Mountain Biking and Real Cyclists

We here at LAT are addicted to gear. You might not have noticed this, but, nevertheless, it's true. We frequent Backcountry.com's one-deal-at-a-time sites (Steep and Cheap, Chainlove and Bonktown) often, and find ourselves hitting "refresh" to see what else is coming. With that in mind, we were pleased to find out that two new bike-only sites have just been launched by these fine folks: 

HucknRoll.com 

RealCyclist.com

HucknRoll is their mountain bike stuff, and RealCyclist handles the road side of things. That said, I'm not sure why they don't think mountain bikers are real cyclists, but there you have it. Check 'em out, they are good people.

Switching gears a little (pun intended), Cyclingnews.com has a nice look at the new XX line from SRAM, their first mountain group that is all SRAM branded. James Huang takes a gander at it and it looks like there are a few intriguing new features... and some interesting omissions.

First up, it'll be 10 speed. And not compatable with the current shifters or derailleurs. Second, the cassette will have a 36 tooth option, and will be made much like their road group Red's PowerDome cassette. In other words, it'll cost you. A lot.

Finally, the omission that I was expecting was a single lever shifter, something akin to their road groups shifter. They have made a flat bar version, but I guess non-real cyclists--AKA mountain bikers--want both levers. Check out the article, the stuff does look sweet.

100 Miles of Nowhere Report: Inside

As it happens, I actually didn't do much riding outside. That was just the fun part. (As it turns out, though, the side of roads aren't level. At all. Now, I'm pretty inept at riding on the rollers in my mostly-level basement. But when there's a slope for water run-off built into the road, it actually gets a bit sketchy.)


Most of my riding was done indoors with my children running to fill up water-bottles for me and Star Wars on the TV. I might have preferred something else, but my choices are limited with small children watching on.


Luckily, my wife was ready with camera in hand to chronicle the part where I wasn't enjoying myself.


Mile 63. Almost 2/3 done. I actually felt pretty good at this point.



As many other participants have observed, this was hard. I actually cheated, in my mind, because I rode 100 "miles" in 3:36:20, which is much, MUCH faster than I could ever do on the road. My sympathy for those who rode it in 6-8 hours. I think I would have died.

100 miles
3:36:20
27.7mph avg

100 Miles of Nowhere Report

On Saturday, I rode the 100 Miles of Nowhere. It sucked. A lot.

Actually, part of it was fun, but mostly because I decided if I was going to do 100 miles on my rollers, I wasn't going to be cooped up inside my small house. Heck, the weather was perfect riding weather--not too warm, overcast--so I wanted to get out and enjoy it.

And so I did.

Here I am, doing one of my favorite climbs, Squaw Peak Rd.


Only 3 more miles of twisty road until I'm at the top!


I also decided to head up Provo Canyon a little more to take in the sights.


I am only posting this picture because it makes my calf muscles look large and well-defined.


And what ride in Utah County would be complete without a ride along the peaceful shores of Utah Lake.


Even if I wasn't getting anywhere, I was determined to avoid staying in one spot. I'll post more information and photos in a couple of days.

An Observation and A Thought

A thought:

The other night as I was laying in bed, unable to sleep, I was thinking about a trail near my home. This trail is rather steep and has pretty severe water bars--we refer to this trail as "Water Bar", though recently the forest managers decided to call it "Bonzi". Since they misspelled Bonsai, we still refer to the trail as Water Bar. But I digress.

As I mentioned, the trail is relatively steep, and straight and--except for the water bars--flat. This makes it fast, as you can well imagine. So there I was thinking about the trail and wondering, "how far do I travel in the air at each water bar? Now, I know that I can hit between 27 and 29 mph on the trail on a regular basis. I know that I slow a little for the water bars. So, I grabbed my calculator from off the night stand--what, you don't keep a calculator on your night stand?--and did a little math assuming that my launch speed was 25 mph.

