datlas 

What about the Antelope, I mean the Grasshopper?

rjones28 

The Great Whiteout continues....

Snowshoe trails Benson and I made just before lunch were wiped out by new snowfall and brisk winds. We made more.

datlas 

They are predicting snowmageddon for us this weekend. Time to find the wax for my XC skis...

LesterOfPuppets

Looks like rain all day here today. Luckily it was great weather yesterday so we got out on the tandem and rode to a charcuterie joint in the big city.

You can kinda see Mt. Hood just to the left of center. Looks like a little fire burning just to the right of center.



Coffee with artisanal sugar cubes. (sugar rocks?)



Brie, a couple of salamis, pate, rillettes and pickled veggies!



Tasty Cubano!

patentcad

No worries dude, I play out in bars, the only way I managed to do that is to stop worrying about what anybody thinks. All I know is I'm better than most of the mooks that play around here, the venues keep booking me and I'm even starting to (gasp) have a tiny following of sorts. And the duo I'm in kind of rocks, check out our version of Just My Imagination, it's Motown goes Memphis. First time my playing pal Don had EVER played this song, he pulled this way cool guitar stuff and the cool harmonies out of his arse on the fly. Hey, I like how we sound, the bars like it, the customers like it and WE like it, so the rest is not my concern. And it's FUN. I'm not in it for the money that's for sure. Or for my health. Anyway, I think we KILL on this number. If I do say so myself. Listen to Don's fingerstyle guitar and then the way it counterpoints with my flat picked lead runs at the very end of the song.

Heathpack 

Love it totally.

patentcad

And check out my other act's cover of the J. Gorka song St. Caffeine, I love this song:

UnfilteredDregs

Like I said, it has nothing to do with being "advanced." Where your butt goes, pelvis, knee angles, etc.. that doesn't change all that much. Saddle height & setback is akin to the motor mount. Pretty much one best way to do that to ensure joint safety and best power, and you can micro adjust as necessary.

Re: This tells me your fit sucks. The did a cursory, sorta, "the motor gets mounted here..." and that's it. No regard for reach and the problems you're speaking of, saddle pain, (possibly rotated to far forward), and shoulder pain, this is a giveaway actually, kinda YELLS, you're reach is screwed up, and just maybe that can be addressed via bar height adjustment and stem length, or not...you could be hosed and have a bike that's the right height but already too long for you.

How much do you ride and HOW do you ride?

What's up with the shoulder pain?

I have a relationship with my fitter. The idea was to determine what's the best geometry for me, and I'm building a bike accordingly because I don't fit within the average body morphology most production are built for. My legs require a tall stack, but my torso needs short reach.

Most reputable fitters will revisit with you a few times, and if you're buying a bike via their shop, it becomes a courtesy kind of thing, if it's a reputable shop.

UnfilteredDregs

Duh extreme cold (below freezing) gives me duh athletic asthma...We hatses it.

3alarmer 

...waaaay back in the 70's, I majored in artisanal studies.

3alarmer 

...I bet you could sing a credible version of some of Smokey Robinson's stuff, like Tracks of My Tears.

FLvector

Just start a thread including a video of you on the trainer. The BF'ers will come out of the woodwork to tell you what you're doing wrong.

Dan333SP

The mid Atlantic is apparently getting a snowpocalypse event on Friday, saw some forecasts calling for 20+ inches here in Richmond. Work getting called off + new pair of good waterproof boots = an adventure in the snow with my puppy and my camera. Looking forward to it.

jtaylor996

We've already made adjustments for reach by swapping the stem out. That's why it's getting better. It's still aggravated and honestly probably just needs time off the bike... which ain't going to happen. So it slowly gets better as I ride.

I do have a relationship with the guy that does fits at the LBS. But he's an LBS fitter, not someone doing fits for pros or using high tech equipment.

The fits start at $300 for the fancy place. I'm thinking about it...

jtaylor996

I'm trying NOT to end up in the hospital, here!

rpenmanparker 

Went back and listened to all three of the videos. Very nice sound. I really liked all of it. Once again, that was a total misunderstanding. I had no idea we were talking about your own work. Based on what I just heard, you had very good reason to be miffed.

