Alex's Cycle Blog

Mean Maximal Power: A Unique Comparison

2011-11-11T13:56:00.001+11:00

It's been a while since I posted. Just too busy for the most part so my apologies. I'll do an update at some stage!

I had a long break from training due to a prosthetic leg changeover in June (had a few transition problems with that) and a lot of travel in August and September.I've been back on the bike for a few weeks now (the hardest part sometimes). I sure have some fitness to catch up on.

For some personal motivation, I thought I'd post up a couple of charts comparing my performance before and after the leg amputation (I get asked about it occasionally, and my data is being analysed for a science write up at the moment).

So I thought I would summarise it in a neat chart known as a Mean Maximal Power (MMP) chart.

MMP charts show your best power ouput for all durations from very short periods (seconds) through to very long periods (hours). Because the horizontal axis represents durations from second to minutes to hours, we turn that into a logarithmic scale, so we can inspect best power outputs for durations covering a wide time spectrum. Power is represented on the vertical axis.

As you would expect, one can produce higher power for short periods (seconds), and somewhat lower power over longer periods (hours), so the chart trends downwards as you move to the longer durations on the right.

By using WKO+ software, I made a comparison of my all time personal best power for the time before my accident and amputation and since then.

Two versions plotting mean maximal power to weight ratios, one for Average Power and one for Normalised Power. The blue line is before amputation, the red line is since then.

Click on the chart to see a full sized version:

The chart above shows my best W/kg for all durations.

What is very clear from that chart is the wide performance gap for very short durations but the closeness in performance over durations longer than a minute or so. This suggests my sustainable aerobic power and my anaerobic work capacity hasn't been significantly hampered by riding with a prosthetic, however my neuromuscular power (used for sprinting and short duration hard accelerations and efforts) has been significantly compromised.

What about Normalised Power?

When plotting NP data, WKO+ restricts the output to a minimum of 5-minutes. For most analysis and application, we really don't read too much into NP for durations shorter than about 20- to 30-minutes. But nonetheless, the chart shows an interesting change in my power profile when viewed through the lens of Normalised Power.

NP appears to amplify the difference in performance over a wider part of the primarily aerobic duration spectrum (> 5-minutes) when compared with the Average Power chart

A reduction in my ability to perform those short high power bursts (up to ~ 30 seconds or so) definitely comes though in the NP for durations from 5- minutes to about 30-minutes.

For longer durations than half an hour though, I have been able to equal or somewhat exceed my best pre-amputation NP outputs.

This I think is reflective of the type of racing I do - which is lots of track and crit racing, some road races and only occasional time trials. So for an apples to apples comparison, I certainly think this NP chart is pretty telling.

I no longer have that weapon of short high end power, but have instead found other ways to make up for it.

Of course this is just one way to use MMP charts. Once can plot one season over another and make comparisons as to their overall progress. Or any time periods they care to compare.

l'Alpe d'Huez - one for the mortals

2011-07-20T12:23:00.008+10:00

About this time last year I posted this item about ascent times of leading professional riders up l'Alpe d'Huez and what power to body mass ratio would be required to do that.

There's a chart which shows the relationship between ascent time and power to body mass ratio (watts per kg - W/kg). It also provides an indication the impact of wind can have on climbing speeds.

Times for leading riders since 2001 are shown on the chart.

The guys over at the Science of Sport blog referenced it in a post here, after seeing it on a cycling chat forum I posted to recently.

Well for a bit of fun (and considering the Tour de France is heading up the Alpe in a few days), I thought I'd post a follow up chart which covers the power to body mass ratio for the rest of us mere mortals.

Here it is (click to embiggen):

It's not a hard chart to read.

Want to ride up l'Alpe d'Huez in 1 hour dead? Then you'll need to be able to sustain around 3.75 W/kg, give or take depending on the wind. If you are 70kg, then that's around 260-265 watts.

If you know your sustainable power is 3.4W/kg, then you can expect to get up the Alpe in around 66 minutes.

In calculating these values, I've made a few assumptions (listed on the chart), although the relationship between speed and W/kg on steep climbs is not particularly sensitive to those assumptions.

After power and mass, wind has the biggest impact on speeds when climbing. Hence the two extra lines for head and tailwinds.

At my best form*, I would expect to climb it in around 56 minutes.

How fast have you been up l'Alpe?

* My power to body mass ratio for 1-hour at best is ~ 4.2W/kg (based on my racing power at the UCI World Cup this year), but I have to allow a bit of extra mass for my prosthetic leg. I'll get to do it one day.

Aero Profiling

2011-07-15T13:50:00.005+10:00

Earlier this week I posted this item about power to aerodynamic drag ratio for the individual pursuit.

I mentioned in that item a table prepared some time back by Andy Coggan, which was similar to his power profiling table (which lists typical power to body mass of riders - W/kg for various time ), except it showed Functional Threshold Power (FTP) relative to aerodynamic drag (CdA) - W/m^2, instead of as per the original power profiling table.

The top end of the table would represent what's required to set a World Best Hour record.

In this way, a rider's power to aero drag ratio can be compared against the world's best.

Andy has kindly sent me the data, so here is the table for reference. Thanks Andy.

Enjoy!
(click on the pic to superaeronate)

Individual Pursuit - What Makes us Faster?

2011-07-13T11:28:00.008+10:00

A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, a Jedi Knight called Andy Coggan developed an insightful (but often misunderstood) table of numbers known as Power Profiling. Power junkie cyclists have been (mis)using the table to psych out their mates for years now.

The Power Profiling table lists power to body mass ratios for four key durations: 1-hour, 5-minutes, 1-minute and 5-seconds, chosen to reasonably represent the energy systems/physiology that predominantly underpin performance over these duration, i.e. (respectively): lactate threshold, maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), anaerobic work capacity & neuromuscular power.

Power to body mass ratio is an excellent overall predictor of performance potential. It is especially good for determining performance when climbing hills.

However, performance in flatter time trials and individual pursuits is much more a function of power and aerodynamics than it is of power and body mass. Body mass of course impacts aerodynamics, however the relationship between them is variable, with overall morphology and position on a bike far more influential than body mass per se.

So, when choosing the one performance factor most important for flatter time trials and pursuits, one needs to focus on improving a different ratio – the Power to Aerodynamic Drag* ratio (power to CdA ratio - W/m^2).

The higher the W/m^2, the faster we go. Pretty simple really.

In 2009 Jedi Knight Coggan, being somewhat prescient, developed a draft version of his power profiling table, this time expressing performance in terms of the ratio of 1-hour power to CdA . I’d love to share a link to it, but I’m not sure I have a public location I can point you to (it was originally posted on a discussion forum about two years ago which has suckerific search function). I’m sure either Andy will provide a link, or post up a new blog item about it at some stage.

In any case, I thought at the time it might also be of interest to develop a similar table for the Individual Pursuit, so Andy whipped up one for me, and I then took that data and created a chart and table. Now that was nearly two years ago and I've been meaning to do a blog post about it ever since! Okay, so it's a little late but here it is.

The table show times for 2km, 3km and 4km individual pursuits and the corresponding W/m^2 required to attain that performance (click / right click to show full sized version):

So, for example, if you want to ride a 3km pursuit in 3:35, you will need a power to aero drag ratio of about 1900 W/m^2.

Alternatively, if you know your power and pursuit time (on a fast track), then you can back calculate an estimate of your CdA. e.g. a rider who completes a 4km pursuit in 4:30 requires a power to aero drag ratio of ~ 2200W/m^2.

If we know their power output we can then estimate their CdA. Let’s say they averaged 480W.
CdA = (480W) / (2200W/m^2) = ~ 0.218 m^2

It’s not perfect of course, just a guide and there are many factors to consider. Besides, if you have a power meter on your track bike, there are better ways to determine your CdA.

The chart below plots the same data, as well as show where on the chart the current world record holders appear for the following categories:

Elite Men & Women
Junior Men & Women
Masters Women

Hence, these world records represent the current upper limit of W/m^2 for each category:

The records are from the UCI website here: Track World Records

With the exception of Sarah Hammer’s WR in Aguascalientes, all of the others were set at sea level and in indoor velodromes (and so the assumptions used for the table data will be closer to the mark).

In the case of Sarah Hammer, due to the significantly reduced air density at altitude, it is probable her W/m^2 is overstated and is a little less than previous world record holder Sarah Ulmer whose record was set at sea level. The Power/CdA estimate for Ulmer’s 3:24.537 ride is 2200 W/m^2.

One thing the chart emphasises is just how much one needs to improve W/m^2 in order just to go even just a few seconds faster. When you are near your physiological performance (power) limit, we can see how important aerodynamics are to overall performance.

And just how freakin good those world record rides are.

Now of course there are some assumptions used to make up the data for the tables (assumption are shown on the table and chart). For example, it does assume a pretty fast track/tyres at a typical sea level air density, but really it’s just a guide, and serves to emphasise the importance of aerodynamics and thinking in terms of W/m^2 when working out what to focus on to improve your pursuit and time trial performance.

If your track and/or tyres are slower than the best, then it’s likely the performance suggested as attainable from a given power to aero drag ratio is overstated (or the W/m^2 required for a given performance is understated). Also, the rate of change in kinetic energy and associated variable power demands will also have some impact on these estimates. These data have used typical assumptions for that, but of course everyone’s initial acceleration, mass and fade in speed during their pursuit rides are different.

I’ll look into doing a similar chart for the hour record at some stage.

Where do you fall on the table?

For those interested in more discussion on factors impacting pursuit performance, then these items by Andy Coggan are a great place to start:

Demands of the individual pursuit, part 1
Demands of the individual pursuit, part 2

* Aerodynamic Drag is expressed as the combination of our two factors:

- Coefficient of Drag (Cd), a unit-less measure which is related to the shape of an object and how that affects air flow around it (e.g. think of a brick vs a bullet shape, the bullet shape has a lower Cd); and

- Effective Frontal Area (A), measured in square metres (m^2) which is how much area we present to the air (e.g . compare a van and a Mack truck – the truck has a larger frontal area and has to push more air).

These two factors are multiplied together to determine how "slippery" we are through the air.

Some example typical CdA values:
Commuter cyclist: 0.4 – 0.7 m^2
Road racing cyclist: 0.26 - 0.38 m^2
Time trial/pursuit rider: 0.2 – 0.3 m^2
Sports car: 0.5 - 0.6 m^2

Winners never quit

2011-05-20T15:40:00.004+10:00

It’s one of those phrases you see on “motivational posters” about the place. I’ve never really had such posters hanging up. I suppose I’ve never really felt the need to have such things to motivate me, although some of them are quite good pictures.

I certainly never ever thought I’d be in one of those pictures or be someone to inspire others.

Nevertheless, I seem to have found myself in that position – after a friend and mentor sent me the picture above.

I’m not hard to pick out of course (just play spot the carbon leg) but for those interested – the shot is of my race winning sprint in the Eddie Salas Cup on 8 May 2011. It was an A-grade Masters circuit road race at Sydney’s Eastern Creek raceway. 60-70 starters. There were over 200 racing that day in all grades.

It was a cold morning (for Sydney about 6-7 C) and a foggy start. The race was the usual affair with break attempts, counters and so on. I bridged across solo to one such break, which I thought looked dangerous, but it was brought back.

A cool foggy morning, and the pace was on...

Then with about 25-min to go, I just knew I was feeling good and said to myself that I had a threshold effort in me for the balance of the race. There were some riders up the road. So I decided on the last hill before the main straight to push hard off the front of the chasing group. Only one rider (Matt from Sydney CC) was on my wheel, so I put my head down and buried it. He worked with me but eventually faded so I kicked on and finished off the bridge across solo. It was about 2.5-3-min effort at 350W.

The bridge across, Matt was suffering, I was ready to launch again.

Now I was there I had to consolidate, which I managed OK, then did some work with them to establish the break – they were riding hard. Since two of us had either club or team mates in the group behind, we had a combination that just might stick. I knew that if we got caught, all it would mean was my team mates being dragged to the front of the race and being in a great position to finish it off – being in a team makes such a difference to race tactics, it’s way cool to race this way.

The break, and rolling off after a turn

Once I was convinced we were not going to get caught, I started to reduce my workload, while the other two kept pushing hard. Fine by me, I just sat on (mind you my NP for the final 30-min of race was 331W so it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park).

Then the finishing straight was upon us and I was very patient, waited as long as I thought I should, gave myself some room to run at the wheel in front and gave it what I had.

I won. By about 10cm. That’s enough. :-)

Winners are grinners they say.
Eddie Salas finished 4th - he's on the right in the blue and my team mate Matt 5th.

Massive thanks to the rest of Team Turbo Studio. We might have stern looks on our faces in the promotional shots (a la the Sopranos), but we sure smile when out there racing, and especially when we have the podium stuck to the soles of our shoes.

It ended off a great week with four big races, some really good form and my third race win of the year.

I wrote in my previous post about the UCI World Cup road race. Well in between that and the Eddie Salas race I raced the UCI World Cup Paracycling time trial on a technical circuit at Sydney Olympic Park.

It was 4 laps, which meant riders from various categories were on the circuit at the same time. Technical suited me as I’m a pretty decent bike handler but it meant some interesting tactics were needed. Whenever I came up behind another rider, I would surge to get past them before the next corner as most of the other riders were too slow through the turns and would hold you up.

In the end I placed 7th overall and was the fastest of the three Australian C4 riders, 4-seconds faster than National TT champ and Aussie squad rider Ryan Hughes. I was second fastest Aussie overall behind Michael Gallagher in the C5 category.

Average Power for the 32-minutes was 320W, so that’s not too shabby at all and I was very pleased to have had the opportunity to race my first international UCI paracylcing event, and to race well and be competitive.

But back to that picture.

It’s never been my objective to inspire others – I simply love racing my bike, so do what I can within the constraints of my life to improve my own performance and to race. I've had plenty of support as well from many people. Still, I am proud of what I’ve been able to achieve in the four years since my accident and amputation. If that inspires others, that’s pretty cool I guess and I can live with that.

World Cup – Road Race

2011-05-04T19:49:00.002+10:00

Today I raced my first UCI World Cup event – it was a ~75km road race with C4 & C5 para-cycling categories combined. Being held at the Eastern Creek Raceway and Western Sydney International Dragway circuit, (similar but not exactly the same as the circuit used last year for the World Masters Games) meant I had some home town knowledge of what I was in for since I have raced on both these venues.

What I didn’t know of course was how the competition would be. I knew one of our Aussie riders – Michael Gallagher – would be pretty hard for anyone to beat as he is a world class athlete but other than that, I wasn’t really sure of the field.

Conditions were good: cool, dry and sunny with a south to SW breeze. Sure made for a nice change with the rain we've had lately. I did 6 turbo session in the previous week.

In the end I came 4th in the C4 category, and my compatriot Ryan Hughes 3rd. Michael Gallagher came 2nd in the C5. That was perfect as the Aussie team plan was for Michael (C5) and Ryan (C4) to finish as high as possible and gain extra points for the world championship qualification places.

I had good legs today and some pretty decent numbers:
Ride time: 1:54
Normalised Power: 302W

When the race was pretty fiesty, I had a 30-minute NP of 327W.

The Italians dominated, and after the opening lap the fireworks started with plenty of attacks and counters. Eventually the break formed with 3 Italians, Michael Gallagher and 2 others. Since Mick was up the road we had no real reason to chase, next job was to get Ryan Hughes placed as high as possible, so helped him out here and there. My legs were good today – I sure felt pretty good.

I thought about going with the Italians early but they were very strong and it was a very tough place to be burning a big match. When the chase to the main break attempt was on, someone baulked as we were closing in and that didn’t help. Then a rider (the Canadian I think) crashed in front of me at the left hand turn entering the main raceway. That took all the momentum out of the chase. After that it was a training ride for next 4 laps, then in last 1.5-2 laps the group started getting frisky looking to get the minor placings.

I chased down one break by the British rider late in the race, and was about to do it again when the call was to let him go as he was C5. I certainly had the legs to go if needed.

Heading into the finale I was getting ready to go to front to give Ryan a lead out along with Mitchell Gourley from St Kilda, when the Italian for some reason let a gap go for Ryan and Mitch, and so they went for it with about 1.5km to go. I then just sat on the Austrian, Italian, and the American (Sam - of course! I said g’day during the race and asked his name) until the sprint as they were now chasing the Aussies. Fine by me.

Sam the American opened it up at top of straight, the Austrian was cooked and the Italian had nothing left or couldn’t be bothered (they were both on the front a lot today) so I went and eventually overhauled Sam down the long finishing straight, was catching Ryan and crossed line as 4th placed C4, and 8th overall.

Pretty darn happy with that. I’ve gone from having a lower leg amputation to a World Cup result in a bit less than 4 years.

Time Trial is on Friday. It’s technical and well I’ll just let ‘er rip and see what happens.

New Team

2011-04-25T16:19:00.004+10:00

Last weekend I had a tune-up race at Eastern Creek. Mainly to have a good hit out and also to ride over part of the circuit that will be used for the UCI World Cup event in early May. I had a puncture which interrupted proceedings for a while but a wheel change saw me back into it and doing my best to put myself in the hurt box often.

Attacks and covers didn't pay off results wise but that didn't matter. I didn't quite make it across to the attack that actually stuck, which featured Eddie Salas, Pete Milostic and Trent Butler. Go figure.

Still, a few silly solo efforts and big pulls on/near the front practicing a few things meant a great hit out.

1hr:22min with Normaised Power of 302W, so not too shabby.

Since then been training pretty solidly, some good longer rides and also started some higher intensity work at around 90% of Maximal Aerobic Power or 120% of threshold power. Nasty buggers those. We call them Aerobic Power Intervals (APIs).

Plenty of racing for me coming over the next few weeks. On the agenda are:

30 Apr: Cervelo Masters Series Round 1 (64km Kermesse)

4 May: UCI Paracycling Road World Cup - 78km road race at combined Eastern Creek Raceway - Sydney Dragway circuit

6 May - UCI Paracycling Road World Cup - 25km Individual Time Trial

8 May - Eddie Salas Mother's Day Cup (75-min + 1 lap)

14 May - NSW State Masters Road Race Championships

15 May - NSW State Masters Criterium Championships

Then in June there is the remaining three races of the four round Cervelo Masters Series.

All of course will be in my new team race kit, and the non-championship races (Cervelo & Salas races) we will be racing as a full squad, which will be uber cool. We all had a full squad practice run together a month back at the Orica Kermesse where we got two of our team up on the podium, so that was a good start.

The lads have been in fine form, with everyone getting results over the past couple of months.

And here's the link to introduce the new race team. Watch out Sopranos, you ain't got nuthin' on us!

Turbo Studio Masters Race Team

Bon Anniversaire IV

2011-04-11T20:06:00.014+10:00

Well another of my annual updates - four years today since my accident.

For previous editions, click here:
Bon Anniversaire III

What a year, much to talk about, some very good, some simply awful. It's a long post, so come back later if you don't have the time right now....

Perhaps I get the awful out of the way quickly. Typically I don’t make many comments about personal stuff on here beyond cycling activity, so this will be brief. But they were significant and important.

My father passed away in September. He went peacefully and while it was a sad occasion and there is never a right time, it was not so bad all things considered.

Then later in the year my dear younger cousin Dante also died, losing a very swift battle with an aggressive cancer and that was about as bad as it gets. His death really was completely and utterly shite in so many ways. Those that know, know how we all feel about it. All I know is that I am blessed to have spent all those times together with him and continue to live as I do. Enough of that. It is/was awful and will remain with us for a long time.

2010 was a pretty skinny year for my blogging, mostly because I was simply too busy and not because there isn't much to write about. There are lots of topics I have on the simmer, just need the time to get to them.

Taking my energies are four new / start up / emerging business I am involved in, and that takes a bit of doing! All of them cycling related so I'll talk some more about them. Obviously I was also training and racing too and I’ll get to that as well!

Turbocharged business

Taking a substantial chunk of my energy was the continued development of Turbo Studio, and of course my world wide coaching activities. At this time last year, Turbo Studio had only been operating two months.

Since then Turbo Studio has really blossomed and is now a benchmark for how to run these businesses. Over the Christmas break we expanded and refurbished the centre and it was just as well, with the extra capacity being taken up quickly.

Working with Joanne has been (and still is!) an absolute pleasure and I thank all those clients who have made the commitment with us to improve their cycling. Listening to all their stories of great results and personal bests is most gratifying. Jo & I are forever talking about ways to help each client improve. It inspires us. And the indoor race series was an absolute hoot.

The best thing is it’s all grounded in the sound and practical application of science to training which, as long term followers of this blog will know, is a passion of mine. And it is this application of stuff that actually works that is core to why people come, and keep coming back (along with an environment conducive to training for riders from all disciplines).

We don’t go for fads, pseudo-science or sell things based on scant evidence. Jo of course emphasises the business fundamentals of quality marketing and customer support/relations, as well as the coaching. She works so hard and with a passion and commitment to success. It’s a great team.

We also started our own outdoor road training squad, with the Turbo Studio cycling kit now a regular feature on Sydney’s Saturday morning roads. Again the focus is on good training. Far too many groups seem more interested in quantity of riders over the quality of their training, and that’s not how we do things. Group sizes are kept down to promote a higher quality of ride, greater safety, better skill drills, more enjoyment and a far better training impact. They are fun too!

We look forward to opening more Turbo Studios in the years ahead.

Power to the people

So from one new business to another – in 2010 I was appointed by SRM to be an official retailer of their power meter products here in Australia (and some limited offshore markets). That’s been going well, and while a small and specific segment of the market, it perfectly complements everything else I do. The product is first rate in the world of power meters. Let me know if you want one – I promise a good deal!

Coaching goes up a gear

Late in 2010, Ric Stern made the smart move for us both to take the coaching business up another notch, and so Ric brought on board Dave Smith (a former GB coach) as our new commercial director. We set up a new company, RST Sport and the three of us are the directors. We appointed a high quality group of coaches to join our existing team – all with strong background in the practical application of science to coaching for performance. While cycling is our mainstay, we are also working with high level sports people from many backgrounds. The depth of talent on our team is seriously impressive.

My clients this past year have been based all around the world, including Mexico, USA, Australia, France, Norway, the UK and Ireland. It's exciting and fun to work with a diverse group of clients across the globe - and they have all moved up to new levels with their own performances - we all look forward to the challenges ahead, with some big goals to knock over this year. I thank them too for their continued support.

2011 will be an exciting year for RST Sport. There is so much happening and to do.

The cutting edge

There’s one other venture I’m involved in. I can’t reveal a great deal about it other than it will be a new technology specifically designed for the accurate assessment of the aerodynamics of a bike and rider while they are riding their bike, no matter the environmental conditions. It is this latter element that makes this project seriously exciting. This is cutting edge stuff in so many ways, and again I find myself involved with some very smart people. As I can, I’ll talk more about it, but if you’ve heard of “Aerostick” then you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Travels

In September and October, I made a return trip to California to spend another week with Steve P and his family, who once again so generously hosted my visit. We had some great rides in and around Sonoma County and once again I participated in Levi Leipheimer’s Granfondo. I can’t thank Steve enough for the opportunity afforded me.

After the week in Santa Rosa, I made a long road trip, first south to San Diego to meet up with a new client, a very promising junior from Mexico, and his father. After that I headed east through Arizona and New Mexico, visiting some places I’d seen before and some new sights.

I'd been to Sedona before, but thought it was worth another look:

This was on my way to Colorado Springs via New Mexico to catch up with the good Dr Andy Coggan, who was talking at the USA Cycling coaching conference which I sat in for a session and spent a little time hanging with the USAC coaching development team. Andy & I hung out for the day which was pretty cool. Andy's the skinny dude:

Then I headed back west to do some sightseeing through Utah, Nevada on my way back to Santa Rosa. Here's a few pics from the journey. You can click on any of them to see a bigger version. It's pretty spectacular scenery:

Once back in Santa Rosa, I delivered a seminar on aerodynamic field testing using a power meter, hosted by our good friends at Echelon Cycles. Among those attending the seminar was Professor Robert Chung, whose methodology was one of those I was lecturing on, so it was kinda cool to have the good professor in the audience. You sure know quick smart if you make a mistake, but I don't make too many fortunately.

We were scheduled to do an actual practical field testing exercise the next day, however the heavens opened up and so rain forced us to postpone to another day. I was headed back to Sydney the next day, so follow up was done remotely. Amazing thing this internet.

In February I got to return the visitor’s favour to one of Steve’s team mates – Peter and his partner Therese, hosting their visit to Sydney and taking them on a road trip, mainly to see some kangaroos. We saw hundreds of the buggers. Lol. That was fun.

Training & racing

Yep, did that too!

Just after my last annual report, I raced a local 2-hour enduro and it was hard. Riding as part of squad we did well on the day. As it turns out, my two-hour race power was my highest ever all time, pre- and post-amputation. I was pretty amazed but there you go. It would seem legs are over rated.

But there was a cost. My knee didn’t agree with the effort that day, and severe pain and swelling resulted in several weeks off the bike and nearly a week of being unable to use the leg for walking. Now it wasn’t all the bike racing’s fault, as that was Easter and I had a visit by a mate and his kids and we spent a long day out doing touristy things. That meant many hours on my feet, and well that just doesn’t agree with me. I seem to be able to do 6 hour hilly rides with no ill effects, but 6 hours of standing/walking is bad news.

These set backs happen to most competitive athletes and we learn to deal with them as best we can. As an amputee, well it adds a bit of extra spice to the mental challenge. Along with that I was having a few challenges with the bureaucracy of cycling and wondering whether para-cycling was worth the emotional investment.

Once the leg settled down, I began the rebuild and training went well, with one winter flu bug being the only interruption (well that and my driving holiday in the USA). But not a lot of racing to speak of for the balance of 2010. That picked up early 2011.

Performance highlights were:

- Setting all time power to weight bests for aerobic power from 4-minutes through to 2 hours.

- Winning my opening crit at Heffron (by breaking away with 3km to go for a solo victory)

- Silver medals in both the Kilo time trial and 4km individual pursuit at the paracycling national track championships

- 4th place in the State points race in a field with two world champs

- A win and a new State record time with my team at the Masters Team Pursuit Championships, repeating the same feat we attained in 2007, just a couple of months before my accident

- And just this weekend at the National paracycling road championships, a silver medal in the individual time trial (24km) and a bronze medal in the road race. I made the move in the sprint and it so very nearly paid off with a win and national championship but it was not to be, with my competitors getting me on the line. Inspecting my power file shows a PB 30-second power post amputation, which just shows I really did commit and give it all I had.

- And today, of all days, I get notice that the national selectors are recommending I get a start at the UCI Paracycling Road World Cup in May. That was my main season goal. How good is that!

There is other racing news to come (especially about my new sponsored race team), but I’ll talk about that later once it’s officially launched.

Here I am in the new race kit at the State points race:

Once again there are so many people that have helped me along the way and I am very grateful for their support. Hard not to mention Ric Stern of course, the super coach who's taken me from the lows to banging out more power than when I had two legs. Thanks Ric.

This next year will be a cracker. I can just feel it.

little things matter

2011-04-09T15:40:00.005+10:00

This weekend I’m on Australia’s “Sunshine Coast” in Queensland where the national paracycling road championships are being held. Sunshine Coast? It’s pretty much been raining since I got here yesterday after 15 hours of driving from Sydney.

Today was the individual road time trial. The races were run over a flat 4km section of road that was closed for the event, making an 8km out ‘n’ back course, the number of laps depending on race category. All paracycling categories, including handcycles, were competing today. Those handcycle guys and gals are pretty amazing.

My race (Mens C4) was a 24km ITT which was three laps of the flat S-shaped course. That meant five U-turns. There was a decent southerly wind blowing today (20 km/h) making for cross winds mostly, but short sections of near block head and tailwind. Here’s the course map:

24C, 1024hPa and 85% relative humidity.

And below is the power, speed and cadence trace (click to see a larger image). As you can see by looking at the speed line, the wind really had an impact.

So how did I go? Well the power was OK and about right for my current form. I pretty much just tried to keep a 3 in the hundreds column on the power display and let the legs tell me if that was about right. As is typical legs felt way too good early, plus pushing into cross-head wind, resulting in a solid start.

Average for the 35 minutes or so was 304 watts. Normalised Power 305W.

At halfway I started to struggle and power dropped a bit for the next section. I was focusing on keeping a rhythm as much as I could and use the short tailwind section for a very slight recovery, knowing that I would probably be able to find something for the final leg.
I just needed to hang in there.

Hang in there I did, and I lifted for the finale (ouch – that was hard) but it was worth it.

I took Silver, 1:13 down on the winner (Ryan Hughes) which is what I expected given the gap between us in the Individual Pursuit earlier this year. I thought about a minute or so would be about right.

But I only took silver over bronze by 1/100th of a second! That’s the equivalent of the width of one’s hand over 24km. 0.00045%. Now that’s what I call a slim margin.

Sometimes the little things matter.

Go Turbo Studio.

Road race tomorrow.

Anaerobic Stuff - Mr Peabody's WABAC Machine

2011-03-16T06:32:00.018+11:00

Time to get into Mr Peabody's WABAC Machine. C'mon Sherman, let's wind the clock back to 2007....

This post is another take on my February 2007 Darth Vader item. Back then I wrote, with considerable assistance from Mr Peabody - er, I mean Dr Andy Coggan, an item about Maximal Accumulated Oxygen Deficit (MAOD).

Andy introduced the concept of using power meter data from a well paced individual pursuit as a means to estimate MAOD (which ordinarily would require lab based testing). He expands on it in the book, Training & Racing with a Power Meter, pp 244-248 (2nd edition).

Just to recap, MAOD is the "gold standard" measure of an athlete's anaerobic capacity. Expressed in litres of O2, it's the difference between the energy produced aerobically and the total energy demand. In an event such as the individual pursuit, a rider's total energy output is typically ~ 70-80% via aerobic means and the balance of course via anaerobic metabolism.

So I thought I'd take the analysis method from that previous post, run it on my recent events and add another twist - the points race.

In recent posts I've mentioned a few track endurance* events I've raced:
- 4km Individual Pursuit (Aussie National Championships - C4 paracycling)
- 2km Team Pursuit (Masters 150+ State champs)
- 20km Points race (Masters 45-49 State champs)

Edit: I've since updated the list to add in the 1-kilometre time trial I raced at the Paracycling nationals the day before the 4km individual pursuit.

It's all part of my comeback to competitive cycling, as these are the events I most enjoy. Well except for the individual pursuit. That's an event impossible to enjoy. But it's fun to do some analysis of pusuiting because it reveals so many things about a rider. Physiologically, technically, aerodynamically and psychologically.

In the weeks and months before my accident in 2007, I rode the same events, the only difference being the individual pursuit was 3km, not 4km and the team pursuit was 3km then vs. 2km this year (different distances for different masters age and paracycling categories).

I've been riding these events for many years but 2007 was my best season up to that point, with a win in the Team Pursuit (in a new state record time), a bronze medal in the National Masters Points race champs and two personal best times in the 3km IP. So for me, relatively speaking, they provide very sound benchmarks for how I've bounced back since then. I'm not going to go into that here though as I've already covered that a number of times.

OK, back to Mr Peabody and the analysis. Here's the chart showing cumulative O2 deficit from my recent races:

Click on the pic to enoxygenate (apologies for the Phil Plaitism).

The picture details the cumulative O2 deficit for four rides - my individual pursuit (red line), the team pursuit (blue line), the 1-km TT, and also a roughly 5-min section from my points race last weekend (the Richie Benaud cream jacket tan line). I'll get to the points race later.

Just to explain the chart - let's take the red line for the individual pursuit. You start the event from a dead stop (your bike is held in a starting gate which releases on count down to zero) and then accelerate over about 15 to 20 seconds to a high cruising pace, which you are then attempting to maintain for the balance of the event. The red line is a measure of how much oxygen "debt" I am incurring as time passes.

I incur this O2 "debt" since my power output in a pursuit is somewhat higher than my sustainable threshold power (which can be produced almost wholly via aerobic metabolism - or in a "pay as you go" sense). Once you ride above threshold, you are tapping into your limited anaerobic work capacity - and it really is limited - meaning that such efforts are by necessity going to be short lived. Harder you go, the less time you'll last. Nothing new about that.

Not only that but once you expend your limited reserve, in order to continue you will have no choice but be forced to ride under threshold in order to recover the O2 deficit. This is why pacing your effort is so crucial in timed events, and in mass start racing why dosing out the hard efforts at the right time is so important. The cost of "blowing up" is considerable in performance terms.

It's also why improving threshold power is so crucial. When you do go into the red zone in a race, you don't incur as much O2 deficit, or can last for longer at that level. And when the pace eases up again and you dip below threshold more quickly, you recover faster meaning you are ready for the next attack before someone else is. Counterattack anyone?

How do we determine this aerobic/anaerobic contribution with a power meter? Well as per the book, it's matter of looking at O2 kinetics of a well paced pursuit:

Andy showed that we can plot, along with the actual power output from a pursuit, a line representing a rider's theoretical maximal aerobic power output based on lab tests of a rider's VO2max** and efficiency***.

Except that in my case, I don't have the latter. Never mind, since the steady state part of a well paced pursuit represents power output at VO2max, we can simply adjust those VO2max and efficiency values so that they match the steady state portion of the pursuit power file. I assumed an efficiency of 22.5% and adjusted my VO2max value until it fairly represented my steady state power output in the pursuit. It came out at 58 mL/min/kg. If you change the VO2max (or efficiency) value, it moves that maximal aerobic (red) line up and down accordingly.

OK, so that's pretty funky, I can estimate my VO2max (or at least a range given that we assume efficiency is in a range typical for trained cyclists).

But by then directly comparing the difference between the maximal aerobic power, and what power I actually produced, we can then attain an estimate of the proportion of energy output from anaerobic contribution.

In my case, it estimates about 17% of my energy was from anaerobic supply. That's a little lower than typical for a pursuit, but my race time was 5:08, which is longer than the 3.5-min to 4.5-min efforts for elite riders in 3km and 4km pursuits and so it's not entirely surprising.

It also means that my MAOD was estimated at 4.16 L. We'll tag that number for now.

OK, so how about those cumulative O2 deficit lines?

In the WABAC machine we saw the way the O2 deficit would climb at different rates when riding a team pursuit as a rider alternately takes a pull on the front (O2 deficit line increases at a faster rate) and then gets back in line and recovers (where the line either rises more slowly or can even fall if the rider is quite powerful and not overly challenged by the team's pace).

If a rider exceeds their MAOD, then there is a pretty fair chance they will crack, which in a team pursuit means they are unable to continue and pull out after their turn on the front, or as sometimes can happen they cannot even maintain the pace of the rider(s) in front and they end up creating a gap in the line, which is bad news.

So I plotted the cumulative O2 deficit line from my recent individual and team pursuits and they shows the same pattern as in 2007. The team pursuit line is much shorter of course since the event is half the distance of the individual pursuit, and in a team, so it is considerably faster.

I also plotted the same line from a section of my points race on the weekend. I chose a starting point very early in the race, it was about lap 6, with 4 to go to the first sprint. My team mate was on the front at the bottom of the track, he slowed the speed down a little in the preceding half lap and then launched an attack, I was on his wheel and went with it.

I had to go pretty hard, with peak power reaching 1184W in order to cover it (he's a world class masters sprinter but not on form right now). The idea was to see what we could get from it - either get a break happening or at least pick up some early points for later strategic benefit.

Problem was, he cracked pretty quickly and I was left with about 3 laps to the sprint line. I was committed, had a gap, so went for it. The cumulative O2 deficit line shows just how deep I went. Very deep.

Once the sprint line was passed I then had to do everything I could to ensure I stayed in the race. You can see how the cumulative O2 deficit line drops away as I reduced my power output and went on the hunt for good wheels to follow. Not long later you can see the line begin to rise again as the next sprint was approaching. I sat that one out just making sure I got through unscathed and could cover any counterattacks.

When you look at the blue line tracing my cumulative O2 deficit from the team pursuit, it reaches a maximum of 4.26 L (about 2.5% higher than from my individual pursuit) and in the points race I reached 4.46L (7% higher than in the IP). What's going on there?

Well, a few things:

- firstly, there is normal day to day variability in performance.

Given that in this analysis we are keeping VO2max and VO2 kinetics**** constant, then the performance is wholly expressed as a difference in MAOD. And since anaerobic contribution to power output is still only 25% or less of total over several minutes, then it still only means a difference in performance of ~ 20-25% of 7% or less than 2% of the total power/energy.

- the next obvious difference is group versus solo efforts, and the influence of motivation/psychology

I would never discount the role that motivation can have on performance and perhaps I am capable of pulling just that little bit more out of myself in a team or a mass start event than I can in an individual pursuit. I can't imagine how I could go any harder in the IP, but it is interesting nonetheless to see if there's any more blood to get from this stone.

- thirdly, as Andy mentioned to me, lab studies indicate that MAOD is independent of the duration of the effort, although he doesn't recall any studies looking at efforts quite as long as this (~5-min). Perhaps that is a factor as well.

So there you have it.

As for the points race, well that attack was a very big risk and a large match to burn so early on. I really needed it to either form a successful break or net 5 points in the opening sprint (3 at least given the race favourite was always going to be very hard to beat). I was overhauled on the line and ended up with 1 or 2 points (I forget exactly) and so it meant I had not gained the desired return on investment. It sure wasn't through lack of trying.

It also meant that since I had gone so deep into O2 debt, I would need every ounce of craftiness to stay in the race. Perhaps in going so hard, the chase was not so easy either and everyone else had to recover too and that was just enough to keep me alive. Thereafter I just took my opportunities to collect points as I felt able. I had to gain 3 points in the final sprint to have a chance but didn't have the legs for that last lap to contest. It was enough for a 4th place finish. Had my initial salvo netted 5 points, perhaps the result may have been different and I made the podium instead.

That's bike racin'.

Edit: Since posting this the other day I also added to the chart the data from the 1-kilometre time trial. As we can see, I reached a MAOD of 4.30L, which is consistent with giving it all and with the MAOD values attained from the other efforts. Not sure if it affected the value attained in the pursuit on the next day, but does highlight the day to day variances.

Thanks again to Andy Coggan for his inspiration, Ric Stern for getting my form to such a good stage and all those team mates and competitors and supporters who help bring the best out of me.

* We call them endurance events, since even though they are about as hard as hard can be and relatively short in duration as far as cycling events go, they are still fundamentally aerobically (with oxygen) "fueled" efforts, albeit with some sizeable contribution from our anaerobic (without oxygen) energy systems.

** VO2max is the maximal rate of oxygen uptake by the body, typically occurs when exercising very hard for several minutes, although it can be induced with efforts lasting over longer periods (VO2 slow component). Expressed as litres of O2 per minute, or in relative terms as litres of O2 per minute per kilogram of body mass.

*** the proportion of mechanical energy output delivered to the bicycle crank as a ratio of total energy metabolised by the body - trained cyclists are typically around 19-24% efficient. The balance is almost all given off as heat (which is why we get so darn hot when going hard).

**** Initial VO2 assumed at 0.5 L/min and half life for VO2 assumed to be 25-seconds.

Point scoring

2011-03-14T18:12:00.004+11:00

Let's race! Say, a State Points race championship - masters 45-49.

All you need are one to two dozen hard men. Toss in one current masters world champ, one former world champ, and bike bling as far as the eye can see. Carbon wheels and frames galore. One carbon leg. I'll be screwed if they ever bring in a carbon tax.

80 laps, sprint every 10 (2.5km).

Go hard. Sprint. Blow. Recover. Cover. Grovel. Sprint again. and so on. Watch your position, keep tabs on the score for yourself and others.

Finish 4th.

These races are a whole 'nuther world of pain.

Not really much of a race report because, well, I can't remember all that much they are so effing hard!

I made a very early attack and it was on for (not so) young and old for rest of the race. 18 listed starters, I think a couple of DNS. We were nudging 60km/h for most of the eight sprints. Field too good to allow a break despite many attempts.

You are on your limit, recovering from one sprint, covering counter attacks, grovelling to stay in at times, planning the set up for next sprint and having to do the maths along the way to work out who's got what points and what wheels you need to attack/cover.

Here's another pic to show off my leg and the sexy new Turbo Studio team race kit.

Peak power: 1184W
NP: 299W (it felt harder than that though)
About 25-26 minutes of purgatory.

Damn that was fun.

Déjà vu

2011-02-27T16:54:00.004+11:00

2007 was the last time I rode a Team Pursuit. My team won that day and set a new state record time in the masters' age category. Indeed two of the pics that line the top of this blog are from that day.

I wrote about our 2007 effort in this popular post which looked at Maximal Accumulated Oxygen Deficit using the power meter data from team mate Phil and myself.

Well as most of you know, a few months after that race I had my accident and the subsequent leg amputation.

Yesterday I rode in my first Team Pursuit championship since then. In between times I coached our squads while I made my recovery on the bike myself.

Well we won again and set a new state record time (2:21.379). Phil was also in the team and we both have power data from the event. Déjà vu.

There was one main difference this time - in 2007 we were in the "younger" age category, this time the "older" age category (three youngest riders 150+ years). I suppose another five years does that! It also means the event this time was shorter - 2000 metres compared to 3000m for the younger category.

Interestingly, the power output for each was similar.

In 2007 I averaged 397W in the final.
In 2011 I averaged 411W in the final.

Leg? What leg? More pretty convincing evidence that a lower leg amputation need not be an impediment to cycling performance.

Here's a pic of the power, speed and cadence trace from yesterday's final.

Cadence maxed out at 126rpm, and averaged ~ 119rpm during the "cruise" part of the event. I rode a 51x14 gear (nominal 98").

Here I am with Phil (left) with whom I have been riding Team Pursuit events for the last 10 years. Sneaking into the shot is John Crouchly, a good buddy and former coach of some Aussie Olympic track riders. I had the pleasure of coaching John himself helping him to a win in the State individual road time trial championships in 2009 as well as get him started into the world of training with power.

Our club had five teams riding and our good buddies Peter, David, Alan and Crouch picked up the bronze in our division with two cracking rides a couple of seconds behind our team, the all ages team placed 4th and the 2nd all ages team had a good qualifier setting the early standard. The girls also rode well to get on the podium.

What else can I say? I think I've made a pretty good comeback.

Form = Fitness + Freshness: Take 2

2011-02-06T17:34:00.011+11:00

A few weeks ago I posted about gaining some form after a race win in a local crit.

Here's take 2.

Yesterday (Saturday) and Friday I raced the Aussie national track cycling championships in the para cycling categories at the Dunc Gray Velodrome here in a blazing hot Sydney. There are only two events for individual para cyclists - the time trial and the individual pursuit. So I enter both. For my para category (C4) that means a 1-km time trial and a 4km individual pursuit. Ouch.

The day before that I had to go through reclassification. I was first classified in 2009. I suppose there was a slim chance my leg might have grown back since then.

Not having raced the "kilo" before, I just went at it hard but keeping a fraction in reserve on the opening lap. The kilo is raced as an individual, whereas in the pursuit you are racing on track at same time as your opponent (starting on opposite sides of track).

I finished the kilo in a 1:16. My opponent rode a 1:15. I was 1 second in front after 750m but my fade in the final lap saw my opponent overhaul my time. Happy with that. Much room for improvement from me, so something to think about for next year. A little more than a couple of week's notice of getting a ride might help...

The next day we had the individual pursuit. Here's my power trace:

Just power and cadence showing.

Stats:
Average Power: 363W
Time: 5:08
Place: 2nd

Again I was pretty happy with that. My 5-min power/weight ratio was an all time personal best pre- and post-amputation, and the time was 4-seconds faster than previous national record. My opponent though had a fantastic race, going 4:58 and setting a huge new PB for him. Nice work Ryan! :)

CTL: 96
TSB: +8

Once again, Form = Fitness + Freshness

Next up - Team Pursuit later this month.

Form = Fitness + Freshness

2011-01-17T12:50:00.004+11:00

It's one of the Pithy Power Proverbs that came along with the introduction of the Performance Manager Andy Coggan introduced to so many of us in 2006.

Five years on and it still works.

Example:
In the last couple of weeks I've been bouncing around with a Chronic Training Load (CTL - "fitness") above 100 TSS/day (see link for an explanation of these terms) but had some external life stresses and work commitments (like refurbishing and expanding a growing indoor cycle training centre amongst other things) which combined saw me "crack" a little in training. Not badly, just enough to know it was time for a little recovery.

By cracking a little I mean being unable to successfully complete a scheduled hard tempo session within a desired power range a couple of times and one endurance ride that was a bit of a grovel. One bad day isn't always a sign, but 2-3 examples not far apart is something usually worth taking a closer note of.

So I shut down the session the second time it happened and had a rest day the next day. It is also very hot and humid when I get to train which likely did not help, and combined with insufficient sleep, well the signs were all there.

So an extra day's rest, combined with a few no-bike days due to coaching work commitments saw a sharpish drop in Acute (recent) Training Load (ATL) and a corresponding rise in Training Stress Balance (TSB - "freshness").

On Saturday I had my regular squad training group (which I run) and said to myself that if I feel OK, I would go race in the afternoon.

As it turns out, I did feel pretty good in the morning, so I decided to line up for a crit that afternoon (at Sydney's Heffron Park).

I win.

Which is always nice of course. A good way to start the year off.

Winning move was made when I attacked with a bit under 3km to go.

A few things to note for day of race:
- FTP: 295W - my last TT in December was @ 297W (38-minutes)
- CTL: 96 TSS/day
- TSB: +19
- NP*: 300W (50-minutes)
- AP^: 257W

Race was not overly hard, I was pretty well in control most of the time. I had a solo break mid-way but that failed due to a rear puncture (was given a replacement wheel and allowed to rejoin main group).

The final 4-minutes of the race was a new
all-time best 4-minute W/kg.

Now ordinarily I wouldn't expect to feel so good with TSB that high. Neutral to somewhat positive TSB yes, but at +19, sometimes you feel underdone or legs are a bit claggy. Not today.

Fresh and Fit. Toss smart into the mix and well, wins are there to be had.

By the way, I know it's been way too long since I've posted. It's just been a very busy 12-months. All good stuff and I hope to be able to get back to more regular posting. I have a backlog of items to write about!

A super full year of events coming up in 2011. So much happening on the coaching, training and racing front, I will endeavour to keep y'all updated!

* Normalised Power
^ Average Power

Ascension Rates and Power to Body Mass Ratios

2010-07-09T21:28:00.009+10:00

As many of you know, the cycling speed attained when ascending steep climbs is primarily a function of a rider's sustainable power to weight ratio. More power and/or less weight means a rider can climb faster. Pretty simple really.

But it's not the only factor to consider. For instance, wind can still play a sizable role in speed attained. And of course when climbing in a race, race tactics will play a role, with attacks, surges and pacing by team mates (or motorbikes!) all serving to alter ascension rates for a given power output.

Recently there has been some (typically annual) discussion on a few cycling forums about ascension rates of pro riders, estimated power to weight ratios and whether or not such performances are plausible sans-doping, even suggesting that some ascension rates cross over some level of "sans-doping plausibility" and should be a red flag to anti-doping authorities.

Well I'm not going to delve into all aspects of this issue other than to say that, in essence, there are so many variables that such an approach is really a pretty futile exercise.

In the end, all the pro riders that demonstrate such tremendous physical acts will already be under the eyes of anti-doping authorities, so I really don't see how such an idea really adds any value to the issue of doping in cycling.

Many issues of a physiological nature have been batted about, and there are a couple of excellent summaries of some of the science demonstrating the massive variations in such estimations in these two items by Dr Andy Coggan:
Superhuman Performance? Part I
Superhuman Performance? Part II

Nevertheless, I thought I would look at the challenge of estimating power to body mass ratios from ascent times up one of the most famous climbs in Tour de France history - Alpe d'Huez. Below is a chart summarising (click on the picture to see a larger version):

In modelling of cycling power and speed, I used the mathematical model as per the 1998 Martin et al paper:
Validation of a Mathematical Model for Road Cycling Power.

The equation in question is shown below:

For the purposes of this exercise, I have simplified the equation a little. The main assumption being that of reasonably steady state cycling and no change in kinetic energy from start to finish (which is reasonable assumption given that the difference in speed from start to finish would be negligible and over ~40-minutes is a tiny proportion of overall energy demand). If there are a lot of surges or changes of pace along the way then a little more of the overall energy demand may go into changes in kinetic energy.

Then there is the climb itself. I have used a course elevation profile which, as far as I can tell, corresponds to the timing points which have been used to time the ascension up Alpe d'Huez since 1999. Before then different measuring points were used. My data indicates a climb of 13.93km with 1085m of vertical ascent (there are a few metres of marginally negative gradient right at the top).

I divided the climb into 56 segments of 250 metres (final segment a balance), with each segment having a gradient and wind vector assigned. The modeling then applied the maths to the segmented climb.

The following additional assumptions were used for the modeling:
- Rider mass: 70kg
- Bike + gear mass: 8kg
- A coefficient of rolling resistance (Crr): 0.0045
- A coefficient of drag x effective frontal area (CdA): 0.300m^2
- Air density: 1.046kg/m^2

Importantly, I have also assumed an even application of power for the duration of the climb. Of course no rider applies power perfectly evenly up a climb, although climbs with relatively consistent gradients generally produce consistent power outputs (if you inspect power meter files, you can usually pick the climbs as the power line is smoother and speed is low).

Then what I did was to calculate the ascension times up the Alpe d'Huez course profile for various power to body mass ratios, with a 2.5 m/s tailwind (9km/h), with no wind and with a 2.5 m/s headwind.

One can then see the quite sizable role that wind can play in estimating W/kg from ascent times.

To read the chart, for instance, take a time of 40-minutes flat (40:00) on the vertical axis and see where that time intersects the diagonal lines marking the tail-, no- and head-winds. The horizontal axis then marks the corresponding W/kg required for that time.

So, for 40:00, depending on wind conditions and assuming even pacing (and other assumptions as listed in the chart), then the power to body mass ratio required would range from 5.6W/kg for a tailwind to 6.35W/kg for a headwind.

Alternatively, if you are a 5.9W/kg rider then you could attain a time anywhere from 38:10 with a 2.5 m/s tailwind through to 40:00 with no wind and 43:00 with 2.5m/s headwind (off the chart).

I then added lines to mark the ascent times for various riders I selected from this Alpe d'Huez Wikipedia reference. Note that the times from 2004 were an individual time trial, the rest are final ascents during a TdF stage race. As we can see, the estimated power to body mass ratio for Armstrong’s super quick ascent time in the 2004 Individual Time Trial falls in the 6.00-6.85W/kg range, depending on overall wind direction.

Times for other riders in earlier tours such as Pantani were not taken using the same timing points, hence I have excluded them.

Of course the course winds its way up the ascent in various directions due to the famous switchbacks, and any wind vector would naturally vary accordingly, so by putting an indicator of reasonably modest but noticeable winds, at least one can see that any given ascent time will still end up with quite a wide range of possible power to body mass ratios.

All I can say is, given that some believe there is a performance level that is beyond plausibility sans-doping (some have suggested 6.2W/kg, some less, some more) then all the climb times listed in the chart straddle such "plausibility levels" with such a large range of uncertainty that it is simply not possible to draw any firm conclusions on power to mass ratios from ascent times alone.

Keep in mind that the highest ever 1-hour power to body mass ratio known and recorded is 6.4W/kg by, as far as is understood, a non-doped rider.

Bon Anniversaire III

2010-04-11T11:25:00.014+10:00

Three years today since my accident.

I’m not sure sometimes if it seems like yesterday, or a lifetime ago, as the temporal distance sensation oscillates from day to day.

One thing is for sure, I am mostly looking ahead and not back. But anniversaries (good or bad) tend to be times for reflection. So it is once again with today’s post.

I did previous post-accident annual reviews in these two posts in 2008 and 2009:
Bon Anniversaire
Bon Anniversaire II

It’s been, all up, a pretty darn good year with more change and plenty of challenges. In keeping with the theme of this blog, I’ll go over my rehab and cycling related topics for the past year and leave out other personal stuff.

Rehab
My physical rehabilitation has progressed very well. I upgraded my general prosthetic in June 2009 as I had “under grown” the other one. I say “under grown” as my fellow acquired amputees would know that the residual leg (or “stump” as we call it) gradually shrinks over time, until it settles after 2-3 years. It does continue to change over the years.

Prosthetic sockets, being hard inflexible containers for your stump, eventually have to be re-made to suit your new size and shape. In between times, you adjust to it each day, and through the day, by using different size, thickness and number of socks to provide for more or less compression as comfort dictates.

One frustrating aspect was my early use of the new prosthetic didn’t go so well. My knee reacted badly and it broke open the skin on the inward side of my knee and the rubbing against tendon created significant discomfort. My knee swelled and I couldn’t get my stump into the socket. Which sucked. A lot.

Eventually it settled down and I could get back to “normality”.

The open sore / hole in the side of my knee created in June 2009 is still there today. It simply won’t heal up. I’ve tried all sorts of tricks and tips to fix it but with no real success. The only option I think is to not wear a prosthetic for as long as it takes to properly heal over – which I would estimate to be maybe three or more weeks. That’s just not really much of an option when you’re a cycling coach. But it may come to that one day.

Most of the time it’s not so bad, but occasionally it flares up and the knee swells and it hurts when I put the leg on, sometimes standing/walking can be very painful. Sometimes I can’t get into my prosthetic at all. It happened again in December 2009, and the same thing has happened this week. So far I haven’t been able to nail down a consistent trigger for it – which is something I really want to do, as if I know how to avoid it in future, then that’s what I’ll do!

Cycling Performance
Those leg troubles aside, my cycling performance improvement has been excellent. So much so that in the past six months I have actually exceeded pre-amputation power output levels over significant durations, both in terms of absolute wattages, and expressed as power to body mass ratio terms.

I did this post on Power Profiling in January, which compared my then post-amputation power profile to my pre-amputation power profile.

