1.1.06

New Year Celebration

It's January 1st, 2006 today.

No, I didn't stay up past midnight to watch the seconds tick away till the new year.

No, I didn't drink champagne or that sparkaling, fizzing imitation stuff.

No, I didn't even party with any of my friends.

Then what did I do? I read a really good book--


Mr. Wilcockson is a brillant writer and he really manages to make the Tour alive through his words. He writes with a unique style that keeps me interested and anticipating the next chapter. In each chapter, he covers the backrouds of each of Lance's GC rivals, like Hamilton, Ullrich, Basso, and Mayo.

Did you know that Hamilton broke a vertebre in his neck (gasp, just like someone else I know...) while mountain biking in Bolduer, Colorado when he was a junior?

Did you know that Ullrich went through depression and deeply considered quitting cycling in 2001-2002 due to a knee injury?

Want to find out more about the history of the Tour? Read this book. It's on my "A" list for enticing content and great author writing style. This is no autobiogrphy (ala LA's "It's not about the Bike"). This is a great novel covering the ups, downs, ins, and outs of the 2004 Tour. Go but it here.

So I missed the turn of the New Year...boo-hoo. At 9am I awoke and did the usual morning routiene. After a quick stop at GNC for some Multi-Vitimans, Amino Acids, and Vitiman C, I headed off for a ride on the XTC.

BASE MILES!

Between crunching snow at Henisra, chatting with my Dad's riding buddies while spinning, and doing some Muscle Tension intervals out and around Wrightstown, I got 3hrs and 45min of ride time in. That's all quality time towards kicking some WORS elite ass this May!

Just 3 more days until the Powertap SL wheel is here....I'm shaking in my bright red booties!

3 comments:

Ryan Baumann said...

1) Find a computrainer or powermeter you can use (must be accurate)

2) Warm up on it for 30 min

3) Do a 30 min TT

4) Record your average power output

5) Divide your average power output by your weight in Kg (there are 2.2 lbs/Kg).

This is your power/weight ratio.

Cliff said...

That sounds a really good book. Definitely will be on my reading list.

Ryan Baumann said...

Hmmm...how did you get that 331 watt number? It's impossible to tell unless you do a full 30min or longer TT with a Powermeter...

I found that my wattage output was a bit lower than I expected, but 331 watts at your weight is truly exceptional. The main thing you have to remember is that you LT wattage is the power you can sustain for langer than 30min. If your power beigins to drop before that 30min is up, your LT is lower than the power you tried to sustain the entire 30min.

Just a word of advice--don't go proclaiming that number until you get the power data to back it up. I know a lot of idiots that will shoot you down for claiming a number like that. No worries if you have the data to back it up!