Is it just me?

cyclopsbiker

or is anyone else finding riding *really* hard at the moment? I have no energy. If I do a short sprint (like really short) to get through some lights for example I feel totally wiped out. recovery is slow. the miniscule bumps in the road (no where near hills) are tough. and I'm not enjoying it. bottom lip is well and truly stuck out.

soundninjauk

My times are definitely a couple of minutes longer than the summer months (over 6 miles between west London and Soho), for seemingly the same amount of effort. Still enjoying it though.

nich

Tyre pressures?

Gussio

Wearing 15kgs of warm winter gear...?

_Brun_

Cold air is more dense.

iPete

cyclopsbiker wrote:

or is anyone else finding riding *really* hard at the moment? I have no energy. If I do a short sprint (like really short) to get through some lights for example I feel totally wiped out. recovery is slow. the miniscule bumps in the road (no where near hills) are tough. and I'm not enjoying it. bottom lip is well and truly stuck out.

I'm glad its not just me! I thought it was the gym using up all my energy but its probably just the cold and extra kit.

It could also be dehydration, I'm definitely not taking on enough water because its cold.

Kieran_Burns

my chain was a rusted pile of poo when I checked it on Tuesday - there may be grit and 'stuff' getting in there.

I've given it a thorough cleaning and it spins MUCH more easily now.

london_scottish

taking me a good 10 minutes more for the 17 miles, especially in the morning. Feels like I'm cyclling through treacle most of the time, no power in the legs, only pain. Still better than PT though

cyclopsbiker

nich wrote:

Tyre pressures?

they're ok. but I have gone on to knobblies last week....but that doesn't account for it being soooo much more difficult.

cyclopsbiker

Gussio wrote:

Wearing 15kgs of warm winter gear...?

I'm only wearing bib tights and a thin fleece more than I usually do...and an extra buff of course! in fact that probably weighs less than the bag I usually carry but have been avoiding carrying

cyclopsbiker

iPete wrote:

cyclopsbiker wrote:

or is anyone else finding riding *really* hard at the moment? I have no energy. If I do a short sprint (like really short) to get through some lights for example I feel totally wiped out. recovery is slow. the miniscule bumps in the road (no where near hills) are tough. and I'm not enjoying it. bottom lip is well and truly stuck out.

I'm glad its not just me! I thought it was the gym using up all my energy but its probably just the cold and extra kit.

It could also be dehydration, I'm definitely not taking on enough water because its cold.

mmmmm dehydration. maybe. will have a slurge on consuming more....water of course

cyclopsbiker

london_scottish wrote:

taking me a good 10 minutes more for the 17 miles, especially in the morning. Feels like I'm cyclling through treacle most of the time, no power in the legs, only pain. Still better than PT though

treacle ... that's it. its invisible innit! can someone please get rid of it.

rolf_f

Not as bad as I'd have thought. I reckon I'm about 6-8 minutes slower over 25 miles. And that includes changing from the Dawes tourer to the stud shod MTB.

Mind you, add changing time onto that and it's a different picture! Seems to take an age to change now what with all the extra bits of kit.....

fnegroni

cyclopsbiker wrote:

nich wrote:

Tyre pressures?

they're ok. but I have gone on to knobblies last week....but that doesn't account for it being soooo much more difficult.

Quite the opposite for me.

I went from a set of slick 1.5" 60TPI tyres (Conti city contact) to a set of Panaracer XC pro 1.8", maybe 20TPI?
The rolling resistance of those is actually higher than my set of Schwalbe Ice Spikers (2.1" 60TPI knobbly studded tyres!).

Freewheeling down the same hills shows without a doubt the cheapy Panaracers to be around 20% slower. Downhill!

And if anything, the weather conditions have improved.

The knbblies are so bad, I am tempted to put the studded tyres back on!

Mr Plum

I thought my times were getting slower, and then on Tuesday evening I managed my 4.7 miles in just over 15mins

vorsprung

Bike/Tire					Downhill		Uphill
Specialized/Pro Race		60kph		30kph
Orbea/Stratius				55kph		28kph
Roadrat/Rubino				50kph		25kph
Roadrat/Marathon+			45kph		22kph
Roadrat/Marathon Winter	40kph		15kph

hfidgen

cyclopsbiker wrote:

they're ok. but I have gone on to knobblies last week....but that doesn't account for it being soooo much more difficult.

Nobblies will make it noticeably harder IMO - the rolling resistance shoots straight up compared to slicks or even treaded tyres.

Mr Plum

hfidgen wrote:

cyclopsbiker wrote:

they're ok. but I have gone on to knobblies last week....but that doesn't account for it being soooo much more difficult.

Nobblies will make it noticeably harder IMO - the rolling resistance shoots straight up compared to slicks or even treaded tyres.

Definitely, I reckon it could make as much as a 25% difference IME.

cyclopsbiker

Mr Plum wrote:

hfidgen wrote:

cyclopsbiker wrote:

they're ok. but I have gone on to knobblies last week....but that doesn't account for it being soooo much more difficult.

Nobblies will make it noticeably harder IMO - the rolling resistance shoots straight up compared to slicks or even treaded tyres.

Definitely, I reckon it could make as much as a 25% difference IME.

I've switched between slicks and knobblies before and it was not this difficult. think it's just a combination of things and a depleted stock of MTFU

Mr Plum

cyclopsbiker wrote:

Mr Plum wrote:

hfidgen wrote:

cyclopsbiker wrote:

they're ok. but I have gone on to knobblies last week....but that doesn't account for it being soooo much more difficult.

Nobblies will make it noticeably harder IMO - the rolling resistance shoots straight up compared to slicks or even treaded tyres.

Definitely, I reckon it could make as much as a 25% difference IME.

I've switched between slicks and knobblies before and it was not this difficult. think it's just a combination of things and a depleted stock of MTFU

I get what you're saying, but there's a difference between riding on nobblies like THESE, and nobblies like THESE

Big fat XC or DH tyres are an energy sapping nightmare on the road.

Kieran_Burns

Actually, in answer to the original question:

Yes, it is just you. The rest of us are finding it incredibly easy and are just saying otherwise to make you feel better 8)

EKE_38BPM

_Brun_ wrote:

Cold air is more dense.

But contains more oxygen. Driving an even moderately sporty car on a cold day will demonstrate this.

The extra oxygen should give you a little boost.

Cafewanda

I agree with K_B. I'm faster now than I am during the summer. Taken 10 minutes off my commute to work and 5 mins on the homeward journey.


This may be an outright lie, but who cares?

EKE_38BPM

Its the extra oxygen!

Initialised

Knobblies, + cold, dense air + winter gear + longer route/harder riding + traffic levels rising towards Christmas = drained MTFU reserves

No excuse for Londoners in their micro climate.

45rpm

defo find the commute harder in winter, no need for gear changing it's 39 - 24 all the way

Harveytile

45rpm wrote:

defo find the commute harder in winter, no need for gear changing it's 39 - 24 all the way

Same here. 48x17 for me. Then again that's what I run all the time... :roll:

SimonAH

I genuinely feel faster on a cold crisp day - yet to verify this with a computer, but really feel like I am.