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While Andrea was off digging ditches, I tackled the garage.

I ended up replacing the cardboard surface on our bike workbench with sheet PVC (shower stall liner).  It isn’t very thick, so I doubled it up and duct taped it down.  I also bought a set of bin organizers on a track.  It allowed me to get some more stuff off the workbench.   I left it as a big pile of tools (we will sort them into tool boxes soon).  As much as I would like to hang up everything, we need to pack up many of them for race or riding weekends away from home.  (Which if you keep up is most weekends for us).

New work surface

All the random stuff I moved to resurface the bench.

More or less the finished product.  Need to do some more sorting/putting up yet.

I would like to say that I keep the work area 5-S squared away.  In reality, it is a hobby and Andrea and I often have to make a repair in a hurry.  We both have different ideas about where each tool should go or don’t always put it up to even that place.  Since that is a big fail, I at least like to keep the floor clean, I use a shop vac.  Very often a small part will leap out of your hands and it will hard to find if there are bunch of cable ends and dirt clods all over.  With mountain bikes and CX bikes involved, that can be harder than it sounds.  (Also space is tight since, at this point, we do keep both our cars in the garage and fit bikes, wheels, and the work area around them.)

For two years+, since I coverted by Kuota Kebel into a TT bike, I have been thinking that I can’t get low enough on the frame.  Compounding the problem is that I had an FSA integrated bar…no real adjustment possibilities other than up and down.   Since I only TT a handful of times per year, I have let it go.  Since I have throught it better to spend time and money somewhere else.

With my integrated bar, I hit my knees on the pads if I don’t pay attention, but I was able to get comfortable on the pads and extension for longish rides (normally 30 miles at the most since my events are almost all 3-10 miles).    Last week, I decided to finally make the leap out of the FSA integrated bar to an Uberhund bar.  It helps that it they look good and I personally know all 3 co-owners.  Andrea put it all together last week and I took it out for the first ride Friday evening.  I stopped a few times to adjust the pads, but by the time I made the last tweak, the ride was almost over.

Her little touch was to wrap up the bars (and the lawnmower) with pink bar tape.   It is definitely unconventional, but it does go with the black/grey/white frame.  I guess I need to go fast now.

Tonight I went out for a my normal TT route (~25 miles) with the plan to do some medium length intervals to try it out at speed.  I quickly found that I wanted to be out at the end of the bar with my hands, but that is not where the S-bend allows for a more neutral wrist position.  Clearly I needed more distance.  The stem Andrea put on was a 90 mm (17 degree).  I had ordered a 100mm (30 degree) because I wanted to drop down, but it is clear that I need to go out.  I cut my ride short, and head back home and installed a 130mm, 9 degree stem.  Not as low, but better extension and no knee knocking.  I will have to get that 120mm, 30 degree stem to get the most out of what I have.  I am pretty close to where I need to be, within the limits of frame.  If I continue to evolve my position lower, I will have to get a real TT bike.  At least I will know what I will need.

On other news, I successfully E-bay’ed my Felt.  At least I hope so.  24 hours after winning, the winner hasn’t paid me yet.  At least there were several bidders that bid close in the last minute (when all the bids were submitted).

This weekend is Tour de Lousiane down in Covington/New Orleans, LA.  The weekend after it the Smith & Nephew Gran Prix here in Memphis.  I am feeling pretty good, hopefully it will play out well.  I am really looking forward to the TT’s to see if I can improve my performance on the same courses year over year.

6/2010:  UPDATE… SOLD!

I am looking to sell my 2008 Felt FC.

• size: 58cm
• shifters: SRAM Red
• derailleurs:  SRAM Red
• brakesets: SRAM Red
• chain:  Shimano Ultegra (only 2 weeks old)
• cassette:  SRAM Rival/Force cassette 11-23
• crankset: SRAM Red (new!, took off my Trek Madone, only ridden 65 miles)
• wheelset:  Velomax ?? wheels (nothing special, just something to complete the package).
• handlebar/stem: FSA aluminum.

I have a price in mind, will disclose to interested parties upon request.

I did a bunch of work in the garage today after the ride and pulled out my Trek for some photos (was shooting my Felt anyway, see next post).

After a great ride today where I tested the bike out, I planned to move my SRM over to my new Trek Madone today.  Since I didn’t see anything concrete on installation (and the bearing set ordered from SRM didn’t have any instructions), I decided to blog a step-by-step.

Step 1.  Removed SRAM Red crank and pulled the SRAM GXP bearings (I had to use my bearing puller to pull them out, so much for pushing in/out easily).

Step 2) Got FSA bearings ready

Step 3) Pressed in bearings.  I needed to improvise a rig using my Enduro bearing press and a front wheel quick release.  It worked well to push the bearings in on both sides in steps (close quick release, open, tighten nut, repeat).  Did not require much pressure, but more than just pushing in.

Result:  drive side

Result: non-drive

I was surprised that the bearings ended up being so recessed in the frame… but it all came together okay.  Metal cover is drive side, wave washer on non-drive side.

Step 4) After verifying all was fine, I took it apart again and setup the magnet.  Since the Madone doesn’t have a bottom bracket cable bridge to put the SRM magnet under, I just taped a magnet on the chainstay.

Step 5) Re-installed the crank and bolt on the non-drive side.

Post Script (3/14/10 17:20)…. I didn’t check to see if the crank was free spinning (as it should be with new ceramic bearings)… I rode it today and checked it after… not so much.  My teammate Rick has the same crankset/bike combo, he put a wave washer on both sides.  I did that and it seems better.  I will have to ride it and then check it again to be sure, but it seems good.

