Cypress

Does that mean you're leading me out for Double Peak??

Stochastic sweet spot work last night. 3 intervals, 15 mins per interval, each interval has 5 sets of 3 mins @ 305W with a 5-10 second jump of 660W+ in between the sets.

Basically, my ride went:

Warm up, 235, 305, 660, 305, 660, 305, 660, 305, 660, 305, 660, 200, 305, 660, 305, 660, 305, 660, 305, 660, 305, 660, 200, 305, 660, 305, 660, 305, 660, 305, 660, 305, 660, 235, cool down

If I didn't have Zwift guiding me through that, I don't know how I would have been able to keep track of it all. Oh, speaking of Zwift, I followed a guy that was riding in erg mode up the Alpe. From bottom to top, he held 4.5 W/kg continuously. Like, never once going above or below 4.5 for the entire ~50 mins. Creepy to watch.

Hermes

Yesterday, endurance workout on Fiesta on my road bike. Highlights: Sunny 70 degrees with very little wind. Helped a woman put on her front wheel in the parking lot on a bike that weighed enough that it could be used to do dead lifts. She had just purchased the bike and it was its maiden voyage.

After my ride, I went to a bike shop and test rode a Specialized S-Works Turbo Creo. The turbo creo is Specialized gonzo high end road E-bike. This bike has everything on it including the kitchen sink and is capable of 120 miles on economy mode and weighs 28 pounds. They have an app that allows customization of the motor for watts/torgue and etc. From the bike, one can set three modes, economy, fast, and turbo. Or one can shut off the motor. And it has the front fork shock absorption similar to what is in the Roubaix.

Looking at the bike at a glance, it does not look like an electric bike per se. Of course, it one looks at it more carefully, the wider and thicker down tube where the battery is located give away the ebike capability but I am sure the UCI officials would miss this. Also, the motor is pretty quiet until one selects the turbo mode.

It was an odd test ride because the shop was concerned about putting mileage on the bike because like a car, it has an internal odometer. So I rode down a road that I ride a lot and did a couple of miles. So the test ride was limited.

I synced up my Garmin and I got my power plus cadence. It has a built in power meter but the power meter is deactivated if the motor is turned off. If I would have downloaded the Specialized Garmin app for the Garmin head unit, I would get more information. Complete control for the electronics and motor is done from a smartphone app. So one can program the bike before leaving for a ride and change the setup during the ride.

All I am going to say is that this bike is a lot of fun to ride and it is addicting. Imagine you could add in 50/125/250 watts upon demand to your power curve to accomplish an objective and if not, it rides like a high end race bike. I tried different modes and coupled it with different amounts of human power. At 500 watt effort for me and turbo power is pretty fast going up a hill. At the same time, i can make 750 watt on my own for some period of time. However, it is the lower end power that is more of a game changer. I can cruise around at 200 watts plus minus but add another 50 watts or 250 watts and my long term power gets a big bump on a percentage basis. For me, it was about more speed. I like to go fast and that is one of the things that is fun about training and racing. I do not train to go slow.

This is almost like motor pacing yourself - masterpacing. I could ride race power but above race pace speed. And I can motor pace others up to a point of 28 mph. At 28 mph, the motor stops adding power. If I wanted to go for a long ride outside, I can cover a lot of ground and of course I could hold constant human power up a hill but also maintain speed by selecting more epower. This puts and en to slogging up a hill if you do not want to.

I ride 15 pound equipment and for my body weight, it is okay but under some conditions too light. A heavier bike is more stable for me under windy conditions and of course rough pavement conditions.

Interesting bike but they want a lot of money for it. If I were to buy one, it would be the next version lower (which is still a lot of money) that is the same bike but a couple of pounds heavier with less fancy wheels and components. However, the basic motor and electronics are the same.

If one would fast forward to a world where we are all on the same fancy ebike. Then it all gets down to human power and skill in a competition but we just go faster. That is all from the world of fancy ebikes.

furiousferret

Ugh, I had a fever this weekend, and am just getting over it. Got a round of antibiotics so it doesn't linger.

I'm a firm believer in riding everyday (even if its 20 tss) but this is that rare instance I have to sit out. So I'll probably start next week at somewhere around 40 ctl. Not exactly what I had in mind but the only race I'll miss is Santa Barbara RR.

Cypress

Did a crisscross workout last night. I feel like it was too easy. The difference between tempo and sweet spot is only about 25 watts, which is just staying in the same gear but increasing cadence a little bit.

4 mins @ 280
1 min @ 305
5 mins @ 182
repeat for 3 sets.

1.5 hours of Z2 tonight.

Hermes

furiousferret Fever...was it the flu?

furiousferret

Dr never told me but I'm pretty sure it was.

Hermes

I get the flu shot but that is no guarantee not to get the flu. However, Roche has a new drug, Xofluza https://www.xofluza.com , that is a one dose antiviral for the flu. It has to be taken early to be effective. The older technology is Tamilflu that is taken over 5 doses but must also be taken at the onset of symptoms. Glad you are better.

TMonk

Cut my ride short yesterday and (only) ended up with ~6.5 hrs, 105 miles and a solid amount of climbing. Checked out High Valley road in Poway up to Ramona - very cool. Much better than Poway Road or Scripps to get to 67, although you do have to jump a small (waist height) fence. It's small/twisty/residential/non-graded and really steep at parts.

