It sounds like you are adapting quickly. It took me a few weeks to work up to a 70 minute ride. After 2 months I can ride 3 hrs without tiring though my cadence is still not where I want it to be. I am doing Gordo's PC routine everyday at lunch to increase cadence. I have the PCs on my tribike and am slowly getting comfortable on the aerobars but still haven't been able to stand smoothly. Impressed that you can do that on your second ride.

Definitely way above average. Congratulations.

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

two questions:

1. Will Ken see less benefit from the powercranks since he is above average after two rides.

2. Will he be able to avoid being called for three drafting calls (despite not drafting) now that he is using powercranks.

Just some thoughts on miserable slushy day.

I think it depends upon what you measure. This is my guess. He will see similar speed gains but this represents a smaller percentage power increase. Also, 2 mph at 26 mph doesn't save as much time as 2 mph more at 18 mph (so, instead of taking 30 minutes off an IM he may only see 5-10) and it may take a little longer to achieve these gains. (although the very good seem to be willing to work harder so they seem to adapt much faster than "regular" folks).

However, he seems to think his run sucks (which I doubt, at least compared to mine). So, he may see similar improvement in the run compared to others of similar ability. If he is running 5 minute miles now he won't see a minute per mile but he will see something.

If he rides the PowerCranks in the race he might have less drafting calls as the officials will be focusing on them and not even see the other people around. However, he might get pulled over and asked about them. So, no guarantees here.

Frank

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

2. Will he be able to avoid being called for three drafting calls (despite not drafting) now that he is using powercranks.

thanks rockfish. was wondering how long it would take for some smarta## to pipe up. longer than i thought at least.

back to the slush

I never said my run sucks Frank. I dont think it is as strong as it needs to be considering my bike strength. Even with the incredible amount of drafting I do, I still get run down more than i would like. Depending on the race I normally run 6:30-6:00, if i can knock even 10 or 15 seconds off that then it was 700 bucks well spent.

Sucks is relative :-)

I just don't have much data as to what I can do with the elites. They tend to NOT attribute improvements to any one thing compared to the average guy when he sees big gains knows where it came from. I am sure you will see something. 10 seconds seems reasonable by the end of this season I would think. One thing R. Tissink told me after about 4 months was he just didn't get as tired on the run as he used to.

I look forward to your reports. I hope you see big gains but, at your level, am happy with modest gains.

Frank

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

Ken,

Yeah it was a smart ass comment, but you have to be kidding. You posted your race story, three drafting penalties and you did not draft once??? You said you were outraged and giving up tri's.

Roll the calendar forward two months the next time I see you pop up on the net it is about a pretty hard core tri equipment.

I applaud your effort to improve your results, but try not to take life too serious.

I busted my ass just just like you at IMF and did not get the results I wanted either.

Good Luck have fun!

Rockfish

AKA Greg Sheehan

Rockfish.. are you smoking something. I said I was giving up the distance for a while, not Tri's. Which was my plan anyway since we are going to have a baby soon, it had nothing to do with the bogus calls.

You know Rockfish, you can take it however you'd like. I allowed myself to get in the position to get the calls, so to that end I did Fu## up royally.

Pop up? Dude have you ever been to my website? www.michiganoutlaws.com ??? I am always on the net, I didnt just pop up.

You original post cracked me up, my freinds give me crap all the time. I was not bothered at all by your smart as# comments. It would appear you are the one that needs to take life a little less serious.



Ken Mantei

You are certainly in a different group than I. What you are saying though, is that you probably had (among other things) a more efficient (shall we call it "rounder"?) pedal stroke than many others. Your ability to ride so well so quickly is amazing to mere mortals like me.

As far as predicted results: besides the mathmatical differences in improvement of 2mph at 18mph compared to 2mph at 26mph, etc., improvement may be related to your initial ability to ride with the PC pedal stroke.

What I am trying to say is: if you are able to adapt very quickly, like you did, you may not see nearly the % gains of someone that feels the PC stroke is extremely hard at first. This would be because you were apparently already fairly efficient, compared to me.

At the LEAST, a PC pedal stroke is more efficient compared to the stroke that uses (and therefore wastes) extensor power to lift the rising pedal/foot/leg/crank. At the MOST, a well developed PC pedal stroke may actually ADD power to the chain, as someone well trained may actually be able to pull back-up-over sufficiently to do more than just nullify the wasted power the extensors used to do to get the foot past these areas. THIS is where the unknown is...can you develop this ability to a greater level because you were apparently already pedalling in a "rounder" fashion than most of us, thereby attaining gains as astounding to you as my gains were to me?

For those naysayers that are waiting to pounce on the "total energy requirement" equation, and are going to point out that hip flexors aren't as efficient as extensors...hold your horses. I don't know if hip flexors are more, less, or the same in efficiency as the extensors, but, it doesn't matter. The limiter to exercise, at least in something as short as, say, an IRONMAN distance, is NOT "total energy requirement of the organism". The limiter is local muscle fatigue caused by a lack of energy delivered/available at the local sarcomere level. Yes, cardiac output must be adequate to provide enough blood flow to deliver the nutrients and remove the wastes, but, in a trained individual, cardiac output isn't the limiting factor. Therefore, recruitment of the hip flexors is an obviously fine strategy to decrease the load on the extensors (saving glycogen by decreasing the forces at the sarcomere level) AND/OR increase power to the chain by using the hip flexors in an additive manner.

It will be interesting to follow your progress. Please keep us informed...good, bad, or indifferent. (I'll bet there will be NO bad progress reports!) Don't forget to include running results. They usually show up first.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

I was worried that my be the case. Even a small improvement will get me where I want to be, so small or large it doesnt matter.

i will keep you informed.

Ken,

No I am not smoking anything, I am obviously not on the net 1/2 as much as you, so I have not been to your site. I primarily lurk here, and less on tno. My comment about taking life less seriously was related to your comments that all 3 drafting calls were w/o merit, or bogus, to paraphrase your posts to the best of my memory. I just could not comprehend how someone could get called for three drafting penalties in a race and think all three were bogus. I was amazed when I read your post right after IMF on the three calls.

I also just read the post you made on TNO, and I am glad to see you cleared it up.

Peace,

Greg Sheehan