Hopped on the bike today. Second day in a row of threshold work specifically.

Yesterday was 2x15 @300-310 (supposedly) with 400 watt pushes every 2 minutes. I ended up with 2x15 minute intervals normalized right at 326 watts. I had been operating "mentally" on a FTP of 311, and sorta lowering all the workouts 10-15 watts from the training plan.

I did another set of 2x20's today and confirmed that 320 is a much more realistic number for me now. I held back a little bit on both sets because I intend to go up Zenitsuboyama tomorrow.

I also weighed in today at 170 lbs after a week and a half of being 171-173. I'm going to call myself 77 kg for math purposes which was my 2007 goal weight. All that puts me right at 4.15 w/kg for functional threshold.

I'm heading up Zenitsuboyama tomorrow for the first ride of the new year. I might get up early enough to make it a sunrise ride. It'll be a cold morning but a great way to start the new year.

On math alone I should be able to get up Zenitsuboyama at least a minute faster just based on my body weight. But at 6:30am, I'm not sure if body weight will matter :P

I updated my profile page to make the power chart displays a little nicer and added a couple workouts I did this week.

I also set it up so I could link to them without someone else needing to set the data I want them to see. For instance, the second 15 minute interval on Saturday's 2x15 with 400 watt spurts is here:L

Ride Chart

Official 2006 kilometers: 15,073

It's been a long year here in Japan. The year has found me attached to a new addiction that went a lot further than I ever expected it to. When I began 2006 setting the goal for 10,000 km of riding, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

With one day left of 2006, it's safe to post most of these stats. I'll get another 40km training ride in tomorrow, but it'll be rather inconsequential to the overall statistics for the year.

Statistics for this year:
Distance: 15,068 km
Hours on the bike: 520 hrs 12 mins
# of Rides: 241
Calories Burned: 469,716 (started the year at 194lbs and weight 171-172lbs now)
Avg Distance per ride: 62km
Avg Time per ride: 2 hrs 9 min
Avg Speed for the year: 29.4 kph
Max Speed: 88 kph

Key Events this year:
BRM 305 - Osaka/Sakai 200km Brevet (9th)
Tour de Kunisaki (51st)
40km Energy Awareness Race - 28 May (8th)
BRM 729 - Otsu 200km Brevet (1st - with 4 others)
Iwakuni Friendship Triathlon - (1st place cyclist)
140km "One Day Run" - Matsue (1st)
Okayama 2hr Enduro - (11th)
Shimonoseki Cycle Marathon (120km turned 165km)
Zentisubo Hill Climb (cancelled, but goal met)
Zayama Hill Climb (9th, after spending 3 minutes off the bike after separating my shoulder)

6 sets of tires have been consumed. I've gone through 3 chains and a handful of road shoe cleats. Unknown number of cans of degreaser and cans of lube. 3 sets of handlebar tape and probably a dozen or so tubes.

Add a torn rotator cuff (left shoulder) and a separated right shoulder to those, but I'm not sure how you'd make those a statistic!

Most important for the year are the places I've seen and the miles I've ridden with riding partners that have made the difference between the solo miles. Cheers to Chris, Masaki, Okada, Sohiro, and the rider that I paired up with back in the spring without saying two words to each other in 20km of riding.

Thanks to Denny for being an inspiration over some tough miles this past summer. Thanks to my wife and kids who have put up with my cycling miles and cheered me on in my races.

Happy New Year and Safe Riding to everyone who reads my posts!

VW

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:

This week was a long one. If you work from Sunday to Saturday, I'm right at 1209 TSS.

I track the following things right now for keeping up with how I feel/what to do.

7 day rolling average TSS
28 day rolling average TSS
Weekly TSS (Mon-Sunday)
Hours/Distance per week.

Here's the stats as of today:
7 day: 201.58
28 day: 146.3
Weekly TSS: 859.7
Hours: 13.4
Distance: 406.6 km

ATL: 154.7
TSB: -42.4

The hours and distance are low compared to last week's 490km and 17 hours. But the TSS rolling 7 day TSS is as high as I've seen yet. I was supposed to do some AC work today, but I just couldn't see it happening and being productive. Part of me feels like a slacker for having backed off on a day, but I know what my legs feel like. They feel like 45 lb weight plates.

