The journal of a thousand miles... Vertically...

`Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.` - Lao Tzu

I thought i'd get a bit philosophical with the end of the year nearing. I've set myself some very exciting challenges next year - by far the biggest can only be described with an image.

True cycling nuts will recognize this image instantly. The 48 switch backs make Alpe D'Huez's 21 look like a recovery ride. The 2758m ascent may also give another hint to the location of this beast. Some may even recall the grueling time Ivan Basso had up this pass in 2005 when he was feeling a bit off one day. It is called Il Stelvio. And i'll be peddling up this puppy come May when I head over to watch the last week of the Giro D'Italia.

Going to europe and cycling has been a dream of mine for a long time and 2008 looks like the year i'll be finally realizing the dream. I was given free reign by my wife to pick any of the big 3 euro tours next year to follow. La Vuelta is too late in the season, Le Tour whilst the biggest cycling show on earth isn't as easy to plan around other family commitments. The Giro is the first grand tour on the calendar and its at the end of our Summer so hopefully i'll be at peak fitness before winter kicks in. Also i have a fair grasp of the Italian language, and friends that have ridden all three tours have made a special point that the Italian food and coffee is by far the best out of the three.

That sold it pretty easily.

The last 9 days have me doing around 900 km riding with over 36,000 metres of climbing.

Training will have to be pretty specific, and to save my knees from exploding i'll be packing a 50/34 chainring with a 27/12 cassette. This will let me get up the climbs at a decent cadence and also let me hit 60 km/hr on the flats which should be more than enough.

I can't wait to get into it. My first step starts tomorrow - just getting out there and turning the legs over. I need to develop an engine over the next 4 months so that i can backup day after day. Consistent time in the saddle is the only thing that will make the experience pleasant rather than punishment.

Have a great break over the holidays!! I'll leave you with the downhill view of the Stelvio... Impressive!!!

Steep curve ahead

Have recently moved out of our house and into a rental unit. After around two pedal strokes this is what i have to climb out of!!!

The trusty polar says the gradient is a huge 13% !!! Lucky its only 150metres.

None the less, after a long layoff from the bike, this is how even the flat stuff feels whilst that base is brought back up to speed. I find those base weeks pretty dull, keeping motivation up on those slow lonely rides can be a task.. But certainly patience and consistency pay dividends.

Another flat..

You know that feeling when you can feel the rim roll along the bitumen? That hard harsh noise and the sudden collapse of moral as you know the task ahead of the road side tube change...

Well thats what this week has felt like for me - but my tyres are fine...

See I moved out of my house on the weekend, but in the frenzied process that is moving house, i managed to pick up a virus. It doesn't feel like much, head cold and very sore throat.. but previous experience tells me what lies beneath the surface may be something that could turn far more serious.

8 years ago when i was at University I came down with Epstein-Barr Virus (mononucleosis) or more commonly `Glandular Fever`. The symptoms were identical - and the end result was hospitalisation and a 10 kilo weight reduction.

Now in my line of work I see many people who have had mononucleosis and either didn't rest and recover appropriately - and the disease progressed into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and in some cases Viral Cardiomyopathy. Knowing the potential consequences, I'm hanging up the Sidi's for the year and am going to concentrate on recovering fully.

Overall, I am content with the progress and results i've achieved this year, a few scalps at Heffron and a more disciplined approach to training have netted some good results.

Next year, I'll be focussing on the Canberra tour as my Goal for the first half of the season. I'd like to drop a few more kilos and become a bit more competitive up the climbs which where i really need to improve.

Until next year, take care, stay safe on the road and keep those wheels turning :)

Trying times

We've had more rain in the first 9 days of november, than we've ever had in any November!

Needless to say commuting on the bike seems like a chore at the moment.

Check out the Performance Manager chart - you can see my CTL (blue line) was chugging away nicely but has started to dive away again... Hopefully the weather gets its shit together by Sunday so i can get a long long slow ride in...

Trialling times.

Managed to get out for some TT sessions on the TT bike this week.

Felt absolutely great! Have managed a good position on the bike - and feel as if i can apply good power with a nice aero position. Unfortunately however my time trial bikes powertap was intermittently failing - when i analysed the data i had a few 4000w peaks in there.. something we'll put down to a glitch. Hopefully its just the batteries as this will be my second powertap failure in 1 year.

