Three TT Bikes Under 3K

When upgrading your ride, whether you’re buying new components or purchasing a completely new frame, a good way to start is to decide how much you want to spend. Especially in Austin, it’s not unusual for an athlete’s bike to be worth more than his or her car. (Who needs working AC for the workday commute when you can have integrated aerobars and hydraulic brakes on race day?) But buying a new bike certainly doesn’t have to break the bank; striking a balance between what you want and what you can afford, you can build up a ride that leaves no room for excuses.    

Recently, a common price point for buyers in the market for a new TT bike seems to be $3,000, so we’ve put together some info on three popular options at ATC that fit the bill: the Cervelo P2, Boardman Elite Air TT 9.0, and BMC TM02.    

Cervelo P2:

Don’t let the numbering confuse you—the new version of the P2, which was released at the beginning of 2014, shares the exact same frame as the more expensive P3, with a slightly modified and easier-to-manufacture fork as the only difference. All components are standard and located in the standard places. There are no hidden brakes or integrated aerobars to make maintenance or travel a hassle. Read our detailed February 2014 post on the P2 here. 

Shimano 105, 10 speed build - $2,800.  

Boardman Elite Air TT 9.0:

The Boardman has a different look and color scheme than many other TT bikes—it’s less angular, perhaps a little more aesthetically “classic.” The improved 2014 frame, said to be even faster than the one Pete Jacobs rode to his Ironman World Championship win in 2012, is identical to the 9.2 and 9.4,  with the only differences being paint and spec. It features hidden brakes both front and rear. Meredith Kessler rode it to three wins in three races this season, including the 70.3 U.S. Pro Championships. Read more about Boardman’s line of bikes and arrival in Texas in our April 2013 post here. 

Shimano 105, 10 speed build - $2,995. 

BMC TM02:

The edgy TM02 is a close relative of Taylor Phinney's TM01, the bike he rode during his U.S. National TT Championship win. It features the same basic frame design as the TM01, including a trick hidden rear brake, but with standard front brake and aerobar arrangement for easy adjustment and maintenance. The BMC is wind tunnel- and race-proven, with a striking look and color scheme.

Shimano 105, 10 speed build - $2,999. 

Race Report from 2014 Du Worlds Pontevedra, Spain

William Jabour set out in early 2013 to qualify for the ITU Duathlon World Championships with no expectations for the race beyond getting there. He'd competed on and off again in multisport events since 2004, but this was the first time he had a specific goal. In the course of a year of dedicated training, he found the sport taking on new meaning and importance. He began accomplishing things he never would have imagined possible.

Securing his spot in the top 18 at U.S. Nationals in Tucson in October 2013, William joined the ranks of Team USA to represent the nation at the world championships in Pontevedra, Spain. On June 1, 2014, he competed against the best duathletes from around the world in the 10K run/40K bike/5K run, placing 28th in the 50-54 age group and experiencing one of the most exhilarating runs of his life.

William is one of the few people you'll meet in Austin who is actually from here; born and raised a local, he remembers when the city was still 400,000 people and you didn't have to go far to find a cow pasture. He was a truck driver for most of his career, with gigs that varied from hauling Indy 500 race cars to carrying stage equipment or film sets cross-country for movie studios and celebrity bands. A one-man traveling show who competed in multisport for fun and general fitness, he would  park the rig, take his bike out, and compete in a race in a town he was passing through. At 46 years old, he fulfilled the lifelong dream of becoming a firefighter and is currently working for the Liberty Hill and Manchaca fire departments. Unassuming but also highly driven and competitive, William is a nice guy and a top-notch athlete who ATC is proud to be associated with.

After putting in all that hard work day after to day to meet a goal and far surpassing the original target, some people might add a checkmark to the bucket list and put the bike back in the garage. William, however, is already looking ahead to the 2015 world championships in Adelaide, Australia. Next month, he'll compete at nationals in St. Paul to qualify. From there, he'll have more than a year to put his nose to the grindstone and improve his times. In Australia, he hopes to shave off nine minutes and finish somewhere in the top five to ten places. "Single digits for sure," he says.

Du Worlds Race Report from William Jabour

Arriving in Pontevedra

Team USA members, William Jabour at far right.

My flight to Spain was pretty easy, and I did not suffer much jet lag. Once I got to my small 10x10 foot room I headed out on the town to see where things were. The first two days there were wet and cold to me at 50 degrees. On Thursday morning I met with a Team USA group to run the course for the first time, and of course it was cold and wet. The run course starts off with a pretty good climb from the stadium by the water, but once we got to the top it was fast and downhill through old town Pontevedra, and I knew the four loops would be my best 10K on race day.

The next day I had the chance to ride the bike course with a police escort and about 800 athletes from all countries. Riding the bike any other time proved difficult and dangerous because of traffic. ITU changed the bike course around two days before, and now it was going to be two loops with a cat 4 climb of six plus miles. It didn't seem too bad on that day at an easy 4mph, but race day was a different story, as many sufferings took place.

On Saturday, the day before the race, I left from my hotel in Marin, which was one town over from the race start. I went for a ride along the coast, some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The road went up and down along the water through towns and hills, and in truth, it was a lot more climbing than I'd wanted. I had to force myself to turn around knowing I had a race the next day. I'm guessing I also walked six or seven miles a day before the race sightseeing and messing about, but I was in Spain so I was going to enjoy it, which was the case with everybody.

One competitor from Hawaii got his bike dragged down the tarmac at the airport and destroyed. He thought his race was over, but when he went to the local bike shop to package it and send it back home, it turned into a cool story. Javier Gomez, world champion triathlete from Pontevedra, insisted on him using one of his bikes, so he was able to race on that.

To sum it up, the first few days were just a lot of meeting people and checking out the town. For me, the coffee lover, a lot of that was over croissants and pastries. I also found out that in Europe dinner is not served till at least 8 p.m. I met so many cool people that now I guess I'll be forced to use Facebook more to stay in touch.

Team USA gets interviewed by Spanish TV station.

Race Day
Bike check-in was the day before. I liked getting that out of the way. And the race didn't start till noon on Sunday, which I also liked.

My butterflies started days before, which doesn't usually happen to me, but it was Worlds. After not much of a warmup, it was time for my age group to go. I was in 50-54, though I'm still 49. My coach Gray Skinner had a plan for me, and I stuck to it. He has been coaching me for almost a year now and has totally changed me from where I was at the beginning. (Thanks Jeff Shelton and Jack Mott for pushing me into getting coached.) There were about 60 athletes in my age group, and it seemed all wanted to go out at a  five-minute pace, but I stuck to around 5:50 for mile one, then settled around 6:20, and by loop three out of four most of my competition was coming back while I was feeling better. I ran my best 10K at around 40:07.

I was happy to get on my bike with confidence because of the 10 months of suffering Gray had put me through. I knew it was my time to shine, and by the second 13-mile loop and the second 6-mile cat 4 climb when many were slowing and cramping on the side of the road, I was feeling good at 1/10 of a mile faster.

I went back down the hill for the last time at 44mph into transition for the final run. It was a bit of a slow start due to both hamstrings cramping. Proving there is another whole level of pain I can push through, I got faster. Running through the streets with the crowds and all the different countries and people cheering me on was one of the most emotional experiences I have ever had. I believe I had tears in my eyes for most of that 5K. All the hard work in the last year came down to these last miles and an experience I will never forget, my first world championship but not my last.

In my age division, I finished 28th in the world and 5th in the USA. The first guy in my division from the U.S. was about four minutes faster and 18th in the world. I was off of second, third, and fourth place male finishers from the U.S. by less than 75 seconds.

July 19 is U.S. nationals in St. Paul and the qualifier for worlds in Australia in October 2015 . I was blessed in Spain, and I feel I will do well in St. Paul and be one of the top guys in my division. I'm ready for the long road to Australia.

I'd like to send heartfelt thanks to the people who've made it all possible. Thanks to my coach, Gray Skinner of Enlightened Performance, for his confidence in me and for pushing me through the months to achieve another level and to accomplish my goals. I  look forward to years to come with him. Thanks to Don and Missy Ruthven and all the staff at Austin Tri-Cyclist for all the help and support they have given me, not only for this race but through all the years, and for making sure I'm always on the best equipment. Thanks to Liberty Hill and Manchaca fire departments and BA Tools for the financial support they gave me, and I can't forget my friends and family who have shared this experience with me. Thank you all!

2014 Texas State Time Trial Champion Gear and Tech Specs

by Jack Mott

Being former or current multi-sport athletes in many cases, the ATC Racing women pride themselves on their time trialing prowess and put up impressive results at this year's Texas State Time Trial Championship. Katie Kantzes nailed a third place in the Eddy Merckx category, Marla Briley got second in category 3, and Kat Hunter took first place in Cat 1/2. (You can read Kat's race report on TexasBikeRacing.com.)

On Sunday, the team of Missy Ruthven (ATC owner), Maggi Finley, Marla Briley, and Kat Hunter backed up those impressive results with a 56:37, fastest women's time, in the team time trial.

