The Cycle Way

Want a Strava KOM, get yourself the Strava Android app

Mark Croonen — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 12:33:02 +0000

I have long suspected this and I’m sure others have to, but have you ever noticed the high proportion of Strava KOM and course records that are held by people who have recorded their ride using the Strava Android app. Furthermore it seems to be more prevalent when it comes to short downhill segment. Then the next question begs, why are the Android riders so good and yet the IPhone riders barely rate?

So in an effort to satisfy my curiosity I decided to take a short ride with both my Garmin 500 and Android app running. What follows are the results of a number of segment in my local area.

The rides with the lock symbol are the rides recorded on the Android Device.

Rides marked with a # indicate the current record is held a ride recorded on an Android device

Firstly Toshka’s Track # and I’ll admit this one caught me by surprise, despite the downhill section the Android app was slower, go figure.

Memorial Dirt Sprint # 5 seconds over 300 metres, that’s a big discrepancy

Ainslie Wall Downhill # This one was a draw

Down we go to Antill # Another 14 second win the Android app

I have more examples but I think you get the point.

Now I love Strava and I think it is a great way to get motivated to ride harder but I would also like to see a level playing field. When I have some more time I intend to pull apart some of the GPX files for these rides to see if there is anything strange occurring, I suspect the android device is not recording the data fast enough or accurately enough so it is possible the first data point captured for a segment is already a couple of seconds after the start and likewise the last data point captured is couple of seconds before the finish.

Besides making it impossible to beat some of these records, a real concern for Strava would be the posting the of erroneous data which could lead to a dangerous situation where riders start chasing down fake times in an effort to beat a record which really shouldn’t exist. Now I know riders need to take care when pursuing course records but I also believe the Strava Android App needs to record these times accurately. Having erroneous lower course records surely is increasing the risk by making riders think it is possible to ride faster than it really is.

So folks be safe out there, because that course record you are chasing, might not be possible.

I would also like to say, this only my opinion on this and I am happy to be corrected, so if anyone can explain why this happening I would like to hear from you.

My tips for the Olympic Road Race

Mark Croonen — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 10:16:12 +0000

Well the sceptic in me would suggest the follow

I believe the Adidas/British team are going to be hard to beat, as one of the primary sponsors to the games I’m pretty sure the win was written into the sponsorship agreement and the incredibly low prices at the Adidas store will surely give them the competitive edge.

Of course you can’t discount the Westfield/Australian team, the routing of the road race through the Westfield mall was a master stroke and should give the team some home ground advantage. I believe the team have been doing some high escalator training and this is sure to pay off in the later stages of the race.

Unfortunately I can’t see McDonalds/USA team figuring in the final standings, despite bringing the largest McDonalds team/store to the games, the lack of a drive through service is really going to slow the team down through the feed zone.

As for the Omega/Swiss team, I believe they will get their timing all wrong and miss the critical breaks.

The attacks from the Samsung/Korean team are largely going to be negated by Apple however this is somewhat controversial as Apple are not an official sponsor of the games and this will be seen as ambush (marketing) attack.

While Panasonic/Japanese team are not in medal contention, they will look great on the new Panasonic VIErA TVs which have been released just in time for the games.

And the Dow team, despite investing heavily in the games will come undone by the disastrous pre season training camp they had in Bhopal.

Jerseys of the Pro Tour

Mark Croonen — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 10:47:00 +0000

A collection of the Pro Tour team jerseys from 2006 onwards.

2012 Updates:

Additions:Australia’s first Pro Tour team, Orica Greenedge;The return FDJ to the Pro Tour
Deletions: The HTC team is no more;
Major Changes: Leopard Trek folded into the Radioshack team to become the Radioshack –Nissan team; Garmin picked up a new sponsor in Sharp;Omega-Pharma Lotto parted ways creating two separate teams with Omega-Pharma teaming up with Quickstep; Saxobank dropped Sunguard as sponsor and brought Tinkoff Bank

2011 Updates:
Additions: Hello to BMC, Vacansoleil-DCM ( both promoted from the continental tour), and Leopard Trek
Deletions: Goodbye to Francaise Des Jeux (relegated to the continental tour), Footon-Servetto and Milram
Major changes: Caisse D’Epargne are now the Movistar team

Leaving only 9 teams which can show a direct lineage to the inception of the Pro Tour in 2006.

2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
AG2R PREVOYANCE		AG2R LA MONDIALE

	Astana				Pro Team Astana
Liberty Seguros – Würth Team
Bouygues Telecom			BBOX Bouygues Telecom
				In 2010 this team was relegated to the Continental tour
					BMC Racing Team

Caisse D’Epargne-Illes Balears	Caisse D’Epargne				Movistar

COFIDIS, LE CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE			COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE

Credit Agricole

Discovery Channel

Euskaltel – Euskadi

FRANÇAISE DES JEUX						FDJ – Big Mat
				This jersey was introduced for the TDF
			GARMIN – SLIPSTREAM	GARMIN – TRANSITIONS	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	Garmin Sharp

GEROLSTEINER

T-MOBILE TEAM		High Road	TEAM COLUMBIA – HIGH ROAD	TEAM HTC – COLUMBIA	HTC-HIGHROAD

LAMPRE-FONDITAL		LAMPRE	LAMPRE – N.G.C	LAMPRE-FARNESE VINI	LAMPRE – ISD

LIQUIGAS				LIQUIGAS-DOIMO	LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE

					LEOPARD TREK

DAVITAMON-LOTTO	PREDICTOR-LOTTO	SILENCE – LOTTO		OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO		Lotto Belisol team

PHONAK HEARING SYSTEMS

QUICK STEP – INNERGETIC		QUICK STEP			QUICKSTEP CYCLING TEAM	OMEGA PHARMA – QUICKSTEP

						Orica Greenedge

RABOBANK					RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM

SAUNIER DUVAL- PRODIR		SAUNIER DUVAL-SCOTT	FUJI-SERVETTO	FOOTON-SERVETTO

				SKY PROFESSIONAL CYCLING TEAM	SKY PROCYCLING

TEAM CSC			TEAM SAXO BANK		SAXO BANK SUNGARD	Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank

			TEAM KATUSHA

TEAM MILRAM

				TEAM RADIOSHACK		Radioshack – Nissan

	UNIBET.COM

					VACANSOLEIL-DCM

A visual look at the UCI World ProTour stats

Mark Croonen — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:49:55 +0000

Based on my hugely popular UCI Pro Tour Stats post I have now turned the data into an interactive set of graphs using some really cool software called Tableau. Once again this data was taken from the publically available UCI archives. The only thing I have done is to represent the raw point score as percentage of the yearly total to even out the differences between the total points scored each year.

With all these charts you can

Select and highlight individual countries.
Use the slider bar to select a specific year.
Using the magnifying tools in the top left corner you can zoom into areas of interest or where the data is “crowded”
Move the mouse over each data point reveal all the data for each point.
if you get stuck with the filters you can click the “Revert all” button at the bottom of each infographic

Points vs. Riders

This is a comparison of how many riders each country has and how many points they have scored, the size of the circle represents the country’s population. So countries with a small circle above the trend line are considered to be the high performing countries.

Population vs. Riders

This is a comparison of how many riders each country has compared to its population, the size of the circle represents how many points the country has scored. So countries with a large circle below the trend line are considered to be the high performing countries.

The next two are more just to show the features of the Tableau software which I thought looked interesting.

Geo location of the riders.

This shows the data overlaid on a world map, showing where the riders come, the size of the circle represents how many riders come from the country. Remember you can use the magnifying tools to zoom in over Europe.

Geo location of points scored.

Similar to the previous one, this shows which country has scored points and how many.

Australian Tour de France riders

Mark Croonen — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 02:50:53 +0000

I had this come across my desk the other day which I thought was of interest. It is a complete list of Australians who have competed in the Tour de France since 1914.

