skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I was watching the highlight video of Paris-Roubaix and was curious about the bike riden by Fabian Cancellara to the win. Here it is, the Cervelo R3.
The first thing I noticed about it was the super thin seat stays. If you read on, they say that those seat stays aren't actually necessary, except for torsional loads, so they built them almost like leaf springs. The Bayonne version (still prototype) is only 750g! Here's another amazing fact: Normally, the bikes ridden on the Paris-Roubaix are heavy. They have big tires, heavy wheels, and stout components. (Read about what happened to George Hincapie to see why that matters for this race.) Cervelo says this bike is built up for the classics at the UCI limit of 6.8kg!
If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you can watch a video of some people taking the prototype Bayonne and prototype Cross R3 off-road. Besides being able to see how well these bikes hold up, I love the music. Nice work on the video.
Despite being very light, these bikes seem strong. I'm going to try and get an R3 for testing. I'll let you know when I get it.
I received this in an email yesterday:
THANK YOU for registering for the 2006 LOTOJA Classic. Your online application was received on April 10 and approved on April 11, 2006. The category you are registered in is CITIZEN 27-34.
I'm in!
What this means is now I'm committed to doing it. I have already spent my non-refundable $130. I now have a little less than 5 months to prepare--though I've already been preparing with that ultimate goal in mind.
Saturday is the Willard Bay Century up north of Salt Lake City. It is supposed to rain, but I plan to be there. This particular century is free, which is a pleasant way of saying unsupported. I've been trying to work out how I'm going to carry enough water, but I'm hoping a) the ride isn't too far from civilization and b) they take credit-cards.
Fortunately, the LOTOJA is supported, and my good friend Brian Heckert has already volunteered to drive support for me on that. In fact LOTOJA is a full-on USCF-sanctioned race. As such, part of my $130 goes to a one-day license (citizen-class).
At one point, I thought I'd at least share the road with some big names, but have since learned they stagger the start. I won't be starting until about 1.25 hours after the pros start. Here's the unfairness of that: That's 1.25 less hours I have to complete the race before the cut-off time 8:15pm. That means my average speed will need to be a blistering (for me) 16.5mph for the whole day (including breaks--if I get them). All 206 miles of it.
I'll keep this spot updated with my training progress.
As with many people in this over-weight world we live in, I've been trying to lose weight. You see, I didn't like how fake I'd look on a really nice bike, with my gut hitting the top tube. I actually have lost some weight (about 10lbs), but I don't look anywhere near road-biker-skinny yet.
One of the reasons I like my Synapse so well, and a factor in why I fell in love with it during my review, was the weight. You see, I was surprised that I could really tell the difference (especially in the wheels) when compared to my old heavy road bike. Some of that difference is in the stiffness of the frame, but surely not all of it.
Thus began my love of all things light.
Or, to be more precise, it reminded me of how much I used to love light things before I gave all that up in favor of fun.
Back before suspension forks were all the rage, I remember counting grams on my old mountain bike--no small feat considering how many grams made up my bike. I remeber looking at things like titanium bolts and scandium brake boosters thinking such things as, "Wow, that'd save about 50 grams off my current setup" and, "$30 for a bolt isn't that expensive." Luckily, I didn't have any money back then to spend on bolts.
More recently (but not the present), I realized that I'd rather have a plush full-suspension bike with gobs of travel, big disc brakes, and beefy tires. My mountain bike is heavy, but oh so fun. Sure, I'd rather have a lighter stem, wheels or tires, but I really enjoy riding my bike.
Lately, I've been putting more miles on the Synapse. In fact, my mountain bike probably feels a little dejected. (At least part of my neglect, though, is due to the snow in the mountains.) Because of that, I've been really thinking about how I could shave some weight off my current mountain rig. Funny, that.
*wife, don't read this next part*
In truth, though, my real desire isn't to make my full suspension bike lighter. What I'm really planning out in my evil plotting mind is what I want for my next bike. Perhaps a light-weight hardtail? Maybe something more XC-oriented? It's an illness, I know.
*okay, wife, you can read again*
I won't be buying anything anytime soon, though, and I'm quite happy with what I've got. Who wouldn't be? I'd better just concentrate on my weight for now. It's much cheaper--though perhaps not as fun to obsess over.
Remember that old childish game? My friends and I would sit around and think up the most disgusting things to try and gross each other out.
Background
Yesterday, the weather was perfect--or at least it was while I was out riding. Though it was windy, cold and snowy/rainy later in the day, while I was out, it was warm and partly-cloudy. It had rained all the previous night, but the warm air managed to dry most of the roads out--with only an occasional puddle.
Although I knew I didn't have time, I was trying to find my way around the south end of Utah Lake. I actually managed to find my way--or at least as near to it as I had time. There were hardly any cars on the roads. For the most part, it was only me and the cows that were out.
And the worms.
Barbaric
The roads were littered with worms--most of which seemed to be perpendicular to my path. At first, I tried to avoid them, but as I watched more closely, and discovered the sheer number of them, I realized that was futile. On I went, slaughtering worms in my wake.
Gross
Only at the end of my ride, did I notice what had become of my pristine, new Synapse. Worms, and worm-parts splattered all over my bike. One carcass got caught on my passing crank arm as it got flung from my spinning wheel. I found it wrapped around the crank arm and dried up. Another fatality.
Ewww.
I knew I'd have to clean off road grime, but I didn't think of counting worms as part of the "grime".
