Training Status??? (IV)
10-12-17, 11:10 AM
#9951
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Air quality was pretty heinous this morning. I planned to do a 2x20' set on the bike trail and I checked the local AQI website before I left. Said moderate to high. Hmm. Got 10 minutes from my house and said screw it. Rode to the office and went to the gym: 20 minutes on the stationary then freeweight set.
10-12-17, 01:50 PM
#9952
Senior Member
did a short zwift race today, 30ish mins for me. 249 NP (98%) I used zwift to calibrate my trainer today (replaced my chain, figured it would help to calibrate). power/resistance seemed odd, ended up re-calibrating with the cycleops app afterwards to hopefully get things back to normal.
as for the race, finished 28/29 according to zwiftpower, too strong to be a C and too weak to be a B
as for the race, finished 28/29 according to zwiftpower, too strong to be a C and too weak to be a B
10-12-17, 02:01 PM
#9953
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Originally Posted by dz_nuzz
Lets see how this goes.
i have not had the opportunity to visit india, but i lived in the middle east for a while where there was a substantial population from the sub-continent, and the authentic indian food was ah-mazing!
no utensils, no napkins, no problem.
jealous!
10-12-17, 02:34 PM
#9954
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Move to India. It would be considered a blessed day with air so clear you can actually see what the clouds up high in the sky look like.
10-12-17, 02:36 PM
#9955
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pollution is like reason #3 that I would not want to move to India. I found Taipei nasty and their air isn't "bad" on the scale cities in India and China use.
10-12-17, 06:28 PM
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@dz_nuzz, you should rent a bike and ride while you're here (and experience for yourself the extreme craziness on the roads!). Where (all) in India are you headed to?
10-12-17, 08:16 PM
#9959
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@dz_nuzz, you should rent a bike and ride while you're here (and experience for yourself the extreme craziness on the roads!). Where (all) in India are you headed to?
10-12-17, 08:22 PM
#9960
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The bike will still be there when you get back. Enjoy! 
__________________
Regards,
Chuck
Demain, on roule!
Regards,
Chuck
Demain, on roule!
10-12-17, 09:02 PM
#9961
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This is a good time to visit Kashmir and a good season to hike as well. Have fun!
10-13-17, 09:49 AM
#9962
Senior Member
my basement got a lot cooler today thanks to the low temps so decided to be silly and try ftp intervals to see how it feels. not sure it helped by the time I started an hour ago, it's was in the 60's and by the end of the workout it's 72.
anyhow, I tried to do 2x15 @ 260, which is higher than my currently set ftp at 255. I had tried this a few weeks back and wasn't really up to the task of completing the 2nd set but today I got through them (avg 157 and 158 on them). is it worth upping ftp based on a couple of 15min efforts? I was at 265 last october before getting sick and tanking, so hopefully will claw back and move beyond that.
anyhow, I tried to do 2x15 @ 260, which is higher than my currently set ftp at 255. I had tried this a few weeks back and wasn't really up to the task of completing the 2nd set but today I got through them (avg 157 and 158 on them). is it worth upping ftp based on a couple of 15min efforts? I was at 265 last october before getting sick and tanking, so hopefully will claw back and move beyond that.
10-13-17, 02:49 PM
#9963
Cat 2
Failed my first workout of the season last night. And it was only my 3rd workout in the plan... 3x(broken)20 at sweetspot over 2 hours. As I mentioned above, I bumped my ftp by 3 percent (~8 watts).My legs gave up the ghost with 5 minutes left on the last interval. I would stop, rest and try to pedal again and wouldn't be bale to overcome the resistance of the trainer to get it back up to speed. I had been getting dizzy on the trainer for the previous 20 minutes and after trying the third time to get the flywheel moving, I just gave up. Got off the bike and could barely stand. Immediatly got some sugar flowing and started to feel better after eating a real dinner post shower; but I was pretty wrecked for the next two hours. I also was feeling really cold that entire time. Fell asleep with a sweatshirt on and at some point took it off over the course of the night.
