your daily bicycle log

that sounds dang wonderful

like srsly

very impressive

that sounds really fun. was there a field size limit, cause it seems like a pretty marketable event?

nice riding.

awesome!!!

That sounds rather wonderful.

Well done too.

still tryna get comfortable on tt bike so did moderate 26 miles on it with some hard 3 minute efforts. 34 deg with terrible 15-20 mph wind out of the north and spitting snow. my northbound sections were at a whopping 17 mph and painful as hell.

taking tt saddle recommendations cutty

Get the heaviest saddle you can find (for training purposes) ;-)

i know! right now the "taint shredder" saddle is not making it. i could probly do 40k on it, but.... fortunately the tt races im doing are really short, like 16k.

this seems like a good tt saddle but $290, yeeeeesh.

had fairly uninspiring week of riding - work and back, getting groceries, that was about it. luckily i have lollerdays from friday for a week and a bit.

ha i almost brought up the fact that said saddle costs about 2x what i paid for my frameset.

out for a couple laps this morning before dawn on the usual route. several packs of cyclists out on thr rollers - thought they'd all be off hammering the north road group ride, so was a bit of a shock to be honest.

might take the camera next time, it's quite spectacular!

evey day except sunday

oops

what i was trying to say - every day 'cept sunday, me & the dog, to work & back...i wanna get a camera get some pixtures here ...best part is on the ay home where doog goes swimming

"doog" = i mean DOG

I decided to go for my SOLO HOUR PR today:

So I head down to a paved .7mile (1.1km) lap around the polo fields at Golden Gate Park.

PROBLEM: a 10mph on-shore wind (from the West) steadily blowing making this more of an interval effort rather than steady rpms.

first 30 minutes: feeling strong, avg 22 mph (20.5 into the wind, 23.5 with it). @ 45 mins: legs are aching, caught my self under 20mph into the wind a couple of times, jumped out of the saddle to rectify (and get som blood to my ass).

@ 55 mins, get passed by some team dudes doing intervals. i use their pace to pick it up for the last few laps.

@58 mins: i have quite a bit left in the tank so I open up the throttle for the last lap. Almost hit 27mph on the last lap (26.9mph).

Finished with a respectable 22.3 miles for the hour. Was hoping for closer to 24 but it was not going to be happening on a breezy day like today. But still, my one hour solo PR.

One thing: I kept my form consistent the entire time. Stayed down in the drops, wrist straight, elbows bent about 50-55 degrees, tried to keep my back straight and most importantly: tried to keep the pedal stroke smoooooooth. I feel like this ride helped refine my technique which is admittedly a little rough around the edges.

Impressive, well done Steve! Good on you for taking it on with the wind, and winning.

90kms today in a variety of paths and weather! i think i've found the worst-paved road in melbourne, too!

thats really good steve!

dumping snow, after 67 deg yesterday. forecast 8-10 inches. fuck u weather.

just rode home in blinding snow, i even broke out the knee high gaiters. better than nothin.

daily shred log:

goin out to washington tomorrow for five days of ~shredding~ w/bros at Baker. we got a house for 7 of us for like 30/night oh shiiiiiiiiit

http://www.actionsportsalliance.com/images/happ-shred.jpg

realest of talk

Cleaned winter out of my BB and regreased it, it feels like a new bike, even if it still felt somewhat gravelly on reassembly, the bearing surfaces are not all that smooth any more. Then rode out to the brewery, everything is so smooth, first day this year I have really felt like I was riding for pleasure rather than just getting to work, going to the store or keeping fit. This is going to be a lovely summer of biking.

Heavy ride in the heavy rain, hella slippy treeroots everywhere, although my eventual tumble was caused merely by the mud shooting my front wheel off at an unexpected angle. Wore my brake pads down to the metal.

There are a few things I feel I'm really lacking right now:
(1) climbing strength
(2) technical handling (esp. high speed cornering, sprinting through corners, etc.)
(3) race condition drills (bumping, navigating through a field of 50+ riders, staying in the top 15 w/o getting in the wind, etc.)

Today I concentrated on (1), trying to keep all my efforts above 325W on the 6 climbs that comprise almost all of the 4500ft. (1370m) of climbing across an 88 mile club ride (I was in a pack of six riders).

The results almost* exceeded expectations: average 345W across all 6 climbs (*yet my lowest avg power on a single climb was 322W).

I also set PR's on all 6 climbs which was a sign that my fitness is starting to gel. I have my first road race coming up in three weeks so I'm going to start mixing in an interval training regimen to my 10-12 hour weekly riding.

i wanna avg 345 watts across 6 climbs. id totally settle for hitting it for 20 mins on a flat, actually. its not likely to happen again tho.

dude if i lost like say 100 pounds, I think I could join Euskaltel-Euskadi tbh

Recovery day, which means... more climbing. I will be very happy when this climbing is done. 5800ft in 62 miles. Kept climbs in zone 3, everthing else Zone 2, little ring spinning.

Pretty sure this is my last major climbing weekend for a while. Next up, intervals.

broke my chain while pootling like a vicar around the park on an easy day... thank god it wasn't on a climb. kinda weird, just had the chain replaced 5 weeks ago (1,154 miles)...

that's terrible. shasta what group are you using? have heard nu-ultegra chains are snappin lately, mine seems to be going strong tho (touch wood).

ultegra 6700 10spd

:-(

switch to SRAM?

I prefer Shimano's shifting style and they (afaik) have yet to be involved with a mass recall or class action suit as SRAM has so there's that.

I'd like to think that the break was a result of my interval workouts on Tuesday. B-) Heading to the shop at lunch to see if they'll do swap a new one on.

can u rly tell the diffence in your shifting between sram and shimano chain? because i only use sram chains w/ my shimano drivetrains. once powerlinks came along, it was bye bye stupid special pins.

also, i think i have never broken a chain on a road bike. i think once on an mtb.

campy chains are the best

oh i thought ed was suggesting i go for the whole gruppo as he is wont of. :3 yeah, i'm heading to shop now and will ask.

I was thinking just chain. Otherwise I'd be suggesting you get 12 speed ultra record with sprinkles and mind control. ;-P

they are replacing the chain with an Ultegra for no cost. Turning it around it time so I can do afternoon sprint intervals as well. Seriously dope shop.

do you guys inflate your front and rear tires to different pressures? because it makes sense to do so in order to get the desired amount of "tire drop", but ive never done it. maybe i'll start.

i do 107psi front, 110psi rear

if it's wet out, i take about 5psi out of each.

the chart available from zinn's column in velosnooze sez i should be like 115 rear, 88 front.

i don't understand the chart

surely there are rider/bike weights more than 154 lbs or is it truly sizist

its per wheel, and the weight distribution on race bikes is 60/40. So if you and your bike are 170, then its 102/60.

i rode my heaviest bike today with studded tires. like riding through molasses. gonna be so much stronger now guys

:-D