The old ones (Performance Bike Shop Forte') broke under the Syntace C3 aerobar clamps. Hope the new ones (Ritchey SuperLogic Evo Carbon) won't. PBS stood by their Satisfaction Guarantee, so aside from all the labor, only a $60 hit to my pocketbook. Nothing wrong with the Forte' bars for normal use, but not up to aerobars.
PBS's house brand bars Forte was bucking under the aerobar clamps
Brake cables run in the bar's cable hides, and shifter cables run along backside of bar. Each cable was trial fitted, taped into place using 3M electrical tape, and then function tested before any bar tape was applied.
L and R brake cable swapped so front brake and 10-gears are in my right hand. Shifter cables also swapped and then crossed under the downtube. This gives the rear deraulleur cable a straight path from headtube to end of chainstay.
MagicShine mount attaches along side of the stem. Yeah, there's a LOT going on here. Old bars had cables threaded through them, so every last cable had to be unthreaded. The brakes and drivetrain then had to be readjusted after installation. What a massive PITA.
Another angle
Pretty clean. The cables are trimmed to within a mm of their lives. I doubt I can flip the stem without recabling at this point, but I loathe messy cabling and the drag it creates. MagicShine is ~ right in front of toptube and battery pack strapped to top of toptube.
Clean cockpit. Slip the Garmin into it's mount and we're wheels-up in 30 seconds.
Not wanting to take any chances on the new bars, I used the same trick on the aeorbars I used on my perpetually sliding Easton seatpost - I shimmed the clamps with 1500 Wet-or-Dry sandpaper, turning the grit side to the main bars. This dramatically reduces the amount of clamping pressure needed to keep the aerobars from moving. I especially like that this also comprises a compressible shim, so the take-up on the tightening is more gradual, and easier to judge.
The spray bottle hanging off the left handlebar is to keep the bike from tipping over when standing straight up so I can even up the aerobars. Nice trick. When you get aerobars where you want them, roll the bike into a doorway, place a level across the ends, and mark their height. No matter what happens with handlebars and stems, it makes a great starting point for adjusting the aerobars.
I rode the bike up to Beals Point a couple of nights ago, and am very happy with the bars. The aren't noodley like the Forte, but are still soaking up a lot of road chop. The reach is perfect, but the drop is a lot less, and I need to push the drops forward and out to get more room in the cockpit. With aerobars, you seldom need deep drops, but a middle position is nice for climbing into a wind in a position where you can still breathe well.
The first real chill of the season rolled in last night. I beat the storm by a few hours to get in my first ride in almost 2 weeks. Speaking of a change in the weather, the Occupy Wall St people in Oakland shut down the port yesterday, the 5th largest in the US. Everyone of those shipping containers represents thousands of US jobs gone to China. I wish them luck, and since CCR was a Bay Area band I thought this video doubly appropriate.
I did a very hard ride up to the Rescue Firestation on the 16th last month, and between the dehydration, and getting a bit too Paleo on my recovery meals, I had a long flair-up of diverticulitis. My usual ride time is around 4:15, although I have some old pre-Garmin stats from April, 2009 done in 3:35.
That's not quite apples-to-apples though, as shut-off times at stops are a little different, so I was really happy when my first long ride of the year came in at 3:45 for 60 miles and 5,200ft of climbing. (RideWithGPS's mapping service still doesn't know about the Folsom Lake Crossing Bridge, so adds 300ft erroneously) I was able to get the whole ride in with the Garmin set to 1-second update mode, so trust this is my best, most accurate trace ever.
Rescue Firestation ride. A horned devil of a climbing route. Throw in a climb over the ElDorado Hills and you get a real ball-buster I call "The Grim Reaper"
My time to RFS was withing seconds of my usual time, but the time on the return leg averaged over 4mph faster. I think I'm capable of breaking 3:30 on this ride, but have yet to do so. Failing to carbo load properly the night before, I was pretty sluggish for the first 20 miles or so. Reason for hope!
This was the first long ride away from the city since my crash, and it went quite well, but I seem to have cracked a rib or something after hitting a really savage bump that's developed on the ARPT descending from Beals. My PBS Forte' carbon bars also buckled under the aerobars, and my main bars rotated down about 35 degrees.
That said, it was thrilling to get back out there last night, and since my new bars showed up this morning, I'll be wrenching while it's raining. I went with the Ritchey SuperLogic Evo bars from Excel Sports, as they are advertised as sturdy enough to support clip-on aerobars. Techie Tuesday fodder for sure.
I'm enjoying reading Friel's Paleo Diet for Athletes, but it is disappointing in places in its lack of rigor. There's a lot of good info on sports nutrition, and even some great recipes, but I'm having trouble eating that much meat and giving up milk. His argument against dairy is just pathetic, and I luvs my milk (although I am drinking 2% now to get more fat in my diet).
With the cool weather, it's a great day to make a big pot of chili. Using what I learned from Friel, I am using grass-fed beef, buffalo, and 99% lean ground turkey breast. Turkey breast has almost no fat, is a higher quality protein than chicken or fish (although fish as other properties that make it preferable), and is about $6 a pound.
I'll have to try my microwaved bell pepper, red onion and ruby red grapefruit juice marinated chicken breast with cranberry juice and turkey breast substituted. I'll use lots of good, healthy olive oil when reducing the veggies. A great way to swap healthy oil for animal fat.
Hope you are all coping well, and enjoying the change in the weather.
.
