4.0 by 40

[weeksy]

How's the scales.

I went out at lunch with @Welsh Muffin for a gentle one then afterwards hit a Crit on ,wift and a new high HR of 187.

[Crosshair]

Lost about 4lb since Dirty Reiver.

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Down to 15st01 this AM. That’s probably going to bounce back a bit as I would have depleted a lot of muscle glycogen and water yesterday- sweetspot is pretty thirsty.

That puts my w/kg at 3.65 just now.

[MingtheMerciless]

Out today, running on rage (don’t ask) and despite 4 pints last night got my HR up to 181 (redlined at 184 last year) so was pleased and stamped my way up three of my training climbs. Probably psychologically wrong but my performance seems better if I get angry about something.

[Crosshair]

Nice

I don’t get there very often. Usually it takes a Zwift race to get me close (197ish). I hit 190 on the chaingang briefly.

Yesterday, I would settle in at around 160bpm for the sweetspot intervals which would have reached about 180 by the end of the 20 minutes.

What’s most pleasing is how fast it comes back down. Within about 90seconds it has dropped to 120 again.


The most important HR metrics are threshold (the average for the last 20mins of a well paced 30min effort for example) and about 80% of that number. That’s Z2 and where you’ll get the most bang for your buck for long steady training.

[Crosshair]

In a repeat of Wednesday- I’ve bailed on todays ride and calorie counting in order to get ready for tomorrow. I was on my feet all morning so did get some ‘active recovery’ in.

I’m a bit nervous about tomorrow already There’s no reason to be, I just haven’t done the full “NRC 50” course for ages. I don’t have a goal power or anything- it certainly won’t be close to my 300np target (I’m gonna have to be really fresh for that one to happen) but we may go after a segment half way around.
It’s a shallow hill about 2.6 miles long and takes around 10minutes. My pb is 9.22 and Rich’s is 8.57. My best power (on a different day) is 334w. I don’t think I’m light enough to beat the time but if I could do 340w for ten minutes, 30 miles into a ride- that would be a pleasing result.

At a guess- the 50 mile loop will come in at around 20mph with the two of us I think. Any faster would be a nice surprise.

[Crosshair]

Well that was tough! Windy drizzle in an unfavourable direction didn’t lift spirits. It felt like the tyres were Velcro rolling on thick carpet. Nobody else responded on WhatsApp so it was just Rich and I. He had a good break for a couple of weeks a couple of weeks ago. and is just getting his freshness bump.
He’s more aero, 25kg lighter and now has more power than me. As I said to him- I can’t offer much in the way of help when it comes to sharing the work because when I’m drafting, we’re probably working equally as hard!
The most fun bit was set to be Swindon-Aldbourne which is net downhill and the downwind section today. It starts with a kicker and Rich dropped me and that was that! He did the 3 mile segment at 27.4mph and I rolled down in disgust at 25.5.

A few minutes earlier, I had been feeling so rough that I downed a bottle of sugar water (75g of sugar) to try and turn things around.
I was hoping it would work because next up was the climb. Sadly the wind was still in the NE so I knew I wouldn’t beat my time or get anywhere close. But I could still do the ‘10mins at 340’ I had planned.
Up until this point, I’d barely been able to touch 340, even up the steep kickers and my HR wouldn’t go up.

I decided to try anyhow and soon I was up into the 170’s. I went a little hard on the steep part so pacing wasn’t great but I finished up doing 363w for ten minutes which was really satisfying given how I’d been feeling. And then the sun came out too
Just for comparison- Rich said he was doing about 320 in my draft.

The rest of the ride was just a case of getting home. We decided to avoid the bad traffic stretch into Marlborough so looped back to Aldbourne.

Power for 3hrs was 260np so we worked hard. The wind meant we averaged 19mph for the loop and 18mph for 3 hrs.

Easy spin tomorrow and then back to easy spin + openers on Tuesday.

[Crosshair]

I got my Spark shock serviced. Amazing turn around by TFTuned and great communication etc. Went out for an easy spin around the common with Rich this evening. It still rides lovely even if I don’t

Looking ahead at this week- I may try and do the 8am ride on Sunday with a bigger group. So working backwards from that, Saturday will need to be easy, Friday probably off, Thursday either the other chaingang (Newbury Velo) or an easy spin and then an attempt at my ‘400w for 4min’ goal. Wednesday I’m away driving to Norfolk and back so that will be off, Tuesday will be the regular chaingang and tomorrow will be an easy spin with openers

[Crosshair]

Easy spin with openers as planned. On the spur of the moment we went for a downhill KOM. Sadly I ran out of gears with my 48-11 and had to coast most of it.
We both tied for 2nd/2383 at 40.8mph

Charlie, the current upcoming local superstar has the KOM at 43mph. He won the Surrey League 3day stage race the other week And worryingly is coming on the chaingang tomorrow. That could be interesting

I honestly expect to get dropped within a mile if they cane it out of Newbury. Him and Callum (who I used to race with) once did the 50mile 8am loop at virtually 25mph

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That was insane. I’ve raced slower Crits than that
24mph+ but for 30 miles this evening!!

Power was 301w straight average for 1h15!!! 326np.

I got dropped with 6 miles left but was determined to stay above 24mph so kept pushing as hard as I could.

That was some of the best fun I’ve ever had on a bike! (Because unlike a race, everyone is trying to stay safe).

[weeksy]

24 is bonkers!

[Crosshair]

Yes! I was so close to getting dropped on the M4 bridge climb before Baydon. That’s peak elevation though and when it turned downhill I actually got a gap on the group with another guy whilst coasting

We did one flat 6 mile segment at 27mph!

[MingtheMerciless]

I managed 49.3mph on a grassy descent today, the off camber turn at the bottom was interesting........

Other than that my fitness and motivations are still naff.

[weeksy]

lol that's crazy on grass !!! I'm not sure i've been anywhere near that.

I reckon my fastest is 61.2km/h down Butser Hill with an average of 46km/h

[MingtheMerciless]

Just found this on pink bike.
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/1300-watt ... odium.html

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Love those data driven articles as they objectively prove how crap the average “club cyclist” is Quite humbling.

XC and CX are really hard disciplines to show good power on anyhow- I know I raced both with a power meter over the years and say my ftp at the time was 320w, NP power for those types of races would be more like 230 because of all the downhills/coasting.

So to see the pros hit nearly half as much again and at a much lower weight is bonkers. And shows when they’re pedalling they’re really pedalling.


I’m absolutely hanging today from a long day out to Norfolk and back yesterday but I’m hoping I’ll feel better later. Going to head out for an easy Z1 spin and then maybe have one stab at the 4min effort I spoke about. See how close I am to ticking off the ‘4 mins at 400w’ process goal.

[lostboy]

I managed 49.3mph on a grassy descent today, the off camber turn at the bottom was interesting........

Other than that my fitness and motivations are still naff.

Top bombing!! Was it vertical?!

I struggle to break the magic 50 even on tarmac as I just can't make myself small/aero enough and haven't found a hill steep enough for long enough. I'm very impressed that you're that close on grass!

[MingtheMerciless]

https://strava.app.link/9YgcOLUQXpb

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We have a big hill on the Sunday loop that gets anyone mental enough not to brake to 50mph

https://strava.app.link/N31InfnRXpb

50.3 that week

[MingtheMerciless]

I think fast on tarmac is worse, I look at the speedo and think I'd be wearing leathers and armour on the motorbike at that speed. That looks one seriously steep hill.