Mike's Bike Blog

Before I get into the numbers for 2009, one disclaimer, I don't set a goal amount of miles to ride, nor do I set a goal for average speed. I train on too many hills to care about my overall average speed as doing hill repeats at 10 mph tends to bring the overall number down.

Here's my numbers for 2009:

Total Miles: 7,356
Total Climbing: 307,316
Calories: 285,606 kJ
Avg Speed: 17 mph
Max Speed: 69.68 mph
Avg Cadence: 77

For 2009 I set some lofty goals and my direction in riding got a bit more focused as I got my feet wet in bike racing. 2009 saw me pin on my first race number at the Tour of New Braunfels after missing out on the Copperas Cove road race.

    •    A 40K Time Trial in 1 hour or less - I never pursued this goal, this will turn out to be a longer term goal than one set for 2010. First I will need to average 25 mph in the Run Far Time Trial and once I can do that then I think I can start thinking about a 40K in under an hour.
    •    Ride 200 miles in 1 day - This is another one that I didn't go after. I had hoped to do the Texas Time Trial 12 hour race and get the 200 miles in during it. But as the season progressed I didn't train for that type of distance and concentrated solely on the Cat 5 race distance <50 miles. It is still something I'll keep as a long term goal but nothing I'm putting down on paper that needs to be completed in 2010.
    •    Ride up the 3 sisters in 3 minutes flat, (2008 goal was 3'30 current PR is 3'24) - This was my big goal for 2009 and I did it!
    •    Join a team/club - I started racing for Southwest Cycle Sport in 2009.
    •    Ride the Outlaw Trail 100 in 5 hours or less - I ended up not riding in the Outlaw Trail 100 in 2009 as I was focused on other races like the Chappell Hill Bank Classic and the Texas State Road Race Championships. I did come close to a sub 5 hour century when I did the FatCyclist.com 100 miles of Nowhere ride. Again this is not something I'm going to carry over for 2010.
    •    Increase my FTP by 20% - That's a big jump for 1 year, I've seen some increases in my FTP this year which is good. I did raise my FTP by 14 watts this year. For 2010 I'll continue to raise FTP as it will be needed to meet some of my other goals, but I'm not going to make it a line item for 2010.
    •    Increase my 5 second and 1 minute power to balance out my power profile - I was able to raise my 1 minute power this year as well as my 5 minute. I spent a couple weeks focusing on VO2 Max and was able to raise my 5 minute power. I'm going to carry over working on my 5 second sprint for 2010 as this is an area that is a limiter for me.
    •    Get my body fat tested so I know how much to lose. In High School my body fat percentage was 11%. Ideally I want to get it down to 13%, I'll have to see how realistic that is, but at this point I'd rather focus on body fat than solely on weight. If anybody has recommendations on where to get a true body fat test in Austin let me know. I want either the calipurs or one of the newer tests that use professional quality dual electron machines, not the consumer level scales that give you weight and body fat. - I did lose about 15 pounds this year getting down to my lowest weight for the Hugel (162 lbs). I'm going to carry over this goal for 2010 to get my body fat % down.
    •    Raise $1000 for Team Fatty and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. - I fell short of raising $1,000 for Team Fatty, but did raise money for the cause.

2010 Goals

• Average 25 mph for a Run Far Time Trial
• Get body fat down to 12% currently 16%
• Place in the top 10 in 3 targeted Cat 4 races this season
• Improve 5 second sprint power
• Ride up the 3 Sisters in 2 minutes 30 seconds
• Ride up the 3 Sisters 20 times in one sitting
• Get my USA Cycling Level 3 coaching certificate