Want To See the Big Island?......

This always does well for inspiring people.....don't normally get much of the race itself, which is a bad thing, but it does get the trials and tribulations of competing at the Ironman distance. On TV tomorrow, NBC at 4:30pm - 6:00pm.

What's the Best Way to Glue Tubulars?....

The best way is to just ask Bobby Phillips and he does them for you, with plenty of years of experience and not rolling a tire yet, he is the man. What's the fun in that though? and so after getting him to do the new FFWD Disc, I went away and had the F9R's to glue.

After much investigation on various websites and through discussing the practice with loads of people I ended up following the Park Tools guide. After stretching the tire for a few days, I armed myself with glue, brushes, latex gloves and the old yardwork clothes and went to work with the following approach:

1) Glue the rim and let dry overnight.
2) Glue the tire bead and let dry.
3) Next day: Apply 2nd glue on rim and let dry.
4) Apply the 3rd and final coat of glue to the rim and while still tacky work the tire onto the rim.
5) After aligning the tire, pump to full pressure and roll hard along the ground to get a good contact.

The front tire was a S.O.B to get onto the rim, even with the two days of stretching. At one point I was wondering if I was even going to get it on....perhaps I need to get to the gym more!

So both tires are now on, they are pumped and ready to rock.......I haven't ridden them yet and I am sure the first time out will be a bit caution praying that I glued them properly. Rolling a tire on brand new carbon rims (or any rim for that matter) would not be cool :-(

The Fluid Test.......

Just over two months into using the Fluid - Recovery Nutrition and here are my experiences so far.

The good thing is the blend of carbohydrates, protein, and glutamine (2500mg), which is a major difference to most other recovery products. In total each serving provides 25 g of carbohydrates in the form of maltodextrine and fruit sugar (fructose), 7 grams of protein from whey protein isolate, 250 mg of potassium at 1% and 166% of the RDA for vitamin C. For those that don't know L-glutamine is thought to be an important amino acid for increasing protein synthesis (rebuilding muscle), improving immune function, and increasing carbohydrate uptake by the muscles to replenish glycogen post workouts.

Granted I haven't been in the full force of training yet but I have been swimming hard and the hours are gradually moving up. The main things I have found are:

1) I seem to be recovering better than I was previously after really hard sessions using Fluid. Definitely less sore in the shoulders after swim sessions and long run sessions. Primarily it has decreased the DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness).

2)The Berry flavor is by far the best and it is best taken with as colder water as you can possibly get.....I generally use cold tap water at the gym or iced water at home. It seems to mix better and taste better with colder liquid.

3)Fluid is relatively low in calories at 130 per serving and so doesn't give you that heavy feel that some other products give you. This is critical in the 30 minute window after working out as your body can only really handle less than 200 calories.

4) The product is all natural, gluten-free, no artificial colours or flavors...all good stuff!

I haven't been a huge user of recovery nutrition in the past with the exception of some protein bars and occasionally protein powders, so I don't really have much to compare with but I am sold on Fluid. It really helps in being able to perform the workouts day-in/day-out and as the hours and workouts become more intense then recovery becomes a key ingredient.

Word is that more flavors are in the works and potentially a caffeine based flavor :-)

Now That Was Cool.........

Last night was the monthly meeting for ABRT and we were lucky enough to have Bike Doctor of Annapolis host the event, they even provided a range of food and beer and wine, what more can you ask for! The new team kit design was showcased and it was received well, I think it looks "proper pukka" (sorry, English terms again) and should stand out from the crowd at races in 2010. With any luck it will be out front crossing the line first quite a few times as well :-)

The main attraction of the evening however, was the guest speaker, none other than US cycling legend John Howard. Not only is John a multi national champion, he also raced at three Olympic Games, was a co-founder of RAAM, won the 1981 Ironman World Championships and set the Bicycle Speed record at 152.2MPH (and didn't break any bones in the process!). You can find much more about John at http://www.johnhowardsports.com/.

So why was he at ABRT's monthly meeting? He is here at Bike Doctor this whole week performing FiTTE's on 20 of ABRT's finest and ensuring that we remain the fastest in Mabra-land! Just watching John explain the details of the FiTTE system and then being able to pick his brain about all things bike related was a great experience and I am sure that the over 40 members that attended had a blast.

Fortunately I was to able to discuss one-on-one with John about his Ironman experiences and to hear what it takes to be a World Champion on the Big Island......I'll just keep that to myself and then we will see next year if it works :-)

If you want to speak with John be sure to get down to Bike Doctor Annapolis before the week is out. All FiTTE's are sold-out but I am sure he would welcome you to watch him at work and discuss how the system works.