A Year in Review

I've been quiet as of late - not that I haven't been riding, been doing plenty of that, but there is only so many ways I can document sitting on a trainer in front of a laptop.

So the 2012 season is essentially done - its been busy with work, family, and riding.  I've learned a lot, gained tons of valuable experience which will hopefully carry me into 2013.

Gear wise, I tried out a few new things:

-  Clement PDX tires.  Fantastic clinchers with really solid grip.  They are wide with a pretty chunky tread, so you can really feel the rolling resistance at lower pressures.  Too bad I forgot them when I really needed them in Miramichi.

-  Boyd 38mm carbon tubulars.  The cat's a$$.  Super light, stiff.  I was very impressed with their quality and performance during the racing season.  I never had any braking issues, even in the gunk, using Swiss Stop yellow pads.

-  Vittoria XG Pro tubular tires.  I had mixed feelings about these tires.  On the dry, fast courses, they were awesome.  They rolled very fast and glided over bumps.  When conditions got slick, they struggled with grip.  Now, maybe it was my technique and skill - not sure.  They have tons of tread left, so I will run them next year again, but I'm going to supplement them with my PDX's more in the muck.  I'm totally sold on tubulars though....

Of note, my Belgian gluing method held up great, with no signs of failing.  Definitely worth the extra hassle and time.  

So the year started off in February with the Velo NB WinterCross.  Its a "for fun" race with no categories, prizes, or points.  For me, it was chaos.  95% of my energy was spent just trying to stay upright on my bike.  The course was bumpy, icy, and slippery.  At least it wasn't overly cold!

The road season kicked off with the Tour De Dog in Fredericton.  This was my first road race, 80kms - registered in Category B.  I got it allllll wrong.  For some reason, I felt compelled to lead the pack up the first climb and totally gassed myself at the top.  I was left behind on the 1st lap!!  I spent the next 25kms by myself, time trialling to try to catch up with the pack.  I finally latched on to a trailing rider and we clawed our way back to the peleton.

Once back with the group, riders started falling off the back as we neared the 65km mark.  I eventually found myself paired with the lead rider of the group and we broke off the front.  Our goal was to catch the leader, who had broke off the front early in the race and latched onto the A Cat riders.  We eventually caught him, and I ended up 2nd in the race.

Next up was Miramichi.  A smaller race with a less riders.  It was a 2 stage race with a 5km uphill TT in the morning, then a road race in the afternoon.  I won the TT in B Cat, then yself and 2 others ran away in the road race.  I came 1st B Cat.  

Along came my 1st Crit in St John.  This was so much fun.  A short, 700m square course in the middle of downtown.  50 mins plus a lap.  I had no idea how to tackle this one as far as tactics went.  So I just went all out :)

Ended up 3rd overall.

The final road race of 2012 was the Salisbury Silver Fox Classic.  80kms, flat and fast.  This was my first foray into the A Category.  My goal for this one was to just stay with the pack.  I managed to do this for the entire race and finished in the peleton. It was fast!!  Avg speed for the race was 40km/h!!

Along came cyclocross season for the fall.  I've already covered the races in previous posts, so its only really worth noting that I ended up 4th in the points for the A Category.  I was very happy with that!  It was a very fun season riding with the guys from Radical Edge.

So next year - it'll be interesting.  My goals:

-  reach an FTP of 300w by spring.

-  Strong effort at the Tour de Dog in A Cat.

-  9000kms of riding (I'm at 7200km for 2012, including indoor sessions)

-  Get a feel for the cross scene in Ottawa - hope for a podium or two.  The categories there are based on age, not ability.

-  

Overall it was a great year.  Lots of new friends with some fun travels around New Brunswick.

Stay tuned for the race report from WinterCross 2013!!

Product Review - TrainerRoad.com

I said it before - I'd much prefer to ride outside, but sometimes its just not in the cards.  During the winter, I try to maintain a pretty steady routine of sessions on my Kinetic trainer.  While some are content with spinning for an hour or so in front of their favourite Netflix movie or YouTube stream, I find it very difficult to do a simple, monotonous ride - that is, unless I'm doing a quick 45 min recovery spin after a race or a hard workout.

Over the past 2 years, I've accumulated a number of videos, ranging from the hairy-legged man-fest known as Spinervals <shudder> to the overly entertaining Sufferfest videos.  While effective, I needed more.

Here's the thing - with these videos, your workouts are based on what's known as PLE - Perceived Level of Effort.  This means that the video tells you to push, for example, at a 7/10 level of effort.  Well, on a good day, that could be 280 watts, on a bad day, 250.  There's not really anything pushing you, except for your own self-discipline.