So, assuming that I was in the air a single second, I would have traveled just shy of 37 ft. That seemed like a really, really long way to me. So I did it again, using a jump speed of 20 mph. This time I the answer was just shy of 30 ft. Still a long way. And with that thought drifted off to sleep. The next day I headed up to the trail and, since I don't have a computer on my mountain bike any longer, thought I'd determine my air-time using the age-old method of 1-mississippi, 2-mississippi, etc. What I found was that I was landing right at the 2 of 2-mississippi. So, I was in the air, about 1 second. Now, there are some flaws with my reasoning, but I think that the errors cancel each other and the horizontal velocity is sufficient.

An observation:

As I've stated, I use my GPS these days to record my rides. Recently I went on a long solo ride that had, according to the GPS, 4000ft of climbing. Not bad for 18.6 miles. I was mentioning this to T. since is familiar with the route and he expressed doubt in the veracity of the total climbing. Huh. So I went back and looked at the data. The program I use allows me to upload my rides and it will overlay the route with a topographic map to give two profiles: one from the GPS, and one from the topo.

As you can see, there aren't any really big elevation discrepancies. Sure, you can see where, while descending, the GPS didn't have a good fix--on the top graph is looks like a flat line, then a quick drop, while on the topo (bottom) graph, the slope is more realistic--so I dismissed T. as a naysayer and stuck to my 4000ft of climbing, thankyouverymuch.

Then it happened again.

On group ride I proudly announced that we had done something like 1600ft of climbing. E. said, "no way". Huh. Now, I was thinking about this. Could it be that the mighty GPS is off? I've checked the speed part and it is dead on. The mileage matches up, too. But could the vertical be off?

I then recalled that the better GPS's use a barometer for elevation. My watch has this feature, so on my next ride I thought I'd use them both and see how far off they were. I expected them to be within 200ft of each other.

I was wrong. Way wrong.

My GPS logged 4500ft of climbing, while the watch--with its more accurate barometer based elevation measurement--showed only 3500ft of climbing. That's 1000ft or nearly 25% error! And it's not consistent, either. It all depends on how well the GPS is receiving the satellite signals, so under tree cover it's worse, naturally.

Long story short, you can't trust the elevation of the GPS using satellites alone. Now, if you are out in the open, and stationary, I think that the GPS does a fine job of absolute elevation. My watch has to be reset nearly every day if I want accurate absolute elevation, due to fluctuations in weather. Both technologies have their place, and neither is perfect. But for accurate total elevation gain/loss, use a barometer.

I guess my solo ride didn't quite have 4000ft of climbing.

Update on the gps...

Last night on our ride my barometric elevation (watch) and GPS elevation were within 200ft of each other. To make matters worse, C. claims that the GPS elevation more closely matches that of his computer topo maps. Frankly, at this point I don't have any conclusions. If I were looking for government funds, I'd end this post with "more research is required to come to a conclusion." Anyone want to fund me?

To Crash Out

When I wreck on my mtn. bike, it's often dramatic. At least, the bad ones are. I love to tell and retell the stories as if I'm some sort of war hero describing the cost of victory. (Remind me to tell you about the missing cleat-bolt one--it's a goody.) When I wreck on a road bike (which is pretty rare), I'm usually doing something crazy like taking a corner too fast.

When I wreck on my rollers, it's just plain embarrassing.

And yet, embarrassing stories make good stories with the added benefit of leaving everyone else feeling better about themselves. This is that kind of story.

The Set Up
I ride on rollers, and my rollers have a small resistance unit. I've never disabled the resistance unit. I figure if I'm on the rollers, I want to get the best work-out in the shortest period of time. I've also signed up for to do a 100-mile ride on my rollers on Saturday. Normally, this time of year, I'd be outside full-time with my Hometrainer tires safely packed away until the winter. In order to build up my rollers-resistance, though, I've been riding the rollers more and more.

I realized, the other day, that if I'm going for distance, I needed to ratchet up my average speed on the rollers. I took off the resistance unit. As it turns out, without the increase in wind resistance that comes logarithmically with the increase of speed, I can speed up on my rollers without any perceptible increase in effort. Maintaining 27-30mph outside is hard. On the rollers, it means just shifting into the big ring. Those poor rollers sound like they're going to explode at that speed, though.

