grolby

@Flatballer I did a RR with a big fat climb in it today, low gear of 38x30 (my normal road bike gear is 39x28). I cannot believe I did this climb 3 years ago with a 39x25, and I am a lot lighter than you are. In these days of 11-speed drivetrains there's no sense in having a 39x25 on a bike you plan to do any climbing with IMO. I switched after last race season and haven't regretted it. I used to say "if you need the 28, you're dropped anyway." I was full of ****. I guess what I'm saying is, get yourself a bigger cassette if at all possible. No shame in easing back, either. Would be sad if you burned out trying to come back too fast!

Flatballer

I have an 11(12?)-28 in Charlotte. It'll be here in a few weeks when we finish the move. I'm still on 10 speed as well.

At my current fitness what I really need is probably a triple.

aaronmcd

Oh damn, 39x25 for climbing is insane. I have 34x28 and I use it very often!

scheibo

7hrs 101mi, but with 14k ft (strava thinks 16.5k but its always optimistic). rode up and down all day, covering pretty much every climb on the ridge line because i wanted to see if i could do it. only worth 345 TSS because im not as good at setting my FTP as @mattm I guess . last 3 climbs took me to a pretty dark place, really appreciated the 34-28 as I was riding fairly immodestly by the end.

not the greatest training (realistically, two back to back hard 3.5-4 hour rides make for a better weekend block IMO), and not something i'd usually do because im not really completion oriented, but cool now that im done.

Flatballer

Damn. That's a helluva ride.

aaronmcd

Cool ride. I did one like that last winter, had a weekday off and it was raining, but dammit I wasn't gonna waste a good day off so I did 4 of the climbs to the ridge and hit the coast as well. I really love long climby rides, as much as they hurt.

scheibo

thanks. hotter than i bargained for, but ill take that over the rain any day. last time i did a ride like this it was to see if i could do all three of the HC climbs out of grenoble france in one ride and i quit like 4km from the summit of the last one because i had bonked so hard i could barely see straight. this time i did a better job fueling aha.

wktmeow

Easyish week to let this cold & these injuries heal up a bit. Openers today with a 5 minute test thrown in, which totally exceeded my expectations, and is now my best value on the e-wang chart

Also switched over to a Specialized Power saddle. It's very comfortable.... but also very ugly on my bike... The short nose just makes everything look off!

spectastic

guys, my weight has been fluctuating quite a bit lately. tuesday, I was at low 160s. this morning, after my morning pee, I saw myself at low-mid 150s. It appears that after a long, hard ride, my weight drops significantly, and it goes back to where it was a few days later, when I'm busy with work. It is because my body's turning over large amounts of fluids when I'm cycling hard, and those fluids build back up when I'm not cycling as hard? I'm pretty sure I'm hydrating enough.

Grumpy McTrumpy

If you have a high salt diet you can see big swings like that.

revchuck 

We live in the same climate. I did a hard three-hour ride this morning and went through three bottles (72 oz.) and was still two pounds under my normal weight when I got back. Even my socks were soaked this morning. My bibs and jersey weighed a ton when I took them off.

If you don't ride as much due to work hours during the week, your body will build its hydration level back up...mainly because you're not out there sweating like a pig. If your weight is down after a hard ride, drink extra water. It's that easy.

TMonk

I'm very similar in weight and I see sub-10lb fluctations like that almost weekly. When I see masses that are close to 150 or 160lb I get excited or miffed.

I think it's due to a combination of factors, including what grumpy and Chuck said. Still, you should take any single explanation with a grain of salt.

hubcyclist

Rented a bike whilst visiting in laws. My wife picked it up for me, so I was surprised to get a felt v55 (I thought I was getting an AR but I think the shop doesn't normally do rentals so I took whatever I could). It's fine and I rode a bit on limestone trails, although not as long as I wanted due to some trail construction. I can see why people like these type of bikes, but definitely not for me lol the rest of my ride consisted on riding shoulders of country highways, not as nice as my New England roads

My 40 mile ride ended unceremoniously with a flat

spectastic

gotcha, so there's probably nothing wrong with my. thanks

Ygduf

I eat a lot of salt and carry a few % more bodyfat than most cyclists. 6'3" 185ish right now and I can lose 10lbs of water on a 3-hour ride without noticing. I drink a lot at night (because I eat so much salt!) and it's always back within a day.

furiousferret

Broke 70 tss for the first time since last year. Still not quite there yet, or I am there, and just have no confidence. Either way its the same.

spectastic

damn. let me draft behind dat phat azz.

caloso

I once lost 11 pounds during a football game in HS. 101F at kickoff. They probably wouldn't let kids play in that heat these days.

aaronmcd

I raced for 2.5 hours today in 90+ heat, drank about 10 bottles, still lost 5 lbs.

mike868y

this week is all about recovering from intelligentsia so i can go into my gmsr build relatively rested. tsb says i'm not fatigued at all, legs say otherwise. racing beverly wednesday night but don't expect to last the whole race (very hard, technical p123 race where only ~30 of the strongest guys in the region finish each year).

globecanvas

TIL not to ride in the middle of the day while on the doxy. I tried to stay in the shade but I knew I was in trouble when I started to get goose bumps and my skin started to feel chilly. I went through 2 bottles in an hour and then just rode home.

rankin116

I'm on it too and suffered Saturday. I lathered up the spf 50 but still felt the sun and heat. Stay safe!

TheKillerPenguin

Caught in a pretty gnarly t-storm, but it was great because the temperature dropped from 97 to 64 and that probably kept me from cutting the ride short.

globecanvas

Lymebro!

Enthalpic

You got put on Doxy for the saddle sore?