@Roark

@Barracuda

One of my favorite riding activities is denigrating my standard crank using friends when I blow past them on an 18% gradient and they are too buggered to finish the ride.

Just putting it out there, in good humour of course.

Actually, that’s exactly what happened to me a couple of days ago at the (brutal) Tre Cime di Lavaredo climb. The night before the ride my friends and I were discussing the compact V standard issue, and I was very pleased to see the hamstrings and the calves of the most fervent advocate of 39T on the verge of muscular failure while I (slowly) overtook him two km to the summit on a 17% ramp…

Is this the ramp of which you speak? I was very glad I had a 34-30 the day I rode up that beast.

jesus fucking christ this fucking pic is the fucking cat’s ass.

http:/ / radiolingqua.com/shows/other-lanuages/

My ass was on a bike. While I aspire to be faster and smarter, I simply need to satify myself that for today, I ride. Tomorrow, I might not be able to.

Still, my next upgrade for number one is a double chainset.

@Barracuda

One of my favorite riding activities is denigrating my standard crank using friends when I blow past them on an 18% gradient and they are too buggered to finish the ride.

Just putting it out there, in good humour of course.

Actually, that’s exactly what happened to me a couple of days ago at the (brutal) Tre Cime di Lavaredo climb. The night before the ride my friends and I were discussing the compact V standard issue, and I was very pleased to see the hamstrings and the calves of the most fervent advocate of 39T on the verge of muscular failure while I (slowly) overtook him two km to the summit on a 17% ramp…

Is this the ramp of which you speak? I was very glad I had a 34-30 the day I rode up that beast.

@Buck Rogers

@wiscot

Ahhh, fuck it, time to confess. I ride a 50/36 with an 11-23 at the back. I live in a very lumpy part of SE WI and I hit the big 50 next month. All you young whippersnappers can ride all the 53-42s you damn well like, but I get around quite nicely thank you on my set up. (eg, 92 kms last night. Two bottles, no food, 29kmh/hr average over lumpy terrain) I hate having a big cassette at the back and the 36 looks better than a 34.

I grew up in the age of 52-42 being standard and a 12 straight-through at the back. Try getting up some steep hills on 42-18 and then tell be about how shitty compacts are. Been there, done that, not going back. While I’m at it, I sport an EPMS. Why? Because I came of age in an era of wool and then shitty acrylic jerseys. I have images burnt in my brain of riders with so much shit in their saggy back pockets that you couldn’t see the saddle. For me, it’s emergency gear in the EPMS, wallet and cell in the middle pocket, gels in the right pocket, solid food in the left. Other than that, I do my very best to obey the rules, but sometimes age and experience trumps the written word!

Jesus Man!!! What do you think this is? An AA meeting??? Keep that shit to yourself and obey the Masturbation Principle!

Sorry fellas . . . slinking off with head hung in abject shame. (In my defence, there did seem to be a few confessions being posted and I must have gotten carried away.

A little pent up emotion isn’t good for the soul, Hill repeats are in order.

I’m on the mailing list thing for entry for 2014 I think its late October for registration. I’d like to do that, then PUNCHEUR is a few weeks later then a day on the cobbles.

I actually started looking at a potential cogal route from Brighton heading up to Boxhill via Ashdown Forest in the past as there are some good roads but got no further.

I’ll send an email. Cheers

C’mon Tom, the Classics need you!!

@ChrisO You could always give it a bash on this

Tsk – Rule #31 ??

@ChrisO

@Chris Here you go mate, run yourself up one of these – handy instructions here

Nice tape job.

Next you’ll tell me that you’ve grown a beard and will be doing the Cogal on your new recumbent whilst wearing spd sandals. We’re starting in the East End and heading towards Ipswich.

You’d be surprised. I’ve had my fair share of rice pudding, peaches and malt loaf.

They may have beards but some of those guys – and girls – are harder than any roadie will ever be.

@Chris

@Teocalli

I probably should whisper this in very small print but I have a gps on the bike so I’m quite happy to take all responsibility for getting us hideously lost.

