Back

Back from Spain. Wow, what a trip!

700km ridden, 12km climbed. Met a few Spainish cyclists who showed us the back roads around southern Spain, had fabulous weather and an overall brilliant time!

Unfortunately, I can't say I've come back fitter. Another bout of tonsillitis is testing my nerves and has put a serious dent in my training.


My MAP test this morning was a stagnant 380W, which is not impressive. Still my main focus is to get healthy then get fit... in that order.

Anxiety

The mind is a powerful force.

For the past month or so, my training and health has not been 100%. Tonsillitis and more recently infected saddle sores and waking at midnight and not being able to go back to sleep. As a result, my training really suffered and one of the disappointing aspects was not being able to back up after a hard days training to ride again.

Took a trip to the doctor to get the saddle sores checked out and left with the usual antibiotics and steroid cream, but to treat the sleeplessness I was given a referral to a 'horse whisperer'.

Needless to say I was experiencing - unknown to me - anxiety, which results in altered respiration (shallow breathing) the result of which was I was training, sleeping and generally living in a hypoxic state.

Currently at day 4 of the 'program' (regular breathing sets to retrain my brain to breathe properly) and things are fantastic! I'm sleeping well, i've gained another 50watts that were missing from my life and my general mood has improved immensely.

I'm so glad i've fixed this prior to Spain.. should make things much more enjoyable!!!

The final week

Nothing sensational to report.

I did an excellent session yesterday taking in some serious climbs which with some serious head/cross winds made for a very honest session out in the saddle. To make matters interesting, my powermeter battery failed just prior to the start of my ride so I had to just concentrate on the pedals. Rode out with a friend as hard as I liked and the legs responded well.

Final long ride and race this Saturday. I am really hoping for a result at racing to set the mood for Spain.

Back

Amazing what a 10 day course of antibiotics can do. Starting to feel human again.

A welcome side benefit of the tonsillitis was a drop in weight ~ 2kg. So now i'm back under the magical 80kg mark.

Now I just need the legs to start firing up and everything will be sweet for Spain.

grrrrr.....

F*&%king bacterial tonsillitis - again - second time in 5 months.... These suckers are coming out!

Certainly explains why i was not in form today.... back to ENT this week.

Calga 43km TT

New PB, 1.14.26, NP 290W.

Felt like crap from the word go, just tried to keep a steady rhythm and keep the power under 300W on the flat and 350ish on the hills.

Stuck to plan for most of it, but the power dropped quite a few times where I just couldn't get over the pedals. Chain wasn't moving all the way down the cassette which also lowered my top end speed dramatically.

All in all, a 7 minute PB from last time, a lot of benefit this time round with aero wheels, helmet and skin suit. I think a 1.10.00 is possible, but I need to figure out why my legs have not been responding of late.. I had a big rest week this week, but any efforts are quickly met with fatigue... Could still be overtrained - or - not trained for this kind of event whatsoever!!!!

5 more weeks until Spain, I need to sit down and look at what I need to do to get some improvement from the legs as I only have a couple more weeks of intensity before I start to back off..

Track and TT fun

Raced for the first time last Friday night down at Dunc Gray Velodrome for the RAW track meet. Had a lot of fun and feel the legs burn. Managed a few places and returned home with very sore legs.

The following Sunday I did a 20km TT at Penrith regatta centre, last time i did this was in 2006 and did a time of 33.06 (36km/hr), this time i managed a 30.35 (38.6km/hr) so whilst I was pretty happy, I was a bit disappointed not to get over the magic 40km/hr.... maybe next time. NP was 309W, which was ok, given the fatigue in my legs from the previous 2 days riding. Here is a pic of me at the start line with all my geeky TT setup...

Heffron

Did a lazy 110km in the morning followed by a Heffron Crit in the afternoon. The legs were a little soft from the mornings ride, but I was quite surprised to feel comfortable in the bunch - even with a relatively high pace with some big hitters coming out to race.

Did a few turns on the front, and even tried to bridge to a break, but everything got shut down quite quickly. My chances at a sprint win were close to nil, so i tried to get away with 2 laps to go, but again, the strength of the bunch prevailed and I just had to be content with finishing with the bunch.

NP 300w, so pretty happy that the numbers are heading north again, especially as i've been doing no intensity work, but lots of long miles in the hills.

A few more weeks of this type of training, and then its off to Calga for the 25km TT to see if we can finally get under 40minutes. Barring illness, I think we should get there.

D

Slow progress

Mt Keira this morning, 20.44. 30 odd seconds shy of my all time best recorded in April '09. Still, i'm quite happy, the volume has been very low lately with other commitments, but i'm starting to put together some quality sessions that are making a difference.

I'm also 2 kilos heavier than in April, which definitely needs some attention. Need to focus on this as much as training... high quality, lower volume!!!!!!

Training has been a mixed bag of hill intervals (eg, wednesday last week 50km with 1300metres of climbing), and long endurance rides through hilly terrain at moderate intensity. A few more weeks of this and I think i'll be back to my April form.

Hard to come by, easy to go by.

I knew the gravy train had to stop sometime. I kept kidding myself that there was one more good week left in the tank... Alas this week the legs have fallen apart and i'm back to square one.

Not that I am complaining.

Actually the opposite, the past 5 months have been my best ever on the bike. New FTP record, new Mt Keira record, PB's in the two big open races I raced in. Almost a podium in B grade until the camera snapped off (bugger!!).

I probably think its a good thing to get back to basics for a month or so, rebuild the engine, and start the ramp up to Spain! Have I mentioned that yet? In September I'll be following La Vuelta Espana for two weeks taking in the big climbs of the south... Sierra Nevada.. La Pandera and plenty more ball breaking climbs at high altitude (3400m!).

This year i'll be focussing quite a bit on my weight, ideally i want to get over to spain weighing a healthy 78kg (currently 80.5kg). I raced the Canberra tour at 79kg and felt very very strong. I'm sure I could lose another kilo or so and maintain my power.

During the winter, i'll also be keeping busy on the track bike racing friday nights at RAW - Dunc Gray Track is something I want to focus on next year and hopefully get some quality results in some big races.... Time will tell....

Heffron Park

Raced at Heffron park over the weekend. Ended up in a 3 man break that was going very very well. Normalised power ~ 320W and I was pulling some big turns.

Conditions were very hard, very strong northerly wind.

Unfortunately my camera snapped off it mounts ending my race - The Break ended up being success with my two escapees taking line honours..... you can see the race below...

Heffron Park - B Grade Crit - 16/5/09 from Dave on Vimeo.

Il Grand Bel Giro

21 days of cycling on Italian soil. This edition is the 100th of the Italian tour. And whilst is plays second fiddle to the Tour de France, the Italians have a _big_ love affair with this race.

Most of Italy's best take this race more serious than any other as the $$$ from endorsements from potential sponsors/advertisers is very very lucrative. In Italy public profile = $$$$.

You can watch the giro online @ http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=38268&part=sports pick a feed and get watching.

But lets make it interesting. How about 21 days of following the giro live on the net, whilst riding your own Giro on the home trainer?

Lets put the frame work up like this.

1. You have to ride everyday the Giro is on.
2. Time in the saddle should match length that it is live on tv (easier just to ride whilst watching).
3. Intensity ridden at is your choice, however the idea would be; easy on the flats, threshold on all the major climbs, and what the hell, sprints at the end to beat Cavendish to the line.
4. You are allowed a rest during the ad breaks.

I would think the hardest part of all this is the mental barrier. But given the inspiration of watching your favourites riding live should be a pleasant distraction.

So are you up for it?

Canberra Tour

Canberra Tour.

Race 1.

Road Race - 38km - 01.06.23 - 34km/hr - NP 318W

The first race was an out and back course taking in two climbs. Kept myself up front and out of trouble, found myself as pacesetter for the first 10km which was good. Jockeying for position for the first climb I maintained a good position and kept with the lead bunch which splintered the rest of the peloton. 