I'll get another day off tomorrow and then hit back to the workouts on Tuesday. Looks like rain Tuesday so threshold work on the roads should be fun in that. While I'm not certain, I think my current breaking point is right around that 200TSS 7 day rolling average.

I'll be watching it over the next couple months how that correlates to the CTL for the time. For instance, today CTL is 112.3. Does that mean my "breaking point" is about 90 points above CTL for a 7 day rolling average TSS? "Feeling" the physiological responses to the numbers that training with a powermeter provides is interesting if for nothing else but to help predict responses in the future. If the training plan continues as is, around the 11th of November I should hit roughly the same difference in CTL/7 day rolling average. We'll see how the body feels when it comes time for that.

Merry Christmas and here's hoping everyone receives their wanted/needed biking equipment from Santa, their wife, or whoever - even themselves!

VW

As the 2006 year comes to a close, I thought I'd put together a list of gear that I have tried, used up, or gone through this year. Some of the gear I've gotten this year has been flawless in performance. Other things I got, well... just plain stunk. There wasn't a whole lot of grey area for any of it. So, without further adieu, here's the list:

1. Mavic Open Pro wheels. These wheels are bombproof. The stock wheels on the 2005 Roubaix were ALX 295 rims. The ALX rims are light, but extremely soft. When I changed to Open Pros in January, they became the wheel of choice for now until forever for training. They are inexpensive, so if one happens to fail on rough roads, you're not out $1000 for wheels. When I had my Powertap built into a wheel, I still chose the Open Pro. Even though I could get another wheel for $200-$300 more, the reliability of the Open Pros just can't be beat.

2. Cateye Double Wireless w/Cadence Cyclocomputer. For me, this took so much interference from my HR monitor and other miscellaneous electronics (not to mention powerlines over train tracks, or running along the highway) that it was an all but useless purchase for over $100. I sold it to a friend who doesn't use any other electronics for $70 and chalked that up to experience.

3. Polar RS200 HRM. This was a December 2005 purchase, but the RS200 HRM did everything I needed it to do to get me through the 2006 season. The Polar brands are top of the line by reputation and the RS200 worked great. I rarely received noticeable interference from any outside sources on the HRM. I didn't get any phantom, crazy high heart rate readings even in "high voltage" areas around train tracks or power structures. It endured every bit of weather I could throw at it and I only had to change the battery once in almost 400 hours of use on the bike alone.

4. Short sleeve jerseys. I had successes and "not so successes" with jerseys this year. I purchased jerseys from Gearlink.com and have two of their BMC jerseys. Once of them has a small separation in the seem just below the zipper stop point. Both of them started to fray strings here and there. None of these have affected the use of the jerseys and both of them are extremely comfortable and cool to wear while riding. I also bought a Primal Wear Tribe jersey (the one shown in my picture on the blog). This jersey was a perfect fit for me and is great for racing in. Down side to this is the material is so lightweight that the material has slowly begun to tear where the pocket seams meet the jersey at the top on the backside. After a lot of use, the jersey is still extremely comfortable, but I'm a lot more careful with it now and will probably have to replace it next year.

5. Shorts: mixed reviews here too. I had plain ol' shorts from eCyclingstore.com from 2005 that worked until mid summer 2006. Then started the hunt. Our club kit has shorts from Wave-one.com that are comfortable, but will rub you raw on a century, chamois creme or not. I made the switch to bib shorts which has been great for comfort, but the Performancebike.com shorts I have are just not cutting the mustard. 2007 will be a year of experimentation in this area. Still looking for something that works just right.

6. Fi:Zik Arione. Some people like it, and I thought I would. I rode on it for about 4 months when I decided, it just wasn't working. Too much numbness in the important parts. The saddle is only about 130mm wide at the sweet spot, and my sit bones are too wide for that. With the shape of the Arione, if you're sit bones aren't perched on the saddle, your perineum is perched on the ridge the runs down the middle. This quickly cuts off circulation. Just not for me.

