got a new bike on Saturday so spent most of the day in the shop tweaking it and only had time for a 1.5hr test ride. yesterday i took it out for 5 hours and despite some issues (super annoying seat post slippage...) i'm starting to get used to it. switched to new shoes as well, basically because I'm greedy and think that despite consistently improving week over week, completely messing with my fit and gear might help me get even better performance. went sort of hard up the benchmark climb on my ride and despite a headwind and my seatpost being too low i managed a PR which is comforting because i'm now very confident I can crush my time when i do a race up it in 2 weeks, even with the new bike. no clue what my power was because my PM was completely off, but I hope to get that calibrated soon so I can really see whether i completely screwed myself by switching up everything.

today it was pouring in the morning so i couldn't take advantage of the whole DST thing. hoping it clears up in the afternoon so I can take my rain bike out for a spin after work but if not i might have to try and brave the trainer. its just a recovery day, but i'll hate myself if I can't log at least an hour.

another week of having my training F'd up by work travel. off wednesday through saturday. so after a 4hour ride on the fg yesterday, today was 5*4' hill repeats on the cross bike. HR was ~5BPM lower per interval than I would have liked. tomorrow will be ~2 hours of hopefully tempo but probably JRA.

5 hour endurance ride with two ~15 min hills at 3:30 in and near the end at about sweet spot. Hard ride and fun, although quite soggy. About the longest ride I'll do all year too.

Well, to tie a few threads together, I did a 3.5h training ride today, we were rolling along very nicely as a group of four, felt great. Got home, once I cooled down I started to feel really nauseous. Ended up puking a couple of times and generally lying on the couch and being useless for a few hours. Feel better now.
My own fault tho, really. My youngest just started daycare in September, somehow he went the entire first month without getting sick, Oct. 1, he gets sick. The rest of my family was sick that week, I was able to hold out for a couple of weeks, but my luck ran out mid-month. About once or twice a week for the last 2-3 weeks I have been able to get on the rollers for some z2, but that is mostly it. I have not gotten that sick, but sick enough that it seems sensible to mostly stay off the bike.
Anyhow, got a chance to ride with some guys I have not ridden with for awhile, the weather improved, I was itching to get some training stress in my legs, but I went too hard too long while still recovering. Dang it. The rest of the week looks like good weather too.

waited out the rain and got in ~30 miles after work. still having trouble adapting to my new bike and shoes - i think tomorrow i'll ride on my rain bike to do my workout just because im more used to it and i want to focus on hitting my numbers and not figuring out what button to press to shift gears. i also might delay breaking in my new shoes for the next while because im starting to be overwhelmed by it all.

i also can't figure out why if i have to bike in the dark i prefer the morning to at night - maybe its that there are more cars?

I assume you got an S5. Which wheels and shoes did you get?

enve 4.5s and giro prolight slx ii's (light and white... :P).

when i first started looking at shoes and trying others on i noticed the sidi's i've worn for the past 3 years are wayyy too big for me and i slide forward into the toe when climbing and back to the heel when on the flats. i've tried to buy the 'correct' size with the new shoes and im struggling to get over my subconscious urge to slide around in my shoe. i think once i get used to them i should be better because the cleat position will be in the correct position 100% of the time instead of only when climbing, but its a really weird feeling. thats the plan at least.

1 hour. 25 minutes of it ouchy stuff.

Day 3, no riding.

WHAT THE ****

I did 60 minutes and 1000kj on the trainer yesterday on the TT bike. Glutes are a little sore today, so that's something.

The sweat struggle is real. After first 20min interval I had to pee. The bibs were 100% soaked, as if I'd been swimming. It was ~55 outdoors and I had 1 fan on me from the side.

Not necessarily a bad thing though, right? I did some Z2 on the trainer last week, getting my HR over 140 (approximate bottom of Z2 for me) needed 180+ watts. Maybe that's partly fatigue, I ended last week totally wrecked, but there's a fitness element, too.

