and getting spit out the back of a pack of bike racers." So yes, much like it happened at Bethel last Sunday, a certain expeleration™ in minute 10 of Ninigret required me to sit up and question whether I should regret not suffering through the episode or whether I was wise to catch my breath and try again. I soft pedaled to the start finish and cut across the course, taking what amounted to a half lap breather. From then on though, it was game-on. I rode with some [former] AFD and NBX folks- 6 or 7 of us total, and we did a nice rotation for the remaining 40 minutes of our race. I tended to take my pull from the fifth left hander out in back, all the way to the finish. Felt strong. People remarked to me that I was strong, but "what happened in the beginning there?" Seemed to me that Jim Peters, Mike M of AFD (riding a pristine 90's CONCORDE made rom STEEL) and myself did the lion's share of work while others skipped pulls repeatedly. In the end, we were lapped of course.. and I even sprinted for the line just because I felt like sprinting.. and almost took the "field sprint" if you can call it that- the field was shattered all over the course- with no telling who was in what position or who was lapped 3 times.. anyway, one guy came around me at the end.. but it felt good to finally accelerate on my own terms, at my own personal zone 5b.. Afterwards, team mate Brendan and I did a 60 minute tour of Charlestown, rode the old Bob Beal course in reverse.. after that my OCD kicked in again and I resolved to complete 3 full hours of riding so I did another 15 laps on the Ninigret couse by myself, which was more meditative than beneficial to my form.. Brendan was in the lead break for the first 15 minutes of racing and I was so happy to see him up there with Amos and Adam S and other big engines. He had to ease off later on but did a fine job of finishing somewhere in the top 6-8 guys. Bravo.
Today marks the beginning of a rest week- just a few active recovery zone 1/2 rides until Saturday- when a Field Test is scheduled to check my FT level. Weather permitting, this will be done on the road, as it should be. Future 08 training will be mostly outside, so establishing the new FT outside is kind of important.
Thanks for reading. Please spare me the "I-am-a-purist-and-ride-by-feel-and-you-suck-because-you're-a-slave-to-an-overpriced-toy" rhetoric. I don't need it. I don't appreciate it. Tongue-in-cheek one-liners are okay..

Must be nice..

..to debate a topic without an opponent.. When I'm at work, I can't get into Blogger to reply to comments on anyone's blog- I can only do this from home. So I then need to resort to using my own blog as a venue, just to get a word in. To answer the latest comments:

1. You're putting words in my mouth. I do not dismiss the effectiveness of training without a power meter. As you point out, I myself did it for 20 years. FOR ME, it's a lot more fun to use one!.. and effective too!, especially when training time is limited and you want/need to optimize your workouts for maximum benefit. I do not train hard because it's fun and enjoyable. That's why I race (for fun). Successful training makes racing a lot more fun.. Do the math.  

2. When I took my first 20 minute TT (as part of my first Field Test) I did not even know what the numbers meant, or how to record intervals or how to even view the average power on the readout. It was the first day I ever used the thing and I just let it run like a flight data recorder while I did the best 20 minutes I possibly could.

3. I have never aspired to be a runner or a skier.

4. I do not belilttle those who train without a power meter. If I come off that way, it's just reciprocation 'in-kind' of the attitude towards power meters, which prevails.

5. There's no shame in being dropped by you, SB. PT or organic training.. no shame. 

And Ge: Not all 3 minute intervals are alike. Needless to say, you can take FT and add/subtract whatever percentage is necessary to get the desired stress/workout.

"Pain is pain. Suffer for three minutes." says a lot about your approach to training!  

It might be fine and dandy for you to just hit the broad side of a barn.. for me personally, I want to hit a much smaller target because I'm looking for a very specific result from the training.

Franz Wright's words of wisdom

"Letter" January 1998

I am not acquainted with anyone there,

if they spoke to me

I would not know what to do.

But so far nobody has, I know

I certainly wouldn't.

I don't participate, I'm not allowed;

I just listen, and every morning

have a moment of such happiness, I breathe

and breathe until the terror returns. About the time

when they are supposed to greet one another

two people actually look into each other's eyes

and hold hands a moment, but

the church is so big and the few who are there

are seated far apart. So this presents no real problem.

I keep my eyes fixed on the great naked corpse, the vertical corpse

who is said to be love

and who spoke the world

into being, before coming here

to be tortured and executed by it.

I don't know what I am doing there. I do notice the more I lose touch

with what I previously saw as my life

the more real my spot in the dark winter pew becomesâ€"it is infinite. What we experience

as space, the sky

that is, the sun, the stars

is intimate and rather small by comparison.

When I step outside the ugliness is so shattering

it has become dear to me, like a retarded

child, precious to me.

If only I could tell someone.

The humiliation I go through

when I think of my past

can only be described as grace.

We are created by being destroyed.

-Franz Wright

..and now.. you know the rest of the story. I listened to Franz read this piece during an interview on NPR one day, and those last few lines made me want to pull over on the side of the road and put my head in my hands and cry. Those last six words continue to ring in my head and there isn't a day which passes that they don't cross my mind or my lips- albeit silently- to myself like a prayer or a national anthem where your voice is silent but your mouth wants people to think otherwise. As with the poisonous chemotherapy which my dear father is enduring these days as he fights the cancers in his body, so too does the phrase apply to the sport I love, in which stressing and breaking down the body systems causes adaptations which make them stronger and better. So I applied these words to my two blogs, and to the new uniforms of my bike racing team- on the back of the collar. It's hard to make out, but you can see it here, bottom center. To listen or read exerpts of the show which I believe I caught on NPR that day.. click here.

Yeah I love crunching the numbers..

..but the last thing I will do is tell anyone else how to "get faster" (except for having a PLAN to follow- aim for nothing and you'll hit it every time- there should be a plan, even if it resides only in your head)

To each his own.. I don't do periodic brain dumps here in order to draw criticism to myself or to criticize others. I do what I do.. the way I want to do it, the way in which I most enjoy it and the way which fires me up the most. My way won't work for everyone, or even many, or even a few. It might be completely incompatible with your ideals, beliefs, principles and values. I like sharing my experiences and hearing feedback- that's cool.

