I’m not sure power will really translate to a pacing strategy at Brass Monkeys but I’m learning more and more that if I start easier I can finish much stronger. It definitely takes me an hour to warm up
4.0 by 40
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Crosshair
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Re: 4.0 by 40
Yes! Although miles off of my Tuesday nights in the summer where I would z2 for two hours to the chaingang, do the chaingang and ride home 
I’m not sure power will really translate to a pacing strategy at Brass Monkeys but I’m learning more and more that if I start easier I can finish much stronger. It definitely takes me an hour to warm up
I’m not sure power will really translate to a pacing strategy at Brass Monkeys but I’m learning more and more that if I start easier I can finish much stronger. It definitely takes me an hour to warm up
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weeksy
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Crosshair
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Re: 4.0 by 40
Just been reminiscing.. best BM result was a 16th but was usually around the 50% mark.
Amazingly I weighed 13st08 then though so 17/18lbs lighter That’s 25w extra needed just to overcome that
Probably going to run the camelbak. Thought about rigging up a shelf on a garden fork with bottles but not sure I can be arsed with all that. Just load the camelbak up with sugar water and treat it as an endurance ride.
Amazingly I weighed 13st08 then though so 17/18lbs lighter
That’s 25w extra needed just to overcome that Probably going to run the camelbak. Thought about rigging up a shelf on a garden fork with bottles but not sure I can be arsed with all that. Just load the camelbak up with sugar water and treat it as an endurance ride.
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weeksy
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Crosshair
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Re: 4.0 by 40
Went out for 90 mins at lunch time on the mtb. Got soaked and plastered and remembered why Zwift is better
Nah, it was fun. I was aiming for anything on the trail I’d usually avoid, forcing myself to relax and get used to the bike moving about and slipping on ruts. After riding off road on the gravel bike over the past year or so, I guess it was like riding a DH bike after coming from an XC bike- it just made everything feel easy anyhow.
Then I did an easy hour on zwift this evening ticking off a few route badges on Makuri island. Literally just Z1ing around to burn calories.
Then I raced KISS on 4 laps of the ‘fine and sandy’ course. Strewth that is brutal with the same little climb coming 8 times!
I felt good and the pace was zzzz so I attacked on lap two. Got an 8 second gap, held it up the climb, held it to the next time up the climb, held it to the next time up the climb and then got caught
Had another few goes, including in a 2-up move a couple of times but nothing stuck. So then I got dropped on the final ascent
I wanted to pack in another good day of riding as I doubt I’ll ride again until Sunday.
Nah, it was fun. I was aiming for anything on the trail I’d usually avoid, forcing myself to relax and get used to the bike moving about and slipping on ruts. After riding off road on the gravel bike over the past year or so, I guess it was like riding a DH bike after coming from an XC bike- it just made everything feel easy anyhow.
Then I did an easy hour on zwift this evening ticking off a few route badges on Makuri island. Literally just Z1ing around to burn calories.
Then I raced KISS on 4 laps of the ‘fine and sandy’ course. Strewth that is brutal with the same little climb coming 8 times!
I felt good and the pace was zzzz so I attacked on lap two. Got an 8 second gap, held it up the climb, held it to the next time up the climb, held it to the next time up the climb and then got caught
Had another few goes, including in a 2-up move a couple of times but nothing stuck. So then I got dropped on the final ascent
I wanted to pack in another good day of riding as I doubt I’ll ride again until Sunday.
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weeksy
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Crosshair
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Re: 4.0 by 40
The thing is- you need volume to do volume really. That’s the ironic thing- the more you ride, the more you’re able to ride.
I’ve entered the 4hr cat so need a good few hours in the legs or I won’t warm up until the last lap
I’ve entered the 4hr cat so need a good few hours in the legs or I won’t warm up until the last lap
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Crosshair
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Re: 4.0 by 40
Raced Brass Monkeys today.
