PowertapGeek made some predictions at http://stevenwagner.typepad.com/powertapgeek/2007/01/watt_happened_i.html that I think are very true.

I’m seeing these two:

• Racing will get harder and faster as those using wattage will raise the level of preperation,
• People who do not use power will continue to fall behind

in action in our sub-vets league (30-40). Average speeds and average powers are increasing every race, and there’s more and more guys riding with Powertaps, Ergomos or SRMs. Those guys without power-based training are going to be a step behind. I’m very thankful that I’ve got mine already and am seeing the benefits at the expense of those who still don’t have. And thankfully, not everyone who has one knows how to use it properly yet. I’m sure the advantage won’t last long though…

2nd League race of summer today. With my CTL hovering at 63 before the race, I wasn’t expecting to last the hilly route. So my plan was to race as though I was fit for the first 55km, which would get me up to Red Hill. Then I’d back off and to the rest as a training ride/warmdown.

And that’s pretty much how it went. I chased down a few breaks, and even had a go myself at one point, then I exited the bunch very rapidly at the foot of Red Hill when the power spiked to 500w.

Paul stuck with a group of about 20 over Red Hill, and tried attacking several times on OKW. Unfortunately he couldn’t get away, and he climbed his way to 4th place. Another win for Dave Garrett, who seems to be in a league of his own, with Mark Moir taking 2nd and Andrew Studer 3rd.

It turned out to be quite a hot day too, and I was planning to ride home to get an extra 90mins in. But by the end of the race I was pretty exhausted and I decided the car home was the more prudent option. I think I would have been couch-bound for the rest of the day had I deciced to ride. I still managed to rack up 226TSS, and with yesterday’s 165TSS from a nice ride to Stellenbosch, CTL is starting the slow, steady climb back to normal levels. If all goes to plan I’ll be back up at CTL of 80 by the end of the first week of Feb. That should be good enough to let me race properly, and for the full duration of a race.

Not often that I feature one of the sites that we’ve built here, but this one’s close to my heart. BikeMaxPower is our team sponsor and the new site which launched on Friday features lots of useful articles on power training. Also there are blogs by Peter, owner of BikeMax racing in the Vets category, and Bruce, who races in the Subvets in Joburg. They’re also selling powertaps and a few other bike goodies on the site.

BikeMax is closing down their phyical training facility and focusing on coaching through the online interface of Training Peaks. Pretty effective as it lets your coach see exactly what you’re up to once you’ve uploaded your workout files from Cycling Peaks WKO+.

I woke up on Sunday morning for the first summer league race, Three Passes, and my body was aching all over. I couldn’t get much breakfast down and wasn’t feeling great at all. I figured I might feel better once I was on a bike and moving, but it became apparent during my warmup ride that I was feeling very crap. I started the race nevertheless but got dropped at the foot of the first climb, Ou Kaapse Weg, at only 230w. So I turned around and headed home and straight into bed for the rest of the day.

Not quite the 270TSS day I was planning, which meant that CTL gain for the last seven days was a big fat 0. So much for getting fitter. Hopefully I can shake whatever it is that is afflicting me and get training properly again soon.

By all accounts the race turned out quite hard and Paul was right up front, but couldn’t make the decisive break. Looks like all the boys have been training hard and fitness levels are very high. In contrast to me

Just finished sorting out the over 400 photos that we took in Thailand.

The Scenic Route through Thailand

I’ll type up a bit of a diary in the next few days to explain more about the trip. In the mean time enjoy the pics! (click the image to view)

We got back from 2 weeks in Thailand yesterday. Arrived in Cape Town just after 9:30am to hear that there’d been 6 bombs in Bangkok, starting shortly after we left. Not cool, but nice that we weren’t their when the shit was going down.

We took over 400 photos on the trip, so I’m busy cleaning them up and should hopefully post pics within a day or two.