Quarq CinQo Saturn

So, I purchased an expensive power meter...

The flip side is that I can now use whatever wheels I want in races, and get power data with only an 87 gram weight penalty. That's quality.

If you want the full story, head to the Picasa Web Album. I took about 100 high-resolution photos of the installation process, and documented everything in great detail in the comments. I have photos of the packaging, the manual, everything you could want. Check it out!

Quick numbers:
FSA SL-K 39/53 172.5mm crankset with MegaExo BB: 851.3 grams.
SRAM S900 39/53 172.5mm crankset with Saturn and ceramic bearings: 938.9 grams.
Quarq CinQo Saturn crank spider: 154.7 grams.
SRAM S900 stock crank spider: 70.5 grams.

Head to the Slowtwitch.com Forums for great deals on fancy bike parts. That's how I was able to find a CinQo - there are not many out there!

Rutgers and Princeton

The 2009 ECCC Collegiate Race Season will open on 2009-03-07 in New Jersey. There are three courses this weekend: an ITT, a criterium, and a circuit race. (Blog posts become more frequent during the race season.)

The time trial (see below) is just over four miles on a flat, but not straight, course. Two turnarounds will probably be where time can be gained or lost. No aero equipment means that I'll be riding my road bike with 404s. The turnarounds and the shortness of the course may make lighter wheels faster than more aero wheels. This is a track sprinter's race.

The criterium course (below) features four right turns, making those of us who ride on the track uncomfortable. Saving energy through the corners will be a key strategy - I just hope I don't roll a tubular while doing so. Phinney describes a fast cornering technique that involves pedaling through a hard corner, pushing the bike upright periodically to avoid scraping your inside pedal. A flat finish will make the sprinters happy, but that 10% grade "wall" right after Turn One will be the site of many attacks, as riders debate standing on a 53-23 or shifting to the small chainring. The course is barely over a kilometer long.

The circuit race features plenty of sharp corners, but no steep climbs - it's certainly a big ring race. With that said, there are plenty of short climbs, so this will favor "bursty" riders more than time trialists.

My race rig is almost complete, with a few minor component changes to be announced. Stay tuned.

Jane

Jane pulled 7:03.9 at CRASH-Bs this Sunday. http://tech.mit.edu/V129/N7/graphics/rowing.html. She was able to pull ahead at the end of the race and place 10th overall for women. If you can parse Concept2's data format (not hard), you can see her second-by-second progress.

I'm so proud.

Pedal Fail

So, I've had cranks, handlebars, forks, chains, chainrings, saddles, seatposts, headsets, spokes, hubs, derailleurs, brakes, and shifters catastrophically fail in the past, but never a pedal. This takes the prize for inconvenience and frustration. To improve matters, I had to go to the machine shop to remove the Look cleats from the shoes I used with these pedals, as they were stuck in place with years of sweat.

I'm replacing these with Speedplay Zeros, meaning that all of my bicycles now have those pedals, or SPDs. Finally. Good riddance.

1000

Today is my 1000 day anniversary with Jane! We were thinking of going out to a fancy expensive restaurant, but that's not really our style.

:-)