Training Ride #2

The observant reader will notice on the calendar to the left I was supposed to be riding the 300km brevet in Westfield, MA today. Well, I bailed on the brevet. I'm not sure I'll even do one brevet this year. Why not? To get the type of training I need requires my weekends to be devoted to a different style of riding. Brevets are very fun, and I'm a bit disappointed I can't integrate them in to my schedule, but unless I quit my job or eliminate at least one day of work they aren't going to happen. Last year I used the brevets to force myself to ride the long distances required to get ready for something like the RAAM qualifier, and I also was hoping to meet some like minded folk to do other longer rides with outside of the brevets. The latter was successful, and when I visit CT I have a few contacts for some long and hard century or greater rides! The problem with brevets, for me, is the riders do not go fast enough - yeah, I can ride solo up front but that is not how a brevet is meant to be ridden - and they require way too many stops.

To be competitive in the 100 mile endurance mtb series I can not be dilly dallying around for 14 hours riding 125 miles. I need to be wreaking havoc on my cardiovascular system, or, a bit simpler, my entire body, on very high intensity endurance rides on the weekends, and more focused training on the weekdays e.g. intervals. The weekend long ride right now is at 4 hours, and I'll be extending that time as the year goes by to coincide with the RAAM qualifier in September.

What do I do on a long weekend ride? I warm up for about 15 minutes, gradually, and once I hit NJ on the other side of the GWB, I start the log on the bike computer and start pedaling as hard as I can physically sustain for the allotted time period. Having a nice base to work with has made this ride a much more predictable and achievable workout. Last year I would've crapped out halfway through, or not gone hard enough most the time. This year, I know what I'm capable of and am going 10% beyond that for the entire ride. I must admit this ride is NOT comfortable, and I also have to confess I don't notice the scenery much - I realized after the ride today I failed to glance even once off the GWB to gaze upon the beautiful NYC skyline on a perfectly clear day. But wait, I don't find the ride to be miserable, and it's even pretty fun, but some times the suffering can be pretty intense. Mostly, I think, my poor wife is exposed to the worst of it. I stumbled in today, barely making it up the 5 flights of stairs to our walk up APT, and, literally, threw off everything I had on as quickly as possible, tossed on some shorts so I was reasonably decent, and proceeded to crash on the couch. My breath was a bit short, and if I took a deep breath it would make me cough. I felt like I was going to puke. My legs were ACHING. A dull ache, a constant burning sensation. If I stood up they would shake, and feel like they were on fire. So I sat back down. Eventually I worked up the courage to forage for some food, so I grabbed the easiest thing possible to eat and drink out of the frig and pantry - a tall glass of milk, o so chilled, and some guacamole and tortilla chips. Probably not the ideal combination, but, who cares? It was pretty difficult to eat the food. The milk went down easy, though. After that I napped for a few minutes and decided I should shower. I felt better then and headed back for some more food - this time a bit more recovery oriented. A milkshake with hammer perpetuem and m&m's:) Usually I use peanut butter but we're currently tapped out. This is a tragedy. So, I'm probably rambling and will cut this off now. Welcome to a small glimpse in to my training ride!

some stats from today's windy ride:

Total Values:

Distance: 80.50 mi
Ride Time: 3:54:47 h
Rest Time: 00:00:49 h - darn small town stop lights!
Elevation Gain: 5510 ft

Average Values:

Speed: 20.57 mph
Heart Rate: 144 bpm
Temperature: 67.3 F

First Official Training Ride 03/27/09

Friday called for temperatures in the mid 60s and sunny skies so it was time to call in sick to work and go for a nice bike ride! Before heading out, I stopped by Signature Cycles to have them confirm my build, or give the "OK" that everything was properly situated. The saddle was dropped 1cm, and the bars were moved to the precise angle with a nifty digital tool that...measures angles or something like that! After that, I was out the door and on the road heading north to the George Washington bridge.

The route choice today was none other the famous Bear Mountain nearly a century ride. I suppose it's a century for most Manhattan people, but I live right by the bridge so it's usually a 90 mile ride for me. Today, however, I started from 63rd and West End Ave so I got the century plus a few miles in. The weatherman seemed pretty accurate today, and all I had to contend with was a light wind from the Northwest for half my ride.

I'm a bit more focused this year on training at particular levels, and have slightly altered how I do the longer rides. I've a significantly better base to work with going in to this year, and I can certainly feel the difference in my legs. Thus, I can sustain a higher workload for a longer period of time without torching my knees or cramping up. Yesterday, I was able to ride at level which I would call 'reasonably uncomfortable' for the entire 4 hour ride. yeah, I rode a bit longer than that but 15 or so of the miles were in the city and I just warmed up then. I've set alarms on my computer to go off if I drop below a certain heart rate. This is very helpful! It's very easy to drift off over the miles and forget about training and just day dream!

