Notice

Last post here. Maybe creating a new blog, maybe completely deleting this one.

New Shoes Part 2...and cross update

For part one go here.

I've had a chance to put several miles on my new Specialized Pro shoes, and I have to say that they are probably the best bike shoe I've ever put on. I'll recap a few of my favorite things about the shoe. The hill cup keeps the foot planted and prevents it from moving anywhere without the shoe. The straps really help make the shoe. The main buckle strap at top is completely adjustable and really sets the foot when buckled down. The velcro straps really impressed me as well. Since I do have a skinny foot most of the time I bottom velcro straps trying to get the shoe tight. Since Specialized offers this shoe in three (3) widths, I was able to order a shoe that really fits my foot.

On the road everything I just mentioned still holds true. You can really feel the slight amount of wedge the shoe has built into it, but for me it didn't seem to cause any problems. The one thing I really noticed and really liked was the efficiency of the shoe. I felt like everything I wanted to put to the pedals got there. Certainly there will most likely never be 100% transfer of energy to the pedal from our feet, but Specialized has closed the gap for sure. Great great product. If I lost these shoes today, I would re-order them without even looking at other shoes.

If I remember I'll post on their ability to withstand wear after this winter.

On the riding side of things, I think cyclocross is pretty much done for the season. I got sick this past week from some bad Chinese food (never eating at the Red Flower again), and then pulled a long day at work the very next day. This left me feeling dead to the world and so I opted out of the cross race saturday. The MSG 5 weekend I'll be in St. Louis on business, and for the final MSG 6 I'll be here in Grundy as we roll out a project we've been working on the last few months. If I feel good and the weather isn't too bad I might try the Tenn state cross race in January. For the most part though my cross season is complete.

So what for training? Until this work stuff hit I was working on figuring out what workouts, tapering, training period worked best for me. I got some really good info to work with, and I feel I can come out of the gate next season ready to go. My first goal of the season will be to test myself at Jeff Cup. This is a big race and its a Pro,1,2,3 field. It'll give me a good idea of if I trained well enough, and maybe pick up some knowledge from a more advanced crowd. From there I just want to do what everyone else does.......win!

Now its back to putting a bunch of time in on the bike with tempo work, threshold work, and lots and lots of SST (Sweet spot training).

Take care!

New Shoes Part 1

Since March of this year I've been riding the Bontrager RXL road shoes. When Bontrager first introduced photos and specs on these shoes I thought I had to have a pair. I mean I had been running a set of nikes for four (4) years, so Ashley bought me a pair for my birthday. Here's a quick pro/con review of the Bontragers:

Pros: Beautiful white shoe, stiff sole, and comes with decent footbed.

Cons: Cleat doesn't set even on the bottom of the shoe and requires a shim to fix. Cup for your hill is non-existent. Construction of the shoe is a little weak: glue can be seen where the shoe is put together, the buckle system isn't what I would call great, and did I mention the cleat issue?

A personal problem I had with the shoe was the huge toe box. I have skinny flat feet, and this shoe doesn't fit snug enough for my taste. I wear a 12 length with a D width in US size, and this shoe doesn't cut it. Also the e-Soles foot bed is very nice, but it doesn't come from Bontrager with the arch support for flat feet as most companies do OEM. This is only a problem because I'm cheap and didn't want to buy the arch support for flat feet. Neither of these issues can be blamed on Bontrager, but leads me to my next paragraph.

Yesterday my new Specialized Pro Road shoes came in. I have been looking at some Sidi's, some Shimano shoes (which fit well as MTB shoes), and then these Specialized. What sold me on trying a pair of the Specialized was all the options they had for foot size. With width they have Narrow, Standard, and Wide. Half sizes up to a Euro 47. Three different foot beds for flat, semi-arch, and high arched feet. The buckle strap is even adjustable without having to buy any extra parts. What is there not to love?

My first impression of these shoes is they look great. I picked up a black pair in size 45/12 (euro/US). Getting the shoes on is a bit of a challenge compared to the bontragers because of the hill cup that they have. Once I got the shoe on though, it fit like a glove. Perfect length, snug all the way around the foot, and the hill cup was impressive. I don't imagine much foot movement inside these shoes. The foot bed came for flat feet, which saved me from buying another foot bed. That's a plus for me.

Construction is equally impressive. Very high craftsmanship, and that's something I don't give out to many manufacturers.

I haven't ridden with these shoes yet, but I will today and review by the end of the week how they feel on the bike.

MSG#3 continued....

