New Bike

I just bought a new Trek Madone 4.7. It is the 2010 model with Sram Rival components. Great bike bright blue with white accents.

I was all set to buy a Gary Fisher Cronus Pro from Lombardi Sports in San Francisco. I the bike on a test ride and I was impressed with everything but the brakes. After going home and thinking about it I returned to the store the next day to make my purchase only to find out they had just sold it. One of the sales guys pulled down a Trek and said give this a try. He mentioned the Gary Fisher was more of crit bike and the Trek was made more for long rides. I wanted something to do the Marin Century on (note: I did it last year on an aluminum Bianchi and was sore for two days afterwards). I took it for test ride and and man it was smooth, handled great and climbed really well. All I can say is it was the bike for me. It took me about a block to get used to the Sram Rival shifters. Really as easy to shift as the Shimano and no breaking which sometimes happens on the Shimano shifters when  you are shifting. The hoods were a little more comfortable on  the Sram as well.

Overall I like the color, the ride, shifting, feels like I am riding on rails the bike tracks so well and it goes fast. That's a big fun factor for me. I'll give a detailed review after I  have a few thousand miles on it. Right now I am just digging  it.

Waiting for the rain.

 

Waited all day for the rain to start falling finally started in the afternoon.  Only reason I mentioned it is because there were a couple of rides scheduled that were abandoned.

More rides after the rains over.

I always have trouble climbing I can do it but suffer up those hills especially when they are extra steep 8%, 9%, 10% and up grades. I am going to try an 11-30 cassette on my Bianchi with a compact crank. My Ultegra cassette is a 12-27 so I think the 11-30 will give me a little more ease up those steep inclines.

The new cassette is suppose to work with my Ultegra 6700 derailleur although it is only rated up to 28t. I’ll try it may have to lengthen the chain a little.

Diet and Bill Clinton

I saw an interview with Bill Clinton on Yahoo news were he had adopted a vegetarian diet. He wanted to live longer and enjoy his grandchildren. If I were him, I eat what John McCain eats! I mean the guy spent 5 years in North Vietnamese prison came get every bone in his body broken and fed shit to eat and yet the guy looks great for being 80 something. I think we all should go on the McCain diet, whatever it is. Clinton won't go on it because he's a Democrat and McCain is a Republican, anything one party does the other party has to say it stinks no matter if it is good for you or the country for that matter.

I went riding across town yesterday in San Francisco, it's a workout, especially with the thick fog. How thick, I couldn't see the end of the block! Now that's thick fog. It was even foggy at the Giant's game and Pacbell Park is located in a sunny area of San Francisco.

New Crankset Controltech Carbon Compact

I installed a new Controltech Carbon Compact Crankset on my Bianchi Via Nirone 7. I haven't heard of Controltech before seeing them for sale on Ebay but they make mountain bike parts. My guess is they wanted to branch out into road biking aka SRAM, only they haven't got a full line of gear, mostly stems, seat posts and cranksets. So I think they are ignored by most road cyclist. I had never heard of them.

I was ready for a new bottom bracket so I after a little research I purchased the Shield model with 175mm crank length, along with a bottom bracket. Installation went smoothly, the bottom bracket cups came with spacers that I used and Crankset bolted right on and in line. Shifting  was smooth and precise. No problems with the Crankset. The Crankset is super light weight, stiff and cool looking. On the Shimano Ultegra I had on previously I'd get chain rub when I stood up to climb on the big ring. As soon as sat down the chain rub would stop so I knew I was getting some sort of flex. At 240 lbs I am not a lightweight hence the name of this blog, so when I stand up I get a lot of torque. These cranks are stiff.

Our Sunday ride, I've been riding with the Sports Basement for the last year or so, we took a ride from San Francisco to Lake Lagunitas in Marin. There are a couple of climbs one over Camino Alto which is pretty easy, then the climb up to Lake Lagunitas which starts off at 8% grade and increase to 13%. It's hard for me, try pedaling 240 lbs up a climb like that. I have to say coming down is a fun thing 40 mph + coming down verses 6 mph going up.

There was about 30 plus people on the ride and it is always a lot of fun, lots of conversation, a good pace and good weather.

Biked to work today

I have been trying to ride to work a couple of times a week. It keeps me in shape for long weekend rides and riding really calms me after a hard day of work. There is the added benefit at least to me for some alone time. I have a teenager and my mother-in-law at home. I love my home life but some time riding my bike really does me good.

Currently I ride a Bianchi Vigorelli, which I really like. It goes fast, absorbs the bruising from the streets of San Francisco with it's steel frame and 700x25 Continental Gatorskin tires and my Brooks leather saddle. It really is  joy to ride. I put a change a of clothes, along with  my shoes etc in my back pack and change when  I get to work. As long as I don't have client appointments I can get by with slacks, shirt and tie. Thank goodness for easy-care shirts and stay press pants (available at Costco) for that just pressed look. I'm lucky we have a change room at work. And there are a grand total of 3 of us that ride in from various locations to work. It's fun and San Francisco is bike friendly so there are lots of cyclist on Market Street in the early morning.

Why don't Iose any weight?

I have to say I am envious when I read about bicyclist that started riding 6 months ago and have dropped 25 pounds. I ride like crazy, I ride hard, have a light breakfast and have salads for lunch and occasional beer at dinner and I haven't lost a pound! Well some days I lose a pound but most days I don't. I ride about 500 miles a month in hilly San Francisco and Marin where the average elevation gain on 20 mile ride is 1500 feet. Here I am grinding away up those hills pulling all 240 pounds with me and do you think I would be rail thin? No, I just get in better shape.

There is a hill I ride up in the Presidio that at the start of the season I could barely make it to the top. Yesterday I cruised up. At the start of the season I said to myself, if I keep riding I'll lose 30 lbs and this hill will be easy. Yesterday I said to myself hey I've got to look for a steeper hill this one used to be hard now it's easy. What's up with that?

Well if I could live on one packet of instant oatmeal for breakfast I would, but it doesn't fill me up so I have two. Lunch is always a salad. I've eaten so much salad I don't like lettuce on my sandwiches anymore. Dinner is what ever my wife cooks which is usually very good well balanced etc. And to hear her talk she's of the opinion that I am eating way too much at work because if I just ate what she ate for dinner I'd be thin like her. URGHH!!!

Maybe it is because I concentrate too much on my weight that I don't lose any. Certainly  between a full time job, raising a teenager, having my mother-in-law living with us, taking care of the house, the car, the grocery shopping etc. Commuting to work on bike is my only free time.

Well the good news if I can call it that is I can still fit into my pants.

Eddie's tour di piazza August 29th, 2010

I had all the intentions of riding 100 miles today. Prepped my bike yesterday and was looking for a good nights sleep so I would be fresh in the morning. Two small things that got in the way, first some high school kids down the block decided being Saturday night and with no parents around it would be a great idea to throw a party. With all the yelling and screaming (why do teen age girl insist on screaming?) around midnight I fell asleep, only to be awakened by Grandma at 1:45 AM needing assistance. She lives down stairs in what used to be the  family room. I just couldn't fall back to sleep right away, but my internal alarm clock went off at 5:00 am as usual. So very little sleep for Uncle Phil.

I  met up with  Eddie and the crew for his  annual birthday ride in Marin. I made it as far as the Cheese Factory and decided to turn around and head back to the start. Which I did after enjoying the morning ride wishing Eddie a happy birthday, meeting up with old friends and getting introduced to new people, I made it back to the car and home to San Francisco.

Ah, do I smell bacon? Yes my better half is a late riser and there were a couple of stop's of bacon left on the  sideboard. After a bike ride you'll eat anything and a lot of it. In went a couple of scrambled eggs, breakfast!
Off to bed for a good days sleep. I think I woke up around 4 in the afternoon. Next time more sleep. Ear plugs anyone.