Lumen's winter TT prep plan

Raam

Is your TT a road or turbo test?

Lumen

Raam wrote: »

Is your TT a road or turbo test?

Road. Probably up and down the Trim road.

blorg

Lumen wrote: »

With two weeks to go until I find out whether my 40km TT time has improved, I think I'll focus on comfort and flexibility.

Is this a general TT or something you are doing yourself? Might be an idea to get a few other participants if the latter. Times being higher in competition and all that, I'd be on for it.

Lumen

blorg wrote: »

Is this a general TT or something you are doing yourself? Might be an idea to get a few other participants if the latter. Times being higher in competition and all that, I'd be on for it.

Great. Misery loves company, and it would be good to see how people have progressed since the last one.

Lumen

After crashing out of Saturday's race my right calf has been a bit sore, must have got a bash when I fell. So I stayed off the bike for a couple of days, then made a habit of it.

Anyway, finally got back on the turbo tonight after a couple of weeks off. Time to push the intensity a bit; 400W is the new 300W.

The new shoes feel great.

Thu
- Road bike/turbo, 0:40, 196W. (10@140W, 12@200W, 1@410W, 1@310W, 3@250W, 7@160W, 1@410W, 4@160W, 1@410W).
Fri
- Road bike/turbo, 0:48, 193W. (20@160W, 3x1/1 cadence/recovery, 3x(2x300W, 5@200W)
Sun
- Race.

DirkVoodoo

Lumen wrote: »

After crashing out of Saturday's race my right calf has been a bit sore, must have got a bash when I fell. So I stayed off the bike for a couple of days, then made a habit of it.

Anyway, finally got back on the turbo tonight after a couple of weeks off. Time to push the intensity a bit; 400W is the new 300W.

The new shoes feel great.

Thu
- Road bike/turbo, 0:40, 196W. (10@140W, 12@200W, 1@410W, 1@310W, 3@250W, 7@160W, 1@410W, 4@160W, 1@410W).

400W, nice. Do you reckon you could hold 300 for 20 minutes?

Lumen

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

400W, nice. Do you reckon you could hold 300 for 20 minutes?

Probably not.

400W is quite anaerobic for me, but my 1 minute max power ought to be more like 550W according to the power profile charts; I haven't done any real sprint intervals yet.

I'm more interested in getting a feel for the sort of effort that goes 400...350...300...300...300... (profile over 5 mins), as that's the sort of effort that would have been required to sit up the road from the bunch for a few minutes at last week's A4 race.

I seem to be able to recover from an anaerbic interval at 250W, which might indicate that my threshold has gone up a bit from the end of last year, but I don't have the motivation to do a proper test on the turbo - I'll get some numbers from races when I have a reason to put the effort in.

Home:Ballyhoura

Lumen wrote: »

The new shoes feel great.

They look good alright, I might need to get new shoes soon and Specialized seemed to suit me quite good in the shop so do you mind me asking where you got these (online?) and is there any place people know of that do good prices on Specialized footwear? Thanks

niceonetom

Lumen wrote: »

The new shoes feel great.

Hey, I just got those too! They're awesome.

Nietzschean

they look oddly like boa's in cycling shoe form...nifty

blorg

Cycleways have (or had) them at €150 in 44 and 46. Not 45 which is my size. The BOA retention system seemed really nice, if they had them in 45 I would have taken them.

niceonetom

I got the last 44 pair. They were the display ones so I got a really good deal too.

blorg

Well done you, 150 was a very good deal, if you got them for less you are laughing! ha ha

ha




ha

abcdggs

What are these new shoes? the link wont work

Lumen

Home:Ballyhoura wrote: »

They look good alright, I might need to get new shoes soon and Specialized seemed to suit me quite good in the shop so do you mind me asking where you got these (online?) and is there any place people know of that do good prices on Specialized footwear? Thanks

I got them from Cycleways in Dublin. They're last years model (this years one has two or three of those disc adjusters but was €80+ more expensive and doesn't look as good).

They're on the snug side, and apparently Spesh do half sizes, but not in Cycleways. I think a 43.5 would be perfect for me. Maybe next year.

Lumen

abcdggs wrote: »

What are these new shoes? the link wont work

Review here.

@Niceonetom: ha, so my procrastination meant that you got the last pair of 44s. Gaah, out sprinted again!

Lumen

This plan was supposed to end on 1 March but I haven't had a racing-free weekend to do some practice TTs, and don't expect this to change any time soon.

I think it'll have to wait until the clocks go back then do some evening runs up and down the Trim road.

So the conclusion of this plan is on hold...

ted9308

could i ask what type of power meter you have??i was considering one for myself and would like to know positives/negatives..
p.s where did you get your's?

Lumen

ted9308 wrote: »

could i ask what type of power meter you have??i was considering one for myself and would like to know positives/negatives..
p.s where did you get your's?

I've been using a Powertap SLC built into an Open Pro rim. I bought it second hand from another boardsie. The power metering has been perfectly reliable and the wheels works like any other wheel. The bearings were not cheap to replace, but you can buy a lot of bearings for the price difference between a Powertap and a Cinqo or SRM.

Today I installed my new Cinqo powermeter, pics here. It's more expensive but gives me greater flexibility with wheels. Nothing to report yet about how well it works, as my Garmin is still in for repair.

For the weight weenies, my scales say:

SRAM Red left crank arm 172.5mm: 176g
SRAM Red compact crank arm & 50/34 172.5mm : 468g
---
644g

S975 Cinqo left crank arm 172.5mm: 176g
S975 Cinqo std crank arm & 53/39 172.5mm: 600g
---
776g

Weight penalty over SRAM Red compact: 132g

It's interesting that the left S975 crank arm is the same weight as my SRAM red because the S975 looks much chunkier.

I don't think there's any more than a few grams difference between compact and std cranksets, and the magnets and putty are too light to weigh accurately, so the Cinqo weight penalty is around 130g.

The Powertap weight penalty is more like 200g (see comparisons here).

I believe the latest SRAM S975 SRM is 808g without BB, so that's around 160g more than Red and 30g more than the Cinqo.

The main practical advantage of the Cinqo over the SRM is that battery changing is a 30 second fingertip job whereas SRMs have to be sent back to the factory.

Oddly my shifting seems to work fine with the larger front chainring despite the fact that I haven't bothered moving my front derailleur up.

Beasty

Lumen wrote: »

.

Today I installed my new Cinqo powermeter, pics here.

Nice angle on this one (a little too cropped though):):

Lumen

Beasty wrote: »

Nice angle on this one (a little too cropped though):):

Prime lens + tippy toes does not make for a stable shooting platform.

I included it as it's interesting (for me, anyway) that these parts are boxed and branded SRAM, including on some parts of the crankset which are branded Cinqo even on the SRAM website.

I think SRAM are doing the same with SRM.

Something of a vote of confidence in this fairly new product, or maybe just marketing.

niceonetom

TT minus 1 day...

And so it all comes down to this. Five months. 222 posts in this thread. Wheels bought, pointy hat sharpened, more wheels bought, graphs analysed, outputs calculated, drag coefficients estimated and targets, no doubt, made... and now the question must be answered. What have you got Lumen? What have you got? Have you, by any chance, got what it takes? hmm? hmm? have you?

DirkVoodoo

niceonetom wrote: »

TT minus 1 day...

And so it all comes down to this. Five months. 222 posts in this thread. Wheels bought, pointy hat sharpened, more wheels bought, graphs analysed, outputs calculated, drag coefficients estimated and targets, no doubt, made... and now the question must be answered. What have you got Lumen? What have you got? Have you, by any chance, got what it takes? hmm? hmm? have you?

I'm worried that he has. I was really hoping for a Millar style bike toss at the end, but I think we will be getting an epic bout of gloating at the end. Not that it isn't deserved, but it's Lumen!

I just want to try on the helmet and ride the bike at the end.

Lumen

niceonetom wrote: »

Have you, by any chance, got what it takes? hmm? hmm? have you?

No. My back is killing me, I'm still feeling quite unwell, I haven't sat on the damn bike in what feels like several months, and my various aero wheels are sitting in shipping containers or courier depots somewhere.

Without prejudicing tomorrow night, my winter TT plan only succeeding in proving that I really, really hate TTs.

I'm going for a swim.

niceonetom

Lumen wrote: »

I'm going for a swim.

What, now? Or tomorrow instead of the TT?

Lumen

niceonetom wrote: »

What, now? Or tomorrow instead of the TT?

Now. I'll still do the TT even if my back is sore. I'll just be even slower than usual.

DirkVoodoo

Is your back really sore? I thought all the conditioning and training was making it stronger and you weren't experiencing much pain on the bike?

Well, no matter what happens, please turn up with all your kit, I like new toys.

niceonetom

What is this, some sort of sack full of very small particles of silica that could be used as a barrier in case of flooding? or as part of an aggregate in construction work? It might be... I'll find out tomorrow I suppose.

DirkVoodoo

niceonetom wrote: »

What is this, some sort of sack full of very small particles of silica that could be used as a barrier in case of flooding? or as part of an aggregate in construction work? It might be... I'll find out tomorrow I suppose.

I keep thinking of how happy he looked in the photos of sunday's race when those around him looked like they were struggling. There are a few alarm bells ringing in my head as I read his posts here. Of course, if he is in pain then I hope you get better Lumen.

niceonetom

I think Lumen is one of those people whose grimace of pain looks a lot like a wry smile. Here's another:



Glad you're still doing the TT though Lumen. I too wish to have a gawk at the rig. No disk yet?

ROK ON

niceonetom wrote: »

TT minus 1 day...

And so it all comes down to this. Five months. 222 posts in this thread. Wheels bought, pointy hat sharpened, more wheels bought, graphs analysed, outputs calculated, drag coefficients estimated and targets, no doubt, made... and now the question must be answered. What have you got Lumen? What have you got? Have you, by any chance, got what it takes? hmm? hmm? have you?

Tom. You are an evil evil man. But I like you that way. That is the boards post equivalent of The Look.
The best post on this board in eons.
Fairplay.

Best of luck Lumen. The ante has now been raised.

Lumen

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I keep thinking of how happy he looked in the photos of sunday's race when those around him looked like they were struggling.

Uh, that was after I'd been dropped. We were dawdling.:)

ROK ON wrote: »

Best of luck Lumen. The ante has now been raised.

Thanks. In any case I'm resigned to being beaten by Tom. It is my destiny. I would be deliriously happy with NOTh+1 place.

Lumen

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Is your back really sore? I thought all the conditioning and training was making it stronger and you weren't experiencing much pain on the bike?

Yeah, that was whilst I was following my "don't ride your bike more than two days in a row, interspersed with running and swimming" plan. That plan died several months ago when I lost all my weekday evenings.

mloc123

Lumen wrote: »

Thanks. In any case I'm resigned to being beaten by Tom. It is my destiny. I would be deliriously happy with NOTh+1 place.

At least he can't draft to victory off you tomorrow

Lumen

mloc123 wrote: »

At least he can't draft to victory off you tomorrow

In fairness he would have won regardless. I only tease him about it in the hope that he'll drag me to a placing at some point.

levitronix

I just hope you live up to all this hipe lol pointy hats and aero wheels

mloc123

Lumen wrote: »

No. My back is killing me, I'm still feeling quite unwell, I haven't sat on the damn bike in what feels like several months, and my various aero wheels are sitting in shipping containers or courier depots somewhere.

Without prejudicing tomorrow night, my winter TT plan only succeeding in proving that I really, really hate TTs.

I'm going for a swim.

Did you order a disc from somewhere? On the bright side a disk over 10k shouldn't make a huuuuge difference... but the sound would strike fear

Lumen

mloc123 wrote: »

Did you order a disc from somewhere? On the bright side a disk over 10k shouldn't make a huuuuge difference... but the sound would strike fear

Yeah, a clincher disc from Planet-X and a 12-21 to go on it.

Neither have arrived yet.

The Planet-X website says "Status: ORDERS - ISSUE", whatever the hell that means.

Beasty

mloc123 wrote: »

Did you order a disc from somewhere? On the bright side a disk over 10k shouldn't make a huuuuge difference... but the sound would strike fear

You can't just replace a slipped disc like a bottom bracket. It's not a DIY job. You're better off talking to the surgeons. 10k sounds about right price-wise though:D

mloc123

Lumen wrote: »

Yeah, a clincher disc from Planet-X and a 12-21 to go on it.

Neither have arrived yet.

The Planet-X website says "Status: ORDERS - ISSUE", whatever the hell that means.

Is it wrong to see a wheel and think, £599.. thats not a bad price... probably.




Get the kids to work when it arrives.

Lumen

mloc123 wrote: »

Get the kids to work when it arrives.

That is a great idea. I think my oldest could probably just about manage "my daddy is a slow Fred" with a picture of a snail.

niceonetom

Ok, so a disc wheel costs £599, but what's it worth? In seconds? Over a 16km TT? You must have a guestimate Lumen?

mloc123

niceonetom wrote: »

Ok, so a disc wheel costs £599, but what's it worth? In seconds? Over a 16km TT? You must have a guestimate Lumen?

You are talking about 30seconds max I think?

Lumen

niceonetom wrote: »

Ok, so a disc wheel costs £599, but what's it worth? In seconds? Over a 16km TT? You must have a guestimate Lumen?

No idea, that's entirely not the point - I'm not trying to beat anyone.

I bought a disc wheel because disc wheels are cool.

Chips Lovell

Lumen wrote: »

...and my various aero wheels are sitting in shipping containers or courier depots somewhere.

You now have the perfect excuse for being beaten by Tom. "If only I had my disc wheel, then I would have won"

Lumen

Delivery from Singapore at local depot, off to collect now...

Woohoo!

niceonetom

I dunno. I think you've really robbed yourself of the chance of glory with all this aero shenanigans. If you do well, it was the equipment. If you don't do well, that's even worse. On the other hand, my 64 spokes make any showing at all seem acceptable.

Beasty

niceonetom wrote: »

I dunno. I think you've really robbed yourself of the chance of glory with all this aero shenanigans. If you do well, it was the equipment. If you don't do well, that's even worse. On the other hand, my 64 spokes make any showing at all seem acceptable.

Go on Lumen - spike those sandwiches you're making for him

mloc123

niceonetom wrote: »

I dunno. I think you've really robbed yourself of the chance of glory with all this aero shenanigans. If you do well, it was the equipment. If you don't do well, that's even worse. On the other hand, my 64 spokes make any showing at all seem acceptable.

64 spokes... that must be the same as having a disk front and back.

niceonetom

mloc123 wrote: »

64 spokes... that must be the same as having a disk front and back.

It's roughly equivalent to having a disk wheel, but mounting it sideways.