The RR Slayer Chronicles

Rodentathon 1

2008-05-11T11:03:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday was a very pleasant spring day which drew out hordes of RRs.

Some pics from my crappy cell phone camera...

RRs winching themselves up the southern face of the RR KOM. At one point I counted at least 9 at one time on this ~0.5 mi climb. The steeper bits at the beginning and end aren't visible in this picture.

RRs at the top.

RRs were swarming the roads like rodents at a KFC/Taco Bell.

At the start of a long popular climb, we stopped to see if other riders we were to meet were still waiting for us. Meanwhile, a steady stream of RRs made their way up the climb. Then an aggressive-looking RR zoomed past. He had this intense "eye-of-the-tiger" expression.

My guess was that he was hell bent on catching the lesser RRs up the road. I wanted to get going so we could catch this guy and watch his world crumble around him as he tried to latch onto us and failed. However, I didn't say anything because it's a long climb and I knew we'd probably catch him in short order.

We caught him quickly and our relative speed was such that we were several bike lengths ahead of him before he could even react. I saw him dig deep to try to match our speed but instead he kept going backwards.

It must have been traumatic to for the RR to have been mowing down one lesser RR after another only to other riders blast past him at a much higher speed. On the matter of perspective, don't faster riders zoom past me? After all, there's always someone faster. Well, in all the years riding on that climb, I haven't met them yet. It's sad, really, since I'm not that fast. Whenever I think about this, I recall a particular scene from Futurama:

Bender: "You guys realize you live in a sewer, right?"
Dwayne: "Perhaps. But perhaps your civilization is merely the sewer of an even greater society above you!"
Leela: "No. We're on the top."
Fry: "Daylight and everything."
Dwayne: "Oh."

This guy was wearing a Triple Bypass jersey. For some reason, RRs wearing that particular year's jersey are very aggressive. This behavior is so common that RRs wearing that jersey deserver their own classification ("TBP RRs"). Perhaps the TBP jerseys from that year leech testosterone into people's skin.

Something like this:

Whenever I see someone wearing that jersey, I expect him to want to thunderdome.

The Triple Bypass is considered the RR world championships.

Fool me twice...

2008-05-11T10:00:00.001-06:00

About two weekends after my encounter with SNOD1...

It was another warm Saturday at 71°F so riders were out in droves. It was quite windy though, probably 3.5/5 on my wind scale. As usual, I felt weak after the previous day's L4 workout. So there were potentially a lot of RRs but not that much ammunition.

On warm weekends, I'm often under attack before I even ride a single mile. My route always involves crossing a 4-lane road and getting onto a peripheral bike path. Then I turn onto the main bike path that takes me to the park I often ride at and in turn into the mountains. However, on that Saturday I did not even cross the road before I encountered some RR that wanted to thunderdome.

As I was waiting for gaps in vehicular traffic so I could cross from the south to the north side of the road, an RR rode down the path from the west. I crossed the road the same time he crossed in front of me. He knew I'd likely be getting on the path behind him so he got out of the saddle and hammered. He was an odd-looking kid with an ungainly position on the bike. More interestingly, he was adorned from head to toe with "Dopers Suck" paraphernalia--cap, socks, maybe even a jersey. His bike was plastered with their decals in case there was any ambiguity regarding his position on doping. He flailed away on his bike for awhile then faded dramatically, perhaps thinking I was far behind him or perhaps because he was out of shape. I zoomed past him and that was that. Perhaps he needs to dope.

Yes, I was already under siege only 2.5 minutes into my ride.

Near the end of my ride, I was heading towards the west face of the RR KOM. A couple came down a side road riding slowly. I passed them riding leisurely in L2. The man was almost a clone of SNOD1 (beard, graying hair, and clydesdale build). It was basically the same scenario as before. Because SNOD2 was with a woman, riding slowly, did not react when I cruised past them, and allowed a sizable gap to open, I did not sense any malevolence. However, after my experience with SNOD1, I was not going to be lulled into a false sense of security so easily.

Sure enough, as I approached the top of the hill, SNOD2 had left his companion and was out-of-the-saddle charging up the hill after me. I got out of the saddle as well and with a maniacal expression on his face, he dug deeper. Unfortunately for him, victory could only be achieved with a surprise attack and I easily held off his charge.

