Vosadrian's V20 Journey - Australia

[vosadrian]

I've done EC track many times on a DF. It is quite hilly... but also fast with good surface. I expect it would be more about power than weight on an aero bent. Also gearing. I am going to need better than 50-11 on the straight. I have gone there at 70 on my DF at full power, but expect around 60 on the V20 for an endurance effort.

When I did that ride with Dome, I was able to sit about 1-2m off the back of Dome, and there was a benefit. Not as much as DF... but worthwhile (maybe save 20-30W). If we keep the pace consistent it is pretty easy to sit close. I was interested to see if we could give the DF teams a scare. I'm a bit the same as you... I am pretty good for shorter efforts, but not great for longer endurance efforts. I will say that I find something extra if chasing someone. I am stubborn and don't get dropped easily. That is how I got the climbing PRs. I can put out 10% more power chasing... until my legs just refuse to push anymore.

I could probably do around 220W for an hour but that race will be around 2 hours. And I am nowhere near 67kg now.. but should be around 70 by then. I might need to back off the pwoer and just aim for around 200W for the two hours. Should be high 30s average I expect. If I can do 37.5hph for 1.5 hours on the course above I should do faster at EC (wind permitting). Maybe 40??

 

[jond]

Just looked at strava 2018 12 plus 12 on a trike catrike 700. 96 klm I did extra 807 m ascent 29.8 klm per hour 3 hr 14 min. vendetta 2018 12 hour 31.7 klm per hour 147 watts 2942 m ascent 310 klm 9 hour 47 minutes. Along straight 189 watts 50 klm per hour.

so you will smash me. We shall see hopefully brother.

we could give them a real scare no doubt. With discipline. I too get excited. On the trike I averaged 200 watts so if I can four years later average that I might see 35 klm per hour average. If I’m lucky.

The course is deceptively hilly and of course the two events use different laps with short lap in 12 plus 12.

be great to meet you which is the most important bit. Get us organised for team. Not sure dome can stay with us if back to same fitness. We shall see.

 

[vosadrian]

Just checked through some of my old data for EC. Looks like the short lap is around 100m elevation per 10km. Long lap is a but more. Maybe 110-120. So probably on average 110m per 10kms. So 12+12 should be around 900m elevation for 80kms. That is typical for most of my rides. I'd be dissappointed if I could not do >35kph average solo on that course on my V20. The track surface is better than most of my rides. If weather conditions were good (light wind and good air density) I would expect high 30s. I've done races in bunches at over 40... but that is in a bunch on a DF. Not sure which is quicker.. solo V20 vs DF in a fast bunch. I think I would just aim to do 200W on flat sections. 150W on fast downhills and 250-300W on uphills and see what happens. I don;t think Dome is planning on riding together. Would be great if we could get 3-4 of us in some sort of paceline... even if it is strongest on the front the whole time and the others benefitting from the draft.

Hopefully we get to ride before the event! I would be keen to join you at adcock some time if things reopen.

 

[vosadrian]

In the last week, I hopped back on my V20 after about 6 months break. I had a few niggles at the end of last year that would not clear up, so I took a few months off riding, and when I came back I was doing short rides near my place with lots of hills, so get back on the DF. I was a little concerned about getting back on the V20, but I had a work challenge on Strava to get as many kms in a 10 day period as I could, so the DF was not going to cut it. I was surprised that it was just like riding a bike!! Hopped on and straight up a steep hill like I had ridden it the day before. Unfortunately the local drivers have not changed and continue to beep horns at me on this bike which I could do without!! :-(

My fitness needs some work, but riding the DF the last couple of months means I was not starting from scratch and was doing OK straight up with a ride at 20mph out of the box. Still some way before I hit the 25mph I was doing late last year. For work this challenge, I did find a fairly easy loop (less hilly than usual for Sydney) and even did my longest ride on the V20 at 100Miles with an average just under 20mph.

So fairly happy that you can hop off it for a while and get back on without having to put on training wheels again!

 

[billyk]

I'll add my welcome. Couple of comments:

Get a Thor seat, especially if you have back problems. The lumbar support is really an upgrade. Well worth the US$175 it costs.

I bought my first CB (Q2 in 2010) without knowing anything about the learning curve. It had the other stuff I wanted in a bike (knowing I wanted a recumbent so I could make/mount a fairing for my rainy Seattle commute): full size wheels and disk brakes. I just figured "I've been riding all kinds of bikes for 40 years, this can't be that big a deal". Yeah, you'll learn it like we all did, just expect a few weeks and few 100s of miles before you're ready to mix it up with traffic (bike or car). Take it as a challenge to learn something new. Sounds like you're the type of guy to enjoy that.

These bikes are a blast to ride.

 

[DavidCH]

Vosadrian, you are modest... I looked at that monstrous v20 ride.... you are a legend. Kudos

 

[vosadrian]

Vosadrian, you are modest... I looked at that monstrous v20 ride.... you are a legend. Kudos

The roads were chosen to make it easier than usual for my area. I was pretty surprised to be honest. I took it easy for the first 60 miles or so, and just tried to enjoy the cruising, but I felt much better than I expected at that point, so I came home strong, and could have done more but my Garmin went flat, and I was doing it for Strava kms for the work challenge. I have not ridden any rides over 50km this year before last week, and only started riding the DF after 4 months off in April and back on the V20 last week. I did not expect to get through that as well as I did, and put that down to the bike. Mind you at the end of last year, I could have done the same ride at 50-70W more power, and probably came home with an average of 22-23mph. So fitness still has some to come.

There is a sub challenge within this challenge I did today. Basically fastest 30km you could do anywhere you want. I picked a nice segment on the motorway with no lights and good roads and slowly rolling down hill. This bike is amazing!! 30km in <39 minutes at 46.2kph (28.7mph)! And the power was only about 170W (which says just how fast the segment I chose was!!).