Here’s another chart to show my progress since I got back on the bike in June 2008. It shows the maximal 1-hour (normalised) power I attained in each 90-day period since starting riding again, right through to today. I chose normalised power as it provides a sensible comparison of my performance capacity across all types of racing and training, and represents a very good estimate of the progression in my Functional Threshold Power.

As you can see, my progression has been consistent and steady, culminating in a 1-hour race power last weekend exceeding my all time best except for just one occasion from my pre-amputation racing days (that was during the State Criterium championships in 2006 at 337W).

In fact, in that race last weekend I set my all time highest 2-hour normalised power of 315W.

I must admit, I do surprise even myself at times.

Of course, all the way through this I have had fantastic support from many people, especially from my coach Ric Stern. We are setting no limits on what's possible. Heck, when I can outperform what I did on a bike before an amputation, then what else can I do?

Nevertheless, I still have lost significant elements of my cycling capacities, most notably my sprinting and standing start abilities have been curtailed somewhat. Which just means they may require more work in order to close that gap as well.

Cycling Leg
After getting my new general purpose leg, I also worked on adding a dedicated cycling leg to my “stable”. Previously, in order to cycle, I used to screw off my walking “foot” and screw on a cycling “leg” attachment. It enabled me to ride but it was a PITA having to keep screwing them on/off, and the constant changing would not have been doing the components much good (one day I found one clamp had completely cracked through). And being very sensitive to the set up of the bike leg (lengths/angles etc), this process did have a habit of unintentionally changing the set up at times, enough to cause discomfort or pain when riding.

Getting a dedicated leg would make sure the set up was better suited for the bike, and have the ability to quickly remove one leg and put on the other, if for instance I wanted to hop off at the track and walk somewhere.

So it was back to George at the Appliance and Limb Centre for the bike leg socket design. That bit wasn't so hard as it was really a replica of my existing general purpose socket (all carbon fibre custom moulding) although that might be understating it a little. The funky bits were what we attached to it and the design of an aerodynamic outer shell.

It was all made possible with the funding raised by the local track cycling community organised by Paul Craft of RAW Track fame (and donations and help from wonderful people all over the world), who generously raised about $8000 to cover the costs. The leg was built and we designed a funky aerodynamic carbon fibre cover for it. The leg cost $7600. Add to that a new stump liner at $1000 a pop (and which wear out pretty quickly I’ve since discovered, needing several per year), and well, there goes the $8k!

Also a big thank you to John Bosevski of Cycle Underground who engineered a special adapter plate for connecting the standard prosthetic block to a standard 3-hole cycling cleat. That was based on an original version Peter Barnard made for me in his home workshop.

Steve Nemeth, CEO of Bont Shoes, supplied me with custom mouldable Bont road and track shoes, which have been great (thanks Steve). If anyone needs a size 44 left Bont cycling shoe - let me know - I have two of them spare!

That lace up track shoe is the best I've ever used. Steve has also helped with a few other bits for me. In a semi-related note, just last week I was contacted by a fellow from Canberra, who was in touch with a guy I know in Perth, who for some reason ended up with a spare right Bont shoe in my size. I don't know what happened to the left one and so he generously mailed the spare shoe to me!

Of course getting the leg sized up and fitted properly for the bike - well I was helped by none other than my good buddy and bike fit guru Steve Hogg of Sydney Cyclefit Centre. It was amazing how just the smallest tweak in the grub screws at the bottom of the leg make a large difference in my ability to pedal effectively and in (relative) comfort.

The leg has been great and has been very well used so far and the support I received was, and continues to be, amazing and I am very grateful to everyone for helping.

Racing
In April and May 2009 I competed at both the Para-cycling National and Oceania Paralympic championships, my first attempt at Para-cycling events. I picked up a silver medal in both the road race & time trial at the Nationals and two Gold medals in the same events at the Oceania Paralympic event held in Darwin.

In August I started racing back at the track during the Friday Night Winter race series, and even won my first track race since returning. It was good to be back on the boards. The previous year when I couldn’t race, I was the Chief Commissaire for the series. This time I did half the series as commissaire / half racing.

In October 2009 I raced the UCI World Masters Track Championships. I surprised myself with my 3rd fastest ever 3km individual pursuit and made the finals of both the scratch and points races. I was very happy with that, partly because in 2005 I set out with the goal of making those finals in 2007, but my accident happened in the lead up to the 2007 event and destroyed those hopes. I was also surprised because they were very hard races and there were some pretty fancied names that missed out on finals. It just showed me once again what was possible provided you keep at it, remain positive and do the work necessary.

In November I ventured back to doing an open track race carnival up at the Central Coast (always good carnival that one). It was a successful night and I won one race, took three second places and a 5th in the open miss ‘n’ out race.

My form kept building and I started to approach pre-amputation power output levels. Maybe, I thought, I could get there....

Then, bang – I go and do some time trial training efforts at a power higher than pre-amputation levels. Holy smokes!! OK, don’t stop now :D

All this was of course part of my plan to race the National Para-cycling track championships earlier this year and come home a National Champ. I ended up not even going. I’m not going to bore you with the details, just to say that bureaucratic stuffing about regarding State selection policy left me in no-man’s land for the second year running, unable to plan for the expense and time needed to participate and I had to commit to other things. My form was excellent. Shit happens they say.

The experience left a bad taste though and I struggled for motivation for a little while after that episode. But we move on. I am now somewhat ambivalent about para-cycling competition. Apart from the good encouragement I receive from other para-cyclists, I experienced a less than enthusiastic level of interest from officials in seeing more riders compete at championships; indeed it seemed as if there was active dissuasion going on. Turns out I wasn’t the only one to experience that, which was kind of good (in a bad way) as it meant I wasn’t just being paranoid.

Eventually I got myself going again, and as always the best thing for me is to pin a number on my back and go race! I just love racing so I raced some local criteriums. What grade? Well I started with the local open C-grade.

Oops, won that comfortably.

Next time out I went to B-grade....

Oops, I bridged across to a break and the three of us circulated at same pace as A-grade and left the rest of them to fight it out for nothing. OK, so I’ve been re-graded back into A-grade. LOL.

Last weekend I raced a local Masters Enduro – a 2 hour + 1 lap affair. What a corker of a race! Apart from helping a mate (& client) get into a successful 3-man break, along the way I generated my highest ever 2-hour race power and 2nd highest ever 1-hour race power. Here I am poking my tongue out for a bit of fun when I spotted photographer Ernie Smith.

OK - I nicked that pic off Ernie's website - I'll sort that later with him :-)

California/Seminar/GranFondo
In September & October 2009, I had a wonderful experience all down to the generosity of Steve Palladino and family, who invited me to stay with them in Santa Rosa.

While there I delivered a seminar on Training and Racing with a Power Meter (talking about a case study in application of a power meter to help Jayson Austin achieve his world masters hour record), did some great training rides with Steve, culminating in Levi Leipheimer’s 170km GranFondo along with the Fightin’ Boba crew. It was fantastic.

Coaching
My coaching activity took another step up through the past year, it’s now the sole source of my income and I love it. I have a great group of clients, spread all across the globe ( I currently have coaching clients located in seven countries) and I really enjoy helping them to perform even better than ever.

Some great results from riders & teams I coach, including multiple State & National championship wins and one world record. Here's a pic of Jayson on his way to a UCI world record.

I started up a new product, customised 3-month training plans, which have been very successful with sales going worldwide including the UK, Europe, Africa, Middle East, USA, Canada, New Zealand and of course all States of Australia. Lots of great feedback with people reporting excellent results and coming back for their second and third plans.

Along with Joanne Palazzetti, I have been very busy with the establishment of a new indoor training centre for cyclists and triathletes – the Turbo Studio. We commenced operation in February 2010 and so far the response has been excellent, with really good growth in client numbers - already some of our sessions are full.

People are really responding to the professionalism of the set up and having a dedicated cycle coaching resource available to guide them in the right direction and answer their various enquiries about training. Half the time is spent dispelling training myths and educating about the use of power measurement in training. It’s all evidence-based training principles and the results are speaking for themselves.

I want to thank Jo for her totally professional approach, creativeness, passion and friendship in getting this project up and running, and for asking me to come on board and just do what I do – i.e. help people get the most from training with power!!

Added to that, I began a power meter hire business. That’s also going well!

Ric Stern & I have been working on other things at RST, with Ric getting the cyclecoach.com website updated with many new features including the establishment of a new forum for all things bike related – especially about training and racing and to support all our coaching clients around the world, including those who are using our Training Plans. The members' forum is available for anyone to join.

Not stopping there – we have other projects in the pipe and expect to announce shortly the addition of new coaches to the RST crew. We have a pretty thorough selection process as we seek to maintain the highest standards in professional and scientific coaching services.

I also embarked upon something I expected to do years ago, and upgrade to the Cycling Australia Level 2 coaching accreditation (I was scheduled to do it in 2007 but my accident got in the way of that). Level 2 is the highest level of accreditation available in Australia bar those on CA staff who are required to do a Level 3.

So far I’ve done part I of the process, which was to attend the week-long CA coaching course in November & December but I still need to complete the balance of activities. It’s just been overly busy since then, especially with the setting up of a new business but I’ll get back to that as a priority over the next few months.

It’s not like I’m not doing practical coaching – it’s what I do for a living and I supervise training groups every working day, write about it constantly and so on.... :-)

So what lies ahead?
Well I expect to keep plugging away with my training and racing ambitions. My racing goals however are a little fluid at this stage and so I’ll likely do some Masters championships along with local racing for the next block. I will continue to pursue improvement in my form and power and to race regularly. Let’s see how much further I can drive my development as a rider.

Business wise there is much to look forward to this year – the Turbo Studio will keep forging ahead, I expect squad training to become part of life, power training seminars to be delivered and of course we are introducing the Winter Indoor Race Series on the Turbo Studio’s Computrainers, which should be a lot of fun. Given there’s about $5000 in prizes (mostly cash) up for grabs, I’m sure it’ll be popular.

My clients have tremendous goals to achieve and I’ll be working hard to help nail them and take them all to a new level of performance. Championships, sportives, category upgrades, commencing racing, all sorts of new goals and challenges.

RST goes from strength to strength and is growing as well, so more to come on that front, including some more new training products on the (hopefully near) horizon.

I expect to complete my Level 2 coaching accreditation as well.

At the moment I am also slated for a return to California in October for the Granfondo, so that should be another epic adventure.

OK, that was a long post, but hopefully not too dull a read. Perhaps you can see why my blogging frequency has dropped a little lately. Of course there's lots of more personal stuff that I don’t write about on this blog (that’s my business!) and there has been plenty to work with on those fronts as well. All up, it’s been another cracker of a year and I hope to make this next one even better!

Safe riding out there.

Where the blogging heck have I been?

2010-02-22T12:52:00.004+11:00

Collecting race winnings at Heffron Park, that's where!

In reality I've just been really busy with lots of stuff and blogging has taken a bit of a back seat for a little while. There is much to write about, just not so much time to do it lately.

So what's new in the Zoo? Plenty!!

Business wise I've been busy with the opening of a new indoor/outdoor cycling training centre here in Sydney - Turbo Studio. Click the link for a peek.

We opened this month and all is going really well. Some are now finding out just how effective a focused power-based indoor training session can be. It suits riders of all abilities as all sessions are set relative to each rider's individual fitness level. That's the great thing with the Computrainer's Multirider set up. And I've been designing the sessions with Erg+ software and next week we are looking to add the real erg videos to the sessions for some extra fun.

Training and race wise, I've been going nicely since the new year ticked over and I cleared a knee injury in December. Threshold power is back to around 300W and I've done three races so far this year, two others were washed out/canceled due to the pile driving rain we've had in Sydney during February.

So it's been three crits so far, all at a local crit circuit, Heffron Park.

I won my first race on 16 January by a country mile and the next week I raced the Australia Day crit (26 Jan), where race promoter and handicapper thought I should be bumped up a couple of levels and race with the likes of Stuart "Computer" Campbell.

Not quite sure how the A grade riders get to race B grade (this is an open race) but nonetheless I hung in there. I suspect I was lucky to be allowed to start at all but that's another story ;-)

That race was ~ 45-min with NP of 319W, Average Power 294W. I was digging hard at times but it was good fun.

Winning the sprint at Heffron

On Saturday just gone, I raced up a grade at Heffron and after the usual opening flurry of attacks (one of which I calmly closed down), I saw two guys attack into the wicked northerly wind and thought to myself "they look the goods", so I took off after them. Nobody followed me.

I then spent the next half lap bridging across and then the three of us decided to work together with the bunch following at about 30 metres. We all committed and the gap began to grow, until after a hard five laps or so I think we cracked their spirit and so we settled into a grind to the finish, never really letting up the pace until the final lap or so. I initiated the sprint, kept it clean (line wise) but was overhauled about 20-metres out and settled for second place. Still getting used to my new level of sprinting. As they say, when in doubt - lead it out.

Longer race this time, ~ 52 min with NP of 319W and Average Power 302W. So fitness is coming along nicely and I look forward to the State Points race championships this weekend coming.

Also keeping me busy is preparations for the Team Pursuit championships. I've been my Club TP coach for a few years now. This year is a little different. I am actually going to race it this year. I'm really happy about that as the TP is my favourite bike race. And it would seem I definitely have the legs for it this time.

As for other training related items, I have a few things banking up to write about - one an item on Quadrant Analysis and maximal force velocity data and another on the relationship between performance in individual pursuit and power/CdA ratios. And another is to finally do the write up and pictures about my completed prosthetic racing leg.

And I hear a whisper about a wind tunnel in Sydney.....

All good stuff. 'til next time folks, safe riding!

Power Profiling - Now and Then

2010-01-02T16:20:00.006+11:00

Often I am asked how my cycling power ouput compares now, to before my accident and amputation.

As I progressed with my training during 2009, and as my fitness continued to improve under Ric Stern's guidance, the answer to that question kept changing, mainly as I started to close in on pre-amputation power levels.

Now that I have a full year's worth of data from 2009, I decided to take a look at my annual power profile and see how it compares to pre-amp levels.

Below is aggregate power profile data covering the past 5 years. It shows my best power to mass ratio (W/kg) for each of 4 separate durations for the years 2005 through to 2009:

The power durations shown are:
5 seconds
1 minute
5 minutes, and
95% of my 20-minute power.

Each of these power-durations represents key elements of cycling fitness, with different energy systems being the primary contributor to performance at each duration. That's why it's such a telling indicator of your overall cycling makeup, and an excellent indicator of your relative strengths and weaknesses.

This is provided of course the profile does in fact contain data from best efforts for the duration. Given it's aggregate data for whole years, then I think it's a reasonable assumption. Nevertheless, sometimes the 1-minute column can still be under stated as that usually requires dedicated efforts not often performed in training or racing.

You can read more about power profiling in this original item by Dr Andrew Coggan here:
Power Profiling

So the group of columns on the left shows my best 5-second power to mass ratio for each year from 2005 to 2009. Each group of columns moving to the right covers the other durations, with 95% of 20-minute power shown by the columns on the far right.

What matters with power profiling is the overall shape of the profile, rather than the absolute numbers. The shape in this case indicated by the lines joining the columns, which I have shown for 2006 (orange line) and for 2009 (blue line). I chose those two years as they are the two complete years representing pre-amputation and post-amputation training/racing data.

I notice a few things:
- the overall shape of each line is similar
- my short duration power has taken a large nosedive
- my longer duration power to mass ratio is actually higher than previously attained

This clearly demonstrates that it's my sprint power that has suffered the most from my lower leg amputation, yet the predominantly aerobic power durations (5-min and 20+ min) have not.

This suggests a few things to me.

One is it's an example of how we are not force (strength) limited when cycling at aerobic power levels, since even though I have lost significant leg musculature and with it strength, I have still been able to generate the longer duration power.

Another is that the lack of a lower leg muscular-skeletal system has a significant impact on sprint ability. The lower leg matters a lot more in the generation of short duration sprint power, than for longer duration aerobic power.

What can I make of this information? Well for one I no longer have the sprint I used to, yet I am as likely to be as well set up for the end of a race as I was before, since I have the engine to deliver me there. But now I lack the finishing ability. My strategy and tactics in racing may need to be modified a little as a result.

I can still work on improving my sprint of course (all track/roadie riders should) but I would say that reclaiming pre-amp sprint power levels is not going to be anywhere near as "easy" as it was for aerobic power durations, if in fact it is actually possible.

It also points to me reconsidering what events I may in fact focus on. They may change as well.

Plenty to ponder with a power profile.

What's yours look like?

Ground Control to Major Tom

2009-12-09T19:12:00.004+11:00

A few of you that follow this little blog will have noticed my steady progress in fitness and form.

It has been going great and I continued with my progress in 2x20-min threshold tolerance interval efforts, culminating in an average of ~ 320W in 2x20-min efforts week before last (an all time PB), followed up with a couple of efforts over 300W a few days later.

Then I headed off to Adelaide for a week and a bit for a Cycling Australia coaching course. I had expected that week to be a light one from a training perspective and after a couple of busy days and some very ordinary weather on arrival (gale force winds and rain!) I got out for a ride on one afternoon after the course was finished for the day. Legs not too bad but still carrying a little fatigue. Nevertheless able to crank it out just fine.

But then something happened to my leg/stump that night. I have no real idea why but it decided to swell. A lot. When it does that then simply putting my prosthetic on is a struggle and very painful. Houston, we have a problem....

Indeed it took me about 10-minutes the next morning to gradually ease my leg into the prosthetic and stand up. It's really painful when that happens. I nearly didn't go to the course that day but I persisted, doing as little time on my feet as humanly possible. Over the next few days I had to repeat the process, gradually getting the leg in there in the morning.

The swelling gradually subsided over the following days but it remained painful. Suffice to say that any ride plans went out the window, even an invite to a local race which I was looking forward to had to be canned.

The real PITA is not knowing why it does this. It's not common but it's really crap when it does this.

So today, eight days after my last ride I tried a light ride to see how it was.

Not flash. Knee was very sore, putting any sort of effort down was not very agreeable, getting out of saddle was not an option and after 10-min the sore spot on the inside of my knee was starting hurt as well. So I pulled the plug after 15-min lest I create more problems. Try again tomorrow. Amazing how quickly the amputation side loses its form.

Hopefully it just needed a bit of a spin to get it moving again and will be better next time. Fitness should return pretty quickly provide the soreness goes. I'm sure gunna need it!

Other things:

Cycling NSW have still not advised on the selection policy for Track Nationals. It's now less than eight weeks to go and I have no idea whether/how selection will happen. At present, the draft selection policy suggests that no NSW para cycling rider will be selected. This is in stark contrast to all other states that are actively promoting as many riders as possible to compete.

It simply sucks and is quite demotivating, certainly not something you want overlayed when you are dealing with injury as well.

In the coming weeks I expect to spend a fair bit of time at the track, trialling a few things from a position/aero perspective as well as start the track specific phase of training. So let's hope this leg gets better quickly!

And on Friday I will be dropping my cycling prosthetic in to George at the ALS to have the outer carbon fibre shell completed. Hopefully that won't take too long. Then I'll be able to show off the flashiest bike leg in the country!

Do the work, and it will come...

2009-11-17T15:22:00.002+11:00

Today I had a training session in Centennial Park.

It was what I call TTIs (threshold tolerance intervals), which were done as two 20-min efforts, with about a 5-min easy riding in between each effort. They are very hard going, ridden at time trial pace. I've written about these plenty before and I've been doing a block of them lately.

As many of you know, I use a power meter on my bike to help monitor my effort as well as record my performance. I've been doing this for many years.

My average power for each TTI today was 314 watts & 313 watts respectively.

That exceeds my all time previous best 2x20-min TTIs (313W & 310W) in January-2007.

That's two years six months after my amputation and one year five months after I attempted to ride for the first time on an indoor trainer (10-min at 100W).

Do the work, and you will improve. Even if you are missing a bit of leg.

Granfondo 2009

2009-11-09T17:01:00.009+11:00

The countryside surrounding Santa Rosa, California:

In early October 2009 I participated in Levi's King Ridge Granfondo.

It was the finale to a week long visit to Santa Rosa, California.

It was a great week of riding and the weather was excellent! Being a city bound lad, the ability to ride for just a few minutes from home and find yourself on country roads winding through the vineyards was fabulous!

I am especially grateful to my very generous hosts, the Palladino clan. Steve, Sharon and Shannon went out of their way to make me feel very welcome, and Steve not only loaned me a bike for the week but also took me out for some great training rides in the week leading up to the Granfondo. What a great place to live and train!

A couple of pictures:

Out training in the days before:

On the morning of the Granfondo, Steve, Sharon & Shannon hosted a Team Boba breakfast, with Shannon cooking pankakes. Yumm!! They were gooood.

I was an honourary "Fightin' Boba" for the day and wore the team kit:

Here's Steve enjoying the ride along with some of the Boba crew:

The roads had some pretty steep sections at times and I saw signs like this indicating an 18% gradient a few times along the way:

Of course going down also means going up, here I am with Steve making my way up the final major climb of the day from Coleman Valley:

One of the funnier moments was on this climb when a few riders were passing a cyclist who was off his bike, hunched over and leaning on the top tube of his bike, no doubt wondering how he was going to be able to continue.

As we were approaching him, another rider started yelling in that uniquely enthusiastic American way "Come on buddy, don't stop now, you can do it, c'mon!! C'mon, get back on!!"

To which the reply from the hunched over rider was, "Shut up, I'm praying!" No doubt he was!

And here are some shots of the scenery encountered along the way:

I also managed a close up view of the redwoods with a little off road excursion when I overcooked it a little on one steep winding descent (and didn't quite have the emergency braking finesse I am used to as the brakes on Steve's bike, while very good, are opposite handed to what I normally ride). It was funny enough and no harm done to me, the bike or the local flora and fauna. Climb back up to the road, dust myself off and get going again. Last time I did something like that was about 25 years ago on a motorbike.

Anyone for lemonade?

The ride itself is pretty challenging, a 103 mile (166km) ride with ~ 9,000 feet (~3000m) of climbing. The more difficult sections were an average gradient ~ 10%.

Ride stats for the Granfondo:

Duration: _______ 6:04:27 (6:29:27)
Work: _________ 3882 kJ
TSS: __________ 389.4
Intensity factor: __ 0.802
Average Power: __ 178 watts
Normalised Power: 224 watts

All up, a great week. I can certainly recommend it!!

Yowser!!!

2009-11-05T18:44:00.005+11:00

Training continues apace. No easing up for me following World Masters Track Champs. None of this rest up for a month crap between seasons.

So with some good ol' fashioned solid endurance work during the week, today I was back to doing an old favourite workout, 2 x 20-minute threshold tolerance intervals (TTIs).

I've written about these before. Really top notch hard efforts designed to boost your power at threshold, which is the single most important physiological factor for success in endurance cycling.

Click here to read more.

Last time I did regular TTIs, was in October & November 2006, about six months before my accident. I've done a few as well since of course but it is interesting to note my progress relative to pre-accident levels.

In October & November 2006, my TTI power on road bike was consistently 295-300 watts. And in fact back then I was doing mostly 2 x 15-minute efforts rather than 2 x 20-min efforts.

In the above linked post, I note I also did a 2 x 20-minute TTIs with average power of 313W & 310W. That was January 2007, when I was right into some good form, had won an open crit and was cranking along nicely leading up to State & National Masters track champs (where I set some PBs). I note my comments at the time were that that was a "breakthrough workout" for me.

So how was today's effort? Well here a pic of the file (well the bit with the TTIs, I chopped off the commute to/from my training course).

That, my good readers, is 2 x 20-min TTIs with power averages of 306W and 307W respectively. OK, them's SRM watts versus Powertap watts, so a couple of percent for drive train differences, but still, that I gotta admit is pretty darn remarkable.

So it puts me at roughly 95-98% of pre-accident TT power.

And I'm only just gettin' started.....

Yowser!!

Legs on fire!

2009-11-01T18:24:00.006+11:00

Well, sort of.

At least that's how it felt racing last night at the Central Coast Track Open. It's been a few years since I've raced this carnival (for obvious reasons), that the ever energised Paul Craft of RAW Track fame organises. It's always been a favourite - all the good stuff you get from a country track carnival without having to travel too far - it's about a 90-minute drive from my place.

When I say good stuff, I mean you get value for money races. Lots of events, something for everyone and the usual Crafty entertainment value. Shame you can't say that for many of the events hosted in the city.

I went up early this year as they were desperately seeking extra commissaires for the junior carnival which was being held in the afternoon before the senior carnival. So I spent the afternoon checking junior gear rollouts and standing (sometimes sitting) in the sun making sure all the little tikes behaved themselves out there on the track. It's fun watching 'em go round.

Once that was over I pulled on the Bicisport skinsuit, pumped up the tyres and got out on the track for my warmup. Looking at the program I had been given a mark of 195 metres, which put me at the top of the C grade field. I think in days gone past I'd be closer to the 90-110 metre mark and in the B grade group.

For those not familar with what I mean, in Australia we have a form of track racing called a "Wheelrace". Riders line up on the track at their designated handicap mark, the gun/whistle goes and the winner is first past the post after a designated number of laps. So in theory all riders have a chance to win since the fastest riders have to complete a greater distance. The rider(s) off zero metres is/are called the "scratch" marker(s). So in this example, when I race the wheelrace I start 195 metres in front of the "scratchies".

Now what also happens is you can't have everyone who's racing the carnival on the track at the same time, so heats are run to determine who qualifies for the wheelrace final. There are many ways to do this so I won't bore you with the details.

Just before that race was the opening scratch race, which I came second in after a bit of collusion between two Bathurst riders prevented a fair sprint - with one deliberately blocking me for his mate (the winner also qualified for the wheelrace final). Collusion is not legal in track racing but the comms didn't pick that one up. Generally doing things like working hard to pull a mate along is OK but deliberately blocking another rider is a BIG NO NO - you must contest the sprint. I had a seriously good lunge at the line despite only getting to poke my nose out at the very last second. Damn I thought, the legs felt GREAT!!

Wheelrace heats were run as graded wheelraces and in my heat I was the next to last marker but I won my heat (and a few $ for my effort) by passing all riders in front of me. I think the extra motivation from the scratch race finish spurred me on this time. And good legs.

After the scratch race and wheelrace heat, there were Kierin heats, which I placed 2nd in to qualify for the final (three went through to final).

Then we had one of Crafty's special races, the "miss n out handicap". Simple race, riders roll out and every lap the last rider across the line is eliminated, except that in this case the A, B & C grades start at different points on the track. So in the opening laps a few A graders get eliminated early until they catch B and/or C grade. Once it comes together it reverts to a standard miss n out. Our race came together reasonably early so I did what I always do and be attentive to position in the bunch while other (often much stronger/fitter) riders get eliminated behind. In the end I was 4th last rider eliminated, with the remaining riders being the A grade road runner dudes. Once again, nice work legs.

Right after that was the Kierin final! I came second by about a wheel. And a few more $. Petrol money really.

Then the Wheelrace final. That wasn't so good as I had a slight mishap with my cleat off the start, which cost me too much distance to the riders in front and I couldn't make it up, so I retired gracefully and called it a night.

