Jshort’s bike thread
- Thread starter Jeremy
- Start date
Curious did you go with the skinny bars and the inset hoods?
420mm and no. When I got my bike fit, there recommended was 2cm narrower so that’s all I did.
After a few weeks of riding again, I think I’m close to being over this cold thing. It’s one of those colds that sucks for only a few days, but… it lingers, goes away, comes back a little, comes back a little more, goes away, back again, and finally, I think I’m past it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I am up with cold sweats and the flu tomorrow. I’m really not surprised at anything anymore.
I’ve been trying to keep the immune system charged up with no alcohol, good sleep, and all the other recovery things. Hopefully, I can keep the better diet portion going because I think that’s the most beneficial. I also renewed my whoop for 1 month. I found it in my desk drawer and wanted to compare it to the data my Apple Watch gives me. So I dropped the $30 in the name of science. One thing I can tell right away, is that whoop is such less likely to give a good recovery score. I'll have to dig into their algorithm a little before I make a judgement but I'm skeptical.
Speaking of healthy living, I ran out of my bougie Swiss RX recovery shakes, and I’m pretty sure I’m done with spending that $. I never paid full price for them (only stocked up when on sale), but they are still too expensive. My recovery shakes are usually what I have laying around. Some whey protein and some carbs, either just plain sugar, Gatorade mix, or fruit. I may mix in some peanut protein and/ or peanut butter depending on if I am going with sweet or salty. With the NutriBullet, you can throw in a handful of spinach for some added green, and it has no taste in the shake. It depends on what I have going on the rest of the day. If I am going to be running around, then I will add a good amount of carbs, but if I’m just chillin’, I’ll load up on protein and just let the blood glucose replenish by way of normal food intake.
I got a free box of Ucan gels (Pineapple flavor). I was curious about how a sugar-free endurance gel would actually work out. They are supposed to be “long-lasting” energy and “ultra-low-glycemic carbohydrate derived from non-GMO corn”. Sounds like corn syrup to me, but they were free, so I gave them a shot. The energy seemed like it was there…I’ve only had one on a trainer session so far, so I’ll need to try a few more on longer efforts, but man, they tasted like ass. Sandy, grainy ass to be specific. So now, I’ll be eating sandy, grainy, pineapple-flavored ass on the trainer for the next couple of weeks.
As for riding, I was able to get in a good week. 2 gym workouts, 3 structured workouts on the trainer, and then 2 awesome snow rides at Chimney Rock this weekend. The trails were in awesome shape. This parks gets enough traffic that there's a nice 2-3 foot wide section of powdery snow to carve through. There is a lot of added resistance in some sections so you'll work for it, but it's worth it.
Now I'll need to take it easy for a few days now because I think I'm scheduled to do a fitness test this upcoming weekend. It’s been a year since I did my last test. When I was doing TrainerRoad, they would prescribe a test every 6 weeks, it felt like. But those ramp tests are way easier than a 20-minute max effort. It's too bad I got sick because I know if I did the ftp test in the run up prior, I was feeling great.
I’ve been trying to keep the immune system charged up with no alcohol, good sleep, and all the other recovery things. Hopefully, I can keep the better diet portion going because I think that’s the most beneficial. I also renewed my whoop for 1 month. I found it in my desk drawer and wanted to compare it to the data my Apple Watch gives me. So I dropped the $30 in the name of science. One thing I can tell right away, is that whoop is such less likely to give a good recovery score. I'll have to dig into their algorithm a little before I make a judgement but I'm skeptical.
Speaking of healthy living, I ran out of my bougie Swiss RX recovery shakes, and I’m pretty sure I’m done with spending that $. I never paid full price for them (only stocked up when on sale), but they are still too expensive. My recovery shakes are usually what I have laying around. Some whey protein and some carbs, either just plain sugar, Gatorade mix, or fruit. I may mix in some peanut protein and/ or peanut butter depending on if I am going with sweet or salty. With the NutriBullet, you can throw in a handful of spinach for some added green, and it has no taste in the shake. It depends on what I have going on the rest of the day. If I am going to be running around, then I will add a good amount of carbs, but if I’m just chillin’, I’ll load up on protein and just let the blood glucose replenish by way of normal food intake.
I got a free box of Ucan gels (Pineapple flavor). I was curious about how a sugar-free endurance gel would actually work out. They are supposed to be “long-lasting” energy and “ultra-low-glycemic carbohydrate derived from non-GMO corn”. Sounds like corn syrup to me, but they were free, so I gave them a shot. The energy seemed like it was there…I’ve only had one on a trainer session so far, so I’ll need to try a few more on longer efforts, but man, they tasted like ass. Sandy, grainy ass to be specific. So now, I’ll be eating sandy, grainy, pineapple-flavored ass on the trainer for the next couple of weeks.
As for riding, I was able to get in a good week. 2 gym workouts, 3 structured workouts on the trainer, and then 2 awesome snow rides at Chimney Rock this weekend. The trails were in awesome shape. This parks gets enough traffic that there's a nice 2-3 foot wide section of powdery snow to carve through. There is a lot of added resistance in some sections so you'll work for it, but it's worth it.
Now I'll need to take it easy for a few days now because I think I'm scheduled to do a fitness test this upcoming weekend. It’s been a year since I did my last test. When I was doing TrainerRoad, they would prescribe a test every 6 weeks, it felt like. But those ramp tests are way easier than a 20-minute max effort. It's too bad I got sick because I know if I did the ftp test in the run up prior, I was feeling great.
i agree on the ucan stuff being garbage in the tase/texture dept, i got a free sample pack and i dont think you could pay me to use their stuff.
Was that pre-AI FTP?
Haven't done a ramp test in years. No real desire to either...even if it's off by a watt here or there..who cares?
Yea I totally forgot about the AI detection. I think that came out towards the end of my days on trainer road.
When i was feeling good, I think I needed to do a test to make sure I was in the right zone. The sweet spot and threshold work both seemed too easy. But post sickness I think the change will be a little more subtle.
With the weather showing some signs of being tolerable, I actually got out a few days this past week. One of the rides was a pretty not-too-exciting interval session on the road, and the other ride was a mix of single rack and road. This is how it usually goes this time of the year for me, just trying to make do with what time I have. If I’m not careful, I can go weeks without pedaling outside and not even realize it.
One of the reasons I don’t get out to destination trails is time, obviously. The drive is part, and then there is the before and after ride part which really bugs me. From the time I pull into the lot to actually riding can greatly vary on how efficient I am at getting my shit together. I hate wearing bibs anywhere but on my bike seat, so I fine myself changing in my car in the lot. As much as I try to plan ahead, I still take forever. Hat, gloves, Garmin, HR strap, glasses, socks, tights/pants, tools, food/drink, check PSI…. Am I doing this wrong? Does everyone struggle with this shit?
One thing I have made my mind up on is the fact that tights are far superior to pants. Specifically for sub-30 degrees temps. Really always, but I guess I can make an exception for not wanting to wear tights because it may be too warm. But generally speaking for the majority of rides where it’s too cold for shorts, tights are better. They’re warmer, fit better, less likely to get caught on something, and if you get cool Rapha cargo bibs like I have, you can put your phone on one side and snacks on the other and they are both easily accessible.
With pants, you need to wear bibs and pants so that means 2 pieces of kit. Plus they are nowhere near as comfortable, form-fitting, or dare I say Aero. Other than not wanting to be seen in tights, I can’t think of one reason to wear pants on a MTB.
In my personal tech news, I did bed in my brake pads. On one of the snow rides, they were screeching like a MFer. I took them out of the calipers, cleaned the calipers, cleaned the rotors and even the pads with some alcohol. I was sure I contaminated them but after a few DH runs on my street, they felt great and more importantly, they were silent.
I also picked up this killer Prestacycle head things. Took 2 minutes to figure out how to put it on my topeak floor pump and it’s an awesome upgrade from the stock piece that was on there.
I also went back to Tim Dougherty for a fit follow up. This was included in the initial cost so after getting some slammed stem and narrower bars on the MTB, and new bars and shorter cranks on the road bike I wanted to get checked out and make sure everything was still good. It felt good but I’m a little obsessed with having a perfect bike fit. My MTB was dialed; we didn’t change a thing. I’ll have to get a pick of that stem, it’s pretty sick looking IMO. And on the road bike, we made one tweak… levers slanting in.
And while I was there I picked up some custom footbeds which are pure luxury. I’d highly recommend them if you have the means.
One of the reasons I don’t get out to destination trails is time, obviously. The drive is part, and then there is the before and after ride part which really bugs me. From the time I pull into the lot to actually riding can greatly vary on how efficient I am at getting my shit together. I hate wearing bibs anywhere but on my bike seat, so I fine myself changing in my car in the lot. As much as I try to plan ahead, I still take forever. Hat, gloves, Garmin, HR strap, glasses, socks, tights/pants, tools, food/drink, check PSI…. Am I doing this wrong? Does everyone struggle with this shit?
One thing I have made my mind up on is the fact that tights are far superior to pants. Specifically for sub-30 degrees temps. Really always, but I guess I can make an exception for not wanting to wear tights because it may be too warm. But generally speaking for the majority of rides where it’s too cold for shorts, tights are better. They’re warmer, fit better, less likely to get caught on something, and if you get cool Rapha cargo bibs like I have, you can put your phone on one side and snacks on the other and they are both easily accessible.
With pants, you need to wear bibs and pants so that means 2 pieces of kit. Plus they are nowhere near as comfortable, form-fitting, or dare I say Aero. Other than not wanting to be seen in tights, I can’t think of one reason to wear pants on a MTB.
In my personal tech news, I did bed in my brake pads. On one of the snow rides, they were screeching like a MFer. I took them out of the calipers, cleaned the calipers, cleaned the rotors and even the pads with some alcohol. I was sure I contaminated them but after a few DH runs on my street, they felt great and more importantly, they were silent.
I also picked up this killer Prestacycle head things. Took 2 minutes to figure out how to put it on my topeak floor pump and it’s an awesome upgrade from the stock piece that was on there.
I also went back to Tim Dougherty for a fit follow up. This was included in the initial cost so after getting some slammed stem and narrower bars on the MTB, and new bars and shorter cranks on the road bike I wanted to get checked out and make sure everything was still good. It felt good but I’m a little obsessed with having a perfect bike fit. My MTB was dialed; we didn’t change a thing. I’ll have to get a pick of that stem, it’s pretty sick looking IMO. And on the road bike, we made one tweak… levers slanting in.
And while I was there I picked up some custom footbeds which are pure luxury. I’d highly recommend them if you have the means.
When I head over to CR, I am basically ready to ride save for shoes, gloves, helmet, headband. It takes 3 minutes to put on shoes, helmet/headband, hip pack, 2 bottles, then gloves. Lock car, and go. GPS can find the satellite while I do that.
I don't check all the pressures of everything every ride. This surprises nobody, of course.
rjr44
Well-Known Member
this is the way
Ya know i asked that a month ago and he said no lol.
I wear everything in the car to the ride but dont really drive more than 30 min. Only thing that gets put on at the trail is helmet snd gloves.
Endura pants fit really well and have ventilation zippers and perfect size pockets for phone/keys and gummies.
I guess with a narrower bar, (40 instead of 42), it made sense. It did feel more comfortable initially.
I’ll have to three everything in my pack. I guess the real issue is I don’t prep at my house. I’ll have to do a better job there.
I’m still not wearing chamois in my car
rlb
Well-Known Member
I’m pretty much ready to roll when I drive to CR too, which is only 5 min trip for me. But any other place is 25min+ and if it’s winter I may leave off a few pieces for the drive because I don’t want to get them sweaty in the car. Socks are the biggest one for me, I need to start my winter rides in a fresh dry pair of socks. But I’m also not going through the hassle of changing into bibs in my car.
On the flip side, all of the time spent getting ready is deferred from the parking lot to my basement. There’s no denying that putting on all the winter crap takes longer no matter where you’re doing it. I’ve been improving this lately by keeping my stuff a lot more organized, plus I make ann effort to do all the gathering of my gear the night before.
On the flip side, all of the time spent getting ready is deferred from the parking lot to my basement. There’s no denying that putting on all the winter crap takes longer no matter where you’re doing it. I’ve been improving this lately by keeping my stuff a lot more organized, plus I make ann effort to do all the gathering of my gear the night before.
iman29
Well-Known Member
Yes bib tights in the winter are the best and most comfortable. I actually prefer winter tights without the chamois so I can pic which bibs to wear underneath and it gives me an extra layer.
I’d say I am probably somewhere in the middle in terms of getting ready. If it’s summer or warmish then I’m pretty much in the full kit in the car on the way to the ride or the trailhead. If it’s winter I put on socks bibs tights abs baselayer only. Then I have a warmer pullover hoodie that I use exclusively for going to the ride because I don’t want to overheat in the kit on the way there. The shoes and gloves go on the floor on the passenger side to get heated up by the hot air while im driving. When I arrive it’s about 5-10 minutes to get the food shoes jacket hat helmet and gloves on (plus camelback if MTB ride) and im ready to roll.
I stage everything I need to bring the night before even if it’s a local ride from the house but always if I am driving somewhere. Just makes being ready to ride that much easier
I’d say I am probably somewhere in the middle in terms of getting ready. If it’s summer or warmish then I’m pretty much in the full kit in the car on the way to the ride or the trailhead. If it’s winter I put on socks bibs tights abs baselayer only. Then I have a warmer pullover hoodie that I use exclusively for going to the ride because I don’t want to overheat in the kit on the way there. The shoes and gloves go on the floor on the passenger side to get heated up by the hot air while im driving. When I arrive it’s about 5-10 minutes to get the food shoes jacket hat helmet and gloves on (plus camelback if MTB ride) and im ready to roll.
I stage everything I need to bring the night before even if it’s a local ride from the house but always if I am driving somewhere. Just makes being ready to ride that much easier
I have a pre-ride control center of sorts. It's an Ikea Kallax that has all my stuff I need in cubbies and a 65L Osprey Duffel that gets all the stuff thrown in very quickly. The only thing you mentioned that takes any concernable amount of time is the bottles/tire check. I can be on the bike in probably 5 minutes if I needed to.
I drive to the trail fully dressed, i inflate tires in the basement with the compressor bc im not some kind of peasant so my trailhead routine involves
-tire pressure check/bleed down
-helmet
-camelbak
-gloves
-shoes
the long lead for me is getting changed AFTER the ride since im not driving home with swamp ass
i use one of the dewalt toolbags that came with one of my tools a long time ago (and i obviously dont use for tools lol) to carry shoes/helmet/gloves/camelbak out to the car and all of that plus my dirty clothes back into the house to save on trips.
-tire pressure check/bleed down
-helmet
-camelbak
-gloves
-shoes
the long lead for me is getting changed AFTER the ride since im not driving home with swamp ass
i use one of the dewalt toolbags that came with one of my tools a long time ago (and i obviously dont use for tools lol) to carry shoes/helmet/gloves/camelbak out to the car and all of that plus my dirty clothes back into the house to save on trips.