Swiss Cross Update- Dirt Road Mods

With my 'cross season over after a single race I've made some changes to the Swiss Cross setup.  'Cross bikes are often praised for their versatility and I have to say I have mixed feelings about that.  Yes, their ability to go on and off road is pretty cool, but as I've said before I don't think fender mounts or rack eyelets have a place on any self-respecting race bike.  Purpose-built Ridley race bikes have only a single water bottle mount and Richard Sachs 'cross frames have none.


You can see here that I've wavered a bit on my fundamentalist position with two bottle cages (or bidons if you prefer) but the rest of the bike is entirely as I...well, as I intended to race it anyway.  I only have so many jacket pockets so as much as I'd like to be a purist about the bottle cages it's just not feasible when it's below 50 degrees and I need to carry some additional layers.  

Since I first built it up I've swapped out the stem and post for the Ritchey WCS wet red models you see here.  I had misgivings about getting red components as they're likely to stick out on any other bike in the stable but since they match the Swiss Cross perfectly I felt it was completely appropriate.  The more I look at them the more I like them, and with minimal fiddling I've been able to run the stem in the downward position although it's still pretty far from being slammed.  
 

I've also swapped out the tubular EA70's for the Ritchey WCS Zeta clinchers.  So far those wheels have been great with both the 33 mm 'cross tires and the Clement Strada LLGs pictured here.  Although there's a lack of quality pavement around here there are miles upon miles of dirt roads.   I was looking for a wide, lightly siped tread for exploring said dirt roads and found the Strada.  After a few rides it's proven to be a solid performer and although it's claimed to be a full 28 mm width it only measures out to 26 mm on a standard 19 mm wide rim.  That means there's the added benefit of being able to use this same wheel/tire setup on my road bike without any additional fiddling.  

I'm still not a fan of cantilevers, but if you're going to run them I suggest giving the Avid Shorty Ultimates serious consideration.  They're a modern machined aluminum version of the classic mid-90's mountain bike cantilever and offer the best feel and stopping power of anything I've tried.  The setup is unique but straightforward after you read the instructions- they don't take long to setup but they are quite a bit different from the TRPs and Shimanos I've ridden recently.    

 And of course there's plenty of clearance.  My experiments with getting the Redline setup for dirt road duty were a horrendous failure mainly because the frame was so stiff but also because I used 23c tires.  The Swiss Cross is a notably smoother ride, but the wider tires at significantly lower pressure also deserve some credit.  The extra tire width also makes the massive clearance slightly less obnoxious. 

More red.  I'm really getting into this bike, and the white cables/tape/hoods combo is really growing on me next to the all red frame/fork/stem/post.  There was an internal struggle about where to put my Pro-35 decals so I opted went for the more subtle finishing tape accent and non-drive chainstay placement.   

Fading Light- Weekend Ride Pictures

From the Saddle, Stowe Grand Tour, Part 2

From the Saddle- Stowe Grand Tour, Part 1

Bolton, New Shoes and Miscellany

This week I've been back to training even though the weather's been uncooperative.

Monday looked to be the warmest and driest day judging by the forecast, so I took the initiative to go for a short recovery ride.  Tuesday was cold and pouring so I rode for a little over an hour on the rollers before yoga class, then Wednesday was Bolton.

Ah, Bolton.  I posted on Facebook that I'd be climbing it, partially because I thought if I started talking about it to I'd actually do it.  My strategy worked, and I made my first trip to the top of the season. It started to rain about halfway up, and I ended up getting pretty soaked as I crept my way back down.  Amazingly enough it was still dry at the bottom and hadn't rained a drop.  

I felt pretty good and was able to stay smooth the whole way, but my time wasn't awesome.  Part of that was being tired from Tuesday's class and part of it is a result of some changes to my training this spring. 

In years past I've done a lot more road volume, but this year I'm really trying to spend more time offroad so that I can hone my skills.  It seems to be working, and I find myself riding faster, smoother, and braking less.  As a result I have a little less strength for very long, sustained climbs like Bolton, but when I consider the demands of my main events there really aren't many long climbs- they're short and punchy.

Thursday my new Pearl Izumi Octane MTB II's showed up, and I spent a few minutes at lunch getting the cleats setup.  I'll post some more thorough details on these after I have some more time on them, but so far I've been impressed.  They're light, stiff, and have a very good fit all while taking a unique approach to being a high end XC race shoe.

The less-than-stellar ascent of Bolton and new shoes were fuel enough for me to decide that I needed to do another hill climb so I made plans to do Cottonbrook and committed to doing it all in the big ring.

