BBC31 - SRAM etap wifli test

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 31
Speed (mph): 16
Cadence (rpm): 62
Time Moving: 1:55:34
Time Total: 1:59:37
Work (kj): 843
Normal Power: 146
Average Power: 123
Max Power: 472
VI: 1.19
TSS: 106
IF: 0.75

Goal:

Spin a few miles and give the SRAM etap system a test

Ride Description:

This was my first real ride with the older LOOK 585 upgrade using the SRAM etap wifli group. I was a bit too fatigued from yesterday's ride to really hammer this route, but with the variable road gradients I went through all the gears and not a single hiccup from the group except a few user errors. Shifting was precise with no sounds of it hunting for a gear or time to settle in on a gear. There was a slight hesitation shifting from the small ring to large ring, but I am talking about milliseconds and probably no slower than what I have perceived from the mechanical group. The user errors were me not being used to the shifting with the left side going up the cog to easier gear and the right shifter shifting down to the harder gears. These error happened while riding with my friend Mike and talking with him and was just reflex from being used to the SRAM double tap mechanical. I suppose it will take a few more rides for this to become more natural even when talking or thinking about other things.

I also liked having the gear ratio displayed on the Garmin Edge 820. I didn't think that would be a useful display, but it actually was nice to reference at times. Another thing that I like about this system is if a battery is drained or defective during the ride, the working battery could be swapped to the component to shift to an all-round gear to finish out the ride or I suppose it would be easy to carry a spare if needed. The batteries are small and light. 

Anyway I know there are plenty of great reviews out there with plenty of technical details. I will just toss in my general thoughts that I really like this system and look forward to putting a putting a lot more miles on my refreshed LOOK 585. This bike is still a rocket ship in terms of lightweight carbon frames and it felt even better today.

By the way the gearing felt great using 52/36 rings with a 11-32 cassette. I feel like this gives me a broad range of gearing for different types of routes.

Oh...I almost forgot. About mile 14 I see my friend Mike going the opposite direction. He turned and rode with me until his stop at Sosebee. Thanks Mike for riding with me today.

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 55

Temperature Finish (F): 55

Wind: Calm to breezy

Sky: clear and sunny

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin

Gear:

 LOOK  585 

Bontrager Ballista MIPS

My first ride with the Ballista wasn't the best test ride for the aero quality because of the conditions, but I did get the feel of the helmet during a near five hour ride this morning. During the ride I was hit by hard gusts of wind from about every direction. 

What I consider to be some of the best equipment, gear and clothing that I have purchased in the past years are the ones that I do not notice. It is typically the items that cause little or great annoyances that gets your attention while the ones that do a better job seem to melt into the background. 

During this ride I actually had to stop whatever I was thinking about to concentrate on the attributes of the helmet. Was it comfortable? Yep! Because it was just there playing its role and not impeding my pleasure of cycling. Was it aero? I trust that it is or so says some of the more technical reviews. (Bike Radar Test) It was cool enough and it was light enough on this ride. However, I will have to wait for the hot Georgia summer to see how it works in that sort of heat. Other reviewers have said that it is no worse than a well vented road helmet in the heat.

What about sizing? When I visited Free-Flite they did not have a MIPS version in small at that time, but the regular version seemed to feel good so I had them order a small black MIPS. I have to admit that when I first tried it on it seemed a little tighter than the regular version and with a skull cap on I was a bit nervous that I got the wrong size for MIPS. However, with today's ride it felt good throughout the 85 mile ride. Aero? I can't say for sure, but I did finish this ride faster than I have done in quite a while. New helmet and a new KMC chain with the Molten Speed Wax treatment and things got a little faster.

What about cost? Looking at other aero road helmets the price was well below other comparable models. Even the MIPS Ballista was cheaper than some without MIPS. 

I am very pleased with the purchase and this will be my go to helmet going forward.

Thanks Free-Flite!!

In my quest to freshen up my favorite road bike from its old SRAM Red Group to the SRAM etap wifli road group I had a few diversions of my own making that cost me time and money, but in the end I got to meet some more great guys at Free-Flite that I believe went well above and beyond what I would have expected in the usual current day customer service. 

Thanks to Brian, Ramon, Aaron and Richard for helping me through the process with SRAM in getting a replacement front derailleur and then getting the group dialed in.

I am very grateful for the entire experience with these guys and hopefully made some new cycling friendships in the process. I will be at their shop more often. In fact I got to try out my latest purchase from Free-Flite this morning - the Bontrager Ballista MIPS. More about the Ballista in another post.

Thanks Guys!!! Thanks Ramon!! 

Brewery Windy Solo 85

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 85
Speed (mph): 17.6
Cadence (rpm): 69
Time Moving: 4:53:47
Time Total: 5:02:45
Work (kj): 2227
Normal Power: 147
Average Power: 128
Max Power: 452
VI: 1.15
TSS: 271.5
IF: 0.754

Goal:

Build Endurance

Ride Description:

Out and Back Spin on a windy day. And I had a good long ride to try out the Bontrager Ballista MIPS for comfort. It was just too windy to really discern anything else. Plus the waxed treated chain continues to impress me. 

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 59

Temperature Finish (F): 65

Wind: NW 10+ sustained with hard gusts from different directions

Sky: Partly cloudy

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops

Bottle #2 6oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops

GU gel at mile 24

Clif Bar at mile 50

Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink

Gear:

 Felt  B10 

Sunday Solo Cruise

Post ride clean and with a simple wipe no mess

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 40
Speed avg. (mph): 19
Cadence (rpm): 70
Time Moving: 2:09:48
Time Total: 2:12:24
Work (kj): 1108
Normal Power: 154
Average Power: 143
Max Power: 568
VI: 1.08
TSS: 133
IF: 0.79
Pace avg. min/mi: 3:10

Goal:

Rebuild basic endurance and fitness

Ride Description:

Out and Back Spin on a warm winter day. This was my first ride on the Felt with the Molten Speed Wax treated new KMC chain and wow did it feel good. Not only felt good, but it was easy to carry speeds into the 20's at low wattage. So not only did it feel good I believe it tested pretty good. Not to mention that post ride from a dirty path the chain had just a little filth that wiped off with a clean rag and was actually nice to touch without the black oily mess. This seems like the way I personally want to go from now on. 

With it being as warm as it was the path was crowded so this was as fast as I could go without putting a lot of people in harm's way. I really dialed it back once I was in the last 4 to 5 miles because of the crowds, but I am glad families and friends could get out and enjoy the day doing something healthy.

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 65

Temperature Finish (F): 70

Wind: 10 mph NNW

Sky: Partly cloudy

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin
GU gel at mile
Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink

Gear:

 Felt  B10 

Brewery Solo 80

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 81
Speed (avg. mph): 16
Cadence (rpm): 69
Time Moving: 5:02:45
Time Total: 5:19:17
Work (kj): 2152
Normal Power: 140
Average Power: 121
Max Power: 498
VI: 1.16
TSS: 240
IF: 0.718

Goal:

Build Endurance

Ride Description:

Out and Back Spin while trying to get some fitness back. I am a long way from it. 

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 50

Temperature Finish (F): 62

Wind: Calm start with a breezy finish

Sky: Heavy clouds

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops

Bottle #2 10oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops

GU gel at mile 20

Clif Bar at mile 45

Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink

Gear:

 Felt  B10 

Compex Sport Elite:

Recovery Plus mode and Massage mode

Waxing The Chain

Resource Links:

Molten Speed Wax: Cleaning Guide
Molten Speed Wax: Waxing Guide
Molten Speed Wax: Ultrasonic Cleaning

Molten Speed Wax: Why Wax

What I Have:

Ultrasonic Tub - Not to be used on new chains

An inexpensive mini slow cooker, wax (Molten Speed Wax), chains and quick links

I will use the guides from Molten Speed Wax in this process. There are some other good instructional videos at Youtube on cleaning and waxing the chains, but I will stick with MSW for my first try for the 2017 winter and spring chain updates for two bikes. For the etap update I will be using a Premier Tactical Bike waxed Connex 11 speed chain for this season, but I will also have a backup chain that I will clean and wax later on. 

Molten Speed Wax notes that ultrasonic cleaners do not remove the grease from new chains very well so I will stick with their method of using mineral spirits and denatured alcohol in a jug following their steps. 

I have the following:

Park Tool Chain Link Tool MLP12
Park Tool Chain Breaker CT3.2
KMC 10 Speed Chains (new)
Molten Speed Wax
Slow Cooker (inexpensive and dedicated for this process)
Mineral Spirits (clear)
Denatured Alcohol
Plastic Wide Mouthed Jug with screw top
Clean rags (old white t-shirts)
Solvent Resistant Gloves
Safety Glasses
A place to hang the chains while drying


I have had the ultrasonic tub for a number of years and it works great. I will probably use later in the season for follow up treatments. I may stick with Molten Speed Wax (MSW) or I may switch to regular paraffin wax. What I like is that Molten Speed Wax contains PTFE and molybdenum. A 1 lb. bag will treat up to 8 training chains or 16 race chains. For the cost if individually adding moly and PTFE to paraffin seems to be worth the price.

You might think that I got some sort of compensation from Molten Speed Wax as much as I mentioned their name, but I assure you they have no idea who I am. I purchased my bag of MSW from Amazon Prime and this is just the route that I plan to start into dry chain lube.

Update:

I went through the MSW steps as best possible, which included several mineral spirit baths and the overnight bath and then the denatured alcohol bath into the slow cooker for 60 minutes with a homemade swisher tool. I was treating two chains in the baths and just as MSW noted, there were metal shavings present in the first two baths. However, I only put one chain in the cooker at a time. It is kind of time consuming process when you have other things to do, but based on my observation the steps are necessary if one wants good results, whether it is a training or racing chain. I ended up using the ultrasonic tub to clean the cassette on the Felt B10 and that also took three baths to get clean and then a bath in the alcohol before dipping each cog into the wax and using a small paint brush on the largest gear cluster.

I am so looking forward to see how this performs out on the road and mostly in context of a cleaner drive train. On today's ride the old oily chain was thrown off to the inside while downshifting. What an absolute mess to put that chain back on and all I could do to wipe off some of the nasty black oil from my fingers was in the roadside grass, which is not very effective. It was nice to sit on the couch breaking the dried waxed links from their rigor state and the more I worked the chain links loose the better it felt in the hands without an oily mess. 

Sunday Solo Cruise

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route

Ride Metrics:

Distance (mile): 40.9
Speed (mph): 18.3
Cadence (rpm): 69
Time Moving: 2:14:13
Time Total: 2:17:20
Work (kj): 1106
Normal Power: 147
Average Power: 138
Max Power:
VI: 1.07
TSS: 125.7
IF: 0.754

Goal:

Rebuild Endurance

Ride Description:

Out and Back Spin trying to get back in shape. After being sick for most of January and light spinning I am behind my typical January fitness. Hopefully this week I can start increasing the indoor intensity levels a little. 

Very few people probably because of the weather and tonight's Superbowl with the Atlanta Falcons playing. I am excited to say the least. 

Weather:

Temperature Start (F): 50

Temperature Finish (F): 55 (a cool feeling 55)

Wind: Slight breeze from the west. 

Sky: Dark and cloudy like last Sunday

Nutrition Intake During and Immediately After:

Bottle #1 24oz. Water, BSN Amino X, Maltodextrin, Trace Mineral Drops

GU gel at mile 20

Post Ride: 30 gram protein drink

Gear:

 Felt  B10 

Sosebee Cycling Park - Work Day

New paver path and sod being put down

Peter getting it done

A lot of effort on cleaning up the leaves

One of our supervisors

Changing rooms were given a fresh coat of protection

It was a pleasure to join some cycling friends from NARC days and Adam from ITL Coaching and some of his associates to help with a work day at Sosebee Cycling Park. A lot of leaves were removed, paver sidewalk built, sod laid, wood stained and other items. It was a pleasure to volunteer to help with this maintenance and cleanup today. 

Following a bit of help cleaning up leaves I joined Mike and Gary for a short ride. 

Route and Ride Data Links:

Strava - Today's Route