Base Building and Repacking of my open pro/ultegra wheels...

Yesterday I road indoors doing half the Spinervals Based Building Compelation CD which is 2 hrs long.  Felt good to ride somewhat easy after 3 weeks of hard indoor intervals.  I will most like do the other half this afternoon, but am not going to push it.  I can now begin to feel the workouts effecting my body, as my legs are strong and my body type is changing a bit.  I think I am going to head to the gym to get in a hot tub stretch to loosen by bones a bit.
Today while watching "I Spy" on Hulu, I repacked my Open Pro Ultegra wheels that I use on my Tommaso for training.  I have been meaning to do this for some time now, as I had a full season on them between maintenance.  Nick read on some forum somewhere that Slick 50 grease is the best stuff for hubs, so he bought us both a tube, so I decided to use that today in the ultegra hubs.  The stuff is very "slick", and is clean to the touch.  Once I got the wheels together though, I think it creates air pockets between the bearings, as a popping kind of sound was created when spinning them on the bike.  I repacked the front twice, but still made the same weird noice.  I then repacked the rear, and it did a similar thing until I removed, spun and replace the wheel on the bike.  The noice then went away, and the wheel rolled incredibly smoothly.  I will have to repack them after indoor season to see how the grease held up. 
OK headed to the gym to sit in the hot tub...

Berlin Cycle training ride...22 miles...Moderate pace

After the long day yesterday at the Tour of Hartford, I wanted to get a ride in on my Tommaso.  So I went to Berlin Cycle and then down rt 99 in Cromwell to Old Wethersfield and back up Nott Street back home.  22 miles of varying intensities, but I was trying to keep the pace moderate, and my heart rate below 150.  Turns out I could not regulate intensity by heart rate, due to the fact that my HR monitor was not working properly again.  I think I need a new battery for it.  I kind of did intervals, or farklick training.  I work hard for a while then rest and recover, then work hard again.  All in all good workout.  Because it was so humid, I had a hard time breathing.  The polin and mold spour count must be pretty high.  My nose was runny the hole time.  I am sensitive to mold, so whenever the spour count is high I get like this, usually before and after raiin, or high humidity.
On another note, the tommaso is riding beautifully.  I can definitely tell the difference, and it is a joy to ride.  Now I have no excuses, top of the line components, now my only excuse is me!  I am good with that.
Making Spegettti with black bean burger sause...Nice!  The last of my peppers are in it too...Yummy!

Getting ready for the Tour of Hartford bicycle ride tomorrow...

Tomorrow I will be a marshall for the Tour of Hartford Bicycle Ride, and needed to get my Sirrus ready for the trip.  I have not ridden this bike all summer, as it is my commuter bike.  The ride is very slow, and most likely I will be a sweaper, which means I will be going even slower.  The glass and debre on Hartford streets is amazing, so I needed to change tires.  I put on my old Gatorskins on my 36 spoke Mavic Open Pro's.  I also had to change the cog set on the Ultegra Hubs to the 8 speed used on the sirrus.  The wheels that were on there were mountain bike 29er wheel intended for any trail riding I might do this past summer, of which I did NONE.  Took the cog set off of those wheels and put them on the Open Pro's.  I did have the OP's on my Tommaso until I recently bought my Dura Ace wheels, so changing them to the sirrus was a big upgrade. 
After mounting the wheels I check and cleaned the Rear and Front D and brakes.  I had to adjust the rear D a bit, watched a Performance video online, and it was a snap to make the needed adjustment.  Tightened the rear brakes because the rim is slimmer.  The last thing I had to do was change the seat height and angle, and now I am ready to ride.  I think I will take a quick ride on the sirrus tonight to make any last minute adjust and fine tune the ride a bit, especially to the SEAT!
Look forward to the lazy pace tomorrow.  Come join us at Bushnell Park in Hartford tomorrow at 9 for the ride.

Bonk goes the weezle...

Road in Glastonbury with CC last night on my new Dura Ace 7850 wheels and "Bonk" I went.   Not because of the wheels though.  They were extremely smooth and quiet.  The spin up incredibly fast and require little effort to maintain speed, which will be a great thing on longer rides in less hilly torain.  The Glastonbury ride is extremely hilly, and everyone knows how much I LOVE HILLS.  Not to make excuses, but more to figure out why, and how to prevent it again, I reflect on the causes:
1. Extremely HOT and HUMID
2. Working after a long summer off
3. Mold spores were out in force, as I am allergic to mold and it effects my lung capacity.
4. Did not sleep well the night before and was up at 2:00 am after going to bed early.
5.  Smoking cigars on my way home before the ride.

Let's look at what I can effect:
1.  I cannot change the weather, so this is out.
2. Cannot stop working as biking costs big bucks.
3. Could take some medication to curb this prior to riding, but had to take pill and put chemicals in my body.
4.  Force myself to go back to bed
5.  Stop smoking prior to rides and keep it to once or twice a week.

So proper rest, and curbing my cigar smoking may help, but sometimes you just BONK.

New Tires and wheel trueing.

After about 1200 miles of riding, my Gatorskins are ready to be retired.  The rear tire is loosing some of its wall thread, and it is wearing down flat in the middle.  Only one flat in 1200 mile is pretty good.  I put on new tires, Vittoria Open Corsa EVO CX 23 mm.  The gatorskins I had were 25 mm and very heavy.  I had the Open Corsa's left over from the winter refit, so I decided to give them a whirl...  They are supposidly the best clincher tire on the market for rolling resistance, and can take very high pressure for racing.  I am going to run them at about 125 or so at first to see how they react.  I like the gatorskins, but they were very hard, and did not offer a cushie ride even at 25mm.  The Open Corsa are suppose to be comfy and roll smooth.  We shall see tonight when I ride the CC group ride out of Glastonbury.  The best thing about the open corsa's is that they have a white stripe down the middle of a black tire...NICE!

After our ride to RI and the rough roads, my rear wheel had gone out of true for only the second time.  I first checked the tension on each spoke and tried to tighten them down evenly first.   Then went through and trued and balanced the wheel.  I am very particular about this, and it took about 1/2 hour or so.  Now it spins evenly and true once again ready for another 1000 miles.  For winter maintenance I will take the tension off every spoke and retighten to the same tension using a guage.  Then true them to spec.  Did not quite feel like going through that today, but maybe should have. 

Took out some chilli and a black bean burger for lunch...Yummy!

New Bottom Bracket ON!

Well I received my order from Nashbar.com for the new BB6601 Shimano Ultegra SL Bottom Bracket and Tifosi Glasses.  I bought the Tifosi's because my other riding glasses are too small for my NOSE.  No surprise to anyone who knows me.  They are quite large, and fit nicely. I changed to the Orange lenses as I am going to ride tonight near dusk.  I also installed a new BB, an Ultegra Sl version of the Ultegra I had already on.  I bought it cheaply, mostly to match the color scheme of my bike, as the SL is icey grey...NICE.  They disappear into the frame.  I had a tough time getting the old ones out as I starting the right side the wrong way, but it came out eventually.  I used web grease to install them, and it sticks to everything.  I used it because I could not find my Phil Wood grease.  I figured the BB would be a good place for this stuff as it seals better and might lube longer in the BB than phil. 
Going out for a group ride tonight at 6pm.  Have to call Dave to get the route so I can put it on my Garmin.  Hope I can hang onto the B group tonight.

Dura Ace on...19 mile ride at 16 mph... NICE

After watching the TDF, I went to Cycling Concepts to have Zander put on the new DA 7900 rear D.  From there I did a quick loop through Cromwell back to CC and then home.  I did not do a long ride, because tomorrow is a group ride and my brother wants me fresh for that, (No excuses he says).  What he doesn't know is that I always have one...
Did not have breakfast or lunch yet, just a couple of GU's.  Starving...
Found my Garmin in the car yesterday, and it was a relief to have it back.  Nice to have stats.

