Reflection of my 1st League Season

The Aca Joe Pro Classic Racing League has ended and it is a good time to give some thought to what worked, what did not, what have I learned, and most importantly to capture what is worth taking forward as focus points for improvement and development.

My first week in the League was filled more with anxiety, instead of celebration for having made the grade and being accepted to race in the Vet League (+40 Age group). I identified and confronted this negative stress by firstly trying to understand its presence, and recommended course of action. This process led to some personal soul searching, discoveries, acknowledgements, and the subsequent application of proven EQ tools. It helped me immensely, and in the weeks that followed the application of tools, such as positive self-talk, affirmations, and the questioning / verification of negativity has become ingrained not only in my cycling, but has also spilled over into everyday life. With specific reference to my cycling I have become much more confident, which has led to a stronger physical performance on the bike.

In my League Category I was racing with the same people every race, and very soon I was able to pick out those that are similarly matched in terms of cycling performance. Those persons became my benchmarks. During the race if I was amongst my benchmarks I felt positive towards my performance and it was a motivator. It also created a very strong drive to keep with the group pace, and to dig deeper when the going got tough. If at the end of the race I was lagging their race time I would try and find what I need to do differently. On those occasions when I outrode them the personal satisfaction was HUGE !!! So the structure and consistent presence of the competitors within my group caused me to train and race harder, leading to significant performance improvement.

My League group also comprised of very strong cyclists that were the group leaders and they were generally 15-25 min stronger than me on most races. Riding League has given me exposure to how they race, their methods, their equipment, their physical strengths etc., and that has helped me to identify my limiters that needs to be worked on in preparation for the next league season in 6 months’ time. These being my Functional threshold (CP20) and Anaerobic capacity (CP5). FTP has to do with climbing strength, and AC has to do with ability to surge at high power for short durations continuously during a race.

A workout that has week on week made the biggest contribution to my improvement has been the Killarney Criterium sessions. It has boosted my VO2 max, CP5, bike handling skills, and bunch riding skills. It will most definitely become a key part of my training programme from October onwards when the next race season starts. Anaerobic Intervals Workout is the other key that I have experienced to be hugely beneficial, and they are interwoven. I have been able to add knowledge and structure to my workouts involving these, as well as identify my current limits and targets. The experience related to recovery from these workouts is extremely important to prevent burnout, injury, and continued quality training.

In reflection, the decision to register for the Vet League, was the best one. The experience has made me grow on so many different levels, and it has exposed me to those that will be sitting on my wheel in 2 years time.

Let’s Ride

Medallion Tour de Stellenbosch

This week was to be a reduced training hours week in comparison to the previous 2 weeks. My training blocks structure are 2 Weeks hard, 1 week recovery. This week was also the start of my Peak Phase so there is a deliberate bias to shorter, higher intensity rides in my training programme.


When I put together the workouts for this week I was initially undecided re Tuesday’s workouts. Couldn’t decide between 1min Anaerobic Intervals or 20 min Intervals at FTP (Functional Threshold Power). I evaluated respective target areas and decided on Anaerobic intervals. I get a fair amount of work on 20min intervals during the weekend races, and it is the speed surges during the races especially on the rolling hills that tend to limit me most.

My Tuesday Anaerobic Intervals were 1min intervals, starting with a sprint to max for as long as I can hold (out of the seat effort), then seated for the remainder of the minute whilst holding the power high. It is a really hectic burn, and is followed by 5 minutes rest (easy pedaling), and I do 6-8 of those. Try and hit above 145% FTP during the interval.

On Wednesday was Killarney. My legs were feeling fresh and recovered from the Tuesday workout. The plan was to sit with the bunch for as long as I could, then revert to 2 min Anaerobic Intervals after a 5 min rest. All went well, and I sat with the bunch for 20 minutes, it was on the 4th lap that I got dropped after mistiming my acceleration on the bend hitting the headwind, and too big a gap had opened up. Thereafter I switched to my plan of 2 min at 145% FTP followed by 2 min rest and repeat. The chart of the Killarney session below is a nice indicator of my 2 min intervals (after the 20 min mark – distinct peak and valleys). The blue lines in the first 20 min look very noisy in comparison, the reason being that the riding with the bunch is very much like 1 min sprint with 1 min recovery. The other observation is that the red line (heart rate) did not decouple from the blue line (power) in the latter stages of the session, meaning that my endurance base is solid.

Thursday and Friday were much deserved rest days and resulted in me feeling fresh going into the weekend. Saturday was time for a new workout called Taper Reps. These are 90s intervals at FTP with 90s recovery, and I did 4 of those. They are hard enough to work the system but not fatigue it. The ride was an hour long, and I followed this with some stretches in front of the tv.

Sunday morning I was up at 4. Some breakfast and coffee, followed by 5 minutes sitting / meditating outside, enjoying the silence of the morning, before Munier picked me up at 5. We arrived in Stellenbosch at 05h40, time to leisurely unpack, sign in and get in a 20 min warmup ride.

It was good to see the normal faces on the start line, the mood is always good in the starting chute, and the energy is really something to relish. Shaheen’s new Scott Foil looked really cool. The guys in the Stars League were looking ready for some serious riding.

The pace off the line was fast, the weather was great, my breathing rhythm was fast adjusting, adrenaline was flowing, sun was low and in our eyes, and luckily no accidents. Being part of this fast rolling peloton through the center of Stellenbosch was an awesome experience. Within 6 minutes we were at the foot of Hels hoogte hitting the first ascent. I kept with the leaders as we hit the plateau before the next incline. Again pace picked up and I held with them. I was starting to hit the redline, and these guys just kept on going. I wonder what power and heart rate readings they were getting up there?

