It all began the weekend before the race, when I figured it was a good idea to get the ‘cross bike cleaned up and prepared for the race. For anyone who doesn’t know me well, I should mention that bike maintenance is not my strong point. I guess I prefer riding bikes over washing or maintaining them. As such, it came as a bit of a shock to me that the XTR pulleys that I had replaced not too long ago (no more than a year and a half?) already looked like this:

Round Pulley!

It seems to me that perhaps the ceramic bearings aren’t so useful if the pulley itself is round…

I jokingly posted the above photo on Facebook, and perhaps my race result was karma’s way of saying I’m an idiot. Note to self: never tempt fate with the cycling gods. It seemed odd that I’d ridden the bike many miles with the pulley looking like this, and it had worked flawlessly. I figured this sad looking pulley would therefore have no problem doing 60km more in Paris-Ancaster, before getting an overhaul in the fall before cyclocross season started.  I put it out of my mind, and prepped for a great weekend.

Race day began early, with rain but relatively warm temperatures (12 degrees or so…) I drove to Paris and got changed/ready at Matt’s house. A quick ride to the start line, and I had time to pick a spot close to the wave 1 start, about 40 riders back from the call-ups (excited to be, I should mention, lined up behind the legendary Roger Hammond.) I was feeling strong, and I figured I had an advantage over many others, since I sometimes actually enjoy the muddy, ugly conditions. Mental advantage: Darren.

The race started off fast (as always) and I tucked into a group in the first 40 or so riders as we hit the rail trail full bore. Once we got about halfway through the first rail trail section, the pace eased as everyone sat up a bit to catch their breath and evaluate the situation. The lead riders were in sight, and everyone was just riding along. Perfect :) I was feeling good, and there hadn’t been  too many gaps to close, so I was doing a good job of conserving my matches.  Better than years past, I thought. The pace picked up as we neared the right turn that takes the course from the rail trail, up a steep, rocky hill, and onto a farm lane. This is usually where the first decisive split occurs, and this year was no exception. A small group got a bit of a gap as riders further back got bottlenecked. I don’t think I lost any places, but the leaders did get further away. The farm lane turns to paved road, then gravel, then the first trail section. The trails were slick. Slicker than I’ve ever seen them. But still rideable.

I was covered in mud, soaked through, but feeling good. My legs were responding well to the short accelerations, and I was taking strong pulls on the roads. Then, disaster struck. Suddenly, pedaling became difficult. In a way I’ve never felt before. Easing up and coasting to the back of the group I was in, I looked down to inspect my drivetrain. Everything looked fine, so I put in a short hard effort. Nope.. something was definitely wrong. I made the call that I had to stop and see what was up, and pulled off to the side of the road. Hopping off, I was upset to watch my group instantly disappear up the road (we had to be going easily 35?) I was in panic mode, and my quick inspection revealed nothing obvious. I pulled some mud and grass out of the cassette and derailleur pulleys, and hopped back on. A hard effort resulted in.. exactly the same weird, hard-to-pedal feeling. Irate now, I hopped off again. A slightly more detailed inspection showed that the chain had actually hopped off the lower derailleur pulley (the one pictured above) because of its lack of teeth. The chain was jammed between the pulley and the derailleur body. DAMN!  My adrenaline fueled brain said “This is no big deal!” and I convinced myself that I could just put the chain back on the pulley, pick a gear, and continue riding without shifting. No problem; great idea Darren!

I manually placed the chain properly on the pulley, remounted and clicked into a middle gear on the back, mentally resigning myself to the limitations of a two-speed (big, and bigger) bike for the remainder of the race. Up a short hill, and immediately before a right turn into another section of trail, things went horribly, horribly wrong. The chain must have hopped off again, jamming itself back between the pulley and derailleur body. But this time, I was hammering a bit harder, and it didn’t just continue to slide its way through. Oh no, it decided to suck the entire derailleur up, snapping the hanger, snapping the derailleur in two, and busting some spokes as it bound itself up between the cassette and spokes. DAMN!  I jumped off and pitched my bike into the ditch. A few choice words likely resulted as I realized that not only was my race over, but that this would be a costly mistake! My race was over for 2012.

It turned out that in the time I was standing waiting for a ride, four other racers had mechanicals in the same spot. Eventually a race support van came to pick us up. After driving all over the course picking up other unfortunate riders, we ended up with 9 riders and 9 bikes in the back of the van, eating cookies and wrapped up in silver emergency blankets. I got back to the finish about an hour after I would normally have crossed the line had I been riding. What a disappointing way to end the race :(

Broken Chain

So, was it karma? Or was it statistically impossible that I could continue a ‘perfect’ streak of P-As with no mechanical or physical issues? Or was it just plain old bad luck? I’m inclined to think it was karma, and will henceforth avoid tempting the cycling gods… at least right before a race!

The question now becomes: Fix this up, or buy a new ‘cross bike? Financially prudent Darren is leaning towards the ‘fix it’ solution, while the rest of me says “Well.. that bike never really fit you properly, so now’s a good time to get something new and properly fitting.”  Luckily, I’ll be on the road bike for the next months, so have some time to ponder. With all these new disc-equipped ‘cross bikes coming out, there should be lots to ponder…

I apologize (as it seems I do every time I post) that I’ve been negligent in keeping you all apprised of my thoughts via this site. I guess I’m too busy living life to write about it. I generally think that’s a good thing :)

So what’s been going on with me this spring? Well, the Sport X gang made its annual trip down to the Forest City Velodrome and it was the first time I was able to join in. It was also the first time I’ve ridden the track in London (sad, I know, since I grew up so close!) It was also only the second time I’ve ridden on a track ever, after my initial amazing experience in Dieppe. I was blown away by the facility and the quality of instruction we had. Keep up the amazing work FCV team! We’re already stoked for a return trip! Here’s a quick clip from the GoPro:

We had a week of full-on summer weather (20+ degrees) and I took advantage by getting lots of rides in. I’ve tried to continue the trend, although we’re back to seasonal conditions, and the last few rides have been a bit chilly! I’m at my highest ever mileage for this time of year, having passed 1000km for the year this morning. Speaking of this morning, we did the annual ‘pancake ride’ from Perth to Temple’s Sugar Camp for some pancakes (french toast in my case) and syrup. Great fun was had by all, and we managed to fend off a strong wind to earn our pancakes fair and square :)

Last Saturday, Steve and and rode the Charleston Lake Loop, and tomorrow we’re heading out bright and early for a tour in the Elgin/Battersea area. I’m stoked to ride some new roads, since I’ve heard only good things about the area! This will be my last weekend of big miles before Paris-Ancaster, which is coming up on April 15. Hopefully the legs respond well to the miles, and I’ll be in good shape to hammer my way up that hill to the finish in Ancaster :) The weekend after is the Calabogie Classic Road Race, and I’m hoping to do that as well if I’m not too fried from P-A.  I’m sure you’ll hear all about it… eventually ;)

I’m not even sure how best to summarize 2011; once again it was a year of ups and downs, both in life in general, and in my cycling. However, like 2010, I’m very fortunate that the ups outnumber the downs by a significant degree! If only I could figure out how to eliminate those downs all together…

Cycling

In 2011, I got out on the bike 150 times, for a total of 6882.96km. This is down 964.01km from 2010, which seems hard to believe because it doesn’t feel like I did significantly less riding! Total ride time clocked in at 239.74hrs, which is (obviously) 10 full days  (or, put another way, 2.7% of the year.) Some quick math shows that my average speed (for all rides, on all bikes) was 28.71km/hr. These numbers all exclude the 38.62hrs I put in on the spin bike, which would bring my total to 3.2% of the year ;)

The first outdoor ride of the year was February 5, and the last was on December 11. My biggest month was July when I rode 1424.46km, while the smallest was January, with zero on-road kms :(

As for bikes, I put 5380.94km on the Colnago (78% of my total), 1047.83km on the ‘cross bike (15%), 345.84km on the TT bike (5%) and a mere 22.12km on the Mountain bike (0.3%). A couple of others thrown in there make up the last few percentage (test ride on the R3, etc.)

Early season highlights included my best ever result at Paris-Ancaster, coming 75th overall (in a field of 1188) – 26th of 284 in the Men 30-39 category. Total time was 2h 02′ 40″, which was much better than the 2h 05′ 34″ from 2010! I hope to have another improved result this year, but perhaps shouldn’t get too confident! It’s hard to continue to knock time off year after year!

An early season minor crash slowed me down a bit in May, but fortunately not much damage was done! Summer consisted of lots of good fast rides, with every Monday for a month and a half faster than the previous! A good hard Rideau Lakes tour was thrown in for my longest ride of the year – 192.38km.

I was once again unsuccessful in my attempt at the 40km Project, coming 22 seconds from my goal. Frustrating to say the least! As is clear from some of the numbers above, I need to spend more time on the TT bike – 446km/5% just isn’t enough to be fully comfortable yet! This will once again be the primary riding goal for 2012.

Without a doubt, the overall riding highlight of the year was Tour de Brew; Vermont hills are amazing and I can’t wait to go back for 2012! Planning is already underway for an even bigger and better trip!

