Adventure pushies

[NordieBoy]

Turners flows?

Turners is full of straights and those funny downhill hairpin things you walk around.


Looks like the Top Gun XC race is going to be...
Up Sharlands, down Waterloo, What the DoCtor Ordered and Willow Lane, up Sharlands, down Waterloo...

A little repetitive and that climb will be soul destroying on the 3rd lap...

By my guesstimate, that's an 8km long, 512m gain, climb.
Each lap...

[NordieBoy]

I've been taking some slow release sucrose/gelatin capsules with me on my rides into Richmond. I didn't today. Got 2/3's of the way to Big Skid and bonked. Not so much fun after that.

[Willdat?]

Still a pretty serious ride! I rode out to Wakefield and back with Luca on the back this week...

[NordieBoy]

Yeah, 50km with the Richmond Hills in the middle...
Ride for an hour to get to the hills, ride for an hour in the hills, ride home for an hour...
Max cruising speed on the flat of 20kph...

Seems more like dehydration than bonking now. Not enough to drink before starting the ride.

But next time I'm taking a pocket full of gummy bears, ah, sucrose/gelatine capsules

Also broke one of my bar ends
Hit a bump with my weight on the end and it moved, did it up too tight and stripped the thread
It's a bugger riding with one bar end...

Picked up some cool Zero Team Carbon Bar Ends. Meh. They might be nice and ergo for someone, but not me. They'll do though.

[nzspokes]

Just to show I do ride it from time to time. Riverhead is still great riding.

In a sap your soul kinda way.

[R650R]

Yeah, 50km with the Richmond Hills in the middle...
Ride for an hour to get to the hills, ride for an hour in the hills, ride home for an hour...
Max cruising speed on the flat of 20kph...

Seems more like dehydration than bonking now. Not enough to drink before starting the ride.

But next time I'm taking a pocket full of gummy bears, ah, sucrose/gelatine capsules

Also broke one of my bar ends
Hit a bump with my weight on the end and it moved, did it up too tight and stripped the thread
It's a bugger riding with one bar end...

Picked up some cool Zero Team Carbon Bar Ends. Meh. They might be nice and ergo for someone, but not me. They'll do though.

You need to eat right leading up to bigger longer rides too. Your body uses its reserves faster than they can be replenished.
I usually take a magnesium tablet (has other minerals added to) before a ride.
Forget the technical names but your muscles have a store of some sort of sugar/fat/energy that only lasts an hour or so no matter how fit you are and once depleted cant be fully replenished on the move.
When I was doing longer hours and didn't have time to eat properly prior I used various protein/carb powder meal stuff and found it very effective for the body being able to exercise longer.
Some of those gels are good but they are only ever a temporary boost.
Have a coffee to, the caffeine helps the body metabolise fat reserves into energy.

I've been drinking less water lately as camel back bladder broken and have been fine except for inconvenience of stopping to drink from a bottle. Firefighter mate reckons they got taught that your stomach can only absorb 200ml of water an hour no matter how dehydrated you are. This is kind of backed up by the top XC riders who will only use 600ml or less water in a 2-3 hour race.

[NordieBoy]

Most studies say about 1-2 600ml bottles per hour for normal exercise and up to 4 in hot conditions.
You can also lose water at the rate of 1.8L per hour via sweating and breathing.

I usually get through 600ml in a 2hr race if it's not hot and 2 bottles otherwise.
Training, I get through a bottle an hour as it's easier to remember to drink every 10min.

[NordieBoy]

Finally did the Richmond XC track yesterday. Now I know which turn to take it makes more sense.
Almost did Terminus without walking and only walked twice on Bermed Monster. Escalator was relatively easy(ish).

Now to ride it with some speed!

[NordieBoy]

By my guesstimate, that's an 8km long, 512m gain, climb.
Each lap...

Ah, actually only about 4km

Piss easy

[NordieBoy]

Just reading a little of Tour De France history.
Almost as tough as the Richmond Hills in the rain...

Tour de France Stage 10: Bayonne – Luchon, 326 km
Tuesday, July 6th, 1926

At 5,745 km The 17 stage, 1926 Tour de France was the longest in history and its Stage 10 had just about everything you could imagine in a bike race and has long been noted as the toughest stage in Tour de France history. Here are some brief highlights of this epic stage in one of the most epic editions of the Tour in history.

Length: Yeah, you read right, 326km (202.5 miles). To put that in perspective in 2013 the longest stage on tap for the Tour is 242 km (150 miles), professional racers will be on 15 pound bikes with 11 speed drivetrains, racing on fully paved roads, with team cars, radios, bike swaps, etc., In 1926 racers would have been atop 30+ pound singlespeed bikes and pretty much on their own for repairs, etc.,

Of the 126 riders who started the 1926, 82 were non-sponsored independents. Only 41 racers would finish the ’26 Tour. By the way, while the 326 km is damn long, it was not actually the longest stage in 1926, that honor belonged to the flat, 433 km Stage 3: Metz to Dunkirk.

Climbs: Racers would ascend over 19,500 feet as they climbed a route called the “circle of death” which contained the Col d’Ousqich, Col d’Aubisque, Cirque du Litor, Col du Soulor, Col du Tourmalet, Col d’Aspin and Col de Peyresourde. Keep in mind at this time most– if not all– of the mountain roads were dirt and the foul weather turned many of them to wheel sucking mud as the stage wore on.

Weather: Because the distance and the climbing wasn’t enough of a hell for the racers to deal with, Stage 10 also contained heavy rain, thunder, lightning, sleet, wind, below freezing temperatures and icy mountain fog. Sick.

Start Time: Unlike the Tour of today with start times in the late morning to afternoon, Stage 10 of the 1926 Tour would have riders starting at 2 a.m. in the morning. Not sure what sort of crowd they had for the send off or how many silly sponsor vehicles lead the riders over the passes. It also unknown (but highly doubted) if the racers utilized high powered L.E.D. lights to guide themselves through the dark hours of the race as we happily do today.

A Race: For most, it would be enough just to survive or finish such as stage, but the fact is, this was the Tour de-freaking France… not just a race, THE race! And race they did. Gustaaf Van Slembrouck started the day in the yellow jersey, 22 minutes down on him was the Belgian Lucien Buysse and on this day Buysse was not to be denied. Not only did he battle the elements and the climbs but he also found the energy and the will to put in multiple attacks on a small lead group of rivals in the mountains. Finally he opened up a gap on the Col de Peyresourde that stuck and crossed the line in Luchon, taking the Stage 10 victory in a time of 15 Hours, 12 minutes and 4 seconds and the yellow jersey. Odile Taillieu would finish 36 minutes 14 seconds behind him.

[nzspokes]

Anybody want a pair of brand new 27.5 wheels with DT rims and 6 bolt? Will go on TM over the weekend.

$300

[NordieBoy]

Anybody want a pair of brand new 27.5 wheels with DT rims and 6 bolt? Will go on TM over the weekend.

$300

Hmmm, there's room in the corner of the Emporium and I don't have any 650b wheels yet...
Or a 650b bike...

[nzspokes]

Hmmm, there's room in the corner of the Emporium and I don't have any 650b wheels yet...
Or a 650b bike...

More than a few fitting them to 26" frames. Not that I would know anything about that.

[nzspokes]

Oh and they are 12x142 rear and 15mm front.

[NordieBoy]

More than a few fitting them to 26" frames. Not that I would know anything about that.

That's the idea with the Stumpy hard tail. They fit in the rear, but...
I'd have to get new forks, the RockShox SID's definitely don't work.

Oh and they are 12x142 rear and 15mm front.

Well that makes the decision easier...
Everything I've got is 9mm QR.