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Nice one DR! Top bombing 👏🏻
Chaingang this evening. I noticed most of the others had done a dick-swinging ride since our beach adventure on Saturday 🤣 You could sense they were uploading smugly thinking ‘I’ll show them I’m not tired!” 🤣
I on the other hand, did two hours on Sunday but at about 12mph moaning about 360 degree headwinds 🤣
So it was noticeable how few turned out tonight. But also made me feel good about my training how strong my legs were. Three of us did a 24 mile loop at 21.8mph (inc a quick stop).
Once I realised nobody there was going to drop me- it freed me up to do hard enough pulls to hit vo2 max each time. On the rolling sections during my pulls, I was climbing as hard as I dare out of the saddle, then sprinting to accelerate as it flattened out and then holding threshold again over the other side. Proper real world over/unders.
I actually set off not knowing if it was going to be on. I started off doing like a “5 mile ramp test”. The idea being I would set auto-lap to 5 miles and try and up the average power with each one.
Once I found the chaingang was on, I thought I’d have to ditch the idea but actually the ride kind of matched any way.
So my first 5 laps went 162, 200, 225, 270, 295.
I think this definitely warms me up the best. If I have to go harder earlier, the whole ride goes to crap 🤣
Still sub 74kg this morning. Decided to do a very easy 30 min turbo this evening - West Vidette which is so easy I didn’t really notice I was pedalling whilst watching ‘Death Race’ on a tablet.
Legs felt slightly rusty to start with but fine after a few mins.
Think I’m going to mtb tomorrow night - actually a little pump track session before riding a lap of the local easy trail centre and see how that goes.
Glad you’re on the mend @joebristol - you might find you’re a bit low on glycogen so it’s worth taking a bit extra food and being extra vigilant of impending bonk.
I was supposed to be churning along a track somewhere near Ben Hope just now but my shifter shat itself leaving me with just one gear. Rolled past a hydro power scheme in the middle of nowhere (and I mean really nowhere) and asked for some wd40 to see if that might help. Didn’t work, but one of the hydro workers was on his way to Inverness to visit his sister so he gave me a lift home! Talk about luck rollercoaster.
@stevious - I had exactly the same with a shifter a couple of weeks ago. Xt 12 speed lost ability to shift to a lower gear so I was stuck in about 10th or 11th. I just screw in the high adjustment screw so I got to about 6th and turned it up every hill as best I could!
Out on the hardtail tonight was fun - had a pizza at lunch from a good market and a double caramel magnum just before riding so no bonk. Just a sugar high to carry me through. Didn’t feel too bad once I got going - sprinted about quite lively at times. Just my lungs need to get back up to speed for big / hard climbs I reckon.
Well done Joe, glad you're back out.
That's a bummer Stevious!!
Work is proving to be a living nightmare this week. Still not at the end of it so not sure how much riding I can get in. I think tomorrow needs to be a 'whatever happens, I'm going riding' morning as otherwise I'll spend all day trying to catch up.
Makes me glad to have front-loaded the year but I think we're in maintenance mode between now and Tour of Cambridgeshire rather than adding any polish to my fitness.
