Cycling vs. motorcycling

My local cycling guru is a super nice guy, but he was also a large part of why I asked the initial question in this thread.

He's got tens of thousands into his bikes, and now that I follow him on strava, I am seeing him put in 70 miles at lunch and another 20-30 every night. He's getting caught up in assuming that I will be as intense as he is. His 'kid' is 20. Mine aren't. He's also self-employed. I'm not.

 

Don't focus on the miles. Focus on the hours and quality of training time. This past year I was consistently doing about 8 hours per week, but nothing but trainer intervals and climbing. About 125 miles/wk and 10-14000 feet of climbing. I felt almost as strong as I was when I rode 12-16 hours a week. Problem is instead of being single digit body fat like I was once upon a time I'm about 65 pounds over my ideal racing weight. This holds me back more than anything. Want to be a competitive cyclist? Focus on your body composition and quality training time. Being new it will take a while before you understand what works for you, but I think you can be a very good rider with less training hours if you're highly focused and maintain your ideal body composition. Body composition is HUGE in cycling. Not only does fat lower your power/weight ratio but the increased thermal inertia of being fat will seriously hurt you in warmer weather.

Anyhow: Bicycle are a lot cheaper, but definitely not fucking cheap. You can spend as much money as you want. With racing the biggest costs are logistics. Fuel, hotel stays, food on the road etc. Entry fees are usually very affordable. Depends what type of racing you do. I like endurance and road, don't care for crits at all. Get your feet wet in everything.

This coming season I'm planning to race the SoCal Endurance Series, entry fees for the whole series (6 races) total less than $500. Each race is either 4/8 hours depending what you want to do. If I stay at a close by hotel every time then I could easily spend $1500+ on logistics. Still $2000 is a hell of a lot cheaper than 6 motorcycle road racing weekends.

Where do you live?

 

Stationary trainer for intervals, climb when you ride by yourself, and do every fast group ride or race you can. Never dawdle around on flats by yourself unless you're heading to a climb or a group ride, or it's a deliberate recovery day, or you have zero other opportunity. Do that, commit to a realistic amount of time per week every week and don't fuck around and miss your training time. Do that and you'll be fine and don't have to put in 30 hours.

Athletic base also helps. If you were in another endurance sport prior it will help greatly.

 

This thread has got me interested in riding my spin bike in the winter. I have a Schwin IC Pro Spin bike. Point me in the direction of what I need to inexpensively get into obtaining a semi-smart bike.

I've seen the Wahoo cadence sensors. What else would I need? Dont want to invest in pedals with the built in sensors.

 

If you want power, a cheap and effective option is the 4iii Precision crank arm meter. I was researching these last night and I'm heavily leaning to this option. It's single sided so not as accurate as double sided or spider based, but who cares. $400 for a 105 crank arm w/ power meter installed. You won't need separate cadence, as a crank or spider based power meter will calculate cadence by necessity (e=fd). You will need a separate speed sensor, I use the Wahoo one though Garmin makes an almost identical model.

If you go hub based, a new PowerTap can be found for 200-300. Disadvantage is that you'd have to have one for each wheelset, but at $ 200 bucks a piece it might be reasonable to put one on each wheelset you own. You won't need separate speed as by necessity again the PowerTap will calculate it. You would need separate cadence. I don't like hub based because I don't have great wheels, the labor expense wouldn't be cost effective for the level of wheels I have. You can buy wheels that already have powertap hubs installed though. It also limits your wheel options.

I don't like pedal based because I like my Speedplay pedals and don't want to change. You will need power to effectively use a smart trainer if you eventually go that route.

You need a suitable head unit as well. Edge 25 is an effective option. I have a Cateye Stealth 50 I got for $50 on clearance. Decent computer but somewhat clunky. Other heads units can do fantastic things like calculate your VO2 max, FTP, etc. when data from cadence, heart, and power is provided together.

If you are going to use the indoor trainer a lot I would definitely invest in power to maximize your training effectiveness.

 

Because of the flywheel, would have to go to a crank based sensor? What do you mean "power"?

 

I live outside Cleveland. 3.5 miles from my local MTB trail.

I'm pushing 6' and weigh less than 175 right now, so I don't have a lot of mass to lose.

My 20 mile ride is 10 miles out and 10 back. It starts downhill and then it's 7 miles of climbing, an easy turnaround, and then 3 miles of climbing to get back home.

