I'm sick with a wicked head cold. It's also cold and raining here. Went for a ride anyway.. During my post flight inspection I found a few broken teeth on my dérailleur. $400 bike, Poverty components.

 

I'm starting to regret moving away from Los Angeles...

 

Anyone of you guys follow the pro racing scene at all? Classics season is finally here with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne on Sunday. Both races should promise a good showing from some big names like Wiggins and Boonen, and even Cavendish on Sunday. Should be interesting to see how Wiggins' form is as he builds for a Paris-Roubaix win in a few weeks.

Unfortunately, the Belgian classics bike tech isn't quite what it used to be. With the durability of new wheels, higher frame clearances, and most riders on wide tubs year round, not too many cool tricks or old-school equipment will be rolled out for this year's classics. I still think nothing looks better than a set of box-section rims laced to some bombproof hubs...

 

I was personally disappointed to learn that even Cancellara ran 23's. Aero wheels, spindly looking (but stout) carbon frames. With the UCI min weight,I hope the manufacturers successfully lobby for disc brakes. How that would work with wheel changes is open to question though. After riding my cx disc bike on the road quite a bit, then bombing down a local Cat 1 climb on the road bike with 404 Firecrest clinchers.. I hate rim brakes.

Got Universal sports just for the bike racing. Lo res but still awesome. I really like insiders like Gogulski. Geek climber like me.

 

Yep, there's still a good number of riders that prefer 23's over 25's or bigger. Some of that is of course limited by their team's tire sponsor, too. From what I've read, it seems like most pro riders want to keep disc brakes out of the pro peloton, and I cant say as I blame them (I have very limited experience with them, though). It does sound like the UCI's incoherently asinine weight limit will be modified in the near future, if not completely eliminated. When you look at a 6' or taller rider's bike compared to a 5.5' tall rider's bike, it just doesn't make sense for them to be the same weight. There was no proportionality built into that rule.

Universal has definitely gotten better over the last couple of years. I'll still take my Eurosport coverage, though!

 

 

More BWR training. Bit frantic now as it's only 6 weeks away and my FT power is probably 50watts down from where it needs to be. Sadness. Being and old guy, I can't train hard back to back days like I could 15 years ago. Belgian Waffle Ride is something like 135 miles, 10,000' with the last 10-15 miles in dirt, April 26 in North San Diego county. Far and way the single hardest single day pro-am event in the country and probably in the world.

Yesterdays training ride was 106mi, 5500', 6:53. Took in a local 2000' dirt climb in 104° heat. Drank about a jabillion bottles.

Been tweaking bike setup. Gotta be the cross bike for tire clearance. Ran some WTB Nano 40c's for a while. Fantastic in the dirt but too slow on pavement. Bought some 28c Panaracer Gravel Kings then realized they wouldn't work tubeless. Doh. Mounted up a set of Hutchinson Secteur 28's with Stan's on the FTB's OEM tubeless compatible wheelset for last weekends ride. Super fast on pavement and functional, if not exactly amazing in dirt. While shock absorption on really rough stuff is merely OK, they tolerated several 20-25mph blasts on rocky, bumpy coarse gravel without complaint. On pavement, particularly when it's coarse, I think they're actually faster than the Michelin Pro4 23's on my S5. They'll do.

Fiddled with a 1x11 setup but gave up. Bough a cheap SRAM Rival 180mm 50/34 crankset. Paired with an 11/32 cassette and I have enough gear for just about anything. 28.4 gear inches plenty low for grovelling up 15% grades at mile 120. Lowered the bars 5mm from cross position, more road friendly and aero.

 

Damn that sounds brutal Emilio!

I'm a bitch in the heat. Hell yea on the 180mm crank!

 

 

That ride sounds like a death march. Is the 180 for leverage when going over obstacles? How does switching lengths affect you if your used to spinning circles for years on a 175mm?

Side question, I just started riding (13 celcuis is the avg high the last 2 rides) our B roads with no shoulder. What is is good rear view mirror for drop bars? I tired the helmet ones and did not like it.

 

I don't use a mirror, never have.

I have a 36" inseam. Every bike I have ever owned runs 180's. It's just my kinematics.

 

Us tall folk have the long-rod-ratio of the bike world.

Also have 36" inseam, but can manage on anything from 165mm on DH bike, 170mm on track bike, and 177.5 on road. The few 180 cranks I've rode have felt good though.

 

Femur to tibia ratio also plays a role. Some guys have long torso/ short legs. Or short femurs, long legs. etc. I am best described as a spider monkey. My torso is the length of the average 6.0" male, yet I am 6-3". My overall leg length is roughly the same as the average 6.5" male.

A quote form Michele Ferrari from 2007

"- Femur/tibia ratio -

Usually measured seated on a stool, properly adjusted in height so that the femur is parallel to the ground, the tibia is perpendicular, the feet are firmly on the floor and the lower back leans against the wall: measure the “femur” length from the wall to the most forward point in the kneecap, and the “tibia” length from the highest point in the kneecap all the way down to the floor.
If the ratio femur/tibia is superior to 1.13, it might be suggested a slightly longer crank (usually by 2.5mm) than the one indicated by the inseam measure. "

Just remeasured everything. Femur/Tibia ratio is 1.13. I also have very long overall leg length to height, 50.9% ratio. I was meant to pedal a bike it seems. Based on all the common crank sizing paradigms, I should be on 182.4~185mm.

 

Went on another ride yesterday that started at 50F, so I used this on my legs:


Ran across it a couple of years ago. Works great for days that may entail rain, as it does not change characteristics when wet, unlike regular knee warmers.

Any of you CX guys embrocate?

 

Whats everyone thoughts on toe overlap when buying a new bike?

RE:building my own frame.


I drew my existing bike in CAD and then shortened the effective top tube length by an inch for my new frame. When on the trainer last night working out I noticed that at no point* with my current frame do I have toe overlap because its a really stretched out race bike.
* I do have about a mm of toe overlap in one turning angle with a range of about 2 degrees with a certain toe angle of a range of about 2 degrees, but neither would be realistic to experience in real riding.



Would I notice, or would it be a seriously different cycling experience to have that extra inch of toe overlap?








Please be aware that the design of the new frame isnt to get me in the same fit as my carbon bike, so its not probable that we are comparing apples to apples in the rest of the design so the inch of difference wont be a negative factor per say regarding the handling...

 

I have plenty of toe overlap on my road bike (54) and it's a non-issue most of the time for me.

Now that I've said that, watch me go crash on my afternoon commute because of the toe overlap...

 

Toe overlap is generally not an issue. Only at low speeds do you turn enough to strike, and just don't pedal through when, say, making a U-turn.

 

Toe overlap is very common on modern bikes. It is a non-issue when riding normally, just aggravating to rub the end of your $400 shoes at a stop light track stand.

Some euro bikes have longer wheel bases or a longer front end/shorter rear end that don't have toe overlap. Most small bikes have a lot of toe overlap to keep the fork rake reasonable.

 

My good friend and main riding partner was struck and killed by a car while on his morning ride.

 

So sorry. Condolences to his family and loved ones. My heart goes out to you man.