HC Bike/Cycling Thread

[pigmode]

Purdy.  My Kirk will also have a good deal of white happening.  

 

Why did you opt for a Serotta over the Peg?  Just wanting a change or......?

 

 

Since I'm up for a Kirk Custom which doesn't have the double oversize tubes of the JKS/Peg etc., I thought it a good idea to let the Peg go for something that might give me a better perspective of what I'm getting. The Serotta does not disappoint.  

[raffy]

Finally broke my 15 mile PR which I've been trying to topple for 2 weeks. I hope I'm wrong but looks like this will stay on top for a while. It was in very hot and humid conditions with a headwind on the way back so overall I'm pleased

 

[boomana]

Nice, Raffy.  Are you coming to Sebring?  It looks like I'm going to be all lonely there.

[raffy]

Yes, I'm 95% sure I'm coming. Maybe not until Monday but at least Saturday and Sunday. Rooming with JP at the old, musty hotel

[boomana]

Cool.

[en480c4]

Great ride today. 6 miles solo, including a section named Hillzilla, which is challenging as hell!

http://www.runtastic.com/en/users/ian-bodwell/sport-sessions/83839745

[VPI]

Nice, is it challenging due to obstacles, speed, curves or all of the above?

 

I have not been on a bike in 2 weeks and just can't convince myself to go for a ride.

[Grahame]

Jeff, Does this help?

[boomana]

All I can think of is how uncomfortable that would be.

[VPI]

All I can think is it looks like the girl second from the left has a nut sac.

 

This looks like a killer deal in my area.

 

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/bik/3872899628.html

[en480c4]

Nice, is it challenging due to obstacles, speed, curves or all of the above?

Lots of rocks and roots, steep climbs and descents, tight squeezes between boulders and trees and ramps over large downed trees. It's great!

[Augsburger]

Thirty-eight mile fast ride with many many climbs and one rattlesnake.

[boomana]

I can do none of the above.  

[n_maher]

I was feeling pretty lethargic today but dragged my ass for a quick 18 around town.  Hopefully I'll get in a longer ride tomorrow and have more energy.  I did PR my new favorite sprinting hill, despite the general feel of the ride but I was well and truly shagged after that.

 

Jeff, when all else fails I find that anger helps get me back on the bike. 

[aerius]

It's getting goddamn depressing, the endless rain we've been getting has turned all the trails into giant swamps & mud bogs, and oh yeah, it's gonna rain again tomorrow.  My bikes haven't been on the trails in weeks.  If this keeps up I'm going to take up kayaking or something like that.

[Pars]

^ Roads. There is a reason they built them originally, and still do to this day.

 

Hope that helps

[guzziguy]

Maybe his mountain bike isn't street legal.

[n_maher]

Decided to see if I was feeling better today after a good 9+ hours of sleep last night.  The result - 38.2mi @ 19.1mph average.  I went out to the coast and headed up a 5.5mi stretch of Rt.1A and had a nice 5-10mph tailwind the whole way.  I'd guess I average about 24mph for that stretch of the ride (based on data) and it felt good.  Of course that tailwind became a headwind for a good portion of the ride home but I still managed to hammer through it.  I didn't look at my speed or HR for the entire ride and rather just rode what felt like an aggressive, but comfortable pace.  The commute to work tomorrow morning may be painful.

[aerius]

^ Roads. There is a reason they built them originally, and still do to this day.

 

Hope that helps

 

Road riding just doesn't do it for me, it's about as fun as running on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike.  Lots of other people love it and I can see why they love it, but it ain't for me.  I'll do it if I absolutely have to, but I'd rather rollerblade, run, or workout in the gym.  There's a reason I have 4 (soon to be 5) mountain bikes and zero road bikes.

[parris]

I've been getting out for shorter rides this past week due to weather and also playing musical saddles. It's looking like the popular flat style saddles may not the best match for how I'm built and sit on a bike. So far I've been on the Fizik Arione, Selle Italia Kit Carbonio, and Prologo Nago Evo.  Of those the Nago Evo may not be to bad.  I've got my Turbo waiting on a spare seat post as my fall back.  That happens to be the saddle I rode the TDC a couple of weeks ago on.  

 

It really is interesting just how many shapes and sizes of saddles are on the market these days.  It's not better or worse just more of an observation.  I'm just glad that the saddles listed came my way without huge cash outlays at this point.  

[n_maher]

Considering the miles that i logged Saturday and Sunday I was expecting to feel pretty weak this morning and instead felt great.  This afternoon there was a slight chance of thunderstorms.  That turned into about 2" of rain in 20 minutes with some pretty epic lightning and thunder about 1.6 miles into the ride home.  So I huddled under a tree (the best I could do) and got thoroughly soaked.  I decided that enough was enough after that and managed to rip the rest of the ride home at just shy of 20mph.  Now my legs are well and truly shagged.

 

(note the temperature drop after the storm)

[raffy]

Nate, can you please let me know where you bought you Porta-Peloton?

 

Seriously though, you are one strong rider. I can only dream of getting close to 20mph one day.......

[tyrion]

Nate is the man. raffy, you are close behind.  I'm still struggling with motivation more than anyone else, although I did get a 5 mile run in on Saturday.  I plan to ride tomorrow and Thursday during this week with a lunch time run today.

[n_maher]

Raffy,

 

I think you'll find that the more you ride the more you realize how hard you can push yourself.  For me, the first year of riding was really slow.  I bought the Roubiax in the spring of 2011 and I looked back through that year and there wasn't a single ride where I averaged much over 15mph and most of my rides were 10 to 15 miles.  Heck, even through the first half of 2012 I rarely went much over 16mph.  It was like all of a sudden middle of the way through  last year a switch got flipped and I added 2mph to my average.  My best guess is that it was a direct result of riding 60 to 80 miles a week, generally about 20mi at a time (when I started commuting to work). 

 

But I also don't always ride that hard.  I still go out and try to do tempo rides in the 16's because I know I let myself get so badly out of cardiovascular shape that I need to log miles at a lower HR for my own good.  So really my goal for this year is not to add any more speed but endurance.  If I can keep the current frequency and duration of rides up for the next month I think August could be pretty interesting from a testing my limits perspective.  And this fall for the 3-notch ride there's a group of guys coming, one of which is a good friend of mine, who are all triathlete nut jobs who can really hammer.  I'd like to think that I might be able to hang with them.  We'll see.  Looking back at the last three days of riding it's pretty nutty that I did 95 miles at average of just shy of 19mph.  Time to slow down for a week or more.

[Pars]

^ Thanks for calling me slow

 

I think I got a glimpse of one reason you can ride that hard in one of your posts in a bibs thread on thepaceline where you noted you were a high jumper (?) and had disproportionately large thighs, and therefore shorts didn't fit you well, but bibs did. I don't have that problem, hence slow...