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Old 07-25-21, 10:00 AM
  #23  
unterhausen
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Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy
Efficiency: If I were going to ride PBP on a derailleur bike, I'd put on a new set of ceramic jockey wheels for my last few weeks before France. As pointed out above, jockey wheels do have some slight friction.

One study of DNF I saw said that one of the best predictors of success was having one pannier. One of the best predictors of a DNF was being over 70. So it seems that being young and having a wide variety of clothing available is very helpful. One of those 3 oz. bivvy bags might be nice. There are better options than panniers available now.

With all the complaints about hand fatigue one hears, I wonder about the reliability of electronic shifting vs. cables.
I was thinking about high efficiency jockey wheels. I was watching the olympic races and some brands seem to worry about jockey wheels whereas others obviously are still using journal bearings, even on their high-end derailleurs.

The only time I have had trouble shifting integrated shifters was when it was colder and rainier than expected on a 600k. Fortunately, I figured out how to shift and it got warmer. That was one of the most miserable 600k's I have been on. I only rode it because I was sick and dnf'ed the 600k I attempted the week before. I was braking while going down hills because there was so much water on the road I wasn't sure I could stop if I had to. I'm not sure I trust electronic shifting under those conditions, have they been tested while fully immersed? A twist grip probably wouldn't have been too bad in those conditions.

It's interesting about panniers. I rode one year with a single pannier. It worked great until I rode a 1000k with a quartering headwind from the side the pannier was on. I could feel the wind catching the pannier. I would like to have less stuff on the bike, but conditions just seem to call for it for many rides. I was glad I had warm clothing on PBP, for example. I have seen that one of the easiest ways to DNF is to use a hydration pack. Probably because it encourages you to drink too much. And I always have plain water in mine because I don't want to have to do anything about nasties in the pack. As far as getting younger, I don't know how to do that, but I wish I could go back to my mid-30s and tell myself it was a bad idea to stop riding just because motorists are so criminal to cyclists.
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