your daily bicycle log

Just under 14 today, tough climbs and technical bits around town, after the sunshine had gone. Windy but no rain forecast here tomorrow.

Momentary confusion: when I logged on to strava it told me that one of the people I 'follow' (who I've ridden with locally several times) was riding on Boxing Day with Ed (who I assumed was on the other side of the planet and has no reason to know this person at all). Though now I see it was a Rapha thing around Regents Park I assume there were dozens of riders who didn't all know each other.

other confusion: i don't always correlate user names b/w strava and iltrmb right away, so i'll see a ride on my strava feed and then see it described here and have to pair up the IDs mentally. before i saw ET's post above i saw his route on strava and ended zooming around LA topo maps going, wow, that looks cool, in the middle of everything, is it a hike or a ride, or what?

also, i had seen a route down tuna by i think cutty, like a couple months ago. i had no idea what that canyon was, but i was pretty impressed by the topo- i ended up looking up the road online and finding out it was a red bull road rage route in 2005. so when i saw the lukas post above, and his strava data, i was..."oh, that's tuna, i bet"... even though i've not met cutty, lukas, and have never been to LA.

i've done the same with the ed/haitch rides northeast of melb. if i ever get there again (which will never happen) i will be totally ready for some climbs.

Just under 24 miles in storm-warning conditions. Had to turn back on one of my usual routes at 8 miles in because the road was flooded; stupidly tried fording it slowly but if was way too deep and I had to sacrifice a sodden foot to turn around. 40mph cross gusts nearly had me over once of twice... Good fun though. And mostly blue skies.

I've challenged myself to do at least 10 miles each day that I'm on leave; back to work on January 6 and it'd going ok so far. Hopefully next week I can get a couple of longer rides in if the weather is decent.

if i read strava right, i can make 7000 mi this year if i ride like 90 miles by tuesday night. nothing motivates like nice round numbers.

Do it!

a thing i have never heard of til now: the river exe.

wiki notes- "the Exe estuary is an important site for wintering waders..." i suppose that means you then, nick.

so when i saw the lukas post above, and his strava data, i was..."oh, that's tuna, i bet"

Yes, well done. I was sure that titling the ride "First time down Tuna" would disguise my actions, but you saw right through me. ;)

ha, i just couldn't believe you didnt know that ride before, i love that ride. if you ever need ride advice in la, let me know. you know what else is cool? mt. chapel in hollywood hills.

That was me, although I wasn't riding with them I just took a draft before scurrying off for multiple runs over Hampstead Heath. I've been in London spending Christmas with my family and my dad rehabbed the eddy Merckx frame with Athena so I've been riding around London.

Interestingly I think I like the position on the Merckx better than on the BMC, wider handlebars and longer top tube. I'm finding it a lot easier to get out of the saddle although that may just be a fitness thing.

How long are you back in London for?

Thanks, I'm not down in LA often, but definitely need advice when I am.

brrrrr cold 100k today. some sublime scenery tho

def ambition for 2014: learn how to mechanic my own bike. will save a power of money

the hot pink concorde gets nothing but compliments on the club run

giving me a bit of knee bother tho: saddle to pedal fit is same as other bike. not using cleats for now, just cages, plus I often get caught out w/hills due to friction shifters. could either of those be it?

Are you saying you've got old-fashioned pedals with toe clips & straps? If you've got no cleats, what have you got on your feet - cycling shoes or just trainers?

And is that really you in your strava profile picture?

yea that is me - I find those big cigars are good recovery

and yeah I have flats w/straps - just took the cleats off my cycling shoes and cycle in those with overshoes on.

It might be the lack of float you get with toe straps

before i saw ET's post above i saw his route on strava and ended zooming around LA topo maps going, wow, that looks cool, in the middle of everything, is it a hike or a ride, or what?

There's a final short steep scramble up to the very top of the mountain, but other than that everything was on pavement or graded dirt. Would love to eventually get a hybrid bike and hit some of the longer fire access roads in Angeles National Forest.

Cyclocross!

36 quick miles with Al, him on a carbon Felt, me on the Tricross. Struggled a little to keep up on some hills but I'll put that down to the heavier bike.

Got new frameset built, rode it. Front end is so stable and precise, got pr on long singletrack downhill. Plus it's lighter than my roadbike even with cx clinchers, I'm totally spoiled now.

so i got through a full downhill skiing day intact. then i had to carry a 30 pound gear bag, plus a pair of kids boots, a pair of kid's skis, my skis, and four pairs of poles half a mile to car. i slipped on ice in the treacherous parking lot, went down very abruptly, my skis bounced under a moving car a foot to my left, i wrecked my back, and i can barely sit down. my skis seem ok.

i have 60 miles to go before year end to make 7k miles ~in jeopardy~.

i spent 5 minutes getting to my feet this am, it was not so good. still, i got on the trainer and did an hour, hoping things would come straight. then i rode my bike to work, which was dodgy due to ice and snow, but i made it. now i'm on vicodin. i may not be able to race this coming weekend, but i'm determined to make 7k.

Give it up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp7Q1OAzITM

NBS, back in Melbourne now, the weather is better.

I wish I'd bought cleats in London, I've just been to half the bike stores in town looking of a reasonably priced pair of speedplay cleats. Prices range from $49.99 to $79.99 and I had to go down to Kathy Watt cycles in Black Rock to get $49.99. Components in Australia seem to be priced by picking a number and doubling it. Kathy Watt's store seems to price fairly (Fitzroy revolution as well but they are closed of the holidays), if I can afford a new bike I'd like to get it from their selection of Willier, Colnago and Ridley.

cozen your strava instagrams are beautiful. place looks really damp tho.

That's the UK for you.

yup - scotland's west coast in particular

amazing, you are so far north, but it looks like some of the grass/groundcover is still green, even in winter? doesn't it die back in winter there? does the ground ever freeze?

27 and a bit damp miles to test my new mudguards. They're amazing! Rear light and seatpack were bone dry, brilliant. Forded a flood, climbed over some barriers where a road was closed due to subsidence (easily passable on a bike though) and got bitten by a happy dog called Treacle when I asked his nice little old lady owner for directions.

Yappy, not happy. He drew blood, the little fucker. Probably was happy, though, once he bit me.

Fairly fast group ride this morning, but had to hold back a bit (and we turned for home earlier than planned) because the roads were icy in places. Fortunately no crashes in our group this time, but a lot of nervy wheel slippage.

Question: why does Strava give a different average speed to Garmin Connect? On the latter I have 'time' = 2:05:00 (with average speed 17.8mph) and 'moving time' = 2:04:16 (average speed 18.0mph). Strava says 'time' 2:06:42 (average speed 17.6mph). These all come from exactly the same data uploaded from my Garmin and none of them matches the average speed which was displayed on the Garmin at the end of the ride (17.9mph). All of these times are different from the actual elapsed time of 2:21:10 because it stops recording when I stop moving.

presumably something about the algorithms reading the gps data. bet if u use a garmin wheel pickup for distance and speed, they'll match, tho even then it depends on the data hierarchy that each of them use.

A very tough group ride this morning. There were 7 riders from my club and about 10 from another club (plus we picked up some randoms along the way). The guy who kind of leads it said the plan was to ride out of London about 30 miles then turn around and come back exactly the same way - on the way out four of them would do through and off at the front and the rest of us could sit in, on the way back it would be everyone doing a turn until they blew up. He said to keep it at a steady pace between 20 and 21mph. Erk!

I managed to sit in on the way out and stopped for a 'natural break' about a mile short of the turn so I could be picked up by them minutes later when they came back. It was absolutely brutal coming through and working. Over and over I would do my work until I was incapable of holding a wheel any longer, then I would slink to the back with the other casualties who could no longer come through, recover for a minute or two, then start working again. Somehow I survived, despite dropping my gel in the road with 25 miles still to go and finishing my drink far from home. We'd done 44-45 miles at just short of 21mph when there was a crash. Fortunately I was near the front and missed it. There was a pause and then we were off again, but the ride totally fractured now and I ended up in a lead group of 5. We got blasted apart on a draggy climb and I dug deep and overtook everyone to get to the front. Before long it was just me and the group leader left. I'm kind of amazed I managed it, because I'm really not in any kind of condition at the moment. Anyway, I think that is easily the fastest long ride I've ever done which wasn't an actual race.

