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105

Pedal Pittsburgh Slow group ride.

mrs. marvelous and I are riding PP and are going to take our time. We are riding the 63 mile and wanted to know who wants to join us. Relaxed pace and lots of fun. We are getting there at 6am


marvelousm3
2012-08-04 00:02:54

If I am not marshaling then I'll join.


2012-08-04 00:18:22

If im there at 6you ill be happy to join you all.im planning on doing the 25right mile route but it is the first part of the longer route


dbacklover
2012-08-04 00:58:11

Yea I would also not mind Joining up with you, Mr Marv.


2012-08-04 01:35:03

I'm hoping to get a bunch of us who want to take our time. If anyone wants to ride on ahead it cool or if you want to slow it down it's still cool.


marvelousm3
2012-08-04 01:44:42

I'm in, like I said in the other thread. I'll look for you guys at 6.


2012-08-04 04:43:40

I'll be doing the century route at a moderate pace. This is probably what most call "slow" so I'll most likely be keeping up! Hope to meet some of you at 6AM.


2012-08-04 15:09:06

I'll join as well. I'll plan to arrive by 06:00, when do you plan to leave?


mpm
2012-08-04 16:09:27

i would like to actually leave promptly at 6am. i will probably get there at 5:50am and not go terribly slow, but maybe at a 15ish mph avg moving speed, though i am unsure of the hilliness and how much energy i will have. i don't like to be out in the heat in the middle of the day, so i tend to start these kind of rides as early as possible.


stefb
2012-08-04 18:05:34

I'm hoping vaguely for a 6AM start and a fast ride, although I shan't cry if I get down there later than 6.


reddan
2012-08-04 18:08:17

If i was riding solo i would ride the same as stefb and reddan but Mrs. marvelous prefers a casual pace


marvelousm3
2012-08-04 18:12:29

dan, i have done a fast ride every year except for one. i might slow it down a bit (maybe out of necessity.. i haven't gotten my new derailleur yet) cause of my bicycle choice.


stefb
2012-08-04 18:15:36

Does that mean I shouldn't do this ride single speed?


marvelousm3
2012-08-04 18:18:47

I think you will be fine doing it single. I was just able to do it faster in the past mostly because I had higher gears for the flats and downhills.


stefb
2012-08-04 18:40:39

The shorter distance is very flat. Take your new bike!


marko82
2012-08-04 19:34:02

But I'm riding the 63 mile


marvelousm3
2012-08-04 19:52:00

I just looked at the weather forecast, that "better weather" claim may have been a little premature.


edmonds59
2012-08-04 19:52:09

Then you may want to bring thr Portland. You'll be climbing Mt Troy, Riverview park, 18th street and the back side of Mt. Wasington. All doable on a single speed, but only if you are use to climbing in a high gear.


marko82
2012-08-04 20:04:18

At the moment (4:30pm) the forecast for tomorrow [wunderground] is:



Overcast with thunderstorms, then thunderstorms and rain showers in the afternoon. High of 86F. Breezy. Winds from the SSW at 15 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph. Chance of rain 80%.


I'm not sure I can parse the temporal relationships (if any) in that first sentence; maybe they mean thunderstorms from mid-morning to mid-afternoon followed by rain? Heading out early seems prudent.


Anyway, I plan to do the 63 miler, though I half expect to give up at the bottom of 18th: I'm only just been back on the bike since Monday, after a 9-month hiatus. (Surprisingly my body, excepting the butt, seems to be going along with the program.)


ahlir
2012-08-04 20:40:13

That is a great goal to have! Just granny gear it up 18th. Did I see you on June 16 at thick talking to Chris about a new bike? I only remember that date because it is when I got my new bike :)


stefb
2012-08-04 21:11:28

@ Ahlir - great to hear you're back in the saddle.


teamdecafweekend
2012-08-04 21:32:04

Yes! That was me at Thick. I kept hoping to get a peek at your leg tat to make sure it was you, but failed.

Sadly I'm too shy to just say "hello" (or even "hi").


Hope you see you tomorrow.


On a different note: It's amazing how this city changes and how fast you lose track of things. New buildings have sprung up along old routes. The 31st St. Bridge is closed (as I discovered when I got to the end of River St.)

