April 2014 – Heidi Rides Bikes

On-The-Bike Nutrition: My Faves

April 25, 2014 The Adventuring Heidi

Oh, the so hard to figure out topic of bike nutrition… I’ve been at this almost 2 years now, and I think I’ve finally whittled down the countless products available out there to ones that work for me

Hydration
In my Camelbak, when I use one (usually on training rides, normal rides, and select races), I just use plain water. I’m the world’s worst person when it comes to cleaning my bladders, so the last thing I want to add to the bladder is hydration mix when I already usually have a questionable microbiologic mess on my hands. For my bottles I either run plain water (on the trainer, short rides outdoors, or if on my road bike, which has two bottle cages, one bottle as backup) or a bottle with Osmo Nutrtion Active Hydration mix.

Osmo is one of those brands that is making its rounds getting hyped up so I was nervous to try it (because my experiences with Hammer Heed were awful and I don’t like Skratch Labs’ taste at all), but did the smart thing and got some sample packets before throwing down the money on a whole container. Because I couldn’t buy the women’s flavors locally, I settled for the “men’s” (or is it really unisex?) blackberry to try on a few long gravel grinder rides. I found the taste to be very natural, not sugary or overly fake. In a way, it almost had to grow on me. I did go buy a container of it, and I think it took finding the right amount to add to the water, which for me is two scoops in my 24oz bottles. During my last two road races I drank that stuff like it was going out of style, and it agreed with my digestive system under the stress of a race and let my mouth feeling refreshed (whereas sometimes with plain water all I can taste is plastic from the water being in the sun for a few hours in the bottle). Now I can guzzle the stuff down, and I feel it works for me.

I still have not tried the women’s mix. I really like the blackberry flavor and since I still have half a tub left, I am in no rush to jump on the women’s mix. Yes, I know, I’m “not a small man,” but I like the men’s mix. I also ride a boy bike sometimes, oh no!

Chews
There’s nothing more awesome than having an excuse to eat gummy candy like things! What I really love about chews is that they are not messy like gels. Even when I lick them and stick them on my top tubes the mess is a fraction of what I would have if I tried to eat a gel.

Honey Stinger Organic Energy Chews are my go-to chew product. Pink Lemonade is my favorite flavor, but also found the Lime-Aid and Fruit Smoothie flavors to be good as well. I just tend to buy mine in bulk so I end up with tons of Pink Lemonade. I use to use Clif Shot Bloks exclusively, but I find the Honey Stinger Chews to be not as chewy and easier to chew up and get down in my belly. I think this is important in a race situation where I don’t necessarily have the energy to gnaw on a tough chewy chew and breathe and pedal at the same time.

I’m not sure how much energy I necessarily get from these, but they are mostly sugar from multiple sources, so they give me some oomph to keep on going. They settle well on my stomach, and are convenient and easy to eat, like I mentioned, I stick them to my top tube during road races.

Gels
This is the one area I kind of stray from Honey Stinger. My gels of choice are Clif Shot Energy Gels in strawberry. And solely in strawberry. I have tried a lot of gels, and personally I find them all to be rather disgusting and hard to choke down, but I find these Clif Shot gels easier to choke down than others. The strawberry flavor has 25mg of caffeine. I’m not a huge caffeine drinker – I rarely drink coffee and do not like caffeinated sodas. Ice tea is my only source of caffeine regularly, so I feel like that at least gives these gels a fighting chance at doing something for me. How I tend to use them is one right before I race for some last minute nutrition and boost. I’m pretty much hopeless when it comes to eating them while actually riding a bike, as more ends up in my hair, on my face, and all over the bike instead of in my mouth. I still always try to tuck one in my jersey pocket or under the band of my bibs during longer races, however. Eventually I’ll learn how to eat one like an adult instead of a messy toddler.

