Mavic wheels

Now that I've been riding the Mavic Aksium wheels since March, I can report they are faster. I've gone down the same hills enough times to know at speed they give me an extra 2-3mph. When group rides go down route 62 from princeton center, I no longer get dropped. Instead, I'm right there with the group. Usually I have the wheel inflated to 100-110. When the wheels are under inflated, I notice the crappy roads less. On smooth roads, the Mavic are faster than the stock Giant wheels that came with the bike.

Is Mavic Aksium wheels a good value? I would say yes. Given what I paid at Nashbar and the miles I've logged so far, they've been great. A couple of times I hit a pot hole pretty hard and the wheel didn't go out of true like the Giant wheels. The stock tires that came with it are junk though, but I don't mind that. Once the tires were slightly worn, I replaced them with Gatorskin Hardshell 25. I like the extra air that 25 provides. Oddly, I feel the 25 are faster than 23 tires. The first 1000 miles were on the stock mavic tires and they got 2 flats. If the roads were in better condition, it probably wouldn't matter as much.

Overall, I'm very happy with the Mavic wheels and how they've performed.

Mashers and Spinners

Tour de france is into the third week. One thing I noticed is Jens is a total masher. Every time they show Jens in the break away, I can tell who is Jens. His masher cadence is so distinctive. Compare that to Contador and Froome, their cadence is so smooth it's hard to tell who is who by cadence alone.

Thomas voeckler also has a distinctive cadence. Though some might not really consider it cadence. Voeckler never really looks smoothe or effortless like Contador or Froome. His style is erratic and looks awkward.

Nutrition and Riding

Lately I've been thinking about diet, nutrition and the impact on performance. One personal pet peeve is this whole chocolate milk commercial non-sense. The chocolate milk isn't better than plain milk as a recovery drink. I'm not going to bother providing links, since there's too many of them. Before Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution fought to ban chocolate and strawberry flavored milk, there weren't many commercials for chocolate milk. Chocolate drinks like Yoohoo and others had plenty of commercials. It used to be milk commercials showed the familiar white milk mustache.

I don't buy the whole argument that if it wasn't for chocolate milk, American children wouldn't get enough calcium or minerals in their diet. Most of China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam don't drink regular milk. Do their kids have issues with nutrition due to a lack of milk? Nope, they don't.

I think milk is great, even if I am lactose intolerant. I use Lactaid in my coffee every morning. My kids drink milk and love it. Nutrition for me is about finding the right balance of healthy fresh foods. Not eating processed frozen junk with a ton of chemicals. I find that when I eat a balanced healthy diet, my performance on the bike is much better.

In the mornings I eat some carbs, coffee with Lactaid and fruit. Lunch time it's usually leftovers from the night before, which is rice, veggies and some meat. Night time is usually rice/noodles with stir-fry and meat. Every now and then I splurge. Usually once a year I'll go nuts on a bag of Doritos, since they are wicked evil good. Yes, the ride after the Doritos-fest I ride like the Titanic. If I wasn't so lazy, I would show the nutritional information for plain versus chocolate milk, but that's too much work.

Funny video

I happen to come across this video about Dave mathews getting picked up by a fan.

dave mathew hitches a ride

I happen to notice dave mathews is riding a specialized s works. Can't tell which model, but the SWorks is prominant.

Thoughts on polar blue HRM

Now that I've used the Polar Blue HRM for several months, here's a couple of observations. Compared to my old Sigma HRM, which uses 2032 battery, the Polar blue doesn't last as long. Both 2032 and 2025 are 3 volt batteries, but 2032 lasts longer. Here's the specs for each battery.

Lithium 2032
3V
220mAh

Lithium 2025
3V
150mAh

What does that mean in practical terms? Assuming you use the HRM every day for 1 hour, 2025 will last roughly 2-2.5 months. My sigma HRM with 2032 last for about 4 months on 1 battery. Last year I rode about 5800 miles and needed to change the battery on the sigma HRM once. Basically 2 batteries from March - November.

At the current rate, I will need about 4 batteries with the Polar blue HRM.

Thanks to Salt Stick caps

I had a great time on Saturday riding Mount Greylock Century. For the first 50 miles, the temperatures were in the low 70's/high 60's. When I reached the bottom of East Holly road, my hamstrings started to cramp. Immediately I went into survival mode and went slow. Up to that point, I was doing great and got PR's on the two big climbs.

At the top of East Hawley rest stop, I quickly ate 4 Salt Stick caps. I also drank 2 bottles of water. 30 minutes later, the cramps were gone and I recovered enough to push through to the end. I'm so glad I bought salt stick caps and brought some on the ride. If I hadn't it would have been harder to finish the ride, given there's 11K+ feet of climbing.

I bought them from Run outlet

Why I ride

Today the sky is grey and the ground is wet. Earlier this morning, it was pouring and the water was flowing down the hill like a stream. I felt a sense of dread mixed with a slight bit of hope. The weather report could be totally wrong and I might be able to get a ride in.

Some people have asked me why I ride and why I like big climbs. The honest truth is I am addicted to riding. It helps clear my head each day, gets my heart pumping and forces me outside. Every day I ride, I feel the adrenaline coursing through my body. Before I started riding, my weight was around 185lbs. I had no energy, felt slow and had a tough time dealing with stress.

When allergy season started, I felt miserable. My eyes itched and my nose was running. Using flonase made it bearable, but it didn't wasn't fixing the problem. After I dropped 20 lbs and improved my health, I didn't need flonase any more. Since 2010 I've been off flonase after being on it for about 3 years.

Riding has done a lot for me. Emotionally, spiritually and physically I feel better. Why I ride? The real question for me is "why doesn't everyone ride?"

Making progress

Yesterday I did the Wednesday nite ride at the Old Stone Church in West boylston. Usually I don't get to ride on wednesday nites, but when I do it's fun. Compared to the first time I did the ride, I've definitely improved and gotten stronger. The first time, we took Laurel street to holden, up Elmwood to Ball Hill, then to princeton center. My memory of that first ride was "holy shit these guys are fast." On the first climb up Elmwood and jefferson rd, I got dropped. Luckily they slowed down a bit, but not quite enough for me to recover. By the time I got to brook station road, they were long gone. There was a 2 other people near me. I tried my best to grind up Ball Hill road, but there was no chance of me catching them.

The next time I did the WNR, I did better and managed to hang on until the top of ball hill road. Fast forward 2 years and things are different. For the first half of the ride, I can just hang on the climbs. I'm still at the back of the group, but I'm ok with that. Compared to 2011, my avg mph up the climbs are 2-3mph faster. On a good day, I can hold the wheel in front of me.

Without a doubt I've gotten stronger, but the fast guys are even faster now. That's a good thing and gives me motivation. The downside is that my training sucks. I have no rhyme or reason to how I train. I don't have a plan or schedule laid out. Every day I look forward to my ride and just ride. I'm too happy to be riding to think about how I should be training. The thing, I'm ok with that. I ride for health and fun. For me, it's not about racing or killing myself. The act of spinning up a steep hill makes me happy. I don't know how much more progress I can make without getting serious about training, but I don't really care. At the end of the day, I'm just happy to be healthy and energetic. I hope to keep it up and live to 100. My ultimate goal is to ride a century when I am 100. I want to live long enough to see my great grandchildren. If I'm lucky and live healthy, maybe I'll live long enough to see my great great grandchildren.

Skratch Labs exercise hydration - holy pineapple batman

I am a creature of habit. 3 days a week I ride the same exact lunch route. When I go to a restaurant, I always order the same thing. When I get coffee, I get the same thing. I've been using Skratch Labs since last year. Up until last week, I always used the same lemon/lime flavor. Why change flavor when I know what I like.

