Tah Dah!

Here she is. I haven't named her yet.
I finished building her late last night and went to bed feeling so happy.
She was my first one. No, not that "first one". She's the first bike I've bult up from parts. Oh sure, I've always wrenched on all my bikes but she's the only one...OK, again, not that "only one". Hey, I'm a guy, we love our tools and...oh, would you just stop it!
I'm pretty happy with the way things turned out.
Tonight I'll ride with her on the trainer. Yehaw!

Her specs:
Frame and fork: QR carbon size M (56)
Drive train: Zipp cranks and bottom bracket
Rear deraillier: Sram Force
Cockpit: Vision Tech carbon base bar and aero bars
Shifters: Sram TT carbon
Brake levers: Vision Tech
Brakes: Sram Force
Bottle cages: Bontrager carbon.
Wheels: Shimano SH-500, tough road training wheels.
Engine: 156 pound male. 5 foot 8 inches...blah blah blah.

I ended up using a dremel tool (picture below) to very carefully grind out the small section inside the carbon aero bars that was stopping the shifters from being installed properly. I don't recommend doing this to new, expensive aero bars. I'm a bit dumb and live on the edge so I did it just to see if it could be done. It can be done but next time I'll get all parts and components that are compatible and don't need grinding and retro-fitting.


Dreaming of all things fast.

sorry for any spelling errors, spell check isn't responding right now.

Assembly delayed

I had a very productive weekend...mostly.
My bike was (emphasis on 'was') all built up by Saturday noon so I took it to my tri shop for a fitting.
I didn't have the handle bars wrapped nor did I cut off the excess brake and shifter cables as I knew some final adjustments would be made before doing that.
I set my bike up on the shop trainer, changed into my tri uniform and mounted up for the fitting to begin.

Shop technician, Trent, hooked me up to 'retul' and we went to work.
The 'retul' fitting program is computorized and I was fitted with sensors along one side of my body starting at the wrist, elbow, shoulder, hip, knee, ankle, heel, and toe.

Trent: Start pedaling and then shift up into your big ring so you're under load.
Me: Yes sir.
Trent: See this side shot of a stick figure on the monitor? that's you.
Me: Cool.
Trent: Now shift up in the big ring and we'll start the analysis. Pedal like you're racing.
Me: OK, here we go.
Trent: Keep pedaling so we can get some good numbers.

We did this several times and each time we changed my saddle hight and body position to produce the best numbers (data sets that fall into the acceptable levels recommended by...experts).

All diled in and we knew that my aero bars needed to be gut back by about 3/4 of an inch so I could work the shifters without having to slide my elbows foreward and off the elbow pads. I know this when I bought the aero bars and many aero bars are made a little long expecting that they'll be custom fitted.

I took my bike down into the mechanics den and cut my Vision carbon aero bars at the prescribed length.
When I inserted the shifters back into the bar ends for mounting, they hit an obstruction so I looked into the end of the bars to find that there was a change in the thickness of the aero bar and the inside diameter abruptly changed to a smaller diameter. The shifter insertion bottomed out which left the shifters sticking out about 1/2 inch too far and beyond reach when in the aero position. Not good.
Mechanic said they have adapters to solve this problem. Good.
Mechanic gave me a set of said adapters. Good.
I attempted to attach the adapters but they were threaded the opposite direction and were not compatible with my Sram TT carbon shifters. Not good.
Mechanic checked on line and said we can call them (Sram or Vision) on Monday (when they're open) to seek a solution.
I hung up my now partially dis-assembled bike in lay-a-way, hung my head, and went back upstairs.
I talked with the shop manager (very astute and knowlegable about all things bike) and she said there is likely not a solution to the incompatibility issue between Sram shifters and Vision aero bars except to exchange the shifters for another brand that fits. Not good.
But, we'll see on Monday or Tuesday.

Training summary days 2-4
Saturday. 8:00 AM club group spin
One hour of various intervals, one leg pedaling drills, and big ring simulated hills.

Sunday. 8:00 AM run.
EZ aerobic for 30 min.
Then 4x20sec. fast pace w/ 40 sec. recovery jog.
10 min ez jog cool down.

11:30 AM Kick-boxing
Warm up
4x3min rounds with sparring partner. Maximum intensity last 30 sec. of each round.
Push-ups and core work
Cool down
Stretch

Monday. 6:30 AM Swim.
300 wu
8x50 dr @ 1:05 (2 sets of 4) 1= 6 count, 2= catch-up 3= fingertip, 4= R arm/L arm
3x50 build @ 1:00
500 time trial at 7:57
100 ez
200 time trial at 3:09
150 recovery swim
10x75 pull w/ paddles and bouy @ 1:15
6x75 kick @ 1:40
100 ez
3,100 total. 75 minutes.

6:00 PM Weights
7:45 PM. Body Flow

IM Canada training. Day 1

Woke up at 5:30AM
Swim at 6:30 AM

300 wu as 100 free, 100 back, 100 free
5x50 Kick @ 1:15. 1 min rest.
300 free @ 5:10. 1 min rest
4x50 free @ 1 min. 1 min rest
250 as 50 free, 100 back, 100 free @ 4:40. 1 min rest.
3x50 free @ :55. 1 min rest.
200 as 50 free, 100 back, 50 free @ 3:15. 1 min rest.
2x50 free @ :50. 45 sec. rest.
100 as 25 free, 50 back, 25 free. 1 min rest.
1x50 free @ :45. 45 sec rest.
50 ez pull with pull bouy. long strokes, glide.
50 ez swim

2,000 yards. 50 minutes. Whew.

Tonight at 5:30 PM. 1 hour bodyflow.
Bodyflow?
It's a class at the YMCA that includes Tai Chi, yoga, and core work. Great for flexability and abs.

My bike build is nearly complete. I should have it done this weekend.

Y'all have a good weekend.

Can you hear me now?...hello...helloooo...

How does it get to this point?



Not entirely by choice.

Three cell phones? What in the name of all that is holy!?

Sure, one of them is my personal phone but then I have those other 2 for my work.

Thank goodness one of the work phones is going to disappear tonight. I just finished that blood sucking project that had me pulling 6 days at 12-13 hours a day. Good bye and good luck. What a releaf.

And this is how my work site was looking for the past 2 months.


That laptop on the left will also go the way of one of those cell phones tonight.
And next up...



Ironman Canada training starts tomorrow!

Enough already

Yes, finally the very cold weather has broken...for now.

It was 36F yesterday and may hit 40 today but...

By Wednesday, it's back into the deep freeze.

I'm going mental.

This roller coaster weather is just what January and February is all about so I'm gonna try and enjoy the ride.

Saturday afternoon. Balmy huh?

Hey honey, it's above zero, I'm going riding.

Yes, this guy is riding his motorcycle on January 26. And yes, that is snow and ice. What the eff?

I just don't know what else to say.

Oh wait, I do have something else to say.

What should I do with all this?

Stop by in a few days and you'll see.

This hurts me more than it hurts you

I only post this to make the rest of you feel better.

Can you feel the love?