Other Stuff
Not much really falls into the other stuff category. I have an anaphylactic-level allergy to all nuts except peanuts, so I really struggle when it comes to energy bars and other fitness products because they all seem to have some sort of nut ingredient in them. I have a pantry shelf full of stuff I’ve either won at races or received in swag bags that I cannot eat for this reason! So chews and gels is what I have stuck to, until recently when I discovered Honey Stinger Organic Waffles. What tasty little treats these are, and fairly easy to eat on the bike as well! I mean, who doesn’t like waffles?! Stinger Waffles are two super thin waffles with honey sandwiched in the middle, and come in 5 flavors. The downfall is the packaging probably isn’t quite as easy to open while on the bike, but that’s why we have teeth! The second downfall is I have to hide them from myself so I just don’t sit around home eating them, because they’re tasty like that! I have a 30 mile XC race coming up, and I’m looking forward to testing out the waffles in a longer race setting.

Other than that, nothing can be as delicious as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! The century ride I did last summer had boxes full of PB&J’s at the aid stations, and I couldn’t get enough of them! Sometimes it’s absolute bliss knowing I have a sandwich waiting for me in my Camelbak when it’s time for a snack! Another item I have started to like is dried mango. I did a group ride a few weeks back on the mountain bike, and one of the guys brought a bunch of dried mango. Sweet, chewy, and gave some calories to keep on pedaling. I’m not sure I’d chow down on dried mango during a race, but I can see having a baggy of these in my jersey for some of my longer non-race adventures I have planned for this year!

Final Thoughts…
I am really just now getting into good habits while on the bike. I guess that’s because it took me almost this long to finally be able to pedal, grab my bottle, drink, and put it back safely, hahahaha. But seriously, it’s something I’m not good at. The CSU Circuit Race was the first time I’ve really tried eating during a race, and I accomplished that by lining up chews on my top tube. Every lap I would have one. I find it is a lot easier to drink and eat on the road, for obvious reasons. Mountain biking is inherently more bumpy and rough and you need to have two hands on the bars usually. I don’t like racing with a Camelbak on, so that usually translates into me not drinking anything even though I’ll carry a bottle. I also fail miserable at bottle hand ups! So I have a lot of work cut out for me but I think I am slowly figuring everything out!

Uncategorized

CritFit Pre-Season Training Plan Wrap-Up

April 24, 2014 The Adventuring Heidi

DONE, DONE, and DONE! My CritFit 18 Week Pre-Season Plan wrapped up last week before I headed out for ~~mud wrestling~~ my first mountain bike race of the year. 18 weeks of sweating it out on the trainer, staring at the power numbers on TrainerRoad, sometimes feeling strong, sometimes wanting to bang my head on the wall.

Overall, I’m happy with how my training went. During Phase 2 I did struggle, legs felt dead and motivation was at an all time low. It was February and the weather was dreary and all I wanted to do was ride outside. It was a task to stay motivated and drag myself onto the trainer. Then I came down with bronchitis which threw training off for about two weeks. For Phase 3 I came back and attacked, with a heavy balance of outdoor and indoor riding I had motivation again.

The big news is that increased my functional threshold power (FTP) from an initial 195 watts back in November to 217 with my test yesterday! 22 watt increase, woohoo! CritFit works, there’s no denying! There’s also no denying that structured training with interval workouts works… wait, that’s CritFit… I digress! Training with power is also the way to go, so thanks to TrainerRoad for that great software to allow this to happen without the big bucks being dropped on a power meter!

photo-11 — The pain cave, preparing for my second effort during my FTP test

Fortunately, the training hasn’t stopped! My work schedule doesn’t really afford me the time to go outside and ride for hours and hours, so I wanted to stick to two or three days a week on the trainer keep up my fitness, if not continue to build it over the season. So I am now doing the CritFit 8 Week In-Season Race Plan (ISP), which cycles between blocks of threshold, VO2 max, and tempo workouts along with racing on the weekends (with some finagling for weeks I have weekday races). I start next week (I took this week as a week to test and do some road and mountain riding unstructured) and 8 weeks will bring me up to the end of June, and then it’s only about two weeks until Nationals. (EEEK, that makes it seem so close!). Here’s to the continuation of the solid foundation I built!

