The biking thread

[Omnis]

Just looking at your ride on Strava I tell you what else is impressive is that you only managed 164 m of elevation over 100 miles .
Miami must be nearly as flat as a pancake. Without knowing about the roads or traffic etc if you can avoid the worst of the humidity it looks like a nice place to ride. 👍

Are there any decent climbs around if you feel inclined for that sort of thing?

Yeah, it's flat and our false flats are the climbs. It's basically all either beach or swamp that has been infilled with earth to make a foundation for civilization. The top climb here is Rickenbacker Causeway bridge over Biscayne Bay.

Here's Froomy riding it with Best Buddies.


My LBS and their team is close partners with Best Buddies International because their HQ is like a block away. The elite riders do the BB ride and a lot of them are friends with pro riders, so the pros will fly in and stay with them while participating in the ride. You're talking like pro peloton TT average speeds. I would get dropped at the first degree of incline

All the other climbs are bridges over the intracostal waterway. We did the next 4 biggest climbs on the ride, first going over the West and East Julia Tuttle Causeway Bridges in Miami, then doing the 17th Street Bridge in Fort Lauderdale, then the SE 3rd Avenue Bridge, as well as a bunch of smaller bridges in Miami on the way to City Hall before we turned north.

Julia Tuttle Causeway Bridge West
Mile Marker: 1087.2
Lat / Lon: N 25° 48.641' / W 080° 10.589'
Bridge Type: Fixed
Vertical Clearance (Closed): 56.00 ft.
Horizontal Clearance: 90.00 ft.

Julia Tuttle Causeway Bridge East
Lat / Lon: N 25° 48.622' / W 080° 08.928'
Bridge Type: Fixed
Vertical Clearance (Closed): 35.00 ft.
Horizontal Clearance: 75.00 ft.

SE 17th Street (Brooks Memorial) Bridge
Mile Marker: 1065.9
Lat / Lon: N 26° 06.034' / W 080° 07.105'
Bridge Type: Bascule
Vertical Clearance (Closed): 55.00 ft.
Horizontal Clearance: 125.00 ft.

SE 3rd Avenue Bridge
Mile Marker: 1.4
Lat / Lon: N 26° 07.026' / W 080° 08.419'
Bridge Type: Bascule
Vertical Clearance (Closed): 16.00 ft.
Horizontal Clearance: 60.00 ft.

I honestly don't know how you guys climb. It's hard. My quad almost cramped up while trying to muscle up the last climb, which was the Marina Mile & I-95 Interchange. https://goo.gl/maps/yHHhp8n1tz5PX7sr8 It looks like nothing but I felt it after 80 miles. Then again, I never dropped out of my big chainring, so maybe that's what the little one is for.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Cheers mate. Really appreciate it. I love our little GTP Strava club lol.

FWIW, my numbers were better than Ray Lewis's, so I'm about as fit as a retired professional athlete.

Also, did I mention that Jimmy Graham is freaking massive? Whenever you see athletes that are 6'7" or taller in person, it's pretty impressive. Sometimes I think I could've been an NFL player if I stuck to it as a kid. But then standing next to Jaelan and Jimmy, I'm like nah

I ride in the same areas as Barry Bonds. For a big dude who isn't young, that guy is fast, even on the climbs. Pretty sure he's still doping. I haven't actually ran into him yet, but he's out there nearly every day riding around Marin.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Sounds like a big charity/recreation ride.
So many often ride these events without any prior group riding and it's a recipe for disaster.
I hope the girl you came across is ok.

Yeah we are pretty lucky here, cycling has always been a popular sport and it's easy to find a good group or club if you want to join one.

Just looking at your ride on Strava I tell you what else is impressive is that you only managed 164 m of elevation over 100 miles .
Miami must be nearly as flat as a pancake. Without knowing about the roads or traffic etc if you can avoid the worst of the humidity it looks like a nice place to ride. 👍

Are there any decent climbs around if you feel inclined for that sort of thing?

The highest point in the entire state of Florida is just 105 meters - it is proportionally flatter than a pancake. You have to get to northern Georgia to even hit 1000ft (~300m)

I can't even ride to work without hitting 1000ft

 

[Shaun]

The highest point in the entire state of Florida is just 105 meters - it is proportionally flatter than a pancake. You have to get to northern Georgia to even hit 1000ft (~300m)

I can't even ride to work without hitting 1000ft

Pretty lucky in that sense here, can keep a ride pan flat if wanted or can get in some elevation also.

While the climbs aren't mega long mountainous here there are some punchy nasty little buggers near by.

 

[Solo]

I honestly don't know how you guys climb. It's hard.

Hard but so rewarding. The views looking back down a set of hairpins you’ve just climbed like this in the mountains is so satisfying, this was in the Dolomites in Italy mid way through a 136km/85mile ride with ~4300m/14200ft of climbing. The descent after is always enjoyable to.

love our little GTP Strava club lol.

Glad to hear it. Have to say, like @Shaun, I was amazed at how flat your charity event was. Where I live in the South East of England is flat but that was something else. Great work on pushing yourself to keep going completing it after all the rubbish from the local community you’ve talked about here. Time to book the next event or set your next target 💪🏻

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Speaking of elevation - I have officially signed up for my first race. It's a 60 mile gravel grinder that starts around 5,000ft and gets as high as 6700 in the Sierra north of Lake Tahoe. Total gain of 5,000ft for the 60 mile loop. Considered the 100 miler, but I live at sea level and I'm not sure I have the conditioning to take on something like that. Even the 60 mile is going to require some pretty serious prep considering the altitude.

Lost and Found

Pretty excited to have something to train for though I'm not looking to be competitive. I just want to finish.

 

[Omnis]

Always cool to look through Strava on huge group events and do a scavenger hunt for your likeness...

(Or your backness)

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I don't think those socks are UCI legal.

 

[Omnis]

Compression, baby!

 

[Shaun]

Aero gains!

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

As part of my prep for the ride/race in June, I'm going to train with an eye towards finishing the Alpe D'Zwift (in Zwift obviously...a "1:1" recreation of Alpe D'Huez) in under 60 mins, effectively putting my 60-minute critical power at 3.2w/kg. Right now I'm about 15 minutes off (2.5w/kg) though I haven't given it a truly full-gas effort yet. I think it would be a good place to be in terms of fitness for the ride. I basically need to increase power (vs my best run) by ~30w and decrease weight by ~13lbs (5.9kg). Considering I left a good bit on the table, I think it's possible with the weight loss.

 

[Shaun]

I'm going to train with an eye towards finishing the Alpe D'Zwift (in Zwift obviously...a "1:1" recreation of Alpe D'Huez) in under 60 mins, effectively putting my 60-minute critical power at 3.2w/kg. Right now I'm about 15 minutes off (2.5w/kg)

I've done it once and just checked.
Can't say I was I a rush to do it and my time was 1hr 40min with an average of 169w which would put me at 2.7w/kg.

I'm trying to work out the difference with you being around 15min off being at 2.5w/kg.
Only thing I can think of and probably what it was that I didn't input my true weight into Zwift at the time.

The thing I found with virtual climbs is it's easier as you can keep you watts down by riding at 1km/h if you really needed to, do that out on a real bike and your not upright

Still in my short dabble with Zwift I found it to be a fantastic training tool, just indoor riding isn't for me.

basically need to increase power (vs my best run) by ~30w and decrease weight by ~13lbs (5.9kg). Considering I left a good bit on the table, I think it's possible with the weight loss.

Sounds absolutely doable with training and good nutrition.
Good luck. 👍

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I've done it once and just checked.
Can't say I was I a rush to do it and my time was 1hr 40min with an average of 169w which would put me at 2.7w/kg.

I'm trying to work out the difference with you being around 15min off being at 2.5w/kg.
Only thing I can think of and probably what it was that I didn't input my true weight into Zwift at the time.

The thing I found with virtual climbs is it's easier as you can keep you watts down by riding at 1km/h if you really needed to, do that out on a real bike and your not upright

Still in my short dabble with Zwift I found it to be a fantastic training tool, just indoor riding isn't for me.

Sounds absolutely doable with training and good nutrition.
Good luck. 👍

Absolutely - and part of the reason the times up ADZ are significantly faster than they are up ADH, even if they are supposed to be the same. Heh, for this run I had it on ERG mode. Trainer was locked to 185w until the last half mile or so when I turned it off and upped my pace. At 2.7w/kg you should have been under 1:10 I feel like. Did you take a break you aren't remembering?

