Specialized Turbo Pro Review

Tires, or more correctly in this case, training tires are a funny thing. Everyone has their preference built up on price, longevity, feel, grippiness and the most important factor – how many punctures did you get on them. Some people swear by a certain brand that others despise with a passion.

Me, over the last few years I have been pretty devoted to using the Continental GP4000s tires on my training wheels (I have no tire relationships on the road bike so I'm buying them) – I have found that they grip well, are reasonably comfortable and last for ages. The negative thing about them is that they feel pretty sluggish (and rolling resistance tests back this up) and cost a lot.

So there I was, in California to train and my rear GP4000s gives up the ghost... What to do – I go to the bike shop and see that the GP4000s are $80... EACH! Hmmm – maybe it is time to try something different.

Mel and I have had a long term good relationship with Specialized (although no tires) so, remembering about some good reviews I noticed recently, I picked up a SpecializedTurbo Pro for $55.

Speicalized had originally started out making tires and apparently they were great. Unfortunately, they lost focus for many years and were making road tires I wouldn't put on a commute bike. Fortunately though, this all changed a couple of years ago and the new Turbo Pro is part of that new generation. They are light, resistant to puncturing, roll well and have a few different versions at different price points. I went with the Pro rather than the S-Works because they apparently wear better. Mel has a pair of Turbo Elites now too (even cheaper), but it is too early for feedback.

So I threw it on and straight away I noticed that it rolled better than the GP4000s (which isn't hard to do) – the proof would be how long it would last...

So, I now also have a Turbo Pro on the front of my bike and the rear tire is still running strong. I have put 6,500km on it since the end of November split across dry roads in the US, a month of riding in Ireland on its rough roads and crap weather and now in Spain on a mixture of roads and conditions. At this point – the tire is 'squaring' off and there are numerous small cuts (mostly acquired in Ireland) but still no puncture (I know – I'm cursing myself). They still roll well and are comfortable. I'm 73kg and am pretty light on equipment but that is still an excellent figure. So basically, I'm giving them a thumbs up.

My request now is that Specialized bring out a 25mm version for me to use – 25 is the new 23... I'll try the S-Works version of the tire next - apparently it rolls and grips better but lasts about half the time - maybe perfect for the front?

UPDATE

I finally replaced the rear tire as it was getting pretty old looking (descending at up to 85 kmph I want my equipment perfect!). No punctures and 8,000km on the tire on the rear - impressive!

A summary of the 2011 bad bits

It's always hard to write a summary when things didn't exactly go to plan. My 2011 season, my first where I concentrated on road cycling, was a real mixed bag. Sickness, health, national titles and missed targets – a bit of everything.

Things went well for me during the 2010/2011 winter. My job was busy but I was able to consistently get good training in in decent weather with enough recovery. I came into the end of February as strong as I had ever been and as lean/light as was reasonably possible.

My season ahead looked great – I would start racing with Giant/Kenda Pro Cycling (a UCI Continental team) in Asia at the start of March with a Criterium in Singapore, then the 6 day Jelajah Malaysia followed by the 10 day Tour de Taiwan – happy days.

The happy days were pretty short lived – the day before the start of Jelajah Malaysia, the worst road crash I have had left me covered in road rash and aching all over – exactly what you don't want the day before you start a stage race with 200km+ per day in the saddle in tropical heat/weather. I could hardly sleep at night, I stuck to the sheets and on reflection after the stages, my power meter said I was barely turning the pedals. Not so good.

Ouch - and yeah, I was lean

With a week between Jelajah and the Tour de Taiwan, I hoped most of my wounds would heal and the legs would come back – it didn't happen like that. I was fine on any of the mountain stages but the snap, the extra 10%, was never there – it frustrated me – I didn't know what was happening. I was as strong or stronger than a large part of the peleton – but that wasn't what I trained for – I trained to be faster than that.

I came home somewhat dejected from the experience and FOUR kilograms heavier! What the hell happened to me?!? Asian buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner is something to be feared was amongst my take home lessons – I have learnt from it and made adjustments.

