Ride to Sanger with the Sharon group. I was 22 mins late leaving the house, so I told them not to delay the start time. They waited 5-6 mins for me at Hwy 377 and Bonnie Brae. It was a hard push to catch up, and Sharon pushed hard once I got in sight.
Unfortunately, this sort of punished/burned out some of the others as well, especially Jim F. Jim tried to hang on, but at the end he finally admitted he needed to work his way up to this length of ride. He completed it, but with our waiting, it was 2-3 hours extra. That being said, for being about 3 months post-op for hip replacement, he’s doing awesome.
Becky took the SAG wagon back from lunch because of other committments. Karl took it because he broke a drive-side spoke in the middle where it’d been notched by the chain about 2000 miles ago.
Karl, Jim and I went for a quick spin. Pretty muggy out there, but the temps were nice. We started early, and rolled about 7:05am from the AMC pond, and about 6:50 from my back gate. Ended up a little further than we planned, but was good. Wind was brutal. This was a pretty hard push to only get 16.2mph. Average watts shows the truth.
I stayed near the front for much of the second half of the ride, but I was never far ahead. It’s more of the initial power-up rather than a massive difference in power. Looking over the last few months of Garmin history for rides over 20 mins and 5 miles, this is my highest average wattage (214 vs 207) by 7 watts, but only my second highest max-average-watts (244 vs 258 highest 20-min average during the ride).
I also had actual breakfast – 2 mini sausage-biscuits (300kcal) and 3 six-inch pancakes (about the same). No syrup or butter. Powerade full-strength in one bottle, and half plus sugar-free green tea in the other… plus 20oz of gatorade mid-ride, plus a fried pie mid ride. It was 20 miles in before I opened the first bottle, but I’ve been pretty well hydrated lately. I definitely felt the slowdown before beginning the rehydration.
I was short on sleep, and had Advocare MNS Max E (though I didn’t have the CorePlex, the probiotic, nor the Omega. I added a single OptiMen multi tablet, and one TwinLab TriBoron Plus calcium). The MNS E is caffeine laiden, and I felt very alert. Perceived exertion seemed lower than expected, but it was still very obviously a hard push. The ingredients all look to be okay were I in a UCI race, but I can’t help but wonder about metabolites, etc. I couldn’t find anything on the USADA or WADA websites on labs for testing. They specifically don’t test supplements. More research is warranted. Continue reading →
Rocky held a great pace. It was a really comfy ride. Carbon-Snappy was good as well. Sharon took us on a final, hard push on the tail end to round up over 24mi.
http://app.strava.com/activities/180319843
24.7mi Distance
1:28:24 Moving Time
512ft Elevation (?)
36 Suffer Score
3 Points in the Red
199W Weighted Avg Power
852kJ Total Work
96 Training Load
77% Intensity
Just a casual ride with Sharon, Karl, and Mark. This was the first ride outside of my hallway for my new Zip007 carbon bike.
Initial test included some hops to make sure it was solid. It is, but I’m still uncertain. It’s definitely more flexy than any bike I’ve ridden, but only in a twisting angle along the axis from from the rear dropout to the top of the head tube. It handles power nicely, and feels like riding from a mattress.
You know the feeling when you hit something (ball, tree, whatever) with an aluminum bat? That spike of hit, and the vibration that continues… well, that is all gone. There’s still the feeling of the road, and bumps, etc. It’s just that none of that echoes/resonates in the frame. You feel it once, the first time, without the sharp parts.
Acceleration is quick. No creaks, which means good assembly and not TOO wispy. I can compress the center of the top tube with my hand, if I lean down on it. So I figure a crash would shatter this thing.
It’s really light. I didn’t think it would matter much, but it does. I named it “Carbon” on all of my apps/devices, but Erica and I decided it should be named “Snappy”.
It’s VERY responsive, and handles turns better than any of my other bikes have. It’ll take me a few hundred miles to really settle into it, but I have the jist of it after 20ish last night.
I *do* have a huge stack on the steerer tube, which looks way dorky, but I’m very tall. It’s comfy, so I may just leave it as is. We’ll see what my actual performance looks like after a few rides, but I’m most likely using this bike for HH100. That MIGHT be because I left both of my other bikes unrideable. *oops*
Phil, Glenn, Becky, Karl and I puttered up to Denton, had breakfast at Cartwright’s Ranch House on the square (very affordable), and came back. It’s tough to ride 2 days in a row, but there’s a Strava Challenge to meet!
Cartwright’s after food:
Lots of silly bike lean photos, some of which are online at:
http://app.strava.com/activities/178382994
41.5mi Distance
3:03:08 Moving Time
1,322ft Elevation (?)
