My friend put together a short film about my hour record attempt:
Niki's Hour from Luke Stiles on Vimeo.
Now I just need to get back into shape and try again.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, September 23, 2007
The worst idea I have ever had
39.2km.
It was painful, it was hot and it was a little bit windy. But overall the conditions were pretty favorable. Last Sunday would have been a better day for an attempt but I can't complain about 80 degrees, clear sky and fairly mild wind (for Kissena).
My goal was to break 40km and I came pretty damn close. Had I done this on a better velodrome (read: not bumpy or windy) I probably would have and that's good enough for me.
Already there are some pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickjames/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21494593@N00/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14060984@N05/sets/72157602145075017/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thelivest1/sets/72157602149945677/ New!
Some pictures from Will:
And a picture from Gui:
It was painful, it was hot and it was a little bit windy. But overall the conditions were pretty favorable. Last Sunday would have been a better day for an attempt but I can't complain about 80 degrees, clear sky and fairly mild wind (for Kissena).
My goal was to break 40km and I came pretty damn close. Had I done this on a better velodrome (read: not bumpy or windy) I probably would have and that's good enough for me.
Already there are some pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickjames/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21494593@N00/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14060984@N05/sets/72157602145075017/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thelivest1/sets/72157602149945677/ New!
Some pictures from Will:
And a picture from Gui:
The Time
My record attempt will start some time between 2 and 3pm on Sunday September 23rd.
The BBQ will hopefully be underway by 1pm.
The BBQ will hopefully be underway by 1pm.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Special thanks
There are a lot of people that have helped me out a lot in the past few months during my preparation for the hour. I'd like to take a moment to thank them all:
First and foremost Dave from Bike Works. He has given me discounts on equipment, lent me his disk wheel and has been very encouraging. He also hooked me up with an awesome Bike Works skinsuit which I will be wearing during my attempt.
Additionally Tyler and the guys at Affinity Bikes ordered me a Lazer TT helmet.
As for individuals not associated with bike shops:
Chombo for making the flyer
Chris M who is lending me his Specialized Tri-spoke
Lee who is lending me aero-booties and for helping with timing during the 30 minute TT
Chris VD for lending me a stopwatch
Chris Y for helping with timing and driving me back home from the track afterwards
Will for helping with timing and taking amazing photos
Ceya for his training advice
Alan for helping me get a USAC official
Andres for promising to bring the grills for the BBQ
Squid for the promotion
The thursday morning crew
And everyone else for your support and well wishes. I'm doing this for you guys (okay that's a lie - I'm doing it for myself, but your enjoyment is important to me).
First and foremost Dave from Bike Works. He has given me discounts on equipment, lent me his disk wheel and has been very encouraging. He also hooked me up with an awesome Bike Works skinsuit which I will be wearing during my attempt.
Additionally Tyler and the guys at Affinity Bikes ordered me a Lazer TT helmet.
As for individuals not associated with bike shops:
Chombo for making the flyer
Chris M who is lending me his Specialized Tri-spoke
Lee who is lending me aero-booties and for helping with timing during the 30 minute TT
Chris VD for lending me a stopwatch
Chris Y for helping with timing and driving me back home from the track afterwards
Will for helping with timing and taking amazing photos
Ceya for his training advice
Alan for helping me get a USAC official
Andres for promising to bring the grills for the BBQ
Squid for the promotion
The thursday morning crew
And everyone else for your support and well wishes. I'm doing this for you guys (okay that's a lie - I'm doing it for myself, but your enjoyment is important to me).
Monday, September 17, 2007
Test run
I went to the track yesterday and did a 30 minute TT as a test/practice-run of my hour record. I did 48 complete laps in 30 minutes and did 49 laps in 30:13.91.
The formula used by the UCI to calculate the total distance is as follows:
D = (L Pi x TC) + Di C
Di C = (L Pi x TRC) / TTC
where: D = distance covered in the hour (or half hour in this case)
L Pi = length of track
TC = number of complete laps before the last lap
Di C = additional distance
TTC = time of the last complete lap
TRC = time remaining to ride at the beginning of the last lap
Using this formula my distance for the 30 minute effort was 19.467km or 12.096 miles.
Here are some fancy graphs I made:
The formula used by the UCI to calculate the total distance is as follows:
D = (L Pi x TC) + Di C
Di C = (L Pi x TRC) / TTC
where: D = distance covered in the hour (or half hour in this case)
L Pi = length of track
TC = number of complete laps before the last lap
Di C = additional distance
TTC = time of the last complete lap
TRC = time remaining to ride at the beginning of the last lap
Using this formula my distance for the 30 minute effort was 19.467km or 12.096 miles.
Here are some fancy graphs I made:
Friday, September 14, 2007
Getting sick
For the past 5 or 6 days I've had a slight soreness in the back of my throat. The kind you wake up with and think "it's nothing" and then the next day you are full blown, can't-get-out-of-bed sick. Except it hasn't progressed to that point.
I've increased my vitamin intake, particularly vitamin C (5-8 grams daily at the moment). As of today my throat is no longer sore but I am feeling sluggish and my nose/head is congested.
I'm really hoping that this goes away within the next day or two. At the very least I hope it doesn't interfer with the attempt itself.
The good news is that I received the permit for the velodrome. I have talked to Alan and though he won't be able to officiate himself, he did say he could find someone who can. I have my aero-bars, skinsuit and TT helmet, and I should be picking up my disk wheel, aero-booties and tri-spoke this weekend.
I've also been looking into phosphate loading, which involves taking sodium phosphate for 4 days prior to the event. In several studies it was found to increase performance on a 40k TT by up to 8%.
I hope I'm ready.
I've increased my vitamin intake, particularly vitamin C (5-8 grams daily at the moment). As of today my throat is no longer sore but I am feeling sluggish and my nose/head is congested.
I'm really hoping that this goes away within the next day or two. At the very least I hope it doesn't interfer with the attempt itself.
The good news is that I received the permit for the velodrome. I have talked to Alan and though he won't be able to officiate himself, he did say he could find someone who can. I have my aero-bars, skinsuit and TT helmet, and I should be picking up my disk wheel, aero-booties and tri-spoke this weekend.
I've also been looking into phosphate loading, which involves taking sodium phosphate for 4 days prior to the event. In several studies it was found to increase performance on a 40k TT by up to 8%.
I hope I'm ready.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
The date has been set.
I've been neglecting this blog but I have not been neglecting my hour record attempt. Last week I filled out the paper work for a permit to use the velodrome. There may be some issues with insurance that I need to clear up but it shouldn't be a problem.
I also talked to Alan (USAC official) about officiating the attempt. He's going to look into whether it's a USAC record or just a track record and figure out what sort of timing equipment we'll need.
So by now you are probably wondering when the attempt is taking place. Sunday September 23rd. Mark your calendars.
I have a little over three weeks left to train. The track racing season is over so the hour record is my only focus now. I have almost all of the equipment I need (aero bars, skinsuit, disk wheel/tri-spoke). I'm waiting on a time trial helmet that I ordered through Affinity Bikes and I have yet to get aero booties.
