4.0 by 40

[formula400]

Those look epic, how where they getting the GP5000’s on??? I’ve just receive some Mavic SL 46 Cosmic wheels, and the internet says they are a proper bitch to fit GP5000’s, so got to find something that will be easy to fit

[Crosshair]

Easy! Didn’t even drop the sealant Literally just thumbed them on.

However, when I tried to put some 25’s of the *old model* 5000tls on to my Prime v1.0’s, it was a nightmare. Took hours, a heat gun and every type of tyre lever. Then when it finally went on, it had a hole and I had to cut it off with scissors as it wouldn’t come back off

[Crosshair]

I’m not sure if I got in my own head about today or if it was hay fever (they cut a lot of silage at work and I’m allergic to grass pollen) or the dust I inhaled rolling some fields yesterday but I had nothing. My weight is still penalising me too- I just can’t hit the w/kg numbers the others can.
It is understandable though- recovery week ended up too easy really. I probably should have done Thursday chaingang.
My ‘fitness’ score is down from 82 to 75 but ‘fatigue’ has crashed from 114 to 71.
This next three week block might be the last chance to do any volume before I get busy at work so I’ll try and start with 13ish and work up to 15+ if I can fit it in.

[Crosshair]

Took the long way to the chaingang again today. 1h45 easy podcast listening.
Then it rained Torrentially.
Rich was on his way down though so we hooked up at Waitroses and did a quick blast up and down the B4000.
Not quite what I wanted but it does mean I can try again on Thursday if folk are heading out.
3hrs riding didn’t nudge my fitness in very far! The score never even moved
Probably try and do 2-3 hrs Z2 tomorrow and then another long ride to the chaingang on Thursday.

[Crosshair]

Well this week is proving more challenging than any other since I started. I think I just lost too much fitness last week. (Even now it’s still down around 7%). That may or may not prove to be a good thing by the end of the month if I reach a higher peak but at the moment it’s crap

Went out for a Wantage loop today and did 65miles at 17.4mph but my legs were awful. Every pedal stroke was a challenge. Power was in theory, mostly Z1! I drank over 2l and ate plenty but still felt dehydrated and flat.

The heat, hay fever and the drop off in fitness combines I guess.
This is where a coach would earn their keep I suppose as there’s no easy answer as to whether I need to go easier or harder on my next ride. Tomorrow is off so maybe ill let the first half an hour on Saturday morning decide for me.

Weight loss is painfully slow this time too. A kcal deficit that would have had the weight flying off a few years ago isn’t doing anything right now. There could be some body composition stuff at play- more muscle glycogen being stored along with 4x the amount of water I suppose.
But sadly whether the 96kg is made up of feathers or bricks makes no odds when you have to try and lug it up a hill

[weeksy]

Do you really believe you're losing fitness with a 'bad' ride ? Or a day off? I find that quite hard to believe

[Crosshair]

I have lost “fitness” in respect of how it’s measured on training apps yes. The intervals.icu metric is “.. a 42 day exponentially weighted moving average of your training load.” So whatever you did in the last week counts highest. On the plus side of course, my fatigue is a lot lower so in three weeks time, that could pay off because I can reach a higher workload without digging too much of a hole.

My ftp may or may not have moved (I’m not really testing it for the time being) but “fitness” is more about how readily you can access the power you have.

[Crosshair]

Shows quite clearly what a lovely peak I’d hit before recovery week. I’m now at the level I was on about 10th May but with 30 points less fatigue.

[Crosshair]

Was properly ruined yesterday. Really bad DOMS for some reason. I had thought I might do the Banjo group ride today as that would have been 30 miles commuting to Wantage and back (the start point for todays planned ride) and around 56 miles with the group.
But I was glad to find heavy rain when we should have been setting off as I didn’t even know how I was going to get on my bike let alone ride it

The other day, Hefin (MrBlobby from STW) did a nice local loop. 41 miles at 19.3mph. There was some banter on WhatsApp about how low his watts were (187/200!) and how hard him and his mate were trying.

So curiosity got the better of me and I set out with Rich after lunch. In the end, my legs came round quite nicely. Power was kind of high Z2 into Tempo and then a few threshold efforts to actually get up the hills. The wind was a pretty strong easterly.

