The Pain of Spin Bikes

Today was the first annual RMC Soldier On Spin a Thon. Which was put on by the Cadets to raise money for the Soldier On fund.

I was tasked to ride 2 hours for the civvy base staff. Though after doing this once on a spin bike I know better for next year. Next year I will use my own bike with either Rollers or a rim mounted Turbo Trainer. Riding a spin bike sucks as it never feels comfortable to me. Though maybe a good easy day the day before would be helpful as well, instead of running around like a chicken.


The guy in the white jersey is Tony O'Keefe, Dean of Cadets and Ultra endurance fiend.




The Cadets trying to out work each other based on mileage. The squadron with the most mileage wins a pizza party.

Too Much Info

Was in Chapters our local book store tonight. I was looking at the sports books and I had suddenly thought about how advanced we have become.

Sure this is a good thing. Yet I can't help but feel that it gets in the way of our success athletically. We no have multiple books telling us how and when to train. We now have heart rate monitors and GPS units telling us how fast and how far to go. There are now pre made training programs and such telling us when to train.

We have lost a lot of the fun of training. No more do we simply get out and train doing it as fast and as long as we feel. Instead of training times is spent thinking about the overwhelming amount of info we are inundated with. And this overwhelming input causes us to spend way to much time and energy thinking.

If there was one group to watch and learn from that would be African runners. They don't use technology, well nothing more then a stop watch. They simply head out and train. Sure they have a given work out plan to do but that's it. There is no additional waste of energy thinking. It's simple get out and do.

And that is what we should be aiming for, the simple get out and train. Other then a stopwatch dump the excess technology and just train.

Service Course

In the next couple of weeks I will be cleaning up the mess that is my service course. One of the big things I need to get is a tool box. Not only to keep the tools easy to find. But to protect Gabby from all the sharp and pointy tools. Plus the tool box will make going to races easier.

So on the frame and part front things are looking up. This weekend I start working 3 days a week in the bike shop again. This is good as it will help keep the parts cost down with the new frame build. Especially with the new cranks and wheels. Actually kind of excited with this project as I have never tried to build up a bike with almost all new parts.

One other thing I need to do is to mail in my money for my cycling license. Hopefully OCA will actually be efficient for once and send me the card sooner then later.

I may not have mentioned this but have restarted running this year. Nothing epic really just some easy jogs once a day for a short period of time. My desire to do running races isn't there fully right now. So I won't push it at all. Maybe in the future who knows.

Suck It Up Buttercup

Suck it up, Buttercup. Is the favorite saying of any soldier in the Canadian Army. Whay am I posting this one may ask?

It's easy really. I'll be helping a crew this Saturday morning as a take a relay in the Ride-a-Thon at RMC for Soldier On. More info can be found here,

www.cfpsa.com/en/psp/soldieron/index.asp

This is a group that helps our soldiers who have been injured either in combat or non combat get back on their feet.

Now that that taken care off.

The last few days have been a waiting game. Waiting to see where Joely will be on the 4th so I can make the final decision as to the race. Either the Tour of Pelham or the Icebreaker. Decisions Decisions.

Now just re looking at forks. The RST M 29 is still the one. However am checking stuff on ebay to see if any Rock Shox are available. Though I would much rather get new the current economy may play a factor. Especially if I want one for April 4th. And then of course will need one when we go to California.

Rubber

It's about a month away from the first event of the year, the Uxbridge Icebreaker. And the weather isn't in any way being co-operative with training.

Hard to do speed work in the cold.

This week while replacing the crappy BB GT had installed I decided on a gearing change. The gear plan is to pull the 22T granny and replace with a 26T granny. which for Ontario hills will be adequate for my needs. And of course it will be steel as I tend to destroy those less.

Hopefully by mid March I will have also got the suspension fork on the way. Though at this point it may not make it here in time for Uxbridge. Kind of sad as it will make doing the 60k a little less abusive to the body. The good news though is that by the weekend I will have picked up my front wheel. So will now have 2 front wheels. Then all that is left is getting another set of Rhyno's to build up. Which will be on hopefully Hope Hubs.

Octalink of Doom

Octalink a funny name for what is essentially a spline system. This was a wonderful creation by the people at Shimano. That is untill they amed the crank bolts 10mm instead of 8mm. Then of course made it a challenge to remove.

So next week I have to go by work to torch the crank to get it off. Though the good news is that on Monday can go by the shop and pull the non drive side off. Then pull the plastic, yes that stupid plastic cup out and replace it with a metal one. As I suspect it's died in this winter weather.

Hopefully I can get a few more weeks out of it. I really don't want to shell out money for another crankset yet.