My son in contrast loves to try new things and new flavors. Back in March I got a few free samples of other flavors with my usual order of lemon/lime. My son tried it and like it, so I bought a box of variety packs. Last week I ran out of lemon/lime and was heading out for a long ride. What do I do? Rather than get dehydrated on a long ride, I decided to try the pineapple and orange.

To my surprise the pineapple kicks ass! If someone asked me "what flavor do you want on a long hard ride?" Pineapple wouldn't be in the top 10. Now that's changed. The pineapple is refreshing, light and a joy to drink. The first taste of pineapple was on a flat going about 25mph. Instead of the usual "Blech, what is this fruity garbage from gatoraid?" I felt refreshed. Before there was Skratch, I used to use Gatoraid lemon/lime. When I was in my teens, the sickly sweet Gatoraid flavors were fine. After my teens, Gatoraid is just too sweet and hard to swallow. Last year my kids got me a 8 pack of orange Gatoraid. Seriously, that is some haneous stuff. When it's super cold right out of the freezer like a slushy, it's ok. In any other form, it's just too darn sweet. Enough bashing Gatoraid.

Skratch guys thank you for an awesome product. You've changed my hydration routine and made me a believer in great taste. Now, when I run out of lemon/lime my first thought isn't "doh! I forgot to place an order." I look forward to trying the other flavors. I'm still a creature of habit and lemon/lime will still be the flavor I drink 80% of the time. The other 20% is a nice change of pace.

I'm not a weight weenie, but less is more

I honestly didn't think I would notice the difference in weight with the new Mavic Aksium wheels and Shimano 105 crankset. When I got home after my first ride, it wasn't clear to me the stiffer crank made a difference in speed, but picking it up I felt it. The bike was lighter. I haven't weighed it, but I'm guessing it's probably 1 lb lighter. Does that really matter? Honestly I don't think so.

If I loose 5lbs, that will make a much bigger difference. Last Saturday I climbed Route 62 up to Wachusett summit with a new PR. I don't know if it was the new 105 crankset, but it was easy to get in a good spin. Even on the steep parts of summit road, I was able to spin at a decent RPM.

Picking the right bike

Now that I've been riding 3 years and have a better understanding, I'm really glad I chose to get Giant Avail Advanced over Trek Madone. I own a few Trek bikes, specialized, Fuji and Giant. When I tried Madone in 2011, I couldn't really express why I didn't like it. The reason is simple, I didn't know anything. With only 1 year of road riding, my skills sucked, my strength sucked and my understanding of handling sucked.

As my fitness and skills improve, I started to notice how the bike handles on different roads and conditions. For example, my Specialized Dolce is a good bike, but a couple of things make it uncomfortable on longer ride over 60 miles.

1. the stem is too long, which causes me to keep my arms straight. After about 40 miles, my hands start to feel numb. When I go into the drops, it's difficult to generate max power.

2. the aluminum frame transmits more of the road vibration, which causes soreness of my shoulders, back and neck. I've ridden 4 centuries on the Dolce. Half way through, I started having numb hands and a tight back.

3. it's difficult to get an ideal position on the dolce. this could easily be fixed by getting a shorter stem and pushing the saddle back a few millimeters.

Even with this minor fit issues, my Dolce is far more comfortable than the Madone I tried. Back then I chalked it up to the lame saddle on the bike, but now I know better. The Madone is very stiff, but it also transmits much more road vibration. Many of the roads around central MA have potholes, dirt/sand, or need to be repaved. I tried adjusting the saddle forward/back, but it didn't help. When I returned the Madone, the sales people tried to convince me to get a bodyfit. Even if I had switched the stem to a shorter one, changed to shallow drop bars, changed the saddle and lowered the tire pressure, it would still transmit more road vibration to my body. I'm sure for someone that's tougher, the Madone would be fine. For me, Madone is too harsh. Even though the Madone responds immediately to the rider, it's also unforgiving.

