Cycling stuff.....some running too.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Sunday Solo Ride

I rode by myself today. I did about 40 miles. I used it as another opportunity to work on spinning. I was successful and it was/is painful. Spinning is not nearly as efficient as pushing a big gear. It might be a glitch in how a power meter actually works. A Power Tap has a strain guage inside that measures torque. It then makes calculations based on speed. I noticed that going at a constant rate I could shift to a lower gear and it took more watts to maintain the same speed. I know you can produce higher torque with a lower gear so maybe thats the answer. Speed takes horsepower not torque. A Harley as tons of torque but can it keep up with any other motorcycle? I think not. Can a Harley pull a stump out? No because Harleys aren't good for anything except emptying the pockets of fat guys. A tractor can pull out a stump because tractors are high torque machines. I digress. I'm pretty sure it's as simple as I'm no as efficient at high revs.

Here are my numbers: Average Watts=183 Average Cadence=96 Average Speed:( =19 Average Heart Rate 153

It's almost nice being out of shape. The improvements are so quick and noticable. When I'm in top form it takes weeks to see even the smallest difference and that is only after concerted effort. I'd honestly rather be there than here. I know what the trip is like and there's a lot of pain between here and there.

Saturday Ride N Run

Saturday was the coolest day of the season so far. 45 degrees at my house. My bro Jared came over for the ride. Lucky for him I had got ahold of some cool weather gear for him. Arm warmers, knee warmers, gloves and a wind vest. Didn't find him a polypro undershirt though. That's what I wear for 90% of our winter rides here in Florida. It does get a little cool some mornings. I also have ear warmers and a skull cap. I have some cold weather gear like a balaclava and tights and windproof jacket but only use them once or twice a year. Oh yeah, booties to keep the toes warm. Saturday was a light day though. The problem with dressing for Florida winter rides is it's often 20 or 30 degrees warmer at the end of the ride.

We did Sharon's famous 30 mile loop. Jared commented that he felt great but I made him draft the whole way. A couple of weeks ago he almost collapsed after leaving Chris' house. He could barely make it to his car. He shouldn't have talked smack before the ride and called me an old man. I'm 13 years his senior.

I used the ride as a spinning workout. Over the last few years my spin has gotten slower and slower. I averaged 95rpm. Also averaged 151 watts and 142 heartrate. To average 95 you pretty much have to keep it over 100 most of the time. Every time you coast up to a stop sign or down a hill the zeros get averaaged in. I was happy with my ride.

After dark I went over to run with Sharon. She got her running stuff on and snuck out for a little more than 2 miles. Cool thing about her Timex gps is you can run anywhere and get accurate milage and times. A very cool toy and I'm happy she likes it. The run ended with a 3 flight trudge back up to her laboratory where she did experiments on me. I don't know what amoebic dissentary is but she said drink some of it and I'll grow wings on my feet. If I don't post again you'll know I flew away.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Running and Riding

Went for a run with Sharon one Monday. I actually had a good time and wished I was in better shape. I could have easily gone the whole 3 miles with Sharon but good sense took hold and I only ran 2 and walked 1/4 mile home. In the past I have jumped into running to quickly only to get injured or burn out quickly. I'd like to keep at it long term so I'll add a quarter or a half a mile here or there till I get up to something substantial.

On Tuesday I stayed home from work because of car trouble. I HAD to ride my bike. Guys at the car place have seen me in lycra before. I think they can't imagine me under the car up to my armpits in grease. I got a training ride in though. I also did a 5 minute and a 15 minute time trial to get my baseline numbers with my new power tap. The idea is to put out maximum watts for the time allotted. Power Tap will then generate an average and I can compare that in the future to see how effective my training is.

When I got home I downloaded the data to the software on the computer and the intervals were not there. At work I asked Clay, our resident power tap expert what gives. He explained how to bring up the info on the display unit on the bike. When I got home I promptly erased it instead of bringing up the info I wanted. My time trials were for naught. I love that power tap even though I haven't been riding much. When I do start really cranking it up, I'm sure it will help me maximise my time.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Running

My brother Jared peaked my interest in doing a sprint triathalon so....I ran with Sharon when I got home from work. My knee started hurting today at work just thinking about running. I only ran 1.5 miles. Not much but you gotta start somewhere. We ran by the house, Sharon kept on truckin and I trucked right up to the dinner table. I'm going to ride my unicycle for a few minutes now just because I can and you can't. Then maybe I'll hackysack and juggle for a little while too. I don't know very many people that have that particular set of skills. I'm not saying I can do all 3 at the same time. I can't even do any 2 of them, well maybe the unicycle and juggling but I've vowed to never do that. I don't need the circus to come calling again. Peace out.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Fun rides


Got to ride with the fetching Mrs. Williams on Saturday. We took a leisurely ride down the nearly completed trail to Bartow. The final mile was just lime. We were undaunted until we got to an unfinished bridge. We considered climbing across but being in our 40's our better judgement took over and we turned around.
Sharon thinks the bridge won't be completed for 6 months. I, being optimistic, bet her it will be done in less than 6 months. Since all the materials for completion were piled right there I think I will win. We ended up with 41 miles
Rode on Sunday with my brother, Jared. Jared's 28 and WAS in good shape. He's been concentrating on his business and managed to gain some weight and get slow. He'll be back fast. He did some Tri's a couple of years ago and did pretty good. He wants me to race a sprint with him in March. 1k swim, 20k bike and 5k run. I know I can do it, but I want to do it fast. I know I can do about 26 -28 minutes in a 20k bike leg but I don't think 21-24 minutes in a 5k run will win any prizes. And the swim will be about survival. I'm a strong but slow swimmer. I used to be a life guard, got the "mile swim badge" in boy scouts, and once won a water treading contest by treading water for over 3 hours.