Doge

At 18 - best be quiet I think. The kids are extremely talented right now, like never before. But I don't see the advertising creds there until they have achieved for a few years.

gsteinb

At 18 he set a world record for an aged distance. Would be hard to do that at 25. It's also 3K vs 4k. So he put up the best junior time ever. Being a junior, doing a junior thing.

The elite world record for a K further is about a full MPH faster.

Again, this does nothing to diminish the accomplishment. It just needs to be held in context.

Flatballer

Happy American Thanksgiving everyone. Hopefully everyone is surviving well enough and we'll all have a better 2021.

gsteinb

Calm down, hippie.

big john

Since there are so many fire roads around here I have been thinking about gravel bikes. Wednesday I joined a ride with some double-century type riders who have started doing dirt road loops. A friend and I were on mountain bikes so we decided to just do the first climb (10 miles with 3500 feet of gain) and then turn around. The whole loop they did was 42 miles with 6500 feet.
It was a blast and I could see how a light gravel bike could be an advantage on long, smoothish grades but the mtb is better for loose rocks and descents.

I'm trying to sit on before he turns up the speed.

big john

This guy is pretty fast on the road or off.

big john

It's easy to get far away from cars out here and the area is so vast but I don't know if enough people would make it a regular thing for me to justify another bike purchase. It was a lot of fun riding with them, though, and I want to do more.

ridethecliche

If you want to do it on the cheap you can build a monster cross bike using an old 90s rigid steel mtb! That would be a hoot!

big john

Yes, I thought about something like that, or even a cf hardtail if the right one came along.
If I go with them again anytime soon it will be on my plus bike. Still fun, just gotta work a little harder. When there are road climbs involved a mountain bike sucks, better to have drop bars.

topflightpro

Viathon has a sweet deal on a Rival gravel bike. Viathon is Walmart’s brand, but it’s gotten great reviews.

furiousferret

Was that medium_john pulling up those mountains?

Nice pics.

big john

I saw that! I also saw some other great looking bikes at decent prices.
If I knew there would be group rides semi-often that would make it easier. It was the most excited I've been about a ride in a while.

big john

Under 200 since I retired. I was only pulling when they let me. I would have had a tough time if I had done the whole loop.

big john

This other tall guy had a Salsa. It has 27.5 wheels and eyelets all over. I should ask him if he would let me borrow it.

Doge

Forgot to mention... On track, he gets to use whatever gears he wants. On road, he'd have to hold 122 RPM for that speed - for that time.

topflightpro

By my quick math, he was still averaging about 114 rpm for the full effort.

ridethecliche

I know that it's whats done nowadays for gravel... but I'd really want a double. Running a 46/34 or something would be perfect.

big john

Giant has some low priced bikes with double rings and clearance for 44s.

I'd want the double, too, if I was riding road and dirt with it.

ridethecliche

The bike I had 'picked up' was a used giant that did exactly that... unfortunately the frame's cracked so still trying to see where things go with the warranty claim. Womp.

Doge

My comment is what it would be on road with gear restrictions. That for the faster rides that is above the rpm someone would ideally choose to ride.
On track, 17-18 have no gear restrictions and I do not know what his RPM was, nor what gear he had. It may be that 114RPM you mentioned so we could back into the gear.
My calculation was 36mph (average - so full effort)*5,280ft/mile / 26ft/rev = rev/hour = 7,310.77. 7,310.77rphour / 60min = 121.8rpm. Then with likely (I don't know) 172.5mm, or 175mm cranks footspeed goes up again by the ratio of road lengths to track lengths.

My point was the rule of 26ft rollout on the road bike makes foot speed above ideal for almost any rider at that speed, more for some than others. Being that a 36mph average would on the road mean hitting 40 sometimes, a limited gear does not reflect the road speed capability of the rider. On track, we can compare his results to the fastest pros (other than the distance part, which is also "too bad"). On the road, we really can't compare junior performance vs a pro except an up hill ITT.

burnthesheep

I put this here as it could be for road race or TT and didn't want the general BF peanut gallery chiming in.

People pay $160 to ship their shoes to have 4 holes drilled for 3 to 4mm lower stack on their Speedplays?

I always wondered why my walkable Aero cleats were so high. That Shimano adapter. First Google results was to pay to have it done.

I just did it myself in 30min. Looks awesome. Looks super aero. Lower stack. WIN.

ridethecliche

Good update about the bike I bought!
Seller just got back to me and said that the shop had two potential frames they could get from giant. One was the same frame 2 model years newer, which is an Al cross frame. The other frame is a 3 model year newer carbon frame that they had modified to get a player into the gravel game.

Sooo i decided to go with the carbon frame, partially because I've never owned one and partially because it'll likely have better resale value.
Will have to figure some compatibility stuff since the newer frames are thru axle front and rear. I think one of the two wheelsets I got with the bike has a conversion kit available because it's the OEM giant wheelset which uses rebadged DT Swiss 350 hubs afaik. Hoping that works out. I'll figure out what to do with the other wheelset, likely sell it cheap and get a nicer wheelset for using the bike on the road/gravel.

Frame should be here next week. I'm going to pay a small 'warranty fee' and then deal with swapping the parts over. Seller's being very reasonable tbh. And he told me that he'd likely pick this frame if he was keeping it as well because the resale value will be better. Looking forward to have it all set up.

topflightpro

Anyone see The Simpsons the other night? There is a scene in which Skinner and Chalmers stop at a "biker" bar - as in cyclist bar. Chalmers accidentally knocks over a row of computers that had not uploaded their ride files yet.

https://cyclingmagazine.ca/sections/...house-verdict/

Flatballer

I hope the post office recovers from all that's happened eventually. I've had multiple packages lost recently. One I really needed to make a present for my wife and I had to re-order and lost a week of time working on it. Another was shipped from WV last Tuesday, should've arrived Monday, and the tracking still just shows it sitting in a Philly distribution center. I don't have high hopes it'll arrive. We probably average one a month at this point.

Doge

I joined https://www.bladeforums.com/ today. Same software as BF. It might just be my style but when you do your first post and show your knives - it is all pretty much the same. Sharpness vs power meters.
At least I know how to use the software.
I have a lot of knives. I just learned there were places to post about that.
These are new this week. I can shave with any but the cleaver.