Indoor Training Tools - Initial Setup with an iPod

A common issue we face today is what to do with older pieces of technology that still work, but that we've already replaced with something better, faster, or in some cases, really just have better battery life.

I generally do not use Apple products because I don't find their user interfaces particularly intuitive, and they generally cost a lot more than what I want to spend for a given need.  But I did end up getting an iPod Touch as a work anniversary gift from a former employer.  I had really used it only to have access to FaceTime video chatting with folks who had committed to the Apple ecosystem, but not for much else.  My Android-based devices have served my mobile device needs fine.

When it came to indoor cycling trainer apps though, iOS-based apps turned out to be a better fit (pun intended) for my needs.  As part of my research on trainer apps, I knew that the Kinetic Fit app would do what I want--provide structured training workouts with no mandatory subscriptions/fees.  You can pay for more features and training plans, but the freebies suited me just fine.

Kinetic's Fit app runs on both iOS and Android, but the Android version came later and is a bit behind in stability, features and timeliness of fixing issues, so I used the iOS version on the iPod.  I would test new versions on Android to see if they worked better, generally without satisfactory results.

Mounting the iPod

One of the very helpful things a trainer app provides is a visual target of the effort level you need to put out at a given moment in a training session.  Having the display in a visually comfortable place is key, so a stem or handlebar mount made sense.  I found something inexpensive, but fairly sturdy in the Nite Ize HandleBand.

There are a couple of issues with it though.

1. the elastic covers parts of the touch screen, often right where you need to access the screen unless you set it up precisely
2. it isn't designed with today's larger devices or bulky cases in mind

though the super slim iPod Touch (5th generation) with a Speck CandyShell Grip Case fits fine and the Kinetic Fit app doesn't require much touchscreen interaction once you get going with a training session.

Entertaining?

It has long been controversial in the cycling community whether it is OK to wear headphones while cycling.  Awareness of your surroundings, whether for safety or appreciation of the sounds of nature, communication with riding partners, whatever, people have differing views on this out on the road and on the trails.

But on the trainer, there is no question--entertainment or distraction is a must. Although I wrote in the first installment about indoor training that my initial foray into riding a trainer was enjoyable, that was relative to not exercising.

Mobile devices aren't ideal for multitasking and the iPod Touch is pretty limited in what it can do.  Listening to music or podcasts in the background while running the trainer app in the foreground works OK, though switching away from the trainer app to change audio tracks can be awkward, maybe even causing the trainer app to pause.

Using a separate device for entertainment is just easier, other than taking up more space and adding another device whose battery life you need to keep track of.  But it also adds the option of video entertainment.  My Android phone meets this need very well.

Indoor Training Tools -- Background

For the longest time, I rode bicycles outdoors only--no gym bikes, no trainers for me and I got plenty of riding in.  But during a particularly rainy month where I was getting very little exercise, I decided to dig out a really old magnetic resistance trainer that my brother had given me.  It was a Peak Load 2 trainer from Performance that I had only ever used as a truing stand for tuning up wheels.

I set it up in the garage with a big fan and the overhead door open while the rain continued yet another day.  I mounted up a bike, rode it for a few minutes, and to my surprise, found that it was a somewhat pleasant experience.  Or at least, it was much, much better than not exercising.  Then suddenly the resistance unit seized up with a lot of metal screeching noise that briefly overwhelmed the pleasant sound of the rainfall before silence fell on upon it and I could no longer turn the cranks.

Improve?

I took the unit apart to see if I could fix it--no go.  I contacted Performance to see if they had replacement resistance units available to fit--after all, the steel frame for the trainer is still in good shape.  Nope, the thing was too darned old.  I didn't press the matter with their 100% satisfaction guarantee since I'm not the original owner and at some point, they reduced their guarantee from lifetime to 365 days.

Acquire!

It kept raining a lot, so I kept an eye out for trainer deals.  As luck would have it, a year ago this week in the midst of Winter, I came across a good sale on the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine Smart, a well reputed, reliable (no leaks!) fluid resistance trainer that provides power, speed and cadence readings.  Although it has "Smart" in the name, it is not what is commonly called a "smart trainer" these days.  That would be something that has programmatic resistance control via protocols such as ANT+ FE-C to simulate hills in an immersive simulation environment like Zwift, or to vary resistance to load/difficulty in structured training programs.  With a plain old fluid resistance unit, I vary the resistance by changing gears on the bike.  This works well enough for me.

Since I acquired my trainer a year ago, Kurt Kinetic has come out with an updated resistance unit that would be "smart", but is of course a lot more expensive and, unfortunately, uses a proprietary protocol on top of Bluetooth for resistance control.  For more information about that, check out DC Rainmaker's article on this.

Hardware and Software Support

The Kurt Kinetic trainers support only Bluetooth Smart, also referred to as Bluetooth 4.x and Bluetooth Low Energy at various levels of precision.  Although my research at the time told me that ANT+ was far more widely supported with computer-based trainer software, my initial thought about my indoor trainer setup would be that I'd be pairing it with mobile devices where Bluetooth support is where it's at.

I also figured that as time went on, Bluetooth support would grow to approach or even exceed ANT+ since pretty much every laptop and mobile device supports Bluetooth 4.x these days, while almost nothing beyond fitness-specific devices come with ANT+ support.

A year on, my prediction has been wrong so far.  There is still very little support for Bluetooth in indoor cycling trainer apps running on Windows.  Macs have it somewhat better, but even Windows-based trainer software that support Bluetooth (TrainerRoad and Rouvy) support it only with one specific Bluetooth dongle that is especially programmable.  And those products require a subscription to their trainer/coaching service.

If I had to do it all over again, I would have looked harder for a trainer that supports both ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart for the best of both worlds, or at least ANT+ to gain wider software support at the expense of needing an ANT+ adapter and the limitation of having to use a laptop rather than also having a good mobile device option.

Since I don't have a time machine, my next blog posts will go through the trainer setups I've used over the last year, how things have evolved and what things I may try next.

Water Temperature or Volume?

Now that it is Summer, my outdoor rides have typically been in 95 to 105+ degrees Fahrenheit (according to my Garmin 500's thermometer) and have been getting longer in distance.  I am really putting my newfound water carrying capabilities to the test.

It's nothing new to note that cool water makes you feel better than warm water on a hot ride, but I've apparently been missing something in my quest for better water take-along capabilities. While carrying sufficient volume is important (hence the third bottle cage, now using a different saddle-rail-mount), the ability to keep what I drink cool or even cold is a game changer I never thought I really needed when I was riding shorter distances and ice in a plastic, insulated bike water bottle just barely sufficed.

With an ice-filled vacuum-insulated bottle, e.g. the 20 fl.oz./600 ml Contigo Matterhorn stainless steel bottle, fitting nicely into a standard bicycle bottle cage for a reserve tank, I can make good use of warm to hot-ish water from water fountains in parks, turning it into ice cold water to put into my main on-bike drinking bottle.

Drinking colder water throughout a ride in hot temperatures seems to serve my hydration and cooling needs better than drinking more water.  So even though I may be carrying 400 ml less water than I can when using the 1000 ml Elite Maxi Cincio bottle (an older bottle with some newer alternatives available, e.g. the Elite Maxi Corsa or the Zefal Magnum), I can ride just as far.  This more than makes up for the extra weight of the steel bottle (308g - 107g = 201g of extra bottle weight, minus 400g of water for a net savings of 199g).

The two downsides of going with this steel vacuum bottle are that it's a bit more work throughout the ride to transfer water between bottles, and it makes more noise when going over bumpy roads.

Noise?  Metal on metal clanking, but some strategically placed duct tape or sections of old inner tube on my steel bottle cage should fix that.

Water transfer?  To maximize the efficacy of the ice in the vacuum bottle (yes, ice, not just cold water, but ice that remains solid even after hours in blazing hot sun), I essentially have to cycle water from my second reserve in the behind-the-saddle cage into/through the vacuum bottle.  So what used to be a simple process of pouring water from one bottle into another now introduces a third bottle in between, at least for the second refilling of the day.  The first refilling comes directly from the vacuum bottle reserve tank into the drinking bottle.  Once there is only ice left in the vacuum bottle, I pour the second reserve bottle's water into it, shake things up, then pour again into the drinking bottle.  If needed and available, I then refill the second reserve bottle from a water fountain that more often than not gives warm water.

Actually, there is a third downside to the new bottle--it insulates so well that I am finding myself left with a chunk of ice that's too large to pour out and consume rather than liquid water as my ride nears the end.  I think I need to put a little less ice into it so that at the end, I'll have only cold water left in the bottle rather than just ice.

Success in Part, then Nearly Epic Disaster

The front triangle changes are working well.  The bottles are secure and drawing from the down tube cage is notably easier now.  Holstering the bottle is not quite as quick, but I'm sure that will resolve itself with another ride or two.

The behind the seat bottle cage was a near disaster.  Today was the first time I've ridden with a filled bottle in place.  It was a good idea to keep it small with a 550ml or so bottle.  I checked things a few times during the ride and it seemed fine, maybe a bit flexy, but not loose.

But close to my turn around point, I checked and uh oh, the whole thing is flopping around.  I pulled over to look at what's going on and saw that one of the two bolts clamping it to the seat rails was gone.  The remaining one was literally hanging by a thread--I turned it a little and the assembly came apart, leaving the threaded steel plate on the saddle rails while I held the bottle, cage and mount in my hand.  If it had fallen while moving, the cage, etc. could easily have jammed in my rear wheel.

Looks like I needed to use thread locker to keep this thing together.  If I decide to reuse it, I'll likely go with locking nuts on the other side of the plate rather than relying on the minimal threading available in that thin plate.  I'm more likely to add a third bottle cage to the front side of the down tube, if there is room.  I might use something like the SKS Anywhere bottle mount.

Tested, improved further

I've taken a number of longer rides and it is working out pretty well, although drawing the bottle is taking more conscious effort than I would like with the Zefal Wiiz bottle cage, so I've changed a few things:

1. re-deployed my bottle cage lowering bracket (basically an aluminum plate with three holes drilled 64mm apart, 3 standard M5-.80 bottle cage bolts and one M5-.80 locking nut) from another bike that I no longer need a seat tube bottle cage for
2. replaced the Origin8 Articul-8er adjustable/side entry cage on the seat tube with a Planet Bike stainless steel cage mounted in the normal orientation
3. replaced the Zefal Wiiz side entry cage with an oldie (and long discontinued) but a goodie, the Catamount Catcage that can be mounted front, left and right oriented

Lowering the seat tube cage gives me a little more room to move the frame bag backwards, giving freer access to the down tube bottle, plus lets me use a normal, front-facing bottle cage on the seat tube.

Using a regular bottle cage is more secure, which I found out is important because with my first use of ice in my water bottles, the obviously air tight Elite Maxi Cincio bottle deforms as the ice melts and the water volume inside shrinks.  That allowed the bottle to slip out of the cage a little and actually rub my chain while riding.  I found that out when I noticed some damage on the bottom of the bottle--not enough to cause a leak, luckily.  Maybe that also explains why I was feeling kind of weak on my ride yesterday--chain rubbing on the water bottle! :-)

Using the low profile Catamount Catcage puts the bottle just that little bit closer to the down tube and away from the frame bag, plus it naturally makes the top of the bottle angle slightly to the side, which makes drawing the bottle easier.

I haven't test ridden it in this configuration yet, but I have high hopes that this is it, the final setup.  Fingers crossed!

One final note and mini-rant:  bike companies, frame designers, etc. need to stop putting bottle mounts so high up on medium to smaller frames.  I understand that some people might not want the seat tube cage mounts as low as possible.  Not everybody wants to use really large bottles and some people like to use seat tube bottles as their primary bottle (how crazy is that!?), needing easy reach and clearance for the front derailleur clamping band is important, but the right answer is something I'm seeing on some new frames recently--have three bottle cage bosses on the seat tube so the end user can choose where to put their cage.  A couple of Presta valve nuts also work perfectly as spacers to provide clearance for the derailleur clamp if needed.