I do not pretend to have 'figured it all out'. But I do believe that I'm stressing my systems and forcing them to adapt using proven methods and techniques. Even so, I know that there's a coin flip of a chance between success and failure. I believe in chance and luck and karma and having a bad day and having a great day, and chaos, and having little or no control over things like crashes, Illness, tendonitis, IT bands, Saddle sores, the weather, a flat tire, gravel in a corner..

The one thing I can control is the frequency, duration and intensity of my training, when all of the above is favorable, that is..

If I choose to do a sloppy job of managing the few things I AM able to control, then I have no business being on a podium anywhere, and I have no excuse to piss and moan about missing the podium either.

Ride and train with a purpose. If this is too hard for you, then refrain from professing about how to train.. unless you enjoy indoctrinating an audience on matters which you yourself don't take very seriously. 

Ass was handed to me!

Nothing I could do.. It's the end of my third week into this build period. Been working very hard.. Yesterday's workout was intense.. Today I had to sit up after 7 laps... Took a one lap breather.. Tried again for another 7 or so laps.. Didn't have it.. Not today. The Pro field was inspired today.. 60+ strong and loaded with 20-something horsepower... One more hard week and it's a rest week beginning on 3/10. I look forward to the recovery. I'll be back.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Okay now I'm home.. and I don't feel so bad now that I know that the first ten minutes of the race were harder than the best ten minutes of my best race result of 2007- where I was 12th at New Britain. (Being 12th doesn't sound so great until you consider that I emptied the tank up to the final corner, making it through first, and I held on for dear life while 11 guys managed to pass me on that long sprint- I repeated this in the 30+ race which followed- first through the corner and 12th in the sprint)
At any rate:
Today's first 10 minutes: 228 avg watts, 322 watts normalized
New Britain 35+ 2007: 227 avg watts, 286 watts normalized
So all things considered.. I'm happy about today. I know that I was a little bit shell shocked with the accelerations and a little bit intimidated too, having not really raced since September 16th, where I crashed badly at Bob Beal.. Afterward, I rode down route 53 and 107 and route 7 to get some more saddle time in. Wifey leapfrogged me periodically in the car and then picked me up before we got on the Merrit Parkway.
Before I forget, let me salute my friend Ted S. for doing the 40+ and later also doing the P-1-2-3 with me. He looked as cool as a cucumber and seems poised to have a great year in 2008.

Nerves

I am stoked with adrenaline for this Sunday's event. Although.. It suck balls racing in the cold, even if it's a mild 38-40 degrees. To those who wondered, yes I've been stretching very carefully before my big effort rides, for a few weeks now. I've always stretched before racing. Stretching before a 3 hour endurance ride is new to me though. I always thought it was more important to stretch after such a ride, than beforehand. The insoles I installed recently seem to be helping too, though I don't like that my shoes are now kind of snug. I am due for a new pair I think.. I've had my blue DMTs since summer of 2005. They're a little tired, and on their fourth set of Speedplay cleats.

Sunday.. I can't wait. How many days before cross season begins?.. Not nearly enough, I'm afraid..  

Ronde de Bethel

After much painful contemplation, I decided to test my legs at Bethel this weekend instead of at Ninigret. My reasoning was pretty simple- Bethel isn't a training race. It has actual USAC "race value". Not to say I don't love thrashing myself on the 'ol airstrip with the coarse grained glass impregnated chip/seal of Ninigret Park.. But seeing that I can take the family out to CT, visit with some old freinds of ours after the race and such, it was a no-brainer. One thing I notice about Ninigret in the winter- it's awfully depressing and desolate. Oh well.. Bethel here I come! I'll be joined by team mate Scotty Sullivan. We don't have our new uniforms yet- those are still two weeks out, but I'm hopeful that we can both make our mark this weekend. I have 120 hours and 1800 miles of base under my belt since mid November.. and while it's true I'm in the middle of a four week build, I'm just dying to test the legs in 'combat'. I expect to build confidence from a strong performance Sunday, but anything can happen.

A Clue! A Clue!

"We are gonna play blue's clues, cuz it's a really great game! Yeah!" Get out your handy dandy notebooks because I might have figured out why my left knee is being such a pussy lately. But first, lest we forget.. Keep the barf bag handy before clicking. Lots of this stuff over there:
Below are exhibits 'A' and 'B'.

Above, notice the damage which was done in the Bob Beal Criterium crash of 2007. The pain I feel [on rides over 3 hours] occurs between 3 and 6 o'clock relative to the scar's position. Sometimes it feels like I can put my finger right on the spot that's injured or overused.

Below, left cleat of my shoe with a suspiciously extended float limiter. With the screw extended so far towards center, my heel's movement to the outside is quite limited. In contrast, the right cleat has quite a bit more float in it, in both directions. As you can see the crash has shredded the cleat a little bit and possibly spun that limit screw to where it shouldn't be. I never noticed it until tonight.. that my left foot had such a small amount of float, that is..

So what are the odds that my crash injury and my cleat abnormality have been contributing to this knee pain and weakness? Why is my right knee fine and dandy.. even though I sometimes nurse the left and lean harder on the right? Maybe it has nothing to do with miles or intensity or hours or cadence. Maybe there's simply something out of whack in there because of the crash, and maybe it's compounded by the limited float of the left cleat- which is something I should have noticed- dang. I'd never put the two shoes side by side until tonight, when I noticed the odd position of the limit screw.. Hmmm....

Tonight I installed some new insoles- the kind you heat up in the oven. Made the shoes feel a little tighter, but the arch support is wonderful. My arches have been floating in mid air for a long time and I think it's been a real drain on my leg strength. These insoles have a "Tempurpedic effect" meaning that every square centimeter of my foot feels like it's supported equally. They also gave me something close to what I would have achieved with LeWedge. Let's see how it goes with tomorrow night's intervals..

Changed the Powertap hub batteries tonight and did a little 45 minute spin. Good times.

Funny new catchphrase overheard on Sunday's smackdown: "ten-speeding". Makes you LOL don't it? How about the old term "English Racer"? which in the 70s.. meant any bike with giant 27" wheels and drop handlebars. The epitome of coolness in the eyes of a 12 year old.. Having an English racer made you the shit in my neighborhood (which was College Point- a part of Queens, NY) An older friend of mine gave me his old yellow Atala when I was 13.. and as Paul Harvey would say, "now you know the rest of the story.."

Have a GREAT day.

