Tour de Mike

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mikesbytes
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Fri Oct 08, 2010 1:29 pm

Thanks rogan, ft

While agreeing with what you say the problems are;

1. Spin classes. I'm being paid to do these. I could cut one on Wednesday, getting someone else to do it. Another option is just to go easy in them, I.E. pretend to be working hard. There are some high cadence sections upto 142 rpm. I could select tracks that put more focus on cadence for that week.

2. Fixie ride. The Sunday is a major social ride for my bike club. If I thought I had a real chance of winning C grade, then I'd be happy to ditch the fixie weekend. What I have done is add 96k on the Saturday to make it tougher. Should I be doing this 96k or should I avoid it? The bike is running 80 inch which is fairly high, should I run a lower gear to add cadence? Or should I be taking it easy on that day?

Like most of us my training is dictated by time and lifestyle
If the R-1 rule is broken, what happens to N+1?

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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby foo on patrol » Fri Oct 08, 2010 5:48 pm

Ride to your strengths Mike and don't do big turns into the wind or anywhere that it will hurt you! From what I remember of it, there are not a lot of places to really rest if you are hurting. The climbs aren't savage but constant. :twisted:
I don't suffer fools easily and so long as you have done your best,you should have no regrets.
Goal 6000km

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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Fri Oct 08, 2010 7:46 pm

The fixie ride is on death row, they didn't check for track work and there are no trains south of Liverpool
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Sun Oct 10, 2010 6:26 pm

185k and 2,379mtrs of climbing today
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Sun Oct 10, 2010 10:35 pm

There was a small section going up to the Mt Kera lookout which I could barely ride on 39/25. On the way back Mark checked it with his Garmin and it was 25% hitting 30% at one spot
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:00 am

Is the Grafton to Inverall road tarmac or stone chip?
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby Chuck » Tue Oct 12, 2010 3:02 pm

mikesbytes wrote:There was a small section going up to the Mt Kera lookout which I could barely ride on 39/25. On the way back Mark checked it with his Garmin and it was 25% hitting 30% at one spot
Mike was that right at the start of the climb ?

I think 25-30% is over the top, but the start of the climb felt steep to me when I rode it with some of the FPR crew not that long ago.
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Tue Oct 12, 2010 3:10 pm

Chuck wrote:
mikesbytes wrote:There was a small section going up to the Mt Kera lookout which I could barely ride on 39/25. On the way back Mark checked it with his Garmin and it was 25% hitting 30% at one spot
Mike was that right at the start of the climb ?

I think 25-30% is over the top, but the start of the climb felt steep to me when I rode it with some of the FPR crew not that long ago.
That's on the side rode that goes to the lookout. The main road is nothing like that.
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Tue Oct 12, 2010 3:13 pm

If the R-1 rule is broken, what happens to N+1?

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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby Chuck » Tue Oct 12, 2010 3:51 pm

Ahh ok :idea:
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby rogan » Tue Oct 12, 2010 8:07 pm

Is the Grafton to Inverall road tarmac or stone chip?
Umm jeez. It's pretty dead. Not as dead as Akuna Bay is or West Head used to be. There were very few punctures in 1990, none in fact, that I noticed (My memory is not THAT good 20 years later. It's more a case of I bet you in 2030 you will be able to recount details of the day you rode the Grafton the first time. It's that sort of race).
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Tue Oct 12, 2010 8:17 pm

They might of resurfaced in the last 20 years :wink:
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Thu Oct 14, 2010 5:53 pm

Road surface report from a motorcyclist who lives in Grafton;
"Bitumen. Stone chip. Rough-ish."

458 competitors;
U/23 35
Elite Men 120
MMAS2 59
MMAS3 81
MMAS4 66
MMAS5 60
MMAS6 22
MMAS7 8
MMAS8 7

It's looking promising that I won't come last :)
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Mon Oct 18, 2010 1:37 pm

Well the last weekend of training for the Grafton is out of the way;

Saturday
RPM (spin) high perf (60 min)
Some bike commuting
Campbelltown to Bundanoon 100k fixed 81" into a dirty headwind all the way

Sunday
Bundanoon to Tempe via Wollongong. 174k fixed 81"
I was fastest by a long way down McQuarie Pass. Saw Graeme from RBCC riding up while I was going down, I'm guessing he was doing his final training ride for the Grafton.
Conquered Stanwell Park to Stanwell Tops on 81". I'm betting that's a record, ie no one has successfully conquered that hill with such a tall gear. Only 6 made it to the top, the other 5 were using gears in the 74" to 56" gear range, 3 of them used flip flops to get a lower gear.

In a way I consider Saturday to of been a harder ride than Sunday, though its hard to compare exactly
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby goneriding » Mon Oct 18, 2010 2:01 pm

Best of luck with ride Mike. I wish I could join you, actually no I don't. Sounds painful :)

Looking forward to your race report on this one once you have recovered.
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby JV911 » Mon Oct 18, 2010 2:04 pm

mikesbytes wrote:fixed 81"
what's that in sprocket x chainring language?
<---LACC--->
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Mon Oct 18, 2010 2:14 pm

goneriding wrote:Best of luck with ride Mike. I wish I could join you, actually no I don't. Sounds painful :)

Looking forward to your race report on this one once you have recovered.
Thanks goneriding, I suspect its either going to be an amazing success or a dismal failure :)

JV911 wrote:
mikesbytes wrote:fixed 81"
what's that in sprocket x chainring language?
48 * 16

I rode up the same hill last weekend on the racer and used 39 * 25 (bottom gear) which I think is about 42"

The other rider successful riders were;
Chidgey 74"
Brownie 71"
Tim LLL, about 64" I forget
Simon LLL, 64"
Nathan 56"

I think its 15%, need to check it somewhere
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby JV911 » Mon Oct 18, 2010 2:22 pm

thanks

on the way home from beauie yesterday i saw one of the manly riders i had just raced with going up bobbo in 53 x 11...i assume there was money riding on it
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby sogood » Mon Oct 18, 2010 2:28 pm

mikesbytes wrote:I suspect its either going to be an amazing success or a dismal failure :)
There is no failure with anyone tackling Grafton! 8)
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Mon Oct 18, 2010 2:33 pm

sogood wrote:
mikesbytes wrote:I suspect its either going to be an amazing success or a dismal failure :)
There is no failure with anyone tackling Grafton! 8)
As long as its not like Melbourne to Warrnambool 2010 :roll:
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Mon Oct 18, 2010 10:07 pm

Gradings are out, they have 4 gradings. I've managed to get into the slowest grading, which only has 75 riders. I'm also assuming that a number of those riders won't be able to hack it with the bunch, so that makes the numbers even less...
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby rogan » Wed Oct 20, 2010 7:22 am

A good number won't even show up - I'd be surprised if there are more than 50 starters. You'll be fine with Div 4 - there'll be some OK climbers, but just hang in there.

Best of luck, and I'm looking forward to a detailed report next week.
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Wed Oct 20, 2010 9:22 am

My thinking has changed from finishing to racing it now. There's one rider in there that I know is faster than me (not in a sprint) and I'll keep an eye on him as he is likely to go for a break. Most I don't know.

At least half will drop off, so I'm only really racing 20 - 30 riders
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby ft_critical » Wed Oct 20, 2010 10:28 am

mikesbytes wrote:My thinking has changed from finishing to racing it now.
:twisted: Allez, allez Mike.
rogan wrote:Best of luck, and I'm looking forward to a detailed report next week.
+1

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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Wed Oct 20, 2010 10:33 am

On Monday I bumped into a guy who has raced it twice and he says that if you loose the attacking bunch on the hill then you don't catch them later
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