Mosquitoman Duathlon Video

The Inaugural Mosquitoman Duathlon was hosted under beautiful yet chilly weather last Saturday.   The format was a 1.5 mile run, 8mile bike, 1.5 mile run, 8 mile bike, 1.5 mile run.  Yes, 5 ‘legs’ of the race and 4 transitions.  With about 150 participants, the in-and-out of transition was fun to watch.    You could compete in the race as a 2 person “team time trial” or an individual.

Results are found here: http://www.vacationsports.com/misquitoduresults2010.txt

The only award given out was the “Golden Mosquito Award” for fastest combined transitions (ironically the trophy is actually silver…. long story)   Eric Hendrickson was the winner of that award, and if you want to see how fast his transitions were, check out one of them at 2:45 into the video… FAST!

Is carbon for me?

If you’ve stopped into our shop within the last couple years, you’ve probably noticed the growth of the full carbon bikes, especially in our “tri room”.   The sales of carbon frames in the triathlon market have skyrocketed in the last several years, causing most of the triathlon bike manufacturers to make just 1 aluminum frame tri/tt bike, with the rest being full carbon.    Trying to find a full Ultegra or Dura Ace aluminum framed tri bike is next to impossible, as most manufactures are gearing their aluminum framed bike as the “entry level” tri bike with Shimano 105 or the like, and bike makers are assuming that the higher end market will want a full carbon frame.   As a result, the majority of bike manufacturers are putting the bulk of their research & development dollars into carbon frames.

With full carbon triathlon bikes like the B16 coming in under 2K, it's harder for people to justify spending more than that on an aluminum tri bike.

Outside of the question Road Bike or Tri Bike?, the next most asked question of us here at Gear West Bike and Tri is, “does a carbon frame really make a difference?”    If the sales of full carbon bikes over the past several years tell us anything, the answer is an overwhelming yes.   Not only has  the quality of full carbon frames risen dramatically, the price has come down just as dramatically.  This is due in part to efficiencies learned over the years and economy of scale with the increasing demand for full carbon.     Can there be poorly build carbon frames?  Yes, but the big boys in the industry (for us Trek, Felt, Quintana Roo, Cervelo) have the experience and technology to design carbon frames that will blow your mind.   And if my tour of the Trek factory in Waterloo, WI was any indication, bike makers are very careful to keep their technology secret.

Here are the main reasons that we’re seeing as why people are going carbon:

1.  Carbon Frames can be more vertically compliant. So what does that mean?  A unique quality of carbon is that depending on how the carbon layers are oriented it can be extremely stiff in one direction, but very compliant in another.   There are also different grades of carbon that have unique properties.  This means that, not unlike suspension on a bike, a well built carbon frame can ‘eat up’ those imperfections in the riding surface and smooth out your ride.   What this means for most people is that the ride quality will improve (think buttery smooth ride), and they will come off longer rides feeling less abuse on their bodies.  Obviously for people riding longer, this becomes more important.

Individual carbon fiber plies are hand placed inside a pre-build mold according to a layup schedule. How and where these pieces are layed up is proprietary by bike manufacturer and can make or break the ride experience.

2. Carbon Frames can be more laterally stiff. Again, the unique quality of carbon allows bike makers to orient and layer the carbon in such a way to make it extremely stiff laterally.  As manufacturers have honed their skills over the years, you’ll noticed that this aspect, particularly bottom bracket stiffness, has improved tenfold from the full carbon frames of 10 years ago.    The end result is riding the bike feeling that indescribable joy of knowing every once of your strength is propelling the bike forward.  This combined with the vertical compliance are factors that make up overall ride quality.  Many manufacturers claim to have the “best” ride quality, but as a consumer you need to look at things customer feedback and how many years has a specific company been making frames.

The 2011 Speed Concept is the result of countless wind tunnel hours.

3.  Carbon Frames can be more aerodynamic. In a lot of respects, the design and shape of a carbon bike is limited only by the minds of the maker.  They still have to comply with cycling rules and the laws of physics, but the mold-ability and strength of carbon allows for a lot more creativity in frame design.  Aluminum or titanium frames can never and will never match the aerodynamics of a carbon frame as it’s much harder to shape or modify.    As you would expect, aerodynamics plays a huge part in time trial/ triathlon frames, but not as much in road frames.

4.  Carbon Frames can be lighter. Alternatively, weight plays a much bigger factor in road frames vs. time trial/triathlon frames (where contrary to the opinion of many, does not really matter … especially in Minnesota!).   Depending on the skill of the maker, carbon frames can have a much better strength to weight ratio allowing bikes to get ridiculously light.  And anyone who has ever ridden an uber-lightweight bike knows it can make climbing and accelerating a relative breeze!

And here are a couple misconceptions about carbon frames that we hear:

Misconception 1. They aren’t as durable. We hear this one the most.  ”I’m a big guy”, or “I travel a lot with my bike”.    As indicated by what we see for warranties, carbon frames are just as durable as aluminum or titanium (and we’re talking in the less than 1% range here).     Warranties for aluminum and titanium frames tend to come from fractures in the welds, while carbon frames do not have welds.    To bolster your confidence in carbon frames, nearly all manufacturers offer lifetime frame warranties, meaning that if anything happens to your frame during normal wear and tear, they will replace your bike at no charge.    Carbon frames are also no more or less prone to being damaged in a crash.   Aluminum or titanium will usually just bend, where carbon will break (both result in the loss of a bike).    In addition, most manufacturers will work with us on ‘crash replacements’ at a significantly cheaper price.   As with any nice bike, if you want to maintain the pristine look you’ll want to be careful not to scratch it in travel.  Just use packing materials when traveling with your bike.

Misconception 2. I’m not fast enough for carbon.     We hear this one a lot.   We don’t need a carbon bike either.  And nobody needs a carbon bike, but the reality is that you might as well take advantage of technology if it’s available.    Why should just the fast people get the fun of having the nicest stuff?

Misconception 3. Carbon frames will “go soft” after several years. We’ve heard this a few times… people thinking that the carbon will “give” more after a couple years of riding it, making it flexy over time.    Again, I’m going to go back to the fact that not all carbon frames are of the same quality.   There are some poor quality carbon frames on the market made by manufacturers who are “newer to the game”.   A well built carbon frame will last as long as you want it to last.

So there you have it.    Go bike shopping!

Felt stopping my this Saturday

Felt Bicycles is stopping by this Saturday, August 21st with a fleet of their 2011 Tri, Road, Cross and Mountain bikes to check out.    They are just bringing one size in each, so it’s not a true demo fleet, but it would be a good time to get a look at all the bikes up close and start researching a bike for next year.   However, we do have several 2011 Felt Bikes in stock, so we might have your size in stock to ride on we already have.  Felt will also have staff on hand to answer any questions about the bikes.

Here’s a list of the bikes they’ll have on hand:

Tri Bikes:
B10 and B14

Road Bikes:
F24, F95, F85, F5, Z100, Z85, Z5, ZW5, ZW95, AR5

Cross Bikes:
F75X

Mountain Bikes:
Q520 and Q620

 

Feast your eyes on the all new 2011 B14. The derailleurs were upgraded from Ultegra to Dura Ace.

 

 

The 2011 AR5 get's a new paint job and upgraded wheels.

 

 

The 2011 F5

 

 

The 2011 Z5

 

The 2011 Felt B10

We were so giddy when we first saw this bike. All new for Felt this year, they took the B12 frame and equipped it with Shimano Di2. This get’s you the awesomeness of Shimano Di2 shifting with a $5299 price tag.  This is a full $3,000+ less than any tri/tt bike sold with Di2 last year.  Felt is committed to bringing electronic shifting to the people, as this is only a few hundred more than buying the gruppo alone.   Yes, it’s still expensive, but within reach for a lot more people.    We have a 52, 54, 56, 58 and 60 cm in stock and ready to ride!

And if you were still wondering how good Di2 is, you will be blown away when you demo one of these bikes. The shifting is so quick and precise you can shift your front dérailleur while standing and pedaling.  Seriously.  And the biggest benefit to having Di2 on a Tri bike is the 2 sets of shift buttons… shift in both basebar and aerobars without moving your hands. So cool.  Here at the shop Kevin, Hannah and Brett are all riding Di2 bikes, with more to follow soon…

The all new 2011 Felt B10 Di2.   Combine that paint job with the TTR3 wheelset…. wow.  good lookin’.

