Equipment - Bike Timeline, Part 5 - Post Actual Size

This part of the bike timeline has to do with my boomerang, first leaving Cannondale, then rediscovering the brand.

I had a good friend with a Specialized M2, and I decided to get a matching bike.

1995: Specialized M2 S-Works, same parts as the red bike. Peak wheel count at this time = about 30 pairs of wheels. Rider weight approximately 142-145 lbs. Max speed on this bike - over 64 mph, my highest ever on any bike.

I returned to 170s on this bike. Take-off cranks, actually, cranks that a customer told us he didn't want. He sponsored our team for a couple years, and, trust me, he didn't need the old cranks.

The original Campy Vento wheels, higher spoke count versions of the original Shamals. They weighed a ton but were strong, fast, reliable, and stiff. Well, until you hit a sunken manhole cover at 45 mph while drafting an 18-wheeler.

Note the Scott Rakes optimistically installed on the bike. Setup with mountain bike pedals (winter time, and I wore insulated mountain bike shoes), a single shop bottle, and a white saddle I still have and use. You can see the N-Gear Jump Stop as well, peeking out from behind the small ring. I've tried to install one on every bike I've had since I discovered them.

I figure I took this picture in the winter, or before some big road race. By the time summer rolled around I'd usually have given up on the Rakes, I'd put on a second cage, and some trusty old aero wheels ended up on my bike. The white saddle, the heavy wheels, they all scream "steady speed efforts".

Winter, in other words.

Or not:

The M2 in angry mood. Picture by GMF. Zipp 340 front, the ever trusty TriSpoke rear.

14 cm stem, crit bars, and Ergo levers. This would be an 8 speed bike. I can't believe he caught me in the middle of the field, at a perfect moment. By now I was running SPD-Rs (the non-Look Shimano pedal) and Sidis. My weight would have been in the mid 140s.

With Mike K at Ninigret Park, RI.

This was earlier in the day from the picture above. Some optimism still shows in our faces. The actual race didn't work out so well.

This was our era of "professional Cat 3 racer" lives. We'd train after the shop closed for the night (Mike worked there too), ride, then spend an hour or two overhauling our bikes.

Repeat each evening.

Crazy.

A tough moment in a tough race. Keith Berger is on my wheel. The Punisher, at the front, is punishing me for beating him at the Tour de Pump.

Unbelievably that's the first turn at Bethel. The dirt lot behind is now a parking lot for a big building housing Navone Studios. One of the Sleepy Hollow riders from this story sits behind Keith.

The M2's claim to fame? I left the original spec headset in place (sold off the rest of the bike to finance the frame/fork purchase). I figured the round bearing headset would be good for a few months and then it'd be toast. I started planning on my cool Chris King headset purchase. Only one problem.

I never needed to replace it.

In fact, it's still good.

Anyone need a threaded 1" headset? Good condition.

Yeah, I still have the frame and fork. I finally cracked the right chainstay and had to retire the frame.

2000?: Giant ONCE TCR, size Med, Campy 9s Daytona (before it changed name) build kit. The kit had Chorus cranks among other things. Claim to fame: built on my washer and dryer. I also weighed 203+ at some point while I raced this bike.

The Giant had the first threadless headset system for me. I hated that system for a long time - it was hard coming off of the Specialized headset, one that never needed anything. The threadless wasn't so hands-free.

The laundry folding table.

I built the bike on the washer and dryer.

I'm not sure why I took pictures of the build but I did.

Almost done.

Closer up of "almost done".

After the build. No tape because I'd ride the bike on the trainer before I wrapped the bars.

Interestingly enough, that's the saddle I have on the Tsunami, right now. In 2010.

An early, heavy race. Years later, when I saw this picture, I actually wondered who was wearing the green kit. The missus wondered how I got into the kit, it was so tight on me. My friend Greg.

I weighed about 200 lbs and lasted maybe 4 minutes in the first race that year. I won a field sprint later in the Series. It's amazing what a little racing will do for the legs.

I rode Spinergy wheels for a long time, promoting the brand because I wanted to do so. My friend worked for them and I have a passing acquaintance with the actual inventor (I've mentioned him earlier in this bike timeline series - he helped design the original Cannondale race frame). If only they'd have refined them a bit, with no UCI meddling (like the 16 spoke minimum rule), I think the wheels could have been great. They had a lot of potential, but, ultimately they were only "medium".

A current wheel guru said that he wished he had that tensioned spoke patent. Those are some significant words coming from the guru in question.

Within a year or so I'd ditched the red stem in favor of one by Ritchey WCS. I haven't used a non-Ritchey stem since (except on the tandem).

The Giant had a 55.5 top tube with a 73 degree head tube. It was the first bike I ever raced that had a 73 degree head angle - the other frames were crippled with anywhere from a 70.5 to 72 head angle. The 73 made me feel like I could slalom around little gravel stones while sprinting full bore.

I cracked the chainstay on the first one. I got another and fell hard when I unclipped sprinting out of a corner of a crit. I'd loosened my SPD-Rs so I could unclip without hammering on my shoe with my fist, but I'd loosened them too much. I gouged the top tube so relegated the frame to indoor use.

Hammering with my fist didn't seem too bad after that.

Claim to fame for that crash? The first one the missus kinda sorta witnessed. She didn't witness the crash. She did wonder where I was in the field when the field went by the start/finish line. She didn't see me because hen it went by her I was crawling off the road, onto some broken glass of all things, a few hundred meters away.

I got up, got to the pits, got a sympathetic grin from the original Bethel Spring Series official (he was the pit official), and got back in the race. A bent chain link meant I couldn't stand in any gear, and my road rash started getting uncomfortable. I sat up, my gears skipping, my chain about to fail.

I rode back to the missus, bleeding from various spots around my body.

That's when the missus realized how hard I'd gone down.

I visited the ambulance and got a bit bandaged up. I'd forgotten how much road rash stung - the last time I'd gotten road rash was back in the early-mid 90s.

As I lost weight I started yearning for a lower bar position. The tall head tube on the size Medium Giant worked for my heavy self, but even 10 pounds less and I felt like I was on a mountain bike. I bought a Ritchey adjustable stem and pointed the stem down all the way. It didn't seem right, to need to do that.

So I searched and searched for a frame that would let me connect the dots (cranks-saddle-bars) without too much weirdness.

I retired the frame after taking a lot of measurements one winter and finally finding a frame that would work. I can't find the pictures, but I Sharpied the frame with all sorts of cryptic markings. Using advanced plane geometry (for me anyway) I realized that I could replicate my saddle-bar relationship on a size S Giant. So size S it was. The yellow Giant would be retired.

Hanging in the basement.

2005: Giant TCR Carbon, Small, Campy 10s Record/Chorus. Minimum weight of rider 175, max 198? lbs. Reynolds DV46 tubulars for race day, some clinchers for training.

I upgraded the drivetrain to 10s towards the end of one of the Bethel Spring Series. I'd been struggling in the races, but on the first day on the 10s I won the field sprint. I joked that if I upgraded the whole bike I'd win my next race.

I used Eurus exclusively for a while - the only 10s wheels I had.

I used carbon 175 cranks for a while, eventually replacing them with Campy Record cranks for their lower Q factor (i.e. the crank was narrower overall, making the pedals closer to the centerline of the bike.)

I got the tubular DV46s in preparation for the 2005 Bethel Spring Series. Combined with a long training camp in California, with a prior one in Florida, I was flying in the Series. I finally won it on the last day.

2006: Giant TCR Aluminum, Small, Campy 10s R/C (back up for carbon TCR above). I rarely rode this, disassembled it to steal parts (just the stem, post, and bars) for the Cannondale and then the Tsunami.

My 2006 California training camp. Note the squared off road bars - this meant I wasn't working on my sprint at all. My host Rich is with me. I borrowed the missus's wheels for the trip.

I loved the feel of the size Small Giant, and when I spec'ed out the Tsunami, I used the Giant's seat tube as the basis for my seat tube requests. It's 4 cm shorter than the carbon Giant, measuring 40 cm to the top of the top tube, 44 cm to the top of the seat tube.

I had to change the fork - the original Giant fork wasn't good over 45-50 mph. Seemed a bit flexible.

The two Giants at Bethel. The aluminum one is the lighter colored one with the white saddle. Note the Reynolds Ouzo fork on the aluminum bike.

Let's transition back to the carbon Giant because, although I bought the aluminum one later, I rode the carbon one the most. And, towards the end of its career, I made a significant change to the bike.

Power.

Carbon. From this post. The Coke bottle is upside down, a trick I learned from a visiting Rabobank rider (visiting the area, not me).

The Giant had the first ever powermeter I owned - a PowerTap. Once I had power I never looked back. I started looking for a crank based power system after I realized that I would need to buy four or five PT hubs to rebuild my wheels, and that one or two of them would be impossible to build with a PT hub (the 21 spoke Eurus, the "no-spoke" TriSpoke, and my 20 spoke Reynolds).

I found an awesome deal on an SRM. It was about $1k more than the cost of the power system, but it came with a free SystemSix frame, Fulcrum 1 wheels, and a Record build kit.

Yeah, it was a System Six team replica SRM Record bike. I called the missus to feel out how she felt about me buying the thing.

Her response?

She wondered why I hadn't already done a "Buy It Now".

2007: Cannondale SystemSix, 52 cm frame, SRM/Record 10s. Post, stem, bars from the aluminum Giant above. DV46 clincher wheels to replace the stock Fulcrum 1s.

Bike as set up shortly after it went together, with the Reynolds clinchers.

Initially I set up the bike with one of my trusty Ritchey stems, crit bars, trusty Thomson post, and a yearned-for Reynolds DV46 clincher wheelset (to perfectly match my DV46 tubulars).

Then, after a year on the stock 170s, I moved back to 175s. Immediately felt better for certain races. Immediately felt worse for others. I think starting the season on 175s is best for me, moving to 170s for the faster, warmer part of the year.

That's about where I've been for the last couple years.

And now?

The Tsunami.

(You'll have to wait a bit for that post since I haven't done a post-test ride post on it.)

Equipment - Power, PowerTap, SRM

So I've been doing my typical "end of season equipment review". This is where I decide that next year I'll try and optimize my equipment in order to utilize my soon-to-be-started training to its utmost.

In other words, how do I buy more speed?

I've been very happy with the Power Tap setup except for one thing - I don't have an aero Power Tap rear wheel, whether clincher or tubular, and I definitely don't have one that is a real race wheel. The 32H Mavic Reflex tubular rim currently on the hub is a sad excuse for a race rim and not an ideal rim for a training wheel.

I realized shortly after learning you have to lace Power Tap hubs equally on each side (precluding me lacing a 24H rim onto a 32H hub) that I should have gotten a 24H hub, and in fact, I should have gotten two 24H hubs. 24H Power Taps are hard to find though and weren't an option for me when I first ordered a hub. Whatever. One theoretical 24H Power Tap would be laced to an aero clincher, the other to an aero tubular.

This is due to two theories (of mine) about aero rear wheels:

Theory 1:
You can ALWAYS train on an aero rear wheel, regardless of wind, and since most (carbon) aero rims weigh the same or a little more than a box section rimmed rim, a carbon, deep section clincher wheel would be the obvious choice for a training wheel.

Theory 2:
You can ALWAYS race on an aero rear wheel. Wind conditions can be ignored (see Theory 1, above). The only other factor - weight. Perhaps on a steep hilltop finish, the extra 50-100 grams might be a detriment, but think of the aero savings sitting in the field leading up to the finish. Okay, so on Mount Washington there's no such opportunity so there a light wheel would be good - and probably one without a Power Tap hub jammed in the middle of it. So, if you have a Power Tap hub for racing, you should have an aero rear rim - a deep section rim.

Deep section rims need, at most, 24 spokes, so you need to get a 24H hub.

Unfortunately, I got myself a 32H hub.

According to my two rules above, the hub is unusable.

There's a corollary too.

Corollary:
For most racers (under, say, 225 lbs), you need, at most, 24 spokes in the rear with a deep section rim.

Since Theory 1 and Theory 2 illustrate why you'd never be without a deep section rim, the corollary illustrates why you'd never need a Power Tap hub with more than 24 spoke holes. As an illustration of this - my Reynolds (carbon 46mm deep) rear wheel has 20 spokes.

Exception:
As usual, there is one exception - and it's for whoever wants to buy my Power Tap. They definitely want a 32H Power Tap!

Anyway, with my two theories and the corollary in mind, I realized that, based on my current financial situation, the Power Tap won't meet my needs.

This is because to satisfy my training and racing requirements, I'll need to buy two hubs - both 24H Campy hubs. 24H - one hurdle. Campy - another hurdle. Based on eBay prices, this will set me back about $2000, and based on an email to Saris, I have to choose either wired or wireless, the latter being more prevalent at this time (and more costly). This two hub purchase will set me up with one race wheel and no training wheels. The race wheel will come courtesy of a surplus (and old) 24H Zipp rim sitting in my wheel collection. I'll have to buy one training rim to build a similar training wheel - deep section rim, $400 or so.

I'm looking at $2400, perhaps another $800-1200 if I decide to buy matching rims (meaning two clinchers and another tubular).

And after all that, I'll have just two power-compatible rear wheels.

For someone who's just started racing, or someone with two or maybe three sets of wheels, this would be an acceptable solution. Train on the deep section clinchers, race on the deep section tubulars (with the clinchers as spares, or you can do with two sets of clinchers), and you have a perfect setup - similar parts, easily switchable wheels, etc.

The problem is that I have a LOT of wheels that I use and like - my favorite Reynolds 46mm carbon tubulars, the three Specialized TriSpokes (two front, one rear), my Campy Eurus wheelset (with a second backup set), and a boatload of less exotic wheels - mainly Spinergys and conventional Campy-hubbed FiR-rimmed wheelsets.

All of which, I should point out, do not have Power Tap hubs. The exotics, by the way, do not even accept Power Tap hubs - the TriSpokes (nope), the Reynolds (20H hub? Not readily available), the Campy wheels (21 spoke with a 14/7 spoke count? You crazy?).

I've been kicking around the idea of racing a rear disc wheel in crits as well, and those are definitely not Power Tap-able.

So...

This means my Power Tap experiment is coming to a close.

I've decided to sell my Power Tap, the wheel around it (Mavic Reflex, 32H, DT 2.0 Revolution spokes, alloy nipples on the left side, brass on the right), as well as the original wheel around it (DT 1.1 double eyelet rim, 32 2.0 straight DT spokes, brass nipples, but all currently not on the hub). No tires but there's a rim strip on the DT rim I'll leave. $850 or best offer, by the way, unless I have to eBay it, in which case I'll let the market decide. That's for both rims if you know how to build wheels (you choose which one is actually built around the hub), and I even have a set of 32H FiR tubular rims that I bought sort of by accident (not realizing when the Reflex was coming in, I order other rims "just in case"). And a couple new batteries for the head.

And at some point I'll be buying an SRM crank - 175 mm, 53x39, not sure what other specs.

The big decision on the SRM will be based on Q-factor (the crankset's width, measured by the distance between the left and right pedal's vertical path). The Campy cranks have always been low - as low as 112mm, currently in the 120s. A DA SRM crank is about 139 mm - I'd feel like I'm riding a horse, not a bike. I'd need to stick with the standard SRM setup or go to the System Integration model, i.e. specific for the Cannondale frameset.

That's another thing.

Ever since someone told me their Giant felt a bit flexy, I've been obsessing over that, even if I've denied it in public. A good friend of mine works for a company that makes frames and commented on "flexy is as flexy does" as well. As a clincher, on my pre-wedding training ride, one of the guys had a 6-13, the aluminum lugged, carbon tubed Cannondale - and he loves it. Incidentally he also rode on deep section clinchers, front and rear - the perfect training setup.

So, if Cannondale's frame measures okay (I'm obsessive about fit) and I get to test ride one in some reasonable time, I'll probably be getting a Cannondale frameset, 52 cm. I'm thinking either the 6-13 (unlikely), the System Six (carbon front triangle, aluminum rear, probable), or the new Super Six (all carbon, unlikely).

This would mean getting the SI version of the SRM crankset - the best of the versions, apparently (stiffest anyway).

Then I'd be able to use my beloved Reynolds wheelset and still get power readings. Build my 24H Zipp rim around a Campy 32H hub. Use a disk wheel. All that kind of stuff.

For now though I guess that means I need to dismount my PT stuff and start training on, gasp, "normal" wheels. I suppose that'll be okay - it's how I trained until April of this year, after all.

Life - Moving and Training

We're not done moving yet.

Alas, the truth hurts. Vacating the premises, that's the part we got done. Scattering our possessions across three widely spaced locations (four, if you count the separately keyed basement from the townhouse), we managed to do just that.

Now we have to consolidate.

My brother, as much as we're family, could probably use the half of the garage where my bike, car, and race promoting stuff ended up sitting. I know that the future missus is jonesing to ride the tandem, maybe even her single. And I'd like to be able to rebuild my PowerTap so it has a clincher rim, not a tubular rim with a really expensive, really nice tubular on it.

With that noted, it won't surprise you to learn that we spent our first weekend "after" the move, well, moving.

We drove down to my brother's place. Technically my dad's, but since they all live there, I use the two interchangeably - if you ask my insurance company, it's my dad's place, but here, I'll refer to it as my brother's place. Anyway I'd stashed all my bike stuff there save my carbon Giant and my gear bag.

We got there with the mainly empty van (some stuff to drop off there) and her empty car. We mounted the rack on the future missus's car, and piled on the tandem (with its enormous disk brakes - I'd forgotten about them), my backup Giant (really dirty drivetrain, forgot about that too), and her Coppi (with my borrowed-for-the-California trip wheels back on it) on top of it. I managed to stuff my spin bike, my mountain bike, a pile of wheels, and miscellaneous stands and tools and such into the van. We also put what car stuff we could find (big air compressor, car parts, tools, etc.) into the van for deliver to Todd's.

We couldn't leave without dropping a few things off - a clarinet (my brother's, from way back when), some art work (both of my brothers', some dating from when they were in pre-school), and some of my dad's stuff.

Now the van we have is a discontinued 15 passenger Dodge Ram (see the white thing behind Vassos and Bill?). It's discontinued due to its ability to roll quicker than the proverbial Fido. Replaced, incidentally, by my new favorite functional truck due solely to its name - the Dodge Sprinter. What a name, eh?

Anyway, really the only reason the Dodge Ram van was discontinued was safety. Go into a turn a bit hot and it doesn't turn. Turn the wheel more and the van turns suddenly - to the point where the rear end starts to slew out. With its high center of gravity, soft bouncy suspension, six feet of overhang behind the rear wheels, and narrow overall width, the van wants to barrel roll more than anything.

The front suspension is a heavy duty, parallel A-arm setup - like pretty much any big American car. Coil springs, brand new shocks, no known problems with the ball joints. All in all it's in good shape.

The rear has leaf springs and a beam axle. It resembles the setup used in big trucks. They use this setup because it works - truck loads can reach 50,000 pounds or more, and that's for a "normal" truck. The heavy duty ones, they hold so much they're limited by the road underneath the tires.

Before this weekend day I figured the best way to avoid the problems associated with 15 passenger vans was to avoid putting weight behind the rear axle and to have any weight possible towards the front of the van. I dutifully removed the rear seat (the bane of any 15 passenger van's handling characteristics). I carefully loaded our generator, tents, tables, grate covers, and other heavy things just behind the front seats, much to the annoyance of everyone helping me clean up after Bethel. Although a bit sluggish, the van drove reasonably well when loaded like this.

When we moved, I followed the same philosophy. But towards the end of the move, with the front of the van holding a lot of heavy things, I noticed the front of the van seemed to squat a bit.

Carrying boxes back and forth, my dazed brain processed this new information. And, in a moment of inspiration, it came up with a new idea.

The way I figure, the van's load should not be on the front axles. The front suspension has ball joints, pivots, and all sorts of fragile type things meant to give a nicer ride, not hold tons of weight. Instead, Mr. Einstein here decided we should center the load around the much stronger rear axle. Not centered on the rear axle really - more like "on or in front of" the rear axle. "Front-center" if you will. I wasn't about to load the rearmost portion of the van with heavy things but I was much more inclined to put stuff on the rear axle (instead of diligently pushing it all forward).

