Author Archives: Fast Splits

Nov19

Industry Folks: The Sports Watch I Want

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Industry Folks: The Sports Watch I Want

So, the new Garmin 910xt with it’s altimeter, swim-accelerometer, gps that is within 10% accurate in open water, ability to display power/wattage information and work as a running watch and bring it all together cleanly on race day (triathlon) is getting close to what I consider the “golden egg” of sports watches.

So lets talk about the golden egg:

First, I’m going to bash on gps. I know it’s what people want. But few people need it. Sure, I have a Garmin Edge 800 and 500. GPS has value on the 800: I can go bike on new roads and be directed where to go and I can then map out my ride and see a pretty map of where I rode. But, for most serious athletes, we only need to see a graph with a power profile, speed, elevation change; this doesn’t require gps or the drain on battery life that gps requires; instead you can bypass gps and have a normal, non-chargeable battery that lasts for months.

Moving to swimming: create a swim accelerometer that works in open water swimming. Calibrate it in a pool so it knows your stroke. This should be able to be done.

Percy Cerutty leading his runners up the sand dunes of Portsea

Now, to running. The same thoughts on gps apply to running as previously given to cycling, so I’ll move on to the more important topic: fuel utilization. Power in cycling gives a very powerful view into the amount of fuel an athlete has in order to ride at their best. You watch grand tour riders monitoring their powermeter head units as they fly up steep climbs understanding that just because 650w feels good for a minute, they know from training that 400-450w may be the best effort to hold for the next 10-20min; a cyclist knows how many “matches” they have, referring to high intensity bursts that zap glycogen stores and lower blood pH, possibly at a non-recoverable rate; a triathlete knows that for 56 miles 85-90% of their FTP is what they need to adhere to even if 120% feels great the first mile or up that steep climb because using up glycogen stores now will bite them in the ass at mile 10 of the run. Read the rest of this entry →

Nov11

Past Rants – A taste of what’s to come

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Past Rants – A taste of what’s to come

Brian’s Car:

Nick’s Fit Bike, an Adam Kellerson custom machined creation:

Pretty Cool: Turn your normal trainer into an power reading and RECORDING! machine: http://trainermic.com/

 

This is what one of the leaders in powermeter market will be releasing next year

 

It will provide the most accurate 360 degree power measurements; a pure performance based pedal-power-meter.

 

 

 

Cycleops heartrate powermeter will be using an algorithm using data from hundreds of riders to use hr, cadence to estimate wattage. If enough data is used in combination with the ramp test required for the individual rider to do at a testing center with a powerbeam pro ergometer, then having the proper conversion factor of hr and cadence sent to the hr strap unit, this could be pretty awesome. and only $200. No torque value, so not accurate, but a cool estimate.

See graph below to see that new Tri shiv is not more aero than the TT shiv. The Tri shiv will fit you, where the TT shiv will not fit most people out there due to lack of adjustability. The TT shiv was successful because the nosecone smoothed 15-20 degree yaw angle wind flow better than anything to date. The Tri shiv got rid of the nosecone to allow for better ease of brake adjustment while exposing brake cables to the wind. The Tri shiv has a very, very non-UCI legal downtube. The surface area behind the headtube on the Tri shiv is the same as the surface area of the nosecone+headtube of the TT shiv.

If we head to the windtunnel, I’d like to test the TT shiv, Tri shiv and then the Tri shiv with the nosecone from the TT shiv. … and then throw in a Cheetah, Hotta, Plasma 3, Felt DA, QR Illicito. and then choose the fastest one to race at Rev3 Quassy and get it under 17 lbs.

 

Awesome Ritz quote:

“I realized that I like training, I like to be fit. I like the everyday satisfaction of having done something that most people can’t do. It was something I missed a whole lot. So I really do enjoy the training. I don’t particularly like it when I’m out there doing quarters (400s) and it’s super hard, but I like the satisfaction of having done it every day.”
“That’s what sometimes separates people who always run and always train and people who maybe move on in life and do something else. I think I’m a lot more likely to be someone like Joan Benoit (Samuelson), who keeps going forever, just because I actually really like it, as opposed to someone who stops and never runs again.”
- Dathan Ritzenhein, talking about his injuries and time away from training and how it made him realize how much he really enjoys the process. Too many people take training for granted until they can’t go out and do it anymore.

Awesome opinion on Ryan Hall’s Chicago performance

I really, really like: Shimano may also be finally moving on from their long-running 24mm-diameter Hollowtech II bottom bracket spindle design. In fact, we’ve been told that they may actually be adopting FSA’s new BB386Evo standard, which would certainly help lop off some weight as Shimano would then be able to move to a larger-diameter, relatively thin-walled aluminum spindle.

And, they might as well throw in a magnetic bottom bracket (see below):

and use that magnetic idea in their own shimano hubs with this free-hub body idea to make the casette lighter and easily fit the 11speed cassette: http://www.bikerumor.com/2011/07/11/kirk-pacenti-offers-open-source-freehub-design-suggests-industry-moves-forward/

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