I like this.   Ultra Hybrid Carbon, “Performance”.  It’s the name of the game.

Here’s a head of shot of the bar end shifters as well as the basebar shifters.    The benefit of being able to shift when climbing or cornering in the basebar is huge.

This is the battery pack  hidden below the rear chain-stay.   ~1000 miles per charge, and each battery can be charged ~300 before the charge will diminish.   (that’s 30,000 miles)   And even then, replacement batteries are only $99.    And you weight weenies out there don’t need to worry.  With the lighter wires instead of shift cable the weights between mechanical DA and electronic is nearly a wash.

Here is the battery charge indicator, right at the tip of your fingers so you can check the battery charge at any time with ease.

Stock with Dura Ace 7900 dérailleurs and the Vision TriMax Pro TT crankset.     It’s not as good as the Dura Ace 7900, but we’ve tested it and it will still knock your socks off.  (we recommend riding without socks)

This is where the real magic happens… the front dérailleur.    So precise you will never think twice about shifting to your big ring ever again.

Mosquitoman Duathlon

The Inaugural Mosquitoman Duathlon is set for September 4th at 8 AM. It promises to be the best run-bike-run-bike-run event you’ve ever done.

1. $25 chipped timed professional produced event.

2. $25 goody bag included!

3. Post race hot dogs, snacks, drinks.

4. No Age Group awards, but you CAN attempt to win the coveted “Golden Mosquito Award” for the fastest combined transitions (there are 4).

Check out the website for further details and course maps.

Meet: Jenny Shaughnessy

Remember your first triathlon?   The nerves.   The questions.  The fear of not knowing what’s to come.    Most people are just hoping they can finish.   Jenny Shaunhnessy’s first ever triathlon was this past June at the Buffalo Sprint Triahtlon… and she won.    It takes a special talent to win your first triathlon outright, on a road bike no less.     She then shows up at one of the most competitive races in Minnesota and Best of the US qualifier, the Waconia Triathlon, and proceeds to win that as well, essentially leading wire-to-wire.    Along with Dan Hedgecock, Jenny is one of those triathlete’s who we can unflinchingly say, will go as far as she wants to in triathlon.

Jenny is only 1 year removed from an outstanding collegiate swimming career at the U of M.  Since she won’t brag about her times (as you will see in the interview) I will.    She holds 6 school records at the U.     1:44.73 in the 200 free  (yes triathlete’s, that’s 52.3 per 100 yds).   1:55.41 in the 200 back, 1:57.18 in the 200IM and 4:06.37 in the 400IM.    Four NCAA appearances, First Team All America honor and Academic All-Big Ten honoree among many other honors.

Along with the athletic accolades, Jenny also happens to be a genuinely nice and humble person.  That’s just the type of person we want racing for us!  I wanted to ask her a few questions so we could all get to know her a little better.

Jenny at the Minneman Triathlon; Photo Courtesy of Yndecam

CW: Other than us asking, what made you decide to race for Gear West Bike and  Tri?

JS: Being a complete newcomer to the sport, I’ve been so impressed by the
genuine kindness shown to me by each member of the GW team that I’ve met
over the past few months. I can’t imagine a more helpful and welcoming
group of individuals. Equally as appealing to me are the values emphasized
by GW. The focus on sportsmanship and healthy development of athletes and
the surrounding tri community is something that I entirely support.

CW: Obviously, we know you come from a swimming background.  What are you most proud of from your swimming career?

JS: Tough question! I guess I’d have to say I’m happy with the fact that I
was able to keep it all in perspective over the years and finish without
any big regrets. I’m grateful that I was surrounded by so much support
from family, coaches, teammates, and friends. Balancing school, swimming,
and life’s other demands (eating and sleeping, to be precise) would not
have been possible without help from an incredible support system. As my
swim coach, Kelly Kremer, often told us, “Family first, school second,
swimming somewhere after that.” I think adopting that attitude made me a
happier and healthier athlete.

CW: Looking at your Gopher Sports Bio I see you have a number of family members that were high performing athletes. Did that put any pressure on you athletically growing up?

JS: Absolutely not! My parents, both former collegiate swimmers, are definitely
not the “crazy swimmer parent” types. I received nothing but positive
encouragement growing up. If anything, I loved the fact that they
understand the sport and could relate to what I was going through, provide
advice, and even follow my overly-detailed accounts of the latest
fun-filled sets from practices! I think they made it to just about all of
my meets, which I am really grateful for. I’m also lucky to have an
incredibly supportive extended family, including several successful
athletes who continue to inspire me.

Jenny still owns 6 school records at the U of M. Here she is showcasing her butterfly.

CW: Did you ever run competitively before triathlon? Did you know you had  talent there?

JS: I think I did two random, very short races when I was in grade school, does
that count? Haha. And I’ve seen a few photos of my 3-or-4 year old self
running on a track. That just about sums up my running career. I did a
little bit of running to supplement my swim training in college, and even
enjoyed it so much that I dipped into a short period of overtraining before
backing off. Turns out that too much of a good thing can actually be a bad
thing! Wonderful learning experience, nonetheless. While I really enjoy
running, and probably would have taken up running if the sport of swimming
did not exist, I’m still at the point where swimming 6 miles feels more
comfortable to me than running 6!

CW: What was your first tri, and what inspired you to do it?

JS: The Buffalo Sprint Triathlon this past June was my first race. During SCUBA
diving class this past semester (yes, a college class! I would highly
recommend it), my cousin – who had already signed up for Buffalo –
convinced me to sign up as well. I had been considering triathlon for quite
some time, but needed that extra nudge. The Buffalo crew put on such a
great event that I was completely hooked.

CW: I’ll ask the same question I asked former D1 runner turned triathlete Dan Hedgecock. It seems that so few D1 athletes come out of college and start  in with triathlon.  Why do you think that is?

JS: While I’m sure it all depends on individual circumstances, I think 2 main
factors are to blame. First, it seems that a lot of D1 athletes are simply
‘ready to be done’ after 4 years of rigorous training and competing.
Some admit to feeling burned out, and I think others just want to sleep
past 5:30 am! Second, a lot of former athletes find themselves too busy
with grad school, traveling, or searching for jobs right after graduation.
If only there were a few more hours in each day.

CW: Do you have a coach? If you don’t mind telling, give me an idea of a  typical week of training.

JS: I’m currently writing my own workouts and training mostly on my own.
I’m actually having a lot of fun with it. The variety of swimming,
biking, and running is exciting and new, and I’m able to modify things
based on how workouts are going. I’ve always loved training, probably
more so than competing, and I’ve had quite a bit of time for it lately.
When school starts in a few weeks, I may need to rearrange the schedule a
bit! Over the past 4 months or so (ever since I’ve had a real bike), a
typical non-race week has included 6 swim workouts – 3 with intensity and
3 on the lighter side, 5 or 6 rides – mostly inside on the trainer, 2-ish
sessions of running supplemented with elliptical if need be (lots of
trouble with medial shin splints, a bit of trial and error at this point),
3 sessions of weight training, along with a good core workout most days,
and lots of stretching!

CW: How does that training compare to what you were doing for swimming at the U?

JS: Training is different than it used to be, but fortunately there is quite a
bit of carry-over from swimming to tri training. Training while I was
swimming at the U called for a bit more pool time. So much pool time, in
fact, that my sense of smell is almost nonexistent! I trained in the
mid-distance group and we were in the pool for 3.5 hours 3 days a week, and
2 hours 3 days a week. We lifted weights 3 days per week and incorporated
cardio 3 or 4 days per week. We trained year-round with about a week off
after each season. A good portion of our swim volume focused on kicking and
IM work, whereas now I do much less kicking and focus less on non-free
work. While I do miss all the kicking, freestyle is definitely my favorite
stroke to train.

CW: For me, I’m a better pool swimmer than open water swimmer as I have  relatively good flip turns and streamline. How does open water swimming  compare to pool swimming for you?

