The Weather outside is Frightful...

Last week was one of the coldest weeks in decades for many cities across the US.  For me personally, it was probably the coldest week that I had experienced in over 20 years.  There something about highs that are not above freezing (and lows in the single digits) that didn't inspire me to go out for my typical lunch rides to get base miles.  Instead, this was an opportunity for me to do more testing on how I can (and will) use the trainer this winter.

During the fall I wrote about getting a trainer, and using a couple of different software solutions to record and evaluate my workouts on the bike.  Both TrainerRoad and GoldenCheetah were successful in recording a workout, but the larger obstacle  that I ran into was wanting to complete the workouts.  Watching TV (or Netflix as the case may be) while grinding away on the bike just really didn't motivate me to give my best efforts, even when I had instructions in front of me.  Over the course of the last 6 months I had gotten a couple of different trainer workout demos free to try out, so with the week of bad weather I figured it was worth giving them a shot.

I completed 4 rides on the trainer this week while evaluating videos from 3 different companies:  1 from Endurance Films, 1 from Carmichael Training, and 2 from The Sufferfest.  All of these were downloaded files on my laptop that I had integrated into Golden Cheetah to sync/record my efforts while watching the video.  The actual data gathered was Heart Rate, Speed, and Cadence from my ANT+ meters I use with my Garmin 305.  Beyond that GC has an option to estimate power based on my trainer (Cyleops Fluid 2) and speed.

screenshot of Golden Cheetah playing The Sufferfest Downward Spiral

The first video I checked out was the Demo of RIDES: Florida - Paradise Road  from Endurance Films.  This was a BRO (Big Ring Only) Interval set, and the demo video included the first half hour of the workout.  This includes a single interval set and a warm up period.  Overall I liked the layout of this video, and at some point I will look into getting the full version of this particular workout.  The workouts were simple to follow, and it had great video footage along with good music to keep you entertained throughout the workout.  The goal of this workout was base strength, thus attempting to hold a low cadence (under 60 rpm) at a relatively high Wattage.  As a downside, most of the RIDES series is DVD (not download/mp4) and the pricing was not inexpensive.  There are 3 of their videos that are download friendly and run $19.95.  The DVD videos run approximately $29.95 + shipping from their site.  Currently they are running a promotion with the demo video to get 25% off your order when you use a code provided at the end of the video, though.


  RIDES Florida FREE Workout Interval from Endurance Films on Vimeo.
The second video I used was from Carmichael Training.  CTS is famously known for training many major pro cyclists, and for getting results.  They run several "Bucket List" rides throughout the year, including rides that follow the Tour of California and the US Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado.  I have getting "Bucket List Certified" on my goals list for the future, as I'd love to ride the Pro courses at some point in the future.  The video I demoed was from a Strava challenge during the summer, where by participating I was able to get the video for free.  The title is "Threshold Power", and as the name implies the goal is to increase your FTP.  This is a full hour long video, going through multiple intervals.  While this video had a lot of great instruction, there wasn't much to see on the screen except for other folks on trainers with the occasional outside training ride shot, and very little music to keep you grooving.  Thus time didn't move very quickly.  I did find that their instructions for how to find your goal range, based on % of Power as well as HR or RPE to be effective at helping me zero in my goal range.  CTS has download options, as well as DVD options, for all of their videos, and the pricing starts at $9.99.



Preview of CTS training videos on YouTube
The last two videos I used during the week were part of the Starter Kit from The Sufferfest.  This is one of the most popular of the trainer series that I see my friends posting about online.  Ranging from $5.99 to $14.99 they for the download videos, you can get DVD backups of the videos for a fee.  The names on these videos are interesting, and descriptive.  With  names like "the Blender", "Revolver", and "The Downward Spiral", you can tell that the folks that created these videos definitely are a creative bunch.  The HUD on the video is very minimal, it's like they are expecting you to be using another program like TrainerRoad or GC to integrate your efforts, and they put the extra time into making an interesting video experience instead of a detailed HUD of your workout.  The two videos that I have used from the Starter Pack so far are "The Downward Spiral" and "Extra Shot: The Long Scream".  Both of these workouts left me tired and drenched, but with good video and music, the time passed relatively quickly.  I say relatively, because when you are working at threshold for 30 minutes on a simulated time trial, I'm not sure you can call any time passing "quick".  Of the 3 different series, this is the one that I would gravitate towards using regularly.  


