Bullseyes Over and Over Again

Does this picture look familiar?



If so, you're probably one of the many that regularly visit the "Belgium Kneewarmers" blog http://www.belgiumkneewarmers.com/. I've read it on and off for a year or more, and I'm constantly surprised by the diversity of the topics and the quality of the writing on the site.

The posts that each of us likes the most will vary depending on our interests and our approach to life. But there's something over there for most everyone, I think. My lovely wife, also a cyclist and a baker, really enjoyed the recent "Baking" post. I thought the "Bike Room" post nailed perfectly my unarticulated feelings toward my bike room - if one can have feelings toward a room. And the finish of "The Balance" is about as close to a work of art as cycling blogs get (or as close as we'd want for them to get):

I’m slower for drinking wine, there’s no doubt. I’m also poorer for it. Nonetheless, my life has been enriched by it as much as it has been enriched by cycling. It has taught me to take my time with meals, the value of slow food, and in a world being inexorably homogenized by big box retailers, bringing home a bottle of wine from my travels can be a way to bring home a real reminder of a place, an actual taste of the place itself. Long after my memory of the roads begin to fade, I can open that bottle to bring out the sun of a perfect day.

Kudos again to Padraig and Radio Freddy - I hope you keep up the good work for years to come.

Cumming Race Report

Security Bank had a great showing in the Cumming TT on Saturday. The 7-mile out-and-back course was very hilly - there wasn't a flat spot on it. There was a 1/4-mile 6% hill right off the bat, and at the top I was concerned that I'd taken the first climb too hard and blown up. The back side of the first hill was the longest downhill section of the route. As I crested the hill and dumped the rear derailleur into the 11, I heard a clicking sound and realized that I couldn't use my 11 cog. I had changed lockrings, causing the chain not to engage fully on the 11. So a good portion of the ride involved either painful climbing (most climbing on a TT bike is painful) or 120-cadence spinning on the downhills in my 12. Who knows, maybe avoiding the 11 saved my legs for the hills.

Anyway, we had four riders in the top 11 of the Competitive 35+ division: Ron Hill, 11th (riding the Hill Classic and dominating the homemade bike category); Todd Wilson, 6th (ROLLing with his deep sections); Bill Causey, 2nd (powering his neuvo-waifish 6'3" frame over the hills); and I won it - my 1st ever win - finally.

Christian finished well (find out why). He was 6th in the Pro-Am, and was the top 'Am.'

I had fun in the Masters RR (had to leave early and couldn't race the Comp 35+). Sitting in the field was not too difficult - a little harder than a fast Competitive division race, but there was lots more activity up front. There was constantly one or two groups of two to four riders going off the front and others trying to bridge. That kept the field in a long single- or double-file line much of the time (unlike the Comp division). There was a 2- or 3-rider crash in front of me on the 1st lap, but I went around it. About 8 or 9 riders eventually got off the front (I didn't know it at the time). On the 2nd KOM I worked with a Jittery Joes rider to pull my way up to a small group (he did most of the work). I looked around soon after and I was in a group of about 7 riders - but because of all the carnage I didn't know if I was racing for 15th (accurate) or 55th. I guess we were in a chase group, but I never knew it - and I guess the others either didn't know it or had no more gas. I guess it was just what was left of the peloton. That was the biggest difference about the masters race - it became hard lots of times, but I never got the 'oh crap I'm about to be dropped' vibe from the group. It seemed to be more of a silent, controlled aggression, if that makes sense.

We weren't going fast in the small group, so I knew we would soon be joined by others behind us. I didn't have the legs, myself, to go off the front of the small group, but tried to go with every surge hoping to get separated from the small group, but nothing ever gelled. In retrospect, I should have made much more of an effort to get away when the group lulled - I think I could have done it. I didn't know at that time that there were only 8 or 9 riders in front of us. We were eventually caught by a few other riders from behind, swelling the group to about 16 riders. I finished last in the field sprint with toasted legs in 24th, but had a fun race. I'm sure I have more Masters field racing in my future.

