Mr. Beanz

Roman? Graffix guy or Fixer?

jschen

Roman is someone who joined us near the end. Grphxbz, I think.

Mr. Beanz

Thanx Mr. Chen! I'm slow but I got it now!

OC Roadie

You should be fine with that gearing. A 12/27 on the back would be nice, but you can'y bring it if you don't have it . I've never done Ride Around Bear, but I did Breathless on a 12/25 last year. Palomar has an average grade ~6.5%, GMR is closer to 5%, still there's nothing that steep on this ride.

ovoleg

Nothing ot make the legs burn off the bat?

How is 42/23 for lowest gearing on this ride? I'd like to take the Uni on her maiden voyage...??

roadfix

Mr. Oleg,

I'd stick with your LeMond if I were you. This is no time to try out your Uni with its antique chainring on this ride....

George


PS: so how's your secret training been going?.....

OC Roadie

I agree with Fixer on this one, unless you don't really care much for your knees.

jschen

Let me double check something. The most current estimate is 8500 feet of climbing. 4300 on Palomar, representing as big a climb as all the others combined, and also the steepest. Mesa Grande getting us over toward Julian also has a climb, and a relatively steep one at that. So the vast majority of the hard climbing will be before pie? And as I understand it, the remaining two tougher climbs are near the end, at the Wild Animal Park and on the home stretch?

1955

I can stand the hills ( and walking in my bike shoes) if you can stand my whining.

Ralph

Pico

Why would you take any bike on a 120 miler for a maiden voyage? It takes awhile to get everything adjusted just the way you like it. And unless unless your name is Jan, that gearing is going to hurt.

OC Roadie

That sounds about right, I think Mesa Grande may be steeper (but much shorter) than anything on Palomar. I think you or Dog Hair may know better than me. There's also a climb getting inot Bandy Canyon. If I remember right, Palomar and Mesa Grande make up roughly 7,000'. That leaves 1,500- 2,000' combined for the remaining climbs.

ovoleg

HEY the antique chainring is nice It has friction shifters too!!

I told you, I don't train for these kinds of things . It's more of a get up and go thing. Long distance riding is mostly mind over knee's. I just have to concentrate on finishing and I will do well.

I did some riding in the wind this weekend..Does that count? lol

ovoleg

the knee's need to be abused at least once a month to put them in their place

Nosra451

Have we firmed-up the route yet, my wife might drive another car (sag). 10 days left.

OC Roadie

The actual route is final, the rest/food & water stops are the only things that need to be determined. If nobody can suggest some actual stores or gas stations, we'll just have to wing it. It shouldn't be too much of an issue, considering that it's looking like we'll have plenty of rolling support.

jschen

And what's our plan regarding lights? I know some people (myself included, though I'm not so sure now) have suggested the possibility of needing lights to finish the ride. Are we going to all stick together and all need to have lights? Are we going to stick together and enforce a pace that allows us to finish without lights? Are we going to break into lights and no-lights groups?

I'm cool with any of those possibilities as long as there's no major descents in the dark. If we are planning on carrying lights, though, I need to start making sure I can get my lights set up on my Roubaix just right.

jschen

Any particular area you want suggestions for? There's a good possibility that some of my riding this Sunday will be along some stretches of the pie route (I have 3 major contenders at the moment, so not sure yet which stretches), so I could be on the lookout for a stop point if I happen to be in that area.

ovoleg

I'm not carrying lights for this lol.

Considering we start at 8pm, it usually becomes unbearably dark around 5pm, that gives us 9 hours with breaks. 9 HOURS! OMG, trust me you'll be done by 3pm no problem. I think you guys are overestimating how difficult this is.

I want some knee pain, I'll check with my LBS about that fork today

roadfix

I'm bringing my tiny blinkies, front and back, just in case....

jschen

ovoleg, I'll bet you that we will not finish within 7 hours of taking off (ie start 8 AM, end 3 PM). 10 to 1 odds in your favor. (17 MPH, including time stopped, with two major climbs? Sure...) There's a reason that start times around 6:30 AM have been proposed, giving us 11 hours of ambient light (including time for stops, regrouping, and the all-important pie).

Think about it... Climbing Palomar probably will take 2-2.5 hours as a group. Since Mesa Grande evidently has about half the elevation gain, it's not inconceivable we'll spend another 1-1.5 hours climbing over there. So we'll spend 3-4 hours climbing (not counting flat roads, descending, and stops) even before stopping for pie at the half-way point.

Socalcycling

I don't think he has ever done a ride this and does not know what hes getting into.

ovoleg

We can hope to sustain 14mph average which will yield 112mi in 8 hours. I guess you are right but I think we can do it

Lets try to think positive!

dahvaio

8 hours in the saddle... A ride to eat a PIE at the PX in the Sky... I'm not worthy...

I hope you guys enjoy yourselves... Maybe next year...

Good luck...

Nosra451

That's it - I'm bringing a sleeping bag. lol

1955

I'm starting to worry again.

Ralph