Surprisingly there is zero difference in handling, as if I never changed it... it goes to show that all this literati stuff about frame angles and tubes lengths is mostly nonsense... a bike is a bike, which is what I always thought. I just about notice the difference between a road bike and a Brompton...
Just because you personally have not detected any noticeable difference does not mean that fork length or rake don't matter to anyone else or that their perceptions of those aspects of bike geometry is therefore nonsense. If you don't happen to have a taste for fine food and wine and no interest in those things doesn't mean all connoisseurs of good food or wine vintages are necessarily talking nonsense.
Perhaps you're just part of the cycling 'illiterati' (and I don't mean that in a harsh way, just perhaps that stuff is not relevant or of interest, which is fine).
I don't think it's that he is doing extra secret workouts, just that the rides he is doing might have a bit more behind them than he is saying. Going out for a couple of hours and hitting a couple of climbs really hard is still structured riding, if he is doing it like that. He's effectively saying he does a couple of VO2 intervals each ride. It's also 14 hours a week which is quite a bit for most amateurs.
Of course as you say, with a VO2 max that high he can basically do what he wants and still be really fecking fast...
I don't think it's that he is doing extra secret workouts, just that the rides he is doing might have a bit more behind them than he is saying. Going out for a couple of hours and hitting a couple of climbs really hard is still structured riding, if he is doing it like that. He's effectively saying he does a couple of VO2 intervals each ride. It's also 14 hours a week which is quite a bit for most amateurs.
Of course as you say, with a VO2 max that high he can basically do what he wants and still be really fecking fast...
In that case my training is structured too... I tend to do the same over the summer... a couple of hours with 2 or 3 short climbs to hit hard...
Oh the summer, he said whilst glancing at the window... hopefully it will get better later in the week
Well yeah, just by going out with a bit of a plan for your ride, riding steady and hitting a few climbs very hard *is* fairly structured. You're just using the terrain to drive your intervals, and seems to be pretty common amongst pros if you look at their Strava etc.. The rest of us do it in 60-90 mins on the turbo because we don't have time to do 4+ hour rides every day with multiple blocks in them...
The mistake a lot of people make is spending all their rides in Zone 3, chasing high average speeds etc., which is obviously fun and has its place but if you do every ride like that it isn't going to be very productive in the long run.
^ what is more important than high average speeds, especially when posting to Strava?
Depends what you want to get out of it? On Strava, maybe KOMs or beating your mates on segments? On the whole I'm more bothered about my times up popular local climbs than my overall average speed, except for a couple of flat fast routes I do sometimes.
For example I assume Ugo is normally much more interested in his time over some particular 3-5 minute intervals than in his average speed over a 2 hour ride.
Anyway, in the end you will be able to get higher average speeds on your fast rides if you spend some rides doing proper intervals than if you spend every ride in sweetspot - that's pretty much the definition of junk miles. Unless you don't really care about training or being as fast as possible, in which case there's not really any such thing as junk miles, which is totally valid.
Attempting a Basecamp challenge on Tuesday... 24 ascents of Saintbury Hill in the Cotswolds for a total of 4424 mt of ascent... Perfect time of the year, innit...
Well a man has to have a hobby
Rule #5 // Harden The censored Up.
Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
Attempting a Basecamp challenge on Tuesday... 24 ascents of Saintbury Hill in the Cotswolds for a total of 4424 mt of ascent... Perfect time of the year, innit...
I can recall you being very dismissive of the 'Everesting' thing not so long ago.
AND gives me an excuse to eat SPAM sandwiches... this time with green pepper mustard... what a connoisseur...
I've not had real spam (not the email type) since my primary school days and i clearly remember it being amazing, spam fritters yummy or were they ...?
Rule #5 // Harden The censored Up.
Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
Attempting a Basecamp challenge on Tuesday... 24 ascents of Saintbury Hill in the Cotswolds for a total of 4424 mt of ascent... Perfect time of the year, innit...
I can recall you being very dismissive of the 'Everesting' thing not so long ago.
Yes, SPAM is surprisingly nice... and as junk food goes, is not too bad either... 8 ingredients in all, compare with the 50+ in a packaged sandwich
their website it packed fully of recipes i've put a couple of tins on the shopping list
Rule #5 // Harden The censored Up.
Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
Posts
Perhaps you're just part of the cycling 'illiterati' (and I don't mean that in a harsh way, just perhaps that stuff is not relevant or of interest, which is fine).
Like when people who bosh exams say things like 'i didn't really work very hard'
Of course as you say, with a VO2 max that high he can basically do what he wants and still be really fecking fast...
The mistake a lot of people make is spending all their rides in Zone 3, chasing high average speeds etc., which is obviously fun and has its place but if you do every ride like that it isn't going to be very productive in the long run.
For example I assume Ugo is normally much more interested in his time over some particular 3-5 minute intervals than in his average speed over a 2 hour ride.
Anyway, in the end you will be able to get higher average speeds on your fast rides if you spend some rides doing proper intervals than if you spend every ride in sweetspot - that's pretty much the definition of junk miles. Unless you don't really care about training or being as fast as possible, in which case there's not really any such thing as junk miles, which is totally valid.
Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
I can recall you being very dismissive of the 'Everesting' thing not so long ago.
Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
2020 Voodoo Marasa
2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
2016 Voodoo Wazoo
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