ddrueding
Fixture
Looks like I'll be getting a cruiser for my wife. I'd love to get her something with a touch more performance, if anyone has any recommendations.
Cycling
- Thread starter ddrueding
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jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
Is there any reason for getting a bike with a step-through frame? Those used to be used a lot back when women wore long, bulky dresses which would have made mounting a bike with traditional tubing difficult. The majority of women nowadays ride the same types of bikes men do.
As for recommendations, if new isn't 100% necessary you can actually pick up some good deals on either steel or carbon bikes on eBay. If your wife is new to cycling, I might recommend first going to a bike shop just to see how she feels on different types of bikes (i.e. MTB, cross, compact, traditional). Performance is good, but not when it comes at the expense of comfort (as I've learned by riding the Raleigh with a much too large for me frame for years).
ddrueding
Fixture
She doesn't plan on riding the same way we do...this will very much be riding the bike trail along the beach from Sand City perhaps to Carmel. If I really push, I can imagine getting her up to 8mph.
She hasn't ridden a bike in 25+ years, and she considers the step-through frame a safety feature. I'm not sure how much it impacts the rigidity of the frame, though I'm sure it does.
This bike has a front suspension and a sprung seat practically the size of a bar stool. I can't imagine anything more comfortable.
It has a ridiculous 21 speeds (3 in front and 7 in the rear); I would think a bike of this sort could easily get away with a single in front and just a rear brake. The non-sport has a single speed (42) in front, but it also does away with the seat post suspension.
Meh, I'll end up getting her this one for now. She is a competitive person (particularly when competing with me), so I see getting her a Roubaix later on anyway.
She hasn't ridden a bike in 25+ years, and she considers the step-through frame a safety feature. I'm not sure how much it impacts the rigidity of the frame, though I'm sure it does.
This bike has a front suspension and a sprung seat practically the size of a bar stool. I can't imagine anything more comfortable.
It has a ridiculous 21 speeds (3 in front and 7 in the rear); I would think a bike of this sort could easily get away with a single in front and just a rear brake. The non-sport has a single speed (42) in front, but it also does away with the seat post suspension.
Meh, I'll end up getting her this one for now. She is a competitive person (particularly when competing with me), so I see getting her a Roubaix later on anyway.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
I think the 21 speeds probably includes super low gears which would make sense for the type of rider this bike is designed for. Obviously they're not going to climb 4% or 5% grades in a 42-26 gear at 12-14 mph like I do. 
Since you wife hasn't ridden in 25 years, this is probably a good starter bike. If she sticks with it, once she acquires the need for speed you can always upgrade.
Speaking of competitive women, I still remember a ride I took back in the mid 1990s where I had a female cyclist hot on my tail for about 4 miles with me giving it all I was worth (i.e I covered the 4+ miles in something like 11 minutes, and that includes slowing a few times for cross traffic). That was ironically the only time back then anyone, male or female, kept up with me for that long. I even gave her a thumbs up Top Gun kind of salute when we parted ways.
Since you wife hasn't ridden in 25 years, this is probably a good starter bike. If she sticks with it, once she acquires the need for speed you can always upgrade.
Speaking of competitive women, I still remember a ride I took back in the mid 1990s where I had a female cyclist hot on my tail for about 4 miles with me giving it all I was worth (i.e I covered the 4+ miles in something like 11 minutes, and that includes slowing a few times for cross traffic). That was ironically the only time back then anyone, male or female, kept up with me for that long. I even gave her a thumbs up Top Gun kind of salute when we parted ways.
ddrueding
Fixture
Yeah, a female friend here showed me some of her data. 18mph average for 80 miles and her heart rate never exceeded 130bpm. I was interested in riding in their group, but it will take me a few years to get to that level.
ddrueding
Fixture
Just bought a new '11 Roubaix Apex Compact (size 58) on clearance for $1k. Sight unseen. While massively sleep deprived. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Hopefully I can stay awake on the drive out to Carmel to pick it up.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
Looks like a good price. I hope it fits you.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
I would also consider having a professional fitting done.
ddrueding
Fixture
It should, the semi-pro I work with is exactly my size/proportions (minus the gut) and has the same bike. The shop is an authorized Specialized Fitting Center, so that shouldn't be a problem.
ddrueding
Fixture
Got the new bike. It is an utter revelation. 3mph faster, heart rate 10bpm lower, 20% further, and less sore in the end. I'll need to set aside more time for my rides in the future if I'm going to keep pushing.
Of course, these new speeds are even more dangerous without a headlight <poke>JTR</poke>
Of course, these new speeds are even more dangerous without a headlight <poke>JTR</poke>
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
Yeah, that's kind of like the difference between my Raleigh and the Airborne. Unfortunately, I've yet to take the Airborne on a decent ride because it lacks a headlight.
I ordered the batteries today, and this made my life worlds easier. I don't have to spend time designing a protection circuit. I just need to make a simple constant voltage/constant current charging circuit powered by a wall wart (and maybe another circuit to let you know when the battery is running low).Of course, these new speeds are even more dangerous without a headlight <poke>JTR</poke>
ddrueding
Fixture
I got one, and time was absolutely right. This will be awesome as a bike monitor. The question now is whether I want to put some kind of plan on it or keep it WiFi only.
Being able to use it for "my bike is broke" calls to friends, or so wifey can reach me while riding would make sense. And being able to stream Google Maps and maybe even Pandora would be pretty cool.
What plans would ya'll consider for this purpose? 100 minutes/month would be fine. 40 hours a month of Google Maps/Pandora would be <5GB I would imagine.
I welcome any thoughts on this.
ddrueding
Fixture
Call me a wuss, but that was a very cold ride. ~38F, 18 miles @ 16mph.
fb
Storage is cool
You're not a wuss, but you might need warmer clothes.
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
I won't call you a wuss, don't need to. Apparently you hear me thinking.
Just joking. 16mph is not bad for a place with a lot of hills.jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
I rode my Airborne this past Saturday and Sunday in 36° to 38° F temps, 42 miles in total, both rides averaging in the high 15s. If you're not already wearing them, gloves are a must for any riding when it's much under about 45°F. Even with that, my tolerance for riding in this kind of weather is probably about 1:20 to 1:30. Longer than that, and my hands start to get too numb to control shifting/braking. And my ears/toes numb up also (at the same time my midsection is usually sweating).
I generally don't ride at all on days when it's lower than about 30°F. Even with decent gloves, I find my hands freeze up after 20 or 30 minutes tops. A ride that short barely qualifies as a warmup for me.
I generally don't ride at all on days when it's lower than about 30°F. Even with decent gloves, I find my hands freeze up after 20 or 30 minutes tops. A ride that short barely qualifies as a warmup for me.
ddrueding
Fixture
Had the riding shorts on with jeans over that. A thin long sleeved shirt with a fleece over that. Long fingered gloves and TripleFi 10s for the ears
The skin on my legs was burning, except for my left thigh where my cell phone was.
The skin on my legs was burning, except for my left thigh where my cell phone was.
Stereodude
Not really a
I would never use IEM's while out riding a bike.
ddrueding
Fixture
I know, but with the wind going by I can't hear a thing anyway.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
You need a windbreaker and wind pants, some lobster mittens and windblocker tuque.
Otherwise see the wind chill thread. :lol:
Otherwise see the wind chill thread. :lol:
ddrueding
Fixture
I just need to ride a few hours earlier. Today I went out at 6PM and it was fine.
ddrueding
Fixture
Beautiful ride tonight. Would have been a lot better if I hadn't gotten lost in the abandoned military base barracks at the end; had to climb a chain-link fence while carrying my bike. Hooray for carbon fiber.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
Thanks for sharing. Sounds like an epic ride. What sort of data did you need to upload to the site, and would I be able to do the same (I have Garmin .gdb files of my rides)?
Nice ride earlier today. 24 miles on the Airborne, about 4 miles past city limits and back, in 1:31. Nice tailwind going out, but that meant fighting a headwind coming back in. I only averaged 14.3 mph on the return portion of the journey (compared to 17.4 mph on the way out, and 18.2 mph for one 7.2 mile stretch). The 10 mile mark came up at only 34:31 going out. Still, great results considering I'm still out of shape compared to 2010, hit a bunch of red lights I really couldn't pass due to traffic, and was wearing a wind breaker which only slows me down. I hit 33 mph twice on the way out, once on a nearly level road (which goes to show how strong the tailwind was).
Nice ride earlier today. 24 miles on the Airborne, about 4 miles past city limits and back, in 1:31. Nice tailwind going out, but that meant fighting a headwind coming back in. I only averaged 14.3 mph on the return portion of the journey (compared to 17.4 mph on the way out, and 18.2 mph for one 7.2 mile stretch). The 10 mile mark came up at only 34:31 going out. Still, great results considering I'm still out of shape compared to 2010, hit a bunch of red lights I really couldn't pass due to traffic, and was wearing a wind breaker which only slows me down. I hit 33 mph twice on the way out, once on a nearly level road (which goes to show how strong the tailwind was).
ddrueding
Fixture
I believe they charge for that site, but it does take .gpx files and does some neat calculations.
ddrueding
Fixture
Today's ride hurt quite a bit. Decided to ride out to a friend's house for some computer work. Only 15 miles each way, but the ride there was just brutal. For some reason I was out of breath and working super hard while going super slow. I didn't notice until the return trip that is was basically a constant grade the whole way, and I'd climbed nearly 2k feet. Trying to maintain your flat-land pace up even a moderate grade is very demoralizing
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
During the Tour de France coverage, the analysts tell that a cyclist "explodes" when he lose pace after an effort that was too great for him. That's probably what happened to you.
ddrueding
Fixture
Indeed. Here we just say that someone "pops" if they've tried a break and couldn't pull it off. The main reason for having a heart-rate monitor is to make sure you don't pop. Of course, on this ride, I wasn't wearing it. The problem was that I wasn't listening to my body; I just knew that I should be making better time, and tried to keep turning it up. Ouch.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
2K feet in 15 miles is around 2.5%-shallow enough not to be obvious that you're climbing, but steep enough to slow you off your "flat" pace by quite a bit. Winds can have the same effect as hills. Yesterday riding out of the city I was getting into the high 20s quite a bit on roads which were flat, or nearly flat, without much effort. I knew coming back would be a pain. Sure enough, I had to fight a nasty headwind the entire way back, barely averaging 14 mph in the process. If I had a choice, I'd rather do the opposite-fight the headwind or hill going out.
In the absence of a HRM, just monitor your breathing. If it's more labored or rapid than normal, then you're pushing yourself to the point of "popping". I have a tendency myself to fly up hills, trying to maintain my normal pace, or as close to it as possible. That only works in places like NYC, where a "long" hill might be 100 feet of vertical gain, but most are under 50 feet.
Bottom line though-if you're making worse time than you think you should be, a good sanity check is to let the bike coast down. If it loses speed more rapidly than it does on a known level road, then you're either fighting an upgrade or a headwind. There have been times I'm riding where I'm like WTF, why is this taking so long? And then I note that the bike loses speed way more rapidly than usual when I stop pedaling. In my case, a headwind is usually at fault since I know where the uphill portions of my rides are. In very rare cases, the brake shoes are rubbing. I'll usually notice that right in the beginning of a ride though.
In the absence of a HRM, just monitor your breathing. If it's more labored or rapid than normal, then you're pushing yourself to the point of "popping". I have a tendency myself to fly up hills, trying to maintain my normal pace, or as close to it as possible. That only works in places like NYC, where a "long" hill might be 100 feet of vertical gain, but most are under 50 feet.