Year	Rider	Team	Final Place	Started	Finished	Final Time*	Remarks
1914	Duncan "Don" Kirkham	Phebus-Dunlop	17th	145	54	at 11h 53′ 39"
1914	Ivor "Iddo" / "Snowy" Munro	Phebus-Dunlop	20th	145	54	at 12h 34′ 57"
1928	Hubert Opperman	Ravat-Wonder-Dunlop	18th	162	41	at 8h 34′ 35"	Ravat-Wonder-Dunlop was an Aus/NZ team raised by the Melbourne Herald. Plan to include experienced europeans fell through.
1928	Perry Osborne	Ravat-Wonder-Dunlop	38th	162	41	at 22h 01′ 49"
1928	Ernest Bainbridge	Ravat-Wonder-Dunlop	dnf	162	41	ab. Stage 15	was about 16 hours down when he retired
1931	Hubert Opperman	Australia-Switzerland	12th	81	35	at 1h 36′ 43"
1931	Richard-William Lamb	Australia-Switzerland	35th	81	35	at 6h 27′ 06"
1931	Oserick Bernard Nicholson	Australia-Switzerland	dnf	81	35	ab. Stage 4
1931	Frankie Thomas	Australia-Switzerland	dnf	81	35	ab. Stage 3
1952	John Beasley	Luxembourg	dnf	123	78	ab. Stage 2
1955	John Beasley	Internations	dnf	130	69	ab. Stage 3	"Internations" was a successor to the Luxembourg national team, and included Charly Gaul, who was 3rd overall
1955	Russell Mockridge	Internations	64th	130	69	at 4h 14′ 46"
1967	Bill Lawrie	Great Britain	dnf	130	88	hd. Stage 7	Team included Tom Simpson who died on Mont Ventoux (stage 13)
1974	Don Allan	Frisol-Flair Plastics	103rd	130	105	at 3h 16′ 53"
1975	Don Allan	Frisol-G.B.C.	85th	140	86	at 3h 25′ 38"
1981	Phil Anderson	Peugeot-Esso-Michelin	10th	150	121	at 27′ 00"	1st Yellow Jersey
1982	Phil Anderson	Peugeot-Shell-Michelin	5th	170	125	at 12′ 16"	9 days in yellow, winner White Jersey, won stage 2, 3rd in points comp.
1983	Phil Anderson	Peugeot-Shell-Michelin	9th	140	88	at 16′ 56"
1984	Phil Anderson	Panasonic-Raleigh	10th	170	124	at 29′ 16"
1984	Alan Peiper	Peugeot-Shell-Michelin	95th	170	124	at 2h 31′ 28"
1985	Phil Anderson	Panasonic-Raleigh	5th	180	144	at 7′ 44"
1985	Alan Peiper	Peugeot-Shell-Michelin	86th	180	144	at 1h 56′ 54"
1986	Phil Anderson	Panasonic	39th	210	132	at 1h 19′ 41"
1987	Phil Anderson	Panasonic-Isostar	27th	207	135	at 1h 20′ 43"
1987	Alan Peiper	Panasonic-Isostar	dnf	207	135	ab. Stage 21
1987	Shane Sutton	ANC-Halfords	dnf	207	135	ab. Stage 13
1988	Michael Wilson	Weinmann-La Suisse-SMM	50th	198	151	at 1h 09′ 31"
1989	Phil Anderson	TVM-Ragno	38th	198	138	at 1h 11′ 38"
1989	Michael Wilson	Helvetia-La Suisse	69th	198	138	at 1h 44′ 05"
1989	Stephen Hodge	Caja Rural-Paternina	83rd	198	138	at 1h 53′ 35"
1990	Phil Anderson	TVM	71st	198	156	at 1h 30′ 01"
1990	Alan Peiper	Panasonic-Sportlife	dnf	198	156	ab. Stage 8
1990	Stephen Hodge	O.N.C.E.	34th	198	156	at 44′ 22"
1991	Phil Anderson	Motorola	45th	198	158	at 1h 08′ 45"	Won stage 10
1991	Stephen Hodge	O.N.C.E.	67th	198	158	at 1h 32′ 52"
1992	Phil Anderson	Motorola	81st	198	130	at 2h 23′ 30"
1992	Alan Peiper	Tulip Computers	126th	198	130	at 3h 40′ 21"
1992	Stephen Hodge	O.N.C.E.	93rd	198	130	at 2h 45′ 55"
1992	Neil Stephens	O.N.C.E.	74th	198	130	at 2h 15′ 42"
1993	Phil Anderson	Motorola	84th	180	136	at 2h 10′ 45"
1993	Neil Stephens	O.N.C.E.	dnf	180	136	ab. Stage 13
1994	Phil Anderson	Motorola	69th	189	117	at 2h 01′ 13"
1994	Stephen Hodge	Festina-Andorra	83rd	189	117	at 2h 23′ 50"
1994	Neil Stephens	O.N.C.E.	52nd	189	117	at 1h 47′ 59"
1994	Patrick Jonker	Novemail-Histor-Laser Computer	dnf	189	117	ab. Stage 14
