Training Log, February 18, 2010

Submitted by adammyerson on Fri, 02/19/2010 - 11:59
Sonoita!
 
There are really only a small handful of rides in Tucson. There are just only so many roads once you get out of town. It's not like on the East Coast where there are always 10 different ways to get from point a to point b, and those roads have been there for over 400 years. Out west there are cities, and then nothing, and then eventually another city.
 
The thing is, though, the 6 or so rides we do here (Sonoita, Madera Canyon, Kitt Peak, Big Square, Mt. Lemmon, Sierrita, The Shootout, etc.) are all really amazing. And when you're only here for a couple of months, you don't really get bored with them. Particularly when you've grown up riding the lush, canopied roads in the Northeast. The desert landscape is amazing to experience, even if it feels unnatural or strange when you're used to playing in the woods or near the ocean.
 
Sonoita is one of those rides. It's kind of a death march, with most of the ride on a single road, and it's an out and back loop. The second half of the ride out is big stair step after big stair step, and getting bigger as you get closer to Sonoita, where you finally end up at about 5000 feet. It takes 3.5 hours to get out there, but only 2.5 to return, and ideally you only do this ride when it's headwind out and tailwind back. You get an amazing view of the Madera Canyon mountains from the east side. And since you asked for more pictures, I tried to pause where I could:
 
 
It's hard to really do the landscape here justice with just an iPhone.
 
 
The boys were frisky early but after the first 2 hours I reminded them that we had a lot of climbing and a lot of hours left, and we needed to be a little more conservative until after the store stop. We started with 5 guys but after those first 2 hours we were down to the usual trio of Coupe, Marzot, and me, so we settled in to our 15 minute rotation; 30 minutes on the front, 15 off, low tempo pace. I marked a few of them off.
 
This one was at about 1:20 in:
 
 Pull:
Duration:   26:36
Work:       371 kJ
TSS:       25.7 (intensity factor 0.761)
Norm Power: 240
VI:         1.03
Pw:HR:       3.4%
Pa:HR:       10.72%
Distance:   9.412 mi
Min Max Avg
Power:       0 522 233 watts
Heart Rate:   86 161 143 bpm
Cadence:     48 182 92 rpm
Speed:       11.6 38.6 21.2 mph
Pace         1:33 5:10 2:50 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 542 216 lb-in
 
This one came at about 2:30:
 
Pull:
Duration:   30:46
Work:       401 kJ
TSS:       25.8 (intensity factor 0.71)
Norm Power: 224
VI:         1.03
Pw:HR:       -3.34%
Pa:HR:       13.54%
Distance:   7.685 mi
Min Max Avg
Power:       0 463 217 watts
Heart Rate:   120 158 143 bpm
Cadence:     59 129 85 rpm
Speed:       9.5 23.8 15.0 mph
Pace         2:31 6:19 4:01 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 543 221 lb-in
 
This one was after lunch, and was at about 3:40, as we climbed back up out of Sonoita and over the mountain:
 
Pull:
Duration:   30:06
Work:       392 kJ
TSS:       25.1 (intensity factor 0.708)
Norm Power: 223
VI:         1.02
Pw:HR:       -5.45%
Pa:HR:       5.1%
Distance:   7.586 mi
Min Max Avg
Power:       78 450 218 watts
Heart Rate:   130 165 150 bpm
Cadence:     53 134 78 rpm
Speed:       9.3 28.7 15.1 mph
Pace         2:05 6:29 3:59 min/mi
Crank Torque: 62 422 242 lb-in
 
This 45-minute effort started at 4:30, and includes not just my pull, but also the time I spent on the back while Toby was half-wheeling Thom. As we got closer to the end of the ride, the boys got more and more worked up:
 
Pull:
Duration:   43:04
Work:       604 kJ
TSS:       45.3 (intensity factor 0.794)
Norm Power: 250
VI:         1.07
Pw:HR:       -3.82%
Pa:HR:       11.14%
Distance:   16.379 mi
Min Max Avg
Power:       0 487 234 watts
Heart Rate:   127 172 156 bpm
Cadence:     38 144 92 rpm
Speed:       2.9 33.8 22.8 mph
Pace         1:47 20:33 2:38 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 685 217 lb-in
 
When that block was over, we were coming on to Old Spanish Trail, and the last hour of the ride. I had us all take a few minutes to recover and regroup, and then we did a rotating paceline, trying to squeeze out whatever was left, and go until we popped. There's a nasty little roller on Old Spanish Trail, and when we hit at about 15 minutes in, it blew us all apart, and it seemed like a natural spot to end for the day:
 
Final rotation:
Duration:   15:00
Work:       231 kJ
TSS:       17.9 (intensity factor 0.846)
Norm Power: 266
VI:         1.03
Pw:HR:       -3.04%
Pa:HR:       10.5%
Distance:   6.86 mi
Min Max Avg
Power:       0 600 258 watts
Heart Rate:   142 174 164 bpm
Cadence:     57 150 100 rpm
Speed:       11.1 33.9 27.4 mph
Pace         1:46 5:25 2:12 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 586 213 lb-in
 
All in all it was a great day. I was definitely feeling it in the first couple hours, with the 2 days of work I had in my legs already, but it's encouraging when you feel better and better as the day goes on.
 
Oh, then there was this, too:
 
 
Don't forget, you don't need a permit to carry an unconcealed firearm in Arizona.
 
Total data below. Enjoy.
 
Entire workout (172 watts):
Duration:   6:34:02
Work:       4077 kJ
TSS:       278.4 (intensity factor 0.652)
Norm Power: 205
VI:         1.19
Pw:HR:       10.64%
Pa:HR:       -7.72%
Distance:   119.548 mi
Min Max Avg
Power:       0 669 172 watts
Heart Rate:   58 174 136 bpm
Cadence:     30 182 85 rpm
Speed:       2.2 40 18.5 mph
Pace         1:30 26:49 3:15 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 1105 173 lb-in

 

Comments

Submitted by jerry on Fri, 02/19/2010 - 13:07.
pictures! i feel warmer already.
Submitted by jscott on Fri, 02/19/2010 - 13:47.
I'm wrapping up a week in Vegas, and it's pretty much the same thing here. Whole lotta desert, not a whole lotta roads. But there are two or three rides that entertain and don't look anything like what we have in New England, or at least in Boston. Kyle Canyon Road goes for 20 miles with a 3% steady grade and 0 turns. 20 minute blocks? 60-minute test? No problem. Every time I come here, though, I have to take a different route up there due to road construction/ARRA-funded pointless re-construction. Thanks for all the wattage porn. Hope you and the team go FSU this year.