My Tour de France

[toolonglegs]

Flat...thats for big fat guys..not hill climbing wippets like me!....I am sooooo light I think I will take my camera with me to keep me on the ground when the wind blows on Ventoux!....no wheres my 36 spoke wheels!.

[toolonglegs]

So I just coonverted my Mavic CXP33 rim to tubeless in less than 10 minutes...old tyre and tube off (being tight,dont want to buy a new tyre when I have a brand new tubeless sitting there waiting for my rim to be repair),old rim tape off...quick wipe...install stans no tube tape...one layer...drill vavle hole thru tape for nice smooth hole... fit tubeless vavle,fit tyre one side...soap both sides of the tyre super well,put 2nd bead of tyre on 80%...pour in 30mls of sealant,put tyre fully on...hit with CO2 gun (you need it as pump wont do)...drain CO2 90% and refill with floor pump...8 point bounce of wheel...wipe and go!....I should do a video,I can't beleive I am still the only one one these forums using tubeless road tyres....they ROCK...same rolling resistance as a tubular and auto puncture repair!...lower pressures and better handling
...any why this post...well I am a snob,why...well half my club are going on a rally this morning,after last week I just can't cope with my precious riding time being spent with a heart rate sub 110bpm...I am in race mode at the moment and 100km's at 25 average or less is just not for me.I was thinking of going with the club bunch this afternoon but then remember the club president is back riding and he has been off the bike for months...is the same weight as me but nearly a foot shorter and has the stamina of a pregnant lady at 8 months....so yip I am ditching it all for the pain of an exposed windy gutter race somewhere in the flats 30km away.Now the only concern being..well apart from a late night last night,crap sleep and eating like a depressed cow...and not riding since Tuesday....is will be calf injury hold up...fingers crossed!!!.

[mikesbytes]

Flat...thats for big fat guys..not hill climbing wippets like me!....I am sooooo light I think I will take my camera with me to keep me on the ground when the wind blows on Ventoux!....no wheres my 36 spoke wheels!.

LOL

This ride reminds me of when I climbed Mt Taranaki/Egmont in 2000. It was December and when we got to the crater. It was a beautiful mid summers day, but when we got to the crater lip, it was -5 and blowing so hard we could barely stand up. We had to abandom the climb with only about 20 metres to go, because we realised that if we walked around the crater rim to the other side, we wouldn't be able to find our way back down off the snow

[toolonglegs]

Hope everyone remembers what I wrote as it is gone for ever now

[CoffsGal]

Hope everyone remembers what I wrote as it is gone for ever now

I can remember it quite clearly...was a great account of your 2nd place finish...pity I can't just copy and paste my memory...

Too late to mention this now, but I write my race reports in Word and then copy and paste them to the forum...that way I have a copy on my machine...

Anyway, your exploits live on in our memory...

Emma

[mikesbytes]

Hope everyone remembers what I wrote as it is gone for ever now

So its not enough to break bikes, your now breaking forum posts.

[muggah]

Hope everyone remembers what I wrote as it is gone for ever now

Bugger - I saw your report last night planning to have a read today at work, no dice.

[Ant.]

Apart from the fact it was just asking for some paragraphs , it was a good race read!

Are you going to stick with the effective 1cm lower saddle? Sounds like it may be worth persevering to me - you had no calf problems this time! (for a change!)

[toolonglegs]

Sorry Muggah...I was in the moment when I wrote it and that buzz has now gone ...onward and upward.Saturday will roll round soon enough.

On the saddle height I still have to recheck it...but I did 90 minutes tempo yesterday at 90-95%...my leg was feeling it in the same place a touch but I decided to push thru and it seemed to dissapear.Was a bit of a gamble because my leg was OK during the other ride too...but flared up afterwards.But today I am fine...thou the motivation is lacking as it is snowing outside ...mixed in with rain.But if I don't go out today it will be two days off as I rarely get out on Wednesdays.

