Greenville Cycling Center Blog

We had some great finishes and some great efforts by GCC athletes at the Masters Nats in Louisville, KY.  

GCC Athlete Sharon Brown (shown here with a great mud tan) took second place in her group at the Off Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell!  This was an epic 63 mile off-road course with over 11,000 feet of climbing.

An excerpt from Sharon’s race report says it all.

“The sky opens up on the gravel road. I can’t see squat ~ either I have on fogged glasses or I have rain hitting me in the eye (not to mention possible gravel coming up).  It rains for about thirty minutes. By the time I get to Kitsuma, the trail is thick mud and wet roots. I half push, half ride the mile to the top. I start trying to ride down but the trail is in terrible shape and I am sliding everywhere. I end up mostly walking miles downhill. There is one really steep section where there is a large tree down. I get off my bike, step up on the tree to haul my bike over and the next thing I know I am on my hip with my hands and feet in the air on the other side. ow. It takes me an hour to go down what I could have rode in twenty minutes. Finally, the pavement comes into sight!!”

And that was after something like 7 hours of riding in 100-degree weather.  Great job, Sharon!!!

I wanted to share a great power-based workout I did yesterday (you can click the picture to enlarge it).  I love this workout because it targets three specific areas that are key to being a good all-around cyclist.  Those are functional threshold, sweet spot, and aerobic threshold.

Most of us these days know what functional threshold, also known as FTP, is (or at least, have heard the term used).  Technically its the hardest pace/power you can maintain for 1 hour.  Keeping your FTP as high as possible helps you climb better, stay in breaks longer, and feel more rested after a bike split.  No matter what kind of rider you are a good threshold power is your friend.

The third term (we’ll talk about sweet spot in a second) is your aerobic threshold.  This threshold is much lower than FTP at around 75% of your FTP or high zone 2/low zone 3 if you train with heart rate.  This is your “all day” pace.  Its the pace you hope to ride on a century or during a long-course triathlon bike leg.  Much of your training time in the winter and early season is spent here to build your base fitness.  However, during the season this is often forgotten and our base slides due to our focus on group rides or racing.

The last effort is the “sweet spot”.  This is a newer term that refers to the area between aerobic threshold (AeT) and functional threshold (FTP).  Its generally around 90% of FTP or high zone 3 low zone 4 if you use heart rate.  You might also refer to it as a “hard tempo”.  Its the pace of a fast group ride when you’re just a little over your head (and we all know what that feels like!).  The sweet spot is where you get the most bang for your buck.  Its not nearly as hard as a 100% effort and therefore doesn’t require as much recovery.  However, its harder than “just riding around” and so has a definite effect on your overall fitness.

The workout pictured above targets all three of these areas.  The dashed line is my current FTP.  The first 3 intervals target your FTP, which I rode for 10 minutes at about 100-105% of my current FTP with 5 minute rests.  The second interval was in the “sweet spot” for 20 minutes.  Every couple minutes I’d attack for 10 seconds to keep the pressure on.  The last interval was 30 minutes at aerobic threshold.  In this portion I just rode steadily at around 75% of my FTP trying to keep a good steady cadence.  I also spent much of this time in the drops as a way to build strength and efficiency in that position.

This was an all around great workout for this time of year.  Many times we get focused on doing shorter intervals or group rides and forget to work on our base fitness.  Adding a workout like this into your regimen every couple weeks is a great way to get a mid-summer boost in your overall fitness.

-coach david c.

Tom Lebrun had a great weekend at the French Broad Cycling Classic in Asheville, NC this weekend. He clawed his way to 11th on the mountain top finish after getting caught behind a wreck and then went on to get 5th in the crit on Sunday.  Considering these were only his 3rd and 4th races ever I think he has a great future!

Way to go Tom!

-coach dave c.

Dennis Moore recently flew to Denver, CO to ride in the MS150.  He rode strong for 150 hilly (mountainy?) miles in and around Denver over 2 days.  Way to go Dennis!

Mark Henninger is continuing his string of podiums this season with his first place in the Rock-n-Race Duathlon held at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC.  Mark and a team mate each took a leg of the bike-run event and tore it up!  Congrats Mark.

Coach David Curran had a great result this weekend taking 1st place in The Piedmont Triad Omnium Crit Friday night and 5th in the TT Saturday morning.  This was enough to secure a 5th place in the Omnium.  Go Dav…er…me!

It seems like the season is just getting started again for the mountain bike crew with upcomming events like the Off-Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell, Fools Gold 100.  Not to mention athletes training for the Bridge to Bridge Challenge and other late season events.

- Coach David

GCC Athlete Scott Ogle has been tearing up the local racing scene as of late.  Scott had a WIN at this past Wednesday night’s Ring Of Fire(Asheville, NC) and a second at the May 27th BMW St. Francis Sports Medicine Cat. 4-5 Circuit Race.  If you see Scott, give him a congrats & grab some of that mojo from him!

Coach Jim

Check out this shot of Tom Boonen and Greenville, SC sprinter-extrordinaire – Ives Van Heule!  I’d actually like to see these guys head-to-head just once…  I bet Ives would fair better than most of us!  Anybody notice Ives t-shirt logo by the way?

Wonderful comments from another satisfied BioFit athlete!

“During the short time I’ve been riding, I’ve had several people recommend I get properly fitted on my bike.  I was having knee, hip, lower back, and even foot issues after long rides and even after short climbing rides.  Reaching my shifters and brakes while in the drops caused me to rotate my elbows outward.  I finally went to Jim Cunningham and Tim Crunk for a BioFit where all of these issues were addressed through a physical assessment and then a proper fitting on my bike.  It was evident how much this was needed as Jim adjusted every part on my bike leaving nothing as it was before.  This professional fit has correlated into more power and comfort on the bike with no pain of the previously affected areas.  My breathing is noticeably less labored now that my diaphragm isn’t compacted with my seat positioned correctly.  My only regret is that I didn’t have the BioFit sooner.”

Donna Navarro

…for more on BioFit, visit http://www.greenvillecyclingcenter.com/bikefit.html#biofit