The Cycling Season is here

67th Paris-Nice
France, March 8-15, 2009
Many of cycling's purists still see Paris-Nice as the first major stage race of the sporting season. Now in its 67th year, the 'race to the sun' has a long and distinguished history and is the first objective for many of the peloton's stars.

And oh how it started with yesterdays upset in the prologue.
Contador: "I'm not the best time trialist in the world". Well he beat Wiggins who is the best time trialist in the world. "...Bradley Wiggins had believed so much in his ability to win the inaugural time trial of Paris-Nice that he was devastated after losing to Alberto Contador. He wasn't available for comments outside his team bus..."

Follow the results at the Paris-Nice Website
Today they ride 195.5km across the plains from Saint-Brisson-sur-Loire to La Chapelle-Saint-Ursin in the Stage 1.

LIVE written (ticker) commentary at Cyclingnews.com, LIVE audio at CyclingFans.com if you speak German.

Paris-Nice ‘66: A Legendary Clash
"...Whenever Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor lined up together for any race it was a sure bet that their exploits would be one of the main story lines. And so it was in 1966". (read the full story at the link).

A Friday Laugh

55+ Team Pursuit Still Undefeated

Track Velodrome, Boulder, CO - Boulder Indoor Cycling
Last night at the Boulder Indoor Track, Team 45+ vs. Team 55+ was again contested. For the second week in a row, the older gentlemen prevailed by catching the younger men before the 20 lap mark.

Cycling for all - Calendar

Calendars from the Union Cycliste Internationale

A fun calendar of events to look over for those interested in attending or dreaming of a citizens ride in Europe (grand fondo, cyclotouristes, cyclotourista, cyclosportive, tour, tor, challenges, brevet, and more) :
2009 UCI Cycling for All Calendar

The complete UCI calendar of Road Races (this IS March!):
2008 - 2009 UCI Road Calendar

Track Calendar - Poland track worlds are being held March 25-29, 2009.
2008-2009 UCI Track Calendar

If you want to watch some of the races online, CyclingFans.com is the best resource. They will give you guidance about how and where you may find live race coverage. You may open up the video feed from Euro Sports and then a separate Audio feed in your language of choice (most likely English) and enjoy British race terminology and humor.

New Technology Warns Drivers of Bicycles on Road

Montana State University engineering students Penny Atkins and Gordon Nelson conduct the first research project in MSU's new large-scale traffic simulator - a system that would use radio signals and GPS to warn drivers about the presence of bicyclists on the roadway.

Saturday Review and USAC Schedule

Hi Guys,
First off, good work with the first round of race-specific training on Saturday! As on old coach of mine used to say - "Perfect practice makes perfect" meaning that just simply practice isn't good enough - you have to strive to do things right in training for them to be done right when it counts. Saturday was a great start...and the coming two weeks will provide more opportunities to get it right.
Racing is not too far off - see http://www.rmccc.org/race.php for local USAC races that are part of the collegiate race season, including a technical TT next Sunday at Bear Creek State Park that would allow you to do the team training on Saturday and then do a TT on Sunday if you are interested in getting in some TT race training.

My power file from Saturday can be viewed here. Overall, the chase efforts averaged just above threshold (my current threshold is around 275 watts...maybe 285). The first one was more variable, and the second less variable (as we had fewer riders at the end). As a comparison, my TT and TTT efforts at the Haystack TT and TTT and Rabbit Mtn TT and TTT have been between 290 and 300 watts normalized power, respectively. Typical TT's are < 1.03 VI and TTT's are between 1.05 and 1.10 depending on length of pulls and number of riders. All in all, great race specific training!

