Trainer Trash

It is that time of year when you spend seemingly endless hours riding the rollers or the trainer trying to be ready for the good weather and open roads.
Any distraction is welcome and TV and DVDs are a must. I have watched way too many hours of bike races while pedaling along like Pavlov's zombie. Skateboarding videos are good, but not always long enough-cause once the feature ends so should the training session.
There is a relatively new genre that I have found to be perfect -the cyclocross documentary. Has race footage and interviews and other things. Much better than watching Roubaix 94 again or waiting for a sprint finish in Grand Tour X 20__ You can choose from Pure,Sweat,Hell, Transition one or two, cyclofile. That is a lot of coverage.
Pure Sweet Hell is like a classic indie rock video. Music is all Northwest style. Lots of super 8. Shows some killer 70s/80s footage. A classic. Excellent on the trainer cause it's arty enough to keep you focussed and watching the techniques.
Transition 1 is like Bob Seger "turn the page" but about bike racing. Being a pro rules but it sucks. But as bad as it is, who wouldn't trade places with their favorite pro or rocker?
Transition 2 is my favorite. US guys make a Euro assualt. Giant Belgian vending machines, Trebon berating juniors for eating too much. The sequel is better than the original. This is my favorite of the bunch
Cyclofile has some killer segments, but the narrator needs to be hung. This one reminds me of the early 411 skate videos, but this dude is no Lance Mountain.
So you know you have at least 20 hours of trainer time coming, go grab one of these you won't be sorry. Otherwise you better grab Pray for Me and start pedaling!

Bliss Return to Bliss LP

This is thee first record I've gotten from Void Records, but it is their 44th release/rerelease of obscuro late 60s/early 70s rock. Based on the cover art, Bliss were missing the peace train and caught up in the poltical/racial turmoil of the times. 8 songs
Bliss are a power trio who rock out with some blues psych rock. They want to take you on a ride on the "Music Train". Some stand out songs and songtitles. Some Sabbathy psuedo religous lyrical waxing on "Nothing in Life" which works a kind of Planet Caravan ham handed Santana groove. Handsdown the main reason I grabbed this was for the song title "Hippies,Cops, and a Bunch of Rocks"
Void Records releases can be found throught forced exposure and at their ebay store

tour of ireland 1973 footage from velonews

Sick Climb, Crayz wah-wah gaelic funk soundtrack and dudes drinking beer at the end of the ride.
Plus race doctor-no helmet on the back of a motorcycle.
Check out he rest of the clips at VeloNews TV.

Try this at home

The music, the hair, the skills....

Stop the Madness Spinervals 26.0

There isn't much worse than locking your bike into a trainer and trying to keep some fitness hammering away in the basement. There was a time that I could set my rollers up in front of garage door and train, those days are gone. I need distractions-movies, tvs, etc. Without a doubt doing some kind of intervals helps a workout go by and based on that Spinervals should be a good choice. Wrong!
Why would I want to ride my bike looking at a large group of people suffering on bikes looking back at me? Why would I want to endure the heinous instrumental madness that they use as background music(think "I Can't Drive 55" minus vocals)? Why do I want Type A do-gooder Coach Troy barking "Come On" at me every couple of minutes. I guess in the quest to get a workout done, I can put up with alot and maybe the "mental toughness" angle is actually from dealing with all the goofiness.
But there is one Spinveral tape I cannot comprehend at all. 26.0 "the Hardcore 100" 3DVDs and over 5 hours??? That is not a selling point it is a death sentence. Why would you spend 5+ on a trainer??? That is insane.(my longest trainer ride was length of the GodfatherDVD and I don't intend to improve on that). Do you live in the Arctic? Are there no cross-training activities you can do? How will pedaling a static bike for 5 hours really help you? In the real world you have to steer, pay attention, and think. On the trainer you zone out and suffer. I would like to see the people that are buying this thing.
For me the least possible amount of time on the trainer is the best time. 40-90 minutes max. And as far as intervals? Leg Speed drills, I don't think that a trainer replicates real road conditions well enough to build strength. Maintain yes, build no. The trainer is a necessary evil, but extened abuse obviously is addtictive.

End the Year with Jalabert

Happy New Year!

Bike Repair is like Xmas come early

My winter bike was on the back of my car when I went into a Dunkin Donuts to get a coffee. I come out and a bunch of people are kind of looking at me and the car funny, but nobody says anything so I jump in and go. I get to my destination and as I'm taking the bike off the back, the teeth of the big ring pop out of the bumper as if something had forced them into the bumper-as if maybe a car backed into my car and that is why the silent people were staring.... Thanks for the heads up people.....
Bike won't shift for shit and feels funny so I take it into the shop. Older aluminum frame so I am prepared for the worst. An examination revels only a bent big chain ring-everything else fine. Not bad-short money to replace a chain ring, but since this is my winter/training bike, and I have been thinking about trying a compact crank, maybe now is the time??
Before I can think about the repercussions, I price it out and get ready to leave. Expecting an FSA crank, the shop dude comes back with a compact Campy Centaur with the new "ultra-torque" set up. Cool, more bells and whistles. Bike will be ready the next day.
When I pick it up, I was suddenly blown away like a kid in front of the xmas tree, the cranks looks sick. Arms and spider seem super beefy. High polish finish (like Record had before they went all carbon-maybe those expert metal polishers now do the lower end aluminum gear???) And the kicker, thanks to the Ultra-torque set up you can see through the bottom bracket, so like Rube Goldberg I am just staring going "golly gee".
Upgrade worth it on looks alone. Road report to follow...............

I have had about 10 rides on the new cranks. I was expecting a real black/white experience, but it was more subtle. As far as increased stiffness from the outboard bearings and new bottom bracket, no massive change. The bike (Canondale Caad3 Saeco team issue) was stiff and is still stiff.
I expected more difference between the gear ratios of a standard vs compact crank, but it was not that extreme. Worth it, but not as life changing as the endless web entries led me to believe it would be.

Thumbs up to Campy for finally changing from the square taper.

The biggest dilemma now is with the new design on cranks, older Record and Chorus parts(even carbon) are getting their prices slashed-so do I upgrade my main road bike which is old style Centaur using the old system or wait and redo it with the new Ultra-Torque at whatever level I can afford as well?
Tough choices for sure, so I guess in the end it's a hearty "thanks" to the asshole that backed into my car and helped me upgrade some parts....