I know, i know, i said i'd do thid ages ago, but here you are, finally (happy Tom?)
As i mentioned last time i have a few new toys, and some more since.
My Cervelo S2: Still loving it. A truly brilliant bike, does everything you ask of it easily. It can cope with guys like Hushovd riding it, so it doesn't struggle with my pathetic power/weight. Done a fair few miles on it now and it still gives the magic 'new bike feeling'
In addition to the other stuff i mentioned last time, i have rotor rings on road and tt bikes, do i know they are on there? No, do i notice it when i go to round rings? Yes. going back to round rings feels like going back to gears after a period only riding fixed.
As well as bike stuff, we have a van now. The Vitara was drinking fuel like Ozzy went through vodka in the 80's, so we went to old club sponsors, Owen Bros Commercials http://www.owenbros.com/ in Hereford and picked up a Transit (white). Reasonable condition for the money, and they put a sliding door (blue) with a window in, on for us. So thanks to Steve and Randy for helping us complete part one of our camper plan.
To compare fuel consumption, we used just over half as much to get back as we did to get to Hereford!
Good couple of days riding down there, looked around the http://www.blacksheepsports.co.uk/public/race.aspx?id=662 Woody bike course for Sarah on saturday and rode down from Ross-on-Wye to Hay-on-Wye and up through Hereford along the Wye on Sunday - so little traffic in those areas compared to here in the South-East - blissful.
Saw Simo, Terry and Phyl in Ross, which was great (thanks for the bed).
2 new cds: Queensryche - American Soldier, which is a bunch of tracks about the effects of war, through those who were there, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq etc. I love the themed tracks, almost like reading a book, the way they all link together. The other is Dream Theaters 'Black clouds and silver linings'. Boy can those guys play! (shame about James LaBrie's singing though). The tracks on the album are typical Dream Theater prog rock, disc 2 is (mental) covers, and disc 3 is the album tracks.....just instrumental. Some truly insane moments of technical genius on here - if only we could get Geoff Tate from Queensryche to sing on DT's albums!
Oh, and i did some races. Weymouth 1/2 Ironman, 4 minute pb, off the back of my absolute worst swim (3rd swim this year) ever, A 100 mile TT where I had issues, including a bee sting on my head, and missed a pb by a few seconds (over 100 miles!!!!!!!!) and a 50mile TT, which went pretty well.
Stay classy
Thursday, 30 July 2009
Sunday, 14 June 2009
Updates
So, since february (how long...................?) whats up?
1. Sub 9 disc gone - why? It was a great wheel, but after going to Kona I figured that I want to race there, and discs aren't allowed (very drafty, and then you land on a lava field - ouch), so the wheel is in vgc, i'll sell it - which i did, and bought a Zipp 1080, which is fantastic, feels as quick as a disc most of the time, is 'Kona legal' and meant I could get a Powertap hub too :)
2. Powertap, jeeeeeeeeezus, these things can make a session hard! a 2hr tempo ride can now hurt.
3. Cervelo S2 oh yeah baby :) :) :0)
good enough for Heinrich Haussler to be the nearly man about a billion times this spring, plus stages for Hushovd, Gerrans, Haussler etc all over the place.
The best road bike i've ever had, i absolutely love it, climbs very well, descends like a hungry falcon, and just, well, rolls on anything flat(and flattish).
4. Zipp 1080 - feels soooo different to the old HED stinger 90 I had, not at all sluggish. I had spoken to other (wheel company, wind tunnel) guys about discs vs super deep, and over 40km in the best conditions, they estimated a 12 - 15 second advantage to the disc, generally the gap ould be smaller, sometimes the deep would be quickest (and thats not fom Zipp either).
5. Trip to www.kingofthemountains.co.uk . Absolutely brilliant to see my great friends, and old 'kidnappers' in their Alpine home. The Alps are truly beautiful, there was many waterfalls with the snow melting, to add to the scenery too. we rode every day we were there, sunday to saturday, 1 puncture (first ride, cue some 'poop mouth'), about 14000metres climbing, and 450 miles done, shame the Galibier was still (very) closed whilst we were there, otherwise the Marmotte ride was on the cards.