Hopefully I don't completely embarrass myself.
I also talked to Alan (USAC official) about officiating the attempt. He's going to look into whether it's a USAC record or just a track record and figure out what sort of timing equipment we'll need.
So by now you are probably wondering when the attempt is taking place. Sunday September 23rd. Mark your calendars.
I have a little over three weeks left to train. The track racing season is over so the hour record is my only focus now. I have almost all of the equipment I need (aero bars, skinsuit, disk wheel/tri-spoke). I'm waiting on a time trial helmet that I ordered through Affinity Bikes and I have yet to get aero booties.
Hopefully I don't completely embarrass myself.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
ECMC
Wednesday - Independence Day - marked the start of the East Coast Messenger Chumpionships. A five day "Bicycle Messenger Fiasco." Two alleycats, a beach party, a day at the track, karaoke, polo and excessive drinking. Excelling in each event would give you points towards the overall omnium and the person with the most points would be crowned the "Chumpion."
The Chumpionships kicked off with the first alleycat. No information was released before hand other than the location of the start (Chambers St. and West Broadway). We weren't given a manifest at the start of the race either - we had to leave our bikes leaning against a fence and the organizer stuck a note in our spokes. The race started LeMann style with everyone running to their bike and retrieving the note.
According to the note we had twenty minutes to get two 16oz cans of beer, lock our bikes to the bike rack between 6 Pearl St. and 17 State St. and rendezvous on the 3pm Staten Island Ferry.
My friend Andres and I went in search of beer with a few other racers. This is much easier said than done in the Financial district. The first few places we went to did not sell beer. Finally we found a place that did but they only sold 12oz cans (and it took a good five minutes of explaining to the clerk to find out they didn't have 16oz cans). Fortunately across the street was a grocery store that sold beer. Andres ran in and bought some beer while the rest of use waited outside. When he got out he put the beer down just as a few other racers showed up and they proceeded to take our beer. Andres yelled at them and managed to get some of the beer back, enough for those of use who were waiting there for him.
We made our way to the ferry and saw that most people were locking up right outside the terminal. However Andres and I decided to follow the directions properly and found the bike rack specified in the note. A handful of others did the same.
We got on the ferry with about 5 minutes to spare. Once on the ferry we were given the manifest - all the checkpoints were below Canal st. and most of them were unmanned. The finish line was unknown - at each checkpoint we'd get a clue (a letter or number) and once completed the clues would spell out the address.
After a pleasant ferry ride the race started. It turned out that locking to the specified bike rack was totally unnecessary and pretty much guaranteed that anyone who followed the directions would lose. While we had to run 3 blocks just to get to our bikes everyone was already riding to the first checkpoint. The few of us who had followed the rules decided to stick together and we were off to the first checkpoint.
Once all the checkpoints were completely we were able to complete the word jumble and determine that the finish was at 169 East Broadway - 169 Bar. We headed over there and I was the first one to the finish - but I forgot to put my name on my manifest. As I was frantically scribbling my name Andres and this other guy roll up and hand in their manifest before I can.
Broadway Bombin', another race completely unrelated to ECMC, was starting later that evening. However while we were at 169 Bar it started raining and I was feeling pretty tired. I opted to skip the race and head home to take a nap. I hit the pillow a little after 8pm and woke up a little after 9am the next day. That was some nap! Unfortunately I had to go to work so I missed the beach party and camping. However I was able to convince my boss to let me take Friday off so I could race at the Velodrome.
On Friday I packed up my rollers, grabbed my track bike and headed towards the 7 train. I don't like riding long distances with my rollers in my bag so I figured public transportation would be the best way to get to the track. When I got there a few people had already arrived including Alex who was organizing the events. Unfortunately only a handful of other people showed up. By the time we started the races there were 12 racers and only a couple of spectators. According to the ECMC handbook the track racing was supposed to involve "betting" - you would bet on a racer and if they placed you would earn points towards the final omnium. If you were a racer and people bet on you, you'd get points for that too (and of course points if you placed in the races). However this ended up not taking place as there were not enough people to make it worthwhile.
But we still raced. Alex started us off with an 8 lap scratch race. We kept it pretty slow at first but by the bell lap the pace was pretty high. With 200m to go Luke and Dan jumped. Adam and I responded but were unable to catch Luke and Dan by the finish. I ended up in fourth place by half a wheel.
After the scratch race we all decided that a team sprint would be fun. At first we were going to choose our own teams, but after I asked Luke and Dan if they wanted to be on a team with me, we realized that that wouldn't be fair so we randomized the teams. I ended up on a team with Justin and Izumi - both strong riders so we made a formidable team. We were the first up and had to decide the order for ourselves. Izumi would be the first rider followed by Justin and then myself. We lined up, got our holders and waited the start. For some reason however, I had a really bad start. It took me half a lap to catch up to Justin and Izumi. Once we were all together however we held a pretty good pace and finished our three laps in 1 minute and 37 seconds. We wound up in second place to Luke's team who had a time of 1 minute and 33 seconds.
By this point we were all getting really tired from racing in the relentless sun and heat. Alex decided to have only one more race - a Miss and Out. I stayed near the front for the most part although I did play the devil on a few laps. Alex was eliminating down to three, although this proved to be pretty difficult as he didn't have a bullhorn and we didn't have numbers. I'm pretty sure there were a few laps where no one was pulled because no one could hear him shout at us. I made it to the top three along with Luke and Dan and we were given two neutral laps. We slowed it way down - the heat was really getting to all of us. Half way through the bell lap Dan started sprinting. I responded as did Luke who started sprinting behind me. He quickly passed me while at the same time a sizable gap was forming between me and Dan. I felt like vomiting and knew there was no way I could keep up at that point so I just gave up and was satisfied with my third place finish.
The main Alleycat for the ECMC was on Saturday. However I had family business to attend to after which I had to go to work, so I missed the main race. I did however make it to karaoke that night. I sang "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Once the karaoke was over I went home.
Sunday was the Polo tournament and award ceremony and in the evening, a re-screening of Bike Shorts (a bunch of short movies about bikes including RASH). I had to work during the day so I missed Bike Polo but I made it to Bike Shorts. While there I was informed that I managed to get in 15th place overall due to the points I accumulated at the track and at karaoke. However since I missed the award ceremony I missed out on my prize (which was probably just a T-shirt).
All in all it was a crazy/fun weekend. Big thanks to Bill Dozer and Josh Whitesnake for organizing an amazing event!
The Chumpionships kicked off with the first alleycat. No information was released before hand other than the location of the start (Chambers St. and West Broadway). We weren't given a manifest at the start of the race either - we had to leave our bikes leaning against a fence and the organizer stuck a note in our spokes. The race started LeMann style with everyone running to their bike and retrieving the note.
According to the note we had twenty minutes to get two 16oz cans of beer, lock our bikes to the bike rack between 6 Pearl St. and 17 State St. and rendezvous on the 3pm Staten Island Ferry.
