Fuck

it

was

good

And again for the record – I’ve decided I don’t need more bike shit. I need more time to ride my fucking bike.

Amen to that.

@itburns

@Nate

Some clarification – the flywheel adds resistance (dead weight that has to be spun up) and gives more of a road feel because of the momentum when you stop your pedal stroke. My experience is that it adds resistance during acceleration, allows a bit longer “spin down” time, but has little effect once you are maintaining a pace. I have the 3.0 rollers and the flywheel additional resistance allows me to destroy myself doing ladder intervals when needed.

I have read of people adding a towel under the back roller to add resistance but that seems like a catastrophic failure in the making.

I’ve had a friend experiment with chopping up a plastic ice cream container into blades and taping them to his spokes for added resistance – basically making overgear training harder but it did slow him down significantly (added a couple of seconds to his lap time at an outdoor velodrome) can’t see the same not working on rollers.

My ancient, noisy Cinelli rollers have plenty of resistance. Dented steel drums and crapped-out bearings make for a pretty good pavé simulation. More deterrent than anything — the very idea of riding this torture rack pushes me outdoors in the worst Rule #9 conditions.

I couldn’t bring myself to disfigure my wheels in such a manner.  How much noise did that setup generate?

@Nate

Some clarification – the flywheel adds resistance (dead weight that has to be spun up) and gives more of a road feel because of the momentum when you stop your pedal stroke. My experience is that it adds resistance during acceleration, allows a bit longer “spin down” time, but has little effect once you are maintaining a pace. I have the 3.0 rollers and the flywheel additional resistance allows me to destroy myself doing ladder intervals when needed.

I have read of people adding a towel under the back roller to add resistance but that seems like a catastrophic failure in the making.

I’ve had a friend experiment with chopping up a plastic ice cream container into blades and taping them to his spokes for added resistance – basically making overgear training harder but it did slow him down significantly (added a couple of seconds to his lap time at an outdoor velodrome) can’t see the same not working on rollers.

I prefer just getting myself lost, no meters  or planning whatsoever.  I have found so many nice rides this way.  I think that is what Brett means.

That’s everything that is bad about computers right there.

With my trusty forerunner 305 I get a simple black line that guides me on new rides. I can spend ten minutes plotting an entirely new route online, then load it up and forget about stopping for signs on roads I’ve never set eyes on before. It completely revolutionised my approach to riding.

Of course, interpreting the single black line is an art in itself – does this slight kink mean follow the lie of the road, or turn onto that motorway slipway?

I’ve come to feel like my 305 is at least trying to channel the V too – if it thinks I’m not working hard enough it will think nothing of ‘Roubaix’-ing my route by sending me bouncing and swearing down bridleways.

It has also given rise to what my friends and I refer to as the UHOD – the Unexpected Hill of the Day. Invisible on the initial route planner, this mount of epic proportions unfailingly looms in the final 20 miles of any ride, with a percentage and length designed perfectly to sap the guns of any remaining ammunition, leaving you enough to crawl home but nothing more.

@silkrider

for everyone talking about rollers and trainers…yeah, i’ve ridden them, but to me, riding rollers or trainers is sort of like jumping up and down “training” to jump rope for the day you actually have a rope. same motion, but just not the same. nothing is better than the actual road in my (totally useless) opinion.

I don’t think anyone disagrees with this opinion. Roller sessions are when a ride isn’t an option for whatever reason but an indoor workout is. One good thing about rollers is that as my “roller season” starts (winter – early darkness and end of year work deadlines mess with weekday evening rides) it glaringly shows any bad form that has crept in over the previous months.

@unversio

@itburns

@silkrider

for everyone talking about rollers and trainers…yeah, i’ve ridden them, but to me, riding rollers or trainers is sort of like jumping up and down “training” to jump rope for the day you actually have a rope. same motion, but just not the same. nothing is better than the actual road in my (totally useless) opinion.

I don’t think anyone disagrees with this opinion. Roller sessions are when a ride isn’t an option for whatever reason but an indoor workout is. One good thing about rollers is that as my “roller season” starts (winter – early darkness and end of year work deadlines mess with weekday evening rides) it glaringly shows any bad form that has crept in over the previous months.

My friend (who inspired me to come back to USA Cycling) went thru a divorce. He held custody of the kids (2 girls). The rollers became his sanctuary. He never gains weight and is now aiming to come back to race again. I wish that I had rollers (Kreitlers) to maintain training. Rollers seem to be a secret weapon for him to stay sharp.

i guess i’m a little jealous of guys who can ride rollers. i’ve tried, god knows i’ve tried.  i tried in front of the tv, i tried with music, i once tried drunk (bad idea).  the longest i ever managed to ride them was about 15 minutes.  i just couldn’t take it.  i no longer have them.

@silkrider

for everyone talking about rollers and trainers…yeah, i’ve ridden them, but to me, riding rollers or trainers is sort of like jumping up and down “training” to jump rope for the day you actually have a rope. same motion, but just not the same. nothing is better than the actual road in my (totally useless) opinion.

I don’t think anyone disagrees with this opinion. Roller sessions are when a ride isn’t an option for whatever reason but an indoor workout is. One good thing about rollers is that as my “roller season” starts (winter – early darkness and end of year work deadlines mess with weekday evening rides) it glaringly shows any bad form that has crept in over the previous months.

My friend (who inspired me to come back to USA Cycling) went thru a divorce. He held custody of the kids (2 girls). The rollers became his sanctuary. He never gains weight and is now aiming to come back to race again. I wish that I had rollers (Kreitlers) to maintain training. Rollers seem to be a secret weapon for him to stay sharp.

for everyone talking about rollers and trainers…yeah, i’ve ridden them, but to me, riding rollers or trainers is sort of like jumping up and down “training” to jump rope for the day you actually have a rope. same motion, but just not the same. nothing is better than the actual road in my (totally useless) opinion.

I don’t think anyone disagrees with this opinion.  Roller sessions are when a ride isn’t an option for whatever reason but an indoor workout is.  One good thing about rollers is that as my “roller season” starts (winter – early darkness and end of year work deadlines mess with weekday evening rides) it glaringly shows any bad form that has crept in over the previous months.

Love the authentic buckled front wheels from all the potholes…..

I’ve heard of the towel thing too, and reached the same conclusion about it.

Some clarification – the flywheel adds resistance (dead weight that has to be spun up) and gives more of a road feel because of the momentum when you stop your pedal stroke.  My experience is that it adds resistance during acceleration, allows a bit longer “spin down” time, but has little effect once you are maintaining a pace.  I have the 3.0 rollers and the flywheel additional resistance allows me to destroy myself doing ladder intervals when needed.

I have read of people adding a towel under the back roller to add resistance but that seems like a catastrophic failure in the making.

@Marcus

@eightzero

@Nate

@mcsqueak
resistance on rollers is all about the friction baby – explained here

http://www.babol.co.uk/kreitlerwhichrollers.asp

The thinner the roller, the more resistance (you could also put one of those kooky wind fans on there). But roller speed bears no resemblance to road speed. The only reason I can think of that you should use a speedo whilst on rollers is to set some sort of baseline from which you might then do efforts, eg. depending on your roller diameter, you might have an easy cruising speed of say 40kph. So you do intervals of say 2 minutes at say 45 or 50 or whatever – just so it keeps you honest. But once again, no resemblance to road speed…

The Kreitler flywheel is a nice addition to “even out” the feel.

I have the fan, it’s noisy as hell and I took it off.  Seems like if the flywheel “evens out” the feel you’re getting less feedback on the souplesse of your pedalstroke.  I’ve been thinking about putting some strips of paper in my spokes for a bit more resistance.

@eightzero

@Nate

@mcsqueak
resistance on rollers is all about the friction baby – explained here

http://www.babol.co.uk/kreitlerwhichrollers.asp

The thinner the roller, the more resistance (you could also put one of those kooky wind fans on there). But roller speed bears no resemblance to road speed. The only reason I can think of that you should use a speedo whilst on rollers is to set some sort of baseline from which you might then do efforts, eg. depending on your roller diameter, you might have an easy cruising speed of say 40kph. So you do intervals of say 2 minutes at say 45 or 50 or whatever – just so it keeps you honest. But once again, no resemblance to road speed…

Awesome, thanks for the info everyone.

According to the specs online, my rollers are 85mm (or 3.35 in) in diameter. They are some cheap-ish “Travel Trac” brand rollers from Performance Bike, but they seem to work OK. While my legs don’t feel “worked out” like they do when I do intervals on the trainer, it certainly gets my heartrate up and makes me sweat a lot.

I have the 2.25 inch diameter kreitlers and I always can get a good workout, although I completely agree that it is easy to spin them up to 50 kph or more while riding them. 

On the rollers, I go by time and heart rate for indices. 

@eightzero

@Nate

@mcsqueak
resistance on rollers is all about the friction baby – explained here

http://www.babol.co.uk/kreitlerwhichrollers.asp

The thinner the roller, the more resistance (you could also put one of those kooky wind fans on there). But roller speed bears no resemblance to road speed. The only reason I can think of that you should use a speedo whilst on rollers is to set some sort of baseline from which you might then do efforts, eg. depending on your roller diameter, you might have an easy cruising speed of say 40kph. So you do intervals of say 2 minutes at say 45 or 50 or whatever – just so it keeps you honest. But once again, no resemblance to road speed…

The Kreitler flywheel is a nice addition to “even out” the feel.

@eightzero

@Nate

@mcsqueak
resistance on rollers is all about the friction baby – explained here

http://www.babol.co.uk/kreitlerwhichrollers.asp

The thinner the roller, the more resistance (you could also put one of those kooky wind fans on there). But roller speed bears no resemblance to road speed. The only reason I can think of that you should use a speedo whilst on rollers is to set some sort of baseline from which you might then do efforts, eg. depending on your roller diameter, you might have an easy cruising speed of say 40kph. So you do intervals of say 2 minutes at say 45 or 50 or whatever – just so it keeps you honest. But once again, no resemblance to road speed… 

@Adrian

I’m at legoland as we speak, I’ll see if I can get a good photo

Jealous! Which land? My childhood dream is to get to Denmark Legoland.

@unversio Everyday is LEGO DAY! Boys & I like making garages and carports. Eldest son, 7 has the Hero Factory collection. Youngest, 3, there’s not enough Duplo!

“D’oh! Those were the droids I was looking for!” (This was our coffee table.)

Went copious times when we lived in DK & then last went back when I was 17, still just as awesome!

I’m at legoland as we speak, I’ll see if I can get a good photo

Jealous! Which land? My childhood dream is to get to Denmark Legoland.

@unversio  Everyday is LEGO DAY! Boys & I like making garages and carports. Eldest son, 7 has the Hero Factory collection. Youngest, 3, there’s not enough Duplo!

“D’oh! Those were the droids I was looking for!”         (This was our coffee table.)

Older son has a Lego space shuttle — so far.  It got built, and stayed built.  He also has about 1000 miscellaneous Legos for actually building with.  More to come, I’m sure, on both fronts.

I have the Sears Tower and the Empire State Building. Oh, and a few dinosaurs too.

@mcsqueak

OK number nerds, here’s a question for you:

I was on my rollers last night, which I don’t use very often but I didn’t feel like going through the hassle of setting up my trainer and swapping my rear wheel out.

I had my Garmin on to record speed and cadence. I was easily able to get up and over “40kph” without any trouble.

Riding outside, I very rarely ever reach that fast on flat ground. A comfortable relaxed speed for me is more like 25-28kph, and really working it I’ll be in the low 30s.

Is it the simple lack of wind resistance that allows such a ‘speed’ on rollers? Or do the rollers themselves somehow cause the Garmin to mis-measure speed?

Absolutely. The “rolling resistance” on a flat ride is insignifcant compared to the wind resistance (that goes up as as square of the velocity.) Naturally the power required to climb on an incline rather changes the calculus. I’d prefer the nastiest, knarliest sustained climb over pushing wind any day.

Or as Vader would say “the power to destroy a planet is insignificant compared to the power of the Force.”

Also, trainers are designed to provide increasing resistance similar to actual riding.  Rollers: I can spin out with some effort in 50×11 or 53×12.  In the real world I can only do so on a descent.

