Recap to share with OC team what had happen here in MN over the cold Sat morning.
Out side is 2 degree but a group of passionate hardcore riders from VV HPTeam showed up at the Fridley LT Fitness Center to attempt to finish 4 1/2 hrs super spin class. ONLY time will tell who can still sit on these spin bike that long? Amy Xu from Team Strong Heart also was there and Amy Xu is training for her RAAM Soloist in 2010 that mean she will be on the saddle average of 21 hrs per day with only 3hrs of sleeping. Her 4-mix team took 2nd at the RAAM 2008. And now she is also our newest member of VV HPTeam in MN.
I arrived at the front desk at 6:07am and text all 4 members that do not belong to this gym and gave them signal so they can come and join us but too bad the manager did not allow guest in the door before 9am so we lost 4 riders.
A bit disappointing when I walked to the studio knowing 4 riders will not be there but 2 members already at studio before me so I got excited again. Both of them on the bikes already. Greg Mattson 5:30am and Amy Xu 6am... Wow! These guys beat me to the studio. Next time I will bring a blanket and sleep over so I can enter the room before all of them. hehehe!
This studio has became the Training Center for HPTeam now! The room has total of 59 spin bikes, brand new model Start Trac NXT. (2) bikes set on stage for instructors and 57 for students. (2) 100+ inches projector screen on both side of the stage and (2) 24 inches JBL subwoofer right under neat each screen. The HVAC system was AWESOME because they installed (12) 10" cold jets of air blowing from the front of the room... feel more like 55-60 deg in the morning ride... so most of us need to warm up quickly to enjoy the chill. hehehe!
The instructors here really love and support us HPTeam. They willing to come early to turn on the music even they don't teach the class until 8:30am. I was on one of the bike on stage today and I had VV kit on too so I had to work extra hard... and keep the class going and also Jody was checking on my HR monitor all the time to see if I really doing what I suppose to do? hehehe!
The front row was all RED and Yellow because we all wearing our VV kits and TSH wore their kits also.......... most students enter the room almost left because they thought this class was tapping for promotional video like Coach Troy or something???
We got Greg M, Has, Greg S, Tim, Amy, Jorge then 2nd row Dr. Schaefer and his wife! All of us showed up before 7am except for Dr. Schaefer and his wife Nancy enter the room around 8am. Then 8:10am the class was full... all 59 bikes were taken so 8 students left the room with out bike! :(
During the 8:30am class with Jody, we called her "JI JODY"
We can feel so much energy in the class today compare to other Sats because everyone was extra excited and working hard including me on stage next to her. I noticed for the 1st time on spin bike that I was over my AT for over 14 min in one hour and my HR at 174 at times and still feel great ... this is unreal because I would pass out if I keep this for 5 min on my road bike out side [in summer 2009 with Oscar behind me doing 1.2 miles long on flat at Ave Sp 29.9mph my Ave HR was @ 169bpm and I only can last for 150+ sec]. Thanks to Jody! She really know how to pump everyone including me and I almost got cramp up my right leg with so much tension adding during one of her climbing interval: Entire 8 min climbing without sitting down and had NO CHOICE BUT ADDING TENSION to a total of almost 6 full turns.... you spinners know what I am talking about?
All the students in this class keep their eyes on the VV riders in front row and Jody also introduces Amy Xu to the crowd and popped in the 2008 RAAM video... Wow! Everyone were more pump watching to see how RAAM soloists survived the 3000+ miles race in 8+ days??? Everyone was so motivate by this video and awesome music from Jody so all students willing to work hard like never before... The entire front row work real hard and the class had no choice but following them. Great Job there you guys!
After 8:30am class... Jody continue to spin with us until 10am but before she leave she told us that she want to do some rides with VV HPTeam this spring... We might get another super female riders soon! After she left, I took over and lead the class until our 10:30am instructor showed up and he kept checking at the door to see if anything new is going on today in this studio??? Then he open the door and stuck his head in to hear our music... Everyone said "COME IN!" so he did.
John was 1/2 excited and 1/2 intimidated to see all these real cyclists show up in his class with matching road kits. He asked us "How long were you here? What would you like to do?" We all told him "We were here since 5:30am and We are up for anything!"
The class went well with about 11 difference workouts that John introduced to us... Everyone hung on there til last mins but I can see Amy Xu still spin like Crazy after 5 3/4 hrs... unreal!
Dr. Mark Schaefer did 2 1/2 hrs,
Nancy his wife 2hrs for the 1st time,
Greg M, Has, Tim, Greg and Jorge ~ 4 1/2 hrs.
Quang 5hrs 15min,
Amy Xu 5hrs 45+ min......... and still strong!
Way to end our COLD JAN in MN! We haven't done 5+hrs in any Jan before... this the 1st and I think it has to do with Phong's recap! Plus the pictures from OC VV really kept us pump and our warm blood keep rising even in Winter Cold in MN!
Let's all prepare for a great great 2010 riding season!
For now GOOD LUCK TO OC VV on your Palm Spring Century coming up on Feb 13th!
From VV HPTeam in MN,
Quang Vo
ps! We will have a great FEB coming up and sorry for NO pics because my laptop crashed!
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Hi Quang i can feel the excitement from your recap. i don't think i can do any workout indoor for more then an hour and your guy did 5 plus hr. another thing is your HR 174bpm i never got to this high. a year ago i got black out when my HR at 156. i am getting better now, Yesterday was the Hilly day route at some second my HR up to 165 but no black out this time. after all climb Capt & Phong still capable break away the group on the way back as you can tell in the photo but i did not have the photo of Capt break away on PCH as he left us almost block gap.
ReplyDeleteYikes!!! 4 to 5 hours on a Spin bike???
ReplyDeleteKnowing MN was doing a Super Spin class, I did a Spin class last week and barely was able to last an hour. I never sweated so much.
Great recap and will keep OC VeloViets pumped for Palm Springs! Thanks!
@ Cuong,
ReplyDeleteYES, it was very excited morning. We only planned to have 2 groups 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 hrs spin only... but then Amy Xu showed up and said she will be there at 6am so how can I let her spin alone. You can follow her blog here: www.teamstrongheartamyxu.blogspot.com
She is VV member now so let's cheer for her when the time come!
@Phong,
4-5 hrs? We don't think about 4 to 5 hrs because for me, I am thinking that I am doing the 85 miles ride for 4.5hrs or Century for 5hrs 15min [my HR Ave will be 142-145bpm for this speed].
We suppose to be able to ride this long in the summer... WE have NO CHOICE but doing it on the spin bike in MN winter. It will help to bring our fitness to the level like we are in the summer. The good new is I got no sore next day but 6 hrs after the class I got serious cramp on my right hamstring from pulling heavy tension inteval. But I got it taking care of by taking 1 chewable pill ELIXIR made by Camelbak + 1/2 bottle of water. It only took about 30 sec to release my cramp.
I am happy to report to you that we have 6-8 riders that ready to fly century when the snow melt. The rest still hypernate and looking rounder and rounder each time I see them. hehehe! Vibol and Thai were not there but these two guys train 5-6 days a week. They are animals! So I need to stay in shape so I csan keep up with them.
About HR:
In fact, I am in better shape now then I was with you guys Dec 6th. I was 172# while riding with you guys and now I am 166# and more lean. My Ave HR for that ride on Dec 6th was 138bpm... that mean I can not bring it up due to many factors! On our 100 miles/2.5k under 5hrs ride with our team here in the summer... My Ave HR ~145-148bpm. If I do 2 hrs ride with the racing guys here then my Ave HR ~160-162 and even got up to 186 on some hill. Please take note on all your rides... then you can compare to from last year. You will notice how much you have improve.
@ VV OC,
WE are await to read the awesome recap of your Palm Spring centruy ride and please send us some good pictures! I will use it to sent to our team here in MN. Make sure bring all the riders out with all VV kits and look good! :) Don't forget to take some smaller group pics so we can see the faces better. It will take lot of communication/discipline to stay together for atleast some time in the beginning for video and pics but it also more fun when you can bring a bigger group home together with good speed and still have fun.
In MN... WE stick together to take all the pics and video before we separate. Group A1 and A2 will try to stick until 1/2 ways then we will do breakaway to see if we can do UNDER 5hrs for A1? If group A2 can hang until 50 miles... often time A2 can finish under 5hr 15min total elapse time. Have you try this before? If you got 10-12 guys finish century under 5hr 15min... you will talk about it all week, all month on your rides. So who will be the guys going for SUB-5?
Group B! Enjoy with Max, but please don't let your team drink the Bloody Marry during the century ride like Max ordered for me when I was there. I paid for it in Chino Hill last time! hehehe!
Until then, good luck on your preparation and good sleep the night before that long ride on 2/13!
VQ