A.R.S.E.

Duke wrote:As the 6amers would say "HTFU!!!"

But I'm not like them so as others have said here, I hope you can find a way to get it right or at least manage it without too much pain.

Well the 6amers can go fuck themselves!

The whole HTFU thing is so fucking stupid. When you get to 50, you realise that you are having health issues because you did HTFU as a youth.

I will get there, just need to give it a rest when it gets sore. Feels 99% right now. Touched 1000W the other day, so it isnt too bad right now.

norbs wrote: Touched 1000W the other day, so it isnt too bad right now.

That's just showing off that is... :P

CLP wrote:

norbs wrote: Touched 1000W the other day, so it isnt too bad right now.

That's just showing off that is... :P

CLP wrote:

norbs wrote: Touched 1000W the other day, so it isnt too bad right now.

That's just showing off that is... :P

You have to remember, there is a lot of weight on top of the pedals when I give it some. And it is a long way from the 1300W I put out on the Wattbike at TDU a few years back. And to just put it all into a bit of perspective...

In the TRACK SPRINTERS category it’s the 5 -10 seconds maximum power that’s important. Chris Hoy could produce an explosive finish with power figures around 2,500 Watts ! that’s 24 Watts/kg at peak power output. At the end of a Grand Tour leg team sprinters like Mark Cavendish and Marcel Kittel are required to push out 1,500 to 2,000 Watts to explode out of the pack and grab victory in the last 200 metres. For someone of Mark Cavendish’s stature that’s a remarkable 17 to 18 Watts/kg for maybe 20 seconds with a FTP around 1600 Watts !. Bear in mind that’s at the end of a 5 hour ride pushing out an average well over 200 Watts/kg.

norbs wrote:

CLP wrote:

norbs wrote: Touched 1000W the other day, so it isnt too bad right now.

That's just showing off that is... :P

You have to remember, there is a lot of weight on top of the pedals when I give it some. And it is a long way from the 1300W I put out on the Wattbike at TDU a few years back. And to just put it all into a bit of perspective...

In the TRACK SPRINTERS category it’s the 5 -10 seconds maximum power that’s important. Chris Hoy could produce an explosive finish with power figures around 2,500 Watts ! that’s 24 Watts/kg at peak power output. At the end of a Grand Tour leg team sprinters like Mark Cavendish and Marcel Kittel are required to push out 1,500 to 2,000 Watts to explode out of the pack and grab victory in the last 200 metres. For someone of Mark Cavendish’s stature that’s a remarkable 17 to 18 Watts/kg for maybe 20 seconds with a FTP around 1600 Watts !. Bear in mind that’s at the end of a 5 hour ride pushing out an average well over 200 Watts/kg.

and here i am thinking when i hit 700W that it's been a pretty epic day :P

I had a crack at a Wattbike a while back at a TDU and i think i peaked at something like 660W .. admittedly the pedal setup was a bit shite for me (I should have taken more care to strap in etc) on the other hand Miss V clocked in at somewhere just under 900W IIRC .. took out the prize for the highest wattage for a female that day ..

A few of you know but for those that don't, our Tuesday Hurtbox ride saw our first major incident in over 9yrs of riding it.

After strong winds the previous day & night a large tree branch was not seen protruding 1.5mtrs out on the road in a dark spot on Nepean Hwy while traveling at about 40-45km/hr, resulting in taking out 4 of us near the back of our bunch ride. Unfortunately 1 rider (Smithy) suffered a broken humorous (upper arm) bone & has had surgery to pin it, he has been told that he will loose some mobility due to it.

For me I was a lot more lucky, I didn't get any major injuries, my helmet didn’t even touch the ground. I have hardly a scratch on me & only a bit sore in the lower back but nothing some Panadol & Nurofen won’t fix. Pity I can’t say the same for my old trusty Azzurri… She’s gone to bike heaven but not till I rode it home to give it a proper send-off!!!

Video from my rear camera, that is me sitting in the gutter at the end
Video from another rear camera, Smithy is the first one to go down, then Tim them finally me over the top of Tim (warning: graphic footage)
Bike Damage Pics: &

So for those that remember, the Wilier GTR is finally getting built... Yes the one I bought many, many moons ago (2012/13) while I was still thinking I would be actively riding & racing.
Anyway I don't want to transfer all the old 10sp from the Azzurri onto it so have bought a 52/36T 6800 Ultegra Group from CR.
It is more inline with that generation of bike as well as cheaper & lighter than the new 8000 series. Will keep you posted on the progress of the build once it arrives.

ouch.. that looked pretty nasty. glad you are ok, and hope the rest of your group recover.

Now... bring on the Wilier!

I managed to get an invite to beta test VirtuGo, a new bit of training software similar to Zwift and Road Grand Tours. Finally managed to get it installed and owing to a cancelled MTB outing, have a bit of a ride with the software.

First impressions are that it's ok, though it seems to hit the hardware pretty hard. My i7 laptop was struggling at full graphic detail, most likely because the vid card was holding things up. At the fastest setting things were better, though the graphics were fairly bland and boring.

One of the attractions of this software for me is that they have the local (to me) Old Willunga Hill. So that seemed like an obvious one for me to test since i have experience climbing it in real life. Of course, climbing Old Willunga Hill only comes at the end of a ~22km loop and you can't just do it directly.

I''m not exactly sure where they got their gradients from, but the OWH in VirtuGo wasn't like the OWH i know! :P I was hurting pretty bad near the end of the climb, but i was looking forward to the last bit which, from real life experience, reduces in gradient.. not so much in VirtuGo which seems to maintain a 9-10% gradient in the same section :/

overall, it's not bad. though being a beta it obviously need some polish too.

Interesting Carl. Thanks for the write up.

I am enjoying Road Grand Tours lately, and have gotten back into The Sufferfest with a Training Peaks plan to increase my VO2 max, apparently my weakness.

norbs wrote:Interesting Carl. Thanks for the write up.

I am enjoying Road Grand Tours lately, and have gotten back into The Sufferfest with a Training Peaks plan to increase my VO2 max, apparently my weakness.

That seems like quite the serious weakness. Unlike my weakness.. deliciously sweet chocolate doughnuts..

My Garmin 820 apparently calculates/estimates/conjures a number for VO2_max .. not sure how accurate that is though. Apparently it's 50. If i was clever, I'd set myself up with a more structured training plan. But it's still pretty nice outside, so maybe that can wait for now

There's one more course to try on VirtuGo that i should try out next (Coll de Soller) which is apparently a bit better graphically than Willunga Hill. The VirtuGo fantasy course (Pulseville) was actually pretty good graphically.

I signed up for the Road Grand Tours beta and haven't heard anything back from them

CLP wrote:

norbs wrote:Interesting Carl. Thanks for the write up.

I am enjoying Road Grand Tours lately, and have gotten back into The Sufferfest with a Training Peaks plan to increase my VO2 max, apparently my weakness.

That seems like quite the serious weakness. Unlike my weakness.. deliciously sweet chocolate doughnuts..

My Garmin 820 apparently calculates/estimates/conjures a number for VO2_max .. not sure how accurate that is though. Apparently it's 50. If i was clever, I'd set myself up with a more structured training plan. But it's still pretty nice outside, so maybe that can wait for now

There's one more course to try on VirtuGo that i should try out next (Coll de Soller) which is apparently a bit better graphically than Willunga Hill. The VirtuGo fantasy course (Pulseville) was actually pretty good graphically.

I signed up for the Road Grand Tours beta and haven't heard anything back from them

Let me know what email address you used for Road Grand Tours and I will get it sorted.

Got to take a roadie mate for his first taste of singletackin' at Cobblers today on his fully rigid old school MTB.
Nice easy pace on the downs and he was able to ride up at a respectable pace given he wasn't use to having to make so many line choices to avoid rocks.

I got to session a few features on the way and he offered to record some passes. Always good to see whats going on with the body position and how the suspension is reacting. Ive been thinking of dropping a few psi in the fork at lately, the footage has confirmed Im not using all the travel on some of the bigger hits.

Almost like magic, i got my beta invite for Road Grand Tours Finally got to try it out this evening. Not too bad at all. Certainly more advanced than VirtuGo at this moment in time, though probably understandable given they have been in development for longer. I did the 1km Canary Wharf loop for a bit and then onto Pienza. Bugger me the last climb goes on forever

CLP wrote:Almost like magic, i got my beta invite for Road Grand Tours Finally got to try it out this evening. Not too bad at all. Certainly more advanced than VirtuGo at this moment in time, though probably understandable given they have been in development for longer. I did the 1km Canary Wharf loop for a bit and then onto Pienza. Bugger me the last climb goes on forever

Give Stevlio or the monster a go

norbs wrote:

CLP wrote:Almost like magic, i got my beta invite for Road Grand Tours Finally got to try it out this evening. Not too bad at all. Certainly more advanced than VirtuGo at this moment in time, though probably understandable given they have been in development for longer. I did the 1km Canary Wharf loop for a bit and then onto Pienza. Bugger me the last climb goes on forever

Give Stevlio or the monster a go

it's in the plan! well, Stelvio at least
thinking i'm not 100% at the moment. had nothing in the legs for much of that ride despite my slow pace and was feeling like utter crap afterwards hopefully it's nothing. Fortunately no races for a while so i can maybe get a bit more time on the trainer.. or outside in the hills

I am actually doing a Sufferfest training plan.

Did their new 4DP test that nearly killed me and suggested one of my weaknesses is VO2 max.

Group ride in the morning, then got home and saw Alp du Zwift was out. Why not!

https://www.strava.com/activities/1478840727

So sore.

norbs wrote:Group ride in the morning, then got home and saw Alp du Zwift was out. Why not!

https://www.strava.com/activities/1478840727

So sore.

LOL.. 2 hours on the trainer is pretty enthusiastic at the best of times :P

how was it?

A lot harder than I expected.

The way I know I have pushed too hard, apart from cramps, is loss of appetite. Had to force myself just now to have some food.

I ate nothing before the group ride. Had a coffee of that, and 1 bit of banana bread during the climb. Not enough fuel.

I just gave it a go.
My assessment.. Never doing that again!

CLP wrote:I just gave it a go.
My assessment.. Never doing that again!

Im too tired to look, did you spank me?

norbs wrote:

CLP wrote:I just gave it a go.
My assessment.. Never doing that again!

Im too tired to look, did you spank me?

if by "spank" you mean ride it 23 minutes slower.. then yes.. yes i did :P

CLP wrote:

norbs wrote:

CLP wrote:I just gave it a go.
My assessment.. Never doing that again!

Im too tired to look, did you spank me?

if by "spank" you mean ride it 23 minutes slower.. then yes.. yes i did :P

Rightio. Well you have been racing your balls off lately, so let's say it is that

norbs wrote:

CLP wrote:

norbs wrote:
Im too tired to look, did you spank me?

if by "spank" you mean ride it 23 minutes slower.. then yes.. yes i did :P

Rightio. Well you have been racing your balls off lately, so let's say it is that

I've been feeling pretty shite on the bike for the last week or so, no energy/power, so maybe this wasn't the best idea, but the new roads looked so inviting

Part of it may also be that I was using the trainer for power, which i think reads low compared to the Vectors. that said, if you look at my cadence there is a steady decline there, so it stand to reason that the power output drops too.

Most likely reason though is you're just better at that type of climb than i am

My super-extra-long weekend came to a close today. Have to say, there's something to be said for a 6 day weekend

V and I took a few trips up to Fox Creek to get ourselves re-aquainted with the trails up there and MTBing in general. Still wouldn't say i'm very good, and this body isn't getting any younger ; However a lot of fun was had, to the point where I think we're feeling okay enough to sign up for another Bike SA Dirty Weekend .

Thursday was just about getting out there and having a go. Pizza and Beer afterwards of course
https://www.strava.com/activities/1477426137

Sunday we pushed ourselves a little bit, doing much of last years Dirty Weekend course plus trying a trail we haven't done before (Bilistic) and the brand new climb (Dream Weaver) that was just opened a couple of days ago. V managed to push herself so hard that that she took a spill while nearly stationary on a fire trail. :o She kept going, but that wasn't the end of the story.
Confidence from both of us seemed to return to previous levels, so we probably just need to work on a bit more fitness, which will also help with the winter CX season.
Pizza, Chips, Beer post ride definitely hit the spot, and pretty sure most of the food groups
https://www.strava.com/activities/1482849497


Injuries sustained on Sunday by Miss V kept her off the bike today so instead I did my own ride while she hiked around some of the trails. I tried out a few trails I've not done before (Ant Logic and Climbing Ivy), plus some I haven't done in ages (3 Bridges). Lots of fun, and I'm completely knackered! Hopefully I have enough in the legs to get myself to work tomorrow!
https://www.strava.com/activities/1486602371