My friend Andres and I went in search of beer with a few other racers. This is much easier said than done in the Financial district. The first few places we went to did not sell beer. Finally we found a place that did but they only sold 12oz cans (and it took a good five minutes of explaining to the clerk to find out they didn't have 16oz cans). Fortunately across the street was a grocery store that sold beer. Andres ran in and bought some beer while the rest of use waited outside. When he got out he put the beer down just as a few other racers showed up and they proceeded to take our beer. Andres yelled at them and managed to get some of the beer back, enough for those of use who were waiting there for him.
We made our way to the ferry and saw that most people were locking up right outside the terminal. However Andres and I decided to follow the directions properly and found the bike rack specified in the note. A handful of others did the same.
We got on the ferry with about 5 minutes to spare. Once on the ferry we were given the manifest - all the checkpoints were below Canal st. and most of them were unmanned. The finish line was unknown - at each checkpoint we'd get a clue (a letter or number) and once completed the clues would spell out the address.
After a pleasant ferry ride the race started. It turned out that locking to the specified bike rack was totally unnecessary and pretty much guaranteed that anyone who followed the directions would lose. While we had to run 3 blocks just to get to our bikes everyone was already riding to the first checkpoint. The few of us who had followed the rules decided to stick together and we were off to the first checkpoint.
Once all the checkpoints were completely we were able to complete the word jumble and determine that the finish was at 169 East Broadway - 169 Bar. We headed over there and I was the first one to the finish - but I forgot to put my name on my manifest. As I was frantically scribbling my name Andres and this other guy roll up and hand in their manifest before I can.
Broadway Bombin', another race completely unrelated to ECMC, was starting later that evening. However while we were at 169 Bar it started raining and I was feeling pretty tired. I opted to skip the race and head home to take a nap. I hit the pillow a little after 8pm and woke up a little after 9am the next day. That was some nap! Unfortunately I had to go to work so I missed the beach party and camping. However I was able to convince my boss to let me take Friday off so I could race at the Velodrome.
On Friday I packed up my rollers, grabbed my track bike and headed towards the 7 train. I don't like riding long distances with my rollers in my bag so I figured public transportation would be the best way to get to the track. When I got there a few people had already arrived including Alex who was organizing the events. Unfortunately only a handful of other people showed up. By the time we started the races there were 12 racers and only a couple of spectators. According to the ECMC handbook the track racing was supposed to involve "betting" - you would bet on a racer and if they placed you would earn points towards the final omnium. If you were a racer and people bet on you, you'd get points for that too (and of course points if you placed in the races). However this ended up not taking place as there were not enough people to make it worthwhile.
But we still raced. Alex started us off with an 8 lap scratch race. We kept it pretty slow at first but by the bell lap the pace was pretty high. With 200m to go Luke and Dan jumped. Adam and I responded but were unable to catch Luke and Dan by the finish. I ended up in fourth place by half a wheel.
After the scratch race we all decided that a team sprint would be fun. At first we were going to choose our own teams, but after I asked Luke and Dan if they wanted to be on a team with me, we realized that that wouldn't be fair so we randomized the teams. I ended up on a team with Justin and Izumi - both strong riders so we made a formidable team. We were the first up and had to decide the order for ourselves. Izumi would be the first rider followed by Justin and then myself. We lined up, got our holders and waited the start. For some reason however, I had a really bad start. It took me half a lap to catch up to Justin and Izumi. Once we were all together however we held a pretty good pace and finished our three laps in 1 minute and 37 seconds. We wound up in second place to Luke's team who had a time of 1 minute and 33 seconds.
By this point we were all getting really tired from racing in the relentless sun and heat. Alex decided to have only one more race - a Miss and Out. I stayed near the front for the most part although I did play the devil on a few laps. Alex was eliminating down to three, although this proved to be pretty difficult as he didn't have a bullhorn and we didn't have numbers. I'm pretty sure there were a few laps where no one was pulled because no one could hear him shout at us. I made it to the top three along with Luke and Dan and we were given two neutral laps. We slowed it way down - the heat was really getting to all of us. Half way through the bell lap Dan started sprinting. I responded as did Luke who started sprinting behind me. He quickly passed me while at the same time a sizable gap was forming between me and Dan. I felt like vomiting and knew there was no way I could keep up at that point so I just gave up and was satisfied with my third place finish.
The main Alleycat for the ECMC was on Saturday. However I had family business to attend to after which I had to go to work, so I missed the main race. I did however make it to karaoke that night. I sang "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Once the karaoke was over I went home.
Sunday was the Polo tournament and award ceremony and in the evening, a re-screening of Bike Shorts (a bunch of short movies about bikes including RASH). I had to work during the day so I missed Bike Polo but I made it to Bike Shorts. While there I was informed that I managed to get in 15th place overall due to the points I accumulated at the track and at karaoke. However since I missed the award ceremony I missed out on my prize (which was probably just a T-shirt).
All in all it was a crazy/fun weekend. Big thanks to Bill Dozer and Josh Whitesnake for organizing an amazing event!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Almost forgot - Road racing
Last saturday marked my return to road racing. I have stayed away from road racing for awhile now, mostly because it's hard to fit into my schedule. And also because it scares me a little - the first road race I ever entered ended with me in a 5 person pile up. One of the seat stays on my road bike got bent (fortunately it's a steel bike and was easily repaired), my rear wheel needed to be rebuilt and my handlebars and cables needed to be replaced. I was barely able to walk for two days due to a sprained hip and was off the bike for a week. It took me over a month to fully recover (I had also sprained my wrist and bruised my ribs).
The next two road races I did didn't go so well either - the first post-crash rash was only three weeks after the crash and I still hadn't fully recovered. The next race was difficult for me mentally - I had trouble staying in the pack - especially on the downhills - due to the fear of crashing again.
After that I pretty much stopped road racing. It was a pretty demoralizing experience and when you combine that with a 6:30am starting time (meaning I'd have to wake up around 4:30am) it was very easy to miss races.
But that all changed last weekend. The Kissena Cycling club organizes races in Prospect Park during the summer months and I decided to sign up. I prepaid online to make sure I'd go. I woke up at 4:30, had some breakfast and headed to the park. The guy at the registration desk recognized me from the track and I'm sure he wondered why I was in the Cat 5 field. He handed me my number and I wandered around to say hello to my friends who were also racing.
It came time to line up and I noticed that Alex "Thunder Thighs" was in the Cat 5 field. Surprising, to say the least, as he is a Cat 4 track racer who rides in the A group and often places. But he was pretty much in the same boat that I was - neither of us did much road racing and so we had to work our way up.
The race started off easily enough - the pace was pretty comfortable and I spent most of the time near the front of the pack, mostly as a precautionary measure in case there was a crash. Alex was also at the front of the pack, and decided to attack. I responded and got on his wheel but we only got a gap of a maybe a hundred meters and the pack quickly caught us.
And that was pretty much how the rest of the race would go. Alex would attack, I would respond but we would fail to make a break. We must have attacked three or four times. Alex is an incredible sprinter but it seems that breaking away is his weakness.
On the final lap there was a crash. Fortunately it was on the uphill and also fortunately, it was behind me. I heard the unmistakeable sound of metal twisting and bodies hitting the ground. I took a quick look backwards but then thought better of it and just continued forward. Immediately after the crash this one guy at the front launched an attack. I told Alex to let him go, figuring that we would catch him later. However after almost half a lap he had gained an impressive lead and Alex sprinted to catch up to him. When the pack reached the downhill I started picking up the pace to catch the two of them. I ended up pulling the pack up to them and losing all my energy in the process. Alex and I ended up finishing towards the back of the pack.
Despite my overall poor performance at the finish of the race I had a lot of fun. I don't take Cat 5 races that seriously and I don't take road racing that seriously either. It was nice to break up the monotony of pack riding with some (failed) attacks. Next time I'll probably just sit in the pack until the end, but I don't regret the strategy that Alex and I employed.
The next two road races I did didn't go so well either - the first post-crash rash was only three weeks after the crash and I still hadn't fully recovered. The next race was difficult for me mentally - I had trouble staying in the pack - especially on the downhills - due to the fear of crashing again.
After that I pretty much stopped road racing. It was a pretty demoralizing experience and when you combine that with a 6:30am starting time (meaning I'd have to wake up around 4:30am) it was very easy to miss races.
But that all changed last weekend. The Kissena Cycling club organizes races in Prospect Park during the summer months and I decided to sign up. I prepaid online to make sure I'd go. I woke up at 4:30, had some breakfast and headed to the park. The guy at the registration desk recognized me from the track and I'm sure he wondered why I was in the Cat 5 field. He handed me my number and I wandered around to say hello to my friends who were also racing.
It came time to line up and I noticed that Alex "Thunder Thighs" was in the Cat 5 field. Surprising, to say the least, as he is a Cat 4 track racer who rides in the A group and often places. But he was pretty much in the same boat that I was - neither of us did much road racing and so we had to work our way up.
The race started off easily enough - the pace was pretty comfortable and I spent most of the time near the front of the pack, mostly as a precautionary measure in case there was a crash. Alex was also at the front of the pack, and decided to attack. I responded and got on his wheel but we only got a gap of a maybe a hundred meters and the pack quickly caught us.
And that was pretty much how the rest of the race would go. Alex would attack, I would respond but we would fail to make a break. We must have attacked three or four times. Alex is an incredible sprinter but it seems that breaking away is his weakness.
On the final lap there was a crash. Fortunately it was on the uphill and also fortunately, it was behind me. I heard the unmistakeable sound of metal twisting and bodies hitting the ground. I took a quick look backwards but then thought better of it and just continued forward. Immediately after the crash this one guy at the front launched an attack. I told Alex to let him go, figuring that we would catch him later. However after almost half a lap he had gained an impressive lead and Alex sprinted to catch up to him. When the pack reached the downhill I started picking up the pace to catch the two of them. I ended up pulling the pack up to them and losing all my energy in the process. Alex and I ended up finishing towards the back of the pack.
Despite my overall poor performance at the finish of the race I had a lot of fun. I don't take Cat 5 races that seriously and I don't take road racing that seriously either. It was nice to break up the monotony of pack riding with some (failed) attacks. Next time I'll probably just sit in the pack until the end, but I don't regret the strategy that Alex and I employed.
RASH
In an effort to deliver more content to you, the consumer, I figured now would be a good time to post the short film RASH, which I co-directed and starred in. It is a parody of the trailer for the film MASH, made in San Francisco about fixed-gear culture.
While making this film with my friend Lee we discovered the sub-sub-sub culture of roller riding/racing. While we were aware of it before hand, having experience with GoldSprints and seen videos/pictures of Dave's roller racing machine, it had never occured to us that there was a real "culture" behind it all. I hope to further document it in a less tongue-in-cheek manner in the future.
Rollers are and will continue to be an important part of my training.
While making this film with my friend Lee we discovered the sub-sub-sub culture of roller riding/racing. While we were aware of it before hand, having experience with GoldSprints and seen videos/pictures of Dave's roller racing machine, it had never occured to us that there was a real "culture" behind it all. I hope to further document it in a less tongue-in-cheek manner in the future.
Rollers are and will continue to be an important part of my training.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Thursday morning River Road
The past three Thursday the usual Thursday morning group ride has consisted of riding along River Road and then taking 9W back to the GWB. This has turned out to be much preferable to our previous rides to Piermont in the morning. True, we don't get to stop for breakfast halfway through the ride but the scenery is nicer, the hills are more intense and the route is much shorter. I end up getting back home between 8 and 8:30am which gives me plenty of time to shower, eat and take a nap before work.
Last week Dave showed up on his uncle's Pogliaghi track bike. Kurt and I were both on road bikes. As soon as we got to River Road it basically became a solo ride - Dave zoomed ahead as usual while Kurt and I struggled to catch up. Kurt is a pretty cautious descender however, so I dropped him on one of the longer downhills.
Eventually I caught up to Dave. He had stopped to wait for us by the little cabin on the 180 degree bend of Alpine Road. Dave went down to the bottom of Alpine Road while Kurt and I headed to the top. Kurt and I wondered aloud how long it would take before Dave passed us. Kurt and I made it to the Court house at the top of Alpine Road and waited for Dave. Once we were all together again we got on 9W to head home. Dave took a bunch of photos that can be found here.
Yesterday, of course, was another morning group ride. This time Dave didn't show up and Kurt is on vacation in Mexico. However Lee was back and he met up with me in Brooklyn. We both had decided to take our track bikes. We headed up to the GWB while I attempted to get in touch with Drew. Drew wasn't answering his phone so I thought it would just be the two of us until we got two blocks from the bridge and Drew called me. Unfortunately I had never communicated to Drew that we were on track bikes so he showed up on his roadie.
We all made our way to River Road. Without Dave it wasn't a hammerfest so we stayed together for the most part. I would often end up a few hundred meters behind on the descents as I was the only one riding brakeless and the ground was still wet from the thunderstorms the night before.
We got to Alpine Road and decided to head down to the bottom. We took it easy going up but it was still painful. Alpine road is about a mile and a quarter and averages about a 7% grade. I was in my track gearing (48x15, 84") so I spent most of it out of the saddle.
After the ride I had breakfast with Lee and then headed to work. I felt surprisingly good - usually after the Thursday morning ride I'm really tired and a little bit sore. At first I wondered if perhaps riding my track bike had anything to do with it. Does it fit better? Do I recover better mashing up hills instead of spinning? Then it hit - the races on Wednesday night were cancelled!
Last week Dave showed up on his uncle's Pogliaghi track bike. Kurt and I were both on road bikes. As soon as we got to River Road it basically became a solo ride - Dave zoomed ahead as usual while Kurt and I struggled to catch up. Kurt is a pretty cautious descender however, so I dropped him on one of the longer downhills.
