Got my KOM back from Justin today. No wind, so I really had to push it.
I need to get a power meter.
Strava:
http://www.strava.com/activities/285911640
Garmin:
15 Apr 2015, 06:48
14 Apr 2015, 06:48
Little windy today. That, the larger front chainring, and the hood made for some new KOMs.
I think I’ll ride with the hood exclusively now to see if I can acclimate to middle of summer riding eventually.
Over the last couple of weeks I replace the front middle and biggest front chainrings. The front is now a 30-46-58. This has resulted in a big speed increase - much more than I expected. The main reason for the speed increase is that I now spend almost all my time (maybe 85%) in the middle chainring. I only drop to the lower chainring when climbing a really steep hill under 8 mph and I only jump to the large chainring when moving faster than 25 mph. Here as, with the prior setup I was maybe in the middle chainring less than 30 percent of the time.
I tried to put a SuperMoto tire on the rear. At my current weight there was some rubbing of the tire against the wheel well. I think if I lose 25 lbs then the SuperMoto might work ok.
There is a delicate balance between
- rider weight / height
- rear shock setting
- rear derailluer hitting bottom of shell
- too much chain and chain jumping when peddling hard
- too little chain and cross chaining
Everything seems to be working smoothly now on the Quest.
Strava:
http://www.strava.com/activities/285292571
Garmin:
11 Apr 2015, 09:23
Work has been really hectic lately. That combined with rear-end issues with the Quest have really limited my riding this year. Since the ride was local Georgetown (only three miles from my house) I figured taking some time off work was ok.
This was my longest ride of 2015 and only my second organized ride of the year.
The ride started pretty fast and I held the lead until about the 5.8 mile mark when Justin and friend passed me as we started a long slow (for me) climb uphill out of Georgetown towards Walburg. Before the climb was done five riders had passed me and a couple were way ahead.
About the nine mile mark we are just leaving Walburg and the route turns smooth and downhill. I hit my fastest speed on this section - 47.7 mph and end up passing everyone in front of me.
By mile 15 I’m in the lead again and keep the lead until mile 32.
Around mile 27 my legs are toast and it is all I can do to spin easy and finish the ride.
Man am I out of shape.
Weather was overcast, mid 60s, with slight drizzle every now and then. Rode with the hood on and stayed dry and warm.
Nice vide of me catching and passing the five riders who passed me on the long climb out of Georgetown.
Strava:
http://www.strava.com/activities/283554031
Garmin:
13 Dec 2014, 19:37
The Quest front chain ring is 30-42-53 and 170 mm crank length.
In high gear I’m spinning out (~90 rpm) around 33 mph in the large chain ring and about 26 mph in the middle chain ring.
I emailed Randy at BlueVelo about bumping up the gearing to something like the Lightning F-40 and got this response:
Hi Dan, Randy here. You were asking in the voicemail about a 60 t front chain ring if I’m not mistaken. The 60t may be an issue with the huge jump from the 42 middle ring. It would also mean adding a bunch of extra chain that would lead to major slack issues when in the smallest ring. I would recommend a 56t which can work out without so many issues and will still make a decent shift up from the middle ring. I heard of using a 57t but that is again a bit too much in my opinion. To go to a 60t would be possible but not without changing to at least a 44 middle to make the shift and a 32 or 34t smallest ring to avoid the chain slack issues. I don’t have any different size front rings in stock at the moment. You would be looking for front chain rings with a 5 bolt pattern, 9 speed and 130mm for the middle and largest rings. The smallest ring is a 5 bolt pattern, 74mm. I know some people have used the Vuelta USA site to find a wide range of quality rings at good prices. Here is the link: http://www.vueltausa.com/components/chainrings.html You would likely find it faster and cheaper to go directly through a site like that for these parts with the specs I’ve provided. Let me know if I can help you with anything else to work through this. Thanks very much, Randy bluevelo
Based on this input I’ve decided to go with a 30-46-58 front setup. This will make the front middle chain ring viable up to about 30 mph and then kick it into high gear which should be good for cruising around 40 mph. At least on a slight downhill :)
13 Dec 2014, 19:26
Nice ride today. Was going to go slow and easy until a young fit guy on a high end time trial bike (Felt DA) decided to put the hurt on me. I could not help myself - hare vs hare. We traded leads for a good 10 miles before I had to turn around and start taking it easy. It was a good time - 47.2 miles @ 19.3 mph and 1,963 calories.
Strava:
http://www.strava.com/activities/229000019
Garmin:
06 Dec 2014, 15:50
Met up with Brian at HEB to ride to Salado. It was cold and windy and neither Brian nor myself were feeling 100% so we stopped for coffee at the gas station at the corner of Ronald Reagan and IH35 then headed back. Still, I needed this ride just to get out of the office for awhile.
Waiting to meet up with Brian at HEB.
Strava:
http://www.strava.com/activities/226776924
30 Nov 2014, 15:41
A little different route today.
Trying to get some chip-seal experience in the Quest.
Riding with the hood.
Strava:
http://www.strava.com/activities/224909255
29 Nov 2014, 15:27
Wasn’t really trying but a 28 mph tailwind, gusting to 37 mph, really makes getting a strava KOM kinda easy.
I really was just out for an easy ride enjoying the sunny day. A few other riders, but not many.
Chased a couple of fit rides slightly uphill and with the 28 mph tail wind. Took me forever to catch them. Just as I caught them the route turned into the wind. Dropped them like a rock when heading into the 28 mph headwind. Took all the fun out of it.
Look at the flags blowing.
The gusting side winds really pushed the Quest all over the place today.
Since I was swinging by Robyn’s folks for some post thanksgiving food I decided to also stop at Georgetown Cycleworks. I’d told Paul the last time I as in there that I’d stop and say hi the next time I was in the neighborhood. He took a couple of pictures and put them on his shop’s Cycleworks Facebook Page.
Strava:
http://www.strava.com/activities/224508453
Garmin:
23 Nov 2014, 16:35
Getting the Quest ready to ride at daybreak (~6:50am) today.
Check the tires, fill with air. Provision with waters, endurolytes, etc., etc..
Just a nice easy ride on a beautiful sunny day.
A little cool at the start of the ride (mid 50s) and not many riders for the first hour or so.
After the sun had risen high enough in the sky to warm temps into the high 60s, low 70s, lots of other riders started to appear.
Strava:
http://www.strava.com/activities/222396667
Garmin:
12 Nov 2014, 10:49
Very windy and cold today. Only saw one other rider the whole 28.5 miles.
Winds from the north 16 mph gusting to 23 mph. Average temperature 57.7 degrees.
Winds were from a great direction today, enough to get 4 strava KOMs.
Probably need to get the weather stripping for the sides of the quest. Side gusts where blowing me all over the place.
Also, my feet froze. Really need to get the foot covers.
Strava:
http://www.strava.com/activities/218502937
Garmin:
