Was that the “progressively grey” custom session Chef from the TR thread? I

Yes it was, nice catch!

well that wasn’t pretty, but its done 😯

FTP targets left at 100%, used the wrong Revolver film, and boy are 5 second sprints hard to do on rollers.

Set three new power records on TrainerRoad, 2 in Violator, and one in Half is Easy.

Is it possible to do all three at 100%, well I think you’d need a Kickr and you’d definitely need good legs

Not sure about the tactics for tomorrow, theory says your FTP must be too low if you can complete all three sessions all at 100%

Might aim for a negative split and go for 90, 95, then 100%

Yeah that was my concern, however it seems, by looking at the pictures, that a number of cranks allow mounting on the drive side, thus placing the pod next to the chain ring and protecting it a bit more.

he pictures of what I assume is a production model on the road.cc looks like it has lugs to take Garmin style straps possibly as a backup to the contact adhesive.

LOL. I asked that exact question on the DC site, see comments in the link below. But no, it seems that they are to be epoxied on and not meant to be removed. Period.

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/01/update-4iiii-precision.html

My plan is to get up early tomorrow and do Violator (1h:08) and then the other two tomorrow night (that’s not cheating is it?!

Technically yes, sorry, they are meant to be done back to back. 😯

“NOTE: Stages with multiple videos must have videos done back to back. You wouldn’t take a break halfway through a Tour de France stage, would you? So don’t even think of taking one here in Sufferlandria.”
http://www.thesufferfest.com/tour-sufferlandria-2015/

Do sessions with a longer less intense warm up, sounds obvious but Sufferfest sessions that start at 4/10 are way way harder, (for me anyway), than those that start at 3/10, no matter what the time of day I do them, (Local Hero I’m looking at you here).

Also you have the option to tone down the intensity, so do the sessions at 95% of FTP not 100% as is the default. This in itself is a massive mental boost.

@mrblobby, reading DCRainmakers blog update on the 4iii, (after reading the Road.cc report earlier), it looks like it can be had via one of his partners sites at 10% discount with low shipping to the UK.

Certainly looks really interesting, £300-£350 for a one sided PM is a real shift in pricing!

Looks quite intense

😆

Gothenburg has fantastic riding, drop me a PM if you’re over and I can point you in the right direction.

Can also highly recommend Båstad in summer, (not tennis week though unless that’s your thing) for a south of Sweden destination.

After checking the forecast and listening to this interview I may reserve the right to change my predictions in the men’s race 🙂

Gray and Star King are the classic sessions on RrainerRoad for long FTP intervals.

I was told to try and raise the effort to 120% of FTP for the final 3 minutes and then raise it again to 150% of FTP for the final minute to make it more VO2 centric.

Also helps break up the repetitive nature of long intervals on a trainer.

And that’s The Rookie done.

As was said, after Local Hero that was a comparative walk in the park.

Good work guys! 8)

6 to 8 weeks out from the cross season I personally start doing more sessions like Revolver, and Downward Spiral, so shortish intervals with roughly the same or less time in recovery.

This is combination with specific cross training with my club which is normally based around longer intervals, say 3 * 15 on an actual cross course.

Local Hero done.

That was easily the most uncomfortable I’ve ever been on my rollers.

Shoes felt a size too small, saddle felt like a knife edge, legs felt like I’d mashed a hard run session beforehand.

Now to set the alarm for 05:15 and get the Rookie done……

Predictions?

Can anything stop the new generation from taking over in the men’s?
Van de Poel V Van Aert

And in the women’s
Nash V Prevot

The XTR cassette fits on a normal freehub. Think I’ll see a lot of people racing this set up this year, just makes sense to me.

This is the best thread in ages!

Top effort there! Going for The Rookie today as well?

If everything goes to plan then I’ll do Local Hero tonight and Rookie tomorrow morning to give me the max recovery time before Saturday’s chaos.

One you spend approx a grand on a bike it

A grand is not budget for a lot of people!

However I agree with the sentiment that for the very large majority of people, a bike worth a grand will not be the limiting factor in a race situation.

I’d rather race road on a budget bike than XC on a budget bike to be honest.

Poor disks and suspension would be worse to me than a slightly heavy frame and Tiagra gears.

Gosh, good game!

Angels completed and with the added surprise of adding two new power records into the bargain.

Still worried about tomorrow though.

73kg and 1.5bar for Dugast tubs.

can we do what tyres for sand next?

Dugast Pipisquallo, judging by the amount of people riding them at Koksjide this year, (every year).

Still on track at TR virtual power, Nine Hammers was a little easier than expected, but still hard.

Angles should be doable, but damn hard.

Local Hero, well we’ll see what happens Thursday.

edit: luckily the weather is so poor over here that riding outside isn’t really an option.

I’ve had a Forester from new in 06, been a great car. Extremely capable in the nasty winters over here. Fits my two boys in the back comfortably, has a bloody great sun roof, and rails that allow Thule bike racks to be attached with ease.

Done 110,000 miles with no major issues with regular servicing. Recommended.

Angels is hard, the newer version is easier slightly though, IMO.

Local Hero is hard too. hmmmm

Pling.

Some good info on this thread.

Tricky I can PM you my training schedule if you like, whether its of relevance to you is another matter.

Training doesn’t need to be that complicated.
2 * 20 off 5 at 90% of FTP, twice a week
4 * 4 off 2 at 120% of FTP, once a week

Nine Hammers just completed, actually not too bad all things considered.

Great on-board film footage.

Yeah I use the TrainerRoad 8 minute test as I no longer have a power meter so testing at a ‘proper’ centre is meaningless as all I have is virtual power.

I guess the sweet spot plans are mostly targeting FTP if that’s what your after, how I think some variety is called for otherwise it’s really easy to create a diesel engine and have zero top end.

I’ve just done 5 weeks of sweet spot training, now it’s the Tour of Sufferlandria, then a rest week, I’ll test again and kick off the MTB plan.

I’d go mad chasing seconds or watts every interval session. In fact I deliberately do not repeat sessions in each block to avoid this. And when the session is repeated its normally working something else so even then they’re not identical.

For me its all about consistency over months.

I do have a couple of sessions that I use to benchmark my progress/fitness but these are race like intensity and are rarely used outside of the race season.

My FTP gets tested every 5 to 6 weeks and my plan adapted from that number.

what does Trainerroad do?

Its creates a virtual power curve based on your trainer and wheelsize and then uses your FTP to provide you with power targets to hit.

So instead of frogstomp saying 2/10 then 9/10, you get an actual figure like 156 and 424 watts.

Your bike sends live data to your laptop/device and you get your current power and your target power shown to you. So no easing off.

You also get a library of 500 odd training sessions, training plans to follow, and the ability to create your own custom sessions.

I’ve got the original large plastic HR strap from Garmin, must be into its 4th winter and again its been excellent.

The issues seem to be with the soft strap and sweat build up on the sensors.

Yeah its hard, first time attempting here. I have Thursday as a goal to get to then we’ll see.

It helps that the weather over here is so so bad that nothing outside seems particularly better than nailing myself on the rollers.

How people do it in places where its summer is beyond me 😯

Wow, over 750 riders have been dropped from the peloton already!

ToS has started, as has the snow, so glad to be on the rollers.

OOh that was tough!

Fight club for breakfast.

And a huge thanks to TR helpdesk for sorting out my “lost in sync” training data, wouldn’t have wanted to repeat that session!