kenj mentor group - back for another great season! CLOSED (Page 34)

Thanks!

So what do you do with your spare time?

Good luck next week with the 10K, let us know how it goes!  We have a couple of Du's here, one in the spring and in the fall that are F1's.  2 mile run, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run!  It is a good early season race to get transition practice! 

This time of year my tri bike is all but welded to the trainer.  I have my road bike on the rare opportunity to get outside. 

Brian, you may be right on the tires.  I used to use fairly hard durable tires that I used outside for training rides, the last couple were old race tires.  Michelin Pro 3's which was when it started to deteriorate. 

Meulen - 2013-02-01 9:36 AM Me too!!!  which is why I "had to" buy a whole nother bike just for my trainer! LOL!!   Last year I found a used P3 on here.  Catch was it had fancy wheels and was a little more $$ than I wanted to spend.  Someone else asked the guy if he'd sell just the wheels.  I jumped in and offered him $500 for the bike minus the rims.  So I ended up with a Cervelo P3 Al for $500!  I had enough old rims around to make the bike whole and set it up on the trainer.  So it shipped and I spent a few dollars setting up the contact points to match the position on my P4.  It was PERFECT!  I still end up swapping rims out and riding it on the road too and saving the P4 mostly for races and test rides for races, or just outright showing off!! LOL

Genius!

I've got my tri bike on the trainer now, too, and am using my road bike when I can get outside.  Like today!  When do you all take your tri bikes off the trainer and start remembering how to ride them outside?  I only got my tri bike last summer and am still a little uncomfortable in aero, especially on curves.  (Not uncomfortable in pain, uncomfortable scared).  I figure I'm going to have to get used to it all over again, not looking forward to that part, but hopefully with my core a little bit stronger it won't take me quite as long this time.

Jaime

Around here there usually isn't many opportunities to ride outside from December till early March.  After that I will try to do my solo rides on my tri bike.  The group rides will depend on who is in the group.  If I am riding with a couple of my friends that also race tri's I will ride the tri bike, other wise I will use the road bike.

The other factor is the course we will ride on.  If we are going off for a hillfest the road bike is the choice for that. 

I guess the only thing that will make you comfortable in aero is just doing it.  My biggest concern when I first rode the tri bike was making the move from the bars to the horns to use the brakes.  But I got adjusted to that pretty quick.  I used to race cars in my younger days so speed doesn't bother me.  You will like the trainer as a quick way to get some saddle time this time of year.  If you set it up where you can have a little entertainment and distraction it isn't too bad.

Speaking of trainer time, I got my 2 hour ride in this morning.  Mentally it wasn't too bad, but still struggling with the lack of power. 

Long run tomorrow is up to 9 miles.  We are approaching the too far for treadmill distance so maybe it will be nice enough.  But, if not I have gone further. 

How was everyone else's Saturday?

Saturday was good. I ran a 5K with Dave. My daughter is away for the weekend and it was nice to run a little faster with my husband. Then I went to masters for an hour. Came home, ate some more and then went on a 31 mile bike ride with Dave and our friend Mike. Good productive workout day.

The second of the foster puppies went to her new home today and we had a couple come by and decide which one they want. That will make 3 gone. We decided to keep two. We've lost our minds but it'll be fun. So two more to go!

Tomorrow I have a 6 mile run then it's butt time to watch the 49ers WIN the Super Bowl!

I managed to get an eight mile "run" in today. The weather has really warmed up and people are out on their bikes. For now, my tri bike stays on the trainer and my road bike is waiting in the event that we have a really warm day!  I have a trainer tire on my tri bike and I don't have any pitting.

It is interesting as it seems that so many people (both here in the group and others I know) are doing pretty long rides already. I know that my focus in on running and the bike work will increase this month so I guess I should enjoy the shorter trainer rides while I can.

I went to a new bike fitter and after trying a few saddles, I am once again (third time) on the Adamo. the fitter moved me forward a good deal (saddle, aero bars etc) which might or might not help things. I don't know how I am going to feel once on the road especially since I am now over the front wheel even more but I am willing to give it try.  He also moved one of the aero bars out a bit which really helps the shoulder blade pain I was having. It feels a bit funny when I look at the front wheel as I am not quite center but it feels better so I am going with it.   The fitter also introduced me to these new arm pads for the aero bars. They are great! They are wedges of some material that are attached to the arm rest with velco. They are so much more comfortable then the pads that come with the aero bars and my hope is that they will wear better. If I can find them online I will share the link. I had never seen them before.

I have been thinking and reading about cassette choices for IMWI and it seems that an 11-28 is a pretty popular choice.  I have a 12-27 on my road bike and while I like the extra climbing gear, I spin out pretty quickly with the 12.  I like the idea of an 11-28 but not sure what I would be giving up regarding the gears in between.  My tri bike currently has an 11-25 cassette on it.  Having the extra climbing gear is by far the most important  (just thinking out loud here but if anyone has some thoughts on the subject please chime in!).

I found a link to a blogger's post about the arm pads I mentioned. He has some really good pictures of them. Just scroll to the bottom of the post.

http://thecyclingaddiction.blogspot.com/2012/06/cee-gees-cushys-aerobar-pads.html

Big training day Johanne!  Nice work!

CyborgQueen - 2013-02-02 7:22 PM

kenj - 2013-02-02 2:26 PM

Speaking of trainer time, I got my 2 hour ride in this morning.  Mentally it wasn't too bad, but still struggling with the lack of power. 

Long run tomorrow is up to 9 miles.  We are approaching the too far for treadmill distance so maybe it will be nice enough.  But, if not I have gone further. 

How was everyone else's Saturday?

Had a good bike ride today! 33 miles Reverse Red Rock. It was really nice out - 63-66 degrees. Don't be a hater... My HR shot WAY up...not sure if that's really a good thing, but yeah I pushed it a little bit today. Rest of the week will be easy rides on the trainer, and hopefully will start Hill Intervals in two weeks when my training buddy gets back from a trip. We need to work on the hills. I'm hoping to increase my mileages to 40-50 next weekend, but we'll see what's out there for the group rides. Today I registered for Skinny Tire Festival and San Diego Century (Hillfest!). WOoooooot!

I loved the Gran Fondo in San Diego, does the century go east out of San Diego or up north?  Lots of great riding out there for sure.  I miss (especially this time of year) not being out there as often or as long as I was for a few years.

Great work on the bike DJ!

Meulen - 2013-02-02 7:08 PM Saturdays been tough for me. For 2 hours in on the trainer. I went to the pool earlier only to find they ha a swim meet and they wouldn't let me swim. It's to cold to do the brick. I was supposed to do. I had a dentist appt that ran longer than expected. Now it's 6pm and I only got in half te workouts I was supposed. Worse yet I haven't even touched my basement project today.

My coach will stick a little note in once in while saying if you need to miss something don't sweat it, that is why we start in January.   

Glad you found a fit that at least for now seems comfortable.  Once you get outside I hope it still works, but it sounds like it will.

What do you have on the front of your bike for cranks?  It should either be a 53/39 (most common) or 50/34.  I think if you have the 53/39 you should definitely think about the 11-28 or 11 -27.  I don't think you will be disappointed with the in between gears with either of those.  If you do have the compact front crank you may get away with the 11 - 25, but I still think you would benefit from the 27 or 28.

The armrest pads look comfy!

Well I finally pulled the trigger on switching my power meter from the wheel based power tap to the crank based Quarq.  I bought the new Elsa model which should be here this week.  I made the switch to the compact gears as well.  I think it is the right thing to do for the iron distance race in August as that has a lot of climbing.  I hope it isn't a big mistake for Florida but I think I can buy just the gears for it.

It's 12 degrees here this  morning, so this weather wimp is headed to the treadmill for my 9 mile run.

Happy Sunday and happy training!!

I have heard a lot of you mentioning pitting on your trainer.  What is that?  My husband and I just use old tires for the trainer and between the two of us we are using it about 12-15 hrs per week. So I was not wanting whatever this is to become an issue. 

Long run today - 1 hr 15 min. In the 20's here so should be able to go outside, though there is a chance of sleet.

Meulen - 2013-02-03 10:26 AM Ken. My coach never says I can miss a workout! Lol. He has been encouraging me to hit as many as I can. Although even after I miss some he says I'm doing fine. Maybe that's his way of saying its ok.

Weighed in at 166 this morning. So at least that part is going well. I was we'll rested for yesterday's trainer ride and did 2x40min at 80% so I know I'm hanging on to my power too!

Don't get me wrong Brian, mine doesn't recommend missing them but he also worries that if life gets in the way and I do miss one that I will try and make it up later in the week and wind up doing too much and getting injured.  He prefers just going on in most cases. 

Great work with the weight and the ride sounds like it went well too!

I have some pitting and grooves forming in my trainer where the tire rides.  Brian suggested it may be caused from using road tires instead of a trainer specific tire.  He may be right, but if it is from the tires, it really started in the last 6 months which is when I started using a Michelin tire on the trainer.  That tire also left behind a lot of rubber on the drum. Switched to a trainer tire about 2 months ago and it doesn't appear to be getting worse and no more rubber on the drum.  The trainer tire still looks like new.

Have a great run! 

It is nice that I got my run done earlier and out of the way, but it has turned out to be a pretty nice day here in the low 30's, sunny and no wind.  Maybe I should have waited a while and gone outside for the run.