Beasty's 2011 assault on the vets

3 evening sessions and an hour on the track added up to 112km this week, bringing the YTD to 1,756km at 28kph.

Racing is expected to commence in a couple of weeks with the vets league - the first race is a DMS - it's billed at 60km, so I'm guessing it will be nearer 45km!

I'll be away on a couple of occasions next week, and should get one track session in. I'll be trying to get out on the other evenings during the week. Hopefully I'll manage to get a couple of hundred km in, and will then ease off a bit for the week before the first race

197km this week - my back continued playing up, although it's not as bad now as it was at the start of the week, and I managed to hit a new power peak of 1,174w tonight, with another 4 1,100w+ surges

YTD total now stands at 1,952km at 28kph

I hope to do my first race of the season next Sunday, so will aim at another couple of evening sessions early in the week, before easing off towards the end of the week

michael196 wrote: »

oh gosh, here comes the big guns ....

- err... not quite - I've never gained any points other than those they give for turning up

michael196 wrote: »

what category do u race Beasty ?

- the slow one

It's the vets races I am talking about - there's a DMS next week and I expect to be in the middle of 3 races (there are 6 vets categories, and based on last year I should be in the 4th (ie 3rd slowest)

4 commutes and a couple of evening sessions this week resulted in 243km (my longest weekly distance of the year to date) at 27.5kph. Given the windy conditions, I'm not too unhappy with the average, and my YTD total now stands at 2,375km at 28kph

I managed to improve my 5 minute Power from 359w to 386w (normalised 389w) this evening, which means I have now improved pretty much all intervals up to about 6 minutes over the winter. I have improved longer intervals on a normalised basis also, although I am hoping absolute improvements come along when I start doing some TTs (my existing PBs have been set during TTs)

Tonight's power/CP curve:



Subject to the back problems it feels like everything is starting to come together for the new season (I know, famous last words....)

The back spasm has settled down a bit, although I am still feeling the sciatica in one leg - in theory this will diminish power output, but I suspect in my case it does not make much difference.

Looks like I won't be racing next week due to family commitmemnts, which means my next race will be the start of the Swords League a week on Wednesday, with a 5 and a half minute or so uphill TT;)

In the meantime, I'll be looking to get a bit more distance in ths sweek with a few commutes and perhaps another couple of evening sessions

mc2000 wrote: »

Hey Beasty don't forget about the Vets and your assault thereon! Expect to see you there next Sunday in Batterstown, it's a CP, go on you'll love it!

Never mind those just-over-a-mile hilly time trials [i'm marshalling that one] - good to hear your back seems to have settled down, so get yerself back out on the road racing:pac:

Assault is aimed at the TT/Midweek Leagues!

Sundays remain difficult because of family commitments (and the prospect of another European Cup final, with ticket already secured, although Dirk may be seeking that out after tonight:eek:). The family are away over Easter though

This Sunday is dependent on the FA Cup Semi Final. If we beat them in normal time with a bit of luck I should be home in the evening, and hopefully racing on Sunday. If it goes to extra time (I know it's City we are playing, but you can't rule it out), it will be the first flight back on Sunday (both options are booked )

Back spasm has calmed down, but the sciatica remains, so I have not yet run out of excuses

So after Wednesday's escapade on the Swords Hill climb I had to use the spare bike on Thursday's commute. I've not used it that much, and it's almost as new.

On the way home, heading up the hill, out of the saddle - crunch then crash, as I hit the deck for the second time in 24 hours. The plaster on my knee come off, and I end up with cuts on top of cuts. Indeed the damage was quite a bit worse than that suffered on Wednesday - and it was the chain again - it had kinked at the joining pin, and came off the big ring. The chain was almost new, and I guess the pin was not properly engaged.

This prompted me to go and retrieve the damaged chain from Wednesday - again it was just about a month old and had only done about a thousand km or so, That one had snapped at a normal link. When I restarted the hill climb on Wednesday I took it a bit gingerly, but still hit 800w, and I suspect I was pushing out quite a bit more on the ill-fated attempt.

Anyway, there were no further dramas in today's vets race. It was so relatively easy I decided to go out and give Ardgillan another go tonight. The weather was similar to Wednesday, but fortunately there was no wet mud on the road this time

I clocked 5m 18s, which is identical to my time on Wednesday. Bearing in mind this was after this morning's race, I am hopeful there is more in me, and at some stage I would like to break 5 minutes for the climb. Power was slightly down (366w versus 376w), but interestingly normalised power was only 3w higher, whereas on Wednesday it was about 18w higher, perhaps highlighting the more stop and start nature of that attempt given road conditions, and the gearing problems I had

This week's total distance 160km, bringing the YTD total to 2,746km at 28.2kph

Next week will hopefully see races in the Swords League on Wednesday and the vets on Sunday

Race report from last night here

Now for the stats:

Average speed - 36.1kph
Power - average 254w, pedalling 271w, normalised, 283w max 883w
HR - average 166, max 181
Cadence - average 85, pedalling 89

It was exactly a minute slower than my fastest time last year on this course, when I averaged 37 kph in a much larger Group 2 (that was never caught - it was towards the end of the season when everyone was quite fit and taking their turns at the front)

Last night I was averaging about 37kph (293w normalised power) before we were eventually obliterated by scratch, and I was spending quite a lot of time on the front. Interestingly last year my overall average cadence was 78, but when I was pedalling it was 96, a difference of nearly 30%, whereas last night the difference was less than 5%, which highlights how much more time I was spending leading the group or on my own. I think the wind must have been worse last year as my normalised power was also 283w, with an average of 248w and pedalling 280w.

