I've been up and done a lap of Dalby today on the Singlespeed Hardtail, and it felt like a right slog!
Average speed was 14.2km/h. Last time I did the full route (10 years ago!), average was 16.7km/h.
Obviously, I'm 10 years older (57 now). So, age/slowness is obviously a factor, but my level of fitness/the amount of riding I do is/feels about the same.
I'm not really comparing myself to my 10-years-younget self, just throwing in that information as that is the only 'hard data' I have.
I'm more, just trying to work out how/why it felt like such hard work/slow.
Tyres are slightly beefier than you actually need at Dalby (Tacky Chan Supertrail, Ultra Soft front, Wolfpack Trail rear). Rest of bike is respectable mid-weight components (steel Moxie frame, XT/SLX, Hunt TrailWide wheels, Pike Ultimate forks).
It feels like the wheel bearings are binding/dragging slightly under load ... Is that 'a thing', and how do I tell? Wheels spin freely when not under load, as does the BB ...
Or, is it just that riding Dalby (which TBH, hasn't got great flow, feels like you're always pedalling uphill anyway) just takes it out of me? Gearing is 32/19 on a 29er, which is what I run locally and am used to (albeit in recent weeks, have started to think I need to go 32/20).
Am just coming out of a cold - no symptoms now for a few days - but maybe that's just knocked my energy a bit? And, cold air, trousers getting splashed and water-logged ... Maybe it's just a combination of things?
Sorry - that was a bit of a ramble. I'll leave a picture though ...
Sometimes you're the hammer, sometimes you're the nail.
We all have the odd bad day, so it could be just that. But 10 years is a fair bit of age and should be factored in as well.
Dalby red is largely a slow, flow-less, arduous slog in the best of conditions so can't imagine its particularly easy given the rain we've had on a cold, damp day on a singlespeed with big tyres.
Also, MFTU / buy a bike with gears / you need an ebike etc etc etc
A wet forest on a steep mountain bike with big tyres on is always going to feel hard work.
What time of year was it last time? I definitely feel slower through winter when it's cold. The first warm days in spring when you drop a few layers of clothing feel like I've had a couple of coffees before setting off.
It’s because your bike is bright pink. It creates a magnetic/sonaric aura that causes drag in certain damp conditions. This aura becomes particularly dense and draggy when riding amongst larch trees in winter as the shed needles on the floor stand up vertically on your approach and gives the feeling of cycling on a shag pile carpet.
The solutions are to either change your bike colour for winter and only ride on the moors or in broad leaved woodland.
Hope this helps!
What was the going under tyre 10 years ago. I find that on the SDW my times and RPE can change by the week depending on how damp and sticky it is. My fastest time on some stuff was just a couple of years ago when there was a hard frost and solid and quick. A year later when it was claggy and same trip was at least an hour slower.
I wasn't riding a pink bike tho, so not sure how that factors in 😏
What wheel.size were you riding 10 years ago? A smaller wheel is easier to get going, so it could be having a factor if it was 26 or even 27.5...wont be the full.reason but it'll be contributing.
At slower speeds the bigger wheel takes more effort to get rolling - once up to speed it should stay there easier.
The trails are really slow and heavy at the moment. I have a couple of freewheel challenges in my local ride and today I was getting about half what I can in the dry
Dalby red is largely a slow, flow-less, arduous slog in the best of conditions
There are several bits that are absolutely brilliant - especially out around the far side from the visitor centre which is noticeably way quieter. However yes, you're right, there are some bits that just feel like a drag no matter how you go about them!
Dalby red is largely a slow, flow-less, arduous slog in the best of conditions so can't imagine its particularly easy given the rain we've had on a cold, damp day on a singlespeed with big tyres.
I agree with this! I should have known! I find SS quite good locally for maintaining a decent average speed, and thought that would carry over to Dalby, as there's nothing too steep there, but maybe it's a bit more sustained and my gearing is a touch too high ...
It’s because your bike is bright pink ...
Almost certainly! The 'riding on a shag pile carpet' is exactly how it felt (only muddier, colder and wetter!)
What time of year was it last time?
And
What was the going under tyre 10 years ago
It was March. So likely cold-ish / damp, but really can't recall in detail. Although Dalby has armoured trails, there is still an accumulation of leaf mulch, pine needles, silt/mud and puddles to slow you down ...
What wheel.size were you riding 10 years ago?
650b. And Maxxis Ardents (with no fancy/sticky compounds), so almost certainly quicker.
Sounds like I just need to recalibrate my expectations re. average speeds in the winter (I DO know this already, I was just taken back at how much of a slog it felt)
dont underestimate how mud can be draggy/claggy even if it isnt "deep" mud which is what I guess you would find at a trail centre.
what tyres did you have 10 years ago? back then people were racing enduro world series on exo tyres but these days big grippy monster rubber is the default - and you've probably in the years that have gone by learnt to ride to get the best out of them... probably more fun but if you are going purely by average speed, its likely to have affected things more than your precieved effort is telling you.