Last night was touch and go if I was going to make it. After first having to change a rear mech cable (to be able to get slick shifting with the clutch mech engaged- otherwise I had really bad chain suck the other day with it disengaged ), I then remembered the headset was a little loose.
I went to undo the top cap and the bolt sheared off
In trying to drill it, I also pushed the star nut in too far.
Luckily Weeksy tracked one down and a 10pm trip up the road meant I was able to go to the ball this morning after all.
The course was a fun but hilly 6 mile lap. I say fun…. One bit was fun
I really don’t think it’s possible to be a good, heavy XC rider. The penalty for climbs and re-accelerating is just too great. Everything seemed to take me more effort for less momentum which made the whole event insanely frustrating. Only for a brief few moments did I get in any kind of flow state.
Running the camelbak didn’t help. I’ll definitely do bottles if I go to rd2.
Tyre pressure was 15psi and they generally worked fine. I did have a couple of hairy moments on roots but I’m not convinced any tyre would have gripped them much better than the Ron’s.
I went over the bars on lap one on a log-drop. People seemed to be making a meal of it in the distance so I tried going left- where it wasn’t rollable The lack of momentum and high saddle meant I stopped dead and toppled over.
No harm done thankfully.
My strongest technical element today was climbing. I was determined not to walk and rode some real steep muddy climbs every lap. Stuff lots were walking.
When I crashed, my number plate came loose and ultimately fell off! That meant a -2min stop at the timing booth finding out my number.
So later, when I finished and they told me my 7th lap didn’t count because I was 20seconds late, I was pretty gutted about that
Fitness wise I felt great. Pacing was shit but it would take an awful lot of willpower to do your eventual average power from the start.
Watts are rubbish for measuring MTBing but still, power seemed to fade from 235 on lap one right down to 190 by the last lap.
However- that wasn’t actually ’decoupling’ as such but more because once the shorter races end and the trails go quiet, it’s hard to be as motivated. Real decoupling was only 7%.
Fuelling was 2.1l of sugar water in the camelbak but I didn’t drink enough of it to warrant the weight. Two large bottles would have been ample.
I finished 9th but only 13 started my age cat. I’d have been 30/40 in the Vets (next year!!)- they started with us so that’s a fair comparison.
All in all it was okay. MTBing was definitely funner at -18lbs back in the day. But I did have some brief moments of satisfaction.
Watching the good amateurs (obvs the sponsored riders are another level again) breeze past me and carry momentum through a series of rollers or roots that seemed to leave me grinding to a halt and having to put in multiple accelerations was frustrating enough that I’m not mega excited about doing more unless I do have a good couple of months on the diet.
The only thing wrong with my old bike was the fact the seat post is seized in again An inch lower would have still been pedalable but way more confidence inspiring.
Last night was touch and go if I was going to make it. After first having to change a rear mech cable (to be able to get slick shifting with the clutch mech engaged- otherwise I had really bad chain suck the other day with it disengaged ), I then remembered the headset was a little loose.
I went to undo the top cap and the bolt sheared off
In trying to drill it, I also pushed the star nut in too far.
Luckily Weeksy tracked one down and a 10pm trip up the road meant I was able to go to the ball this morning after all.
The course was a fun but hilly 6 mile lap. I say fun…. One bit was fun
I really don’t think it’s possible to be a good, heavy XC rider. The penalty for climbs and re-accelerating is just too great. Everything seemed to take me more effort for less momentum which made the whole event insanely frustrating. Only for a brief few moments did I get in any kind of flow state.
Running the camelbak didn’t help. I’ll definitely do bottles if I go to rd2.
Tyre pressure was 15psi and they generally worked fine. I did have a couple of hairy moments on roots but I’m not convinced any tyre would have gripped them much better than the Ron’s.
I went over the bars on lap one on a log-drop. People seemed to be making a meal of it in the distance so I tried going left- where it wasn’t rollable
The lack of momentum and high saddle meant I stopped dead and toppled over. No harm done thankfully.