Preview of "The Downward Spiral" on Vimeo

One of the big advantages that The Sufferfest has over the other training videos was that I was able to easily find and import ERG files to use with GC for the workouts.  This allowed me to have a "target power" number to try to hit to stay in my effort zones, based on a FTP workout, instead of having to guess by my own perceived effort or heart rate.  I tend to push way too hard early in effort levels, as can still be seen in my workouts on the trainer, and thus I cannot push at a level for nearly as long as I can if I know where my target is and my target is realistic.  I'm sure I can find or create ERG files for the other videos, but having them readily available just made it easy.  

After spending 4 days on the trainer, the weather was finally to a point where I was able to get out on the road and ride with some friends on Sunday.  This was the first "checkpoint" on if the trainer sessions were going to translate into actual gains while out on the bike.  For 2 years I've mostly attempted to figure out efforts effectively based on RPE, or perceived effort.  The problem I've had with that method is that I overexert too early in the effort, as I don't have a good feel for experience I should have at a given effort level. What I was focusing on was not jumping out to too big of an effort early to just be reeled back in late.  While I didn't get Personal Records on the route, I did feel like I had success in my goals.  I can see if I spend time on the trainer focusing on knowing what an effort feels like in my legs, and not just training myself on perceived effort, I'm going to see a big difference in long efforts over time.  

2nd Annual Preservation Ride

Saturday September 14th was the 2nd Annual Preservation Ride to benefit Upstate Forever.  Upstate Forever is a non-profit organization that is focused on keeping areas of the Carolinas pristine for future generations.  They have worked on projects to protect land areas, helping to establish the Greenspace at Fairview, to being one of the backers of the GHS Swamp Rabbit Trail.  Last year I had the pleasure to ride the 75-mile route as a part of the inaugural event, and I have been looking forward to riding again this year.  Due to unforeseen circumstances I wasn't able to ride the long route and take on Skyuka Mountain Road again, which is definitely one of the most challenging climbs I've done in my short cycling career, I was able to get in the 40 mile route.  This turns out to be no cake run, either, but the views are just about second to none.  

The day started out early, and as if on queue the weather was perfect.  The 40-mile route didn't start until 9am, but a few of us got there early to take a quick warm up lap around Strawberry Hill USA, just outside of Chesnee SC.  There was still a bit of chill in the air, and getting warmed up took a bit of effort.



After completing the loop, it was just about time for the mass start of the 40mi folks.  The start and finish line for the Preservation ride is the main cafe at Strawberry Hill USA.  As we got together to ride out, we got instructions from Steve Baker about the route, and then we were on our way.  

The thing that is unique about this ride, is that you spend so much time enjoying the scenery instead of spending time getting to someplace interesting.  The sky was so crystal clear, and we were out in the country literally 200 feet after we started.  Miles just melted past, and we had a chance to chat with various riders as we went along.  In the first 15 miles there were only a handful of moderately steep hills to contend with, and it felt like we were going downhill most of the time.



At about the 18 mile mark we reached the first rest stop, and learned that they had added a ~3mile loop inside of Greenspace at Fairview to make sure that the ride got closer to the 40 mile mark after some changes in the route from last year.  This area is a reserved area that Upstate Forever worked with the home owners in the area to create, making an easement where the natural beauty of the area will be preserved for future generations.  There was a lot of open countryside, with horse stables (including several folks taking their horses out for walks) and natural woodland spaces.  We decided to take the loop before making a stop, enjoying the scenery the entire way.  We spent most of this time gazing at the mountains off in the distance, tempting us to continue the journey, like sirens calling out to be explored.