From my workout graph I was averaging 290W for the 20min climb, which is at my FTP, so in order to climb as well as the leaders I will need to work on my FTP for next season. The way to do that is through regular FTP Intervals and CP30 Testing.

On the climb I settled in with the remaining Vets, Masters and Elite Ladies. In December a few of these riders had dropped me as we crested Helshogte. This time it was different. I was doing quite a bit of the pace setting for this group and lead the bunch over Helshoogte. This was quite a motivator as it evidenced improvement.

For the next 40min, at a speed avg of 42kph, three of us took turns pacing the bunch, resulting in us catching a group of 6 vets at the 1h08 mark, note the red heart rate line dropping and recovering after having bridged that gap. The first time this season that I have been instrumental in bridging a gap.

I sat in for about 5 minutes (recovering), when the excitement of the race got the better of me, and again I moved to the front to set the pace. My timing was a bit out this time, as I had only just put in an effort of about 2min when the leaders of A-C Group and a few tandems reached us. These guys were moving at a helluva pace. Our group immediately latched onto them and the pace and effort increased again.

Note the blue power and red heart rate lines at the 1h20 mark. Power shooting up above 500W for close on a minute, then respite for a minute, then up to 500W again. These are representative of my Anaerobic intervals in training done at approx. 430W. Because I had not recovered enough from the earlier effort the gap grew between me and them, and within 3 minutes I was out the back. This experience indicates another of my limiters, which can be improved on for next season through many more Anaerobic Intervals.

For the next 10 min up to the 1h38 mark I did some recovery with 2 others, avg 36kph @ 170W. The next bunch of A-C riders and tandems then reached us, and we latched onto that group. I sat with this group till the end of the race avg 38kph – 210W. I also managed to move to the front on 2 or 3 occassions and take my turn at the helm. Being part of this train rolling through Stellenbosch close on 40kph was very exhilarating as we steamed towards the finish. I was happy to see negligible decoupling of Heart Rate to Power indicating a good level of endurance fitness. My finish time was 2h40, for the 97km race, a 30 min improvement on last year’s performance.

I am very happy with my race performance, and feel that my training workouts are yielding results, and that I am doing the right workouts with the right training strategy. There is also confirmation of elements that need to be focused on in the Winter leading to the next season, Spring 2012, which are inputs to my Training Planning process.

Let’s Ride.

Killarney Crit 1

It was a year ago that I tried the Killarney Criterium. At Mike’s insistence I went to the Wednesday session which is frequented by the more competitive cyclists as opposed to the Tuesday PPA sessions. On that occasion I was hopelessly out of my depth and 40 minutes after starting I was all packed up back in the car, tail between my legs, and leaving while the cyclists were still going round the track for the remainder of the hour.


So it was with a fair amount of trepidation that I pitched up there yesterday. It was not made any better by Shaheen and Munier who were beforehand saying that the session is hardcore and frequented by Elite cyclists etc. At least Munier was there too (his first time), as we had planned to give each other morale support.

There was a hive of activity at the sign on, and it was rather intimidating amongst all the noticeably younger, very lean, strong looking cyclists, with their bikes and kit to match the profile. It was cool to meet Shahied and Gamiet there from Star Interiors Cycle Club, and others from Mohammediyah and Giants Cycling Clubs. There is morale support to be gained from people you know, with similar backgrounds and cycling proficiency.

At 6pm we were allowed to go onto the race track for a warmup lap, and all was going well. Temperature was high 32deg, but wind was manageable (can get windy this time of year). At the end of the warmup lap we were addressed by the marshal. There are basically 2 starts, first group is +1 group, second group that starts slighter after are the Elites, and the Elites have to chase the +1 group. Winners are the first ones to cross the line after 60 min, without having been lapped.

I started off in the + 1 Group. Immediately we started hitting speeds + 40kph, my heart rate had climbed to 85% in no time, and power was hitting the 330 mark (would average out to 250W for 20min max). On the first lap I started feeling where the wind was, and started finding the draft lines on the track. By lap 3 I had this all mapped out.

In the bends it was better to sweep into the outside line, get more speed into the corner, for easier closing of the gap coming off of the bend. Everyone knew this so the congestion made such maneuvering, testing. Speed was fast. There were sections of the track where we were hitting 52kph lap after lap and it was thrilling.

Leaning the bike over in the corners was truelly awesome. I don’t think I had ever leaned my bike over so much before and it was THRILLING !!! There were times that I just watched the butt of the guy in front of me, and kept his line and gap and went sweeping through the corner, too nervous to look at other indicators of lean angle.

There was one particular left hander where by going wide, you pick up speed because of your faster trajectory, and because of the draft of cyclists on the inside, which meant that you just went flyin past riders. The danger of that tactic was to bring it all in at the end of the corner, and a few times I went onto the red and white shoulder of the road, and on one occasion I was pushed into the dirt off the track, luckily not damaging tyres when coming back on.

When the Elites eventually caught us there was a huge amount of adrenalin pumping through. Suddenly I had fast cyclists come through on my left and right, and I was focused on holding the wheel in front of me. It was HECTIC !!!  YEEHAAA!!!!!!

When the bunches merged the pace quickened. By the next lap people were starting to drop off and I found myself isolated from the bunch. Note to self, next week when the bunches merge move to the front so as to hold on for longer.

I nearly got taken out as well. On one right hand bend the guy on my left connected with my handlebar, luckily I managed to keep it together. Phew….

This kind of racing will make me stronger because it works at LT, and will improve my bike handling skills tenfold.

I managed to hang with the bunch for 50min this week, that was a huge motivator. Next week I will aim to complete the full 60 min with the bunch.