When I hit the top, I did a victory salute to rub it in. I hope he wasn't too far back that he didn't see it and that his female companion also wasn't too far back to witness the destruction of his masculinity. A motorist coming up the hill in the opposite direction appeared to be amused by the victory salute.

The whole scenario was so similar to the SNOD1 episode that I wondered if they were actually the same person. The odds of that happening are quite slim though.

Neat trick, eh?

2008-03-17T23:59:00.000-06:00

Lately, I've been focusing more on eating B.D.A. (before, during, and after training). It should be obvious that if you're going to eat a restricted number of calories that it would be best if they were consumed around exercise time. What doesn't work is pigging out in the morning and early afternoon, then getting hungry before riding followed by not eating while riding and not eating after the ride.

Yesterday, I thought about how it'd be nice if lunch was ready to eat just minutes after finishing my ride. Yesterday's lunch would have taken about 25 min to cook, pushing the limits of the 30 min post-workout refueling window. I thought it would've been great if my convection oven could start cooking at a designated time. It was a long shot but I checked the manual and discovered that this oven that I've had for several years did indeed have an auto start feature. So after a particularly hard ride (4x20 at 300W), I didn't have to prepare a recovery drink or eat junk food (my other recovery food).

Fool me once...

2008-03-17T23:46:00.000-06:00

A bit of an RR backlog has developed. Not due to a high body count but my laziness.

This post is about my 2nd day riding outside this season, which was on a Saturday back in February. It was when my TSB was like -45 and I felt like utter crap. Being a warm weekend day in February there were a lot of riders out.

In the middle of the ride, I returned from a leg down a side road and when emerging onto the main road, a guy on a TT bike went by at a pace a little higher than what I felt like doing. He passed two riders riding slowly together and then I passed them. I was just riding low tempo and everyone seemed to be minding their own business. Then I noticed a rider a few hundred yards behind me and closing. I ramped it up to L4 briefly and started pulling away. The chaser appeared to give up and slow down while looking around behind him. He must've been one of the duo earlier and had decided to chase riders not going all the fast--testing his early season legs in a fairly unambitious manner. Yet he was sent back to his companion in shame. Oh, the shame.

As I approached the back of RR KOM (pictured below), I passed two older clydesdales riding really slowly. I was just chugging along doing low tempo and was content to shift to a really low gear, keep power steady, and just spin up the hill.

The two old dudes didn't register as threats because they were riding together, riding slowly, didn't accelerate when I passed, and let a big gap develop. All indications were that neither of them would try to chase me up the climb.

It seems that each season an RR or QRR gets the better of me. It's always early in the season when I don't have the proper RR hunting mindset and never because they have superior fitness. It's always the result of my letting my guard down and subterfuge on their part.

My mistake was assuming they were non-combatants and not checking my six every few seconds when passing someone on the approach to the hill. As I leisurely summited, one of the fatsos squirted past me on the right, in my blind[er] spot. That was a true WTF moment for me since I thought he was still a few hundred yards behind me. Now some fat old dude thinks he's hot shit when his "victory" spoke nothing of his fitness but only of his subterfuge. Always subterfuge. In Latin, that would be a good motto for RRs.

That incident really emphasized one of the most annoying things about RRs--not that they want to race all the time but that they are shameless cheats. Why not just jump in front of the peloton at the TdF and cross the finish line just ahead of them? Congratulations, you just won a stage at the Tour de France.

In the aftermath, my new protocol was to assume any rider that I pass while heading towards the hill is a threat and to keep an eye on them no matter how non-threatening they seemed.

name: SNOD1 (Sneaky Old Dude #1)
fitness rating: 5/10
aggressiveness: 5/10
pusillanimity: 10/10
arrogance: 7/10
special ability: some kind of cloaking device

Stay tuned for part two...

Training

2008-03-13T09:13:00.008-06:00

Yesterday, I did something a bit different--4x20 at 295W rather than 3x20 at 305-310W. It hurt a lot less but that may have been due to better eating habits or, though there isn't any sound evidence, simply being more rested.

Perceived exertion was reasonable. It was somewhat annoying but I didn't really feel any pain. About 12 minutes into #3, the VT load unit suddenly switched off. The power cord had apparently been vibrating itself loose over time and finally lost its connection. The flywheel had come to a complete stop and it took quite a lot of effort to get it going while the load unit was still braking. It put a nice "burn" in my legs which went away after a few minutes of extra high cadence pedaling.

I will probably switch both of my weekly L4 workouts from 3x20s to 4x20s.

Performance Manager™

2008-02-22T08:33:00.004-07:00

Though I've been using powermeters for a long time, I've been slow to embrace things like NP, TSS, etc. Because I felt so utterly terrible on my second day riding outside (Feb. 9), I decided to get Performance Manager Chart™ up and running. That entailed the tedious semi-automatic importing of several months of files.

My TSB around Feb. 9 was -40. I also discovered that the rides I'd been doing everyday were around 170 TSS rather than my estimate of ~145 TSS. Whoops.

Though I'm still reluctant to put that much stock into PMC, it seems to be a lot better than my ability to gauge my form.

Ergometer syndrome part II

2008-02-21T22:31:00.000-07:00

It appears that, like Y2K worries, erg' syndrome was really nothing to get all excited about. After one week of higher intensity training, it appears to be vanquished. I'll probably stick with higher intensity training but skip L6 workouts until closer to racing time.

An L6 workout on a popular local hill that assuaged my fears. This was just my 2nd L6 workout and I was already rivaling my best times and powers from last season.

In addition, my L5 workouts confirmed that L5 power hadn't suffered and had actually improved a bit. Considering how rapidly I regained my short steep hill climbing ability, I'm fairly certain that erg' syndrome was mostly a neuromuscular problem.

QA of that day illustrating the high force pedaling.

Hurt me plenty

2008-02-21T21:56:00.000-07:00

Early last fall, it was killing me to do 3x20 at 270 VT watts and I tapered before that workout/test. A few weeks later I was up to 275W, 280W, 285W, and then didn't do any 3x20s until late January. Since then, I've done 3x20s at 285W and 290W and wasn't really hurting. So today, with TSB at a reasonable -8 but otherwise not tapered, I incremented by 10W and did 3x20 at 300W. That did end up hurting but still not quite as much as the 3x20s last fall. It was sufficiently painful that I won't be doing anymore 5 or 10W increments. From now on, it'll be like 1-2W if at all.

Last fall, I set a lofty goal of being able to do 3x20 at 300W by May 2008. It would be with a taper and be 300 VT watts or 310 SRM watts. I never really thought I'd be able to do it as it was one of those "reach" goals.

Anonymous leafy green sues USADA

2008-02-14T15:10:00.005-07:00

Pez recently posted an editorial riddled with grammar and spelling errors suggesting that professional cyclists strike. I suppose Georgia Gould and other female cyclocrossers could fill in as replacements during the strike.

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=5670&status=True

I would rather ride in a team structured and run like Slipstream, but could it be possible that Michael Ball forcing the rules (including supporting the law suit from Kale Leogrande vs USADA) is doing more to change cycling than Jonathan Vaughters is in creating tougher rules within his team? In a way Slipstream is simply putting in a structure outside the system while Ball could ultimately be doing more to change the system it's self.

Kale Leogrande returning to racing after being sidelined by a bad case of root fungus.

Ergometer syndrome

2008-02-13T23:41:00.009-07:00

If you ride indoors a lot, once you head outdoors you may feel like you can't turn over the pedals on climbs or that you have trouble generating power on rolling terrain. Outdoors, there are always subtle changes in wind and gradient that will result in spikes and dips in power if you're to hold speed and cadence reasonably constant. In a group ride, surges are greater in magnitude and not solely due to changes in gradient and wind but also the whims of the group. A powermeter file of almost any outdoor ride will reveal the stochastic nature of outdoor riding, no matter how determined one is to ride at a steady power output.

Training that has too much low force pedaling (quadrants III and IV) likely recruits fewer muscle fibers which may then result in loss of oxidative capacity in those fibers. In addition, there is almost certainly a decline in neuromuscular power. Either, or a combination of both, is responsible for "ergometer syndrome." Neuromuscular adaptations occur rapidly but retraining oxidative capacity may take awhile. Capillary density is probably not affected since it is an extracellular adaptation. Mitochondrial density, however, may be subject to the "use it or lose it" principle and fibers not recruited will "lose it." Thus, I hope erg' syndrome is more of the former and less of the latter.

The solution is fairly straightforward. Indoor riding and especially ergometer riding is generally very time efficient and allows for very focused training. With the increased training efficiency, one has the extra time to add L5 and perhaps even L6 workouts to provide the needed high force pedaling. L6 efforts are likely too short for any meaningful aerobic adaptations so if erg' syndrome is due to lost oxidative capacity in a population of muscle fibers recruited primarily during high force pedaling, L5 workouts or even efforts in the upper range of L4 would be more effective.

One idea was to insert occasional power spikes into SST ergometer rides. Like L6 training, that likely would not help oxidative capacity. Another problem was that it increased the perceived exertion of long SST rides, making them far less tolerable.

Four plots on the same chart.

QA plots of ergometer rides can be weird. This one looks almost like some sort of crop circle. Note how small the cloud is and how it's all relatively low force pedaling. This is representative of most of my training for the past few months.

Road race with some fairly big hills.

My first L6 workout in a long, long time. The uppermost cloud is the L6 workout on a short hill. The cloud below it is the tempo riding I did afterwards. Pedaling force is quite a bit more than on the erg.

Training ride with several long climbs. Some steep sections where I ran out of gears.

3x20 at 295W on the erg. Rest intervals were 5 min at 145W. Notice how the data points follow the 295W and 145W power curves so closely.

The great equalizer: Armadillo tires

2008-02-07T07:51:00.001-07:00

The regular Armadillo tires, not the Elite model, are the only tires I've used that can reliably defeat goathead thorns. The goatheads stick into the tread, get spun around a few times, and either snap off or are thrown off the tire. One time, I dug about a dozen snapped off goathead thorns out of a pair of Armadillos. The tips had been embedded in the tread for awhile but still didn't puncture the armored casing.

Here, I've ridden the tire to the point that the tread is paperthin and separating from the casing. I forgot exactly how many miles I'd get out of an Armadillo tire. I think it was in the area of 6-8,000 for a rear tire.

For those of you who don't already know, Armadillo tires have incredible rolling resistance. Among clinchers, they are the only tires with more rolling resistance than Tufos. At 20 mph, their incredibly stiff tread and sidewalls require about an extra 35W to deform compared to my current training tires, Michelin Krylion Carbons. Armadillos have such a dead ride that the first time you ride them, you think you have a flat tire. In fact, you can deflate an Armadillo and the stiff sidewalls will hold the bike up as if the tire was still inflated.

What are the RR slaying implications? Well, once again, RRs forced me to make a terrible choice. I had to choose between risking punctures or being handicapped by slow tires. Of course, the RRs train on tires nicer than I race on and with their perpetually fresh legs, I needed to even the odds a bit so I switched to Michelin Carbons. I've had more flats but it hasn't been an epidemic.

The funny thing is that during the 2 years or so that I trained on Armadillos, I was still faster than the RRs. There they were, putting forth heroic efforts to race me and reveling in their success (success being defined as hanging on for a few minutes longer) , not knowing that with normal tires I would have stomped them even harder. Sorry RRs, that's one less "cheat" you'll be able to exploit.

Dumb Post of the Day

2008-02-05T00:22:00.000-07:00

This posting just leaves me speechless. Because of the lack of paragraphs, I've parsed through this mess and highlighted the most amusing sections.

http://groups.google.com/group/wattage/msg/561b04090955b817?

I wanted to start a new discussion so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle. First, a little background disclosure: What I am-totally committed avid cyclist who logs 10,000 miles/500,000'+ of climbing per year, non-racer except the occasional TT, but I do lead one of the hardest group rides in my area.. What I am not-pro cyclist, scientist, engineer. I've been reading the wattage forums much longer than I have been using my ibike, so maybe I'm not qualified enough, and deserving enough, to throw this post out there, but here are my observations: First let me say, I have really enjoyed the numerous great training tips and superb advice I have derived from this site. I only wish that was the major focus of the group. What I have been able to gather about devices, is that there is no perfect power meter, and the only consistent talk about power meters revolves around the inconsistency of the imperfections and limitations. Now back to the ibike. For me, it's real simple. If, at the end of a ride, I simply dropped my bike on the ground across the finish line, and said to my mechanic, "Have it ready for tomorrow's stage", I would have an SRM Pro, if for no other reason, that than it "seems" to be the best, and a lot of pros use it. Whether they get paid to is a good question, but my point is that I don't hand my bike to somebody, I either work on it, or pay somebody to, and I buy my equipment with my own money. Now, if you were to see my bicycles and my kit, you would probably gather that I could afford multiple SRM Pros, and if I felt I needed one, or even wanted one, I would certainly have one. I want a more simple solution. I've been waiting for the ibike people to get the product dialed in, and I decided that they were close enough, so I went ahead and got the wireless unit. I'm willing to accept thelimitations of the ibike because they are far outweighed by the advantages, and for me, in my world, 99% of the time it generates not only highly repeatable numbers, but accurate ones if I compare it to my power based trainer I've used for years now, mostly for fitness testing. Now, I'll try my hand at predicting the future. I have never experienced customer service at the level of the ibike, and certainly not from the top level of a company. Richard Wharton and John Hammand seem to be available 24 hours a day. I don't think anybody works that hard unless they know they have something very special, so here is how I think the story ends: ibike does really get it dialed in, so much so, that, guess what, it becomes good enough for people like me and most of you. There are a lot more of us than there are professional world class cyclists. A large sports equipment company buys ibike out, spends a lot of dough on marketing, and within 2 years, they have a majority market share, if not a near monopoly, of the power meter market. At this point, the ibike people laugh as they trot off to the bank. I'm guessing the thing most likely to drerail this track is the introduction of an even simpler and/or less expensive alternative to the ibike, not another product costing many multiples more, and offering yet another set of unique limitations and disadvantages. And I imagine at that point I'll be mad that I didn't wait for this new "better" product, and I'll join in with all of you, and bash a product I have not even tried! My point is, if you haven't ascertained it already, that most people want a simple, not complex solution for measuring their power. For me, the ibike is that solution.

Rebuttal

Yes, we're all very impressed by your 10,000 mi/yr and 500,000' of virtual climbing.

You bought an iBike because you thought an SRM would require too much effort to use? The same iBike that iBike users have described as having a calibration procedure equivalent to a space shuttle launch? The iBike that customers feel they are beta testing because it has so many problems?

You calibrated your iBike using the most inaccurate power measuring devices of all, indoor trainers? This would have been interesting since the iBike doesn't actually work indoors.

A near monopoly of the powermeter market? This is truly delusional.

A monopoly that can only be derailed by a cheaper and simpler powermeter? That would be the basic PowerTap. Much, much simpler. Less expensive and much more accurate.

Testing Day

2008-01-28T20:00:00.001-07:00

The previous day didn't definitively answer the question of whether my training was working. It's a complex question:

Does SST on the VT lend itself to improvements in shorter durations such as FTP on the VT?
Do increases in power on the VT translate to increased power on the road?
Do increases in power on the road translate to increased power climbing?

Yesterday, I seemed to be riding faster and not feeling discomfort at power outputs that used to be fairly taxing. To help satisfy my curiosity, I had an impromptu testing day.

Typically, testing is infrequent and planned out well in advance with a sufficient taper. It is typically not done when I have been subject to a high training load, the day after a hard ride, and certainly not after the first outdoor ride which introduces new stresses.

As a result, I expected to either be in agony a few minutes into the first 20 min interval or complete the workout but suffer like a dog the whole time. Interestingly enough, I did not find the workout taxing at all.

Late last fall, 3x20 at 270Wwas brutal even when I tapered for the test day. That was followed later in the year by 3x20 at 275W, 280W, and 285W, all at high PE. Imagine my surprise when 3x20 at 285W was no longer painful even when I wasn't particularly rested.

As a result, I have conservatively set my FTP to 290 VT watts or 300 SRM watts:

-5W for doing 3x20 instead of 1x60
+5W for not tapering
+5W because perceived exertion was low.

I still need to do a good amount of climbing outdoors before I can draw any concrete conclusions but the past two days provided enough validation to continue with my training without making any changes.

A little validation is good when it's 2 am and I'm watching the snow pile up while doing a 2000 kJ ride.

Opening Day

2008-01-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

Today was unseasonably warm. Not unusual in Colorado but such days have been rare the past two winters. Last winter was dreadful but this winter has not been that much better in terms of ridable weather. It's been consistently cold even though there hasn't been that much snow.

As a consequence, a Sunday with 60F temperatures and level 3 winds saw riders swarming the reservoir. No doubt they were all anxious to get in an epic training ride in a futile attempt to undo months of detraining in one day. Good luck with that.

The personal significance of today was that it was my first outdoor ride in a long time. It's always an interesting day because it gives a little insight into the efficacy of my winter training or whether I've been wasting my time.

While you may never forget how to ride a bike, it may take a little time to remember. I felt detached, as if I was watching TV or playing some kind of video game rather than actually being on the bike. Simple things like slowing down to make a turn or dodging clumps of snow had to be relearned.

Grimace

Grimace has the distinct honor of being the first "kill" of the season. But don't feel sorry for him. Like all RRs, he brought it on himself.

On my 2nd trip around the park, I saw a few riders ahead of me. One was passing others but I was gaining him steadily without actually chasing him. As I got closer, I saw that he had a handlebar plug mirror and that he was using it. Unbelievably, my first RR encounter of the season entailed an RR playing keep away with me. His body language and form indicated that he was pushing hard to stay ahead of me. Among other things, he got down into his drops (I remained on the hoods) and got out of the saddle and hammered a few times.

I kept the pace steady at around 270W which caused me no discomfort whatsoever. After all, I'm just doing my thing and not chasing him. We hit the turnaround point at the other end of the park and he U-turned and paused for a drink. Not being one to take advantage of the situation, I slowed to drink as well and waited for him to begin accelerating.

He appeared to be fairly cooked already and maintaining the same steady pace, I soon drew even with him and then ahead. To his credit, he did not draft off of me when I was ahead of him and instead hung back a bit. I could see he was digging deep to keep up. His face was contorted with pain. He soon detonated completely and was out of sight. Elapsed time was perhaps 10 minutes.

name: Grimace
fitness rating: 5/10
aggressiveness: 4/10
pusillanimity: 5/10
arrogance: 5/10
special ability: can see behind w/o turning around

The Herm'

Later, I saw what appeared to be the remains of a group ride up ahead. Bringing up the rear were the really out of shape recreational riders. I passed small clumps of riders at a fairly good clip. The strong breeze was behind us at this time so speeds were high.

I soon got to the pointy end of the group and got to see who had shattered the group. It was a relatively small person with a QRR on its wheel. Usually, you can tell if a rider is male or female with a quick glance but not in this case.

Engage RR mind probe:

The Herm': "I'm rockin' this season, shattering this group ride."

[I go zipping by.]

The Herm': "Who the f%$k was that? I'd better give chase. My honor is on the line."

RR Slayer: "Was that a guy or a girl?"

[The Herm' holds the gap for a few moments and then fades. The gap grows rapidly and soon the Herm' is out of sight.]

The Herm': "Sh%t! I guess I'm not the sh%t."

RR Slayer: "I need to pee."

name: the Herm'
fitness rating: 5/10
aggressiveness: 5/10
pusillanimity: 5/10
arrogance: 5/10
special ability: can reproduce asexually

Anti-RR Tactics

2008-01-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

Keep Away

RRs love to chase riders in front of them. But when you're aware you're being chased, the hunter becomes the hunted. This is best done discretely with a mirror. RRs will often put all their energy into trying to catch a rider in front of them, leaving nothing for later. It may require a L5 or L6 effort to maintain the gap because, unlike someone intent on actually getting a good workout, they're willing to put all their energy into a brief effort which means you may have to lift the pace above L3 or L4.

Allow the RR to get close but not too close. Once the RR has closed to within several bike lengths, match his accelerations and frustrate him by not letting close the final distance and claim his victory. It's often quite obvious you're being deliberately chased. RRs will dig so deep trying to close the final gap to you. When they fail and are exhausted, they will drop their pace a great deal, allowing the gap to grow rapidly. If you sit up and let them slowly chip away at the gap until they get close once again, they'll often think they have another chance to finally catch you and will put forth a big effort. Of course, you match their acceleration and continue to frustrate them. This pattern of accelerations and decelerations indicates you are being chased.

RR Baiting

This was my favorite new tactic last season. Many of my rides were at a park with one large hill and a lot of wide open area. You could see riders approaching the hill from quite a distance (#1 and 2). That often encouraged riders to engage in long chases in an attempt to "pip" me at the top (#3) or "Kloden" me. This usually happened when I was doing an easy ride and minding my own business only to get sneak attacked.

I decided to take advantage of this behavior by riding slowly towards the climb. Because I could see behind me, chasers lost the element of surprise. I would adjust my speed so that they would catch me on the final part of the hill, baiting them like I was a wounded elk--an easy kill. Just when they got within striking range, I would go absolutely ballistic and rocket up the remainder of the hill. This would often make the RR/QRR so angry that he would chase me hard all the way down the descent and across the flats. I can only imagine how much more frustrated they were when their attempt to teach me a lesson also failed.

Of course, it wasn't fair for the chaser to chase hard for such a long time while I rode at a leisurely pace until the very end. I'd be sprinting with relatively fresh legs while they were tired from their Herculean effort. But it would be hypocritical for an RR bent on a surprise attack to complain about fairness. It is particularly ironic because RRs are largely dependent on the element of surprise and pitting their perpetually fresh legs against your tired legs. With this strategy, it is the RR who is surprised and the one with the tired legs.

A mind probe of the RR at the time would go something like this:

RR Slayer: "Ah, there's a victim. But he's so far behind it would be nearly impossible for him to catch me no matter how slow I rode."

RR: "That rider is so far ahead that it'd be almost impossible to catch him no matter how slow he rides and how fast I ride."

RR: "You know, I'm gaining on him. Maybe I can pull this off."

RR: "Wow, look at how much distance I've closed. I'm a gifted climber. I should pour it all on. This is the validation that I so badly need."

RR: "I'm so close but it hurts so much. I've almost got him."

RR Slayer: "Steady...steady...jump!"

[I rocket away from my pursuer who is way too tired from chasing to even have a chance at following the acceleration.]

RR: "What the...? I'm going to chase his punk ass down and teach him a lesson."

[The RR fails to catch me.]

RR: "I cheated and I still lost. This is bullshit."

Possum

This is is a new tactic that I hope to try this season. It's less exciting than the other tactics but is an energy efficient way to deal with RRs when you're not willing to work that hard. A race initiated by an RR has an arbitrary finish line. There is no chase group and no group up the road. If it was an actual race, would you happily tow someone to the finish line so he can come around you? Absolutely not. What would be appropriate would be to force the other rider in front even if you have to play dead on the side of the road. It would probably be enough to simply stop pedaling and coast. Once the RR has taken the lead, simply get on his wheel until you find a nice place to attack. Turnabout is fair play and maybe the RR will learn how annoying it is to have someone do this to them. Because my workouts this season are far less structured, I no longer have to choose between adhering to my training plan and towing an RR to "victory."

Wind scale

2008-01-16T15:02:00.000-07:00

With spring around the corner, we are bound to be subject to windy conditions. Having spent many years riding in the midwest, I've become acquainted with riding in windy conditions. I use a 5-point scale similar to tornadoes.

1. Imperceptible. Flags hang limp. Trees and other vegetation not moving.
2. Perceptible wind but not strong enough to make your bike ride better or worse.
3. A good stiff breeze. Enough wind to be annoying but does not compromise handling.
4. Wind strong enough to move the bike around a little but not dangerous. Very annoying.
5. The Hand of God. Control of bike compromised. Risk of being blown over or into traffic without time to react.

Dumb Post of the Day

2008-01-15T17:10:00.000-07:00

Link

Hey, can you help me collect some data on bb resistance - AKA spin their BBs with their index finger? - NEW Quote | Reply

I know this isn't scientific but I think it will be interesting...

Can you kindly remove (or hold back) the chain and give your crankset a good spin with your index finger?

Please report back how many spins your crankset spins and what type of bottom bracket you have.

My 1999 Ultegra 9speed with octalink (internal) bb gets 6 revolutions.
My 2007 XTR (external) bb gets 2 revolutions.

Dumb Post of the Day

2008-01-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

Link

I don't have rollers, or any stationary device to measure speed or watts, but it would seem logical to me that your HR would be higher on the road because of the wind resistance outdoors. In other words, if you're going the same speed on the indoors on the trainer or outside on the road your HR would be higher lower indoors due to no wind resistance. Alternatively, if your speed varies but your wattage is the same bewteen indoors and outdoors, I'd think you're HR required to accomplish those watts would be lower indoors.

