Turns out I just needed Halligan to kick my a$$...
So, last Friday, I headed up to NH to ride 'with' the crew on the Mooseman course. Plan was to go for several hours, get some good hills in, and just bang out some work. Thinking that we were going for two loops of a 56 mile course (listening is not my strong suit), I was kinda mentally prepared to hold on to something like 75% or so for the bulk of the ride.
Get there, get dressed, and head out, Halligan is driving the train and I'm just riding with the group. Looking down at the PT, I notice I'm dropping 330, 350, 380 watts on the little rises along the lake (not a big deal, only 150%+ of FTP). "hmmm, I hope this isn't the plan, cuz I won't last long". But then, it seemed like a fun game to play: "how long can I hang with Dave, Patrick and Bob A?" Somewhere early in the ride, I completely tossed all plans out the window, and absolutely tore myself apart trying to hang on to that group.
Well, I made it a grand total of 55 minutes. In fact, it was right after I told Patrick and Dave "I'm pretty sure I just set a new FTP there" that they promptly looked at me and thought "Fresh Meat!"
(jk, guys!) I got spit out the back like I was standing still, and despite dropping into the aerobars and trying to TT back onto the pack, I simply couldn't. Rest of the ride was a mix of Z2 and Z3 as I could, and I got in about 73 miles and about 300 TSS points. Very happy with the ride. I got home, downloaded the data, and had set new marks in the 5' average power, 20' average power (260), and 42' average power, along with a new mean maxmial 1 hr number (240) which I'm calling my new FTP. I was particularly psyched, because my FTP had been tracking pretty well to 95% of 20' max, which means that there's some room in there.
Well, Tuesday night was the weekly TT. ~10.5 somewhat hilly miles, usually takes around 29 minutes or so. My PR was 18:16, and that was last summer, with the disc cover and an aero helmet. I had a great ride, finished in 18:12 (new PR!) and did it with no aero helmet, no disc cover. 20' peak was 269 watts, and it felt damn good!
So, to Halligan, Patrick, and Bob, thanks for kicking my a$$ up there. Just what I needed!
Mike
Comments
350 Watts??? EEEEEEEEEK Hmmmm, one whole week of riding with those guys at TOC? I'm either gonna be sporting a new FTP or lying in a ditch somewhere in California by the end of it!
Oh, and are those times right? Because if you can ride a hilly course at 35mph you are a god!
Nice to have some motivation. Certainly more fun than trying to kill yourself in the basement all the time. Just think of the pain you can inflict on yourself at the LP rally in a few weeks. Should be a good time for all.
Lesson learned: seek out fast riders and/or crazy hard climbs. Ride as hard as you can for as long as you can. Carry a cell phone. Repeat.
Everything else will sort itself out after that.
That said, it's shame that the ride didn't build your base fitness. All it did was make you strong/faster. You should be building your endurance, not making yourself faster.
Mike,
If I had the time, I'd go find those posts from you digging yourself a big hole during the OS and power hack and me telling you you just needed to get outside and ride with others and we'd be laughing about this at the dinner on Thurs before IMLP.
Glad to see my unscientific theory was proved accurate.
BTW, it's Bob's fault you got dropped. He was all aero-geeked out and dropped the hammer after the descent. I had nothing to do with it.
FWIW, I've been doing some riding with some fast, young, skinny, strong guys. Sometimes I hang, sometimes I pop. No matter what, it's always a good workout. ALWAYS.
NEMO, ToC is a recovery week for me. No worries.
Dave
Famous last words!!! I've heard that one before!
Good Luck Nemo, that's like me saying I'm doing a race for fun and running slow.
I would suggest bringing a rope to tie around Dave's seatpost. Then tell him to chase Trent up a hill and just hold on tight.
That's great to read, Mike!!!! Really great place to be, in MAY. Hope the other base-builders are hanging with their Halligan clones for an hour.
At least he just kicked your ass. He usually rips your face off while he's at it, so that's real progress on your part.
that's exactly what I've been doing...and trying to go longer and longer while I'm at it. Sometimes, I can just tell that I've overdone it for too many days and I'm just too fatigued to hang on. I sure am having fun though. And I figure I need all the strength I can get to make it up the climbs at Leadville. I'm also hoping the endurance thing will just work itself out from longer rides, epic weeks like ToC, etc.
One thing I know for sure....it is really fun just being a bilker and being able to focus on getting better, one sport at a time. I keep telling myself I will do another IM someday....
Check. Pack Cowgirl Lasso!!!
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!
PS: Nemo...don't trust Halligan about that recovery week thing. There's Drillbit and Coach R to rev things up when things get vertical.
Vince
It's almost cheating, getting that kind of work in and having such fun doing it.
Congratulations Mike! Bike mojo is back!
I had the exact same experience on a 2 day ride a couple weeks ago. Day 1 I went out with the big dogs. Over FTP on the flats and seeing 350+ on the climbs that they all surged on. Got dropped like a hot potato. I found it very motivating though and had two solid rides.
Next year!