Red Light Green Light

I'm gonna step up on my soapbox for a second...

I know this is probably a sensitive topic, but one that I have given some thought to and feel strongly about. As cyclists on the road together, people form opinions about us based on the few seconds that they come in contact with us on the road. When we blow through red lights and stop signs, drivers look at us and assume we have no regard for the rules of the road and lose respect for cyclists in general. That is why I stop for red lights and wait until they are green to continue (usually pushing a "walk" button takes care of stubborn lights that don't sense bikes). I slow for all stop signs to check for cross traffic, and stop completely if another car is in the intersection. It is a small inconvenience, but so is stopping in my car. Why should stopping on my bike be different?

I've had police ask me why cyclists have no regard for the laws of the road. They are loosing patience with "cyclists" and don't want to ticket us, but think they may need to as complaints from motorists mount. I even had a police officer hand me copy of the California code that applies to cyclists. If we want motorists to treat us with respect, we have to do the same. In my mind that means reasonably obeying the laws of the road, and not assuming that because we are on a bike we are exempt. It doesn't take that much effort, and I think the message it sends is worth the trouble.

Stepping down now.

Ken

Etape du Tour Report

To my Friends and Supporters,

Finally, after much needed rest and time with my family in Provence, here is my update on the Etape du Tour:

FIRST: I firmly believe that I would not have completed this event without my coaching and the training program I did. THANK YOU Rich Wharton (www.onlinebikecoach.com)!!

Also, the equipment modifications (compact crank, 12/27 cassette, and the PowerTap) were vital. I never had a single equipment problem (other that a seat post that started to creak for some odd reason).

Etape Stats: Distance: 170k (106 miles), Climbing 11,927 feet, Cals burned: 2915 kJ, Avg Speed 13.1, Avg Power 136.3 watts, weight lost on ride: 4 pounds, time on bike 08:07:27

My official Etape time was 9:44:33, but that included about 1/2 hour wait at the start, and 1/2 hour wait for water at Chalet Reynard (see story below), plus water, food and "nature" stops.

I placed 2099 in my age category, out of 2717 people in that age group. I placed 5900 overall out of 9500 entries. About 2100 people did not finish. So I didn't exactly tear it up, but I was at least somewhere in the middle. FYI--there were about 235 women who finished the event (I'm not sure how many started). The winner finished in 5:11:31, and the last place to finish was 11:05:38. Anyone after that was disqualified and picked up by the broom wagon (or else had abandoned).

So the story....

The day before per my coach's plan I had a 45 minute ride with a 3 minute interval followed by a recovery drink. I had a good dinner and was in bed by about 10pm. I was up at 4am for a light breakfast, and on the road to the start in Montelimar by 4:30am with a tour group called "On Your Bike" out of Ireland. I had made arrangements to share a ride on their bus, and had done a group ride with them earlier in the week. They are a nice bunch of guys and run a very nice cycling tour operation. Check them out (www.onyourbike.ie). We parked and were at the start at about 6:40am.

The start was at 7am, but being 7000 people back it took about 30 minutes to get out the starting line.

I had a gel at the start, and carried 2 bottles of Hammer Perpetuem. I was carrying about 7 gels, 2 more packs of Perpetuem and enough Heed for 3 bottles. Also had a couple of fig newton bars--one was crushed beyond eating so I tossed it.

The first few climbs were nothing much, but a warm up. They averaged 4-6 kilometers at about 4-5% grade. That said, the "peleton" was thick and very nervous. There were several crashes and one rider went down just in front of me on a descent. I swerved around him and narrowly missed going into the dirt shoulder. I saw at least one person who was in pretty bad shape and numerous ambulance vehicles came by over the course of the event. There were also many flats, broken chains, and god knows what other kinds of equipment failures along the road.

I got into a few moderately paced groups, but even that was tricky because some dope was always trying to squeeze into the paceline. Along the route I stopped to refill water twice before Bedoin, mixing the Perpetuem and then Heed. I was careful to drink a bottle and a gel every hour, plus a bit of fruit at the stops (a banana ad an apricot).

