What constitutes a 'hilly' ride, and how to handle???
Just finished a HIM RR ride (almost - only 53 miles, but close enough). Just under 4000ft of climb (and most of that occurs on my usual 42mi loop, to which I added another 11mi, mainly flat, for today). Is that a lot? I have no idea. I find that it is very very challenging for me to ride to the training plan. Say you have, I dunno, 2x20 @Z4. Well, with all the ups and downs I can slow to a crawl on a hill, but stay in Z4, but on the backside it is impossible to do better than maybe Z2. Obviously I can't 'average' Z4 'cause that would mean spending a lot of time in Z5. Really messes up the intervals.
The hills make it hard for me to ride even a steady ride. I was targeting an NP for the ride in my Z3 (which on the trainer is 176-190W, I'm guessing 185-200 on the open road), and ended up with an NP of 181. Thought that was good, 'til I saw my avg W was 161, resulting in a VI of 1.12. Should I have targeted avg W, while keeping an eye on NP to stay within 5-8% of avgP?
Comments
If someone else has any thoughts, I would love to hear them also.
Have a look here, you are not alone.
http://members.endurancenation.us/Forums/tabid/57/aft/11954/Default.aspx
Cheers
Peter
You absolutely MUST read/watch the power webinar...there is specific protocol for riding hills/flattening the course....and it is CRITICAL for race execution..............you're not supposed to "see" z4 on the down hills....downhill depending on the slope...you keep pedaling...and you may see 10-15% lower...so if you target NP is 140 you will hit 120-125 on downhills...until you spinout/30mph and then you can stay aero and coast.... on the uphills you should target 10-15% above NP depending upon short/long & steepness....
See the link that Peter added.
Lots of good tips, including Training Vs. Racing on those hills.