This past Thursday, I was offered an incredible opportunity to get a road bike fit and take part in a Fizik saddle study at the Retül’s headquarters in Boulder, CO. Retül technology is a 3D bike fitting system designed for trained bike fitters to capture extremely comprehensive data as it relates to a rider’s position on their bike. The system is so sophisticated that it can produce immediate reports with millimeter-accurate digitizing tools which help to provide riders with the most accurate and dynamic fit possible. In my opinion proper bike fit is one of the single most important factors for optimal performance and efficiency, injury prevention, and comfort on the bike, so there was no way I was passing this up!

The first part of the session began with a full body analysis to see if there were any funky nuances going on with my legs, hips, feet, etc. Leg length discrepancies are highly common and can really affect your efficiencies on the bike. As abnormal as I am, luckily, my legs happen to be the same length!

We then moved on to test my flexibility. Fizik recently launched an advertising campaign for their men’s saddles called ‘Find your inner animal’. After lots of testing, Fizik found that a male rider’s flexibility lends itself to a particular saddle shape.

This ‘Spine Concept’ device measures your flexibility in 3 different levels. If you are not very flexible, you are considered a ‘Bull’, if you are extremely flexible, you are labeled a ‘Snake’ and if you’re somewhere in the middle, you’re categorized as a ‘Chameleon’.

I’m no yogi, but I did fall in the ‘Snake’ category.

The purpose of the study was test out the three new women’s Fizik prototype saddles that were designed based on the same flexibility standards as the men’s product line.

Before we got started with the saddle study, we needed to make sure that I was properly fit on my new Litespeed Ci2. We went through the full ‘Retul fit process’ collecting every possible measurement and angle a bike fitter could ever want!

I had been riding in a pretty aggressive position (which is probably why I couldn’t get comfortable), so we flipped my stem, moved my saddle slightly forward and straightened my saddle so that it was pointed one degree down instead of a degree up…I swear my level said it was flat when I set it up…my garage must be sloped :)

After getting my bike dialed, we proceeded to do a full spin scan which gives endless data about the workload, torque, etc on each leg during a normal spin cycle. We also added a shim to my right cleat to prevent a little pronation of my right knee.

The final protocol for the saddle test was to determine at which power output I was expending approximately 60% of my max effort. We went through a simulation similar to a lactate threshold test and found the appropriate wattage to use for the study.

The study itself was probably the easiest after all the initial setup. After the prototype saddle was secured in the proper position, I was re-attached to the Retül fitting system to gather the appropriate data then we performed another spin scan. I then did a 6 minute tempo effort at the pre-determined watts and my heart rate was measured and recorded every 30 seconds. We repeated this for each of the three saddles.

I wasn’t particularly impressed with the various saddles but then again, I’ve never been able to use a seat without a cut out. Even if it’s constructive criticism, I’m sure Fizik will be happy about it :) I cannot express how extremely thankful for the incredible opportunity and cannot thank Todd Carver enough for the new bike fit. I took the bike out Friday morning for a ride and it was a night and day difference!

This year, we are fortunate to have Champion System clothing as one of our new sponsors for the Timex Multisport team. I have been thoroughly impressed with the new cycling kits and thought you might like to know why their products rank really high on my apparel scale :)

Not only does the design and color pop aesthetically, their proprietary flatlock stitching design really compliments the overall look of the gear while also giving it a more comfortable feel.

With all clothing companies, there are endless options when customizing cycling apparel. You have choices with fabrics, sleeve types, seam types, zipper lengths, form fits, etc. Whoever did the designing on the Timex’s kits couldn’t have read my mind more perfectly as to what would be the best options :)

The flat seam designs on the sleeves and bottom of the jersey are my absolute favorite. The garment stays in place without riding up and it even looks really nice with a pair of baggy mountain bike shorts! I’m also a big fan of the full length zipper and the UV protection fabric that is lightweight and extremely breathable.

Some of the other nice features are the built in tags and the three large pockets on the back of the jersey. I also have to give a huge applause to Champion System because they truly do offer a great ‘women’s specific‘ line of clothing with superb fits. You can instantly tell that the cuts were truly designed for women the second you put the apparel on. The jerseys fit snug in just the right places and the shorts are the perfect length!

Not everyone is a fan of bib cycling shorts but I honestly couldn’t ride in anything else! It’s definitely not the most convenient when you need to go to the bathroom (if you’re a girl), but there’s nothing worse than having the top of shorts digging into your tummy while you’re riding.

One of the biggest concerns with bike shorts for most women is how tight the bottom seam fits around your quad/thigh region. The recent trend has been moving towards seamless legs and CS did a phenomenal job incorporating this in their products. The fit is much more flattering and so comfortable.

The silicon leg grippers help keep the shorts put so there is no cinching or riding up during all types of rides. This might be my most favorite piece of my entire kit!

