May 2: set out to ride the Passo di Gavia a classic Italian pass, but the Fortius system stopped after 20 minutes and 3.7k; Fortius was to prove very flaky which took almost a month to find out the solution.
May 3: Massage.
May 4: 3 hour ride around Hahei and Hot Water Beach circuit from Ferry Landing. 60k 3hours.
May 5: Recovery ride around town.
May 6: Gym. Finished the Stair Climb 10 minutes first time, 50 floors.
May 9: Two repeats over Manaia Hill, 689 m climbing 33.4k 2 hrs.
May 11: Gym. 10 min stair climb, 50 floors in 9.55mins.
May 13: From Ferry landing to Tairua with three climbs of Tairua Hill.
May 15: Leg warmer 21 km
May 17: Gym 10 min stair climb 50 floors in 9.50mins, time to move to harder set of objectives.
May 19: 30k sprinting and two 5k time trials.
May 21: Whitianga to Tairua 82k 4 hours
May 23: Gym. New harder plan.
May 24: Massage
May 26: Cyclocore Six Classic Hill climbs
May 28: Fortius problem may have been a wiring connection to the motor. Set out to do the Alpine Classic- Telegraph-Galibier-Alp d'Huez. Got as far as Col du Lautaret and got bored with the prospect of another 30k downhill. Anyway a big boost to be able to ride to Col du Lautaret non-stop in 2h 55 min.
May 30. Mt Venoux from Malaucene non-stop in 2hr 15min.
So the month of May resulted in a lot more power in legs, I can sustain 200 watts for longer on repeated 1 minute efforts after 2mins at 150 watts. The downside is I am absolutely bombed out after 3 hours non-stop climbing.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Nutrition
Working and riding from home nutrition supply is fairly easy and varied, you continually experiment with all sorts of bars and energy drinks made from water and powders containing the latest mix of complex carbohydrates. You can stop at shops and service stations enroute to top up with water and food as needed. In the Waikato I had rides planned so that half way stops were at Service Stations or Cafes to top up with water and maybe a sandwich. In the Coromandel it's much the same although I seldom need to top up because I'm not riding the distances I did at Cambridge.
With the Tour in mind it's obvious we do not know where supplies can be found and so we have to plan to ride with everything needed for the day. About a year ago I read that Clif was supplying the Garmin- Cervelo Team. I tried all the products available in NZ: the Bar, the Blok and the Shot and liked them, good taste, kind to my digestive system, easy use and store on the bike. And crucially the solid pieces of the Bar did not get into my windpipe as some others do, including the Power bars that I used to cook up. I have been using them since then to get used to the system. I haven't had cramps or bonks. The combination of the three allowed me to contemplate just having water in my bottles and not adding a fuel/electrolyte powder. The value of having just water in a bottle is that it can be used as a coolant on the head and back at the hottest part of the day. The carbohydrates would get very sticky. That has been a main consideration in my plan. Then I took a look at sweating rates and electrolyte loss and did some calculations using the Clif contents and discovered that potentially I could still have a sodium shortage. I felt that having a few electrolytes in the water would not be uncomfortable using water to cool off. Just like sweat. So I had a look around for tablets to put into bottles as required. I found some plain electrolyte pills called TabLytes and have been using them for a couple of months, they are OK. Then I found Nuun tablets which designed to put in the bottle and dissolve quickly, whereas the TabLytes are meant to be swallowed with a good swig of water.
So on any day I will be travelling with one or two Bars, two Bloks, and two Shots with three bottles of water, two with Nuun/TabLytes and one plain in my back pack.
With the Tour in mind it's obvious we do not know where supplies can be found and so we have to plan to ride with everything needed for the day. About a year ago I read that Clif was supplying the Garmin- Cervelo Team. I tried all the products available in NZ: the Bar, the Blok and the Shot and liked them, good taste, kind to my digestive system, easy use and store on the bike. And crucially the solid pieces of the Bar did not get into my windpipe as some others do, including the Power bars that I used to cook up. I have been using them since then to get used to the system. I haven't had cramps or bonks. The combination of the three allowed me to contemplate just having water in my bottles and not adding a fuel/electrolyte powder. The value of having just water in a bottle is that it can be used as a coolant on the head and back at the hottest part of the day. The carbohydrates would get very sticky. That has been a main consideration in my plan. Then I took a look at sweating rates and electrolyte loss and did some calculations using the Clif contents and discovered that potentially I could still have a sodium shortage. I felt that having a few electrolytes in the water would not be uncomfortable using water to cool off. Just like sweat. So I had a look around for tablets to put into bottles as required. I found some plain electrolyte pills called TabLytes and have been using them for a couple of months, they are OK. Then I found Nuun tablets which designed to put in the bottle and dissolve quickly, whereas the TabLytes are meant to be swallowed with a good swig of water.
So on any day I will be travelling with one or two Bars, two Bloks, and two Shots with three bottles of water, two with Nuun/TabLytes and one plain in my back pack.
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