BICYCLES | Page 6 | FerrariChat

BICYCLES

Discussion in 'Health & Fitness' started by Igor Ound, Aug 15, 2015.

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  1. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
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    #126 sherpa23, Dec 9, 2015
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  2. Igor Ound

    Igor Ound F1 Veteran

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    Not sure that seat tube conforms with the 3:1 rule now ;)
     
  3. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
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    It's a 56.5 cm top tube but it's not square. I have to find all of my old geometry charts.

    When I asked for bikes, I never specified seat tube lengths. Seat tube length is a red herring. I would spec the top tube length, the seat tube angle, the BB drop and the head tube length . You body only knows where the handlebars, seats and pedals are. It doesn't know how long the seat tube is.

    It was hard for me because I would ride and fairly long top tube for my height. I'm a little under 5'10".

    As fas as set back, I would use 7cm or so for both the road and the track. I use a zero setback post on the road.
     
  4. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
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    It does. That rule was in full effect and the UCI measured it. It complied.
     
  5. Igor Ound

    Igor Ound F1 Veteran

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    Absolutely although most of my track frames are square with a perfectly horizontal top tube.

    I like very small frames though, up to two times smaller than recommended and with close to zero saddle setback. I ride them mainly as TT fixed gear/ss bikes on the road with aerobars.
    To be fair I probably break the 3cm elbow to fork steerer max distance rule but it's pretty much never enforced anyways.

    On flat TTs one gear is often faster than geared bikes

    Great, many bikes/components had to be adapted to comply since it has begun to be enforced.

    It's about time the UCI gives a few more liberties or triathletes will be faster than professional cyclists
     
  6. Manda racing

    Manda racing Formula 3

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    #131 Manda racing, Dec 9, 2015
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  7. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
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    Yes because not only can you float the gear properly but you don't lose the power to drive line loss. There is no bicycle configuration faster than a fixed gear.
     
  8. Igor Ound

    Igor Ound F1 Veteran

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    Hipster! :rolleyes: :D

    Iirc driveline loss is up to 7% on good setups which is considerable.
    Fixed gears are lighter, could do without a rear brake on roads and are more aerodynamic.
    Obviously UCI TTs and even Tri's regs don't allow them as they require freewheel and two brakes but they're great even just for training.
     
  9. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
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    Low weight doesn't help as bicycles still have to be at the UCI minimum.

    Of course that means that it's hard to meet the minimum even on road bikes. By late next year, you'll see teams using disc brakes on the road. The bike sponsors are forcing it. That makes wheel changes horrendous. You'll see full bike changes.
     
  10. Igor Ound

    Igor Ound F1 Veteran

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    #135 Igor Ound, Dec 10, 2015
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2015
    6.8 kg min iirc. I think cannondale used to weight their tour bikes down with metal to reach the minimum.
    Btw I don't think brake discs are legal yet? With the right amount of swiss francs Uci can easily be lobbied anyways I guess
     
  11. sherpa23

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    By August of next year, watch what happens. I don't know about the Tour but post Tour, I'll put money on it.

    And yes, they even used to measure for the track, which as dumb. I had to put some metal under my saddle to make weight. My road bikes were always just above minimum.
     
  12. Igor Ound

    Igor Ound F1 Veteran

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  13. Ricambi America

    Ricambi America F1 World Champ
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    Ryan -

    As uncool as this question is, I'll ask it anyway since you're out of pro cycling... when you started to ride, what was your ftp ? ftp/kg ?
     
  14. Ricambi America

    Ricambi America F1 World Champ
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    Well, I have decided to approach this cycling thing with a little more organization and discipline. Today is Day #1 of a 10-week program from The Sufferfest. (Intermediate road cycling). I looked at several different programs and this one seems to fit my current needs the best. I'm not interested in racing, but simply want to get a whole lot stronger to avoid being dropped while riding with the 'cool kids', and similarly have enough endurance to complete a few 100-milers this coming summer.

    (Sufferfest is pretty expensive because of the cost of the videos, but I already have 4 of them, and the scenery is so gorgeous that my "dear God let the pain stop!" screams aren't quite as loud...)

    I'm am an obsessive/compulsive person, so I'm sure I'll complete the program, and hopefully be a much stronger rider this spring.
     
  15. sherpa23

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    #140 sherpa23, Dec 21, 2015
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2015

    Hi Daniel,
    I am really sorry but I am only now seeing this so I'm sorry for the late reply.

    When I started riding there were no power meters other than on stationary trainers. We only had heart rate. I remember that my max heart rate was 206bpm and my lactic threshold was 188 bpm, administered via a Conconi test.

    As time went on and training with power became more advanced, the first person that I knew personally who had a power meter was Jonathan Vaughters and, in time, he convinced me to get one, too. We had SRMs and that's the only power meter I used throughout my career. He really helped me to understand power and how to use it effectively as every day where we would train, we would discuss various facets of power and what it means in application.

    I never had superior power. My best asset was that I worked on leg speed. I could generate very high power at high leg speed. I used to consistently hit over 2100w at 180+ rpm in tests and on the road but for very short periods - 1s - and I focused on this. I always had a good chance of winning a race if I was there at the end. However, that was always difficult.

    When I got to be a very good cyclist, my peak power was somewhere around 1650w or so but my threshold power was up significantly. I can't remember all the years and all the races but I do know that the highest average ONE HOUR power was 411w and I weighed 70kg on the nose. So that's somewhere around 5.9 w/kg. I know that most people use 20 minutes but I had some one hour samples that we decided to use instead.

    I also remember that when I won the national road road race championship, I soloed to the finish after attacking 20k from the end. My power for that last 20k was 350w. But that was a 103 mile race and pretty hilly (not mountains but rolling hills). I don't remember the average power for the whole thing.

    Also worth noting: my last few of years of racing I stopped training with power and went back to training with heart rate in an attempt to raise my aerobic threshold. It was very scientific approach with 3 or 4 long rides per week of 120 miles or 6 hours, whichever came first and a very specific 4 or 5 bpm window. That heart rate was determined by my doing a complicated threshold test on a trainer while a doctor kept taking blood and measuring the lactic acid in it. Anyways, that really made a difference and was a big help in my becoming a much better Six Day racer and international competitor.

    Anyways, I hope that helps and sorry I didn't see it before.
     
  16. Sandy Eggo

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    It's a good plan for the winter months (indoors mostly, I imagine) and I've heard good things about their video packages. I'm fortunate enough to live somewhere that I can ride year-round so I never dropped the $ to buy the series. I did buy one of their vids on form though which was helpful. I watch it again from time to time.

    Don't ignore your core; work on it a lot because cycling relies heavily on a strong core but does very little to build it. Try for 2-3 times a week doing about 30 minutes of core exercises - you don't need to overdo it. You will see big improvements in keeping up with the cool kids and less pain (lower back in particular) on longer rides.

    Mix it up a bit as well, maybe go for a jog if it's too nasty for riding and you don't want to ride the trainer in your basement. You use completely different sets of muscles for running and you'll feel it the next day. Running also leverages your core...so it'll keep that nice and tight.
     
  17. Sandy Eggo

    Sandy Eggo F1 Rookie
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    How did you go about determining your 'race weight'? I struggle with what should be my optimal weight because I figure that as I lose weight, the power erodes with it. Even though it's all about the power/weight ratio, I cling to my power instead of dropping more weight. I'm too big (6'2", 79kg) to ever really be competitive on climbs, so I'd prefer to be stronger on flats, rollers, descents, sprints.
     
  18. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
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    I used to obsess about my weight and it really hurt my racing. When I was too light, I would get sick all the time and was not very strong. Finally, I stopped worrying about it so much and just let it be and focused on being as strong and fit as possible. I hardly ever got on a scale because the scale and I had a bad relationship. Every now and then I would have to weigh for various tests or health checks or whatever so I knew what my weight was, roughly.

    I'm sorry I don't have a better answer. There is a book called "Ideal Weight for Endurance Athletes" or something like that. That has a lot of info.

    At 6'2" and 79kg, you shouldn't worry about losing weight. That seems light enough to me. Just focus on aerobic power. That should help on the climbs.
     
  19. Prugna

    Prugna Formula 3

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    #144 Prugna, Dec 21, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    This is it:
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  20. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
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    Unbelievable.
     
  21. Sandy Eggo

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    Yep! Too funny because I have that book. I picked up a few exercises but that was about it. Basically, any good core workout will do you fine. Heck, even yoga would be a great stand in. TD has a pretty notorious PED history but trying to clean up his act. I think he's still racing.
     
  22. sherpa23

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    I said "unbelievable" because I don't think that Tom can write much more than his name and a few BS comments so a whole book is unbelievable to me. This is the first I'm hearing of a book by him (although I am sure it is ghost written) but all I want to know is if it has pictures of him, how many of them are of him with a backwards baseball cap?
     
  23. Ricambi America

    Ricambi America F1 World Champ
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    Day 1 (yesterday) was actually a rest day! I needed it... the day afforded me an opportunity to get the pain cave all set up, and download the 20+ films for this program.

    This morning marked the first workout day. I've done the "Angels" video before, so this wasn't new territory for me. Nonetheless here's what a rank amateur, middle-age guy with no God-given talent grinds out:

    https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/2774722-Sufferfest-Angels-2015

    My cadence sucks. When the film requests me to churn butter at a cadence of 70, I seem to float back up to 85-90, simply because the ERG on my trainer will adapt and give me a "lighter" load... even though I'm still pushing out the requested watts. 70 cadence feels like running through wet sand. 90, with the same power output, obviously is more comfortable. I'll need to work on this over the 10-week program.

    Yeah Ryan... < 3 wt/kg. I can see that little smirk on your face from here!! :)
     
  24. sherpa23

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    Daniel, there is no planet on which 70 rpm is better than 90 rpm. 90 rpm is much more efficient. I would shoot for 100-105 rpm. Let me try to explain:

    When you have a narrow range of rpm capabilities, your speed varies with the gear. To go faster, you click higher. You get even more limited when you get tired. The benefit of being able to generate higher rpms for long periods is that you can be very efficient and when you get tired and have a harder time turning the gears, you're still relatively efficient. The single biggest improvement any cyclist can make is to increase their rpm capabilities.

    Also, yes I was 5.9w at the end of my career but I am sure that I was no better than where you are now when I started. Also, I wasn't that good at it for a long time, although I guess I was blind to that. Cycling is a sport of perseverance. If you stick with it and do it properly and don't fall for doing the dumb crap that I see lots of people do, you're going to get better. If you do the work and recover from the work, your body improves. There are no two ways about it. It does teach some good lessons about life.
     
  25. Ricambi America

    Ricambi America F1 World Champ
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    I need to think about your statement for a while.

    On a smart trainer like mine, the resistance is constantly changing based on my cadence. That is, if TrainerRoad tells me to run x Watts, it'll lighten up the brake as my cadence increases. If I slow down the cadence, the resistance increases. In this manner, the trainer (and training program) forces me to lay down an exact power, throughout the workout.

    For me, x-Watts at a cadence of 100 "feels" much easier to me than x-Watts at a cadence of 75. I thought I was cheating the workout if my cadence drifts higher, trying to avoid the hard grinding feel of the pedals. Maybe I've got this all wrong.
     

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