Wheel Choices

After the Chain Reaction Cycles group ride last Wednesday, there was another rider extolling the virtues of his Rolf Prima wheelset. Super fast he said, like you are riding on rails. To him, they were the best wheels available. He really didn't want to ride anything else.

I'm sure they are fast, but I asked him:

What happens when you break a spoke?

He claimed that would never happen. He said the bladed spokes were so strong that they were almost unbreakable. Well, it does happen. I have a set of Rolf Vector Pros from about 10 years ago, and I have broken spokes on them. One of the issues with Rolfs (or most any "Aero" wheel set) is that one of the ways they achieve more aerodynamics is by reducing the spoke count. Many of these wheels have only 16-18 spokes. While that is good for aerodynamics, if one of the spokes does break, the wheel will be way out of true. On my 32 spoke wheels, I've broken spokes, and the wheel goes out of true. However, I can just open up the brake and ride home. On a reduced spoke count wheel, breaking a spoke often results in the wheel being so far out of true that is will rub on the frame or fork. And then you get to call your family and friends on your cell phone to beg one of them to come get you.

Another thing to realize about wheels that each spoke is under a certain amount of tension. This is what keeps the wheel in true. If you have fewer spokes, each spoke has to bear more of this tension. You don't need an engineering degree (though I have one) to figure out that as each spoke is under more tension, it is more susceptible to some sort of failure. The more tension a spoke is under, the more sensitive it is going to be to any external trauma. True, bladed spokes are thicker than a conventional spoke, but at the bend where the spoke threads into the wheel, they are not. And at this bend is the weakest point of the spoke anyway. So if there is some sort of external stress to the wheel (like hitting a pothole or some rough road) you have two things working against you now. First, all of this stress is going to be absorbed by just a couple of spokes, rather than 6-8 on a conventional wheel and two, these spokes are already under significant tension. There is nowhere else for the additional tension to go, so often times, it results in a spoke failing.

During the GLR 200 km brevet I did on Saturday, I hit a bad pothole while riding in the rain (I never saw it due to how hard it was raining). As it turns out, it did pinch flat my front wheel. But otherwise, my wheel remained true and no spokes broke. The wheel was able to absorb and dissipate all of the impact of hitting that pothole, and I was able to continue the ride and finish. I have no doubt that if I would have hit that same pothole with a reduced spoke wheel, I would have broke a spoke.

There are places for reduced spoke count wheels. They are fast and aerodynamic no doubt. If you are racing, doing time trials or triathlons then maybe they are the right wheels for you.

But at the same time, we also have this mentality in cycling that lighter and faster is always better. Remember that lighter and faster often come at the expense of durability. Pro riders (who endorse all of these things) don't care about durability because they have a team car loaded with spares following them around on every single ride that they do. For the rest of us, durability takes on much more importance. None of us want to be sitting beside the road waiting for a friend to show up because our equipment has failed us. For me, that means riding conventional 32 spokes wheels that are built for strength and reliability. And even if I do break a spoke, I know that I can get home.

The reader can draw their own conclusions about what wheel set is right for them. And the "right" wheel set may even vary by ride. For the types of rides I do, durability rates first on my list.

Great Lakes Randonneurs 200 km ACP Brevet Ride Report

I completed the GLR 200 km brevet today in Delavan, WI. It proved once again that there is no such thing as an easy brevet, no matter what the course profile looks like. The weather forecast for Saturday had been steadily deteriorating through the week. At one time the forecast was saying 78 degrees and a slight chance of rain. But this later changed to a 70% chance of rain with a high only in the 60's. Unfortunately, the later forecasts proved to be correct.

Turnout was good with about 65 riders. We rolled out of the Super 8 in Delavan at 7:00 AM. Temperature at the start was about 65 degrees. I started out in arm warmers, no leg warmers. But I did bring the leg warmers along with a rain jacket of course. Within 2 miles it had started raining. A drizzle at first, then harder, then back to a drizzle. It only kept up for a couple of miles, so I didn't bother to put my rain jacket on, but it did manage to get all the roads wet, making things messy and more hazardous.

The ride from Delevan to Edgerton was mostly uneventful. There was a strong wind out the south, so most of the time it was a crosswind, but sometimes a tail wind. Ahead though, we could see ominous signs though--darker and darker gray clouds that we were headed right for. We got to Edgerton and stopped at the Shell station, which was the control. Getting brevet cards signed and more Gatorade only took about 10 minutes.

In those 10 minutes though, there was a marked changed in the sky. It was darker than ever, with the wind blowing harder, looking like a storm was imminent. And sure enough, half a mile out of Edgerton, the rain started. And hard. Now the rain jacket got put on. The rain was coming down at steady hard pace making sunglasses worthless. And it was hard enough that you had difficulty seeing the markings on the road.

Of more importance, you also had difficulty seeing bad patches of road because the rain was coming down so hard. And at about the 35 mile mark, I hit a pothole the size of the State of Massachusetts. I was fortunate it didn't wreck my front wheel or break any spokes. But it was a shock and sent a water bottle flying. After recovering the water bottle, I carried on.

At the 40 mile mark, I was having a harder and harder time staying up with the 2 people I was riding with. So I dropped back, and was soon joined by another rider named Jon riding a Seven. I had passed Jon earlier as he had punctured. Unfortunately for him, he punctured again at about mile 44. So we stopped to fix the flat. But worse yet, his second spare tube had a defective valve stem. So I gave him one of my spare tubes (I had two) so he could get going again. Right as we were about to leave, I noticed my front wheel was flat. That pothole I hit earlier must have pinched the tube and caused a slow leak. This probably also explains why I was struggling to keep up earlier. So the last tube between both of us came out and went into my front wheel. So to paint the picture for you, we have been on the side of the road for probably 25-30 minutes, raining the whole time with the temperature dropping changing three flats. We are now without any spare tubes, soaking wet and very cold as we start back up. I don't think either of us were in our happy place.

The rain continues steady to hard all the way into Verona. Some of the roads were busier, making it a real mess. There was a lot of standing water on the road and visibility was poor. Everyone is in survival mode now. All you are thinking about is getting to Verona, getting some food and turning around. And praying the rain will let up.

We got to the control in Verona and got our brevet cards signed. I had a ham and cheese sandwich and a coke. Jon opted for hot food, a couple of cheddar bratwurst. Not exactly cycling food, but it was cold, and he wanted to warm up. I do have to admit, the soup looked mighty tempting. I got out my now wet leg warmers and managed to put them on. The temperature had been dropping steadily, and was now about 47 according to a bank sign in Verona.

In Verona, the staff at the Kwik Mart told us about a bike shop in Verona, just a mile away. Jon and I could easily ride there and replenish our supply of tubes, so heaven forbid we flat again, we at least could fix it. So off we went and sure enough found Atkins Bike Shop. The staff working there couldn't believe we were doing a 200 km ride in such miserable weather, but they were very friendly and helpful. Jon also picked up some leg warmers (he didn't have any). I found some full finger rainproof gloves in my size and purchased those. So at this point, our luck started to turn around. We each had 2 spare tubes again, leg warmers on to keep some of the cold out and I had some nice gloves. And amazingly, the rain had let up.

Riding back, the rain would drizzle once in a while, but it never 'rained' all the way back to Delavan. Given, the roads were still wet, but at least they weren't getting any worse. And at some point, while still wet, a lot of the road splatter went away, so at least your shoes and legs stayed a little dry. This was very welcome news. The rain into Verona was miserable. Riding back was so much nicer. And to boot, we had an occasional tailwind.

We got back to Edgerton and back to the Shell Station, which was also the third control. I was hungry again, probably from burning extra calories to be warm. Connected to the Shell station was a Taco Johns. A chicken quesadilla totally hit the spot. Not cycling food, but hot food.

From here, it was 30 mostly uneventful miles back to Delavan. We did have to battle a cross/head wind for a few miles, and around mile 115, I was feeling a lot of fatigue, but I was able to battle through that. We arrived back at the Super 8 at 4:30 PM, making our ride time 9 hours and 30 minutes. Considering the elements, the fact that we spent 30 minutes changing tubes, had to go find a bike shop in Verona and probably took a little longer at the controls than normal due to the weather, I think that is a pretty good time. With what we had to battle through, its hard to imagine doing too much better.

Since this was an ACP brevet, finishers can purchase a finishers medal for $10 at the end. The medals are designed by the Audax Club Parisian and very attractive. And after the day I had, I wanted something to show for my efforts. So here it is, my 200 km brevet finishers medal. If you want to see what it looks like, go to the following link.

http://www.rusa.org/medals/medalimage28.html

Appleton West Between the Lakes

Another Saturday, another longer ride. I did 85 miles today on approximately the route below. I say approximately because I had to make a detour for construction and after riding the route, I made a couple small modifications. Plus, I started riding at my house, where the route in Bikely.com starts from Erb Park.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Appleton-West-Between-the-Lakes

The ride starts off escaping Appleton to the south and east heading through Neenah and then down close to Oshkosh. As I've discussed in my other posts, Prospect Avenue in Appleton is a little beat up, so you have to look out for road hazards. But the route down and through Neenah is either low traffic or with nice bike lanes, so its a pretty easy escape. County Road A to Oshkosh has some traffic, but it seems that a number of cyclists use the route and there is a sufficient shoulder, so it was not a problem to ride on.

