Trek 1400 racer/triathlon for cross training

Cycling to and from work (6km each way) for the last 15 months has lead me to appreciate the value of this form of cross training: working different muscles and maintaining aerobic fitness have been a good supplement to my running training.

Up til now I have been using my dependable tourer from Aldi, and it has proved to be a superbly reliable and comfortable bike in spite of its cheap components.

I decided to up the ante with respect to cycling and invested in a virtually unused 1997 Trek 1400 racer/triathlon for cross training. It probably hasn't been ridden for more than 1500km, so it is essentially a new bike. I picked it up locally for half the price a new low-end racer would cost today, and the quality of the components (compared to the low-end SunTour kit on the Aldi tourer) is impressive, to say the least.

Kitted out with dependable Shimano RX100 components, this was medium-range equipment at the time and is of comparable quality to contemporary Tiagra components today. These components have something of a reputation for extremely smooth shifting and legendary dependability. My last memories of racing bikes dates back to the 70's and downtube-mounted shifters, so the integrated brake-shifting mechanism was something of a revelation for me, and I find myself constantly shifting gears to suit conditions.





















As you can seen, this bike is essentially unused and pretty much a new bike. The frame is from the legendary Easton-Trek collaboration, aluminium alloy and impressively stiff and light. The joining of the tubes is a delight to behold!













The rims are Matrix Aurora aluminium 700c with stainless steel spokes, and have been kitted with 700C/25 tires (of which the Continental may even be the original fitted tire), which will be replaced with 700C/23 or 700C/25 Kevlar puncture-free tires.

I set it up yesterday (instep length * 1.09 gave a saddle height from peddle of 94cm, forearm length plus 6cm gave me the distance from saddle nose to handlebar) and went for my first longer (41km) ride today.

I easily maintained 30km/h for most of the route (compared to 20-22km/h I usually maintain on the Tourer) and peaked at 51km/h coming down the hill at Hyggum Bakke.

I have always enjoyed biking - almost flying along under my own power, with the heady feel of the world opening up before you should you have a mind to cycle around it - but this was different, even exhilarating! The almost liquid burble of the chain and gears, the fluid motion of the shifting mechanism, the hum of the pencil-thin tires: it WAS flying!

Duathlon/Triathlon, anyone?

Technical Details 1997 Trek 1400

Type: Road race & triathlon

MSRP (new): $949.99
Weight: 21.5
Sizes: 47 cm, 50 cm, 52 cm, 54 cm, 56 cm, 58 cm, 60 cm, 62 cm
Colors: Yellow
Item ID: 66984

Frame & Fork

Frame Construction: TIG-welded
Frame Tubing Material: Easton ProGram tapered aluminum
Fork Brand & Model: System 2
Fork Material: Aluminum, bonded, aero crown

Components

Component Group: Shimano RSX/RX-100
Brakeset: Shimano RSX Dual Pivot brakes, Shimano RSX levers
Shift Levers: Shimano RSX STI Dual Control
Front Derailleur: Shimano RX-100 top-swing, bottom-pull/clamp-on 35.0 mm
Rear Derailleur: Shimano RX-100 GS
Crankset: Shimano RX-100, 39/53 teeth
Pedals: System 2 w/clips & straps
Bottom Bracket: Shimano BB-LP26, 110 mm spindle
BB Shell Width: 68mm English
Rear Cogs: 7-speed, 11 - 24 teeth
Chain: Shimano CN-HG50, 1/2 x 3/32"
Seatpost: System 1, 27.2 mm diameter
Saddle: Selle San Marco Tecno Dynamica
Handlebar: System 2
Handlebar Stem: System 2
Headset: 1" Tange-Seiki Passage

Wheels 

Hubs: Shimano RSX
Rims: Matrix Aurora, 32-hole
Tires: 700 x 23c Continental Super Sport
Spoke Brand: DT Competition stainless steel, 2.0mm double butted
Spoke Nipples:Brass nipples 

Copenhagen Marathon 2013

My strategy for Copenhagen Marathon 2013 was quite simple: eat, drink and run a 4:30 marathon:

Arrived in CPH in 25 degrees of heat, and went to the Expo to pick up my start number. Jumped off the bus in the center of CPH to walk through the remnants of Copenhagen Carneval - a most excellent early summer evening with thousands of people enjoying the evening sun at sidewalk cafes.

Checked in to CabInn, who kindly extended my checkout to 1600 - giving me the chance to have a hot shower and change clothes after the marathon. After finding a naked man in my bed (!) when I unlocked my hotel room door, I politely asked for a new room and decided I had had enough big city life for one day and went to bed early.