I've a fancy, new cycling computer which allows post ride analysis, and through some devious online sites I was able to get it to work on my iMac. I now have parallels and windows 7 beta ultimate running on the computer specifically for my Sigma Rox 9.0 cyclocomputer! Unfortunately, I didn't bother reading the instruction manual so I did not log, or save the ride data, for about 40 miles of the 90 mile ride I did. Oops.

Here's some of the data I gleaned from the Rox:

Total Values

Distance: 52.27 mi
Ride Time: 02:24:33 h
Rest Time: 00:00:49 h
Ascent: 2962 ft

Average Values
Speed: 21.83mph
Heart Rate: 148 bpm
Temperature: 63.3F

Min/Max Values

Speed: 3.98mph/42.29mph
Heart Rate: 98 bpm/169bpm
Temperature: 57F/72F
Inclination: -11%/13%

Completed Independent Fabrication pics

I finally have a geared bike again. The two month wait for the IF was worth it! The bike handles beautifully, and most importantly, fits me perfectly. I was able to build the bike and set it up simply by going with the measurements from the fitting, and to my surprise, it fit exactly right with no adjustments necessary.

For a steel frame and fork, granted, a very high end steel alloy, the bike is light at ~16lb's complete with pedals and bottle cages. It should be noted it's not a typically seen stock build and has a few weight weenie parts snuck in here and there! The brakes, for example, are about 40 grams lighter per caliper than a Dura-Ace brake, but have the stopping power of the Dura-Ace. The crankset is Campy's Shimano and SRAM friendly Record UT re-badged with the name Fulcrum Racing RS. They are the exact same thing! These weigh over 100 grams less than the SRAM Force crankset. The handlebars are also very light at 189 grams, and they seem to be extremely stiff and fit nicely. By the way, all these weights are actual - I bought a digital weight weenie scale awhile back to play with!

The bike descends confidently, feels very stiff in the bottom bracket area, is like a magic carpet ride, and it looks very well built! The welds are flawless, and I really dig the sterling silver head badge! All in all, a highly recommended custom frameset, if you are in the market.

Build specs:

Cane Creek 110 headset
Custom Wheelset: Niobium 27mm rims, Dt swiss supercomp spokes 20F/24R, alloy nipples besides drive side brass, Dt swiss 240s hubs, velocity velo plugs in place of rim strips.
Continental 4000s 23c tires with Conti. Race light tubes
Fulcrum Racing RS 175mm crankset
Speedplay X1 pedals
Arundel dave-o bottle cages
Thomson Masterpiece 250mm 27.2 seatpost
Fizik Aliante carbon saddle
Ibis 3d Forged stem w/ custom Ti bolts
Sigma Rox 9.0 computer
TRP R960 brakeset
Deda cork tape
Ritchey Evolution SL handle bar 42cm
Sram Force derailleurs and shifters
Sram 1090 chain
Sram 1070 cassette 11-26

Giordana Silverline Lobster Glove Review

The Giordana Silverline Lobster glove was my first adventure in to the realm of lobster claw style gloves. They cost me $40 at the LBS. They've a nice, soft fleece lining on the inside. The thumb and index finger go solo inside the glove while the rest of the fingers camp out along side one another although they are divided by the fleece liner. The outer portion of the glove on the top has a windproof membrane, a terry cloth, fleece like wipe on the thumb, and a neoprene insulation on the inside with some textured plastic for, I'm going to assume, a better grip.

I've had these for a few months now, and used them pretty regularly on commutes where the temperatures dip below 40F. The lowest temperature was probably around 0F to a bit in to the negatives. I tend to be a weenie in the cold, so take my comfort range for what it's worth. Before I address that, though, I have to say I almost always use a glove liner underneath my winter glove to extend the temperature range, and it also seems to significantly reduce the amount of perspiration inside the glove even when my hands are toasty warm. The glove liner I use is made by Icebreaker and is 98% merino wool and 2% elastane. They have lots of little tacky dots on the inside allowing for excellent dexterity. A very nice thing to have on when you get a flat tire in the freezing temperatures!!!

So, thus far, I've been comfortable with this combo for a few hours slightly below freezing. 25F. Below that, my index finger and thumb start getting very cold while the rest of the fingers are generally pretty comfortable. Above 40F and I start getting too warm.

The windproof membrane works well. I can certainly tell it's eliminating all that nasty cold from the top of my hand. The neoprene also seems to insulate nicely. The nose wipe is wide and useful. The thumb seems to not have the windproof membrane under the wipe. I usually don't notice it, but when it's very cold and windy I can feel the chill penetrating in to my lonely thumb! The grips, if you can call them that, are a joke. The grid pattern is way too hard, and is more like plastic. I really don't know why they didn't use something softer and more rubber-like. By completely removing the grid, the glove would not lose anything. That's how bad it is. I've troubles removing my water bottle.

Besides the two minor issues I have with the gloves, I think they are pretty solid. I do think there may be some better options. Craft makes a similar glove, but differs in that the index lives with the middle finger so only the thumb flies solo. I think that makes more sense. The craft gloves also have a much tackier grip. PI also has the lobster claw, but it looks way too heavy for high intensity cycling in all but the coldest temperatures. Of course, there are others, too...

