Allegheny Jet

Average speed with a tailwind rocks! No need to mention the tailwind.

Cleave

Haven't ridden since Sunday's short race. I'm too old to be facilitating a 5-day workshop.

chasm54

What are you talking about? Everyone knows there is no such thing as a tailwind.

shovelhd

Openers and form sprints today. A race tomorrow. Legs are good. Brain? Tough to tell.

caloso

Hot openers and Cavendish sprints.

Allegheny Jet

Took the track pursuit bike on the road today. Main focus of workout was 5 x 500m from a start then transferring into aero position at speed. After WU, intervals, rolling recoveries then riding back home I got 24 miles in.

Allegheny Jet

Good luck, shake off the demons early.

AzTallRider

Good luck and stay safe, Shovel.

Did the team group ride today, and proved that my form is more in the Paula Dean range than the Rihanna or Maria Sharapova range.

And then, to keep my streak alive as I go for the worst luck in cycling this decade award, what was left of the group took a shortcut through a rock strewn gravelly area when traffic kept us from our usual turn, and sure enough, I flatted on a rock. AND, since my training wheel is awaiting a new hub from the hanger incident, I was on my racing tubular. Luckily it was only a few blocks from the shop, and they sent the wrench out in a truck to pick me up. I left the bike there to have him glue a new tire on. Since the shop was burglarized about a month ago, odds are about even the Giant will be stolen.

The fit guru says they are going to find a witch doctor to fix my karma.

revchuck 

Dang, AzT, you can't win for losing! It's gotta get better from here on in.

shovelhd

I raced this course dozens of times in the past, but not since 1987. Got a podium there when it was an NRC race. It's not super technical so crashing isn't really on my mind. What is on my mind is that this is yet another mixed M40+/M50+ race that will go at the gun. I practiced my clip ins today so I should be OK there. There are twice as many 50's as 40's and they're a ton of top shelf guys. I have to race smart. That's what is on my mind.

Allegheny Jet

Hard sprints on the road bike today. After WU did 200, 300, 400, 500 and 1,000 meter sprints. I used every second of my 12 minute recoveries.

Hermes

The weekend was extremely hot in NorCal even on the peninsula. We decided to ride to the coast to escape the heat. However, due to our later start, it was at 82 degrees at the start. We decided to go up 84 since it is the easiest grade over Skyline. It was hot and we were cooked at the top. We decided not to go to the coast and continued climbing to the top of Kings Mountain. So we got in 2x20 minute solid climbing efforts in the heat. Descending Kings was like being in a hair drier. It felt hotter than climbing. We rode around Portola Valley to get in 2.5 hours on the bike.

Sunday, we decided to go north to San Bruno Mountain and hope for cooler temperatures. It was a lot cooler but we had a lot of wind on the way to SB as well as climbing the mountain. The trip back with a strong tail wind was perfect. 2:45 on the bike with 20+ minutes of steeper climbing.

Yesterday was an upper body workout. I wanted to get in some strength training since once we leave for Europe, there is no more gym work until we get to London.

Allegheny Jet

Did hill intervals at my coaches workout last night. I'm in recovery week and had a reduced count of repeats compared to the others. I was to keep the HR under Z5 and ride smooth. I did the 3 repeats as prescribed and didn't chase the lightweights. Once back home I loaded the power files on the laptop and I discovered that I missed a 10' PP record by 8 watts. The hill was a 9:17 effort! My big races are coming up in a few weeks and my body will be ready too!

Hermes

1.5 hours with mostly longer z4 climbing efforts on Kings Mountain. I was warm and windy with a lot of debris on the road. Descending was slow as I picked my way through the twigs and leaves.

Racer Ex 

TT bike today. An hour out. 30m back. Hit 55 on the way back and rode mostly in the 54/12. For ten miles averaged 29 MPH on 137w. It was a 1.3% downhill.

Twas a bit windy.

Allegheny Jet

55 mph in the aero position must be memorable!

sarals 

55 MPH? Oh, that's right, it's Ex!! Still - wow!

I did a fairly fast, short "keep things moving" ride this morning on the Bianchi. Nothing structured, just yet.

AzTallRider

I've been up close to 50 on the TT bike, and it was "interesting".

Ex is assigning mostly strength work right now (bike and gym both), but I'm just ignoring that and doing what I feel like doing. In other words, working on my "Fred Form".

Actually, in the mode I'm in, I'm free to change things up a bit, and I'm doing that. I did a 4th ride with friends instead of a day off, skipping a workout the day before. What I do depends on work and just how unbearable the weather is. When it's 110 with raindrops, you feel the heat! But I did my strength intervals this morning, including some of what I had been assigned for yesterday but skipped. I need the flexibility mentally right now.

Next weekend is an annual weekend up at altitude. Sat will be ~80 miles with lots of climbing: start about 6K and top out at around 9K altitude, IIRC. Shorter ride Sunday. Looking forward to cooler temp's!

sarals 

AzT, I don't know how you handle that heat. I rode in 104 degree weather on Wednesday, and that was unbearable.

0530 this morning, 47 minute out and back. Ex has me on JRA right now, we'll pick up structure again soon. I suspect he'll peak me for the Menlo Park crit. I do want to do well in that one!

caloso

Forgot to calibrate the Quarq before starting today. Came home to find that I did 504w for 20'. Sounds legit, right?

revchuck 

Why not? You can document it.

Allegheny Jet

Rode the big rollers of Western PA with my brother in law today for 2.25 hours. We were supposed to ride a Z2 ride (same coach) but when you are riding with the NUE MTB 50+ Series National points leader Z2 is a wish. We would be talking going up a hill and I would look at the computer and think "crap again".

shovelhd

You doing Iron Hill?

Cleave

How often should I calibrate my power meter? Before every ride?

revchuck 

My first day back on the bike after the prostate exam-required layoff. It was also the first ride on my new (to me) race bike. It was supposed to be a three hour endurance ride with the freedom to shorten or lengthen it; I decided to do a relatively laid-back group ride that lasted 2:09. I got there a bit late, so I had to chase for the first ten minutes or so, but after that it was pretty nice - big group/cluster, average speed ~20-21 mph. I took a couple of lengthy pulls, and got into a pseudo break for a few minutes. It just felt so good to be back on the bike! hrTSS 140, IF .76. (PT batteries died, hub wrench arrived in the mail today.)

The new bike worked out well. It was my first time on non-175mm cranks; the ones on the crankset I used are 172.5. I can't say I noticed a difference.