2011 Litespeed C1R Review

I received and built up my new C1R a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to rush and get it build before my camp the next week, so I stripped my previous Litespeed Ghisallo—I’m now building that for Jill as it’s a little small for me and a nice upgrade for her.

First impressions: WOW. Very sleek. The combination of sloping and aero tubes, flowing lines, natural black carbon, and bold white graphics is striking. It was light weight—not the lightest out there, but well below the weight of most aero bikes out there.

I built the C1R with SRAM RED, a Rotor 3D crankset, Q-Rings and chain, a Quarq Cinqo power meter, a PRO Stealth integrated stem/bar, Easton EA90 SLX wheels, and white brake hoods and ESI grips to match the frame graphics. I also included my Genuine Innovations Second Wind pump/CO2 inflator and my Zipp carbon cages.

The Litespeed C1R is made of T60 Nanotech carbon fiber. This is the best stuff on the market right now and only used on 5-6 bikes. Read more here.

First ride: Smooth, solid, and fast. Now, I’ve been on nice bikes. I’ve ridden the bikes that won Kona, Giro d’Italia, and the Tour de France. This C1R meets or beats any of them. The ride is smooth and comfortable—even with the stiffer carbon. I expected a harsher ride but I was pleasantly surprised. When I stood to accelerate the bike shot out of the cannon. The stiff and short chainstays keeps the rear triangle tight and responsive. The seatmast is a bit more of a pain to cut and size, but I like the feel being a little lighter and more compliant.

Descent down Mt Lemmon: WOW. Predictable, maneuverable but not twitchy, and very solid at high speeds. I was coaching, so I was doing a lot of riding a bit slower than normal and looking to the side and rearward at athletes—no problems and a very stable platform of a bike. But once in a while I’d stand, accel to max speed and get into a tuck. Also stable, confidence-inspiring, and solid. I went around many of the sweeping turns faster than I have before.

Bottom line: For a $3400 frame, this bike rivals those $1000 more, and in my opinion is better. It is well worth that price. It is a great overall bike—comfy on long rides, stiff in a sprint or acceleration, stable and predictable handling, and good looking. If it’s a bit out of your budget, try out the C1, the C2, or the C3. Trisports University did a great technical writeup here. Use code GEC-S for a price break at Trisports.com

For locals, ask me how to get a BIG discount on these bikes!

Keep the rubber side down.

Brian

Tucson Training Camp MVP Blog

Everyday of camp has its share of great moments when someone really lays it out there, and plenty of “stupid” moments which are excellent material for dinner time harassment. Well, today was my day (I think Hods just wanted his bike cleaned-another of the MVP honors/responsibilities).

The entire group was outstanding and to me felt stronger than any of the previous camps which I’d attended with EH and/or Brian G. So to stand out or do something worthy of note with this group was something I pretty much didn’t plan on. To be honest I’m still not sure I did anything worthy of MVP status, especially being surrounded by so many other amazing athletes.

Pretty much the culmination of the camp is the Mount Lemon climb. I’d made the climb last year, so I had a good idea of the challenge. The idea of camp is to “build into” the week, with the first day or two being not full out or it’ll be a really long week!

The whole group is broken into a couple smaller groups which leave at different times so that we all get to the top at approximately the same time. As more of a distance guy than a speed guy, I see the Mt Lemon climb as a mental exercise more so than physical. It’s more like an Ironman event where you really need to be able to stay “present” and not think about all the climbing left to do. It’s over 26 miles of climbing with an average grade around 4.5%(I think), so you really don’t get any breaks to recover. I know for me there were a couple points where it can feel overwhelming, and the first one came at mile 4. You’re like, “holy ‘sh--’ I’m only at mile 4, my legs are already burning, and I’ve still got 22+ to go!” You’re watching some of the stronger riders start to pull away, so you want to go harder and try to stay with them, but again its like an IM race in that you need to do your own thing and stay within yourself; it’s a long way up. My biggest lesson learned from the 2010 season was that, for several reasons, I let my training and racing reach a point where I wasn’t having “fun”. HUGE mistake and one I swore I wouldn’t let happen again. The Mt Lemon climb was my first chance to test my new resolution, and at mile 4 I reminded myself of this. Yes I was uncomfortable, yes I was working hard, yes I was being dropped by better riders, and yes I was having fun. Reminding myself that this is what I love to do: pushing myself, testing my limits, being outside, absolutely amazing scenery, amazing people, yes I was having fun!

So I don’t think I did anything worthy of MVP at this camp, especially being surrounded by so many athletes of such amazing talent. However, the Mt. Lemon climb was a great day for me in that I was able to test something inside myself and persevere. Although I don’t think Eric or Brian were aware of this little internal challenge, maybe that’s what makes them such great coaches-- they’re just able to see these things, as they’ve probably been there themselves.

I’m totally blessed to have had this opportunity to train with fantastic coaches and such an outstanding group of people. Good luck to all in your upcoming season, and thank you so much to Eric and Brian for an awesome camp. I’m a better person and athlete now.

Brad

Mt Lemmon MVP

Hello Tri Friends - here's your "Mayor's" belated blog for Tuesday March 1 - our Gates Pass ride.
I am writing my blog while in flight back to NY. Just to remind you - I was one of Tuesday's MVP's for doing such a great job of nuzzling up to some fresh asphalt. All I know is that I swerved to avoid hitting one of our friends - and that was all she wrote. Funny thing is - the shoulder, elbow, hand wounds hurt much more now (in flight) than they did right after crashing and for the rest of the week. Must be because the pain from being pushed hard by Eric and Brian overrode the dings from the crash pain. Luck was on our side March 1 - we avoided a disaster but most of all I was lucky - I got to finish the ride and most of all I was lucky because I had the great care, consideration and support from you guys.
I learned a heck of a lot this past week, here is your Mayor's top 10 list....
10) My girlfriend Lisa sends amazing care packages!
9) Trail running is much more fun than road running.
8) Sue, Kerri, Tracy, Trista - can kick your ass - at any moment in time.
7) Frosty has calves as large as my thighs and more hair on his chin than I have on my head.
6) Leo has a really "bitchin" RV - but what the heck goes on inside?
5) Steve and Doug (Madoff) are my idols - and the 3 of us AARP members will be back to whip you young, svelte whipper-snappers next year.
5(a) Jim/Tracey and Brian Grasky/Jill- well they just define love and great relationships.
5(b) Kevin's SI joint limp is a sandbag - he can run like a gazelle.
4) The tip top of Mt Lemmon (meaning 2 miles past "your" definition of "top" -- up over the rarely traveled snow/ice covered path) has some really cool observatories and the maintenance guys (and probably you guys too) think I am a nut.
3) Eric has really cool music on his iTouch, can nimbly pick his way through the breathtaking canyons of Tucson but can't do the same on the streets :) ... and he knows my (our) limits better than me (us).
2) Molson - had to have made his money doing stand up comedy - not on Wall St.
1) I met about 20 new friends this week that I enjoyed immensely and that I would welcome the opportunity to train with again. Safe home, fast races and happiness to you all.
From Your Mayor (almost Mr. Roadkill :)

Day 5 MVP Travis

It's all mental......

Thursday came to a close with a quick recap of Fridays plans and a nomination of the days MVP's. Much to my surprise, Eric was interested in testing my writing skills and I landed one of the days awards. After a climbing up Mount Lemmon, I think everyone deserved the MVP award.

Since Lemmon was mainly a solitary ride for me I will share a few of the high and the low points of my morning. The first revelation came when I rolled out of bed in the morning. The previous days strength session included some leg extensions while balanced on a ball. I should have known from the sneaky smile on Brian G's face as he gave me some pointers that this was going to hurt. It did, My hamstrings were barking at me. My first though was how can I climb like this. It's only 26 miles I kept telling myself. The weather was absolutely perfect and we spun out of town nice and easily. At the start of the climb I looked down and did some quick math, 26miles of climbing plus the 8miles of spinning to get out there. 34 miles would be the magic number to get to the top.

Eric and I chatted a bit up the first bit of the climb enjoying the views. As Sean rolled up almost effortlessly he reminded us to go easy for the first 13miles. I glanced down at my power meter and decided the numbers I was seeing didn't agree with this mantra so I eased up a bit. Kevin and Jim rolled up and we rode together for a bit and then they were off. No victories for me today but it was all about the views. By this point we were looking back down into the city and it was amazing how quickly we had climbed above the city.

Thankfully Eric had given some great pointers on bike fit the previous day and I raised up my seat. Almost a CM. My knee was feeling a lot better. Thanks for that. This was about the time things started getting tough. There's no reason we all shouldn't be able to make it to the top, but the mind can do funny things. As the road snaked around and the others stretched off in front I thought, "this is going to suck if my legs don't hold up, I can't not make it to the top" It was time for some mental trickery..... Step 1, was enjoy the day and look around at the views, no more looking down at the speedo. This isn't a ride where you really want to know your speed or how far you've come. Step 2, set a goal. I told myself, if I kept a good attitude all the way up it was my ticket to to a bike upgrade.

The road wound on and we came into a stretch of trees. The temps, smells, and air changed. It was great. Soon I had gone through my first bottle of Hammer's Mango Fizz. I like that stuff. Luckily Brian G was there for a on the fly water bottle refill and promptly delivered a topped off bottle out the passenger window while driving up the mountain. Impressive.

As my legs tired I took in the panoramic views and reminded my self of my goal to keep a good attitude. Finally we were near the top and Sue offered a bit of encouragement just as the climbing was coming to an end. A group of us rolled into the cookie cabin to realize there were no other bikes there. That only meant one thing. The people out front had gone the last bit up to the ski area. I contemplated for a minute as I stood in front of the cookie cabin, but then that pesky goal popped back into my head. I hadn't made it all the way. Back through town I went, about 1/2 way I did a u-turn and said screw that. But as the thought of no new toys for the bike came to mind I suddenly became motivated and I was off. If it wouldn't have been for the small personal goal, I would have never seen the top.

Special thanks to Scott and the random pickup drive who heard me mention I lost my areobottle on the trip down from the ski area. Their teamwork saved me the search for a new one. Mt. Lemmon tops my list of all time amazing road rides. Great fun, and great people. Camps been a blast, but I think I've had my fill of carne seca at El Charro!

Day 4 MVP Scott T

Mt. Lemon (AKA The big hill)

With our legs sufficiently tenderized from four days of 4-hour hill rides, mountain trail runs, and long swim workouts (oh, and let's not forget strength training with plyometrics), we launched our assault on Mt. Lemon. The Mt. Lemon ride is 26 miles of up, climbing over 7000 ft. in elevation, on a beautiful winding road that takes you from the parched desert of Tucson, through narrow rocky canyons, up into lush evergreen forest and snow. The winter time road ends at the ski area, however, Mike (AKA The Mayor) ducked under the gate at the ski area and road the additional 1.5 miles to the radio towers. We hear he has photos to prove it, but nobody was paying much attention, because we were all too busy eating the cow patty sized cookies at the Cookie Cabin, just down the road from the ski area.

I now know that the main motivation for riding Mt. Lemon is not for the workout of climbing for 2:15 hrs, but for the 0:45 of descending. What a rush it is to get into a tuck and roll down the road at 40+ mph and not have to hit your brakes. The road is so smooth and the curves are gentle enough that you can just let it rip. Where else can you do this in early March?! It has been the best day of the camp for me.

Scott Tucker

Camp Day 2 co-MVP Tracy

Toto Too!

Oh great I’m already doomed on camp day 2 by waking up at 3:00 am hungry from not getting enough calories on camp day 1. After a quick slice of raisin bread (or as our family fondly calls it “THE BREAD”) with peanut butter, I was back to sleep for a couple of hours. I was relieved to talk with Kerri later in the day to find out she has a similar nightly routine—perhaps we’ll form a support group.

It was upon descending the steps to meet for our 7:00am run that I discovered that my quadriceps were no longer functioning as they had on camp day 1. In fact there was significant discomfort. Are you kidding me? We hadn’t even been on the bikes yet! Again my only relief was the fact that my husband Jim was groaning only steps behind me.

Mercifully Coach Brian recommended that Jim and I work with him on running form, and drills, on the flat areas of the trail. Since we usually work with Brian remotely from Ohio it was great to have some personal one-on-one time with him. He is an amazingly knowledgeable, giving, and caring coach. The rest of the group was off for their second “trail” run. News from the front varied from fun, exciting, hard, craggily and steep to downright difficult. Sorry to have missed that.

After a quick breakfast it was on the bikes with what Coach Eric described as an “easy spin day”. He noted that the next two days on the bike would be “challenging” so today we would ease into the week. The plan was unfolding well, Sue and I were chatting and laughing as we rode along, until we were greeted by unexpected 30+mph head winds. Fanciful images of a relaxing ride hit the fan. Thankfully Sue and Shawn organized a group of us into a nice pace line with each of us taking 20-30 second pulls up front. Poor Shawn, the tallest of our group, ended up behind me, the smallest of our group. What an incredible pack of strong riders. Unfortunately at a stop the group dispersed. I was left on my own for what seemed an eternity until I saw my devoted husband riding back to help pull me along. Thankfully the return was one sweet ride which had us all smiling again and a bit more positive about the week ahead. Note to self: eat more during the long rides so you know your name when you get back to the hotel and never, at any cost, lose the group.



The afternoon concluded with an informative lecture by Scott Tucker of Scott Shoes. He gave an excellent presentation regarding running biomechanics and running shoes. Scott had previously provided campers with a complimentary pair of Scott shoes. Thanks for all Scott.

As I prepare for bed I’ve placed “The Bread” on the nightstand for a quick transition, I say a little prayer that my quads will be back to normal tomorrow, and the winds will be calm. But mostly I give thanks to be part of such a great group of people.

GEC-EH 2011 Winter Triathlon Camp – Day 2

Day 2 MVP Dan:

I am honored to share MVP honors today with legendary World Champion triathlete and blogger Tracy DiSabato-Aust. I am no match to her blogging talents, but I will attempt to do my best to rise to her standard of excellence. She did, though, let me quote her for the record: “Today was a hard day.”

