Operation Overkill: Mission Successful!

So this week was 'Operation Overkill'. The goal: go hard, hurt the legs, unleash fury. (The following week will be a recovery week. ;)

Plan: Tue, 2.5hrs w/4x O/U; Thu, 3hrs w/4xO/U; Fri, Street Sprints; Sat, OBB Ride

All were a success! And despite the fact that i came into this pre-stressed, with lots of hard riding the week before... Monday my TSB was -16, which usually isn't a sign of a 'great' workout to come..

Let's begin. You will know it is time to turn the page when you hear Chewbacca howl like this: RRRRrrAAWWWaaaAAAHHH

Tuesday - 4x O/U

Gorgeous day, i finally stripped off the two pairs of booties from my shoes, and put on the toe warmer! Also, rode with knee warmers for the first time on the road this year. Sunny and bright.

Not too much to report, pretty happy with all four efforts. #2 was interrupted by some traffic, but nothing too crazy. Fast day, nice speeds. Still not averaging 300w (which i was doing on the Observatory), but 296w is the 'magic number', if i do it perfectly. These aren't too far off...it's hard to stay perfectly focused, dealing with traffic, debris, other cyclists, and what-not. (Thank you Colwood Mayor Dave Saunders for making sure we can't use the velodrome. You're a real champ. And by 'champ' i mean 'enema sack'.)

Here's the intervals:

Ave Wts: 288

Ave HR: 177

Max HR: 189

Ave Cad: 105

Ave Spd: 37.1

#2

Ave Wts: 288

Ave HR: 178

Max HR: 189

Ave Cad: 106

Ave Spd: 36.8

#3

Ave Wts: 294

Ave HR: 176

Max HR:188

Ave Cad: 106

Ave Spd: 35.9

#4

Ave Wts: 291

Ave HR: 175

Max HR:187

Ave Cad: 107

Ave Spd: 38.8

Fast day...nice to be moving. I really tried hard on #3, and kept my cadence up for all.

Here's the Garmin file: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/27876625

And the full data: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_338ggjgxhb

Thursday - 4x O/U

Another nice day, Gillian joined me out to Mattick's and then turned back, she had some paper to work on, or so she said. ;)

Today i knew i would be escalating the riding, going at least 3hrs as well. (It's also worth noting that i got in over an hour of 'commuting' riding...it was a pretty easy pace, but something to consider..)

Started the intervals, felt pretty good, here's the numbers:

#1

Ave Wts: 285

Ave HR: 173

Max HR: 187

Ave Cad: 102

Ave Spd: 38

#2

Ave Wts: 290

Ave HR: 177

Max HR: 190

Ave Cad: 105

Ave Spd: 38.5

#3

Ave Wts: 284

Ave HR: 175

Max HR: 188

Ave Cad: 106

Ave Spd: 39.7

#4

Ave Wts: 286

Ave HR: 172

Max HR: 184

Ave Cad: 101

Ave Spd: 33.9

Even faster day! The 350w 'Over' portions felt not too bad, but when dropping down to 265w for the 'Under', i felt like they were harder to maintain.. #3 was tough, and i took an extra minute to recover (usually 4mins rest between efforts.) I didn't feel super-motivated and attack the final one, i think i really just wanted to get it over..haha..

Finished the intervals, and rode back down Lockside Dr to Sidney, stopped in the Lifestyle Markets there for a water refill, and continued through and across the highway, and rode the East side of the airport to Panorama, and back into town. Remember, i wanted to add more miles today.

I decided early on that if i had a lot of time when i reached the Observatory, i'd do it as well...and i was only about 2hrs in when i reached it, so i also did a 'firm' effort up the Observatory:

Observatory: 7'39

Ave Wts: 299

Ave HR: 179

Max HR: 186

Ave Cad: 79

Ave Spd: 17.4

That's to the fire hydrant at the top. Certainly not my hardest effort or fastest time, but it was another tough effort to throw in. I burned back down the hill, and actually sprinted near the bottom to get myself up to 68kph. =)

Continued back into town, and for some reason i felt really motivated, and just kept powering along and a fairly high pace. My 3hr NP (Normalized Power, sort of like 'average' without zeros) was 235w - that's pretty freaking high for me, esp. for that length of time...!! I was powering along at the 3hr mark, and felt pretty good...that's *really* odd for me. I seem to have suddenly developed this long-distance endurance and depth.. Well, at least for me. It sure ain't going to win the Tour de France, let alone a Cat3 race....but it's pretty cool to somehow develop this...

