Sorry, I didn't think my post said you weren't! God bless internet communication
OMG STOP DISAGREEING WITH ME
Road Cycling
- Thread starter FrenchTart
- Start date
OMG STOP DISAGREEING WITH ME
Climbs that you don't have to worry about wondering if you can make it up without having to walk and/or fall probably aren't the most productive but they are definitely challenging.
Agreed, longer steadier climbs are more productive but few & far between round here...
Agreed, longer steadier climbs are more productive but few & far between round here...
Soldato
We have a Breville Active smoothie maker. Blends directly in the bottles. Only £23.99. It has two 600ml bottles, and two smaller 300ml bottles: You can buy the 600ml bottles seperately, but not the 300ml bottles, which is why we went with the "Family Pack" one, not the one with just 600ml bottles. Price difference is only 4 quid anyway. Not sure why a Nutribullet is so expensive compared to what we bought, and not sure why it is "better".
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Soldato
Such a small world, you're not that far away
Have you access to a gym for some specific strength work?
Haha yeah, not that far away at all
I don't have access currently. I live very close to one (walk past it everyday to and from work). I have some free weight dumb-bells at home. Just need some routine to use them!
Soldato
Finally made some more progress getting my bike fixed last night - got the chain on (with a lot of swearing at the KMC missing link!) and pretty much sorted the indexing. Hopefully get my first ride in for about a month this weekend!
So I received it and tried to fit this morning. Turns out my stem faceplate is 6mm thread not 5mm so I can't fit it. Checked my other bikes and I could fit it to my mountain bike although having a Garmin outfront in a crash doesn't seem super wise.
Overall quality seems fairly nice.. kinda weighty as it is an aluminium piece. There's no chance of fitting a Virb as you won't have clearance back to the stem faceplate for it but you could fit a Gopro with ease. Potentially a virb with some extensions to make the cradle lower but that would generally result in even more shaky footage so not advisable.
It's a shame Wiggle don't do them in multiple stem bolt sizes
Haha yeah, not that far away at all
I don't have access currently. I live very close to one (walk past it everyday to and from work). I have some free weight dumb-bells at home. Just need some routine to use them!
A resistance band (so you can sit back/stay upright and also pull yourself up if needed) and some single leg pistol squats would add a bit of strength and can be done anywhere.
Should meet up in the Chilterns soon
Soldato
A resistance band (so you can sit back/stay upright and also pull yourself up if needed) and some single leg pistol squats would add a bit of strength and can be done anywhere.
Should meet up in the Chilterns soon
Will take a look! Yes we should! Although you'll totally wreck me speed wise! Haha.
It's not a race
unless we're racing... ARE WE RACING?! 
Can always meet Chinnor way? or I could head over and explore that side of the M40 which I've yet to do. There's a good steady segment over by Henley heading towards Christmas Common I need to FTP up... aptly named:
https://www.strava.com/segments/12428919
It's not a race
Can always meet Chinnor way? or I could head over and explore that side of the M40 which I've yet to do. There's a good steady segment over by Henley heading towards Christmas Common I need to FTP up... aptly named:
https://www.strava.com/segments/12428919
Apparently I did that segment the other week in 20:25 mins. Guess I failed
If I remember correctly that hill went on forever but gradient was nice until the end.
Would be up for joining you guys. The cycle out your way is boring but flat and easy or I could drive.
Apparently I did that segment the other week in 20:25 mins. Guess I failed
If I remember correctly that hill went on forever but gradient was nice until the end.
Would be up for joining you guys. The cycle out your way is boring but flat and easy or I could drive.
Well you only had 25s grace left before you'd need to find a better/longer stretch of road to FTP on
21st August is potentially do-able for a Chilterns Mini-meet, weather permitting of course... Equally a boring & flat over that way ride for me so could meet somewhere suitable to set off from
I'm pretty clear in September & October too. Though I'd like to try and get away again in October but that feel when no-one to go with (that cycles
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Anyone with any experience of the Praxis Works 'TURN' Zayante crankset? or Praxis Works in general? The Specialized Diverge Comp Carbon comes with it and that looks like the Diverge I'm edging towards. It's the 'lowest' Carbon offering and the price is helped by having 105 on it (I will upgrade parts of it later with 6800). LBS will do me one for lower than £2200, but Evans' have them on Sale currently for £1875 which seems an absolute steal! 
The other bike my LBS guys pointed me towards was the new Trek Domane SL 6 Disc 2017. It's a little more than I was looking to spend and I've never really been a huge Trek fan. The SL 5 they could get, but they don't currently stock it as they don't like the RS505 shifters/discs and have had several problems already ('cheap plastic crap' in the shifters & bad shape).
As my LBS only have the Roubaix rim and Domane SL6 Disc do you think it worth getting a trial ride on the Roubaix? I know if I ride Domane SL6 I'll love it, but without being able to ride the Roubaix disc or Diverge I can't make much of a comparison between the Iso and Zertz.
FT is probably right that I need to mix them up a little, but most of the steepest ones around are hardly isolated cliffs I'm riding up, they're along roads and areas with multiple climbs and multiple gradient types!
I've love to be able to 'pedal as fast as I can bear' & to be honest my cadence dropping below 40rpm is one of the main problems I'm having! Teach me obi wan your low cadence power skills!
)
The other bike my LBS guys pointed me towards was the new Trek Domane SL 6 Disc 2017. It's a little more than I was looking to spend and I've never really been a huge Trek fan. The SL 5 they could get, but they don't currently stock it as they don't like the RS505 shifters/discs and have had several problems already ('cheap plastic crap' in the shifters & bad shape).
As my LBS only have the Roubaix rim and Domane SL6 Disc do you think it worth getting a trial ride on the Roubaix? I know if I ride Domane SL6 I'll love it, but without being able to ride the Roubaix disc or Diverge I can't make much of a comparison between the Iso and Zertz.
Haha, I did spot that on your ride analysis (was looking at cadence!) but wasn't going to say anything!@ Roady, I think it hit 20% in small parts, but it was fairly stready. I am ashamed to say that I actually walked up it
Well there's lot of them around here, so why wouldn't I train on the steepest to make the others 'easier'?
FT is probably right that I need to mix them up a little, but most of the steepest ones around are hardly isolated cliffs I'm riding up, they're along roads and areas with multiple climbs and multiple gradient types! I've love to be able to 'pedal as fast as I can bear' & to be honest my cadence dropping below 40rpm is one of the main problems I'm having!
Teach me obi wan your low cadence power skills!I guess I'm targeting the steepest I can find, to 'conquer' them. Once I know I can do some of the steepest around here/mid-wales then nothing should 'beat' me in whatever rides/sportives I do in future. I think it's the challenge more than anything - if something's beaten me then I can be quite tenacious in my pursuit to beat it in future! (can you tell?
)
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Caporegime
I'm planning on heading to the Rake on Sunday, so I'll let you know how I get on...
Soldato
Anyone with any experience of the Praxis Works 'TURN' Zayante crankset? or Praxis Works in general? The Specialized Diverge Comp Carbon comes with it and that looks like the Diverge I'm edging towards. It's the 'lowest' Carbon offering and the price is helped by having 105 on it (I will upgrade parts of it later with 6800). LBS will do me one for lower than £2200, but Evans' have them on Sale currently for £1875 which seems an absolute steal!
My bike has the Praxis Works Zayante crankset, the chainrings and the M30 BB converter. They are really good. I think Praxis in general get pretty good reviews. Well made, and the BB certainly doesn't creak! I should say, that although the BB is BB30/PF30, it is actually a threaded BB converter. So you need a special tool to remove it.
You can't use other cranks with their M30 BB. They do make a Shimano BB converter though (same idea as the BB30/PF30 one). Their chainrings are meant to be some of the best you can buy that aren't Shimano.
On the bike priceL £1875 is an absolute steal for that bike! Especially as it comes with 785 hydraulic discs. I really want one of those bikes
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Anyone with any experience of the Praxis Works 'TURN' Zayante crankset? or Praxis Works in general? The Specialized Diverge Comp Carbon comes with it and that looks like the Diverge I'm edging towards. It's the 'lowest' Carbon offering and the price is helped by having 105 on it (I will upgrade parts of it later with 6800). LBS will do me one for lower than £2200, but Evans' have them on Sale currently for £1875 which seems an absolute steal!
Apparently a lot of the Diverges have been back with wheel problems - might be different on the more expensive ones but also they have a different axle size or something so can be hard to find compatible wheels? Something like that... sorry can't remember details!
Went for a short lunchtime ride... was supposed to be somewhat light as I've got a tough off-road ride tomorrow. Got annoyed at a few cars and a lorry tailgating me so it didn't end up being a particularly easy ride. Whoops.
Aha. Well I don't have a power meter anyway so wasn't FTPingWell you only had 25s grace left before you'd need to find a better/longer stretch of road to FTP on
21st August is potentially do-able for a Chilterns Mini-meet, weather permitting of course... Equally a boring & flat over that way ride for me so could meet somewhere suitable to set off from
I'm pretty clear in September & October too. Though I'd like to try and get away again in October but that feel when no-one to go with (that cycles
August could work as could September and October but that's almost proper winter not this summer-induced winter!
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Soldato
Apparently a lot of the Diverges have been back with wheel problems - might be different on the more expensive ones but also they have a different axle size or something so can be hard to find compatible wheels? Something like that... sorry can't remember details!
Went for a short lunchtime ride... was supposed to be somewhat light as I've got a tough off-road ride tomorrow. Got annoyed at a few cars and a lorry tailgating me so it didn't end up being a particularly easy ride. Whoops.
Aha. Well I don't have a power meter anyway so wasn't FTPing
August could work as could September and October but that's almost proper winter not this summer-induced winter!
The Diverge uses thru-axle. He should be able to custom build something. Like some DTSwiss hubs.
Thanks for info, I'll avoid ordering one to try I think as the VIRB is pretty chunky! Although the VIRB has to be fitted to a GoPro mount with an extension anyway... Hmm! I'll probably wait until %newbike% when I'll need a new mount anyway!So I received it and tried to fit this morning. Turns out my stem faceplate is 6mm thread not 5mm so I can't fit it. Checked my other bikes and I could fit it to my mountain bike although having a Garmin outfront in a crash doesn't seem super wise.
Overall quality seems fairly nice.. kinda weighty as it is an aluminium piece. There's no chance of fitting a Virb as you won't have clearance back to the stem faceplate for it but you could fit a Gopro with ease. Potentially a virb with some extensions to make the cradle lower but that would generally result in even more shaky footage so not advisable.
It's a shame Wiggle don't do them in multiple stem bolt sizes
Goodluck! Also, when you're grinding up the 20% bit at the end remember 'there's probably more useful stuff you could be doing' than training for it!
*hides*
Good info on the Praxis, thanks. I'd heard of them before but wasn't sure how they compared to Shimano. To be honest I'm coming from FSA Gossamercheese so anything in theory is going to be better...My bike has the Praxis Works Zayante crankset, the chainrings and the M30 BB converter. They are really good. I think Praxis in general get pretty good reviews. Well made, and the BB certainly doesn't creak! I should say, that although the BB is BB30/PF30, it is actually a threaded BB converter. So you need a special tool to remove it.
You can't use other cranks with their M30 BB. They do make a Shimano BB converter though (same idea as the BB30/PF30 one). Their chainrings are meant to be some of the best you can buy that aren't Shimano.
On the bike priceL £1875 is an absolute steal for that bike! Especially as it comes with 785 hydraulic discs. I really want one of those bikes
Yeah 785 with unbranded 685 STi's on the Comp Carbon.
The Wheels are 'AXIS 4.0 Disc SCS', all of the Diverge range come with variants of the same wheelset, except the top of the line £3000+ 'Pro Carbon' which comes with 'Roval Control Carbon SCS' (a £900 wheelset).
12mm Thru-axle on the AXIS 4.0 Disc, unsure how 'specialist' that makes them. I'm more than likely going to have 2 wheelsets of it anyway, one with 25/28mm road slicks and another 28/30mm with grippy offroads. I'd probably use the AXIS as the offroad set as they'll be ridden less, heavier than the others and probably see more abuse.
Any idea/clues to what kind of problems? If it's just spokes/truing then I don't mind. If it's rims/hubs then I do! More than happy to rebuild them with new rims/hubs but would want to flog the 'new' ones as unused to cover as much costs as possible
Any idea/clues to what kind of problems? If it's just spokes/truing then I don't mind. If it's rims/hubs then I do! More than happy to rebuild them with new rims/hubs but would want to flog the 'new' ones as unused to cover as much costs as possible
Something about an SCS rear (specialized's own system) so hard to change for something else and the stock wheelset snaps spokes a lot. Though I think this was on the Alu £800 or so Diverge's and I'm guessing the Carbon one has different wheels?