700wheel

Three tracks to ride in Southern California (Encino, LA, and San Diego). Plus San Jose in Northern California.
So you will have lots of different races.

gycho77

Do you use longer stem than other set up?
Thank you for your advice

Baby Puke

Not to get on your case, but weren't you just saying you could not afford a set of chainrings? Why do you want to buy a $300 handlebar? The $30 Nitto of the same dimensions will do the exact same thing for you as the Scatto, and leave you $270 worth of chainrings, cogs, tires, training days, gym memberships, race fees or what have you. Just my 2 cents.

gycho77

Wow I cannot wait.
I will be going to Velo Sports velodrome

gycho77

Yes I did.
Sorry about confusion.
I helped someone to sell his bike(colnago Maipai), and he gave me few hundred dollars.
I don't know why gave me so much money.....
But I think you have the point.
So I probably should get bunch of chainrings or a crankset with chainring because of my chain alignment and another brake
Because of your advice, now I'm planning to get 50t, crankset(comes with 48t), and rear brake.
I got 46t from my neighbor
If chain alignment is not important, I'm planning to get 48t, 50t, 14t, 13t, and GOOD lock ring remover
Thank you for your advice.
You helped me notice my situation haha

Baby Puke

And why do you need to replace your crankset? I thought we covered that, too... Look, I don;t mean to be up in your business, but this can be a VERY expensive sport. I'd recommend you just go with what's working, until it doesn't. Don't replace stuff that is still fully functional.

gycho77

I'm really sorry about the redundant.
I don't why i'm trying to replace my parts.
Also because of BB I'm having problem with chain alignment, but I know this is not important.
So I will just keep using my crank
I apologize for my behavior.
I will try not to happen this again
Sorry

brawlo

Personally, having now purchased some gear, I'd be looking at ex NJS stuff phil_the_power_taylor | eBay Chainrings | NJS EXPORT

Quality gear for a great price. Recently I purchased a pair of chainrings that were 'top of the line' from them. They didn't have any wear marks that I could see. Basically straight out of the packet at less than half the price of new!

carleton

Gycho, listen to Baby Puke.

I know that "sexy" track parts are fun, but for new racers, they aren't as valuable as other things.

It's kind of like $250 basketball shoes. They look awesome, but do they really make a new player better? Probably not. Some good $75 shoes and $175 spent in other areas would be better.

For most racers, 3T Scattos don't perform any better than Nitto B123 or B125 (or similar).

I know this isn't the fun answer. But, you know what is fun? Getting faster and sometimes winning

gycho77

I just ordered Sugino 48t, 50t, Velodromeshop 13t, 14t, rear brake(for extra safety), Good lock ring remover tool, and Cycleops cadence/Speed bluetooth sensor. Baby Puke gave me a good advice.
He helped me avoid a stupid decision.
Maybe purchasing Sugino chainrings was a stupid idea, but I got 20 percent discount.
So I'm happy with the price.
Now I have cadence/speed sensor and bunch of gears!!!!


Also I don't have to use this trainer(apartment gym) anymore.
This trainer has 175mm crank and crank width was killing me. haha

Thank you so much everyone!

Roadieonthetrac

My first "race"

So, on Wednesday, they offered some time trials at our Velodrome in Burnaby. I have done TTs on Road Bikes (very painful) but never in the Velodrome. So, didn't warm up on the track, no time, but did a bit on rollers. First event was Flying 200. I have done this twice during my Learn To Ride. Felt awkward on the 200, would have been better to have ridden on the Track first. However, I was not last. Lots of room for improvement.

Then came the 500. I had never used a Gate though I had seen people use it. The person manning the gate is a good coach so he helped and advised what to do. I saw a guy on the other side fall as he tried to go too soon.

Anyway, final beep, I get out perfectly and start to go, but I was so excited not to fall that I only did 1.5 laps (200M track) Embarrassing. The Coach said I was looking really good for the part I did. So, definitely pumped to try it again. I guess because I went through the Finish for the first half lap and then again after the first lap, I thought I had done 2 laps. I'm going to like Track Racing

Frederico

I didn't see much on this on previous posts, so feel free to point me to in the right direction if it was explained before.

It seems like a lot of the pro riders have been using wide velcro straps on their pedals as of recently (HK and Cali were full of 'em). Does anyone knows what brands make good ones and how do you attach them to your clipless pedals?

Cheers guys

carleton

It'll all get better. The more you do it, the more routine it becomes and your mind will be free to focus on finer and finer points. At first, everything is a blur.

The pros also have an assistant who straps them in and pushes them to the line. I've found that standard quality straps like Toshi and Kashimax to be easier to use by myself because they prop open and stay open easier. The nylon ones are a bit of a hassle. Your experience may be different.

That being said, the nylon straps are more comfortable as they provide even pressure over a wider area.

brawlo

Are you sprinting or enduro riding? If you are enduro, don't worry about straps. If you're sprinting, if you're a beginner, you still may not need to worry about straps. Keep your cleats in good health, and they shouldn't fail you, but it also depends what system you use. The fastest guy in my club, a sprinter, has never used straps. He replaces his cleats every year though, and keeps the tension on his Shimano pedals at max.

Having said all that, I started doing overgear work more recently, and pulling up on that had me feeling my foot moving in the pedal, where for years I had no problems. Out of caution as opposed to necessity, I've gone with Toshi straps. Just a single strap though. It makes the foot feel tight with the pedal, a lot better than just the shoe on its own. If you're still interested, look up skingrowsback. He's local to you and has some pretty well regarded straps that I'd likely move onto when the Toshis give up, but I have another set spare, so that could not be for a while.

Also, if you have a tendency to twist your foot which can lead to unclipping, you might want to think about correcting that action regardless of going to straps or not.

McRussellPants

Ive used holdfast on SPDs and liked it super easy to yank tight while slow rolling. stiff enough to sneak your toe trough.

I stopped bothering with them for a while though, didnt feel powerful enough to warrant the effort.

MrMinty

Have a good pair of tight fitting shoes with no float cleats. Best if you have a pair of shoes specifically for track. Thats what i've got- the furthest i've walked on them is from the infield to the track. My road shoes have been round cafes and up hills etc when I've had to walk!

SprintzNKiloz

Hands down best strap solution I have found is the Exustar track pedal. It has brackets for a strap.

queerpunk

where's that diagram of energy sources over time that shows why Kilos are so awful?

VanceMac

I think this is what you mean. Don't tell anyone though... it's a secret.

Roadieonthetrac

Last night someone went down right in front of me in the pace line, blown tire. Very lucky, was sure I was going over him

gycho77

I'm currently working on roller training with my new Bluetooth cadence/speed sensor, but I wasn't sure about cadence average speed(rpm). What is a good average cadence for track race or training? I currently running 46x15.
Also can you tell me a good app for indoor roller training app? If the app store does not have the app, I could try making one myself with my friend. Right now, I'm using Runtastic Pro(purchased this app last year)

I just finished 7km without nonstop
I know I suppose to do intervals, but I'm still not used high cadence on roller.
Here is an example
https://goo.gl/oghH5n

carleton

You don't need any special app. Just a timer of some sort.

Roller work is usually based on cadence and time.

___ RPM for ___ seconds
___ RPM for ___ seconds
___ RPM for ___ seconds
___ RPM for ___ seconds

Speed is irrelevant on rollers because you have no air resistance. Air resistance is what makes speed a factor when training outdoors. Higher speed means higher air resistance which means more effort. On the rollers, with high gears (like a road bike) you can literally go 60mph and it feel like a warmup pace. So, do not think of speed on rollers. Just cadence and time.

I know the next question is, "OK...so what roller workout should I do??"

I try not to offer programming advice because:

- It is personal to each athlete
- Workout programming is really part of a bigger system.







OK. I'll give you a simple one:

I call this "1 minute on and off". It's basically 1 minute at 110 rpm and 1 minute "resting" at 70 or 80rpm. 110rpm is a common cadence during the sprint of a club-level points race.

60s at 70rpm
60s at 110rpm
60s at 70rpm
60s at 110rpm
60s at 70rpm
60s at 110rpm
60s at 70rpm
60s at 110rpm
60s at 70rpm
60s at 110rpm
break

This is a basic cardio and heart rate recovery exercise. But, you'll also learn to:

- Relax on the bike and rollers and not overexert yourself.
- Do just enough to maintain 110rpm (as you should). Be efficient
- Work out the kinks in your pedal strokes at high rpms

You could try to push the cadence to 120rpm. Or even 130. The cool thing is that you will discover a harmonic imbalance somewhere in there where your body and bike will vibrate such that you cannot hold the cadence at all. I don't know exactly what causes this, but I think it has something to do with tire pressure and us bouncing on the tires. Anyway...have fun with it.

Another cool thing to do is note your heart rate immediately at the end of the set. Just use your finger and take your pulse for 15s. Then wait exactly 1 minute and take your pulse again. Note the difference in pulse. This is your One Minute Heart Rate Recovery. It is a measure of health and fitness.

gycho77

Thanks.
I should try this interval and try other intervals too.
Thank you
If I don't focus and hit high rpm(about 130), my bike goes back and make tire marks on the carpet haha.

And this was my cadence for 11 minutes

brawlo

A coach once prescribed me a roller session once/week. It was 20 min total with 5 min warmup and cooldown and for the 10min in between was an interval setup with a progressive increase in cadence. 1min on 1min off, progressing up to 130rpm for myself. Others might be able to do more, but if you can't do the cadence, don't worry, just progress up to it. A little revout is also a good addition in there like at the end of the work session just to really spin the legs up.

These days I only use rollers for warmup/cooldown at racing or at training if I'm crunched for time.

MrMinty

Another little thing to do on the rollers is 1 legged pedalling.

Basically unclip 1 side, and pedal with the other. When you first start this, you will see how you tend to pull up.

Doing the one leg pedal allows you to eliminate these dead spots. I did this for a few weeks, then it started to become a part of normal riding without really thinking about it. Its probably not a major difference, but hey marginal gains and all that!