Anyways, here's the Garmin file: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/28045840

And what WKO spits out: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_34gpw7pvhc

Wasn't too terribly fatigued after that either, surprisingly...and i think this was one of the harder individual training sessions i've ever done - it was about as hard as an OBB ride for me. =)

Fri - Capital City Cycle Sprints

Part III of Operation Overkill. I jumped into one last year, it's a pretty fun event, and track sprinters should be all over this.

It's over on Harbour Rd (left over the Blue Bridge, Goose runs along there), which is actually a perfect location for this. They start at 7:30pm, and are pretty informal. Most of the participants are fixie and courier peeps, but the spandex is beginning to invade. ;)

The format is pretty simple, it's a 2-up drag race over 300m. You start with a trackstand, and one of you counts down, and then it's go time! It's from the far side towards downtown, so a slight downhill.

I don't know if it'll work the same each time, but last night it was elimination style, so if you lost your sprint, you were out. There were about 18 people to start.

I knew about a quarter of the peeps. Trackies Jimmy Holtz (Holtz! HOLTZ!) came out, as well as Chris Anstey. (Dr. Wayne Walker came out to watch.)

From the MTB scene were Halldor and Mitch. A number of people were excited that Mitch and i would finally square off... Traditionally he's been the guy to win all the sprints...what would happen when he faced his first vegan?

Jeff, owner of Capital City Cycles (who host the event) was out of course to race, and the rest i don't know as well. Fixie Dave made it out, but has been ill, so didn't race.

So things got started, and there were some pretty tight races!!

Quarter-final: Me vs Jim Holtz. Eeep! I know he's got a pretty solid 500m time, so i didn't give him a chance. I decided to ride my 50Tx17T (on my Ridley of course), which is about 80". Pretty light from a track perspective...but it was chill out (maybe 9C), and i wanted to make a quicker start..which i did.

I blasted off the start, and just hammered. My main goal is to get a few good sprint efforts in, so i didn't look back, but just put my head down and drove for the line. (Normally i'd try to keep an eye out, and if i'm ahead, keep it 'close'..i think it's more sporting. But again, my main focus that night was a good workout.)

In Jim's defense, he used a really light gear..i felt bad eliminating him. : \

2nd Quarter-final: the only 3-up of the night, with Mitch and another rider i didn't catch the name of... But this was the show-down... I had a good 20min rest, so was feeling good. (Well, as good as i could after all the riding i've done!)

I'm not a 3-up fan for sprints...but hey.. I was eager to race Mitch tho. We lined up, and i believe Mitch counted down, and we were off!

Well, he was! I felt the last gear was a bit spinny, so dropped down to 50x16, which is about 84". With the bigger gear, and a bit more fatigue, there was a noticeable delay in my start...and i haven't done standing starts in..oh...about a year. My form was shit. But, i got the gear turning over, and started my chase!

I got up to speed, and started to worry... Mitch was still ahead!!! The line isn't terribly clear during most of the approach...! I continued to pump and spin, and began to creep up on him....i edged past and continued to pound the pedals, motivated!! I jammed and jammed and wham - there was the line! I'd made a few bike lengths, but it was closer than i'd prefer...he really spun it out! But that was two more riders down... Vegan power!

Semi-Final: Oh my, now it was Halldor. And looking at my file, there was about 8 minutes that passed since the last sprint, and when i started this one. I was feeling tired now..

We lined up, and Halldor counted down. Wham - we're off. Once again, Halldor was off, but i got my legs spinning seemingly faster, and powered through, leaving him behind at the line. I was pretty fried after that. No mercy from Halldor.

The Finale: There can only be one, and it was between a rider i don't really know, i believe his name is Andrew. (Sorry if i got it wrong!!)

Again, looking at my file, i had a whopping 7mins of rest between the last sprint and this start. Gah. No freaking bike race in the world has you doing three standing starts in the span of 15mins. Owwie!! And Andrew got to recover while Halldor tore my legs off.

