Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Rider release form for Tempo Cycling Series by Andrew LaCorte



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2009 USA Cycling Event Release Form.
All will need to have this form completed before they can enter the track.
Junior's must show up with the form with a Parent or Guardian's consent.
Andrew LaCorte

2009 Kissena Track Season

Alan Atwood has posted flyers for Opening Weekend and the Twlight Series, as well as the Tempo Cycling Training Series (Andrew La Corte) and the two Women's Clinics in April (Joe Brennan). Check everything out on the Kissena Website and in the new Events Calendar. Alan has linked everything for April up and will finish the rest of the months later in the week.

The Twilight Series is on Wednesdays and THURSDAYS this year. He has made a couple of changes in order to balance out the attendance between days based on the last couple of years' numbers; the women have moved to Wednesday and the Cat 5's are now on Thursdays.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Air Density

As a private pilot I had to learn the basics of aerodynamics – Bernoulli’s principle being one of them where a liquid speeds up in a constricted zone to create areas of high pressure and low pressure, this same principle is what creates aerodynamic lift on an airplane’s specially curved wing.

Another major item we have to pay attention to is Air Density. Air Density affects aircraft performance. An aircraft uses up more runway to take off or land at altitude or on hot days at sea level where the air is less dense and where there is a decrease in aerodynamic resistance.

A combination of high altitude and high temperature could spell disaster for an uninformed pilot. The combination of high attitude and high temperature produces a situation that drastically reduces the aerodynamic performance of an airplane. But on the other hand this is a good thing for cyclists since cyclists will go faster under these conditions.

Air Density is the mass per unit volume of Earth’s atmosphere. Atmospheric pressure (Barometric Pressure) is the amount of downward force exerted by the weight of the air above us and is measured in inches of mercury using a Barometer.

Air density decreases with an increase in altitude, it also decreases with increasing temperature or humidity. Warm air is less dense than cold air because there are fewer air molecules in a given volume of warm air than in the same volume of cooler air. Why am I mentioning Air Density? It is because Air Density is a factor in aerodynamic drag.

As you go up in elevation, the Air Density lessens and the resistance to movement is reduced. It therefore takes less energy to overcome drag at altitude than at sea level. However at altitude oxygen pressure becomes limited so aerobic performance will suffer unless you become acclimated. (In a carburated aircraft engine there is a mixuture control knob to adjust the fuel to air mixture to compensate for this.) On the other hand in cycling events which are short and anaerobic such as 200m match sprint, kilometer and 500m time trials, the times at elevation will be faster than at sea level due to the reduction in Air Density.

Kissena track is an outdoor bumpy track at sea level, so one cannot expect super fast times there. Expect times to be considerably slower during opening weekend in late April when the temperatures are still cool and the air more dense than during the state championships in August when the temperatures are hot and the air less dense.

One might think the times are slower on opening weekend because the racers haven’t been training, but many of the racers who will be at Kissena Track have already started racing road races starting the last week of February. So they are coming to opening weekend with a high level of fitness, but it will be the increased air density of the cool air which will result in slower times for the timed events.

To summarize - a cyclist will perform better in hot weather and high altitudes in timed events since there is less aerodynamic drag. An aircraft will not perform well in hot weather and high altitudes since there are not enough air molecules and a decrease in aerodynamic resistance to help create lift within given operating parameters.

Hope you are not thoroughly confused by my explanation, but next time you check the weather, make a note of the Barometric Pressure.

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Below is some more information from Analytical Cycling

The air resistance acting on a rider is directly related to the density of the air, the greater the density, the greater the force.

Under standard conditions, the air's density at altitude is less than at sea level. The following table shows typical values:

Elevation......... Air Density............. Units
Sea Level........ 1.226 .......................kg/m3
1500 m ...........1.056....................... kg/m3
3000 m.......... 0.905....................... kg/m3

Although the above values are typical, on any given day the air's density may be much different from values given in the above table.

Was it a bad day, or was it Air Density? As an example, Denver, Colorado, at an elevation of 1500 meters with temperature of 24°C and barometric pressure of 29.01 inches of Hg could have an air density of 0.960 kg/m3 (lower than standard pressure). At the same time Wilmington, DE, at sea level with a temperature of 12°C and a barometric pressure of 30.29 inches of Hg could have an air density of 1.253 kg/m3 (higher than standard). Due to differences in Air Density it would require 28% more power to ride the same pursuit time in Wilmington as in Denver, even though 15% is more or less the nominal difference.

