Yes he did.

It seems as though many of the riders were quite upset with the overall event and not just because of the conditions, which were obviously atrocious as demonstrated by Katie FN Compton being eaten by the mud. Apparently there were organizational issues, non functioning power washers, etc.

How is everyone's winter riding coming along?

The best thing about January is that Training Peaks has told me two days in a row I'm putting up year best efforts. ;)

Solid but unspectacular.

That's okay though. I'm finally averaging ~5 hrs/ week, still about 3 hrs/ week short than when I raced on the road, but quite a bit more than what I have been doing for most of the last four years.

Personally, after my brief six week hiatus earlier this spring (no idea if it's Covid related), I'm finally back at a decent-ish place (71 kg and 285 W). Still a long ways off from 320 W and 68.5 kg, but it's at least possible that I could get closer than I have gotten the past four years.

My wife also put me to shame yesterday, as she trekked all the way up Alpe du Zwift. I could never be arsed with that brutish thing, but she did her own thing, doing about 2.3 w/kg for the entire duration. Quite the slog, but impressive.

Pretty good. I've seemed to go back and forth between indoor and outdoor riding, and I'm on a good outdoor kick. I've become comfortable with doing 4-5 hour solo rides outdoors. (wife is high risk so I'm eschewing even the probably-low-risk group rides). I accidentally completed the Festive 500.

Some quality efforts in those hours, but no power meter at the moment since I'm still outfitting a new road bike - my old one decided to up and delaminate.

Good, though not sure what to make of it. We moved to Bend, OR in early November. Sept-November was a fitness washout with everything move-related but I’ve been consistently active the past 4-5 weeks and have seen a quick rise. I’m riding less (~4x / week), walking a lot more (and in am before eating, which has resulted in weight coming down to lower than usual for January), and running 2x / week plus a couple weight sessions.

My midweek rides are not far from peak summer numbers but I’ve only done one over 3.5 hours since October. I feel a lot better than I should but not sure I trust fitness, especially long stuff that’s usually my thing. With a real winter I’ll be doing a lot more variety, going harder on shorter workouts and then building long endurance when weather gets better. Without any goals I’ll see how it goes and not sweat it regardless.

@trail I’ll be in Encinitas for a week in mid-Jan. Are you near there?

Good Stuff. That is a great town. Have raced there as part of the Cross Crusade series, and was planning on doing Deschutes Dash Olympic Tri this past summer until, ya know.

Mostly indoor. The cycling club I hang with has done nice job of organizing Wed/Sun groud rides on Zwift. Wednesday is fun ride, stay together. Sunday a faster pace drop ride. Actually kinda fun to shoot the breeze during the Wednesday rides.

Hopefully you make it back here next summer to race.

Speaking of, Hulst World Cup tomorrow should be a brawl.

I've been taking the gravel bike out a lot recently so that I can hit some goat paths as explore different areas. My first 20 minutes today the power data was too damn high because I was riding "easy" and I spent a bit thinking about how they would screw up my Training Peaks 2021 peak performances. I was sure my power data was screwed. Turns out it was accurate. I spent the next 3 hours suffering through supposedly easy 90% FTP intervals. I paid the price and was wasted most of those intervals.

Supposedly is the operative word here, b/c other than a few very specific situations (climbing up a steady incline, even the 3rd or 4th time), they are never truly easy.

Sounds like you got in a good workout. Then again, someone as accomplished as you don't need me to tell you that :)

at 64.5 my numbers are paltry compared to y'alls; mostly i want to stay in shape for
new tele gear i picked up earlier (missed all last year due to neck surgery), hoping for 4-5 days midweek skiing - but of course i killed winter by buying an electric snowblower in Nov.

started the Zwift gran fondo this morning but bailed at 40 miles -

secondly i've signed up for 4 or 5 gravel races and don't have a gravel bike, probably picking up a 3T racemax -
and getting it built up over next 4 mths - hope components aren't a sticking point (1x or 2X ???)
would like to have 650 and 700 wheels but is there a problem with one of those setups ?

weights to maintain muscle, yoga in heated garage

medicare in a few mths !

