Sunday Solo Cruise

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 40.9
Speed (mph): 19.2
Cadence (rpm): 69
Time Moving: 2:07:56
Time Total: 2:09:38
Work (kj): 1143
Normal Power: 158
Average Power: 150 
Max Power: 479
VI: 1.06
TSS: 139.1
IF: 0.813

Goal:

Build Endurance / winter base, terrorize squirrels.

Ride Description:

Out and Back Spin just because......

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 58

Temperature Finish (F): 58

Wind: Breezy

Sky: Overcast

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 20oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops

GU gel at mile 20

Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink

Gear:

 Felt  B10 

Brewery Solo

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 64
Speed (mph): 16.6
Cadence (rpm): 68
Time Moving: 3:54:04
Time Total: 4:04:47
Work (kj): 1755
Normal Power: 148
Average Power: 128 
Max Power: 369
VI: 1.16
TSS: 214.5
IF: 0.757

Goal:

Winter Base? 

Ride Description:

That was rough in several ways. Once again tough sustained headwind all the way up and at the 30 mile marker I had about enough and turned. I just did not have it in me to keep up the fight like last weekend. My legs felt fatigued from the start and even with the tailwind on the return I wasn't really taking advantage.

Maybe tomorrow will go a little better.

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 40

Temperature Finish (F): 50

Wind: N 10+mph

Sky: Sunny

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops

Bottle #2 0oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops

GU gel at mile 24

Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink

Gear:

 Felt  B10 

Sunday Cruise

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 40.5
Speed (mph): 18.3
Cadence (rpm): 67
Time Moving: 2:13:20
Time Total: 2:16:39
Work (kj): 1085
Normal Power: 147
Average Power: 136
Max Power: 503
VI: 1.08
TSS: 124
IF: 0.75

Goal:

Build Endurance / TTE / Recreation

Ride Description:

Out and Back Spin. The usual Sunday spin. 

A very cool wind and my selection today was the Castelli Gabba II jacket with the sleeves off, long base layer, bib shorts, leg warmers and toe covers. I thought I would be overdressed, but that wind was cool enough to keep me comfortable. I never felt like I was getting too hot.

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 51 (a cold feeling 51)

Temperature Finish (F): 51

Wind: NW 11+ mph

Sky: Sunny

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops

GU gel at mile 20

Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink

Gear:

 Felt  B10 

Windy Solo 80

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 80.2
Speed (mph): 17
Cadence (rpm): 69
Time Moving: 4:42:42
Time Total: 4:59:53
Work (kj): 2209
Normal Power: 153
Average Power: 132
Max Power: 488
VI: 1.16
TSS: 280.8
IF: 0.78

Goal:

Build Endurance and recreation

Ride Description:

The first sound I heard when I woke up at four this morning was the wind whipping through the trees. The forecast saying the winds were coming down from the northwest at 17 mph and to me if I were to do my typical route would mean 40 miles of direct headwind. 

I was not deterred. So I put on my Battle Legs and mindset on going for it. As I rolled out from the brewery there were only handful of other cyclists heading out. Bright red LED blinkies on the helmet with dark skies ahead and wind hitting the chest I was ready to tuck and go. For the next 40 miles was a battle with sometimes hitting wattage well above my threshold and barely going 12 mph. It was a hard slog going north.

At the turn point I knew there was going to be a payoff for the effort. Sure enough the ride back was sweet in terms of cruising, but challenging holding the Tri bike in a straight line.

I was short a few miles of having 80 so having to turn back into the headwind to make up a few miles was a bummer, but it was done and the ride was done. Thankfully. 

Yay!! Participation Trophy!!

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 55

Temperature Finish (F): 58

Wind: NW 17+ mph

Sky: Dark clouds at start and then sunny later

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops

Bottle #2 10oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops

Bottle #3 0oz. Water

GU gel at mile 24

Clif Bar at mile 40

Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink

Gear:

 Felt  B10 

Sunday Cruise

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 40
Speed (mph): 19
Cadence (rpm): 70
Time Moving: 2:08:50
Time Total: 2:10:57
Work (kj): 1168
Normal Power: 162
Average Power: 152
Max Power: 466
VI: 1.07
TSS: 146.8
IF: 0.832

Goal:

Build Endurance / TTE

Ride Description:

Out and Back Spin just for the fun of it. 

