Plan 2020 - CycleOps 300 Pro

One of the most critical things in the 500m time trial is the start. Actually, it's the most critical thing, and it makes sense. The goal with the 500m time trial is to cover the distance as fast as possible. You can do one of two things to do that. You can go faster or you can get to speed quicker.

The problem with going faster is that you're working against aerodynamic drag, which increases exponentially. It will take an incredible amount of power to increase speed meaningfully, and at what I presume is the goal speed, about 40 mph, you're covering about 60 feet per second. There isn't a lot of time to go faster.

With limitations to top speed, it makes sense that the rider should accelerate to top speed as fast as possible.

And that's what all the big racers have been doing for the last 20 years. The top speeds are about the same so they work to get up to speed faster. That means every iota of power has to go into the pedals, not into moving the bike around. So no real rocking of the bike

I first saw the unusual starting technique with Chris Hoy in 2002. I wondered about his technique since there was no rocking of the bike initially. It was more like he was on a spin bike and pushing down. Ends up that is exactly it - you basically lock your leg, push down as hard as you can (which means pulling up on the bars), and you end up putting down massive power and saving your quads for later. Here he is in 2002 (and incidentally he does the 500m in 31 seconds, which would win Nationals for me by a wide margin). And here is a crazy fast sea level kilo in 2019 (go to 21:00). That guy does a 30 second 500m. It seems to me that a 34 second 500m will put me in the ball park for Nationals.

Everyone has acknowledged that starts are critical. Therefore riders practice starts all the time, going to the track if possible. There's a unique resistance with standing starts that simply not cannot be replicated on a trainer - it's high resistance at the start due to the rider/bike inertia, but then it turns into a speed thing, turning the pedals fast with high power. You can't replicate that with the light flywheels on trainers, the 6 lbs or even 12 lbs ones. There are whole training days for starts, using different gears, doing start efforts (50-100m), etc.

For me getting to a track is not possible so I needed to find an alternative. Based on some intranet help from fellow trackies, the low buck way to replicate starts is to get a high inertia wheel. There's a bazillion dollar machine out there but a cheap and usable alternative is the CycleOps 300 Pro. New they were about $1500-2500. I saw them at Interbike in 2009, but I remember thinking, "why would I want one?". I liked the 400 for its ability to adjust power (so you could record a ride and then "replay" it at home, or set power test steps, etc).

Picture from the post linked above.

The 400 (above) is a smart trainer, i.e. it can adjust resistance.

The 300 is not a smart trainer but uses the same frame and wheel.

The 300 was initially sold as a fixed gear bike but later it went freewheel, I think for mass market appeal. When I contacted Saris (the manufacturer) about conversion kits to fixed gear I was told that the 45 lbs wheel still has the fixed gear threads, they just put a one speed freewheel on. I'd just need to remove the freewheel and install a fixed cog and a lockring.

With that settled I decided to look for a 300. They're available locally for about $500, I saw them for less outside the area.

The biggest problem was fit - I vaguely recalled being unimpressed with the bar drop when I sat on one in Vegas. When I looked at the local one I measured what the drop would be from saddle to bars. On my bike it's 14.5 cm. On a 300? About zero. When I measured where the "top tube" intersected the "head tube" it was about where I'd want the stem. With a huge amount of vertical adjustment, I figured that if I modified the frame so that the top of the head tube was as low as possible then I'd be good.

I bought the 300.

And got to work.

First off, the thing is really heavy. Shipping weight is 140 lbs, actual weight about 135 lbs. I struggled to get it out of the Suburban, and it noticeably weighed down the rear of the vehicle. In the process of moving it around I managed to break the plastic mount for the computer. On the good side I figured the weight would help anchor the bike, and the flywheel would really make a difference in replicating high inertia standing starts.

Stock head tube. Very tall.

Black insert in tube.

The black insert is a slippery plastic, sort of like cable housing liner. It's tough, resistant to rubbing forces, and flexible. It makes it possible to have a less than perfect head tube and still clamp the tube tightly. On a regular frame the seat post and stem have to be perfect to within 0.1 mm. With the sleeve, not so much - the tube is probably misshapen by a solid 2-3 mm from top to bottom, with significant distortion around the welds.

The clamp (with the big lever) looked to me like it can be removed. This was my big gamble. I figured they would make the frame modular, with a one piece cast piece for the clamp. No reason to do fancy brazing and lug work on this thing, so all the raised bits would probably be molded into the cast piece.

My request for help on Facebook.

The clamp assembly is circled in red.

The yellow vertical line is my lowering goal.

Note the spot weld bits on the clamp assemble. There are two on each side. When I removed the sleeve there were no weld marks at the top, only a lip to keep the clamp from sliding down too much. I gambled that the clamp assembly was slipped over the cap, a couple welding tacks put in place to hold it, and done. If they used more to hold it I'd be in trouble.

Starting cutting at work.

I didn't have a cutting wheel so I brought the 300 to work and borrowed one. When I started cutting I was afraid of ruining my $500 investment. Plus I'd never cut so much metal at once. I was timid, unsure, and eventually stopped.

Did the cut at home.

I started cutting the welds holding on the clamp assembly.

At home I was a bit less timid. I didn't have to clean up before close, I could work at my own pace (no work interruptions), etc. I generally work well like this although sometimes I end up veering down the wrong path. It's how I did the suspension and quarter panels of the Civic, built the inside of the trailer, fixed the Sentra, got the now-red frame repainted, and it would be how I approached modding the 300.

Cut head tube in front, the remaining frame in the rear.

I needed to cut out the rectangle for the stem clamp.

I tried to mirror the rectangle opening for the clamp wedge. I also notched the tube for the alignment bumps in the clamp assembly.

Notching the frame for the alignment notches.

One thing that I didn't anticipate was just how low I cut the head tube. I knew I cut it lower than the clamp height, and I planned on cutting down the clamp, but it was close. I underestimated how much the clamp overlapped the head tube - it went much further down than I thought it would.

Trial fitting the clamp assembly while holding the cut bit of the head tube.

Red thing is a flashlight to look inside the tubes.

At this point the clamp was about 5-8mm too tall - the lip that was supposed to sit on the top of the head tube (visible on the left side of the clamp) was 5-8mm away.

The pieces in my hand.

You can see how tall the clamp assembly is at the back, opposite the yellow lever. It's over 10mm tall, and I needed it much shorter.

The clamp assembly cut down.

I did smooth it out after.

I cut the back of the clamp assembly almost to the top - I'm just short of the cosmetic trim lip of the assembly.

You can also see the lip around the edge of the clamp assembly. There are notches cut out for the plastic sleeve. The springs spread the wedges in the clamp bit - there's another wedge that is not in the picture, and that one is the one that presses against the tube.

Close up of the finished product.

Note how low the head tube is now - the "stem" protrudes below the frame now.

I had to remove a stop that kept the "stem" from protruding down below.

I can't weld so I planned on using a metal epoxy to resecure the clamp assembly to the head tube. However, I actually did not do the last step in the process. I'll do it later but the metal epoxy I have was dried (I used it on the Honda quarter panels about 10 years ago!) and the clamp is holding fine right now without any adhesive.

The finished frame bit. 

The wheel still needs to be converted to a fixed gear.

The major mod is done now. I still have to remove the BMX freewheel off the wheel and install a fixed cog and lockring. I want to put different pedals on it also - the Keo Max pedals are too easy to slip out of, which is why I don't have them on my road bikes (I've unclipped multiple times during sprints). I may use my old SPD-Rs (the kind that don't unclip easily), or I'll use the one Look pedal that doesn't release accidentally, the original Look Keo Carbons that I still have in my pedals bin.

I gave it a test launch last night. I was in my PJs, no socks, and went to do some lifting before bed. I slipped on my shoes barefoot, adjusted the saddle, and did a Chris Hoy imitation. Junior has watched a bunch of starts with me and even he knows the drill.

Beep at 30 seconds.

Do what you need. Look around. Look down. Wiggle your hands on the bars. Think of the upcoming effort.

Beep at 10 seconds.

Focus. Hands still now. Prepare to send it.

Beep every second from 5 seconds.

At 2 seconds you lean a bit forward.

At 1 second you throw your butt way back, and start launching forward so that...

At "GO!" your pelvis is thrusting forward so it's over your front hub, your left (track tilts to left so you start with left so you don't take yourself out) leg straightens, and you push down as hard as you can while you pull with your arms as hard as you can. It's like doing a dead lift, max power, hold your breath, just get the bike going.

And I almost flipped over the bars as the rear of the 300 came up off the ground.

Heh.

So I have some more mods to work on, to keep the 300 planted - apparently 135 lbs isn't distributed properly for standing starts.

And then I can work on some full power starts.

Equipment - Homemade Rocking Trainer

Last night I did my first ride on my home made rocking trainer. The goal behind the rocking trainer is to let the bike tilt left and right, like it does when riding out on the road.

The two obstacles (well three?) to a rocking trainer are:

1. Does it rock realistically?

2. Does it allow you to ride it without tilting inadvertently?

3. Does it provide enough resistance?

Realistic Rock?

The first is the main goal of the trainer, to be able to rock the bike realistically. What a lot of people don't realize is that when you rock your bike side to side while out of the saddle your bike actually tilts around the bottom bracket area, relative to your path. Meaning, yes, your bike tilts left-right with the tires as the axis, but when taking into account the slight wiggle you get when rocking the bike back and forth, the bike is really going in a straight line from about the bottom bracket area.

This means the tilt axis needs to be higher than the tires, closer to the bottom bracket. Your body is mostly stationary during out of saddle efforts (if your body moves then that's not the best), you're basically standing on the pedals, and the two pedals share one thing in common - they're anchored at the bottom bracket axle. This makes the bottom bracket the ideal pivot point.

If the axis is too low then you get the "my tires are stuck in a groove and I'm going to fall over" feeling", which is what it would be like if you actually pivoted around the tire/road junction.

Problem is if you have the axis too high then it gets a bit weird. Imagine if your head was the pivot point - the tires would slide back and forth a few feet as the whole bike/trainer assembly pivots around your head.

Can You Stay Upright?

The second is sort of crucial. Bikes stay upright because you can steer the bike while you move forward. Basically you catch yourself falling by steering into the fall, like if you're tilting right you steer right and now you're not falling, you're just turning right.

With a trainer there's no forward motion, meaning your bike isn't moving forward and therefore you can't really steer into a turn because you're not turning per se. Therefore it's a bit trickier to keep the bike from tilting.

The thing that helps to tilt the bike is to be able to steer the front wheel. The head tube angle and fork rake encourage the bike to lean if you turn the bar while the bike is stationary (by lowering the front of the bike). That allows the bike to tilt a bit where it wouldn't otherwise tilt.

My homemade rocking trainer.

The brown thing under the wood is a spacer to raise the left side just a touch.

Eventually I think I'll use wedges between the two pieces of wood.

Due to the forward hang of the trainer the base has to extend forward a bit. I made my base out of wood because I could, and I don't have welding skills.

Note that the folding arms and their mounts are removed from the front of the trailer (normally under where the trainer clamps the wheel). This was an all-or-nothing experiment.

I had this trainer frame after warrantying a blown up electronic trainer through CycleOps. Although I requested they send only the resistance unit (a Fluid2 since they discontinued the electronic unit at the time) they sent me a complete trainer. I suppose it's probably easier logistically to do that instead of stock a bunch of resistance units. Anyway end result was that I had an extra trainer frame. They don't wear out so I decided to use the spare to see what I could do with it.

View from above.

I've been thinking about the trainer and how to make it better. I think one thing would be to make the pivot point (where the plates are, see pictures below) below the bike, not behind it. This would support the bike better. Right now the bike dips a bit when I pedal, more when I pedal hard. It's to the point that I expect the tire to hit the floor/mats at some point.

Different view of the rocking area.

Although I asked my car friend to cut down the plates a bit, he ended up welding the plates in a different order. I wanted the top plate to be in the middle, so it could clear the other two plates while it rocked. It's okay, nothing hits so far.

(I gave my car friend a piece of plate steel in exchange for doing this work - the plate steel was probably 2'x3' and had to weigh 50-80 pounds... it was really heavy but it's stuff he could use for his car restoration hobby.)

Plates and bushings.

The plate angle was designed to allow the bike to pivot around 1/3 up from floor relative to BB.

The guy who welded everything painted it also, without me requesting the paint. Very nice.

You can see here that the plate welded to the trainer frame (middle one) is wider than the top plate. This was an error. The guy helping me out inadvertently swapped the two plates. If the narrower top plate was welded to the frame there'd be more room for it to rock.

I have to increase the height of the bushings as the trainer doesn't rock enough so I don't think I'll run into interference problems between the middle plate and the bottom one. If I do I'll have to try and cut down the middle plate. It's very tough to cut - the guy who welded it actually asked someone else with a plasma cutter to cut out the pieces for him. I don't have a plasma cutter. I may visit a machine shop nearby and ask them to cut the piece down.

A stock Kinetic Road Machine resistance unit.

The tire-roller junction is the weak point of the whole set up. I haven't done an all out sprint yet, just a few rolling jumps to make sure nothing would break, maybe 600-800w each. Nothing like 1000-1200w, and definitely no 10% jumps. However the tire slips if I do any kind of a super hard jump.

I got the KK Road Machine unit from a fellow racer. Note the spring - it's not curved around the corner. When I got the trainer the spring was curved around the corner. I didn't realize it but the various pieces of metal holding the old trainer were slightly bent. This meant I couldn't get as much clamp power to hold the roller to the tire. Now it's much better.

Note: This is a Kurt Kinetic resistance unit. The frame is a CycleOps frame that used to have a Fluid2 resistance unit on it. The frames and resistance units are interchangeable based on what I have experienced. Apparently KK has some deal with CycleOps where the frames are the same. Different mechanisms for adjusting tire tension (I prefer the CycleOps lever system although I haven't tried the two companies' newest systems) but obviously the resistance units fit one another's frames.

For the front a heavy duty lazy Susan with the front wheel holder.

This allows the front wheel to turn easily; I've turned it a bit to illustrate that.

I need to mount something to the metal lazy Susan, probably a thin piece of wood with the tire block mounted to it. The lazy Susan is an industrial strength one rated to a few hundred pounds, not something for the coffee mugs in the kitchen cabinet.

If I do that I'll need to raise the rear a similar amount, to keep the bike level. This isn't a bad thing since it would increase tire clearance to the floor.

How Does It Work?

Right now it's not working really well.

1. The rocking motion is too limited side to side. I feel like I want to move the bars another 4-6 inches to each side. That might be an exaggeration because I didn't use a tape measure or anything, but I don't think so. For sure the bike still feels too rigidly upright.

2. The bike doesn't tilt easily enough. I have to force the bike down to the side. It doesn't drop down naturally. I'm not sure what the solution is - maybe some bushings to the side of the main axis, soft ones, with the larger central bushings cut down a bit? I don't know. I'll have to think about this for a bit.

3. The rear tire gets very close to the floor.

4. The skewer has to twist in the trainer. Since the trainer frame is tilting forward on each downstroke, however slightly, the skewer twists inside the cups. Ultimately I'd like to have some kind of bushing type material or a separate cup for the skewer ends that rotates on its own.

5. Lack of peak power. The tire-roller interface is still the weak point of the whole set up because it slips at about 1100-1200w. This limits any peak power kind of efforts.

Going Forward

My ultimate trainer set up would be a reduction gear trainer like the one here, but that's a pipe dream for now. The challenge here is to mimic the inertia you have to overcome when accelerating without drivetrain/tire slip as well as rocking the bike like you do outside.

With the Kinetic Road Machine resistance unit you get some of that - the inertia and the exponential resistance. However there are two limitations.

First and foremost there is a definite element of drivetrain slip, aka tire slip. If I do a max effort downstroke the tire slips every time, so I've learned to tone down my initial jump by 300-400w. That's not a good habit to get into and it also prevents me from exploring max effort jumps indoors. I'm pretty sure this is part of the reason why my peak power is a bit lower nowadays - I've trained myself not to make big jumps nowadays. In 2008-2010 I was training outside a lot, I was doing many massive jumps, and I regularly hit significantly higher peak power numbers, 1400w whenever, 1550w on a great jump. Nowadays I think it's a big deal if I hit 1250w and many of my jumps are more like 1100w.

The other is the incorrect rocking motion. Without the bike tilting as much it just doesn't feel the same as it does on the road.

I can't do much on the drive train slip limitation. I can, though, work on the rocking bit, so that's my homework going forward. I'll also finish up the front tire mount as well.

Training - Why Should You Get A Better Fan?

In 2015 and this year I trained basically 100% indoors, going outdoors only for races or a few event rides (the latter in 2015 only). My last regular outdoor training ride was around Christmas 2014 when we had unseasonably warm temperatures here in northeastern US.

Indoor Training Advantages

I've always trained indoors throughout the year, in the winter to avoid the cold/chill, but even in the summer, usually to escape the heat/humidity outside. This has been the case for about 25-30 years. Training indoors is great for a number of reasons, like road safety, no scheduling problems if you encounter a mechanical, immediate parts/tools availability for said mechanical, immediate water/food availability, etc. For about 10 years I trained inside the bike shop so I really had any and every part available if something happened. I've done outside rides only to puncture at a critical time, like on a ride where I gave myself virtually no time cushion to pick up Junior from daycare. Although I rode harder than I thought possible it was an irresponsible way to motivate myself.

Indoor Training Challenges

Training indoors is tough for a number of reasons. The absolutely most significant thing with indoor training is that it's simply harder than riding outside. No one can really pinpoint exactly why but this post offers some possible suggestions. Basically it suggests that not being able to coast, not being able to rock the bike, and less external stimuli as factors that make indoor training harder than training outside.

However the main one most people cite when talking about training indoors is boredom. Nowadays, with all the tech available, there's quite a bit of distraction available to combat this problem. I find that watching bike DVDs, using Zwift, and listening to music make time fly on the trainer.

A dominant Race Across America rider, Lon Haldeman, defined the anti-thesis of a bored indoor rider. He would ride rollers in the dark to condition himself to riding through a dark night in the middle of nowhere. Although I don't turn out the lights and I generally don't ride rollers, I still find myself regularly reverting to riding with my eyes closed, particularly when pushing hard. I count pedal revolutions, focus on maintaining a consistent pedal stroke, and open my eyes to do a time/effort check.

Another indoor challenge is learning and conditioning to ride out of the saddle. Due to the nature of trainers and rollers it's hard to rock the bike out of the saddle (Kinetic Rock N Roll notwithstanding). For me this is significant since I simply cannot sprint effectively without being out of the saddle. I admit that I'm in the final stages of doing a very low buck DIY Rock N Roll using a converted CycleOps Fluid trainer frame (yikes, I started that three years ago?). If that works out I'll post about it, otherwise it was all just an exercise in experimentation for me.

Direct drive trainers tackle the problem of tire slippage. It's significant when making huge efforts. I'm not quite strong enough to regularly slip tires on my trainer/s but there are riders significantly stronger than me that probably have major tire slippage. Such a trainer replaces your whole rear wheel - ultimately you end up putting your bike's chain on the trainer's cassette. By eliminating the tire-roller interface a direct drive trainer makes the system virtually slip-free.

Direct Drive trainer (approximately $660), picture from the CycleOps site.

A "smart" trainer is the ultimate for indoor training. "Smart" trainers use software inputs to adjust resistance, so, for example, if you're using a program like Zwift and you're on an uphill, a smart trainer will increase resistance. In order to make it up the hill you'll have to shift into lower gears. With a regular trainer you have to shift into higher gears in order to increase resistance. Smart trainers should engage you a bit more, due to the fact that you'll need to shift gears to react to virtual terrain changes.

Smart direct drive trainer, not available yet, est. MSRP $1200.

Picture from CycleOps site.

A long time ago I got to use a smart trainer, something called a VeloDyne. It was really engaging, really motivating. It was a bit hard as it didn't coast well, making the downhills the hardest part of any route. There was also not much in terms of "courses". I think the 1984 Olympic RR was one of the courses, I think also Morgul-Bismark of Coors Classic fame, but one could not import a course, nor could one make their own. I might have a picture of it from my shop days but I don't know at this point. I did have an adventure delivering one though.

For all the indoor training I do I haven't been able to justify purchasing a smart trainer or a rocking one. Zwift started to change my mind on direct drive and active trainers, but at the moment buying such a trainer is simply out of the question.

Indoor Training Cooling

Finally indoor training is hard because it's hard to cool off.

When you work hard you generate excess heat energy. Your body tries to get rid of that heat energy, mainly by expanding blood vessels near the skin surface (so you get flushed, your veins pop, etc) and by sweating. Sweat gets rid of heat through evaporation. When sweat evaporates it must absorb heat energy - if the sweat doesn't evaporate then it won't do much good in removing heat.

For sweat to evaporate it needs two things - air and some dryness. If your sweat has no air volume around it then it can't evaporate. For example if you wrapped yourself in Saran Wrap you'd be mighty hot after a short time. On the other hand if you were in an indoor stadium or concert hall, you'd have a lot of air volume. When I had the shop with 20 foot ceilings and a 70'x25' floor foot print, I had a gazillion feet of air volume (okay, it was 20x70x25 so 35,000 cubic feet of air). With smaller areas you need to move air around so that you're introducing new air to your trainer area. A powerful fan works well for this, allowing you to move air around quickly.

Sweat can't evaporate if it's too humid. If you're in 99% humidity air then the air is basically saturated. Your sweat won't really evaporate and therefore it won't really cool you down. You'll feel like you're taking a hot shower. Air conditioning helps, since it dries the air. A dehumidifier is good also, although it heats the air while it dries it, making it a bit touch and go if the house is already warm. In the shop example above I had 35,000 of air conditioned goodness so even in the middle of a heat wave it was downright pleasant to ride indoors for an hour or two at a time. We even had "group indoor rides" with maybe 6 or 8 riders, without any problems with too much humidity.

Remember, air volume and humidity.

Indoor Training Set Ups

When I see someone else's trainer set up I always look at a number of things usually obvious by the picture.

1. Fan, like its size/velocity.
2. Air Volume, like how much air volume appears to be there.
3. Air temperature, like does it look like the rider is on a trainer in their garage with the door open during a snow storm?

Those three factors - air velocity, air volume, and air temperature - really affect how you'll feel on the trainer.

There's a fourth factor but it's hard to guess at, although it's often related to air volume. The mystery factor is air humidity. I'll put it in the list below.

4. Humidity

If I see central AC vents or a window AC unit or a cold/wintry background then I'm guessing the humidity is under control. If I see a dehumidifier, if I see five towels draped over the bike and nearby furniture and a puddle of water under the bike then I'm guessing the humidity is a bit out of control.

The other day (okay, the other month) I saw a picture of the local hero pro on his trainer It looks like a home decor ad, if you ask me, because it looks so neat and tidy:

Note the fan on the floor.

Photo courtesy Benjamin Wolfe (Jelly Belly Cycling Team p/b Maxxis)

(Let me put in this disclaimer right away. In my world 200 watts is a hard effort. 450 watts is basically a max 60 second effort. For someone like Ben he does 450w average for a long time, like an hour at the beginning of a long day of racing. This is based on the fact that he posted that it took 450w avg for an hour just to make the second laughing group at some stage in the Tour of CA this year. What I mean is that my recommendations may not hold water if you're a super human and don't generate much heat cranking out 400 watts. Maybe you don't even break a sweat at 400w.)

Anywho...

When I saw Ben's picture above I subconsciously went down my list. I'll skip #1 for now and start with #2, Air Volume. It looks fine - there's so much ceiling above him that someone could take this very stylish picture.

#3 Air temperature I'm guessing is okay since it's June and the windows are closed. This could be an indicator of air conditioning.

#4 Humidity... related to air conditioning, air conditioning would make humidity a non-issue.

The only thing left is #1, air velocity. He's using what appears to be the ubiquitous Lasko 20" box fan. Set on the floor it blows cooler air up at his head/upper torso, ideal for cooling off a working rider. It's a decent fan for moving air around - I should know, I think we have four in the house. We use one dinky little window type AC unit to cool our 1500 sf house. The box fans help move the air around so we don't have one icy cold room with the rest of the house sweltering in heat; instead we have one chilly room and an otherwise comfortably dry and cool house. Other than the low thrumming of fans in the background and the somewhat MacGyver looking fans set up around the house the system works well.

The ubiquitous Lasko box fan is rated at "up to" 2500 CFM, or 2500 cubic feet per minute. That's on high. I thought I read somewhere that low is 800-1000 CFM (I think when I worked at a place that sold such fans) but I can't verify that.

When I see these fans in front of trainers or treadmills I wonder how the person can possibly stay cool. Okay, in the winter, in an unheated basement, it's sort of reasonable since you may not need much air velocity at all. But when it's even sort of warm you really need a lot of air flow to evaporate your sweat to cool you down. If there's no evaporation happening then there's really no cooling off happening either. That's why a super humid 95 degrees can be so much tougher than a very dry 105 degrees.

My set up isn't quite as neat at the one above, as evidenced by the picture below. However there is one key element in my set up: a very strong fan.

You might be able to find the fan on the floor amongst all the clutter.

It's a 20" Hamilton high velocity fan.

Air volume is sort of low because the bike room is in our basement. Worse, in order to keep the cats out of all sorts of human-inaccessible nooks and crannies, we have to keep the door shut to the bike room half of the basement. For the trainer room and the bike "shop" room I have two small rooms for air volume. Two wall mounted vent grilles allow air to travel between the bike half of the basement and the regular half. I have two fans permanently pushing air around the bike room and out of one of the vent grills so I'm guessing that the air probably gets cycled once daily at most.

Not only that, because of all sorts of reasons I can't leave the door at the top of the stairs to the basement itself open except for late at night so there's very little air flow into for most of the day - it's whatever seeps around the door along with about a 5"x5" cat door (we removed the flap so it's always open). Therefore the basement air itself doesn't get "refreshed" very frequently. At night in warmer weather I use one of our Lasko box fans to push air into the basement, allowing the hotter air down there to travel up the ceiling into the first floor.

Very low air volume cat door in our door to the basement stairs.

This doesn't bode well for air exchange between the main house and the basement.

In the winter the furnace naturally creates circulation, heated air rising to the first floor, cooler air sinking into the basement. It ends up the basement is pretty warm in the winter so it works out.

For air temperature the bike room is fine in the winter, typically 45-65 degrees F. In warmer weather it gets a bit hot, like 75-80 degrees F.

Humidity is all over the board. In the winter it's about 35-45%, ideal for indoor training. Sweat evaporates quickly and the room doesn't feel like a sauna. In the summer about 70-80%; that's not that great, I get sweat running down my face, I have to use a towel to keep my eyes clear, and, probably most significantly, I'm simply aware of sweating. I run a dehumidifier in a different part of the basement so the temperature may go up as much as 10-15 degrees F, but with judicious basement-door-opening I can keep the basement at about the 70 deg F mark.

Air temperature, air humidity, that's sort of based on your trainer room environment, your house. You need to take into account what you have, what you don't have, and figure out how to fill in the gaps.

Air Velocity

For me, for air velocity, I'm all set. The 20" Hamilton, model SFC1-500B, is rated at 3900 CFM on low, so at its lowest setting it moves about 150% the volume of the ubiquitous Lasko box fan on high. The Hamilton pushes 4700 CFM at medium and a hurricane-like 6100 CFM on high.

To give you an idea of how powerful the fan is, during a particularly bad storm I had water come into the basement (this was in our old house, leak was due to a crack in an add-on foundation area which we eventually found and fixed). Initially it looked like some water had just seeped into the basement, simply wetting the floor. It looked like I'd spilled a bucket of water down there. I set up the fan on high to "dry" the floor, pointing the fan at the wet floor to maximize air movement and therefore evaporation in that area. I also ran a dehumidifier on a counter top down there to dry the air. This set up my trifecta of air velocity, air volume, and air humidity. I hoped to check in a couple hours later to a nice and dry basement.

Unfortunately when I came back to check up on my "drying project" I found that the water level had risen unexpectedly. We had a few inches of water in the basement, with the shallow bit about 1" just near the fan - apparently our basement floor wasn't very level. I was worried that the fan would get shorted out, sitting in a puddle of water. But to my great surprise I found, in front of the fan, a miniature wave an inch or so high about 3 feet away from the fan. The fan was blowing so hard the water couldn't approach any closer. The floor in front was bone dry and it's where I staged the wet/dry vac to start cleaning things up.

So I have a very powerful fan for my trainer.

As a side note I've had the fan for maybe 12 or 14 years now, if not longer. I use it regularly. In some situations I'll move the fan to move air around in other parts of the house, like the wet basement (when we lived there) or, when we get hit with debilitating heat waves, I'll set it up to blow air around in the main part of the house. It's a solid, durable, reliable fan.

Air Humidity

Drier air will help comfort on the trainer. You cool off by having sweat evaporate off your body, but if the air is too humid the sweat simply cannot evaporate quickly enough or at all. When I was a kid we didn't have air conditioning so if I got sick and it was hot and sticky out it'd be hard to cool me down. If I was running a high fever my parents would carefully dole out aspirin to reduce my fever. I knew if they were really worried, or if it was really sticky out, when they patted me down with a towel dipped in a water and rubbing alcohol solution. The slight bit of rubbing alcohol was there to evaporate quickly - it evaporates quicker than water. My dad, the chemist, knew that the rubbing alcohol mixed with water would cool me better than just plain cold water. Just to be clear you should NOT be dousing yourself with rubbing alcohol on the trainer. There are problems with rubbing alcohol that far outweigh the benefits of its cooling properties when on a trainer.

Nowadays, in our house, we have air conditioning in the main part of the house but not in the basement, so the ambient (trainer) humidity is typically 70% or higher in the summer. On the first floor it ranges from about 50% to maybe 60% if the AC is falling behind. Temperatures in the basement range up to about 80 to almost 90 deg F; upstairs it seems that we aim at keeping it at 76-78 deg F, and at 80-81 deg F we want the AC on.

During recent trainer rides, with trainer room ambient temps into the mid 70s deg F and humidity about the same, I've had to use medium speed on the powerful fan, and I've started rides with it on low. Normally I use just low speed and I don't turn the fan on until about 10-30 minutes into a ride.

When it's super humid in the basement (I don't have a % number to reference but I'm guessing at 85% or higher) the problem is that so little sweat evaporates that I have to move a lot of air past me. Even on high I find that the sweat drips off me before it can evaporate effectively. These are the worst rides, I have to focus on making sure I have ice cold water in my Podium Ice bottles. The thing is that if you can't cool off from sweating then you need something else. Ice cold water helps a bit, at least a bit more than luke warm water. It also helps to douse a towel in ice cold water and then rub it on my neck, sort of the rubbing alcohol hack without the rubbing alcohol.

The Open Secret To Training Indoors

So that's my secret to training indoors so much, the high velocity fan. It's not that much money, about $45-60. I know the box fans are much less, but for you, someone interested in riding a trainer or rollers, it's a small price to pay for the difference in comfort going those trainer sessions. Even frugal me bought one of them a long time ago, I simply couldn't do trainer rides with a regular box fan.

Training - Zwift Sprint, 21.67 seconds

Things have been super busy with me lately and it's hard to find time to post stuff in the blog. One thing that I've been doing is riding the trainer while logged into Zwift. I usually go for the green jersey sprint (a timed few hundred virtual meters sprint). I occasionally go hard on the KOM (my best time is over 3 minutes, typically it takes me 5-7 minutes).

