2 min power

2 min power is still heading in the right direction. 321w for me this week, which is another PR – nice…

Next week is Vision Quest. 56.5 miles with 11.5k of elevation gain – wow.

I’ve never ridden the course on my bike but there are some very cool pre-ride tools available for this one with gps data from an actual rider racing the course along with course photos. A virtual pre-ride. Watching this guys speed as he races has been helpful in figuring out what gear to come with.

We have been looking at the course using topofusion to see the gradients of the climbs to figure out what gear to come with. Along the way are sustained pitches of over 15% – wow! I’ve been practicing standing up a lot on my single speed!

So what gear should I come with? It is a whole new part of race strategy having to choose one gear.

Along with the usual:

Tires  Specialized Adrenalin or Maxxis crossmark in the front? The Crossmark rolls faster, the Adrenalin rails corners.

Power  Power meter or no power meter? The Power-Tap is heavy and requires V-brakes. I think I’d like less weight and my disc brakes for this one. But post race power analysis is so fun and the power meter will keep my pacing on track on the first big climb. But if the power meter is on board not working right it will drive me crazy = make me slow. blah, blah

Heart rate  The heart rate strap bugs me and I feel lighter and can breathe more easily without it. If the HRM isn’t working right it will bug me. I know how fast my heart is beating in a race by the sound of it pounding in my ears. Hmm, heart rate is off the race plan too.

Speed  Definitely. Speed has turned out to be a keystone metric  on the single speed. I watch the mph and know when to come out of my tuck to pedal, know what speed to do the bursty accelerate and tuck pedaling style and when it is more efficient to pedal at a smooth constant cadence.

Time  Yup I need to know when to put scoobie snacks in my mouth. I also have some time goals that will motivate me to go to that deep place near the end of the race if I am close to them.

Distance Yup, it will tell me where I am on the course

Altitude  Yup. I like knowing where I am on the climb and how many feet it is to the top. Helps me pace the end of a climb faster knowing there is some descending recovery on the near horizon. There are three big climbs and I’ll put the top out elevations on a sticky on my stem.

The call for this race looks like my simple old Garmin 201, with a pair of nice light race wheels, some fast rolling tires and a disc brake.

Guess I’m racing this one then :-)

See y’all there. I’ll be on a green Kona Explosif. 26″ wheels for me now.