Just double checked what I had in there for my weight..it was within 1lbs.

 

[Shaun]

At 2.7w/kg you should have been under 1:10 I feel like. Did you take a break you aren't remembering?

Ok so a little more investigation.
Turns out my Strava segment is 33.4km long which obviously includes some of the lead up to the full climb.

Time for the actual 12.2km climb was 1:11.05 so my weight logged with Zwift at the time must have been reasonably close.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Ok so a little more investigation.
Turns out my Strava segment is 33.4km long which obviously includes some of the lead up to the full climb.

Time for the actual 12.2km climb was 1:11.05 so my weight logged with Zwift at the time must have been reasonably close.

Not fair that you averaged 20w less than me and went 6 minutes faster.

 

[Solo]

As part of my prep for the ride/race in June, I'm going to train with an eye towards finishing the Alpe D'Zwift (in Zwift obviously...a "1:1" recreation of Alpe D'Huez) in under 60 mins, effectively putting my 60-minute critical power at 3.2w/kg. Right now I'm about 15 minutes off (2.5w/kg) though I haven't given it a truly full-gas effort yet. I think it would be a good place to be in terms of fitness for the ride. I basically need to increase power (vs my best run) by ~30w and decrease weight by ~13lbs (5.9kg). Considering I left a good bit on the table, I think it's possible with the weight loss.

You’d be amazed how much bike choice actually matters on Zwift too. Have a look on this site for your level/drops https://zwifterbikes.web.app/ and see how that helps. Although it won’t help in the real world it feels good to save those extra few virtual world seconds 🤣. Using Tron definitely helped me on my 51:29 effort at the weekend - wouldn’t be able to match that in the real world though.

It’s definitely good training, I used it a lot last year a both with and without ERG mode and your target sounds achievable. Will be watching out on Strava.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

You’d be amazed how much bike choice actually matters on Zwift too. Have a look on this site for your level/drops https://zwifterbikes.web.app/ and see how that helps. Although it won’t help in the real world it feels good to save those extra few virtual world seconds 🤣. Using Tron definitely helped me on my 51:29 effort at the weekend - wouldn’t be able to match that in the real world though.

It’s definitely good training, I used it a lot last year a both with and without ERG mode and your target sounds achievable. Will be watching out on Strava.

It appears I'm already using the best combo I have at my level.

 

[Greycap]

My one of a kind hardtail project is finally complete. It escalated to a point in which I'll take my hat off to anyone who has a higher level of attention to detail applied to theirs even if I say it myself.

Including custom vinyl work: the stem cap needed something and I couldn't get my hands on an old school Specialized wagon wheel style cap so I designed a decal for it, in dark grey because every black part on the front end of the bike - the wheels, the fork, the bar, the stem, even the grip locking rings (which were originally matte black with white logos but got swapped for gloss black with grey to match the stem) have grey accents so of course it had to match them. And the R-Works decal on the frame is naturally a nod to the real S-Works models but I'm not one of those guys who plaster M badges on grocery getter BMWs so while it may look convincingly similar, it carries my first name's initial instead. After all, it was all worked by me.

 

[MrCrynox]

My one of a kind hardtail project is finally complete. It escalated to a point in which I'll take my hat off to anyone who has a higher level of attention to detail applied to theirs even if I say it myself.

Including custom vinyl work: the stem cap needed something and I couldn't get my hands on an old school Specialized wagon wheel style cap so I designed a decal for it, in dark grey because every black part on the front end of the bike - the wheels, the fork, the bar, the stem, even the grip locking rings (which were originally matte black with white logos but got swapped for gloss black with grey to match the stem) have grey accents so of course it had to match them. And the R-Works decal on the frame is naturally a nod to the real S-Works models but I'm not one of those guys who plaster M badges on grocery getter BMWs so while it may look convincingly similar, it carries my first name's initial instead. After all, it was all worked by me.

Looks great and I really like the colour of the frame 👍

 

[Greycap]

Looks great and I really like the colour of the frame 👍

The colour was one of the main reasons for my extremely quick "shut up and take my money" reaction when it was announced. The frame isn't painted in the traditional sense, the red is basically heavily tinted clearcoat and the aluminium grain can be seen in suitable lighting.