So six races with one win, three seconds, two finals and a 5th in the miss n out. And a few $ for my efforts.

On fire!!

WTF is happening??

2009-10-30T09:29:00.005+11:00

Ok, it's been a while and posting lately has been slow.

That's actually a good thing - I've just been really busy. I have lots to update on, so I'll get to it all. Eventually, LOL.

I had a fantastic trip to California to ride the countryside around Santa Rosa, participate in Levi's Granfondo and also deliver a seminar on training with power. So I'll get to those in separate posts later.

I also have been doing lots of training leading up to the UCI World Masters Track championships which were held last week. I had a really good championships, riding a good pursuit time and making the finals of both the scratch and points races. More on that later too.

Here I am am up front and personal during my Individual Pursuit last week:

I rode a 3:54 3km pursuit, which is about 6-7 seconds slower than my all time PB but it's still my 3rd fastest time ever. My average power was 375 watts.

Also, as part of the training I did some aerodynamic field testing, mostly for wheel choices, so I'll report on that too!

And some cool stuff on the coaching front as well..... like I said, I have been busy.

Ahead I have a really solid block of training in front of me as I prepare for the Track nationals in early February in Adelaide.

And more cycling performance experiments to perform.

And to finally finish off the leg - with an aero fairing.....

Also I go to Adelaide in late-November for a week long Cycling Australia coaching development course.

Stay tuned folks!!

Testing is Training....

2009-08-30T11:53:00.008+10:00

One of the Pithy Power Proverbs is "Training is testing, testing is training." by Andy Coggan. It's really a way of saying that one shouldn't be afraid of "mucking up their training" in order to schedule a performance test, since by their very nature, tests are very high quality training efforts anyway.

Many think that one needs to taper or rest up significantly for such tests and that's what "mucks up your training". Well yes and no. A lot depends on where you are at in your training.

Certainly at lower Chronic Training Levels (less than ~70-80 TSS/day), then a significant rest up really isn't necessary. Sure, don't go and smash yourself the day before hand but not too much more concern should be had with resting up. At high CTLs then perhaps a little more recovery time is in order before tests.

So over the past couple of weeks I have been doing some testing. Coach Ric figured it was time we checked under the hood to see whether I was running a 2 pot screamer, a Wankel rotary, a turbo 4, the family 6 or a big donk of a V8.

Before I get to how that panned out, here's a quick summary of my training over the past 7.5 weeks in the form of a Performance Manager Chart:

You can see that following a break after the National (Apr-09) and Oceania (May-09) Paralympic road race championships, my CTL had fallen significantly (was at ~ 70 CTL at time of the champs). I had expected it to drop a bit as I was taking a week off and then some easy riding but a series of events led to quite a long interruption to my training of about 8 weeks. Initially I had problems with my new walking prosthetic and after that was finally sorted and I rode again for a couple of weeks, I took then ill for a while with some weirdo viral bug. So CTL dropped to ~ 32 TSS/day with lots of time off the bike.

OK, so once I was healthy enough to train and had my prosthetic sorted, it was time to ramp it back up again. In the period leading up to testing my CTL was rising at a little over 6 TSS/day per week, which you can see by that steady upward march of the blue CTL line in the chart above.

So after that five week block of training, I had a week with a 16km time trial (TT) scheduled for a Tuesday and a Maximal Aerobic Power (MAP) test on the Thursday. Those days are shown on the chart above.

Here's the power trace from the 16km TT:

Well it's actually a bit shorter than 16km at 15.3km. Four laps of Sydney's Centennial Park (a gradually undulating course) but it's close enough for the purpose and is a testing ground I have used many times. I did the TT on my road bike (no TT rig at the moment).

299 watts for 24:29 (37.4 km/h)
Peak 20-min: 301W
CTL: 69
TSB: -31

That's 92% of my pre-injury PB power (326W) on the same course.

Testing Part II was the MAP test on the Thursday. Here's the result:

MAP is the maximal 1-minute average power from a ramp test to exhaustion using a ramp rate of 20 or 25W/min (depending on category of rider). I use a 25W/min ramp protocol.

MAP: 410 watts
CTL: 70.6 TSS/day
TSB: -25.2

That's an all time PB MAP result for me and is 103% of my pre-injury PB (399W).

Note the Training Stress Balance (TSB) at the time of both tests - both what I would call significantly negative (meaning I was quite fatigued), yet I still produced post-accident PB power levels and in the case of my MAP, well I'm a little astounded at setting an all time best just 14 months after I tried to pedal on a bike again for the first time since my accident.

So astounded was I on the day that I decided to make a special effort to re-check the slope calibration of the SRM power meter on my ergo bike. It was slightly off and my numbers were lowered by 4W (initially I had 414W).

Here's a look at my previous MAP test results over the past two and a bit years. Also marked are the months where I had my accident and amputation, as well as when I started back on the home trainer:

One can wonder - was I fully developed as an athlete beforehand? Has that skewed the results?

Well probably not fully developed (I sure had plans of becoming more powerful), but I wasn't un- or under-developed either. I had an FTP well over 300W and a CTL of the order of 100 TSS/day. Up to that point I had attained podium in 6 team pursuit championships including a championship win in state record time, 1 x podium at teams time trial championships, 1 x podium at criterium championships as well as an open criterium win, and a podium at the national masters track points race champsionships (right before my accident).

Now I don't know what specific conclusions you can draw from this n=1 study, but as an athlete who has severals years of power meter data prior to and after a lower leg amputation I think it will no doubt be of interest to those who study the performance implications for such injuries and the use of prosthetics in cycling. Clearly there are many high performing athletes using similar prosthetics.

One outcome of testing is to establish or validate an estimate for Functional Threshold (~1-hour TT) Power (FTP) . On the basis of these tests (the TT in particular and my recent longer threshold tolerance intervals), I have reset my FTP to 280 watts as of the day of the TT. It was previously set at 270 watts.

So what now? Well one thing to note is the ratio of FTP to MAP.

Currently that puts me at a ratio of 280W / 410W = 68%
My previous best pre-injury I was 315W / 399W = 79%

That's quite a remarkable difference in the ratios and I'm not entirely sure of the reason.

Typically the ratio of FTP to MAP is in the range of 72% - 77%, so on both accounts I fall outside the typical range (it happens). Pre-accident I was always somewhere around the upper end of the range. Everyone's ratio is different and can vary through the course of training and be due to your physiological and power profile (anaerobic capacity, VO2max, % of VO2max one can sustain at threshold and so on).

One way to think of it is MAP is like your aerobic ceiling* and FTP is how close to that ceiling you are able to get when riding a TT. So in this sense, it suggests that my roof is plenty high and that I have lots of room to further improve my TT power before I starting bumping my head. Which is good!

* of course there is an anaerobic component to MAP as well (as indeed there is in shorter TTs albeit a smaller overall contributor to total energy output) but examination of hundreds, if not thousands, of MAP tests have shown it to be a reliable indicator of aerobic performance potential.

My testing isn't actually finished. Since I will be targeting the 3km and 4km individual pursuit (and track TT 750m and kilometre) over the next 6 months we have also scheduled a trial 3km pursuit effort for this coming week. That'll be fun.

No news is good news

2009-08-07T11:48:00.003+10:00

Yep, been a little busy of late so not so many posts.

A quick one for the record....

After the National and Oceania championships, I had a bit of time off the bike, which I wanted. A week was the idea, followed by some leisurely riding for a while. Best laid plans....

Then that became a lot of time off because I had trouble adapting to a new prosthetic. Took a while to sort it but it got sorted.

So a few weeks later I started training again and not long after caught some rotten lurgy, which coincidentally also made my leg swell up and I couldn't wear my prosthetic. So another 2 weeks of very little on the training front.

Never mind, get healthy first, train second. Well I've now had a really good few weeks back on the steed and the Performance Manager Chart shows clearly the impact to training loads of two longish periods of time off the bike. The blue CTL line looks like one of those Tour de France mountain stage course profiles.

This week, even after such a short time training again, I did 2x20-minute threshold tolerance efforts at 275+ watts in the park, which is already at a level I was prior to the championships.

My progression on these 2x20-min TTIs since starting back on the bike last year went something like:

Sep 08: 220W
Oct 08: 230W to 240W
Nov 08: 245W
Dec 08: 250W to 260W to 265W
Jan 09: 265W
Feb 09: 265W to 270W
Apr 09: 275W to 280W

And now, after these interruptions to training, I go and bang out 275+W with a little still in the tank.

So now the goal is 290W in ~ 5-6 weeks. Let's see, eh?

Oh, and keeping training in a consistent manner which will see that blue line rising for some time yet.

Next week I start track racing again - the RAW Track series, at which I have been Commissaire for so far this year (and all last season). So it will be fun to ditch the comm's jacket and pull on the skinsuit. Should be a hoot. RST is also a sponsor of RAW Track and RAW Track have supported me greatly in helping to raise money for my bike leg.

As for the bike leg, it is partly completed. I am using it and have been getting all the angles etc tweaked but waiting for one special component (a cleat adapter plate) to be finished by a machine shop friend (I'm currently using an adapter good buddy Peter Barnard made for me last year), so I can hook up the new pylon/clamp I have waiting, finalise the position (lengths and various angles) and then get the aerofoil section completed.

When done we'll make a small run of the adapter plates for future use. Its design will make cleat removal/replacement a lot easier and will be a bit more stream lined and light weight than the one I have at the moment.

It will be one funky looking aero leg when done....

Have also been very busy with coaching things, lots happening on that front but more on that later. One cool thing coming up will be a trip to Northern California at end September, where I'll get to hang, ride, deliver a seminar on training with power and participate in Levi Leipheimer's Granfondo on 3 October. Can't wait!

The Sins of Sins (Testing FTP #2)

2009-07-01T19:02:00.011+10:00

One of the most frequently referenced items on this good ol’ blog of mine (I can call it old, it’s in its fourth year – that’s officially old in interwebby speak) was an item I penned about ways to estimate your Functional Threshold Power (FTP - maximal quasi steady state average power one can sustain for about an hour).

That post was basically an expansion on the original information provided by Dr Andrew Coggan, publicly posted many years ago on the Wattage Forum and dubbed “The Seven Deadly Sins”.

Indeed since writing it, this one blog item has been viewed more than 6,500 times.
Here is the link to the original post:
The Seven Deadly Sins

It was recently suggested to me (by Steve Palladino) that it might be worthwhile to pen a follow up to that post. One that explores some of the common mistakes people make when attempting to estimate their FTP. So here are a few thoughts on the subject.

As is often the case, none of this is particularly original, most of these are just accumulated tidbits of information and knowledge and it is by no means an exhaustive list. I may even have some of it wrong. You may have others worth adding or corrections – by all means, let me know – happy to add them to the examples listed.

Before getting into the list – The Sins of Sins – I will say that estimating FTP is important and the reasons for that are outlined in my previously linked post. It's not important in a “curing cancer” kind of way, but getting it right to at least a reasonable level of accuracy is pretty darn handy as there are many other very useful facets of training and racing with power that rely on having a good FTP estimate.

One doesn’t need to be completely anal about it and testing really often is not typically necessary (a few times a year is usually enough – the appropriate frequency depends on individual circumstances). Also nailing it down to the watt is not necessary either, the nearest five watts is typically more than sufficient.

The Sins of Sins – Top 10 (in no specific order):
SOS #1 – Not testing at all
SOS #2 – Not using an accurate power meter
SOS #3 – Using inconsistent methodologies
SOS #4 – Not replicating riding conditions in testing
SOS #5 – Ignoring signs that FTP has changed
SOS #6 – 95% of a 20-min mean maximal power = FTP
SOS #7 – Using NP from rides < < 1-hour
SOS #8 – Inappropriate use of the CP model
SOS #9 – Not performing maximal efforts
SOS #10 – “I’ve got an NP buster!”

OK, let’s examine each in a little more detail...

Sin of Sins #1 – Not testing at all
OK, this might seem a bit redundant, but honestly there are people who think they can get away with no testing at all but still want to know what their FTP is. Or that testing is such an impost in the training / racing schedule that it is “harmful” to schedule it. Bollocks.

Given the adage “training is testing, testing is training” then really there’s no excuse for never doing an effort or two in order to nail down one’s FTP more tightly than a lame guess. Stop wondering and go and do it. Gee, I feel better already.

Of course, an experienced eye can often inspect the mass of an individual’s power meter data and probably come up with a reasonable SWAG. But far better to schedule a test and be certain.

Sin of Sins #2 – Not using an accurate power meter
(and/or not using a power meter at all)

This is also a pretty obvious sin of sins but it happens. If you are going to use a power meter, it makes a lot of sense to ensure you are collecting accurate data. Otherwise how are you going to be sure that changes in power output as reported are in fact representative of actual changes in performance?

Check your meter’s calibration and make sure you perform the appropriate torque zero / zero offset procedure so that the data can be considered reliable. Neither is hard to do nor time consuming.

And if you don’t have a power meter, sure, go time yourself up a long steep hill climb and make an estimate of power output using analyticcycling.com, but then what? Without a reliable means to collect power data at other times, then the primary benefits of knowing your FTP and all that flows from it are not accessible. So use the hill climb as a good fitness test but the power estimate is essentially for satisfying curiosity or bragging rights at the coffee shop.

Sin of Sins #3 – Using inconsistent methodologies
This is pretty common. When you start out with a power meter, naturally you’ll want to work out the best, most reliable method for your particular circumstances. Everyone has different terrain to ride on, levels of traffic to contend with, opportunities to do a time trial, or time in which they can safely perform a test where they live, or can’t get outside for months on end, etc etc, so the sin(s) they choose to use as most appropriate to estimate FTP are different.

But once you have settled on a good method, then stick with it and replicate the same protocol each time. By reducing the number of variables that can influence the outcome, the more reliable is the data and what can be interpreted from it.

Examples of consistency might include:
- Using the same venue
- Using the same number of light, recovery ride or rest day(s) before the test(s)
- Performing tests in the same order, with the same break in between
- Performing the tests on the same number of days apart (or always on the same day)
- Using the same equipment
- Looking for similar environmental conditions if possible
- Performing tests over the same distance/duration

Of course it is not always easy or practical to replicate everything, every time, but at least consider these factors when deciding on a test method. Some methods lend themselves to more consistent protocol than others. A time trial over the same course, or undertaking a Maximal Aerobic Power test are examples of those which enable consistency without too much thinking involved.

Sin of Sins #4 – Not replicating riding conditions in testing
This might not be as bad as it can seem at first but it makes sense to at least use a test method using the bike/equipment/terrain/location/bike position etc that comprises the majority of your riding at that stage of your training/season.

This is especially the case when there is likely to be a significant difference in the performance (power) using the test method versus what you would ordinarily be able to produce. For example, if you only ride indoors occasionally and know you struggle to generate the same power as you typically do outdoors, then don’t use the indoor trainer to test FTP.

Sin of Sins #5 – Ignoring signs that FTP has changed
“I had a two hour group run today and my Intensity Factor was 1.07”.
Provided you are not falling for SOS #1 or SOS #2, then be on the lookout for signs that FTP may indeed have shifted significantly. There are a number of them and they include:

- Actual performance not consistent with current FTP estimate, such as AP/NP from a 40km TT that is significantly different from FTP

- An Intensity Factor (IF) > 1.05 for any ride or section of a ride of about an hour

- Regular long intervals at/near FTP becoming “easy(ish)”

- Perceived exertion for rides not consistent with intended level (e.g. a tempo power rides feels more like an endurance ride)

- a steeper than typically sustainable medium term rise in Chronic Training Load. e.g. your CTL has apprently risen at a much higher rate than you would normally expect to sustain without getting ill/niggles/overly fatigued (e.g. > 8 TSS/day/week but maybe less for some)

Now these are signs that FTP may need retesting but are not necessarily good tests in themselves. So ignore them at your peril but don’t jump to inappropriate conclusions or immediately adjust FTP. Gather some additional evidence.

Sin of Sins #6 – 95% of a 20-min mean maximal power = FTP
Well, this method of establishing FTP isn’t one of the listed Seven Deadly Sins in the first place, but it has become such a commonly referred to/utilised method (mainly due to its publication in the excellent book, Training and Racing with a Power Meter) that it gets its own SOS number.

Firstly, the main issue with this common Sin of Sins is that the ratio between 20-min power (or other similar shorter TT duration power) and FTP is not the same for everybody, and neither does the ratio remain static for an individual. One should recognise that due to several factors, not least of which is the contribution of anaerobic capacity and the exact protocol used (e.g. performing a pre-ride blowout effort), that the ratio is likely to be within a range and where someone is within that range is anyone’s guess.

So, FTP might be anywhere in the range of, say 90% to 98% of 20-min max average power. Personally, my FTP has been at both 92% and 96% of my then 20-min max average power. So, by all means use 95% of 20-min max power as a starting point but remember it may well be out by some margin and it would be wise to use an additional or alternative method to validate your FTP estimate.

Sin of Sins #7 – Using NP from rides < < 1-hour
“My 20-min max NP from that crit was 378 watts, so is my FTP 95% of that, i.e. 359 watts?”

Er, no.

Apart from falling for SOS #6, the efficacy of the Normalised Power algorithm in providing a “normalised iso-power equivalent” begins to drop somewhat as the duration shortens to substantially less than one hour. 20-minutes is in that grey zone. 30-minutes ain’t too shabby but I think anything less than 40-50 minutes is stretching the envelope a bit much for a reliable number from which to make an estimate of FTP.

Sin of Sins #8 – Inappropriate use of the CP model
The Critical Power (CP) model is a useful way to estimate FTP. See my previously linked item on the Seven Deadly Sins to find out a bit more on how it works.

The calculation of CP is sensitive to both the way data is collected and the data chosen to input into the model. So ignoring reasons for these sensitivities can introduce unwanted errors. Common SOS#8 mistakes are:

- Using data from inappropriate test durations. Ideally you will want data from within a range of durations – typically tests should be at least 3 minutes and no longer than 30 minutes duration. Tests from very short (e.g 1-minute) or long durations (e.g. 60-min) tend to skew the calculations somewhat. Besides, if you have a 60-min test, then CP is somewhat redundant.

- Using data from test durations that are too close to each other, e.g. 3-min and 6-min. It is far better to use one test of ~ 3-6 min and one of ~ 20-30-min. Can also include another from a duration in between but two really good points with sufficient spread between them is all that's really needed.

- Using multiple data points which include unreliable data, such as a test that was not truly a maximal effort for the duration or was tainted due to the protocol/method used to collect the data. Far better to have two very good data points than four data points with one or two suspect numbers.

- Not using the same test durations each time. E.g. using a 6-min and a 20-min test and next time using a 3-min and 28-min test. Pick your sample durations and stick with them, within reason. This is not as easy as it seems, since if you are doing a 5-min test, how hard do you go? It can be easier to pick a power level you expect to maintain for the duration and go ’til you blow. But if it becomes a significantly different duration, it may affect the outcome.

- Using a different protocol to collect the data. Principles of SOS #3 apply. If you perform both, say a 5-min and a 25-min test on the same day, then next time do it the same way and in the same order. If you perform the tests on different days, then be consistent about that protocol.

- Similarly, avoid cherry picking mean maximal power data from different rides, e.g. a local TT and last week’s crit and then next time a Level 4 training effort and the hillclimb during the local world’s bunch ride.

- Selecting non-contemporaneous data. Now that’s a big word. What I mean is, you don’t select your best 5-min power from three months ago and combine it with a 25-min test from last week. The data must be from the same time period (I suggest the limit for data collection be approximately one ATL time constant or around 7-10 days)

- Using Normalised Power. Don't. Use Average Power.

- Not weighing yourself or using the wrong body mass for the model.

Note that the CP value calculated by the model is typically a better estimate of FTP than the 60-min power predicted by the model. The 60-min power prediction is usually a bit higher than the CP value.

Sin of Sins #9 – Not performing maximal efforts
Testing performance requires one to go to the limit, otherwise one can never know where that limit is. There is some sub-maximal testing one can do, such as determining lactate threshold in the lab but for the purposes of using a power meter to ascertain FTP, then one does need to lay it all on the line.

Of course it goes without saying that one should be sufficiently fit and healthy to perform maximal effort testing. Undergoing testing while health concerns exist may well end up being the biggest mistake of all!

Sin of Sins #10 – "I’ve got an NP buster!"
No you don’t*.
It is 99.99% likely that:
(i) your FTP is underestimated, or
(ii) the duration you are referring to is not about an hour, or
(iii) your power meter data is suspect – reference SOS #2.

* OK it is possible, just highly improbable and some substantive evidence is required before making such a declaration and joining this rare club.

Finally, there’s not much point in taking your track bike to the local velodrome, doing a whole bunch of anaerobic efforts while tooling around the infield in between efforts, racking up some weirdo NP number due to all the breaks and then seeking to use it as guide to FTP. The test needs to be realistic for the purpose. This is a variant of SOS #4.

I’d expand some more on this, like “what the %&%$ is an NP buster?” and “I do so have an NP buster” but perhaps I’ll save that for another day.

OK, that’s enough for today. It was a bit long but hopefully it can help you to avoid some of the more common pitfalls when attempting to estimate your FTP. It's not all that hard.

Good luck and safe riding!

Goals Galore

2009-05-26T20:11:00.002+10:00

OK, my first season back on the bike is over. I'm having a shortish break of a week or so.

So how did I go? I think pretty well all things considered.

After learning to walk again, I attempted to pedal for the first time in mid-June 2008. By mid-May 2009 I had won 2 Gold medals at the Oceania para-cycling road championships in both the time trial and road race as well as Silver medals in the same two events at the Nationals a couple of weeks earlier. Along the way I had attained an FTP of ~ 270 watts and a MAP of 385 watts. I reached CTL of ~ 70 TSS/day.

Some things, which seem minor to many, were not trivial to do. Things like getting a bike leg attachment sorted out, having short cranks made so I could pedal with a knee that wouldn't flex very well. Progressing to longer cranks. Being able to ride out of the saddle. Riding outdoors again. Riding on the roads again. Racing for the first time again. Riding on the track. Racing on the track. So much has been a rediscovery of bike riding. In a way that's part of what has kept me going, re-learning stuff that I had taken for granted before.

So all up a very promising start for my first (nearly) year back on the bike.

But what's next?

Well I've decided on a few longer-term and medium-term goals.

Longer Term Goal (as at May 2009):
To be re-evaluated after Feb 2010 track nationals.
Kilometre time trial to be priority, ultimately aiming to be top 3 of all para categories by 2011/12.
This pushes for 2012 Paralympic selection in the team sprint.

Medium Term Goals (as at May 2009):

1. Attain podium standard performance level at Track Nationals, Feb 2010 (whether that results in podium depends on competitor numbers at that standard).
- Stretch goal to be Silver medal standard by Feb 2010
- Specific events are Kilo TT and 4km Pursuit.
Event standards (Gold / Silver / Bronze):
Kilometre TT: 1:16.631 / 1:18.091 / 1:20.280
4km Pursuit: 5:03.404 / 5:09.075 / 5:17.582

2. Continue all round development as a rider
- ability to ride competitively with prosthetic
- Lift mean maximal power/mass ratio across key durations (FTP / MAP / 1-min and sprint)

3. Further prosthetic development
- new cycling specific leg in use by Aug/Sep 2009

4. Refinement of riding position with new prosthetic / work on better aerodynamics
- seek 5% reduction in pursuit CdA (currently ~ 0.26m^2)

So there you have it.

Now all I got to do is buckets of hard work.

Crocs, toads & mozzies...

2009-05-20T18:09:00.005+10:00

OK, my first "season" is done. I finished it off with a trip to Darwin, in Australia's Top End, to compete in the Oceania Para-cycling road championships.

I finished that event with Gold medals in both the Time Trial and the Road Race for the LC2 category.

I also picked up a few dozen mozzie bites for my trouble, which have been persistent little buggers, itching for quite some time since getting home.

A few things about Darwin have changed in the 15 years since I lived there in the mid-1990s (but not all that much really - certainly not as much as locals would have you believe).

Firstly, you now see dead cane toads on the road. Next thing is part of the reason why you see dead cane toads on the road is because everyone is busy looking at the personalised numbers plates which seem to be on every other car, and clearly aren't seeing the toads they are running over.

Other than that, yeah there's a few more buildings, especially around the port area, more new apartments everywhere, some new hotels and some more shops here and there (like at Nightcliff).

Some things however, never change. The drivers pretty much exhibiting the same sloth like reflexes at traffic lights for instance. They'll run every red light under the tropical sun but take forever to start when the lights go green.

Then there's the NT News, the local paper. It is unique in Australia and the front page headline was typically a story about an animal (often crocodiles), alchohol and or sex. Extra points for combining all three.

Well here's the front page the first morning I was there:

Which was followed up a couple of days later with this little gem:

The fact that this latter one appeared the morning after the Commonwealth Government handed down probably the most talked about public budget in decades which appeared on every front page in the country, except the NT News. Well, that's if you ignore the "budget" reference to the photo of the python squeezing the life out of a possum!

Anyway, for the record, some power stats and comments from my racing over the last couple of weeks:

National Paracycling TT Championships (LC2):
Hilly course
Duration: 0:38:57
Average Power: 264 watts
Normalised Power: 276 watts
Place: 2nd (~2.5 minutes)

National Paracycling Road Race Championships (LC2):
Very hilly course.
Duration: 2:10:17
Average Power: 225 watts
Normalised Power: 271 watts
60-min mean max NP: 286 watts
30-min mean max NP: 308 watts
Place: 2nd (38 seconds down)

Oceania Paracycling TT Championships (LC2):
Duration: 0:52:27
Average Power: 264 watts
Normalised Power: 269 watts
Place: 1st

Oceania Paracycling Road Race Championships (LC2):
Duration: 1:52:34
Average Power: 216 watts
Normalised Power: 262 watts
Place: 1st

1st 46-min riding with Michael Gallagher (LC1 - categories were combined) before he finally cracked me:
Average Power: 225 watts
Normalised Power: 288 watts

Note: Michael also rode the open elite TT the next day. He won that.

Of all those rides I am most pleased with the National road race. That was a very tough course and I put out personal best power, and very nearly stole a march over my far younger and lighter competitor.

So, 11 months after I first tried to pedal again, and just over two years since my accident and 23 months since my amputation, that's not a bad start for my first season.

Planning for the season ahead has already started. I'm having a couple of easy weeks first though.

Thanks to Ron Bonham for the photos

Another Hour of Power

2009-05-07T22:06:00.011+10:00

48.317 km.

That’s how far Jayson Austin was calculated to have ridden on his second and successful attempt to set a new world record for Masters Men (35-39) distance ridden in one hour. It added a huge 2.676km (5.8%) to the previous record set in 2007 by Jason Sprouse of the USA.

Jayson on his way to a new World Record

It is also the second furthest ridden by an Australian, with Brad McGee holding the honour of the furthest distance (not sure exactly how far but it is something over 50km).

It’s also about the same length as this post, so be warned!

