how to really train

Chapeau! Do you think you'll be able to get to 2.35? Or close enough to give him a fright?

To be honest, no. Fifteen seconds doesn't sound like much, but it feels huge.

just go up it faster

That might just work...

I recommend using a lighter bike

TODAY MARKS MY FINAL DAY OF TRAINING OF THE 2010 SEASON AND I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER ABOUT IT!

always be training.

regardless. you are a winner. you showed real motivation this year and you killed it! <3

youre both remarkable!

honestly, cutty is a saint for putting up with my incessant barrage of n00b racing/training questions.

but both of you guys have been such rad support. *hugglez*

are you going to make the step up to a heavier bike next season

Filthy weather again this morning, but I went out and had another go on the hill climb. This time I tried going all out earlier than normal and just counted on adrenalin to help me gasp my way up the final stretch. I smashed my PB by 8 seconds and got 2:42. Felt so spent afterwards I had to just ride home again.

guys i think i figured out intervals/tabata training

any tips/recommendations etc for improving pedalling technique? I have noticed that when I go for a higher cadence (on real bike or indeed stationary bike at the gym) I get ... "bouncy". I'm sure you know what I mean - arse lifts off perch at every stroke almost, feels really really inefficient. Is it a question of more and more miles? a simple case of cranking up the gear? or are there exercises/methods for improving smoothness?

its been consistently v. v. cold and 8" of snow is lingering, so i went to spinning classes on sunday and last night. i may know how to ride a bike, but apparently i don't know how to "spin." like, i was pretty baffled by the "jumps," where you stand for just 4 pedal strokes and sit for 4 pedal strokes at 90 rpm. also, contradictory instructions about intensity levels.

all i really want is to use a spinning bike for my own workout, but neither venue i go to appears to allow that.

Chris/Porkpie - are your feet clipped into the pedals? is the saddle high enough?

Clipped in yes, maybe the saddle does need to go up, but I set it up as per the prescribed method (can't remember the details but it involved measuring and a bit of maths). Of course there is the random factor of being 6'3" but with only a 32" leg.

buy a spin bike for the home!

I have a mystery knee injury that has appeared from nowhere. I must have twisted it, possibly while playing toddler games, or possibly through dancing while intoxicated. Common sense says I should just rest it until it feels better, but I've had two months of scarcely cycling and the start of the new season is getting closer. If I just go out and ride tomorrow regardless, am I going to regret it?

my mystery knee injury that used to only hurt on my right side now switched over to my left side. right side's fine though.

That sounds encouraging

[warning: EMO]

I am really, really, really, really out of shape. Very disappointing. Getting "looks", "talkings to", "bailed on"... and it's like 85 miles with 5500 feet of climbing in under 5 hours is pretty groundbreaking for me, but still coming up short.

What sucks:
I bonked on this 5 mile climb today.
2 guys I ride with are in really good shape (one seems to be peaking at the moment, he threw down 400+W for over 10 mins the other night in spin class) and are not shy about showing off their early season fitness.
Kinda had some "neg" feelings today about LL this, which sucks because I'm usually a pretty "posi" dude about training/racing.
Basically need to HTFU and stop being slow and lose more weight.

LL = all

jaxon, maybe pay a visit to 3Db1k3f1t in sausalito, it's the same guy who set you up at BN.

nb&s: if you've ridden through similar pain before, it's worth a shot. otherwise it's probably going to take a doctor visit. :-/

anddddddd i left my phone, credit cards, cash at a shop like 15 miles away. awesome! I really feel like driving across the bridge in traffic to go get it.

leaving your shit behind sucks, but not being a january spinning champion-- i'd not worry about that one iota. when you drop those fools when it counts, you will be happier.

i weighed in at 177 on thursday, thats 6lbs weight gain in 2 months. plenty of it is from lifting, but still, i'd like to be 165 in may.

FAT

MANTIS

thanks man

i'd like to be 165 in may.

also, a goddamn pony if you please.

hey since you may be around gbx, i got to quiz some dude today while skiing about his inbounds-oriented at set up. he had a set of marker barons w/ burly-ish looking scarpas. he said they were heavyish and slow to flip to tour mode, but din 12 and stable. maybe that's what i need? im an old fat guy shepherding kiddos around for the most part, do i really want dynafit? school me.

the dynafit stuff looks so ~fancy~. where fancy is like, awesome. i also really like awesome, but its hard to justify.

if you are an ancient decrepit old man skiing w/children (joeks) then you really don't need barons. they're heavy and unnecessary unless you're hucking big stuff. as someone who will be THIRTY G-D YEARS OLD in two hours and used to be a ~serious bro~ i'm pretty comfortable w/my new setup. ....which i haven't actually ridden yet. that being said: my Onyx bindings (3rd party dynafit) are DIN 12, so i'm not sweating it.

