Did You Ride Today?

CAMPYBOB said:

Good. I don't have to spend a dime. [censored] like the Garmin 1000 and iPotato's the size of a brick were always too large for me and the bike.

Suddenly, I feel...ever so fashionable! I must be a trendsetter!

When I did the metric yesterday, If it hadn't been for one of my buddies bringing up the rear, I would have taken a wrong turn, even with the cue sheet. I was supposed to cross a set of train tracks, only there were two places that I could do that. The cue sheet said I should make the next left, but the sign on the road was wrong and didn't agree with what is on the cue sheet, It was like somebody had purposely switched the signs. This may be a problem when I do the 200k if I'm out there alone. Having one of those Garmin GPS's would definitely be a plus, but I just don't want to spend $600 for it. That's ridiculous. The GPS I bought to affix to the windshield of my pickup didn't cost that much. I can't figure why the one that affixes to a bicycle costs twice as much as any run of the mill GPS.

Uawadall said:

Yesterday we hit a high temperature record in NY.It reached 80 degrees!!!I couldn't make it outside due to my work schedule, but it was still 60 degrees at 6 am this morning. I finally bought a new wheel set, the Mavic Kysrium Elites. I rode an 18.2 mile internal session at a 17.6 mph average pace. The wheels seem to speed up during starts quicker than the previous r500, handle better and are somewhat lighter. Early morning rides are pleasant and the roads have virtually no traffic. I may try again tomorrow morning if the weather is decent.

That's a nice wheelset. So that's all I need to be fast, again. Who knew?

3rd day on the road at Goldilocks temperatures. I may rest my legs tomorrow.

Bicycleman said:

I can't figure why the one that affixes to a bicycle costs twice as much as any run of the mill GPS.

Economy of scale. Garmin and the other GPS manufacturers get their little buddies in China build them a gazillion motor vehicle units. Bicycles...er...not so many. Even runners with GPS outnumber us by orders of magnitude.

And if you think cycling GPS is pricey, you should hear the guys buying aviation units cry a river. Those things are insanely expensive. A Garmin dashboard for your Beech or Cessna can cost as much as a small car.

Still, for basic GPS and area detail mapping all you really need is a Garmin 520 for $300 and prices are dropping. Mainly de-bugged, I like mine. It's SMALL! Typical time/speed/distance + altitude, compass heading, pace, heart rate...all the usual stuff plus power/cycling dynamics if you have an ANT+ power meter.

For touring or randyknees work, I would get the Big Brick 1000 model. It's hard to beat the features and readability if you're constantly going to be checking course, heading, cross-checking cue sheets, etc.

I still will use some reduced size paper maps this summer. They are faster to use and get rolling again than scrolling through a few Garmin screens, shading the display or moving to a shady spot and straining my eyes to read the small screen and zoom, zoom, zooming in and out repeatedly to make sure I'm on the right track.

There's a lot to be said for old school paper.

Bicycleman said:

That's a nice wheelset. So that's all I need to be fast, again. Who knew?

17.5 is a speed I hit frequently enough, intervals are usually below that do to the recovery after sprints.I don't think i'll be able to tell for a while how much of a benefit they'll have. What I do know is I didn't have to switch into the small ring once. I did a lot of standing climbing and out of the saddle work and the wheels still felt light. I'll do a 50 miler or so this weekend to see if theirs a noticeable difference. Also, they look cool😉 , everyones entitled to a few shiny things once in a while,lol...

CAMPYBOB said:

Economy of scale. Garmin and the other GPS manufacturers get their little buddies in China build them a gazillion motor vehicle units. Bicycles...er...not so many. Even runners with GPS outnumber us by orders of magnitude.

And if you think cycling GPS is pricey, you should hear the guys buying aviation units cry a river. Those things are insanely expensive. A Garmin dashboard for your Beech or Cessna can cost as much as a small car.

Still, for basic GPS and area detail mapping all you really need is a Garmin 520 for $300 and prices are dropping. Mainly de-bugged, I like mine. It's SMALL! Typical time/speed/distance + altitude, compass heading, pace, heart rate...all the usual stuff plus power/cycling dynamics if you have an ANT+ power meter.

For touring or randyknees work, I would get the Big Brick 1000 model. It's hard to beat the features and readability if you're constantly going to be checking course, heading, cross-checking cue sheets, etc.

I still will use some reduced size paper maps this summer. They are faster to use and get rolling again than scrolling through a few Garmin screens, shading the display or moving to a shady spot and straining my eyes to read the small screen and zoom, zoom, zooming in and out repeatedly to make sure I'm on the right track.

There's a lot to be said for old school paper.

I used to go to the local highway department and get street maps of the surrounding counties. Then I'd take the maps to work with me and make copies at a reduced size so I could carry them on the bike. As a result, I became a rolling encyclopedia of the various roads in the area. Cue sheets just don't cut it for me. Like you, I need maps, and that's how I ride by seeing the roads in my mind as a map. Windows 10 has a good map program, but when I try to print my present view of the maps, it won't print out correctly. Then I have to make changes and end up with 50 different maps, something that is not feasible. It's looking more and more like I'm going to have to spring for a GPS.

GPS units might be nice on a plane, but whatever happened to VOR? Have they turned off the signals?

Well another MTB ride with the same 2,000 ft gain. Same course. Man, doing it a second day in a row really woke up my legs ha ha! 😄

CAMPYBOB said:

1. Go to (insert name of craptastic local chain store here).
2. Buy $4.99 TRAC Phone.
3. Profit?

They still sell small flip phones and small non-flip phones. Perfect for emergency use and if they get trashed...who cares? I carry one in a plastic bag and the iPotato camera might make Volnix scream or horror, but it beats the Hell out of the Kodak trash I grew up with.

I had one of these... The battery is quite nice staying charged for a few days instead of charging it twice a day...

I think the most sensible setup at the moment is Desktop PC, big ass Tablet for checking "movies", and a phone.

Nokia still makes some keyed stuff for 40Euro which suppose to have a one week battery life. I believe it as my nokia E52 still has a battery life of a few days even with GPS turned on.

Nokia has a really nice maps program. But Google maps is quite nice too, now that you can store maps for offline use.

(BTW Samsung makes IPharooks screens... 😉 , the gold I pharroks have " for sale in Arab countries written all over them.. Tacky b@stardz. 😄)

From yesterday's ride...

16C, breezy, sunny... 😄

150euro Samsung, ISO 200(maybe 😄 ), no flash... 😄

Sorry it's only 35mm and not wide angle... But if it was, it would also capture the dogsh^t on the left, the alcoholics on the bench on the right and the dead baby floating in the sea as well... 😄 )

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Mr. Beanz said:

Well another MTB ride with the same 2,000 ft gain. Same course. Man, doing it a second day in a row really woke up my legs ha ha!

Fantastic! You have had some really nice weather to ride in out there and you're doing a great job of taking advantage of it.

We had steady moderate rain all day yesterday and all night, last night...the same stuff that's causing the flooding in Louisiana is coming right up out of the Gulf and dumping what's left along the way.

It's going to be partly cloudy with a high of 55° in Ohio today and the wind speed will be low at around 5 MPH. A perfect day to get out on the road this afternoon!

Couple of MTB rides I did during the week. Same course 2 days in a row. 2,000+ each so that's a total of 4,000+ for the week already. Hope to get more this weekend on the roadie.

Downhill looks real slow in the video ha ha! My max was 25 but looks more like 5 he he he! But I only ride the MTB for the climbing exercise. After crashing twice years ago on this downhill at 30 mph, I said "F" it, you can have the DH ha ha!

Mr. Beanz said:

Couple of MTB rides I did during the week. Same course 2 days in a row. 2,000+ each so that's a total of 4,000+ for the week already. Hope to get more this weekend on the roadie.

