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Race The Training Thread

Didn't that light dinner and light breakfast leave you under-fueled for the race?

I don't think it was *just* the light dinner and breakfast, rather it was probably cumulative over the course of several days.

I fueled much better for today's cycling event and I felt much stronger.

Although I did have one of the J Pro Tour dudes pulling for me....hehehe.

On a sad note, I think my road bike frame might be at the end of it's life. Trying to think whether it would be cheaper to buy a frame and just the individual components I need, or a frame and a full groupset (and sell the parts), or just buy a complete bike and sell the parts I don't need.
 
People riding behind me mentioned how much it was twisting, so I stepped on a pedal and could see it was flexing quite a bit. Doesn't seem to be cracked, though. Maybe too many hours of riding when I was way above the weight limit, and too many trainer hours...
 
Is that a carbon frame? Even if not, it sounds as if you definitely need a new frame. Hey, what's so bad about having an objectively sensible reason to get a new bike? :D

BTW, had a great sweet spot session yesterday. It felt a bit light, though, even though I voluntarily did an extra rep. So I will amp up the power next time.
 
I suspect much of the flex I was seeing may have been the tire. I put it on the trainer yesterday and it didn't seem to be flexing much worse than you see in videos of frame flex...

Not to mention there's evidence that a flexible frame is actually faster than a super stiff one.

I also don't have 380,000 yen for the bike I want. Hahaha.

Also, buying a new frame and just the parts of a groupset I need would end up coming damn close the cost of a complete new bicycle.

Man, I wish bike companies would just sell every component level in every color they make....
 
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Regarding money, yeah, that's fair enough. Most of us feel that way, myself included.

Without seeing what you mean, it is impossible for me to diagnose, but I inferred from the way you wrote it that you meant flex in directions and ways that your frame previously wasn't flexing. Any frame is a spring, so you will have flex when you apply loads to a bike frame. However, typically road bike frames are quite robust and do not require any maintenance. So unless you have had an accident, as a first approximation your frame should be fine.

Colors are a difficult thing, too. It sometimes hurts me that some bikes come in ugly liveries, e. g. BMC's TeamMachines come in very dark, conservative colors — with the exception of the ¥900,000 model that not only rides amazingly, but comes in a beautiful red. Nevertheless, I think it is wiser to keep that kidney in case my kids need them. ;)
 
Looking forward to the TT and TTT at Moniwa next Sunday.

Today was the last day of 6 weeks of solid training.

The form seems to be coming out in the last few days despite the overload.

Hopefully a week long taper will bring the form out to be firing on all cylinders on race day.

The usual training blog below.

Cheers,

Andy

 
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What is a TTT?
BTW, we had a group ride, and it's nice to see the effects of training. TrainingPeaks suggested I raise my FTP to 271 W so that it can calculate my TSS accurately. (I haven't done an FTP test yet.) Plus, I negotiated with my wife that I can buy an indoor trainer, woot!
 
What is a TTT?
BTW, we had a group ride, and it's nice to see the effects of training. TrainingPeaks suggested I raise my FTP to 271 W so that it can calculate my TSS accurately. (I haven't done an FTP test yet.) Plus, I negotiated with my wife that I can buy an indoor trainer, woot!
Team Time Trial
 
TT this weekend, epic ride yesterday.

I wonder if there's an exhaustive list of all the "shimin" races regular people can enter that are held together with professional races.

Tour of Hokkaido, Tour de Okinawa, and Japan Cup are the only ones I know about for sure...

Also, the Tour of Tochigi 1st stage had a TT event open to the public.

I still seem to be losing weight. Only 5 pounds to go until 200...

Need to find some more semi-local races that are suitable for me. There is going to be a criterium in Sukagawa at the end of June that's flat except for a kick up to the finish line for safety reasons.
 
Ugh, I am sick again. I swear, my one-year old daughter is the cutest incubator of germs you have ever seen. I'm gonna lay low this week in the hope that I'll be fine by GW.
 
TT this weekend, epic ride yesterday.

I wonder if there's an exhaustive list of all the "shimin" races regular people can enter that are held together with professional races.

Tour of Hokkaido, Tour de Okinawa, and Japan Cup are the only ones I know about for sure...

Also, the Tour of Tochigi 1st stage had a TT event open to the public.

If you count club riders as regular people too (a stretch I know) then every JBCF race meets your criterion.
There is also the KINAN AACA CUP, a crit series that some pros take part in. It has no official barrier to entry, so with a good enough race history anyone can race actually alongside the pros (https://www.coupedeaaca.com/).
The "Challenge Cycle Road Race" is a qualifier for the Japan national road race, so lots of pros also enter that (http://challengeroad.com/). Same thing goes for the 西日本チャレンジサイクルロードレース and 九州チャレンジサイクルロードレース.
Quite a few around.
 
If you count club riders as regular people too (a stretch I know) then every JBCF race meets your criterion.
There is also the KINAN AACA CUP, a crit series that some pros take part in. It has no official barrier to entry, so with a good enough race history anyone can race actually alongside the pros (https://www.coupedeaaca.com/).
The "Challenge Cycle Road Race" is a qualifier for the Japan national road race, so lots of pros also enter that (http://challengeroad.com/). Same thing goes for the 西日本チャレンジサイクルロードレース and 九州チャレンジサイクルロードレース.
Quite a few around.

Thanks for the info.

You have to join a team to JBCF and most of the JCRC races do not suit my current.... physique.

I actually met someone from Kinan a while back. I think I have heard of both of these races, but they slipped my mind. Team Powertag also seems to sponsor a few races. At some point I'll be willing to drive more than three hours for a race. Haha.
 
Did another ramp test. Should have been able to go a few more seconds, but even then I got a three watt improvement over my last best test result. It was about time to make the workouts harder, anyway...
 
Clearly I did not learn my lesson about eating tamagokake gohan before training...

Now I get while people say not to eat anything new on race day.
 
After 6 weeks of hard training, I've been doing a taper this week.

Tapers differ for the event and for your fitness/fatigue level. And as with all training, there's an element of trial and error to it.

But for me, the basic procedure in building a daily training plan is the same.

I wrote about it in the weekly training blog below.

Cheers,

Andy

 
Do you think it would be a good idea to wear my heavy waterproof shoe covers? My shoes are all velcro, so in aero terms they aren't that bad, but the shoe covers would probably still save a few watts. OTOH, they would add quite a bit to rotational weight.

Do you remember what the winning average speed and time for the road bike TT was last year? Last time I did it I think it was a little over 40 km/h and maybe 15 minutes.
 
Do you think it would be a good idea to wear my heavy waterproof shoe covers? My shoes are all velcro, so in aero terms they aren't that bad, but the shoe covers would probably still save a few watts. OTOH, they would add quite a bit to rotational weight.

Do you remember what the winning average speed and time for the road bike TT was last year? Last time I did it I think it was a little over 40 km/h and maybe 15 minutes.

About 16:30?

http://omise83-as.chicappa.jp/moniwa/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018-moniwaTT-result-2.pdf

I can bring some spare shoe covers and TT helmet.

Heading to Fukushima tomorrow and will aim to be at the course for 9ish on Sunday.

See you there!

Andy
 
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