Zurichman2

My Roker out and about on my local mt. Probably best pic I have taken with it. It's a 3 mile climb @ a sold 7-8% grade the whole way 3 Square Hollow

Zurichman2

wild grape vines hanging over the road

Zurichman2

Top of 3 square Hollow overlook into the valley

Zurichman2

Sorry to bombard this thread. Just set up my password/account again tonight and thought I would post some pics

Zurichman2

Sorry to bombard this thread. I just joined back up again tonight and thought I would post some pics.

Zman

My roadie bike a 2006 Lemond Victoirre which I call Victoria Secret. @ the Mineral Belt trail Leadville CO. You need to do this ride lots of mining history and great views.

Zurichman2

No explanation needed

Zurichman2

Zurichman2

Luv to climb Colorado mts.

Zurichman2

The precious metal molybdenum that is used in moly bikes is still mined here even though it is a toxic site. This is at the top of Freemont Pass

Zurichman2

fixer upper Old mining shack on the Mineral Belt Trail

Zurichman2

My attempt on Pikes Peak. Late Start

Greenhil

gevad 

Zurichman2

Yeah now that I somewhat have the Roker dialed in and some of the shorter gravel rides under my belt I plan on stepping up my game some and doing some of the longer rides. So far I know I have 3 rides planned.

Swamp Fox Gravel Fondo Charleston SC March 9th
Skull 120 in Burns Oregon June 15th
Gravel Worlds a 150 miler in Lincoln Nebraska Aug. 17th

I plan on retiring in 2 years so want to pay some bills off first. I use to do the rando riding 200k 300k 400k 600k and 1200k. I have finished 2 1200k's. I gave up the roadie riding because of getting hit by the drunk on the night ride on my roadie bike. I still want to go ride the PBP Paris Brest Paris 1200k in my lifetime. It is quite expensive so not in the works for next year but I want to ride it in 4 years.

With that being said they are having a million meters ride out of Green Bay this next year a 1000k ride I want to go do that. July 12-14th

Maybe a trip out to Wyoming to do one of the Wyoming gravel series rides.

I did enjoy the Grusk(Gravel Race up Spruce Knob) so much that I have thoughts of going back and finishing the full monty on that. It's a great detox weekend. There is also the Hilly Billy Roubaix there. I think if I went to that ride that I would be the oldest finisher there on that ride as the record right now is either 66 or 67.

Zman

Zurichman2

Yeah the Roker is the latest and greatest. It is a very sweet bike. I have no clue why Raleigh stopped making it. I started with the Tamland and it weighed 25 lbs. in a size 56 cm frame. I will fully admit that I was and still am somewhat out of shape. If I was only riding in the Mid West this probably would be a great gravel bike for the money.

Advantages of the Roker
Hydro brakes I will never buy another gravel bike without hydro brakes I luv to climb but still learning to go downhill fast
weighs 20 lbs in a 56 cm
all carbon soaks up the bumps better than Tamland seems to
being 5 lbs lighter it climbs like a dream
Tamland didn't come stock with Clement(now Donnley) xplor MSO tires that were tubeless ready. The Roker came with the same tires but tubeless ready
It is very responsive to almost any type of riding. The bike is a lot more of a bike right now than I am a gravel rider/racer

Things I don't like on the Roker

1x Sram some people seem to like the 1x I don't happen to be one of them. Being a Shimano guy all my life it took me a really long time to just get use to the shifting up and down. On my last ride/race Gray Gray's Gretna ride I was riding with another rider the last 10 miles. Towards the end we were on a rails and trails kind of flat riding. We weren't riding that fast but I was shifting all over the place trying to stay at the same pace he was riding. At my end the bottom 4 gears have too much of a jump in it.

Paint seems to chip pretty easy

Lots of people say why not sale the Roker and get some other kind of 2x bike. Liking the Roker that much that I probably am switching it out to 2x Shimano.

Zman

smoore

Keep Riding Bob and great deal on that Marin! But McDonalds coffee....I'm not too sure about that?

smoore

Zurich,
LOVE that LeMond frame. I like panels and is that 853 or Titanium? I'm a short guy so the longish TTs on the LeMond bikes don't work well for me, but always been a fan of them none the less. And a fan of Greg as well!


EDIT; Whoops that's Ti and Carbon right? Who drives you up to all those elevation signs?

JanMM

If you weren't in so many of those images, I might think that you were telling stories!
Well done!

Zurichman2

Love my Lemond bikes and guess I have 4 of them one is for sale. That is why I have this handle My first was a 1998 Lemond Zurich which has 20,000 miles on it which isn't much for a bike really. It pretty much was put out of commission after buying the Victoirre in 2006 to do the 4X RAAM Team Cyclonauts. I did manage to drive up in my rental car for this pic. Story to follow below.

Top of Pikes Peak sad to say I didn't make it to the top on the bike but I will be baaacccckkkk

Zurichman2

Not sure how anybody else is on this forum but I hate it when something beats me on the bike. The Colorado trip didn't go as planned. I had a buddy out in Colorado that I rode with in 2008 look up on you tube Zman on top of the world as we climbed Mt. Evans together. The climb wasn't too bad as we had a rider from NY that had just quit smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day and so he had to stop every mile or so to catch his breath. He set up a Facebook account and listed it as Pikes Peak or bust. We had planned the ride for over 2 years. About 2 weeks before the ride him and his wife was out riding one of the bike trails around Auora CO. Cherry Creek area and a snake came out across the road. She braked hard he ran over top of her and crashed hard messing his ribs up and lots of bruises He was now out of the ride. I had already bought my plane ticket. The plan was go into Leadville get use to elevation and then do the Pikes Peak ride. I get elevation sickness real easy and get a nasty headache the 1st time I try climbing over 8000 ft. Arriving at Leadville I had some trouble breathing the 1st day and a slight headache. I think I did the Mineral Belt Trail the 1st day and came back into town with them having a street festival. Nuthin like free food aka burgers and a bake potato and lemonade after a ride. The next day Sunday I did the Tennessee Pass climb out of Leadville. Monday I did the Freemont Pass climb. Nothing like getting humbled while out riding. I came across a guy pulling a bob with his 3-4 year daughter in it and he was climbing the Pass with all that weight behind him. He had his wife for support leap frogging him. Tuesday I decided to get up and do a leisurely ride since thed Pikes was the Weds. ride. I was doing it in reverse order when my buddy texted me around 10 AM and said a guy had taken over the ride and had cancelled the ride for Weds. due to heavy rains. He later then rode the ride the top 1/2 on Weds. and then posted on FB where was everybody what a jerk.

At my end I checked out of the Motel real fast and broke all speed records common to man to get to the Manitou Springs hotel I was staying at. I left my stuff in a side room threw on my cycling clothes and made my way to the entrance to Pikes Peak. I started at noon which I knew was a very late start and risky. I had to stop a few times the first couple of miles to get my heart rate under 160 bpm from the excitement along with the elevation and the climbing. I finally did get that under control and made it to the 10 mile marker in 2 hrs. I looked up the mt. and saw a nasty storm blowing in. I knew I didn't want to get stuck on the mt. with no support as I have already had hypothermia 3 times from cycling in the summer time. I made a quick descent off the mt. as my computer said I average the max car speed off the mt. @ 35 mph average. When I hit the parking lot the storm dumped and I just made it there in time. They were nice enough to me at the entrance to give me a pass for my car and bike for the bike price. I then drove up to the top to see what the top looked like. Truth be told I probably wasn't in shape to make it to the top of the mt. that day anyways as the last 10 miles really looks rough. My new goal is to go back when I am 70 and finish unfinished business. My buddy is happy because he has 2 years to get ready for it.

Zman

Zurichman2

Mile marker 10 Pikes Peak


I at least enjoyed riding 1/2 of Pikes Peak

Greenhil

Zurichman2

Thanks Greenhil

At my end I gained over 15 lbs from my rt collarbone nerve pain which is the result of having 2 degenerative disks in my neck. Long term I guess I will have to get that fixed. I have been bicycling now since 1992 and walked more hills this last year in Gravel riding/racing than I did that entire time of road cycling. There is always a discussion of what gravel riding difficulty is compared to road riding. To me it's a huge difference and since I want to step up my game next season I know I have to get in better shape to do the longer(over 100 miles) gravel bike rides/races. I do like a challenge though and since I have done almost all of what you can do at the roadie end including 4x RAAM I now have the goal of trying to ride all the bad ass gravel bike races. It for sure is a learning experience as each ride/race is uniquely different.

Zman

jppe

Zurichman2

It had nuthin go do with the nasty climb and needing a break right? hehe So did you do the Bootlegger or do you just live in the area?

Zman