.

I clearly can’t get links/images to work either….

I wouldn’t touch GP 4 Seasons again, I don’t think they are any more puncture resistant in the real world than other similar “all season” tyres but they don’t grip or ride as nicely as say Hutchinson Fusion all season….. And I’d still use GP4000 or 5000 in winter if it had to be Conti. The claim that GP 4S rubber works better in cold conditions…. Thats never seemed true to me either.

Basically they’re dated now.

This?

It’s out of stock but was the first link I found on google

The one I have just bought came with a Bluetooth transmitting “box” that reports cadence and speed. From the manual, it definitely looks like they anticipated it as an add-on and not standard when it first came out.

I’m still trying to see if it needs to transmit to an app or software that will interpret it the speed/resistance against a curve and provide a power figure. It works with Zwift, but whilst my bike computer recognises the turbo, it doesn’t seem to want to connect as a power meter.

Every session needs a purpose when you’re on a turbo.

Do it once without any kind of plan and 5minutes will seem like 5 hours and utterly utterly pointless.

Whether it’s to go steady for 10 songs on your playlist or to do 5 minutes at the same cadence in each sprocket up and down the cassette. Or whether it’s a number of 10/15/30 second sprints…..

And then you need to plan when you’re next going to do it.

And at the back of your mind, you always need to remember, however dull, that it is to keep you fit for when you do go outside.

@whitestone – Yeah, I get that. I think we’re actually probably in violent agreement :-)

I’m just pointing out, or questioning whether the coach has seemingly dismissed heart rate as a data set. Train to power during sessions for sure, for the reasons you mention, but without heart rate recording you’re missing a large piece of the puzzle when analysing the data.

I disagree slightly. You need power and heart rate. Power alone doesn’t tell you the physiological response the effort is having on the body. Yes, heart rate may be up or down on a day due to sleep, illness, stress etc etc. But over time you will see trends. Power/heart rate ratio and power/heart rate drift are useful indicators of efficiency and also therefore when it might be time to change your interval efforts (time/power level/recovery etc).

It’s probably what you could expect, if one was perhaps +1% of its claimed accuracy measurement and the other was -1% of its accuracy range. Plus a little discrepancy between manufacturers and drivetrain losses.

I got 2watts difference between my Elite Drivo and Favero pedals at 330w. It was the Drivo that was high, the pedals low.

You’ll lose or gain a few watts depending how you feel day to day, so I’d pick the one you spend the most time using as the reference and just be aware the other unit may be up or down slightly.

Thinking about it, I’ve spent the last 2-3 months doing sessions mostly no more than about 85% threshold, so I suppose 90% isn’t unreasonable but it should definitely start at perhaps 5min interval length and build up. A coach doesn’t (shouldn’t) find out where you’re at by trying to break you for starters.

If you’re committed then can you do the sessions at the other end of the day? And have more free time or earlier bed time at the other end.

Who else does your coach train and do you know what age and what they train for?

There’s a limit to how “steady state” higher intensity can be though.

I would think most of your sessions should be below FTP and you don’t need to be doing sessions so close to FTP. If you’re touring day after day, then I would think training on days back to back should feature. You’re trying to build a capacity to ride day after day.

As other posts have suggested, you need to really have bought into what the training will take out of you, for the benefit it will bring. And then maybe some of the difficulty sleeping etc would be seen as just a side effect of the training that somehow you need to work round. It maybe your coach can change things but it maybe doing that, that any improvements may not be so quick.

How long have you had the coach?
From memory, when I got a coach to start with they asked to see a bit of previous ride history, and I was also told to do some general riding (and whatever else I had planned) for a few weeks. Then it was probably 20minute test and then gradually build. But basically it started with sessions that I thought were almost too easy. It definitely didn’t start with sessions drilling 95% of FTP. But it builds and builds and builds – both duration and effort levels. That way they find out what you’re capable of sustaining and how you feel based on the data and how you feedback on the sessions. I assume you provide feedback such as how you felt before/during/after each session?

A 20minute test will only give an indication of FTP and training zones. Your 1hour power (which can be argued is roughly FTP) might be nowhere near 0.95 X 20min power. And similarly your other zones could be out too.

As per previous posts, I would suggest 95% of FTP is too intense for what you need. Does your coach know your aim – i.e. fitness for touring? It might show some quick improvements but from your comments about how you feel it doesn’t sound sustainable. A good coach keeps it sustainable. But also, training will indeed likely be lots of sustained efforts in certain zones. The duration of the efforts will depend on the zone. Unless it is high intensity short intervals with recovery, it won’t fluctuate like just going for an outdoor ride as you’re trying to stretch the boundaries.

I found the road helmets a very good fit (I have 3, the Notus and Podium are a similar fit, the Croix is a bit rounder) – similar fit to Bell and Giro which also fit me well.

The MTB helmet was a very round fit and small front to back. Disappointing as it was a nice helmet aside from that.

Ah, having re-read your post, I haven’t answered your question, just realised I was looking for the same answer as you :-)

I had a similar experience the other night with my Wahoo computer and Elite smart trainer. It rammed it to the average between top and bottom and there was no way I could hold the middle of the suggested range. It ground to a halt….

On my Wahoo Elemnt Bolt one of the screens allows me to change the mode. So i can switch between selected a planned workout, resistance mode or manually adjusting the power level. I think I either had to accept it was erg mode for the full work out or manually follow what I had planned in resistance mode, using the gears to suit. Like the old days ;-)

Is there a screen on the Garmin that allows you to cycle between modes? What if you don’t want to do the Training Peaks workout?

When people say their discs aren’t rubbing, do they mean they’re silent and spin freely enough or do they genuinely mean they’re really truly not rubbing? Because to my mind unless you can see daylight between pad and rotor, whether it is the lightest of contact or not, then your pads are rubbing.

Companies spend who knows how much marketing the saving of watts through all these aero gains, but I bet you can lose that saving just by the rotor skimming the pad the slightest amount. But Google it and you won’t find anyone admitting how much power is being drained from rubbing rotors and pads.

Even if you run thinner rotors they will self adjust with use so you’re back to square one.

I think there is perhaps an iteration or two more to go for road discs before they iron out the negatives for road use.

That said, the Rival hydraulics on my cross bike seem to rub or not every time I undo the quick release to remove the wheel. The thru-axles on my winter bike seem to make wheel changes have less of an effect but it’s not perfect.

Is the existing floor fairly level and stable? What do you mean by water damage? Is it just staining or is it not level and/or crumbling?

Similar to Timbog, i’m in a concrete flagged cellar and the amount of sweat and dribble that’s gone down on that floor, I’m glad it’s nothing fancier and can just seep away until I decide to wash it down one day….

Fan/air flow is a big thing, but you’ll never stop the amount of sweat from stationary cycling

@molgrips – I probably didn’t explain it very well, it’s probably more that it doesn’t last for ages like a wet lube might but it also doesn’t turn a chain into a black gloopy mess with caked grime all round the jockey wheels.

I’m not sure how people gauge when a chain needs re-lubing, the internal surfaces of the rollers are the main bit that need lube, not the visible surfaces. I assume it’s just by hearing a chain that is jangling a bit more than usual.

I’ve been using the bike oil they sell in Decathlon for £4. It mostly gets washed out during the course of any particularly wet long ride, which leaves a chain that needs minimal cleaning. Re-apply before next ride and wipe off excess.

Doesn’t get caked up or attract too much dirt this way like sticky nasty wet lube

The photo shows frame with seatpost but then at the bottom of the advert it says something vague like “Don’t forget your frame essentials and spares to get you up and running”…..lists seatpost, seat clamp, headset and then spare mech hanger…… The frame actually came with a seat clamp and a mech hanger, but not a seatpost or headset. Now, I don’t need to buy a spare mech hanger but if I had bought all the other items I would have ended up with two seat clamps plus the bits I actually need like seatpost and headset. For a frame that is clearly reliant on a proprietary seatpost, to show it in the product photo but not include one seems rather underhand.

And especially when those two items add near another £100 to the price and so the frame doesn’t seem such a bargain after all.

Stumpy, sounds a similar issue to what I have…. let’s just say I think the photo of the item was a little misleading….

Well, unsurprisingly some might say, I am not entirely happy with my order and conveniently you can’t email them….

Not got the shifter clagged up with the polymer coating on the cable have you? The browny coloured coating on Shimano cables seems to unravel quite easily and sometimes clogs the shifter. I’d squirt/dowse it with either degreaser or wd40 and then fit a new cable.

Oh and I should note, it was abundantly clear the buyer just didn’t want the item any more and would find any excuse to return it, rather than me having suckered the seller!

eBay/PayPal have always sided with the buyer every time a buyer has raised a dispute against me. They seem to want to enforce the rules of business selling to private sellers.

Even if you sell through eBay and pay the fees if they want to lead you a merry dance they will. And eBay will help them.

Cash on collection I reckon is best if you’re going to sell outside eBay.

Elite Drivo is £500 in Cycle Republic or Halfords at the moment. Accuracy to +-1percent which is quite a bit better than anything else in this price range. Quiet enough and it comes with (I think, from memory, 12 month subscription to the elite 1st person app). You can also control the wattage from your Garmin screen without the app if you don’t want the full user experience.

To lose 50% on a bike because it’s frame is 5 years old but the components could be much newer sounds a bit naff.

Suppose it is possibly more of an issue for mountain bikes where you could buy a new suspension fork and automatically lose a large chunk of its value if it got nicked.

