Finally I am getting some miles in the legs. Here are a few of the recent outings.
Click to access the route/data
Archive for March, 2009
Intro to Zen
Posted in Mtn. Bike with tags St George on March 29, 2009 by VH1Just got back to SLC and it is snowing. How unfair is that? Earlier this afternoon I was sunning myself to 73 glorious degrees. Jamie the human GPS took me on the famous Zen trail and it hurts. Not so much while riding it, but the next day. My bones were rattled and my muscles are beat down. BTW I rode my new 32X19. Great ride, just remember a shock is preferred over a rigid fork for this trail. Here is the route and data
RMR crit=fun
Posted in Races on March 25, 2009 by VH1This past Saturday I lined up for my first crit and had an absolute blast! I have no idea what possessed me to do it, but I am so glad i went. On the way to RMR I called a couple buddies who gave me the same advice. They said “it is like a cyclocross race, only you race on the road and you don’t carry your bike”. The only similarity between a crit and cross is you are redlined the entire time, you do laps on a set course, and you are riding a bike. So I show up and pay my $10 and had no idea how many laps we did, how long the race was etc.. I figured out at the start that I needed to stay in the first 10 riders to make it through the first corner alive. To make a long story short, I had a blast, was happy with my effort and can’t wait to do it again. Memo to team Spin cycle: your tactics won’t work next time. Here is the data from the race :check out the average wind speed. It was an average of 20mph!
The angry inch
Posted in Mtn. Bike with tags 1x1 on March 18, 2009 by VH1What is the secret of winning a single speed race? I don’t have the answer, but I do have a theory. That theory is: the person who can turn the biggest gear the longest will be the winner. I was looking at some data on gear inches and this is what I found:
Gears:----------------------------------------------------------------------------- REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE SP CRxFW GI 85 90 95 100 105 110 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1> 32x20 46.40 MPH: 11.73 12.42 13.11 13.80 14.49 15.18 2> 32x19 48.84 MPH: 12.35 13.08 13.80 14.53 15.26 15.98 3> 34x20 49.30 MPH: 12.47 13.20 13.93 14.67 15.40 16.13 4> 32x18 51.56 MPH: 13.04 13.80 14.57 15.34 16.10 16.87
If this is accurate my 90 rpm cadence with a 32X20 (46.40 gear inches) gear is going to be 1 mph slower than someone(Rick) with a 34X20(49.30 gear inches) gear and pedaling the same 90 rpm. I know there are some freak exceptions to the bigger gear wins theory(Jamie) but as of tomorrow I will be going one gear lower. Hey Rick I think you have something on your back.
On the road again
Posted in Road with tags af canyon on March 16, 2009 by VH1Friday and Saturday I was lucky enough to squeeze in a couple rides on the road. Here is the report:
Friday I went to turn on my garmin and the battery was DEAD, so I had to go without a gps. I hate riding without a gps. Click here to see the route I took:
I felt great until I hit the south side of Suncrest. There was a nasty headwind and a carrot about 1/4 mile ahead. This poses a question “if you see a carrot are you obligated to catch it?” I feel a detailed post is in order about this topic. Over the winter the pain of climbing Suncrest fades away, and Friday was the wake up call. I did however catch my first carrot of the year.
Saturday JDub, the recently shaved OsamaBright, Adam, and Jared met at my place at noon. The plan of attack was to Pine Hollow in AF Canyon and back. Some of the group made it to Pine Hollow, as you can see from my data I did not. This poses a question “If you invite someone who is having a bad day and they get dropped on your favorite route, what is your responsibility as the invitee?” If you are interested in the data here it is:
I love AF Canyon. It is a very constant grade on the climb and a screaming fast downhill. Everything was great until that Suncrest hill. After climbing the canyon my legs were cooked, but slowly managed to limp home. BK when do I get the new Carborocket formulation? Rick my MASHer made its debut and I loved it!
It is so good to have the snow mostly melted and riding outdoors. I have caught the bug and like a drug addict am trying to get my next riding fix.