My giant Avail advanced 2 in contrast isn't as stiff as a Madone, but I can ride a double metric with zero fatigue. Last year, I rode King's Tour of the Quabbin double metric with some 7HW friends. At 98 miles, we were averaging 20mph and I felt great. There was no fatigue and my hands were never numb. Around mile 110, I started to cramp, but that was due to hydration.

I'm 5'3", 140-145lbs and stocky. My arms and legs are shorter than average, so a relaxed geometry is a better fit in every way. Picking the "right" bike isn't easy, and it's not really a science. The only good way to pick the "right" bike is to test drive some.

Rose32 after thoughts

On Sunday, I rode down to Rose32 bakery with a bunch of guys from 7 hills wheelmen. The usual suspects showed up: don, kat, eric f, eric d, dave c, kevin, justin, marty, mike foley, joe. The pace down was good and my legs felt good. At every town line Dave had to sprint, which is fun and a good motivation. I kept a steady pace and stuck on Justin's wheel. As we climbed the last hill before Rose32, kat and mike had to sprint for it, so I decided to tag along.

When we arrived at the bakery, I looked at cyclemeter and noticed we had averaged 24mph from Paxton center school. That's a distance of 22 miles, give or take. Everyone worked together and took turns pulling. Eric D and Dave tended to take longer pulls, since they're stronger.

When I first started, I used to just ride by myself. That was mostly due to confidence in my skills and bike handling. Riding in a paceline felt scary and I didn't want to cause others to crash. It took me 18 months of riding to get comfortable with the road position. For the most part, I kept my hands on the hoods and tops. My friend dave tried to teach me pace line, and other important skills, but it took a damn long time for me to learn. I'm just not natural and don't handle the bike with any talent. When I see someone that is a natural, everything looks effortless. Their cadence is steady the entire time and rarely do they over spin or struggle to find the right gear.

When I first started, I would only shift the rear and then have to drop to the small chain ring. That usually meant over spinning. Sometimes I'd recover quickly, sometimes it would just throw me off. On bad days, I'd end up grinding to a crawl. As I got more fit, I was less focused on survival and more on cadence. Right around 18 months, I started to get a floating sensation. My friend dave said "you know the cadence is good when you feel like you're floating and it's like you're not peddling at all."

On Sunday's ride, my legs felt that wonderful floating sensation for most of the ride. On the final climb up to Paxton center it was hard. Marty and I worked together to pull each other up the hill. Even though I didn't feel "fast" going up long pond climb, I ended up getting a personal record (PR). With a few more great group rides, my legs will be back in shape.

Mavic Aksium wheels

Now that I've had 2 weeks of riding on the Aksium wheels, here's some thoughts. The first is that I can't tell any difference in speed. What I do notice is the bike is lighter than with the stock Giant PR2 wheels. I didn't think that mattered or that I'd even notice, but it is noticeable.

The wheels look nice and they've worked well. Breaking is about the same as before. On my regular lunch ride, I haven't noticed any appreciable speed increase on holden reservoir going south. The thing is, I don't even know how to compare, since I don't have a lab to isolate all the variables. On windy days I don't know it makes any difference. If there is, I can't tell.

One thing I did notice is the older giant PR2 were gentler on potholes and bumps. I usually inflate to about 110 and use 700x25. The tires that came with the Aksium are 700x23, so it's not comparable. Once I swap out the stock tires for Gatorskin hardshell, it will be easier to see if there's a difference.

The last few weekends I've done 40-60 mile rides and I haven't noticed any additional hand, wrist or shoulder fatigue. I can't attribute this to Aksium wheels being stiffer, since I haven't measured it. Even if it is, swapping out the stock tires and reducing the PSI to 105 would probably be enough.

Overall, I'm happy with the Aksium wheels.

Funny haha

The last two weeks I've been using my new Polar H7 HRM to measure my resting heart rate during the day. I use cyclemeter to log and view the results. Right now, my avg heart rate is around 57, which is pretty good.