Enter TrainerRoad.  For $10 bucks a month, you get a lot of cool stuff:

-  if you don't have a power meter - you get virtual power (more on this in a second)
-  hundreds of structured workouts
-  programs containing workouts to reach a certain goal (FTP, endurance, century training)
-  workout analysis that automatically calculates your "zones"
-  synchronized workout functionality with Sufferfest videos (more on this in two seconds)

$10 bucks a month.  A local cross race costs $30 for 45 mins of racing.  In relative terms, its a banging deal.  You can try the service for a 30 period for free.  You can also cancel or suspend any time.  Suspend you ask?  Well, I don't see myself using this service too much during the summer - so instead of cancelling the service, deleting all my history, data, and progress - you can suspend.  Stop paying, but keep your data, only to pick it up again for the next winter.

Virtual Power.  How much does a brand new Powertap hub cost?  $900??   Quarq?  $1200?  SRM?  Can't even guess.  Virtual power works like this:  Your trainer, whatever brand it is, works in a pretty controlled environment.  There's no wind, no hills, no terrain.  This means that at a given speed (as measured by your cyclo computer) equates to a certain wattage of power - depending on the type of resistance unit your trainer has (magnetic, fluid, fan etc).  The nerds at TrainerRoad have analyzed literally hundreds of trainers and developed algorithms to determine how a certain speed equates a certain wattage.  When you download the software, you tell the program which trainer you have (in my case, the Kinetic Rock and Roll), and it uses the proper power curve to display a "virtual power".  According to TrainerRoad, the data is within 3% as measured against a true power meter.  Did I mention $10 a month?  How many months would it take to pay off a $900 power tap?

So how does TrainerRoad pick up your speed and other data from your bike (heart rate, cadence).  Well, you need a USB ANT+ stick and a sensor package on your bike that measures off the rear wheel.    Have a Garmin Edge 500 computer that came with the GSC-10 speed/cadence sensor and a heart rate monitor.  I also bought my wife a Garmin Forerunner watch that came with a USB ANT stick (score!!!!!).  The ANT stick goes in my laptop, I open up the TrainerRoad software, go to DEVICES, and the software instantly recognizes my heart rate strap and my sensor on my bike.  It then displays this data live on my laptop.  Super super cool.  It then takes the speed as detected by the sensor, and converts it to power based on the nerd algorithm.

In summary, in addition to your bike/trainer, you need:

-  A laptop/computer (Mac needs Snow Leopard or better)
-  ANT+ USB stick, like this Garmin

-  A speed sensor that works on your back wheel - again, Garmin makes one

-  The TrainerRoad software, which you download.

-  A TrainerRoad account, which provides you with the access to use the software.

From there, you pair up your sensors and you're ready to go.  You have essentially 3 options:

1)  Ride on your own and save your data

2)  Ride one of the provided workouts

3)  Sync a Sufferfest video and ride that workout.

Before you do any of those 3, I recommend doing an FTP test - Functional Threshold Power.  This is a level of effort that you're just barely able to sustain for a certain amount of time - usually 20 minutes.  Once this level of effort is determined, the software automatically determines different "zones".  

From there, you no longer have to use a "perceived" level of effort - the software TELLS you exactly how hard to work.  As long as your bar is GREEN, you're working at the right level.

It also displays a live graph, showing you the profile of the workout, and how your numbers compare to what's expected of you, again, based on the results of that FTP test you did.

In addition to all this, you can sync up your Sufferfest videos to this data feed/analysis.  I've praised Sufferfest before, but like all videos, there was nothing really pushing you, giving you feedback on how you're actually performing.  TrainerRoad does.  You open the appropriate workout - The Hunted - for example, then you drag the video file into the window.  TrainerRoad then syncs the live graph profile with the video.  When the gun goes off signalling a sprint in the video, the graph and power targets display appropriately.  Now, instead of sprinting at 8/10, TrainerRoad tells me to target 300 watts and keep it there - the bar stays green if I do.  It turns red if I overdo it, yellow if I'm slacking.  Awesome.

Did I mention that you can still use your Garmin Edge to collect all the data for use in Strava and Garmin Connect?  Yup, it still works.

Bottom line, $10 a month is nothing considering a 'cross race costs anywhere between $20 and $40.  You get power, structured workouts, and instant tangible feedback.  No more guesswork.  You keep the bar in the green, its that simple.  What's also cool is that TrainerRoad will automatically adjust your zones if you are finding yourself either struggling or kicking too much a$$.  If you're constantly excelling during your workouts, surpassing the target levels, the program will boost your zones, so now you have to work harder to keep that bar in the green.  The program grows with your fitness level.  Very very cool. 

The first month is free - no questions asked.  However I'll wager that you'll wanna keep the subscription.  Its given me a whole new motivation to stay on the trainer this winter - which we all know, can be very difficult.

Happy riding and suffering!!