Thursday, December 20, 2007

The 2007 Riding Year

This year was a fun year for riding. I did a little of everything and had some success racing too. My highlights for this year were winning the GA single speed state championship in my age group, doing a fun tour from Pittsburgh to DC via the Allegheny Passage/C&O Canal, riding in Lincoln, Nebraska, building up for and racing in the Georgia Cyclocross Series, and finally racing well in one of the toughest cyclocross national championships ever.

This year I rode 6,174 miles in 379 hours and burning 266,000 calories (134.4 "Bob's"). The biggest single week total was during the bike tour was where I rode the whole 351 miles.

My power distribution shows that I spent a lot of time in the recovery and endurance zones for the year. A lot of that was fun riding in the spring, the bike tour, and then base for 'cross.










Above is the breakdown for Jan-June and June-December.

In terms of my Performance Manager Chart that keeps track of TSB (training stress balance or "freshness"), ATL (acute training load) and CTL (chronic training load) here are the charts with significant events shown.

January to June

June to December
I was sick more often than in past years. I had a number of ilnesses with fevers this year and a couple of infections and injuries that I was able to manage. I had to take off a few days in April for an injury and 2-3 days here and there when I had ilnesses with a fever.

In terms of training stress and workout intensity, here is my record of each for the year.










January to June June to December

The hardest workout of the year for me was the GTC Club Championship Race. Even though I did not do very well, my power output for the time racing was significant and a very good effort.

Duration: 2:42:40
Work: 2069 kJ
TSS: 225.8 (intensity factor 0.913)
Norm Power: 259
VI: 1.22
Distance: 58.408 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 938 212 watts
Heart rate: 82 179 152 bpm
Cadence: 32 141 95 rpm
Speed: 2.2 36.7 21.6 mphIt may not seem like it was that hard, but I was very tired at the end.

My build up for cyclocross was a good, structured one this year. I had a coach and I did everything that was asked of me with a lot of discipline. At times I thought that i was doing too much and I was pretty tired a lot of the time. My race results in the fall were not as I expected but my peak for nationals was very nice. Compared to the first 6 races, the last 3 were great.

Oxmoor, Alabama --3rd
Conyers, GA--3rd
Winder, GA--6th (crash)
Macon, GA--6th
Augusta, GA--6th
Blue Ridge, GA--5th
Dahlonega, GA--2nd
Kansas City, Kansas--6th
Kansas City, Kansas--44th (flat)

I did not use the power tap this year in any of the races so no power files. The hardest race for me is always in Winder.

I was able to do more riding than usual out of town. I liked the bike tour a lot but preferred the first leg to the second. The C&O canal was not too strenuous but the ride was rough and we had a couple of mishaps (Mike taking a spill and Jeff breaking his bike). Riding in Lincoln, Nebraska for a week after work was really a refreshing time. I was pretty much depressed and a little burnt out. The folks in Lincoln were so nice and welcoming and the riding was very fun and different that I decided to give training one last shot, all or nothing. I wanted to get it out of my system and try and do everything I wanted with no regrets. I succeeded with about 90% fulfillment. I would have rather not had a flat in the national championship race because I was feeling great and in a great position. But, it is not enough of course to abandon my plan. This year I plan on doing mostly riding and will probably do 4 MTB races, a century or two and some cross races but with NO training! I am interested to see how much I can do with just base.

HUP United has been a great group to race for/with. Their no pressure approach and dedication to 'cross has been a pleasure and it is nice to know that there are other folks out there crazy about Belgium, the classics, and 'cross. I hope to continue racing for them albeit at a lower level than this year.

2007 was a good year for riding and I hope 2008 is mellow and fun.

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