If I can get my 20 min power up to 375 watts I'll do Sebring 24

[RojoRacing]

375 watts(ftp 356) is a 17% increase over my current 320 watts(ftp)304 and the higher you get the harder those % gains become to get.

As most of you know I have a rather mixed relationship with 24hour races on the Vendetta which measures out to one part never winning, one part bikeism drama and three parts they are very boring events with no cool DHs to risk my life on. Sebring is a little too far for me to ride out to and jump into the race so I told myself I wouldn't make the trip unless I'm ready to do something special like reset the 24hr outdoor world record. Over the past few years that you guys and gals have known me as well as several more years before that I've always been as fast as I am, meaning I've really never gotten stronger or weaker over many years. I know that may sound odd but in all honesty I've never ridden with the goal of "getting faster" in mind when I set out for rides, I just ride to get to the next fun DH or I ride with friends. Now way back in like 2010 I actually followed a training plan for a few months with the goal in mind of getting down to a 2:30 marathon which for you bike people would be like doing a 3:30 century on a DF bike. I got down to 2:45 but suffered from extreme burn out in those 3 short months, that was the last time I ever "trained". Now even without "training" I'm a firm believer of if someone wants something enough that they approach everyday with that goal in mind they can do just about anything. The mental aspect can be just a powerful as the physical aspect when I comes to unlocking or limiting the body's potential. So with a some recent motivation sparked from someone else's success story I'm willing to make getting faster my goal, but I'm not going to follow a plan or anything like that. I'm going to do mostly what I normally do but with with getting faster on my mind and a little more oomph in my step which translates to improving my standings on a few choice KOM segments each week to see my progress and rest days with a purpose instead of me just being lazy and eating cookies. If I reach my goal of 375 I think I'll be able to hold 200 watts for 24hrs and well into the 550 mile range.

Lets see if it's possible to make gains but simply changing a persons view of the subject instead of rewriting the whole theory. Now before you all start placing your bets on whether I succeed or fail let me warn you I improved my 20 min effort from 318watts on Monday to 321watts on Wednesday so I'm already 5% closer to my goal after only 2 day

 

[RojoRacing]

As an added bonus I've been riding my DF bike exclusively in 2018 and I still wont have the V20 back for at least another month so we'll get to see exactly what my 20 min power looks like on one bike vs the other and if there's an bent adaption period for me.

 

[ed72]

is Thom souping your V20 up?

Just get a good skinsuit, ditch the gloves, and shave.

GL. I'll be cheering you on every time you pass me.

 

[LarryOz]

375 watts(ftp 356) is a 17% increase over my current 320 watts(ftp)304 and the higher you get the harder those % gains become to get.

Hi Jason, Can you please explain what your "375 watts(ftp 356)" means. To me if I say my ftp is 260watts, then I can do 260 watts for an hour. Although some coaches and systems have seemed to deviate from that 1-hr standard to define your ftp as something from "around" 30-60 minutes, which to me is quite a variance and not a very good standard. Maybe they should adopt something like ftp(60) or ftp(30), etc.
Anyway, from looking at record runs of athletes in top physical & aerobic condition, it appears that they can incrementally double their time with only a 10% decrease in power.
For example: 300 watts = ftp(60)
270w - 2 hr
240w - 4 hr
210w- 8 hr
180w - 16 hr
175w - 24 hr (only 5% decrease, since only 50% increase in time)

As I recall, this comes pretty close to one of your most recent 24 hour runs - correct?

So to estimate what you might need to come close to 200w for 24 hours:
360 - 1hr (FTP)
324 - 2 hrs
288 - 4 hrs
252 - 8 hrs
216 - 16 hrs
198 - 24 hrs

Good Luck - I hope you make - I will be there to watch either way

 

[RojoRacing]

Hi Jason, Can you please explain what your "375 watts(ftp 356)" means.

FTP by definition is what you should be able to hold for an hour if you aren't a mentally weak athlete. Since most of us are mentally weak athletes they came up with the 20 min test which is 20min result multiplied by 95% gives your one hour power potential AKA your FTP. You already know this of course and 356 is 95% of 375 which is where those values come from. You are indeed spot on with your increment power vs time decay since my FTP has always been about 300 and my best 2 hour effort was 280, best 200 miler of 8 1/2 hours 210 and 24hour 168. I'm focused on the 375 because 20 min all out efforts seem to happen during normal riders far more often then 60 min efforts, also an FTP of 350 is a nice clean number.

200 watts for 24hours wont make me the strongest rider to have ever raced a 24hour, but on the right bike it may be enough to make me the most accomplished.

 

[ed72]

Can you set the UMCA record at an event like Sebring?

There is no UMCA recumbent 24 hour record for men of your age...?? Or are you going for Strasser's 556.856 miles?

If you get a warm, lite wind day and 200 watts on a slick recumbent, I have to think you would exceed CS' distance. GL. I hope you do it. I am planning to be there and try to break the 60-64M record but it is only like 435 miles. A better venue might be the Lumberton course in slightly warmer weather (lower air resistance)

I don't get the bikeism drama. I did one race on a bent and heard blah blah blah from two riders and one bikeism was a bent rider (not on a Cruz)

 

[LarryOz]

Can you set the UMCA record at an event like Sebring?

To set a WUCA (used to be UMCA) - the course has to be surveryed and you must have officials timing each lap, etc, etc. Technickally you could do it on the Sebring course, but it would be extremely costly to survey the entire course and to have officials and crew the entire time, and you could not even come close to drafting or even drafted. The more I think about it, it probably would not be possible because the Sebring event coordinators would not let the required follow vehicle follow you around the racetrack with all the other riders. It would be too dangerous.