My original plan was to go down to Sunnyview Road/County Road Y and then turn right (West). But when I got there, the road was closed for construction. So I headed back north and took Indian Point road over to 76, did a short stint on 76 (lots of traffic) and then back onto County Road Y heading west. And right by the Oshkosh Landfill. There were a lot of swarming birds over head. I am happy to say I didn't experience any bombing runs, but based on that, changed the route in bikely. Use County Road G, and then wind your way down to County Road Y once you get west of Highway 41 and the landfill.

County Y will pass under Highway 45 and then you will turn right on County Road S. One of the interesting places you pass is called M. Schettl. I guess these guys sell this sort of outrageous lawn art. If you have ever needed an extra large bison or bear for your yard, here is where you get it. I couldn't resist a picture.



From here, County S takes you up to Highway 116. Its just a couple miles into Winneconne. I only went into town far enough to stop at the local Kwik Trip to get some hydration and food. But that did provide a laugh. When I get up to pay, the clerk asks me "Any gas with that today?". Why yes, and a couple packs of smokes too.

From here, you backtrack about half a mile and take County M to the north. This eventually puts you onto County II where turning right (east) would shorten the ride and take you back to Appleton, and turning left (northwest) will take you to Fremont. This is really one of the nice parts of the ride. Very quiet, rural roads. You feel a lot more than 25 miles away from Appleton.

I did not actually go into Fremont. At this point, the skies were overcast and it looked like rain could come any time, so no time to waste to go exploring. I rehydrated at the store located at the intersection of Wisconsin 96 and County II, and then its about 1/4 of a mile to the west you can go north on County Road H. This is another great road to ride on. Quiet, rural, a good amount of trees. This eventually dumps you out on County W, where you turn left (north) to head towards New London.

About a mile up the road, you take a right onto Brehmer Road (which is really School Road). Its unmarked, but its the only right turn in the area. At the turn, there is a mill or agricultural storage units or something, so that is a good way to tell too. From here, its pretty much School Road back. I turned right on Manley and went down to Shady Lane just because I like that route back into Appleton.

Overall the route is very flat. There are a few small hills on School Road and a few others scattered throughout, but I never got out of the big ring. As with most rides in Appleton, wind can be a factor as you go through a lot of empty fields. There are stores in Neenah, Butte des Motes, Winneconne and Fremont. After you get out of the Oshkosh-Neenah area, the route is very rural. There is some traffic in the towns of course, but all of the back roads are very quiet. And yes, you do get some views of the lakes.

One good thing about the route is that there are a number of places you can cut miles off if needed. One option would be to head back to Winchester and then Appleton when you get to County Road II. Another option would be to head straight across to Winneconne on County G. Or you could add miles. My original plan was to head through Winneconne onto the west side of the lakes and work my way up to Fremont that way. It just all depends on the amount of time you have

Shawano Lake 100 Mile Century Loop

I completed my first Century ride of the year today, a ride from Appleton north to Shawano Lake. I circled the lake, went through the east edge of the town of Shawano, down through Shiocton and then back home. I have posted my route over at Bikely. This was not an 'organized' century ride, just a solo one I did on my own.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Appleton-Shawano-Loop

The weather was great. I left at noon, when the temp was about 45 degrees. It later warmed up to about 52. Wind was out of the northeast at about 8 mph all day, so not too windy. It made it a bit of a grind going up to Shawano, just because you were going into the wind for so long and the terrain was flat farmland, so there was no where to hide. But it was nice to have a little bit of a push on the way back.

Shawano is interesting because it is really sort or a dividing line in Wisconsin in that south of Shawano, most of the ground has been cleared for farm land, but to the north, the north woods of Wisconsin start. A satellite phot from Google maps clearly shows this.



View Larger Map

There is nothing wrong with rural roads, but it would be nice to trade farmland for forests once in a while. Now today, April 11, none of the trees have leaves, so being forested didn't really mean much. But this would be a beautiful ride in the summer.

The ride itself is pretty basic. Its not an out and back, but its pretty much a long leg north and a long leg south. I decided to take Ballard up today just because I've been on French Road a lot lately. Crossing 54, its more farmland as you keep heading north. As you get closer to Bonduel, there are a few more hills, but nothing serious. Bonduel is the first refueling point at 37 miles.

From here, I just took Highway 117 up to Cecil and Shawano lake. There is a fair amount of traffic on 17 and its fast. There is also a 4 foot shoulder, so its possible to ride on, but the riding conditions aren't great. I took it because it was expedient. A rider who is not as comfortable with fast traffic may want to zig-zag out to one of the country roads. But today, I wanted to do a 101 mile ride, not a 106 mile ride.

Cecil is a little town on the SE corner of Shawano lake, and you can actually see the lake at one point. From here, you swing north and then west on Lake Drive to circle the lake. This area has a lot of vacation homes, camps and resorts. There is some traffic, but due to the nature of the road, its slower. One does have to be careful though as there is no shoulder on Lake Road. At the NE corner of the lake, Shawano County has a park where you can see the lake (most the rest of the time you are just looking at trees) and I snapped the following photo.

