dcamp2

iTrader: (4)

EErockMiata

Did my first century road bike ride this last weekend. It was for a great cause that means a crapload to me. The ride was the Multiple Sclorosis Societies bay to bay tour. 150 miles over two days with the first being a century.

The ride was a great experience for me as my stepfather is losing the battle to MS. I honestly really enjoyed the ride and did a lot better than I thought I would do. Starting to really enjoy this whole road biking thing.

The first 50 miles of the ride were cake and the last 50 burned like fire but were super rewarding. Despite what I thought... I was really enjoying the climbs.

Bike Ride Profile | Ms Ride Century near Irvine | Times and Records | Strava

Little sore today but overall I feel great. I realize that it's nothing compared to the abilities of a few bikers on here... but for me this was a huge accomplishment.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

Nice, my longest ride is only like 84 miles.

emilio700

iTrader: (3)

Congrats bud. Every riders first century is a painful but memorable milestone.
Great that you are helping to contribute to help the next family that's hit by MS to suffer less. Maybe someday not at all.

dcamp2

iTrader: (4)

Nice work EErock! I've done an MS150, but did 75 miles each day. Looks like a cool route.



Question for Strava users with power meters- how accurate do you think the strava calculations are without a power meter? I'm guessing it's an ok approximation on longer/steady road climbs... Thoughts?

kotomile

iTrader: (24)

Yep, about a month ago.



Now I have big flats with "traction pins" and it's sooo much better.

EDIT - Congratulations on your century, EERock!

EErockMiata

Thanks Trey. TBH this ride is fully supported and has well spaced rest stops with all you can eat/drink cyclist crack food. That being said... that doesn't change the 7,100' of climbing and mileage. I'd imagine you guys ride at a faster pace than I could keep up with.

Thanks E. Appreciate the Kudo's. I managed to raise $1,350 for this ride when my fundraising goal was $400. Very emotional coming across the finish line being cheered on by people struggling with MS.

The route and weather was honestly fantastic. You honestly couldn't ask for better weather. Overall we had about 15 miles of the entire ride with a headwind and it was blue sky's, sunshine and 75 degrees all day. Gonna be tough to beat the event this year in the years to come.

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Awesome man, 100 miles is a lot, no matter what.

The most I've done is about ~50, on my mountain bike. Never ridden a road bike though.

Mazdaspeeder

I've got a 2014 Trek X-Caliber 6. So far I've been lucky. Only had a few flats, stripped out a crank arm, and untrued the wheels a few times. Put on Wellgo MC-1 pedals, really nice. However its been so cold lately that I've not ridden. Put about 300 miles on it since I got it late summer. Great time

DNMakinson

iTrader: (3)

Good Job.

Savington

iTrader: (31)

Pretty close, especially on climbs. Wind will screw it up pretty badly, obviously.

3rdCarMX5

iTrader: (1)

The Strava power estimate is a joke. They actually removed it a while back but people complained and they put it back. They know it is bad. Difference can be upwards of 200 watts.

Here is a fun reference point we can all understand, just see the difference between actual numbers and estimates.

Strava Segment | Thunderhill

dcamp2

iTrader: (4)

True, but that segment is short and has up/down/turns... I was thinking it might give a reasonable estimate on longer (20+ minutes) road climbs- where you're going fairly slow so wind resistance doesn't play as much of a role.

Savington

iTrader: (31)

Cherry-picked example. You aren't going around Thunderhill in 5 minutes unless you do it in a big pack of riders. Hence the difference between the guy in the middle of the pack doing ~300w and the theoretical guy who's doing it by himself needing 500+ to do the same speed. It's also windy as all hell out there, which is obviously going to screw up the Strava estimates pretty badly.

I poked through my Strava a little, looking at my own results over time, and the power meter data I've been getting since June is pretty close to the estimated data I got in the spring. If you didn't have the lightning bolt next to the true data, there'd be no way to tell which was which.

kotomile

iTrader: (24)

50 MTB miles is a lot, damn close in feel to a century if not over. Those skinny tires and aero make a LOT of difference. Go ahead and give it a shot man.

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

It sure felt like a lot :P. I do want to give the road bike thing a shot one day soon, well I want a CX bike actually since I live on a dirt road. Since this is the cycling equipment thread, here are the bikes I was looking at:



I like the yellow one with MTB style flatbars.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

^Money on the back.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

Why?

kotomile

iTrader: (24)

Familiarity, I'd wager.

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Because I ride MTB, and i really like the idea of a cross bike with MTB bars and a slacker head angle. I've never really ridden a road bike, nor have i ever liked those hoop bars. My idea of riding a road bike includes dirt road riding, bunnyhopping up/off curbs, ripping turns, manuals, wheelies, and still being able to ride longer distances on the road and in to town.

I live in a VERY rural place, with very limited roads to ride. Lots of sandwashed roads, huge potholes, dirt roads, little to no shoulders for riding, so tons of sidewalk/dirt riding. Thus the CX requirement.