Matthew Lester

Best thing since sliced bread?

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:35:00 +0000

Just finished reading an article on cycling news and found this product:

http://www.metrigear.com/products/

Assuming that this power meter is accurate and reliable, I think it has the potential to put powermeter hubs and crankarms out of business. Or at least severely drop the price. At a price of $1000 or less its is more than competitive with the price of other powermeters with comparable accuracy.

The use of a powermeter in the pedals would potentially give you the most accurate reading of power a rider is putting out. With a recording from each pedal you could determine if you have weak leg force in one of your legs. Allows you to use whatever wheelset you want, and whatever crankset you want. They are easily changed from one bike to another. I could go on and on...did I mention they sale for $1000 or less.

One of the only two downsides I see at the moment is the Speedplay pedal is the only one equipped for the meter at the moment. I don't imagine it'll take long before other pedal manufacturers jump on the bandwagon of this new technology. The second would be the use of rechargeable batteries, but that's just a person preference on my part.

I once thought power meters weren't for me, and it took a long time for me to break down and buy one. Once I did though, wow. I wish I had bought one a long time ago. If you don't have one, buy one. If you can't afford one, sale everything extra you have and get one. Other than having a decent bike, its the best thing you can buy for training. My favorite quote "power doesn't lie".

I think the powermeter turned a page in the book of cycling, and this new product (assuming its as good as the company claims) will take the use of a powermeter to a whole new level.

Take care!

Trainer time

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:58:00 +0000

With it getting dark outside by 5:30, it leaves little time during the week to get outside. And with the weather not breaching the 25F mark for almost two weeks, I'm not to crazy about getting out anyway. A lot of people pride themselves on riding in this weather, but not me. Once it gets that cold it seems easier and easier to pick up some sort of cold or sore throat. With minimal sleep, 45-50hrs of work a week, family time, and training I don't have a lot of time to get sick. So its more important to me to minimize my chances of getting sick than to ride outside.

So that means hitting the trainer. Since I graduated college the trainer and I have been friends. Even during long days of work during the summer I sometimes go home and ride it. It seems the biggest problem people have with riding a trainer is staying focused because they're setting still.

I remember when I first started anything closely related to training back in 2005 my mom and dad bought me my first trainer. A Kurt Kenetic fluid trainer, the Cadillac of trainers. My first ride on it lasted about 25 min. I hated it so much I thought about returning it and getting the $ back.

Over time I've learned to deal with the trainer, and if I want to ride during the winter months its about the only option I have. I can do about any workout I need to on the trainer except for sprinting, and I don't attempt that for my own safety. I'd hate to break a collarbone or any bone while riding inside. Even 4 hour endurance rides, which takes more focus than anything.

So if you like to race and you want to maximize your time during the winter months just come to terms with the trainer. If I can do it, anyone can.

Happy New Year! Take care.

Great Gerro interview

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:49:00 +0000

Here's my third post in just a few days. I must not be working enough. I just finished reading this great interview of Simon Gerrans.

He talks in the interview about his training load. While this is still a very personal topic (meaning it varies a lot from person to person), I really liked what Gerro had to say. Seems like a down to earth guy...and not one that would curse like a sailor (aka LA).

http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2009/12/ct-interviews-simon-gerrans/

Enjoy!

Recovery (Good Stuff)

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:14:00 +0000

I just put up a new post yesterday, but I felt it was all opinions and not much fact that I could test to. I'm really just now starting my L3 type workouts and can't say whether they work or not. I know the 'numbers' look good and I feel good, but would prefer until I get some results to testify to its greatness.

What I can talk about is some products I'm using for recover. The first and probably most prominent product is 'The Stick'. I use this thing all the time:

After every ride I use it, and even sometimes when I just want to massage my legs. I would back this product in helping recovery 100%. I have the travel size, but any should work fine I suspect. Get one if you don't have one already.

The next product I'm not completely confident in, but like the way they make my legs feel. Compression socks. I went cheap and got the DeFeet Calfskins:

I haven't read any good info on compression wear other than they have proved that it reduces swelling after strenuous activity which helps with blood flow. Even those writings aren't 100% certain there's an advantage though. I thought for $15 I could give it a try.

I have a certain friend that uses the Skins compression pants. Last time he and I spoke he was pretty fond of them. Maybe I'll get a pair of those one day.

And last but not least, I've been drinking lots and I mean LOTS of water. This helps everything from your digestive system to clearing out all toxins in your muscles that are produced during strenuous exercises. The only bad part about this is all the trips to the toilet.

With all this I'm putting in quite a bit more time than I used to. Hopefully it equals out to better performance this spring.

Take care!

Hard easy riding

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 13:51:00 +0000

There was a recent article on Pez mentioning the out of LSD (long slow distance), and the in of MP (motor pacing). I'm ok with this saying for us working people.

MP during the 'base' period is, according to what I've researched, riding around in your L3 zone. I like keeping it between 75 and 85% of my FTP. This early in winter I'm leaning more towards the 75% area, and I'll ramp up as winter goes on.

Time wise, I've never pinned down and did a 5 hr ride in the L3 zone. It is certainly possible to do this, and if you have time it would definately be a great workout. I'm looking at 3-4 hours. Again more towards the 3 this early, and start going towards 4 later in winter.

That's it. Nothing major. Hope everyone had a good Christmas. Take care!

None performance related post...kind of

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:37:00 +0000

There's been a lot of news of late about the conflict between Armstrong and Contador. I just wanted to give a quick opinion of my own. That's all it is too. All I know is what I read and see out of the two champions.

At a glance they are both great champions. Both have the natural ability to win tours. Each Armstrong and Contador have become household names to cycling enthusiasts. But their personalities are completely different.

Contador appears to be more quite than Armstrong. He has a respectful attitude when being interviewed, and from everything that I've seen has acted with integrity. The only move he has made that is questionable is the attack on climb during the tour that caused Kloden to get dropped. However, if you were on a team with guys that you couldn't trust 100%, and you knew you were capable of winning the tour, what would you have done?

Armstrong is arguably the best TdF rider in the history of the race. Maybe not a heroic as we look back at Coppi or Merkx, but he knows how to win it. What I dislike is his attitude as a cycling icon. He acts with arrogance while being interviewed, and doesn't hold his profanity back in the least. I don't think you would've ever seen Coppi or Merkx acting this way in front of the cycling world. Some people say most champions act this way, but I've seen nothing out of Contador in this manor...and he beat Armstrong. Plus Armstrong put down Sastre's tour win, and who doesn't like Sastre? Sastre is a very respectable person as well.

Finally, both are capable of winning the tour...still. However, I think that Contador has shown hands down he is the better champion off the bike (and on the bike when looking at the '09 tour). Maybe I'm wrong, but again its just my opinion.

Johnny D sent out a notice of Owen Cup on Jan 30. I think I might go.

Short on posting material

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:06:00 +0000

I was hoping to comment on the article Pez was supposed to publish this week. Looks like I'll be waiting for a bit.

I've been playing around with finalizing my training sched through the first part of the year, as most people have probably been looking at their own. All this makes me excited about starting the next racing season. I'm thinking I'll wait till later in March to start racing rather than Feb, and try to race more in April and May. Those two months are hard to for me to race in because most of the races seem to be 5+ hours away. I'd race every weekend if it were possible.

Also I'm going to be leaving Rogues Racing. I'll be joining up with the Tri Cities Road Club. I've had a good time with the Rogues, but my distance from Blacksburg makes it difficult to be very involved other than races. With the TCRC group I'll have an opportunity to help with more activities. The TCRC group is a well established club that puts on several great road races, and a very good cross series. They also have several other rides that aren't USCF related to get the whole community into cycling. I'm really looking forward to racing with those guys.

Its starting to get cold outside, and the weather is staying pretty nasty. Looks like I need to just get used to riding the trainer for 4+ hours at a time.

Take care!

Back from St. Louis and more TSS

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:40:00 +0000

Well I got back this past Friday from St. Louis, and was hoping to have some pictures posted from the trip. However, due to lack of motivation I haven't edited the photos yet, but will soon and get them up here.

In the mean time I read a good article at Pez. Click here to read. This is part one of a two part series discussing and comparing what some have called the caveman method to the new modern method of training with intensity at threshold throughout the year. This seems to be an ongoing debate in the last two to three years, maybe even longer than that.

I'm bringing this up to refer back to my last post of training by looking at your TSS. Training is adapting to stress. If most of your races turn out to give you a TSS of 200-250, then you should be training towards that amount of stress. So why the debate? As we all know time is the limiting factor for most of us on what we can do as far as training. I'm lucky to get in one long ride (4-5hrs) per week. So the caveman method of 25 hrs/week doesn't fit my lifestyle. I have to make up for the time I can't spend on the bike with extra intensity.