I started racing at home and sometimes felt okay but most of the time felt drained. I couldn't train as hard as usual, I couldn't race as hard, and I felt I had to sleep in the middle of every day. Oh, and work was still busy. My next port of call was a trip to the doctor for full blood work and many many tests to investigate what was happening. The result – well, my blood values where 20% below what I would normally see – I was heavily anemic... Starts to explain some things. I went on iron supplements, but months later there was still no change – it was a very frustrating time. I couldn't race as hard I wanted, I couldn't even train hard.

Eventually, my doctor decided that iron injections may help my situation (4 months of normal supplementation didn't do anything for me) – 3 weeks later, bing, blood values shot back up, even before I found the results, I knew things were different – I felt healthier and was able to train harder – the probable reason for my issues: a viral infection picked up in Malaysia. Unfortunately, at this point I was most of the way through the season and I was not as race fit as I should be. A trip to Gran Canaria for 10 days of hard training and I returned feeling much more like myself and finished off my season strong winning a few races and retaining my MTB Marathon National Championship.

A lesson I learn't during the year was to really follow and trust my instincts in relation to my health. I knew when I was strong, and I knew when I was weak – I really should have gotten on top of my health issues as soon as I started to feel weak and really focused on fixing it rather than continuing at 70%. All the signs were there, the power to heart rate ratio changed dramatically, poor recovery, saddle sores, motivation issues. Was it over training? No – I seriously doubt that, considering how quickly I recovered once the iron issues were resolved (without taking a break from training) – it wouldn't make sense.

Defending my MTB Marathon Title

If you have been following my blog over the last while, you'll know that my season wasn't all bad, lots of great things happened (I won my first stage race while still being 'sick') and there were parts that I really enjoyed – it's just, I like to remain honest on the blog and level out the good things with the bad. When things are going well, it is easy to tap down a few words but to be more complete, sometimes you have to write about the tough times.

Next up, a post on my preparation for 2012 (hint – things are going well - I'm feeling good, lean and happy – but I still need a team!)

2011 AnPost Ras Stage 4

An interesting enough day in the hills - report says it all.

2011 AnPost Ras Stage 3

Why does it take me a few days to start feeling okay... Starting to come around today and we hit the hills tomorrow.

Today's report after the race.

2010 FBD Ras Stage 8

The final daily RAS installment. I kept it steady, finished in the front group and won the county rider overall. 17th overall on GC and second Irish person (behind AnPost Pro, Conor McConvey).

2009 Suir Valley 3 Day

The weekend after our win at Bontrager TwentyFour 12 I was eager to race again (the broken collerbone meant no racing for a few months so racing still felt very fresh). The only thing of interest in the Irish calendar was the Suir Valley 3 Day Road Race, a four stage race based in Clonmel – about two and a half hours drive from Dublin. All stages (for a mountain biker at least) were reasonably flat but the courses remained challenging due to the winds over the weekend.
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Stage 1


140 riders lined up for the start of the first stage in the centre of Clonmel, one of the bigger starting peletons I've been in. Riding through the town was a bit of a squeeze but once we got into the open roads, things went well. The first half of the race was reasonably mellow with the attacks off the front never getting very far due to a huge headwind. All this changed however at the half way point when we turned to have the wind on our backs with average speeds over 50kmph. At this point, a group pulled off the front (I was being lazy/stupid too far back in the peleton and it was very difficult to move up on the small roads) and made the break of the day. Finally, we did a few loops of a circuit on the outskirt of the town to call it a day. A nice days racing and I was looking forward to the following mornings stage vowing to concentrate on positioning more.

Stage 2


At 11am the peleton rolled out from Clonmel for another day in the hills. There were a few King of the Mountain climbs today but we had already gone over the first before I noticed it had started. (I noted the distance into the race to the climb but didn't think we were on a climb). A little later in the day, for the bigger Cat 2 climb, 6 or 7 riders including myself broke clear for the points where I eventually crossed the line for 4th. It was a 4% drag so it didn't really fall into my climbing category (we averaged over 30kmph up the hill for 6 minutes) but it was fun. I remained busy at the front for the following hour trying to get away in the days break but after a few almost fruitful attempts another break sunk off and that was that. A quick pace around some picturesque (small) roads meant we were back in Clonmel in no time – another stage down.

