Asphalt Junkies CLOSED AND GETTING OUR FIX (Page 108)

Right, when I see a nice bike and it seems on the "cheap" side and it's very vague, it almost has me wondering if it is a stolen bike or something.  I mean, the basic info wasn't even there.  There was another posting a few days ago that really didn't seem right to me.  But with this one, my initial feeling is that it's someone who in a (relatively) spur of a moment decided he wanted to get a TT bike... and now he no longer wants it and is trying to get rid of it.

I have actually bought a couple of bikes, and then re-sold them (I didn't make a profit off of them, it was more like I thought I wanted them, then just decided I didn't want them so I was trying to get rid of them- mostly it wasn't worth the money to me at the time)... in which case it would be basically the same thing, I knew little about the bike I was selling, similar to (seemingly) this guy...

I've emailed him a couple of times, the first was asking for size of bike.  Then I asked model and year and he said he'll get back to me as he's not sure (I'm assuming he's at work now), but that he had gotten it fit and then bought it. (I'll ask where he bought it.) Also he has included all his business info in his (automatic?) signature which leads me to believe he's legit...

He says he's 5'8"... in which case if he truly did get fitted, me being 5'3" seems like a big discrepancy...

Karl be safe with hurricane passing through your area and good know you are not in the direct path of it.

Samantha I agree with Dina be careful and try and get as much info as you can if you decide to pull the trigger on it. It may be legit but then again you never know.

Thanks to all who supported my friend Bobby (Dream Chaser) yesterday at IMLOU. I heard from him this morning and he was having a great race until about mile 7 on the run and his stomach just shut down on him. He basically had to gut it out the rest of the way so that explains his time. I knew something was not right. In any case he is one tough SOB and he really earned it yesterday.

Boy am I glad to hear that!  Now you may love the Adamo and want to just go ahead and use that for your race, but after the race consider testing the other 2 saddles also just in case one of them is better.

I think it's most likely that the design of the Adamo gives you the maximum relief from your previous issue, but many people have a problem with it being wide enough that it hurts the inner thigh muscles/tendons.  If that were a problem, that's where the V-flow saddles could benefit you.

But the Adamo I recommended for you (the prologue was it?) I recommended specifically because it's got a narrower nose than the regular design seat and I thought that might be important.

Hey, about those hills.  There's no such thing as a hill that's too big or too long.  Just a bike that doesn't have the right gearing.  If the hills on that course are a struggle, consider installing a different cassette for the race.  What gearing do you have?

That looks like a 2006 model S22.  The MSRP was $2599.  A 50cm with 650c wheels may be a great fit for a woman your size.  Although you could easily find a 700c bike to fit on.  I don't think that there is any innate disadvantage to 650c, it's just that it's popularity is waning so tire and tube options in that size bike are more limited.

It comes with a dura-ace mix of parts which is good.  It can also be converted in to a road bike if you would like to change the handlebars and brake levers.

But I don't think it's a deal too good to pass up.  Especially if you were planning on a road bike (which I think is very wise).

Actually, I was agreeing with you just struggling with the vague term 'peak'.  I suggested that instead of calling it a 'peak' that we just say you are in a lot better shape than you had realized!

Warren, I experienced the exact same thing with my seat a couple of years ago.  Fortunately it was a sprint and I was about half a mile from T2 when my seat fell off. 

Good job on carrying on. 

Thanks Jeff!  Good to know the year.  I am very impressed that you are able to gather what year and model it is just from the pic!   But of course I am not surprised.

Out of curiosity, why do you think a road bike is best for me?

So at this point, I am thinking about taking a pass... The number 1 reason being for financial reasons, and then I rationalize it by saying I will likely be doing sprints only next year anyway, so I can deal with my current bike as I have in all of my triathlons... oh and the fit issue...

Don't be too impressed, I know where to google to see the various model years pictured.  Each year is distinguished by a different color scheme. 

I believe that all cyclists should have a road bike and do most of their training on a road bike.  Obviously many triathletes do exceptionally well with only a tri bike, but I know that road bikes are more comfortable and better handling/more agile.  So it's also a safety issue.  I think it's relatively dangerous to train on a tri bike because you can't do emergency stops since it takes too long to get out of the aerobars and on to the bullhorns to brake.  And the geometry and weight bias on a tri bike make them less stable to maneuver.  And a person may not spend as much time training as they should because it's less comfortable.

A road bike is more versatile basically.  So if I only had 1 bike it would be a road bike.  But I wouldn't just have one bike! 

But with all that said, if you aren't deterred then maybe a tri bike is for you...as I said, many people have only a tri bike and there's no denying that doing all your training on your race bike leaves you best adapted for the race.

