McFuzz's New Athlete Group (CLOSED) (Page 18)

first race is only in June. But i'm going to ascent the Mont Ventoux from every side in may for a good cause. Not really against another person, just doing it for "fun".

Changing a cassette is probably one of hte most easiest tasks to do. You only need the correct tools for it. If you are mechanically inclined, I advise you to search for the youtube instruction movies from park tools (and others) where they explain how to do it. They off course only use their own tools but price/quality wise these tools are good. You can still decide to buy cheaper tools if you want but you will get a nice idea on what to buy if you watch some videos.

Link to Park Tools:

http://www.youtube.com/user/parktoolcompany?feature=watch

Buying a bike online is great if you are willing to work on it by yourself (or find a LBS who is willing to service your bike even though you didn't buy it there)

Welcome back Mike. 

I bought 2 used bikes via E-bay and my road bike directly from the manufacturer, all without riding them first.  It has worked out for me, but I know it doesn't for everyone.  In my case(s), I was ready to "throw away" the whole purchase if it didn't work and thankfully, I never had to do that. 

There was a site with a fit calculator, http://www.coloradocyclist.com/bikefit/.  You'll need someone to help, but they do a nice job showing how to take the measurements and then the calculator spits out a geometry for you.  If you haven't done that yet, make that the first step.  Then, whether you shop locally (LBS or craigslist) or online, you'll have a better idea what to look for. 

What kind of riding do you expect to do over the next year or two?  If you're riding primarily for recreation or commuting, consider a fitness bike (available from big-box stores).  They start at about $300 where an entry level road bike at the bike shop is closer to $800.  (Plus, with a road bike, you'll need pedals-shoes where the fitness bike comes with platform pedals.)  No, you won't be as fast/competitive in the tri, but what percentage of your riding time is tri-related?  I did my first two triathlons on my steel-frame mountain bike. 

I have looked at bikesdirect.com but have not purchased from them.  They have a nice assortment of bikes. 

If you purchase a bike at the local shop, it should include a basic fitting.  If you purchase elsewhere, you will have to pay for a fitting if you choose to have them help you set it up right.  Ask the shop what they charge and what's included if you purchase from them. 

If you're mechanically inclined, you can get an old road bike pretty cheap.  Check steel frame bikes for cracks or corrosion at the bottom bracket and head.  You can still drop $100 on new tires, tubes and brake pads (maybe more if you do cables too) for that old bike, but you'll have something distinctive at the race.  (I rode a 1987 Raleigh Technium for my HIM in 2006.  After the race as I'm wheeling my bike out of transition, I joke with the "security" volunteer that this had to be my bike.  If I were stealing one, I'd get a nicer one...) 

Really DO wait for a nice fitted bike. Its worth the wait (and maybe a extra $). Its just so so so important to get fitted on your bike nicely. I'm a strong believer that a road race frame that fits you, and has been fitted with the right height of the saddle pen, the steering stem and that height too, that bike can be equally comfortable, if not even more, then a bike where you sit up straight. Believe it or not but you're back is NOT meant to be straight on a bike. It does NOT give you good enough protection from road  bumps. Yes, when running your back is straight but then your  anckle, knees and leg muscles are taking the biggest blow. On a bike, a bump hits your spine directly. Having a nice arch in your back disperse the shock evenly across your spine. Taking bumps with a straight back stresses a lot of your lower back spine and can even cause a hernia.

The man who fitted me on a bike even told me he put people with acute hernia on a road racer with a nice arch in the back and they had less problems than with their fitness bike.

Think of it this way, do you really think the pro's could sit 8hours/day for 3 weeks straight in the Tour de France without sitting comfortable?

On another note:

Me and my girlfriend (soon to be wife :D) had a good chat about our finances. Basically, I can buy a tri-bike next year if I keep up the good work and prove i'm really into this. Yaaay! :D Off course, I aint talking about a 3000$ bike. More around 1000-1300, which is more then enough for me. And this year i'll give my bikes a good maintenance so they can keep up for another couple of years so i can save the tri-bike for good weather and don't need a replacement for my 6 year old city-bike. My girlfriend demanded she could buy more clothes instead. Everybody happy :D

So is it everybody's rest week?? :D

Hello everyone! It sure is quiet in here...I am guilty as well.  I don't know what it has been about these last few weeks but they have flown by so quickly!  How's everyone's training going?  The good? The bad?

As for me, I have been plugging along as usual!  I have a very big volume weekend--which is perfect as we have nothing going on this weekend.  In fact, older daughter and hubby are traveling for softball and younger daughter is going to a sleepover today/tomorrow so I have plenty of alone time.  I'm actually looking forward to it!  Doesn't happen very often!

The good:  I've been consistently training well--hitting all my times, heart rates, etc

The bad:  nothing really--I am getting verrrry nervous for St. George 70.3 however!  I am beginning to second guess how prepared I am--but I just have to trust my training, right?!

Yes, it's been quiet. 

Kim,

Trust the training plan.  There's a reason you chose to follow it 19 weeks ago, and you've done a huge amount of training because of it.  You *ARE* ready for the race, so focus on the positive. 

The good: My training for March really is good so far. I just did a 5 day intensive training. So i planned friday and maybe today as resting days to hit the bike tomorrow and start with another 5 days of training but a bit less intensive.

The bad: As of last night, a sudden (minor) flu hit me. I had severe fever attacks last night going from feeling extremely cold to extremely hot and sweaty. Been to the doctor and he said he already had a lot of people the last days with the same symptoms. The fever is as good a over. Still have a headache and sore muscles. Mostly legs and lower back muscles. Which is, for me, always a sign that i'm ill and a bit feverish. So now all i can do is rest and take painkillers with anti-fever workings. The painkillers have really been working well and I have been sleeping a lot during the day. I believe another day of resting will heal me completely. Maybe i'll be able to start training again on monday, which would be perfect.

@Nancy

Despite of the cold and all the snow, its amazing you still do so much running. A big thumbs up from me to you

@Lana

We can't do much about getting sick except to accept you are sick and try to rest as much as possible and not force yourself into training. After a workout when your sick, your body needs to work towards recuperating from your work-out AND still getting healthy. IMHO its better then to wait another day. As for getting busy at work, well, that's just bad luck. We are still amateurs and not pro's. There are other things besides only training for your goals. The more time I spend on training, the more I find i should cherish family time, my own free time where i DON'T do any training and off course quality sleep time. Especially quality sleep time!. If work gets in the way, the first thing that gets cut back on is training time. I can't cut back on family time and I still need some hours alone (allthough not that much) where I can just sit back and enjoy some reading or just don't do nothing. So when I look back and see I've done a lot just to train allthough certain circumstances really prevented me from doing a lot of training, I really can be happy with just a few hours of training in a week.

For example these last three days. Friday was a planned resting day. Yesterday and today I had planned 2 nice training days but sickness has made me change my plans. Thats bad luck. And I'm not happy about it. But I'm not dissappointed. I just slept a lot. (I slept/rested about 22 hours in the last 40hours)  I feel almost completely healed so now i'm planning a new training week, ready to kick some !! :D

I hope my ramblings made some sense...

The bike is done and you haven't posted pics yet? 

We're fast approaching spring, so do what you can to get in the workouts. 

Lana & DImitri,

I hope you feel better.  It isn't fun being sick.