3:40 and time to replace the 357s

No reference to marijuana or firearms in that title..
3:40 is the duration of Sunday's ride.. which also included team mates Joe, Scott, and Michael plus the "older Adam" and Kip. All good men and a pleasure to ride with. I rode to Prov Bike for a 9:45 intercept and we took off from there into western RI. A nice tempo ride for much of the time.. we took it easy on occasion and other times we throttled it full gas up some of the rollers.. Good times were had by all.. No crashes and no flats.. and we rode over lots of ice and snow!
The batteries used by the Powertap hub are No 357s- two of them are in there, both dead, which makes sense since they're rated to last 2500 miles and I just turned 5300. It did record data intermittently but was kaput by the time I got home. Yeah the knee hurt some more after I completed the 3rd hour. Was also tight for the first 20 minutes.. It's quite vexing to NOT KNOW what the fuck the exact problem is in there. I need to see a specialist and don't know where to begin. Maybe I should ring my PCP and get a referral. Otherwise I'm going to try seeing an A.R.T. (active release technician) That and I also need a root canal, for a tooth that supports my bridge.. again. Last time the surgeaon drilled right through the bridge and patched it back up. Yeah, when-it-rains-it-pours. Have a fine Monday!

Acutely Chronic.. ?

Treated myself to a one hour massage today.. during business hours no less- I signed out of the office for a "dr appt".. Went to see a therapist I've used before and who I trust. He's been doing it for 25 years and knows his stuff. Spent a lot of time working on my knee with massage, hot stones, steaming hot towels, good stuff. Put me through a lot of stretching positions and in the end he said that if my knee was seriously injured, some of the ranges of motion he put me through would have hurt pretty bad. Not to say that this isn't serious it certainly is, but it's bigger in my mind than anywhere else. Did a one hour zone 2 spin tonight.. Knee felt tight and weird for the first 1/2 hour.. and then once it was warmed up it felt fine, it disappeared. This weekend's program calls for 3 and 4 hour rides.. and I'm not sure if I will do them. If I do, it needs to be on flat unchallenging roads.. If that means doubling back and forth on the Cranston bike path, so be it. As of this date, I've done more 3+ hour rides in 2008, than I did in ALL of 2007. So I need to cut myself a break here, stop beating myself up about going "too hard". I'm not convinced that I injured myself using low cadence. It's true on the more challenging rides I have some very frequent and difficult climbs where I hold back and avoid injury by putting it in my next to smallest gear (39x21) and go over them as easily and as slowly as I possibly can. Yes this means the cadence drops to the 70s- but it's because I'm trying take it easy, not because I can't scream over them at 110 RPM if I wanted to!! No- I injured myself with an abundance of long rides. Regardless of cadence, I'd be hurting just the same right now. Spinning 10 rpm higher over the hills would not have saved my knee, it would have hurt me more. Stretching for 1/2 hour before each of those rides would have been the smart move, as suggested by SB and his alter ego Nega Coach..
During my spin tonight I played around with rotation of my foot on the pedal and found that rolling my shoes to the outside of the pedal/lifting the arches gave a weird sense of relief. Could be all in my head, but I think that Lemond might be onto something with his "LeWedge" cleat enhancement. I might try these with my next cleat replacement, which will be soon. Additionally, I want to try some remedial insoles- the kind with the self-applied knobs underneath. Sometimes it feels like my shoes are giving me too little arch support, like my arches are just floating and tiring out my whole foot/ankle setup. Any experience out there with insoles (over the counter and custom) or LeWedge??
I believe my saddle height is optimal. I checked with my heels on the pedals, I checked my knee position at three o'clock. It's all within prescribed limits. My saddle is tipped about 3 degrees forward because having it level cuts circulation to my crotch. This puts a little more pressure on my hands though, and I've had them go numb on those "triple header" crit days where I do the 30+, 35+ and then the Pro-Am. My chrome handlebar tape offers little padding or relief, so maybe it's time to put something a little more forgiving on there.
So as of this date, I have 103.5 hours of training since my season kicked off in mid November, covering a total of 1651 miles. Since January 1st, I have 59 hours and 957 miles. Relative to 2007, I think it took me until the end of May to reach this point.

Conspiracy Theories: Intensity, Duration or RPMs?

I'm beginning to doubt if I really understand what's up with the left knee. Maybe it's time to see an orthopedist or something. I thought it might be tendonitis, but the pain seems to have migrated to the outside of the knee, kind of like IT band friction syndrome. Saturday's 3 hour ride was pain free.. until I got home showered dressed etc. The pain erupted after completing the ride. On Sunday the pain was there from the very first pedal stroke. Frustrating. Then my coach made some observations in reply to my belly aching, after seeing Sunday's chart. I quote:
"Well, let’s see.. your FT is 241 watts from your last test, then you go and do 218 NP for this ride today… uh yeah it’s gonna hurt – that is like 90% of FT! Even if you are underestimating your FT by a little since it is on the trainer, you are riding considerably more aggressive today – and it was supposed to be an endurance ride. Yesterday was a little to the high side of endurance but pretty much right on the money. Now I know you hit some hills a bit today so the variability was there (hence the bigger difference in NP from AVE watts), but it seems that when you ride with others you guys are getting into competing with each other out there. Your NP was almost 20 watts higher today than yesterday – that’s quite a bit. There are some high intensity efforts too – like the 1:20 effort at 410 watts at 1 hour 40 minutes. Your also running a rather low rpm which is going ot make sore legs and not good for that tendon. Late in the ride – 76 rpm??? Before that 84 rpm for almost an hour? Your not on the fixed gear so why so low? Yesterday your cadence was up there for the first half and then drops off too – what is going on? Are you dropping really low on the hills? It looks like that may well be part of the problem – climbing at 65-75 rpm – way too low. Take a look at these files and let me know what you see there relating to where you rode."
Here's what I think: To answer Todd's concerns about the cadence of Saturday's ride dropping in the 2nd half, that's mainly because the first half of the ride was flat- no hills to climb or descend. The second half of the ride was comprised of riding north of route 102 from where it crosses route 1 in North Kingstown all the way to route 117 in West Warwick. Non stop rollers, some of them are kind of hard. Considering that yes, I do tend to grind over a climb instead of spin, my cadence is lower. But then I also coast a bit down the other side, and since my PT is recording zeroes, the average drops even more on the hilly terrain. Moving on to Sunday's ride with my team mates Joe and Brendan.. I had the same average watts riding with them as I did on Saturday, but as Todd points out, my normalized power was 20 watts higher on Sunday- primarily because of two things:
-we hit a LOT of rolling hills for the entire ride
-I climbed a LOT of them out of the saddle
For those who don't know.. Normalized Power is the "if all things were somehow equal, your watts would have been: x.." kind of thing..
Now.. conspiracy theory coming up.. This past week I did two attempts at a Field test (Sat and Tues), I did intervals Wed and Thurs. No pain noted whatsoever in any of these zone 4 and zone 5 efforts. I thought my knee had cleared up completely, I really did.. But then when I go for a three hour endurance ride with about 30% tempo and some rolling hills (I took it easy on the hills btw).. the knee falls apart. This is a clear indication of two things:
1. My knee is well conditioned for hard efforts
2. My knee protests when the duration is abusive (3+ hours), not the intensity.
To wit, I did a lot of out of the saddle climbing on Sunday with my team mates. This is because the knee pain would almost dissipate completely during hard efforts out of the saddle. Seated and spinning hurt a LOT more. This all stands to reason because it's the first time in a long time that I'm doing three hour rides, back to back, week after week. I've also found myself to be more powerful when rpm is 100-105, and I've been favoring higher rpms for that reason.. But I've paid a price.. Think about it: A three hour ride at 80 rpm means 14,400 pedal revolutions. Do the same ride at 90 rpm and it means 16,200 revolutions, a difference of 1800, which can mean the difference between a knee feeling fine and acting up. On rides of over 3 hours, I might need to stick to doing the cadence which is less stressful on my knees. All of the evidence points to high cadence or high duration rides being the cause of my pain. If what coach says is true, lowering my cadence is what's causing the damage. I don't think cadence makes as much difference as the overall number of pedal revolutions of a long ride.

Stressing the system

Saturday's ride was 3:12:52 and covered 55 miles
Sunday's ride was 3:35:38 and covered 61 miles
Tendon is still problematic, but much less so than a month ago.
Didn't have to nurse it this weekend and it wasn't a limiting factor, but the inflammation could be felt. It's actually much worse after the ride is over, especially walking down a flight of stairs.
I got a taste of this tonight at the PPAC. My son and I were seated upstairs to watch the "Go Diego Go!" performance. Coming down the stairs I was grabbing the handrail. WTF? Am I going to need one of these before I'm 40?

REI Clearance Sale

Out of pity for those of you who pay $7-12 for a single pair of cycling socks, go to REI this weekend. The sale ends Sunday (call to verify- I went to the Cranston RI store and don't know if the sale applies at all stores). 50% clearance on all items ending in "83" cents. I bought 6 pairs of Pearlizumi socks last night for $1.83 each. Can't beat that. Go buy some before I go and get em all.

Yeah this makes the $55 haircut seem ever more idiotic.

Introductions: Brendan and Scott

In case you didn't already know, Murat has been a busy little bee- securing sponsors, designing apparel and scouting good people to populate my new team.. Millwork One Racing
Two of the riders who have agreed to team up with me have also recently begun to write blogs of their own. I salute their decision to put themselves out there:
Scott Sullivan
Brendan Hanrahan
Pay a visit and spread the love.

New comment on Field Test "Do-Over" result

Ge, take a pill dude.. The increase is not in the 300 watt range (actually I improved much more in the anaerobic zone this time- 308 to 330) the data I refer to is from 239 watts to 251 watts, which represents a 5% improvement.. and YES, for all I know the margin or error for the device and for the variables you list could very well be 5% +/- However, I believe that the factors affecting output are MINIMIZED in a controlled environment like my dining room. (No wind, no hills, steady temperature, not propelling my own weight, bike has been inside for a week and is completely acclimated, torque zeroed etc)

But I'm optimistic about these matters, and I also know my legs and body very well. I know what speeds I can hold on the trainer, and what cadence is required and in what gears. Compared against the test I took a month ago, consider this additional data:

CP20 on 1/9: 239 watts, 21.8 mph, 7.273 miles covered
CP20 on 2/12: 251 watts, 24.5 mph, 8.191 miles covered

No it's not as scientific as you want it to be, but it's evidence that the numbers are compatible with and proportionate to, the output.

Is it my improved form which you're disputing? or the accuracy of the PT? or the necessity of the device? It's working for me.. Not the PT, the training program WITH the PT is working for me. No need to take the wind out of my sails, I do enough of that on my own, to myself, thank you very much.

As a matter of fact, dinner sat in my gut like a brick during last night's test. Conditions weren't optimal. I almost puked.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not interested in indoctrinating you- that's a lost cause. I'm just engaging you on this topic because you're my friend. That and the readers here deserve to be entertained.. 

 

gewilli wrote:

gewilli has left a new comment on your post "Field Test "Do-Over" result":
what is your margin of error?
statistically what does 12 watts mean?
what is the variance?
you want science?
you can't HANDLE science.
You want to USE science?
USE science, don't just use numbers.
Is 12 a meaningful difference indoors?
IS it from a 1-2 PSI difference in your tires on the trainer?
Is it from a 2-4°F difference in ambient temperature?
Is it from a 1-2 hour extra sleep differential over the last 3 days?
Is it due to eating better the 24 hours leading up to the test?
Is it due to being better hydrated?
better music?
better mentality?
or
is it the legs...
12 watts.
out of something around 300.
what % increase is that?
You say you want to use the science. But. Are you actually using science?
(hard tough questions - you may know the answers to them all - i'm still just trying to help you understand why i feel these are rather pointless toys)

Field Test "Do-Over" result

I did it. Completed the full indoor test. (Remember Saturday's attempt was aborted)
I'm happy to report that I added 12 watts to my functional threshold, relative to the last indoor field test I did on Jan 9th. When you train hard and see measurable improvement, it really fires you up.

Please visit my sponsors

It costs you nothing and it puts some loose change into my account. I'm saving up for my next haircut so.. click away. Oh and by the way, this is my new favorite song.

