Current position on the Fuji

Comments (no bagging on the gut either, thank you)? What do you think Fish?

I realize that most people would say that the hump in my back needs to go.

Here is one of the above photos with some lines to help critique my position:


This is the best feeling position I have been able to try. It has been a fairly prolonged process. While the wife and I are in Black Butte this next weekend, I will try and throw down about 40 miles and see how it goes.

Still getting the kinks out

I rode today just for a bit. I haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately for a variety of reasons and I have been feeling worn out. Especially yesterday. Today I slept in and then just rode to work. I took the Fuji out as I am still trying to get it dialed in.

I have found that if I just don't look too far down the road my neck feels OK. But that is hard not to do when I am riding in traffic. If I just tilt my head at about a 45 degree angle so that I see only about 25 feet down the road I am fine. During the Vikingman this should be acceptable. Still I would like to dial it in further. Compared to yesterday's ride, I put in the spacers under the arm rests and tilted the aero bars slightly up and slid them closer to me. This was a big help. I am thinking I would like to be just a bit higher at the armrest, but in order to do this I need to get another stem. So I will probably see if I can find one somewhere that will work.

In reality I would rather just ride a regular road bike with regular ol' dropbars. This TT stuff is a pain in the butt to get right. Small little changes are a bit deal. I tilted my saddle down just a bit too, and all of a sudden amazing how much more comfortable that area was down there. The whole thing is foreign, set-up wise at least. I know I have the bike in the right ballpark at least. I am just not sure about riding in that aero position for 50+ miles. My arms and shoulders just not used to carrying the load this way. I wish I had some exercises or something to help. In the absense of this I am just planning on riding the Fuji until the Vikingman, and doing it in the aero position for as much of that time as possible. This way, I can get used to it and continue to fine time the bike.

Fuji Pics and TRP Euro X Review

Behold the new handlebar set up. With the 17 degree stem I am up about an inch or more higher than I was previously. In about an hour I am going out to ride it. Hopefully I can get it fine tuned today.

UPDATE: The bike still needs some work. I get a kink in my neck after about 15 minutes in the aero position. I must not be very flexible at all in my back. It needs come up about at least a half inch, if not a whole inch where the arm rests are. We must have stopped about 10 times so I could make little adjustments along the way. But since it was DTP with me and he isn't training for anything I didn't feel bad. Nevertheless, it was an improvement or the last set up.



Product review: TRP Euro X Brakes



I really like these brakes. They stop well, they are easy to set up and they squeal very little. In addition, it is important to note that the brakes have not caused my fork to shudder at all. Whether this is due to the fork--a Ritchey WCS carbon--or to the brakes, or both I am not sure. I have to toe-in the front brakes on my Curtlo cross bike quite a bit to make it so the Pauls Neo Retro brakes don't cause my Alpha Q CX fork to shudder in a scary way.

The brakes come with carbon pads as well as regular pads for those who have more money to burn on cross wheels than I do. The pads are probably not the best wet weather pads out there but the work well enough that I won't install a salmon or some other wet weather pad until these wear out.

Set up was pretty easy to figure out. This means I didn't have to read the instructions to install them and get them working well. I did play around with the height of the yoke, but nothing difficult.

The brake arms ca be set really wide so that with many tires I don't have to even bother releasing the straddle cable to get the wheels out. This is a huge plus.

Negative stuff. The only bad stuff is that the set screws tended to back out at first. I put a little loctite on them and all is well. I ended up losing one of the set screws on the yoke but it doesn't affect the performance of the brake at all. The set screws there just hold the straddle cable in place and so having two of them is sort of redundant anyway. Sometimes the brake rattles just a bit. This only is evident when I just barely have the brake hitting the rim. The brake moves on the brake posts on the frame and fork just a bit no matter how much I tighten them. I could put a little washer in between the brake and the brake bolt that holds each arm on, but it hasn't affected the performance at all that I can tell and I usually can't hear it rattling at all on any rides, so I haven't bothered.

Overall this is a very well done brake.

Misc. stuff.

I finished making changes to the Fuji Aloha CF2 today. I have only been working on it when I am on break at work or during lunch. So it took me over a week to get it done. I will post pics later this week. But in the mean time, I swapped out the integrated Vision Tech Trimax bar for a separate set up. I put on a Ritchey Pro stem with a 17 degree rise and then a Vision Tech TT base bar and then some Profile Design Carbon Stryke Aerobars. There was also a saddle swap and a brake swap. I am now running some Dura Ace brakes and a Profile tri saddle that I picked up on a special deal from the shop's manager. Love those type of deals. Sold the old integrated bar which paid for the new bar set up which is pretty nice. I think this new set up is actually lighter. It was crazy how heavy my original Vision Tech aluminum integrated unit was. But if I could have actually have gotten the old set up even close to fitting me I would not have gone through all this trouble. I think it is dialed now. I will see on Friday for sure.

