I feel the need to apologize for those of you in my neck of the woods experiencing this cold snap - and maybe even a little snow. I think I know why...the bike fairy came to see me yesterday
I'm no expert like some here who really do know what they're talking about. But regarding hydration, i've been led to understand that if your mouth feels dry you're already dehydrated. It's just not critically dehydrated like you see in the westerns or in Africa etc. I get around that by taking a few sips about every five minutes or so. I try to eat something (granola bar, Gu gel, candy bar) every 30 minutes or so. I have the advantage of riding the same route though. So I know my waypoints for food. I hydrate everytime I get stopped by a traffic light.
Went out again last night. The gods were against me. Wind in my face going downhill, dead legs, just couldn't work up any speed or spin. On the first longish downhill on Balboa I normally manage 19mph easily as i'm still fresh and its a slight downhill, but a long one. 17mph, and struggling at that. The lights are timed for 40mph. At 19 mph i'm squeezing in a sprint here and there and basically getting all greens. At 17, every light stops me. Wonderful. I muddled through and felt stronger at the Victory/ Canoga junction. Great, just in time for my 6 mile slow uphill. I spun as best I could and was able to keep my speed about 1.5mph faster everywhere than in previous attempts, but this is in the middle portion of a 30 mile ride. At the very top I was racing a clock I already knew had won; ~9 miles to go and 27 minutes to do them. I attacked Rinaldi like the four horsemen of the apocalypse were coming for me. I'd used up my legs pretty much but I was deadset on a respectable time regardless. Foisted by the same road construction from ten days ago. Completely lost my momentum and will to live. Tucked my tail between my legs and took residential streets home. 30.3 miles. 2 hours 10 minutes. 13.9 mph average. Turned out to be my second best time. I can see now, how Lance was so effective when he was attacking on the uphills. They drain your will to live and some impudent asshole turning on the rockets just then is a sure fire way to win the mental race. Bikes in the shop getting it's first service in the 5 years i've owned it. Thanks to my sporadic riding habits i've been able to get by on just a chain cleaning and reoiling now and then. Figured she deserved a lil pampering this time. Some hard miles are coming up on her.
Did I hear someone say touring ? Saddle first. Brooks. I'm about as sit bone skinny as they come and the B17 works great. Groupset: I'm running a 105 front , XT rear and Ultegra shifters. Flawless for me. You really want to ride with some weight before you settle on a double in front. Long climbs with 50-60 lbs of gear can wear you down. My 24T small ring is completely worthless running around town on the plains of Oklahoma. It was priceless climbing over the Green Mountains of Vermont and Bighorns in Wyoming. Bikeforums.net has a nice touring sub forum. And of course, there's Crazy Guy on a Bike for inspiration.
What Gios model do you have? Is it the Pure Drop? Why are you swapping the fork and front brake to what you ordered? If you have the Pure Drop, the fork that's on it will ride better than a carbon fork. As stated, if you're parched, you're probably already dehydrated before even starting. I make sure to down one 22oz bottle of water per hour, on the road, while sipping on a Gatorade at the beginning of each long ride. I, also, drink about a gallon of water, everyday. Yes. I urinate a lot. You'll have to try seats, before buying. Most shops will allow you to do a test ride, before committing. Currently, I'm on a Brooks B17 Imperial (in addition to the cutout, the crown is different than a B17). I've found that I can pretty much tell if a seat is going to workout, within a mile. If I have pressure points, I know it won't work. I think you'll find that the cost of upgrading your drivetrain to Shimano 105 is going to be fairly expensive, relative to what your entire bike costs. If you're just wanting a double chainring, then, look at installing a compact crankset and leave the rest. Compact cranksets are available in 50/34T or 48/34T. Your LBS can help you select and install the right components.
re: seats, I've rather liked the less extreme of the Specialized Body Geometry seats. most of them come in several widths, as my sit bones are relatively wide, so I prefer the wide ones rather than the skinny. I haven't bought one in a few years, and of course, all the new ones are different, but the Avatar Expert looks like the sort of thing I'd put on a road bike for non-racing duty. A specialized dealer should have a saddle fitting thing you sit on to determine where your bones are and which seat size would be a good fit. I rode on Brooks saddles in the early part of 1970s, and when Avocet introduced the first of the modern style saddles circa 1980, I couldn't wait to switch. I still like the classic Avocet Touring II, there's one on my 1970s Motobecane Grand Record touring bike, i rather wish someone still made seats like this.
It is the Drop model with chromo fork. I could have gotten another bike with what I have put into this one. I don't care much for the shifters/derailleurs as the seem a little sloppy and need constant adjustment. Also not sure what bars are going to work best. I am never on the drop portion of the bars so bull horns with mtb style shifters and levers could be an option.
sounds like you should hav ebought a hybrid, then, and not a road bike. (thats got rather fat 35c tires on it, there are hybrids with thinner wheels). I second the motion on compact 50-34 cranksets... I put one on my last bike, and plan on doing the same to this one. I setup the last one so that the 50 could be used in all 8 rear gears and the 34 could only be used in the lower 4 or so, by modifying the chain line so the 50 was nearly centered on the rear. This was very effective, I rode the bike on the 50 most of the time, and only used the 34 for hill climbs. the modern setup is a 2x10 using a compact crank and a 10 speed rear, this gives you very close spaced gears with out having to constantly shift the front back and forth like you did with older setups like the classic 52-42 front on that old Motobecane I posted a couple back.
Just back from a ride and about 5 miles from home, felt like I had a flat on the back. FUCK. Got off, took a look, nope tire is good - WTF the whole wheel is buckled to fuck. mmmm on closer inspection, a spoke nipple had broke - spoke was fine but the nipple had just broke clean off. Never seen that before. I figured I was OK to ride home - slowly - on it. I backed the brakes way off so it wouldn't catch and crawled home.
I've had spoke heads break off at the hub, usually on cheap wheels, but never had a nipple break. What sort of wheel was this?
A 32 yo male rider gone just hours ago. Chicago is super bike friendly but I just saw this one on the news. Rider swerved to avoid a parked car, who's door came flying open, and unfortunately into the path of said semi traveling behind him. The car driver was sited for opening the door into the bike lane. Be on the ball at all times folks. STORY
Make sure your cables are in perfect condition and that there's no slack in your derailluer cables. Make sure the cables and derailluers are properly lubed. Also, the quality of the chain and chainrings have a big influence on shifting performance. Some of the lower quality rings have ramps stamped into them, but, have no pins to grab the chain and lift it. Likewise, less expensive cassettes have less tooth manipulation, which affects rear shift performance. Lastly, inexpensive chains sometimes lack the finite manufacturing steps that allow a more expensive chain to climb teeth. My GF's first road bike has the same setup as yours and it shifts fine. Granted, it's no Dura-Ace or Red, but, it gets the job done. I have scrutinized the drivetrain, but, still can't get it to shift as cleanly as the some of the other drivetrains we have. Some of it has to do with the aforementioned quality differences and some is the chainline issues that a triple crankset causes. Consider a more upright stem. There are 125 degree versions available, which will raise your bar position. QBP's housebrand is Dimension and they're usually around ~$20 each. You can go to QBP's site, where they have an online "flip" catalog and look at what's available. It looks like the Gios bar is only 120mm drop, so you're not going to find much shallower than that.
Nice bike Barrett. I've always been a Yeti fan and most recently had a ASR-sl until I went big wheels. I'm just waiting for them to come out with a x-country 29er and then I'll be back in the tribe.
I was worried when I read this but it is on the bike now and damn this thing is light and super smooth compared to the chromoly fork. Huge upgrade! Will have to get some pics up here soon. Needs a bath.
Hmmm. That's contradicts what I've experienced, as well as the bike forums I follow. I'm wondering if that Gios fork was originally a MTB design (stiff for extreme use and strength). I'm glad it has worked out for the best, for you.
Everything I have read states that carbon will smooth out road vibrations better than alternative materials. I think the stock fork suffered from excessive oscillation when going over road imperfections. I could watch the wheel bend back when on the brakes before. Looking forward to more mileage with the smoother ride. Carbon frames must really be nice! As for shifting, now that the cables have broken in it is OK. Fresh oil on moving parts does make the shifting/drivetrain more refined. It would be nice to have a groupset that would require minimal fiddling and lubing for 3 to 500 miles at a time. For the gent asking why I didn't get a hybrid; I wanted to try a road bike so I bought what I thought was a roadie. Ended up with my current ride and luckily it is set up for multiple conditions usage. Has mounts for the rack built in. Love having it even though it is not aerodynamic. Want to tour as I dial in comfort and increase mileage.
The 95 suspension is supposedly quite nice for xc as well, but I haven't had the opportunity to find out for myself. This new ride got here 4 days ago and I haven't had as much as the chance to bed the brakes yet . School's getting really tough and then a cold front moved in...didn't wanna ride in the cold with a cold. Now it's snowing/freezing rain...not really the best conditions to get the brakes ready and get everything adjusted. Also just got a call that my hardtail is out of the OR. 3 black bikes in the house now. (err 4 if you count the DRZ). May go get the Gitane out of consignment today too...it ain't sellin'. Is there a point where this becomes hoarding?
I'm betting on aluminum nipples, plus an under-tensioned wheel. Al doesn't like cyclic loads, and an under-tensioned wheel will mean that each individual spoke and nipple experiences greater extremes of load. I found a couple of broken nipples on my girlfriend's mountain bike, last time we were preparing to go for a ride. Aluminum nipples, stock machine-built wheels. I've used aluminum nipples on some of the wheels I've built, but since I was hand-building I could ensure that they were properly tensioned; So far no problems.