Field Test result

I wish I could say that it went perfectly but it didn't. By Saturday morning I had taken enough rest that I felt like a million bucks. I slept in a couple of extra hours and woke up feeling good. Had four waffles for breakfast, took a little more rest, lubed up the bike and got to work warming up. As it turns out, I forgot one very important element.. Anyway. the first 5 minute "all-out" block went GREAT. Only four watts off of my 2007 personal best CP5. This value has been steadily increasing for the past three months. I tried in December and hit 308, tried January and hit 318. Saturday I did 330. The speed and heart rate checks out too, so there's no doubt about erroneous readings. The five minutes averaged at 30.1 mph. In contrast, my CP5 at the Bob Beal time trail was only 310.. but of course that was after a miserable and crampy road race in the rain.. The verdict: my zone 5a/b power is doing very well.. it's well ahead of schedule, relative to 2007's progression.

After the 5 minute ice breaker, I get 10 minutes to recover... and this is when it dawns on me that I screwed up. Back in December I had two aborted field tests- both were indoors and both times it was because of overheating. Then I wised up and did the test out in the garage and had no such problems. For whatever reason, I forgot all about this and found myself unable to recover from the 5 minute test. Still I began the 20 minute time trial expecting to crush my previous test result from Jan 9th. About 5 minutes into it I'm suffering way more than I expected to. Not only did I start out too hard, I was just plain hot and it was affecting my heart rate big time. I had a window open and I had positioned myself in front of a door cracked 1/2 open, but this wasn't enough relief. After the 7th minute I started to fade.. avg watts ticking down one watt at a time.. when soon I was at the last tests average and before long, under it by a few watts. "This suck balls.. if I'm going to do worse in the 20 min TT than I did a month ago, I'd rather try a 'do-over' in a few days, in the garage". So I sat up in the 8th minute, cooled down for 20 minutes.. happy about my 5 minute result, but angry at myself for setting up the test indoors where it's just too hot to perform and put out big efforts. A new test is scheduled for tomorrow night. Yes, I still have to do the five minute portion! The 20 minute data is useless if you don't start out with 40 minutes of simulated tiredness in your legs. I need to keep reminding myself: The point of the Field Test isn't to look at the result and feel satisfaction about improving the numbers. The objective is to establish today's FT and make sure that workouts are performed at the correct intensity.

Sticker Shock and Awe

My barber passed away about a year ago.. He was 90+ years old, hunched over with shaking hands and a scrunched up face with an almost comically large chin. Loved the guy. When I discovered he was gone, I went into a zombie like trance in search of a person who could fill his shoes. It's hasn't been fruitful. I've been to about 4 different barber shops in the past year, sat down and patiently waited my turn, when suddenly something about the place- it's cleanliness, it's clientele, it's smell, it's chairs, someone's poor grammar.. something.. made me get up and walk out, un-clipped. I've had two haircuts in the past year: once by my former barber's son, who did a piss poor job, and again while in Turkey last July, where they always do excellent work. So it's been about 6 months.

Today I had enough of trying to manage and control  and fight with my curly lion's mane and I went to my wife's downtown salon. Got an appointment with her stylist. Expected to pay through the nose and be treated a little bit special. Even though those two expectations were met, it was still a disappointment. The guy struggled for over an hour to cut my hair with scissors (I would have been happy with a quality clipper job), left me looking kind of like a little kid and they ended up charging me FIFTY FIVE MO FO DOLLARS.. I wanted to get out of there so bad that I didn't argue. I paid my bill, left a $10 tip, and screwed. They had told my wife on the phone that it would be $29.. not sure why I paid double.. must have something to do with taking so long.. I guess I'm all caught up in terms of my annual "haircut budget". I can afford to go there once a year.. Not.. Never again. That was a dumb move. As I've always believed and now confirm: Men should go to barbers. No exceptions. If you let a woman or a "stylist" cut your hair, you either like eating your corn the long way or you still live with your mom. 

Stomach Flu

After two days of uncontrollable evacuations, fevers, chills, muscle pains and headaches, I feel 1000% better and even put in a nice ride last night on the trainer. Saturday there's a field test. Weather forecast indicates that I may be doing this one on the windtrainer like the last time. Dang.. That means that Normalized power will be pretty much equal to Average power.. It's okay if you don't know what that means.. Anyway, one good thing has become of the bug which made my whole family ill last weekend: I've dropped four pounds!... but more importantly, one full day of nausea-inspired-fasting has shrunk my appetite. and my stomach capacity. Plus, two full days without any coffee, and I didn't really miss it.

To give ya an idear of what that means for me right now.. I now weigh about 17 pounds less than I did on this date one year ago. Even after returning from San Diego at the end of February last year, I was an astonishing 188 pounds. I'm now 173.. and my race weight of last July was a svelte 165. Not too far off the mark. Oh yeah.. base miles are useless, who needs 'em. P-f-f-f-f-f-t-t ! At this rate, getting myself under 160 pounds doesn't seem unrealistic.  

Try this without a power meter..

..better yet, don't waste your time. If you don't have a power meter, your functional threshold is probably a mystery to you anyway, so doing FT intervals as I've done here will be impossible.. (let me add that it is possible to own a power meter, not know what to do with it, never establish your FT value and hence never do workouts designed to boost it (FT) and then end up giving your power meter away or selling it because you judge it to be a useless toy..) Furthermore, if you are using a heart rate monitor for such a work out, then you're going to be way off the mark.. The three intervals pictured are all pegged at 241 watts average (5 min, 10 min and 10 min), but lo and behold- the heart rates for the three intervals average at 152, 164 and 170 respectively. If I "believed" my FT was 160 beats per minute.. interval No 1 would have been higher than my FT watts. Interval No 2 would have been lower and interval No 3 would have been lower still. So.. using a HRM I would have ended up blowing my wad on the first interval because it would have been anaerobic, and then I would have done a couple of zone 3 tempo intervals when I'm trying to be on the edge of zones 4/5... Useless. The chart speaks for itself though. Look at the slow reaction of the heart rate. It takes a full 30 seconds for the HR to reach a level which is compatible with the output.
I realize that not everyone can afford to pay a coach.. but make no mistake: I sacrificed something else in order to free up the money for coaching. If there's a will, there's a way.

