A new bike computer: A review

With my morning rides while the kids are sleeping, I have rapidly determined that what I need is not only a way to tell time, but also a way to see if I am getting the mileage that I am shooting for in a limited window of time in the mornings.  I had spoken with a friend who rode STP a few years back and she suggested I guy something like what you see pictured to the side here.

I headed to REI on Saturday with the kids and decided to pick this one up.  At $20 it seemed like a great deal and was going to do everything that I needed to do.  I have previously owned a bike computer, but sadly it was of the "Hot Wheels" variety and was evidently so popular, I can't even find a photo of it on a image search.  However, after I opened the box to the Sigma BC 5.12, I saw that the mechanics were basically the same.  It came with two rubber bands for strapping the computer itself onto the handlebar (or you could switch out the screws to mount it to the stem, which I did) and another for mounting the wired sensor on the inside of your fork.  A magnet is attached to your spoke with a silvered sleeve to hold it into place as it helps monitor your speed/mileage.  This process was done in fairly short order with only a tiny screwdriver being used to change the mounting orientation for the computer itself.

The computer comes installed with a single button battery that is easily changed out, should the need arise, and the real beauty of this computer-and what attracted me to it other than price, was the single button on the face of the computer.  No up or down or menu keys.  You can easily press this with your gloves on while riding to find out any of the information you need from your ride while you are in it.  It locks into place with a simple twist on the mount.and the large numbers are easily readable.

Now, for someone that does not set up these things regularly, I must say it was beyond frustrating setting this thing up.  There is a single slightly recessed button on the back that you use for setting the clock/wheel size/auto scan function (a feature that will cycle through all of your available data while on the road-speed, trip distance, total distance and time).  Anyone that has set up a clock on any piece of electronics in the last five years should have no problem accomplishing this function and if you do have issues, there is a very large instruction manual that comes with step by step instructions in various languages on how to accomplish this.  The real problem comes when you are trying to set your wheel size.

Not only do the number of button presses seem arbitrary and not intuitive on any level, but how big your wheels are supposed to be and how you measure this is shown in two cryptic photos that show two different methods for determining the size with conversions for going from inches to mm's, I think.  This is the single most frustrating aspect of setting up this computer as the need to have this measurement precise is integral to getting good data from your cycling computer (and in my case, knowing that I have the right amount of mileage before I head back home).  For statistic fanatics, the wrong number in the wrong place means your data is all off.  The directions for this process are printed so small (7 point font, probably smaller) that I had to have my son read it to me, and even then-they were not particularly clear.  I even pulled out my copy of Zinn and the art of Road Bike Maintenance for some guidance, which helped, but when I had the required data, the reference chart on the instruction sheet was less than helpful in every way. 

The first day I took this computer out for a stroll my mileage was off by 4 miles at the end of the ride (4 more miles tracked than ridden) and this morning, it was off by .6 under what was actually ridden.  I will endeavor to tweak this again tonight, but the prospects of getting meaningful data from this unit seem slim.  Sigma does have installation instruction videos that are helpful, but nothing to help set the computer up with these measurements.  In short, if you can't figure this out exactly, you end up with a $20 dollar digital clock with no back light.

A final complaint is that this also has no real off function to conserve battery life.  Although the LCD display is not back lit, and probably will not suck much from the battery, the only offering that this unit offers is a standby mode after 15 minutes (a fact I had to find out on the FAQ of Sigma's website).  Be prepared, this thing is always on.

Because I am stubborn, I will not be taking this back as I can't imagine how I can be beat so easily by this little device, but I don't know that I would recommend this unit to anyone but someone who has spent years working with them.

Saddles do matter, recipes and a new milestone

Time to STP: 138 Days

As stated in a previous post, I decided to buy a new saddle that was ideally going to be a little bit more comfy on the longer rides, as I progressed.  Throughout the week I have been riding on my Oval Concepts saddle and have been quite surprised.  I can't say that there are a ton of real discernible differences between my old Specialized saddle and this one at first.  The back end is a little more narrow and there aren't any gripping features on it.  But as I rode this week, things just felt largely more in tune with the way I ride.