From here, its into Shawano and the second refueling stop at the 53 mile mark. I actually ventured into Shawano a little bit to find a store with more food/beverage options. East Green Bay Street seems to be the main drag in Shawano, so there is a lot of traffic. But you only need to venture into town about 1/2 mile.

Out of Shawano, I got onto Airport Road and then Highway 187. Highway 187 is a highway in name only. There is almost no traffic on the road. And these 19 miles in many ways are the highlight of the ride. To your right, the ground is all forested. This is the Wolf River area, and in summer is just beautiful. Today, it was nice to have a smooth low traffic road with a light tailwind with something other to look at other than farmland.

Shiocton is around mile 80 and the last chance to refuel before heading back to Appleton. You immediately get off of Highway 76 onto County A and then wind through the country roads to get back to Appleton. I decided to do Mayflower to Capitol today just because I usually go over to Meade and go down.

So in summary, 101 miles is always a good ride. This ride also lets you see some forested land, different than what we have in the immediate Appleton area. There are 3 towns to stop in, and they are pretty well placed on the ride. If you are looking for something a little different than your normal century, this may be it.

Springtime Base Training

I now have almost 900 miles for the year. Given the late arrival of spring in NE Wisconsin along with a bunch of questionable weather days, I am pleased with that total at this point. Included in there are some long rides--102 miles to Shawano, the 91 miles around Winnebago and an 85 mile ride this weekend. So base training and endurance building are proceeding.

And that is what makes training right now hard. One of the most important rules for training is to build your endurance base first. It is so tempting right now to start doing speed work (and by that, I mean training to get faster, not the speed work that improves pedaling speed and efficiency). I've read an article on Joe Friel's blog about how important intervals are at improving Time Trial times. I have a book on riding faster that strongly advocates intervals. There is a monthly time trial starting outside of Oshkosh. You do the group ride and want to be in the "fast" group. And you remember what it was like to go out and do a ride and average 20 mph. And oh so much do I want to work on going faster.

And I will, in time. But for now my goal must be and will continue to be base building. I have long events I am preparing for. I need that strong endurance base. I am getting much closer now, but I need to work through the next couple of weeks to finish building my endurance base. By that time, I'll probably have about 1300 miles. And then I need to take a recovery week and let my body digest all of the training I've done so I can move on to the next step and start doing some faster rides. But I need to finish the endurance base first.

How many base miles are enough? I think that depends on a lot of factors, like what are your goals for the season, how well did you maintain your fitness over the winter and how consistent you have been in building your endurance base. Joe Friel advocates a 12 week base program consisting of three distinct base periods, each one consisting of 3 harder weeks and one recovery week. I think that is a great plan and I've used this type of approach before very successfully.

Unfortunately, spring got here late in Wisconsin, so I feel like I'm trying to catch up a little. While I didn't start riding outside until mid-March, I did have something of a base built up from the CompuTrainer. An old rule of thumb is 1000 base miles. For me, that seems to be pretty accurate. Personally, I'm going to do more than that this year because all of my goals are focused on long distance, endurance type events. So I feel like I need a little bit bigger base.

I should note that once the base period is over, that doesn't mean you stop doing endurance rides. It just means that you mix in more types of training. But you always maintain and enhance that endurance base.

From what I have seen, a lot of riders neglect base training. Doing group rides 3-4 times a week will certainly get you fast--to a point. But it will also put you on a plateau without the necessary base training to reach higher peaks. Would I like to be faster now--Sure. But I also remind myself, I'll be ready to go fast when its important for me to go fast. And this is the way for me to get there.

Of Magic Elixers and "Go Fast=Yes" Potions

Joe Friel has a great post over at his blog everyone should read.

http://www2.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/03/marketing-and-sport.html

When I was just starting out years ago, I bought some new tires. The shop mechanic said these were the best tires out there and would probably add 2 mph to my average speed. I was a little suspicious about this claim. Guess what? They didn't. In fact, they turned out to be some of the worst tires I ever owned. They were impossible to get on and off of the rim and handled like something out of the Flintstones,. Further, two of them split open and those that didn't wore out quickly. The only blessing was that I learned my lesson and got them off of my bike shortly after that.

A lot of people think their bike makes all the difference. I'm faster because I'm on a Trek or Specialized or Giant or whatever. I've got to get this bike because rider X rode it to victory in race Y. Guess what? Last year, when rider X was with another team, he rode a different brand of bike, and he probably was still 10 mph faster than you. The differences between frames, components, sports drinks, its all minuscule. Now maybe there is a particular brand of frame that fits you a little better than the next one, maybe there is a sports drink that tastes a little better to you than the next one so you hydrate better, but there is no universal go fast solution. If there was, everyone would be riding it.