I vote Brenda for Junkie of the Week!  Crashing and then enduring to the end!  (don't anyone go crashing on purpose to be a future recipient of this award....won't work!)

Jeff I second that besides speaking from experience it's just too painful to be crashing the bike on purpose.

Question/comment topic.   Especially for you Dirk, since I know you train hard like I do at least on the bike.  I have learned to hold it back on my training runs, but on my bike I find it hard or impossible to ride easy and that's actually working out very well for me.

But this weekend I was really sick.  Came down with something Thursday night that kept me up all night.  I think I might have slept about 1 hr all night.  I had to sit up to keep from choking due to sinus drainage that was obscenely severe.  I was already up at 3:30am so I just got myself together and went to swim practice.  It was a 3200 meter workout of longer intervals and I swam REALLY well, although I did feel some nausea when I pushed too hard (glad it was longer sets).

Then I ran an easy 6 miles and felt OK except kind of weak and achey.  I then went home and spent the day in bed trying to deal with a very sore throat and mild headache.

Saturday my OCD proved to be stronger than my illness and after sleeping until practically noon I went for a bike ride.  I did a shorter than usual ride for a Saturday and did it solo so that I could ride easy.  I had no HR monitor on, but perceived exertion was very low.  Never let myself get winded and rode at what I would guess to be a good ironman bike pace for me. (I was only going 40 miles).  Nonetheless I averaged better than 20mph which is considered very respectable in the hilly area I live in.  I noticed whenever I was easing my way along road sections that were flat that I was typically doing 24 mph. 

This is comparable to rides when I'm pushing it.

So my question is how much difference is there really between our HARD and our EASY paces?  I find that for me, on the bike and in the swim, that it's not too much different.  And I've had some good Xterra performances when I ride the mtn bike in just the way I described riding on Saturday.  (but on the mtn bike it's different due to the technical aspect).

So I'm wondering about all of you, but Dirk in particular since I think he trains like I do and he's always pushing hard in to the pain zone.  I'm wondering if racing easier might not be nearly as fast?  Or allow us to run that much faster after T2 and result in a better overall finish time?

Ok.  I am back on board with you then.  Besides I may have proven the both of us right yesterday, in my own sort of way.

I agree with you Jeff.  Brenda is one of the toughest women I know for sure.  She was really gutting out that race yesterday.  I spoke to her on the run and I could tell she was hurting, both physically and mentally.  I think of her toughness a lot actually.  I have seen her race and know she races hard and then I see her smiling so much all throughout the course via pictures being taken and all I see is mental toughness.

Great job Brenda!  You are an inspriation to me!

What a race!  I obviously wasn't wasn't there, but anyone who can impress Dirk in the toughness area gets my vote.

Brenda, you're a rock star for sure.  Gutting out that kind of finish takes a toughness we all can aspire to.

I think you are making a good decision Samantha. Maybe, if you are really going to start looking at bikes, you can just start browsing your LBS, sit on some, pedal around a little and see how the different bikes feel. I did not get to do that with either of my bikes, I was a little impulsive and I'm not sure my road bike is a great fit for me. I don't love riding it like I hear other people talk about riding their road bikes. I don't know, maybe it's just because it is a lower end road bike and it feels really heavy to me. It is significantly harder for me to climb hills on my road bike than on my tri bike.

I agree with what Jeff is saying about tri vs road bike. I love riding my tri bike and ride almost exclusively during race season but my back could not take riding it ALL year.

Jeff, I'll try to address your question later this evening.  I need to get my butt in gear and back to work quickly. I am probably going to take tonight off to allow a little recovery before jumping back into some training tomorrow night with a swim.

But I wanted to give a quick race update from yesterday before working on a race report:

Unofficially I finished with a Garmin time of 5:08:03 for the course.  The time will actually be a little bit longer because I had to make a pit stop on the bike course.  This should only have cost me a couple of minutes, tops.  (All times currently are according to Garmin.)

Swim: 32:29

T1: 1:01

Bike: 2:44:02

T2: 1:16

Run: 1:49:14

Overall I went a little faster on the bike than I was planning and just a little bit harder on the RPE, but not very much harder than planned.  The course was much hillier than I was anticipating and therefore some of the added effort was due to that, but I was able to recover well on the downhill’s enough to keep the overall effort in check.  The bike course had some solid climbs for this flat lander.

I'll try to get my RR up this evening for everyone to check out.

Brenda I'm so impressed you completed the race after falling down. I hope you were not in too much pain. I'll be expecting all the details in the race report.

That is so fun that you all could race together and motivate one another. What a great group!

Great job Dirk, and huge kudos to Matt for going out and setting up the junkie inspiration.  This is an incredible group - we really have to do a race together somehow.

My Timberman race report is up.