ridethecliche

It's been about two weeks since I've been riding again. Two short weeks. I was in the best cycling shape I'd ever been in right before my accident in late april, and I felt pretty good on a bike and getting better.

One of my best friends was injured over the winter, and was abroad in France unable to ride. I'd been waiting to race with him, so when he asked if I wanted to do two late season races, I couldn't say no. I'd been looking forward to this for a year when we started our collegiate team.

Today I decided that I'd go for a nice hard ride. When I was at my 'peak' last year, I think I averaged about 17mph or just a little higher on this ride. I never did it all out, but I went pretty hard. Today, I decided that I was tired of feeling slow, so I decided to do that ride again. It's about 27 miles long with rolling hills.

I wore my HRM just to see how/where I felt comfortable. I realized that I felt very comfortable in the 160's, a little taxed in the 170s, and I felt like my legs did not want to work at all if I hit the low-mid 180's. I decided to try to keep my HR as close to 180 as I could and recover every now and then when my legs needed it or when I could tuck on a downhill or had to take a sharp turn.

I looked at the speedometer about 20 mins in. I was doing 21, alright big deal. I got to a small hill a few minutes later and saw that I was doing 18.5 as I crested it. It showed that I was below my average speed. Wait, what? That can't be right?

I kept my HR kissing the 180 mark, taking the hills a little easier and hitting the flats hard. I kept pushing.

About 1.5 miles away from home, I slowed down to start cooling down. I flicked the switch on the speedometer. Average speed: 18.8mph. No friggin way...

I've been riding again for two weeks, and I shattered my old speed record. A quick look at the weather says that there was very little wind, if any (0mph right now 1.5 hours after rides end). Heh, who would have thought it.

Of course after the ride, I stopped at the university cafe to get myself a chocolate croissant. Hell, I earned it.

acorn_user

Good rides should be rewarded with cakes. I picked up 5lbs of damsons on my ride today. That means I celebrate with pecan pie now and damson gin in 3 months

Hope you get to race again next year

ridethecliche

I'm racing a crit this sunday and one next weekend. I want to be a 4 at the start of next season. I'll miss the race requirement by 2 races since I don't want to do a road race.

I agree with the ride reward philosophy!

Also, since I felt like I couldn't hold a heart rate over 180 since my legs started feeling crummy and everything just plain hurt, does that mean that it's probably around my lactate threshold?

grolby

Holy crap. I showed up at a group ride about a month ago and barely made it home. And I'd been doing a little bit of riding!

Get that 4 upgrade. I'd like to race against you a bit this coming spring (if you do any USAC Road events). I'm not too proud to try and beat someone recovering from a crash .

ProFail

Heh. I feel nice and happy at 180. During XC running meets I sustain at 205-207 for my HR. I win junior 15-16 (not 15 yet) crits at 185.


I happen to be a cycling supertalent.

Not really. But I do win some races at way below my max HR.

tommyrod74

Your max heartrate for cycling is likely lower than your max running. That's very common.

ridethecliche

I think my legs are likely the weak link here since they start hurting around then. I have a feeling that the number will get higher as I ride more.

I did a group ride on saturday, where I averaged like 16.5 mph, not too fast. Then again, the ride had a bit of descending, and I just could not take those fast since I didn't really know the roads. I felt better about halfway through the ride and was doing a decent clip.

I can't get the 4 upgrade till I do 10 races. I have 2 collegiate races and 4 bethel/plainville races. I'm 4 races short. I have two more races before races are done this year. I would do three, except I have commitments on campus this saturday when a road race is going on.

I'll get the upgrade right at the start of the season, maybe 2-3 weeks into the march. I'll do bethel/plainville races. I really loved doing those crits. I'm not sure how many road races I'll be riding since time is pretty limited on weekends and the bethel and plainville crits (Sat and sun) are both less than an hour away so it's really easy to race twice a weekend. I can probably race 3-4 times a weekend once I get the upgrade since I can do a 4's race and the 3/4 race at bethel, and then the 4/5 an 3/4 at plainville. It's freaking amazing. I might try doing some road races later in the season. I really want to race through the summer as well, but I'm not sure what my plans are going to be...

