The difficult second album

RJM85

I love my Flo disc.

joey100

Looks the business alright, looking forward getting it on the bike and giving it a go, even though with the way the weather is that will probably be a while now.

I've heard it's very wide, do you just leave it on the bike permanently or swap between that and another wheel, just wondering if the brakes will need to be adjusted if I'm using my normal wheels too.

RJM85

joey100 wrote: »

Looks the business alright, looking forward getting it on the bike and giving it a go, even though with the way the weather is that will probably be a while now.

I've heard it's very wide, do you just leave it on the bike permanently or swap between that and another wheel, just wondering if the brakes will need to be adjusted if I'm using my normal wheels too.

It is fairly wide. My brakes are usually in about a half 'open' setting for the flos and then fully closed for normal wheels.

rodneyr1981

Hi. FYI regarding fit.

Statement from the Flo website.
What TT you riding again? But then again i'd don't think you'd be regarded as heavy..See below.


Bikes with Potential Fit Issues

There are two categories below. The first category are bikes that will have a tight fit and the second category are bikes that our wheels will simply not fit on. Any bike marked "tight fit" "may" experience occasional light rubbing when used by strong sprinters or heavier riders. No wheel or frame damage should occur.


Tight Fit

- Argon 18 e-114
- Blue Triad SL (21mm or 22mm rear tire required)
- Cervelo P4 (very tight)
- Early Model Cervelo Soloist
- Giant Trinity Alliance
- Scott Plasma 2
- Scott Plasma 3
- Kestrel 4000
- Specialized Tarmac SL2

Won't Fit

- Ridley Noah (Front wheel will not fit. Rear wheel very tight)
- Ridley Dean (Ridley informed us that our wheels will more than likely not fit.)

joey100

Cheers Rodney, seen that alright before I bought the wheel. I'm on an argon 18 e118 and have seen pictures of the wheel on the bike. Only hassle is it has the brakes down near the bb so if I have to adjust them it's a bit of a pain, plan is to probably buy a flo wheelset and then at least they should be the same width. Save a lot of the hassle of adjusting integrated brakes under the bike.

Mon 10th Jan

Early morning swim. Proper cold out there this morning, car frozen over and was -0.5 for a lot of the journey to the pool. Decent swim this morning. Main set being 4 X 50 fats off 60, 13 x 100m steady, 5 x 50 fast off 60. All 50's averaged around 45 seconds so not that fast but they were consistent. 100's ranged between 1.34-1.37, with 15 seconds recovery between each. Felt a lot better in the water today even if it's not fully reflected in the times.

Lunch time run. Dead and heavy legs for this. All kept in easy zone and just over 8km ran. Lovely weather for running. One of them runs where you never feel like you got going until the last few hundred metres. Glad when it was over.

pgibbo

I have a similar issue joey. I got a barrel adjuster installed to make it easier to swap the Flo wheels in and out.

joey100

Cheers Pgibbo, must look at getting something like that sorted for it, I'll see how I go with getting the flo wheels to match but if not I'd say something like that would be the best bet.

joey100

Right so a catch up, Took Tues and Wed off last week, work is full of sick people and was starting to feel like I was getting a chest infection so took the two days off. Back to it on Thurs, with an easy turbo session. Felt ok for this, nothing too bad. Run on Fri night was similar to the previous Fri, except a bit longer. 5X 4mins @ 3.30 pace, held it for the first two and then began to slip out a few seconds each one. Legs were gone by the end, nothing left in them and was wrecked. Sat was a long turbo, not as long as I would have liked but still around 2.5hrs done. Sun was long run, heart rate and pace a bit out, some from not training enough and some, I think, from the chest. Chest felt grand though, and the legs felt good the whole way through. Around 21.5km done. And now into a recovery week, looking forward to it. Hopefully with this week being easy I'll get back to normal health wise and be good to go for next weeks training.

joey100

Mon 18th Jan

Easy 45 mins turbo. Kept the power down for this and I could still feel the weekend in the legs. Not my best turbo session ever. Average power around 180.


Tues 19th Jan

Day off. Was glad of this. Went to our club night to try and get some new members. Great turnout and hopefully lots of them sign up. New gear sizing night too, Roca sports, all castelli and sportful gear, some lovely stuff coming for the club.

Wed 20th Jan

Early morning swim. Main set being 8 x 100m steady, holding around 1.36 for these, not great judging pace throughout them though. Then was 8 X (2x50m alt swim/pull). Decent enough for this and felt good in the water.

Lunch time run. 30 mins easy. Decent enough pace for this, heart rate not too bad except for any little hills when it would climb pretty quickly. Legs felt a lot better though.

Thurs 21st Jan

Evening turbo. 1hr easy with some 15 second sprints thrown in. Legs feeling a lot better today and chest feeling a lot better too. Power was good and had to keep it down. Average power around 193 for the hour.

Fri 22nd Jan

Chest a little tight again this morning, main set in the pool was 8 x 200m. Coming in around 3.25 for these so nothing fast at all but some more mileage done.

joey100

Fri 22nd Jan

Lunch time run. Legs felt a lot better again today, the recovery week was well timed. Pace a lot better and heart rate still not fully back to normal but going in the right direction. easy run with some builds included.

Sat 23rd Jan

Weird weather we are having meant that even though earlier in the week I had to scrape Ice off my car before swimming today was plenty warm to be cycling outside. Plan was for an easy 2hour spin. Decided to head a different direction and head to Howth. Nice to be back out that direction and the head didn't seem too bad at all. Didn't notice the chest being tight or shallow at all so hopefully it's all clear now. Nice stretch on the way back with the wind behind me had me pushing 40kmph for a good stretch. Legs felt good and strong today and normalized power was around 180w and felt easy. Good day out on the bike.

Sun 24th Jan

I was going to see Chris Hadfield in the afternoon so the run was done early. Need to do more of my Sunday runs early otherwise I start to try and make excuses not to do them. Anyway 55 mins easy and pace was decent. Heart rate still rising a bit on climbs but other than that it was fairly settled and when it's flat the pace is decent. The talk was good too, wouldn't make me want to go to space but get a good insight into what they do.

Mon 25th Jan

Early morning swim,. Busy pool today. Man set being 10 x 100m alt sw/pull. Seems to take me a while to get going in my swim and was around half way through this before I started to move well in the water. Some times where decent, others not so. Busy lane so I know at least 1 swim was out to 1.50, stuck behind someone from around 60m to the end.

My coach must be reading RJM's log as well, I have a test week this week too. FTP test tomorrow night, last result was 255 so anything above that will be a plus. I held 268 for the 20 mins so to hold in the 270's would be nice, obviously the higher the better, once I get to 300w for that 20 min I can buy a new buy . 400m swim tt on Fri, not sure about this at all, not seeing a huge improvement in my swim times. I am getting fitter and stronger and I think I will be better in the open water this year but we will see if my 400m time has improved since the last one, 6.28. Like to go sub 6.20. Run test on Fri too, 30 min tt, think last time I ran about 7.85km in this time. Nice to hit the 8km mark this time and probably the test I would feel the best about. But we will see on Friday how it goes.

joey100

Mon 25th Jan

Finally a good run. Pace was good, heart rate good - tiny bit high but not bad, and legs felt good. Only short though at around 30 mins.

Tues 26th Jan

FTP test. Wasn't sure what to expect from this, training has been a bit all over the place the last while so while I would have liked a big number anything above the old number would be a plus. I have a room set up in the house for the bikes, usually not too warm, nice and cool. Tonight it was roasting, heating had been on and the room wasn't the most comfortable. 5 min tt was 321w up from 315 and 20 min was 270 up from 268. Not huge improvements and I was probably hoping for more. Last test was in November and had done some decent bike spins but didn't seem to show tonight. First half of the 20 mins was 273w and then I dropped off from around 7 mins left to 2 mins left. Tough test. Means my FTP raises from around 255 to 257, so at least I won't have to remember new training zones! Set new 1 min, 15 min and 20 mins power records and was within 2 watts of 5, 10, 30 and 1 hr records so overall not all bad.

Wed 27th Jan

Legs feeling it after last night and was glad of the planned session. Lots of 50's, mix of swimming, sculling and pull. I am really really slow sculling, completely throws me out of my rhythm and the breathing struggles during it too. Arms a bit tight at the start too but seemed to loosen out as the session went on. With the way I was swimming today I'm not looking forward to my next 400m TT on Fri.

mossym

nice going joey. personally i think holding the same numbers in january as pre xmas is good, given the damage xmas could do.

bit to go to the 300 yet though..:)

joey100

Miles off the 300! And for the way I felt over the 5 min TT I can't see me holding it anytime soon, it's a way of putting off buying a new bike too though. Don't really need one but the carrot is there, maybe by the time by next bike to work comes around in 2020!

Dory Dory

Nice work on the test. How does your body weight compare between the two test dates??

joey100

Hey Dory, body weight is pretty much the same, doesn't move too much, pretty much bang on 60kg, if I'm having a 'fat' day it might be out to just under 61kg but usually within few hundred grams every day.

Wed 27th Jan

Afternoon run. Wasn't properly dressed for the weather so meant no standing around waiting for satellites, straight into the run. Running to heart rate anyway so no big deal. Pace was good and heart rate is really starting to settle. Starting to feel like I'm actually running again. A little cold for the run but nothing major.

Thurs 28th Jan

Evening easy turbo. 45 mins easy, was tempted to push this out a bit but with swim and run test tomorrow the important sessions it wasn't worth it. 45 mins of easy zone on the turbo.

Fri 29th jan

Early morning swim. Whole way to the pool I was hoping for it to be quiet. The weather must have put people off because I had the whole lane to myself for pretty much the whole session. Main set being 400m Tt and a 100m TT. Started well in the 400m and was through the first 100m in around 1.32, pretty much around where I wanted to be. 200m was done in 3.05 (think this is my fastest 200m in the 50m pool) and then it started to bite. not sure of the 300m split but the 400m was 6.21. A 7 second improvemnt from last time and around 3.16 for the 2nd 200m, a drop off but not huge. Pleased with this, swimming was a bit hit and miss over the christmas and wasn't seeing huge improvements in my times but they are there and it's moving the right way. PB for 400m is 6.04 so still a while off this but that was in a 25m pool with a lot more turns than I'm getting now. 100m TT was decent enough too, time not spectacular but paced well enough. In on 1.27 (down form 1.29 last time), through the first 50m in around 44 seconds and then a bit of a push for the second 50 in around 43 seconds. Pleased with how I held the stroke over the 100m, bit more work in the pool and hopefully I can hold it longer into the 400m and bring the time down some more. Better than I expected the swim test to be, only a small improvement but my swim improvements usually are small but good after christmas and moving the right direction.

Run test tonight will be interesting, wind is going to play a big part but think it's more about checking heart rate training zones than a distance test so once the effort is there that's all that matters really. Had hoped for my long cycle outside on Saturday but the weather doesn't look too good so will probably be done inside, and hopefully watching the 70.3 in Dubai if it's on the youtube.

joey100

Fri 29th Jan

Evening run test. Bit of a warm up then into a 30 min TT. More about heart rate zones than distance but didn't stop me wanting to beat last times distance. Started well, didn't try and ease into it, just pushed on from the start. Average pace for the first 10 mins was sub 3.40, slipped out a bit after this though. through 5km in 18.39 (pb is 18.35) so reckon on a good course a PB is there. Altogether covered 7.92km in the time, up from 7.85 last time and conditions weren't ideal, wind played a big part. Stomach wasn't great after it though, these sort of sessions always seem to make it act up and tonight was no different.

Sat 30th Jan

Afternoon turbo. Should have went out on the roads but made my mind up early enough to stick with the turbo. Only last around 2hrs 10 mins of a planned 2.5hrs. Back was acting up and just wasn't feeling it.

Sun 31st Jan

Morning run. Heart rate high and pace a bit slow for this run. Could still feel Fridays run in the legs too. Heart rate rose very quickly with any kind of incline. Not my best running session. Just under 16km ran. Test week over.

Mon 1st Feb

Early morning swim session. Actually moving pretty well in the water today. Felt good. Main set being 10 x 50m and the 4 x 100m, 4 x 50 fast. Had to take a bit of a longer recovery on some of the 100;s than planned because the lane was pretty busy so pushed a bit harder for them. Really pleased with the times, all around 1.30 with 1 going 1.29. The fast 50's were good too, 40,41,43,43. Feeling it for the last 2 but the first one is the fastest 50 I have done in the 50m pool and gets me closer to sub 40 seconds. Pleased with how I swam this morning.

joey100

Mon 1st Feb

Lunch time run. Another one of them runs where I didn't feel great. And another windy day, I'm hoping that they are linked! Anyway kept nice and easy for 45 mins, pace was decent, heart rate still rising a bit quickly when the course rises at all. This was done in and around the big houses in Donnybrook to try and stay sheltered from the wind. Nothing fancy but another run session done.

Tues 2nd Feb

Afternoon turbo, had day off work to sort out a few bits and pieces so got on the turbo a little earlier than usual. The usual session for the week after a FTP test, 5 X 4 mins @ 110-120%, 1 rec. Usually struggle with these and can't make them all. I think tonight is one of the first times I have. I was aiming for 280w (110%) but held high 280's for the first 3. The next two is when it really started to bite and held low 280's. Power control was a lot better though and rather than jumping from around 280-310 constantly within the 4 mins tonight I was holding it between 280-290. Really pleased with this session. New 30 min power record set and only 4 mins off my best ever 20min that was set last week as my FTP test so legs seem to be working well.

Wed 3rd Feb

Some mad drills this morning. One involved swimming 50m with my hands by my side and a light kick. When I seen it on the plan I was wondering was this like when you send the newbie in work for a long stand. Gave it a go and apart from being really really slow and swallowing a lot of water it wasn't too bad. Rest of set was 6 x (4X50m fast with around 30 seconds rest intervals). Pleased with these, although none of them where super fast they were all consistent holding 42-43 seconds for them all except for the second last when I slipped out to 44. Really seen the benefit of staying in control as well, when I pushed hard and tried to speed up a lot I found it very very tough and was coming in low 43's. I found when I do this it's my kick that really speeds up, this works well for the first 25-30 metres and then it really starts to bite and my kick dies down. When I pulled it back a tiny bit and tried to stay in control but strong it worked better and was coming in around 42 seconds for what felt like a lot less effort than the pushed ones, still enough effort to hurt just not as bad.

joey100

Right so a bit of a catch up, what ever had me feeling a bit dodgy properly kicked in (finally) on Wednesday afternoon. In bed at around 9 and didn't wake up until around 8, slept right through. Took Thurs and Fri completely off training and work. Just rested up for the two days and started to feel a lot better. Saturday I went out on the bike, not to do the planned session but just to get out, ended up out for a fair bit longer than planned and probably done a bit too much. 4hrs 20 done and around 122km. Legs felt great and even though they were a bit tired at the end it was nothing major and my chest felt grand the whole way through. Sunday was a run, plan was for 1 hr 30 but cut this down to 1hr 15. Pace still a little slow but heart rate a lot more controlled and wasn't jumping as quickly as it has. Legs felt good after the first 1km or so and no real soreness or aches in them. Pleased with how this run went.

Back feeling normal, or what I think is normal now. No tightness at all in the chest and the motivation is high again.

2 quick updates. After looking at Chattanooga next year it looks like it's off the cards, partly because Dublin doesn't look like it's going ahead and the other because I'm looking at IM Barcelona 2017. Work might be sending me back to College to do a masters in Child protection in late 2017 so this might be the last year for a while where I will probably be able to get the training in that's needed for an IM. Laura is on board, once I buy her a French Bulldog to keep her company when I'm out training. She was the one who actually suggested it over Chattanooga.

