billydonn

With daylight and warm air getting scarce, it is time once again for the Dundee Velo Garage crew to begin gathering for our twice-weekly indoor training and fellowship sessions. This doesn't necessarily mean that all outdoor riding is over for the year, but it's a good opportunity to add some intensity and enjoy good company afterward. Last night's one-hour session was fairly mild but we will kick it up a notch soon. It was also my first use of a new Powertap wheel, and more on that as I get used to looking at the disappointing data ().

Four of us were in attendance last night for Session 1.

Allegheny Jet

Looks like the beginning of a great program in a good location. Whats the venue? Some one's finished barn? Don't worry about power numbers. Use them as a base line and improve from there.

My indoor trainer program begins on Saturday and I'm mentally ready for 3 months of indoor suffering.

billydonn

AJ:
Venue is the finished upper level of a colleague's garage, not far from my house. The owner and workout mastermind is "Coach Dusty" who is an avid cyclist, triathlete, etc. with PhD in exercise physiology. Everyone in attendance is younger than me so it is kind of fun to ride with them and not get dropped .

Thanks for the advice on the power numbers. As Coach said, "Now you can know the level of work that is causing those HR numbers you've been looking at."

Hermes

I ride the trainer a lot and prefer it for some workouts. When I trained with the Russians, they liked everyone to workout on the rollers/trainer a couple of times per week even if the weather was nice. The constant power load is a great way to build endurance and cadence.

My HR and power is always lower on the trainer by 5 to 10% for the same perceived effort as outside. Most of my friends find this to be true. The reasons are many but one interesting one is that indoors a cyclist consumes a lot of oxygen thus depleting available O2 while increasing CO2 concentrations. Outside, one is constantly breathes a fresh column of air. If there are more cyclists in the room the effect is amplified.

I like to do easier workouts on the trainer such as recovery, pedaling drills and z2 efforts. When I started with the Russians they had me doing 10 minute efforts rest 2 minutes and then another 10 for a set of 4x10. I am focusing on 20 minute efforts and go for 5x20 or 6x20 and vary the cadence, hand position and and sometimes the power. I will do z3 and higher efforts but prefer to do those outside. I am not a fan of the videos that seem to advocate extreme suffering while on the trainer - especially this time of year. Good luck with your workouts. It appears you have a great setup and training partners which will make a big difference in motivation.

billydonn

We gathered at 8:00AM Sunday morning for our second indoor session of the winter. The program was largely the same as last Wednesday but my power numbers were a little lower for some reason. I think I need to change the display on my Gamin so that I can see current power numbers better during my ride. One of our group received a new nickname today: the "Pride of Dundee". Everyone seemed to get a big kick out the the new label since "Pride" is notorious for lax maintenance and riding a rather unsexy old aluminum bike. (Dundee= the section of Omaha where the group meets.)



Beverage containers are from Wednesday evening re-hydration session.

Allegheny Jet

billydon, Did you calibrate the PT? Sometimes they drift off and the unit needs to be re-calibrated. Also most people don't produce the same power on the trainer. I've attached a file from my indoor workout yesterday. It's not difficult to see where the
WU ended and the 2 hr session began. You can see the different intervals we did. I produce significant more power riding outside or on the rollers. The yellow is power, blue- speed, red - HR, green - cadence and purple -torque.

billydonn

We gathered again at the Velo Garage last night, inching up the perceived effort targets for our 10 minute intervals just a little. I really am enjoying having the power data, but it will take some time to learn to work with it. Downloaded Cycleops' Power Agent software and it seems to give a lot more information than I am used to seeing from Garmin Connect. My HR monitor was showing weird, impossible, high numbers for some reason....



I am not really doing this to become a racer, but I am somewhat ambitious to become a stronger rider. Besides, it is just fun to have data and not just pedal with nothing in mind. For Saturday's session I will model the newly-arrived 50+ bibs that came today.

billydonn

It was 8 degrees F today as I drove over to Dundee to the Velo Garage. The Coach Dusty plan today was to add another 10 minute interval, making it a total of four, plus the usual short single-leg and high cadence cycle during the warmup period.


Today I "modeled" my new 50+ bibs for a clearly envious group of VG regulars


and also had easily my best power numbers yet (in a very young indoor season).

The apple was a nice re-hydration device today... just the ticket.
GARMIN LINK

billydonn

Last night's session in the Velo Garage started at 9:00, later than the usual 5:00 due to the arrival of Coach D's wife at the airport. She wanted to take part in the ride. An additional airline delay resulted in a couple of us getting in an extra 20 minutes or so of warmup time. The plan for the evening was to up the intensity of each of our three 10 minute intervals to 70%, 75% and 80%.



During the first interval, I hit my mileage goal for the year (5000), which was celebrated with enthusiasm during the post-ride "fellowship hour". I'm starting to get the hang of using power, as opposed to HR, data to judge my effort during a session and to evaluate the session afterwards. (I am focusing on improving power output over a ten minute period right now). As soon as I get the hang of posting data from Cycleops Power Agent software I will begin to do that. It was another good workout and fun.

zonatandem

Living in southern Arizona we have no 'indoor' riding season.
However, living in Michigan 34 years ago, used to ride the rollers in the basement in winter or go outside to ride if temp was 20 degrees and dry.

