I know I have been going on about stuff I have been doing, and I really want to write a somewhat useful article or two, but I will get to that. First, though, if you want to ride in the Northern California sunshine and stay at a first-class retreat, now is your last chance to sign up for Marin Training Camp. We have an excellent bunch signed up already and it is filling fast. On hand will be more test units from Quarq and maybe even Jim himself, if he manages to actually dig his way out of Spearfish. Perhaps more importantly, we will be teaching you how to maximize your use of your power meter and help you improve your racing skills and strength. It's a great way to start the season. Stay tuned for live coverage...right here!

In the meantime, this is what I did today: http://leitheiser.wordpress.com/2008/03/06/urban-guerilla-attack/

It's always nice to take a couple of days after I get home from a camp and think about what I liked and didn't like and what made that particular camp special. Certainly, Solvang 2008 was quite special, most of all because we had an excellent and diverse group of riders. There were MTBers, roadies, crossers and even a couple of triathletes. One fellow was coming off a 28-year break from cycling!

Another thing that made this camp great was the opportunity to get the inside scoop on powermeters from the people who make them - iBike, Saris, and Quarq. You have read lots about the latter in this blog already, and the testing and tweaking continues. One of the highlights of camp for me were the talks given by Jim of Quarq and Rob Z. of Saris about how their products are made, tested and serviced. Robb brought an entire presentation as well as a camera crew for the occasion and I have to admit that just about every complaint about the PowerTap has been addressed, from weatherproofing to spotty wireless transmission. The fact that we had zero problems with them at camp is a testament to their newfound reliability.

It's nice to have a break between camps, and the weather here in Portland is spectacular.  I have been doing some easy rides, but mostly catching up with my athletes and preparing for another excellent camp in Marin in three weeks.

Today was the final day of Solvang Camp 2008 and what a day it was. The weather called for high winds and rain beginning late in the day, so we formed two groups and got off to an early start. The "B" group went first and the rest of us didn't catch up with them until 130km into the ride - perfect! We rode the Solvang's Finest Century course and had an awesome tailwind heading out Santa Rosa road before fighting it the whole way back in through Lompoc and Drum Canyon. In the end, the ride was 160km and 6.5 hours. After a long week, it was good to feel the legs coming around again and I'm looking forward to some rest as well. I'm also happy to report that we missed the rain!

Today was also the last day of testing for Quarq and Garmin. Once again, we had no trouble at all from the powermeters. We pre-programmed the Garmins with the route and out of four units, three froze and had to be re-started during the ride. This had not happened before and we suspect that for some reason, the route-finding information had been too much for the units in addition to all the other things they were doing. Hopefully it's just a firmware fix - we should know soon enough. Now Jim is taking the Quarqs back to South Dakota for calibration testing.

I would like to thank Robin of Threshold Power and his fantastic staff for making this year's camp run like clockwork. Even with some unexpected events, the camp went smoothly and everyone stayed safe and, hopefully, learned a ton. If you missed it, there are still some slots left at Marin Camp!

Today was actually a "day off" at camp where we could sleep in, relax, and enjoy the Tour of California while it made its stop here in Solvang. The day started casually enough with breakfast with Jim and Meike at the Danish Mill Bakery (mmmmm....Danish...) and then a bit of laundry. My cycling clothes had been washed yesterday, but my normal clothes were ripening quickly past the point of no return.

Speaking of return, Abigail and Margaret, campers from last year's Solvang Camp, came in for the day to watch the TT. Margaret introduced me to her boyfriend as their "camp counselor." I love it! I also saw my athlete Don and his friend Raphael - they got in a nice ride before watching the TT from the VIP area and then heading out of town. Don is a super solid guy and my only regret is not getting to spend a bit more time hanging out with him while he was here in Solvang. Finally, I saw Phil Z. do his TT and have an awful day. According to him, though, a

We then headed to the Los Olivos Cafe where we had dinner. In the middle of our meal, the whole Rabobank team walked through to a special area which had obviously been reserved for them.

Tomorrow we ride the Solvang Century and that will be a fitting finish to a great camp!

More good times and the TT is always my favorite. Today we rode the Tour of California Solvang TT course twice - once to preview and once to race. I had to handle logistics, and could not actually race, but I did get a nice 5-minutes at threshold to get to the corner I had to patrol. We could not have done it without help from Robb Z of Saris and Jim's wife Meike. Robb and I rode sweep and that made about 50 easy kilometers for us on the day.

The Quarq files are looking near perfect and I suspect they will be once Garmin sorts out how to actually put the heart rate data in a configuration which WKO+ can actually read. Right now I see HR data on the screen, but when we go to download it there is nothing. It does get pulled into other sorts of files, though, so we know it is there. We also updated both the Quarq firmware and my Garmin’s firmware and now the spikes in data have been completely eliminated and the numbers look great.  Here is a nice Quarq spy photo:

Tonight I ran into two of my favorite Portlanders in the hotel pub - Mark and Dave of River City Bicycles. They are here for some riding and the ToC and, no doubt, to cause all sorts of other trouble! I hope I run into them again tomorrow.

Tomorrow we enjoy the ToC time trial and then perhaps a nice easy ride in the country before a monster 160Km to end the camp with on Saturday.

Today was sprint workout, leadouts and race finish scenarios day at camp. On paper it does not look too hard, but it always leaves everyone exhausted and sore. Of course, I am no exception and, being somewhat sprint averse, the day takes a substantial toll. It certainly didn't help to have ridden a 1300M climb the day before.

It was a good day to test the Quarq on many levels, not the least of which is how it handles sudden spikes in power. The strain gages handle it normally, but how the data packets interact with the Garmin is another question and one which we set out to find out more about today. I won't go into detail, but I will say it all went very smoothly for everything but my leg muscles!

Tomorrow is Tour of California Time Trial day for us as we are going to ride the course and then race each other over it before taking Friday off to watch the race. It's a great course, with a lot of flat, smooth hammering, a short climb, and then a super fast run back into town. Hunter has to return home unexpectedly, so it falls to me now to run the coaching aspect of the camp. Thus, I may not actually be able to ride the TT tomorrow, which will be a bummer. I'm hoping for the best, though!

Mt. Figueroa. Ow. Although I recently had an interesting discussion with one of my athletes regarding the use of one word sentences, I suppose it is appropriate in this case. Anyway, it's my blog so I can write what I like!

Today's ride has made me cranky, perhaps more cranky than usual. After an easy spin out of town, we pinned it up the first slopes and the group exploded. Jen, a regional pro here to do an article for Road Magazine, and Jim passed me just as the road turned to dirt. I was able to use my Oregon 'cross skillz to get back to them before ripping the descent and dropping them both. That didn't last long, though, as I could barely turn the pedals at that point. So, Jim and I did the rest of the climb talking about nerd stuff like power meters and Quarq while Jen floated about 100m in front of us. We could chat, but only because the climb was so steep that it was more like a weight workout than a bike ride. It didn't help that I was riding cranks 2.5mm shorter than usual. Hence, the Ow and the crankiness.

This was also my first day riding the new Quarq power meter and Garmin Edge 705. It seems that Garmin have a few quirks to work out in their firmware where power measurement is concerned, but that is normal and by the time it gets to market should be sorted out. The Quarq seemed to work perfectly, and the lack of wires is exciting. Finally, a nice, clean bike - the way it should be! One of the cool things about mating a power meter with a GPS device is the ability to track your power in relation to your route. How cool is that?

During lunch we got the inside scoop on iBike from founder John Hamann. Apparently, they are working on an ANT+ Sport compatible version which could pick up power data from a device like...the Quarq Cinqo! Why would you want one power meter to be able to get data from another? The iBike measures incline, acceleration and gradient (via inclinometer, not barometer) and back-calculates power output. It also tells you Crr (rolling resistance) and CdA (drag). So, if a rider can pair it with a power meter that measures hard data, that rider can have the sort of position and equipment data only an expensive wind tunnel session could otherwise provide. This is revolutionary.  I'm looking forwards to my Marin Camp to see what improvements are made in the next couple of weeks.

Hopefully Hunter will send me some photos of our day and when that happens I will post a few. Tomorrow is sprint day as well, and more hard testing.

It's camp season again and these days it always starts with Solvang. This year Jim Meyer of Quarq and John Hamann of iBike are here with pre-production versions of their products as well as the new Garmin 705. iBike have some new features and impressive software which promise to make accurate CdA and Crr measurements accessible for the masses.

Quarq are here for testing and I am lucky enough to be a guinea pig. Tonight my bike received one of the units as well as paired 705 to try out. Tomorrow we ride up Mt Figueroa to try to beat the rain which some are forecasting for the evening.

Stay tuned for some updates and, hopefully, some photos!

I have never really had light bikes, with the notable exception, perhaps, of my time trial bike which, for that type of bike and vintage, is quite light, even with a disc wheel. If there is one road bike that doesn't need to be as light as the rest, though, that is it!

When I found out that I am to do the TransAlp I decided to go on a quest to lighten my racing bike. I found that, all other things being equal, removing 3lbs of weight could save me 2 minutes over 20 miles on a 10% grade! So, this has become my quest.

My athlete Anthony King of Training FX in B.C. started things off by donating a nice Token Mono-Q fork, which, I am embarrassed to admit, removed about 300 grams of weight from the front of my bike. Next, the kind folks at Cycling Innovations helped me out with a complete retrofit Tiso aluminum bolt kit and some excellent Tiso chainrings. Thus, I entered the world of the "tuner"...

When I first showed my friend Ian the new kit, he said that he had never taken me for a tuner. Not having the faintest clue about how to play a piano or guitar (except air, of course!), I asked him what he meant. He told me that tuners take already lightweight, high performance equipment, and make it even lighter with special parts or tooling, sometimes at the expense of having time to actually ride their bikes. So, now I am dangerously close to becoming a tuner.

Tiso parts are super nice and it is apparent at first glance that they have a great deal of pride in what they do. Each part is precision made, right down to the lazer etched logos. The parts the bolt kit replace are impressive - all of the chainring bolts, each of the derailleur pinch and hanger bolts (this is especially impressive in the rear derailleur), and both rear derailleur pulleys along with the bolts and washers that go with them. The kit also includes crankarm bolts and a cassette lockring. I am not sure how much weight they save, but it's easy enough to feel when you put the original bolts, lockrings, and pulleys in one hand and the Tiso parts in the other.

So, now I am thinking about a lighter pair of handlebars, a lighter seatpost, and some new race wheels. Stay "tuned!"

Well, now I know what I am in for this summer. Check this out: http://www.tourtransalp.de/englisch/ - click on the first link in the center frame "Altitude Profiles."

Ow.

If anyone has some superlight parts they want to unload, let me know!

Look what arrived in my email box this morning:

Dear Mr. Kadir,

In the name of the Delius Klasing Verlag we would like to congratulate you to today's successful online registration. You are now a registered participant of the Jeantex-TOUR-Transalp 2008.

Followed by:

We recommend obtaining travel cancellation insurance.

Yikes!

Now it's time for some solid, deep rest followed by a nice, steady build into July. Stay tuned!