Mike's Bike Blog

On my ride home the last couple of nights I've taken different routes to try something new. I have a fairly flat route going on Jollyville Road. I have a hill route up Bluegrass. Yesterday I went home via Rain Creek Parkway and tonight I went up Yaupon and Scottland Well.

I've ridden past them while riding on Spicewood Springs and have been wanting to climb up them. Carle over on his Texas Trek blog posted on his venture up Yaupon and even Twittered about how tough Scottland Well was to get up.

Here's the stats on each:
Yaupan
Distance .4
Avg. Grade: 8.4%
Max Grade: 14.6%
Avg. Power: 329
Max Power: 545
Avg. Speed: 8.2
Ascent: 196 feet
Time: 3:15

Scottland Well
Distance .5
Avg. Grade: 5.8%
Max Grade: 18.8%
Ascent: 169 feet
Time: 3:11
Avg Power: 285.8
Max Power: 616
Avg Speed: 9.6

My thoughts
I wouldn't classify either of these as overly difficult if you consider yourself a grimpeaur. Between the two Yaupon is a bit harder because of the sustained grade. Scottland Well at it's worse is 18.8% grade but it's really short and once you get over that it starts to flatten out. On both of these I never had to get into my 26T to tackle them.  Yaupon will make a good hill for climbing repeats or intervals and it has a nice bike lane.

Anybody know what the terrain off of Old Lampasas Trail is like? Looking at Grand Oak Dr., Rolling Oaks Trail and Talleyran Dr. any info on those roads?

When I first got my power meter last July I did the rider profile testing which includes a 5 minute test. Basically you go all out as hard as you can for 5 minutes. Since that initial test I never went back and retested. I mainly test in the 20 & 30 minute ranges to get my FTP.

I haven't thought much of it until a thread on the Wattage google group came up regarding VO2Max and a formula was presented to get an approximation based off of the 5 minute power result. People started throwing out their numbers and how accurate or inaccurate their computations came out to versus a lab conducted vo2max test with drawing blood.

I pulled up my power profile up on trainingpeaks.com to find my 5 min power at 353 watts. This seemed low, just like my 1 minute power. I looked at the ride that this number came from and it was a hill route I did with Jeff, Joe and Scott. It wasn't an overly hard ride and not one that I went out of my way to ride hard on.

Beforehand if I had to guess what I'd do on my retest I was thinking 390 to 400 watts. Well after retesting my final was 358, not the big jump I was expecting so what went wrong or what was different with this test?

After analyzing the effort I did too much at once. For this test instead of doing 5 minutes I did 6 minutes. I did this because some of the workouts use the number from the 6 min critical power effort. I figured I'd do 6 minutes and have both numbers. The surprising thing was my 6 min and 5 min power numbers were identical, my 6 minute number held steady at 358. That seemed very odd, I was expecting some drop off. On the really steep sections of Ladera Norte I was running out of gears and had to stand on these sections compared to spinning at a higher cadence. This is due in part to changing out the compact cranks for standards a couple months ago. Plus I had on my 11x23 cassette, not the ideal choice for the 20+% grade sections.

I thought one more test was in order to see what would happen if I just did a flat out 5 minute test and with a 12x26 cassette. Well that test happened last week. I lined up at my start point and let it all hang out on Ladera Norte. The taller gear felt a lot more manageable and it allowed me to hold a cadence of 72 rpm which was faster than last time which was only 67 rpm. At the end of the 5 minutes I was ready to poop a lung. I didn't have anything in the tank to make it up the last tenth of a mile climb to the top of Ladera Norte. So I turned around and went back via 360.

On this last test I came out with a number of 380 watts for the 5 minutes. Plugging that into the formula:

VO2 max= 1.8*((P5min*6.12/Kg)+3.5)+3.5

My VO2 Max comes out to 62. What does that number mean? Well according to this site  I would be at the low end for a male bicyclist. I'm on the high end for hockey players, I guess I  made a good choice in my sports growing up.

Jesper over at Training4Cyclists.com has posted  How to Increase your VO2 Max in 14 days  I will have to give this plan a go. Jesper has a good post on why training at VO2 Max that's worth reading. Not only is a high VO2 Max the prize for cyclist but also building up your body for a faster recovery after such efforts. Not only is my VO2 Max a limiter but I don't think my body has gotten accustomed to recovering quickly from such efforts. Anybody want to join in on the fun and join me in doing the 14 day VO2  Max test? I'll probably start next Tuesday. If you don't have a power meter you can do it the old fashioned way and ride up a hill for 5 minutes and record how far you get for your base 5 minute test.

