The Sweat Addict: The Road to Camsur: My Steed

With 84 days before the BIG event, most triathletes have, one way or another, started training for this year's edition of Philippine Ironman 70.3 in Camsur. As of my last peek at the event's website, there are 570 individual and 58 team participants already confirmed, up by 161 individuals last year.

With bike being the longest part of this race, I am not taking any chances with my ride. Last year, I was praying throughout the bike leg not to have flats, and God heard me. This year, I upgraded some components of my bike, which, hopefully, would serve me well. No matter how you train for a 70.3 or Ironman, even if you have the best swim time, one trouble with the bike and you can kiss your lead goodbye. For me, its not the lead. I will never, ever be in the lead in races, BUT, I can have a new PR, and that's my objective this year.

With very limited resources, my steed is the best I can afford, and so far it hasn't disappointed me. Let's take a look:

Standing proud. My Kinesis KT610 is ready for action anytime.

Armed with a Profile Design saddle mounted bottle holder, I can carry two extra bottles with me for those long rides.

Another Profile Design component. The Elite Pro carbon crank arm, 175mm. Battle scarred but raring to crank it up when the need arises.

Bianchi chainrings complete the crankset. The 53/39 teeth help me keep at pace with most riders.

An Ultegra SL 10 Front Derailleur ensures smooth shifting on the crankset all the time.

Ultegra SL 10 Rear Derailleur takes care of the gear shifting at the back end of the steed.

700x23C Continental Gatorskin tyres wrap the rims. I super love these tyres! The current pair on my bike has over 3,000 kms on them and hasn't shown any sign of retiring. Tough as nails and roll smoothly with proper air pressure.

The ADAMO Road saddle is one of the best investment I made on my bike. The moment I had it on, I kissed perineum area numbness goodbye. I highly recommend this saddle to anyone who wishes to compete in triathlons, duathlons and time trials and would like to stay on the aero position most of the time. Keep your wife happy after each training or race. :-)

The Cateye Strada Cadence ensures that I get the miles even when training at home. Its rear-wheel mounted magnet and monitor counts your mileage even if the bike is mounted on a trainer. It has a cadence counter so you know how many RPMs you are pedaling. If you want to hammer the pedals like Lance, go get yourself this cyclo-comp.

This Profile Design aero bottle bracket keeps my aero bottle in place even on rough roads.

Small but terrible. The VISION brake levers are one of the tiniest brake levers I've seen. But being small don't make it inferior. It's shaped ergonomically enough to enable you to grasp it with one or two fingers to brake.

Why are Dura-ace components so expensive? It's because they do the job well...errr...excellently! This pair of Dura-ace SL BS79 has never misfired since day 1. Shifts correctly all the time, and very smoothly.

Vision aero bars wrapped with red Look bartapes is my resting place on the front end.

My steed's whole cockpit. All Vision except for the bar end shifters.

Profile Design carbon bottle cage on the downtube ensures easy reach of fluids while on the flly.

Light, durable and affordable. The EXUSTAR EPS-R pedals have not let me down. Power transfer from legs to cranks is ensured without a fortune spent.

American Classic front hub ensure smooth roll of the wheels.

This Profile Design bento box is a life-saver! No more hunger on the road...well...at least not on the first 100kms.

TNI carbon wrapped 90mm stem may be heavier than other stems. But it does its job.

A pair of 2009 American Classic Aero wheelset connects the bike to the ground with minimal friction. The fastest wheelset I have ever used. They will stay on my bike for as long as I can think of.

The Kinesis logo on the headtube. No, the "K" doesn't stand for King, but probably should have been with the Kinesis KT610's bang for the buck reputation.

At 5'11", the frame fits me perfectly.

What's for snacks during the ride? Choco Mucho ( 150 calories ), GU energy gel ( 100 calories ). This bento box also contains a pair of tire removers and 3 Allen wrenches for quick adjustments of saddle, seatpost, cockpit, etc.

Kinesis KT610's proprietary carbon aero seatpost becomes the holder of my spare tube.

Never leave home without a hand-pump! This MOB hand-pump stays at my back pocket while riding.

Ultegra SL 10 brake calipers stops the bike when it needs to. Equipped with a Salomon brakepad, these calipers give me the security I will ever need on descents.