Hit the turn around and we came back to the base of the final climb and the attacks started coming thick and fast. Managed to keep a steady tempo and reel in all the escapees. I probably have never suffered so much on a climb before, i didn't see the powermeter fall below 400W and there were a few 500W ramps in there also  (5-6W/kg).

Over the top with a group of 10 the fox and hound game began, I made a big mistake attacking the group with 6km to go... held them off for 10 minutes (360w) but just couldn't stay away. Legs were truly burnt out by this stage so I couldn't compete for the sprint, so was happy to roll over the line with the bunch incurring no time penalties.. 10th on GC!!!

Race 2

Criterium - 25 minutes + 2 laps - NP 313W, 41 km/hr.

50 people on a fast criterium certain requires very good bike handling by everyone, especially when there are tight curves. Lets just say that this group didn't have adequate skills at this speed. There was plenty of bumping and touching of bars as people weren't keeping it smooth through the corners.

I was nervous.

Decided to stay at the back and keep away from the dangerous riders... 15 minutes in I decided that I wasn't going to win a sprint with this bunch as it would require a very dangerous position up front, so I attacked the bunch. Now usually the attacks had been shut down quickly - but they didn't mind letting me go. No one bridged up to me so I was out in the wilderness by myself.

Dug very very deep and held them off for 8 minutes, finally I hit the wall and just couldn't maintain the pace, decided to re-integrate with the bunch with the hope of holding on and not losing position on GC. Managed to do that, so ended the day 10th on GC.

Would have been interesting to stay for the final day, but unfortunately other commitments meant that I had to return home.

Overall very happy with my performance. 2 years ago at the Tour I failed badly, not being able to stay with the lead bunch over the climbs. This year my hill climbing has improved immensely, but perhaps my time trialling has suffered as a result. 

Time to rest now and work out what i'll be doing over the winter months!!

Below a short clip of the crit from my GoPro Video

Canberra Tour - Trimmed from Dave on Vimeo.

Mt Keira

20.12, NP 310W, ave CAD 77, ave SP 17.1km/hr

New record by 22 seconds. Felt terrible going up - barely could hold 300w... didn't think i was in for a good time, then i looked down and saw i was in the 21 grinding it out.. did some maths in my head and figured I would get pretty close to my best time, put my head down upp'ed the cadence and rolled in.

Data just in, power wasn't up hugely - could be some efficiency and pacing improvements, also a bit more weight loss from last time...

Have pursuiters cough now.. Will be VERY interesting to see the WKO+ file on this effort... Also have some video footage i'll add later :)

Canberra Tour this weekend, unsure how I will go....

Blayney to Bathurst

I'll just preface with last years stats for this race from last year.

Blayney '08

TSS 254

261W NP

3hrs 20minutes - 110km ~ 32km/hr

Blayney '09

TSS 237

267W NP

3hrs - 110km ~ 37km/hr

So where did I save 20 minutes if my output was almost identical to last year?

Well it comes down to hiding in the bunch and keeping my nose out of the wind. Last year I got dropped from the bunch after an hour (NP 300w). This year there was a block headwind for most of the course, which kept the pace down, and being in a good position in the bunch, my overall output was fairly low.

This meant I was fresh to get over the climbs with the lead bunch and then recover on the flats. In the mid section of the race there was a 30 minute segment where we averaged 45km/hr, that might not sound very impressive, but when you are constantly bridging gaps when other riders are getting spat out of the bunch, it sure as hell takes a toll on the legs!!!

I managed to stay with the main bunch until the main climb of the day (90km in), the 5km ascent up Mt Rockley. I started to cramp with 1km to go and lost touch with the bunch.

Reformed with a smaller group and we limited our time gap by around 3minutes from the main field.

I am very happy with the results, especially as I came into the race very under done.

Will have a think about where I need to improve over the next week or so and then fine tune for the Canberra Tour in 2 weeks.

Track + More

Had a great race at the Track on Thursday night. Managed to take out a big win in the 20 lap race. Attacked off the front with 3 laps to go and pedalled like my life depended on it.

