TYR Nest Pro – The Goggle revelation!

I am a bit of a traditionalist. I am not very adventurous, so when I find kit I like, I tend to stick with it. This could be construed as logical, or in fact as limiting, depending which way you look at it.

When I found aquasphere eagle goggles, about 5 years ago, I loved them. I had tried many other makes, and didn’t like them, but with these, I have had the same pair ever since, which I use for pool swimming. They are still good, don’t leak and are still going strong.

It took a little while to find the correct open water goggle though, and after many different models, I found aquasphere vista. I like it because it has a good seal, and great panoramic vision, and didn’t mist up like many others. I do find, though, that the seal is a little temperamental and can leak. I have found this with other OW goggles though, and so accepted it as perhaps normal. Maybe I have an odd shaped face. I always did wonder if it was because of the large surface area of the seal, which perhaps moves when I open my moth to breathe. No matter, the way I got round this is buy a new pair each season. I am not sure if this is normal or not, but I have, till now, accepted it as normal.

Then TriUK gave me TYR Nest Pro goggles. I looked at the teeny extremely light weight goggles and thought there is no way I can wear those!!

I bit the bullet and took them with me (along with many other pairs of my trusty aquasphere goggles just in case!) to the lake on Friday, to try them out. I usually either wear tinted or plain goggles. These are somewhere between, labelled as ‘frosted’.

At first it seemed strange to have such small goggles on, but very quickly, I came to absolutely love them. They sit snug, don’t move, don’t mist, don’t leak and panoramic vision is good. Usually after a lap or two I have to adjust my normal goggles, as they probably have started to let in water. Not these. They stayed fast for the whole 45 minute duration of my open water swim session. I was able to swim continuously without interruption. After getting used to the new fit, it was almost like I didn’t have any goggles on, or if I did, they felt like a great fitting pair of your best sunglasses. I never thought I could ever say that about goggles! The ‘frosted’ lenses allowed me to keep swimming till dusk, and still see clearly.

To date they are by far the best goggles I have every tried, much to my amazement. I can’t wait to see how they hold up as the season progresses.

Energy Bars and training fuel... my reviews

I have tried MANY MANY different bars and things on the quest to find one i like. I struggle to take food on while cycling, and tend to opt therefore for gels and drinks in race situations. Whe i am training, and its not as urgent. i tend to vary what i take with me. It has cost a fortune in stuff i have bought then thrown away, so i thought i would share my verdict in the hope that I can save you a bit of money (and time!)

 Cliff bars are nice, they come in many many flavours, and taste good. They can be a bit dry though, and i struggle to chew them,

 

Guu have recently arrived in the UK. i found these in Australia when i was there and they are LOVELY!! they come in hundreds of delicious flavours, but are quite thick so you need to take them with a drink. They're like a meal in a gel!

 I'm not so keen on lucozade stuff, I dont think it does much for me performance wise, and i find it incredible sweet tasting.

I really dont like these, they tasted like sawdust to me!! I bought a box but disliked them so much i sold the rest of the box on EBAY!

 Torq make good nutrition, and it tastes great (specially the gels) but the bars are very dry and chewy, and the gels can be a bit sickly sweet. They are very thick too so need water with them

 High 5 gels are one of my favourites. the one on the left is the standard one, i use while cycling, the one on the right is new, thinner, easier to take, and i use it in races during the run section. All flavours are good!

Cliff SHOT BLOCK is very good, like a chewy jelly sweet, easy to take while cycling I found, but might get a bit stuck in your teeth! I liked them and I think i will use them again. ride shots -V easy to use: fab!

 This is my all time favourite pre race drink! its a shame they arent sold in these small sachets, i got this free in a race pack. i think i may have to invest in a big tub! It really helps, i have found. Highly recommended!

 Dont like the taste of the power bars, do like the chocolate one, but it melted all over the place when I went out with one!!

GO bar: Flavour of these is good, but in cold weather they turn to rock and are very hard to bite into without hurting your teeth!

Mule make great bars, but again, i find them a bit dry.



Sports Bars are my all time favourite bar is this one! Love the taste (even tho its covered in chocolate, it isnt too thick or sweet



Loving REGO, it really makes me feel human again, and i really mean that. If i forget rego at a race, i am in BIG trouble! GO eletrolyte, is another of the drinks i rely on, I use a few. That, HIgh5, and H3O

Herbalife make this one, H3O and its only available online. But, its the least sweet tasting, and a really relied on it when i was racing and training long, as i was getting sick of tasting sweet stuff!



What turbo trainer? The beginners guide

What is a turbo trainer?

 It’s a gadget that allows you to turn your road bike into a stationery training tool.

Why use a turbo trainer?

It will always be better to train on the bike you ride on, you are used to that position, the gym bikes are never quite right, huge seats, pedals in the wrong place, different handle bars, etc. A turbo allows you to train, away from the elements, making cycling accessible when the weather is too bad. If you have family / time constraints, it makes cycling easier to fit in. It also allows you to work on technique like pedalling, in a safe environment, and allows you to exactly control the resistance, etc, without being governed by the contours of the road. It allows you to push yourself more, perhaps, but you must then be prepared to go out and transfer all these new skills on the real open road!

There are many turbo training DVD's available to structure your training, and make the time pass quicker, as stationary riding can get boring! I use http://www.thesufferfest.com/ which I can download to iPod / iPhone, or DVD, and Robbie Ventura DVD's like this one;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/CycleOps-realRides-Presents-Robbie-Ventura/dp/B001GB7OUQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=sports&qid=1290028798&sr=8-4 There are, of course many more. These are just my favourites.

Which turbo trainer should I get?

That depends on where you will put it. Some can be very noisy, so does that matter? Will it be in the living room, spare room, or will it be in the garage?

WIND turbo trainers:

• This is good for entry level, indoor cyclists who want progressive resistance and don’t mind their turbo trainer being loud. The price tend to start here with this one. The one with the best reviews seems to be the Cycle Ops wind turbo trainer
• Wind resistance bike trainers are the cheapest of the turbo trainers and are always at the bottom of the range as far as price is concerned. With wind resistance bike trainers your pedalling drives a small fan attached to the unit. The fan is designed so that the harder you cycle the higher the wind resistance is that the fan generates. Because the fan is a fixed size it is not possible to change the resistance curve on your turbo trainer. However these turbo trainers do have a realistic feel to them as the resistance rises in direct proportion to the speed you pedal at.
• Wind resistance turbo trainers main downfalls are the fact that it is not possible to adapt the power curve and also that they are very loud. Due to the direct relation between the speed of the fan and the speed at which you cycle, when you get up to speed on a wind turbo trainer the noise can in some cases be extraordinary. This means that you cannot use a wind cycle trainer indoors or in any place where noise is a consideration.
• The flip side of the fan is that wind bike trainers can produce a bit of a breeze which can help counteract the lack of wind that comes with stationary cycling.
• Overall a wind turbo can be worth considering as a first turbo trainer if you can get your hands on a good brand cheaply. You will certainly get a good feel for what it is like to use a bike trainer, however for serious and regular cycle training you should opt for one of the other resistance types.

Pros: Good value, realistic feel, can provide cooling through the fan.
Cons: Loud, the resistance is limited.
Ideal if: You are new to indoor cycle turbo trainers or on a budget.

MAGNETIC turbo trainers

• magnetic resistance trainer, with progressive resistance,
• Magnetic resistance turbo trainers will usually have a number of single resistance settings.  These different settings achieve varying degrees of resistance by moving the magnets closer together or moving them further away from each other, therefore increasing or decreasing the force between the magnets.
• Changing these resistance settings is a matter of either changing a dial on the turbo trainer itself or using a supplied handlebar lever which you can use to change the resistance setting without getting off your bike.
• As far as noise levels are concerned, magnetic turbo trainers sit somewhere between loud wind trainers and almost silent fluid trainers. The noise produced by a magnetic turbo trainer is usually directly related to the price you pay for it, with top of the range models being as quiet as fluid trainers and some bottom of the range models being louder than wind trainers.
• Getting a magnetic turbo trainer is usually a really solid choice and there is a wide variety of models on the market. They are ideal for training in a consistent manner and can be great for training your strength during high power workouts. Watch out however, if you really need a quiet turbo trainer and don’t have a huge budget, you may be better off going for a cheap fluid trainer rather than a cheap magnetic trainer.
• recommended types seem to be Cyclops super magnetic pro, Elite Chrono mag elastogel, Tacx sirius soft gel

Pros: Large choice, resistance variable, high power training possible.
Cons: Can be fairly noisy, no natural resistance curve.
Ideal if: You are looking for a decent powerful turbo trainer and want variety in your indoor training.

FLUID turbo trainers

• Fluid resistance turbo trainers work very similarly to wind turbo trainers. As with wind resistance bicycle trainers the roller is connected to a fan. The fan on a fluid resistance trainer is however not open to air as with the wind trainers. The fan on a fluid resistance turbo trainer is suspended in a thick fluid, hence the name fluid trainer.
• It is best to imagine the fan in these trainers like small cups like the ones on wind vanes. As with the wind trainers the faster you cycle, the faster the fan turns. This in turn increases the resistance which the fluid exerts on the fan. This is the same effect that you experience when cycling outdoors. The faster you move the higher the resistance you generate while pushing against the surrounding air.
• Because of this the resistance curves on fluid turbo trainers are as close to actually cycling as you can get and they feel very realistic to train on. In addition to this the fan is completely enclosed in the fluid which means it doesn’t generate any noise. This is a stark contrast to the noise generated by wind resistance trainers.
• The fluid inside these turbo trainers can be different from model to model meaning that you can have different densities, allowing for different resistance curves. This is something that wind trainers can’t provide as the density of the air they use is always the same.
• One of the downfalls of a purely fluid turbo trainer is that you can only have one single resistance curve. While you can adapt the resistance by using your bicycle gears the range is ultimately limited. A number of manufacturers have however created hybrid magnetic-fluid trainers which allow for the resistance curve of fluid trainers and the adjustable settings of a magnetic trainer allowing for a windier scope to your training.
• recommended makes seem to be Cycleops Jet fluid and Elite Chrono fluid (I have the Elite chrono fluid) This is the kind of turbo trainer I have. I chose it because it was meant to be closeish to the 'real ride'. I didn’t want dead cheap, but also didn’t want really expensive either! For resistance, I use my bikes gears.

Pros: Large choice, realistic resistance curve, good resistance levels.
Cons: Can be fairly expensive, not adjustable.
Ideal if: You are looking for a high quality turbo training experience with a realistic resistance curve

As you can see your choice will be largely driven by how noisy your turbo trainer can be, so decide this first!

There version of the turbo trainer (made my Tacx i think) that you can connect to your computer and ride virtual courses. Add the £££ though, so i havent mentioned this much, but if you have wonga to spare, do look it up!