If Day 1 of Triathlon Camp was the Ode to the Snowy Cactus, Day 2 was the Tale of the Wicked Wind of the East.

After a exhaustive (and exhausting) first day, the campers all made the 7am morning call with a bit more spirit, and a bit more bodily soreness, than the previous day. Temperatures were still chilly (34F), but a clear sky made for perfect running weather. Today’s run found us at a new place, the Douglas Springs trailhead at Saguaro National Park East. There’s apparently an extensive trail network here and Brian and Eric, as usual, picked the only hilly one.

After a brief jog down the trail to warm up plus a stretching session (which both brought back sensations and memories from yesterday), as well as a surprise (Smile! It’s Jill!), the journey up the hill began in earnest. You just can’t find good, scenic, and challenging trails like this anywhere else, and after a fair bit we were high above the valley floor looking down at the little specks of our vans back at the parking lot.

Another local triathlete sensation, Leo Carrillo, joined the camp this morning. Leo is a superstar talent all around, especially in the pool. Between him, Tall Swimmer Sean, and myself, we are destined to eventually stop perpetuating the myth that good swimmers can’t run. By the end of the week, I am certain that we will succeed, but today was a shining day for the mountain goats of the camp. After a brief rest & regathering, 28 minutes into a planned 35-minute run outbound from the trailhead, Eric and the mountain goats led on up the tallest hill yet for the final “seven minutes”. I got to the turnaround point at what seemed like 15 minutes later.

One thing that I’ll say about Eric…he’s never been anything but truthful and honest in the many years that I have known him. But occasionally his concept of when the hard training session is supposed to end (e.g. he might lose track of time or the number of intervals in the swim set or tell you to expect “rolling hills”) can differ with that of the campers, and that helps keep triathlon camp fresh…as well as a mental challenge!

By now, everyone was running on tired legs, but the downhill return (3.5 miles with 1000 of elevation descent) brought some life back. The fast downhills runs that have ended both of the first two runs of camp helped bring everyone back to the vans with a smile.

After breakfast, it was time to put on sunscreen (for once) and bring out the bicycles for the first ride of the camp. As Brian G noted, we are a pretty compatible group and all of us are comfortable riding in groups. Nonetheless, the first ride with a new group scares me a bit because there’s a little fear of the unknown. (Like when I was the first casualty of the 2009 camp when I locked my wheel spokes into another camper’s pedal.) The planned ride wasn’t much to worry about, an “easy spin” out and back to Colossal Cave. So, as long as we all could avoid colliding into objects and ourselves, there was nothing to worry about, right???

Rolling to the east edge of town, we had one random mechanical casualty but otherwise made it to the open roads unscathed and smartly as a good single-file group of 17. The first open road starts out with a good steady incline, and when I finally took a peek forward from my slot in position #16, some leaders had already broken away by a good distance, with Brian N (and his GoPro camera) pacing the trailers and getting some cool video. It wasn’t an aggressive “breakaway”, and I felt compelled to bridge up to them. I latched on to the leaders after the crest and our flight-of-six (Eric, Leo, myself and three others) built up some momentum on the ensuing downhill.

Then we really hit some wind. One moment it seemed calm. The next, we were in a stiff headwind and shortly after that it was 20 mph gusts. No dust or tumbleweeds flying around, but this was certainly something that can’t be simulated by indoor trainer rides. There’s no such thing as an easy spin uphill into a 20 mph wind, and the only thing that we all could do was to hammer our way through it. It wasn’t that long ago that my power meter was in single and double-digits, and now we’re cranking at least three bills to stay upright and move forward. Colossal Cave couldn’t come soon enough!

After rounding to the back entrance of Colossal Cave, with one more blast of headwind and one more steep climb, we enjoyed a well-earned break at the top, about 1200 feet in elevation above our starting point in Tucson. We enjoyed the great view and took pictures, briefly, before we got blown off the ridge.

The ride back was pleasant (speeds over 40 mph in spots) with the tailwind, and we returned with more smiles and well-toasted legs.

The late afternoon brought out our first taste of starpower…a great presentation / discussion by (fellow camper) Scott Tucker of Scott USA. Scott (person) represents Scott’s (company) line of running shoes and he presented on what running shoes are supposed to do.

We wrapped up Day 2 with the dinner at the best place in Tucson (at least until tomorrow night), and then retired for the evening. After two days of camp, we’ve done so much hard work that we chose to forego the usually obligatory post-dinner gelato…but it’s all worth it to be ready to bounce back and hit Day 3 strong.

Day 3 is planned to bring a morning swim followed by a difficult ride across Gates Pass and the McCain Loop. It should be a challenge again for everyone, and a chance for a few more MVPs to shine. (Don’t worry, us budding swimmer-runners will have our day later…the inevitable won’t be postponed for long!)