Presidential Tour of Turkey 13-20 April 2008

On deck is the 44th version of The Presidential Tour of Turkey. A prestigious stage race which attracts a large number of Middle Eastern and Eastern European talent.. Word on the street is that it's going to be televised on TRT in 2008. Yours truly is working hard in the coming weeks to establish communications with the Turkish Federation and with the race organizers so that I can compete. I either need to put my own team together or be invited as a guest on another team. If I had to make an informed guess, this race is at least as difficult to win as the Pro-Am at Fitchburg or Green Mountain, which even being optimistic, relegates me to pack fodder. But it's one of those things where simply participating is a once in a lifetime opportunity, not to be passed up in my eyes.. and I'm not getting any younger! Who wants to go? Check the official website for some stage info. Seems this page is still developing- they just slapped something together for now.

Comparing two of my three hour rides

On the left is last Saturday's ride on very flat roads in Western New York. On that day it was 24 degrees and very windy.

On the right is today's ride on the back roads of Coventry, Scituate and Cranston. 30 degrees out and man I couldn't wait to get this one over with.. Lots of rolling hills, unlike last week's flat ride.. Thought about taking the B-line straight home a few times, many times. Just couldn't adapt to the cold for some reason, and didn't start to feel really comfortable until the 3rd hour. I also had to double back after the first 6 minutes because I could tell that the Powertap reading was off.. I haven't memorized how to zero the torque so I went home and found the instruction and took care of it. (It was reading 7 watts high) In the end, we see that I worked a lot harder today, which is good because I still seem to have some issues with the strain in my left knee area. Last Saturday i had to be a lot more careful and hold back a lot more.. I thought the pain was gone during the indoor rides I've done all week, obviously because it feels great when it's kept warm.. But apparently I forgotten one very important fact: This is the first time in a very long time, perhaps ever, that I've done so many rides in such cold weather. I need to apply the neoprene Ace bandages to both knees when I ride outside to make it through the next couple of months. I'm typically a hermit until the first robin is spotted, but since I'm planning to really make my mark in 2008, I'm doing everything "by the book" for a change. My knees and I really hate the cold.. It took all of my willpower to get out of my warm bed, suit up, open the door this morning and throw my leg over the bike. I dreaded it.. but it's going to make those upcoming 40+ and 50+ degree days feel like a heat wave. In the end, it's always a euphoric feeling to have forced yourself to do what you know what must be done. Happiness and self respect is guaranteed when the strength of mind and character prevails. Thanks for reading..

Tendonitis has abated

I did an indoor program last night which included 15 one minute efforts at threshold and I'm happy to report that the weakness of the left knee has dissipated 98%. It's healed nicely. Wrapping it with an Ace neoprene wrap kept it nice and warm.. I took lots of Glucosamine chondroitin just for good measure, and resisted testing it with hard efforts for the past week. No crutches for me..

:)

 

TTFU

I gave myself a healthy dose of it today when I went out riding in the 12 degree temps and gusting winds of Monroe County. Only for an hour though.. Not sure.. The Powertap stopped recording in the 50th minute.. And went completely blank about 5 minutes later. I think I'll have a new appreciation for New England's mild 30 degree temps when we return. Left knee is better, but right IT Band hurts in sympathy.. From nursing the left..
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Murat's in Ra-cha-cha!

We're visiting my mother and my brother in Rochester, NY this weekend. Threw the road bike up on the new bike rack and made the trip last night, arriving at 1:30 am. Today the temperature reached a pathetic 24 degrees F and with the gusting winds, I swear I was going 11 miles an hour on certain stretches of flat road in Webster NY. Ended up doing two big laps and finished at just over three hours at about 155 watts. It had to be 0-10 degrees with the wind chill.. Tomorrow's high temp will be in the teens. Good thing I brought the wind trainer. I might venture out for an hour and then follow up with another hour of spinning indoors.

Last weekend I sure did some damage it seems. The knee feels better- today's ride it felt like someone was just pinching the left side of my knee. My guess is that it's a tendon that's part of Vastus Lateralis. Whatever I did last Saturday caused a low grade strain of the tendon I think.. Puzzling- I didn't do any sprinting.. only some hard stomping at the tops of some small climbs.. nothing out of the ordinary for me.. It had more to do with the duration (four hours) than the intensity I think.

Lucky for me, my mother happens to have a gigantic bottle of Glucosamine Chondroitin in the house- 480 tablets! So I'll be horking down three of those a day for the next few weeks... I may also go to the drugstore and pick up a compression wrap.. Not sure what purpose they serve, but it seems like the right thing to do- hold everything tightly together and aid in cell migration during the healing. I don't know for sure. Maybe some more googling will help. I'm still ina bit of denial..

Rochester is C-COLD!! It's also the place where I first began to race a bike and a place where I know all the roads better than I know the roads of New England.. Rochester always feels like home to us..

Blood work results

Hematocrit level was 43 in last week's blood testing. Seems kind of low (?)

Combined cholestrol 252 (Yikes!)

Triglyceride 42 (Low?? What IS this?)

HDL Cholestrol 63 (Good Cholestrol is good)

LDL Cholestrol 181 (Bad cholestrol is high)

No more Johnny Rockets for me!

Scion Xb versus Chevy HHR

Which one is better? Both start around $16,000.. but only the Scion has ABS, side curtain airbags and traction control, standard.. The HHR has a nice and durable plastic clad trunk area and fold flat rear seats (Xb has chintzy fabric covering and flimsy trunk cover flap)

Both vehicles are good on gas- 28 and 30 mpg respectively. The Xb has more standard horsepower and is more fun to drive than the HHR. The HHR is styled like an old 1940's milk truck whereas the Xb is styled very high tech modern.. Maybe these vehicles both suck.. but please consider that we are looking for an affordable and roomy "novelty" vehicle with lots of curb appeal, one we can decorate with graphics and make it into a "WeeBIKE.com-mobile". It will also receive some graphics of the new M1 Racing Team. Thoughts? Opinions? Alternatives?

Big weekend of base

In the span of two days, I rode for 7 hours and 35 minutes, all outdoors. Wasn't easy, even with the mild weather, and my left knee was protesting a little bit today. Overuse. May it pass quickly.. Above is Saturday. Below is Sunday. I am quite tired from this. The good news is that I didn't feel any cramping during either of these long rides. Body has adapted nicely to these 3+ hour weekend rides I've been doing for the past month. Today's ride was noticably lower output because my left knee had some nuisance pain and I nursed it for the whole three hours and held back.

