The Bicycling Thread

[wildbears]

Other strategies to get pressure off of the perineal nerves and vessels include:

Standing of the pedals. Getting out of the saddle periodically helps.

Grinding. The harder you pedal the less pressure down there.

Tummy tuck: Sucking your stomach in causes a more upright position of the pelvis and lifts the peroneum away from the saddle.

[wildbears]

Rode yesterday by the Anchor Hocking plant again. This is a view from the north.



The bike is hidden next to the tree line.

[wildbears]

Bicycle garden art along yesterday's ride. Cool and clear blue skies.

[wildbears]

And stage 8...

[955i]

Turned out to be an interesting stage. Day off today. Back to it Tuesday. Maybe Kuss can turn in the ITT of his life!

[wildbears]

Martinez came and went. But unbelievable 2nd year as a pro.

[955i]

Nice ITT today for several of my favorites.

[wildbears]

And, as far as I could tell, the race organizers didn't screw anything up.

[wildbears]

Stage 12, The Tourmalet!

[wildbears]

Wondering if Remco held back on stage 12 on purpose to restore his legs for the rest of the tour. Maybe thinking there was no way he could win the GC.

[955i]

What an amazingly difficult day of racing. Come on Sepp. I will have heightened respect for Roglic and Vinegaard if they enthusiastically ride for Sepp. I think they might.

[wildbears]

Ditto.

"Come on Sepp. I will have heightened respect for Roglic and Vinegaard if they enthusiastically ride for Sepp. I think they might."

[wildbears]

A sample of the roads near home....the road continues uphill beyond the bright spot of sunlight.

[wildbears]

Younger and Younger

The tours are being dominated by younger riders. So will we ever see dominance by 30 somethings again?

One concept is the younger winners are the result of better training and nutrition starting earlier in life.

So they are getting a head start that is no longer available to the current older riders.

But that doesn't mean they are going to peak earlier. It could be that the head start will push them ahead well into their 30's.

Another facet along the same lines is the idea that muscle training/memory is formed based on the quality of equipment used early on. And that the older riders were training on slower, less responsive bikes. And thus cannot make full use of the modern equipment.

[955i]

Both your points are valid, especially the early training and nutrition. Van Aert, Evenepoel, and van der Poel all came from professional cycling families and were well prepared to race as youngsters. Other young riders also receive good training and equipment as teenagers.

Also, tradition is huge in cycling. The longheld tradition was that a rider had to serve his time in the "Juniors" and on the "B" squad to become seasoned to race with the elites. Having your first "A" team races at 25 was normal. Now, however, the white jersey given in the grand tours to the best rider under 26 is almost meaningless.

[955i]

Wildbears, did yo like the way the Vuelta turned out? For a race that was totally dominated in teh GC by a single team, I thought it was a great show.

[wildbears]

The race was historic and I'm glad I got to witness it.

[wildbears]

The wife and I have been bicycling on the beach this week in South Carolina. No hills....

[wildbears]

Easy Alignment of Saddle and Handlebars.

Stretch a cord from the midpoint of the back of the saddle up to and over the midpoint of the handlebar stem to the midpoint of the handlebars.

The middle of the nose of the saddle should line up with this cord as should the midpoint of the handlebars.

[wildbears]

One Chain for Two Freewheel Cassettes. Or a Tale of Two Quick-Links.

My current bike build will have the option of an 11-28t or 11-34t cassette. I have both. The latter will be used for long and extremely hilly rides.

The chain will initially be sized for the 34t cog using a quick-link.

Some links will then be removed, to include the above quick-link, and a second quick-link used to optimize the chain length for the 28t cassette.

This will allow easy switching between the two chain lengths while optimizing chain length for each cassette.

With the 34t cassette, there is slight chain sag when on the small chain ring and the small cassette cog. While this combination of gears is not optimal and should not be routinely used, I think the rear derailleur will be more responsive with crisper shifts when using the 28t cassette and the shortened chain.

[955i]

I like this whole idea. I think it should work. Let us know how it works for you in practice.

[wildbears]

NIOSH Research Demonstrates the Effectiveness of No-Nose Bicycle Seats in Reducing Groin Pressure and Improving Sexual Health

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2010-163/default.html

https://emedicine.medscape.com/artic...gen%20pressure.

https://www.google.com/search?q=PERS...hrome&ie=UTF-8

[wildbears]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-29/act-cycling-manufacturer-shimano-issues-global-review-crankset/102918296

[955i]

Well, lucky for me I have no Dura-ace. Campy and some gravel Tiagra groupo.