Stage 3 – The Criterium

Later the same day, a criterium was going to be held around the tiny streets of Clonmel – unfortuately for the race, after we finished Stage 2 the rain clouds came in and stayed until we were about to start Stage 3. These conditions, with wet man hole covers and cobbles meant that most of the field lined up simply to do a few laps and get pulled (not worth risking broken bones). After 5 laps of rolling around, me and 60 others riders were pulled – 14 minutes of riding. As I went back to the start/finish I counted 23 riders still racing (130+ started on Stage 1) after 18 minutes! If you were not going for the Stage win or were high up in GC, you would basically decide to fall back and get pulled.

Stage 4


Stage 4 was basically an out and back loop with a long gradual climb and then 4 laps of a 12.5km finishing circuit. The finishing cuircuit had a short but steep enough climb so I knew I was going to have a little fun. The group stayed together for the climb but on the very fast descent a group of riders slipped off the front (my packing position was not good on the descent to say the least). After a lap of the finishing circuit a few of us got off the front for about 10 minutes but were reeled back in at the finish of the lap. On the following lap, Robin Kelly attacked (and no one followed) a few km before the climb. As we hit the climb, I wanted to create some havok so I attacked there. I put my head down and bridged up to Robin by the top of the climb. From there, we worked together well for a lap building up a 40 second lead over the group. The next time over the climb, another 2 riders bridged across to make us 4 and on the following lap, fellow mountain biker, Peter Buggle and another rider bridged to make it 6. With 6, we were not working as well as we were when we were a smaller group and some of the guys started to skip pulls and play silly buggers (the group was only 30 seconds back). Peter and I put in extra work to keep things going in the hope of staying away. As we closed in on the finish, with the group only 15 seconds back, more games were being played. With about 700 meters to go, the group was only a couple of seconds back and I saw Robin make a break for it. I followed and pushed as hard as I could but with about 150meters to go, the sprinters finally caught us and accelerated by. I now have a little more appreciation for how the guys in the Tour feel after 150km off the front to get caught with 100 meters to go. Nontheless, I have to admit, I really enjoyed it all and had a lot of fun.

So that was my first stage race – the stages were pretty short and not hard enough for a rider like me, but the event was extremely well run. Traffic control was perfect and the course was beautiful. I highly recommend the race and if it fits my schedule next year, I'll be back.

When down there, I stayed in Brighton House which, being just around the corner from the start, worked out really well.

Results, photos and reports are all available on the Suir Valley website here.

2009 Bobby Crilly Memorial Road Race

The Bobby Crilly Memorial road race was the second of my double header weekend. It would be the first road race that, on paper at least, would really suit me. A lumpy 3 laps followed by a mountain top finish on the mountain that overlooks Belfast. I had never been up that mountain but always wanted to every time I was in the area.

The race distance was only 80 kilometres with about 1000 meters of climb overall – much of which comes in the last 10 kilometres with the final 2 kilometres averaging 9%.

Mel and I were both taking part in the race and she was set to start 4 minutes ahead of my group (Senior A/Elite). As our group got underway we immediately settled into an efficient pace line – of the 20 or so in our group, 14-15 were giving good pulls at the front, so it was a little after completing our first lap that we caught the 'B' group. The pace became a lot more choppy now as there was a huge headwind the whole way around the course with people not wishing to work on the front. About 6-8 of us stayed around the front of the bigger group and drove us on to catch Mel in her group.

Paul and I went for a break

Three quarters way around the last lap we caught the lead of the race – it was on a long descent that turned onto 2 minute climb at about 4%. I felt a little sorry for the folks we just caught – our group rode straight through the group and once hitting the climb accelerated hard (For the first minute of the climb I averaged 600W).