But now we have a problem. The LBS owner and me just had a moment of thinking, what is this thing classed as in its current guise? Sure, it began life as a pretty hot XC hardtail, and the fork (RS SID SL) and the wheels (Roval Control rims with DT Swiss 350 hubs) still point that way but then it gets weird. The cassette is a 12 speed Ultegra road cassette, mounted on a road freehub and shifted with a 12 speed XT set. The tyres are 47 mm gravel tyres and it has (gasp) flat pedals.

It's either an extremely Frankenstein'd XC hardtail, a seriously quick hybrid, or a flat bar gravel bike. We couldn't figure it out but one thing is for sure - the Velominati people must not see it, ever, or I'll be in big trouble.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

The colour was one of the main reasons for my extremely quick "shut up and take my money" reaction when it was announced. The frame isn't painted in the traditional sense, the red is basically heavily tinted clearcoat and the aluminium grain can be seen in suitable lighting.

But now we have a problem. The LBS owner and me just had a moment of thinking, what is this thing classed as in its current guise? Sure, it began life as a pretty hot XC hardtail, and the fork (RS SID SL) and the wheels (Roval Control rims with DT Swiss 350 hubs) still point that way but then it gets weird. The cassette is a 12 speed Ultegra road cassette, mounted on a road freehub and shifted with a 12 speed XT set. The tyres are 47 mm gravel tyres and it has (gasp) flat pedals.

It's either an extremely Frankenstein'd XC hardtail, a seriously quick hybrid, or a flat bar gravel bike. We couldn't figure it out but one thing is for sure - the Velominati people must not see it, ever, or I'll be in big trouble.

It reminds me a bit of a 90s mountain bike (smallish tires, hardtail, modest fork) turned up to 11. I bet it's a blast to ride and feels very lively. What tires did you end up with? Do you feel undergeared on climbs? Looks like you're around 1:1 at the lowest gear, is that right?

RE Tires: I'm trying to decide what tires to go with for my race in June. From the organizer:

This is the Sierra so plan on running wider tires with more tread. We recommend at least 40mm wide tires for cyclocross bikes (like WTB Raddler, Riddler or Resolute tires), and riding a light, fast rigid mountain bike with 2.0 tires wouldn't be a bad choice either, especially if you are more comfortable on a mountain bike. There are lots of rocks and rain ruts crossing the dirt road sections in numerous spots, so when in doubt, check your speed a little. Although there are sections of gravel and almost 20% of road in the approximately 100mile event, the non-road sections will make you savor the pavement and all the amazing views.

40mm WTB Raddler or Riddler is definitely on the smaller and less voluminous side than I would typically ride, particularly up in the mountains and won't give much compliance. My off road wheelset currently has Teravail Rutlands in 650bx47 right now. They have great traction and corner well, but they feel a bit slow, they don't have much volume (biggest issue, IMO) and they have worn down pretty fast. I've been debating considering getting a set of Rene Herse Juniper Ridge (650bx48, plumps up to 51mm) or even their Umtanum (650bx2.2, plumps to 57mm). The rear triangle will be a really tight fit on the 2.2s though so it's probably a risk if there is mud. I'm not looking to be competitive in this race, but I sure would like to be comfortable and feel confident in the bike.

Bikepacking.com seems to be a big fan of the Rene Herse tires (which all have different names for different sizes of the same tread pattern)


I know there isn't much gravel activity on this forum, but has anybody used Rene Herse tires?

 

[Greycap]

It reminds me a bit of a 90s mountain bike (smallish tires, hardtail, modest fork) turned up to 11. I bet it's a blast to ride and feels very lively. What tires did you end up with? Do you feel undergeared on climbs? Looks like you're around 1:1 at the lowest gear, is that right?

Very good observations all round - what I was aiming for is a modern take on an early ~2012 or so 29er, from the era when they weren't ridiculously overbuilt for the job. I had one back then, it had an 11-36 cassette and 1,95" tyres, the Chisel now has an 11-34 and 1,85" tyres. The old ones just had terrible frame geometry with their steep head angles and very short top tubes, the modern XC bike is as long and slack as the enduro bike of ten years ago.

