Vacation Adventures

Hey guys,

First of all, I'd like to wish everyone a late Merry Christmas and an early Happy New Year! I have to apologize for the absence of posts, because I was up in the mountains for a week with my family for a Christmas vacation!

Now, for everyone who lives in a mountainous region, you know how beautiful the scenery is. However, as a 16 year old, I'd actually never seen mountains in person before. Driving in to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, where we stayed, was truly a magical experience for me, seeing mountains and hills roll past the car windows, like in a movie. But that wasn't going to compare to what happened later on in the trip. Now, I had brought my oldest bicycle on this trip, a 1987 Trek 1200, which is a very special bike to me. It is an all aluminum frame, with down tube shifters! :) It's a very classic bike, and I love it. Unfortunately, almost all of our trip was freezing cold, icy, snowy, and rainy. But, on one day, it started out in a downpour, but around noon the rain stopped and the sun came out. I decided to take control of the stop in rain to go out and ride, and I told my parents I was going to explore a town about 5 miles away from our hotel, mostly uphill. So, I set out, and was having an absolutely magical ride-picture rock slabs right next to the road with waterfalls coming through holes in the rock, with a large river flowing off to the left side of the road, moving quickly from the recent rain. Then, a tunnel-and on the other side heavily wooded areas with streams running through them in the underbrush. It was absolutely breathtaking.

After making it past all of that beautiful scenery, I reached the town of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and was riding around, down the main and back streets, looking for fun things for my family to possibly do there. Then, as I was riding, I saw it-a mountain, rising from the horizon, and going up for a very long time. About halfway up the mountainside, fog and clouds had accumulated, hiding some of the scenery from view, but then the peak of the mountain again looked out from above the mist. I had one thought and one thought only-"I have to climb that mountain." I started riding in the general direction, and as I got close, I stopped on the side of the road and asked a man who sold firewood what mountain it was and how to get there. He told me it was Bluff Mountain and told me how to get to the top, and I set off. Soon, I turned down Bluff Mountain Road, and began my climb. At the bottom of the mountain, the incline isn't bad-just a little up here and there. But as soon as I turned a corner, the road seemed almost straight up. My heart rate shot up to over 200BPM, and I struggled to keep turning the pedals. However, I was able to, and started my trek up the mountain. The roads, to my delight, were in the same format you see watching the Tour when the climb any mountain, but I thought of the Alpe d'Huez personally-with the winding 180 degree turns like this!
The road continued for a very long time, and as I made my way up, up, up farther and farther I began to get very fatigued, having to get off my bike and breathe for some time before I could resume the ride, it was so steep. But I was determined to make it to the summit, and soon I could tell I was close-because as I turned another 180 degrees, up the road I could see the fog I had seen from the bottom! I rode through the mist, climbing higher and higher, and soon the fog began to disperse, and I knew I had climbed out of it. Even so, I still had some time to go, but then, as I struggled up a final stretch, Bluff Mountain Road ended. Looking out past the road, into clouds, I could see I was high above any other mountain and really, anything. I could see the cloud level, but I could also see where the clouds stopped and where the sky began, and I could see for miles. It was absolutely inspiring, beautiful, and extremely meaningful. Because as this whole year comes to a close, that bike ride couldn't have meant more. It meant to me that no matter how much hardship you endure, no matter what you're put up against, no matter how much you struggle, you can find the strength to continue going, even when life knocks you off your bike-you can get back on, and you can ride to be on top of the world. And that's where I was.

Happy training guys, and to all a Happy New Year.

Kinetic InRide Power Meter Review

Hey guys,

So, yesterday was very exciting, cool, and eye-opening to me. I had my first brush with training with a power meter, and it really was an awesome experience. I had a 2 hour trainer ride I needed to do, and I set up the power meter in less than 10 minutes, and it worked right off the bat, giving me a ridiculous window into seeing my effort directly correlate into watts! Here's the review:

Overview:

So, the InRide supports Kinetic by Kurt trainers, but only a select few; the Road Machine, the Rock N' Roll Trainer, and the Pro Trainer. The way to view the power data requires an apple device, either the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 5, the iPad 3, the iPad Mini, or 5th generation iPod touches. The app is free in the App Store, and downloads quickly onto your device, and even has a sharing feature once you complete the workout to upload onto training sites, like MapMyFitness, TrainingPeaks, Garmin Connect, and more. In a nutshell, hardware inside the sensor measures speed and cadence at the wheel of your bike, and then translates that data in power using an equation. However, from my research, experience with the product, and other reviews, the meter is very accurate.

Setup

So, this is the completed product. The InRide comes in a small little cardboard cover, and includes the Sensor, Grommet, Magnet, HR Strap, HR Device, and instructions/manual to the power meter. So, with the unboxing process, it all went very quick and easy for me. The instructions are very simple and easy to follow. For those of you with Kinetic trainers, I'm sure you've noticed the little hole on the cylinder part of your flywheel: that was designed for the InRide. The only thing the boxed product lacks is a isopropyl alcohol pad, which is needed to clean the plastic area of the trainer where you will be placing the sensor.

The first few steps are very simple. I have taken pictures of the instruction booklet, as I have already installed the magnet and sensor on my own trainer. To start, you take the rubber grommet, and push it into the hole that is on the cylindrical part of your trainer, right next to the flywheel; and it should be very tight-this holds the magnet. You can use the screwdriver to push the grommet into the trainer, until it is sealed against the lip of the trainer.








Once you've installed the rubber grommet, you need to install the magnet. This is where you need your flat-headed screwdriver, because it is the easiest way to get the magnet installed. Simply snap the magnet to the metal, flat-headed edge of the screwdriver to hold the magnet steady. After you've done this, you maneuver your screwdriver over the hole in the rubber grommet, and carefully remove the screwdriver from the magnet; with the magnet staying in the grommet.









You can push the magnet in with your hand, but it is better to use the rounded part of your screwdriver to push the magnet into the grommet further, making it flush with the edge. This is very crucial that the magnet needs to be flush, otherwise it could spell some problems down the road.












Now, on to installing the sensor. This is also fairly easy, but it is much more critical, as in it is very important to where you place the sensor. First off, you need to get your hands on some isopropyl alcohol, which you can find pretty commonly(I found a cleaning pad in a first aid kit) and clean the area around where you will be placing the sensor, which is just to the left of your flywheel, in that immediate area close to the hole where you've just installed your magnet and grommet.








After you've cleaned the area, allow the alcohol to dry for a few seconds, and then get ready to install your sensor. This is the crucial part, where you have to have good placement in order for your sensor to transmit anything. The sensor must be aligned with the edges of your trainer bracket, and by all means, install the sensor so that the notch in the sensor is aligned with the magnet. This is VERY IMPORTANT, if you want your sensor to actually work.

I practiced placing the sensor before I removed the adhesive, just so I could get a good placement when I was actually placing the sensor. After you've practiced. or are confident in knowing where you need to place the sensor, you remove the adhesive on the back of the sensor, and place the sensor on the spot and press it onto the trainer and hold it for a few seconds firmly, to get a good stick,

This is my completed and installed sensor and magnet, and it took me less than 10 minutes. As soon as I was finished, I got on the trainer and started the configuration-and as it turns out the configuration wasn't as hard as I anticipated, and it took me about 2 minutes, very quick.

Configuration

*Read these pages from left to right, as it is the order of configurations*

So, this is your home page for the app, and the instructions are included in your box or on Kinetic's website. What you do is with your HR strap on, or not, depending on if you like HR data or not, you select Configuration. It is important that you have ensured your iPhone has Bluetooth enabled before starting configuration.

You then see this screen, where you can edit your workout preferences. To add your power meter and HR monitor to your device, you select Add New.

After you select Add New, this pop-up comes up, and you can select either your Watt Meter or HR first, either way works.

When you select inRide Watt Meter, it brings you to this screen, but yours will only say Add New Sensor, mine is already paired, which is why it shows Blue 2 as being On.

Once you select Add New Sensor, it brings you here, and the sensor will be found after a few seconds. Once it pairs, you select Save, and then you return to the Trainer Preferences. From here, you repeat what you've done with the Watt Meter with the HR Monitor.

This screen is similar to the inRide Watt Meter screen, but it has the HR function instead. All of the steps are the same.




The HR monitor has to be on your body in order to pick up, and once it does, it remembers the HR strap.








After pairing your two devices, you move on to the personal information input. Return to the main screen, and then select the Wrench icon in the upper right hand corner.


This brings you to a Config page, and you can input your personal information such as FTP, max HR, and your body facts, i.e. height, weight, etc.

After selecting User Profile, you can input E-mail, select unites, and input height, weight, birthdate, and gender. A cool feature I found was that the app keeps track of your HR zones, as well as your Power Zones, if you know them. Kinetic has a solution for both, with your max HR being 220-your age, and then it has an Auto-Calculate Zones feature that does the math for you, and on the Kinetic website it has a test that determines your FTP(functional threshold power), which, after you find out, has the Auto-Calculator for your power zones.

 When returning to the Config page, you can select Sharing and pair your device with training sites, like those shown here. After you configure where you want to share, you're ready to ride! On the home page, all you have to do is select Get Ready, and it will bring you here. Your HR should be displayed, but power will show n/a. Don't be worried, this is normal! In the upper right hand corner, you see the letter C with an arrow going around it. Select this, and you can do a spindown, which is where you increase your speed slowly from 10mph to 21mph, and then let your trainer wheel coast down to a stop. What this does is it allows the power meter to calibrate and recognize the power and adjust accordingly, ensuring a more accurate ride.

And, finally, you're done! You are ready to ride. Go ahead and press start, and you're off-power data is displayed, as well as cadence, HR, distance, speed, and time. Also, there are multiple data screens you can scroll through. Once you finish and save a workout, you can upload it to any of your shared sites, I sent mine to TrainingPeaks. This is the Workout Details page, where you can view your ride after you've completed it. I averaged close to 200 watts for 2 hours, and it just made me dumbfounded at how pros average over 350 watts for 4+ hours, absolutely ridiculous. But it was a good tool to acquire, one I've been saving up for a long time! It really is a good option for you triathletes on a budget, like me. The inRide only costs $229.99 USD, and although it confines your workouts with power to the trainer, it is well worth it to be able to see power during your trainer rides, which I assume are pretty frequent, due to the cold.

Performance

As I started the ride, the power was not displaying at all, only my HR showed up. After a few minutes of reading some troubleshooting forums and fumbling around with the iPhone, I discovered that the watt meter had been turned off, making sense as to why nothing had been showing. So after that little bump in my set-up, I started my ride, and all of the data started up and worked well. Power was overall pretty consistent in the beginning, and seemed very congruent to my effort. Although, there was a few jumps in the power, going from a small amount to a large amount after a little lag, but nothing extremely significant, and this is typical behavior of a power meter from any company. 

This is the power data from TrainingPeaks, and as you can see, there are a few spikes in power as well as a few dips, but they are not frequent and come back to being consistent quickly. Overall, for my first experience with a power meter, it seemed to do very well and I am very satisfied with its performance, and worth the price.

Overall, I hope this review helps you guys out and has some useful information! Have a great winter season on the trainers! 

Happy training everybody!

The Story Becomes A Story

Hey guys,

Congratulations to all of the athletes on their accomplishments
Jarod Nizen, 16, won with the fastest time in the race's history,
1:05:11. This is an amazing feat in itself, but for Jarod, this was his
first race since a serious bike accident in July of this year. This
event always brings stories of inspiration.

So, today comes with good news! Yesterday, December 1st marked a release of a local newspaper in Bunn, North Carolina, to a community of people who live in Lake Royale, a neighborhood of over 1000 homes. This is the same area that hosted the Lake Royale triathlon, a race I participated and won back in October, where I did a race review here.

But, when I got home from work yesterday, my mom had something to show me. She pulled up the Royale Reporter online and showed me a page that was all about the triathlon. In a collage of other photos, I was in the top left corner, and on this blog is the single picture of the collage. But the caption you see underneath the picture is what was printed in the news! This was very good to hear, because I feel like a few more people have heard my story so far. I think it kind of gives off a inspirational effect, a come-from-the-bottom victory that was lined with obstacles, but can still be achieved. Hopefully that's what other people think when they read it, not just me. That's been one of my goals all along; to be an inspiration to someone, to show them they can accomplish their dreams. I know this doesn't mean that by any means, but it's a start, something I can build off in the future. However, the article did miss one fact-the fact that I broke my wrist prior to starting the run! A crazy turn of events, but still a win and a CR. Very happy and blessed to have returned to racing well, and I am looking forward to a similar 2014!

Happy training everybody!