Two Wheel Blogs

It has been a good weekend. In spite of the less than spring-like weather we have had, I managed to get some good stuff accomplished.

Saturday morning: Woke up to find silly conditions outside (Pounding rain and temperature only a handful of degrees north of freezing...with snow in the forecast). I guess I am a pud, cuz I am not riding in that!

I was more than willing to put some time in on the rollers considering the alternative. I tuned into some pod-casts (cycling related of course) and put in some tempo on the drums. I finished the last program and checked the timer...just a bit over 2 hours. Not bad considering the time sort of flew by, and it was not even noon yet!

Later on, we headed out and stocked up on some food and got a free copy of "Bolt" for the kids to watch. As far as cartoons go, that is a pretty good one (just make sure you have a good sub-woofer for the special effects). Great flick, I probably will not hate it until after the 20th viewing (that will likely be sometime early next week if this weather keeps up).

How did I get it free? In a nutshell, if you spend too much money at a certain electronics store, they will send you coupons for free stuff. I have had a bad run of luck this year with TVs failing, it has cut into my bike budget big-time.

Saturday afternoon: I did some core work. Basically, I did a bunch of shoulder exercises (therapy), and even more abdominal/lower back work. It was nice to get the blood pumping again. The shoulder is doing pretty good. I have not been having much pain unless I skimp on my therapy. One of these days I will learn to keep it strong enough to avoid problems.

Saturday evening: You guessed it, we watched "Bolt" after eating a fantastic home cooked meal. I have not made fajitas in a long time...too long. They were awesome. The black bean dip I made as an appetizer was not too bad either...though I made my wife's eyes water and makeup run on the way to the coffee shop the next morning...not joking, she was pissed! Had to wait for her to fix it before I could go in and get my caffeine fix.

Sunday morning: Man! I had some righteous gas (see above). Got some great coffee at my LCS prepared by my kid's favorite barista (picked up some good bean for next week too).

Later on my pals called up and set up a ride. Today was much better than yesterday (weather wise). Temp was about 40 but the wind was pretty stiff, so it felt sort of cool in spite of the bright sun. It was a great ride though. Got 2.5 hours of "spirited" zone 2(ish) riding. To elaborate a bit, "spirited" means there was a nice bit of trash talking, jumping on climbs, and a couple sprint signs. Mostly, it was laid back riding with some great people.

After the ride, it was time to re-heat the fajitas and re-fuel. Man, those things are even better left over! I ate a bit of the bean dip too...could be bad later.

Then I sat down to waste a bit of time on the PC. Gotta clean out the spam folder...interestingly enough I received this from an online bike shop. A special on the Continental Ultra Sport Hometrainer Race Tire? Do you suppose the "Ultra Sport" models have a lower rolling resistance? Perhaps the "Race" designator means that it corners better than conventional hometrainer tires? I guess I will delete this offer, since I am not looking to race my trainer anytime soon.

There has been some recent talk of Time Trials around here lately. This weekend I got to thinking about my position and how I might improve my performance by adjusting my position a bit. I have made some more adjustments for what it is worth.

In the past, I have attempted to purchase time through superior wind-cheating equipment. Since my budget has largely been consumed by home electronics (see above), I have to rely on my own abilities to finish the race faster.

This is not to say that I do not appreciate technology and what it has to offer for drag reduction. I think technology is cool as heck. The stuff that works is great, but sometimes the stuff that never (or has not yet) made it is most interesting.

Stuff like this (below) is pretty radical. Perhaps it would offer a huge advantage to the time trialist if they were legal and functional....I can not help but question the serviceability or durability of it, but I think these images at least deserve to be shared.

Amazing.

Unfortunately, the only way I have to reduce my drag is to lower my position. I am not sure I can get much lower than I am now without significant power loss. If you get too low, you will pretty much loose all your ability to produce power.

Clearly, this design allows for a very low rider position, resulting in a lowered CDA. However, this design is less than ideal in that low pressure areas are created near the soles of the riders shoes creating drag...among other things.

Have a great week! Hope everyone got some saddle time this weekend.