When I got to the trailhead I spent a couple minutes balancing like a one-legged scarecrow while adjusting my cleats on the new shoes, but overall my quick cleat setup method served as a great starting point (I'll post more on that later).  After that initial fiddling the shoes felt great and I made my way up the climb with relative ease.  I'd expected to be far more beat up from the previous day's ride, and although I wasn't setting the world on fire I did make it all the way to the top in the big ring.

My time was a little slower than my previous best this spring, and some of that was taking a deliberate pace but also I think struggling with such a tall gear on the steep sections is slower than turning a lower gear over.  I kinda knew that already, but it was interesting to see it first hand- the big ring is not always faster.

Also this week I made some strides on the next order of t-shirts.  Here's a draft version of the artwork.

The shirts are going to be dark gray heather- quite a bit darker than the background here, and the print will be a little lighter so there will be more contrast.  Cris at Factotum Design is printing them again and we should have them completed within the next couple weeks.  There will also be hoodies with the same art on a pre-order only basis.  If you are interested in either one let me know.

Also this week I've been wrestling with the intermittent performance of my aging heart rate monitor.  That may not seem like a big deal, but it means sometimes I'm flying blind without it and other times I'm just getting really frustrated that it's not working.  As soon as I can get the right battery I'm going to attempt this on an old chest strap.  It's not working now, so I really don't have anything to lose.

 

For now it's counting down to the end of the work day and getting ready for some more training this weekend.  There's still a slim chance that I might do Flower Power, but most likely I'll skip it and focus on getting some high quality riding done.

GU-Mas 2.0

My spring GU order arrived yesterday and I'm really psyched about it.  When my GU orders arrive it's always cause for celebration- GU-Mas, if you will.

In addition to my standard Lemon Sublime GU and Citrus Electrolyte Brew I got some new Roctane to try out.  I used some on my ride yesterday and was impressed.  After I get some more time to try it out I'll post up a more thorough review.

GU has been a great sponsor for the last three seasons, and I'm really psyched to be working with them again this year.  I burn through a lot of their stuff racing and even more when training so their support is a huge benefit for me.

And just for reference, this box will last me about 2-3 months.

Enduring Hardship

April is a heart breaker.  Weather can be warm and sunny or damp and rainy with an inconsiderate randomness that makes consistent outdoor training very difficult, and of course none of that is any way new or surprising.

So far I've had two weeks of 100% dedicated on-bike training for the 2012 race season.  Sound like a late start?  It's certainly nothing like last year's super intense and nearly perfect transition from long ski training hours into a high mileage training trip in France.  

In many ways I feel like this GTI- plenty of potential, but in need of some work before race day.

March was warm and mild, and in spite of that April is taking its usual sweet time to fully commit to being spring.  I'm really at a point where I need to put my full attention on training so I can't let the weather slow me down.  

But I'm not at a point where I can augur myself into the ground with huge volume in nasty weather either.  The shake and bake training approach has never worked for me, so I'm going to be realistic about my expectations.  I'll be riding outside as much as I can.  Mountain rides will be for skills and intensity, road rides will help with the volume.  There's no way I'll have race worthy fitness for at least another 6-8 weeks.  My first race is the Leadville Qualifier in mid June, the Whiteface Wilmington 100 on June 17.

That first race is really to get used to the event and see how I do without worrying about qualifying yet.  It sounds like it's a very roadie-centric course with a lot of climbing on dirt roads and limited singletrack much like the Leadville event itself.  If I do qualify it will be through the random lottery and not by winning my category.  If that happens I'll have to be honest about my fitness at that time and whether or not I can afford the trip to Leadville.  

The question this time of year comes down to how I go about building the ramp from pre-season to race fitness.  Is it worth it to ride three hours in the rain, or should I ride inside until I hit my sanity threshold there?  Should I drive to Stowe to do hill repeats at Cotton Brook or should I deal with road spray on Duxbury Gap?  Can I legitimately do a recovery ride on trail if I walk the steep hills?  Will I really walk?

So really it comes down to how much I need to train to be ready to race.  It's a familiar position for any athlete, and this week the suffering clock has been set back to zero.  The same engine is still under the hood- I just need to find it again. 

Weekend Skiing

It's February, and amazingly it's one of few days we've had where the conditions have been conducive to decent skiing. 

Last weekend was a total bust.  Saturday started with a short and very icy ski, then a very windy and equally unfulfilling road ride.  I was determined to get a decent workout in somewhere, so after three hours of driving I had 20 minutes of very slick, muddy riding.  

And then there was yesterday.  After snowing much longer than expected we were treated to almost a foot of new snow.  

Spinney and I took his Subaru up to Trapp's, and I was encouraged to bring a helmet for the "rally". 

A friendly landmark.

We took the back way up, and it was as amazing as it looks in these pictures. 

Parking lot with a view.