Sunday morning started with meeting Joe to head out on a small group ride for a 2 - 2 1/2 hour "recovery" ride. After meeting up with everybody on Shoal Creek we meandered through neighborhoods and made our way to MoPac. We cruised all the way down to Slaughter. I did run into a slight problem, I hit a pot hole that launched me straight up into the air and when I landed it made the nose of my saddle point up into the air. I tried to get it back to my comfy position but any little bump in the road and it was back up in the air. I was told a couple times to slow down, well it was a recovery ride.

On the way back there were a couple of spirited sprints that I was able to reach quadruple digits (1018 watts) on the power meter. The ride was 37.33 miles, I rode around warming up while enroute to the start. Total ride time was 2'22:09. After the ride I headed over to Nelo's to get the seat fixed. Two problems, the first being that Nelo's is not open on Sundays. Even if they were open the second problem is they've moved. I'm not sure where exactly, Joe mentioned that they were going to move, but I didn't see a note on the door as to where. A quick look at their website doesn't mention where they went either.

After my failed attempt with Nelo's the weather was looking really good. It was suppose to rain and be a miserable day. I was going to do the Dam Loop, but with it looking so good I called home to see if we should head up to Marble Falls to pick Strawberries.

Since we were leaving so late in the day my plan of the 100 mile route wasn't in the cards. I only had time to do the original 60 mile route, but the beauty of it would be with a few extra miles I could still come up with 100 miles for the day. This wasn't going to be a regular century, there was going to be 4-5 hours from when I got off the bike till when I started for round two. When I got on the bike and headed out my legs were rebelling. They were stiff and heavy, felt like about mile 80 on a 100 mile ride already. I thought I was going to be in store for a rough 63 mile haul back home. Luckily my legs woke up about 10 miles into it and offered no objections the rest of the ride. Last year I hit a stiff headwind on 281 up to Burnet and this year was more of the same. The wind pattern followed the same as last year, maybe not as intense, but there were times I felt the crosswind as well.

On the backroads outside of Bertram once again my saddle pointed up again when I bounced on the saddle. I pulled over and tried to get it back to my setting. While I was stopped I answered the call of nature, but mother nature had the last laugh when I got tangled up with a vine with thorns. It tore a few scratches into my leg.

How about some stats? I have last years ride info from the 1st Annual Strawberry Classic.

1st Annual Strawberry Classic (No power data)

• Avg. Speed: 16.27
• Active Time: 3'43:03
• Duration Time: 3'53:39
• Avg Cadence: 76

2nd Annual Strawberry Classic

• Avg. Speed: 19.8
• Active Time: 3'05:27
• Duration Time: 3'11:57
• Avg. Cadence: 79
• Avg. Power: 214
• Normalized Power: 237
• Energy (Kj): 2518

Looks like I cut almost 40 minutes off my active and duration times. One stat that looks very promising is the speed buckets. The time I was above 20 miles per hour

• 20-22: 29:27 for 14.7%
• 22-24: 28:14 for 14.1%
• 24-26: 18:45 for 9.4%
• 26-28: 9:33 for 4.8%

My legs felt great once I got going and felt like I had another 40 miles in them while I was cruising around to get the 3 extra miles. It is an unorthodox way to to do a century, but I have a feeling this is good preparation for doing team endurance events (24 to 48 hour type events) where a rider would do a set number of laps or mileage and then rest and wait while a team member does their laps before going out again.

Jeff's not the only one that got a Personal Record today. I got 2 on today's ride. For my lunch ride I left my house and went down Limecreek Road to Volente Beach for a 20 mile out and back. Today's goal was form sprints, 6-8 x 8-12 second sprints at 516 watts and NOT to do them all out.

When I got to the turnaround point in Volente I was close to my fastest time, this was good news since I was into the wind on the way out. I knew I wouldn't be able to do the 20 miles in 1 hour which is my overall goal, but I thought it would be close. I continued back doing my sprints, but not really concentrating on speed, but just riding.

As I approached the 3 Sisters I had a decision to make, I could either try to go for a record time up it but then not have enough in the tank to finish the overall ride strong. (After going all out on the 3 Sisters it takes a minute or two to recover). Or I could go up it at a steady pace, albeit slower but at the top be able to get back up to speed. Looking at the time as I hit the Sisters I decided to give a go at a fast time up it. I calculated that I would be 2 minutes off my 60 min goal.

At the base I was in my large ring, I usually spin 1/3 of the way up or around the Fisher Hollow road and then I shift down to the smaller ring and continue up. This time I wanted to try a different strategy. This time I didn't shift to the small ring at all till I hit the 2nd sister. When it was all said and done I finished the climb in 3'11",  5 seconds faster than my previous best.

