Finally cracked...

After a long slow climb I turned onto a new hill that I found on Strava and cracked.  Looking down and seeing my CatEye show a gradient fluctuating between 10%, 13% and 17% yielded the probable reason.  Even my bailout gear wasn't helping me.  It make me wish I had a triple and could just tirelessly spin my way up.  Net result:  have to try it again and maybe burn a little less energy on that long slow climb...must...get...to...the...top...

I signed up...

Goodbye $89 and hello 65 miles of Giro di San Diego Medio Fondo fun in September.  With any luck it won't be the first time I've ridden 65 miles in a day; let the lackluster training begin.  I did take a look at the Gran Fondo that goes 100+ miles which I was up for, until I saw the climb up Mount Palomar.  Next year my legs and lungs, next year...

$ 2,795 for a power meter?

No wonder all of those cycling pros use whatever the team sponsors give them, I can't imagine dropping  $3,000 on a power meter that might get crushed during one of those nasty Tour de France pileups.  Either that or I'm really not understanding the value that the good folks at SRM provide.  I don't think half of the road bikes that I see cruising down 101 on a weekend cost $3,000.  Maybe I should be happy I don't ride Campagnolo, I'd have to contemplate dropping $5,000 then!  I suppose if I did win the lottery it's healthier way to spend your money than a weekend in Las Vegas.

I will say, they do end up looking pretty elegant with the Cannondale system...

German engineering?

Beat the personal record by a 63 seconds...

I guess that hill work does have at least some kind of payoff.  I just went up a climb last night that I haven't done in a while.  It's a little more mild that some of the others and it didn't feel like I was motoring up there that quickly but a post-ride Strava upload gave me a nice personal record.  I still think going up long grinding hills is hardly fun and the best benefit is the calorie burn but it's nice to see some of that work pay off.

Strava Stalking: The Positive Side

I read a lot of negative things about people basically obsessing about their Strava KOM times and titles.  People setting out riding specifically to get those goals, keep themselves in a top position, or knock other people off of their perch.  It all sounds a little petty and pointless at the end of the day.  Hopefully it breeds some quality - fun - competition but that's where it should hopefully end.

What I don't hear enough about is the "stalking" that leads to discovering new hills and new rides.  I'm started following a lot of local riders that are 43 billion times better than I will ever be in an attempt to find new places to ride.  Low and behold I've found that if you track a great cyclists routes, KOMs, etc. they will inevitably show you new places to ferret out and ride for yourself.  Now I'm never going to supplant their lead and will be a perpetual also-ran but at least it gives me new places to ride during the week instead of the same routes over and over again.

You never know the benefits of stalking until you try it...

Definition of Anticlimactic

So I go up a small hill and get 3rd Overall on Strava. Go me! Then I look and it turns out I'm 3/3. Yup, dead last. Go me?

Strava Guilt or Strava Shame?

I'm guilty, guilty of not riding this Sunday.  I rode Friday, I wrote Saturday but I didn't get on the bike Sunday.  I think normally I wouldn't really care but now Strava has given me a small guilt complex.  I look at the Strava Activity Report and I'm not on it.  I look at my Strava Dashboard and it seems like everyone else rode but me.  The great people who rode all have nice Achievements, Kudos and Comments.  So there I was: lazy guy on a Sunday because I wanted to see Peyton Manning in a pre-season game.  

Maybe it's not Strava Guilt so much as Strava Shame...

If I was blindfolded...

I wonder if I could tell the difference between a $1000 wheelset and a $3000 wheelset.  I know I can tell the different between the "whatever-random-set-comes-on-a-cheap-bike-wheelset" and something like a Mavic Ksyrium SL but that's about it.  I'm almost afraid to ride a ridiculously expensive wheelset for fear I WILL actually say they make a difference for someone has horrible on a road bike as me.  The irony, of course, being that any normal human would consider $1000 for a pair of cycling wheels to be ridiculous in the first place.

