Reynolds SDV66T wheelset impressions

This weekend marked my first foray in to the realm of tubular wheels. I, uh, accidentally picked up some SDV66T wheels off fleaBay last week, and quickly tossed a Red 11-26 cassette on them, mounted them on the IF, and headed to CT for the weekend.

SDV66T stands for Super Deep V Tubular, and that's what they are. They are 66mm deep, and are touted by Reynolds to be the most aerodynamic wheel available on the market and are also UCI legal.

The first thing I noticed upon unpacking the box was that these things are REALLY light. The weight weenie within was tickled pink. Claimed weight is 1350 grams, which, in my opinion, is just ridiculous for a wheelset this deep. Reynolds is usually right on target with their weights, and have even been known to undercut the claims on occasion. Today I weighed the rear wheel without a tire and cassette and it came in at 751 grams. Since I know the front hub is roughly 140 grams lighter than the rear, I can estimate it's weight to be a little under 600 grams.

The wheels came glued with Continental Competition 22mm tires. The glue is Tufo Extreme tape. Exactly what I would've chosen myself.

On Saturday, I headed out in pretty windy conditions with occasional strong gusts. A great way to learn very quickly how to handle the deep rims. The sink or swim method...

Immediately upon leaving my parents driveway there's a pretty fast descent where I quickly get up to nearly 40mph. Right away I could tell I was on a very different riding pair of wheels. Rewind a bit first, just climbing their driveway, I could feel the rotational weight reduction from my other wheelset. They felt snappy and light. Did I say they look really neat? They do. They scream GO FAST.

Back to flying down my first hill, I felt myself having to fight a lot more to keep the bike in a straight line. It was manageable, but it's certainly more of a challenge to descend at high speeds with cross winds on these wheels. The more I rode them throughout the day, the more I got used to the descents, and now, after two days and 200 miles, I'm quite satisfied with how they handle and could see myself using these wheels every day.

On the flats, these wheels really shine. They make a really cool sound when zipping along, and they look cool. I said that already, but they really do. I denuded them of their very loud stickers and they look ultra stealth, and fast. Really fast. It might be placebo, but I felt like they held higher speeds easier. And, for the fifty miles I rode with 3 others, it was obvious these wheels descended way faster than those fancy Ksyriums the others were on.

Day 1, Saturday, was a 102 miles but not much climbing. Only 4k total. On the flats, it was very easy to sustain a 23 to 27 mph average speed on these wheels. I'm really convinced I save a bit of energy.

Day 2, Sunday, I rode back to Manhattan from my parents house, which, for those of you who have read a post or two, know this is the ride I complain about every time I do it. It's brutal! Nearly 100 miles one way, it also has a LOT of climbing. Basically, it feels like you are climbing for the first 65 miles. Which, in reality, turns out to be true. I can't say these wheels feel like they climb any better than my other super heavy 1500 gram 27mm aluminum wheelset. They look cooler, though.

I didn't get a flat, so I didn't have the pleasure of changing a tubular on the road. When I got home today, I decided I better learn how to deal with the tire, so I ripped the rear tire off. I'm glad I did this. The tufo extreme tape is VERY, VERY difficult to remove when it's not heated up - something I hope happens when riding it - and I had to take a hair dryer to it. Once heated, it came off pretty easily. It left a lot of nasty, very sticky residue on the rim, and I spent the next 6 hours cleaning them. There's still some residue left, but I can't take it anymore and will just leave it! Tomorrow I'll mount a fresh tire, and see how the 2nd stage goes. Thus far, I'm a little concerned about tire removal on the road. More research is required. But, I think I may switch to the typical tubular glue since it's supposedly much easier to remove.

Some initial thoughts:

These wheels are bad ass. They ride super smooth, feel fast as hell, and look really neat.

If you are not a confident descender, or are nervous about cars blowing you off the road, these are NOT the wheels for you. Lighter riders also may find them more than a handful.

More on these bad boys later. And a pic I took today while playing with them:

Mad $'s vacuumed away

In my constant pursuit for perfection with my gear, I've been battling with my shoes and pedals. I've used Speedplay for quite a while now with intermittent interruptions with other companies' pedals. The list has grown to encompass nearly every pedal manufacturer out there: Look, Shimano, Time, Crank Brothers, Speedplay, Bebop...I'm probably leaving a few off.

I've managed to use less shoes, but this year decided to replace my very nappy looking Northwave's with some fresh new kicks. I got Lake cx330c. They are very well made shoes, extremely light, and I love the lacing system. But, the first pair I ordered seemed to be a tad on the short side so I sold those on fleabay and ordered up another pair a half size larger. The length seemed right on these, but after a few rides something still didn't seem right. My foot seemed to slide around inside the shoe, and only stopped if I really cranked the BOA lacing down, but then the shoes felt too tight. I decided these shoes just didn't fit my foot properly.

