I’m tapering for the upcoming criteriums this weekend and today was my longest workout of the week…a whopping hour and a half! I did a set of short VO2 intervals heading out into a headwind and was happy with my wattage.

I currently have a 12–25 9-speed cassette on my training bike so I didn’t have a 16-tooth cog, which I sorely missed. During each interval, I was jumping back and forth between the 15 and 17, neither of which got me in my cadence sweet spot of 101–104 RPM for LT/VO2 work. I guess it’s good to train my legs to put out that power at different cadences, but for the flat criteriums this weekend, I’ll be riding my 10-speed race bike with an 11–23, which has a 16.

After the set of 4×3-minute VO2 intervals, I rode easy for ten minutes then started an LT interval. I had a decent tailwind so it was fun to clip along at 25 MPH. I still feel a little fatigued from last weekend’s rides, but a couple more days of short, intense workouts and I think I’ll be ready!