Strava Reset

A couple of years ago the GPS input based physical activity tracking and sharing web site Strava came online. Much like Facebook, at first first it seemed to be just another variant on MySpace, or in this case, on the Garmin Connect site or MapMyRide or any of a number of other sites to which you upload your GPS recorded trip data for analysis. There were subtle differences with Strava though, ones that placed it firmly into the social media genre but more importantly, features that added a competitive flair.

Strava was billed from the beginning as a training application designed to help promote activity and competition and that it did. With some smart targeted marketing, like promoting competitions within the competition at certain races, people quickly saw the features and perceived the benefits. Those benefits were often in the form of self gratification in the form of seeing your ranking on the leader board. The leader board feature, a feature that tracks the best time on a certain segment of terrain, is probably the most distinct functionality of Strava and the one that has given it much of it's success.

You see, a segment as it is called in Strava, is either a categorized climb based on minimum gain/length criteria, which is automatically generated, or a manually entered portion of a route that a user creates and names. In either case, a leader board is maintained as well as complete results for all riders completing that segment. It also ranks you against your previous performance on the segment as well, tracking your top few attempts and giving feedback against those.

Adding the competitive flair is, in my opinion, what has caused Strava to catch on. It is easy and it is anonymous. It makes every ride a race. And that is where the rub can come in, that is, if you let it by taking the whole thing too seriously. We often joke about some of the behavior that the whole Strava segment competition has inspired. The term 'Strava whoring' has come to denote one who goes out on a ride with the sole purpose of obtaining Strava records, or in some cases, a single record. The case of 'Strava sessioning' is where you go and do intervals of a single segment over and over. In many cases this is harmless, such as when people do repeat intervals up a certain hill but some have been known to session a flat or downhill segment just for the glory of their name in lights. I've even heard of people whose entire ride centered around attempting a particular segment, to the point of having their spouse drive them to the segment.

As with everything, people take it to the extreme case and get way too wrapped up in the details. In terms of the records, they don't really give you the complete and accurate picture, at least not by default. They don't track whether or not it was a solo attempt versus a group ride. They don't track whether you were on a time-trial bike or a tandem vs. a regular road bicycle. They also have no insight into whether or not you were drafting a school bus or motor-pacing behind a scooter with your wife or if their was a 30 mph head or tail wind.

It also doesn't and can't take into account the fact that GPS units are inherently flaky, both in recording tracks and in recording timing. I can't tell you how many times Cathy has beaten me on a segment by a lot, literally double digit seconds, when we were riding the tandem. She apparently got one of the GPS units with the built in handicapping feature. I've also gone into a segment last, finished it first and still been beaten handily by one of the people in the group when it is uploaded. That said, who cares, really? Yes, it would be nice to compare oneself apples to apples but really, you just want to know if you are doing better or worse than before.

I would like to see some more granularity though in the default reporting. In their defense, Strava offers custom filters for sorting, however the default display behavior is always all entries and all time. I think that a really telling piece information in getting better accuracy for a given segment record is whether or not the attempt was an individual versus team effort is one useful piece of data.

The other thing I would love to see is a default yearly reset on the records where by at the start of the year, they all reset. Sure, keep the historical records as well but make those a filtered display option rather than the default display. I suspect this would actually aid in giving folks extra incentive to hit the segments early in the season, a point in the year where it is often difficult to find motivation.It would also make it easier to filter out abnormal results and give a clear picture of how you really stack up at that particular point in the year. Most historical records are set during the peak of the season, which has little bearing on the current state of the peloton in New England in January.

Strava is a fun social app, much like all of the other social apps. Is it a real training tool? For me, no, it's just a novelty. Do I go a little harder on some rides when I'm doing a known segment, sure and I suppose that for that case, the tool is really aiding in training. Is it getting some folks out there doing more and possibly doing it harder, I'm sure that it is. Is the public nature of the results tracking helping to promote peer encouragement? Sure it is. The fact that people are seeing what you are doing and can give feedback is a good thing. I certainly like the site and use it consistently as do most of my friends. It's a clean, consistent and convenient way to share data and give and receive feedback. I think it does what it set out to do and does it well.