Lessons learned
Posted in Mtn. Bike on March 11, 2009 by VH1Here is what I learned during my first single speed race:
1. Slow speed crashes look more painful than most higher speed crashes. I saw a guy in my class face plant on the red rock. His front wheel somehow got wedged into a groove and compressed his front shock. This bounced him up and over the bars and on to the slickrock face first. Ouch!
2. Signs are not to be taken literally. This picture shows the sign I am talking about: (faces edited to protect the innocent)
you see the yellow sign on the left that says finish? Some guy from the sport class took that sign literally and jumped that tumbleweed in front of the sign, rode between 2 minivans and into the parking lot. He quickly realized his error and cyclocrossed his way over the yellow tape and back on the finishing straight. Rick and I looked at each other as if to say “did he really think that was the way to the finish line?”
3. Single speeding is about gear inches. I will explain my theory about this in a separate post, but 46 gear inches is not enough. I was getting slaughtered on the flats and even the downhill. I will have to gear up to prevent this from happening next time.
4. Cafe Rio and a cold diet coke makes you forget the pain
5. All rigid forks are not created equal. I hate my Karate Monkey steel fork. I rode the Rampage course this past summer with the KM fork and was so sore that I had to take the next couple days off. My new rigid fork was sweet, and I was pain free the next day. Even on the rocky sections it has a fairly smooth ride.
6. The guys in the single speed class don’t shave their legs. Looking around and sizing up the competition prior to the start made me realize that only 3-4 guys in a class of 20 riders had their legs shaved. I don’t know if this is always the case, but it is something to take note of.
7. I love the Mistress! She was so much fun to ride.
8. Never give your underwear to another man! Rick you know what I am talking about.
Rampage Report
Posted in Races with tags mtb race on March 9, 2009 by VH1Here is the race report from the Desert Rampage this past weekend. First of all let me say the weather and course could not have been better. I took 5th place in a BIG single speed class and couldn’t be happier with my result. After basically taking the past 3 months off I was just hoping for a mid pack finish. I was shocked when I finished on the podium in 5th (Beating my time on a geared bike last year by about 8 minutes) and only a couple minutes behind Rick (he is as fit as a gazelle). That being said I suffered like a dog and my data listed below will prove that. Big props go to Brad (2nd), and Kenny(3rd) who ride Expert class on single speeds, Mike Luper(4th) who races expert even though this was his 3rd mtn bike race, Adam(5th) who tore up a sports class full of sandbaggers, and Rick who beat me and placed 3rd in the Single-speeders.
Here are some photos from the race:
Single speed podium
Single speed starting field
Rick
Justin
Adam
Me and that is not a smile, it is PAIN!!!
All in all it was a great time. I learned a ton from this race when it comes to the art of racing a single speed and I will share what I learned later on this week.
Date with the Mistress
Posted in Mtn. Bike with tags Mistress 1X1 on March 4, 2009 by VH1I have had this sexy thing hanging out at my house just begging to be ridden. If you can remember, my wife gave me a mistress for my birthday. Last night I made a date to take her out and get all dirty. Here is what I learned about the new girl
1. 18 in the back is a little much this early in our relationship
2. She needed a little tightening up top (I forgot to tighten the stem)
3. She likes it rigid (I love the rigid fork, WAY better than the steel Karate Monkey fork)
All in all I am very pleased and am looking forward to the first road trip as a couple this weekend in St. George!
Here is the data from the test ride:
Power Test-Round 1
Posted in Training with tags Training on March 2, 2009 by VH1I have always been curious about watts and wondered how many I could produce. Tonight was the night to get my answers and OUCH did it hurt. J Dub offered to let me use his testing lab to get my numbers. I am using the numbers from tonight as a baseline and hope to retest each month. Having been gone 5 of the last 7 weeks and having very limited spin/trainer time I went in with no expectations. Here is the data for round 1:
20 min. TT
Avg watts – 329
Power-Weight-4.28
Avg HR – 165
Max HR – 173
Avg cadence – 97
Max cadence – 105
Avg. speed – 26.1 MPH
Max speed – 30.1 MPH
Distance covered – 8.69 miles
I was pleasantly surprised! Hopefully this translates into keeping me out of the cellar in the Desert rampage this weekend!!!