Zwift awards you a boost when you cross a line (start/finish, KOM, sprint). Boosts can be weight reduction (15 seconds long, worth a few kg), aero (30 seconds, worth a second or two over a 30 second super hard effort), drafting (30 seconds, like drafting a truck if you're behind someone, otherwise it's nothing), etc.

If you don't use the boost (press the Space bar to use it) then at the next banner you don't get another one.

If I get an aero boost I feel obligated to save it until the Green Jersey sprint segment. Of course when I soft pedal through stuff I don't get the aero boost, and when I do a "okay this is the last sprint of the night" sprint I inevitably earn another aero boost. I've often ridden another 30-35 minute lap to use up that aero boost and I've extended a ride an hour at least once when on that "really the last sprint of the night sprint" I get yet another aero boost.

To give you an idea of what it's like during one of those sprints here's a short clip I made of a Green Jersey sprint on Watopia, the Zwift island. I got an aero boost at the prior banner (the KOM) so I was psyched to have it for the one sprint I planned on recording.

Enjoy!

Screen shot from the ride.

Training - Zwift

So a few of you know that I'm on Zwift now. For those not in the know it's basically an online "game" version of riding your bike. You ride your trainer and your character/avatar mirrors your power output in the Zwift world. Zwift figures out how much power you're putting down (based either on an Ant+ power meter or a calculated "zPower" based on a number of "supported trainers") and your character rides at the appropriate speed for whatever current part of the course.

Note: I have not played online games since about 2007? which is about when I stopped playing Counter Strike, so I don't have other online game experience to draw on. Some of what I "discover" with Zwift may be standard features in other games but I don't know. I imagine that many of the folks reading this aren't regular online gamers either so maybe it'll all work out.

Basically you need five things to get onto Zwift, and a smart phone helps.

1. Something to ride, meaning a bike and some kind of trainer. If you don't have an Ant+ power meter you need to have one of their supported "classic" trainers. I don't have an Ant+ power meter but I do have a CycleOps Fluid2, one of their supported "classic" trainers, aka "dumb trainer".

My bike on the trainer (out of sight to the right).

Wood frame in the back is part of my (rarely used) motion rollers.

USCF wood sign will end up in the trailer I think.

Note the aero wheels. They really help on the trainer. Ha.

2. If you do not have an Ant+ power meter then you need an Ant+ speed/cadence sensor. I have one of those, from my 4iiii Sportsiiii days, and it's mounted in tandem with my SRM speed pick up. It gets tricky - it's why my speed pickup was not aligned in my last race - but when it's right it's right. Picture will be after #3.

3. Ant + USB dongle. This item receives your Ant+ data from your bike (either the power meter or the speed/cadence sensor) and tells the Zwift world what you're doing on the bike.

Ant+ dongle on the floor; it's the part that looks like a black cap on the USB extension cable.

Ant+ speed pick up is the rectangle thing on the frame, the cadence is the cylinder thing.

SRM speed pick up is behind the chainstay under the Ant+ speed pick up.

4. The Zwift application on your supported computer. I think most modern computers will be fine - I use a 2011 MacBook Pro, nothing special, and it's fine. You need some minimum video card. I haven't tried Zwift on anything else.

Zwift app on the silver MacBook, at the screen where you can click "Just Ride" to start a ride.

My MP3 player resides on the black Toshiba. It dates back to 2000 or so and struggles to play MP3s.

Note also: white baby monitor, smart phone set on "keyboard shortcut" Zwift page, big fan on floor, TV, stacks of DVDs, wired SRM on bike, temp/humidity, DVD/VCR, speakers (not hooked up), backup bike laying on its side on a box in the background.

5. Optionally if you have a smart phone then you can download the Zwift app to your phone. It's not a standalone app because it won't display the Zwift world, it's a support app. It lets you see some things like a rider list, it's really the only way to text other riders (no verbal/mic/talking stuff yet), and it gives you some shortcuts for things like waving, wiggling your elbow, using a power up, or taking a picture. I mainly use it for pictures and sometimes for texting. I'll also use it to view the rider's full name (only the first initial appears on the computer app).

My smart phone (Android) with one of the three screens up.

Note power differential - I'll return to that later.

So once you're all set up you log in and set some parameters. At first it was just weight, sex, and… was that it? Recently they added height, FTP, and age.

You get to set your avatar (the thing that represents you in the Zwift world). I put gloves on my guy, a helmet, and I darkened the skin a bit (I thought the whole skin tone thing was interesting but I guess it makes sense).

Then you allow the Zwift computer app to find your bike (Ant+ powermeter or speed/cadence pick up if you're using a classic trainer), click "okay", and you're on the island.

Recently Zwift introduced a second island, and I have very few screenshots from it. I do have some screenshots from the first island.

My first screenshot on the first island, just testing things.

I'm in the grayish Zwift jersey on the double yellow line.

For the first lap I went around clicking all the buttons so I was waving, elbow wiggling, saying "Ride On!", stuff like that. Whenever I see someone going through those motions I smile because it seems pretty apparent it's someone new to the island and playing with the controls.

No idea who this is but I'm just in front of him.

If you click on someone else you get a small leader's board as well as the other rider's current ride data. Right now this is the only way to see the leader board, at least the abbreviated version. You do see the one leader board when you pass through the leader board finish line for that board (like the green jersey board when you go under the green banner), i.e. the three inflatable banner/bridge things.

A real life elite teammate in the Polka Dot, me in the green.

So what does Zwift do for you?

The biggest thing I think Zwift does is it gives you a lot of the normal (good) distractions you experience on the road. You see people you know, you go for familiar land marks, and you feel compelled to push a bit if it means hanging with a particular rider.

One missing aspect is the "big group ride" thing. Yes, you can ride with someone for a bit, maybe even two or three someones, but eventually one rider will pull away on a hill (almost always) and without any compelling reason to hang onto that rider the impromptu group starts to split.

I think when there are more people there will be more organized rides and therefore more groups. I can't imagine what it would be like to be buried in a 100 rider group but I hope to find out.

So barring the future big group ride thing I found Zwift did two big things for me.

First it motivated me to do some all out sprints on the trainer. I really dislike sprinting on my trainer because I can't rock my bike. Therefore it's not a natural motion and I quickly find excuses not to sprint. On Zwift, though, there are some clearly defined spots where Zwift times you, and if you're going for a sprint, Zwift only counts "right here".

