More slack

With Gewilli vacationing, I guess I need to help pick up the slack. So today, not only did I ride my bike into work, I'll ramble on a bit about power. Even though I don't have a power meter. Yeah, I rode to work today, on the Slim Chance; I modified the route a bit, riding very slowly, and it took 50 minutes. Usually I leave at 7:45, but today I pushed it until 8:10 and there was quite a bit less traffic. The summer probably has something to do with that (no, just because I'm subbing for Gewilli doesn't mean I'm going to write "prolly." That is just sad and annoying).

Since I didn't race on Saturday (another Gewilli trait - not racing), I did not get to judge my fitness against all the best New England masters. Really, this spring has been a bust for hilly races. Turtle Pond and Jiminy are only small hills, and they come too early in the season to judge with. At Hollenbeck I raced with the 3's, and on the first lap I was in a break and able to sag climb. At Sunapee, I got shelled early. So I've really got no idea how well I'm climbing. My times on Big Blue have been not at all stellar, so of course I'm worried, but after doing all the training and climbing up north, I was hoping for some validation at Monson. With that not happening, when KL asked what kind of ride we would do on Saturday, I suggested we go to Big Blue and really throw down the gauntlet, and even though she was racing the next day at Hoosatonic Hills (I wasn't), she agreed.

We rolled over for an easy warmup, without doing any intense efforts. When we got to the hill, the gate was open and we rolled right up. Not coming to a complete stop saves a bit of energy and is probably worth several seconds. I used a 36x17 and we rode side by side until hitting the flat spot at 1:07, where I took the front. Knowing this was a one climb, all or nothing test, I pushed hard. Approaching the switchback, I labored in the saddle, trying to stave off downshifting, and KL spun past. Through the switchback and onto the steep along the guardrail, she pulled out five bike lengths advantage, but even though I was going hard, I wasn't blowing up. We were still under three minutes, so I knew this would be decent. Using my familiarity of the hill (she's only done it three or four time before), I reeled her back in. We were both sucking wind. She later said she thought the wide spot where the chairlift ends was the top, and was quite disheartened to see the road keep going. I jumped aheand and drove it over the final pitch and along the flattish finish to stop the watch at 4:52, my best this year by almost 40 seconds, and one of my top 5 all time efforts. KL came in about six seconds down.

When we got home I weighed the bikes, with bottles and seatbags, and they weighed exactly the same, 9.5 kg each. In full kit, KL weighed 43.5 kg and I weighed 81 kg. So crunching this through analyticcycling.com with the appropriate frontal area estimates, using 1400 meters at .089 grade, I came up with 420 watts for me and 245 required for KL. Dividing by our respective weights (minus 1 kg for the kits, shoes, helmets) I got a CP5 of 5.25 w/kg for me and 5.67 w/kg for her. So why did I get to the top faster? Simple, because our bikes weigh the same, thus hers is a much greater percentage of body weight. If you take the total weights, and do 245/53 versus 420/90.5, the advantage goes to me. Interestingly, on the Coggan charts her CP5 is in the middle of the domestic pro range (which is the level that she races at) and mine is in the middle of Cat 2 (well, I never quite made it). All just a hill of shit, but I'm relieved to have put up a time within 10 seconds of where I was at this time last year.

Sunday I was up early, and without having a bike race, even though I haven't run in exactly one month, I filled out and application and jogged the quarter mile over to the start of the Childrens Museum 5 mile Road Race. This usually conflicts with Monson, and I'm not a summer runner, so I usually miss this one of the three local races. Too bad, as this is the biggest, attracting over 300 runners this year. I lined up in the front, just behind a few of the HFC Striders who I know by sight and who usually finish just in front of me at these races. Of course I entered thinking I'd just do a jog here, but you know how it is. With zero mileage in the last month, the gun went off and I headed out just back from the leaders. At a half mile or so, I was amazed to not be breathing that hard. All that bike racing helps. Approaching the one mile mark, my legs were already feeling it, but I held my spot, hitting the mark at six flat. OK, slower than in the spring, but that's to be expected. This hurt though. Mile two I tried to settle, but it still hurt, even though it took 6:26. A guy passed me and someone cheered "Go Steve" and I realized it was this guy Steve Warren from Sharon. He is a real runner, in my age group, doesn't quite medal at most races, but he's ALWAYS ahead of me. I latched right on to his feet. His pace was even, but uncomfortably fast for me, but I hung on with my HR at 170 (LT on the bike is 160. Running?). At the 3 mile, which came 6:46 later, a mushroom cloud went up over the head of one of the HFC's ahead and we passed him. Really suffering now, I clung grimly until just about the mile 4 marker, where Steve began to pull away. The split was back down to 6:32. In the final mile, my feet even hurt (didn't think I'd need vaseline for such a short race, and just used body glide), so I guess I'm not used to the heat. Three more guys passed me in the homestretch as my fifth mile faded back to 6:42, and I finished 16th (7th 40-49) at 32:32. I just got my free water and walked home to lick my wounds.

Today my legs are f'd. That's why I rode to work. I'm afraid if I just sit they'll sieze up completely. Oh well, it was a good push for the heart, 32 minutes with an average HR of 166. I don't think it will help the cycling too much though. Thanks for reading.