Team BKool CycleChat
- Thread starter Peteaud
- Start date
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Goldwolfie
Veteran
- Location
- Chesterfield
Yep I had a bad night all round, lost internet connection a couple of times and was on my own for quite a while, but it recovered in time for my battle with Ben.
Can't blame that for losing 90 seconds on my last attempt, just didn't fell quite right.
I also think my tea time was too close to my 'tee off' time. I'll blame Mrs GW for that as she swanned of to watch Sheffield Wednesday, leaving me to cook my tea when I got home from work. I'll have to put my foot down and let her know how serious these handicap races are, and how such things can effect the performance of a highly tuned athlete like myself.
Randyberlin
Guru
- Location
- Sitka, Alaska
aaac,
Is your new avatar a picture of your youthful time trials?
Is your new avatar a picture of your youthful time trials?
It's amazing how the chain gang and related handicap chase races have become the focus here. Which is fine. I find the handicap chase race particularly fun.
Nobody's really talked about the goats and the horribly painful climbs this time around. I did Ovaro Zoncolan a few days ago. That was absolutely brutal. I thought 5.5 miles, regardless of grade couldn't be too bad. Boy was I wrong. The 17% grades were relentless. After an hour I had to back off the effort dramatically to ensure I'd finish. I'm well over 2X the next slowest rider! The others look like serious grinds as well.
Nobody's really talked about the goats and the horribly painful climbs this time around. I did Ovaro Zoncolan a few days ago. That was absolutely brutal. I thought 5.5 miles, regardless of grade couldn't be too bad. Boy was I wrong. The 17% grades were relentless. After an hour I had to back off the effort dramatically to ensure I'd finish. I'm well over 2X the next slowest rider! The others look like serious grinds as well.
Yeah I need to catch up on then myself as I ve only completed stage 1 so far.
Will get one done this evening hopefully. I actually quite like the sound of that one JLaw.
I use a different ratio setup for silly alpine/pyrenees climbs like that, especially when bkool invisibly ties a lead weight to my pedals. I use an XTR cassette. It allows me to keep spinning in the 70-80rpms
<Tommy>
Illegitimi non carborundum
- Location
- Camden, London
I wouldn't worry about your time bud. Just completing the course is a start! I've yet to attempt one...
I actually quite like the sound of that one JLaw.
Sick puppy!
This is what I've been thinking about. My 'best bike' is more set up for hill climbs, but I'm not too keen to use it on the turbo.
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Whilst I was in the early stages of my recovery and thinking I wouldn't be able to apply any decent power through the pedals, I got to thinking would my Boardman take XTR cassette. So I ordered one, and yes it worked, sort of. So I made a lengthened hanger(fiddling about in the garage for a few hours). The XTR now works perfectly. So my mountain setup is 50/34 crankset and 40-11 XTR cassette on a Di2 setup. I sent the rough hanger to an engineering firm who laser scanned it, tidied up my design and anodised the finished product. Very happy with the finished result.
I will probably use again this winter for a couple of months on a mountain goat series!
<Tommy>
Illegitimi non carborundum
- Location
- Camden, London
That's really cool. I wouldn't of even thought that it would've taken the cassette. How many speeds is it?
bobinski
Legendary Member
- Location
- Tulse Hill
Whilst I was in the early stages of my recovery and thinking I wouldn't be able to apply any decent power through the pedals, I got to thinking would my Boardman take XTR cassette. So I ordered one, and yes it worked, sort of. So I made a lengthened hanger(fiddling about in the garage for a few hours). The XTR now works perfectly. So my mountain setup is 50/34 crankset and 40-11 XTR cassette on a Di2 setup. I sent the rough hanger to an engineering firm who laser scanned it, tidied up my design and anodised the finished product. Very happy with the finished result.
That's really interesting. Physio has warned me off low rev high power turboing so have been thinking about replacing my 12-28 with a 32 or even wider. Running a 50 34 on the front. Anything that allows me to spin a bit more rather than grind. Will investigate.
gbrown
Geoff on Bkool
- Location
- South Somerset
Whilst I was in the early stages of my recovery and thinking I wouldn't be able to apply any decent power through the pedals, I got to thinking would my Boardman take XTR cassette. So I ordered one, and yes it worked, sort of. So I made a lengthened hanger(fiddling about in the garage for a few hours). The XTR now works perfectly. So my mountain setup is 50/34 crankset and 40-11 XTR cassette on a Di2 setup. I sent the rough hanger to an engineering firm who laser scanned it, tidied up my design and anodised the finished product. Very happy with the finished result.
Wow, 34/40 is quite a gear!
I got an Ultegra di2 medium cage rear derailleur to allow me to use an 11-32 cassette, it was nice to have the one lower 34/32 gear over the normal 34/28, and as I went from 10 to 11 speed, I didn't lose any of the other gears.
34/40 sounds like another two lower gears, you must spin like a loony and barely move!
Of course, on the trainer you won't wobble around the road at such low speeds.
Geoff
Add
Guru
- Location
- Powys, Wales
Blimey, that's proper technical, clever stuff! I'm chuffed to bits if I can get my chain back on! Designing and building your own bike parts?!?Whilst I was in the early stages of my recovery and thinking I wouldn't be able to apply any decent power through the pedals, I got to thinking would my Boardman take XTR cassette. So I ordered one, and yes it worked, sort of. So I made a lengthened hanger(fiddling about in the garage for a few hours). The XTR now works perfectly. So my mountain setup is 50/34 crankset and 40-11 XTR cassette on a Di2 setup. I sent the rough hanger to an engineering firm who laser scanned it, tidied up my design and anodised the finished product. Very happy with the finished result.
I could make a frame out of wood, but not sure it would be very competitive. And could get some nasty splinters.
But I'm impressed, and slightly envious, CXR, handy skills to possess.
gbrown
Geoff on Bkool
- Location
- South Somerset
I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again, but 17% is much harder on the KICKR!
Last winter we did the short (c. 0.8 mile) but steep (18%-20%) climb from Sidmouth up Salcombe Hill, nasty in real life, it was actually quite easy on the Bkool Pro, and with Bill's sprint off the line technique we got times down into just a handful of minutes (was more like 10 minutes of agony in real life).
When I switched to the KICKR the steeper gradients towards the end were breath-taking'ly harder, as the resistance was no longer topping out around 11% but rising up to more like 17%. Still a little easier than real life, mainly because your front wheel wasn't coming off the ground, but chasing Bill meant I was trying to go a lot faster.
Very impressive that you could keep at it for so long...
P.S. Were any of your speed figures blue? I'm never sure if Bkool have got speed compensation for exceeding maximum resistance in or out of the software!
Geoff
gbrown
Geoff on Bkool
- Location
- South Somerset
What rear derailleur do you use? Any standard Shimano cage could probably cope with a 12-30, which would give a 7% higher cadence.
I've not seen any 12-32 cassettes, but 11-32 is available, if more of a stretch for the rear cage. You may have to change the rear derailleur to get a medium cage, or you may be able to just change the cage.
Geoff
