Mount Diablo in 51:22.8

This weekend, I ventured to Mount Diablo with some coworkers. We participated in the Mount Diablo Challenge, a timed non-competitive climb of 3350 feet over 10.96 miles. I posted full ride data from the climb.

The usual disclaimer applies: I'm out of shape, haven't been riding much, and don't have the genetic graces to have the wiry climber build. Watching me climb is like watching an A380 take off: you can't give it grief for being slow, since it's amazing that it gets off the ground at all.

With that said, my time on the course - 51 minutes 22.8 seconds - was a new personal best by default, and good for 23rd place overall, 5th in the 19-29 age bracket. The course record floats around 44 minutes, and a ProTour climber could probably do it in about 40. (I raced with bib #10. I switched places with Rich Stevens.) I had my brand-new Zipp 303s on my Fuji Aloha with Quarq power meter, yielding a 16.8 pound bike. My goal for next year is below 50 minutes.

At the top of the hill, I met none other than Frank Day, proprietor of PowerCranks. We had a good chat about my results with the cranks.

Cervelo P3 - "new" time trial bike!

As a budding time trial specialist, it's important to have a fast bike. So, I finally buckled down, bit the bullet, and procured an older, aluminum Cervelo P3. After doing my homework, I found that the older P3 frame was almost every bit as aero as the newer P3 Carbon, and possibly more durable, at a fraction of the cost.

Hopefully, it will be as fast as it looks!

I spent the past few days doing nothing but building the bike. It was a fantastic amount of work. I stripped the P3, and the Motobecane that is replacing, to a bare frame. I cleaned everything. I had to carefully cut the seat mast, as it only offers about 47mm of adjustability once cut. Then, I had to think long and hard about which cockpit configuration I wanted; I ended up settling on my integrated Trimax Vision bars, because the pads were more comfortable than the custom-made aero bars that came on the P3. This, and the aluminum post, make the bike about a full pound heavier than it could easily be, and just a couple of ounces/grams lighter than the setup it replaces. Finally, UCI compliance is a pain: the 5mm setback seat position is horribly uncomfortable, and I had to cut the bars by 30mm to be within the 80mm bar end rule.

In the photos below, you can see the near-finished P3. I made my own "jig", consisting of a wall and tape, to check UCI compliance. In the photo, the bars are compliant but the saddle is not. this is tough to tell due to the perspective of the camera.

Naturally, after hours of toiling to get the bicycle tweaked and ready to ride, the weather took a turn for the worst. It looks like a solid week of probable rain. Screw you, Boston.

I now have a time trial frame and lots of goodies that I need to sell. Make an offer!

Bicycle Ten Project: Sizing

When I used my Fuji Aloha CF2 frame to build a road bike, I was left without a time trial bike. The Aloha CF2 geometry did not let me get forward enough (doing so would require a $150 seatpost), and the head tube did not let me get low enough. It does make a brilliant road frame. To fill the gap, I purchased a used "Motobecane Nemesis" frame. It's the same exact frame as the older 2006 Fuji Aloha. It's aluminum, fairly stiff, and not particularly light at about 1680 grams. It gets the job done. I was able to use many parts from the old TT rig, and spares for everything I didn't have. The only new part that I needed was a front derailleur, since this bike uses a braze-on attachment.

The bike was filthy when I got it in the mail, and the spacers were cold welded to the aluminum steerer! It's amazing how corrosive human perspiration can be. A star nut setting tool was the correct tool to force the steerer and spacers apart.

Anyway. The frame uses a 27.2mm seatpost, meaning I can use existing seatposts to get the geometry I want. The top tube length is 560mm, the seat angle is 76 deg, and the head tube is 112mm long (I think). By lowering the aero bars, and dropping the pads to the lowest possible position, I get what looks like a good time trial fit! My back is flat, the angle of bend in my arms is about 110 degrees, and the saddle is the correct height (slightly too high if anything, but my hips don't rock at all, and I'm used to a high-saddle position).

I even took a short video of a sprint on the stationary trainer. I discovered that using a disc wheel on the trainer is a bad idea: the wheel acts as a huge resonating chamber, and finds every single harmonic through the frame. It was unbelievably loud.