For the last 3 months I’ve been scouring the local roads and trails for bits and pieces of my long lost fitness. A little piece here, a little piece there, I’ve managed to about fill my shoe box! I’ve definitely found enough to post a respectable showing at the first race of the season, Mar 5 Echo Oregon’s “Red 2 Red”.

My power is real good, I’ve developed a real good ability to hold power for 20minutes, twice. But racing is weird, I can have great power yet still feel like a slug on the course. MTB racing requires the ability to repeatedly drill it over short climbs, and sustain a high power output on the longer climbs. Both types of efforts are very intense, and unless you’ve been working on those skills, that first race will likely have your legs, chest and back on fire! Let’s not forget the inevitable fatigue that settles in after the first hour, so a good dose of motivation will be needed to grind through the suffering. Saturdays race (Pro/Cat-1) will be 2hr15min or so, a fairly long MTB race to kick the year off.

Both my power and weight are near my goal, which really amazes me, I was thinking it would be May before I reached my current level. For whatever reason, February really kicked everything into gear as my power came on and the weight fell off. Maybe I’m peaking! I’m just out there having fun. I still plan to settle into more structure come May, for now I’ll just ride, do some races and keep it fun.

CTL= 87
Goal Sept 2012: 155lbs 4.5w/kg
Date....Weight...1hr Power......Power/Weight
2/26....157..........310w.........4.34w/kg
2/5.....160..........300w.........4.13w/kg
1/23....162..........290w.........3.94w/kg
1/9.....163..........290w.........3.91w/kg
1/2.....164..........265w.........3.55w/kg
12/19...165..........265w.........3.53w/kg
12/5....166..........245w.........3.25w/kg
11/28...167..........225w.........2.96w/kg
11/14...169..........225w.........2.93w/kg
11/7....170..........225w.........2.91w/kg

300

Gifted route wizard Chuck has been instrumental in progressively raising the workload for Chinook Cycle Club hammerheads as we pound our pedals towards spring. As we get fit, we need to keep notching up the amount of work to make sure our fitness keeps growing. We also need to “mix it up” with different lengths and grades of climbs so we can develop the muscle and systems needed for a variety of conditions. Not necessarily searching for intensity at this time of year, but a good foundation does involve variety, and our recent Saturday rides have had plenty of that!

3months ago I figured 300+ watts was about 6months away. Due to genius routes and abusive buddies 300 landed early. It feels great, never would have expected to bounce back this fast. I even managed to clock a respectable time on our local Monster MTB loop “The Three Towers”, a 50mile 5500’ off-road beast of a ride. The one thing that did raise its ugly head was my “out of tune” MTB skills. Our Three Towers ride features plenty of single track, and I wasn’t so graceful :^)

Always something to work on, but all in all, the arrows are pointed north.

CTL= 86
Goal Sept 2012: 155lbs 4.5w/kg
Date....Weight...1hr Power......Power/Weight
2/5.....160..........300w.........4.13w/kg
1/23....162..........290w.........3.94w/kg
1/9.....163..........290w.........3.91w/kg
1/2.....164..........265w.........3.55w/kg
12/19...165..........265w.........3.53w/kg
12/5....166..........245w.........3.25w/kg
11/28...167..........225w.........2.96w/kg
11/14...169..........225w.........2.93w/kg
11/7....170..........225w.........2.91w/kg