BBC 48

Neal and Kit heading out on an early morning spin

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 48
Speed Avg (mph): 16
Cadence (rpm): 70
Time Moving: 2:57:08
Time Total: 3:02:00
Work (kj): 1358
Normal Power: 152
Average Power: 128
Max Power: 465
VI: 1.19
TSS: 192
IF: 0.81

Goal:

JRA

Ride Description:

Before rolling out I had an opportunity to talk with Kit and Neal and after a few miles I went my way on the BBC route. I had planned on at least the metric route, but the whole time I kept thinking about what I should do with the Felt B10 in terms of repair, updates and if I should sell it and get a newer Felt IA series. Because I could not get my mind focused on cycling I cut the route short. 

I also missed the whole week from indoor training due to a hard work deadline. Hopefully I can get back on track soon with my schedule and get my gear in top working condition again. Hopefully that is. 

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 67
Temperature Finish (F): 75
Wind: Breezy to Windy at the end
Sky: Cloudy to clearing and sunny at the end

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops
Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink

Gear:

 LOOK  585 

Sunday Cruise

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 41
Speed Avg (mph): 17.8
Cadence (rpm): 65
Time Moving: 2:18:01
Time Total: 2:20:24
Work (kj): 1065
Normal Power: 143
Average Power: 129
Max Power: 643
VI: 1.11
TSS: 131.9
IF: 0.76

Goal:

Build Endurance

Ride Description:

Just another out and back cruise at the Comet. Fairly uneventful, but since the path was clear toward the end I got to throw in a few light sprints just to check out the knee.

It was nice to be on the SRAM etap equipped road bike and it sure ran smooth. After the rear derailleur cable failed yesterday on the Felt it makes me want to put etap on the tri bike. I may start looking into that. 

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 82
Temperature Finish (F): 82
Wind: 6mph ENE
Sky: Partly cloudy

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:

 LOOK  585 

A Day of Issues

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route Part 1 and Part 2

Ride Description:

No reason to post ride metrics since I had a tough time getting in the groove today. I felt fine, but other issues and obstacles kept popping up from the time I left the house. 

The first was a stand still on I-75 that put me behind schedule. 

The second was being surrounded by three dogs that came up on me while I was in the middle of a nature break and I had to negotiate my way out of that in a delicate fashion. One of the mutts wanted to have a go at me and made several lunges. I got out of it unharmed, but it took some time to get back on my bike and slowly move away from them. That's never happened before. It looked like the three were roaming together as I was not close to a house.

The third was my rear derailleur cable came loose and it turns out my mini tool did not have that size allen wrench. I felt it best to turn back and I am glad I did. It was kind of frustrating only being able to shift using the front derailleur and have a mid range gear for flattish roads and drop to the 36 ring for steeper hills. It was good enough to get back, but not much else. 


Edit: It wasn't a loose cable. It was the spring in the SRAM Red rear derailleur that broke. I was not able to see that without my glasses until I got home.

I was just happy to get back to Sosebee Bike Park with 60 some miles and where I got to see Diane and Jamie and chat with them for a few minutes. Great to see them and maybe I will see some more of my cycling friends if I use the bike park more often.

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 66
Temperature Finish (F): 80
Wind: Calm
Sky: Partly Cloudy

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops
GU gel at mile 24

Gear:

 Felt  B10 

PCL Rehab - Week 15

This morning may not be a big deal to true lifters and it certainly is not up to what I could do in my younger days especially when talking squats, but I was very excited. About 15 weeks ago I had no idea what was ahead of me following the crash. I did not know if I would be going through surgery or what to expect, but I know I have a history of being determined to overcome injuries and obstacles. 

I wanted to do 630x6, but the 100 mile ride on Saturday and 40 on Sunday was just a bit too much fatigue on my legs to finish it out while training at 5 AM this morning. I finished up with lighter full range hack squats, calf raises, leg curls and leg extensions. 

There are times when I can feel a little play in the knee and to do this sort of weight kind of messes with my mind thinking about what would happen if this knee were to buckle. So far so good.

Sunday Solo Cruise

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 40
Speed (mph): 17
Cadence (rpm): 70
Time Moving: 2:15:51
Time Total: 2:19:16
Work (kj): 999
Normal Power: 135
Average Power: 123
Max Power: 498
VI: 1.1
TSS: 116
IF: 0.71

Goal:

Build Endurance and enjoy cycling

Ride Description:

Out and Back Spin. Take it easy because of yesterday's effort.s

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 88
Temperature Finish (F): 88
Wind: Calm
Sky: Cloudy

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin
GU gel at mile 20

Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink

Gear:

 Felt  B10 

Sosebee Solo

A lot of roads to myself

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 100
Speed (mph): 17
Cadence (rpm): 69
Time Moving: 5:53:34
Time Total: 6:03:23
Work (kj): 2566
Normal Power: 142
Average Power: 121
Max Power: 389
VI: 1.18
TSS: 334.8
IF: 0.75

Goal:

Build Endurance and enjoy cycling

Ride Description:

This was the morning of the BBC (Beautiful Backroads Century) and not being a participant I had consider another start point. I ended up going to Sosebee Bike Park just a few miles more up the road. On the way up I saw plenty of cyclist traveling up the interstate in the dark early morning hours and on Busch Drive a long line of headlights waiting to get in the parking area. 

Sosebee was also starting to get a number of cyclists. Some were heading over the BBC start point and some were like me with just hoping to avoid all of it. As I rolled out at 7:30 and just a few minutes down the road it was quiet and barren of cyclist and cars. My route overlaps the BBC route in just a few places so it wasn't until I was almost back before I saw any groups and those were probably the last to come in. By the time I was back to Sosebee most of the cars were gone already. I suppose this is a testament as to how slow I was going on the 100 mile route today. That's okay because the weather was great, traffic was fairly low and I enjoyed spinning a few miles. 

Just a side note: I wasn't planning on doing 100 miles today. I just thought it was too good a day not to do a few extra miles. Plus, I missed an indoor training session this week due to work deadlines so why not grab a few more miles?

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 65
Temperature Finish (F): 82
Wind: Calm
Sky: Partly Cloudy

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops
Bottle #2 20oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops
Bottle #3 15oz. Water
GU gel at mile 25
GU gel at mile 65
GU gel at mile 85

Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink

Gear:

 Felt  B10 

Sunday Cruise

The northern clouds and wind from Hurricane Irma already into Georgia (Image from NOAA)

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 40
Speed Avg. (mph): 19
Cadence (rpm): 69
Time Moving: 2:08:56
Time Total: 2:11:51
Work (kj): 1125
Normal Power: 156
Average Power: 145
Max Power: 571
VI: 1.07
TSS: 147
IF: 0.83

Goal:

Build Endurance and enjoy the time cycling

Ride Description:

Out and Back Spin. Signs of hurricane Irma coming in with stronger sustained winds from the east. Irma is still well south of us and is just now hitting Florida. For the record this is one big storm. A whole lot less people out on the path this afternoon, but already a whole lot more debris and limbs falling.

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 76

Temperature Finish (F): 76

Wind: 13+mph E

Sky: Clear to becoming cloudy at the end. 

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin
GU gel at mile 20
Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink

Gear:

 Felt  B10 

Breezy Solo

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 80
Speed (mph): 17
Cadence (rpm): 68
Time Moving: 4:43:28 
Time Total: 4:52:40
Work (kj): 2139
Normal Power: 147
Average Power: 126
Max Power: 398
VI: 1.17
TSS: 284.4
IF: 0.78

Goal:

Build Endurance

Ride Description:

Out and Back Spin. I got a later start and enjoyed meeting and talking to Mark for the first time before rolling out. He saw me come in the day of my injury and asked how I was recovering. He also had a serious crash a week after mine and had to be taken to the hospital and had to go through about $28K of medical tests to find out what happened. Obviously neither of us were afraid to get back out on the road for more miles. He headed his way and I went mine.

I could feel a bit of the fatigue from the weekday indoor training so this ride was mainly about getting in some endurance miles. Based on the weather report I thought I was going to get a nice push on the way back, but it felt more like I was pushing against the wind. Hurricane Irma is headed our way, but it is still about two days south so I don't think it was influencing today's ride. 

Nothing really to report, but it was an amazing day to be out on the bike. The sky was clear and sunny. The temperature was perfect with low humidity and the traffic was light. I saw a number of cyclist further north and found out that BRAM (Bike Ride Around Murray) was going on and I was generally going in the opposite direction of the cyclists. 

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 56
Temperature Finish (F): 76
Wind: 11+ mph ENE (although I think it was shifting from the south at times)
Sky: Clear

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin
Bottle #2 20oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin
Bottle #3 0oz. Water (emptied late in the ride to reduce weight)
GU gel at mile 23
Clif Bar at mile 45
Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink

Gear:

 Felt  B10 

PerfPro Remote

PerfPRO Remote on iTunes for purchase

iPhone Remote Workout Screen

iPhone Remote Display and Power Meter Control

Quick Thoughts:

This remote application will come in handy for convenience sake. I have managed training with the combination of the PerfPRO application on a Windows laptop, Kickr Gen 1 and Quarq ELSA power meter for a while now, but this remote will be a nice addition since my laptop sits about five feet from my bike and safely away from the sweat zone. 

The remotes features I will use the most are:

• Starting the session
• Adjusting the intensity (up or down if needed and based on fatigue levels)
• Stopping and saving the session

You can see there are a number of other remote features available, such as, scrolling through the display settings or controlling the session through the power meter or changing the mode of the trainer during the workout. 

Wish list:

Just a hint and I do hope a future update will include an icon for skipping or moving to the next step where one can move forward in the programmed workout to a rest break, or skip a rest break or skip on over the cool down if one is time crunched. 

Connection:

Some will probably have no issues at all when getting the remote synced up with the application. I had to work through a few issues because of my Windows Firewall had blocked PerfPro and my iPhone had a different IP address compared to what was showing in the Windows PP application and the PP remote application. It took a bit more time for me to figure it all out and I had to use the 5ghz WiFi selection as I could not get the 2.4ghz to work even when I put in a static IP address in the phone. 

If you are a PerfPRO user and are considering this remote application and need assistance here is a LINK that may be helpful or maybe seek some help on the Facebook page. 

PerfPRO Video Demonstration (video by PerfPRO):

Labor Day Easy Spin

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 40.4
Speed (mph): 16.5
Cadence (rpm): 63
Time Moving: 2:27:08
Time Total: 2:29:13
Work (kj): 1075
Normal Power: 147
Average Power: 122
Max Power: 563
VI: 1.2 
TSS: 148.3
IF: 0.78

Goal:

Leisure Ride

Ride Description:

Out and Back Spin just to get out of the house and enjoy the holiday. 

Kind of a crazy start to this ride. My wife insisted that I go to the Comet because supposedly it is "safer". I keep telling her that I see more crashes and near misses here than I see out on the road. While I am prepping for the ride I see a guy with an experienced look going fast toward the parking lot. Then I hear that dreaded sound and I roll over to see an older guy laying on the pavement bleeding. I think he was going way too fast to make that turn into the parking lot and lost it. I tried to help him up, but his pride seemed to be bleeding about as much as his skin. He did not want help from anyone. 

A few miles down a very crowded path and I see an ambulance picking up someone. From that point until about the eleven mile marker I did not attempt a faster pace. There were way too many children and unpredictable beginner level cyclists. It was amazing how many elderly guys fully kitted out like a pro racer and doing some really risky moves. I always thought it would be the young guys that would be more of an issue. 

A few miles into my return I met Michael and spent a number miles getting to talk to another cycling addict. It was great to hear that he recently moved to Atlanta from Philly and will now get to enjoy cycling in a little bit less harsh winters. Great guy and I hope many blessed miles for Michael. Most of all it was good to finish this ride upright. I've got enough issues of my own with healing.

On the knee rehab issue eight weeks past the initial injury and the last annoyance happens to be the skin on the right knee cap not healing. I bumped it on Saturday while working in the yard and it easily split open again. I now have Tegaderm on the wound and I will give it some more time to see if it will heal before seeing a doctor. 

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 86
Temperature Finish (F): 86
Wind: Calm
Sky: Sunny

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin
GU gel at mile 20
Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink

Gear:

 LOOK  585