Ramona_W

Persons possessing my chromosomal make-up have zero shot at getting into the Tour. When I was younger, I had dreams of becoming a chess Grandmaster like Bobby Fischer before someone took me aside and explained these would come to nothing for the same reason. When I was much younger, I wanted to become a Harlem Globetrotter but I had a good bit more than gender working against my ever achieving that.

WalksOn2Wheels

For those that have used both trainers and rollers: why would buying rollers be a mistake? Outside of the learning curve, is there a huge disadvantage to not also having a trainer? Just trying to figure things out before I pull the trigger on something.

jtaylor996

Because you can buy a cheap trainer and use a speed sensor and use zwift, which is pretty awesome. You could use rollers and still use zwift, but then you'd need a power meter, and I don't think the experience would be as immersive.

I got a cycleops fluid 2 for like $150 on craigslist. Check your listings, there's good stuff on there:

dallas bicycle parts - by owner "trainer" - craigslist

UnfilteredDregs

The most powerful riders I know use rollers. Power without finesse is wasted. Trainers have their place but rollers work not only power but technique as well. I do recommend having a resistance option. I have a drum I swap in and out for that.

It's nice to just throw your bike on the rollers, versus take the wheel off and all that jazz...

As far as immersive goes...getting the hang of rollers is immersive enough, very demanding and it takes a good while to get the skillset. Zwift need not apply, and you don't need a power meter.

It's funny, a guy I know rides Zwift a lot, for training, he did a Zwift Century yesterday in 5 hours and 20 minutes...4 hours in Z2 & Z1...

In the real world, he could not keep up with me the last time we rode a century together with about 8000ft elevation...and I'm not that fast. The both of us was 7.5 hours. I was slowing and waiting at the top of hills on the way home for the last 40.

He's wasting his time IMO.

If you want to play a video game it's cool.

Ramona_W

I have the Charge Ladle on the tandem and I like it a lot. It's the most comfortable and also the hardest of the saddles I've tried. My only issue is that the Pearl Izumi shorts have a different amount of padding than the others and when I wear those I have kind of a bruisey sort of pain at the base of my spine. Not in the muscles but actually in between the cheek area. If I sit on a hard surface like at Olympia Provisions yesterday, I don't notice it but a soft chair or sofa and I feel it. I shift my weight around and sometimes ride more upright and sometimes more down over the bars, but I'm still hesitant about standing and stretching on the bike. LoP claims this is the cause of the problem but I don't know. He spends a good bit of time out of the saddle but I'm not sure he isn't showing off how good he looks in tights/shorts.

Trsnrtr

I drive over (East) to Bloomington (IL).

Dan333SP

I feel like a lot of people harp on about how rollers make you focus more on technique, and while that may be true... I just feel like that benefit is exaggerated. I could spend an entire winter doing nothing but trainer rides and still be perfectly capable of pedaling smoothly, sprinting, paceline rotation, whatever once I get back outside. I think if you've only ever ridden on a trainer that may be a consideration, but I doubt that's very common.

Another thing to consider- Unless I'm mistaken, rollers aren't really good for quick acceleration high-power intervals, they're better for smooth steady tempo. I've done plenty of 30 sec. or 1 min. all-out trainer intervals that would probably be impossible on rollers.

Riding in Z2 forever on a trainer is just like riding in Z2 forever outside or on rollers, so it's not surprising your Zwift buddy gets dropped, he just needs to learn how to follow a structured plan to stress his body in different ways.

WalksOn2Wheels

Those two main points are at the forefront of my mind when it comes to considering rollers. And I really don't have any interest in zwift. Nothing against it, the idea just does not appeal to me.

SpeshulEd 

As an aside to this, after using Bkool for a week now, I'd have to say that Bkool is better than Zwift. Tons more course options and tons more climbing. I also like that I can upload a course to Bkool and it'll make 3d world course similar to what you'd find on Zwift.

Personally, I'd compare the smart trainer climbing in Bkool to real life climbing, if not a little harder because you can't coast at all. My legs were tore up last week after a few hard mornings on the trainer.