And one hell of a derailleur to ever shift back.

My nicer road bike is now more than 10 years old. It's got rim brakes, a 130bcd crank and a mechnical 10-speed drivetrain. So, other than being a nice carbon frame, it's pretty outdated.

Part of me really wants a new road bike. Something with carbon wheels, disc brakes and electronic ****ing. The the more raional part of me says stick with what I've got. It still works fine, and since track racing is my primary focus, I don't ride on the road that much.

Anyway, just thought I'd share since it's cold and wet here and I'm a bit bored at work.

Doge Did Puppy know the woman who was just named Miss America? Also, has he moved into a fighter jet yet? I ask because she seems really young and is already flying F-16s.

I currently use an old Felt F4 (High mod carbon, 10 speed mechanical dura ace). Super nice bike at the time but now seems quite dated. I would love a new fancy bike, but $10,000+ for a superbike is not even close to responsible spending right now. I have carbon wheels but rarely use them outside racing. Most of the time I'm using old open pros with a heavy hub powertap.

I’m curious if 10 versus 11 or 12 speed cassette really that much better to warrant an upgrade?
All of my bicycles include a 10x system… a couple of older ones are 9x and even the 9x DA works quite well.

It's not so much the number of cogs but the e-shifting.

E-shifting is one thing to which I haven’t given a serious thought yet - I see your point!

E-shifting is the way. I have E-shifting on 2 of my 5 geared bikes. Ultegra Di2 12 on one of my two road bikes, and Sram Etap 11 on my TT bike. I may get it on my MTB in the not so distant future.

If I wait a while, may be I can skip the shifting altogether and graduate to CVT. People seem to have working prototypes but I haven’t seen anything being marketed.

Intitutively, I tend to avoid too much reliance on batteries. All of my bikes are completely mechanical and there’s precious little in them that I cannot overhaul or repair myself.

I am not a fan of any electronics for the sport. No shifting, no power meters, no speedos, no radios. I'm good with yelling at the rider...
Just like F1 started removing ABS, links to the computers in the stands etc. The racer should learn what to do to win, without aids.

Popping back in here because I just realized that y'all used to talk about masters racing when I first started posting here in like 2007....i just realized that my reading age would be 35 this year.

What a world.

Anyway, I've been riding a bunch more and shooting for 6-10 hours of activity a week. Just did a ramp test and 70% of my last minute was 230W and I'm sitting at 175 right now hoping to get down to 160-165. I have no interest getting much below that point because I'm still lifting etc as well.

It's been really nice to get out more on a bike. I bought a used rim brake caad13 over Thanksgiving and I've been enjoying that quite a bit.


​

Welcome back RTC. The subforum activity is quite slow, outside of Training Status which gets some posting. I have taken my idle chatter to the "Addiction" threads in road, but would not mind bringing it back here :)

I'm 37 (race age 38 - November BD) and started focusing on Masters in 2023 for the first time with great success, wins in RRs and crits, more podiums including a major stage race with a TT (VoS).

I had born torn between elite (I'm still a 2) and Master's for a few seasons. I'm still considering it, since I have like 10-12 cat 2 points, and I think you can use 10 points from Master's for a cat 1 upgrade. IDK though. Not many 2 only events and the elite field is so stacked around here. I'm def one of the good guys in Mater's 35/45 though, which is still deep with talent/watts in SCNCA.

I'd like to consider racing again but I'm reticent given work and life things. I've been shooting for 6-10 hours of training a week and I've been seeing a lot of progress since getting my kickr set up again.

I just don't think I'm ready to make the sacrifices I think I'd need to for racing... Though I could do only crits. The answer will come when it needs to.

ridethecliche You may want to consider Zwift racing. My wife is doing quite a bit and likes it a lot. And I am doing more on Zwift including structured workouts and endurance as well as meet ups. When I get my endurance back, I will start racing Zwift as well.

I am not throwing outdoor real racing under the bus just saying that Zwift offers a lot with less time commitment and cost (driving to and from races plus fees) and less risky.

I notice quite a lot of members race but do not post here. I see it Addiction, Training and Nutrition, Road Cycling the the 50+ forum. It is always interesting why they do not post here. My only suggestion is that we encourage / invite others that race to join us.

Good idea, I can start doing that in Road.

I find Zwift racing pretty rewarding. I think part of it is that it's easier, because it's related to my actual strength/fitness rather than my category. On Zwift I'm a D, because I'm a 2.5 w/kg FTP person. In real life that's a huge limiter, and in fact I don't think I've finished a proper race for a few years (track and a half-way-through-the-crit-finish notwithstanding).

Also, there's very little skin in the game, so I can race whenever I want, within reason. Can't do the 8pm? I can do the 9pm. Can't do the 9pm? I can do the Big Spin ride at 9:15pm. etc etc. I even did some of the long Epic races for my long rides (two of them took me 3 hours to finish). And in Zwift I can be a hero and actually take a pull or chase a bit, where in real life that's not possible.

For the most organized racing, the ZTRL racing league is great. As a D racer I'm shelled in most of the races, but I can get points for segments (like a points race for the uninitiated).

Yeah, Z is great. I was already like ~1/3 on Zwift before baby came around 6 months ago. Now, it's more like 75% lol. Have a pretty sweet setup in my garage

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...aa1f1a02da.jpg

Your garage is a lot more, uh, nicer than mine. I'd be sharing my rides with the chipmunks that like to run through it. And the odd frog in the summer.

This is my basement. Track bike to the right. Recently did the two screen thing. Music, course map (so I can see where the sprints are and stuff), phone companion app on top of the stereo thing, trackball because mouse doesn't work well on a limited area surface.

Plan is to reduce the foot print - a compact receiver/amp (need to buy), a smaller footprint computer (have it already), the drawer thing will be under the mirror, and the track bike will have some kind of rollers cage around it so I can do rollers. Also want to make it easier to get the CycleOps 300 in and out of that spot. Leg press machine to the right of the track bike, but it seems to kill my back so not using it. Based on how fast I move, revamping the room will be done in the next 5 to 10 years.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6a6a62598a.jpg

Pretty stoked on our garage. We've owned/lived in this 3-level townhome since May 2021, and the bottom level is a huge garage which is just sweet. It's a tandem garage - but still plenty spacious. In front of where a second car fits, (we are on just 1 Prius for now), there is a ~12x12 foot flex space that triples as an office area, exercise area, and bedroom with the trundle

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...de3954ec9e.png


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...eab0e4b38d.png


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...abae04b2b1.png

wow much easier to get the bike out etc. Sweet set up. That bed... I'd probably end up sleeping in it after some of my rides.