[Other Sport] Cycling geeks

[Indurain's Lungs]

No, it was all good, once I overcame the inevitable part of the job that wasn't going to form.
On the crank side I needed to bypass a bearing puller with a vice, screwdriver and a big hammer, but once that was off it's a pretty straight forward fix.

The key to completing was the introduction of a stunt peg to my tool kit.
It's the perfect size and shape to use as a taperonerer.

Hmm. I'll have to think about it, may get a price from LBS to do it for comparison. Although they don't charge in expletives and lost knuckle skin!

Also considering switching to a 52/36 instead though that an expensive way to change some bearings!

 

[Stat Brother]

Hmm. I'll have to think about it, may get a price from LBS to do it for comparison. Although they don't charge in expletives and lost knuckle skin!

Also considering switching to a 52/36 instead though that an expensive way to change some bearings!

It was pretty straight forward.
I used this youtubist as a guide:-





As said the only slight problem was not having a bearing puller.
The whole bearing came off the left side.
But only the outer case came off from the crank side.

So I was left with a 'ring' stuck fast on the crank.
Fortunately having it clamped seriously tight in a vice, and giving it a knock (I didn't need to Thor it) shattered the ring.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I did the Beacon yesterday for the first time in a while. Didn't feel great for the first 30miles or so before it, but gave it my all and thought I did okay. Felt brilliant after it funny enough, as good as I'd felt the whole ride, cruised home at a really decent pace.

Got back to review Strava and at 8mins 12 secs, it was a full 1 min 12 secs slower than my best time. I cannot comprehend how this body, pretty much the same one as 2013 could do that a full minute quicker - I'm baffled to be honest, I'm wondering whether the wife had me on some EPO while I was asleep!? Perhaps I really was fitter than I realised that year, at least with more cycling miles in the legs.

Anyone got any segments they're just no where near that they achieved in the recent past?

 

[1066familyman]

I did the Beacon yesterday for the first time in a while. Didn't feel great for the first 30miles or so before it, but gave it my all and thought I did okay. Felt brilliant after it funny enough, as good as I'd felt the whole ride, cruised home at a really decent pace.

Got back to review Strava and at 8mins 12 secs, it was a full 1 min 12 secs slower than my best time. I cannot comprehend how this body, pretty much the same one as 2013 could do that a full minute quicker - I'm baffled to be honest, I'm wondering whether the wife had me on some EPO while I was asleep!? Perhaps I really was fitter than I realised that year, at least with more cycling miles in the legs.

Anyone got any segments they're just no where near that they achieved in the recent past?

The opposite for me. Even what feel like gentle rides for me now have me bagging 'PR's' like Strava think I've gone 'Premium' or something.
Perhaps someone bought me it as a gift without me knowing? I'll live with that so long as they haven't also done a Tory postal vote for me as well without me knowing.

 

[Stat Brother]

I did the Beacon yesterday for the first time in a while. Didn't feel great for the first 30miles or so before it, but gave it my all and thought I did okay. Felt brilliant after it funny enough, as good as I'd felt the whole ride, cruised home at a really decent pace.

Got back to review Strava and at 8mins 12 secs, it was a full 1 min 12 secs slower than my best time. I cannot comprehend how this body, pretty much the same one as 2013 could do that a full minute quicker - I'm baffled to be honest, I'm wondering whether the wife had me on some EPO while I was asleep!? Perhaps I really was fitter than I realised that year, at least with more cycling miles in the legs.

Anyone got any segments they're just no where near that they achieved in the recent past?

Maybe you weren't being EPO'ed while you slept, but you've doughnutted yourself in the intervening 18 months!

'Pretty much the same'

I'd hazard a guess the missing minute is down to miles in the legs, quad-power, and belly expansion!


I (not ironically) buried myself up Bury Hill last week and shaved off a whole 7 seconds off my previous PB.
All that effort for 7 freakin seconds, I could hardly breath at the top.
Christ knows how I managed my previous PB a month earlier.
Annoyingly I'm still 5 seconds behind my mate Phil's 2011 PB.
Also 50 behind Col du Col, but I don't talk about that.


I'm currently doing a tour of my nemesis's having beaten Cob lane, I took on and better Bexley Hill, times don't come into those climbs.

 

[manintheblackpajamas]

Anyone got any segments they're just no where near that they achieved in the recent past?

I realised the other day I haven't even attempted Steyning Bostal, since last season's PB. I do the parallel road, Sopers lane instead and tell myself it's because there's no traffic, rather than avoiding comparing Bostal times!

Next goal is getting the full Kidd's Hill to dip under 6 minutes as that's definitely achievable.