Funny, this is on my desk at work:

I never got around to painting the top orange though…

“What’s wrong Luke?” “” Nothing…

(edited from original script) “” “Ah Fuck! Why am I listening to that Old Man Ben?”

This holds a place in my office right next to the photo of Merckx from Friday’s AOP.

OK number nerds, here’s a question for you:

I was on my rollers last night, which I don’t use very often but I didn’t feel like going through the hassle of setting up my trainer and swapping my rear wheel out.

I had my Garmin on to record speed and cadence. I was easily able to get up and over “40kph” without any trouble.

Riding outside, I very rarely ever reach that fast on flat ground. A comfortable relaxed speed for me is more like 25-28kph, and really working it I’ll be in the low 30s.

Is it the simple lack of wind resistance that allows such a ‘speed’ on rollers? Or do the rollers themselves somehow cause the Garmin to mis-measure speed?

Absolutely. The “rolling resistance” on a flat ride is insignifcant compared to the wind resistance (that goes up as as square of the velocity.) Naturally the power required to climb on an incline rather changes the calculus. I’d prefer the nastiest, knarliest sustained climb over pushing wind any day.

Or as Vader would say “the power to destroy a planet is insignificant compared to the power of the Force.”

@Mikael Liddy

@mcsqueak

I love having data after the ride, and I particularly like that when you have Strava properly set up it’ll let you how many kms you have on all your components.

Hadn’t thought about that, when I swap out the chain & cassette soon (getting toward 6,000ks) I’ll enter the new stuff on there to track how far I’ve gone on them separate to the bike itself.

My Garmin has a odometer on it. I chuckle when I hear about “setting up strava” or “logging the data into the computer” for the purpose of tracking components.

Only here could a thread about reverence for riding without a cyclometer, become a thread revering cyclometers… I just have a clock so I know I’m late for work or to get back to the missus… Odo/avg speed for events, that’s it. Not sure I’d be keen to strava each commute on my bikes. I like the back pocket idea for training rides.

I think it may be the least-followed rule. There just seems to be a desire with a lot of people to quantify their rides as something more than just having fun. Totally guilty of it myself.

I was on my rollers last night, which I don’t use very often but I didn’t feel like going through the hassle of setting up my trainer and swapping my rear wheel out.

I had my Garmin on to record speed and cadence. I was easily able to get up and over “40kph” without any trouble.

Riding outside, I very rarely ever reach that fast on flat ground. A comfortable relaxed speed for me is more like 25-28kph, and really working it I’ll be in the low 30s.

Is it the simple lack of wind resistance that allows such a ‘speed’ on rollers? Or do the rollers themselves somehow cause the Garmin to mis-measure speed?

I find speeds reported while riding my trainer reflect my real-world speed very closely.

I had the green one (not shown). It got smashed in a crash a few years after I arrived in oz, not to be replaced.

Now I’m on Strava, but I just use the iPhone app with the phone in my pocket (in a ziplock bag-apparently the moisture corrodes the pins on the jack at the bottom, rendering the phone entirely useless in time).  This allows me to ride entirely on feel but to geek out on the numbers afterwards.  What I like about it is that I can track progress as a trend as well as to see how fast I’m sprinting / climbing, whatever.

I hear you about reliability, and whilst I’ve had a few instances of the app not properly recording, I’d suggest their strike rate is about 99% for me, so I’m pretty happy with that.

Do we have a word in the Lexicon yet for the fear of stripping all the meters off all the steeds and riding only on feel? I’ve toyed with the idea but was fear has paralyzed me…

Rule #6: Free your mind and your legs will follow.

@Ron

Do we have a word in the Lexicon yet for the fear of stripping all the meters off all the steeds and riding only on feel? I’ve toyed with the idea but was fear has paralyzed me…

“Feel, don’t think. Use your instincts.” – “Trust your feelings. Let go.” “” that’s a Rebel Fighter* or Luke*

You could refer to it as “going native”……

(edited from original script) — “Ah Fuck! Why am I listening to that Old Man Ben?”

I frickin’ love my Garmin. I love the beeps.

If you were the guy who I elbowed into Lake Washington this morning due to his beeping Garmin, I apologize.

