Going Long and Hard.

Paul already knows he needs a Seven. :D

For March workouts will include prep for Battenkill and the upcoming TT series. So 2x20 LT intervals, and hill repeat stuff. I'll make the switch to hit more dirt roads as well. After Battenkill I'll pick up the volume again in order to prep for the 6-Pack. That's as far as I'm capable of planning :eek:

My trip to the Blue Ridge over the summer may kill me so I'm not sure how the later season and CX will work out. That trip is murder on paper, I'm fairly certain its worse in real life.

-Jim.
 
When do the A rides start?

IMO the Battenkill dirt roads are smoother than a lot of paved roads around here. Like Stanton Mtn for instance.

My 2 cents: focus on 5-ish minute hill climbs for BK.
 
I think April? The weekend rides are happening now but I'm assuming you mean Tuesday.

The dirt is smooth at B-Kill, which is why I haven't spent any time out there in the dirt yet. Last year I put too much emphasis on getting my dirt technique down only to find the dirt out there is smoother than my paved commute to work everyday :rolleyes:

By default I really only have ~ 5-minute climbs available to me. Warrenville, Washington Rock, Johnson Dr., King George, Hillcrest, Vosseller, etc, are all in the 5-minute effort range. That could also explain why my 5-Minute power is not terrible? Anyhoo, right now I go uphill like I'm towing a trailer filled with lead so, yeah, there's that. On the plus side, I'm a bit leaner than last year so that could help.

-Jim.
 
I thought they started when DST changed, but I admit that a year is a long time. The only reason I remember what I had for breakfast today us because I have the same thing every day. Yeah I mean Tuesdays. I'm making it work this year, those rides are too valuable to miss.

Unfortunately I won't be able to join you at BK this year. So it goes.
 
The shorter Swamp Loop one starts earlier, when, I don't remember, but earlier. And it leaves at 5pm for a bit. Then it goes to the Bedminster Loop at 6. I know at some point I get a tweet from Ed and we start riding on tuesdays. :D

-Jim.
 
Exciting Stuff.

Well for me it's exciting, you guys may not care at all...

427004_3374553924599_1291834825_3526000_1309438796_n.jpg


427004_3374553884598_539342398_n.jpg


The team kit artwork has dropped. It's MURDER. The skinsuit will match my new TT bike perfectly :getsome:

The kits will be in by Battenkill as I'm told. Same with the skinsuits. So I'll be in a HGC Skinsuit for Sandy Hook. Which is also pretty murder. Just not this murder. Reminds me, I need to order a new TT helmet.

-Jim.
 
jimvreeland said:
The shorter Swamp Loop one starts earlier, when, I don't remember, but earlier. And it leaves at 5pm for a bit. Then it goes to the Bedminster Loop at 6. I know at some point I get a tweet from Ed and we start riding on tuesdays. :D

-Jim.
Click to expand...

I thought it went when DST began. The Swamp loop was very regimented but I liked the longer axe ride once we got enough daylight. I'll be looking forward to these rides as well. Also they need to repave Whitebridge rd, c'mon Norm get on those guys...tell them you pay taxes.

Nice kit.
 
Whitebridge is brutal. I ride it often, both yesterday and today in fact. There's 1 section where there's really only about 3 inches of good pavement the whole road wide.
 
It looks like they put some patching in. That road is beyond patch work, its needs another skin.
 
Yeah it's like using bondo on a car that caught fire on the side of the road and melted the pavement.
 
401559_3364791240538_1291834825_3521123_1662949177_n.jpg


-Jim.[/QUOTE]

Your kid's gotta ditch the spacers. He'd get slaughtered by the tri-geeks with the reverse bar drop thing going on.
 
Next round. He's too big for the 20" at this point. His birthday is a month away and he'll have something cool :)

Jim.
 
Tuesday.

Recovery day. Like completely off the bike type of recovery day. I didn't make it too much past the boys' bedtime last night before I conked out for the evening :eek:

Feels very "springy" in the shop. I had a full schedule of repairs to keep me busy, even got to sell a fancy bike. A good day. Living the dream, you know how that all goes.

Talked to Mike G for a bit about prep for Battenkill. We both sorta have the same idea of what needs to go down. We both weigh the same and have nearly identical power and strengths so we can use each other as fitness gauges. He, like me, is NOT a climber. At 165 pounds, I can climb better than some people, but will always be at a disadvantage against the 140 pound guys. That's just how it is. That Kg/W formula goes out the window once gravity is involved. I think it also goes out the window when TTs are involved as well. I've ridden many a 5+Kg/W guys off my wheel on the flats. These 2 things are some of the reasons I've sorta lost a little faith in training with power. Numbers are not absolute.

Speaking of numbers, the scale number is also not absolute. The number has been sitting at just around 165 pounds for the last 2 months, yet I physically am leaner. Actually much leaner. My kits are looser, my pants don't fit, I have visible veins, and you can now see the muscle fibers in my legs. I kinda feel like I'm close to bottoming out. 155 doesn't seem as possible to me anymore. Think 160 pounds is a better bottom number and fits my build more realistically. Seriously, my legs are bigger than some people's torsos so at some point I just need to accept it and work with what I got. Fabien is 180 pounds. He knows his strengths and uses them well, he doesn't try to be a 150-pound climber.

