It has been a long time since I have written anything, but I have been busy since the racing season finished up with family stuff.

A few people have asked me about my fall/winter training plan.  I am in transition right now.  I have finished up my break at the end of the season, and I am now moving into my strength training and rebuilding phase.  During the next 3 months, I am going to be working on building up my core strength that was lost by doing no core work over the summer.  I am thinking that next summer I will add in some core maintenance.  For my core work, I basically do the following:

• http://youtu.be/c81-efMDCg0
• http://youtu.be/4BOTvaRaDjI
• http://youtu.be/1kioUd3ImEA
• http://youtu.be/VOdMzJ8IvI0
• http://youtu.be/ZIkewqrsuYg

In addition to the core stuff, I have started doing stallouts on my computrainer in the morning 3 days per week.  On the weekends, I am getting out for a few hours but in Wisconsin it is getting cold.  I am also targeting to get about 8 hours on the bike per week.  The stallout routine takes about 60 minutes so I end up doing another hour working on my base building by holding HR at 150.

Any questions?

Ride Hard,

Steve

This is a short iMovie of my ToAd 2011 just for fun.

Play Video

Ride Hard

Steve

June 26, 2011 Masters 123

I signed up to do the full http://www.tourofamericasdairyland.com/ in the Masters 123.  This week has been a lot of fun!  It has been a long time since I have raced this much (Thanks Love!).  I ended up 7th overall in my age group so I was pretty happy.  It is clear that I need to work on my sprinting for next year.

The capital course in Madison was the place I did my first crit about 21 years ago at the badger state games.  I have raced this course many times of the last years so I know how it usually ends up….a sprint.  I have had luck in the past attacking just before the last lap, and this was my plan.  I gave it a go but was caught by a 9 guys after the last corner.  I was suffering to turn over the cranks for that last 100 yards.

Again, I used the data screen setup from http://www.biketelemetry.com.  I did not turn off the sound so you will need to turn down your volume.

Give 20-30 secs to queue up.

Play Video

Below is the powerfile.

Ride Hard

Steve

June 25, 2011 Masters 123

I signed up to do the full http://www.tourofamericasdairyland.com/ in the Masters 123.  Downers Avenue was a race that I wanted to win, but I ended up getting sixth place.  I moved up to the front within the first 2 laps because the second corner makes the race hard.  Within the next few laps, I was in a break with 5 guys.  We were holding around 10-15 seconds for a long time, and I was getting cooked.  I really thought that were we not going to stay out.  A few laps later, a z-motion guy bridged up and a few more laps later a Safeway guy bridged up to put seven guys in the break.  With the added power, we established the gap at 45-50 seconds.  With about 6 to go, I picked up 100 prime.  I took the 2nd corner fast and had a big gap on the back side and rolled in for the prime.  The gap was so big that I kept it going for a few laps.  After a few laps, I could see that I was not going to go solo so I waited for  the break, and joined the rear of the break with 2 to go (thanks for the nice push from the Cafe Hollander guy!).  On the last lap on the 2nd corner, I was last in line and ended up in the gutter which meant I was just hanging on down the backside.  I tried to sprint but the other guys in the break were faster, and I rolled in for 6th.  Even though I wanted the win, I was really happy with this race!

Again, I used the data screen setup from http://www.biketelemetry.com.  I did not turn off the sound so you will need to turn down your volume.

Give 20-30 secs to queue up.

Play Video

Below is the powerfile with yellow power lines at 300 and 1000, and red HR lines at 150 and 170.

Ride Hard,

Steve

June 24, 2011 Masters 123

I signed up to do the full http://www.tourofamericasdairyland.com/ in the Masters 123.  Update, I did Greenbush road race but got dropped on the last lap on the last climb which was about 3 miles from the finish.  I tried to get back on but I was cooked.  I was going to race at Schlitz Park but it started raining so I headed home because I hate racing in the rain.  Then I did the Ripon time trial which was rather hilly.  Thursday was Sheboygan, and it was rainy all day.  I did not film the race because I figured it would rain, and I was right.  The race started off dry but after 10 minutes it started raining.  I am okay if it starts raining during a race, but I hate starting a race in the rain. I avoided the many crashes and ended up taking 13th.

In today’s race, I ended up 11th. I was up front with 1 to go, but I was second wheel going along the back stretch and the guy was slowing down.  I wanted to be 3-4 wheel out of the corner because the finish stretch was so long.  So, I dropped the hammer and led out the sprint.  I was first around the last corner, but I was cooked.  I made an attempt to sprint but ended up getting passed by 10 guys.

