The long and pedally Spring Classics thread. Gent Wevelgem sportive

[weeksy]

Took the 2.5mm spacer off the hub and fitted about a 1.2mm spacer. That's moved the cassette over nicely so both road and Zwift wheels are closely matched now. Can go the extra tiny bit to make it perfect as the hub is fractionally too wide to allow it. But it's only 2-3 twist on the barrel adjuster.

Tyres still feel really really narrow! But they're 35s which are not crazy narrow lol.

HR average 123bpm.

@Crosshair was a 116 average

[weeksy]

As usual, sitting working and thinking (over thinking) and analysing things a bit...

"how much faster are road tyres than the gravelly versions" was my question to myself.

However we do get into the realms of comfort and happiness. I'm a VERY inexperienced road rider and the skinny narrow rubber does freak me out when riding... but lets be honest, Belgium isn't exactly Crit Circuit cornering.

This video implies that road tyres are indeed a LOT better



28mm GP5000 @ 90psi 45kph average 299w
28mm GP5000 @ 70psi 45kph average 327w

40mm Terra speed @ 70psi 45kph average 449w
They did one at 40psi but he only lasted 1min 14 lol.

Still not convinced i'll lob on some super fast rubber... but it's food for thought !

[lostboy]

Skinny, narrow rubber feels much more secure when cornering on tarmac than gravel or MTB tyres.

I'm sure if you rode your road bike into corners like you would your MT07 on track you'll find it inspires much more confidence. I ride my road and mtb bikes very differently - I always descend or corner hard on the roadie whilst in the drops and attack, weight inside the bike etc. as you would on a motorbike on track and the mtb you're very much "over" it and leaning the bike first to engage the side knobs on the tyres and heavily weighting the outside pedal.

Road tyres are great - remember they're only dealing with a few kg of bike, 0.5hp (if you're lucky) and significantly less torque than a motorbike. With 32mm (or bigger in your case) tyres running 60psi you're creating quite a contact patch.

[weeksy]

Skinny, narrow rubber feels much more secure when cornering on tarmac than gravel or MTB tyres.

I'm sure if you rode your road bike into corners like you would your MT07 on track you'll find it inspires much more confidence. I ride my road and mtb bikes very differently - I always descend or corner hard on the roadie whilst in the drops and attack, weight inside the bike etc. as you would on a motorbike on track and the mtb you're very much "over" it and leaning the bike first to engage the side knobs on the tyres and heavily weighting the outside pedal.

Road tyres are great - remember they're only dealing with a few kg of bike, 0.5hp (if you're lucky) and significantly less torque than a motorbike. With 32mm (or bigger in your case) tyres running 60psi you're creating quite a contact patch.

Seeing it written and actually doing it are 2 very different things,.

[weeksy]

Bit left-field this post... But along with the cycling for training i've been slightly working on getting the weight down for Wevelgem (and Enduro racing of course)

Part of that has been the increase in cycling, but part has also been taking https://www.myprotein.com/sports-nutrit ... 30152.html

It's something called Thermopure and back in the day when i went from fat me to normal me, i used it a lot for several months, how much of the loss was down to me and how much was down to it... I dunno. But i thought it was worth giving it a go again.

Anyway, i'm 6-7lb down in the last 3 weeks, with very little in the way of changes of diet, so beers, pizza, cookies, well everything really. I don't do particularly healthy on the eating side of things.

I'd still like another 6-7 in the next month and may give it a kick more with a month of 5-2 from next week to see if we can break the 14lb loss before Belgium.

After racing Tues twice on Zwift and 50km outdoor with @Crosshair yesterday the legs were pretty fried today... but i jumped on the Zwift tour ride, which was a horrible mistake. It was round a lumpy circuit in Yorkshire and it was arguably the most horrible circuit i've ridden. if just felt like it was up, then up, then flat and then up.... all the sodding time.
The legs told me about 35 mins in they were not having it... so i dropped the pace a bit then. Wasn't my best day in the office.

Rest day tomorrow before outdoors on Sat morning.

[MingtheMerciless]

At our age rest and recovery is important.

My legs are very wooden after yesterday's outing, so it's been a gentle, short dog walk today. I'll have a short commute in to work tomorrow along with bit of cross training (shifting and stacking 2 cubic metre bags of logs) when I get home.

Hopefully I can coax Mrs M out on her Levo Saturday to tear my legs off round the forest.

I've got a Wales trip in May with the lads, so I really need some multi-day fitness. I doesn't help two of them will be on E-bikes.

[Crosshair]

I think the whole tyre thing gets more important the faster you go with an inflection point at 20mph. Same with aero wheels- I only used to notice the difference in fast chaingangs and races.

For slower rides, and especially a long endurance event- I’d choose comfort-durability-speed-weight in that order.

I am going to get around to putting some different rubber on the gravel bike- maybe for summer but if I tart up the race bike then I may not even bother as these PFP’s are so good.

[weeksy]

I think the whole tyre thing gets more important the faster you go with an inflection point at 20mph. Same with aero wheels- I only used to notice the difference in fast chaingangs and races.

For slower rides, and especially a long endurance event- I’d choose comfort-durability-speed-weight in that order.

I am going to get around to putting some different rubber on the gravel bike- maybe for summer but if I tart up the race bike then I may not even bother as these PFP’s are so good.

Put your new stuff on tomorrow and I can steal your specialized then.

Comfort the Vee tire are ok. In terms of actual comfort, but not convinced in corners yet. But that may easily be just my head.
Durability I think they're made from old tank tracks lol
Speed, hard to say, no one has really speed tested them.
Weight seems to be 750 or so, so could lose a chunk there.