A Side Note
I'm training for my first century on April 15th. Yesterday's ride was 66.1 miles with an average of 17.4 mph. I feel like I'm on target for the century, but it'll kill me. I plan to do some short rides during the week (because of time) with another long one next weekend. The final week before the ride, I plan to taper off and only ride a few easy days.
Congratulations to Tom Boonen. The first person to win Flanders wearing the World Championships jersey since Eddy Merckx. To be compared in any way to Merckx would be enough in and of itself. Also, this win puts Boonen in the lead of the ProTour.
Click here for more.
I don't know why I'm so obsessed with the chocolate-milk-as-an-energy-drink idea. Perhaps it is because, being cheap, I know that I can buy milk for very little cash. Perhaps it is because I just dropped a ton of bones on my Synapse, and can't justify any other expenses to my wife--yet she wouldn't care if I just drank more milk. Perhaps it is the hilarity of the whole concept.
I remember a commercial put out by the national dairy foundation (or some such entity--I don't know if it even exists, so I elected not to capitalize it). It showed "active" people "on the go". You know, roller-bladers, basketball players and even mountain bikers drinking chocolate (or some other flavored) milk to cool off and re-hydrate. I distinctly remember laughing about it with my wife: "who would drink milk to quench their thirst during intense activity?"
This morning, I got up early for my usual early morning ride-on-the-trainer-which-works-my-legs-but-doesn't-really-count-as-a-ride ride. Normally, I don't eat anything, and I only drink water for such rides. I mean, I only have about 45 min to 1.5 hours before I need to get ready for work, so it really isn't worth it to take in extra calories. On a whim, though, I decided to mix up a water-bottle of chocolate milk. I say "mix up", because I didn't have any chocolate milk in my house. Instead of using chocolate syrup, I opted for Ovaltine because of the extra vitamin content. I did this to see if I could handle exercising while drinking milk, and because I figured it was better to start in the safety of the garage, rather than on an actual ride, where getting sick might mean I didn't make it home.
Observations
Trainers are too smooth to keep the Ovaltine mixed with the milk. Also, because it is really cold in my garage, I'd actually rather have tepid water than cold water. The milk was, of course, cold. I also wanted to drink more than usual, because chocolate milk is tastier than tap water.
The Verdict
Surprisingly, it worked. That is, I could tell I was getting hydrated as I should. I did have a bottle of water on the bike, as well, which helped clear my mouth of the sticky milk residue. I don't think this is unique to milk--that is, the need to drink water as well. I always carry water when I carry energy drinks on a ride. My system wasn't in any way adversely affected by the milk, either, as I worried. At the end of the ride, not only was I not exceptionally thirsty, I also wasn't as hungry, which could be seen as a benefit.
For this informal experiment, I used 1% milk mixed with less than the recommended 4 TBS/cup Ovaltine. These results are by no means conclusive. I still don't know how well I'd like it on a hot day, or once the milk was no longer cool. I'll probably try it out later in the season, though, and report back how it works out.
I stumbled upon this article about using Chocolate Milk as a sports drink, and it left me with many questions:
For one thing, the thought of drinking milk on a hot day sounds terrible. What would be worse, is that, most likely, the milk would be quite warm after a short time.
When I ride, my body produces mucus at abnormal rates, I don't want to even imagine what milk intake would do to those high mucus levels.
Most energy drinks can survive a hot day on the road/trail in a waterbottle and still be in about the same condition. How long would chocolate milk last in 90 degree weather? What about 100 degrees?
Sometimes, on really long solo rides, it is nice to bring energy drink mix with me, so I can re-fill waterbottles with it while I'm out. (I love ELETE for that.) Could I mix something like Ovaltine (or other chocolate milk powder) with powdered milk and bring it along?
I'm not lactose intolerant, but how well can my body handle all the fat and lactose when I'm bouncing down a trail, or sprinting up a steep incline? How well will all that churning sit with my digestive system?
My hydration pack reservoir is lined to prevent muck from forming inside it. Would that work with chocolate milk, as well? Would I have to rinse it out every time?
If I am exercising, would I be able to blow through a whole gallon of chocolate milk in less than an hour and not throw up?
It is a beautiful day outside. Indeed, it seems as if Spring has arrived. Sunny, a little breezy, and warm.
In the daytime, at least.
The Curse
There are a few pieces to the curse, but they all revolve around my desire to ride in this beautiful weather, and my inability to do so.
First, there's the Spring cleaning. Why is it that things left undone for months NOW have to be cleaned? More importantly, why did we leave them undone for months? Saturdays in Spring are almost always set aside for this type of work, which cuts into those long Spring rides in warm weather you've been dreaming about for months.
Second, yardwork. I really don't like yardwork. This is evident by the frequency with which I mow my lawn in the summer. Of course, I tell people that grass thrives better when it is left long and then cut down all at once, but even I don't believe it. Saturday is another prime time for yardwork. Between Spring cleaning and yardwork, most afternoons are shot.
Finally, the third part of this wicked curse is the weather. Most people, myself included (which is why this post is being written in the first place), work in the day. As it turns out, this is really the only time when the weather is nice and balmy. When I do have time to ride (in the early morning pre-dawn hours), the temperature is still hovering around 30. Of course, I'm in that springtime mentality, so I don't quite dress warm enough in the morning and freeze.
Such is the Curse of Spring. I love it. I love the warm weather and the days getting longer. I only wish I could enjoy it on my bike.