if my own experience wasn't proof enough, my youngest son, daughter and I went on a ride Monday to enjoy an usually warm(ish) PNW day sans rain down a trail we had ridden much when we lived closer to it, but had not in some time.  My son on a Haro BMX style bike and my daughter on a Magna mountain bike that she got for her birthday last year.  The ride was not much, about 12 miles, but more than either of them had done in a very long time.  And although my son was fortunate enough to have a gear ratio on his Haro that lent itself to multi-purpose riding, my 8 year old daughter had to figure out how to use her six speeds to go up and down the hills along the Burnt Bridge Creek trail.  This in itself created some issues, but as we were returning, my poor daughter's bum started to hurt more and more.  Point of fact, this bike was probably not built for total comfort and she was feeling it.  I would be inclined to buy her a saddle that would fit her better, but as I have figured out-it is a crapshoot when you are trying to find a perfect saddle and likely she was going to grow out of it in the next several months.  It is funny, because it never occurred to me that something as basic as a saddle could make such a difference in riding.  As a kid, I used to ride for hours and hours and I don't remember thinking that my butt hurt afterwards.  Maybe it is the haze of reflection from 25 years past.

The honey/chocolate syrup has been marvelous for my post ride recovery and as I have been trying to get more familiar with the healthier options of taking care of my body for riding, I have also been stumbling upon more recipes just to make things more interesting.  Friday night was a Thai Green Curry (recipe follows).  Be careful on how much green curry you use, though, as it will really spice things up.  And don't be disparaged if it doesn't look like the curries that you get at your local Thai place, chances are, they are using a LOT of coconut milk to create that saucy look that you get at the restaurant.  Saturday night was baked salmon fillets and mashed cauliflower.  I know a lot of people that were/are doing Atkins do this as a replacement to mashed potatoes, but let me say-mashed potatoes this is not, so don't treat it that way, I think.  I mashed a signed cauliflower head and added 1/2 a cup of Greek yogurt with some sea salt and black pepper and some dried onion flakes.  It was quite good and I really recommend it.

Finally, I hit my first mental milestone in training today.  Just over 30 miles in the saddle at 2 hours and 15 minutes, which I was pretty happy about.  Fortunately, the weather has been pretty forgiving for Winter (about 40 degrees and dry).  A nice combination of hills and flat made the ride quite nice and although I should not be wearing headphones while riding, I was listening to the last several episodes of Radiolab the entire time which makes the ride feel a bit less long, like I have someone chatting with me the whole time (like most of NPR's programming, I highly recommend this show).  I really feel like I am making progress towards STP now.  I think it is because 30 miles is the most I have ever ridden uninterrupted and feel that if I am in the end of February and can do this, that the 138 days I have left are really going to be enough.  I feel fabulous and can't wait for my next ride.

And, although I didn't post the photos for the fork modifications for the Bridgestone, that went smoothly.  A $6 metal file purchased at Home Depot and about 5 minutes of time opened up the dropouts on the fork enough to drop in the 700mm front wheel into the fork.  It is sitting on the bike at present and waiting to be ridden.

Many thanks to Bicycling.com for these recipes

Spicy Thai Curry
16 oz. cubed chicken breast, tofu, or shrimp
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tsp fresh ginger, chopped
3 Tbsp soy or tamari sauce
2 large red bell peppers, thinly sliced
3 scallions, chopped
16 oz. fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup low-fat coconut milk
4 tsp green curry paste (or to taste)
4 1/2 cups cooked brown rice
1/3 cup fresh basil

1/2 cup unsalted peanuts, chopped 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 lime, quartered

Cook the chicken in a tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat until done. Remove from pan. Add remaining oil and saute garlic and ginger on medium heat. When the oil is absorbed, add soy sauce, then add the peppers. Cook for two minutes, then add the scallions and spinach. Cook for two more minutes. Add the coconut milk and green curry paste and stir until well combined. Serve over rice and season with fresh basil, chopped peanuts, crushed red pepper, and a squeeze of lime. Makes four servings.

For my part, I instead used extra firm tofu and squeezed as much fluid out as I could by sandwiching it between two cutting boards and placing a cast iron skillet on top of it for about 10 minutes.  I then cut them into 1"X1/2" bits and seared those in a nonstick skillet with a little olive oil.  The tofu really ends up absorbing the flavors of the curry etc... and tastes great.  Also, brown rice is something of a pain if you are used to cooking white rice.  I recommend checking here to cook brown rice good every time.  Seriously, brown rice just provides a bit more substance and fills you up a bit quicker.

Oven-Roasted Salmon
1 5-oz. fillet of salmon (or other fish) 
1 Tbsp butter 
Salt, pepper, and other seasonings to taste
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place fish on a foil-lined baking sheet. Top with butter and seasonings. Bake for 15 minutes, or until desired doneness. Makes one serving.

I nixed the butter entirely and used olive oil instead.  Then I just tossed on some herbs de provence  which is my sort of catch all herb blend.  You could do anything you want with this, truly.  Along with the mashed cauliflower, too, I took a few slices of sourdough bread, brushed them with olive oil and dusted them with garlic salt.  Put this under the broiler until they brown and you have some fabulous garlic bread to go with your meal.

Betsy Gets a Tuneup

Days to STP: 158

As I said in a previous post, I bought a new set of drop down handlebars for Betsy.  A nice set of bars that were actually meant for a Cyclocross.  They have great length and a bit of a shallower curve on the drop downs that I liked.  I realized quickly, though, that when I put these on, I was going to have to replace all of my brake and shift cables as well as their housings.



New bars mounted




Old bars, removed.



What began as a nice way to add a bit of customization to my otherwise stock T700, became a minor tune up affair.  I also had a set of Shimano 105 brake levers laying around the garage that I wanted to replace the stock levers with, and I figured if I was replacing all the cabling anyway, I might as well switch these out.  Although I didn't take photos of the entire experience, there are a few things that I learned.

• Don't skimp on tools.  Seriously, don't.  I bought this cable puller a year or so ago because it was a bit cheaper than the Park Tools equivalent.   Somehow, they ended up making this thing only suitable for lefties (at least that is how it handles for me) and trying to tension a cable and get a box wrench in to turn a nut is nightmarish.  When/If I ever break this thing, i am going to buy one with a lower overall profile and the ability to be used both right and left handed
• As a sub of this, invest in some long handle hex wrenches.  I spent $15 on a hardened steel set of metric and US wrenches and the added leverage really helped when adjusting the tension on the brakes.
• Measure twice, and then measure again, cut once.  I knew full well that I was moving from 39cm bars to 44cm and that the flare where my bar end shifters were would add some additional length.  However, when it came to running cables for my back brakes, I just seemed to have issues and had to go out and buy more cable housing just to stretch the additional 3"'s that I needed.
• Make sure that your brake levers are placed where they will be comfortable.  I checked, double and triple checked to make sure they were where I naturally wanted them to be.  Doing this kind of thing is pointless unless you are comfortable at the end.
• Create a clean and organized work place.  Just make sure you know where all your tools are.  I suddenly get why shops have that little bucket on the top of their racks.  Just make sure everything is where it needs to be so you aren't searching everywhere when you need to switch from a 9mm to a 10mm wrench in a hurry.
• The ground is not a good place to store parts.  Yes, you may think you'll see it, but you won't.  Even if it is a back part on a white floor.
• Before venturing back to the bike shop, make sure they are open.  The folks at Bad Monkey are awesome, but they do have to close on occasion.

I also discovered wrapping handlebars is not nearly as daunting as I would have suspected.  After I had run all the cables and adjusted the brakes (Betsy is currently running center pull cantilever brakes that really have to be tweaked in order to get good contact), my son and I decided to wrap the bars.  I wanted something that was going to last for a spell and the folks at Bad Monkey recommended the Lizard Skin tape.  It was a little on the pricey side, but I figured if I was only going to have to do this every so often, it wasn't as big of a deal.






While you can't see it very well, there is a thin strip of adhesive here.

After my son and I figured out how to get the adhesive off the back of one of the rolls of bar tape, it was a simple process of wrapping the bars and trying to be mindful of the shifters etc...

As I was doing it, as well, I knew that I was going to want to maintain some naked bar space for my lights and a bike computer later, so I tried to stop things at a point where I had some clearance.

And finally, after about 15 minutes, we were done.  I left myself enough room overall for things I would want on my bars.

I also took a few minutes at the end to adjust my rear derailleur which was not shifting quite the way I would have preferred.  This is done with a couple of screws on the back of the derailleur itself and after a little help from my son, it was done in short order.

Technique matters, go figure.

As I was recently reading through some STP literature, I read something in their FAQ about the way that people typically pedal their bikes and how it is really inefficient or improper.  One of the suggestions that I read was putting your force of peddling into an action similar to scraping dirt off your shoe.  So, really, your strength goes into the backstroke, and not pushing down on the pedals.  Why does this even matter?  Well, if you are riding 200+ miles over a couple of days, the few calories that you are able to save by proper technique-extrapolated over thousands of strokes throughout the day could mean the difference between complete exhaustion in the middle of the ride versus at the end when you are supposed to be exhausted.