7. or Specialized Toupe 143mm. I got this on recommendations from a whole bunch of others. The saddle is very light weight. It's basically a shell to sit on with some cloth to cover it. For some time, this saddle was doing exactly the trick. Then in October I started to get saddle sores. They started to come more frequently and I finally had to consider the saddle as the culprit. While my next saddle was in the mail, of course the saddle sores went away and the saddle started to feel comfy again. I am currently riding a Selle Italia SLK as the replacement and have been happy so far. It's still inside what I would consider break-in time, so I'm not making any judgment calls yet. 2007 will hold the answers for both of these saddles, I'm sure.

8. Ultegra 10sp drivetrain - The 2005 Roubaix came with a 105/Ultegra 9sp triple mix with FSA cranks. The FSA cranks were a CONSTANT problem for me. They would gradually work their way loose and have to be tightened constantly. When spring 2006 came around and I was putting in more and more miles, it was time to get rid of the FSA. I also had a triple ring I wasn't using anymore so I made a full change over to the Ultegra 10sp. The Ultegra set has been without fault except when I degrease to much and it takes me a week to get the squeaks out again.

9. Long sleeve jerseys: I came into this off season of training with one particular goal in mind for riding: no more than one day per week inside on the rollers. This means I need warm weather gear that keeps me warm, not just "kinda warm." Last year I was always freeeeezing in sub-45* temps. This year I bought a set of three Castelli jerseys - two full zipper, one 3/4 zipper. These jerseys are perfect for the temperatures so far this year. When the temps get down to 30's, they require a base layer, but 40s and 50s, they're fine on their own. I'll be sending Castelli a thank you note in the spring if the jerseys hold up to the long winter.

10. Powertap SL: aside from having a wire on its battery pack that serves no purpose than to make me panic, the Powertap SL has revolutionized the way I train. Little more can be said than what my training numbers will say over the coming months. The worries I'd heard that the hub/computer wouldn't hold up to wet weather have so far been unfounded. I've ridden in some downright miserable weather with the Powertap with no problems whatsoever.

11. iPod Nano: Simply stated, it rocks. I use it on those days I'm cycling away from traffic where I can use it safely, or when I'm doing intervals on my loop on base. It sounds great, it's easy to control and with the Otterbox Waterproof Clip-on case, it's been simply fantastic.

12. Giro Atmos: Lightweight, extremely comfortable and with all the vents, it provides great ventilation for my bald head. So many vents I have to really watch the sunscreen while riding with it. I crashed with one this month and my head came away the most unscathed, so it works! Replaced it with same make/model immediately. Won't change this until someone can convince me otherwise.

13. The rest:
I've gone through 4 sets of gloves this year. Shimano gloves were crap, but I'm regularly using the Trek/REI gloves I've had for multiple years. The Specialized body geometry gloves I've had pretty much dissolved in the sweat.
I've gone through a set of Ultegra pedals. They've been reliable over the miles, and I go through standard SPD-SL cleats about once every 4000km.
Vittoria Rubino Pros are my tire of choice now. I tried to go cheap and use the Zaffiro's, but immediately started to get flats on the brutal roads that make up Japans roadway system. Plus Rubinos come in a blue that matches my bar tape/bike. Rubinos last me around 3000km before I change them.
Cyclistats software was the best training log for my needs for the year. I've switched to Cyclingpeaks software because of its interaction with the Powertap, but if you're not using power, you can't beat Cyclistats.

I'm sure there's other gear on my list from this year, but it obviously isn't memorable to make the list.

Oh.. Bellweather booties, good, but not very durable. Water resistant but the heels/toes didn't make it two months before falling apart. The Pearl Izumis I have now are warm, but not water resistant at all. Might try goretex type spray to see if I can fix that problem.

With that, I sign off the 2006 gear review and hope 2007 brings more gear that works, and a lot less gear that doesn't.

VW