Pearl Izumi on Uranus

This is great. Glad to see Dave Zabriskie taking part in such a fun corporate video. On a related note, I think DZ Nuts is the best chamois creme on the market, regardless of what Kevin D. says.

New bike bling – Rotor Q-Rings, new bar tap & saddle

I decided to give the Kredo a mini-makeover courtesy of the good folks at Fort Worth Cycling.

• Switched from silver to white Fizik bar tape
• New white and black Arionne saddle  (had my old Arionne for 3 years)
• Put on a set of Rotor Q-Rings (elliptical chain rings).

I’m loving how the white tape and saddle changes the personality of the bike ever-so-slightly (white is the new black). But the big change here are the Rotor Q-Rings.

I’ve been considering a set of Q-Rings for about 2 years, but only recently decided to take the plunge after learning a couple ThinkCash Racing teammates were using them with some success. I went for the “aero” rings in 53/39 which are black and quite frankly, look pretty badass. The science behind Q-Rings is simple - round rings force you to pedal at the same speed through the entire stroke. As a results, you spend just as much time in the dead zone (at 12 and 6 o’clock) as you do putting on the power zone (between 2 o’clock and 5 o’clock). Q-Rings are shaped so the chain ring is effectively smaller as you enter that dead zone (equivalent to 50 or 51 teeth) . It smoothly accelerates your feet through the dead zone and gets you back on the power sooner (where you push the equivalent of 56 teeth).

I’ve only done one easy ride on the Q-Rings, but they pedal just like round chain rings (there is no choppiness). I did notice that I was pedaling at a slightly higher cadence then normal, but too early to tell if that is the result of the rings. There have been several studies of the Q-Rings showing power improvements of ~5% at threshold and above. Considering how fast our company Tuesday Night rides are getting, I’ll take all the help I can get. I plan on doing some testing of my own in the next week or two, so I’ll let you know what I see.

Breakfast With the Stars

If you are in DFW this weekend, and you have young kids, head to Fort Worth for some fun and a great cause. At the Tarrant Area Food Bank ”Breakfast with the Stars”, young children and their parents/grandparents enjoy Saturday brunch with childhood heroes real and make-believe, and peak at a 70,000 sq. ft. food bank warehouse. They meet Spiderman, Snow White, Batman, Cinderella, Darth Vader, Jack the Pirate and more, as well as real live athletes, mascots, cheerleaders, cowboys, doctors, ballerinas, firefighters and others. In fact, my wonderful wife will be there as Princess Leia (she’ll be white-robe-Leia, not Jabba-slave-girl-bikini-Leia). Other activities include balloon artists, face painters, handicrafts, hand-painting, musical instruments and an interactive exhibit from the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.

Join the fun March 27, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., at Tarrant Area Food Bank, 2600 Cullen St., Fort Worth. Proceeds benefit the Food Bank’s BackPacks for Kids weekend feeding program. Tickets: kids 12 and under $20; adults $40. Call 817.332.9177, ext. 132 or visit www.tafb.org.

Long road ahead . . .

Probably noticed I haven’t been posting much lately. Well, I haven’t been riding or racing much either. I’ve basically been off the bike for the last month due to:

• Work travel
• Snow/weather (very unusual winter for Fort Worth)
• Sickness (got a crazy sinus infection I couldn’t shake)

Been back on the trainer this week and it’s been pretty rough. Very depressing to lose lots of hard-earned-fitness, but . . . c’est la vie. I’ve got some more work and personal travel coming up, plus some family commitments, so looks like I’ll miss a couple of races I was really looking forward to doing – Fort Davis, Mineral Wells Stage Race, etc. 

The new plan?

• Hit it again, hard.
• Get ready for the sufferfest that is going to be the ThinkCash company rides on Tuesday nights.
• Target the State TT championships, defend my Texas Time Trial Championship and do the State Championship road race and any other new races that pop-up on the calendar and look interesting.

Should also have some interesting stuff soon to report on my ALCAT test results and coming up with my ultimate-athletic-performance-diet-plan. Might also do another threshold test soon to see just how much power I lost on my month off.