Meanwhile, I got a turbo trainer midweek (a Cycleops Fluid 2). Using it seems somehow to have sent my Garmin 800 up the creek. I did my first session on the trainer early on the Thursday morning, but when I uploaded my 'ride' it claimed to have been carried out on Tuesday evening (immediately after the end of my previous bike ride). And when I uploaded this morning's ride, it claimed I had done it on Friday night! Plus, on Garmin Connect, I get this kind of gibberish:
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r299/crunchydog_2006/garmindata_zps57a553c7.jpg
What's going on? How do I fix it?

I can't see me getting out this weekend, not properly. I guess I'll try and do a quick 20 or 30 tomorrow, but I've got shitloads to do and the weather is crap. I want it to be cold, not wet; I've bought loads of cold gear.

Managed 34 on Saturday before the weather came in, and did another 16 Sunday - 8 miles up a hill into a headwind, and then I turned around and hammered it back. Exhausting and miserable, but nice to hit 50 for the weekend. Even if Cozen did double that...

Doin that damn sufferfest thing means I'm on a trainer on a sunny warm day. I considered going out for a ride afterwards, then I did islagiatt, it was like someone dropping an anvil on my head. And now it's 18 deg and snowin again.

Another very tough group training ride today. A smaller group this time (nine, which had become seven within about 10 miles) and instead of letting most of us be passengers for the outbound leg the rule was through-and-off for everyone right from the start (they even said if you don't come through you're out of the group). Average speed for the first 20 miles was 21.6mph, I got dropped (kind of accidentally, kind of delibrately: we came to a T-junction, one guy went the wrong way, most set off in the right direction, I decided to kindly wait for the other guy and help pace him back, but was glad of the excuse to drop out, then while he got back on, I gave up chasing after a couple of miles). I knew they were turning around within 3 miles, so I rode back to the nearest village with a shop and stocked up on drink and chocolate, then set off at a very leisurely pace until they caught up with me. I ended up in a smaller group (4 then 5) which meant my turn at the front seemed to come round far too frequently. Suffered grimly all the way back, but desperately hung in as I really didn't fancy trying to get back on my own.

I've taken the plunge and gone for the 2-week trial of premium strava membership, which means I've got my first ever 'suffer' scores. Today was 'extreme' 168, with "80 points in the red" (whatever that means).

168, 76

(oops - those random numbers at the end are for my ride two weeks ago, virtually identical to today)

i rode like 10 minutes at minus 11 F. very short, but still my coldest-ever ride. i was ok, even on the 125 ft of vert downhill, but when i took off my lobster glove to lock up at the station, my fingers went to painfully cold in about one minute.

an hour last night of zone 2 laps with the group

headphones next time

why do strava badges bug the crap outta me? i have always thought they are dorky as fuck. then strava told me that going premium "proves" how much you love to ride. that makes me want to un-premium myself, but i actually like the metrics. i mean, even the badges do a better job of proving how much you love to ride.

Couple of times strava badges have made me ride quantity over quality, which is much less fun. I've yet to see anyone in a jersey or tshirt 'unlocked' as a result of wining a badge but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. I'm sure it'll be the same people who ride around in full pro team kit.

yeah, still i do baffle myself, because obviously i love quantification and comparative metrics. i feel like i'm a perfect badger candidate, yet it crosses some stupid line for me. i did spend a while as a dedicated NO COMPUTERS ON MY BIKES, MAAAN kinda guy, but i musta been fronting.

I record my rides on my phone and upload. No readout on the bars though. I'm kinda worried that I'd stare at it during the ride. Maaaaaan.

Having the computer on the bars does leave me very susceptible to an extra round the block at the end of a ride to get a round number. No earthly reason for doing it.

^ this too. In the same fashion, if I'm listening to a song on my ipod or phone, I hate stopping it before the end because then it won't get 'counted' and it troubles me that the play count will be inaccurate. Down this path lies madness.

PS - "I feel like I'm a perfect badger candidate" is not a phrase I was ever expecting to read.

ha is it britslang for something horrific