SBR Utopia Season II - OPEN (Page 92)

Fun training day today.

30' easy paced run then straight onto the bike for 15' @ 215w, 2 hours @ 230w, 5' @ 210w.  Right off the bike into a 40 min run with 15' @ 5:00/km, 15' @ 4:45/km (about my HIM target likely) and then 10' @ 4:30/km.

Did the majority of the ride on pancake flat roads to simulate Miami and what it's like to just stay on the aerobars for that long with no terrain to allow me to sit up.  That's certainly going to be one of the challenges I think.

Fun group ride today.  I was supposed to just sit in and cruise, and my legs weren't feeling that great, but I couldn't help myself and put in a few efforts to chase down an attack or make an attack myself.  Even had one attack holding 712 watts for 29 seconds. 

Maybe a 6-8ish mile run tomorrow and a 2k swim.

Fun seems the order of the weekend.

Great ride yesterday - steady hammering around the local towns.  Gorgeous swim around Walden last night (tried to draw a G-clef as Strava Art for my oldest who played at the New England Conservatory yesterday - didn't look too much like one, though!).

Today was a 7+ mile run on trails and a couple different loops over the Old North Bridge.  Felt so great to run a decent distance for the first time in a month!  Plus, just a corker of a fall day.

Oh, and 700+ W must be "sitting in" for a very different set of legs than mine.    Do make sure to really taper, though - too close to get really frisky out there!

Matt

Do you sit up and ride the horns a lot currently?  

This far into the season and I find aero to be at least as comfortable - if not more so - than the horns.  I've actually had the opposite thought on hills - that "I need to sit up now for better power…"

Just curious.

Matt

No, I do it as little as possible but there is always something to get me up every once in a while, whether it's turning a corner, a short little hill or something like that.  It may only be for 5 or 10 seconds but that tends to be enough to stretch things out.  

Maybe just be mindful of the aid stations and sit up a few seconds earlier than normal?  Not quite the same as getting out of the saddle every so often to loosen up, as you say, but at least it'll give the back and neck a short break...

I raced a sprint tri today -- in typical Nicole fashion, it was a pretty decent swim, good bike, and crap run.  I'm trying to be patient with this running thing (I know, I've been out with a knee injury for more than a year, so I can't expect to be good).

Unofficial results say I was 5th in my AG, but if I was still 29, I'd have been 1st.  Damn 30-34 year olds are FAST!

RR when official results are posted.  Off to a massage shortly

Alright, RR here: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=502015&posts=1#M4866624 

So, I was cleaning my bike Saturday afternoon and for the first time noticed that the front derailleur is a tiagra.  Emailed my LBS, he said he'd look into it, and lo and behold, seems BMC equips the "105" TM02 with a tiagra FD.  Guess I just assumed that a 105 bike meant 105 components

It does seem to disappear nicely though.  Too bad I have to get on it and ruin the areo-ness....

Good thing you won't need to shift the front for Miami...LOL.

true, although that seals the "should I swap over the DA components" issue

I don't think as many consumers want them.  Even though a center pull brake is more aero, it doesn't really look more aero or scream out "aero bling" like other parts of a bike.  You would also think that more TT/Tri bikes would come with aero chainrings, but most don't.  Some do, but an aero chainring looks cool, and is a much easier sell to the uninformed consumer that it's an "upgrade" worth paying more for, even though the front brake probably sees more of the wind than your chainrings do.

I just can't get over how much longer EVERYONE else's legs appear to be!

No wonder my cadence is so high on the run…  

I'm not sure most would even notice. Buy the fast frame & wheels. Nothing else really counts towards aero, or is an exception because it's them. I think it also works in the company's favor to put the more readily available parts on the bike and sell the more aero upgrade later if they even make one. As another area for example, I should have taken a pic to compare the T2+ bars with the Pro Missile. From the front, the difference was astounding. Almost like I had a 2 x 4 going across there.

I've seen this a number times as well, and agree on the false advertising.

I think group riding is always beneficial when it pushes you past the points where you would normally ride on your own.  Plus it's fun. 

You'll still need to get in some solo rides, or at least rides without as much of the hard accelerations, but probably not as much as you think.  The main key for me is to dial in my pacing for longer solo efforts and getting used to staying down on the aero bars. 

I could have sworn I looked at every spec on the BMC website for the '14 105 build.   The 2013 105 build does include a 105 F and R der.  I agree it's a bit of false advertising, although the specs are available.  I bet most people don't look closely tho