There is no legal product out there that is going to add 2 mph to your speed. Period. End of discussion. No matter who is endorsing the product or what company is behind it. Lance Armstrong didn't win all those Yellow Jersey's because he was on that Fatigue reduction drink. He didn't win them because he rode a Trek with Shimano components. He won them because he trained smarter and harder than the next guy, because he was more focused on his training and his goals, because he scouted key stages multiple times in the months leading up to the tour and because when the critical time arrived in the race, he was mentally tougher than all the other riders. If Armstrong would have been riding a Colnago with Record, he would have still won the same number of races. If US Postal/Discovery Channel gets sponsored by Pearl Izumi and not Nike, doesn't matter. If Armstrong wears Rudy Project shades rather than Oakley's, he still has the same number of Yellow Jerseys hanging in his closet.

So as a consumer, when one of your buddies or someone at the bike shop tells you that you have to buy product X because it will make you go faster, remember two things:

1. The only thing that is guaranteed to make you go faster is training. Better training, more structured training, harder training. There is simply no substitute for hard work.
2. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is

Evaluate what works for you. If a certain brand of bike fits well and is comfortable, buy that one. If you like the ride of a certain set of tires, ride those. If a sports drink or gel tastes good for you, use that one. Chances are, if you are comfortable on your bike and have confidence in your equipment, you will feel better about riding, you will want to ride more and indeed be a little bit faster. Just figure out what works for you rather than jumping on the latest craze.

In the long run, if you evaluate things with a skeptical eye, you'll save yourself a lot of money and time.

NE Wisconsin Bicycle Shops

A really cool feature of Google maps is that you can create your own maps. You can drop points of interest on the map and label them how you wish. SO I have created one for Bike shops in NE Wisconsin. This is not meant as an endorsement of any shop on the map, its simply a listing (a graphical one) of where bike shops are located around the NE part of the state.

This list is not complete yet, but I'll work over the next couple days to get as many on as I know about. If anyone knows of one that I have missed or a shop that has closed down or moved, leave it in the comments section and I'll update the map.



View Larger Map

Evaluation of the CompuTrainer

This last off-season I rode on a CompuTrainer extensively. It was the first time I had done so and was really my only off-season fitness activity since I decided not to join a gym and didn't go Nordic skiing. I wanted to write a comprehensive review of my experiences so others who are curious about the CompuTrainer have another opinion to evaluate.

The CompuTrainer I was riding on was at the Recyclist bike shop here in Appleton. So 2-3 times a week, I would head down to the shop and ride. During the week, I would try to get 2 one hour sessions in, and then try to get a two hour session in on Saturday. Because of the overhead of life, sometimes I wouldn't get all the sessions in I wanted to. But that was the plan and I was pretty successful staying with it. All told, I ended up with a little over 600 "CompuTrainer" miles for the three months of winter.

As I have described in other posts, the setup at Recyclist is very good. They have their computer plugged into a projector, so the image projects onto a wall and is probably 8-10 feet in size. So this gives you more of a feel that you are riding on a course rather than looking at a computer monitor.

Positives
Ability to Maintain Fitness - I've been riding outdoors for about 3 1/2 weeks now. I've already done rides of 60, 65 and 90 miles. As I said, the only activity I was doing this off-season was the CompuTrainer, so clearly, this helped me maintain some on-bike fitness. I have some early season goals (a brevet on April 25th), so its important that I'm not "starting from zero". But the fact that I've already been able to do some long rides I think has to be attributed to the CompuTrainer.

You Are Riding Your Own Bike - It seems the rest of the world is finally figuring out what Ben Serotta had figured out a couple decades ago. Fit matters. Now you have all kinds of fit systems out there. So if you set up your bike, why do you want to go ride a stationary bike that is "one size fits none". Yes, you will get a workout. but you will not be using muscles at the same angle or the same plane as you would on your road bike. This is a tremendous advantage of the CompuTrainer over stationary bikes at the gym or spinning classes. You are riding your bike. So the fitness you are developing is directly applicable to when you take your bike out on the road come spring. If you are a tall or short rider, have custom cranks, have custom anything, this is even more applicable. There is no need for the muscles to re-learn a different position come spring, because you have been training in the position you are going to use them.

The CompuTrainer Makes You Work - If you go to the RacerMate website, they say every 1 CompuTrainer is equivalent to 2 road miles. I do not fully buy that. But, I will say that for a given distance or time interval, you do seem to work harder on the CompuTrainer than on an outside ride (unless that outside ride is a fast, aggressive group ride, then its about the same). And this is good in the winter that the CompuTrainer makes you work, so you can get as much out of your workout in as short of time as possible. I attribute this to two factors. One, you can't really coast on the CompuTrainer, so you have to keep pedaling. Two, you have your power number right in front of you, so you tend to keep pushing so your power numbers stay up. So maybe the ration is 1.5 to 1 in terms of difficulty or even 1.3 to 1, but you are working hard, and that is a positive.