PS-For my FaceWorld pals. The Team Seven page is up and live, so go peep it, and like it, and follow along. If we've done a cool ride together or you're just stoked on Seven, please post. It's part of my job to spread the word so you'll be doing me a huge favor by showing some love :D

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Seven-Cycles-Team/385467404812490

-Jim.
 
Blue Ridge Parkway.

Everyone at this point knows I'm planning out this trip. The logistics are of course just as silly as the ride itself. Being that I missed registration for the DH40, I think timing-wise it will be during the last week of July into the first week of August. Drive down to the start on Sunday the 29th, start riding the next day. I would have until Monday July 6th to finish. Originally, I was thinking of doing it in 5 days, but with each day looking like this...

...I've decided to leave myself some fudge room. That's 12,000 feet of vertical in under 100 miles. Everyday. 5 days on the Blue Ridge, plus one more day for Skyline Drive. At that rate I don't think I'd get very far. Spread it out over 8 days instead. Not like that's a whole lot better, but in my mind it works. I may or may not think about doing a very small group invite so if you might be interested in a truly epic adventure hit me up. But I'll have you know, this will in no means be easy. If you die, I will have to leave you for the bears. And there are bears. Both times I rode the Blue Ridge I saw bears walking on the road.

2 side trips off the Blue Ridge will be to go up Mt. Mitchell on day#2, and to go up Grandfather Mountain on day#3, or early in day#4.

So that's in the works. For a more recent adventure.

-Jim.
 
Tim Johnson Ride.

Yep. Signed up for this again. Last year was pretty epic so why not go at it again? Once again if you'd like to donate a dollar or 3 or 100 to a great bicycle-related cause, do it here...

https://www.pledgereg.com/28018

Last year I had Mike to drop me off and drive me home after the ride. This year Mike is doing support for the entire trip so I'm SOL on getting home from Philly. Looked into trains and buses, no dice. There's no way to get home from Philly with a bike on a sunday night. Well, I could ride back up to Trenton and then get my bike on a train, but, I'd rather not do that.

Plan B.

I'm gonna ditch a bag with street clothes and an extra kit with Mike before he leaves earlier in the week. I'll book a room in the same hotel, actually enjoy eating dinner with Tim and the guys, maybe hang out somewhere or something that night, then just ride home the next day. If someone wants to split the room and come along, be my guest. Find my post from last year's ride, it was a hoot.

That's really all I have now. It made me split these into 2 posts because it was too long together? Never had that happen before. Weird.

-Jim.
 
Jim,

SEPTA allows bikes on their trains during off-peak which I believe Sundays are and they go to Trenton.

Kevin
 
jim
take SEPTA get off at trenton from there transfer with NJtransit to dunellen or edison.
sunday bikes allowed at all times.
ived done this numerous times.
 
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I saw the SEPTA option when I was researching the train. What are the chances of me getting raped in Trenton that late at night? Either way, I'll look into that closer but I'm sorta getting into the idea of staying over and riding home. That'll give me 2 nice long days back-to-back and my wife is already on board. I can extend my adventure :D

-Jim.
 
Wednesday.

Commute. But like the way with all the hills. Went up Washington Rock, Johnston Dr., Hillcrest, and I think it's called Mountain?

I pushed pretty hard on Washington Rock and Johnston, after that I just sorta went up the hills, it's still not officially time to drill it. In the world of Strava, I got the KOM on Johnston, albeit who knows who that's against. I moved into second on Washington. The dude that holds that one beat me by 1mph average, that's sorta a lot on such a short climb.

The real reason to go this way was just to map out a route that hits as many of those 5-6 minute climbs that I can hit on the hour ride to work. 4. 4 is the answer. Just about 2k of vertical as per Garmin.

Does anyone else use Strava? If so, have you noticed they are now putting in a wattage number despite not having a power meter? I wonder if they're using the same algorithm that Cyclops uses for their PowerCal. Anyway, it seems darn close to being accurate, at least during this ride. At my LT heart rate it has me at 350 watts, which is very close, if not correct at this point. I'll need to borrow a PT for a week and get some numbers just to see how close the connection really is. I think we all know at this point, there are relations between HR, weight, speed, wattage, etc...with any 3 of these things you can fill in the blank one close enough for any of us to care about. Unless you absolutely must know your FTP is 352 watts and not 348.

http://app.strava.com/rides/4429573

Anyway. Home sick with the little guy today. He was up most of the night upchucking. He's been chillin' on the couch with a bucket next to him all day. It's my job to dump out the bucket every hour or so. I have to believe he's empty at this point, but you never know. I made him a bottle of Hammer Fizz to replace his electrolytes. Although I think he throws it up before any of the electrolytes get anywhere useful.

When my wife gets home I'll head into work for the rest of the evening. I gots poop to do.

-Jim.
 
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