Monday, September 19, 2011

Power... finally...

After considering it for over 18 months, I finally splashed out and bought myself a power meter a few weeks ago... with Sram/Quarq cranks (... thanks Velo Bicycles). 

It seems to be working well (very easy to use with my Garmin Edge 500), and the data so far is quite interesting, especially from my last few races at murrarie, synergy and pimpama.  All I can say is that a thousand watts is a lot of power... (I will be lucky to ever hit that number!)... and I have a new found respect for riders such as Cancellara who can put out huge numbers well above 1000 watts. 

Now I just have to go through the process of setting the zones, and finding my FTP (with help from coach Nick Formosa).  Unfortunately (since I really dislike time trials) this involves quite a few hard efforts this week, including a 30 minute TT.  Oh well, at least once it is all done, I will have some more useful numbers to base my future training on!

And on a slightly different topic, but still within the cycling theme, good luck to all the Australians at the UCI world champs in Denmark this week!!!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

State Champs 2011

Last weekend was time for the Qld state road champs (for both masters and elite).  Due to the unfortunate (very wet) weather, the cyclists that turned up to race on Saturday had to ride in some tough conditions.  It didn't just drizzle... water literally poured down from the sky for most of the races, all day long. 

Almost the opposite of state champs a few years ago, when we had to race on an atypically hot August day, with temps over 35 degrees C.  Seems like the state champs often has some unusual weather thrown in! 
Anyway, it was perfect weather for ducks!... and the muscovy duck in the front yard of a farm house near race registration, couldn't have looked happier.

In some ways, what else should I have expected?  The race was held this year at Swan Creek, east of Warwick.  And ironically if the race was held in Victoria or in Belgium, they probably would have called the rainy conditions "fine".


So, about the race... with small fields this year, there weren't many places to hide.  Normally I am quite happy to take my share of turns, but due to recent illness (again), and with only 2 weeks of training under my belt, I was going to head into this race quite reservedly.  Fortunately for me, the heavy rain resulted in a fairly mild, non-aggressive race, and I think all of us were quite happy to get to the end unscathed, albeit freezing cold and saturated.  Jane W (fresh from racing well at Tour of Geelong) must have done 99% of the turns during the race, and did a super awesome job in the final sprint to get Gold in WMas3.  I managed to get Silver in WMas2, and am pretty pleased with that result considering everything.

But along with the rain, also came the mud... and I was relieved to save my car from the boggy car park after the race.  Thanks to all those who offered assistance.  :)
Thanks also to all the volunteers and commissaires that worked during the weekend, it was a crazy cold wet day, and we appreciate it!