Cycling
 

Are there any other cyclists in the Cellar? I have been cycling now for about 3-4 months. Can't run as much as I used to, I'm getting old and jumping out of planes, carrying heavy rucks and generally abusing my body is starting to hurt.

I did my first metric century, and first century last month. I average about 130-150 miles a week right now. I spend way to much money on kit and will continue to for the foreseeable future. I currently ride a TREK 1700 with tiargra accouterments. I will upgrade with my tax return next year to a Cannondale CAAD 10 with the 105 stuff.

My goal next year is to do a century a month for 12 months plus the 150 miles per week min.

I'll post pics of my bike, kit, and events on here as they come up. If you are a cyclist of any sort I would be glad to hear your stories, see your bike and generally talk bike shop.

You get a big promotion, and now you're just going to sit back and go for a bike ride?

I ride occasionally, but not very seriously. I have a Trek 520 touring bike. Last year I spent five days riding from ~Chicago to ~Detroit.

I'm surprised that you were able to ride a century after training for only a few months.

A century? As in 100 miles in a single ride?

I'd consider that a long drive.

Hi Joe,
I've done a few MS 150s. That's a charity ride of 100 miles day one followed by 50 the next day. Day two is the one that hurts. I've switched over to just mountain biking though. PA has this new theory for rural roads that involves using stone rubble instead of shoulders on the road, so you have two undersize lanes with no escape route for bikes, between that and the dumbass trend of leaving trailer mirrors fully extended I'm out. For me single track riding is more exciting/interesting anyway unless we're touring a new area. Once I feel safe that my pneumonia is kicked, I'll be wanting to get back in it between snow falls. footy is a retired shop monkey as well. Keep posting about your miles, I'd love to get a feel for your rides.

I was looking at my tool kit last night and wondering what the hell?

I can fix bikes that don't exist anymore.

How's that for skilz?

Hey Foot, the old steelies are the best and will always be around. You keep right on fixing them.

i have a Fuji Olympian , fucken Porsche of a Bike ,
and Santa brought me a Mag trainer for my Specalized

Nice, I hear the mag trainer is sweet. I really am a novice, but am enjoying riding. put on 20 miles today at 17.6 mph. couple of tiny hills, pretty flat. I have a route on post here that I will ride tomorrow, 32 miles with lots of bumpy stuff.

I had a Fuji when I was a kid but yah I haven't peddled my ass for years....


I just could not stop myself from posting that...

:) @ Nirvana
It is so easy to replace a sealed bottom bracket versus re-packing time vs money choose your poison. Brakes are better since the V Brake came out although disc brakes are making quit a push... big $.
I have a KHS Comp mtn bike and a Trek 520 touring bike both good solid bikes, nuthin too fancy.

Joe it sounds like your fitness translated to cycling pretty smoothly, most people struggle to get comfortable with those big miles.

You insensitive bastard! My Trek was stolen on 8/1/11.........

:cry:

Did your homeowners pay off on that? Cuz a new Trek would look pretty sweet on your new Suzuki.

We have Electra Townie's, and ride around French Island WX permitting.
They are just like us very comfortable to ride.

Nah, it was less than the deductable so we didn't claim. it wasn't a high end Trek. But it was my bike......

Dude, I can repack a BB in the same time it takes to replace a sealed BB. You just have to do it a few thousand times.

Lemme at em'. Ha! Kids today...

There was an Aussie movie where this young turk challenges an old timer from another town to a sheep shearing contest, what movie was that?

did you check kregs list?

My ride today. At the half way point I was averaging 17.3 MPH, the wind ate my LUNCH on the way back.

gotta log in

oh. Sorry bout that. So, here is the stats. 31.69 mi Bike Ride 2:03:36 1,729 kCal 15.4 mi/h Did I mention that the wind on the way back kicked my ass?

No whineing allowed there Top !!! ;)

Good Job

That's the beauty of it. On the way out you're thinking "I am the motherfucking man! Look at me hammering away in the big ring. GO cat, GO!"

Then, you turn around and head into the wind...

After a while I began to be aware of lack of wind in the face when riding means a tail wind, don't be fooled into thinking I have an extra ten miles in me.

Nice ride. How much altitude? It would be intersting to split your avg speed: out and back, see how much the wind affected you.

