iBike Update

I've been riding with the iBike on my long rides and some of my midweek rides for a couple of weeks now.  I purchased a "close out" iBike Pro wired, so it is a generation old.  Here are what I've experienced so far.

Setup.  Followed quick setup where I only did a tilt calibration, coast down, and wind setting to calibrate the iBike.  The directions recommend that every time you ride, you need to first let the iBike acclimate to the outdoor temperature and then calibrate the wind sensor.  I've found this to be true. 

Issues:

1. Make sure your mounting of the iBike and angle of it doesn't move after calibration.  If it points more up, it thinks you're climbing and show too many watts.  If it points down, it thinks you are going down hill and will reflect as such.
2. While my quick setup works, it is best to perform the recommended 2 mile out / 2 mile back ride after your coast down for more accurate measurements.  I did this in race gear for the Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon.
3. During Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon, I tried to get GU off my fingers using water while riding.  I must have accidentally gotten some in the unit, so it stopped working.  It dried out and started working again...after the race.
4. Training in my neighborhood at 4:30 am causes me to ride a course of a lot of turns.  Turns appear to cause the iBike to angle up, thus over stating wattage.

All-in-all, when the tilt is correct (I tightened my handlebars), and I'm not riding in a place with a lot of tight turns, the data matches pretty close to what I get on my Computrainer.  I don't feel confident enough with it yet to use as a race pacing tool given the volatile nature of the wattage numbers being reported .  Perhaps using an average would be better?

More to come as I learn more and gain experience.

Train safe!

Warmed Up at BSLT 70.3

On Sunday, June 27, 2010, I raced the final "warm-up" race toward competing for TeamUSA.  I raced the Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon. 

It was challenging for a couple of reasons. 

First, I had had significant fever and stomach issues on Wednesday and Thursday prior to Sunday's race.  I wasn't sure at that point if I'd even be able to race.

Second, I'd never been to Lubbock.  Upon landing in the airplane, everything looked incredibly flat and barren--minimal trees, minimal hills, minimal crops on all that irrigated farmland.  There is a canyon near Lubbock where they dammed up the river, making Buffalo Springs Lake (where we swam for the race).  The bike and run courses took us out of and back into the canyon several times, which made for a very hilly course.  That's OK, though.  Afterall, I'm training for a race in the Allgaue region of Germany.  It will be very hilly there.

Train safe! 

Cycle Training with Power

I made the plunge (again).  I invested in a power meter to try to be more scientific with my bicycle training.

Why?  I felt my biking performance has leveled off this spring.  Not really getting worse (based on recent races), but not getting any better either.  While I would love to use age as the excuse, there are too many folks out there a lot older AND faster than I am, so that that excuse won't fly.

I reviewed plenty of options including SRM, CycleOps, Polar and iBike.  I opted for the iBike, mainly because it was the cheapest option.  However, I've demonstrated some additionally analysis below.

SRM is clearly the "gold standard" of power meters.  It uses technology to directly measure force applied to the cranks making the numbers accurate and the readout responsive.  Additionally, you can use the device with different sets of wheels as well.  I ruled this option out simply because of cost.  Not only does one need to purchase the power meter, some sort of "head" unit as well in order to read the wattage being broadcase.

The PowerTap from CycleOps also continues to receive great ratings.  It is a hub unit that replaces the hub of the rear wheel, measuring force applied to the rear wheel.  It comes with its own "head" unit.  The PowerTap is a little less expensive than SRM.  I use a deeper set of rims/wheels for racing than I do for training, so I would have to either purchase two PowerTaps or just train and race on the same wheel all the time.  I didn't like this approach.

Polar offers a unit that monitors chain tension to calculate power.  It is much less expensive option.  A colleague of mine actually has one and is quite happy with it.  Reports indicated mixed results with particular challenge noted of getting the unit the correct distance from the chain--consistently.

I decided to try the iBike Pro.  It is the least expensive option and adds the least amount of weight to the bike.  The downside is that it is calculated power and not measured in a direct sense (using strain gauges).  I had tried the iAero wireless with the Remote Wind Sensor (iBike product) last year with mixed results.  When it worked, I loved the data.  However, I experienced a major problem every single week with it so I returned it.  The sad part is that when I was training with it, my cycling dramatically improved.  This made me really rethink what worked well on the unit, and what didn't.  It came down to two things: 1. the wireless would go out for no particular reason, even when on a trainer (the iAero had a nice feature where it could measure power even on a trainer) and 2. the Remove Wind Sensor would pop out of its socket.

iBike offers roughly four models:

1. iBike Sport - basic power functions with current, average, and max of watts and speed.  Speedometer is wired.
2. iBike Pro - same as Sport model, except data can be uploaded onto your computer for analysis.
3. iBike Pro wireless - same as Pro above, but it can capture a heart rate strap and cadence.  I didn't want wireless based on my experience with the iAero.
4. iAero - same as Pro wireless, but can program custom intervals and use on a trainer.

I did remove my aerobottle (replaced it with a Speedfill) and installed the iBike with a Topeak bar extender to get it away from my aerobars.  It has to "see" the wind coming at you while riding.  Arms in the aerobars can block its "vision".  After riding for two weeks with the iBike Pro, I've relearned some of the quirks.  It must stay in the position at which you performed the calibrations.  My handlebars slipped down a bit causing the tilt of the unit think I was riding downhill, causing my reported effort to be less than it actually was.  OK, so tight then handlebars.  Also, temperature can have a huge affect.  The unit has "wind" calibration that in actuality senses pressure.  I recall now that I have to let the unit acclimate to the environment (not just pull it out of an air conditioned car) in order to have accurate readings.

I'm continuing to learn, but it does make me more keenly aware of my riding effort--which should make me faster.

Train safe!

Texas Man Oympic Race Report

I headed up toward Denton knowing rain was in the forecast.  As a matter of fact it was pouring rain in Houston as a I was packing up my equipment.  Jonathan reminded me that if it rained, it would be just like the Redman Half Ironman last Septmember.  Fortunately the rain stopped when I got to The Woodlands on I-45 and I didn't see any more rain the entire drive.  They were still predicting rain, although less of a percentage, for race day.  I had met up with my brother-in-law, Greg, for the race.

We awoke to cooler, drier air--quickly packed up and head to the race site.  I was feeling good about the race, now.  I went and picked up my packet (being I was from out of town, I was allowed to pick up my packet race day).  Quickly went through body marking, set up in transition, stopped at the bathroom, did a short warm up run, stopped at the bathroom again, and headed down to the lake with goggles, cap and wetsuit in my arms.

The swim--The lake was calm and with the clear skies, siting was easy.  I didn't feel like I zigzagged too much.  I do hate when I start drafting someone and decide I should pass them.  That sudden slow down when you go out of the draft makes me feel as if the guy actually accelerated just to spite me.  So this time, I decided to try to kick hard when I attempted to pass.  Kicking well in a wetsuit takes some focus due to the buoyancy in the wetsuit.  But it seemed to work!  I excited with my fastest Olympic distance swim to date!

The bike--I was quite slow getting out of T1 and onto the bike.  After finally getting my shoes, helmet, number belt, and sunglasses on, I was off and riding.  The bike was well marked.  Although, I do have to pay attention to signs.  Since there was also a Half Ironman going on at the same time, I rode right past a sign that said "Olympic Bike Turn Around Here".  All the other cyclists kept going straight;  it took me a couple of seconds to process the fact that I just missed the turn around.  At least after I turned, I had to climb a hill to try to make up the time!  The remainder of the bike was somewhat hilly and uneventful--for me anyway.  There was one bike that had hit gravel and the rider was down.  He was laying on the ground beneath a cop whining in pain (it still hurts me even thinking about it now!).  And we were only about 3 miles from T2. 

As I entered the park, I was confident that T2 was just around the next corner, so I slipped my right foot out of my shoe and started riding with it on top of the shoe.  Well, upon rounding the corner, I thought, "I feel dumb."  T2 was still about another mile away.  So I rode with one foot out of a shoe and one in a shoe.

The run--T2 seemed to be just as slow as T1.  I struggled getting my socks on (I tried the "no socks" routine last year at Clear Lake...a 10K run without socks put not just a blister, but a hole in the bottom of right foot).  I felt like I was flying coming out of T2!  Passing people, my leg turnover was incredible.  A quick left turn, and I found out why.  I had been running down hill.  Basically from here you ran up hill for about 3 miles, turned around and came back.  Half of the run was shaded, so that helped tremendously as the day was starting to heat up.  A guy I had passed earlier in the run eased by me with less than mile to the finish line.  I encouraged him by saying, "Good job."  His reply surprised me, "Come on man!  Let's kick it in for the finish."  I tried to hang onto him to the finish line, but could not. 

While it was not my fastest Olympic distance race, it was close.  I was pleased my performance.  The race venue was great, too.  Nice after race party right on the lake beach.  Maybe I'll try the Half next year?

Train safe!

TKC JCC Family Tri done

Yesterday, I assisted race director Charles Moser with the TKC JCC Family Triathlon.  I was the swim starter and my son was carted the race official around on a motorcycle.  The triathlon is geared for a bit older kids than the other local kid's triathlons.  It was designed to give them a bit more distance (age appropriate of course) than the very short courses for the younger kids. 

We had nearly tripled our numbers from last year, and part of the proceeds go towards Achieve Houston, the camp for which I'm Head Coach.

Train safe!

Fast Swimming

Since I'm now less than 3 days away from my first triathlon this year, I figured I'd perform my swim this morning in my new Xterra Vortex sleeveless wetsuit just to make sure I knew of any chafe points.  Just like my older full sleeve wetsuit, I still can't seem to zip them up on my own.  Nonetheless, after some support from my wife, I was in the pool and swimming.

Wow!  I mean WOW!  I could not believe how fast I was swimming in this thing.  I moved from end to end so quickly that I nearly ran into the side of the pool.  Can't wait to see how it performs Saturday in Galveston.

Train safe!

More than tingling in my Calves

This past weekend required lots of long training.  It included a total of 90 miles of biking, 22 miles of running, and 2000 yards of swimming.

It started out on Saturday with a 16 mile run.  I enjoyed the run, keeping my heart rate in a solid zone 2 at about 138 bpm.  I then consumed some carbohydrates and a protein shake and proceeded to prepare to teach my spin class that I teach regularly at 9:15 am every Saturday morning, including plenty of Gatorade to be sure I wouldn't cramp up from lack of electrolytes.  Even though I had agreed with myself to go "easy" while teaching the class, I would say that my effort was more like moderate to moderately-hard.  In the last 10 minutes of the class, my calf muscles were showing signs of cramping.  These went away, though, after leading the class through a brief stretch.

Feeling OK, I decided I needed to get in 2000 yards of easy swimming in the pool.  The first 1800 yards went pretty well.  In the final 200 yards, my calves yet again started acting up.  I finished up trying desperately to kick as little as possible.  I then sat up on the edge of the pool, lifted my legs out of the water and sat there in amazement for a few minutes.  My calves were not just pulsing, but "wiggling" as if there was something moving about inside my legs.  Weird.

Train safe!