I spent the day at the Wildflower Triathlon yesterday with two dudes in black suits. We arrived in a fancy orange ride. Sat around all day, but had fun. It made for a long day, though.

The clinic I attended on Saturday was divided into two parts. The first was contact drills. We rode out to a grassy field and rode around a "track" defined by some cones. We paired off and practiced hitting and getting hit, first with elbows and then full body contact. This was done at low speed, but still, it was really good stuff! We then did a sort of "bull in the ring", where the object was to make the other person unclip to keep from going down. This was a everyone in the ring melee! The last rider still clipped in would be the "winner". Yours truly was the last standing, but I really think they gave it to me! Then we did wheel touches, first in the grass, then on pavement. That part was a little unsettling, but it turned out to be, once again, great training.

We then rode out to Mines Road, south of Livermore, which is "lightly travelled", and has a decent climb, to work on pace lines, "blocking, but not impeding", delivering sprinters over hills and to finishes, and motor pacing. I was almost full gas to completely full gas in most of those drills, having to ride with those cat 3 and 4 men! The motor pacing was no easier, it was done at 22 to 27 MPH ("if you can't do this, you don't need to be racing" said the mentor). The take away from that was how a 1 second mistake, where you loose that draft at those speeds, means gapped and OTB! It was a real eye opener.

That clinic is one of the the really cool things about the race team I belong to. They are very proactive and really in to improving their racers. They are a true development team.

Here's shot before the final exercise. I was still able to hold my head up!

http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/...psd030cefb.jpg

Motorpacing is something I really want to do before I die.


Last week I failed at 2x8 Z5 intervals on the trainer. Today I actually looked at my power curve and realized I was aiming for PR levels so it's no wonder I failed, not to mention Z5 on the trainer is soul death.

Tried the intervals again today outdoors, aiming for 10w under PR, but PR'd them anyway! PR'd my local 10' hill in the process, which Strava says I've climbed 86 times.

My task yesterday was to do two eight minute mock TT's on a rolling course. I chose the course on which I'll be doing a real TT this coming Saturday. The first interval was so-so, I was choppy and way over-breathing. I settled down on the ten minute cool down, and the second interval was much better. My average power was 153 watts for the segment, pretty good for me. Average speed was only 14.3 MPH, but there is a 10% grade in there. I was down to 9 MPH going up that. Saturday should be better. I am tired, though, my legs definitely felt it yesterday (as did my shoulders). TSS was 99 for 1 hour 18 minutes.

10% grade in/on the "sticks"? Ufda!
Look forward to the race report

Get 'r done!! Not so bad on the sticks. At a certain point, I come off of them and use the bullhorns, but that's just for leverage.

I'm looking forward to the race!

Shoulder doc appointment today and I'm cleared to ride.
The foot is a different deal. I've got Morton's neuroma in my left foot and it's painful to even walk. Got a cortisone shot on Tuesday and it wasn't much relief. Another scheduled for next week but the good is that the foot doc didn't say no biking so it's game on tonight. First potential race is May 31 - Philly TT

Glad to hear the bike is on the table! Here's to the Philly TT...

First ride outside since Feb 18.

Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!

Had a few guys form a local race team show up to what was last year a gentleman's ride.
Turned into a, for them, 1 hr 55 min tempo workout. For me, a dog with it's tongue hangin out ride.

36.7 mi
1,932' gain
TSS 160
Trimp 182

3 min power - I suck
20 min powr - I suck
Avg pwr - I suck
NP - I suck

I'm just an old wore out farmer and I sense a trend...

Come on, now. You just got back on the bike. You'll be fine!

Completed the first day of the Sonoma tandem rally. We hooked up with @colotandem and we rode along the Russian River and hit a couple of wineries. It was billed as an easy day but was more like a 30 mile prologue. At dinner, we had some incredible wine that Santana purchased from local wineries.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps7a8619fe.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...pse2190dff.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...psf739762b.jpg

IBOHUNT - Sounds like a dog with his tongue hanging out, wagging his tail. :)

Hermes - Sweet!

Paying for it today. The only thing that doesn't hurt are my ears.
Z0 recovery ride planned later.. fishin on the Chesapeake Bay

Recovery pace today, ITT and road race tomorrow. People my own age will be picking on me. I can't wait!

Good luck Sara. I'll be doing day three of VO2Max intervals thinking of you.

Sweet! Can't wait to hear about it.
I did a recovery ride today and racing a crit tomorrow. And then Sunday... the forecast is calling for snow. Weah.

Enjoy! :thumb:

Friday was spent doing 1 hour of cadence work; Avg 101; TSS 70
Saturday was spent doing 3 hrs of base - 50 miles with 3100' gain; TSS 225
Sunday was spent doing a long base ride - 79 miles with 5800' gain; TSS 278 followed by a 6.5 mile slow run.

First time back on the bike since my crash. 42 minutes with 3x(3x30 second) one-legged drills and a 5x30 fast pedal interval set. Though I'm supposed to be on the trainer, I did this in the parking lot of a mall before opening hours. 37.5 hrTSS, .70 IF. Felt so good!

The wounded are all on there mend!

Chuck, welcome back to the saddle!

Welcome back Chuck.

Nice and easy Chuck.

1 hr 45 min on the TT bike which had me in the 'sticks' working on my shoulder endurance and form. Managed the following 'laps' on the sticks. The rest of the time was spent on the horns sitting up to give my shoulder muscles some rest. I couldn't do a 40K in the sticks right now.

26 min
8:30 min
10 min
6 min

TSS 105
IF .83

Chuck, Glad you are back.

Good to see, revchuck!