We put all of the stuff for Todd in the back (since it was easier to unload like that at his place). All my stuff in the front. Todd's stuff was pretty heavy, but centered on the rear axle. My new load philosophy wasn't disturbed by this unusual load distribution so things were good.

We set off to Todd's.

I learned pretty quickly that my new method of loading the van wasn't exactly optimal.

In fact, I came close to sheer, mind numbing panic twice on the way up to Todd's. I managed to get the rear tires to actually go sideways once on the highway (trying to keep the van from flipping over an elevated highway's guardrail) - and that wasn't one of the mind-numbing incidents, it was more just a flick and it was done (one of almost half dozen such flicks). Normally I'm very careful, very smooth when driving. But this thing, well, this thing suddenly had a mind of its own.

I read somewhere that the scariest thing when racing a car is to be going through a long sweeper at 100 mph or more and then, almost imperceptibly, the rear of the car starts to slide a bit. There's nothing you can do to help the situation - a perfectly balanced car at the limit of its abilities is letting go and anything you do to upset it will make it, well, more upset.

(I'm sure that some advanced car racing type folks will cry bloody murder and name all sorts of things you can do, but I'm just a beginning car racing type and, well, when faced with such situations, I sit and wait.)

The van got into two "high speed" drifts. One was at about 65 mph, the other about 60. Both times I used about 5 or 6 feet of pavement I hadn't planned on using, both times I started getting the "numb with adrenaline just before you crash" feeling, and both times the van decided, in an agonizingly slow fashion, that it would make the curve.

Let me tell you something about loading a van, especially a short-ish wheelbase van with a huge rear overhang.

Put ALL of the heavy stuff up front.

Anyway, with all that out of the way, we managed to get to Todd's alive, unloaded all the stuff in the back, and so weighted (front-heavy), the van was much happier and let me dictate what it was going to do, not the other way around.

We made it home, left the stuff for unpacking later, and fell asleep, exhausted.

And here I thought it'd all be done once the house was sold.

On the plus side, instead of our normal lifting type exercises (load van, unload van, load van, unload van...) we got out and walked for a bit - a couple miles on a quiet Rails to Trails thing. As a cyclist, and more specifically, a racer of sorts, I thought walking would be as exciting as something like watching grass grow. I suppose it would be if you weren't allowed to talk to someone (like your significant other) or think about plans for dominating Cat 3 cycling in the area.

(That second bit is a joke. Ha ha. Right?)

Anyway, the walk was good. I followed it up with a ride, struggling to get out and back before I had to report to work (which involves walking upstairs and wiggling the mouse). I started to bonk somewhat severely and crawled back to the townhouse.

Of course when presented with a slowly accelerating truck, I couldn't help but to merrily jump my way after it, draft it for a bit, then blow spectacularly less than 30 seconds later. Disappointingly I only hit 36 mph. It was the next ride that I realized that stretch of road is uphill. And upon downloading the PT data, I saw that I'd done a 1400+ watt sprint, holding about 1000 watts for 15 or 20 seconds. Not bad for training a few days in the last month.

I went out for a ride another morning. I'd even gone out earlier and did a 2 mile pedestrian thing, walking the first half and running for the second half. My rubbery legs recovered within 30 minutes and I was back out on the bike.

Thoughts of Cat 3 domination ran through my head.

And then I got home. I struggled to get my bike in the door, past the half unpacked boxes, and leaned it on the coffee table (driveside out). Walked around the dirt from the plant Tiger playfully tagged in the morning.

Reality hit home. Cat 3 domination will have to wait.

First we have to finish moving.

Review - PowerTap SL

So I got the PowerTap in April.

I had a Cycle Ops electronic trainer (measures power etc) before the PowerTap (PT) - made by the folks who make PT. I liked training with power and heart rate - it seemed the right way to ride. I found it both motivating and revealing. For example, sometimes I wasn't going as hard as I thought - other times, the opposite. I found that loud music was worth something like 50-75+ steady state watts, that being awake and motivated probably 50+ watts as well.

Yes, this means that I sometimes train at 90 or 100 watts average since I rarely hold 200 watts average for 30 minutes or more.

When the electronic trainer burnt up (it started smoking and wires melted and stuff) I decided I wanted a "portable" power meter. Having power on the trainer was fun but I couldn't relate it to real world performances. I selected the PT after a lot of thinking, a lot of budgeting, and finally a quick swipe of the credit card.

So does it help? Does knowing power help?

I suppose the answer really depends on what you want from it.

Yes it tells you power. It downloads easily onto a USB equipped computer. It graphs your speed, heart rate, torque, and power. You can select a period of time simply by clicking at the beginning and end of it and the program will tell you your stats for just that interval. Power readings are available as peak, 5 second best, 30 second best, 1 minute, 5 minute, 30 minute, and 120 minute bests.

I haven't taken advantage of it as a tool though. For me it's more like a gadget.

I don't train that much - my PT, which I got in April and which I've ridden both indoors and out, has 850 miles or so on the odometer - and that includes about 60-70% trainer rides. I do use the PT all the time except when I've ridden my tandem (maybe 50 miles on the latter).

But I don't use the PT to figure out my next interval or how much power to put out on the next hill. I've never set out with a wattage goal in mind - it's usually a heart rate target and I check to see if I'm going well or not based on the power relative to my heart rate.

I have used it to gauge how I'm doing in races and during hard efforts. My best 1 minute efforts on the electronic trainer were about 400 watts. In races, I found I could do 450 watts for a minute, once 500. A few days ago, after writing the start of this post and thinking about it, I realized I hadn't done a one minute effort in a long time - a couple years. I did two and managed to maintain 500+ watts for both.

I found this pretty cool since in races I haven't been able to hit such sustained 60 second power levels. So now I know that the races I did earlier this year weren't as much work as what I did last night, at least for a minute.

Without a power meter, there's no way I would have known this.

Speed and cadence data is hard to interpret - there are too many variables to be able to extrapolate data from these numbers. Wind, gearing, incline, and perhaps elevation all affect your speed and cadence.

Many people use heart rate monitors and heart rate is a bit more telling. However, in my big efforts, a heart rate monitor really wouldn't have helped at all. When I did my two 500+ watt one minute efforts, my heart rate never went over 163. I blow at 170-173 or so. It shows that although I may not feel like I'm fit, I have some fitness. Or, more realistically, that my efforts were too short to get my heart rate up. Either way, a heart rate monitor would have told me "nice try but no cigar".

The reality was that I went harder for that minute than I have in any race I've done with the PowerTap.

In that sense, a power meter is good.

It's obvious too that if the power meter doesn't work then it's not really useful. In that respect the PT is very good. I used it in during a thunderstorm that was pretty bad - bad enough to "red flag" a Pro/1/2/3 race - and had no problems with the hub or the head unit. I've used it in pretty cold weather too although no sand or snow or salt. And I've banged around my bike in my trunk, the basement, and on the trainer. No data drops that I know of, no problems with the head or the hub.

Setting up the thing wasn't that quick but it was reasonable. The odd thing are the zip ties - if the bike gets really hot they don't stay tied. I got my bike out of my car one day (I left it in there during a really hot day) and virtually all the ties were loose - and I used a lot of zip ties. It was sort of odd. It looked like some of those magical shoemaker elves undid all my zip ties overnight or something. I used pliers to re-zip them and they've been fine since.

I'd like to get another PT wheel so that I have one for training, one for racing. A whole setup is not that much so I'd buy a second unit. I'd use the second "head" on a different bike or put it on my fiancee's bike. The second hub would be a 24 hole so that I can lace a 24 hole deep dish rim on it. I'd revert my first PT hub back to a non-tubular training wheel once the second wheel is built.

Of course this gets the price of the PT up there, almost into the SRM category. Almost. I'd have to buy a third PT to hit SRM levels. If I'd gotten an SRM to start with, I wouldn't have had to rebuild any wheels or anything. I still think the PT is easier to handle financially since you really only have to get one wheel. And a lot of folks apparently train with the PT but race on "race" wheels.

