Shimano Dura Ace 7900 - First Look

Colnago CX-1 Review Coming Soon...!

Tags: 7900 | dura-ace | shimano | colnago | cx-1

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Tags: training | geelong | group ride

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City of Greater Geelong Mayor Cr John Mitchell welcomed the Victorian Government’s announcement today of $500,000 funding to go towards the construction of a criterium circuit at Belmont Common.

“A purpose built criterium circuit will mean cyclists can train and compete in a safe car free environment,” Cr Mitchell said.
“The circuit will allow us to build on the increased interest in cycling that will inevitably arise after Geelong hosts the 2010 World Road Cycling Championships, and confirm the Geelong region as one of Australia’s cycling capitals.”

The Mayor said that the criterium circuit would not only benefit local cyclists but would serve as a regional venue for training and skills development.

“In addition to catering to the large numbers of sport cyclists in the region the circuit will be an ideal venue for training and skills development, and would be available for additional uses such as school programs, wheelchair sports and in-line skating,” he said.

The City of Greater Geelong recently adopted a multi-faceted cycling strategy aimed developing cycling, both as a sport and a transport alternative.

The establishment of a home for cycling is a key priority within the cycling strategy

Photo above of Shaun Gilbert and John Burtt with the Minister for Sport James Merlino

Article syndicated from www.geelongcycling.com.

Tags: training | cycle park | criterium | 3216 | geelong

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Yep, the cycling gods are finally smiling on me, or at least Santa Claus is!

I should be picking my Colnago CX-1, Shimano DuraAce 7900 and FSA build kit up on Christmas Eve.  I'll  post my impressions of both the new 2009 DuraAce and the Colnago CX-1 shortly after.

First look photo's here.

Tags: 7900 | dura-ace | shimano | colnago

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The rain started falling yesterday at around 3:00pm, it is now 24 hours later and the rain is still falling!  We have now had approximately 60mm of rain (2 and a 1/4 inches), which by the way we desperately need.  From a selfish point of view at least most of the grime has washed off my car and my lawn looks so much less depressed after a good soaking.  Let's just hope that the water catchment areas have had as much rain as my house.

I am happy that it is raining as I didn't need to hit the road today as I had a MAP test planned.  Hmmm, a MAP test of 5 hours in the rain?  Trust me, choosing either one over the other is not as easy as it sounds. My wife is working today so I also have baby sitting duties, my daughter always likes to have a sleep after lunch (as I am sure most 2 year olds do) so my MAP test would have to wait until she was asleep.  My MAP test preparations today were somewhat different as a result, a late breakfast, a few too many cups of coffee, more High-5 than I could cope with, a bit of "Finding Nemo", a run around in the rain and more "Baby Einstien" books than you could poke a stick at (or that my Daughter could find).

Tags: MAP test | watts | power meter | training

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I love the names that we give our hills, I am sure that pretty much most regions have at least one of the following hills with the nickname of:

• The Wall
• The Pinch
• Zig Zag

The hills in the Geelong area are not super long, with Benwerrin at 11km being the exception, but they can pack a fair punch in the steepness and difficulty stakes. My favourite names hill in Geelong is Godzilla, the name is apt as the hill is a beast of a climb that really requires some perserverence and hard work to keep moving.

Godzilla is in the middle of one of my favourite rides so I have had the (mis)fortune of staring him in the eyes a couple of times of late. Below is an elevation profile of this little hill, the percentages displayed don't quite do the hill justice as my GPS and altimeter bot confirm sections of the upper climb to be in the 23% range.

Attacking Godzilla isn't too diffiuclt in my opinon, the decent from Maude is/can be dangerous if there is a lot of wind about. Today there was a lot of wind about so I took it real easy. The lower slopes are in the <10% range and I was able to barrel up this section in my 39x23 with out an issue.

Tags: lethbridge | maude | godzilla | power meter | steep hills | hill climbing | training

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Today I wanted a nice easy ride, nothing too taxing as I have had a fairly intense week both on and off the bike. When I got up this morning the wind was blowing a gale from the west so this dictated my direction, yes, go west young man. So west I went.

I rode out to Winchelsea via Paraparap/Moriac and then continued until I hit the intersection at Birregurra. The wind was fierce in places with a fairly conservative average speed of 25km/h.

Tags: geelong | portarlington | strength endurance | birregurra | recovery | training

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This is a great article from the Cycling News website detail the power savings (watts) that different aero devices can save you while rising at 40km/h.  In combination an aero TT frame, helmet and position saved the test rider 70w in both field and wind tunnel testing.

Key points from the article are:

• Position: Going from drops to aerobars will save you ~30 watts at 40km/h
• Bike: A time trial frame will save you ~20 watts over a road frame at 40km/h
• Helmet: A time trial helmet will save you ~10 watts over a road helmet at 40km/h

Click here to view the article in full.

Tags: watts | aero | time trial | ITT

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I really don't have too much of an idea as to how I'll go but I want to give it a crack none the less.  I will be racing in the 35 - 39 age group which will undoubtedly be tough.  The region has some amazing riders in this category, not to mention other riders from interstate.    A finish in the top 10 result would mean a lot to me, but I don't have too much data on my relative performance just yet so I'll reserve stating any clear results orientated goals for the time being.

The road race course will be run on one of two courses that I am very familiar with.  I believe that the decision as to which course the road race will be run over will be dependant on Victorian Police permits.  The preferred course is a 32km loop at Staughton Vale and the fall back course is the much used and much maligned 11km loop at Paraparap.

Tags: racing | geelong cycling club | MAP test | masters games | geelong

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Over the last couple of years I have been progressively prescribing myself and others a fair abundance of low RPM Strength Endurance (SE) training to assist with the cycling specific strength that an athlete is required to develop. The format was generally multiple repeats of some long hill somewhere or on the trainer if that is not possible. This year as I ditched the heart rate monitor in preference to my power meter I had begun to question the worth of completing SE training as described in this post and as prescribed by many coaches and federations.

My main concerns with low RPM SE was that I was finding it difficult to create the power and force (cadence) combination that I felt I would need to use in a race by riding at low RPMs in training. I basically wasn't seeing many of the super strong riders in races using their strength (power ) crunching out a massive gear at 50rpm. The strong riders always seem to be able to pedal faster when it counted, so why wasn't I training in this way myself then?

Tags: power meter | force | low rpm | strength endurance | training

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