Time to get to work.

It's the last week of February.

I'll let that sink in for a moment for those of you like me.

Holy crap, it seems like racing season just ended and now you're telling me I'm just over a month away from my first big race of 2014? It always sneaks up on me, and of course now it has me questioning whether or not I've been straight and true to the training path, or whether I've let myself get soft. Time to pour over some data and try to find some light at the end of this tunnel.


The first and most pressing issue is my run. Since the Knoxville Half Marathon is the first "A" race on the schedule (I hate that term but it gets the point across) it means the run is what's most important. Here's a spread from last Sunday's run (4x5' at tempo) which ended up pretty well. The week before I had a longer (80') run at mostly tempo (with an easy mile in the middle and cooldown) where I got 11 miles in. Those are both pretty promising runs for what I'm hoping is a better than 1:30 race. Considering this time last year I was not running due to injury and managed to get a 1:31:xx out of the deal, I expect that my goal is within grasp, considering I have an ok day.

A not-as embarrassing as most- run.

Of course then it's moving on to actual Triathlons (and at the end of the season an Aquabike) so it's not all about running.

As for the swim I've been putting in my time, although not quite as much as last year this time (due to the lack of running I was doing.) I did a benchmark 10x200 (30" rest) last week and I'm holding ~10" a set faster times across the sets. That's nothing amazing, but it's definitely a tangible upgrade. I was fairly happy with how my swim had developed by the end of last season, and I'm 100% sure I'm faster than I was then, so I'm still pretty pleased. There's certainly still a lot of room to grow, but I am able to have a slight sigh of relief when I look at my swim lately... I'm not going to be on the back foot from the start.

Unfortunately that leaves the bike. Last Thursday was my first power test since around October. As you may remember I was doing a LOT of cycling specific races last year and I was just riding a lot in general. Lately I've been riding 2x/week in Sufferfest classes with my LBS. You can probably guess how that turned out.

For reference, my last test had a 20' peak power of 303w.

Uhgg... That's not good. (sorry if it's too small... 20' - 278w)

Around 25 watts dropped off. Now don't get me wrong, I think that's probably better than it could have been considering the amount of actual cycling I have been doing... I mean it's hard to imagine holding steady going from ~10 hours a week to 2... but nonetheless it means it's time to start getting back on the bike and hurting more often. Fortunately that is something I'm looking forward to! (I'm admittedly also looking forward to making the 45minute commute to the pool a little less frequently.)

So all in all I think things are moving on in a positive direction. With any luck I'll be able to put up some good results and NOT embarrass the Cobb Mobb. Speaking of which, check out the sweet running top and t-shirt.



Sweet Swag!

So it's time to get back to some serious training. I'm excited, it's always this way before the first big race. I hope all of you guys are ready (or like me, getting ready) for race season. Maybe we'll get some nice weather for a change to ramp up the motivation!

Thanks as always for reading! I really Appreciate it!

- Christopher Morelock

The WANT list.

2014 is turning out to be the gear fanboys dream. There's so much cool stuff right around the corner (or on shelves) that it makes my head spin (and bank account cringe in fear.) So, I thought I'd take a little time to share my wish list...

I can't even look at this without chuckling... well played somebody out in cyberspace... well played.

- Cobb 5mm Top Caps ($15.99)

How many times over the years has finding a low stack top cap been a pain in my butt. I've went so far as to create my own out of carbon fiber AND in one case just go without a top cap for a race. Veloflyte and SlamthatStem have both produced a low stack cap in the past, but neither are readily available. (and certainly not for $16) This is one of those items I'm going to have a bag full of, just so I have one ready when needed.

Space saver!

- Specialized Turbo S ($5900.00)

This thing is almost certainly useless and impractical for me to own... I don't do much commuting, I don't live in the city, heck I don't even really enjoy "just for funsies" riding. So why do I think this thing is so awesome?  45km/h electronic speed perhaps? Maybe it's the fact that it's SO impractical for so many people and yet Specialized built it anyways? If I ever catch a steal of a deal on one of these things you can expect to see me cruising down the beach on it!

It's like a bike! For people who don't like pedaling...