Tailwind

It's unusual; almost unheard of: A 2.5-hour out-and-back constant tailwind. Betty Jean and I spent the weekend at George T. Bagby State Park in southwest Georgia. We rode to Eufaula and back on Saturday. The out section was toward Eufaula directly into a brewing thunderstorm, and the wind was being sucked up into the thunderhead, giving us a strong tailwind. We left Eufaula right as the storm came into town. It chased us all the way back to the park with a stiff tailwind. We rode at TT pace for over 50 miles and barely broke a sweat.

More Pipp TdG Power Data

I downloaded the WKO+ file for Frank Pipp's TdG ride on 4-22-08. There are several interesting things about the data. The first is that his race was divided into five distinct segments that are all very different. Frank Pipp is 5'9" 155, the same as me. If you're heavier, you'll need to consider that when looking at the power data. Frank has a FTP of 364 watts (5.2 watts/kg).

First, he spent the first 11 minutes just tooling around at 163 watts NP. They were probably doing the parade through town on the way out. 163 watts NP is a recovery day strolll wattage.

For the next 1 hour, 22 minutes, Frank was on "Break Duty" for Health Net. I guess he sat at the front and either tried to go with all breaks or chase down the ones he missed. His normalized power for this segment was 309 watts. For comparison, I'm a typical cat 4 and can hold 309 watts NP for about 40 minutes max. So this is more than I can do, but I ride with several cat 1s, 2s, and 3s who could do it as long as the peak power output was not a limiter - I don't think it would be.



Then Frank gets the long-awaited (I'm guessing here) message in his earpiece that he's off break duty and can chill for a while. And he really does chill. For the next 1 hour and 39 minutes, his normalized power is only 189 watts. Now, I'm fully aware of the power savings benefit of sitting in the pack, but this is really quite easy. I think my wife, Betty Jean, could do it. His wattage doesn't get over 300 watts very many times, even on a rolling course. They averaged 23 mph during that stretch, which seems high considering the wattage. Maybe he's just super efficient?



Then for the next hour the race begins to approach the finish, and Frank's NP is 248 and average speed is 25.2 mph (40 kph for y'all across the pond); that's a decent effort, but easier than solid tempo for a pro.



Then Mr. Pipp earns his money. For the final 24 minutes, his NP is 378 watts and his average speed is 29.5 mph (47.5 kph). That's why he rides for Health Net and my wife and I do not. That stretch included winning the KOM.



I think what interested me the most about looking at the power file was the difference in the various segments of the race and the clean transition from one to the next. Different duties, stuctured efforts. Quite unlike the stochasic, unorganized nature of my races.

TdG Wheel-Suck Power

From VeloNews:

What kind of power did it take for Health Net-Maxxis rider Frank Pipp to win the KOM jersey in stage 2 of the Tour of Georgia? According to his coach, Frank Overton, it took 874 watts or 12.5 watts/kg for 30 seconds. "Pipp jumped 100 meters before a 90-degree left hand turn (12 secs @ 948w) then gave it full gas for 873 watts for the next 15 seconds, accelerating all the way to the line, " Overton said.



Frank Pipp - 2008 Tour de Georgia

"For the first 60k & 80 minutes of the race, Frank was on break duty and tagged several moves for 309 normalized watts, which is tempo wattage for him.

As soon Justin England went clear, the speed of the peloton settled and Frank sat in the for an easy zone 2 ride of 220 watts for the next 21/2 hours.

Interesting. I'm surprised that it would only take 220 watts (NP, I assume - based on the above NP references) to sit in the TdG peloton for a 2.5-hour period, even if it was a slow section. That's easier than a typical 225-230 w NP, 5-hr Peach Peloton ride, and much easier than our 1.5-hr 275-watt Tuesday Worlds rides.

I'll download some of the WKO+ power files and take a closer look. If I find anything interesting, I'll post it here.

