Mad Manatees 2015.3 CLOSED (or Poptarts? Pet pics?) (Page 35)

I have the Shut Up Legs badge as well as 26.2, 13.1 and seventy.three. I also have a Navy badge to remind myself that DS2 is doing some pretty difficult stuff. My Road ID itself says "Remember Oceanside" because I figure if I can propel myself for 70.3 miles I can get through whatever the current challenge may be.

You have enough room for all those badges?!  Does any of the plastic of the bracelet show? 

Good plan.  When the body calls a time-out, pushing through it just isn't worth it.

The plastic band is the childs size so no, there isn't much blue showing . I might have to have a special one made for PPA

Speaking of PPA, when DS1 and I do these climbs I dread going back down. It feels like a controlled fall (sometimes it IS a fall) and I'm tense most of the time. I am so glad I'm not doing the PPM!!!

I don't know a whole lot about bike equipment terminology.  By 3x8, do you mean 3 chain rings on the front and 8 gears on the back?  I have 9 on the back right now.  I'm thinking of upgrading my group set to 105 or Ultegra.  I know there's no point in getting old components just so I can stay with 9 gears when new group sets are for 10.  I was planning for upgrading in the Fall.  I'm thinking I want it sooner!!

Originally posted by Jet Black The guy that teaches the spin class I do sometimes on Thursday mornings has been trying to get me to go on a group ride with his club for a while now. I've been meaning to do it, but it never worked out. Well I finally made it out with those guys on Saturday morning. We did 3 ~20 mile stretches with rest in between. Each started out at a moderate pace (21-23 mph) which in a pace line was fairly easy to maintain, then ramped up along the way with a sprint finish. The oh crap moment came about 14 miles into the first block. The pace keeps getting faster and faster and before I know it I'm dropped, so I drop down into my aerobars and hammer away trying to catch back up. I look down and I'm doing 27-28 mph and losing ground. We get done with the ride and eat at the pizza place where we parked our cars (which was awesome and happens to sponsor them) and everybody is checking out the data on their phones. So I open up strava and notice that cool little feature that tells you who else you did that activity with. So I start looking at the names of all these guys and recognize most of them as they have a ton of KOMs in our area. Yeah, that 6.5 mile run I did before the ride probably wasn't the best idea lol! I've now joined the club and need to get a road bike, haha. I'm definitely going to get way stronger riding with these beasts. I'm pretty excited about it. tl;dr version: went on group ride with cycling club, got dropped, then joined said cycling club

And I was excited about going that fast on a downhill!  Sounds like you've found a great group that'll push you hard.  Hope you're not up to S-1 or you're gonna have to do some negotiating.

If you are riding a triple ring, you are probably ahead of most as that generally provides for good climbing.  I don't think I'd mess with it.  Just ride as much as you can.

Originally posted by Jet Black The guy that teaches the spin class I do sometimes on Thursday mornings has been trying to get me to go on a group ride with his club for a while now. I've been meaning to do it, but it never worked out. Well I finally made it out with those guys on Saturday morning. We did 3 ~20 mile stretches with rest in between. Each started out at a moderate pace (21-23 mph) which in a pace line was fairly easy to maintain, then ramped up along the way with a sprint finish. The oh crap moment came about 14 miles into the first block. The pace keeps getting faster and faster and before I know it I'm dropped, so I drop down into my aerobars and hammer away trying to catch back up. I look down and I'm doing 27-28 mph and losing ground. We get done with the ride and eat at the pizza place where we parked our cars (which was awesome and happens to sponsor them) and everybody is checking out the data on their phones. So I open up strava and notice that cool little feature that tells you who else you did that activity with. So I start looking at the names of all these guys and recognize most of them as they have a ton of KOMs in our area. Yeah, that 6.5 mile run I did before the ride probably wasn't the best idea lol! I've now joined the club and need to get a road bike, haha. I'm definitely going to get way stronger riding with these beasts. I'm pretty excited about it. tl;dr version: went on group ride with cycling club, got dropped, then joined said cycling club

Good for you ,Sean.  You will definately get a lot faster getting pushed by folks like that.  It really sounds like a lot of fun but I've never had the nerve.

Did they let you ride with a tri bike or do you have a road bike with clip-ons?