Another way of looking at it is you’ve only lost 2.5kmh average speed over 30km in the last 10 years which I think is more than respectable
Another way of looking at it is you’ve only lost 2.5kmh average speed over 30km
Ahem! 37km actually!
(I thought 2.5kmh was quite a lot of loss actually, don't feel my local MTB or gravel rides are that much slower than 10 years ago)
Probably your lack of gears.
10 years is a long time. Spin to win now you’re older (or don’t be hard on yourself if you’re sticking with the singlespeed).
my fastest time ever around Dalby was on a ss on one 29er. the sand coloured one with the straight carbon fork. proper fast direct bike it was.
Dalby is much more fun on an Ebike
I don’t tend to look at average speeds but for a given group ride time we rarely go as far in the winter because it’s usually muddier and draggier. Your average speed seems quite high although I don’t know how hilly Dalby is - can’t imagine it’s all that flat compared to my rides in the far south!
One thought on singlespeeding, from someone a decade younger (but who’s aware he isn’t three or four decades younger!) I like it a lot but it’s hard! I don’t think I’d want to do a proper MTB ride on a singlespeed more than once or twice a week - I think my legs need a few days to recover. If you’ve ever done stuff in the gym, I’d say there’s a similarity to heavy deadlift or squat sessions - the load is just too much to recover from without a good few days rest (and eating enough!), often a whole week - and I understand that if you’re older but lifting really heavy it can be best to leave a full fortnight between those sessions.
My current life schedule allows for one proper MTB ride a week (about 20 miles, 2000’) that’s almost always on the singlespeed Moxie, daily offroad commutes on the Levo (per week total about 30 miles, 4000’) and going to the gym about four times a week to lift things. There’s only a finite amount of energy available - there’s a reason pro athletes are younger!
Also on the gearing front, I’m on 30:18 which seems to work really well for me where I ride, with 165mm cranks and 29x2.4 but I tried 30:16 and it was horrendously hard. Blew my mind how a two teeth difference felt so huge. So if you’re not getting on with your current ratio, try a little lower and it may be miles better!
You can worry too much over statistics and over analyse, I still think it’s the hot pink colour that’s causing the problem!
Could be the trails - I always seem to feel similarly disheartened after riding at Cannock. Fine at the start and round most of the monkey, but once I cross back over the road/bridge I start to hate it. Just feels like a slow, flow-less slog where I'm constantly pedalling but feels like I'm going nowhere! Could just be my bad riding style or fitness as well though.
Sometimes I have days when I feel like I'm pedalling through treacle but then when I get home and upload the ride to Strava I get a few PRs on climbs so I think effort perception doesn't always correlate with performance.
I no longer live in the UK but used to ride Dalby quite often when I did because I'm from that neck of the woods and to be fair, it always was a bit of a slog (more so when wet and muddy).
I now only run nobby nics in the winter on my ss. Anything beefier and the drag is mad, it feels like my brakes are binding! My local trails are mostly all weather though, so I might get away with less grip overall than you'd need.
I think my ratio is 30:19 on my BLE and my average moving speed is about 14 kph. Limited by spinning out more than anything else. Similar spec to your build.
I'd be looking at tyres first.
Apples vs Oranges.
Winter is much harder work peddling.
Cold air, pushing through grabby muck and more inclement weather.
Keep going, it makes you stronger and fitter!
My fastest 10 - 20 mile loops on Strava are all from 2013 and not in the winter. Never train but do cycle 3-4 times a week 52 weeks of the year and have done for at least 20 years
I am a few minutes slower in winter than end of Summer so comparing a time I did today in December with one from 10 years ago would not be wise.
Another vote for tyres here, especially the rear. I felt the same sensation as you doing laps of Gisburn a few years back and kept checking the wheel bearings and bb. Swapped the sticky Hans Dampf for a blue Nobby Nic and that sorted it straight away although I then split that at BPW on an obstacle the HD would have gobbled up so not sure there's a right answer?
I run Hillbilly T9 front, Butcher T7 rear on my matching pink singlespeed. Any less knobbly on the rear and it can’t handle the mud uphill and then the front needs more grip for the downhill turns. If you ride rockier trails and/or don’t go out in the filth then I guess you could run quicker tyres.
Weirdly my Moxie rolls faster downhill than everyone else I ride with - I’m fairly middling in weight and running slower tyres than most, so the DT XM1700 wheels must have very low drag bearings? It continues to be a pleasant surprise, I’ve seen it happen in all conditions as well!
Single speed
That's your answer right there.
+10 years
That's your other answer right there.
The fact you've done it on a single speed impresses me 🙂
This research proves my statement above. The best colours to mitigate the effect are greens, and to some extent, orange but pink through purple to blue are terrible for this type of drag. A re-spray or wrap in a different colour will knock ten years off your times.
