Road Cycling

Still a bit baffled by TrainerRoad.

Just added an event next weekend which I estimate will be around 5hrs as it’s a relatively technical gravel 80km ride (Iron Gravel Cabo de Palos) and yet it’s booked me in a 1.5hr ride the next day despite generally telling me to take things easy in general.

Hoping it makes more sense as it progresses as at the moment I can’t make my mind up whether to follow it and accept I’m not a coach or only semi follow it.
I've don't think I've ever looked in detail at TrainerRoad, but shirley it's looking your ride training load?

Last week looks to be marginally my biggest cycling week this year by time at ~9hrs15mins, pretty sure it was my hilliest week at ~10300 feet {1240 from Zwift} for over three years and first time in over three years I've managed over 100 miles outdoors in a week. But all the outdoors was on ebikes, no all-out efforts up hills because I've had another respiratory infection recently, https://intervals.icu/ reckons my training load for the week {from hrm on ebikes; power meter plus hrm on Zwift} was 354.

A quick look at other recent weeks on Intervals shows I've had a 320 load from ~5hrs30mins and 479 load from a week with ~9hrs10mins.

All I'm getting at is, how hard a particular week is will depend on how much time you spend on a bike, as well as how many matches you burn.;)
 
I've don't think I've ever looked in detail at TrainerRoad, but shirley it's looking your ride training load?

You would think so, but my load recently has been fairly low. I imagine that's why the initial plan has been minimal, but then this week shoots from ~4hrs a week to 9hrs because of the event. Just seems weird not to then include a rest day after. It's not like my history suggests i'm doing big 10+ hour weeks.

Can understand a 30 minute recovery ride on the next day to spin the legs, but not a 90minute "endurance building" ride
 
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ditched my spd-sl pedals - power meter so a bit annoying, will pop them on ebay see if they sell.

reason really is that with gravel riding, I often end up on quite steep/rocky climbs and twice now I've ended up crashing/walking up because clipping into SPD-SL's is actually quite a bit harder in a situation like that, on top of it.. after inspecting my cleats, I found that they're beat up so much that I doubt they'll last much longer(I get it, they're not designed for it)

I'll probably end up getting bike that supports sram powermeter or a pair of off-road power meter pedals, probably not from garmin again as their prices for the new generation are insane. Assioma pedals seem good for the money(under £400) for single sided which I'm happy with it.

I also upgraded my shoes to something more gravel friendly and with a stiff sole, I can't tell much difference in "feel" between these(shimano spd) and spd-sl as far as stiffness and platform size goes.

also bought this https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/men-s...ng-jersey-edr/_/R-p-347636?mc=8883068&c=beige which arrived on Saturday and for the money, it's a very nice jersey! with a baselayer underneath I think it'll see me through the winter. My view was to get something now before the cold kicks in and prices/demand go up. £40 and it has all the pockets, very nice soft lining, zippers seem good and XL size is spot on fit for me.
 
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That Van Rysel top looks decent. I've been looking for something less "fitted" for gravel rides and can't tell if that has the look of it or not. Previously had been eyeing this



For the power side, have you thought about just changing the crankset?
 
That Van Rysel top looks decent. I've been looking for something less "fitted" for gravel rides and can't tell if that has the look of it or not. Previously had been eyeing this



For the power side, have you thought about just changing the crankset?
The van rysel is not race fit. Had some “slack” all around. Perfect for cooler weather.

I did, I’m sorta waiting for the new gravel bike to be decided.. if it’s the ribble ultra-grit then the rival spec one comes with a power meter in crank.. but my current bikes - apex axs do not support it.. hence the pedals
 
The van rysel is not race fit. Had some “slack” all around. Perfect for cooler weather.

I did, I’m sorta waiting for the new gravel bike to be decided.. if it’s the ribble ultra-grit then the rival spec one comes with a power meter in crank.. but my current bikes - apex axs do not support it.. hence the pedals

Ah that's a pain. I'm not sure what the cross compatability is but there's always the "spider" crank thing, to reuse your cranks/chainrings, but unsure how they work across ranges and certainly not cheap. Probably best to just hold off a couple months, unless you can find something decent second hand and then resell it on
 
Ah that's a pain. I'm not sure what the cross compatability is but there's always the "spider" crank thing, to reuse your cranks/chainrings, but unsure how they work across ranges and certainly not cheap. Probably best to just hold off a couple months, unless you can find something decent second hand and then resell it on
I'm sorta leaning that way to be honest, the ribble - that currently is top of my list would come with powermeter in the crankset.. which means I'd avoid having to buy another set of pedals and save some money. I like having power but it's not top of the list currently.
 
just about got up the two hills in easiest gear with ebike ~25Kg and me ~95Kg.
That sounds serious weight for an ebike?! More like a cargo bike?

Hell I struggled to lift a 45kg flat pack wardrobe to get up the stairs on the weekend. Must be getting old - know my legs can take it, figured my bac would be ok just sore a few days after, hands are strong enough, but ZERO arm strength these days! Other half tried and dropped it on her leg, massive bruise now and I'm in the bad books...

******* cars.
<snip>
I hate it. I hate the pollution, I hate the attitude, I hate how society bends around motorists and punishes them a vanishingly small amount of the time.
Totally get all of these & really at the same point myself... The goddamn awful thing being a 'vulnerable road user' is there's so much of 'bad' driving around it just becomes accepted. We can get ignorant to it... In a good way? If that makes sense? Certainly notice the really bad stuff, but the 'lazy' driving stuff we don't get stressed about. We expect drivers to do certain things (like opening doors, cutting corners, or not giving way) so mitigate the risk - we go wider around, we take primary and scrub some speed. So when they do, it becomes a 'non issue' and we just tut and shake our heads. Barely even registers.

Will admit the last 12 months I've got better at 'noticing' things as I've tried to get myself reporting more, so I 'skim' look through all my recordings. But that does lead to more frustration for me... Maybe that's too strong a word - more disbelief over 'stupid' driving I don't generally register while I'm riding and just leads to more head shaking (like safe, but pointless overtakes).

Strava doing everything it can do be a complete **** it seems. Ironic as they are pretty much nothing without the data from other sources, most of which are Garmins.
Strava since they got that new CEO and restructured to become profitable, or whatever it was... Seem to have done a few 'stupid' things - like the api fiasco & this bit. But does feel they're more active now and although we've seen a few tweaks, hopefully the groundworks for more changes on the platform. Maybe that's just my hope for subscribers start to get more value from it. Will admit I'm still paying for it, every time I come close to cancelling it I just never quite do it - part of the pain being on an annual sub is it not really reminding me/seeing it...!

I reckon Strava have got a bit too big for their boots of late and I still don't need AI "insight" to tell me I was chewing stem during a Zwift race.
AI is a gimmick in most cases - this is a prime example. It's just 'data intelligence' and not AI in the slightest - "Oh you spent 75% of your time in Z4 or higher heartrate, your ride must have been hard work" IS NOT 'INTELLIGENCE'! :rolleyes:

Where are people selling their road bikes nowadays?
The sell prices on ebay always seem to the quite high but there's the probable hassle & cost of posting it and other dangers to get the right price...

Pinkbike forums used to have a classifieds which was great for good quality bikes and lots of technical/full spec info but no idea if still that popular. Faceache buy+sell the logical for a local sale/speed/cash/ease again with it's own dangers...

What was cool was as we were chatting over a beer, he asked if i knew where the frame name "Far Away" was from. I had no idea and he said it was from the Deftones song, Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away), as a fan of the Deftones of that era it felt very cool. His Hardtail frame is named after Sober by Tool which is also a very good song.

Was also cool seeing various drawings of prototypes throughout the design phase of each bike. I grabbed a photo but feels wrong posting it online!
Love all this! How damn cool does it feel to 'know' the guy who made your bike and what inspiration he had. Awesome - it's like the USP of buying a local brand and how we should support and nurture them (feeling slightly guilty with my garage full of Specialized, Giant, DT & Zipp kit).
 
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I noticed that, but I can’t quite believe I need to lower it that low! I’m getting to the point the saddle is the same height as the bars! (I do have quite short legs though, as my misses keeps reminding me!)
I don’t think it tracks that, not sure how it would reliably. I’ll see how the Zwift ride tomorrow feels.

Any more thoughts 2+ weeks later on the AI bikefit app?

With now having my new bike, and having signed up for TrainerRoad which will result in more indoor structured workouts, i've been wondering whether it makes sense to sign up for it to make sure everything is good enough to avoid any long term injuries.
 
Any more thoughts 2+ weeks later on the AI bikefit app?

With now having my new bike, and having signed up for TrainerRoad which will result in more indoor structured workouts, i've been wondering whether it makes sense to sign up for it to make sure everything is good enough to avoid any long term injuries.


ummm I think it's working ok. Trouble is on an indoors bike, you feel everything. But I'm not having any issues with the ~25mm lower seat. Did a 3.5 hours endurance ride on Saturday without any issues, and some Zwift racing.

It's on my Factor (and Winter bike soon) I'd want to see the results of. Still working on that.
 
Cheers, i might try and find someone with a turbo locally i could borrow for a day or so to test my outdoor bikes, although i'm less bothered about those vs the Kickr as there's generally more variation in pedaling when outside.
 
Yep, event is postponed to the 1st November. I'm sure it rains loads the last bike ride i was booked on too!


@grudas I know you've used Siroko in the past. I got a few of the looser fitting gravel tops today and they're superb. Would quite happily even wear then out and about!
 
Yep, event is postponed to the 1st November. I'm sure it rains loads the last bike ride i was booked on too!


@grudas I know you've used Siroko in the past. I got a few of the looser fitting gravel tops today and they're superb. Would quite happily even wear then out and about!
Yea I’m a fan of their stuff, for the money they’re really good. Mind you, I’ve not tried any of the very high end stuff like assos or casteli.. but this has lasted well, bib pads are nice and they’re well designed. Only issue for me was that the “race” fit jerseys are simply too tight.. even in the largest sizes..
 
I've only got one of their bibs (SRX i think) and i'd say it's not far off my Assos ones. Maybe the pad is a little worse, but the rest is great. I don't actually have many jerseys so my M3 one has probably been worn twice a week for 2.5yrs and still holds up well.

As you say for the price i'd pick them over other cheaper stuff i've seen. Especially the tops.
 
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