Riding with Pierre

I decided, since you can never have enough bikes, to buy a new "endurance machine" that will alleviate some of the discomfort from riding my Giant TCR long distances. Not that there's anything particularly wrong with the bike itself, I love it, but it does get a little harsh after a few hours riding. Since I turned the big "5-0" last year, and in still wanting to conquer Everest, I needed a bike that would be easier to undertake some serious distances (one of my lessons learned), and that was softer riding.

After researching and evaluating a lot of bikes (ask my wife, she hates bikes and hates seeing endless articles on bikes on my iPad even more!) I settled on a new Lapierre Pulsium 500 with a compact groupset (50-34, 11 x 32).  I was chasing a new Domane, but they're in short supply around the country, and I wasn't sure about the very high head-tube. It looked a little "weird" for me. While they're certainly great bikes, and are selling out everywhere, I decided I liked the look of the Lapierre more - it has a racier (subjective I know) look about it. More integrated? Whatever it is, it just took my fancy and so I headed out and bought one. I hadn't ridden the bike until I brought it along with me to Toowoomba this week. 

First ride impressions.

The more "upright" geometry got me a little at first. After riding a "real racer" for a number of years, it was a weird sensation being a little more upright and not as stretched out. This was compensated for by the very comfortable position in the drops, which I spent a great deal of time in and found probably more comfortable than the TCR (I'll use that as my comparison bike cause that's the bike I know best). Having both stems slammed to a decent degree, the TCR sits 35mm lower (apparently) but it doesn't feel like that. Certainly, I noticed the saddle didn't look as high off the frame and this made me inspect things more.

The frame on the Lapierre is very contorted and flattened everywhere. In comparison, the TCR is one smooth design from head-tube to seat tube. The downtubes are another area of interest. The TCR is clearly more aero (mine is the Composite 2 from 2011 which has a deep and narrower profile) whereas the Lapierre is more "traditional" in that it has a very shallow downtube that's neither here nor there. Nowhere near as boxy as current bikes for sure.

Yet it is these contorted shapes everywhere that work to make the bike look like a real "cobble gobbler", and a nice one at that! The top tube flexes in unison with the rest of the bike to make the ride far smoother. The TCR has absolutely no flex at all.

The Lapierre also has a small elastomer in the top tube to soak up the pounding of the cobbles. This works amazingly well in combination with the slim seat stays, also made to flex.

I took the bike over 50 kilometres of very rough, patchwork roads where every 5 metres there were "patches on patches", lumps, bumps, potholes, dirt "pretend pave", stones and detritis from the myriad styles of trucks that traverse the region. The bike absolutely smashed it out, soaking up everything so well I could have been on a dual suspension mountain bike. I kept thinking the whole time, "I'm glad I'm not on carbon rims and the TCR, my eyeballs would be rattling around by now". It was ridiculously competent and smooth. Nothing seemed to faze it. Everything was handled with utter contempt.

I did note that it didn't "feel" as fast as the TCR. This is probably an illusion, so any comparisons on speed will need to wait till I get home and take it out on a course I regularly ride. Toowoomba is littered with hills and as such the reduced pace may just be because of that very fact.

The latest Ultegra 11 speed drivetrain is also another standout feature. Silky smooth and silent. 

I thought maybe all this smoothness may be to the detriment of climbing and stiffness in the bottom bracket etc. Not so. No flex at all in the BB, not in the Zipp handle bars, or the Zipp stem. Good stuff.

So as far as ride and components go, this bike definitely gets a huge thumbs up.

Bad side? The wheels the bike comes with (Mavic Axiom WTS) are pretty heavy and only suited to maybe those wet and muddy days out. Just too heavy for normal "Joe's" and weight weenies would have a fit!. I've a great pair of Shamals to go on it when I get a shimano hub, so that will both lighten things up in the rear, and also provide a lightweight and decent set of "cobble" rims for the bike. Plus I love the look of the Shamals.

So, some pics...

Note the frame - bends and twists and splits..

Pinarello style forks help smooth the road

The "rear shock"

So all up, I'm very happy with this purchase and I think together, Pierre and I will have a loving future ahead of us!

For those days where speed and hotmix collide, then the TCR will still be the bike of choice, but those days where big distances and/or rough roads will be encountered, this will be THE bike for me.

Stay upright and enjoy the ride.

Starting Over

Back to the training. I've been really annoyed with myself the last two weeks not reaching the goals I set for myself. I learned a lot from the prior (failed) attempt and know now what's required now, both physically and mentally.

I'm working for the University of Southern Queensland now, up in Toowoomba, Queensland. So once again, training will be interrupted by the necessity to constantly travel up here from Brisbane. To counter this though I intend to bring both road and mountain bikes up when I travel so at least I can still put some miles in. The roads are pretty bad, pot holed and rough bitumen, but there is no shortage of hills!

Last night I did a hard ride, down to the bottom of the southern side of the range (Great Dividing Range) and then some k's around the city itself. The weather was absolutely miserable so I was glad I brought my Niner instead of the road bike. The temperature was 6 degrees, cold and rainy with a biting wind blowing the entire time. To compound things, I hadn't brought up any cold weather clothes so my pain was doubled. I was glad to escape into my tiny cabin at a local caravan/motor home park at the end!

Picnic point Toowoomba, in the dark.

Strava profile, though this (partial, from my phone)

So where to from here? Time to get serious again, find the motivation, and start putting in some big miles before having another crack at this monster called Everesting.

Probably the biggest necessity bar none, is having family support on the day. This is where I came apart on my last attempt. So there'll be a few discussions to be had before any new attempt to Everest on your own is just not a feasible activity to undertake.

From Failure the Phoenix will Rise

As those who've I've spoken to or emailed know my weekend was disappointing, and I didn't reach anywhere the target required. But there were a lot of lessons learned, so it wasn't all bad. I'm happy with an initial attempt at this stage anyway and the knowledge I got out of the weekend, both about Everesting and also about myself will prove invaluable in the weeks ahead.

I ended up doing 16 or 17 repeats of Mt Gravatt and after making the mistake of phoning home guilt got the better of me. Everyone is on holidays and just waiting for me to get home and that made me feel very selfish. So despite not feeling too bad, I called it a day at 2200m or so. Wouldn't have been so bad if I'd taken the Niner as well for those times when I was feeling shattered as the first 200 -300m (and then at the 1k mark) or so was quite steep and really hit your legs hard. Those tiny sections really got me hurting after a few hours. 

A fellow cyclist came off on the (fast) descent and did himself some serious damage given the amount of blood left on the road and the large number of bystanders willing to help out. An ambulance made an urgent appearance and he was taken to hospital. After that the guys I was riding with decided it was time to call it a day too and left me to my own devices.

So the wash up (lessons learned). 

1. I need to do far more repeats more often before having another go. That will entail some repeats of Mt Mee (a big and long climb) or something big regularly 
2. Regular 160-180k rides to get used to both the monotony and also build far more endurance in my legs (and ass!)
3. I must remember to take some music as I left it all at home and was bored out of my brain..
4. Support crew is essential (I had none..) This was probably the biggest part. You definitely need people around you to encourage and give you constant uplifting statements, otherwise you fall in a heap very quickly

I'm already planning out a training regime for another attempt in a couple months....I'm stubborn like that..

It's Time to Summit

A shout out to those on the interweb - How was your Easter? I was feeling crap the whole weekend with some sort of flu like symptoms. So no riding, although we did go down the coast for a few days. You can see my photo's on Instagram @jefftillack.

However, this coming Saturday is "E" Day!! (Everesting Day), that is, I will attempt, rather than just 4000m, the full monty! yes, stuff training and endless "what if's", I'm going for broke. There's 8 others doing a "half", starting at 5:30am, but I'm going out there about 4am (depends on the gates being passable to the park) and starting off the endless repeats until I get that damned jersey!!! (see below). I'm guessing it will take probably 20 hours of suffering, but the main problem will be food intake and support - I won't have any support crew! Psychologically I think this will be the hardest part. My family are just not into this at all and so it will just be me, myself and I until the end.

So I'll have to ensure the car is full of food and drinks, and I'll pack an esky of stuff. I just have to work out a regime for eating and drinking. I'll have the bike as light as possible, carrying no tools (it's only 2k up/down) and maybe one bidon of water/drink. The rest will be in the car. I'll also fill an iPod full of music to while away the endless hours going up and down. Can I do it? time will tell suppose. Either way, I'll tell you all Sunday (at some stage) !!!

    This is the ultimate goal for this coming Saturday....