"He just talks about Sartre"

Today was glorious. I would have taken pictures, but my camera would have broken. It was a balmy 43 degrees today, and my first day training with power. It is funny how warm a cloudy, 43 degree day feels after you have been cooped up in the basement, and your last outside ride was 19 degrees. Well, it feels like summer, and nothing compared to that, except for maybe going from 19 degrees to 79. Went out for a zone 1 and 2 ride, and did 2000ft of easy climbing per hour.

It is days like this that keep it going for the spring.

March Giros have been announced for queen city cyclists, they are pretty low key, and just a good group ride really.

Snow and cold.

The past week was quite uneventful. In the 11 hours and 150 trainer miles i successfully made my rear tire more square than it already was, and brought new meaning to the term "burning rubber"


The trainer has become worn on the metal wheel ever since last winter. It is somewhat satisfying to see the metal i have polished by riding, if somehow this could be made into lucrative business.
With the temperatures in the low to mid teens before windchill is factored in, there was no way i was heading out. This also gave me the opportunity to reacquaint myself with some killer 80s action movies. Yes, my week was full of explosions.


I officially start training with power this week, it will be very interesting to see what kind of increases i can achieve throughout the season, and if it proves to be a success, one will be on my MTB before next season.











In other news, My car has to go. It just isn't worth the $40 a week to keep it operating. It is just too much of my budget, and i really only need to go to school and work during the winter, which are both within a 5 mile radius from home. So if anyone reading this wants to buy vintage water cooled VW, I'll have one in my garage.





Give or take 60 days until race season!





Chris

More cold, and snow!

Today was not only my longest ride of the training season so far, but the coldest. A little more than 3.5 hours and 50 miles ridden at a somewhat brisk pace on my MTB. It was snowing in 90% of the areas i was in, and my glasses were unusable after 1.5 hours. The highlight of my ride was quite possibly falling down on clarksburg road, as someone predicted this earlier. The hill was about a 20% grade where i fell, i was going about 20, and it was ice. Needless to say, i slid some 15-20 feet. Not hurt, and a little amused i continued my ride. My water froze 3 times, and my last stop was at sprague brook park, where i basked in the heat of the bathrooms there, and filled my bottle up with sulfur tasting water. It was a fun ride even with the cold. The lowest temp i experienced was 18 degrees in springville, and the highest was 24 in hamburg. Yes, most of my clothes froze, and my balaclava was not exempt from this, forming a funny shape around my neck.

I really enjoy these fleece lined leg warmers i won at the October mtb race. Every time i wear them i am glad i didn't pick the other prize, whatever it was.

I unfortunately didn't remember my camera, but here are some pics of the aftermath.

Power Zones.

Yesterday was the first half of my power testing. 5 minute, 1 minute, and sprints. I did better than i expected in the test, happy about that. It will be interesting to do the 20 minute functional threshold power test (FTP) this upcoming week. We tried to order my bike, guess what? All out. I guess there will have to be a plan b. If it involves me building it with the parts i choose, all the better. I definately want these wheels or some sort of variant of them for racing.

1120g? 33psi max?! Crazy stuff, i have ridden light wheelsets, but nothing below 1400g. These things are definately gnarly.

Tonight i rode in the dark, it was snowing lightly. I climbed for 9 miles but it was a slow recovery ride, so i only had the illusion of working. It was calm and i only got passed by about 10 cars the whole ride so it was good.

Few things excite me like building a new bike. I am almost happy that they were out? If we find one that is great too, but i love finding out how nice i can make a bike, unfortunately for me there is a low price cap, but that will add to the challenge. I declare right here in this awesome blog, that is shall be sub 20lbs with pedals, decent tires, and water bottle cages. (i may or may not have to leave the crank off for that weight) Remember, that is a big boy frame size too...

Lighting

I never did finish my bike light from the fall, maybe it is time to do so? Also, i want a dynamo hub that generates 15w at least, but the most shimano has is a measly 3w. I want this thing to lock up my wheel!

It is ...so warm out i cannot believe......oh wait, yeah i can.

The new job up in Amherst's training schedule is getting to me. It is not necessarily the hours, as much as when they are. It is when i should be waking up anyway, so after i adapt to it i will try so hard to keep that schedule. 6:30-7am is a good time to get up for a 10am race. Well, i went for a ride in the dark tonight seeing as it was 64 degrees out. I put the back light on the Ergomo and it was awesome. I did cut the ride a bit short just because i have been feeling tired from the lack of sleep, but enjoyed my time out. Tomorrow night after work i will ride the bike path for a few hours, and maybe get lost in buffalo for a bit more. Keeping track of watts is cool stuff, i almost don't want to ride any other bike than the one with the power meter on it, but i can see that changing some day in march when i am tired and don't want to see my lack of watts.
Numbers are dangerous. Numbers are helpful. Numbers are a bit of a paradox, they can be used to tell you how well you will preform, and what you need to do that. Obsession with numbers, or bad numbers can be discouraging or bad for training. With that said, i am currently very happy with my numbers, i have lost 7 pounds that i had put on in the late summer and my watts have stayed the same. I am happy with the number i am at for pounds/inch (2.19) and will continue to lose weight until my power/weight ration changes in a negative manner. Right now everything is looking very good, and i will probably end up stabilizing when i lose 5 more lbs and have a lb/in ratio of about 2.11.

Got to get some sleep,
later :)