Sweet spot training has become really big lately. Its on all kinds of forums and chat rooms. This is a big part of my training, and as well as my friends that are on time restraints. (for those that don't know, sweet spot training is at around 95% of your FTP). Sweet spot training lets you ramp up the amount of stress your body is adapting to, or TSS, in a lesser amount of time without severely damaging your muscles.

For example a 2x20min workout at sweet spot for me yields a TSS of somewhere between 100-130 with a 1.5hr ride. To get this same TSS with L2 riding I would have to put in 2.5-3hours. That's double the amount of time.

In conclusion, I feel that if you have the time to put in hammer out those 3-6 hour days. I don't think you can replace that method 100%. Doing intervals of some sort all year is challenging mentally. If you don't have time for the LSD type training (long slow distance), SST (sweet spot training) is a very effective method of maintaining and gaining fitness.

Take care!!

Backwater, training, and riding outside

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:33:00 +0000

Alright so I took a few days off the blog. I can't go without it. I'm not sure if I'm addicted or not, but the thoughts of not being able to pour my ramblings onto a website for everyone to read scares me. ha. Not really, but it is enjoyable. So I'm taking backwater on getting rid of the blog. Perhaps I'll make it more interesting though.

I've been reading some really good stuff from Joe Friel's blog. I'm not a big advocate of Friel because he's into the riding 40 hrs/week. That's perfectly fine if you have time, but for the most of us that work and have a family life it just doesn't work. I still keep up with his thoughts and opinions on his blog, as I feel he's a very knowledgeable individual on all things concerning coaching and training. Check his blog out. On the right-hand side of his blog there are three posts about stress-based training. Check 'em all out.

Recently he has discussed the importance of an athlete's TSS (Training Stress Score). I'll have to admit that before I read these posts of his I thought that if I came home, loaded my PT onto my computer, and then saw a big number in the TSS slot that I had done something good. If it was a small number I should push harder next time. In other words try to get the TSS to as big of a number as I could every time I did a specific focused workout. Man was I wrong, and have not been taking advantage of one of the biggest tools Training Peaks software has to offer (you can also calculate TSS on your own using the chart Friel posted on his blog).

What Friel says is 100% true, and makes complete sense, "Training for racing is all about adapting to stress". Now of course we all know tactics and a dash of luck have to do with winning, but for training that's it.

Thanks to Friel for sharing all this information without charging his coaching services.

For the past couple winters I've locked myself inside and hammered out on the trainer. I've not had any problems doing intervals, or even rides up to 2-3 hours. Over 3 hours though and I can't handle it any longer. So I'm going to get outside this winter with little regard to the weather and hammer out some long rides on Saturdays and Sundays. During the week it'll be dark by the time I get home from work, so the trainer will be the only form of riding.

Hope you enjoy reading, have a good Thanksgiving, and take care!

Notice

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:16:00 +0000

Last post here. Maybe creating a new blog, maybe completely deleting this one.

New Shoes Part 2...and cross update

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:24:00 +0000

For part one go here.

I've had a chance to put several miles on my new Specialized Pro shoes, and I have to say that they are probably the best bike shoe I've ever put on. I'll recap a few of my favorite things about the shoe. The hill cup keeps the foot planted and prevents it from moving anywhere without the shoe. The straps really help make the shoe. The main buckle strap at top is completely adjustable and really sets the foot when buckled down. The velcro straps really impressed me as well. Since I do have a skinny foot most of the time I bottom velcro straps trying to get the shoe tight. Since Specialized offers this shoe in three (3) widths, I was able to order a shoe that really fits my foot.

On the road everything I just mentioned still holds true. You can really feel the slight amount of wedge the shoe has built into it, but for me it didn't seem to cause any problems. The one thing I really noticed and really liked was the efficiency of the shoe. I felt like everything I wanted to put to the pedals got there. Certainly there will most likely never be 100% transfer of energy to the pedal from our feet, but Specialized has closed the gap for sure. Great great product. If I lost these shoes today, I would re-order them without even looking at other shoes.

If I remember I'll post on their ability to withstand wear after this winter.

On the riding side of things, I think cyclocross is pretty much done for the season. I got sick this past week from some bad Chinese food (never eating at the Red Flower again), and then pulled a long day at work the very next day. This left me feeling dead to the world and so I opted out of the cross race saturday. The MSG 5 weekend I'll be in St. Louis on business, and for the final MSG 6 I'll be here in Grundy as we roll out a project we've been working on the last few months. If I feel good and the weather isn't too bad I might try the Tenn state cross race in January. For the most part though my cross season is complete.

