Project Bike: Kestrel 4000 Bike Fit, prt 3
So now I have the Kestrel 4000 all adjusted and ready to put it and me thru the paces. Shifter/aero bars were still way too far out, but I marked a maximum hand reach position for these test rides. Also, I did not have a correct size stem, so I rode with the Specialized fit stem system, making sure it was all bolts were securely fastened for it is labeled not for outside use.
Test ride 1: Fiesta Island 40K
This is my home turf TT ride. TCSD club races are held here, TCSD bike workouts and quite a few local events use the island. Earlier this year I have been training on it with my supped up mountain bike. I have only done a handful of full rides here on my road or TT bike. Easy ride over to the island and gauging the wind, seemed pretty light which is great for PR. Fiesta Island is known for having every changing wind conditions; one day dead still the next head winds on the back side and sometimes getting head wind on both sides…. very hard to duplicate the conditions.
Earlier this year, April, I part took in my first time trail, that is no swim or run… just biking. Time trialling is quite a bit different from a triathlon. One needs to pedal harder… more power, no need to conserve energy. An efficient pedal stroke is not need – maximum power all the time. That day, the wind was blowing pretty
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Categories: Biking
Project Bike: Kestrel 4000 Bike Fit, prt 2
Think I mentioned I have a friend, Sergio, who has a 2010 4000 in size 52.5. I already did the size bike fitting and now wanted to confirm with an actual bike that a size 52.5 will work otherwise I will go with the next size up 55. Sergio is around 5-9 or so and I am 5-11 and change. Yes, I could go the traditional way and just get the 55 and not go thru this drill, but I already have ridden bikes in my normal size. I now want to ride something with a different set up for the experience and change.
The goal of this session is to Retül myself and test ride after making adjusting.
Here are a couple of in the Lab (PedPowerPerform Lab) images before I started changing thing around, (I did swap out the saddle to a Cobb Max for my testing.
I hooked up the bike to the Computrainer to verify pedaling technique and efficiency with my various adjustments. Sergio has his bike set up with Rotor 3D cranks Q-Rings. If you don’t know about the advantages of them you are missing out. I will be building up my bike with a full Rotor crankset which are even better than the Q-Rings. See my previous blog entry.
With the “elliptical” shape of the Q ring, it throws off Computrainer’ average torque angle (ATA) data a little. Note the low
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Categories: Biking
Project Bike: Kestrel 4000 Bike Fit, prt 1
Yep, I am in the market for another bike frame, this time it is a TT/Tri frame. 2011 and late 2010 has brought some great functional frames such as the Scott Plasma 20, Trek Speed Concept 9.9 andKestrel 4000 and others are other way… La Pierre’s FDJ, Blue Triad SL and Felt’s B2. I am interested in frames with head tube to stem integration. The Kestrel does not fit into this category which makes for easy breakdown for traveling which is a must for me.
Above image does not represent my proposed components… Rotor Cranks, Syntace base bar with Cobb Wrist relief bars, and will be using Gray wheels. I personally like the Gold/White colors of 09/10 model. The current graphics done by Betty Designs are a bit to “heavy” for my taste. I will probably have it custom painted as shown above or with gold. Color and components subjet to change.
A while back (over Halloween week end) I spent some time on a Serotta size cycle to determine if a Kestrel 4000 size 52.5 frame will fit me. What length and angle stem would be needed, how much seat post needed. Kestrel has a great Fit Calculator on their website to help determine what size bike is best after inputting in some basic rider measurements.
Their 52.5 frame is much smaller than I typically ride but if Crowe can ride a size 52, I
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Categories: Biking
Project Build: Team Trakkers Bike
I have started a new project, Team Trakkers Bike, and will be updating as the stages are completed.
I may be getting ahead of myself here, but I just bought some Shimano Di2 components thruTrisports.com (they had a 25% off one day sale – no tax put had to pay additional shipping) andProBikeKit.com who always have great pricing with no tax an shipping
1st pagkage form Trisports has already arrive
Now, I just have to get a few more (actually several) fits done at PedPowerPerfrom Lab before purchasing the 4000 LTD frame set and additional components.
Categories: Biking
Phelps School Cross race report
Eastern PA was treated to some incredible weather this past weekend. What better way to spend a Saturday AM than with some friends / rivals on a TOUGH cyclcross course? No one was there to shoot any pictures, but here’s a video from last year to give you some perspective: Phelps Cross 2009 Men\’s Cat 4 on Contour
I was on the fence about doing this race. Last year the course didn’t suit my style all that much and wasn’t very technical. It had some LONG power sections that ate me alive. My friend Johan talked me into it, so we headed down to Malvern PA to check it out. When we prerode the course and saw the changes we were both impressed. It was a course that combined power with some climbing and cornering skills to really put the hurting on you! I was racing with Johan, my training partner that has put the hurt on me many times before on a bicycle. We were racing the Masters 35+ / 45+ which included riders from Cat 1 to Cat 4. They were paying cash back to 7th place in our 43 man field, but I wasn’t worried about that…I wanted to prove the ever accurate race predictor at crossresults.com to be wrong. Johan and I were predicted to finish 8th/9th respectively.
