THE BEAST IS BACK. And no. I don't mean me... Although I've not posted here for over a week as have been using up the last of holibobs and took last week off...!
Got my replacement Tarmac last weekend!
Had already done 75km social with the club, but with the family out it would have been
rude not to do another 25!
Struggled to come up with a decent name on Strava... As hated naming it boring like the first. 'Return of the 'Mac' is about the best. All other suggestions pretty dire from friends and clubmates - Terry, Susan, BlackBetty & Nightrider.
Good question. Groupset has been waxed since day one and its probably done 3000km. When the new ones arrive I will do a comparison. I have spent a lot of that time in the small ring as well as I am a noodle and its very hilly around here. I do all my zwift stuff in the small ring as well. Astonishing how cheap the little rings are compared to the big ones. £10 vs over £100 usually.
Any any rate, i'll get back to you as I can't see any point in keeping them.
I thought the torque on these was something like 1-2nm. Very light.
Edit: tell a lie, its even less. 0.7 - 1.5 N·m
Are your cranks even moving at 6-nM?
Haha my cranks have to be doing at least 6nM occasionally as I came second in a Zwift ladder race last week!
Wow, 0.7-1.5 sounds very little. What do our fingers do!? Even for short fat stubby ones like mine - well that's how right mine is & never had one come undone!
Let me know about the rings, not even fussed about the small - just finding myself spinning out my 50t more recently (usually flat Zwift TTT's/races). I've got a set of R8000 rings very abused/worn on the shelf only really replaced when switching everything over to Di2 so made sense to change at same time as derailleurs+cassette, but probably the 34t will have lots of life left in it. Yeah crazy cost of the bigger rings, but even the set of rings. So few people buy them, it's the cranksets which places have enough stock of in sales. Last time I figured spending around the same money for the complete crankset rather than a set of rings was a much better choice. Think it was a Merlin takeover sale thing and got Ultegra for £135! Paid the same price in July 2019 (well 139) pre-covid crazy prices...
I’ve been given the official go ahead. You may get more mileage out of the new bike joke but at least I know I should be one joke down in the next month or so
Now di3 will be a thing
Di3? Is it being called that? I thought Di2 was because it's 2 core cable. Digital Intelligence 2.
How's the progress going...? Was going to upload a picture of my stripped Di2 groupset in a box just sat on the floor 'spare' doing nothing to wind you up!
You joke but the next gen Dura ace is rumoured to be releasing next year... 13 gears, 20% more complient, 8% faster*
*at 90kph
+80% more expensive.
But being able to shift from the hoods would be a massive boon for pretty much everything.
Can't feel I've ever felt the need to shift from the tops of the hoods, as have no problem shifting in all my various hand positions... But also from using non-series R685 & now R7170 (being 105) having buttons there is not something I've ever experienced!
It might be just me, but for years, maybe even since I started cycling actually, I've suffered with sweat dripping into my eyes. More recently it doesn't drip into my eyes so much, but touches onto the inside of my shades and runs down the inside of them which leaves me trying to clean them while cycling along, squishing sweat from my helmet as I go. I saw someone on Reddit recommend
these Wickflow headbands, so I ordered a couple. I've tried a Halo headband in the past and wasn't all that impressed by it, but I wore a Wickflow over Sunday and Monday and didn't once have the sun shades issue! For me they appear to be game changers! I don't know if it's all that common an issue, but I can recommend them based on these two rides.
I've got a couple of Halo bands. Actually got them in the Zwift colours, kinda like them but the halo strips peeled off a couple of them easily. I complained to Zwift and they sent me another set - sure enough those peeled too. Wouldn't buy again - nor the usual Halo prices. Quite interested in how you find these in a few months how they last, my use will be indoors only.
That's actually really helpful as I have the least clearance up front but still a pretty decent amount. If that Pro4E is running on the larger side I should be golden for 32's
Thanks for the comparison. To be honest I don't do much mileage so spending more on tyres isn't really a big deal as I'll never wear them out
While I'm not looking for speed as such, feel and comfort are the most important factors after puncture resistance. So far each tyre I've had has been better than the last in the feel / comfort regard. I've currently got the standard Schwalbe One hence the thought of going for the Pro but if GP5000 are even better I'll give those a spin.
The GP5000 is a great tyre for what you're after, even the GP5000S TR's I'm using, but they are quite an investment, they are worth it. I'm comparing them to GP4000sii, GP4Seasons, Pro4E (never did get the newer ones), Pirelli P-Zero, Vittoria Rubino & Hutchingson Fusion 5 I've owned and ran. The GP5000STR is a better tyre and investment (in my experience & opinion)!
Haha, i've recently made the call to drop distance. I've mentioned it elsewhere on the forum, but was out last weekend and got spiked and then presumably my immune system was shot and i've picked up one of the worst bugs i can remember (although the last time i was ill was 2013 with food poisoning!)
I was meant to be at a gig in Barcelona on Tuesday, but flew up there and then spent most of the day in the hotel room shivering and sweating under a duvet. Just about survived the gig whilst propping myself up against a wall for support, then flew home the following day and have since spent my days sat in the dark, watching tv whilst sweating and generally being exhausted from even getting a drink. I seem to have passed it onto my wife too, so we've both been ******.
Took Thursday/Friday off work as any attempts to stay upright at my desk left me wiped out after 30 minutes, although it's now 9:30 and i'm not doing great already!
No idea how long recovery will take, but at the moment even walking the dog for 10 mins is enough to push my HR into Z3 and any attempts to take deep breaths result in coughing fits. I don't even think i'd be able to get myself into a position where i could finish the full event "just for me" anymore and even the shorter distance feels a step too far.
On the plus side i've dropped under 100kg for the first time in 2024
Oh wow that sounds horrendous! Get better soon! Any idea what you got spiked with? Anything like that then definitely immune system gets compromised and your system already struggling to fight back/recover from an outside impact before you get an infection/illness or something. Sounds very cold-ish/flu/Covid-y with the exhaustion and it ongoing. A real flu will do that - headaches, muscle pains, exhaustion etc. Much of the symptoms of 'long covid' are like a real flu which I guess are just all symptomatic of a respiratory infection and the body fighting it off without much help over a long period. Get yourself checked out!
Fluids & recovery. You need the rest - even more so in the heat/humidity you have there - then throw in the extra fatigue from travel. Very easy to dig yourself into a hole (sounds like you're there already, just don't bottom out further by forcing things too soon)!
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