TT biking club

“Anyone use a Marin bike? REI has the Bobtail on sale for 350 with free shipping to the store. I currently use a basic Schwinn alloy frame mountain bike (Frontier GS, I think), so this would be a step up in frame, braking and suspension. I would prefer something better than Acera components, but maybe I can change it out later.”

“15 miles with 1200 feet gain after work today. I've been trying to plan routes that leave from my house and keep me out of the heavy after work traffic - that's pretty hard to do in southern california.”

“Road the morning 20 for the second time this week.


Was tired from having run 5 yesterday and not slept well. The house was warm last night . ..but I woke up cold around 2:00 .. .and then alternated between being cold and sweating. Lots of covers on covers off.



Anyhoo.


The wildlife report:

We regularly see a flock of turkeys doing the whole spring thing. Lots of gobbling, strutting, tail displays.


Today it wasn't in afiled .. it was right onthe edge of the road.


Two tom's competing for the affections of one female. Quite a display.”

“Lee how long does your 20 mile ride take in the morning and what time do you start?”

“They come by my house between 5:45 and 5:50. I am up by 5:15 and have banana/juice/honey/water/protien blender smoothy-thing.


I usually roll back past my house in 1:15-18. Because my house is right at the crest of a hill, I usually don't stop (for fear of what damage it would do to my legs). I continue rolling easily for another couple of tenths of a mile and then turn around and spin on back home.

Anyhooo.

Total ride is 20.5 or so. Takes 1:20. Average speed between 15.25 and 16.25 depending on the day and the riders.

Not sure of the elevation gain/loss. I live at 550 feet or so. And one of the guys is right down by the river (30 feet or so). So the ride is up and down between 30 feet and 550 feet above sea level. For me the ride goes like this. 1.5 miles pretty flat. One long (1 mile or so) 1- 2% grade uphill, followed by a downhill, uphill and some flat. 4 miles of rolling stuff. A generally uphill shallow grade for 3 miles. A 3 mile downhill. More rolling and flat stuff. then a 3 mile uphill to my house of varying grades but ended on a good .3 miles 10-12% grade up to my house.”

“lee, why did I think you lived in the mountains? Nice ride to do.
I have some friends who meet every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 6:00 AM for a 2 hr bike. They like to avg 18 mph.”

“Ewker --

Nope. I live virtually (550) at sea level. Right by the CT River.


I do, however, have lots of hills. As the glaciers retreated from Long Island Sound back to the north (long island, cape cod, martha's vineyard, nantucket, block island etc are all the terminal moraine from glaciers).

Anyhoo . ..as the glaciers retreated they left series of ridges that run north south.

Consequently, as you bike East West you are always going up and down over 500-800 foot bumps. Some of which can be nasty 3-5 mile climbs.

On the other hand . ..if you go north south down a valley . . .. you can roll along quite nicely, reach Long island sound, and ride at sea level on the flats (usually some wind).




Yesterday afternoon I missed my 12:00 workout . . .so I ended up in the 2:00 spin class.


After running 5 on tuesday, and riding 20 yesterday morning .. .spin was a killer.


30 second interval of maximal flat road effort. big gear heavy resistance maximal puke your guts out effort. Followed by 30 seconds of recovery. Followed by 30 second effort. For 5 intervals.


Followed by a 5 mintue recovery.

We did 3 cycles of it.


My legs were (and still are) just dead after that.”

“Ewk ..

For me to average 18 mph the ride would have to have a higher proportion of flat road stuff.


I can hum along at 18-20 on a flat road. or even 23-25 if I have someone else to draft!!!!

but add in some rollers . . ..or some stiff up hills at 10 mph. . . . .and it really sucks the juice out of average speed.



When i get to the last of my friend's house . ..down in the river valley at 30-50 above sea level . .. .our average speed is up at 17-18 mph.

Then I climb the 500 feet over 3 miles to my house . . .. and my average has dropped to 15.5 or so.


To preserve the 18 mph average . .. I would need a ride home!”

“hey you're still doing better than me..keep it up.

take a look at this Bike Challenege. Talk about a butt kicker. It is limited to 500 riders and sells out each yr.
http://www.smwbike.org/cherohala/ccIndex.html


last edited: 5/12/05 10:19:44 AM”

“11 miles with 800 feet gain today. It's 5.5 miles with 800 feet gain as I head up the hill from my house and then I follow the same route 5.5 miles downhill to my house.

I'm trying to figure my route out for Saturday morning. I might go ride the bike path from Along the Santa Ana River it goes for about 50 miles and ends up at the beach down in Orange County. Pretty much flat though.”

“Wing . ..

800 feet in 5.5 . ..that sounds jolly.


It sound more jolly coming back!”

“94 miles today. Felt good but it was fairly warm by the time I finished - 85.”

“Thanks for the info on your ride lee.

milemonster - how long does it take you to ride 93 miles? is it gentle or hilly?”

“Good job keeping up the miles!

My biking has sucked but major effort to become NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center is over. Two weeks of busting my butt for major deadlines, and my training moves here. :D :D :D

”

“MM, geez thats a long ride. Very impressive.”

“looks like a nice spot to train Pathman, heck that looks like a pretty nice spot to do darn near anything!”

“Thankks for the props, helps with the confidence.

That ride took me a while - 5:41 at 16.5 mph. Pretty slow but I intentionally kept it mellow and kept my heart rate low, especially early in the ride. It's all about the saddle time. The ride was kind of rolling. Nothing too steep but a few fair climbs. Gotta work on speed.”

“5:41 at 16.5 mph?

I wouldn't mind that average speed for that distance.”

“MM, what are you training for. I recall you mentioning that you do tri's. Is an Ironman approaching?

My good friend does an awesome ride on the summer solstice each year. He and a few friends do a double century. I'd love to go with but dont have the ability. They average 13 total hours with 10 hours bike time, 20 mph for 200 I dont think so!”

“Wow, that's alot of biking. 20 mph for 200 miles. Scary.

I'm doing the Mountains of Misery century ride at the end of the month. It's just a bike ride but with abot 10k feet of ups. Should be fun. I'm trying to shedule some tri's, but nothing on the calendar yet for this year.”

“an average of 16.5 miles and hour for 94 miles sound pretty good to me - 85 degree weather makes cycling hard.

yesterday, I did 50 miles on gentle terrain - total of 1,300 feet gain. It took me 3.5 hours, so 14 mph.

today - I still haven't gotten out of my pajamas and it's 1:15 pm.
last edited: 5/15/05 3:33:37 PM”

“I was supposed to do a 3 hour ride today, somehow I ended up caulking a tub and all kinds of nonsense. I am envious of you all.”

“I have a piece of birch in my medicine bag...:D”

“I only have 9 fingers, very eerie indeed.”

“Got in a ride on Saturday. 48 miles.

Started on a long persistent hill climb, but then mellowed into a fairly flat ride for the rest of the time.


2:48 of ride time. 16.41 mph. I should be up over 60 now .. .but just haven't gotten the time on the bike.


MM. 94 miles .. . .oh my aching butt. You posted that in the middle of the week. Where do you find the time??”

“Question:


I get double vision after 2 hours of riding. It makes it very hard to see . . .potholes, obstacles.

My vision seems to shift between looking ahead and looking down. One will be clear, while the other isn't. Very disconcerting.

I have extremely poor natural vision. I have worn contacts for 25 years. I wear sunglasses while riding. My optometrist suggested using re-wetting solution while riding (thinking it was a dry eyes problem).

I rode this weekend . .and after mile 30 or so my vision went. I had stopped at mile 12 and mile 25 to put drops in.

Very frustrating.

There don't seem to be any other symptoms. I am not "bonking". Still have good legs, and good wind. Just the double vision.


Any thoughts??”

“That's a tough one lee. The only vision trouble I have is from all the sweat & salt along with road grime. Have you tried wearing glasses instead of contacts?

