This week

So this is just a couple of cool things that happened this week.

Belterra:

New course, and it was sweet. Two big climbs, lots of wind and 72min long. I felt great, in fact I set some PR numbers during this race. I missed the winning moves however, little less hp and and a little more patients would have put me on the podium I think.

Stats: 72min 307w average and 354w Normalized
60min 320w average and 362w Normalized
weight: 66.8 kg.



I'm bumping my new FTP from 330w to 350w. 360 seems too high and based on the V.I. I think that a lower number is more repeatable. The good news is that puts me over the 5w/kg mark for the first time, 5.24w/kg to be specific. Life is good when the peaks starts!

After the race I didn't really think the numbers were right so I went out and did the SRM calibration found here: SRM Calibration

After all the calculations I came out less than 1% off.



Dave @ ISM Saddles hooked me up with a couple of new seats. The peloton was just released and I snagged a white one and I also got the 'Road' version with a new all-white cover that isn't out yet. I think they are moving in the right direction for sure, the seats feel awesome once you set them up right and get used to the new shape. Racing in the drops feels like riding on the tops on a traditional saddle. If you are worried about numbness and 'male specific health issues', these are the saddles to get.





Just got my other SRM back from Colorado springs, new battery, new slope and I'm ready to hit Fort Davis and either Gila or Joe Martin.

Our team just picked up a sweet sponsorship from Rudy Project, we will all be wearing their helmets and Sunglasses. As a team we ordered the Actyum and I ordered the Freeon and Ekynox Sx.



Lastly, I just got another big shipment from Powerbar . They sent me some more clothing, food and I ordered a bunch of bottles. I don't know how I go through so many, I think I started the season (jan of this year) with ~50 new bottles and I'm down to 10.

A couple of cycling DIY projects

DIY Thule Bike Carrier/Bike stand:

Problem: I needed a good bike stand that I could take to races, but did'nt want to buy another stand and I didn't want to have to pack yet another thing in my truck before a race.

Now that most bikes come in tube shapes that you cannot clamp in a standard Park bike stand (like the one I have at home)
Instead of buying a separate repair stand just to travel to races with that work with carbon framed bikes like this:I decided to try to make an adjustable bracket that would fit on my hitch rack.
The bracket it adjustable and is made from aluminum angle and strap, all the hardware is stainless and the nuts are stainless nylon nuts. The hinge uses a large stainless through bolt and nylon nut to adjust tension so when you lay the bracket down it stays in place.

DIY Custom Chain Keeper:

The next project I wanted to do was make a really nice chain watcher. I am from the school of thought that with properly adjusted drive train you will never need one. I've dropped my chain maybe 1 time in the last year, but the one time I did, i destroyed the SRM bottom bracket sensor that I had just bought, so I had to buy a second one for $75, ouch!

Most chain keepers on the market are plastic and ugly,

and I didn't want to mount one of those. I had seen some custom made ones on a few protour bikes and thought that I could make one similar to those pretty easy.

Here is a couple of examples from Allesandro Ballan's and Ivan Basso's bikes just before for Paris-Roubaix:Here is my version made from 1/8" solid brass rod:

Making the keeper was pretty easy. I just bent the rod into the shape I wanted with a hammer and a vise/anvil. Then i progressively flattened the top 1/3 so that it could easily be bolted onto the front of the braze-on hanger. I replaced the stock derailleur bolt with a longer stainless one, added a stainless washer also. Its a little more tricky to set up the front shifting now as you have to set the position of the derailleur and the keeper at the same time. You can add some tension to the bolt and move the keeper, then cinch everything down.

I need to test it to see of the brass is strong enough to handle a dropped chain, if not i'll make another out of 1/8" stainless rod.

Lago Vista 1 & 2

I was really looking forward to this race weekend. The course is very good: stair step climbing and false flats for half the circuit and descending for the other half.

We hit 50+mph on the decent every lap, but the only real scary part of this race is that it is held in kind of a country-wooded area with lots of wildlife. Last year 2 p1/2's were hit on the fast decent by deer crossing the road. Thankfully there was no high-speed 'frogger' during our race.

The race went about as expected, hard single file, and guttered all the way up the back side. Lots of attacks. A couple of pro's got of early and we never saw them again, i think they finished about 2 minutes ahead of the pack by the end of the race. For the life of my I could not get a move off the front to stick. We had a few serious tries but it was destined to come down to a field sprint.

The pack of 140 finished with about 50, I ended up 25th on the downhill sprint.

Day 2:

I noticed saturday night that my right hip flexor was pretty sore, likely from all the climbing. by morning it was pretty tender.

Kelly Benefits Pro team showed up for day 2 and showed us how you are supposed to race this course. They were in every break and had 3 of 5 in the final move, going 1,2 and 4. Texas did manage to get Rothe into 3rd to save our dignity.

My day didn't go as well. Each time up the back side it was hard, admittedly not as hard as day1 based off my power data, but each lap made my hip flexor hurt more and more. At one point about 2 hours in the pain was getting pretty sharp. I'm sure i could have finished but was more worried about straining something and missing time training. So, after about 50miles I bailed. I know it was a logical reason, but it never feels any better. I always feel like a tool when I DNF, I don't like the feeling at all.

Back on the bike Tuesday doing intervals, the hip felt 100%.

Next race will be a small crit on the 15th up in S/A.