My Winter Training, Part 1.

I finally go my training back on track after fighting the flu for the whole month of November and trying to learn how to ride a bike again. Christmas of course was bit of a distraction with all the gatherings, eating and drinking and enjoying our little lady's first Christmas...I'm sure mom and dad were more excited than she was, but all that wrapping paper and ribbon seemed to be the greatest thing ever. Work is trying to screw up my training between Christmas and New Year because somehow I was the only manager/supervisor left to take care of the business...funny how that works...This occurred to me on Boxing Day or Tapaninpäivä so good thing was that I didn't have time to stress about this. Two words though...communication and the other words starting with RE and ending with CT.

But anywho. We got snow so that's great, I can take my skis out. Also the temperature is somewhat mild considering it's end of December. I went out skiing on Sunday and while the trails were pretty rough, it was better than some years before. The local ski trail guys are just bit spoiled with snow in earlier winters and don't really seem to have equipment to get the trails going when there's less snow. I did ski for 2 hours and 24km which was OK for the first time especially in those conditions. I was pretty spent after that though, but it's always the same when hopping on skis.

I took Monday off and just commuted to work in crispy -20 temperature. Same thing on Tuesday with fairly strong wind. My legs felt pretty good riding home from work so I decided to try 3 x 20' again after suffering like a dog the other day. This time it wasn't that bad and I was able to do 3 x 20' at 303W, 309W and 309W average without killing myself. I think I'll keep doing this from now on once or twice a week and hopefully he increase in volume will bump my power up another notch. I've seen 10% gains a year in my 20min power over past 2 years and another year like that would be great. I think it means that I need to push myself quite a bit harder than before. Below is the graph of my Tuesday trainer session in the dungeon.

I'll take my skis out again today and see how my legs work. Trying to do another 2h to find my ski power. First 100km is always a struggle and after 200km the skis start to move much better. 500km and you can actually ski. Too bad we had such a poor December with snow. Hopefully we'll get more snow and the weather stays mildish so this wouldn't be another crappy skiing winter.

New TT Bike

My new TT bike is starting to take shape. Or actually


this is my first TT bike since 1999 or so. I'm both excited and terrified because of this. Excited because this bike will make me almost as fast as Fabian and terrified because now I need to start doing TTs.

Saddle height is where it needs to be, but handlebar needs some work because that's ~2cm too long. Shorter stem and chopping the extensions should do the trick.


Posted with iPhone.

Winter Training Center a.k.a. Bike Cave

So winter is on it's way here in Manitoba. It was -40-45 yesterday with wind chill and even without, the temperature stayed below -25 mark. Funny how otherwise warm house turns into drafty shack when the temperature dips below -25 and the furnace seems to be running almost 24/7. So it's time for some indoor fun on my bike and this winter the women of my family relegated me from our upstairs office to our dungeon-like basement. Below you can find some photos of my high-end training setup.


This is my basic set-up. Bike on Giant trainer mat and rubber pads. That was the same stuff I had under my trainer when we were still living in an apartment and I never got any complaints from our neighbors. You can also see the 18" fan that takes care of cooling. Few upgrades are still needed because those rubbermade containers make pretty damn poor table. The white wire in the picture is for my headphones that I have connected to my laptop with and extension cord. Headphones are just cheap scull candy headphones but they work well enough.

Trainer is the trusty Kurt Kinetic Pro Trainer that I use with just the small flywheel. There is a bit of a chance that the resistance unit might be broken because my workout speeds have crept up to 36-37 km/h range and using the power formula, that should be 337-359 W. That would be great, but I doubt it especially after being off my bike for a month because of bad flu.

