What the heck are they thinking with the new Spooky logo?
Before: Spooky = mysterious.
After:
 

 

kittens forever win.

The inspiration for the new Spooky logo

Anyone know of a heart rate strap that works with both your phone and a cateye strada 410? i guess it would have to send both a 2.4ghz signal & bluetooth signal? Trying to avoid having to get a new computer...

JohnOlsson said:

Anyone know of a heart rate strap that works with both your phone and a cateye strada 410? i guess it would have to send both a 2.4ghz signal & bluetooth signal? Trying to avoid having to get a new computer...

Wahoo TICKR Heart Rate Monitor is both Ant+ and bluetooth compatible.

Redbeard can probably order one for you.

eloy said:

JohnOlsson said:

Anyone know of a heart rate strap that works with both your phone and a cateye strada 410? i guess it would have to send both a 2.4ghz signal & bluetooth signal? Trying to avoid having to get a new computer...

Wahoo TICKR Heart Rate Monitor is both Ant+ and bluetooth compatible.

Redbeard can probably order one for you.

legit @eloy! Many thanks!

I have one of those...use it with my cateye ant+ head unit and my iphone using wahoo fitness app....since the stage power meter sends ant+ and bluetooth I can use the iphone for everything (save speed indoors...but I use an ant + rear wheel speed sensor for that...simple really)

These people, mentioned on GCN, have a bunch of cool fields that can be added to a Garmin 520, 1000 etc...

Including a few that relate to Maximum Power Available -- ie based on your ride so far, how much power can you put out. A sort of match counter, if you will -- Time to exhaustion, or simply color coding your power on the device screen. 

Their online analysis tools look kinda cool too.

http://www.baronbiosys.com/

After watching everyone spin up the hills yesterday while mashing in my easiest cogs, I picked up a new cassette from redbeard today and got an extra three teeth (from a 25 to a 28). I still have 39 up front, though. 

I'm considering getting a new crankset as well for better granny gears on Bear Mountain next weekend, but weary of dramatic gear changes before the race...any thoughts or recommendations?

28 should be fine. I wouldn't go changing that much a week out.

Jules said:

28 should be fine. I wouldn't go changing that much a week out.

Back in the day, we thought a 42x24 was low and right for Tiorati.  Then I went for a 39x24, then 38x25, 38x26, now 38x28.

You're used to the efforts in those gears, so stick with the crank--the one extra lower gear will be fine. Going with a compact (50/34) or mid-compact (52/36) will change lots of gear ratios you're already familiar with, so you might find yourself shifting more often looking for the right gear on race day.  (I don't understand why 50/36 hasn't taken off, but that's a discussion for another time)   

Duh, @JP, 53/39 = PRO that's why. Also it's a guarantee that at least 3 of your cassette's smallest cogs will be shiny as hell, which again, everyone knows shiny cassette = PRO.

might just be subtle enough to make it past the UCI inspectors...

http://www.engadget.com/2016/05/02/make-your-bike-electric-with-a-geoorbital-tire/

JohnOlsson said:

eloy said:

JohnOlsson said:

Anyone know of a heart rate strap that works with both your phone and a cateye strada 410? i guess it would have to send both a 2.4ghz signal & bluetooth signal? Trying to avoid having to get a new computer...

Wahoo TICKR Heart Rate Monitor is both Ant+ and bluetooth compatible.

Redbeard can probably order one for you.

legit @eloy! Many thanks!

@eloy, apparently cateye 410 only works with their HR strap...no wonder the computer is soo inexpensive haha

Get a real cycle computer then.

eloy said:

Get a real cycle computer then.

agree 100% @eloy, once i figure out how to gain value out of measuring my hammering will upgrade to a computer that measures Watts, sexiness, etc. 

JohnOlsson said:

eloy said:

Get a real cycle computer then.

agree 100% @eloy, once i figure out how to gain value out of measuring my hammering will upgrade to a computer that measures Watts, sexiness, etc. 

TSS (Training Sexiness Score) is really important metric to track. It takes % of matching kit/smoothness of pedal stroke ^ number of Instagram followers.

a Garmin 520 lets you do real time tracking of that against previous rides on the same course, so you can train to improve your TSS.

looking good on the bicycle is always goal number 1.