Crash 1. Ride time: 00:00:00
It was early this morning, before the house was awake, and I decided on a whim to try starting on the rollers without using a wall or some other solid object to balance myself until I got going. It turns out, this is harder to do than I thought it would be. I made it about 1/2 of a pedal stroke before I lost balance and fell. It's unfortunate that I'm another 6-8 inches above the ground when I'm on the rollers.

Luckily, I ride in a room that has become our "storage" room, so I didn't fall far before a metal filing cabinet "broke" my fall. Ouch.

Crash 2: Ride time: 00:04:37
With a minor bruise on my leg and only a minor bruise to my ego (everyone was still asleep and none-the-wiser), I was riding again and "cruising along" at around "26mph". [He actually wasn't moving at all, of course, because he was on the rollers. - Ed.] For some reason, my balance got off and I started to lean towards the wall on my left side (opposite of the way I fell just five minutes earlier). Unfortunately, my bike really took off as the angle to the ground decreased and slid out from underneath me to my right. This might have been because of the speed. I'm not sure. All I know is I went down pretty hard.

Hard enough that I'm still in pain. Somehow, I crashed my bike indoors while going really fast nowhere. And I crashed hard enough that I pulled a muscle in my neck. I think I was trying to catch my fall with my head against a pile of boxes. (Storage room, remember?)

Lessons Learned?
I tried to get on, but the rollers won this time. After less than five-minute's work-out, I was done for the day. As I gingerly leaned my bike against the wall, I noticed my saddle was twisted as well.

Humbly, I walked upstairs to find the bottle of ibuprofen. 100 "miles" of this? It just might be my most damaging century yet.

A Superpower

I have a superpower. Actually, I have a few, but there's one in particular that I got to exercise today. At my day job (sitting at a desk, working on a computer while ignoring people on conference calls), I can get free lunch. (There's no such thing as free lunch! There, I said it.) Of course, what makes this power so nice, is that I usually get it for my whole team.

Take today, for instance. It's about 12:30pm and a friend of mine (who is also on the same team) was trying to talk me into going out to lunch. I love going out to lunch, but I brought a gigantic bowl of left-over stroganoff from home I was already salivating for. I mean, if someone were to pay my way, it'd be a different story, but I'm not spending money if I have an excellent meal waiting for me. (Thanks wife!)

Just then, I see my boss walk by with his boss and one of them says, "Who's driving?"

Instantly, my superpower kicks in and without knowing why I say to my boss, "Hey, aren't you taking the team to lunch today?" His boss says, "Yeah, c'mon. Let's all go!"

My co-workers love me.

On the other hand, I don't seem to have the superpower to get my diet going again so I can wear lycra with confidence again. Two words: pizza, breadsticks.

Aging

There are days when I feel old. It happens when I just can't remember where I placed that roll of electrician's tape I was using. Or when I set down a tool I know I'll need in a place that will be obvious--only to find that it wasn't obvious and I can't find the tool. I feel old when I can't seem to get my weight down to my pre-Christmas holiday weight.

Today, a friend turned 34 years old. He rides bikes, like I do, but also does other things... like running and swimming--sometimes in the same race! Being the benevolent friend that I am, though, I try and look past those faults and just try and get him on his bike as often as possible.

But today, to celebrate his birthday, we decided to go for a ride. Ideally, we wanted to do 34 miles, but since neither of us are very fast, and it was meant to be just a lunch-time activity, we decided to stick to 34 kilometers (~21.13 miles).

The weather today was cooler and much, MUCH more windy than it has been lately, but we were sticking it to old age! We weren't about to crawl back to our desks! Off we went, into the wind. Well, actually, we first started at a nice fast pace with our BACKS to the wind. But, darn it, even at 34 we turned around at around 10.5 miles and came back the way we left.

The wind was stiff, but surprisingly enough, we kept up a fast pace and even managed to, with the help of a stoplight, reel in a couple of riders decked out in a local team kit.

How do you correctly pass another year of age? Riding, of course. Was there really any question? Today, I didn't feel old. Neither did my friend, I think. Happy birthday.

