In the Drops

Me, Ullrich, Hoodie, AT, VJ and Cracker rolled this am from Lola. Mod Oz+Lime Creek (60 miler). On the way to Lola (preride) a guy riding west on Bee Cave was waving at me, and looked to maybe be in a Dough Kit (foreshadowing).

We rolled out of the parking lot unsure if the weather would hold. It was a little breezy, and the skies were not welcoming. A long way from yesterday's weather perfection, but still good conditions at the start. We took a few minutes to warmup, spinning up Bee Cave at Tempo. Cracker was a little wrung out from a fiesta last night, and fell off the back halfway down Bee Cave. Group mood was frisky. AT, whatever your preride routine was this morning, I suggest you continue, because you get comeback rouleur of the week. Along Lake Hills Church we ran into Panozz (guy in Dough kit waving at me). Collective brain lapse here, as we thought he was going to roll with us. I guess he thought we were gonna stop and make small talk, but next thing I knew we were at BeeCave Pkway, and Panozz was gone in the other direction. The kid has left the house, and we may not see him again until he gets back from his first semester at racing college. Make sure you write Mauricio!

We laid a little rock hammer down (Andy Dufresne-style) on the dam climb, splitting the group a bit. After we crested, some guy on a Trek with a Trek kit (clearly a brand-loyal customer) busted past me. Greyhound instincts, engaged. I was nearly outta gas (and still 30 yards off his wheel) when Hoodie jumps past me to continue the chase. Drafting in the fortress of solitude, we reeled the guy in for the short sprint to Walgreen's. He was suffering, but couldn't show it, since he had two rolling doughnuts on his wheel. How embarrassing for him. Ahh, good times.

Regrouped at Walgreens, and Crack opted for the regular Mod Oz. We said our goodbyes and hammered a very amateur paceline to Anderson Mill. This was totally my fault, since I told Hoode to go for his 5s max wattage while he was in the front. Huge upheaval ensued, as no one can hold the Hoodie's wheel when he cranks up the engine on the flats. It was funny to watch, but not pretty to see. Hood, what did you hit?

Lime Creek was a blast. Had to take a quick call from my daughter at one point (Joan is outta town and I left her at home by herself), and AT and VJ took the oppo to stage a furtive breakaway. Me, Hood and Ullrich did some Yeoman's work, and reeled 'em back in. I just love that stretch.

Worst conditions of the day were on Anderson Mill to 620. That stretch is under construction, with a 3 foot embankment and no shoulder. We climbed outta there single file, but there were a lot of angry cars, angrily accelerating past us. Can't we all just get along?

Spicewood and 360 were good paced, but into the wind. Shout out to Ullrich, who had a strong ride. Hoodie is turning scary. AT is back in the mix. VJ battled the elements all day like a champ. Suffering was had by all. Here I note Rule 10:

• It never gets easier, you just go faster. To put it another way, per Greg Henderson: “Training is like fighting with a gorilla. You don’t stop when you’re tired. You stop when the gorilla is tired.”

^{The gorilla won again today, but we did go a little faster. Check out a stat comparison from the last time I did this route:}

Time	29-Jan	10-Oct	%
2s	(A)	(A)	38%
5s			50%
10s			49%
20s			47%
30s			35%
60s			24%
2min			13%
5min			22%
6min			18%
10min			18%
12min			18%
20min			8%
30min			7%

(A) Note that actual numbers were removed. I just read a hilarious (and slightly embarrassing) Ask the Pros Q&A in VeloNews' March 2011 Edition. In the Q&A, Phil Gaimon (Kenda-GearGrinder) basically evoked the Madalora principle on talking about power. So, let's leave it at "I think training with power is helping" and avoid the actual ##'s.

 

I think PedalHard deserves some thanks!

(note that Fausto Coppi has been included here because he was a Hardman, and he is riding in the drops, not like some lazy Belgian)

PedalHard!!

