WHAT TO DO WITH A FEW HOURS TO BURN....

View of Boulder below from Flagstaff Mountain

Fine Saturday morning with only one chore scheduled.  Drop off the black pony for a Colorado pothole sponsored front end alignment at Century Chevrolet in Broomfield.  Eight AM appointment so I won't bother the bride to pick me up. Weekends are not designed to sit around a waiting room even if there is free coffee.  This will be the last chance to road ride before spending a week in Florida with Mickey and Minnie.

Throw the Road Project in the back, check into the  dealership wearing Spandex and I'll figure it out from there. "Couple of hours at least".   Might be called anti-social in some circles but the beauty of riding on your own means no debates between different mindsets and no limitations other than your own.  Throwing the mental dart, it landed on the Flagstaff Mountain climb in Boulder.

About 20 miles of traffic riddled roadways through Louisviille, and Baseline road into Boulder and we're looking at the base of the popular City of Boulder Open Space. Freak'n wind had me in middle ring on the South Boulder Road descent just to stay upright and in the teens.

A collection of Boulder healthy people line up on the mile long entrance climb from Broadway.  I passed couples and guys older than me.  A  dozen  20's something riders dressed in Garmin Transitions jerseys that were sure they are the next Tyler Hamilton pass me.

Three quarters up the climb I pay for shifting to the cheater third front ring/granny combo with a major chain suck.   The rear wheel locked up skidding from the sickley 8mph pace to an abrupt stop.  Thanks to the 2 old guys I'd past for stopping and helping me wedge the final link from the Ritchey carbon wheel's bladed spokes.

Return trip wind fight was worse than the westward route and climb.  Battled crosswinds down US 287 back to Broomfield and was glad to roll in the dealership and get in the XM Radio and AC equipped cab.  Hot bath, beer and nap.  Greek dinner in Golden tonight. 
Beat the parking fees on Flagstaff by not driving.  Wonder if Mickey and Minnie have a tandem?

Cadence On a MTB Ride?

Riding the Yeti Road Project with a cadence computer set up allowed me to have a general idea of what the pedals were doing in the RPM department on extended road rides.  The spin class Nazis instructor always harped on 120 RPM + efforts.... but what does that mean for an endurance mountain biker?

After a medial meniscus tear surgery in 2007 and daily reminders of aging knees, I was curious about what the Topeak cadence ready computer could tell be about how I was treating the knees when ascending 8-15% grades on training rides and what methods I need to employ to stay ahead of the use vs. pain/damage game.

The 2010 Yeti 575 weighs in at 27.4 pounds with the Conroy approved Race package. While focusing on a respectable Firecracker 50 finish, rides center around continuous climbing and coaxing the quads and hamstrings to getting accustomed to pushing for up to 7 hours at a time.

Sunday's ride starting with a crankset punishing tour of Hall Ranch in Lyons via the "rock garden" and a lazy lap around the Hall homestead lollipop that was a 9 mile warm up.  Only 1 rock fight along the nasty trail.  Rock won. Knee, elbow and left ass cheek bear evidence of  the battle.  That will heal and I'm ready for some endurance training.

Returning back to the Hwy. 7 trail head allowed me to drop the empty Powerbar Sun Tea Endurance bottle and do a quick blood glucose level check. 130....good to go.  Out on the road to the short 2 mile trip along the Old St. Vrain Road to the Heil Ranch connector trail head and we're climbing single track for the next 45 minutes.  Fruita riding comes to mind as you wind through the conifer laden rocky landscapes with limited visibility on the tight turns and switchbacks.  Old farmstead and abandoned 1960's jalopy make the ride interesting.

After topping out on the Heil loop, we descend to the Lefthand Canyon trailhead and visit the bio-friendly outhouse, eat a Powerbar and head back up the 2.5-mile Wapiti Trail, the 2.6-mile Ponderosa Loop Trail, the 3.0-mile Wild Turkey Trail, and then on to the 5.2-mile Picture Rock Trail return.  Bottom line is that we were doing 4 1/2 hours pedal time and 34 miles of no rest 5,600 ft. elevation climbing. 

