Did you ride today?

Rode 30 on Sunday, 25 on Monday, and 22 yesterday after not riding for almost two weeks. Weather was near perfect all three days and I felt great during each ride. I'm doing a century on Sept. 7, so I definitely want to get more hill work in during the next few weeks.
 
My wheels have the steel bearing whereas the newer ones have ceramic which doesn't last as long. In any event when they need replacing go for steel. Rolling resistance of steel vs ceramic, just can't feel it.

Dan, I disagree (a little), while the difference between steel bearings and ceramics not really noticeable 'on the pedal', i do notice a big difference when descending--i seem to pick up speed faster and definitely roll out further. On my Enve 3.4s, i went ceramic. The front wheel will still be rotating a half hour later given a start while on the rack. Pretty amazing. My old campy super record hubs (circa 1981), with oil lube, would be close at about 20 minutes.
 
Dan, I disagree (a little), while the difference between steel bearings and ceramics not really noticeable 'on the pedal', i do notice a big difference when descending--i seem to pick up speed faster and definitely roll out further. On my Enve 3.4s, i went ceramic. The front wheel will still be rotating a half hour later given a start while on the rack. Pretty amazing. My old campy super record hubs (circa 1981), with oil lube, would be close at about 20 minutes.

My comparo was done on EC90 steel bearing to EC90 ceramic. The only other difference was the wheel profile, the steel bearing was a 55mm and the ceramic was a 90mm. I can swap them as much as I want and I can't feel any difference. Chances are you will have to replace ceramic bearings more often and they are 4 times more expensive, in this part of the world they last about 5-7,000kms in part due to the weather and poor road conditions.

Can't talk about Enve as I have never tried them. To me ceramic is just another "sales gimmick", then again Bob YMMV ;) .
 
All the tricky stuff on the bike, its still the engine that counts most. As they say "its the Indian, not the arrow!"

Back in the day, John Forrester wrote his book on Effective Cycling. He had a trick many of us used, converting our campy hubs to oil lube vs. grease. The campy hubs used to have little dust guards over a hole in the center of the hub where we'd inject 90 wt gear oil that was thinned with a little Chevron Blazo stove fuel. The fuel made getting the oil into the hub easier, then would evaporate leaving the heavier gear oil behind. I had a set of 40 spoke wheels made up for touring, and rode probably 40,000+ miles on those wheels. After about 20 years I decided to check the hubs. All I had done all those years is add a few drops of oil before rides. The gear oil would slowly seep out the dust caps, carrying dust with it. I did spend a wee bit more time wiping down my wheels, but the thin film of oil that would end up on each spoke kept them from rusting. When I took apart the hubs I was astonished they looked clean as could be, and while the races were slightly worn, they were not pitted, gouged, or had any deep grooves in the races. I cursed myself for taking them apart. Getting the adjustment just right on an old pair of cup & cone hubs sometimes would take a dozen iterations.

I HAD a pair of NOS campy super record hubs in the original box before we lost so many things in our move. I still have a pair of tubulars with Campy hubs from that era. With the advances in sealed bearings, bearings themselves might last longer, but the grease seals add friction. The machining tolerances of the old campy super record stuff was pretty damn sweet. Now I expect they just buy spec bearings and put them in.
 
I ordered one today... from BikesDirect. I had been watching as the delivery date was already passed so was afraid they'd be out of stock until several months from now. (It is normally a pre-order deal.) They had one in-stock, and it shipped today, so I'll have it next week.

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I was down in Florence, OR over the weekend, and my buddy let me ride his on the beach at low tide. We rode a half dozen miles down the beach and back, fairly windy and foggy. A lot of the time visibility was only 100 yards or so, but pretty bright as the fog layer wasn't too thick. Very surreal experience with the waves crashing but not being able to see much. Riding the Fatty was a lot of fun, I look forward to getting one for my wife too. She'd love the beach ride.

Now thinking about trading my 1/4 ton pickup for a diesel 1 ton, and getting a camper. Lots of great places to explore in Oregon.


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Cyclocross training started in earnest, first race scheduled in less than two week if all goes according to plan. Funny story, the race is happening in a small village of less than 2,000 soul..... where my mother was born. I guess I got to go.
 
Rode 30 on Sunday, 25 on Monday, and 22 yesterday after not riding for almost two weeks. Weather was near perfect all three days and I felt great during each ride. I'm doing a century on Sept. 7, so I definitely want to get more hill work in during the next few weeks.

Anthony, how did the century go?
 
Just discovered this thread.Good stuff.Been biking for 12 years.did allot of tri's while living in upstate new york, now riding with a bike club in citrus county florida.Did a quick 30 yesterday on the bike trail.I love this forum, as there is something for everyone !
 
Just discovered this thread as well. Took up cycling few years ago after numerous injuries/surgeries forced me out of competitive sports....discovered cycling was my only remaining outlet to stay fit while still keeping the competitive juices flowing. Race for a team here in TX. Mostly focus on road racing with occasional local crits.
 
I did 7+ miles today on my hybrid. I just started biking. :rolleyes:

AS, welcome to the wonderful world of cycling! You will love it. 7 miles on a hybrid is a great start. Be persistent and you'll soon find yourself piling on the miles, looking at road bikes, etc. Enjoy and please keep posting your progress.



Just discovered this thread.Good stuff.Been biking for 12 years.did allot of tri's while living in upstate new york, now riding with a bike club in citrus county florida.Did a quick 30 yesterday on the bike trail.I love this forum, as there is something for everyone !

Just discovered this thread as well. Took up cycling few years ago after numerous injuries/surgeries forced me out of competitive sports....discovered cycling was my only remaining outlet to stay fit while still keeping the competitive juices flowing. Race for a team here in TX. Mostly focus on road racing with occasional local crits.

fxe02 and Foggy, we have some serious cyclers here, in particular 2 who race, Bob and Dan. Hope you can share your experiences as they have over the racing seasons.

I'm currently stuck on a trainer as the weather up here is below 20F in the mornings when I like to ride.:(
 
Mostly hitting the gym and spinning class this time of year, and the short days make getting out, even when the weather permits, difficult. But today I just couldn't take it any longer and got out for an easy 15miles to the coffee stand and back. There's no easy route to town from where I live, every road involves a deep drop down to a stream-bed, then up the other side. 1000' of verticle for such a short little jaunt, with a 16% switchback on one turn.
I'm not geared for such a thing this early in the season on my road bike, so took the fat-bike, giant 4" knobby tires and all. What fun it was! On the fat bike there is no voice inside my head saying go faster, faster! Instead its just cruise along and enjoy being out riding in the middle of winter. The fat bike, of course, has a mountain drivetrain capable of climbing a tree I think, so the very steep climb on the way home was do-able but I worked up a serious sweat and peg'd the heart rate. Ugh.

I have to admit, the $800 spent on the fat bike was the best anti-aging investment I've made. Every time I ride that bike I feel like I'm 10 years old again.

Ride on my brothers, ride on!

"To attack the pedals may be strenuous over the short
run, but is an expression of trust in one's own powers,
for with the bicycle everything depends on the self."
--Wolfgang Sachs
 
Bob, that sounds like one helluva fun ride in the middle of winter! Which fat bike did you get again? I hate doing hills in the winter as I always start to freeze on the descent...

Got tired of the trainer two weeks ago and went for a ride in 25F or so. It felt great to be outside again! This weekend is a snowy weekend so back to the trainer.:-(
 
I got the Boris X9 from BikesDirect. I haven't modified it at all except put my Speedplay Frog pedals on for the ride the other day. Flat pedaling (free pedaling) doesn't seem to agree with my knees and f's up my stroke. Hard to spin circles when your mashing down.

And a little correction to my original post... The road up out of the valley is 12-16%, I think that switchback goes to 20+. There are a lot of gouges in the pavement from trucks with lots of overhang in the rear dragging bumpers or hitches going around the turn. Probably motor homes who don't know about the turn. It isn't a frequently travelled road, which makes it OK to climb up slowly on the bike.

And re: the fat bike... Its one time in life where being fat is where its at. I think there is room on the Boris for 4.7" tires. Awesome fun in the snow.
 
Got in 25 today, w 1750' verticle. Nice streak of weather here through Monday, which is supposed to be mid-sixties. Today about 60, partly cloudy. There is a loop I've been wanting to do from the house but there is a monster climb that I wanted low gears for, lower than my carbon fiber zoot machine has. So I pulled my old steel steed off the wall, put some air in the tires, and went out. Glorious afternoon, very, very few cars on this route until the last couple of miles. Amazing views of Mt. Hood along the way. And then that beast of a climb. My steel bike has a half step / granny setup, downtube shifters, 9 speed. I was happy to have had my granny. Climb starts with a little half mile stretch at about 10-12%, with a little pitch of 16% thrown in. Then the next half mile is at about 6-8%. Ugh! My knees are being iced as I type.

My hope is to make this my fast training loop this summer, for those Tuesday/Thursday hammerfests. I can add ten miles easily and still be on low traffic roads all the way.
 
fxe02, 18.5 avg is a good clip, crossing well into 'strenuous' category. Following with a little run sounds like a good workout. Nicely done!
 
Man-o-man, we've been having a nice streak of weather here in the Pacific NW. Today is 64 as I sit on the [recently rebuilt] back deck icing my knees, with a clear view of Mt Adams, gentle breeze, clear skies. Just completed my training loop; down in the valley my Garmin read 70 degrees. I've been out now a half-dozen times in the last couple weeks. Getting in some hill work this early in the year is a welcome break from the monotony of spinning class.
 
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