Therefore when you get to that spot on the lap you have to sprint or you don't get timed and you have to do another lap to get another chance to do a timed sprint. When I'm thinking of sprinting on a regular training ride I inevitably ease and think, "Okay, let me sprint in a minute or five".

And then after an hour or three I decide I'll do the couple sprints some other time.

Second, with Zwift also there's a sense of trying to do as best as possible. I didn't think I rode better "for others" but recently I did a set of intervals for someone else, and I found myself much more motivated to do the intervals since I had to upload the file after the ride so that someone else could check it.

Likewise Zwift puts you and your effort in front of everyone else, so you naturally want to do well. Call it what you will, competition, whatever, it's still effective.

On the first island I even went for a KOM. It took me about 1:23 (83 seconds) and absolutely massacred my legs, but I pushed about 75 seconds more than I would have had I made the effort in my own little "sitting on a trainer" world. With Zwift, with a timer staring me in the face, a concrete albeit virtual goal ahead of me, I pushed until I got to the banner.

I've probably done more hard sprints on the trainer in the last several weeks than I have in the last several years, and I can't remember the last time I'd done any kind of way-over-threshold effort lasting longer than a minute that wasn't in a race.

So Does Zwift Work?

Well yes and no.

First the negatives.

There are no structured workouts (yet). Zwift exists for you to use, not to tell you what to do, so if you want a structured training ride then you will probably ignore Zwift while you do your ride. That's how I did it.

It emphasizes fitness over virtually anything else. Zwift doesn't reward a good bike handler, someone who knows how to corner, any kind of real world group riding skills. It rewards numbers, high watts and, for climbs anyway, low kilograms. In fact in the new world Watopia there are two hard turns in the green jersey sprint and you really have to go 100% through both of them. It's so unnatural that I consciously look away from the screen so I don't try to lean or coast or whatever.

Finally, for now, it's in beta so there are a limited number of riders in the world. It's not like a true Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) where you drop into a road and there are riders buzzing back and forth such that you can't ride alone. The newness also means very little structure, meaning very few group rides, very few races, very few regularly scheduled anythings. I imagine in the future you'll find a 5 PM ride, 6 PM ride, 7 PM ride, etc, so that you can log on and join a 20 or 40 rider strong 6 PM group ride or whatever. But right now? Not so much.

Now for the positives.

First, the world engages you. It's not quite like the real world, where there's much more randomness. Sometimes a training ride is nutty, sometimes it's boring. In Zwift, at least for now, it's pretty stable, so no Godzillas or snipers or anything, just you, the other riders, and the course/world.

However that world gives you landmarks, some level of expectation ("okay after the left turn it'll start to descend a bit"), and it allows you to think ahead of your avatar. If you were just riding the trainer then every second is consumed by the here and now, and every second can feel like it's dragging on forever.

I've found myself so distracted/occupied by Zwift that I almost forgot that I was coming up on the green jersey sprint.

What this does is it makes time absolutely fly by. I'm good on the trainer for 2 hours at a time, without Zwift. Music, a bike DVD on low volume, that's all I need.

Last night I wanted to do at least two sprints. Ended up being three, but with Watopia the laps take me 30 minutes each. 3 sprints meant I rode 90 minutes. It didn't feel like 90 minutes because I was so focused on whatever was happening around me.

It was like being on the road.

Second, Zwift does make you put some skin in the game, meaning you end up with a vested interest. As I mentioned above I did repeated sprints on Zwift, something I never do on the trainer. I mean, why would I? My trainer power is much lower than my outside "rock the bike" power so I never saw the point to doing a trainer sprint. However, with Zwift, I now have a reason, so I sprint.

Zwift also gave me motivation to ride a bit harder than normal. Again, on the trainer before Zwift, I could ride hard but there was no point. Now I'll push a bit to see if I can stay on a wheel, or try to not be too pathetic in the KOM, or whatever.

Third, Zwift allows me to interact with riders from all over. Back in the day (23 years ago, give or take) I did the Tour of Michigan (part 2, part 3). Our host for the two years we did it, Alan, was super nice, super supportive, and… we never saw him again. Alan never came out to the East Coast and we never went back to Michigan.

So I never saw Alan again.

Until I was on Zwift.

Then, bam!, a guy with his first and last name went flying by me.

Not only that, he was up there in the green jersey leader board.

It was Alan, the same Alan from the Tour of Michigan.

And now we comment to one another on our own efforts and stuff.

I think that that is what Zwift really brings to the table. It's the social aspect, like Facebook on bikes, and although I initially thought of Zwift as more of a MMOG kind of thing, it's really a social tool as well. In most MMOGs you don't use your real name, so you don't see a Joe or John or David, you see SuperDuperHaxx0R or THOR or, well, SprinterDellaCasa.

Heh.

I plan on being on Zwift for the long term. I know the development will continue with the platform and I know the crew there have a passion for the sport and a vision for Zwift.

I know this because at the beginning, before any Zwift investment opportunity showed up, I spoke for an hour or so with one of the founders. He later told someone else I was "bullish" on the concept. A now-former teammate moved to join the team. And a fellow NYC race promoter (and former pro, which is way more than I can ever boast), also joined the crew.

I believe in all of them. I can't wait to see what they unveil in the next year or two.

Last Word 

There's one more data point I have.

In 2015, because of the insane amount of snow we had over the winter, the bitter cold lasting deep into March, I rode outside three times between January 1 and April 12. I rode outside March 15, 22, and April 12.

Every single other ride was on the trainer, maybe 70 hours worth.

I was sick for most of March and up until after Easter weekend. I therefore raced poorly on March 15 and 22, not even finishing the race officially on the 22nd (I stopped halfway up the hill in the sprint).

However, after recovering from my bout with what appeared to be the flu, I showed up April 12th hoping for something a little better.

I won.

I'm not going to credit Zwift with everything. But it certainly helped me, it helped push me to make race-like efforts, and the 30+ second solo effort I put in at the end of the race is something I haven't pulled off since about 1986.

So there's that.

Training - Relative Power On My Trainer

Today I had a decent food day. I guess that's the "dieting bike racer" in me. It's strangely empowering to do this, although I have to admit that I haven't had motivation since 2009 to diet. And that time was the first time I ever really, truly dieted.

