CAT6 Forever

I’ve noticed a little bit of this in the short time I’ve had it.

One was cervelobro who couldn’t believe that a jeans-wearing steel bike guy just smoked him.

Another were the people that were like "bruuuuh you’re ditching a vintage LeMond for a taiwan threadless bike, why though???

Whatever though, I’m having fun.

The last great Steel race bike in the 80s vs a high end carbon bike in 2005
Rudy said it right tho

My 2004 Trek 5200 planes better than my supple steel Trek.

Well what year was the super stiff bmc/cervelo machines?

2009?

I’ve been reading about power supplies. A bike is a bit like a power supply. It takes energy from something going at one voltage+current (force/speed) and transfers to another.

Planing could be a bit like power factor correction circuit as the first stage of a power supply. It doesn’t make the power supply itself more efficient – energy is energy once it is comes out of the outlet/legs and applied to the bike (power supply) But it loads the power grid (muscles) a softer way that means that less lossage happens on the power grid (muscles) side of things.

Human is the wavelength
Pedaling is the envelope
Bike is the quantizer

Riding fixed is like being a coherent wave front diffracting through a medium

okay yeah I don’t buy planing. Not as a noticeable contributing factor to the quality of ride even people like us would notice. Sounds like marketing jargon.

It’s fuckin bike woo woo handwaving for why a flexible bike might feel better to ride than an inflexible bike. I’m pretty sure that the last time this was litigated on tarck we decided than the concept of planing, as a valid explanation for what is happening is bullshit, but that there may be something there, like how bigger (28s) lower pressure (70 psi) road tires are actually faster than 23s at 120psi, but feel slower because there’s less vibration. Sort of like that but with noodly lightweight road frames, independent of material and joinery, being possibly slightly faster than super stiff race bikes but more testing is needed.

dude aren’t you all into vintage lugged track bikes?

when you buy an old frame with a 1" top tube, you’re not buying stiffness

I’m willing to concede that a flexy bike might feel better, even willing to concede the tire argument. But it’s utter bullshit to say that the frame flexes into you reciprocally and makes you faster.

Then you also agree that it is also utter bullshit that the frame flexes under you and makes you slower?

I think it’s just that the frame flexes enough to be comfortable, but not enough for a normal cyclist riding enthusiastically to lose a noticeable amount of power to it.

I don’t think the flex makes you faster. The flex is more comfortable, and very little energy is lost to flex the frame: most of it it “springs” back into the drivetrain. No additional energy is created. But since the bike is more comfortable, it’s easier to push harder and thus it is faster.

[YouTube]BH_AL4rxrp8[/youtube]

this video is helpful for clarifying the concept of planing

Cat6 season is roaring back, all across the US. Got into it with some chubby, apple-faced student on his new carbon Cannondale. There was no way I was losing a battle to some guy I had just watched struggling to clip into his SPDs, so I big ringed up a little kicker of a hill and he was vanquished. I looked back like 30 seconds later and he was seriously more than a half mile behind.

My new bike commute is probably the best commute of my life.

Section 1: Rolling on a chill residential street with a nice little warm-up climb. Nice houses with glimpses of the lake below.
Section 2: A MUP running along a beautiful, sculpted creek running in a little glen between the nicest neighborhoods of Minneapolis. Trees, lovely curves, picturesque foot bridges, lots of places to stop and enjoy after work beers, and various sections of bootleg single track. It’s a fucking delight, and hardly anyone was using it this morning at 8:15. Only dark mark is some jabroni named a bunch of Strava sections after porn stars.
Section 3: A lovely bike-only section around a lake. It’s delightful.

I do think this commute will be challenging this winter. I think I need a fat bike now.

yeah yeah cool but how many pathletes did you drop?

(no seriously tho commuting next to a lake is awesome)

I dropped so many middle school kids today. Those twerps are slow as fuck.

I didn’t see a single pathlete today which means I was the pathlete.