Interesting talk by Dr. Max Testa

I happen to stumble across this talk by Dr. Max Testa, who is the team doctor for BMC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T_wzVZNSv8

Aerodynamics stupid

The last few months I've been paying attention to my average speed in relation to wind and the clothing I wear. Even though it would seem obvious, there's nothing quite like first hand experience to drive the point home. What I've noticed is that if I wear a winter riding jacket, my average speed for my usual lunch ride is 1mph slower. One might ask, "How do you know?"

I don't use a power meter, so there isn't definitive proof with hard numbers. What I do notice is the sections where I have the highest split times, are 1-2mph slower when I wear jackets versus long sleeve jersey. In contrast, when the temperature is above 70 and the wind is 15-20mph, I can still average 19mph for 21miles. The main reason is the amount of drag. In warm weather, I wear bib shorts and short sleeve jersey. Below 50F, I wear either a long sleeve jersey or pearl izumi jacket. Basically, when it's sunny I wear long sleeve jersey and cloudy days I wear the jacket for a little extra warmth.

So this got me thinking about bike frames and value. My giant avail advance has a aero seat post and seat tube. The down tube is also aero, though not as aero has Specialized Venge, time trial bikes or other aero road bikes costing 5-10K. I paid just under 2K for the avail, whereas the equivalent bike from Trek and Specialized would run in the 4-5K range.

Within old school bike purists, many prefer steel or titanium frames. The thing is, metal frames generally are tubes, which isn't the best for aerodynamics. My Trek mountain bike has oval steel tubes, but it's not for aerodynamics. They're thick heavy tubes made to take a beating.

Is it possible to make an aero frame using titanium or steel? I don't know, since I'm not a frame builder and don't know the first thing about it.

I was wrong

For the last 2 years, I've been learning how to dress for cold weather. Last winter I spent good money on winter gear and got 2 Pearl Izumi jackets. When I was doing research, I saw a lot of praise for Assos and Castelli. Honestly, I thought it was snobbery. I just couldn't justify spending 300-600 on a jacket. Last week, I saw that Castelli's Espresso Due jacket was on sale at Bike Tires Direct and decided to get it. Today it arrived. I tried it on and instantly noticed a difference. The cut of the castelli jacket fits snug, whereas the PI pro soft shell felt a bit loose. Both jackets are size medium. The second big difference is design. The castelli jacket has a mesh on the back, which lets it breathe. The PI pro soft shell doesn't. The third big difference is the collar. When I zip up the PI pro soft shell, it feels a bit tighter than I would like. In contrast the espresso due jacket is higher and stretches more. The end result is it keeps cold air out without feeling like it's constricting your neck. Tomorrow I'm going to try it out in the cold weather and see how warm it feels. I paid 150.00 for the Izumi jacket and 170 for the Castelli. Both jackets were on sale.

Another Saturday, Another climb

Today the weather was nice, so I went and did 2 intervals on Wachusett. The first climb I went to the summit. The second time just to the visitor center. There were quite a few cyclist today climbing Wachusett.

http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/bc64/6357/4c7a/cf0e/Cyclemeter-Cycle-20120421-1112.kml I managed to finish the ride with an average of 16mph, which isn't bad considering I climbed Mile Hill Road twice.

First climb up Wachusett summit

Last Saturday I climbed Wachusett summit for the first time this year. Considering it's only April, it felt great. I managed to log 62 miles, and took 2 pictures.

On my ride, I saw a few cyclist out, but not a lot. At the visitor center, there was several cyclist.

Riding around Amherst

Over the weekend I was in Amherst for passover and managed to get in some good rides. One great climb is up North Valley road in Pelham. It's a CAT4 climb, but it is harder than that. North Valley / Buffam road changes grade several times, so it's actually a harder climb than going up Shutesbury road. Shutesbury road maintains the same grade for most of the 4miles, so once you get into a good rhythm, it's easy to spin up the hill.

On Saturday I rode up to the town Orange and up route 202 going south bound. I stopped at Mattawa lake and took a few pictures.

Mattawa is a nice little lake. There were a lot of people out fishing on Saturday. I saw about 10 people relaxing on beach chairs fishing. When I got to the peak of route 202, I snapped a picture of Quabbin reservoir.

Saturday Ride Up Mile Hill Road

For the second weekend in a row, I climbed Mile Hill Road in princeton. That is one of my favorite hill in MA and my favorite hill in central MA. The favorite hill is East Hawley Road, which is a longer and harder climb than Mile Hill road.

The last two weeks I've been riding every day and pushing myself on my lunch rides. Last Thursday I took a picture of the Rox at the start of the ride. As the image shows, my heart rate is 59.

I don't use the heart rate monitor every ride. Some days I forget. The thing I like about the heart rate monitor is it helps me monitor my progress. As I get in better shape, the heart rate drops and the recovery is shorter. Yesterday's climb up mile hill road felt easier than the previous Saturday. It is a lot of fun to ride in a pace line and take turns pulling. Yesterday I tried to longer turns pulling to push myself. Today my legs are a little sore, but it's a good soreness.