topflightpro

I only ride with my full aero helmet (Aerohead Ultimate) when doing races. I don't even use it for practice races.

Part of it is that I am lazy, and just don't feel like doing it unless I'm going full aero - skinsuit and wheels. But the other part is that I am mostly deaf in my left ear, and I really cannot hear anything in an aero helmet that covers my ears . if I'm just doing training work, I like to be able to hear a bit - cars, other riders.... So, I skip the aero helmet until necessary.

wktmeow

Rode Thursday Night worlds on Fiesta yesterday, saw @TMonk who was riding really strong and taking big pulls/attacks. I was just trying to stay near the front, don't really have the horsepower to make any big moves and had my hands full just following the strong guys. I'd say I was in the top 10-15 riders for 85% of the ride, but got my nose caught in the wind more than I would have liked, and took a couple of bad corners. Still need to brush the rest of the cobwebs off - first race is coming up soon!

Hermes

When I did my aero testing at Velo Sports Center with ERO, I tested three other helmets against the Selector and it was equal to one other helmet and the other two were worse, so I did not see a reason for a change. Getting the right helmet is really tricky in that promotional materials and technical specs of aero helmets may not work in practice for the rider. So one really has to test.

The answer to the question is I hate the Selector but it is fast. I would buy a different helmet in a heartbeat if I knew it was faster than the Giro. Notwithstanding that, heat dissipation is important and if ones head gets too hot, the internal body temperature rises and derates the engine. For pursuit that is over in a couple of minutes and the 500 meter time trial, heat is not a problem. For an hour record or a long time trial, heat rejection may be a factor.

TMonk

wktmeow you were riding good and I saw you at the front often! It's nice to see you getting back in the groove, even if you are wearing a different jersey now

burnthesheep

My Tempor is white. As is my Aerocoach flow suit. I’ll layer if freezing but white has worked well. My old black Bodypaint, ughhhhhhh.

Hermes

My Selector is white and my go to fast skin suit is white. Dark colors do not work well outside. At the indoor track, no problem.

hubcyclist

Dang, what was supposed to simply be 2hrs with 5x15 sweet spot turned into 3.5 hrs with said workout and z2 for a total of 200 tss and 64 miles. I’m visiting my parents and did the outdoor workout from TR pushed to my harm in, but getting to the primo roads and back took extra time. I think I’ll drive tomorrow!

furiousferret

So I tested today and I did almost exactly the same numbers as 2 years ago. A hair under 4.7 w/kg and still a few watts under 300. Vegan Cyclist did our local hammerfest today, and at first I was bummed I missed it but then I remembered half the group tries so hard to talk to these celebrity cyclists it makes the whole experience annoying and mildly cringy.

hubcyclist

yeah that would be annoying, I don’t mind him and watch some of his stuff, but I don’t find him particularly insightful on anything, especially since he’s often in influencer mode when talking about stuff

Hermes

Moved our venue to Orange County for a few days. 2x10 minute z4 climbing intervals, then a trip to Velo Sports Center to check out track stuff in locker. Checked, lubed and tested bikes and decided to replace one tubular. Just finished gluing a new one. I am tired. Tomorrow is San Clemente to Oceanside and back.

caloso

30/20 VO2max repeats. That sucked but not as much as I expected, so yay?

gsteinb

can we put celebrity in quotes, please?

hubcyclist

3x30 tempo today ended up settling around 82% for the intervals (the trainerroad workout had a range of 226-261 so it was 242 or so). Probably would have been easier had I not put in such a big day yesterday but it was pretty moderate. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been going out in the upper 40 temp but my HR has been lower than it usually is for sweet spot and tempo. Generally I haven’t seen huge differences between indoor and outdoor stuff but lately the outdoor workouts (with the right terrain) have been more fun for me.

TheKillerPenguin

3x17.5ish SS on the back side of epic kom yesterday. Because it was 50, and would not stop raining.
Intended long today. But, forecast changed to 50 and raining for the afternoon, and I spent the morning wrestling with internal cable routing. So I rode easy, and will ride long tomorrow.

Looking like the weather will be more seasonable this week. It has been downright depressing lately.

hubcyclist

I've had my bike for 3 years and I have yet to change the internal cables lol Might be time for the change. To be fair, it only goes outside in good conditions and spends more time on the trainer in ERG mode than on the road, but still. Hopefully getting new handlebars soonish so that would prob be the prime time to do that.

burnthesheep

I'm probably going to eat some more. I've just been eating as I want with the TT training. But somehow still clocked in at a "low" this morning. The skinsuit fits and it's the flattest route ever.

