Road Cycling

fez said:
I just can't get over the droopy saddle nose on those SMP saddles :p

What is the idea of them. Some people swear by their saddles but I can't fathom what the "limp" bit at the end is for.



They look and seem to review really well, they are just bloody expensive like almost all of these things. Even on heavy discount they are expensive.
Click to expand...

Most saddles support you on your sit bones and possibly your manhood.

Selle SMP saddles support you either side of the hip joint, throughout the length of that central dip in the saddle, often with a cutout that takes pressure off your manhood.

Top tip, setup angle on these Selle SMPs is critical, try having the forward bump ~14mm lower than the rear bump. ;)

I got a white Selle SMP Extra for ~£37 off Amazon a few years ago, it did wonders for my turbo time tolerance and also helps outdoors on longer rides.

Works well in combination with my Castelli bibs with quite thin Progetto/Kiss pads, not so good with my thicker padded bibs/shorts.
 
Last edited:
Martynt74 said:
Presumably it was after SRAM bought them out?
Click to expand...

There's a 3rd party Di2 app for the Hammerhead but needs a bit of effort to install AFAIK:

www.dcrainmaker.com

New Shimano Di2 Workaround for Hammerhead Karoo 2

Hammerhead Karoo users may remember last spring when Shimano and Hammerhead had a falling-out over Hammerhead’s existing Shimano Di2 integration, which has been in the product for years. They demanded that Hammerhead remove the Di2 functionality that showed shifting status
www.dcrainmaker.com www.dcrainmaker.com
 
PikeyPriest said:
Yes I get no segment information at all during a ride. I generally input a route from strava to connect and sync. I have started climbs, but I don’t get the segment timing screen for anything. I have it happen once when free riding, so it does seem to be only when doing a planned ride. But I quite like having routes to follow. After the comments I do wonder whether I should swap to garmin segments to at least give timing comparisons.
Click to expand...

I presume you have the segments favourited on Strava? There's also a setting on Garmin you need to flip to use Strava segments and not Garmin. I've been meaning to try a route planned on Strava but still stick to RideWithGPS.

I did notice when riding without a route the other day that I would get Strava segments but I couldn't compare my live progress against my own PR, only the fastest time of somebody I follow or the KOM. That might have been as I didn't have a public time on the segments as my rides default to private and I usually only flip them to followers only.
 
#Chri5# said:
There's a 3rd party Di2 app for the Hammerhead but needs a bit of effort to install AFAIK:

www.dcrainmaker.com

New Shimano Di2 Workaround for Hammerhead Karoo 2

Hammerhead Karoo users may remember last spring when Shimano and Hammerhead had a falling-out over Hammerhead’s existing Shimano Di2 integration, which has been in the product for years. They demanded that Hammerhead remove the Di2 functionality that showed shifting status
www.dcrainmaker.com www.dcrainmaker.com
Click to expand...
It's not ready for the new Karoo though. There was a recent update that gave some move towards it, but I think we're waiting now on the new Karoo SDK maybe? If you've done any adb work on an Android phone, it's easy to install Android apps on the Karoo. It's a shame they removed the SIM as you could have WhatsApp running directly off your head unit, for example :cry:
 
Screw Garmin. Weirdly around the start of the year it stopped tracking heat acclimation and sat at 0% Then around a month ago it started building up and telling me after rides as it increased. As of Saturday it was 37%, yet yesterday i did a 4hr ride in ~28c temperature and it's dropped by 5%

iaP4RdS.png


Absolutely no idea how that happens! (Yes i'm aware it's unlikely to be too important as a metric)
 
Last edited:
Also, and not saying this as a dig, but i'm curious how i continue to deal with training in the heat. Yesterday i was out at 7:30 and back home around 12ish with a short break for a coffee and tostada as i started feeling a little sick.

I'd taken 2x750ml bottles with a carb mix in. My Garmin has "smart" reminders for drinking and by the end of the ride suggested i should've drank 4.1 litres of water which seems ridiculous.

As i continue to ramp up distance/hills, i'm going to be pushing up beyond 4hr rides during the hottest period of the year. Sunrise is only around 6:30 so heading out much earlier than yesterday isn't really on the cards.
 
Martynt74 said:
Also, and not saying this as a dig, but i'm curious how i continue to deal with training in the heat. Yesterday i was out at 7:30 and back home around 12ish with a short break for a coffee and tostada as i started feeling a little sick.

I'd taken 2x750ml bottles with a carb mix in. My Garmin has "smart" reminders for drinking and by the end of the ride suggested i should've drank 4.1 litres of water which seems ridiculous.

As i continue to ramp up distance/hills, i'm going to be pushing up beyond 4hr rides during the hottest period of the year. Sunrise is only around 6:30 so heading out much earlier than yesterday isn't really on the cards.
Click to expand...

That doesn't sound entirely unrealistic. The amount of water I require varies massively depending on temperature and exertion. I can go out on a 2 hour ride and drink 500ml on an easy ride but I could also drink over 2l on that same ride if I am pushing it. That 500ml sometimes is just because I feel like I should be drinking.

The hotter the temperature the worse that gets. How many hours were you riding for an how hard were you going? Anything in summer that is over 1.5 hours I would generally get dehydrated on 1.5l. Depends slightly on the mix as well. If I have a very high carb mix in one bottle that tends to firstly reduce the amount of water in there and secondly make me thirstier due to the sweetness.

Honestly, I should stop more on longer rides to refill bottles etc but I never do. I think that makes a big difference with recovery as well.
 
I'm amazed at people in our club who go out on our big rides with just one bottle. We'll be riding for at least 2 hours before the stop, and the same again after.

A single bottle and a tool 'bottle' seems to be the way to go at the moment, and not have a saddle bag (cleaner lines :p )

Not me though, two 750ml bottles and a refill at the stop!
 
Martynt74 said:
Also, and not saying this as a dig, but i'm curious how i continue to deal with training in the heat. Yesterday i was out at 7:30 and back home around 12ish with a short break for a coffee and tostada as i started feeling a little sick.

I'd taken 2x750ml bottles with a carb mix in. My Garmin has "smart" reminders for drinking and by the end of the ride suggested i should've drank 4.1 litres of water which seems ridiculous.

As i continue to ramp up distance/hills, i'm going to be pushing up beyond 4hr rides during the hottest period of the year. Sunrise is only around 6:30 so heading out much earlier than yesterday isn't really on the cards.
Click to expand...

Back before long covid, I used to do regular ~3 hour rides even when we had heatwaves with temps of approx 32C up in the South Downs hills.

With non-extreme temps, I'd typically climb 3-5 hills at max effort and two 750ml bottles would just about get me home.
If I tried to do a single climb at max effort in that extreme heat, taking approx 6-9mins, I could easily empty one of my two 750ml bottles over the next 30mins and then have to cut the ride short to not risk dehydration.

I discovered that ~1250ml squash bottles fitted my bottle cages, so in heatwave conditions, I'd often use two of them. Sometimes I'd take a third 1250ml bottle using a Topeak seat/bar cage holder. I learnt to hold off on max effort climbs when temps exceeded approx 27C.

I'm not one for doing cafe stops, but at least these days, you have the option of things like the Refill app https://www.refill.org.uk/ on Android, to see where there are places local to your location in the UK that are happy to provide free bottle refills with tap water.
 
Last edited:
I do agree, hydration is important. Just 1l/hr seems a lot. Especially since average HR was only 138 and firmly in a Zone1/2 level except for hills.

I do often end up restricting myself on hydration so am sure there's a mid ground between my 1.5l and the 4.2l Garmin suggested. There's a lot of public fountains here, so maybe i need to scope them out on my usual routes to refill bottles. Whilst i stopped yesterday, it's not something i'm overly bothered about incorporating into regular rides.
 
Martynt74 said:
I do agree, hydration is important. Just 1l/hr seems a lot. Especially since average HR was only 138 and firmly in a Zone1/2 level except for hills.
Click to expand...

Did you feel like you drank enough? I think that garmin is just guessing based on its idea of your fitness, its idea on your exertion and its thoughts on the temperature, duration and distance you rode. Some people are camels and seem to get by on a sip here and there. I am not one of them. I was in Crete recently with a very good cyclist (5w/kg FTP) and he took a single bottle and didn't finish it while I sunk 2 full, larger bottles. All about relative effort and training adaptations. He also eats very little on the bike but he is also massively orthorexic so there is that.
 
Shadowness said:
I'm amazed at people in our club who go out on our big rides with just one bottle. We'll be riding for at least 2 hours before the stop, and the same again after.

A single bottle and a tool 'bottle' seems to be the way to go at the moment, and not have a saddle bag (cleaner lines :p )

Not me though, two 750ml bottles and a refill at the stop!
Click to expand...
Just done 35k to the pub my bottle is quarter gone, I don't sweat much though
 
fez said:
Did you feel like you drank enough? I think that garmin is just guessing based on its idea of your fitness, its idea on your exertion and its thoughts on the temperature, duration and distance you rode. Some people are camels and seem to get by on a sip here and there. I am not one of them. I was in Crete recently with a very good cyclist (5w/kg FTP) and he took a single bottle and didn't finish it while I sunk 2 full, larger bottles. All about relative effort and training adaptations. He also eats very little on the bike but he is also massively orthorexic so there is that.
Click to expand...

Yeah to be honest i did, although potentially the last 30 minutes i felt i could've maybe done with another 250ml. I dragged mine out and probably didn't drink when i needed to just because i always like to get home with a bit left for any issues with punctures etc that cause the ride to be longer.

Main issue is Spain shuts down on a Sunday so bar stopping at bars etc, it's tricky to get extra fluids. I was excited at the thought of refueling at one point because i knew of a petrol station, only for it to be shut :(
 
Last edited:
This morning's talk of hydration has just made me realise I probably shouldn't entertain the idea of using the 1250ml squash bottles, at least not with my VEl 50 RL wheels fitted... They're only guaranteed to 110Kg (which I presume is total load, not load per wheel).

I'm ~95Kg these days (used to be ~73 to ~83 pre-covid)
Bike ~9Kg
Kit ~1.5Kg
Mobile, tool kit, jelly babies etc. in jersey ~1Kg
2x 750ml bottles ~1.6Kg

Even using the extra cage holder I mentioned earlier https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bi...tle-cages/topeak-bottle-cage-mount-193939.htm with a tiny bottle will currently take me above 110Kg. :(

Plus one of the issues I've been dealing with for ~20 months is getting up before 1000 is a massive struggle. I used to be a postie, alarm set at approx 0515, on days off during heatwaves it was far cooler to get out by ~0700 and be back home for 1100 compared to going out later in day.
 
Last edited:
Martynt74 said:
Interesting, was just looking at my wheelset and it says "Rider weight limit" 110kg. I assume they factor in a safety factor for bike/accessories?
Click to expand...

I assume its a system weight otherwise its entirely pointless. I also assume there is a fair error margin built into that. I would think you are fine up to 125kg or more.

Based on the fact that my system weight is probably pushing 95kg and when I bunny hop or happen to whack into one of his majesties monstrous potholes on the road, if wheels were rated to 110kg and actually failed at anything like that, they would be toast within a few rides.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom