End of the beginning, or the beginning of the end?

As my many readers know (Hi Megan!), I put my bike away for the off season. While I am not a huge fan of the trainer (I get enough of spinning my wheels and getting nowhere in my daily life), it does allow me to focus on the finer points of my cycling.  I haven't been on the trainer since the end of spring, so comparing what I did then to what I can do now at the beginning of winter is kind of interesting.  Well, maybe not quite "kind of" maybe more, "sort of," or "desperate for motivation," interesting. 

Here's what I learned after two days of indoor PowerTapping.  One, my cadence went down.  Earlier this year I was at 95, now I'm at 85.  I've lost 10 points and a whole letter grade.  I hope my parents don't get a note, I need this grade to stay on the wrestling team.

What's interesting is that I keep reading that a high cadence is great for cyclists, but that multi-sport athletes should actually use a slightly lower cadence (I chose "lower" instead of "slower" because "lower" sounds less judgmental).  Something to do with needing to run after biking.  If anyone in the PowerTap nation has any ideas or actual knowledge beyond, "I read somewhere once" I'd love to hear it.  If not, I'm happy to stick with the low cadence=good for multi-sport because, honestly, "I read somewhere once" is more basis for my actions than I usually take.

But what is really interesting is that my power has actually increased.  My last TT in April was 220 at 100 cadence.  My TT on Thursday?  240 at 92!  BOOOOM!  Suck on THAT all you naysayers who I totally made up to have someone to taunt because everyone I know in real life is too nice and supportive thus robbing me of my right to have a foil. 

So I did a little digging on the Google and found this site that tells you what the Power-to-Weight ratio is for cyclists at various levels.  At 165 pounds and pushing 240 I'm theoretically at the top of the Cat 5 world (My TT was eight minutes and the nearest on that site is five minutes, so there's some fuzzyness in this stuff that's already fuzzy).  

So anyway, I'm not sure if that was my last TT of the season, or my first TT of the new season, but I'll take it.  I also like having some cool new graph goals.  My goal by next April is to move up one whole internet graph category and be at the top of the Cat 4 world.  Sure, that's like being Mole-Man, but any empire is better than no empire.  Anyway, to hit that goal I need a P/W number of 3.81.  So if I can push 265 and drop my weight to 155 that means...well, it means I can expect to picked on more.  I mean, 155 pounds!?!  I'll have to carry my trainer and bike around with me everywhere I go just so I can show that "I HAVE THE POWWWWWERRRR!"  Only instead of He-Man saying that while holding a mighty sword, it will be a  scrawny guy in spandex running from Girl Scouts.  Frankly there's a part of me that's not sure its worth moving up a category if it means that a strong wind can knock me off my bike.

As it stands I'm actually feeling pretty good about my cycling right now.  I know a whole heck of a lot more about the sport than I ever have.  Honestly, before I met Katie I was recreational cyclist who loved the sport.  Now I feel more like an actual cyclist who loves the sport (just one of may ways I'm better for knowing her).  I feel like I'm starting to gain enough knowledge to begin to discern what works for me and maybe create actual plans for getting better rather than relying entirely on guessing and generic advice.  So I'm really looking forward to training this winter because I think I can make a jump this season.  Anyway, I read somewhere once that this happens to cyclists at my stage.