I like his new nick name, Top Shirt. What does that mean though?

its what High ranking Sgt are called ,
Oh and NEVER say Good Morning Top ,
Just Morning Top as you scuttle past FAST before he sees some thing on your Uniform that gets you extra duty

Yeah, but why Shirt?

Why Not ,
I really dont know

That's where the stripes are.

O.K. here is a try. 16 miles is the turn around. Total Ascent 1.39 miles. Total Descent 1.40 Miles. Min Alt 176 Ft, Max Altitude 521 Ft.

Split Time Distance Speed (avg)
1 00:04:10 1.0 mi 15.47 mi/h
2 00:04:45 1.0 mi 12.45 mi/h
3 00:03:25 1.0 mi 17.24 mi/h
4 00:03:25 1.0 mi 17.31 mi/h
5 00:03:20 1.0 mi 17.80 mi/h
6 00:03:40 1.0 mi 16.10 mi/h
7 00:03:20 1.0 mi 17.82 mi/h
8 00:03:15 1.0 mi 18.24 mi/h
9 00:04:05 1.0 mi 14.67 mi/h
10 00:04:00 1.0 mi 15.01 mi/h
11 00:02:40 1.0 mi 22.18 mi/h
12 00:02:40 1.0 mi 21.88 mi/h
13 00:03:00 1.0 mi 19.85 mi/h
14 00:03:00 1.0 mi 19.54 mi/h
15 00:03:40 1.0 mi 16.03 mi/h
16 00:11:15 1.0 mi 5.38 mi/h
17 00:03:00 1.0 mi 19.79 mi/h
18 00:03:30 1.0 mi 16.87 mi/h
19 00:03:40 1.0 mi 16.08 mi/h
20 00:03:50 1.0 mi 15.37 mi/h
21 00:03:50 1.0 mi 15.34 mi/h
22 00:04:30 1.0 mi 13.27 mi/h
23 00:03:20 1.0 mi 17.89 mi/h
24 00:03:25 1.0 mi 17.53 mi/h
25 00:03:50 1.0 mi 15.38 mi/h
26 00:04:35 1.0 mi 12.98 mi/h
27 00:02:55 1.0 mi 20.57 mi/h
28 00:04:00 1.0 mi 15.06 mi/h
29 00:04:35 1.0 mi 13.03 mi/h
30 00:02:50 1.0 mi 20.73 mi/h
31 00:03:35 1.0 mi 16.48 mi/h
32 00:01:51 0.5 mi 14.75 mi/h

Very cool. I hate to ask this, but where is the speed line on the graph?

I'm guessing when your speed drops below 15 you are climbing. pretty impressive.

Here is the one I chickened out on BITD. The guys I rode the MS150s with were trying to me to go. I was probably the 2nd or 3rd strongest rider among us but was pretty sure I'd damage myself permanently. I'd like to get in shape to do it but time and knees. time and knees.

Wow, not that's a century.

Individually, those climbs are monsters but to stack them like that is insanity. That route is pretty much the original Highlander. I done bits and pieces of this like the Bopple section and they're was enough on their own...

You want to do it, I can tell. :)

There's a local ride called the Evergreen Triple bypass. It's 120 miles, with 10,000 feet of elevation gain. This year you can do the double triple, which means that you can ride it once on Saturday and again on Sunday but in the opposite direction.

For me a long ride is 60 miles with 3,000 feet of elevation.

By the way, have you had a look at this thread?

Wow, just wow. See you're starting at over 7,500 feet. Holy...Crap.

I'm starting to get that road ride itch maybe I need to work out a decent commuter route for the Spring.

Excellent! Glad to see I have lots of mentorship available in the Cellar.

No riding this week, :( sign for the new house on Friday and am packing and cleaning all week as well as clearing to move to the new unit. My wife would have kittens if I took two hours a day to ride in the afternoons. I'll kick back up next week.

It doesn't surprise me that there are people that can do that ride - but I'm amazed at how many people can do it.

griff, how did you make tha graph? I'd like to graph a ride we used to do in VT, 6 gaps: http://www.northeastcycling.com/six_gaps.html

Hmm. I just googled 6 gaps and found a whole website with info and mapes and what not.

Shit, I used to be in shape.
Six Gaps Features:
Approx. 132 miles riding distance
Approx. 11,700 feet of climbing*
Six major climbs ranging in 1300 to over 1900 feet net gain
One moderate 500 foot climb through Granville Gulf
Sustained grades of 20% to 24% on Lincoln Gap
True loop – no backtracking or revisiting earlier points
Can bail-out after 2 or 4 gaps
Nice views from many of the gaps

BTW, we didn't have food stops and we didn't have a pussy peloton, it was usually just two or three of us.

Foot, the web guy did that. I think Joe's site can do it. I'm fooling with veloroutes .org at the moment. I think it has that function as well. Here is my commute from when I rode to work at BU.

http://veloroutes.org/bikemaps/?route=75191

Try it differently...

Okay now I've got it.

Is that 2204 feet going left-to-right? It looks like a lot more going back.

Coming home was more work than going in, I'll have to look at it to see if its inverted or somehow messed up.

edit: I don't see an easy way to map the route backwards. It is a lot more climbing coming home. West Hill in Vestal is a grind as is my hill.

Potential commute in the Spring. Again going in is easy peasey and home is more work. I'll have to check the road conditions.

http://veloroutes.org/bikemaps/?route=75196#

That looks like a great ride to work. I didn't know that area was so mountainous.

Well, hilly anyway... have to add a 0 to be mountainous. :)

Cool. Here's my daily commute from 1985. Burlington, VT to Waterbury. With a tailwind I could do it in 1.5 hours, with a headwind at the end of the day, 3 hours.

Veloroutes is a neat site. I just mapped a route I do with my kids every once in a while. We live two blocks from the Custis bike path, so we take that to the Four Mile Run path and take the Mount Vernon path back to the Custis. You go downhill gradually to the airport by the river, and then uphill all the way home.

Attachment 35942
Attachment 35943

Looking at the 6 gap route again I got to thinking about the food stops. Who puts a food stop at the bottom of a big ass climb?
"I think I'll just get off my bike now, cool down, let my muscles practically rigor mortise, have a nosh then climb that big frigging hill..."

I'd rather have a snack at the top.

Need the fuel to make it to the top.

I'm just a novice. Lessons learned on my first century.

1. EAT.
2. EAT.
3. Drink water.
4. Carry extra tubes. Emphasis on multiple.
5. Know how to change a flat...before the flat happens.
6. Accept help from the experienced riders.
7. EAT. Today is not the day to hit on the diet. According to Garmin I burned 8,500 cals. that day. Go ahead have that snickers and a MTN Dew. at the bottom of the hill.

I think you should also EAT.

The itch is becoming a rash. I stopped by my local shop on the way home tonight. The mechanic showed me his new personal ride, carbon fiber trek with electronic shifting it even adjusts the front derailleur cant based on chain line, frickin neat.

Wow Griff that is pretty cool. I normally ride a Trek 1200, it's a nice bike. I'm looking to upgrade by spring of next year, so a friend on post changed out my peddals on a Cannondale Synapse...WOW!!! Dudes, it was like going from my mountain bike to the Trek, it was that different and better.

Oh, so I'm out on the back side of the Airfield on Pope Army Airfield....drafting behind a van in the 35 zone. it was a slight downhill and flat, I don't normally draft vehicles in the 35 mph zone. So, I hear this PA system benind me "STAY TO THE RIGHT!!!!" I look behind me and slow down and President Obama's motorcade drives by....COOL! You see the best stuff when you are out on a bike. I thought a moment about drafting the Prezzes limo but thought better of it cause the Secret Service might not like that too much.

That is too cool! Maybe he'll ride with you next time.

That is the tough part of long commuting by bike, a stiff headwind can really screw with your plan, although it can force you to train harder.

http://veloroutes.org/s/67689

Someone else mapped this but I've looped the lake a few times. It is a really nice ride especially if you want to do a century without brutal climbs.

I"m off on a century at 0900 today. Flat ground, good group, should be pretty easy. Two biggest factors today: 1. Cold! 2. 15 mph winds from the north. Yea, this may make my last statement about being easy a bunch of bull. I'll tell you about it tonight.

Good luck Bro!

So, I am DUN, done. 102.7 miles, 15.6 average. The wind was brutal and it was very cold. There were 8 of us. Included here is me on a break and the bike. Because it's all about the bike.

If anyone can tell me how to flip that picture around I'd be very grateful.

It's easier to just rotate the monitor.