I did look at Competitive Cyclist and find the the most expensive wheelset that they sell is by Reynolds and tops out at a paultry $4500.  Of course you do have to pay for tires (in inner tubes required) and maybe even skewers...

You save by not having to buy inner tubes!

Giro Di San Diego...

The Giro Di San Diego, is it too much?  It is not enough?  They seem to offer a long of levels of "Fondo" fun.  I'm not sure I'm ready for the Gran Fondo, I know I could handle the Piccolo Fondo easily, but maybe the Medio Fondo would be a stretch a small stretch.  So should I attempt to blow my legs out on 100 mile ride or just push myself slightly for a 62 mile ride?  Either way I think I'm going to want a few more granny gears. What the over/under on the number of flat tires that I'll get?

Weight Obsession: A whole other level...

I knew there were Weight Weenies out there that like to compare weights and shave grams off of various components.  I even new there were a lot of people out there who purchase items like a Park Tool Tabletop Digital Scale. Here's what I didn't know, there would be a market for a JosephJoseph folding compact digital scale that you could take with you.

Pretty sure it was designed for cooking but...

Here's what I don't quite get; where are you supposed to take it?  To your friends house to weigh his components?  Do you take it to the bike shop to weigh random rear cassettes until you find one that is two grams lighter?

I'm sure there are great answers, this noob just can't think of one...

Skewers? Really? Skewers...

I always thought people bought aftermarket items like skewers just for cosmetic reasons.  Maybe they match their fancy Zipp wheels.  Maybe you wanted a certain matte finish to go with your sweet $10,000 new bike. It looks like I was wrong.  The reason reason is weight.  I guess the Zipp skewers are a whopping 62g while something like an Ultegra set of skewers is 119g.  So you save 57g (or 1/8 pound) for $80.  I guess that's a good deal for people looking to shave weight; if you did that 8 times it's taking a full pound off for $360.  Maybe a cool stocking stuffer for the cyclist that has everything?

I just wonder if there are any durability issues moving from stainless steel skewers to titanium skewers; that could make for one dicey downhill descent...

They're even "aero"...

  

Just two more seconds! Well, 4 seconds total...

Another good experience I had with Strava last night was looking at a couple of silver medals on the "Personal Achievements" portion of my ride detail.  It wasn't that they were the second best time that I had ever done on that particular segment but that I was 1 second behind my personal best on two different segments.  So I was basically 4 combined seconds away from two new personal bests.  Now I think I'm going to have to go out and at least get ONE of them to become a "PR" tonight.

I'm still light years away from even contemplating KOM...

http://app.strava.com/rides/19434580

Better workout? Speed vs. climbing...

When cycling and looking to get better I don't know if I should concentrate or trying to run relatively flat areas along the coast (living in San Diego) or turn inland and climb some hills.  I know that "hill repeats" are the supposed Holy Grail of training but I'd much rather ride a loop.  Nice little loops and circuits generally don't have those good-for-your-legs hill repeats.  I really like seeing the results of climbing on my little Strava screen at the end of the ride and it looks like it burns more calories when I focus on climbing.  However, when I'm on the flats I get that nice high MPH average.  Once I get used to a good MPH average for rolling hills/flats (for me maybe 15-17 MPH) and I see the MPH results of climbing (dipping to 12-14 MPH) it's a little disappointing.

Can't Strava design some algorithm - other than a Suffer Score - to determine a good vs. bad workout relative to my personal ride history?  Maybe be able to differentiate casual rides vs. workouts vs. recovery rides?

2013 Cannondale

So it looks like I won't be able to order a Cannondale EVO and get the SiSL2 crankset with the spiderring chainrings at the same time.  From the Cannondale estimates it's going to be a wait until February before I can buy the crankset separately and they're not even completely sure about the price.  I guess I should be happy that I can get a 2013 road bike model in August but they're losing out on a lot on some money.  Try harder Cannondale, try harder...

Choices: Standard vs. Compact Crankset

Finally a lot of the manufacturers are starting to make it easy to change between the two by just using an adapter and new chainrings.  That saves me a little anguish when it comes to choosing a compact vs. standard crankset.  I can just choose the one I think will be best without having to fret over a replacement cost of $300 - $700+.  I can't imagine that every single crankset manufacturer on the planet shouldn't be moving to this ability.

Just wait until 2013...

Why can't they make this out of aluminum?

The carbon version is sitting on a bike that I want, a bike that's too expensive, in part because this thing is made of a mix of carbon and kevlar:

Like a feather...

Come on FSA, just make the darn thing out of aluminum!  It can't add that many more grams and it would be nice to get the flat top feel without the $300 price tag.  Curse you, you glorious light carbon/kevlar handlebar!  Oh well, just another item for me to envy...

Losing weight...

I wonder when riding a bike if losing 5 pounds of "bike weight" feels the same as losing 5 pounds of "people weight".  I know there are plenty of skinny riders but I also see heftier guys rolling around on the most expensive Specialized, Cannondale, and Pinarello bikes available.  Bikes where you have to be paying a huge premium to ride something so light under someone so heavy?  Maybe there are some physics calculations that show it's more impactful to lose bike weight that body weight.  I certainly hope so, it would be a great excuse for some Zipp 202s...

    

Force yourself over a hill...

I don't know if I love it or hate it when for some reason I get the urge to just go down a steep hill.  I know I'm going to have to climb back up it and I know it's not going to be fun. I guess I do it because I know that I'm going to get up the hill again - or I won't get home.  In essence I'm guaranteed to rack up the "climbed feet" on Strava but it's more about being stubborn than finding joy.  I guess I get to stare at this as my joy:

Andrew Johnson rode 23.5mi and climbed 4,318ft on Aug 16, 2012

SRAM Red...

So I've taken a Cannondale EVO out for a spin a couple of times; the particular model comes with SRAM Red.  While it's annoying at first (relative to Shimano) it doesn't take too long to get used to their DoubleTap method of shifting.  I actually have grown to like the way that it works with the rear derailleurs/cassette when you're going up a hill and would like to shift to make the ride easier.  I just can't get over the front derailleur.  That thing just feels so mechanical and doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.  Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if you were just comparing it to a standard Shimano groupset but with the Ultegra Di2 products out now it's a big disparity.  Maybe the professional races love it because it's lightweight (or because they're sponsored to love it) but I can't imagine an amateur not going the electric route.

Someone just has to tell those frame manufacturers to do a better job hiding those Di2 batteries...

Watching: Cycling vs. Golf

I participate in both sports, do both sports poorly, and am oddly entranced by televised events for either golf or cycling.  Both are events where you're looking at the TV one minute and then 64 minutes later you're still staring and little has changed.  In golf you're pretty much waiting for the last few holes to determine a winner and wondering if someone will falter down the stretch.  In cycling you're splitting time between the peloton and seeing if the breakaway will hold out to succeed.  Both had their sports defined - at least in America - by a single person with either Lance Armstrong or Tiger Woods.

I guess the biggest difference is that golf just doesn't have NASCAR style crashes at 25 - 50 mph.  Well that and it's impossible to find cycling on network TV.  Time for the Cycling Network?

Ouch...

Bike sizing...can it be that difficult?

I think my bike size is a 58cm but that's not really logical.  There's no empirical data beyond questions about "how tall are you?" and "start pedaling and let me see how you look."  It goes against my better analytical judgement as I keep hope that there's a magic combination of height, inseam, flexibility, etc. that will guarantee me the right fit.  I'm on a 60cm bike now but it turns out that it's maybe a 58cm frame with an obscenely long stem and non-compact handlebars.  So then a 58cm frame feels about right but after a local bike store has put me on 58cm frames twice they're now thinking I might be a 56cm and just need a longer than average stem.

Can't someone invent a nice app for my iPhone that can take a picture of me and magically "fit" me to bikes from Cannondale, Pinarello, Specialized, etc.?  It sure would make life easier...

"Good pull"

So I was almost to the crest of a climb yesterday (according to Strava it was 2.9 miles with a 5.6% average grade) and I get passed by a guy just spinning away up the hill and he said "Good pull!"  I have to admit it felt great to get the kudos, felt bad that he passed me maybe 50 meters from the top and I feel bad because I was too tired to even say "Thanks!"

I was too tired for common politeness, yup, that's me staying classy in San Diego (or last night, San Marcos)...

Crankset and crankarm porn, courtesy of BikeRumor

Yes, I've stared at this, frequently...

http://www.bikerumor.com/2012/06/21/updated-cannondales-484g-hollowgram-sisl2-crankset-back-online/

It's BikeRumor's post on the 2013 Cannondale crankset line up and full of awesome terms like "spider" and "Hollowgram" and "484g" and it's given me an unhealthy and irrational desire for this:

I'm sure there's nothing wrong with the new Si 3D Forged Hollow Cranks but after seeing these pictures for some reason it makes me think they just won't stand up to my Cycling Noob desires.  And, of course, marketing from the good folks at Cannondale sucks me in:  "The result is a crankset that claims to be both lighter and stiffer."

I have the guys over at Nytro Multisport asking Cannondale about the price to buy one on it's own to put on a different bike.  I think my judgement might be lacking and I wonder if I'll be able to help myself...

My Holy Grail...bottom bracket stiffness?

Maybe it's because I'm 200 pounds, maybe it's because I'm lazy, maybe it's because I'm over-analytical but I seem to think a lot about bottom bracket stiffness.  I don't even know how to determine if I feel "wag" but I do know that going up hill, out of the saddle, the bike feels a little squishy.  The wife doesn't feel anything like "wag" or the bike being "squishy" but it might have to do with her whopping 94.5 pound weight.  Regardless, I sit there looking at massive carbon fiber bottom brackets thinking about all of the energy that I'm losing while grinding my way up a hill.  Does that make me crazy?  Probably.  I'm supposed to be out there exercising, it has to burn more calories having an inefficient frame, all it does is hypothetically lower my already low Strava times.  









Is this more or less sane that being a weight weenie?

Bib shorts...I never would have thought...

I never would have thought I'd be the guy who wore bib shorts.  I thought they were always a little weird but too many salespeople in too many local bike shops told me all they wear are bib shorts.  Yup, they were right.  I can't say that the first time I put them on was an epiphany and I can't say that wearing wearing shorts is now awful.  However, I can say that I doubt I will ever buy a pair of "standard" bike shorts again.  I already look goofy in bike shorts (who doesn't?) so I figure I might as well embrace the marginal comfort benefit.

For the record, they're Pearl Izumi Elite bibs and they're not cheap but I won't be going back to the Pearl Izumi Attack shorts or bib.  Maybe I'll try to the P.R.O....

I love Strava...

Nothing provides more motivation and a sense of both accomplishment and shame like Strava (www.strava.com).  It's a great motivation tool because you can just look at your website and it shows when you've ridden, when you skipped a day, how long you went, how much you climbed, how many calories you burned, etc.  Seeing big fat 0's while people that you follow are racking up the miles provides good impetus to get on the bike.

It also feels great to see a personal record on a segment or even the 2nd or 3rd best time on your "Achievements".  Of course, I inevitably look at my rank and become disgusted with myself.  I know I should be nowhere near the top 10% but am I really in the bottom quartile?  If I'm lucky maybe I'll end up in the top 3rd?  I will say it doesn't make me want to do the segment just a few second faster to see how many spots up I can jump.

Gamification of training, who would have thought I'd be so easy to motivate?

I'm a noob...

I'm a noob.  For some reason riding in packs seems scary.  I'm moderately intimidated when I walk into cycling shops.  My bike costs less than my car.  I'm not a part of any cycling club.  My cycling "gear" doesn't match.  I stare at carbon fiber frames with a good amount of envy as if they will make me go faster.  Climbing over 3,000 ft. in a ride still seems like a good achievement for me.  Strava tells me that somewhere between 40% and 80% of the Strava Universe is better than me.  I don't even want to talk about my BMI.  In short, I'm a noob.