Me & my buddies did bricks both days. 1 mile swim followed by 20 mile ride with lots of climbing. Memphis in May Triathlon this weekend. I am actually doing the team thing & will only be doing a 1.5K swim. I didn't want to try anything more as I am only 3 months removed from hip surgery.

94 miles? Jeez, it will be the end of the summer before I tackle anything that far. Maybe the Hotter 'n Hell 100 in August.”

“I wear contacts and I haven't had problems with vision and cycling yet, but after a tough hike sometimes I have to take my contacts off and put my glasses on for the drive home because my vision with the contacts is blurry. My contacts are fine to put back in after they have soaked in the saline solution for a while - maybe i'm getting sweat in my eyes or something.

I did 15 miles on the indoor cycle at the gym yesterday.”

“Finally made it out tonite, I actually worked early (5-130pm) so I could. I did 33.5 miles at a state rec area and metropark, it was raining and windy so I was alone but boy was it nice. LOADS of wildlife and even in the bad weather some good miles, 2hr 10 min about 15.3mph, not bad considering the first 20 miles were on a back tire with 30 PSI. Oh yeah, thats with my trail bike with knobby tires still. I wish I had a road bike somedays.

I tryed my new pearl izumi attack shorts, VERY comfy ride.”

“good ride birch - thats a long way on knobby tires!”

“I've got a Specialied Epic for my road bike.
Carbon Frame with Shimano gears and shifters. It weighs 18lbs and is a joy to ride.

Unfortunately, I've not ridden it in 1.5 yrs. At my current weight, I'd probably flatten the rear tire. I've got a Specialized Mtn Bike that I've been riding to reduce the ballast around my middle. As soon as I hit 230, I'll be back on the road bike. I can't believe I let myself get this out of shape. NO MORE! 200 here I come!”

“UGH! And double UGH.

I am having a hard time getting past 50 miles . . ..I am supposed to do 100 in 2 weeks.


This weekend.

I was on mile 32 . ..felt strong. Strong as a bull (okay . .. i had just stopped and chugged a Red Bull).

Hit a piece of sharp plastic and tore my back tire. Within a fraction of a second BAM! my back tire blows at 22 mph.

I was down on the drops, in a nice flat section . ..not pushing hard. Just really comfortable and happy. I had done the math, and I figured that with 32 miles under my belt already, I was still 24-28 miles from home, depending on the route I followed.

I was pretty pysched. The sun was out, the raod was flat . . .I was just humming along.


BAM!


So.. . Okay. I got the wheel off. Took a look at the tire. Pulled out my extra tube.


I was concerned that the new tube, at 110 PSI would push through the hole and blow instantly.

But . ..being the clever child that I am (you know this isn't going to end well), I borrowed scissors from a homeowner and CUT a strip out of the old tube, that I could use to cover the gash in the tire, to prevent the new tube from poking through.

Genius, right?


Well. I have really deep rims. And the presta valves on the new tube WAS NOT LONG ENOUGH!

Neither my pump nor my CO2 valve could grip the presta head. Then the presta valve stem snapped.

Game. Set. Match. Ride over at 32 miles. 28 miles from home.

Called my wife. She loaded the kids in the car and came and got me. She was supposed to be getting dressed for a cocktail party at the local historical society. She was going to be thanked for her work on the gardens there.

Instead .. ..she is going to get me.

Anyhoo. She made it there, just a little late.

I went to the bike shop and got a new tire ($50!!!!!), two new tubes 960 mm valves) and 3 new CO2 cartridges.

Then met the family at the cocktail party.




And yesterday it showered off and on all day.

Very frstruating.


Went out for a ride with the family in a local state park/forest.

The older boy and I did a few short trails in and out of the woods while Mom and the litttle guy stuck to the road.

I got hung oup on a rock/stump and now have a bruise/damage on my left knee/calf.


It was fun. It salvaged an otherwise frustrating day.”

“bummer lee - break downs suck.


the first time i took my bike off road here in CO (two weekends ago) the rear derailer snapped. (small piece of aluminum failed - likely due to my self adjustment on the cable tension), luckily i was only about 1.5 miles from the trailhead.

