Team BKool CycleChat

[AAAC 76C]

It would seem one can not just pick up where one left off.....it would also seem I have a lot of work to do if I am going to compete in the DD!!

AAAC, thankyou....I think...for your literary genius on the road....although counting down every kilometer can be a little demoralising when you feel as nauseous as I did!

And I was trying to be motivational
I sensed your frustration and would not have blamed you for bailing!

 

[bridgy]

It would seem one can not just pick up where one left off.....it would also seem I have a lot of work to do if I am going to compete in the DD!!

AAAC, thankyou....I think...for your literary genius on the road....although counting down every kilometer can be a little demoralising when you feel as nauseous as I did!

Well done mate - you've been here before with regards having a long break and building your fitness up again - keep at it and I'm sure you'll be back up to full speed again soon - good to have you back!

 

[CXRAndy]

Watching the race tonight, it was clear that Bridgy was able to put out big watts going downhill as well as up. Whilst most of us up our power to climb the inclines and recover by backing off going downhill. Bridgy is able to keep powering on the downslope. Since last winter Bridgy has made significant gains in power and endurance. He might want to check some of his older rides and compare where he came.

 

[AAAC 76C]

@rob01792 - it's a pity that you hit that dead stop, as it would have been a pretty close finish. I saw it coming and managed to just change right down in time.

My main issue is the low virtual speed Bsim decides I should be climbing at when the slope is greater than 9%. At 8.9% I am out of the blue and trundling alone quite happily and as soon as it goes to 9% I'm knocked back to about 4 mph. I suppose the answer is to lose a few more kg from my current 98 kg. I hope the Simulator doesn't take age into account when it calculates virtual speed - that would be a real double whammy.

It's one of the reasons I avoid long ascents where the slope is predominately greater than 9%.

I think we all experience this a bit a varying slopes depending on weight as I think the virtual slope robs me of watts,and speed and probably the watts because of the speed. Drop 0.5% and you are cooking again.

 

[AAAC 76C]

Watching the race tonight, it was clear that Bridgy was able to put out big watts going downhill as well as up. Whilst most of us up our power to climb the inclines and recover by backing off going downhill. Bridgy is able to keep powering on the downslope. Since last winter Bridgy has made significant gains in power and endurance. He might want to check some of his older rides and compare where he came.

I struggle staying with Bridgy on the declines, can't sustain the cadence required.
Perhaps I need to go back to doing a few fast descents like I used to.

 

[BILL S]

I didn't think you were on top form as I wouldn't normally have been able to pass you and pull away so easily. Hard to know if you're doing too little or too much if your legs are aching.?

Yeah, that's the thing. I thought I had done too much so rested for a week. Legs no better though. Having said that, my HR was up at 170 so legs couldn't have been as bad as they felt.

 

[bobinski]

Watching the race tonight, it was clear that Bridgy was able to put out big watts going downhill as well as up. Whilst most of us up our power to climb the inclines and recover by backing off going downhill. Bridgy is able to keep powering on the downslope. Since last winter Bridgy has made significant gains in power and endurance. He might want to check some of his older rides and compare where he came.

I think you are right about bridgy's power/cadence on descents. I think some of us are close to him, occasionally better on an ascent but once it tips over the top he is gone. Very impressive. He may actually give boxers a run downhill for his money!

 

[bridgy]

Watching the race tonight, it was clear that Bridgy was able to put out big watts going downhill as well as up. Whilst most of us up our power to climb the inclines and recover by backing off going downhill. Bridgy is able to keep powering on the downslope. Since last winter Bridgy has made significant gains in power and endurance. He might want to check some of his older rides and compare where he came.

I'm not constantly powering hard on all descents but I do tend to keep turning the pedals over while making use of the blue virtual speed - to keep my HR up so it's not too much of a shock to the system when I need to start pushing again. As you can't see the blue speeds when spectating this can look misleading as the pedalling shows as quite high watts when in reality I'm not really trying too hard! (Another reason to take Bkool average watts with a large pinch of salt!)

 

[berty bassett]

Out of interest @bridgy , what psi did you have in your ultra sport tonight? I put mine back on today and stuck about 150 psi in it. It seemed ok on the fast bits but was a real liability on the steeper bits.

if that pops - kiss goodbye to your eardrums ! - i was tinkering in my shed once trying to make a water rocket for the grandkids and seeing how much pressure a 2lt bottle could take - it exploded at 7 bar and HID came out to shout but it was wasted on me as i could only hear a loud whistling noise

 

[bridgy]

if that pops - kiss goodbye to your eardrums ! - i was tinkering in my shed once trying to make a water rocket for the grandkids and seeing how much pressure a 2lt bottle could take - it exploded at 7 bar and HID came out to shout but it was wasted on me as i could only hear a loud whistling noise

One exploded on me in my early bkool days - it's why I don't have the nerve to go above 120PSI!

 

[BILL S]

if that pops - kiss goodbye to your eardrums ! - i was tinkering in my shed once trying to make a water rocket for the grandkids and seeing how much pressure a 2lt bottle could take - it exploded at 7 bar and HID came out to shout but it was wasted on me as i could only hear a loud whistling noise

Berty I was actually wondering at what point you were going to come past me on the way up the hill tonight. Some of your recent big climbs have been way faster than what I can muster at the moment so I was doing a bit of a mental calculation at what point you could come past me, and me still be able to get you back on the downhill before the end. When Bridgy came past he distracted me from this thought which was probably a good thing because trying in vain to stay with him seemed to pull me away from the danger behind.

 

[Add]

if that pops - kiss goodbye to your eardrums ! - i was tinkering in my shed once trying to make a water rocket for the grandkids and seeing how much pressure a 2lt bottle could take - it exploded at 7 bar and HID came out to shout but it was wasted on me as i could only hear a loud whistling noise

Berty Basset! You have come on leaps and bounds in my abscence. You're on fire mate. As for you Bridgy, 'flippin' eck'! I've got a literal and virtual mountain to climb to catch up with the back of the pack, never mind you green and blue hatted folk.
I think a lot of my problem this evening was I had to wear a very old kit, which was heavily soiled, inside and out....and I think that really slowed me down.

 

[Add]

One thing I would say though, was that I had forgotten how much I enjoy the pain and suffering.

 

[Add]

I can't make 7 tonight. Anyone fancy doing the chaingang or hill climb at 8?

Didn't see this till now! But yes TT, I would have done it with you. It was awfully lonely starting 30 minutes after everyone else, with nothing but AAAC's graffiti to keep me company.

 

[bridgy]

Watching the race tonight, it was clear that Bridgy was able to put out big watts going downhill as well as up. Whilst most of us up our power to climb the inclines and recover by backing off going downhill. Bridgy is able to keep powering on the downslope. Since last winter Bridgy has made significant gains in power and endurance. He might want to check some of his older rides and compare where he came.

I checked!

The first chaingang league I properly joined in was December 2015. The first stage of that was similar length to today's and I managed 281 watts (351 today) and came 10th -7 minutes behind LBHIFI who won and also several minutes behind bobinski, Rick, jonbon and Bill. My HR was 5-10 bpm higher in every race back then too