Okay, enough whining..haha.. We lined up, he counted down, and ZOOM - he was freaking GONE. I was really feeling it at this point, but i put my head down and jammed the pedals hard as i could. He was still well ahead by the time i got up to speed (if you can call it that at this point) and sat down.... I did all i could: spin my legs. I crept up. It was soooo slow. I clawed my way up to him, and again made it past, and jammed for the line. I knew it was mine before i hit it...VICTORY!!! It was over!!!

There was the awards ceremony, and prizes were handed out. Very cool. If you're interested in coming out, details are here in this awesome poster. If you're on the Facebook, join the event page, and post fun stuff on the wall. =)

Next sprint is April 23rd, mark your calendars!

Here's a summary of my four efforts:

#1 - Jimmy

Duration: 25.2

Ave Spd: 43.1

Max Spd: 51.6

Ave Cad: 117

Max Cad: 128

Ave Wts: 802

Max Wts: 1168

#2 - 3-up Mitch & ?

Duration: 26.46

Ave Spd: 43.7

Max Spd: 51.6

Ave Cad: 111

Max Cad: 122

Ave Wts: 828

Max Wts: 1177

#3 - Halldor

Duration: 27.72

Ave Spd: 41.6

Max Spd: 50.6

Ave Cad: 107

Max Cad: 118

Ave Wts: 765

Max Wts: 1096

#4 - Andrew (?)

Duration: 26.46

Ave Spd: 40.1

Max Spd: 49.1

Ave Cad: 104

Max Cad: 116

Ave Wts: 676

Max Wts: 1054

You can see i was getting TIRED. Reminder the 1st was in the 50x17, and rest were 50x16 (if memory serves..makes sense based on the cadence and speed.)

The times don't line up really, as the PowerTap recorder ever 1.3 seconds or so...not the *best* for sprint efforts.. I eased off before the line on #4, so it was actually a bit longer (obviously, since it was slower. ;)

Halldor posted a bunch of pics here. Here's a few highlights:



Jimmy and me!



Gunning for the line! This is the first side photo of me on the Ridley - i'd say my position is pretty good!! Nice flat back in the drops.



The racers and cheerers!



It's not a smile. It's a grimace.



My opponent for the finale, give him a bigger gear and we all better look out!!

Here's the Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/28207128

Note i rode a bit before, and if you click the Splits page, Lap #2 is the full drag. ~300m, and a bit of a drop in elevation. (It's not a full meter i don't think.)

And, as always, here's my full WKO+ Power Data: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_35fxc6vzff

Fun fact: each sprint burned about 20 calories. Also, my TSS for ~20mins of EM, 4 30sec sprints, and a bunch of light riding was 96 for one hour. NP 247w. Insane. Sprinting counts for a lot in the TSS world!

No PBs, as expected..too tired. My 30sec peak was 727w, not *too* far off my PB. The course was too short, i would have topped that if i could go a full 30sec.

Finally, here's two graphs from WKO that are kinda neat - the first is my first sprint - notice the steady speed and cadence.. The second is my last (4th) sprint...starting to fade!

Sat - OBB Ride

Part IV: Operation Overkill. Overkill Overdrive.

heh - maybe that's a bit dramatic. =)

Keeping this short, but a pretty firm ride. Lotsa headwind on the way back. Smaller group of us took off from Sidney, missing many of the big hitters..and Craig was going for a longer ride, so wasn't really putting too much effort into the pace.

The pace was firm the whole time. We got onto Interurban and there was a small break off the front with (San Fran)Kevin, Lawrence and Jeff (a newer person on the ride). I knew they didn't have the gas to stay away, but Ryan decided to bridge it up.. We went down the hill just before Camosun and Barbara sprinted away..again, not a threat... Funnily, her husband Dave bridged us back up..haha..

Kevin took off after that, i got on his wheel, but it was short lived. We approached the hill, Barb had gone off again. Over the hill, Kevin went again, i was hoping he was planning some kind of lead-out, so i got on...but he eased up well before the bottom of the hill.....this put me in a shitty place at the front of the pack in the wind going uphill....with Ryan and Mike Elkink right on my wheel.