Midyear Review

My 2008 training season started on November 1, so it's half time. With lots of power numbers flying around it can get tough sometimes to see the peleton for the cyclists. I think the clearest way to see long-term progress is by comparing mean maximal power (MMP) charts for two different periods. Below is a MMP chart comparing my MMP for the first 6 months of the 2007 season (dotted line) with my MMP for the first 6 months of this season (solid yellow line).



I've made progress across the board, but my improvement has been greatest for the short (less than 20 seconds) efforts. In that range, I've seen improvements of 130 to 190 watts. For most longer time intervals, my improvement has been in the 20 to 60 watt range.



Below the MMP chart, I have a mean maximal normalized power chart comparing the same periods. For time intervals less than about 50 minutes, I've improved my MMNP by 30 or 40 watts, which is significant. The fact that the increase in MMNP is bigger than the increase in MMP for the same time intervals means that I can recover more quickly than I could one year ago and put in another hard effort. But even out to the 4 and 5 hour ride duratoins, my increase is in the 25 to 30 watt range.

Chattanooga Race Report - two more podiums

We had a great weekend of racing in Chattanooga. Here's a summary:

Time Trial
Doug, Drew, Jake, and I represented Security Bank at the 5.6-mile rolling course located about 15 miles east of Chattanooga. It was sunny and cool. As I was warming up on the trainer, my tubular flatted on my disc wheel. Not good. But I borrowed a HED Jet 60 from Doug, so no major problem. The first 2 minutes of the TT were a steady 2 percent climb. I was the first Competitive rider to go off, so I caught a few ladies, but didn't feel all that fast. I finished 8th at 13:31. Jake had a good TT, placing 6th with a 13:18. Drew powered his non-aero road bike to a 14th place finish with 13:47.

I quickly returned my bike to the start where we adjusted the saddle up a little to fit Douglas and he started with his warmup. He'd been riding his Tarmac with short aero bars and we figured he'd do much better with an aero setup. Doug rode a 12:27 to finish 8th in Elite.

Four good starts to the weekend.

Criterium
L-shaped fast course with open corners - very windy through the tall buildings with shifting directions and lots of hard gusts. Drew had a flat as he started to warm up. He fixed it and had a second flat, which he repaired just prior to the start. So he only had a 5-minute warmup. As we started and he went through turn 1, he felt a squishy rear tire and realized he had a 3rd flat. He was out of spare tubes and had to abandon the race.

I felt much better in this crit. I tried to stay in the front half of the group, which wasn't too difficult. Jake got in a little 3-man break early but was caught pretty quickly. For the next 20 minutes he stayed midpack. Then with 2 laps to go, Jake tore off the front at the finish line. He was making good progress and the chase was having trouble getting organized. Turn four is a left into what we called the wind tunnel. Lots of gusty wind. Jake took an aggressive turn and the wind hit him at the wrong time. He slid across the asphalt on his shoulder and landed sitting on the sidewalk, where I saw him as we rode by. The gusts hit us as we went by - so I knew immediately that the wind had played a role in his crash. I finished 22nd. Jake had more road rash to add to the prior weekend's barrier kiss, but no structural damage to body or bike.

Doug had a good mid-pack finish in his first Cat3 crit. Lots of riders were shelled from the race, and Doug finished comfortably in a pack that averaged over 30 mph.

We ordered some pitchers of beer and watched an exciting Pro-Am race with lots of tactical work by the Toshiba team. Chad had a very strong race in a very tough field.

Road Race
The cove route was twisty with lots of small rollers - a great and very scenic 22-mile course (we did two laps). It had one climb in the middle about like the Pate interstate climb, but maybe twice as long. It was about 45 degrees and breezy, we were cool at that start, but the sun warmed us up pretty quickly. The first half of the first lap had lots of braking, which sucked. Jake attacked at least once before the first climb but was brought back. We had a mid-pack crash that took down or stopped the back half of the field. I barely avoided it by veering into the left lane.

