Instantaneous wheel velocity

Bringing back some foggy memories

My friend Ben King brought this to my attention: Downers Grove Elite National Criterium Championship, 2007.

Goal for 2009: STAY OFF THE GROUND!

Also, from Cap & Gown Winter Formals:

Baseline FTP test in aerobars on TT bike

After a few days of rest and easy pedaling (and a two-day hiatus from coffee!) I was ready for my baseline functional threshold power test. I've always done these about once ever 4-6 weeks to see how I'm progressing and where my form is at. Since I usually care most about these numbers for a time trial, I try to do them consistently on the TT bike and reduce as many variables as I can.

There's a great road for this that doesn't have bad traffic in the middle of the day and is quite flat with good wind protection. The road is a bit crappy in places and there are a couple of four-way-stops, but overall it's not too bad an option for threshold testing. After ripping off my derailleur hanger yesterday, the road bike is out of commission and I figured it would be a perfect time to go out and do a baseline. I knew it would feel pretty awkward going 100% in a super-low TT position on a bike I haven't ridden for three months, much less doing 100% threshold in early December when it's barely above freezing, but what's a college-kid-racer to do?

Here are my TrainingPeaks results:


Not too bad, all things considered! When I won Nationals in 2007, my average power for 30 minutes (not much difference between 20 and 30 minutes, just more of the same suffering) was 351 watts. I was a few kilos lighter at that point, so the power to weight was probably the same, but I know I've come a long way in 1.5 years. I just hope I can beat my baseline when the season starts! ;-)

Only five more days of class before I'm heading out to Colorado for some skiing at Copper Mountain with my dad!!! After three days on the slopes, I'm going to make the trek up to Ft. Collins to meet up with the Legacy Energy boys for some snowshoeing and yurt camping! It should be great to meet the guys I don't know, catch up with the ones I do, and just have some good old-fashioned team bonding up in the mountains.

I've also recently caught up with my old training buddy and sick triathlete JJ Bailey--we're going to be doing some good rides back in Iowa with the old group and braving the insanely terrible weather. If it's just too bad to ride, I'll probably spin inside a bit and just relax, do some off-roading in the Jeep, catch up with friends, etc. At this point, life is too short to go out in treacherous weather and get sick or depressed!

I'm already looking forward to toeing a start line, even though that is three months away! However, I'm more looking forward to Winter Formals this weekend--I had a blast last year, and it should be even better this time around!

What's on YOUR mind?

PARKOUR

ARGH, cold+rain+cycling=NOT COOL!

I'm somewhere between Philly and NYC, but it feels like Belgium.

The magical 30

It's been a long time since I got in a 30hr week, but I've skipped a few classes and started rides earlier to bump up the mileage. The weather has been relatively cooperative, so life is good! Yesterday I even ran into my friend Shawn from Penn State and then we had a great group ride with Shawn's former coach and even had Boulderite Carter Jones in town for Thanksgiving.

I had a great time this weekend at my aunt and uncle's place in Short Hills, NJ, an hour north of Princeton. I've made it an annual routine to come up with my great aunt and great uncle (Class of 1948!) and it's always fun to see them, eat good food, escape The Princeton Bubble, and get a change of scenery.

My Princeton Cycling teammate Gavin Daly came up for the holiday as well. He's a first year grad student in Civil Engineering, and he's from Ireland and doesn't have any family over here, so we were happy to take him up. Gavin's one of the most hilarious guys I've met in quite a while, and we had some excellent "discussions" (read: heated debates) with my conservative Uncle Mike!

I was just catching up on VeloNews and noticed Rock Racing is having a clothing "sale" (i.e. their short/jersey kit is ONLY $450 now) so I killed some time perusing their site . . . while I was checking out the USPRO RR pics ("Tyler's Redemption") I spotted myself in a couple!

This was after a CRAZY first small lap through Greenville--no one had any clue what the course was like, and there were some very technical, sketchy corners. I was happy to be alive at this point.

This is cool! Apparently Freddy can get a nice draft off of The Frey-Train.

ROLLERS = BOREDOM

Crappy weather has put a cramp in my style this week . . . I'm planning a bike block of training to take advantage of no classes and post-rest-week freshness. Things are going well, and I'm excited to be almost done with the semester!

Check out the BORING SRM file below, as well as the graphical depiction of my training since starting my training for 2009 about a month ago.

SICK new team ride!

Yours truly and all the boys on Team Legacy Energy are going to be riding the BMC Pro Machine SLC01 for the 2009 season! This has to be the sweetest, most unique bike in the peloton today. Just check out the review from Cyclingnews. These are the same bikes that the BMC team have used in 2008 with much success.

We're getting the hookup from The Cycologist, the best bike shop in Ft. Collins, probably even in Colorado. That's definitely saying a lot. If you're ever in the area, make SURE to stop in to the shop--even if you don't plan on buying anything, it's a sweet place to chill and you might walk away with one of their cool pairs of socks or a Legacy Energy jersey!

Drool over some more pics below.

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