Georgia Single Speed Champs and Beyond

This weekend will be the GA Single Speed MTB Championship with a time trial and short track on Saturday and the XC races on Sunday. The venue is in Macon, GA and from the looks of the profile, it is very hilly and has left some interpretation to what gear should be used.

I placed this on the calendar as a peak race and I would like to defend my win from last year. Peaking for a single-speed race is kind of a mystery. Since single-speed racing employs mostly a neuromuscular system with short bursts of high power, it can be hard to emulate that in training very often. With 3 events of various lengths and times that system will be really taxed so I tried to taper so I was really fresh. This means I have lost some CTL and my tsb has gotten progressively positive to a point where hopefully the harshness of Saturday will not compromise Sunday. I believe in doing all 3 races and don't see why one would not unless time is an issue.

The downside I guess is that my CTL will have dropped after the omnium, then I will take a rest week and get ready for cyclcoross. I plan on doing the Gloucester, MA UCI race in October to it is unknown what condition I will be in for that. But my second peak is for December so I hope to train through the cross season with no real expectations and put in a good showing at nationals. I'd also like to try the SS cross category some this fall if possible.

I will skip the Savannah, GA race leaving me with 2 weeks of not racing cross. Hopefully that will allow me to ramp up my training a bit for the rest of the fall.

Impressive Performances in MTB

I have never met or raced against Thomas Turner PRO (Outspokin) but I do like to admire him from afar. It seems that no matter the length or intensity of the race he is always a contender. Even after a bad crash and shoulder injury this summer he came back strong for the national MTB championships and now in the Fool's Gold 100 MTB endurance race, placing second to Jerimiah Bishop. In the local MTB series he is somewhat without peer and even in takling a stab last year at cyclocross he showed he can win races and place high in the series. He is also a douoble GA single-speed champion in the open category and set the course SS record last year at Ft. Yargo. I look for him to tri-peat this year.

Greg Turner (no relation) is also a massive talent. A local/regional legend, whose name invokes groans from others in his race, shows year after year he can win a various distances and disciplines. He has used his abilities to win cyclocross, road and MTB races on a consistant basis in the masters category. He is also a GA SS champion in the marathon and just placed 1st on the SS in the Fool's Gold. It would be wonderful to see the Turners battle in the SS championship.

Jason Chapman and I first crossed paths in cyclocross and he was racing only on a single-speed cross bike and dominated the B race series. In fact, most all he races is either single-speed or fixed gear. He is the fixed gear SS MTB champion in Georgia and when he races I am always amazed at his speeds and his gearing on the SS MTB.

Shey Linder organized the SS championshups in GA, is a co-promoter of the GA CX series, Pro MTB racer and likes a lot of endurance distances races. He is quiet and reserved but on the bike I would say not laid back. He is very competitive and if he is not winning, he is placing very high. Besides his racing, his training and judgement about a lot of cycling related issues is invaluable. Because of his leadership and skill he is one person to definately have on your team.

Shane Schreihart races expert MTB and endurance MTB mostly on a SS bike. He takes on all comers in the expert division on the SS and seems to not care what gear(s) you use, just that it is a bike and it rolls. His high placings on the SS bike against fellow geared riders is impressive. He is also very mentally tough as displayed in a 12 hour MTB race (Dirty Spokes) last spring where he did 12 hours on the SS.

"Markie Mark" Stewart is another MTB racer who after performing at a hig level for years, picks and chooses his races now and many of them are distance endurance races. He has a great tactical sense and is also great at pacing. But, (like Shane) his mental toughness really impresses me also. I have never seen him give up and he always seems to maintain a positive attitude in ther midst of suffering.

There are lots of other folks who might make your list, and probably a few I have left out here (no offense). These are just a few that have stood out to me this year.

Went to Ft. Yargo State Park today to ride the fine MTB trails. I wanted to do a good 3 laps (31 miles) to build up some stress. The trail had been blown clear and it was a great ride. Torre Smitherman and Theron Colucci met me there and we rode together and also did our own thing. I think all of us are going to give the SS champs a shot.

Cross practice actually starts next Sunday (!) but I am not sure if I'll go to the first one since it tends to be more mellow. I need to keep up my TSS/CTL until a week before the SS Champs. I usually get 100 TSS with the pre-ride and cross practice but the first few practices are more oriented towards skills. We'll see.

I'd like to check out East Macon Park in 2 weeks as well.

School has begun with new students staring at me wondering what the year will bring. I took the liberty to ride a lot this summer and I have committed to coaching soccer next spring and summer school next summer.

With the SS champs only 3 weeks away my weekly hours will decrease by 3 or 4 and my CTL may drop a bit. The plan is to get it as high as possible before that race weekend, peak at around +20 and then salvage what I can for cross. With the Gloucester race in mid-October I should be pretty fresh but I have a bunch of traning all fall to get to nationals. Probably will not care about results for the GA CX series and try to just use them as a means to an end.

Brendan Sullivan is pretty much winning at will these days and his passion is cross so either he will burn up with all this racing (not likely) or he will enter the CX season ready to destroy. I just hope he can keep it cranked up until December. I really think he can get on the podium in December if he show a little restraint, does some longer A races this fall and maybe goes to 2-3 UCI races. Either way he is very talented and has come a long, long way in 2 years.

Grearing for the SS champs is going to be interesting. I have heard that a 2:1 might be too hard. I won't get to pre-ride so I will probably take 2 wheels. I may elect to try and push a 34x16 for the TT depending on how long it is.

The intervals in the picture below were 45 second intervals at or above 400w. I did 2 sets of 8. They look hard but on a good hill they are not really unbearable. I find the extended VO2 max intervals like a 5x5, 8x3 or 10x2 at around 330w to be much harder to do and I really have to take it easy the day before if I want to complete them, especially in the mid-day heat. I like the threshold intervals these days because compared to the VO2 max intervals they are pretty mellow. After the SS champs I will have to work on leg speed and sprints since I am not doing that stuff right now. I assume I will be doing some sort of microburst workouts at some point or maybe pyramids and they usually bring my lunch up in my throat. Very hard.

GSC #8 Pig Trail MTB Race

The last GCS MTB race of the year and my first foray into the expert class on my single-speed. I used the 34x16 since the course was flat but some new hilly sections were added days before the race. I divided the course in thirds mentally. The first third was flat and ended on an uphill where a water station was (two cups poured on my head each lap), the second third consisted of the hilly bits and the last third was mainly flat. The heat was nasty and the heat index was 105 but it was the same for everyone.

I elected to go with a 70oz bladder frozen into slush for the first 3 laps and then I went to a water bottle when that was dry. I had no support team so I actually had to stop and get my drinks on the last lap.

I went out hard with the lead group on the first lap and hung in there no problem until 2/3 into the lap. I backed off knowing we had 4 total laps (30 miles) and I was hoping they went out too hard. The SS gearing was nice for the course and I did not have too much trouble holding on to them but I could tell there was no way to keep that up for 2.5 hours.

I had a crash at the end of the first lap and the local hero Monty got by me and I thought I would catch him but he was gunning for 4th and I did not see him again.

The rest of the race was great. I went at my own forced pace and had a lot of fun. I ended up 5th which was a nice result I think.

The GCS series is nice but honestly I prefer the SERC courses. I did not get to do Raccoon Mtn and I'll try that this winter.

Next up is the GA SS Champs also in Macon but on a harder course.

Today was my first flat on my tubless MTB wheels. The Big Creek trails have gotten progessively rockier with baby-head rocks that really throw you around. One of them actually pierced the middle portion of my tire and even Stan's could not seal the pea-sized hole that was left behind. I also got thrown into a nice sticker bush while grinding through a rocky section. One rock flipped up from my front wheel and landed on the top of my foot/shin and kept bouncing between me and the frame for a couple of pedal strokes, sort of like juggling a soccer ball.

I remember the winter and Big Creek being really nice. Now the lack of rain and hard use has made it very challenging.

I am going to enter the 40+ expert race Sunday on my single-speed and try to use a 34x16 gearing. I also might try a Camel-bak hydration system since I have no one to give me a hand up. I don't really like them but it is going to be very hot and I'd rather look kind of silly than overheat. I hope the gearing is appropriate.

Only 5 weeks to the ss championships and my first peak. But, I am really excited about cross this year so it is hard to not overlook the SS champs.

School starts back again Monday so gone will be my free time and back to balancing everything. I am looking forward to school though since I always get to start fresh with a new batch of kids.

Someone was doing a photo shoot at Big Creek this morning with a bunch of kids. I wonder what that was for?

Going Tubless for CX With Stan's

First off, if you have the money just buy/use a tubular wheel set and tubular tires. It is the best option. Secondly, you can also but Stan's CX wheel set up which is a 29er MTB rim that is designed for tubless tires and Stan's system.

That said, the cheapest alternative to tubular tires is taking an old clincher wheel set and converting it over to tubless using Stan's cyclocross system. What follows is by no means the only way to do this but it worked for me.

1. Call Stan's and ask them if your wheel set will work with the system. I have a Sun ME14A wheel set that I won a few years ago and use as a back up set.
2. Take a drill with a 3/8" bit and drill out the inside valve hole. Sand it down to remove burrs.
3. One of the challenges for this and many other rims is that in order for it to seal the center of the rim has to be built up so that the Stan's rubber tire liner set up right under the clincher bead lock. What I did was take electrical tape and go around the center of the rim twice. Then I took TWO Velox rim strips and went around with those. Finally I took the Stan's rubber rim strip and installed it.
4. I went around the rim bead with a plastic tire lever and made sure the Stan's rubber rim strip was seated right up against the bead lock on both sides of the rim, all the way around.
5. I am using the Maxxis Raze tire to start with so I installed the tire and inflated it to 10 psi to make sure it held air.
6. I deflated the tire and hung the wheel from the post on my workstand (valve up). I then removed on side of the tire about 12" on the bottom, exposing the inside of the tire.
7. I shook the Stan's sealant and poured 2 Stan's cup fulls into the exposed part of the tire. I then rotated the tire around so that the sealant moved to an area where the tire was already set on both sides. Then I use my tire lever to install the tire I had exposed.
8. I inflated the tire to 50 psi and then meticulously grabbed the wheel in both hand and moved it back and forth (like a fan) revolving the tire so that the sealant was distributed.
9. I do not use soap to check the seal, I use Windex. I sprayed the Windex all around the tire/rim interface and looked for bubbles. If I saw some I placed the wheel with the bubbles at the bottom and then shook the wheel again to coat that area (Stan's website has some great video to show how this is done).
10. I then set up 2 buckets and rested each wheel sideways horizontal on a bucket for 5-10 minutes and after that inverted them.

All of this took about 2 hours. The wheels are holding fine and we will see what happens overnight. I am not using them as race wheels, only as back ups or training wheels. I am very interested to compare them to my tubular wheels.

I think this is the wave of the future but more so as UST/Tubless wheels are made more and more for cross just like MTB. I use a Bontrager tubless wheel set for MTB with Stan's sealant and have never looked back.

Tubulars are nice and feel nice but they are expensive. Stan's and tubless systems are made for the masses and I expect more and more people to give it a try.

Stan's has a nice cross wheel set for cheap and will be coming out with their own "raven" tire soon. Hutchison has a UST/tubless tire already for cross. Probably the biggest advantage to doing what I did is that you use wheels you have already and you can switch tires easily.

90 Realized

So I met my goal set way back in January of getting to a CTL of 90. Now what? Since CTL is based on a rolling average (basically like saying I am doing a 90 tss/day average), it will only fall from August 11th or so down to December. Simply put it takes a lot of time to raise your CTL. Like any average it gets harder to raise the ceiling as you go if you are not consistantly scoring above the average value.

Normally it is said that if you have a CTL of 70 or below you won't need to taper for a peak event. But at 90 tss/d or close to that I would taper if I were going to peak. The risk of tapering in September is that you loose CTL in your taper and for the cross season that might mean initial decreased performance. But, that is why you do specific workouts designed to maintain a certain level and focus on your weaknesses (for which I have many).

The last sub-eight hour week I had was back in April. The only "rest" period was during my vacation in June where I was still able to do some tempo stuff. So, using TSS instead of the traditional 3 weeks on/1 week off periodization got easier as I went. Plus, if you look at my average intensity factor for that period (May-July), it is only about .75 (out of 1, with 1 being TT intensity).

It is easy to see how the pros ramp up so quickly when they are doing 4 or 5 hours a day and racing in between.

A CTL of 100 tss/day would probably have taken me another 2 months. Once intervals start CTL will go down so I would have had to start building much earlier and since I work that is not possible.

An Open Letter to All Things Hymenoptera

Dear Queen of the bees and wasps,

I surrender. I have had 6 stings in 6 weeks, three on the face while riding my bike. I don't know what I did to you but please stop stinging me! Is it the honey I eat in the morning? I can switch to maple syrup. Let me know (nicely).

Sincerely,

Bob

Here is a 27 mile route from my house that has a few nice climbs and usually gives me 89 tss in 1.5 hours. Low traffic except for crossing Roswell Road and anyone who does the group rides in this area will be familiar with the roads. The best time to ride is between 9:30 and 11am when everyone is at work.

Tubeless With Stan's

I am going to make an adventure of it and try the new Stan's cyclocross rim strips out on a spare Sun ME14A rim set in order to run them tubless. The setup looks pretty easy and the price is good as two Maxxis Raze tires are $60 and the Stan's setup is also $60. That is about the cost of one Dugast tubular tire.

I have had great success with the MTB setup and there are nice instructions on how to do the same for cyclocross tires here.

Most folks I know would love to go tubless but don't want to buy a new wheel set, special tires, or don't want the glue mess. I'll try it out and update later.

I can't wait for a cheaper road system for tubless and it should be forthcoming.

Today on Dan's "Macabre" ride I got dropped again right after a big hill called Jack Pittman when Jeff Welp attacked. When he attacked I was in the shit already. So I tried to get back to them and only succeeded because they took pity on me and sat up. I guess it was my handlebar position which confused them to whether I was working hard to chase or not (I was on the hoods). There was a county line sign right after I caught them and I sprinted for it because I was glad it was over and because I was mad I got dropped.

Here is the power file selection that shows I was working at threshold chasing back and normalized power shows that I was a little above threshold (the dotted line is my threshold power line).

This ride is pretty hard for me (obviously) and harder now than it was back in February where I actually pulled a lot, did not get dropped, and sprinted 2 or 3 times.

Here is the zone by zone power distribution:

One of the best features of WKO+ is the "fast find" feature. In the ride graph you can search your effort for a self-specified power range. Besides the food poisoning last Saturday night I was surprised to get dropped on the Sunday ride. I was curious since I had done 5x5 VO2 max and 6x3 VO2 max efforts the Tuesday and Thursday before the ride, whether I had over extended in that range and was just very tired when those efforts came up in the fast ride.

What I found going back is that I had burned 13 matches of efforts between 30 to 2 minutes where the power average ranged between 318w and 450w.

Also, in looking at the power distribution graph I was 13 minutes total in VO2 max and 16 minutes above that.

While the ride might normally be in my wheelhouse, I would suspect that if I were to do a ride like this later in the week it might be better to adjust my intervals earlier so I can put in a better performance.

The Drive for 90

I had a goal to try and achieve 90 CTL by August 4th. Why? I would like to come into the SS championships with a high CTL so I can taper a week and have a positive TSB for the race weekend September 6+7. I'll shoot for +20 TSB for that weekend and pay for it later in cross season. My original goal was to try and get 100 CTL but that won't happen.

It has been very difficult to get to 90 CTL being an average athlete. It takes a lot of patience and a lot of time. With cross season beginning at the end of October I am hoping I can salvage some CTL for that, focusing again on December.

Here is a shot of my PMC for the summer so far:

and a shot of my time/distance so far...

Using TSS has been a different experience and I can't say I have missed "rest weeks" but it is a gamble. It has been a neat experiment and those guys who do it all the time have my respect.

Yesterday I got completely dropped on the Dan's Macabre ride and it sucked. I don't think I have gotten dropped on that ride before. It especially hurt getting crushed on the hill before Stock Rd. Hopefully the chart above had nothing to do with that. Maybe things will be different this weekend.

I liked the sequel to Hellboy a lot. I collected comics when I was a teen and I would certainly have subscribed to Hellboy back then. But with the web today you can see some of them online here. The movie is different from the comic but it is really fun and humerous. Even my wife liked it without me having to pay dues and see Sex in the City (never).

I would suggest avoiding any mussel dish at mexican style taquerias in Virginia/Highlands.

My wife told me 2 weeks ago that she thinks I should race cross this fall if I want to and to not say I am going to stop unless I really want to. Probably the biggest inhibitor to racing some races will be gas prices. Without knowing the schedule yet I don't know how many races might be affected. But, I assume that when my daughter turns 4 next year she will be playing sports of her own and I will be focusing more on that (car-pool, practices, etc.).

Anyway, no one cares really except me so moving on...

I am going to try and do one of my "dream races" this fall. The HUP guys in New England are going to host a get together for the USGP of Gloucester and I have booked my flight. It was a hard choice between that and Star-Crossed in Seattle but New England won out.

This year's cross season will be interesting in a lot of ways. First, the GA SS championships are right in the middle of the prime cross build-up month of September. So, how do you work both? I think you prepare for cross but try and do a weekly SS ride/race to keep sharp. I doubt that muscular endurance will drop too much unless one focuses only on cross in that time period.
Secondly, with the excellence of Brendan Sullivan this year it will be interesting to see where he races. If he goes A race, it leaves the door open for a few masters 35+ guys. Maybe that would encourage Tony to go with him. One can dream. I have the same dilemma as always: masters is first, A race is last, tennis happens during the A race so I will have to do the masters, get in my car and race home so my wife can play tennis. It is a balancing act.

I will probably go all-in and race elite masters 1/2/3 in Gloucester. Of course, that is if I can even register. Registration is as competitive as nationals and starts smack in the middle of the SS champs race day. Doh!

Sometimes I get the feeling that cross is like Dungeons and Dragons. It is a little obsession that means very little to anyone but your little circle and anyone else looking in realizes that you take it way too seriously. What would be the equivalent of a dice pouch in cross? (Yes I played, cast your judgement).

Bethlehem-Athens

The yearly pilgrimage to Athens to ride the Finley Street cobbles went off without any problems. It was about 3.5 hours in the saddle and 65 miles of nice roads. Once in Athens, we rode down Milledge and took a left onto Broad and then a right up Finley's steep cobbled climb (really the only one I know of around here). It is not very long but as you can see in the picture to the left, there are some pretty nice looking stones. Thinking back to walking that street when I was a student at UGA I would have not realized the appeal until Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

The group eventually broke up around Tallassee Rd and riding from there to Statham, over the reservoir was pretty tough.

All in all a really nice time and I can't wait to do it again.

I can't believe how cool it is outside, but I can believe how little it has rained. The 3rd driest June on record and we are down 7" at this point.

I am looking forward to the GTC Athens ride Friday and no matter what Mike says I have 74 and 81 miles in the last 2 editions I did, not 62 miles. That is fine with me! I proposed twice up the cobbled Finley St. so we will see who bites. It is a great ride all around and I hope the weather is nice.

No Raccoon MTN but there is Bethlehem-Madison

Got a call from the baby-sitter last night at 11pm saying she will be leaving town Saturday instead of Monday so there went the highly anticipated Raccoon Mountain MTB race and my debut riding the SS in the expert class.

So, I decided to take out my frustration by doing 78 miles today from Bethlehem, GA to Madison, GA and back. I made a wrong turn so I added some extra miles onto a 74 mile course. It is primarily flat with some nice rollers periodically, the tough stretch along "Confederate St." leading to Rutledge, GA and then the hard hills through Hard Labor State Park. There seemed to always be a headwind today and even though there were a thousand clouds in the sky, not one had the decency to cover up the sun. The route is all pretty exposed to the heat takes its toll and by the end I was pretty fried.

I covered the 78 miles at a nice 20.7 mph clip and my average power was a meager 206w (226w NP). So, about 3:50 in terms of ride time. I got stung by 2 bees which goes back to the debate on wearing underlayers in the summer. One drawback is that a bee/wasp can hit your underlayer and then get caught between it and your skin. It is my 3rd sting this week.

Knowing jury duty is looming I tried to get in a big riding week and I succeeded with 14 hours and 237 miles.

At about mile 75 I stopped at "The Store" near Monroe, GA. Four ancient dickheads who always seem to be sitting out front and always with something to say started going on to me about how my bike should have a license plate. It was a clear provocation, but they obviously underestimated how big of an asshole usually I am (just ask anyone) so I agreed with them and said that roads are for cars and I am only fortunate enough to share it with them. Those douchebags had nothing more to say but I am sure they are still sitting there going on about cornholing and such. I hate that place.

With possible jury duty next week I am trying to get in as much riding as I can this week. I actually did some threshold intervals this week and they went well. I am assuming without any formal testing that my ftp is around 300w right now. Racing has helped this and after this weekend no more racing until possibly the Gwinnett Fest Road Atlanta race and maybe the Saturday road race in 4 weeks and then maybe the GA State TT champs in August, then finally the SS champs in September. I am trying to do 1 race per month.

I am juror pool number 48 which does not bode well for me. Maybe I will get lucky. I hate to not want to be on a jury but I am being selfish. At least I am going. Thousands of folks never show up for their duty day and are never caught. Good for me.

I picked up some new cross wheels for this fall. They are Ksyrium SSC SL and came mounted with Dugast Rhino tubulars. They are not the top of the line wheels but I think they will last and perform well. I fell out of love with carbon deep dish bling wheels after my nationals experience.

Sanibel was a great time. Besides the swimming and the ocean, there is great sea kayaking there in the mangroves. North of Sanibel is a small island called Captiva which is a hidden gem. Here is the bike loop if anyone is ever there on vacation.

On vacation at Sanibel Island, FL. Took my bike and there is a nice flat 27 mile loop here which is actually pretty hard. No elevation change but windy, hot and humid. Hopefully my bike/components won't get eaten by the salt.

Very sparse crowd, nice shelly beaches, and pretty good food. A nice vacation spot.

Issaqueena MTB Race

Drove up to Clemson today for the SERC Issaqueena MTB race in the SS class. We started at 9:30 which was a bonus considering the heat of the day would be later. I was hoping to put in a good effort and was interested in the long climb at the end of each lap. What surprised me was the small steep climbs in the middle of the race.

I had a good start and was soon off with Michael Scholtz (NCCX). I led about 1/2 a lap until my saddle bag dropped into my rear wheel. Michael was nice enough to sit up in time for me to fix it and we were off again. One of the disappointing things about the GCS/SERC series line-ups is starting the expert women in front of the SS. It is a frustrating thing for both groups since we usually catch them and have to bother them about passing. Today was no different and as we came upon 4 women on a hill, Michael was able to pass but then the line collapsed for me. I asked to pass but the women were having a tough time on the hill as well. With the SS, momentum is on your side so when it is lost you have to dismount and run. There was no other choice on this climb. I had to do this and eventually passed them but gave up the race lead with Michael. Now doomed to second, I did my best to hold that position.

I was able to climb the finishing hill no problem and it was not really a huge factor. I think Michael would still have beaten me up the climb at the end and won, but I would have like to have played that out instead of getting stuck and losing because I could not pass.

Second is not bad and Michael said he would have waited for me had he known, but that's racing. Tony Angevine also showed a lot of class today by killing me with kindness since our argument about passing a few weeks ago. Thanks Tony!

I had a nice crash today at Yargo because I refuse to wear gloves and my hands get sweaty , hands slide off, and I crash. I am not a big fan of gloves unless it is cold. I am going to have to change that.

I am excited to go up to Clemson this weekend and do the race. It sounds pretty hard but I am wanting to race a few more times this summer. I am going to do the Raccoon Mountain MTB race and then the Gwinnett Fest race at the speedway. After that I am going to attempt to get ready to defend the 40-45 SS State Championship in September. I have been invited to attend Star Crossed in Seattle in September and the Gloucester, Mass. UCI race in October. I have to choose one or the other. I have not heard about the GA Cross Series races but I'll do some of them and possibly one last hurrah at nationals since I have a free place to stay.

Bethlehem-Bostwick

It was a hot one even at 8am. We had around 10 riders and the route was very nice, rural and almost no cars. The pace was around 18mph and everything went smoothly. By 11am it was getting too hot and I'll bet the heat index was around 94 or so. I used to do part of this route starting in Athens with the UGA cycling team. It was one of the winter LSD rides. The climbs out of the Appalachee River are tough and the shake and bake on Gober is rattling but otherwise smooth roads and nice scenery. All in all around 57 miles at 18.4 mph and avg power of 157w.

Rode today at Blankets Creek MTB trails in Woodstock. The trails are very dry but are exceptional. They are quite challenging and the Dwelling Loop in combination with the South Loop makes around 10 miles.

The gearing of 32x16 was perfect and I felt that I could ride anything there with it. I really don't like drop offs and there are two that I had to look away from but they were fun to try and ignore (I remember some of those drop offs in Moab, Utah--it took all I could to ride past those).

Fun time and my new SS Klein is feeling better and better. Hopefully I will ride in Clemson in 2 weeks and then at Raccoon Mountain. I am going to skip Ellijay.

TSS Ramp Rate

Most guys using power and WKO+ look at overall CTL and TSB and want CTL to climb higher and higher until they need to taper for a peak event. This means that TSB goes lower and lower (more negative). But there seems to be a fine line in everyone in how fast you can increase your weekly CTL by accumulating training stress each day. According to the wattage forum the range for most folks falls between 3-8 CTL points per week. For example, if my CTL on Monday is 60, then I would have to accumulate blank amount of TSS that week to raise it 8 points to 68 by the end of the week. The point being that after 8 CTL points difference (ramp rate) that week people often get sick.

Guys who are top caliber and rack up 100+ TSS per day can easily over extend and find themselves ill. But, most people using power know themselves and how much stress they can accumulate before this happens.

How do you ramp it up that much? Well you would have to do any type of workout that would give you a significant amount of training stress on average each day to move it blank points.

Right now I am at a CTL of 73 tss/d. If I want to ramp it up to 75 tss/d by this Sunday, I have to average at least 84 tss/d for the 7 days. Depending on workout goals and ride length/intensity this can be accomplished. But if the goal is to increase CTL over a short period of time it is a risk to ramp up at a maximum amount and chance getting sick or burnt out.

In looking back in my log since January, there has only been 1 week where I ramped at 5 CTL/week. Most of the time I ramp at 1-3 CTL/week and sometimes if it is a rest week or I get sick, the ramp rate is negative.

If I want to have a chance to do well in a peak event and understand from previous experience how much CTL I need before a taper, I could map out my CTL ramp rate and TSS/week just like many folks use periodization (base, build, peak) and get to my goal before the event at my pace.

Now throw on top of this being able to increase your FTP over time as well and you have to superimpose the correct workouts.

For example, I raised my FTP last summer for cross season from 300w in June to 315w by September. That is pretty slow and if you look at my log my ramp rate was also really slow. But for me it was based on the amount of time I had to train and what my 41 year old body could do. I was using specific workouts designed to prepare me for cross and the goal was not really maximum CTL before cross season since I trained all season and peaked in December.

Personally, I would like to see my FTP at the same amount but I would like to increase my CTL to 80 by the end of the summer. These are silly statistical goals but fun to experiment.

Darylmple Loop

Always a tough ride for me, especially riding up from Johnson Ferry Rd.

Map My Ride Map Here

Spalding Alps

Making the best of not being able to drive out to car-free roads much anymore I have gone back to some old routes near my house. One of these I call "Spalding Alps" since Spalding Rd. in Dunwoody is pretty hilly. I like to start right off of Winters Chapel, go left, and ride Spalding all the way to Roberts Rd. Sometimes I keep going as Spalding eventually changes into Darymple Rd, but more often than not I just turn around and do the hills in the other direction and then make up a route back to the house.

Today I did that and was able to get in 28 miles in 1.5 hours. Other times I will exit Spalding and head to Roswell to the riverside area and then back again which is about 2.5 hours. If I am really in good shape for time, I will head up into Roswell and back around Oxbow. This would give me around 3 hours.

Not too shabby for the metro area.

I rode the Ellijay MTB race course today. By the time I got to Ellijay it was raining and although I don't normally ride on wet trails, gas is expensive and it is 88 miles from my house to Ellijay...

Wet, the trails are very treacherous and right out of the gate I took a major spill on one of the notorious downhill sections that has a hard left in the middle of it. After 2 or 3 tough climbs and hike-a-bikes, I was met with another slick downhill and crashed again, this time busting up my pinky pretty bad on a rock and giving me a nice thick bruise on my hip. There is a little break in the undulations through a nice grassy field and some sculpted turns but after that it back to one more extended hike-a-bike.

I was using a 32x18 but I may go to a 34x20. That would give me a 1:1.7 as opposed to a 1:1.77 ratio. I used the 34x20 for the Snake TT and liked it a lot. My legs were pretty fried after the climbing since I am no climber.

So, if the weather holds out I guess I'll be there but if it rains I may skip it altogether.

Heritage MTB Race Result

Some nasty pro-type guys came to play and had a lot of game. My first lap was marred by 4 crashes, 1 over the handlebars. Breaks were disabled, rubbing the tire so I had to stop and fix that. Water bottle gone of 1st lap so I had to take a hand up. The second lap was a total antithesis of the first. I felt in control and began passing folks again. I finished strong but clearly 4 minutes off the podium and 13 minute back from the winner. The winner was 1.5 mph faster than me over the tough slippery, rooted course. Eric Nicoletti who is in front of me in the standings, had a good day and finished 3rd. I was finally satisfied to see him beat me by 4 minutes today.

My new bike performed well but I did not see any real difference. The Rapidade drink mix from Dedicated Athlete was incredible. It was the first time I had ever used a product in a race where I felt a difference in performance from lap to lap.

My 4th place result was my worst this year so far but the field was tough and it was great to have stiff competition. I hope Eric and I can match up again in Ellijay. I think that is going to be a brutal race for a single-speed.

So my FTP based on the 60 minute NP values from my hard race Saturday (304w) is probably too high an estimation. Since I have no other test data, I have been advised to leave it at 295w until I can add another metric. Fine with me.

I am looking forward to Sunday's Heritage MTB race and I am considering abandoning the SS category and racing the 40+ expert category (If I can get it approved). It will depend on whether I have enough time to do 3 laps.

I'll also get to race my new bike which I am looking forward to!

One good thing that came out of the hard race Saturday is that my normalized power for 1 hour was 304w which is an indicator that my FTP is at least that high. It could be higher but probably not. I have had it at 295w so that is encouraging since I have not been doing any real training as of late.

I am going to do a formal test in 2 weeks so let's see what that reveals.

FTP can be determined many ways and the most likely ways have been nicknamed the "7 deadly sins".

GTC Championship Race Recap

For me the race sucked as usual.

I always miss the winning break because I have no idea what I am doing. The chase was hard and fruitless and capped off with 2 mechanicals.

Then to make matters worse, I saw some power data from the winning break and whatever ego I had left was humbled even more.

The race ended up sucking worse for Brendan who did everything right to win only to get squashed at 38 mph by a turning motorist in the last KM.

The big winners were Brendan, Andy, Theron, Michael and Tim.

Not that it matters, but I am going to take out my inability to close 50 yards to the break on the MTB race this weekend. New SS bike too.

School ends Friday. Charlotte turns 3 in 2 weeks!

Power data:

Race average--sucked

The TSS Addiction

Ever since reading the Training With Power book, lurking on the Google Wattage Forum, and using Cycling Peaks WKO+, I can see why so many power users become TSS addicts. TSS or training stress score is a way to quantify the effects of training as a fraction of your functional threshold power, terrain, time, and intensity of the workout. It is defined here.

In using WKO+ the past 3 years, you can create a graph called the Performance Manager that tracks chronic training load, acute training load, and training stress balance (freshness) over time. The meat and potatoes to causing changes in these values is training stress and the TSS value that you acrue in each workout.

The standard of 3 weeks training/1 week rest has been abandoned by many cyclists training with power in favor of using training stress alone. These riders look to build their preparation for events by looking at how much/what kind of TSS they should accumulate each week before their body stops performing optimally. For some power users, the addiction results in just seeing how far you can push the envelope with TSS in terms of daily, weekly and monthly amounts.

It allows you to think of workouts differently. Here is an example from my own riding. I have around 5-6 hours during the work week to ride. If I want to keep my fitness at a specific level I would have to do workouts that increase my CTL and lead to positive changes in FTP in tests. So I know that if I time trial at my FTP for an hour I should earn 100 tss points. Right now to make improvements, I have to be doing an average of 70 tss points per day for 7 days. So an easy day of 50 tss would mean that I would have to make up the other 20 points somewhere else during the week. I also know now howe many tss points I will earn on group rides, intervals, and other rides I commonly do (with some variation on intensity).

But, not all TSS is equal. I can ride for 1 hour at my FTP and get 100 points, or ride for 2 hours at 50% of that and get 100 points. However, the physiological effect is very different. In the forst workout I am stressing my threshold power capabilities while in the other I am primarily using the aerobic system. Depending on my goals, one may be better than the other.

So, two riders with CTL's of 70 tss/d could physiologically have a very differerent FTP depending on their workouts.

It is easy to become addicted in a loose sense to TSS. Watching how the CTL and TSB lines change with even 1 day off per week (given my schedule) can be enough to not take easy days or time off. It can become onsessive to make the CTL line ramp up and the TSB line decrease to negative. Eventually something has to give and one has to be careful to not overtrain or get sick because of it.

GTC Championships

This Saturday is the 4th annual GTC championships. "Historically speaking the inaugural event was 2005 as I (Dan) had missed the entire 2004 season. In 2006 Brent Owens took the win after the 2-man breakaway of Welp and Stone missed a turn. In 2007 Welp won from a breakaway of five riders including Stone, Behning, Simpson,and Coy." (corrected by Dan)

"I suspect Tim Stone really wants it this year but will work for his son Michael if they can get away. Expect Brendan, Andy, Tracy and Theron to be contenders also."

I think this year will be the toughest edition with a rising junior star, hungry club members, and new masters team racers. I think it will be over soon for most, possibly before New High Shoals. Who knows what alliances will form? All I know is that compared to my yearly racing, the GTC championship stands out as the hardest race of the year. Stats from last year...

64 miles in 3 hours
Max Power: 948w
Average Power: 210w--Normalized Power: 257w
Time spent sitting in: 30 minutes (15%)
Time in threshold: 20 minutes Time above threshold: 45 minutes
Variability of terrain: 1.22
Burned 4 matches at 30 seconds each between 300 and 5oo watts. Dropped at mile 55.

Spring Update

It has been a wonderful spring so far. Even though I got a case of the flu back in February and a ear infection in March, I have been able to get in between 8-9 hours a week of riding. I have also been able to do 5 races since January with very good results. My CTL is hovering around 70 which was my high last summer. All this with little structured training except for "sweet spot" intervals every week.

I have only raced on the mountain bike since January and here are the results:

Snake Gap TT: 1st, new course record for the 17 mile single-speed division
2 Ways in 1 Day TT: 1st
Flat Rock MTB Race: 1st
Yargo MTB Race: 2nd
Yargo Dirty Spokes 4 Man Relay: 4th

I have tried to commute once a week but it is not very easy to do. The commute is 40 miles round trip and there are a lot of lights. Last Friday I made it to school in 57 minutes (19.6 average) but the way home I was tired.

My newish single-speed MTB is almost finished. I am waiting on the fork and stem to come in the mail but Max over at REI has the Klein BB and White Industries cranks in perfect alignment. I am really excited to try it out.

Coming up is the GTC Championships next weekend and then the Heritage MTB race.

Dirty Spokes 12 Hour MTB Race

I rode as part of a 4 man relay team in the Ft. Yargo Dirty Spokes MTB Race yesterday. It was cloudy for most of the day with a little drizzle early, and then it gave way to some nice, cool conditions. There were a lot of folks racing this event and hats off to all of the solo 12 hour racers, especially Shane and Mark on the single-speeds. They really suffered through the 12 hours and not many people would want to do that.

Our team was a good mix and our main goal was to have fun and see how competitive we would be, but not go into the race with pre-determined expectations. We went with a line up order of Jim Behning, Theron Colucci, Stephen Jansa, and myself. We did not change it and all of us successfully did 3 laps each. Stephen did about 30 minutes in the dark and I did a full dark lap. We were able to keep good lap times with Jim and Stephen doing laps around 1 hour, Theron around 58 minutes, and myself around 55 minute (except for the dark lap which ended up being 1:05).

As time went on it was apparent that we would be a solid 4th place if we just kept doing good laps. Third became out of reach about 7 hours in and since it was an open field, the top team really turned the pedals and put almost an hour into us.

All in all the race was great fun and we all were pretty low key about our place in it all. My favorite thing of the day was watching a co-ed 2 person 6 hour team that had a toddler. One of them would do a lap and exchange both timing chip and baby at the same time so the other could do their lap. They had it down to an art.