So what for training? Until this work stuff hit I was working on figuring out what workouts, tapering, training period worked best for me. I got some really good info to work with, and I feel I can come out of the gate next season ready to go. My first goal of the season will be to test myself at Jeff Cup. This is a big race and its a Pro,1,2,3 field. It'll give me a good idea of if I trained well enough, and maybe pick up some knowledge from a more advanced crowd. From there I just want to do what everyone else does.......win!

Now its back to putting a bunch of time in on the bike with tempo work, threshold work, and lots and lots of SST (Sweet spot training).

Take care!

New Shoes Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:22:00 +0000

Since March of this year I've been riding the Bontrager RXL road shoes. When Bontrager first introduced photos and specs on these shoes I thought I had to have a pair. I mean I had been running a set of nikes for four (4) years, so Ashley bought me a pair for my birthday. Here's a quick pro/con review of the Bontragers:

Pros: Beautiful white shoe, stiff sole, and comes with decent footbed.

Cons: Cleat doesn't set even on the bottom of the shoe and requires a shim to fix. Cup for your hill is non-existent. Construction of the shoe is a little weak: glue can be seen where the shoe is put together, the buckle system isn't what I would call great, and did I mention the cleat issue?

A personal problem I had with the shoe was the huge toe box. I have skinny flat feet, and this shoe doesn't fit snug enough for my taste. I wear a 12 length with a D width in US size, and this shoe doesn't cut it. Also the e-Soles foot bed is very nice, but it doesn't come from Bontrager with the arch support for flat feet as most companies do OEM. This is only a problem because I'm cheap and didn't want to buy the arch support for flat feet. Neither of these issues can be blamed on Bontrager, but leads me to my next paragraph.

Yesterday my new Specialized Pro Road shoes came in. I have been looking at some Sidi's, some Shimano shoes (which fit well as MTB shoes), and then these Specialized. What sold me on trying a pair of the Specialized was all the options they had for foot size. With width they have Narrow, Standard, and Wide. Half sizes up to a Euro 47. Three different foot beds for flat, semi-arch, and high arched feet. The buckle strap is even adjustable without having to buy any extra parts. What is there not to love?

My first impression of these shoes is they look great. I picked up a black pair in size 45/12 (euro/US). Getting the shoes on is a bit of a challenge compared to the bontragers because of the hill cup that they have. Once I got the shoe on though, it fit like a glove. Perfect length, snug all the way around the foot, and the hill cup was impressive. I don't imagine much foot movement inside these shoes. The foot bed came for flat feet, which saved me from buying another foot bed. That's a plus for me.

Construction is equally impressive. Very high craftsmanship, and that's something I don't give out to many manufacturers.

I haven't ridden with these shoes yet, but I will today and review by the end of the week how they feel on the bike.

MSG#3 continued....

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:57:00 +0000

For part one go HERE.

Since I'm not stealing pictures anymore...or trying to quit anyway, here's a link to my new favorite pic. I like it so much I might buy it and make a poster out of it...not really, but I like it. It says pain and anger all in one.

http://www.bart.ifp3.com/#/gallery/09-msg-series-3/09msg3-286/

In addition to what I posted Saturday night about the race, I'd like to say that I really came to like the new wheelset/tire combo that I got for the cross bike. After the first race of the season I wasn't liking them so much because they were slow on a dry course, but in a mudfest and wet grass I couldn't imagine anything better. The Williams Cyclocross wheelset rolled great, had great braking ability, and were stiff. The Challenge Grifo 34's as big as they might be, handled the dirt/mud/grass/wet/offcamber/flat/whatever the course had to throw at them. I would highly recommend these tires for any kind of conditions that weren't dry. For dry 32's would be better, or better yet a file tread.

Thanks for reading!

MSG#3

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:44:00 +0000

Today was the third race of the MSG cyclocross series. The weather was wet, and mildly warm. The TCRC guys did a great job throwing together a great course that had plenty of obstacles for everyone. They had a short run up, what seemed like a 100yard run through sand, barriers, and plenty of off camber riding that ended up not being rideable. Overall another great course.