I didn't have much choice, and hoped for a wee bit of surprise so i got out of the saddle and started jamming it a bit early... No luck, Ryan shot by, and Mike was right beside me. I kicked like Carman having a tantrum over getting a new Ultra-Mega-Mega-Man, but Mike kept me at bay and beat me by a couple centimeters....arrrgh!! Ryan, of course, had it by a landslide.

I don't know if Mike was giving it 100%, but i would like to think that. =)

The group was virtually nil by then...no one challenged me for the Overpass (yay me!), and by the Trestle i was riding solo. I planned to do my 'full loop' (105km, around the water to Haultain), and so carried on. Legs still felt good!

Ran into Charles Durrant as i got onto Dallas. We chatted until St. Charles where he turned off. Hope i talked him into coming out to the next sprint!

I carried on, the winner of the OBB ride. Even as i hit Haultain, i felt really good, and dare i say it: i wanted to keep on riding. I think that's the first time in my life where i've ridden more than 3hrs and actually WANTED to keep it going.

But alas, i had a schedule to stick to, and had fried myself sufficiently. I turned off, and dropped down to a recovery pace for the final 10min home. Finally, a tailwind. =P

Here's the Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/28207104

And, WKO: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_36pdx4gsdt

Nothing spectacular, peak hour was just under Threshold power, normalized. Sprint wasn't terribly impressive of course, but solid.

And that concludes Operation Overkill! I really pushed it, and totally flayed myself. I'm pretty happy. Here's the week's summary so far:

Ending           Duration    Distance    Weight       HR           TSS           kJ
28/03/2010    10:05:40      301.44        72.0          154           804           6818

I generally try to keep my TSS under 800 for a full week...and it'll cap 900 as i've still got a couple hours to ride tomorrow, although admittedly it'll be a pretty tame pace. I'm thinking i'll head out to Newton to watch and cheer. I'm also eager to do a lap and collect the elevation data. ;)

That's it for now, bye everybody bye!!

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Ride, Ride, Ride, RACE!

Spent four days on the bike, good times!

Thursday - EM w/3x O/U

Yucky, chilly and blustery day... Headed out to Sidney with the goal of doing 4x O/U intervals, but only pulled off three..blaming the cold!

Did alright on them, efforts were in the 295w range, so a success overall.

Data from WKO+ 3.0: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_25g462fhfv

And the Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/26749125

First time doing these on flat ground (usually climbing up the Observatory), felt about the same..maybe the Under sections felt a bit easier as i could maintain a higher cadence...still need to work on getting it even higher tho. Doing the loops out around Sidney should be fine tho.

Friday - MTB w/Jenny Skinner

Jenny recently picked up an MTB, and i offered to take her out to the Dump and help her get going... We practiced some skills in the TTA, and then did a recon loop of the race course, it was pretty fun! It was actually snowy when we got there, and the first part of our ride was in slush...the sun was out en force tho, and it was quite nice overall.

Jenny rode really well, trying out stuff and taking a few tumbles, but no major injuries! Really great considering the adverse conditions - she'll be tearing up the trails in no time. =)

Wahoo! ;)

Here's the Garmin file, fun to watch the 'play' option, and all the little loops in the TTA..haha: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/26807510

And here's the WKO+ 3.0 data:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_26gs3hfpdm

As mentioned, an easy ride..not bad for a day off.

Saturday - OBB Ride Redux

Nothing fancy here, just rode out to Matticks, put in a few hard efforts, and then back into town with Scotty, kept it short as racing the next day.

Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/26891587

And whatever WKO+ 3.0 spits out, broke down the Out and Back for shits'n'giggles:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_27ckwdhqdq

Sunday - Island Cup XC #1

Alright, first 'big' race of the year!! Got there early, thanks for the ride from Halldor! Met Alyssa, and we went and pre-rode the course (again for me) with Raphael. Conditions were MUCH improved from Sunday! Rocks mostly dry, everything totally ridable.

I felt pretty good...haven't ridden four days in a row for a while, so was a bit nervous, but legs felt about as good as usual! Which is a good thing. =)

The loop went well, and i felt confident with the course. I must have made a wrong turn on Friday tho, the rocky double-up climb that i was concerned about wasn't on the course...good news, one less thing to worry about! It took 36mins, and that was a pretty casual pace. I was thinking i'd have to re-evaluate my guess of 30min lap-times. Definitely sub-30mins.

Pro City did an AWESOME job organizing this, the trails were exceptionally well marked - not for a moment did i wonder if i was off-course. And great selection of trails too, with a great compliment of technical terrain.

On final reflection, i think it was a pretty tough and demanding course. Typical 'Dump' riding. Lots of short, steep climbing efforts. While the overall altitude change was less than 100m, each lap ended up around 160m of climbing with all the ups and downs...and several sections were quite technical, with steep rock or protruding roots in the way much of the time. As i said, typical Hartland! I didn't really feel like there was anywhere i could really recover. My HR was pretty much around 180bpm the entire time, peaking at 192bpm a few times. It got as low as 172 for a few seconds on Shock Treatment i believe. There were no extended descents.

Anyway, so we lined up for the race:

Halldor and i bumped elbows a bit. ;)

I was in the 2nd row. Roland had gotten a prime spot at the front.. Raphael and Regan were the main people i wanted to keep an eye on. Oh, and Geoff Pendrel of course! There were nearly 40 of us lined up in Intermediate - big field! I think i was the only one in a skinsuit tho. ;)

So we were give then start, and i jumped ahead of most of the people in my line, rolled up the first rocky climb no prob, got around the first corner on the way to Pooh Corner and i was up with five riders motoring along. Felt great, we were clear of the pack.

Hit Pooh Hill, and worked our way up. I saw Raph tear away off the front, and that was the last any of us would see of him!! He ended up winning the race by a huge margin, and would have finished around 6th (behind Drew Mac) in the Expert race based on his insane lap times!

Our group chased, up and up. I had a dab on that section up to Crazy Horse, stupid root! I never ride this section either.. Finished riding up, and a sharp left turn into a tricky rocky section...had to dab again, and Geoff came TEARING by! Hello good-bye! I carried on and tried to edge back up...that was the top however, and i was about 7th overall at that point - sweet! How did i ever manage to climb so fast?!!

So the chase began, and worked my way down the trails..started to close the gap, a bit, but then got caught by Regan and another..damn.. They got away and Guy Gensey and another caught me. Funny, as we would often end up duking it out in the Cross on the Rocks races!

We stuck together up cross-over, down N-Trail, and then at the tricky rocky section at the bottom Guy biffed in the spot where all the water collects.. I tried to navigate around, and i guess i caught my rear wheel on a rock because FFFFFFFFFF! I lost a bunch of air! GAH!

I tried to roll through, but the rear end was REALLY squishy. Frack!

I stopped and worked my pump free. I had taped it to my fender..haha.. (Didn't want sticky gunk on my new frame!) Took me a minute just to get it off!! It's my mini Lezyne pump, which has the hose...i didn't really expect to have a flat! I've never burped a tire before either! (With tubeless tires, sometimes you 'burp' a tire, causing the rim and tire to separate for a second, letting out air..)

I assembled the pump, and pumped away... Disassembled the pump, and jumped back on the bike. Started to pedal...and the rear was too squishy. DAMN. Got off. Rebuilt the pump, started pumping.. By then over a dozen riders had passed, including Halldor and Roland.

I jumped back on, and got moving again. Tire was good. I had a lot of time to make-up for tho...i was off the bike for 5mins.

Caught a couple riders fairly early, rode Shock Treatment, passed another rider or two...got to the lap-point, hit the button on the Garmin - under 27mins first lap - nice! Too bad there was the 5mins stop...

I powered along, caught a couple more riders before Pooh Hill. Passed Adam Lawrence on the way up! Rode hard up to the top, nearly exploded myself! Of course, no real recovery, and carried on along Crazy Horse and Rollie Ridge..didn't see too many more people for a while.. Passed a rider just before i crossed the bridge on the beginning of Crossover, saw Alyssa there:

Checking the time stamps, i was 3mins behind Roland.. I rode and rode some more, and eventually crossed the line. Finished 16th out of 34 starters:

http://www.islandcupseries.com/index.php/2010/2010-results/

Checking the times, if i hadn't been delayed, my time would have been in the 55min range, and so i would have finished near Guy in 7th...oh well! I did manage to shave another minute off my time from Roland at the bridge. ;)

Raph for sure will have to move up to Expert.. I think Scott and Regan (and a few others) ought to move up as well, they would easily be in the Top 20 in Expert, possibly Top 10.