Would have hoped they should at least make the date from date of purchase in the shop. It could have been manufactured a year or more before you bought it for old stock.

This was part of one of the comments on the thread over at Road.cc on their Aerodynamicist wheels from Tom Marchment at Hunt…

Of course, Farsports have many customers but no Hunt wheel has ever come from Farsports and all our wheels are built in Taiwan not China. There is a considerable difference in terms of longevity of technical and bicycle experience between Taiwan and China. All our hubs and spokes are Taiwanese too. Please note these are not Novatec road hubs which have 14 degree engagement, and again many large wheel companies use open mold hubs. The hubs on the Aerodynamicist wheels use an open mold freehub that is very well proven (no-one wants a newly designed freehub system, freehub systems take such high loads that new systems always have teething problems) with a fast 7.5 degree engagement with our own Hunt lightweight hub body. The open freehub system used in many of our alloy road wheelsets (again not Novatec) is shared with 2 of the USA’s largest high end wheel companies. We are about to source some alloy rims from Giant Light Metal in China (yes part of Giant), but they are probably Asia’s largest high-end alloy rim manufacturer and make the highest spec rims for the 3 largest European alloy wheel companies and many major motorbike companies too, so they will provide us some of our best aluminium rims moving forwards.

Sounds a bit more than just changing bearings and seals on an existing Novatec hub. He does admit they are open mold though.

The Hunt hubs do look like Novatec but I have read somewhere Hunt stated they categorically weren’t Novatec. It’s no bad thing either way. I’ve got both Hunt, Novatec and Mavic hubbed wheels and it’s only the Mavic hubs I’ve had an issue with. The freehub went wobbly within a month due to the plastic bushing they use. Was replaced under warranty but it’s wobbly again a year on and I wouldn’t say it’s been thousands of miles!

Novatec and Hunt hubs have been fine on the other hand.

Watching this with interest, I have a Saracen Hack frame with paint flaked all over but I sometimes wonder if I’d rather spend £50 towards a new frame or on my other bikes

Cannondale CAAD12 use a 25.4mm seatpost and I think also some of the Synapses? But plenty of options on ebay

When I broke my hip 2 years ago, I was off the bike for 4 months but when I did get back on the bike I didn’t just do an FTP test or a ramp test to depress myself at the probable loss of fitness. I just gradually built up time on the bike at an aerobic sort of effort, 7 or 8 months after (so about 4 months of being back riding) the incident, I think I felt roughly back where I was and was doing TT’s at a power I would have expected pre-break.

Trying to smash yourself silly to get that FTP back will just be depressing, so build up at a low level until you actually feel you’re where you want to be. Time in the saddle alone will do your body good.

Mine adjusts the resistance compared to the cadence. So if you pedal at higher RPM, the resistance reduces a little so the power is roughly maintained. Pedal at a lower RPM and the resistance goes up to maintain the power. Takes a moment or two to adjust, its just a feedback loop not absolutely instantaneous.

I have been using the Hutchinson Fusion all weather versions in 28mm, which seem pretty good in the wet and winter muck. But as to how robust they are, I don’t think I’ve had a puncture yet but then maybe I’ve been lucky.

Just querying Tinas, does the Sector use the same 11storm compound?

The Frog 69 I’ve just picked up has a 40T cassette, does yours not DB?

The Feedzone Portables one and Cookzone(?) accompanying one are pretty good and explain quite a bit about nutrition before the recipes.

The Cycling Chef by Alan Murchison also has some good recipes for cooking at home too – regardless of whether you’re a cyclist or not, these are tastey.

I got some of the 50mm deep carbon road wheels when they first came out a few years ago. One of the first doing vaguely affordable tubeless carbon wheels at the time. They’ve been fine.

If they are rebranded Novatec hubs then so what? I’ve also got genuine Novatec wheels and other wheels with Novatec hubs and Bitex hubs. Do people really think their DT Swiss or Hope hubs etc are that much better when most cartridge bearing hubs are essentially a chunk of metal with some generic cartridge bearings in them (SKF or not, still fairly industry standard). Might be a few subtle differences with the freehubs and perhaps better pick up but Novatec and Bitex seem serviceable enough.

The big companies don’t seem to get as bad a rap despite the fact their stuff is probably just as mass produced and generic but with a big S logo on it??

So I’d happily buy another set, seems their customer service is pretty good, and they’re still reasonably priced if you value UK back up.

No, not if the air leak is from the top of the tyre – basically anywhere there isn’t a pool of sealant. Air pressure isn’t some magical emotive force that will lift sealant you know ;-)

If it’s leaking slowly overnight, not going totally flat then a bit more shaking of the tyre and maybe a ride or two should improve it.

Are you going faster or trying to go faster than you were 12 months ago?

Have you put on weight, even a little?

6-7 hours sleep sounds reasonable even if more would be better.