miyata man

They mean you have a hockey player haircut and are showing off their lacking understanding of Californian's ironic adoption of tasteless objects as fashion forward. Like wearing a mullet or drinking ****ty beer in upscale joints or socialites wearing cowboy boots on Rodeo Drive.

wktmeow

I hear you. I spent a couple hundred at a previous fitter that came super highly recommended by friends, and ended up not riding any faster or more comfortably, and developing knee issues shortly after, so my trust wasn't particularly high either. I think the fact that we already have a working relationship, and he's invested in me getting faster and getting results and not overuse injuries makes it a little easier to buy into. Really the major changes for me other than the more stretched out bars/saddle were the very low (compared to before) saddle height, and slammed back cleats.

I never stretch :|

Here's my bike as it's set up now, compared to how it was set up before:

Now -

Before -

Added a photo on the bike to the suffering thread (to keep from spamming this one up excessively)

globecanvas

Maybe you're joking because you read the thread, but the guy in blue is an ex-pro and he won the race kind of puts it all in perspective.

hack

Even though you don't stretch, how is your flexibility?

aaronmcd

I'll definitely start doing these. I can at least still touch my toes, but can't get my hands flat on the ground without a really long stretch.

wktmeow

Judging from the last time I attempted Yoga - below average.

aaronmcd

Whaaaat!? Hahahaha that's hilarious. I guess he's just chilling out while everyone else is pushing it lol

topflightpro

My stretching routine consists of the following (all done for 1 min. each, unless specified otherwise):

Wall press calf stretch (30s leg straight, 30s knee bent a bit)S
Standing quad stretch
Standing hip flexor stretch
Downward dog
Cat Stretch
Cobra position
Pigeon (I alternate the versions of this, sometimes head to floor, sometimes back foot pulled up)
Butterfly
One leg straight with other leg crossing and foot flat on ground and turn stretch
Hurdler stretch
Figure 4 stretch while lying on my back.
Hamstrings with a strap while lying on my back.

All in all, it takes me about 30 min. to do that each morning.

Ygduf

amateur

Ygduf

This would have been true like 8 years ago. The posted picture along with the disquieting news that he rides the polo fields with a speaker on his bike are making me reconsider my team reconsiderations once again.

globecanvas

Racing tomorrow but it's such a nice night I did the Weds night worlds with my teammates and it was just awesome. 48 miles @ 23+ mph average.

The best part was, about 10 miles in we reeled in a couple, a big strong guy and a girl. We told them to hop on and they did, hanging on at 24-25 mph for about 10 minutes until we passed their home, which turned out to be the giant Jehovah's Witness Watchtower Farms compound. When they peeled off we all shouted "good job!" and they shouted "you guys are super nice!"

TMonk

My stretching routine is about as 1/2 as involved as topflight's and is absolutely necessary for me. I get back and knee problems if I stop stretching and resume my level of activity. A couple times for week I'll double down and stretch for about a half hour.

It seems like a time sink, and I guess it kinda is, but it's also calming and meditative. You can clear your mind and address problems. As I put it, I like to tell people that I spend a lot of time just "sitting on the floor"

Ryan12

45 mins Daily Training is enough I think

topflightpro

I should add, when I'm rushed, I cut it down a bit. That could be shortening each stretch to 30s or skipping some of them.

TheKillerPenguin

Laid low the last few days. Legs were fine but my body was straight up wrecked from a lot of TSS that was pretty much entirely high intensity. Gonna spin around today and open back up a little I guess.

miyata man

I have attained impeccably smooth shifting and will now continue onwards to do all the group rides in hopes of gaining back some inkling of form.

Let this picture symbolize how thoroughly my harsh shifting has been blissed out.

mike868y

what does proper bike maintenance have to do with training

revchuck 

Kinda hard to ride if your bike's FUBAR.

aaronmcd

On my quest to get this aero thing figured out, I am again researching short cranks. All the forums make me optimistic - all the guys refusing to change have arguments either completely clueless about free body diagrams and forces, or just unwilling to do something that the almighty bike industry isn't promoting. Or they have normal proportions and already feel like they have a good aero position. And way too many people are focusing on power on these discussions. If anyone has a 165mm or shorter crankset with stages for sale Ill buy it. My guess is aero gains from a few mm shorter crank are worth much watts. But I want the same power meter so I can come to a decent conclusion.

miyata man

Yes, sitting at home instead of being out training had everything to do with a non-functional drivetrain. I realized how much I have taken butter smooth shifting for granted.

50 odd miles with a few efforts either side of a group ride at recovery pace. Well, slightly more than recovery pace for me right now.

echappist

24.5 is what I would expect for regular kit, aero road helmet, and decently aero rims (Flo 30)

when one has a broken or shot component in the drive train, it's not going to be just 6 watts. I'd estimate a 10w penalty with shot bearings. If there's a lot of noise from your drivetrain, see if you can isolate it.

As for tires, if brand new tubulars are the reference point (Vittoria latex tube tubulars come to mind), Corsa Speed tubulars save 3W (per tire), and Corsa Speed ran tubeless will save 6W. On the other side of the spectrum, tack on 4-5W for gatorskin, and if the tire begins to be squared-off, tack on a few more watts. 15 watts due to slow tires is not trivial. They all add up.

I'm nowhere as aero as @wktmeow (assuming his power meter is reading correctly), but at 174 cm, I did 26.7mph soloing the last few laps of a crit with some really choppy pavement in warm condition on 335W. I was being extra cautious (didn't want to throw away a win by going too hot through rough corners), so perhaps 330W would have sufficed.

Recently did 25.6 mph on 293W by using all the aero equipment I could find: aero front bottle, aero helmet, H3+ trispoke with Corsa Speed tires, Bodypaint suit, and IAB for all but 5% of the course. Personally i'm not happy with this as i'd have expected faster, but so it goes

165mm cranks per se won't do much without getting a better position. You'll only be able to go up by less than 1cm anyway.

aaronmcd

If cranks are .75 cm shorter, I can go up .75 cm, which puts the knees 1.5 cm lower relative to the torso, which puts the bars 2 or 3 cm lower for the same hip angle.

Also I started stretching again today. I recall doing upper 25s at sub 300 watts in a solo effort from the gun in a cat 4 early bird crit a few years ago. (2 others bridged half hour in and I got second). That was IAB tho and I was able to hold 285 or so in that position at the time.

Drivetrain is currently good. Tires are fine, I dont pay much attention to what I'm running but its always something decent but won't wear out in 400 miles.

Ttoc6

Mountain biking today. Friends MTB had a stages power meter on it that I;m suspicious of the numbers on. I'm not a very good mtber but the numbers feel low. Oh well, lol. I just MTB for fun.

mike868y

i have a stages on my cx bike. i trust it because i train on the road with it and the numbers make perfect sense. whenever i ride trails on it, the average power numbers are always very low. whether you realize it or not you're coasting a lot when riding in the woods.

globecanvas

Totally agree with mikey on this. I had power on my MTB for a while and the numbers were always much lower than perceived effort. Some combination of coasting, spending effort getting beat up / not falling off that doesn't go into the pedals, very short muscular efforts that don't translate into sustained power readings the same way as efforts on the road.