1995	Stephen Hodge	Festina	64th	189	115	at 2h 16′ 01"
1995	Neil Stephens	O.N.C.E.	60th	189	115	at 2h 28′ 17"
1996	Neil Stephens	O.N.C.E.	49th	198	129	at 1h 42′ 13"
1996	Scott Sunderland	Lotto-Isoglass	101st	198	129	at 2h 32′ 54"
1996	Patrick Jonker	O.N.C.E.	12th	198	129	at 18′ 58"
1997	Neil Stephens	Festina	54th	198	139	at 2h 23′ 40"	Won stage 17
1997	Patrick Jonker	Rabobank	62nd	198	139	at 2h 33′ 38"
1997	Stuart O’Grady	Gan	109th	198	139	at 3h 35′ 56"
1997	Henk Vogels	Gan	99th	198	139	at 3h 26′ 46"
1997	Robbie McEwen	Rabobank	117th	198	139	at 3h 45′ 47"
1998	Neil Stephens	Festina	dnf	189	96	ab. Stage 7
1998	Patrick Jonker	Rabobank	34th	189	96	at 1h 16′ 49"
1998	Stuart O’Grady	Gan	54th	189	96	at 1h 46′ 04"	Won stage 14, 3 days in yellow, 2nd in points comp.
1998	Robbie McEwen	Rabobank	63rd	189	96	at 1h 57′ 30"
1999	Patrick Jonker	Rabobank	97th	180	141	at 2h 32′ 20"
1999	Stuart O’Grady	Credit Agricole	94th	180	141	at 2h 30′ 07"	2nd in points comp.
1999	Henk Vogels	Credit Agricole	121st	180	141	at 2h 49′ 17"
1999	Robbie McEwen	Rabobank	122nd	180	141	at 2h 49′ 23"	Won stage 20 (Paris)
1999	Jay Sweet	Big Mat-Auber 93	dnf	180	141	hd. Stage 15
2000	Stuart O’Grady	Credit Agricole	dnf	180	128	np. Stage 7
2000	Robbie McEwen	Farm Frites	113th	180	128	at 3h 04′ 28"	2nd in points comp.
2001	Stuart O’Grady	Credit Agricole	54th	189	144	at 1h 36′ 20"	6 days in yellow, 2nd in points comp
2001	Bradley McGee	Francaise Des Jeux	83rd	189	144	at 2h 17′ 54"
2002	Stuart O’Grady	Credit Agricole	77th	189	153	at 2h 07′ 02"	3rd in points comp
2002	Robbie McEwen	Lotto-Adecco	130th	189	153	at 3h 03′ 30"	Won stage 3 & stage 20 (Paris), won green jersey
2002	Bradley McGee	fdjeux.com	109th	189	153	at 2h 39′ 02"	Won stage 7
2002	Baden Cooke	fdjeux.com	127th	189	153	at 3h 00′ 01"
2003	Stuart O’Grady	Credit Agricole	90th	198	147	at 2h 41′ 24"
2003	Robbie McEwen	Lotto-Domo	143rd	198	147	at 4h 13′ 28"	2nd in points comp.
2003	Bradley McGee	fdjeux.com	133rd	198	147	at 3h 52′ 49"	2 days in yellow, won Prologue
2003	Baden Cooke	fdjeux.com	140th	198	147	at 4h 04′ 10"	Won stage 2, won green jersey
2003	Matt Wilson	fdjeux.com	dnf	198	147	hd. Stage 11
2003	Michael Rogers	Quick Step-Davitamon	42nd	198	147	at 1h 37′ 28"
2003	Nick Gates	Lotto-Domo	dnf	198	147	ab. Stage 1
2004	Scott Sunderland	Alessio-Bianchi	96th	188	147	at 2h 35′ 20"
2004	Stuart O’Grady	Cofidis	61st	188	147	at 1h 51′ 41"	Won stage 5
2004	Robbie McEwen	Lotto-Domo	122nd	188	147	at 2h 59′ 18"	One day in yellow, won stage 2 & stage 9, won green jersey
2004	Bradley McGee	fdjeux.com	dnf	188	147	ab. Stage 5
2004	Baden Cooke	fdjeux.com	139th	188	147	at 3h 15′ 45"
2004	Matt Wilson	fdjeux.com	144th	188	147	at 3h 36′ 31"
2004	Michael Rogers	Quick Step-Davitamon	22nd	188	147	at 41′ 39"
2004	Nick Gates	Lotto-Domo	dnf	188	147	ab. Stage 16
2004	Allan Davis	Liberty Seguros	98th	188	147	at 2h 36′ 16"
2005	Stuart O’Grady	Cofidis	77th	189	155	at 2h 27′ 19"	2nd in points comp.
2005	Robbie McEwen	Davitamon-Lotto	134th	189	155	at 3h 41′ 42"	Won stage 4, stage 6 & stage 12, 3rd in points comp
2005	Bradley McGee	Francaise Des Jeux	105th	189	155	at 2h 55′ 59"
2005	Baden Cooke	Francaise Des Jeux	142nd	189	155	at 3h 47′ 17"
2005	Michael Rogers	Quick Step-Innergetic	41st	189	155	at 1h 24′ 32"