I'll start dialling in more tempo rides over the coming weeks as time allows it. We are still homeless which means my Saturdays are non riding/racing days as we are still house hunting...

A little bit more each day.

Hit Mt Keira this morning for another threshold session. Now a few weeks ago i could barely hold 280w up the climb, but this morning i was able to hold over 300w for the entire journey (NP 322W).

Managed to even catch and pass two riders on the way up - which always helps the motivation.

Interesting sensations have returned to the legs - out of the saddle my lungs hurt more than my legs which I find always a good indication that progress is being made.

Plans are to return and reset my 16km TT time and hopefully FTP this coming saturday - I'd really like to get up and over 300w for the entire journey and get under 26minutes.

The Park,

TSS 233, NP 216W, 25.3km/hr, 101km, 4.01.36

The Royal national park is 22km of undulating unforgiving terrain. The park exposes any (in my cases many) flaws you may have.

Overall, i'm happy that i bit the bullet and forced myself to be exposed to some pretty serious pain. I really need to focus on my tempo rides building strength at thresholds.



Tomorrow is a rest day!

FTP - The 16km TT

16km, 26.16 minutes, NP 285w, 36km/hr

Not a bad effort, i thought my FTP would be hovering around 300w, but i was wrong!

Pacing was very bad, and i overshot one of the turn around points.... Now that i know the course better - and with better pacing i think i should get under 26minutes by next week.

Will be doing some tempo rides at around 250w during the week on the TT rig to get used to pushing the pedals in the aero position.

TT and The Park

Have planned a 16km TT tomorrow morning to get a baseline for my FTP - then on Sunday I have a 4 hr epic ride through the Royal National Park. Focus will be on FTP efforts up hills to get some climbing form back in the legs and work @ thresholds.

Then the following week is our Club Championship Road Race at Eastern Creek Raceway. This is a fantastic facility and the competition should be high making it a good work out!

Training has been coming along nicely the past couple of weeks. Have started to introduce a bit of intensity, and the legs have been responding nicely.

Early morning rides are now stretching out to 2hours ~ 55km, so the volume certainly is getting up to the magic 300km/week

With any luck - these should become routine volumes.

Waterfall

Waterfall hill 13.10, NP 330w.

Not a bad hitout for my first hill climb for around 4 months. I started off just trying to keep the power under 350w but continually found myself nudging 400w for the first 1km. Then when i hit the flat section I just wasn't able to turn the big ring as well as i'd like.. From there in i thought I'd just keep a solid tempo at around 85%.. I was very surprised to come in so close to 13minutes.

This is a great benchmark to work from and i'll be including Waterfall hill in my weekly long ride.

I'm finally starting to find my legs.. Last week was a very solid block of training and i still have some residual soreness.

A gentler week this week, possible Heffron criterium this weekend if the legs are feeling well!

Fathers day....

This coming Sunday will be our club time trial up Waterfall hill. The statistics aren't very impressive, its a 4km climb averaging around 4.5%.

Whilst it sounds easy, it is actually a deceptively hard climb as the ramps change every few hundred metres from gentle slopes to 10% leg busters.

Last year i managed a personal best time of 12.30 with a NP of 330W. In hindsight, this was a pretty good time. My current best 10 minute power output is around 260W, so I may well be in for a slow painful grind..

I've had a good week of riding thus far, the weather has been perfect and the legs are feeling good.. I'll take it easy over the next few days to let the legs recover and hopefully if i can make it in under 13 minutes, it'll be a good start to Father's Day...

Thats when i fell for, the leader of the pack.

That song replicated life at the criterium today. I felt terrible after a full week back to training. The legs were dead riding to the track, and there was a stiff southerly blowing. Race tactics were pretty simple; keep out of the wind and don't get dropped.

All started fairly well and I was sitting comfortably in the main bunch. Two punters then decided to attack the group - and with no one left wanting to do work to chase them down, the breakaway was gaining time with each lap...

One punter in the bunch decided he wanted to join the break himself and launched off - I went with his wheel and after 30 seconds found myself in a world of pain. Things went downhill from there... The main engine room shut down and i felt myself going backwards... The rest of the bunch caught back up, and i started to drift towards the back......

