Cruzbike Time Trial Challenge 2020

[Mathew Fy]

Today I Learned:
The power needed to maintain depends heavily on the route chosen. Today I rode part of the Little Miami Scenic Trail (a segment of The Ohio to Erie Trail). My almost-century ride took 151 watts to average 19 mpg. My time trials have been 189 watts to go a bit over 21 mph.
Now I wish I lived near one of these well paved rail-trails. The smooth, level, shaded trail would make my speed so much better!

 

[Bill Wightman]

I had a bad shift at the turn today and managed to knot my chain twice round the crank, ripping the battery cover off the NGEco power meter in the process and trashing the plastic cover mount points. Unbelievable, I’ve never seen anything like it. Took me 15 minutes to sort out!

Ouch. Major hardware pain. I am a mechanical engineer and my mirror neurons feel the pain of your trashed power meter. I am hurting.

 

[ElyDave]

I had a bad shift at the turn today and managed to knot my chain twice round the crank, ripping the battery cover off the NGEco power meter in the process and trashing the plastic cover mount points. Unbelievable, I’ve never seen anything like it. Took me 15 minutes to sort out!

Some people will do anything to avoid suffering....

some of you might remember all the trouble I had with the SRAM yaw FD on the V20. We thought it might be the derailleur post angle but the shifting is just as bad on the M5. Just can’t make it work reliably. I think I’ve tweaked my Shimano FD on the Fuego once in 4 years. Need to replace at some point.

I think you have the CHR? I had the M5 M-Racer with a Shimano FD which operated very reliably on a SRAM 50/34 double crankset

 

[nobrakes]

I think you have the CHR? I had the M5 M-Racer with a Shimano FD which operated very reliably on a SRAM 50/34 double crankset

Yes, CHR. I had the same FD on the V20 and had similar shifting issues. Maybe it’s just a bad combo for a recumbent. Similar to you my Shimano FDs on the trike and a fuego work just fine.

 

[Rob Lloyd]

What's a front derailleur for anyway?

 

[nobrakes]

Floridians and Dutch people don’t understand these strange components

 

[DARYLHANGER945]

I have a FD but I am not sure if it work or if it is even hooked up. Guess I found where I can drop some weight.

 

[RojoRacing]

Floridians and Dutch people don’t understand these strange components

ain’t that the truth

 

[LarryOz]

What's a front derailleur for anyway?

I don't even have one mounted any longer. I think I use 3 gears for my whole TT, and that is only because I have to do the turn around.

 

[ElyDave]

Tbh living in the fens, mine is rarely used. Came in very handy for touring from Islay to Cumbria though

 

[Rob Lloyd]

I don't even have one mounted any longer. I think I use 3 gears for my whole TT, and that is only because I have to do the turn around.

I didn’t even design/build a front derailleur mount on my bike. Was always planned to be 1x9.

I’m thinking about an MBB version of my current mid-racer. Should be more road friendly (I hope). Drop chain mid-racers are tough to turn around with...

I might put an FD on that one...

 

[Veinbuster]

There is always the fact that all this stuff is useful to distract my mind from the distance remaining and state of pain at point X

I'm doing lots of math during my ride: how much time do I have in hand before the headwind? how much can I milk out of a tailwind? how big is my farm tractor buffer?
It helps disguise how long the ride is.

 

[Veinbuster]

My week 9 ride was much harder than I expected.

The forecast didn’t show my preferred wind profile this week, so I went out in fairly light wind knowing I would finish into the wind as it picked up. This meant I needed to build a bit of a buffer in the first half. I had a great pace going up until I made a right onto King (3.5 km) and found the road missing.

They had chewed up the road and pounded it back into a soft road bed 10-15 cm deep. Traction wasn’t terrible, but the bike wanted to slip around so I hunted for strips packed by vehicles ahead of me. Then I got to a single lane section where they were actively working behind a slow tractor carrying a bunch of plants about to be replanted in the marsh.