66 Suffer Score
180W Weighted Avg Power
1,515kJ Total Work
174 Training Load
69% Intensity
Power Zone Distribution
Z1 Active Recovery 1 – 142 W 1:36:10 53%
Z2 Endurance 143 – 194 W 30:53 17%
Z3 Tempo 195 – 233 W 17:15 10%
Z4 Threshold 234 – 271 W 11:35 6%
Z5 VO2Max 272 – 310 W 8:37 5%
Z6 Anaerobic 311 – 388 W 7:56 4%
Z7 Neuromuscular 389+ W 8:39 5%
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/561945553
Summary
Distance: 41.49 mi
Time: 3:00:06
Avg Speed: 13.8 mph
Elevation Gain: 1,322 ft
Calories: 1,612 C
Avg Temperature: 92.1 °F
Details
Timing
Time: 3:00:06
Moving Time: 2:58:43
Elapsed Time: 5:10:02
Avg Speed: 13.8 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 13.9 mph
Max Speed: 26.9 mph
SpeedPace
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 1,322 ft
Elevation Loss: 1,325 ft
Min Elevation: 526 ft
Max Elevation: 670 ft
Heart Rate
Avg HR: 116 bpm
Max HR: 162 bpm
Zones% of Maxbpm
Power
Avg Power: 144 W
Max Power: 1,164 W
Max Avg Power (20 min): 172 W
Normalized Power (NP): 212 W
Intensity Factor (IF): 0.817
Training Stress Score (TSS): 199.4
FTP Setting: 259 W
Work: 1,557 kJ
ZonesWatts
Cadence
Avg Bike Cadence: 73 rpm
Max Bike Cadence: 120 rpm
Temperature
Avg Temperature: 92.1 °F
Min Temperature: 84.2 °F
Max Temperature: 107.6 °F
Weather
81°
Feels like 84°
7 mph S wind
Humidity 70%
Elevation Gain: 144 ft
Elevation Loss: 135 ft
Min Elevation: 463 ft
Max Elevation: 509 ft
Avg HR: 108 bpm
Max HR: 135 bpm
Avg Power: 166 W
Max Power: 652 W
Max Avg Power (20 min): 147 W
Normalized Power (NP): 191 W
Intensity Factor (IF): 0.696
Training Stress Score (TSS): 16.4
FTP Setting: 275 W
Work: 207 kJ
Avg Bike Cadence: 81 rpm
Max Bike Cadence: 96 rpm
Avg Temperature: 86.4 °F
Min Temperature: 78.8 °F
Max Temperature: 91.4 °F
Thunderstorms with Rain
Feels like 88°
13 mph W wind
Humidity 52%
Sharon invited Karl, Mark and I to join the Ladies’ ride tonight. I wasn’t sure why at first. Then, the starting group was only 4 ladies and 3 guys, vs 10 last week. I thought maybe it was to fill the ranks. However, it was a pretty hard push. 15mph is not my peak effort, but more than I hoped for a recovery ride. Mark and Amanda bailed at the stop (Lewisville Theatre / art museum). I think maybe she invited us as much for personal competition/drive as anything else.
Anyway, the music was mediocre, but entertaining anyway. I had a couple snow cones, a footlong, water, diet coke, and 1.5 bottles of Cytomax Orange. Some gabbing about bike-tech, phone tech, and SharonMPH (in retrospect, it’s 15% higher than statute MPH). Amanda’s tickled by a lot of my normal, dorky comments, so that makes me happy. (One less groan!) It was funny seeing Kathy, Carol, Sharon and Amanda all doing the WOOT WOOT raver girl sound during one of the songs.
I enjoyed it, but I think the inherent competition (ie have to keep up!) of us guys on the ride defeats the purpose of a ladies’ recovery ride. If we ride faster and keep up, then Sharon rides even faster. We have more testosterone, so we build muscle faster, etc. Having one lady bail and 2 falling off the back when there’s Sharon and 2 guys up front probably isn’t friendly/fun for the non-competitive riders.
Inviting us along implies to me that maybe she’s getting restless with the ladies’ ride. She’s always competing against herself, and pushing to ride faster. She’s got a lot of miles already in her legs, so her ramp-up is equal to someone 20 years younger. I worry that she’ll either drive off the beginner ladies, or bail on the concept of a ladies-only ride within a couple months. HH100 is coming up, you know.
This is just my speculation. I read a lot into things, and despite my portrayal, I really do NOT know everything.
http://ns1.omnitech.net/cycle/
77.5 Rider’s Height (inches)
38.7 Rider’s Age (years)
28.1 Cyclist’s Body Fat (Percent)
264 Cyclist’s Weight (lbs), dressed
32 Bike’s Weight (lbs), with water and tools
15 Average Speed (mph) (add 43% of wind speed here for a SWAG)
16 Wind Speed (mph). Excludes gusts.
20 Miles Traveled
899 Total Ascent
1.333 Hours (calculated)
1925 Food Energy in kCalories ( Net work 457.1 kCal or 0.5316 KWH or 1813 BTU )
398.8 Average Watts
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/523038416
Distance: 19.95 mi
Calories: 1,925 C
http://omnitech.net/xaminmo/2014/06/17/2014-06-17-ladies-ride/ 