As for the race. I was really nervous this morning, and even on the start line, but luckily that went away as soon as we stared out. I had a good start. In the first lap I think every rider in the field hit the deck at least once if not twice. My opportunity to eat some dirt came when a Lees Mcrae rider crossed up in front of me and we T-boned. This wreck caused a chain reaction with the other 8 riders behind us. I think all of us were picking our bikes up off the ground and trying to get going again. After that things mellowed out and pretty much stayed the same. I wound up finishing in at 6th (that was the last place I heard the announcer call). Our field was small though, maybe 12 or 14 guys? Anyway the size of the field didn't bother me too bad. What got me was finishing about 4 minutes down on the winner. I just have to go faster.

The legs feel great. I can tell a big difference between the first race and this one, and if this...should I call it a test peak?...works I hope to see some more improvements. I feel as good or better as I did last Jan and Feb.

I found a good ride for some long weekend rides. I have the option of 50 miles w/2500ft of climbing, 60 miles w/4000ft of climbing, or 70 w/5000ft of climbing. Why am I even mentioning this ride you ask? Say you have plenty of rides you can easily beat these numbers? Each of these rides include a 5.5 mile section of dirt road, with 2.5 miles of it being uphill with parts reaching up to 8% grade. I'm not a big fan of climbing, but this ride has me excited. Maybe I'll actually start to enjoy climbing....

That's it for now. I'm not going to NC next weekend, but I may drive up to tech for some night cross there. Lets wait and see what the weather is like. If it rains, I don't know that I could say no.

Thanks for reading!

What season is it?

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:29:00 +0000

Just as I finished a post about winter being here, the weather does a 180 and turns into mid-low 60's. I wont complain though. With the warm weather I took the bike off the trainer and headed outside. I just wish it would either be winter or summer.

Training. Haven't talked about it in a few weeks. I'm still on my plan to peak in 12 weeks, and I'm now 6 weeks in. I've started adding some intensity in, and its feeling pretty good. I can tell it would've been nice to have had more sub-threshold work before starting some intensity. I'll look at that before the start of next road season. I'm also learning about how much I didn't know, and probably still don't, about myself and my training.

Cross. I have my second race of the season this coming weekend. To be honest I'm not expecting much more than my first race. Waiting a month between races is not a good idea. While all the other guys have been out racing their bikes I've been deer hunting, helping work on a house, and setting on the couch. As of right now I'll be racing almost every weekend between now and Dec 12. Hopefully that'll help me ramp my fitness back up and test this 12 week plan I've mustered up. One could say race into shape.

Also with the trainer riding I have some major crow to eat. Last winter I went through a big spell of how and why I thought I should have a trainer FTP and a road FTP. I was wrong, and realize what an idiot I looked like posting a 345watt FTP. The truth is I believed it though, and it caused me to really get down on myself this past summer and ask questions like "why can't I do 6x4min intervals at 400watts each". Well I wasn't that strong. In reality my FTP is around 320watts. That's both on the trainer and off. At one point I think they were different but along the way I guess I adapted to the trainer and became able to reproduce my power from the road. As depressing as it was to finally realize this, it'll definitely help me make more headway in my training. And definitely help from over training. Have I mentioned I hate crow?

That's all for now. Remember Power is Power no matter how bad you don't want to admit it.

Now twitting...or is it tweeting?

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:35:00 +0000

Follow me

https://twitter.com/LesterMatt

Mr. Winter is here

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:47:00 +0000

In the last week we've seen the weather go from around 60 to below 30. That means its officially fall. This week the temp is supposed to head back up to around 60 for a few days and then fall back down.

All this cold weather has me on the trainer 100% of the time (save a few and far between weekend rides outside). For some reason I've never had much getting on the trainer for intervals or longer rides. I'll admit 4 hours is the longest I've ever stayed on the trainer, but 3 hours is the normal long ride for weekends when I don't get outside.

How to pass time on the trainer you ask? Movies, and lots of them. I have Flanders, Roubaix, Het Volk, Giro, the Tour, and a couple more to keep me occupied. That's right, I listen to Phil Liggets voice so much during the winter, I come into the spring races with a British accent....ok that's a lie.

This year I'm thinking of a few new videos. The one my buddy MattP has me wanting to watch is "A Sunday in Hell". Its about the 1976 Paris Roubaix. I've only read about the movie and watched a clip or two from youtube, and I think its worth the purchase. Maybe I'll look at getting another year of the Tour of Flanders as well.

Speaking of Flanders, I'm getting pretty excited about the trip to Belgium this coming summer. It'll be my first time overseas. I've been doing a little research on Belgium, and I've found it has two things that are of high interest to me. The first and obvious one is cycling. The second would be the production of steel in the southern part of the country. Working at a coke plant, click here for more info on what coke is, it seems like if I spoke Flemish or French I would fit right in. Maybe SunCoke will put a plant in southern Belgium and I can move there for work.