Temps were in the mid 50’s w/ bright sunshine for our 11am start. I had a 2nd…
Categories: Athletes, Biking, Race Reports, Race Results, Racing
Beginner Triathletes: How to pick the best bike for you
My Facebook News Feed is full of friends talking about how they’re setting up transition/pumping their tires/putting on their wetsuit for the last time of 2010. The end of the racing season is upon us, and although I have one more race left on my calendar this year, I’m pretty much ready to put my feet up (with a glass of scotch in hand) and relax for a while.
One of my friends is particularly interested in the end-of-the-season deals that she can get from her local bike shop. See, she doesn’t have a bike, but she’s been itching for one for a while. Right now is probably the best time to buy a new bike, because of course, bike shops are looking to dump their extra stock of 2010 bikes so that when spring rolls around they have a full room of flashy 2011 models. And dump they will. My LBS is having a sale this weekend, and all their bikes are on sale for one amazing discount or another.
Anyway, her questions about what bike is best for her got me thinking about how I got into cycling, why I chose the bike(s) I did, and why it was important (for good and bad reasons). So, I thought I’d put together a little help list of different things to consider when purchasing a new bike:
What different kinds of bikes are there?
I’m going to…
Categories: Athletes, Biking, Tips, Triathlons
Rev3 Cedar Point: Race Report
Race morning had officially arrived. After a surprisingly good sleep, I was up, hit the bathroom and downed a bottle of EFS and some Clif Shot Bloks.
I decided that the whole day was going to be focused on two main ideas:
Take the whole day one mile at a time
Enjoy every mile of my only first Ironman
Those two mantras would end up driving me for the next 140.6 miles.
Other than a minor pre-dawn freakout in transition area. I was able to keep a pretty level head as I set up my bike, organized my transition area and filled up my nutrition bottles. I was pretty happy and surprised with my attitude. I’ve been a LOT more nervous for a LOT shorter races.
I’m not sure what it was, but I was just ready to race, get out there and start tearing up the course.
Heading over to the swim start and patiently waiting for the gun to go off. Sam was an amazing sherpa and helped me stay cool calm and collected up until the second I had to leave her and dive head first into the water. Just as I was starting to head through the start gate, she handed me her cell phone. It was my mom calling from Connecticut to give me some last minute last minute well wishes. Hearing how proud she was…
Categories: Biking, Live Tracking, Nutrition, Race Reports, Racing, Running, Swimming, Team, Technology, Triathlons
USARA Adventure Racing National Championships – Team Remington-Mountain Khakis\Trakkers
USARA Adventure Racing National Championships
Hidden Valley, PA
October 15-16, 2010
Weather: Cold and wet to start, sunny through the day, cold and windy during the night
Race Report by Jeff Dicky
To close out my season, I’ve been doing some long distance racing – the Shenandoah 100, an 18 hour adventure race at the end of September, and most recently, the USARA Adventure Race National Championships in and around Hidden Valley, PA. The national championship race is a 30 hour co-ed event for teams of 3 that included something like 150k of mountain biking, 3-4 hours of kayaking, and a whole lot of running/trekking and orienteering.
I was racing with my adventure racing team, Team Remington-Mountain Khakis/Trakkers, a team I’ve been with for a few years, who had fielded two co-ed and one masters teams for the event. Going into the race, the R-MK/T team was the #1 ranked team in the US.
Unfortunately, the pro mountain bike woman who I was to race with broke her foot a few weeks before the race and we were just able to find a sub for her before the event started.
The race started off cold and early with a short orienteering course around the Hidden Valley ski area (this was after we had less than an hour to plot out all of our checkpoints on two huge maps and try to determine the best route).…
Categories: Adventure Racing, Biking, Nutrition, Race Reports
Picturesque
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Categories: Biking, Events, Race Reports, Racing
Wrapping up September
So September is finally over. Started out pretty rough but ended up being a nice transition into fall. Autumn seems to be getting the handle of this “Spanish Immersion” thing, we celebrated Lauren’s birthday and ushered in October with Autumn’s birthday.
My mom had us over for a nice family gathering to celebrate Lauren’s birthday on Friday, then we had a great party at Putt U mini golf with about 12 of Autumn’s friends on Saturday. Weather cooperated nicely. On Lauren’s birthday I raced my second cyclocross race of the season in the morning and we visited her brother and had a great dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in the afternoon.
The Whirlybird cross race was in held at Bryn Athyn College outside of Philadelphia. It the first time I had been there and it was a great venue for a cross race. This year was the first time it was part of the MAC series and there were several sold out fields. I raced the (B) Masters 35+ class which was sold out at 125 people! I was lucky enough to get a 2nd row call up on the starting line due to a decent finish at the first race…Nittany Cross. The start was tight, but opened up into a LONG straight section before hitting the first few turns. I knew my skinny legs wouldn’t have much for the strong power riders on the long straights, but just hoped…
Categories: Biking, Events, Race Reports, Race Results, Racing
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