Asheville North Carolina - Training Trip - TECHNOLOGY

Asheville, NC Technology Follow-UP A quick update about 3-months (6 days a week) of 705 and Powertap use. NO issues with dropouts or any other problems. As I mentioned below, we rode 4-days (of the 5) in the pouring rain up to 6 hours each day. The 705 never failed, quit, fogged or had issues. We used Mapmyrides and Bike Route Toaster to create our routes for the 5 days of riding. Then emailed out the links for anyone to download to their 705 unit in advance of the trip. One morning I think Ben even used the send map function to pass along our route that day to someone that was having issues or didn't have the map in their Garmin unit. We used the mapping function to follow turn-by-turn (in purple) where we went daily rides. We never got lost. It was great. When using this feature, though, don't forget to "zoom-in", otherwise on unfamiliar roads, you may miss the turn, where the road has a fork or non-90 degree turn. We had a few times descending downhill at 40 plus and missed the turn and just had to turn around and go back to the proper street.
My next test with the 705 will be to race against myself or prior rides along the same route.
Other tech stuff about our trip. When riding in the rain, or knowing you will be riding in the rain always carry or pre-purchase 2 sets of brake pads. I know we all didn't mind supporting the local bike shop, but it would have saved us all about 5 trips to the bike shops buying them in advance. Just one more thing to put in my "tool box" for future out of town/ out of state trips.

Wednesday was our 'easy' ride day and I had a 12/25 cassette on my bike. Was it too much? no not really, but there was no real spin relief for the legs on the super steep or long climbs. I was glad I brought two other 'climbing' cassettes - a SRAM 11-28 and a Shimano Ultegra 12-27. I choose the 12-27 for the remainder of the trip. This was a great decision.

Power Tap & Garmin 705 - Winter Training -

It has been some time now that I have updated here.
What is new? Well I borrowed the "loaner Power Tap" from my sponsor bike shop and reluctantly took it back days later, after not getting it to work with my Garmin 705. After some research, I found it had not yet received the ANT+ update and that is why it did not work with my Garmin days prior. Not just 6 days later I get a message on Facebook, from the helpful associates at my sponsor bike shop that the Loaner Power Tap wheel has been updated and now is designated as a PT+unit. It is about a 100 dollar update, for anyone, I believe. This allows the PT hub to broadcast two sets of wireless signals. 1) is the Powertap w/less signal for the yellow PT "dash unit" and the other is the ANT signal for items such as the Garmin 705. I have exactly two workouts in on my trainer with the PT wheel and my Garmin. It's badass. I can see, HR, avg HR, Power, Max Power, Avg Power, Time, Distance, Cadence all on ONE screen. Each of these are customizeable as well. I love that. Just a flick of the small joystick gets me to another screen I can customize with 8 other separate fields. Sweet. I was playing around last night just to see what 400 watts feels like. It's hard. I will be interested to see how well I can do over the weekend outside, weather permitting, with a power test. This should help me set my Power avg for early in the season and then give me something to measure from in a few months. I like data.
GOBAMA!
The GYM - It seems my gym has gotten busy and is now filled with posers, heavy breathers and musclebound hairless wonders, walking around with their crackberry's acting important. Also, the people reading magazines while working out - how is that beneficial? I like our Gym actually, it's small but great. They are building a larger new one near out house soon, which might be cool for a change of scenery. I have been going about 3-4 days a week, after my bike workouts, for the last 6-8 weeks now: which includes, lower back, upper back, abs, hammy, quads etc. Core strength is key this year. There may be a CAT upgrade in my future....ssshhhh don't tell anyone. Put in time now - benefit later - right! But my workouts have been very consistant on the bike and very beneficial. I am sitting at a good, well great winter weight compared to any other year - sans when I was in high school. In a few weeks, I hope that will drop more, as the weather temp. increase's and I can get outside to burn some calories.

I went out of state last weekend, for an amazing bike fit, and a little fun getaway with my wife, by one of the best, in the bike-fit business. It was close to three-hours, a truly great learning experience and fun. Lots of measurements, lots of red sharpie dots, some riding on a trainer and we were finished with the preliminary process. A few tweeks here and there, some turned out to be bigger or more than I thought and other changes, not so much, but some of the suprises were, I was right-on where I had some things set on the bike and shoes. It might take a few weeks to adapt, but it's already coming around it appears. Hopefully more comfort, more aero, and more power to crush the competition in 09.
The day we left town, a huge fire consumed about 17 local businesses, but the fire dept. managed to save a , local restaurant, that is owned by a very good friend. I am sorry for all the local biz owners that must be suffering already in this economy. One other bummer about the fire is I just bought Jen a gift card at The Candle Lab for Christmas. Thank goodness they have two other locations in town. Lets hope the property owners move fast to find new local homes for these business's.

Other news: this morning a knock at our front door (= rare) my wife and I scramble to the window and see if there is a car, etc....nope it was someone innocently standing on our front porch. It's our nice long-term neighbor friend, Judy (who walks her dogs every morning) with bad news our other nice long-term neighbor Tim has passed away. He had a heart attack and stroke, she states. I am sad for Tim and his family. He was such a nice guy and the first to welcome Jen and I to our small little street when we moved in. He was always the guy to keep a watchful eye on any and all neighborhood stuff - morning-noon-night. He had the best flowers, best grass and could talk politics and pretty much any subject until you had somewhere else to be. I remember him saying once, he used to be a political speach writer, for famous politicians. Now I wish I knew more about him. Who is going to take care of his grass and home? Who will help me keep a neighborhood watch? Who am I going to chat with about politics/military/etc after my long bike rides? I'll miss you Tim.