So, back to the web for more research. I landed on Shimano's website and noticed they had semi-custom footwear - the 310 model. I decided to go try them on at my local chi chi boutique bike shop, Signature Cycles, who also had the custom fit system, and finally cough up the dough for a proper fitting shoe instead of relying on the Internet guess and check system. Upon initial fitting, I decided the shoe felt like a slipper. Could it get even better with the customization?

Having your foot vacuum sealed for a few minutes is not the most pleasurable experience! After various steps of baking parts of the shoe in a small Shimano oven, a hose was attached to the shoe, a bag was placed half way up my leg, a strap latched the bag to my leg, and the vacuum was turned on. Quickly, the air was sucked out and immense pressure was placed on my foot. The pressure gained. My foot hurt. My foot fell asleep. Ah, happy numbness, this isn't so bad. Repeat the procedure on the other foot. Pain, tingles, numbness, bliss.

After all was said and done, I had a visibly tweaked shoe on both feet. My feet felt like they were in a glove now instead of a slipper. It was interesting to see my right foot was clearly smaller in circumference than the left. I never knew this.

Summary: the shoes kick ass. They look pretty good, have an excellent carbon sole, and have the holes drilled exactly where they should be. But, they cost a ton of money. $400 after taxes!!!! Today I rode them for the first time, and I must admit they are far superior to any shoe I've used. There are so many neat little parts to the shoe they are too numerous to mention. I have to list one though - the inside lining. It's like a lint brush; smooth stroking down and very rough going up. This really helps lock the foot in place and even makes the shoes a bit more difficult to remove! The previous Northwave's I had I would've labeled before the Shimano's as good to great since they fit me fine and basically I forgot about them when cycling. Now I must admit they are simply average. They worked. They are for the average Joe.

Since I got new shoes, I decided to give the Dura-Ace pedals a shot again. The Look pedals I recently got for my mountain bike have almost no float, and provide a very secure, locked in feeling. I really like that feeling. The Dura-Ace offer a similar feeling while having an even larger cleat to work with. I've always shied away from pedals that really lock you in to one position, partially because I drank the Speedplay Kool-Aid and believe that they offer "knee saving rotation", and partially because they are simply easier to set up. Worry about fore and aft, who cares what direction they are pointing, just make sure the cleat is on the proper shoe! Well, since I shelled out the $$$ for the shoes, I decided to drop even more $$$ for some retail Dura-Ace pedals knowing I would be looked after at Signature Cycles. They did not disappoint. They cleats seem to be set up perfectly by them, and I was really enjoying the shoe-pedal interface during today's morning ride. Did I finally find the holy grail of pedals and shoes? So far, I think so. But I need a lot more rides to reach a conclusion. One thing's for certain - the shoes are awesome.

On this one you can see how it's curved around the heal. It was not like this before the fitting.

Flux

Last week I changed my saddle on the road bike for a test run of a new one made by Bontrager - the inform RXL. I learned about it the week before, and became interested when I discovered the 90 day comfort guarantee. That's a first in the saddle biz for me. Try it for 3 months, full refund if not satisfied??? Wow. Sure, why not. I ordered one and tried it for the first time this weekend.

The saddle is well made, lightweight at a claimed 200 grams, and has plenty of space for fore/aft movement on the rails.

I immediately noticed I had nearly zero pressure in the ABC region, much less than the Aliante, which I've noticed seems to be slightly greater than some saddles, but, for me, not so bad that it causes any numbness. Even in the drops, I could wail away for an hour at a time with no feeling of cutting off my blood flow.

The second thing I noticed was the firmness of the saddle in the rear. This is definitely not a saddle for cruising around at 10mph on a leisurely Saturday morning ride. I prefer the firm padding, which is one of the reasons I picked this saddle over a lesser model. I've progressively gone to less and less padding to now where I prefer hardly any. The Aliante is a bit too squishy for my tastes I've decided, which is a shame because it's the most comfortable saddle I've ever been on. During long rides the mushiness creates some discomfort in certain areas better left out of this post.

So, if you are in the market for a saddle, I think this is one that is definitely worth checking out, especially with the 90 day trial period.

Finished cannondale 29er

So, here it is. I finished it last night - some minor touches, and am leaving later today for the race this weekend in southern TN called the Cohutta 100.

Last night I changed the stem out to an xc3 SI stem which has an integrated steerer tube so there are no bolts on the stem portion. I needed a shorter stem, and this was supposedly lighter by a lot so figured, what the heck, I'll get it. The claimed weight was quite a bit off, but it's still about 100 grams lighter than the original setup. More importantly, I've the correct reach to the bar!