One day, I noticed a couple of odd blips in the heart rate. When I looked at the graph, I noticed 2 different times it spiked to over 80. For a few seconds I was confused, since nothing unusual happened. Then I looked at the time and realized it was when my wife came down to the basement to talk to me.

Both times the heart rate jumped was caused by her. When I told her that fact, she got a good laugh. Even though I make a point to tell her how much I appreciate her every day, often she thinks I'm just being overly mushy. Now that I have proof from my Polar HRM, she gets a kick out of distracting me and raising my heart rate.

On a different note, after 2 months of daily use, I've noticed the soft strap is starting to smell. I soak in water after each ride, since I sweat a lot. With my previous HRM from sigma sport, it was more resistant to odors. I don't know if it's because of the strap material or hard versus soft. I guess I'll have to start washing it with detergent and see if that helps with odors.

Cyclemeter supports Stage Powermeters

Yesterday I sent Abvio feedback about cyclemeter suggesting they support Stage power meter. It turns out they already support it, but the website doesn't list it. I've been using cyclemeter for 2 years now and by far it's the best cycle computer app for smart phones.

This year Abvio added support for Wahoo RFLKT along with other bluetooth smart devices. I highly recommend cyclemeter to my cycling friends. I've tried several cycling apps and cyclemeter hands down beats all of the others.

PowerMeters

I've been reading about powermeters the last 2 years and have been thinking of getting one. The thing is, most of them are WAY expensive and well over 1000. I did some googling tonight and found a new product that works with bluetooth smart.

Stageone power meter

http://www.stagescycling.com/stagespower-models-rd

This looks really intriguing to me. The cheapest Quarq powermeter on sale is still 1300.00, which is way too much to spend on a powermeter. I don't race and never will, but being a programmer and data geek, powermeters are interesting.

I might have to save up and get one. That's assuming it is compatible with my FSA crankset. There's an excellent detailed review of Stages by DC rainmaker
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/01/stages-power-meter-in-depth-review.html

Castelli Nonflex Tights

Last winter I bought a pair of Nanoflex tights on close out at biketiresdirect.com. Although the material is thin, it does a good job of keeping the legs warm down to about 37 F. Lower than 32F, I wear my Pearl Izumi Amfib tights.

A few weeks back, I decided to get another pair of Nanoflex Tights, since the cheap Nashbar tights I bought 2 ago just don't fit well and don't keep my legs warm. To be fair, the Nashbar tights are about half the price. When I first started, I thought "Tights are tights, it's not going to make a difference."

Well, that's so wrong. The range of motion and warmth of the nanoflex tights are so much better that I can do a 3-4 hr ride in them. With the nashbar tights, 45 min is my limit with sub 40F temperatures. In march I did a few rides with 7HW members down to Rose32 bakery and my legs felt decent. The sweet spot for Nanoflex is right around 45F.

In terms of keeping the legs dry, it lives up to the promise. The chamois is solid and works well for me. Other people might not like it, but I find it works well for short, medium and long rides.
http://www.biketiresdirect.com/product/castelli-mens-nanoflex-bib-tight?ss=34897

The only downside with nanflex big tights is you have to be "in-shape". By that I mean "not fat". The tights fit like skin, so getting in and out of them is tough if you've put on extra pounds over winter.

Blue tooth sensors

The snow the last few weeks have been rough for me. In an effort to cheer myself up, I decided to get blue tooth sensors for my bike to replace the old sigma bike computer I got last year. Being a southern California transplant in new england, I have a difficult time with the cold weather. Before I started cycling, it wasn't so bad.

Now that I'm fully addicted to cycling, I find my body needs the adrenaline rush from pushing hard up a hill. After a good ride, my brain is clearer and I can focus on work. It's amazing and keeps me healthy.

Enough digression. I bought Wahoo Blue SC, which is a smart blue tooth speed/cadence sensor. I chose the unit based on the recommendations by Cyclemeter and Strava. After a couple of days of research and reading reviews, I decided to get it.