In the bowels of MJ's we are turning mediocrity into less mediocrity. Like a (tiny) knife on a (tiny) whetstone, me and the Hood are sharpening the blade with a heaping helping of virtual hills and punishing intervals. In week 4 of a 12 week plan, I definitely feel progress. VO2 Max intervals today showed about 4% improvement over the same workout plan three weeks ago. This could be due to a second pass on the compu-course, plus some fresh legs. But I am also feeling pretty good about the plan. Hoodie is definitely ramping it up, registering some big Watts this morning on some longer intervals. One month down and I am still stoked. Thanks KL! Below is a power-to-weight chart I pirated off cozybeehive.com. This chart is a reality check, (at my current weight and power, I am a loser, not worthy of respect). But it also boggles my mind. 5s power at the elite level is around 2,000W!!! Watt the F@$&? That is AWESOME!!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Driveway-Bike-Race-Series/38018639954?v=wall#!/photo.php?fbid=10150126917435645&set=a.129909920644.138491.117104585644&pid=8292653&id=117104585644

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Men
	5 s	1 min	5 min	20 min
World Champion/World Record Holder	23.5	11.5	7.6	6.62
	23.16	11.35	7.46	6.5
	22.82	11.2	7.33	6.38
	22.48	11.05	7.19	6.26
World Class	22.14	10.9	7.06	6.14
	21.8	10.75	6.92	6.02
	21.46	10.6	6.79	5.91
	21.12	10.45	6.65	5.79
UCI Div. I/II Pro	20.78	10.3	6.52	5.67
	20.44	10.15	6.38	5.55
	20.1	10	6.25	5.43
	19.76	9.85	6.11	5.31
UCI Div. III pro	19.42	9.7	5.97	5.19
	19.08	9.55	5.84	5.07
	18.74	9.4	5.7	4.95
	18.4	9.25	5.57	4.84
Cat. 1	18.06	9.1	5.43	4.72
	17.72	8.95	5.3	4.6
	17.38	8.8	5.16	4.48
	17.04	8.65	5.03	4.36
Cat. 2	16.7	8.5	4.89	4.24
	16.36	8.35	4.75	4.12
	16.02	8.2	4.62	4
	15.68	8.05	4.48	3.88
Cat. 3	15.34	7.9	4.35	3.76
	15	7.75	4.21	3.64
	14.66	7.6	4.08	3.53
	14.32	7.45	3.94	3.41
Cat. 4	13.98	7.3	3.81	3.29
	13.64	7.15	3.67	3.17
	13.3	7	3.53	3.05
	12.96	6.85	3.4	2.93
Cat. 5	12.62	6.7	3.26	2.81
	12.28	6.55	3.13	2.69
	11.94	6.4	2.99	2.57
	11.6	6.25	2.86	2.46
Untrained	11.26	6.1	2.72	2.34
	10.92	5.95	2.59	2.22
	10.58	5.8	2.45	2.1
	10.24	5.65	2.32	1.98
	9.9	5.5	2.18	1.86
Note: Values are displayed in watts/kg. The weight should be the weight of the body only. Bicycle, kit, water bottles, etc… are all excluded

The book, Bicycling Science by Gordon Wilson, established a somewhat direct relationship between power to weight ratio (in watts per kg) with measured oxygen uptake (in ml/min/kg) in 5 trained cyclists flying the human powered aircraft Daedalus. A higher sustained power to weight ratio naturally elicits a higher breathing capacity.

Panozz Debuts with a Top 5 Finish In Copperas Cove!

Copperas Cove Road Race Recap 2011

Raced w/ the Category 5’s.

There were 51 riders in our field.  The course was a lollypop w/ a 9 mile out to a clockwise 33 mile loop and then the return for a total of about 51 miles.  I was told that there would be several attacks but the chances of them staying away would be small because no one would work together.  This race is known for being won in the last 8 miles where there are some pretty decent climbs so I was going to bide my time until then and see what happens.  My goal was to stay in the top 10-15 riders and not respond to the early attacks.

After a neutral start that seemed to last about 4-5 miles or so in a 2x2 pace line, the pace picked up when we hit the first climb.  I just tried to stay towards the front and not worry about what was going on behind me.  The pace was much faster than I was anticipating but I just hung on and tried to minimize my time at the front.  There wasn’t a lot of organization at the front at this point.  Guys would take long pulls and I just tried to avoid doing that.  When guys wouldn’t pull through, a select few got pissed and started launching attacks to string out the field.  It worked.  On this stretch, someone was on my wheel when I heard “Hill Country Dough Boys” “I didn’t know you guys raced”.  My response – “We don’t”.  Turns out it was Rey’s buddy Wiley Mosely (who you may recognize from the Ass Dollar video).  I had met him at the Dirt Derby in November when Rey introduced him to me after he had beaten Rey and won the cyclocross race that evening.  Anybody that beats Rey is pretty damn fast.  Rey also said something about him being all world in cyclocross and finished like top 20 at Cross Vegas.  My response to him was “Aren’t you a little over-qualified to be racing with us”.  I knew who’s wheel I was going to follow the rest of the day.

On the first turn onto the lollypop, I was in about position 15 when I heard some massive carnage behind me w/ bikes and riders hitting the deck.  No idea what happened and I never turned around.

After the turn, the pace stayed high w/ about 10 of us doing the majority of the work at the front.  At this point, I couldn’t avoid doing time at the front so I pulled through on each opportunity but made sure we rotated through.  Wiley spent his fair share on the front.  As we kept the pace high, I rotated through on one pull and slid to the back when I realized there were only 8 of us in the group at this point.  We had “snapped the elastic” at some point and were now part of the breakaway.  I was thankful for this because I didn’t want to ride w/ 51 riders the whole time since this was my first race.  In the group of 8, there were 3 Spanish riders on different teams that formed an alliance and kept launching attacks to break us up.  It was a little weird because we would go real hard, catch the break and then everyone would sit up and go easy until the next attack.  I was pretty gassed at this point so I was merely reacting at this point and didn’t have the legs to launch a counter.  The good news was that the Spanish were burning matches each time they did this (foreshadowing to the finish).  

On one attack by the Spanish, they got away for a little bit.  I was on Wiley’s wheel at this moment but none of us responded immediately.  Finally, Wiley responded and I tried my hardest to hold his wheel but eventually got dropped.  Then the remaining 3 riders behind me came by like a freight train and said “hop on”, so I did.  I could see up ahead that Wiley finally caught them after what seemed like a 5 minute chase.  It took the rest of us a good 5 more minutes to bridge but we eventually did.  After that stretch, the attacks stopped until the last good hill.  I learned a valuable lesson here and that is to not be on the front at the beginning of the hill.  Guz had told me that but I experienced it real time.  As we entered the climb with me on the front, one of the Spanish riders launched an attack.  I responded but slid to the back for about ¾’s of the climb but ended up getting dropped along with one other guy.  At this point, I remember what Dave Wenger had said in his racing tactics seminar.  Some of his victories have come on days where he felt like he didn’t have it.  You’ve got to dig deep to stay in contact and give yourself a shot.  I worked together with this other guy and we eventually bridged the gap and all 8 of us were back together again. 

Next few miles were fast but manageable when the 1K sign snuck up on us.  I was planning on a 54 mile race as advertised and it came a little early.  One of the Spanish riders launched another attack at about 750m but he didn’t have it and faded.  We were stretched out in a pace line at this point and there was some disorganization with one of the race organizers sending us to the left hand side of the road when it turned out we had the whole road on the stretch.  Riders were fading w/ the pace pretty intense and I was just hanging on to wheels as riders were fading.  The finish line came before I knew it and I crossed in 5^th.  Wiley got 3^rd.   The guy who won was the guy that led that freight train chase group to bridge us on the Spanish attack that lasted the longest.  We finished about 5 minutes in front of the peloton.  

A little note about Guzman – he raced in the 40+ group which is notorious for being one of the strongest w/  a bunch of Cat 1’s – Cat 3’s and ended up finishing 6^th.  Awesome result.

Belgian Special

Today's temps were a Belgian Delight, in the low 40's, with a little drizzle to accent the wintry feel of the ride. Had two new Doughrollers today. Charlie Galvin and Chad Denton showed strong in their first ride with the group. Also riding were Vijay (on a sweet set of Mavics), Ullrich, Wulf and Me.

  Ullrich and Chad discuss in-ride nutrition and coco futures

Galvin at Walgreens

we rolled a leisurely pace around the Dam, doing the original dam loop (thru RiverPlace). Kept a controlled pace throughout, only succumbing to greyhound instincts on the Dam climb and 360 to Bee Cave. For me, it was a perfect pace to recover from yesterdays extended roll. Lotta fun, and now for some NFL Football!!