Fall ‘cross season was about the same as always; nothing special! By the end, I was once again lacking motivation, and entirely burnt out! If only ‘cross season was in the summer ;) On the plus side, increased focus on core strengthening and a slightly tweaked bike fit resulted in an almost entirely pain free season–the first since I’ve started having back issues! Goal for 2012 is to continue doing strength and stretch work all year rather than just when problems become noticeable! (Yes, I realize I said that last year…)

Paddling

Well, once again, I only got out for one quick trip this year; to Puzzle Lake Provincial Park with Matt. The string of twice a year trips seems to have ended :( I hope to rectify that this year, and get in at least a couple of short trips. Ideally at least one of them would even be a long trip!

 Blog

The blog has been up and down about as much as everything else.  I go through phases where I really want to write, and then phases where it’s the last thing I want to do! According to Google Analytics, this site saw 10,131 visits and 16,454 pageviews in 2011. The 10 most popular posts were:

• Sigma Rox 9.0 – Part II
• Clipping Large Shapefiles using OGR
• Sigma Rox 9.1 – Initial Review and Thoughts
• Merge A Directory of Shapefiles Using OGR
• Google Maps + Firefox Smart Keywords
• Map Books in QGIS
• QGIS Topological Editing
• QGIS Diagrams – Pie Charts for Symbols!
• Sigma Rox 9.0 Follow-up Review – One Year In
• QGIS Trace Edit Tool

Interestingly, my Sigma Rox posts continue to be very popular, and the rest of my traffic tends to be more GIS related.

My eBook continues to sell, slowly. The big news this year is that, as well as being available from the Road Bike Rider eBookstore, you can now buy your copy directly from this site for a much lower price–only $1.99!

Overall, another fun year with some great rides and good times! Here’s to an even better 2012!

Monday morning was warm again, but not super hot, with a misty rain that left the roads wet. Matt and I were up for one final ride before leaving, so we kitted up and rolled out the gravel road from the cabin back to the pavement. We then went down to Jeffersonville, so we could say we officially started the ride at the bottom of the climb :)

We repeated the climb up Smuggler’s Notch that we did the first day. Despite the miles and elevation gain I’d put in my legs the last few days, I was feeling quite good, and was no longer intimidated by the mountains. We had a solid ride up, and reveled in the scenery and pain. Outstanding! At the top, I debated continuing down the other side, but the wet roads and lack of confidence on the tight switchback made me unsure. Matt decided he didn’t want to do another climb, and since I was on the fence, decided not to descend alone. We turned around and started to fly down. However, near the start of the descent, Matt pulled over, so naturally I followed suit to see what was up. He had a ‘knocking’ sound on every rotation of his rear wheel, and it was a bit disconcerting, especially at those speeds! We looked it over, but couldn’t see anything obviously wrong, so decided to continue! Closer to the bottom of the descent, Matt had a bit of a scare as some idiot driver turned left in front of him as he was descending at 80+km/hr. He had to slow, but not too much, and luckily stayed in control. What inspired the driver to turn when he could have waited a few more seconds and had the entire road is beyond me. Sometimes, drivers need to realize how easily they can kill cyclists! I was far enough behind the action to get a good view, but didn’t have to slow.

We rode back to the cabin, but then decided to check out the rest of the resort and cabins that we hadn’t seen yet. Of the roads at the resort are all gravel… and you know what that means! The final little descent, just several hundred meters from our own cabin, I got a flat. And since I decided not to bother changing it just then (we were heading home after all…) I shouldered the bike to walk it in the last few hundred meters. Of course somewhere in that time I managed to step in dog shit, which packed into my cleat and vent holes in the bottom of my shoe sole. Nice! What a way to end the trip! (I will use the ‘never a dull moment’ excuse to make that one into a positive!)

Overall, Monday’s ride was short, but great! 32.54 km in 1:18:31. We climbed 673m, at an average speed of 18.26km/hr on an average gradient of 5%, with a max of 11%. After the ride, we cleaned up, packed up, and headed back to Perth. It was a fairly uneventful trip back, and we were all exhausted!

Over the course of the entire trip, we managed to get in 245.44km of riding over 9.5hours. Total climbing was 3875m! For all of us, the trip contained the biggest, steepest, and longest climbs we’d ever done. A great learning experience and a whole lot of fun! Personally, it was the best riding experience I’ve ever had, and I’m fairly certain the other guys would agree! Naturally, plans are already being discussed for TdB 2012!

