2012-13 1st Indoor Training Ride...Ouch!

Today was my first indoor training ride of the 2012=13 season.  I have set up the R3 as my winter bike this year, as last year my Tomasso gave me hip problems near the end.  As I know the R3 and R5 are set-up correctly, I will simple use the R3 instead.  Every mile I get out of the R3 is a bonus, so no real loss if the frame gets damaged in the trainer. 

Another reason for riding indoors today was to sample the new sufferfest video; "There is no Try!"  Longer progressive intervals with short rest periods were the norm with both flat sections at 100 rpm and hill climbs at 75 rpm, left my legs hurting a might.  Although, this might have been due to the lack of riding over the last 2 weeks to a month. 

Last week I stopped smoking cigars totally, and between that and Thanksgiving I have put on quite a bit of weight.  I really need to eat less and ride more over the next 12 weeks before spring, as I am not sure I will make it over even a knoll. 

I think I need to set up a schedule for my training, as I did not do that since last indoor season and it showed in my performance, and lack of progress.

Here is my ride today:

2000 Road Miles in the Books!

After yesterday's ride with my brother Nick and my nieces on the Marlborough - East Hampton Rail Trail, I past the 2000 mile mark for road miles, which does not include the 20 I did today riding home from work.  This does not include indoor miles, as my brother does not count them...I DO!  I count all miles on my old legs, especially those suffering on the turbo trainer.  It was a beautiful day, the views were spectacular, and leaves were awesome.  I am at about 2400 miles total for the year, a few hundred off where I would like to be, but there is still time left in before I call it quits.
With my R3 back on the road with a triple, Don and I renamed it "Le Boom" as I have been hit on it twice.  I plan to ride until the snow flies, and maybe even after that.  Then there are early days indoor in December.  So I may yet get to my 3000 mark set last January.  Wish me luck! 

Cycleops PowerCal Review and 1st Ride...

PowerCal's 1st Ride by scott_t_ct at Garmin Connect - Details

Above is the link to my Garmin file which was recorded on my Garmin 800. 

Yesterday I finally received my Cycleops PowerCal that is a Power Meter HR Strap with Ant+ compatibility. I was originally attracted to the PowerCal as it was an inexpensive way of getting into power, as I am a data geek  I have trained with HR for 30 years or so, therefore I felt it time to more up in the world.  Originally I tried a CycleOps Power Trainer at Newington Bike during one of their indoor winter training sessions.  The Cycleops Rep was there who showed me the demo PowerCal, which was not in production yet.  I quickly ordered 2, one for me and one for my bother Nick.  Well after over 6 months of waiting, I finally got them.
PowerCal is Ant+ and it easily connects to the Garmin just like any other Ant+ device, and worked first Go.  The strap itself is very compact  and extremely comfortable with snaps on the main unit instead of clips.  I hardly noticed it was on, as compared to my standard Garmin Strap that is bulky and feels like a heavy weight on your chest.
During my first ride with the PowerCal the constant reading of power from the device onto the Garmin head unit had a lag was evident but not more than speed, cadence or any other unit of measure on the device, it seemed like between 1-3 seconds but was probably less than 1 second.  I tried to see if it was tied in a linear fashion to heart rate, but could not find a direct correlation while riding.  Actually it appeared to me that when I was riding the Power was directly related to pedal pressure, but this could have been me wishing it were so.  I have not trained with a PowerTap before, so I have no comparison to go by, other than a single ride on a Cycleops Power Trainer.  Cycling Concepts has offered to let me test their PowerTap wheel, and I may take them up on it next week, so I can get a better feel for the difference.
The Graph and Data Points on Garmin Connect were cool, but I had to look up what they meant.  Having the PowerCal on made me ride a bit harder in spurts than I wanted to on a recovery/rest day, but it was only a 12 mile ride, so no harm done.

I understand Average Power, Max Power, but I had to look up Normalized Power, Intensity Factor and Training Stress Scores.  I found a great article on Training Peaks: http://home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/cycling/normalized-power,-intensity-factor,-training-stress-score.aspx  .  Basically Normalized Power is a calculated way at looking at Average Power. Intensity Factor looks at your rides Intensity, a good breakdown is given on Training Peaks.  My ride was a recovery ride according to the data of .756 .  Finally, Training Stress Score is an indicated of the amount your ride may produce fatigue or possible need for rest.  My score of 52.2 is extremely low, as it should be on a recovery day.  Again a good breakdown of the relative soreness can be found on Training Peaks. 
I love the data, but I am not sure I love what the data is telling me at this point.  I need a more longitudinal data analysis to accurately determine whether it will help me.  Anyway, it gives me one more graph to look at and a lot more data points!  Fun is...
To check out the Cycleops PowerCal you may look here.

Zipp 404 Demo and Review

Zipp 404's on my Cervelo R5

Yesterday, May 16, 2012 I had the chance to demo a set of Zipp 404's at Cycling Concepts in Rocky Hill, CT...Thanks Dave!  I usually ride on a set of Shimano Dura Ace 7900 C24's, so this was in stark contrast.  I decided to skip the usual group ride and ride out on a ride that would include some hills, turns and long flats, about 20 miles.  I wanted to see what the Zipps could do at my pace, as I ride a very unothodox style, meaning slow on hills and fast on flats. 

My first few miles were relatively flat going down Coles Rd.  The initial ride was smooth, but a bit louder than I am used to.  The wheels hum as they spin, and growl when coasting.  My DA's are quiet, and the free hub is silent, although they were quieter than a comparable pair of Cosmic Carbones that my brother has.  Spinning them up was a bit of a chore, but once rolling were easy to maintain a cadence.  Once on my first hill, I found it harder than normal to get rolling after a stop light in the middle of the hill, and had to go slower than normal up a familiar grade.  Spinning up the rollers on Ridgewood was nice, as they did not want to slow down, but making the corner at the bottom of the decent was difficult.  The larger flange on the 404's did not want to go immediately the way I pointed them, and almost took me off the road, (my first corner on them).  Coming down Country Club Rd was fun, and cresting a short hill was effortless. 

The 404's really shined coming back down route 3 into Cromwell, and I was able to keep a speed over 20 mph all the way down, ( most of this section was at around 25 mph).  This is when I think the extra wide rims really strut their stuff, over 20 mph.  I had to use alot less effort to maintain a cadence on the flats. 
Final impressions: If I was riding a lot of time trials, or riding in Rhode Island/Florida all the time, I would probably be inclined to buy the Zipp 404's, but with the hills in Central CT, I will stick to the Nimble DA's.  My DA's spin up quickly, corner like a dream, roll smoothly over any surface, (being tubeless helps), and are extremely strong as they are able to hold up my 250+ body without any trouble.(I could not say this last bit about my DA 7850 scandiums, as they came out of true all the time). 

Thanks again to the Men at Cycling Concepts for allowing me to Demo these great Zipp 404 Wheels!

Sufferfest at Cycling Concepts Indoor Traiining Rides...

Keith owner of Cycling Concepts

CC's Suffer Chamber

Well another night in Sufferlandria for all of us at Cycling Concepts thanks to Keith Sherman the owner.  Keith, Dave and Sondre from Cycling Concepts, and the rest of us Sufferlandrians all ride indoor to a Sufferfest Video (Angels) on Wednesday Night.  Keith has been nice enough to open the Glastonbury Shop on Tuesday nights and Rocky Hill on Wednesday nights for many riders to train during the winter months here in CT. 

We had been doing Coach Troy's Spinervals for many years and wanted a change.  As a long time Sufferlandrian I asked if we could do a sufferfest video and purchased a Group version of Angels for us to try.  Angels is a hill climbing workout set in the Mountains of France and has footage of the Tour de France and great music tracks to ride to.  The footage helps to motivate by showing you the kind of effort needed to tackle such feets, and the music keeps you from hearing others as the groan in pain. 

Pre-Ride warm-up.



After finishing the first video, Dave decided to put in "The Long Scream" which I could only do about 10 minutes of, but Dave and Keith managed to finish the 30 minute TT effort.

Another great night of suffering and pain...

Outdoors in February...NICE!

Road the Cromwell Flats today, and it was great to get outdoors for a ride.  The winds were down, and the it was chilly but nice.  For February it was a great day in the upper 40's.  It is much tougher to ride outdoors that to ride on the trainer, but having been outdoors this winter and training hard indoors should make for a good riding seasons.  Now I just need to stop eating so much junk food...wish me luck.
Here is my Garmin File:



Hope the weather holds and we have an early spring season...NICE!

Kinetic Pro Flywheel - 18 lbs. of hell...

Wednesday Nick and I went on a ride outdoors in the hills of Marlborough, and as usual I sucked at hills.  My heart rate was jammin but my legs weren't.  It took a great effort for me to ride on the road, espcially in the hills.  More so than the effort needed to train indoors on my Kinetic Trainer with an 8 lb flywheel, which by the way is harder to train on than most out there. 
After the ride, Nick offered to let me use his Kinetic Pro Flywheel that adds an additional 12 lbs to the already existing flywheel, making the combined weight 18 lbs. Last night was my indoor ride on the reconfigured trainer at Newington Bike, and we did Spinervals - Mental Toughness, 90 mins of tempo riding. 

The added weight meant that spinning up was much more difficult, but so was maintaining a higher cadence.  It was more like riding on the road than before, which is exactly what I need.  The only caviat is that this ride was the day after riding in the hills, so my legs might have been a bit toasty, but I lost about 1 mile and hour and 10 rpms off my avg cadence, although there was a lot of big gear riding in the video.  I think I will have to wait until a few more indoor rides before I know whether these numbers are typical or not, however I can't hurt.



 Here is my Garmin File: