The Cycling Thread

nice ride !

yea, the training race didn't start out quite so mad - once the racers had found their pace after a couple of laps, then the in-fighting begins (much like a running race)

I possibly pushed it too hard as I was pissing sweat for a good 30 minutes afterward and felt like I was going to pass out, 180 is about as high has my heartrate has been since that crazy rowing race I did in april

Looking at Strava my final lap was a big improvement - 319watts for over 7mins - I don't think I'd have managed anything like that without other people to try to beat.

Nice work gents.

So can you set up private races? Because if you can, then we should definitely have a Sugden race.

I fear you boys would drop me on current form!

well steve might cuddles !

question:

now, both myself and (lets call him)steve are training ....both training hard ..... steve is faster than me , say about 40 watts FTP ..... is there any hope of me catching upto him ? I guess I have a bit of 'injury weight' to take off

I have just purchased a nice helmet.

as for races...everyone seems to share the road , so races are going on amongst people doing intervals or just having a ride .... at the moment people identify themselves in a race by changing their name

How far up the road are they? Cycling isn't just about ftp, if it was, there would be no point in racing, we'd all just submit our numbers and take our placings.

It will depend on how far up the road they are, how hard they are currently riding relative to their ftp, and your fitness make up (vo2 max, relation of vo2 max to ftp, recovery rate etc). If they are riding close to ftp you're going to have to go pretty deep to catch up. But then you can sit in the wheel and recover, well, fitness permitting anyway. If you did that to me in a race id attack you straight away, knowing that you'd unlikely catch me again. If you've got a decent vo2 max you'll find it easier to bridge across.

Does that make sense?

yea, that's pretty much what happened last night, but it was I that did the attack ! (and spent the rest of the race making sure I stayed away)

in broader terms - will I ever be faster than 'steve' given that we are both elderly and both digging deep in training ?

BTW I watched steve for a bit during his race tonite , it was more entertaining than I though ! well done steve !

Definitely no chance of being faster than me!

I hope you've bought an aero hat

I do wonder how much room there is for improvement when you factor in age. But then there are some unbelievable older athletes. Some people just respond better to traning regardless of age. The lad down the road is just a couple of years younger than me. He started cycling about 3 year ago to get fit after smashing himself up kiteboarding. He was nearly 2 laps ahead of me tonight averaging 335 watts at 75kg

That's very impressive. bas***d.

Boar - you can make huge progress wth endurance as a slightly more mature fellow, and given you're appetite for beating yourself I fully expect you too.

Just not enough to beat me

Seriously though, I wouldn't be thinking about age at all. Plenty of people making progress well into their 50s.

Its a Giro Air Attack Shield , a nice red a black one , its as close to aero as I can go

now I have got the boxing out of my system and anything else weightlifting wise I am going all out (to get anywhere near steves tailwind)

Sounds like I need to start training harder!

I've a similar hat (S Works one) - couldn't bring myself to get a silly full aero one.

Not too much danger of me getting real fast this side of Christmas , now I am on the kickr, the watts are harder to find !

yea, I am going to pay more attention to being aero , but I cant wear one of those helmets !

did a trainer road style workout on the zwift and it was hard work , only the 30 minute one as I had child duties , but it was still tough.

Fastest tri bike

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/diamondback-andean-...

I think id rather be slow.

and 8K better off

Quite. It's hideous. Cycling is about saving wieight, maximising aerodynamics, etc, but I want to look good too