by Marci Titus Hall, USA Cycling Level 1 Coach

The Baja Epic went off without a hitch, or should I say - a shooting. The unrest in Baja and Tijuana continued the week before the event; it didn’t look good for a while but as the race director said “It’s bad guys killing bad guys. Unless you are one of the bad guys, you don’t need to worry much.” (quote from www.bikemag.com). Consequently only 28 of the supposedly 100 registered racers showed up for the event. And we thought Chris’s biggest worry would be being sick and under trained...

by Marci Titus Hall, USA Cycling Level 1 Coach

The Baja Epic starts on November 5th, and Chris is ready to race – well Chris is as ready as he could be considering the circumstances. To add insult to injury as Chris’s job stress rose, his training levels dropped, but so did his recovery modalities including sleep, rest, and any form of therapy. (see stress tracker graph w/training volume). That was a formula for disaster and indeed Chris found himself succumbing to a virus that had been making its way around his office. In the nick of time Chris began a heavy dose of antibiotics and an inhaler to battle bronchitis. It is a risk, but Chris will be at the start line on Day One, and actually the Baja Epic 4-day stage race might just be less stressful (well mentally at least) than putting in 12-16hr days [as an investment banker] like Chris would otherwise be doing.

by Marci Titus Hall, USA Cycling Level 1 Coach

Two weeks have gone by, and Chris has completed several rides with his mtb disk Power Tap including completing his functional threshold power (FTP) task. (Read Article #1: Teaching an Old Dog a New Trick for instructions on how to perform a FTP task.) I will use the data from the FTP task to establish power and heart rate training parameters and determine Chris’s training budget.

by Marci Titus Hall, USA Cycling Level 1 Coach

As a coach I am always encouraging my athletes to train with power. There are so many benefits to utilizing power that allow an aspect of control for both coach and athlete, that it makes training without power seem like antiquated guess work. So finally my busiest athlete agrees to check out the mountain bike PowerTap, and we will share with you his journey through wattage.

Chris doubles as an investment banker by day and a mountain biker, traveling the world competing in ultra endurance events and stage races, the rest of the time. You can well imagine that due to the current financial state of chaos, Chris is now busier than ever and training will have to take a back seat. It is even more important to make the time that he does have to train as effective as possible. My theory is that Chris can set a pace, continue it for 6-12 hours, and then repeat it for 2-8 days. A power meter will help to determine that pace, improve on it, and ensure training efficiency for the limited about of time he does have to train. It will be his training budget.

by Marci Titus Hall

While analyzing my mountain bike (mountain bike) race data recently I began to wonder what was going on with my power during the race. The power graph is always extremely choppy with occasional peaks yet much lower than expected power averages. All the work of mountain bike racing doesn’t seem to be translating to power. A mountain bike race comes down to the rider’s fitness, technical skills, luck and finesse, in addition to the course terrain, weather, and course conditions. In a nutshell it is all about the rider’s ability to ride, as fast and efficiently as possible, over, under, or around any obstacle, any incline or decline, without help or team support, to the finish line. And as I compare my power graphs from my rides and races off-road I realize that there is more to mountain bike effort than meets the eye. But how does this translate to power output? It isn’t as straight forward as I once thought. Here is what is really going on during a mountain bike race.

It was a beautiful spring day, and I was itching to get some data from my new PowerTap Disc Brake hub. I was raring to go and had all of the mental prowess I could muster. After all, I had had my fancy new PowerTap for several weeks and had barely been able to use it before sustaining a very ill-timed and unfortunate fall down my stairs. The fall had left me unable to sit, stand, or walk for anything longer than 5 to10 minutes at a time - and only with a combination of Ibuprophin and muscle relaxers. To say the least, I was incapacitated for a solid 2 weeks. and it was 3 weeks before I dared get back on the bike.

I had fallen on a hard wooden stair which wedged itself between my lowest thoracic vertebrae, rendering me unable to either breathe or feel my legs for several seconds. After having my spine stabilized and being carted to the hospital, I was told that thankfully I did not break my back, but I would be in pain for a while, and I should take it easy. So after taking the proper precautions and staying off my bike for the full doctor-recommended 3 weeks, I felt I had paid my penance, and after that I should be in the clear and back to normal.