What I did to prepare for Sebring 2017 ---today

[DavidCH]

The box that I created seems like an overkill but I am interested in traveling with the V

If I were to repeat the process, I might just choose an easier option. Cough up some money <$100 sounds reasonable to me and buy one of these
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1302619299781921&id=180716508638878&_rdr

 

[CruzLike]

Happy Birthday David.

Yesterday I completed the truing of my new wheel I built. The deep carbon rim was more difficult to build compared to the smaller section rims. An additional step of feeding a loose spoke though the rim threading a nipple on it then pulling thought the rim was necessary. I like the result and I'm anxious to ride it.

Looking forward to riding Collins tonight. Looks like 75 minutes of riding in the park. 17 workouts till Sebring.

 

[CruzLike]

Oh well this is embarrassing, I thought Sebring was the last weekend of February, not the second weekend. I'm thing we should have included the exact date in this threads title instead of just the year for dummies like me. I don't know if I've got enough time to be ready considering how much my hand has been hurting me these past 2 days since getting my cast off.

Come on Jason. The Dr. gave you some morphine for your knee. Put that to use.

 

[ratz]

The penalty for bad planning... having to show up and race on the hypothetical v20 trike......

 

[RojoRacing]

The penalty for bad planning... having to show up and race on the hypothetical v20 trike......

Can you set it up to use a single center joystick like an airplane? Maybe a dual brake setup off a single lever.

 

[ratz]

Can you set it up to use a single center joystick like an airplane? Maybe a dual brake setup off a single lever.

Time for awind-cheetah

 

[LarryOz]

Rode Mount Drum this morning. Not too bad, but that 15 minute interval at 225 after 3 hours was a little shock to the system.
That was the 3rd SweetSpot interval in this set.
I can not remember the Saturday endurance rides having these harder efforts in them - must be a NEW thing for the final 3 weeks of training for Sebring - Thanks Ratz!

 

[RojoRacing]

Rode my first trainer workout EVER just now, yes call the press the sky has fallen. Last night Ratz and I did some work and figured out a way to easily share custom Zwift workout with each other from my windows PC to his and vice versa. iPad sharing still to be determined.

I rode Icefall and managed to retain my sanity rather well to my surprise. I takes a bit of mental visualization to get the full effect of what the workout is trying to do but that easy enough for most people to figure out.

 

[DavidCH]

Happy Birthday David.

Yesterday I completed the truing of my new wheel I built. The deep carbon rim was more difficult to build compared to the smaller section rims. An additional step of feeding a loose spoke though the rim threading a nipple on it then pulling thought the rim was necessary. I like the result and I'm anxious to ride it.

Looking forward to riding Collins tonight. Looks like 75 minutes of riding in the park. 17 workouts till Sebring.

I decided to replace my existing rim and put a tubeless deep rim. How long did it take you to secure and tighten the spokes?

 

[ratz]

I can not remember the Saturday endurance rides having these harder efforts in them - must be a NEW thing for the final 3 weeks of training for Sebring - Thanks Ratz!

Anti Over Training Deterrents.... Or if you prefer; you never know when the wind is going to betray you.

 

[CruzLike]

How long did it take you to secure and tighten the spokes?

Hi David
I would like to start out by saying this is the second wheel I have built. My first wheel was a rim replacement so I was able to mark to four spokes nearest the valve stem. This enables you to set the correct spoke pattern off the bat.
The rim I built last week was from scratch. The first night I had the rim I anxiously began filling the spoke holes. When I started the second group of 8 (32/4) I had my doubts that I had the pattern correct. The following day I surfed Youtube for wheel lacing videos. I also found this page that was helpful. http://www.troubleshooters.com/bicycles/wheelbuilding/ Most of the videos did not account for the drilling of the rim, or it assumed you had a "Left on Top" rim. Mine was drilled "Right on Top" so I followed the example on the Troubleshooters page. I had the spokes in the correct holes at the end of my second night. On the third evening I trued the wheel.

Time spent after I undid my work was around 3 hours.

Lessons learned: Getting the nipple though the rim was a little tricky. One video showed placing the nipple on a spoke backwards and from the outside of the rim pushing the nipple though and connecting with the in place spoke. I chose a variation. I pushed a spoke from the inside of the rim, installed the nipple, then pulled the nipple to the hole. I put a screwdriver on the nipple and unscrewed the spare spoke. Then installed the new spoke.

I didn't figure out a way to get the loose nipples out of the rim if they had fallen out of the spoke hole. I just shook the rim till I got lucky and it fell out.

 

[DavidCH]

Haaaaaa guess that's why it's got so cold here I can't go out to do the low cadence rides. I don't like them either... But my quads felt sure they had a work out. That was a good 90 minutes spent.

The endurance rides if not windy seem of a different intelligence. More of nutrition and conservatism.

If windy the endurance rides make your arms ache like crazy.

I guess with disc covers on the rear wheel it's another thing all together?

I think the 9 weeks training program is a classic , I think that's all you need. If you meet up with others on zwift, you aren't going to recover enough.

I was reading that the tacx neo can be used without power and would be good to travel with like up into the mountains 2 weeks before Sebring (next year's training program perhaps)

I also read that it has an a accelerator function when going down hills. Does it simulate wind effect as well?

Do other trainers have these facilities?

I enjoyed this so much I thought I would do it again.

 

[CruzLike]

This day may have been coming for a while. I ended up 30 minutes short of the 3:45 ride. I ran out of gas. The last 90% segment stuck the fork in me. I was spent.
Indiana is having a warm January and I felt it in my ride. When it's wintry outside my sweat cools me better than when it's 55. I drank alot, but I sweat more. Post ride I tipped the scales 5 pounds lighter than my normal 190lbs. This was after I robbed a page from Larry's play book and drank two large glasses of chocolate milk. I was quite dehydrated.
Looking forward to tomorrows rest night. I had a friend invited me to Monday's Pacer game. Looking forward the that also.

I did have a trial run of using a catheter. Everything's "going" well.

 

[ratz]

If windy the endurance rides make your arms ache like crazy.
I guess with disc covers on the rear wheel it's another thing all together?

As yaw increase discs are more stable. When you think about wheel aero dynamics; there is the Leading-Leading edge aka the tire, then a hole with spokes; then the Trailing-Leading aka the inside edge of the rim at the back. The way the wind hits the two edges can create a wing like effect that will give you sides way lift. It takes a lot of wind to push a bike sides ways. It take as lot less for diagonal wind to make an aerofoil and pull the bike; it just happens that the pull is in the direction the wind is blowing so you think of it as a push. This is why sharp deep-v rims suck in the the wind; sharp edge doesn't match the blunt end of the tire. New wheels design around this. So when you put the cover on; your remove the Trailing-Leading edge; and the double opposing aerofoil go away and you just have one big one that doesn't affect the bike hardly at all from the rear position. On the front is a disc is whole different set of problems.

 

[ratz]

This day may have been coming for a while. I ended up 30 minutes short of the 3:45 ride. I ran out of gas. The last 90% segment stuck the fork in me. I was spent.

The ride was strategically scheduled as a wake up call for long hours if you put out too much power. It's equivalent to riding 6 hours at too high a power output and then fading. Something you don't want to do at Sebring if you are riding the 12 hour, for the hundred milers it's a warning not to over do your turns pulling groups in the wind; if it didn't cook you, then you're FTP would be wrong. (see my next post for how the rest of the plan plays out; this was a measuring and assessment workout.) SO sounds like it worked

 

[ratz]

So today was my last day to make a strategic change. I want to make a watts plan for the 12 hour ride. But there is always a discrepancy between Power Meter Power and Kickr Power. Typically Kickr Power reads about 10 watts higher than Power Meter Power but unfortunately it not linear so you can't just subtract 10; instead it varys over the curve as power increases.

The TrainerRoad software has a really nice feature that lets you train using the Power Meter reading and it adjusts the ERG trainer to make your power meter effort hit the target. This is different than just telling the ERG trainer to do it's things and maintain a fixed power. Until 3 or 4 weeks ago that feature worked really poorly in iOS for some meters. PC /Mac version worked fine. This last version nailed it finally. But unfortunately switching modes means taking a new FTP test to calibrate to the new meter.

So I gave in and did an FTP test on no rest. Decided to do it Keto and Fasted, after the test I took on calories while riding. Since this was a no rest test I modified the test to be one quality 8 minute block and not two of them. Two is gives you more consistency but I've gotten pretty good and nailing them now; and if I did two I would not have been able to finish the rest of the riding schedule for today. So today was a 45 minute FTP test; and then the ride Mount Drum minus the last 45 minutes.

Pretty happy with the results. FTP on the P1 pedals was up 4 watts from the current level have been training at; that pretty much is an effective gain of 14 watts because I know the pedals read 9-15 watts lower than the kickr; and right about 10 low at 260 watts. So for the 6 weeks of training completed on the Sebring plan so far the "pedal adjusted" FTP gain is around 25 watts. which is about 5 watts ahead of where I was on Turkey day when I had to take the unexpected 2 weeks off. Structure works; it can be boring, but it works. And it is not like we can ride out side when the weather is -6F.

Rides in power match lacks the smooth power line on the graphs because they show real instantaneous power. (Larry also trains in this mode) versus ERG power which is smoothed heavily by the trainer to give you a silking smooth ride.



Then I moved on to the over-cooker test that is Mount Drum.
This ride are used in this plan at this point in time is contrived to set expectations and remind you that going too hard for 3.75 hours or outdoors for 6 hours will make you go Boom. This is important. It is easy to get over confident riding in ERG mode for weeks and weeks on end. I just barely finished the 3.75 hours total work.

Tomorrow is a rest day yeah.....

So evaluating the ride; my back was fine, my arms were fine; but my feet cramped and I got hot foot around the 3.25 hours mark. Those are bad indicators for the 12 hour. We have been using a time compressed training schedule so that Monday - Friday is almost always 60-90 minutes of high intensity sweet spot work; with the mega endurance hours on the weekend.

The plan contains "drop" rides that are optional if over tired; they are also substitutable for equal TSS rides with different objectives. Since my body was not ready for that many hours, next week I will drop the shorter length rides and replace them with longer but easier rides that will net the same TSS but force me to sit on the bike for longer hours and build up just a bit more tolerance for the extend hours. Time invested now should be paid back on event day.

The Planned Swap outs will be

Wednesday -- Spruce knob 90 minutes 95 TSS ---->> Warren+1 135minutes, 97 TSS
Friday --- Whorl 75 minutes 50 TSS --->> Conness 165 minutes, 111 TSS

If burned by Saturday then Saturday's high intensity workout can be swapped
Leconte 90 minutes, TSS 124 IF .91 ----> Big Squaw 150 minutes, TSS 121, IF .69

Then Mount Blackburn is the 2nd of the Dreaded test rides. You know it's coming this time. It is again and over reach.

Next effect 3.25 hours more saddle time but less intensity. The Tues, Thursday Sunday rides remain core to the plan and do not get swapped.

After Blackburn it is time to access how it went to decide if week 8 stands, gets modified, or needs a taper.....

 

[ratz]

Ordered some Vittoria Corsa Speed (open TLR) tubes, not sure I have the nerve to run them untested at Sebring; but boy they sound promising; I just might do it..

Also officially changed my ride to the 12 hour ride. I will be running support of Pluckyblond for the out and back; and then I will ride my own ride on the 11 mile loop after that. She's been training for far too many weeks for this; if she gets a flat she gets my wheel and I get the ditch to fix it. SAG Bike if you will. That means I will be taking long lead outs on a two person train. Staying with the fast century group, or the 12 hour podium contenders probably means screwed up results after hour 8 when the wall arrives, so if they ramp up over 25mph I do not think we will chase (gotta do the math to see what that would cost versus save from drafting). I also have not ridden anything this flat with the potentional for low wind so I do not even know what cruising speed is; but the math will give a good guess.

Any of the other non A riders that want to join into our 12 hour pace until you pop or you pop us are welcome to join in. Not going to quote speeds but if you are close to us we can suffer a little increase/decrease in speed to pick up extra work sharers even if it's only for the first x miles. 12 hours is a long time; At that length the ride is well suited for negative splitting and that is actually hard to do with the correct discipline to not chase the pack.

 

[RojoRacing]

Ordered some Vittoria Corsa Speed (open TLR) tubes, not sure I have the nerve to run them untested at Sebring; but boy they sound promising; I just might do it..

Also officially changed my ride to the 12 hour ride. I will be running support of Pluckyblond for the out and back; and then I will ride my own ride on the 11 mile loop after that. She's been training for far too many weeks for this; if she gets a flat she gets my wheel and I get the ditch to fix it. Sage Bike if you will. That means I'll be take long lead outs on a two person train. Staying with the fast century group, the 12 hour podium contenders probably means screwed up results after hour 8 when the wall arrives, so if they ramp up over 25mph I don't think we'll chase (gotta do the math to see what that would cost versus save from drafting).

Any of the other non A riders that want to join into our 12 hour pace until you pop or you pop us are welcome to join in. Not going to quote speeds but if you are close to us we can suffer a little increase/decrease in speed to pick up extra work sharers even if it's only for the first x miles. 12 hours is a long time; At that length the ride is well suited for negative splitting and that's actually hard to do with the correct discipline to not chase the pack.

Good luck, I don't think I ever got them to bead up tubeless but I gave up after only a few tries because I deemed it not worth it for the rough roads of Borego Springs.

 

[pluckyblond]

I'm going to summarize for the week...

Cut my hair. Now before you go getting all eye-rolly on me because I'm girl and this clearly has nothing to do with Sebring...it actually had everything to do with Sebring since my braided hair was to the point of being able to not only swing dangerously near my back wheel but probably wrap into it. It was a little long.

I transferred all my random planning thoughts from disparate places into one, Sebring-specific notebook and start the packing-list-of-doom. All of which was great because I was having far too many "gotta remember that for Sebring" moments.

Tested out some new cold weather gear. All of which past the, "this doesn't suck after multiple hours" test and the "no chaffing" test...woot.

And of course training...but that's a minor detail, right?

 

[DavidCH]

new cold weather gear.

Florida at that time of year is a big mix. I am just going to take everything I have