Pushing a bike SUCKS.”

“I just tried out a new toy this weekend. I got a Garmin Forerunner 201, which is basically a stripped down GPS unit. It keeps a track of your progress. It's main purpose is for trail runners, but cyclists can also use it.

Once you finish the ride, you can upload the data to your computer. There is a free website, http://www.motionbased.com that will analyze the data and make pretty graphs of speed, grade, elevation, etc, etc. It will even overlay your route on street maps. I was really impressed.”

“lee, sounds like a very frustrating day. Glad you were able to piece some good stuff out of it. The long ride will be mental, you can ride it physically. Like yoda says " there is no try, there is only do".

Matt, my teammate jeff has a similar deal by nike he tracked us one day while training, very cool.

My good friend Paul saved my hide today. He is basically giving me a new front fork for my trail bike (one of my seals is blown and my shock is way mushy) and installing it today. He called and said that its all done, plus he rerouted my cyclometer wires, tuned my derailleur,cleaned my cables and noticed my back tire was out of true, he started to true it up and found a busted spoke. I have my 77 hr adventure race in 10 days and 130 miles is biking, I woulda been screwed big time. I just had the bike tuned professionally 30 days ago. I am gald he noticed, I am also replacing the original rear cassette while we are at it. Cant be too safe I reckon. I am glad Paul races mtn bikes...I am also glad he needs a ton of electrical work done so I can pay him back.”

“Thanks birch.


I hope to play a little hookey from work on thursday morning.


I am seeing clients downstate for the afternoon . .. .and so i may "work from home" for 50 miles in the morning. I just need to figure out a route that will keep me out of the morning work traffic.



Do any of you read bicyling magazine?

I am thinking of writing "the style guy"


I have replaced both front and rear tires recently.


On the front I put a Schwalbe Stelvio with BLUE sides.


On the back I just put a Schwalbe Stelvio with RED sides.


My bike is red white and blue.




I am quite the fashion statement on the rode. Or geek. Whichever . . .”

“lol, ya geek!

So, i've been wanting to get a 'real' bike for a while now but struggling with (a) the prices and (b) how much i'll really get to ride. I've been thinking only in terms of mountain bikes but the past few days coming to the realization that the majority of the time i'll get to ride will be in the evenings after work and that a road bike will make a lot more sense in terms of getting my money's worth out of the investment.

Can some of you guys tell me what to look for in terms of features/specs and also what to avoid?”

“Been awhile since I was drooling for a new road bike, and I'm sure technology has changed in the last few years since I bought mine.
I would look first at the gear set and shifter packages. Shimano or Compies(Compagnalo) are the standards.
You need to check out Colorado Cyclist
http://www.coloradocyclist.com/ These guys build a superb bike and are located in CO Springs.
Next is frame size. This is VERY important, don't even try to figure it out on your own, go to a shop and get measured.
Rims and tires. If you can afford it, have a custom set built for you. This is one thing the CO Cyclist is known for. The factors regarding rims are your weight and type of riding you do. Number of spokes vary for weight displacement and how agressively you'll eventually ride.
Tires. Continental or Michelin. They are worth the extra few bucks you pay for them.
Saddle.You need a comfortable saddle, if possible ride a bike with different saddles on it. I have a San Marco and really like it.
Pedals. Here is where you'll need to do some homework. I have a set of Look PP256's. At the time I bought them they were top of the line. Now, I'd have to investigate. I also liked the pedals by Speedplay.
Shoes. Carnac all the way. You'll not regret the money you spend on them. Shoes are the bottom of your pistons. You gotta have great support for your feet. Nothing compares to Carnac.
Not sure of your budget, but I'd plan between $1800-$3000 for a bike that will last you a lifetime and be a joy to ride.
I've got close to $2000 tied up in my bike, and that was 6 years ago that I was into biking heavy. I rode 300 miles per week and did a Century ride once a month. Sad to say I've not even sat on the bike in over a year, but after putting up this post I'm going to have to get her down, dust her off, inflate the tires and go for a ride.