Race Report

Race Report: Rumble at 18 Road

April 19, 2014 The Adventuring Heidi

Oh Rumble at 18 Road… thanks for proving to me for the second year in a row that you’re just not the race for me…

The positives:

I had the fitness this year. I was 3rd overall among all ages of Cat 2 women at the 5 mile mark
I handle wet rocks with ease
I handle greasy mud with ease
My legs showed up and did everything I asked them to

The negatives:

The entire 18 Road area turns into a thick peanut butter clay when wet
Said peanut butter clay does not play nicely with rear derailleurs
I sent my rear derailleur into the spokes at the 5 mile mark… you know, when I was in a podium spot
I didn’t finish 😦

Haha, oh man… what a day. It rained all night and it was still raining in the morning, problem #1! Pre-ride on Friday was hot (80 degrees) and bone dry. I managed to tie my race time last year with my pre-ride time which included stopping because I couldn’t breathe and giving a go or two on a techy feature, so that was promising. The two-track felt like a cow pasture and was in horrible condition, and I began doubting the idea to bring the Fate, but I was stuck with it. Come race day… I was too busy chatting and got to my start with 10 seconds to spare. Starting from the back row I swiftly moved up to the front area, and noticed it was my climbing fitness that helped with this. The two track heading out was pretty greasy, but not too bad, it wasn’t really gumming up the bikes. It wasn’t until the Prime Cut single track that the peanut butter started to come out and play. The rocks were slippery, but I used this to my advantage to distance myself. My bike started to make all sorts of sounds, but it wasn’t until the end of Prime Cut when we all hit a field of peanut butter that things got so gummed up the derailleur said “I’m out of here” and curled up into a little ball in my spokes. I’m pretty sure I said a choice word, but like so many others that I passed, I turned around and starting pushing my bike back down the trail (it was wayyyy too heavy to try to carry). It was weird. Like… I was pissed that I couldn’t finish the race because I was doing well, but what happened happened and I accepted that. I’ve never had a mechanical during a race, so I suppose it was a matter of time. Luckily after a few miles I ran into my friend Pete and we headed to a gravel rode to hitched a ride back to the start. 2 others in my age group didn’t finish, and the finishers took 90 minutes to 2 hours… it’s normally a 55-60 minute race! Funny enough, USAC isn’t listing the DNF’s, so it looks like not too many people came out to race. Man, I don’t even get my DNF for Trying.

Year 2 at Rumble at 18 Road, and though I was actually racing well unlike last year, I’m getting a little discouraged about this race! It’s hard, because there’s very little USAC racing to choose from in this region, and I’m not a baller that can go to California or Texas or where ever for those sanctioned races. Luckily I heard some good news about the push to bring national level racing and courses to Wyoming, so I’m hopeful that it’ll be easier to race USAC when I’m a Cat 1. Luckily I think USAC takes pity on us in this area and considers non-sanctioned results when requesting an upgrade… because one out of my two local chances was gone with my derailleur!

Worse than any cyclocross race I’ve been in… and can’t say I’ve ever had to hitchhike back to my car during a race before…

White on kits for mountain biking is a little ridiculous!

Hi, I’m a scary expensive part and I’m sick of working because mud is gross, so I curled up in a little ball and took a spoke with me!

The rain and lack of bike also meant I couldn’t stick around and ride a bit more at Kokopelli like I had planned 😦 Luckily Mellissa and Pete were awesome enough to loan me their hotel shower (ok ok, I demanded it :P) after we washed the bikes at the car wash, and then we headed out for some Hot Tomato. And that was that… Now I get to be jealous of all my buddies that raced at a dry Ridgeline Rampage today down in Castle Rock…

Anthony got sent photos of my derailleur (which I think I “fixed,” aka it means I got my wheel moving again), and he thinks just the cage needs replaced. The hanger is actually still intact. And of course I need a new spoke, and who knows what else… the bike is very grouchy at the moment!

Good news is Gowdy is nearly all dry, so Grinder training can begin (and the Epic is the ride of choice for that anyway)! In Two weeks I plan on doing RME Battle the Bear, and GASP! I might go tubeless to avoid those goat heads, so here’s to hoping I have a good race in two weeks and break more PRs and that the Fate is all nice and happy again!

Gear Review

Gear Review: Columbia Saturday Trail Stretch Convertible Pants

April 14, 2014 The Adventuring Heidi

Whoa… I’m interrupting you from the regularly schedule program of cycling, cycling, and more cycling that this blog has morphed into to bring you a review on something that doesn’t involve cycling! That is how excited I am about this product!

Columbia Saturday Trail Convertible Pants in Gravel (Photo from REI.com)

So the story goes that I had a coupon from REI and I wanted some pants that I could wear hiking, out and about, or for “outdoorsy” things (something that this blog started out as something to documented and veered off course when I became a cycling nut). Mostly I have jeans, some cheapy cotton shorts from Walmart, yoga pants and tights, and cycling gear… but nothing water repellant and super comfy or with pockets (boo to the yoga tights). So while browsing REI the Columbia Saturday Trail Stretch Convt Pants caught my eye, and caught it well enough it I brought a pair home (and a new bike helmet which I used the coupon on, doh!)!

To get started… The details from Columbia:

These durable, sun-and-stain-repelling pants will keep you comfortable and protected during active outdoor adventures of all kinds and zip-off legs provide valuable versatility in changing conditions.

Construction:

Omni-Shade UPF 50 sun protection

Omni-Shield advanced repellency

2-way comfort stretch

Gusset detail

Zip-closed security pocket

Pockets with hook and loop closure

Zip-off legs convert pant to 10” inseam short

Mesh pocket bags

Vented

Active, straight leg, mid rise

Inseam: 30” SHORT, 32” REGULAR, 34” LONG

Imported

Fabric:

96% nylon/4% elastane Summiteer lite

Retail Price: $60

My Thoughts:

Comfort: SO COMFORTABLE!!!! Both in the shorts and pants form they’re just damn comfy. Last time I wore them I wore them all day lounging around the house because they’re just about as comfy as my normal yoga pants that I wear for lounging! The fabric is stretchy and has a lot of give when sitting cross legged, crouching, etc. The only complaint really would be that the part where the legs zip on around my thigh can be a little tight since it can’t stretch. Then again, I think that’s just going to be a factor with convertible pants like these. The inside of the waistband is lined with a fleece type material to keep down on chaffing which is a nice feature as well.
Fit: I bought a pair in 10 Regular. I usually wear 9 Long for my jeans, for reference (and 5’9″ and 150-155 pounds). I hate my pants being short, but found the 10 Regular were a good length where they aren’t dragging on the ground, but aren’t showing my socks. Since the fabric is thin, I didn’t want them to be too tight as I find that rather unflattering – the 8 Regular were just too thigh on my thighs. The waist is just right that I don’t need a belt.
Omni-Shield: I dropped a water bottle and cracked it down the side, but didn’t notice it until I went to take a drink of water and ended up covered in water. All the water rolled right off the pants! I’m sold! If only my tee shirt that day had those properties…
Shorts Conversion: A pair of shorts and pants in one! I loved this, and was actually a big reason why I purchased this product. I love stuff that can do double duty! I find that the legs zip on and off easily while being worn or not being worn. I can see how the legs wouldn’t fit over hiking boots, though. That’s something I have yet to try out.
Pockets: Oh the glorious pockets! Two on the back with velcro, two on the front with velcro, and one on the side with a zipper. Absolute magic to me since I’m use to hiking and stuff in yoga pants and tights which have no pockets.
Possible Cycling Use: I mountain bike in spandex, I’m not shy or scared of that. But on a trip to and from the trails I did wear these in shorts style over my bibs and got to thinking they could be a form of baggies for anyone who doesn’t like the spandexed look out on the trails. They’re not too baggy, not too tight, and have pockets!
Colors: They are offered in 4 colors: black, gravel, grill, and fossil. I got mine in gravel, which is a gray color. I was really limited since I bought mine at an REI and they don’t offer the color and size range that Columbia does directly, but I like gravel and find it’s a good neutral that goes with a lot of my tops.
Pricing: For $60, I think these are reasonably priced. With people paying $100 for jeans nowadays (or $100+ for pieces of spandex for cycling), $60 seems like a bargain and there is a nice balance of features and usability.

