Robbie also runs a coaching service and cycling studio in Gurney, Illinois, equipped with 10 CompuTrainers for client use. VQ boyz (Robbie's hometown team) I had to share this moment with the VQ boys. You will all appreciate this someday when you have a bad patch in your cycling. My story started 5 weeks ago. A week after Jason, Jeff and I had a great week of training, I did a race called Yuma. I raced well and made some terrific efforts despite my final placing. This race would be a turning point in my forward progression because from that day forward I started to ride worse and worse. The weeks following Yuma saw my power drop considerably. My SRM (like the Computrainer) allows me to compare watts to HR, and no matter how strong you think you are or how fast you may go, Watts don't lie. I was on a downward slide. This has happened before and a good training log and lots of documentation should find the solution. I took a good look at my training plan, resting rate, 200-watt test, diet, recovery, sleep, and rechecked my carb and protein intake. So after an in depth analysis I decided that I might need some good old rest. So rest I did. I stopped training hard a week after Yuma ended and picked it up again 10 days before Sea Otter. Contrary to my history I still did not feel good after my rest week. I had blood work done and called my coaches Steve T, Johan B, Frankie A. I even consulted the Postal team doctor looking for a potential problem with my blood tests. All of them had great ideas but ideas that I have had for the last 3 weeks and ideas that I tried to no avail. I started to panic just a little, but each time I started to feel the pressure of bad form I managed to reread an old book that always gets me through my hard times. The book is called "Embracing your potential" This book along with my feedback from Steve about VQ athlete's success kept me extremely positive in the midst of the worst form I have had all year. If I lay on the couch and did nothing since DEC, I would be better than I am now. I rested some more after an awful Sea Otter and started training again in AZ. I had a couple of OK days but nothing exciting. My power was down and I was running out of options. I kept thinking “what aren't you doing know, that you did a month or so ago when you were riding well.” I was stretching, my resting HR was fine, my sleep was great, my diet was good, my program was good but was coming apart because of this inability to train hard and my stress level was fine. I was stumped?? My blood work was normal, my position was good, and I was starting to feel chubby from lack of training. I was willing to lose some fitness to make sure I was recovering completely but this was getting out of control. I was going weeks where my HR would not go over 160 the entire week. My legs just could not put out the power. Two days ago I was getting close to calling Johan and explaining the situation again when I decided to go out for a ride with my mini-disc player and do an old favorite climb called Rio Verde in north Scottsdale. It is a 65-mile loop with a long 9-mileclimb smack dab in the middle. I have had no form on this climb for the last month, but as usual, I was hopeful for a turn around. (On a side note, I remained positive this entire time, I thought at any second my legs would start feeling great and I would start to slaughter people again.) I made a note to myself that as I rode I would go through all the things I did to achieve the form I had a month ago and make sure I was not leaving anything out. As I was going through the mental checklist I thought of a couple new things. One was weightlifting. I had not weightlifted for over a month. I have been unable to get to a gym in the last month due to travel and racing. I thought this could be a contributor but not the entire problem. I have done this in the past and my form has never left me like it did this last month. I knew there was more. I was 20 miles into the ride and of all things The Boss's “Glory Days” comes on. I listened to the song and “BAM”; it hit me like a ton of bricks. “My Computrainer”, I had not done the SpinScan in over 2 months!!!” When I first started the SpinScan my legs were putting out 60 percent in my right leg with my left only putting out 40 percent. After a month of working on this I managed to get real close to 50/50. I then went back after 2 weeks and I was back to 55/45. My mind was reeling. I think I may have discovered something. After almost a month and a half of frustration I was excited about my discovery. I had to test it. I would use the next climb to go past my LT pedaling normally and really concentrate on how both legs would react. Sure as shit, my right leg filled up at 320 watts with my left leg feeling nothing. It was remarkable. After further inspection my right leg looked huge. I mean huge. It looked like two different thighs. I was overjoyed. I still needed to do more tests. I was 2miles from Rio Verde and I know what my watts are when I am really going well. I decide my first test would be to ride normally and then do a good old fashion Thordarson VQ workout and do a one legged interval. I started the climb using both legs in zone three and gradually went harder until I reached the top of zone 3. I looked at my watts and they were a dismal 280. I then decided to stop using my left leg completely. I did not take it out off the pedal; I just consciously stopped using it. My watts dropped to 270 with my HR remaining constant. I almost shit my pants. I could not believe what I was seeing. MY watts were practically the same with or without my left leg. I still had one more test to do. I needed to try and use my now under trained underdeveloped left leg. My next effort on the same climb (long as hell climb) I was going to really concentrate on overusing my left leg and taking some pressure off my right leg. This all sounds so fucked up I know, but I was drooling with excitement. Sure enough I was able to maintain 50 more watts than I had in the last month. I almost started to cry. I was so excited that I was going to pull over and call my wife. I literally almost started to cry. I rode the rest of the ride with my new found balance and decided to do the training crit that evening. I rode to the training crit and had over 90 miles in at this point. My left leg was really blown from using it for the first time in months and I started to second-guess doing the crit. I did not want to overdue my poor left leg. Then I thought, "poor left leg? " This thing has been on vacation for the last month and it is about time it earned its keep. I decided to do the crit. Before the race started I taped a reminder on my bars to use the left leg and remember circles. I ended up lapping the field with 2 other guys, one of whom is my pal and I finished a pleased 2nd and I took all the primes. I had power to spare. I am still not even close to my best power levels but I am well on my way to improving. It is a great feeling to finally know what the hell is going on with your form. I am excited to get home and start working on my SpinScans 4 times a week at night. I will be home after Austin April 9th and I will be home through Memorial Day. I am planning on doing Quad Cities weekend and looking forward to peaking around that time. I hope you all take something away from this story. I know I did. One VQ note. I would like to do lactate threshold tests the second week in April. Let me know if this is bad for any of you. I do not think there are any races this Saturday so I was thinking of the second Sat in April at EJ’s place. I will give all of you test times and there will be two Computrainers there. One to warm up and one to test. The test should take around 30 minutes, which is perfect warm-up for the next guy in line. These tests will not be Max watt tests. These tests will determine your exact TT HR and watts. Talkto you all soon. Robbie

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