I Want Five Megawatts by Mid May.

Today is Thursday June 19 2025 and this morning i attempted my first ever 20 minute power test to determine my watts per kilogram.

Apparently watts per kilogram is a good fitness indicator and it can be used to set appropriate training zones.

i'm not a numbers guy but this year i'm trying to be serious about getting bicycle fit so im beginning to dabble in the digits.

So this morning i hopped on the smart trainer, put in some headphones, and pedaled as hard as i could for 20 minutes. Then i took my average power and multiplied it by .95. Then i took that figure and divided it by my weight in kilograms.

Years ago BK said "don't get a power meter, all its going to do is tell you how slow you are"

It turns out he was right (as usual) because after doing the test and the calculations i came up with a number of 2.33 watts per kilogram. 

That is not good! According to a chart i found i'm almost up to a cat 5. Yikes!

Yes i thought i would do better than that but honestly im not surprised. i haven't done many rides in the last 6 months where i was really pushing myself. So spoiler alert, if you want to get faster on a bicycle it turns out you have to suffer.

This mornings test was a great reality check. i'm thinking i'll retake the test in a month and again in another month. 

Meanwhile i feel like Professor Jerry Hathaway in the classic 80's movie 'Real Genius'. Jerry is in charge of the laser program at Pacific Tech University and he needs a powerful laser and he needs it now. The US Military wants the laser for its weapons program and he's promised he can deliver. In order to deliver he needs Chris Knight, his most promising student, to get off his ass and get the job done. 

Jerry and Chris have a come to Jesus meeting where Jerry tells Chris "i want 5 megawatts by mid may".

Chris thinks that impossible but with some hard work, help from his friends, and some elite 80's movie montages he ultimately gets it done.

So that's me, i want 5 megawatts by mid may.

Yes its late June and yes i don't think we refer to cycling watts as "mega" watts (although maybe we should) and yes even if we did refer to them as megawatts there is no way in hell i could get to 5 (mega?) watts per kilogram because according to the chart i found on the internet that would make me a better than average cat 1 racer... and that is not in the cards.

But... the sentiment still stands. i think you get it.

i want 5 megawatts by mid may.

i have cycling goals coming up fast and i'll need to work hard to achieve them.

Weeks until Gravel Worlds (75 miles) = 9.5

Weeks until Little Sugar Mountain Bike Race (31 miles) = 16.5

Weeks until Cyclocross Nationals (not registered - probably a pipe dream) = 24

i want 5 megawatts by mid may, without that there's no way i can become Number 1.

92 miles in two days

Today is Sunday June 15 2025 and i rode my bike yesterday and today.

When you add up the two rides i did a total of 92 miles. 

I cant remember the last time i did that many miles in two days.

On Saturday (yesterday) i decided to ride some gravel but i chose to drive about 25 minutes South before starting. The ride ended up being 47 miles and i'd guess that 20/25 of those miles were gravel. Not bad for me, pretty good actually, but Gravel Worlds in August is 75 miles and most of those miles are gravel so despite feeling pretty good about yesterdays ride I've still got a long way to go.

Like that song from the movie Smokey and the Bandit "We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there".

But still... yesterdays ride was pretty great.

Todays ride was also great. 

Normally i can only get in one big ride a week but today is Fathers Day so i played the Fathers Day card and did a second big ride.

I took the CX (gravel) bike again but this time i stayed on the pavement. i pedaled North. My legs felt pretty good for the whole ride. Although i think i had too much coffee and too many syrupy drink mix drinks because after about two and a half hours i was craving plain water. But its all good, i found the plain water (at the city's best water fountain which can be found in crown center next to the fountain) and finished the ride strong.

Ride Number One.....

Ride Number Two.....

Old Leawood North Loop

Today is Monday June 9 2025 and yesterday i did a bike ride.

Editors note: This is my second post of the day. 

After my long ride on Saturday i went for a short but intense ride on the Old Leawood North loop. I took the road bike and this time it took me 32 minutes and 0 seconds. That's an improvement of 1 second over last time.

Reminder that i time myself in real-time. So if it takes me 20 seconds to cross 95th street then it takes me 20 seconds to cross 95th street.

If i'm going to get fit this year then consistency will be key. In the consistency department i'm currently trying to come up with a good Sunday am routine. It will involve walking the dog, riding my bike but only for about an hour, and then finishing with an hour of yoga. And all of that would be completed by 9:30am.

The yoga is also going to be key if i'm going to get fit this year. The older i get the more aches and pains i get and yoga seems to be the best cure.

Yesterday i started that entire routine too late so i only got in about 8 minutes of yoga but...

Room for improvement!

Big Bike Ride Saturday Morning

Today is Monday June 9 2025 and last Saturday i did a big bike ride. 

Saturday am until 10am is my typical big bike ride window but when i woke up this Saturday it was raining so at first i did an hour on the trainer while watching a movie (and the radar), can you guess the movie?

i pushed fairly hard for that hour.

By around 8am the rain had moved on so i changed shoes and jumped on my mountain bike to pedal in the great outdoors. In this case the great outdoors was to and from downtown KC.

i pushed hard for most of the ride and was pleased with how i felt. Although leg cramps were a thing. 

In the end (when adding up both rides) i did 3 hours and 27 minutes. The mileage said 41.09 but i'm not sure how accurate that is considering the first hour was inside. 

i had wanted to do a 50 mile gravel ride but the rain put the kibosh on that. Plus i still haven't cleaned my cx bike since the Mule Skinner gravel race about a month ago. The next race i have my eyes on is a 62 mile gravel race in Sedalie on July 12... but that means i need to do some big mileage asap. 

I only have two Saturdays before we're in Colorado for vacation, but in addition to those two Saturdays i also have Fathers day on a Sunday, so i can probably parlay that into a big ride Saturday and Sunday of that week. 

So its possible i can get in three big gravel rides over the next 3 weeks. Let's say 50, then 55, then 60 miles. Plus i plan to do plenty of biking in Colorado, including hopefully 2 big rides. Those rides will be at altitude so i've got that going for me... which is nice.

Bicycles!

Three Bike Rides

Today is Thursday June 5 2025 and last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday i rode my bike.

On Friday i rode my road bike for 35 miles. On Saturday i rode my mountain bike 40 miles. On Sunday i rode my road bike about 15 miles.

FRIDAY - About 25 minutes into the ride it became clear i had way to much pressure in the road bike tires. So i took some out, which turned out to be way to much. But it was still rideable. This was a good reminder that im getting old, meaning my body cant take the bumpy ride that comes from riding 90 psi on road bike tires over bumpy KCMO roads.

I attempted the Goodbye Stranger run again at Cliff Drive. Didn't come close to making it. I need a new (longer) song. Although i think Goodbye Stranger will forever be my white whale for that section of road.

SATURDAY - Woke up early and hit the road, it was a beautiful morning. My ideal biking weather is when i can wear shorts, short sleeves, no gloves, and start the ride with my neon yellow wind jacket. It's one of those jackets that you can ball up into the size of a baseball. i love it. It's my security blanket.

Anyway... i rode north to the Kansas River levy and rode it over to Kaw Point to say hi to the Lewis and Clark Statue. This was a great ride that was capped off by a run thru the Leawood North bike loop. I've mentioned this route before. It's simply a marked loop thru Old North Leawood. i grew up in these neighborhoods, they are nice, the roads are not busy, its very shady, and despite there being a ton of stop signs there are a decent amount of curvy roads, so its a fun route. i like to do it and time myself. My time on this occasion was slow.

SUNDAY -  Originally i had plans for another big ride which would give me 4 big rides in a row but that wasn't realistic so instead i grabbed the road bike and did the Old North Leawood loop again. I put up a time of 32:01 which is pretty good for me.

This was a great 4 day run of bike riding and I can feel the beginnings of what could be a foundation for decent fitness. 

Onward!

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY