Cycling Blog

For once a perfect rest week!

admin — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:48:20 +0000

Submitted by Competitive Cycling Blog Apart from the training being rather uneventful, the reasons I didn’t get to write last week were lots of overtime at work and the tax return deadline at the end of October! I left it really late. October came around way too quickly this year. Every other year I had it [...]

When things don’t go as expected …

admin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:33:40 +0000

Submitted by Competitive Cycling Blog I’m gobsmacked. Absolutely stunned. Scratching my head in bewilderment and wonder. Saturday everything was perfectly fine. 3000km of power data nicely and neatly saved in date order in the PowerAgent program. Yesterday everything was gone. 3000km of power data files wiped out. User ‘Groover’ disappeared. Empty program. I checked the hard drive, checked the [...]

Training Plans from 6th Oct onwards

admin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:32:32 +0000

Submitted by Competitive Cycling Blog I’m on a secret training mission from now on. The program has been supplied by a “friend” (I call him different names while doing his intervals and climbing repeats) who explicitely asked for the program not to be published on my blog. So, sorry - you know the routine. I’d have [...]

Just can’t get enough

admin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:30:39 +0000

Submitted by Competitive Cycling Blog I answered Petrina’s roll-call for a Mt Nebo ride this morning. Lucky me, since Mt Nebo was on my training schedule anyway. After last Saturday’s horrible sight of mangled up vehicle parts and smashed metal on bitumen and the sight of the physical and emotional pain a crash causes, I [...]

Three down, one to go … thoughts

admin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:28:54 +0000

Submitted by Competitive Cycling Blog I happened to look at my Mt Coot-tha climbing interval stats of the past two weeks this morning and something woke my curiosity. It seems that my second interval is commonly slower than the third. This correlates with a higher power output in interval three compared with interval two. As expected, [...]

Three down, one to go

admin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:27:45 +0000

Submitted by Competitive Cycling Blog The back of Mt Coot-tha with the city visible in the distance What I really enjoy about the climbing repeats on the back of Mt Coot-tha is the sense of being in control and actually getting better at climbing. Believe it or not, it seems already much easier and the first [...]

Jacaranda Blue

admin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:26:44 +0000

Submitted by Competitive Cycling Blog I always thought Jacaranda trees were native Australians, especially after reading the novel of the same name by very Australian Joy Dettman. I was quite surprised to learn that this tree is actually from South and Central America. However, this discovery will not stop me from associating Jacaranda trees with spring [...]

Don’t push pass the limits

admin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:25:31 +0000

Submitted by Competitive Cycling Blog I had two very gut wrenching encounters in only two days. Competitive people push the limits all the time in order to get faster, stronger, better. In this case pushing the limit to see how far you can lean the bike in the corner on a fast descent. Sometimes we overestimate the [...]

Cheats are Destroying the Sport of Cycling

admin — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:15:53 +0000

You won’t learn until it’s too late. I’m talking to you Mr. Professional Cyclist. I’m not certain that the professional cyclist really understands that Olympic Cycling is the springboard which may allow the top cyclists to be paid like a mainstream athlete. Unfortunately, the industry’s top dogs are not getting it and they need to and [...]

Where Have all The Women Gone?

admin — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:29:21 +0000

How often do you see a group of cyclists pedaling at 20-30 MPH on the side of the road and the group is usually 100% male. Am I saying that women aren’t good at cycling? No but I am saying that most women don’t like the activity of cycling and results of a study out [...]

Alberto Contador Makes History, Serious Competition to Lance Armstrong

admin — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:14:24 +0000

Written by Michael Vass Over the weekend there was a bit of history that occurred. Alberto Contador became the 5th cyclist to win the Tour De France, Giro d’Italia, and Spanish Vuelta. Not only has he won all 3 he did so in the least amount of time, 14 months. Contador finished the 21-stage Vuelta in [...]

BMX Pro-Am Dirt Jumping Video from Brawlin’ at the Belmar

admin — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 09:26:39 +0000

Written by Michael Vass Yes I finally got it done. Long over due but finished at last. What might that be? Back in August I reviewed my time at the Brawlin’ at the Belmar BMX Pro-Am dirt jumping tournament. I mentioned in that post “Now it’s taking me a bit of time to get the video of the event [...]

Brawlin’at the Belmar - my first BMX Pro-Am dirt jumping tournament

admin — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:23:17 +0000

Written by Michael Vass **This can also be found at Men’s World Blog** Over the weekend I had the chance to watch America rise to the challenge. I wasn’t watching the Olympics, or the news on Iraq and/or Afghanistan. I wasn’t at a movie. I was watching a BMX competition – Brawlin’ at the Belmar. I’ll say it [...]

Drugs and Cycling - A Relationship that Needs to be Broken

admin — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:40:56 +0000

Written by Michael Vass World class cycling is quickly becoming akin to Major League Baseball. I’m not speaking of television ratings, which would be a boon to the sport, but the use of enhancement drugs. There is no doubt that every American was aware that Lance Armstrong was nearly stripped of his record making 7 in a [...]

Cycling, the Other Gasoline Alternative

admin — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:53:11 +0000

Written by Michael Vass Let’s assume that the price of gasoline has been rising every year for the past 6 years. Let’s say that you live in a major metropolitan city. Let’s say that the number of obese people in your nation has grown almost as much as the waistlines. What do you do? In America you [...]