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Day 2 in Xantusia
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G'day folks!

After a nice 11h30' drive from west Texas to SoCal, with my buddy Olaf (and we didn't get lost! that's a first) we were greeted by slowtwitch.com's King, Dan E himself (along with his 3 dogs, and Monty's 3 dogs).
So that's where Jonas and Bjorn did their training the last few weeks? Good! At least, as far as chainrings are concerned, we're ok, we took our 56-44 and 11-23 which go everywhere (as long as a 30rpm cadence sounds ok to you).

First day was a great run on trails in I-Have-Already-Forgotten-The-Name Park...was so nice, I forgot about the 30' turn around, and after 40' turned back only to get lost...(that was for punishing me of making fun of Gordo and Clas who also got lost when they visited us in TX...although I ran only 1h20', running hard on the way back...G and Clas did 3h45'). That was followed with a masters swim in a great pool (Santa Clarita), outdoor (forgot sunscreen of course...kinda redish now) and then a 1h30' bike ride (was supposed to be a 3h ride but I broke my adjustable stem after 1h...)
In between, we did some monster shopping. That should last for 2-3 days at best :-)

Today was a nice 4h10' ride in the mountains (the first who uses the small chainring is a wuss)...We rode a bit with Monty. Different styles. Monty using compact cranks on 650 wheels Olaf and I mashing a 56xsomething everywhere.
The riding is just fantastic.So many roads to ride, so little time!
1h30' run later today.

In any case, Dan E is RIGHT! The area is fantastic for training. Great swimming complex, and endless pool, fantastic riding (that reminded me of the riding on the Riviera), and plenty of trails and roads for running, all this with a great weather. After training, you can sleep like a baby because the closest Xantusia neighbors are so far I guess they are in an other state.
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Re: Day 2 in Xantusia [Francois] [ In reply to ]
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hi francois,

where in socal are you at?

daniel

�The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.� -Michelangelo

MoodBoost Drink : Mood Support + Energy.
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Re: Day 2 in Xantusia [theswiss] [ In reply to ]
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Valyermo. LA county. Somewhere in the mountains.
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Re: Day 2 in Xantusia [Francois] [ In reply to ]
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"Different styles. Monty using compact cranks on 650 wheels Olaf and I mashing a 56xsomething everywhere. "

Bit of an understatement Francois? You obviously aren't a spinner!
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Re: Day 2 in Xantusia [Francois] [ In reply to ]
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Over the past month we have had Bjorn, Jonas, Francois, and now Olaf here training. I know that I've been up here isolated fore a couple years, but is everyone climbing 8% grades in the big chain rings at 30 to 40 rpm's now? These guys are strong, but I get the last word at every turn and hill crest when those big gears just won't turn fast enough to gain momentem. I'm just too old and fat to stay out there. Lots of fun up here right now. I wish some of you spinners out there with younger legs would come and help me teach these dinasours a lesson. These are some really tough guys. They train like my dogs, go till you blow. Francouis made it about 5 and a half hours yesterday until the gas tank went empty. We haven't found Olaf's bottom yet, he has a very mature approach to Ironman training. I remember this guy being around about 15 years ago, so I was quite suprised to find out that he was only 32 years old. For you stat guys out there, he has recently run a 29:20 10k, and a 1:04 half. He rode a 4:17 in a recent Ironman, but had an achillies problem and couldn't finish the race. I'm going to whip his swimming into shape this week, so watch for this guys name in the near future. He's the real deal. Off for the long Sunday run now, more on these guys later.....Monty
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Re: Day 2 in Xantusia [monty] [ In reply to ]
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Quote:
I know that I've been up here isolated fore a couple years, but is everyone climbing 8% grades in the big chain rings at 30 to 40 rpm's now?


It's the latest trend out of the "Colorado Mafia" of Charmichael, et. al.

It's supposed to blow out your knees and end your career early, so that you'll always have an excuse as to why you couldn't win the big ones.

It's just too funny -- a couple years ago it was "spin, spin, spin". Before that it was "ride fixies in the winter". These fads will come and go since coaching has taken on a mass-marketing approach. They've gotta come up with new stuff to move the goods.
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Re: Day 2 in Xantusia [Julian] [ In reply to ]
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Julian,

big gear riding is as much the invention of charmichael et al. as the slam position is due to JC.

the owner of my ex-LBS in France did the Tour in 1973 and they were already doing big gear training.
If you increase the duration of intervals and the intensity/gearing progressively, you will not get knee problems.
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