What are your goals for 2024?

[Butcher]

My goal was not to buy a new bike. I failed.

[MichaelK]

Goal is sub 4:30 4k individual pursuit, have a race this weekend hoping to go sub 4:35. Did 4:41 a few months ago and have made some massive changes to my fit, gearing, and pacing so I think it's achievable

Did you manage sub 4:35?

Aside: I keep lusting after your Alchemy but the reach is 10mm too much

My goals for the next 6 months are to rewind the clock 8 years and lose 10kgs. CTCT in March 2025.

[CustomMetal]

Get back to 4.5w/kg, do a 250 mile solo day, do the long dragon ride, do a triple ascent of ventoux, do a 20:... something on my local club 10 (not a fast course)

Thanks to concussion I didn't manage 4.5 w/kg but I did a 300 mile solo day, the long dragon and the Ventoux triple. However didn't manage a single TT...

[Zitter]

Goal is sub 4:30 4k individual pursuit, have a race this weekend hoping to go sub 4:35. Did 4:41 a few months ago and have made some massive changes to my fit, gearing, and pacing so I think it's achievable

Did you manage sub 4:35?

Aside: I keep lusting after your Alchemy but the reach is 10mm too much

My goals for the next 6 months are to rewind the clock 8 years and lose 10kgs. CTCT in March 2025.

Ah forgot to check back in, but I only managed 4:40 this time. I think it was due to fatigue from the day before and not enough warm up to get into my race pace. My data showed I didn't get past threshold heart rate until ~3k in and my flying power was relatively low compared to my efforts in training.

I have another one next month with the same goal but will pace it differently. Hopefully will get to my flying power ~430-440w up from ~410w

Some additional excuses, I recently went down to 155mm cranks and moved to a more forward saddle position so I think I'm still adapting to the changes. I'm happy with how my position looked though, just need to keep practicing my head position.

And buy the Alchemy, just get a shorter stem (I need more track stuff lol)

[JoninSweden]

It's a little too late in the year to have goals for the year, but a few highlights have been:

* Likely to end up on about 16000-16500km for the year. No Zwifting. All ourdoors and through the Swedish winter.

* Fastest 95kg plus (I'm 101kg) rider up all three of Norway's highest and toughest climbs. Two were done on the same day. I was so close to having the highest power output on all three too, but on Juvasshytta (the final climb, and the second of the two I did on one day), I was 3w off.

* Fastest 95kg plus climber up the famous Lysebotn, averaging 403w

* 5 minute power up to 504w, 8 minute power up to 449w. FTP somewhere around 410-415w, though not on the flat. I just can't get the same power out on the flat.

* started to develop my sustained power in preparation for more racing next year, so 300w plus for 3hrs plus is routine now. Need to get that to 5hrs plus.


For next year, I really need to work on my sprinting power. My peak power record is only 1396w and my 5, 10, 30, 60 and 120 second efforts lag behind my longer efforts.

I'm incorporating Concept 2 rowing over winter to maintain and build VO2 max capacity (Garmin has had it as high as 66 when I've been Norwegian mountain climbing, but it's usually 60-62 at home).

It'd be nice to strip the final couple of kilos of flub off and replace it with muscle. Bodyweight 101kg. Can't really ever see myself under 100kg at 203cm.

I would like to get my FTP up to 440w next year. I'm only 2.5 years back on the bike after 15 years off, so I feel this is doable. UCI Gravel Worlds qualification would be nice, and I feel hinges somewhat on me learning how to corner better.

[cazdrvr]

"I'm incorporating Concept 2 rowing over winter to maintain and build VO2 max capacity (Garmin has had it as high as 66 when I've been Norwegian mountain climbing, but it's usually 60-62 at home)."

Be interested to hear what kind of work you do on the C2 to maintain and build.

Thanks!

[JoninSweden]

"I'm incorporating Concept 2 rowing over winter to maintain and build VO2 max capacity (Garmin has had it as high as 66 when I've been Norwegian mountain climbing, but it's usually 60-62 at home)."

Be interested to hear what kind of work you do on the C2 to maintain and build.

Thanks!

VO2 max work can be a bit tricky here outdoors at times in winter due to snow on the road. I typically train VO2 max on hill repeats, but I tend to stick to fairly flat routes when it's really snowy. I obviously ride with studs, but they have their limits.

I'll most likely stick to 3-6 minutes on, 3-4 minutes off, repeated for a total of an hour. The rower has all the wattage figures as well as lots of other metrics.

If I can shake this forearm strain, I will continue with my plan to have a pop at the indoor rowing half marathon record for my age category in April. The category is 40-49 and I'm 40. With my height and weight, I'm far better suited to rowing than cycling, but it's pretty tedious. It's just a very effective cardio tool.

Where it's really useful is that you can properly train your CV system even when your legs are sore. And it hits all major muscle groups except for pecs and front delts.

I'll see where I'm at come spring and report back.

[cazdrvr]

Thanks for the response! Agree it can get a little tedious, prefer to e out on the roads and trails the n possible. For your 3-6 minute intervals, what sort of effort do you target? Target of a % of HR max or other metrics?

[liam7020]

After 40+ years of road racing, cx and time trialling, I start track racing in 2023 and managed to get two silver medals at the Irish Masters track champs in my age category (M60) in the sprint and 500mTT.

The aim for this year was to go one step higher on the podium but the early part of my season was badly derailled by injury and illness but did manage to get a very focused period of track specific training through June to August. The Masters track champs were held a bit later this year which was a bit of a saving grace for me. Anyhow I was able to take gold in both the sprint and 500mTT, so double Irish champion. Job done!

[JoninSweden]

Thanks for the response! Agree it can get a little tedious, prefer to e out on the roads and trails the n possible. For your 3-6 minute intervals, what sort of effort do you target? Target of a % of HR max or other metrics?

Oh absolutely outdoors trumps indoor, but we had 10 weeks continuous snow cover here last winter, and it can complicate training a little. Given that I usually VO2 max train on hils, the descending side of things isn't fun, even on studs.

In terms of structure of training, it would just be on HR max. I do have a wattage readout on the rower, but there isn't a direct correlation between cycling FTP and rowing FTP. Similarly, I believe that HR tracks higher on a rower than on a bike due to the full body nature of the exercise. When I last rowed (3.5yrs ago), I did a half marathon where the final 40 minutes were at 90% (or above) of my HR max. This would be completely impossible on the bike.

So in that regard, from a CV training POV, I think that rowing is possibly better for training VO2 max than cycling. It's worth noting that rowing really hard is as much a mental exercise as a physical one as the urge to put the handle down on maximal efforts is incredibly strong. It's very, very unpleasant.

[Zitter]

After 40+ years of road racing, cx and time trialling, I start track racing in 2023 and managed to get two silver medals at the Irish Masters track champs in my age category (M60) in the sprint and 500mTT.

The aim for this year was to go one step higher on the podium but the early part of my season was badly derailled by injury and illness but did manage to get a very focused period of track specific training through June to August. The Masters track champs were held a bit later this year which was a bit of a saving grace for me. Anyhow I was able to take gold in both the sprint and 500mTT, so double Irish champion. Job done!

That's awesome! Any ambition for masters worlds? I ride with a few 55/60+ guys who have masters world champ titles and they're still going really strong. Some went out to Roubaix recently