Mountain bike cadence and endurance.Studies have been done on the subject and Bio-mechanical expert Todd Carver offered the following words of wisdom. "We did a cadence study on Sugarloaf  Mtn Road in 1999 and had 15 roadies climb it with 2 different gearing options. 1st trial was with traditional road gearing. 2nd trial we swapped their rear cassette and rear der for a MTB setup. Results: on average, they were the same speed. But there was some variability and some of the larger riders were faster when using the MTB gearing. The climbers seemed to be unaffected.  Conclusion was that individual riders need to know their "RPM zones" that work best for them and use them. 

The Topeak Panorama V16 cadence indicator coached me to maintain my personal best climbing pace in middle chainring and granny at 90-95 RPMs. I can do this all day.

When asked about effects on knee stress at low RPMs while climbing, Carver said "Conventional wisdom says to spin. But sometimes I see some injuries just from really high cadences just due to the repetition.".  As a Quality Assurance professional, I know that you can not manage what you can not measure.  The Topeak cadence set-up on the MTB allows you to measure and manage your output for best performance. Cadence is courtesy of the swingarm mounted sensor and its relationship to the crankarm mounted magnet.

The V16 offers data on current speed, average speed, max speed, pace, current RPMs, average RPMs, max RPMs, ambient temperature, ride time, and accumulated ride time.  A clock, stopwatch, total distance reading review and the accumulated distance  data completes the package.  Your choice of metric or English units and a low battery indicator.

The massive 2 foot square instruction sheet gives details in several languages and provides a wheel circumfrence chart for setting the computer to your bike.  Always use the method "B" of rolling your wheel 360 degrees and multiplying by Pi to determine this dimension.  Wheel speed info is funneled from the wheel mounted magnet through the wireless transmitter.

WRENCHING FOR A CAUSE

Over the past few years I've found out it's almost as fun working on well built race bikes as it is riding them.  Using some really good tools and working on higher level components makes the job easier and usually ends up with better results.  Cat 1 team mate Evie had a grocery list of issues with her Race level  ASR and I offered to run through it piece by piece and let her concentrate on training (since I'm not).

Overall, the '07 or '08 ride was in good shape.  DT Swiss wheels were still running true with no bearing issues but the cassette engagement mechanism shows some hostility later while under big ring load.  Likewise the Fox fork and rear shock showed no signs of leakage, serious scratches or wear.  Just dropped a little air pressure based on the manufacturer's recommendations and confirmed topside Float Fluid.  Headset was well, -set. 

Here's what we ended up doing to smooth the ride.

BOTTOM BRACKET NOISES

Bottom bracket was replaced with a brand new XTR level bracket left out of a press in carbon frame build.  Teflon taped threads to insure good thread engagement.  Bearing adjustment and crankarm bolts set per Dr. Shimano.  Theory is the creaking left with the old BB.

SHIFTS LIKE SH&%

Bike shop trick is to buy miles of  5mm cable housing and use it for both brake and shifters.  New correctly sized Jagwire 4mm housings full-length coverage installed along with new cables and minor re-routing.  High/Low derailleur adjustments were good.  Slap on a new SRAM 991 nickel plated chain and we're back to actually having 27 usable gears!

BRAKES=FRICTION......FRICTION=WEAR

Stoppers got a DA sanding on the rotor surfaces, caliper re-centering, new pads and a couple of  un-needed inches of  front hose removed.  Shimano Rotor Locks torque down just like  the cassette lock ring and the Topeak D-Torque-DX torque wrench gives an audible "beep" when we hit 40 N/m.

ALL THINGS RUBBER

The DT Swiss XR 4.2D rims have tubeless tire rim strips and and valves installed.  Most of the tire sealant had evaporated or squirted out sandburr punctures.  A lightly used pair of Mountain King 2.2s were mounted along with a healthy dose of Stan's sealant. Thank god for compressors.

A Topeak bottle cage replaced the generic alloy holder and a new set of Ergon grips have been prescribed before Nathrop.  A pair of Crank Brothers SLs replaced the SPD pedals.

Go get'm Evie!!

CAN WE HAVE A LITTLE SUNSHINE HERE?

