So I found a good loop for training on the bike at my home. Since I am able to ride the 25 miles required for Olympic distance, I now need to work on leg strength to push those pedals harder. My skinny little legs hate the bike. Even though I enjoy riding, I feel like my legs are working against me.
I am sick and tired of hearing about people riding their bike 20mph, 22mph, 25mph. I push my pedals with everything that I have and I am barely able to break 17mph. I feel that I have a great bike for what I am doing and I don't know what mechanical changes I can make to it that are short of just buying a new bike for $1400. I know that there is something about it that is different...Everytime somebody pushes their bike, it makes a "Ticking" sound in the rear cassette. My bike doesn't tick. I don't know what that means, but I feel silly having to ask. "Why doesn't my bike tick like everyone else's?"
It turns out that it is not the cassette that ticks or not. It is the rear-hub. The rear hub has a rachet mechanism in it so that when you pedal...it turns the rear tire. When you don't pedal, the rear tire turns freely. There are 2 kinds of hubs: Regular hubs and "silent" hubs. Regular hubs "tick". The noise is compounded greatly you add a disc wheel to it. There is nothing wrong if you have a silent rear-hub.
I have been told my bike should work great. Until I get up to a seriously competitive level, the bike is awesome and I should keep on "Building the engine". I agree with that. I need to get a lot more training time under my belt.
Some day, if my engine outgrows my bike, I will migrate to this:
...But in the meantime I am going to do the one thing that I can control, and that is building muscle. So I live where there are lots of hills. I am going to be riding it as a natural 'intervals' course. It does go on some busy roads so I need to do the loop on a weekend morning...but I am going to go for it.
(click "View Details" and then click "Google Earth" for better plotting)
I am going to modify it for my next ride. Instead of turning left on 228th at Pine Lake (mile 6.8), I am going to turn Right, and then ride around Pine Lake. It will add 3 miles to the ride and a lot more hills.
There is a spot where I got insecure and thought I was going the wrong way. It was a huge hill and I turned around. Next time instead of turning around, I will finish the hill and get all the way through the neighborhood. Those are big hills.
The loop should be about 50 minutes and about 14 miles.
I am sick and tired of hearing about people riding their bike 20mph, 22mph, 25mph. I push my pedals with everything that I have and I am barely able to break 17mph. I feel that I have a great bike for what I am doing and I don't know what mechanical changes I can make to it that are short of just buying a new bike for $1400. I know that there is something about it that is different...Everytime somebody pushes their bike, it makes a "Ticking" sound in the rear cassette. My bike doesn't tick. I don't know what that means, but I feel silly having to ask. "Why doesn't my bike tick like everyone else's?"
It turns out that it is not the cassette that ticks or not. It is the rear-hub. The rear hub has a rachet mechanism in it so that when you pedal...it turns the rear tire. When you don't pedal, the rear tire turns freely. There are 2 kinds of hubs: Regular hubs and "silent" hubs. Regular hubs "tick". The noise is compounded greatly you add a disc wheel to it. There is nothing wrong if you have a silent rear-hub.
I have been told my bike should work great. Until I get up to a seriously competitive level, the bike is awesome and I should keep on "Building the engine". I agree with that. I need to get a lot more training time under my belt.
Some day, if my engine outgrows my bike, I will migrate to this:
...But in the meantime I am going to do the one thing that I can control, and that is building muscle. So I live where there are lots of hills. I am going to be riding it as a natural 'intervals' course. It does go on some busy roads so I need to do the loop on a weekend morning...but I am going to go for it.
(click "View Details" and then click "Google Earth" for better plotting)
I am going to modify it for my next ride. Instead of turning left on 228th at Pine Lake (mile 6.8), I am going to turn Right, and then ride around Pine Lake. It will add 3 miles to the ride and a lot more hills.
There is a spot where I got insecure and thought I was going the wrong way. It was a huge hill and I turned around. Next time instead of turning around, I will finish the hill and get all the way through the neighborhood. Those are big hills.
The loop should be about 50 minutes and about 14 miles.
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