your daily bicycle log

so today i tested this on my tt, as all my previous tt saddles have given me huge chafing problems in race conditions:

http://www.ismseat.se/pub_images/large/Racing-II-angle-white_20.jpg

i rode tempo on the aerobars pretty much for and entire 1.75 hours, it was... it was good. it was signficantly easier to rotate my hips forward and stay there. there was def more weight on my elbows, but not enough to cause handling probs or fatigue.

My girlfriend got a saddle like that and she really loves it.

Strava Rage! My sole remaining KOM disappeared an hour ago by someone who rather suspiciously got up the climb at nearly 30mph. Closer investigation reveals he did his ride at an average speed of 114mph and covered the final mile in just 3 seconds.

strava has been a a little screwy of late, the guy leadin the base mile blast last night had 15,000km and more in the league table but only just over 1000km on his profile.

A 600 mi January woulda been rad but its a blizzard and I don't feel like risking this one at rush hour. Also I think my legs could use a break.

I have been rightfully reinstated as KOM. The person concerned was quite apologetic and followed me, so I've followed them back so as not to appear mean, even though I'm not terribly interested in seeing what they're up to.

I've just started training for the Dunwich Dynamo (120 miles, 20th July), from a fitness level of close to zero. Stuck indoors until March (in Nigeria, no bike).

Did 10 miles yesterday, 10 today, avg speed 12.24 mph, at a stately rpm most of the time. I find I can spin it up to 125 rpm but the HR gets a bit scary - pulled back when I hit 170. I need to work out what kind of intervals I can handle. No bike shorts, so a sore bum may hamper my progress.

That's the night time ride, isn't it? Did Porkpie & MarkC ever do that?

You're going to enjoy this, Zora.

I'm looking forward to riding tomorrow. Got grumpy after a week sick.

That's the night ride, yeah. I don't know any ILX0rs IRL cept K8, and I'm new to following the bikes board, so no idea who's done it. My pa has done it 3 times and swears it's the most fun ever.

Another 10m, prob double the avg resistance of yesterday & thursday, same speed. Feeling it in my weak leg & buttock & the dodgy foot is screaming blue murder, strangely. Soft underportions still intact. Buzzing a bit. \o/

I know a few people who've done it, Zora - everyone enjoyed it, and a couple of them weren't regular cyclists.

I don't know any ILX0rs IRL cept K8

tbh, the two I mentioned seem to have disappeared off ILX over the last year or so

Did 65 miles today in the icy wind. Not actually that much fun.

Well done for toughing it out then. Where did you go?

It should be warm in the UK by the time I hit the 65 mile mark, can't say I'm too sorry to be missing laps round Richmond Park even if the deer are picturesque in the winter.

79 miles at a very mellow pace, followed by a nap.

Where did you go?
Herts/Essex, nowhere very interesting (but would nice enough in the summer), http://app.strava.com/activities/39591271

Opening of the road racing scene in SoCal last weekend. My girlfriend and her teammates wanted to race the Boulevard Road Race, as their first races, so I headed out there with the RV. Being there, I decided to sign myself up for the Cat IV race even though the race is two 22 mile laps with 2100' of climbing (nearly all of which comes in the last 10 miles of the lap), and I am currently rocking a very fat-mantis-like 6'3" x 200lb frame. I got unceremoniously dropped and pulled out after one sad sad lap, thinking I'd "save some for the next day's Red Trolley Criterium". Had maybe too much fun hanging with the team around the RV after the race, and woke up Sunday morning with a 102 fever and a bad cough. Raced Red Trolley anyway, actually was feeling OK until fever symptoms manifested as strangling lower back pains with 10 min to go. Pulled out. Now I'm sick in bed with a crazy flu/fever. 2013 is off to a great start!!!!

Boulevard: http://app.strava.com/activities/39568121
Trolley: http://app.strava.com/activities/39715408

racing sick is pretty crazy, tho i've done it. gws.

not feeling well today myself, but working. my legs feel like shit after a day of tele on saturday and 24 miles of threshold 'round the rez on the tt bike sunday. http://app.strava.com/activities/39665775#

i really want to dial in my tt position this year. based on power numbers off my trainer (which im not sure are worth a damn) either my power really drops in the tt position, or i'm as aero as a brick. i should retest using a tt position, but that could hurt.

also my bike kinda sucks but no way i'm sinking any more money into that shit.

I've decided to try to improve my speed before I reach for longer distances. I managed a fairly pitiful 15.3 mph over 10 miles on the stationary bike today, which is +2 mph over my avg so far this week but man, it is still very slow. At >105 rpm the bike rocks all over the show and there's a deal of chafing. I'm pretty sure the saddle is the right height and there's nothing else to adjust, so it's gotta be my natural gracelessness, right? Any tips for improving posture & cadence?

zora, being willing to do your training on a stationary is awesome, it's unpleasant enough that it requires more willpower than just being lucky enough to go outside riding. my general advice:

1) don't worry about the speed indicated on the trainer- it may be wildly off from real world riding. continue to focus on the amount of time on the bike, and use the speed only to compare your efforts on that stationary bike.

2) 105 rpm is a relatively high cadence. I mean anyone can do it for a few minutes poorly, but riding smoothly above 100 rpm for longer durations requires a good position, a properly fitted bike, and a refined and fluid stroke. most riders on the flats vary between low 80s to mid 90s.

3) it's really hard to make suggestions about positions without seeing your setup. the vanilla instructions for saddle position for efficiency and injury avoidance are that if you sit in the bike with your hips level, you should be able to straighten your leg all the way while placing your heel on the pedal flat. as a result, when you place the ball of your foot over the pedal spindle, your leg will have a slight bend. some people prefer it slightly lower, in my experience. if your saddle can slide forward and backward, the general rule is that when the pedal is at 3:00, the notch below your kneecap should be directly over the pedal spindle.

Thanks Hunt3r.

I didn't gun at >100 rpm the whole time, only when the resistance was low (running a random profile). So bursts of 1-3 minutes. I kept it over 90 tho, cause I read somewhere last night that you have to do that to improve your speed.

Like I said, I think I'm in as right a position as I can be on this bike. It's going to piss me right off if I can't get my speed up, because it's going to take crazy hours to make my distance goals (I've got a 50 mile ride on the schedule for next week), but I'll suck it up if I have to.

"Refined and fluid stroke" = even pressure all the way round the stroke?

more accurate to say that it should feel smooth, like you're pedaling circles. not jerky. assuming you have normal flexibility your knees should stay in(not splayed out from centerline of bike) your hips shouldnt ever be rocking (usually means saddle is too high), your shoulders and back should be still, your chest should be open to allow easy breathing.

i wouldn't _over_think it either, it should still feel like, y'know, riding your bike.

I get you. I can keep it feeling like circles at 90. At 100+ I'm tapping out a rhythm. Still shoulders - I can work on that.

Half the problem with the stationary bike is it *doesn't* feel like riding my bike! The handlebars are way up high, and the saddle is this fat squashy thing. It's uncomfortable. Never mind - it is convenient and I would be able to go out riding at home, what with the snow and all.

Killing my bike again in the Glasgow winter. Nearly threw my chain today on a downhill after getting caught in snow and its aftermath gave the drivechain a real drubbing yesterday.

krakow! do they still have winter in glasgow? we cancelled it over here.

How are you getting away with that? We are having a fine season of salt and brown slush on the other side of the plains.

62 degrees today. i went out for a ride in shorts and armwarmers.

come on out the warming is fine. skiing, not so much.

i moved my elbow pads out a few cm to see if i could get some better breathing. i could not believe how good it felt, i was so relaxed and i actually felt like i was getting my shoulders way narrower and my head lower. thought i was killing it.

i was significantly slower with much more effort on a calmer day. so sad.

It's nothing too drastic in terms of temperatures and snow has been rare, but the roads certainly aren't kind on bikes these few months.

Sunday is looking good for a ride outside this week, Couple of days thaw to clear the muck then 7˚C although if that forecast holds between now and then I'll be surprised.

40 degree steady drenching rain for 50 minutes. my fender has lost it's sprayguard, and i forgot my windpants, so my (shitty old) striped wool trousers are utterly soaked and covered in road grime. my soft shell finally soaked through around 30 mins.

my whole attitude is covered in road grime :(

My only chance of a ride this week was today - was hoping to get in a 35-mile fairly hilly ride. About 12 miles in I got a sudden rear wheel puncture. I was in the middle of Epping Forest so had to pull over and try and sort things out in the mud. No mobile signal. First I couldn't get the quick release undone. Eventually sorted that (knocking the whole bike over and into the road in the process), dug massive flint out of tyre, changed tube, started to pump it up with crappy mini-pump, realised tyre was sitting off the rim on both sides at one point, deflated tube again, pushed tyre down, started pumping up again.

After about 300 pumps and a minor hand injury I'd still only got it up to 50psi. Two passing cyclists stopped and offered to help - tried to use their pump instead, valve in tube somehow unscrewed and let all the air out. Got it back up again, thanked cyclists, set off, realised immediately something was still wrong: tyre freakishly high on one side and low on the other making the wheel go bomp-bomp-bomp-bomp - a bit worrying on a descent. Not sure what was wrong and afraid inner tube might explode or tyre roll off or something, so decided to ride straight home carefully. About five miles later, saddle suddenly lurches down and points towards the road - another stop needed. At this point it starts raining and it's only 2C. Eventually get home half an hour later than planned, having covered only 24 miles and spent 50 minutes standing around at various points trying to sort out mechanicals.

