Do You Road Bike?

[Ducati_Scott]

Is anyone still riding road bikes in the San Jose area? I'm starting to train for a century ride and looking for others who want to suffer up HWY 9?

 

[UDRider]

It's all about zwifting brah! Haha

Yeah I am in South Bay, can join depending on weekend. Although 9 kind of sucks. Too many wannabe racers on motorcycles. Lol

 

[Sidewalk]

Anyone going to Sea Otter? I'm making it a 4 day weekend. Driving up Thursday, staying in Salinas, racing Sunday. I'm going to sign up for another race, but haven't decided between Downhill, Dual Slalom, Road, or Circuit. Leaning towards DS. This is my first Sea Otter.

 

[UDRider]

Nope. Not really worth it, plus hills are hard! Haha

 

[Map8]

The Amgen Tour of California starts on Sunday. I'll be watching the start and finish of Stage 1 in downtown Sacramento and might go watch the Stage 2 start on Monday.

Anyone else spectating any of the stages?

 

[UDRider]

Unfortunately no, super busy.
Wish they did TT again. Last year it was amazeballs doing it before the pros.

 

[Sidewalk]

Looks like I'll be visiting the area of Pacifica for a few days in early August. I'm planning to bring my roadie and mountain bike (driving). I'm tempted to hit some of my old motorcycle roads; Redwood/Grizzly, Mines, etc. I've only done those on a motorcycle.

 

[UDRider]

Anyone still riding here? haha
This season was badassery. I am 1 point away from having enough to upgrade to CAT 2.

 

[kelsodeez]

I just moved back from socal. Everything about Southern California makes you not want to ride your bicycle ever, other than the weather. I'm slowly getting getting back into cycling shape and barely cracking up 100 miles a week. Congrats on the cat2 step up. Gonna see if you in that pro peloton soon!

 

[firstbuell]

UDRider - “Congrats!” on that looming class upgrade

kelsodeez - welcome back to G-d’s Green Acres (aka SF Bay Area)

 

[Sidewalk]

25 hours of riding last week in SoCal

I was up there a couple months ago. I did the Dunnigan Hills road race and a bunch of mountain biking. I found that your road racing seen is WAY better than ours, we are crit Kings down here. So I plan to visit more often so I can get some upgrades. I'm not in to the crit thing, and C4 is not where I should be racing...

Congrats on the almost C2!

 

[UDRider]

Thanks!
Probably depends where you are in SoCal. I lived in Irvine for two years while in grad school. It was barely tolerable.

Dunningan "Hills". Ha ha. Small world. I usually don't do it, but decided to do it this year and did quite well, and annoyed half the field with my blabbering. :laughing If I knew you were there would have said hi.

 

[mrzuzzo]

Bump!

I've got a pretty pimped out carbon cyclocross bike with some race level parts.

Did a ride in the hills today with ~1000ft elevation change.

Going uphill is much harder than a MTB since I don't really have any very low gear, but it's manageable.

Going downhill is downright scary to me. I don't know how you guys do it on La Honda Rd. I hate to ride my brakes the whole time too.

Since I ride the brakes a lot downhill I'm thinking of changing the organic pads to sintered. I've got TRP Spyre disc brakes. Thoughts?

 

[rcb78]

Since I ride the brakes a lot downhill I'm thinking of changing the organic pads to sintered. I've got TRP Spyre disc brakes. Thoughts?

Long time roadie (cx and gravel too, along with MTB here and there), shop guy, shop mgr, etc, and still in the business but no longer in retail. Been out of racing for a few years, but now that life has settled a bit I may get back into it.

My $0.02 - Sintered pads will have more initial bite, but the overall stopping power won't change significantly. With mechanical disc brakes the best thing to do is recable them with compressionless housing, it will make a difference that you can actually feel. Just make sure that whatever kit you buy has enough housing if your bike uses full length runs vs interrupted housing runs.
The other 'pro tip' for descending is to be in the drops. You'll have lower center of gravity with more weight on the front wheel. Your hands will be at a lower point on the brake levers for better modulation and more leverage (power) and with your hands at the end of the bars you'll feel less vibration which can mess with your head at high speed.

 

[firstbuell]

(edited).....The other 'pro tip' for descending is to be in the drops. You'll have lower center of gravity with more weight on the front wheel. Your hands will be at a lower point on the brake levers for better modulation and more leverage (power) and with your hands at the end of the bars you'll feel less vibration which can mess with your head at high speed.

now THAT is some great advice - thx!

the SIS shifter housing suggestion is intriguing, as well

 

[UDRider]

Thoughts?

Stop descending OLH. :laughing

Just like with motorcycles same principles apply. Look through the turn, look for vanishing point. Setup correctly, try to brake before you initiate a turn. Road/cyclocross bikes have no suspension so it's easier to transition in to a turn right after hard breaking.

 

[kelsodeez]

I crashed pretty hard descending OLH a few years back. On some of the turn exits, the pavement has little drop-offs that can trap your tire. My tire fell into one of those ruts when I went a little wide and I panic braked but I wasn't used to the lack of modulation on carbon wheels, lost the front and went head over feet. Only damage was a torn tire carcass and a little bit of skin left in the pavement

 

[j5m]

Descending OLH? There's your problem!

 

[kelsodeez]

I know. I always want to push through to tunitas but I'm usually with people of mixed fitness when I do OLH

 

[firstbuell]

I know. I always want to push through to tunitas but I'm usually with people of mixed fitness when I do OLH

speaking as an OG who’s also weak & slow,
OLH doesn’t ‘t freak me out like Tunitas does