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Bicycle thread

I keep forgetting to post here.

Yesterday I got another ride in. Got some hardpan points too. As I pushed the bike out of the garage I looked at my rain jacket, then back at the weather and thought to myself, the sky looks to be clearing up. I'll be fine.

Twenty seven kilometers later I was soaked from head to toe. At Santa Margarita I decided to turn for home while rain ran out the bottom of my shoes and off my nose.

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I shortcutted my usual route to take the river trail back to the coast.

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I never got too cold, thanks to my Voler base layer and Castelli arm and leg warmers. But, man that hot shower took a while to warm up my body after 73km's of damp.

I should get another ride in tomorrow and then I'll have my monthly totals. Not an exceptional month, but my weight loss is on track as is my fitness. I am back to being able to ride this route up to Santa Margarita every other day during the week. The cool weather has helped I'm sure.
 
Issues have caused me to miss today's planned riding. Might be a few more days before I can get back on the saddle.

May totals:
Distance: 587.8km
Time: 25 hours, 19 minutes
Weight is headed in the right direction. I am confident I can hit my goal this summer.
 
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This week I rode three days with my usual fast group. Three days with the mums. They make excellent progress using ebikes the way they should be used... Hill assist. No soft pedalling here. 180W power cap works out at about 4W/kg +/-. They have to work for it putting in a respectable 150W to reach the power cap. Gravity favours them down and there is very little flat. They ride 85km per day on a 3 on, 1 off cycle. Two activities every day building cardio and muscle mass.
I've been doing about 500km and about 10-12 thousand per week and making up some of the workout shortfall on the track. Normally revolving door sprints with the girls - it is a super fun format. I've been hitting 1200W (getting faster)and still getting hosed. 1s peaks don't count btw. Last night I had the track to myself and did a 100 lap / 25km TT. Riding a Pinarello MAAT Italia. Not full aero, drop bars, spoked front wheel, standard kit. The bike is set up for sprints. After a slow start I was feeling good, made target power overall and stopped the clock at 31:46. 47.2kph. By then I had a few spectators. About 650kJ of work done, 3MJ burned in that half hour. No records, just a solid workout.


Oh, and I am still loved by the denizens of the basement on the other side. Seriously, the trolls spend every waking moment there and for one of them I have become an unhealthy obsession. :imaposer
 
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Only 80km today. I had a full schedule so we hit it hard to get it out of the way.

Fly-in this weekend and I wanted a last display rehearsal. Later I took an 18yo up. Her father is a pilot, but it is straight and level flying and I gave her a taste of aerobatics and she loved it. Seriously. She puked in her mouth a couple of times but that didn't dissuade her. She was all over it, loving it and asking for more. We landed two hours later and I referred her to our resident flight instructor. We always need pilots. PPL and basic endorsements are free. If she meets our needs and wants things like multi, instrument and commercial it comes with a contract. She is a uni student and there is room for that too.
The fly-in is really just an invitation BBQ lunch. I spent the rest of the day helping organisation.
 
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Yesterday's fly-in went off without a hitch. I flew a couple of displays and about five hours extra flight time. Always with women, three or four wanting a career in aviation. Days like yesterday are often recruitment and informal interviews. I like the informal interview, they are better for getting to know a person and assessing their fit. Friday's is a definite keeper. Boys get other opportunities. Big lunch, no booze and we had a good time among friends.

This morning an early group ride. Home by 9.30. I fly out again after lunch.
 
Ha, just caught something about a paint stick to keep mud off. I don't know how that works. My secret weapon on motos was covering the bike in silicone spray, anything oily and persistent really. Especially tyres that goes against common sense (they are knobbies, not road tyres), fenders, forks and swing arms. Keep it off the brakes. Mud will not stick. I passed the tip along to friends years ago and after initial hesitation/resistance overcome by dosing a bike and telling her to ride the thing it works just as well on bicycles. I still don't see it very much, but those who do have the cleanest bikes in the paddock.