I'm debating with the training the last week and half eating some more erring on the side of wattage gains. It's gonna suck waking up so early for that to eat and hydrate.

Instead of showing up at an all time low weight of 152 to a TT, I'd probably rather be closer to 155.

Rain today, and storms, so likely Zwift for first time in a while. Probably 3x20 in SS. Thursday I am debating a long tempo TT ride at the team ride then say hi after OR taking road bike on the hammer ride. I feel I'm in a good place volume wise in the TT to road ratio as long as I get 2hrs a week in TT. The hammer ride if someone like me makes the front group ends up being rotating at a steady hard power for a good while. Perfect TT training.

For some reason I'm actually finding the mental and pain side of the hour pacing easier than something like a closer to 20min 10 mile time. I feel the hour gives more opportunity to get the pacing honed versus just over 20 minutes. Where you pretty much have one chance that first 8min or so.

furiousferret

Its sprinking out here, which in SoCal is basically the same crisis level as yours, so I will be Zwifting as well.

TheKillerPenguin

Not sure what groupset you use, but Shimano gobbles rear shifter cables every couple thousand miles.

No long ride today. Legs are kinda bleh. And it is in the low 50's and cloudy; I will take the excuse and spin easy in anticipation of a sunnier day tomorrow.

hubcyclist

Claris, I'm all about the 8 speed life lol My shifting has been a bit less crisp on the road (it's fine and instantly responsive on the bike stand), so I've got some maintenance to do!

burnthesheep

I got a mid-day break in the storms yesterday, so no Zwift. Outdoors. It was sunny, 84, and so humid you could drink it.

I needed a little snap in my life with all the TT work, gotta be able to get off the line come race day! Haha. But went out for 75min of Z2 mixed with some max effort 1min on a few segments. Got one, almost got the other. I haven't trained that area, so don't expect it to be firing on all cylinders.

Man I was feeling strong though.

I cannot decide for the life of me what to do Thursday. It's the team night, but this TT means a lot to me. Likely will get a TT bike ride in on Wednesday. We'll see. One workout for this week I want to fit in is 3x20 or 1x60 again. The team route is actually great for a 1x60. This time I'd just take one turn different so I don't bridge any drop groups up that didn't earn it. There's more people coming now, so want to steer clear. Last time I did it there wasn't hardly anyone showing yet still.

Yep

Tuesday Worlds tonight, and I think it might actually be a group bigger than 4, as restrictions have started to ease up (along with the weather). Some of my teammates and friends from other teams like a small group for these rides, but for me that's just a fast paceline. I can understand they're not wanting it to be as chaotic as a road race, but I can go off and do threshold intervals by my damn self. I'll report back...

hubcyclist

3x30 at 88% today, indoors. I'm getting a little spoiled by all the outdoor workouts i've been doing recently, the RPE has been quite a bit lower for comparable workouts outside, which is weird because for a long time it was more or less the same between indoors and out.

mollusk

I have not put a foot to a pedal in over a year. My desire to ride has gone away after the death of my riding buddy to brain cancer. He was once a low level domestic pro.

But I have been walking a lot after my wife unilaterally decided to take on a miniature Australian shepherd dog the the previous caretaker could not care for. I average about 50 miles of walking every week.

So now I have gone from Levi 550 jeans to 505 jeans.

Thighs are much smaller, but really tight and my "cottage of wattage" (Those that have been around here long enough to know Botto knows what that is) is much reduced.

Good luck with everyone's training. I miss it.

furiousferret

Set all kinds of PRs at Worlds, mainly because I was able to stay with the group on the downhill. I suppose all that practice on the corners helped because I set my 2 fastest descents out of 350 attempts (the course is 2.5 loops, 2 descents):



At the end of the ride a lot of guys were congratulating me, I think because they saw how frustrated I've been (which I was!) which was a really nice gesture. I didn't win or anything, but it was a solid result and I dragged everyone up the hill the last lap (that's really all I can do).

Yep

Good sized group last night, and plenty fast. For as quick as we went around, and as hard as it felt, I'd have expected my power numbers to be higher. Digging in a little deeper, I think it's because I was constantly spiking as someone would surge on a pull, and the average power just doesn't tell the real story.