Today's Ride

[moonlite]

a few pics from today. I tried to find something to lean my 45650B to. not much succes...

Aaah I'm envying you your summer weather. In the Southern Tablelands of NSW we had -2C overnight and it's now 7C at 10:30am as I prepare for my Sunday ride. It's dry and sunny, mind, and best of all no wind for a change, so still looking forward to it.

 

[moonlite]

That was quite tough -- the so-called windless conditions turned out to be a steady 20kph breeze, very chilly, straight out of the south which happened to be the direction my first 14km and 200m of climbing was in. At least it was sunny and dry.

Was very grateful to be pushed home again by the wind when it was time to come back.

35km in total, 350m climbing, frozen feet the entire way round. Why do you feel significantly less fit when it's cold?

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

That was quite tough -- the so-called windless conditions turned out to be a steady 20kph breeze, very chilly, straight out of the south which happened to be the direction my first 14km and 200m of climbing was in. At least it was sunny and dry.

Was very grateful to be pushed home again by the wind when it was time to come back.

35km in total, 350m climbing, frozen feet the entire way round. Why do you feel significantly less fit when it's cold?
View attachment 762064

Yes that looks freezing

 

[2manyoranges]

That’s a great post - entirely forgotten that you are out in the cold in the mornings at the time of the year …

lovely Airborne (note correction…I noticed your list of bikes and then squinted at the photo…)

..and wind..

…commuting 18km each way from the Fens into Cambridge means wind. And always, wind is harder than hills. That one is something where I still am working through the physics and am still not there yet. Buffetting? Variable angle of attack? Every morning my colleague Martin and I talk wind; he comes in from the SW into work (usually pushed by the wind) while I come in from the NE, usually against the wind. I prefer in against and home pushed. He has to live with the reverse. Psychologically, I prefer my deal with nature, and feel quite aggrieved when it’s the other way around.

You ask why unfitter when cold? Vasoconstriction. The body protects the core, sending blood to the brain and heart, and constricts the arteries and veins in the rest of the body. Blood pressure goes up, transport of oxygen to muscle cells goes down. Power output reduces. Keep the core warm and everything else starts to function like it is 25 deg C outside…this is a big thing in climbing and skiing. People have cold hands so they buy madly technical gloves. Nope…increase the insulation on your torso and your hands keep warm…

 

[moonlite]

Haha I wish it was a Litespeed! It's really an Airborne Carpe Diem -- made by the company that became Van Nicholas. It's a Ti cyclocross frame but I've fitted light roadie wheels and 38mm gravel tyres and it works pretty well on most surfaces.

I was also pondering wind on this ride . . . pity I failed O-level physics, because angles and numbers don't really talk to me. But it does seem quite clear that even if the wind isn't directly in your face, anywhere within an arc of 180 degrees ahead of you will hold you back more or less, and anything behind in a similar arc will help or at least hinder you less. As for gusting and buffeting, I guess that ramps up these effects radically, according to the intensity of each gust wind. And I'm sure it gets more complex than that!

Vasoconstriction makes sense. I'm a big fan of insulating the core but perhaps my attempts haven't been sufficient. Today I had a Helly Hansen base layer, a thicker insulated stretchy 'tech fabric' shirt over that (long sleeves both) and a gilet. Things certainly got sweaty eventually, but those numb feet may indicate that it wasn't enough.

 

[2manyoranges]

…on Litespeed … only some avoid the generic seat tube crack .. Gary H torched frames seem better …

so

lovely Airborne (note correction…I noticed your list of bikes and then squinted at the photo…)

on core…that sounds like good layers…I have some brilliant ion jackets which have wind proof layer and then thin fleece on the inside - great for wicking and keeping things dry but also complete wind block. The problem with most wind shells is that they become boil in the bag and dripping with condensation - and that’s evil for chilling and sending things into a horrible spiral.

 

[2manyoranges]

Haha I wish it was a Litespeed! It's really an Airborne Carpe Diem -- made by the company that became Van Nicholas. It's a Ti cyclocross frame but I've fitted light roadie wheels and 38mm gravel tyres and it works pretty well on most surfaces.

I was also pondering wind on this ride . . . pity I failed O-level physics, because angles and numbers don't really talk to me. But it does seem quite clear that even if the wind isn't directly in your face, anywhere within an arc of 180 degrees ahead of you will hold you back more or less, and anything behind in a similar arc will help or at least hinder you less. As for gusting and buffeting, I guess that ramps up these effects radically, according to the intensity of each gust wind. And I'm sure it gets more complex than that!

Vasoconstriction makes sense. I'm a big fan of insulating the core but perhaps my attempts haven't been sufficient. Today I had a Helly Hansen base layer, a thicker insulated stretchy 'tech fabric' shirt over that (long sleeves both) and a gilet. Things certainly got sweaty eventually, but those numb feet may indicate that it wasn't enough.

interesting that you are going for 38mm tyres for the Airbourne - great that you have clearance. I am playing with tyres for commuting at present.

WTB 700c 45C Riddlers. Slow, and with nasty transition onto the side knobs, giving uneasy cornering. Very tight clearance on orange med RoadRat with 23mm internal rims.

Schwlabe 700c 35mm G-One All-Round base model. Fast, and with excellent transition throughout the lean. Nice clearances on 16mm internal on the grey small RoadRat. I gain around 15% time on these - standard commute reduces from 40 mins to under 35 mins, and its all down to the tyres and rims. The rims have a slight aero form to them, while the tyres are noticeably quick.

Next to try

Schwalbe 700c 40mm G-One All Round. Let's see how those do. Second pair of Cotic wheels can be prepped but the free hub in them is WEIRD ... pawls are in the hub body not the free hub - kind of reverse Hope - and they came to me with the axle and free hub missing (thrown in with the orange RR frame gratis) and I have to get Ant (TrueWheels) to rebuild so that I have a pair. Managed to get a 142 converted standard Hope Pro4 rear hub last night for 55.00 gbp posted (thank you Adam on PinkBike) - and will use the mountain of axles and spacers here to get a 135 QR out of it, I started to undo all the spokes last night then clocked that they were nasty cheap plain gauge - ss but cheap - and so chopped them out..Ant can rebuild with DB...then WE RIDE

 

[moonlite]

Yep, plenty of room for 38mm -- there's clearance for more but the rims are standard roadie width (is that 23mm?) and I wasn't sure if wider would be safe on them.

They're Panaracer Volummy gravel tyres -- I'm pretty pleased with them as the tread is very fine so not too buzzy on tarmac and there are no side knobs to take you by surprise.

 

[2manyoranges]

....you put that really well ... 'take you by surprise' ... I think that the transition to chunkier side knobs is not understood well; good for sloppy surfaces off road but really mechanically problematic at speed on tarmac...

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Maybe I didn't choose the best spot for my first big single speed adventure
Everything is a rocky, rooty hill here!
Got easily passed by a guy on a 1x11 Trek, but that's only because I was walking, not running up the hill. Chainline still needs some work