Transcontinental Race No. 7 - TCR7 - #TCRN07 - 2019

I virtually always go on the canal now even when I'm going further into town. It takes a bit longer as it is further, but that is fine, and I can normally get from my house to Paddington without stopping, so I can ride at steady power instead of racing between red lights.

I can't stand canal paths. I'd rather do 1000W off every set of lights for 20m and then coast to the next than dodge all the bollocks on the paths. You're probably more chill than me though :)

Yes, there's not many people on it to dodge, but it gets a bit same-y.
I actually went in via Uxbridge Road yesterday and quite enjoyed it for a change. The surface is actually slightly better than the rough bits of the towpath.

That's because I'm a militant pothole reporter :)
Reported another one and some loose rocks yesterday.

Good stuff!

https://www.fillthathole.org.uk/

There's a bunch around soho / fitzrovia and some other random ones but I really struggle to remember their location aka I'm slacking.

Hard week for me too, the main thing which gets me through is knowing next week is an easy week with an FTP test. Building the base is what lets you increase training volume over time. My personal aim this year was to ride regularly rather than be the weekend warrior (which was somewhat forced as I was living in central Tokyo last year and it was 100km+ of riding to get out).

I know the feeling about increasing your FTP, then suddenly finding your steady state rides are hard work. I don't know what one should do, other than remember that it does get easier over time...

I also think flexibility, core strength and general strength helps with finishing. Flexibility especially as it is of low energy cost during the race, and helps all the other muscles work without being pulled in funny ways.

Thanks for posting the link. I thought that system had died, but I've just reported a couple - including the one that fucked my rim on the A40 cycle path on the way out to Tring last November...

Nice one. Cheers.

flexibility, core strength and general strength helps with finishing

Totes.

This was me at the gym this morning...

Did you fall off the rowing machine again?

Not lived in the UK for a while but there used to be an app so you could take a photo, geotag the location and submit it.

Just looked, there's iOS and Android apps for it

As an aside, this might be useful for TCR racers. French website showing places to get water for free

https://www.eau-cyclisme.com/

I'm not sure where I would rank being fit/fast is for TCR. I speculate that training will actually help more with recovery during the race rather than just riding quickly.

But given how tired and sore you will feel after a couple days, feeling 'broken' is the one to push as far to the end of the race as you can.

As an aside, this might be useful for TCR racers. French website showing places to get water for free

That is really good!

I just put in a town (Saint-Quentin) that i searched all over for water through night in 2016. And it confirmed what I concluded - no fucking water whatsoever in the whole place. But it did show some in the next town (Noyon). I think I'd found the one boulangerie that opened at 4am by then.

I am one week ahead of you - am now on the recovery week. Last week, things were starting to ache a bit and I was going up stairs more slowly. Ramp test on Monday - which will obviously determine how hard the next few weeks will be.

I want to try harder with flexibility now to help me spend more time in the aerobars and that definitely feeds through to speed. ISTR that I actually got more flexible when I rode for 10+ days, everything really loosens up.

The way I look at it is that everyone has got a power curve, which is related to their speed curve.

You start off riding at maybe 60% of threshold on day 1. Then that % falls each day you ride, until you are just bumping along at maybe 35-40%, and it doesn't really go any lower.

The model I have in my head is getting my threshold power higher at the start so that my whole decay curve, hence my power - and therefore speed - on every day, gets shifted up a few Watts / kmh.

I wonder if there is anything you would recommend to improve flexibility? Thanks.

Yoga

For me it is mainly hamstrings. On a bad day I can just about touch my knees. I have tended to work round it by having my saddle forward to open up hip angle (more on TT bikes) but it can cause problems elsewhere, so better to get more flexible.

I tried this on a 1000k Audax last year and it definitely made things worse for me!

Youd think this but I saw data from someone foung 250km/day and on their 12th day they made the same power as their 1st day, 130w.

What was their pacing strategy though? Isopower? That would make sense then.

Usually all the dick swingers go out hard from the gun and 50% don't even finish.

I still don't know if smashing the start and decaying in these is any better than trying to isopower it.

some of the otehr days were a lot lower, just this day was back to day 1 power, not sure why or how.

I don't iso power, but I don't smash it out the gate either.

just this day was back to day 1 power

Lots of climbing..?