Anywho…

I got to 8 PM with something like 250 cal left of my 1510 cal budget, so that was good. Yesterday I ended the day at something like 100 cal over (so about 1610) then proceeded to eat 580 cal at night. That put me at a whopping 2300 cal for the day, literally the most I've eaten in a single day in, what, 26 or something days? November 17th, for what it's worth.

Today I knew I wanted to eat just a bit more and I had the chance to hop on the bike. Therefore I got to ride and eat a bit more.

On the ride I remembered a bike forums question where someone asked how much power it would take to go 88 rpm in a 53x17. He added that he rode that fast for 30 minutes and it made him work up "a good sweat". I'd guessed in the mid-300 watt range, definitely a really high wattage for anyone that doesn't race. Talk about sweating, right?

He later corrected it to a 53x19, which is still impressive. I took some pictures of the SRM in the 53x17 (just for kicks) and then a slew while in the 53x19. The trainer is pleasantly consistent, although I could feel if I was in the lower end of the rpm range (meaning I could be going 88 rpm and nudge the power a bit without making the computer say 89 rpm). Still, though, the pictures are worth something.

53x17@88rpm, 378w. Yikes.

53x19@88rpm, 288w. Still yikes for me.

53x19,@89rpm, 295w.

53x19@88rpm, 294w.

53x19@88rpm, 297w.

What's funny (or not depending on your point of view) is that these efforts to take the pictures really killed me. I spent a few minutes trying to take these pictures. Many of the deleted pictures were illegible for one reason or another, like the flash obscured the whole screen, no flash meant it was a blurry mess, or I was at the wrong rpm, whatever. My efforts in producing even the 280w power stuff was probably the reason why I climbed off short of my planned 2 hour ride. My legs just went empty after about 1:30 and I really couldn't justify twiddling along past 1:45.

The heart rates in the pictures are pretty low but it's because the efforts were anaerobic and my heart rate wasn't climbing relative to my effort - the heart rate lagged pretty hard. I looked down once, after uploading one or two of the pictures, and my heart rate was 112 bpm. During the pictures I felt asphyxiated, like I was suffocating.

Now I've rewarded myself with some food, 420 cal worth.

A side thought. I can handle less or no sugar in food. But to skip salt? No way. I've gotten my oatmeal down to no brown sugar, 1/4 cup raisins, and it's otherwise plain oatmeal. Coffee? Black now. But my snack right now was 150g of chicken (skinless, roasted), weighed on a scale, with 140 cal of green beans. If you check around you'll notice that's two cans of green beans. I sprinkle a nice bit of salt, some spices, and that's good enough for me.

And my blood pressure is fine at the moment. I just had a physical and they tagged me at 112/60 or something like that (and I was looking after a very active Junior during the physical so I wasn't just relaxing in peace and quiet). I still need to get my bloodwork done. It'll be interesting to see the numbers (hematocrit, hemoglobin, and cholesterol) as I haven't had a physical in something like three? years. On the positive side I think I was 14 pounds heavier when I went there last.

Of course I was 10 pounds heavier less than four weeks ago, so it's the last four weeks that have made a difference in my weight.

But whatever, it's all good.

Training - Trainer Ride, Feb 1, 2014

This is just "a day in the life of" kind of training post. No big back story, just a typical training ride.

I woke up early this day - I was trying to reset my internal clock so that I'd get up early, like 5 AM or so, automatically. My goal here is to get used to the Bethel Spring Series wake up time so that it doesn't hit me hard when it's actually time to wake up. For this day I got up at 5:50 AM so not that early but better than the 2 AM wakeup from a few days ago.

I trudged down to the basement, changed into some bike gear, got on the bike, and started riding almost right away. I have a stash of energy bars next to the trainer. I ate one so this ride would be a $2 ride, give or take. Before I started I took a picture of the primitive "weather station" that sits next to the bike.

5:55 AM, about 66 deg F and 38% humidity.

This ride, immortalized on Strava here, wasn't particularly notable. I finished watching some pro race DVD, stuck in my own SprinterDellaCasa DVD that I made of my own clips, and hammered a bit harder than I expected.

I find that music works best to motivate me to ride hard. Watching movies or pro races isn't as interesting, especially if I know the race already. For example for all of the culture's faults in 2003, the 2003 Liege Bastogne Liege is a riveting race to watch. It looks so hard, everyone is at their max. Another good one is the Ghent that Nico Mattan won, another race that shows pretty much all the riders at their limit.

However when I watch them and I want to ride hard (and I have the luxury of not needing to keep an ear out for Junior), I'll put the ear buds on and listen to music. When I like the music it energizes me to the point that I have to make sure I back off a bit so I don't keep blowing up.

On longer trainer rides I'll actually ride with my eyes closed for reasonably long periods of time (a minute or two at a time, a peek, repeat for 30-60 minutes). The music and the feel of the pedals is enough stimulus for me.

If I need to keep an ear out for Junior I don't have this luxury, or at least I have to set the volume so low that the music loses its inspirational character. This is when I'd rather watch a pro race out loud (meaning I hear the announcers) or an actual movie.

The one exception is when I watch my own clips. I make them for a number of reasons but one is that it's something to motivate me when I'm on the trainer in the winter. I enjoy watching them and, since I get to chose the music, I enjoy the music. The clips feature many of the same songs that I listen to on the trainer, eyes closed, tranced away, and so the clip DVDs are nice in that sense.

On this morning I found one of my DVDs and popped that into the player, the first time I've watched it in this off season. This resulted in some big-for-me efforts, 222 watts for 10 minutes (about the length of the average clip), 202 watts for 20 minutes (a benchmark since that's one of the two ways I test my FTP). With a 220-230w FTP those efforts aren't bad at all.

I have three total DVDs, including mainly stuff from 2010 and 2011, as well as one low-res DVD with every clip from the beginning to the 2010 Red Trolley, my last low res clip, i.e. the last one I recorded on the Canon camcorder I carried around up to that point. I want to find the earlier DVD as I haven't watched it in a while.

About an hour and a half into the ride I heard a clunk from the floor upstairs - it was probably Junior either dropping something, falling over, or a cat jumping off of a couch or similar. Whatever it was I figured the Missus would need some help with all the morning stuff, breakfast for us, breakfast for Junior, getting ready for work, the kitties, all that jazz. I eased and climbed off the bike, shut off the various devices (TV, DVD player, fan), turned out the lights, and headed upstairs.

At about 7:40, 68 deg F and 46% humidity, +2 deg F and +8% respectively.