Santa Visit - He likes bikes as much as I do

My super cool wife got me the bike stand. It's super light and folds up into a really small package and should fit in the car on trips and races, much much better (one: Park tools bike stand for sale). My sister ordered me these really nice white brake hoods for my road bike - from Fairwheel Bikes. They appear to be nicer molds than the other brand I have seen available and have a thicker area on the top of the hood area. Fairwheel is a pretty bad ass boutique bike shop with some crazy overpriced expensive lightweight stuff.
For myself this year, I bought a Garmin 705 from an old work buddy for a great price. I have used it once on the road, got the software to download into software etc. Very easy. As you can see from this pic of the Garmin you can set up this screen to show whatever data you want. Up to 8 different fields. Pretty sweet. Or you can do 6/4/2. As you increase or decrease the number of data fields the font size increases or decreases accordingly. That is smart. If you don't buy a powertap to use with this, you must purchase the 50 dollar speed/cadence sensor from Garmin. I hope to get more time with the Garmin this weekend outside riding.
I Spent the day Tuesday gathering up some old bike stuff to sell. Hopefully, if a majority of the stuff sells I will be buying a Powertap in the next month or so. I will hit the For Sale "Bike" Forums first - just because I hate to resort to ebah. I should have a link to post, once I get through editing photos.




My older style Polar HR strap finally took a poop, and the battery in it was non replaceable - great design. So I had to get a new one (shown) that does have a replaceable battery and has newer technology. More or less, for running/training and a general back up to roll with my 720i watch. I aim to use my Garmin 70% of the time. The cool part of the Garmin, it will receive, speed, power, cadence from the Powertap - once I get that going. I don't have to break the bank buying that ugly yellow disc head unit - that reminds me of windoze 98 - and their download cradle, HR strap etc. I can just focus on the hub and getting a solid, light fast wheel build. I would like to have it for my North Carolina Road Training Camp in March.
With the camp in mind and lots of crappy Ohio weather ahead, I asked Santa for some Raceblade fenders. He IS the (wo)man and came through. These things are sick slick. They weigh almost nothing, installed in about 15/20 minutes and kept the front of my legs, feet, and backside completely dry this past Saturday when the pavement was sloppy soppy wet. They blend in well with the bike and from a distance OR close up, almost disappear. I did find a nice pic of a limited edition white set on Cycling News.
Initially, I was thinking it would be nice if I had two sets, one for the Cross bike and then for the road bike, but after installation and riding with them, they are so easy to install on and off there really is no reason to have another set. Props to SKS.

Who's Buying? My Christmas Wish List

Well, it is my blog right? I can be greedy and ask for stuff?

maybe someone is giving one of these away. We all have dreams, dreams of falling, dreams of running or cycling in your sleep. I have dreams of someone leaving these things on my back porch in a nicely wrapped gift box in the next 3 weeks. Anyone? I would be happy to get a banner on my car, stickers on my helmet, drive around with giant sponsor magnets on my car, and other such ways to help promote your product.

• Digital (portable self-contained) video cam, made by Twenty20.
  this thing is badass. It's got a 2 gig memory card, laser adjustable lens system, great resoulution and several mounts available. I need one of these to document some of my mountain and road rides. It would be cool if they rented them? But better for me if I just owned one:)
  

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• Power Tap hub - Computer by Saris
  I have always wondered at my peak fitness what kind of "watts" I would generate. I certainly have no interest in bragging about them, it's just I always wondered. I know my LBS and Team Sponsor has a deal where you can rent a PowerTap system, wheel, computer, download cradle etc. for a weekend or week or whatever. Pretty cool. But I suppose if somone is giving this stuff away to me, I should just have one of my own. It would be nice to have an extra one, for just my mountain bike, while I am asking.
  

• Garmin 705 Edge well heck if someone is going to give me the Power Tap I gotta have the Garmin to go with it right? They work hand in hand now with the new ANT technology. One download to TP gets you, GPS, Speed, HR, POWER, Cadence and a bazillion other things a bike tech geek can tweek over.
  
  
  

• Specialized Carbon HT and the Specialized S-Works Epic Carbon Disc
  yeah dog, it's my list I can ask for whatever I want.
  I have a really nice HT now, a few years old, GF Zigg. that I love, but who wouldn't want a sweet looking full-carbon hardail with a sweeping top tube as sexy as that<. And well I have only ridden a full supension couch bike for a few days while riding in Moab - it was heaven (thanks Matt). But I think maybe it's time to get one. I have been contemplating how cool it would be to do some 'out west' mtb racing in '09 and there is a new MTB National Series that looks interesting.
  
  
• Ergon GR2 Carbon Bar Grips
  And because these things are so fricking nice to my hands, I would like to have a set of these for each of my new mountain bikes. Currently, I have a set of the GP-1. They have saved my hands, wrists and nerve endings all year. Santa did get them for me last year, so it would be good to step it up for some swanky lightweight race versions.
  
  
  
• Lifetime Magazine Subscriptions - Online Digital versions only
  Dirt Rag
  Velonews
  Cycling Plus UK
  Cyclocross Mag
  ROAD Magazine
  
  IT would be nice to have lifetime memberships of these magazines. Plus, I think printing is sometimes a waste. I currently subscribe to a few magazines in digital only versions, which is really nice and is not a tree killer.
  
  It's not much really - I can send you my home address if you need it or my work address to make sure I can track the shipping. I wouldn't want this stuff to get lost on the way.