The one time you can't use a PT is if you want to use a real disk wheel. Since I don't time trial a disk wheel is not an issue. If you're a TT god you'd need an Ergomo or SRM to be able to ride a disk while getting power output.

Overall I like the PT a lot. If you're thinking of getting a power measuring unit, the PT is pretty foolproof, compatible with both Shimano and Campy cassettes, build-able like a normal wheel, and sets up similarly to a cyclo computer with cadence and rear wheel speed pickup.

I like it. I guess there's not much more to say than that.

Equipment - Power Tap Wheel, Part 2

The last day or two I've been thinking about my PT wheel rebuild project.

I optimistically chose normal shipping for the 380 gram Mavic rim (I ordered it online as the local shop I patronized is closed for the moment). Problem is that it wasn't scheduled to show up until Monday.

Not good for a Sunday race.

So I thought about rim things. Made notes on my daily meeting agenda printout. Put miscellaneous notes into my (Windows) phone. Hemmed and hawed. And finally I bought another rim. When I checked it out I learned that it is a bit heavy. Of course I learn this after the fact. Great for Paris Roubaix. Not the rim I want for a criterium.

I guess if I ever do 'cross, I have the tubular rims for whatever bike I get.

With the (not 'cross) race rapidly approaching I had to look at what I already own.

I reassessed my wheel inventory, looking for any reasonable weight 32 hole tubular rim. I found a few other other 32 hole tubular rimmed wheels. I have a few so I checked some weights online as I thought they were light - but they weren't, most of them 400 grams or more. I do have a few low (or sub) 300 gram rims but they're all 28 hole - can't use that with my 32 hole PowerTap hub.

You know that SRM is looking mighty appealing - just slap my fave Reynolds wheels on and go...

Then I looked at my track bike. It's supremely overbuilt - a 7 pound frame and fork (staight gauge steel), 32 hole Superbe Pro track hub, 14 gauge straight spokes in the rear, brass nipples, and...

A 32 hole Sun M17A tubular rim.

330 grams or so. No eyelets but I have DT washers for such a rim (0.1 grams each washer). 17 millimeters wide. And I have a brand new 18 mm tubular tire glued to it. Already stretched, already aged, already pressure tested.

Not the best training setup. Wouldn't corner too well either. But man it would fly in a race. And New Britain (and the two Prospects right after) are all on kidney shaped courses - no real turns.

So I'd unlace the track wheel, pull the rim, save the hub. Said rim would be built into a wheel around the PowerTap hub with some nice DT Revolution spokes, alloy nipples, and the DT washers for non-eyeletted rims for durability.

That would leave me with the track hub and a track bike with no rear wheel. With only one track wheel to my name, that'd leave me without a track bike (not that I've raced on the track since 1991 or so but that's a different story altogether). I figured that it'd be a perfect excuse to lace up a 24 hole Zipp 440 to the 32 hole track hub as the track hub is a lot more tolerant of odd spoke patterns than my PT hub. The track hub doesn't care if the spoke count is consistent left-right or if there are crosses or not.

Since I have very few races left this year, I may build the PowerTap M17A wheel to use just for the next month or so. Then rebuild the wheel using a normal clincher rim.

Or maybe find a 28 hole PowerTap hub and do up one of my 300 gram tubular rims on that. Hm. House stuff may take precedence over that. Whatever, I can revisit later.

I figured that I'd quickly pull the M17A rim, quickly unlace the PT hub. Quickly because we were going to my dad's last night. I would bring the stuff to lace and true the wheel to my dad's house where we're having a continuation of our July 4th family get together.

I hoped that when I got home, I'll be holding a new M17A PT wheel complete with a newly glued Conti tubular.

I wrote all that stuff and then guess what? The Mavic rim came in. So I brought that to my dad's, laced it up while everyone played cards, glued on a nice new CX, and brought it home.

So today I'll be testing my new Mavic rear wheel and see how it goes. It feels heavy when I pick it up so I'm not sure I'm too keen on it. It's the same rim used in the discontinued Heliums - the Mavic wheels I thought were so slow I abandoned them after one race.

So tomorrow if you see me on my Reynolds rear wheel, well, you'll know how it went.