Analysis Tools in the Software - I had never ridden with a power meter before. But you have one on the CompuTrainer. And this is great to get an idea of where you are at and to measure improvement. It can also tell you where you need to improve. If your power drops significantly over a period of an hour, you probably need to improve your endurance. If your power is low overall, maybe you want to improve your strength.

The other analysis tool that is included is the Spin Scan software to analyze your pedal stroke. Joe Friel, who knows way more about these things than I do, says that fastest ways riders can improve is by making their pedal stroke more efficient. But how does one analyze their pedals stroke? The SpinScan software will do just that, so then you can do drills to improve your pedal stroke efficiency and measure that improvement over time.

Courses and Course Selection - One of the problems with normal trainers or stationary bikes is how resistance adjusts (or doesn't adjust). You are either riding at the same resistance level for a very long time or the resistance adjusts very abruptly. Neither is like a real road ride, where there are subtle changes throughout. Simply put, you should have to shift during a ride, up and down, to account for the little ups and downs you face. Since the courses in the CompuTrainer are real courses, you feel these little ups and downs and have to adjust and shift, just like on the road.

Course selection is also very good. There are literally hundreds of courses on RacerMate's website, so you never have to ride the same course twice. And there are all varieties, from flat time trial courses, mountain courses, rollers, intervals and everything in between. So once again, a big advantage over the stationary bike with its 8 preset courses.

Real Course Videos - We only had one real course video in the show, the UK Ironman. But it was great. The video quality is very good and it really gives you the impression of riding through the English countryside. The computer generated graphics get a little boring after a while, but as time goes on and there are more and more real course videos, I think these will become the primary option. Its not as good as being outside, but its a huge step up from just riding on a trainer.

Negatives
Cost - A CompuTrainer goes for $1649 retail (on sale now for $1449). Then you need a computer (figure $400) and some sort of monitor. I guess if you have an LCD TV, you could hook the graphics up there, but if you want a setup like Recyclist, a projector will run you about another $700. So that is about $2700 to get in the game with a CompuTrainer at home. That is a lot of coin. Maybe if you have an older PC, you can just put in a good 3D graphics card and save some money there. Maybe you can use an existing LCD TV and save some dollars there (though if you don't want to dedicate a TV, you will be setting up and tearing down all the time). Still though, its a lot of money for most people.

The Computer Graphics Get Repetitive - Don't get me wrong, the computer generated graphics are a big step up from looking at nothing on a trainer. But if you ride enough, they do get repetitive. I think here is where the Real Course Videos really shine, because they are 'ever changing'. I think put another way, going on a 5 hour road ride, no problem. Riding for 5 hours on the CompuTrainer with 3D graphics, it going to be pretty boring those last 2-3 hours. Riding on a normal trainer for 5 hours, well. I'd be brain dead 20 minutes into it.

You Don't Have to Turn - There is no steering on the CompuTrainer. I'm not really sure how there would be. This isn't so much of a knock on the CompuTrainer, just realize that it is going to train your legs and your heart. Its not going to improve your bike handling. That is OK, just realize what the equipment can and can't do.

Overall Thoughts


I am pretty positive on the CompuTrainer overall. It is a good option to maintain and develop fitness over the winter months. It also gives you tools like power measurement and pedal stroke analysis to take a very analytical approach to your training. While nothing will ever compare to being out on the road, it is a big step up from things like trainers, stationary bikes and spin classes because it is continuously adjusting resistance based on a real course, and there is a far greater selection of courses available.

Would I buy one to have at home? If money was no object, yes. It would be nice to not be on someone else's schedule, and I would probably be able to get more training in during the winter. I would also be able to work on some specific drills to improve my pedal stroke. But money does matter, and there just isn't $2700 in my budget for a CompuTrainer. But there also doesn't need to be. I have access to a CompuTrainer at my bike shop. If I ride 3 times a week for 3 months, I've still spent less than $300.

Still, I think the CompuTrainer is a major step forward for training in the off-season. There is finally a good option to maintain cycling specific fitness when you can't cycle outside. Next winter, I do want to Nordic ski to better build my endurance. But I will plan on being on the CompuTrainer 2-3 times a week so I'm ready to go once the cycling season starts.

