Jshort’s bike thread

The fitness gods giveth, the fitness gods taketh away.

Just as I was feeling like I took a step forward and built some power, I got a cold. Blah. It’s just a a head cold for now, but we'll see where it goes. My Whoop has been showing decreasing heart rate variability and increasing resting heart rate all week. Two fingers of rye kind of put an exclamation point on last night (duh) but things were trending poorly before that. I actually felt great until Friday night and even then it was hardly anything.


92B7AC79-8914-4D48-9A82-958FE8C5C773.jpeg


9FEA73FC-75C5-4CAE-8402-C70E1DB0C58B.jpeg



Even though I thought something was uo, I still did the 90 minute TrainerRoad workout Saturday morning. I just picked an easier one than scheduled. The work was harder than it should have been, but not hard enough to make me stop. Looking back there were enough read flags that I could have just skipped or done something completely recovery-ish. I don't think It did too much to worsen my cold, but we'll see.

1A854767-FF76-4F94-BB18-8EEB65ADE0DE.jpeg



I had planned a nice long Z2 today but scrapped those plans. I’ll swap to full blown recovery type workouts this week if I’m even feeling up for that. I’m in no rush for fitness gains so I’ll go as conservatively as needed. Maybe this cold will be gone by Tuesday or maybe it’ll turn to a sinus infection and I’ll be popping antibiotics, but hopefully not. It's only mid feb and if I can get past this cold without losing much fitness, I’ll be ahead of my undefined schedule. Hmmm...

Yoga

I’m pretty sure i posted this but just in case, I started practicing Yoga. It helps with so many of the things I lack or need to work on. Core, flexibility, breathing, and relaxation to name a few. Seriously, who does NOT need that? But I’ve only gone to maybe 5 classes in my life and I’m not sure if this is just another lofty offseason goal which will be short-lived or if I can make it stick.

For this reason I’m going the low frills YouTube method. I know I'll never go to a class which would require a trip in the car. One reason I can stick to my indoor training regimen is because it’s right there and I can hop on at any time. That’s how I’m looking to focus on Yoga.

I do have a yoga mat. It’s old and corny as hell with little diagrams of poses. It’s junk but If I'm still doing this In a month, I’ll buy a cool mat.

And if I’m still doing it a month after that, I’ll have to build a platform for my carpeted basement. Yoga on carpeting is hard because of the instability of standing on something so soft. Even with the mat. If anyone has any suggestions for an easier platform to make for this purpose I’m open.

Here’s a pic of the one I use for my trainer which I'll probably build another of:

0D852724-34C9-424B-9B55-CBA963C5E1D1.jpeg




So far I’m 11 days into this random 30 day yoga “journey”. I haven’t missed a day yet. Most of the sessions are between 20 and 30 minutes long, but usually closer to 20 minutes. So they’re really quick and mostly easy to do. Some of them gave a good workout to my core and back.

Once this 30 day yoga camp is up, then I’ll find some longer and more challenging videos to do. My long term goal is to do 2 yoga sessions and 2 strength training workouts a week on top of time spent pedaling. These are admittedly very lofty plans, so I'm going about it super slow. I tried to do one week of yoga and strength but wiped me out. Come to think of it, that was last week and is probably what fatigued me enough to come down with a cold. Another red flag I probably missed. 🤷
 
Last edited:
First endurance H2H race

I always thought Mayhem would be a terrible place to ride for 4 hours but the crew that sets this race up has made big improvements to the course layout every year and this year was the best to date.

For my 1st race I just wanted to nail the easy things.
  1. 80-100g of carbs per hour (made with my own mix recipe)
  2. Keep the power around tempo-sweet spot
  3. ignore what everyone else does and stay within myself


I nailed the nutrition. I made 2 versions of my mix. One was like lemonade and the other was no flavor. Zero flavor fatigue, especially when mixing the gels in. One 500ml bottle every 2 laps was easy to keep track of. My new bike has 2 bottle holders, but with a little loop like this there’s no need to carry the extra weight. I just stopped every other lap and restocked with a bottle and 1 gel. This got me to about 95g of quick absorbing carbs.

Lots of this going on during the race:
76F7BFA3-B9B2-4828-9F88-069826361854.jpeg



My power was also on point - my NP was right at tempo. I ignored my heart rate for the majority of the race, On my garmin, I went off 3 sec avg power, IF, TSS, and feel. When I went back to look I never even hit 170. And that is my average during a ”XCO” race (90ish minutes). Point being, I took it super easy.

79547C80-22DD-498B-9BE8-1561B268E784.jpeg





I really ignored what’s everyone else did. I started in the back at the start just because I didn’t want to get caught up in any hard efforts. There were sections that had soo much flow, it let me get into my own groove. Especially when you see the same trail 5, 6, 7, 8 times. As the race went on, less and less brake was needed, I just carved the turns, and avoided any sudden accelerations. That was huge for me. Historically I always go in hard, jam the brakes, stand and mash out. But with this new to me endurance mindset, I just worried about efficiency and keeping steady power down.


I had no idea where I was in the race when i finished, but I did know nobody passed me (I started so far back this isn’t a big surprise) and I reeled in the 3 or 4 guys that finished right past me on the last 2 laps. Finishing somewhat strong has never been one of my strong points.

I ended up 6th of 27

My lap times were pretty consistent
IMG_0013.jpeg


IMG_0014.jpeg




FE29B651-BA64-41FE-A3DB-95D38C7BF653.jpeg




P.S. Properly waxed chains (thoroughly cleaned and then submerged in the rice cooker / crockpot) are worth the effort. Faster, quieter, and so much cleaner. I could feel the chain get crunchy in the sandy stuff but it completely sheds the sand and goes back to being super smooth and quiet after a few minutes. I could hear other racers chains grinding/crunching away. I’m totally sold on it. Silca secret wax.
 
jShort said:
First endurance H2H race

I always thought Mayhem would be a terrible place to ride for 4 hours but the crew that sets this race up has made big improvements to the course layout every year and this year was the best to date.

For my 1st race I just wanted to nail the easy things.
  1. 80-100g of carbs per hour (made with my own mix recipe)
  2. Keep the power around tempo-sweet spot
  3. ignore what everyone else does and stay within myself


I nailed the nutrition. I made 2 versions of my mix. One was like lemonade and the other was no flavor. Zero flavor fatigue, especially when mixing the gels in. One 500ml bottle every 2 laps was easy to keep track of. My new bike has 2 bottle holders, but with a little loop like this there’s no need to carry the extra weight. I just stopped every other lap and restocked with a bottle and 1 gel. This got me to about 95g of quick absorbing carbs.

Lots of this going on during the race:
View attachment 181792


My power was also on point - my NP was right at tempo. I ignored my heart rate for the majority of the race, On my garmin, I went off 3 sec avg power, IF, TSS, and feel. When I went back to look I never even hit 170. And that is my average during a ”XCO” race (90ish minutes). Point being, I took it super easy.

View attachment 181794




I really ignored what’s everyone else did. I started in the back at the start just because I didn’t want to get caught up in any hard efforts. There were sections that had soo much flow, it let me get into my own groove. Especially when you see the same trail 5, 6, 7, 8 times. As the race went on, less and less brake was needed, I just carved the turns, and avoided any sudden accelerations. That was huge for me. Historically I always go in hard, jam the brakes, stand and mash out. But with this new to me endurance mindset, I just worried about efficiency and keeping steady power down.


I had no idea where I was in the race when i finished, but I did know nobody passed me (I started so far back this isn’t a big surprise) and I reeled in the 3 or 4 guys that finished right past me on the last 2 laps. Finishing somewhat strong has never been one of my strong points.

I ended up 6th of 27

My lap times were pretty consistent
View attachment 181790

View attachment 181789



View attachment 181793



P.S. Properly waxed chains (thoroughly cleaned and then submerged in the rice cooker / crockpot) are worth the effort. Faster, quieter, and so much cleaner. I could feel the chain get crunchy in the sandy stuff but it completely sheds the sand and goes back to being super smooth and quiet after a few minutes. I could hear other racers chains grinding/crunching away. I’m totally sold on it. Silca secret wax.
Click to expand...
Nice job. It's so easy to go out too hard, too soon by getting caught up in what everyone else is doing. Sticking to the plan is the key. Haven't participated in this race for a few years, and that was XC only. Not sure I could deal with the "Groundhog Day" feeling of multiple laps there.

Are you sticking with Endurance events this year or a mix with XC as well?
 
JDurk said:
Are you sticking with Endurance events this year or a mix with XC as well?
Click to expand...
Yep. That’s the plan. I’m planning on jungle and ringwood endurance, which will be polar opposite of Mayhem.
After those I won’t be able to make any races because baseball will be in full swing til mid June. Then I’ll pick it back up and do the Challenger endurance. That’s what’s penciled in on the calendar anyway.
 
well done, I always said that was one of the harder courses I have ever raced on. So much pedaling. Great job on the lap times!
 
jShort said:
Yep. That’s the plan. I’m planning on jungle and ringwood endurance, which will be polar opposite of Mayhem.
After those I won’t be able to make any races because baseball will be in full swing til mid June. Then I’ll pick it back up and do the Challenger endurance. That’s what’s penciled in on the calendar anyway.
Click to expand...
Are you planning any of the MASS endurance events? Fair Hill has endurance on 4/23, will have a little more elevation variation than Mayhem. The Challenger won't be much different from Mayhem. I did it last year to finish off the July 31 day challenge.
 
Pacing; what a noble idea, maybe I should take your advice:
Screen Shot 2022-03-29 at 11.24.53 AM.png


Thoughts on XC vs Endurance racing going forward?
 
JDurk said:
Are you planning any of the MASS endurance events? Fair Hill has endurance on 4/23, will have a little more elevation variation than Mayhem. The Challenger won't be much different from Mayhem. I did it last year to finish off the July 31 day challenge.
Click to expand...
Challenger, big elk, and both Granogues are on the calendar.


Pearl said:
Pacing; what a noble idea, maybe I should take your advice:
View attachment 181822

Thoughts on XC vs Endurance racing going forward?
Click to expand...
I’m going to do these 4 hour races for a while I think. I’d rather spend more time on the trail then driving to the race. Driving 90 minutes each way to race 90 minutes wore on me last year.
 
jimvreeland said:
Needs a K-Edge Garmin mount now. Rubber bands are for the Cat3 Field.
Click to expand...
Maybe I’m a little weird, but I don’t like it on my MTB. The numbers are too easy to look when they’re out front. I’m close to going with a garmin watch when not using navigation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom