re: tOfficial Cycling Thread

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Holy hell, I hope my FTP can get to this range one day

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Speaking of FTP, I was listening to a podcast with LA yesterday and he claims in training he was doing 500 watts for 30 minutes up Madone. Putting his ftp around 480. Just mind boggling. I bet that felt so amazing to go up a mountain that fast

Do any of you use a generic roller trainer at home? I am thinking of getting a cheap one to get some easy spins in.

I have a wheel-on smart trainer with zwift, its just such a pain in the arse dragging it out, putting trainer tire on, yada yada.

The guy who got second in Paris Roubaix avg. 357 watts for 6 hrs. Guy is also 22 so there is room to grow

That works out to "only" 4 w/kg for 6 hrs for him.

Starky is known as the uber cyclist though. He just lives on being the fastest cyclist and build up a lead to try and outlast you on the run.
Which he has done more than a few times.

I just got the Tacx Flow Smart Trainer and plan to set it up this week. Are there any issues with setting it up on carpet? Also, do you guys prefer trainerroad or zwift?

TIA

I use Zwift and really like it. Never used trainerroad. I'd put a yoga mat down just to be safe on the carpet.

I just follow the plans for rolling road race continuously. Zwift lets me put the fitness I have built to the test plus helps work vo2 max at an easier cognitive load. Much easier to chase someone up a hill than watch 3-5 minutes tick by across a bar on a screen.

In an effort to get back into shape my main source of cardio has been mountain biking. First ride of December of 2020 a simple relatively flat 4 mile trail ride had me worn out on the first day. I was at 203lbs. By Feb I was doing around 10 miles at a pace of around 6.5mph with several rest stops along the way. By July that same 10 mile loop I'd average around 8.5mph without the need to stop except to take in water. Now during October, a good hard effort I can hit 10mph average and keep that up for 10-12 miles stopping only for water. I weighed in at 159lbs first time I weighed less than 160 since I was in high school.

I made a challenge for myself when I started back riding to ride all 23+ miles of trails in our trail system on a single go without any prolonged stops except for water and nutrition. I made my first attempt Oct 1st. I had completed 16/23 miles at an average of 8.8mph but I was beginning to lose light and it was obvious that I wasn't properly fueled for the attempt and a single cliff bar wasn't enough nutrition to keep my energy levels up. My long rides tend to be in the 12-15 miles range so this first attempt past 20 was a learning experience.

Last Friday I made another attempt. This time I took off of work early to give myself some more daylight to work with. I took a cliff bar and 2 packs of cliff blocks (one regular one caffeinated) for a total of 630 calories. Had two bottles of Nuun (one regular one caffeinated) and a bottle of water. Oatmeal, french toast, and yogurt a couple of hours before my ride. I kept a slower pace (8mph) to keep my heart rate down and to keep my legs fresh the whole ride. Consumed the cliff bar at mile 5. 1st pack of blocks was consumed by mile 12. Last pack of blocks consumed by mile 17. Even with the slow pace I managed to PR segments at mile 11 and mile 16. The biggest challenge was at mile 19 where there is a steep 120ft climb in .18 miles. The first 90% of that segment isn't too bad but the last 60 yards is some of the steepest and most technical climbing we have through a washed out rooted section. You can't just spin up in your granny gear because your front wheel will just lift because of the steep grade and the roots are large enough to stop your momentum unless you try to tackle it with speed. This segment needs to be attacked or else you walk it. Even with fresh legs it's a challenge and pegs my heart rate any time I hit this hill. I made it up the climb but it took it's toll on my legs which felt like they lost a lot of power after that climb. Luckily it was a net negative elevation gain the last 4 miles of riding without a lot of prolonged pedaling parts. Finished the 23.11 miles in 2:56 at an average of 7.9mph. I thought 600 calories would be more than sufficient but I think I could have used more at the end as it felt like I was running out of gas. My watch says I burned over 1200 calories.

So far this year I've just been riding for exercise not really training. Now that I have a baseline for riding the whole shibang my goal this winter is actually start training instead of just riding. My next goal is to complete the whole trail at a 9mph pace. Then eventually maybe hit 10mph. Some of the top local high school XC racers can get into the 11-12mph average at those distances on these trails.