Today was a great day. Not only did we get an awesome new president, but it was almost 67 degrees here. Yes, you read that right!!!! And even better, I had a ride scheduled for today.
I got to ride in short sleeves and knee warmers! Most people were riding in shorts, but I am trying to be extra caring towards my knees.
Today’s ride was the first interval ride of the year. I did some 15 minute tempo intervals. I found something out today – it’s really hard for me to ride in zone 3. When I do an interval, traditionally it has been in zones 4 and 5. It was really challenging to keep my HR where it was supposed to be. My power was also over the place, ranging anywhere from 150-500W! My average power and average HR for each interval was within 5 watts of one another, so at least that was consistent! Hats off to those who can train with power and hold the number steady. I don’t know how they do that!
I have decided that the road bike needs a make-over. I have recently started hating my seat. I can’t get comfortable on it (it’s a Specialized Jett). I am thinking of trying out WTB saddles. I want something a little softer, with at least some difference where my taint will rest. I think cut outs might put too much pressure everywhere else, and cut out seats are usually harder and make my ass bones ache. The WTB saddle seems to be a good compromise, but I have no idea! I am also starting to save quarters for a new handlebar. I am thinking I want this bar. (the K-Wing) What I’d give for a handlebar sponsorship right now… 🙂
Tomorrow is going to be another warm day, and I have a 1.5 hour recovery ride on deck. Last day at work till Camp Lynda. I can hardly wait! I get to spend tons of time on my mountain bike on new trails with FUN people! The weather should hold out. I am hoping the rains stay away!!
Just another quick note. I am selling these brand new sunglasses if anyone is interested. I got them and they are too big for my face.
Have fun riding in that warm weather . . . . . . we’re at 20 here south of DC, trying to decide between trainer time or a little outside suffering . . . .
I wish I could send some warmth your way! You are too tough.
Seats are all about personal preference and size of your, ahh (how do I say this), seatbones….. My wife had a WTB speed she seat and hated it, but has had decent luck with the specialized Jett. WTB’s tend to have too much in the mid section, but I believe WTB has a demo program. Ask around and keep trying.
Depending on your cadence and the display smoothing setting on your PT, the readings can actually jump all over even when your actual power is steady. It’s an artifact of how the PT measures power and I’ll explain in detail if you are interested and promise not to fall asleep 😉 You can get rid of this for the most part by setting the display smoothing to 3 seconds in the setup menu.
See you Friday!
Hey Dave!!
Thanks! That is very helpful. I would love to hear and I won’t be bored. Come on, I have an MS in EE, what could be more boring than that?!?! 😉
Well I’ll be darned. Maybe you can help me build the next whiz-bang LED light system!
The PT samples torque at 60hz. Depending which model you have, it calculates power (torque x angular velocity) every 1 or 1.26 seconds. The power calculation is derived from the average of the previous torque sample interval. That value is updated in the screen (if no smoothing).
So, what happens is that the power calc is not tied to pedal revolutions, but is time based. This is in contrast with crank systems like SRM and Quarq. If your cadence is out of sync with the power calc, you might have 3 power strokes on one power sample and 1 in the next – hence value to value differences at the 1s recording rate can be large, especially at certain cadences.
Make sense? Still awake??
That definitely makes sense! PowerTap needs to come out with a crank system. I’ll have to play with smoothing in the power tap program. It seems like someone could write a better filter for that stuff. Hmm. SRM needs to work on making their software compatible with Macs, for those of us with old school, non intel based macs!
Hey Sonya, Saw you out there yesterday on the road and waved, it was nice out indeed!! How blessed we are out here in Colorado!
Have you looked at the Phenom Gel 130? It is a bit more padded than some of the other Sp saddles out there.
I tried the WTB Rocket V after riding a Specialized Alias 143 and did not like how short it was. I liked how the WTB was more narrow than the 143 that I was on, so I opted for the 130 width in specialized Phenom Gel. If you do like the length of the specialized for moving towards the nose on climbs, you may not like the shorter WTB’s.
Bottom line, I have the Phenom gel on both the mtb and road bike now and I am very happy with it.
My 2cts!
Hey Chris! Thanks for waving, I hope that I waved back. 🙂 My eyes might have been glued to my power tap. haha What kind of kit or jersey were you wearing?
I have not looked at the phenom gel 130. I’ll put that on my list of stuff to consider. Thanks!
You did waive! I was on a black Waltworks road bike with a grey waltworks jersey. Heading south on the bridge on the diagonal 42nd street I think. Anyway good luck on finding a new butt cushion:)
Cool! I remember. 🙂 Walt is one of my buddies, good choice!
What Cylceops computer do you have? I have a Pro+ on on order. I had a hard time deciding between the Elite+ or the Pro+.
Sonya, I see you’ve got us linked on your page. I added a link to you on ours. Nice to know you’re reading. Nippleworks is two ex-Boulderite engineers.
BTW, the WTB Shadow is my current favorite road saddle.
AWESOME! Having Ex in front of the word Engineer from someone in the bike world is awesome. A guy I went to school with is an Ex Engineer and he owns a shop in Albuquerque called Bikeworks. 🙂
I went into Lee’s last May, tried nearly every saddle they have, and walked out with the WTB Deva SLT. I’ve put many, many miles on it since then and really like it.