Archive for the ‘Gear’ Category

So i decided to do a little santa shopping for myself this year and stuck something under the tree, from me to me. That was until I got the dirty eye from Jennifer stating why and how and where did this come from.

I decided on trying out some carbon fiber goodness from Renn. It’s a 650c Madeira Disc and it sounds so cool in motion!!!

wooowooowooowooowooo….mmmm, I used to admire those with this. I now have the setup that I’ve been longing for on the bike. The Hed3 on the front and the Renn disc rear!

I took it out on a coooold test ride today and I had the best time gliding through the air, until I was met with the extreme head and corsswinds, then thought twice about the large faced wheelset combo in the wind as I carefully held steady through the traffic.

Well more to come on my wheel in the next gear review.

We also had xmas part 1 and Jennifer allowed me to open up one of her gifts to me which happened to be something I wanted from our recent trip to Boston and the Harpoon Brewery:

Hot isnt it?! I wore it too today. I’m super stoked to sport this bad jackson in the warmer weather when it doesn’t have to be accompanied by warm layers.
Thanks babe!

This may be the final post until post xmas, so for those of you who I don’t speak with…happy holidays!

And I shall leave you with season’s greatings from Porkchop the dog:

So I took a trip to the local triathlon stores to recon some spare parts for the new race wheel purchase. I was in the 50 miler MSFits Ride for Turkey MS event prior to thanks giving, and I got to thinking about 20 miles out that I’d be SCREWED if I shredded a tire. I was thinking how I’d try to tell someone how to get me when even I didn’t know where I was.

So, that brought about my search for tubular repair. I’m trying to remember what others carry in case of the dreaded pop. So off to find my tires. It proved to be a little difficult. I went to the closest 1st- The Bicycle Chain- no dice….the guy even looked at me funny when I asked for 650s..lol. I was already making my mind to hit up InsideOut Sports in Cary, so off I went. I usually hit up this store on my lunch break as it’s a great distance to go browse and get back in time for more work.

I ended up with a few grams of air, a Conti Sprinter Tubie and a handful of HammerGels, just in case.

Man tubular tires are NOT cheap. Granted they are hand-sewn and such…still! Oh well, beats walking.

On the way home I forgot one important factor…glue. So I made a pitstop into TrySports to pick up some antidote. I wanted to avoid tubed epoxy, so I went with adhesive tape. I chose Tufo Gluing Tape as I feel it will be less messy and more portable and “instant” for a change.

So finally, I made it back home and had all this stuff…now where the hell do I put it all?!!

I’ve always gawked the wheels of the elite competitors on tv and in local races. TV holds no flame to seeing cook aero wheels in person. I made Jennifer get up early one day and we went out to the bike route and watched the Duke Half Ironman race and all I did was drool over all the bikes and the sounds they made with their carbon rawr!!!

I finally had the opportunity to scoop up a pair of used HEDs for my Cervelo. They were being sold at a reasonable price and I had to grab them. Enter the HED3’s. They just look cool, tri blades of carbon fiber cutting the air. As soon as they arrived, I strapped them on and loaded up the bike for a test spin on the indoor trainer. They looked quick and really rounded off the look of the Dual.

I took a spin. MMMMMmmmmm…I felt like I was faster already, and I was only on the trainer! I hopped off and spun the pedals as fast as I could to get a good look. Again, badass. They looked like a helicopter rotor zooming along. And when you pedaled fast enough, you kinda got that chopper sound…

As far as weight-wise, they were about similar to my Shimano alx280’s, so I’m not saving much on the grams.

Within the next few day I was finally able to get out on the road at speed. I tool a spin down around Carter-Finley stadium and back to the house. They felt sturdy and fast. I could feel a little cross draft resistance but I feel that’s norm on aero wheels. And I really felt the crossdrafts in the open roads through the fielded areas by the art museum. I was paying little attention on keeping the fork stable on the inside line between the bike lane and car lane. I was at about low 30’s when a HUGE gust popped out of no where and took my front wheel with it. I strayed all the way across the small bike lane to the shoulder and over corrected and nearly avoided a fall/ slide into traffic. Lesson learned.