The rest area was bustling when we got there, as folks were stopping either before or after they had completed the loop. After getting a chance to rest our legs and refill out water bottles, we decided that we wanted to ride the loop another time before we started the bottom half of the ride. Instead of just riding the route as marked, though, we decided it would be more fun if we went the other direction around the loop. We were not disappointed, as the ride in reverse gave us more fantastic views of the mountains, and gave us a chance to see more of the countryside as we went around. I would highly recommend to folks doing this ride next year that they take on doing the loop twice to get closer to 40 miles and get just a little more time to enjoy the area.

The second half of the ride brought us more challenges as we dealt with returning back into more populated areas as well as experiences several longer rolling hills.  We made our way over Lake Bowen and through the countryside around Boiling Springs, SC.  The only high traffic area of the ride was while we were on Highway 9 for about a mile.  While there was an established bicycle lane, it was overgrown and had a fair amount of trash that was in it, making it a bit dangerous to stay out of the way of the vehicles.  Thankfully this was an extremely short section of the ride, and we were back out into the country.  As we rode back towards the start/finish point, the rolling hills just continued to challenge us.  As we'd crest one hill we'd be presented with a decent and another climb yet to come.  One of the folks I was riding with exclaimed "they just keep coming!".  

We passed several photographers along the way, taking pictures of the riders.  For a couple of them I decided to ham it up and act like I was sprinting for all I was worth, but for the most part I took the time to sit up and wave, as I was enjoying the ride more than anything else at this point.  I felt like I could have just kept riding for hours longer, taking in the day and the beauty around us.  

We took our final left hand turn, and the strikingly red roof of the cafe at Strawberry Hill USA came into view at the top of the next climb.  Just before this point I had made a comment to Mark that last year I had made a promise to sprint out the last leg of the ride.  Much like last year, the final climb of the ride took its toll on my legs, and I used the last bit of energy I had left to make a good showing as we went by the corn maze.  My family was there to greet us, and we were greeted to a fantastic lunch.  Unlike most rides, the lunch was served on actual plates, with cloth napkins and real silverware.  This left the waste to be minimal.



Of all the rides I've experienced in the past 2 years, this has to be one of my favorites.  From the organization that it supports to the views that you can experience, it's one of the best in the area.  The routes are well marked and well supported, and it definitely is as challenging of an experience as you make it.  Having now done both the 40 and 75 mile routes, neither disappoint.  I find it challenging to ask folks to help fund raise for many of the cycling events out there, but Upstate Forever does directly for the area that I have less of a heartache with it.  I look forward to when the 2014 edition of this ride is announced, and getting a chance to challenge Skyuka Mountain road again.

Winter is coming

It's hard to make this statement in the middle of September, but the honest fact is that the short days of winter are approaching.  I've been lucky this year and have managed to ride almost as much as I wish to without being forced to resort to the enemy of all outdoor cyclists - the dreaded trainer.  These torture devices make a routine that seems barely worth putting on the bibs to go do into an ordeal of epic proportions.  You can ride 8 hours on the road, but 45 minutes on the trainer and you feel like you've been kicked by a mule.

Cold Days are ahead

For preparation for the winter, I've been trying to put together a better training plan for 2014.  Going into 2013, I had the primary goal of completing the Assault on Mt Mitchell, and as a biproduct of that I had placed goals to increase my base mileage on the bike from ~4,000mi in 2012 to 5,200mi+ in 2013.  This equates to averaging 100mi a week.  I'm definitely ahead of schedule to meet the challenge, but the problem with this type of challenge for me is that I focus too much on the numbers, and not enough on enjoying the experiences. Beyond that, I don't believe just having an ever increasing base mile number as my primary cycling goal will get me to a place where I'll be happy with my own fitness or cycling ability.

