I'm having a dilemma of sorts because of needing to buy new wheels later this week. I'm going with a set of 404 from the fine folks at  Wheelbuilder.com but contemplating tubular vs clincher.

Main decision points:

1) 200g difference per wheel for CX & Crits is a small difference in performance unless there's significant climbing. Accelerations are the biggest difference but hard to get any facts on what that difference actually is. Read one article that stated a 5% difference from a standing start, 10s sprint. Don't do many of those; I'm not  a track racer; applicable to some degree to crits. Picking up the bike in CX matters also, but the aluminum Dura-ace tubeless that I currently own are a good option for a balance between weight & performance.

2) TT = doesn't matter for performance due to few accelerations. Wheel cover on the rear makes 808 or 404 comparable to a disc.

3) Clinchers have less rolling resistance at the same psi, but a very small difference at that. Tubular can go very high in pressure which can be helpful to reduce rolling resistance (TT mainly; I like having traction in crit's).

4) Clinchers have good repairability. Tubular might not be a good everyday wheel set because of the opposite.

5) Aluminum to carbon wheel swapping is painful with brake pads needing to be changed, and re-aligned with the Zipps because of the angled brake track.

6) Zipp tubular have additional aero features (shape) to gain some minor improvement over their clincher.

7) Well glued tires shouldn't fall off but do present a mess for changing tires if to be used for CX.

Many of you are laughing by now because of this much thought going into a wheel set. Some of you get it. Share your thoughts if you have any on this subject. Thanks for playing.

Circuit of Sauk: The field was dominated by the Fisher riders today = 7 or 8 in total. Team Extreme had the usual suspects = Brain, Rick, and myself. Strategy went out the window as the race started out with an attack by a Fisher rider on the controlled leadout? Brian covered it with me giving chase. Now slightly gassed, the peloton seemed content to soft pedal (if there is such a thing with the long climbs, and in the brisk wind) for a lap. The 2nd lap (15 miles each) did get more taxing with a break being instigated by Fergusen/Fisher. I latched on (thanks for Rick's timley shout) just in time to be part of the 6-man attack. Meanwhile, Team Fisher shut down any chase efforts making life difficult for those in the pack including Rick & Brian; our break went up the road uncontested. We drove the pace with hard Tempo, and a semi-functional paceline (I'm not the only one that needs the Team Extreme Skills Clinic). The pace was hard enough to crack two, and then there were 4. Coming into the long finish straight Fergusen tried getting away and succeeded momentarily. I gave chase without the other two being able to latch on, caught him, waited for the other two to just about bridge, and launched again around Fergusen for the win. Tomorrow will be a change of pace at the LaX Criterium. Hoping that Rick has good legs, and can take the W.

LaX: I'm writing these reports to give credit where credit is due; to confirm what a great thing Team Extreme has going on the road. We were 3 strong once again with Rick, Brian and myself taking to the starting line. LaX had a pretty awesome vibe which seemed to motivate riders to be downright squirely at times. The first few laps were spent figuring out who we didn't want to ride by, and the best lines in the fairly rough turns. The few attacks off the front were being closed quickly, so TE just chilled in the pack. I started moving up for safety reasons if nothing else. Soon after doing so a rider lost control directly in front of me while entering turn #1. Lesson learned is that you never want to take a turn so badly that you lock the rear brake up and skid across the road from inside to outside taking a good part of the pack with you = you don't want to be that guy! Anyhow, I made it through OK and saw 4 guys still riding hard about 5 seconds down the road. So, insticts had me bridge to them; to not do so would have ensured a break with no TE representation. Josh Shively/La Crosse Velo (past Elite MTB'er) was on front cranking the pressure up, 2 guys with us were shelled, I rotated past them, and the rest was a 25 min two man break that lasted until the finish due to some incredible work being done by Rick and Brian back in the pack. I followed Josh out of corner #4, he attacked, I stayed on until 50m to go, jump/sprint to gain a wheel length = win #2. I owe a great part of this success to my team mates. You guys rock! Time to return the hard work at Muskego. Oh yeah, lesson #2 for the weekend = it's better to bridge up after a crash and at least acknowledge the fact that the break was formed because of a crash, and to suggest they wait for what's left of the peleton to get back on? You can tell me your thoughts on this one.

Sprint Picture

Is it bad that I don't want to write up races that go poorly? Well, Menomonee Falls was one of those races. I lost one client for a couple of weeks due to a last lap turn crash =  separated shoulder. Recover well Scott! And then there was my race that was fun, but wasn't the best from a tactical standpoint. That's the point though; a new sport where I'm learning every race. 6th place didn't sound bad once I heard about Scott, and Travis getting held up in the last turn due to another crash in the Cat 3 race. The good news is that Travis came back to finish 5th place the very next day at Great Dane #2 = nice!