I wrote about Jayson’s previous unsuccessful attempt in this post: An Hour of Power, which has been one of the more popular reads on this blog.

So what went right this time? How did Jayson add a whopping 3.649km (8.2%) to his previous attempt where he managed to ride 44.668km?

More excellent photos on the ride taken by Trevor Mullins can be found here:
http://tregan.com.au/photography/Sport/Cycling/One_Hour_Record/

As I have mentioned before, there are three things that primarily contribute to a fast time trial (or in the case of the hour record, to maximise distance ridden):

Power to the pedals
Piercing the wind (plus fast tyres)
Pacing the course

I’ve previously explained these Three Ps in this post: Old Skool.

OK, well let’s consider his first attempt at the record last year.

Power - Feb 2008
Average Power: 241 watts (4.0 W/kg)
Normalised Power: 259 watts (NP:AP = 1.07)

Jayson took quite ill in the weeks leading up to the event and he was clearly not in the form he would have normally expected come race day. In hindsight he probably should have postponed. However that is a difficult choice as the logistics to organise the event make that tricky. In addition, on the day the timing system failed and Jayson had to abandon the attempt after 5-minutes and do a restart. That certainly did not help his cause at all. Jayson also chose to use a gear far too large for his form on the day.

Average Power for his first attempt was 241 watts. Normalised Power was 259 watts, giving a ratio of NP to AP of 1.07. For an hour record attempt, that is a very high ratio and one would expect a very well paced effort on a velodrome would see that ratio being very close to 1.00.

Piercing the wind - Feb 2008
Using the data available from the SRM power meter on Jayson’s bike, I concluded his CdA (a measure of how slippery you are through the air) was in the vicinity of 0.190m^2. That is very slippery for a bike rider by any standard. So Jayson had a pretty slick set up and position. Riding 44.7km with an average power of only 241 watts certainly indicates he was piercing the wind just fine.

Combined with his power, the ratio that most determines the speed a time trial rider will travel at is their sustainable power to aerodynamic drag - FTP : CdA - ratio.

In Feb 2007 that ratio was 241 / 0.190 = 1268 W/m^2

Pacing - Feb 2008
In essence, in the context of his sub-standard form come race day, Jayson simply paced poorly, making the classic mistake of going out too hard and fading. Badly. Ignoring the pacing signals from his coach, this was well and truly demonstrated by the charts in the first linked post, showing how much he faded through the course of the attempt, finally hitting a brick wall at around the 45-min mark.

Breaking his average power down into 15-min sections shows the dramatic fade in power:
00-15 min: 302 watts
15-30 min: 272 watts
30-45 min: 242 watts
45-60 min: 151 watts

I suspect what Jayson did was to ride at a level he felt he would be able sustain but that turned out not to be the case. C'est la vie.

Using my pacing analysis models (something I haven’t written about in any detail here), I have rated Jayson’s pacing with a Pacing Score of 0.960, which is, in fact, the lower anchor point on my relative pacing performance charts (i.e. indicating very poor pacing). A best in class Pacing Score is 0.995 (with 1.000 being theoretically perfect pacing).

To put that into context, if Jayson had ridden with best in class pacing, even with the reduced power at his disposal on that day, he could have added another 1.5-1.6km to his ride distance. He missed the record that day by 974 metres.

These are tough mistakes to make and hard lessons learned. But we often learn more from having the courage to make mistakes. Certainly both Jayson and his coach would have felt a little burned by the attempt (what some may not know is that Jayson had, in training, already beaten the record, just not officially sanctioned with UCI supervision, electronic timing, doping control etc etc that is required for an official record to be set).

In the months following, Jayson’s riding, form and morale slipped somewhat and his coach (a friend of mine), who was moving onto other projects, suggested Jayson speak with me about taking him on and getting him back on track. So Jayson and I discussed where he was at and set ourselves the objective of having another crack at the hour (as well as other racing objectives along the way).

For me, what was going to be important was that Jayson demonstrated a willingness to learn from the mistakes made (both from the ride specifically but also in general). You can be sure that these lessons were not lost on coach, and I consider them to be a substantial contributor to Jayson’s excellent performance the other week.

The biggest failure this time round would not have been missing the record, but in repeating the same mistakes.

OK, so how did the successful ride compare?

Power - Apr 2009
Average Power: 302 watts (5.0 W/kg).
Normalised Power: 303 watts (NP:AP = 1.00)

That’s 61 watts (+25%) more than his previous attempt. Now that’s gotta help. How did he manage it?

This time round Jayson did not get ill before the event. Nevertheless he is still relatively prone to illness, niggles and for some reason, a little accident prone as well (he even had a crash a few weeks before the attempt which did disrupt preparations a little). Jayson also works a full time job, with a lot of manual labour required (he works in the commercial flooring industry). So the ramp up of his training loads were pretty carefully managed to avoid increased susceptibility to illness and at times recognise that his work was sometimes tough on his body and training needed to be cut back. Even so, there were times when Jayson would do more than coach liked, and guess what? – the niggles would appear soon afterwards and training would be compromised.

Over time Jayson really started to appreciate the sense behind carefully managing the training loads. It enabled consistency of training and from that follows a steady and sustainable improvement in form. Jayson told me his form “sort of snuck up on me”.

Of course I did not confine Jayson to just training. Racing was a reasonably regular part of the diet. Every rider needs that little extra motivation at times, and pinning a number on your back is an excellent way to do this. As well, in the final weeks before the attempt, we minimised his exposure to Sydney’s busy roads, with a majority of rides being either with me, a trusted mate, at Centennial Park, on the velodrome or on my purpose built ergobike, Thunderbird 7.

Clearly Jayson has an engine and can really dig out some excellent power at times. What he lacked when we began working together, some 40 weeks before his hour ride, was depth of fitness. Despite very low training loads, he is way too capable of putting the hurt on and suffering the consequences. For those that understand the numbers, his chronic training load (CTL) at the time we started was ~38 TSS/day.

At the time of his hour ride:
CTL: 86 TSS/day
TSB: +10 TSS/day (training stress balance)
CTL/ATL Time Constants: 42/7 days

I did not have Jayson doing huge volumes. What I did do was ensure Jayson was doing quality work. Good solid endurance. Plenty of sweet spot / tempo work. Threshold tolerance work. And during the specific race preparation period, high end aerobic power work and specific threshold work on the track bike and in aero position at the track. The limited taper involved cutting back volume while using short but relatively intense intervals at the higher end of his aerobic power level abilities.

Here is a comparison of his power last time and this time:

Piercing the wind - Apr 2009
OK, so I have already established that Jayson was pretty darn slick through the air. But was any further improvement possible? Well yes as a matter of fact. Some positional changes, a different set of aero bars (based on a British Cycling design) and use of double disk wheels resulted in Jayson’s CdA lowering to around 0.185m^2. That’s a 2.6% improvement. It doesn’t sound a lot but that is worth approximately another 420 metres to his ride.

The bike exactly as ridden.
Thoroughly checked to ensure full compliance with all UCI regulations.
Note placement of the SRM PCV under the saddle.

Of note was that on this attempt, Jayson rode with a standard "under ball of foot" cleat position. In Feb 2008, Jayson used a mid-foot/arch cleat position. The fact that improved aerodynamics was achieveable despite the higher saddle position required of the regular cleat position would not be lost on some astute readers. Jayson also received a lot of support from fit guru Steve Hogg, mainly addressing many of the regular niggles, minor adjustments, use of various stem options, different saddles etc.

During training at the track, where possible, changes in position or equipment were compared to assess the differences. An alternative aero helmet was tried for instance and found to be substantially less aerodynamic than the Uvex that Jayson used. This is one of the direct and practical benefits of using power meters. It removes much of the guess work and objective decisions can be made based on the data.

So now Jason's FTP:CdA ratio is 302 / 0.185 = 1632 W/m^2

Even so, I would say that further improvement with his aerodynamics is still possible. There are still several minor details which, with enough solo track time, I would like to have tried and tested but they will just have to wait for another day.

Pacing - Apr 2009
Well I’m glad to report that Jayson now has the unique honour of topping the pacing league table, with a Pacing Score of 0.998, the best score I have ever recorded, as well as being the low anchor point (0.960).

Let’s just say that of the things that were drummed into Jayson’s head, pacing was what I was most concerned with. I knew he had the power. I knew he was slick. But would he be able to execute?

To ensure that happened, we did a lot of work in the weeks leading up to the attempt focussed on pacing. I developed a means to clearly communicate pacing information to him and Jayson began to develop an excellent “feel” for how to augment his effort ever so slightly each lap to maintain a sustainable pacing level. His choice of gearing was part of that strategy.

One thing went against the “conventional wisdom” – Jayson’s average cadence was 112 rpm. Conventional wisdom says Hour Records are all but set with a cadence of ~100rpm give or take 1 or 2 rpm. Bollocks to conventional wisdom I say.

Pacing information, lap times etc were conveyed on a regular basis

We also knew that different environmental conditions would impact on the sustainable pace on the day and we trained on different days with subtly different conditions. On the day of the attempt I checked both the air temperature and air pressure and that would tell me what pacing would likely be sustainable (and what wouldn’t). Dunc Gray Velodrome is not climate controlled and the temperature can and does vary quite a lot.

For example, a 5C drop in temperature would reduce the distance ridden by ~ 280 metres and an increase in air pressure of 20hPa would mean another 315 metres lost. Fortunately it was not a cold (21C) nor a high pressure (1004hPa) day although it had been warmer in training. Also, we requested that all windows and louvres be closed so as to minimise any potential wind disrutption and to retain as much heat inside as possible (April is Autumn in Sydney).

Of course the athlete is the one that must make a call on how hard to go but I had developed a very good understanding of his body language and could tell when it was too hard. Jayson was never going to go too easy, that’s for sure. My main concern was keeping a lid on it in the opening minutes. Jayson was made well aware of the lap times and how that played out relative to the existing record. The pacing mistakes were made in training, and ironed out in training.

On race day, nerves and adrenaline took a hold (I expected it, heck coach was nervous too!) and Jayson’s pacing was a little up and down in the opening minutes. However he made rapid adjustments knowing full well what over cooking it would do. It took quite a while but once he settled into a rhythm, his pacing was metronomic. Average lap times around the 250 metre track were 18.59 seconds (not counting the opening lap).

We had planned for a couple of “rest” breaks, where he could sit up, stretch, relieve any pressure points for a lap or so but as it turns out he didn’t need that and remained firmly in position for the entire hour. At times he varied his pace a little, and sometimes pushed himself back in the saddle, which was quite deliberate and helped him to stay comfortable and keep his concentration going.

Here is a comparison of his speed last time and this time:

That's more like it!

Thank you to:
Apart from Jays actually having the gumption to have another crack and delivering, there were many others involved in helping him get there and all should rightly share the success, including his former coach (hi Peter) who introduced him to training with power in the first place and showed what was possible, sponsors, the officials who helped coordinate the venue/UCI/ASADA etc, our club chief Mike, Jayson's family/support crew, Steve Hogg who was very accommodating with equipment and constant positional adjustments, training and racing buddies who kindly lent special gear (wheels, bars) for the attempt and rode/raced with Jays during the build up. And then all those that showed up to cheer him on!

Footnote:
Just six days after his record breaking ride, Jayson was knocked from his bike by a car while on a ride by a “hit and run” driver. Knocked unconscious and very, very nearly run over by another oncoming car, who’s driver managed to stop with the bumper bar over Jayson’s head, he is lucky to be alive. Jayson was admitted to Manly hospital and fortunately suffered no broken bones. However he did suffer from a sizeable haematoma and severe swelling of the thigh which required emergency surgery to open the leg (a fasciotomy) so that excess fluids could be drained and the swelling would not prevent blood flow. That was successful but now he has a large open wound which will take some weeks to heal.

He has since been discharged and it will be at least eight weeks before he can work or ride. As you can imagine Jayson is pretty pissed off about the incident but otherwise is in good spirits.

So now it will be onto the next challenge, getting an injured soul back to good form. That's something I have some experience with.

Well done Jayson! A super ride.

Photos: David Lane, Action Snaps:
http://www.actionsnaps.com.au/

Brutal but good

2009-05-02T16:16:00.003+10:00

Just back from a brutal road race - the National Paracycling championships being held in Murwillumbah - over same course as used for the Junior U19 men and women earlier in the day.

I am now officially tired and sore. 2nd again (4th overall in combined category race). Hard to combat those skinny kids! But I was close. They got away on the biggest climb on 1st lap of 4 (with 4 climbs each lap the last one is ~1.5km at 7-10%). Knowing there wasn't much point burying myself just to get dropped by them again, I sat up and waited for the leading tandem pair in the blind category who were only 50 m behind me and they towed me round the next three laps. It was hard enough hanging onto the tandem!

We were making ground and on the last lap (in the rain) and had them in sight, and on the penultimate climb, I said "thanks" and decided to make my move. I got to within 30m of them at the base of the final climb but couldn't quite bridge and had to watch them ride away bit by bit, so I probably finished maybe a minute down. Shame, I reckon I'd have done them in the sprint. This is same guy who won the TT by over 2.5 min, so I had a good ride but I sure needed that tandem!

Still, I was giving away 20 years and 20kg on these guys, so all up I'm pretty pleased with that effort.

2 x Silver medals at Nationals is good going less with than a year back on the bike. :D

Silver Bullet

2009-05-01T09:23:00.002+10:00

Well, not exactly bullet like!

Para-cycling road nationals on at the moment. TT was yesterday and road race tomorrow.

TT was good, I came second in my category (LC2) which given the hilly course I was pretty pleased with. About 2-min down on winner though, so some time to make up.

Other news of course was Jayson Austin's record breaking hour ride on the weekend, setting a new mark of 48.317km. I'll have more to write up on that in coming week(s).

That's all for now folks!

Cheerio

bon anniversaire II

2009-04-11T11:59:00.004+10:00

April 11. Two years to the day since my accident.

How time flies when you’re having fun.

Year 1 was about hospital, doctors, nurses, surgeries (seven of them I think plus multiple minor procedures), drugs (and associated hallucinations), pain, basic recovery, the physical and mental highs and lows, never really knowing how long it would take to get better and just coping with crap. It was also a year of unbelievable support from family, friends and work colleagues.

Year 2 was about getting some normality back to my life (you know, silly things like being able to walk, being able to walk without pain, getting back to doing some work). Naturally, a large part of normality for me was starting to ride the bike again, which I’ve been doing bit by bit since mid-June 2008 when I first turned a crank over on the indoor trainer. And regaining some semblance of fitness as well as losing some weight. Again the support of so many good people shone through and that is good to think of when you have a less than good day.

So what does Year 3 have in store?

Well I have a few ideas, but mostly it’s about evolution and continuing to rebuild this body.

Today I celebrated by doing a quality endurance ride out to Kurnell with a buddy and one of my coaching clients, Jayson Austin. I’ll be writing about Jayson more later – he is attempting to set a new world record for the Masters age group hour record. That happens a couple of weeks from now. Our ride was good. 80km, and for me a workout intensity (IF) of 0.84 (for the main section of ride) and 175 TSS. 12 months ago I could barely walk.

Coming up are a few exciting things:

At the end of April I travel to Murwillumbah in northern NSW to race the National Paracycling Championships. There is a Time Trial and a Road Race. It will be my first attempt at a paracycling event, so there is much to learn in terms of how it all operates. I suppose it’s just another bike race. Done plenty of those!

Then two weeks after that I hop on a plane and travel to Darwin at the top end of Australia for the Oceania Paracycling Championships, which are being held in conjunction with the Arafura Games. Again that involves a Time Trial and a Road Race. It will be interesting to see Darwin again. I lived there for two years in the mid-1990s.

At some stage over the next four weeks I expect to receive a new leg. Well two new legs actually. My current one no longer fits as well as it should and so it’s time for a new one. So it will be bye bye to Schooner II and in with the new. I was thinking, in Cervelo bike naming convention, perhaps I should call this new leg the PC III.

I went in to see George at the ALC to be fitted just over a week ago. So I will get a new general purpose leg. But the best bit is I will also be getting a dedicated cycling leg. That will be uber cool! No more screwing on/off a leg attachment. Yay! The funds raised at my benefit night last November are really helping to make this all possible.

I am also in the process of putting together a time trial bike and am at the bits gathering stage.

Beyond that, I have a few things marked in the calendar but I have my eyes set on getting to the 2010 National Paracycling Track Championships and being in excellent shape and form. Who knows, maybe I’ll even have a crack at the paracycling hour record.

In terms of general progress, well the last update was summarised in this post.

That chronology went up to 25 September 2008, when I performed a Maximal Aerobic Power test at which I attained a MAP of 355 watts. So summarising since then:

28 November 2008: My benefit night and photos.

16 December 2008: 16km TT test – 287 watts
19 December 2008: MAP Test – 385 watts
Both written up as part of my Swiss Watch post.

26 January 2009: Australian Day Race

14 February 2009: Coaching the Bicisport Team Pursuit squad

1 March 2009: First Road TT at Calga

13-15 March 2009: State Masters Track Championships

5 April 2009: Calga TT Part II

Here’s my Performance Manager Chart since I began turning a crank 10 months ago. Click this link for an explanation of what it means (basically the dark blue line going up means I am training more and gaining fitness, and when it goes down I'm training less - not necessarily losing fitness, as that depends for how long the line keeps dropping). Click on the picture to see a larger version.

It shows how my training has steadily ramped up but I have had a few unscheduled interruptions. Early on I had some trouble with my leg not coping so well and needing a week and a half break. After that coach & I were able to continue to ramp up my training for six months, with just one interruption when some unexpected family business required my attention.

Then another problem with my leg happened just as I was approaching a Chronic Training Load (CTL) of 70 TSS/day. It’s frustrating but having had a similar experience already, I knew that it just needed some time to recover. This time it didn’t take as long and I was back on the bike leading into the track championships, which went quite well. However I picked up a cold/flu bug while competing and that knocked me off the horse for a week afterwards. I have since been working my way back from that.

Every day I get on the bike, it’s something new. You learn to adapt. I doubt that need will change from here on.

Bring on Year 3.

New Skool

2009-04-05T13:46:00.008+10:00

OK, a follow up to this earlier post ("Old Skool") about a local time trial (TT) I raced last month on my normal road bike.

On that ride I completed the not quite 25km undulating Calga TT course in 42:55.

I also referred to the importance of the 3 P's of riding fast TTs (well as fast as one can go):

1. Power to the pedals
2. Piercing the wind
3. Pacing the course

With power meter data, the environmental conditions known and some special mathematical wizardry, I am able to quantify each of those three Ps from my ride last month:

1. Power:
My power average was 264 watts (normalised power 268 watts).

2. Piercing the wind:
I estimated a Coefficient of Drag x Frontal Area (CdA) of 0.334 m^2. The lower the CdA, the faster you go for the same power output.

3. Pacing
My Pacing Optimisation Score was 0.990, which ranks between "excellent" and "best in class" and means that in order to attain "best in class" level of pacing, there was another ~ 13 seconds of time savings to be found on course. Those savings can be found by dosing your effort carefully on the course depending on the terrain.

Of these 3 P's, the biggest gains (in a month) were going to come from improving #2: Piercing the Wind.

My pacing is already pretty good (but always room for improvement).

As for power, well that was a bit of an unknown for a couple of reasons, one of which I'll get to in a moment. The other reason was I recently had a bad head cold and needed a full week off training. That's never a good thing when you are training well to improve your power. If you have a good amount of training behind you, it often doesn't hurt your power much, provided you allow yourself to recover properly and don't start riding hard too soon and end up prolonging the illness.

So what about piercing the wind?

After my Old Skool post, a generous offer was made by a former coaching client of mine to loan me a TT specific bike (for a while until I can sort out my own rig). That was an offer too good to refuse, so last week the bike arrived and yesterday was my first and only chance to work on getting the set up right. It even has a Powertap power meter so that was a big bonus :D.

So it was off to Centennial Park for some time riding and making adjustments to the saddle position, the bars, arm rests and so on until I felt I could ride the bike OK. Main challenge was being able to pedal without the prosthetic hitting my arm on the upstroke. It's really annoying. I got it to a stage where it was hitting slightly but not enough to ruin a ride. I will have a solution for that, which I'll write about in another post (some news coming about my new legs).

Sometimes when you go from a road bike position to a TT bike position you can lose some power as you are not used to the different joint angles and so on. Typically you are looking to maximise your aerodynamic gains without much sacrifice in ability to produce power (in the end it's maximising speed that matters). That can take quite some time to optimise as you need time to adapt to the new bike position. I didn't have that luxury as the TT was today.

Here's the loaner bike:

Bike has an aero bar set up and 38mm deep carbon rims, so not a complete aero set up (which would have a rear disk wheel and a deep section front wheel). Also, I am not as yet using an aero helmet - I used the same standard road helmet as last time as well as a skin suit.

So what happened this time?

Conditions today were very similar to last time: calm to very little wind with the same air density at 1.179 kg/m^3 (different temperature, barometric air pressure and humidity between each day but all the variations cancelled each other out to end up with air that was the same density). In other words, the two TTs can be readily compared.

My race time was 41:14, which is 1 minute 41 seconds faster than last month.

So how did the 3 P's compare to last time? Here are the numbers (with previous month's TT numbers in brackets). They allow us to assess how much each component of the Three Ps contributed to my extra speed.

1. Power:
Average: 263 watts (264 watts) - basically the same power
Normalised: 269 watts (268 watts)

2. Piercing the wind:
CdA: 0.286 m^2 (0.334 m^2) - a 14% improvement

3. Pacing the course:
Pacing Score 0.991 (0.990)
Time lost compared to Best in Class pacing: 8 seconds (13 seconds) - so a 5 second improvement through better pacing

So it's pretty clear that the vast bulk of speed improvement was due to my improved aerodynamics, all achieved simply because I was using a bike that enabled me to ride in a much more aerodynamic position. Now if you ever wondered why some riders obsess over aerodynamics - well there's your answer!

Just to put the aerodynamic changes into perspective,
that's over 4 seconds per kilometre faster for the same power.

The nice thing about this is that there are more aerodynamic improvements to be made, and one would hope that my fitness will improve and that I'll have more power available once I adapt to the TT position. As for pacing, well I seem to have that pretty well sorted.

One final comment on the day. Last time I experienced some problems with my leg fitting becoming loose and painful in the latter stages of the TT. I didn't experience the same problem today. I packed extra foam into my leg this time and conditions were a little cooler which more than likely meant less sweat build up inside the leg liner. It still works loose gradually over time but it was much better today and no significant pain.

My next TT will be at the end of April, when I tackle the challenging Mooball TT course in northern NSW. That is part of the 2009 National Paracycling Road Race Championships. Should be a hoot (although I wish it were a flatter course).

Matchfinder

2009-03-25T21:06:00.007+11:00

No, this isn’t a chat about online dating websites! It’s about a method to quickly identify when, during a race, you “burnt a match”.

The concept of a “burning a match” isn’t a new one in cycling – basically it’s a metaphor for saying you did a hard effort, hard enough that it might impact on your ability to do other hard efforts later on in the race, since a match can only be used once. While not a perfect analogy, it’s not a bad one.

How many matches we can burn and how brightly and for how long those matches can shine for might be thought of as the size and quality of our personal matchbook. It’s one measure of our race specific fitness.

Performing well is as much about knowing when to "light one of your matches" as it is about doing the training to build up the size and quality of your matches and the number of matches in your matchbook.

Burning a match is also relative to the race in question. In a 3-week Grand Tour, a match might be akin to a long solo/small group break away or an attack on an alpine ascent, but in a 20 or 30-km points race on the track, it would be an attempt to gain a lap, or go for lots of sprints.

Typically, burned matches are attempts at race winning moves
or, for some, race survival moves.

In any case, often riders like to analyse their power meter files to see when, how many and how big were the matches they set off while racing. It's one way to help assess, post-hoc, the tactical decisions taken while racing (did you really burn an unnecessary match going on a fruitless escapade?) or simply as a way to assess how many and how often matches were lit before you cracked, or even an indication that your matchbook is getting bigger with training.

In the book, Training and Racing with a Power Meter, it shows one way to locate such efforts by using the fast find feature in the WKO+ software. I’m going to show another method, one, that with just a little bit of spreadsheet help, is pretty easy to do and which shows up matches quite clearly.

Again, as with much of what I write, it’s not an original thought. It is based on the Normalised Power concept developed by Andy Coggan and just such a chart can be seen on Slide 15 of his PowerPoint presentation hosted on Google docs:
“Making sense out of apparent chaos: analyzing data from on bike power meters”

OK, so let’s look at an example of what I’m talking about.

Let's take my points race at the recent State Masters track championships. Here’s what the power meter trace looks like for the race:

It shows my power output for the race, as well as horizontal lines showing my Functional Threshold Power (FTP) and my Maximal Aerobic Power (MAP). As is typical with these sorts of races, the power output is highly variable and while you can see some spikes, it is difficult to make all that much sense out of the information presented like this.

But with a little bit of maths applied to the power data, here is a plot of exactly the same race:

Now this really shows up where I burned my matches. In this instance it clearly shows the 6 sprints in which I either contested (the first and the last) or simply needed to put the power down to stay in the race (the other 4). It also shows the periods where I didn’t sprint at all (sprints are every 10 laps in these races about every 2.5 - 3 minutes depending on the race speed), which is when I was in a chasing group as laps were being taken/lost by various riders.

By showing the data in this way, it is really clear when matches were lit. My first one was a pretty big flare, as not only was there a strong sprint but it was clearly an extended effort, perhaps covering an attempted attack after the sprint. But it also shows that after a couple of sprints, I simply didn’t respond when the inevitable attack came. I needed another match but my book was getting a bit thin at that stage.

Here are a couple of other similar plots:

This one is from the State Masters Criterium Championships in 2006:

As is evident from this plot, the first 10-minutes were pretty brutal with some very hard efforts necessary. In this period the field was whittled down to a break of just 6 riders. Then the break settled somewhat, before some more attacks started in an effort to ‘break the break”. It is also clear that on this course, if you couldn’t repeatedly make such hard efforts, you would be toast, limping back to the hotel for an early shower. It was a "repeatedly go hard and recover" kind of course.

Here’s another example from a different type of crit race:

This time I made a solo break very early, then was joined by another rider after about 15-minutes or so and we stayed together up to the finish. You can see the large match early on, and then the smaller efforts while solo, which diminished somewhat when I was joined by my break companion and we established and consolidated our lead. This enabled me to save a big match for when it really counted - the final sprint.

So how are the above plots made?

Well it’s not hard and if you know about Normalised Power, then you’re well on your way.

1. Just take a normal power meter file and open it in Excel (or your preferred spreadsheet software).
2. Then calculate a rolling 30-second average of the second by second power data.
3. Then raise that rolling 30-second power value to the 4th power (watts^4).
4. Then chart that 30-second power raised to the 4th power by time.

That’s it.

I also added lines to show both FTP and MAP raised to the 4th power.

Hint: The chart is a x-y scatter plot, with horizontal (x) values being time and corresponding vertical axis (y) values the power^4 values.

Why 30-second averaging and why raise to the 4th power?