Sunday morning, we took the quick drive from the cabin down to a car pool parking lot on the 104 near Cambridge. It was hot again, so we slathered on the sunscreen and loaded up with water. The ride started off with some excitement–very shortly after we left, we came across a ‘playful’ pitbull puppy. The owners were in their front yard raking or something, and the dog was off-leash. He immediately came after us–just a puppy, but still a pit bull! He wasn’t sure what to make of cyclists, so we were very cautious. He kept coming, baring teeth and heading for the heels as we pedaled. At one point, I even came to a stop and put my hand out to calm him down, but he only growled and backed off a bit, unsure. The owners, naturally, were not very smart, yelling “Scooter, come back” and “Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you”  Of course, they weren’t being  chased by a pit bull with bared teeth, so…

We eventually got by the dog without injury and got our nerves settled. This happened just in time for a vicious (short but steep) climb. It gained 127m in 3.62km, for an average grade of 7% and a max of 12%. The downhill was nasty–twisty and turny, with some sections where road construction had left loose gravel on the road. To add to the excitement, Luke got stung by a bee on the descent, and casually mentioned that his sister has major allergic reactions, and that he “wasn’t sure” if he did or not (luckily he didn’t!) Also, the wind had started to pick up–the forecasted thunderstorm appeared to be on its way! Since the sky was looking very dark and the wind was very strong, we made a call to take cover–you never know what can happen in that kind of weather! The forecast had even called for inch-and-a-half hail, and flash flooding, so we didn’t want to take a chance. Luckily, there was a farm close by, so we went there. After knocking on the door and getting no answer, we decided to just wait out the storm in front of the garage. The wind really picked up, and the rain started. It was wild!  The owners of the farm drove up part-way through our stay, and looked at us quizzically.  However, after explaining the situation, they gave us the OK to wait out the storm in the garage. Luckily the hail never did come, and the storm blew by almost as quickly as it formed. We were back on the road again!

The route took us to Fairfield, where we stopped for a chat. It was decided that Luke, Shawn and Trent would take the road through Fairfield and across to the 108, while Matt and I would go further north, turning at Sheldon and cutting across to the 108 there. We split, planning to meet up at the cars at the end of the ride.  Matt and I absolutely flew to Sheldon–the road was almost all downhill, and there was no traffic to speak of. Amazing! Matt and I stopped at a general store in Sheldon and filled up on Gatorade. It was pretty damn hot and humid!

Typical Scenery North of Jeffersonville

The road across to the 108 was also very low traffic and nice–until it turned to gravel! We had not expected the gravel, and weren’t sure how long it would last. It was a bit rough, with some loose sections that were not ideal for skinny tires. We made it through, with some ‘back woods’ moments as we went by some trailers with cars up on blocks out front. Quite the place to be out in spandex and ‘ballet shoes!’ Once we hit the 108, we were back on pavement, and expecting a steady climb all the way back to the car (since the ride so far had been largely downhill.) Oddly enough, this was not the case, and the 108 had very few significant climbs. Unfortunately, however, the surface was not ideal–rough, with cracks and holes everywhere!

As Matt and I rode by a gas station, we noticed bikes leaning up against the wall–it was the guys! We quickly pulled in to the store. Turns out their route also had gravel (more than ours even) and Shawn had split a sidewall on a sharp piece. It took them some time to fix, and he was taking it easy since it was booted. Not nice! We went in the store for some water and a washroom key, and it turned out to be the coldest store in the universe. The air conditioning was cranked so cold that I could barely stand it long enough to get the key and get out! FREEZING!

We rode the rest of the way back as a group, and the road surface got worse as we went. I’ve never seen cracks like it in Ontario or even in Quebec–it was much worse than any road I’ve ridden, to the point of being very unsafe. Fortunately, we made it back without further incident! We ended up the day with a total of 82.2km in 3:02:44 (for an average of 26.91km/hr) and a gain of 942m.

Post ride, we went back to our favourite Vermont Liquor Depot in Jeffersonville to fill up on beer for the evening. While there, we asked a local their recommendation for pizza, and the pointed us the way to a local Jeffersonville shop, so Trent and Shawn went to put in an order. Beer and pizza in hand, we went back to the cabin to chill and eat. Then things got crazy–the second round of thunderstorms rolled in, and the mountains literally disappeared before our eyes as we watched the sheets of rain moving across the valley towards us. Storms in the mountains are intense!

Beer & Pizza

Again, the storm passed pretty quickly and we resumed our beer and pizza. Luke was leaving to head back to Perth, so we said our goodbyes as he packed up. Then, just as Luke was leaving, the third round of storms rolled in. We hoped it would make it down the partly washed-out road from the cabin with no problems!  The porch sitting/pizza eating quickly turned into a scramble for shelter as the rain started hammering down again and the wind threatened to blow all of our hanging clothes away. Then, the power went out! This storm too passed quickly, but the power remained out save for a short blink to give us hope.

Beers for the day included one that turned out to be either my favourite or second favourite of the entire trip – Long Trail Double Bag. There was also a couple of the Trout River Chocolate Oatmeal Stout quaffed, and very much enjoyed. Shawn had the Shock Top Raspberry Wheat which turned out to be one of his favourites of the trip.

The night’s entertainment included a surprise award ceremony that Trent had created–modeled after the jerseys of the Tour de France. However, rather than jerseys, the awards were these guys:

The 2011 Tour de Brew Awards!

For the first time in history, the ‘yellow jersey’ was awarded to two people–both Matt and Shawn shared the honours. I took home the polka dots, Luke the Best Young Rider, and Trent the Green. I’m not sure what the little elephant was even for, or who won it…perhaps the guys can refresh my memory?

Part VI will be coming soon and will likely finish off the story of the 2011 Tour de Brew – stay tuned!

Post Appalachian Gap, we headed to the ‘big city’ for a tour of the Magic Hat Brewery in Burlington. Right away, we noticed that the place was jammed. We could barely find a parking spot, and there was a BBQ going on outside the door! We finally got parked, and made our way into the ‘gift shop’ portion of the brewery. The place was packed with people! There’s a long bar across one whole side of the room, and all of the beers they brew at Magic Hat are on tap for free sample. Amazing! Trent commented that he’s never seen a brewery so busy, and he’s been on tours of breweries and distilleries all around the world! Magic Hat is definitely doing something right in the marketing and ‘company culture’ department!

Because the place was so busy, we decided to make our way to the front of the line for the next free tour (they go hourly) and avoid the rush at the bar. The tour was interesting, although we didn’t get to check out the actual production floor–we only saw it from above, where the tour concluded on a balcony overlooking the floor. It’s not quite what I would expect from a ‘micro’ brewery–their line puts out 400 bottles/minute, and 50-60 kegs/hour. That’s a lot of beer! Obviously not on the same level as a Molson or Labatt, but still more than a ‘micro’ in my opinion.

Post-tour, we headed back to the bar to test, taste and sample. #9, Circus Boy, Single Chair, Hi.P.A., Blind Faith, Humble Patience; oh my! I don’t recall specifics on any of the beers, except for #9 which I stocked up on before we left the state. It’s a beautiful, slightly apricot-tinted ‘not-quite-pale’ ale that I quite enjoyed! The rest of the beers were good, but none really made much of an impression on me. Of course, without more time to sit and enjoy each (in a larger than sample size quantity…) it’s hard to say for sure! I’d be more than willing to give any of them another try of course :)

Post-tour, we headed to box-mall hell to grab some Thai take out, and then back to the cabin for dinner and more beer. A selection of the nights samplings:

The selection for the night

The Blackbeary Wheat from Long Trail was one of my favourites of the trip. The Peak Organics was popular all around, and we tried several different varieties. I still think that their Maple Oat was the best of the trip, although the Double Bag is a very close second (possibly first, depending on my mood at the time…)

The beer, hot tub, games and sleep wrapped up another successful, busy day, both on the bike and off. The morning would bring a ‘north of Jeffersonville’ route to mix things up, and to give the legs a rest from the big hills. The story of that ride will be coming up next!

For those keeping track, I’m still working on documenting our trip to Vermont for “Tour de Brew 2011.” Check out the rest of the story here.

I left off talking about our hike up Mt. Mansfield, and our encounter with momma moose and her baby. I realized I had failed to mention our Friday night dinner at The Shed, where we had a decent meal, and their ‘ski of beer’ – a sampler of six of their own beers served on an old wooden ski. Pretty cool!

Ski of Beer* Not my photo - thanks to HomeBrew Guru for this shot

We were not super impressed with the beer itself, although they seemed to get better the further down the ski we got. I’m not sure if the later beers were actually better beers, or if our judgement was perhaps clouded? The stout was quite nice, as was their seasonal which I believe was an Irish Red. Either way, this was the least impressive Vermont beer we had the whole trip.

Saturday was to be a big day. We were going to meet up with Luke and Allan (Luke’s brother-in-law) for a ride up the Appalachian Gap. I was a bit worried, but after our success on Smuggler’s Notch, I was no longer scared of the big mountains. I knew it was all doable!  We drove to Richmond, were we met Luke and Allan. Luke had driven all night to arrive at his sister’s place, and was now ready to join us for some rides (and beer!)

The ride out of Richmond was painful. It was nothing compared to the Notch, but still a big climb for us! The first 3.2 km gained 95m, averaging 6% with a max of 10%,.  The legs were not used to this kind of effort, especially after what they had been through the day before, and were protesting the ride this morning! Luckily, the next 2km was downhill, and gave us a bit of a rest and recovery so the legs could warm up. This was good, as I started to feel strong again, and was all I needed to be ready for the climb! Of course, the climb came soon enough, as km 6 to km 29 was all uphill!

Oddly enough, we started meeting folks on the side of the road who were cheering for us:

“Good job guys!”

“Way to go, keep it up!”

We thought that perhaps the locals were just really friendly to cyclists here…however, we then started to see signs along the road:  “Bike race Saturday.” Hmm…  Soon, we rolled past a feed zone – people ready to hand us bottles and everything. Gee.. I wonder. Could we be on the course during The Green Mountain Stage Race? Turns out that yes, yes we were. Shortly after the feed zone, I heard Luke announce “Riders back” – we were about to be passed by some racers! Two riders came by us. Slowly. One guy was clearly banged up from a crash, and we were certain they were off the back of the group. Good–we didn’t really want to be on the road when the peloton came by!

Despite our painfully slow pace, the guys that passed us didn’t get too far ahead. In fact, they were catching another lone rider, and we then passed two of them again. At this point, I had to stop, as I thought my cleat was coming loose. We stopped and I checked my cleat (it was fine…weird…) and the racers passed us again. However, we saddled back up, and very shortly were caught up to them again. Wow.. these guys must be shattered, since we were only averaging 27km/hr or so, and there were racing even slower than that.

We got to the main turnoff where the ‘real climb’ begins, (about 24km from Richmond) and the racers went right, while we went left. The racers didn’t seem sure where to go, and almost followed us. I guess it looked like we knew what we were doing! I loudly announced “We are not in the race, and do not know where the course goes. Please follow us at your own risk.” I hope they went the right way!

I say that the ‘real climb’ started at km 24, which is true. However, kilometers 6 through 24 gain 234m, with an average grade of 3% and a max of 8%. Not exactly flat!

The “real climb’ up Appalachian Gap begins at Gore Rd. and 17, and from there climbs a total of 340m in 4.34km. This gives an average of 8%, with a max of 18% near the top. Yes, 18%! Oh, and there’s no reprieve. The total downhill in this whole stretch? Zero (yes, 0) meters. None.

Our little group got smashed apart pretty quickly. Soon it was Allan and I, with Matt just behind me. Then, Allan opened a gap on me, and I couldn’t close it. I settled into my own pace, rather than trying to match Allan tapping away on his compact crank. At one point, the road leveled off a bit, and I actually went sur la plaque (see here) just to mix it up. It actually felt good. Oh boy. “I think I like these big climbs” I thought to myself, as I powered up 100m or so in the big ring. Then, back to the 39, and keep on trucking. I noticed that as I approached the top (where it was exactly, I wasn’t sure, I just knew it couldn’t go up forever…) I was closing in on Allan again. We then hit the last 600m or so; what Allan had called “The Wall” in our chats about the ride. This last 600m averages 11%, and is where that fun little 18% pitch I told you about also resides. Lovely! It took me (literally) 3 minutes to go 600m. Three minutes!  That’s an average speed of 12.3km/hr. Ouch. However, I made it! And I had closed the gap to Allan down to only 10 or 20m by the line. Nice!

At the top of "App Gap" (l-r: Allan, Shawn, Me, Trent, Matt, Luke)

The rest of the guys had their own epic battles on the way up. Matty, followed by Trent, followed by Shawn. We took some photos, then decided to split. Allan, Trent and Shawn went back the way we came up, and Matt, Luke and I headed for a bit of a longer ride, descending down the opposite side of the Gap. This was super fun, but again made my poor descending skills evident.  Max speed was 73.47km/hr for me, while the others were much faster, opening a huge gap on me on the descent. The descent itself was about 14km long (!), and dropped 507m with an average grade of -5%, and a max (minimum?) of -13%. Some of the switchbacks were super fun, and on one the left hand shoulder was a full lane wide, with lots of visibility. I took the whole thing, and ended up on on the left side edge of the left shoulder–basically 3 full lanes from the right side of the road, and just flying! I do not recommend this of course, but…it’s a calculated risk! Obviously this is insane if there is no visibility!

Yes, we came from down there!