Sports Drinks

I am a Gatorade guy. Always have been. I drink it exclusively on the bike. I am not a water guy. I almost never carry plain water on the bike. I am a Gatorade guy for a few different reasons:

• I like the taste. And if something tastes good, you will drink it, and that is important for staying hydrates on a summer ride
• Advertising has drilled into our brains about the Electrolytes Gatorade contains, but Gatorade also contains calories. Yes, it all sugar, but those are the type of quick calories you need on the bike. When cycling, you are burning anywhere from 600-900 calories an hour. If you are one a ride over about a couple of hours, you better be replacing those calories somehow unless you want to bonk. Water of course has no calories, and this is fine, but I like Gatorade because it helps me replace some of the calories I have burned for long distance riding.
• Gatorade is pretty much available everywhere. If you like Cytomax, good for you (personally, I don't). But I've never seen Cytomax sold in my local 7-11. And when you are doing a brevet or Cycle Oregon, I don't want to lug all the powder around with me so I can make my own drinks. I want something that is readily available.
• Based on the point above, since I can pretty much always get Gatorade, I don't have to worry about how it is going to affect my stomach. The last thing you want on a 100 mile ride is your sports drink and stomach going at it in the ultimate cage match seeing who is going to tap out first (usually that is me, the rider, tapping out)
  

I generally stick with the normal flavors. Orange is probably my favorite. Then Fruit Punch (red). Lemon Lime is fine and the Grape is actually really good. I can do other flavors though, except for the light blue one that looks like toilet water. Can't handle that.

While riding around Lake Winnebago today, I did face a situation I am finding more and more common. They had 32 oz "normal" Gatorade, 20 ounce G2 Gatorade and Powerade. For those that are not familiar, G2 is Gatorade's "low calorie" sports drink. OK, I get the low calorie craze, though at 75 calories per 12 fluid ounces, Gatorade really isn't that high calorie to begin with (soft drinks typically have 150 calories per 12 ounces). So Gatorade G2 doesn't meet criteria #2 above. So I ask what is the purpose of G2. If someone is that concerned about calories, go with water or Propel or something like that. But leave Gatorade alone.

The problem for stores, especially small convenience stores is that they have limited space in their refrigerated coolers, so they can't possibly stock every option these companies come up with. So in the case of this store, in 20 ounce bottles (which is the size I wanted to purchase), the only had the G2 and not the regular Gatorade. So in Gatorade's quest to capture more market share, they have effectively pushed out one product for another. Isn't that what they call a zero sum game?

I would hope that some of these companies start realizing that offering 4,562 different incarnations of your product isn't necessarily "better". Probably 10 of those products account for 90% of your sales. Drop the rest. All they do is serve to distract the consumer. General Motors has 9 brands and something like 100 models. Toyota has 2 brands and about 10 models. Who is the better company? Especially when you consider that most of the GM models are just knockoffs from one another.

Maybe there is a market for G2. But my advice to Gatorade would be to make sure that you don't forgot what product got you to where you are. And make sure everyone stocks that product.

Riding Around Lake Winnegago

One of the rides which is probably a right of passage for Fox Valley Wisconsin cyclists is to ride around Lake Winnebago. For those not in Wisconsin, Lake Winnebago is the largest inland lake in Wisconsin, about 30 miles north to south and 10 miles east to west. Appleton sits about 10 miles north of the lake. At the bottom is Fond du Lac (whose name literally means "Bottom of the Lake")

I have mapped out the route that I took over at bikely.com. The link is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Winnebago

This is actually just slightly different, because I started at my house in North Appleton, and the route I mapped out starts at Erb park (because if you are going to do this ride, you probably don't want to park at my house)

TO get out of Appleton, I took Prospect Road east through town. This is a generally pretty good road to take to get to the eastern escapes. Its a through route, so you don't have to turn all over the place and traffic isn't too bad. The road is rough in parts though, so you do need to be careful.

Just before getting to the Highway 41 underpass, I turned south on Northern Road. From here I used Stroeble to get over to Lake Road. Lake Road has very low traffic and will take you all to Neenah, so anyone looking for a southeast escape, this is a good one.

Going through towns is always slow and potentially a safety hazard. But Neenah was a joy. The roads I was on had wide bike lanes and were in good shape. I only had to stop at a couple of lights. I was very impressed with how friendly cycling in Neenah was.

From here, you hook up on County A all the way down to Oshkosh. Traffic is pretty light on County A, no problem to cycle on. Unfortunately, there is no good way to get through Oshkosh. I will say that County A entering Oshkosh becomes 4 lanes. Traffic wasn't too bad and all of the cars used the left lane so I was fine in the right lane. You do go through downtown Oshkosh, which has some neat older buildings, but it did seem that I hit a lot of lights. Oshkosh is a grd pattern, so that is going to happen. And then, on my way out of town, A got stopped by a freight train for 5 minutes.

Finally on my way again, I was on Highway 45 headed south/southeast towards Fond du Lac. From Oshkosh, you will spend about 15 miles on Highway 45. Traffic was not bad today. And there is a 3-4 foot shoulder that is in good shape that I was able to ride in the whole way. I did not have any problem riding Highway 45, which was one of my questions, was this road acceptable for cycling. Its not perfect, there are cars and the speed limit is 50 mph, but riding conditions are acceptable.

So finally I was in Fond du Lac. I didn't stop, just rode through. You are on city streets, so you do have to be aware of more traffic, but nothing that bad. The big thing you have to pay attention to in FDL is that Highway 45 through town is in pretty bad shape. A lot of potholes and the shoulder and edge of the road is real tore up, so you have to keep an eye on that.

Leaving Fond du Lac, you come to an intersection with Highway 151. Turning left here would be the fastest way back to Appleton, but one with a lot of fast traffic. Go straight instead and get on the Prairie Trail to get out of town. This trail goes on for 3-4 miles and safely takes you out to rural roads. There is also some climbing here, about 350 vertical feet. But the grade is never bad, so you just work your way up on the bike trail.

From here, its a series of rural roads north. They are all very quiet with little if any traffic. County QQ will take you up to Johnsburg, where you turn right and then shortly a left to get onto Schumaker road. While on Schumaker, you will ride through about 50 giant wind turbines. Even on a day like today where the winds were light, they were spinning. Schumaker will take you to St Paul Road, named for the old church you will pass while riding north. Then its County HHH and onto Tower Road. Tower makes a jog at one point, but you stay on it all the way up to County Highway F.

At this point, I made a decision to head back west to Highway 55. It was a combination of reasons. The afternoon was starting get on, the sun was behind a number of clouds and I was just ready for some faster progress home. Going east, I could have picked up more rural roads, and that works fine. Going west, I could have continued past Highway 55 to Lakeshore Drive, which is very low traffic, but today, I just headed north on Highway 55.

Traffic on Highway 55 was pretty light today. On a summer weekend, it would probably be heavier, and I would probably make a different decision. There is a 3-4 foot shoulder on Highway 55, so if you need to ride on it, its not bad for a highway. Everyone like rural roads, but sometimes, you need to be on the highway because roads don't connect or you need the shortest route. So will I would never take a group ride on Highway 55, its fine for the solo rider or a smalle group in a paceline.

I rolled into to Stockbridge and refueled at the BP. I think the clerk was a little shocked that I was going all the way around the lake. From here I headed north again, staying on 55 again. It 4 or 5 short miles, I beared left and headed towards High Cliff State Park.

The "back" way into High Cliff deserves some discussion. All the maps show a southern entrance into High Cliff from High Cliff Road. I've been on that road and I have never seen it. It looks like from the maps there may have been a pay station there at one time, but apparently that is now blocked off. But if you are on a bike, continue up to the point where High Cliff Road is about ready to take a sharp right turn (as shown here). There is a service building here with a service entrance that will connect you up to the park. I think if you are on a bike, you are probably OK using his to get over into the park (because bikes don't pay a fee to enter the park and a bike is a lot closer to a pedestrian than a car).

Once in High Cliff, you roll down the big hill, out of the park, and then east to State Park Road. From here it is north all the way to Block Road, and then Buchanan. Cross County CE, north through Combined Locks, and then along the river to the Washington Street Bridge, left on Main (Wisconsin Avenue) and back home. All told I ended up with 90.7 miles today.

Some other comments about riding around the lake. The west side is very flat. The east side is not hilly, but there are a few more ups and downs. The west side is much more built up (Menasha, Neenah, Oshkosh) but really Oshkosh is the only town that is a little problematic to get through (if anyone knows a good way through Oshkosh, leave it in the comments). Because the west side is built up, there are no shortage of places to stop at for supplies. On the east side, it is pretty sparse. I stopped in Stockbridge, though if you were riding Lakeshore drive, this would have you deviate a mile to the store and a mile back. You could cut further east to Chilton, but then you will miss out on some lake views and it will add quite a few miles. So you may want to make sure that you are fully supplied before heading up or down the east side of the lake (or plan to take a detour to Stockbridge)

Wind can be a major issue. Today I had light winds, so I was OK. But there are a reason they have all those wind turbines down by Fond du Lac, and its not because there is an abundance of calm days in NE Wisconsin. Also realize that on the lake, thee is absolutely nothing to block the wind, so it can really get going. If you are facing a day with 15-20 mph winds, you may want to ride Lake Winnebago another day.

You do get some good lake views though. On the west side, you can see the lake in Neenah and then sever places on your way into FDL. Here, you are around lake level. On the east side, you are more overlooking the lake, but you can see it from Tower Road and St Paul Road. And of course you can see the lake from High Cliff.

So there it is, a ride report on Lake Winnebago. Hopefully the route and the descriptions are useful for someone else who is planning a ride. It is a good ride, and a 90 mile ride is always a great accomplishment. And now, when it is snowing tomorrow, I can know I already have all my miles in for the week.