Well, in essence the 30-second averaging and the raising to the 4th power is because (and I quote from Andy's own item on Normalised Power):

the physiological responses to rapid changes in exercise intensity are not instantaneous, but follow a predictable time course, and
many critical physiological responses (e.g., glycogen utilization, lactate production, stress hormone levels) are curvilinearly, rather than linearly, related to exercise intensity

As for #1, as Andy has shown us in the Google docs presentation referenced above, the half lives of many physiological responses to the intensity we are riding at (i.e. our power output) are indeed not instantaneous. The time period for such responses to show up is typically around 30-seconds or so. Some, and I quote, include: PCr kinetics, heart rate/cardiac output and sweating all having half life response times of around 25 seconds. VO2 ~ 30-seconds, VCO2 ~ 45 seconds, ventilation ~ 50-seconds and core temperature changes ~ 70-seconds.

So from the point of view of assessing our body’s responses to intensity (power output), it makes sense to view power meter data as a rolling average power over a 30-second window*. It doesn’t actually have to be 30-seconds but changing the duration of rolling average (to say 25-seconds or to 40-seconds) doesn’t have a large impact on the outcome of the plots.

* except perhaps when assessing maximal neuromuscular sprint type efforts, since the energy systems in use fatigue over a handful of seconds (although our "recoverability" for sprints is still linked to our aerobic or "matchbook" fitness).

This is also why we sometimes refer to things like heart rate as being a "lag indicator" of effort and is one reason why HR is a poor guide to managing shorter harder efforts while training.

As for the #2, the research Andy shows suggests an exponential relationship exists between blood lactate concentration and power expressed as a ratio of 1-hour power (power:FTP, often referred to as the Intensity Factor). In the same presentation one can see (on slide 13) that the best fit for the data shows a relationship very close to the 4th power (3.91).

Again, the use of a nice even number of 4 rather than say 3.9 is simply more convenient and choosing numbers either side really doesn’t affect the nature of the plot all that much.

So if you cracked in a race, or couldn't go with the winning break, then what does your match analysis look like? Did you not have a match when it counted, or did you not use them wisely enough?

Just remember, playing with matches is dangerous, so take care out there!

Championship Comeback

2009-03-20T20:47:00.008+11:00

This past weekend, I participated in the NSW State Masters Track Cycling Championships. I say participate as I was not really likely to pose a threat to the podium in any of the three events I entered.

On Friday night was the Time Trial, which for my category is a 750 metre (3-lap) blast around the Dunc Gray Velodrome. Pretty simpe event really. Once the starting gate releases your bike, you go as hard as you can until you complete the 3 laps.

I was hoping to break 62-seconds.

Just before my final warm up I went to put on my leg but something was wrong, the cleat was twisted out of place.

Thinking it was just the lower clamp bolt that for some reason was loose, I got on the bike to get the cleat angle right and have a buddy tighten the clamp for me.

Except it didn't look too good to tighten.

That's when we discovered a stress crack/fracture in the lower clamp on my prosthetic bike leg attachment which meant the lower clamp-cleat section was completely loose (you could pull it off the end of the pylon). Wasn't there day before.... I know, I gave it a good look over and clean.

Managed to carefully tighten the bolt enough so the section wouldn't move with hand pressure at the same time as to not widen the crack anymore. But I gotta say, it was at risk of major fail in the TT. Bugger it I thought. You came here to ride. If you crash, so what? I've had worse.

But it didn't fail, although I was probably a little tentative out of the gates.

I ended up going better than a 62 with a 60.646 second ride. I figure if Chris Hoy has to do 4 laps to my 3, I'm in with a shot!!

The track time trial is not my natural event but the post-accident Alex is rediscovering all things bike, and so I'm going back to riding a range of events rather than necessarily specialise at this time.

Besides, this year is all about re-building a broken body.

Fortunately, I was able to find a spare clamp on an old "foot" I had in the cupboard, so that went on the leg and all is good again. Who'd have thought you'd need spares for your leg! LOL.

Next up was the 20km Points Race on Saturday afternoon. Now this is my natural event but nowdays I have an unnatural body. So what would happen? I stuck on a pretty tall gear (for me) - a 96.4" (50x14) as I was pretty sure I would need it.

Small field of 13. Still some class riders with world and national masters champs amongst them. Mission: well just get out there and race, and what will be will be.

So with that in mind we rolled out, and before long the first of 8 sprints (which are every 10-laps of the 80-lap race) was on in earnest. Hang on, what am I doing at the pointy end? Hmmm, OK well you're in the slot, so roll with it. 2 points - hey the race has only just started and you're on the board already!

Then it started to get interesting and most of it between laps 10 and 70 is a bit of a blur. But one by one the laps ticked off and I was still there. More than half didn't finish, being spat out the back. I did end up losing a lap (and 20 points with it) along with a small group when the bunch was split. In the end, only 6 riders finished and I was thereby placed 6th, equal on points with Tony from Canberra. Somehow I even managed to help out a couple of team mates along the way. That was fun. Hard but fun.

So after that lot, I had to back up for the 3km Individual Pursuit on Sunday morning. Of course I had crunched the numbers and set myself a, for the time being, challenge of going 4:06 for the 3,000 metre event.

I did a 4:10 but that's all I had in the tank. I would liked to have ridden faster but legs doth protesteth and I knew I had to just run what I brung.

But then again, it was a 4-min power PB so one can't be too harsh on oneself.

It was good to be back.

(and before all you power meter freaks out there are worried about me not posting any data - fret not - I'll have some more techno geekery analysis to share in the next installment).

Old Skool

2009-03-08T17:42:00.006+11:00

Time trialling is a popular part of the sport of cycle racing. The "race of truth" is deceptively simple. Ride a set course by yourself and try to finish it in the shortest time possible. Fastest time wins. Easy.

As always with this sport, there are a number of elements that go into riding the fastest time you can. But in essence, they come down to the three P's:

1. Power to the pedals
2. Piercing the wind
3. Pacing the course

If you don't address all three "P's", you are riding sub-optimally from a "least time" perspective.

Power is all about the training you do to improve your fitness and your ability to ride harder. The power and training part of the equation is something I've written lots about on this blog.

Piercing the wind is all about the aerodynamics of your bike and especially your position on the bike. Given this is about the physical elements that resist our forward motion, I also include a few other items, like having the best tyres for the lowest rolling resistance and an efficient drivetrain so power is not "lost" between the cranks and the rear wheel.

Pacing is the skill part of the equation and is all about knowing how hard to push yourself at various times on the course. Pacing is something I've also written quite a bit about (but not here on my blog), and for which I have developed some mathematical modelling. I'll write a bit here about that one day.

Anyway, what's all this fancy pants maths got to do with "Old Skool"?

Well last weekend I rode a TT. It's our "local" TT run by the NSW branch of the Australian Time Trials Associations (ATTA) which is held on the first Sunday each month on the Calga course, about an hour's drive north of Sydney.

I decided to get back to doing some TTs for a few reasons. Firstly, since they are a race against the clock, once you have set a time then you have a benchmark for improvements. In essence you are racing only against yourself. They are an excellent fitness marker, especially when you are measuring your power output.

Secondly, I have also decided to race the paracycling national road championships (late April-early May), which includes a road TT (and a road race). So getting some similar length TTs under my belt seems like a good idea.

Finally, as I keep on with my return to the bike, I need to rediscover the type of competitive outlets that will better suit my new "body". So going back to riding many different types of events is one way to re-learn all about that.

Anyone who's ridden a TT, or even just watched one, will know that many riders use special bikes which are designed to improve the aerodynamics of the rider and bicycle. Much thought goes into this as it can result in big savings in time for the same physical effort.

However, some riders decide to ride TTs "Old Skool" style, meaning they use a standard road bike with standard wheels and helmet. No special effort is made to improve aerodynamics. That's what I did last week.

For some fun, below is the graphical summary of my ride and pacing analysis.

There's a bunch of stuff on there I won't go into today but in essence it shows the course elevation profile (it's an out and back course, with the first half mostly climbing) with elevation data obtained via two methods I won't describe here now, and two lines showing power - the yellow line is my actual power output (a 40-second rolling average) and the green line is a theoretical optimal power output for that segment of the course. By comparing the two lines you can see how well or otherwise I dosed out my effort along the way. So thats the Power and the Pacing elements.

There are also a range of other numbers shown, one of which is an estimate of my Coefficient of Aerodynamic Drag and Effective Frontal Area (CdA), which is a measure of how well (or not) I slice through the wind. Thats the "Piercing the wind" element.

OK, so how did I go?

Time: 42:55 @ 35km/h.
Average Power: 264 watts
Normalised Power: 268 watts

Not too bad given it was on standard road bike, helmet and wheels and the constantly up 'n' down Calga course. That placed me 25th out of 45 riders.

I was hoping for more like 270-280W (my first 20-min were at an average of 277W and holding myself in check) but I struggled with my prosthetic leg getting loose after about 15-20 minutes which saw 2nd half power fall somewhat and quite a bit of stump pain in the latter stages. My stump was very sore afterwards.

But that was exactly the point of the exercise - to find out the issues I face and need to fix when doing this sort of an effort. On a course like Calga, which is never flat and the power is somewhat more variable as a result, then the leg does tend to work loose a bit more quickly than say on a flatter road or on the ergobike where the effort is far steadier.

Main thing is to work on a solution for keeping my leg packed firmly in the socket during a longer hard effort. Otherwise it hurts and more importantly, you lose power. Maybe I needed to use more foam packing (which is what I'm doing at the moment). I probably didn't put enough in. Then there is the socket itself, which my rehab doc and prosthetics specialist says no longer fits properly (I have lost weight and my stump has changed its shape and volume again).

Of course I am also getting a special cycling leg made up, thanks to the generous donations and fund raising by the track cycling community here in Sydney. That is now being planned. I have the appointment to recast my stump on 2nd of April and from there we can begin the production of a new leg socket and a new general purpose leg. I can hardly wait!

So at the Calga TT next month I may be able to borrow a TT bike and see what difference it can make to my time. The analysis above shows a CdA of 0.33m^2 (square metres), which is very high for anyone doing a TT. Certainly riding on a TT bike I would expect that number to be much lower. Even at a modest 0.28m^2 (certainly readily attainable on a TT set up) I could expect to ride that same course in the same conditions (wind, temperature & air pressure) at the same power about 2-minutes faster.

We'll see.

Team Pursuit Championships

2009-02-27T22:34:00.004+11:00

Bicisport Team Pursuit Medallists.

14 February 2009.
22 riders.
6 teams.
3 race categories (Masters all ages, Masters 150+, Elite Women) .
1 Manager.
1 Coach (me).

2 months of weekly team preparation rides (with a break over Christmas / New Year).

When you have 22 riders all wanting to ride in Team #1, it makes for a challenging task to sort out the right combinations.

We had seasoned team pursuiters, some that had barely ridden the track before, strong riders that didn't have the pedigree in team pursuiting, seasoned team pursuit riders with form that needed to pick up, sprint oriented riders, roadies, track enduros, riders from several geographies. We had it all.

Then, once you settle on the combinations, you then need to work on the contingencies. Who are the subs to go up if a rider drops out for some reason? What is the best order of riders in a team? Where are the weaknesses and how can you minimise their impact? All good fun.

Somehow we pulled it all together and at the end of the day:

35 teams entered Championships.
6 Bicisport teams rode.
5 qualified for finals.
4 medalled.
2 Silver.
2 Gold.

2 x Championship record times set in men's qualifying and one again set in final.
Inaugral Women's event (qualified both teams for Gold final)

Bicisport now holds the State record time in both Men's masters categories and Women's elite team pursuits. For a club of ~ 75 riders, I reckon that's pretty impressive.

Cracking rides by all teams. Not a foot wrong all day. While I shouldn't pick favourites, the one that stood out for me was not the record setting rides but Team 2's qualifying ride, which saw them post 4th fastest time and qualify for the bronze ride off. Getting 2 teams into the finals in an ultra competitive category was really a highlight. They missed out in the final, getting nailed by a strong Sutherland outfit. Not to say the other rides weren't worthy, they were all tremendous.

Congrats to the Tuggeranong express train that took out the all ages final by 0.3 seconds. It was a cracker of a race and went down to the wire.

Nice work team!

Special thanks to Stuart Lane for being there at training every week to fill in the gaps as needed.

Coach exhausted.
Coach wants to ride it next year instead.

HOP to it!

2009-02-21T15:56:00.005+11:00

Quite a few years ago (circa 2002), I learned of an indoor workout called "The Hour of Power" or HOP for short. It was coined by Bill Black, a regular contributor to the Google Wattage Groups forum. The workout also features in the book, Training and Racing with a Power Meter.

It's a pretty simple style of workout, designed to lift your power at threshold as well as provide a bit of a neuromuscular twist. Indeed any solid tempo effort at this level is very good for helping to lift one's threshold power. They are not easy workouts and can be quite fatiguing, so it does help to build up to doing them if you haven't been riding much lately.

There have a been a few different formats but the basic theme is the same:

Ride at a base load that is sub-threshold (~90% of your 1-hr maximal power) and every few minutes do a surge for about 15-seconds or so. Doing this mixes up the workout and does help to make the time pass a little more quickly.

Since today I was planning on a 90-minute solid tempo ride, and it was raining outside, I decided to do my workout indoors on Thunderbird 7 and thought, you know I've never actually had a go at the HOP. So that was today's mission.

Actually I ended up doing what you might call HOP+, since I did want to do 90-min of tempo, rather than the hour. So I decided to do a HOP, then assuming all was well would finish off the workout with some more tempo. This is what eventuated:

This is the picture of the workout data (click on it to see a larger version). The two horizontal dashed lines mark my Funtional Threshold Power (FTP) and 90% of my FTP. Plotted are my power output (yellow) and cadence (green). The boxes show the stats for the HOP and for the tempo effort that followed.

After I finished the HOP, I "hopped" off T7 to do the usual remove leg and liner, dry down and replace before getting back on for the final 30-min of tempo riding.

An interesting personal observation was as the workout progressed, I seemed to get better. The tempo at the end was taxing but not a killer by any measure. No doubt it won't be like that everytime I do it.

All up, a really good quality session. You should give a go one day.

Surface Area

2009-02-03T15:41:00.007+11:00

I haven't posted about my own training bits 'n' pieces lately. So a brief update.

All is going well. My training is now a regular 5 days/week routine, sometimes a 6th day recovery spin if I feel like it/have the time. Riding consists of a longer ride on Sundays, a solid tempo effort on Saturdays (now doing 1.5hrs of tempo ~ 85-90% of FTP), specific threshold development intervals midweek (your typical 2 x 20-min intervals at near TT effort ~ 95+% of FTP) and core endurance level riding otherwise, with the occasional race thrown in for a bit of fun.

The long rides have been ~ 2.5hrs so far and most other rides are typically about 1.5hrs. An interval session on Thunderbird 7 might be a little shorter.

Here's the latest chart showing how the training loads have been growing at a steady rate.

In terms of power output, well I can't say I've noticed great leaps in performance over the past month or so but that's not unusual as the training loads have been progressively increasing and so the legs are mildly fatigued. Also fitness gains can kind of creep up on you. The only problems I've had have been with some exceptionally hot days, when I struggled to hit desired training levels, so on those few days you just accept it won't happen and move on. Indeed, there have been days I trained indoors because it was too hot outside!

Certainly this morning I did my 2x20s OK, with the first completed at an average of 262 watts and the next one I let it rip a bit more, ending with an average of 274 watts (which was 264W 1st half and 284W 2nd half). My current FTP is estimated at 275W.

Australia Day Race

On Australia day I raced the, er, Australia Day Race, one I've raced several times before and reported on a couple of years back in this post. Apart from being the usual blast around Heffron Park, it's also a fund raiser for the Children's cancer foundation.

This year the race format was different - a handicap criterium with 3 grades. Not entirely sure where to ride, I just put myself in the limit bunch and figured I'd see how it would go.

Before the race I rode to Heffron Park and did a couple of laps of the circuit. Mind you I've been around it a gazillion times, so it was more a sense of assessing how the wind is as that helps me make some tactical choices about what to do at which points of the circuit.

Anyway, I might have been better in middle chase bunch as limit wasn't very hard and most of them couldn't corner all that well or go that hard to drive a break so I just rode like a good warm up waiting for the catch to happen. When we were caught by the chasing bunch, I immediately inserted myself into the faster group and then just maintained position working my way to front 5-6 riders with a lap to go. But rather than continue the drive and good speed, the front 4-5 riders shut it off (what were you thinking guys?!) - and of course that was enough for the scratch bunch to bridge the gap.

Cruising with the limit bunch. Still a few kgs to lose!!

So with 1km to go I ended up on the front of a 50 rider bunch keeping a good tempo and looking for an attacker (there's always someone who can't help themselves). Right on cue John Sunde came through hard on my left and I instantly got his wheel, and we had a gap with 500m to go but he shut down once we hit the main finishing straight(!) which meant I had the bunch back on my tail and was staring down at a 350m sprint into the headwind LOL. I lasted maybe 3 seconds before I was swamped. All good fun. But what's the deal letting a bloke with a bit of leg missing lead the bunch inside the last km? Gotta laugh.

Riding with a Prosthetic

One of the experiences when riding with a prosthetic leg is the way the liner, which goes over my stump and connects me to my prosthetic's socket, gradually fills with fluid (sweat) and begins to loosen over time as you ride. Every day is different as to how long it takes before I need to stop, take the leg off and remove the liner, drain out the contents of Sydney Harbour, dry off my stump and liner and replace before heading off again. I carry a small hand towel with me for the job. Some days I've gone 90-minutes without a change, other days I need to stop after less than half an hour.

Over time I'm beginning to get to know handy spots to do that - all I really need is something to lean the bike against and something I can sit on. Walking is not easy with the prosthetic cycling leg attachment, so I basically need to be able to ride up to the spot. As with most things, you get creative in working out little solutions for these things.

The reason why I need to stop is that as the liner works loose, the amount of surface area contact between my stump and the prosthetic socket reduces. Since the forces are transferred to the pedals via my socket, then the greater the amount of my stump's surface area that remains in contact with the socket, the less pressure is placed on any one part of my stump and skin. I find that as the liner becomes loose, it gets harder to produce the power as well as becomming less comfortable to ride. As soon as I remove, dry and refit it, there is an immediate improvement in comfort and power.

The other issue I have is since the socket I current use for riding is my general purpose socket (which is designed for standing/walking and not bike riding) the socket shape is not ideal for the angles the knee goes through when pedalling. A large gap forms between the front of the top of my shin and the front of the socket. Currently I fill that gap with some foam and need to keep adjusting how much I use, to get the right balance between filling the gap and having a secure stump-socket connection and actually being able to get the leg properly secured into the socket.

When I finally get a dedicated cycling socket made, the socket shape will be different so that it will be more suitable for cycling. That'll happen some time this year, the timing on that needs to be agreed with my prosthetics specialist. Since I am now getting much fitter, I am losing the weight and with that comes subtle changes to my stump's size and shape, which affects the design. It's a tricky business.

Anyway, for now it's not stopping me from riding but I know a better solution exists.

Insensitive / TSS^

2009-01-23T07:54:00.007+11:00

No, it's not a "someone made an inappropriate remark" story! It's another power meter, cycling training item. So for those non-PM using readers who's eyes roll around the top of their head when I go on about this stuff, then you can look away now :D .....

There have been lots of comments lately on the Google groups wattage forum about the Normalised Power (NP) algorithm and whether it could be improved. The discussion, as they often do, has drifted a bit from that into - "could the Training Stress Score (TSS) metric be improved?"

Well can they? Possibly.
Should we bother? I'm not so sure it matters.

Maybe it's because of the insensitivity of these things. Lemme show you an example.

I have produced a standard Performance Manager Chart (PMC). It covers my riding since I started back on the bike last year (~ 7 months).

As an experiment, I decided to add onto it another version of the PMC, with data based on an augmented TSS (TSS^). In this case, the calculation of TSS is not a function of the ratio of NP to Functional Threshold Power (FTP) but expressed as a ratio to Maximal Aerobic Power (MAP).

Now there is no particular reason for doing it other than curiosity, nor would there be any great sense given the underlying physiological and other rationale for choosing FTP as the anchor point. But that's not my point. It's an experiment to see what it means, from the point of view of how we actually use the information to monitor and guide our training.

MAP for most people is typically 25% +/-3% higher than FTP and so by anchoring an augmented TSS calculation to MAP instead of FTP, that will of course change the way TSS is calculated (since now I get a much lower weighting for threshold work and have to exceed MAP for gains to be multiplied).

And the impact of changing the TSS calculation? Well that'll change the PMC and how we interpret our training, right? Well, maybe.

Here's the PMC chart with two sets of lines for ATL, CTL & TSB. Default time constants used. One is based on TSS, the other (right hand axis) is based on the augmented TSS, “TSS^”. As always, click on the pic for a closer look.

Anyway the fact that the augmented ATL^, CTL^ and TSB^ mimic the same patterns, just with different absolute values, should not be a surprise since there is a reasonably consistent relationship between FTP & MAP.

Of course the relationship between FTP & MAP does vary (which it has during the period in the above chart), and when it does there will be deviations (as can be seen in the different slopes of the CTL and CTL^ lines).

But even so, just look at how closely the TSB and TSB^ lines track each other. Yet I have changed the TSS weighting formula quite a bit by anchoring to MAP instead of to FTP.

So if I showed you those charts independently, and multiplied the right hand axis values by two, you simply would not know the difference and it certainly wouldn't provide any different or additional insight into what was going on with my training.

So what would a PMC look like using these other “improved” formula for NP and/or TSS? That's what I'd like to see. Can it really provide us with a better insight into what's going on with our training?

I suspect all the mucking about with alternative NP or TSS formula would do is simply produce slight variations in the PMC (maybe absolute numbers a little different here and there) but the underlying training patterns that emerge would be the same and the interpretation would be the same. And even if the patterns are different, we still have to look at them in the context of the composition of our training, rest of life factors etc just like we do now (or should do).

Basically the modelling is pretty insensitive.

But let's see some examples folks....

I'm always open to looking at things in different ways to help garner additional insight.

Quadrant Analysis

2009-01-13T20:05:00.009+11:00

Earlier I posted about a thought I had - to do a Quadrant Analysis (QA) on the power meter data from my Threshold Tolerance Intervals (TTIs), comparing TTIs done at my local training ground, Centennial Park Sydney, to TTIs done on my home trainer, Thunderbird 7.

Funny, in the several years I've been posting about power meter stuff, I haven't mentioned QA. Yet it is one many funky tools to help explain some the differences in the physiological demands of different types of rides.

I don't really have to go into much detail to explain it, since it's already been done by Dr Andrew Coggan and you can read all about it here.

But the short version is that QA is useful for examining the neuromuscular demands of a ride. Essentially it plots pedal forces versus pedal speed (the combination of both equaling power) for each data point recorded by the power meter. In this way, we can not only see how much power we produced during a ride but also gain additional insight into how we produced that power.

There are a number of ways such a plot can be used (e.g. examining and/or comparing ride data with your maximal pedal force-pedal velocity relationship) but I'll leave that for another day.

OK, so the plot is shown above. Let me run you through it:

- The vertical axis is Average Effective Pedal Force (AEPF - measured in Newtons)

- The horizontal axis is Circumferential Pedal Speed (CPV - measured in metres per second)

- Plotted in little red and blue dots/circles are the AEPF and CPV for each second of power recorded by the power meter. The data is from the "on" parts of my intervals only, that is just the time I spent at the intended effort. There is 40-minutes of data for each group.

- The green curved line shows the point at which pedal forces and pedal speeds, when combined, equal my Functional Threshold Power.

- the vertical and horizonal purple lines delineates the quadrants and represent 90rpm (with a 175mm crank) and 167 Newtons (or the same as applying a force of ~ 17kg).

The four quadrants represent:
I - high pedal speed & high force (e.g. sprinting at high speed)
II - low pedal speed & high force (e.g. hard efforts, such at track starts)
III - low pedal speed &low force (e.g. just noodling along at low rpm)
IV - high pedal speed & low force (e.g. spinning fast but easy downhill)

We plot AEPF and CPV, since from a neuromuscular point of view, what's important is both the force and speed of muscle constractions/movement. Investigating either AEPF or CPV in isolation from the other is a fairly pointless exercise. (Refer Pithy Power Proverb "Cadence is a Red Herring" - R. Chung).

We can only plot AEPF, since each point of power meter data covers one or more revolutions of the cranks, in other words, the average of the forces applied to the pedal for an entire rotation of the crank. What this doesn't show is the variability in forces applied around the various points in the crank's revolution. As we know though, the greatest forces are applied on the downstroke, and by a happy coincidence, the maximal force exerted on the downstroke by each leg is roughly double the AEPF*.

* post edit: it was pointed out to me by Robert Chung I had expressed this relationship incorrectly (I had said "the maximal force exerted by one leg is the roughly the same as AEPF") and made this correction to show what I originally said as well as what it should have said.

CPV is basically similar to pedalling cadence, so why don't I just show cadence instead, since most people can related to what 90 rpm is like? Well in this case, the crank length on each bike is different. On the road bike I have 175mm cranks and on T7 I have 170mm cranks. So at the same cadence, the CPV would be higher on the bike with longer cranks. Or for the same CPV, my cadence would be slower on the bike with longer cranks.

If however you were examining ride data from rides using the same length cranks, then certainly you could also show cadence.

OK, so what do we make of the plots of my TTIs?

Well the first thing is that the dots are quite tighly grouped near the centre of the chart, which is pretty typical for efforts of a time trial nature. Generally the flatter the terrain, the more tightly grouped the dots will appear for a quasi-steady state effort. This contrasts significantly to plots for track races, criteriums and rides over hillier terrain, where the dots are widely scattered around the chart. In rides like MTB, the technical nature of riding can see a rider bumping up towards their maximal AEPF-CPV curve quite frequently.

The next thing is how much more tightly grouped the blue dots (indoor trainer) are compared to the red dots from the outdoor ride in the park. This shows that while the average power from these efforts was very similar, there were still differences in how I produced that power in each case.

We can see that the dots are close the the green line (denoting a pedal force/speed combination at FTP) and that the effort, overall on average, was just below my FTP.

The red dots tend to parallel the shape of the green line, which is reflective of me seeking to maintain power within a desired band over slightly variable terrain (I think the total altitude change is ~ 16-18 metres over the course of a 3.8km loop, with a few ups 'n' downs along the way). My speed varied significantly with the terrain and my cadence varied as well, although not by as much as speed since I would change gear regularly.

So, when riding on a trainer, there is a tendency for the AEPF-CPV relationship to show more of a rifle like plot during such Threshold Tolerance effort, whereas outdoors on more variable terrain (and conditions) the plot looks a little more like it came from a shotgun, albeit it one with an odd shaped barrel!

Is it important?

Well it simply serves to show that similar efforts can have variable neuromuscular demands and even changes as small as this may affect the power one is capable of producing in a given scenario. It just emphasises the specificity principle.

If your time trials are outdoors, makes sure you do some time trial training outdoors and ensure your legs are ready for the more variable neuromuscular demands.

