Usual club social on Saturday, I'm going well still with
some stronger efforts off the front on the way back working into headwinds doing 2up's with friends. Enjoying this year, but jumped back onto Zwift last night for a community race as need to get back into it (have only TTT'd and group ridden the last couple of months). Brutal. Small numbers and came away with a 3rd place so happy with that. Could have saved it and sat in with a chance at 2nd but guy was stronger so fairly sure would have beaten me in the sprint. I put the last of my efforts into chasing the solo guy up front who'd stayed away most the race - after some earlier efforts without anyone else being interested to work with me. Trimmed 7-8s off the lead, then my compatriot launched and closed another 12s getting within 5s but he couldn't finish it. Ah well!
Help help help
Right so my 2016 Madone is starting to show its age (no it's not I just want a new toy) and the 404 rim wheels have done some serious miles..
I'd say Madone, you obviously love them and happy paying the price premium (why you're looking at Ultegra and not 105) so pointless to 'save some money' by going Canyon - I'm really no fan of them and really only advise people to get them if they're trying to maximise their budget. Your budget is high enough not to need to do that...
Worth reading up the comments and such about the Madone Gen8 - seems silly to get 'old gen' at this point, especially as we're nearing the autumn and the next gen of Madone (?) might be out shortly - could be more deals to come on the Gen8 worth looking out for. The Aeolus Pro 51 Wheels on there are not bad wheels and not something you'd instantly need to change anyway (saying that as even a Zipp fanboy myself). Obviously if the only real differences are weight it won't make much difference to you looking at your rides mostly being rolling/flat... The 'toe overlap' sounds like a sizing issue, don't know what frame size you are and body/leg/foot size you are with your fit to know how much of an issue it would be.
My 2016 Diverge is pretty beaten up and used as a winter+commuter these days. I have a minor toe overlap with it, never realistically caused me an issue. 35,000km. Just put Zipp 303 S and Conti GP5000STR in 30mm on there actually. Like them so far, feel pretty quick and not 'boaty' - much better than the tough 32mm Roubaix Pro I'd tried (must be lighter). That 'squeaky' feeling and noises of fresh rubber on slightly moist tarmac as we had some drizzle this morning
@labby Given the intention to swap wheels/chainrings etc. Is it worth exploring one of the custom bike shops? I listen to Cade Media (although less so recently the podcast just seems the same every week other than the news) and the mechanic that's on works out of this place
www.backyardbikeshop.com
Might make sense to chat to a similar local shop and spec something up. Especially considering the budget on that Madone
I totally agree, really once getting into the realms of that kinda thing (custom/bespoke build) would say look locally. There will always be tweaks and nothing really comes close to discussing things face to face. Labby is in Suffolk and that place is in Newcastle. Tricky to drop around to get something checked out!
Support your LBS - quite often that means building a relationship with them. Build your trust - but also likely that means riding one of the brands they're partner with and 'like' to work on. So choose your shop depending on your needs - location, access, availability or even brands they carry. You'll have less issues - like a car dealership working on their own brands - they can service any car, just more efficient and better at servicing the ones they do day in and out doing a better job of it.
And now it’s appeared with the map. Very strange that the map gets delayed by hours ..
Possible post-processing as the Watch itself doesn't store maps? So has to sync/process from a cloud upload to populate the map data into the activity? Guessing, I'm no Apple or Watch user. Sounds like an Apple issue. Use a head unit if you want real live map data from GPS.
Really surprised myself in Oundle triathlon on the bike section. It's non drafting but managed to average 20mph, which is significantly faster than I've done before in training. One day I'll have to invest in a tri bike, as all of my races are likely to be non drafting, and the fastest are wearing velodrome type helmets and disk wheels etc.
Your image doesn't work 'imgbb.com upgrade to a Pro account to embed images in emails'.
I use imgur upload as it's free -
https://imgur.com/upload - browse/drop an image in. Click the dots, then share links and choose the 'BBCode' click to 'Copy Link' green button and paste that in.
had one of those moments of shame this morning
Ouch! Hope the injuries nothing more than a bit of a bang. The poor shifter+drivechain! Thankfully fairly minor and some 'war wounds' nearly all of them pick up. Just hope the RD isn't too bad and just cosmetic as probably the most expensive bit!
Fallen back into my road cycling after a trip to Mallorca over the summer and renting a bike - recently got myself a rather tasty looking Pinarello X3 in matt black on the advice of a bike fit, slapped some carbon wheels on it and it's a delight now for a fairly reasonable price in the current market I reckon (sub-4k all in).
And then I went and injured myself so I'm confined to the turbo until I can commit to a proper ride out again without fear of a flare up. Typical...
Good to hear you've got back into it. Depending on the spec you don't get much with the X3 but guess providing it got you back out riding then it was well worth it! Just keep going, injuries heal, just take time. Hopefully enough of the summer left for it!
