I got 98.5 miles in this week, and finished the last 20 minutes of that in the rain yesterday. Does that count as a 'W' for my 100 miles a week goal? Close enough?
I've had quite a week of riding, and a very front-loaded one at that. I rode Sun, Mon, Wed, Fri, and since I am letting the Daily Mile website keep track of my miles, and it is on a Monday - Sunday week, I had to get this week's miles done from Monday thru Friday.
I went to Starbucks in Folsom last night and got fitted for a club jersey, and stayed up last night watching movies and sipping hot chocolate. I was feeling the miles this morning, so after getting up early I went back to sleep ~ 10:00 AM and slept until - GASP - 13:30! I have to say though, I am getting toughened in to the 100 miles a week, and the fatigue is much less now than a month ago.
We don't really have seasons in California, except for wet and dry, but I like the change. Riding home yesterday I was tempted to extend my 'Beal's: No Point' ride down to WBP, but the wind had been very strong the last half hour, so when it started to drizzle I thought it best to get my butt home. As it was the last 20 minutes was in a full-on rain, but a warm, gentle rain, so rather enjoyed that.
It reminded me of some wonderful times I had playing volleyball in the summer in Phoenix (yes, I really did just use 'wonderful', 'summer' and 'Phoenix' in the same sentence) in the warm, monsoon rains that come the 3rd week of July and hang around for a month. All the heat, and humidity too!
I continue to ride hard and push myself, and am setting so many PBs I can't remember them all, but one I am kind of proud of I will share. I got passed by a stealth wheel-sucker going upstream on the west side of Lake Natomas. I was watching the thousands of geese that have been stopping there, and reveling in the sight of rowing teams in sculling crews on the dark blue water as the sun got low and painted it every imaginable hue of red, yellow and orange.
He passed me at about 30mph after the bottom of the only 'long' hill and after the blind left turn that limits speeds to about that. I let him go at first, but decided to challenge myself and try to bridge up and catch him. It took me a half mile at full power, but I got it done.
Top speed was 27 mph, and average 26.1. The trail is right next to the water, so absolutely flat, although just a hint of headwind. My legs really hurt after that, and he dropped me like a greased turd on the climb up to Negro Bar, but I loved the look of total surprise on his face when I came up abreast of him with a big grin on my face!
The calculator in the upper left margin says that works out to ~ 350 watts for a little over a minute. That's power TDF riders can crank out for an hour or more, but I'm very happy with this level of performance. I want more!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Techie Tuesday - Easton Seatpost Fix
As is well-documented on the web, the Easton EC70 seatposts have a problem - they keep sliding down. I tried the cheap alternative to carbon paste, toothpaste, and that was an utter failure. In fact, it seemed to make it slide much faster. (I'm still a little concerned about the catastrophic failures resulting in groin injuries)
Frustrated, and thoroughly pissed that a good name like Easton would make such a crap piece of gear, I decided to try something a little more aggressive. I cut a strip of 1500 Wet or Dry sanding paper about 20mm wide, long enough to cover all but the front 7mm of the stem, completely wrapping the retarded, flat, RAD back of the post. (on my bike the hole-relieved slot on the seat tube is in back, and the clamp slot is in front)
I turned the paper so the gritty side was to the post, NOT wanting to risk damage to the frame. I had to work the post gently back and forth a bit to relax the seat tube and open the slot in the frame. You might also just try removing the seat and clamp and leaving it unclamped overnight.
I cleaned both the post and frame with 99% rubbing alcohol and a clean cloth before wrapping the strip around the back and sides and then holding it very tight around the post while I slipped it down inside the seat tube.
I admit, there is was no particular reason to choose 1500 grit paper. I just happen to have some. Something as fine as 2000 might work, or as coarse as 600, but Wet or Dry paper has a very tough back, so I was careful to choose Wet or Dry. (it's actually a cloth back)
I was a little surprise at how easily the paper fit. I had no problems at all getting the paper-wrapped post to slide down inside the seat tube, and the edges of the paper did NOT hang up on the frame. (if they hang up on yours, try trimming the bottom edges at an angle) In fact, I have the definite impression that the post is a little under-sized, and the paper actually makes a perfect, and necessary, compressible shim. The frame doesn't seem noticeably pinched at the top now, like it did before.
I went for a 32 mile ride last night, up to Old Folsom on the bike trail. Up and back on the west side of Lake Natoma because I spent 15 minutes trying to find my HR strap before giving up and riding naked. I just didn't have the daylight to burn going through the lights in Folsom, so I just turned around at the base of the footbridge and came back on the west side.
I ended up riding with a woman on a beautiful Cervelo. She was real easy to look at too, and kept looking back over her shoulder to encourage this brick to catch up with her after she dropped me on the one good hill on that stretch. Good thing the HR strap was at home! :D
I caught her a half mile later, and we rocked the ARPT back to Hazel Ave, where she turned around to head back to Folsom on the east side of the lake. She was wearing the same Tifosi Vogel sunglasses as I. She likes the auto-darkening feature. I like that too, but love the face seal it gives me at high speeds.
I got passed by the strongest tandem team I've ever encountered, taking a couple of long pulls off my waterbottle just past Hazel Ave. I jumped on it and bridged up to catch their wheel. They were riding a sleek, blue Santana, and were really flying! We averaged ~ 25mph, and peaked at ~ 35 going down a short 500 meter hill. After the hill they stopped trying to drop me, and things got a lot more fun. I could hear them talking, and their communication was excellent.
I really liked their very aggressive use of "LEFT", which left nothing to chance. I'm normally barking "LEFT" or "SIDE" early and loud to make very sure people know they're being closed on. The stoker had her bark timed almost perfectly with mine. On every occasion when I drew in an extra deep breath to bark, her's would ring in my ears. Awesome!
I returned home and checked the 3mm gap I'd left between the seatpost clamp and my Profile Designs seatpost mounted water bottle rack. It was completely intact. Very encouraging.
---
I had some time to do some research over the weekend, as I had to abandon an 85 mile ride - returning home with a bout of IBS after just 20 miles. If this seatpost fix ends up failing, I'll go with the Syntace Carbon P6 post.
The quality of my Syntace aerobars is just immaculate, so I trust their quality, and also love the way it supports a wide range of adjustment, but still provides almost twice the support for the seat rails as conventional posts.
The people at Syntace just seem to be more clever in design, and more determined in their quality control processes. In short, they just seem to be doing it better. Too bad their English documents suck so bad.
I hope this fix holds up, because the Easton seatposts are going for HUGE discounts online, so this simple fix may make for some great bargains, but if not, Syntace is getting my next chunk of money.
Frustrated, and thoroughly pissed that a good name like Easton would make such a crap piece of gear, I decided to try something a little more aggressive. I cut a strip of 1500 Wet or Dry sanding paper about 20mm wide, long enough to cover all but the front 7mm of the stem, completely wrapping the retarded, flat, RAD back of the post. (on my bike the hole-relieved slot on the seat tube is in back, and the clamp slot is in front)
I turned the paper so the gritty side was to the post, NOT wanting to risk damage to the frame. I had to work the post gently back and forth a bit to relax the seat tube and open the slot in the frame. You might also just try removing the seat and clamp and leaving it unclamped overnight.
I cleaned both the post and frame with 99% rubbing alcohol and a clean cloth before wrapping the strip around the back and sides and then holding it very tight around the post while I slipped it down inside the seat tube.
I admit, there is was no particular reason to choose 1500 grit paper. I just happen to have some. Something as fine as 2000 might work, or as coarse as 600, but Wet or Dry paper has a very tough back, so I was careful to choose Wet or Dry. (it's actually a cloth back)
I was a little surprise at how easily the paper fit. I had no problems at all getting the paper-wrapped post to slide down inside the seat tube, and the edges of the paper did NOT hang up on the frame. (if they hang up on yours, try trimming the bottom edges at an angle) In fact, I have the definite impression that the post is a little under-sized, and the paper actually makes a perfect, and necessary, compressible shim. The frame doesn't seem noticeably pinched at the top now, like it did before.
I went for a 32 mile ride last night, up to Old Folsom on the bike trail. Up and back on the west side of Lake Natoma because I spent 15 minutes trying to find my HR strap before giving up and riding naked. I just didn't have the daylight to burn going through the lights in Folsom, so I just turned around at the base of the footbridge and came back on the west side.
I ended up riding with a woman on a beautiful Cervelo. She was real easy to look at too, and kept looking back over her shoulder to encourage this brick to catch up with her after she dropped me on the one good hill on that stretch. Good thing the HR strap was at home! :D
I caught her a half mile later, and we rocked the ARPT back to Hazel Ave, where she turned around to head back to Folsom on the east side of the lake. She was wearing the same Tifosi Vogel sunglasses as I. She likes the auto-darkening feature. I like that too, but love the face seal it gives me at high speeds.
I got passed by the strongest tandem team I've ever encountered, taking a couple of long pulls off my waterbottle just past Hazel Ave. I jumped on it and bridged up to catch their wheel. They were riding a sleek, blue Santana, and were really flying! We averaged ~ 25mph, and peaked at ~ 35 going down a short 500 meter hill. After the hill they stopped trying to drop me, and things got a lot more fun. I could hear them talking, and their communication was excellent.
I really liked their very aggressive use of "LEFT", which left nothing to chance. I'm normally barking "LEFT" or "SIDE" early and loud to make very sure people know they're being closed on. The stoker had her bark timed almost perfectly with mine. On every occasion when I drew in an extra deep breath to bark, her's would ring in my ears. Awesome!
I returned home and checked the 3mm gap I'd left between the seatpost clamp and my Profile Designs seatpost mounted water bottle rack. It was completely intact. Very encouraging.
---
I had some time to do some research over the weekend, as I had to abandon an 85 mile ride - returning home with a bout of IBS after just 20 miles. If this seatpost fix ends up failing, I'll go with the Syntace Carbon P6 post.
The quality of my Syntace aerobars is just immaculate, so I trust their quality, and also love the way it supports a wide range of adjustment, but still provides almost twice the support for the seat rails as conventional posts.
The people at Syntace just seem to be more clever in design, and more determined in their quality control processes. In short, they just seem to be doing it better. Too bad their English documents suck so bad.
I hope this fix holds up, because the Easton seatposts are going for HUGE discounts online, so this simple fix may make for some great bargains, but if not, Syntace is getting my next chunk of money.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Wheel Problems - Again
I bought the last Ultegra 6700 - Mavic OpenPro rear wheel Performance Bike Shop had in their warehouse yesterday for a simple reason - I need to send my custom built rear wheel back to Colorado Cyclist for a warranty inspection. It's showing signs of failure at the SUP weld joint, and I have no clue why. None of this stuff is made in heaven, so mfg defects do happen. Mavic is reportedly very good about standing behind their stuff, so I'm hopeful this turns out well.
There's an extra piece of aluminum laid on the inside of the rim, about the size of a wire bread-wrapper tie, for shoring up the weld area. You can see its "shadow" pretty well through the machined, once-smooth braking surface, in the bottom picture.
My hunch is the post-weld rim was bulging out, so the machining to make the braking surface smooth again cut away too much material, making the rim wall too thin. With 32 spokes pulling with 30 lbs of force, there's almost a half-ton of pressure trying to crush the rim - mashing the ends together at the weld.
The danger, aside from outright wheel failure, is the brake grabs at the point of the weld. This will tend to lock the rear wheel on a descent, resulting in a sideways-skid, and causing you to lose control.
.
On paper my 2 rear wheels will be almost identical, but I have heard the Performance wheel uses cheap spokes and nipples, and ships out of true. Good to have a neighbor with a pro wheel-truing setup who owes you favors! As long as it can stand in when I need a spare it's done its job.
If Colorado Cyclists does rebuild the wheel, especially on warranty, I am going to ask them to use DT 14/15 double butted spokes on the drive side. I love my DT Revolution 14/17 super-butted spokes, but they are a bit too flexy on the drive side at my weight and power, and I don't like asymmetrical flexing out back.
I also realized that any serious commitment to training, especially a 2X Century, requires enough spare gear to stick to a training program - and a spare set of wheels is #1 on any such list. As it was I got a killer deal on the Performance wheel, and didn't have to pay shipping as they shipped it to a local store. (tip: if a company has a physical store in your state they are required to collect state sales tax, BUT, they will almost always ship to that store for free if you ask, and most advertise they will do just that. The cost of shipping and tax are usually the same)
I need a new seat, and maybe seatpost too, as my seat just doesn't work for the TT position, and is too old and spongy to make a good 2x Century saddle. I will ride the seat the rest of the winter and keep an eye out for a deal on the Specialized Romin (the spelling has Caesar rolling in his grave, I'm sure), as spongy has a way of getting nice and hard in the cold of winter.
The linked review is pretty thorough, with lots of price and weight info, but I do wish every last reviewer would stop insisting that "The Romin has a cut-out section that runs the length of the saddle..." Clearly, from the picture, anyone can see it does NOT!
I had to make a trip to REI to exchange a pair of Novara Road Gel shorts (the best warm-weather chamois on earth) for a new pair, as the stitching that holds the chamois to the short was coming loose. It's times like these you really love that NQA return policy at REI! While there I looked at the new Shimano 6700 compact crank.
The entire area between the 34T and 50T is covered by a smooth piece of black, ABS plastic, so the chain has nowhere to go but between the gears. Sweet! I am very concerned though about those very, very thin teeth wearing well. The replacement cost of the outer ring is a whopping $277 street! OMFG! Not gear for 2X Century training rides - unless they start using ceramic coatings, as Middleburn has done.
A call has gone out for 2X Century training partners at our bike club. I am going to suggest regular face-2-face get-togethers, maybe with slide shows and such, because there are just so many questions to be answered.
There's an extra piece of aluminum laid on the inside of the rim, about the size of a wire bread-wrapper tie, for shoring up the weld area. You can see its "shadow" pretty well through the machined, once-smooth braking surface, in the bottom picture.
My hunch is the post-weld rim was bulging out, so the machining to make the braking surface smooth again cut away too much material, making the rim wall too thin. With 32 spokes pulling with 30 lbs of force, there's almost a half-ton of pressure trying to crush the rim - mashing the ends together at the weld.
The danger, aside from outright wheel failure, is the brake grabs at the point of the weld. This will tend to lock the rear wheel on a descent, resulting in a sideways-skid, and causing you to lose control.
.
On paper my 2 rear wheels will be almost identical, but I have heard the Performance wheel uses cheap spokes and nipples, and ships out of true. Good to have a neighbor with a pro wheel-truing setup who owes you favors! As long as it can stand in when I need a spare it's done its job.
If Colorado Cyclists does rebuild the wheel, especially on warranty, I am going to ask them to use DT 14/15 double butted spokes on the drive side. I love my DT Revolution 14/17 super-butted spokes, but they are a bit too flexy on the drive side at my weight and power, and I don't like asymmetrical flexing out back.
I also realized that any serious commitment to training, especially a 2X Century, requires enough spare gear to stick to a training program - and a spare set of wheels is #1 on any such list. As it was I got a killer deal on the Performance wheel, and didn't have to pay shipping as they shipped it to a local store. (tip: if a company has a physical store in your state they are required to collect state sales tax, BUT, they will almost always ship to that store for free if you ask, and most advertise they will do just that. The cost of shipping and tax are usually the same)
I need a new seat, and maybe seatpost too, as my seat just doesn't work for the TT position, and is too old and spongy to make a good 2x Century saddle. I will ride the seat the rest of the winter and keep an eye out for a deal on the Specialized Romin (the spelling has Caesar rolling in his grave, I'm sure), as spongy has a way of getting nice and hard in the cold of winter.
The linked review is pretty thorough, with lots of price and weight info, but I do wish every last reviewer would stop insisting that "The Romin has a cut-out section that runs the length of the saddle..." Clearly, from the picture, anyone can see it does NOT!
I had to make a trip to REI to exchange a pair of Novara Road Gel shorts (the best warm-weather chamois on earth) for a new pair, as the stitching that holds the chamois to the short was coming loose. It's times like these you really love that NQA return policy at REI! While there I looked at the new Shimano 6700 compact crank.
The entire area between the 34T and 50T is covered by a smooth piece of black, ABS plastic, so the chain has nowhere to go but between the gears. Sweet! I am very concerned though about those very, very thin teeth wearing well. The replacement cost of the outer ring is a whopping $277 street! OMFG! Not gear for 2X Century training rides - unless they start using ceramic coatings, as Middleburn has done.
A call has gone out for 2X Century training partners at our bike club. I am going to suggest regular face-2-face get-togethers, maybe with slide shows and such, because there are just so many questions to be answered.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
She Went to Jared
OK, only in my imagination, but thrilling to have a pretty young co-ed checking out my butt on the Guy West Bridge at CSUS last night! It's official, I'm a dirty old man! ;) I was sweating profusely from cranking out a blistering 21.7 average from Sunrise to Guy West Bridge, and up on the bridge stretching out my hams and gluts trying to catch a breeze.
It was hot and dry yesterday at 4:30 when heading out the door, so I decided to stick to the flats where I can make my own wind. The plan was to start at Sunrise via Bannister Pk and ride down to Del Paso Rd and then return home via WBP.
I caught the wheel of a guy, who turned out to be my age, on a beautiful, red, Felt S32 TT bike. He slowed just a bit going up a shallow grade on the right-hand turn just past Sunrise, so I jumped hard and bridged up. I couldn't read my Garmin in the flat light, but knew we were doing over 20 mph.
He kept testing me, trying to drop me, on every little hill and turn, but didn't have the legs to make my kind of power. His cadence was in the mid-90s though, with perfect form and immaculate shifts. Very impressed with the latter, especially at the base of hills. The upshot was, I kept overtaking his back wheel when he tried to drop me, so I started hanging back 4 ft and offsetting 18-24 inches to keep a clear view of the trail ahead.
Almost hit a guy head-on going through the tight turns around Rossmor Park, leaning hard and cheating the lanes. The guy was wearing a dark, camo mtb jersey under total tree canopy, downslope from us, and we were looking into the setting sun. He was yelling and cursing, so I knew right where to look, but still couldn't see him until 20 ft away.
I apologized, of course, but he's going to get hit wearing that kind of gear this time of year. We were doing about 23 at the time, so that would have been ugly. There's only one line through those turns, and I was committed, so not sure what I could have done differently.
My rabbit peeled off at Watt Ave, so I rode solo the 2.2 miles from Watt to CSUS. Very pleased I maintained the same speed. Although my HR ticked up ~ 5bpm or so, it was my legs that were really hurting, especially my hams and quads. The surface is brand new asphalt, and very smooth, although a little soft and spongy in the hot sun. I ran across the paving crew on the way home and stopped and thanked them for a job very well done!
Stats:
Sunrise to CSUS: PB 21.7 mph avg @ 90% of max HR for 32 min
Total ride 19.2, 19.8 on bike trail
252 watts average power start to finish
I am just incredulous I am riding this hard this late in the season. What a thrill!
It was hot and dry yesterday at 4:30 when heading out the door, so I decided to stick to the flats where I can make my own wind. The plan was to start at Sunrise via Bannister Pk and ride down to Del Paso Rd and then return home via WBP.
He kept testing me, trying to drop me, on every little hill and turn, but didn't have the legs to make my kind of power. His cadence was in the mid-90s though, with perfect form and immaculate shifts. Very impressed with the latter, especially at the base of hills. The upshot was, I kept overtaking his back wheel when he tried to drop me, so I started hanging back 4 ft and offsetting 18-24 inches to keep a clear view of the trail ahead.
Almost hit a guy head-on going through the tight turns around Rossmor Park, leaning hard and cheating the lanes. The guy was wearing a dark, camo mtb jersey under total tree canopy, downslope from us, and we were looking into the setting sun. He was yelling and cursing, so I knew right where to look, but still couldn't see him until 20 ft away.
I apologized, of course, but he's going to get hit wearing that kind of gear this time of year. We were doing about 23 at the time, so that would have been ugly. There's only one line through those turns, and I was committed, so not sure what I could have done differently.
My rabbit peeled off at Watt Ave, so I rode solo the 2.2 miles from Watt to CSUS. Very pleased I maintained the same speed. Although my HR ticked up ~ 5bpm or so, it was my legs that were really hurting, especially my hams and quads. The surface is brand new asphalt, and very smooth, although a little soft and spongy in the hot sun. I ran across the paving crew on the way home and stopped and thanked them for a job very well done!
Stats:
Sunrise to CSUS: PB 21.7 mph avg @ 90% of max HR for 32 min
Total ride 19.2, 19.8 on bike trail
252 watts average power start to finish
I am just incredulous I am riding this hard this late in the season. What a thrill!
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