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I have fully switched over to the X01 Eagle chains too, as the testing shows they last 3 times as long as the GX ones. Tried a KMC, but needs relubed after like every ride, and related, they wear out quick.
semi-related, but Ive read that the new 11-50 NX 12spd cassette fits on normal 11spd freehubs. That is an extremely attractive option for a 1x12 Force/Eagle AXS setup of just shifter and derailleur for my mtb.
semi-related, but Ive read that the new 11-50 NX 12spd cassette fits on normal 11spd freehubs. That is an extremely attractive option for a 1x12 Force/Eagle AXS setup of just shifter and derailleur for my mtb.
It does, the only thing requiring the XD driver is the 10t being too small to fit on a standard Shimano Freehub which is why NX has 11-50 and not 10-50
Knocked out a Metric Century with 4000 feet of elevation in 3:07 yesterday, pretty happy with that result. Took a cool pic of the bike fully loaded with lights, bottles, and all. Poor lighting, the bike looks faded yellow here but certainly isn't in person
https://www.strava.com/activities/3538953032
Dirty Kanza would have been today but was rescheduled to September. Someone had the idea of doing the distance and elevation near home, just because. Like the real DK200, max of 3 stops, fully unsupported. So you carry everything yo need but water. I rolled out with just over a gallon between two tall bottles and 85oz camelbak. Brought all my food. No way to make a 200 mile dirt/gravel route near me that wouldn't be like 30k' elevation gain or be criss-crossing the same paths a bunch of times. So I did a full paved route, big loop like DK200. Rode too much and too hard this week so I wasn't super fresh, but still pulled it off.
Felt good the whole day. Just one slight dip from mile 150-175 when I got behind on hydration/nutrition and started losing my appetite. Worked through that and finished at full power. Really weird to look down at Garmin, see 200 miles and still kicking out 300w when needed.
7500 calories, crikey I need a beer.
Tough to follow that, but my new to me, semi-weight weenie roadie is finally "done".
16.8lbs as pictures with pedals, computer and two cages.
Black Ti bolts, Kalloy stem, carbon saddle/post are the only actual weenie bits.
Wheels are carbon, but not particularly light. Normal rubber tubes. Mostly budget R7000 105 drivetrain.
I had to change to a straight seatpost and fiddle with the bar/shifter intersection a bit, but it now feels pretty comfy.
It is a 50/34 and I have yet to use the small ring locally. If I travel, I'll be taking the gravel bike, so I've still got my eyes out for a 52/36 or 53/39 DA9000 crank which I think will match the paint scheme well.
Nice Dan, it came together well. And nice Emilio, that's an epic ride there.
Since we're talking about black cannondale's put on a diet, here is my CAADx with it's recent lightness added.
Before at 23.7lbs:
After, 18.4lbs. It all started with the caadx fork recall, which gave me a fork that is lighter and had lots of tire clearance. All that's original now is the frame and stem. The DI2 works well, and the Lightbicycle wheelset is, again, awesome. They do a very good job there. 1162grams on my scale for both wheels, with no tape or valve stems, for $610 shipped. 7 weeks from china, not bad considering it was ordered in the middle of the 'rona, and I thought the ports in cali were closed.
My neighbor that I chase TTT KOMs with has a Gen2 disc Emonda. It’s sweet. Yours is more sweeter because it’s actually a color though.
Yea the new trend of black bikes (especially matte black, sorry Tim), really doesn’t do much for me. Every time I look down this thing is telling me to go faster. Wish it was an SLR but that was too expensive and the SL is damn comfy too
I need the feedback of some of our resident skilled mountain bikers. Have a 2018 fuel ex 9.8 with carbon hoops, 2.4 tires, fox 34. Frame is cracked and being replaced with a 2020 fuel 9.9 (woo hoo shock upgrade to thru shaft) along with its new geo and non full floater and slacker head angle etc.
This will be built up with my existing everything else, including the “wrong” offset fork, mine being a 51mm while the 2020 comes with a 44. Curious what to expect overall for the bike and how it will feel compared to the older 17/18/19. Immune was a P1 so they let me do P1 again (got the same radioactive orange) but gotta wait up to 60 days for it to be made
Anyone on a 2020 fuel ex have some feelings to share? I know it’s very much a jack of all trades bike so probably isn’t really excellent at any one specific thing
Well the new bike came and ended up being a 2021, same color as before but I added some AXS goods to it. Only 2 rides on it so far but definitely liking the new frame so far. Reused my fork (new 140mm air shaft), carbon wheels and 2.4” tires, and cockpit.