The tyres are Specialized Tracer Pro, I previously had 2,1" S-Works XC tyres on it but decided that I don't need even that much air volume with my whopping 135 lbs (with riding gear) weight and the tread was unnecessarily too. My riding is mostly on fire roads, hardpack trails and simply gravel so I figured that perhaps gravel tyres would be the way to go. The lowest gear is 32-34 which is enough for where I live, there aren't any really gnarly climbs here and that's already good to go up a 20% incline - if there's enough traction, usually it becomes a problem long before running out of gearing. It's also the reason why I began the entire transformation, the bike came with the now standard 10-51 cassette of which I usually used five cogs, sometimes eight and never more but always cursed the huge cadence jumps so I decided to rebuild the entire thing to better suit my needs.

I know there isn't much gravel activity on this forum, but has anybody used Rene Herse tires?

My only contribution to this subject can be that my first name is Rene. Not kidding, it really is - hence the R-Works decals.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Very good observations all round - what I was aiming for is a modern take on an early ~2012 or so 29er, from the era when they weren't ridiculously overbuilt for the job. I had one back then, it had an 11-36 cassette and 1,95" tyres, the Chisel now has an 11-34 and 1,85" tyres. The old ones just had terrible frame geometry with their steep head angles and very short top tubes, the modern XC bike is as long and slack as the enduro bike of ten years ago.

The tyres are Specialized Tracer Pro, I previously had 2,1" S-Works XC tyres on it but decided that I don't need even that much air volume with my whopping 135 lbs (with riding gear) weight and the tread was unnecessarily too. My riding is mostly on fire roads, hardpack trails and simply gravel so I figured that perhaps gravel tyres would be the way to go. The lowest gear is 32-34 which is enough for where I live, there aren't any really gnarly climbs here and that's already good to go up a 20% incline - if there's enough traction, usually it becomes a problem long before running out of gearing. It's also the reason why I began the entire transformation, the bike came with the now standard 10-51 cassette of which I usually used five cogs, sometimes eight and never more but always cursed the huge cadence jumps so I decided to rebuild the entire thing to better suit my needs.


My only contribution to this subject can be that my first name is Rene. Not kidding, it really is - hence the R-Works decals.

I had a Trek Mamba 29er from around this time period (right when 29ers were new and everything) and I remember having a lot of fun on it. Sadly it got stolen. Maybe your 135lbs has something to do with it, but I wouldn't want to attempt a 20% climb (for any substantial length) with 1:1 gears.

 

[Omnis]

The colour was one of the main reasons for my extremely quick "shut up and take my money" reaction when it was announced. The frame isn't painted in the traditional sense, the red is basically heavily tinted clearcoat and the aluminium grain can be seen in suitable lighting.

But now we have a problem. The LBS owner and me just had a moment of thinking, what is this thing classed as in its current guise? Sure, it began life as a pretty hot XC hardtail, and the fork (RS SID SL) and the wheels (Roval Control rims with DT Swiss 350 hubs) still point that way but then it gets weird. The cassette is a 12 speed Ultegra road cassette, mounted on a road freehub and shifted with a 12 speed XT set. The tyres are 47 mm gravel tyres and it has (gasp) flat pedals.

It's either an extremely Frankenstein'd XC hardtail, a seriously quick hybrid, or a flat bar gravel bike. We couldn't figure it out but one thing is for sure - the Velominati people must not see it, ever, or I'll be in big trouble.

That's a Florida Everglades limestone levee special. My next bike I want to be something like this, except with a really low leverage ratio rear suspension.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Awesome race today in Belgium, basically a dogfight between Wout Van Aert, Mathieu Van Der Poel, and Tadej Pogacar from 65km out. These three light up the entire sport.

 

[Omnis]

I put back on the Fizik Arione R1 Open saddle just to try it out. Took it around for a quick spin and it feels so much better than the Pro Stealth. I'm suspecting that the 2nd part of my bike fit was just a sham to get me to buy a saddle that I didn't need. Didn't even let me sit on the Arione when I went there, as I think I posted about before, because he was like, "Oh, that thing will kill you." In fairness, think the Stealth was better for when I had the reach way back and was more upright per my proper fit on the robot, frankensteining the TCR to get as close to that as possible. However, since going back to the original stem with the new bars, I just felt like I couldn't get the nose down far enough to make it comfortable. The snort nose was putting too much pressure on the soft tisses and just felt like a cantilever up my junk. Either that or I was sinking into those plastic cross-beams in the opening. I think since I'm so big the skinnier profile is actually better for me, with the Arione. I have to go on at least a 60-miler and see how it feels, but I didn't get so much pressure on the sides of my groin where the margin of the chamois would normally be. Is this a common issue with short nose saddles? I'm wondering if maybe a Selle Italia with a dippy Concorde coming in for a landing nose would be ideal for me. Maybe an Ergon with the BASFinfingergy/Boost foam in a perfect world. But the padding on the Arione seems to be more supple than the Pro as it is, so I'm happy to stick with what I already had in the first place.

 

[Shaun]

I put back on the Fizik Arione R1 Open saddle just to try it out. Took it around for a quick spin and it feels so much better than the Pro Stealth. I'm suspecting that the 2nd part of my bike fit was just a sham to get me to buy a saddle that I didn't need. Didn't even let me sit on the Arione when I went there, as I think I posted about before, because he was like, "Oh, that thing will kill you." In fairness, think the Stealth was better for when I had the reach way back and was more upright per my proper fit on the robot, frankensteining the TCR to get as close to that as possible. However, since going back to the original stem with the new bars, I just felt like I couldn't get the nose down far enough to make it comfortable. The snort nose was putting too much pressure on the soft tisses and just felt like a cantilever up my junk. Either that or I was sinking into those plastic cross-beams in the opening. I think since I'm so big the skinnier profile is actually better for me, with the Arione. I have to go on at least a 60-miler and see how it feels, but I didn't get so much pressure on the sides of my groin where the margin of the chamois would normally be. Is this a common issue with short nose saddles? I'm wondering if maybe a Selle Italia with a dippy Concorde coming in for a landing nose would be ideal for me. Maybe an Ergon with the BASFinfingergy/Boost foam in a perfect world. But the padding on the Arione seems to be more supple than the Pro as it is, so I'm happy to stick with what I already had in the first place.

Yeah saddles are such a personal thing and unfortunately it's a trial and error thing even with getting a bike fit.

Personally I've never got along with the Stealth and didn't have a problem with the Arione even though it looks like some sort of medieval torture device. In the end I landed on the Fizik Antares and it's been working for me for years.

 

[Greycap]

Saddles are certainly beyond any logic. The first thing being that the width depends on your sit bones, and you can be a giant with four inches between them or a midget with five. The only way to know is to measure. And the shape is a different can of worms altogether.

All my bikes now have different generations of the Specialized Henge saddle, a model most people hate with a passion while absolutely loving the Phenom. I've tried a Phenom every now and then for about a decade and hated it every time it's mounted on a bike, no matter which bike. It has a terrible hammock shape that necessitates the nose to be pointing to the sky and still the rear part pushes me forward. On the other hand the Henge is almost completely flat, leaving a lot of room for moving around instead of being forced into one exact spot. An open offer: if you have a Henge you don't like, or know someone with such a situation, consider selling it to me.

I've been eyeing the 3D printed Power Mirror lately though. It costs far too much for a saddle but if it's good, the price eventually won't be a problem. I'll just have to test ride it as I tried the normal Power and it was basically a shortened Phenom with all the same problems - less nose but the same stupid hammock shape. Ended up selling it to an old friend who has always rooted for the Phenom, not surprisingly he liked this one too. The Mirror version at least looks like it might be a lot flatter which would be a great thing.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

When I got my bike fit, the fitter used a Specialized Power saddle to establish my baseline (which was infinitely better than the total garbage sitting-on-a-pungee-stick Selle Italia it came with) and it was honestly nearly perfect feeling. Unfortunately, due to a falling out between that bike shop and specialized, they no longer carried those so I settled for a similar Fizik saddle which was also pretty good. The shorter nose and cutouts definitely work for me.

 

[Omnis]

That's crazy about the Specialized situation. 400 ordered cancelled? That's not an insignificant amount of money, lol.