Almost the top (14% at the time)

A little after this a few people went off the front – there was still a long way to go into a lot of wind and I was cautious about spending too much energy in a small group so I sat in what was now the main bunch. The kilometres ticked by and a few more went up the road. I felt that the group was going too slow up the draggy climb to the main climb so bridged a 30 second gap up to 3 riders. After 4 minutes I caught them just before a 2 km descent, they allowed me to sit in as they worked well together to the base of the main climb. Once we turned onto the climb up the final mountain the wind miraculously stopped and I went into hillclimb mode. I no longer cared about drafting etc.. just getting up the hill quickly. With about 3.5km to go in the climb I spotted the race leader well ahead. I looked at where he was, and then the time I was when I passed that position and judged his lead to be around a minute and 10 seconds. Between him and me there were still 4-5 riders. I put my head down and rode as hard as I could to the top eventually passing everyone but the winner, Conor Murphy – he pipped me by 17 seconds (if only there was another few hundred meters to climb... or I bridged earlier... or...)

Profile and Power (Power is smoothed a lot)

The race was very well run on a challenging course and Mel and I both really enjoyed the event. I really wish there were more road races like this. Finishing on the top of a big hill makes the race very 'honest'.

A report and results can be found here as well as pictures here.

A day in my GC life

Mel has just gone back to Ireland (college meetings to physically attend) but I'll be staying here for another week. With that, our little apartment seems rather quiet so I thought I would sit down and write something.

These last two weeks have been amazing. Both our lives during this period have been pretty much focused on two things. Work (the thing that pays the bills) and cycling. The separation here from our normal routine and distractions has allowed us to become very efficient at both and I get a good feeling of being on top of the work and training for the new season. The weekends are fun, and rest days (Mondays and Fridays usually for me) are mostly about work and a tootle to the beach for lunch but the real benefit that I have found is in the other three days of the week. At the moment I'm getting in 3-4 quality hours on the bike each of those days (a little less if I include any intensity).

I climbed up this today...

... and met Mel for coffee here before she left

It is a simple life – one that I could only really stay focused in for a few weeks without a change but I have enjoyed it. You really do ONLY work, ride, sleep and eat.

2009 KCNC Components Arriving

As the start of the season draws closer. Boxes and packages from our sponsors have started to arrive. One of the first boxes was from KCNC right before we left for Gran Canaria. I have been using KCNC components (Seatposts, chains and skewers) for the last two seasons and am looking forward to expanding the components we use this year (and dropping another few grams from the bikes).

For me KCNC are a company that makes lightweight, durable (who cares if it's light if you can't finish a race) and very affordable components. The part that I have been most impressed with has been their seatposts. For 2007 and 2008 I raced off-road on the Ti Pro Lite which weighs just 150 grams. It has been a set and forget component for me and I really can't praise it enough!

I have not setup the new parts yet but from the onset, for 2009, the road 11-23 cassette really stands out - at just 114 grams it drops more than 100 grams from the cassette I used for road races last year. Come October 2009 I'll update with how it lasted a season's racing.

Anyway, here are pictures (on scales of course) of a selection of the bits that arrived.

KCNC Ti Pro Lite Seatpost - 150 grams

KCNC 110mm Stem 106 grams

KCNC 11-23 10 speed cassette 114 grams

KCNC Bar Ends 52 grams

KCNC Road Brake Callipers 161 grams

KCNC Road Skewers 45 grams

KCNC 100mm Stem 100 grams

KCNC MTB Skewers 45 grams

KCNC SC Bone Flatbar 117 grams

Mel and I will of course update our blogs as more shiny bits arrive - I love this time of year :)

2009 Gran Canaria

As anyone following me on Twitter or Facebook would know (yes, I joined Facebook – I resisted for a long time but gave up at Christmas), Mel and I have currently relocated to Gran Canaria for a few weeks. This is by no means a holiday, just a chance to do what we usually do, work and cycle, in slightly warmer surroundings. I organised most things and Mel took the important role of finding accommodation, a cute little apartment in Vecindario with blazingly fast internet (vital for the work end of things!).

My days are now filled with long road rides (no MTB with me unfortunately although I hope to hire one at the weekend) followed by the rest of the day working and then off to bed. A simple life with little distractions and I'm really enjoying it.

Since we arrived, we have basically gone on two hard rides, a rest day and then repeat.

I had known that there was a chance of rain on the first day we arrived - down at sea level it was fine, but as I rode towards the 1,700m peak of the days ride the weather turned misty and rainy. Fortunately, it was still around 20C when I got back to our appartment.

The next day proved to be 100% dry affording some spectacular views.