The bike, with the carbon wheels weighs in at 17.3 lbs. Not bad for a TT bike.

Product Review: Performance Chamois Cream

I have to say that this is the worst chamois creme I have ever used. Not that I have used a bunch. This stuff is no better than hand lotion. It sure makes my skin nice and soft, as long as I am not riding a bike after applying it. After about 45 minutes of riding it is like I never put anything on. I would not have even purchased it except that it was recommended by a guy at work. I thought this guy actually rode a bike. Now I am questioning this. Maybe he just has someone else do the riding for him so his bike gets dirty. Either that or he has a chode of steel to be doing the type of rides he says he does with this crap. Totally a bogus product in my opinion. I will stick to the Chamois Butt'r thank you very much.

Flu Virus Benefits

Besides the fact that one gets to feel so miserable that trying to survive seems like a questionable endeavor, the flu has a positive side: It has accelerated my return to fighting weight. I was sitting at about 7 lbs heavier a couple of weeks ago. This is nice! I don't have as big of an appetite and I am trying not to increase that appetite by eating just enough to stave of crankiness that comes from my normal weight loss plans. Having the flu seems to have shrunk the size of my stomach. This is great! I could only eat half of a Muchos Gracias burrito for lunch, and prior to the flu I would have eaten the whole thing.

I would just like to lose about a pound a week for the next while. That would be sweet. Much more than that and I think I will pay for it during Vikingman, because I think I would lose strength.

Product Review: Fuel Belt Helium 4

This thing is freaking awesome. I have run with all the bottles filled on it and I don't even notice it while running. The bottles are very secure and relatively ease to get out and back in without stopping. Getting the bottles located on the backside can be a bit of a bother without stopping, but it can be done pretty quick. This is the best accessory I have purchased--excepting my shoes--for running. It has 4 bottles and each hold 8oz of fluid. 32 oz total is great. During a tri there will be refuel stations so I will be able to refill once during the half marathon portion. If I can down about 20 to 24 oz per hour I should be in decent shape at the end. There is also a pouch that is big enough for about 3 or 4 gels. Perfect. Again, I love this thing and I wish I would have had it last year.

Day Off

I feel a bit guilty, but I am taking the day off. I should go for a ride, but I left my wheels at work. I don't have any other road wheels built up right now that aren't either carbon tubulars, or cyclocross tubulars. I don't feel like using either for a training ride, even a short one. I don't feel like wearing out the tires on the cross wheelsets (each costs about 70 bucks a tire) and I don't want to mess up my carbon wheelset on some of the crappy roads around here. It is strictly a race day wheelset.

I am also still a bit sore from my 90 minute run. Mainly the pain is in my lower back. So, maybe it is good in the long run to take it easy after such a run. The main thing is that I get used to prolonged efforts even if I am slow. I was hoping to go on a 2 hour run next week. I just picked up a new Fuelbelt Helium. It has 4 8-oz bottles to go along with a little zipper bag that should fit 2 or 3 gels. I haven't run with it yet, but it does seem pretty comfy.

Yesterday, I swapped the Fuji back to TT mode. Joel at work helped get me fit to the bike. We got the saddle (actually a new saddle, the old stock TT saddle was killing one particular area while in the aero position) in a good spot for both power and comfort, but I am going to have to get a different handlebar. My current bar a one-piece stem/bar/clamp-on deal by Vision has absolutely no adjustability. I have stacked the steerer tube with as many spacers as I can and I still can't get the bar up to a proper position for me. My riding position is too low and so my neck is tweaking in order to be able to see down the road. No wonder I was having pain issues last year during my initial 3 months of riding on the bike before I put a road drop bar and shifters on it instead of the stock TT set-up.

So while the stock Vision Tech Trimax Plus Integrated bar set up was cool, it won't work when combined with me and the short headtube of the bike. So I am getting a separate stem with somewhere between a 7 and 10 degree rise and then a simple Vision Tech Alloy base bar and then some sort of clamp on aero bar. Not as clean looking as the integrated bars, but it will work.

Damn its cold out there / Fuji CF2 Conversion

So I feel a bit guilty, I went 3 days went any workouts. It makes me itchy. I was cranky last night and I am sure that it was in large part to not having workout in a while. It is like I can feel myself getting fatter or something. Well, between not riding and eating 3 hot and fresh Krispy Kreme Donuts last night. I had not eaten one in a couple of years. I feel good to just have eaten 3. I could have doubled that easily. As it was I felt nauseous in the middle of the night.

