your daily bicycle log

cat 1-2 is usually elite-ish in my mind, they should go sub 54 or go home.

i'm thinking of doing an hour soon to gauge my solo effort skillzzz. i think my best effort is 22.5 miles (last year).

however, being tied to this geography, i'd like to stake out the rare stretches of relatively flat ground. there is a paved lap around the polo fields in Golden Gate Park that would make a monumentally boring ride but could do the trick.

ok, after looking at that internal hub xc bike on the other thread it reminded me of a question i've always had w/r/t TT bikes:

do you really need two chainrings on a TT bike?

why not do away with the weight of small chainring and front derailleur?

i think some tt specialists swear by fixed as on the track, right? single ring makes some sense. bonus, you wont drop your chain. otoh, the weight penalty on a flatish course is really minimal. see cyclinganalytics.com if you ever have insomnia. for example, i have an antique first gen specialized tri spoke front that weighs 1200g. srsly. and the disk i have is heavy too, like 1450g. i think i figured out a long time ago that the extra weight penalty vs a modern set of the same weighing 1700g total (2.1 POUNDS less) was less than 5 secs on a flat-rolling 40k. in a triathlon, thats like, dropping your gu in the transition and having to pick it up, right?

oh shit. fitting new headset, had to trim fork again. thought it was taking a bit long, realised i was actually sawing through the star nut as well ;_;

i mean i can fit another one of course but was hoping to avoid the hassle. i don't have any of the tools, gotta borrow them every time.

40 miles this morning (I don't usually work on Wednesdays) in preparation for a sportive this weekend.

just got caught in a hailstorm! quite invigorating in a way, could do without everything getting wet tho.

rode 130 mi commuting this week. this am im going to try to catch my first big boy group ride. this should sort out my relative fitness for me.

sort it out

finally got a builder to look at my bike. headed over shortly

feel like I'm taking my dog to the vet, prognosis unknown

Totally smoked a roadie on a hefty uphill while doing a rolling 35 mile country loop on my fixed complete with laden courier bag; always makes me feel good.

thats awesome and devastating but why u ride w laden courier bag?

I think I scored major points with skinny jeans hipster bike store dude as I managed to up sell the indecisive customer who was preventing me from buying a new chain from a 600 buck road bike up to a cross check. I think everyone wins on that deal.

Americans always trust a British accent

Talking of degreasing, he sold me some speed bike degreaser. I think I killed a couple of penguins, a polar bear and dissolved a cranial lobe, however it also turned black into shiny in seconds.

http://media.rei.com/media/717907.jpg

just degreased my chain, too, but with ECO FRIENDLY, ORGANIC (and potable, even) EL DUKE

curse you, trying to buy some el duke has led me to seeing things like this

Laden = lock, water, repair gubbins, pump, other bits & bobs for meeting my sister on the way back home...

second fucking rain ride in a row, jesus christ.

MANY BABYWIPES HAVE DIED THIS EVENING TO CLEAN THESE BIKES

yesterday: climbing
today: more climbing

legs: burning

Did the Puncheur Sportive today: 69 hilly miles in 4 hours 22 mins (including stops). There was a fair bit of black ice about - I saw five people crash and we had to dismount a walk for a bit. The finish was up Ditchling Beacon - horrible, horrible, horrible. I managed to keep riding all the way up and overtook everyone I saw on the climb, but I felt awful.

Having biked up ditchling beacon at a leisurely pace you have my sympathies

Total Elevation Gain week of 3/1 - 3/7/10 (2 short rides, 2 long rides):

19,722ft/6,011m

is that using an altimeter type thing, or ? no matter how you slice it thats a shitload, congrats.

somewhere i posted the hunter climbing calculation rules once. like, less than 200ft vert in one go? doesn't count. less than 4%? dont bring that.

that's from the Garmin data.

longest climb was 3.3 miles at 7.4% (1300ft) which suckkkkkkkkkked.

oh stop ;)

http://www.paloaltobicycles.com/ringmap/gradient.jpg

A lovely evening ride was ruined just now by being accosted by a large gang of feral East End Glasgow teenagers who saw fit to pelt me about the head with various random objects to the point of bleeding.

It's not too bad after a nice hot shower and sit down, but still... bastards.

argh

what?! some fucking dystopic nightmare shit.

That's Glasgow's East End for you. Sometimes.

It's sore, but fine now, they just caught me some belters about the ear from ridiculously close range after running out into the road to get at me.

yeah I've had something similar happen in Chi (didn't connect tho), and knew plenty of ppl who encountered it with regularity

also: clean chain and frame alignment equals silky smooth drivetrain, it's wonderful. also switched to friction shifting after failing to get indexing working properly and I think I like it better?

Spent my lunch hour (+1/2) pootling like a vicar iirc.

lol

Re: Krakow - ouch, sorry to hear that.

I've got the official results in from Sunday's sportive now and me being me, I've bunged them into a spreadsheet and analysed them. On Sunday I was a bit disappointed that I'd only managed to shave 2 minutes off my time from last year, but I now realise it was much tougher this year than last: the median time was 23 minutes longer, and less than 5% of the riders got 'gold standard' (less than 4 hours), compared to nearly 20% last year. Last year I 'beat'* 55% of the riders, this year I 'beat'* 82%.

* I know technically it's not a race, but everyone's trying to finish it as fast as they can.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2804/4421799445_5cb8a956d3.jpg
(me nearing the top of the brutal final climb with 70 miles in my frozen legs)

Did 31 miles this morning in cold, windy Essex. Not much fun. I'll be glad when Spring finally appears.

duuuuuuuuudes

google maps finally has a "by bicycle" feature when yr getting directions.

* I know technically it's not a race, but everyone's trying to finish it as fast as they can.

Interesting. I don't think this is necessarily true. Yes, I want to finish in as good a time as possible; but if I was focused on that for the whole 100 miles or whatever, I think I'd go mad. What I want *most* out of a sportive is a fun, new experience in the fresh air while doing something I love with friends.

cosine.

i'm trying to get the best coffee, not the best time.

duuuuuuuuudes

google maps finally has a "by bicycle" feature when yr getting directions.

― nitzer ebbebe (gbx), Wednesday, March 10, 2010 7:37 AM (58 minutes ago)

is this the same as "Avoid Major Highways" or have they tapped into dedicated bike routes, trails and such?

trails, bike lanes, etc.

i just mapped my usual commute (which is like 5 miles of path, half mile of street) and it got it just right

neat, will try it out.

What I want *most* out of a sportive is a fun, new experience in the fresh air while doing something I love with friends.

Both of those things sound good, but probably tricky to fit them in what with all the cycling.

i dont have a general policy about how hard i ride something like that-- its not like i wanna quick time, its that i wanna "win" any hill or sign sprint thats contested by the group. and im happy to yak all u want, but please, NO STOPS unless piss or mechanical or dire hunger knock. generally hate hate stopping for over 2 minutes.

this is why training by oneself, if training is the objective, is superior. when you have a program, groups can derail the program. and it is why bike racing as an objective can steal the joy from your riding hobby, at least ime. youre doing work.

Yeah - it's like when I was making decent $$$ playing online poker - it became a job, an expectation, not a fun hobby.

ha hunt3r otm. HATE riding with groups. i turn down all my team's group rides. much rather go out by myself or one other like minded individual with similar fitness and training goals. NO STOPPING. NO LOOKING AT STUFF. NO MUFFINS.

and yeah its work

cutty doing work, a ilx joint