One section was lush- 5 miles at 28mph as it was downhill with a tailwind.

Anyway, the result was basically 50w more for 19.7mph!! Some will be weight, some bike choice and most will be sheer aerodynamics as he is incredibly narrow in the shoulders. (And 70kg). Rich is 70kg too but he needed 230w to get round.

I think I need to maybe start incorporating more of these high Z2 rides rather than longer, low Z2 rides. They’re actually really good fun (it’s around 22/23mph on the flat) and take a lot of effort and concentration to keep the power as constant as possible through varying terrain.

I have set my Gp5k’s back up on the original wheelset as training wheels and ran them at just 40psi today. Proper comfy.

Looks like rain tomorrow so may have to try and get Zwift running. Or if I run out of mojo, maybe add in an extra rest day as I’m already over 11hrs.

[Crosshair]

Some amazing stories and stats coming out of Unbound Gravel 200 yesterday! Two Diverge’s in the top 5 confirms it’s still a good choice (Although Sofia GV won the ladies on a Crux ).

Lauren’s tens Dam tried a solo flier on his, after dropping two guys he was attacking with. Then had to chase back when the group blew past him so ended up averaging 289w (over 1000kcals an hour) for 9h25!!!!!

A few hitters had punctures early on and ended up doing almost 200 mile solo TT’s!

The speed was crazy too. Up to over 21mph when 20 used to be considered quick.

[Crosshair]

Planned on doing an easy spin with a few ‘openers’ yesterday but even though I had time- there was zero motivation. So I took that as a sign to keep on recovering.

Today looks sweet though. Chilled morning at work, then a sunny chaingang this evening. I will set off early again and get a nice Z1 spin in to warm the legs up, aiming for around 2hrs. With the chaingang taking an hour and then 25minutes to get back home, it will be a great start to this weeks training.

[weeksy]

What sort of pace will that be ?

[Crosshair]

The chaingang will be 23-24mph I expect. Only 3 others declared so far but they’re all pretty quick

[Crosshair]

It looks a flat course but, by comparison this is the pace of the guy who won Dirty Reiver on their chaingang
(No power meter on that bike so the power isn’t right)

He does solo, 80mile 22mph rides

[Timmy]

You run your tyres at 40psi and you're 90+ kgs? Christ, you must be on the rims.

[Crosshair]

No. I’ve never understood people saying that. Even crit racing I used to run 25’s at 60-75.

These tubeless 700x32 Gp5k’s have a MAX pressure of 72psi for safety reasons.
I honestly think I could run 35psi and not suffer detrimental performance.

The research is quite clear, go even a couple of psi too high and speed drops off dramatically (thanks to suspension losses) yet maybe 10 psi too low for any given conditions and you’re still not losing much to rolling resistance.

[Crosshair]

(Sorry 73psi limit on hookless rims)

It’s funny, tyres pressures and carb intake seem to be two areas where everybody reads the articles/listens to the podcasts, nods along in agreement, then pump up their tyres to 100psi and head out with one bottle of plain water in their cages

[Timmy]

I'm on tubeless clinchers and am 74/75kg and get twitchy going below 90psi on the back, mainly cos I end up with flat section in the tyre. Nice to see tyre pressures aren't just a motorbike thing

[Crosshair]

Yeah, I don’t really worry about the profile. Once you get used to the feeling that ‘smooth is fast’ then it changes your whole outlook.

I’ll switch back to the Prime wheels later with the 28mm G Ones and will run those at 60psi.

[lostboy]

No. I’ve never understood people saying that. Even crit racing I used to run 25’s at 60-75.

These tubeless 700x32 Gp5k’s have a MAX pressure of 72psi for safety reasons.
I honestly think I could run 35psi and not suffer detrimental performance.

The research is quite clear, go even a couple of psi too high and speed drops off dramatically (thanks to suspension losses) yet maybe 10 psi too low for any given conditions and you’re still not losing much to rolling resistance.

Amen bro. 100kg here and run 32mm Pirelli Cinturato tubeless at 70psi rear and 55 psi front and have no issues whatsoever. Have let them go lower and still had no problems.