[JRB]

OK - I know it should be a roadie thread, but I don't call myself a roadie so here it is.

Went to the Davis mountains to a road ride this weekend. Did 75 miles. Furthest I have gone. It was phuckin hard on my fat ass. I burned 6,000 calories according to my HRM. The highlights were some fast phuckin descents, a rattle snake in the road, and one fast ass chick that oddly wore an apparent thong under her shorts??? (she also owned the folks on the 2 mile hill climb Sunday) After my ride and some good wine drinking on Saturday night, Sunday presented a 7 mile hill climb that I did. Sadly, I walked a couple of hundred yard here and there since my legs just wouldn't turn pedals any more. Fresh this thing would have been no big deal. Tired, it owned me. The kid that won that was like 17 and 130 pounds. He did it 30 minutes faster than me. My options appear to be, move to the mountains, or don't go to mountain rides. I like moving to the mountains idea most. I will post some pics tonight or in the morning. I downloaded them last night, but didn't put them up anywhere.

Question - is a flatlander that has to take breaks in the mountains a big pussy that should just sell the road bike??? Do they just find the local big hills and do repeats??? Do they say phuck it, I'm not a roadie and my fat ass never will be???

 

[fatpandas]

take an old set of wheels throw 'em on your bike, put some tektro or diacomp brake pads on and dial in your brakes so that they are always rubbing in the back....


or just move to the mountains.

 

[chicodude]

A flatlander That doesnt do good on the hill isnt really a pussy, but he needs to work out more...........

Just hit the hills as much as you can, and just spin do the top, non of that crazy lance armstrong ****

 

[Instigator]

If you like riding the road bike than keep it. No reason beating yourself up over not being in great shape.

 

[LordOpie]

get a triple

 

[TN]

since -SS- hasnt chimed in......

WTF? Mountains in Texas?! TX sux! Front Range Rules! Roadie?! WTF?!

HAHAHAHAHA!!! I love that guy.

 

[JRB]

get a triple

I'll have to check the ratios, but I rode an 11-32 Sram cassette on the ride. It still owned me.

 

[JRB]

since -SS- hasnt chimed in......

WTF? Mountains in Texas?! TX sux! Front Range Rules! Roadie?! WTF?!

HAHAHAHAHA!!! I love that guy.

He is funny. The only unfortunate thing is that I am the BUTT of his jokes most of the time.

 

[LordOpie]

I'll have to check the ratios, but I rode an 11-32 Sram cassette on the ride. It still owned me.

I'm confused, this is a real road bike? I'm not teasing you, just confused. So you have a mt cassette and derail? What shifters are you using? Do you have a sram front derail too?

I'm guessing you have a double? 39-32 is similar to 30-25.

What were the grades you were on?

Congo Rats on your now longest ride!

Oh, the right answer is always move to the mountains.

 

[JRB]

I'm confused, this is a real road bike? I'm not teasing you, just confused. So you have a mt cassette and derail? What shifters are you using? Do you have a sram front derail too?

I'm guessing you have a double? 39-32 is similar to 30-25.

What were the grades you were on?

Congo Rats on your now longest ride!

Oh, the right answer is always move to the mountains.

Yup - XTR rear der with a mtn cassette. They come off today cause there are stupid gaps. I am going to get compact rings if I go back. Using 105 shifters. They all throw the same if they are not rapid rise. No sram shifters, just cassette. Most of the grueling grades were like 14%. The slow killers were like 1 - 3% for 8-10 miles. The hill climb went to 17%. What's weird is we have one that is like just over 1/2 mile of 13% that goes to 14% and I can climb it 3 in a row in the middle of a 25. The elevation didn't affect my breathing at all. Moderate heart rate for 75 miles. I guess it was just the grind of it all. What are the average gradients on the rides there? A triple wouldn't be a bad idea. I saw peeps with triples and a 32 cassette on the ride.

 

[LordOpie]

Yup - XTR rear der with a mtn cassette. They come off today cause there are stupid gaps. I am going to get compact rings if I go back. Using 105 shifters. They all throw the same if they are not rapid rise. No sram shifters, just cassette. Most of the grueling grades were like 14%. The slow killers were like 1 - 3% for 8-10 miles. The hill climb went to 17%. What's weird is we have one that is like just over 1/2 mile of 13% that goes to 14% and I can climb it 3 in a row in the middle of a 25. The elevation didn't affect my breathing at all. Moderate heart rate for 75 miles. I guess it was just the grind of it all. What are the average gradients on the rides there? A triple wouldn't be a bad idea. I saw peeps with triples and a 32 cassette on the ride.