Our route back to Richmond took us from 17, onto the 100 into Waterbury. Our original plan (pre-flooding) was to make The Alchemist a starring role in the brew portion of Tour de Brew. However, the flooding hit it hard, and it was closed for business during our trip. Riding through Waterbury was an experience. Matt flatted just before we got out of town (no doubt on some of the debris from the flooding) so we had a chance to see the damage in some detail.  It looked like a war zone! Dumpsters lining the streets, the entire community out pitching in to clean up… entire houses full of drywall, insulation, and worldly possessions piled up in moldy heaps at the ends of driveways. People wearing dust masks while walking down the street. Not a good scene! However, it was great to see people pitching in and working together to clean up the community! And good news for beer lovers–it looks like The Alchemist is rebuilding to be bigger and better than ever, so perhaps it will have a starring role in Tour de Brew 2012!

The Alchemist cleaning up post-Irene

The remainder of our ride took us on 2 back to Richmond, where we met the guys at On The Rise Bakery for some great grub and yes, even beer. Epic mountain passes, and beer on tap at the bakery?!? Am I in heaven? I had a half-pint of Switchback Ale, which I enjoyed greatly! Although, even a Bug Light probably would have tasted good after the ride we’d just finished! While at the bakery, we firmed up plans for our afternoon–a tour of the Magic Hat Brewery. Oh ya! That will be Part IV of the story!

Our epic Appalachian Gap ride ended up with 83.58km in a total of 3:06:04 for an average speed of 26.95km/hr. Our total climb over the entire ride was 1134m, with an average grade of 4% and a max of 18%! Nice!

Elevation/Speed/HR Graph (click for full image)

Stay tuned for Part IV, where I’ll talk about Magic Hat! That reminds me… I think I still have a #9 in the fridge!

Sigma Rox 9.1

Note that I don’t actually own one of the new units, and haven’t even handled one (test units appreciated!) but will evaluate them based on my experience with the Sigma Rox 9.0 and the feature set I have found on the web for the new units.

To start with, the Rox 9.1 and Rox 8.1 look very similar to the old 8.0 and 9.0. No major changes in form-factor or controls that I can tell. I assume the mounting hardware, cadence and speed transmitters, and heart rate strap are all the same, so not much to comment on there.

New Features:

Unlike Apple, Sigma decided to add new features to their new product! (I know, I know, low blow post-iPhone 4S announcement.) Here are some of the noteworthy upgrades, and my comments on each.

Power: You can’t put out a high-end cycling computer and be competitive in the current market without including power. Unfortunately, Sigma chose perhaps a poor approach to adding power; they didn’t make the Rox 9.1 ANT+ compatible. This means you can’t link the Rox 9.1 with your SRM or PowerTap, or multitude of other ‘open’ devices. Sigma didn’t even make it W.I.N.D. compatible like the Look Power Pedal, which talks to Polar head units via the proprietary, and likely doomed-to-fail-because-of-it W.I.N.D. standard. (On a side-note, why don’t we all just move to Bluetooth and get along?!?) No, Sigma chose to go a similar route as the iBike, calculating power from some magic formula, not from strain gauges or other ‘direct measurement’ approach. According to Sigma, this magic formula to calculate power takes into account:

Bike type and position, bike and rider weight, rider height, shoulder width, speed, incline and cadence.

Of course, these factors:

can be affected by external forces such as the ground conditions or wind.

it looks like some of this has been taken into account during the calculations, as Sigma claims that:

These factors are reduced during mountain ascents and considered in the calculation.

Great. However, without some way to know the wind speed, you are reducing an unknown by an unknown. And even if wind speed was measured, what about when drafting? What about on a gravel road? What about with a knobbier tire…? There are just too many factors to accurately take into account. These issues are why the iBike has never really caught on, despite having a much more attractive price-point than other power meters. It just simply doesn’t work as well.

Having said all of that, the real question is; just how accurate is the power number calculated by this magic formula? I’d love to see some head-to-head tests that show it is within 1 or 2% of an SRM or PowerTap, but even the iBike had trouble with that, despite measuring much more than the Sigma will (wind speed, etc.) Again, I’d love to be proven wrong here, as we need an inexpensive, relatively accurate power meter for the masses!

Expansion: Another new feature is the inclusion of “Expansion” as an on-screen option, and a value recorded in the logs. What the heck this means isn’t clear from the name (perhaps German speakers would understand the translation thought process a bit better?) Essentially, it appears to be a term for what we would call “gear inches” or “meters of development” – essentially, how far you travel in one pedal stroke. Interesting to know, but… how applicable this is in your on-the-bike riding, or post-ride analysis, I’m not sure. I suppose it would be good for new riders to show overlap between gears? I’m assuming it’s calculated by taking into account your current cadence and distance travelled. No magic there.

Ghost Race: Perhaps the neatest and most useful of all the new features is (in my opinion) what Sigma is calling “Ghost Race.’ It’s the same concept as Garmin’s “Virtual Partner” – where you can load in a previous workout on the same course and then ‘race’ your previous effort. This (aside from being fun) I can see as a great way to push yourself just that little bit more in a Time Trial or similar situation. I bet I could make good use of it in my 40km Project! :)

Existing Issues:

We all know new features are great, but did Sigma take care of the existing issues with the unit before adding new ‘bling’? Lets see! Here are some of the issues I commented on that bug me about the Sigma Rox 9.0. Have they been addressed in the 9.1?

Durability: If you recall, my 9.0 has issues with ‘scuffing’ and paint chipping. It’s hard to tell if the new units addresses this issue. I sure hope so; a scruffy looking computer on a nice shiny bike is not a good look, no matter how cool the computer is!

Battery Life: The Sigma website lists the battery life as one year. This matches my experience with the Rox 9.0, and leaves me … unimpressed. A rechargeable battery would be nice, but may bump up the price point.

Resetting Distance: Again, hard to say if this issue has been corrected. I suspect it is a software glitch to begin with, so probably independent of the unit itself.

Heart Rate Zones: There are still only three heart rate zones. It seems like such a trivial matter to add 5–why not? Pretty much every heart rate monitor I’ve ever seen has five zones…

Saving Cadence: It appears that the Rox 9.1 may save cadence to the log. Under “Data Center Functions,” the feature list shows “Graphic display of the cadence,” so it appears that the data may be saved to the logs.  However, under the “New Memory Values” section, it lists only “Average power, maximum power, average expansion, average expansion uphill” as additions- no cadence.  So the jury is out on this one. I hope it’s there!

Log Saving Interval: Still no 1-second saving option. Again, since this is user-selectable, why not? If I am going on a longer ride, or know I am low on memory, then I could set it to 5 or 10 seconds. But if I know I am going for a 2 hour ride, and will be downloading immediately after, why not give me an option to record every second? Silly.

Conclusion:

Without seeing and using one of these units (again, test units appreciated!) for at least a year, it’s really hard to say just how good it is. However, it appears that Sigma have added a couple of arguably less-than-useful new features (Power, Expansion) and one neat, but not groundbreaking one (Ghost Race) to their existing unit. With the competition that’s currently out there, I’m not sure the Sigma has a real value-equation working for it. Unless, of course, they’ve magically figured out the power calculation and the results are good, in which case this is a huge winner. Am I holding my breath on that? No. And I doubt you should either.

Having said all of that… the best thing to do is check it out yourself on the Sigma Rox website, and see what you think! If you can get a hold of a unit, give it a thorough test–I’d love to hear any comments from you below!

I realize this is probably not safe, and I’m not recommending it. Don’t let your kids do it.  Heck, don’t do it yourself; I probably shouldn’t. However, it’s a hell of a thrill, and makes the commute interesting!

It was an ideal draft, as it was a tanker truck with a ‘hollow’ section below the tank, meaning I could sit behind his wheel and still have a very open view of the road ahead. He also had a nice solid mudflap taller than my wheel that I could tuck in behind. Sweet! I barely pedaled for a solid 1.5 kms! Also, the last few block of Gore St. are brand new smooth pavement, so I had no potholes and cracks to worry about!

What a great way to start off my day! How is yours going? What makes you smile in the morning?

Matt, Trent and Shawn Climbing Mt. Mansfield

The trip up was spectacular, consisting of a good solid climb most of the way. Higher up, some sections become rocky, and the trees get shorter. Suddenly, we popped out of the treeline and were fully exposed on the peak, with spectacular views all around. A few steep rocky climbs (which could be tricky when wet!) lead us up to “The Chin” – the highest point in Vermont! We stopped for a brief look, but decided to head down before cooling off too much.

Close to the Peak

The trip down went quickly, with Trent and Matt setting a blistering downhill pace that was tough to match. These guys must be mountain goats! Shawn and I preferred to save our knees, and descended a bit slower. However, we all got stopped part-way down by a couple of hikers with their dogs who were sitting on the side of the trail. We approached, and they pointed to a moose close ahead. After a few moments of watching, we saw the calf as well, just a bit further down the trail. Very close by! We stood for several minutes, and took some photos and videos. Since it didn’t appear the moose were going to move, we eventually made some noise and they cleared out so we could continue. A quick descent back down the trail, and we were back at the car.

Mansfield Moose

The total distance of our hike was 3.63km each way, for a total of 7.26km. Total elevation gain worked out to 783m, with an average grade of 21.5%! Yikes, that’s steep!

Food, beer and sleep followed. A big day of biking and hiking was behind us, and another one was on its way; the infamous Appalachian Gap ride was looming!

The Peak Organic Maple Oat Ale was a favourite!