Eventually I caught up to Dave. He had stopped to wait for us by the little cabin on the 180 degree bend of Alpine Road. Dave went down to the bottom of Alpine Road while Kurt and I headed to the top. Kurt and I wondered aloud how long it would take before Dave passed us. Kurt and I made it to the Court house at the top of Alpine Road and waited for Dave. Once we were all together again we got on 9W to head home. Dave took a bunch of photos that can be found here.
Yesterday, of course, was another morning group ride. This time Dave didn't show up and Kurt is on vacation in Mexico. However Lee was back and he met up with me in Brooklyn. We both had decided to take our track bikes. We headed up to the GWB while I attempted to get in touch with Drew. Drew wasn't answering his phone so I thought it would just be the two of us until we got two blocks from the bridge and Drew called me. Unfortunately I had never communicated to Drew that we were on track bikes so he showed up on his roadie.
We all made our way to River Road. Without Dave it wasn't a hammerfest so we stayed together for the most part. I would often end up a few hundred meters behind on the descents as I was the only one riding brakeless and the ground was still wet from the thunderstorms the night before.
We got to Alpine Road and decided to head down to the bottom. We took it easy going up but it was still painful. Alpine road is about a mile and a quarter and averages about a 7% grade. I was in my track gearing (48x15, 84") so I spent most of it out of the saddle.
After the ride I had breakfast with Lee and then headed to work. I felt surprisingly good - usually after the Thursday morning ride I'm really tired and a little bit sore. At first I wondered if perhaps riding my track bike had anything to do with it. Does it fit better? Do I recover better mashing up hills instead of spinning? Then it hit - the races on Wednesday night were cancelled!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Has it really been three weeks?
It's been awhile since my last post on this blog. I've been really busy at work, but that is NO EXCUSE. There should be nothing more important in my life RIGHT NOW than my blog...err...my hour record attempt.
Rather than try to document what has happened in the last three weeks with regards to my training and racing, I'm just going to pick up from last nights track race. Or lack thereof.
It was extremely hot and humid out yesterday, 91F with close to 100% humid. Threats of thunderstorms in the late afternoon. I decided to err on the side of hope and bring my track bike to work. After a somewhat productive day of work, 5 o'clock was quickly approaching so I headed out. I stopped at Conrad's bike shop in Tudor city to pick up a tubular tire as I have run out of spares (I ride this bike once a week and have flatted more in two months than I have on my other two bikes in six months). Unfortunately Conrad's only had Conti sprinters in stock which are $70 - more cash than I had on me at the time. The guy at the shop recommended a can of sealant instead so I bought a can of fast air.
From Conrad's I started heading towards the Queensboro Bridge where I was to meet up with a few other races. I ran into Ken on Third Ave. and we headed uptown together. And then it started raining. We both looked at each other but kept going. By the time we got to the bridge (about 5 minutes later) it had stopped raining. We met up with Luke and Todd and started riding.
When we got to Flushing it started pouring. We stopped under and awning and waited it out. The rain tapered off pretty quickly - about ten minutes later. At that point we were all pretty sure the races were going to be cancelled and that we would be the only people at the velodrome but since we were so close we decided to soldier on anyway.
Upon arriving at the track Ken through his hands up in the air as if he had just won a race. There were people at the track! A few racers and the officials were huddled in the storage container seeking shelter from the rain that had just passed. Ultimately Alan decided to cancel the races. I took a few laps on the track anyway where I was amazed to see a pheasant walking around turn two. When I got close he/she flew away.
We were all waiting around at the track hoping it would dry up enough to do some unofficial racing, however every five to ten minutes it would rain and then stop. Eventually people started leaving so a group of us - Ken, Luke, Kym, Dan and myself - left to go home. And that's when it started to rain. And I mean rain. Lightning flashed and thunder cracked. And then Dan got a flat. Kym and I stopped to wait while he fixed it as the lightning creeped ever closer.
Kym started getting freaked out by the lightning as it was only 2-3 kilometers away (2-3 seconds inbetween lightning and thunder). At one point she suggested we hitchhike, to which Dan replied, "Come on, we're hardcore bike messengers and computer programmers!" Thanks for remembering me Dan!
I made it home soaked and feeling great.
Rather than try to document what has happened in the last three weeks with regards to my training and racing, I'm just going to pick up from last nights track race. Or lack thereof.
It was extremely hot and humid out yesterday, 91F with close to 100% humid. Threats of thunderstorms in the late afternoon. I decided to err on the side of hope and bring my track bike to work. After a somewhat productive day of work, 5 o'clock was quickly approaching so I headed out. I stopped at Conrad's bike shop in Tudor city to pick up a tubular tire as I have run out of spares (I ride this bike once a week and have flatted more in two months than I have on my other two bikes in six months). Unfortunately Conrad's only had Conti sprinters in stock which are $70 - more cash than I had on me at the time. The guy at the shop recommended a can of sealant instead so I bought a can of fast air.
From Conrad's I started heading towards the Queensboro Bridge where I was to meet up with a few other races. I ran into Ken on Third Ave. and we headed uptown together. And then it started raining. We both looked at each other but kept going. By the time we got to the bridge (about 5 minutes later) it had stopped raining. We met up with Luke and Todd and started riding.
When we got to Flushing it started pouring. We stopped under and awning and waited it out. The rain tapered off pretty quickly - about ten minutes later. At that point we were all pretty sure the races were going to be cancelled and that we would be the only people at the velodrome but since we were so close we decided to soldier on anyway.
Upon arriving at the track Ken through his hands up in the air as if he had just won a race. There were people at the track! A few racers and the officials were huddled in the storage container seeking shelter from the rain that had just passed. Ultimately Alan decided to cancel the races. I took a few laps on the track anyway where I was amazed to see a pheasant walking around turn two. When I got close he/she flew away.
We were all waiting around at the track hoping it would dry up enough to do some unofficial racing, however every five to ten minutes it would rain and then stop. Eventually people started leaving so a group of us - Ken, Luke, Kym, Dan and myself - left to go home. And that's when it started to rain. And I mean rain. Lightning flashed and thunder cracked. And then Dan got a flat. Kym and I stopped to wait while he fixed it as the lightning creeped ever closer.
Kym started getting freaked out by the lightning as it was only 2-3 kilometers away (2-3 seconds inbetween lightning and thunder). At one point she suggested we hitchhike, to which Dan replied, "Come on, we're hardcore bike messengers and computer programmers!" Thanks for remembering me Dan!
I made it home soaked and feeling great.
Friday, June 1, 2007
More training, more track racing
Last monday I attempted to start training twice a day. I was able to pull it off on monday, but on tuesday I had to work late and wanted to get to be early to make sure I got to work on time on Wednesday. I'm racing every Wednesday night of course, so I don't do any training on Wednesday. Thursday morning was the usual group ride to piermont and by the time I got home from work on Thursday I was dead tired. It is now Friday and I spent this morning doing laundry as all my bike shorts/bibs needed washing. To make matters worse I got doored on the way to work this morning and while I'm relatively okay, I'm probably not going to be able to train tonight.