I tried to use the conceptual idea of this modified stroke when I was out yesterday, and what do you know-it made a difference.  The two real changes were in where I felt the strain (the top portion of my quadriceps) and in the speed.  As I changed my stroke halfway through my ride, I suddenly found myself going faster and using a muscle group that, while I thought I was using, I wasn't using in any significant way.  I had to stop myself on a few occasions from lapsing back into the pedal stroke I have used since I learned how to ride a bike, and I am sure when I go riding tomorrow morning, I will need to re-remind myself of the same thing.  I am not sure what I expected, but I am discovering there is a fair amount more to riding a bike than just hoping on (I mean, you can do that, and it is totally fine, but, there are things to make you more efficient and things easier). I also could be wrong entirely on how I am interpreting this.

Also, as an aside.  I bought new drop downs yesterday at the CCC (well, new to me).  A set of pretty nice Cyclocross 44cm's with bar ends that flare to 50cm.  I think this will give me a lot more control and the overall shape of them seems to make much more intuitive sense when riding in a more aerodynamic sense.  The guy at the CCC said that older style bikes (which Betsy is) tended to have a more narrow philosophy attached to them.  As in, the handlebars were much more narrow.  It is fine, but when I tested the Redline, I liked the broader handlebars from a control and aesthetic sense (and I read that contemporary thinking is that your handlebars should be as broad as your shoulders).  I am hoping to mount them this weekend once I pick up new cabling/cable housing (since everything will be at least a few inches longer now).

Below are a few links that I found for peddling information, for your perusal.  Much of this is easier when you are riding clipless or with toe clips as standard platform pedals are rather suited to the push style peddling we have all done for years.  But I think some of this technique can really extrapolate.

An essay with a couple diagrams on this

 

Hilly climbs

Vancouver is something of an interesting city to me (at least from the perspective of someone that grew up in the desert which is relatively flat): the entire western side of the city is peppered with random hills. If you know how to commute around town, this isn't actually a huge issue. But, I was hoping to start training for the "big hill" that is a notorious STP feature.
The particular hill that I opted to tackle is right on Mill Plain off of Grand. Even when I was cycling daily to Portland, this thing was a nightmare. While it doesn't sound like too much, it is around a 500 foot climb over about .1 of a mile. And I am not too proud to say, this thing beat me up (and just being a couple weeks out of smoking, my lungs were in fire). It beat me up good, and like an idiot, I tackled this thing in the middle of my ride. I see it as something of a real goal to be able to make this one without stopping and at something of a brisk pace. I have roughly six months to get ready for STP and I know hitting hills like this one is going to be imperative.
On a more physical note, the daily training on the bike is helping with my quads and my fingers didn't freeze today, which-you know-is a nice bonus. Also, I think I need to see about some new drop bars or at least repositioning my brake levers; their current location is in no way sensible.

First day out on Betsy

Why I am calling her Betsy is beyond me, but, that is what I am running with right now.
My kids were out, but aware that I wanted to head out on the first training ride (moving ahead of STP schedule.  I have quit smoking and know that I need to work out my cardio and get all this crud out of my lungs) so while they were sleeping I geared up.  Betsy came with SPD clipless pedals, my first foray into the clipliss world, and I was fortunate enough to pick up some used Specialized shoes with cleats still attached at Next Adventure for a great price (their Bargain Basement is often a parental savior).  It was cold outside.  Really cold.  Like 27 degrees cold (ice on the ground and you might die cold), but I figured my legs would do the warming for themselves, and I had enough gear to warm my
upper body I wasn't too nervous about it. 

I  loaded up Runkeeper on my phone and headed out.

The first half a mile should have told me something.  My fingers started to loose sensation from the wind attacking them.  You see, I had fingerless riding gloves on, and while my palms were quite warm, anything exposed was rapidly freezing.  Long story short: I made it 2.2 miles.  On the upside, according to Runkeeper, though, I set a personal pace record.  So that was a bonus (and I know I wasn't riding as hard as I normally would.  Seems those skinny tires makes a difference), but I couldn't hit the 10 mile goal I was hoping for.  I am hoping to make that first 10 to 15 mile ride next weekend (with warmer hands).

Lesson learned: If it is 27 degrees out, wear full fingered gloves.