The Build-Wish list

Today spent part of the day thinking up the parts i'd like for the next bike build. Sort of a wish list. Here it is,

Frame- EWR OWB29
Fork- RST M29
Headset- Cane Creek
Stem- Undecided
BB-Shimano or Hope external
Cranks- Shimano SLX
Derrailleurs- Shimano SLX
Shifters- Paul's Thumbies
Hope Brakes- Rear mini as I already have a front
Hope Pro 2 hubs
Rims- Rhyno's
Handlebar-undecided as will have to see how it handles kind of
Chainrings 34 and 38T
Cassette- Shimano

This is pretty much what I'm hoping to build it up with. I'll have the RST fork sooner though as I'm using the GT all for most of the summer anyways.

Other things going on. Am taking part as a team member a 24 hour spinning event at the base the 27th and 28th of the month. It's a benefit for the Soldier On fund.

Snow Snow

Another fun filled day of winter.

Got a hour ride in on the 401 Division route. Temp dropped a couple of degrees while out.

Aded one thing to my rides that I do when I go to work. Every time I go to work I'm required to do at least one climb up Fort hill. Anything to add a bit to the ride.

O the bike front, now that I have decided on the EWR frame. Now going about the selection of parts to adorn it with. kind of looking at a dirt bag flavour. Meaning more along the lines of cheap and will work with almost anything. Which means at least half of the parts will be bought via EBay.

Retro Grouch Moto Club

This is a little bit from mountain bikings past.

You might be a retro grouch if;

1.Use top mounted shifters (click or friction)
2.Use a five or six speed freewheel
3.Use standard cage pedals and toe clips
4.Use brass spoke nipples rather than aluminum
5.Use steel quick release hub skewers
6.Use a frame pump rather that a CO2 cartridge
7.Use chainrings with teeth that don’t have odd shapes or notches (Writers Note: Remember Bio-Pace….uuuggghh)
8.Use water bottles rather than a water bladder slung on your back
9.Wear any cycling shorts that flap in the breeze
10.Wear tee shirts rather than jerseys
11.Wear a rolled up bandana for a sweatband
12.Wear a helmet that isn’t quite aero
13.Wear a fanny pack
14.Grow and maintain a crop of hair on your arms and legs
15.Grow and maintain a beard
16.Ride a frame that is three years old or older
17.Ride a non-suspended frame
18.Ride a frame that is any color other than neon
19.Eat anything other than a PowerBar on the trail
20.Drink water without sport drink additives
21.Enjoy listening to music by Neil Young

Original Woods

After reading the recent review in Dirt Rag of the OWB29 frame from the crew at EWR bikes.

www.dirtragmag.com/blogarific/under-test-eastern-woods-research-owb29er/

Well, it confirms for me that is the frame I want to build up next. Unfortunatly this will be delayed till August as winter financially didn't go as planned. Though it will encourage me to be even more frugal over the coming months.

Event wise decisions will be made in the coming week and a half. It will be either the Uxbridge Icebreaker or the Tour of Pelham. Just waiting for a scheduling confirmation from Joely. If it's Uxbridge it will be the 60km and if it's Tour of Pelham it will be 30km.

Uxbridge- http://bikenxs.com/

Tour of Pelham- http://www.laketolake.ca/tourofpelham.php

Now if only we could bribe that dirt bag singlespeeding reprobate Dicky to come to Canada to race. But then he wouldn't get by the border with his Equine EPO and Ketamine.

New Winter Gloves

Aquired some new winter gloves to replace my Castelli's. Which sadly after 3 winters are dying.

Picked up these from KB Cycle Werks. www.kbcyclewerks.com/ They are pretty good gloves. They stay warm till roughly -9 deg celcius. After that one will more then likely need some embrocation to keep warm. Has some pretty good grip and has a small snot wipe on the thumb. Good piece of kit but will still need to get a pair of shells for an overglove like the Castelli's.



Today's ride was through the Rouge. At least part of my route. Looks pretty good for mid Febuary.

29er Rubber

So there is a few new 29er tires coming out this year. They are it seems to be primarily light weight. Great, wonderful for the racer heads.

So what about everyone else? Yes, I'm talking about the rest of us average riders. Guy's and girls who ride through asty rocks and stuff. Yes, we would like to see a few heavier weight tires because not all of us ride groomed race tracks or nice trails. Some of us like to be able to challenge ourselves through rough trail. To rock hop and log hop as we need to on the ride.

How the hell can we do that when we have to worry about whether our tires will survive the ride intact? Come on manufacturer's we want to see some more abuse capable tires.