The chasers did not organise themselves quickly enough to give chase and I managed to stay away. The last half a lap my legs imploded, but I had done enough work to get myself over the line quite comfortably.

Would have been nice to look at the power data, but unfortunately only speed... managed to hold 57km/hr for 2 laps (330m track) before the speed trailed off to low 40's...

More hill work this morning up Mt Keira.. Got a little excited and really tried to attack the first kilometre holding ~ 400W, but I cracked myself - couldn't recover so I just set a steady tempo to the top. Managed to climb up to the Lookout where the gradient in the mid section varies between 18 and 25%

Pace work tomorrow, then 100laps at the track and that will be it until Race Day on Sunday!

Mt Keira

20.37, NP 318w, average cadence 76rpm

Felt ok, rode a 23/11 cassette today so the cadence was down quite a bit, found it difficult to maintain a decent rhythm. Found myself out of the saddle for the gradients that were >10%.

Legs are coming along nicely, will be resting them over this weekend with some final tune ups next week.

Heffron.

NP 306W, 37km/hr

First race back at Heffron for the year... Raced in B grade. Felt pretty good all the way through, just sat at the back for the first 9 laps and watched. Legs felt great. Lap 10 I went to the front to chase down a break which looked dangerous, the chase ended up turning into a breakaway and soon I was with my fellow escapees. Did a lot of work (5 minute peak power = 380W), but ultimately I was the only one willing.

We reintegrated with the bunch, and with all my matches burnt I thought I would just stay on the front and keep the pace as high as I could. Felt good, even with the legs burning, I dug very deep on the last lap to setup the sprint.

All in all, rather happy. Total TSS for the day 244 which comprised:

80 TSS - morning ride

60 TSS - ride to and from the race

104 TSS - criterium

Will get out for an easy ride in the morning.

On Fire

Hot on the heels of yesterdays great effort up Mt Keira, I had another great morning ride today.

Thursday club ride is a combination of fast flat work and some short sharp climbing right on the rivet.

Managed to stay at the pointy end for all of the ride and on the final climb pulled out an amazing turn of speed with some great peak power outputs. How does a 30 second peak power of 900watts sound? I definitely think the track has a lot of answer for those numbers. Peak one minute was a respectable 540Watts...

Yellow line shows current best power outputs over time. Dotted line shows best ever results. So by the looks of things, i just need to tune up my power outputs over longer time intervals and i'll be sweet....

Will rest the legs tomorrow and then perhaps do a moderate ride saturday morning and follow it up with saturday afternoon criterium and see how the legs perform there!!

Mt Keira

20.34, NP 326W !!, average speed 17 km/hr, average cadence 80rpm

A new best time, by a minute and a half!

Felt amazing the whole way up, didn't go under 300W the whole way, and the last 500 metres was over 400W, so there is still a bit more left in the tank I think!!!!

Well there you have it, i'm staggered at my Normalised power for this effort. 326W is huge. What was even more impressive was my cadence (ave 80rpm). My previous best ever time was at an average cadence of 70rpm.

I wonder if riding the single speed has helped in this regard, holding high cadence and power for sustained times... Interesting field i'll have to research into...

Taking the step UP.

The thin blue line continues to advance!

Currently at a TSS/d of 55, which is not fantastic. I'd like to be around 65-70 at this point of my build phase. Starting to sharpen the rides now, yesterday was a grueling day doing 10 second seated sprints. Managed to reel off the majority at over 1000 watts average.

A lot of my sessions from now will be very targeted on raising my lactic threshold as well as my FTP.

Tomorrow is Mt Keira repeats. Which should be a lot of fun, and should also indicate what my current fitness level is like. I'd like to think I will do well given my weight has stabilized just under 80kg. I hope I can keep the power over 300watts as this will result in a good time....

Thursday will be another interval session focussing on some TTI's ~ 5mins @ 320watts. Friday recovery, followed by long and fast ride Saturday. If I can nail these sessions I'll be doing well and on my way to beating last years effort @ Bathurst.

Trackstar

Track racing again last night.