Lovell doing his Proctologist imitation

Where to begin?

Today's goal: 4-4.5 hour ride. Mission accomplished. Obstacles on the ride included two low-speed, low water crossing crashes, three stops to pee, one stop to avoid hypothermia, two refuels, and one flat tire. All-in, we had 4:09 on the bike, and 1:28 of stoppage. Long day, painful for Hood and Ullrich, but definitely a worthwhile effort amongst the group.

Riders that braved the 30 degree start included Ullrich, Hoodie, Sean D (whose nickname is now Strong D), AT and Me. Objective was not to hammer, but to go at endurance pace. I think this was accomplished, but the other guys may disagree. Fitzhugh to 12 was possibly the coldest stretch of my life on the bike. It wasn't York Peppermint Patty cold, but it was close. We all cheered when we hit the first climb. A chance to get the core temp up! Pretty uneventful until we got to the low water crossing on Fitzhugh. Ullrich and AT made it across, leaving Hoodie, StrongD and me still to roll the 6 inches of cold ass water. Algae must love the cold, because it was slippery as Barry Switzer in Marcus Dupree's living room. Hoodie went down in a slow-mo slip n' slide. And it was COLD. Fueled by rage and fear of Hypothermia, The Hood laid the hammer for the next 30 minutes. This was not the endurance pace component of the roll.

We stopped at the Exxon, and Hoodie warmed up inside in more ways than one. AT wanted to exfoliate his breakfast, signalling that he was in sub par form. He showed guts bigger than Rex Ryan today. Well Done AT!!

All was fun and games until the next water crossing on County Road 301. This crossing was slicker than John Calipari's rug. Down goes Ullrich! Mucked up, but angry, we cranked a good pace to Hamilton Pool.  Great climb up the switchback, good tempo to Serengeti for a coffee break with MC.Thanks for the Joe Bro!

Ride back from there (12 and Hamilton Pool) was pretty much into a stiff headwind, and all uphill. Fun? not really. But rewarding. All-in, it was a great roll, even with the bumps and raspberries. Great roll fellas!

And Panozz, well done bro!! We need the details!!

So Lonely

Rain scuttled our best laid plans for a Hill Country beatdown. I know a hardman would suck it up and spin in the muck. Muck that. 45 degrees and raining. If you are not getting paid to ride, and you are out there, you have crossed over from hardman to dumbass, at least in my book. Being neither hardman nor dumbass (at least in self-assessment), I took my act inside. Rocked a 2 hour indoor session at PedalHard. It was an acceptable substitute for an outdoor roll. Kevin is great and always entertaining and insightful. When you are on the trainer, any distraction is welcome, and the PH Computrainer is about as good an approximation of real efforts as I have experienced.

As good as it is, nothing beats the pulse of a real ride. As I cranked away in relative solitude, thoughts wandered to why I love a group ride. To me, the energy of the pack is powerful. The communal effort, that shared struggle and the camaraderie fuse into potent elixir. It's cool to be a participant in the symmetry of a full-out paceline. Stretches like 2222-Anderson Mill, or Old Spicewood sometimes qualify as highlights of my week, on or off the bike. I am ready to get back on the road fellas!!

Post-ride, I downed a double machiatto and a bagel while people watching on the MJ-tourist crowd. On the weekend, that place morphs from bike shop to cycling mecca. Weird phenomenon. As I pulled out of the parking lot, "So Lonely" by The Police cranked on the radio. So appropriate.

Sunday, Soggy Sunday

It was a day fit for ducks. I guess you could have ridden after 1pm, but by that time I was already done with an hour of suffering on the spin bike. No power readings left me a little handcuffed, so I just amped the HR to a steady state of pain for 3x10 intervals, 6 minutes of recovery and some music that really needs to come off the iPod. Not sure how Beyonce' got on there, but I have a feeling my teenage daughter is a likely suspect. Looking forward to some grueling PedalHard sessions this week, and two days of riding outside next weekend!

To get your blood pressure up, check out Panozzo's racing setup.

Sweet wheels bro!!