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Subject: Santiago Cyn-TT Gear Choices! 55-12=Granny Gear!! Leaky Fluid Trainer!!!

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Posted:3/7/2008 2:33:21 AM

Special thanks to the kind folks at Rock n' Road Cyclery for letting me warm up on their resistance trainer they've set up on that riser-platform in the corner of the store at last Saturday's Santiago Canyon TT. Man, it was sweltering hot elevated-up in that corner there pushing up the rpm's in my warm up intervals; it was sorta like a bad dream. My own trustworthy fluid trainer made by a very reputable company, which I've been using for almost two years now, and has helped me become a real competitive cyclist, had started leaking. It's supposedly a silicone-based liquid medium that is used inside the fluid resistance units, and getting the stuff on my hands, it has the feel and look of mineral oil. But the company practically asked no questions and is replacing my fluid resistance unit with a new one. Hmmm..... it's been more than two weeks now..... 'been substituting my indoor LT-interval work with outdoor
LT-interval circuits (Rose Bowl in Pasadena or Telstar commercial-industrial park Rosemead/El Monte).

Back to Santiago Canyon TT: 55-12 is the MINIMUM big-gear you'd want for that TT race, because once you're over the HUMP, it's a bit too easy to spin 55-12 for some extended stretches of road even without any tailwind. I find that one can go several miles-per-hour faster with the same effort in a 56-12/11 on a few good stretches of the course. I think that in itself should easily knock off 10 seconds over that 11 miles.

But the real gain actually comes from how well you actually reach the top of the hump as I've been informed by a kind and emphatic experienced master-group racer; in which case a 42 or 44 small ring (typically coupled with the 55 or 56 big ring) in conjuction with nothing bigger than a 23 cog (10-speed usually) or 21-cog (9-speed usually) is all that is necessary to spin up the healthy ascent for the first 2 miles of that course. IMO, if you have a 24/25/26 or 27 cog while doing Santiago Canyon/Piru/Toms Farm, then you're just hauling around unnecessary spinning mass. Swap it to a close-block 12-21, 12-23, 11-21, or 11-23, and you're better equipped to take on the fastest people in your race category.

Another experienced rider told me he ONLY uses the big ring to get up to the hump. I'm comfortable with a higher cadence going uphill, especially that early in a race; plus it's easier to switch from small ring/15 or 16 (which is about the same roll-out as big ring/21 or 19) to easier 17-18+ cog spins when things start to pitch-up. A pro coach has previously mentioned that a higher cadence stresses the aerobic-respiratory system more than your actual leg muscles, and is much easier to recover from than muscular lactic-acid stress from heavier-gear slow-cadence mashing during a race, which should be critical for the quick recovery needed just over the hump, and then proceeding into big gears for the 8 mile flight to the finish. My almost 3 year old Specialized Elite Transistion weighs over 20lbs, and feels better going uphill in an easier gear anyways.

I've been gawking at Rock n' Road Cyclery's beautiful new 2008 S-Works Transition, and I'm totally absorbed by the sculpted aerodynamic attention to details. But I believe that for a TT course like Santiago Canyon/Piru/Tom's Farm, the real benefit of such technology is not the few seconds saved by the aerodynamics, but the many more seconds saved by having 5lbs less weight to haul uphill, which would translate to faster time or fresher legs or both on top of the climbs for the same effort!

Last Saturday's Santiago Canyon TT was another good race but more difficult than that fine day last race on 10 November 2007 because of the cold-damp and drizzling-wet conditions. I crafted a face shield from an aviators helmet from my military days, which fits perfect into the face of my LG Rocket helmet, but due to the nasty conditions that morning, I had to friggin' pull the face shield+helmet up and away from my face every kilometer or so, to try and alleviate some of that fogging that was going on, but the cold wet air offered little de-fogging relief; and everytime I'd do that, the bandana covering my head would creep down to cover my eyes

..... now I had to pull both helmet+face shield+bandana up and away..... and so that ludicrous struggle continued all the way to the finish line. In spite of all that, I felt I finished stronger than last time, and maybe pulled off another win. But looking at my cyclocomputer-time, it was actually slower than before! Maybe I didn't try hard enough to get up to the hump in a fast enough time. In any case, the effort was good enough for some more SoCalTTSeries points.....

Posted By gtingley on 3/6/2008 3:17:45 PM
I organized exactly this for the 2006 Series http://www.socalttseries.com/Portals/0/2006ttseriesresults.pdf

$1500 cash was handed out.

I think the Series participation level is great, organizers are selling out races and hitting new participation milestones. Fiesta Island TT is sold out for this weekend, again!

Our title sponsor Rock N' Road Cyclery is selling lots of Giro TT helmets and Transition TT bikes.

$$$ CHING-CHING!!! $$$

As for the cool products, I'm gonna wait for the next generation Giro TT helmet; the one with dimples on it, and shaped to create negative drag! It'll be like the hot hand of Satan himself pulling on my hair as I hammer away at LT!

Unfortunately for me (and good for my competitors), I'm gonna have to call it the season for SoCalTTSeries races..... I've some serious business-commercial endeavors I need to focus on..... I've been braggin' about this vision of mine for years to all my friends (none whom are into cycling by any means)..... and now I must succeed in this greatest endeavor of my life. Oh well, I've done enough damage here in velo-world. Maybe I'll manage to stay in competitive form, and succeed in my ventures, AND GET MONEY TO BUY THAT S-Works Transition all carbon velo rocket and all the other cool stuff..... maybe I'll still be a SoCal Time Triallist........

veloman
Posts:8

Posted:3/12/2008 1:44:49 PM

I've been using a 54x11 which is a slightly bigger gear than a 55x12. I like the 54 because I can push that up the hill in a 21 or a 23. I've contemplated using a 55 for the reasons you state, picking up a bit more on the downhills, but I'm pretty sure I couldn't push that up the hill as effectively. Yes I know, I can use the small ring, but I tend to like to push gears a bit on climbs . . . its just my nature. I'm no Lance. Plus it gives that extra bit of psychological damage when you pass someone in their small ring and you're in your big ring.

I agree it sure would be great if there were some prizes for the series, even something as simple as a plaque or a jersey. But plaques cost money and jerseys do as well (and unlike the State Championship jerseys that Voler makes and sells a lot of, there are only a handful of winners in the TT series, so probably not worth their time to design it). I don't know Gary personally, but I gather this is an all-volunteer effort on his part. And we are, of course, all happy that he takes the time to do it. But getting sponsors and raising cash takes serious time and effort.

I also agree that this seems like a perfect venue for some cycling companies to sponsor and showcase their products to a willing and eager audience. I'm not speaking for Gary, but I wonder if he'd mind if some of us did some leg work and door pounding and got some sponsorship for the series. Maybe someone knows the local Cervelo rep. Maybe some knows a person starting a new restaurant near Santiago Cyn and is looking to get some hungry people in the door for lunch on Sat. Maybe someone went to high school with Richard Byrne, founder of Speedplay. So maybe if we all put out some feelers, something might come of it. Anyway, just a thought.

Good luck in your future endeavors.

-Craig

gsample
Posts:7

Posted:3/25/2008 1:40:45 PM

I've use a 56-11 on this course. My small ring is a 42 so it gives me a bit of the big gear feel without really having to go all the way down to a 39. Still work though. I'm not what you would call a climber by any stretch of the imagination.

I do know Gary personally. Gary is a straight bad-ass. I'm pretty sure he would be down for some additional sponsorship money. After all who doesn't want more money right?? I like your idea Craig, of some door pounding. I'd be willing to explore the option further as it's in my, and all of our best interests, to promote Time Trialing and the sport of cycling in general.

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