Right outside the touring center the trails were in pretty good shape, and as the groomers made the rounds they got even better.  Out skiing around we bumped into local fastman Jake and fought to hang with him for the next two hours.  After finishing top 20 in the Stowe Derby earlier in the day he was out to get some more time on snow.  Any other year that would be odd, but considering the conditions were the best they've been in six weeks. 

Spinney getting ready to pin it.  His Garmin wrist computer stopped counting accumulated ski time when he stopped moving so it had a very pessimistic view of how long we actually skied.  I was ready to throw that fucking thing in the woods about halfway through.

No pics of Jake- I was too busy trying to keep up or get some tips on handling the numerous off camber, twisting or rolling sections where I seem to lose speed.

There's the top of my hat covered head, just to prove I was there.

Expectations

Endurance sports require a difficult balance of training and recovery.  Of course that's nothing new to anyone who's done any semi-serious training, but for me that balance is remarkably elusive.

When I think about champions I imagine them to be like Bernard Hinault- strong willed, fiery, competitive and indestructible.  Of course much of that is genetics, but mentality plays a role as well. I've learned how much you think you can take is almost more important than what you actually can handle.

Cycling lore is filled with stories about riders building up that toughness: Tinker Juarez training with a backpack full of rocks, or Erik Zabel riding around town while his teammates stopped for coffee on training rides.  It's those little anecdotes that add to the legend of people whom we already admire, and I'd be lying if I don't think about them when I'm out training.

Since Christmas I've been building my way back, and it's been a mixed bag of some good, some terrible and some great days.  Although I stayed active through the fall I was too overloaded to do any serious training, and most of my workouts were necessarily short and infrequent.  I really didn't know where I was starting from so instead of getting further demotivated by some terrible benchmark tests I decided to slowly work my way back into the swing of things with regular workouts.

I was pretty haggard at first, especially on skis, but I stayed with it, and I felt like I was starting to work my way back.  Remembering how hard I worked last year I ratcheted it up a notch and decided to try to ski two days a week and do a double session on Wednesday with a midday run and a post-work roller session.  That was fine, but it left me so fried for the weekend that I had a tough time getting motivated to get out the door to head up to Trapp's until the last minute.

Of course weekends aren't solely for long workouts so my procrastination, short daylight hours, questionable ski conditions and a general feeling of malaise all added up to make me feel like I couldn't get out of my own way.  Then on the days I did ski I was so hell bent on skiing with perfect form and being out for a suitably epic workout that I was completely blown the next day.  It's as if I forget that Nordic skiing is tough.  In an effort to curb calories and fast track my lean-up program I was short-changing my fuel with predictably disastrous results.  Basically I pushed it hard enough in one particular workout that my blood sugar was still so depleted two days later that I almost went into shock after a light workout.  

Now in hindsight this is all laughably obvious, and I suppose during this process it was to those around me.  Fortunately this is the time of year when you experiment and make mistakes, and I've reacquainted myself with some of the underlying principles I'd lost sight of in recent months.  Really this effort is all about my own expectations.  Nobody except me cares if I lose 5 more pounds or finish 3 places higher.  I'm doing this on my own terms with a five year timeline because I didn't want to push too hard and burn out.  Right now that sounds really funny because I didn't follow one of my own rules.

A conversation with George at the shop yesterday helped me put that in perspective.  As we talked about the prospect of riding outside this week and what we were doing to get ready for the season he pointed out the obvious- that now is not the time to push it.  His two brief sentences completely crystallized the idea in my head and things made sense.

With my rediscovered clarity I'm taking a step back and trying to build fitness rather than auger myself into the ground.  After all, even the Badger wasn't out killing it in February.

A Breakthrough, a Letdown and Power Tools

Since New Year's I've been able to get out and ski a few times, and now I'm starting to feel like I'm getting my ski legs back.

In previous posts I've mentioned how I've been ramping up my midweek activity, and believe it or not it's been easier for me to do that than to reliably get in solid workouts on the weekends.  That effort feels like it's starting to pay off, and even though I feel like I have to fight harder to keep up with my master's group I think it's worth the trade-off.

Saturday I got out for a couple hours with Spinney.  It had been below zero overnight, and after some debate I managed to get my skis waxed and out the door.  He wasn't doing much better and couldn't find his iron, then needed a scraper, etc.  It was like two old women getting ready to drive to bridge club.

Once we got to Trapp's we hit some of the usual trails and made our way down through the race course to Skater's Waltz and across to Aither for the first time this year.  That's not a flat route, and Spinney was hell bent on skiing to the cabin so after chasing him around for an hour and twenty minutes we made our way up.  I didn't set the world on fire, but I skied steady and felt like I was making solid time.  I'm not sure how much faster he was, but I stayed in contact for a good section of the climb and didn't stop at all on the trip up. 