But enough excuses, on to the reports:
On my way to the track on Wednesday, when I was about a mile or two from the velodrome, I flatted. More specifically, I flatted a tubular. I rode the flat the rest of the way and set about changing tires. It took me awhile to pull the old tire off as the glue had really set but I eventually got it off. I pulled out a tube of track rim cement and started smearing a layer on my wheel, getting my hands nice and sticky in the process. I got out my spare tire and started putting it on the rim. In the process I managed to get a ton of dandelion seeds stuck to my rim and had to pull them off as best I could and reapply the glue. At this point some of the guys who hang out at the track saw me struggling with the tire and gave me some help/suggestions and soon enough I had the tire on.
By the time I got the wheel back on my bike the officials were already having the Men's B group lining up along the rail. I pinned the number to my jersey as quickly as I could and threw my jersey on. Of course I had pinned the number too tight and it ripped out of two of the pins. I managed to re-pin it and get on the rail just before the race started (and thanks in part to Sam telling Alan to wait for me).
The first race was a point-a-lap race. Will from the DC team made a break rather early. I decided to chase him. I caught up but was unable to pass him and we eventually got caught by the pack.
A scratch race was next and after an uneventful 8 or 9 laps I ended up boxed in just before the sprint and came out in 6th place.
The Men's B feature race was a points race with 4 sprints. Will and I decided to try the break-after-the-first-sprint strategy. It kind of worked. Really all we accomplished was splitting up the field into a five person break and everybody else. Of course the three people who responded to our break ended up taking most of the points on the next two sprints. Right before the bell lap I decided that enough was enough. I wanted to at least get some points during this race so I started sprint right out of turn 4. No on caught on to my attack. I managed to keep the intensity high for the next 500 meters and easy formed a large gap between myself and the other 4 people in the break. I won the final sprint but ended up in third (I think) overall.
Thursday morning meant another group training ride to Piermont. The landslide that had closed River road had finally been cleared so we took the more scenic, hillier route. Dave and I decided to TT up Alpine road. There was an article on NY VeloCity about this road and how the time it takes you to get up it correlate to how many watts/kilogram you can output. Dave finished in 5:22 and I finished it about 40 seconds later. According to that article that means Dave can output about 5 w/kg while I can output about 4.5 w/kg.
While on the way home from Piermont there were four of us left (down from about eight) so we tried a double paceline. We managed to keep it pretty well organized for a good amount of time and effortlessly maintained a 27/28 mph pace.
I was planning on racing in the Empire State Games qualifying race tomorrow however due to my injuries from getting doored (some bad bruises) and the fact that most of my friends have decided not to race, I think I'm just going to sleep in and hopefully do some training later in the day.
But enough excuses, on to the reports:
On my way to the track on Wednesday, when I was about a mile or two from the velodrome, I flatted. More specifically, I flatted a tubular. I rode the flat the rest of the way and set about changing tires. It took me awhile to pull the old tire off as the glue had really set but I eventually got it off. I pulled out a tube of track rim cement and started smearing a layer on my wheel, getting my hands nice and sticky in the process. I got out my spare tire and started putting it on the rim. In the process I managed to get a ton of dandelion seeds stuck to my rim and had to pull them off as best I could and reapply the glue. At this point some of the guys who hang out at the track saw me struggling with the tire and gave me some help/suggestions and soon enough I had the tire on.
By the time I got the wheel back on my bike the officials were already having the Men's B group lining up along the rail. I pinned the number to my jersey as quickly as I could and threw my jersey on. Of course I had pinned the number too tight and it ripped out of two of the pins. I managed to re-pin it and get on the rail just before the race started (and thanks in part to Sam telling Alan to wait for me).
The first race was a point-a-lap race. Will from the DC team made a break rather early. I decided to chase him. I caught up but was unable to pass him and we eventually got caught by the pack.
A scratch race was next and after an uneventful 8 or 9 laps I ended up boxed in just before the sprint and came out in 6th place.
The Men's B feature race was a points race with 4 sprints. Will and I decided to try the break-after-the-first-sprint strategy. It kind of worked. Really all we accomplished was splitting up the field into a five person break and everybody else. Of course the three people who responded to our break ended up taking most of the points on the next two sprints. Right before the bell lap I decided that enough was enough. I wanted to at least get some points during this race so I started sprint right out of turn 4. No on caught on to my attack. I managed to keep the intensity high for the next 500 meters and easy formed a large gap between myself and the other 4 people in the break. I won the final sprint but ended up in third (I think) overall.
Thursday morning meant another group training ride to Piermont. The landslide that had closed River road had finally been cleared so we took the more scenic, hillier route. Dave and I decided to TT up Alpine road. There was an article on NY VeloCity about this road and how the time it takes you to get up it correlate to how many watts/kilogram you can output. Dave finished in 5:22 and I finished it about 40 seconds later. According to that article that means Dave can output about 5 w/kg while I can output about 4.5 w/kg.
While on the way home from Piermont there were four of us left (down from about eight) so we tried a double paceline. We managed to keep it pretty well organized for a good amount of time and effortlessly maintained a 27/28 mph pace.
I was planning on racing in the Empire State Games qualifying race tomorrow however due to my injuries from getting doored (some bad bruises) and the fact that most of my friends have decided not to race, I think I'm just going to sleep in and hopefully do some training later in the day.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Bicycle Fetish Day
Yesterday was Bicycle Fetish Day! It started off with a block party in Williamsburg with music, food and bikes. There were some contests there for things like: prettiest bike, ugliest bike, most philosophical bike, etc. Someone had brought a mini ramp and there were some people doing jumps off the ramp, including a guy riding an impossible wheel (basically a wheel with pegs attached to the axle). There was also a race.
My friend Victor had organized an Alleycat race. An Alleycat is basically a street race through the city with very few rules. Typically you're given a "manifest" with a list of checkpoints and you have to go to each checkpoint in any order to complete the race. The course for this particular race was pretty short so I decided to do it. In particular the checkpoints were (listed in the order I completed them):
Essex and Houston St.
68th St. and 1st Ave.
38th St. between 8th and 9th Ave.
33 W 17th St.
Centre and Worth
Kenmare and Lafayette
And then back to the Bicycle Fetish Day. Here is a map of the course. We took the car path on the Williamsburg bridge and the Central Park 65th St. Transverse in order to save time. After the 38th St. checkpoint most of the people I was riding with headed down 7th Ave. whereas I took Broadway. I arrived at the 17th St. checkpoint about 20 seconds before they did so we regrouped to head downtown into the financial district. Once we were back on the Williamsburg bridge a couple of the guys started sprinting. I joined them but took it a little bit easier. Eventually we all got stuck behind a truck and a double-parked car on Havemayer and had to get off our bikes, lift them over some parked cars and ride on the sidewalk to get around. In the end I came in fifth place and won a Syncros hat, a t-shirt and a Crumpler pouch.