The next day (4/18/10) was my invite only 10.1 mile TT. I invite clients and friends to participate in this free event. At the start time of 11:00, the temperature was hovering around 48 degree F with a 10 MPH wind out of the North. And, this course offers up a couple of climbs adding to the cool wind to make for a challenging event. While not the ideal conditions for a fast time trial, it's what we come to expect this time of the year. I had 8 willing participants toeing the line one by one with 1 min between each. It was great to have two volunteers for this race (many thanks to Brittany and Marguerite) to help with pictures and time keeping. I'd also like to thank Bob P. for helping out when he had a mechanical just a few minutes prior to "go" time (maybe he broke a spoke on purpose to miss out on the 28 min's of pain Anyhow, back to the results. The fastest average speed for competing  Eddy Merckx style (without TT bars/bike) was Ben M with a stellar 24.9 MPH ; only .1 MPH below his goal. I had the fastest average speed at 26.3 MPH with the full aero set-up include a wheelbuilder.com wheelcover, and custom built rear wheel. Also to help this year I had my new Team Pedal Moraine skinsuit on, along with the Pedal Moraine supplied ZIPP wheels. Thanks to everyone that helped to make this event a success!

It was a nice sunny day in Madison as I toed the start line of the Master Cat 3 race. This was my first time competing in a criterium where I actually had teammates to consider; I'm riding for Team Extreme when competing in criteriums or road races in 2010. They have a large group of great guys racing both the Cat 3's, and Master Cat 3's. Looking around I found John Timm, Rick Amen, Grant Stevens, Jeff Gantz, and a few other teammates. Also a few other past and present coaching clients. So we all rolled away from the start with me being pretty cautious for a few laps. The group was riding predictably overall. Just a few laps into the race one rider launched hard around the group with no real response coming from the front. It was early to take a flier so that guy was given a long leash; hindsight would see that it was too long. I decided it was time to ride closer to the front to stay out of trouble, and react to any additional/significant attacks. Grant jumped around at about the halfway point of the race, and I tagged on for an attempted break/chase. We were joined about 1 lap later by Greg Ferguson (Team Fisher Midwestern). With 3 pretty strong riders, I though we could make something stick. Guess the pack thought that also as they chased in earnest. We gave that move up about 2 laps later. Fast forward to the last lap. I jumped up to about 7th with 1 lap to go. Coming into the last turn I worked hard to grab the wheels of my new teammates that were riding 1st (Grant) and 2nd (Rick). Grant pulled us to about 100 m to go, moved out of the way, Rick jumping for the sprint with me near his rear wheel. Uncertain of constituted proper "teamwork" here, I decided to go for the win (which was really for 2nd since the flier had led the entire race by 45 seconds). Rick and I crossed the line sprinting hard with me in front by about a wheel. Awesome teamwork resulting in 2nd & 3rd place!

The next race was Cat 3's. I tried to repay the favor by working for Jeramey and Travis. I went for every attack, sat on, and repetitively helped to have the race come back together. The last lap was another hard ride at the front but my legs gave up the race with the finish straight in sight. Not quit the leadout I was hoping. Good news in that Jeramey finished 5th, and Travis was 9th. That race was about 20 watts higher for normalized power than race #1 where I finished 2nd. The experience was complete in that I learned to ride for others after taking advantage of a gift in the first race. Pretty awesome experience!

This year's version of the Asheville Training Camp/vacation included 8 people total with 3 on just mountain bikes, and 5 on both road and MTB. I rented an enclosed trailer taking responsibility for hauling 10 bikes. The trip down was tediuous at best because of traffic. Weather was a bit miserable the first day with our road group starting on wet roads in cool weather. This was a new cabin/location so we decided to drive part of the first route before riding it = good call! To get out of the cabin you had to descend the access roads (about 15% grade in sections) only to climb back up a similar twisty road for 15 minutes, and descend another twisty road to the 50 mile loop below. On our first time doing this descent we had one rider slide out on one of the many rain soaked downhill switchbacks. Checking his condition (and his bike) at the bottom, both were OK, so we decided to press on with a shorter loop than originally planned. Everything was going well (other than the steadily increasing showers) until late in the ride when we had another rider miss judge a 90 degree turn at the bottom of a steep descent, and he ended up going front-wheel/chest first into a 6-foot deep ditch. A rough start no doubt but there were no serious injuries in either accident. And thankfully, the rides improved everyday thereafter. No significant crashes after day #1. About 3 hours of mountain riding per day with a couple of short recovery rides thrown in for good measure = 17 hours of saddle time for the week.  Although fatigued, the camp/vacation participants could often be seen smiling and laughing when verbalizing the highlights of each ride. Awesome rides everyday kept us signing up for more. Great people, rides, food, and location made this trip a winner! And the view out my office window wasn't bad either.

