Quarq Archives - Zane's Blog

Tuesday morning TT

Did my 20 mile Time Trial again this morning. Have been looking forward to it since last week. It was much cooler this morning than last Tuesday so I wasn’t sure I was going be as fast as last week. I was more interested in seeing the average watts for the ride. That would tell me if I worked as hard as last week regardless of the weather conditions. Happy to say that I increased the my average Watts by 7 from last week.

Overall I average just over 20 mph at 20.1 for the ride. At the 10 mile point I was right at 20.1 and was able to maintain that for the ride back. I think the first 10 miles of my ride is a little more erratic than the second 10 miles, with more high and low speeds. On the way back I think I maintain a steadier pace with the exception of the Main st. hill. Cadence was good today too, averaged 95 and the felt good. When I keep the Cadence high like that I don’t feel like my legs get tired or heavy.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/90768719

Weight: 165

Quarq Power Meter and other toys

UPS and FedEx have been very busy the last couple of days in Boxford. On Tuesday they dropped off my new Power Meter, the Quarq Cinqo Saturn mounted on a SRAM 975 Crankset. Then on Wednesday they dropped off the X-Lab Wing Kit.

I went with the Power Meter on the crank because it seemed to me to be the most versatile. Power Meters that are mounted on the hub can only be used with that wheel so if I decided to change wheels I would have to have a new one built around my power meter or buy another power meter. The Quarq mounted on a quality SRAM Red Chainring seemed like the best option. I also purchased the SRAM Ceramic bottom bracket to go with the chainring. Everything went together without a problem. Connecting the power meter to my Garmin 705 was very simple. Just turn on the Garmin, tell it you have a power meter and it discovers it. Done! I set the bike back up on the CompuTrainer to see how the Watts compared and they were very close. I did my ride this morning recording the power on the Garmin and on the CompuTrainer, unfortunately my legs didn’t show up for the workout. Again I found the CompuTrainer and the Quarq to be feeding me the same data.

I also put the X-Lab Wing Kit on the bike last night. I had to change the bracket around that held the seat on so that I could mount the Wing, but other than that assembly was pretty straight forward. The Gorilla cages seem pretty good, but not sure how well they will really hold a full water bottle when hitting bumps in the road.

Weight: 164.4