And So it Begins Again

 It seems as though it was ages ago when last I put together a race report. The reality was that it was not and in fact, it was only early last month that the cyclocross master's worlds were held. The winter here in New England, as those from the region will freely admit, has seemed long and harsh. It has been a real winter, one with persistent snow and cold and wet, gritty roadways making cycling a daunting task. The first snows and cold for that matter, were late to appear so we, or at least I, was lulled into thinking  this would be another no-op winter. Soon after we got home from the worlds event I was proved wrong. A long line of steady storms and below average cold weather was in store. Riding bikes became a chore of bundling against the elements and in all honesty, we have yet to really diverge from that.

In the meantime, another season of bicycle racing has crept upon us while we weren't looking. This past Sunday was the first race of the season, a short MTB time-trial called the King of Burlingame in RI. This race has been going for some number of years yet Cathy and I had never done it. Part of the reason is that it's a short race and a relatively long drive. The race also used to conflict with a more local road race that I would do back when I was road racing more. Last year we actually registered for the race but when we woke up early to a steady downpour the day of the race, we decided to stay home instead. Turned out the conditions were fine in RI of course.

We got in what was supposed to be an easy road ride on Saturday but ended up being two and a half hours of misery fighting a brutal headwind and cool temperatures. That evening we attended the grand reopening open house at the newly revamped Blue Steel Cyclery in Manchester, NH. We had a great time seeing the new shop and hanging with cycling friends. It did however mean we were home late which when combined with up early to head to the race, made for a painful Sunday AM. Fortunately we got the gear and van packed up the night before so without much adieu we were on the road, through Providence and at the venue, the Burlingame State Park.

A quick change and we headed out for a short pre-ride to get a sense of the terrain. The start was about a half mile from the parking lot up the road so we made our way to the trail-head. The terrain was hilly and there were lots of pine and rhododendron growing everywhere. This was very similar to the cape, which was no big surprise as we were only a short distance from the shore. As we got into the first mile or so of course it was very fun trail that was well designed with good flow, making excellent use of rocks and technical features. The difference between this trail and most of the stuff on the cape is that these trails were designed and built for MTBs rather than dirt-bikes. The new Scalpel was handing the terrain really well, good as this was only the second ride on dirt for the bike. I just hoped the carbon wheels would survive the rocky sections. Given the time we had to turn back and get ready for the start. This included adding a little more air in the tires, just in case.

For the pre-ride we wore some extra clothing but for the race you wanted to pare down a bit so as not to overheat. The rub came from the fact that the start and finish were in different places so we opted to not wear extra clothing and drop it at the start. This was a bad idea as we literally stood there shivering, unable to get warm. Because this was an individual time-trail, the racers were set off individually in order at 30 second intervals. I registered late so was one of the last of my wave to go. Finally I was off and the world melted into the task at hand, as always, the race. The race has come to be an old companion, a familiar and dare I say, comfortable place where everything else fades away. All of the worldly troubles and woes disappear. For all the pain and suffering of the race, I really enjoy the luxury of the single minded purpose and focus. I tend to excel when I am focused but freely admit to struggling with that same focus in many aspects. Guess I'm just not wired that way, to multi-task, juggle or walk and chew gum at the same time.

For me, last year's race season has really kind of run into this year's race season, the lines blurring and there being no real distinction. It's clear that at some point there will have to be some distinction and down time but I'm planning that for late summer. For now, I'm working with the fitness I've retained while trying to build the endurance back up gradually from that of the short and intense cyclocross race format. So far so good though like last year, I'm seeing massive fall-off when I try and do too much. If I do a couple of solid two plus hour efforts during the week then there doesn't seem to be much in the tank on the weekend. If I get a hard long weekend of riding, I'm in the hole for much of the next week. Hopefully a couple more cycles of that and I'll be able to muster a few hard efforts a week and still be able to stay on top of recovery. I can say for sure that I'm still dealing with the after affects of a really long and tough week a couple weeks back. That said, I had some good efforts in the cold and pelting snow last Thursday which have me hopeful.

Sidetracked again. The race, yes, I was talking about the race, which is actually not all that interesting, especially given that it was an ITT. Within a quarter of a mile I started to catch folks that had started in front of me. That started a steady chain of catches every half mile or so for the first few miles but then settled down. Most of the passes were fine though a couple of catches were in technical sections that didn't promote passing. Rather than be a douche I tend to just wait until it's clear. This only costs a couple seconds and affords a small reprieve to catch your breath and really give it heck for the actual pass without digging too deep. On the section of road that very thing happened where I was catching a racer and knew that I needed to get ahead before we ducked back into the woods. That meant killing myself on the road, which resulted in the successful catch and pass but included me promptly washing out on a corner and laying it down. Fortunately I kept hold of the bars and got my feet under me while still sliding and was up and on the bike before the racer came back around me. That effort really left me gasping for air though.

The course was fun, fast and twisty with loads of high speed log hops and some good rocky technical sections to add some excitement and challenge to the mix. A couple of these sections, rocky stepped ups, would have been better had I seen them before so as to practice them. The result was that I blew a couple and had to scooter up the last step or bail off and run up. This is always sloppy when performed at the last moment. After my washout we hit bridge after bridge. I'd been pushing as hard as I could the whole time and felt like I was moving well but was still a bit disappointed with my numerous bobbles. That coupled with the running time that I could see on my Garmin had me way off the pace from the previous year. I was already over 38 minutes and no end was in sight. It wasn't long though, literally seconds, and I saw someone on the side of the trail waving frantically and then I saw the finish just up ahead. I dug deep for the final sprint and passed under with just over 39 minutes on my Garmin. Unfortunately the stupid GPS shuts off when speed drops below a certain level, like in really technical sections, and is then slow to pick back up. The result is a lag and disparity between the running time and the elapsed time. I've seen this before and knew that I should switch to elapsed time but the setup is a PitA so I didn't. Official results had me at just over 40 minutes, which from the previous results was not stellar.

As I rode back to the finish, where instant digital results were displayed on a monitor (they used timing chips for the race) I was told my time was not in fact that bad and that I'd narrowly edged out Mark, who had been leading the old man's division prior to that. I felt good about that and spend some time chatting with Geoff and Rich and a bunch of others waiting for Cathy to finish up. She did in good form as always and then we headed back to the van for some warmer clothing.

After changing the plan was to go do some more riding but first we took a look at the results. Mark was congratulated me on 2nd and I was a bit taken aback wondering who in the old mens category had beaten us both. He said no, second overall, which I hadn't realized yet not seeing the results. As it turned out Brian, a slightly less old man in the age bracket one up from me, who did a last minute day of registration, was the only one to go under 40 minutes on the day. Apparently the course last year was bone dry it was a little warmer and a little faster. Brian is a fierce competitor and incredible athlete and champion so I take no (well, at least little) shame in losing to him. Truth is the only times I've ever beaten him were when he had mechanical issues. I do wish I'd found those few seconds to duck under the 40 minute mark but like all time, you can never get it back.

It was a good first test and a great first race on the new Cannondale. The bike literally flew and handled great. Cathy had a great ride and worked super hard as she always does. We are going to work on polishing the technical skills and confidence that she already has long had but have tarnished a bit. I'm really hoping for some good things this year and a progression from the wonderful results of last year. At least this is a start on the right foot.

CX Disc Brakes

A bunch of people have asked me about my experience with short pull cable actuated mechanical disc brakes, specifically for cyclocross and specifically in regards to pad wear during foul conditions. What I have told them is that if the disc brakes are properly setup, they are not in my experience a problem for cyclocross. They are also a big advantage in that they provide consistent, reliable braking performance regardless of the conditions.

Avid BB7 mechanical cable disc.

With that, let me go into a bit more detail on the point. First, let me start by saying that most of my 13 years of mechanical disc brake experience are with the Avid BB7 though I will try and speak in general. Some of the lower end models have limited adjustability in comparison and some of the new models that will hit the market will be more advanced. Proper setup of mechanical disc brakes is a little trickier than their hydraulic brothers.

At present, with most of the mechanical disc brakes out there now, you have control of the cable length and tension as well as the position of both the inboard and outboard brake pad. Through these individual adjustments you control how far away from the rotor the pads sit at rest. This is very different from hydraulic brakes, which are self centering in their pad position and distance from the rotor. They also self compensate for pad wear, a key aspect of the mechanical brake issues.

The only way to adjust for pad wear with a cable actuated disc brake is to readjust the pads. This unfortunately requires getting off the bike and screwing the inboard and outboard dials individually on an Avid BB7, a pain in the butt. You can, however, get half way to dynamic in-ride adjustment by installing an inline cable adjuster, which effectively lengthens the cable housing, shortening the slack on the cable. This has the effect of actuating the lever arm which sets the outboard pad inward, toward the rotor. The downside is that the inboard pad remains fixed still. The new TRP cable actuated mechanical calipers that are supposed to be out soon actuate both pads via a crossover arch and will solve this issue, making them manually adjustable on the fly. Of course, the TRP hybrid cable actuated hydraulic calipers will be really sweet when they show up.

Avid BB7 SL rear.

So that is the mechanical lowdown in a nutshell. Let me get to the proper setup of which I spoke. No big secrets here, it is all pretty straight forward. Because the road brake levers take up so little cable, the brake setup at the caliper is crucial. This is also why pad wear as felt at the lever is far amplified over the longer pull MTB models. Anything you can do to improve the feel and minimize flex in the system helps. To that end, good quality cables and housing are important. Compressionless brake cable housing makes a big difference. It is also crucial to have rotors that are straight. A small bend is going to produce an annoying and costly pad strike when you run the pads really tight to the rotors. That is the next key, getting the calipers setup level and even so that the pads make even contact with the rotor is important. If the caliper toes one way or the other it means the pad will contact unevenly, reduce power and probably squeal. Getting the pads in as tight to the rotor is also important. You want them on the verge of rubbing but not quite.

The last tip is one that I've discovered to be helpful over the years. What I do is to preload the actuator arm a little bit. This means that with the cable taught, there is some back tension on the cable from the arm wanting to return to full rest. I'm not sure if the arc that the actuator arm makes during the travel stroke is slightly non-linear (doesn't appear to be) but this seems to drastically improve the feel. Of course by preloading you start actuating the outboard pad but as long as it isn't rubbing, you are fine.

With this setup I have been able to race up to 1:08 in some very, very sloppy and gritty conditions (2012 Plymouth P/1/2/3 day 1) and 45 minutes in some insanely sloppy conditions while working the brakes over really, really hard on the steep downhills (2012 Downeast M45+ races), for the entire races on the same bike, without losing braking. I was also never required to adjust mid-race via the inline adjuster. I'm not sure why so many people were running out of brakes but I have to guess that it was due primarily to setup.

Noticed the bulge last night. All done.

Oh yea, and this is the biggest reason why disc brakes are a way better choice than rim brakes. You don't wear away a structural component to the bike by applying the brakes, namely the rims. This is the latest of many casualties I've had over the years, which I discovered this morning. It is often catastrophic, especially at road pressures. When the brake surface of the rim separates enough that it can no longer support the tire pressure, it explodes. That usually involves shrapnel and long shards of sharp aluminum. It also makes the wheel un-usable. Not fun.

Steam Power

Pegs on which to lay the work to be steamed.

A while back I put together a pair of wooden bicycle fenders. These were made from hardwood ash slats that I soaked and bent by hand. That worked OK and gave a partial bend but the reality was that I needed a perfect bend, such that there was no spring to the fender that could work loose from the hardware affixing it to the bike. I knew that the real answer was to steam bend the pieces. Steam bending is a process by which wood is immersed in a steam bath for enough time to raise the temperature of the material to about 212 degrees Fahrenheit. The hot steam helps to open the poors of the wood and soak water into the core, making the wood pliable and easy to bend rather than breaking. Bending wood or in reality, bending anything involves stretching outer portions of the material and compressing inner portions of the material. The harder and drier the wood, the more reluctant it is to bend rather than break.

Because I need to bend long thin strips of wood, I needed something in which those strips can be housed and then bathed in steam sufficient to raise the temperature above 200 degrees. I remembered seeing an old This Old House or the New Yankee Workshop program years ago where Norm used a chamber made from PVC to steam some work. A quick Lougle search and there was tons of info on such apparatus as well as steam production units. In terms of steam production units, the easiest approach would be to take a hot-plate and a tea-kettle and plumb the steam into the steam chamber. There were hundreds of variations of that premise out there using everything from wood-fired rigs to turkey-friers. I decided to purchase a self contained unit that was specially designed for this and came with everything required except the chamber.

Fitting for steam hose and steam delivery.

For my chamber I used 4" Schedule 40 PVC pipe. This stuff is your standard waste water pipe that is used in most modern homes. Rather than cut a section from the plumbing in our house I decided to head to the Depot and pick a piece up. It comes in 10' lengths and cost about $19. For fittings on the ends of the pipe I had some choices. The easiest was a 4" cap but since PVC components apparently use a material based price model rather than how intricate the piece is, a simple end cap (which did have a mess of plastic in it) cost more than a clean-out and cap combined. I liked and purchased the latter as it affords easier access though it does slightly reduce the ID of the chamber entry.

One note on principle here when dealing with steam. Captured steam is really, really dangerous. For one it is hot, above boiling as we all know. It also pressurizes and can generate enormous power. Remember, they used it for powering locomotives and also recall the first steam heater that they produced without safety blow-off valves, which would trip when the pressure got too high, lead to come catastrophic failures. I think Mythbusters did a segment on them as well. So, this means your steam chamber should not, ever, be air tight. There should be no pressure building in it at all. Rule of thumb is that if you have a 1" hose delivering the steam to your chamber, you should have at least a 1" hole to expel the pressure.

Clean-out end with removable vent peg and thermometer.

Back to the design, I decided to go with a 6' long chamber with the thought that if I needed more space at some point I could pick up a coupler and tack the remaining 4' of pipe back on. After cutting the pipe to size I then measured and drilled 7/16" holes along the center of the pipe spaced equally along the length through both sides of the pipe. Into these holes I inserted 3/8" wooden dowels that I had cut about an inch over the OD of the pipe. These dowels would serve as a rack for the work to be laid across so it would be completely exposed to the steam. To be creative I also drilled smaller holes in each end of the dowel through which I inserted small sections of smaller 3/16" dowels. These acted as stops for the bigger dowels so they wouldn't fall out of the holes as the chamber unit was moved around.

Finished unit, non-drive end.

For the end caps, I simply pressed the caps onto the ends of the PVC pipe dry rather cement them in place. They dry fit tight enough anyhow, dry they would act as an emergency blow-off should things go wrong and it also makes for easy access in case I want to expand the unit. If they start falling off, I may affix them more permanently. In one of the clean-out caps I bored a 1/2" hole and threaded the brass fitting that the steam generation unit came with, This is the end onto which the hose from the unit will be attached. In the other end cap I bored a 7/16" hole straight through the square cap and inserted a removable wooden dowel. This would serve as the steam pressure outflow when the dowel was removed.

Why did I put the dowel in? I had one chunk left over and it isn't in my nature to leave it unplugged. It just felt wrong. Maybe I'll put a leash on the dowel and attach the other end to the chamber so that when removed, you can't lose it. All about closing the loop. I'm thinking that I may redo that and put a threaded fitting for a garden hose on, which I could then run out the window so the unit could be used indoors without releasing all of the steam inside. Putting all of that moisture in the air would make for a wet mess. The flip side though is that you want to chamber to be hot and trying to keep it warm outside in the New England winter could be a problem.

Just because I could, I added a thermometer to the unit so I could tell what the temperature was inside the chamber. This was a simple BBQ grill thermometer that was intended to bolt onto the top of the grill. To affix it to the pipe I simply bored a hole near the far end of the chamber that was slightly smaller than the OD of the threads on the thermometer. I then screwed it into place on the outside of the pipe.

Hung in place for storage.

The last step was to make some simple feet for the unit so it would sit flat. For this I just used some scraps of 2x4 which I traced the OD arc of the pipe onto and then cut on the band-saw. To hold the blocks to the tube I just used a short sheet-rock screw run into the pipe through the bottom of each foot. I then ripped a 2x4 into a couple of 1/2" thick strips which I screwed to the outside of the feet. This was done to make storage of the unit easy. I cut some flat 'hooks' from scrap 7/16" OSB on the band-saw which I screwed to the exposed joist in the basement. These went right up against the main duct-work trunk so the unit can hang against the duct and unexposed. Important simply so you don't slam your head into it.

I've yet to use the unit as I don't actually have ant material to steam at the moment. I think that the next time I may try some different wood, depending on what I can come across. Maybe some maple. I'm not sure how well oak will bend though I've seen plenty oak furniture with loops built into it. Hopefully it all works out. Pretty simple design so I'm sure that it will.

