Monday, May 10 – 22 kms in 0:59
Even when I'm short on time, Vancouver does offer some great rides. I only had time for a direct ride to school and then a ride around Stanley Park on the way home. This loop is short, under 10 kms, and only has one hill, and that is pretty tame by TR standards, but there is only one stop sign and the traffic is usually pretty light. When I have more time I'll do a couple of loops, and when I'm on my XC bike I sometimes do a few hill repeats on the climb up to the Lion's Gate Bridge.
Tuesday, May 11 – 26 kms in 1:12
A loop around Stanley Park on the way too school and then time trials on the exercise bike in the gym on the way home. That bike is such a pig, but that is where I did my first TTs in December, so for comparisons sake, I'm stuck with it as a base line. I do see some improvement in my times and power, but it does not seem all that significant. Cory will do the analysis and let me know who things looks to his professional eyes.
Wednesday, May 12 – 35 kms in 1:30
Time trials! Please make them go away. There are all sorts of torture that cyclists put themselves through. Some people hate hills, I put the indoor time trial at the top of my hate list. One of the reasons that I prefer riding to running is that on the bike I get to see more and travel faster. Riding a bike indoors has none of the advantages of riding outside. I know, I'm on the warm (and wet) west coast and half of the people in Canada have the choice of riding indoors or not riding at all.
Cory from TCR is helping me to improve my performance for the TransRockies. Last year he did the TR3, so he know the pain I'm in for. My problem is that, while I'm a reasonably strong endurance rider, I'm all aerobic and don't have the short bursts of speed that really help when riding technical single-track. So, since December I've been on a programme to build my critical power. This week's time trials are supposed to measure the progress I've made. I did a set of TTs earlier, December 2009, and now we'll see if I've improved.
To do the time trails I used the same bike at the gym at one of the universities I teach at. The bike has marginal adjustability and the widest saddle I've ever seen. This thing is not built for speed. But it does keep track of cadence, distance, power, speed, and time.
And then to top off the day, some more core work. Oh joy!
The results are in and to me they looked like a very marginal improvement. Percentage wise I improved the most at the shorter distances, no big surprise, while the improvement over 10 km was pretty slight.
December 2009 Results
1km 1:15 Average 375 watts
2km 2:42 Average 350 watts
4km 5:41 Average 323 watts
10 km 15:05 Average 287 watts
May 2010 Results
1km 1:10 Average 385 watts
2km 2:35 Average 362 watts
4km 5:32 Average 335 watts
10km 14:50 Average 290 watts
Thursday, May 13 – No Ride
Daddy duty again so my exercise was confined to long walks with the stroller. Not that I'm complaining. My daughter's first real word was library, which gives you an idea hoe often we go there. I think that bike shop will enter the vocabulary pretty soon.
Friday, May 14 – 7 kms in 0:21
I would have liked to get a slightly longer ride in, but the pressures of family and parenthood required that after school I cut my afternoon ride short. Such are the realities of life with obligations.
However, in the evening I did manage to fit my core work in. Not a huge amount of fun, but a necessity.
Saturday, May 15 – 38 kms in 2:25
My first race of the season and I have very mixed feelings. This was my fourth time on this course. In 2007 it was the Pre-Test (As in Pre-Test of Metal), and from 2008 on the name changed to the Orecrusher. The route is a 7km loop through single and double track adjacent to a secondary school at the northern end of Squamish. I've made it on the podium twice at this race, 3rd in 2007 and 2nd in 2009.
The course suits me to a T and every year I think that I ride it a bit better. There is a LeMans start and then 200 metres around the running track before we cross the road and head into a wide section of gently climbing single-track. They you get into tight single-track with lots of roots, rocks and very few opportunities to pass. The rocky rooty stuff is great; not too step, but technical enough for me to be challenging. And it is never steep, so there is not temptation to try and walk it. I should ride that sort of stuff a lot more often.
Unlike point-to-point races like the Test of Metal, or a TrasnRockies stage for that matter, where everyone ride the same distance, the Orecrusher is a lap race and the number of laps depended on the rider's age and gender. (I know, this is old hat for experienced XC riders, but apart from the Orecrusher I only do point-to-point races.)
The race is also the first of a five-race marathon XC series, the "Hell of a Series". Four of the five races are in and around Squamish, with the second one, June 5th, on the North Shore. I was planning to do all of the series races and based on my past results guessed that my best result would be in the Orecrusher.
The number of laps required was posted on a sign at the start, and the old farts, 50+, had to do five laps. Unfortunately what was not on the sign was the number of laps required for racers doing the series. They all were required to do six laps. The six lap requirement was announced a couple of times before the start, but a few people didn't hear. No prizes for guessing how many laps I rode.
So after five laps I came across the finish line, went for a little cool down spin around the neighbourhood, changed, and headed back to see how I'd done. This is when the lap confusion emerged. For all age groups there were two sets of times. For my age group there was one for the riders who'd ridden five laps (the race) and one for the riders who'd ridden six laps (the race as part of the series).
After a couple of days of confusion and discussion between the organizers and Cycling BC they came up with a compromise. (And like most compromises it is guaranteed not to please everyone.) They will hand out duplicate series points. So in my 50+ category first place finishers in both the 6-lap and 5-lap categories will each get 200 points, with the points going down for the 2nd, 3rd etc finishers. Not ideal, but I think a very equitable solution.
When I discovered the lap problem I was pissed, but I think that the organizer, Jim Douglas, and Cycling BC have managed to make a silk purse out of what on Saturday seemed to be 100% sows ear.
My lesson. Confirm everything and make sure you understand all of the rules and conditions. I'll be back next year and hope to get back on the podium.
Sunday, May 16 – 48 kms in 2:23
This was supposed to be 3 ½ hours of "Road Base Miles", but after my less that completely satisfying experience with the Orecrusher I took a spin out to Pacific Spirit Park. About ½ of the time and distance was on the road, and then I had some time in the trails.
Well, my middle ring is now officially toast. It was giving me some grief on the Orecrusher, but now any tension and the chain is slipping all over the place. So it is off to the bike shop for a new ring.
I stayed on the trails at the northern end of the park to avoid the crowds. I did a few loops with some wide single-track climbs. I need to spend more time on the North Shore trails to work on my single-track skills. But I do most of my riding by myself and I am a complete coward when it comes to committing to the more technical terrain over on the shore. On Bowen I will climb stuff that I'd be hesitant to descend. And the oddest thing is that on the TR I'll try and ride pretty much anything. In the end I find it is just too tiring to get off the bike again and again. Perhaps an odd reaction to challenging terrain, but one that I'm sure other riders find they make under the conditions.
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