Mel enjoying our rest day. We tootled around for an hour and found the nearby waterfront.

5 days and counting I have been wearing shorts :)


Yesterdays ride seen clear skies and gorgeous views all day - it's so easy to go on long rides when it's warm and sunny and you have these panoramas.

Tenerife in the background

The profile from yesterdays ride

Last weeks rides

In California with a few days off, a weekend, and some nice weather I was able to get in a good few long rides.

Here are some details gathered from my Garmin showing elevation and power.







The last image is the ride I did on Sunday. Basically I rode home from Kieran's Cyclocross race to Palo Alto taking in some of the mountains.

Today's ride

A few pictures from todays ride.

Big Basin

I'm currently in California and although the weather looks great in these pictures when you drop below the clouds again it was a bit more grim. It cleared up this evening though and I have blue skies :)

Tire Tear

I got this tear on my road bikes rear tire 30km into a 160km ride I did a few weeks ago. A TorQ bar wrapper as some extra padding between the tire and tube and a mini pump allowed me to finish the ride - amazing.

It went straight to the bin afterwards though!

Exposure Lights

I love when new boxes arrive :)

Just in time for the winter darkness, a bunch of Exposure Lights have arrived - Mel and I now have a Enduro and Joystick Maxx each. As I mentioned before, Mel and I used them in Bontrager 24/12 and I fell in love with them. So compact, simple, light and above all else, bright - oh, and the battery life is great too.

I'm still waiting on the delivery guy for my new burr grinder though...

2008 National Hill Climb Championships

Last weekend was a pretty big weekend of racing for me as there were two National Championship events being held. On Saturday, the National Hill Climb Championships were being held in Linsfort, Donegal over the Mamore Gap, while on Sunday the National Cross Country Marathon Championships were being held in the Wicklow Mountains.

In this post, I'll just focus on the National Hill Climb Championships. Preparation began for it (outside of training!) in the leading week when I started to try and shed a little weight from my road bike. A super light set of wheels and full carbon saddle brought my bike weight down to 6.9kg (including pedals and the Garmin Edge bike computer).

My 'pimped' 2008 Specialized Tarmac Expert

Next hurdle was actually getting there. The race was about 5 hours drive from my home in Dublin so I staged it in two sections with my Dad kindly offering to cover most of the driving. (Driving takes a lot out of me and with the marathon on the Sunday, I was trying to conserve as much as possible). Due to the distance, I was not going to be able to have a look at the climb before the race so this is all I knew.

• A very tough climb – maybe the toughest in the British Isles
• 1.9km long with 250 meters of climb
• 10 bends and 4 switchbacks

After a very friendly signon we all headed over to the bottom of the Gap – it was at this point that the rain and wind really picked up. The climb was going to be wet into a strong headwind – as if the elevation gain was not enough to contend with!

I got on the Turbo Trainer to warm up (something I don't use very often but found it perfect in this case) and got to the start line ready to go. To save weight, I didn't use my power meter for the climb but I had practiced pacing on a climb this length a few times recently so my basic plan was go a little easier (from a perceived effort point of view) then I think I should for the first two minutes and then pick it up – hopefully my power output would be pretty well averaged out over the climb.

5,4,3,2,1 and I was off up the hill. The next few minutes were mostly a blur with the odd self questioning - “why am I doing this?” - usually, this is a good sign – it means I'm pushing hard. The climb was very very steep – the hardest I've seen in Ireland by a long way and my 39x25 was two high a gearing for me to ride the hill the way I wanted. In general, especially more recently, I like to spin while climbing. About 80-90 RPM while seated and around 80 while standing. I basically had to stand almost all the climb, using all my mountain biking smooth pedalling skills to not spin out the rear wheel on the slippery tarmac while only pedaling at about 50rpm. After a lot of pain, I looked down at the Garmin to see I covered 1.55km – only 350 meters to go, but those 350 meters were like a wall. Already far into oxygen dept and a huge headwind I hit the final section which averaged out at a 19% gradient – I wish I had lower gears. I kept pushing and the crowd cheered me on as I made the final push. I crossed the line, placed my bike carefully at the side of the road (making sure not to damage the super expensive borrowed wheels) and promptly collapsed. I had no thoughts in my mind that I could have pushed harder – better gearing would have helped a lot, but I really did give it everything.

