Sublime, or ridiculous?

This one goes out to all you weight-weenies out there, we know there are a few. Courtesy of the veloptimum blog, we bring you a decidedly non-UCI legal 2.85 kg bike.

There's precious little here that's not carbon. Naturally the frame, fork, rims, handlebars, seat and so-on are made of our (well your) favourite layered, composite material. Interestingly (and I do mean this, as opposed to many people who say interestingly when it is only interesting to them) it appears even the chain-rings are carbon.

We wondered about the durability of those rings, and got us to thinking what good is a 2.85 kg bike, that costs goodness knows what but you can only get one good Olympic distance out of one? Well, the makers claim it's good for 23 000 kms, a figure we (for one) find remarkably precise!

Looking at the stock items on the frame, aficionados will see that Campy Record 10 and SRAM Red all get an outing. The pedals of choice for this weight-saving exercise were Speedplays; which is good news because an informal TZ poll shows that Speedplays are TNS's pedal of choice already! The AX-Lightness rims are commercially available, but are for tubs only, not clinchers. Which is probably good as choosing the wrong inner-tubes could significantly add to the weight of the bike! Also, the brake-calipers appear to be stock items and not custom (if a fully carbon brake-caliper can ever be considered something as mundane as "stock"). So, if you're serious about looking to shed some weight from your whip, there are a couple of small pointers here without having to go all custom on us!

We were most interested by the retro gear-levers. They gutted a set of Record 10 brifters and left them as old-school brake-levers, mounting some even more retro-looking downtube shifters to the headtube. So again, in the interests of weight, something to consider. If you're road-racing in a pack, having fingertip control over your gears is a massive advantage, and one the TA would be loathe to give up. However, if time-trailing is your thing, and you're resolutely sticking to your tried and trusted Cinelli 64-42s, then perhaps old-school might be the best school!

It's not even that an iconoclastic thing to do either. Remember; even in the days of STI/Ergo Marco Pantani famously used an old-school left-hand Record brake-lever and corresponding down-tube shifter on mountain stages, ostensibly to keep weight down and improve his climbing performance. Check out the photo below and you'll see what we mean.

In hindsight, the 60% haematocrit probably helped too. And there's the second lesson (the third, if you count "don't take performance enchacing drugs"). As cool as this would be, if your BMI is up there, perhaps it would be cheaper to watch the grams in your diet, not the grams on your bike.

Keep drooling

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Travelocity Gnome (TM)

TNS has it's own version of the Travelocity Gnome! Cookie MacKilt has been going places recently, certainly more places than his erstwhile guardians. And more cookies! He even has his own Facebook page where you can follow his progress across the endurance-sport world.

Here are a few examples of Cookie's recent travels. Here's Cookie at the Fundy Loppet.....

at Leah Jabour's Ugly Sweater Run.....

(Hmmm, brunch, nom nom nom)

the Falmouth Half & 10K.....

(left, no right, no Coookies)

the TNS Banquet....

(Hey, Kilt-guy, you give me Coookies?)

(Hmmm, lashings of extra lasagna, nom nom nom)

and the TNS AGM

(yes, the meeting was chaired by a Muppet)

That cookie-lovin' monster sure does get around.

So head on over to Facebook and Friend Cookie. I'm sure if we try, Cookie could have more friends than Triathlon New Funswick by the end of the day (sorry Scott!). Oh, and if you're searching for him, remember, even though TNS is a non-sectarian organisation, nonetheless it's Cookie MAcKilt (with an 'a'), not McKilt (without).

Hmmm, Coookies....

Or if you're feeling highbrow, Hmmmm, biscotti....

AiDa

Many, many thanks to Ron MacDougall!

Go athletes go!

It used to be said that it was always time to have a drink as the sun was over the yardarm somewhere. Similarly, just because as age-groupers we are, in the main getting our base miles in on the trainer (remember a base mile is 60% longer than a base kilometre), it doesn't mean someone, somewhere, is racing.

Meggie Soehl will be skiing cross-country for Team Nova Scotia at the Canada Winter .games. She was profiled recently in the Herald alomg with the rest if the team, where we learned that this will be her third Canada Games; two winter and one summer, making her our very own Clara Hughes! Her sister, Marie Soehl, will be there too in cross country ski as will Liam McInerney and Lydia McInerney. Cross Country ski is a week two sport out at Ski Martock, so if you're in the vicinity, go along and give them a cheer. Additonally, Cole MacDonnell is in .biathlon, which we recently heard described as "all the fun of cycling, with firearms". Biathlon (note, not bi-ath-alon. Just sayin') is a week one sport we think, so if you're around, check the schedule and go gice him a shout. Just remember to stand behind him when he stops skiing!

We mustn't forget TNS behind the scenes at the Winter Games; Mark "Cookie Monster" Campbell is one of the big-dogs (venue leader) at one of the skiing venues and TNS ED Sarah "Hopalong" Wood is keeping them straight at the Oval.

Meanwhile, in the pool, pretty much the rest of the 2009 Canada Games squad was fighting it out at the AUS swim championships; Emily Wood, Brad Piggott, Macgregor Grant and Parker Vaughan as well as Matt Piggott. Em, Matt and Brad all made their times and will be heading to Nationals in Calgary in a coup,e of weeks.

Good luck to all as they race againat the the best in the country

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Half, Hypothermic.

So we guess the racing season has begun for many of us. We saw that Cookie Monster (both of them), Ron McScotch, Geoff Bennett, Darlene Chapman and Gerrad Lewin, hit a 30km/50km loppet in New Brunswick back in January.

Rumours that Cookie, in the 50K, lapped McScotch in the 30K have to remain unconfirmed.

Never too early to get a jibe in (if the alleged lapping wasn't enough), Cookie has been coaching McScotch on the finer points of ski-etiquette (the original caption for the photo below was something like "Ron in mid-stride") and judging from the looks of things, we might have to do the same and weigh in on the finer points of fashion-etiquette. Red and green and plaid on blue skis?

Puh-leeze.

There were a good number out at the long-track speedskating endurance events a couple of weeks ago, including McScotch, Moka Case, Charles Verge, Ron Allen, Darlene Chapman and Marie-Claude Gregoire. Oh, and Cookie McKilt too.

Yup we might to start the Challenge again soon; we make it Tartan 3 - Cookie 1 and it's only just February. It's going to be a long season for somebody's knees!

Cross-country ski and long-track aren't part of our core competencies; running is. So it wasn't a surprise to hear of so many at the Hypothermic Half in Dartmouth this weekend. The weather wasn't quite hypothermic, but it was very wet, windy and slushy. The conditions reminded the TA uncomfortably of the "epic" 2005 Bluenose. It will likely take a week or so for the results to make it on-line but the entry-list read like the TNS Awards banquet; Mike Bedard, Jamie Haynes, Brooke Brown, Carolyn Burke, Moka Case, Elizabeth Corkum, Freda Cormier, Caitlyn Cormier, Andreas Burger, Julie Curwin, Heather Doucette, Caitlyn Gillis, Erin Gillis, Stacy Juckettt Chestnutt, Pat Kennedy, Leanne MacDougall, Norma Jean MacPhee, Dion McKay, Chris Milburn, Erin Pike, Beverley Richardson, Steve Saunders, Tammy Slaunwhite, Sara Strickland and Erin Thibault. We read somewhere on Facebook "Stace won it", which wouldn't surprise us in the least. Chapeau all for for slogging through the slush and the wind.

Once more, our apologies if the TNS member tracking software didn't pick you up. To be honest, it might have received a mild concussion yesterday from us banging on the side of it to make it work (like a 50's TV) and so it wasn't quite up to registering names correctly.

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Photos from various Facebook accounts and Ron.

Competition Rules Update

We recently heard that a couple of the updated rules in the 2010 Competition Rules that caused some confusion at the end of last year have been examined and ruled on by the ITU Technical C'ttee. This is, word for word, what we have today;

Handlebars/Non Drafting Races - any aerobar is now acceptable providing it does not extend any further than the leading edge of the front tire. Bridging is not required. Open bar ends must be plugged. Brakes must not face forward.

Compression Socks. Cannot be used in a non-wetsuit swim. they can be used in duathlon and after the non-wetsuit swim. Compression socks include any covering below the knee

So, even if the SockSnob thinks compression socks (and calf-guards too) are a fashion-crime, you won't get dinged for wearing them at Cyclesmith or DIFS, or Riverport for that matter (do we have any duathlons when it's warm?). As for non-wetsuit swims, well we're almost always in wetsuits. However, should you venture out-of-province, you should be prepared for this rule to be enforced. This goes double should you, even as an age-grouper, be at any of the ITU Triathlon Worlds such as Long Course Worlds (Henderson, NV, November '11) or Olympic Distance Worlds (Beijing, China, September '11), both of which sound warm.

Handlebars. Well after the confusion at the end of last year we're back to status quo ante for non-drafting races, even at Worlds. So, as long as they are plugged, you aren't a mid-90s Graeme Obree....

.... and you haven't done that hispter flop-and-chop thing, you're good to go.

We also think that although not explicitly covered by the Competition Rules, we'd find it in our cold, dead, unfeeling NTO hearts to DSQ this entry to BikesnobNYC's "Cockies" (as in outrageous bicycle cockpits you one-track-minded person you).

Ten extra bonus points however if you modified your bar-end shifters to comply with the 2010 Competition Rules (we did see someone do this!).

A word about those Worlds, and this comes from, the "personal experience file" (as in "a wiser man learns from the mistakes of others"). Remember, disc wheels in non-drafting races have always been allowed at the discretion of the TD. The TA can only think of one instance provincially in the last eight years where such a ruling was made; however the ruling was made at Du Worlds last year, much to the consternation of some international athletes who only had a rear disc.

You should always be prepared for discs to be disallowed on competition day. If you're driving to an event, chucking a spoked wheel in the trunk isn't an issue. If you are travelling abroad, then whilst space may be a premium, remember to pack a spoked wheel. Perhaps even a mass-start road-racing UCI-legal wheel, should the TD be a bit of a hard-ass. Sure, a $50 surcharge to get your spare wheel-set on the plane may be steep, but not starting Worlds because of a strong cross-wind is going to cost you more.

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How close were you to Cookie?

Now we freely admit, in the TA's house this question normally accompanies the discovery of empty packets and trails of crumbs, but that's our problem and to be honest, in the quest for a light bike, cutting cookies would be a lot cheaper than going overboard on crabon fribé tube-sets and titanium bolts. Not that a full-on crabon frame hung with a groupset milled from exotic metals and held in place with bolts made from even more exotic metals wouldn't be cool, but ultimately, putting the kibosh on a$20/week biscuit habit would be a more economical choice. ITTET and all.

Rather, we are talking about Cookie McKilt, the prize in the Cookie Counter/Tartan Tally smackdown. Ron McScotch gave Cookie a new home, which we understand to be full of bacon, and indeed pork-based breakfast items of many kinds.

Whilst famously addicted to chocolate chip cookies, one suspects breakfast biscuits of the Southern style are becoming part of Cookie's diet.

Back to the Tally. To remind you, the end-of-season numbers looked like this;

Ron won the match on absolute numbers, with 38 events (up to and including the Wine Run on the morning of the banquet) vs. Mark's 22 events. This 22 included two RDing gigs (DILB and Shubie-Doobie).

We always said we would not discriminate between 5Ks and Ironman (or beyond). This turned out not to be an issue as they were pretty even in the events they took on; Ron raced over distances from 5 km to 287 km, Mark from 5 km to 224 km. If we took into account distance traveled, well Ron came out with 1436.6 kms (give or take) with Mark at 1050 km. Score another one for the kilt. However, dividing by the number of races (see note below the table), then Mark travelled 52.3 kms per event, whilst Ron travelled on average 37.8 km. In other words, Mark did the equivalent of an Ultramarathon each time out of the gate, whilst Ron "only" managed three miles short of a full marathon each time he pinned on a number. So Mark won that one and was duly awarded a Cookie Monster tuque, to accompany him on his ski-marathons (and beyond).

By now the obvious question has presented itself and we know your brows are furrowing as you try to figure out how you did last year. Let us start the ball rolling. Since disposing of a horribly fast 5K (for us) on Boxing Day, we were able to finally do the math and finished the year with 22 events, from 5K to the marathon for a total of 452 km. That's all races; running, dus, tris, bike-races, anything with a chip or a bib-number or a plate-number.

Looks like three peaks; one at 10K for 10Ks and cyclocross (8 races of various types), another at the half-marathon (three halfs) and a third at the marathon (three fulls and the duathlons were all about this long too). This averages out at 20.5 km per race, or about a half-marathon each time we were handed a handful of safety-pins or a chip, with the 5Ks cancelling out the marathons. Sounds about right.

As for Cookie, we were nowhere close. But we still have our knees (well kinda), so it's all swings-and-roundabouts.

So tell us, how did you do? Answers; # races, total kms and average kms on the right please. Again, that's any race in any discipline; so long as there was a bib, plate, chip or something "official" (a cat#6 sprint over the MacDonald Bridge on the morning commute doesn't count). The fields are independent, so you'll have to tell us all three. They are also anonymous, so don't worry.

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No snow yet.....

Our apologies for being a bit quiet for a week there. You would be forgiven for thinking we were celebrating the blog's one-year anniversary by going off-line and having a nap on the couch. Nothing can be further from the truth (You want the truth? You can't handle the truth. Sorry about that, couldn't resist!). We hope in our absence, Scott and his oppos over at TriNB were keeping you amused. That whole Cipolini/machismo thing was worth a read, and a smile and some of the other stuff, well it's not triathlon but life isn't 100% triathlon 100% of the time.

Now that the Holiday season has indubitably arrived, to the delight of romanticists and the chagrin of Grinches alike, you would be correct in thinking that the sporting season for us lot has well and truly finished. Back in October, many of you indicated a willingness to carry on racing; late-season road-races, trail races, cyclocross, and the U23 athletes were busy racing Varsity. Now, well even Ron McScotch hasn't used a safety pin for a couple of weeks, and if there's a race out there to be done, he can sniff it out. So surely there can be no way that even the TA can turn this into a triathlon article.

Well, perhaps we can turn the absence of events into an article, and even a poll. Yes, a poll. They've kinda fallen by the wayside recently, so we think we'll get them back up and running.

Firstly, the results from the last poll, which we realise we put up just after Legs for Literacy in Moncton in late October. Following Colin Edwards' disappointment with a race-winning 36' 10K we asked if 36' was really a fast time for a 10K. A clear majority, 61% of you said Yes, it was, with only 23% Grinches saying No it wasn't. The Yeses increased to 75% if we ranked the 14% Obi-Wan Kenobis as yes, because unless you are Kenenisa Bekele, the question really makes no sense. So Colin, yes, we all think you're still fast and to be honest, looking at the times, you can still beat everyone in TNS in a flat 10K.

Before you out there say anything about how your time at the Navy 10K was faster, remember, the Navy 10K is really the Navy 9.5 K, so you should have added a couple minutes to your time before you voted!

To business. The TA enjoyed a really nice ride in the snow last week, a lack of a properly functioning front-brake notwithstanding (tips on retrofitting disk-brakes onto canti-boss braze-ons gratefully accepted) so we ask firstly, are you sill riding outside? We know from last year that the bike is the first thing you tend to give up in the winter. However, the weather in Nova Scotia has persisted in remaining in "s@#*^y autumn" mode instead of progressing gracefully into winter. This means, should you be so inclined, bolting your bike into a trainer can be postponed and as riding outside in autumn is perfectly fine with the addition of a pair of knee-warmers, a Flemish-cap (of the woolly ear-flapped millinery rather than the disputed fishing territory variety, señor) and some long-fingered gloves, we don't think this is an overly obtuse question.

We'll post another poll in a couple of days, but you'll have to do some math for that one, so in the meantime do this one then sharpen a couple of pencils and revise your long-division. You can leave your log tables in your bag and yes, calculators will be allowed.

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