Malvern Star Oppy C7 Team

It’s been about a month now that I’ve been riding my new Malvern Star Oppy C7 Team and I thought it was about time I shared my thoughts on it.  And while my luck with my other form of transport has been somewhat unfortunate of late, the Malvern Star has performed amazingly.

I could get this review over and done with in very quick fashion and just tell you that it is the best bike I have ever ridden (which it is) but I thought I’d spend a bit more time and go into a bit more detail.

Straight out of the box this bike looks great.  The combination of the matte finish and the orange paint job means it really stands out in a crowd and on numerous occasions out riding around Brisbane in various groups I’ve had compliments on how good the bike looks.  Being the team bike used by the Genesys Wealth Advisors Cycling Team the frame is decked out with a few of the team sponsors logos and I’ve also added a few stickers of my own that fit in nicely with the design. 

I’ve also added my own personal touch with a few nicknames on the side of the top tube that look pretty neat.  There are also a few other subtle features that have caught my eye.  The world champion stripes at the top of the rear stay and the internal cabling really top off a brilliant looking frame that I am thoroughly impressed with.

It comes equipped with a full Sram Red groupset and being my first experience with Sram and the double tap system I will admit to having a few Shimano moments and trying to push the brake lever with unsuccessful results.  But once I got used to the feeling I really have nothing to complain about and am extremely impressed with its performance.  The shifting is so short and exact and with all the shifting occurring with the one lever it is very convenient.

Because the bike I got was originally built up for one of the Genesys team members it came equipped with a Sram wheelset, Zipp handlebars, stem and seatpost and a Fizik saddle which differs slightly from the specs of the model Malvern Star have available to the public.  Either way the bike comes ready to race and is extremely light, even the large frame that I’m riding.  And with all of these quality brands being used in the build there is nothing that needs to be changed before you line up on the start line of any cycling or triathlon race.

The only alterations I’ve had to make to the bike have been the addition of some carbon bottle cages and my Bryton Rider 50T bike computer to give me all the data I’ll ever need.  Come race day I’ll be rolling on some Zipp 404 wheels and depending on the course will also have a set of aero bars fitted.

The bike itself rides like a dream.  The acceleration as soon as you put the power through the cranks is immediately transferred into the frame and is noticeable straight away.  Because it is so light it also feels right at home climbing the hills and not only races up them but flies down the hills and around corners with great control.  My last bike had an integrated seatpost and having enjoyed the comfort of that was a little apprehensive of coming back to a standard seatpost design.  However, the Malvern Star feels more comfortable than ever and because I need the large frame I no longer have the hassle of only just being able to fit the integrated seatpost into a bike bag whenever I travel.

All in all I don’t think I can possibly find a negative thing to say about this bike and I can’t wait to have my first race on it and also feel what the time trial machines are like and it is no wonder the Genesys boys are performing so well around the country when they have a bike of this quality under them to rely on.



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Training Tips - Pace Setting

I wrote this article for our club newsletter last week but thought I’d post it up here with the idea of possibly starting a bit of a training tips section every so often.  So whenever something of interest comes up at training or a training concept that captures everyone’s interest occurs I’ll aim to write something about it to give everyone the opportunity to better understand it.

The concept for my first training tips post is to do with pace setting.  Within our club pacing is far from a new concept because a lot of our running sessions are often based around race pace efforts and simulating everyone’s expected race pace but all too often people underestimate it’s difficulty and in a similar sense it’s importance.

To set the scene for everyone; last Saturday morning’s main set was a set of 16x400m.  These were done in sets of four with a descending time base through each four and the fourth one of each set was above race pace, while the rest of them should have been best average.  While this is a bit of a mouthful to explain it seems to be a relatively tame main set in comparison to some of the torturous sets we’ve all put ourselves through over the years but it was surprising to see some peoples times differing by up to 15 seconds by the end of the session. 

Firstly, there is no use in having a set pace that you want to run if it doesn’t have any significance.  For most of us this should be our race pace or a realistic goal race pace that we are working towards.  Everyone should be well aware of this time; be it the times they have run in races last season or the time they see as their projected race time for this season.  This time will form the basis from which you work backwards to know what times you should be running whenever you hear the phrase, ‘race pace.’ 

Personally, I find it difficult not to have times going through my head and am constantly doing calculations to work out what pace I am running but for those of you who don’t fancy this train of thought I’ve done up a bit of a table that you will hopefully find useful.

400m time	1km time	5km time	10km time
1:10	2:54	14:30	29:00
1:15	3:07	15:35	31:10
1:20	3:19	16:35	33:10
1:25	3:32	17:40	35:20
1:30	3:45	18:45	37:30
1:35	3:57	19:45	39:30
1:40	4:09	20:45	41:30
1:45	4:22	21:50	43:40
1:50	4:35	22:55	45:50
1:55	4:47	23:55	47:50
2:00	5:00	25:00	50:00

Using the goal time you have set yourself from earlier and the table above you should be able to work out what kind of times you should be running for any race pace effort.  Track is an excellent place to work on your pacing because you know exactly how far you are running and can look at your watch as often as you need to check your time.

In theory this is all very easy but being able to put all this into practice is a lot harder than it seems.  I’ll be the first to admit that my pace setting has been way off the mark on more than one occasion and something that has taken a long time for me to have any idea of what I’m doing but it was really pleasing to look at the results from the half-marathon I did and see how consistent all of my 1km splits were.  It’s not something anyone will pick up in one training session but if you know what your race pace is and the splits this converts to then you are on your way to more consistent running and all you have left to do is get out there and put it all into practice!

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