More Stuff Showed Up

My Ti spindles and matchy matchy bottle cages showed up.  The spindles are the last thing I think I will need to get the bike down to sub 15lbs with Force and PowerTap.  The cages are just for looks, and even weigh a whole 7g more than the cages they are replacing.  So, they're not going on until after I see 14.99lbs on the scale.

Follow Up From The Last Post

I finally had a chance to hop on my road bike and try out the changes I made in the last post, and one more change I made in the middle of the week.  While I didn't expect much in the way of "wow! this feels like a new bike!" revelations, I will say that I've never been wowed by a bottom bracket before today.

Almost There

I haven't thrown anything up on here in a while, mostly because I've been so busy with work, I've barely had time to ride my bike, let alone write about it.  However, during this time I have been hard at work, plotting and scheming on how to improve my bikes.  I have nothing better to do during render time since I don't smoke.

Garmin 510

Usually when I upgrade it's because I'm genuinely trying to improve either my bike or my riding experience. I had been using the Garmin 705 for a few years now and it worked and did everything I needed it to.  But for some reason, I Just didn't like it.

Late Spring Cleaning

I finally got around to replacing my drivetrain.  I checked it 500mi ago and the chain, cassette and chainrings were all toast.  I didn't exactly have the funds then so I just kept riding it until I could afford to make the changes.  While I was at it I replaced the cables, housings and bartape.

Spring of 2013 Fit Tweaks/Time for a New Drivetrain

A common misconception is that once you get a fit, that fit will be the same forever.  The reality is that one's fit changes.  In the past year my flexibility has improved more than I ever thought it was going to so the current position on my R5 is feeling a bit too high.

When I got the R5 I had just been fit on my Allez and I set up the R5 with the same measurements.  The Tarmac/Allez geometry is really close the the R series geometry so the bike felt identical.  Since I had been fit and I didn't think my fit would change that drastically because I'm only getting older, I felt confident epoxying the metal sleeve that Cervélo includes with a star nut, making it the permanent length of the steerer.  If I need to cut the steerer, I have to cut the sleeve and the star nut and it just gets ugly.  When I cut the steerer I had set it up with a 5mm spacer on top for extra security and that oh-so-pro look.  It was perfect and I was never going to change it.

For the past 2 weeks I've been noticing that I want a longer stem.  When I was in the drops I felt like my arms weren't extended far enough and when I was on the hoods I've started resting the palms of my hands on the bumps of the hoods.  I was doing that a lot on my Allez before the fit and that was the main reason I got the fit when I did.  Isaac told me during my fit I would benefit from a 110mm but I was riding a 90mm and jumping 2cm seemed like a lot.  Now it seems like a great idea.

Since I felt a little high and lowering the stem makes the stem further away, I dropped the stem down about 1cm today.  I now have a larger than I want bit of steerer sticking up on top, but it isn't terribly unsightly.  I'm going to ride the bike for the next week or so and see how I like it.  If I still feel like I need to be further away I'll order a new stem when I order my new handle bar.  That should be in June.

Speaking of ordering stuff, 265mi ago I checked my chain for wear and it's at 100%.  I checked my cassette for wear and the 15, 17, 19 and 22 are all worn to shit.  I took a look at the teeth on both chainrings and they're on their way out too.  New drivetrain time!  Just what my wallet needed! WHOOOOOOO!

So yeah, all of my talk about upgrading to Praxis Works chainrings is finally going to happen.  I'm going to replace my 6600 Ultegra chain with a 7901 Dura-Ace chain and I was really debating on getting the new Red cassette because it's like a quarter pound lighter than the 1071 I have on there, but even at shop rat pricing, the price isn't right for me right now.  I justify it like this; I'm going to be buying a new set of wheels this fall and my PowerTap wheels will be training wheels like they should be.  I'll buy a Force cassette for the PowerTaps now and when I get my carbon clinchers I'll put the stupid light Red cassette on that.  Win, win.

I'm hoping that the slightly shorter Dura-Ace chain and slightly smaller cassette (11-26 instead of 11-28) plus the slightly lighter chainrings will get me to the 15lb even mark.  I'm also going to be trimming cable and housing lengths for the adjust cockpit position so I'll save a tiny bit off there as well.  I have to drop 91g to reach my goal and I'm not sure if all of that is enough, so I just need it to drop 30g to be happy.  I'm going to order Ti spindles for my Speedplays that I know drop 60g of weight for the pair, and that will get me to where I need to be.  That way, when I get the carbon wheels and Red cassette I'll drop another pound off the bike making it a 14lb bike with Force.  And that's just silly.

Riders Who Race Roubaix Are Crazy

Seriously.  The Annual Sunday Morning Moustache Ride Roubaix Edition was this past Sunday (because Paris-Roubaix was) and my forearms and shoulders are fairly beat up.  The longest stretch of cobbles was .9mi and my hands were killing me, my ass was hammered (phrasing) and 2 water bottles were lost (not mine), one because an alloy cage broke from being rattled to death.  .9mi.

It's All Mental

I went for a ride yesterday because it was beautiful out (43*, it's all relative) and because I need to find time to ride more.  While I'm improving with each ride, coming off of an injury is humbling.  I've made up my mind to try and get in harder rides in an attempt to ride myself into shape faster, but that is proving to have some challenges I hadn't anticipated.  Most of them mental.

A little follow up on the last post

In my last post I listed my "if my bike breaks" replacement ideas.  I made a comment about the SL4 Roubaix and never meeting my heroes.  Sure enough, the Specialized rep for our shop stopped by with his SL4 Expert frame.  It also had a pre-production Cobl Gobl-R seatpost.  So I just had to take it for a ride.

Things I'm excited about at the moment

Bikes.  I'm excited about bikes.  I haven't posted anything here in a while because I hurt my ankle and had to take most of January and almost all of February off the bike.  I've started riding again, but it had been slow goings.  Work has picked up for me, so I haven't had the free time I'm used to either, so it's been tough.  I've been thinking about bikes a lot and here are a few Bikes I've been thinking about...

Bar Sanding Progress

It's a crappy/blurry picture from my phone, but it's all I got.  I finally got all of the paint removed from the bar and it's ready for some wet sanding and UV protection.