Dan's Macabre Ride Comparison 2007-2008

Dan Coy does a nice Sunday hard ride called "Dan's Macabre". It is around 56 miles long and incorporates flats, hills, and even a nice long dirt road. I like to do it but the ride resembles a race as the year goes on and early in the year I often overextend in trying to keep up.

Here is a comparison of most of the statistical factors:

In my notebook from last year I mention that the ride was way too hard for me for a January ride. Most of the statistics are similar but two things stand out a bit. First, I pedaled around 4% more last year and second, my CTL in February was less than it is now and on January 13 of last year I was at 42 and I had raised it to 53 by February 11. My TSB was -2.5 and this year was 4.8 so i was a bit fresher this year because I started out the year with a higher CTL and have not rushed to do longer rides like last year.

Here is a comparison of time spent in Coggan power training levels for each date:

(Left 2007, Right 2008)

Last year I rested less on the ride and had to dip into my anaerobic system a lot more. This year I was able to use less anaerobic power and instead use the less taxing VO2 max power which I had trained specifically all last fall. My threshold coming into the ride this year was also about 20 watts higher than last year and the effects of this are easy to see.

Although I am tired, I definitely feel better than last year and maybe I can keep a reasonable level of fitness so i can keep doing it without getting dropped.