Smith & Wesson

2009-01-13T11:06:00.005+11:00

The indoor training Gods have spoken.

This morning was meant to be my Threshold Tolerance Intervals (TTIs) - the good ol' 2 x 20-min workout at near FTP. Target range at the moment for me is 91-96% of FTP (250-265W).

So I drive to park today, hop out to attach my leg and get bike ready, Sam was riding past and sees me so stops to say hello. I get my leg on and roll off, intending do a roll for a lap or two with Sam before getting into it. But of course after 3-min a spoke goes "ping" and that's was it, wheel not in a trainable condition unfortunately. Hop back in car and go home.

So I hop onto Thunderbird 7 instead.

Last week I did my TTIs in the park at 259W and 255W.
On T7 this morning: 258W and 266W.

I intend to do a Quadrant Analysis plot of the indoor vs. outdoor TTIs and post about that soon. I suspect we'll see the difference akin to the mark on a target made by a rifle and a gunshot.

Turbocharged Training

2009-01-10T10:33:00.019+11:00

There's been a bit of discussion lately on various training forums about a topic that seems to crop up every so often. It's a perennial favourite. Certainly I'm not the first to write about it and I won't be the last.

Why is my power different when training indoors* compared to when I ride outside? And what can I do about it?

* Indoor training being training done on an ergobike, or with the bike locked into a turbo trainer or riding your bike on rollers. Often performed inside the house, in the garden shed or garage, on a balcony or at the local gym or training centre.

Usually people train in such a fashion because they either haven't the time or opportunity for a ride outdoors, they might be recovering from injury and/or need the controlled and safe environment an indoor trainer provides, or the riding conditions outside are not suitable (cold, rain, snow, darkness and so on). Certainly riding indoors is a safe and excellent training alternative when heading out the front door on your favourite steed is not possible.

For many riders though, they find generating power indoors much harder than when riding outdoors and end up riding at a lower power as that's all they can do (but this is not the case for all though, and some can actually produce more power indoors than outside, although that is less common).

So if I can't generate the same power, then am I getting the same training benefit?

And if power is significantly different indoors, should I use a different FTP for indoor rides (so training levels and ride data are adjusted accordingly)?

Well the answers are not straightforward but let's explore the solution(s).

The first thing to do is to understand why a difference in power production exists. Then the second thing is to take steps to address the differences between each scenario and "bridge the gap". Finally, one then needs to make decisions about how the data from their indoor training should be interpreted.

So why is it common for power to be different?

There are four main factors at play here:

Cooling & air flow
Inertial load
Motivation
Adaptation

I'll explore each of those in a bit more depth a bit further down.

OK, so what about the training benefit and setting of FTP?

Well power is power and if you are burning kJ at a lower rate, then the metabolic adaptations relating to that will be correspondingly different. So if turning out a lower power really concerns you, then the priority is to address the factors that influence indoor power production and reduce the gap so that training can still be done within the intended training level. Then the problem goes away.

Nevertheless, "hard is hard" and "alls you can do is alls you can do", so if you are unable to address/fix the key reasons why power is less indoors, then set your training at a level that is attainable for that scenario. It's better than staying on the couch. Rather than worry about what percentage of FTP or MAP that should be, just use previous indoor workouts as your guide. That really should be the guide anyway, irrespective of mode of training you are doing.

What matters is that you do the workout at around the right intensity for the right duration, rather than the precise wattage.

What about FTP, and the calculation of TSS and the other metrics that flow from it?

This really is an issue of what you are training for and where the majority of your riding will be during the course of that training period. If the trainer only represents a minority of your ride time and your power is say 10% less on the trainer, then it only represents a small difference in the calculation of overall training load. It is simply not worth the bother to have separate FTP values and calculations. The Impulse-Response model (aka the Performance Manager and the metrics CTL, ATL and TSB) is fairly robust. It is about the forest, not the trees.

For example, let's examine a common hour-long training ride and say, for whatever reason, your indoor power is 10% less than outdoors: 2 x 20-min at FTP + warm up and cool down.

Outdoors, this would accumulate ~ 85 TSS and indoors (with ~10% less power), ~ 70 TSS. A difference of 15 TSS (which is about the equivalent stress of 15 minutes of endurance level riding).

So if the difference in TSS calculated from a 2x20 workout (equivalent to about 15-minutes of basic endurance level riding) is concerning you, then sit on the trainer for another 15-minutes.

If however, the trainer represents (for that training period) a large proportion of your training time, then setting FTP according to that training mode makes sense. But where such rides are only occasional, then there really is no reason to worry about minor variations in the numbers, just move onto the next day.

The same principles apply if talking about training at altitude (occasional change in altitude vs. a lengthly block at a different altitude) or different bikes (occasional or lengthly training blocks on a given bike/position).

Read on for more details on the four elements of indoor training that affect our ability to produce power indoors and how you might do something about it.

Cooling
People consistently underestimate the cooling needs when training indoors. There's some weird theory that a large pool of sweat forming beneath you is a good thing. All that tells me is that the air flow and cooling arrangement is inadequate for the task. A body that is under stress and not being adequately cooled will underperform.

When you hop on your bike for an endurance ride, you have a ~ 30km/h wind flowing over your whole body constantly wicking sweat away and keeping you cool(er). So why would you expect to perform as well indoors with no air flow, or the piddling excuse of a breeze that comes from a domestic fan? Get real. If training indoors is going to become a sizeable chunk of your training time, then get some decent cooling happening and have some strong air flow over you. A large industrial strength fan costs much less than a trainer or rollers, so bite the bullet and sort it. But be prepared for the additional noise.

Inertial load is the next main differential factor when comparing indoor and outdoor training. Without going into too much detail, when we ride outdoors, we have the inertial load of a bike and rider moving at some speed, plus that of the wheels turning. If we stopped pedaling, our rear wheel doesn't suddenly slow or stop turning, we would coast for quite some time. On many trainers however, since we are not moving, the inertial load is much less and confined to the rear wheel spinning and any small flywheel that the trainer has attached to the roller. When you stop pedaling, the wheel slows and comes to a halt relatively quickly. Some are worse than others.

Now what happens is each scenario feels quite different to ride, muscle activation is different, the neuromuscular demands are different and these can be enough for some to make power production much harder. In general, low inertial load trainers tends to emphasise the "dead spots" in the pedal stroke (when the cranks are passing through the 12/6 O'Clock position), whereas riding with a higher inertial load enables one to breeze through (and not waste effort on) the dead spots and focus on the downstroke where the bulk of power is produced.

Fortunately there is a way to increase the inertial load of a trainer, and that's by having a flywheel attached to the trainer's roller (or even by adding mass to the wheel itself). How much mass is needed? Well to replicate the inertial load of a rider, it would need a very heavy flywheel spinning very quickly. Think of a 20-30kg flywheel spinning at 500-800 rpm. Yikes!!

Fortunately, for effective training, going that far is not really necessary and having enough rotating mass to help smooth out those dead spots is enough. I don't have one myself but trainers like the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine or the 1-Up trainer are an excellent example of this. They both have small but effective flywheels attached to the rolling mechanism.

These are ideal options for those that are looking to attach their existing bike to a trainer but also need some portability with their indoor unit.

The other option is a dedicated ergobike like the Schwinn or Saris indoor trainers (or other similar machines). These types of set up have the advantage of being able to incorporate a much larger and heavier flywheel than a turbo trainer. They are of course dedicated units and need a permanent place to live.

So what does one do? Well if cooling has been sorted, and power is still down, then consider the inertial load of your trainer set up. Does it have a flywheel? Can one be added? Should I look at an alternative trainer? Certainly I would recommend trying a trainer that has a decent flywheel to see how much better it is to ride.

Edit note: I added the following paragraph in March 2011 as something I'd been meaning to do for quite some time, just had forgotten to do it.

I should add that the idea of inertial load on an indoor trainer affecting pedaling isn't actually backed by evidence other than anecdotal, from myself and many others I know that have used such trainers. As an example, this link to a study extract on PubMed indicates that varying crank inertial loads has little or no effect on steady state pedaling coordination.

Motivation is a big issue in training and racing, and it is sorely tested when riding indoors. Many find training indoors mind-numbingly, excrutiatingly boring. Then there are others who really love it and are happy to spend hours tapping it out, sometimes preferring that to a ride outdoors. Each to their own.

If a lack of motivation is an issue, then it needs to be addressed, otherwise don't waste your money on a trainer you won't use. It'll just end up gathering dust in the corner of the shed.

There are many ways to overcome any motivational challenges you face:

Variety - there are lots of training workouts available, so keep the variety up. Dream up some of your own!

Duration - indoor riding is hard work, there's no let up or coasting, so don't make the workouts as long as you might ride outdoors. It is better to complete a shorter workout and want to come back for more next time, than to get off absolutely hating it and sitting out the next one on the couch or staying in bed.

Set Challenges - set yourself targets for the session and maybe have reminders of your goal event in front of you as well.

Music - this is a good one - having you favourite training tunes blasting away, or on your iPod to keep the neighbours happy.

Video - what about watching highlights of your favourite stage race or one-day classic. You can be smacking it up Ventoux with the Pros. Of course there is a big market out there for indoor cycle training videos, so if that floats your boat, then go for it!

Computer aids - there are lots and some of the favourites are heart rate monitors, spped and cadence measurement computers and of course my favourite - power meters. These are especially helpful so that training is focussed and performed at the right intensity.

Ergo controllers and virtual riding - there are many trainers that can automatically control the resistance level of the trainer and be pre-programmed to control a workout. Some can even display video of an animated figure or some real life video to provide a distraction from the effort and help to pass the time.

Of course the most obvious answer is simply to HTFU.

Adaptation is the last of the four key issues. Since there are differences in riding on a trainer to riding outdoors, some of which have been discussed already, then it stands to reason it will take some time for the body to adapt to training under different conditions. If you only ride the trainer occasionally, then you may never fully adapt to being able to generate power similar to outdoor riding.

However, if you ride on a trainer regularly and with sufficient volume, and you address the other three main factors, then you will adapt and improve your ability to produce power indoors and the gap to outdoor power will typically narrow.

What do I do?

Well I set about addressing all of the issues and descibe my indoor training set up here:
Turbocharged Training Thread on TT Forum

Have fun indoors!

Swiss Watch

2008-12-21T15:38:00.007+11:00

"The body responds like a Swiss watch. You just have to figure out how to wind it." - Dave Harris

OK, alright, I got a complaint about my blog. Like, "you haven't posted anything for ages!". Well it's been twenty days to be precise, but who's counting?

I've just been busy with quite a few things, so I'll try a catch up with this post.

Since my benefit night, training has continued along very nicely. In the first three weeks of December I have accumulated a little over 21 hours of riding and 1457 TSS with an average Intensity Factor of 0.83. That means that those hours, on average, were ridden at a level of exertion of 83% of my estimated 1-hour maximal (threshold) power.

Which is a technical way of saying very little training time has been wasted, and all efforts have been quality. Training has basically been a mixture of core endurance rides, solid tempo efforts, threshold tolerance intervals along with some track sprint work.

Here is a pic of the "thin blue line" to date:

Again, you can see the steady progression of the chronic training load (blue line) indicating the continual progressive increase in load/stress being placed on my body. The leg has been holding up well to the increase in workload and the body is also continuing to adapt. How well is it coping though?

Last week I was scheduled to do some performance tests, one a time trial effort of around 16km (10-miles) and the other a Maximal Aerobic Power (MAP) test. While not a formal test, I have also been doing some sprint work at the track to see how my maximal (neuromuscular) power is going.

First up was my time trial at Centennial Park. Here's the power file chart:

An average power of 287 watts over 26 minutes. So TT power is up 39 watts (nearly 16%) on the test I did on 23 September.

I sometimes surprise even myself. That's 9 watts more than same test/venue (albeit on a cold day) on 8 Aug 2006. I was a few kg lighter back then though. For reference, my best power on that course is 328W (and at a lighter body mass as well).

I followed that up with the MAP test on Friday, riding Thunderbird 7 (my indoor trainer bike). Here's the graph:

My MAP was 385 watts (mean maximal 1-minute power during the test). Yikes! That's up 30W (8.5%) on my last MAP test on 25 September.

What's even scarier is that's only 14W shy of my best ever MAP of 399W (as measured by Powertap on a Computrainer). Allowing for some drivetrain power losses for recording with Powertap vs SRM, that still means my MAP has attained nearly 95% of pre-accident levels. That is pretty remarkable under the circumstances. It's only six months since I put the bike into a home trainer and tried to pedal.

What about my sprints?

Well for a couple of Sundays now I have gone to my local track for some sprint work. I am now getting peak power > 1200W on several occasions. Pre-accident, I would regularly be ~ 1350W and occasionally up to 1400W. So sprint power is not too bad either.

So my body is indeed a Swiss Watch. It seems that coach has worked out how to wind it quite nicely!

Of course one of the consequences of that testing is my estimated Functional Threshold Power has gone up from 240W to 275W. Since my daily training stress is calculated relative to FTP, it means that rides have to be at a higher power now to earn the same Training Stress Score.

As they say, it doesn't get easier, you just go faster.

This morning I woke late, and then checked what was on the program today. 2.5hrs, that's what! Holy smoke! OK, so I saddle up, head out the front door and get into it doing a run to Kurnell, being my first proper solo run back out there in the world of Sydney's roads.

A little over 2.5 hours ride time later I get home, with two short stops along the way to remove, dry and replace my leg liner which seems to accumulate the contents of Sydney Harbour while I'm riding.

Average Power: 186W
Normalised Power: 198W
TSS: 130
Distance: 71.4 km

Ironically, I came home via "that gate". It was definitely open when I rode through.

One last thing - I have chatted to my prosthetics specialist George and we will hook up again in the new year to start looking at the design and construction of a leg dedicated to cycling. Picking the right time for that is tricky, as since I am now trimming down, that affects the fit of my stump in the socket. So getting the leg too early might reduce its useful life.

I did however use some of the funds raised to purchase a new leg liner (or as Paul Craft calls it, the big blue condom that goes over my leg) and distal cup (the current cup is looking a bit worse for wear). That was $1300, so the benefit funds are already being put to good effect. I'll now be able to rotate the liners and hopefully get a bit more useful life out of them. Early in the New Year, I'll probably add a third liner to the stable.

So there you have the latest. All going well as far as training goes. More hard work ahead of me though, and probably a few races over the next month.

Benefit Night Photos

2008-12-01T20:09:00.004+11:00

OK, time for some pictures from my benefit night.

These are courtesy of Chris Belyea at his photography site:
http://chrisbelyea.smugmug.com/

David & Goliath lining up for a one-lap screamer. On the left is club mate and triple World Masters Champion Andrew Burne:

Another couple of club mates. Liz Georgouras (recently back from the Oceania Championships) on the line waiting for the start of the wheelrace with Peter Barnard, showing us what it's like to listen to Paul Craft's commentary:

The women's races were hotly contested:

Chinese champion rider JinJie Gong, currently world #1 ranked in the Women's 500m TT and Kierin was there racing and supporting the event. With her is JinJie's coach, former World Sprint Champion and buddy, Sean Eadie:

Here I am on the start line getting my instructions from Chief Commissaire, Peter Tomlinson:

And a couple of me with my "crap this is hard" race face!

Boy - have I got some kilos to shed still!

Thank you

2008-11-29T09:55:00.002+11:00

OK, it's the morning after my benefit - which was a really fun night of racing and a humbling experience as a I watched people open their wallets to bid for the items generously donated for auction.

Something between $5000-$6000 was raised (after venue hire expenses were paid), which was really amazing. I won't know the exact amount until all the various remnants of bid money and entry fees appear.

There was also the small matter of my 500m time trial to see how much I could improve on the time I set back in August.

My time:
28-Nov-08: 41.9 seconds
08-Aug-08: 46.5 seconds

an improvement of 4.6 seconds in 3.5 months. :D

Power peaked at 1122 watts, with a 10-sec power of 1063 watts.

Cadence reached 122 rpm, which on the 50x15 (90") gear equates to a top speed ~ 51kph. (I didn't have a wheel speed sensor operating).

Earlier in warm up I did a test 1/2 lap fly and managed a top speed ~ 58kph (141 rpm in 49x15 (88") gear).

As PeterB said, OK, now to break 40. Thanks Pete LOL

When I get some pictures, I'll be sure to post a few up.

The money will all go to helping me fund prosthetic equipment dedicated for cycling. Once I have final details of monies I'll post on the blog and keep a running tally of where it goes. I'm not sure how long before I actually get a dedicated leg made up. Once my prosthetics specialist is happy that my hip has sufficient strength to re-align the leg (currently my "foot" is laterally offset by ~ 25mm), then that'll be the time to do it. All I can really say is it'll be sometime in 2009 I expect. In the meantime, I have other less sexy but essential items like leg liners and socks to purchase so I can continue to enjoy training and competition.

Once again a huge thanks to everyone involved in putting it all together:

- the volunteers on the night (Fred & Helen Vella, Chris Greaves our video man, Mike O'Reilly, Peter McCrystal, Samantha Kosky and others judging and organising - how does one get all the names!!, Ray on first aid, the triple-bunger photography team of Ernie Smith, David Lane and Chris Belyea, Sean Eadie on the derny, UCI Commissaire Peter Tomlinson, and Rik Fulcher who teamed with Paul Craft for the best commentary and auctioneers team one could hope for)

- the staff and management of Dunc Gray Velodrome and Bankstown Sports Club/Handlebar Tavern for the venues and catering

- Cycling Australia and Cycling NSW for their support

- the very generous sponsors who donated some tremendous prizes ranging from wine, to books, software, two sets of wheels, a day's hire of DGV with coaching by Gary Sutton, signed jerseys especially for the occasion from Stuart O'Grady, Anna Meares and Sean Eadie amongst lots of other items

- all the riders who I'm sure had a blast

- everyone who came along to enjoy the night and who spent their hard earned after tax dollars

- others behind the scenes supporting me along the way, including all my friends, work colleagues, blog readers and forum buddies around the world, the specialists helping me with the prosthetic equipment, current and former club mates, my coaching clients, fellow amputee cyclists who have encouraged me along the way, Steve Hogg for his support in helping me to be able to pedal, and especially my family and coach Ric Stern.

- and a special thanks to Paul Craft for making it happen. You're a legend dude!

Thank you to everyone, sorry if I missed a name. :oops:

If motivation to keep on motoring ever wanes, I'll be sure to remember this night.

CTL = Fitness

2008-11-13T22:36:00.005+11:00

Oops.

It's been a little while since last post. Forgive me, busy days lately.

So a quick update. My training continues and my leg is holding up OK. A little while back I talked about the "Thin Blue Line". Here is the lastest version:

As you can see, the blue line continue to move onwards and upwards at a steady rate. To keep that line rising, you have to train a bit more and/or a bit harder than you did the previous week. It's relentless like that. Back off the effort and the blue line starts heading south again.

Training now comprises a variety of workouts including basic core endurance work, some focussed tempo and time trial pace efforts, and some lactate tolerance work thrown into the mix to give me a bit of a boost for when I attempt that 500m TT in a couple of weeks from now. I am riding 5-days a week now and doing the occasional race.

Last weekend I raced a local criterium at Heffron Park. I rolled over the line for 3rd, although my attempt to sprint for a win never eventuated as a couple of guys next to me crashed and so I pulled out of the effort to ensure they were the only ones to hit the deck. What my training has lacked has been some time at the track to do some sprint and start practice. Getting time for the track has been a bit tricky lately. I'll need a couple of sessions before doing my TT.

So, back to the blue line (Chronic Training Load). As shown in the chart above, my CTL has now reached the 50 TSS/day mark. And today marks exactly 5-months since I first put my bike on a trainer and tentatively pedalled for 15-minutes. So it's not a stellar ramp rate in training load (roughly 2 to 2.5 points/week) by any measure but being a CTL "hare" is not smart training anyway. It is a prudent and manageable increase in the training workload.

One of the "old" power training sayings is:

CTL = Fitness

Well it's a pretty broad statement but I thought I'd give an example of what it means.

Under the chart above (the one with the blue line) is another chart covering the same time period. This one shows my best 60-min power in each 4-week block. The orange and blue columns show my best 60-min power expressed as Normalised Power and Average Power respectively. As you can see, as the CTL blue line rises, so has my 1-hour power.

Simple really. Train more, get fitter. It will keep doing that for some time. Until it doesn't of course! But that's another story.

My cycling leg

2008-10-27T23:07:00.006+11:00

This post is especially for Jason and anyone else that's interesting the the specific set up I have for cycling.

Jason commented on my previous post about his desire to tackle the Alpine challenge. Jason is a below the knee amputee as well.

The Alpine - that's awesome!! No way I could imagine doing that at this stage. I wrote about coaching a rider who did the Alpine a couple of years ago in these two posts.

You go Jason!

So, in summary, have a look at these posts which show my cycling leg set up in a little more detail:

My new leg and socket design

How my cycling leg attachment works

The cycling cleat attachment and adapter plate

The urethane adapter to provide lateral roll for out of saddle efforts

My prosthetics guy made my everyday walking leg socket with quite a shallow rear cut away with cycling in mind. The rear of the socket is such that I am able to pedal with a full length crank.

But remember I have the cleat directly at end of the pylon and so the knee doesn't need to bend quite as much as if the cleat was positioned further forward simulating an "under the ball of foot" position.

The socket also has some funky design at the front.

The other adaptation I haven't shown in pics is some soft foam-like material I place at the front of the stump below the knee, in-between the sock and liner, so that it fills the gap between the stump and top front of the socket when you are pedalling. Bend your knee when sitting and you can put your hand/fingers into the largish gap that forms betwen the stump and socket.

The gap isn't there when standing up of course but with the knee constantly bent on the bike, I found filling that gap really helped with power production and provides a much more secure feeling. I just got some off-cuts from a Clark Rubber store.

As my prosthetics guy says, the aim is to maximise the contact surface area between stump and socket. That will be something we look at when designing a dedicated bike leg socket.

Eventually I intend to have a dedicated socket / cycling leg made, however before that happens I need to further strengthen my hip so that the lateral offset of my "foot" can be brought a little more in line with the hip and knee.

For a permanent cycling leg, I envisage something like what Jody Cundy of Team GB paracycling squad had made. Anyone who can do a 65 second kilo sure has a leg that works!

See this item for more details:

Jody Cundy Interview

In there you'll see his new (the carbon leg) and old leg set ups. I don't expect to have my cleat positioned as far forward as Jody has his - he simply replicated what he was used to with his prior set up when wearing a cycling shoe over a prosthetic foot.

The one thing you have to consider with a direct cleat to pylon arrangement is that you can't walk on it. So logistics becomes a factor when planning on going for a ride.

Another thing I've noticed, since I have more than one bike, is that I am now much more sensitive to the different Q-factors of the cranks on my bikes - to the extent that I need to alter the angle of the prosthetic cleat attachment in order to ride a bike with different cranks. My two road bikes have 175 mm Campagnolo cranks however one is a Record crankset and the other a Chorus model and they have different Q-factors.

I never realised until now how much the ankles do the job for us, managing all the lateral roll when out of the saddle and coping with the small differences in positional set up.

What did Joni Mitchell say to us in that Big Yellow Taxi song?
Don't it always seem to go
That you dont know what you've got
Till its gone....

No parking lots here though!

If you want to drop me a line, just use:
alex A T cyclecoach D O T com

Anyway Jason, good luck with it!

3rd in line

2008-10-25T20:18:00.004+11:00

I've been a bit busy of late, so my posting rate has slowed somewhat.

I was supporting some clients and buddies at the World Masters Track Cycling Championships last week as well as doing some other stuff. I'll write a bit more about that another day (it was a very successful championships for my club, my buddies and clients). Despite the "busy-ness", my training continues and so today I took myself down to Heffron Park for a criterium race.

Signed up for D-grade and it seems there were enough for a separate D-grade bunch today. Not sure how many we started with, maybe 12-15 riders. A moderate North Easterly wind kept the pace down on the back half of the circuit. It was a nice afternoon (race starts at 5pm), sunny and ~ 23 C.

Race is 14 laps of Heffron's 2.04km circuit.

Something new today - I bought a new leg liner during the week - that's the compression liner that goes over my stump and has the metal pin at the base that secures my stump into the socket. My existing one is tatty, worn and with holes appearing and getting bigger. So I swapped the pin over to the new liner and wore it in the race today. It would seem that cycling is quite tough on the liners.

One liner @ $1000 thank you very much. Ouch! So my first one only lasted a handful of months. It would seem the strategy is to have multiple liners, so that you can rotate them and allow each one a chance to recover properly before using it again. It looks as though I better save a few more pennies and get some more liners. That also means some getting extra pins sorted as well.

We keep learning....

So with the new leg liner on and a 20-min warm up on the circuit out of the way, I head to the start line and off we go for a 14 lap adventure.

I finished 3rd. Didn't want to leave you in suspense now, did I :)

Not entirely sure what to expect of myself, basically I was just there to see how I would fare. Pace was fairly steady, which was fine by me. A few surges by some enthusiastic souls who seemed to like riding into the wind. That was OK and at one point a lone rider put on an effort down the main straight. Seeing that nobody was going to go pull them back, I decided to try myself and it wasn't that hard to close the gap. They didn't last long anyway and soon we were together again.

So I just kept my nose out of the wind, noggin side up and never really had to work all that hard. Indeed at times I was just seeing how much soft pedalling/coasting I could do at various times, practicing basic race skills.

I unintentionally unclipped my prosthetic leg from the pedal a couple of times and I'm not entirely sure why, so I'll need to look into that. Since the pace wasn't on, it never really was a problem - I was able to calmly clip back in, but in a harder race it sure wouldn't help matters.

There weren't many left by the end, maybe a half dozen.

Stats:
Duration: 50:19
TSS: 83.7 (intensity factor 0.999)
Average / Norm Power: 220 watts / 240 watts
Distance: 28.566 km
Cadence (max/avg): 109 / 86 rpm
Speed (max/avg): 50.5 / 34.0 kph

So given I didn't rate that as a super hard race and I had an IF of 0.999 for 50 minutes, then it would suggest my fitness is going along OK.

I'll probably have another crack in a couple of weeks.

The Thin Blue Line

2008-10-14T17:28:00.004+11:00

Time for a catch up on how my own training is going.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the results of my performance tests, namely a time trial level effort, a MAP test and some sprint efforts. Results were:

Time Trial power (20-minutes): 252 watts
Maximal Aerobic Power: 355 watts
Neuromuscular Power: 1074 watts (5-second max average with a peak of 1109 watts)

Estimated Functional Threshold Power: 240 watts.

So with those results locked away, training has been continuing. One thing to notice is the ratio of TT power to MAP. In my case, my TT power is a relatively low percentage of MAP (or if you like, my MAP is a relatively high percentage of TT power).

Hence my maximal aerobic abilities are really not a limiter (at this stage) to the ongoing development of my TT power. This helps to determine what my training focus should be for this next phase of training.

As with most cycling (except for track sprint/BMX), the focus is almost always on increasing your TT power, since it's the most import physiological marker of performance potential.

