Training Peaks Webservice

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Dim sUserName As String = "username"
Dim sPassword As String = "password"
Dim nUserId As Integer = 115133
Dim bData() As Byte

Dim ws As trainingpeaksWS.Service = New trainingpeaksWS.Service()
Dim p() As trainingpeaksWS.PersonBase = ws.GetAccessibleAthletes("username", "password", trainingpeaksWS.AthleteAccountTypes.SharedSelfCoachedPremium)


Dim v As String = ws.Version()

Dim dt As DateTime = DateTime.Now()
dt = dt.AddDays(-30)

Dim v3 As Object = ws.GetWorkoutsForAthlete("username", "password", dt, DateTime.Now)
Dim v2 As Object = ws.GetWorkoutsForAccessibleAthlete("username", "password", nUserId, dt, DateTime.Now)
Dim v4 As Object = ws.GetExtendedWorkoutDataForAccessibleAthlete("username", "password", nUserId, 40760637)

Dim workout As trainingpeaksWS.Workout = New trainingpeaksWS.Workout()


ws.ImportFileForUser(sUserName, sPassword, bData)

Surrey League Alfold Crossways 7th march 2010

I rode the Alfold race a the weekend and saw a couple of the Twickenham CC guys. As previously mentioned I was in stealth mode so I was riding in a plain jersey.

I've only been back training since 1st Feb so I didn't have high expectations of this race, it was more of a training day for me.

My goals for the race were open:

• I expected to finish
• I wanted to get in a break or cause a bit of damage
• I wanted to work on bunch positioning
• Test my basic sprinting
• Overall I wanted a good workout with a TSS of 250->300

Course Overview (6 laps = 72 miles)

Alfold is a great circuit and suits a strong rider, you don't have to be a climber for this course.

There are 2 small drags which are the ideal place to attack; one coming into Alfold and a longer shallower one on the back of the course which drags all the way up to near the village of Plaistow before dropping into ifold and the finish. There are also some semi technical corners which can be taken very fast and can cause gaps to open up.

By staying near the front at these sections it should be easier to go with any move.

*Lots of potholes at the moment so it pays to be aware especially when the sun is low in the sky.

Race Report

The race was good, lots of action, lots of attacks, but probably 15 miles too long for most of the guys there, this caused the race to be more of a survival exercise for some riders.

I was convinced that a break would get away and stay away, especially with some very strong 2nd cat riders.

The race split and reformed for quite a while with lots of riders trying their luck. I was doing what you do and following wheels having digs and generally getting to know the riders and course.

On the Plaistow drag Matt Melville(AW Cycles) attacked hard, I've know Matt for a number of years he's the strong rider who can wring himself out in a break, so it's a wheel to follow. We got a nice gap and after a short time were joined by more riders... that's were it fell apart, too many riders in the break and too many fresh legs in the bunch... it came back. This seemed to be the start of the race for real.

Over the next 20-30 miles a few breaks did go but none really stuck.

A break finally floated off the front... 2 riders, theys were Matt Melville (again!) and eventual winner Andy Bryson(DHCyclesport.co.uk). They worked well and once it had >20 seconds I knew we might be in trouble. The break hung about at 20 seconds for a while and eventually Matt Blew (He'd only brought 1 bottle and was bonking, I gave him the rest of mine and gave him a quick push, he soon recovered enough to hang in and attack again).

Legs were getting tired, mine included, the bunch slowed for a few miles allowing the lone breakaway to get a good gap.

Eventually the bunch started rolling again, one rider in particular was on the front a lot! Ben Instone (Torq Racing) rode hard keeping the tempo and detering any breaks. Its a bit of a shame that he didnt rest for a lap and try to get in a break rather than towing the bunch around lap after lap... ah well, each to their own.

Personally, I decided to hang around the front 10 riders and follow wheels for a bit.

The sharp end

By the last lap I was convinced(again!) that there would be no more attacks, we had passed all the difficult parts of the circuit and it was basically a run into the flat headwind finish, perfect for me.

So as I settled into the remains of the bunch I dropped my guard, as did quite a few other riders. The bunch split, some riders lost wheels and by the time we reacted there was a 10 second gap. Matt, Rob Enslin and some other good riders were in the back group and we were all slightly lethargic after 67 miles of racing.

At the end of races it CAN get like this, either you all get it on, or you end up in a group who will not work cohesively at all.

What's the best situation?

• Attack and hope no one will chase
• Try to organise a chase
• Do nothing and wait for the sprint

What did happen?

Rob attacked and got 5 then 10 seconds. As a sprinter I wanted to hedge my bets, I knew if we could peg them back without too much energy then I could get a result in the sprint. So I rolled through trying to encourage others to do the same. Some riders rolled through, enough to bring Rob back but not enough to catch the lead bunch.

Do I attack, do I hope some riders are waiting to attack? By now the break had a good gap and we were coming into the last couple of Km, it was time to settle in and practice my sprinting.

So, what do we know about the finish?

• Straight
• Head wind
• Group of ~10 riders

What to do in a sprint

• Watch the riders
• Who looks strong, who is built like a sprinter
• Who is positioning themselves

Position yourself

• Dont get boxed
• Stay out of the wind
• Use your type of sprint
• 
  

I picked a rider who was hovering on the outside looking like he was going to jump, he went with about 200 to go on the outside of the bunch. Being on his wheel sheltered me from the wind and as he hit his top speed and pulled to left slightly I totally committed and accelerated off his wheel hard to the right. Gaining a gap of just 1 bike length over other riders can cause enough of a reduce in shelter that they cant get back on your wheel. Job done I could ease down for the last 50 meters, bunch sprint taken.

10th Place. OK I'm happy with that.

Well done to all the riders, some great efforts and Andy did a great ride for the win.

Lessons Learnt

• Don't be convinced always be adaptable to race situations. Keep multiple strategies
• The winning break came from a small group where no teams chased at the point where people were getting tired.
• Most people at 2nd cat attack when they are feeling good or at easy section of the course, maybe they should attack at the hard sections and when they are feeling on the limit?

Some stats from the Alfold Crossways race:

• 72 Miles
• 3 hours @ 300watt average
• Max 20 minutes 333 watts (Normalized)
• Max Power 1588watts
• ~3000Kcal
• Lots of Potholes = Bent Handlebars
• BUT No Punctures

Womens Team Series Training Day Video

May Flyer Short Route- South Western Road Club Sportive

Here is a ride from Surbiton including the SWRC Cyclo Sportive May Flyer Short route. It takes in some great surrey roads and even comes back through peaslake so you can grab a cheese straw from the peaslake store!

How to change the battery on a IV SRM Head unit

I’m not tight, I just know the value of money.

I have an older SRM IV which decided to give up the ghost a while back; it would not hold any charge so I was hoping it was going to be the battery.

I contacted SRM and they suggested sending it back for a service or upgrade (~60EUR & 300 EUR respectively). Now, like I said I’m not tight but there is no way I was going to send my head unit back for a few weeks and pay that amount of cash for what I reckon is a simple battery change.

On a side note you can get the battery changed in the UK for about £60, but for a unit which is outside warranty what's the point? [apart from it being completed by a competent person who would probably replace the unit if they broke it...Ed ]

So before I started I had a Google around to see if anyone else had don't anything similar... I found a few people had replaced the battery in the chainset but not the head unit:
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=234925

Before I go any further I also looked at the SRM site for any info, here it was i found:

The PowerMeter battery is not self-replaceable. You will need to send it to the Service Center for replacement. ATTEMPTING TO REPAIR IT YOURSELF WILL INVALIDATE THE WARRANTY, and could cause permanent damage to your PowerMeter.Battery life of the PowerMeter will vary between PowerMeters.

So, do I take the possible destructive dangerous path of changing the battery myself? Yeah Why Not. This is about as reckless as I get now I’m bordering on middle age… Extreme Soldering!

So here is the tale of how the battery got replaced in the SRM IV head unit.Please take care, as I really do not hold any responsibility for you breaking your own SRM unit!Important bits are in boldLittle comments are in this style

How to change the battery on a IV SRM Head unit

Cost: £5 for parts
Cooking Time: (45 Minutes)

Utensils

• Yourself
• Earthing wrist strap (optional) Have a look why you should be earthed
• Screwdriver - small yet perfectly formed
• The Universal Tool (a knife) - Thin Blunt Edge
• Soldering Iron - careful it's hot
• Glue Gun - It's a gun which fires glue!
• Small Scissors - remember not to run with them
• Solder Sucker (optional) it makes like easy when removing excess solder

Ingredients

• SRM IV with a defunct battery
• Replacement Battery Pack (see section for details on model)
• Glue Gun Glue - Careful as this gets REALLY HOT
• Solder
• Salt and Vinegar Crisps/Carrot Sticks - optional - its' a snack.
• Make sure you set everything up have plant of room and light as this can get a bit fiddly.

1. Remove the Cover

Remove the screws on the back of the SRM head unit. This is easy just make sure you have the correct size phillips/posidrive screwdriver.

The back cover is bonded on with a "glue gun" type compound, this binds to each surface pretty well but will break away with some encouragement.

When removing the back cover I used the blunt edge knife run around the joint and break the seal. You could also make a tool which was a bit like a tyre lever to do this. Use a thin bit of metal.

The glue is flexible so expect a bit of elasticity.

Remove/Lift the back cover very carefully, there are some leads which run to the LCD display, you don't want to be damaging these. Do not over stretch these leads.

Remove the LCD leads, one connector (black connector) simply pulls away from the plug, just be gentle when removing this.

The other connector (white socket) is a type of connector where the LCD connector film is held into the socket by a clamp. This clamp is part of the socket and needs to be ‘released’ before you remove the lead. If you don’t release the socket the LCD connector will not want to come out.

Figure 1 A look at the PCB etc.

Figure 2 The Black Connector
Figure 3 The White Connector - With the latch

Examination of the battery

The battery is a nickel metal hydride mini pack with 4 2/3 size AAA cells (1.2volt cell). These units are pretty standard and can be bought on the web:

• http://www.component-shop.co.uk
• The Unit I bought

3.Remove the battery

The battery sleeve is bonded to the PCB, this concerned me a little as it could be quite easy to damage the PCB by forcing the battery off its bond.

I decided to remove its sleeve and trim this leaving the bottom layer. I would then bond the new battery to the bottom layer.

So, unsolder the terminals using a soldering iron. Using pliers will help insulate the PCB from any heat, but the leads are pretty long and the heat shouldn’t make it anywhere near the PCB.

Remove the battery by cutting the white sleeve, a friend suggested that you could use a hot blunt knife to melt the glue and remove the battery, I didn’t do this.Dispose of the battery;

While nmh batteries are low grade-ish, please make sure you dispose of the battery correctly.

Figure 4 Negative Terminal

Figure 5 Positive Terminal

Solder the NEW Battery in placeIf you missed the bit about which battery to buy, or, if you haven’t bought it yet go back and read it/buy it!

The version I bought has a capacity of300mAh not 280 like the original... bonus extra capacity!I bought a battery with leads as I felt this was more flexible that using tabs.

Ok, Remove the connector at the end of the new battery lead to expose the nice shiny wire. Solder them to the terminals.

Look here for a tutorial on soldering... its worth practicing a bit.

Remember positive is Red(+) and negative is Black(-)

I used a soldering iron set to 170’C

4. Replace LCD Leads
This is basically the reverse of the way you took them off. Ensure they are true/correctly inserted and flush.Remember to lock the white lead in place with the latch on the socket.

5. Test

Plug the unit in to the charger for 3-5 seconds and press the mode button - if the screen comes on then that's probably a good sign.Unplug from the chargerGet the cover back off again while being careful witht he LCD leads.

6. Glue the Battery in place

So we should now be happy that the unit is working, so we can glue the battery into place. I used a small amount of glue and held the battery inplace while it set.
Try to make sure you put it in the same position as the original battery to ensure that the case will close again!

7. Replace the LCD leads

Same as step 4

8. Replace Lid

Remove any old glue which may get in the way of the lid going back on. Run some hot glue gun gunk around the seamReally be careful not to let this touch your skin, its HOT

Try to make sure its in a flush position, you don’t need too much glue!Wipe excess glue with a cloth/paper or you can wait until its cold and use a knife, up to you reallyI held the battery in place while the glue cooled; it only takes a minute or so.

9. Screws back!

Replace the screws in the cover, these are self tappers so be careful.

10. Final TEST

Same as step 5

11. DONE

All works?
Yes - Big Pat on the back and a carrot stick...Yum
No? Bugger! Get on eBay.

So there we have it, we have seen that we can replace the battery of the SRM head unit with ease, as long as you are careful, have the right tools and find the correct components.