All done and dusted at the Absa Cape Epic

What a race the Absa Cape Epic is, nothing short of the TDF for MTB stage racing. The trails are not great flowing singletrack, or to technical, but, the sheer length of the stages and the size of the infrastructure creates a monumental race of attrition.

After moving up to 4th place after the Queen stage 3 (day 4) and maintaining the position and nearly snagging a podium on Stage 4 (day 5) the wheels fell off for Ollie as a gastro, gut issue caused havoc. Ollie was simply unable to eat hardly anything and with the next days stage being the wettest and toughest in the history of the event it was all over red rover as far as the podium in 2012 was concerned. Along with the gut issues stage 5 also thew a heap of other problems our way with a puncture for Ollie that we just couldn’t get fixed and ended up needing one of my 26″ tubes and a hand pump to get us back on track again (losing 30+ mins in the pouring rain and cold!!) My rear brakes then packed up with about 60km to go and then with 20km to go so did my front brakes!!! This was interesting to say the least as riding think muddy singletrack towards the finish necessitated either laying the bike down in the mud at high-speed, jumping off or braking with my feet in the mud!!! It was an issue and cost us more time for sure. We ended up losing over 60 mins this day and completed the stage in 7.5 hours of wet muddy slogging. Stages 6 and 7 followed the similar pattern and Ollie couldn’t hang with our usual bunch, so, we just tapped it out and looked to make sure we got a finish under our belts at the end of the race.

Overall the Cape Epic is a must do endurance smash fest that I have to come back and give another go, it kicks your butt every day, but, it keeps you frothing for more. I would like to thanks Ollie for inviting me to race with him in 2012 and I apologise for being a grumpy arse sometimes when our race for the podium was over. A massive shout out to my lovely wife Sally who looked after us, massaged us both and generally made sure during the week that we had everything we needed. Also thanks to Jenny for all her help and morning coffee runs to get me moving.

Big thanks to my sponsors and supporters Dean and Gen of Torq for keeping us fueled during the ride, Monza, Sram, Cube Bikes for the awesome AMS and running gear that kept soaking up the punishment day after day. Aussie Butt Cream for keeping the comfort down under with no undercarriage issues during the week. OzRiders for the best grips on the market. Lastly to all the facebook and Tweeters who kept the messages of support coming over.

Now the entry has been put in for the 2013 edition and it will be down to the lottery, fingers crossed I will be back in then to finish the job off.

Cheers

Fenz

Next Post

Well what a first couple of days at the Cape Epic, this race is just massive and it is really hard to convey the scale of things. Theprologue went ok yesterday and we ended up 6th in masters and 49th overall. We went a little conservative as the next few days were going to be massive! The first real stage was a cracker all 115km of it with 2400 of brutal mega steep climbs in 30+ degree heat. It went from the gun and the aim was to hold the pro’s for as long a possible. The first hour had a n P of over 300 watts and some big 3 – 5 min numbers upat 400 watts. By half way we had-overtaken BArt Brentjens and Jan Kirsipu and were up into 3rd on the road and inside the top 30 overall. The heat and relentless climbs were taking there toll and we had to back off a little. With about 40km to go we were cranking again and ended up 5th in masters and moved up to39th overall and 5th in the masters. We need to gain 10 mins to move up to the top 3. Bring it on.

2012 Australian National MTB Championships

National MTB National Championships Race Report

Well what a start to 2012 it has been! I have hardly had time to think with a full on race schedule and program to get me into some sort of condition to go and have a go at the Absa Cape Epic. The final parts of the fitness puzzle are in the process of being put into place and after a couple of weeks of volume leading into the National Champs in Adelaide I was starting to feel like my old self.

I backed off slightly the week before the Nats to freshen up a little and at least get my TSB hovering on the right side of zero for race day, unlike a couple of weeks before at Stromlo where I went into the race at  -27 TSB and a little cooked.

The first race was the Teams Relay and with such a powerful squad I felt confident that we could take it out. With Jack Haig leading us out for the first lap we were confident that we could establish an early lead. A bad case of chain suck, however, had other plans and jack had to scoot and run for the final few km’s to limit our losses to the local Adelaide team.