Of course rolling around the track is fun and so I will keep doing that. It also provides a safe environment for maximal sprint type efforts. Training should be hard work but it also needs to be enjoyable (mostly) otherwise we lose motivation.

So, my training will continue to be focussed on improving my sustainable TT power. Core endurance, tempo and threshold level efforts are now staples in the aerobic development diet. I'm also going to throw in a local criterium race or two as a challenge (and it's good training anyway).

My training workload is gradually increasing each week, and as I train my body is adapting to the new stress levels and responds by allowing me to continue to increase the workload. This ability to manage a continually increased workload is shown by the steady rise in the blue line in the chart below (the blue line depicts my Chronic Training Load (CTL) since I first hopped on the trainer just on four months ago).

The rate at which that blue line can rise is typically limited to a maximum of 5-8 TSS/week. Going above that rate for any length of time is usually met with an increased susceptibility for illness and possibly leads to a degrading of performance. In the opening block, I was increasing CTL at ~ 4 TSS/week and following a break from training I have been increasing at ~ 2 TSS/week. Due to the recovery from injury, it pays to be a little conservative in the rate at which CTL lifts.

Of course, for the blue line to provide such good indicator of changes in workload levels, it requires one to have an accurate understanding of their current fitness level. Hence the testing a couple of weeks ago. Not only does it set a benchmark for fitness, and provide solid data from which to determine what elements of my physiological profile need the most attention, but it also provides a sound basis on which to determine the appropriate workload and the rate at which it should be increased.

There is a period where the blue line heads south. I was having some trouble with my stump - it wasn't coping well with the stresses inside the socket and became quite sore. I thought it would need a couple of days rest but it turned out to need a lot more than that. Hence almost no training for a week and a half. It turned out that it was a technical problem that I managed to solve and so once the soreness faded, I was able to start training again and arrest that downward decline.

So far so good for the "thin blue line".

Benefit is On!!

2008-10-10T23:10:00.002+11:00

OK, Paul Craft has waved his magic wand and it's all systems go for my benefit night.

Date has been re-set for the evening of Friday 28 November 2008.

Yippee!!

There should be some cracking racing, with the 3-person team format (a Sprinter, an Enduro and a Women making up each team) and teams can be club or trade-team based. It will be fast and furious fun, so if you're not racing, it will certainly be entertaining to come and watch.

Details of the racing and function are listed on Crafty's RAW Track website here:
Alex Simmons' Benefit Night

The event is now on the CNSW calendar and can be seen here:
CNSW Race Calendar - Alex Simmons Benefit

Entries via the CNSW web site.

Towards the end of the racing, I get to do another 500m TT and see how much I can beat the time I set back in August.

Once again a huge thank you to Paul Craft for putting it all together and for everyone that's helping out and/or contributing to the auction pool for the evening. There are some smashing items up for grabs.

Hope to see you there!

Benefit Postponed

2008-10-05T22:44:00.002+11:00

My benefit race and function, originally organised for Saturday 1 November, has been postponed by a few weeks due to a clash of dates on the CNSW track calendar. A last minute change by the Wagga Club and CNSW sees their Cat 1 race carnival being re-scheduled to that day and so to avoid a clash Paul Craft has been asked to find an alternative date for my benefit.

I know a new date was chosen and appeared to fit in OK but I can't confirm that just yet - Paul is organising it all. It will likely be a Friday night event now, instead of a Saturday afternoon as there are now no free Saturdays on the summer calendar left.

Look out for more details directly from Paul.

I'll post an update once I have confirmed details.

Links

2008-09-29T15:21:00.018+10:00

OK, here is my links page with a short description for each:

Richard Stern Training
(my coaching group)

Specialist Cycling & Training Forums:

The Wattage Forum
The original and the best. This is where the leaders in
training and racing with power will be found.

Cycling Forums cycle training forum.
A mine of information including the famous
"It's killing me..." thread.

Cycling Forums power training forum.
Another mine of information, specifically
on the topic of training with power.

Fixed Gear Fever
Especially for all the track and
fixed gear specialists.

Timetrialling Forum
A predominantly UK based forum
dedicated to all things TT
(and a few that aren't).

Bike Radar
Various cycling & training forums

Wattage Training
A new forum for power meter users.

Information about Training with Power:

Understanding Power by Ric Stern
Learn about MAP Tests and using
power in training

Training Peaks Power 411.
The items on training with power
is a valuable resource.

Train with Power
A quick reference site with lots of
additional links and references

Analytic Cycling
The place to go for working out the
equations for cycling...
e.g how much power is required to
ride up a 6% grade at 20km/h?

Cyclefit Centre
The experts on issues relating to
fitting bicycles to people.
Lots of very helpful articles here.

News sites:

Cycling News.
Nothing fancy, just crammed
full of news every day.

Cycle Sport News
A new news site, Australian based
with world coverage of many cycling disciplines.

VeloNews
A nice alternative, with plenty content.

MAPpity doo dah, MAPpity day

2008-09-25T20:04:00.006+10:00

I did my final of three power tests today to determine my Maximal Aerobic Power (MAP). If you want to know a bit more about what that is, just click the link.

Before we get to the result of my test, a little background Chronology:

11 Apr 07: My accident, admission to hospital emergency and multiple operations ensued.

16 May 07: Left below knee amputation.

15 Aug 07: Discharged from hospital

24 Oct 07: Collect interim prosthetic leg, begin to learn to walk again

04 Jun 08: Collect new prosthetic leg. Start to stand and walk again with comfort.

13 Jun 08: first ride on indoor trainer since accident. 15-min at 100 watts and using special short 100mm left crank arm (as my knee wouldn't bend sufficiently for a normal crank) and a flat bed pedal to rest my shoe and "foot" on.

28 Jun 08: first ride on special indoor ergo bike.

29 Jun 08: MAP Test - 246 watts

31 Jun 08: first ride using special prosthetic cycling leg attachment

11 Jul 08: first ride outdoors at Centennial Park for 45-minutes - now using a 155mm left crank

19 Jul 08: first race

21 Jul 08: now using a 165mm long left crank

22 Jul 08: MAP Test - 289 watts

26 Jul 08: second race

01 Aug 08: first ride on track

08 Aug 08: 500 metre time trial at Dunc Gray Velodrome

12 Aug 08: Some problems with stump - experiencing some pain and skin integrity issues. 10 days break from riding while I sorted this out.

13 Sep 08: now using full length cranks on all bikes (165mm on track bike, 170mm on ergo bike, 175 mm on road bikes)

21 Sep 08: trial use of poly urethane bushing under cycling cleat to aid out-of-the-saddle sprinting control

23 Sep 08: Time Trial test - 20-minute power 252 watts

25 Sep 08: MAP Test - 355 watts

What can I say, other than I am personally a little amazed. My previous best able-bodied MAP test result was 399 watts. So today I hit 89% of that. It's only 6 watts less than my MAP test from August 2006!

OK, if we want to get technical, the MAP tests this time were measured with an SRM power meter, which given it's a crank based power meter, will give ~ 2% higher reading than my Powertap, which is what my previous MAP tests were measured with (since the Powertap is a hub-based meter and drivetrain power losses are typically ~ 2%).

And for the technically minded of you, yes the SRM is calibrated and zero offsets checked and stable.

Even still, I consider it a pretty amazing result so early in my comeback.

Power chart here:

So much more work to do.....

Testing Times #2

2008-09-23T14:06:00.004+10:00

In November 2006 in this post I wrote about one method used for testing my current level of aerobic fitness - the time trial power test. It is a test to see how hard you can ride for a given distance. As a test for fitness, it's not the time taken for the course that matters so much as the average power you can sustain during the effort.

Time taken to complete the course isn't a great indicator of changes in fitness, since time can be readily affected by conditions on the day (wind conditions as an example). But power is power, provided you are conducting the test in a reasonably similar environment (altitude, terrain and it's not hideously hot or cold). It also helps to make sure you are not overly fatigued on the day of the test.

The length of the test is typically 10-miles or 16-kilometres. Doesn't need to be exact as it's power we are interested in, not the precise distance or time taken. Of course, if you ride 10-mile TTs regularly, then they are perfect opportunities to use as tests.

Today I was scheduled to do my first such test since returning to the bike.

So what happened?

Well of course today it decided to be a stormy rainy yukky sorta day, didn't it. And right now I don't need the hassle or riding in the rain.

So that left me with the other alternative - to get on the ergo bike and go for it. So that's what I did. Only trick is I have no speed/distance data on the indoor ergo bike, so I opted for a 25-minute long test.

Unsure of how hard to start with, I decided on starting at 220+ watts and then to go by feel from there. Here is the power chart from my effort (yellow = power, green = cadence):

Overall, for the 25 minutes I had an average power of 248 watts and a peak 20-minute average power of 252 watts.

So that's not too bad all things considered.

Testing continues later in week, with a Maximal Aerobic Power test.

Kilo What?

2008-09-21T20:06:00.005+10:00

Training is going well. I'm back on a program and so far so good. Yesterday was a solid but not super hard roll in the park - an hour at 200 watts, which clearly means my Functional Threshold Power (FTP) is now higher than 200 watts!

I'll have a better idea of that this coming week as I am scheduled to do a 16km time trial test run and also a Maximal Aerobic Power (MAP) test. That should be fun!

Today I ventured back out to the Dunc Gray Velodrome. This was the first chance I've had to test out my experimental "bushing" for my cycling cleat. I had previously mentioned how I found the bike behaves a bit strangely when doing out of the saddle accelerations, as there was no lateral ankle roll anymore on the left side since there is no ankle, just a straight pylon attached to the cleat and pedal.

So I thought about what I could do and had a few ideas but first I wanted to test the theory to see if some polyurethane under the cleat would do the trick by allowing a bit of sideways flexion.

So while looking for suppliers of polyurethane I also decided to have a closer look at one of my other ideas - to use something like a skateboard truck, which I thought would replicate the ankle flexion quite nicely. So off I go the skateboard shop to have a look...

While there and looking at the trucks on display, I told the shop assistant what I was trying to do and had brought my cycling leg attachment with me. He said, hang on - I might have something for you - and showed me this (the black thing with the H cut out of it):

It is a polyurethane spacer which goes between the skateboard truck and the board - used to provide a little vibration damping and protection for the wooden board from the metal truck. It looked about the right size and hardness, so I took a couple with me to try it out. It has a nice flex to it:

I drilled extra holes and then simply placed it between the cleat and the metal adapter plate, like so:

Not worried about cutting it down to size at this stage (since I didn't know if it was going to work or not) I decided to give it a go and see what would happen. Well today I rode it at the track and after about 30-minutes of rolling around, I decided to do some standing starts.

It worked really well. Once up to speed, the bike was giving me the ability to rock it side to side in a more natural manner without the sensation that I might pull my "foot" out of the pedal.

So after a few of those, I started to get adventurous and rolled around mid track, waiting for some others doing acceleration/speed work. As they passed under me I would get out of the saddle and accelerate down the banking, chase and pass them on the finish line if I could (which I did).

So finally, I decided it was time to get right up the banking and do a sprint effort a la the ubiquitous 200 metre flying time trial. So I rolled around the top and gave it a crack, doing a 3/4 lap effort. I had to sit in saddle a bit earlier than I would normally like but that was OK.

I hit a top speed of 55 kph. OK, so it's not that fast but 55 is OK for now (I was using an 80" gear (49x16) for those that like to know those things and had a max cadence of 142 rpm).

One other thing. On my second standing start of the day, I noticed I had a peak power of 980 watts, so I thought, hmmm, what chance of cracking the kilowatt mark today? So on my third effort I gave it a go.

1053W (5-sec MMP 1020W). :D

Mission accomplished.

On the Radar

2008-09-17T23:49:00.003+10:00

Well my first Bike Radar article appeared today. It is meant to be the first of a series, so we'll see how it goes.

Here's the link
http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/article/training-do-you-need-more-stress-not-less-18287

Ideas for articles appreciated!!

Benefit

2008-09-08T21:25:00.004+10:00

Today's post isn't written by me. It's a copy of an email sent out by Paul Craft, promoter of the Friday night RAW Track Racing Series and all round cool dude.

What else can you say about the sport of track cycling when this is what they do for you?

Well the least I could do is provide a link and show the RAW logo!!

Dear Club members.

Could you please include the following letter as correspondence at your next committee meeting.
Cheers Paul

Dear CNSW club

I am inviting your club to participate in the Alex Simmons benefit night on the 1st of November 2008, to be held at the DGV with a post race function being held in the HBT, including an auction of cycling memorabilia and other goods. The plan is to raise enough money to purchase Alex a purpose built cycling leg attachment (est. value $5,500).

Specifically, I am asking your club to enter a three person team consisting of 1 x Women, 1 x Sprinter and 1 x Track endurance rider to compete in a short but jam packed 1 ½ hour race program. Team entry is $100 and all proceeds go towards purchasing Alex a cycling leg.

Information About Alex Pre accident:

Alex Simmons is an accomplished cyclist from BiciSport club. In the summer of 2006/7 Alex won silver at the Australian Masters Points Race (MAS2) and consequently earned the right to wear the Australian skin suit at the pending World Master Championships to be held in October of that year. Other than his accomplishments on the bike Alex had also become a coach of many of Sydney’s aspiring cyclists as well as a number of Master riders. He also became a CNSW commissarie and was regularly seen at open events he wasn’t competing in. Added to all this he is also a cycling columnist for Velosport Magazine as well as his very popular Cycling Blog which takes a big interest in Sport Science.

The Accident:

11th April 2007 - Alex was on a normal morning training ride as scheduled by his coach. As usual it was an early morning ride, out at about 5.30am. He rode south from his home out to Taren Point, a route he had ridden literally hundreds of times over the past decade. Turn around via Sylvania Waters and back over Taren Pt Bridge on the way home using the cycleway on the eastern side of the bridge. That cycleway leads you into the car park of the St George Sailing Club in Sandringham and straight onto Riverside Dr. It was 6.15am as he crossed the bridge. Coming off the cycleway Alex was greeted with a closed boom gate, he hit it flush at speed, no time for braking or avoidance manoeuvres. The left leg, just below the knee took the full force and this impact. Multiple operations and many weeks of treatment later, the complications could not be resolved, resulting in the need to amputate the now non-viable lower leg. Alex spent the next 4 months in a hospital bed.

The below quote is from Alex’s Blog dated August 2007:

“So I went from my best ever personal race result, to losing my leg in a short space of time and dreams of competing at the world champs dashed. I was really looking forward to donning the Aussie skinsuit in the points race (an honour granted due to my result at the Nationals).

Still, I look forward to getting my prosthetic, walking again, losing all this puppy fat and ultimately getting back on the bike and being as competitive as before. It will take a while though but it will happen.”

Post accident;

Alex has become an inspiration to cyclist all around the world, many of whom regularly comment on his blog site; Alex is also the regular commissaire at RAW Track. He was instrumental in organising the Women’s Master Day at the DGV recently and continues to coach a number of Athletes. He has also gotten back on the bike and recorded a 500m time on 8th of August at RAW Track and competed at Heffron Park. Alex continues to give back to the sport he loves.

About the racing event.

• Track program starts at 5:30pm 1st November 2008.

• Program is run as a club omnium with points being awarded to the clubs in each of the three categorised races, Women’s, Sprinters and Endurance.

• The final event is a club team sprint.

• The club who win the most points will be crowned best all round NSW Track club.

• Alex Simmons will be riding a 500m TT to beat his previous time of 46.51 set Friday 8th August 2008.

• If you are struggling to fulfil one of the required team positions please contact us as we may be able to assist.

• Track program will conclude at 7pm.

About the Post race function

• Function starts at 7:30pm in the HBT main room.

• Cost is $15 which includes first drink and Canapés.

• Members of the Australian Paralympics team will be welcomed home from their successful Beijing campaign.

• Video replay of racing event on big screen.

• Winning club from racing event will be presented with Trophy.

• The Auction is scheduled to start at 8:30pm.

About Auction

• All proceeds go directly to the purchase of purpose built carbon Fibre leg for Alex.

• Items can be pre bided on before the Auction

• Successful bidders must put down a minimum 30% deposit on item.

• Items for Auction so far;

1. CSC Jersey signed by Stuart O’Grady specifically for this Auction

2. Australian National Jersey signed by 2002 World Sprint Champion Sean Eadie specifically for this Auction

3. DGV rental for private club training day/night with CNSW coaches including world renowned coach Gary Sutton

4. Velocity Track wheels

5. Framed Signed Photo series of Robbie McEwen’s Successful TDF, Green Jersey, Yellow Jersey and Australian Jersey.

6. Framed Photo of Beijing 2008 Australian Team Sprint, team with signed Olympic ticket.

7. More to come

I have since learned there have been other very generous donations to the auction, including an Anna Meares signed jersey and some carbon race wheels from an anonymous sponsor.

My only other comment is a minor correction - I won the Bronze medal in the MMAS3 Points Race at the Australian Masters Track Championships, behind the ever fast Graeme Albon and uber-cool dude Victorian Stuart Vaughan. It was an honour to share a podium with riders of that class.

Stumped

2008-09-02T20:26:00.008+10:00

I have a new T-shirt on order. Can't wait to wear it out.

It was spotted being worn by a British Paralympic track sprinter (running). I suppose you have to appreciate "amp humour" to get it.

Bit like how I can only count to 15 now.

Or the poor guy that suggested I give myself a kick up the bum, which I explained was going to be harder than normal to do.

In an argument I often don't have a leg to stand on. But I usually put my best foot forward. Of course being stumped has a whole new meaning!

I'll leave you with these images:

Team Bicisport

2008-08-25T17:41:00.004+10:00

Shane Sutton must be pretty pleased with himself at the moment. The Aussie and former Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist is head coach of the Great Britain track cycling squad and has overseen their rise to a remarkable dominance at the Beijing Olympics (and the most recent World Championships). It was great to watch all those world beating performances and the world records by the Team Pursuit and Team Sprint squads were tremendous. The bar has well and truly been lifted.

I coach myself, mostly individual riders but at times I help out with squads. Over the last couple of months I've been helping out with my own club's (Bicisport) efforts at the State Team Time Trial Championships. It's a great event to participate in. Four riders work together to complete the 40+km course in the shortest time possible. Just like the team pursuit, it is the time of the third rider across the line that matters.

Our club fielded five teams, all in the Masters racing categories. Two womens and three mens teams. The race was yesterday.

All the teams rode very well, with no mishaps. The women went one-two but unfortunately only two womens teams qualified to ride, which was disappointing.

The big result came with our MMAS 1-4 squad (under 50's), who won the championship in a time of 1:01:30, with a margin of only four seconds to the second place Manly Warringah team. I believe that is a course record for Masters. Team2 were one minute off the podium in ninth place and our MMAS 5+ team were eighth in their division. Unlike the women, there were 40 teams in the Masters mens.

A winning combination:
Ian, Phil, Mike, Alex (coach) and Jayson

It was great to watch them ride, with the key elements of team work showing through.

A big thanks to Mike O'Reilly for getting much of the logistics sorted. Nice work Mike. Also to all the others who helped out and riders that supported the training efforts.

The photo at the top is of the winning squad with me on the right showing off Schooner II. For my mate Phil, this was his 12th attempt at the event. Persistence pays off! Well done lads, a great ride.

As for me, well training had to take a back seat for the past week and a half. I was beginning to have some problems with my leg stump - a kind of bruising type of pain and it was aggravated when I rode and hurt when I walked. Not good. I thought it might go after a couple of days of rest but it didn't, which got me down a bit as I was going along really well with my training.

I called my prosthetics guy (George) last week and arranged to go and see him today and we talked it through. It would seem the solution is about the way I am using the socks that go over my leg liner. I won't bore you with the details but I now have something to try. I mocked up a sample of what I need and then did a 30-minute trainer ride this afternoon. Got through that no problems, so will get back to training again now.

George looked at the way I walked and could see the dramatic improvement in my gait from last time.

Everything is new again and I keep learning about the challenges along the way. I have said before, the mental challenge is the hardest part. Recognising what's important now and doing what you can do now to get to the next step is what matters. I can be a little hard on myself, which is OK when you are trying to train hard but I also have to temper that with the realisation that losing a leg ain't no small deal and in reality I am doing well.

Benchmark

2008-08-11T22:34:00.004+10:00

OK - a couple of pics for your viewing pleasure. Here I am on he start line about to do a 500 metre time trial at Dunc gray Velodrome on Friday night 8th August.

That's Brad Cox (Lionel's son) doing his best to lift my considerable mass off the ground so I can get the pedals in the right place for a start.

Normally I'm a natural left foot starter, so I need to re-learn the start using the right leg. I suppose I could try to start with the prosthetic leg but the forces are highest on the first push down and I think using my good leg first makes sense.

On my first start attempt I pulled my prosthetic "foot" out of the pedal so I had to roll around for a second go. No issues second time out of the blocks. You can see the way the pylon of my leg attaches directly to the pedal. It is like having a pedal cleat placed directly under your ankle, just forward of the heel.

And here I am at some stage on my way to a world of suffering as I try to hang on after lap 1.

Lap 1 was OK, not quite as fast as I thought I might go, but it's a start and I can only get better from here.

Lap 2 was pretty forgettable, I really tried to keep it going but I have no anaerobic endurance whatsoever (understandably) and well it wasn't a pretty sight. But I finished OK. 46.something seconds.

Track TTs are not my favourite event. But the skills involved are crucial for good trackies, so I'll keep trying to improve on that and all the other aspects of track riding.

I have been thinking about the pedal security issue (really important when riding in general but especially critical when on a fixed gear track bike - believe me I know having previously suffered a broken bone through pedal failure).

I sense a different feel when out of the saddle acelerating. The motions are different, the firing sequence is a bit different and so I'll need to re-learn so that it becomes natural again and can give it a maximal effort with confidence.

Since there is no longer an ankle on my left side to naturally manage the sideways forces caused when the bike is rocking side to side, when I push down on the left it tends to straighten the bike up more than normal - but only on that side. If I use the upper body to create the opposing force, then I get that feeling I might be putting too much lateral force on the pedal which might cause it to disengage.

So I was think of experimenting with a hard rubber bushing at the cleat to give that little bit of natural side ways flex so that the foot can pivot sideways slightly on the pedal before it attempts to disengage.

It's just another idea to play with. Each step along the way throws up new things to consider and I learn something new each time. In a weird sort of way I'm rediscovering the pleasures as everything on the bike is new again.

Other than that, it's not complicated. Just get on and pedal. Hard. For as long as you can.

On Track

2008-08-03T15:43:00.004+10:00

This morning I had not intended to ride as we had our club Team Time Trial training session scheduled up at Calga/Peats Ridge (which I am supervising/coaching). That went well. When I got home, well it was such a glorious winter's day, clear blue skies, light wind and about 17-18 C, so I decided to throw the bike in the car and head on down to the park for a roll. Back to that later.

On Friday, the planets aligned for me and so I had the opportunity to dust off the track bike (poor thing, it's been badly neglected), get down to DGV and get myself on the boards for the first time since my accident. So I circulated no problems. Saddle height needed an adjustment (I had installed slightly shorter cranks so the saddle needed to come up a bit). About 30-minutes of rolling around just reacquainting myself with the boards.

Then it was time to see if I could do the sort of stuff I'll need to do when riding on a track - namely accelerate, hard!

I rode up the banking to do an acceleration down the banking, which I did without incident.

So then I rolled slowly along the front straight and then popped out of the saddle and tried an acceleration. OK, so I wasn't going to set the world on fire but I was able to do it and that was the main thing. One more half lap effort, this time a bit harder and out of the saddle for the whole turn and down the back straight. There sure is a bit of re-wiring needed and the sensations are difficult to explain. Some stuff is the same, some I need to re-learn. Practice Alex, practice.

While I was there, Sean Eadie (2002 World Sprint Champ) was there coaching a Chinese rider. So I got Sean to time a standing 250 metre lap. 24.9 seconds. But the nice thing was simply being able to go out of the saddle for more than half a lap.

So back to today. My legs were a little sore but after a couple of laps they came good and I ended up doing a solid hour and a bit. That then gave me a 5-day block of riding and a nice little boost to my training loads. That blue line is on its way up :D

I also tried something new - putting an extra sock over my leg liner before riding, which provides addition compressesion of the leg stump inside the socket. This had the effect of maintaining a more secure fitting, not allowing the leg to sweat as much and so there was not much pooling of perspiration in the lower part of the liner creating that insecure squishy feeling. So that was pretty cool.

I'm going to sleep well tonight me thinks!

Two by Twenty - Take 2

2008-07-30T14:24:00.003+10:00

Way back I posted about a workout known as the 2 x 20. It's pretty simple. Ride for 20-minutes at around your time trial pace/effort/power, have a short break and then do it again. Combined with a warm up and cool down, it makes for a nice tight one-hour workout that's exceptionally effective at developing one's aerobic engine.

On a power meter chart - it looks a bit like this:

The squiggly yellow line denotes power output and was around 200 watts for two efforts lasting around 20-minutes. The horizontal dashed line shows 200 watts.

In between efforts I stopped and hopped off the ergo bike to remove my leg and dry the liner and leg, and replace so I could go again. It's a challenge I face at the moment as the leg liner tends to fill with perspiration making it a little weird to pedal. Imagine pedalling in loose gumboots with water in the bottom of them.

Of course there is nothing magical about 20-minutes. Overall it's about getting enough time at these levels. Some do 3 x 20-min. Others 3 x 15-min. Some ride the hour straight at that power. Typically though we break up efforts into smaller duration "chunks" (known as intervals) so that we can maintain perhaps slightly higher power than we may otherwise have the motivation to do all in one go.

So what's actually happening when I train at this level? Well lots of good things. The main physiological changes that are brought about by riding at these intensities include:

- increasing my muscle glycogen storage capacity. Glycogen, along with free fatty acids are key sources of chemical energy which is converted by our muscles into mechanical energy (and heat). Basically this means I develop the ability to ride hard for longer.

- increasing muscle mitochondral enzymes - these are the "mini power plants" inside our muscles, which use the available oxygen for the conversion of chemical energy to mechanical energy (as well as heat). The greater the number and density of these suckers we have the better

- increased lactate threshold - which is another way of saying one can go harder for longer. Blood lactate concentration is one way of determining how effectively our working muscles are performing at various intensities.

Now you gain these benefits by riding at lower intensity levels as well but the rate at which improvements occur is greatest at these intensities, which is an effort level equivalent to how hard you could maximally sustain riding for about an hour.

They are also effective at increasing my blood plasma volume, increasing my heart stroke volume (amount of blood moved per beat) and maximal cardiac output (maximum amount of blood I can pump per unit time) and for increasing the amount of oxygen I am capable of both delivering to my working muscles and actually utilising (my VO2 Max).

There are other funky things too, like increasing the density of blood carrying capilliaries inside the muscles - which enables a greater and faster transfer of oxygen to the working cells. On top of that, our (slow twitch) muscles fibres also grow.

The body is an amazing thing. It knows how to adapt when it is provided with a training stimulus. The trick is to keep providing that stimulus in the right doses.