It's the end of March which means one thing to me, the annual Asheville vacation has finally arrived. This is year #9, maybe #10. I think of this trip as more of a Training Camp but there needs to be some non-bike related fun thrown in for good measure. Heck, it's hard to not have fun when your day is filled with decisions like: what bike do I ride today (MTB or Road)? up which mountain(s)? for how long? what to wear down the killer descent? and what's for dinner considering the 1,800 calorie burn?

April is the official start of the racing season for those that lean more towards the road. For me, April racing will include a few criteriums, a CFF Time Trial, an ABR Time Trial, and a chance to be part of road racing team for the first time in my career (or hobby if you prefer). Exciting times no doubt.

As always, hope that you're enjoying the ride!

CFF has added the option of a power meter test to the TT bike fitting process for verification of sustainable power; before and after significant change in position. There's a balance between being aero and power production. Most of us won't pay $400/hr for wind tunnel testing, but verification by power testing might be the next best thing. And, I do this (and Bike Fitting in general) for $40/hr. As Joe Friel says...
 
http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2010/02/my-bike-fit-and-wind-tunnel-testing.html

 
One of the difficulties I've had is the proper wedging of SPD mountain bike style cleats. There are plastic inserts (wedges) made for under the cleat (in the shoe can also be used if there's room). The problem is that the two hole cleat has a very small contact patch with the shoe. Once you put a plastic wedge under the cleat, care must be taken to get the cleat screws very tight in order to ensure that the cleat doesn't move under the constant pounding of hard Mtb riding (not as big of a problem for casual use off-road, or on-road use). Well, my friends at Bike Fit have come up with a better solution that will be available in about 8 weeks. It's a metal cleat that has the typically needed varus tilt casted into it. No worries here about plastic wedges deforming or slipping. This will be another great option for getting clients that use the Shimano SPD 2 hole cleat properly fitted.

Photo by Fixed Gear Photography

One of the relatively unique products I use in bike fitting is cleat or in the shoe (ITS) wedges. The idea behind wedging is to compensate for a varus or valgus forefoot tilt with a goal of greater comfort and power. The vast majority of cyclists have a significant tilt (approximately 90%) worth compensating. You can learn more by checking out the Bike Fit section of my website:
http://www.cyclingformandfitness.com/Bike_Fitting.php

Personally speaking, I have about a 20 degree varus tilt on each foot making me a prime candidate for wedging. Before wedging (late 2008) my knees went from nearly rubbing on the top tube to traveling inside the foot during each pedaling down stroke. Considering that we pedal down with each leg once per pedal stroke x 80 rpm x 120 min's during the average ride = 19,200 down strokes, it's not hard to understand how side to side movement of the knee over and over often creates knee, ankle, foot, and/or hip discomfort. It's also understandable that pedaling like this causes a loss in pedaling efficiency/effectiveness. The bike fit literature claims an average power increase of 1.8% by adding wedges for cyclist that can benefit from doing so (about 90%). Being skeptical by nature, I wanted to prove this for myself. Therefore, in November of 2008. I performed this experiment:
Wedging & Insole Experiment, Nov 2008
I was pleasantly surprised at the 2.3% power (about 5.6 watts at a Tempo pace) that I gained  by wedging, along with an increase in comfort. Consequently, I was sold on this product and became a dealer shortly thereafter.

Bike fit clients continue to report power increases after wedging along with less aches and pains. And, there's a better chance that clients will enjoy cycling for many years to come by the associated improvement in pedaling form. Pretty awesome!

One more clarification to what I said in my last blog entry (two in the same day = a new record). For the last 15 years continuous improvement has been the name of the game for keeping my motivation intact while racing MTB (WORS more specifically). All I needed to stay motivated were consistent & tangible improvements (measured by power, recovery time, and race results). With the help of a coach (2003 - '06), I finally achieved my definition of success for several consecutive years ('05 - '09). The last 15 years (focused on WORS exclusively) have contributed to an awesome journey; to a destination that was well worth the effort. Wouldn't change a thing! Every positive and negative experience contributed to where I've arrived

Nowadays, I also enjoy "other" cycling competitions (road & cyclocross) because they bring me back to learning & growing. Therefore, a change of focus is part of my 2010 goal setting process. Being committed to SMART goals is so important if you want to stay motivated. That is why I'm sharing my story. As always, thanks for reading.