One for the ages

http://velonews.competitor.com/the-drivetrain-wars

http://cyclingtips.com/2016/05/leaked-notes-reveal-that-uci-will-restart-disc-brake-trial-in-june/
I love how the WFSGI (world sporting goods federation) gets a forensic medical doctor in to disprove Ventoso's version of events. 

The UCI has now blown the disc brake issue three times.  They allowed them in after being lobbied by a trade group, then stopped, and now are posed to re-start.

They could have put the riders and the riding public first by coming up with standards and then making bikes comply with those standards, which would have made their approval system worth something.  

But, as usual, they folded, making Dr. Bob seem like a consummate professional in comparison.

BTW, on the subject of brakes...

In addition to calipers and levers, pads, cables, and housing can make a real difference on brake performance.  with cables and housing, the less stretch the cables have, the less compression the housing has, the smoother they run, the better your braking performance will be.  You'll spend less effort moving the calipers to the rims, and there will be less slop in the interface, making modulation more about how much you pull the lever rather than lever movement combined with cable and housing movement.

I've tried and liked Nokon, Yokozuma, Jagwire, and Gore. all have compressionless cable housing.  The Yokozuna stuff feels stiff when setting up, which might make tight bends hard.  Nokon is great for tight bends, but pretty expensive--though the housing, which is comprised of lots of tiny aluminum balljoints pretty much never wears out.  You just replace the liner and the cable.  

Pads are hard to get a real fix on what works best, but for aluminum rims, I've been liking SwissStop BHP, Blue High Performance, pads.  

I generally dislike re-cabling.  But braking and shifting performance always feels much better after.  

I kinda both hate and love re-cabling.

I tried a few of the mentioned brands, but generally don't go too far, and simply replace using Shimano, sometimes Jagwire. For pads, I just stick with Shimano for alloy rims and SwissStop for Carbon.

This is true on both my road and cx bikes.

I used Yokozuna cables exclusively for a while on my builds (and my old steel race bike still has them).  While they have excellent brake feel due to compressionless housing, tight bends are really tough to route and if the plastic casing cracks due to tight bends, the inner steel coils (that make it compressionless) starts to rust.  With that said, even after many years and noticeable rust in some areas, I haven't noticed any changes in performance with those brake cables on the aforementioned steel race bike.

But with alllll of that said, when my stock of Yokos ran out I bought and installed Shimano cables (thanks Red Beard!) on my CAAD10.  They feel slightly squishier than the Yokos, but they work totally fine on my budget SRAM Rival setup.

Personally I see disc brakes on road bikes to be a big deal for carbon rims.  Otherwise for rims with aluminum brake tracks it is a bit like how the Cavs were raining 3 pointers on Atlanta in the 4th quarter last night when they were already leading by like 30 points: Unnecessary performance.

I like Yokozuna, but only really got away with them for 7800 series Shimano - the one with the shift cables NOT routed under bar tape.
Otherwise Nokon or AICAN are truly excellent. They last for ever and provide great brake feel. However I found them to be frustrating to the point of exasperation and childish temper tantrums when trying to install them on any frame with internal cable routeing. 
I find Ashima Reaction to be a great compromise and this is my go-to cable solution now.

OK gang, stupid simple question here - Ive been using the powertap system until now, today I just installed the stages/garmin setup. With powertap there is dedicated software to download and check out your ride data - what is everybody using for their stages/garmin data vis? 

what is everybody using for their stages/garmin data vis? 

I use:

• Training Peaks Premiun.
• Strava Premiun.

Many other competitors or add ons to those two.

Anyone have any tips to get stages to calibrate with garmin 500. Everytime I try to calibarate it goes nowhere. It shows power numbers that seem to be somewhat realistic, but would like to get a brand new powermeter to calibrate. I believe it may be the Garmin as I can't get it to sync either.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/106324368

I have a PowerTap, found that most times, I go to the calibrate window of the Garmin 500, nothing happens, have to go back one screen, hit calibrate again, and then it works.

#YMMV but also found that works best after 5~10 minutes of riding, so usually just ride to the park, stop and go thru this dance.

As a side note, it is not really calibrating the Stages or PT, it simply making sure it has a correct zero offset. Good luck.