Power Tap Data and Group Rides

Friday was a pretty decent day here in AA and I hit the road with a bunch of AAVC/Morgan & York riders. Wow was it ever nice to be out on the road. My workout called for three hours of easy base training. I tried to stay off the front and chill but events worked against me. Here's the data:

Duration: 2:39:28
Work: 1608 kJ
TSS: 237.9 (intensity factor 0.949)
Norm Power: 218 watts
VI: 1.29
Distance: 53.037 mi

Min Max Avg
Power: 0 989 169 watts
Heart rate: 85 252 156 bpm
Cadence: 25 114 83 rpm
Speed: 0 32.5 20.1 mph
Pace 1:51 0:00 2:59 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 413 59 lb-in

I found some revealing things in the data. Firstly, I work harder in a group with less perceived exertion. I know there was some hammer-time going on but I didn't think I was working that much harder. Take a look at the first 9 miles of the ride:

Duration: 20:14.16

Norm Power: 258 watts

Distance: 8.017 miles

What happened here is Andy Weir and I got separated from the group and because of a problem with Andy's bike. Long story short, we had to hammer all the way to Dexter to catch back on. I think Andy had already warmed up but I hadn't. Andy pulled the majority of the way and we caught the group on Island Lake Rd and Dexter-Pinkney Rd. This helped drive the numbers up for the whole ride. Even though it wasn't in my plan, it was all great fun.

I was going to do some hill repeats but ran out of time and it seemed like I was always going up a hill anyway.

The next day, my team, South Lyon Cycle, had its kick off meeting. It was like Christmas in March as we all got our team kits. Joe and John run a very organized program. That's nice for someone like me who is still new to the sport and has never been on a formal team. After the meeting we hit the road for a little training together. We started at the South Lyon Hotel and rode out to Kensington Metro Park. We rode there for several miles before the rest of the group headed back to South Lyon. I stayed to finish up my assigned volume. My task for the day was 4 hours of zone 2 training which was a joke after the team hammer fest. I was climbing a hill next to Tony Wieczorek and he was just killing me! I was putting out a steady 550 watts and he just kept increasing tempo. Wow, is he ever gonna be strong this year! The group left and I rode for another hour and twenty minutes before heading back. I did get a couple of easy hours in earlier in the day working out with the AAVC juniors so I brought the ride in before four hours. Here's the data:

Duration: 3:25:43
Work: 2005 kJ
TSS: 292.7 (intensity factor 0.927)
Norm Power: 213
VI: 1.3
Distance: 66.197 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 978 164 watts
Heart rate: 12 234 153 bpm
Cadence: 28 118 85 rpm
Speed: 0 40.1 19.4 mph

I rode a bit easier through Kensington once I was on my own although those hills force you to kick it up a notch. It seemed like the whole day was spent on the bike and my wife agreed!