Next out was Billy Sewell and he smashed it off the line catching and passing the Adelaide rider on the first climb and dominating the lap to come in and hand over the Kat O’Shea. Kat again smashed out a cracker of a lap and extended the lead by the time she came into transition and pass the responsibility of bringing it home to me.

I was honoured to be given the final leg and gritted my teeth in the soaring temps to ride a steady but solid lap to bring the Green and Gold Jersey and first Championship medals to the team for 2012.

 

Team Torq Nutrition

 

I was up the next day with the Masters National Champs and with a stellar line up it was going to be a very tough race indeed. Anyone of 6 or 7 riders were up for the win and with temps in the high 30’s it was going to be a war on the dirt.

One of the most important things to get right in such hot conditions is your core temperature and for the hour leading up to the race I managed this with ice vests and ice cold towels around the neck during a short warm up. I wore my torq skinsuit and filled this with ice cubes that were melting and again cooling the core and maximising the blood supply to the working muscles and away from being diverted to maintain homeostasis. My idea was to go out hard and fast and control the first climb and therefore the single track. I could then settle into my own pace and manage the riders behind me. I was also sure that we would catch up to some of the slower riders from the race that started before me and I wanted to be able to get past them and maybe gap the chasers putting pressure on them to pass and make mistakes doing so. The plan worked very well and after the first lap I had a 10 second lead over John Gregg in second and a group containing Jeffrey, Rizzuto, Kreilis, James, Klein and current series leader Willmore.

Railing Sunset Boulevard

The initial break had its effect on me in the heat and I could sense someone clawing their way back up to me on the second time up the main climb. On the technical rocky section on the climb midway through the second lap John Gregg attacked and made a small gap. I was unable to respond and at the time I was unsure of the rider and his kit as I was expecting Rizzuto after his strong performance a couple of weeks before at Stromlo. In 3^rd place and always a threat was Willmore the series leader and he was trying to bridge across to me the pressure was on. Over the next lap the lead remained just out of touch with Willmore breathing down my neck, getting held up by some back markers and lapped riders was frustrating and any gains made were quickly lost. Out onto the last lap Dean in the pit was saying I was only 20 or so second behind the leader and I had made a small gap on Willmore so I put the pressure on to try and make up the time. It was so hot and riding on the limit was like being in a furnace, my throat was dry and like razor blade sucking in air to supply my working muscles. I pushed and pushed and felt like I toughed out a solid last lap, but, it was to no avail and I came in with the Silver again 50 seconds down on the winner and grinner John Gregg from WA.

Nearing the finish

I was happy to be back in a position to ride for the win, but, gutted that again the national jersey had just eluded me. With 3 Silvers in 3 races entered over the past few years I really wanted it this year, but, on the day a better man won.

Masters Podium

The rest of the team, well what can I say. The medal haul was amazing with Gold medals for Jenni King and Robbie Hucker in the Elite and U23 XC, along with Silver medals for Jack Haig and Billy Sewell in the U23 and U19 XC. Billy took out the Gold medal along with a Bronze for Kat in the short track. It was an epic show of strength for the best team in Australia.

Massive thanks go out to Dean and Gen at Torq Nutrition for the continued support, along with Monza and Sram, LG. Continental Tyres, Sunto and Lezyne who keep us on the trails with the best rigs and gear on the market. Oz-Riders for the best grips and Aussie Butt Cream for comfort down under, you guys rock.

It is all about the Cape Epic now with a few weeks of big volume and long days in the saddle I am frothing to get amongst it.

Catch ya on the trails

Fenz

Sram Quarq Quatro MTB

A very welcome new addition to the power meter market in the last month or so has been the Sram Quarq Quatro MTB power meter. Up until now for the MTB crew to be able to really quantify training load and fine tune the real demands of racing on the MTB it was a case of a Power Tap rear hub or the very expensive SRM. Both units worked fine, but the Power Tap was a little heavy and for races most of my clients prefered to use their lightweight wheel set and save nearly 400g’s. The SRM although a fantastic crank based power meter, cost and the not so user-friendly battery replacement issues put it out of the range of most athletes wanting to really dial their training and racing on the MTB.

The new Quatro follows a very similar design to that of the road based Quarq, but, with some subtle differences. The battery case has been beefed up and made from aluminium which takes out the possibility of smashing the plastic case on a rock and losing the cover and therefore the battery. The whole spider set up is more compact to allow for the smaller chainrings and it all looks more robust and solid. This more industrial look and feel doesn’t come with a weight penalty, however, as the cranks are only 50g or so more than the standard XO units making running a power meter in races a no brainer now.

Sram Quarq Quatro MTB

The set up of the Quatro could not be easier, as with most crank based power meters it is simply a case of plug and play these days with ANT+ wireless technology there is no messing about with fiddly cables and wires it is just so easy. A cadence magnet needs to be attached to the bike to activate the reed switches on the power meter and allow for the cadence to be measured. In the case of the Quatro, Sram/Quarq have given the user multiple options for cadence sensor placement to allow for multiple BB configurations. I simple GXP BB has a cup washer with magnet attached that is simply placed on the BB cup threads and screwed onto the drive side of the bike, With the magnet placed facing backward to avoid shipping a chain into it, set up could not be easier. The Quatro also comes with some placement putty for BB30 or press fit BB’s and it is again a simple case of mixing the two-part adhesive putty together and placing just behind the BB shell.

Cadence sensor ring

Cadence sensor ring

Once the magnet has been set up it really is just a case of putting the cranks on and syncing it in with the head unit of your choice. I use my Quarqs with a Garmin 500 and they work really well. I have all 3 bikes Road, Time Trial and MTB all set up as different bikes on the head unit as each power meter has a different code to eliminate picking up power from another device. I will not go into detail about the head unit set up because there are other great sites out there to help with this. If you are interested try the following for detailed Garmin head unit set up info.

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2009/11/garmin-edge-500-in-depth-review.html

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2008/12/garmin-edge-705-review.html

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/08/garmin-edge-800-in-depth-first-look.html

http://www.quarq.com/i/garmin_quick_menu.pdf

With the Quatro on the bike there is nothing more to do than get out there and start training. The data from races and training on the MTB will enlighten you as a rider to the real demands of the discipline. Simply going out on the road bike for km’s simply doesn’t target the specific demands of riding the MTB and after your first quadrant analysis of a MTB race compared to a road race you will be shocked;o)

They might still be an investment, but, compared to a uber light rig they are still very good value and I would say over time as an athlete you will get more reward from using power than any new piece of bike kit you could think of.

See you on the trails soon

Fenz

 

Back in the Game

The condition is coming and slowly day by day I am finding the legs again. It has been just over 3 months now since I was able to get back onto the bike and start the journey back to fitness and prepare for the Absa Cape Epic and to date things are going better than I had hoped. I started back with shorter hard threshold based efforts of no more than 1 hour and this built up to 2 hours by the end of 6 weeks. My FTP which started out at 280 watts with a 20 minute effort of 299 up a local climb quickly climbed up to a 20 min of 360 just before Xmas. Into the new year I rode the Jayco Bay Crits with my new road team Torq/Bss and finished in the leading bunch in 2 of the 3 races and felt ok. I was lacking the intensity and race legs to be competitive, but, I was racing and getting through without any back issues. I was and still am getting pain down my left leg, but, it is residual nerve damage and may last for some time, so, I just put up with it and get on. After the Bay Crits was the National ITT Champs and again I rode ok about 40 watts down on what I have held for PB’s and 20 watts down on what I had set for myself and I think I was still suffering a little fatigue from the Bay Crits as my CTL was still very low and my ability to recover and back up hard sessions compromised by my lack of base condition. I came in 28th with a time of 53.12 and I think with my best numbers another 2 mins could have been taken from the time putting me up to around the top 15 where I finished 2 years ago.

Back in the Game

I have just competed in the Buller Nats round on the MTB, Wildside and this weekend at Mt Stromlo for another Nats round before flying down to Adelaide in 2 weeks time for the MTB National Champs. I am starting to find the legs and won a local Road Race here on Sunday with a breakaway and feeling strong and ready for the volume to start in prep for The Cape Epic.

I would like to say a massive thank you to all my sponsors for their continued support through the tough 2011 season for old Fenz. A big shout out to Dean and Gen from Torq, Hayden and Guys at Monza, Hidtech, Ozriders and AussieButt Cream. Look out 2012 because I am hungry for a big year both on the dirt and on the road.

