Recovery and Bike Testing
5.10.2009
Last week was a recovery week. Not a whole lot training going down. Stayed active everyday, but was fairly short and easy. The plan for Worlds is this week and next to be pretty heavy in training. An increase in volume and moderate intensity on most days with a bike race on the weekends to keep some race pace fitness intact. Maui is a long, hard course and the volume (longer rides and runs) will be essential for me to feel good and able to race the distance. My race pace fitness is high from a recent peak (a week ago), so all I need to do is maintenance work in that area. So my general plan is to do four sets of long bike day/long run day/recovery day blocks over the next 12 days. Then I’ll transition to a Peak Week schedule with 10 days to go. This should be enough to allow me to race well at Maui.
I also have a trip to Phoenix planned for the week before I head to Maui. The idea is to get into the warmer climate before the race for as long as possible. The weather has turned here in Denver. Awesome fall weather, but not the best when trying to prepare for scorching sun, 85 degrees and humidity on race day. I can also visit with my dad down there and fly Hawaiian Air over which offers cheaper flights and free bike vouchers. Score!
On another note, looking towards 2010, I’m trying to decide which bike to ride for next season. Most of this year I raced on a hardtail bike, while only using my FS on the few rockier courses I raced this year. I can’t decide which bike is better for me for a faster overall race time. The popular question these days seems to be which is faster, HT or FS? There are arguments for both sides, and I find myself split down the middle, so I decided to perform my own testing to see if I can determine for myself.
Here is what I’m going to do. Take three different testing days and ride both bikes back to back and record the data and perceived exertion between the two bikes. Attempt to ride varied terrain to make it fair on all types of courses. One test will be shorter laps on rolling terrain, another on a long technical climb and long descent, and the third on a longer loop with more varied terrain.
The Test Bikes: Both super fast and efficient race machines
The ARC from YETI
and the ASR-C from YETI
Last Thursday was test #1. I rode a 6.65 mile course 4 times, alternating HT and FS. I divided the course into 4 distinct segments: smooth rolling, smooth climb, rocky flat, rocky downhill, and recorded splits for each segment. This way I could see where I was gaining or losing time on each bike. My bike set-ups are identical except for front derailleurs (shifting issues). Here are the results:
The results were surprisingly similar for all four laps and both bikes. The only clear advantage was seen on Section 4, the rocky downhill, where the FS was faster every time. The bikes were surprisingly equal in the rocky flat section however, and the FS didn’t really lose anytime on the climbing section. Overall pretty similar and fairly indecisive in terms of which bike is actually faster. We’ll see how things go over the course of the next two tests. Stay tuned!
dang bro! thats is some serious science/research going on. you should ride the FS for maui.
Sounds like FS is winning at this point. But where is the 29er?!?!?!