 

Can you guys help me here? I'm a 50 yr old over weight guy and want to get into better shape and drop a few pounds. What type of bike should I look at for using one of these trainers and weekend rides. I live in Orlando so there is not much to climb around here and don't really trust the motorist not to run me over either.

I was just on the Giant site and was leaning towards a 2017 Contend 1 but they do have a Contend 3 on sale. What would be your recommendation?

 

Quick drinking booze and down a gallon of water a day.

Any bike that fits will be good enough until you are riding more than 50 miles/week.

/$.02

 

if you can find one of these, go test ride it. rides way way nicer than the price tag. very comfy and versatile. a true all-day, all-weather, multi-surface mile-eater.
skip that giant for sure.

http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/renegadeexpat.html

http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/find-a-dealer.html

 

check craigslist or the like for something used ... if you like it and start pedaling a bunch then grab a left or even a upgraded used bike ..... theres some great riding not far from u in Mt Dora,Clermont and Ocala ! PS - I have a 2012 Ridley Noah Pro around

 

The TCX cross bike is a step above the Contend. Lil more money but you get alot of bike with Giant.
The 105 group set is pretty reliable too. The sora stuff...eh.
Plus you can do off road with the TCX... the Contend only if you were forced there...lol.
If I was going to get a roadbike... the TCX would be one I would get in the advanced model.

Im positive there are lots of paths/trails in Orlando to ride "safely" away from traffic.
http://orangecycleorlando.com/articles/bike-trails-maps-central-florida-ig30/

If youre riding at night... definitely get a bright tail & head light! Also a rear view mirror on your bar end or helmet.
Start slow like 5-10 miles a day and work your way up to a 20 mile ride that can done in an hour. I would plan the route where there is
a minimum of traffic crossings.

As mentioned... Ocala has some great roads & trails to ride. Very cross friendly.

 

A distraction that highlights the differences in us ....
http://yehudamoon.com/comic/2008-01-22/

 

By power I mean a power measuring device. No the flywheel doesn't matter. I use a different wheel for my trainer and on the road, so if I bought a hub based power meter I'd have to install one on each rear wheel. I do this because the trainer will prematurely tear up your tires and they're not cheap, you can buy a special tire that is very wear resistant for the trainer. That means a second rear wheel and cassette. IMO for non-premium wheelsets I think the labor cost of rebuilding the wheel for power is too high. If you're relatively new to riding I wouldn't bother with power. If you're getting really serious and you want to do intervals and structured workouts especially on the trainer I would invest in it.

 

used craigslist bike is terrible advice. waste of money at best, likelihood of fitment/saddle/maintenance/safety/injury risk is basically 100% for a guy like him.

 

That's a good build for riding. I've never been but from my understanding there's some pretty good terrain for riding in that area, especially offroad. Looks beautiful too. If I lived out there I'd definitely get a cross bike, that way you can make more interesting rides by hitting dirt and you have a solid bike for winter.

 

That is why you have to just switch to Enduro races. You still have to be in pretty good shape to be able to make the climbs for all of the stages in a day, but at least you don't have to worry about getting slaughtered on the climbs.

 

I have been riding on and off for about 15 years, but I have never raced. I would like to get into it, but I only started going on group rides last year and I'm still not completely comfortable in the group. You never know who's in there, it's not exactly like a group of white plates at the track!

I have seen a few crits from the sidelines, they look a bit scary. What other types of races are there for roadies? How can I judge my fitness level to see if I'm ready to start racing in the lower classes? I'm on strava, so I have plenty of data (no power meter, though). I swear some of these KOMs are being done in cars.

I live in Ft. Lauderdale so I can ride year round, but there's not many climbs, so I'm on my own for interval training. I mostly ride solo, maybe twice per week. I'm out of town 3-4 days a week so the time is available to ride, it's just compressed a bit.

 

Gino, check out USA Cycling if you want to see what events are in your area. Not sure when they post the 2017 schedule, if there's nothing there just keep checking. In terms of judging your fitness level...just sign up for a race!! Strava is cool, but you really don't know what a given rider was going for on any ride. Maybe going all out..maybe they're doing a recovery ride. I think you'll have fun and the racing is cheap! BTW you can buy a 1 day license for $10!! No need to shell out the $70 for a full year.

 

A road race is typically safer than a crit, although IMO not as much fun.

If you really want to lower your risk, try a time trial.