FLASH-POINT BLOG ARCHIVE: Aug 2009

I have a new bike: the Kuota Kharma.

The Kharma is Kuota's entry-level carbon road bike, but I like to think it has some triathlon flair to it. I debated for a year whether to go with a road bike or a Tri bike, and ultimately I thought a road bike would be a little more versatile for the kind of rides we do.

My old bike was a Trek 1200, which is the first bike I bought when I started doing triathlons. It was built out of steel, cement and molasses, and although it was a good bike at the time I was long overdue for an upgrade. The Kharma is a bit heavy by carbon standards, and yet with my configuration is stil 4-5 pounds lighter than my old bike.

One of the things I read in reviews for the Kharma is that it's very good at transferring power to the wheels. I didn't really appreciate what that meant until I felt it out on the road myself. It just seems to be very efficient; when I try to crank things up a notch I can really feel the extra energy in the bike.

I haven't ridden it with my Flashpoints yet; they'll go on this week and I'm sure I'll get even better performance out of the Kharma. But I'm already very happy with my new ride.

I am doing Ironman Wisconsin in less than two months. The bike course is known for its rolling hills, so we've been training hills. A lot. Actually, it may be more accurate to say we've been training mountains because there has been nothing "rolling" about the 20-30 mile climbs we've been doing. I think my Tri-teammates get overly inspired watching the Tour de France.

But the past two weeks, we went back to doing the flats again. It was a welcome change. We did our regular ride along the San Gabriel River Trail and it felt good to be able to drop into aero position again and just stay there. Unfortunately, temperatures in the upper 90s took some of the joy out of the rides. But that just comes with the territory of living in Los Angeles.

I did witness a very serious bike accident along the trail (I didn't know the person.) Without getting too graphic, there was serious bleeding involved and I had to call the paramedics. Just another reminder to be careful out there.

Mid-week training continues to be drills; interval training Tuesday mornings; medium hills after work.