Tour of the Peaks this morning, after a week of messing on Strava with kom's going back and forth, someones rattled 😂 and he takes it too seriously, anything I took was attempted or taken back within 24 hours 😂🤷♂️ he's a good lad, just zero bants sometimes
anyway what a beautiful day for a long ride, didn't hammer anything, it's too long to do that, just rode to what I thought was sustainable, got it pretty spot on I reckon, 7am start meant a 430am alarm call, luckily being north of 40 my bladder wakes me up anyway at about that time, such a swing in temps, 4 degrees at the start and over 20 at the end, some people were dressed for the antarctic, always are, 116 miles, and 4154m of climbing, slights different route to what I've done previously so cannot really compare like for like, some hills don't change though, a minute quicker up Winnats than my PR from way back in 2015, 20 seconds quicker up Ewden Bank, almost a minute quicker up Holme Moss, basically PR's everywhere
did 500g sugar water as well, marked up the bottle for the first 5 ish hours, such a good option, I'd bought soft flasks, but they were leaking and hard to drink from, so just used one of my frame bottles, just had plain water in the other bottle, until I ran out and mixed what I could at the feed after 4h 20m
so 116 miles, 4154m climbing, 7h 25m ride time, only stopped for 9 minutes, 25.3kph av, 195w average (228w NP), bit attritional after 5 or so hours, but it's a stupidly bloody hard ride, intervals bumped by fitness by 12 😂
I don't have a quarq double at the moment, so mulleted the systemsix with my MTB Mech/Cassette (mixing AXS components is so good) so I could use the 52t quarq (you know you have issues when you got to such a length to collect data 😂), such a talking point for anyone that saw it, did get bored of saying I have 52t at the front so it's 1:1, it's a harder gear than 34/36, I'm not twiddling away at 9 million rpm 🙄
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Awesome ride well done 🤣👍🏻
That’s a cool idea with AXS!
That’s a cool idea with AXS!
I'd been waiting for the 2x force axs integrated since launch, but they silently doubled the price and availability has been about zero, and everything on eBay for the OG Red one was either high, or looked hammered, so I took a bit of inspiration from Vegancyclist, and switching over took about half an hour, cadence over the ride was 81av, so a 50t would have been better (bit it is what it is, and there is almost zero flat so never felt between gears) and yer 81rpm (for me, is low) but I've ground up climbs on similar rides before in poor gearing at 50/60rpm
nice couple of hours in the sun this evening just spinning the legs, and a mid-ride pint,
and I'm just going to post this (please ignore the toes) it's from this morning and I was deffo majorly dehydrated, but I'm taking it 😂 on the 26/1 I reinstalled Myfitnesspal, and arbitrarily stuck in a goal weight on 75kg, I think I was 88kg
anyway
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Ye ha 👏🏻 Well done mate 👍🏻
I lost 3lb last week. Then my mum took us out for supper on Saturday and I put 4 back on 🤣
Back to the same weight I’ve been every Monday since January this morning 🤣
I'll ignore the fact I'm probably about 80kg this evening after a mountain of curry/rice/bhajis/beer 😂, appetite after yesterday returned with a bang, at that weight though i'd need +8w to reach 4w/kg, or -2kg at the current FTP, we're not a million miles away......
maintaining is better than gaining & mum's need looking after 😎
Superb work on the weight loss - that’s amazing!
Mind you, I thought I had minging bashed up feet until I saw yours 🤣
@dirtyrider - it inspires me to watch lord of the rings again
Chainy last night. 6 of us on the tools. I felt great after warm up so started a little hot maybe! I had two strong guys in front of me in the rotation which is probably preferable than having them just after me. Ie I was able to just do a crappy weak pull if they chose to turn on the gas rather than getting dropped.
At times it meant I was already over threshold when I got to the front.
Again, I was able to push myself to vo2 max a few times so hopefully created a bit of stimulus to adapt.
The trouble we have is that everyone attacks the A4 'Ski slope' at the end of the ride. So from about 22 miles, I'm already unable to fully commit to my turns because I know I need a bit in reserve.
Anyhow, attack they did and I was able to hang, then get away with three others.
One got separated on the roundabout so 3 of us lead it out into town but in the end, we just fizzled out rather than sprinting.
The segment is called Baydon Loop and is 30miles. We did it at 24mph last night which was good but a little way off of the 25.1 we did in August last year with 10 of us. Interestingly, my power was almost identical.
Hopefully heading out for a couple of hours on the gravel bike in a bit as need to start ramping up the miles for ToC.
Just an easy spin today. Love how riding more actually makes you feel better. (Vrs last week when I only had time for two rides).
The data backs me up too with -6% decoupling shown.
Strong work - sounds like an intense chaingang ride!
I’m still under 74kgs at the moment - my weight from being I’ll hasn’t gone back on - so it can’t be dehydration. Must have lost some muscle I suspect.
Crooked my back a bit a few days ago with some deadlifting so doing lots of stretching and popping of pills to ease it at the moment.