Next cross race on the 31st. I'm adding a bit of intensity into my training, so hopefully the next race will go a bit better than the last.

Take care!

Wild, Wonderful Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:38:00 +0000

Friday I drove up to Charleston, WV to meet up with a friend, Brent, and then head towards Snow Shoe ski resort. I got to Charleston and the weather was pretty nasty. Raining hard, and a little chilly, so we decided to leave on saturday morning.

After some breakfast at the local Cracker Barrel, we made our way up to the resort. As we were climbing the mountain the temp on the truck display kept dropping. Once at the top of the mountain the temperature was around 40degreesF. That probably wouldn't have been so bad but there was a heavy fog on, which in turn caused it to feel like it was 20degrees outside. We wimped out and decided to work on Brent's bike a bit, and to stroll around the village at Snowshoe via bikes. That was all the riding we got in Saturday.

Sunday we got up early and headed towards the lower part of the slopes called silvercreek. We left out there and finally hit some singletrack. I had heard how technical the trails are there, but didn't expect them to be like they were. Pretty crazy, but fun. We road for a couple hours and then headed back as we had to be out of the room.

Another trip to snowshoe next summer will be in order. I suspect they'll start making snow in the next couple weeks. It was certainly cold enough for it on Saturday.

It was nice to get out on the mountain bike again. No promises, but I hope to tie in several mountain bike races next year. I'm thinking a few AMBC's and maybe some Nationals. April and May are slow months for me on road racing because of the distance to all the races during that time frame. I'm not sure why but every year during that time the races seem to be 5+ hours away.

Take Care!

MSG #1 - Mixed feelings

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:24:00 +0000

Today was the start of the MSG cyclocross series at Domtar Park in Kingsport, TN. I give the location because Kingsport is supporting the cyclocross season in so many ways. The best way is the construction of a flyover in the park. They supplied all materials and such for it. It was my first flyover...and I liked it.

On top of that I would say the racing has stepped up a notch from last year. The CX3 field looked like it had about 20 guys, give or take one. So here is the quick race recap.

The start...I knew this was going to be a weak point, but I have to say I really disappointed myself. It took what seemed like minutes to get clipped in. So there I was on the back of the group. Trying to pass a guy or two at a time. I made it up to around 10th and by then the front group had left the place. I held 10th the rest of the way, and finished between one and two minutes down on the small group ahead.

Negatives. Obviously the start with clipping in. The first lap hurt a lot more than it should. But with not doing any intensity training for over 4 weeks, I'm not too upset.

Positives. I'm really happy with my dismount/remount. I got so close once that I hit my back tire on both barriers, but didn't slow down. This beats jumping off and running a 100 yrd dash every dismount. And my pacing was pretty spot on. Last but not least my handling was good. I think as the season goes on it will get better.

After next week I'll start putting in some intensity intervals. I think I'll copy what I did for cross last year since it went pretty well. My next cross race isn't for another 3 weeks, and then I'm racing every weekend until the NCCX UCI race. With this training plan I hope to be going better by the start of November. It'll be colder, I hope it'll be muddier, and I'll have been/be training harder. All those things seem to help.

Time for a cup of tea...

Special thanks to mom, dad, and sis for coming out to the race.

Antsy

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:09:00 +0000

As I've posted the last two times, this Saturday is the first cross race. MSG stepped it up for the first two races of the season and are offering a pretty good payout for several categories. Hopefully this will bring in some competition.

Right now I'm feeling really antsy about the first cross race this fall. Coming from road the legs feel good, but cross is a lot different with adding technical skills and a whole different mentality of pacing during the race. Road you try to do as little work as possible until a decisive moment...were with cross its balls out from the beginning and then try to hold what gaps you created while closing down the ones that were created on you. One really good thing about cross is the atmosphere. Save the few "pure" roadies that come out with bad attitudes, everyone is pretty nice.

Which brings me to a blog I read the other day about a cross race. It was a blog listed on GamJams, and the person went through the race detail by detail. On the first lap of the race, the person had already lost the front group, and another person wanted to pass on her left, announced it, and then blocked the move. I can see doing this towards the end of a race or if you are fighting for a top 5 even, but on the first lap when you still have 40+ minutes to go. One of two things is going to happen. (1) That person thinks they're going to bridge and they blow up or (2) that person thinks they're going to bridge, and they do and most likely win. No need to be a jack that early on. (as a side note, the person that wanted by bridged and won the race)

Post-race results this weekend.

Be safe, and good luck if you're racing this weekend!

More Cross, Happiness, and more

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:22:00 +0000

Cross is growing ever closer. In fact a number of people have already started racing. My first race wont be until next weekend. 8 days away. I can't wait. I've got my position dialed in on the bike, my tire pressures figured to a T, and I've been working on muscular endurance like a mad man. Plus Brian M. got me hooked up with a skinsuit too...not that its really going to help my performance.

Cross weaknesses. There are a couple things I think I'm going to be behind on at the start of the season. One will be dismounts/remounts. With my arm being hurt, I just haven't practiced like I should've. The other will be sprint efforts. In an attempt to build a little more core, I've stopped any VO2 workouts for four weeks. My pacing should be good, but starts, small hills, and finishes aren't going to be a strong point.

Since my last post I've decided some North Carolina cross is in order. Their CX3 fields were 30+ sometimes last year. Not that they are harder than MSG, but with a bigger field usually comes a larger group of faster riders. Then the competition level goes up a notch.

While driving to work yesterday at 5:30am I saw several people out running through town. This was very unusual and it made me happy. I was kind of worried it made me happy, but really I'm a huge fan of people bettering their fitness. I come from a family that encourages gravy and biscuits for breakfast, something with gravy for lunch, and then something else with even more gravy for supper. Nascar, hunting, football, and big trucks are the main staples of culture, and under no circumstance is exercising "cool". So to see people out and actually exercising gives me hope that this area might fall to a healthier culture in time.

Yesterday my batteries in my PowerTap hub went dead. Right in the middle of my workout. I hadn't thought I had become that dependent on the PT, but when it went out I felt naked. I climbed off the bike and tried and tried to get it reconnected with the head unit. I had to convince myself I wasn't going to die and that I could finish my ride on "feel". As soon as the ride was over, I grabbed a shower and headed straight to Walmart for batteries. Problem fixed. I just can't believe how it made me feel when it went out. I don't even look at it much during a race, but during training I crutch on it heavily. After about 5 min of it being out, I was ok again. Maybe it was the thought it not being the battery and the $$ I would have to dish out if it was the hub.

MSG #1 October 3rd. First cross race of the season.

Cyclocross Rant

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:25:00 +0000

Today is the official start of fall, and with fall comes cyclocross. I'm not sure what happened last year, but I had a big urge to have another go at cross (this is after trying it 2 years earlier and hating it). I fell in love. Road racing doesn't make me as excited, and mountain bike racing (save short track...which is like cross) doesn't make me as excited. So this post is completely dedicated to cross.

First with some disappointing news. My Grifo tubular tires. Here I was all excited about running sub-30psi pressures, and it doesn't look that is going to happen. I'm up to 32/34psi front/rear (and still experiencing a little tire roll in the rear, which means I might go up 1-2psi more). This is still pretty low, but I expected more. At 80kg I shouldn't expect a lot more though. Maybe I'll get to do a nasty muddy race and run them below 30psi at least once this year.

My Williams Cyclocross wheelset has really impressed me. No they're not the lightest wheelset out there, but for the money I don't think it would be possible to beat them. The hubs are as smooth as any wheelset I've ever handled. They also accelerate great, which I feel is very important in CX racing. On top of all that, they look great too.

CX training. Right now I'm just hammering out tempo, sweetspot, and threshold work. 2x20's and 3x20's, each once per week, are getting the legs ready. I've done a set of practice starts and some dismount/remount practice. Hopefully the first race will go pretty well. I hope to start adding in some VO2 intervals in the form of 6x2's or 3's after 4 weeks of core training.

Upgrading to CX2. I'm not sure if this is a good goal for this year. I'm only expecting to do about 6 cross races, and if the MSG fields aren't any bigger than last year I don't know that upgrading can happen. With those size of fields, points only go to the top 3, with 3rd getting only 1 point. If we get lucky, the field size at the MSG events will be 15+ deep in the CX3 cat. Even if it's small I hope to see a strong field.

More to come...

Blog Post Numbers Down

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:26:00 +0000

Is it just me or has everyone put their blogs up for the winter? I'll agree it's getting tougher to find anything to be "post worthy". I'll give it a go though.

