Training Log Archive: veinbuster

Sufferfest: the best thing ever

Repeating with new power settings. Long warm up and 2 13:30 races with a 3 minute recovery. Heart rate was noticeably higher in the second race. Average heart rate 10% lower, average power 10% higher, max power about the same. I did notice the cadence drift low a couple of time, so I haven't got the adjusted levels mastered yet.

Power: avg-186, max-362

C • Why 13:30? 4

Day 2 soloflex, free weights, pushups

Day 3 soloflex with a few bonus sets.
Dips a bit weak, likely do to a bit of stress in the right elbow.

Oops, wrong work out.
Day 1 soloflex.

Returned the super light fat and set out to try two more, only one of which I ended up riding.

The second was an alloy frame, normal front suspension, XO rather than XX1, and a seat dropper. I have XO on my mountain bike and didn't see any benefit to the XX1. The slight weight advantage isn't significant to me.

I had enjoyed the Luft suspension, but prefer the extra travel, tunability and lock out option on this one. The seat dropper is very cool and I could see the odd time I might want the seat out of the way. There was a huge weight difference - probably 3-4kg, but the only time I noticed was lifting the bike over the railway tracks to get to the terrain park. Also, less than half the price of the first bike.

The second bike is a near perfect match for me, so I didn't take out the lower spec build. Well that and the wind shifted from south to north and the temperature dropped 7C so my fingers were getting chill, and the rain was starting to feel like it would cool the rest of me.

The ride was fun in spite of the rain. The tires held pounds of mud and flung it everywhere. Mrs. made me take my outer layer off before getting a ride home.

C • N+1? 6

C • Seat droppers are awesome 3

Picked up a Brooks saddle in Austin. They say the break in period is 1000 miles. It is already more comfortable than the 30 year old saddle it is replacing. It is much more sensitive to the position. I had to stop and adjust the seat angle by a couple of degrees pretty early - the seat is too slippery for that not to be perfect. I might shift it back a few mm - I have to decide if it would be better to let the leather form to my bum instead.

The ride was very windy and chaotically wet. It wasn't supposed to rain until much later in the day, but I went in and out of it every 10 minutes or so. Never very heavy, but enough to get the road wet and maybe draw some of the dye out of the seat.

Scored a loaner of what is probably the lightest fat bike on the planet. Carbon everything, including wheels. Luft suspension, which was surprisingly good on top of being a very cool looking front end. XX1 rear. 4.6 rubber. Tubeless and under 11 kg. This should be as good as it gets.

I nay had recovery compression on my right leg, so toured as much as I could in an hour. I was surprised how fast it started out, then noticed it was already on the 11 of the 11-42. Still it was a good enough top speed for me on a trail. Quite good at jumping curbs and dealing with mid sized features. Brilliant in the terrain park. But...

Substantial pogo effect under power. I didn't buy my mountain bike until that got tuned out of the rear suspension, but there aren't a lot of options for tuning it out of the tires. It was also bumpier over roots than I expected - based on this one ride I would say good at features < 4 cm or over 10 cm, not as good in the middle.

I told Mrs. not to buy it for my birthday. But I will probably run it to the south end while I have it.

C • Interesting! 4

Day 1 free weights