The Wheelsucker Goes Out in The Cold AGAIN!

The Wheelsucker is a slow learner. One day in the bitter Great White North(GWN) cold was not enough to force him indoors on the trainer; the Wheelsucker was at it again on the 26th.

As per the Wheelsucker's coach this was a:

Long tempo. Ride 60-75 minutes steady in the tempo power zones. Non-stop. Flat course. Aero position. Smooth pedaling. 85-100 rpm. Breathe easily.

The Wheelsucker's choice of route did not work out as well as on the 25th, and there were a few more lights and stops than he would have liked.

19 degrees F, wind 10 mph out of the NE.

~ 1:55 ride time. Average power for entire ride was 203 watts, but as soon as the warmup is excluded the Wheelsucker has 90 minutes averaging the bottom of his zone 3. The average power climbs if you look at shorter intervals, with his CP10 being in the bottom of z4.

The Wheelsucker was quite comfortable despite the cold, and will share his clothing selection in case others want to know what it takes to be comfortable riding at 19 F.

• Craft windstopper underwear (the boys need a warm home, thanks to Mike Birner, Jay Murphy and Marc Frazer for the Craft Windstopper suggestion)
  
• Cycling tights
  
• ABRT warm knickers (thanks to Alex Pline for pushing for these)
  
• Craft windstopper T-shirt (thanks Mike, Jay and Marc again)
  
• Gill zip neck long sleeve base layer
  
• Long sleeve ABRT jersey
  
• ABRT cold weather jacket
  
• Lycra balaclava (thanks to Ken McDowell for the spelling correction)
  
• Warm KB "do rag" on top of the balaclava
  
• Louis Garneau "lobster" mittens
  
• DeFeet wool socks
  
• ordinary cycling shoes with vents taped over
  
• Bontrager shoe covers (thanks to Stu for suggesting these, they are "the bomb!")
  
  
• Polar insulated water bottles - the water takes longer to freeze, so you actually get to drink some of it first.
  

The Wheelsucker Braves the Great White North

Many years ago the Wheelsucker left his friends and family in Canada and moved to the Washington DC area. This gave the Wheelsucker a significant increase in his standard of living, and he also enjoyed the easy Washinsgton DC (and Annapolis) climate, which allowed him to sail year round. The move meant giving up cross country skiing, but the wheelsucker was prepared to do that in favor of sailing.

More recently Annapolis weather has worked well for the wheelsucker's cycling; the wheelsucker probably missed only 2-3 Saturday rides last winter, and rode most Sunday's too.

The wheelsucker still has family in the Great White North (GWN), now living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and quite recently has a wonderful girlfriend in the GTA, so chose to use his last vacation days to be in the GTA for Christmas and New Years.

Being commited to riding and doing his workouts (and having missed two workouts just before going to the GWN/GTA), the wheelsucker was determined to ride while there. He drove up the evening and night of the 23rd, and was able to get a shortened ride on the indoor trainer on the 24th; shortened because Christmas Eve festivities were starting. But Christmas Day was the day the Wheelsucker decided to brave the elements.

The wheelsucker's coach said 2 hours: Ride on a flat to gently rolling course. Get at least 50% of ride time in 2 zone. Avoid 4-5 zones. Keep the 2-zone effort steady and continuous.

The wheelsucker was short of sleep, had been eating and drinking too much, and was looking forward to a good ride. It was about 20 degrees F. BRISK! But the Wheelsucker could recall cross country skiing in 20 F and colder, so why not cycle?

The Wheelsucker got a late start due to Christmas Day celebrations and the time it took to put his cycling clothes -- all of them -- on. He rolled down the street just before 15:00. Fortunately there was almost no wind.

Holding z2 outdoors was much easier than holding z2 on the trainer the day before; the Wheelsucker was feeling good -- and keeping his HR down -- when he turned around for the ride back. It was almost dark when the Wheelsucker made it back. Apart from not drinking enough as the water bottles had quickly frozen -- and even putting them inside his cycling clothes was not enough to thaw them -- the ride went well, though the wheelsucker was sneaking into the low end of z3 a bit too much on the ride back.

The wheelsucker was struck by how different a 1:10 mostly-zone2 ride on the trainer was from the 2:05 mostly-zone2 ride outside.

	inside	outside
temp	65	20
time	1:10	2:05
average watts	172	191
normalized watts	178	233
average HR	138	131
average cad	92	89
distance	24.24	35.51

Sunday December 21 Easton Shore Zone 2/Zone 3 Training RideThe Wheelsucker Report

The Masters Team has planned one or two monthly rides together in preparation for the racing season. While some were thinking of starting after Christmas, Mike Brown offered to lead a "zone 2/zone 3" four hour ride on the Eastern Shore last Sunday. Eight riders showed up, Mike Brown, Ace McDermott, Stu Waring, Steve Owens, Alex Pline, the Wheelsucker, and new members Mike Faber and Phil Stratton. There were regrets from several other masters riders.

It was cold, though the two Garmins reported it above freezing for the entire ride. With the windchill it felt cold. The wind was not initially that apparent, as the group was riding through tree covered areas and the wind was from behind; but doing 25 mph riding third wheel while not pedaling was a good clue.

The Wheelsucker has decided that reducing bike weight won't be enough as Ace and other strong riders would still beat him up a climb even if the wheelsucker's bike weighed nothing! So now the Wheelsucker is working on being more aero as well. He is working on a new position on the bike, with his forearms on top of the handlebars and part of his forearms and his hands dangling in front. The Wheelsucker thinks of this as the Floyd Landis TdF solo breakaway look (though sans PEDs, of course).

Being aero was key on the way back, into the wind. Using this uncomfortable – "my taint hurts, badly" – position, the Wheelsucker was able to hold the high end of zone 2 power and ride away from others (who were presumably also holding their zone 2 or less) until someone like Ace or Stu got serious and took a higher-than-z2/z3 pull. But after one long pull the Wheelsucker was following Stu up a climb after crossing a creek, and found himself struggling. A glance at the Powertap revealed why; the wheelsucker was holding more than 300 watts, well over zone 3. So the wheelsucker sat up and went back to the group to rest (by wheelsucking).

Then there was the "whose z2/z3" issue. Ace can ride his z2 and some others might be at zone 4 trying to hold his wheel.

Mike Brown claimed it was not any sort of a planned route; he knew roughly where they were and would just call for a turn when he felt like it. Some areas had tree cover, others were through open fields. Road surfaces were 99% dry; the group detoured around one unplowed road. Car traffic was almost non existent on the route. The route was not quite dead flat; there were shallow descents and climbs carved by creeks, but elevation probably varied by only 70 feet for the ride.

Wheelsucker Data (av/max):
Time: 4:00:20
Distance: 71.74 miles
Speed: 17.9/29 mph
Hear Rate: 126/154 bpm
Power: 169/600 watts
Cadence: 92 rpm
Energy: 2437 calories

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/60141690 Alex Pline
http://mapmyride.com/routes/view/26253074/
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Queenstown-70-miler
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/60134675 Mike Faber