MForger18's Group- Closed- Find your seats bc the shows about to begin (Page 4)

Well...as long as we are talking bikes....and have a local expert.
I plan on buying a tri bike in the next couple of months, have no hang-ups on brands or looks at all. Right fit right price are my top priorities and people have been very very strongly recommending me to get a power meter as well. I had planned for the bike to top out at $3K with the power meter I guess I have to up it to $4K. I am 6'3".

This is the first bike I am buying, my current bike is a hand me down from a buddy. Besides recommendations on specific bikes, I would also like some tips on how to go about buying one.

Thanks!!

Bert

Hi Bert,
Boulder has some great multisport shops where they are known for their bike fits. With the amount that you are looking to spend you can get a ton of bike. With the path that you are taking, I would get a fit first. They could gear you in the right direction based on what brands will fit your body the best -rather than fitting the bike to you. You will have a more dialed in fit going this route.

A power meter in the next toy that I have on my "Wish" list. Funds have been a bit tight and they are expensive but well worth it. I would say to look at your race distances first. IMHO, a power meter serves the most benefit when you are racing longer distances. IN short course, its basically ride as fast as you can but in Long Course you can really guage your efforts. You have to know how to read the data its giving though also. Just having a PM to see what your watts are will serve you no good. It is a tool that can be very helpful when used the right way. A roadie buddy of mine said that he only used a PM in the off-season to make sure he was gaining strength. He would also only use it by himself. Once the season began he would ride with whatever the pack was doing and only do tests every couple of weeks to guage his fitness. Then when he would get to his "A" race he put it back on, knowing when he could make a break and hold off the pack.

For triathletes it is used different as we would want to watch the numbers throughout the race to make sure we are riding at the level we could sustain over x distance.

Here is my New Years Resolution: BE REALISTIC!

If you look up biting off too much in the dictionary - you will see my picture. So here it goes. My first 2 months of training for 2008 is getting to the point where I can run 3 miles. I uploaded the couch to 5k plan (which is now the 2nd time doing this plan) to my training log and then I am going to have time to add a tri specific training plan after that. I am going to work out 3 times a week and anything more than that is a bonus for right now. The area that will help me the most of my time is weight loss. I am currently 267 lbs and my goal weight is between 200 and 210 for competition.

Now I just have to do it. Reading about other people struggling with finding time for training, work and family is helpful in that I know it can be done.

Hi Gerald, sounds like a great plan man. One of the best lessons I have learned by using the BT training plans is "small repetitive steps forward". No injuries, keeps it fun and the improvements in fitness are amazing. Good luck!

Hey guys with all this talk about bikes, I want to know:

What are you currently riding?
What have you ridden in the past, if anything?
What is your dream bike?

What does your arsenal of bikes look like, if you have more than 1. I'll start but I have a mini shop in my "man room" as my wife likes to call it.

Road Bike 1- Cannondale Six13 w/Campy Record Components. Believe it or not a guy that works with me at my pct gave me the frame bc it didnt fit him and he didnt feel like going through the hassle of selling it.

Road Bike 2- Jamis Eclipse w/Shimano Dura-Ultegra Mix. My first road bike. I though about selling it but I cant let it go. I use it for Winter outdoor riding and nasty weather.

Tri Bike- Ordea Ordu w/Shimano Dura Ace & Zipp 808's. I love this bike. Sold my Cervelo to get this and I have never looked back.

Fixie- Just for fun. I had no brakes but then a cabby almost took me out.

Mountain bike- K2 Zed something. Its old and it got me through my first tri. I dont do much mountain biking but I keep it around just in case.

Wife's Road Bike- Giant OCR3 (?)- I just upgraded all of the parts for her to 105 10 Speed, but I think I appreciated doing it more than she likes riding it.

This is why my wife gets crazy with bikes all over the living room. Ill try to post pics of them once I figure out this new computer. If you are planning on getting something let us know what it is..........

Hey Paul, I look into both of these bikes and got some opinions. You get a little more bang for your buck with the Specialized. The wheels are a bit better and the bike overall will probably be a bit lighter. A buddy of mine said that QR bikes feel "soft" to him when he rides them, but on the other hand a lot of people do really like them. Try them both out bc they will fit differntly based on the tube angles and so on.

Thanks for the input. I test rode the QR yesterday. I actually liked the feel a bit better than my old bike. I'm going to test ride the specialized next weekend (they had to order it from one of the other stores). I might be a sucker, but I didn't care for the gold color a whole lot from the one I saw in person.

One bad thing is that it looks like I'll be riding a bigger bike (I was on a 50cm on my old bike), which means I'll be going back up to 700cc wheels. So I will have to sell my old race wheels and look into getting some 700 wheels.

Hope everyone's getting more training in than me I've got my road bike on the trainer just to work out my legs, but I really need to get more time in aero!

Hey guys, beyond the bike questions,

DO you have any New Year's Resolutions for 2008?

I think that resolutions are just broken promises that I make to myself every year so I tried not to get too caught up in it this year, but I did make some....

I want to be more consistant with my training, esp running. Last year after the Ironman I basically took off. I still raced and still rode but it wasnt the same. I was always just bored but now I have new fire. Since I changed my goals from going long to going fast I feel like every workout helps, no matter how short.