We are now a two Madone household.

By special request, here is the procedure for exporting a file from MapMyRide.com to the courses folder of a Garmin 705.  It is pretty straight forward, just need to know what to do.

The following is done using Firefox on a Mac, it is basically the same on a PC.

(1) Find your route…  and open it from the list (or make it new)

(2) Find the “ROUTES” menu when in map view.

(3) Open ROUTE menu… Select: “Save to GARMIN/CRS”

(4) Enter target speed (just guess, not that important) and select TCX file format. Hit “SAVE CRS” button even though you are downloading a “TCX” file.

(5) Save the file to you computer (somewhere where you can find it)

(6) Move this file to your Garmin mounted as a drive on your computer.  Under GARMIN/COURSES folder.

When you startup your Garmin 705, the course should be available in the Courses menu (under the main menu item “Training”).

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The course will be highlighted purple on your map screen(s) for you to follow.  When in a course, a few more screens are added to the rotation.  The speed selected will the constant speed “rabbit” that will go 18 mph all the time (or whatever speed you select): that is up/down hills and through traffic lights.  It is sometimes interesting to chase him and try to run him down on a long ride (the Garmin will show how far ahead/behind you are).   I also think that history files can be used as courses, but I haven’t tried that.  I normally use this feature for new routes and when I am riding out of town.

I have had a pair of these Pearl Izumi winter gloves for some time, but they have always had an issue where the insides were getting bunched up every time they were washed.  Sometimes I would spend 10-15 minutes trying to straighten out each glove inside.  Lately (this winter) it had gotten much worse where some of the fingers were very messed up to the point that gloves were unwearable (due to comfort and limited function for shifting, braking etc).

So I decided to do some surgery on the gloves to try to understand what was up.  It turns out that gloves consist of an outer cover, a latex like vapor barrier, and in a fleecy inner glove.  The issue was the vapor barrier was getting all messed up not allowing the fingers to go into the correct spots all the way.  So my new process is to disassemble the gloves after washing…  And then built them back up from the liner outward (over my hand).  It is a bit of a hassle, but much less than the process of trying to straighten out the fingers.

If you try this, it is imperative that you hold the finger tips when pulling your hand out if you plan to wear them again.  This is especially important if you are on a ride and stop.  If you mess these modified gloves up out in the field you will have to repeat the entire process….  Also watch when you put your hand in, because the in parts are no longer attached to the cuff (need to hold the liner with the other hand while putting your hand in).

The bunching problem is a huge deal breaker for a very nice and warm winter glove.  I hope they got this straight in the last year or two, because this design needs some help.

I rode the early morning Peddler ride today.  I normally use my old headlight with a rebuilt battery pack.  It had been a month or more since I had done the ride (and used my headlight).

When I tried to switch it on, it didn’t light up.  It normally is pretty reliable.  This was all before the ride, so I stopped to check the connection… then I noticed heat building up on my back.  I pulled out the battery pack from my jersey pocket…  it was smoking.    Obviously it shorted out and was overheating.  I carried the battery back to the car and set it on the curb (carrying it like a dead rat by the tail / cord).   I pulled out the cord and one of the 5 cells out and left it a safe distance from my car and did the ride.

When I got back (~1 hour later), it had cooled off (probably discharged completely).  I am not sure what the exact mode of failure was, but somehow the light shorted.  I started only when I tried to turn on the light, so it is likely that it is a bad switch in the light assembly (and not my rebuilt battery pack).  I plan to troubleshoot it further, but I suspect the light will be thrown out.

I haven’t touched my X-Fire since the Outdoors Inc race in mid-October…  in fact it is still rocking the Michelin Jets from that race and has been sitting up in the trainer room (real estate agent had called it a bonus room…) since then.  A few things had got in the way, namely mountain biking, road riding, and a little thing about getting married.

In most cyclocross areas of the country, I would imagine that ‘cross season is wrapping up or over by now, but in Tennessee, there are races until late February in Knoxville.  During January, there is a pair of weekends in Columbia (south of Nashville), a Chattanooga weekend, a Cross the Way weekend (Nashville), and the state championship weekend in Johnson City.

What I can do, remains to be seen.  My January promises to be a tough one at work, so I probably will have to race when I can.  All of the weekends are compelling in their own ways (Columbia and Cross the Way are well run and day tripable from Memphis); I lived in Chattanooga for 5 years before Memphis; and JC is the state championship race (although you couldn’t get any further away within Tennessee.)  And then there is Southern X.  I raced it last year, but I am about 90% sure that I will not be able to make the date since it would mean taking off Friday and heading to North Georgia.  Andrea does plan to race it and looks to improve on her heartbreaking 2nd place.

The road season for 2010 is still a bit fuzzy, but I am looking forward to joining a solid group of Cat 3′s on the Marx & Bensdorf cycling team.  We should do well and take our game up the Cat 1/2 by the end of the season.

Andrea and I ordered a pair of Trek Madones with SRAM Red.  With one of our own the regional rep for Trek, it was pretty obvious who would be our bike sponsor.  Maybe if we step up our game, they will give us the frames….  We are looking to sell a couple of frames/ complete bikes.

• 54 cm (medium) Blue RC7 (2008 model, blue paint job, frame/fork)
• 52-53? cm BH Connect (Red/black, 2009 model, SRAM red build)
• 58 cm Felt FC (Black/grey, 2008 model, SRAM Red build or bare frame)

I will probably make a more detailed post about the Felt in January, but if you are interested in any of these, let me know (website@roadcx.net).  Make a reasonable offer.