We hit the first climb and a group of maybe 20 riders clumped together at the front as we approached the top. I was a few meters off that group but feeling pretty good. I know Jake was in the front group and Drew was either in the front group or somewhere near me. I easily chased up the the group just over the top. On another long but less steep climb the guy in front of Drew and I went down and Drew had to stop, but he chased back on with no problem. Lucky for me, Drew handled the situation well and did not try to swerve around the crash (he would have taken us both down); he just stopped in front of it and waited for the traffic to clear. I think Jake attacked again at least once on the first lap, but I'm not sure. Every time he'd go, the riders around me would say "Damn, your buddy is doing it again!." He was truly playing Badger.

Jake attacked again early in the 2nd lap and was reeled in. He attacked again just before the climb with a Cannondale rider. A assos jersey rider bridged up to them just at the climb. Just as the group caught him, the assos rider's front Zipp 404 wheel came off and was rolling around in a little circle on the road. His front end dove into the road just in front of Drew, who swerved off the road to avoid him and almost was lost for good down a 30-foot cliff but recovered without stopping. Jake was obviously toasted from the attack efforts. I passed him on the climb like he was standing still. He was standing in his 39-25 and doing about 5 mph. I thought his day was over and I was sure he'd be very disappointed not to have finished in the front group after all the effort he'd put into the race. I thought to myself "nothing ventured, nothing gained."

Drew put in a surge effort to join two or three others as the group was getting back together after the climb. I thought for a minute that he'd make it, but it was brought back. Five minutes later I heard another loud crash behind me on a descent as folks were trying to chase back on. A few minutes after that, I felt a little tap on my hip. It was Jake. He'd had a hard chase back to the group. He immediately moved back to the front and attacked again with 7 miles to go in the race.

At this point there were 20 riders in the front group, including me, Drew, and 3 or 4 Krystal riders. After winning some KOMs, the Krystal riders now had calculated that they had all three GC podium positions locked up. They knew Jake had lost time in the crit due to his crash. It was clear that they were racing to keep those spots. I don't know if Jake was using that to his advantage, but it worked. He killed himself to hold a 20-second gap for just about the entire last 7 miles. It would have opened up more, but twice there were bridge attempts by other riders that were pulled back by the Krystal team. I figured they were using Jake's gap to prevent other attacks, but as we neared the finish, they weren't closing down the gap to go for the win. I still don't know what their strategy was or if they had one. But if they were trying to win the race, they either didn't execute, had a bad plan, or just couldn't catch the Badger. Jake crossed the finish line with a 15-second gap to take the win! Drew took 7th and I took 12th.

Doug started his first Cat3 road race just after we finished. I don't have many details, but he attacked his field halfway through the first lap. Two other riders bridged up to him. They dropped one of the guys in the second lap, but Doug and the other rider held off the entire field for about 50 miles. Doug took 2nd place! He had a 3-minute gap over the field.

Eddie attacked a few times in his race, but could not get away. He finished 10th in the field sprint.

Doug took 2nd, I took 6th, and Jake took 9th in GC. Drew won't get a GC result due to his terrible luck with flats. Another strong weekend for Security Bank.

How to Get Your Ass Kicked

How to get your ass kicked on the golf course:

It's old news, but if you haven't seen that blog, do yourself a favor and go to JC Penny. It's pretty damn funny.

But I digress.

How to get your ass kicked at Tuesday Worlds:

Ride with this bunch:

I'll give you some data, because it's always nice to put a good ass kicking in perspective:

In 22 Tuesday Worlds rides in 2007 where I stayed with the front group, my average normalized power (NP) for the meat of the ride was 249 watts (I don't count Colaparchee, the 1st half of Zebulon, and the cool-down section at the end of most rides). The hardest of the 22 rides yeilded a NP=265. At the time, that was between 85 and 100% of my FTP - it was hard, but I rarely got dropped.

The calendar flips to 2008, Worlds begins, and the numbers change:

3-11-08: last 10 minutes before drop, NP=329 watts (that's 45 watts above my friekin' FTP!).