Anyway I didn't fit in a 20' test yesterday. Sigh. So I used my old zones to do some 4x5' this morning followed by 4' of 30/30s. There's a good chance the intervals were on the low side, but I'm under instructions to not go too hard in my training this week since I'm racing Northampton this weekend. Finishing the tune-up with CX practice tomorrow, then it's rest hard and do some openers on Friday.

tired, definitely need an easy day but with four days completely off the bike coming up i got out there for about 2 hours of whatever on the fg

idk, still figuring out this HR stuff. the last rested set of these i did i was able to pretty consistently hit 150bpm avg whereas when fatigued it was more like 140-145. i'm inclined to think this means i'm tired and doing less watts, no?

Nice wheels and shoes.

I have the new Fast Forward F4R 45 mm carbon clinchers with carbon braking. I ride them all the time and use them in LKHC. I think the 45 mm rim depth is sort of a sweet spot for wheel performance except for TTs and indoor track. Also, I think the new shapes are better in cross winds. I have been in some very difficult wind situations with the 45 mm wheels and not a problem although, I do feel the wind more than narrower profile wheels.

If you're basing it on hr for perceived exertion, you're probably tired. PE is so variable though. Like if I tried to base a workout off of PE before a couple of cups of AM coffee I'd probably think I had a **** workout even if I actually hit all my numbers.

tired, yes; less watts, not necessarily

Probably but it's hard to know for certain. You could be doing the same or higher power, that's what HR decoupling is. I know that when I was still relying exclusively on HR that pacing intervals when I got deep into a block got really difficult because heart rate response is so logy when you're tired. Even without fatigue, I found HR to be a difficult guide to shorter intervals. However, your context for what you're doing is obviously really different from what I have experience with, you've got a ton of hours under your belt this fall. Just commenting by the way, not trying to sell power meters or offer advice or anything. ;) I'm just interested/curious about your training approach.

interesting, thanks guys. i'm really straddling this line between trying to take a relaxed approach to training and just going all-in and getting another powermeter. financially i could probably afford one of the cheaper options and think it might not be a terrible idea if i want to break through the plateau i've been at for the past two years...

A power meter is the best piece of cycling equipment I've EVER bought. I love my powertaps, others have their preferences.

Well not to be an enabler or anything, but if you get one and decide after a season it's not for you, they hold enough value that you can get a decent chunk of your money back.

Also, you seem to be coming on pretty strong right now. Whether from a PM or coaching or just a good plan, you're in pole position to have a really good 2016. Anything that helps you capitalize on the engine you've built this year is going to be worth a lot.

+1. I have a power tap on one of my bikes and its awesome. "it just works". my vector OTOH...

Yeah, it seems to be the consensus that ~45-60mm is the sweet spot for rims. It was windy again on my ride last night and I think you're right that its a little worse than box sections in general. However, I only really get worried when cornering in the wind. Is the cornering force strong enough to make my fear of the wind illogical, or is it something I should continue to be super cautious of? I'm also a bit anxious of how it will be in a pack on a windy day, but I guess the solution there is to just stay super sheltered so the wind can't touch me!

on high-speed high-wind situations I prefer cornering to straight. going through the corner holds the wheel better, imo. It's the straights where I notice wind. Utah drop in on the RR was 50+ mph, straight, and windy. I didn't enjoy that few minutes.

You need a better fan. Maybe two. Seriously.

I did a group ride through Patterson Pass when it was windy. The wheels were not a problem in the peloton.

relevant to the pwoermeter discussion: Stages Cycling Dura-Ace 7900 New Gen2 low profile design - Peddler's Shop Pscycles.com 1907 Deptford Center Road Deptford, NJ 08096 856.228.7800 bicycle sales and service

this would work on a 6800 crankset, right?

It's so nice out I decided to throw some intervals this afternoon. Rode over the high school and I'm running up and down the bleachers carrying my bike and wearing a superman cape.

Yep. I'd have one already but 170mm is sold out (unless a dealer ordered one early and has one on hand). Only 175, 172.5, and 167.5 left...

click that link - says 170 is available

love my powertap, been riding with it for a year. I should have got one much earlier, had been riding with a stopwatch and HRM for years.