SBR "U" (Page 80)

Well, at lest it is great to read that you are to the point to have a plan of attack, Chris. I was nowhere near as battered as you are Chris, but in addition to the extra rest that I was encouraged to get, my doc also advised me to make sure I got more calories in than I normally do as well as your body is working pretty hard to heal up. That was a little tough for me psychologically as well as many of us are (for better or worse) conditioned to couple calorie intake with exercise. He was right though.

And I think you may be surprised when you are able to get back at it how quickly it comes back. Just keep as mobile as you can; I tried to figure out a way to move around somehow (usually walking) for whatever amount of time I would have normally had on the schedule that day for working out. One of the toughest bits was for the first couple of weeks I lost over an added hour each day just with the extra time for bathing, getting on clothes, dressing changes, etc. Honestly it was that that made it tough to still get some time on my feet in each day. 

Good luck with the ortho - let us know what they say - it will be good to not need to have surgery. 

FWIW Froome was out last year before he hit the first cobbles. I think it was the crash the day before, the rain, the anxiety about the cobbles, and his widely reported terrible bike handling skills that caused him to hit the deck (twice again, IIRC?) before even getting on the cobbles. Some of the interviews with his teammates are really quite funny when they talk about how terrible he is on the bike. A man after my own heart - ha-ha.

I do like the "skills test" the riders are going through early-on in this year's tour, and I like the re-introduction of the time bonuses in the first 9 days - I think it really opens up the race in a kind of exciting way. I don't think the cobbles stage would have been NEARLY as great of a race without it. Having the team time trial so deep in the race is really cool too - that has the potential to really shake things up as well, and leave guys having to really ride offensively in the mountain stages vs. defensively as it has often seemed in the last several years.

Neil - I was going to get the P-09 earlier this year, but there was a recall on it and they couldn't be had. Are they available again? I decided to go with the new Bambino Pro - and while I haven't done any testing on it yet, I figure it cannot be bad, but there might be others that could be personally better.

What are you trying to gain by swapping the BTA with a Torhans? I find the BTA to be really simple and efficient, and I figure there has been lots of R&D and tunnel testing on my bike that I would be hard pressed to believe that sticking something in front of it would actually make it faster (or they already would have a-la the new scott plasma). As always, I could be wrong.

ETA I just read that you you do not think your bike is as slick as it could be - I imagine there are a lot of bikes that could be made faster with the addition. It just seems crazy to me when I see one on the front of some of the new fully integrated super bikes.

Jim @ ERO has said on ST that a well positioned Torhans 30 is often a 7-11 watt savings.  Tried to find where he said that but did find this one where he says a pic is likely 7-10 on this P5

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=5581307#5581307

phhhhhht. What does he know? Seriously, maybe I will get 3 of them and put them all front-to-back between my bars. I could use an extra 30 watts...

Rusty, I think you're right. I stand corrected on the Froome crash. I am on board with the skills test part, to a certain point.  After watching some of the guys on the edge of the road, kind of riding on the shoulder where the dirt seemed smoother than the road itself, it just struck me as odd. It also seems odd to me that a professional bike racer like Froome can be that bad with bike handling, but I guess I shouldn't be. 

I like the time bonuses as it gives more tangible reward for winning a stage.  I find myself trying to take in more of the stuff that is not covered as in depth this year.  

I would wonder exactly which SC that was for. I believe Neil has an SC7 with a familiar round steerer sticking up and a round stem. An SC9 or newer 7.5 (2014) would be entirely integrated up there and likely to see less change.

I like the idea of skills too, but wonder about placement of such a stage. It's still pretty early and guys may be more apt to take chances or push too much. Maybe somehow thin it out first? I don't know how these are set up in other races or series though.

Yup, less than 2 inches is what seems to be the magic number.  I've got it a bit less than that now and with some tweaks I think I can get it closer to 1.

I think the recent ST thread mentioned that the bottle should be aero neutral even if a bit far away from the frame.

And Ben is right, I think the real benefit is for bikes that are slightly older and still have rounded edges at the front.

The P-09 is available on the Cdn Garneau site, and it's listed at the same price as in the US, only in CAD, so it's a better deal - and in stock.

As for the BTA, I think mine sits a little lower than my arms so may be adding some drag.

So I went on the Garneau website and up pops a message - do you want to subscribe to the newsletter and I figured, well perhaps they'll offer some promos later down the line.  Get the "thank you for registering" email, and a 20% off your next order...

One P-09 now ordered.

Neil, you are going to cost me some money!

I did a 33k TT last night on a somewhat hilly course (~1000 feet of elevation).  I was pretty happy with the result with power being 270AP / 276NP.  I was shooting for 285 but there were several sections that I was spun out on descents and twice I was held up by cars (that were waiting to pass other riders).  Managed a 50:22 for 39.5 km/hr which I'm pretty happy with given the hills!  

At the very end (I think anyway) of the ride I hit a few bumps and suddenly my Torhans bottle was rubbing on my wheel.  It actually wore a bit of the plastic off but not enough to put a hole in it.  I knew the clearance was a bit tight but I guess I'll have to adjust that!  It could be that I had a different wheel on than before (FLO 60 vs FLO 30) - the 60 might be a tad bigger?

Sunday I'm hoping to do a two stage bike race - 17k TT in the morning and a 66k road race in the afternoon.  The TT is basically the beginning and end of the route from last night (skipping most of the hills) and the road race is two loops of the TT last night.

Ha! Nice!

LG Lazer are my favorite bibs. They are the most comfortable cycling shorts/bibs I've ever worn. At 20% off, they're almost affordable. I may have to sign up as well. Thanks!

You all are looking at this wrong. Don't think "20% off" instead think "Free Torhans hydration system with every purchase."

Very nice results, Arend - good luck on Sunday - make sure you watch a lot of TDF coverage this week just so that you are appropriately amped for the race.

Your comment about your bottle rubbing on your wheel reminded me about something the slowtwitch comments  had me wondering about Jim's comments about the Torhans on the front of the P5. While it does makes sense that the bottle could help a less-aero bike, the claim of 7w on the P5 is still kind of surprising. I was wondering how much that might have to do with the interface with the front tire rather than simply the head tube alone....

Because if one is faster then more are fasterer?

Well, I imagine that is all relative, really, but it does seem to be quite the joke amongst his team, friends, etc. IIRC at 13 years old he crashed in the very first race he ever did (into his mother, of all people) and still won the race. In his first world championship in the under 23 category he crashed into an official at the start of the time trial. His own coach Dave Brailsford (also the director for British Cycling and now Team Sky) said something along the lines of that when he "discovered" Froome he couldn't believe how good he was because of how bad he was at all the skills stuff. He said that when he rides he looks like a stork trying to take off because of his crazy wide, flappy elbows, but they have never been able to fix it. that is supposedly the core issue with his "bad" cycling skills (by pro standards, of course): next time you go out riding get your elbows out wide like Froom rides and you will quickly see how your handling goes to sh*t. All the sudden you are using your wrists and forearms to control the bike, along with fork rotation to steer, vs. using your shoulders, body lean, and counter steering. Now imagine doing that in the tight quarters and at the speed the pros ride at. It is no wonder that even  his own team gives him a little more bearth than normal. The exciting part is that I think it really points to how much untapped potential he still has.

exactly!

Speaking of "skills." Anyone else hoping Jens loosens up a bit as a commentator? I ve always enjoyed his interviews - on the "other side of the mike."  He's not been as entertaining behind the desk.

yeah, I agree - I wonder what kind of leash they put him on. And Jennifer commented a couple of days ago how she didn't like how much CVDV argues with him also.... Didn't really notice it until she pointed it out - it's kinda subtle.

yeah, you're right, there's some low level jabbing going on.  they definitely keep Bobke on a leash. He spoke at one of our club events this year and I laughed until my sides hurt as bad as Chris's ribs. Of course, the pre event cocktails probably didn't hurt. So I'm off to VT for the weekend with no TV; and internet that's as slow as the maple syrup. I'm going to have catch up on Tour fun when I return. 

Someday I hope there is a book about Liggett, Sherwin, Bobke, et.al. This year it is like Liggett is not listening to anything any of the other commentators are saying at all, and two days ago it was really funny when Bob Roll clearly didn't know his mike was live when he was muttering under his breath about something or other Phil was going on about. H basically said something to the effect you CLEARLY don't know what you are talking about."  All kinda funny stuff that happens when folks work in such close quarters with one another for so long.

Safe and fun travels, Kim!