Bottom line though-if you're making worse time than you think you should be, a good sanity check is to let the bike coast down. If it loses speed more rapidly than it does on a known level road, then you're either fighting an upgrade or a headwind. There have been times I'm riding where I'm like WTF, why is this taking so long? And then I note that the bike loses speed way more rapidly than usual when I stop pedaling. In my case, a headwind is usually at fault since I know where the uphill portions of my rides are. In very rare cases, the brake shoes are rubbing. I'll usually notice that right in the beginning of a ride though.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
Here's the elevation profile from Saturday's ride. This is typical for the routes I usually take.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
ddrueding
Fixture
Today was a tough ride, for no other reason than a 30mph sustained wind gusting to 45mph. Slogging against it on the way out was a bear, but I was able to maintain 60mph for 30 seconds on the way back. That is pretty intense at night on country roads with overcast skies.
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
60Mph at night on a mecanical bike during a windstorm : you're tired of living? What's next, moonwalking on the edge of a skyscrapper's roof during a thunderstorm?
ddrueding
Fixture
It hadn't started raining yet.. That's when I slowed down.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
I love tailwinds. I once hit 65 mph in a descent with a tailwind to assist me. As you say, pretty intense, but in this case I only momentarily touched 65 mph, then quickly slowed as the hill leveled off. So far, the highest I've pushed my Airborne to has been 36 mph, but winter clothing and cold air are really slowing me on the descents. I should be able to get it past 50 once the warmer weather comes, providing the city patches these streets so I don't get killed (another reason I'm not going crazy with the speed lately). Oh, my fastest crash was at 37 mph. I came out of it OK (just road rash).
I did around 60 mph once for a longer period but not by choice. I accidentally got on the Cross Island Parkway back in the 1980s. It was among the most terrifying experiences of my life. I couldn't double back because of traffic behind me. Probably the only reason I didn't get seriously hurt was because I was able to draft a large van in front of me which took its time getting up to highway speed. I recall seeing 58 mph on my speedometer in the one second I had time to glance down at it. The rest of the time I was hyper alert, waiting for the next exit, hoping there weren't any potholes since I couldn't see much with the van 10 feet in front of me. Finally, I saw "next exit 1/2 mile". It took me all of about 30 seconds to reach it. Thankfully no cars were exiting behind me. My speed dropped like I hit a sand pit once I no longer had the van to draft. And thank goodness I had a 53-12 top gear, but my cadence was still at the limit the entire time. Had traffic been moving at 70 or 75, I would have been toast.
ddrueding
Fixture
This morning was my first ride in the rain. It was also the first rain in a while, so mud was everywhere. The clothes are in the washer, but my bike is going to require some serious attention.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
Reminds my of my days cycling on the country roads around Princeton when I was in college. Not much advice to give you on cleaning the bike other than to be thorough, especially regarding the drivetrain. Mud seems to work itself into literally everything.
ddrueding
Fixture
Just went on a bit of a buying spree at Park Tools...Wall mounted repair stand will also serve as primary storage. And a full tool kit that will take me a while to familiarize myself with, but the drivetrain cleaning bits will be useful right away. I know many things require a torque wrench, and a wheel truing system will eventually be on the list, but I'm not there yet.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
I used to work in a bike store as a mechanic. As far as cleaning your bike goes:
Don't rinse the bike with high pressure. It can force grime into nooks. Also, avoid soap as obviously it will strip off the chain and cable oils.
Just run the water over it and use a rag to wipe it down.
Using a dry lube does not attract grit like wet lube.
Don't rinse the bike with high pressure. It can force grime into nooks. Also, avoid soap as obviously it will strip off the chain and cable oils.
Just run the water over it and use a rag to wipe it down.
Using a dry lube does not attract grit like wet lube.
ddrueding
Fixture
Thanks Howell, I'd avoided the pressure washer already because I didn't know how the carbon fiber would take it. But specifically the crevice between the fork and the frame has me worried about gunk in there. Any specific dry lube you would recommend?
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
I'm partial to the White Lightening products. I've only specifically used the clean ride product.