A little while after the Alleycat some track bike events were held. These included trackstands, footdown, freestyle and skids. The trackstand competition involved trackstanding normally for a certain amount of time. Once that time was up, you had to remove one hand from your handlebars. After another set amount of time, both hands had to come off. Eventually it came down to having only one foot on the bike. Almost everyone fell at that point with only a few people (myself included) able to stay up with only one foot. However I was the only person who was able to stay up for more than 5-10 seconds after we started the one-footed trackstands and I won $13 (it was $1 to enter, winner takes all).
After trackstands was footdown. This entails riding around in circles while trying to knock other people off their bikes. If you put your foot down you lose. I'm not terribly interested in footdown so I didn't participate.
Next up was the freestyle competition. Most of the people who competed were doing trick skids (leg over the bars, no hands, foot through the frame, etc.). I did some trackstand tricks - foot-through-the-frame trackstand, then did some bunny hops in that position, did a no-handed foot-through-the-frame trackstand and then attempted to bunny hop and failed. Dan G. ended up winning by doing some trick skids while curtseying with his hat.
The last track competition was the distance skid. Basically you sprint until you reach a certain point, and then you lock up your rear wheel and put as much of your weight forward as possible by leaning over your handlebars. This causes your rear wheel to skid, and whoever goes the furthest wins. I was the second person to skid and right when I started my skid I started to fishtail. I over corrected and ended up going down pretty hard. Apparently I hit my head, bounced/flipped over landing on my back then rolled around. I immediately popped back up on my feet and was pretty much okay. A little bruised and I had a couple of scraps (and I need a new helmet) but nothing serious.
The day ended with a party in the backyard of the City Reliquary.
My friend Victor had organized an Alleycat race. An Alleycat is basically a street race through the city with very few rules. Typically you're given a "manifest" with a list of checkpoints and you have to go to each checkpoint in any order to complete the race. The course for this particular race was pretty short so I decided to do it. In particular the checkpoints were (listed in the order I completed them):
Essex and Houston St.
68th St. and 1st Ave.
38th St. between 8th and 9th Ave.
33 W 17th St.
Centre and Worth
Kenmare and Lafayette
And then back to the Bicycle Fetish Day. Here is a map of the course. We took the car path on the Williamsburg bridge and the Central Park 65th St. Transverse in order to save time. After the 38th St. checkpoint most of the people I was riding with headed down 7th Ave. whereas I took Broadway. I arrived at the 17th St. checkpoint about 20 seconds before they did so we regrouped to head downtown into the financial district. Once we were back on the Williamsburg bridge a couple of the guys started sprinting. I joined them but took it a little bit easier. Eventually we all got stuck behind a truck and a double-parked car on Havemayer and had to get off our bikes, lift them over some parked cars and ride on the sidewalk to get around. In the end I came in fifth place and won a Syncros hat, a t-shirt and a Crumpler pouch.
A little while after the Alleycat some track bike events were held. These included trackstands, footdown, freestyle and skids. The trackstand competition involved trackstanding normally for a certain amount of time. Once that time was up, you had to remove one hand from your handlebars. After another set amount of time, both hands had to come off. Eventually it came down to having only one foot on the bike. Almost everyone fell at that point with only a few people (myself included) able to stay up with only one foot. However I was the only person who was able to stay up for more than 5-10 seconds after we started the one-footed trackstands and I won $13 (it was $1 to enter, winner takes all).
After trackstands was footdown. This entails riding around in circles while trying to knock other people off their bikes. If you put your foot down you lose. I'm not terribly interested in footdown so I didn't participate.
Next up was the freestyle competition. Most of the people who competed were doing trick skids (leg over the bars, no hands, foot through the frame, etc.). I did some trackstand tricks - foot-through-the-frame trackstand, then did some bunny hops in that position, did a no-handed foot-through-the-frame trackstand and then attempted to bunny hop and failed. Dan G. ended up winning by doing some trick skids while curtseying with his hat.
The last track competition was the distance skid. Basically you sprint until you reach a certain point, and then you lock up your rear wheel and put as much of your weight forward as possible by leaning over your handlebars. This causes your rear wheel to skid, and whoever goes the furthest wins. I was the second person to skid and right when I started my skid I started to fishtail. I over corrected and ended up going down pretty hard. Apparently I hit my head, bounced/flipped over landing on my back then rolled around. I immediately popped back up on my feet and was pretty much okay. A little bruised and I had a couple of scraps (and I need a new helmet) but nothing serious.
The day ended with a party in the backyard of the City Reliquary.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
A slow week
Last week was pretty slow, cycling-wise, as I had a lot of catching up to do at work. However the past three days have been pretty intense.
On tuesday after I got home from work I immediately headed out to Prospect Park for some lactate threshold training. I did a 20 minute sub-threshold interval, followed by a 20 minute recovery interval, then another sub-threshold interval. On the second interval my heartrate monitor kept saying "Check strap fit" so I based my workout mostly on RPE (rate of percieved excertion - how hard you think you are working). Not terribly scientific but still very useful.
Speaking of scientific training, I'm really looking forward to the Minoura eFlex computer/power-meter. It uses an insole to measure the amount of pressure you are putting on the pedals and converts that to power. It's probably not as accurate as torque based power-meters but it seems like it would be very easy/quick to switch between multiple bikes and would require no modifications in order for it to work with a track bike. Unfortunately the computer is not yet out and the power meter is an add-on that won't be out until next year. In the mean time I heard that a friend of a friend is trying to sell a PowerTap so I might try and get that.
Back to the riding - on Wednesday evening the Twilight series at Kissena continued. On the schedule was: an 8 lap scratch, a tempo and a Miss-and-Out. The scratch race was pretty uneventful and I finished with the pack. Right at the start of the Tempo race (a points race with the first two people to finish each lap getting 2 and 1 points respectively) there was a break of two riders. As far as I know they took most if not all of the laps. The Miss-and-Out was next and ended up being a huge disappointment. The fields for the scratch race and the tempo were pretty large, and I assumed that the field for the Miss-and-Out was large as well (I started the race towards the front of the pack and didn't really get a good look at it). After about 3 laps there were several people in front of me, but given the field size for the previous races I thought I was fine. Then I hear my number being called. For whatever reason a bunch of people decided not to do the Miss-and-Out. Lesson learned - make no assumptions.
Finally we come to this morning - a continuation of the thursday morning group rides! Once again I met up with some friends at 5am for a pre-work ride. This time we only went to Piermont so that the people who needed to be at work earlier could make it out. David and Gui didn't show up this time, which meant that Andrew and I were pushing the pace for most of the ride. I was a bit tired from all the riding I did Tuesday and Wednesday so overall it was a more moderate ride than last week. I hope that we can continue riding every week before work.
Next week I'll probably try to start training twice a day.
On tuesday after I got home from work I immediately headed out to Prospect Park for some lactate threshold training. I did a 20 minute sub-threshold interval, followed by a 20 minute recovery interval, then another sub-threshold interval. On the second interval my heartrate monitor kept saying "Check strap fit" so I based my workout mostly on RPE (rate of percieved excertion - how hard you think you are working). Not terribly scientific but still very useful.