I didn’t have any baseline numbers to compare with but my average speed was up a bit; I don’t know if that’s due to the wheel or due to my excitement, but either way its an improvement. I can’t wait to take them out on race day and see what I can do in that situation.

Ultimately, I plan to rid the rear wheel and get a disc, but, we shall see what off season sales will render for me.

I competed the whole last season on a Fizik Tri saddle which did the job, but would usually leave me somewhat pained but relieved to begin the run portions of the race. I always felt so much uncomfortable pressure on the butt and boys when down in aero.

In the international race distance, I actually experienced numbness and and could tell the blood flow to the legs and quite possibly other vital areas were restricted. Also, having a concerned Urologist parent, the future relationship of a new saddle was inevitable.

So I believed the hype and decided to try out the ISM Adamo Road Saddle.

I chose the road version as there is more padding in the sit bones area and in the nose of the saddle. $150 dollars for a new one just was not in the race budget, especially if it failed to meet my expectation, this was a gamble I wasn’t going for.

I tried to nab one on eBay and came up short on every auction, as I wasn’t about to pay $20 off retail on a used saddle. I scoured the forums and finally found a seller on Slowtwich willing to let one go for cheaper than he posted. SCORE!!!

A few days later, it arrived neatly packed and looking almost perfect besides some markings on the rails where it was mounted. I must say this thing is UGLY! I found out it has a convenient rear “beak” to mount onto the rack bars in transition. CoooOOoool…

Within 10 mins, the Adamo was mounted and I hopped on…OOF!!! Ok some adjustments are needed. It was recommended to follow the fit guide on the Adamo site to find perfection. With my excitement that wasn’t happening- with some eyeing and some manual adjustments I found tolerance and was off…

It felt glorious! No usual pressures, padding was perfect on the sit bones. I angled forward for a more aggressive sit and the nose laid perfectly in the channels of my anatomy. Wow. I did some test laps and things were golden. I couldn’t wait for my distance rides now! If heaven made a bike saddle, this was it.

The cons of this saddle are the rumors of poor construction, my PD saddle mount bottle holder wont fit correctly (mines rigged) and of course the price is a tad steep.

But when you put it all together, I feel comfort and healthy boys (and girls) is worth the cost and if you hunt, you can find this jewel for cheap!

Since I started training and competing for triathlons, I’ve been obsessed with the tri bike. Yes, I know a regular road bike will do fine for the races, but I felt like I was missing a certain aspect of the whole race.

I was riding a circa ‘00ish Cannondale R1000 complete with fwd seatpost and clip-on aero bars…I was ready to make the jump mentally, even if my performance wasn’t quite up to a front of pack AG33′er.

I found a sweet deal on a seller’s indoor trainer bike, the ‘07 Cervelo Dual, in New Jersey. The seller was available for most any correspondence and the cost was doable since it met my sub-$1000 requirements! Next thing I knew, I was explaining to my girlfriend why I had dropped coin on a bike.

It came in a HUGE box partially disassembled and filled with peanuts. The bike came in pristine condition. The components and chain looked brand new and had clear grease on them still. I don’t think this person ever rode the bike! No really.

I adjusted the seatpost and dropped the stem down for maximum aggressive aero. Man it looked bad ass! Bright yellow with black accents, I shall call her Nannerpuss!

In full teeshirt and cargo short weekend dress, I strapped on the bike shoes and helmet and I was tearing down the road. I felt so fast and the bike was sooo quiet. The frame was light yet didn’t give when I powered hard. This was a 48cm frame with 650c wheels, a hair different from my 51cm/700c Cannondale. I felt like I had great control over this bike. My weight was perfectly set up near the aerobars so that I wasn’t squirrely but my response was immediate to my input. After some minor height adjustments and some distance riding, this bike has become my favorite. I’ll soon be testing out accessories on this bad boy…race wheels, etc…