Do we have a word in the Lexicon yet for the fear of stripping all the meters off all the steeds and riding only on feel? I’ve toyed with the idea but was fear has paralyzed me…

“Feel, don’t think. Use your instincts.” — “Trust your feelings. Let go.” — that’s a Rebel Fighter* or Luke*

@mcsqueak

I love having data after the ride, and I particularly like that when you have Strava properly set up it’ll let you how many kms you have on all your components.

Hadn’t thought about that, when I swap out the chain & cassette soon (getting toward 6,000ks) I’ll enter the new stuff on there to track how far I’ve gone on them separate to the bike itself.

My Garmin has a odometer on it. I chuckle when I hear about “setting up strava” or “logging the data into the computer” for the purpose of tracking components. I just write down the date I put stuff on the bike on a fucking piece of paper. A wall calendar works nice. I replace stuff when it is worn or broken.

And again for the record – I’ve decided I don’t need more bike shit. I need more time to ride my fucking bike.

I frickin’ love my Garmin. Everything about it. I love the data, I love all the esoteric numbers it give you, I love the beeps, I love the blue backlight, I love the cadence/speed sensor gadget, etc. It is a COOL device.

But then, I’m a bit of a gadget junkie, so why wouldn’t I love such a cool gadget. I do like looking at the numbers, but they certainly don’t rule my life or take precedence over the enjoyment of the ride. For me, it’s a happy confluence of my love for cycling and my love for nifty electronics.

Besides, when you’re riding in the dark and the only thing you can see is whatever’s visible in the cone of your headlamp, the Garmin display gives you something else to look at.

I hear that. The garmin/strava combo is pretty cool and I understand why people dig them. For a while strava’s business model was in question. Their free version was so useful there was little incentive to pay for the better version. I never upgraded. I hope they are successful as it is great to see one’s data overlaid on geography. And for the more competitive among us, you can kick someone’s ass without them being there.

But then, I’m a bit of a gadget junkie, so why wouldn’t I love such a cool gadget.  I do like looking at the numbers, but they certainly don’t rule my life or take precedence over the enjoyment of the ride.  For me, it’s a happy confluence of my love for cycling and my love for nifty electronics.

Besides, when you’re riding in the dark and the only thing you can see is whatever’s visible in the cone of your headlamp, the Garmin display gives you something else to look at.

Topic hijack… the classic Sunday In Hell documentary is available to watch as a legit free stream from the rights holder for a limited time. Superb quality.

If you haven’t seen it… well don’t tell anyone, but watch it now and pretend you saw it years ago. http://dafilms.com/film/8352-a-sunday-in-hell/

In other words, carry on as usual?

@Marcus

Here you go!, Twist, lick, dunk!

The Yeller one was called the Lemon(d). I got one for Christmas one year, I was so happy with it, it took me a month or two before I stopped walking around with it in my pocket.

I also got back into the cyclometer after getting a Garmin 500 and have been using Strava. But then the battery died a few weeks ago and I haven’t recharged it. And it’s been way more fun to ride without it.

The thing a lot of people who don’t work with data on a daily basis is that good data is great, but bad data is worse than no data. The data the Garmin reports is always speeds a little off or a little slow or grades a little too steep or not steep enough. The worst is that you can ride the same climb twice and it will report two different gradients. Everyone who ever rides the Kapelmuur should always ride it with the same gradient!

I think a service like Strava is most helpful if its accurate and comprehensive, but too many times something happens; either a workout gets missed, or two are merged together, or the data from the Garmin isn’t quite right. I’d love to have Strava be my training diary, but a diary with missing entries is nearly useless and only serves to have you construct a false picture of what was happening.

And to Gianni’s point, no computer exists that can measure the V, and that’s the only number that matters. How much wattage should a rider my size be able to put out? V. How far should I be able to ride at threshold? V. What makes up a long ride? V.

So I’ve gotten rid of it again, and I’m back to riding with the V-Meter. On key rides (which are the only ones I was ever posting publicly to Strava) like Cogals, races, and things like Haleakala, I will take it in my pocket and hope the data comes through OK or I’ll put it on the bars and keep the screen set to off if I’m worried the jersey pocket will bugger the signal. And then I’ll take it off.

Ride on feel, baby. Vive la V-Meter.

VeloVita – On fire again! You hardly cooled off from the other week.

I wonder if Oreo (Nabisco?) okayed that or back in the olden days things weren’t so litigious.

The Ramones, Blitzkrieg Bop

If you haven’t seen it… well don’t tell anyone, but watch it now and pretend you saw it years ago.

http://dafilms.com/film/8352-a-sunday-in-hell/

@Marcus

Here you go!, Twist, lick, dunk!

I guess the assorted flavour feature is important when you’re chewing on your stem.

I’d forgotten clicker meters even existed!Made me remember I had one on my old 5-spd road bike BITD but never went fast enough to get any issues with it. Had a Cateye Mity 2 on my first proper MTB, ignored computers for a bit due to batteries running out, had a wireless Trek for a while before batteries became an issue again, now using an Edge 500 and have become a complete data geek. Strava is great if disturbingly addictive, like so many others I find gaps in the calendar annoying and I just enjoy seeing the kms rack up. So much functionality in that little box too – wish id had one for lap data when i raced motorbikes but datalogging cost a fortune! The Garmin occasionally goes in the pocket to ride by the V, but the whole setup has been improved by a Raceware Direct SRM style mount. Looks much nicer now the 3T stem logos aren’t obscured.

When I took my dad’s Raleigh Europa, I fitted a clicker meter which I thought was the coolest thing as the bike talked back to me with how far places are and how far I’ve ridden. As @Gianni  /Sheldon Brown mentioned the problems at higher speeds.

When I started to race I got a Cateye Solar. It was the best! Sat in the middle of the bars and I recorded every ride/race I went on. I became a ‘data hound’. Still have the Cateye and log book somewhere in the man cave, or at the folk’s place.

I changed bikes and didn’t put a Meter on it and felt better without it. Had a few years off and thought I put a Sigma on, rode crapper with it. So I went without and enjoyed and felt better without it. I now have a shitty Meter that rattles. It’s gotta go!

Here you go!, Twist, lick, dunk!

I confess to being a data hound. It is one of the things that keeps me motivated to keep going out. A gap on the calendar just looks so … messy.

Ahh, another member just like me.  The support group meeting starts at 1000.  Welcome aboard.

I also have a rough idea of wattage using the rear whel speed sensor based on what resistance setting I’m using on my tacx satori turbo. I doubt its very accurate but having the information does help kills the time.

here is the wattage graph thing. http://www.tacxbooster.com/en_remwerking.html if you click in the graph you get an idea of wattage. its certainly cheaper than a power meter.

I also have a rough idea of wattage using the rear whel speed sensor based on what resistance setting I’m using on my tacx satori turbo. I doubt its very accurate but having the information does help kills the time.

moose, at 85km/h during a descent, stepped on to the road.

Scary shit, I once saw a picture of a car that had hit a moose and it was not pretty.

moose, at 85km/h during a descent, stepped on to the road.

Great to know how fast you are going as you stare death in the face…You must have balls the size of the Prophet if you saw the Moose and then took the time to look down and check your speed before taking evasive action…Chapeau!

I would however just throw into the discussion that I don’t see this being about quant v qual . It’s just data until you give it some meaning, and in that respect it doesn’t matter if the data comes from your Garmin or your quads.

I also agree on the mapping side of it. I found that very useful when I first came to Abu Dhabi and would go on a weekly ride with the club but never be quite sure where we had been.

I love having data after the ride, and I particularly like that when you have Strava properly set up it’ll let you how many kms you have on all your components.

Hadn’t thought about that, when I swap out the chain & cassette soon (getting toward 6,000ks) I’ll enter the new stuff on there to track how far I’ve gone on them separate to the bike itself.

moose, at 85km/h during a descent, stepped on to the road.

Sad story from a few years back here when a bloke was descending around dusk & came round a corner straight in to Red Kangaroo (6 foot tall, built like brick shithouses). Broke both arms, ribs, some facial bones & smashed his sternum amongst many other injuries…was basically laid up for a long period of time living on his own during which he developed depression & ended up committing suicide.

Local cycling community pooled some funds to help the family with the funeral costs & there’s a memorial plaque on the cliff next to where the accident happened.

I will throw the phone in the jersey and if I remember I’ll track with the gps.