It's going to be a long week of cold weather and indoor training!

Bad Hair on a Bike: The Smiths

Via fellow Turkish blogger Finduk.. I don't believe I've seen this video since the time it first came out! Compared to all the junk on MTV these days, this is pretty cool to listen to, it's nostalgic and it's full of depressed teenagers on bikes. What more do you want?

Field Test Day

If you want to call it that.. that is.. if you consider the garage to be a "field".. I have done two previous attempts at this stationary field test in the past six weeks, both aborted.. The first time, was on the rollers. Big mistake. Not enough resistance to do the one minute blow-outs.. though I managed 318 watts for the 5 minute interval. Couple of weeks later, I tried again, this time on the wind trainer.. Had to abort again after the 5 minute interval (309 watts this time) because I just felt sick and weak- didn't eat enough and had a tough day in the field on my feet for 8 hours.. Tonight was different. I set up in the garage with the door open, nice cool breeze.. Did the 5 minute interval real conservatively.. and here's how it all compares:

My first field test of 2007, my second field test of 2007, my CP5 and CP20 of 2007, and tonight:

5 min: 304 watts on 5/12/07, 315 watts on 6/13/07, 334 watts on 6/23/07, 301 watts on 1/9/08

20 min: 234 watts on 5/12/07, 256 watts on 6/13/07, 265 watts on 9/4/07, 239 watts on 1/9/08

Let me just say that doing anything super high intensity for five minutes straight, on a wind trainer, with the knowledge that you're going to do a 20 minute time trial afterwards, is very tough mentally to get through.. [for me] Maybe the reason my previous two indoor attempts were aborted is because I blew too much on the 5 minute portion.. Tonight, I reigned myself in on the 5 minutes.. pegged it at 295 or so for the first four minutes, and then really pounded in the last minute, but only got it up to 301.. By keeping something in reserve, I managed a better result on the 20 minute TT portion of the test- I FINISHED IT, for one!.. What I'm happy to see is that I averaged higher tonight than I did on May 12th of last season (even though my Normalized Power on that test was higher: 262 versus 241) There's nowhere to hide on a wind trainer! No descents where you can coast for a few seconds.. This is what makes time trialing on a stationary bike so hard.. especially for a weenie like me who sucks at time trialing in the first place! At any rate, my 239 tonight is still a better result than my "easier" field test of May 12 of last year.. However.. these numbers are NOT good! Especially considering my current weight of 79 kg! (Yes, you're not the only one who has added 5-10 pounds this winter.. Quit looking at my gut!!! I'm working on it!!! SNL skit..Hehe.) My overall wattage picture is pretty bleak, especially when my watts/kg are plugged into a Coggan Power Profile.. It tells me I'm at a cat 4 level for all durations [except for 5 min.. where I'm rated a cat 3 for some reason..] Sometimes I think that it's a small miracle that I race against and finish all of these New England Masters crits which are stacked with Masters talent.. I must be very lucky.. Either that or very crafty about when to save energy and when to open the throttle.. and whose wheel to follow.. and whose to avoid..
Now it's time to use the data from tonight's test and apply it to the next three weeks of intensity. We can now estimate that my Functional Threshold is "X", and I'll be directed to do all kinds of different percentages of FT for all kinds of different durations.. No need to try and figure it out. Paying someone who understands my fitness better than I myself understand it, to help me force my body to adapt and get stronger/faster.. is just fine with me.. One less thing. Wish I had done it ten years ago. Thanks for reading.

Commuting again?

Who wouldn't? It's so nice and mild out. Last night I rode home with no tights or leg warmers.. something I tend to do at the 50 degree threshold. Took the long way home too, in the pitch black of the Cranston bike path. My front blinky has a steady beam, but it's not for seeing, it's for being seen.. (Can someone pleae recommend a good light- somethng they already use and swear by??) I rode in this morning a little more bundled up, but I fully expect to ride home tonight in a balmy 50+ degrees. The fixed gear is still out with a flat and when I work up the resolve to touch the filthy rear wheel in order to remove it and fix the flat, I'm riding my road bike.. It will have to wait until the weekend.

Saturday plans... revised

So yes! I went out again, this time on the road bike.. Did 55 miles in 3 hours and 6 minutes.. Avg of 188 watts. Feels good to be home after that solo death march.. was getting dark toward the end. My route took me up north on the Cranston bike path to Park Ave to Elmwood to Post Road, which I then followed south all the way to route 102. Turned right on 102 and followed it all the way to 117 (that's a challenging stretch.. ouch) where I turned right again and took it to Fairview Ave.. Left and I'm almost home. I knew I needed to do a big loop or else run the risk of being a weenie and ending the ride early. Man I HATE the cold. It takes every atom of willpower I can muster to get out there on these cold days.. Though I must admit, today turned out to be pretty mild compared to my early morning attempt to ride, whn it was 24 degrees out.

Saturday plans... dashed

Grrrrrr. Last night just before retiring, there's a funny itch in the back of my throat.. I shrug it off as I read my son few children's books before bed time. Fast forward a few hours, I am sleeping alone in my son's bed to avoid cross-contamination.. My Blackberry is set to go off at 6:00 am for an early morning four hour ride.. Fast forward to 8:20 am. I am out the door on my fixed gear, bundled up with new base layer and Saran wrap covering my shoes under my booties. FF to 8:45am as I scream down route 12 in Cranston, crossing over the highway at a ridiculous cadence. Thinking to myself how indestructible these 500 gram tires must be.. when suddenly.. hissssSSSsssSSS.. My ride is over. I stop to inspect the damage. It's a NAIL. The new fixie has fenders and some fancy contraption to tension the chain.. I'm not gonna mess with it.. It's 24 degrees out. I call home, defeated. Dear wife arrives 30 minutes later and takes me home. I strip off the sweaty clothing and climb into bed, where it takes me about an hour to stop shivering. Go back out there? I can't dream of it at the moment, although the temp seems to be up quite a bit. Just had a hearty [second] breakfast.. and maybe in a couple of hours I'll go out on the road bike for a few hours.
The whole idea was to get this ride over with by noon so that the rest of the day can be devoted to family! Can't say I didn't try..

Fwd: hit and run....

