OH MY ****ING GOD WE DO!!!

[lowercase text to beat the system]

Anyone good with a windchill calculator? Windchill is you standing on the corner waiting for the bus. What if you doing 30-40kph into the wind and with the wind? THEN how cold it is it? -14, windchill of -25...then ride 30kph into the wind.

*Brokeback Mountain theme music swells momentarily*

You ain't never heard of google? :)

http://www.ottawarun.com/windchill.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_chill

According to Wikipedia, the "new" formula for calculating wind chill is:
T_WC = 13.12 + 0.6215*T_a - 11.37*V^(0.16) +0.3965*T_a*V^(0.16).

If it's -14C, and -25C with the windchill, that means that the wind is going at about 32 kph.

That means that riding away from the wind (i.e. wind into your back) at 30 kph, you're getting almost no wind chill.. about -14.5C adjusted. Riding into the wind gives a net wind speed of 62 kph, for a wind chill adjusted temperature of -28.3C. The model suggests that the temperature decreases more for every kph of wind at low speeds than at high speeds.. apparently, the big heat loss happens when the wind blows away your "insulating boundary layer".

This picture (not mine) is pretty close to the scenario we're discussing, with -15C at 0kph:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Comparison.GIF

EDIT: Now I have an article about "Impaired anal sphincter function" in my pubmed history. Note that the article is on mountain bikers + not roadies.. mountain biking = more smacking of the taint?

Leave it to the grad student to go all ubernerdy on us and post a chart. ;)

What you could do is just straight up request a "nobody gets dropped" group ride ... be it the Donut ride with some of the people from the forums or just us. I'm comfortable doing a ride the distance of the Donut and I don't have anything to prove, so as long as I can keep up with you I certainly won't be trying to ride you into the ground. ;) That might be an easy way for you to pick up some group riding skills in a comfortable environment.

Boooooring! I'll drop you like a bag of dirt! ;)

Hahaha, oh god ... 'cross provincials. I crashed twice on my already terrible hip. It was literally crunching through the rotation (oh look at Mike baring his teeth in pain every time he remounts the bike) and I could hardly walk back to the car once the race was over. Good times! That being said, I'm a stretching pro these days so hopefully it won't be so troublesome this season (+ preemptive ibuprofin).

NERDLINGER!
http://susanmernit.blogspot.com/rain...aka-mcbain.gif

And thanks Mike, great suggestion - I want to work towards doing a century a month, so if there's anyone willing to do some sort of regular ride - not hammerfest, but of enough pace to carry the distance nicely (160k =~ 8hours or less?) that'd be groovy.

I want to be faster/stronger basically, as well as more competent/skillful/comfortable in group riding. I'd definitely like to get out there and ride with you guys more, as my schedule permits.

I'm thinking of doing a somewhat long ride this weekend as a starter to my gearing up training - anyone want to join me - I'll probably be riding with my buddy who'll be taking his fixed conversion, and it'll probably be fairly relaxed.

wow thank ya!!!

That also reminds me, how do you keep motivated to stretch? Other than pain, I find myself all too easily saying "eff it" and just sitting about when I get in... not good for my lil ol' knees I'm finding more and more.

I'll come along on a no-drop group ride assuming schedules work out!

Exact same way I quit smoking: I want to be a faster rider more than I want to ______. That doesn't apply to everyone. Some people (take Keith and Brad for example) can smoke and still be fast - I can't. After I realized that last year it was easy to make a change since there was "a good thing" waiting for me if I did. Same goes with stretching. I've been on rides where my back is just killing me. If I can do something to prevent that then it's all the motivation I need to take 30' out of my evenings and roll around on the floor for awhile.

I was at Patty King this morning (spicy beef patty avec coco bread) and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" came on ... which then of course got stuck in my head and then I found myself sprinting down Spadina to "AND I NEED YOU MORE, THAN EVER!" ... which was odd/motivating/even odder to say the least. It was the skate video effect gone horribly wrong.

Hey, those ESL lessons have really been paying off. :)

I am no longer in need of a bike show pass.

I'm a HUGE fan of the stretch which has actually caused major debate from time to time which I've always found odd. When I was a kid and had a lot of free time to do 8+ hour rides I noticed a little stretching made a BIG difference. I found the more I did it - daily, twice if I'm good - the better/longer I rode/felt. Like Shapelike said, I'm sure it's different for everyone, but I've found getting into a morning or evening routine helps. Then after the first week generally it's so much easier and motivation is much less a problem.

Haha! Last summer King Tobra passed one of his tiny lil' earbuds to me to listen to a song and instead, that song "accidentally" came on. Then I caught him mouthing the words during a climb. I wonder what happens when you play it backwards? Does it have strange spin inducing mantras hidden in it?

I'm flattered that you think that, but I'd definitely be faster if I didn't smoke.

+2. *HACK...CHOKE...WHEEZE*

Message to shapelike: you suck!

Stretching is good, where can I get some?

Maybe so, but you're still probably still faster than me. I couldn't have stuck with Dave D. as well as you did.

I seem to remember you hardening the **** up and beating Ill Mitch's lap time during one of the 12/24 hr races last summer. Beating someone who's 15 years or whatever your junior and no stranger himself to racing is something.

Anyway, now that I've embarrassed/complimented a few people ... the completely random song stuck in my head on the way home was Boston - More Than a Feeling. I had to look it up on YouTube when I got home to find out whoever sings the damn song, but there I was: humming along under my balaclava to effing Boston.

I assume not, but is there any racing scenario where one could actually get away w/ rocking an iPod (even if an earbud was just in one ear)? It seems like it could lead to a huge amount of radness, minus the "crashing into other riders you didn't hear coming" part.