The final great feature of the CS Razor Edge bib shorts is the mesh straps with the radio/ipod holder. The fit is just snug enough to keep everything in place but not too tight where it feels like your being squeezed into your shorts – trust me, I’ve had that feeling before! Overall, I’m really excited about our partnership with Champion System and really look forward to trying out all the great pieces they have designed for us. From various triathlon apparel to cyclocross skinsuits, we are going to be one good looking team representing a rockstar brand!

It’s been quite a while since I’ve raced my bicycle, October 16th of last year to be exact, so I came into this race with absolutely no expectations. I have been riding since February but have only done 3 ‘real’ workouts prior to coming down to Pueblo so finishing was honestly on the top of my list!

The race unfolded a little bit more spastic-ally than I would have hoped. The women’s field started behind the 50+/60+/Singlespeed/Clydesdale men’s classes so the first lap was absolute chaos. All the women struggled to get around the various packs and because it was extremely difficult to pass, we got very split up right off the bat.

The race was two 22 mile laps on very rocky/desert like terrain. I attempted this race last year but wasn’t informed we would be riding on trails resembling broken dinner plates so I ran lightweight tires with minimal tire pressure – I triple flatted and walked my butt in for almost 2 hours! Luckily I learned from my mistake and ran heavy duty tires with sidewall protection and inflated my tires almost 4 psi more than I normally run. It took a while to get used to the rock hard tires (I did have a few stellar front wheel wash outs), but unlike many others, I didn’t flat!!!

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised with the fitness I had during the race. My average heart rate of 177 for 3hrs45min is definitely a sign that I have a lot more work to be be done before I hit any sort of peak, but compared to my competition, I wasn’t too far off. The new Timex Cycle Trainer worked like a charm and gave me all the info I needed to get through the race – this is my all time favorite Timex product EVER! As with all races, I had lots of random hiccups – in a really bumpy section my seat slipped on the rails and went nose up so I had to stop, I didn’t eat or drink nearly as much as I should have resulting in a massive bonk 7 miles from the finish and I forgot to take off my base layer before the start…it was in the mid 80s with zero shade the entire race :)

This was also my first true mountain bike ride on my new Litespeed Cohutta 29er. It was an extremely rough course which was probably more suited for a dual suspension bike, however, I couldn’t have been happier with how the bike handled. The titanium frame and carbon seat post gave me a little relief on the bumpy terrain but what made the day was the stability and pop the bike gave me to accelerated out of the hundreds of corners and up the short/steep little climbs. I’m still tweaking a few things with the handlebars and wheel-sets but I’m really excited to be riding this bike in 2012.

I was battling for 2nd and 3rd with Annie (age 51) almost the entire race, but really lost a lot of time on the last few miles with my big bonk. When I had to stop at the final aid station to rehydrate and stop seeing stars, that is when Rebecca came flying by (she had been struggling with 2 flats). After getting back on the bike, I eventually made my way to the finish in 4th overall and 3rd Pro for the day. As a whole, the race went 100 times better than I could have ever imagined – I wasn’t kidding about just wanting to finish. It’s a huge relief to know that I do have some fitness still lingering from year’s past, but most importantly, it just feels good to be back out racing with all my close friends. The Colorado MTB crowd is one big family that is so supportive both on and off the race course and it’s really hard being away from it with sickness and injury. I think I’m finally past my string of bad luck so I’m really looking forward to ripping it up for a full season this year. 2012, it’s game time :)

Timex teammate, Wendy Mader, coaches a running group every Wednesday night and thought it would be a great opportunity to have some avid runners try out the new GPS Run Trainer!

She couldn’t have picked a better day and a better group of people. The first 10 people there were all incredibly interested in trying it out and unfortunately we ran out before everyone could get a chance to give it a try.

Although the workout was only on the track and elevation wasn’t something that you could see on the graphs, everyone liked to seeing their various times from the 800s they were running. I got a lot of really great questions about all of the different Timex GPS watches and everyone loved the ease of use of the Run Trainer.

A selected few athletes stuck around after the session to geek out on watch functions and chat about the pros and cons of racing/training/recovering in compression gear. All in all, it was a great and successful demo with lots of smiles :)

On Wednesday afternoon, I drove down to the Denver’s Runners Roost to meet up with Timex teammate, Trista Francis, and Colorado Timex rep, Brett Rose.

We set up a station just before their weekly run so that people could demo the new Timex Run Trainer GPS watch.

We had a great turnout and lots of people took advantage of the opportunity to test out the demo watches. As usual, we set up computers and showed the runners how you can customize the various screens, vitals, intervals, etc directly through Device Agent then got them connected to the satellites and sent them on their way.

After the runners returned from their workout, we gave them a brief tutorial of Training Peaks and showed them how simple it is to download the information right off the watch. Everyone is always wow-ed by the cool factor of the maps and graphs tab which definitely puts a smile on my face.

This week’s run included an Easter Egg hunt and a big raffle at the end. We donated two Timex watches which were a bit hit. We had lots of good questions and overall, the demo was a great success!