Having read and constantly referred back to all Joe Friel’s books, all the variations of his Training Bible aimed at Cyclist, Triathletes, etc… I immediately purchased this book as soon as it came out.
This book picks off where the ‘Training Bibles’ left off as it dives deep into power meter training, which is the biggest training trend for cyclist of all levels, as power meters become widely available and accessible.
I’ve been training with a power meter since 2008, and read Andy Coggan’s book in great detail, and also use it …

Comparison test:
…and…
 
This weekend I wrote about the first ride PowerCal (see here).

Now, I have more data about these rides.
I did 4 rides of varying distances, on two different bikes, each with different profiles, and I compared the power readings by capturing them on two separate Garmin units pictured above.
On this weekend’s post, I made a numerical comparison between the rides, by comparing the power average, normalized power and TSS calculation… This time, I’m focusing on pattern comparison.
The objective was to identify the power pattern exhibited by PowerCal and …

UPDATE: There is a new post on PowerCal vs PowerTap comparisons.
…and…
About a year ago, CycleOps announced a revolutionary new device that would allow the calculation of power output during a bike ride through wearing a heart rate strap and nothing else. Back then, I wrote about it, and I was very skeptic.
Power meter product for cycling usually measure the force produce by the cyclist by using strain gauges on the crankset, on the pedals or on the rear hub.
The crankset based products, like SRM, Quarq and Power2Max, have …

Hello All,
Today, we have a special article by Andrea Milano, our intrepid and fearless ride leader !!!

Andrea leads bike rides  in the Haymarket and Warrenton area, with several rides during the week, and a longer ride on the weekend. For more details, and to join rides, please join the ‘Fauquier/Haymarket Cycling’ google group.
to get you ready for our rides…
 
 
 
What to bring on a Ride
· Bike – I guess this part is obvious.  A road bike is preferred for the distances we’ll be riding.  It’ll be more comfortable and significantly faster …

We’ve all been there… You finish you bike ride, you’re eating a well-deserved protein-heavy-milk-shake at the coffee shop after a long hard ride, and you start talking about the ride:
‘This was a great ride, my Average power was 178 watts, but I managed to pull an NP of 223 watts, which is quite good for my FTP of 240. My average BPM was 156, close to my LTHR of 161. This ride was brutal with an IF of 0.93, and TSS of 129’

Yes, the above sentence was written in English, …

Hello All !!
Today, I’m writing about one of my favorite subjects: How to use your Heart Rate information on your training workouts, and how to determine your heart rate zones.
Using a heart rate monitor to workout is becoming increasingly popular and common among all level of users. There are so many good heart rate monitors out there in the market and they’re being sold by the millions.
They range from the basic heart rate monitors, from the non-GPS models like the Garmin FR60, Polar RS100 or the Suunto t4d mostly for …

I suck at weight management. There, I said it !!!
Everyone knows I have trouble managing weight throughout the year. In spite of that, I do try, and I regularly monitor my weight… One my favorite home gadgets is my Withings scale:
This beauty allows me to track my weight, as well, as fat%, giving me readings on my lean mass and fat mass totals. What’s best of all… as soon as I step on the scale, it updates my information online, allowing me to create graphs like this

This graph …

Hello all,
If you’re like me, you have more than one device to use on your workouts. Most times, you only use one device, or if you use more then one device, you are only interested in the data from one of them.
I’ve had my trusted Giant OCR Touring bike for a while now… It’s an aluminum bike, made for touring. Very heavy bike (about 32 lbs), made for long rides on very rough roads. I use it very often on my rough rides.
This was my first road bike, and as …

 
BEFORE
Start Hydrated •  Start hydrating 24 hours prior to exercise •  Check urine color: Lemonade color = well hydrated; apple juice color = drink more fluid •  2–3 hours before exercise: Drink 14–20 fl oz of water or sports drink •  During active warm-up: Drink another 8 fl oz — about 8 swallows/gulps What and When to Eat •  Focus on carbs; carb-restricted diets …

Fast and flat ride from Vint Hill. This ride uses very flat and very flat roads around Vint Hill all the way down to Quantico and back.
With only 1,410ft of climbing for 45 miles, this is ideal terrain for getting pacelines and get average speed in excess of 20 mph.

Garmin Training Center (.tcx)
Best format for turn by turn directions on Edge 500. Will provide true turn by turn navigation on Edge 800 including custom cue entries.
GPX Route (.gpx)
Only the cuesheet entries, not the entire track. Useful for the Garmin Edge …

On the previous article, I talked about using Training Effect to create and monitor your training program.
Today, I’m talking about a similar concept but using as significantly different approach: Training Load. This is another training strategy that uses your heart rate measurements during a workout to predict and monitor your fitness level.
The objective is to evaluate the intensity and duration (load) of each workout and predict what is your current fitness level, but also allows you to know your current fatigue. The goal is enabling you to increase your fitness, …

I’m going to write a series of posts designed to discuss several approaches to objectively measure a training program. Most of these programs rely of electronic devices to measure a workout, be it with the use of heart rate monitor or a power meter in your bicycle.
Today, I’m focusing on the Training Effect (TE),
Measuring your heart rate during a workout will allow you to measure the intensity of the exercise. However, that will not tell you what is the impact that the workout has on your current fitness level.
During the …