Port Talbot Wh 2-up '25'

As is now usual, Team Grumpy prepared intensively for the 48h prior to this event: a preparation which entails consumption of takeaway curry and Belgian beer, while sitting on a sofa watching TV.  Team Grumpy dispensed with rule #2, by tinkering with 'Grumpy' Art's chainring bolts the day before the race.  On the morning of the event both riders woke feeling surprisingly chipper considering the quantity of preparation, but were were somewhat disappointed to see thick fog blanketing southern Wales.  Fortunately the weather lifted, leaving clear sunny conditions with a light but rising wind by the time the team convoy reached the race HQ at Resolven.

PTW 2-up '25' - preview part 2

Well, in the run up to the first 2-up of the year Team Grumpy members have suffered illness ('Grumpy' Art) and injury (Grumpy Bob).  So, not ideal preparation.  The arrival of the start sheet for the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25' brings with it a field of 51 teams, which is not at all bad for an early season 2-up.  And some of those teams are pretty swift.

In the face of such competition, Team Grumpy plans as usual to utilise the usual preparation: takeaway curries and conspicuous consumption of official energy drink (Pop Belge) during the 48 hours prior to the event.  Team Grumpy feels that this, coupled with lengthy stints of sofa-sitting, will be more than adequate last-minute preparation for the race.

Maybe.

At least Team Grumpy has taken the precaution of new skinsuits. Of course, any benefits that may accrue from that purchase might depend wholly on whether Grumpy Bob can actually squeeze his winter bulk into the skinsuit.  Perhaps this represents an underhand strategy to upset and distract the opposition.

PTW 2-up '25' - preview

Just two weeks to go before Team Grumpy's first outing for the 2012 season.  Grumpy Bob and the Team Manager will be visiting South Wales to regroup with 'Grumpy' Art Vanderlay and ride the now traditional season opener, the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25'.

This year's event seems to be a week later than usual, though whether that will bring balmier conditions remains to be seen.  In previous events, the riders have contended with snow, hail, rain and cold.  But not all together.  The course is about 50% dual carriageway, with the rest being undulating single carriageway: hopefully the road surface will have been attended to since the 2011 event, when there were potholes galore. And roadwork traffic lights.

Team Grumpy have got a decent track record in this event, but recent years have seen a dip in form due to defects in training due to pressure of work and/or illness.  It remains to be seen how well Team Grumpy has survived the winter training regime... It is worth noting that riding the PTW event with a cold was the source of Team Grumpy rule #5: "Never train or race with a bad cough - it will destroy your entire season".

Grumpy Bob is pretty optimistic about the likely TG form.  However, he is aware that there are two weeks to go in which some mishap might arise.  Probably the toughest aspect will be restraining 'Grumpy' Art's tendency to conduct pre-event equipment modification.  In the past, we have seen his cassette come to pieces (at the bottom of Neath Bank in the days when the PTW 2-up used the 'cheaty course'), or indexing failure (just about every 2-up), or alarming bottom bracket clanking (e.g. the 2011 Duo), loosening chainset (e.g. the 2010 Duo).

Have I been training too hard?

For the last two seasons I have been using a training system based on power. This has tended to be characterised by short but very intense sessions, due to my lack of available time. Well, the racing results have been rather poor and whilst the cause of this is unclear I decided to turn back the clock and return to a training system that appeared to deliver better results. This system was based on Heart Rate monitoring.

This winter I have, therefore, gone back to using HR to guide my training sessions. But I have kept the power measurement too and I have noticed that the sessions I am doing - whilst hitting the right HR levels - are in fact being done at relatively lower power levels. This has led me to re-evaluate what I have been doing for the previous two seasons and, therefore, yesterday I completed a FTP test based on Hunter & Coggan's method. This produced a FTP level that was significantly lower than I expected, leading me to wonder if have spent two years flogging myself near to death and never reaching my race potential.

Is there a lesson here? Probably, yes, and that perhaps measuring BOTH power and HR and understanding how they relate to each other is a far more sensible way to organise one's training.

NYD '10': Grumpy Bob takes heed of rules 1 and 5, takes the win.

Grumpy Bob's racing year almost invariably begins with a ride in the North Bucks Road Club's New Year's Day '10'. Equally invariably, he rides in a severely overweight condition.  This year, his form was further compromised by a severe cold which kept him off his bike for the second half of December. Grumpy Bob was very careful to take heed of two of Team Grumpy's rules:

In particular Rule #1

Remember to make your excuses before the race, not after. Otherwise it will just sound pathetic. 

This specifically noting the first ride with the Pro Disc wheel and his recent illness) and Rule #5

Never train or race with a bad cough – it will destroy your entire season.

Had Grumpy Bob still had that racking cough, he would certainly not have raced (under strict instructions from the Team Manager).

In the end, a combination of apparent recovery and warm conditions encouraged him to ride.  In windy conditions, most (if not all) of the field found it heavy going, particularly those who had been ill or injured ( a surprising proportion).

Grumpy Bob finished in 24:37, to take the overall victory, which wasn't too bad considering the circumstances.  In fact the top three finishers were all within 9 second.

Next race will probably be the annual Team Grumpy cobweb duster 2-up ride in the Port Talbot Wheelers '25' in early March.

All else appears to have failed...

It would seem that Team Grumpy is realising that their efforts to improve performance are being thwarted.  During the winter off-season, the team has moved swiftly through Team Grumpy Rules 1 to 3, landing squarely at

4. And if rule #3 fails, new skinsuits are probably a good option.

Armed with astonishingly slinky new Castelli skinsuits, Team Grumpy is assured of phenomenal success in the 2012 season.

Maybe.

Better not tell the Team Manager...

Grumpy Bob's winter training programme is going completely according to schedule.  This is good, but Grumpy Bob isn't too complacent: everything was looking good last year, until he ricked his back in an unnecessary tandem parking incident in early February.  That set the scene for a season beset by injury and illness.
In contrast, reports making it back to Team Grumpy HQ indicate that not only is 'Grumpy' Art Vanderlay taking it a bit easy (having been a bit ill recently), but he's taken to hiding away in his shed with a bunch of chums down the village and drinking copious quantities of official energy drink.  Nevertheless, 'Grumpy' Art claims to be making great strides in form, relating by email that

I went out for a spin today - hardly expecting much - and demolished my best ever time on my 'test' hill. This is the one that I just managed to get under 5 mins on before heading out to the Duo. Anyway, today I did my first ever sub 4 min. ride on it (3m 57s).

This claim is regarded with some suspicion back at Team Grumpy HQ, where it has been suggested that 'Grumpy' Art was abducted briefly by aliens while out on his bike.  Meanwhile, the Team Grumpy riders are keeping schtum about 'Grumpy' Art's energy drink consumption, lest the Team Manager find out.