So thats my resolution, to be consistant and stay motivated. (and all the other stuff like eat better, less beer, blah blah blah )

My resolution is to be realistic (and eat better, drink less beer as well...Matt - I am not allowed to meet someone with the same resolutions since they usually both get broken)

I have a few questions for everyone. With all the focus on race day eating, what are your favorite healthy meals for regular days? Here are mine

Breakfast - Raisin Bran or Honey Nut Cheerios with a Yoplait Yogurt on it (looks nasty but tastes great)
Lunch - Sliced Turkey on Wheat sandwich and a piece of fruit
Dinner - Chicken breast with rice and a salad


As for my bike I have a GT Edge with Shimano 105 group. It is a very responsive bike that a bike guy made for me.

Those are all great meals but I dont think that you are getting enough calories with that amount of food. Those are all relatively small meals and if you are eating that small you should eat 2 more of them for 5 meals throughout the day.

The whole thing with eating healthy and losing weight is finding things that are high in fiber, low in fat, and have lean protein. You cant starve yourself of the "good" stuff either, like pizza. When you are training for a tri, you are burning so many calories. There is no reason why you cannot have a slice of pizza, just not the whole pie. Everything has to be in moderation, everything.

As for beer, when I was losing weight after college I only drank 1 day per week. That was my rule. If I went out to dinner and had a beer, that was it for the week. If I went out with friends another week and drank until the weee hours, that was it for the week. I wasnt limiting the amount so much, but the amount of days that I was putting the empty calories into my body.

*****And Gerald, cool Avatar.

My New Year's Resolutions:

Tri Related
Complete HIM
Consistently Train
Lose 10lbs

Non-Tri Related
Improve on the Guitar (which means practice more!)
Don't eat the whole bag (insert random food here, oreos, peanut brittle, doritos, etc.)

And for food, I agree with Matt. I have a really tough time watching what I eat 24/7/365, so I try to be reasonable with what I put in my mouth. If I think I'm going to feel guilty about eating something 15 minutes later, don't eat it. I've tried diets, but I don't have the willpower for those

Well I currently ride a 1987 Stainless steel Schwinn road bike which I got from a friend. Not quite my size but pretty close. I put some shimano pedals on it and aerobars.

I am Dutch, so I rode tons of solid Dutch bikes. I got my first car at the age of 26. The Schwinn is my first roadie. Also have a cheapo 'mountain' bike I bought at target. As you see I am not much of a gear or gadget man.

But that will all change very very soon. Probably this weekend I will drive up to Boulder to have a chat with the boyz at Colorado Multisport and start the search for that new bike. No specific dreambike in mind: Perfect fit and great price is what I am looking for.

And for the new year...
Kick a.. at Alcatraz ( that rhymes)
Be as serious about nutrition as I am about training
Stop cramming every piece of chocolate in a 15 feet radius into my mouth
And on a more serious note save my marriage.

Thank you I am probably 90% dark already

I love dark chocolate. We keep dark Hershey Kisses in the fridge for those craving times when we need it. The cool thing about darn kisses is that its 9 in a serving. I never eat 9, usually 3 or 4 so then I dont feel as bad about it anyway.

Gerald, the key is really moderation. My weakness is McDonalds. I dont know what it is but I love it. I started getting a kids meal or a mighty kids meal. Back in the day, a kids meal was the only size for everyone.

Keep it simple. Cut out white bread and drink diet beer. This will make a huge difference if you are not doing this already. Next watch your snacks- nuts are great, chips are not.

As for meals Ill try to come up with a few but stick to the basics. Eat as much veggies as you want, small portions of meat and starch/carbs. DON NOT STARVE YOURSELF.

As for the dieting - I went back to weight watchers this week. I am already at their 'goal' so it is free, but I'll do their plan to help me eat more healthy foods. Only prob is that with traing (as well as breastfeeding) I need more than they say, so I am modifying it a bit.

I went & did our club tri today - 400m swim, 15km ride & 4km run - & took 9 minutes off my last time!!! From only 3 weeks ago! Mostly due to the change of bike. I am stoked. I even sprinted past a competitor to the finish line

Awesome job!!

My Saturday started out really bad and ended really good
I got up and went out for a run. Even though I was trying to be very careful, I slipped on some water covered ice, banged my hip into the sidewalk and my head luckily into the grass. Well, that was a short run .

However after that I had an appointment with Colorado Multisport in Boulder for a full fitting with the objective to find the right new Tri bike for me. After more than three hours of fitting, tweaking and tuning we found the right setup for me. This included as least 5 times a three minute burst at LT which got me pretty winded. We found the most comfy, aero position while maintaining power output. And we found the corresponding bike Cervelo P2C 61cms

I have my eye on the P2C with the Ultegra components, but the big drawback is an April delivery. I could go with the P2C Dura Ace but that is a whopping $500 more!! For now my logic is that I have a decent bike I can train on, not too much outside riding in Denver in Jan Feb for sure, so I am probably going to wait for the P2C Ultegra... IT IS BEAUTY!!!

Sounds great!!! And I think you are wise to wait. In the long run you are better off with the right fit. And now you can enjoy the anticipation!!

Thanks for the congrats on my race, it was an outdoor one. My 'real' first tri (open event) is this Sunday. I am quietly hoping for a time of under 1:30.

Hey Linda, I had a feeling it was an outdoor tri. Its Summer right now for you right? Anyway, great job on the race. 9:00 is a huge improvement.

Bert, $500 is a lot of change. I would wait if I were you also. I have dura-ace and ultegra. Not much difference in my opinion. I have even used 105 componenets and still not much difference. If you care for your bike, it will take care of you. $500 goes a long way when looking for powermeters also.

Hey guys, sorry I havnt been around to much. People just cant seem to behave lately. Anyway, I checked up on your logs and they look good. Remember, consistency will pay off huge in endurance sports. Its that muscle memory that your body needs.

Anything else been going on in the tri world, or everyday world?