Before and After Storage and Hydration Improvement

Here's what the on-bike storage and water bottle setup looked like with the Novara seat wedge (modified by adding a Twofish Bikeblock pump mount to push it further back from the seat post to enhance leg clearance while pedaling) and SKS Tool Wrap:

To recap why I was looking to make a change, the tool roll under the top tube made it inconvenient to access tools held within, and I wanted to carry more than 1.7 liters of water while keeping the Nalgene OTG bottle (the red bottle on the down tube) as my primary bottle and without resorting to a hydration bladder.

Here is how things look with the seat wedge and tool roll consolidated into the Banjo Brothers medium sized frame pack:

The frame bag is installed backwards because it fit better on my frame that way. With this setup, the water bottles are a bit hard to access, so I moved the down tube cage, the Origin8 Articul-8er, which is adjustable to be side or front entry, to the seat tube because it fits as close to the frame as possible, increasing room for the bag slightly.  I may end up using a vertical adjustment gizmo to lower the seat tube bottle as low as possible for even more room for the bag.

In its place on the down tube, I put the Zefal Wiiz side entry cage.  It is working OK, but has a a couple of problems.  Firstly, it stands off the frame quite a bit, which eats into bag room.  Secondly, it doesn't hold very tightly so lost bottles is a possibility, though with the frame bag in the way, that's quite unlikely.  But it does have the advantage of being very easy to draw and holster the bottle.

I forgot to take a photo of this current configuration, but it doesn't look substantively different.

The final changes were adding the behind the seat bottle cage in place of the Novara seat wedge to hold one additional bottle.  In the photo, it is holding the one liter Elite Maxi Cincio.  I was rightly concerned that such a large bottle could be problematic while swinging a leg over the saddle, but I can probably deal with it as long as I remember when the bottle is there, or stick to smaller bottles.

I used to have a Cygolite Hotshot Pro 80 tail light on the seat wedge's rear light loop and a Portland Design Works Radbot 1000 tail light on the left seat stay, but with the seat wedge gone, I rearranged the tail lights a little.

I put the Hotshot on the left seat stay and put the Radbot on the seat post, just below the bottle cage.  One pleasant surprise was that when using a clear water bottle, e.g. the Maxi Cincio, the tail light makes the whole water bottle glow red.  I don't know how that affects visibility with a larger, but dimmer/diffuse light, but it's certainly an interesting look.  With no third bottle in place, the seat post tail light is mostly unobstructed.

Once I trim off the excess velcro, the bike should be ready to go on a test ride.  I'd like to keep the velcro intact so that I might have the option of returning the bag for a somewhat smaller one, but I'm probably going to keep it since return shipping would be prohibitive and the smaller bags might not be able to hold everything I would want anyway.

Hopefully I can post a "final" photo of the setup along with a ride report soon.

Enough to Drink, Access to Tools and Stuff

Two things became evident in the Summer of 2016 when I was riding my road bike a lot in triple digit temperatures (Fahrenheit) and experiencing more than my expected frequency of mechanical problems out on the road:

1. 1.7 liters of water isn't enough for 3+ hour rides when it's really hot
2. it's much better to have easy access to tools than not-so-easy access to tools

My primary road bike has the usual two water bottle cages on it, a large-ish seat wedge for a spare tube, wallet, keys, and food, and finally a well-stocked, top tube mounted tool roll.

Enough to Drink?

My favorite bottle to drink from while riding is the Nalgene On-the-Go (aka OTG) which holds 700ml or 24 fl.oz.  I like it because of the secure, closed loop to hold it (no slipping out of your sweaty hands), easy open cap (squeeze the sides, then rotate open rather than trying to flip it open with your thumb--the latter may seem to be the obvious way, but it doesn't work well), good outflow of water with no squeezing needed and finally a modicum of protection of the drinking spout from gunk kicked up by the tires.

For longer rides, I refill that with the Elite Maxi Cincio, which holds 1000ml or 34 fl.oz.

On really super hot days, I may use an insulated Camelback Podium Big Chill, which holds 750ml or 25 fl.oz. as my primary bottle, and either a semi-frozen Maxi Cincio or, on shorter rides, a second Big Chill with ice water, as my reserve tank.

If you look around for the On the Go bottle, you may actually find the newer, On the Fly (aka OTF) bottle, also by Nalgene.  It is the same container, but with a different lid that, while better for tossing into your backpack or gym bag without worrying about leakage, makes for a poor cycling bottle.  This newer design does indeed solve a real problem with the OTG, i.e. the older cap design is not "leakproof" and is liable to open on its own if jostled.  But the other problems the OTF purports to solve are actually non-problems if you know how to use it properly, and the OTF's solutions make it less usable on the bike.

OK, enough ranting about the OTG vs the OTF lids.  What am I getting at?  I sometimes need more than the ~1.7 liters of water I can carry with two bottles.  Sure, I could carry 2.0 liters if I used two Maxi Cincio bottles, but these bottles are huge and a little awkward to take a swig from while riding.  They make for great reserve tanks though.

The other common alternative is to use a hydration bladder, the stuff that Camelbak made their name with.  Been there, done that, no thanks.  I don't want to carry even more weight on my body and hydration bladders are annoying to clean (not that bottles are a joy either).

How about a soft flask, like the Hydrapak Ultra Flask or Camelbak Quick Stow Flask?  Those were my first thoughts--they could fit in a jersey pocket with less discomfort than a hydration pack/bladder would impose, or could even be stowed in an on-bike bag while imposing a cleaning chore comparable to that of a normal bottle.  Cool, except I don't own either of those.

What I do already own after keeping an eye out on closeout bargains over the years is a triathlon-type bottle cage mount that goes behind the saddle, specifically a Tacx Behind the Saddle bottle cage adapter for bottle cages.  I have been leery of those types of things due to the setups I see so often out there, with folks carrying large bottles that protrude above the plane of the saddle.  I suppose it's more aerodynamically efficient, but I think that I'll try out this type of thing using a lower mounting height and angle, and smaller bottles that do not sit up high.  That would give me an extra liter or so of water carrying capacity that I can put on or take off the bike without too much fuss.  I'll see how that goes this Summer--2.7 liters of water should last me a good long ride without having to stop at service stations.

But wait--how do I use a saddle-mounted bottle cage system if I also have a large seat wedge taking up that space?

Better Access to Tools and Stuff

Here's where some accessory acquisition comes into play to improve an existing bike.

Over the years, I have searched far and wide for the perfect saddle bag.  After trying many variations, the closest thing I've found to perfection is a long-discontinued Novara (REI house brand) expanding seat wedge.   It is narrow so my thighs didn't hit it while pedaling, and it is deep enough to hold a good bit of stuff that I need.  But it wasn't quite big enough to hold the growing list of tools that I want to carry on my rides.  So I added the SKS Tool Wrap, an adequate tool roll that hangs underneath the top tube.  It holds a micropump, multi-tool, spoke wrench, patch kit, tire levers, a few small spare parts and organizes them well enough, but with one big problem--the mounting system.  It is basically two straps cinched by pairs of D-loops, plus velcro on the edge of the roll.

While I do hate velcro most of the time, that's not the problem here--the problem is that I have to totally undo the cinched straps and remove the tool roll from the bike to access the contents.  So basically I have to put it on the ground while using any tools, which is a potentially messy pain.

I like efficiency, killing two birds with one stone, getting fun, exercise and transportation all-in-one (aka cycling!).  So how about something that can do the job of that near perfect seat wedge and the innocuous to carry, but cumbersome to access tool roll that allows me to continue to access my existing water bottles, plus allow the option to add more water bottles?

The answer:  a frame bag that is small enough to fit my sloping top tube road bikes without interfering with water bottle access (side access bottle cages are OK with me, if needed), yet large enough to hold the stuff I currently have spread out between the seat wedge and the tool roll, all the while having improved access to all the contents without having to uninstall anything.

Here it is, the Banjo Brothers medium sized frame pack.  There are so many similar frame bags out there, but this seems to be just the right size and shape to hold all the stuff I need to carry, in the space available to install it on my bike, with far improved access through the full length zippered openings while staying on the bike.

Photos and results to follow...