So, first big race out of the way! I'm really happy with my effort...not really sure what i could have done differently. Will bring a different pump..haha..

I rode about as strong as i could, Normalized Power was at my threshold - 264w. AP was 230w. There were LOTS of peaks, and i hit near my max wattage a few times, surprisingly (peak of 1156w). As mentioned, my HR was pinned. Second lap was a bit weaker than the first..but i held it surprisingly high! So a big improvement there (where i'd normally fade.) Lap times were about 26:30 and 29.

Here's the WKO+ 3.0 data, broke down each lap, and also the full race:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_24dxd9trdf

Here's the Garmin file, note that laps #3 & 4 were the actual race: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/27029692

Also, here's the pics Alyssa took, and me, mostly of the Expert event:

http://picasaweb.google.com/davenoisy1/20100314IslandCup1Victoria

Okay, enough race talk! Got some other news!

First, i upgraded WKO+ - so now have the current version of 3.0. The Quadrant Analysis is kind of neat. Will be interesting to import directly from the Garmin as well...maybe drop down to one computer on the MTB..heh..

Also, i'd been looking into new pedals for the MTB and CX. I've been riding Crank Bros Egg Beaters on the MTB, and Candy SL's on the 'cross bike. I was burned by my Candy's at the Blubberburn event, when my pedal died (and so apparently did the photos i took!) It literally blew off the end, and the pedal body came off the shaft/spindle.. (It actually happened prior to the race as i was riding around.)

I decided that was the last straw. I've had some complaints about Crank Bros pedal designs for some time.. Mainly:

* difficult step-through for CX - pedal/cleat doesn't allow for a smooth step-through, unless you're really careful..so i'd just do the 'step-back', but that's slower, and i think it's what fucked-up my ankle and foot early on in the 'cross season...landing on a stopping/sliding foot at 40kph+ can't be good for it.

* difficult to unclip at some angles: such as the very top of the pedal stroke while on a steep ride-up. There've been several times where i've stalled out, and tried to unclip, and it wouldn't, and i'd take a tumble. Not fun. Happened on the day of Blubberburn actually.

* crappy bearing/friction: the pedals never seemed to 'spin' on the axle, and there's always some friction there. Oddly, they seemed to spin more with less lube. It's a poor design, imo. Easy to rebuild, but they make them so it's rather necessary.

They're great in mud and snow - doubtless there..but these factors just don't make it worthwhile, not to mention the pedal itself doesn't have a very solid engagement, and feels like you're standing on ice.

I was hoping to adopt something else, but ended up getting some Shimano XT pedals today for the MTB. I know they work well. Solid engagement. You know you're clipped in. You can feel where you clip out.

They spin SO NICELY off the top, and stay that way. Pedals are an AWFUL place to have friction, as there's so much movement/rotation there...not a place you want resistance.

It'll be nice to do step-throughs in CX as well. Not as great in the mud...but that's a fair trade-off and minimal experience compared to everything else.

Alright, those are the main details! I updated my RideCam album as well, here's the latest:

http://picasaweb.google.com/davenoisy1/20100315RideCam28

Will post more on that later. =)

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I Made It Snow

Yes...that's right, it was me Victoria!!

I commuted downtown just before noon on Monday, and it snowed briefly!

Then, as i biked to the climbing gym, it snowed again! It must have been me. What other explanation can there be?? It snows twice, both times i'm commuting.

Sat - OBB Ride

Owwie.. I didn't really intend to ride this hard. And the problem with riding hard is that you log less time. So my 3.5hr ride turns into a 2.75hr ride...but all the same work compressed into it..

It was a nice day, sunny but chilly early on. Good little group out to Mattick's. I led the first group out from there, and it was a small pack of 8 of us...which i actually prefer.. We kept the pace up, good effort to Sidney. (Check the WKO file linked below, i broke down the three sections.)

Had a fairly long rest at Sidney since we had kept the pace up...but headed out as a fairly big group. Pace picked up before long, but nothing crazy.. Got a bit peppy around the airport...then we hit Panorama and all hell broke loose.

Going up the hill, Mike Elkink (aka Naked Mike ;) and Marsh Cooper (of Symmetrics fame) tore off the front. I kept tempo after them, but didn't feel like bridging. Scotty also broke away and bridged up. Perhaps there was one other rider...

