BRILF.net

GamJams Reviews: On Bike Nutrition - Carrot Cake Clif Bar

I'm very particular about pre-ride nutrition - what I eat, how much and when. Couple that with my average ride length of an hour or so and there's not a lot of reason for me to eat on the bike.

But when I do, I grab myself a Clif Bar. Of all the bars I've tried, Clif is the easiest to open and chew while riding. That alone would catapult it to the top of my choice set. But after sampling a dozen or so flavors I tried Carrot Cake and never looked back. It's the sleeper hit of Clif Bar flavors.

Does anybody eat Power Bar anymore? Seriously - anybody? I remember eating them when they came onto the market 20+ years ago. On hot days, guys would cut them up and stick them on their (steel) frame tubes like magic putty, peeling them off in pieces to eat during a race. I remember also being a lot faster back then. And 20 lbs lighter. And knowing how to climb. Ah, youth.

It should be pointed out that the Clif Shot in mocha contains 50mg of caffeine, and the Accel Gel in chocolate with caffeine contains only 20mg of the good stuff.

iBike vs PowerTap in a Customer Service Smackdown

I had been a PowerTap customer for years, and like most PowerTap customers had ample opportunity to sample their customer service. They do a solid job at Saris, and turn repairs and refurbs around pretty quickly for the most part. My most recent experience with them was sub-par however. I sent in an old PowerTap (Classic) hub to be exchanged for a new Comp Hub - no wheel, no build necessary, just receive one box and send out another box. A week passed and nothing. Then another half week, so I called them. They had received the box but didn't begin whatever internal process needed to be begun in order to log it into the system and send me my new hub. They told me this would take another week or so. Double plus uncool.

So far, the folks at iBike have been on top of their customer service game, or at least their customer outreach game, as evidenced by some of the comments on this blog from the CEO and their Pro team manager / Coach / Consultant. They seem very motivated to make sure people are getting the best experience possible from their products.

Their tech department so far seems to be a single guy named Aaron. Being a department of one must positively suck, especially when much of your job must be reacting to complaints and problems. Nevertheless, when I sent iBike a note telling them that the center button on my iAero wasn't working, Aaron wrote back quickly with instructions for trying a hard re-set (which didn't work) and then sending it in for repair or replacement (which I did yesterday).

Will it sit in receiving for a week or two like my PowerTap hub? Will it be repaired or replaced? How long must all of you go before you get to see actual statistical data of how ferociously I train (for 45 minutes at a time on occasion)? Stay tuned. The answers to all of these questions and more will be revealed soon. Very soon, I hope.

Power File 6.28.09: Reston GP Cat 3/4

I'm pretty sure most of that image is illegible, even if you enlarge it in a new window - apologies. Finally got a new computer with higher resolution, which is great for productivity, though screenshots are an unanticipated casualty.

Anyway, what the file shows is this:

• 26.09 miles
• 25.2 mph average
• 1:02:12 total race time
• 236 watts average
• 955 watt peak
• 301 watts NP (not from file, but I remembered to look at the iAero at the end of the race)
• 1282 total feet of climbing
• Beginning after the first corner up until the crash at 1.5 laps to go, my lowest speed was 18.1 mph. Highest was 33.2 mph.

The average power (236) doesn't sound that high, but NP of 301 is a pretty serious effort for a guy like me. I looked through the power chart and counted 94 jumps above 500 watts. The spike at about 50 minutes was me jumping for a preme with 8 to go. I hit it hard (seated) from about 6th wheel beginning half way through turn 6, gunned it around 7 and up the hill to turn 8. I was closing fast on the moto ref and had to yell at him that I was on his inside on turn 8, where I slipped by. I beat the moto to the line by about 10 yards, and had another 30 on the field. The field caught me going into turn 5, and I drifted back into the pocket to recover for the end. But the crash with 1.5 to go on turn 5 opened a gap of about 50 meters (and at least 6-8 mph), and that right there was the bike race.

Awesome course if you like corners, which I do. I made up lots of positions just by holding my speed and rolling past guys riding their brakes coming into the curves.

Power File 6.19.09: Thanks Boyd

Last week I got a comment from coach Boyd Johnson, a pro racer with DLP Racing. DLP is sponsored by iBike and it looks like Boyd does some technical consulting with the company as well.

Anyway, Boyd noticed some hiccups in my profile and asked me to send him some ride files to analyze. We went back and forth over a few days and he was able to tweak my profile so that it's more accurate. Accurate is good, even if it means I'm not as fast as I thought I might be.

Even better is that iBike is paying attention to what their customers are saying online. The other comments you see by John Hamann - he's the CEO.

Can you even name the CEO of SRM?