Gratisfaction

It is really amazing how very simple things in like can be so gratifying, bringing one a great deal of satisfaction. I was reminded yesterday how the simple act of draining a water puddle in the woods by clearing the debris choking the downstream flow, is just such an event.

I suspect this is some inherent, primal urge that humans share with beavers, the incessant need to control and modify nature. For the beaver of course, that all consuming urge to hold back the water and create a landscape that suits their needs serves an important purpose. They are creating a habitat for themselves and their little beaver families. Humans share this urge to modify nature and build a habitat that suits their ever growing desire for, more. Nature says go forth and propagate and spread your species. Nature also says find harmony or I will find it for you. Like the beaver, if left unchecked they will utterly decimate the landscape paying no heed to the future. It was man's want and need for fur that checked the native beaver population and in turn, took much of the northern frontier from the watery realm of the beaver. There is always a stronger guy out there.

Anyhow, back to puddles. Yesterday I was out in search of dirt on my new Cannondale Scalpel 1 29er full suspension MTB of doom. Though I have had the bike since Christmas, I had not had a chance to actually ride it on dirt yet. Knowing that the latest in a long string of Snowmageddon storms was on it's way, I decided to make haste for the woods. I'd noted that the railroad bed was mostly clear from what I could see in passing so had hopes of finding some respectable trail. I was delighted to find the railroad bed almost completely clear and fairly dry save for the normal sections of swamp. That said, when I hit those sections I had no taste for mud and thus, turned back. It was also way colder than I'd though so I booted home for more clothes and a couple of quick adjustments to the bike. More air in the rear shock and raise the saddle a bit.

I then made tracks for the PR, out though the cemetery. The last time we tried riding there was a couple of weeks back. Conditions were virtually impassible with way too much mashed-potato snow in the woods. This made for an absolutely miserable ride, especially given that we were on the SS MTB's which were way over geared for that type of stuff. The conditions behind the cemetery were pretty good in general so a made a nice slow loop through heading for the PR.

At the trail-head I could see snow but it didn't look all that bad. I was soon greeted by leaves and dirt and fairly dry ground. The conditions remained mostly dry as I rode around save a few short patches of remaining snow and the standard muddy spring runoff in a few choice locations. All in all, a great ride. I spent a couple of hours in the woods just easily looping around and enjoying the time that I had. Cathy even joined me later on for a quick loop before dark set in and we got hit by the impending storm. One more seat adjustment was needed as the post was slipping a bit and air was required for the front tire. The post just needs some carbon paste but the tire is annoying. The brand new Schwalbe Racing Ralph's seem to have QC problems with the casings if run tubeless. The problem is that the sidewalls leak, which happened on both the front and rear when I set them up tubeless. I thought I had it plugged with sealant by laying the wheel on the side so the sealant puddles but had another issue yesterday. I hope the darn things hold.


During the ride I came up to one section of trail that perpetually has standing water. The problem is that the section is fairly flat and the runoff for the section is a fairly shallow grade. It also chokes with maple leaves and other debris. The fix for this is easy and brings great satisfaction at least to me if not everyone.

I recall the old days of trail work in the Fells, literally 20 years ago. Back then the relationship between us cyclists as NEMBA vs. the MDC was, strained. Actually, I guess that hasn't really changed though the MDC was consolidated and is now the MA DOC. Basically all that they would let us do was to clear blow-downs, close braids and drain puddles. We would often start the Saturday AM work day by draining puddles on various trails. Good fun. I look fondly back on those days and the good folks I met like CH, Phillip S., Wick, Rich, Miller, Bob and Bob, Mason, Bugbee, Anita and Scott, Tom and Reenie and tons of others. Unfortunately many of those puddles drained and we lost contact with, as lives cascaded forward. I do still see a few now and then though.

So yesterday's work was simple, take a stick to use as a rake and clear the debris from the outflow, letting the big puddle drain naturally down-slope to the brook. I'd done it many times before on that very puddle. It was quick and easy and brought a smile to my face as I watched the water surge forward from the puddle and out away. I was temporarily transported back to the numerous times where I'd done this very same thing as a kid. Dam it up or let it out, it was all about control of hydraulic dynamics.

I suspect that it is good to take the time for these small things, the things that evoke fond memories. We don't seem to have enough of that these days. If nothing else, were folks to take the time to drain the puddles on the trails, the trails would be a whole lot drier, upstream anyhow if not down.