Well this will be the final post of October so I thought it might be fun to whet your whistle with a little bit of a teaser of some upcoming giveaways…
New Clif Shot gels and Seasonal Clif Bars
Running Hot…a damn good read
Entry into the 13.1 Los Angeles for next January
And I have a few others up my sleeve!
Lot’s of fun stuff…
Back in June I installed a plug in called Intense Debate, it was designed to make the comments more interactive and more connective. I really liked that premise and the fact that I was getting bombarded by spam comments such as:
I immediately noticed a drop in comments and that never really picked up . Now I am the first to admit I am a comments whore…and of course that reduction is most likely directly correlated to my status as a bad commenter, I have actually been reading and commenting when I get a chance which is usually around 5:30am! 12:00pm or 11:00pm! So a big thank you to all who persevered and I am trying to catch up on my Reader.
Anyway times have moved on and Google has now implemented a Spam filter which catches all the Spam and the occasional proper comment, there are a couple of other security measures added like Capcha and the like. The above combined with the somewhat confusing registration process of ID I have decided to remove it.
Alas all the comment left in the last 5 months have been removed too :-(
Normal service has been resumed.
I am a bit behind in my reviews of the Sufferfest cycling trainer videos and with#5 coming out next month I thought it was a least time to review #4; Angels.
In case you have been living under a rock or you’re not into cycling the Sufferfest are downloadable 1 hour-ish long videos of real cycling footage with a kick ass soundtrack and a punishing schedule of intervals of one sort or another. Angels is not different!
With footage from Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Dauphine Liber as well as an ascent of the legendary Alpe d'Huez the ride is a structured series of intervals. Here’s my ride from SportTracks;
Specifically the workout is the following, from their website:
*6:30 warm-up, featuring footage from track racing in San Diego
*10:00 of over/under intervals, with 1:00 just above your threshold, and 1:00 just below threshold, repeated 5x. Featuring footage from the 2009 Paris-Nice when Alberto Contador got, gasp, dropped by just about everyone!
*3:00 rest, featuring some beautiful descending footage from cyclefilm.com, effort level 4/10.
*8:00 climbing, while you try to stay with Andy Schleck in the 2009 Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Effort level starts at about 7/10, attacks take you up near 9/10, until setting down to 7/10 for most of the rest.
*4:00 rest with more descending, effort level 4/10.
*8:00 climbing, with a gradually increasing pace up the famous Col d’Eze in the 2010 Paris-Nice, featuring Vockler, Contador, Sanchez…yeah, all the big boys. You do the first two minutes at 6/10, next two at 7/10, next two at 8/10 and the last two at 8.5/10. There are a few accelerations in the group that ask you to increase cadence without increasing effort….which can be a little tricky, as you’ll find out.
*4:00 rest with more descending, effort 4/10.
*8:00 climbing, with the freaking mother of all climbs: Alpe d’Huez…can you stay with Contador in the 2010 Dauphine-Libere? You start the climb bridging up to the break with an effort level of 8/10. Then you pretty much do 8/10 the whole way up. Oh, wait, I forgot about the bajillion attacks that push you so far into the red that you’d swear your eyes are bleeding.
*4:00 warm down featuring a sort of motley arrangement of things to keep you entertained. Including the first Sufferfest xtranormal video. Oh boy.
So should you get it it? Hell yeah, $11 will get the keys to the kingdom and you can play it over and over!
Here’s a teaser!
Check out Angels and the other Sufferfest videos here….if you dare!
This product was purchased. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at quadrathon@gmail.com.
I’ve been looking for a new saddle, the one that came with the bike is to put in plainly; brutal! 50 miles sealed the deal, I tried I really did Fiz’ik saddles are supposed to be really good. But the reality is that whatever the brand…and the cost, it’s got fit your derriere and be comfortable, there is nothing more wrong than a saddle that doesn’t fit; suffice to say it can make it a very non-enjoyable experience if your ass and assets are not happy! I’ve been looking online, the sales are starting to flare up so now’s a good time to pick something up…but of course I am too impatient. So I stopped in at my local Performance Bike to see what they had, in a word; well two, not much!
That being said they did have one of their own branded saddles actually available and on the sale and it seemed to fit, well as much as you can try these things in the store, anyway so I got it, got home, realized that it had been used and returned (grrr), fitted it, spent an hour on it and maybe it will work! I need to spend a few more hours on it to really see but so far so good.
Now talking of face…I probably have more than most and I was outright cheeky in contacting Salomon’s PR company and asking for a pair to review! Hey if you don’t ask you don’t get, right!
So having put somewhere around 150 miles on them it’s time for a review. Let’s go from the top down. The big change is that the asymmetrical lacing is gone, I actually liked it, but I know a lot of people didn’t, it does now make putting gaiters on much easier, the other difference is that a lot of the toe cover has been removed, this is where they have shaved off some of the weight, the 2’s are an ounce lighter per shoe. I have read that they have reduced some of the fabric too for more flexibility; I should say that these are not good shoes for keeping the dust out and you will get dirty feet!
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The tongue is still half integrated and has the handy flap at the top for tucking the excess laces into. The laces retain the Kevlar string; this is not indestructible, I have broken a lace before and have the locking cinch fitted.
Moving down they do have the reduced toe cover, along the side is quite a high splash guard for when you’re skipping through streams. They have slightly changed the pattern of the quarter panel and it is now more part of the upper, although this is such a small difference that you only notice it when the shoes are side by side.
Salomon still use the Agile Chassis System (ACS). from their website “Clear thermoplastic urethane insert and outsole heel wrap act as the skeleton to facilitate heel-to-toe transition and side-to-side stability. Triple-density EVA midsole muscle maximizes cushioning, comfort and responsiveness with twice the durability of average EVA foam” my take is that it’s comfy and cushioned.
The sole pattern is the same and I have had no slippage issues or clogging problems from the mud.
The ride is much the same as the originals, comfortable and solid, these are trail shoes though and when you’re on fireroads or roads proper they may feel a little hard. One thing I did scratch my head about was if they had changed the sizing and I had to try a size up to discover that there was a difference between the size 11s in the 1s and the 2s, to overcome this I traded down to slightly thinner sock, and that worked fine.
I am expecting that these are good for somewhere around 400 miles, that seems to be their breaking point for me at least. Not available in the bright solid colors that the 1s were (a’la my red ones above), they are more muted this time around, but hey the dirt is going to cover all the sparkliness anyways. You can also find them in women specifics too. They are not a cheap shoe and you’ll see them online or in store for around $130.
So another hit for Salomon in my books and with winter fast approaching you could do a lot worse than investing in some solid trail shoes.
My good friends at WRC have them in stock and using QUAD10 at the checkout will get you 10% discount. Otherwise keep your eyes peeled for a discounted pair of the originals, I picked up two pairs from SteepandCheep last month for $60!
Here are some more pictures:
This product was provided by Hillary at Outside Media If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at quadrathon@gmail.com.
Posted from Blogium for iPhone
It seems only fitting that the inaugural ride on the new bike be it’s maiden voyage and that it be wet, wet, cold and pouring with rain! Oh well the bike had to get wet sooner or later and if the weather lately is anything to go by it’s going to be a wet fall and winter!
I arrived at Franco’s for the group ride early; to be honest I couldn’t remember the start time so I opted for 8:00am, one by one a few riders arrived and then left and then a few more turned up, several of them on Franco bikes. By 8:40am there was about 6 of us and I put the poor turn out down the weather. They seemed a friendly bunch and we introduced ourselves. I was ready to go at this point, slightly damp a bit cold, they seemed to have a big propensity for standing around chatting!
Another 10 minutes slipped by and suddenly a group of 3o riders rolled in! They were from Conejo Valley Cyclists, a local club who had come out in support. Some chatting followed and as the “new kid” I made very small talk with them, it’s all new to me but there was a lot of what I would call “hardcore” cyclist banter about tours and racing and the like…anyway finally there was an announcement that two routes would be available, I figured I would just stick with the original 6 and go from there. We all started to leave the parking lot, one group went right and one left, I hesitated and went right realizing that I should have gone left. A center divide stopped me from about turning and by the time I could; only 30 yards or so, the road ahead was deserted. F%$K!
So what the hell I thought I set off and had great ride all by myself, I stuck with some familiar roads, threw in some climbing, some very ginger descents and some flats. The rain was a pain but once you’re wet you’re wet and I wasn’t cold once I was moving. I finished the first loop and stopped off at my car to pick up my iPod for my company…I was a bit pissed as this had been advertised as a “no one left behind ride”! Whatever; I am ugly enough to look after myself.
As for the bike, well I will be honest and say I was expecting it to be a rocket and it kinda wasn’t. It’s hard to say why but there are a few reasons; my cycling fitness is not great and Kanan; the main climb is an 8% grade for nearly 3 miles followed by a very gentle decent down the very steep Mulholland “Snake” and past the Rock Store. Here’s a screen grab of the imported file in Google Earth
Switching from a triple crank to a double is weird and especially as it is a 53/39 nothing like jumping in! I may have to switch to a compact crank (50/34) with all the hills around here, I was warned about this (thanks Robin)! Click here for a quick explanation of what I just said. I did lower my seat as my left hamstrings was complaining and that helped, I think the new seat post will make a difference. The seat may have to go too, I prefer one with a cut out and this does not have one…it’s just a personal thing I guess. One thing I did notice is that the frame is super stiff and the power you put in does propel you forward only! It’s easy and fairly effortless to roll along in the high teens early 20s mph. It’s also going to take some time to bed myself in as my muscle memory has me sitting very differently. I am sure I will have more to say about things over the coming weeks.
So after the ride I headed home and spent the next hour cleaning!
Here’s some bike porn pics of it clean from the night before.
And so the first 30 miles are in the bank!
Yeah not the most inspiring post title! I waited most of the week and after a great massage last night my legs are 100% back after last weekend, I wanted to make sure there was no impediment to the fitting.
So having walked past a large brown box which has been sat in the hall for two weeks I finally managed to get my bike fit started today…only started mind you!
I headed to my new…so new in fact that the grand opening is tomorrow night, local Retul fitter, Julian Franco, who is also the owner and name above the door for Franco bikes check out their website, really simple idea and really nice bikes, currently road; racing or endurance with Tri and other models to follow. There were some finishing touches being made to his new store in Agoura Hills, see below for an invite to the opening and we worked around the painters. The first thing was to actually build the bike, so we headed over the parking lot to Wins Wheels who whipped it out the box and assembled it; in all of about….5 minutes, those boys got skillz!
I carried it (OMG it weighs errr about nothing!) across the parking lot to Julian’s and we got started. Next was mounting it on the platform and adding pedals, cleats and sticky dots!
I got these shoes two years ago in June from BonkTown for $20 and have had in my closet ever since, they’re not the best shoes in the world but they’re very comfortable…
I need a setback seat post to really dial things in so I have ordered one. The idea here is that the carbon-fiber shaft is bonded into the alloy head, setting the saddle rail supports 25mm back of the post’s centerline. This setback will stop me from ankling; rolling of the foot during the pedal stroke which the one thing outstanding. So standby for Part 2 next week, I actually left my bike behind so all the cable can be trimmed and lubed at Wins I will pick it up tonight but the stem is not going to stop me from riding out with the boys from Franco this Saturday…wanna come play?
The staggered start was a great idea but as with most races there is always a group of runners that over estimate their ability. I could see the 4:15 pace flag about two minutes ahead but there were too many people between me and it to worry at that stage.
They released the Wave and we set off. As per my last post my strategy was to run walk and I had programmed my Garmin to chime every 8 minutes at which point I would walk a minute, my rationale being that 9 x 26.2 = 3:59. My goals were “A” 4:00 hrs, “B”4:15 and “C” 4:30.
The route wound its way around the back of Long Beach crossing over some of the waterways and winding around towards the back end of the Queen Mary which is permanently moored at Long Beach, it was all pretty flat other than the bridges which made for a pleasant change in terrain. We finally finished the loop and were basically back where we started albeit 6 miles in. My interval plan was working fine and was feeling good.
I was wearing a FuelBelt with 2 8oz bottles and had added two larger pouches on the side into which one had my gels and the other various baggies of CytoMax, Nuun and Cliff Shot, the plan being to refill the bottles as I went along, Powerade was the drink on the course and I can’t stand the stuff, I had also drunk 16oz of CytoMax during the drive down. I had suffered from dehydration a couple of times during my longer runs and although today was not hot there was some humidity and I was sweating. One unexpected side effect was the need to pee…a lot, three times in total, most unlike me but a good sign. I was also popping Gu (Mint/Choc Jet Blackberry and a Blueberry Roctane) gels every 45 minutes ( I had 5 in total) and they did their job just fine. No cramps and plenty of energy, I gulped them a bit quick on occasion so I consciously slowed down taking them over a mile rather than wolfing them in 2-3 mouthfuls and I was fine.
The next section took along the beach path, this was a bit narrow but was ok and here I passed my CTO from work (:-/) I was undecided whether to say anything and I opted not to thinking that I did not want to distract him, this was his first marathon and he was aiming for around 4:15 (something bad must have happened in the second half as he missed his goal by over an hour). Around M11 we dropped the Half Marathon runners and headed north; first along a short out and back and then eventually up into the campus of CSULB where the students were out cheering everyone on. In fact all around the course there was pretty good crowd support and there were really only a few stretches that were empty. I was making pretty good progress and had gone through the half way point in 1:59:54…if I could only pull off a negative split!
The miles slipped by and I continued with my walk run intervals, I was starting to fall a little off pace and my average pace had slipped to somewhere around the mid 9s I tried to make up for on the downhill’s where I could. The tough miles were 19-22 for some reason these just seemed to be a real slog, looking at my splits these were some of my slowest miles…so at least that all makes sense. Around M22 I caught a second wind, at least it felt that way, unfortunately the data would say otherwise, anyway I felt pretty good although my quads were moaning a little, the good news was that I had no complaints from my adductors which have been kicking up a storm for the last month. I stuck to my intervals right into the last mile and then decided it was time to kick it up and crossed the line with a 7:37 pace!
I passed through the exit and wandered out looking for any familiar faces; I bumped into Danica (Chic Runner) and said hi, she works for the organizers so she had no time to chat. I grabbed some of the free food and a cup of coffee, I was feeling a bit cold having stopped moving and had a good stretch knowing that I had to spend a couple of hours in the car driving home.
In terms of the race I have to say that of the road races I have run this is definitely one of the better ones, well organized with lots of aid on the course and an army of volunteers, there maybe some complaints about the bag pick which was a bit disorganized but I only waited 5-10 minutes, a nice tech T shirt and a really nice medal. The expo was also pretty good the day before. The course is flat and fast and while a bit dull in parts the interesting parts really make up for it. Long Beach is a conference town so there is a ton of parking and it can absorb a lot of people.
So like I said not the fastest race in the world, my official time was 4:17:42, so I will take that as a successful “B” goal. I clearly slipped off pace during the second half and with a bit more endurance I could have maybe hit the 4:00 mark, but my training has been for crap for the last month so I will take this with a smile and move on. One thing that was pleasing was that apart from the final HTFU mile my heart rate never went higher than about 155. Here’s the data broken out into 5 mile chunks, it’s clear that I was behind the curve from the start but pretty consistent through M15:
No photos yet…I will add them when they post
Running in the last two weeks, not a lot to zero, running in the last month a bit more than that but not by much!