Sponsorship
I've went up and down about staying with Rogues Racing for another year. We had a down year this year with guys getting hurt, not really that many new members, a race that didn't happen (sore topic), and just not feeling very "teamish". All these issues have been addressed in meetings and we're hoping to really give things a change for the 2010 year, so I'm hanging in there.

Since I'm 2 hours away from the main core of the team, there's not really a lot I can do with the exception of a few things. One of those things is sponsorship. I'm going to try to get as many good deals as possible from as many companies as possible. I've already talked to a few, and have several more to go. I hope to finish up the sponsorship campaign by the end of October. I'll just be honest, its looking good right now.

The one sponsor I hope we're able to keep is EastCoasters bike shop. They've been great to work with us since we started the team 3 years ago.

Kit prices are coming down this year too. That was a big upset this past year.

Cyclocross
October 3 will be the first cross race of the season. Its part of the MSG series.

Training is going well. Right now I'm mostly working on Muscular Endurance. After about 4 weeks of that I'll jump back into some VO2 max efforts.

That's it. Maybe I'll have more in the weeks to come.

Take care!!

Upgrade

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:13:00 +0000

I was setting here reading my posts from the past, and man I've gotten depressed here lately and maybe even a little boring. No one really cares about my workout plan. I either ride fast or I don't. I can't say there wont be anymore bore about that, but here is to a change of pace.

Good news to report. I got my Cat3 upgrade. Since I aimed at "bigger races" and almost had my 20 points, I was rewarded with the upgrade. What am I calling a bigger race? Well for cat 4's, even cat3's for that matter, I'm considering 50+ riders a large field, which equals a bigger race... I think.

Now what? Ride faster. Simple as that. You didn't expect me to go into the scientific art of training physically, mentally, spiritually...ok you get the point.

New Game Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Lester) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:07:00 +0000

Well it looks as though my elbow is going to have me off the road for a bit longer. The doctor told me "at least two weeks". Well I got out yesterday and road the cross bike through the yard, hit a rock with the front wheel which caused me to shift all my weight to that arm, and it hurt worse than it did when I wrecked. I still can't pull up on the bars, as one would for sprinting for example, so I'm going to back off road for this season and aim at cross.

I've been hammering out time above my FTP trying to keep steady fitness, and I'm ready for a bit of a break. Since my arm is out of commission, I'm going to drop back and start doing some foundation work again in an attempt to have a small peak during cross. I'll aim for mid December, towards the end of cross.

Here's a few things I'll be working on:

Time in L3- (75-90% of FTP)
Allan/Coggan call this the "meat and potatoes" of training. Being from the country I like meat and potatoes, and I also like L3 work. You start out easy and by the end you have what I call a starved type of hurt, and not the ouch kind you would get with above FTP intervals. I would say 1-3 hours a week in this area.

Time in sweet spot - (89-95% of FTP)
Allan/Coggan say 6 to 8 sweet spot workouts should be done before real threshold work begins. These are probably my favorite workouts. After just a few of these workouts I can feel a difference in my legs. I'll do this workout in the form of 2x20min sets. Probably 1-2 sets a week.

Time in L4 (threshold) - (95-105% of FTP)
Not much to say here. Threshold is threshold. I call it Functional Threshold Power. In my case on the trainer (note this is a different power than what I see on the road) that's about 305-310watts @ 100%FTP. After some sweet spot training I'll start creeping the amount per workout in this week up until I can stay at it for an hour. Once I start I'll aim for 30 min and add 5 min per week until I get to an hour. 1-2 sets of these per week after sweet spot training is complete. I may even attempt this L4 area in the form of 2x20's. For example in a week's time I may do a 1x45min at L4, and a set of 2x20's at L4.

Here's a sample non-race week:
Mon-off
Tuesday-2x20min @95%
Wed- off
Thurs-1-2hr in L3
Fri-Off
Sat-2x20min @95%
Sun-2-3 hr in L3 (keep this one around 75%FTP)

This will probably be what I do for the next few weeks. I'll start adding L4 in and take one set of 2x20's out around the first of October. Again this is just for a small peak in December. I will put more time in these areas this winter before next road/mtn season.

Still no word back on the Cat3 upgrade. Bill Collins said I'd know by the end of the week. I'm still saying a 50/50 shot at this. If I don't get it, I hope to knock out the final few points the first part of next season. Maybe he'll feel sorry for me and overlook 3 missing points since I tried to hit bigger races this year. We'll see.

Hopefully this post was at least interesting. Thanks for reading!