About a kilometre later I got back onto real road, but I had lost 45 seconds. I had no choice but to push harder to try and claw back some time. I managed a decent gain on the second interval (5-10km) and the headwind as it ended didn’t feel terrible, though I could see the flags picking up.

The third interval (10-15km) has short stretches north straight into the wind, so I could push to maintain my pace there. I just had to hope I got to the construction with the one way traffic in my favour. I mostly did. I just had to back off a bit for a tractor and then charged on. Now I know I can maintain my heart rate in the 160s for a half hour out in the real world. I’ll need to be there for 40+ minutes by the end of the Challenge.

In the end, a satisfying 19 second gain.

Now I just have to hope the road repair is quick.

 

[Bill Wightman]

I'm doing lots of math during my ride: how much time do I have in hand before the headwind? how much can I milk out of a tailwind? how big is my farm tractor buffer?

Last night I didn't care that I was riding in the last hour of the TT period, or that I was buffeted by 11 mph wind, all I wondered was where did my power go? Average power was 10% down from expected. I finally realized I had no significant carbs for 24 hours and was being "healthy". Next time I will be healthy on a different day.

 

[LarryOz]

My week 9 ride was much harder than I expected.

The forecast didn’t show my preferred wind profile this week, so I went out in fairly light wind knowing I would finish into the wind as it picked up. This meant I needed to build a bit of a buffer in the first half. I had a great pace going up until I made a right onto King (3.5 km) and found the road missing.

They had chewed up the road and pounded it back into a soft road bed 10-15 cm deep. Traction wasn’t terrible, but the bike wanted to slip around so I hunted for strips packed by vehicles ahead of me. Then I got to a single lane section where they were actively working behind a slow tractor carrying a bunch of plants about to be replanted in the marsh.

About a kilometre later I got back onto real road, but I had lost 45 seconds. I had no choice but to push harder to try and claw back some time. I managed a decent gain on the second interval (5-10km) and the headwind as it ended didn’t feel terrible, though I could see the flags picking up.

The third interval (10-15km) has short stretches north straight into the wind, so I could push to maintain my pace there. I just had to hope I got to the construction with the one way traffic in my favour. I mostly did. I just had to back off a bit for a tractor and then charged on. Now I know I can maintain my heart rate in the 160s for a half hour out in the real world. I’ll need to be there for 40+ minutes by the end of the Challenge.

In the end, a satisfying 19 second gain.

Now I just have to hope the road repair is quick.

Wow all that and still a 19 sec gain! Fabulous! I expected you to say you were going back out later in the week to try again.

 

[Mathew Fy]

Hi everyone, I made a YouTube Playlist for all the TT Videos this year - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLogFkMYSzjgoJBNvE0Risu7hdTw-kM6L0

As I come across more, I’ll add them there. I’m pretty sure I saw at least 1 more, but can’t find it now.

My week #9 TT plays at 4x for an 8 minute viewing.

 

[Rob Lloyd]

My week #9 TT plays at 4x for an 8 minute viewing.

Thanks! I added it to the playlist.

For others, if you mark your video as 'For Children' I can't add it to the playlist. Not sure why, but that's YouTube's rule.

Larry, your TT video is marked this way, that's why I don't have it tagged in my playlist...

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLogFkMYSzjgoJBNvE0Risu7hdTw-kM6L0

 

[LarryOz]

Thanks! I added it to the playlist.

For others, if you mark your video as 'For Children' I can't add it to the playlist. Not sure why, but that's YouTube's rule.

Larry, your TT video is marked this way, that's why I don't have it tagged in my playlist...

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLogFkMYSzjgoJBNvE0Risu7hdTw-kM6L0

Try this one:

 

[Rob Lloyd]

Try this one:

Nope. Still doesn't work. The 'SAVE' button is grayed out, and if I hit it anyway, I get a pop-up that says "This action disabled for content that is made for kids."

 

[DARYLHANGER945]

I revised the classification on my video I shared last week.