Bonus Friday Post: Bar Ends

There was a time, back in the heady '90's when the predominant style of mountain bike was the cross country race bike.  Most of the mountain bikes sold had short chain stays--the shorter the better!--and steep angles.  They climbed well, had fast handling but were twitchy on the descents.  Because racers would cross train on the road, and because there was little to no suspension to coushon the blows, they desired multiple hand positions.  Flat bars didn't quite cut it in that respect.  They also wanted another hand hold for climbing, to help move the weight forward and provide a good handle to pull against.

Thus the bar end was born.  

I love bar ends, and I can't live without them.  That being said, I know that many, MANY of you who once ran them, use them no longer.  Often I've wondered what has happened to the bar ends that are no longer loved.  Do they waste away in a drawer somewhere?  Are they used for cupboard handles?  Have they been retrofited to be used a door handle?  

It turns out that the answer is none of these--though the door handle idea is a pretty good one.

It turns out that they are collected and used to make bike antlers.

Clearly the owner of this bike needs more hand positions than he/she would normally have available, and he/she might just need to use his/her bike to fend off any would be attackers.  Finally, however, we see where the unused, unloved, unneeded bar ends end up.

And the unused wheel skirts, too:

New NiteRider LED Lights -- Corrected/Updated

Recently I received some information from NiteRider regarding their new lights... and updates to their current LED lights.  Let's start with the current lights:

The only change to the MiNewt Mini-USB is the addition of a charge indicator built into the switch on the battery.  This is an indicator of charge, and lights up when the charger is plugged in.  It doesn't light up during use.  I've been using a prototype battery an

d it works nicely--no more guessing about when the battery is fully charged.  Otherwise, the light is the same one we looked at over the winter.  The price remains the same, too.

Next up, the MiNewt.X2.  They are bumping the output from 150 to 200 lumens and are changing the name to MiNewt.200.  The X2 Dual will also see the increase, raising its output to 400 lumens.  Naturally, it, too, gets a name change to MiNewt.400.  The lights also get a price reduction of 5%.

While I see the point in naming a light using the output, it is becoming commonplace.  See Seca 400, Seca 700, Stella 200 (all from Light and Motion) and the 800L, 400L, 200L (from

  DiNotte Lighting).  At least you know which lights are comparable.

Finally, the big news.  NiteRider is introducing two new lights: the Pro 600 and Pro 1200 (shown right) with--go on, guess--600 lumens and 1200 lumens, respectively.  

While I don't know for sure, these most likely use an LED similar to the 

Tesla by Lupine--a SSC P7, for those interested.  The Pro 1200 looks to have two different reflectors: one narrow and one wide.  

The single LED Pro 600 light head weighs in at 99 grams while the light head on the Pro 1200 will tip the scales at 200 grams.  

OK, so there are fewer emitters and more lumens... great!  What else is new?

The battery attaches to a hard mount that is, in turn, attached to the bike.  The cable protrudes from this mount, not the battery.  This should allow for quick on and quick off of the battery, without having to restring the wires.  After I get a chance to use the system, I'll let you know how it works out in real life.  On paper, it seems like a good idea.  The battery is charged by placing it onto a docking station.

The lights have another feature: you the user sets the modes.  Want flashing?  You got it.  What just high or low?  No problem.  In fact, what you do is connect the docking station to a computer (the modes are stored in the battery along with the rest of the electronics, it appears) * via a USB port and access NiteRider's web-based DIY software.  This allows you to set the number of light levels, the output of the levels, flashing, etc.  The light can store up to three "programs" so you could have one for commuting--with flash, let's say--and another for offroad riding--sans flash--and maybe a third for racing.  You decide.  To me, this is taking the Lupine's customization to a whole new level.  I can't wait to try it out.

* Update:

The electronics are not stored in the battery.  NiteRider has moved them to the light head, while the charging electronics are in the docking station.  The battery is now just a power source.  Nice.

Also, the battery for the Pro 600 is 6-cell and the Pro 1200 comes with an 8-cell.  Both are Li-Ion.  The is also going to be a 4-cell accessory pack.  All three batteries work with both lights.