Felt ok going around and was able to keep up with the changes in pace, but when it came to the sprint my legs just simply couldn't wind up.

Did ok in the elimination race racing off for first. The money race was similar with the legs just not firing up for the sprint.

Legs feel like jello now. Unsure if i'll be sufficiently recovered for a hard ride tomorrow. May take it relatively easy and then try an afternoon criterium to sharpen the legs up in a race simulation...

456km

7 Days of riding, 456km.

Not a bad effort, lots of base in there, now time to get the engine running hotter!!!

Today was a 90km loop out to wollongong and back, taking in some undulating terrain which makes you focus on your pace and effort levels.

Felt very good the whole way, pretty much kept it in the big ring the whole way powering over the tops of small rises and only changing down for the longer climbs.

Finished the ride with a hill TT up Waterfall hill. My previous best was 12.30 and with tired legs today I manage 13 minutes flat. Not bad.

Tomorrow is a HARD club ride followed by track racing!!

190km

First time in several years that I have actually been on the bike for this long. 190 quite painful kilometres.

The route was Sydney - Wollongong return, taking in the National Park on the way down to the 'Gong and returning via Mt Keira and the three deadlies.

Humidity was atrocious and the heat pretty hard to deal with. The wheels started to fall off at around the 140km mark. Coke and Mars bars saved the day and we managed to roll back with no major troubles.

NP was 222w for the ride of just under 7 hours, total ascent was 2200 metres.

A few more rides like this should get me back into form. I'm hoping to repeat this ride again on Wednesday and then again this coming Saturday.

The next phase will be introducing some speed work in and some intervals to bump up my FTP and get me used to 5-10 minute threshold efforts. I think this is absolutely critical for the racing i'll be doing in the near future.

Happy Daize

Back on Track

Title is so cliche... but it just had to be said!!!

Got out for my first race start at the track tonight. Boy what a blast!!!!!!

Was very unsure of what to do, so for the first race (all in scratch) I just sat at the back of B grade and watched... rolled in last, happy to have completely my first track race!!!

Second race was a 10 laps points race with a sprint every second lap. The idea is to get the least amount of points.

First sprint I was second over the line, Second sprint I was first, Third I was second, Fourth I was second.. By this stage I didn't know who had what points, so just tried my hardest and managed to get to the line for another first... Lucky for me I did as I needed the win to take out the race!!! WOOHOO VICTORY!!!

The last race was a 16 lap A and B combined scratch race with prizes for first A and B rider over the line. I started right at the back just to keep out of the way and get a feel for what the pace was going to be like. 10 laps in and the legs are absolutely screaming and I'm the only B grader left with around 7 other A graders. Manage to swap a few turns and try and conserve some energy... Unfortunately I was at the front on the bell lap so just wound it up as hard as I could and managed to hold onto third place overall!!!

Pretty stoked in general. Track racing seems to come pretty easy for me. I love the short sharp stuff... And having a bit of endurance base sure does help. Looking forward to next week!!!!

Where'd Dave Go

Dave has been sick.

Dave has been very sick.

Dave is starting to get better.

Training has been very slow. I've lost all that wonderful base that I accumulated at Jindabyne. I don't think it'll take much to wind it back up again, but my early season goals have been destroyed pretty much.

On the bright side I've lost 3kgs. And I seem to have stabilised at around 80kgs. I'm going to focus on keeping myself this lean and try and build the same engine as before.

Goals for the short term are Blaney to Bathurst (116km), then the Canberra tour (3 x 40km road races). I'll be happy if i can match last years time at Blaney, and i'll be even more happy if I can stay with the main pack at Canberra...

Have to keep the goals realistic.

Keep turning those wheels.

D

Jindabyne the break down

Ok, long while between posts.. So how was it?

Well in the lead up to Jindabyne I came down with Strep throat and had no legs... so i didn't ride for a week... So I went into the camp with no idea of form..

The first day was a short warm up to Perisher, legs felt pretty heavy but were turning over ok, and my lungs and throat were feeling much better... turn around 15km in and zoomed back.

