Quarq!

I decided to hire a coach for my attempt on Everest next year.  I want to take an hour or more off my time (13:00:54) from this year's G.C. time.  That's my goal.  I'm not chasing USA Cycling points next year.  I did that.  Now I want to squeeze all I can from my elderly body while I can still squeeze anything from it.  So, part of that required my buying a power meter.  I bought a Quarq in the SRAM configuration in a compact crank.  I really had to think about that for a long time.  Compact?  The only race I'd really need a compact crank with a power meter was Everest Challenge.  Everything else I could use a standard 53-39 on (OK, I use compact cranks on Death Valley Road Stage Race(s) and the Mount Whitney Stage Race, but I wouldn't need a power meter to ride those races), but I felt using a power meter on the Everest Challenge could help me pace myself better, so I went with it.  Today was the first day of receiving a "workout" by my coach, and it entailed some warm up intervals, and then a 20 minute all out push.  I chose a gradual climb that would force me to ride hard all the way.  I was not impressed with the numbers.  Remember, I'm "out of shape" since I haven't ridden hard in any structured way since the end of the Everest Challenge.  Yes, I'm on the bike daily, but I haven't ridden all that hard on purpose since then.  I felt out of shape.  It's November, for ...pete's sake!  But I'm going to follow the rules now.  Tomorrow is a steady ride, the next day has some hard efforts in it.  I know I have some talent (finally, I've done what I needed to do to prove that to myself), and I train hard.  Now, I need to train smart.  I can't do this forever.  So next year?  I want it to go down well, so when I "retire" I can just ride and hike for fun.

Update:

I'm not going to shower you with numbers, but one side effect of this device is that it has shown me something interesting about my cadence.  Back in the day I had a high cadence, and would check it from time to time with my watch while counting (the good old days).  Over the past few years I can't really remember paying much attention to it.  I've found that my cadence has slowed, number one, and two, when I watch the power meter, I can also see that it's inconsistent.  So what I'm learning to do all over again is how to pedal in circles! It seems so elementary, yet I've let that smoothness slip away, and the numbers show it.  So, this morning, I'm going to go out and practice pedaling in circles again.  Later.