The 4th climb from Sault to the Col de Notre Damn des Abeilles is longer and steeper at about 9 kilometers and averaging 7-9%. I could have easily gone up these first climbs faster, but I tried to learn from Solvang and I monitored my wattage and HR to always stay out of the red. I don't think my HR ever went over 175, which for me is a moderate tempo rate.

The descent from the Col de N.D. is blazing fast. Straight down with broad sweeping curves. With so many people though it was a bit nervous going all out, plus I was kind of trying to recover, which is tough to do at 40-50 mph on a bike.

At Mormoiron there is another slight climb into and out of town (5-6%) for a couple of K before reaching Bedoin. I saw someone stretching out his leg and thought that seemed like a good idea so I unclipped and bent my leg back and up. Bad idea. My leg immediately started to cramp from this new unwelcome position. I stopped immediately and it subsided.

In Bedoin I had arranged for my family to meet me with cold water, ice and some snacks. I refilled my bottle with those, added the last of my Heed to one bottle and kept the other with plain water (I didn't want to squirt Heed on my head). I ate some more fruit, took a few photos with the family and headed out. In retrospect I should have grabbed an extra water and maybe some more food. The gels were getting harder to stomach.

The climb up Ventoux looked like a death march. Half the people were walking their bikes up, and a lot still riding were weaving around, barely keeping upright. It was an effort not to hit someone. The sun was blazing straight down and shade was hard to find and only at the sides of the road, which of course is where all the walkers were.

I tried to duck into the shade when I could, though I don't really know if it had any actual physical effect--but psychologically it felt good!

I was feeling the hints of some cramps again but nothing terrible. At some point in the forest about half way up I stood on the pedals through a steep bit and my right calf cramped up pretty good. I had to stop for a second and massage it, which helped. My left foot was also very sore right on the ball of the foot. I've had that before, and I had bought some new insoles which I thought were helping. It seems to crop up on that foot after about 60 or 70 miles. I may need to look at the cleat position on that shoe.

Back on the bike I just kept a steady pace--if I stood on the pedals I made sure not to stomp--I just maintained steady power--and the leg cramps never came back, but I did feel a bit nauseous and the thought of throwing up entered my mind (oh yes, there were people throwing up--happily I never did).

After what seemed like an eternity I reached the rest point at Chalet Reynard. And they were out of water. Riders had to line up at the gift shop where there was one little drinking fountain. It took about 1/2 hour to get water, but I was out and didn't want to face the final 6k without any.

Back on the bike and did the last 6k by counting down every K to the finish. The first bit is actually not bad at 7%, then the last 1K is at 11-12%, but at least you know at that point that the finish line is in sight!

At the Ventoux summit I had 1/2 a Coke (I was craving it for some reason, but could only drink half), and some bad cookies from a vendor. I took some video and photos, called my wife, and recovered. I also vowed that I would never climb that damn mountain again! Okay--I feel better now and am planning to do it again on Friday with Rich, but I certainly meant it at the time :)

Finally, there was a long 25K descent to Malaucene, followed by an easy slight downhill ride back to my car about 10k away in Vaison la Romaine.

I rolled into home with my car at 8pm (I had to take a detour route home because of the traffic on all the roads around Ventoux. A good dinner and I was in bed by 10pm.

Last, but not least, together we raised over $1,500 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation-- a special thanks to all who donated.

That's it! It was an exhausting but epic day. Thanks for letting me share the story. Video and photos will be posted soon!

Ken

Bonjour from France

I am finally in France.

We are having a lovely time in the Dordogne. The jet lag is beginning to wear off and we've done a bit of exploring around the area, which is beautiful. We've lucked out with some nice cool weather, though it is certainly tourist season--a regular flow of people stroll by our little rental village house on their pilgrimage to the Beynac Chateau at the top of the town.