2005	Allan Davis	Liberty Seguros-Wurth Team	84th	189	155	at 2h 34′ 40"
2005	Luke Roberts	Team CSC	102nd	189	155	at 2h 54′ 12"
2005	Cadel Evans	Davitamon-Lotto	8th	189	155	at 11′ 55"
2005	Matthew White	Cofidis	123rd	189	155	at 3h 23′ 41"
2005	Simon Gerrans	Ag2r Prevoyance	126th	189	155	at 3h 27′ 03"
2006	Stuart O’Grady	Team CSC	90th	176	138	at 2h 54′ 28"
2006	Robbie McEwen	Davitamon-Lotto	115th	176	138	at 3h 20′ 04"	Won stage 2, stage 4 & stage 6, won green jersey
2006	Michael Rogers	T-Mobile Team	9th	176	138	at 14′ 10"
2006	Cadel Evans	Davitamon-Lotto	4th	176	138	at 4′ 11"
2006	Simon Gerrans	Ag2r Prevoyance	78th	176	138	at 2h 45′ 36"
2007	Stuart O’Grady	Team CSC	dnf	189	141	ab. Stage 8
2007	Robbie McEwen	Predictor-Lotto	dnf	189	141	hd. Stage 8	Won stage 1
2007	Michael Rogers	T-Mobile Team	dnf	189	141	ab. Stage 8
2007	Cadel Evans	Predictor-Lotto	2nd	189	141	at 0′ 23"
2007	Simon Gerrans	Ag2r Prevoyance	94th	189	141	at 3h 09′ 19"
2007	Heinrich Haussler	Gerolsteiner	129th	189	141	at 3h 32′ 30"
2007	Brett Lancaster	Team Milram	dnf	189	141	ab. Stage 5
2008	Stuart O’Grady	Team CSC-Saxo Bank	109th	180	145	at 3h 07′ 46"
2008	Robbie McEwen	Silence-Lotto	122nd	180	145	at 3h 22′ 36"
2008	Baden Cooke	Barloworld	dnf	180	145	ab. Stage 12
2008	Cadel Evans	Silence-Lotto	2nd	180	145	at 0′ 58"	5 days in yellow
2008	Simon Gerrans	Credit Agricole	79th	180	145	at 2h 14′ 25"	Won stage 15
2008	Heinrich Haussler	Gerolsteiner	126th	180	145	at 3h 25′ 34"
2008	Brett Lancaster	Team Milram	129th	180	145	at 3h 27′ 29"
2008	Adam Hansen	Team Columbia	108th	180	145	at 3h 04′ 53"
2008	Mark Renshaw	Credit Agricole	dnf	180	145	ab. Stage 15
2008	Trent Lowe	Garmni Chipotle	77th	180	145	at 2h 13′ 41"
2009	Stuart O’Grady	Team Saxo Bank	124th	180	156	at 3h 08′ 39"
2009	Michael Rogers	Team Columbia-HTC	103rd	180	156	at 2h 42 57"
2009	Cadel Evans	Silence-Lotto	30th	180	156	at 45′ 24"
2009	Heinrich Haussler	Cervelo Test Team	97th	180	156	at 2h 28′ 35"	Won Stage 13
2009	Brett Lancaster	Cervelo Test Team	127th	180	156	at 3h 15′ 33"
2009	Mark Renshaw	Team Columbia-HTC	149th	180	156	at 3h 46′ 20"
2009	Matthew Lloyd	Silence-Lotto	46th	180	156	at 1h 09′ 05"
2010	Stuart O’Grady	Team Saxo Bank	149th	198	170	at 3h 42′ 39"
2010	Robbie McEwen	Katyusha	165th	198	170	at 4h 08′ 28"
2010	Michael Rogers	Team Columbia-HTC	37th	198	170	at 1h 10′ 11"
2010	Luke Roberts	Team Milram	103rd	198	170	at 3h 04′ 07"
2010	Cadel Evans	BMC Racing Team	26th	198	170	at 50′ 27"	1 day in yellow
2010	Simon Gerrans	Team Sky	dnf	198	170	np. Stage 9
2010	Brett Lancaster	Cervelo Test Team	159th	198	170	at 3h 57′ 00"
2010	Adam Hansen	Team Columbia-HTC	dnf	198	170	np. Stage 2
2010	Mark Renshaw	Team Columbia-HTC	dnf	198	170	dq. Stage 11
2010	Matthew Lloyd	Omega Pharma – Lotto	47th	198	170	at 1h 30′ 02"
2010	Wesley Sulzberger	Francaise Des Jeux	152nd	198	170	at 3h 46′ 59"
2011	Stuart O’Grady	Team Leopard – Trek	78th	198	167	at 2h 17′ 58"
2011	Cadel Evans	BMC Racing Team	1st	198	167	86h 12′ 22"	Won yellow jersey, 1 day in yellow, won stage 4
2011	Simon Gerrans	Team Sky	96th	198	167	at 2h 37′ 25"
2011	Mark Renshaw	HTC-Highroad	163rd	198	167	at 3h 44′ 00"
2011	Richie Porte	Saxo Bank-Sungard	72nd	198	167	at 2h 09′ 24"
2011	Matthew Goss	HTC-Highroad	142nd	198	167	at 3h 22′ 32"

*ab.	abandon
np.	non participant (did not start)
hd.	hors delai (outside time limit)
dq.	disqualified

Preparing for Fitz’s Challenge (or any other big ride)

Mark Croonen — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 23:05:01 +0000

This article mainly focuses on what to carry for a long day in the saddle. We’ll assume you’ve done your training, your bike is ready and you’ve done suitable carbo loading the night before.

Firstly I’ll say there are plenty of ways to prepare but this is just from my experience having done the 165km, the 207km event and this year I’ll be doing the 250km.

For starters, don’t over dress, it might be cold in the morning but the last thing you want is to be carrying an extra long sleeve jersey for a hundred kilometres. Better to go with a gillet and arm warmers. Arm warmers can be tucked away in a pocket and you can leave the gillet on, unzipped.

So what will I be carrying?

TOOLS:

Sunscreen – Obvious I know, but it is amazing how many people forget it and on a sunny day, 8 to 10 hours in the sun is a long time and it won’t be your muscles that are the only sore thing at the end of the day if you forget it. Also from past experience it doubles as a chain lube in an emergency.
CO2 Cartridges – This is a bit of an optional extra but if you are stickler for riding at the correct pressure, this is going to be the easiest way to get your tyres back up to pressure after a puncture without carrying a floor pump.

Pump – Should be a standard item but I have seen people, especially on the shorter rides leave without one.

Or new for 2012, you can combine the two, Topeak have a released a pump called a called a two timer, which combines a CO2 dispenser and a pump.

Two Tubes – Never hurts to have an extra spare, just make sure you get the right valve type and valve length. If you are using deep rim wheels it might pay to carry a valve extender, just in case you need to borrow a tube from a fellow rider.

Adhesive tube repair patches – These are a great backup to carry if you are having a really bad day with punctures. They can also to used to patch a tyre, in case you are unfortunate enough to slash a tyre.
Multi-tool with chain breaker– I carry a Park Tool IB-3, I carried it for three years without ever using it, but the day I snapped my chain 50km from home I was pretty happy I had it. Also make sure it has 4 and 5 mm Hex (Allen) key, as these are the most common bolts on your bike.
Spare chain pin or a Missing link – While the prospect of breaking a chain is remote, if you do it is a bit of a game stopper. Spare chain pins or a missing link take up very little space so it doesn’t hurt to carry them.
Tyre levers – Another obvious one, but just covering all bases here.

M4 & M5 Hex (Allen) bolts – These are the most common bolts on your bike and can be really useful if you lose a bolt on your water bottle cage during the ride. Once again, they are very light and small so it doesn’t hurt to have a couple stashed away for emergencies.

Small bottle of chain lube – Just in case you get caught in the rain for an extended period of time and the lube gets washed away. Being soaked through is bad enough without having to listen to your chain squeaking or grinding away. Finish Line make a great small 2oz bottle, which can be easily stowed away without taking up to much space.

Mussette & Saddle Bag – My personal preference is to carry my food in a mussette, spares and tools go in the saddle bag. A medium size saddle bag will easily take all the kit listed above. I like using a mussette because it is light, as the day wears on and you have eaten your food you can just tuck the mussette in your back pocket. Backpacks weigh more and tend to leave you sweaty. With the mussette I’ve made slight modification which ensures the it will stay firmly on your back without swinging around to the front. Simply get a length of old bike tube and pin it to the corner of mussette. Then the other end ties around the front to keep it secure.
MP3 Player – I know there are safety issues using these on a bike but 8 to 10 hours on the bike can be boring and some motivational tunes might help you get through the day.

FOOD:

While most supported rides such as Fitz’s Challenge supply food, don’t count on it. Firstly you might not like it, I’ve never been a fan of fruit cake and if you are a slower rider, chances are they might have run out by the time you get to the checkpoint. Better to keep your destiny in your own hands and carry some food. As to what to carry, well that is a bit of a personal choice but just make sure it is easy to eat and high in energy.

Lollies – I know some people are a fan of lollies like snakes, personally I find they give you a bit of sugar rush and then you crash from the high.
Power Bars I know they are favourite but I find them expensive and not really satisfying. Around lunchtime you are going to want something substantial and energy bars are not going to cut it.
Sandwiches – I have a preference for simple sandwiches made with low GI bread and chocolate spread. This gives me short term energy from the chocolate spread and sustained energy from the bread. I carry a bag of sandwiches cut in half, easy to access and eat while riding.
Fruit – Dried figs are an excellent source of sugars and potassium, good for stopping cramps. Bananas also have good levels of potassium but they are bulky and bruise easily, there is nothing worse than a squashed banana during the ride.
- Electrolyte tablets – These are the best way to carry additional electrolytes for when you refill your drink bottles. Just being able to pop a tablet or two into your water bottle is so much easier than trying to measure out powder from a bag. One tube makes up 15 litres. A tip I would suggest is to buy caffeinated and regular ones so you can carry a mixture on the day. Caffeinated ones are good to give you a lift, but too much can give you the jitters and excessive caffeine consumption (more than 500 –600 milligrams) can have diuretic effect leading to dehydration. So carry a combination and alternate your intake.

Gels – I’m a big fan of gels for electrolytes and sugars, easy to carry and consume on the bike. One tip for gels is to get a couple of small water bottles like the one below and tip your gels into these. Easier to consume, less rubbish and no leaking gel wrappers in your pockets later.

And for Fitz’s my secret tip is a meat pie and coke from the Tharwa General store. Sure it breaks all the rules but in terms of comfort food, it hits the spot when you’ve done about 120km.

Other stuff:

Snap lock bags – Useful if it rains for keeping stuff dry, like your mobile phone, checkpoint card or route map. Also handy for keeping stuff organised
Money – Never forget, if all else fails carry bit of cash. For food, water, coffee or for any other emergency that might arise. I’ve even been known to use a $5 note in an emergency to repair a slashed tyre.

Anyway that is what I’ll be carrying, if you have any other useful tips please leave a comment.

Cadel – The little red engine

Mark Croonen — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 03:33:22 +0000

Inspired by Chris from the Vikings Cycling club, “The little Engine that could” and possibly the one of the greatest stages of the 2011 Tour de France, stage 19.

I present to you, Cadel, the little red engine.

A little red engine had a long train of riders to pull.

He went along very well till he came to a steep Col. But then, no matter how hard he tried, he could not drop the long train of riders.

He pulled and he pulled. He puffed and he puffed and started off again. Choo! Choo!

But no! none of riders would pull a turn up the Col.

At last he left the peloton and started up the Col alone. Do you think he had stopped working? No, indeed! But nobody would help.

“Surely I can find someone to help me,” he thought.

Over the Col and up the track went the little red engine. Choo, choo! Choo, choo! Choo, choo! Choo!

Pretty soon he saw a big Schleck engine standing on a side track. He looked very big and strong. Riding alongside, he looked up and said:

“Will you help me over the Col with my train of riders? It is so long and heavy I can’t get it over.”

The big Schleck engine looked down at the little red engine. Then he said:

“Don’t you see that I am through my day’s work? I will follow you until you catch the other Schleck engine. No, I won’t help you,”

The little red engine was sorry, but he went on, Choo, choo! Choo, choo! Choo, choo! Choo, choo!

Soon he came to a big yellow engine standing on a side track. He was puffing and puffing, as if he were tired.

“That big yellow engine may help me,” thought the little red engine. He rode alongside and asked:

“Will you help me bring my train of riders over the hill? It is so long and so heavy that I can’t get it over.”

The big yellow engine answered:

“I have just come in from a long, long run over the alps. Don’t you see how tired I am? Can’t you get some other engine to help you this time?

“I’ll try,” said the little red engine, and off he went. Choo, choo! Choo, choo! Choo, choo!

After a while he came to a engine just like himself named Burghardt. He rode alongside and said:

“Will you help me over the Col de Galibier with my train of riders? It is so long and so heavy that I can’t get it over.”