OK, more confusing than stupid but still entertaining.

Dumb Posts of the Day

2008-01-09T14:16:00.000-07:00

http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=5955668&postcount=13

If your frame is felxy and you race, I tihnk it's good for beginners, because you learn how to pedal efficiently to reduce the flex. Therefore your pedalstroke becomes awesome. I think that this is one of the reasons why the riders of the olden days had such magnificent pedal strokes.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=5953014&postcount=48

Aerobic vs. anerobic refers to the energy system being used to power the muscles, not the muscles themselves. The muscles used by the aerobic system are exactly the same as the ones used in the anerobic system. Before the muscles can be powered, they must be adequate to get the job done. Weight lifting (modest weight, high reps; IOW, not power lifting) will build muscle useful to cyclists. As an example of this, I looked at some of Lance Armstrong's off season training sessions (they were posted on the web on some news site I was looking at). Many of his off season drills consisted of riding at 60 rpm! That's leg presses on the bike; i.e. weight training!

Intervals are a different beast and are used to train the energy systems. Long intervals train the aerobic energy system. Short intervals train the anerobic energy system. The muscles that these energy systems provide energy for are the same. There are no "anerobic muscles" or "aerobic muscles". If you don't have the strength in your legs to push your bike up a slope at a certain speed, you can do all the aerobic intervals you wish and you won't get considerably faster. You will simply get more comfortable riding the bike up a slope at a constant speed.

Perhaps you are talking about short twitch and long twitch muscle fibers. Short twitch produce power quickly (useful for sprinters), and long twitch are associated with endurance (useful for climbers). As far as I know, the ratio between the two is genetic and you cannot change the ratio by any sort of weight lifting or interval training.

As to the mimicing motion: weight lifting is about isolating and working only specific muscle groups. It is beneficial in that regard, and you modify the exercises to change from one muscle group to another. All sports use weight lifting to assist in building muscular strength, and none of this weight lifting can precisely mimic the actions of any specific sport.

Dumb Post of the Day

2008-01-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

Today's winner:

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=1622542;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

trainer effect is not being able to go as hard on the trainer as on the road, a lot of times due to a bit more motivation while riding with others on the road in a race format, or just being outside. or riding uphill.

if you are doing a test on the trainer indoors you should look at either becuase they should be the same if you are pacing correctly, and if you are outside and racing with your buddies you should watch the road.

Tools of the Trade

2008-01-06T09:50:00.001-07:00

Velotron Dynafit ergometer. The equivalent of the stealth bomber in the war against the RRs. They don't have it. They don't understand it. But it will kill them.

Adjustable length cranks so children of all ages can slay RRs.

SRM powermeter. For slaying RRs in the field.

I saw this jersey on eBay awhile ago. Although it doesn't seem to be available in the U.S., it seems like the appropriate jersey to wear when sending RRs to meet their maker.

Soon to come...altitude "tent."

Nomenclature

2008-01-05T08:00:00.001-07:00

RR--recreational racer. A recreational rider but with a hypercompetitive bent. Usage: "Freaking RRs."

QRR--quasi-RR. Might actually do real races. Largely indistinguishable from racers except for the RR-like attitude. Usage: "Freaking QRRs."

© "Bumblebeedave"

Repasser--a special and particularly despicable subspecies of RR. When caught on a long climb by someone who started way after them, the Repasser decides to latch onto the wheel of the passer and even attack. Usage: "Freaking repassers."

Thunderdoming--see Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. When two individuals or parties decide to engage in an unofficial race. Generally, when two parties decide to throw down in some fashion. Usage: "I saw two RRs thunderdoming today."

RR hunting--euphemism for a hard training ride.

RR watching--a recovery ride.

Introduction

2008-01-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

So, what is the point of this blog? Well, I've had so many interesting encounters with RRs that I can't just keep all the stories to myself.

This will not be a personal blog nor a racing blog though it may have references to racing. It will be primarily about training and the interesting interactions I have with other cyclists while out training.

In the beginning...

2008-01-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

God created the Earth and saw that it was good. Then it became infested with pestilence in the form of RRs. Then came the RR Slayer to smite them from the face of the planet.

Hey, can you help me collect some data on bb resistance - AKA spin their BBs with their index finger? - NEW	Quote \| Reply