OA Kevin tried to jump in, but he only made it a few meters ahead of me, and i soon caught him and we topped the hill. Looked back and a few people had stuck to my wheel, and a few more including Chad and the two Juniors were just catching up. Sweet, we'll have a decent chase group.

I led the descent, we kept up a firm pace along Daffodil Rd, and caught Marsh along there i believe. By the stop sign, we caught Scotty, and just after Brentwood we caught Mike. All back together!

The group kept the pace fairly high though all the way in...didn't have any problems by the Dump, the pace was pretty sustained...same with up by the Ob. We descended, and got onto Interurban..i helped pick up the pace..good effort along the road, but nothing exciting to report.

I was at the back of the pack as we rounded the final corner and gradient before the sprint. Kevin was at the front, driving the speed.

As we were coming down the gradient to the final stretch, i went to drop a few gears on the back, and realized i was all out! It flashed in my head that i was beginning to spin out my 50x12. Okay, we're moving!

I saw Scotty moving up, so got on his wheel...he sprang, i kept seated as there was actually a pretty decent headwind..best to stay low and get out of the saddle only when necessary....

We FLEW by the rest of the pack.... There was no chance of me catching Scotty, and i looked back as i approached the line, and no one was close... 2nd, i'll take it!

Fastest sprint along there in quite some time, i hit 70.4kph. Looking at my data, i was spinning 131rpm.. Compact chainrings are BRILLIANT. That's a great cadence for me, and i can spin over 160rpm and be reasonably comfortable...which would be pretty freaking fast...i don't think i'd ever be sprinting at over 90kph.

Took the King of the Overpass, Kevin challenged, but i just nailed it. ;)

Just Kev, Marsh and myself completed the ride. Haven't ridden with Marsh for a long time, prolly some track race in Burnaby a few yrs ago.

Here's the Garmin file: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/26252967 (nearly complete loop, had to skip the James Bay portion due to road closures)

Here's the WKO data: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_21fh9swzwq

Some neat stuff:

* my max and 5sec peak power were just a bit below my max. No idea how i'm maintaining this, since the only time i come close to doing these efforts is 1/wk on this sprint.. I think my 30sec is suffering a bit tho.

* ave speed of 34.5kph from Matticks to Victora, ~2hr 7mins ride time.

* my Normalized Power for my peak hour was 273w...8w over my threshold...ouch. Actual power was 225w. (Normalized is calculated to basically factor out the coasting.) For that hour we averaged just under 38kph.

Sunday - Sprinkles

Plan was to head over to Mt Doug and do another standing effort up it.. Took out the Ridley, looked dry although overcast...started to sprinkle as i passed the university, so opted for my 'Power Hour' route. Blew through it, and rode a bit more to ensure i got the 100 TSS pts i needed for the day.

Garmin: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/26432091

WKO: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_22gbhgg789

Not much to report..good Power Hour results, HR a LOT lower than previous efforts:

#4 SB Power Hour: 825kj burned, TSS 82.2, NP 240w, AP 229w, HR 160, Spd/Dis 32.2km, ~8C

#3 SB Power Hour: 842kJ burned, TSS 87.2, NP 243w, AP 234w, HR 172, Spd/Dis 31.3km, ~4C, breezy

#2 WB Power Hour: 822kJ burned, TSS 84.4, NP 239w, AP 228w, HR 170, Spd/Dis 31.1km, ~2C

#1 WB Power Hour: 805kJ burned, TSS 80.7, NP 234w, AP 224w, Spd/Dis 31.3km, ~12C

Terrain was a bit different tho, since i went 'longer', the peak hour was shifted over a bit, so thus the greater distance, i think.. I didn't feel like i was going particularly hard tho..rather tired feeling-legs i'll admit. Started to kick in near the end tho.

Climbing

Been climbing still, three days last week, and today (Monday). Still trying to clean the 11a overhang (by the lounge)...i'm SO CLOSE. I've gotten as high as the 2nd-last hold, but my forearms keep failing...

Today there was a new route. Unrated, but i'd say 11a/b. It's very long, switchbacks back and forth, and even goes DOWN a little bit..haha.. It's really fun, very tough but not at all impossible or anything.