Catch ya on the trails soon

Fenz

Right then back into training and starting from scratch

That was a journey I really didn’t expect or want, a ruptured disc and following operation scuppered 4 months of this season and ruined all my best laid plans. These things are sent to try us and finally I am back on the bike after a few fits and stops (under surgeons orders) I am 12 weeks post op and the disc should be healed and ready for me to begin the long road back to fitness.

I dicided today that I would go out and set the starting FTP and did my local climb Camby and solid 5km 8% climb that is right on my doorstep. I was going to just go a roll around, but, wanted to see where I was at and make sure that all the subsequent rides were at the right intensity and that TP was going to be giving me the correct CTL and corresponding TSB numbers throught the next month or so. The test numbers were 23 minutes for the climb over 5 mins slower than my PB time and 23 minute power was 300 watts on the dot at 75kg’s. Thie represents a 75 watt drop from PB form and nearly 8 kg’s heavier than race weight!!!!! With a CTL starting at 9.6 I have a long way to go, but, I have the first target set which is Wildside at the end of January and the big news for me was being asked to do the Absa Cape Epic in South Africa with a rider I coached for the event last year Oliver Klein. Olz smashed it in the masters cat last year finishing well up in the top ten and is looking to hit the podium in 2012.

That gives me 3 months until Wildside and 5 until the Cape Epic. I am going to run a series of articles on training for Stage Races in AMB to go along with the training I am doing and also the popularuty

MAP Tests Ramp Rates why is there not a standard?

I have always questioned the validity of the some of the institutes protocols for testing Functional Threshold Power and Lactate threshold in fact the actual testing of many of the individual physiological variables that determine our performance when we can just look at the actual race data and results of performance measures instead. Sure it is great to be in the lab having lactate taken and analysis of RER’s and VO2, but, at the end of the day the results on the road are a combination of all the factors and are far less invasive.

With this in mind I don’t get may athletes to do anything more than a standard 25 watt/min ramp rate MAP for guys or a 15 watt/min ramp rate for women. This is followed by a 20 minute FTP test on a climb or on circuit without stops. I then simply look at the relationship between each and determine the AWC of that athlete and construct training accordingly. I do when the weather is very bad have my athletes carry out a separate ergo FTP as well as an outdoors climbing FTP as RPE is different when doing tests indoors and outdoors and by altering the ergo indoor FTP sessions become achievable and there is less failure to complete sessions. There is much debate about this, but, quite simply some can achieve indoor sessions at or close to outdoor sessions power and some cannot. It is far better to have success and completion of sessions than ball busting failures that crush the spirit and motivation of a rider.

This all came about when my associate coach Damo Mason came over today to help me move my slide on camper and some timber as I can hardly move with my ruptured disc. After moving the gear we had Damo primed ready for a test on the CycleOps PT 400. I have set up a large number of programmed sessions and the ramp tests are fantastic when completed on the load ergometer. Damo smashed out a great test and with the short protocol the whole thing was done in 40 minutes. Damo managed to average 458 watts for the last-minute and it was a great result. Thos just confirmed the numbers we had been seeing out on the road and the 340 - 350 watt FTP we have set to base the training upon. This is also why Damo just smashed the recent NSW Maters 3 ITT  Champs.

Damo Mason MAP 25 Watt Ramp

I suppose the reason for this meandering post is that if we all followed the same easy to follow protocols it would be so much better to cross reference riders form and fitness. Quite simply if for instance what does it matter knowing a rivals FTP it is what it is and so you just have to use the governor to overcome those with better physiology and genetically given gifts ;o)

Ramblings of an injured Athlete

It is a funny old game that of sports science and most written pieces and discussions are all basically going over the same discussions and areas of debate. We all try to come up with interesting articles in the magazines and unpack more complex science and bring it into layman’s terms so that everyone can understand and gain insight into the differences between the elite and the club cyclists. I was always let down by the information given in articles and written discussion when I was a lad and basically found that nothing was given no real advice with no gumption or substance and so I have strived to actually give in my written articles, give free knowledge and real substance. The most recent article was derived while watching the Tour this year and it was spontaneous and creative, there I was with the SRM data streaming live on the laptop and the Tour live on the TV. Wow how good was that, why did we not have live blow by blow data streamed live into a little box on the side of the screen???? I was Facebooking live data and info working out ascent rates live and had quite a discussion going with a fair few people it was great. I then got a private message from the editor of Cycling Weekly in England asking if I could do a piece on a topic relating to my Facebook discussion. Awesome I said I will work out what real-time cyclists would do compared to the pro’s up a climb I had fixed data on from that particular stage, where Geraint Thomas was away with Roy where I had copied blow-by-blow data on his power for the climbs. That was it then and I wrote the article which was published this week in CW.

I will of course in the future put the article for free download on this blog or the website and I am sure it will be used and adapted by other sports scientists out there for other articles and debates. I suppose this is as I sit here waiting for my back operation unfit and a little down about nothing is new, creativity and spontaneity is what will  inevitability uncover new training ideas and new levels of performance. As sports scientists and coaches we should take time to get together as we do at www.ftptraining.com and increase the pool of knowledge with regular skype conferences and discussions on clients need and goals and have that pool of creativity and energy uncover new area to study and increase performance by doing so.

What are you waiting for coaches and sports scientists my contact details are on the website, lets start the process instead of reading and rewriting each others work lets start creating a new level of understanding by pooling knowledge and data for the good of increased performance and discovery.

These are ramblings of an injured athlete on lots of meds to stop the pain from ruptured disc resting on the sciatic nerve, I am hoping to have the surgery within the week and begin the journey of recovery and who knows new levels of performance ;o) I was really looking forward to doing the elite State ITT Champs this year, up until a month or so ago my FTP had been creeping up with very little (3 – 5 hours a week) training. I was focussing on ultra specific efforts at very high power outputs at or above race pace. FTP had come up to 340+ watts at just under 7okg’s which for winter was the best my weight had ever been and I was looking forward to doing a sub 60 min State ITT and we had a Torq team set up for the Tour of Gipps and then the Tour of . What a bugger, always next year eh )

Cheers

Fenz

Some awesome bikes for sale

Dean at Torq has just sent me the list of 3 brand new bikes that he has in the warehouse looking for new owners. Take a look at the specs and you will be frothing, these are remember brand new and never ridden. If you are interested contact Dean at dean@torqaustralia.com

GTR Carbon Pro red

2010 Cube reaction GTC Race

GTR Carbon Pro rival

These rigs represent awesome savings on new so drop dean an email and set up a test ride.

Cheers

Fenz

 

 

 

 

Time Trial Speed Part 2

I suppose as I am injured the NSW titles are out this year, a bloody shame as I was going to race Elite this year and I think it would have been close Peter ;o) After looking at some refinements to the CUBE Aerium I thought today we could look at some measured stats for a number of different pieces of Time Trial equipment. This was posted on cycling tips blog and by calculations in field testing it is pretty good.

The following chart shows the aerodynamic savings according to what www.aerosportsresearch.com calculated for Velonews 

How much time does your $$ buy?

These numbers are calculated for a rider over 40kms at a time of 48minutes.

So then although we can spend heaps of $$$ on the small bits and pieces for the bike the speedsuit is one of the biggest bang for your buck items for TT speed. This is followed by the tri bars and obviously this is governed by their overall set up and position as discussed yesterday. Areo helmet and time in the wind tunnel can bring about similar benefits, but, the costs are massively different!We are always looking at wheel and in my research it will depend a lot upon conditions. A deep 90mm + front wheel will in most conditions be faster than a shallower wheel or a tri spoke, but, various yaw angles and wind speed will have differing effects upon this relationship, so , trial and error along with experience of handling the wheels in wind will play a part. It is no good having the fastest wheels on for the day, but, being scared and blown about the road not being able to actually ride and concentrate on pacing and power production. Look at the results for shoe covers!! big gains can be had for sure for little outlay. Last but not least the frame, small, but, meaningful gains can be made with the slipery framesets if you have the money.

It is easy to see then why when I turned up for the Masters State RR Champs with my team mate and associate coach Damo Mason on that windswept day in we both had on our Champion Systems FTP Training speedsuits and overshoes isn’t it;o)

Cheers

Fenz