Day 2 was the real test. Jindabyne -> Thredbo -> Dead Horse Gap return (115km 2500m ascent). Weather was good, not too hot and the legs were feeling fantastic... rode up the front and set tempo for the bunch for the first 20km in a howling headwind. I decided to bring my 50mm deep wheels and was starting to get blown around quite a bit at high speed and had white knuckles down the steep descents...

Around 25km in the group broke up and the attacks started to come thick and fast... I was able to stick with the trouble makers up the front and we settled into a nice 5 man paceline which was peppered with attacks. Fantastic training and real riding on the limit stuff. On the climb up to the western face of Dead horse gap I rode tempo at the front and whittled the group down to 3 and that is how we rolled into check point 1. Quick photo snaps, refilled water bottles and it was down the eastern face of deadhorse which is VERY steep and is a 12km climb with average gradient of 8% with long ramps of 10-12%.

Last year climbing up Dead Horse I suffered like a dog... it was disgusting. I had to stop multiple times and i couldn't get the powermeter over 220watts. In contrast, this time around I did it quite easily and had some in reserve and cruised up steadily between 280 - 300w.

Zoomed down to thredbo, for a ham roll, washed it down with coffee, choc milk and water. Then headed back to Jindabyne, with the wildest tailwind I have ever rode in my entire life.. I was hardly turning the pedals over and cruising on 50km/hr for large parts.. even the hills were no troubles with the tailwind allowing me to stay in the big ring... Truly an amazing experience.

Day 3 was Jindabyne -> Charlottes pass and return. (90km 1500metres ascent). Once again legs were feeling great and rode up the front pacing the group. After 5km of steady climbing up Charlottes a few edgy souls decided to move off the front we let about 5 people go and get a good gap on us before myself and Crazy E set off on our chase.

We had the company of one other person and were setting a good tempo up the mountain. We slowly started to reel people back in catching all the escapees with about 5km to go. At this point the tempo starts to get very uncomfortable as we try to crack each other, no one does until the last kilometre when I let it all out... Just held 400watts on a 4% gradient for as long as I could and managed to break Crazy E.

Day 4 was Jindabyne -> Berridale and return. This was a fairly flat ride, but the legs were well and truly screwed by now with the tempo up the small climbs almost enough to eject me straight out the back... After 20km or so the legs came good and I started to feel comfortable again. On the run into town there is a large slight downhill run of 8km or so and the bunch turned into a ferocious paceline and we were averaging 47km/hr quite comfortably.

Great training weekend, good company and quality miles. The legs are still a bit fatigued but they'll come good again soon.

Plans are for a road race this sunday, should be interesting to see what the legs can do.

Jindabyne

Just finished up another training camp at Jindabyne. Had a fantastic time with many quality miles. Felt really good on the bike, very comfortable and did it all relatively easy.

Will have some WKO+ shots up soon with some comparisons to last year!!

Absorption.

Have had a few weeks to go out and do long rides to build the base up but I always seem to run into the same problem. I can't absorb the miles into my legs to be able to effectively backup for the next days session. This means doing long rides every second day until I am able to absorb the volumes... 

Got a few 400km weeks in, which isn't too bad - but the legs are still recovering and my power has dropped dramatically, so i'll take it easy for the next few days and get some quality recovery in before ramping it up again...

A New Year

11,000km last year! Not bad, but not the 15,000 i really wanted to do. Oh well, perhaps this year?

A solid 120km today through the 3 gorges, 1500 metres climbing, 4 1/2 hours and a very sore arse!

Good way to start the new year, this is the type of riding that I need to be doing. Planning on doing a 4 day camp at Jindabyne again in January and would like to be carrying better form into it than last year.

The Quarq/705 combo is a real treat. GPS worked solid through the dense tree canopies that you travel through in the Gorges. So far it has performed flawlessly, and I'm really enjoying the feedback. Toys are great - they motivate me to get out of bed, and if thats all they end up doing, then they have done there job!!!

Looking forward to a big 2009 in so many ways.... Wish you the same!