 

[Stat Brother]

Oh I've just remembered a Strava based geek confession.

A while ago I noticed on the segment (and all the sub segments) from Upper Beeding to Henfield I was bottom of the Geeks 'league'.

I'm not bottom any more


Oh and as Bold bought this subject up, plus the fact he's already titsy with me on the specific segment.
But I recently took a bit more time out of the Coombes south to north segments.

 

[Motogull]

I did the Beacon yesterday for the first time in a while. Didn't feel great for the first 30miles or so before it, but gave it my all and thought I did okay. Felt brilliant after it funny enough, as good as I'd felt the whole ride, cruised home at a really decent pace.

Got back to review Strava and at 8mins 12 secs, it was a full 1 min 12 secs slower than my best time. I cannot comprehend how this body, pretty much the same one as 2013 could do that a full minute quicker - I'm baffled to be honest, I'm wondering whether the wife had me on some EPO while I was asleep!? Perhaps I really was fitter than I realised that year, at least with more cycling miles in the legs.

Anyone got any segments they're just no where near that they achieved in the recent past?

I don't know how old you are, but in my advancing years I reckon I need to do more to keep it even. Really need to lose weight to compensate. A decent gastro bug should cover it nicely.

Still catching up from my virus. Can't even attack the sprinty segments yet. Climbing segments I'm well down the lists. No so the sprinty ones. You'll never guess who absolutely funking smoked my Kidds Hill time, despite him having a broken spoke.

More Sod's Law at play. Brought a nice new front light in February. Noticed it not working yesterday, so went to replace the batteries to find one had leaked. New batteries not helping. Sake.

 

[banjo]

Oh I've just remembered a Strava based geek confession.

A while ago I noticed on the segment (and all the sub segments) from Upper Beeding to Henfield I was bottom of the Geeks 'league'.

I'm not bottom any more


Oh and as Bold bought this subject up, plus the fact he's already titsy with me on the specific segment.
But I recently took a bit more time out of the Coombes south to north segments.

It's not Me is it

 

[Bold Seagull]

Oh I've just remembered a Strava based geek confession.

A while ago I noticed on the segment (and all the sub segments) from Upper Beeding to Henfield I was bottom of the Geeks 'league'.

I'm not bottom any more


Oh and as Bold bought this subject up, plus the fact he's already titsy with me on the specific segment.
But I recently took a bit more time out of the Coombes south to north segments.

Its the one reason I'm upping my miles! I'm looking to build a team around me to attack Coombes going North and South. My Col Du Annington still stands mind you!

 

[Bold Seagull]

I don't know how old you are, but in my advancing years I reckon I need to do more to keep it even. Really need to lose weight to compensate. A decent gastro bug should cover it nicely.

Still catching up from my virus. Can't even attack the sprinty segments yet. Climbing segments I'm well down the lists. No so the sprinty ones. You'll never guess who absolutely funking smoked my Kidds Hill time, despite him having a broken spoke.

More Sod's Law at play. Brought a nice new front light in February. Noticed it not working yesterday, so went to replace the batteries to find one had leaked. New batteries not helping. Sake.

I did turn 40 last summer. Given fat is around half the density of muscle, I think I weigh pretty much the same, only it's because twice as much fat has replaced half as much muscle!

 

[Stat Brother]

Its the one reason I'm upping my miles! I'm looking to build a team around me to attack Coombes going North and South. My Col Du Annington still stands mind you!

North to South otherwise known as The Easy Way.

 

[Stat Brother]

I don't know how old you are, but in my advancing years I reckon I need to do more to keep it even. Really need to lose weight to compensate. A decent gastro bug should cover it nicely.

I'm pleased I'm not the only one who looks longingly at gastroenteritis.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

I'm pleased I'm not the only one who looks longingly at gastroenteritis.

What you need is a good old fashioned tapeworm! They used to sell their eggs in pills as a weight loss aid many years ago. That and some Belgian mix should get the segment times down!

 

[banjo]

I'm pleased I'm not the only one who looks longingly at gastroenteritis.

What you need is a good old fashioned tapeworm! They used to sell their eggs in pills as a weight loss aid many years ago. That and some Belgian mix should get the segment times down!

A nice vindaloo and a few pints of Guinness works for Me.

 

[Stat Brother]

What you need is a good old fashioned tapeworm! They used to sell their eggs in pills as a weight loss aid many years ago. That and some Belgian mix should get the segment times down!

and I shall call him Douglas.

 

[Glanders]

Quick question for anyone on here that trains with power [MENTION=23986]Glanders[/MENTION]? [MENTION=566]Bad Ash[/MENTION]? [MENTION=54]teaboy[/MENTION]?

