...does it?
I've been in a bit of a running funk after finishing the half marathon in San Francisco three weeks ago, leaving me with lots of time to contemplate going for a swim. The Temescal pool in Oakland is just a short walk away and is open for lap swimming at all the right times (i.e. mornings until 8.30am, weekends at noon). It's oddly a 100 ft pool, but it's been so long since I've swam regularly that intervals and splits are pretty meaningless.
Swimming, even doing laps in a small pool, even while sharing a lane with 5-6 people with other agendas, is fun. It's engaging to focus on all the little motions and positioning that make a difference between my pace and world record pace, much more so than simple strength and conditioning (though some of that wouldn't hurt either).
From a bike-centric point of view, I can claim that I'm improving my core strength before 'cross season. Also, if I have a little bit of upper body strength, maybe it'll help prevent me breaking a collarbone--how many cyclists have bone strength in their upper limbs comparable to osteoperotic chickens?
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Bike meets world
New baby:
Getting my hands on this one took longer than I would've thought: Cervelo is still a small company with limited production runs. When I put a deposit down in the spring, the hope was to get one from the immediately upcoming shipment, but someone underestimated how many long, lanky folks like myself would want this model in this size and I lost out. A few months have since passed, but it's finally here, built up, and I took it out for a maiden voyage this morning.
It's so quiet. The Easton wheelset doesn't make a whisper--heck, the freehub on the back wheel doesn't even tick when you pick it up and spin it. No creaks or pings or squeaks, nothing to indicate that the bike is holding me back in any way. (In other words, no excuses.)
Is it any faster than my beloved, venerable, deep red, steel-framed Cramerotti? On paper, it better be. I rode a hilly 39-mile loop over to Moraga and Orinda that I've done a couple times on the red bike before, and finished about 8 minutes faster (stopwatch auto-pausing at traffic lights, etc.), about a 5% improvement. Was it the bike itself? New bike enthusiasm? A better bike fit? No exercise for two weeks leaving me well-rested? All of the above? ...My general feeling was that it hasn't and won't transform me into a brilliant climber--that takes training and weight loss--but it has something special on the flats and descents. Slow is still slow, but the fasts are faster.
For the record, the bike count is now back up to five.
Getting my hands on this one took longer than I would've thought: Cervelo is still a small company with limited production runs. When I put a deposit down in the spring, the hope was to get one from the immediately upcoming shipment, but someone underestimated how many long, lanky folks like myself would want this model in this size and I lost out. A few months have since passed, but it's finally here, built up, and I took it out for a maiden voyage this morning.
It's so quiet. The Easton wheelset doesn't make a whisper--heck, the freehub on the back wheel doesn't even tick when you pick it up and spin it. No creaks or pings or squeaks, nothing to indicate that the bike is holding me back in any way. (In other words, no excuses.)
Is it any faster than my beloved, venerable, deep red, steel-framed Cramerotti? On paper, it better be. I rode a hilly 39-mile loop over to Moraga and Orinda that I've done a couple times on the red bike before, and finished about 8 minutes faster (stopwatch auto-pausing at traffic lights, etc.), about a 5% improvement. Was it the bike itself? New bike enthusiasm? A better bike fit? No exercise for two weeks leaving me well-rested? All of the above? ...My general feeling was that it hasn't and won't transform me into a brilliant climber--that takes training and weight loss--but it has something special on the flats and descents. Slow is still slow, but the fasts are faster.
For the record, the bike count is now back up to five.
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