Splish Splash

It's been mainly dry...but just enough moisture to muck things up!

Sunday - MTB

Went out for a short MTB ride with Laura W and Alex, fun times! Just what i needed. Neat to see the Garmin data:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/25791527

Basically rode in, went up the Regional Trail to the 'entrance' to Shock Treatment on the far end, back in along that, up Skull, Inventive, down Little Face, up Emergency 2 to Rolly Ridge, then Crazy Horse to See-Section/Centerfold/Switchbacks, then across to T.Run, curious to see what it's about. Cruised down slowly and carefully, looks like it'll be pretty fun! Back up See-Section and across to Nightshift, Skull and out.

Here's the power data, nothing too exciting:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_18ghqk2jg6

Monday - Climb

Still climbing 2-3 times a week, had a good session with Kelly. The new 10c/d is all figured out, i might clean it in the next few tries.. Been working on the 11a overhang with big, round holds...might be able to clean that one soon as well. Getting a little stronger overall...

Tuesday - EM w/3x Over/Under Intervals

Headed up to the Observatory with Chad to do some 'easy' ones, only going up to 330w on the Over efforts (260w on the Under). Power was solid, i marked the wattage for each interval:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgdbj3nx_19hbt4kmgq

Still got cold #2, didn't feel nearly as good as i should have, but rode them out. Thursday will head back out, and do 4x, and bump it back up to 350w.

Garmin file looks kinda funny:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/25963465

On the Elevation view, the peaks crack me up..haha.. Nearly got 700m of elevation in 2hrs tho.

As for the splish splash, it was actually rather sunny when we left, and on the 2nd effort the rain came down!! It lasted just as we finished the 3rd effort, then stopped...but soaked the roads. I'd taken the Ridley out since it was supposed to stay dry...grr.. Stopped in at Oak Bay Bikes to give it a bath on the way home...nice and clean now. Don't like getting it wet tho!!

So i will do these for a few more weeks, making them tougher as i progress (ie, replacing an Under minute with another Over minute), and then in April start throwing down efforts well above VO2, like the 4min on, 4min off nasties...

Until then, will be getting more comfy with life at 350 watts. =)

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First Ride on Big Orange

All built up, nice day, feeling like mixing it up, so i went out for a shortish MTB ride on my new orange RIP9 MTB frame!

Upgraded from an older version, partially for the stiffer, stronger frame. Mostly for the color! (Oak Bay Bikes had this as the centerpiece of an orange shrine for a while..haha..)

Still gotta dial in the suspension a bit, but felt great off the start! Once i hit the trails, i could tell the rear end was different..definitely stiffer. Otherwise feels much the same...love the glow tho. =)

Trip was pretty straight-forward, i'm calling it the Up & Down.
Took the trails most of the way out, except for a few shortcuts to save some time. (If you're looking for a non-road way to bike to the dump, check out my Garmin map link below. It's a bit longer, but so much better.)

Went up Meadowbrook, Executive, did Shock Treatment (it's changed a bit, and was really wet in the woods!!) Up Skull, then the Regional Trail up to the bottom of Lemmings Run, which was the highest point of my ride (239 meters up, according to Garmin!) The bombed down Who's Yer Daddy, Nightshift, Skull, and back down to Executive and out..and part road part trails to get home. Limited the climb (the trail's head is actually a bit higher) as it was getting a bit late.

Ride to Meadowbrook was 50min, spent 40mins riding the Dump, and then another 45mins ride home. Neat to have all this data...and you can check it out yourself!

Here's the data from my Garmin, including Power, as my MTB is wireless:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/25548286

Click around on the buttons, lotsa neat stuff. Be sure to check out the 'player'.

And here's the power data from WKO:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_16cj64tdg2

Broke down the three portions of the ride, and all the rest of the data is there as well.

OBB ride tomorrow, looks like it'll be a wet one! Will be cool to have a map of the route tho.

Peas out!

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It's Not Too Late To Give This a Title

Oi, that's been a rainy week.. Catching up:

Saturday

Went out on the OBB group ride (meets at Oak Bay Bikes at 9am, be fendered and extendered if wet!) Felt good until Land's End, took a long, strong pull, 375-400 watts for a minute, pulled off as it went uphill, ended up at the back of the big pack, and tried to recover a bit...another brief downhill, moved up mid-pack, then up again, and worked back near the front....a stop and left turn, and someone (Craig Richey i believe - not this one) got on the front and "turns the screws" putting the hurt on.

I could bridge up, still wiped from the earlier pull..there was a small group (4) of us that chased until the airport, no dice.. Another much bigger group caught us, but it wasn't terribly cohesive, and ended up being a lot of work to stay in, with people not at all working as a group. At the Interurban sprint, i went really early, and gave several peeps a wicked lead-out.