Not a fun time. Haven't bonked in a bout a year and much longer than that since i've hit the wall this hard on the bike. The first 2.5 sets were challenging, but nothing outside of what I've done before. HR was a little high, but I could hold the power and my spin wasn't fading like it normally does when I get tired. I just hit a wall. My diet has been pretty low calorie this week in an effort to get the weight loss moving.
Woke up this morning and legs didn't feel terrible. I figured I'd go for it. Took my vitamins and hopped on the trainer for 90 minutes of pretty easy spinning. ~60% of ftp. No struggle at all. Weird how the body runs out of gas some times.
Not a fun time. Haven't bonked in a bout a year and much longer than that since i've hit the wall this hard on the bike. The first 2.5 sets were challenging, but nothing outside of what I've done before. HR was a little high, but I could hold the power and my spin wasn't fading like it normally does when I get tired. I just hit a wall. My diet has been pretty low calorie this week in an effort to get the weight loss moving.
Woke up this morning and legs didn't feel terrible. I figured I'd go for it. Took my vitamins and hopped on the trainer for 90 minutes of pretty easy spinning. ~60% of ftp. No struggle at all. Weird how the body runs out of gas some times.
10-13-17, 03:52 PM
#9965
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10-13-17, 04:50 PM
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Been doing threshold stuff recently and I noticed that I basically did none of that this year. Of course what happens but my threshold starts to creep upwards post-season. Now I just did a good set of 2X20s this morning and I am about to take two weeks off to travel in India.
More than anything else it will be interesting to see what two weeks of no riding does to me, I haven't taken that much time off the bike for nearly 5 years.
Lets see how this goes.
More than anything else it will be interesting to see what two weeks of no riding does to me, I haven't taken that much time off the bike for nearly 5 years.
Lets see how this goes.
Two weeks off isn't much of anything. The first couple of rides back feel bleh, but then it returns quickly.
India is an absolutely different place. I spent two weeks in the north starting and finishing up in Delhi and going to Agra, Jaipur, Pushkar, Jodhpur, and Udaipur. Some of the most magnificent sights and buildings I've seen anywhere. But also some of the craziest, most dire examples of poverty I've seen as well. It's a hard-hitting mix. And the cows. The f***ing cows everywhere drove me mad.
10-13-17, 06:31 PM
#9967
MS, Registered Dietitian
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@tommyrod74 et al, I think this would best be taken to a more relevant section of the forum. Since GC is chiming in I'll take it the off season truly is here and we can be allowed some diversity in here.
The truism of mtb suspension nowadays is they have gotten so complicated you can never be sure if they are working for you (your weight,terrain, etc.) or even working anywhere near as good as they could if you understood how to set them up. This is not the same as manufacturers providing a removable/insertable spacer that allows travel to be set to match the geometry designs of multiple bikes (thus cutting down on unique SKU's). Say you want an XL bike for you and the same make/model in XS for your SO. Both can come with the same fork/shock.
The complicated part is having an insurmountable option list that allows locking in very specific settings. Say your bike climbs better with the front ride height locked out a bit higher than sag is on flat ground. The best performance also needs the rear open with very specific settings to deal with the sudden shock of standing without bouncing your ass off the seat. Effectively this means everything gets set up stiff and you use your body as the fine tuned suspension. After spending hours poring over manuals to get the bike set up to hard tail like performance with some suspension.
The above has a lot of glossed over and generalized information to keep it brief. The second truism is modern bikes are so fully capable the learning curve is very steep. As is the decline when the rider learns their true skill level. Accurately tuned suspension goes some ways towards avoiding surprising responses under skilled riders attuned to their bike.