Managed to do a 30 min turbo this morning - my ftp feels like it has dropped as I turned down TrainerRoad by 5% to get through it. But felt ok afterwards so hopefully it’ll build again quite quickly. Week after next I’m going to do a new ramp test to reset ftp so a sensible level to train from again and start building up.
Actually still feel strong on the bike out in the real world so perhaps my weight loss has offset some of my power loss 🤷♂️
Did 45 mins on trainerroad yesterday as planned quick lunch ride didn’t happen as my front tyre was flat. Did Washington -4 which is 3 x 7 mins at 105% FTP. Was hard but got through it and AI detected an increase in FTP from 270 to 275. Puts me at 3.65 w/kg, progress is getting harder now as my weight is pretty stable.
Well done guys! You go steady Joe 🤣 I’ve shied away from any form of x training, even science backed for cycling weights, as that’s how everyone seems to get injured and lose a load of training consistency. One of the locals has just done an Achilles playing tennis 🙄 🤣
It may be interesting to note that on Intervals.icu, for age group 40-49, there are nearly 16,000 users. And actually holding 4.0w/kg for 60mins would put you in the 95th percentile 😎
Even getting given an eFTP of 4.0w/kg would get you into the 85th percentile.
No real point to that observation other than it’s a very very respectable goal indeed 👏🏻
What if I were to do all my riding between Thursday and Sunday, then rest for 3 days?
It's what I've ended up doing recently, short fast ride Thursday and Saturday then long slow on Sunday. Seems to be manageable for.me but is it a bad idea?
Certainly not losing any weight lately.
My hunch is that it’s better not to (frequency being one of the only 3 levers we have to fiddle with). But if you need to make it work then I’d make Sunday as hard as possible. Either by doing a long, long Z2 or by doing beefy tempo intervals on a shorter ride.
beefy tempo
Underrated music genre
Or a porn star name or maybe a rapper 🤣
Heading out for another chaingang tonight! Two weeks out from ToC I’m just looking to maximise the time I spend on the wheel. Hopefully the pace will be a little easier although I believe we are doing the same loop as Tuesday in reverse which means a chunky climb half way round.
I’d been waiting for the 2x force axs integrated since launch, but they silently doubled the price and availability has been about zero,
so weirdly I was searching for something on the new shit wiggle/crc, and they had a single 2x force quarq in stock, I guess someone didn't get the price bump memo, so copped this for 340 quid after wiggles platinum discount
I'd have took one of the other ratios over this, but beggars cannot be choosers
retail boxed as well 😂🤷♂️
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Ooof. That climb stung 🤣
I was fascinated with my own physiology this evening. Leaving home and riding into a headwind to meet Rich, just getting my bike to move seemed like a monumental effort. I can’t quite emphasise enough how awful I felt on the bike 🤣
Then we rode to town and I felt below par but better.
Then we started the chaingang, four of us, and I felt awful again. Like I was gonna get dropped at 250w.
And then half an hour later something finally switched on and I felt like I could smash all day long. It’s soooo weird. 🤷🏻♂️
Anyhow, one of the guys pushed the pace up the hills which meant I was having to do silly watts to hold on. Breathing was maxxed out and Hr was 188-190 (threshold Hr is 176 🤣) but I never felt like I needed to ease off. I could just hold it.
Then we got on to my favourite road and as soon as the torque of climbing was off of my legs, I was able to hold the same power that had just been causing me to breath out of my arse but actually recover at the same time.
I snagged a 7th on the segment for the loop, so quite pleased with that.
Hopefully get out on the gravel bike tomorrow for an easy spin and then see what’s occurring via WhatsApp for the weekend. I’d like one shorter harder ride with a group and one longer Z2 day really.
@crosshair - you’re proper smashing it at the moment! Sounds intense.
@dirtyrider - I can barely be bothered to look at wiggle / crc at the moment. Filters don’t work properly and a lot of the prices seem a lot higher than other places. Fair shout for snagging a bargain - I’m assuming £340 is pretty cheap for a power meter with rings from my recent look at power meter options (albeit not that one as I have Shimano cranks)?
I mangled my back trying to get back into deadlifts on Monday after 3 weeks of weights. Stupid - I should have gone really really light to ease back in. I’ve spasmed my lower back so I’m back on the physio exercises to stretch it out and get it moving again. Also painkillers / ibuprofen but it seems to be responding gradually. Did a 30 min sweet spot with the power turned down earlier in the week and just did a 45 min endurance / zone 2 sort of thing before work. Going to continue to do plenty of stretching and have a camping trip next week so not going to be pushing myself at all until things have calmed down. Frustrating!
On the upside I’m still about 74kgs so far - have rehydrated but haven’t banged back up to 76kgs+ so far.
Well done on the weight mate! A bit of patience and you’ll be back to it in no time 💪🏻
I wrote this years plan (although I’m not strictly following it) for Tour of Cambridgeshire so if there’s a week to smash it, it’s this one 😀
There’s been some bantz in the WhatsApp group about tapering (someone doing Ride London used it as an excuse to bail on Tuesday chaingang 🤣)so I’m hoping to get mine right. Step one is to have something to taper from. And after barely riding last week I need to really overload this week. That way when I ease off for a couple of days again next Thursday-Saturday I should get a super-compensation effect 🤞🏻
@joebristol - when they launched the new Force AXS they had this at £399 rrp, its the same as the Red version, just not machined silver, which is 750 quid, there's been zero availability, however between launch and sometime two weeks ago, they silently increase the price on the SRAM website to £699, availability has still been about zero, so to grab this for the original price is quite a steal I guess
https://www.sram.com/en/sram/models/pm-frc-kit-d2
Good to see you briefly this morning crosshair. I won the KOM up Combe and then sat up and joined the grupetto 😄😄😄
Actually I stopped at the staggered cross road after the descent to direct straggelers and we never saw you lot again!
Yeah, I buried myself trying to catch up with Andy and Michael and then they kept going!
Pretty sure we went against the spirit of gravel if not the spirit of Banjo with that move 🤣🤣
Was a nice route and stunning weather but I often found myself wishing I was on the road bike and not 47mm Pathfinders 🤣 Especially up Coombe 😮💨
Just reflecting further- you must have put nearly a minute into me up Coombe. So, had you not waited, the entire dynamics would have been different. That would have been way more entertaining seeing if the roluers could have reeled in the climbers 😀
Pretty sure you'd catch me!!
concluded an easy week (was probably due one) with an hour on the turbo this evening, very hot indoors, but I couldn't get out and felt I needed to do a bit to keep the legs turning over, nice walk up Jacobs Ladder in the peaks with the boys for a couple of hours this afternoon though then a bit around Derwent for an ice cream, barely been above Z2 this week, went out Monday & Wednesday for a couple of hours each and the legs were deffo heavy from Sunday, a much needed recovery week,
Chainy tonight. Heard the epic tale of one of the guys Ride London! Sounded fun and he squeezed under 4hrs too 👏🏻
Rather puts the pressure on Tour of Cambridgeshire but my hunch is that something closer to 4.5hrs is a realistic stretch goal that doesn’t rely too much on getting in a sketchy super-swarm.
We had a dodgy wind again tonight, caught cars at two junctions and hit two sets of road work traffic lights on red. But we were still about 6 seconds faster than last week.
I felt okay, not amazing. Rich was funny- he’s been moaning about not being fit but having a functional power meter tonight meant he ripped everyone’s legs off 🤣 Which was irritating as I was next in line and there’s more draft from a gnat 🤣🤣
I managed to hold his attack up the A4 kicker and then dropped everyone early in the sprint. Thinking nobody else was trying, because they were out of sight, I sat up and so of course they all whizzed past 🤨🤣
Funny old week this week. Work pressure still dragging on and haven’t felt like riding much. Which is odd as I’m meant to be peaking 🤣
Hayfever is kicking in too.
I noticed my front wheel bearing was wobbly on Tuesday so I ordered ten from Amazon and fitted those last night. My makeshift press wasn’t man enough so I whacked one in with a socket in the end 🤣 The Prime disc wheelset is so much chunkier than the rim version!