I'm just wondering how your power relates to times over 10/25 miles or similar. Strava estimated by average power at 244W over 12.8 miles for 21.6mph (with some stopping), however the fastest on the bike beat me by 3 minutes and had a recorded average of 249W - is that just aero (full setup including discs and aero helmet).

Hi IL. Yes, I'd agree with maninblack.. that the strava power estimates are next to useless. And even when power is measured, it seems extremely variable and quite hard to draw any definitive conclusions from - as an example, I beat a clubmate by nearly a minute in a 10 mile TT yesterday. He is the same height and weight as me and has a very aero position, having spent serious cash on wind tunnel visits and refining the set up on his Scott Plasma. By contrast, my position is pretty rudimentary to say the least, arrived at totally empirically and lacking any finesse and he averaged 351W to my 346W. I thought that training and racing with power would remove all subjectivity and bias, but it seems to have muddied the waters even more! What is even more baffling is that, as I get faster on the bike and train ever harder, my average race power figures are dropping... Sorry if that's not a lot of help!

 

[Bad Ash]

Quick question for anyone on here that trains with power [MENTION=23986]Glanders[/MENTION]? [MENTION=566]Bad Ash[/MENTION]? [MENTION=54]teaboy[/MENTION]?

I'm just wondering how your power relates to times over 10/25 miles or similar. Strava estimated by average power at 244W over 12.8 miles for 21.6mph (with some stopping), however the fastest on the bike beat me by 3 minutes and had a recorded average of 249W - is that just aero (full setup including discs and aero helmet).

Sorry, I've been on holiday. You can't really compare your power (from Strava) to the other guys (which I assume was with a power meter). Strava just calcs a value based upon (I guess) the speed, gradient plus weight of bike and rider (remember those values you guessed when you first signed up to Strava and are now out of date and probably weren't accurate to begin with) and must assume an average aero position/setup, weather conditions, drive chain efficiency, tire grip, etc.

Even both using power meters they could easily differ by 5% (which is 10W+ at those sorts of values), especially if comparing pedal power to wheel hub power readings (due to drive train losses).

I've not got a huge amount to offer other than this activity (a 10mile TT) recorded using a power meter (Powe2Max crank based). Average watts of 250W, with average speed 22.9mph for a time of 26:20. This was on a wet and windy course with 3 roundabout 180 degree turns (so I pretty much completely stopped). I was using a TT bike and aero helmet (Specialised Evade): https://www.strava.com/activities/275316808

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Sorry, I've been on holiday. You can't really compare your power (from Strava) to the other guys (which I assume was with a power meter). Strava just calcs a value based upon (I guess) the speed, gradient plus weight of bike and rider (remember those values you guessed when you first signed up to Strava and are now out of date and probably weren't accurate to begin with) and must assume an average aero position/setup, weather conditions, drive chain efficiency, tire grip, etc.

Even both using power meters they could easily differ by 5% (which is 10W+ at those sorts of values), especially if comparing pedal power to wheel hub power readings (due to drive train losses).

I've not got a huge amount to offer other than this activity (a 10mile TT) recorded using a power meter (Powe2Max crank based). Average watts of 250W, with average speed 22.9mph for a time of 26:20. This was on a wet and windy course with 3 roundabout 180 degree turns (so I pretty much completely stopped). I was using a TT bike and aero helmet (Specialised Evade): https://www.strava.com/activities/275316808

Thanks. Sounds like a power meter wont be the training revolution I'd hoped for!

Hi IL. Yes, I'd agree with maninblack.. that the strava power estimates are next to useless. And even when power is measured, it seems extremely variable and quite hard to draw any definitive conclusions from - as an example, I beat a clubmate by nearly a minute in a 10 mile TT yesterday. He is the same height and weight as me and has a very aero position, having spent serious cash on wind tunnel visits and refining the set up on his Scott Plasma. By contrast, my position is pretty rudimentary to say the least, arrived at totally empirically and lacking any finesse and he averaged 351W to my 346W. I thought that training and racing with power would remove all subjectivity and bias, but it seems to have muddied the waters even more! What is even more baffling is that, as I get faster on the bike and train ever harder, my average race power figures are dropping... Sorry if that's not a lot of help!

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Thanks. Sounds like a power meter wont be the training revolution I'd hoped for!

It's interesting that the estimated power outputs used for the pros on the mountain stages are pretty accurate when compared to their power files. Also, the all produce pretty much exactly the Sam W/kg when climbing at the same pace.

I know there are many factors in a TT but you'd think there would be some consistency, even just in your own readings.

All coaches and many riders rave about the difference training with power so was hoping to use it better for intervals etc.