So, my advice is to steer clear of these gloves. I think the lobster claw is excellent, though, and if I cycled more often in freezing weather I'd probably invest in a better pair. Things to look for if you are in the market: windproof top, snot wipe, make sure all fingers share space with another finger besides the thumb, make sure the grip is tacky, and finally, try liner gloves!!!

More bike porn

Litespeed Bella followed by Cannondale 1fg 29er followed by Redline 925, see pics!

The bella is a, uh, beautiful frame like most other titanium frames are when built by a skilled company. The parts are good, not great, but will suit the wife perfectly fine for her leisurely style of cruising. I itch to strip the thing down and toss SRAM Rival or Force on it, but she has banned me from touching her bike! I did manage to convince her to change the saddle and seatpost to a Fizik Vitesse and Thomson Elite, respectively. I also sneaked a pair of carbon water bottle cages on when she wasn't looking:)

I bought the Cannondale 29er on clearance last week quite impulsively although the idea of buying a 29er had been thoroughly researched beforehand. I was originally going to get a Niner One 9 and build it up over the next few months, but the price was right on the Cannondale, and the lefty fork is very nice, so what the heck, I got a complete bike. I'm going to strip the bike down to the frame and fork, and rebuild it with parts of my choosing, though. Right now it's a tank, and not really ideal for being competitive against other SS'ers and, even worse, geared riders (which is my primary target this year:)) I'll be racing the Wilderness 101 and Shenandoah Mtn 100, and perhaps a few more in the NUE series, and I hope to be highly competitive.

The Redline was cleaned right before the pics. It was filthy beforehand. It's been a dirty beast this entire winter, and Sunday was it's first bath. Unfortunately, it'll get dirty again tomorrow and probably look even worse than before I cleaned it due to the snow and salt covered roads. It's had a day of reprieve from the roads, but it's time to live up to it's name, and haul my butt to work on the morrow. The Redline 925 is a great bike albeit stiff riding compared to higher end frames and forks. I recently upgraded the cranks to Dura-Ace 7800, and must admit I felt a significant increase in stiffness over the previous setup - RPM something or other no name cranks. I also dropped, literally, a pound of weight. Yes, I have a digital scale to obsess over the weights of all my bike parts, and to assess whether or not they are worthy of being mounted on such and such bike.

The wife's new ride

Yesterday brought the arrival of the very slightly used Litespeed Bella for my wife. It's a woman's specific titanium frame with a full carbon fork, Shimano 105, and fsa rd80 wheels. She had no intentions of ever getting such a nice bike, but the price was right, and I think my nearly constant ramblings about fancy bike parts is starting to rub off on her. The bike looks as if it's never been ridden, and besides the saddle and seat post collar (which suck, imo) everything is honky dory. Before you start making fun of them, the pedals were just to check the size indoors yesterday! Needless to say, she's extremely happy with her new bike, and I hope it brings her out on some of my longer rides in the years to come!

Too bad it's supposed to snow about 47 inches today and tomorrow. That reminds me I need to stop typing and go ride!

O, wait, what's that silver bike behind the bella??? An accident. Oops.

Bebop pedals revisited

I've used the Bebop SL pedals for quite a few months now, and have put probably around 3,000 miles on them. Most of these miles are commuting down a flat path to and from work. I've also gone on a few century rides to Bear Mountain.

I think they are good pedals. I don't think they are great pedals. There are some very serious drawbacks to the bebops which I ignored at first, but now have come back to haunt me forcing me to remove them from my Redline.

The low stack height creates a problem I think will eliminate them from all but the most die hard fan who uses mountain bike shoes. I've yet to use them with road shoes, but will have the opportunity when an adapter arrives some time next week. I originally used the bebops with Lake mountain bike shoes and was forced to trim a rather significant chunk of rubber from both shoes where the spindle travels beneath the shoe. Recently, I bought a new pair of commuter shoes which have Vibram tread similar to a light hiking boot. I thought I would be able to get away with no trimming since the shoes did not have the massive lugs like the Lake shoes, but, unfortunately, I was wrong. The spd part of the Shimano shoe is set quite deep so you can actually consider walking around without sounding like a tap dancer. Good for most every pedal besides the bebop. I bought a tool at the hardware store which is for shaving down rubber tires, etc hoping to grind down the tread some. It turns out the Vibram sole is ridiculously tough stuff. I gave up after 15 minutes. I think the only thing that would work on them is a grinder. After the frustration of wasting $10 for the tool and time spent scraping away settled in, I started thinking why the heck should I have to grind my brand new, nice vibram soles down to accommodate a stupid pedal??? They are good pedals, but they aren't that much better than the numerous other models out there in the market. So, off they go in to a plastic bag for storage.

Temporarily, I'm using my old crank brothers egg beaters. They don't require trimming, and are extremely simple to mount and clip in. They are heavier, don't offer free float, and have a far less durable and smaller cleat. They work though and don't ruin my fancy commuter shoes!