JS: I can completely relate. My short course swim times were always better
relative to my long course times. I’m a big fan of turns and
streamlining. I also find comfort in the unwavering presence of that black
line on the bottom! Open water swimming has been fun, but much different.
The run-in still terrifies me a bit (I’m a fan of those dives and lane
lines as well). As a swimmer, I’ve always been one to count my strokes
and pay attention to details – probably too much for my own good. I’m
excited to work on just relaxing and swimming toward the next buoy.

CW: What are your racing plans for the rest of the summer/fall.  Any thoughts on next year?

JS: I just re-located to Durham, NC to start in Duke’s Physical Therapy
program. As for the rest of this summer, I’m doing a race down here next
weekend – it’ll be my first international distance! If I survive the
heat (it is REALLY hot here), I may do a sprint up in Virginia with my
brother. My plan, if school allows, is to race in the Best of the US in
October as well. Next year, I’ll be here for most of the summer (school
is year-round for the next 2 and a half years), so I’ll most likely do
some racing here, and it’d be fun to possibly get home for a race or two!

Nigel Kinney’s $100 Black Death Build

So you may think that all of us that work here at the shop are ridiculously spoiled and ride around on $10,000 time trial machines, but you would be DEAD WRONG!   Only some of us do.  Some of our summer employees are penny pinching college students that are high on talent but low on funds.

So to inspire all you fellow penny pincher’s out there I bring you:
Nigel Kinney’s $100 Gear West ‘Black Death Build’.

Nigel is one of our all-star mechanics that comes back to us every summer once school is out.  His main sport is actually Biathlon (skiing & shooting), but he’s gotten into cycling and has some raw talent.  He’s been upgraded to a Cat. 3 cyclist and has actually won some criteriums and road races in the last year, but up until recently has not done any time trials since he didn’t have a dedicated TT bike.   But that all changed when he saw an old Trek Equinox frameset that had been warrantied due to it’s broken front dérailleur braze-on.    Who needs a front derailleur anyway!

This is where it helps to have the mechanical skills to piece together a beast like this, as well as access to a bike shop basement and friends with odds and ends parts. With the frame, miscellaneous used and warrantied parts from the basement, and literally taking things out of the garbage, Nigel put together this bike for $100! I kid you not. And how does it perform you ask? The day he built it up he brought it over to the TNT time trial (our local Tuesday Night 11 mile TT) and he broke out a 25:05… averaging 26.3 mph!

We asked him to describe his build in detail:

Here is the part by part build:

Frame: Old 55cm Trek Equinox with broken front derailleur braze on. Custom painted flat black by yours truly. Free

Fork: Old Felt carbon fork we had sitting in the rafters. Literally. Free

Seatpost: Trek came with frame. Free

Seat: Felt 3.2 saddle heavily used. Free

Headset: Used Black Cane Creek S3. $20

Stem: Used 90mm Syntace. Saved from the aluminum recycling bin. Free

Cockpit: Vision that had been crashed. Free

Shifters: No front Derailleur/shifter. 9spd. rear shifter on friction to work with 10spd. cassette and derailleur. Free

Derailleurs: No Front derailleur. Rear derailleur used SRAM Rival from Cory. $40

Brakes: Used Sram Rival from Cory. $30

Brake Levers: Used tektro levers that had been crashed. Free

Cranks: Used scratched up 170mm FSA Gossamer cranks, rocking only 53T big ring. Free

BB: Heavily used FSA BB with dust seals removed to accomplish near frictionless spinning. Free

Cable and Housing: Odds and ends sitting around. $10

Pedals: Off my road bike. Speeplay Zero stainless axle. Pink, of course. Not included.

Cassette: Road setup. Not included.

Wheelset: Not included in build. I borrow from whomever is nice enough to let me use their deep Zipps or I use my personal 303s.

Total cost of build is around $100. It has served me well for TT’s like TNT. My bank account is thankful of the employee deals from Gear West Bike and Triathlon and Cory in the shop .

This is a salvaged crashed Vision cockpit that Nigel resuscitated, paired with an antiquated & used 9 speed bar end shifter he found in the basement.

A takeoff FSA crankset (again, no front dérailleur or small chainring), and custom paint job at home by Nigel, with some sweet stencil work.

No you’re not Nigel, no you’re not.

Cervelo eRide

Cervelo is again coming to Gear West Bike and Triathlon this summer as part of their eRide test ride tour.    It will take place Sunday August 8th from 12-4pm right behind the store.    The bikes available to ride should get you salivating…

S3 Team... Aero, light, stiff comfortable

The R3 SL... One of the lightest, stiffest frames on the market.

The RS... gives non pro racers a pro riding experience.

The P3.... still one of the fastest TT bikes on the planet.

All the bikes will be equip with SRAM Red components and Zipp wheels.    We’ll have a test ride route set-up and marked, and feel free to test ride multiple bikes.

Go to the eRide website to register and let them know that you’re coming.

Development Team Training Tips

We have some crazy-good talent on our  Development Team, and I think most of them would say that the majority of their race success is a result of consistent training.    However, within the consistent training, a handful of “key” workouts can really take your fitness to a new level.  I asked our development team for some of their favorite “key” workouts as well as any super-secret favorite products they could share.    I got a wide variety of tips, but I really liked them all…

Josh Riff

I have been racing multisport on and off since 1994 when I tried a few duathlons in University. Since then I have raced the world championships duathlon and triathlons in Europe while in Medical school, raced Hawaii Ironman while in my emergency medicine residency, and  pulled off a 9:29 at IM Arizona with a 1 year old son and one on the way. Most recently I raced IM Kona. By the way I have 2 children, a wife, a full time job at Target, and I work in the ER every Monday night. Lets just say I have become an expert at time management and understand the need to squeeze as much juice as possible from the fruit. This helps explain some of my favorite products and workouts.

Best all time product: My Timex watch. Between the alarm getting me up in the morning, my chrono for my workouts, and the count down timer as my racing feed indicator this is the best bang for the buck, hands down.

The classic Timex Ironman watch.

Best time saver: My computrainer. It is a love hate relationship but as most of my workouts start before 5:30 it is mandatory. My 3 year old has a V-tech stationary bike and we watch cartoons together in the morning.

Best new toy: Not sure if it is a toy but I really enjoy my new Zoot compression shorts. I started wearing compression stockings in 2002 as I found that I could not run the day after an ER shift when I was on my feet all day and a surgeon friend recommended wearing these dorky surgical stockings. They worked. I was surprised years later to find that everyone in Hawaii was wearing something similar but that cost 10 times more. I like the compression shorts because I run to work (11 miles) twice a week and go straight from the shower to meeting after meeting. I find that these shorts keep my legs fresher. All in my head? Who cares.

Favorite workout: They are all hard but I like when I do 5 km repeats on the computrainer

Secret weapon: Coffee. I save it for my hardest workout days and races. Use it as a power booster. Remember it used to be IOC illegal so it has to workJ

Best Advice: Keep a schedule but keep it in perspective. Writing out your goals and objectives are crucial as is coming up with a  written training schedule. That said be flexible, your season will not be ruined by missing a session, or two. In addition make sure you have the support of those close to you and whom you love. If your soul is heavy you will ride and run slow.

Kortney Haag:

Here is one I really like to do when I am training in the winter and watching TV on my trainer to avoid boredom.  Warm up for 10-15 minutes and then increase the tension …sprint for 20-30 seconds then rest for 30-40 seconds.  Repeat this 9 more times for a total of ten times.  Then ride aerobically the rest of the ride and cool down. I will sometimes increase this to do ride hard for 1 minute then ride easy for 1min 30 seconds.  A Brick workout that I like as my training progresses is ride 60-75 minutes at a higher intensity and then run 10-15 minutes at 5k race pace followed by 10-15 minutes run at 10k race pace.

Tony Schiller:

Transitions:

Brett Lovaas:

My favorite workout may be the “rest day”.

Marta Lewinski:

My favorite workout is completing repeats on Ohio Hill in St. Paul. Complete 8 repeats with downhill as recovery.

Recent favorite products are a Lazer Tardiz aero helmet and the Bite Tech mouthpiece.

The bite tech mouthpiece prevents athletes from teeth-clenching and prevents the excessive production of performance-sapping hormones.