The truism of mtb suspension nowadays is they have gotten so complicated you can never be sure if they are working for you (your weight,terrain, etc.) or even working anywhere near as good as they could if you understood how to set them up. This is not the same as manufacturers providing a removable/insertable spacer that allows travel to be set to match the geometry designs of multiple bikes (thus cutting down on unique SKU's). Say you want an XL bike for you and the same make/model in XS for your SO. Both can come with the same fork/shock.
The complicated part is having an insurmountable option list that allows locking in very specific settings. Say your bike climbs better with the front ride height locked out a bit higher than sag is on flat ground. The best performance also needs the rear open with very specific settings to deal with the sudden shock of standing without bouncing your ass off the seat. Effectively this means everything gets set up stiff and you use your body as the fine tuned suspension. After spending hours poring over manuals to get the bike set up to hard tail like performance with some suspension.
The above has a lot of glossed over and generalized information to keep it brief. The second truism is modern bikes are so fully capable the learning curve is very steep. As is the decline when the rider learns their true skill level. Accurately tuned suspension goes some ways towards avoiding surprising responses under skilled riders attuned to their bike.
If any of what you typed above was 1/10th as daunting as you make it sound, there would be massive carnage on every trail ridden by "modern bikes". Yeah, you can set up suspension poorly. It still won't likely kill you. It will, of course hold you back. A bit. We are, after all, talking about 100mm (on average) travel bikes.
Geometry is the real improvement in modern bikes.
10-13-17, 08:30 PM
#9968
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Or, you could just set sag, rebound (as most XC bikes have only low-speed rebound adjustment and high-speed is factory set), low-speed compression, and ride your bike.
If any of what you typed above was 1/10th as daunting as you make it sound, there would be massive carnage on every trail ridden by "modern bikes". Yeah, you can set up suspension poorly. It still won't likely kill you. It will, of course hold you back. A bit. We are, after all, talking about 100mm (on average) travel bikes.
Geometry is the real improvement in modern bikes.
If any of what you typed above was 1/10th as daunting as you make it sound, there would be massive carnage on every trail ridden by "modern bikes". Yeah, you can set up suspension poorly. It still won't likely kill you. It will, of course hold you back. A bit. We are, after all, talking about 100mm (on average) travel bikes.
Geometry is the real improvement in modern bikes.
it's not that complex, but we still have man people out there that have no idea whether to turn the dial on their derailleur cable clockwise or ccw to fix the shifting. lots of people have no idea what 'increase rebound' (really 'rebound damping') means -- they just accept it and ride.
DH/enduro suspension is more complex to get dialed, but by then one would hope the rider has a little more familiarity.
i'd argue that geometry has improved, but so has suspension. remember the stuff we were riding 10, 15 years ago that passed for suspension?
mountain bikes now are so, so good in general.
my 21# full suspension bike is a better bike on the descent than my old 32# bike -- and way faster uphill.
i'll also give a nod to remote lockouts on the bars. i always thought lockouts were dumb when they were mounted on the fork or shock and never used them. on today's ride, i probably used my fork lockout (this was a hardtail SS) 50, maybe 100 times during 2.5h. seriously.
10-13-17, 09:35 PM
#9971
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10-14-17, 02:22 AM
#9973
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it's important because early attempts at 29er geometry & suspension were not as dialed as they are today, and long travel/big wheels highlighted some weakness. even the real DHers are switching (like in the last year). with a few exceptions, riders are faster, and other than a few holdouts everyone has switched.
perhaps there's some reason you're dismissing @tommyrod74's response; i don't see it.
multiple wheel sizes are readily available, so this isn't something forced on riders (particularly racers) who have no options. it's easy to see what gear produces the most speed.
10-14-17, 06:11 AM
#9975
out walking the earth
Thread Starter
it's not that complex, but we still have man people out there that have no idea whether to turn the dial on their derailleur cable clockwise or ccw to fix the shifting. lots of people have no idea what 'increase rebound' (really 'rebound damping') means -- they just accept it and ride.