I'm really hoping we can race though! Come to CT and come race CDR's event!

ridethecliche

Probably something to do with how much air is coming in right? I figure your breathing isn't as open when you're on a bike as compared to running so you can't quite get as much air as you need. I figure max hr is oxygen intake dependent, because most of the time that's going to be the limiter.

ProFail

You are the rain, and today I had a parade.

ridethecliche

Haha, you'll get over it!

aicabsolut

You should put in for the upgrade after the next couple of races anyway. Have you had any good results?

patentcad

You're thinking like a fatso.

ridethecliche

I got third in a 5's race and had pack finishes in 4/5 crits. I thought that there was no way that I could upgrade to 4's without completing the necessary 10 races as a CAT5. I can always shoot my USAC official an email, but I have a feeling that this is a no go. Especially since my results now will not be all that great since I couldn't ride all summer. I'm not really all that strong. My last crit, a guy I finished next to averaged 246 watts and we averaged about 25 miles. I think my wattage was probably (much) less than his. I'm 5'10 and always pick a bigger guy to draft so I can hide as much as possible, it seemed to work pretty well for me.

If that keeps me motivated and riding hard, then I'm okay with it. Besides, I think I'm losing weight! I only have like 5-10 lbs to lose anyway. I went to 150 this summer from inactivity. I was stable in the 140-145 range before.
Go fatties!

acorn_user

Try the upgrade anyhow. Some officials will let you get away with it.

FatguyRacer

I feel like this all the time at age 45 with a 194 max HR.

I kinda made a personal observation of my own last night to while tooling around on my new low budget TT rig.

Back in 1995 I rode my first 40k TT as an adult rider after about 6 months of training. I used a road bike with Profile Stryke clip-ons and regular everything else. I banged it out in 1:10 and it hurt like hell.

Five years of cat 5 and cat 4 racing later I did the same 40k TT again and I took 12 mins off my time. I have no idea why I didnt TT in between. Maybe I just hated the suffering.

After that 58 min. season I quit racing for 6-7 years. Only this year have I come close to having the same kind of form I had in 2000, inspite of working every weekend as a moto-ref. 2005, 2006 and 2007 i've come close, but kept screwing it up by getting fat in winter or getting injured and having to layoff during primetime riding season.

...So hear I am last night cruising along at 150-160 bpms, daydreaming, and I look down and Im doing 22 1/2-23 mph on a flat road with no wind. At that moment it dawned on me I was cruising easily at a speed that many years ago i was struggling to maintain at LTHR. And it made me happy.

I love the training effect!

Keep at it.

pinky

Awwe do the road race, the course looks like its going to be a joke - I'm racing the 3s which looks like they're going to combine with the 1/2 field...first real race in 2 years post injury (not quite as traumatic a one as yours though).

ridethecliche

Hm? Are you referring to the 3 village race? I'm hosting a big campus wide lunch party on saturday from 1-3. I would have raced otherwise. My friends said that it was fine if I had to race, but they really want/need me there. So I'm staying.

carpediemracing 

I have to imagine that part of your improvement comes from the better fitting frame. Or is your position basically the same?

Good going regardless. We'll have to do some rides later.

cdr

ridethecliche

I think my drop is much less than earlier. Partially due to the frame and partially due to the fact that I have a 130mm saddle flipped up. I also put my saddle nose down a bit, and that has helped with the back.

I feel a little stupid about this, but I wish that I had tried the 130mm stem flipped up with the 54cm frame. I think that coupled with the saddle nose down a hair might have fixed the issues as well. I had the stem but after we had our little session I gave up the idea that it was ever going to work. I'm not worried about it

I'm going to get a fit from the local pro in a few weeks and then get an LT test done and get some training schedules from him so I can do it right this time. I can't wait to ride with you! Let me know if you're free any weekend after the next two weeks (or any friday afternoon whenever) and we'll work something out!

grafsk8er

ridethecliche, you going to be doing the bethel spring series this year?

ridethecliche

Heck yes! I should hopefully be a four by then, if not I'll be a four 2 races into the season.