Winter CX... Why would anyone in their right mind ride a road bicycle across a muddy paddock in the middle of winter. NUTS!!! Existing road and bicycle infrastructure can be challenging enough. Equally nuts is CX bikes on MTB trails. For me anyway, CX bikes on anything like a prepared trail (relatively smooth and flat), MTB on the rough wild cut trails. I am not a fan of full suspension MTBs with "plus" tyres either. They're pigs anywhere human power is required to move them. My gravel bike is easily faster everywhere except downhill on anything remotely firm and if it is soggy it is often faster to get off and carry the bike... unless it is some 15kg pig!
So that brings me to my MTB MkII build. Early to mid 2000's cross country geometry, titanium and rigid fork. 650B with 45mm to maximum 55mm tyres. 2x11 or 2x12 drive train with a little person friendly Q-factor and sub 9kg weight. I'll start cutting tubes tonight.

This week was dominated by a flying visit to Montreal and Quebec, but I managed to ride most days.
 
This morning we woke at 6:30 thanks to our alarms. My internal alarm went off the last time at 6:24 so I was already well on my way to awareness. Why so early? Well, Oggy now is riding the school bus to and from school. Summer school at the moment.
Summer school days begin at 8am. The bus stops at the drive at 7:04am.

Hence, we need to be up and draped enough in clothing to not embarrass or annoy the world.
This forced early start to my day provides the opportunity to get on the bicycle earlier which gets me back here earlier so not impacting the Oggy monitoring.
But, today is one of those days when I'm solo so I need to have the escape pod handy in case I am needed. I should be able to ride tomorrow though. Much to the relief of my kit.

I got an email the other day from Specialized announcing their new area bar/stem combo similar to the Most and others. The Specialized is $600 where the Most is $1,000. Still very quite dear.
Of course they had my size in stock and the angle is the same as I ride now. No, I didn't order one. I'll be buying a dental implant and new hearing aids instead of the used F12 in my size. Yes, the implant and aids will cost a bit more than frame/fork and bars.

Anyway, I should be back on a bicycle this time tomorrow.
 
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Out for a ride this morning. Short one to the park and back, but for a first in a couple weeks it was fine. Perfect overcast weather. arm and leg warmers with a baselayer for the body. Never too hot or too cold.

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Lovely, it's about 30C outside and we are being whipped by thunderstorms.

3.5 hours on the road this morning. When we got back I replaced another chain for one of the girls. It was new only a few weeks ago from her LBS and today measured over 1%. Another counterfeit and they are going to be hearing about it. I put a brand new Wipperman on and it was night and day.
 
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What brand chain from the LBS was counterfeit?
 
I gave up trying to source 10-speed Shimano chains and went with KHS. So far the single chain I've been using is working perfectly with the wax and KHS link.

Also I got a ride in on Saturday under bright blue skies. Perfect weather with an onshore to keep me working for it.

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Worked a bit harder than intended thanks to a group of guys on TT bikes about my age, first holding me up so I passed then coming by about two miles later when I spun back up on their tails. They all mashing big ring and tiny cogs, me on the small ring and middle of the block.

I ended up with a good hard workout and almost no time in the fat burn zone. I need to spend a few weeks in that zone.

But, I'll get there.
Sunday saw us back to low marine layer, light misting drizzle in the morning and never getting exactly warm. Still pleasant for a Father's Day and belated birthday celebrations here at the house.
 
Richard said:
Doh! KMC.
Click to expand...

That's what I thought, but didn't know if you knew something I didn't on that. I am happy with KMC (and YBN) 12s chains on Campagnolo.


This morning's ride was one of those crazy fun 50kph+ motopace sessions.

And my hard tail MTB with rigid fork is taking shape. The frame is out of the jig. I'm still not that into MTBs so we'll see what happens.
 
Out for a short ride today. The usual short route. I overdressed by a good bit. I didn't need the leg and arm warmers, though the base layer was nice until it wasn't. Inland was warm.
The chilly breeze through the apartment was not apparent out in the sun that decided to burn off the damp marine layer while I busied myself airing up the tires.
IMG_3892-X2.jpg


Good enough. a tic and a bit under two hours.
 
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This morning T and headed out early, avoiding the crowd. Just a quiet, mostly zone 2 ride.
 
Richard said:
Out for a short ride today. The usual short route. I overdressed by a good bit. I didn't need the leg and arm warmers, though the base layer was nice until it wasn't. Inland was warm.
The chilly breeze through the apartment was not apparent out in the sun that decided to burn off the damp marine layer while I busied myself airing up the tires.
IMG_3892-X2.jpg


Good enough. a tic and a bit under two hours.
Click to expand...

Weird... I see two figures amongst the rocks.
 
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