“Yes, indeed!” said this little engine. “I’ll be glad to help you, if I can.”

So the little red engines started back to where the train of riders had been standing. Both little red engines went to the head of the train, one behind the other.

Puff, puff! Chug, choo! Off they started!

Slowly the riders began to move. Slowly they climbed the steep Col. As they climbed, each little red engine began to sing:

“I-think-I-can! I-think-I-can! I-think-I-can! I-think-I-can! I-think-I-can! I-think-I-can! I think I can – I think I can – I think I can I think I can–”

And they did! Very soon they were over the Col de Galibier and going down the other side and in no time at all they had caught the other engines

Now they were on the plain again; and the little steam engine could pull the train himself. So he thanked the little Burghardt engine who had come to help him, and said good-by.

And he went merrily on his way, singing:

“I-thought-I-could! I-thought-I-could! I-thought-I-could! I-thought-I-could! I thought i could – I thought I could – I thought I could – I thought I could – I thought I could – I thought I could I thought I could –”

And on to Alpe d’Huez he steamed.

And for all Australians, tonight “yell for Cadel”

PS I know it is not factually correct, but it was surprising how well the story fitted by only substituting a few words.

Cycling Bracelets

Mark Croonen — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 10:10:42 +0000

Ok guys turn away now, nothing to see here, but for the girls, this might be of interest and just in time for the Tour de France.

Recently my wife started creating a range of bracelets and I thought these might be of interest for the cycling types out there.

All bracelets are lovingly hand made.

If you want more information, head over to her site.
http://carmelscreation.com.au/limited-offers

And for the guys, she’ll have a range of cycling cuff links soon.

Sluggish Garmin Performance

Mark Croonen — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:09:02 +0000

Recently I found that after about 12 months of use my Garmin Edge 500 became sluggish and slow to respond. I would press the start button and it would take 2 -3 seconds to respond or it would only start recording data after about 500 metres. If this sounds familiar try this.

Simply back up all the .fit files from your unit to your computer or delete them. Immediately the unit’s performance should return to normal and if you back the files up to your computer you can still access the data if you need to. For reference the .fit files are located in “\Garmin\Activities” of your unit.

At the time I had some 250 files taking up around 20MB of the 50MB available on the unit. In the end I’m not sure if it was just one corrupted file or just too many files that caused the problem but by removing them from the system it certainly fixed the problem.

Pro Tour Computers

Mark Croonen — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 12:57:14 +0000

In my continuing fascination with the Pro Tour it’s time to look at some of the other kit on the bikes and that is the computers each team use.

The SRM seems to be the computer of choice for many of Pro teams but at around $1000 it’s going to be out of reach most average riders. While power output is always going to be the best measure for training, the next best option is heart rate. It is for this reason I think the Garmin and Polar units are a better choice for the average rider. Both track heart rate but have the option to measure power but at around $300 represent much better value for money. In addition both units are GPS enabled which is always popular with the average rider.

For me, the noticeable absence is Cateye and maybe VDO, who are both well known cycle computer manufacturers and in my opinion much better than BBB computers, but I guess that is sponsorship for you. The BBB unit just looks cheap and is pretty featureless. I guess this is vindicated by the fact that Quickstep maybe sponsored to use BBB but you’ll still see Polar units on many of their bikes.

Company	Used by	Model	Notable features:
SIGMA Sport	AG2R La Mondiale LAMPRE – ISD Other notable teams include TEAM EUROPCAR	Rox wireless 9.0	Speed Cadence Time Heart Rate Temperature Altitude Measurement
SRM	HTC-HIGHROAD SKY PROCYCLING LEOPARD TREK OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO SAXO BANK SUNGARD Team RADIOSHACK BMC LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE	SRM PowerControl 7	Speed Cadence Time Heart Rate Temperature Altitude Power Wireless Protocol: ANT+Sport, ANT Weight: 58 g
Polar	EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI MOVISTAR RABOBANK Other notable teams include FDJ and Cofidis QUICKSTEP also use them even though they are officially sponsored to use the BBB computer	CS600X	Speed Cadence Time Heart Rate Temperature Altitude GPS Power Weight 41g
Garmin	GARMIN-CERVELO KATUSHA	Edge 500	Speed Cadence Time Heart Rate Temperature Altitude GPS Power meter compatible Weight: 56g
BBB	VACANSOLEIL-DCM QUICKSTEP	MICROBOARD TEAM BCP-32W	Speed Time

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