Had to take sister in law to the little city 30km north this morning so I checked out the track in the car...looks fast with one little pinch out of a very tight 60 degree corner,but it s at the half way point in the lap so I am sure if a wippet attacks there in the last lap it wont last!.Couple of messy corners about 800meters out but then a nice big sweeper into the sprint...I am wondering if my 53/12 will be enough...it has already let me down on a sprint.The problem being because I run a 180mm crank it effectively reduces the size of the front cog...tempted to put the 55 back on

[muggah]

The problem being because I run a 180mm crank it effectively reduces the size of the front cog...tempted to put the 55 back on

Sorry if it's a silly question but how does a longer crank impact on the effective size of the front cog? Something to do with leverage??

[toolonglegs]

The problem being because I run a 180mm crank it effectively reduces the size of the front cog...tempted to put the 55 back on

Sorry if it's a silly question but how does a longer crank impact on the effective size of the front cog? Something to do with leverage??

There is probably a scientific answer but it comes down to - my legs have to go further to do a revolution, so 1 rpm takes longer with 180mm than 175's at the same leg speed...so I have to have a faster leg speed to do 90rpm with 180's than I do with 175's.Steve Hogg wrote something about it but I can't find it...so I bought a 55 big ring...54 would have been perfect.
Here's the big dog on my old bike...going to go downstairs and fit it on my bike now.

[mikesbytes]

The problem being because I run a 180mm crank it effectively reduces the size of the front cog...tempted to put the 55 back on

Sorry if it's a silly question but how does a longer crank impact on the effective size of the front cog? Something to do with leverage??

Look up "Gain Ratio" on Seddon Brown. 5mm crank length is approximately 1 tooth on the front.

[muggah]

Cool, thanks for the explanation and I'll check out sheldon

[MichaelB]

The 55T FSA ring certainly makes a statement !!!

The new rim for your wheels - is it a 7801 spec rim ? Mine are WH7801 and they have an offset spoke bed and 20 spokes.

Given my creak and weight of about 95 - 97kg, what spokes did they use ? The Shimano ones ? Theoretically, they are $5 a pop here, so your rebuild for rim, spokes & labour (AT) $170 odd is a bargain ...

Got any spokes left over ...

[toolonglegs]

The 55T FSA ring certainly makes a statement !!!

The new rim for your wheels - is it a 7801 spec rim ? Mine are WH7801 and they have an offset spoke bed and 20 spokes.

Given my creak and weight of about 95 - 97kg, what spokes did they use ? The Shimano ones ? Theoretically, they are $5 a pop here, so your rebuild for rim, spokes & labour (AT) $170 odd is a bargain ...

Got any spokes left over ...

It was rebuilt by Shimano...so I suppose it is all their components...yes very good price!...must be 7801's I suppose...rather nice looking rim.

[toolonglegs]

NO CHAIN!!!

[toolonglegs]

Dark Dark clouds outside....maybee going to have very heavy rain for my race this arvy! ...finally live in a country that doesn't cancel wet / windy races

[toolonglegs]

Meh...not going to do a big race report...not because the last one was wiped but because it wasn't all that interesting.As Alex would say...today I saved my matches,didn't feel like I had too many to burn really...yesterday I thought I felt good but there was a bit too much fatigue around the edges...trained too hard in the wind on Tuesday when I was already fatigued and didn't really recover well after that.Saying all that I thought I could win today ...seriously I thought I can have this...a couple of breaks tried to go away in the horrible wet conditions but the course was just too fast for anyone in our grade...the one serious break I was worried about with the guy who won last week just didn't get going like we did last week...and we brought it back with in a 4.5km lap...then just as we were catching them he looked behind,caught the wheel in front and came tumbling down...ouch..oh well more chance for me.The pinch climb took it out of me,super tight hairpin straight into a climb...15 or so times,I stayed close to the front to make it easy but rarely poked my head out...coming into the last lap the compulsory attack went with 2km to go...should of gone with it but I was a few wheels back...and then that sinking feeling that we just are not going fast enough to bring it back sunk in...I under estimated how fast we would cover the last 800 meters and when the time came to sprint I had to back off a bit to get my nose out...5th place ...OK and still in the points but I was not very happy...oh well there is always tommorow....half way thru cleaning up a filthy bike and kit then heading off to a 70km crit in Lyon tommorow...one for the sprinters I hear so will give it a go!.
68km 39.9av 1hr 42min...good training anyway!...and next weeks race is definately not for the 55 ring...from what i hear it is Lansdowne Park like but twice the gradient...not one for the big boys,but I can't turn down a challenge!!!.

[mikesbytes]

Sounds like you should get out the 180 cranks for that race

[toolonglegs]

Sounds like you should get out the 180 cranks for that race

I am on the 180's full time now...

[zozza]

Bloody good Avg. over that distance in wet conditions I reckon.

[toolonglegs]

Bloody good Avg. over that distance in wet conditions I reckon.

Yeah and I felt it today too! ...but didn't stop me winning the sprint this arvy in a big field....pity it was for 2nd and even bigger pity is I initiated the winning move and then let the guy go because I was to tired and I didn't think it would work!!!...oh well I would have probably only got 2nd if I had stayed with him anyway!....seems like windy days are the go for me ...report soon!.

[toolonglegs]

So...quickish report .Rocked up to a crit in Lyon today.Wasn't feeling great..but wasn't feeling too bad either so I thought I could have a go seeing I had to go to the big city anyway .Good numbers today....about 60 I think in Div3.The course was fairly flat...well sort of on a slope,but the downhill was into the wind and the long uphill straight had a good tail / side wind so was going to be tough for a break to go.It was very windy again...cool ...but really I wasn't sure if I had an attack in me.We took off pretty hard and started dropping riders pretty quickly,I sat in the front 1/3 to 1/2 when I could,just staying out of the wind...the course was pretty good but a few bad manhole covers needed remembering and my DuraAce rear needs a true already after two rides!...oh well.The softening up went on for about 15kms and we were averaging about 39kmph which was insane considering the wind...but I suppose as the windiest part was downhill we could keep an OK speed..well finally I found myself in the front few riders and thought why not!...all the earlier attacks had come on the uphill but what was the point as the tailwind was pretty good and the bunch was too quick there...so I went in the windiest part of the course,I knew straight away I didn't have it in me,so after 400 meters I looked behind and realised that apart from 1 rider just latching onto me I had pulled out 100 meters...so I put my head down for a sec then let the other guy roll thru...but he was strong,well maybe I would have been strong enough to go with him if I hadn't raced yesterday but on the uphill I let him go,I don't think I could have done a lot with him...although I was regretting it 10 minutes later when he was still away...so I drifted back to the pack thinking it can't last but of course it did...we never really chased,no one wanted to work and after a few half arsed attemps in the next 20km's we gave up and suddenly the time calls blew out from 40secs to over 2.5minutes....he must of nearly bloody lapped us,to tell the truth I didn't mind too much as I needed to back off for a while and recover...but still for 40 or so riders left it was a pretty piss poor attempt....oh well...time for some sprint practice after my dismal race end yesterday.So at about the 62km mark with a couple more laps to go the compulsory attacks went but no one was giving an inch...I worked my way up into the top 10 for the bell and defended my place pretty aggressively....the straight was pretty long and even thou slightly up hill it was going to be a pretty clean sprint...well I hoped so.I was riding about half a bike behind and to the right of the guy in front of me in about 5th wheel...patience...one guy had attacked but there was still a reasonable amount of side wind that made doing it on your own hard...so even thou I had clear air in front of me I was still staying close to the guy next to me...then the guy behind him tried to push his way out...sorry I don't think so,I am not going to open the door for you...your trapped and it is your own doing....I think we touched shoulders but I am pretty hard to budge being a heavy bugger!....and then every one opened up and I let the 55/12 wind up....pretty long sprint but I got it by a good amount.2nd place...grrrrr...getting sick of 2nds,but the guy who stayed away certainly deserved it.
Next race will be tough and the 55 will go back in the box! .
68km / 37.4av and still haven't had a max heart rate over about 180-184 in a race...sprint speed was 62kmph.

[531db]

Doing well at the pointy end of the races TLL, podium finishs etc. The big win won't be far away.

What do the locals think of the Antipodian taking their money/trophies or what ever it is they hand out (actually what do they hand out?).

[toolonglegs]

They don't seem to mind too much ..no money here...Trophies and flowers for 1st,just the cups for 2nd and 3rd and usually bottles of wine for 4th to 7th!....you know where I want to come if I don't win!.Yes have been at the pointy end of every race but one that I have finished...looking forward to Div2...but need to get the points before I can go up!.