I must say that watching Mark Stewart and Shane Schreihart suffer through the 12 hour solo singlespeed race was enough to make me never want to race 12 hours on a bike doing anything. It looked very painful. They have my respect but hopefully there is no lasting damage to them.

Results

Ft. Yargo MTB Race Recap

Last year when I raced at Yargo I had an intestinal parasite and finished poorly so I was hoping to get a better result this time. We had a large field of single-speed racers and some very good competition. The Ft. Yargo course is really good for a single-speed and the promoters changed the course and left out most of the climbs. Each lap it was pretty easy until 1 mile from the finish where there were two climbing sections with switch backs and then an uphill section after that. From there it was pretty easy single-track to the end. The weather was cool and rainy for the most part and the course got a bit more slick as we raced.

Our start was good and I was in front with another rider and soon we had a gap. Michael Scholtz was the rider with me and he happens to be a very good cyclocross racer from North Carolina. I led most of the first lap and tried an attack through the climbs and had a nice gap on him. once we hit the single track near the start/finish he was back with me so I knew he was strong and there was no more point in attacking him. So, for most of the second lap he and I crusied around the course waiting to slug it out on the final set of climbs. He put me in difficulty on some of the flatter secitons because I was only using a 34x18 which spun me out and made it hard to keep up with his larger gear.

Once we got to the climbs, we both climbed the first switch back together and then back into the woods where I led. He took over on the second set of switch backs and laid into me pretty good. I had the tongue wagging up the climbs but was hanging on. Same through the uphill portion after that. We had another racer with us from a different category and he got between us. On the last little climb my handlebars snagged a tree and I went down. He had about 10 seconds on me now and I chased hard to catch him but ended up going down again on the slippery course. In the end he won by about 40 seconds.

It was the most I'd been tested in a single-speed race so far and the challenge was really fun. I was not dissapointed to be beaten by a cross racer either.

My arsenal is almost complete. I have been obsessed with White Industries freewheels the past few months. My extra Paypal money has gone to getting them in 16, 17, 18 tooth cogs. Only 19 and 20 to go. Maybe a 21 for north Georgia forest service roads. I made a portable vise for my car for changes on the fly. I think if I ever make another SS podium I am going to string them as a necklace for the photo. They are so nice and work so well.

My ENO cranks came in also so now I am waiting on the Phil Wood bottom bracket and bearings and I'll be able to finish the bike. I don't know how it will turn out but I have not had an obsession in awhile and this is filling the vacuum.

The Yargo race looms and it should be really fun. They have re-routed some of the course and all in all the race will be around 22 miles.

I did a 15 minute impromptu TT yesterday because I was late and managed to do 302w average. That puts my FTP around 290w which is what I thought. Two illnesses have impacted that and I would like to maintain a 300w FTP for as long as possible. I don;t really want to train but with the short time I have each day to ride the "sweet spot" intervals (85-90% FTP) make it easy to climb the ladder to 300w. Now and them I'll do a 2x20 at FTP as well. It is hard sometimes to just ride around.

The Z-Pack is working its magic.

Some races I'd like to do this spring/summer:

4/27-- Ft. Yargo MTB Race (SS class)
5/3 -- Dirty Spokes 12 hour MTB Relay Race (as a team)
5/25 -- Heritage MTB Race (SS or EX Class)
6/22 -- Eatonton MTB Race, TT and XC (SS Class)
7/13 -- Cheaha MTB Race (EX Class)
7/18 -- MTB Nationals (SS Class)
8/16 -- Fool's Gold 50 (?)
9/6 and 9/7 -- GA SS Championships (Peak Event) TT, ST, XC

Fool's Gold may be out of my wheelhouse. MTB Nationals participation is tenative right now.

Upper respiratory nastiness. Hopefully I'll be well by Yargo. I'd like to put in a good showing.

Mental Notes...

New crankset installation thought process:

Install the ENO cranks on the 108mm spindle to see if it clears frame. If the 108mm clears, check the chain line and if it is good, then no problem. If it does not clear or if the chain line sucks, get a 113mm spindle from Klein and borrow the installation tool from Peachtree Bikes or see if Free Flite has one. Pop out the old bearing catridge and spindle and install the new 113mm spindle using the tool. Install the ENO cranks and measure the chain line at the seatpost and at the rear freewheel. If they are within 1mm of each other I can live with that. If not, either run it anyway or proceed to down a large bottle of Chimay. Figure out proper spindle length for chain line first dummy!

Klein Pinnacle MTB

I got my 1990 Klein Pinnacle MTB as a graduation present from my folks. Since then it has survived huge jumps, 100 or so MTB races, a MTB tour of Montana, 24 hour races, getting me to class in college, and now its newest incarnation as a single-speed bike. In 1995 I broke the frame and Klein repainted it and fixed it for a cheap fee. All these years later it still has the original bottom bracket and cranks.

After servicing it last week it is now time for its retirement. But, I won an ebay auction for a silver lightly used 1994 Pinnacle on Sunday! Now I am set for another 18 years!

I am going to outfit it with new White Industries Cranks and chain ring. It is coming with a Manitou fork (unknown model) and a nice XTR head set.

I am ready to continue my love affair.

Flat Rock Park MTB Race

Spent a night in a cheap hip hop partying motel and I had ear plugs (whew). No pre-ride and the gear (34x16) was a little rough to push on the course. No mishaps and ended up first by about 2 minutes. Wanted more time with the gear choice but that is just being stupid. Very nice course and I was impressed by Torre's ability to get through the twisty single-track mazes like a rabbit. My lap times were 51 minutes and 48 minutes which would put me third in Mens XC-40+ (geared bikes).

The promoters are great as well. Hoping to do well in 2 weeks at Yargo. Kid's sick, spring break is over, lost my phone at the venue. Time to go to bed before anything else happens.

I am number 531

Looks like the UCI is getting ready to restrict or ban radio communication between riders and team cars. Having never used one, I have no idea what I am missing. In 'cross there is already a ban and I am happy thinking for myself. In MTB no assistance is allowed so no trouble there. One of the main arguments is that the radios allow a heads up for dangerous obstacles. Can you imagine this logic in a MTB race or a 'cross race? It would be non-stop talking.

In last weekend's RVV Devolder's ear piece swung from his ear as he pulled it out after attacking. Phillip Gilbert's earpiece was not used after his attack in Het Volk and it was not working anyway. Both of these guys broke away and won their race. I am old school on this topic and think that a rider should know what to do without assistance or take responsibility for bad decision making in a race if they read it wrong. But, I don't get a vote.

----
Looks like the hole shot will be very important Sunday.

I went over to REI today to visit the world's best mechanic (Alan Smith)about my chain length for the 16 tooth freewheel on my single speed. This is what followed:

1. Hey, your sealed bearings are coming out of your bottom bracket. Let's take a look.
2. A broken plastic crank cap, let's take it out.
3. You've got some stripped threads on your crank arm let's try and get it off by re-tapping. Um, no go, OK we will put it into the vise and you hack saw it so the threads come loose. Meanwhile, I will get you a new crank arm to use.
4. Well, you cut through your axle a bit with the saw but it should be OK. Hey, I have some brand new sealed bearings right here. Your axle is a bit worn but I have about 10 tricks we can use to make it work.
5. Now that the bottom bracket is back together, what was that about chain length?

