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

[LarryOz]

Well, since I have to leave for the airport tomorrow morning around 5:45am, I was not sure I would be able to get up at 4am again to do another workout, so I went ahead and did it today after work.
Here is Rendezvous. Had a rough time, as my left pedal kept dropping the signal. You can see the difference of when the power is from the KICKR and when it is from the pedals. The KICKR is super smooth, the pedals are all over the place and probably more realistic. The KICKR flywheel affect kinds of smooths out the data.
This was my 4th workout in about 60 hours. TSS of about 480. I can definitely feel the fatigue - Now I'll probably rest until Monday morning.
Ya'll have fun over the next 3 days! At least you can see what you are going to have to do.

 

[ratz]

An Early day on Petit-1 for recovery before heading off to an all evening work project. Easy rides are so weird after beyond capacity stuff. Currently 1 day ahead on the schedule but thanks to pending 6 inches of snow and -20F temps we a skipping the christmas party and will likely still take tomorrow off. Coming off of those 3 weeks of limited riding; my old guy fitness could use the day off to get me lined up for good training rides on Saturday and Sunday.

 

[super slim]

Ratz, with -20F you MUST be at the North Pole!
Aren't you 9 days early for an all night project delivery things???

 

[DavidCH]

skipping the christmas party

Funny... Even I am contemplating that.

You over there have a polar vortex and this year we have a very strange condition over the Mediterranean ... The sea is really warm and there is an area of cold air in the higher atmosphere. There are tornadoes in the Mediterranean and huge clouds with rain galore. I am finding it difficult to get out and train. For once the north of Spain has better weather than the south!

So the Christmas party might be a swap with a heavy training session.

This is the day before it really Rains and I got triple soaked today.

 

[DavidCH]

Finally booked up with Airbnb from the 9th to the 12th in Sebring ... 10 minutes from the track and walking distance to a groceries.

Thinking about flat packing the bike and carrying my carbon wheelset in a big base drum case with my other belongings and toolset. (Even bringing my torque wrench with me on this trip).

There has to be a hard case out there that's big enough to carry a couple of 700c carbon wheels. Anyone know of one?

 

[ratz]

There has to be a hard case out there that's big enough to carry a couple of 700c carbon wheels. Anyone know of one?

https://www.triall3sports.com/cases-bike.php

 

[CruzLike]

Hi All
Since Ratz and Larry are out kicking up there heals, I will carry the ride torch.
I had a wonderful ride with Eclipse this morning. I know that is not a common experience to many. It is a nice ride broken into 3 parts. There is a nice 5 min. rest followed by 20 minutes at at 90% ftp. Then you get to do it again. Then you get to do is again. Nope I didn't stutter, 3x. I think everyone is still looking for the wonderful part. The wonderful part comes in my comparison to my first 20 min. FTP test. It looked something like this. I ended up with an FTP of 212.


After this ride I was wiped out. I had given it my all.

Today being about 9 weeks after that test. My FTP is higher. Today eclipse had 20 min. segments that was riding at my old FTP. My HR was much lower also. high 140's to create 212 watts. It's real neat to see progress. That is wonderful.

 

[LarryOz]

Today being about 9 weeks after that test. My FTP is higher. Today eclipse had 20 min. segments that was riding at my old FTP. My HR was much lower also. high 140's to create 212 watts. It's real neat to see progress. That is wonderful.

Fantastic!!!!
It is so good see see such great progress - and its proof of good training, workouts hard, resting harder!

 

[ratz]

Rode Eclipse today after a day of rest and still got crushed; so time to accept that those 15 days of crappy training at the start of the month cost my; adjust FTP back down to 212 and we able to finish the ride. Gotta keep it real and keep moving forward. No point in over reaching.

 

[ratz]

Finished Maclure: valleys in little ring at 100rpm, hills in big ring at 100 rpm.



Goal was to see when the "Drag" from the weeks worth of training load took effect.
Glutes rather sore from about 1:30 onward.
Monitoring a MAF+5 level I was able to get until 2:19 before the average drifted into Tempo.



Average Power trended up but that's because I tested an FTP level 2 minute sprint at the end of the 3 hours (That way surprisingly easy)
Planned TSS for the week was 468; completed 462.

Basement was in the mid-60's (outside we just hit the high for the day at -8F up front -20F (-28C).) Feet cold the entire time; need to add electrical tape to the supply box to tape off the shoe vents for the start of the race. Anyone else thing a 6:30am is and unnecessary early start.

Did my research and decided to get some wool socks mentioned on this weeks training podcast.
https://darntough.com/collections/mens-bike (Life time guarantee if you wear them out)

Likewise stumbled on https://www.generationucan.com as a possible stable on bike carb source looks more promising that Maltodextrin for those on a Keto regimen.

 

[LarryOz]

I rested so my body could recover - all part of the plan!

 

[ratz]

Did some checking and none of the online video ride services has a video ride of the sebring event that's complete. But bkool.com will create a 3D simulation that you can ride. All that is required is to sign up and send them a GPX file. So as soon as I can track down a GPX file then I'll sign up and see if they will build it. If that works then other can sign up for a month and pre-ride the route if they've never been their before.

 

[LarryOz]

Ratz, I've got complete video of multiple laps on the race course short loops, the complete long loop (Century) and multiple 11 mile (days) loops.
I could probably make separate videos or each one.
I can also provide you a gpx file of my complete 24 Sebring ride from 2015.
Let me know what you would like.

 

[ratz]

Ratz, I've got complete video of multiple laps on the race course short loops, the complete long loop (Century) and multiple 11 mile (days) loops.
I could probably make separate videos or each one.
I can also provide you a gpx file of my complete 24 Sebring ride from 2015.
Let me know what you would like.

That should do it.


Last item for the day, got signed up for Best Bike Splits which is nice. Punched in all my data and it says I can rind the 89 mile loop at 159 watts and turn a 20.6 mph average with my current fitness. Guess I better get back to training.

If we can get the wind tunnel tests done we could supply the data to best bike splits so they could build a bike profile. Right now I have to use the EliteTT/superbike which is probably comparable.

 

[super slim]

Ratz with different height riders, from the 4'10" Gnome pocket rocket, to 6'2" Parkerville rocket!

 

[DavidCH]

At the moment the bike has 54t:36t daisy cutter q ring up front and a 11:32t Cassette combo and since the weather still hasn't settled I might as well change it over to a 52t q ring and 11:28t combo. As everything effects else I guess I will have to take a link or two out of the chain.

I know at the present Sebring training ride which is as flat as hell and fast with no red traffic lights and just cars for hinderance is perfect I will miss those dizzy spells of going high up into the hills. Guess I might change over in early January as I still use those hills for training.

But I think a 52t q ring up front would give me the possibility of optimizing the 11:28t cassette that's been in the drawer for months.

At the moment on the Sebring training ride I am using the midrange gears a whole lot more than the outer gears.

I also have a top secret nutrition experiment to try with myself .... After reading about the effects of ibuprofen on the body, I am not taking that stuff ever again. If I can make it taste nice without sugar then I will be happy.

 

[super slim]

What has been the range of speeds at Sebring, other when in the pits area, and are these speeds all using the big ring?

 

[LarryOz]

What has been the range of speeds at Sebring, other when in the pits area, and are these speeds all using the big ring?

It's really hard to say - because everyone is so different.
Sebring area is mostly flat with some gently uphills.
Probably the steepest uphill is in the middle of the day-time 11-mile loop, but is is also very short.
Here is the Strava segment for it. The steepest hill may be something like a 6% grade for 1/4mile - not much really
https://www.strava.com/segments/2131448
..
Range of speeds:
This has to be all over the board, as a riders average speed is just going to be a factor of their CdA, and their power to weight ratio. The speed for the "fast" group for the Century will probably be between 24-25, and goes down from there.
This year - Kevin G set the record (on his Vendetta) for the fastest 12-hour last year at just over 23mph, so there will be a pretty good range of speeds on the 11 mile loop ranging from 24mph and down.
I imagine if Christoph rode Sebring he would average that or higher for the entire 24-hours.
The nice part about the 11 mile loops during the day for the 12-hour cyclists, is that you are always around other riders which is nice. Plus you get to see your support every 11 miles too!

Gearing - for me it was always my large ring (53) - even on the steepest hill just mentioned above.
I think I have an 11x32 cassette I run at Sebring, and even on this hill I probably didn't even go all the way to the 32 - probably 26 or 28 tooth was fine.
Again, this is so individual - but I think due to the generally flat nature of Sebring most cyclist would probably not use a small chain ring.

 

[super slim]

What about a 53/34 and a 11 to 23 11 speed, but you would have to leave the safety of the BIG ring for the climbs, but it would give much smaller cadence changes for the same speed!

 

[DavidCH]

Well i have a normal round ring 52t that i Will fit with a 11:25t and then I won't need to spend anything.

It's just the daisy cutter is the bollocks. You need a real steep hill to spin out on that.