2018 vs 2021 (same color different lighting) Under Black Light
2019 was a great year for me in bike racing. 4 podiums at national champships, 3rd and 5th and worlds, lotsa local race wins. At 57, I thought that might be it, gains from training beginning to be offset by age related decline. With everything cancelled this year, there was no need to constantly cycle between tapering for races then back to high volume to maintain base. None of the race pace simulations, short max effort intervals or any of the special work I do for races. I decided to go into a sort of winter base miles/endurance mode. Focused on aerobic capacity, economy and efficiency. Just building the biggest engine possible. Started some strength, core and mobility training off the bike. Numbers were all down by May, had me a bit depressed. But I did what I always do, trust the process and keep plugging away. Hoping to at least match 2019 numbers when I started doing HIT work again. Up to now, the longest "winter" type low intensity period I had ever done was late Dec 2018 through late Feb 2019, about 10 weeks averaging 15hrs/week. This time it was roughly 34 weeks averaging 16 hrs/week.
Only in July did I start doing focused high intensity, race pace work. For me, that's usually a 5-10 period where I try to do shorter, high quality, max intensity intervals and race pace club rides pretty much every day. I'll rest if I don't feel recovered enough to do quality work but keep pushing until I'm starting to feel empty and not recovering. Power always goes up during those HIT blocks and stays high afterwards. First block I saw only modest but useful gains. Just about matching my best 2019 numbers, which was a relief. In the weeks after that HIT block though, I started seeing better FTP type numbers despite having switched back to low intensity work. Did a second HIT block and saw big gains this time, beating my best 2019 numbers by significant amounts. Excited now at how I was feeling and recovering on the bike I switched back to low intensity for a few weeks then did a 3rd high intensity block. This time all my number went through the roof. Smashing my best ever numbers. The takeaway, and what I advise any friends that ask for training advice is, you can never have too much aerobic base. My analogy is its like the foundation of a building. Bigger the foundation, the higher and bigger the building can be. Too many amateurs believe that simply training harder, more frequently will magically make up for lack of aerobic base. 2-3 race pace club rides all year long but very few 6hr endurance pace rides gives you some top end but a very small "gas tank".
I was 159 lbs last Saturday when Strava estimated my FTP at 378w. No races this year. Hoping I can hang onto this form and maybe even build on it for next year, when maybe.. we'll start racing again. Right now, it feels like winning the lottery. Checking my power meter calibration every other ride.
Exciting stuff for me and validation of my theories on training, so I thought I'd share.
Nice job Emilio. That's pretty awe inspiring. I was hoping Strava's estimated FTP was low, but I'm thinking it's actually more accurate than what zwift or trainerroad says, in terms of what an actual 1 hour effort can be done.
The 'fitness' value on the strava app is different than what I get on their website.
Actual values spat out by Garmin and Strava are sorta like having a wonky dyno. Can't necessarily compare to data to that obtained in an actual exercise lab but the deltas from previous values are relevant.
I'm 6-3"
Wow, that's really cool to see. How did you develop your training plan? Just years of trial and error, or have you worked with a coach or some other outside guidance?
It's interesting to hear how some of the WT pros have been preparing for this year's delayed and condensed calendar. Since many of the European countries were on lockdown earlier in the year, a lot of guys developed a good anaerobic base from all of their indoor (Zwift) training. Before racing started back up in Aug/Sep, they had to prepare by getting in their base miles, often using early races just for that.
Wow, that's really cool to see. How did you develop your training plan? Just years of trial and error, or have you worked with a coach or some other outside guidance?
Training plan is an agglomeration of all the stuff I've learned over the years. Never had a coach. I like to know how stuff works so I tend not to just follow what other people are doing. Been like that since I was a little kid. These days, there is so much exercise physiology research online, rider blogs, Youtube and stuff to review and learn from. Being honest with yourself, able to listen to and know your body are key.
The most important thing I've learned over the years is that my best form always coincided with a big increase in total training hours per week. Sometimes just adding an innocuous, low intensity weekday bike commute. No rocket science there of course, ride more = get faster.
WT pros don't do much more HIT (High Intensity Training)hours than amateur bike racers do. The perception that they "train harder" as if they go smash it every day is false. They do about the same hours of HIT. The difference is that they also do 2-4x more low intensity volume than us shlubs. Strong amateur racer rides 8-12hrs/wk avg from Jan-Dec. Average maybe 90 minutes of HIT per week all year. WT pro isn't much different in total HIT volume. The difference is they average 20-25hrs/week from Jan-Dec. GT and Classics specialists doing 35-40hr weeks for a while mid season. That's the massive aerobic capacity, engine size that they have. Nothing to do with this or that interval.
The other difference between amateur racers and WT pros is block periodization. Most amateurs do the same exact thing every week. Same race pace club rides, same recovery rides, same hours, same HIT volume.. all year long until the weather gets bad. WT pros have distinct blocks where they focus on specific adaptions and energy systems. In fact, all successful world class endurance athletes do this block periodization, not just bike racers. That might mean 4 weeks never getting out of zone 2. Or that might mean climbing 8,000 every day for a week followed by Z4 intervals at the tops of the climbs every other day. But not both.
05-21-2020, 03:59 PM
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