The 11x23

Yesterday's interval session marked the penultimate build workout for the V02max development program. The last few workouts for any interval over 1 minute have been done indoors on the trainer simply because I couldn't make it out west quick enough to do them in the daylight (pre daylight savings of course). Down in the tech center, the longest hill I've found (uninterrupted by traffic lights/etc) is just about good enough for 1 minute intervals. That's it. Everything else has to be done either out west or on the trainer. Logistically it's a pain to try to head to Golden immediately after work, becuase I inevitable run into traffic on I-25 and then, the 6th Ave/Federal merge. If I got out when I use to...like 4ish, it'd be no problem; heck I could workout in Golden regardless of daylight savings time. For now though, it's just not possible.

Anywho, I picked the hill out at the Chatfield reservoir, on the dog park side, as my practice ground. From previous files, I've made it up this hill (at group ride pace) in about 2:45-3minutes well above the zone I needed to be in for htis session, so, it'd workout perfect. The hill is weird though...it's steeper at the bottom, then mellows out...almost flattish in the middle, then kicks up gradually at the end with an eventual grade like the very bottom. All in all only about a .5 mile hill, but still a good one nonetheless. all of my intervals had the same pattern on the power charts...high at the bottom, low in the middle, and, a gradual increase to the early part of the interval level...almost like the gradient of the hill to a T. This made the intervals even more challenging because you kind of lose your momentum in the middle there...you've got a good rhythm on the pedals going, the hill is a steady grade, then, boom...it flattens out. At that point you need to make the decision of which gear to pick...to you stay in the rear cog and go to the big ring? or, stay in the 39 and shift up in the rear? Either way, it breaks the smooth consistent cadence and requires you to adjust accordingly. This is kind of an achillies heel for me. I need a constant cadence otherwise my brain starts to mess with me. Any concentrated extended effort...i.e. a TT or interval of x length, I like to keep my cadence around 85-90 because it feels like a good rhythm to me. I unfortunately forgot I switched cassettes on the Protons to an 11x23, vs the typical 12x25. The tooth counts are almost identical, save swapping the 11 for a 25 & vice versa...but it just feels different.

11x23 : 11,12,13,14,15,16,17,19,21,23
12x25 : 12,13,14,15,16,17,19,21,23,25

Something about the position of the gears that I'm used to...dunno. I guess just riding on the 25 all year for everything gets me used to the idea that the 5th position is the 16, not the 15. Who knows. Either way, the 11x23 is ideal for flat events. It's amazing how much more the 11 gives you on the flats vs the 12. In contrast, the 25 gives better spin uphill. There's 2 more teeth for ya to get around quicker. I'm not a climber by any means, and I like more teeth on the rear wheel to allow a faster spin. Tonight's series of 400W+ intervals will mark the end of the build, and a transition into the final prep phase for the upcoming races. Koppenburg is up first on 3/31. This race is low priority for me as far as results go, but I want to do it anyway because it's fun, and, I usually get my ass kicked. That's good because it gets me pissed off and ready for everything else!