That thing is rad. The fact that you've got a dropper post on it too is killer. I always figured if I got a commuter/townie, I'd still put a dropper on it. I'm lazy to the point that I use mine for mounting/dismounting lol.

 

OK, its been two weeks and 200 miles ridden. The bike weighed in at 27.8 lbs when I got it. Not trying to be a weight weenie but carbon is light and softens the ride. I swapped the bars, seat post and cages to carbon. The bars and seat post had a drastic effect on comfort. On the way are Chinese carbon fork, carbon wheels, xtr cassette, and Conti race king in 2.2. The last 120 miles have all been on gravel or XC trails. I saw my lbs advertising a 100/55 mile gravel race. I have two months to train. Goal is just to finish the 55 at a decent pace and get my first gravel event out of the way. Bike is sitting about 25.5lbs now and I hope to get it down to 22. Very happy with the bike.

https://www.bikereg.com/58877

 

Love the motivational video playing in the background haha. That's rad. Nothing like a race/event coming up to get your *** in gear. Keep the thread posted with how it goes.

Just noticed, you're running flat pedals full time on that thing?

 

Yes, would like to find a mtb style shoe for my flat wide foot and something easy to clip in and out of. Would love a flat on one side and clip on other side need to do more research. I pre rode some of the course this weekend, looking at the Garmin 840 so I quit getting lost.

 

Emilio, I've decided I want to run Big Sugar in October, age appropriate 42+, have cash $$$, please message me so I can hire you. I'm being dead serious. I want to go fast.

Edit: 40-49 Men, 100 mile, October 19th, Presented by Mazda lol

https://www.bigsugarclassic.com/gravel/

 

I'm not a coach. I occasionally offer something useful but there are far more qualified individuals out there.
The big picture stuff:
Set realistic goals
Trust the process
Look at every aspect of your "program": Bike fit, gearing, nutrition, recovery protocol, diet, sleep, stress management, training quality/specificity/quantity, tactics, psychology, aero, spares, maintenance..etc
Remember to have fun. This is the biggie. Focus on the experience, not the result.

Know that you have one of the coolest bikes there. That's worth like 5 watts

 

Currently Im 215lbs, 42, drink 4 times a week, and smoke a pack a day, riding 100 miles a week. I'm assuming I need to quit smoking, drop down to 175lbs, drink once a week, and ride 150-200 miles a week? Just got my Garmin 840 hooked up Sunday. I'm actually pretty good at heart rate riding. As a fat old guy, at first, should I stay in zone two all week or should I start doing 5x8 style training early? The training plan in Strava is for a 65 year old lady.

Edit: Just found out Dylan Johnson is $210 a month, so 8 months is $1700, not a bad price to go from couch potato to a finish in a gravel century race...

 

If all you do is quit smoking I would consider it flawless victory.

 

You got this man!

Step 1 - Count calories
Step 2 - google smokers lungs every day and picture your kids.

I dropped 45 lbs and stopped smoking this way.

Counting cals : This would be like knowing ur engines running rich, but not opening up tuner studio and seeing why.

 

Never thought I'd be finding riding inspiration on the MT forum. This is killer, you got this dude!

I don't have any helpful input on the smoking front but my 2c is that you'll find more gratification in the process leading up to the race than the race itself if you set a reasonable goal and stay on track with it. I wouldn't set any lofty goals like riding "X" miles per week or losing "X" pounds by "X" date. Setting a stern goal and using concrete numbers is a good way to burn yourself out. Maybe start with trying to ride one more day per week than you are now, then making rides a little longer and adding more days as the mileage increase feels sustainable.

Complimenting this with healthy(ish) eating is a good idea too. I've never gone down the nutrition rabbit hole, but if I'm riding big miles, I generally feel better if I try to eat fewer carbs and sugar and more protein/fats at the end of the day and/or after riding in general. Again, there's probably a more scientific way of going about it, but you'll feel much better even if you're only making incremental changes. I think the biggest factor to be mindful of is making said changes sustainable, and making sure you keep the process enjoyable instead of inducing burnout.

