Two Wheel Blogs

It seems like it's been forever since I've had a day like this one. Today was an all too rare combination of really decent weather and relatively good health. I'm still coughing a little every now and then, but this chest congestion is on the run. Sunny and high in the 70's today didn't hurt it any either.

It's been a while since I posted one of these workout power statistics lists. Here's the one from today's effort:

I can hardly believe it's been over two weeks since Froze Toes. Where has that time gone in my little world? That's easy. I went on a business trip for a few days and then I got sick. That's about it. The rest is just ugly details.

Today was a big and important day. My coughing and hacking had subsided enough that I decided to brave the upper 40's temperatures and go ride my bike. Wow, what a difference a couple of weeks makes.

Photo: 

The secret is out. Now you know what those things that Unit cooked up really are.

In case you missed it, here is Andrew Coggan's explanation.

And here's a little background on how it all came about.

Honestly, I don't know. But I can tell you how much power it takes to get second place in a Category 5 Road Race. The guy who did win didn't have a power meter on his bike. He's about ½ my age and weighs at least 20 pounds less than I do. Power-to-weight, he had me beat cold. In terms of raw power, we might have been pretty close.

I was up late last night getting my geek on with a new power tool. Golden Cheetah is a new software application currently under development which intends to make some form of bicycle powermeter analysis software functionality to the good people out there who don't do Windows.

From the Golden Cheetah web site:

Judging by the way I feel tonight I must have had a good ride.

Lucky for me I had my SRM bicycle powermeter to tell me it was so. I would never have known it was a good ride without it. It hurt a lot. I spent a lot of time going slow, recovering.

Tonight I really brought the pain. The group I started out with put me on the path to that special lung searing, leg burning place. For the rest of the ride I repeatedly surged power and held it as long as possible. I wanted to push past the edge.

Higher VI was what I wanted to see tonight. All this winter trainer riding has left me with a really decent Functional Threshold Power, but I don't have many matches in the box. Too many times digging deep and this old goat explodes.

Exploding goats. Not a pretty sight.