Tried really hard to get good rides in this week but mother nature can't make up her mind if it is winter, spring or summer.  Rain and cold most of the week limiting fun stuff  to a couple of outings.  Charlie, Deveroh and I managed to steal 2 hours on Chimney Gulch Wednesday between rain storms.

Training venture on Sunday was made grueling by 30 mph head winds out of the north .  Destination was Broomfield, to Left Hand Canyon to Jamestown and back.  Prelude to taking the bigger bite up to Ward.  Bridge out on Neva Road called for rarely  never used shouldering technique ala-cyclocross over the barricades and maintenance foot walk. 

Spitting snow up top and bare legs made for a not enjoyable descent.

 Then again, shut up you're riding and summer is right around the corner.

TRAINING CAMP ON THE ROCKS

Yea  I know, long time before the training camp update but life got in the way.  I'm over yard work, taxes, garage cleaning and backyard fencing and actually have a few road rides under me.

Travel started out a little slow with a 45 min I-70 stall at Idaho Springs due to something called a "roll-over".  Made it to Butler's retreat in New Castle for a great dinner, bed and last shower of the weekend.

Moab was as great as ever with the exception of a nasty visit from the hail and snow gods Friday while we were trying to get the COMotion Mothership settled in the Loop D campsite.

The day was salvaged with a quick trip over to pay homage to the great -white -over -rated Slickrock Trail.  It's been a few years since I've climbed the beast and with the many wet areas, I quickly recalled how you will crash at -4 MPH backing down a whoop-dee-doo you under estimated.  Glad to get the first crash out of the new 575.  Sharpie touch up on the awesome lock on grip ends and you're ready to brag NEW again.

Turn out was fantastic with the bulk of the 2010 team attending including some new faces. 

Team riders included website guru Javier (freshman), Cris B. and the Jenmiester, Todd-TC with Pro-Stephen I., Catherine, Doug D., Kelly, Scott & Lisse, Monica, Kris with a "K" & Lindsey, Boss Lechner, Felix, Brian and Laura (freshmen), Gary and Devoroh, JD (old-freshman), Boni, Pudge and Coach Brian traveling all the way from Michigan, Chad, Holly and several friend of  friends including Melanie and James.  The camps were a little scattered throughout the loop but that may have been a good thing.  Some people actually sleep on these things.

Plenty of good food between the oriental dishes, taco soup, turkey legs and a couple of trip into town. Eddie McStiff fried stuff and Moab Brewery's porter beer and more fried stuff provided the carbs. 

Don't worry, we burned it off on hard rides at Soverign, Porcupine Rim and full-out circles in the parking lot.

We escaped with only a few injuries, a couple of broken bikes and no arrests.  Training Camp was good.

OK, ADD AN EIGHTH YETI TO THE STABLE

With the ASRc dialed for the upcoming cross country/ short track race season, it was time to ready the newest occupant of the downstairs Yeti coral.

The 2010 Yeti 575 will serve as the alpha training ride and make climbs on the Super D course easy. Last year I rode the 41 pound ASX with 2.6" rubber. Way overkill for suspension and traction......definitely not fun for climbing.

Den inventory process. Yip, all there.......
The build kit was Race, mid-way on the kit choices with the 15mm front axle and DT Swiss Ratchet Wheelmounting System (RWS) rear. The bike was built stock with only a few exceptions. I swapped out the Schwalbe 2.25 Fat Alberts for a pair of 2.4 Continential Mountain Kings I had sitting on the shelf.

The Shimano mid-grade chain was replaced with a Sram 991 nickel plated version using the handy quick link. White shifter cable housings and hydraulic brake hoses finished the customization.
No secret that I am a bike snob but I have told myself it's OK to not ride XTR on a training and throw-it-down-the-mountain bike.

A few hours after completion, Todd Carver e-mailed with a Retul bike fit opening. I quickly snatched it up. Demo for some Trek factory brainiacs in town. My set up was based on dimensions from my other bikes so I figured I was pretty close. Just wanted confirmation. All the adjustment needed was to drop the seat 1cm and go ride it.

Time to quite being a "Fred" and start dedicating major hours to the saddle.