Rush and Dura Ace 7900 Rear D...

Last night my brother Nick and I went to a Rush Concert at the Mohegan Sun.  This was possibly the 6th time for me, and many more for Nick.  They were amazingly tight and played Moving Pictures almost in totality during the last set.  Neil was of course incredible on the drums.  The first set was rather mellow, and almost put me to sleep, but they rocked the second set. 
Prior to the show we went to Bubba's, and I had BBQ Chicken with rice and beans.  Since I drove I did not drink any beer, which I surprisingly did not miss.  For the ride home, I bought two Fonseca Cabana Reserve Belicosa's for the ride home that turned out to be less than spectacular.  The creolo wrapper made the smoke leathery, and with no drink, just made my mouth dry.
I am going to ride out to Cycling Concepts just to work my legs and to find out where the group ride is for tomorrow, then I will take the Cynergy Class tonight, as my legs are stiff as hell.
Nick bought me a new rear Derailleur for my birthday, a Shimano Dura Ace 7900 to match my rear cog set of 28-11.  The thing is like a fine watch or work or art.  So light, yet amazingly rugged, and so finely crafted.  This replaces my Ultegra SL, which will go on the spare parts shelf.  I also bought a new bottom bracket that I will replace at the same time.  I am going to wait until I have both pieces and till after the Group Ride on Wednesday, but before my trip to RI, to replace both, as I only want to take the chain off once.  I will also clean and repack all my bearing during the mid season tune up.
I will be in RI for next week at Matunick Beach, over Tara's Pub.  I know my boys will enjoy the bands next door.  I am not sure I look forward to the late nights anymore, but will have some fun anyway.  I want to get some serious fishing in during that week off of the block.  Hopefully catching some strippers, but definitely some Fluke for dinner. That might be my only chance to get any meat that week, as my dad is a Vegan.

There's a hole in the boat, fill it up....

The weekend and early part of this week was spent fixing the rotten wood on the 1966, 39 ft Egg Harbor all wood, now with fiber glassed deck boat.  This is my Dad's baby.  Last week Nick took the egg to BI, and found that the anchor would not work (Windless).  The switch had stuck in the up position causing too much tension on the chain, and upon inspection found the whole front deck of the boat had gone to mush.  Nick surgically removed all the rotten cross members and decking, and we began the rebuilding of the deck to support the Windless.  Thanks to an Old sailor, Dave, who had done work on the boat before, we were able to fix the decking, but still need to attach and seal the Windless to the platform Dave carved out.  We got the last piece of Marine Plywood down and it the rain let loose.  I was merely a peon on this mission, which was just fine with me, with Nick taking the reigns.  I will be in RI for the whole week of the 24th, and hope no other issues arise. 
Nick and I will be going back down on Saturday, and I will forgo the Muster to finish the project, as my services will be needed to lift and hold the pull pit to the deck for attachment.  My main contribution, other than being a gofer, I kept telling them I am a golfer not a gofer, but no go, was to recondition the motor and drive shaft for the anchor chain.  This came out beautiful....:)  Simple things for simple minds I guess. 
I did get to ride on Monday, only about 11 miles at 17.2 MPH.  The ride would have been longer, but I had a flat on the rear.  Our first venture into C02, and it worked like a dream.  I did notice a slight wine on my bike when cranking out of the saddle.  I think it might be my front hub or bottom bracket.  I bought a new Ultegra SL bottom bracket just in case, and should be here next week for install.  I have to repack the front hub, and clean and oil the bike, because it rained last night on the return trip.  I also need to re-tape my handlebars.  I think I will let the shop do that today before our ride tonight, Maybe. 

Broken Seat Post...New one on Order!

Noticed on Wednesday nights group ride to Lyman a kind of snap or crack in my seat area when climbing after an earlier slippage or my seat post after cog set replacement required readjustment. I went to Cycle Concepts to ask the guys their opinion, and they said "When in doubt replace", because of the importance of that area. My old seat post was a Ritchey Pro Carbon, and I wanted to get the seat more level, about a 1/2 a notch. The pro carbon has notches on the post clamp, so adjustment was not done easily. A change was in order. Spent the afternoon looking on various forums and shopping the internet, but wound up asking Dave to select one for me.

Dave was like a kid in a candy store. I said I needed something that would hold my weight, but wanted the best I could get in a carbon post. Dave went for the Bontrager Race XXX Light Seat Post LINK.  We had to order it, and should be in by next Friday, just in time for pay day...NICE! At 150 grams it is very light, about 35 grams less than the other seatposts I was looking at online.  It also is all carbon and strong, so says Dave.  The Ritchey Pro Carbon is 240 grams a whopping 90 grams more....Wow.
Right now I replace the Pro Carbon with an aluminum Ritchey WCS I had on my Sirrus.  Here is a picture of the two after mounting to get the angle of the seat right.

I told Dave I would order it from him if he fit me on once it came in, and he reluctantly agreed :O)

Need to get some new gel pads for my bars now.  Specialized here I come.

Tru to life...at least for my rear wheel

Well this morning I had to tru my rear wheel.  It was pretty far out.  This is only the second time it needed to be done.  The Open Pro rims with 36 spoke config is pretty sturdy to say the least.  It has to be to hold my  mass...:)

Cranks, front chain ring and front d clean..ready to roll

Today is a rain day so I heard a bit of a crank creek yesterday and decided to clean and grease them.  Cleaned the front D also, which will hopefull fix the front shifting issue.  The front chain ring was quite dirty and the front drive side crank had some grit, but overall still smooth.  Added some Phil Wood grease to the whole drive train and BAM, now its done.
This makes my whole bike clean and ready for the 100K next Sunday.  I have two more training rides on Tuesday and Wednesday Nights to adjust any minor issues and the bike, if not me, will be reved up and ready to go.

New Chain and a smooth shifting machine

Well I had Cycle Concepts in Rocky Hill change my chain today so I could ride this week.  Although it cost me about 20 buck more, it was worth it.  They also set my rear D. Highs and lows for me, and now the bike shifts like butter.  Took a short 8 mile ride at 15.6 avg mph.  No heart rate because I forgot my strap.  Felt very strong on the hills which thankfully there are few of in Wethersfield.
Riding to work tomorrow, and Tuesday. with Cynergy class on Tuesday.  Wednesday will be a group ride with Nick out of RH. 
Ate tooo much for lunch and now bloated.  Two 7 grain ham and cheese with hot peppers and onion.  Feel yukki. 

repacked hubs and truing wheels...ready to ride..:)

After a full winter of indoor rides, I thought it time to repack the hubs and check for truing of the wheels.  I removed the rear cogs and cleaned them as well, nice a shiny.  Used Phil Wood grease on both the front and the back, and tweaked the cones just right so that they roll out.  The hubs were very dry to my surprise, and needed the grease, so it was a good thing I choose to repack them.  I wanted to take the individual bearings out and clean them with wd, but could not get them out without trepidation. They did not appear to have any residue or dirt in them, so I spayed them with WD and whipped them out, then repacked.  They spin free now.  I had to readjust the rear d, but only took a minute and now they drop in nice.
Going to adjust the front brake a bit to align the pads evenly between the rim, and then out I go between storms to test it out.  I will report back later.
Bought some Diablo Chicken Sausage at D&D, and will cook them up tonight with Whole Wheat Pasta for dinner....Can't wait.
I also have stopped smoking Cigars on a daily basis.  I was smoking them at first to increase my metabolism to loose weight, and to keep something in my hands to keep me from eating.  Now that I am riding again, I want to stop to take my aerobic capacity up a notch to make better time on the hills.  I am going to allow myself to smoke once a week.  Kind of like I do for eating, allowing a day of all I can eat, or out to dinner night.  If I begin to add weight again I will have to rethink this plan though.