For part one go HERE.

Since I'm not stealing pictures anymore...or trying to quit anyway, here's a link to my new favorite pic. I like it so much I might buy it and make a poster out of it...not really, but I like it. It says pain and anger all in one.

http://www.bart.ifp3.com/#/gallery/09-msg-series-3/09msg3-286/

In addition to what I posted Saturday night about the race, I'd like to say that I really came to like the new wheelset/tire combo that I got for the cross bike. After the first race of the season I wasn't liking them so much because they were slow on a dry course, but in a mudfest and wet grass I couldn't imagine anything better. The Williams Cyclocross wheelset rolled great, had great braking ability, and were stiff. The Challenge Grifo 34's as big as they might be, handled the dirt/mud/grass/wet/offcamber/flat/whatever the course had to throw at them. I would highly recommend these tires for any kind of conditions that weren't dry. For dry 32's would be better, or better yet a file tread.

Thanks for reading!

MSG#3

Today was the third race of the MSG cyclocross series. The weather was wet, and mildly warm. The TCRC guys did a great job throwing together a great course that had plenty of obstacles for everyone. They had a short run up, what seemed like a 100yard run through sand, barriers, and plenty of off camber riding that ended up not being rideable. Overall another great course.



As for the race. I was really nervous this morning, and even on the start line, but luckily that went away as soon as we stared out. I had a good start. In the first lap I think every rider in the field hit the deck at least once if not twice. My opportunity to eat some dirt came when a Lees Mcrae rider crossed up in front of me and we T-boned. This wreck caused a chain reaction with the other 8 riders behind us. I think all of us were picking our bikes up off the ground and trying to get going again. After that things mellowed out and pretty much stayed the same. I wound up finishing in at 6th (that was the last place I heard the announcer call). Our field was small though, maybe 12 or 14 guys? Anyway the size of the field didn't bother me too bad. What got me was finishing about 4 minutes down on the winner. I just have to go faster.



The legs feel great. I can tell a big difference between the first race and this one, and if this...should I call it a test peak?...works I hope to see some more improvements. I feel as good or better as I did last Jan and Feb.

I found a good ride for some long weekend rides. I have the option of 50 miles w/2500ft of climbing, 60 miles w/4000ft of climbing, or 70 w/5000ft of climbing. Why am I even mentioning this ride you ask? Say you have plenty of rides you can easily beat these numbers? Each of these rides include a 5.5 mile section of dirt road, with 2.5 miles of it being uphill with parts reaching up to 8% grade. I'm not a big fan of climbing, but this ride has me excited. Maybe I'll actually start to enjoy climbing....

That's it for now. I'm not going to NC next weekend, but I may drive up to tech for some night cross there. Lets wait and see what the weather is like. If it rains, I don't know that I could say no.

Thanks for reading!

What season is it?

Just as I finished a post about winter being here, the weather does a 180 and turns into mid-low 60's. I wont complain though. With the warm weather I took the bike off the trainer and headed outside. I just wish it would either be winter or summer.

Training. Haven't talked about it in a few weeks. I'm still on my plan to peak in 12 weeks, and I'm now 6 weeks in. I've started adding some intensity in, and its feeling pretty good. I can tell it would've been nice to have had more sub-threshold work before starting some intensity. I'll look at that before the start of next road season. I'm also learning about how much I didn't know, and probably still don't, about myself and my training.

Cross. I have my second race of the season this coming weekend. To be honest I'm not expecting much more than my first race. Waiting a month between races is not a good idea. While all the other guys have been out racing their bikes I've been deer hunting, helping work on a house, and setting on the couch. As of right now I'll be racing almost every weekend between now and Dec 12. Hopefully that'll help me ramp my fitness back up and test this 12 week plan I've mustered up. One could say race into shape.

Also with the trainer riding I have some major crow to eat. Last winter I went through a big spell of how and why I thought I should have a trainer FTP and a road FTP. I was wrong, and realize what an idiot I looked like posting a 345watt FTP. The truth is I believed it though, and it caused me to really get down on myself this past summer and ask questions like "why can't I do 6x4min intervals at 400watts each". Well I wasn't that strong. In reality my FTP is around 320watts. That's both on the trainer and off. At one point I think they were different but along the way I guess I adapted to the trainer and became able to reproduce my power from the road. As depressing as it was to finally realize this, it'll definitely help me make more headway in my training. And definitely help from over training. Have I mentioned I hate crow?

That's all for now. Remember Power is Power no matter how bad you don't want to admit it.