01-03-08

 

This is not the best way to start the New Year. I was intentionally hit by a car on my bicycle last night at 7:20 pm. I was on my way to meet Lynn at the bike shop, we had plans to ride home together, stopping at the red fez for dinner along the way. I was stopped at the light on the corner of charles and silver spring st. in Providence . When the light changed I clipped into my pedals, a blue toyota camry plate number kl245 laid on the horn, I looked back, he raised his hands in disgust, I pedaled one more stroke, then I was hit from behind. I my right elbow, hip and head contacted the ground. I looked up as the car screeched to a halt. I  jumped up as the driver backed up, yelled profanity at me, then made a right onto silver spring accelerating hard. A universal ambulance witnessed the act, yet did not stop. Only one person stopped, A very large man in a ML350, he yelled "yo dude, that shit is F**ked up!".

I did not have my cell phone on me, so I twisted my bars and seat back into position, then continued on my way to prov. bike. I called the police from the shop, they responed in a fair amount of time, took my report. It turns out the plates were stolen, big surprise. Lynn call universal on my behalf, the driver said he only saw me laying in the street, but did not see the accident, I call bulls**t! Then he said he turned around to see if I was ok, well that's crap also.

 

So I'm ok, my beloved angus is ok, rear wheel is tweeked, my slr saddle is torn. So if you ride in providence beware of a 90's toyota camry, ri reg kl254 with a large mike sized dent in the hood, driven by a smaller hispanic man wearing a black doo rag. If you see the vehicle please call providence police asap.

 

Please pass this on to anyone who rides in the providence area.

 

-Mike Sam

Caption Contest?

Waiter Saturnino Gonzalez cycles on the spot holding a tray loaded with glasses to galvanize competitors during the Tour of Spain. 2 September 2006. REUTERS/Dani Cardona

Orientation + Training Day: Saturday January 12

Millwork One Racing would like to reach out to the New England bike racing community by offering a meeting at the West Warwick home of Murat Altinbasak. This will be an ideal opportunity to meet the team's manager and find out more about the team's sponsorships, racing schedule and goals for 2008/2009. We will be gathering for some fresh bagels, donuts and hot coffee at 8:00 am and departing for a group training ride at 9:00. Depending upon the weather, our route will meander through Coventry RI and return us to the house 60-90 minutes later. We can then get warmed up inside, change into dry clothing, top off with more coffee/tea and talk some more about what direction to take.

Attendance at this event does not constitute unconditional acceptance onto the team, but your attendance will surely be more meaningful to us than if you pass it up.

It has been announced on NEBRA that M1 Racing is a masters team, but we would like to express that we're also very interested in attracting some younger cat 2s, 3s, women and juniors to the Team.  

Please RSVP using this address: reiscotools@yahoo.com preferably not later than Thursday January 10th. This will be a very casual, fun filled morning of meeting new people, riding together as a group on beautiful roads, and exploring the benefits of being on the M1 Racing team. With a little luck, your name will be added to the team roster on this date and we can begin to introduce you to the blogosphere and to the sponsors who have made this team possible. 

Racers from CT, MA, NH, VT, ME and of course RI are all welcome to join us on Saturday. Many thanks. 

Happy New Year!

Regards,

Murat Altinbasak

www.WeeBike.com

www.AmerikanTurk.com

www.UnionVelo.blogspot.com

 

Another 3+ hour ride

Weather was fantastic! Over 50 degrees. Did my first 90 minutes on the fixed gear, with my son, in his trailer, being towed behind me. I think overall that's about 80 pounds I'm pulling along. Felt so overgeared, I could barely get the cadence to reach 60.. After depositing my boy at home I did another 90 minutes without the trailer, and it felt like I had wings compared to the first 90 minutes.. Got home pretty late too- it was pitch black outside.. and those ice patches on the bike path are hard to see in the dark!
Next weekend: 4 hours on Saturday and 4 hours on Sunday. If it's very cold out I think I may stop home at half time for a quick warm-up and change of clothing.

A Keith Berger Criterium Moment (2007 30+)

Chart below shows minutes 40-42 of the 2007 Keith Berger Crit on 8/19/07. Four guys opened a gap with about 6 laps to go. I attacked hard and bridged up over the course of one full lap. On my heels was a Target Training rider who also connected about 10 seconds later, but whose departure from the pack inspired the rest of the field to really chase hard. We were absorbed after two laps, leaving us about three laps to recover and sprint. I ended up finishing 17th with those blown legs. Pictures of what it looked like 1/2 way through those very tough two minutes: The break.
Murat chasing.
Target guy (Scott Bodin? Kyle Wolfe?) chasing me.
Six man break, one lap later.

I dove into that back corner going 34.5 miles per hour.

Please vote on my new team uniform- Which one?

It looks colder than it is..

My strategy for making the morning bike commute less frigid: A steaming hot shower, followed by suiting up with apparel that has just come out of the clothes dryer. Makes it seem much more bearable. Then again.. it always seems colder out than it really is.. or rather, it never feels as cold as it looks from inside the bedroom window. Today I wore my new Providence Bicycle thermal jacket (picked up Monday off the clearance rack to consummate the store's commitment to sponsor the Millwork One Racing Team) my long sleeve jersey and my one threadbare Reebok base layer. These three layers were sufficient, while it was only about 25 degrees out. I was comfortable enough that getting to work was a bummer. I was feeling like.. "Hey let's ride some more.. this feels good.."

PS: If it seems that I obsess over riding in the cold, it's because I've never done it before! It's the first time I've ridden this much in December! To wit: in December 2006 I rode a total of 3 hours.. December 2007: 28 hours and counting!

May your rides this winter be as surprisingly toasty as mine.. -Murat 

WARNING: Don't take VITAMINS, you DOPER!

"Using any form of dietary supplement may result in a positive test for prohibited substances leading to a suspension and/or other penalties. Vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids and other dietary supplements may contain prohibited or illegal substances that may or may not be listed on the label. Any athlete who takes a vitamin, mineral, herb, amino acid or other dietary supplement does so at his or her own risk of committing a doping violation."

These words are printed right adjacent to my new 2008 racing license, which arrived the other day. Am I the only one who finds this both peculiar and offsides? Are we being warned not to take supplements because their testing procedures suck so badly that they might mistake vitamin E for EPO?? I don't get it.