For 2014 my planning right now is to focus more on performance and less on pure mileage.  Without having concrete plans written down, I want to feel like I can continue to improve my form and overall fitness without feeling like I have to put in a monstrous number of base miles.  Having a few focused plans to work on key areas of my development is going to be a big part of that.  I already have a few workouts that I bought last year in preparation for the 2012 Gran Fondo Hincapie that I'd like to make a dedicated effort to complete, and I'd like to take the time to get in an 8-week CompuTrainer class from Greenville Cycling Center.  These types of workouts should help me to continue to quantify my current fitness, and give me more concrete numbers to understand where I am as far as cycling fitness.

Part of doing any structured workout routine is managing how to get in the workout on the wet/cold days, when leaving the house just isn't a good idea.  I recently got a second hand trainer from one of my friends, so I now have some options.  I took my spare wheel and I've set it up to use on the trainer with an older tire and my old cassette. This way I'm not putting undo stress on my good rear wheel, nor excessive trainer mileage on my tires.

Once I had the basic hardware worked out, I started trying to figure out the software.  While poking around, I had run into both Cycleops VirtualTraining and TrainerRoad.com.  Both of these have the promise of allowing you to ride along a pre-established venue on your computer, while mystically using your speed/cadence sensor to estimate your power and adjust your time on the course accordingly.  They even show virtual cyclists racing with you and attempting to steal your KOM!  These looked fantastic, and I thought they would be a great option for keeping the time on the bike interesting, as well as allowing me to virtually work on some of my rides while indoors as a change of pace.  The first problem is that to even see how well these programs work, I'd have to plunk down between $10 and $15 for a subscription to their service.  I am always nervous about "buy before you try", and in this case it was probably warranted.  I went so far as to install the base software for Cycleops to try out their demo routes, but I ran into technical snags getting my PC to connect to the speed sensor using their software.

The problem, after much searching I found out, is that the USB ANT+ stick that came with my wife's Garmin watch, is a "1.0" varient.  This means that it can only read 4 different ANT+ sources at a time.  The Cycleops software was originally designed to be used with their higher end trainers, and as such required more than 4 sensors to work properly.  Thus Cycleops requires you to use an "ANT+ 2.0" adapter.  This is a road block to me, as I didn't feel that I needed to rush out and spend $50 for a new USB adapter so I could spend money on a monthly service to ride indoors.  It looked like the holy grail of affordable computer-based training would be elusive.

While searching out solutions to my USB adapter issue, what I did find was reference to an open-source training option known as Golden Cheetah.  While the software is not as wiz-bang as the pay for play options, it does have a lot of really nice features and supports older "1.0" ANT+ adapters.  I was easily able to input the make and model of my trainer, and pair up my heart rate and speed sensors to the software to try out a workout with estimated power.  I was able to export the workout to a TCX file and upload it to Strava manually, as the hooks in the software to upload it automatically were having some problems with my Strava account.  I was able to upload the workout directly from GC into TrainingPeaks, though.

The Import of Data into Strava

There do seem to be several features that the pay-for-play software guys have an advantage, though.  For example, while it will play a video while you are riding, it really doesn't have a way to have your telemetry data show up as a HUD on top of the video (that I can tell so far).  I'm also not sure if it will let you simulate riding famous courses (or even a GPS route you upload) at this point, either.   I've only gotten a small amount of time between the trainer and the software, but there is promise that I can get some solid structured workouts set up.  The documentation in general is a little bit sparse as well.  Going through the user's guide there are several sections, especially in regards to live data, that had empty entries.  The wiki was likewise slightly sparse.

As the software started out as a way to gather data from the seldom-standard power meters 6 years ago to analyse and upload to various training software, what it does as an open source product is quite amazing.  I'm intending to spend more time with it during the upcoming months as the weather turns cooler, and hopefully I can post updates as well as tips and tricks.  The idea of riding on a trainer still doesn't instill a lot of joy in me, but having a distraction and data to play with definitely will help move it along.

