I didn’t get tot see the coverage of the Tour Down Under last night. I also forgot to set my recorder. So, I wasn’t able to see any of the coverage on Versus. Ah, but never fear… there is always YouTube.
Thing is, I bet that by the time you take the commercials out of the Versus coverage, you are left with about the same amount of video. I think next time I’m going to get out my stop watch and see how much of the 30 minute program ends up being advertising.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad that Versus is covering the event. However, is it too much to dream that someday that coverage will be a bit longer with a little more insight into the stories surrounding the events and riders?
Yesterday I rushed out for a couple of hours around my lunch time to get in my training ride. You may recall my post for that day was on how to beat the funk that sometimes gets you as the race season approaches. I think I found another reason why you may feel down and confirmed the way to beat it. Plus, I ran into McPain.
McPain is Anthony McClain. He is a regular commenter on the site. I told him I would put up some video of him. Here he is…
About the funk business? Well, don’t discount the weather. It is cold and the days are short. It does take a bit of the joy out of riding when you are freezing out on the road or slogging away on a trainer for a couple hours because it is too dark to ride outside.
When I came upon McClain in the park, I had to take my glove off in order to get the video. I ended up taking both of them off as I finished my ride for the day. Amazing what a difference it made to my spirit to feel warm and pedal along in the bright sunshine!
The weather here is supposed to be warm (relatively speaking) for the next several days. Looks like the UWBL might even get out and back before the rain starts. It makes it much easier to focus when you have conditions like that.
Thought it might be neat to take some video from the start of a ride all the way through the process of getting the data from the Garmin Edge 500 to my coach and ultimately onto my computer for future use. Of course, a video like this can’t show everything or answer every question someone might have. I’ll be glad to look into any questions the video might generate and find an answer.
It is Monday and folks at Garmin told me that the software update for the Edge 500 would be coming out today. I’ve had the opportunity to try it out and it seems to be working. If when you attempt to send the data from Garmin Connect to your Edge 500, you may get an error. However, simply click the “send to” link again and you will find the data does transfer.
Gingerly I climbed onto the trainer yesterday. It wasn’t supposed to be a hard workout, but it would be the first sustained effort since I visited with Dr. Mruz. Would the time at Eastside Chiropractic getting my seat adjusted make any difference here?
The visit went great. Dave Mruz is not just a chiropractor, he is also a pretty good bike fitter. He has worked with professional cyclists both with their bodies and their bikes. My session was even interrupted by a visit from George Hincapie who was stopping by for a short adjustment. I was reminded again of just how much of a regular guy he is.
By the end of my session we had moved my seat forward and made sure it was level. The good doc felt I should make some adjustments to my cleat position as well, but I didn’t want to risk messing with them at this point. I wasn’t sure the screws would hold up! We decided to revisit that once I got my new cleats for the coming season.
Still, it was good enough and I was off ready to spin — as this iPhone video taken by Dr. Mruz attests.
The trainer session last night confirmed that I’m heading in the right direction. NO knee pain at all. After a warmup and a sustained effort of 30 minutes with three high speed spin included, I had no knee pain. YES!
I did feel my right hip begin to tense up slightly and this morning it is a little stiff, but compared to the last few weeks it is nothing. I’m very pleased with the progress. All this improvement is just in time for my Functional Threshold Power test on Saturday.
Let’s take a look at the Garmin Edge 750 compared to the Garmin Edge 500. I’m sure I’ll be learning even more about the Edge 500 as it is used more on my bike. For now, I’ll focus on the dimensions and menu navigation.
At first I’ll admit that I was more comfortable using the Edge 705. It was the unit with which I was most familiar. While the joy stick is has can be annoying when trying to select a menu item (it will sometime twist when you press down moving you to another item instead of selecting one), it did provide a lot of versatility when navigating through the menus.
The Edge 500 does not have the joystick. However, once I started understand the logic of the menu and how you moved between them, it started to become second nature. If you are looking to get the 500 and haven’t had the 705, you probably won’t think anything of it.
For the most part, the units are very similar in their basic operation. The biggest changes are actually things you don’t see. For instance, the Edge 500 no longer uses .tcx files. Instead the .fit format is used. The reason for this is that the file size of the later is smaller and is a more efficient use the unit’s memory.
I have not yet been able to test this, but Garmin says the battery life on the Edge 500 is 18 hours. The Garmin 705 is supposed to have a 14 hour life. I’m one of those people who plug things in automatically so rarely go on two rides in a row without charging my units. I’ve never had any trouble with the 705 and I doubt I will with the 500 — even on longer rides.
Garmin has created a solid unit for rider who is into training and racing. The price is right. I’m sold.
Forgive this extended video of my backside. However, I’m placing this up on the blog so my chiropractor can see the video before our meeting this Wednesday when he plans to put me on my bike. He is doing his best to help me past this knee pain and posture problems I’m having. This video provides some good real life data for him to consider.
It was a good ride. I can certainly see how these training rides are different from how I would typically go out for a morning ride. Jim was keeping me in my pedals the whole time. No coasting on those downhills! You’ve got to keep that wattage up whether you are climbing or descending.
The funny thing is that it actually makes descending even harder than climbing. It is easy to hit 240 watts when you are climbing up a hill. It isn’t so easy to hit it when you are going down it! I found myself more out of breath coming to the bottom than arriving at the top.
Jim says these rides serve the purpose of preparing me for later rides when I am going to have to go harder for shorter periods. I’m training my legs to keep pressure on the pedals… on and on and on… It will become second nature when I’m pushing and feeling like I want to let up.
Good stuff. With Jim and Dr. Mruz working with me, I really think my body is going to be ready for the next season. I’ve also got to keep focusing on the mental and teamwork side of the bike.
Saturday I had the opportunity to drop in on the open house for the new Greenville Cycling Center presented by Jim Cunningham Coaching. Jim has put a lot of work — and investment — into this new business. It was great to see many in the cycling community come out to show their support.
I wish I could have stayed longer, but I had to rush off to another event. Saturday evening was the return party for the Palmetto Peloton Project Challenge to Conquer Cancer Ride. It was great to see everyone again.
It was a pretty busy weekend — as you might have noticed from the lack of blog posts and the not so good video editing in the above clip! Hey, there is more to life than this web site… like making sure I complete all the training exercises Coach Jim is sending my way.
Okay, I admit it. The title of this blog post was more to get you to come read this blog. It is true. I did. However, you have to know the whole story.
Last year I became aware of a program that was brought to Greenville. It is called the Cycling CEO Challenge. It is one of multiple types of CEO Challenges including Driving, Skiing, Tennis, Fishing, and many more.
The idea came to Ted Kennedy as he was working with Ironman America as VP of Sales and Marketing. The first challenges were limited to the Ironman. Go to the CEO Challenge web site and you’ll see it has expanded well beyond that!
Ted says he loves his job and I can see why! One of the neat things about this program is that you get to spend some time with a professional in each of the various sports. Here in Greenville the participants got to spend some time with George Hincapie.
On Friday, the crew got to ride with Big George up to Saluda. They also participated in other events surrounding Hincapie Sportswear including a charity fashion show — they didn’t model, they just attended! On Saturday morning they had the challenge.
Each CEO Challenge event centers around a challenge between the various CEO participants. For the cycling challenge it is the King of the Mountain Challenge. It’s pretty simple — the first CEO to make it to the top is the winner. Do you think these guys are competitive? Don’t think they would be where they are professionally if they weren’t!
Instead of writing about the event, I’ll just let you watch the video. It captures the day pretty well. The only thing I wish I had on the video was a pretty spectacular save. We were following George along the route he rides often. He made a turn and the word didn’t get back quickly enough.
I was coming in the rear. I watched as several riders tried to slow to make the turn. Of course, this caused an accordion effect toward those of us in the back. One of the CEO participants locked up to avoid another rider in front of him. It was as if he was in a drifting competition! His rear wheel was spewing smoke from burnt rubber as he burned through his tire sliding this rear to his left.
I cringed and looked for an escape route. I was sure we were going to gave a pile up. However, he kept it up! As I was going pass him, I heard his tube explode as the rubber protecting it disintegrated. As those of us who continued straight came back, the pungent smell of burnt rubber was in the air.
Sorry I didn’t catch it with the camera. Of course, had I been riding with one hand on the bars, I don’t think I would have been up long enough to get a good shot. Great save!
Oh, I did pass George as we were climbing the mountain. However, it was only because he was going back to help pace one of the participants as he worked to reach the top. I had to go ahead so I could catch the eventual winner crossing the finish line.
Once again, Big George showed himself to be a class act. He is one of the main reasons why you have CEOs returning for a second opportunity to ride here in Greenville. If you are a CEO and a cyclist, perhaps you would like to take up the challenge and give Tim Hockey a run for his money in 2010!
I was looking forward to going over to Sunshine Cycle Shop to give some of the Blue Competition Cycles demo bikes a try. Unfortunately, I wasn’t mad enough to take one of the bikes out in the rain. That cross bike sure could have handled it, though!
I ride a Giant and love it. However, these Blues look and feel pretty good. The twenty-two pound mountain bike was n-i-c-e! The video you see here contains the first published pictures of the bike assembled.
Danny Macaskill is back on the Internet… and Norwegian television… displaying his mad skills in Lisbon. Sure, it’s a Volkswagen commercial, but he still amazes me. See if you get the same feeling that he is about to drop down on top of the car in one of the sequences.
Some might say that is cheapening his image by going commercial. I say more power to him as he finds ways to make a living and profit a bit doing what he loves. Though, I do have to say I like the Volkswagen commercial better than the s1jobs.com one.
Jonathan started riding mountain bikes in the early 1990s. After discovering the ride can start at the end of his driveway, he moved to the road in 2006. Now at 42 he is learning the ropes racing on the POA Cycling club team and enjoying the fun of the Greenville, SC cycling scene.
What I'm doing
For the record, my body does not like 30-30's. Bet I'll love 'em come time for my next crit! 11 hrs ago