@Adrian

Thanks for the information. Getting lost in Kuala Lumpur on bike and then cornered by some jet black gibbons. Good reason to have a Garmin.

And a mobile phone……

To complete the full wildlife picture we regularly will see scorpions and snakes, have seen hornbills, water buffalo (those are scary mothers) and several 4-5ft monitor lizards. but mostly we just see crazy morons driving cars badly

Only gibbons around here are at the Oakland Zoo.  Impressive creatures.  Else we have the standard deer and turkeys.  Turkeys are unbelievably stupid creatures.  Also, I saw a fox once, pretty early in the morning.

Thinking about seeing wild animals like that on a ride is crazy.

I’ve seen the odd deer while out, and I saw a peacock this past summer (hint: they are NOT native here). And when I ride in eastern Oregon I see little chipmunks running around in the dirt.

The worst is the dogs that want to chase you, but those are usually only around because of their dumb owners. Never had a problem with a wild animal (yet).

All of a sudden out of the jungle walks this meter high jet black gibbon. He crosses the road in front of me (not difficult as I was going so slow), gives me a look that says HTFU and then swings off into a tree. Got to admit that was a bit scary cos I knew if he had wanted to attack I was in trouble as I was redlining.

Heheheeee, beauty. HTFU’d by a gibbon. Those bastards would have your brains out of your skull in seconds if they were inclined.

Thanks for the information. Getting lost in Kuala Lumpur on bike and then cornered by some jet black gibbons. Good reason to have a Garmin.

@Adrian

I want to know if you have been chased my any monkeys? And what would happen if they caught you?

Most of the monkeys we see are the macaque ones, which are everywhere and are almost considered vermin (we will often see 50+ on a ride). They are quite small (30cm) and relatively harmless. Sometimes the alpha male will run at you if you get too close when the family is crossing the road, but it’s all show more worried about him getting caught in the wheel than any real attack. But mostly they are more interested in the garbage on the roadside than in us. The only bad bit is that the little fuckers will occasionally fling their shit at you from a tree …………. three to four hours in the sun and monkey skat is a unique experience.

The cool monkey experiences are the bigger sort, howler monkeys and gibbons. Sometimes we have the howler monkeys cheering us on as we go past but they are very shy so you don’t see them…But my coolest experience was seeing a gibbon cross the road in front of me…we were on the steepest mountain route around, the last section is about 28% and I was cooked. All of a sudden out of the jungle walks this meter high jet black gibbon. He crosses the road in front of me (not difficult as I was going so slow), gives me a look that says HTFU and then swings off into a tree. Got to admit that was a bit scary cos I knew if he had wanted to attack I was in trouble as I was redlining.

Anyway enough Animal Planet….

I want to know if you have been chased by any monkeys? And what would happen if they caught you? I assume they would fuck you up.

I just got a Garmin 500. It was so cheap I couldn’t pass it up. I like the data myself. But I can also see, especially with things like Garmin’s, where you get too focused on the numbers.

Wife-“do you want to know how far we gone?”

No

Wife-“do you want to guess how much further we have to ride?”

No

Wife-“Care to guess how many feet we have climbed?”

Not really

Have an Edge 500, LOVE data, to me it’s like internet banking – information any time any where on how poor/unfit you are. It keeps the desire to keep riding burning. Have a spreadsheet that documents the last 10 years of rides – what does it tell me? Basically the only trend is that every ride increases my total kilometres…..no shit, Sherlock.

The only time I really wish for power data is when I’m trying to pace myself for later in the ride or stay at base.

Speed, time of day & distance covered…they’re the only things I want to know when I’m out riding, the rest I’ll have fun playing with at work.

I did install Strava and Map my Ride on the phone, used it a couple of times and then…..boring to my mind. If it floats your boat, enjoy the data.

@Souleur I love that you have a “bike room”….bookshelves with an absence of books, clean lines with a mere smattering of bike related literature and a couple of damn comfy chairs to be watching some of the best clips of Grand Tours and Classics from….I am assuming that you have a wall to wall flat screen there in HD just out of shot to view it on…and…that’s a great looking paint job…even the seat post…love it!

best part brother is this is my work office…and yes, for viewing the Giro, Tour, Vuelta and every single spring classic, pull up a chair friend!  bring beer

The V.

And the skill of being able to wrap the wire around your brake cable to keep it clean. I never had it.

My all-time favorite, the Campy Ergobrain. The way it attached to the bars to sit forward of the stem – sheer beauty. The changing of functions via your brake hoods? Fantastic. That it told you what gear you were in? Sounds not that useful, but it actually was – somewhat. The genius of it calculating your cadence based on your gear and speed – beyond genius. And for the first fuckwit who suggests that wasnt useful because it didnt know if you were soft-pedalling – if you are soft-pedalling why the fuck would you want to know your cadence?!.

I now have a K-edge mount for my Garmin that gets it a bit closer to the Ergobrain look – still a bit bulky but a vast improvement on having the thing sit atop my stem

nice one!

i like having data, but can’t stand the cyclometers. i’m using strava with my phone, which i’m keeping in my pocket so i don’t get distracted from the pleasure of the ride.

I’ve done that too on long rides to find out total elevation gained. Once we all stopped on a climb to fix my wife’s flat tyre. Grrrrr, strava gave me the slowest time on that climb, like #104 so I had to go back weeks later and redo the ride to make sure my shit time did not stay up on strava. Take home message-pause your strava on the iphone if you stop to fix flat tyres.

While I do like the unit, and put it on my bars for every ride, I am less quant now. While I do like knowing how long the ride was, and seeing where I went on my screen at home, the truth of the matter is I rarely look at the thing during the ride for numbers. Since my jawbones aren’t progressive prescription (distance only) I actually can’t see the display. And stay off my lawn.

I ditched the dumbfuck speed/cadence sensor. Don’t give a Armstrong. (!) I ditched the dumbfuck HR monitor too, except for uphill time trials (like Mt. Baker.) On an extended climb, that is the one number on the bike I can use.

However, one function I really like on a planned ride is apre-programimed moving map. I really hate pulling out wet paper maps. I actually can see the highlighted route on the 705 GPS moving map, and this is cool. No need to drag out the iPhone for this.

Which brings me to Strava. My iPhone is an indespensible part of my ride tools. It is a safety device. I don’t want to use its limited battery on recording quant or dealing with KOM horseshit. Fairly, the Garmin Connect web site basically sucks, but I can make do. Mostly, I just like posting the link to my rides to twitter and here in the V-comments as well.

Actually, it is rather shocking how bad the Garmin online system (“Connect”) sucks given their investment in cycling. Go figure.

Being ‘self aware’ while cycling is very important to me.

I think I’ve had one instance in a year where I accidentally stopped the Garmin by fishing about for something else in the pocket.  That’s an operator error; now I have the Garmin set to beep when it starts/stops, to make sure it’s working.  I don’t think I’ve ever had signal problems.

I’ve been riding with a clean stem/bars for the past year and it’s great. I like Strava too, so I stick a Garmin 200 in my jersey pocket. No data during the ride. Then I get to re-live the ride later when I upload.

Super idea!  I am an info data whore and I only started using strava this spring for about half my rides and not full time until this September.  I must admit, I LOVE it! 

But, during the ride, I do not need it.  I really think that I will try the back pocket garmin on the next few rides.  Do you ever have a signal problem with it being in your back pocket? 

I have loved cyclocomputers since my first two button black Avocet in 1989.  Felt like LeMan when I put that puppy on my bike!  Nothing cooler back then.

absolutely Gianni, spot on.  I am not a numbers man.  Data is much of the time, meaningless.  Sometimes helpful, but when I am on this bike, its always a hard ride.  I cannot chose a gear differently (ok, on the ride) and distance doesn’t even matter…its point A to point B.  Enjoy it in the meantime

and yes, its a pinarello, the aluminum Paris model ergo ’97 or so.  It corroded on the TT (as many did), and the paint was less than good, so I blasted it, and painted it myself, no decals.   There is no mistaking its MY BIKE!  and she is still on the road and with purpose

I like the way it works and the data it kicks out but I must admit that the main reason i use it is for the segments. For me its the cycling equivalent of territorial pissings.

The mental factor is exactly why I like not having the data to look at.