Power

I have been a terrible blogger, I know. Too much life has been in the past year. I must catch up.

Starting in November, I renewed my life in the saddle. I've been riding extra miles through the parks after work; strength training on the hills and the gym. December was a little off with a cold and getting trapped in a Nebraska blizzard, but even in the drifts of snow I have been finding my strength again.

In January, I fell into obsession, or as it appears. I have slipped further into the crazy I thought I never had. I found myself with a Tacx virtual reality trainer. It has greatly increased my trainer time. The base software has three simplistic 'islands' on which to ride, but I added a profile of the 30 mile Hub ride as well as a video run of a mountain climb through Austria. It is the first time I've trained with power readings. I initially had some low power readings on it, but after some work on cadence vs. the resistance, the numbers rose as well as the realistic feeling. The trainer can't simulate extreme grades and reverts to a speed/power/resistance calculation to simulate. So my 13% grade in Austria, feels realistic if I stay in the big ring and think like I'm in the little ring. I have a set power test program available and the results indicate my threshold in February is a respectable 320 watts.

So today, I have finally had a chance to put these numbers to the road. Froze Toes is not a definitive race in any means; 60 miles is an afternoon scamper for top amateurs, let alone guys like Huff or Henderson. How much this race compares to their total effort by them is unknown to me, but our strategy today was to just finish as best as possible with the main group. To this end the first lap we were quiet and the pace was easy. On Devin's advice, I stayed back but within sight of the front. The second lap started with a fury. The pace was put on to thin the pack. Strung out I was just happy to stay on, then the break started. I saw it there in front of me, so I set down to chase. My first attempt was my best, nearly making it but coming up just short after a 35 mph burst. The dropped in and recovered. We turned to the second leg of the square. The wind at our backs the whole pack went furious chasing after them, but the elite group of the best riders stayed just out of reach, barely. The second half of this leg I found myself in the front chasing again and again, yo-yo'ing closer but just not quite there. The third leg, the break put down the hammer. My efforts in the front, pulls of about 30 mph. over the next 6-8 miles wasn't enough. A few from the break fell off and we caught them, but that was it. I rolled in on Devin's wheel at 18th place.

I didn't catch the break, but realistically I'm just happy feeling good enough to try it, repeatedly. I put in a lot of work in a field shared with 1/2's. I stayed with the second group of riders across the line. I should say that this was resulting from my training and having my team there, and that is partly true. I know that there is more to this power than that. I am a 32 year old amateur racer. I will never be a pro, never will I have kisses from podium girls. I pay money to do mostly what I could do for free. There is really few good reasons for me to push myself down the pavement. What goes through my mind, but a heart, beautiful.