My club is not known for its racing prowess. There is one guy, in his 40s, who's a decent third cat road racer and got a 1st place and 2nd place in road races last season. He's been saying he wants some company as he has no team mates (there were team mates, but they keep getting poached away to racing teams as opposed to traditional clubs). Given the huge constraints on my free-time I've never entered a road race that was actually on the open road, as these events, even at the lowest level, are at least 50 miles long. Except when I'm on holiday I'm lucky if I can find four hours a week for riding (and that includes racing), so I've just focused on events of 25 miles or under. I'm kind of tempted to give it a go this year, but I'm not sure if it's worthwhile: I fear getting destroyed and not finishing.

I can probably manage the pace (not at the moment, because I'm desperately short of miles and still trying to shake off illness), because I managed to race about 26 miles at 24mph (in a bunch) last summer. And I can definitely ride the distance (I did 94 miles at >18mph in 2009, not counting a brief stops). But I have big doubts about whether I could manage the distance AND the pace (i.e. 50-odd miles at maybe 25mph).

Should I just go for it and see what happens?

(This is assuming my entry would even be accepted, which is doubtful given I've accrued zero points on my licence in two years of racing)

I rode 50 miles this morning with the two strongest riders from my club and managed to hack the pace. The road racer says I should be able to manage a 'proper' road race, so I'm going to give it a go.

awesome! When's the first one? Also - with two of you, are you disadvantaged by bigger squads (ie have to look at breakaways to get owt)?

Well, I'm probably going to start racing (doing my usual combination of 10 or 25 mile time trials, and 20-25 mile long 'road' races on closed circuits) in the middle of March and I've seen a couple of proper road races 45-55 miles long that I'll probably try to enter: one at the end of March and one at the start of May.

Yeah, riding without several team mates is a tactical disadvantage in terms of getting in breaks / chasing / possibly leading out sprints, but this isn't a concern for me: I'll just be trying to finish the first few times rather than seriously expecting to get a placing.

Spring is here, meaning double work-outs.

I did am/pm doubles on Mon/Tues... 120 miles total. Had to wake up at 4am Mon and 4:30am Tue to work it all in. Primary efforts included across all 4 workouts: 2x15 minute @ 250W, 3x10minute climbs @ 300W (I'm not a climber so these sucked), 2x15 minute @ race 250W, 1x10minute climb @ 350W, 1x5min @250W ending in sprint for 30 seconds (avg 500W), then 1x30min at race pace (250W) on a circuit with 1 minute @ 500W at the end of every lap. Also bumped up my recovery pace from 15mph to 18mph to really increase the pain.

Had to wake up at 4am Mon

!!!

that's me booked my B&B for next year's etape caledonia

anyone else fancying it...?

I am considering letting you talk me into this..... Nb I have done 0 research on it

only has a tiny wee hill in it

mark C should surely be willing

LOL no

what does it mean exactly to "stay on top of the gear"?

does it mean avoiding shifting to a shorter gear (esp on inclines)?

i've heard it used a few times but never with any explicit definition.

cutty just IM'd:

perhaps to focus on the back stroke portion of the revolution, ie, not mashing.

yeah, turning it over without getting pushed to the back of the saddle, not mashing.

where is cuttye? (miss you man!)

^^cosign this

Where is my sweet prince, CUTTY?

hi! i'm back training my balls off. 3 hour ride before work tomorrow morning, 2x20 tempo.

can't really ILX because i have hardly any downtime at work to parse through this crazy place.

Good to see you again, I'm down 10kg this year. Can't imagine 3 hrs before work, when do you sleep?

all good!

I just joined a gym, quite a big and well-appointed one, and they have four exercise bike which are basically MTB simulators! You watch what's essentially a computer game but instead of using a control pad, you pedal faster/slower, change gear, brake and steer (i.e. lean the bike over) as you go round the MTB course.

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/first-look-trixter-xdream-exercise-bike-20073/

I rather enjoyed it tbh - the only less good thing is the problem I have with any racing computer game - lack of feedback makes things like when to brake or change gear less than intuitive. And the gear system is much too vague and unsubtle. But otherwise, it makes 20 minutes on an exercise bike go past much more quickly than normal.

My new training partner is the current Masters state champion in both the road race and the criterium disciplines... Guess what he had in his spare bottle on our training ride last night?

5 pounds of fishing weights.

O how I lol'd.