To Infinity and Beyond - Becoming a Better DopeyBadger (Comments Welcome)

[SheHulk]

Just wonderful. Wish you all the happiness the new house can hold.

 

[SarahDisney]

The house looks great. It looks like it really came together well!
Although I think Gigi may not have enough princess dresses in her closet ...

 

[Dis5150]

Love the house! So pretty and decorated so nice and cozy looking. Also love the high basement ceiling and how you have a work out area down there! I would love something like that! I also love that G has a whole rack just for princess dresses.

 

[avondale]

The house turned out really well! Looks great. Now you'll have fun with the finishing touches like drapes, etc. Or maybe Steph will? Agree that I love the exercise space...

 

[michigandergirl]

The house looks great inside & out! Good luck with your training!!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Just wonderful. Wish you all the happiness the new house can hold.

Thanks! That's a lot of happiness!

The house looks great. It looks like it really came together well!

Thanks!

Although I think Gigi may not have enough princess dresses in her closet ...

She would agree with you. I think in that picture I count 25 hangers and I know there a few more out of camera sight. So yea.... definitely needs more...

Love the house! So pretty and decorated so nice and cozy looking.

Thanks!

Also love the high basement ceiling and how you have a work out area down there! I would love something like that!

It's been really nice. It was on my list, but not necessarily high on it. But now after having it, I would rank it towards the top for me just by the sheer amount of time I'll spend down there.

I also love that G has a whole rack just for princess dresses.

LOL, I know right.

The house turned out really well! Looks great.

Thanks!

Now you'll have fun with the finishing touches like drapes, etc. Or maybe Steph will?

We decided to go with the honey-comb blackout shades that are in there now. The only windows that have drapes are the big picture window in the first picture and the patio sliding door off the dining room. Otherwise, we went with the cleaner look to make the rooms seem bigger.

Agree that I love the exercise space...

Thanks! It's been a nice space to have.

The house looks great inside & out! Good luck with your training!!

Thanks! Excited to tackle the next challenge.

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

Your new house looks so nice!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Your new house looks so nice!

Thanks!

 

[Keels]

Welcome to the joys of cycling training! Under Over Intervals are tough and they take a while to get to the hang of them and embrace the spin-out of the under intervals (clipping in helps me with that).

As far as bike shorts go - Pearl Izumi always has great sales on their stuff online. And since you don't need bibs since you won't be riding outside, you might start with a cheaper pair of Tri shorts from Amazon.com to get used to riding with the chamois padding in them and then find what works best for you.

When do you have your first Glassy ride?

 

[DopeyBadger]

Welcome to the joys of cycling training! Under Over Intervals are tough and they take a while to get to the hang of them

embrace the spin-out of the under intervals (clipping in helps me with that).

What does the "spin-out" mean? Because all I could tell was it went from really hard to only slightly less hard. All the sudden it seems like I'm suppose to be dramatically changing my cadence? Because I thought the instructions only said to change by a few rpm.

As far as bike shorts go - Pearl Izumi always has great sales on their stuff online. And since you don't need bibs since you won't be riding outside, you might start with a cheaper pair of Tri shorts from Amazon.com to get used to riding with the chamois padding in them and then find what works best for you.

Thanks for the tip!

When do you have your first Glassy ride?

It was the Sunday ride. Not nearly as difficult as the Reinstein on Saturday. But still a workout that pushed me.

 

[Keels]

So - spinning out ... when you go downhill on a bike and you're clipped in, you never want to hold your feet static but instead let the pedals power your legs (and use this as your active recovery time during your ride). So, after a heavy uphill or climb interval, I usually just "spin out" and let the machine power my legs just like it would as if I were riding outside.

 

[DopeyBadger]

So - spinning out ... when you go downhill on a bike and you're clipped in, you never want to hold your feet static but instead let the pedals power your legs (and use this as your active recovery time during your ride). So, after a heavy uphill or climb interval, I usually just "spin out" and let the machine power my legs just like it would as if I were riding outside.

Does this work in ERG mode as well? Because the second I let up it only dramatically makes it harder to pedal again. There doesn't seem to be a spin out. So I could see in real life where this would offer a moment of reprieve in hitting the wattage but not actually doing "work" per se (because the momentum of the wheel would continue the spin). But I think the ERG forces an inability to actually spin out. But possibly I'm doing something wrong.

 

[JennysSeven]

Love the house pictures. It's beautiful! And how convenient to have the dedicated workout space.

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

Is that 11 pairs of shoes cached in the main cave?

The new home looks great!

 

[FFigawi]

Does this work in ERG mode as well? Because the second I let up it only dramatically makes it harder to pedal again. There doesn't seem to be a spin out. So I could see in real life where this would offer a moment of reprieve in hitting the wattage but not actually doing "work" per se (because the momentum of the wheel would continue the spin). But I think the ERG forces an inability to actually spin out. But possibly I'm doing something wrong.

ERG mode does not let you spin out in the same way being outdoors does. It will force you to maintain a certain power output at whatever cadence you choose. A higher cadence will feel like you're spinning out when at lower wattage, but you can't really get away with letting the trainer do the work for you in ERG mode. This is both good and bad. It's good because you're forced to keep working and holding your desired power all the way through your workout. It's bad because you don't get the benefit of climbing when in ERG mode.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Love the house pictures. It's beautiful! And how convenient to have the dedicated workout space.

Thanks! The workout space has been a really nice feature.

Is that 11 pairs of shoes cached in the main cave?

The new home looks great!

LOL, yea... At least there's another stack of shoes that didn't make it in the picture because they're on their way to donation.

ERG mode does not let you spin out in the same way being outdoors does. It will force you to maintain a certain power output at whatever cadence you choose. A higher cadence will feel like you're spinning out when at lower wattage, but you can't really get away with letting the trainer do the work for you in ERG mode. This is both good and bad. It's good because you're forced to keep working and holding your desired power all the way through your workout. It's bad because you don't get the benefit of climbing when in ERG mode.

That makes sense. Definitely a tradeoff. Based on just the last week of training, I'd say I'm better off for now with the ERG mode forcing me to hit the power output. Because there were definitely moments where I didn't think it was possible, but I kept pushing through. I wonder whether I would have been able to keep it up as well if the trainer hadn't forced me to do it (and prove to me that I could actually do it). Then after I continue to gain more experience I could switch back and forth from ERG mode depending on the upcoming workout.

 

[FFigawi]

That makes sense. Definitely a tradeoff. Based on just the last week of training, I'd say I'm better off for now with the ERG mode forcing me to hit the power output. Because there were definitely moments where I didn't think it was possible, but I kept pushing through. I wonder whether I would have been able to keep it up as well if the trainer hadn't forced me to do it (and prove to me that I could actually do it). Then after I continue to gain more experience I could switch back and forth from ERG mode depending on the upcoming workout.

The key to using ERG mode is a small gear which allows you to spin at a decent cadence, typically between 85-95. Keeping an easy and steady turnover helps make changes in target watts easier to handle. It's when your cadence drops suddenly and you try to spin back up again that things get hard. Can even turn into a death spiral if you aren't careful.

https://zwiftinsider.com/erg-mode-in-zwift/

 

[DopeyBadger]

The key to using ERG mode is a small gear which allows you to spin at a decent cadence, typically between 85-95. Keeping an easy and steady turnover helps make changes in target watts easier to handle. It's when your cadence drops suddenly and you try to spin back up again that things get hard. Can even turn into a death spiral if you aren't careful.

https://zwiftinsider.com/erg-mode-in-zwift/

I think I'm on the small gear up front and the middle gear in the back. I've still got to make my way over to the in-laws to get my cadence meter off my old bike. I feel like based on past experience I'm in that area, but it will be nice to know for sure. Definitely have avoided the death spiral thus far and saw from GPLama from Zwift that I should just completely stop pedaling and it will reset and remove the immediate resistance (because it pauses the device).

 

[Sleepless Knight]

So glad you're settling in to the new house. I love the scowling photo if only because it makes me laugh. Sometimes those can be great just as long as there are other happy photos too. Also, pretty sure my niece will someday hate me for a while if I show her the photo of her picking her nose when she met Elsa for the first time.

 

[DopeyBadger]

So glad you're settling in to the new house. I love the scowling photo if only because it makes me laugh. Sometimes those can be great just as long as there are other happy photos too. Also, pretty sure my niece will someday hate me for a while if I show her the photo of her picking her nose when she met Elsa for the first time.

Thanks! Kids and their faces, lol!