Bike Fit, Di2 Live, Zwift Triathlon Academy, S-Phyre Cycling Shades

My bike build is finally complete as I recently got the E-tube bluetooth/ANT+ bits fitted to add some much ‘needed’ connectivity to my cycling world. I also finally got around to having a bike fit after n+1 years. Where ‘n’ was ‘too long’.

I’ve since had hours of fun with the Ultegra shifters and Di2. I now have my right shifter’s button configured to add a lap and the left one to page through data screen on my ELEMNT. Very clever, I guess.

Once again a bike fit turned out to be £$£$ for relatively minor adjustments. Seat down a tad, seat back a tad and a new stem. Boris will be saddened to learn that a 100mm stem was sufficient. The bike fit guy said i should mostly ignore frame size 54/56/58 and instead concentrate more on STACK and REACH. The Cevelo S3 56cm frame effectively ‘comes out smaller’ than one might imagine as this interesting lookup table from slowtwich shows. Luckily I hadn’t bought the wrong frame 😉 … just.

Shimano have announced the S-PHYRE R and S-PHYRE X cycling glasses that come with a polarized and non-polarized options over 3 types o lens darkness/opacity namely; 16% light transmission; 85%; and a variable opacity model from 13-62% with that change in opacity taking 8 seconds. They look cool.

I do not have a pair but have used similar cycling-specific glasses and whilst they might seem a marketing gimmick to some others might argue that a properly designed pair would have decent ventilation for those sweaty rides and that differing degrees of lens opacity are required for different riding conditions.

Finally, following the success of ZWIFT’s cycling academy (last year?) where some lucky so-and-so amateur became a sponsored pro rider so you now have the chance of becoming a sponsored triathlete plus 3 of your buddies might stand a chance too. The catch is you need to be good. ” Zwift and Specialized are seeking four talented triathletes to form a team with the goal of achieving success at IRONMAN Kona 2018. The team will benefit from the full support of Specialized, both through the provision of equipment and through Wind tunnel testing at the Win Tunnel in Morgan Hill,CA. The athletes will also benefit from having the coaching and mentoring support from professionals, Tim Don and Lucy Charles.”

There are various conditions including already being a Zwift Level 10 cyclist but, hey, you get other stuff plus a Specialized S-Works Shiv. I’d imagine flights to Kona etc etc are all included. This might be the sort of thing you might want to bring to the attention of one of the young 20-somethings in your tri club.

I’ve had to schedule this post and right now I’m probably at the TRIAHTLON and BIKE show at Excel in London which is open all weekend to the public ie until Sunday 25 Feb 2018. £16 is the adult ticket price.

I wasn’t massively impressed with the bike show last year but I think I’ve given up on the WEARABLE show which will be in March (again at Excel). WEARABLE seems to have moved well and truly from sports/activity stuff and onto things with a health and medical focus. and I guess that mirrors what is happening in the real world of ‘stuff we can buy’ too.

I have few meetings l panned which might shed some light on the products we will be seeing later this year. I’m not quite so sure how secret these new products are, we shall see (or not). But I’m actually going to a) get a long ride in! b) talk to someone there about something NOT product related! Mysteriously…more might follow.