Alan drops what he is doing, devotes time to me, then asks me to show him something (the ENO eccentric hub). I won't even tell you how generous he was besides his time. I swear if I am able to get another state championship this fall he is getting my jersey. If I ever need open heart surgery I just might let him do it! He and Max are the best mechanics around.

Basically, my MTB is 18 years old. The bottom bracket bearings were 12 years old. The cranks are original. I need a new bike because this one is falling apart. But, I have seen this devotion before in old farmers fixing their tractors and drillers in the field rigging their old drill rigs to make them work again. I love my Klein Pinnacle. The only thing to do is get another one. I am going to ride this one until it fails and then figure out how I can still ride it. Alan?

Today I found out that Tufo discontinued its "clincher-tubular" cyclocross tires. Total dissapointment for me because I really liked them. Now I guess I'll build some tubular wheels and get rid of one of my clincher wheelsets. I am a pretty bad gluer but I suppose if I start early enough I can learn. Too bad Tufo, you had a good customer in me! I think I will stick with them for tubulars and avoid the hype of some of the other brands that cost over $100.

Friday I was trying to take a short cut on a road through Island Ford Park (National Park)in Sandy Springs from the Roberts Road direction. I ended up at the visitors center and asked where the through gate was that connected to Northridge Road. The man behind the desk got mad at me and said that I should be ticketed for riding in the park. I got out of there because he was getting really mad and it was pouring outside.

Well, I now know how to get through the park and I can't for the life of me see what the big deal is. The road is all paved and there is a gate but people are coming and going in/from the park all the time. I am starting to think he thought I was on a mountain bike and wanted to ride in the park on trails. So, I WILL be using the short cut. I am not being a rebel, it just makes too much sense to go that way.

As a caveat, the short cut is not easier at all. There are 3 leg-breaking climbs up from the river level. But, it is more scenic then the Northridge/GA 400 intersection, and safer too.

Oh yeah, and today I had a nice failure of a Shimano Ultegra rear derailleur cog. It cracked clean through the plastic. No harm done though, I was just surprised to see the damage as I cleaned my bike.

Today I was able to ride into work, which is a treat for me. I used to do it a lot more but now I am down to once a week at most. It is a great ride that ends up along the Chattahoochee River right at daybreak and the river and wildlife viewing is so much better than being stuck looking at tail-lights.

I do this in an hour on non-commute days, but the lights and traffic add 15 minutes so I leave at 6:45 to get to school (work) at 8am.

One of the cool things I like about single-speed riding and racing is the dilemma of gearing. I have used a 2:1 ratio (36x18) most of the time but went for a much easier gear for the Snake TT at 34x20 (1:1.77). Now with a flat race course coming up, I am leaning towards a 36x16 (2.25) or a slightly easier gear 34x16 (2.15).

Now I mainly use a 42 big ring in 'cross and in looking at the gear ratios, I should be able to push the 36x16 but I am not sure until I try it out. A lot of the 29" racers last week were doing 32x18 or 32x20

It gives me something positive to obsess about anyway.

Next week is spring break and I hope to be able to ride at least 3, 2-hour days, one of them on the MTB. I am pretty well below 0 right now in TSB and have been for awhile. I would like to bring it up for air in time for the Flat Rock GSC MTB race on the 13th. So, I plan on getting to -2 or 0 that Saturday.

I would be nice to continue building my CTL this spring and get it back up to about 70 before memorial day and then perhaps get it to 80 tss/d by MTB nationals.

Most of my riding have been tempo with 1-2 sessions a week of either "sweet spot" riding or threshold efforts. I am not really "training" at this point with dedicated intervals and i want to see if this free-form approach gets any results.

Flat Rock will be a good test and I am planning on running a 36x16 single-speed gearing. That is pretty huge but apparently the course is very flat.

Here is a shot of my PMC up to date.

2 Ways in 1 Day MTB TT Results

The 2W1D MTB TT is a race on the Big Creek MTB trails in Roswell, GA. It is about 2 miles from my high school and I ride it at last once a week. These were the "forbidden trails" my high school students told me about all those years ago and now one of them, Artur Sagat, crushed the course today and was once second away from the course record.

The clockwise direction to me is the harder of the two and we did that first. I led off the race and Artur followed at a 1 minute interval. I was on the single speed (36x18) and he was on a geared bike. He ended up laying 30 seconds into me by the end and finished at 19:55 for the ~6 miles. I finished at 20:23 which was a PR for me. The fastest I had done it previously was a 21:30.

The counter clockwise direction to me is faster and Artur started first and ended with a 19:47, 1 second off the course record. I gave it "all guns at once" and finished 20:30.

In the end I was able to take the single-speed 1st place (40:53) and 2nd overall and Artur finished first overall (39:42).

It was a fun race and a good "prologue" type sprint effort.

I received a really nice first place award from NW SORBA for---> winning the 17 mile Snake TT single speed title for 2008. It is a blue chain ring and in the middle is a customized headset cap with the Snake TT engraved in it. Also engraved is the placing and year on the chain ring.

<---Also, I have my new Lazer Genesis team Belgie helmet that HUP got this year. I really like it so far and it looks sharp. I have been able to get in some good riding in the past 2 weeks and my fitness is getting stronger. In the chart below you can see the yellow columns go positive during my flu illness and then in the past 3 weeks I have pushed them negative while my CTL (blue line) has climbed nicely. Hopefully I can continue to improve up to some un-designated level. I am planning on doing the GTC La Primavera next weekend and then the Saturday after that, take a shot at the "2 ways in 1 day" MTB TT in Roswell.

Big Creek SS

The Big Creek MTB trails are pretty close to my school so i usually go there twice a week for an hour. Riding the single-speed there is great and the course is much more challenging for me then riding it with gears. Think Snake TT with smaller rocks.

I have been trying to best my outer-loop time over the past few months and yesterday I had a nice breakthrough. My normal times for either direction have been around 24:30 but lately I have only been able to go on days where I can ride in the counter-clockwise direction.

Yesterday I did 2 laps and managed to clock a 22:45 and a 22:30 which was surprising. I am going to try and duplicate this in 2 weeks at the time trial there.

Dan's Macabre Comparison 3

Today we did a different course which was about 7 miles longer than usual and no dirt road. It was windy on the way back but we still did a great job. I am pretty tired from pulling but Theron provided the most horsepower and his pulls were fantastic. The objective of remaining steady, smooth and working together makes this ride a gem.

I had moved my FTP down to 280w because of the flu without any real testing to back it up. That seemed to be a good move and it may be a little higher than that. I may test in 2 weeks to see. I was very happy with my power output today and my CTL is back up to the pre-flu level of 57 tss/d because of some extra time to ride in the past 2 weeks. Hopefully I can massage this up into the 70's by the middle of summer.

Upgrades

I have been making some upgrades to my bikes over the past few weeks. I have my Klein Pinnacle single speed MTB and i just upgraded the wheels and tires. I went tubeless on the wheels using Bontrager Mustang tubeless ready rims. I had to get the rear wheel built because I needed to incorporate the White Industries ENO eccentric hub. Allen Smith at REI did the build and a great job. The front wheel came pre-assembled and with a nice XT front hub. The Bontrager tubeless ready tires were horrible and using soap you could see the air leaking out of the sidewalls. I took them back for some Michelin tires and use Stan's slime and they are working great.

I also went ahead and bought a very nice high end White Industries ENO rear 18 tooth hub. So far I notice a big difference in performance.

I also upgraded my brake system to XTR levers and some fancy teflon cables. Lastly, I bought some new Adidas Addistar MTB shoes which look really nice.

No upgrades on my road bike since I like it pretty much as is.

The biggest upgrade will be next week when I buy a new Honda Element EX. Even though it is not the best car out there, it pretty much has what I want without going full mini van (which was a thought).

Harbins Winter Ride

One of the last winter rides and my first >3 hr ride since the flu. It was hard and my power is very low right now. I predict I have lost about 23 watts from my previous FTP of 303 w. The day was nice, sunny and around 70 degrees and spring is right around the corner. All in all I did 54 miles in 3 hours at an average power of 169w and 18 mph average. Pretty easy stuff but it felt hard. Hopefully the chest and coughing will subside soon.

Climbing Out of the Hole

The flu has kept me from exercising for 4 days now and hopefully I can do something easy tomorrow. In tracking training stress (TSS), or in my case "riding stress" (RSS), I was at a manageable 56 RSS points before the flu. Now I am down to 50. Judging by my software and the time I'll have to ride in March, it will take me most of the month to get back what 4 days took away. If I were training I could probably get it back in 2-3 weeks.

Once I feel back to normal I can do some harder rides but I have to be ready to get dropped since I have been going down while others have been going up. My next event I want to try in another MTB TT in Roswell in late March so hopefully I can do a good job there.

At this point being able to get out and do something would be nice.

I am just glad it is not 1918.

It was my turn in the barrel. Wife sick, kid sick, then me sick. Nasty chest stuff and slight fever. Seems like everyone's got something this year. I'd love to sit on the couch and watch TV tomorrow--slight chance.

I have been trying to get out and ride and so far I am managing 1-2 single-speed rides per week and a few road rides. Fitness it maintaining and I managed to dodge some illnesses along the way.

I went tubeless on my MTB investing in the Bontrager system with Stan's sealant. I think I will use that for my Tufos in the fall. They are really nice so far.

Cyclocross Magazine is featuring nationals and the crash photo in the snow from Larry Rosa. It is a good photo no matter who is in the middle. I wish I had been more to the outside left!

February has been challenging and I hope that I can keep it going into March. No big spring break plans this year so I am going to see if I can go up to Tsali for the race.

I am also considering MTB nationals for the SS division in July.

Snake Creek Gap TT

I was told that this TT would be "epic" but I did not do the 34 mile so I would say the 17 mile TT was "very challenging" to say the least. The most difficult part was the large rock/boulder garden on the ridge with about 6 to go. Up until then I would have said it was manageable on the single-speed but then when you throw in the crazy rocks, it becomes Hors Categorie. From what folks tell me, the second 17 is the harder of the two.

I was using my Klein Pinnacle that was converted a few years ago into a single speed. I decided to use a 34x20 and that was a good idea. There were plenty of places in the race where even a geared bike would have trouble climbing the steep grades, so I had to push a lot on the second half.

I had a mechanical about 50 yards from the start where my rear axle slipped out of the dropout but then as I climbed the first hill I got warm and eventually found some kind of rhythm. The fire road and creek crossings were very nice, and I have to say that riding weekly at Big Creek MTB trails prepared me for a lot of the rocks.

I felt like I had lost a lot of time at the start but ended up passing every one in front of me except one racer who came in about 2-5 minutes ahead at the finish. Once alone it was easier to get rolling and establish a pace.

The descent back to the start/finish was great--about 50 mph downhill on pavement really paid you back for the leg-busting ridge.

I was thrilled to post a good time and take first place. I am not sure if I'll do the March 2nd finale but it is tempting to try and break 2 hours. I know now what to do after riding the course once and it would be very fun to try.

(picture: mtbepic61)

Dan's Macabre Comparison 2008

I won't do them all, but when I do I'll post stats:

SS MTB Gearing

I decided to take on the 17 mile Snake MTB TT next weekend and have been ruminating over gearing options. My cranks are 110 BDR which limits them to the smallest chain ring size of 34 teeth. Here are the options with what I have...

The best option I think will be the 34x20 which I had to special order. That gives me a 1:1.7 ratio and will have to get me up those hills. I use a 36x18 most of the time but not on those hills.


I am up for the challenge but I think it is supposed to rain so that will be interesting.

SS at Ft. Yargo--Winder, GA

Yesterday when I rode for an hour it was 22 degrees, windchill 11. Today when I woke up and waited to leave, the temperatures had gotten to the 30 degree mark. At Yargo the trails were frozen on the first lap and then all muddy the second. The Maxxis Larsen Mimo tires I have do not like the mud and they slide around a lot. The effort was nice but pretty hard in the cold. By the second lap I was warm but tired and when I was finished I felt like I actually had done something.

Some dip-shit left a puppy in the bathroom at the nature center overnight. It escaped and parked itself right by my car. I had no other option but to pet it awhile and then call the rangers to take it to a shelter. It was a great dog and I wish we could have one right now.

I hit a big tree with my shoulder from a mud induced slide but no real damage. I love the singlespeed and I know that in the mud on my old geared bike, the shifting would have been shit on the second lap.

FTP Test

I decided I was bored and did a FTP test because i have been putting it off. I did the standard 20 minute and 5 minute all out tests. I scored an average power of 316W for the 20 and 368w for the 5 minute test. When i put this into the metric, I get a FTP score of 303w, which is about what I had during my summer test. Predictably it has dropped from 316w since October and the end of race season.

One goal is to try and keep this as high as possible through riding and racing this spring. I am going to try and test every 6 weeks this spring to see what happens. One of the reasons I did this was to get an accurate measure of the "sweet spot" of 85-100% FTP so when I am crunched for time I can work out in that zone.

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.

Next to cyclocross, the most enjoyable type of riding for me is riding the single speed mountain bike. I really like the freedom only one speed provides and the strength challenge I have to overcome. I mostly ride it at Big Creek Mountain Bike Trails in Roswell, GA because it is a mile from my work, but I also enjoy riding it at Ft. Yargo, the International Horse Park, and Blankets Creek trails as well.

It is a really great way to get a lot out of an hour if that is all you have. It's fun, hard, and a great workout. I am still learning with gear choices and I hope to try it out in the Georgia mountains this spring.

Races/Rides I'd Like to Do This Year (without serious training!):

February 16th: Tundra TT
March ??: GA SS Championship, Conyers?
March 29th: Two Ways in One Day MTB TT
April 13th: Flat Rock Park, Columbus SS MTB or April 19th: Cohutta 35 (on SS)
April 27th: Ft. Yargo SS MTB
May 3: Dirty Spokes 12 Hour (as a team)
May 25th: Heritage SS MTB
July??: GTC Century
August 3rd: Covington Century
September 28th: 6-Gap Century
October 28th: Tumbling Creek MTB Rumble SS
October-December: GA Cross Series

One Last Racing Goal

My only racing goal left is to break an hour for a 40km TT using a regular bike. My coach suggested 8-12 weeks of level 2, 3 and 4 workouts (easy, tempo, threshold), then 6 weeks of focusing on L4, L5 and a little more L3 (threshold, VO2 max, tempo). So that's 18 weeks before the target.

He also suggested that I gradually get used to a 60 minute effort in the drops saying, "As someone who did a few 40k TTs before aerobars existed, I can tell you that is not necessarily easy. At 40kph and over though, the aero position you can hold is perhaps the most important thing. When folks start to suffer, they typically straighten their arms and sit up higher (which can cost you 20-30W!). So being able to get and stay low when you're really suffering is a critical skill."

He also suggested picking the target day wisely in terms of wind, warmth, and air density conditions.

I am not sure when I will try to tackle this remaining goal, but I am sure it will be challenging and I may not be able to do it on my first try. I have the course already selected so all that is left is motivation and time to spend.