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 55

Temperature Finish (F): 60

Wind: E 5 mph

Sky: Partly Cloudy

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 15oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops

GU gel at mile 20

Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink

Gear:

 Felt  B10 

Sosebee Solo 50

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 50.3
Speed (mph): 16
Cadence (rpm): 67
Time Moving: 3:09:20
Time Total: 3:14:52
Work (kj): 1294
Normal Power: 137
Average Power: 115
Max Power: 344
VI: 1.19
TSS: 152.8
IF: 0.70

Goal:

Build Endurance

Ride Description:

Out and Back Solo Spin. Smoke from the wildfires in northeast Georgia were drifting over into my usual Saturday route area. I could have gone down to the Comet for the day and probably should have. Once the smoke started irritating my throat and eyes I turned and headed back. Stiff gusts of winds also made it tougher at times.

Great to see Gary, Mike and a few others at Sosebee. Hopefully they had a great ride.

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 50

Temperature Finish (F): 66

Wind: E 10 mph

Sky: Sunny but the wildfire smoke was present in the northern portion.

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops

Bottle #2 0oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops

GU gel at mile 24

Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink

Gear:

 Felt  B10 

Sunday Cruise

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 40
Speed (mph): 18
Cadence (rpm): 69
Time Moving: 2:14:55
Time Total: 2:16:14
Work (kj): 1056
Normal Power: 143
Average Power: 131
Max Power: 483
VI: 1.09
TSS: 120.3
IF: 0.735

Goal:

Build Endurance

Ride Description:

Out and Back Spin

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 72

Temperature Finish (F): 72

Wind: Calm

Sky: Sunny

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops

GU gel at mile 20

Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink

Gear:

 Felt  B10 

Fall Social Ride

LtoR: Me (shadow), Laurie, Gary, Diane, Kit, Glenn, Mike, Joe, Nancy

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 67
Speed (mph): 17
Cadence (rpm): 64
Time Moving: 4:00:47
Time Total: 4:19:52
Work (kj): 1688
Normal Power: 160
Average Power: 118
Max Power: 665
VI: 1.35
TSS: 264
IF: 0.819

Goal:

Have fun riding with friends

Ride Description:

A few of us old cycling friends gathered this morning for the Armuchee - Fouche Gap route. A few could not make it for various reasons and we missed them. I know I enjoyed at least seeing each person on the ride today even if I did not get to chat very long with everyone.

Even if the fall colors were not quite as vibrant the route is great and the group was great. 
I am very grateful for being able to share this ride today with this group of friends.

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 42

Temperature Finish (F): 77

Wind: Calm

Sky: Sunny

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops

Bottle #2 0oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops

GU gel at mile 24

Clif Bar at mile 40

Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink 

Gear:

 Felt  B10 

When It All Comes Apart

Old Indoor Training Shoe Failure

If I could only express in writing the difficulty attempting to train yesterday after work. It all seem to come apart as if training, for whatever reason, wasn't supposed to happen.


I went through all my pre-training setup protocol, which typically takes no more than a minute or more. Nothing was out of the ordinary at first. The fans were turned on, the TV dialed to the normal station and muted, Pandora station started, Quarq ELSA spin to wake up, Laptop booted up, PerfPro initialized, workout prompted, Kickr appeared to pair, but then no power meter signal. So I looked at the ANT+ settings in PerfPro and it appeared to be connected yet still no signal at the workout portion.


I thought maybe the battery in the Quarq was weak so I changed it and go back into PerfPro, but still no signal at the workout. I go up to get the 820 to see if it picks up the power meter and it does with a strong signal. I then tried TrainerRoad and it is intermittently picking up the Quarq and the Kickr. The sensor signal is weak for both. One is Bluetooth and the other is ANT+. I tried pulling the BT and ANT+ dongles from the laptop, reboot and still the signals are weak. I tried my iPhone with an ANT+ dongle and look at the Quarq app but it does not pick up the Quarq. I tried the TrainerRoad phone app and it picks up both, but when I tried a workout it quickly went up to really high watts to the point I could not pedal.


I go back to the TrainerRoad laptop application and it is picking up both, but it also quickly ramps up to high resistance and I cannot pedal. It was like it was totally ignoring the ERG mode workout target.


But then while in the midst of all this fooling around trying to get the equipment setup my shoe comes apart. At that point I just gave up.


Other than the shoe thing I've had this happen before and the next training session everything just pair up like a charm. I just hope that on Monday it will all cooperate.


Other than that I am fairly excited about improving my sustainable power beyond one hour and actually would like to improve from the three to five hour mark. On my typical 80 to 100 mile course the drop off is about at the three hour mark where I succumb to fatigue. I already knew that I was struggling, but I did not have a measurement or view of how much. The nice thing about the new WKO 4 metrics is TTE and Stamina. I can now see it better and hope to shape my training to have a positive influence on sustainable power in those last couple of hours.