Downhill looks real slow in the video ha ha! My max was 25 but looks more like 5 he he he! But I only ride the MTB for the climbing exercise. After crashing twice years ago on this downhill at 30 mph, I said "F" it, you can have the DH ha ha!

Shouldn't look slow with the GoBrah wide angle measured in degrees... 🙁

Thats why they make 'em wide them "action" ones I think... So they look "faster"...

Oh man if I go shooting with the fish eye again and somebody asks me if I shot with a GoBrah I'm gonna f@ckin murder him ...

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Volnix said:

Oh man if I go shooting with the fish eye again and somebody asks me if I shot with a GoBrah I'm gonna f@ckin murder him ...

I hate the fish eye look. I hate the Go Pro images as well. That is why I carry a point and shoot with me for pics. 😄
I like the true to life pics.

That's my wife in the mountains and on the trail with me.

Mr. Beanz said:

Cool as ice!! 😄

Most of the time you don't need the below 35mm wide, but being all "action" (aka rubber flanged lens in front of a random sensor (the hd phantom go brah - 300 hapinesses more ) with a couple of shock absorber flanges on the engineering plastic housing)

Resista! 😄 Keep Le Photo-Graphing Real! 😄

Eye Candy: 😉

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22 Miles with 800' of climbing. It was 42 degrees, sunny and hardly any wind. The Boy wonder and I shoved off and he said something about "keep it easy" something something "riding long tomorrow" something "training program" something something "only riding for an hour" something something "Asheville Grand Fondo 10,000' of climbing"...

And then he spun it out. He did take it easy on the climbs...and [censored] at me for passing him for going too slow up a couple of the hills! LMAO! The kid can flat out kill it going up the steep stuff whenever he feels like it. He's fun to ride with.

Hit 182 BPM on the steepest climb of the evening right after we both went our separate ways and headed for home. No screaming descents on this afternoon's course, unfortunately.

30 miles, 1200' of climb and dang near hot this morning. I am beat but got work to do outside.

I went to the bike club today and they're were only 2 groups. A B+/A group and a B group, I decided to try out the new wheels. Many of the riders were wearing team jerseys and I saw a few speedsters I recognize in passing. The group started with around 30 or so riders and began to shrink fast. A lot of those team jersey guys fell off and it was soon 10 or so of us left. This was the fastest group I've rode with to date. We did nearly 36 and I kept up for around 3/4th's of it, I was the last to get dropped. We were riding at a 19.5 pace. I finished 35.8 miles/1440 ft/18.6 mph.

I've had some say wheels don't make a difference and others that think they're very important. The wheels made my bike feel new in terms of handle and lightness. I didn't use the small chain ring at all and only needed to stop for 2 minutes to gps. I think I may look into changing my 11/28 cassette as well. Some of the guys gave me some good training tips and I may try riding with them again next week.

52 Miles with The Boy Wonder and another guy that trains with us a couple times per month. A semi-fast run over...depending on which Garmin you believed (two 520's and one 510) either 3,300', 3,600' or 4,200' of climbing.

Averaged 16.1 MPH in 50 degree to 60 degree temperatures. The sun was out and everyone was feeling their oats. I and the other guy spent a [censored] of miles chasing down The Boy Wonder. I got off the front exactly twice and on the longer break I managed to bury myself over three tough climbs and stay away for 3 or 4 miles.

The Boy Wonder was killing me on the flats when we got alongside the river. He draped his arms over the bars and tried his best to hold pro Watts. I was actually glad to get back into climbing mode after both of the massive TT stretches he pulled us along for. Suffering at 25-27 MPH this time of year hurts and being in the draft didn't make my legs feel any better!

It was a great workout and it's time to start stretching those miles out and keep working on the speed.

Uawadall said:

We were riding at a 19.5 pace. I finished 35.8 miles/1440 ft/18.6 mph.

Excellent! Great job!

jhuskey said:

30 miles, 1200' of climb

Good work!

CAMPYBOB said:

Good work!

Thanks dude. The mileage is accurate but the Garmin lies about climb. I remember that route being more like 1400 or 1500.