Surprisingly I was able to get back up to speed relatively fast. Like I suspected I finished in 1:02. A bit faster than my previous best time for the Volente Down and Back. So I got 2 PRs for the price of one today. I like that math! Plus I didn't have to endure any pesticides.

Ride Statistics and Power Data

There's a particular route from my office that has been calling for me to ride for several months. Thus far I've ignored the calling thinking the 18 miles would take too long for a lunch ride seeing as there are several steep climbs and hills along the route. On days I'd suggest it as a possible route Lauri would shoot it down for mainly the same reasons. Well today I knew I had a little extra time for lunch and figured if I waited for my usual ride time that the rains and hail would probably put a damper on the ride. Plus Lauri didn't bring her bike so she had no say in the matter this time.

The route turned out to be perfect for the workout that I had planned. Today's workout was "On a flat road or on a trainer. Use the big chain ring and a gear that allows only about 50-60 rpm. Drive pedal down at CP1 for 15-20 revolutions of cranks. Start a new one every 3-5 minutes." Now the route is not flat at all, but I figured on most of the hills and especially the steep sections I could easily get my power up to my CP1 of 516 watts. For hills on 360 after the bridge I was able to ride mainly in the big ring pushing the prescribed watts and after 20 revolutions I would shift as not to push too much and blow up my legs.  The only drawback to this route is that the section of Westlake after going on Toro Canyon is a bit busy with cars and there is no shoulder. It looks like there could be some alternate routes through this section so the time on Westlake would be shorter, it's worth looking into.

I'll be adding it to my bag of routes.

It's not very often a new hill is created, typically all the roads are built and have been paved for years now. However recent construction on a new apartment complex finished up in Austin resulting in a new road. This new development is right across from Jester road. I guess it is an extension of Jester. I wanted to see how this new road stacked up to it's older brother Jester Road. Yesterday for lunch I made my way over and parked in the Jester Market parking, crossed 2222 and started the exciting ride up the new road.

I wasn't sure what to expect so I kept at a moderate pace. The climb itself is fun as most hills in Austin are a stright shot with not much turning and we don't get many with switchbacks. Mt. Bonnell is the only one that comes to mind that has a resemblance of switchbacks. Alexan has 3 switchbacks that add excitement to the climb. Just be careful as cars won't see you so don't wander into the other lane.

I made it to the top with little effort and rather quickly. Upon further review the Alexan is only .45 miles so shorter than most hills around, it averaged 8.2% grade with the steepest at 13.3% (according to my Garmin Forerunner). The total climb was 204 feet. All in all it was a fun climb, not the hardest around, I wouldn't even consider it in the top 10, there's definetly bigger and more thigh burning ones around. Sorry Alexan you will always be in the shadows of your big brother, Jester, and his friends that smoke (Beauford, Courtyard and City Park). I think it does have it's place in your arcenal of workout hills. It will make a good hill to see how fast you can sprint up it. Plus right now the apartment complex is only at 15% capacity so the traffic should be fairly light. The switchbacks give it the feel of an actual mountain pass without the altitude sickness.

The hardest part of the Alexan hill is the decent, negotiating the switchbacks at speed is quite fun. Be careful, one wrong move and you could smack into oncoming traffic or miss the turn and go over the guard rail.

Video of the ride

Today after work I headed out on Limecreek road down to Volente and back. I passed several other cyclists enjoying the afternoon. As I came up to the 3 Sisters hill I really didn't have a plan, at least I wasn't out to try to break my personal best of 3 minutes and 23 seconds that I set back on Christmas day. On the first sister as the climb started I got out of the saddle and proceeded up. I think I went a bit too hard on this sister as I got to the top I took a little rest and let my power drop to 245 watts (Avg). The rest is short as the second sister looms.

Once again I got out of the saddle to attack the second sister. Again I paced myself and felt good on the way up. As I crested the second I looked down at my Garmin and was surprised to see the timer was at 2'20". This lit a fire under me as it seemed the 3 minute mark was put into perspective.

For the 3rd and final sister I rose out of the saddle for the final attack. About 1/2 way up I did sit back down to catch my breath for a few revolutions and then attacked one last time. As I got to my finish line I hit the lap button and the Garmin displayed 3'15.96". That's 7 seconds faster than my previous best.

I plugged my data into the Hill Climb Power Calculator to play with the numbers a bit to see what kind of power I'll need to get down to 3 minutes for my years goal.

Working the the Power Calculator there's 2 values that I can control, my weight and Power. My bike weight is something I could play with but about all I could do is spend at least a couple grand on lightweight wheels to get the weight down 3 or 4 pounds or so. The weight savings isn't enough to spend that kind of money. I'll just have to shave the weight off me plus improve my power.

What kind of power will I need to produce and what will I have to weight to do it? I plugged some numbers in and came up with this combination that seems realistic.

As you can see the main thing I'll need to increase is the power that I can hold for 3 minutes. As I sit here and write this I went back to the data for today's climb and looked at the 3 hills, in particular I looked at just the climbs not where the hills crest and turn into short decents. On the 1st sister I averaged 454 watts. On the 2nd sister I averaged 440 watts. Finally on the 3rd sister I averaged 488 watts.

From this data it would appear I can output the required wattage so it's not so much about boosting my power I think the better approach is to increase my anaerobic conditioning so I can sustain the required power for the full 3 minutes and not take the 2 breaks at the crest of the 1st & 2nd Sisters.

Anybody have any thoughts or suggestions on a short hill time trial such as this? Word on the street is there is going to be one in June, father's day weekend to be precise. The race would be a hill climb TT and a circuit race. The hill in question very well could be the new road across from Jester that leads up to the newly finished apartment buildings. I haven't had a chance to ride up there, but it probably has a very similar profile to Jester.

Today I wanted to get out and give a hard effort so I embarked on the Dam Loop. For the 42 miles I averaged 18.7 mph. I tried to keep it around 24 mph as much as possible and only slowed down on the hills. I'm finding it easier and easier to hold 24 mph so that's encouraging.

As I was climbing up the hill by Steiner Ranch I got out of the saddle and started to lay into it when the chain started slipping. I shifted from the big ring down and that seemed to help. About 1 mile from Anderson Mill it started again, but this time it finally ceased up and wouldn't turn. Upon inspection a link was broke!

I started walking to Spin City, luckily a fellow cyclist stopped and gave me a lift to the shop. Erik was surprised at the wear on the chain, he put a chain gauged on it and it registered .7 which he said was an indicator of needing changing according to Shimano. I've only put roughly 1200 miles on the bike since November. For now he took the bad link out.

This past week I rode 113 miles, besides the Sunday group ride down Parmer most of that mileage was fairly light, keeping it in zones 1 & 2 so averaging under 217 watts. This was in anticipation of racing on Saturday. I also kept up my lifting weights hitting them 3 days as well.

In other race news, I'm signed up for the Cat 4/5 race in New Braunfels on 2/1.

On the way to Colorado we came across the Capulin Volcano National Monument in New Mexico. The road to the top was closed and it was a windy and cold day, we got there around 4:30 pm. The road to the top is closed to bicycles from 8am to 4pm when it is open to cars. My bike clothes were packed away and I would have had to practically unpack the entire car to get to them that I wasn't able to ride up it.

We left Colorado for Texas on the 1st and we made our way into New Mexico and to the volcano again around 9:30 am. Initially the family just wanted to go up to the top and see the volcano, but due to the holiday the road was closed. This time I was better prepared and had my bike stuff right on top. I changed and got the bike ready to ascend up my first volcano.

As I started off my legs were a little tired from my trip up to Estes Park, but even worse was the churning in my stomach from breakfast. My first egg McMuffin in several years wasn't sitting well. Jennifer and the boys were walking up the road and I quickly passed them. Almost to the top I realized I didn't have a camera with me. I got to the top looked around and headed down.

The decent was a little scary, there were a few patches of ice on the backside of the volcano. I also made it a little more treacherous since I didn't have the rear break fully closed from when I took the rear tire off. This made breaking an issue, I stopped and closed the break to get a little more grip. I also need to change the break pads on the Fuji, they are quite worn and are in need of replacing. About a mile down the road I came to Jennifer and the boys still making their way up. I grabbed the camera from Jennifer and went back up to the top to take pictures.

From the visitor center to the top of the volcano it is 2.1 miles and the average grade is 5.7% with a max of 13.2%. The total climb is only 665 feet. It took me 17 minutes to get to the top averaging 7.4 mph. On the way down it took me 5 minutes to get down averaging 23 mph with a max of 39 mph. This was a great way to start 2009, it's not everyday I get to ride up an extinct volcano.

Photos from this years Tour Das Hugel have been posted. Here's some of the ones of me, further proof I road the Hugel:

© 2008 Daniel Norton - Thanks to the great motion blur I look fast. This is going down Westlake Drive.

© 2008 Daniel Norton - Cresting Ladera Norte.

Makng my way up Jester

© 2008 Daniel Norton - On top of Jester. It's only 7 miles back to the finish from here!