The video worked except for a 20 second gap where the camera turned off and back on.  Again, I used the data screen setup from http://www.biketelemetry.com.  I did not turn off the sound so you will need to turn down your volume.

Play Video

Below is the powerfile with yellow power lines at 300 and 1000, and red HR lines at 150 and 170.

Ride Hard,

Steve

June 19, 2011 Masters 123

I signed up to do the full http://www.tourofamericasdairyland.com/ in the Masters 123.

I ended up 8 in this race. This was a pretty hard race because the course was slightly technical.  It took me awhile to move up to the front of the race, and it was pretty hard sitting in the middle.  Once I was upfront, it felt a lot easier and the power spikes were not as high.  With about 5-6 laps to go, a break of 4-5 guys got off.  I was right at the front and most likely I could have bridged.  I was thinking that I did not want to bury myself to bridge up because I was thinking they would be caught anyway.  I was wrong and I should have been racing more aggressively.   I was well positioned for the field sprint.  I was third wheel going into the last corner, but was passed by 2 guys down the finish stretch.

The video worked except for a 20 second gap where the camera turned off and back on, most likely were my camera slide down so the footage is covering a lot of the road.   Again, I used the data screen setup from http://www.biketelemetry.com.  I did not turn off the sound so you will need to turn down your volume.

Play Video

Below is the powerfile with yellow power lines at 300 and 1000, and red HR lines at 150 and 170.

June 17, 2011, Masters 123

I signed up to do the full http://www.tourofamericasdairyland.com/ in the Masters 123.  I am hoping to do a daily post of each race and how I am feeling based upon how I trained.

I ended up 23 in the race, but almost made the break.  After about 36 minutes the break had just gotten away,  I attempted to bridge up to the break but did not make it.  A guy was with me but I could not hold his wheel as we when through the chicane.  I am really pissed at myself for not digging deeper to get his wheel.  This was the race.  About 7 guys were in the break and they were gone.  The course was a great crit course with nice corners and technical chicane with two little hills.  If you notice the powerfile profile, this races was about hitting it hard up the chicane and taking the other corners smooth.  I was hit 1000+ way too often and I was feeling it.  It was hard to move up on this course.  I had a start about in the middle and it took me until I tried to bridge up to the break to reach the front of the race.  As you can see from the powerfile at the end, this race has lots of spikes and the lots of coasting based upon my mainly middle position.

The video cut off after about 60 minutes.  I better not be having more issues!  Again, I used the data screen setup from http://www.biketelemetry.com.  I did not turn off the sound so you will need to turn down your volume.

Play Video

Below is the powerfile with yellow power lines at 300 and 1000, and red HR lines at 150 and 170.

June 18, 2011, Masters 123

I signed up to do the full http://www.tourofamericasdairyland.com/ in the Masters 123.

I ended up 8 in the race, but almost got taken down on the last corner by a guy who hit is pedal.  You will be able to see him flipping over on my left.  I posted a short youtube video which you can see here.

I spent the first 45 minutes of the race “tail gunning”.  I got a poor start position because the field had lined up while I was still warming up.  There were a few crashes in the women’s race right before our race, so I thought I had some more time.  It worked out fine because unlike the day before at Thiensville, I knew that I could get to the front anytime.  Tail Gunning is when you sit in dead last but you time your corner exits so that you don’t have to sprint and you time your entry into the corner so that you don’t have to brake.  This is risky because if there was a crash you could be gapped or dropped.  As you can see by my powerfile, the spikes were much lower than at Thiensville and I was keeping my heart rate below 150 while I was at the back.  I was working on keeping it as easy as possible at the back until I was ready to get to front.

The video worked for the whole race this time.   Again, I used the data screen setup from http://www.biketelemetry.com.  I did not turn off the sound so you will need to turn down your volume.

Play Video

Below is the powerfile with yellow power lines at 300 and 1000, and red HR lines at 150 and 170.

Here is my first attempt with a new data screen setup from http://www.biketelemetry.com.  I think you will find it pretty cool. Once I get a GPS, I will be able to integrate some of their other exciting features.  To get the data output, you upload a .cvs file from WKO+ and then play around with their website until you get it to your liking.  When you get it how you like, download the image file and just merge it with your race video.  It is a very easy and flexible system with a unique web interface.

Play Video

Ride Hard,

Steve

I finally have my video camera problem solved after contacting Contour.  I when I switched over to a Mac earlier this year, I did not understand that you have to empty the trash with the camera connected.  It was not enough to just delete the files off of the camera like I did on the PC.  So basically,  it looked like the camera was empty but it was not.  So hopefully now I will capture the full races again.  I thought for sure my camera was turning off or failing but it was actually full.