Tomorrow morning / Quick Spin

Planet X

......going up to Johnny Fox's , Ballybrack Road / Viewing Point and back down Cruagh.
9am. Dundrum or wherever. ie. within 20 yds of the Bridge!

DirkVoodoo

Sounds good Al, count me in!

Planet X

OK. Cheers. See you at 9am, Dundrum.

Mosiki

Might join ya's as far as viewpoint, be heading on to sally gap, laragh direction there after.

godihatedehills

possibly in if I wake up.....but don't wait

DirkVoodoo

Still on?

Mosiki

I'm still going that direction.

Planet X

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Still on?

Of course. Just getting kit on. See you later.

Planet X

2hrs. Nice spin lads. Beautiful weather.

A few nice "digs" on the way back Voodoo!

DirkVoodoo

Good spin alright, it felt faster than the numbers suggest. I think you will find it was the wily vet who was putting in all the digs on the way back!

New cables can't get here soon enough, I miss having a compact around the hills!

Lumen

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

New cables can't get here soon enough, I miss having a compact around the hills!

Your 16:10 up Bohernabreena disagrees.

DirkVoodoo

Lumen wrote: »

Your 16:10 up Bohernabreena disagrees.

My knees disagree with the 16:10.

godihatedehills

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

New cables can't get here soon enough, I miss having a compact around the hills!

Are you back on a double? I was thinking of switching back from 105 compact (50/34) to Ultegra double (52/39), whatchya think?

DirkVoodoo

godihatedehills wrote: »

Are you back on a double? I was thinking of switching back from 105 compact (50/34) to Ultegra double (52/39), whatchya think?

I was talking with Blorg about this. For racing it is great, anytime I have had to switch down there are no major jumps in cadence. It's very smooth.

For Wicklow, sportives, training, etc. I still think a compact is the way to go. It may depend on your riding style, but I don't like grinding up hills unless it's for short spells out of the saddle, much prefer spinning in 34-23/25. 39-25 isn't exactly massive but I am no Raam, but I find it does make a difference, especially at a more leisurely pace. You can up the cadence and tire yourself out quicker. Not exactly the most social choice on a saturday morning and over a longer sportive like the W200 it might leave you with less in the legs for the SM/SE.

Solution is obviously to buy another bike

EDIT: Sorry I left out the obvious choice: multiple cassettes. You could have an 12-23 for racing and a 12-27 for everything else.

godihatedehills

Thanks for that.

Is 34/23 or 25 comparable to 39/27? and (last question) do you think I'd have the ability to become proficient at changing the cassette myself?

(Bear in mind it is a long time since I missed a Sunday spin because I tried to top up my tyres and instead ended up deflating them completely and irreparabaly, but that I wouldn't exactly be bike mechanic of the year....)

DirkVoodoo

godihatedehills wrote: »

Thanks for that.

Is 34/23 or 25 comparable to 39/27? and (last question) do you think I'd have the ability to become proficient at changing the cassette myself?

(Bear in mind it is a long time since I missed a Sunday spin because I tried to top up my tyres and instead ended up deflating them completely and irreparabaly, but that I wouldn't exactly be bike mechanic of the year....)

More like 39-28 (which is still marginally higher). If you can ride around comfortably in 34-23 then 39-27 will be no bother.

Changing cassettes is pretty easy, sometimes messy if like me you see the cassette explode like a deck of cards as you take it off, but it's something you might end up cursing as you are trying to rush out the door.

Seriously, 2 bikes!