Installing the unit itself was straight forward. I like the design of the cadence magnet, which is a big rubber band. I like that better than using tie straps, which is more common. The sensor unit is based on Garmin's design. According to some references, Wahoo licensed the design from Garmin. In my research, some people complained their frames were too narrow, so they had to install it with the speed sensor up instead of down. Luckily for me, my Giant fit just fine and it took me roughly 5 minutes to install. Some of the videos I watched recommended using tie straps. This is largely due to the size and dimensions of the chain stays. The rubber band is pretty big, so frames with smaller chain stays will probably work better with straps.

Before I installed the sensor, I paired it with my iPhone5. The entire pairing process took about 3-5 minutes. One benefit of using the phone for the bike computer is strava and cyclemeter. I no longer need to use a bike computer + the phone. Plus, the analysis strava provides is quite neat.

I also got Polar H7 heart rate monitor. Pairing it was simple and took about 2 minutes. Overall, I am very happy with the smart blue tooth sensors.

On my maiden ride, both worked fine. There was no weird signal loss or flakiness. Once I use it for a month or so I'll put down more thoughts.

First long ride of the year

Today I did my first long ride of the year with Dale, Michael, Dave, Katja, Marty and Matt down to Rose32 bakery. It was a good ride and happily the road conditions were decent. There were a few spots where there was ice. On the way down, mike got a flat, so that was a nice little break. On the back, everyone took turns pulling.

As usual, I don't ride smart. About a half mile before Long Pond hill, I took my turn pulling and pushed myself. At the bottom of the climb, I was near my limit. Dale, dave and marty decided to attack the hill and push up the last bit. As a result, I got dropped but I don't mind.

I was seriously getting pissed and bummed out from all the snow, so riding was the exact antidote I needed. Pushing myself up the hill felt great and I managed to get  PR on Long Pond Hill, which means I'm in the same shape at the same time last year.

In terms of handling, I'm feeling better about my road handling skills. It's still not as good as some people in 7HW, but I'm happy to be out riding. I'm lucky to have some cycling friends to ride with and a job that lets me ride every day. I hope to log more miles this year. If I don't, it's no big deal.

Thoughts about MapMyRide

When I first started road riding, I used MapMyRide to plan out trips. Fast forward three years and I know most of the roads in Worcester county, so MapMyRides isn't useful to me anymore. I was a paid subscriber of MapMyRide for 3 years, but the latest changes to the UI suck.

The usability has gotten worse. Instead, I use Strava. The interface of Strava is simpler and more user friendly. To be fair, Strava's focus is social riding, while MapMyRide does a lot more. I used to log all of my workouts on MapMyRide, but due to the clunkiness of the UI, I don't use it anymore.

The worst part is the iOS app for MapMyRide. It flat out sucks, looks ugly and slow.

New Wheels

For my birthday, my family got me a gift certificate to Nashbar, so I got a new set of Mavic Aksium M10 wheels. The stock wheels that came with my Giant Avail are ok, but they are a bit heavy.

The spoke count is considerably less than the stock Giant P-R2, which is the standard spoke setup. I can't wait to try these out in Western MA on greylock, mohawk trail and east hawley hill.

Follow up on Castelli tights

On Sunday, I went for a ride with the temperature hovering around 39-40F. I wore the nanoflex tights for the first time. Happily to my surprise I felt comfortable and didn't feel cold at all.

Nanoflex big tights

The tights themselves are snug and fit better than my Amfib tights. A couple of minor nitpicks. As I was walking around the house, I felt the tights crimp the back of my knee. To alleviate that, I pulled the tights up higher on the thigh. The downside of the nanoflex material is that it was hard to get a good grip. With some persistence, I got the tights higher and it was comfortable.

For temperatures below 24 I would use the Amfib tights instead. For temps above 30F, it felt fine for me and I'm a whimp when it comes to cold weather.