There's lots more bikers on the road! Cars still suck though.


ahlir
2012-08-04 21:42:44

It is actually on my arm, but you probably would have recognized it. I didn't want to interrupt you as Chris.


I am hoping you get back into the ToR game..


stefb
2012-08-04 21:48:26

Yes TOR needs you


marvelousm3
2012-08-04 21:53:51

I'm hoping to start the path by 7am, but we will see when I wake up. I still need to find some riding buddies.


For those interested in the weather, check out weatherspark.com. It is an amazing visualization tool (in dashboard mode). It is highly customizable too.


2012-08-04 22:02:35

AARGH. Stef, I apologize for the insult to your anatomy. Really, I do pay attention to such things. :-)


Anyway, I have as yet to go through the complete ToR thread; frankly, I feel somewhat unprepared. But I will back in there after I've biked around for a bit and have regained some sense of the city. Being out of the loop made me realize just how important it is to bike around, just for the simple pleasure it. The city is alive and continuously evolving; you maybe notice the big things but, really, it's an an ongoing process affecting every small thing, continuously. Cool tags are in the details.


ahlir
2012-08-04 22:41:25

I'll be there with my wife & 15yo step son between 6:30 - 7. I'm dragging them along for the 63 mile ride. I'll be one of the dorks with a helmet cam :)


Peak chance for rain/thunder is after noon, some in am


source


quizbot
2012-08-04 22:54:59

I'm going to try to get there for 6am. Not sure what speed I want to do since I'm rarely on the bike this early in the day.


marko82
2012-08-04 23:03:22

I'm doing the 63 AND bringing the single speed so I will be going super slow. I will be there at 6am. I still need to pick up my number so it might be a late start.


marvelousm3
2012-08-04 23:16:17

I'll be there @6! Route TBD since a friend of mine is still deciding whether to come or not.


Welcome back Ahlir!


pseudacris
2012-08-04 23:16:37

Dudes, brosville is part of the ride. That is kinda mean, from what I remember of it. Hoping it is just a few blocks, and hoping it is no worse than 18th st. I think I have to do the rear clip on fender for this. I need 25s on my bike to use the planet bike clip on wrap around fenders.


stefb
2012-08-05 00:23:19

If I can't make it up some of the hills I might find an alternate route. The Portland needs a tune up badly and isn't shifting properly.


marvelousm3
2012-08-05 00:27:35

urg, i'm not coming til later. have fun!


pseudacris
2012-08-05 09:38:01

About 50 miles, not to bad on my single speed. Close to 18th street mrs. marvelous's knees were screaming and our tummies were growling So we skipped to the end.


marvelousm3
2012-08-05 17:29:54

Oh you should be glad that you did. You would have hated your life had you gone up mt washington. I was hating mine. Not the best of ideas to take a fixie on this ride. I had to zig zag a bit to get up one hill. My knees actually hurt now that I am home. This is the first time. But great job to the both of you for doing the 50.


stefb
2012-08-05 18:01:03

It was nice riding with you Mr. and Mrs. Marv. Sorry about leaving ya the rain got to me and passing by home got to me.


2012-08-05 19:02:18

Great ride...on sheer stubbornness Sarah and I did complete the full ride. I missed the right turn from Bailey/Boggs onto Wyoming and led us an extra mile down the hill on Boggs until we hit Saw Mill Run Blvd, so we had to ride all the way back up it to get back on the course and resume the ride, but that was the last sign I missed, so I guess it was a lesson learned?


Thanks to all the volunteers. Looking forward to the rest of BikeFest!


mpm
2012-08-05 19:25:16

It was really fun riding with all of you!

A special thanks to mpm for very patiently stopping to wait for me on every hill as I got slower and slower all the way to the end. Mt. Washington was... an experience.


Lesson 1: I need to work on my climbing

Lesson 2: I need to eat more or something. I felt like death for the last 15-20 miles, but once I stopped and ate a little, I felt soooo much better on the ride home.


2012-08-05 19:40:36

@pearmask

a) check your PMs (unrelated)


b) figure ~200 calories per hour of exercising. There's a variety of ways to get that in. I have some opinions and suggestions if you're interested.


I rode some of the Mt Washington stuff today. That was brutal.


mayhew
2012-08-05 20:01:47

Chris, I'm not seeing any new PMs. Since PMs are apparently kinda unreliable, feel free to email me: skp27@[insert first four letters of this city's name here].edu


Edit: and I am interested in any advice about eating on long rides from anyone who feels like offering it. A lot of the advice out there seems like it applies to 200-lb guys with high metabolisms better than it applies to me, so I'm still trying to figure that out


2012-08-05 20:09:59

200 calories is a rough estimate, but tailored for you. The gut has a hard limit of ~400 calories per hour, that's regardless of gender or size. Anyways, 200 calories an hour for you.


My general theory right now is "drink your hydration, eat your nutrition." That's taken from here

http://www.skratchlabs.com/blogs/news/6018756-hydration-science-and-practice


Which is indepth but readable. I also have his cookbook. You can Google "Allen Lim rice cake" for the recipe.


The flip side of that is something like Hammer Nutrition where you drink most of your calories. It works for a lot of people. I'm happy to talk off list about why I'm less of a fan of their approach. If nothing else the Lim stuff is way cheap (ends up being about 50 cents a bar compared to Clif or something).


Happy to talk more or field questions.


mayhew
2012-08-05 20:31:12

that was a lot of fun. got started with my friends around 10-11, so we rode right through the worst of the rain. it was of the soul-soaking variety, and all we could do was smile or sing or just marvel at it. almost no complaining, though, remarkably.


hiddenvariable
2012-08-05 20:39:23

I was stuck at work all morning, now I'm sad that I couldn't ride this :(


rubberfactory
2012-08-05 20:51:22

I started out to do the Metric Century, but stopped at 45 miles, because I was wet in places I didn't even know I had. Still, great day, great city, great route, and great job by all involved!


ajbooth
2012-08-05 20:54:32

http://m.rei.com/mt/www.rei.com/product/825304/novara-quick-draw-bike-pack


This was the best $20 I have ever spent. It goes right behind the stem. On a day like today, your food would have gotten rained on. I tried to do 200 calories an hour but I think I didn't meet that goal. I didn't bring that bag today. Wished that I had. I usually break up builder's bars and put them in that bag and snack steadily. Eat before you're hungry, even if you feel like doing so will make you puke. I think I got a little behind on hydration and my head started to Hurt at one point. Not used to doing any rides of significant distance in humidity like this. But I learned again. I also think I would do better aiming for 300-350 calories an hour.


stefb
2012-08-05 22:16:32

@ pearmask thanks for fixing mrs. marvelous brakes ride would have ended differently without your help.


marvelousm3
2012-08-05 22:45:37

ms pear is awesome. Mad Props to her.


2012-08-05 23:23:42

Stefb, seems like pearmask could use your advice, and I'm curious too -- do you just buy builder's bars or is there anything else you prefer to eat/make for nutrition? I read some good recipes for energy bars but haven't experimented yet myself. I usually use gels for running, is it easier to handle the heavier protein bars when biking?


mpm
2012-08-06 15:26:00

I definitely appreciate the advice from both of you, Chris and stefb. I'm probably going to have to pick both of your brains about this kind of stuff because I really want to do more long-distance riding, but I definitely have a long way to go.


Eating before I'm hungry is just really counterintuitive to what I have had to learn to do in terms of normal eating to avoid weighing eleven thousand pounds, so I'm going to have to make a conscious effort to get used to that.


So the food thing was probably a factor, but mostly I just need to climb more hills. But like I was saying to mpm yesterday, I figure if I've made this much progress in a year (since I didn't even own a bike this time last year), then I'm not doing too bad. Hopefully this time next year Mount Washington will be no big deal (hah).


And Mr. Marv, you are very welcome. I'm glad my very small amount of mechanical knowledge was useful for once; you can thank Free Ride for that. And here are the brakes I have on my hybrid that I really like, if Mrs. Marv ever wants to upgrade: Avid Single Digit 7. They are not the most expensive thing out there, but those (plus Kool Stop salmon pads) made a significant difference over the stock brakes on that bike.


2012-08-06 18:02:48

@pearmask just eat on a schedule. I'm pretty mechanical about it now. I know what I have with me and what I need to eat per hour. Sometimes hunger is my guide but I almost always end up in the hole because of that. Mainly I use hunger as a cap eg stuff as much as I can in my mouth and hope I can recover from the debt.


Again, very happy to talk about this, here or off list.


mayhew
2012-08-06 20:04:32

+1 on Chris' advice re: eat your nutrition, drink your hydration.


