Liz Randall's Cycling Blog - a life behind bars

"With ordinary talents and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable"



Sunday 3 February 2008

Another coupla hard days at the office

So Tuesday was a slacko day and Wednesday was an exercise day..yeetch! hard yacka with Jeff insisting on MORE! MORE! MORE!

Thursday was a track motorpacing day and we were lap on/off the bike with 2 of us swapping turns. I was next to useless on the first effort and had to stop on the second as I just could NOT catch up with the motorbike once I peeled off. At that point Rick obviously decided I wasn't going to "get it" on my own and actually told me what to do...the result?..I got it and the 3rd effort was MUCH better.

I'm still not game to get close enough to the motorbike to get maximum benefit which is sad when you consider that its actually much safer than my Saturday effort when I motorpace with Alex along Beach Road. On the road I get VERY close to Alex's back wheel and I'm guessing that's an indication of me being more comfortable controlling my road bike as opposed to my track bike, since the road motorpacing is heaps more dangerous than on the track.
The road motorpacing is very good for me when the road tilts upwards since that is where I am weakest. Needless to say along the way we develop a tail...I have no probs with that although they get no hand signals from me except if they insist on half wheeling me when the pace goes down on the up hills....then they get unladylike hand signals and a ditto mouthful.

Our new Blue TT bikes will be arriving soon and when that happens we'll be going to quieter roads near Mount Macedon to do our efforts...until we've dialled them in and are confident we're in control.

This is the graph of THAT hill part of my ride today on the Tour de f@#$ing undulations....not a long hill, I know, but one I took at ~9kph which indicates it might be the same sort of steepness as the signposted 16% at the south end of Hull Road in Mooroolbark. At a measly 809m, it took me nearly 4 mins to complete with a max of 307watts, I averaged 197.

Having seen and ridden it for the second time, I think the problem with it lies in its sneakiness, which is that for the first part its not too bad a slope..you can't see the top until you turn a corner and then it seems to rise up very steeply, with the tree Arch of Victory at what you think is the top.

My ride today was solo despite Fixmawheel promising to join me..I'll say nothing more on this apart from...lame! lame! lame! Lawrence and shame! shame! shame! (I think I put her off with an SMS that reminded her that on MY rides we don't stop for coffee until the end..hehe)..perhaps should add HTFU too. On the other hand..maybe I should shut up b4 she hacks me off at the knees! after all her strengths are different from mine and her max watts
(even if only for a nanosecond) of 700+ far exceeds mine.

So how does the PMC look today?
The last point is today's ride, the next 2 bits to the left are the 2 motorpacing efforts. The blue line continues its upwardly inclined rise..phew! I have another coupla weeks of speed endurance/threshold work before a "rest" week...may it be quick coming!

Work stresses are yet again on the rise..I have a new grad under my wing, a student coming soon and have to re-apply for my job since senior clinical staff are now caught up in the restructuring that is sweeping many people out of the door. My overseas plans are therefore on temporary hold while management decides whether or not to keep me gainfully employed a bit longer.....

Oh and yes...I've changed the look of my blog..not sure I like it really, but.........

3 comments:

Lawrence said...

Come join me for a big chain ring(53x16)standing start at the traffic lights, heatherdaule rd and maroondah highway intersection, facing up not down... i did say ouch, but in Celtic, or was it anglo-saxon??

Liz said...

Very bold..but I say Pffft! to you and your puny challenges!
Instead, how about this evening after werk..1 in 20, 53/15 all the way up, stationary start, no gear changes, no standing, no lame excuses. See you at the start line and, as you say, pointing up not down.

Oh and no performance enhancing cheese cake either.

Lawrence said...

sorry.. got women's committee meeting tonight... could do it tomorrow instead of ergo -wonder what Coach would say?? heheh

Or, even better.. before work, then I can still do my ergo session!