3-18-08: last 70 minutes of chasing 3-man break, NP=276 watts

3-22-08: 75 minutes prior to barely hanging on to back of rotation for dear life, NP=273 watts

3-25-08: 40 minutes prior to drop, NP=284 watts. 6 min prior to drop, NP=311 watts

(For you fat guys reading this, I weigh 148 pounds, so 329 watts is 4.9 watts/kg for me.)

If I didn't have a power meter, I might develop a complex about my poor riding. But with my Ergomo putting it in perspective, I'm just happy to have access to the best damn Cat4 training rides in the World.

Perry-Roubaix TT Analysis

The last post covered the bad and the ugly from Perry, so now I'll allow a little space for the good. I had a good TT in Perry and took 2nd. I've been working hard on my position on the bike, I upgraded some equipment, and I've made it a point to do at least one hard ride per week on the TT bike. It's paid off. I'm faster now in TTs than I was last year. This weekend my average speed was 25.9 mph for about 10 miles.

In July 2007, my coast-down testing showed me having a CdA = 0.265 with an assumed 0.005 Crr (rolling resistance coefficient). Last week, after lots of tinkering with my position, adding a rear disc wheel, and installing Veloflex Record tubular tires, I reduced my assumed Crr to 0.045, which - if all else was equal - should have resulted in a higher CdA measurement. But I found that my CdA had dropped consierably to CdA=0.233.

To put that in perspective, a drop in CdA from 0.265 to 0.233 would result in a savings of 56 seconds on a pan-flat 10-mile TT course holding a constant 300 watts.

Using a very rough approximation of the segment lengths and slopes encountered in Perry this weekend, I modeled my ride with known CdA, distance, and time to calculate wattage. I normally put out more wattage while climbing, so that was considered for each segment. The model shows that my average power was about 299 watts. If I'm putting out about the same wattage now on my TT bike as on my road bike, and if my 60-min power is about 95% of my 20-min power, then that relates to a FTP of 299 x 0.95 = 284 watts, which is exactly what I recently tested it to be.

Here's a snapshot of the model. You can find the spreadsheet at Badger 3 if you'd like to use it.

Same Tune, 2nd Verse: Perry-Roubaix 2008

A little moisture made Firetower Road easier to ride this year, but the dirt and wind were still more than I could handle. My power output was much higher than last year, but evidently so was everyone else's.

Here's some 2007-2008 comparison data for those who are interested. This is for the Competitive 35 and under field (I weigh 149 lbs):

My NP for the first 45 minutes of the race in 2007 was 224 watts; in 2008 it was 270 watts. My NP for last 8 minutes prior to losing the group in 2007 was 204 watts (remarkably low, even considering that my FTP was only 235 or 240 at the time). In 2008 my NP for the last 8 minutes before catching the autobus was 301 watts, which makes more sense - that's about 15 watts above my current FTP. I can only hold 4.44 watts/kg for a while before popping.

The climbs were tougher this year, too. Here are my average power numbers (with watts/kg) for the two short climbs on the front part of the course for the first two laps (L is lap, C is climb):

---------L1/C1------- L1/C2--------L2/C1--------L2/C2

2007---298(4.4)-----378(5.6)----233(3.4)-----307(4.5)

2008---371(5.5)-----376(5.6)----347(5.1)------362(5.3)

Albany Georgia Cup Race Data

Bill leads the blue train in the Georgia Cup Albany Crit.

Power graphs with summary data for Albany:

Prologue

Criterium

Road Race

Shaking the Damn February Doldrums

I think I'm beginning to see a pattern.

Last winter, after my hardest (and smartest) ever winter training, I lost focus in February. I became muddy-headed and posted about being as good as I'd ever get in "As Good as it Gets". Well, I wasn't as good as I'd ever get. My FTP was 235w and my 5 sec power was 870w. A year later my FTP is 285w and my 5 sec sprint is around 1150w.

Well guess what - surprise, surprise! I feel exactly the same way this February. After the best winter training I've ever done, I've hit another mental roadblock for some reason. Physically, I'm fine, but I can't shake the feeling that I've plateaued for good and it's time to carry Jake's (or Drew's or Ron's, or fill in the blank with other teammate's name) water bottle for the next 10 years - and enjoy it. (Don't get the big head, fill in the blank, I'm out to kick your ass at Worlds after every GA Cup victory).

I'm beginning to expect that February just does that to me. The long organized weekend rides are over. The the racing season hasn't really gotten it's legs yet. Four months of daily trainer work will wear you down.

Obviously, one of these Februaries I'm going to be right. I'll work harder and harder and get no stronger. But not this one. I'll just wait it out and tack another 50 watts onto my FTP. Well, maybe not 50 watts, then I'd be racing in Belgium like the red-headed kid. But 10 or 12 watts should be a cinch, right?

Mr. Christian Parrett, 2008 USA U-23 National Team

Macon, Georgia

Ifs, buts, candy, and nuts - Tundra Race Report

If youre a wide receiver that can get open every time but can't catch a cold, you won't be very effective. You have to put all the pieces together to score.

Here's what happens when you don't put all the pieces together in an out-and-back time trial:

At the Tundra Time trial on Saturday we had super weather for a February morning - sunny and 50 degrees.

I had a good warmup and felt great. I eased into the 9.5-mile course without blowing up early, and I was looking at 11:18 coming into the turnaround - good enough to significantly improve on my last-year's time of over 25 minutes.

That's when one or more of the following happened: 1. Seeking a quick turnaround, I came into the u-turn way, way too fast, 2. my adrenaline was pumping and I grabbed the brakes too hard, 3. my worn pads caught on the carbon rims and locked.

Whatever the reason - it was 100% stupidity on my part. And in about 2 milliseconds I converted my new rear Vittoria Crono Evo-CS tubular tire into useless blog fodder and ended my TT. I found myself yelling damn damn damn pretty forcefully, then looked around to make sure I hadn't scarred any kids for life with my outburst (safe on that front).

Then I asked if anyone had an extra wheel. One of the volunteers ran down a path away from the trail (to his house, I guess). A minute or two later he returned with a 1982 30-spoke, 700x26c road wheel inflated to about 70 psi (If you're reading this, Randy, I'm not complaining - beggers can't be choosers). Our first attempt to mount the wheel was unsuccessful because it rubbed the cutout in my frame. After a little work, we adjusted the wheel in the rear dropouts and, using friction to hold it in place, locked it down. It felt like I was dragging an anvil on the way back, but the fact that I noticed it at least means that my shredded wheel/tire had low rolling resistance.

In short, I screwed up and ruined an opportunity for a good result for the team and a course PR. But at least it was in a 1-day TT and not the Tour of Atlanta. I'll bet that I don't enter a u-turn too fast again - at least not until my adrenaline gets back up.

Strain-Gauge Perspective

Mostly the information I get from my power meter just provides a different angle on cycling. It doesn't make the riding and racing better, it just adds data mining to the list of things I enjoy that are associated with cycling.

But the one thing that the Ergomo provides that helps me the most is long-term perspective.

Relatively speaking, I'm no stronger in my group of riders than I was 12 months ago. On a good day, I end up in a strong front group, and on other days I get dropped like a trapeze artist with bad timing. If I had no power meter, I might think that I was no better rider now than I was last February. But the power meter tells me that I'd be wrong. I'm a much better rider now - occaisionally dropping or getting dropped by teammates who are also much better riders than they were last winter.


I know that to be true because today I went to my regular hill repeat spot and did a few 1-minute intervals. I was aiming for 60-seconds at 1.5 times FTP, or 420 watts. I decided to do the first interval based on perceived exertion, not looking at the power meter. My average for the interval was 477 watts - and I didn't kill it - I just pushed steady for 60 seconds.

To put that into perspective, you'd need to look back at a hill repeat session I did in April of 2007 at the same location. On that occaision I did 10 hill repeats, all of them about 40 to 50 seconds long, and all of them averaging between 340 and 380 watts. And I can remember that session. I remember how strong I felt and how I couldn't believe that I was holding 375 watts steady. Now I'm a hundred watts stronger for the same interval session.

While the results make me feel good, they don't guarantee race results. Those come from more than just wattage. And the competition may have power meters that are telling them good things, too.

Security Bank Training Camp

We had a team training camp in Chattanooga this past weekend. The weather was perfect and we had 3 great days of riding and climbing without so much as a flat among the 11 of us. We climbed Suck Creek a couple of times, Sand Mountain, The W, Pumping Station, and Stairstep. A few pics are shown below.

Trey and Jake cook it up

Director Sportif sports new kit

Group shot on the Brow

Stony stretches fresh lycra

Winter Ramp

Obviously there was a methodical approach to the Peach Peloton distances since November. I didn't realize until I glanced at my season TSS and mileage charts that with the exception of a couple of December blips, we had a pretty smooth ramp from 50 miles/ride to 125 miles/ride throughout the winter.

FTP update

I finally did a 60-min FTP effort -- below is the updated FTP chart. As it turns out, the best way for me to predict my FTP without actually doing a 60-min TT effort is with 60-min NP. I guess that's close to proof that Coggan's normalized power formula works extremely well (for me at least). I can also use 45-min computrainer x 1.13.

The crappy part is that I had to go back to December 11th and update my FTP in WKO. That knocked my CTL down about 3 points.

Le Plateau

My graph has hit a flat spot. The numbers climbed steadily for the first 6 weeks of base training, then leveled off.

I feel good and pretty fresh - definitely not overtrained. And since I've included more intense work into my training lately, my 60-min Normalized Power continues to rise (280w 60-min NP was the highest I hit in all of 2007). But my max wattage for 45-min on the Computrainer has plateaued.

Maybe the L5 intervals I'm doing now will bump up my VO2 max a little, 'raise my FTP ceiling,' and provide me with another FTP bump in a month or two -- we'll see. I think I remember the same thing happening last year, but there's not much data to verify it. I may do a 60-min road FTP session next week to see where the gold standard test puts me.

Variations in Pro TT Positions

All these guys are world-class time trialists (except Jordan, he's a Fred.)

Their positions are very different in some respects. Armstrong and Ullrich forego aggressive positions and rely on their power for speed. (Armstrong's saddle is 22cm behind the BB/Ullrich's is 18). Vino wasn't a great time trialist in 2006. Their trunk angles are in the 13-degree range, as was mine in Rome in September. Someone told me they thought Armstrong looked like a piece of plywood rolling down the road.


Cancellara, Zabriski, and Vinokurov-2007 all have very aggressive positions (7-10cm from saddle to BB). They're trunk angles are all 6-7 degrees from the horizontal, very aggressive and effective in making you faster if you can generate power in that position. Vino worked on his TT position between 2006 and 2007 and it showed in his TT results (although he might have had more help than just a more agressive position). If you look closely in my picture, you can see that I have my forearms resting directly on the bar, not on the arm pads. If I want to achieve this position, a-la Zabriski, I'll need to go bar shopping. I have no idea how much power I could put out in that position or how it would change my CdA, but I can and will test both.


Then you have Leipheimer and Landis. Their trunk angles are 8-11 degrees (semi-agressive), but their upper arm angles are in the 78-80 degree range, unlike the 88-93 degree range of most others. Maybe that gives them leverage to generate more power?

But one thing common among them all - the angles formed by their bottom brackets, their hip joints, and their trunks are all very near 90 degrees. So if you want to lower your bars, you have to move your seat forward to compensate.

Alex Simmons' Coggan Levels graphic

You might have already run across this at Google Wattage, but I thought I'd post it here because it's such a great graphic representation of the Coggan Power Levels and their physiological responses. The graphic was created by Alex Simmons from down under. His blog can be found at Alex's Cycle Blog.