Anyway. The Fuji CF2 conversion to a regular old road bike. Well maybe not a regular old road bike, but a bike with out the aero bars. It makes it much safer for riding in traffic with this dropbar set up. It rides very nicely. I still need to dial in the position with a shorter stem. The Ultegra shifters are very nice. This is my first pair of these with the 10 speed. Bridget has some 105 shifters on her Cannondale. The Ultegras are noticably smoother and less clunky than the 105's. To those people who have told me otherwise over the past few months--you are idiots. The Ultegra shifters and the 105 shifters may weigh nearly the same, but they don't feel the same. And the Ultegras not only feel better they shift better too.

The ride was rather cold. It was my coldest ride of the year. I was 30 degrees here at the house so I am sure that it was colder up on Skyline Road where I spent most of the time. I forgot to put on my shoe covers. I didn't remember until I was out for about 15 minutes and by then it was too late to turn around. I was riding under a time limit and so if I turned around I would have time to do much of anything up on Skyline. Besides, it wouldn't be that bad would it? Yep. My toes still feel cold and it is as I write this about 4 hours later. It is like the chill won't leave them, though I am toasty everywhere else. Maybe it is just the memory of the cold or something. Still I wouldn't think that 28-30 degrees would be that bad, but apparently my shoes ventalate very well.

I was a little nervous about riding with the American Classic carbon wheels. They really are for competition use, but I didn't have another wheelset ready with road tires and even if I did, I would have had to swap out my brake pads for non-carbon ones. But what it came down to is that I wanted to ride with them. I paid way too much for those things to have only ridden them 1 time in four months. So now I have ridden them twice. Braking works well. Sometimes I can feel the brakes pulsing a bit, as if their are certain spots on the wheel that are a little grabbier. But the feel at the brake lever is the same I guess, It is more like my rate of slowing is pulsing as the grabbier parts of the rim slow me down more than the other spots. I suspect that this will change as the rim and brakes get broke-in a bit. The other time I rode these wheels whas during a sprint triathlon back in early September. I didn't really have to use the brakes much at all.

I don't know about the whole tubular thing though. I don't know that it felt that much different. I had the tires up to 160psi--that I could feel. But that seemed to be the only difference between them and the clinchers I usually ride. But it was pretty cold out, so maybe when it warms up the rubber will feel different.

The next ride on the bike I will put on the heavier wheels and see what happens.

Fuji CF2: No Longer just for TT/Tri's

So today I gave the Fuji a discipline change. Put a drop bar on it and some ultegra 10 speed shifter. Other than that is the is the same as before. Oh, I put the normal carbon aero seatpost on it instead of the multi-position carbon seatpost. This alone drops about 1/3 of a pound. That multi-position post weighs a ton. As it sits it weighs 16.57 lbs. I would like to put on some decent cranks, those FSA Team cranks are pigs. I think the FSA Gossamers weigh less. Anyway, this is dressed up with race wheels. With my normal wheels, non carbon and non tubular, the bike should weigh about a pound more. Still pretty good.

I haven't been able to ride it yet, other than the parking lot, but it feels like a winner. I need a shorter stem and to adjust the saddle forward a bit. Otherwise it will be sweet. Bridget will be glad that I am not riding her Cannondale anymore.




When it comes time to do a tri all I need to do is throw the old set up back on. It should only take about 45 minutes to do the swap.

Why am I not a smart as I think I am?

I realized once again that I am not the brightest bunny sometimes. I can't really ride my Fuji around town. It is a very nice carbon TT/Tri bike. I bought it thinking that it would be able to do dual duty. Nope, not the way it came. With the brake levers outside of the aero bars and the shifters on the center of the aerobar it is not safe to ride in traffic. Good for TT's but not good for stopping quickly or for shifting on the fly without a significant change of hand position. It just isn't set up for regular riding with the aero setup. I talked to Fish and he suggested a Cervelo soloist. Those are pretty sweet. Aero tubes, but the geometry is adaptable to either TT or road. The Soloist is adaptable mainly by flipping the seatpost mainly and then changing the handlebar set up. If I am wrong about that, Fish let me know.

Tonight, I was about to get ready to take pictures of the Fuji when it suddenly dawns on me that the Fuji does the same damn thing pretty much. I have two seatposts. One that is lighter and is set at 73.5 degrees, and another that will allow me to go from 73 to 78 in one degree increments. Damn I am stupid. All I need is a drop bar and shifters, no need to sell it. So Fish if you have any 10 speed shifters you want to unload I am in the market. Road bike problem solved.

So I will be riding a full carbon road bike soon. I just gotta find the money to get some drop bars and levers.

Here is a stock photo of my bike. I have some American Classic Carbon wheels, but other than that, the photo is what mine looks like currently.