Did You Ride Today?

[cobbwheels]

how come the the guys up front ( besides Cavendish who is well bult ) of the tour guys and so "unbuilt" they have arms of my 12 year old nephew. And the skinny light guys that seem on top of cyclocross? I'm curious to see the top 10 tour leaders and thier weights.

Results of 2023 Stage 19 Giro 113 miles, 17,712 ft climbing (Top 5):

Rider	Weight (kg)	Time
Santiago Buitrago	59	5:28:07
Derek Gee	76	+ 0:51
Magnus Cort Nielsen	68	+ 1:46
Primoz Roglic	65	+ 1:46
Geraint Thomas	70	+ 1:49

The lightest weight rider in the top 35 is Matthew Riccitello at 55 kg and he finished at + 7:48 minutes. Well behind these guys.

The heaviest rider in the top 35 is Derek Gee at 76 kg finishing second place 51 seconds behind the winner.

Based on the results on this mountain stage, the lightweight riders have only marginal advantage. It isn't even clear it's the rider's weight the factor for the winner but the fact, the winning rider is Colombian. Colombians do excel at climbing due to having lots of big climbs to train at their home country and lifelong exposure and adaptation to high altitudes!

While we lightweight riders are known to possess higher power-to-weight ratio. We can only take advantage of it in shorter periods like in short Cyclocross races or attacking in the last few miles of a mountain race with a climbing finish. In short hill climb events, this is where the lightweight guys have clear and decisive advantage.

In amateur long climb events, the quality of your training will matter more than your weight.

In Tour de France everybody gets top-notch quality training, that's why weight can make a difference in seconds whether you end up in the podium or not but in terms of absolute performance, the differences over a long stage is only marginal at best.

 

[Mr. Beanz]

Mount Diablo Challenge

41st Annual Mt. Diablo Challenge—October 6, 2024 This 11.2-mile, timed bike race climbs 3,249 feet to the summit of one of the 3 highest peaks in the Bay Area—Mount Diablo—up…

savemountdiablo.org

What kind of average speed are you aiming for? We have GMR that is 8miles 2300 ft at , I was told 6% . Some say 5.6, I dunno, changes every year.

I did 56 minutes with an average somewhere around 9 mph. Pretty good for a recreational rider.

Seems Mt Diablo a bit longer but not too steep.

I'm missing the climbs lately as we've moved away from the foothills so it's a bigger effort to get there. And I'm getting old and lazy.

 

[Mr. Beanz]

Solo night ride, 20 miles. Bright lights, 2 on the bars and one on the helmet. That's me in the light pic, can't see me.

And taking a selfie on an 8% grade.

 

[cobbwheels]

40 miles today in the worst smog of the last few months. 2,200 ft climbing 95F heat index with 80% humidity. No water, no eating and only drank 6 cups of water the day before.

My quads has been sore all week from strength training. Strangely, the soreness disappeared DURING the 40 mile ride!

This reflected in my performance and I made personal best in the last 10 miles of my ride, I even beat times in these segments where I've done it previously during a short ride where my legs are fresher.

 

[Fourlegsgood2wheelsbad]

I'd not trained since Monday , hadn't felt alert all week & felt too ill to ride.

A setting sun into dusk 19 mile solo on my "heavier" road bike last night.
Easy to get addicted to the riding late as any traffic is already home and cozy and not going out again.

As the days get shorter my rides will get shifted back again to the warmest part of the day. Was slow as molasses compared to my usual time , however I'd got what felt to be a gr8 workout.

 

[Fourlegsgood2wheelsbad]

40 miles today in the worst smog of the last few months. 2,200 ft climbing 95F heat index with 80% humidity. No water, no eating and only drank 6 cups of water the day before.

My quads has been sore all week from strength training. Strangely, the soreness disappeared DURING the 40 mile ride!

This reflected in my performance and I made personal best in the last 10 miles of my ride, I even beat times in these segments where I've done it previously during a short ride where my legs are fresher.

I'm actually wondering if there is a record for furthest traveled on east hydration?
Does all the humidity make you loose water faster or slower a ride . I'm no scientist.