Installing this stem/steerer combo was not the easiest thing in the world. Removing the original aluminum tube from the HT was quite the challenge. There are two humps on the tube which I can only assume go where the headset bearings are. They like to get stuck in the HT when being removed. I had to hammer it out at first with a wood block over the tube, and then had to stick a pipe inside and hammer it some more. Then, finally, I pulled it out pretty easily with my hand. Installing the new combo stem was simple and straight forward. It just needed a few happy slaps from the hammer to set it in place. The new stem looks nicer, and was well worth the slightly higher price vs the same model stem only shorter. The price difference is about $50.

If you attempt to do the above, take care with the lefty fork. After the tube is removed the fork is free to crash to the floor!

I also changed the tires. After posting a pic of the bike on mtbr.com's forums a few members chimed in on the tire choice, and one had done the same race last year. They said the mountain kings would be squirmy in the gravel and not as quick as some other tire choices on the hard pack single track. So, I ordered up a set of Kenda Small Block 8's on Monday. I upgraded the shipping to overnight since they were heavily discounted online, and got to work Tuesday. The new tires saved an additional 170 grams over the mountain kings. There was a 31 gram difference in weight between the two small blocks. 530 and 561 were the weights. I'm really glad I got the faster shipping. Sealing these tires was not as simple as the Mountain Kings, which sealed up perfectly fine after the first inflation. Just this morning, two days later, have I finally got them totally sealed! It took 4 rounds of stan's dances:

to get these suckers sealed.

The final addition I made were the grips! Thankfully, this is a very nearly mindless task especially with the ODI lock-on type. I chose the Ruffian model since they are pretty thin and aren't squishy. This, imo, ='s better handling!

So, here she is in all her glory. In to the woods and mountains I go!

First ride to my parents house this year

On Friday, instead of taking the train I decided to ride to my parents house for one last long ride before I head down south this coming Thursday for the Cohutta 100mi mtb race in TN and GA.

The weather was beautiful, in the upper 60s most the ride, and sunny with very little wind. Perfect for riding hard all day!

The route I take to my parents house is 95 miles with ~7250ft of total elevation gain. Nearly all of the climbing is in the final 50 miles. I have to wonder, does this ride ever get easy? I think it probably doesn't. The hills just beat the crap out of the legs.

I was tearing the road up until I hit the hills. My average speed after 43 miles was 22mph. I finished with an average speed of 19.82mph. 95 miles, 7250ft gain, 5 hours. Definitely my best time ever. I've clearly gotten significantly stronger since just last year. I must admit to pooping out near the end. For the last ten miles I was dreaming more about the food I was going to eat, rather than focusing on my 90rpm's or keeping the speed up. I noted at one point I was on a 19% grade near the end.

This route would be great for a stage race with a whopper of an ending. The last mile includes a brutal climb with the grades hitting 18% gaining nearly 1000ft!

The MTB racer is nearly set up

Today, I finally had all the parts together to finish the build for my Cannondale 1fg 29er single speed. The bike was a behemoth straight from the factory, and with quite a few modifications I've whittled away the weight to make most weight weenies weepy eyed. From really heavy, probably 25+ pounds, to now 20 pounds right on the nose this bike should be perfect for the 100 mile races it's targeted for this season.

The only original items from the stock build are the stem, handle bar, and crankset. The cranks will be replaced eventually, but since the current cranks do work perfectly fine and aren't much heavier than the chi chi stuff out on the market, they will stick around for a few more days.

The last bits I was waiting on were the wheels and brakes. I decided to go tubeless with the wheels so Stan's no tubes rims were the best choice. ZTR 355 29er rims, dt swiss super comp spokes 32H 3X laced to a Lefty hub up front and an American Classic disc single speed hub in the rear. The wheelset weighs in at a very light 1600 grams and that includes the 18T cog, spacers for the cog, yellow stan's rim strips, and the valves for each wheel. Minus all that jazz the set probably weighs around 1500 grams, maybe a touch less. That's crazy, in my opinion! They are the same weight as my road bike wheelset!

For the tires, I chose Continental Mountain King 2.2. They weigh 630 grams each and were very easy to set up tubeless. I could've gone a bit lighter here but would've made some sacrifices either in durability, traction, or both. Since you can only go so fast, anyways, on a single speed, I figure it's good to have some traction!

The brakes I ended up going with are the Hope Mini X2 Pro 160mm up front and 140mm in the rear. The build quality of these brakes is absolutely incredible. Drool worthy for any CNC afficiando. These are the lightest brakes out there besides the Formula R1, and from all the info I could glean on the web, the Hopes are a better brake. They feel amazing. Straight out of the box they are bled and feel perfect. I do need to shorten the lines, but will wait until after the 100 mile race this weekend to do so.

So, without further ado, here're some pics:

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