To give you an idea of the attention to detail that goes into a winning time trial, we will break down all the gear, aero data, and power data of Kat Hunter's winning ride.

Bike Build Specs

• Frame - Cervelo P2C classic with modified top tube cable routing 
• Wheels - HED Jet 6 front, HED Jet 9 with wheelbuilder disc cover and G3 Powertap hub
• Tires - Continental Attack Clinchers, 22mm @ 105psi with Vittoria latex tubes
• Aerobars - UCI Legal HED Corsair with integrated brake levers and Vision clipons
• Stem - TriRig Sigma aero stem
• Fork - Cervelo FK26
• Brakes - TriRig Omega aero brake
• Saddle - Adamo
• Head Unit - Powertap Joule
• Hydration - One between the arms rocket science bottle in a XLAB Gorilla cage
• Skewers - View-Speed aero bolt on skewers
• Helmet - Giro Selector
• Cranks - FSA Gossamer with FSA 54T aero chainring
• Pedals - Look Keo Blade aero pedal
• Gruppo - Shimano Ultegra
• Cassette - Shimano Dura Ace 12-25
• Derailleur Pulleys - Hawk Racing
• Bottom Bracket - Hawk Racing
• Chain Lube - Rock n' Roll Extreme
• Bar Tape - Tennis grip from Target. I dunno. It was thin.

Power Meter Data

• Goal Power -  250 watts
• Actual Average Power - 247 watts
• Variability Index - 1.0
• First Half Power (Headwind) - 254 watts
• Second Half Power (Tailwind) - 241watts
• Avg Temp - 82 deg G
• Avg Cadence - 92
• Avg Speed - 26.6 mph
• Distance - 40k
• Time - 56:23

Power File

WKO format power file

Powertap CSV format power file

WKO+ Power File from the TT

Aero Data

Approximate yaw angle distribution from BestBikeSplit.com

Using BestBikeSplit, an excellent online aerodynamic and pacing tool, we can approximate that Kat had a CdA of approximately .20 at 0 yaw, and .19 at yaw. We can also see that about 70% of the race was between 0 and 5 degrees of yaw, with most of the rest of the race between 10 and 15 degrees of yaw.  Knowing what the angle of attack of the wind is during a race can help you make intelligent equipment choices. For instance, we can see from this data that a deeper front wheel would have been faster, as around 30% of the race had yaw angles where a Jet 9 is a bit faster than a Jet 6.  Since about 70% of the race was at very low yaw angles,  choosing a narrower tire was definitely a good call. Narrow tends to be aero, at low yaw.

Close-up Bike Shots 

The venerable P2 Classic remains competitive

View Speed Skewers, Cervelo FK26 fork, and HED Jet 6 with Continental Attacks

HED Jet 9 with a disc cover taped on,  nice clean chain

TriRig brake, stem, and HED aerobars make for a clean front end

Father's Day Ideas for Athletes

by Kat Hunter

Cyclist and multisport dads spend most of their leisure time—what little there is—working out. Keeping up with a regular training regimen isn't easy alongside a job, housework, parenting duties, and the other sundry responsibilities of adulthood. Father's Day is a good time to say thanks. Thanks for being a role model of good fitness and hard work. Thanks for getting up in the middle of the night to change a diaper or banish monsters even though you had a hard training ride scheduled early the next morning. Thanks for being (mostly) cheerful in spite of it. And thanks for having really nice legs; the tan lines, they can be forgiven.

Kid-Friendly DIY Crafts
Father's Day is June 15, so moms and kids still have a little time to break out the paint and superglue. A wealth of DIY ideas, many easily tweakable to an athletic dad's interests, can be found online. Pro tip: Estimate how long you think a Pinterest project will take and multiply by four.

Happy Father's Day to my grandfather, Jim Hunter,
who entered me in my very first races.

• Frames – Frame up a recent race-day photo of Dad or make a collage of races and results past. Let kids write some applause or add on a mustache. If Dad is a regular at the Driveway Series, peruse the collections of photographers like Jim Hicks for action pics. Race numbers can also be made into a collage or decoupaged keepsake. 
• Coupon jar – It may not be an original idea, but the "coupons" inside can be as creative as you'd like. Decorate a glass jar, an old bike bottle, a Gatorade canister, or anything sport-related you can find, and fill it with slips of paper that promise Dad various treats. E.g., "1 leg massage" or "1 post-ride smoothie." 
• Snacks – Make Dad homemade energy bars or other easily transported foods for his workouts.
• Kid art – Put those handprints, stick figures, and unidentifiable-blobs-said-to-be-horses on things that Dad uses every day, like gel flasks, bike bottles, duffle bags, or workout clothes.
• Be weird – My grandfather, a runner and triathlete, always had a collection of worn-out running shoes. When he retired, his coworkers gave him the strangest footstool I've ever seen—a round cloth-covered circle for the top, with two "legs" that went into a pair of his old ASICS. Tacky and memorable is better than boring!  

Transform the Bike Cave

Bike art created by ATC Racing's Sammi Runnels

This idea hinges on Dad's personality. If he's the kind of guy who knows where every wrench is, it's best not to even enter the bike cave, much less introduce new elements of interior design.

• Organizational improvements – A parts bin really helps keep the small bits together if Dad is a cyclist or spends a lot of time working on his bike(s). And bike racks follow rule #12 in my opinion; if the correct number of bikes to own is n+1, you can use the same formula for the apparatus that holds them.
• Decor – How cool is a bike cave (or any room for that matter) with art made from recycled bike parts?  Local artist and bike racer Sammi Runnels makes bike-inspired art, including chandeliers. The remote-operated LEDs have 15 color options.

Goody Bag

Labelled parts bin for bits and pieces

One Christmas my husband’s uncle gave him a bag full of small things he bought from his local bike shop, everything from bike gloves to chamois cream and a chain wrench; it was one of Jack's favorite presents. A large number of small items will feel like a big gift while also keeping you within a reasonable price range and ensuring practical use. Again, you can make your own creative container or kid-decorated box. If you don’t know exactly what to get or where to find things, ATC staff can help.

• Running or cycling socks
• Nutrition like gels or chews
• Goggles
• Water bottles
• Bike lights, skewers, disc wheel adapters, brake pads, flat kits, quick laces, and so on.
• Gift certificate for a bike fit at ATC from ROTHE Training ($100)

ATC Chillo Dillo shirt, $19.95

Movie Night
If your offspring are fully mobile and stringing together sentences, an Alamo Drafthouse-style movie night with a swim, bike, or run theme is a fun idea for both the kids and Dad. Let the kids make him "movie tickets" and be on-call waitstaff during the show, picking up his order cards for drink refills, popcorn, pizza, and dessert. Some cult favorites and popular choices include Breaking Away, American Flyers, Without Limits, Prefontaine, and Chariots of Fire. Footage from old pro tours and early-day Ironmans can also be entertaining, even purely from a fashion and equipment perspective.

Gear
Every cyclist I know gets excited about new gear. Raid Dad’s workout drawer to get sizing and then stop by ATC for shorts, jerseys, bibs, swim shorts, and other clothing. Has he been pining for a certain helmet? Cycling or run shoes? Could he use a new jersey or fresh pair of race tires? And of course you can’t beat a shiny new bike if you want to go really big.

Trip
Sometimes the best present for a hard-working Dad is a vacation. Let him know guilt about training time is off limits: he can spend as many hours as he’d like out on the roads.

Sabinal River, near Utopia

• Just three hours from Austin, Leakey offers spectacular riding and scenery, with twisting climbs and descents and blissfully traffic-free roads (when you're not sharing them with car clubs). Cabins in the area rent for cheap in the off season, and the Sabinal and Frio rivers provide recreation for the whole family, though are too shallow for real swim training. Nearby Lost Maples State Natural Area has good hiking and is worth a visit at any time of year.
• The small town of Fort Davis, in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, is about 6.5 hours from Austin. The roads and the climbs are perfect for cyclists who like some elevation and miles and miles of solitude. Accommodation options abound, including long-time establishments like the Prude Ranch, Limpia Hotel, and Davis Mountains State Park. By day, ride up to the McDonald Observatory for a brutally steep climb; return at night in your street clothes for the “Star Party” to look through the big telescopes and admire one of the brightest skies in the state. Marfa, known for its art community and quirky personality, is also close by, as well as the famous spring-fed swimming pool (the world's largest) in Balmorhea. 
• Fredericksburg, just 1.5 hours from Austin, is great for a quick getaway or day trip. Families like it for its shopping opportunities and old German feel, as well as the proximity to Enchanted Rock State Park. Erock has nice trail running. Back roads in the area also make for good road biking.

The Mean Maximal Power Chart

by Jack Mott

In a previous post, Power Meters Explained, we went over some of the benefits and uses of a power meter, also providing a quick review of the popular models available. Now we will dive deeper and discuss the Mean Maximal Power (MMP) chart and its many uses.

The Power Duration Curve

The power duration curve represents the maximum power you can produce on the bike over each duration of time. This horizontal axis is logarithmic time, which allows you to see relevant changes in  power more clearly. Most cyclists will have a power duration curve shaped somewhat like the example above. For periods of about 1 to 10 seconds, you can produce a huge amount of power using primarily the phosphogen energy system, shown in red. Then there will be a steep drop-off in your sustainable power from there to about five minutes, when power production is dominated by your anaerobic energy system. Anaerobic capacity is a fixed amount of energy, lasting only a few minutes. Hence the steep decline in sustainable power in this region. As your sustainable power levels off, power production is dominated by the aerobic system, which is almost indefinitely sustainable, with a slow, gradual drop-off as the duration goes on for hours and hours. Knowing how these three energy systems interact, you can predict how much power you should produce at any duration, as long as you have enough data to have an idea of how your own power duration curve is shaped.

The MMP Chart

The MMP chart looks at the most power you have ever averaged for each given amount of time. It scans through all the training files you specify, finding your best ever one-second power, two-second power, and so on all the way out to your longest ride. This functionality is available in many power analysis programs, including Training Peaks, WKO, and Golden Cheetah. If you have done all-out efforts over many different time periods, your MMP chart will look very much like the example above. If your data is sparse you won't get a clear picture of how your power duration curve is shaped.  Below are two examples. One is an MMP chart with data from many rides; this data includes hard sprints, hard anaerobic efforts, and hard long-term efforts. Note the resemblance to the theoretical power duration curve. On the right is an MMP chart with sparse data. The rider has done no all-out sprints, so you don't see the sharp decline in the anaerobic zone. If you want to have a good idea of what your power duration curve is, you should periodically do all-out efforts in each zone that you are interested in.

Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses

Once you have a good set of data in the MMP chart you can use it to identify strengths and weaknesses. Sprinters will naturally have very high power in the 1- to 30-second range. Good lead-out men or pursuit and kilo riders will have a huge anaerobic capacity, while long-distance TT specialists and mountain climbers will have big power in the aerobic range. This is the same concept as power profiling but with more refined detail. In the chart below, you can see the difference in the shape of the power duration curve between someone who might be a good cat 2/3 sprinter, and someone who might be a good cat 2/3 time trialist or triathlete. A bike racer might use this data to decide he needs to work on his sprint, or he may decide his sprint is hopeless and focus his tactics on breakaways, or switch to triathlon!

Monitoring Progress

By using date filters you can overlay different sets of data onto one chart. If you load up the day's ride on top of all your previous rides of that season, you can see if you have broken any personal records at a glance. In this example below from WKO+, the dark yellow line represents an athlete's entire season of data, and the dotted line represents a single ride. With a quick look, the athlete can see that he set a new all-time best power in the 10-minute range, highlighted in red.

Click to Zoom

Here is another example, using the MMP functionality in Golden Cheetah. The selected ride's MMP is shown via the black line, while the colored line represents the entire season of data. Again, at a glance the athlete can tell that a new sprint power record was set in the 30-second range. The shape of the day's MMP chart can quickly tell you how hard or easy a ride was, and what the nature of the ride was like.

Click to Zoom

After a group ride or race, you can load up that day's effort and compare it to the rest of your season and see if you have set any new records. New records in the longer durations would suggest your FTP might have gone up.

Guessing at Your FTP (or Any Other Power/Duration )

Once you have a good amount of power data, you will be familiar with your own personal power duration curve and can often guess what your FTP (or  approximately 60-minute power) is by looking at your MMP chart.  For example, take the athlete's MMP data below. This athlete did an all-out time trial of about 17 minutes, but has no recent data for hard efforts longer than that. The sudden drop-off in power is circled in red. If she wanted to guess at her FTP, she could just eyeball the general curve out to the one-hour mark, or use the power duration model built into Golden Cheetah to predict it (dotted red line). Don't trust these kinds of models blindly, however, as they depend on sufficient data and are not perfect!

Another tool you can use to guess at your FTP, or sustainable power for any duration, is to use normalized power (NP).  Maybe you haven't done a steady, all-out one-hour effort yet this season, but you have done plenty of hard group rides or bike races of around an hour in duration. The stochastic nature of these efforts will not result in your best possible average power, but you can use NP to estimate what an equivalently hard steady state effort's power would have been. Most power analysis tools can display the MMP chart using average power or NP. Again, don't trust NP blindly, as it can sometimes overestimate your sustainable average power. By glancing at your MMP chart in both Average and NP form you can usually get a good idea of whether your aerobic power is on the rise. With experience, you will learn if NP tends to overestimate for you.

Extrapolating your power duration curve from your MMP charts allows you to set power goals for intervals or events of any duration and estimate your current FTP, even if you haven't formally tested it.