Energy is being focussed now towards the club 20km ITT later this month. I have built up a new TT rig which is nice and light and has a PTSL with Wheelbuilder Disc Covers...

Keep Safe.

Power Plays

One of the best objective ways i find of tracking my performance in WKO+ is through the Power graph above.. The dotted red line shows my average power versus time at my baseline (beginning of the year) The Yellow trend line is where my `best` power has occurred since that time. Its very interesting to see how the graph changes depending on what type of training has been applied. You can see my short peak power levels are pretty decent - but my longer average powers are quite poor, and dip below my dotted trend line.

The only way to improve that is to build the endurance base substantially. I really need to get some 300km+ weeks into my legs at Z1-Z2 intensity to see some real improvements.

Has been a great feeling getting back on this bike this week...

Back on track... but a long way to go.....

Le Tour is finished for another year, its getting a little warmer in the mornings and daylight is coming earlier.... All the ingredients for increased motivation... Today was my first Sunday club ride for more than a month. And it hurt.

Still the wheels are starting to turn again, albeit painful and slow at the moment. As the graph up top shows - the hard blue line tracks my CTL or chronic training load.. I've let this slip a little too much for my liking, so lots and lots of low intensity miles are needed for a few weeks to get some general fitness back in the legs.

I'll look to start back at weekly criteriums from now on, and try to attend the next Calga time trial to set some baseline times that i can work from.

Lazy Days

Some time between posts, but my rate of progress has been the same.... Quasi no training at all, my `love handles` are bulging proudly and i'm not feeling very fast or nimble of the bike..

We are currently getting our house ready to sell at the moment, so all available free time is devoted to odd jobs i've been avoiding for the past 6 years... Then we have to start looking for houses to buy!

On the plus side i've purchased a everyday road bike, and a dedicated time trial bike. Also, my 2nd powertap SL has arrive back from warranty so I have a LOT of toys.. just need to make good use of them... As soon as or house hunting settles down (and the weather warms up) i can see a lot of quality miles on the horizon..

In the mean time, the focus is on base endurance so lots of rides at very low intensity... After about 6-8 weeks i'll be ready to start upping the ante again with good fitness anticipated for the whole of summer...

Quick, somebody help! I've got a flat.....

After 6 months of solid work I've finally hit that wall.

At the beginning of the year, i had a few goals that i desperately wanted to achieve. First was to get fit and start being competitive in criteriums, with the ultimate goal of winning and progressing up through the grades.

Well after 4 months of hard work i got to a reasonable level of fitness and was holding my own in criteriums with maybe just a bit of inexperience keeping me off the podium. My breakthrough came a few weeks ago and I've got to say that winning rocks!

Now I'm in a slump, the weather has been non compatible for regular training - and i really don't have any goals to strive for. Those two factors combine to form a general malaise for anything to do with riding let alone getting up early for riding in what can only be described as miserable weather.

So I have to write up a list of goals i need to achieve for the next 6 months. What are they? I'm glad you asked! :)

First is to regain my fitness, then bite the bullet and move up from C grade to B grade. Better my current ITT performance over 25 and 43km distances by > 2 minutes. Then choose 1 or 2 open races towards the end of the year and train my socks off with the goal of being competitive.

Having goals is the only was to patch the flats that are inevitable after hard goal oriented training regimes. I already have that spark back that i so dearly need at 5am in the morning for those long bitterly cold morning rides.

Here's a performance manager graph of the last 6 months. Blue line indicates my CTL (chronic training load). Note the rapid decline at the end of the chart!!!!

Another result

Notched up a second place today at the Heffron Criterium. Was a good hitout after 2 weeks of practically no riding... Everyone else must have been feeling the same as the pace was pretty slow.

A few laps in I decided that i'd go to the front and do some time trial efforts to keep the pace high and put some pressure on the backmarkers... That certainly worked - but it also inspired a few others into doing some high pace turns.

What started off as a snail paced raced - ended up turning into a real stoush, 4 laps to go and the attacks were flying thick and fast - I kept getting on the right wheels staying in contact with the leaders.

