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Why I love my newton

Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2015 5:00 pm
by klaus
I have been cycling a lot less lately with other priorities in my life. But when on the bike I always have my newton, even for commute rides to to get some bread.
This week-end I did a 3 day bike ride in the Ardèche 240km and 4500m climb (150miles, 15,000ft climb) add a few to get to the start from the parking lot, ...
It was hard. I had done 2 2hour rides as training with maybe 1,200ft climb. I still ride around 100-150miles à month and keep fit in other ways.
Using the Ibkie I paced my self in the climbs, made sure I stayed way below my threshold whit lots of spare power.
Day 1 I made the mistake to not stop after climb 2 and 3 hours in the ride. Bad Idea and I paid it dearly with misery up the last 10km climb. After a sandwich the last 7km did go much better.
Day 2 was cold, windy with lots of climbs and crazy downhill on narrow roads. This time we did stop before the last big climb of the day again 10km and 600+m to climb. With a solid meal the climb was much better.
Day 3 It started from our hotel with another 16km climb, I started very slowly at times doing only 50 Watts warming up and getting ready. As I started to climb It got better and better. I started to over take riders which normally would be faster than me. On one of the flatter sections I did over 300W much more than usual but sustainable for a short time. I made sure to stay reasonable. With every climb I felt better and better I paced my self carefully trying to not overdo it.
After yet another climb we had a some solid food and a break.
This was followed by a crazy descent followed by 12km of climb. I did take all the speed from the downhill to the start of the hill and pushed up with high W numbers and speed. As the hill got longer an steeper I made sure to pace my self carefully and stayed strong all the way.

Using the newton i had a great time riding even with a very severe lack of training. It helped me to pace my self and stay generally happy and smiling on the bike. When I did get back home it was great to analyze the data and see how I did.
I am generally happy to see that even with a big lack of specific bike training I am fitter and better shape than before.

Riding with power is great and for me the only way to ride. with the cold and heat my heart rate was all over the place. The newton is also much more reliable what ever road surface or condition.

Hope to see you next year in the ardèche ride with me