- Power Meter Overload! (Wildly varying prices)

Measuring Power has got to be where it's at right now... everyone is trying to get on the train. Exciting documents from Shimano and the much nicer looking Pioneer - now sans zip ties... (I had one of their tape decks back in my first car!) head the list of cool stuff in the works. The Pioneer is even 'reasonably' priced ($1,600.00 but including an Ultegra crank)  although it is still around $400 more than a Stages setup. Whether it's worth the upcheck in price or not we'll have to wait and see.



Shimano's setup

Personally I'm holding out for the PREMIER edition... sounds better right?

- Jagwire road links ($79-$89.00)

It's no secret I am a fan of link style cables. In fact, most of my bikes are running on either Alligator's or Nokons. Jagwire decided they were missing out on that part of the market and they have remedied that with their road links. With the imminent rebuild of the CR-1 on the horizon (forgot about that fella didn't you... understandable, it's been collecting dust waiting on a paint job for a while.) it seems like the perfect opportunity to try the newest links on the block.

Hopefully unlike the Nokons the instruction manual is written in English... or at least broken English.

- Conti GP 4000s II (hopefully cheap on Probikekit.com)

The greatest tire ever... in color. From what I've heard, this tire lives up to the expectations (fast, reliable, fast.) set by it's unassuming predecessor. It almost breaks my heart that I have still got over a years worth of 4000s' sitting in my garage. Almost.

So do I match my tire to my kit, my saddle or my handlebar tape? So many rules to follow...

- Oakley Heritage Collection Eyeshade ($200.00)

Yes! Oakley has some sense. Take some classics (Eyeshade, Razerblade and Frogskin) price them competitively with Ebay and sell the crap out of them. The only thing missing is some of the silly 80's paint schemes (although seafoam is close) If I wasn't already the proud owner of my sweet Red Eyeshades I'd be all over this. (In all honesty I am still digging on the razerblades)

All the nostalgia of the 80's... except the price. The price is definitely modern.

So for the first quarter of 2014 that's what I'd like to have. And speaking of goodies... here's the perfect opportunity to show off what I scored for V-Day.

A bike chain coffee mug, super strong "death wish" coffee, and Evil Dead! I think she knows me pretty well!

A pretty nice haul if I do say so myself. Death Wish coffee is actually pretty aptly named... that stuff is "woah" strong (I made espresso out of it the other morning... holy crap I nearly had a stroke.)

Anyways, thanks for reading everyone. It's getting down to crunch time for the Knoxville 1/2 Marathon. I had a long'ish run last weekend at tempo and it was encouraging... so hopefully with no hiccups I'll be able to meet my goals! Happy training!

- Christopher Morelock

Love is in the air (tonight)

*Sorry this is coming to you Thursday instead of Wednesday... I was without power (and freezing) yesterday due to snowmageddon - Knoxville edition.

Phil Collins reference aside... it's either time to go out and celebrate that someone special... or time to be reminded that freedom is a wonderful thing. Any way you look at it... Happy Valentines Day.

//Incest Joke cut to salvage the integrity of this blog\\ 

For me, it's the first time in a LONG time that I'll actually be celebrating with someone (Other than Jack Daniels...) so a gigantic shoutout to Jenny, who despite her terrible taste in men is the greatest girl I've ever had the pleasure of being seen out with. What she finds attractive about a mediocre triathlete who generally smells like chlorine and does laundry every day I may never know, but I can be glad of it regardless.

This post is going to be short and sweet (yeah... and maybe full of puns) since I'm getting assaulted with actual work to do (Tax time is the right time to be a car salesman!) but hopefully we'll be able to get back to some real substance in the upcoming weeks and you won't just have to read through my muddled thoughts to find a couple of tidbits of useful chatter.

So yeah, the Zipp. As promised, here's the before/after from the upgrades.




Before. A cool bike without question

After. Now we're talking! The cables missing from the front are a huge contrast.
Being in the big ring looks a lot cooler too :)

Putting them side by side it's really amazing how tight you can make the routing on a bike with a little work and the right stuff (in this case the Tririg stem and Nokon cables.) I've only been out on one short test ride, but I'm very happy with the way the bike stops now, especially the rear. I may end up wielding this little weapon at a few races this year, especially if I can find a nice rear wheel.

Well, it snowed 7" or so last night, and that managed to both kill my power and my mood. Fortunately it heated up this morning and I was for some silly reason excited to dust off my mountain bike and go play in the ice and sludge.

The Airborne is getting ready for action! 

I'm like a ninja popcicle of awesomeness! Or something like that.

So I got out there and tore up the mostly deserted streets, rode to Jenny's house to say hi, and then rode back home to the comfort of working heat (and my computer) Fortunately everyone was pretty prepared in our area, so as I'm typing this even my road is pretty cleared off. So now it's time to warm up some cider (and maybe a little whiskey) and relax. So, if you're crushed by winter (who isn't?) currently... go out and have some fun :) Just be safe.

Once again, happy Valentines Day, Singles Awareness Day, Friday, whatever you want to call it. I'll leave you with one more sweet card.

who was I kidding... this blog doesn't have any integrity...

Thanks so much for checking out the blog!

- Christopher Morelock






I come from the land of the ice and snow (and rain... and mugginess)

Foreboding?

More winter.

Sigh.

Actually, Sunday I ran in shorts and a tank top as it was almost 60° in good old East TN. Of course Monday morning it was 32° and raining... so yeah. If only the weather would make up it's dumb mind I'd be able to adjust and 'dig in" instead of waking up to a guessing game every morning. Like last week for example, when I look outside the house and am greeted by this...

Soo...my road is out there :)

And of course being the super prepared fellow that I am, I then had to traverse the tundra to get THE LAST EGGS EVER at the grocery store (which was out of banana's... so unlucky for me)

Driving in the snow in TN... you'd think it was serious business by the fact
that it took me an hour to travel a mile in the bumper to bumper traffic.

Of course every time the weather does a 180 like that it really makes getting in a solid training session tough. I try to mitigate the damage by having my rollers and treadmill in the house ready to go... but you really can't do any "fast" running on a sears home treadmill (a $10 one at that) and I can only take so much time (usually an hour) on the rollers before I start losing focus... and of course swimming is unfortunately out since a 30 minute commute in the above is not on my list of things to do.

Swimming has actually been going well overall however. I've been fine tuning my stroke and despite having a little bit more back/shoulder soreness (a good kind) the times are going down. I'm still not in the 1:15/100 range on my longer sets, but I'm hopeful once I start adding more volume back in.

As for the Zipp, It's finally fully together again (although it's dirty and in need of some final tuning on the cockpit positioning.) so next week I should have some good before // after pictures. There was a minor snag in the rear brake installation... mainly... it's a giant pain in the butt. It's not the Omega's fault (although some of the things that make installing it easy on most bikes make it a real pain on the 2001.) but I'm not sure how you get this thing even remotely well setup without a friend to help you out. Also, unfortunately I will also have to live with the fact that the pads are "toed" just a slight bit too much and no amount of adjustment was able to get them flush. I could have shaved part of the pads, but I'm not terribly worried about it... The thing actually stops now, which is a huge upgrade from the original Zipp brake.

Hey the bike actually stops! Hurray!

Of course as soon as one thing is near completion, another thing comes up. Last night in our spin class I managed to do something to my bottom bracket (all those watts I am pumping out I guess...hahaha) so now the Cannondale has to have some repair work done. Hopefully some re-greasing will be the fix, but I won't know until I get it apart. Sigh. It's always something.

Besides that, my Corvette is sitting in a couple of pieces as well, waiting on a new intake, air box and headers... The intake and air box shouldn't be much of a project, but I may end up letting someone with a bit more experience do the headers ;) I won't bore you all with my car nerdiness though.

Anyways, a little under two months until the Knoxville 1/2 marathon, where I'll get a good idea of where my run fitness is compared to last year. That's goal #1. Considering I've had a couple of good 140-160mi months and no injuries (fingers crossed) I'm hoping this will be a really good year for my run...but we'll see.

As always, thanks for reading. I know I'm a jumbled mess of thoughts, so I appreciate you taking the time to sort through it for any nuggets of insight I might have.

-Christopher Morelock

The Zipp Strikes Back!

Part 2

cleaning up the mess. Hi Spider Man!

Last week I started breaking down the Zipp 2001 for a "refresher." Well I'm happy to say things are turning out even sexier than I had imagined they would. There have been a couple of "woo sah" take a breath annoying moments, but overall it's been a fairly straightforward and easy upgrade. The one thing of note that changed from what I had suggested as my final build last week is the extensions. I ended up using my Cobb Wrist Relief's over the Tririg Gamma's. Both are excellent extensions and both work pretty well for me, so in the end I chose the Cobb's because I've always liked the way the bend looks better than ski style... and for this bike cool was as big a factor as function. Likewise, cool factor was the deciding factor on whether to run bare cable or housing down to the front brake.

Everything coming together on the front end. The cable routing is insanely clean.

This post is not a review of the Tririg Sigma stem... but it would be criminal not to take a moment to praise it. I expected good stuff from Tririg in the first place, but the more I mess with the thing, the more I like it. You might notice that I've got two spacers under it, something I almost never do. Well, the Stem itself is so short I was afraid that if I cut the steerer tube any shorter I would never be able to use the fork again if I changed the stem... (which, you know, will probably never happen, but still) which is mainly an issue because finding a 650c 1" aero fork is not the easiest thing to do. That aside (and, that's actually a good thing 99% of the time) the thing is tight. I appreciated the hidden bolts and the "cap" to run the cables through works perfectly with the nokons. I'd love to see a negative ° stem in the future. I know there are reasons against it, but man that thing would sell!


Anyways, back to the Zipp. There were a couple of snags. First, the Cobb wrist relief extensions aren't the smoothest on the inside. Actually there is a lot of raw carbon just hanging out in there, so pushing the finicky Nokons through (without messing them up) was a challenge. Eventually I used an old derailleur cable and a lot of manpower to get it in correctly.

Omega installed!  400 front wheel showing that it was built to last ;)

Then of course there was the rear brake setup. I went back and forth a couple of times trying to decide whether or not to run the housing stopper on top of the Omega. Eventually I went with it, as I could get a little bit better power than I could running the noodle straight in. I'm not happy with the choice, but it's acceptable.

Everything else was pretty easy and straightforward. Lots of Vaseline at the cable entry points and around any bolt that is exposed to possible water/grime. (Important on all the Zipps) Now it's a matter of lining up the brakes with the wheels and putting the bad boy back on the road.

Also exciting is that the Cobb Mobb kits design is finished! Below is the two-piece. More interesting (to me at least) is the unique one piece design, which features an open stomach. It's the option I'll be going with most assuredly (more aero) and, secretly I've always wished it was easier to pee before a race in a onesie (hiking the leg up is awfully uncomfortable. ) Plus it should be much easier to stuff that "awakening" ice down the front in a hot race! Anyways, the kits will be made by COBB, so I'm expecting great things!

What you'll see me rocking in 2014!

Finally for this snowy day (it's 7° here today...sigh) I thought I'd mention some amazing blended whisky I bought last week. Hibiki 12 year is insanely smooth. Don't even say the word "mixer" in it's presence. The only thing you mix this with is whisky stones. (go home ice) Anyways, if "mid to upper" shelf whisky is something you are interested in, I highly suggest this stuff. It's on par with some of the better Scotch I've had.

One of the smoothest blended whisky's I've ever had... and I've had a couple ;) 

Anyways, it's time for me to dust off the rollers and get a workout in on my snow day!

Until next week, thanks for reading.

- Christopher Morelock

Rigging up the Zipp (pt. 1)

PT. 1
Tearing her down.

My favorite toy is, without equal my Zipp 2001.  I don't ride it all that often, but man do I love it when I do. More than anything though, it's just cool. And I am a sucker for cool stuff.

That said, I kind of slapped it together when I bought it, getting it "nice enough" but not giving it the amount of attention it truly deserved as an aero benchmark. So, this year I've decided to remedy that problem, with a little help from the Tririg store.

Here's what we're starting with.



Pretty clean, but nothing spectacular. Cable routing is pretty meh.

This is what I started with. Syntace Stratos base bar, Ritchey stem, Oval S-bend extensions, Profile Design F19 pads/cups, SRAM Shifters and brake levers and Bontrager housing. Basically what I had sitting in my garage when I got the frame.

The Egg is still one of the best Aero brakes out there imo (especially when it comes to stopping power)
but it doesn't fit the "stock" Zipp look I'm going for.

The fork (Ouzo aero) is still a slick piece even by today's standards, but unfortunately the Simkins Egg brake is finally starting to show some age. I definitely have nothing but good things to say about the brake (other than it's a bit annoying to get set up if you have to do it "on the spot" away from the garage.) but it doesn't quite look the part for the Zipp. My vision for the final result is to be what Zipp would have used "today" as opposed to what they used in 1992.



The stock Zipp brake on the rear. Amazing aero tech for how old it is, just don't expect it to stop you.

The original Zipp brake on the other hand... well I don't have very much "good" to say about it at all. Once upon a time when aero goodies were a bit more of a "oh yeah..." afterthought, we were thankful for things like the Zipp brake, Hooker, Delta's, AX, etc. Hell, I've even "Cobb Hacked" a 105 brake. Unfortunately, the performance on these older aero brakes ranges from "serviceable" (The Hooker and AX) to downright dangerous. (The Hack and the Delta's come to mind) The Zipp brake falls somewhere in the middle... adequate as a rear brake (that is, it'll shave a little bit of speed when it's properly set up... which is a pain in itself) but definitely not something you'd want to rely on. And hey... it's aero, right? (And the carbon cover looks really cool.)



Of course, once they are side by side, you can see just how BIG the Zipp brake is.

Looking at the two brakes together it's easy to see just how far we've come. Not only is the Omega about half the size of the Zipp Brake, it also stops with plenty of power (and as a kicker...it's even easy to set up!)

As for the rest of the cockpit, the changes are going to be straightforward... simple but effective. The S-bend extensions are getting swapped out for some Gamma extensions (at the ski bend is a bit easier for me to get into my optimal position, at least on this bike.) and the ugly Ritchey stem is getting upgraded to a much cleaner Sigma. Since I've got my old Nokons from my Planet X laying around, it seems like the perfect opportunity to upgrade that setup as well. Finally, I'll be chopping some of the length off of the Stratos brake extensions, as they are quite a bit too long for me.

Only a couple of things I'd *like* are missing from the new build. Unfortunately, I just can't justify the $ on some of these mods for a bike I don't ride all that often.

Things I'd like:
- A Zipp VumaChrono crank. The old Carbon Zipp crank I have is cool, but the Vuma is the update the 2001 deserves, even if it isn't the one it needs.

- A Zipp VukaAero base bar. Again, keeping things in the "Zipp" family would be sweet, but alas.

- Zipp Disc. The wheelcover is sorely lacking when you compare it to how sweet a real disc looks. Being a 650c bike though makes it really hard to justify a dedicated race wheel. Maybe an old 900 / 870 will show up on ebay one day that the hipsters don't snipe.

- A 3000 Front Wheel. I know it's not Aero. I know they're gobbled up by the aforementioned hipsters...but dang it, it looks cool. A yellow one would just be icing on the cake.

Anyways, I've got it apart. I even got the brakes mounted and the Stratos cut. Then the Arctic cold hit again and sapped away my motivation to be out in the garage. So, I suppose I'll save the "building it back up" for next week.

Thanks for reading, I always appreciate it!

- Christopher Morelock

Review! The 3T Ventus

In true Wit fashion... this review is for a set of bars that have been out for years and aren't even currently in production (screw you Ventus 2) nonetheless, I feel like enough people seek them out that a review is in order. And the whole "my sandbox" thing...

Bonus! It looks sort of like a Star Wars fighter :)

When it comes to aero fanboy pron (did I just invent a new term?) there are really only a few bars out there that inspire true lust like the original 3T Ventus bars. Sure, I'll grant you the USE Tulas, Tririg Alpha's and some "lesser known's" (The original Speed Concept 9 bars, the Felt Devox UCI illegal setup.) are certainly sexy bars... but I ended up choosing the 3T for a couple of reasons.

1.) It's fast. One of the fastest bars ever tested.
2.) It's sexy. Yes, that's a good reason.
3.) It looked like the -17° version would be a good fit on my P3sl.
4.) I am an ebay sniping addict and won the high bid way cheaper than I expected it would go for...
5.) Did I mention it was sexy?

Ok, so after the initial "ooh" and "ahh" phase wore off, it was time to get the bad boy installed and go for a ride. Due to my "want" for a higher hand position and the lack of adjustability on te Ventus, I chose W-bend extensions. (also known as Vande Velde extensions... searching for W bends won't find much in google.) Now after a few months on board the cockpit of Zeus, I feel like I can go over the good and bad.

On to the Review!

The Good

- Installation, mainly credited to the proprietary nature of the bar, is simple and straightforward. Bolt goes here, don't tighten beyond X, cables run smoothly through the internal liner, bingo. Done. Actually, I'd say that these were probably the quickest to setup bars I've ever messed with.

- The Ventus comfort pads/cradles are a thing that every other company in the aerobar market should get their hands on, study and then shamelessly copy. All set up I'd say it's on par out of the box with my old setup that I had to piece together to get "just right." (Oval cradles, Ceegee pads, 3T - mistral - mounts.)

The front of my P3alu. Note the deep bend W-extensions and my cabling skills.

- The attention to detail that 3T went to is worth calling out. "Crab Claw" like brake levers may not be for everyone, but they are slippery in the wind. A flat "wing" shape and no bend at the end of the base bar assures you that this thing was made with speed in mind as it's first priority. I've always appreciated that kind of "all in" attitude.

The Bad

- Adjustability. Now, if you're in the market for a Ventus, you should have some idea of whether or not it's going to work for you or not. You get two stem options, the +6° and the -17°. The negative is harder to find, but even it isn't a very "low" bar. (When I think low bars I think the Devox, or even the 3T Mistral.) With the bars and pads mounting above the base bar, it's completely possible it won't be aggressive enough for a lot of people, especially if you aren't on a terribly low bike to start with. Buyer beware.

Just a little curve in the cable breaks up an otherwise really smooth front profile.
Also a good representation of the stack height of the pads.

- I already said the thing was slippery. Well, let me reinforce that statement, except this time in regards to "when you have gotten water/sweat/whatever" on the basebar. The actual "wing" is slick as ice, and the stock grips on the brake extensions are terribly inadequate. Also, that lack of upturns at the end of the brakes may (may) be more aerodynamic, but it further reduces your grip on the bullhorns... especially going downhill.  To combat this, I ended up removing the stock grips and re-wrapping them with my preferred (tennis) tape, and then adding some grip tape (skateboard/boat) to the back of the wing (where my palms usually end up sitting.) it's not the most elegant solution, but it's functional and I feel a lot more in control.

Solution inspired by a post on Slowtwitch. It's actually pretty functional, if not beautiful.

- Crab claw levers have always suffered from not having a return spring, causing some people to complain of "squishy" braking. I've had visions, these and the "add on" 3T levers and have never experienced any "bad" braking (on Shimano, Simkins or Omega brakes) but it does take a little more time to adjust them "just right." Also, I've seen people complain over the years that they don't like the "feel" of those kind of levers either... to each their own I suppose.

- The internal routing, while not a problem for 99% of the population, is a real annoyance for those of us who like the "reverse" (or motorcycle) brake setup. (Right hand - front brake) I know there wasn't much way around it when they were building the thing (I mean... just fishing the cable through that bar would be a nightmare.) but it was something I didn't count on and had to work around. My solution isn't elegant but it's acceptable.

My solution to the front brake cabling and a view of my cheap zip tied solution...

Overall

First... I'd think you would want to try the Ventus before laying down the cash (they are still pricey... especially if you aren't an ebay sniper.) but of course that's not an easy thing to do. Most shops don't have *NOS aerobars in the $1k price range just sitting around for you to play with... so you need to at least be reasonably sure that you are ok with the Ventus' fit constrictions. (The stem length/angle and the height of the extension/pads) or willing to gamble / resale if it doesn't work out.

It's not the everyman cockpit. It's not even the "most" guys (and gals) cockpit. It's the setup for the rider who wants one of the fastest front ends out there and is willing to sacrifice some comfort (mainly the braking area) to squeeze out every hundredth of a second. Or if you just want to add some drool worthy bling to your ride.

I guess I'm saying that the Ventus does what it was designed to do very well, with the sacrifice of some of the creature comforts we've come to expect from aero cockpits. Personally... I love it.

Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it!

Soon to come... The Rejuvenated Zipp 2001!

- Christopher Morelock