Originally posted by Jet Black

Originally posted by laffinrock

Originally posted by Jet Black The guy that teaches the spin class I do sometimes on Thursday mornings has been trying to get me to go on a group ride with his club for a while now. I've been meaning to do it, but it never worked out. Well I finally made it out with those guys on Saturday morning. We did 3 ~20 mile stretches with rest in between. Each started out at a moderate pace (21-23 mph) which in a pace line was fairly easy to maintain, then ramped up along the way with a sprint finish. The oh crap moment came about 14 miles into the first block. The pace keeps getting faster and faster and before I know it I'm dropped, so I drop down into my aerobars and hammer away trying to catch back up. I look down and I'm doing 27-28 mph and losing ground. We get done with the ride and eat at the pizza place where we parked our cars (which was awesome and happens to sponsor them) and everybody is checking out the data on their phones. So I open up strava and notice that cool little feature that tells you who else you did that activity with. So I start looking at the names of all these guys and recognize most of them as they have a ton of KOMs in our area. Yeah, that 6.5 mile run I did before the ride probably wasn't the best idea lol! I've now joined the club and need to get a road bike, haha. I'm definitely going to get way stronger riding with these beasts. I'm pretty excited about it. tl;dr version: went on group ride with cycling club, got dropped, then joined said cycling club

And I was excited about going that fast on a downhill!  Sounds like you've found a great group that'll push you hard.  Hope you're not up to S-1 or you're gonna have to do some negotiating.

I wasn't able to hold that for more than a mile or so I think. And I'm not remembering what the S-1 means, but I'm guessing you're talking about negotating with my wife about buying another bike. I already broke the news to her and she was ok with it because she feels much more comfortable with me riding with a group than solo all the time.

Then don't show her this.

Originally posted by Jet Black

Originally posted by laffinrock

Originally posted by Jet Black The guy that teaches the spin class I do sometimes on Thursday mornings has been trying to get me to go on a group ride with his club for a while now. I've been meaning to do it, but it never worked out. Well I finally made it out with those guys on Saturday morning. We did 3 ~20 mile stretches with rest in between. Each started out at a moderate pace (21-23 mph) which in a pace line was fairly easy to maintain, then ramped up along the way with a sprint finish. The oh crap moment came about 14 miles into the first block. The pace keeps getting faster and faster and before I know it I'm dropped, so I drop down into my aerobars and hammer away trying to catch back up. I look down and I'm doing 27-28 mph and losing ground. We get done with the ride and eat at the pizza place where we parked our cars (which was awesome and happens to sponsor them) and everybody is checking out the data on their phones. So I open up strava and notice that cool little feature that tells you who else you did that activity with. So I start looking at the names of all these guys and recognize most of them as they have a ton of KOMs in our area. Yeah, that 6.5 mile run I did before the ride probably wasn't the best idea lol! I've now joined the club and need to get a road bike, haha. I'm definitely going to get way stronger riding with these beasts. I'm pretty excited about it. tl;dr version: went on group ride with cycling club, got dropped, then joined said cycling club

And I was excited about going that fast on a downhill!  Sounds like you've found a great group that'll push you hard.  Hope you're not up to S-1 or you're gonna have to do some negotiating.

I wasn't able to hold that for more than a mile or so I think. And I'm not remembering what the S-1 means, but I'm guessing you're talking about negotating with my wife about buying another bike. I already broke the news to her and she was ok with it because she feels much more comfortable with me riding with a group than solo all the time.

Yup, S-1 is the number of bikes you can have before your wife kicks you out.  The ideal number of bikes is somewhere between N+1 and S-1.   Definitely don't show her Steve's picture or let her watch any of the TdF if she thinks group rides are safer!

Sounds like this wasn't a problem.

Originally posted by Jet Black

Originally posted by brigby1

Originally posted by Jet Black Steve, they let me ride my tri bike, but just asked that I stay at/towards the rear and to stay out of the aero bars while in the pack. And yeah, not showing her that pic, lol!

Should help you redefine what "hard" is. 

Yeah, just a little bit. It was crazy how I was able to put out much more effort even on tired legs than I can in spin class or solo rides. My HR was way up there with what seemed like less effort, but in reality I was putting out a much harder effort.

My brother gets to go out with some guys up in Cat 1 territory, or some triathletes pushing near the pro level. Reaches near max HR every time and not sure he's been able to hold on.

Originally posted by laffinrock

Originally posted by Jet Black

Originally posted by laffinrock

Originally posted by Jet Black The guy that teaches the spin class I do sometimes on Thursday mornings has been trying to get me to go on a group ride with his club for a while now. I've been meaning to do it, but it never worked out. Well I finally made it out with those guys on Saturday morning. We did 3 ~20 mile stretches with rest in between. Each started out at a moderate pace (21-23 mph) which in a pace line was fairly easy to maintain, then ramped up along the way with a sprint finish. The oh crap moment came about 14 miles into the first block. The pace keeps getting faster and faster and before I know it I'm dropped, so I drop down into my aerobars and hammer away trying to catch back up. I look down and I'm doing 27-28 mph and losing ground. We get done with the ride and eat at the pizza place where we parked our cars (which was awesome and happens to sponsor them) and everybody is checking out the data on their phones. So I open up strava and notice that cool little feature that tells you who else you did that activity with. So I start looking at the names of all these guys and recognize most of them as they have a ton of KOMs in our area. Yeah, that 6.5 mile run I did before the ride probably wasn't the best idea lol! I've now joined the club and need to get a road bike, haha. I'm definitely going to get way stronger riding with these beasts. I'm pretty excited about it. tl;dr version: went on group ride with cycling club, got dropped, then joined said cycling club

And I was excited about going that fast on a downhill!  Sounds like you've found a great group that'll push you hard.  Hope you're not up to S-1 or you're gonna have to do some negotiating.

I wasn't able to hold that for more than a mile or so I think. And I'm not remembering what the S-1 means, but I'm guessing you're talking about negotating with my wife about buying another bike. I already broke the news to her and she was ok with it because she feels much more comfortable with me riding with a group than solo all the time.

Yup, S-1 is the number of bikes you can have before your wife kicks you out.  The ideal number of bikes is somewhere between N+1 and S-1.   Definitely don't show her Steve's picture or let her watch any of the TdF if she thinks group rides are safer!

N is what you have. S is spousal separation.

Yeah, I'd lean towards just leaving it. Was curious about maybe finding a little more with a cassette swap, but not sure you'd be able to just do that. Depending on what the rear derailleur is you might have to swap that out too if it was any more than 27 or 28t. Might already have a longer cage rear derailleur though since the front is a triple.

Also, generally speaking, if you're at the point of swapping out an entire groupset it's often worth considering just getting a new bike (read as "another" bike). Triples tend to be down in the lower end where you can really find some value for the money, and since you're in Colorado you may really want the triple. For an entire groupset swap to make sense it'd have to be an incredible deal to get and install it.

The reason I've thought about swapping out the groupset is that the brifters and front derailleur are Tiagra and rear derailleur is 105, plus it feels like there's a lot of play in the brifters no matter how recently it's been tuned up.  The bike has a carbon fork and seat post and I got it used $550, so I figured putting a little money into it would be worth it.  When I talked with the LBS where I bought it, they agreed.  I think the bike is a 2009 or so.  What do you think? 

Can't believe nobody's posted these invaluable marathon training tips.

Originally posted by Jet Black

Originally posted by brigby1

Originally posted by Jet Black Steve, they let me ride my tri bike, but just asked that I stay at/towards the rear and to stay out of the aero bars while in the pack. And yeah, not showing her that pic, lol!

Should help you redefine what "hard" is. 

Yeah, just a little bit. It was crazy how I was able to put out much more effort even on tired legs than I can in spin class or solo rides. My HR was way up there with what seemed like less effort, but in reality I was putting out a much harder effort.

Sean, I am convinced that all different ride types are good for you in one way or another. Solo has benefits (and dangers). Group is the same. MTB, road, CX, etc. You get a benefit from them all. I have found that group rides push me more, but I have also had more "incidents" in group. I have actually lowered my group participation this year.  I hope to get back with them a few times, but it hasn't worked out yet.  It is pretty cool that you had such a positive experience in the group. Good luck with the bike shopping!

BTW, after the road bike you also need a CX bike, a single speed, a MTB, and a cruiser. And if you buy them all, you probably won't need a tandem