Thrown into the Pain Cave Blind

I have been helping out a teammate, Jonathan Dugas, with a performance testing project he is completing with some students. He really knows his stuff, as can be seen here. This stuff is way over my head, but I am a good at being a guinea pig. The testing is taking part at Benedictine University out in Lisle, IL. We started back in July with two different max power tests. These are done on a Velotron bike. This is a really cool piece of machinery. If I had an extra $10,000 lying around it would be a great home trainer. The fist max test consisted of staring a ride at 150 watts. The watts increased 20 watts per minute at a constant rate. The goal of the test was to ride as long as you could. I maxed out at 408 watts, so I rode for about 13 minutes. The next max power test consisted of riding for 3 minutes at a given wattage followed by 3 minutes rest. The test started at 150 watts, and increase by 25 watts for each hard effort. I made it through the 350 watt test, and halfway through the 375 watt test. The hardest part of the tests was breathing through the mask, and not being able to breathe through my nose. It becomes very claustrophobic and the nose portion of the mask feels up with snot.

These first two tests were to ensure I made the cutoff to continue in the program. The cutoff was a max wattage of 4 watts/KG, which I easily made. Jonathan was running into some roadblock with getting the testing protocol approved through the school, but after a few months we could now continue with the testing. The next portion of the testing consists of completing four-20 KM time trials. These tests will be done over several weeks. The first is a baseline test followed by 3 more TT’s. Jonathan says there is normally a learning process from the 1st TT to the next 3 efforts. Most riders improve by one to two minutes. The toughest part about these TT’s is that I have to do them “blind” and have no information to look at. All Jonathan provided is a that he lets me know when I have completed each 2 KM segment.

For these tests they switched to a mouth piece instead of the mask. It is a little bit better, but your nose is still clamped shut, and by the end I was covered in drool. After getting the bike setup and a good warm-up, I was off. My goal, go as hard as you can go, but don’t blow up. The first 2 km seemed like it took forever, and quickly realized this was going to be long and painful. I settled in trying to keep the pedals moving at a good rate. Not knowing my speed or watts, made it really difficult from a mental standpoint. I just kept pedaling, switch to a harder gear for a bit, then back, increase the cadence, keep ticking over the pedals. 4 km’s past, and I really thought I was going to have trouble completing the TT. I had the same sensation from Sunday at JP, where my legs just felt dead, there was no snap. I kept pedaling. I told myself to hold a stead rate up until 4 km’s to go, and then hopefully kick it up a gear for a strong finish. The km’s went by slooowly, finally reaching the 4km to go mark. Put it in a harder gear and go. I finished fairly strong, really sprinting to the finish. I have no idea how long it took me to finish, or my average watts. I will be provided this info after the testing is complete. Cycling is such a mental sport, and I realize now that I do much better when I have a carrot in front of me to keep me moving; whether it be a rider in front of me or a rider behind chasing me, or a wattage reading to follow, I really need something. Now I have to complete 3 more of these TT’s. Should be fun?!?!?