Cycling fitness (for my own accountability)

[black2002ls]

A little update on the fit, and my current level.

Swapped the 90mm stem back on the bike. It felt better stability wise, though I still have some shoulder issues. I am wondering if goingvto a 38 mm bar and narrowing my grip will help a bit. The ergonova is about 10-12mm shorter reach than the ergosum that was on the bike. So still a bit more tweaking there.

With the days getting shorter, it is getting harder to hit my milage goals. At my current average speed, 15 miles is about all I can log. My average is up to 15 mph and still carrying a mid 80's average cadence. I am able to sprint mid ride when needed, 19-22 mph. Overall fitness I feel better, which was the original goal, but the more I ride, the more I want. I feel I have made some good improvements the last month. I have tried to incorporate more sprints, amd climb harder when I come up on a decent hill. Still a long way to go, and I probably wont make my metric century at this point, mainly due to a lack of time in the saddle.

I ran into a new leg pain tonight. Back of my right leg at the top of my calf. Hopefully it will go away.

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[black2002ls]

A little googling and the development of some hamstring pain has led me to a self diagnosis of biceps femoris tendinopathy. Hooray for sports injuries. Not sure if it is related to the fit, or going too hard too fast. This has been one of my lighter weeks milage wise. I have changed my routine to riding Saturday and Sunday, monday and tuesday off, and riding Wednesday and Thursday. I feel a bit like it is a fit issue, I put 200 miles on the old bike with no issue, 75 miles into the new bike and some pain develops. So, I will take it easy this weekend, some ice stretching and icy hot and see how I feel on Monday. Hopefully my two softball games tonight don't give me any issue!

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[black2002ls]

Progress. Progress is good. Took the weekend off. Did 8 miles on Monday, taking it fairly easy. Tonight one of my riding partners was with me and we did one of our 20 mile loops. We shaved 8 minutes off of the fastest time on that particular route. I was pulling hills at 12-15 mph and still had gas in the tank for the flats.

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[DON SVO]

Progress. Progress is good. Took the weekend off. Did 8 miles on Monday, taking it fairly easy. Tonight one of my riding partners was with me and we did one of our 20 mile loops. We shaved 8 minutes off of the fastest time on that particular route. I was pulling hills at 12-15 mph and still had gas in the tank for the flats.

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Keep it up man! I still remember all the old posts from Strychnine and Slider about their rides and doing the 100 mile races. All my family is from Wichita Walls so the outstanding joke with my dad is that, if I ever transition into distance riding, I ride the Hotter than Hell 100.

Thus far I am good with jogging and weight lifting

[black2002ls]

I hope to ride the hotter N hell next year! We will see how it goes. I wish I had not stopped riding 2 years ago. I would be in a COMPLETELY different place right now with my riding.

I need to start planning a winter workout schedule. I plan to reduce miles and increase strength training. I do have to be mindful of the exercises I incorporate so as not to cause any issues with my back.

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[black2002ls]

Another 15 miles in tonight. I gave up at the end. Experiencing a TON of shoulder and neck pain. At first I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I had put quite a few miles on right after I bought the felt and had it fit with no issue. Then got to thinking, I swapped the bars, and the stem, then the stem again. Adjusted the hoods, moved things around. So out came the 4' level and bullet level. Bullet level on the saddle, 4' level on the hoods. The right hood is 1-2" lower than the left. Hopefully that is causing me to load my right shoulder and carry more weight on that side.

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[AnthonyS]

Another 15 miles in tonight. I gave up at the end. Experiencing a TON of shoulder and neck pain. At first I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I had put quite a few miles on right after I bought the felt and had it fit with no issue. Then got to thinking, I swapped the bars, and the stem, then the stem again. Adjusted the hoods, moved things around. So out came the 4' level and bullet level. Bullet level on the saddle, 4' level on the hoods. The right hood is 1-2" lower than the left. Hopefully that is causing me to load my right shoulder and carry more weight on that side.

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This sucks. I actually considered writing a cautionary post a few weeks about measuring everything before the swap. I should have. You want to measure ground to top of hoods. Hoods to saddle. Bar to saddle etc. measure and then make a planned change of a few mm here or there and then ride. You do it to make sure you are symmetrical and so you can undo any changes. Any chance you marked original bar and stem before change and can go back?

I'm going to change my handlebar soon. I will mark it at stem for correct angle to set hood height before removal. I will also measure ground to hoods so I can set new bar. Seat to hoods lets you know if reach changes. Bars all have different reach length. And since my new bar is an aero bar I get to reroute cables.....

[AnthonyS]

P.S. Don't be afraid to go back to fitter and admit your mistakes. They will likely take pity on you. I can go with you too. I'm a long time customer there so maybe we can get this sorted out for you.

[AnthonyS]

And I think I'm finally ready to ride this weekend after the pneumonia probably only 20 mikes or so but it sure will be nice to ride.

[black2002ls]

Why hell no I didn't measure, that would make too much sense! I think I can get it sorted out myself. Worst case, I can measure height on my specialized and work from there. The only issue right now is in my right shoulder and right side of my neck, everything else is fine. I still wonder if the bars are a bit wide. I will get the right hood adjusted and go from there.

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[black2002ls]

I've also got some complimentary rechecks with the BG fit I had done.

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[black2002ls]

Well, I was up about 6:15, grabbed some breakfast adjusted my right hood and headed to the Saturday meeting spot. 8 of us total. After realizing my fitness level was not quite up with theirs, they set me up in the middle of the pack and we hummed along at 18-20 mph for a while. I skipped my 20 mile turn off and committed to the long haul. They sent me up front to pull for 1-2 miles, I was feeling good at that point so I set the pace at 19. Unfortunately I burned up my legs, we were 18-20 miles in at that point and I hadn't been hitting the water bottle or my food at all. I am still a little unstable reaching around, I typically stop pedalling to drink from the bottle. Getting power bar chews from a pack I didn't properly prepare, forget about it! This isn't the type of group to take breaks either!! Finally I managed a few chews out of the pack. By thid point I was a good ways off the back of the group. Thankfully one of the guys stayed with me for about 95% of the ride, pushinv me and encouraging me. At about 32 miles, I fell off of the pace pretty good and ended up losing the group. We were on the home stretch. As we hit the last mile and a half, I was reeling. Maybe not enough nutrition, maybe a lack of endurance. The last stretch goes right past my house and it took everything in me at that point to finish that last 1/2 mile to the starting point. Once there, we shot the breeze for a bit and everyone dispersed. I realized I was at 37 miles.....NO WAY was I going home with less than 40 at that point. At the end of it, I totalled 40.6 miles, average cadence of 86 and an average speed of 16.5.

Surveying the damage. I kept forgetting to cut the zip tie off of the new saddle, and for about the first 12 miles, I felt what I thought was the clipped (pointed)end of the zip tie rubbing my inner thigh on the right side. After fiddling around with it off and on, I finally realized it was the velcro for my saddlebag. While stretching after I got home, I realized I now have a brand new air vent in the left thigh of my bibs. In the end, small price to pay for a very fulfilling ride. 10 miles past my previous longest ride. Now, to rest and assess the soreness in the morning!!

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[Strychnine]

10 miles past my previous longest ride.

Solid. Nice work.

I'm getting back into riding finally also. Being back up here with other guys I know who ride, being right next to the Trinity Trails, etc are all motivating me again. Knowing we were going to be downtown I even managed to talk my wife into riding recently... with one stipulation: "I'd love to ride around town with you... but I don't want to worry about shifting gears."

So I sold my Trek Fuel EX6 (haven't been on a MTB ride in like 3 yrs anyway) and got us a pair of single speeds. NON fixie. I'm so far removed from the days of riding BMX bikes I forgot how fun a single speed can be.






I still have that trainer also. Sometime in the next few weeks maybe we can meet up so you can take it.

[black2002ls]

I am getting busier the closer we get to our wedding, but i'll make it work.

Jenn has mentioned wanting to ride, I am going to try and put her on my old allez and see what happens.

The 40 today was extremely rewarding. Having started just over a month ago, I wondered if I would make it to 40 or more on a single ride this season. I am goingto sign up for the 42 at the wish 100 in McKinney Oct. 3rd. How about a DFWm get together for the hotter 'n hell 100 next year?

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[Strychnine]

I am getting busier the closer we get to our wedding, but i'll make it work.

Zero rush. It will just sit around and collect dust until you're free.

How about a DFWm get together for the hotter 'n hell 100 next year?

Quite doubtful... but I won't rule it out. 360 more days? lol