botto 

grolby

Yeah I was wondering about that too. Do I qualify as short and lanky? Or do I need to get aggro first?

Alts? Like, are we tag team partners or something?

Ygduf

short and lanky

Hermes

Next LKHC winner?

Stas87

If he looked like Dobby, it would be an improvement

Stas87

Without having met you in person, I can't form any meaningful opinion. So in the interim, yes

Homebrew01

Did I miss something ?

Ygduf

I think he was bored and baiting me into saying the verboten names of banned members. His name was tspeck!

TheKillerPenguin

I don't think @gsteinb will be contributing to my product kickstarter.

Alaska Mike

OK, I'm virtually calling him out-

Aki's a damn zPower-using virtual doper on Zwift. He beat my PR sprint effort handily and stole my precious green jersey a little while ago. Made me look a no-talent club cyclist...

...crap. I am a no-talent club cyclist. And fat.

Nice job Aki.

carpediemracing 

Thanks

I don't think I've watched you sprint but I notice that virtually everyone goes just before the line. It's too late. You have to jump such that you're basically at top speed at the start line. In the one Zwift sprint I recorded I think it takes me 7 seconds to go from 27 to 37 mph. If I coast I can go for a few seconds without losing too much speed. Therefore I jump early, like I want to be going 23-25 mph going into the left curve and I jump before it straightens out.

One day I'll use a whatever smart trainer borrowed from someone around here and we'll see how that goes.

My PR for the hill is like 3 min and the lap is 18:45 or something like that. I normally do 5-7 min on the hill and 23-26 min on the lap, if that's any consolation.

Alaska Mike

How do you do on the shorter, reverse-direction sprint?

globecanvas

Finally got my new mtb yesterday afternoon. Another gorgeous day but my kids had all kinds of homework and indoor soccer and whatnot so I didn't get to ride it. Planned to ride it all day today -- but driving home last night, hit the world's nastiest pothole and destroyed the right front tire on the van. Run-flat tires are sort of amazing, the tire has a massive chunk out of the sidewall and you can see right inside it, but it's still marginally driveable. But now I have to deal with that this morning instead of riding my new bike. If I don't get on the bike today it will go from tragedy to farce.

gsteinb

The problem with run flats is the tires cupping and they're wildly expensive. I really wish I had regular tires.

carpediemracing 

I've never really done it properly, done it maybe 4 or 5 times total. Knowing what I know now I would wait for the aero boost, or draft (and hope for some traffic ahead). With aero I'd hit the boost as the descent flattens? I think it's within 20 seconds of the sprint. Maintain highest possible speed. At 35 mph the aero is worth maybe 3-4 mph. That head start will let you cover the sprint (12 sec? I don't remember, maybe it's 11s?) much faster.

With draft you just want the bridge to be full of Blues or real riders and just make it like a 450 meter long sprint behind a truck.

Feather is usable only for flat sprints, like Richmond, it allows you to jump later so you can pedal through to the finish. I generally stop pedaling about 1s from the finish as it's about that much lag. My avatar starts to coast at about the line. Watching others they're sprinting for another second or more, meaning they're pedaling all the way to the line. Granted, yes, I want to go to the line but I'd rather jump a bit earlier and blow up 2 seconds from the banner.

My absolute best times have been where I've jumped a bit earlier than I thought prudent, blew up 1-2 seconds from the line. Having the highest entry speed possible is absolutely the most critical thing in the sprints. It's a time trial with a flying start, not a "first to the line".

For coasting the first second or two you don't slow down at all, it takes a good 3-4 seconds to lose reasonable speed. Even dropping my chain off the big ring, trying to pick it up and fighting its tendency to get jammed between the arm and spider (3-4 seconds at 0 watts?), getting the chain back on, shifting out of the 11T (it pulls the chain over the right side of the ring on the trainer), and then doing a few pedal strokes - that's a 23.x second time on Watopia.

TMonk

hope you get to enjoy your new MTB soon GC.

I'm going on a mtb ride today at lunch. I really love my new bike.

.

Gramercy

Has anyone read The Secret Race by Tyler Hamilton? Randomly, Bill Simmons and Malcolm Gladwell were talking about it on a podcast yesterday.

TheKillerPenguin

Yes. It's good, though I could've done without the last redemption story chapter.

grolby

Yes.

Ygduf

happy that podcast is back. recovery rides are much better.

globecanvas

What did you get?


I finally got to ride my new bike! Never had a FS bike before, or one this slack (though it's not that slack), or a 27.5, or a 60mm stem, etc, it's a totally new experience. Love the 1x11 and the dropper post especially. I'll be selling my hardtail 29er now. Anybody want it?

TMonk

Pardon my poor photog. skills:



Mid-year bonus paid for the frame, fork and wheels, I purchased the rest.

Relevant Detail:

Ritchey hardtail P-650b
1x10 setup from a bastardized triple; 30t up front, 11-36 rear
Fox Float 32, 100mm, Kashima
Reynolds R27.5 XC, Maxxis Ardent EXO, configured tubeless

Changes to be made:

New seatpost and saddle, the one in there is a 350mm that I took off another bike that I hardly ride, and is slightly too short
Chop down steerer
New pedals/shoes
Maybe nicer stem and bars later on, but that's just for vanity

globecanvas

Pretty bike!

30x36, that's a lot of gear. Have you ridden up any hills yet?

gsteinb

actually I was referring to TKP's questionable post

TMonk

Thanks.

Yeah, nothing too steep for more than a few minutes yet. I do have to muscle up some things a little more than I like, but it hasn't been a real detriment yet.

I liked the idea of doing M8000 and having that 40 or 42t in the rear. Plus, I could run a bigger ring up front, like a 32. But this just ended up being so much cheaper.