Hehe, this is my secret plan for if I'm ever on a Leah group ride: a hidden motor in the downtube 🙃
On Tuesday, May 16, 2023 at 6:39:39 PM UTC-7 [email protected] wrote: > I just realized that I forgot to mention the easiest way to keep up: I > converted my wife's Cheviot into an ebike. > https://blog.piaw.net/2020/12/installation-review-swytch-e-bike.html > > On Tuesday, May 16, 2023 at 6:01:26 PM UTC-7 Ted Durant wrote: > >> On Monday, May 15, 2023 at 8:13:53 PM UTC-5 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! >> wrote: >> >> Have you ever gotten in over your head? >> >> >> Well, Leah, if you'd really been in over your head you'd have drowned :-) >> Sounds to me like, even though it was a harder effort you are used to, you >> performed quite well. That's a good testament to the fitness you've >> developed over the last few years. >> >> As for the "would a different bike help" part of the thread ... as others >> have said, it's a lot more about position than it is about the bike, per >> se. Of course, the bike dictates, to some extent, the position. Position >> does a few things ... one, as mentioned, is aerodynamics, reducing >> coefficient of drag, which becomes exponentially important as speed >> increases, but much less so if you're tucked into a group (until you're at >> the front!); another is that a forward-lean recruits more/different muscle >> groups to keep the pedals spinning at higher effort; and a third is that >> climbing out of the saddle requires enough distance to the handlebars to >> get over the pedals when the bike is on a steep upslope. That said, my >> experience has been that my Cheviot was hands-down the slowest bike I've >> owned, regardless of position. I have no idea why. Also, there is one part >> of the bike where you can buy speed, and that's the tires. Though, it looks >> like your Platy is on Ultradynamicos, so you might be good there. I >> guarantee you a few pounds of bike weight won't make any difference. >> >> My recommendation, fwiw, if you are thinking about a "road bike" would be >> to not go straight to something like a Roadeo or Roadini, as that would be >> a big change and take quite a bit of time to adjust. I have a Riv Road >> custom with a Campy group on it, but I would not hesitate to ride my Sam >> Hillborne on a fast group ride. The position on it is half way between your >> current Platy and a "road bike", and I think would be an easier transition. >> >> One more thing ... riding in a group requires specific skills, awareness, >> and communication. From your previous posts it sounds like you've developed >> those pretty well. But the stakes get higher as the speeds get higher and, >> as you noticed, the tolerances get tighter. Fast rides mean staying a few >> inches off the wheel in front of you and that means very little reaction >> time when stuff happens. I like your approach of getting to the front as >> hills approach, and the fact that you can ride off the front like that >> speaks volumes about how strong you are. However, it can be really >> disruptive for a group to have a gap open and then close. So, my suggestion >> is to not worry about getting any distance on the group, but definitely try >> to get to the front at the start of a climb. In a good group, there's >> always a nice, smooth rotation, one line moving up, one line moving back, >> so it's easy to get to the front at the start of a climb and slowly drop >> back as you go up. Just be aware that, for a lot of fast group rides, LOTS >> of people are going to be jockeying for that position cuz they are badass >> and need to show it. In the ride you described, it sounds like a small >> group and that wasn't the case. It would have been totally appropriate to >> talk to the others about how you like to rotate on the hills. It's really >> important for the group to agree on which side is moving up and which side >> is dropping back. In general, going up hills (in places where we ride on >> the right hand side of the road) the slower people should be on the right >> and the faster on the left. >> >> Oh, and yeah, I've gone over my head. My last boss before I retired was a >> serious triathlete and I rode with him a fair amount. One of our last rides >> he said he wanted to do 5 hours at an easy pace. I brought food and drink, >> accordingly. He was averaging 20+ and I was near my aerobic threshold most >> of the time. Definitely did not have the right food for that sort of ride, >> and I paid for it dearly. >> >> Ted Durant >> Milwaukee, WI USA >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/f6e19f68-8c02-4399-8682-c4ce97071cfcn%40googlegroups.com.