Ja sama härmän murteella. Eli kuvassa on mun trainerisysteemi. Alla on Giantin trainerimatto, jonka päällä on kumilätkät mitä me käytetään kaupassa huoltopuolella lattianpäällysteenä ja siinä päällä sitten fillari ja traineri. Tota samaa systeemiä käytin kun asuttiin kerrostalossa ja toi eristi melun niin hyvin, että kahden talven aikana ei tullut yhtään valitusta metelistä. Kuvassa on myös 46 sentin propellilla varustettu tuuletin, joka siirtää ilmaa ns. sikana, eli ykkösnopeus on ainoa mitä on tähän mennessä tarvinnut käyttää. Muuttolaatikoiden tilalle pitäisi laittaa asiallisempi taso. Valkoinen piuha on mun korvanappien piuha, eli musiikki tulee nettiradiosta.

Trainerin virkaa toimittaa KK Pro Trainer ja pienellä vauhtipyörällä. Vastus saattaa olla sökö kun vauhdit ovat nousseet vähän liian paljon, eli 36-37 km/h vauhteihin ja KK:n tehokaavalla vedoissa tehot pyörisivät muka jossain 337-359 watin välillä. Toi olisi toki ihan mahtavaa, mutta epäilen, varsinkin kun mulla oli neljän viikon treenitauko flunssan takia.


Two close-ups of the rubber pads. This is sold as 4' x 8' sheets, but the cost of a full sheet is somewhere around $150, so I chose to use tiny pads. These pads allow bike to rock a bit. The mat is made out of recycled car tires and other similar rubber.

Kaksi lähikuvaa kumilätkistä. Tota myydään 1200 x 2440 mattoina, mutta hintaa on suunnilleen 150 kanadan rahaa, eli en viitsi kokonaista mattoa hankkia vaan noilla pikkulätkilläkin päästelee ihan hyvin. Kumilätkät joustavat sen verran, että pyörä pääsee keinumaan pikkuisen puolelta toiselle. Matto on tehty kierrätetyistä auton renkaista yms. kumista.

And here's the fan. 18" blade with 1/5hp motor and three speeds. This is a real wind machine, not like the huge 72" fans, but for its size, it does very very well. I haven't had need to use second or third speed so far. This fan is labeled under Canarm brand, but you can find same or similar fan from Honeywell and probably couple of other brands as well. These cost $80-90 here in Winnipeg. I won't even try to do indoor training without a fan...no way.

Ja tuuletin. 46cm propelli, 1/5 hv moottori ja kolme nopeutta. Tämä tekee tuulta sisätiloissa siihen malliin, että pyyheliinaa ei kovin paljon enää tarvita. Isompiakin tuulettimia on saatavilla, mutta tämä piisaa mulle kun 2- tai 3-nopeutta ei ole tarvinnut käyttää tähän mennessä. Tämä tuuletin on Canarm merkkiä enkä oikein tiedä mitä Suomessa on saatavilla. Ne pöytätuulettimet yms. kyllä jeesaavat, mutta tehokkaampi tuuletin jeesaa enemmän. Mä en edes lähtisi yrittämään sisätreeniä ilman asiallista tuuletinta.

And here's another angle. I'm getting a desktop computer for my movies and online radio. It does look like a dungeon or some hard core dominatrix punishment chamber with this light. If I'll get the new job that is oh so close, I'll start insulating the walls. Well...I guess this is where you win or loose the races that won't start for another 5-6 months.

Ja toisesta kuvakulmasta laitos näyttää aika synkeältä kun vähän säätää kameran valotusta. Voisi alkaa vuokraamaan meidän kellaria jollekin HC domina-tädille kuritushuoneeksi. Jos saan sen uuden duunin, joka on niin lähellä ettei lähempänä voi ollakaan, niin laitan eristettä ja panelia seiniin. Pyöräkaupan palkalla ei paljon remontoida niin kauan kuin vaimo on vauvan kanssa kotona. No kai se kuitenkin on niin, että täällä voitetaan ja hävitään ne ensi kesän kisat.

Next to come. Tips for trainer riding including training protocol, music tips, movie tips etc.

Seuraavaksi tulossa. Treenivinkit traineriharjoitteluun, musiikkivinkit, leffavinkit jne.

Test Run

Doing a test run on my iPhone.


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