6. Weymouth middle distance triathlon - who needs to swim? I think if i had swum the time i did last time down there i may have made top 20 overall, as it was my swim was 2nd slowest in the 1st 100 finishers overall (by 12 or 15 seconds, i forget which) but i had the 15th fastest bike and a reasonable run, to knock 5 minutes off my pb!!!!!
4 months, done.
stay classy!
1. Sub 9 disc gone - why? It was a great wheel, but after going to Kona I figured that I want to race there, and discs aren't allowed (very drafty, and then you land on a lava field - ouch), so the wheel is in vgc, i'll sell it - which i did, and bought a Zipp 1080, which is fantastic, feels as quick as a disc most of the time, is 'Kona legal' and meant I could get a Powertap hub too :)
2. Powertap, jeeeeeeeeezus, these things can make a session hard! a 2hr tempo ride can now hurt.
3. Cervelo S2 oh yeah baby :) :) :0)
good enough for Heinrich Haussler to be the nearly man about a billion times this spring, plus stages for Hushovd, Gerrans, Haussler etc all over the place.
The best road bike i've ever had, i absolutely love it, climbs very well, descends like a hungry falcon, and just, well, rolls on anything flat(and flattish).
4. Zipp 1080 - feels soooo different to the old HED stinger 90 I had, not at all sluggish. I had spoken to other (wheel company, wind tunnel) guys about discs vs super deep, and over 40km in the best conditions, they estimated a 12 - 15 second advantage to the disc, generally the gap ould be smaller, sometimes the deep would be quickest (and thats not fom Zipp either).
5. Trip to www.kingofthemountains.co.uk . Absolutely brilliant to see my great friends, and old 'kidnappers' in their Alpine home. The Alps are truly beautiful, there was many waterfalls with the snow melting, to add to the scenery too. we rode every day we were there, sunday to saturday, 1 puncture (first ride, cue some 'poop mouth'), about 14000metres climbing, and 450 miles done, shame the Galibier was still (very) closed whilst we were there, otherwise the Marmotte ride was on the cards.
6. Weymouth middle distance triathlon - who needs to swim? I think if i had swum the time i did last time down there i may have made top 20 overall, as it was my swim was 2nd slowest in the 1st 100 finishers overall (by 12 or 15 seconds, i forget which) but i had the 15th fastest bike and a reasonable run, to knock 5 minutes off my pb!!!!!
4 months, done.
stay classy!
Thursday, 28 May 2009
lots to tell you (all) about
since february - bikes, PT, races, alps, other kit, so keep your eyes open.
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Fancy kit!
in the words of Staind, "it's been awhile".
One of the things i wanted to do on here was to batter on aboutsome of the fancy kit i often have the chance to see/play with/ride etc and t give MY views on it, so here we are.
A while ago (when the weather was REALLY sh1ttee), the nice man (Justin) from Saddleback (Felt/Zipp/Sram/Castelli) loaned me a bike. Pile of rubbish.
Kidding.
He rolled in what was essentially an F2 frame (bling), Sram Force group, with Zipp bars, stem and 808 clinchers(bling, bling, bling) - OUCH :)
So, how was it? The chain was way too short as the cassette had been swapped from 11/23, to 12/26, the rear derailleur cable had seen better days and we won't talk about the saddle.
Put on one of my chains with 4 links extra in it and replaced the cable (oh, that was fun!), and put on the SLR and pedals and away we go.
BOOM
I felt like Mick Doohan, this thing gets up to speed, stays there,..... and cornering :) :) :) pass me the sliders with the Ti screws in, I thought i might be able to get my knee down on it.
The Frame: Brilliant. In the top 2 bikes i have ever ridden (SLC-SL is the other and you know about my Cervelo bias right?).
It's stiff, both at BB and Head, so it accelerates and corners fabulously.
