[Closed] So I want to try road racing + build a bike specifically for this

I had 3 bikes once, does that count?

Seven road bikes at the moment and contemplating another 😳

Race bike
Back-up race bike stored away from home for when visiting relatives
Nice road bike for dry day training and racing on hilly courses
Winter road bike with full guards (actually a cross bike with road groupset)
Winter fixed road bike with full guards
TT bike
Cross bike running 1x10 with SLR aero wheels (it does go off road with just a switch of wheels)

As for wheels, well I've been a prodigious collector of used Ksyrium Elites, and have a few sets of Giant SLRs in 10 and 11 speed. Basically I can pull four bikes at short notice for a race if needed. And if all else fails, then it's Teen1's CAAD8 or Teen2's Alloy Defy with some swapped wheels.

The nice part is that I'm not precious about the bikes (Except the nice one), and am happy to lend them out to would-be racers in our club. It's always nice to see my bike in the peloton from close quarters 🙂

And it really doesn't matter what you race, it is not about the bike, and the mainly flat closed courses don't really favour lightweight carbon bling, they DO favour stiff alloy frames and wheels though. My last Winter Series race on my winter road (cross) bike didn't feel any different to my race bike!

I'm going to print that out next time the missus is complaining about my bike stuff 😆

@TiRed are you doing the 2/3/4 Race on Sat 18/03/17??

I've got loads of bikes in Edinburgh (although more mountain bikes than road) but only really have space for one bike in my London flat so my pour old Roubaix is taking quite a battering. I do have several sets of wheels for it - more by accident than design though - I'd asked my wife for some RS81 C35's for my birthday but then spotted a set of Dura-ace C24's at a price that couldn't be refused! Currently using the C35's as my everyday wheels and will keep the C24's for when I go somewhere hilly.

@TiRed are you doing the 2/3/4 Race on Sat 18/03/17??

Still looking at road race options. Can't think of a good reason not too. I crashed in that race a few years ago on my first outing on what is now the Back-up race bike!

@TiRed - great, CH is in the 4s. Didn't want to race on my own haha.

Going to talk to the boss about it tonight 🙂

I was totally in the 'the bike doesn't matter' camp until Nath and I swapped for a few laps. We were going anti-clockwise and I crested the 'hill' about 5mph quicker than usual 😀

If I had 4w/kg then granted- 2.5kg on the bike wouldn't make any difference. But accelerating that 2.5kg back up to speed what? 100 times a race? Is surely a pretty tangible gain?

I'm not under the illusion that I'm going to go from barely hanging with the bunch to points by buying a bike. But if I have a few more BPM in hand on the last lap then I'll be very pleased with my purchase.

(I've already eaten Weeksy's humble pie 😆 )

We all learn CH, we have our ideas and they're massively important to us, but sometimes over time we learn that we're not always correct.
I'll be very curious to see what happens

Are you coming to watch Weeksy?

Weeksy- I don't think I've changed my initial viewpoint though- the BTwin wasn't causing me to get dropped- poor positioning was....

There is some added motivation in living up to a better bike too 😉

Are you coming to watch Weeksy?

Unknown fella

@CH, fair point.

@weeksy - Was going to say if you're coming to watch might as well get a place sorted 😆

I'm all booked in... now to start training for a 34 mile race 😯

Latex tubes just fitted and I'll be doing my gold chain tomorrow evening hopefully 🙂

I want to join the 9pm race: https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/159395/London-Nocturne

@Tired- Do you have any clockwise lap tips, just in case? I have done a few whilst there practicing but it feels odd 😀

Well if you are free tomorrow afternoon (1-5PM), and want to dip your toes into club riding, TCC have a skills afternoon focusing on group riding, and possibly some racing skills too 😈 . I'll be helping to lead it and can supply spare jersey 😉 . Happy to vouch for you. This won't be for the Surrey League accreditation, but now you are a third cat you don't need it 😀

As for clockwise racing, well, the two courses tend to blur for me. It always feels faster clockwise, probably because the entry into Brian's Bends is not uphill and not pinched by the kink in the road. Going up the straight, the peloton has a tendency to bunch into the right-handed turn 1 as riders on the outside try and take a shorter path, and that is how I was brought down by a clashing of handlebars. Best to stay a little further out. Down the slope and the 90 degree before the clubhouse is VERY fast, and I've been pushed off into the bushes on a last lap jostle there. The sprint can start anywhere, but the long straight makes for a slightly safer finish in my opinion.

I like them both; Tuesdays 3/4 and E123 are clockwise, Wednesdays Vets and TTs are anti-clockwise.

Might be able to sneak out to be at Hillingdon for 4pm, but obviously that's no use! (I've got potential tenants coming tomorrow afternoon 🙁 )

Ah sweet, I forgot it was only for 4ths! Might have to try a couple then, if I can find some space.

Won't officially be a 3rd until Monday 😆

crosshair
I was totally in the 'the bike doesn't matter' camp until Nath and I swapped for a few laps. We were going anti-clockwise and I crested the 'hill' about 5mph quicker than usual

Were you using the same tyres?

I averaged c. 280w for 80 mins last night on a pan flat route and averaged 33kph. This was on my winter bike, which is a similar weight to my race bike but has wiggle prime race tyres instead of gp4000s. I'd expect that power produce around 35kph on the summer bike.

CH uses Gatorskins, my bike had GP4000s

CH uses Gatorskins, my bike had GP4000s

Well we'll soon find out the answer when CH gets out on the new bike testing... (assuming he's running Gators)

or sub 8kg bike on GP4000s outperforms 10+kg? bike on gatorskins if we are going down that route 🙂

I believe he's also purchased some Gp4000s for good measure.

Sometimes I think nobody reads these threads 😆

I had 28mm GP4000's and the rear rubbed so I ran GP/Gator for one race and crashed.

Then the new front wheel made the GP taller so that rubbed too so I ended up back on Gator/Gator.

I now have the 28mm GP's on my CX bike and they don't really give me a performance advantage over running Gators on there.....

I now have 2x 25mm GP's ready to go on the new bike but I may stick them on the BTwin on the 18th....

Clear as mud 🙂

We read but we can't memorise it all! I struggle to remember my own tyres !

In other news my gold chain is fitted (after battling with the "quick" link").

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For what it's worth I was racing on 27mm Vitoria open paves. Have just changed my groupset this weekend from ancient worn out Sora to new shiny 105, I didn't expect to notice much difference but think I have gained watts from having a clean drivetrain !

Ooo nice shiny shiny purchase Tomvet. When's your next race? Fancy coming to Hillingdon on the 18th?

If the weathers good I'm going to pretend I'm a photographer during the 4s race 😆

Not to mention being an official cyclinghubtv camera man 😆

Maybe 😆

It's a bit marmitey?? I'm not sure on it yet:

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I don't like marmite. Or gold chaims but it will dull with oil. As for the shifters. Need to be lower and vertical if you want proper control on the drops on the road. That might need a slightly shorter stem.

Raced Surrey League 3/4 road race today. Avoided the crashes for a possible top 10 place. Felt the effects of my training amend the nice 25c Corsa G+ tyres at 90 psi. One crash was over a hump in the road, I think the rider had his hands on the hoods and the impact dislodged them. Always get a good comfortable position on the drops. Even if it is not long/low/slammed.

@tired - yeah I just need to tilt my bars down a little, the position changed with spacers.

I thought you were training at Hillingdon today?

Race sounds good - congrats!

Tempted to hit the buy button on a powerpod...

I think it's a great device. It can send power from indoor trainers, but no different to any other speed sensor talking to Zwift. So not really for that.

I find swapping between bikes is a bit of a pain. But that's because I only have the one speed sensor. So I moved pod2 onto the racebike today and it thinks it's still my fixed wheel road bike. Rode for 8min and it adapts to the slight change in tilt angle (does this automatically). Then rode and raced 100km. Power is consistent but is up by about 20-30 watts.

Those watts are aero watts. My race bike has an aero frame and deep section wheels. Plus nicer tyres. Hence savings for the same speed or faster for same effort. But absolutely rock solid consistency.

I'm thinking of buying another. I definitely need another speed sensor to adjust for the aero watts and tell it this is a different bike. But it's a super device. Only a matter of time before they hit big take up.

And sadly I've had to take teen2 out this afternoon so coaching was curtailed 🙁

Yeah they seem a great piece of kit, the only reason I haven't purchased yet is because I wanted one I could use on the turbo trainer, for cross referencing the two..

Thinking of heading to Hillingdon shortly to get on after 5pm for an hour if you want to join?

I got called into the club house for a cup of tea and biscuits - you twicks guys are so welcoming 🙂

Just been building on base fitness with a couple of flying laps. Latex tubes make the wheels/tyres sound really nice! 😆

https://www.strava.com/activities/896286842

Sorry but it's boring looking at a ride without power data 😆

DCRainmakers review of the powerpod made me want one just because it sounds so cool 🙂
Get it bought 😀

I got called into the club house for a cup of tea and biscuits - you twicks guys are so welcoming

Well you know where to come on Tuesday evening at 7PM! It's a very friendly club. Just sorry I wasn't able to attend after all. We have another one planned.

Oh, and I have a PhD in Theoretical Physics - so being a Physics Geek means that the Powerpod is the natural choice! Think I might get another.

@CH - uncool!!

@TiRed - I only turned up really late, didn't actually do any skills. Okay that's reassuring!!

There's £10 cashback with it too: https://www.topcashback.co.uk/probikekit/

So powerpod for £215 all in 😆

Just got back from a few days in Wales, no more races for me until after Tour of Flanders, need to do a few big rides in the next couple of weeks if possible. My road/training/winter/racing bike currently weighing in at 9.1kg, the 105 groupset did't shed any weight but is certainly nicer to ride. I have a studpidly light reynolds 32mm deep rim on a superstar hub that I picked up for £95 in one of their clearance sales to go on next, quite fancy one of those cheap cosine saddles with Ti rails, that should take it to sub 9kg. Once flanders is out of the way I will put my schwable one tyres back on.

[img] http://goo.gl/yHtDNP [/img]

Pics not working @Tomvet

Woo I'm a 3rd with 5 points to my name:
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So I've just moved up to 3rd cat too, wahoo! Now I'm wondering what will happen to the race I've entered in a month, I've entered the 4th cat only... The 3rd cat race is fully booked so I can't move over to that one. Will they let me race and not get any points or am I just going to be refunded and told to jog on?

🙄 #fitguyproblems

😆

Well done though Rawka! Nice conundrum to have.

I'm getting excited and nervous about Saturday. I'm on an R+R week this week so I'm not going to be peaking but I should be well rested!

I just want a whif of a point 🙂

Will they let me race and not get any points or am I just going to be refunded and told to jog on?

So powerpod for £215 all in

You get get the 4iiii for £350 though, and I have been finding it useful having the same power measurements on the turbo as I do on the road.

My road/training/winter/racing bike currently weighing in at 9.1kg, the 105 groupset did't shed any weight but is certainly nicer to ride.

My bike has also got to (mostly) 105 from ancient 9-speed Tiagra and has lost quite a bit of weight although that was mostly to me being lucky in picking up a set of Dura-ace C24 wheels fitted with GT4000's and a Dura-ace cassette for £200 as a buy-it-now on Ebay. Not that it'll be getting raced in anything other than perhaps one of the club 10-mile TT's though! I'd get spat out of the back even quicker than weeksy did!

I can't seem to get the hang of adding photos, I can see the pic I added above on my phone and laptop. Will try again off Imgur instead of google pictures, can anyone tell me if this works?

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