Ramping up

Most of the blogs that I follow are talking about "tapering" this week.  The ideas is that you cut back on the number of miles that you are riding to let your legs rest and heal in preparation for the big effort that is to come.  I've never been all that good at finding the "low gear" to settle back into, but right now I'm working on a secondary issue of taking an unintended few weekends off due to poor weather.  The weekends are where I get my big rides, and thus my big miles, in.  Without a good solid Saturday ride, my miles can plummet quickly.  Combining that with the knee stress I put on myself during the month of April, I really needed the time to heal.  What it didn't do was put me in a great mental state for the ride, as my mileage for the month of May right now is matching 1 week of training in April.   Thus this week I decided to ramp up slightly from where I've been so far in May, to get myself mentally and physically "awake" for the event.  



The positive effect on this is that I feel as prepared as I could be for Mitchell at this point.  Up until this morning I kept feeling like I peaked when we scouted out the mountain late last month.  With the extra miles in this week I feel like I've gotten myself back established into my routine.  I'm also going to be within 20 miles of my target prior to Mitchell (I'm at 1,962mi for the year right now).  The negative effect is that I haven't let my knee have a lot of rest time at this point, and I feel like I'm going to have more soreness than I wanted to on the trip to Marion.  The only thing I can do for that is to ride smarter on Monday, and not try to get froggy when the pack surges.  I'm not doing the event for time at this point, my goal is completion. 

It also is difficult for me to find the balance personally because I'm used to riding hard on a Saturday, not a Monday.  For the Assault on the Carolinas I was able to ramp down easier, because I had my normal Tuesday night ride, then just a recovery day to work through.  With Mitchell being on Monday, I have to figure out which rides I scale back for, and how much I scale back in order to have fresh legs.   All things being equal, I really should have looked to do more heavy climbing on Mondays later in the training regime, so I could have gotten myself into the schedule for the event.  I don't think it's going to make enough of a difference that I'll regret not thinking about the schedule as I got my miles in.

My plan right now is if the weather holds (we have a 50% chance of rain) that I'll go out for an easy ride with the local bike shop on Saturday.  Sunday is the expo and packet pickup, and an early alarm time for Monday morning.  I still have my dry bag to pack, and I need to do my final inspection and lubing of the bike.    

Weekend Washout

A view of  the wet conditions

The weekends are the time when most recreational cyclists can get the bulk of their training miles done, and I'm no exception.  While I may get 50-60 miles in during the week, it's the big rides on Saturday and the recovery ride on Sunday that typically help me meet my goals.  For the second weekend in a row, the weather has not been such that this is a practical, or safe, endeavor for me.  

This weekend was especially bad as the weather was cool, windy, and becoming increasingly wet.  This is a trifecta of conditions that made me second guess getting onto the bike when I woke up Saturday.  While I knew that I really needed to rest my knee, putting in another sub-100 mile week this close to the Assault on Mount Mitchell was going to be a sore spot for me.  With that in mind, what I really don't want to do is injure myself just getting in a workout because of a need to meet a mile quota for the week.  This became even more pronounced with the news of the death of a participant in the 3 states, 3 mountain cycling event.

My heart aches for the family of this cyclist, and what they have to deal with.  I would hate for my wife to have to even contemplate this situation, but it's a risk that I take every time that I get onto the bike.  Whether it's because I'm sharing the road with cars, or just the sake of being on the bike, there is a risk involved.  I have personally clocked speeds over 40mph on a ~20 lb device.  At those speeds, one mistake can be disastrous.  While I fully understand those risks, and I don't want to live in fear, I have to make the best decisions possible each and every time I click in and head out onto the road.

All it took was a wet day in Tennessee to change the lives of a family forever.