I continue. That was my motto getting out the door on the bike today. It was 8C outside when I left the house at 8 am. Winds were already at 15kts and the temps were supposed to drop to zero by noon with steady 15+kt winds.
I opted to stay out of the mountains, but took my fanny pack with rain gear in it anyway. I sped on down to Oshima Island for a trip around it. I considered the rain as the overriding factor, because if it's windy here in Iwakuni, it's always EXTREMELY windy on Oshima's perimeter roads.
I felt great on the bike even though the wind was driving me nuts. When I got on Oshima, i did 4x10 minute threshold periods on the north side. (Hard to do 20's because of stop lights/traffic). I felt much better toward the 320-325 range than I had yet and I feel comfortable with the new Monod number calling 322 my estimated FTP. For planning purposes, it's no different than the 317 it gave me a month or so ago. I'm still working off a FTP plan for 320.
I took some camera shots while I was out riding today. The weather didn't end up being nearly as wet as I expected. There was some drizzling rain toward the beginning and it dripped a little on me toward the end. I actually had a couple of good spurts of sunny periods which was nice as the temperatures dropped.
My route changed from normal. To avoid the winds on the south side of Oshima Island, I took the Orange Road which goes right over the middle basically. Most of it is decent rolling hills. The road doesn't actually go all the way across the island, but there's an older road that goes over the parts of Monjuyama that get you to Suo-Oshima. I'd driven that road once in the summer of '05, and have never been up it on a bike.
After today? I'll never do it again. There were stretches that stayed steady in the 12-15% grades I'd guess. There were some corners that were easily over 20% as I pushed the pedals down nearly 600+ watts and barely moving the bike. Today was the first time I have had to dismount out of leg exhaustion near the top. I'd been climbing for a half hour and just couldn't take anymore. One 10 minute stretch of climbing averaged 335 with max wattage at 674. It had my max 5s, 10s, 20s periods at 636, 588, and 505 watts respectively.
Ended the ride with a tempo session back from Oshima Bridge to Iwakuni. Easy day tomorrow for an hour on the rollers. Saturday and Sunday a little bit harder. This weekend should be the last time this season my CTL is sub 110. It'll drop to 109ish on Sunday and then next week it goes above 110 for the rest of 2007 season, barring injury.
Some pics:
I opted to stay out of the mountains, but took my fanny pack with rain gear in it anyway. I sped on down to Oshima Island for a trip around it. I considered the rain as the overriding factor, because if it's windy here in Iwakuni, it's always EXTREMELY windy on Oshima's perimeter roads.
I felt great on the bike even though the wind was driving me nuts. When I got on Oshima, i did 4x10 minute threshold periods on the north side. (Hard to do 20's because of stop lights/traffic). I felt much better toward the 320-325 range than I had yet and I feel comfortable with the new Monod number calling 322 my estimated FTP. For planning purposes, it's no different than the 317 it gave me a month or so ago. I'm still working off a FTP plan for 320.
I took some camera shots while I was out riding today. The weather didn't end up being nearly as wet as I expected. There was some drizzling rain toward the beginning and it dripped a little on me toward the end. I actually had a couple of good spurts of sunny periods which was nice as the temperatures dropped.
My route changed from normal. To avoid the winds on the south side of Oshima Island, I took the Orange Road which goes right over the middle basically. Most of it is decent rolling hills. The road doesn't actually go all the way across the island, but there's an older road that goes over the parts of Monjuyama that get you to Suo-Oshima. I'd driven that road once in the summer of '05, and have never been up it on a bike.
After today? I'll never do it again. There were stretches that stayed steady in the 12-15% grades I'd guess. There were some corners that were easily over 20% as I pushed the pedals down nearly 600+ watts and barely moving the bike. Today was the first time I have had to dismount out of leg exhaustion near the top. I'd been climbing for a half hour and just couldn't take anymore. One 10 minute stretch of climbing averaged 335 with max wattage at 674. It had my max 5s, 10s, 20s periods at 636, 588, and 505 watts respectively.
Ended the ride with a tempo session back from Oshima Bridge to Iwakuni. Easy day tomorrow for an hour on the rollers. Saturday and Sunday a little bit harder. This weekend should be the last time this season my CTL is sub 110. It'll drop to 109ish on Sunday and then next week it goes above 110 for the rest of 2007 season, barring injury.
Some pics:
on December 28, 2006, 5:12 pm
So no outside ride. Only indoors on my tacx i-magic.
Regards, Oliver
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on December 28, 2006, 7:03 pm
Today is also inside for me! Thanks for the comment.
VW
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