I sit here now with a strong suspicion that I overreached! :)

I do agree they are never easy. Actually I would rather take a ramp test to failure, 20 minute or hour test any day rather than efforts like today.

Yeah, that's like an hour (riding) north for me. Go through there all the time since it's sort of a gateway area to all sorts of common routes.

I'd offer to show you some rides, except in a 2-man bubble and we collectively don't deserve nice things, apparently.

Dang, what a show of force by MdVP today. No patience, decided to start mashing down on the X-Box turbo button like in lap two. Embarrassed about half the field who got pulled within half an hour or so. I'm guessing he was kind of pissed from losing to Wout by around 3 minutes at Dendermonde, saw Wout was messing around behind him in like 6th-7th, and decided to punish him for that.

I'd like to say it's a pleasure to just watch someone at the top of their craft...but that race was mostly....boring. Pidcock vs. WvA was a little bit interesting, but that had a predictable end too.

Lad, you need to grab a mince pie (or a slice of Christmas pudding), down a Belgian Tripel, watch some footie, and just relax. You surely earned it after last year.

Then again, maybe scratch the footie watching if you want to relax, as Spurs are playing some woeful stuff (a few brilliant moments per game from Kane & Son aside), and the less said about Celtic the better :p

I’m not sure what you mean about two-man bubble but at a minimum I’ll take some route advice! Trying to decide whether to bring road bike or gravel rig with tires manageable on road.

Today’s display was ridiculous. He put WvA to the sword early; I’m sure Wout won’t make that mistake again. It was boring though, like watching reruns of last season.

I just meant that I'm only riding with one other dude at the moment. We both have high-risk wives, so both have made a pact to ride with no one else until we get vaccinated.

Either road or gravel is fine. The classic group ride route out of Encinitas is the Swami's route. If you have more time, there's the Long Route. (and if even longer, you can include the iconic San Diego climb, Mt. Palomar). Long urbanish road/gravel route here.
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Thanks for these. The urban gravel route makes decision a little harder.

Hirschi-bar terminates his contract early... what's the deal with Sunweb/DSM? Dudes jump ship early there all the time.

Wow. I would think he is a rider who is essential to stay. As you say I agree, WTF is up with Sunweb. Riders flee from there.

I’m gonna guess Spartacus had a loud voice on how and why this went down.

Lots of poachers out there. The guy comes up big, current contract looks measly, and his head gets turned. Just a theory.

For the rest of us....

After two plus years of no focused training, I'm giving it another go. Turbo Tuesdays in the barn to start. 2x20's going on hr, cadence and pe. I don't have the heart to look at watts yet, so I taped it over, but starting to feel some adaptation to some intensity. I can just about guess the watts based upon gearing and cadence but I'm not going to peek for a while. Supplementing the trainer with some long, easy z1,2 on gravel and tarmac, weather permitting and it has been, stretching and some weights and core work. My only ambition is to get respectable again in the Wednesday night pick up games. Bottom line is I just really miss hard pack riding/racing. If all goes well, I'll add more racey fitness by midsummer and then maybe take a shot at a race or two. I might podium if I just show up and race- I'm turning 60 on Friday. Everyone else has given up. :) One thing is for certain, one's power really does diminish. Time, the Avenger.

Dang, what the heck is with that team? They've lost so much talent. Just as long as he doesn't end up at Ineos.

Word is UAE...

Still doesn't answer what's up with that team--I know some give them credit for constantly reloading/finding new talent but ?????

Perhaps the new team paid a buy-out fee that will allow DSM/Sunweb more resources (as in, similar to a transfer fee in soccer)? In which case, it may not be too bad a thing.

This, probably. Buy out the contract and throw some crazy money at the rider. Back in the day Sky kind of money and then some.

Agents usually take a cut of transfer fees. One wonders if that’s what motivated F Cancellara (Hirschi’s agent).