...or, how I stopped worrying and learned to love the burn

[bob_summers]

haha thanks! At least, as far as I know, there are no turbo trainers in prison. I'll look on it as a holiday...

[sergio]

Sorry about that frame! Expect a lot of taxes and extra money (derechos aduana, IVA aduana, recargo, gastos terminal, etc). I don't know how exactly they are applying the antidumping policy for chinese bikes!. You won't go to prison but good luck!

[bob_summers]

No movement on the frame. It's still in customs... they don't reply to emails and the phone number just goes to a recorded message. The cut-off date was a week ago, so they might even have sent it back to China!

Anyway, last week

Mon
1h45 turbo
Endurance. Don't remember much other than loooong. Roll on the longer days, the turbo is beginning to get to me!

Tues/Thurs commute

Fri
1h15
3x15' over/unders
Haven't done these before, felt too easy but resisted cranking up the CP as I guess over/unders aren't supposed to be hard hard.

Sat
55km Cruce, fixie
Hard to find roads still open after all the recent flooding. Got to the Cruce and turned back as it really started raining. Karma points.

Sun
100km Larraitz, fixie
Grrr boring solo flat ride... then I check later on Strava to see a clubmate did more or less the same route just 3 mins behind me, but we never met.

Mon
Ended up working, so no turbo. More karma points, torrential rain on both commute legs meaning all my kit is hanging up to hopefully dry for tomorrow.
Found the weak point of the Crud guards.. they are slim but do a good job of keeping the front wheel spray off your feet. Until there's a crosswind, which blows the water pouring from the guard to one side, meaning every pedal stroke you shove one foot into a cold stream of water!

[Alistar]

Sounds like you've had some bad weather up there. Don't worry as Winter will soon be over! Yeah sucks about the frame. 750bucks down the drain?

[bob_summers]

Just noticed my last reply got eaten by the forum somehow. Well there's not been much going on anyway!

Loads of bad weather (150kmh winds today), flooding, road closures up the coast, so it's been pretty grim plodding along on the old fixie. With that and some decent quality turbo sessions I've kept on top of things but the fact remains I'm way behind last year and a few kgs heavier. No real goals this year though.

I dropped the Pego off at the workshop this weekend. The guy does some nice work, and didn't seem that busy so it might not take too long. looks like it *might* need both seat stays replacing, but it's not much more work to do two. I don't want to see it until summer anyway, no more snowy salty training rides for sure.

The Chinese frame arrived this morning after finally paying the full monte in tax and charges (hmmph..) so I built it up tonight and it looks pretty good. Everything fit together a treat (lotsa stories on web about headset not fitting, internal cables impossible to route, BB threads wrong etc) but no problems. It looks very small... but the contact points are where I want them, feels good on the turbo, just might have to swap the 110 stem for a 120. Just not a fan of compact geo I guess.
Scary thing is the weight. With the race wheels on (and yet to fit cages, pedals and bar tape) it was a few grams under 6kg Not for windy days then.
Will try and give it a shakedown on the commute tomorrow if I get time to finish it off.

[Alistar]

Yeah been pretty nasty up there by the looks with lots of big lows/storm systems in the Atlantic
[quote="bob_summers"]It looks very small... but the contact points are where I want them, feels good on the turbo, just might have to swap the 110 stem for a 120. Just not a fan of compact geo I guess.
Scary thing is the weight. With the race wheels on (and yet to fit cages, pedals and bar tape) it was a few grams under 6kg

[Mr. Cleetus]

Where the pics?!

hm, 6kg. sounds like fun.

[bob_summers]

Well with winter wheels, 2 bottle cages, computer, steerer cut and rear blinkie it's exactly 6.66kg . I panicked a bit about the flex - it seemed to bend easily when I was standing on the pedals to fasten the chain quick link. But did a commute on it today, first time in a while on gears, and climbing a rise a few gears too high and... no flex, just loads of drive. Also, a very numb feel. Like when you've got a heavy cold, and can't really feel anything. That. I've only ridden a couple of modern carbon frames, and they felt pretty much the same, quiet and muted. It's not really a bad thing, but odd after years of steel frames.
Hard to say more after 20 wet kms without really sorting the position, will report back. Not bad for the money though

Al, what wheels have you gone for?

[bob_summers]

Took a few pics, dirty bike and camera flash don't make for good photos though. Doing this on a mobile phone so sorry if they are ridiculously huge or tiny.

[Alistar]

New bike looks great! Got some nice black pro4's on too! Corner great eh!
[quote="bob_summers"]Al, what wheels have you gone for?

[bob_summers]

yeah, time was , you'd build your own on a budget but last time I did that I found the same wheels on CRC for a few quid less than I'd spend on parts.

Pro 4s on your recommendation, though haven't had much use out of them thanks to the recent weather. been trashing a pair of krylions or lithions (can't remember which) instead.

Another commute on Chinese bike but still no proper ride. hate the internal routing.. even with new cables shifting is draggy as fuck. But as the roads were drying out a bit today I had some great fun sticking it into roundabouts faster than I would normally.

[bob_summers]

A few rides over the weekend, which was challenging with baby's first stomach bug... up to my eyeballs in body fluids. ANyway...

Fri
Aia loop 55km

Was quite excited - still light at 17:45 so ditched the turbo for some real roads. But we're not *quite* there yet, darkness fell very quickly with 45m still to ride, and had a very nervy climb & descent of Igeldo in pitch dark with just a pathetic blinkie. Nervy not so much 'coz of the dark, but as it's a minor country lane the (very occasional) traffic hoons along with lights on full, and nobody sees my puny light so I have to dive into the verge to escape. That, and there are only a couple of farms up there, so no reason for much traffic to be there other than (I guess) they've had a few beers after work and want to avoid the main roads
Wanted to see <2h00 on the new superlight frame but my legs can't back it up and the weight I'm carrying over last year cancels out any weight saving. 2h02 is not far off and with a bit of daylight and less wind on the tops, might've been sub 2h.

Sat
Cruce de Arano 50km

Strict 1h30 curfew, just did an out and back and tried to keep the avg up over 30. Struggled to get the HR up, but finished with 31+ avg.

Sun
Meagas, Zumaia 80km

Curfew again. Feeling slow again, legs not really there and HR lazy. Didn't feel good at all on the hills. Was out early & solo, but just wanted to catch a big group to ride home on. Wheelsucked a couple on tri bikes for a few km, that was fun hanging on to a bike with disc wheel, they sound mental!

With a few more kms on the China bike, I'm very happy with it. Great fun descending Igeldo with its sharp hairpins, lots of braking from 60 -> 5kmh then trying to turn 180º with the brakes still on, better than the Pego in that respect! Not fond of carbon though. Had to stop and check I hadn't snapped it when I hit a rough patch and there was a loud CRACK (maybe just the chain slapping), not used to that. And the internal routing is not winning me over, draggy cables and I think they are rattling against each other in the downtube over rougher stuff. But the weight is a real winner.. need a 130 stem though to get the position right and it'll be there.

[bob_summers]

Baby sick with a tummy bug last week, so a bit hectic:

Tues/Thurs commute

Weds
Aia loop 2h2m43

So after the disappointment of not going <2h last week, I loaded vBob into the Garmin and tried to beat him. Harder than I thought (vBob's time was the mediocre one from last week), he was a minute clear immediately thanks to traffic, and it took all the first climb to catch up. We were more or less neck and neck the rest of the way, though I beat him after a clear descent back to town, he'd got stuck behind a car. Again, secretly hoped for a <2h but that is some way off. Happy not to be going backwards. Fastest I've been in February though, if that's consolation. Just having that last descent in daylight would be worth half a minute.

Fri
Cruce

Quick OnB, tried to keep the work high but as ever hard to concentrate on HR, seems sluggish. Finished with 31kmh avg, must do better.

Sat
Fast group, 125km (Meaga Errezil Andatzarrate Igeldo)

Sat morning with the fast guys. Hard session with 1900m and a strong southerly. I was cooked...last wheel on the flat into the wind, looked up and we'd been gapped. The fella gave up so I had to get back on solo and burned a few too many matches, so once we started climbing up to Bidania I got dropped straight away, legs empty. Fortunately I wasn't the only one. Regrouped for a coffee in Tolosa, then did the last two climbs in the growing autobus.
Was a bit depressed to be so far behind (def feeling the lack of strength work) after doing a pretty big base mileage but to be fair these guys are a league above and I did finish the ride (about 20 started, only 6 of us did the whole thing the rest bailing before the last 2 climbs). Hope for better next time.

Sun
Arritxulegi Agiña 80km

Sooo tired after yesterday. Hilly solo ride, had that S wind again making the first half tough. Down to single digit kms over the top of Arritxulo and pedalling hard on the descent into wind. Unable to do much more than veg on the sofa afterwards so probably not 100% anyway this week, might be a virus or just lack of rest (baby not sleeping due to illness)

[bob_summers]

Hmm, where to begin? Not going to log every ride for the last month as frankly I have no idea and nothing has stood out!

SO, still commuting a few times a week on the fixie.
Training once, twice or sometimes even three evenings a week in midweek. It depends totally on the planets aligning and if I do get out, it's at 17:30 so dark before the end of the ride. Clocks change in a week though.

Saturdays - been training with the fast group most weeks. Same story every week; I can follow the fast guys on the first climbs but then we get strung out in the wind, get dropped, manage to get back on then spat out again when the big climb starts. Pretty tough love, we waited half an hour while some guy with a flat faffed around trying to get it fixed (super deep rims and noone with a long valve tube or adaptor) but if you get dropped it's game over, see you next week! It's what I need though. Didn't go today (looking at Strava seems nobody did) as the weather was crap so I went out solo on the fixie. Wet and miserable, add a puncture with frozen fingers and that's gotta be some weather karma in the bank.

Club runs started three weeks ago. They get slower and slower every season! Last Sunday we covered 24kms in the first hour of a flat run. Really needs splitting into two groups but we don't have the numbers. Anyway, no worries.. treat the first 40km or so as a social ride and then go and do more with some of the keener lads. Tomorrow has a bad forecast so don't expect many to be out, so will take the fixie again and try and get three hours in, back in time for MSR.

Mountain bike - zero. Don't have one built up even, after having to clear out mini-Me's new bedroom (my ex bike room) so I have three frames and some bits in boxes. The Yeti has a shot rear linkage. Neither of my two susp forks are working well, one is leaking oil. I think I'll build up a hardtail with the best of the forks as I'm missing the trails.

[bob_summers]

So last week.

Fri: Aia loop (backwards) 55km 2hrs

Seriously windy as I left and it got stronger. Tailwind from Aia so prime for a good shot at the segment Aia-Orio (no chance of KOM thanks to the Tour of Basque Country) but it was too windy to hold any speed on the first few curves with the wind blowing me from one side of the road to the other. Finished 4th which isn't bad since 1st is world tour and 2nd&3rd are a bunch time. By the time I was at the top of Igeldo I'd lost the light and the wind was only getting stronger so a hairy last few kms.

Sat: Errezil lop 110km 3h30

With the fast group. Wasn't feeling great with a cough and generally snotty but the legs were ok. Managed to avoid being the first to get shelled, and as the climb started I held the first group until it got steeper. Held 165bpm to the top with another guy and as we went over we'd dropped about 6 guys so quite a result for me (usually one of the last to the top). Felt pretty nauseous afterward though, cough got worse so cut the last 20km to go straight home to the sofa...

Sun: Club run, Leitza loop 100km

Rough day, had a late one the night before, clocks changed and I ended up going to bed at 4am, so felt rotten after 4hrs sleep. Maybe should have sacked it with the cold but they go so slow I couldn't see the harm in it. I think I was actually nodding off in the last hour!

Still looking around for something to do this summer. There's a local sportive in June, the Martxa Abraham Olano* which looks ridiculously hard, 200km, 11 passes and 4500m climbing. It's basically all the bastard climbs in the area strung together. It's 30euros which is a lot of money to ride your local roads though..



*Yes, the guy who got fired from his job designing the Vuelta route after getting rumbled using EPO back in the day...