Julie Hull:

Exercises that I feel have developed biking power… weekly strength training.
1.  Jump lunges for 1 minute (usually around 25-30 each leg), when starting, this may be 10-15x thru or you will really feel it when going  to sit down!
2.  Immediately hold to Isometric squat for 1-2 minutes (if doing with buddy throw medicine ball back and forth… time flies faster.)
3.  hamstring curls with exercise ball.
4.  Core work: I use stomach wheel, some use an exercise ball.  On knees, have ball or wheel on forearms or on hands in front of you.  Gradually roll out and roll back up.  Keep head neutral, try to get 12 inches from floor if using wheel, but not over extending shoulders.  Repeat.  I do (or did pre accident) about 25-50 4x/ wk.  Be sure to do some cobra stretching to keep core flexible.

This is part of a total strength circuit that consists of 20-22 total body tri specific exercises.

Marlo Crosby:

Training Tip:  If short on time,motivation or energy, do a short intense interval workout–warmup 5min, 2min on, 1min ez, for 20-30min, cool down. Done. Kind of fun.

Curt Wood:

As many people know, I do much of my cycling on an indoor trainer… even throughout the summer.   It’s just so quick and efficient to hop on for an hour and just go.  My favorite indoor workout is a power based interval workout.  I tend to change it up, but it is almost always 1:1 work/rest ratio and totaling 15-20 minutes of hard work.  Examples are: 4x 5 minutes hard/5 minutes easy spin or 10 x 2 minutes hard/2 minutes easy spin.      Great workouts to boost your anaerobic threshold and also a great way to track your fitness throughout the year.    I also love one leg drills on the trainer… they’re a great way to improve your pedaling efficiency.

Devon Palmer:

Tip:
Pay attention when your body tries to tell you something. For example, if I
start a hard workout and my heart rate goes sky high but my power numbers
do not I know its simply not the right day for the session. Also pay
attention in terms of little aches and pains. Being aggressive about icing
and massaging and even resting when a knee or ankle or shoulder is giving
me grief has allowed me to be consistent over the last few years.

Product:
#1: Bodyglide. Appropriate application allows me to avoid unwanted
irritation.
#2: My Powertap. Cycling used to be a bit of a mystery, either I was riding
hard or I wasn’t. Now I always know how hard I’m riding and can accurately
judge the quality of a workout regardless of wind or hills. The Powertap
also gives me useful feedback for my indoor training.
#3: Bib shorts. Just trust me, they are better.

David Thompson:

Como Relays start the first Wednesday in August and continue each Wednesday until September.  I would encourage any ability runner to try it out.  The race costs $2 and is a two person relay.  The distance and intervals increase each week.  You can show up without a partner and match up at the race.  Start time is around 6:00 PM.  Check out www.raceberryjam.com for details.

Life Time Fitness Power Numbers

We all have “off” races, and unfortunately both Devon and myself (Curt) didn’t have the most stellar bike splits at Saturday’s Lifetime Fitness Triathlon.    We’ve both raced faster here in the past, but to only post power numbers from our best races would be a little deceiving.    We learn as much from our off races as we do from our best races.

As far as 40k bike courses go, the LTF course is quite challenging.  Not due to the wind or hills, but due to the amount of corners and the fact that most of the roads are not exactly smooth asphalt.     This means a lot of braking, accelerating and white knuckle riding.

Above is my (Curt’s) power profile for the race.

Here’s a sweet side profile shot that Kerry Yndestad’s Yndecam took on the course.

Here are the stats:
Average power: 307
Average speed: 25.5 (both of us actually had the course at 25.5 miles)
Time: 1:00:00 (how the hell does that happen?)

And here is Devon’s power profile.

Another sweet Yndecam shot of Devon.

Here are the stats:
Average power: 306
Average MPH: 26.4
Time: 59:23

If you didn’t catch that I creamed Devon in the wattage category by a whopping 1 watt. Boo-ya! He actually beat my in time by 37 seconds due to the fact that he is about 30lbs less and has a slightly smaller aerodynamic profile that I do.    Looking at the graphs, both of us actually paced ourselves fairly well… no noticeable drop in power over the course.

Now, take into consideration that in 2007, David did a an unreal 54:53 on this course.   Using my new favorite website Analytical Cycling I can see that in order to match his time I would need to crank out 383 average watts.   So let me know if you know where I can get 76 more watts….