If you were riding 14%+, you're a total badass.
If you were having trouble with 1-3%, you're a total pussy.
If you rode 75 miles, you're pretty damn good.
= not bad at all!

a triple + 32 cog? seems like you'd be going so slow it'd be hard to keep your balance?

If you rebuild stuff, yeah, get rid of the 32 for no other reason than the gaps. You're better off with a triple and 25 or 27... you give up the smoother front shifting of a double, but giving up the smoother shifting is a good compromise.

We have all sorts of grades/climbs here. Saturday, I did Squaw Pass -- first half of climbing Mt. Evans. It's a fairly consistent 5-6% climb for 13-14 miles. We have several steeper climbs here too, but not sure of all the details. I'm more interested in long steady climbs than short brutal ones.

Above all that, the views you're rewarded with from the climbs are fvcking awesome. And sometimes, it's just as cool to be in the clouds with no view at all.

If you ever come out here, you're welcome to crash at my place.

 

[JRB]

If you were riding 14%+, you're a total badass.
If you were having trouble with 1-3%, you're a total pussy.
If you rode 75 miles, you're pretty damn good.
= not bad at all!

a triple + 32 cog? seems like you'd be going so slow it'd be hard to keep your balance?

If you rebuild stuff, yeah, get rid of the 32 for no other reason than the gaps. You're better off with a triple and 25 or 27... you give up the smoother front shifting of a double, but giving up the smoother shifting is a good compromise.

We have all sorts of grades/climbs here. Saturday, I did Squaw Pass -- first half of climbing Mt. Evans. It's a fairly consistent 5-6% climb for 13-14 miles. We have several steeper climbs here too, but not sure of all the details. I'm more interested in long steady climbs than short brutal ones.

Above all that, the views you're rewarded with from the climbs are fvcking awesome. And sometimes, it's just as cool to be in the clouds with no view at all.

If you ever come out here, you're welcome to crash at my place.

Cool on the invite. May take you up on it next year. I felt really good on the 5% and less stuff. The 14% was tough, but not too bad. I think I would have rather had a 27 with smaller gaps. I have been trying to spin and the mountain cassette seemed to have huge gaps. The 14% here is not so bad with a 25, but it is fairly flat getting to it. We do have some long grinders here since it is damn near the hill country. Once you go south west of here, there are some brutal climbs that are likely 10 - 16% for up to 3 miles. Those would kill me now. I was pleased to average 15.7 mph for what was actually 77 miles and some change. I will see if I can find the graph on line now. I will post up some, what I think are cool pics tonight I hope.

 

[indieboy]

I'll have to check the ratios, but I rode an 11-32 Sram cassette on the ride. It still owned me.

you just need to ride more that's all.
there are alllllllllllllllllllllll sorts of workouts you can do to help raise your power at threshold (what basically determines how fast you're going to be able to climb). hell some of the best mtn bike climbers i know are from florida

 

[SkaredShtles]

OK -<snip>I like moving to the mountains idea most. I will post some pics tonight or in the morning. I downloaded them last night, but didn't put them up anywhere.

Question - is a flatlander that has to take breaks in the mountains a big pussy that should just sell the road bike??? Do they just find the local big hills and do repeats??? Do they say phuck it, I'm not a roadie and my fat ass never will be???

Move to the mountains. Although I :heart: TX, I'm addicted to the mountains.

Who knows, you might even ride a mt bike if you move to the mts.

-S.S.-

 

[SkaredShtles]

since -SS- hasnt chimed in......

WTF? Mountains in Texas?! TX sux! Front Range Rules! Roadie?! WTF?!

HAHAHAHAHA!!! I love that guy.

Awwwww......... that's cute. :love:

Forget the Front Range. The Front Range sucks. Utah is where it's *at* baby.... you know that.

-S.S.-

 

[SkaredShtles]

<snip>
If you rode 75 miles, you're pretty damn good.
= not bad at all!

Bah! 75 miles on pavement is *nothing*........ geez - Morryjg and I did a metric century a few years back as the first ride of the year and I was on a Trek Y22.

-S.S.-

P.S. All right, I'll admit, I was a bit knackered after that ride.

 

[JRB]

Bah! 75 miles on pavement is *nothing*........ geez - Morryjg and I did a metric century a few years back as the first ride of the year and I was on a Trek Y22.

-S.S.-

P.S. All right, I'll admit, I was a bit knackered after that ride.

Downhill doesn't count.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Downhill doesn't count.

Shuddup. It was down in town on bike path, so it was mostly flat. :mumble:

-S.S.-

Edit: $HIT! Did I just admit I've ridden bike path?!? :mumble: :mumble: