Post Training Camp Report
I’m finally tired….so is the Port-o-potty.
We tested the new Light & Motion Stellas at Yargo on Monday. Perfect! They are light, bright and last about twice as long as the ARCs. HID will be dead and gone soon. The Stella is more of spot light than the ARC, so there is less peripheral light yet that is not to say the beam is narrow. It’s plenty wide for single track riding. We’ll be racing with an ARC on the bar and a Stella on the head because that is what we have. I think we could race with a Stella on each and I may test that out this week. If so, then I’ll sell off my ARC or some batteries. We have 4 ARCs and like 10 batteries! With the Stellas we could get through a race with just 6 small batteries compared to twice that many for the ARCs.
Tuesday was a road ride on the Vomet. It rained through the middle of the day, but cleared up nicely around 4. We just did an out and back of 50 miles for just under 3 hours. Most of the ride was pretty tame, but the head winds on the way out were tough. I led most of the way and my legs felt surprisingly good considering the hours we had in over the weekend. On the way back Namrita started feeling frisky and really nailed it. I felt like I had a lead out for the a big sprint finish. I guess I could have jumped for it, but the stroller motors didn’t seem like they were really into it.
Wednesday & Thursday we headed back to the mountains. Wednesday we rode from Camp Merrill, up Winding Stair and then out east for good loop. Namrita cleaned the Winding Stair climb on her SS! We finished int he dark for another test of the L&M Stellas. Thursday we rode the Cooper Creek area, out Duncan Ridge too Wolfpen Gap, raced some roadies to the bottom and then rode FS roads back to the truck. It was good to ride some new stuff.
Friday we returned home to get caught up around the house and take an easy day. We now have about 28 hours in our legs and I felt quite good….still surprisingly. I kept expecting to have a bad day, a bonk, an injury or feel sickness coming on or something…..but nothing. I felt better every day. My Dartfish activation key finally arrived and it was raining, so we headed for my office to analyze our pedal strokes (and play with a new toy). We took turns riding and filming each other and looking over the video with Dartfish. It’s a powerful tool. With the naked eye you can’t see what’s happening ay 90 rpms, but with Dartfish we can slow it down, track the joint angles, look at the muscle tone and review mechanics. We can make sure we are delivering as much power per stroke as possible! Check out 55nine Performance for more details.
Yesterday was the Concourse Triathlon Expo & Party where Namrita & I manned a booth to tell the world about 55nine Performance. Namrita pedaled for 3 hours on the Rock & Roll Trainer while explained our process and how we can help these athletes improve their game with the Wobble-Naught fit and Dartfish analysis. The Dartfish was a big hit. It’s visual and so easy to see how it can benefit them, so the sales pitch was much more effective that last year when I was just “telling” rather than “showing.” We were fortunate to set up next to Coach Will who is a 55nine client. He already knows half the folks who walk through the door and he directed many of his cyclists and triathletes over to out booth to hear about the bike fit process. I think we’ll see many of them at the office for fittings.
The show was a success, but being on my feet for 6 hours was rough after the week we had. It reminded me of Interbike last year where I did a 12 hour on Saturday and then worked the show all week….never again. We have relaxed most of the morning, but now it’s time to go ride again. It will be on the road, since gas is getting ridiculous and I didn’t do any fits this week. I’m out….