Bell lap comes and the pace remains solid - by this stage there was only 10 riders left, i found a great wheel behind this behemoth of a guy who provided a fantastic wind break... The funny thing with a sprint when you are 4-5 riders back is that you never really know if the cards are going to fall in your favour and whether the road will open up for you at the right time..

Around 150 to go and the rider behind me starts his sprint - i decided not to take his wheel which would proved decisive at the finish - the massive wind break in front of me decided to jump on that exact wheel and start his sprint - he was moving well away from the field - and dragging me along nicely - but there just wasn't enough road left for me to get my sprint going - still a second place was reasonable - especially considering the lack of training.

Normalised power was only 290w - 36.5km/hr.

Check out the size of that guy!

Gears ain't gears, ain't gears....

About a month ago i climbed the notorious Mt Kembla just south of Wollongong. The climb statistics aren't that impressive, 9km at an average of 4.5%. However 4km of the climb is either flat or downhill, making the remaining 5km at well over 9% average gradient!!

As usual i ran my usual 53/39 chainset with 27/12 cassette. Things started ok, but pretty quickly i found i was in my lowest gear and my cadence gradually dropped from 80 to low 60's!! Needless to say my ample bulk was hauled at around this pace for most of the grueling ramps... After i finished the climb i promised never to attempt this climb again until one of two things happened.

1. I was fit enough to turn my lowest gear at a minimum 70-75rpm.
2. Change my gearing so that my minimum cadence was 70-75rpm.
   

Later that week a set of shimano R700 compact cranks were installed on my bike. Now with these cranks, and a 27 tooth rear gear it is plausible to scale a wall... In fact my good friend Elliott who followed the Giro D'Italia recently used this exact combination to scale the incredible Monte Zoncolan with its average gradient of 11% and intermediate ramps of 15-25% !

After tinkering with GearCalc Pro I found out a few interesting things.

1. 39/27 is practically identical to 34/23.
2. 53/12 is slightly slower than 50/11.

So now, with a trusty 50/34 compact cranks matched to a 23/11 cassette i have identical top and bottom end speeds BUT the 23/11 ratio spreads are much tighter. This, I hope should optimise my cadence/power control when climbing and time trialling and hopefully gain some extra time.... Tomorrow is a morning time trial up Mt Keira where my recent best times have been around 23minutes flat. It will be interesting to see how far under that number i can get with this gearing.

Inclement Weather

Sydney has been hammered by rain and floods for the past 4 days - most of Sydney looks like this...

Apparently there is more to come!!!!!

So training has been limited to the evil windtrainer. The boredom, sweat and heat conspire against me so I struggle to get more than a 1 hour session on this evil device.. Coach had planned some TTI sessions (time trial interval) which would be perfect for the wind trainer.

• 5 x 5minutes @ 300w
• 2 minutes rest in between

That may look easy, but on a windtrainer its a whole world of pain. Yet I managed to get out the full 5 intervals...

.WKO file with 30 second smoothing.


Tomorrow should bring better weather - with a time trial simulation of 1hr @ 300w inbetween a 3 hour ride... I'm looking forward to clear skies as i'll cry if i have to complete that session on the windtrainer!!!

In the beginning....

Thought it would be a good idea to keep an online diary of my cycling achievements and document progress (or lack thereof) that i am making training with Power under coaches Alex Simmons and Ric Stern.

I've been training solidly for the past 4 months now with power - averaging around 8 hours a week (about 220km) which is the most that i am able to get away with at the moment with a hectic job, wife and 1 year old daughter.

Still my results thus far are better than when i was training longer hours and more miles, but without the guidance of a coach or power measuring device.

I notched my first win of the season 2 weeks back in a 28km criterium run by my local cycling club Randwick Botany CC. Hopefully the first of many yet to come. Here's a shot of the dash for the line, i'm far right just taking the win by a nose on the line..

I've also tried my hand at a few of this years early OPEN races - but have found the jump in level a little too much to deal with at this stage in my cycling life. This should hopefully change with more miles in the legs and some nice increases in power.

My FTP (functional threshold power) current sits at around 300w, with a MAP (maximum aerobic power) of around 420w. I'm a porky 84kg, which makes those impressive numbers, rather unimpressive... my goal is to get as close to 80kg as possible.

Thats enough for now :)