Race start was set for 0930, so I got up at 0530 for an energy bar, beetroot juice and some water, and headed for an early breakfast at 0600. Mueslie, oats and coffee dispatched, I headed for the start line at the harbour at 0800, deviating for a call of nature at the Youth Hostel at Langebro Bridge.

I found the 4:30 starting area, warmed up a bit, handed in someones lost car keys and used the portajohn (again - a recurring theme, I also filled the harbour a little later, as well as 2 pitstops during the marathon itself).

At exactly 0930 the race started, and almost as precisely the heavens opened. From the extreme heat of Saturday, we pretty much ran in rain for the rest of the marathon - I once read that perfect running weather is bad spectating weather - today was perhaps a bit too perfect for running as we ran through a deluge for about 30 minutes in the beginning of the race!

0-10km. 

Held my target pace of 6:20/km for a 4:30 finish. Last weeks aches and pains had disappeared and I enjoyed revisiting the city we called home for 10 years.

10-20km. 

Held my pace, and began relaxing a bit as there was still no pain to suggest that I would have any problems with my hips or achilles. The cobblestones were a bit hard on my minimal Vibram shoes, but fortunately these were only short stretches. Headed out to Vesterbro and passed my regular crisis point of 17km without any problems.

 Crossing the checkpoint @ 21,1km:

20-30km. 

Passed the half-marathon point on schedule and all systems intact, slowing every km to drink a mouthful of electrolyte from my camelbak and eat a mouthful of fruit bar. Still raining, but not as heavily as earlier. Due to the loopback nature of the course we could see the runners still heading to the half-marathon point... some of them were already suffering, and I made a conscious effort to ignore them and continue my own race. Back into the city along the harbour, through Nyhavn, Langelinie (the little mermaid) and Kastellet, moving closer to Østerbro and the magic 32k marker - my longest distance to date.

30-42km. 

No-mans land. I had never run this far before, and I knew it would be a Dark Place. After 30km most runners have used up their available glycogen depots, and marathons are traditionally considered to consist of two halves: the first 32km, followed by the torment of the last 10km. Somewhere in this final stretch,  "regular" fatigue becomes a pleasant memory for most, as your body starts to consume itself.

Fatigue had begun to set in after 21km, and my heartrate now lay dangerously close to 90% - inefficient, anærobic metabolism territory which can reduce you to a shuffling wreck within a single kilometer.

With 5km to go I threw caution to the wind and latched on to the sub 4:30 'bus', but the extra effort tipped the balance and I hit the 'wall' at 40km - a calculated risk as I felt I could force myself through the last few km. And force I did, reduced to a shuffling run barely faster than a brisk walk (an attempt to walk produced a cramp of biblical proportions which forced me back into a run).

The last 500 meters hurt - my body began to protest and warn me of an impending shutdown. Crossing the finish line was going to be not so much a triumph as it was a necessity - there would be no elation, just one eye closed and the other desperately fixed on a point just past the line.

And then, two hundred meters before the line I realized I would make it. I would run a marathon. Months of training and focus combined in those last meters and I emerged from the darkness of the last 10km a different person than when I went in.

Final time: 4:32:13

Minutes after crossing the line, my family called - they had been tracking me online and had watched me cross the finishing line - an experience as amazing as crossing the line itself!

Within minutes I had replenished my glycogen depots (blood was again being diverted back to other bodily functions than forward movement) and all systems were back to normal. As a biological experiment, the marathon takes some beating!

So - the classic question: will I do another? Oh yes sir - Berlin is only four months away! But however many marathons I do, I'm guessing nothing will ever beat the experience of the last 10km of my first marathon!

Lessons learnt:

1) Choose a well organized, local marathon - where you are familiar with the route - for your first, and train for it  seriously. No other marathon will ever be as significant as the first.

2) Optimize your resources. Prioritize eating and drinking in the days before, and during the race, and stay in your aerobic zone for at least the first 40km. Having trained for so long, it was heartbreaking to see fellow first time marathoners hit the wall at 30km with almost no chance of completing a further 12km. I should have forced myself to eat at 30km to have had a chance of beating the 'wall'. I consider myself lucky to have been let off with a warning, only having to endure it for 2km.

SPIRIT OF THE MARATHON 3 3

SPIRIT OF THE MARATHON 2 3

SPIRIT OF THE MARATHON 1 3

The Spirit of the Marathon - From Sports Unlimited

Vestjysk Half Marathon 03-11-2012

Time 02:00:56

Cool weather, ran well for the first 13km (5:35 pace) despite problems with my achilles tendon. Achilles problems forced to to walk/hobble a fair bit of the rest of the race, putting paid to a sub-2:00 time... 10.467 Km/t | 00:05:43 Min/km, 5:43/5:52 split.