Doing these super long ones solo just drags sometimes, there were a few moments when I was thinking that I'd rather be at work lol. Also, I'm not sure how many more long rides I'll do before it warms up but it was freakin' freezing during the first 90 minutes... I had no knee covering or gloves b/c I thought I wouldn't want to have them pocketed for four or more hours. Next time I'm straight up doing a smaller ~2 hr loop, shedding layers at home, then heading out again lol. As long as it's sub 45 to start that is.

cmh

Nice job, and ouch.

burnthesheep

If it's somewhere other than the Alpe, it might be me. I ride the erg in the gym at work all the time on Zwift. All I can do is go up/down on the power by 10w increments and vary cadence to "simulate" hills.

There's steady state rides I'll do a 1x40 set of close to 4.0w/kg at ~100 rpm nonstop. Metronome. Zone out and get those drops and miles. I do it for TT workouts on Tempus also. Set the erg to the power and make it happen.

Speaking of TT. Today was Z1 in TT for 45min. I did begin the workout with a try at the Tempus sprint KOM. Crap TT bike and no wheels since I don't have enough points to upgrade yet. Did 500w for about a minute in the TT position trying for it and my HR was such I probably could have done nearly two minutes at it. Color me freaking impressed.

Finally going to have some nasty (for a Cat 5) power on the TT bike. I think goal for that in 2020 is to get my actual hour ftp on the TT bike to 280w. Right now it's at about 260w judging by my HR and RPE at that power for some intervals recently. Interpolating power/duration curve kinda.

It would be freaking nasty if I could stay a cat 4/5 and get the hour TT power to 300w by end of 2020. I think it's possible.

But, adaptation is happening right now on both road and TT bike in the threshold range. And indications are that I'll be able to make some nasty little gains in Z5 after the TT race and a couple days off doing a few weeks of road training before the A-race. Especially if I have more in the tank after a minute at 500w. If I could get the road power up to 2min for 500w, wheeeeewwweeeee yes.

I may try to do Jan-nats and some of the hardest local hammer rides. Bring a team-mate also. Work on the pack skills.

Cypress

I also got pulled around the desert for about an hour two nights ago by a guy from China that was doing 5-5.4 W/kg that never went much over 260 watts. I looked at his account and it claimed he was 5'10" and his picture looked about right for that height. I'm also 5'10", but apparently weigh about 60 pounds more than he does

burnthesheep

Yeah, I totally take it with a grain of salt and just kind of use it as visual stimulation and a way to do something instead of stare at the wall. Or learn to pace TT races or other stuff.

Some of the asian accounts are ludicrous. Although, we have real folks on our Zwift "club" or "team" that are 100kg and have 20min powers of 400w. For some reason I find the 400w part questionable even if the 100kg part is correct. I've never in my life seen a real person in the real world that's 220lb and puts out 400w for 20min. Usually, that would be a track sprinter who can do 2500w but has an ftp of like 300w. Not a Fred. Sure it can happen, just weirdness though.

Hermes

It rained yesterday afternoon but dried up for the AM. Fiesta TTT. There was hardly any wind, few cars but significant fred traffic. It was all good. 2.5 hours of piano practice after.

Cypress

Blow ye winds like the trumpet blows, but without that noise.

5.5 hours planned for this weekend. Zwift is a blessing and a curse.

TheKillerPenguin

See you on zwift bruh.

I have 5 days til I go on a shortish vacation and am just finishing off 5 days of rest. It is looking like I'll be doing 5x4-5ish hrs of mild volume, then will vacation, then will come back and commence higher watts smashing

cmh

Today actually looks like it will have a decent break from the rain, at least in Portland. Come on up, I'm headed out about 10 for 4 ish hours in the west hills here. (Although I'm quite sure you'd be waiting for me at the top of each hill.)

Cypress

Man, it’s hard for me to commit to outdoor rides this time of the year. I’m always glad I did them afterwards, but the emotional effort it takes to get going when it’s 40° and wet is just too much some days.

hubcyclist

well I committed bike heresy today, mid 60's in the Boston area and I rode indoors (4x20 ~ 90%), to be fair we had plans for an outdoor family activity, so I also hiked something like 2 miles in the woods

TheKillerPenguin

You have committed a grave sin, and have brought great shame upon your house.

cmh

I think the weather was a little better up here in Portland than down where you are. ~45F the whole ride and just a few light showers during my ride. I have a rare free day so it was good to get in 4 hours and ~4500ft of climbing. I'm really glad to get out given the forecast for this next week looks much worse. Hope you had some good zwifting.

Cypress

it was definitely junk down here. I felt frisky on Zwift and overshot my TSS for the day by 80.

big john

I need to move someplace cheaper than the L.A. area since I quit working. After riding here for the last 35+ years I think I would get depressed over a forecast like the one posted above by Cypress. Weeks of rain! That would be an adjustment.

Wonder if I'm too old to look for a Cougar?

Hermes

I am off for some snow skiing in Utah.

furiousferret

Finally rode yesterday...and I flatted first 10 miles in. My bike is tubess and I didn't have anything with me, so my wife picked me up.

My new bike is full eTap, disc brakes, hidden cabbles, and tubeless; all the latest and greatest. It rides great, it just doesn't feel like a race bike. Some of that's probably because nothing wobbles or makes noise. My old SuperSix Evo was a deathtrap consisting of marginally operational parts. Nothing on this new bike wobbles, creaks, or jingles. Just quiet and smooth.

Maybe that'll change as I get used to it.

Cypress

Will and I used to postulate that if a bike made noise, the laws of energy conservation state that the noise is energy being leeched from the system. Enjoy your gains!