Oh well!
The plan…turn up with a smile and finish with one too. I will be walk/running, it’s the only way I can realistically guarantee finishing it one piece and in a half decent time! I am not really running for time but my best guestimate 4-4:30. we’ll see! Weather forecast is mid to high 60’s with some cloud cover…that sounds good to me. My “outfit” is wear tested and the hay is in the barn.
I’ll be at the expo around midday-ish today, will you be?
Another busy week in the books, work is crazy and I found out this week that I will, as will most of my company, will be working through the holidays. It’s a high class problem I know but even so catching a break here or there would be nice!
Anyway much like last week without any fanfare the winner of the RoadID is….Cynthia Corral! Congrats, drop me a line with your email or DM me on Twitter and I will send you the details. Remember if you didn’t win you can still buy one, use the Coupon Code BG5244 and you’ll get $1 off:
I am still trying to give away the case of Mix1! Another week goes by with it unclaimed and another winner is drawn…Robin! Let’s see if third time is a charm!
As always thanks to these awesome companies for the free stuff!
Oh and talking of winning I got this email on Tuesday!
How freekin’ awesome is that! New bike…new wetsuit…whatever next???
Forgive the clumsy play on words! In this episode I recap my training and for the other 45 minutes yabba on about all sorts of things, a gear check, a quick trip to New York City, my new bike and my up coming Marathon! I also talk a little about my plans for next year oh yes and I get an voicemail from KelownaGurl who asks about my underwear! Busy busy!!
Intro and music is Dirty Devil by The Otherside a and the main track is Extra Ordinary Machine by Fiona Apple
Please feel free to leave any comments on this shownotes site and I would really love it if you would post a review on iTunes.
You can listen to the podcast through iTunes by clicking here or download it by clicking here.
Thanks for listening!
My new bike is tempting and taunting me, it sits by the front door, boxed and sullen. I can hear it’s siren calls luring me to open the box, lube it and ride it but alas I have to stay focused, well as focused as I can…I am running a marathon in a week!
So I am easing the temptation with some new accessories for it…
Serfas CC-200 Cirque SL Carbon Fiber water bottle cages.
I have two of these. The features include:
Black Carbon outside and Silver Carbon inside
Special rubber grommet secures water bottle
New shape to support all water bottles
Super light weight 18 grams each!
And I got two R&A bottles to add some of the NYC ‘tude!
Speedplay Zero pedals, I have been riding in X5s for years and now it’s time to step it up a little, these are the Stainless Steel versions, the Titaniums are rated to 180lbs and although I am below that for the 21g saving it’s too close to call. These weigh in a svelte 103g each.
Also I was able to blow all those points saved at Performance Bike and a Gift Card and a coupon code (“735” for 15% off) got free shipping and in total they cost me just under $40 all in, a grand saving of about 80%!
Hell I'll take that everyday!
Finally and by no means last, my new toy is a Garmin Edge 500, yes I am going all geek out. If you know me you’ll know that I love my gadgets and I have had my eye on this for a while, the prices have dropped and care of Amazon I picked one up with the cadence monitor.
I’ll spare you the details…of course this is now a bit dated now especially with the Edge 800 touch screen model but I wanted low weight, hi tech, moderate price, the 800 is nearly double the 500 and I can get all touch screeny with my iPhone! Check out this awesome review for all the 411!
I have the cages and everything else is on order.
So you’re probably wondering when the hell I am going to start riding, well as mentioned I have the Long Beach Marathon this weekend so no riding this week for me…I do have this to look forward to though!
A little motivation from prior years for you…
You can follow here some of my buddies racing today; Frayed Laces is #1857 Devon Ian is #990
Here’s the 2010 pre race show;
Picture the scene, an apartment in London. Male enters the kitchen stage left, is surprised to see no one is home. The phone rings…
Caller “hello is this Mr B I am speaking to ”?
Man “yes”
Caller “good evening, my name is Sergeant X from the Metropolitan Police, Ms B has been involved in a traffic accident and is on her way to Guys Hospital, she is conscious but is seriously injured….”
Some more details are imparted, man leaves apartment drives across London; very quickly….the rest is history, arrives to find cyclist caked in dried blood shredding lycra and in a neck brace waiting for multiple X-rays, MRIs etc.
The back story was my wife, girlfriend then, was riding her bike home from work over one of the bridges, a car had come over the bridge too fast hadn’t seen her and had hit sending her to the side of the road. Someone called in the accident on their cellphone, as it was rush hour they sent an air ambulance, the police shut the bridge, although in the end she went by normal ambulance to hospital where after cleaning up all the blood, and there was a lot, most of her injuries where not major. Fortunately she was conscious and compus mentus, picture the scene had she not have been!
Needless to say that’s a call no one ever wants to get!
It almost goes without saying, almost, so I am going to say it. Carry some ID with you when you head out the door! Now I hate running with a phone I really do, but it’s come in handy a few times, distill that down and carrying some form of basic ID is not only doing you a favor, looking after your loved ones it also makes the life of you rescuers, should you ever need them, a lot easier, especially if you are unconscious. Enter RoadID. I’ve know about them for ages and truth be told I did have an ID bracelet from a now defunct competitor on which the info was pretty out of date, moving house will soon date that info. So a couple of weeks ago I consciously sat down and ordered a RoadID. I got a great personalized email following my order and started a dialog with them telling them the above story. Cheekily I asked would they be willing to give one away to a reader and they agreed! Yay!
So here’s the deal, much like many of my other giveaways all you have to do is follow the following and you’ll be in the running for the prize which I will draw next Friday, there are several ways to enter and the more you do the better the odds:
Like, follow, become a fan of or whatever they’re calling it this week on Facebook of RoadID
Follow them on Twitter gets you one entry
Leave a comment on this post gets you one entry, tell me you have done the above will get you one or two more, that’s three so far.
Finally all you folks on Twitter tweet the following will get you one more entry per day, this contest runs for a week so between now and next Thursday, that’s seven more for a possible total of nine, I will pick a winner.
I just entered the win a free @RoadID giveaway on the @quadrathon blog
Pretty simple really, watcha waiting for? Oh and if you win, why not write a review…that seems only fair right?!?
If you don’t win, you can’t wait or you want to get one for a loved one; they make excellent stocking stuffers for Christmas, you can order one by clicking the link below, use the code BG5244 and you’ll get $1 off, full disclosure I am an affiliate so I get a teeny tiny payment from them if you do.
And here’s a picture of mine…
Just a quick post. I am behind the 8 ball this week so no drumroll, fanfare or fancy graphics! A quick sort out and spin of the wheel, as it where, at randomnumber.org and I have the two winners of the Clif Crunch Contest….
Lori and Chris F…email me or tweet me your mailing address and I will pass it onto Clif who will be sending you out the bars directly! My email is quadrathon at gmail dot com
Up next is a revised winner for the case of Mix1 from nearly two weeks ago…the new winner is…Ben S, likewise Ben email me you mailing address and Mix1 will send it to you direct.
Check back on Friday for the RoadID giveaway!
Oh and look what arrived today!
I just need to schedule a fitting and I am good to go! Wahoo!
Awesome weekend! Fantastic hitch- (apart from the obvious one) less wedding. I had a chance to catch up with a bunch of people I haven’t seen in a long time and was delighted to see one of my oldest American friends 10 years plus tie the knot to a fantastic girl!
During the lull between the reception and dinner in the evening I snuck out and headed to Brooklyn, pulled up outside the shop and thought, nah this is wrong, was I wrong, it was an Aladdin's cave of bike goodness:
Get a tissue…there will be drooling!
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It’s due to arrive in a couple of days and them I am off to be fitted. Their sale continues, check out their website here!
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%5B3%5D.jpg "photo (51)")
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