I made my 1st major goal on the powercranks this weekend and did my "normal" loop up Malcom Dixon and Deer Valley. I also added on some extra to fill out the 2:15 that was prescribed on my training plan. Some of the hills were tough, but overall it wasn't too bad. 2:15, 35 miles, 186 watts average, 2500' of vertical. I wasn't blazingly fast, but I could feel stretches where I was definitely capable of more power output at lower heart rates than I would have been able to do before. The cranks basically force you to put out more power. I still am way lower than my "normal" cadence though. Usually, I'm a spinner up around 95-100 rpm, but with the powercranks, I average high 70s or low 80s on the trainer and out on the road this weekend, I averaged like 65. Granted, much of that was grinding up hills, but still very low average cadence. I think after a while, I'll be able to put out a lot more power because I should be able to gradually get my cadence back up, but we shall see. I also figured out how to stand up, which was interesting. It was much easier to do going up hill where you could put more force down on the downstroke and use that as leverage to pull up the other side. Quite a strange feeling at first, but I got a little used to it and I'm slowly getting to the point where I can ride completely like I would without the powercranks. Still can't do my aerobars for long, but I can at least ride in them for short periods.
On a totally different note, my 2-year-old daughter said today: "OK, I will wait in here and take a short rest" when I put her to bed for her nap. It blew me away ;-)
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