Biscotti Madness

ChrisG said:
I have to agree with this. There is no doubt in my mind that I would be faster on a geared hardtail than I am on my full rigid SS. Even guys like Mike Montalbano, or Foco, as much as they kill it on the SS, are gonna be faster with gears.
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Maurice doesn't agree with you guys, for the record. Also for the record the last time I tried to follow something Maurice suggested to me I nearly broke myself.

You can't ignore the efficiency difference between SS versus gears. And if the course is nothing but ups and downs, like LM...

Unfortunately my geared bike is likely OOC for a while. So this is more or less a moot point at the moment.
 
Norm said:
You can't ignore the efficiency difference between SS versus gears. And if the course is nothing but ups and downs, like LM...
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Oh yeah, those rear derailleur pulleys really create a lot of drag.

A SS bike will be lighter that it's geared equivalent. That will not make a noticeable difference unless you are doing a MTB hill climb TT. Each bike is no more or less efficient than the other.

I remember reading Maurice's comment. He would need to explain.

The only time my SS is faster is when I'm doing maintenance or cleaning it. 😉
 
Today's ride at LM:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8509245

Conditions weren't great. This place needs some rain-free time to be really race course material. It's not too bad but there is still standing water and greasy sections make some turns a little iffy.

Aim

Just get out there and see how the SS feels today. Some high-end work as well as a solid 4 laps at race-ish pace.

Gear

I don't think the 33/18 is realistic at all. I need to be able to turn this over in a race, not in a casual ride. As such, the 33/19 is good and presses me just on the edge of what I can turn over and still run fast laps.

Race Times

My 4 laps today:

1. 31:26
2. 31:56
3. 32:20
4. 32:36

Happy to see that laps 2-4 were pretty consistent. Likely went out too hard on lap 1 but whatever, it is what it is. These are ok times but a few things going on today. I'm still a bit hungover from the race Sunday, the course is slower with the messy conditions, the course is a bit longer than last year with a reroute, and it's not actually a race. I also didn't eat like it was a race, which may or may not have any effect on my times. I guess my goal would be 1:30 for the cat 2 race given good conditions.

Camelbak

Tested the camelbak today. I just hate having it on. I dumped it on the car after lap #3 and felt so much better not having it heat me up. I'll be using bottles unless we get another Armageddon race like last week.

Facebook

Check it out, What MTBNJ Racer are you?! I may have peaked with Facebook after that creation. It's all downhill from there. And no, it's not rigged.

Old gps

It works again! Thanks Jeff

New gps

"It will be shipped Wednesday morning."

Ok, I'll believe it when I see it.
 
Oh yeah, those rear derailleur pulleys really create a lot of drag.
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"A well oiled straight chain-and-sprocket bicycle drive can be as high as 99% efficient. With other types of bicycle transmissions, however, the range in efficiency can be similar to an automobile, that is from 80% to 99%"

http://www.ihpva.org/HParchive/PDF/hp52-2001.pdf

I obviously can't quote what my efficiency numbers are. But I certainly feel more efficient on the SS.

A SS bike will be lighter that it's geared equivalent. That will not make a noticeable difference unless you are doing a MTB hill climb TT.
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When all is said and done, the LM race probably has more climbing than any other H2H race aside from Tymor. 163 feet per mile. Tymor was 211. Stewart was 110. I feel like I climb faster/better with the SS.

I remember reading Maurice's comment. He would need to explain.
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His opinion is that it doesn't matter what bike you ride. I tend to agree, it probably doesn't much matter.
 
Norm said:
My 4 laps today:

1. 31:26
2. 31:56
3. 32:20
4. 32:36

Happy to see that laps 2-4 were pretty consistent. Likely went out too hard on lap 1 but whatever, it is what it is. These are ok times but a few things going on today. I'm still a bit hungover from the race Sunday, the course is slower with the messy conditions, the course is a bit longer than last year with a reroute, and it's not actually a race. I also didn't eat like it was a race, which may or may not have any effect on my times. I guess my goal would be 1:30 for the cat 2 race given good conditions.
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Nice times Norm. I have run a few mid 31min lap times, but I have not been able to hold that pace. normally my 2nd and 3rd fall back to the 33min range. Have not have had a good run at it with my paragon yet though, hopefully it will allow me to push a bit fast up the hills than my stumpjumper. Plan on doing 4 laps tonight.
 
GPS Update

Ok, starting to get sick of this. So I wrote this email:

No FedEx information. Are you being totally honest with me? This sure seems like you're giving me the runaround with this. I don't know why this is such an issue to ship something I paid for over 10 days ago. This should have been here a week ago.
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And the reply:

Our shipping department didn't print the shipping label last night and the label expired so we had to re-do it. It will ship today for sure. Check later today for movement with that tracking #. We will give you a $25 credit to your Paypal acct for the inconvenience..
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Then I got $25 from PayPal.

FedEx tracking #812923010001675. Feel free to follow along at home to this riveting tale of drama and hijinks.
 
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you sure you wanna put the tracking number on the internet?
I know you work from home, but if you are out and it is left at your door....
Id hate to see somebody snatch it after all your trouble...
 
j_short said:
you sure you wanna put the tracking number on the internet?
I know you work from home, but if you are out and it is left at your door....
Id hate to see somebody snatch it after all your trouble...
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Damn Dude...I was gonna have me a pimpin new GPS unit till you squeeled. 😱

I was gonna hide in the bushes across the street and eat popcorn till the delivery guy showed up. :popcorn:
 
BiknBen said:
Damn Dude...I was gonna have me a pimpin new GPS unit till you squeeled. 😱

I was gonna hide in the bushes across the street and eat popcorn till the delivery guy showed up. :popcorn:
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I suppose you could just swipe it right off his bike when hes not lookin :popcorn:
 
I figure there are like 12 people who read this thread. If any of those 12 have gotten through the loads of BS I post on here, they probably deserve it for having had to read this slop anyway.

That's not an open invitation to steal my stuff. If I see you hiding in the bushes, I'm going to accidentally back up too far and run you over.

Let's be real though, that shit is probably never going to come. The guy clearly oversold himself and is trying to cover his ass by playing email BS.
 
RNG1 said:
Norm, my son wants to know what that bottle is of your avatar. Remember he is only 8....
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It's actually tea. When we went to Taiwan last year it was my go-to drink. You can get it literally on every street corner.
 
He said "oh, I thought it was some kind of asian drink and not tea"he even wants this :hmmm:
 
It is an Asian drink. The tea leaves grow in Taiwan. You can get the tea here as well.

DSC03087.JPG
 
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