1 Bike kid trailer that can hold up to 100 pounds.

2 35 pound sand bags

Throw the sandbags in the kid trailer, strap them in and start riding.  Small hills become huge mountains and it is a challenge to maintain speed.  I kept a moderate place of 12-14 mph.  I get very weird looks from people I pass.

After I did this for a month on every ride, I took the trailer off.  I have super legs now.  I have gained 1-2 lbs of muscle and it is all in my legs.   Next step is to add another 25 pounds and keep up the same pace.

Saturday was a great ride.  60 miles total with lots of hills.  My Endurance is increasing. As long as I stayed fueled with peanut butter sandwiches and Bartlet pears my energy is strong.  The ride sucked too.  Mosquitoes and road rash.

Good parts of the ride:

1. 60 miles with hills, averaging 17-19 mph.
2. Courteously blowing past a group of riders and leaving them in the dust.
3. Getting passed by two guys that were flying.

Bad Parts of the ride

1. My rear tire blew out.  Not to big of a repair except I stopped next to a mosquito infested ditch.  Any where there was open skin the damn mosquitoes were on it.  Little Bastards.
2. With 15 miles to go, I hit the pavement hard.  It hurt like a son-of-a-bitch.  The helmet probably saved me from a concussion;  and the $6.00 Walmart  SafetyGlasses protected my green eyes well. I totaled 9 wounds across elbows, knees, face, hip and back.  And even my eye !!  I had bust a blood vessel in my eye.  Pretty cool wound I guess.

Things I learned:

1. Carry a travel size spray bottle of Mosquito repellent in the box. Damn Mosquitoes.
2. Push through the hills, If I think a hill is too high, I just think of the downhill run.
3. Always wear a helmet.  Mine Saved my ass on this ride.
4. I don’t have to buy the energy gels, just peanut butter and pears.

1. Allen wrenches
2. 2 extra tubes
3. Duct tape
4. Zip ties
5. Leatherman pliers
6. Mini socket set
7. Razor blade
8. Vasaline – For getting the tire back on the rim
9. Tube tool
10. Tire Patch Kit

I added chain repair kit to my bag of goodies.  Also I added a couple extra links and locking links.  And I am able to get all this stuff into 2 bags, one bento box and one sandle bag.  It may add a extra pound, but I would rather be prepared and have a little extra weight.

Chain breaker / repair tool

Extra Links

Raleigh Detour 21 inch (Large) for sale.
New Front Gears installed by Orange Cycle Works
Back Gears have 30 miles on them, installed by Orange Cycle Works
21 Gears for easy riding.
Big Comfortable Seat.
Handle grip gear changing.
Adjustable front shock.
Low Maintenance.

I have a new bike and need to sell this one.

View on Craig’s List: http://olink.me/6LpeHT

Please email if you have questions or would like to see the bike. Located in the Ocoee Area.

It was great little moment for the ego. 

Found a great article by Charlie Issendorf for Criterium Racing Strategy. One suggestion I liked was getting early to the start line.  The closer you are to the front, the less people you have to pass.

Some of the suggestions that I like from the article are:

1. Ride the course before the race.
2. Get to the starting line early.
3. When to attack.

For the first one, I don’t think I will win, but I want to understand how the race will work. I’m gonna ride out one day before the race and try out the course.  Main goal will be to find out where the corners are and the hill.  Through each corner I want to know where the apex are and how to get through the corner fast or slow.  That way I can position myself for the best maneuvers (Offensive or Defensive).

The OutSide Line

It is a .9 km asphalt road course.  Between turn 4-5 is the best chance to pass with a premeditated course alignment.  You need to come out of turn 4 as fast as possible on the outside line.  Turn 4 is a hard 90 degree turn.  So if you have the outside line going into turn 5, you have to slow down the least.  If you are on the inside line going into turn 5 you have slow more.

If there is a racer in front  that you want to pass, you want to start attacking on turn 2.  That way you can get the outside line through  turn 3 and 4 then shoot out past the other rider for turn 5.  You don’t want to cut anyone off, but take the wide right line.

The Inside Line

Just for argument sake, lets look at passing in turn 5 on the inside line.  It can be done, but you need to lower the gears to a rocket out of a slow turn.  If you can maintain that inside line and really torque out of turn 5 to turn 1, you can get the outside line coming out of turn 1.  This puts you in a position to get some good momentum into the 2,3,4 combo.

Sound like it will be fun competition.    Looking forward to it on January 16th. 2010

30 Seconds before an up hill ride or sprint; start breathing like you are sprinting.

I actually have to breathe to go faster on my bike.  Imagine that.  While reading “The Lance Armstrong Performance Program“  the book mentions that it takes about 30 seconds to get the oxygen from your lungs to your muscles.  So if you do a quick sprint on the bike, the heavy breathing starts about 30-45 seconds after your start.  But at this point you are trying to catch up.  Your body already needs the oxygen and your lungs are struggling to give it. There is lots of talk about Vo2 max etc related to oxygen intake, but that just makes my mind fuzz.

I noticed when normally riding a hill I would burn out once I got to the top and coast a little to catch my breath.  So today I started deep breathing about 30 seconds before I hit the hill.  Wow, what a difference it made.  Hill after hill I was able to maintain 18-19 mph and keep powering through once I got to the top.  Once I got the oxygen into by body I could keep going.  It took me a few hills to get used to and consciously start breathing at the right time.  I started doing the 30 second prep-breath on the last 25 miles of a 50 mile ride, so I wasn’t just powering through.

So here is the simple new rule:

30 Seconds before an up hill ride or sprint; start breathing like you are sprinting.

Simple enough?  Try it, it worked great for me.

I like using areo bars, but I found out that the newer models of handles are smaller diameter except for where they attache to the post.  So the aero bars bracket only fit over this larger diameter section.  The section is short, so the aero bars were mounted close to the post.  I thought they would feel weird and ride funny, but the position worked well and they are attached nice and snug.

Front View:

Top-Down View:

This is the thumb shifter.  This makes changing gears a dream.  On the Raliegh I had the handle twist gear changers.  Which meant I had to switch positions to change gears.  The thumb shifters are great and quick to change the gears.

For each of the cables there is an adjustment section.

The height of the handle bars can be adjusted by 15 mm in 5 mm increments.  On the picture below you can see the 3 spacers on the handle bars.  There position at the bottom makes the handle bars higher.  I could lower it by taking a couple of the spacers out.

On the seat post there is a marker for seat height.  This makes it easier to reset when the seat post gets lower after use.  I have lost 1/2 on a log ride.

Below re wire guards that on the bottom cable under the main frame.  Its a great idea and will reduce wear and noise.  The seat post appears to be all carbon.  It’s not.  Aluminum wrapped with a sheet of carbon.  It makes no difference to me, but if you think it is an all carbon seat post; you will be mistaken.

This is the seat from the old bike that has more padding than the stock.  I may use the stock on the Sprint Triathlons, but it is rock hard and hurt my ass.

Original Stock Seat.  (OUCH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ) There is no cut out area to release pressure on the sensitive areas.

OUCH !!!!!!!!! Its a nice looking seat.  Maybe I will get Lance Armstrong to autograph it for me.  It hurts too much to sit on.

Full Carbon front fork.  I am told that this helps absorb some of the shock of riding.  The ride is rougher than the Raleigh, but that is what a good seat and butt pads are for.

The Welds on the aluminum frame were perfect.  Joe at Orange Cycle mention that Cannondale is known for the smoothness of their welds.

The Seat Post Weld

I was able to use the same pedal assembly and shoes from the old Raleigh.  See how I installed the pedal assembly.

On the inside of the crank you can find the size (Metric).  The standard size for a bike is between 165 and 170.  The larger frame bike has longer cranks.

See that little line on the break?  That is a wear line.  Once it gets close to the line, you need to change the break pads.

The breaks also have a quick release so you can easily change a tire without much disassembly.  With the lever down, this is the normal operating position.

If you flip the lever up, there will be enough room between the breaks and the wheel to pull the wheel off.

For the tire and tubes they use a “presta” valve, which is smaller than a normal valve, so I had to get another pump.  There is a lock washer on the valve stem that you want to make sure it tight or else you get lots of rattle.  The one pictured below is not in the right position.  It should be tight against the rim.

When you take the cap off you will see the valve like this, with the release screw tight.

When you need to fill the tire loosed the release screw (Loosened pictured below)  Now you can attach your pump and fill the tire.

I am exploding rainbows walking up to the shop.  I made it !!!  When I got there everyone was really nice.  I met the barrista at Juan Pelota’s (The coffee shop) and he manages the twitters for Mellow Johnnys (http://twitter.com/mellowjohnnys) and Juan Pelota Cafe (http://twitter.com/juanpelotacafe).  He knew is coffee and served me up good.  I got 1 pound of “Fixie Dust” and 1 pound of “Major Taylor”  Major Taylor is my favorite.  The store really set up nice with a repair shop, coffee store and bike store all rolled into on.  Right in downtown Austin.  I wish I had time to rent a bike and go for a ride.  There were lots of people milling about; some locals and goofy tourist like me.  Great positive vibe all over the place.  As far as swag, I picked up a Mellow Johnnys Jersey, shirt, couple water bottles, a hat and 2 pounds of coffee.  I where them with pride

Make sure you visit the guy at the coffee shop.  He has tattoo on his arms and is really cool.  I wish I could remember his name but he gave me good info.

My picture in front of one of the yellow jerseys.  This is frikin cool.

3 of the 7 Jerseys

And the other 4 jerseys

This is a huge piece of art on the wall.  Look at the size of the bike next to it.

A cool bike hanging from the ceiling.

One of Lance’s Treks I assume.

And another.

Downstairs, they had a training facility and a few bikes on display.  There was one of Lances and a couple others.  Pretty cool.  They do good work.

This is the training aread.

A jersey on the wall that looked important so I took a picture of it.

Me outside the Juan Pelota Cafe.  Great coffee.

Me leaving

I spent about two hours just milling around and looking at everything.  The prices were fair and I wish I would buy a bike from there.  I would love to say: “Yeah my bike is from Lance’s Shop”

Here are the Shoes out of the box. Size 13

Here are the pedals, cleats and bolts.  There are stock bolts that come with the pedals, but attached to the shoes were longer bolts.  The shoes already had threaded holes in them.

On the bottom of the shoe there are two screw holes.  This is where you attache the cleat.  The piece of metal will move up and down so you can adjust it for the best position.  I pushed my cleat as far as it would go back towards the heel.

Here are the cleats (Top and bottom) The side with the little teeth goes towards the bottom of the shoe so it will grab on when you tighten the bolts.

The black bolt on top is the stock bolt, and the silver bolt is the one that came with the shoes.  About 3 mm longer.  Use the longer one.

Lay the cleat down on the shoe over the two holes and then put the spacer bracket in the groove.

Using the long screws, tighten them with an allen wrench. (The wrench was not included in the setup so you will have to have your own.)

Finished cleat with tight bolts.  I tighten them pretty tight.

On to the pedals.  They are pretty small but they work.  Take off the pedals on the bike.  Look for the “L” and the “R” on the pedals to know which side to put them on.

Hand screw them on.

Here is the trick.  They are tightened from the other side with an allen wrench.  You can make them really tight this way.

This is the adjustment screw for tightening the spring that holds in the shoe.  I kept them at the stock setting; the way they came out of the box.

Tighten the pedal from the other side.

Attache the shoe to the pedal.  You basically just push it to the front and it clips in.

The cleat clip.

Overall it wasn’t to hard to put new pedals on.

The old strap pedals:

The new shoes (Size 13) and pedals.

Here are the shoes from pricepoint.com PricePoint.com is a great website, prices are better than ebay or local stores.

The next triathlon on the schedule is the OUC in Downtown Orlando: 1/4 mile swim in Lake Underhill; 11.5 mile bike ride, 3.7 mile run. The bike and run are a little more than I am used to, but I should be good. I was looking at the race map and its a little messed up because the finish is 3 miles from the starting point. But they have transport from the finish to the start. It should be a good run. I am going to go practice it tomorrow morning to get a feel for the route.  Should be a good race and my training will keep me mid pack.  I do love doing this.

Did a quick 5 miles on the bike followed by 2 miles run on hills.  I figured out that train in cool weather but my tri’s are in hot weather.  By the time I hit the running part of the tri it is 90 degrees and it saps energy out of me.  My guess is in cold weather I get lots of O2 in the lungs and I don’t get worn out.  When I am running in the hot weather my lungs don’t get as much O2 in them so I run out of steam.  I need to figure out how to get more O2 in the lungs during the hot weather and learn how to keep my self cooler.  In cooler weather my endurance is great.  Warm weather…. not so much.

But I completed it.  I took the first step and last.  My relatives were there.  I really like having the support.  I don’t think I am ready to swim a mile, so I will wait until September and do another sprint.  Plus now, I have to start training for the Disney marathon in January.  That is the next big challenge to over come.  26.2 miles.  I am going to rework my training schedule.  I love doing these.  Need to push more.

Time to retire the shoes:  Over 300 miles!

I went from an AVENIR Passage Comfort Saddle to an AVENIR Groovelite.  The Comfort saddle is really comfy.  It has gell in the seat and keeps your butt from getting sore.  But it restricts movement a little.  The Groovelite has a grove that protects the “man parts” and allows more freedom of movement.

It took about 15 minutes to change, but I was up and biking in no time.  I still don’t know if it is right to train when sick.  Some say no, some say yes at a slower pace.  Your body need time to repair.  I am going with the latter.  I would rather train slow and get something out of it than not train at all.

Loosen the bolt that holds the seat post.

Press it back with you thumb or get a pair of plyers.

Turn the seat over and loosen the attachment bolts with and allen wrench.  There maybe be one or two bolts.  Loosen them both.

Top is the old seat post, bottom is the new.  Notice the bottom is about 3 inches longer and has a different seat attachment piece.

Loosen both bolts on the new post until they are just about to fall out.  On this seat post, one bolt had a slot that would allow it to swing out.

Place the new seat post on the seat rails.  Then swing the bolt back into position.

Align the seat post in the middle of the seat bars.  Later you can adjust the seat forward or backwards.  Tighten the screws with an allen wrench.

Notice on the post there will be a line that indicates that this is the highest the post is allowed outside the frame.   Don’t extend the frame any higher than this line or the frame will break.  Now go and ride the back and test to see where the best height for the seat is.

!!NOTE !!  You may need to rotate the seat post 180.  If the seat feels like it is jamming your but, detach and rotate.  This happened on mine and once I rotated, it felt 100 times better.

Once you are satistified with the ride height.  Use a sharpee to put a mark on the post.  It may lower after general use.

The new seat post for a 6’5″ tall rider.  Since I am saving up to buy a bigger bike, this will work for the mean time.  Happy riding and hope this helps. !!