You are correct, something like the Lumberton course (in Oct) would be more an idle location. Maria has set some of her records there, and I set my first WUCA record there too. Only 4 turns for 30 miles. Nice!

 

[RojoRacing]

I could care less whether my record gets entered into someone's website, I just want to know I broke it.

 

[McWheels]

Good man, nothing like a rabbit to chase. I train generally, but despite a number of websites recommending specific winter programmes, I generally just get on with trying to stay fit and strong. And every now and again, you get a day like this, 3 1st class wickets for next to nothing, even in a loss. Ok it's got more skill and luck in it than a pure athletic test like biking, but I appreciate not getting wrapped up in taking a notebook to a weights area.

 

[jond]

Rojo you are right sheer guts from your headspace is 95% of achieving your goal at your level.

The other 10% though is a lot of hard gutsy work.

Clearly you are capable know how to suffer and are tougher than most.

You don’t necessarily need that 375 watt barrier in front of you. 105% effort is enough lol. 110% you chunder.

Train like you got a pair and you’ll smash it. Cause your watts/ kg will head north as you lose maybe a few pounds.

Hit it. You know you’re already at 95% so top off and smash em.

Bit of luck and a sound strategy you’ve practiced many times and this is yours.

No doubt. It’s up to the rojo.

 

[DavidCH]

I'm just happy in getting a PB

 

[RojoRacing]

Well just as I was ramping up my riding and intensity I lost my balance stepping up onto a truck today and wrecked my knee when I slammed it into something hard like a steel corner or exposed bolt. Now I've got serious swelling and so little bend at the knee I couldn't get my foot onto the foot peg of my motorcycle and had to ride home with my leg hanging off. Going to the doctors tomorrow to see what they think and possibly get it drained. Here's to hoping it's just a week of rest followed by a week or easing back into it.

In other news here's what it took to reset the 24hr world record on a DF thus past weekend https://www.strava.com/activities/1935473834

 

[tiltmaniac]

Well, crap!

 

[DavidCH]

Well just as I was ramping up my riding and intensity I lost my balance stepping up onto a truck today and wrecked my knee when I slammed it into something hard like a steel corner or exposed bolt. Now I've got serious swelling and so little bend at the knee I couldn't get my foot onto the foot peg of my motorcycle and had to ride home with my leg hanging off. Going to the doctors tomorrow to see what they think and possibly get it drained. Here's to hoping it's just a week of rest followed by a week or easing back into it.

In other news here's what it took to reset the 24hr world record on a DF thus past weekend https://www.strava.com/activities/1935473834

Sorry about your knee. It should heal up pretty quick. I took a look at that Strava data thinking I would see some high speeds but the highest was 56.2kph ... I'm just wondering if Christoph took a bit of extra time to recover on the descents. Looking at the results... impeccable. 567.6 miles in 24hours .... that's extraordinary.

 

[DavidCH]

Ok... he had some innovation!

The strasser spritzer
https://www.facebook.com/24hrworlds/videos/2171244829576142/

 

[ed72]

56.2 km is 34.9 mi. Why would you think this is resting? I doubt it and here is why. I only hit 35.3 mph and I was on a slippery bent in a skinsuit. He passed me once at the crest of that hill and I almost caught him and I tried, knowing my CdA and power output, I would say for sure he was hammering. Of course 260 watts over the whole 24 hours is probably only 65% of his FTP.

He was haulin. I was watching the night before at the hill and his speed climbing was impressive to say the least. I remember him passing me on Saturday PM on that nasty bumpy back stretch. Into a strong wind and like 98F, he would get out of the saddle and jump back to speed, get down into the aero position, and then back up out of the saddle, and then down into the aero position.

His legs are muscular like a body builder's. Solid in the core like football player. A rock.

 

[LarryOz]

In other news here's what it took to reset the 24hr world record on a DF thus past weekend https://www.strava.com/activities/1935473834

He averaged 276watts for the first 12 hours!
Also - really nice to have unlimited time in Specialized wind-tunnel to fine tune your aero.
His legs are like tree trunks!
Sure would be cool to see what he could do on a Vendetta. (We'll just have to wait until he hurts to much to keep doing it on that old-fashioned bike - then we got him! )

 

[RojoRacing]

Sorry about your knee. It should heal up pretty quick. I took a look at that Strava data thinking I would see some high speeds but the highest was 56.2kph ... I'm just wondering if Christoph took a bit of extra time to recover on the descents. Looking at the results... impeccable. 567.6 miles in 24hours .... that's extraordinary.

Their are no "climbs" or "descents" on this course it's just not totally flat. There is no point where you can spin out your gearing so you have to pedal the whole time. You can ease up or coast heading into the Christmas circle with minimal loss of speed but you will be losing some speed at the very least unless you have a tail wind there but that never happens.

 

[ed72]

It is a 1-3% grade a bit more than 2 miles after turning right after La Casa Zorro. There are just two little pimples at 3%. There was a 6-8 mph headwind in the morning up the "hill" but it shifted to a 8-10 mph tailwind in the afternoon.

If you think about it and do the maths, there is no benefit to pushing it when already doing 34 mph-the energy from a time to distance perspective is better expended on the little pimple hill.

 

[DavidCH]

Clearly I don't know the course. Endurance record riders obviously can recover quicker than most. I wonder how much that specualized bike cost... it was probably just built for him? Guess if you want to be as fast as Christoph you have to train up in the alps.