ISBM Mark 2

Mark II of the Improvised Smartphone Bike Mount
The ISBM Mark II was built and tested today. It has several major benefits over yesterday’s mark I. 

A slightly longer section of inner tube was needed. The tube ends are again tied in a knot and then two sides are brought together under the stem and attached to each other with a small lightweight aluminium key ring type carabiner. It makes a neater, more streamlined and very secure holder. Once again it was inadvertently tested on nasty potholes at speed and didn’t even shake. The Endomondo app was used and Poweramp for music.

Workout

Despite feeling tired from yesterday I had to take advantage of the great weather and get out for another ride. This weather can’t last.

I put Endomondo into the “Beat Yourself” mode and chose the previous “Tarantaise Valley” workout which is around 45km and 90 minutes. The previous time I’d improved this route by 8 minutes and stayed on the big chainwheel even going up towards Les Arcs – so given the tiredness from yesterday it might not have been a good idea to race against that. Once again it was an unseasonal teeshirt and shorts day. Although the air was a bit fresh there was no need for extra clothing in the end – but I had some with me just in case. After the first kilometre I was 2 seconds ahead – feedback being supplied from Endomondo through the earphones. Surprisingly, despite a strong headwind the gap continued to slowly grow – at first. Arriving at the Montgirod climb after about 7km it had grown to around 20 seconds. Getting kilometre split time feedback every few minutes is a really motivating stimulus. It’s like having a coach with you in a support car telling you how much time you are losing or gaining in a time trial against your competition. Just knowing that you are a few seconds either way really pushes you to maintain or improve the time. This time I tried to do the climb with the big chainwheel and 2nd gear – one higher that the last time. It’s only with the recent improvements in alignment and coordination that I’ve been able to generate enough power to do this without feeling like my body was going to tear apart. It’s brutal placing so much force on a pedal but as long as the bones are aligned well and the core muscles engaged then it’s not so hard. There was no hint of knee pain and with this alignment absolutely no strain on the back. Sometimes this makes my lower back click in several spots – like a chiropractor  – but it’s a nice feeling that I normally only get when stretched over backwards on a Swiss ball. It’s a bit scary powering so hard on a climb because you don’t want to get tired too quickly – but perhaps the body can do more than expected. By the top of the climb I had gained another 30 seconds and proved that the bigger gear makes for faster climbing.

On returning to Aime at the end of the first 15km loop the advantage was now 1’27” and with the legs feeling tired this was surprising because setting the original time about 10 days earlier had been very tough.  Sure enough the next 15 kilometres, gently but consistently uphill on the cycle track by the Isère river to Bourg Saint Maurice, would be a battle the whole way to avoid losing time. Despite working as hard as possible, dodging kids and apparently deaf people walking on the path (it’s actually THE most dangerous place to cycle) I had dropped 2 seconds on reaching the climb to Les Arcs. I was certain now that pay back time had arrived and the the climb would see the all time advantage vanish. If anything I’d been fighting to at least maintain the time advantage for as long as possible because of anticipating a catastrophic collapse at some point on the return leg. Oddly enough the opposite happened. Big chainwheel again! The steep start to the Les Arcs forced me down to 1st gear on the sprockets but I was soon able to get into 2nd and keep a good pace. Most of the climb was made in 2nd (7th gear in total when including all the available ratios). By the top of the climb another 30 seconds had been gained. The steep narrow descent back to the valley floor is a little bit dodgy here because it is frequented by the White Van Man. White Van Man is like Agent Smith in The Matrix – he is all over the place, threatening to take over the planet and trying relentlessly to kill you. I used the descents to work on cornering skills – sliding off the saddle, dropping my bottom to the inside of the turn like a motorbike racer. Oddly I’ve never seen this done on bicycles but it is easy – just raise the heel and knee on the outside leg and that lets you move your bum without risk of the inside pedal going down to the floor. It does feel more secure having the centre of mass further into the turn and the bike itself more upright. Oddly – or perhaps Not oddly – this is very similar to how the Centre of Mass controls a turn in skiing – the key always being to get that Centre of Mass to the inside – the angle of the ski to the snow being largely a secondary issue.

The long ride back to Aime would be against the wind but most of it downhill. The wind exacted it’s toll and about 30 seconds were lost again. Once again though I was surprised at the strength available and was able to power along the whole way and attack the climb up to Macot faster than usual – recovering the lost 30 seconds on the climb. The final descent towards Aime was fun and the steep climb back up from the Isère was tackled in a much higher gear than usual. It’s a great feeling being able to keep the power on and keep the speed up on a short steep climb. The whole body has to be used to the maximum. In the end the overall time gain was 2’10”. that’s not a lot over 90 minutes but the whole thing is an exercise in motivation. The Smartphone technology is really excellent in this respect.