Then I decided the rear needed doing too (it did because it was worse 🤣) but that was much quicker.
The pawls were gunged up again too so re-greased those to save an embarrassing DNF on Sunday.
I’ve had a rear puncture on my GP5000 for a while but it sealed itself and holds enough pressure for a couple of rides at a time so I used the time to swap that out for a new one too with plenty of new sealant. (That’s my last 700x32mm from stock. Need to decide whether to swap to 30 or 28 next as the bike is technically designed for 28’s. Although the 32’s are great!).
A new Rocket Ron arrived as well so that got fitted to the mtb as it was sat there still flat and neglected from the puncture I had at Dirty Reiver. Depending on work, I may do a local mtb race on the 17th so needed it ready just in case.
Hopefully get out this afternoon for some kind of taper spin and bike check. Then I can wash it and get the di2 charged ready to rock! Working tomorrow so need to be ready by the end of today really.
I'm ill 😷 of have been, but I've had to do mandatory training or I would have lost my contract, so Tuesday/Wednesday was restraint training, hardly hard work, but lots of huffing and puffing from other shows you how unfit a lot of the general population is 😂 plus it's half term, so the option of laying in bed and hiding hasn't been an option 🙄, done 2hrs at Z2 this week on the turbo, just to turn the legs over, and even then I was in second minds with that, kids back at school next week with some decent weather on the horizon, and I have Thursday/Friday free, so hopefully get some good hours in next week and chalk this week off, trying to remember that we won't be back at square one 🤣
Can you validly claim a week off sick as a recovery week?
Depending on work, I may do a local mtb race on the 17th so needed it ready just in case.
? What's this? Southern XC?
Will have to look at diary, but potentially yes.
I haven’t done Uptonogood since I lived in Cholsey… quite fancied it this year after 5 years living in the Quantocks I figured the climbs might feel somehow easier? Needed it to be the weekend afterwards though, can’t make 17th. Was always quite chilled with some decent music on hay bales afterwards too
4h32 for ToC. Should have taken more water/less mix as got a little dehydrated and nearly cramped.
Some crafty folks started the Sportive from the Fondo pens which is genius in hindsight as the front of the Fondo’s was +3mph!!
However I think I was top 5 of the guys who started in the proper sportive pen 🤣
Some of the numbers were insane. One of my goals for the year was 300 watts NP for 2 hours. I got dropped after pacing myself up one of the early climbs and then was left chasing the group Rich was in. Eventually I made it after 40mins or so but my AP was 303w! Anyhow, 2hrs in my NP was 310w 🎉
With his 52cm frame and light, small and aero body- Rich can do so much less power for the same speed. It’s truly staggering. At one point I shouted at him to slow down because the air was coming off his helmet and hitting me in the face. He was doing 260w I was doing 300 in his draft 🤣🤣
I’ve heard the rumours about sportives but Strewth- the riding was horrendous. So choppy and inconsistent. With even and careful pulls, we’d have easily gone 1mph faster as a bunch.
As it was, after a while, only Rich, myself and about three others were pulling with dozens in our draft.
I’m basically Remco with that position 😎 🤣
good numbers, great effort getting back on as well!! strong sock game (assuming that's you on the front) guy behind could learn some lessons
right positional wise, got a question, any biometric people here?
I finally got round to chopping my steerer after I guess 3 years 🙄😂, took out two of the integrated spacers (10mm total), now on the turbo the last couple of sessions my seat has felt low (I don't think it's slipped) and my left quad a bit clicky if I could describe it, and if I'm honest the Z2 sessions have felt hard work, and I could put my hand on the muscle, and there was an obvious "click" during the pedal stroke, so I drew a line with a sharpie and raised it a touch, I guess 10/12mm, and it deffo feels higher than it was, and has been for some time, has dropping the stem altered my hip angle and meant I need to raise the saddle? strange one, as I guess if I could get away with raising the saddle, it was a touch low anyway 🤷♂️