Don't think i'll be climbing for too much longer...at least going several times a week. I'd like to keep it up 1/wk, it's great for my core...

Tomorrow (Tuesday) planning to continue my Over/Under intervals, it's calling for rain, so will likely head out to Sidney and do them along Lochside..wondering how it'll feel to do these on flat terrain instead of uphill...

Next Sunday is the first Island Cup MTB race of the year, at the Dump - kind of looking forward to it...! I just don't excel in MTB events..too much climbing. =P

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OBB Group Ride - Dumped at Dump by Cold

Felt alright this morning, didn't feel so great last night (Friday); was planning to go to the climbing gym, but my body just said 'no', so stayed at home and took it easy. I've gotten another cold of some kind, second this week..blarg! It's a relatively light one thankfully.

The ride to Mattick's and Sidney were relatively easy (broke them down, check my wattage file below) at only ~170w each. Ride through Land's End and back were a bit more work! My normalized power for 1hr was actually my threshold of 265w. 1hr TSS = 100. Ouch. (If you're not familiar, 100 is about as high as it should be able to go! 1hr at threshold is 100pts. NP will sometimes be above FTP, i hit 268w 1hr NP last weekend, TSS=102.4. AP was 233w.)

It was a pretty relaxed pace most of the way.. Pro City Jamie started to put on the heat at Daffodil Rd, with a very strong pull. We kept the pace up for quite a ways after that..doing a fair bit of a rotating paceline in our group which was actually pretty big (~14 riders). I felt decent doing that, tho i could tell i wasn't recovering properly and it felt like each effort was just compounding on the last.

The final straw was the small hill right by Hartland (the Dump), where i believe Scotty attacked! Looking at my power file, there's my 10 second peak of 717w, and i done blown up at that point... HR hit 189bpm a few seconds later, and my body essentially gave up.. I watched the pack pull away. They were actually only ~75m ahead for some time (up to the Ob), but i couldn't pick up the pace any. Barb passed by me, but i caught back up to her by the Ob hills. Pro City Tom fell back by the Dump, i dropped him pretty hard despite my fade...he was almost as far back as the group was ahead of me!

Barb and i worked together from there, i did a long pull up past the Ob well onto Interurban, Barb did a strong pull, and then Tom flew by on the dip before Camosun..jerk!! Barb and i continued to exchange pulls and we passed him by the sprint hill and i glared at him..haha.. (Turns out he just had a lot of momentum on the descent, thought we would latch on..he was going a good 10kph faster tho, hard to get on that!!)

Dave MacLeod was waiting for us by the light, and we chatted for a min (he said he was bleeding from the eyes from that effort..haha..) I wanted to keep the pace up, so pressed on towards the Goose.

Curious what happened in the sprint - if you're reading this and were there, post a report in the Comments section! =)

Jamie and OA Kev were waiting for me by the light, and caught me up...passing Interurban they busted up the pack quite a bit. Jamie and another (Raf?) were the front two, Kev and another the next pairing, and the group off behind them.. Similar to last week, they were caught by the pack at the sprint, but Kev managed a 5th with a last-second decision to sprint. Sorry i missed it!

From downtown i pretty much bee-lined it home along Richardson, save some legs and TSS for an MTB ride tomorrow. =)

Lotsa data for you numbers fans to peruse, here's the Garmin file:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/25688602

If you're new to Victoria and looking for a good route, this is what i recommend. If you've done the ride, check it out, neat mapping info on there.

Turns out we gain almost 700m of elevation on the ride. Not huge, but pretty good.

Also, note that the power and cadence data there is from T.Skinner, my Garmin hijacked his data..haha.. Oddly, for the same period of riding, i got ~190w average, where he's at 230w...we were in the same group and presumably did similar amounts of work, so i have to suspect that his unit isn't zeroed. (IE, it's calibrated a bit high...in theory our output should be relatively close..that's a HUGE difference. I would expect that if he weighed 25lbs more than me or something..maybe he's been putting on that weight at the gym. ;)

Here's all my power data:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgdbj3nx_17hr638tfg

Broke down a few sections as well: the ride out to Matticks, the portion to Sidney, and then Land's End and back into town.

Enjoy! Tomorrow will be out on The Big Orange. =)

PS - if you were in the sprint, tell your story!

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