Race Report: Yolandi du Toit - La Grande Boucle Feminine Internationale

Yolandi started training with me about 2 months before the tour. At the time she was still recovering from injuring her knee in the Epic. With her racing commitments (both on-road and off-road) we were not able to go through a periodised training program to build up to this tour.
Looking at the power data from the tour, she has done really well. We do not have power data for the first two stages, which had plenty of cobble sections and we did not want to risk the powertap wheels. Although Stage 3 was tempo intensity for her, the first two stages took a lot out of her and she was physically very tired at the end of the stage.
It rained during Stage 4, which reduced the intensity and was more endurance pace. Stage 5 was an Individual Time Trial, and Yolandi had a good ride. After 3 days of hard racing she still managed 65 minutes at 5 watts above her estimated functional threshold power. Unfortunately she punctured a few kilometres before the finish and rode the end of the TT on a flat front tyre.
Although she felt good in the TT, she paid for it in Stage 6, having a tough day. The main problem seems to be muscle glycogen depletion i.e. she did not manage to get enough carbohydrates back into her system after the timetrial. She was able to ride at tempo intensity, but not any higher – which is indicative of depleted muscle glycogen.
As is often the case, Yolandi had a good day after effectively ‘bonking’ the day before. In the last stage Yolandi got into the break and rode positively, finishing the stage in 18th place.
Given the disrupted preparation, this was a really good performance and with another 2 tours next month, this will provide her with a solid base.

Tough First 2 Days at GBFI for Yolandi

The opening 2 days of the Grande Boucle Feminine Internationale have been very tough.

Stage 1 was over a lot of the difficult cobble sections in Flanders. Yolandi's bike had been set up incorrectly and her saddle was too high, hopefully no damage but she did say that her knees and hamstrings were very sore. She did manage to win the jersey for "Most Elegant Rider" - don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing!

Stage 2 she broke her seatpost and had to ride one of the spare bikes for part of the stage, until the team got her bike sorted out.

I'm not sure if she will get a chance to update her blog: http://yolandidutoit.blogspot.com/

Catch up with the action at: http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2008/jun08/lgbf08/default

Race Report: Midvaal Vets Tour Stage 4

Well, the GC was looking very interesting this morning! I was lying in 5th place, less than 2 seconds off 3rd place!

The final stage was a kermesse, 4 laps of 5km each. I always thought a kermesse was much shorter laps but anyway!

The first and second laps had hotspots at the start/finish line, which was at the top of a nice incline. I decided I would try to get a good warmup and was feeling very motivated to try jump into 3rd place. I felt quite good riding on the rollers and my hopes were high.

My plan was to try to get away early and win one of the primes, then try to protect my position on GC. The pace started out really hard and any thoughts of getting away were quickly dashed. The bunch was strung out in one long line.

Coming up to the first prime, I felt as if I had no gas in the tank. I could not match the accelerations and watched in dismay as the front guys left me for dead. Stefano Madies (who was only a couple seconds behind me) took the prime. The group came together again as the pace slowed after the prime, but for me the plan had fallen apart. All that was left for me was to stay in the top 6 and be in the prize money.

Staying in the top 6 also proved to be impossible, but that was due to my own team mate moving up the GC by winning the second prime and coming second in the race - so no complaints there! Johan Labuschagne (CycleLab) rode away from the bunch and managed to stay away, taking a well deserved win! Jock Green took second place.

In 30 minutes the race was over and I must say, I was very disappointed in my own performance. Having said that though, the field at the tour was very strong this year, and I ended up just over 1 minute behind the winner, with a chance of a podium finish on the last day. I'm sure I would have taken that result at the start of the tour.

Power numbers for the 30 minutes: 355w normalised power. I don't think I could have gone any harder than that! Clearly I still have work to do!

The Tour this year was really well attended, and the field was really strong. Mr. Price KZN took a deserved victory and they rode as a team. Congrats to Werner Moolman for his victory, it was well earned and deserved. Craig Harvey pushed him all the way, and also took a well deserved second place. Jock Green took the points and polka dot jerseys so not a bad performance from him either.

From Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat perspective, obviously we would have liked to win the tour, but Craig Harvey took second, Jock Green took fourth (as well as the points and kom jerseys). We won 2 stages as well, so pretty successful tour for us.

Thanks to our sponsors: Absolute Systems, Bulk Pack Meat, Trek/Bontrager, Garmin, and our new sponsor Biogen.

Race Report: Midvaal Vets Tour Stage 3

Today the stage was 120km, out to Heidelberg, then down towards the Vaal Dam, and back to Daleside.



With Werner Moolman (Mr. Price KZN) still in yellow, the onus was on Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat and Cyclelab to try to do something about it. Our plan was to attack from very early, and hope that I could get into a good move with some strong riders. Out feeling was that with Craig being marked closely, and Marco & Jock not being allowed to get away either, I may have a chance of getting a good move going before Mr. Price decided that it would be dangerous.



Once again the route profile was pretty flat, with the one small climb coming just before Heidelberg. I went in a move right from the gun with Moolman Welgemoed and one of the Cyclelab Riders and we opened up a nice little gap. But with the peloton being fresh it did not last very long.



The attacks were coming regularly and the pressure was on. Then Marco van Biljoen punctured which was bad news for us. A good move went with Johan Labuschagne and Moolman Welgemoed and opened up a big gap. Then on the climb into Heidelberg, Jock and Craig put in a big attack and shattered the bunch. A lot of riders were in trouble and we had managed to isolate Werner.



With Johan and Moolman down the road, it looked like Jock and Craig would get across to them and the move would be very dangerous. The bunch was completely strung out, but a few big trucks came past and pulled the whole bunch back together. Some seriously dangerous riding was taking place, and I'll be surprised if some riders aren't disqualified.



As the bunch came back together I jumped hard and went across to Johan and Moolman. Later Jock came across to the break but the dynamics of the break got disrupted and the bunch soon caught us again.



Heading out towards the dam, another hill allowed a break to get away. The break contained strong riders, David Labuschagne, Jock Green, Donovan Jackson, Dave Garrett, Moolman Welgemoed to name a few. The break became threatening, so Mr. Price called their riders back and the chase was on. Riders began dropping out including David Labuschagne, so the pace must have been hot.



The break lasted about 50km, and the Mr. Price guys had to work like trojans to bring it back. As the break was coming back, the counter-attacks started and things got hot again. There are plenty of long drags and the pace was really stringing the bunch out. All the while I was trying to keep an eye on the riders near me on the GC, so i had to make sure I covered moves by Stefano Madies, James Lauter, and Glenn Campbell.



Plenty of attacks but none of them had the right mix, until Craig and Werner got away together. Clearly Mr. Price would not chase this, and we would not either. This left Cyclelab attacking continuously. I didn't want to let any of their riders go because it would cost me in the GC. So I had my hands full trying to cover every move that went.

Things stayed together, with 3 riders getting away just before the finish line.

Unfortunately, even though Craig won the stage, his time bonuses did not make up the gap with Werner so tomorrow we need to make some moves if we are going to win this tour. The Kermesse is 4 laps of 5km, so not much time to do anything.

Overall I averaged 305w Normalised Power for 3h05 at an average speed of 41.1km/h. The first hour was hard, I averaged 340w for the hour so I am very pleased that I still had reasonable legs towards the end of the stage.

Race Report: Midvaal Vets Tour Stage 2

Today was Stage 2 of the Vets Tour. 101km in length and was 3.5 laps of a circuit around Daleside. No major climbs, just a few drags, so unless the wind blows the bunch is going to stay together.

So far the Tour has been really well run, and really well attended. A lot of the top Vets in the country are here, with Mr. Price even importing a few riders (Dave Garrett and Donovan van Gelder - although Donovan I'm sure is just part of the extended family from KZN, one of the cuzzie's as they would probably say down there).

With Werner Moolman (Mr. Price KZN) in yellow, and being supported by a very solid team, it is up to the rest of us to make the racing - Cyclelab are pretty strong, and Club 100 also have some strong riders.

Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat are in a strong position though, we have 3 riders in the top 6, so this does give us options. I was about 0.4seconds behind Glenn Campbell, and with the time bonuses at the various hotspots and finish, I had my own race to think about as well.

Driving out to the start, the deep south was looking very cold! Fortunately with a 9:00am start, it had warmed up a bit. The team plan was to see if any of us could get into a good move and get ourselves into yellow, after that we would think about what the tactics need to be for the rest of the tour.

Johan and David Labuschagne went out very aggressively. None of the moves were sticking though and we all had our turn at trying to get away. Craig was having no joy with Werner watching his every move! The pace was pretty high, averaging over 40km/h but with no real climbs it was too easy to stay in the bunch. Mr. Price kept things together well, with Dave Garret, Justin Short, and Donovan van Gelder doing plenty work.

The race came down to a bunch sprint with Jock taking the win, James Lauter (spelling?) second and Dave Garret third. Jock also took the sprint prime and KOM prime, so he moves into the Green Jersey.

No major changes to the GC, but I don't have all the results at the moment.

I was feeling okay, not great though. Not having raced for a long time is showing. The power numbers were reasonable. 307w NP for the race (2h30) is hardish, but not too bad - felt harder but then being on antibiotics is not really helping.

Team gets new Garmin 705's

Wow, we have just received our new Garmin 705s. And even better news, Saris have announced that they will be providing Garmin Compatible Powertap hubs!! Double Cool!!

Race Report: Midvaal Vets Tour Prologue

Well, I woke up this morning with a severe sore throat. Last night I could feel I was not right, I had a fever and headache and the throat was scratchy.

I have been looking forward to this race for a long time. Having missed out on quite a few races lately I was keen to get back into racing. So, sore throat was not an option.

Went to the doc first thing. He checked it out and diagnosed a sinusitis. Prescribed some antibiotics.

The Prologue was 8km long, starting at the entrace of the Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve and heading back towards Daleside. I was seeded 11th so my start time was 16:30.

This was the first time I was going to ride a Trek TTX so I was really looking forward to it. I had seen Andrew Mclean after his ride and he said the judges had told him he had ridden 8:11 for an 8km TT!! Holy Crap!! That is just under 60km/h.

The team rode out to the start together. The finish of the TT was close to the Boswell Wilkie Circus, so it was a nice warmup ride to the start. The Trek felt really good, best I have ever felt on a TT bike.

The ride went better than expected. I got to the start and started my powertap interval timer, then made the mistake of riding a slow loop waiting for my start. So, the CPU timer had started! Anyway, my target wattage for the ride was 370w. I felt this was a good target because I had averaged 368w for 20 minutes a few weeks back when I was doing my 20min threshold test. In the past I have not been able to match my road bike numbers on the TT bike, so I thought that if I could get 370 I'd be very happy.

I started out well. keeping the powermeter between 360 and 380. But by the halfway point I was really starting to feel it!! I found it very hard to keep the power levels up and started fading a bit. When I went over the line I was really hurting. I switched the CPU to time and say 10:14 - geesh, 2 minutes slower than Andrew over 8km, as Craig said, maybe we should take up golf!!

Anyway, at prize giving the results were given out and Andrew had done 9:11, not 8:11. The line judge must have made a small mistake. So, not as bad as I first thought, but I still thought I was about 1 minute slower, and I couldn't even blame the wind!

Times were pretty quick, Werner Moolman did 9:05 and Craig Harvey somewhere around 9:20.

Later when I got home and checked my powermeter data, I realised that my timer had started early and my time was 9:38 - okay, not so bad then!! Average speed was just a fraction over 50km/h.

Average power for the ride was disappointing - 344w. I really need to spend more time on a TT bike.

Grand Boucle Feminine International - Stage 1

Yolandi du Toit will be riding in the GBFI - the ladies version of the Tour de France for Lotto Belisol. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotto-Belisol_Ladiesteam

Here is stage 1. I will be posting the other stages as I map them out.

Yolandi du Toit - First Lady in Stonehaven on Vaal

Yolandi came in first in the 80km Stonehaven on Vaal race today.

Nice one!!

Getting to grips with RaceDay

I have been getting all my training data from the beginning of the year loaded into RaceDay. Now I will start regular testing so that the software can figure out my own personal training parameters i.e. how my body responds to training from a fitness and fatigue perspective.

RaceDay Performance Predictor (developed by Dr. Phil Skiba) is based on the same principles as WKO+ Performance Manager, except it helps you determine your own personal "decay" constants with respect to fitness and fatigue. It also will predict your performance based on your testing protocol.

What is really interesting is that it allows a short duration testing protocol - 2min TT. The idea being that the anaerobic contribution is relatively constant, and changes can be attributed to aerobic improvements.

I have decided to use a RAMP test on my computrainer (MAP test as specified by Ric Stern). The reason for this is that it removes the need to pace a TT (even a short one) properly. Basically I must ride to exhaustion.

Today I did my first test, and was quite disappointed at my result :-( My average power (AP) for the last minute of the test was 405w. I was aiming for 430w, based on a 1 hour TT I did on my computrainer a few weeks ago - in which I achieved 321w AP. My ftp should be between 72% and 77% of the last minute AP of the MAP test. In this case it is 79%. Strange, because I was quite fresh when I did the test.

Anyway, I need to test quite regularly so that the software can construct a valid model for me.