Welp, no new bike crap, watch, kitchen knife, etc, for a little bit - one of my server hard drives is on the edge of crapping out and I don't want to put any more money in to it, so time to order a NAS and some disks. :mad:

Unless it's raining, I find driving at night to be less fatiguing on the eyes, too. I'd love to drive at night, but those kinds of road trips are behind me.

Yea, that drive was from Nola to South Florida. You spend 14 hours on the road, and about 11 of them are in Florida. Such a boring drive down the middle of the state,

I pace a TT off four things: power, HR, perceived effort and resp rate/effort/quality. All those things go into my input box and the entire race I'm pretty much making continual assessment of those four inputs and constantly tuning the output. Its surprising how much any one of those variables can lead you astray, really deciding where you are at any given moment is an assessment of all those variables.


Have I ever raced without power? Yes, several times. The first ever 40K TT I raced, coach says "do it without power". Ok.


Haha my splits were within 16 seconds of each other and I was 4 watts off my power target, it was pretty cool. I am inherently good at pacing these things and usually my focus is pretty good.


But I know what coach is saying. He is never one to criticize or to make you doubt/second guess yourself, so he tends to suggest some positive alternative action to what you might be doing that is wrong. What's he's saying is that I'm too focused on making the numbers of late. And I would agree with that, I've been very strong lately, putting out some really good numbers. But when this happens, I almost get greedy about it. I stop paying attention to how I feel and just get caught up in trying to push out my limits a little more.


Of course in one way that's exactly what you're supposed to do. But you also have to pay attention to the other variables- how you're feeling and breathing and where your HR is. Every day and every race really are different. You are not a robot on a bike and can't make the same numbers every time, even though it would seem logical that you could.


Anyway, what he's basically saying is Go back to looking at the bigger picture out there and don't worry about the numbers.


My problem is: if I can't see my power, I will usually ride 5ish watts below what I know I could. I hate the idea of giving up those 5 watts. But I also do need to learn how to draw those 5 watts out of myself without the power meter, it would be a really helpful skill...

Haha speed is the one thing I actually never display in a TT. Or really ever.


I asked Ex about this at one point, assuming I was doing it wrong and that I should start displaying speed. He actually thought not displaying speed was fine.


His response: "The speed is going to be what it is."


Counter-intuitive, since in the end the speed relative to everyone else is all that matters.

Exactly. That's why I suggested it. "And now for something completely different".

Kind of the same thing with working out my split times in advance. You know that I'll know where I should be when if I'm going to make X time, lol.


Its almost better if it rains. Because then I can throw those split times out the window.

I was going to say the one data point that would be really crucial is distance, but maybe the courses are marked every 10k or similar? Not sure.

If it were me, and know that I'm not someone you should strive to emulate in any way, shape or form. But if it were me, I'd have just time and power.

But having power at all really feels like cheating when coach says minimal data.

No the course is not marked at all. I'm pretty familiar with it though. I've probably raced it a dozen times.


But it amazing how hard is it to recognize even familiar things when your brain is fuzzy after a prolonged TT effort. I know my exact go point for my final 1 min empty-the-tank effort on this course. I know the landmarks by sight and my Garmin beeps to remind me. But I've still gotten confused more than once and screwed up in that final minute, not sure if I'd gone at the right moment (you can't see the finish line 1 min out on this course). At that stage in a TT effort, I'm incapable of too much mental processing. It has to all make 100% sense or I get very confused.

Dream job.

What is happening???

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C_FsTQ7XkAEzO2j.jpg

Coach is chill. In the end, he always wants me to make my own decisions and respects that. I understand the concept he's trying to convey.


He has told me "no power" before and I've still displayed it but made a point of only the rare spot check during the race. That race went really well, I told him I peeked at the power and he was fine with it.


We both want the same thing: the best possible effort for that day, well-paced splits for the conditions, the fastest possible time, a confidence builder going in to the State Championship. He is a great coach and knows me very well, gives me excellent advice always. But the truth is that both he and I know that neither of us know without 100% how to get the best out of me on any given day. He has the advantage of more experience than me- both his personal experience and working with a spectrum of people. I have the advantage of knowing my own head and exactly where I am at any given moment. It really is a collaboration and I think we would both agree that you really do need to do it his way the majority of the time, because he knows what he is doing. But sometimes I will be more right about something than he is and I guarantee you that he would love nothing more than for me to develop that insight as to when I should listen to him verbatim and when I should just follow the gist of what he is saying. We're going to have the most success together if I can figure that out reliably.

Oh damn. Look at this-

http://www.roadbikereview.com/review...AIR-ramato.jpg

Pozzato's bike for the Giro. Even has a chrome bar/stem combo. Hot.

hot

Hot.

Hot. Is it the new Wilier Zero 6?

Donny said there's nothing to worry about. :thumb:

Haha yes!

I like the whooshy sound of each pedal stroke on good tarmac.

I like pedaling hard and slow up a steep slope.
Even crazy switchbacks.

I like my new helmet.

Good luck tomorrow!

I declined the second interview at the multi level marketing... err umm... insurance company.

You can tuna piano but you can't tune a fish. <rim shot>

My wife and I drive a lot to different parts of the country for tandem rallies and tours and I subscribe to this same technique which may explain why I'm 50# overweight. :innocent:

I vote one screen: HR and Cadence. That is all. All the other data just causes angst.

What have I done :p

Easy, I can only lust after so many bicycles in one day.