Topic: Let all cyclists gather here!

[mp3butt]

Hi guys,

Let all cyclists gather here. Let it be roadies, MTBs, hybrids, fixies.... We can talk and share our moments!

MP3Butt
2010 Trek 2.1

[Guy]

I'm here.

Had a pretty good season, 3850 km, mostly road. We had a good summer in Quebec, that helped. Getting ready to get on the trainer for the winter. I have a Tacx with Real Life videos, so I will tour Europe all winter from my basement.

Guy
Specialized Tarmac Pro 2007.
Giant Trance X2, 2009.

[Careener]

I treated myself to a new MTB this year, a 2010 Giant Yukon. For the price it's a great bike and I have taken it out on some pretty steepy/gnarly trails and it has handled anything I've thrown at it. 

[rrocket]

I'm here.

Had a pretty good season, 3850 km, mostly road. We had a good summer in Quebec, that helped. Getting ready to get on the trainer for the winter. I have a Tacx with Real Life videos, so I will tour Europe all winter from my basement.

Guy
Specialized Tarmac Pro 2007.
Giant Trance X2, 2009.

Interesting piece of kit.  I have a question.  My foreman was a hardcore road racer, and his trainer was just 2 rollers in the back (like a dyno).  Nothing held up the bike but his balance.  How much more difficult is that to do than what you have?

[Railton]

I'm here.

Had a pretty good season, 3850 km, mostly road. We had a good summer in Quebec, that helped. Getting ready to get on the trainer for the winter. I have a Tacx with Real Life videos, so I will tour Europe all winter from my basement.

Guy
Specialized Tarmac Pro 2007.
Giant Trance X2, 2009.

Interesting piece of kit.  I have a question.  My foreman was a hardcore road racer, and his trainer was just 2 rollers in the back (like a dyno).  Nothing held up the bike but his balance.  How much more difficult is that to do than what you have?

Takes some training (no pun intended) but that's the whole idea of it - to improve balance as well as stamina/endurance. Think cycling with no hands come Spring and you get the idea.
Namely "Rollers" are for hard core old school types.
You start off  balancing yourself between door jams.
Railton

[Leviathan]

At 2,315 kms for the year on the Trek 7.5FX and there should be enough nice days left to get to 2,500. I'll be disappointed if I don't make 3,000 next year.

[rrocket]

Takes some training (no pun intended) but that's the whole idea of it - to improve balance as well as stamina/endurance. Think cycling with no hands come Spring and you get the idea.
Namely "Rollers" are for hard core old school types.
You start off  balancing yourself between door jams.
Railton

Ha!!  That's him.  He's in his late 40s.  But he's HARDCORE.  He trains like an animal.  He almost had a meltdown when they wanted to put him in a "Masters" class for an off-road race.  To prove his point, he ended up finishing third overall. He also raced some crazy race on the Rockies mountains, where you have to climb and ride.  Nuts....

[Guy]

I'm here.

Had a pretty good season, 3850 km, mostly road. We had a good summer in Quebec, that helped. Getting ready to get on the trainer for the winter. I have a Tacx with Real Life videos, so I will tour Europe all winter from my basement.

Guy
Specialized Tarmac Pro 2007.
Giant Trance X2, 2009.

Interesting piece of kit.  I have a question.  My foreman was a hardcore road racer, and his trainer was just 2 rollers in the back (like a dyno).  Nothing held up the bike but his balance.  How much more difficult is that to do than what you have?

Very different, Railton pretty much explained the rollers. On my system the bike is fixed but you ride on real roads filmed and the effort goes up when you climb and the bike freewheel when you go downhill. A lot more entertaining than looking at a wall for 2 hours. Very realistic too. I compared the data from my Polar CS600 to the Tacx on the same run, Ventoux climb, and my time was about 3% faster on the Tacx.

I set it up with a 32" HDTV and with good music it's quite entertaining.

Let's face it, to train indoor, you need all the motivation you can get. Past 40 don't train and pretty soon you can't see your feet anymore....

http://www.tacxvr.com/en/products/cycle-tours

[rrocket]

I'm here.

Had a pretty good season, 3850 km, mostly road. We had a good summer in Quebec, that helped. Getting ready to get on the trainer for the winter. I have a Tacx with Real Life videos, so I will tour Europe all winter from my basement.

Guy
Specialized Tarmac Pro 2007.
Giant Trance X2, 2009.

Interesting piece of kit.  I have a question.  My foreman was a hardcore road racer, and his trainer was just 2 rollers in the back (like a dyno).  Nothing held up the bike but his balance.  How much more difficult is that to do than what you have?

Very different, Railton pretty much explained the rollers. On my system the bike is fixed but you ride on real roads filmed and the effort goes up when you climb and the bike freewheel when you go downhill. A lot more entertaining than looking at a wall for 2 hours. Very realistic too. I compared the data from my Polar CS600 to the Tacx on the same run, Ventoux climb, and my time was about 3% faster on the Tacx.

I set it up with a 32" HDTV and with good music it's quite entertaining.

Let's face it, to train indoor, you need all the motivation you can get. Past 40 don't train and pretty soon you can't see your feet anymore....

http://www.tacxvr.com/en/products/cycle-tours

I'm rather surprised you don't do ice racing/riding given where you live.  I always had a dirt bike with ice tires ready to go for winter....

So what if cost for one of those trainers?

[Guy]

Ice racing the 1200S? That would be interesting..

$1300. for the Tacx, thats the Canadian retail. Probably $1000 or less on eBay.

[rrocket]

Ice racing the 1200S? That would be interesting..

$1300. for the Tacx, thats the Canadian retail. Probably $1000 or less on eBay.

LOL...No.  Get a gnarly, manly 2 stroke.  CR500 or KX500.  Then hit the ice and be a manly-man!!   

[safristi]

   I love the smell of SPANDEX in the morning........................ ......chaingang bangers........

[quadzilla]

Bikes:
Jamis Dakota XC - I converted my old mtn bike into a commuter. Replaced the shocks with a fork, added panniers. Works great but am looking to replace it with something new this winter for next year.

BMC Racemaster - Bought it new in late spring and is my first entry into 'high end' bikes. Love everything about it and I should be riding it for a very long time. Besides, I can't afford to go up to the next level.

Bianchi ML3 -- Sold this spring but it was a great bike. I saw the guy that bought it in the fall and he is enjoying it as much as I did.

Distances year to date:

Year = 3906 miles/6286 kms

Percentage ridden each day of the week:
Sun 13%
Mon 16%
Tue 17%
Wed 13%
Thu 14%
Fri 11%
Sat 16%

Best Month = August 864 miles/1390 kms
Best Week = 208 miles/335 kms
Best one day ride = 110 miles/177 kms

Best race = Centurion Collingwood - 177kms, 5hrs 39mins, zero breaks.

Worse race = Guelph Lake Duathlon - flatted out on the bike course. I didn't take a spare as it was an all or nothing race for me and I went home with nothing.

Best training loop = Lake Placid Ironman course. We ride the main loop which is approx 66kms around (we skip the out and back section). Eat some lunch and ride it again. Makes for a great day.
Route is here > http://www.bikemap.net/route/574985

Best training loop locally = Milton. Have a great 50km loop with 3 short but tough climbs. When I'm feeling strong I go back and ride up Rattlessnake which I think has 20% grades in sections.
Route is here > http://www.bikemap.net/route/572602

Overall I think this was my best year ever and I'm not done riding yet. I improved on my climbing (10% better), I am holding my flat speeds and I got my weight down to 189 pounds. My race weight 7 years ago was 187 so I'm very happy about that.

Winter training: Don't do much of it on the bike. As long as the roads stay dry and the weather isn't too cold, I'll continue to commute to/from work. Add in some snowshoeing and/or hiking (which one depends on how much snow we get) to try and keep the weight down and legs moving during my lazy season.

For next year I'm thinking about finding a local club to do some group rides on weekends to help my skills/ability.

[HeliDriver]

I bought a Cannondale CAAD 9 1 this spring, but only put an embarassing 575 kms on it this summer: combination of lousy weather and too busy at work.

My mountain bike is an old Specialized Enduro, but these days I mostly use it just to take the dog for a run. One of these days I'll replace it with a Santa Cruz Blur LT, but in the meantime I've got a KTM 250 XC-W for singletrack fun.

Barring some really unexpected weather, the bicycles are already put away for the winter (yeah, I'm a fair-weather cyclist). There's usually enough snow to start cross-country skiing by mid-November, so I'll be starting that (both skate and classic) pretty soon.

My wife rides her bike indoors on a trainer in the winter, but I like to keep the summer sports for summer and the winter sports for winter.

[mrthompson]

Fair weather cyclist here.  I recently bought a leftover 2009 Specialized Rockhopper Comp Disc to replace my 13 year old Mongoose Threshold Sport.  I've had it 2 weeks and haven't had a chance to do more than ride it up and down the street once. 

[safristi]

..... too many Ford Cobras in the neighbourhood................. ..................i am a Giant among men.....but i have not ridden tha beast this year....... .......once ya ride a golf cart ya never GO BACK..........

[mp3butt]

I used to ride a Giant Cypress hybrid, and it has conquered quite a few moderate trails in Southern Ontario.

I decided to upgrade to a roadie. got the 2.1 with R540 pedals in June. Mostly riding in central York Region. About 1200 km so far. Just got a Kinetic trainer from the bike show last weekend in Toronto. Try to do some 4 season road biking.

My wife got a Madone 4.7 WSD for very cheap in the show. Also secured a pair of Utegra 6700 pedals for $130. Did any one of you go to the show and score big (drain the wallet at the same time)? 

[Angry Chicken]

Pecco Velo's Eclipse hybrid here.  Custom.  I have a posting somewhere on this forum with pics.  This year I made it through the whole bike season without a flat; credit to my Continental Travel Contacts.  Not a lot of tread left, btw.  Distance biked:  4818 km. (as of last Friday) which includes commuting and pleasure.  I've finally figured out the best route into a new client site that I just started working at and figure that it will be about a 41 km round trip each day from the Park and Ride, starting in early April!

[quadzilla]

Did any one of you go to the show and score big (drain the wallet at the same time)?

I skipped the show this year as I was too scared that I would buy something or should I say, more than I really needed to buy for my commuter replacement. I'll just hit some shops once the snow starts and see what leftovers I can find.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

I still have my old Trek 7000. Only 500km this year. Lowest since I bought it.