Needless to say, I love these pants… so much so that I just ordered the capri style ones (Columbia Saturday Trail II Knee Pants)!

Disclaimer: I purchased this item at retail price for my own personal use. All comments and opinions are my own and I was in no way compensated for the review.

Uncategorized

The Recovery Week to End All Recovery Weeks

April 12, 2014 The Adventuring Heidi

Initially I was going to swap some stuff around on my CritFit PSP 18 Week training plan so the recovery week scheduled for Week 17 would fall on Week 18 leading up to my mountain bike season opener… but life and the weatherman have a way of throwing a curve ball, and I took my Week 17 recovery week as scheduled… Forecast called for temperatures in the 60-80s for nearly the whole week. And that means one thing when combined with a new mountain bike raring to go: trail time!

Four trips to Colorado later, almost 70 miles biked, and some dark cyclist tan lines later, I still can’t wipe the smile off my face! It has been an amazing week on my bike!

Last Monday Gretchen and I hit up Blue Sky Trail in Fort Collins, taking an easy spin on the perfect trails for about 11 miles. This was my first real ride on my new Specialized S-Works Fate, and WOW. Just wow. The bike is AMAZING. AMAZING (in case you didn’t get it). I haven’t felt this connected to the trails in so long. Fast enough I can easily kill myself, to say the least. Fast, and snappy. Can’t even describe it… I told Gretchen that there would only be one part that I wanted to hammer – the “Blue Sky Climb” segment that takes you from the south valley to the top to the Rim Rock junction. This climb has been a nemesis of mine since the first time I had to push my Giant Rainier up it in January 2013. I took off and realized I wasn’t in the granny gear. Nowhere near it. The bike and I flew up the hill, with only a few second bobble on some loose dirt. When I got home and could upload my file to Strava I realized I knocked a minute off my best time (and minutes and minutes off my original time when I pushed the bike) and broke into 8th place out of 92 women. Holy crap…!!! To break the Top 10, let along Top 20/50, on a Colorado segment to me is crazy with all the talent down there… Georgia, I’m coming for you!! haha!

Trail selfie! Still not use to seeing myself in a white helmet! I picked up a new Giro Xara helmet… it’s pink on the back. That’s all that matters!

Tuesday was suppose to be some sort of “epic” 25 mile loop around Horsetooth Reservoir, but I suck at finding Shoreline Trail coming off Maxwell. So that ate up time, and an hour later Jim and I realized we had only gone 5.5 miles. So we decided to explore more of the Reservoir Ridge area trails, and descended down Michaud. Which was the moment I realized I still need my full suspension Epic! As rocky and cruel as that descent was, I realized it would be perfect training ground for the conditions of the Nationals course in PA, given I was riding the proper bike. The Fate did handle the terrain like a champ considering its rider was not use to a hard tail and 80mm of travel. Still another great day on the trails in 75 degree weather under sunny skies, regardless of the drastic change in the plans (no photos from that day… sad).

Yesterday on Friday I hit up Blue Sky Trail again for what I would call one of my first “training” mountain bike rides of the year. Which means hammer time. Time to put the Fate, my training, and myself to the test. South on Blue Sky I went (after running into racing buddy Teryn at the trailhead… ahhhhhh so giddy to see all my racing buddies again!!!) to Indian Summer which I did two laps of, and back north on Blue Sky to the Tower Trail junction and then back to the car. Just a bit over 19 miles (recovery week schmrecovery week). I felt strong and connected to the bike. I had changed out my front tire to a Specialized Ground Control as I find the Fast Traks wash out too easy in corners, and this changed my confidence completely.

The 77 degrees and sunny view on Blue Sky!

When I started up the switch backs on Indian Summer I noticed immediately the changes in myself. That was always a granny gear grind for me, but now I was steadily pushing the bike along in a much harder gear. Though I did see heart rates in the 180s, it just felt better. Suddenly the 17 weeks spent punishing myself on the trainer in the basement, the freezing road rides, and even the sketchy road racing experiences was all worth it. I had the proof of the results. That’s all I wanted… proof. Proof doesn’t necessarily mean podium wins and races results as I can’t control who I race against yet. To me, this was the proof I needed… just myself and my bike, chugging up the Indian Summer switchbacks effortlessly. I found the combination… a little bit of training and the perfect lightweight racing bike. The motivation came back to me. I finally could see what a little bit of training could do (as I wasn’t on an extreme training plan… my goal was 4 hours a week).

I nearly cried in joy when I uploaded the ride to Strava. There were the numbers, the proof. Even with stops to yield to other trail users, to adjust my new shoes, or to get some chews I blew away all my previous PRs. I knocked 3, 4, 5, 6 or more minutes off my times. And to think this wasn’t quite race pace! I found myself consistently in the Top 40 (with some Top 20 appearances) on the segments. Heck, I almost wanted to get on the trainer and do more intervals because I was so jazzed over what CritFit and my coach had allowed me to accomplish in 17 short weeks!

Soapstone Prairie overlooking Red Mountain Open Space

Finally today I wrapped up my Recovery Week to End All Recovery Weeks with a 21 mile jaunt in Soapstone Prairie with a few friends from MTBR. I can’t believe I haven’t made it out to Soapstone Prairie yet! This is an open space with about 50 miles of trails that lays on the Colorado/Wyoming border (one trail actually loops into Wyoming). It’s free, not crowded, and a blast! The single track exceeded my expectations, and I loved how it’s a place where a person can go pound out long miles on smooth, fast trails. We looped up Pronghorn to Mahogany, and then across Canyon Trail to Cheyenne Rim, which we descended down back to the cars. Skies remained cloudy (we are under a Winter Storm Warning… yes, 77 degrees to 5″ of snow at the flip of a switch), but temperatures stayed in the 60s which made for good riding weather. Soapstone is very much exposed prairie, so I can imagine it’s not so much fun in the heat and sun.

The photo does NOT do the landscape any justice! It’s really a breathtaking scene… absolutely gorgeous landscape!

How am I feeling? Cooked. Lots of miles on a mountain bike this week and I am having to readjust to getting bounced and jostled around more than my body is use to. But I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a week off my trainer and away from intervals! We in the Rocky Mountains have been blessed with amazing weather this week, and I think it all helped us shake off some of the cabin fever we were suffering from!

This coming week is Week 18. The final week of the pre-season training plan. Game over! I have 3 days of intervals on the trainer (45 minutes to an hour for each workout), which I’m moving ahead to start on Monday so I’ll have Thursday as a full recovery day off the bike before heading out to Fruita for Rumble at 18 Road on Friday morning. Then it’s show time! It’s all come down to this… I am nervous about my first USAC Cat 2 race, which is funny considering in non-sanctioned races I have raced intermediate/advanced for a year which is the same thing as Cat 2 practically (if not reaching into Cat 1 a smidge with some of the people I have/will race against)… I’m trying to keep things in perspective and remind myself its the first race, and last year I didn’t hit peak form until May and June, and to expect a similar trend this year (except with a bigger peak for Nationals in July. I gotta make Bear Creek my bitch). I’m competitive as all get out, but I think training has taught me to turn more inwards in my goals and away from medals and race results. I just want to smash my Rumble at 18 Road race time to pieces. PIECES. Last year was a horror show, and that isn’t happening this year!

This week also allowed me to put a lot of new products to the test that I’ll have to work on raving about… my S-Works Fate, my new Specialized Motodiva shoes, Osmo hydration mix, Honey Stinger Waffles, new SockGuy socks, Giro Xara helmet… so much new to rave about! Gotta have something to break up all the race reports that will be coming soon enough… stay tuned!

Gear Review

Some may say it was Fate…

April 3, 2014 The Adventuring Heidi

There’s been two bikes that have really come along and put a smile on my face since I first got into cycling. First was my Specialized Crux (maybe I should make this plural since the first one morphed into the second one, but I digress). It literally saved me from wanting to get rid of every bike I own last summer and calling it a day. The rough, harsh, honest ride brought back the rawness of otherwise dampened trails smoothed out by technology and suspension. It also opened me up to cyclocross, which became my favorite ass-kicking, cycling discipline.

Warning labels… the S-Works Fate has them!

Today I brought home my ’13 Specialized S-Works Fate, and on my first short maiden voyage at the North Cheyenne Community Trails, I felt the same thing that the Crux ignited in me start again. I flicked the light, agile bike off the jumps and flew up and down the trails. The same raw quality I grown to love in the Crux was there, and I felt more connected to the trails than I have been on a mountain bike in a long time. Even riding into the 30mph headwinds I felt the speed and agility. The XTR drivetrain shifted smoothly under me, and the Roval Control SL carbon wheels spun up quickly.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my ’13 Specialized Epic Expert and everything it has given me the confidence to do over the last year and a half. But I was seeing the bad habits developing, like monster trucking over everything instead of thinking of line selection. And the months of cyclocross gave me a yearning to feel the bumpiness, nastiness of the trails instead of having everything always smoothed out, even though I ran the rear shock at full firm. So why not have a hard tail also in the stable of bikes?!

Aside of from my S-Works Crux frame, this is my first S-Works level bike I’ve owned. And it’s a work of art. Yeah yeah yeah, it’s not about the bike (but if that was true, we’d all ride Walmart bikes…)… but there’s something about riding the bike that Rebecca Rusch rides, or the same bike Lea Davidson rode in the Olympics. This is THE female race bike offered by Specialized, and I still can’t believe I lucked into owning one!

Before bringing it home the guys at Bicycle Station weighed the bike out to be 20.5 pounds with the test pedals (size Large). I added Shimano XT pedals, Specialized BG Contour grips, and a bottle cage (and peeled off the excessive amount of warning labels… that must’ve dropped some weight!). I’m guessing the bike still comes in at around 20 pounds, which is a good 4-6 pounds lighter than my Epic, and I surely notice this both while riding the bike and carrying it to and from my bike room in my basement and putting it on my roof rack.

I only rode 3.5 miles before calling it good due to the wind, but the bike felt amazing. I have some big rides planned for next week and the following weekend to try out the bike more. I think the hardest thing will be confidence on technical stuff. I did one of the drop lines today and I could feel the difference when I came off the drop in lack of suspension and the 80mm vs 100mm travel. I’ll have to rethink some of my riding skills and habits, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The bike is clearly capable of some very nasty terrain (see European World Cup courses…), so now it’s all about making myself capable! The Fate will also make it’s race debut at Rumble at 18 Road in a few weeks.

So that’s that for my short little review… you’ll be seeing lots more of this bike, that’s for sure!