Newbz'z summer mentor group is FULL!!!! (Page 82)

my tires are both rated at i think 115 or 120 and i'm sitting on 148 pounds right now and race/train at 110 on both of them.

last tires were rated to 150 (19mm tires) and i still raced at 110.

i'd go 100-105 rear and 100 front

it will be more comfortable and faster than pumping up to 115

Thanks David.  I tried out 100 on both tires today and my ride felt quite a bit smoother and perhaps a tad faster, but hard to say that definitively after one short ride.   My front wheel was definitely doing some bouncing at 115 psi.     I took the bike down a hill that I've been having speed wobble problems on (happened at roughly 44 km/hr - yep, not very fast) and I went a little faster without a problem.  I had a headwind and slight crosswind so I was hesitant to push even faster....of course, it is also darned tough mentally to let it rip on this hill given that I've had the problem there the last 3 times I tried to do so.  

I also took my aerobars off the bike this past weekend, but did not hit 44 km/hr on that hill after doing so (cross wind and lack of confidence to be honest).  I am pretty convinced that the wobble is not the aerobars, but the only way to prove it is to put them back on and take another run.    

So, I'm thinking to put the aerobars back on and get out early on Thursday morning before the winds kick in.   My tri on Sunday has a net 300 meters drop between the start and finish points and I'd really like to not have to encounter the wobble again in a race.   Even though I'm still in the learning phase on the aerobars, I would prefer to have them on as there will be parts of the course where I'll be riding into a headwind.

Any additional advice/thoughts?


Dan 

Dirk - What I was trying to say is that I thought that I was dehydrated, but drank a lot of fluid on that day...so I was trying to determine how much fluid I was actually supposed to drink and at what point I would get sloshing in my stomach...which would then lead to an upset stomach.  You're probably right about doing some kind of solid, maybe a cliff bar or something, but I haven't tried it yet and don't want to get IBS during my first HIM because I tried something new.  I will most definitely try that in the future though.

For anyone that has raced a HIM, what kind of bottle do they give you at the swap?  Will it fit perfectly in your cage???

depends on the race, but if yo uare doing timberman its going to either be a squirt top gatorade and probably a plain plastic water bottle. most fit without issue into bike cages (they hand out thousends of them per year so they better fit).

I was just thinking that if I put one of those in my hydrotail it would get ejected really easily.  I am probably going to put a bottle cage on my down tube for that particular bottle.  I'll keep my nutrition in my aero bars and water on my down tube.

In other news, looks like Chrissie Wellington and Andy Potts are showing up so there goes my chances of winning.

That's what I was thinking. Took the class last night and it was interesting but I would not say that I fell in love with it. I'm gonna go a few more times to give it a chance and humor my friend, and then decide if I want to make it a regular thing.

I did not know that body weight was a factor for tire pressure. Is the brand of tire and/or size also a factor or are all road bike tires similiar in terms of how much pressure they need? (Sorry if this is a real basic question, but I'm sure you are used to that by now from me).

I usually put 100 psi in both of my tires. Info on the side of the tire says "Maxxis Re-Fuse 700 x23c/120 psi" I'm at 165lbs. I'm I ok with what I'm doing or should I put in more/less air?

You're gonna rock!

Edited by jpbis26 2010-08-17 11:43 AM

At your weight/those tires you should be fine.

Honestly you could probably go as low as 95 (although i would not want to, but it would probably be ok).

the 100-110 range seems to be for me the sweet spot for the 145-175lb range. (give or take a bit based on certain tires/road conditions.

Well, I'm glad someone had a good run. Nice time on that 2 miler!

Understand about the yoga, I'm somewhat apprehensive myself. But, interestingly, about half the class last night was guys.

I'd agree with not going too high.  I always pump mine up to 115 because when I take the nozzle off, I lose about 5 lbs.

Hey, you're married!  Not supposed to be looking!  LOL

I had a really good ride tonight.  It was only 30 miles but I was able to learn to draft while riding.  We had a good push on the way out and were hitting some decent speeds but we knew the way back might be a bit rough.  When we turned around is the time I noticed what a good draft was going to do for my energy stores.  I played around with different distances and various positions behind the lead.  Obviously the closer the better but it was the slight crosswind that I was experimenting with my positioning.  Of course I did my share of the pulling but the 3rd guy on the ride was nervous about drafting so he was getting killed while me and the other rider were having a heyday.

It was a lot of fun.  No wonder some of you like group rides..........They're lots easier!  This was the first time I have been on a ride where someone else has been a cyclist for a while.

Hey, you're married!  Not supposed to be looking!  LOL

Congrats!!!!

Yeah, I don't know if I liked the whole "hot" part of the yoga. I would like to try something like you described. I like that it has some cardio component. I don't have tons of time to workout and I like to feel like I'm maximizing the calorie burn when I do workout. That being said, I know I need to start doing some exercises that help tone and build strength.

I like your idea of doing it in the winter. My last tri is in Oct and after that I'm gonna cut way back on the bike & swim and focus only on running for my HM in Dec. Throwing in some yoga/pilates/strength training with weights might be a good idea then. Thanks.

Also, sounds like you got quite the workout and had fun with your kids.

Pilates is definately another option - I also use to do pilates (and hope to get back in it this winter) - great core workout! It is really one of the only classes I have taken that gets harder the more you go b/c you learn to isolate key muscle groups.

This winter I am going to have to learn to combine all the stuff I used to do while keeping "tri fit". Biking will have to be on a trainer, running will either be on a treadmill or when it is not icy.  I can keep my cardio up though with x-country skiing. We have awesome trails 15 minutes drive. Swimming is not a problem and hopefully I be able to fit in yoga, pilates, weights, etc... I guess I won't be bored

The two I know of are the quarq and the SRM. 

Quarq will require you to buy the actual crank as well, or you have to ship your current crank to Quarq (assuming it's compatible) for them to install.  If you buy the quarq with the crank, that will run you about $1600-$2000 without the computer.

SRM is much more expensive and frankly I didn't even consider it when I saw the $3000+ price tag.  But all the pros that use power meters are pretty much using the SRM.  It comes with it's own computer.

There is also a new company that is developing pedal based power meters.  It's supposed to be on the market in the next year or so, but nobody knows much about it yet as far as durability, reliability and accuracy.  It's supposed to be priced around the same as a PowerTap ($1000) and if it works properly would be awesome because it's fairly light weight and can be transferred to any bike with a simple pedal wrench.  This might be something to keep an eye out for if you don't plan to get a power meter right away. 

Which one did you end up going with?  I just bought my set of race wheels...that's really the only reason that I didn't want to go with a HUB unit. 

FWIW.

I dont know much about the quark unit/setup, so take that for what its worth.

i hhave both raced and trained with powertap and SRM. If you look around you can find either pretty cehap compared to what they run new. SRM, well is nearly perfect. The computer gives you a host of readouts, and is crank based.

PT is awesome as well but requires a bit more wheel selcection. (if you are racing just tris this is no issue), build it into your training wheeland get a disk cover and dont think twice.

Might be worth selling the race wheel and doing this for the cost/benifit.

quark might be a very good option, i just dont know much about it.

I went with the powertap built into a custom training wheel and wheel cover from wheelbuilder.com.

Price wise, it was the best option for me.  And being that I do a lot of group rides on my road bike, it makes sense for me to have a hub based power meter that I can easily switch between my road and TT bike.  I got everything brand new...rear wheel, PT, garmin 500 computer (I didn't go with the PT yellow computer), and cover for about $1300.  If you already have a garmin 310, you don't need a computer.  You could find a used PT laced in a mavic open pro rim for about $500-700 without the computer.  $100 for the cover with shipping.

Keep in mind though that you can't build a wheel cover for a shimano rim.  There aren't many PTs for sale built into a shimano rim...but you should know that just in case.

Question for the bike gurus.  Ok ... maybe this is two questions.  My current cyclocomputer doesn't read cadence and I would like to get that info at the same time my cyclocomputer doesn't read my trainer workouts b/c the sensor is on the back wheel. So... how can I get these for the trainer w/o buying a roller?  It would be sweet if there was an affordable option where I could get distance & cadence data from my trainer for this winter.  is there anything out there like that?

I assume you mean that you can't get anything from your computer because your sensor is on the front wheel...not the back.

I was in the same situation when I got my trainer.  I had a front mounted sensor, and when I tried to mount the sensor on the chain stay, it was too far away from the computer to read.

I had to get a cat eye double wireless speed and cadence computer.  The speed and cadence sensor mounts on the rear chain stay so it can record data while on the trainer. 

It costs about $90 on amazon.  $110 retail.  There are other cheaper options, but none that I have used.

If money is tight, keep checking the classifieds on here and slowtwitch.com.  When I got my power meter, I sold my cat eye computer for $50 here in the BT classifieds.