If the pace had been a bit steadier when we were caught I may have hung on, but as it was the second half of the final lap turned into a bit of a TT, which I guess is good preparation for the first vets TT of the year - a 10-miler next Tuesday

Here's the power curve from last night:

Tonight saw the start of the vets TT and midweek league, with a 10-miler on the Black Bull course

The TT League is one of my main focuses for the year, so I guess this is where it starts getting serious

Over 40 in total taking part, and I was number 10 off. There was an easterly wind which would be hampering the return, but should have assisted the first half.

I set the Garmin to lap every 4km, and tracked my average power in each 4km (approximately 1/4 distance) segment. I was expecting the 3rd quarter, with headwind and slight incline (13m climbing) to be hardest

I set off at my allotted time, and found myself putting out nearly 300w for the most of the first quarter, but was averaging 39.5kph. I was expecting to be slowed down in the second half, so was slightly disappointed to not be cracking the 40kph mark, as it did feel as if I was working very hard. The computer beeped and I glanced down to see a time of 6m 4s. The next quarter I kept up the same speed, but my average power was down to 265w - I felt reasonably comfortable, and wanted to save up something for the return into the headwind.

The computer beeped again exactly half way round the roundabout, and I set off on my return journey. I felt like I was pushing only slightly harder, but maintaining my lap speed at 39.5kph. Although my main aim was to beat handicap (25m 6s), I was hoping to go as fast as 24m 30s, and if I could keep this speed up I would just about do it.

Into the final quarter and I was still on target for 24m 30s. As I went through Batterstown I was thinking I would just about get there. Just before the end I finally had another rider in my sights - my 6 minute man (admitedly he is over 25 years older than me!), and I rolled in just after him

My time - 24m 25s, a 2.75% improvement on handicap and 24s faster than my previous best time in the Boards TT last August. I feel there is more to come, particularly in more benign conditions.

Now for the interesting bit - my pacing. I had no intention of doing this, but my splits for the 4 x 4km segments were:

6:04:36
6:05:00
6:05:00
6:05:00

ie I hit exactly the same time, to a hundredth of a second, in 3 of the segments, and was less than 2/3 of a second faster in the other! I thought there must have been a mistake when I saw the lap times, but they do add up (together with another 6s or so for the final bit) to my total time for the ride.

Power output was 267w average, 273w normalised, 446w max
Splits - 292w, 264w, 267w, 249w
Cadence average - 95, which is very high for me, and perhaps reflects the better shifting available with the bar-end shifters

Hopefully I'll be back for another crack on the same course next Tuesday, with again my main aim being to improve handicap

Definitely 24m 25s. I checked with Donal myself. The guy after me was in the 23m zone though.

NB. I'm immune to the cold (although admittedly did not get much of a sweat up last night)

morana wrote: »

how does it compare to the CP curve? What was your best power for 24" 25'?

I was going to do another post about that

I did the boards TT on the same course last year at about 15w higher. My best, which was on the previous vets TT on the same course, is 286w, and the CP curve is at 289w. Each watt is worth getting on for 2 seconds over that course. I really wasn't pushing it in the last quarter last night, and had something left in the previous two.

The main difference is the wheels, as I was over 20s slower in the boards TT in what were probably more benign conditions

However I still have a couple of minor aero improvements up my sleeve, and I reckon I can put out at least 20 watts more this year than last

I’ve now done the Black Bull 10m TT on 3 occasions – the first time on the road bike with Aerobars, on then on the TT bike with normal wheels, and finally on Tuesday with Aero wheels (deep rim on the front, disk on the back). I guess I can now have a stab at how much difference the bike and wheels make.

Obviously conditions were not identical across all 3 rides, but in all cases they were reasonable, neither calm, nor were there strong winds. Hence I don’t think conditions will distort the position much. I had a skinsuit and aero helmet on all 3 attempts.

First the raw data
1st attempt (vets, 03/08/10) – time 25:06 (38.5kph), Average power 286w (highest recorded for this time interval)
2nd attempt (Boards TT, 31/08/10) – time 24:49 (38.9kph), Average power 277w
3rd attempt (vets, 03/05/11) – time 24:25 (39.5kph), Average power 267w

As a result of playing around with the bike calculator, I reckon, over this distance, every watt is worth about 2 seconds

On this basis, using my first attempt as the benchmark:
2nd attempt – 17s faster, 9w (equivalent to 18s or so) lower – overall impact of the bike, 35s improvement, or 0.9kph
3rd attempt – 41s faster, 19w (38s) lower – overall impact 79s improvement, or 2.2kph

So on this analysis, the bike is worth around 35s/0.9kph, and the wheels another 44s/1.3kph over 16.0934km.
Over 25 miles (40km), these figures can be multiplied by 2.5 – the bike may be worth about 90s, and the wheels another 110s

I guess it's not inconsistent with this from the Biggest Bang for your Buck article:



The only other question is whether the more aero position restricts, in any way, my power output, when compared to the road bike with aero bars. My gut feeling is not, but it is very difficult to properly evaluate this (unless I go back to experimenting with the road bike, which I have no intention of doing!)

So did I get Bang for my Buck? - well I'm not complaining anyway:D

Lumen wrote: »

Maybe you could separate out the CP curves for TT bike and road bike to understand a bit more about where the power is.

Road bike, aero bars, 286w, 25m 6s:


TT bike, aero wheels, 267w, 24m 25s:



So the TT bike curve is much flatter - hardly any variation in power (peak was when getting up to speed at the start, and a fairly steady effort throughout). I guess I was also able to focus on keeping it steadier this time.

However my previous efforts involved a very hard push at the end - I didn't need to this time as I knew I was already well within handicap (I averaged around 45kph for the last minute or so on the road bike, and nearer 35kph on Tuesday)