Legs felt like lead, i attributed it to the weather - it was the first real cold ride i've done, with temps in the 3-5 Celibate range. Turns out that i'd just been really given'er! Highest TSS on an OBB ride since i got WKO+ in May. Here's the data:

 Entire workout (184 watts):
    Duration:      3:13:13 (3:34:22)
    Work:          2124 kJ
    TSS:           256.6 (intensity factor 0.896)
    Norm Power:    233
    VI:            1.26 
    Distance:      99.424 km
                         Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    1222    184     watts
    Heart Rate:      79    186    151     bpm
    Cadence:         33    128    90     rpm
    Speed:           0    61.1    31.0     kph

NP of 233 over 3.25hrs, and the TSS of 257 is a big jump from my previous hardest effort of just over 240. Normally they're in the 220-240 range. The cold and fenders are slowing things down a bit too, but 31kph is a pretty fast average speed..for the peak hour we were averaging just under 35kph.

Also got some new gear, needed some new shorts, and figured i'd chop two carrots with one swipe, and got full leggings. The Sugoi RS Zero Bib Tights are pretty sweet, although it's a little material-heavy over the belly which got a big sweaty, but otherwise a winner! I'd say good in temps 1-9C, or 3-12C if raining.

Sunday

Headed out to the Dump for this rainy day! Got a lift out with Laura and met up with a bunch of my favorite MTB buddies. Wanted a relatively short ride, no need to push it before next weekend, which is the Island Championships for cyclocross, CrossVega!



Jamie and Steve (left) had ridden out and already spent an hour on the trails. (They got in ~5hrs by day's end!) Matt, John, Laura and Alex rounded out the bunch. We headed out, and bee-lined it to the bottom of the new Fun Trail extension - nice work SIMBS! At the top i think we made a wrong turn as we ended up hiking up parts of Hot Cherry..but soon enough were on Dave's Line working our way up to the top.



I hadn't been on the MTB for over a month, but for some reason i was having an awesome day, no tumbles and riding most everything, sweet! Grip felt surprisingly good, i'd switched my front tire over to the WTB Weirwolf, which is a 2.55" monster, but surprisingly light at ~750g. On the rear i had the Victoria Standard, the WTB Nano Raptor (~650g). I bet OBB orders more of the Nano's than any other shop on the planet... Both are Stan'sd, and down in the 20psi range. I was sticking to everything and felt supremely confident, and had an awesome day out with these peeps. Fun doing the trails i normally do backwards, and threw in Snakes'n'Ladders we well.



Here's my power summary (yep, i have an MTB PowerTap!)

Entire workout (158 watts):
    Duration:      1:05:24 (1:55:47)
    Work:          619 kJ
    TSS:           87 (intensity factor 0.893)
    Norm Power:    232
    VI:            1.47
    Distance:      10.866 km
                       Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    1003    158     watts
    Cadence:         34    201    80     rpm
    Speed:           3.8    37.9    10.3     kph

Fun day, looking forward to spending more time on the trails once 'cross is over!

Wednesday

Nothing too fancy here, intended to go out Tuesday, but was feeling a bit under the weather.. Kept it short, got out for an hour and a half, took the Goose out to Interurban, W. Saanich and then Prospect Lk, back in town along the Goose and the waterfront. Stayed dry!

Entire workout (207 watts):
    Duration:      1:30:07 (1:32:53)
    Work:          1108 kJ
    TSS:           108.8 (intensity factor 0.855)
    Norm Power:    222
    VI:            1.08
    Pw:HR:          5.47%
    Pa:HR:          11.23%
    Distance:      40.942 km
                        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    782    207     watts
    Heart Rate:      78    185    162     bpm
    Cadence:         27    141    94     rpm
    Speed:           4    63    27.5     kph

Didn't feel too great tho - i should have been feeling really peppy with the time off, but i've got some low-level cold...nose getting running, and feeling gross when going above threshold power.  Speed was slow because on the ride back in the wind picked-up BIG TIME. I was brought nearly to a standstill at 300w in a gust!!

Took today off as well, still not feeling great..will likely chill tomorrow (with some commuting thrown in), a small effort on Saturday and then:

Cross on the Rock Island Championships: CrossVega!

That's right - CrossVega - i got them to sponsor the event..haha.. It's out at Shawnigan Lake School on Sunday, racing goes from 11am until after 4pm, and i'll be starting at noon. Come on out! Details here and here.