Argh, I hate those kinds of situations - commiserations!

god, those rides are the worst. sympathies NBS.

terrible. also, kill all crappy mini pumps (unless their only function is to back up co2)

I have done basically zero riding, and have been feeling like a lump

Argh, NBS, that sounds like no fun!

I did 23 'miles' on the exercise bike today, 65 minutes; dropped the resistance and walloped the rpm, managed to keep it over 100 for the first 15 miles. I'm pretty pleased with that.

It wasn't that bad - at least I was able to ride home. The time my chain snapped and I had to walk four miles in cycling shoes was much worse.

rode trainer, tried some position changes. figured out my tt position robs me of about 10% of power afaict (which is not unheard of, i guess). took some videos of positioning after workout and geeked out on motion capture software kinovea. i know all the angles now.

during workout i watched some documentary about going to patagonia to surf and climb on a boat with ultra beach guitar bro soundtrack. on the way, dude picks up easter island surf honey. patagonia looks nice.

NBS, that sounds dreadful.

Had a good ride yesterday despite being off the bike last week, ill, I felt pretty good, weather never got as warm as promised.

A dry weekend, the snow we had earlier in the week has gone and the sun even came out today. Yesterday I went out and did the 33.5 mile ride that mechanical hell prevented me from doing last weekend. Today I went out again and did exactly the same ride, but on my lightweight racer instead of the horrible winter bike, partly as an experiment to see just how much difference it made. My average speed yesterday was 16mph, today it was 17.2mph. Same average heart rate, but I spent more time in zone 4 and zone 5 yesterday, so I think I have to work quite a bit harder on that bike.

I did 19 miles on the static on Tuesday, but I was sick then and I'm still sick so I'm laying off the training until the lurgy passes.

Fell off my bike in the snow on the way back from the bar last night, landed on my wallet and have a dead leg, no real harm done.

I got studs for Xmas and they are maaaaagic

Down in Dorset for the half-term break, managed three rides (25-30 miles) in the last three days, all in windy sub-zero conditions. Thursday and Friday I tried doing lengthy intervals on a three-mile lumpy triangle (three miles hard, three miles recover, etc.) in a desperate attempt to get ready for the racing season (I might be doing my first race of the year next weekend). Today I drove further west and did a very hilly ride: about 200m in the first few miles, then down a 1-in-6 hill having to slam on the brakes to overtake horse riders, then straight up another savage hill, down the other side, over a ford, and up yet another savage hill. The first 10.5 miles had 427 metres of climbing and 274 metres of descents - you don't get that in Essex. Much of that was into a headwind as well, so I was just crawling along. One more horrible climb (taking the total to about 720m in a ride of less than 28 miles) and then a mostly downhill-tailwind section where I had planned to try to set a new fastest speed, but it was snowing by this stage (though I still got over 44mph). I can't wait for it to get a bit warmer.

no ride on trainer today, i did a 56 floor "tower run" for charity. hardest 9 min effort ive ever done, i still feel sickish 3 hrs later.

other workout is shoveling driveway and walk twice today, big snow (finally).

yesterday i discovered the true state of my jockey wheels :o

lol that sounds so ominous.

my attempts at doing that 100 mile strava challenge on the weekend:

#1 - head out just after midday on saturday with plan to hit usual loop of short hills, then extend as required. take advantage of nice smooth resurfaced road on the first real climb of the day to set improbable personal best; pace slows somewhat as it dawns on me how frickin' hot it is. empty both bottles by end of mt pleasant loop, roll down to research and stop for drink, start up the hill to kangaroo ground but end up peeling off towards trail running along disused aqueduct where there's some shade. slink home. 47 miles.

#2 - spend most of morning fussing over job application, get everything wrapped up by 2.30 and decide to have another go despite relatively late start time. head north on boring straight road through suburbia for 40km, then hook right onto brilliant rollercoaster-like stretch through rolling countryside. stop for food, then take old humevale climb up to kinglake and am greeted by excellent sunset views. decide to catch next train from hurstbridge station, so drop down the mountain and hustle along darkening road, get to station only to find trains off due to track works, so hit road once more. fire the one bullet left in the chamber while getting up awful 15% steep 100m pinch, luckily that was the last hard bit for the day; have semi-altercation with dickhead in car a couple of km from home after I claim lane at red light. roll in just after 11pm. 82 miles. damnit!

so afaict this one guy did 100 miles on a .7 mile oval at like 22 mph, which is awesome and stupendously mental.