Speaking of scientific training, I'm really looking forward to the Minoura eFlex computer/power-meter. It uses an insole to measure the amount of pressure you are putting on the pedals and converts that to power. It's probably not as accurate as torque based power-meters but it seems like it would be very easy/quick to switch between multiple bikes and would require no modifications in order for it to work with a track bike. Unfortunately the computer is not yet out and the power meter is an add-on that won't be out until next year. In the mean time I heard that a friend of a friend is trying to sell a PowerTap so I might try and get that.
Back to the riding - on Wednesday evening the Twilight series at Kissena continued. On the schedule was: an 8 lap scratch, a tempo and a Miss-and-Out. The scratch race was pretty uneventful and I finished with the pack. Right at the start of the Tempo race (a points race with the first two people to finish each lap getting 2 and 1 points respectively) there was a break of two riders. As far as I know they took most if not all of the laps. The Miss-and-Out was next and ended up being a huge disappointment. The fields for the scratch race and the tempo were pretty large, and I assumed that the field for the Miss-and-Out was large as well (I started the race towards the front of the pack and didn't really get a good look at it). After about 3 laps there were several people in front of me, but given the field size for the previous races I thought I was fine. Then I hear my number being called. For whatever reason a bunch of people decided not to do the Miss-and-Out. Lesson learned - make no assumptions.
Finally we come to this morning - a continuation of the thursday morning group rides! Once again I met up with some friends at 5am for a pre-work ride. This time we only went to Piermont so that the people who needed to be at work earlier could make it out. David and Gui didn't show up this time, which meant that Andrew and I were pushing the pace for most of the ride. I was a bit tired from all the riding I did Tuesday and Wednesday so overall it was a more moderate ride than last week. I hope that we can continue riding every week before work.
Next week I'll probably try to start training twice a day.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Cancelled races and Nyack
It rained yesterday. Actually, that's an understatement. Sudden thunderstorm is more descriptive. In any case, the Twilight series track race was cancelled. While this was depressing it did mean that I was well rested for today's adventure...
I woke up at 4am. Made myself some breakfast (sauteed tofu, peppers and onions), brushed my teeth and got my cycling clothes on. Grabbed my road bike (which I had just finished repairing the night before) and headed to the Williamsburg Bridge to meet up with some of my friends. Our goal was to bike to Nyack, NY, get some breakfast and be back in the city by the time we all needed to be at work.
Quite a few people showed up for this ride. At the WB bridge Dave, Lee, William and Gui showed up. Andrew met up with us at the George Washington Bridge.
While on the way to Nyack we mostly stuck in a paceline and kept up a pretty good pace. We added in a few sprints at random just to change things up a bit, and occasionally just rode leisurely and chatted. Unfortunately Andrew had to get to work earlier than the rest of us and turned around shortly before the state line.
When we got to Nyack we stopped at Runcible Spoon (a muffin/coffee shop) and had some breakfast. While there this guy passed by on a Segway with his son holding onto his leg, hitching a ride. Lee snagged a blurry picture of the spectacle which he put up on his Flickr.
Dave decided he wanted to ride my bike for awhile since we are about the same height and use the same pedals. That meant that I got to ride his LOOK 595 with the SRAM groupset. We swapped bikes and started the ride back to the city.
The SRAM shifters are really quite ingenius. They consist of only a single paddle per shifter. A light tap on the paddle downshifts while a harder tap on the paddle upshifts. It was pretty easy to get the hang of, although I found myself reaching for the thumb lever that wasn't there a few times. Once we finished the climb up Tallman Mountain Park Dave and I switched bikes again and we continued on our way.
Once back in the city I headed home to eat, shower, swap bikes and head to work. I'm now sitting in my office fighting the urge to take a nap.
I woke up at 4am. Made myself some breakfast (sauteed tofu, peppers and onions), brushed my teeth and got my cycling clothes on. Grabbed my road bike (which I had just finished repairing the night before) and headed to the Williamsburg Bridge to meet up with some of my friends. Our goal was to bike to Nyack, NY, get some breakfast and be back in the city by the time we all needed to be at work.
Quite a few people showed up for this ride. At the WB bridge Dave, Lee, William and Gui showed up. Andrew met up with us at the George Washington Bridge.
While on the way to Nyack we mostly stuck in a paceline and kept up a pretty good pace. We added in a few sprints at random just to change things up a bit, and occasionally just rode leisurely and chatted. Unfortunately Andrew had to get to work earlier than the rest of us and turned around shortly before the state line.
When we got to Nyack we stopped at Runcible Spoon (a muffin/coffee shop) and had some breakfast. While there this guy passed by on a Segway with his son holding onto his leg, hitching a ride. Lee snagged a blurry picture of the spectacle which he put up on his Flickr.
Dave decided he wanted to ride my bike for awhile since we are about the same height and use the same pedals. That meant that I got to ride his LOOK 595 with the SRAM groupset. We swapped bikes and started the ride back to the city.
The SRAM shifters are really quite ingenius. They consist of only a single paddle per shifter. A light tap on the paddle downshifts while a harder tap on the paddle upshifts. It was pretty easy to get the hang of, although I found myself reaching for the thumb lever that wasn't there a few times. Once we finished the climb up Tallman Mountain Park Dave and I switched bikes again and we continued on our way.
Once back in the city I headed home to eat, shower, swap bikes and head to work. I'm now sitting in my office fighting the urge to take a nap.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Lactate Threshold Heart Rate
Last night I went to Prospect Park to perform a Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (LTHR) test and calculate my LTHR. I chose Prospect Park because Central Park is being repaved and PP is also the perfect distance for such a test (3.3 miles, so 1 lap will take 10 minutes at 20mph).
To calculate my LTHR I followed the test outlined in The Cyclist's Training Bible - do a 30 minute time trial and record the average heart rate over the final 20 minutes. I set the timer on my heart rate monitor for 10 minutes and set it to start the chronometer one the timer finished. I started at Grand Army Plaza and finished a little over 1 lap when the 10 minutes was up. I figured I had a little over 2 laps left before I hit 30 minutes total.
During the time trial I occasionally looked at my watch and noticed that my heart rate was typically between 164 and 174bpm. On the downhill it would get as low as 156 and on the uphill I hit 189 at one point.
In the end my average for the last 20 minutes of the time trial was 171bpm. I'll use that figure for training purposes until I get a chance to run the test again.
To calculate my LTHR I followed the test outlined in The Cyclist's Training Bible - do a 30 minute time trial and record the average heart rate over the final 20 minutes. I set the timer on my heart rate monitor for 10 minutes and set it to start the chronometer one the timer finished. I started at Grand Army Plaza and finished a little over 1 lap when the 10 minutes was up. I figured I had a little over 2 laps left before I hit 30 minutes total.
During the time trial I occasionally looked at my watch and noticed that my heart rate was typically between 164 and 174bpm. On the downhill it would get as low as 156 and on the uphill I hit 189 at one point.
In the end my average for the last 20 minutes of the time trial was 171bpm. I'll use that figure for training purposes until I get a chance to run the test again.
Friday, May 11, 2007
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