Team BKool CycleChat

[theboxers]

For me its a case of i just can't move till i cram in a load of food in me, could it be your blood pressure being low?

Not sure about blood pressure
First time I've had this

 

[Add]

What was or is the live ride you guys did? Is it a regular event? Might just have to come sweep up for you guys until I get a bit fitter if it's a weekly thing.

 

[Add]

Just flipped back and seen you started at 5pm. I will jump in next time. Had I seen this one I would have joined.

Although I am going to try and ease back into it.

Pffft, but we'll see how that goes, sometimes my competitive edge gets the better of me!

 

[Gaileb]

Not sure about blood pressure
First time I've had this

As I'm a nurse, in my professional opinion I think you should go slower! Don't want you to take a heart attack

 

[kipster]

Who is/was Mike?!? Came from nowhere and disappeared into the sunset. Once I realised I couldn't keep in front of him I thought I would try and latch on as he came past and draft but just impossible. Very impressive.

Mike was using a tacx genius smart, it has a roller brake to give him drive on the descents, I suspect it helps a lots on that rolling terrain.

 

[kipster]

What was or is the live ride you guys did? Is it a regular event? Might just have to come sweep up for you guys until I get a bit fitter if it's a weekly thing.

The chain gang ride on a thursday night at 7pm (league ride), with a rerun at 5pm on a Saturday. On Thursday we get a lot of riders so there should be people to ride/race with.

 

[bobinski]

Mike was using a tacx genius smart, it has a roller brake to give him drive on the descents, I suspect it helps a lots on that rolling terrain.

I see. I could have used someone working with me. I wasn't as spent at the end as I was the other night and could have eaten more into my time with someone nearby. But AAAC was so far ahead once I knew Bill wouldn't catch me-you taking it easy tonight Bill?- I just tried to make sure AAAc didn't finish a minute quicker than me realising he was going easier than before.
Wouldn't this be a good course for a handicap race?

 

[Bonno]

Mike was using a tacx genius smart, it has a roller brake to give him drive on the descents, I suspect it helps a lots on that rolling terrain.

Same as this guy I came up against the other week, http://www.bkool.com/bkoolSessionHistory/showSessionSummary?sessionSummaryId=1679996
Check those flatlines out!
If I remember, that final climb was around 6% !!

 

[Whorty]

I see. I could have used someone working with me. I wasn't as spent at the end as I was the other night and could have eaten more into my time with someone nearby. But AAAC was so far ahead once I knew Bill wouldn't catch me-you taking it easy tonight Bill?- I just tried to make sure AAAc didn't finish a minute quicker than me realising he was going easier than before.
Wouldn't this be a good course for a handicap race?

I'll vote for this being a handicap race ..... I'm one of the slowest so far be nice to get a head start on @theboxers and @Rob

 

[AAAC 76C]

Mike was using a tacx genius smart, it has a roller brake to give him drive on the descents, I suspect it helps a lots on that rolling terrain.

Mike, who did not qualify thankfully, was crusing along on the 'flatter' part of the course at speeds above 55 kph whilst avaraging about 250 watts.
A truely 'unbelievable' ride!
When he came past me I tried to latch on and my avatar went into stand up big effort mode whilst Mikes was cruising along like he was on an electric bike and from Kipster said he probaly was.

I myself was looking to better my time and my plan was not to blast up the first ascents and then try and keep the speed up on the rest of the course. By halfway my average speed was down to 48. something and the finish is uphill from there and my legs were emptying fast, again, so I realised a better time was not on the cards so I then wanted to make it a race.
I eased a bit and Bobinski was catching but I think I pushed to much on the ascent just as he was a few seconds behind me and he dropped back again.
My thought was if he caught me he might back off and then Bill and co might get back on as well and we could all tough it out at the end and then Mike came by and I got distracted and went after him.
Net result is I finished 30 seconds slower rarther than a minute faster.
I guess this was not my week.

Just before the live ride a knocked up a short up, down, up, down course to look at transitions.
I am going to extract my stats from BKool and paste them later so you can see what happened as I had to do a few runs before I worked out what I needed to do.

 

[LBHIFI]

Mike was using a tacx genius smart, it has a roller brake to give him drive on the descents, I suspect it helps a lots on that rolling terrain.

I was curious about his stats, but he was not sharing them to the the world, and his ride does not seem to be registered.

 

[kipster]

I was curious about his stats, but he was not sharing them to the the world, and his ride does not seem to be registered.

this is his ride http://www.bkool.com/bkoolSessionHistory/showSessionSummary?sessionSummaryId=1780842

 

[bobinski]

Mike, who did not qualify thankfully, was crusing along on the 'flatter' part of the course at speeds above 55 kph whilst avaraging about 250 watts.
A truely 'unbelievable' ride!
I myself was looking to better my time and my plan was not to blast up the first ascents and then try and keep the speed up on the rest of the course. By halfway my average speed was down to 48. something and the finish is uphill from there and my legs were emptying fast, again, so I realised a better time was not on the cards so I then wanted to make it a race.
I eased a bit and Bobinski was catching but I think I pushed to much on the ascent just as he was a few seconds behind me and he dropped back again.
My thought was if he caught me he might back off and then Bill and co might get back on as well and we could all tough it out at the end and then Mike came by and I got distracted and went after him.
Net result is I finished 30 seconds slower rarther than a minute faster.
I guess this was not my week.
.

You eased and I burnt bright but short trying to latch on but just couldn't catch my breath as I caught you! And to add insult to injury you applied a bit more power you bugger and just pulled away. And yes, I was going to back off but through necessity! I really need to some interval work and try and extend the length of time I can apply decent power without loosing the ability to breathe And I was sure Bill and perhaps jonbon would catch us too.
sorry I couldn't stay with you,, may have made for a more interesting finish.

 

[AAAC 76C]

Just before the live ride a knocked up a short up, down, up, down course to look at transitions.

Here it is.
I created a 2km course in 500m sections. The downhills were 8% and the up were 6%.
For the first transition I just pushed off from the top of the hill and turned the pedals enough to stop the session timing out.
My speed flat lined a 73 kph and I just turned the pedals slowly with about 25 watts on and I pedalled into the slope transition like that.
The result was I as hit the 6% climb my speed dropped of to next to nothing in a few meters with no noticeable power spike.

For the other transition I pedalled hell for leather into the transtion in my biggest gear then cut the power right of at the very foot of the climb and changed into my lowest gear and turned the pedals over slowly.
This time it took 200 meters for the speed to drop of and I had a huge 1300 watt power spike and I was litteraly not pedaling.

This just goes show the huge advantaage you can gain by going into a transition power on and of course your average watts will get a big boost from the spike.

BillS - Do you fancy challenging this and repeating the exercise on a Pro Trainer.
I am going to do this again and next time keep the power on at the second transition and on the first kick it in at the very foot of the climb.

 

[AAAC 76C]

Sure vary the times and reduce the cadence if you like. I really struggle to hold anything above 100 without a lot of concentration. The important thing is that it isnt jyst about throwing your pedals round as fast as possible but try to focus on a speed and hold it. Youll need to focus on your core muscles to keep your form. Good luck.

What works for me to 'train' your body to up your cadence is do extra low resistance efforts, like and Alpe descent, and get into a gear where you can pedal 100rpm plus. As you say it is important to concentrate on pedaling in circles and not squares i.e. pedal smoothly without smashing up and down on the saddle.
To do this concentrate on keeping your back straight and your rear firmly planted on the sadlle. Don't rock your hips by making sure the movement starts at the hip joint and not above.
Don't worry too much to begin with about increasing the power range of each pedal cycle as this will come with keeping the pedaling smooth.
Hi reps at low power will really get the heart pumping but won't kill the legs too much.