 

Being a cycling YouTube personality that he is, he gets more business than he can handle. You raise your rates when that happens. I'm sure there's people equally as effective that are much less expensive.

 

Here is the All-City with every bit of carbon you can throw at it, 23.4 lbs minus the water bottles, ready to ride. Chinesium carbon wheels, xtr cassette, carbon fork, x01 cranks, 2.2 Race Kings, etc. Bike is a ******* blast. Running at the Jailbreak 55 next weekend, but this bike is now up in MI's Upper Peninsula. So I'm flying into Houston mañana and grabbing a Marin Rift Zone 29, doing some quick mods this week, like my FARR bar, 2.2 RaceKIngs, and a taller front sprocket, to get it gravel ready. Then bringing it up to the UP after the race, my All-City is out gunned bad on some of these single black diamond trails they have up here. Anyways, just an update, still training, down to 199lbs, still running Big Sugar in October. Oh, and Emilio, I saw you on a guest appearance in Drew Dillmans gravel recap video, great hare scramble cut through, your frame paint was sick.


Pretty sure that's you at min 35

Edit: I went 38mph last weekend on a fat tire Beargrease...wtf, **** was crazy, full aero tuck, I love the scene up here

 

Love this bike so far, I don’t know how much the butthole really does for aero but it does feel amazingly fast and responsive but also rides well. Tires measure out to 31mm. 7.5kg without pedals it’s no featherweight but neither am I 😂

 

Woah! Love purple bikes and that chromium purple is crazy. I'm faster on bikes that look pretty

 

Thanks! It started in life as an SL but that frame developed some paint issues and I was able to upgrade to the SLR frame. I bought a used SLR cockpit and a set of RSL51 wheels while I waited, old bike:

 

Nice work. Always super rewarding to have a goal, focus on it and see that progress coming.

And yeah, that's me. I make an appearance in a few different videos from BWR UT. Had lots of folks stopping to look at the bike, because of the pain matched suspension fork I think.

 

hey man, hell yeah on sub 200lb! Keep it up.

 

DUDE! YES! The U.P. is amazing. I love it up there. I did a solo(me+dog) trip to Copper Harbor last summer on my way to northern MN too.


Good excuse for a fleet update.
I built an "Airwolf" 'special-ish Epic Evo' with a Fox34 Stepcast and DPS with a two position twinlock, AXS GX, EIE Carbon/Bitex wheels, 2.4 Aspens, and later a Roval cockpit.
Pictured atop Highlands bluff, on East Rim, Copper Harbor, MI(Upper Peninsula content!)



The Lynksey fits better now with the 70mm stem from the "Epic" after it moved to the onepiece. Pictured with both wheelsets, 700x47 on EIE carbon/novatec and 2.2 RaceKing on 27.5 Industry Nine 235 UltraLites.
This is Presque Isle in Marquette, MI (more UP content):




My ancient Giant XTC29er got converted to single speed on a magic ratio after the Airwolf Epic was done. Its a super fun change of pace on the local XC trails.

 

The UP is amazing and hardly ever talked about. I’m building my retirement compound up here.

In other news, it’s real now, 2 days to go.

 

Drunk story time,
About two years ago there was this hill that seemed hard “epic”. It was 47 out of the saddle pumps on my single speed clunker. I knew this demon like the back of my hand. Fast forward 2 years, I’m getting semi serious. Ride Up hills, mud, sand, suck your soul for a month. Hit this hill for the first time in two years and literally laughed at my dum *** self the whole way up in the saddle at 135hr. What a bitch I was… Which got me thinking, does Emilio see me post a PR and go, “You silly bitch” haha 😎😂😘

Anyways, like 36hrs till the 55, time to sober up and be serious. TDLR, drunk, interval trained today, one last low cal drink, thought someone would laugh, sorry to double post, I like bikes