We took the early tour to avoid the crowd, and were rewarded with a castle almost all to ourselves. Living in a castle was not all it is cracked up to be (unless you like cold stone floors), but the view was spectacular. The French and English battled for a hundred years over the valley that can be seen from the castle walls.

The area is very rural, with lots of rolling hills and forests, corn and sunflower fields, vineyards and walnut groves. Local farms raise geese and duck, which is more popular than chicken here.

Speaking of food--the grocery stores here offer an amazing selection of food--something as simple as yogurt takes up an entire isle in the supermarket. Going to the market is Felicia's favorite form of entertainment.

Yesterday we had an early morning at the Sarlat outdoor market where we met French cooking instructor named Daniele Delpeuch (who is quite famous in France, and one time friend of Julia Child) for a day long traditional Perigord cooking class at her farmhouse. The food, and her stories of cooking around the world, were a wonderful experience for the entire family--and one that I will need a couple of days and bike rides to recover from!

We head to Provence on Saturday--we are all looking forward to seeing our little house again after 3 years away. And on July 20th--the Etape du Tour awaits.

Final Preparations

T-Minus 7 days until my departure for France and there is so much to do!

My training got a little stalled last week as I ended up taking an unexpected business trip to Toronto. A full week of work with no time on the bike, and very little sleep. It took a couple of rides to wake up my legs, but I feel like I haven't lost any fitness. I'm now back in the 4 day a week training routine--a couple of days on the CompuTrainer, and a couple of days outside. This will be my last weekend to get in some good long rides.

My final fitness test before the Etape will be on Tuesday morning. The plan is to take the ErgVideo Threshold Test, then record a Training With Ken spot for the FredCast podcast along with my coach (Rich Wharton).

The purpose of this adventure was always to see how an average cyclist (that's me) could benefit from a structured coaching plan that utilizes the technology that is available to maximize improvement. I always knew that I couldn't train 10-20 hours a week, so I wanted to see what was possible within the limits of my personal life. The reality is that 6-8 hours a week is probably the most I am able to commit to cycling. Is that enough to tackle the Etape?

Here is the Etape profile:

Each of the little climbs is about 4-8km long--and of course, Mont Ventoux at the end. I can say without reservation that I am in the best cycling condition that I have ever been in, but will it be good enough? It is certainly the most difficult ride I have ever attempted, and with potential wind and heat, it could be brutal. But I am excited to test myself!

I'll be recording video along the ride, and I'll try to get some interesting interviews with other riders, spectators, and just about anyone who will talk to me!

Thanks for following my adventure....

Ken

Inside Outside

It’s 3 weeks until I leave for France, and about 6 weeks before the Etape du Tour. I’m getting very excited about the trip, and just a little anxious about being as prepared as possible. Last month I did my threshold test and came in at 216 watts, which was right in the range I was hoping for. Dropping the last 5 pounds has been a bit of a struggle, and I seem to be stuck a bit in the 148 pound zone. Hopefully a few tweaks to my diet and a month of increased workout intensity will do the trick. I was told that the food and wine in France are all low calorie, so hopefully I won’t gain back any of the weight I worked so hard to lose!

With the weather really getting nice here in southern California, I have not been able to resist the urge to get outside and ride. And in doing so I swapped out some of my CompuTrainer sessions for outdoor sessions.

After a couple of weeks of this, I really did not feel like I was getting the same level of intensity on the outdoor rides. Last night I did another threshold test, which came in at 218 watts, a 1% improvement, but well below the 4-5% improvement I had been seeing before.

This is hardly scientific, but my gut feeling, supported somewhat by my testing data, is that the shorter, targeted, more intense indoor workouts on the CompuTrainer deliver faster, more substantial fitness improvements compared to just going outside and riding hard. I’m still trying to find the perfect balance, because let’s face it—we ride bikes to get outside and enjoy the company of other people. Isn’t the whole purpose of getting fit to go out and hammer, I mean, enjoy riding with our friends?

As I start to get ready for France I am also fine-tuning my bike and other gear for the ride. I have been riding with an iAero, but I have recently added a wireless PowerTap, which is being loaned to me by Rich Wharton. The iAero can take in wattage from the PowerTap ANT+ signal, and has some pretty unique capabilities for optimizing riding position by analyzing drag coefficients in real time. I am also swapping out my Dura Ace 7800 standard cranks for a set of Dura Ace 7950 compact cranks, and changing my 11-25 cassette to a 12-27. Since all of my training climbing has been with standard cranks, I think the Compact cranks and 12-27 cassette will give me the extra few gears I will need to make it up Mont Ventoux.

The weather in Provence can be unpredictable this time of year: scorching hot, rain and mistral winds are all possible. I am fairly certain that I will leave the carbon aero rims at home and take my Mavic Ksyrium SL rims, which are a little heavier, but a more all-purpose wheel-set. A 15-mile descent on a 9% grade in the rain with carbon rims is not something I would want to attempt! More likely though, the weather will be horribly hot, but I am bringing just about everything in the closet just to be prepared.

So the next few weeks will be devoted to increasing my training on the CompuTrainer during the week, finalizing the prep of my bike gear, and getting in some good long rides outside on the weekends.

Finally, I want to thank all of the people who have been generous and donated to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. It’s a great cause and I really appreciate your show of support.

Nutrition Musings

I've been thinking a bit about proper nutrition, and its role in training. I've always had generally healthy eating habits, and without a weight issue never given much more thought than that to proper diet. As I struggle to drop the last few pounds I am starting to look into the little things: non-fat latte instead of regular, reducing portion sizes, omitting little things that may have extra processed sugar, etc.

I've also been taking a closer look at calorie content in the things I eat. There is a curious thing about calories per serving in the food we eat--almost everything has 120-150 calories per serving. How could that be? Looking closer it becomes obvious: manufacturers simply adjust the serving size to bring the total calories into line. Tricky. Normally my serving size is the amount I feel like eating.

There are hundreds, wait, thousands, of diets out there. Too many for me to actually subscribe to any single one. Instead, I (with the agreement of my coach) have decided to subscribe to the following general rules for eating and drinking:

Fresh quality foods whenever possible: regular servings of fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs. When I want to snack, I grab an apple or banana, or handful of raw nuts.

Leaner meats: avoid fatty meats, chicken skin, etc.

Cut back a bit on the gluten: less bread and pasta.

Cut out processed sugar: no sodas, candies, added sugar, etc. I do indulge in a small bit of dark chocolate now and then to quench the sweet tooth.

Limit alcohol: A glass of red wine a couple days a week when I'm not training the next day.

The formula is really pretty basic:

calories in (greater than) calories out = gain weight

calories in (less than) calories out = lose weight

calories in (equal) calories out = neutral

So to drop those last few pounds I plan to kick up the volume a little, and keep the eating in check, watching closely that I don't lose strength (ie, muscle). It is also my hope that by eating quality food, and fueling properly on rides, I will keep my immune system strong and avoid getting sick.

This is just my own common sense approach to eating well!

Ken

A Quick Update

Just a quick update on training progress.

All is going well, and I continue to be on-track with my goals. My May Threshold Test came in at 216 watts, on target with my goal of 215 watts. I am attempting an increase of 5 watts per month with the hope to end up at 225 watts by July. As I move into a new 6-week phase of training we'll see if I can continue at that level of improvement.

My weight is on track, but I have seemed to hit a point of resistance at 150 pounds, which I have been at for a couple of weeks now. My plan is to increase my weekly mileage by commuting into work once a week, which will add a couple of hours to my weekly ride time. I would still like to drop 5 more pounds between now and July. I've cut the croissants, but I guess I need to lay off the lattes as well... :(

For the latest, check out the Training With Ken spot on the most recent edition of The FredCast Cycling PodCast.

And enjoy the Giro!

Ken