My Lemond Revolution Trainer Review and Impressions.

My Lemond Revolution Trainer Review and Impressions.

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- Team Iron Cycles

- Kenneth Dorado

If you’ve gotten this far, then you’ve searched the web on for the reviews... You’ve read preview articles like DC Rainmakers blog, full page reviews from Cycle News and impressions from NY Velo City’s site.

And now you’ve reached my little own blog entry about this wondrous trainer.

Background and Initial Expectation Setting

Before ordering and riding the trainer, I did as much online research as I could prior to making the order. The concept is simple; a weighted wind resistance trainer to provide a road like feeling without the use of a rear tire. Sounds simple but there are a lot of physics behind this concept that I haven’t a clue on how they made into reality. How ever I do have some knowledge in what to look for in a great product.

Some concerns I had about the Lemond Revolution Trainer and trainers in general are:

- How much use will I get out of the trainer during the off season?

- Portability for use as warm up prior to races

- Durability

- Cost

With these concerns in mind, I set out to see whether or not this trainer met the majority of criteria.

I’ve trained indoor with different trainers ranging from Cyclops to Black Burn to Performance trainers. These trainers either used a magnetic or fluid resistance. Bottom line: I never found any level of realistic resistance that would want me to sit on these trainers for 60+ minutes. The primary annoyance with these conventional trainers is that they do not provide any reasonable level of coasting (10 - 45 seconds of coasting) if one were to rest their legs for a moment during a ride. Of all of these trainers, I’ve only kept the Performance trainer simply because of the fact that it uses a small footprint in my car and therefor is highly portable. However with that said, it’s only really worth riding on this trainer for about 20 - 25 minutes to warm up.

The Buy

So, with the fact that I didn’t have a legitimate trainer to use during the cold winter months, I made the commitment to order the trainer through my Team shop - Iron Cycles. The MSRP of the Lemond Revolution starts at $499 and goes to $549 with an added cassette.

Once received, the presentation and initial impression of the packaging was nothing short of above satisfactory. The box was wrapped in clear wrap to protect the box art work. It is quite heavy for obvious reason, but it does allow for one handed carrying with its supplied handle. Once I had opened the box, I was welcomed with quite a bit of foam. Foam is a good thing here, as to “not damage the goods”. The packaging is well organized as well as the instructions.

One thing I’d like to note with the instructions - because I read the previous articles, I came in with a certain expectation on where to find and locate certain parts such as bolts. Maybe I’m just blind or illiterate but I had some trouble finding the three mounting bolts which go from the base to actual unit. This was not indicated in the instructions rather they were already screwed to the unit where as some other parts such as the foot pegs were packaged separately. Just a note on consistency, either put all loose parts in a bag or have them mounted, or even better, note that in the instructions.

As I took a step back to observe the Lemond Revolution, it can be said that it is currently one of your non-conventional trainers. I hope that the direction of trainers follows this mold because it has certainly been broken and reinvented. (Note: an early version exists but never really took off)

The Impression

Once I had put the bike together I was off to the races....

I’ve put about 2 - 3 months of riding on the Lemond Trainer and I can honestly say it’s met about 75% of my expectations.

Pluses:

- Good road feel

- Good coasting ability

- Sturdy base for about 75% of the riding/training

- Level Base which eliminates the need for a front wheel training block (sans hilly rides)

- Aesthetics - It just looks good

- Durable - Although is fully yet to be seen, it is off to a good start with a drive belt, metal weighted fan and heavy duty base.

Opportunities for improvement:

- Noise level - Perhaps adding a buffer/silencer to lower sound and increase resistance?

- Power and cadence output for 3rd party devices - there is only a module available for a proprietary Lemond unit but having one available for those ANT+/W.I.N.D. unit owners would open up another sub-market.

- Spacer - The spacer for road or mountain bikes has a smooth surface. I’ve found this to be a safety issue as I’ve found that despite tightening the skewer my bike rocks back and forth during hard efforts.

- Base - On the note of hard efforts - I’ve found the unit to move and rock. Perhaps wider foot pegs or foot print would eliminate this issue.

- Portability - Hopefully a more portable version will be available in the future or maybe I just need a bigger vehicle to tow it around in.

- Consistent Instructions

In conclusion

I like this trainer, and although it is the first iteration of wind/weight resistance trainers from Lemond, I really think they did a great job of getting this off the ground.

Despite it’s steep price tag there are side benefits to using this trainer over traditional trainers. Rear wheel savings and the ability to simulate a closer to road feel are just some things one may find intrinsically valuable about this particular trainer. For someone who is looking for quality and willing to look outside the box - this would be the trainer for them.

This trainer is Team Iron Cycles Approved

First time racing the Fall Colors Festival at Kettle Moraine.

First time racing the Fall Colors Festival at Kettle Moraine.

Team: Iron Cycles

Rider: Ken Dorado

Earlier in the week prior to the week I checked out the forecast near and around Kettle Moraine. The weekend forecast of the Kettle Moraine - Fall Colors race started out looking pretty grim. Here's what I discovered: Rain Thursday - Wind Friday - Rain Saturday. I wasn't looking forward to a muddy race and slogging back home with pruned up fingers and some other unmentionable body parts.

Closer to race day the weather lightened up enough for me to get a glimpse of hope for a fairly manageable race. I pulled the trigger and decided to race it.

- The 25 Miler -

I rode up with some friends (Anthony and Felbert) who ride the local trails and make this event the race to make every year. So, I followed in the hype and chose to ride the 25 miler. Least to say I'm glad I did it.

By the time we got to Kettle Moraine we had about 30 minutes to spare - register, and line up. Oh yeah, I forgot, part of my pre-race regimen is to check and recheck my equipment and gear... so I got to the line with 4 minutes to spare. As I rode up to the line, the smell of burger patties being grilled and music filled the air. A very festive and upbeat ambiance. I ended up about 50 people from the front out of a crowd of about 95 riders.

One more thing ...

Oh yeah, I should probably include warming up in my pre-race prep, that day I ended up using the first part of the race as a warm up and gauge to see where I was at in the pack.

And we're off ...

I easily sped away from the riders behind me and avoided a couple of crashes with riders who may have touched tires. I also encouraged my friends, who rode up with me, as I cruised by them. Once the first section of the race was out of the way (the Brown Loop) we entered into the first section of the Blue trail. If you've never been to Kettle Moraine, I recommend you go and get acquainted with the trails. The Blue Loop has got a lot of what a mountain biker looks for in a ride (minus mountains). This is a fast, hilly, rocky, sandy, technical, fun, annoying and pleasing (once you complete it) loop to ride.

Since it's been about 2 years since I've ridden this trail, (which happened to only be one time) it's safe to say that I have no clue what the race was going to look like. I basically used the first half of the race to navigate and use the riders ahead of me as guides - yeah there were a lot of riders for me to use as guides. I passed - and got passed by - riders, so it was a bit of give and take.

Throughout the trail system, the conditions of the ground vary from dirt, sand and gravel. At one section, Sandy Bottom, I ended up challenging a tree at a corner... bad choice... I ended up getting a little bit of shell shock, had to give up two spots (one which I regained) and did a quick health check to make sure nothing was broken. Aside from a sore shoulder, cut ear, and remounted front wheel all was good. I used that opportunity to take a couple of quick breathes to gather myself and rehydrate.

And we're off ... again ...

As I mentally marked where I body slammed that tree, I targeted myself to take catch up and take on those who just passed me. Shoot, I worked hard for those spots, I planned on getting them back.

Which way? That way! <- or ->?

Literally, you know you're not going hard when you end up at an intersection and have a conversation with another racer trying to figure out exactly what the race directors were thinking when they laid out a misleading intersection. Don't get me wrong, they had signage but it was either not enough or too little. Two directional signs with one pointing straight and another pointing right, both next to each other. At the time I was already going straight as I asked about 5 times "Straight or right? Straight or right?"... an easy 2 minutes lost and about 5 spots given up with that debacle.

Thankfully, there was someone there the second time around. The answer was to go straight and then the trail loops around. Hopefully if they choose to use that route again they build a bridge there next time or just reroute.

... Rinse and repeat...

Feeling good about knowing that I'm more than half way through with the race, I push lap 2 a little harder. After passing the start/finish line, I came up to one of my friends, Felbert. I rode and chatted with him for a little bit. Thinking "Did I just lap him? Am I that wicked fast now?" - now this was going to bug me for the rest of the race and annoy the car poolers on the way home. Oh well (more on that later), thinking that I theoretically may have lapped him, it gave me some more juice to tread on and see if I could catch up to Anthony.

... Side to side and around the corner ...

As I pushed myself harder I caught up to a couple more 25 mile riders (red numbers)... this was a good feeling considering I was still getting over a cold and I was ready for biological warfare with all the snot rockets I was firing off throughout the race. I even caught up to a good number of 14 mile riders (blue numbers) who started 30 minutes after I did. They were kind enough to pull over to the side. One (minus bike) even flew over a berm in a hasty attempt to get out of the way. **chuckle**

... Conquering fears ...

After flying through most of the second loop, I passed Sandy Bottom where I crashed, caught up to more 25 and 14 milers and battled up the technical climbs. (Note: baby head rocks, as I call them, are a pain in the butt to navigate around, you're better off riding over them if you can)

... Thank you mister course marshal ...

By the time I got to the intersection for the second time, there was a course marshal directing traffic, again riders were intersecting as though there was a stop light there... not cool but I guess it's part of the race (really my only gripe of the race).

I finally got to the final and most difficult hill of the race, a rutty and rock ridden section, I passed up a rider who was conversing with hecklers about her morning breakfast. It went something like this... "You can do it! This is the last hill before the end!" They said to her. "I just had McDonald's for breakfast...'gurgle'..." She said, walking the bike up. As I rode by her, I honestly admitted that I had McD's too and then some, she politely said that I hope I _____ it out... Well you could fill in the blanks.

... Time for a final pose ...

On the down hill right before the trail head (finish line), I posed for the photographer going about 20 miles an hour. Probably not the best idea but it's an indicator that I know I'm having a good time - which is important to me.

I ended up finishing 40th out of 87...

... Done ...

BTW - We concluded that I did not lap Felbert, he passed me up when I was trying to figure out to right or straight in the first lap at the misconstrued intersection. Anthony, DNF'd due to a mechancial - putting down too much torque to the cranks.

Lesson's Learned

- Preparation is key

- Ride within your means

- Have fun

- Pain is weakness leaving the body

1st race of the season locked and loaded...

I'll be heading to California for a graduation and so I figured this would also be a good opportunity to kick off the triathlon season with something outside of the exciting Midwest. I'll be starting off with the LA Triathlon. It's going to be held in San Dimas, CA which is 2 hours away from where I will be.

It's still debatable on whether or not I will be renting or flying out my bike but non-the-less I will have a bike there.. maybe a 40k on a beach cruiser would help prepare me for my Xterra Tri's.

:)

Up and down work out regimen not good :(

So it's been a while since I've posted anything new on my athletic blog. I figure it was time... being that I was recently hit with a random allergy to seasonal cold virus that knocked me out the whole week.

So to say the least I've taken this week to kick back and be miserable with my cold that had mix of sinus pressure and random moments of fatigue. Oddly enough the fatigue was mostly during work as opposed to when I got out of work my energy levels rose back up....hmmm... possible allergy to work would be my conclusion :)

This past week I also became the new owner of an old vintage bike... and this time the bike was a motorcycle. I purchased a 1979 10th Anniversary CB750K which you can check out on my other blog.

I've been working on getting the title straightened out with that as well as evaluating what I should do with the bike as far as repairs are concerned.

Anyways, enough about my motorcycle... this blog is all about health, wellness and winning at races right?

So this coming week its back to the gym and track.... I'll be getting ready for my first triathlon in May which will be in LA right after one a graduation which I will be attending for my cousin.

I hope sooner than later that I can score a team from a teammate.

This year Team Get-a-Grip will be using Black and Green CAAD9 frames from Cannondale.

These bikes are awesome and are mainly known for the weight advantage, stiffness, and uber responsiveness to the engine...me....

Here is an image of team frame!

Although this engine (me) needs a tweak I know I'm much better than where I was last year...

More to come with a game plan for the next coming weeks!

New workout resources found!

So I joined a couple of meetup groups, one happening to be the Chicago Triathlon group. There are quite a bit of aspiring athletes with varying talent. In addition to that group I've also linked my results together at Athlinks.com (http://www.athlinks.com/racer.aspx?rid=40629569)

This is a pretty sweet site that records your results as well as links you to other athletes...

Lance Armstrong Returns - Las Vegas Cyclocross from CYCLEFILM on Vimeo.

Climbing Tips

Some tips on getting it on with climbing...

Rule 1: Get on with it.
Climbing mountains on a bike is not fun. So, to do it properly, you need to accept this fact and get on with it. I see so many people looking for that secret technique or training method that will make climbing painless and suffer-free. This will never happen. Training and techniques will make you suffer slightly faster up hills, not suffer any less. Climbing is painful, period. The sooner you just accept that and stop looking for ways around it, the better you will learn how to climb. Let the suffer-meter serve as your internal tachometer, letting you know how close to your limit you are. Accepting and really allowing yourself to feel that pain will make you a better rider. Trying to ignore it will distract you from the task at hand and make you ride slower.

Rule 2: Don’t be self-conscious.
Suffering isn’t pretty. It isn’t meant to be. If you are going about your business of climbing properly, you will be breathing like a water buffalo, sweating like a chain gang, and probably have snot dribbling off your chin. If this is not the case, you aren’t doing this correctly. Over the years I’ve ridden with so many people who are always worrying about breathing too hard in front of their buddy. You’re supposed to be in pain and you’re supposed to be breathing hard, I mean the harder you breath the more o2 you’ll get to your muscles, so let the image thing go, and get down and dirty with the hill. Anyway, if your buddy is two miles behind you, he can’t hear you breathing anymore, can he?

Rule 3: Relax.
O.K., I know this seems a bit contradictory to rules 1 and 2, but this is the real Zen of climbing right here. You have to learn to accept the pain, breath like a warthog, and keep everything else relaxed. Gripping your handlebars with white knuckles and doing brake lever pull-ups does not make your pedals go around any faster. Your hands should be so relaxed that if you had to, you could play the piano. Your shoulders, arms, and upper body should be so relaxed that you just sort of rhythmically flop along with the pedals, like Stevie Wonder in concert. Also, if you look at all the op pros, notice how they look like they have a pot belly when climbing? That’s because they let their diaphragm relax and drop. They breath by expanding the soft tissue of their belly as opposed to trying to expand the bones of their ribcage. This is the opposite of what you do at the beach, where it’s belly in, shoulders back, chest out. This is belly out, shoulders relaxed, and forget about your chest.

Rule 4. Pedal all the way around.
Momentum is what you don’t have very much of when going up a hill. So, if you just push the pedals down and let the chain go slack the other 250 degrees of the pedal stroke, you will be losing momentum with each and every dead spot. On a flat road this doesn’t matter too much, but on a hill this will cost you dearly. So, keep the tension on the chain the whole way ‘round, especially at the 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock pedal position. Push outward with your quadriceps at the 12 and pull back, like you’re scraping mud off your shoes, at the 6. This will help keep that precious little momentum from slipping away.

Rule 5: The Little Engine That Could.
“I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…”….Think I’m joking? No, I am not. The rhythm of your breath and thoughts are crucial to grinding your way up long Cols. You must synch your breath, your pedaling, and your thoughts in one monotonous, focused, and plodding rhythm. Exhale forcefully and inhale naturally in time with every contraction of your muscles; let your body sway to the rhythm that creates; then set the metronome in your head and be The Little Engine. Laugh all you want. It works.


http://theclimb.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/ready-to-edit-and-post-expert-advice-from-jonathan-vaughters/index.html