I used to be a big Hammer product user...HEED for secondary calories and electrolytes, Perpetuum for primary calories and protein, Endurolytes for supplemental electrolytes...it worked pretty well, although I still needed something solid every 5-6 hours or my stomach would get cranky. That kind of fueling is way too much like work, though, what with all the baggies of mysterious white powder you end up portioning and packing.

I'll only hit the Perpetuum now if I'm actually racing in a 12-hour, or riding late at night and need to keep the calories coming in.


These days, I use the Camelbak Elixir tablets in my water, and just bring/buy solid food that I enjoy eating. Fig cookies are awesome ride food...eat a couple every 10-15 minutes while riding, grab a sandwich, some chocolate milk, and the occasional Payday at a gas station every few hours, and you can ride forever. Or until the sleep-deprivation beasties start leering at you in your peripheral vision, anyway.


reddan
2012-08-06 22:33:05

The builders bars probably aren't the best to eat while on the bike, but they're the best tasting bars I could find. I hate cliff bars. I guess something is better than nothing. I just eat every 20 mins or so.


stefb
2012-08-06 22:35:15

Got about 46 miles in yesterday before deciding that the rain and "red spots" on the weather channel were enough to send me home. Missed the finish line, so can't comment on the festival. Stops were ok. Oranges were aesome! Btw anyone eating KATE'S GRIZZLY & TRAM BARS? They're GREAT! Much better than the Builder's bars. Though admittedly, i just came off of riding the GAP & C&O with a friend who brought nothing but Cliff Bars. Check Kate's out here--

http://katesrealfood.com/

I can eat one of these and be good for a couple of hours, though i do drink a ton, and snack on Enervit pills. I'm also trying to do more long-distance riding, hoping to do some randonneuring next season. Any suggestions? I have connected with the Pgh Randonneurs listserv! Keep enjoying BIKEFEST everyone. And, stay safe!


julieb
2012-08-06 22:49:50

Julieb, I'm hoping to do some rando events one of these days too, although judging from yesterday I will definitely need to get in better shape before I'll really feel prepared for it. If you're looking for a riding buddy (and can tolerate that riding buddy being slow) for stuff like that in the future, let me know! And I would also be eager to hear from anyone who has suggestions about getting into randonneuring. (reddan, I might have to chat with you about that one of these days)


2012-08-06 23:42:52

@pearmask/julieb: We (Pgh Randos)are planning to focus on offering a lot of populaires (sub-200K, usually 100K) and 200K brevets next year...it should be a good year for new randonneurs.


The easiest way to get into randonneuring?

-Over the winter, figure out (and test out) ways to carry water and food such that you can comfortably eat and drink while riding.

-If you want to spend money on anything, spend it on a good bike fitting first...a familiar, non-racy bike that fits like a glove is a better randonneuring rig than something zippy that makes you uncomfortable.

-If possible, try to do a few longer rides in the winter, especially on mild days that start cold and warm up...get used to layering and adjusting your layers so that you can ride, say, 30-40 miles and be comfortable in temps ranging from 40s-60s, even with precipitation.

-In the spring, do a few flat 100K rides...Pittsburgh to Monongahela and back is one nice option. These are good opportunities to get some conditioning in your legs, shake down your equipment, and fine-tune your on-bike nutrition and hydration strategy.

-Also, try to pace yourself such that you finish each ride feeling like you've still got something left in the tank...until you know how well your body handles exertion for extended rides, it's better to ease back a bit more than you feel necessary, at least at first. Remember that official brevet time limits are pretty generous...you only need a continuous pace around 10 mph to complete in time, although faster of course gives you more margin for problems.

-After each ride, make note of anything that didn't work...change one thing before the next ride to try to compensate, and see if it's better.

-Come out for your first 200K. Bring a camera, ride with friends, and have fun!


reddan
2012-08-07 00:01:23

@pearmask, let's definitely get connected and do some riding. I rarely experience peole as "slow." Generally, i like to think of riding "deliberately." so, no worries about your pace. We'll work up to a good pace for longer rides. @reddan this is great! Thanks so much for the information. I'm also womdering about storing food & maybe a change of clothing on longer rides. Do you use a bar bag, or a trunk? And, does Pgh Randos share maps of the breves? The trip to Monogahela for example? Keep enjoying BikeFest!


julieb
2012-08-07 00:28:48

Hey don't leave me out I want to Rando too


marvelousm3
2012-08-07 00:31:13

It's like were being taken over by zombies!


marko82
2012-08-07 00:37:40

Protip: do not try to keep up with Dan at his own pace. I have tips for avoiding saddle sores and treating them, but most of the tips.. Well all of them.l I got from Sarah q and Dan.


stefb
2012-08-07 00:43:49

MR MARV WE DON'T WANT YOU AT OUR RANDO PARTY


but for reals, i am too shy to show up at these kinds of things alone so pleeease rando with me/us, mr marv. i am so much more likely to really do this stuff if i know i will have people to ride with, like i was saying yesterday.


2012-08-07 00:45:05

Learn how to only stop for like 5-10 mins. Yesterday at the highland park rest stop, I started to eat a smiley face cookie, took a piss, and came out with same smiley cookie in my mouth. Learn how to hold your piss, as it is much easier to go to the bathroom wherever if you are a guy, but you kinda have to wait for bathroom stops if you are a woman.


. I need to do another 100-200k soon. I feel great the next day, though tired. One not so great thing about doing long rides on the weekend is that on Mondays I stand in one spot for like 10 hours a day sometimes. My legs do not appreciate the inactivity.


stefb
2012-08-07 00:49:41

Ok I'm I'm.......I'm in right?


marvelousm3
2012-08-07 00:50:31

hah, thanks for the tip, stef. if you can't keep up with dan, i most certainly can't.


and thanks for the advice, dan. that all makes sense. basically i just need to ride my bike more (for various distances, while eating various things, in various kinds of weather, on various kinds of terrain).


i got fitted last week, and it was definitely worth it, but i still need to tweak things a little (my hands just don't love sti levers, blergh).


2012-08-07 00:59:19

bleh, stef, guys have it so much easier with stuff like that. having to pee + sitting on a bike saddle = not my favorite physical state to be in


2012-08-07 01:02:30

Wait I did 63 miles yesterday. Don't tell me that's 100 k. Am I becoming a randomnoor? Noooo!

There's a strange pod in my garage....


edmonds59
2012-08-07 01:04:11

One of us. One of us.


stefb
2012-08-07 01:07:05

There are some Gran Fondos coming up close to home, Ohio, Sept. 2, and Gran Fondo of the Alleghenies Oct. 13. Not technically breves, but some 100 milers. These do have pee stations...and food....


julieb
2012-08-07 01:07:13

"It's like a giant seed pod..."



edmonds59
2012-08-07 01:57:13

> Learn how to hold your piss


shortly after passing pnc park, i had to go so bad that i ALMOST let it out while i was on the bike. who would have known?? everything was dripping wet anyway! the only thing that stopped me was the fear of accelerated oxidation of my bike components due to the salts... which might not have mattered in the rain, so maybe it was just my modesty after all. somehow i held it til the mt washington rest stop.


in other news: think ive gotten good at fueling and hydrating -- i can keep going unless i stop for too long. my muscles get a little sore after an extended pause, but if i use them for a few minutes, the discomfort subsides (that goes for the next day too). my taint and other contact points dont get too painful either. however, theres something wrong with my fit or gearing or joints, because my knee(s) hurt after too much riding. it gets worse with more climbing. i try to keep my cadence pretty high, but thats impossible to do when carrying my fat carcass up some pgh hills. id like to do more long distance riding, but i think i should see a dr first :(


melange396
2012-08-07 03:47:37

@ pearmask in the near future I'm planing on riding the 63 mile P.P. route again, I think it's a great route to help build up strength. Maybe we could get a group together who wants to do this again.


marvelousm3
2012-08-07 04:07:29

George, my knees were sore for like an hour after the ride. That was the first time I have had any knee or leg pain.


stefb
2012-08-07 09:13:04

If you mention long rides at a slow pace more than three times I show up, like Beetlejuice.


sarah_q
2012-08-07 09:48:47

Mr. marv you should totally see if that Eric Mtl dude wants to go. Sounds like what he suggested.


edmonds59
2012-08-07 10:55:06

@mr marv & pearmask i'd be up for joining you.


julieb
2012-08-07 12:28:50

We should really do this. We need to pick a date and time. I'm hoping to do this several times.


