Sunday, September 24, 2006

Hot Lap Power at Jim Miller Saturday, September 23


Today I went over to one of the venues and did two blocks of 3 laps at around 20 minutes each. I went at what I would consider a little below race pace since no one was there to push me. My average power (including zeroes) was around 258 Watts which is way lower than my FT Power of 300W. However, there are a lot of zeroes to consider in that data since cyclocross is not steady state. If I take out the zeroes, the most commonly occuring power value is 358W which is much higher than 300W.



I did a quadrant analysis for each set and it is clear that in Laps 4-6 my effort starts to diminish so I still have some muscular endurance to work on. However, the most data points are found in Quad II which is the high force/low velocity area and represents reaccelerations and I have pretty good power there. I have no cyclocross quadrant analysis standard, so I will go from this from now on.



The multi-workout quadrant analysis shows that in laps 4-6 my data is more scattered and I have more Quad III (low poer/low velocity) data points maybe indicating fatigue. I also have more scattered single high power data points in Quad II than I did in Laps 1-3.



The Jim Miller Park course I rode consisted of long flat sections of grass and pavement and two small climbs with plent of downhill recovery, 2 dismounts per lap, and at least 6 sections of twisty pace changing areas that needed reacceleration.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Cyclocross Update and More

Having spent all summer prepping for the season, I found myself a little ahead of schedule. I finished my Intensity period 2 weeks ago and had a rest week last week. I was worried that I was too ready this far away from the season and then I got sick and it all made sense. Thankfully I really worked my butt off and the fitness that I lost while sick did not erode too badly. I will try and do a CP test Friday to find out.

Cyclocross practices have been different this year. I have found that people are really in shape or a a little behind. At this point I would rather be a little behind considering most guys slow down near the middle of the season and State's are in December.

The GTC CX practice course is nice but I would like to see a bit more pavement to simulate a real race. I would also like more hot laps and less warm-up/skills at this point. The Jim Miller sessions are really smoking and the A racers make it clear to us what the pecking order is at this point. We must have had 25 riders yesterday and that was great.

If I was able to make decisions, I would have scheduled a race at Jim Miller at the same time as the fair. It could be a fund raiser and not count in the series. We would have a lot of spectators and it would really capture the feel of a Euro CX race.
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My new Trek road bike is nice but the 10 speed gearing will be lost on me. I also am not really excited about its looks. It is less exciting than the nice metal flecked paint of the last bike. I really can wait to ride it at this point.
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Working Christmas/40th Birthday List for 2006

1. Saris Bones rear rack for the car
2. 48 Gallon fish tank and accesories (I want to set up a Ciclid tank)
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