Could help explain what appears extreme.

 

[cobbwheels]

I'd not trained since Monday , hadn't felt alert all week & felt too ill to ride.

A setting sun into dusk 19 mile solo on my "heavier" road bike last night.
Easy to get addicted to the riding late as any traffic is already home and cozy and not going out again.

As the days get shorter my rides will get shifted back again to the warmest part of the day. Was slow as molasses compared to my usual time , however I'd got what felt to be a gr8 workout.

I couldn't get addicted to my outdoor rides as long as I did one ride of at least 35 miles in a week, that's good enough for me.

I only have one or two motivation in outdoor rides that is verifying if my performance had improved and a little bit of racing with random riders which is totally insane since I ride a heavy commuter bike. There's virtually nothing in our roads that is inviting to riding. I've probably told about it a lot except for the rotting garbage all over the streets in the morning and I have very sensitive sense of smell which is more of a curse than a blessing!

Finding the positives out of it, it's impossible for me to overtrain! My rides and training are always on the dot.

 

[cobbwheels]

I'm actually wondering if there is a record for furthest traveled on east hydration?
Does all the humidity make you loose water faster or slower a ride . I'm no scientist.

Could help explain what appears extreme.

I'm not sure there's a record but it USED to be common for classical TdF pros to train the distance of a race stage without drinking. That would be around 124 miles.

My farthest without drinking is 80 miles but do consider the fact, unlike the European pros, I ride a heavy and draggy commuter bike, over bumpy roads in hot and humid conditions, lots of cars, and horrible scenery.

Yup, you lose water faster when humidity is higher because your body core temperature is higher.

Core body temperature is what triggers the skin to make sweat. And because the core temperature is higher during high humidity, the body makes more sweat too. It doesn't care if your skin is wet or air is very humid. It only looks at core temperature and triggers accordingly.

Weather bulletins will issue a warning when humidity is high. The risk is mostly from dehydration if you're spending time outdoors in the daytime.

 

[cobbwheels]

I'd not trained since Monday , hadn't felt alert all week & felt too ill to ride.

Hoping it's nothing serious!

 

[Fourlegsgood2wheelsbad]

Hoping it's nothing serious!

Nope I'm fairly resilient , when I go down its usually pretty hard and just and fast to re-bound. But thanks !!

 

[Fourlegsgood2wheelsbad]

I'm not sure there's a record but it USED to be common for classical TdF pros to train the distance of a race stage without drinking. That would be around 124 miles.

My farthest without drinking is 80 miles but do consider the fact, unlike the European pros, I ride a heavy and draggy commuter bike, over bumpy roads in hot and humid conditions, lots of cars, and horrible scenery.

Yup, you lose water faster when humidity is higher because your body core temperature is higher.

Core body temperature is what triggers the skin to make sweat. And because the core temperature is higher during high humidity, the body makes more sweat too. It doesn't care if your skin is wet or air is very humid. It only looks at core temperature and triggers accordingly.

Weather bulletins will issue a warning when humidity is high. The risk is mostly from dehydration if you're spending time outdoors in the daytime.

It's a little saddening the conditions you describe in P.I.

Where we are is a lot of crime and people on illicit drugs ( impaired uninsured drivers) But such low population so not so much trash on roads.

Some the info on hydration and humidity mentioned above I'd been ignorant of. Thanks to explain all that.

 

[cobbwheels]

It's a little saddening the conditions you describe in P.I.

Where we are is a lot of crime and people on illicit drugs ( impaired uninsured drivers) But such low population so not so much trash on roads.

Some the info on hydration and humidity mentioned above I'd been ignorant of. Thanks to explain all that.

P.I. maybe a Christian nation and people are genuinely convinced they're Christians but the real religion of this country is Greed with money as their god. Nothing can destroy a nation worse than greed and the love of money. Also nothing good can come out of over-population or people close to each other in huge numbers. Statistics prove it.

Anyway, on hydration, only the crazy classical European Pros train without drinking. BUT they do this in the long, cold rides in the mountains.

Nobody does this anymore but pros still train fasted (they drink but no fuel) during training in the off seasons. I'm not sure all pros train fasted in the off season. The benefit of training fasted is improved endurance. It helps you keep the pace for longer and forcing the body into "Ketosis". Not only Ketosis make you more efficient at burning body fat for energy, it also makes recovery from training more efficient. It also gives you a reliable back up energy source for any reason like if you need to extend your ride and you did not bring enough fuel.

There is no known benefit of training without drinking water according to science... The positive effects I have come to discover is that it makes you consume less water per day. It also improves your ability to resist dehydration and remain functional, alert, strong, and not become ill even long after dehydration has set in.

In my last ride, my sore muscles even recovered during the ride itself and rode faster near the end of the ride. It probably has nothing to with with water-less rides but it seems to show that lack of hydration isn't always responsible for muscle soreness.

There's no real benefit of training without hydrating unless you survived a plane crash in the middle of the desert and need to walk a hundred miles to find help. Those kind of situations these adaptation would be useful and potentially life-saving.

 

[Mr. Beanz]

Solo 41 today. After 5 miles or so, it was 91 degrees. Good thing I rode to the coast. 80 degrees there but heading back inland, 10 miles in the temp was 94.
Long boring trail but somebody has to do it.

But made for a tasty steak after the ride.

 

[cobbwheels]

Solo 41 today. After 5 miles or so, it was 91 degrees. Good thing I rode to the coast. 80 degrees there but heading back inland, 10 miles in the temp was 94.
Long boring trail but somebody has to do it.

But made for a tasty steak after the ride.

Yeah, someone has to sweep the pebbles aside! Great place to ride though! We have nothing that nice here where I live, at least within 6 hours of round trip entirely by bicycle.

 

[Mr. Beanz]

Yeah, someone has to sweep the pebbles aside! Great place to ride though! We have nothing that nice here where I live, at least within 6 hours of round trip entirely by bicycle.

This trail is 75 miles round-trip. San Gabriel River Trail. We live about 10 minutes away so I ride it now.

But last 25 years, we rode the Santa Ana River Trail. Much nicer, more cyclists and nicer looking, and smoother.

60 miles round-trip with no cars crossing as you can see how the trail dips under the roads.

 

[Mr. Beanz]

Another 25 today. On the upper section of the same trail. Rained earlier in the morning so I waited for it to dry up. Nice and cool at the start, mid 80s but quickly up to mid 90s. 98 when I finished.

 

[cobbwheels]

Another 25 today. On the upper section of the same trail. Rained earlier in the morning so I waited for it to dry up. Nice and cool at the start, mid 80s but quickly up to mid 90s. 98 when I finished.
View attachment 6778

I bet that looks amazing in sunrise.

I've always found the flats monotonous and uninteresting but then I never had any rides in the flats where the scenery is nice and the traffic did not give me a false heart attack!

 

[Mr. Beanz]

I bet that looks amazing in sunrise.

I've always found the flats monotonous and uninteresting but then I never had any rides in the flats where the scenery is nice and the traffic did not give me a false heart attack!

The other trail we ode for 25 years is nice see couple hundred other riders. Lots of friends, pretty parks, rest stop at the beach with bikinis and lots of good times.

 

[Fourlegsgood2wheelsbad]

What kind of average speed are you aiming for? We have GMR that is 8miles 2300 ft at , I was told 6% . Some say 5.6, I dunno, changes every year.

I did 56 minutes with an average somewhere around 9 mph. Pretty good for a recreational rider.

Seems Mt Diablo a bit longer but not too steep.

I'm missing the climbs lately as we've moved away from the foothills so it's a bigger effort to get there. And I'm getting old and lazy.

View attachment 6761

 

[Fourlegsgood2wheelsbad]

I'm only looking to beat my time in the 1996 event when I was 32 years old.
Long as I beat that time I am good. Looking at some of the guys , doing it in 45 minutes .

I'd be happy to ride double that . 1:30:00 is okay with me. I dunno about the avg speed.

I'm out of my training loop for a few days as I was a dummy and ran on the treadmill after Monday nights ride. Of course shins knees hips butt all complaining. No more running until October's scheduled big rides are over.