Bill

Dateline Houston. O440. Destination: Phoenix and San Diego. Houston, we have video. Great session last night with Bill Edwards, Al Whaley and Cody Foster. Al's house doubles as an exercise physiology lab and the test group last night was of world-class caliber. Bill, fighting terminal cancer at 77, and with over 40 years of coaching and cycling research on his resume, walked us through his Progressive Overloading protocols using the CompuTrainer (albeit with the now dated PC1 software). U-23 Texan Cody Foster was first up working on upping his wattage in the TT aero position. One of Bill's primary principals is that of training specificity, and that meant getting Cody to produce more horsepower full aero. Bill explained the theory, purpose and captured the data, then reviewed the CS graphs as Cody caught his breath from the 15 second blasts of focused power.

Then it was 15 time World Champion sprinter AL Whaley's turn. Folks, this is a big engine. You don't get to the world stage with a Briggs & Stratton. This is a turbo-charged hemi, refined, tuned, tested, and a cubic inch displacement that would make Mopar blush. Al's session was designed to illustrate another of Bill's principals, that of the relationship of power to cadence. Bill would set the course resistance on the CT to allow for a RPM ramp up and then a blast of resistance where Al's only job was to keep his cadence as high as possible despite the increased work load. Three times at 140 plus RPM with the third 15 second blast at almost 1,200 watts. THIS, dear friends was fun to watch. And the reason why Al has stood atop the highest and most prestigious podiums on the world circuit. With Bill and CompuTrainer on the two and three platforms, by his own testimony.

All for now from IAH, we're about to board and RCVman after four hours sleep, has yet to have coffee, despite the drive, rental car return, shuttle bus and blog post. Priorities, ya know. Bill Edwards has 'em, Cody and Al swear by 'em and they are now available on the Racermateinc.com site for the bargain price of $24.95.

Or you can spend another five years wondering.

Pix: Al Whaley, Bill Edwards and Cody Foster at the end of our session in Houston last night. Al gets loose prior to his 3 sets of 15 seconds at 140 rpm (and 1,200 watts!) Thanks guys and best of luck to you all.