marvelousm3
2012-08-07 13:03:56

(my hands just don't love sti levers, blergh).


join us!




hiddenvariable
2012-08-07 15:32:43

Anatomic bars, ewwwwww. :)


rice-rocket
2012-08-07 15:38:17

shimano has started introducing shims to adjust lever reach on their STI brifters. i was pleasantly surprised when i saw this on the new ones we ordered for stef's road bike.


cburch
2012-08-07 19:06:46

Yeah, I have the R700 short reach levers with the biggest available shims installed. They definitely help, but they don't 100% solve the problem. But I think I can get it to work out. When I went to visit Matt Tinkey he was helping me sort of experiment with angling the bars and levers differently and stuff. Judging by how exhausted my hands were on Sunday, we didn't get it quite right, but I think it just needs a bit more tweaking


2012-08-07 19:25:10

try putting more of your weight on your legs too. not just resting on the saddle and bars. the more you keep your balance on your legs the looser your arms and grip can be and the longer you can ride, not to mention being able to control the bike better.


cburch
2012-08-07 19:36:18

Yeah, I've been working on that. Getting saddle height and stuff correct made a huge difference. I had definitely been having issues with weight on my hands, but that was pretty much gone after I got fitted.


The problem is really that my hands eventually get completely exhausted from braking, particularly from the hoods. By the end of the day I could barely brake from the hoods at all and couldn't upshift in the front because my fingers were so tired. I think maybe my hands are just weak. I dunno.


2012-08-07 19:55:40

its probably as much from gripping too hard as from braking. try to pay attention to keeping your hands and arms loose while you ride. letting the bars move around in your hands also helps take the edge off vibration from rough pavement and helps a lot with brick/stone/ballast and such. when you get the balance right and get the pressure off the front it will help with practical things like pinch flats and handling on non-smooth/dry surfaces as well as things like being able to ride around corners no-handed (stef hates it when i do that). the idea is to separate the bike from your body and maintain your balance. if you don't fall over, the bike wont either.


cburch
2012-08-07 20:02:46

Is your bike setup such that you could try interrupter or cross levers, as shown on HV's pic, above? Might make a difference, just to be able to brake from a different position.


edmonds59
2012-08-07 20:10:42

Braking from the hoods offers the least amount of force. Combine that with your straddle cable that has to be high not to hit your rack and a bike that isn't built for the Tour de France (not all need be or should be) and it's going to require a decent amount of force. Couple that with someone who doesn't work with their hands for a living and you're probably on the short end of the stick.


There probably are gains to be made from rotating the bars around a bit and perhaps raising the hoods. Another solution would be to raise your bars enough so that you're almost always in the drops. That's a more powerful braking position. Another option is the 'cross levers. They offer a great hand position for braking. The downside is they move you away from your shifters and create a more upright position, and often a more cramped one since your bike fit is more generally set up around your hoods than the tops.


All of that said, braking in the rain requires an awful lot of force. I wouldn't base too much on the problems you were having on a rainy ride.


mayhew
2012-08-07 20:30:10

i've got v-brakes, and the two guys i rode with have cantilever and v-brakes, and everyone was complaining by the end how tired and sore our forearms were from braking. especially after going down the back side of riverview park.


hiddenvariable
2012-08-07 20:50:42

@hv: theres a dirty joke here somewhere, but im not going to try to find it


melange396
2012-08-07 21:57:54

Why did I not snicker at that the first time I read it? Cburch was showing me how he lubes his fork on his downhill bike tonight and I was laughing at how it looked like he was giving his bike a handy when he wiped it down. Yet I missed hv's comment.


stefb
2012-08-08 00:43:55

@melange396 - may I ask, what's your granny gear? Some off-the-rack bikes, especially compact doubles, really don't have a low gear that's really low. That could beat up your knees.


Having said that, Matt Tinkey at UPMC bikefit is absolutely brilliant.


vannever
2012-08-08 00:51:38

George just needs a little rule 5.


cburch
2012-08-08 01:04:53

@cburch: Noted. Thanks for the tips. I'm sure I'm doing all kinds of weird things like that that I'm not aware of. I'll pay more attention to that stuff on my next longish ride. (Side note: I just plain can't ride no-handed. Determined to figure that out one day.)