Air density depends on temperature, barometric pressure and altitude and to some extent on water vapor (humidity). Air density is calculated here as a function of temperature, barometric pressure, and altitude, neglecting the effect of water vapor which is small.

Current and historical daily temperature and barometric pressure for most places in the world can be found at Weather Underground, Inc..

An explanation of the relationship between Air Density and barometric pressure can be found at the USA Today Weather Page

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Sprint Strength Training - data from Garmin 305

20 lap warm up

-Dist - 6.45 miles
-Time - 20 minutes
-Avg pace - 3.11/mile
-Avg speed - 18.8 mph
-Avg heart - 149 bpm
-Avg cadence - 80 rpm

First set of five flying 100 meter sprints in 81" gear.

No 1:
-Max speed - 31.2 mph
-Max cadence - 135 rpm

No 2:
-Max speed - 30.2 mph
-Max cadence - 131 rpm

No 3:
-Max speed - 32 mph
-Max cadence - 137 rpm

No 4:
-Max speed - 32.3 mph
-Max cadence - 138 rpm

No 5:
-Max speed - 32.3 mph
-Max cadence - 139 rpm

Second set of five flying 100 meter sprints in 86" gear.


No 1:
-Max speed - 32.8 mph
-Max cadence - 142 rpm

No 2:
-Max speed - 31.5 mph
-Max cadence - 126 rpm

No 3:
-Max speed - 32 mph
-Max cadence - 129 rpm

No 4:
-Max speed - 34.3 mph
-Max cadence - 144 rpm

No 5:
-Max speed - 32.3 mph
-Max cadence - 133 rpm

20 lap warm down.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

42 lap easy motor pacing at Kissena Track

Distance - 10.79 miles
Time - 27.39 mins
Avg pace - 2.33 min / mile
Avg speed - 23.4 mph
Max speed - 29.7 mph
Avg heart - 171 bpm
Max heart - 184 bpm
Avg cadence - 85 rpm
Max cadence - 100 rpm


1 - 16 LAPS


17 - 33 LAPS


33 - 42 LAPS


CADENCE


HEART RATE


HEART RATE % OF MAX


PACE


SPEED

CRCA Allen Lim interview

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Track preparations for opening day 2009

The 2009 season is gradually winding up - winter road races and criteriums are in full swing. I did the season opening road race in Prospect Park on Feb 28, 2009, the temp was about 32 degrees with winds of about 15 mph, brrrrrr, not my cup of tea. I thoroughly shocked my system and immediately got sick the following day and remained sick for the next six days. I will once again throw caution to the wind and do the Spring Series Road races in Prospect Park starting March 29, 2009. Hopefully the temperatures will be more conducive to racing a bicycle.

In the meantime the track is where the kinks are being worked out in preparation for opening weekend at the end of April. Today was a very productive day at the track. Andrew LaCorte fresh from the Branchbrook criterium, motorpaced us for a couple of flying Kilos and flying 300 meters. These efforts will work on the sprint endurance component for the match sprints and kilo time trial.

Joe Brennan was also there at the track doing some spray painting after racing the Branchbrook Criterium. Joe is promoting the new Kissena International Omnium this year which you can register for at BikeReg.

Today about fifteen riders showed up testing out their new equipment while getting back into the routine and working the kinks out.

These are the events you can register for as the season gets into full swing.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Second Sprint Power Test as per Joel Friel's Training Bible


So I did another Sprint Power Test according to Joel Friel's Cyclist Training Bible - you have to complete a 0.20 mile distance in about 25 to 40 seconds. My last Sprint Power Test here was not that precise as this one. This one is closer to the prescribed ranges resulting in a maximum power output of 1,177 watts and an average of 754 watts over a distance of 0.19 miles and a duration of 29 seconds. Based on this my ranking for senior men is excellent with a score of 5 -not bad for a 45 year old master. It appears all the heavy weight training and plyometrics over the winter are starting to pay off.

Below is Friel's Sprint Power Test ranking system for senior men and senior women:
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Senior Men
Ranking...... Score.......... Max................ Avg
Excellent...... 5................ 1,100+.......... 750+
Good............. 4............... 950-1,099...... 665-749
Average........ 3.............. 800-949.......... 560-664
Fair............... 2............... 650-799...........455-559
Poor.............. 1.............. <650.................>455
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Senior Women

Ranking...... Score.......... Max................ Avg
Excellent..... 5................ 1,000+............ 675+
Good............ 4................ 850-999......... 600-674
Average...... 3................. 720-849......... 500-599
Fair..............2................. 585-719.......... 410-499
Poor.............1..................<585................<410