Another avenue for you to consider is buying a used bike from reputable shop. Just tell em what you're looking for and have them call you when it comes in.
Cannondale makes a great road bike. You should be able to pick up a used one easily.
Good luck with your decision.
last edited: 5/24/05 10:53:54 AM”

“What pakratz said. You can't go wrong with a Cannondale. You can find a good used starter bike for $300-$800.”

“Ride different frame materials.

I figured I would end up on a cannondale. But the aluminum fame I rode were incredibly stiff.


I ended up on steel. Good quality steel is almost as light as comparable alumininmimm and the ride is much more forgiving.

Different manufacturers have different stratgeies.


EG Cannondale will sell you a world class frame. Literally the design, geometry adn composition that pros were ridign the year before . .. but the components are usually below average for the price range.

For example. For $1,200 you might get a frame that any other company would use to build a $2500 bike . .. but components that you might otherwise find on an $800 bike.

Look at Specialized, trek and Giant for aluminumiimin (and Cannodale of course), look at Jamis for steel . .. .lookat carbon . ..but be wary . . .if you find a carbon bike for under $1,500 look closely at components.”

“lee
you have a good point regarding the frame material. I started on a Cannondale, then upgraded to the Specialized Epic mainly because of the carbon frame. Then I started changing components, and that's when it gets expensive. Pieces parts add up quick, kind of like bp gear..LOL!”

“I haven't done much bike riding since I was in school (over a decade ago). And I never had a real road bike.

That changed tonight. I picked up this baby practically brand new for a song.

I plan to try using it as a commuter and run-around road bike. I wanted something fast and efficient and the idea of minimizing maintenance appealed to me. The solution in my mind was the Langster. Flip flop hub with single speed on one side and fixed gear on the other. I have to get used to riding a road bike first, so I will stick to the single speed for a while before I get up my courage to try the fixed gear.

”

“My bike has been a little lonely, but not completely ignored. Soon it will be lonely and jealous as I leave it in the garge in favor of a rental in the alps. Then it will be returned to hard duty as I hit the heart of my training season this summer.
”

“how long has that water been sitting in those bottles???? LOL!!!”

“the front one is a headlamp battery. :D”

“I'm going to ask the same question as Roam, but in terms of a mountain bike. I've been out of the loop for a few years. What is considered a good frame weight these days for trail riding/racing. What other features to look for. I'm sure as with everything, that things have changed in the last few years.”

“ugh...new rear wheel and cassette today. I hope this bike fiasco is over soon. Tomorrow is the reassembly and test ride...”

“Regarding what to look for in a bike...

I dont know what an ideal weight is, that depends on the weight of your bankbook...My frame weighs 7,4lbs which is heavy BUT the geometry on the bike is so good that its worth it (plus I dont have a bazillion $$$ extra for a new one). I know lots of bikes are around 5lbs. For components shimano is still the standard (from what little I know) and the deore LX or XT line are real nice. A general price is hard to quote but if I were looking I would budget between $1-2000. The sky is the limit with carbon fiber etc etc...

Go to a reputable bike shop and ask lots of questions and get fitted for a bike, its a big help.”

““I just tried out a new toy this weekend. I got a Garmin Forerunner 201, which is basically a stripped down GPS unit. It keeps a track of your progress. It's main purpose is for trail runners, but cyclists can also use it.

Once you finish the ride, you can upload the data to your computer. There is a free website, http://www.motionbased.com that will analyze the data and make pretty graphs of speed, grade, elevation, etc, etc. It will even overlay your route on street maps. I was really impressed.”
matt, the webmaster
10:52:50 AM
5/23/05

Thanks or the link! I have the Forerunner 201 also, and use it for running. I wasn't aware of the 3rd party software though. I'll check it out.”

“I was out hiking all last weekend, so no cycling. I'm going out for a ride tonight after work and then going for a good ride on Saturday.

congrats on the new bike hubcab.

I'm going to take a look at those forerunner's Matt - i've been wanting a new gps anyway”