Key stats are:
Chase 1 (East bound on Hwy 66):
Duration: 10:11
Work: 169 kJ
TSS: 19.6 (intensity factor 1.074)
Norm Power: 295
VI: 1.07
Distance: 7.135 km
Min, Max, Avg Power: 0, 859, 276 watts
Min, Max, Avg Heart Rate: 100, 165, 151 bpm
Min, Max, Avg Cadence: 41, 113, 94 rpm
Min, Max, Avg Speed: 22.6, 51.5, 42.0 kph

Chase 2 (Westbound on Hwy 66):
Duration: 10:01
Work: 171 kJ
TSS: 19.2 (intensity factor 1.072)
Norm Power: 295
VI: 1.03
Distance: 6.514 km
Min, Max, Avg Power: 0, 863, 285 watts
Min, Max, Avg Heart Rate: 120, 172, 154 bpm
Min, Max, Avg Cadence: 49, 115, 93 rpm
Min, Max, Avg Speed: 8.8, 46, 39.0 kph

Leadout 1 with 45+ guys:
Duration: 7:27
Work: 124 kJ
TSS: 16.8 (intensity factor 1.165)
Norm Power: 320
VI: 1.16
Distance: 4.203 km
Min Max Avg Power: 0 980 277 watts
Min Max Avg Heart Rate: 81 179 147 bpm
Min Max Avg Cadence: 49 126 92 rpm
Min Max AvgSpeed: 6.1 53.3 33.8 kph

Sunday's for the next two weeks would be good days to get on your TT bikes after doing the quality road bike and race-specific work on Saturday. Most of you will probably just want to keep the Sunday effort at Recovery to OD, but some of you hosses might be able to tolerate a little EN or even some Tempo/LT effort IF you take it really easy on Monday AND Tuesday. Ride and recover well! Neal

Lead Out Drills - BMCT Training Ride

So the plan sounded easy enough . . .
They even mentioned the word "hurt" before it started . . .
This is the story Len had told them ahead of time . . .
One of the most difficult, effective, and misunderstood techniques in cycling is a team lead-out for a sprinter. When done well it’s elegant and has a very high degree of success. It’s almost exclusively the domain of professional teams and seldom seen in Master’s racing because it requires an exceptional degree of team sacrifice. Pro teams are a group of role players who get paid to carry out disgusting jobs, like leading out someone else. Whether pros or amateurs it does create a high degree of camaraderie within a team as it’s a statement of team strength…other teams see it, feel it, and are usually overwhelmed by it. (Len also uses other 'words' when describing this process)
Gotta say the first time looked really fast . . .
The second time didn't look so easy . . .
There was no third time.

The best part of the day was the huddle after when each guy tried to get the next to admit first "it sure felt like race pace", until Randy admitted he "didn't have a heart beat left", you could hear the loud sigh of relief. 4 hours of training and they maintained their humor. Bravo.

don't worry I'm eating a huge meal getting ready for another day of riding tomorrow.

Cycling Ready to Use Blood Profiles to Fight Doping

Biological Passports

New York Times Article

" . . . it would be the first case born purely from evidence that an athlete’s blood profile, called a biological passport, had changed in comparison with a baseline drawn from earlier tests.

Battery-powered derailleur by Shimano

Article submitted by Marc Bekoff
A new gear system made its debut at the Tour of California 2009.

Cycling Enters the Electronic Age With a New Gear-Shifting System

" . . .Two earlier attempts at electronic gear changing by a French company, Mavic, often malfunctioned in rain. Another company, Campagnolo, has delayed bringing its version to market because of the economic downturn.

" . . .Shimano's version, known as the Dura-Ace Di2 7970, is being used by three professional teams competing in California: Columbia High Road, GarminSlipstream and Rabobank. About 10 riders will race with the system even though they have used it on only one or two training rides after receiving them late this week.

Comments:
I think the Di2 system is revolutionary...even more dramatic than moving from friction to index shifting and close to what it meant when we went to Ergopower and STI levers. What I saw of the system last year was amazing and chainring shifting is like nothing you can imagine. I should have a set-up for my new bike right after I return from the ToC so you can try it. What the times article does not mention is the elimination of cable pulls for front and rear derailleurs...they are moved by tiny servomotors so no more worn and broken derailleur wires.

