Cycling Miscellany

[Eddie]

My wife wants to pick up an entry level road bike to give riding a shot. She's got a friend upgrading who is offering a Raleigh.

Being a snob who only recognizes names like cannondale, trek, specialized, fuji, cervelo, etc. as "good" bike brands - and who yet recognizes that he is still new and naive to much of this - where does Raleigh fall?

[Joe Public]

Let's pretend for a second that I don't know what you mean by "gruppos".

See Dwight's picture. You'll also hear the word "groupset" sometimes - although it will be from someone like me and not from someone like creekster.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupset

The top-of-the-line groupsets (Shimano's DuraAce, Campagnolo's SuperRecord, etc.) are focused on performance and weight; they do not necessarily emphasize durability. A couple of steps down from top-of-the-line can have a high-value combination of cost and performance/durability. There is an endless supply of groupset reviews, opinions, etc. on the internet, so enjoy.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

My wife wants to pick up an entry level road bike to give riding a shot. She's got a friend upgrading who is offering a Raleigh.

Being a snob who only recognizes names like cannondale, trek, specialized, fuji, cervelo, etc. as "good" bike brands - and who yet recognizes that he is still new and naive to much of this - where does Raleigh fall?

Honestly, if the bike fits her and is comfortable, it's a great entry level bike. I'm guessing that the friend used it as an entry level as well and pretty much everything at that point is pretty even stevens. Buying used is a better starting point than spending 40% + more from a store.

[creekster]

My wife wants to pick up an entry level road bike to give riding a shot. She's got a friend upgrading who is offering a Raleigh.

Being a snob who only recognizes names like cannondale, trek, specialized, fuji, cervelo, etc. as "good" bike brands - and who yet recognizes that he is still new and naive to much of this - where does Raleigh fall?

My very first real bike was a gorgeous Raleigh Grand Prix (back when they were still made in the UK). It had a tan brooks saddle and was painted british racing green with gold pinstripe painting highlighting the frame lugs. It was a gorgeous bike. Raleighs are still pretty good. Like DS said, if it fits, and she likes it, it will be a great ride.

[Eddie]

Thanks for the input. It should be great for her to get started on. As you say - no sense dropping a lot of coin into something she may not enjoy going forward (took her first spin on a borrowed road bike last weekend. More or less enjoyed it, but the frame is small for her and it ended up putting more pressure than normal on her hands/arms - which she didn't like.).

Got a little more information on the bike for sale. Aluminum frame with carbon forks, sora components, sadly no brooks saddle Creekster. But it seems like a pretty good deal for the price around here - as long as it fits good and she's happy with it.

[Moliere]

On Saturday I headed out for another long training ride. This one felt different right from the beginning. My legs were a bit more tired than usual and my heart rate was already (at an hour into the ride) about 10 bpm higher than normal. I figured it was probably due to the Pilates I had done the day before...but it wasn't killing me so I pressed on. My friend and I hit a 5 mile rough section of road that really took something out of both of us, but after that road I really was struggling to keep my speed up to normal levels.

About 6 miles from finishing I was stopped at a light and slowly rolled back a couple feet. As I rolled, I heard a little screeching sound and looked down to find my front brake caliper was rubbing against the front wheel. I reached down and found that it was loose and the brake cable had some pressure on it bringing it to a resting position on the rim of the wheel. I lifted the wheel off the ground and tried to spin it. It did two revolutions before the friction stopped it. Ugh, who knows how long I had ridden with that friction hitting my wheel. I just figured I was having an off day....which I probably was but I'm sure that little bit of friction made it a really off day. I'm sure the rough road made it looser. I guess I should always check my components before, during and after the ride. Now I know...

When I got home I fixed the caliper and then uploaded the file to Strave only to find that I had an Epic Suffer score. I guess suffer scores are based mostly on heart rate and apparently I was in zone 3 and 4 so much that I got an Epic rating, which is something I hope to never get again unless I'm racing.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I've had a few Epic suffer scores (my highest is 303), all coming on centuries with >5,000 feet of climbing. And you're right, it's all based on time spent in the higher HR zones. My wife never comes close to those kind of scores because Strava assumes she's normal, which she isn't, in so many ways. Her resting HR is around 45 and when we're riding my HR is consistently 20-30 bpm faster. As I've reported before, I've said I'm a high rpm Ferrari compared to her Mack Truck, but this has resulted in lamentable consequences in the area of post-ride activities.

BTW, I've had the grabby brake thing in the past, so I always do a pre-ride check now lest I consume unnecessarily what little strength I have out on the road.

[Moliere]

303?? Yikes!

My score was 250 and I did a century although I didn't even hit 2,000feet of elevation (well I did if you trust Garmin but Strava says differently).

[Pelado]

Any of you guys use dynamos for charging your equipment while you ride? What have you tried? What do you like? Bad experiences?

[Dwight Schr-ute]

Crap. http://mashable.com/2015/07/25/poopi...m-fb-main-link

[Bo Diddley]

Crap. http://mashable.com/2015/07/25/poopi...m-fb-main-link

Anyone we know?

[Pelado]

Anyone we know?

Don't look at me - too much elevation change for me.

[Moliere]

http://www.hammernutrition.com/produ...m-reg-.pp.html

http://www.hammernutrition.com/produ...er-gel.hg.html

Moliere for long rides I put Perpetuem in one of my bottles and just go with water in the other. I go heavy with the mix in the one to make sure I'm getting my calories but sometimes I just crave water so that's why I go heavy in one bottom and not what's suggested in the two bottles. I buy the large bottles of Hammer Gel and pour it into two separate six oz squeeze bottles. The packets can be hard to open on the go and they make a sticky mess in your jersey when you put them back in after you've sucked out all you can. I like the Apple-Cinnamon flavor the best, it's like candy. For Lotoja make sure you've got someone with cold can's of Coke in Alpine and some solid food like potatoes or a putter butter sandwich.

I've tried some of the ideas suggested for nutrition and so far this one has still been the best...although I'm using Carbo Pro and not the Hammer stuff. We did 108 miles on Saturday and honestly I felt like I could have done another 40 if I needed, although it would have gotten ugly since the temps were already in the 90s by the time we finished around 11:30am.

I've really come to hate Gatorade so I just bought some nuun tablets to see if I like them better. The Gatorade just sucks to drink over and over again. The sugar in it coats my mouth and the flavor isn't appetizing after 6 hours in the saddle. I'll try the nuun stuff on my 150 miles coming up in a couple weeks.

I do like the beef jerky idea and will try that as well since I know I need a little protein...although I'd probably prefer to drink my protein.

[Bo Diddley]

Pretty cool idea. Seems like this would have huge application with mountain bike, and not so much with road bikes.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

More fun in Russia. Two of the three Nephites out for a bike ride.