Got out for an hour road ride today. It's weird not living near a mountain anymore, but cool to be close to the Schuylkill river.

Taking a 5 days off the bike to go camping and hiking with my GF In Zion+Bryce NP - a perfect off season activity. I'm stoked and can't wait to hit the road tomorrow morning.,

For that reason I got up at 5:00 this morning and was out on the road before sunrise so I could get in 3+ hrs before work. Even though I'm a still a couple months out from training for 2019 for real, a part of me wanted to. When I was getting out of bed/getting ready, I was thinking "WTF are you doing dude go back to bed this sucks". But 30 min into my ride I was warmed up, there was enough sunlight to turn off my lights and the stoke factor was getting high, so all is well that ends well I guess.

Today I decided that I'm going to learn how to trackstand.

There is a guy who posted a 1 hour trackstand on Strava. Heart rate monitor, speed, cadence, GPS, the whole thing.

Did he get the KOM?

This is something I've been working on for a while. I'm getting *pretty* good. I can't do an hour. Whenever I get home from a FG ride, I usually practice in the driveway for five or ten minutes, and I'm slowly developing the skill.

Once I've mastered track stands, I want to learn riding backwards. It is hard.

Today I went to a Specialized shop to see the Langster. They were completely out of stock, and he said Specialized hasn't released a 2019 model yet, although other 2019s are out.

Dave

My Langster replacement frame is a 2016 Rio frame and their dealer page doesn't list anything for 2019. I am worried maybe this is it for Langsters? If so I would be mega sad because it was a great bike. Certainly feel free to check in with me for more news as i can get on IBD from home so I can check it while perusing the forums and see but so far nothing yet.

The dealer was worried about langsters going away too, but thought they might be prioritizing the more popular models and release the langster later. What is IBD?

Dave

got some nice new bearing installed on my rear wheel. there was a little vibration in it before and now everything is smooth and quiet. :ride:

Today I got first time in car accident,

Sorry to hear that, you ok?

Dave

That is not fun! Hope it wasn't a serious one.

Today I sent my second daughter off to college. Our first got married in July. So in two months we've gone from four kids at home down to two. It's getting quiet around here.

Took my first fall from not clipping out. Glad to get that first one out of the way.

Wow, you might want to have that shoulder looked at. If cost is an issue, you can probably snag a set of take off bars from your LBS. Some of the shops I used to go to have a bin of take off parts from customer's bikes when they upgraded. You can probably get a set for next to nothing.

Dave

Did about 20 miles today. Trying to figure out how people go fast on flat roads, got me very *thinkyface*

Driveway ramps or sidewalk ramps are great places to practice, that's how I learned. By using the ramp the bike wants to roll backwards down the slope and you have to pedal forwards to counter it. Initially you will have a lot of large fore-aft movement, but eventually you will look like you're standing still. Also, remember to turn the front wheel toward your dominant foot, at least in the beginning. When the bike is in motion you steer very little to keep upright, in trackstanding you steer a lot to keep the bike in motion.

Today I tried switching from 48/16 to 49/16. I thought it wouldn't make a huge difference but it did. At least in acceleration (blame my weak legs)

You already know this, but

1) position on the bike
2) power
3) aero bits

1) and 2) are somewhat equal in importance with 3) coming much farther behind.

Having said that, the sum of all incremental equipment gains does make a difference. My preferred training setup is a Giant TCR regular road frame, regular classic bend drop bars, lightweight vented helmet, box section wheels and mid-grade tires. When racing or simulating race efforts, I ride a Specialized Venge (aero frame), Bonty "aero" road drop bar, a Spescialized Evade aero helmet, 50 mm carbon wheels and fast tires. The second setup altogether is a bit faster than the first, uncomfortable as though it may be.

In San Diego we have Fiesta Island which is a 4.25 mile one-way fast loop, a perfect playground to experiment with this kinda stuff. A hot 300w lap with the first setup for me is typically around 10 minutes with setup one, about 9:45 with setup 2.

Yeah, definitely focusing on 1 and 2 right now. It's the engine that needs work. Feels weird not having climbs nearby anymore, because that's where I always naturally did better before. It's also kinda cool though, because I don't really like climbing that much.

I def. have a love/hate relationship with climbing as well - the longer and more steep it is, the more I hate it :)

So do you guys need a guide for where to ride in Florida? Because I can help you avoid those climbs...

Heh, Philly has me covered there. Haven't shifted out of the big ring on my road bike since I moved back. As long as I stay away from the wall...

Today I am happy because I got the brake on my Steamroller to work much better. It had a lever I didn't really like, so I replaced that last week. The new one is much nicer (it's actually used, but new to me). Nice lever notwithstanding, the brake feel and overall performance still sucked. Realizing this probably results from pad selection more than anything else, I ordered a new set. Jensen USA had some good ones on sale for only ten bucks. Put them on this morning, and wow! A huge improvement. I should have done this long ago.


I'm less pleased with my Nature Boy. I've switched it to tubeless, my first foray into this tire type. One tire quickly sealed and is holding air very well. The other, I'm still struggling with.