Power Training . . . the next level

So regular readers of this blog know that I got a PowerTap power meter for Christmas. Well, I have officially taken my power-based-training to the next level by incorporating the Training Peaks WKO+ software (formerly called Cycling Peaks). The above is the summary of a solo training ride I did on Sunday. It’s very cool and let’s you really analyze your rides, but more importantly it is great and monitoring your training overtime to help “taper” for really big events.

The next “really big event” in my life is the pending birth of our second child in 8 weeks, so I’m not using the software to plan for any “A” races yet, but I think it will definitely help me maximize the limited training time I will have.

Copperas Cove Report - First Race of the Season

Saturday was the start of the road race season here in Texas with the TBi Copperas Cove RR. Copperas Cove is just outside Kileen, TX, so a 2.5 hour drive from Fort Worth. I rode down with Brian (one of my Mortiz teammates) for a noon start. The turn out for the race was huge:

• A P/1/2/3 field of over 60
• Two Cat 4/5 races, both with 75 racers
• 35+/Women’s race with about 75 racers as well.

All of the races started within 30 minutes of each other, so you had about 350 racers milling through the parking lot all morning - checking their gear, eating bananas or Clif Bars and trying to stay warm (it was 27 degrees in the morning, by race time it was in the high 30’s).

Unfortunately Brian and I didn’t get to race together (he was in the B race, I was in the A race), so this would be a solo effort. The race was 54 miles, consisting of a 9 mile, hilly, out-and-back stretch and a 30+ mile loop. The winds were strong out of the north (20 mph+), so I assumed everyone would stay together for the first half of the race and then things would really open up as we had the benefit of the tailwind.

My inexperience (this was only my second road race, and my first as a Cat 4) did not serve me well. I got stuck in the back of the pack early and had a difficult time moving up because we had such a large field (and the centerline rule was being heavily enforced). When you are at the back of a 75 person pack every little action up front gets magnified in the rear. As a result, guys in the front keep a pretty consistent pace, but those of us in the back are forced to constantly brake and accelerate to stay with the pack. There were definitely early season nerves (many guys were all over the road and there was a lot of hard braking), this translated into two different wrecks in the A race. Luckily I managed to avoid both of them (the second requiring me to spend some time in the grass to avoid the pile-up). I never felt “at my limit” during the race, so I just waited for the hills in the last 6 miles of the race as my best chance to advance. Luckily this worked and I was able to move up the field and then solo and bridge up to a breakaway of about 6 racers. As soon as I caught up to the break I realized these guys were gassed and we weren’t likely to hold everyone off. Sure enough, another group of about 12-15 guys bridged up to us.

Me (Racer 822) in the breakaway

So about 22 of us rolled into town together and got strung out single file before hitting the two right-hand turns (basically a U-turn) into the finishing straight. I’m not a great sprinter, so I just held on to my place - finishing 18th. If I would have known the course better, I probably would have attacked on the last little climb before we turned into the finish, but such is racing - lot’s of ifs and buts. Overall, I’m pretty pleased and it wasn’t a bad way to start the season - nice little 54 mile ride at 22 mph. I also raced with my PowerTap, so it was really interesting to look at the file after the race and see how the power efforts were compared to my perceived exhaustion at different points in the race.

A “Power”ful Christmas

So I got myself a Christmas gift that I have been wanting for a little while now. For those of you that know my bike, you might see the picture above and say, “Ben, you got new wheels for your Kredo”, and that would partially be true. The wheels in this picture are different than my “normal” wheels (Mavic Ksyrium SLs). But if you look really closely at the pic above, you will see something else special about these wheels.

These wheels are laced to a PowerTap SL 2.4 wireless power meter. I’m a pretty analytical guy, so the idea of training with power has always had some appeal for me, so I decided to bite-the-bullet and get a PowerTap. I looked at power meter options - SRM, iBike, etc., but the PowerTap made the most sense. The toughest decision when getting a PowerTap is deciding what type of wheel you are going to lace the hub to. Since I will train and race on my PowerTap, I wanted something durable, but light/aero enough that I wouldn’t feel like it was a hindrance for racing. I found the perfect combination by using a wheelsmith in Florida named Mike Garcia. Make laced my PowerTap to some Niobium 30mm rims with black Sapim CX-Ray spokes (the best spokes you can get).

 

I have 24 spokes in the front (laced radially) and 28 spokes in the rear (laced 2x on both sides). So these wheels will be plenty durable, but amazingly the total weight, (even with the heavier PowerTap hub) came in within 50 grams of the weight of my Ksyriums (plus these wheels are more aero). Mike did a great job on the build and the wheels look/ride awesome. His price was also very competitive and I basically got the whole set for about the same price as what just the rear hub laced to a mavic open pro rim would have cost me buying from anywhere else.

I’m in the process of doing my various power tests now in order to determine my training zones. However, one thing I can already tell you from putting a few rides in on these wheels is this - you are rarely working as hard as you think. The PowerTap really lets me know how often I am “dogging it”. Speed is a horrible measure of effort and I’ve quickly discovered that many of my favorite stretches of road, where I can nail it for 30 mph, I am doing at very low effort (under 200 watts). I’ll keep you posted.