Final race of the year on the island, double points! The course isn't really my cup of tea, i prefer much more technical, this will be a pretty fast course...but the climbs are relatively mild, so it might go alright.... Saturday will be heading up to set it up, yip!

RideCam #25

For the uninitiated, i almost always have my camera (one of them waterproof ones from Olympus) in my jersey pocket, and pull it out on occasion while out and about, my latest series is here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/davenoisy1/20091115RideCam25

Some highlights:



Jon Taylor leads one of our 'Cross Clinics.



An arbutus tree at Hartland.



Ran into Liz in a matching jersey!



A rainbow ruins an otherwise beautiful pic, Roland, Mike and i are headed to a VCX session.



Alison Sydor also lead one of our 'Cross Clinics, she had some really useful tips, and people loved it despite there being a rainfall warning that day!

So, i've got Shawnigan this weekend, and next weekend i'm planning to head over to the mainland for the final two 'cross races in the province - a BC Cup on Sat, and Provincial Championships on Sunday. I won't be a factor at all on Sunday (i have to race Elite..d'oh..) I'll try to keep from getting lapped by too many peeps..haha...

It's getting late, so i'll cut it short there. G'nite!

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New Toy: MTB PowerTap

Well, i had it built up a month ago, but i got a faulty hub - it wasn't transmitting. After a gong-show affair with the warranty buffoons at OGC (Outdoor Gear Canada), and a month later and THREE different stories/excuses, it finally arrived on Wednesday.

Steve and i met up at the Switch Bridge today for a relatively easy ride, and i was happy to give my new toy a spin. Works amazingly, btw, even under the powerlines at the dump!

Below i've posted three screenshots from WKO+, the software i use to manage my data and training. All the neat info is on the lower left. For some reason, the power averages (ie, 30 seconds) are all for the full ride, not the MTB portion..not sure why it's doing that.

Trails we took were my standard 'Dave's Loop' route: up Executive, then left over to the 'beginning' of Shock Treatment - great 'warm-up', all the way up to the end near the bottom of Pooh Corner. From there, down to Skull Trail, and up that, left to Inventive and Little Face. Left at the Centerfold 4-way up to Switchbacks, no-name over to Twister and up to Phase Two. Across Dave's Line from there, South Ridge, across to the second part of Fun Trail, South Ridge, Say Ahhhh..., a bit of Crossover to N'Trail, Madonna, 2nd Ave up to Two Trees, then back on the Regional Trail to the top of Executive. It's a great loop! The last portion is a bit tricky to follow, as there are a ton of smaller trails in there. If feeling more peppy, will re-do Shock Treatment. And from there, back down Executive. The Kilarney Lake trail is fab too, but didn't do today.

Loop is 13.7km according to my data, and ride-time at a fairly brisk pace was 1h10. (1h50 actual, but we took some longer breaks.) You can see the rest of the data on the screenshot.

First, here's the MTB portion highlighted:



Click here for the full sized JPG.

Here's the full ride:



Full sized.

And, for comparison, here's the OBB group ride from the day before:



Full sized.

If for some reason those aren't loading, they're all here. Either choose 'Download' from near the top left, or click on the magnifying glass on the right to zoom in...

Interesting that they're both similar workouts, as far as TSS goes. The MTB ride was what i expected, lots of peaks, etc.. I seem to spend a lot more time in the 300-600watt range, getting up short climbs and rocks...and a lot more time spent coasting. I was surprised to hit the peak i did (1142w) I think that might have been on a rock face mid-way through Inventive (normal people go up the right side, and there's a rooty bit to get through, but there's also a line on the left straight up the face.. ;)

Also tracked my HR, haven't worn a strap much (esp. after OGC kindly replaced my failing PowerTap computer for the road, but now it required a differently coded HR strap..which i don't have..they're sharp.) Surprised it only got up to 185..some spots felt higher! Cadence with the new PT is a bit whack, it just 'guesses' the cadence in the hub (no cadence monitor), so i don't really believe i hit 206rpm...although i *could*..hehe

Curious to see how this unfolds over the long-run!

In other news, Cyclocross season is about to begin, if you're in the Victoria area, i lead Learn to Race Cyclocross clinics every Saturday morning, we meet at OBB at 9am, and ride off to a few locations. Also, will be holding what we're calling Mini 'Cross Comps, short competitions based on CX skills, such as the 2nd Annual Whirly Whirl World Championships! They start at noon. We've also got some guest instructors, including Drew Mackenzie, Geoff Pendrel, and Alison Sydor has also said she'll be out to help one day! More details and schedule posted at: http://victoria.organicathlete.org - it's free, and all are welcome! Check the page frequently for updates..

Peas out!