It looks like the complete group price is going to be around $4,000 retail vs $2,500 for the new Dura-Ace and $3,200 for Campy 11. For the weight weenies it will be slightly less than the current Dura-Ace group (7800) and probably 100 grams heavier than the new Dura-Ace (7900). The battery has a series of lights to indicate battery power progressing from green to red so anyone should easily be able to monitor the charge and never get caught out. Of course there can be a complete battery failure, but the time in testing by Shimano has shown impressive results. The improvements in battery technology since Mavic's Zap have been significant and the Japanese have been a bit more creative than the French.
Len

Vic's Espresso / BMCT - Key Races 2009

Race Schedule 2009 as prepared by Scott Rost

Haystack Mountain Individual and Team Time Trial 4/18 Boulder, CO
Rabbit Mountain Time Trial 5/3 Boulder, CO
North Boulder Park Criterium 5/19 Boulder, CO
John Stenner Memorial State Time Trial Championships 6/6 Denver, CO
Masters Road National Championships 6/28 - 7/4 Louisville, KY
Junior Track National Championships 7/2 - 7/5 Carson, CA
Marathon MTB National Championships - Firecracker 50 7/4 Breckinridge, CO
Mountain Bike National Championships 7/16 Granby, CO
Bob Cook Memorial - Mt Evans Hill Climb 7/18 Idaho Springs, CO
ColoBikeLaw.com Federal Center Circuit 7/25 Denver, CO
Mike Nields Memorial Bannock Street Criterium 7/26 Denver, CO
Salida Omnium 7/31 - 8/2 Salida, CO
Salida Senior and Masters State Road Race Championships 8/1 Salida, CO
Vic's Espresso Prospect Criterium and Masters State Criterium Championships 8/8 Prospect, CO
Masters Track National Championships 8/18 - 8/23 Indianapolis, IN
Primal/HART Criterium 8/23 Denver, CO
heading 12/5 TBD
Cyclo-cross National Championships 12/10 - 12/13 Bend, OR

Form=Fitness+Freshness

How the Boulder Masters Cycling Team trains

• we follow training plans set by Coach Neal [Neal Henderson of the BCSM]
• we use power meters
• we record and interpret data
• we target specific race dates
• we train individually and as a team
  

Len Pettyjohn has suggested that the team read this article to better understand the useful tools now available to manage long term training. [read it several times]. This is an excellent article explaining the latest knowledge of how to measure and plan your training.

What is the Performance Management Chart in TrainingPeaks WKO+?
Getting Started, interpretation of the charts and case studies
By Hunter Allen

. . . Any good coach can get you fitter than before, just like any smart training program that you design can make you fitter, however the true challenge it not just to be faster than before. The true challenge is to be fitter than before and during the exact time that you want to be fitter. That's the true challenge

I guess I was 1 of 2 million . . fans!

Here it is - Boulder Masters Cycling Team [BMCT] - present at the ToC 10 feet before the red KOM line on Mt Palomar on the last stage of the Tour of California 2009. just before . . .


this random guy wearing antlers ran over it . . .

so I grabbed this guy and asked him to say a few words to keep it safe . . .


and then I told the guy in the green shorts he better run wide around the sacred BMCT chalk marking, and Freddy agreed with me (if you click on the image you can see Freddy's expression!)

Californian's are crazier than the Basque and the Dutch combined! But the descents are SO much easier. I've been at KOM or mountain top Finishes on Alpe d'Huez, Luz Ardiden, Col de Telegraph, Col d' Aspin, and L' Plat d' Adet and this was a dream post race descent off of Mt Palomar with hundreds of cyclists in a clean path following behind a CHP mortorcycle cop at a perfect pace!

You gotta go next year!

KHMTT

The procedure and schedule for entry into the Karen Hornbostel Memorial Time Trial at Cherry Creek State Park is online.

One in a Million

Yesterday morning I had coffee at the Bulldog Coffee Shop in Solvang with a few friends

And then watched a great cyclist take the last corner to the finish line of the ITT in Solvang, CA.

It was a great day to be a fan of pro-cycling. I have many more photos and stories to share later.

Tomorrow my brother and I make the climb up
[ Palomar Mountain for the KOM on the last stage of the ToC.



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