bampilot06

Rode in Minnie yesterday with Whyfi. Really love that city. Wide bike lanes, virtually no traffic even at rush hour. He did most of the pulling my legs didn’t want to cooperate. A lot of of punchy little hills, just steep and long enough where you think you can power through it but then still have to get through the saddle.

Garmin logged it as a sprint workout, I didn’t have a power meter, was on his gravel bike, I imagine my HR going above threshold on every single hill is what tricked the garmin.

TMonk

Couple photos of last week's ITT. They put the photographer right near the S/F area which sucks because you need to leave aero a bit to navigate traffic. I promise I look better on other parts of the island.

More TTT practice this morning, one more session in a couple weeks before district champs. We were... sloppy. Still have another practice to tighten up ship.

Hermes

TMonk I think you have a solid TT position. Could it be improved...maybe. Only accurate testing could determine that. IMO, having good forward visibility is a must when riding on the open road.

Hermes

Since I destroyed my race pursuit bars in my crash in September last year, I have been looking for a replacement. I have old aluminum bars from Planet X that look slow. However, I can set the width wider than is available in the later model bars such as those from Aerocoach and others.

What is interesting is that there may be a wider elbow pad set point that works for me. I have broader shoulders such that moving my arms apart and splitting the airflow may work. Sarah Hammer had her aerobar pads set wider. In testing, she found that it made no difference moving her arms closer together and she could breathe better.

Of course, if one looks at the positions of the current elite hour record holders, they look like they are hidden behind their helmets and their arms look like a spear.

And there is a trade off between control and how narrow one sets ones arms. The closer together the arms, the less control one has over the bike. So I would choose control over a slightly less CdA in team events. Also, in team events, one has the opportunity to recover and breathe. So a position that favors recovery and breathing may offer a competitive advantage.

I think all the above mentioned variables make team events interesting and challenging to get perfect.

TMonk

Team events (TTT, TP) are also interesting too since it's all about execution.... especially on the track. There is some choreography there. I have never raced a TP or IP but would like to try. I'd need to bulk up a bit if I was to get serious about it... I've been doing the skinny roadie thing for a few years now.

TMonk

I think I'm fighting something off, a bit of opaque mucus and some congestion. I wanted to go hard today and tomorrow and rest next week, but I'll have to play this by ear. I think I'll do some sweet spot today on the trainer, and if I don't feel any worse, maybe still ride hard tomorrow. I can rest up next week.

Hermes

I am not so sure about the bulking up idea. I have seen both morphologies have success at TP and IP. More mass may mean more strength which is good for a standing start but generally increases CdA. The guys I have seen crush IP are taller, skinny and very strong. And there are the racers who are larger, muscular and watt machines with watt production trumping everything.

Hermes

Yesterday, SD Velodrome with 3 sets of 6x(1/2 lap on, 1 1/2 lap off) 90% pursuit pace for "on" segments. Great legs and chainless day. The weather was odd. Cloudy around 10:30 AM with the wind opposite its normal direction. Then for the 2nd and 3rd sets, the wind shifted 180 degrees, freshened with gusts to 15 mph and the temperature dropped.

bampilot06

3x15 threshold intervals. Chose the colonial parkway to do them on. Fairly flat, no traffic and the section I use, is about 7 miles long. It’s also extremely rough, like course rock concrete, so the ride is abusive.

First 2 sets went crappy. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Was struggling to keep it in the power zone, yet my HR didn’t feel high at all. Was scratching my head.

Third set had a light bulb moment. I have been grinding through these intervals, instead of keeping a normal to high cadence. My legs end up getting super tired, yet my HR is lower than what it should be.

Third set went much better. Now I just need to find a 7 mile long road that is fairly flat, smooth, no stop lights or stop signs, preferably a shoulder.

Hermes

I have found that when doing threshold intervals on a flat road, I tend to self select a lower cadence. It seems easier to keep the power in a narrower range. For me, a higher cadence is generally harder and more fatiguing. Having said that, training a particular way over time trumps how I feel.

bampilot06

I can’t see my cadence when doing the interval, but when I was struggling I imagine it was in the 50s. Usually I am in the 80s. Third set cadence felt more normal like, and everything else went much better. I need to figure out how to have my HR on my workout screen on my garmin. All it shows is power range and timer.

Hermes

Your Garmin Vector PM generates cadence. Why do you not see it on your head unit?

I use a Garmin 840 and have 6 variables on my screen with the two largest numbers being 3 second power and cadence. Others are lap time and HR and etc. I can easily feel the difference between 50 and 80 rpm.

My comment about cadence was riding at 75-80 as lower and 85-95 as higher. I can tell the difference between 80 and 95 without an indication. At the track yesterday, I was at approximately 100 cadence. I knew I was riding at 100 and I did not need a meter.

Racers should be able to feel in their legs cadence and power and get it pretty close to the desired value.

bampilot06

My garmin 530 when I have a workout programmed the default screen shows the power zone scale and where I should be based off of 3 sec power, a graph to show where I am at through out the interval and time remaining. I could switch screens but I prefer this layout, just would like to be able to add HR.

As far as cadence, I can tell the difference, I think I was just so focused on maintaining a power number that everytime the power started to deviate to the lower side I would shift, and shift and shift instead of just speeding up my cadence momentarily to maintain power. Eventually I am in the wrong gear, mashing away trying to figure out why I am struggling to maintain a number I know I can and why my HR doesn’t feel high either.

TMonk

Lol, this sound like you are stuck in erg mode - but in real life!

I'd encourage you to try and be a little less reliant on the computer. You should be able to do these with current power, average power, and time (lap button). You can do some retroactive data analysis to learn things about your execution. For example - learn to spin the gear up to make more power instead of downshifting!