Allegheny Jet

Nice!!! Do all your workouts end with beer? Carbohydrate replacement after a hard workout/ride is highly recommended. Congrats on 5,000 miles. BTW, I count trainer and roller miles also.

Road Fan

Goals-wise, I'm with Billy. Motivations-wise, I need a crew!!!!

billydonn

Wednesday night rehydration tends to involve beer, yes. (Note the champaigne in honor of the 5000 mile milestone.) It was also the end of the fall semester and, all of us being college faculty, there was a certain festiveness in the air due to that. Saturday rehydration is typically more wholesome due to our rides being held early in the day.

As to counting trainer miles, I'm pretty sure my legs and cardio system do not know the difference. Bike handling skills have to come from "real" riding of course.

Postscript: I brought up the idea of getting an espresso machine for the garage last night and it seems to have been taken seriously by the group! Caffeine enhancement may be on the way soon!

Doing this with good friends and in a nice place really means a LOT. I'm pretty sure I could (or at least would) not train so hard if I had to do it alone at home. My trainer and trainer bike are just left over at the Velo Garage all winter, ready for the next session... which is wonderfully convenient too.

billydonn

For the non-indoor types: Got the chance to sneak out for an outdoor 25 miler today. Coldish weather, heavy legs, moderate wind. It was great! Saw about four other riders and I love it when conditions are kind of stark and gloomy.


Saved my legs a little on the ride, as it's off to the Velo Garage tomorrow morning.

billydonn

We followed our usual routine of four 10-minute intervals today, increasing the intensity goals to 70, 75, 80, and 80 percent.

I was a little tired from my outdoor ride yesterday and did not produce any new power records. I did manage one interval within three Watts of my 10-minute best though. Still, it was a good and enjoyable session that will pay off eventually I'm sure. We were joined today by Sara and Rick for a total of six riders.

Coach D says we will continue with the 10-minute intervals for awhile and gradually reduce them to shorter times as we go along. Looks like it will be possible to ride outside tomorrow!

The idea of getting an espresso machine for the VG continues to percolate!

TrekDen

I like this idea of having a group of folks to enjoy the misery with. That's a great room you folks have.

billydonn

Misery? What is this thing of which you speak??? Most of my outdoor rides are solo, so I really do enjoy adding a social element to riding for part of the year. And the regulars at the VG are colleagues from work that I actually like... and I could not say that of .... oh, never mind.

rck

Geez, I've ridden my trainer 3 times for a total of about 60 mins. I'm not sure how far I went but it felt like 5000miles! I suspect, however, with a setup like you share I could probably go a bit farther.

bigbadwullf

I refuse to ever ride a bike inside, well ..............................unless it's really moving.

billydonn

Last night's solstice ride in the Velo Garage was hands down my worst ever. I came close to quitting during the third interval. Nausea... dizziness... profuse sweating... high HR..... weakness...YUCK!



I was wearing a helmet cam during the first 10-minute interval and I wonder if that might have caused me to overheat? It sure felt like it. Anyway, we had seven in attendance and at least the company was good.



Here is a graph of my misery- showing power (yellow) and HR for the three intervals and recovery periods. You can see the clear drop in power output during the third interval. I was just barely hanging on for dear life here.

Barrettscv 

I've been training with Vision Quest in Chicago since early November.

Most members are competitive Triathlon enthusiasts. The trainers are roadies and the organization has several elite road racers on staff. It does provide a rigorous work-out using Computrainer equipment.


We completed the 8 week segment this week and we tested for average watts over two 20 minute segments. I produced 225 watts during the first 20 minutes and 215 during the second. I've also lost 15 pounds since August, so I'm making progress on the power/weight ratio.

I'm going to start using my own heart rate monitor and attending 2x a week in January.

billydonn

Hey Michael,
Those are some pretty impressive power numbers in my book! Way to go. Any idea what they were when you started? How does that program work? A whole group starts at the same time and follows the program I would assume.

billydonn

Velo Garage Video... part 1

Barrettscv 

Hi B-D.

Thanks. We meet weekly and train for about 90 minutes. The coaches program the computrainer to vary the load during the training. The load is indexed for each person, but the training program is the same for everyone, the average load is just increased or decreased for each group member.

Most of the training is cadence and gearing specific. The coaches have the riders train in a certain gear and at a certain cadence. They will then have the riders change gears and cadence to promote power development over a wide range of cadence speeds.

I tested at about 190 watts average for 20 minutes back in late October. I came into the coaching feeling fit and had cycled 650 miles in October. Even though I'm riding less now, my numbers went up about 15%. It's my first time on a trainer with a power meter, so I now can judge my effort to help produce higher power.

I signed up for two-days-a-week during January. I would be happy with another 10% improvement.

TrekDen

Did three solo basement misery sessions this week. Doing the Chris Carmichael Progressive Power Series DVD's. It's an eight week program with two new classes weekly. They recommend simple 3 x 8 minute Steady State intervals for the 3rd session of the week. Two weeks in now, and liking it so far. I'll probably repeat the sessions after the first go around, and see how it compares. I wish I had a power meter, but Carmichael Training does a good job of explaining how to use just HR as a measuring stick.