You’ve got to love a volunteer. Thanks.

Ha ha – love it.

Best be sticking that GPS in your pocket.  Either the first or second weekend of October and I’ll be there.

@Teocalli

I probably should whisper this in very small print but I have a gps on the bike so I’m quite happy to take all responsibility for getting us hideously lost.

You’ve got to love a volunteer. Thanks.

Ha ha – love it.

@Teocalli

@Chris

@Teocalli I’m open to suggestions, my brother in law rides down to Havant or Hayling Island from London via Box Hill each year and I’ve got his route notes somewhere but haven’t had a chance to map them out.

I’ve got a route from a Brighton ride I did this year that started at the London Eye and avoided the main drags coming out of London. I’ll pull it out tomorrow and see how it can link over to Box Hill.

I know Box Hill was on the Olympic route and has somehow grown a kind of mythical status but if you’ve not ridden it before, be prepared to be underwhelmed. Just saying…

Yeah I agree re Box Hill.  Great view at the top but as I think it was Magnus Backstedt who said something like “Hill? That’s just a speed bump”.  Leith Hill is more of a challenge and coming home up to Hindhead but even those are hardly the Lake District.

I probably should whisper this in very small print but I have a gps on the bike so I’m quite happy to take all responsibility for getting us hideously lost.

You’ve got to love a volunteer. Thanks.

@Chris Here you go mate, run yourself up one of these – handy instructions here

Nice tape job.

Next you’ll tell me that you’ve grown a beard and will be doing the Cogal on your new recumbent whilst wearing spd sandals. We’re starting in the East End and heading towards Ipswich.

@ChrisO

@Chris

@Teocalli I’m open to suggestions, my brother in law rides down to Havant or Hayling Island from London via Box Hill each year and I’ve got his route notes somewhere but haven’t had a chance to map them out.

I can get you to Box Hill no problem – I do it quite often from Tooting. Go down through Carshalton Ponds, Banstead and Kingswood is OK and then to Westhumble and Holmbury St Mary but after that there be dragons…

…as long as someone else can get us to Havant.

I’ll do a map to there and post it when the cogal page is up. Maybe we should start south of the river to avoid having a bunch trying to ride through the city – something like Waterloo, Clapham Junction or Battersea Park ?

The bit from Box Hill to Havant will be the interesting bit of navigation. Not having a fancy navigation device, I think I’ll have to go old school and have a bit of paper taped to the top tub with key points against miles down range.

I’m going to ride out from central London so I’ll start it there, @teocalli’s route or straight down King’s Road to Putney bridge at that time of a Sunday morning won’t be too much of a bother but it would make sense to have an rendezvous point.

I probably should whisper this in very small print but I have a gps on the bike.  Ok, Ok I’ll go and wash my mouth out with soap but I live in the “beyond there be dragons” part and you can spend weeks trying to find your way out of some of the back roads.  There that’s my excuse.  Happy to fit in with wherever as I can get dropped up on the edge of London or get a train up to Waterloo.

@Chris

@Teocalli I’m open to suggestions, my brother in law rides down to Havant or Hayling Island from London via Box Hill each year and I’ve got his route notes somewhere but haven’t had a chance to map them out.

I can get you to Box Hill no problem – I do it quite often from Tooting. Go down through Carshalton Ponds, Banstead and Kingswood is OK and then to Westhumble and Holmbury St Mary but after that there be dragons…

…as long as someone else can get us to Havant.

I’ll do a map to there and post it when the cogal page is up. Maybe we should start south of the river to avoid having a bunch trying to ride through the city – something like Waterloo, Clapham Junction or Battersea Park ?

The bit from Box Hill to Havant will be the interesting bit of navigation. Not having a fancy navigation device, I think I’ll have to go old school and have a bit of paper taped to the top tub with key points against miles down range.

I’m going to ride out from central London so I’ll start it there, @teocalli’s route or straight down King’s Road to Putney bridge at that time of a Sunday morning  won’t be too much of a bother but it would make sense to have an rendezvous point.

@Teocalli I’m open to suggestions, my brother in law rides down to Havant or Hayling Island from London via Box Hill each year and I’ve got his route notes somewhere but haven’t had a chance to map them out.

I can get you to Box Hill no problem – I do it quite often from Tooting. Go down through Carshalton Ponds, Banstead and Kingswood is OK and then to Westhumble and Holmbury St Mary but after that there be dragons…

…as long as someone else can get us to Havant.

I’ll do a map to there and post it when the cogal page is up. Maybe we should start south of the river to avoid having a bunch trying to ride through the city – something like Waterloo, Clapham Junction or Battersea Park ?

I was thinking of a central London start purely from the point that it works for anyone coming in from out of London and those in London who aren’t close to the route, i.e., me. I’ll be coming into Kings Cross and riding down. The Mall is a good central location and there are plenty of places nearby to grab a pre ride espresso if their travelling gets them here a bit earlier than they’d like.

It may also make sense to have a second meeting point at, say the bike rental place/coffee shop on Priory lane in Richmond Park for those in South West London or coming in by car and didn’t want to park in the centre. Anyone doing that could get off the train at Clapham on the way back.

@Teocalli I’m open to suggestions, my brother in law rides down to Havant or Hayling Island from London via Box Hill each year and I’ve got his route notes somewhere but haven’t had a chance to map them out.

This route http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3114387 is the route I have out of London to Box Hill that avoids the main roads.  We can go westerly post Box Hill to wherever (as long as we avoid the A272 as that is horrible on a bike, busy and narrow main road).  Though is there a need to start in London unless it just happened to be a central point or are there more people that are London based that makes it sensible?

@Teocalli

@Chris

@Teocalli I’m open to suggestions, my brother in law rides down to Havant or Hayling Island from London via Box Hill each year and I’ve got his route notes somewhere but haven’t had a chance to map them out.

I’ve got a route from a Brighton ride I did this year that started at the London Eye and avoided the main drags coming out of London. I’ll pull it out tomorrow and see how it can link over to Box Hill.

I know Box Hill was on the Olympic route and has somehow grown a kind of mythical status but if you’ve not ridden it before, be prepared to be underwhelmed. Just saying…

I’m going to ping a note over to Gianni to get a London Cogal page up and running. That’ll also give everyone else a chance to put it in the diary. He needs a date and route so I’ll give him the one I linked to the other day and note that it’ll be subject to refinement. We can then fine tune it between now and October. 

I’ve created an email address for it, london.cogal@gmail.com

@piwakawaka

@ten B

I’m toying with the idea of getting a medium cage derailleur and an 11-32 for a particularly hilly 255km sportive in October. I figure that 9 hours of suffering will be enough without having to spend a couple of them below 50 rpm and whimpering like an abandoned puppy. At least I’ll be able to stick with my 53/39.

11-27 at most and you are never allowed to actually use the 27, that way you’ll only suffer 8 1/2 hours.

now where’s this ride? Details details….

It’s in the Brindabella ranges south of Canberra. If you Google Fitz’s Challenge you’ll find it. I did the 205km version last year on my old bike with a compact and 11-25. The last big climb was a one-hour symphony of agony. No real flat sections the entire way either – just rollers. Over 4000m of climbing, all up. This year’s plan is the 255, unless I can convince my VMH to play, in which case I’ll be her domestique for the 105.

Looks great enjoy, oh 5k vertical on the website!

@Chris

@Teocalli I’m open to suggestions, my brother in law rides down to Havant or Hayling Island from London via Box Hill each year and I’ve got his route notes somewhere but haven’t had a chance to map them out.

I’ve got a route from a Brighton ride I did this year that started at the London Eye and avoided the main drags coming out of London. I’ll pull it out tomorrow and see how it can link over to Box Hill.

I know Box Hill was on the Olympic route and has somehow grown a kind of mythical status but if you’ve not ridden it before, be prepared to be underwhelmed. Just saying…

@Chris

No 39 ring here…

Yates was the cats cock.

Indeed. I know he got lighter as his career went on but the guy must have laid down huge amounts of V to have survived as a pro cyclist in his chunkier years. An inspiration to the too fat climb like myself.

There’s so much awesomeness in this photo, the way it shouts speed at you, the chromed surfaces glinting in the sun, the Coke bidon, Addidas shoes, gum sidewalls, lack of V-meter, studded saddle, low set brake levers and some fucking huge blood pipes. Only minor downside is that he should have given his wrench a slap for that rear QR.

Any bike with a rear cassette bearing anything larger than a 26 tooth cog should be either a MTB or a CX bike, not a road bike.

….aaaaand, go!

@ten B

I’m toying with the idea of getting a medium cage derailleur and an 11-32 for a particularly hilly 255km sportive in October. I figure that 9 hours of suffering will be enough without having to spend a couple of them below 50 rpm and whimpering like an abandoned puppy. At least I’ll be able to stick with my 53/39.

11-27 at most and you are never allowed to actually use the 27, that way you’ll only suffer 8 1/2 hours.

now where’s this ride? Details details….

It’s in the Brindabella ranges south of Canberra. If you Google Fitz’s Challenge you’ll find it. I did the 205km version last year on my old bike with a compact and 11-25. The last big climb was a one-hour symphony of agony. No real flat sections the entire way either – just rollers. Over 4000m of climbing, all up. This year’s plan is the 255, unless I can convince my VMH to play, in which case I’ll be her domestique for the 105.

One of my favorite riding activities is denigrating my standard crank using friends when I blow past them on an 18% gradient and they are too buggered to finish the ride.

Just putting it out there, in good humour of course.

Actually, that’s exactly what happened to me a couple of days ago at the (brutal) Tre Cime di Lavaredo climb.  The night before the ride my friends and I were discussing the compact v standard issue, and I was very pleased to see the hamstrings and the calves of the most fervent advocate of 39T on the verge of muscular failure while I (slowly) overtook him two km to the summit on a 17% ramp…

I’m toying with the idea of getting a medium cage derailleur and an 11-32 for a particularly hilly 255km sportive in October. I figure that 9 hours of suffering will be enough without having to spend a couple of them below 50 rpm and whimpering like an abandoned puppy. At least I’ll be able to stick with my 53/39.

11-27 at most and you are never allowed to actually use the 27, that way you’ll only suffer 8 1/2 hours.

now where’s this ride? Details details….

I am always totally amazed how many people get all butt hurt when they come here and read an article. I really noticed it with the article by @prowrench

Eh, it’s the nature of the site really.  Frank writes a poetic but fundamentally wrong article, then sits back to watch the fireworks.

It’s not about being “butt hurt” (you Americans and your funny sayings), it’s more like putting some surely polarising ideas out there and sitting back to watch the fun of everyone going at each other’s throats – in the nicest possible way….

One of my favorite riding activities is denigrating my compact-using friends, then attacking on downhills in my 53×11 (not that this every actually works, but it makes me feel better). It seems like like there are more compacts than standards in my area, very upsetting. It’s good to know there’s still a few people out there stubborn enough to put style before comfort.

One of my favorite riding activities is denigrating my standard crank using friends when I blow past them on an 18% gradient and they are too buggered to finish the ride.

Just putting it out there, in good humour of course.

I don’t see what you are calling @Fins out for.

One of my favorite riding activities is denigrating my compact-using friends, then attacking on downhills in my 53×11 (not that this every actually works, but it makes me feel better). It seems like like there are more compacts than standards in my area, very upsetting. It’s good to know there’s still a few people out there stupid enough to put style before comfort.

Fixed your post.

No 39 ring here…

Yates was the cats cock.

For those who, like me, can’t do the maths this may help. Anyone using this to justify ownership and use of a compact chainset …it’s still wrong and has no place on a road bike.

How fitting that the chart only goes down to 38T.

@Teocalli I’m open to suggestions, my brother in law rides down to Havant or Hayling Island from London via Box Hill each year and I’ve got his route notes somewhere but haven’t had a chance to map them out.

I’ve got a route from a Brighton ride I did this year that started at the London Eye and avoided the main drags coming out of London.  I’ll pull it out tomorrow and see how it can link over to Box Hill.

@Teocalli, @ChrisO, @Mike_P I had in mind a ride on the second weekend in October rather than September. I know it’s getting colder and darker in October but my diary is fucked in September. That isn’t to say that the London/Surrey/South East Cogal shouldn’t be in September if that is more preferable for everyone else.

As for a route, I had something like this in mind. It needs a bit of refining but the basics would be London to the Coast, taking in an Olympic loop over Box Hill, finishing with recovery beverages and some food at the Royal Oak in Havant and then a train home.

Hmm – most of the route out of London to Box Hill are roads I would not normally choose to ride on……

@Chris

@Teocalli, @ChrisO, @Mike_P I had in mind a ride on the second weekend in October rather than September. I know it’s getting colder and darker in October but my diary is fucked in September. That isn’t to say that the London/Surrey/South East Cogal shouldn’t be in September if that is more preferable for everyone else.

As for a route, I had something like this in mind. It needs a bit of refining but the basics would be London to the Coast, taking in an Olympic loop over Box Hill, finishing with recovery beverages and some food at the Royal Oak in Havant and then a train home.

This may possibly work for me. I’m in Weybridge, so a bit further up the A3 from @Teocalli. Not sure I can cope with @ChrisO’s perma-tan and racing tuned guns though.

I should be pretty open.

 Not sure I can cope with @ChrisO’s perma-tan and racing tuned guns though.

He can do two laps of Box Hill.

@Teocalli, @ChrisO, @Mike_P I had in mind a ride on the second weekend in October rather than September. I know it’s getting colder and darker in October but my diary is fucked in September. That isn’t to say that the London/Surrey/South East Cogal shouldn’t be in September if that is more preferable for everyone else.

As for a route, I had something like this in mind. It needs a bit of refining but the basics would be London to the Coast, taking in an Olympic loop over Box Hill, finishing with recovery beverages and some food at the Royal Oak in Havant and then a train home.

This may possibly work for me. I’m in Weybridge, so a bit further up the A3 from @Teocalli.  Not sure I can cope with @ChrisO’s perma-tan and racing tuned guns though.

@Teocalli, @ChrisO, @Mike_P I had in mind a ride on the second weekend in October rather than September. I know it’s getting colder and darker in October but my diary is fucked in September. That isn’t to say that the London/Surrey/South East Cogal shouldn’t be in September if that is more preferable for everyone else.

As for a route, I had something like this in mind. It needs a bit of refining but the basics would be London to the Coast, taking in an Olympic loop over Box Hill, finishing with recovery beverages and some food at the Royal Oak in Havant and then a train home.

That may work even better. Eid Al Adha holiday is the 14th and 15th of October which means I’ll probably come home the weekend of the 12/13th.

And as I will be there for an extra couple of days above my usual long-weekend visits I won’t have to cash in any brownie points by going on a ‘bloody bike ride instead of spending time with my children’.

@Teocalli, @ChrisO, @Mike_P I had in mind a ride on the second weekend in October rather than September. I know it’s getting colder and darker in October but my diary is fucked in September. That isn’t to say that the London/Surrey/South East Cogal shouldn’t be in September if that is more preferable for everyone else.

As for a route, I had something like this in mind. It needs a bit of refining but the basics would be London to the Coast, taking in an Olympic loop over Box Hill, finishing with recovery beverages and some food at the Royal Oak in Havant and then a train home.

@Teocalli What area of Surrey are you in?

@Mike_P in at Hindhead south of Guildford close to being on top of the new A3 Tunnel.

@Chris If there is a London Cogal organised I’ll be there from Surrey. Would be great to ride and raise a beer to @itburns.

@Chis @Mike – I’d be up to raise a beer or a mid ride coffee if there is a Cogal in striking distance of Surrey.

The Chepstow Cogal has a nice ring to it but you’re right, it is a bit of a trek.

That’s a great offer, thanks. They’re tools I need to replace, I tend to pull the cranks off on a regular basis when I’m riding alot. I’ve also got a compact spider and rings as well as a compact FSA chainset that came with the bike that I’ve kept as a back up.

Where about in the UK are you? I did say a while ago that I’d organise a London cogal. Given today’s sad news it seems like that should be something we should be getting on with.

You’re welcome. I got mine from qwertycycles.co.uk – great UK resource for Cannondale parts and tools if you’re not already aware of them.

I’m based in Chepstow, which is a fair step from London, but I think my current state of (un-)fitness might be more of a barrier to attending a cogal. Definitely agree with the ‘carpe diem’ sentiment in the light of that sad news though.

@brett

@Marcus

And to think that the public is dumb enough to hand that rabble of a party power… embarrassing.

You misunderstood me – my “that makes two of us” referred to you and me both being happy about you having left Australia. I sit just to the right of Mussolini.

Well, in that case you deserve everything you get…

@ChrisO

Showing your vintage (obviously similar to my own) with that gem. Many a drunken night watching The Saints play live in my youth. I always remember a gig on the Gold Coast where the band played for an hour, Chris Bailey came on and did an acoustic set of about an hour which included numerous anecdotes (accompanied by numerous swigs from a Vodka bottle), with the band joining him for the final set. Truly an amazing night.

yeah, a compact for Chris as he’d be too pissed to push a big ring

I’m actually a little behind that – I was only 10 in 1976, but later I was a fan of Ed Kuepper in The Laughing Clowns and reversed into The Saints through that.

@Marcus

And to think that the public is dumb enough to hand that rabble of a party power… embarrassing.

You misunderstood me – my “that makes two of us” referred to you and me both being happy about you having left Australia. I sit just to the right of Mussolini.

@Chris

It’s a Cannondale SI crank so I could swap the spider and rings for a compact set up for hillier riding. I’m off to France next week but a combination of having mislaid some of my tools and not being arsed because I know that I’ll be slow either way means that it’ll remain a standard even if I head off into the Pyrenees.

Chris, I’m also a Cannondale man and have the Si crank extractor and lockring tool, which you are more than welcome to borrow if it helps you (I’m assuming you’re based in the UK). I could also come up with a compact spider and rings if needed. This could overcome the first part of your reason for not swapping, but sadly I can’t help with the second part…

That’s a great offer, thanks. They’re tools I need to replace, I tend to pull the cranks off on a regular basis when I’m riding alot. I’ve also got a compact spider and rings as well as a compact FSA chainset that came with the bike that I’ve kept as a back up.

Where about in the UK are you? I did say a while ago that I’d organise a London cogal. Given today’s sad news it seems like that should be something we should be getting on with.

It’s a Cannondale SI crank so I could swap the spider and rings for a compact set up for hillier riding. I’m off to France next week but a combination of having mislaid some of my tools and not being arsed because I know that I’ll be slow either way means that it’ll remain a standard even if I head off into the Pyrenees.

Chris, I’m also a Cannondale man and have the Si crank extractor and lockring tool, which you are more than welcome to borrow if it helps you (I’m assuming you’re based in the UK). I could also come up with a compact spider and rings if needed. This could overcome the first part of your reason for not swapping, but sadly I can’t help with the second part…

@dgran

“Check out the gearing that pros use to climb the Angrilu in the Vuelta and you can feel good about your compact setup. Choosing the right gearing for the terrain seems more pro to me than riding a single gear arrangement 52 weeks of the year.”

This. Having said that, I’ve never owned a compact, and rode STP a few years ago with a 12-21 cassette because I’m stupid that way. I’ve seen the light re bigger cassettes for bigger hills, though, and feel no shame in slapping on the 12-27 when the terrain calls for it.

I’ll cop to riding a 53/39 on the tt bike, a 50/34 on the road bike, and a 46/36 on the cx bike.  All of them are exactly the right gear for me, but I will admit not a single one of them looks pro.

@Balexander A curious business. FDs can act weirder than they ought to be able to. They look so damned simple.

When I’m feeling a bit more like it remind me to tell you the story of the FD of my Giordana – if there was ever evidence for an inanimate object being possessed by a malevolent spirit then this is it

“Check out the gearing that pros use to climb the Angrilu in the Vuelta and you can feel good about your compact setup. Choosing the right gearing for the terrain seems more pro to me than riding a single gear arrangement 52 weeks of the year.”

This. Having said that, I’ve never owned a compact, and rode STP a few years ago with a 12-21 cassette because I’m stupid that way. I’ve seen the light re bigger cassettes for bigger hills, though, and feel no shame in slapping on the 12-27 when the terrain calls for it.

@brett

@PeakInTwoYears

For a laugh at this strange little country, please take a look at The Daily Show review of our election. Its pretty funny but pretty humiliating – worth the 7 minutes.

“Turbo Palin,” indeed. Very funny. No need to go feeling superior, though. Our ignorant lunatics are far more numerous and better organized.

@PeakInTwoYears

A little bit of election campaign quality this week from the man likely to be Australia’s next prime minister,

“No one, however smart, however well educated, however experienced is the suppository of all wisdom”

Technically, he is not wrong.

The downside is that you spend way more time in the 50 ring and saying sur la plaque doesn’t have the same ring to it as when you don’t run a 53 in front.  Check out the gearing that pros use to climb the Angrilu in the Vuelta and you can feel good about your compact setup.  Choosing the right gearing for the terrain seems more pro to me than riding a single gear arrangement 52 weeks of the year.

Showing your vintage (obviously similar to my own) with that gem. Many a drunken night watching The Saints play live in my youth. I always remember a gig on the Gold Coast where the band played for an hour, Chris Bailey came on and did an acoustic set of about an hour which included numerous anecdotes (accompanied by numerous swigs from a Vodka bottle), with the band joining him for the final set. Truly an amazing night.

yeah, a compact for Chris as he’d be too pissed to push a big ring

@Wold Man How about a rule stating that you can’t propose a rule and then in the next line propose a caveat to that rule applying to you.

I suspect that a specific sur la plaque ruling would be one of the least obseverved, for both budgetary reasons and the perceived benefits to older, frailer knees.

I do ride a standard 53/39 on my CAAD8 105 (also a tax free “commuter”) but I live in an extremely flat part of the country. I aslo run a 12-23 on the back because I hate the gaps in ratios if I can avoid them. It’s a Cannondale SI crank so I could swap the spider and rings for a compact set up for hillier riding. I’m off to France next week but a combination of having mislaid some of my tools and not being arsed because I know that I’ll be slow either way means that it’ll remain a standard even if I head off into the Pyrenees.

I suspect that @frank’ll be waiting a long time for somebody to invent the maths he needs to prove that riding in the big ring is better than an equivalent gearing on the inner ring but my standard did feel better on the cobble this year than the compact did last year. That’s probably more a case of adrenalin and being less fat this year but who knows.

The Saints wouldn’t ride a compact.

They also don’t do the job I do, so expecting me to do the same as them is a little optomistic.

I’m not sure that the views of the seminal Australian punk band have been established on this matter.

I suspect Chris Bailey would need a compact but Ed Kuepper would almost certainly be old-skool, sur la plaque with DT shifters.

They also don’t do the job I do, so expecting me to do the same as them is a little optomistic.

With the possible caveat: I purchased a bike on a tax-free scheme a couple of years ago and spent the full amount (£1000) because I needed a new training bike -to commute to work on obviously! Try finding a bike in that price range with a real chainset? I settled on a Cannondale CAAD8 105 (mainly because my race bike is a CAAD9 …same geometry). Unhelpfully, the bike shop were adamant that they couldn’t change it under the rules of the scheme (I suspect they were lying, lazy or both) so I had to take it as it was ….but not before I had ordered 110mm BCD 52 and 42 rings which were waiting when the bike came home. Guess what the first job was? Problem solved. The offending articles were subsequently deposited at the recycling bank. However, even though it’s fooled my clubmates, I’ve always felt fraudulent and cheap; and the BB30 bottom bracket has been problematic so I’m getting a BSA converter sleeve and installing an old 1998 Dura-Ace chainset with the ‘correct’ 53/42 arrangement: 12-23 for training and 14-25 for the winter …I do live in a lumpy part of the world! Oh, and I’ll happily confess to fitting a 39T for Costa Brava/Canary Island training camps.

Randomly found this quote and thought it pertained to the topic at hand:

“I still feel that variable gears are only for people over forty-five. Isn’t it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailer? We are getting soft… As for me, give me a fixed gear!”

-Henri Desgrange (First organizer of the Tour De France)

Discuss…………..

I know that quote well, and I’ll see the backside of 45 next week…

Been riding fixed for 30 years and exclusively for most of the past decade. Aging knees brought me back to gears (52/42+13/22 on the vintage steel, 53/39+12/25 on the carbone).

But I still climb better and faster on a track bike with 52/18. Maybe it’s the stiffness of the frame, that bit less friction. Or maybe it’s the lack of options…

@frank

I’ve been watching with bemusement as more and more compacts wind their way onto CX bikes. The outer ring is too big for grinding the steep stuff, and the 34 is waaaaaay to small to keep traction going. I have never once used the inner ring on a CX course; you can ride the short steep bits on a 42T or 44T outer ring and keep your traction going (admitting full well that you’ll be crossing the chain in some cases). No need for small BCDs on CX rigs.

Seriously?

If that’s the case, you have clearly never ridden a proper CX course.

Funny thing is that I don’t remember Seattle as being pan flat, or particularly dry.

They don’t know how to ride ‘cross in Seattle, but that subject we’ll save for October.

“I still feel that variable gears are only for people over forty-five. Isn’t it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailer? We are getting soft… As for me, give me a fixed gear!”

-Henri Desgrange (First organizer of the Tour De France)

Discuss…………..

 

I’ve been watching with bemusement as more and more compacts wind their way onto CX bikes. The outer ring is too big for grinding the steep stuff, and the 34 is waaaaaay to small to keep traction going. I have never once used the inner ring on a CX course; you can ride the short steep bits on a 42T or 44T outer ring and keep your traction going (admitting full well that you’ll be crossing the chain in some cases). No need for small BCDs on CX rigs.

 

Seriously?

If that’s the case, you have clearly never ridden a proper CX course.

Funny thing is that I don’t remember Seattle as being pan flat, or particularly dry.

And to think that the public is dumb enough to hand that rabble of a party power… embarrassing.

@PeakInTwoYears

For a laugh at this strange little country, please take a look at The Daily Show review of our election. Its pretty funny but pretty humiliating – worth the 7 minutes.

@PeakInTwoYears

A little bit of election campaign quality this week from the man likely to be Australia’s next prime minister,

“No one, however smart, however well educated, however experienced is the suppository of all wisdom”

Wow. Pretty awesome. Almost as dark matter anti-brilliant as Merica’s last prez.

I’ll take your 53/42 and raise a 53/44 (O’Grady’s bike at Paris-Roubaix this year)

Yeah, but you need 15 years of doping to push that gear… oh, sorry, I mean just the once.

@Marcus

@PeakInTwoYears

A little bit of election campaign quality this week from the man likely to be Australia’s next prime minister,

“No one, however smart, however well educated, however experienced is the suppository of all wisdom”

I’m so glad I’m not living there anymore… that country is (even more) doomed if he gets in.