revchuck 

Way to look at the bright side, AJ!

sarals 

AJ always sees the silver lining!

JRA with my friend Barb this morning (several times SG gold medalist, her). Lots of fun, relaxed, and fast (we don't know how to ride slow). She's got a kick on rollers and climbs that sometimes I can match and sometimes I can't. Today I could, except for the one she snuck in on me! I had to work really hard to bridge back up. I wish I'd had the LYC on the bike to see what that power was! Fun, feeling good, I love this sport!

tomgdaly

Any of you guys taking a mini asprin daily or for competition? I'd be interested in opinion.

revchuck 

I do, on the advice of my doctor. It's purely preventative, I don't believe it contributes to fitness.

Hermes

Doper

revchuck 

Combined with Lisinopril and Flomax, hell yeah!

Allegheny Jet

Had to do 2.5 hrs on the cross bike today with 1.5 hrs @ solid Z3 riding grassy fields and the MTB trail. I just got done with the hard work and took a short cut through some high grass to get to the road home when a loose piece of wire wrapped itself into the RD. The hanger did its job but there was a birds nest of parts resulting in a call for the SAG wagon. I had to be very careful making the phone call to my wife. Right before I left home I got this warning "whatever you do, dont do anything stupid and get hurt right before our son gets married on Saturday. I will really be upset if you call home because you got hurt riding your bike in the woods".

All is well.

AzTallRider

Jet, I worry about you sometimes.

caloso

Airport Ride tonight. I need to send my Quarq in. Wattage numbers a good 100w too high.

gsteinb

vacation was 1300 TSS. I don't normally post numbers, but that's a big number for me. Quality riding as well, and improved through out.

revchuck 

Must've been a whole lotta riding goin' on.

AzTallRider

I'm sure the competition will be truly pleased to know you are (still) in good form. We all love to race sprinters who are at the top of their game.

AzTallRider

Speaking of wattage, it was interesting to hear Dirk Friel, in one of the the little Training Peaks infomercials during the US Cycling challenge, note that Jens put out 1,300 watts when breaking away from the breakaway group in one of stages. Then you got to watch his director screaming at him and pounding on the car door as the pack was reeling him in towards the end. I enjoyed an interview where he showed off his bike, which featured flag stripes of both Germanys, something from an old East German race, hearts representing each member of his family, etc. He also compared the tour to a woman giving birth. While it is happening you swear you'll never do it again, but a few days later, you are saying "Oh, what a cute little baby..."

He is going to be missed, if he ever retires

sarals 

I hope he doesn't any time soon. He's such a nice man. You know, I would bet there are those who would just love to have him providing color commentary to their broadcast.

AzTallRider

I was thinking exactly the same thing, but I bet it will be a European network.

sarals 

He'd be a wonderful addition to or in lieu of Phil and Paul...we should ALL get to see him!

sarals 

40 minutes on the TT bike this morning. It was a ride to check the changes I'd made in the setup and to also tweak, and to get used to the bike. The saddle seems good now, it's been leveled (with a carpenters level). I set the aero bars to flat, as well, and you know what? My hands totally relaxed when I did that. I had a little more weight, it seemed, on my elbows, which made the bike a bit twitchier when I was on the pads using the sticks. I got mostly used to that, though. I found I could corner it through fairly sharp turns while on the sticks, but I don't think that's something I should expect to do as a habit. My biggest issue is with seeing where I'm going. Glasses of any sort are just in the way. I need to get a real TT helmet with a visor so I can see better. My legs were less than this morning. I'd been riding fairly hard earlier in the week, with the race, and then some hard, fast riding after it, and then yesterday was a rest day. My legs never wake up completely after a rest day, it takes the second day on the bike to get the mung completely out of them. Tomorrow morning I'll ride the TT bike again, and I'm sure I'll have better legs. Ex wants me to get as much time as I can on that bike, as it is going to take some getting used to.

shovelhd

Test today. I was down on power as expected. I used the Powertap to cross-reference the new Quarq and they seem to be in sync. That's good. I was supposed to do some JRA afterward but I ran across an Optum pro and the club's elite team doing some motorpace work, in two groups, each behind a Vespa scooter. I passed one guy twice who had a flat and was walking back to the start. After the test was over I went back and gave him my spare tube. We rode back, and along the way came the pro women and the lower category men behind the motor. I LOVE motor work so I could not resist hopping on. It was only for a short interval but it was so much fun. I want more of that.

Cleave

@shovelhd, same here about motorpacing, however, I don't feel overly secure doing it on open roads. When I was young and ... we would take turns motorpacing behind my parents' Mercury station wagon on the service road next to the Long Island Expressway. Amazingly, I'm still alive.

Now I can get my motorpacing jollies at the velodrome during the motor game.

My training was kind of minimal this week as I was facilitating a workshop at work Monday through Thursday. I did manage to get to the Tuesday Twilight Race. I'll report on that in the other thread.

AzTallRider

3 x 20' at FTP this morning: 5' rest between. I faded some on the last interval. An hour of JRA after that.

I should have some scooter motor-pacing opportunities, if I take a morning off work, as we get close to the season. I need better speed, and motor-pacing is said to be good for that.

Dignity Health and Optum just formed a joint venture company: Optum360. Once I'm an employee rather than a contractor (should be soon) I may see if I can get DH to do some local event sponsorship. IT isn't being consolidated into the JV - I'll be part of Dignity Health.

VanceMac

Hard track workout this morning at Encino. Made all the more enjoyable by the heat (car said 97 when I was leaving).

revchuck 

I finally broke down and did a climbing ride. For those with ready access to hills and mountains, this is small change, but it's the most climbing I've done since March. It required a 104 mile drive to get there, and it's the closest place with hills. 61 miles, 3:38, 3169 feet according to the Garmin, TSS 243, IF .82. This was an exploratory "How is this going to go?" ride. I ended up riding the Allez with the standard crankset and 12-23 cassette, and it worked out, though I got down to 60 rpm at one point. Hit 31.5 mph in the small ring once. Overall, it went about as I expected; I was a bit slow (16.7 mph average) and was tired but not whupped at the end.

I had sent the file to my coach, and she wrote back to me this morning (while I was on the ride) that she was going to want me to do hill repeats on the hill at ~mile 36 (1.2 miles long). Glad I didn't get that until afterwards...

I stopped about an hour into the ride to pick up a bottle of Gatorade, because I knew I'd need it and didn't know if there were any more stores coming up. This is the place I stopped. Gotta wonder what they were thinking when they named it.



The scariest thing was being on a two lane road with no shoulder and a 70 mph speed limit. Fortunately, all passing traffic gave me at least enough room, with some giving me the whole lane.

sarals 

More time on the B16 this morning, 45 minutes. I'm settling into that bike, now, but I've a ways to go. My hands are totally relaxed on the sticks, and my shoulders are loose, as well. My legs are feeling different muscles, though. My performance is off, as it always is during a work week. However, something was going on with my HR monitor - it showed a higher rate than what is normal for me. Maybe it's working right now? Who knows. Tomorrow morning I'm going to blast around on the CAAD, just for a change of pace.

sarals 

Chuck, I see there are still lots of white F150's down there!

revchuck 

Yup. Mine's brown, so I don't have to wash it as often.