Liz Randall's Cycling Blog - a life behind bars

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



Sunday 7 December 2008

Latest training

Thursday saw me taking part again (3rd of 5 sessions) in the Spin class organised by our work wellness group (I'm the chairperson). Held at 0630 in a nearby gym, we are delighted that about 30 intrepid souls see fit to turn up and suffer. Personally I've always scoffed at spin classes, but this one is not bad and concentrates on something I'm bad at, namely change of pace. Added to the great class is the absolutely scrumptious bircher muesli that the leader makes for us to have for brekky afterwards....yum, must get the recipe.

Friday was a day off and on Saturday I set about getting to the bottom of why this stewpid, stewpid Tacx VR trainer wont damn well work. I read on a forum that correct installing was absolutely vital, so YET AGAIN I un-installed and re installed the program and its 5, yes 5 updates all of which completely overwrite the previous one...tut sigh.

But when all was done and finished NOTHING HAD CHANGED.

The two lights on the CPU to say there was contact with the HRM and computer were good, but the computer wasn't seeing the braking mech...oops...how do I even know if the braking mech is working??? I turned off power and took a good look at plug, European/Australian adapter and extension cable.......BIG think....check everything...and if it still doesn't work get Ben and his multimeter to see if the braking mech is getting any contact at all.

So I:
Changed the extension cable. Still nothing.

Changed to a different wall plug. Still nothing.
Changed to a different Euro/Aus adaptor and it worked. Sheeee-it...all that f....................ing time,effort,angst and pure unadulterated RAGE and it was the fr..................ing adaptor.......

The weather outside was perfect, but I was inside PLAYING! Wi..cked.... Finally

Sunday was veldrome time with M Lash and his group of juniors. We were indoors at DISC, following the last of 4 Come and try It sessions that took place during the day...if only a small percentage of those there carry on it will be fantastic...

M Lash is determined to get me to SPIN and so yet again I'm told to put on a twiddle gear- this time in the low 80's. When I groaned/grimaced I'm told the rest will be on 79! 79...yikes...I'd have to take links out of my chain to get that low....I zip my lip/blank the face..very very grateful to be in the low 80's.

After a pace line that seemed to be unusually syncopated, it was effort time. I had to do 3000m of 2 laps off/2laps on the bike at ~41kph and I'm allowed to go up to an 86 (my normal pursuit gear is 93.6). I must have been working hard cos the old pursuiter's cough plagued me for the next hour. The next effort was a 3 lapper done at 2 lap pace and then I bailed..actually there was only enough time left for 1 more effort but I was definitely on the slippery downhill slope and so decided discretion was the best idea
.

During the week I've had an email from Training Peaks asking me to be one of their featured athletes..not sure whether to be flattered or maybe I'm the end of a long line of refusals....;-) Anyway, I've decided to go ahead and will take the opportunity to mention my coach and others who have helped me get to where I currently am in my cycling journey.....

3 comments:

Judith said...

Your entry today intriguesd me for a couple of reasons, one is that I find the saga of the computer/training package very funny...err should I say I sympathise with you...and interested in your pursuit gear as I rode a 92 at Nationals and I think I should go up, but I must get to the track and experiment.....I think around a 94 is what I would aim for......maybe up to a 96, I know two of the girls in my age group riding sub 2"40's ride a 96 so I am way undergeared as I am not naturally a spinner anyway...thanks for making me think yet again....

Liz said...

You're allowed to laugh - it's written to be amusing...

Re the gearing..everyone seems to be riding heavier gearing nowadays. Guess you gotta race to your strengths and currently I'm being frog marched into training one of my weaknesses - spinning.

Now if only I could spin a heavier gear....most of my 3000m effort was at >100 rpm, which is high for me. Wonder what pursuit time 100rpm on my usual gear would get me?

Penny said...

WOW - all this talk of gear inches in the 90's!! I currently train and race at Packer Park on an 81 (48-16), which is rather prone to wind. I'm better at spinning than a few months ago - but I'm a small ring girl on my road bike, so 48-16 is actually a "big" gear for me!
Hopefully now I've learnt to spin (well roadie style), I'll gradually be able to spin on higher gears as I get stronger.

As for being "undergeared" ... I think the prize for that goes to "spinning-backside-off but going nowhere fast" Sue at the club champs in the sprint race yesterday. From memory, she was on 43 (or 44)-17 ... which I've worked out is around 70 gi.
No wonder she wanted a more suitable gearing for the scratch race. A quick club bike change later, she was on the "fair gear" of 48-16 ... which most of the rest of us were on - so she wasn't left behind again!

Penny