Smokey & the Bandit Extended Online Race

Rode with the Mrs today: http://app.strava.com/activities/43912146
5pts

Still not comfortable in the drops,
and as I was getting ready to open up a little on the last downhill,
caught a death wobble.
Rode it out, but that just does wonders for the confidence.
 
Haha! Today I got out a little later than usual -- met up with a buddy of mine at 2:00 for a ride in Wiss. It was his first ride in months (not a winter riding fan) so he was flagging a bit on the climbs, and I ended up waiting a bit at the top of hills. He bailed after an hour or so, and I continued on by myself for a 25 mile ride. I finished the ride and went home to upload my data:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/282947515

I was pretty pissed off looking at that moving time. For the second time in about a week, my Garmin seemed to have the wrong moving time. NO WAY was I stopped for more than 16 minutes. In fact, a few times when I was waiting at the top of hills, I'd turn around and ride halfway down to repeat the climb while I waited. So I was figuring that I could reasonably expect to have like 5 minutes of non-moving time (especially since once my buddy left, I never stopped again.)

So once I saw that 2:43:59, I was pissed. I called shenanigans on the time. So, even though I had just taken a shower and my wife was waiting to go to dinner, I went back outside, hopped on my bike and rode across my lawn to the side street for a total of about a minute and a half to make up the difference! 😀

I wasn't going to lose my third hour because of a Garmin problem!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/282951995

3 Hours, 6 points on the day.
 
jmanic said:
Still not comfortable in the drops,
and as I was getting ready to open up a little on the last downhill,
caught a death wobble.
Rode it out, but that just does wonders for the confidence.
Click to expand...

Have you tried other styles of drop bars? Have you been fitted on this bike?
The stock bars that came on my most recent road bike sucked. I had to change them out. Being in the drops on those stock bars was just too unwieldy and I never got comfortable with them.

Switched those out for the same bars I have on my other road bike and cross bike and now life is peachy.
 
jmanic said:
Still not comfortable in the drops,
and as I was getting ready to open up a little on the last downhill,
caught a death wobble.
Rode it out, but that just does wonders for the confidence.
Click to expand...

Death wobble eh? So that's what it's called? Experienced that at Clayton last month. Heading right towards a tree at about 20 mph... pulled out just in time... scary
 
capedoc said:
Have you tried other styles of drop bars? Have you been fitted on this bike?
The stock bars that came on my most recent road bike sucked. I had to change them out. Being in the drops on those stock bars was just too unwieldy and I never got comfortable with them.

Switched those out for the same bars I have on my other road bike and cross bike and now life is peachy.
Click to expand...

Yeah...I forgot to mention the other day that I have compact bars...
 
capedoc said:
Have you tried other styles of drop bars? Have you been fitted on this bike?
The stock bars that came on my most recent road bike sucked. I had to change them out. Being in the drops on those stock bars was just too unwieldy and I never got comfortable with them.

Switched those out for the same bars I have on my other road bike and cross bike and now life is peachy.
Click to expand...


I have not tried any beyond the stock bars, but yes, the bike was fit by Jdog,
and I recall we checked the width (good- shoulder width).
I think the only thing I might be bad is the curl of the drops is a little tight for my hands- not cramped, but feels like there could be more room there.

What was different between your stock and upgrade bars?
 
jmanic said:
What was different between your stock and upgrade bars?
Click to expand...

Here's a photo - Big difference. The ones I'm holding were the stock. I did not like how my wrists aligned more vertically with these. They just felt weird.
Bars2_zps80a3abd5.jpg
 
rick81721 said:
Death wobble eh? So that's what it's called? Experienced that at Clayton last month. Heading right towards a tree at about 20 mph... pulled out just in time... scary
Click to expand...

Yeah it's no fun.
Happened once before to me- on a steep dirt/gravel road on a mt bike.
Probably the same reason too: rigid death grip.

ebineezer said:
Yeah...I forgot to mention the other day that I have compact bars...
Click to expand...
Will check these out next time.
 
I should also add that everyone is different and what works for me might not work for you. But I'll bet if you found something different, it could be a game changer.
 
You could also drop your stem a spacer or 2 to get your weight on the front wheel more. Longer stem would help also. If you're too upright swapping the bars out won't help at all.

-Jim.
 
capedoc said:
I should also add that everyone is different and what works for me might not work for you. But I'll bet if you found something different, it could be a game changer.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the thoughts-
I may think about new bars if I don't find some comfort with the stock ones.
I like the look of those shallow ones you swapped for.

jimvreeland said:
You could also drop your stem a spacer or 2 to get your weight on the front wheel more. Longer stem would help also. If you're too upright swapping the bars out won't help at all.

-Jim.
Click to expand...
And Jim, I don't think I'm too upright- we did swap out for a longer stem during set up.
 
I normally don't love a lot of things or people, but I got these bars a few months ago and love them. They are compact but also flare out a bit at the drops:

http://salsacycles.com/components/cowbell_3

There is also a cowbell 2, which is made with different aluminum. The more expensive one is slightly lighter and probably a bit harsher feeling.
 
Water was coming down from the sky. Very fine water. But it was coming down enough. I need every point I can get with these 5 hour guys. So I'm taking it. I'm sure Oleg & Pat will chime in with a 4 hour pre-dawn rain ride then Jim will post his usual Monday century and I'll only be 48 points behind.
 
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