Bicycling

Nice bike! I started on a Specialized Roubaix. Loved that bike, but the Specialized sizes don't fit me well. I ride a 58 on my Cannondale. The equivalent on a Specialized was a tad big, and the size down was too small. Regardless, the ride was amazing for our "chip and seal" roads in north Louisiana.

Rode today, almost passed out from heat exhaustion. Now I have a headache that a cool bath and some medicine can't get rid of. Any suggestions?

Electrolytes.

Gotta stay hydrated every day through the week. Also, I find its not that bad since I ride every day so I think I get acclimated during the ramp up through the days in the 80's until we get to those high 90's with high humidity days of summer here in the mid Atlantic.

I am doing AIDS/LifeCycle again next year -- riding from San Francisco to Los Angeles within 6 days. Please help by donating!

AIDS/LifeCycle 2015: Stephen Andrews - AIDS/LifeCycle

Shaved nearly 4 minutes off my previous personal best on my favorite trail. All my other runs have been in the 28-29 minute range and I got it done today in 24:11. Feels awesome

Disp_sl said:

Shaved nearly 4 minutes off my previous personal best on my favorite trail. All my other runs have been in the 28-29 minute range and I got it done today in 24:11. Feels awesome

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Nice work! That is a huge chunk of time off.

It always amazes me how much better I get at biking at the end of the season vs the begining. Like with skiing, I can generally even take a couple of seasons off and pick up right where I left of the previous one. Hitting the hardest trail on the mountain day 1 with all of my speed, technically abilities and lack of fear intact. Mountain biking on the other hand, I feel so slow and sluggish on day 1 of the season compared to where I usually end up skill wise by the end of it. It isn't just an "in shape" thing either because I exercise regularly year round. It definitely is a "bike shape" thing.

Getting back into cycling. 5th bike ride in a year (I took a break due to school) and I decided to be adventurous today. ;p Alpine Dam which includes 5 steep climbs, not including the dreaded 7 Sisters of Mt. Tamalpais (all 7 being hefty climbs). 35 miles in about 2 1/2 hours.

The tour started yesterday if anyone follows professional cycling.

Picked it up today. Thing is an absolute blast.

Ao-_sl said:

Very nice. How's it ride (beyond slowly)?

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It's hilariously good fun to ride, and way quicker/more nimble than you'd expect. I rode it through a local pit at 8psi, and it's comical how it clears everything - you just fuckin' plow into it and the bike does the rest.

It's somewhat comical (and a bit depressing) how little bike you actually get out of these things for the money though. This was $1850 out the door, and it has a craptastic cassette on it and mediocre brakes. I have an XT cassette on the way for it along with a OneUp, but I'm still not sure how I want to gear the front. It has a ton of granny gear right now which is meh for the trail, but I think I might appreciate it in the winter. I'm on the fence about going 30 or 32t for the front, leaning towards the 30T. I definitely want to 1x10 it, mostly to eliminate the front derailleur as a spot for snow and ice to build up in the snow.

Just went for my first real trail ride on it, here's a copy/paste of what I posted over at MTBR.



I'm super happy with the geometry on this thing. I'm 5'10/175lbs and the medium fits me spot on. I picked up a set of Atlas bars for the riser and a 100mm stem that should have the front end pretty much perfect. The ground controls are great, and at 10psi I was plowing through everything no problem. The stock gearing climbs REALLY well, and the whole bike is just a heck of a lot faster and more nimble than I expected it to be.

One minor sniggle: You can really get used to not hearing chain slap when you run a clutch derailleur. I have one on my regular MTB and will definitely be putting one on this.

The one thing that I flat out don't like about it is the brakes. Holy hell, these things are an abomination. I may just be spoiled by the XT set on my Scalpel, but it's like they have two settings - slow you down a little bit, and lock right up. Even after properly bedding in the calipers they are a pretty big disappointment on a ~$2000 bike. They're going in the bin first thing and getting replaced with XTs, which are already in the mail as I type this.

Brakes aside, this thing completely kicks ass and I'm definitely glad I went with it.

That just seems like a ton of money for not much bike. Basic frame, no suspension, some big tires and it's magically $2k? I just don't get it.