COMOtion Team Meets To Plan Season

The first 2010 team meeting was held at the Retul Fit Studio in lower downtown Denver where master bike fitter Todd Carver offered up an update on the ever evolving Retul Dynamic 3D motion fit system. The system is used by pro teams around the world for precise evaluation of bike fit replacing the carpenter's level and plumb bob with infra-red LEDs and dimension calculating software. Todd recently set up the new Radioshack Team and convinced Lance Armstrong to move his saddle up 1 cm.

Once the correct dimensions, angles and set-up are determined, the rider is given the critical data to use on other bikes or to compare to changes in equipment. If Lance trusts Todd, I imagine I would. Check out the company's site on the sponsor links to the right.

Team owner Stephen Lechner presented the encouraging outlook for the season and surveyed each racer for his/her priorities and commitments for the year. Sponsor support is essential and many of the team supporters have again committed to the 2010 season.

As always, the Mountain States Cup Series http://www.racemsc.com/ will be the focus. COMOtion racers will also compete in the Winter Park Series, http://www.epicsingletrack.com/default.asp, Firecracker 50 http://www.mavsports.com/?id=8 , fall cyclocross events and other competitions throughout the Rocky Mountain region and country.

The team set March 25-28th as the date and Moab, Utah as the site for the annual team training camp. A Sports Illustrated associated action photo shoot will also take place April 7th among the red rocks.

Permission via the hand raise was required prior to excusing one's self to the beer drain facilities.

Lots of work to be done before we test the speeds of rival teams in the many race venues across the region.

ASRc Starting To Come Together.....2010's XC Ride - Brakes ready..

When you're already riding the greatest brand and model for your riding passion, it's hard to make improvements. The 2010 cross country racing choice once again, is a brand new Yeti ASRc carbon framed lightweight XTR'ed to the hilt. This week we're working on the stoppers and shifting cables.The Shimano system is not the easiest hydraulic brake to bleed. Special tools make the job simpler but patience is required.

What can I add? Viewing custom Yetis on http://www.yetifan.com/ a particular ASX in Europe caught my eye because it looked like a true custom job. One reason. White shifter cabling and hydro hoses. Genius!! Gotta have it.

Cables were easy with Jagwire offering kits through Bike Source in Colorado Springs. Got enough for the ARCx next time I feel like wrapping cables under bar tape.

White hydraulic brake hose proved to be a little tougher. Jagwire had offered a match to the shifter housings but were back ordered or "we'll let you know-maybe status" on the Internet.

First bad experience ordering bike stuff for nearly a decade. A jerk off shop in Michigan, Harbor Country Bike claimed they had them in stock for twice the MSRP. I filled out the order form and gave them a credit card number. My bank account was immediately charged. No auto-acknowledgement or word for 3 days. Suspicious, I Googled the firm. Crap, lots of complaints on this shop. Finally a reply comes from the owner. He doesn't appreciate my insistence on a status update and now I am not going to get my order because of perceived "threats". The Wells Fargo Fraud Division is watching but my refund does come days later. Jerry, you are a bad egg in a good industry.

Part of the 2010 improvements include full shifter cable housings to keep crud from entering through the traditional bare cable split sections.

Friends in the UK vouched for Chain Reactions Cycles at http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ . They had the GOODRIDGE brand of hose and fittings. Shipment was immediate and assembly was dummy proof.

The end results are eye-pleasing......

.

Are they going to make me faster? I think so.

WINTER LIGHTEN'S UP FOR A NIGHT RIDE

The COMOtion senior citizen committee broke out the miner's lights Wednesday and made a run up Green Mountain. Gary Peterson and I were actually the only riders to show up. The other guys are full of talk until it's time to hit the trail head and do some PM climbing. They start talking union trash and drinking beer and never seem to shed the suspenders for Spandex.

It was a pleasant 48 degrees with no wind Wednesday and it made for a perfect start to February's ride-when-you-can season. Jackets and leg warmers were required but as always, too much clothes climbing...not enough on the downward fly.

The trails were dry over 90% of the park and I was actually eating dust on the north side descents behind Gary's LARGE ASRc.

Trying to make Wednesdays our regular weekly night ride weather permitting. Come join us.

NFL PLAYOFFS GRAB TRAINING TIME

ALL I GOT WAS A DAMN CARROT..........

So P.O.ed at Vikings. Not Farve. He played great. Promise to make up for the lost training time during the next week. Snack food dominated the day's diet. January training going OK, averaging 6 hours per week and a mis-proportioned 143 pounds. Aerobic base stuff on the trainer and 3x25 weight work except for the chronic right shoulder annoyance . One more steroid injection and then we'll look to the knife. We'll see what doc says in early Feb.

DRY CREEK NOT COMPLETELY DRY.......

STANDLEY LAKE IN WINTERTIME

The first ride of Twenty Ten was a real thriller not knowing what was around the corner in a very familiar training route. Dry Creek Trail runs from I25 through Westminster, Broomfield, Arvada, around Standley Lake (with a little imagination) and back.

This trail is popular with the Black Lab runner crowd but was better suited for Siberian Husky sled crews this Saturday. Weeks of -32 degree weather and a foot of snow left the urban trail in a barely passable condition is some stretches.

Common sporadic higher temperature days in the 50's started the melt presenting a variety of riding conditions including fast steady sections of frozen ice/snow pack, rut producing melting slush cranks and fast dry pavement portions always South facing.

All was going well until I attacked a gummy 1/4 mile of doubletrack below the dam. The YETI ARCx stopped fully when Play Dough consistency muck froze the fore and aft wheels. Sage brush sticks save the day providing poking and scraping utensils. Fifteen minutes later I'm looking over the vacant waterway. Return trip will be off trail (sorry tree-huggers) using available grass for traction. Made a valiant charge up out of the weir road shortcut until traction broke and I collected the first elbow mud of the day.

Garmin stats left us with 29.6 miles, 2 hours and 36 minutes and an average speed if 11 mph. Usually I'm on the 16-21 mph pace for this ride. Mud and snow on this day made the route feel like a constant 8% grade. Great ride ended with a flat and being locked out of the house..... cold, bonked and dripping wet.

Gotta love Colorado winter riding!!!!

2010 EVENT PLANNING BEGINS...

HA!!!
Got under the wire and am registered for the 2010 Triple Bypass. The ride sold out 3,500 places in less than 45 minutes on-line. Scalpers and wanna "B" riders are already showing up on Craig's List.
Missed out last year but am looking forward to the 120 mile ride from Evergreen to Beaver Creek with 10,000 ft. + elevation gain.

Won't know about the Leadville 100 until February 8th and Firecracker 50 registration not yet open.

"MOTIVATION IS HIGHEST WHEN THE SUCCESS RATE IS 50%"

some smart sucker from my past........

HAPPY FRIGG'N NEW YEAR

Spent most of the New Year's weekend Pimp'n out the Silverado...Side nerf bars for little people and weiner dogs.
Double walled stainless steel exhaust tip serves no real purpose. Bowtie mud flaps to cut down on snow crap deposited on the no purpose stainless steel exhaust tip.Final touches are the custom chrome YETI and COMOtion sticker for the rear cab window. Give me a mailing address and I'll send you a couple of the COMotion cool stickers.

Winter Time Project Priorities...You can help...

Break out instruction manual and mini pump for exercise ball..... Rebuild 3 Rp23s

Sort out 30+ jerseys for summer yard sale...naaw..

Replace air freshener cause I share the basement with 2 wiener dogs.....
Change out the Simple Green in the parts washer because I think some of the GREEN is not so simple.

Re-fill flask with Mr. Weller's finest..Christmas gift hint.....

Start at the beginning. 3.5mm, 4mm,5mm,5.5mm,6mm,7mm,8mm,9mm,10mm..Sharpies are for black wheel ding makeup. E-Tape for everything else.

Oh, yea NEW ASRc to reconstruct before the 2010 XC season.

Covidien buddy John Twa donated a twin SID providing parts for my ultra light ARC fork resuscitation. Should do that this year. Winter Park Hillclimb is just around the corner.4 pairs of Cranky Bros. to rebuild.
Sherman big bike fork to re-seal before the spring Moab assault.HOW ABOUT IT, WHAT SHOULD I START FIRST... I'M LEANING TOWARDS THE FLASK REFILL !!!!!