More remarkable than that was a completely smooth descent back to the lodge- and the first time ever I made it down without falling.  It was then that I realized that this was a breakthrough day for me.  I'd never made it to the cabin so early in the season, and certainly not chasing somebody with solid fitness.  When we got back to the car it was hard to believe, and although I'd gotten seriously chilled from the long, fast downhill I was pscyched.

We piled our gear back into the car and headed home.  At that time I was still thinking that I was going to ride the rollers so I didn't actively work on my recovery plan, which was a big mistake.  When I got home I was starving, and after not eating enough immediately after my workout I was starting to get the cold shakes from getting chilled and low blood sugar.

Of course to combat that I had to eat almost everything in the house, which pretty much completely canceled out the caloric debt of my skiing effort.  This is all after Spinney was telling me to be careful about refueling if I was going to try to ski again on Sunday.  In retrospect I wasn't aware of how deep I'd dug, so I wasn't being proactive in refueling. 

After I'd crashed, rebounded, showered and gotten dressed Carrie and I picked up our replacement dishwasher and went out to dinner.  It was clear that having an enormous box in the living room wasn't going to be feasible for more than a day or two and that I had to get this thing installed soon.

Sunday morning it was hovering around zero when I got up, so knowing that it would warm up about 15-20 degrees later in the day I figured I'd take advantage of the situation and start working on the dishwasher. 

Having installed and removed one defective dishwasher already I was pretty familiar with the basics of the install- in a nutshell it's connect the water, the drain and the electric and test it for leaks.  Of course it's never quite that simple for me, but with directions in hand I got out the tools and went to work.    

Among my tools are a large number of hand-me-downs from both sides of the family.  Over the summer my Dad cleaned out his father's wood shop, and these pliers were among the twelve pairs that I inherited.  I've never seen anything else like them with the 90 degree head, but I've already used them three times this week on the upstairs electric outlet replacement, the dishwasher and the tC trunk handle.  

Also among my tools is this- a Craftsman Impact Drill my brother gave me for Christmas.  If you've never used and impact drill you're missing out- these things are awesome and not just because they make a ridiculously loud SNAP SNAP SNAP as they switch from standard drill to impact mode.  Using this to secure the two dishwasher mounting screws was the highlight of the install.

After that I decided to tackle replacing the trunk lid on the tC.  After three years of regular use, the old handle had snapped off and was only hanging onto the rest of the car by one retaining clip and the wire for the release button.  It wasn't that I wanted to keep procrastinating, but I don't have many options to get things like this done in the daylight so I decided to get it done.

The trunk handle is a story in itself, and after an extensive search I opted for a carbon one because it was more cost effective than buying one unpainted and trying to paint it myself.  After some searching on the Scion forums I found some semi-coherent instructions on how to replace it.  Turns out this is a common problem for the tC and dealers charge up to $400 to install a new one, which makes my $65 eBay special look that much more appealing.   

Overall it went fairly smoothly and my hands didn't get too cold although it was only about 18 degrees and I was buoyed by the idea of being able to use the trunk lid again.  As you might imagine it's a real pain in the ass to carry skis, boots, poles, spare clothes and water and have to put it down in the snow to open the trunk because you need to use both hands to lift the tailgate.

When I finished the handle install it was 3 PM and I was nowhere near being ready to ski.  After a protracted period of bumbling, fumbling and swearing I finally got to Trapp's and had my skis on at 4.  So much for seizing the day on the skiing front.

As soon as I set out I could tell the conditions were great- and for the second day in a row my skis felt awesome.  These Fischer RCS with Graham's base grind have quickly become my favorites.   

Although the skis were running well I wasn't- with yesterday's breakthrough/bonk combination and my extended project time earlier in the day I felt sluggish and slightly off-balance.

I did throw some Pro-35 stickers on the skis- it had to be done.

I'm a terrible classic skier, but the tracks were so fast and crisp that I found myself jumping in double poling on the flats and downhills. 

An hour later it was getting dark and went home.  It was a beatiful night, and I wished I could have taken advantage of it more than I did.  

Live and learn I guess- there's always next weekend. 

The Week in Pictures

It was cold this week.

 

Saturday's ski was a short and uncomfortable 45 minute jaunt at Trapp's.  It was about 6 degrees at the house and about 3 degrees up on the trails.  

I got out for a run during lunch on Wednesday.  It's not riding, but it's safer when it's icy.  

It was cold but crisp, and I had the back side of the River Road to myself.

There was ice on the road, and it was starting to form on the river.

Still working on the self portrait.  Somehow I always look angry or confused.

I enjoyed my time outside and followed up with a 90 minute roller ride after work. 

That makes three weeks in a row of double session Wednesdays.  I feel like my fitness is starting to come around, and if I'm going to qualify for Leadville I need to raise my game so that I can be fit enough to ride a fast 100 miler in June.