[Crosshair]

I want the 42mm version of the Pathfinders really but refuse to throw out good tyres

I think you could talk yourself into choosing anything so if you’re happy with them, maybe just mentally tick it off as ‘sorted’.

[weeksy]

I chatted to a few of the boys locally on WhatsApp and one of them came up with some loft tyres.

Option 1. Vittoria Terreno Zero 700*38. My scales read them as 700g. They're currently on the bike for testing tomorrow. Cost to me £0


Option 2. Schwalbe G-one speed 700*35. Not weighed yet as they're on his spare wheels. I can borrow for the event but not keep.


Option 3. My own B-Twin 700*45. They weighed in at 970g. Which along with some of the reviews being not ideal, means they're going to local bike recycling bloke via @crust

Option 4. Vee Tire Zilento 700*35. Currently owned and came with the bike. Weighed in at dead on 500g. Obviously cost me nothing. These are what I used when out with Crosshair. Weight is good but I can't say I'm in love

[weeksy]

So today brought a bit of testing.

Terreno Zero vs Zee Zilent.
It was a shortish loop just outside the village, bit of flat, up, down. Trying to keep things as close to the same as possible in terms of effort, using the HR to gauge that mostly as i don't have a power meter. I left the bike in the same gear for both rides, only changing with the front mech at set points for the hills.

First up was the Terreno Zero
moving time 12:45
max speed 44.7kph
ave speed 22.1kph
max HR 143
ave HR 118
max cadence 97
ave cadence 74

2nd up was the Zee Zilent
moving time 13:01
max speed 43.9kph
ave speed 21.6kph
max HR 141
ave HR 116
max cadence 98
ave cadence 74

picking a few average segments within the ride for example, 1.0km-1.5km there was 0.1kph difference between the 2 bikes.

@ 2.5km-3.5km there was fractionally bigger a gap in favour of the Terreno.

On the climb i was about 5s quicker on the Terreno, but again 2bpm average higher.

But overall, i think if we take into account the Zee HR was 2bpm lower average and 16s slower, if we compensate for that 2bpm there's got to be only a few seconds between both sets of tyres.

Sure, it's not scientific by any stretch, but it's the best method i can come up with based upon the tools i have.

In terms of comfort, there's not much in it, but potentially with the Zee Zilent i feel a little bit happier, especially in the slightly damp conditions from todays rides.

[weeksy]

3rd up was the Schwalbe G-One Speed
moving time 13:03
max speed 45.4kph
ave speed 21.5kph
max HR 142
ave HR 120
max cadence 99
ave cadence 73

[weeksy]

Now this would resolve any speed issues lol.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304338957950





This video is of a cool roadie being converted into and even cooler hybrid.

I know @crust has been working on this too, but very much lacking in forum input.

I have to admit I was thinking of something better last night while @Welsh Muffin was out drinking, but it seems you don't get a lot in terms of value

Mine is only 11.6kg and cost me £400, that's with pedals too

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Cube-SL-Road-2 ... 242535.htm

That's 10.9 and I assume weighed without pedals.

It's £3000+ before we get into the 9kg bracket

[Crosshair]

You’re seriously overthinking this

I doubt mine is lighter than yours- there’s 2x 38mm tubes, tools and tubeless repair kit hidden in the frame, plus three bottle cages and top tube bag so probably weighs about 14kg as is
(If you type a course into something like Best Bike Split- even 5kg of weight barely makes a difference).

And that’s plenty fast enough to do a 21mph group ride

[weeksy]

Yeah but there is thinking and there's spending. Only doing one of the 2

[weeksy]

80km on Zwift this morning... One thing you do need to do is eat and drink i reckon, arguably more so than outdoors where you're cooled by the air and sweat less. Legs felt it, but overall it was fine. Not the most enjoyable way to spend a few hours, but far from the worst way

[lostboy]

80km on Zwift this morning... One thing you do need to do is eat and drink i reckon, arguably more so than outdoors where you're cooled by the air and sweat less. Legs felt it, but overall it was fine. Not the most enjoyable way to spend a few hours, but far from the worst way

I'm sure the likes of Crosshair will have a more scientific approach but I did a Round The Isle of Wight ride with a cycle retailer who had also been a pro-Conti level racer. What struck me was the amount he drank and ate, we got talking about it and he said "500ml/30mins drink and 1 piece of food/hour" The food could be an energy bar or something fresh but ideally packed with useful calories. Gels if you can't feed.

I've never yet been able to drink that volume on a ride, no matter how long, but I've made it a habit to ensure I get a few mouthfuls of drink every 10 mins - this seems to work out about right for me and my pace. Still crap at getting food down me though - thank heavens for gels.

[weeksy]

I was doing 1L per hour today, 1 banana and 1 decent sized flackjack. Gels can fuck right off.

I believe theres waffles and beer laid on. We may not get past the first stop!

[lostboy]

I was doing 1L per hour today, 1 banana and 1 decent sized flackjack. Gels can fuck right off.

I believe theres waffles and beer laid on. We may not get past the first stop!

Sounds like you've got it pretty much bang on then!

[Crosshair]

Nah, I use plain sugar
Lots though, 60g per 500ml with a pinch of salt.
For food, I like rice crispie squares, jelly babies and wine gums. With pork scratchings mixed in (honest).

I’ve realised that the SIS powder I used to use for crit racing was giving me gout!!! Too much fructose and was raising my uric acid levels.


Bro science but from what I gathered in a podcast this week, ability to process carbs is down to an enzyme that separates the fructose and glucose contained in sucrose (sugar). If you have that enzyme (through practice ) you get more energy out of each gram of sugar. If you don’t- it continues on through your gut and gives you an upset tummy