get disc brakes and make sure the wheel is round more than straight 1/16" is good enough for straight as long as its nice and round.

I've picked up a spoke tension meter and use that... because generally speaking when its in even tension around the wheel its going to be round.

 

I had discs on my last bike, which was back when everyone in this thread was saying "you don't need discs on the street" and mocked me for it.

I loved 'em, and have tried to find an inexpensive commuter bike which has them. This was the subject of a thread of conversation a while back (probably in the fenders & racks thread), and while I found two good candidates, one was both discontinued before I had a chance to buy it and the other, upon reading a lot of reviews, turned out to have a massively unreliable internally-geared hub.

I did also check the wheels for roundness, and while they were a little more out of spec in that dimension, it wasn't much.

 

I would have stuck up for you with disc brakes.
They make so much more sense.


riding in the rain yesterday, I made some nice black brake tracks on my commuter bike.... the pads are going to wear out fast I think.

 

To what extent does sleep/rest affect cycling power & stamina?

My issue:
9 days ago I'm feeling great on the trainer, easily do a FTP builder workout then destroy some PR's on a climb and sprint afterwards.
7 days ago I'm feeling great on trainer, easily do a FTP builder workout then do another 'high intensity' 30 min workout afterwards. No problem feel great.
5 days ago do a 20 min warmup & 20 min ride outside, pushed hard cause of the wind, felt good.
3 days ago do 40 minutes at 100% and gas out, 5 min easy spin & recover, 15 min ~30%, feel great.

Last night get back on the trainer and I feel dead after 30 min or so. Could only do 5x4 minute intervals at 85%FTP/2 min rest (typically easy). This workout routine, which continues with 5x5min at FTP/2min rest, I can usually finish with no issue and which last week I destroyed with out really trying. WTF?

I always calibrate the trainer (not that it requires adjustment if tire PSI is set). The only thing I can think of is less rest the past few days, but that's only ~6 hours in stead of ~8. Can that make that much of a difference?!

Side note, per Strava's flyby feature, it looks like the CAT4/5 group last weekend broke apart into 3 groups on the first turn of the last lap. I'll have to keep this in mind.

 

Massively. Pros use a bastardized Churchill quote to describe this: "Never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down." If you aren't giving your body time to recover, you'll go backwards regardless of how hard you train.

 

Rest and recovery are an integral part of training, not something separate. You stress the body, it adapts during rest. The bulk of tissue repair (muscles) happens after REM sleep when your body dumps HGH into your system. So every minute after your ride you are "prepping" for that REM period when your body does the bulk of its recovery. Making sure you get enough nutrients, hydration and sleep. Everything affects recovery. The better you recover, the more training load you can pile on.

Do some research on good endurance athlete recovery practices and also mistakes to avoid. Short answer yes, screw something up in your recovery period and you will have a bad day on the bike. Also note that as you begin to pile on more workload, not every day on the bike will feel great. You will being to "train through" training and even races while fatigued. The trick is knowing your body, just how deep into that fatigue you can push without overdoing it and digging yourself a hole.

 

^ yes, that

 

first commute of the year killed me yesterday on my fendered fred machine, for a few different reasons.

1. im totally out of shape. this dad bod thing is real and since we were prepping for our now 3 month old baby girl exercise and training took the back seat. my lungs cant keep up.
2. the bike is a fresh setup and I haven't totally dialed in the RD hanger/shifting.
3. 60tpi 23c clinchers on frozen rail bed was a really rude awakening, especially with jeans for work and no shammy.
4. im totally out of shape.
5. The wind reports for my ride home were saying some houses in the region were literally being blown over - I haven't heard of this happening before and we don't get real tornados.
6. It was raining for my ride home into that headwind. hard on the feels while your doing it.


All said, I love commuting and im REALLY happy to have a bike with compact crank and wide range cassette. pretty sure one of the wind tunnel sections of my commute home I was grinding out 70rpm in the 34f/30r gear just trying to stay upright when the wind gusts.

With all of the grump that could be read in that post, I came home with the biggest smile - Im back on my bike, I should try riding through the winter next year now that I have an established commuter bike. Im sure that things will be more difficult when my wife returns to work and we have to drop off our baby for babysitter/daycare.

 

I've definitely gained weight since my partner and I adopted our son. He plays a lot of basketball but we've been unsuccessful in getting him to swim or ride a bicycle. Such is life.

 

I rode less last year due to travel and my work schedule and gained fitness at a faster rate than ever before. I'm now taking Tuesdays, Thursdays, and most Fridays off. I may do a few Thursday crits though, will sub Wednesday.

 

I lost to two bros with toe covers on yesterday, **** is sad.

 

play it with him.

Basketball is a tough sport... I don't have the foot/body/hand coordination to get the block/dribble thing down... im good if I can get a good jog without anyone in my way with a ball in hand without loosing it.


You cant push anyone into liking your thing, but if you want to do stuff with him whats the harm.

(I always liked doing things that I was better than my parents at while I was growing up)

 

get some more aero wheels.

 

Went for my first trail ride on the rockhopper. Smashed several of my strava records without pushing it hard. I'm in love. More traction, better shifts, more comfortable, and not any less flickable than the 26r somehow. Its freaking great.

 

So I'm bored at home with the flu, have been for a few days, and I'm thinking about what tire I want for the Stigmata for a specific type of riding. I know that I want the Hutchinson Toro for CX, know that the Mamba is probably a good tire for gravel; what tire to do I want for riding 5 miles to and from the 22-mile single track, and is that the same tire I want for the high-desert, Santa Fe stuff?

I'm itching to get this bike out, and it's ironic that it's marketing videos state that compromises were made and a line was drawn to keep it a CX bike, yet the huge tire clearance makes it unique in it's single track/adventure type riding abilities.

 

Riding this Saturday on my road bike

Dirty Devil 127

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/2401084

 

127 miles with 12k feet of elevation? Are you even trying? Come back when you are ready to impress us.

 

About 25 miles of the climbs are dirt

 

In that case, I recommend the Fuji.

 

not impressed. lemme know when 25% of the climbs is mandatory hike-a-bike and top elevation is over 14,000 feet.



Hahaha just kidding- good luck!