Fred D Mentor Group - Part II (Page 25)

Oh, you two are quite the pair this morning...

Oh, sure. I can do 4x200 on 3:15, except I just call it a straight-through 800.

Yanti - sorry to hear you are still under the weather. That is just about the worst - you think you are beginning to feel better, you get up and walk around a bit, and then you realize you are not. Hang in there!

I am actually going to run for about 20 minutes today - first time since LP! I did decide to just scratch the race completely tomorrow and instead will do a fun organized local swim and then an easy bike for a couple of hours with my beautiful bride afterwards.

4 out in front and one of them is a Canadian.  It's gonna suck to be one of them...

No idea Rusty - but I'm a bit jealous that you guys can share the passion for riding/Tri's the way you do.  I think it's pretty rare.

Jason - great job on the 20min test.  That's some serious power.  I'm also curious like the others about what you would expect from a flat 20min on the TT rig vs uphill on the roadie.

Yanti - feel better.  Sucks being under the weather.

Anyone else racing this weekend?

Question I forgot to ask the group.  How do you guys find your PM measures against a Computrainer?

I was riding last weekend with a stronger (and heavier) cyclist than me, but it seemed my power output was higher at points, which I would not expect.  He owns the LRS, but they've also setup a Computrainer studio, and he suggested I put it on one of the machines and see what the PM read.  One of the staff set it up and I rode at 200watts as set by the Computrainer, but my PM was showing 15-20 watts lower than that at around 180.

Just curious - I know Fred has a CT, not sure about anyone else.

I've never ridden on a CT but I have a friend who has one and I think he sees similar things.  I think it was more like 10-15 watts for him but a consistent discrepancy.  His PM is a Powertap - that might account for a bit compared to a crank based one I suppose but I wouldn't think it would be in the 10-20 watt range.

I don't know either Rusty.  My wife has the typical long leg, short torso build too but she's 5'11" and most of the WSD bikes don't come in a frame size that fits her so it's not even an option for her.  

Is there actually anything different in the geometry of them?  Someone once told me that they are basically just smaller and come in more girly colors.  No idea if that's true or not.

Tom is an exception as trisports is not only a major sponsor of the site, but has specific privileges regarding gathering marketing information here.

I haven't looked into the actual difference either - i have a women's specific road bike and it is a very pretty aqua blue.  (to Arend's point)  I am small - 5'3" and had no problems with my road bike. The reach unadjusted was just fine ... but then i haven't tried any other road bike ... i only have my tt bike which is not women's specific to compare to.

The road bike was approved by husband as an acceptable bike in terms of componentry and quality - not because it was women's specific.  And I approved because it was pretty - to be fair, it was the first bike I had since I was 14 and knew nothing about bikes at all ....

That is VERY interesting information, for all sorts of reasons.

What the heck, me too!

My roadie is a WSD Cannondale Synapse.

WSD tend to have slightly different specs than general road bikes, but like any bike, it comes down to how a person's specific measurements match up with the specs of specific bike models.

In my case, it was pretty close, except that I also have gorilla arms (minus the hair) and needed a longer stem to compensate for the shorter top tube.

I've also ridden men's roadies with no major adjustments needed.

My roadie is a WSD Cannondale Synapse.

WSD tend to have slightly different specs than general road bikes, but like any bike, it comes down to how a person's specific measurements match up with the specs of specific bike models.

In my case, it was pretty close, except that I also have gorilla arms (minus the hair) and needed a longer stem to compensate for the shorter top tube.

I've also ridden men's roadies with no major adjustments needed.

Same.   I ride with some other people at a gym with Computrainers.  I'd say the powertap users see about 5-10% discrepancy, with the CT always being slightly higher.  Less difference with quarq.

Thanks for the feedback on the CT vs PM piece - I'm still confused about whether to believe my PM though...

Swim question.  When I breathe (bi-lateral) my lead arm always drops, so instead of pulling the water with a higher elbow, I feel like I'm pushing down on the water, and then pulling.  At least it seems to me that this is the case.  Which makes me think that every 3rd stroke I lose propulsion when I breathe.

Thoughts on how to correct this?  I've tried to speed up the catch a bit when I breathe to try and avoid it happening, but I'm not sure how successful I am + it feels like I'm quickening my stroke rate too much.

I have a CT, a powertap and a Quarq. I have spent a ton of time experimenting with this and speaking to Racermate.

First of all the calibration process at home makes a huge difference. If you use a trainer tire, properly calibrate you will get consistent results. Last night I was lazy and didn't calibrate properly, my CT was saying 200 watts, my Quarq was saying 220. I can usually get them with 4-5 watts.

But there is also a calibration process at the factory. Racermate sells 2 flavors of the CT. They basically manufacture 1 version. But for one flavor, they take more time to calibrate it against an external source. Here is the reason

Fred buys a CT and it reads 10watts less than an external powermeter. But it is consistently 10watts less. This is fine. As long as it's consistent from 1 ride to another

I buy a CT and it's 10watts more. But consistently 10 watts more. No problem

I am a lab or spin studio with 20 CTs, One week rider X comes in an uses CT y. Next week he uses CT z. He gets different numbers : problem. This is why they provide a better calibrated version. It is more expensive. You will see both versions on their website. One is more expensive because of the time they take to better calibrate it.