Gramercy

That's insane you can hold 300 watts for 37 minutes (if I read the climbs correctly). What's your FTP?

hubcyclist

46 miles for me today, starting to see lots of color in the trees

waterrockets 

Had a good week. Only workouts of note were three threshold workouts. Did a 2x30s, 6x5x1s, and 2x20s + 1x10. It would appear I've finally taken my threshold back over 300W again, but I need to get back up to 330W by Feb to really compete. Tough summer, but feeling good when digging deep now and finally able to trade hits with my main training partner.

valygrl

wow. jealous. both of the ride & the fitness.

edit- quoted the wrong post

aaronmcd

300 isn't insane, varying FTP with training seems insane to me. 305 when I started training, 325 peak, 320ish now, maybe lower. Maybe I just need to focus on threshold more than a few long climbs on Wednesday lol - I have been skimping on VO2 repeats... I'm kind of looking forward to the off season. Just need to break the group ride addiction...

Ygduf

Like 370ish. I'm 80kg.

I was limiting myself on the last climb to 160HR (180ish max). My fitness is good, I am just bad/new at racing.

Wylde06

Im pretty sure my fitness is going backwards.

furiousferret

I've had a gamut of leg and pinched nerve issues that have caused my FTP to vary by 70 over the year. I thought they were resolved but the test last week was 60 lower. I'm hoping that was an anomaly. 300 is attainable from my max FTP but at 68 kg you are in good company hitting that number. Really its my anaerobic that hurts me, so that's my focus for the off season.

UmneyDurak

Did Canary challenge yesterday. A 75 mile ride with 5.5k of climbing. Our small group was ex-pros and me. I won a wheel sucker award of the year. Climbing kings mountain one of them was setting a "old retired woman pace". I was pushing 300W to the top, wondering when the pain is going to end. I am fat and out of shape.

One of the best part of the ride was espresso at rest stops.

jsutkeepspining

Been riding my bike a bit. Things i've learned:

1) 6 am is a dead time in a college dorm room
2) if you get back at 1 on a sat/sun you can get breakfast with everyone who are just waking up
3)Hangovers go away 30 minutes into a ride
4) I like food
5) Bikes get messy quickly when you can't wash them

misterwaterfall

Planned to ride today, napped instead. I guess off season starts now

aaronmcd

Raced yesterday, forced myself to sleep 9 hours, got brunch, feel surprisingly good. Maybe I'll go for a run? Or sit on the porch with coffee? Idk.

Does this thread become the RTT after racing season ends?

aaronmcd

Sounds like a nice ride. What's Canary Challenge?

revchuck 

Whatever the question, sitting on the porch with coffee is one of the right answers.

UmneyDurak

A charity ride, for cancer.

TheKillerPenguin

Could not hold target numbers on Saturday so switched it to endurance and took yesterday off.

I do believe I've found my race limiter. I train too hard during the week which leaves me busted on the weekends. I went into Saturday feeling pretty similar to how I go into a lot of races, and what I could hold for 15min was ~8% lower than my current tested FTP, and a full 12% lower than my current known 20min power . This would explain why my numbers actually are pretty good but I'm generally only snagging top 15's with the occasional decent placing.

Working with the coach to correct this silly behavior; I imagine that will solve most of the doing better in races equation.

Ygduf

36,000 feet of climbing _and_ descending last weekend. that muscle that pulls my eyeball up, to look up the road while in a tuck, is sore.

Gramercy

I feel like with your race reports (which are great) regarding you staying away from the pack for long stretches of time, if you sat in the pack more, you would win more races and you should be in the 3's with that kind of power. Am I wrong? I mean, staying away from the pack means you're averaging mid 20's in varied terrain by yourself, right? My road races in the 4's are around 26mph and I can't stay away for more than a minute at that pace.

waterrockets 

2x30s today. Almost matched power on the second one, but felt horrible the last 10 minutes, so dropped 3W.

TexMac

No rides since last Wed,vacay in Disney and eating bad food in orlando plus drinks
Today Lunch: Skipped the rope for warm ups and work leg calf followed by squats,hamstring curls,leg extensions,hack squats,crunches,lunges,hip abductor,deadlift,plank,crunches,pushups and back.

aaronmcd

I've only ended up solo (or with one guy who could not help) 3 times. Just trying to really push it lately, because cat 4 races tend to be stupid easy with a hard, everyone fresh, bunch sprint (3/4 races are much better). And I haven't had any luck trying to set up for a bunch sprint since cat 5. But I can't single handedly make a cat 4 race hard on everyone else. I've tried.

Henleyville was flat with wind, I was doing a pace I felt I could hold 3 hours and averaging around 24 mph (my forearms are now bruised from IAB for so long).
CCCX (E3/4) I did around 22 mph (10 miles, 700 feet).
The Bump Circuit Race I was solo for 7.6 miles, 500 feet, 23 mph.

If the pack decides to chase, I can't stay away solo. But if a couple strong guys would help, we could do it. Problem is guys would rather chase down a break than help make it stick.

Other problem is me trying to force something that just ain't happening lol:
Henleyville I was more talkative than all my other races combined, trying to get anyone else to desire a breakaway. Not one other guy attacked even once until the final mile. I finally got a few guys to rotate a bit when it looked like a gap was forming, but as soon as the gap closed everyone went back to 17 mph land. When my long break was pulled back, did someone counter? No, we took a pee break. Seriously felt like that guy who keeps attacking the coffee ride.

hack

You've got teammates now, yes? Granted you guys won Henleyville, but perhaps discussions re:tactics and what to do and when to do it would be benefical (e.g., when you go off the front, your guys block and if you're caught, your guys launch counters). Worst case it will break up the monotony and help you feel like the race is more productive and interesting.

Ultimately, Henleyville sounds like it was last year. Just soft pedal for 71 miles then everyone fight position after the last left 90.

shovelhd

You are showing your cards too early. Patience. Believe me I struggle with this as much as you and I've won more races than you have entered. The mental game is the hardest piece.

aaronmcd

Does something ever just "click" with racing? It's like I've got 50 puzzle pieces but can't seem to make a picture out of them.

Ygduf

Aaron raced like 100x this year alone!