@Chris: Yep. It was interesting trying to get a canti setup working that would give me enough braking power with the racks and the feeble hands and all the other potential complications. (I had to use some Flintstone foot action to stop from like 5mph with the brakes that came on the stock bike. That was fun. Those stayed on the bike about two seconds.) I think it's about as good as it can get without swapping to some non-canti setup at this point, but it still requires a lot of force. Especially in the rain, especially from the hoods. There was a descent or two early on where I kept my hands on the hoods when I reaIly shouldn't have if I wanted my hands to keep working for the rest of the day, so I learned my lesson there.


I definitely think there are some improvements to be made in terms of rotating the handlebars and stuff, like you said. It is better than it was pre-Matt-Tinkey anyway, and I imagine we'll be able to figure it out whenever I follow up with him if I can't get it worked out myself before then.


I would have to raise the bars pretty ridiculously high to feel comfortable being in the drops by default. In reality, I think I would be quite comfy on the hoods now if I could just ride all day long without having to brake, so I'm not terribly eager to mess with the handlebar height or anything in any huge way.


And I did debate about putting cross levers on, but I decided against it mostly because I don't really like riding with my hands on the tops on this bike: I don't feel like I have good control there and it's not terribly comfortable being that upright. I'm not 100% dead set against adding them in the long run if I end up needing that option, though.


@HV, I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets tired after going down a lot... going down the back side... of hills

(Yeah, now the middle school boy sense of humor is fully engaged, it's all downhill from here)


2012-08-08 01:18:52

@vannevar: on the light, thin tired bike, its 36:28; on the heavier, thicker tired bike, its 34:32. both, as you mentioned, are compact doubles. id really like a sub-1:1 granny on either, but figuring out combinations of chainrings/cranksets/cassettes/derailers gets pricey quick. i think a lot of it is the position of my feet on the pedals (like 'yaw', if that makes sense)... which makes my spds and maybe even heel clearance pretty problematic :-/ (edited to add: i think my natural foot position is splayed outward, or whatever the opposite of pigeon-toed is)


@cburch: hah! i thought that would be a 'no whining' rule. but yeah, i could stand to lose some softness


@pearmask: lulz


melange396
2012-08-08 02:09:37

Above a certain speed (say 20 mph) I naturally switch to the drops for greater braking force; below a certain speed (say 10 mph) I switch back to the hoods for stability since I can brake easily at low speeds. This keeps my hands from wearing out on long rides because I never actually need to use a lot of force from the hoods. But if I weren't comfortable in the drops I wouldn't be able to do this.


mpm
2012-08-08 02:22:30

I'm thinking about riding the 63mile route again Saturday, depending on how I feel in the morning after the Party. I might only do part of it if I feel off that day.


marvelousm3
2012-08-09 00:37:37

If you want company, I might be interested in joining you. I have a paper to write, but maybe I can motivate myself enough to get it done early so I have time to ride on Saturday.


2012-08-09 02:29:14

ok let me know, I might bring the S.S. to challenge myself.... or maybe not. I'm hoping to do it early morning/ afternoon


marvelousm3
2012-08-09 02:30:53

what's the pace on this? i'm interested, but i haven't ridden 60+ miles pretty much at all this year. i'm sure i can do 40 at a reasonable pace, but i'm not sure what more than that will feel like, and i don't want to slow anyone down.


hiddenvariable
2012-08-09 05:05:48

It will be impossible for you to slow me down. For reals. I rode 60+ miles once this year, and it was last weekend. Before that, I had done 45-50 a couple times, and that was about it in terms of long rides. The more the merrier (as far as I'm concerned, anyway)


2012-08-09 05:09:24

Blargh. I'd love to join you guys but I have already have plans.


rzod
2012-08-09 13:53:32

x2, I'd like to join in the fun but can't make it Sat.


sarah_q
2012-08-09 13:57:42

sorry everyone, I'm not doing the 63mile on saturday now. I forgot there is a ride scheduled at the same time. Team decaf has a ride on the same day. So not to cause scheduling conflicts maybe we will do this after bike fest is over.


marvelousm3
2012-08-09 16:30:18

@Mr Marv would you start a new post when you set up this ride? I'd like to join if i can.


julieb
2012-08-10 01:21:02

@ julieb I will.


marvelousm3
2012-08-10 02:23:43