BUT, even with the 808 rear on (from the day I had the bike, for the next 2 weeks, I didn't have the chance to ride it when the wind wasn't gusting 20mph plus, so i put a regular wheel up front), it was very comfortable. Admittedly my longest ride on it was only 4.5hrs.
The Group: I really WANTED to like it, but, although I liked it, I would choose a lower spec Campag group over it. I liked the Sram lever shape, and the size of the rear paddle, and the 'copying' of Campags - 'the brake lever is the brake lever and therefore only travels in one plane ', philosophy - and the brakes were very good. But I wouldn't buy it.
Other stuff: Zipp bars=comfy, Zipp 808s - BLINDING. I love my front 808 tub for racing, i'm no heavyweight, but it JUST FEELS FAST (sounds it too). The clinchers on the FELT were great. As i said earlier, i mostly rode with just the rear on, but i'm sure it helped carry the speed a notch or two higher.
If Cervelo weren't a big factor for me, I'd buy this FRAME, stick a Campag group on and be VERY happy, as it is a fantastic ride. I'd be tempted by the bling wheels for training too - nicely pretentious.
S2 still to arrive :(
One of the things i wanted to do on here was to batter on aboutsome of the fancy kit i often have the chance to see/play with/ride etc and t give MY views on it, so here we are.
A while ago (when the weather was REALLY sh1ttee), the nice man (Justin) from Saddleback (Felt/Zipp/Sram/Castelli) loaned me a bike. Pile of rubbish.
Kidding.
He rolled in what was essentially an F2 frame (bling), Sram Force group, with Zipp bars, stem and 808 clinchers(bling, bling, bling) - OUCH :)
So, how was it? The chain was way too short as the cassette had been swapped from 11/23, to 12/26, the rear derailleur cable had seen better days and we won't talk about the saddle.
Put on one of my chains with 4 links extra in it and replaced the cable (oh, that was fun!), and put on the SLR and pedals and away we go.
BOOM
I felt like Mick Doohan, this thing gets up to speed, stays there,..... and cornering :) :) :) pass me the sliders with the Ti screws in, I thought i might be able to get my knee down on it.
The Frame: Brilliant. In the top 2 bikes i have ever ridden (SLC-SL is the other and you know about my Cervelo bias right?).
It's stiff, both at BB and Head, so it accelerates and corners fabulously.
BUT, even with the 808 rear on (from the day I had the bike, for the next 2 weeks, I didn't have the chance to ride it when the wind wasn't gusting 20mph plus, so i put a regular wheel up front), it was very comfortable. Admittedly my longest ride on it was only 4.5hrs.
The Group: I really WANTED to like it, but, although I liked it, I would choose a lower spec Campag group over it. I liked the Sram lever shape, and the size of the rear paddle, and the 'copying' of Campags - 'the brake lever is the brake lever and therefore only travels in one plane ', philosophy - and the brakes were very good. But I wouldn't buy it.
Other stuff: Zipp bars=comfy, Zipp 808s - BLINDING. I love my front 808 tub for racing, i'm no heavyweight, but it JUST FEELS FAST (sounds it too). The clinchers on the FELT were great. As i said earlier, i mostly rode with just the rear on, but i'm sure it helped carry the speed a notch or two higher.
If Cervelo weren't a big factor for me, I'd buy this FRAME, stick a Campag group on and be VERY happy, as it is a fantastic ride. I'd be tempted by the bling wheels for training too - nicely pretentious.
S2 still to arrive :(
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Ironman Popular Front! we are the Popular Front of Ironman
Feb 1st and some stuff has happened, i won pinch/punch (very important) and i did my first 'long run' of '09, probably the longest since........June last year! and it was fine. If it weren't for the strong headwind, which at times reduced my running to walking, it would have been lovely.
At 'regular church water stop 2' Jim and Ju appeared out of the Forest, with just over an hour left of their 30mile left to do. They were heading the way I had just come from, but it was good to see them, especially as i was running the route which i used to run with Ju and Loz, every week.
Now i am putting Sarahs bike back together, just returned from QR in the U.S, while she sits in the car awaiting the recovery truck, as, once again, she has left the lights on, and run the battery down - doh!
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