My strongest technical element today was climbing. I was determined not to walk and rode some real steep muddy climbs every lap. Stuff lots were walking.
When I crashed, my number plate came loose and ultimately fell off! That meant a -2min stop at the timing booth finding out my number.
So later, when I finished and they told me my 7th lap didn’t count because I was 20seconds late, I was pretty gutted about that
Fitness wise I felt great. Pacing was shit but it would take an awful lot of willpower to do your eventual average power from the start.
Watts are rubbish for measuring MTBing but still, power seemed to fade from 235 on lap one right down to 190 by the last lap.
However- that wasn’t actually ’decoupling’ as such but more because once the shorter races end and the trails go quiet, it’s hard to be as motivated. Real decoupling was only 7%.
Fuelling was 2.1l of sugar water in the camelbak but I didn’t drink enough of it to warrant the weight. Two large bottles would have been ample.
I finished 9th but only 13 started my age cat. I’d have been 30/40 in the Vets (next year!!)- they started with us so that’s a fair comparison.
All in all it was okay. MTBing was definitely funner at -18lbs back in the day. But I did have some brief moments of satisfaction.
Watching the good amateurs (obvs the sponsored riders are another level again) breeze past me and carry momentum through a series of rollers or roots that seemed to leave me grinding to a halt and having to put in multiple accelerations was frustrating enough that I’m not mega excited about doing more unless I do have a good couple of months on the diet.
The only thing wrong with my old bike was the fact the seat post is seized in again
An inch lower would have still been pedalable but way more confidence inspiring.-
weeksy
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weeksy
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Count Steer
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Re: 4.0 by 40
Nice Stylophone work. 
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
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Crosshair
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Re: 4.0 by 40
Got a place for Dirty Reiver again this morning. End of April.... A nice early goal to help with the motivation to train.
Gonna switch it up and ride the MTB this year I think. Not because it needs it as such but because I reckon suspension will save me time over such a long day out by reducing fatigue.
As long as Brass Monkeys felt, this is 2.5x longer
I'll also switch to stopping at the rest stops. No need to prove I can do it nonstop again. That means I can carry less junk and maybe even go faster overall.
Rich has a place too but quite frankly, if he rides the hills with me- he'll barely be going hard enough to stay warm
Need to try and find time for some long MTB days out on the plain now.
Gonna switch it up and ride the MTB this year I think. Not because it needs it as such but because I reckon suspension will save me time over such a long day out by reducing fatigue.
As long as Brass Monkeys felt, this is 2.5x longer
I'll also switch to stopping at the rest stops. No need to prove I can do it nonstop again. That means I can carry less junk and maybe even go faster overall.
Rich has a place too but quite frankly, if he rides the hills with me- he'll barely be going hard enough to stay warm
Need to try and find time for some long MTB days out on the plain now.
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weeksy
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Re: 4.0 by 40
What can you realistically do for that then ? Drop 10kg and make it more even ? drop 15kg and make even more so ?
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Crosshair
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Re: 4.0 by 40
I can't drop that much by April, if ever, no
My FTP is usually a touch higher than his so climbing at 10-20w more will narrow some of the gap. I looked my "time in zone" for last year and I spent 1h20 in sweetspot for example. If I can increase that to 2h say, then it will make a big difference over the course of the day.
Now the easy gains have gone, I'll be amazed if I even get down to 14.5 stone to be honest. Although that will be a whole stone less than last year....
My FTP is usually a touch higher than his so climbing at 10-20w more will narrow some of the gap. I looked my "time in zone" for last year and I spent 1h20 in sweetspot for example. If I can increase that to 2h say, then it will make a big difference over the course of the day.
Now the easy gains have gone, I'll be amazed if I even get down to 14.5 stone to be honest. Although that will be a whole stone less than last year....