Looking down the climb

I don't even remember this bit!

The prize giving was held back in the Laurentic Bar in Linsfort where the supporting club (North Pole CC) put on a huge spread of food - the race was super well run by North Pole CC. The poor bar staff looked on at is as if we were a pack of locusts :) and it was not even a long race!

Suffer suffer suffer - picture from here by Marian Lamb

In the end, my time up the climb of 8:50 which was enough to secure second place – missing out on winning the Championship by a mere 7 seconds! (If only I was a kilo lighter...) Ronan Mc Laughlin who rides for the Pro outfit AnPost/Sean Kelly won the event – he looked smooth as I watched him pass as I returned down the hill.

There was only 14 seconds in the top 3 places

Results and a report are available here.

After all this excitement, it was a return drive to Monaghan with my Dad and then I drove back up to Dublin to start preparation for the following days marathon. It was a busy weekend.

I have to say a couple of big “thank yous” from this weekend. I really appreciate the support from Shane Connaughton from Cycleways, Eoghan (sorry – I need to get your second name) and Ross McClure. They helped me out with seriously lightening up my bike, Eoghan and Ross giving me the use of their mega light Lightweight wheel-set. Those things are ridiculous! I would be getting a pair if I did more road racing to warrant such an expense! Also, a big thanks to Dad for driving me to and from the race and supporting me around it - it was a huge huge help!

So next year – 7 more seconds... I'm getting closer :)

Race Winning Moves Drill...

Was out yesterday doing a new VO2Max type drill called the "Race winning move" from the Coggan/Hunter power training book.

Basically it is - hammer for 30 seconds (attack the group), settle into 3 minutes at threshold and then sprint the last 15 seconds. I was taking the initial 30 seconds and final 15 seconds a little easier then required but still makes an interesting drill.


In other news - Garmin and Saris (the makers of PowerTap) will be working together to allow the Edge 705 'listen' to the wireless powertap. Finally, I'll be able to unclutter my road handlebars. I'm also still waiting to pick up the disc brake compatible PowerTap for off road use. That should be really interesting - I would love to see my power files from an XC race. Currently with the Garmin and Ascent software I can break down my race and check my times on various sections of a race, descents/climbs see where I tire. With the power, it would be another dimension.

Hopefully I will get the report up for the Marathon race from last weekend tonight - this weekend it is Mountain Mayhem :) Busy busy busy...

More long spins

There was no racing this weekend so Mel and I got to enjoy some long training spins around the Wicklow Mountains. The weather was amazing all weekend with Saturday being possibly the nicest day I've had in the mountains in Ireland since I started biking – sunny, warm, not too humid and everyone you met on the trails had a smile on their face. Surprisingly on Saturday's off-road ride, in the almost 5 hours of riding I only met two other mountain bikers! Many many walkers, but only two mountain bikers, usually I meet many times that – I guess everyone was off somewhere else.

Saturday's route had me start off around Djouce where I did most of the Djouce Challenge course taking in most of the single track Djouce has to offer – from there it was to the top of Djouce mountain (never been up there on a bike) and from then I followed the Wicklow Way to Glenmalur. Mel and I were supposed to meet their but lack of mobile coverage spoiled that so I ended up climbing the Shay Elliot climb and then heading up to the top of Mullacor (another climb I did not do before – it was amazing!) then back down into the valley holding Laragh and then the road to Roundwood where the car was waiting.

Saturday's Profile

Sunday was another big day – I don't usually go on too many rides much over 4 hours but this weekend was a little exception (the weather and the fact I'm not racing for another 14 days egged me on). This time the road bike was calling so I went on a similar ride to my longest road ride I did in Ireland last year. Basically riding over and then around the Wicklow Mountains taking in most of the bike climbs. I didn't feel particularly fast at any point until the final hour (of the almost 5.5 hours on the bike) when I had to hammer home to be in time for a dinner party Mel and I were attending. Overall – a great weekend of riding.

Sunday's Profile

Purple for off-road and red is for the road ride