Other thing is a new bike might be on the cards. Recently picked up a Flo disc and a set of Flo 60's for a good price second hand. And have a few sram derailleurs on there way to me that I was going to use to upgrade on the TT bike. With the money I get for selling the Argon I'll probably not be far off the price of a new frame so I've been given the go ahead to get one if I want, again the french bulldog is the exchange for this! Looking at the Felt IA, will probably be at close of this season but it's nice to have something to look forward to.

mossym

new bike. nice. what's catching your eye about the felt?

joey100

Like the oversized tubes. Have seen it in the flesh and it looks really well. Haev seen the speed concept 7.5 too and the new argon 18 E119 and both are nice but just preferred the look of the felt. Seems to do pretty well in any aero tests too. I haven't 100% decided though, some of it will probably come down to cost too. I could get an IA16 with groupset and wheels for a cheaper price than the IA frame on it's own. But ti wouldn't have integrated brakes. Would be looking at around €1000 in the difference and then there is the parts I could sell on from the fully built bike. Do like the P5 frame too but can work out very expensive. Open to any suggestions though, will be getting a bit fit done beforehand just to make sure it will fit. Using the stack and reach from the Argon it puts me between 2 sizes on the Felt but they seem to recommend going on the biggest frame you can fit.

mossym

no recommendations joey, was just curious. TBH i think once you get up at the pointy end of bikes the difference in times becomes less important than

1) the one that fits
2) the one you like riding more.

the new argons are nice alright, and i wouldn't have been the biggest fan of them before this. i love the look of the p5 alright, although one of the nicest looking rigs i ever saw was based on a p3 frame. not a fan of the SC. might be a fast bike but not gone on the looks and maybe silly to say but that would affect my motivation to ride it.

joey100

I agree completely mossy, if you like the look of the bike more likely to get out on it. Like the look of the speed concept but it's just very close to what I have at the moment. Once the felt IA fits I reckon I will go with it, the choice is between the IA16 without the integrated brakes and basebar or the IA 3 with integrated brakes and basebar. Around 1000 in the difference, both come as full bikes so will sell on the groupsets and wheels to get a little back. THe Flo disc I bought is stuck to 10 speed so any new groupset that comes on the bike is 11 and will be sold on with no miles on it. Just depends if I reckon the integration is worth the extra money, would be more aero but harder to work on. THe IA16 comes with bosses on the back of the seat tube for a draft box but would need to order a centre brake to tidy up the front end. I'm saying all this now but the way it's been up to now something will come along that I need to spend all my money on and I'll still be on my bike this time next year!

pgibbo

What about the Scott or Canyon bikes? The Canyon are a lovely looking machine.

mossym

pgibbo wrote: »

What about the Scott or Canyon bikes? The Canyon are a lovely looking machine.

two excellent choices. given you have a tt bike already to judge measurements off the canyon would be some option

not recommending a BMC gibbo?

pgibbo

I'm a huge fan of the BMC. Not sure how the TM01 or 02 compare to the others in tests though.

I've had a Felt and BMC and much prefer the fit and feel of the BMC over Felt

Dory Dory

I love my Speed Concept. She's the bomb and fits me very well. Comfort and fit are crucial, so that needs to be in the forefront of your mind when selecting your steed.

joey100

The BMC and Speed concept where 2 bikes I looked at at the same time as the argon so will probably go for something a bit newer. Like the look of the Canyon but it is electronic only and because the disc is 10 speed only makes it very difficult to find an old electronic groupset in decent nick that I could use on it. Was looking at a dura ace di2 groupset but Shimano have pretty much stopped making the wiring and replacements parts for it so if anything went wrong it wouldn't be worth it. Had thought of the scott but seems to be a lot of money, Have to get the money and a fit done first but nice to have some options!

pgibbo

Dory Dory wrote: »

I love my Speed Concept. She's the bomb and fits me very well. Comfort and fit are crucial, so that needs to be in the forefront of your mind when selecting your steed.

Especially for an IM

Dory Dory

pgibbo wrote: »

Especially for an IM

+1

RJM85

Feck comfort. When I finally have the money together to splurge on a serious TT bike my main requirements are going to be that it's a) flash as f### and b) ridiculous as f###. Custom paint job, the works.