![Eek :eek:](./images/smilies/eek.gif)
Hz , once you start riding up the hills it becomes addictive
![Big Grin :D](./images/smilies/biggrin.gif)
DarrenM wrote:Stoopid rain. I was going to ride today no matter what the weather was, but I managed to get one in without getting wet despite localized showers going on around the place.
Decided to ride the M7 up to the closure again, but there was a second detour at Rooty Hill which just sent me in a loop back to the first detour
Had a ride around Rooty Hill before heading back and about 7km from home it had been pissing down and was nice and cool which refreshed me so I did an extra cycle path to make up the lost distance. When I got to my street I was at 59km and I couldn't leave it there so I did a couple extra streets and finished at 63.7km in 2h 50 mins
53km last month, 63km this month. Might try this at Easter. Fingers crossed it doesn't rain as usual.norbs wrote:DarrenM wrote:Doesnt seem to long ago that you were worried about 30km rides. Well done mate.
ouch.Flinty72 wrote: Avg's 10% for 10km's with one 400mtr section @ 19% now that'sterritory.
CLP, how long is Checker overall, from my understanding its only that steep in the last 1km or so...CLP wrote:ouch.Flinty72 wrote: Avg's 10% for 10km's with one 400mtr section @ 19% now that'sterritory.
Checker Hill here has a 600m section at some insane gradient (average gradient for the whole climb is 14%) .. had to walk the last 300m in the last Challenge tourWill have to revisit that now that i have some compact cranks
i love hill climbing, i just wish i didn't suck at it so badly. Probably dropping a few kg would help a bit too
Checker is pretty short.. i think about 2-3 km. the last 600m is the really steep part. I'm yet to try anything really steep on the compact since installing it, so i should try that at some point.. just need to choose a hill i guess.. Checker, corkscrew, Fox Creek.. too many to chooseFlinty72 wrote:CLP, how long is Checker overall, from my understanding its only that steep in the last 1km or so...CLP wrote:ouch.Flinty72 wrote: Avg's 10% for 10km's with one 400mtr section @ 19% now that'sterritory.
Checker Hill here has a 600m section at some insane gradient (average gradient for the whole climb is 14%) .. had to walk the last 300m in the last Challenge tourWill have to revisit that now that i have some compact cranks
i love hill climbing, i just wish i didn't suck at it so badly. Probably dropping a few kg would help a bit too
Yep Compacts FTW when you get up to gradients above 10% imho, I did Baw Baw on a 34/28T setup & it allows you to keep seated up to 15-16%.
For those techno-philes...(and those interested in descending).
6.5km
Average speed 54.6kph
Exceeded 70kph on 8 occasions
Exceeded 75kph on 5 occasions
Touched 81 as a max
15 brake applications with some of the larger ones being:
76 - 24kph in 7 seconds
72 - 30kph in 8 seconds
77 - 46kph in 2 seconds (Actually I remember that one, I swear the rear wheel lifted)
81 - 60kph in 4 seconds
Some of the accelerations are pretty awesome too:
45 - 77kph in 7 seconds
48 - 77kph in 6 seconds
And lastly some of the faster sections
Range of 70-81kph for 9 seconds
70kph for 10 seconds (slight speed variances as cornering)
60 - 70kph for 15 seconds
All in all - depending on weight of course - I don't see this as being a descent that's hard on the bike. 15 brake applications in 7 mins is only averaging 1 every 28 seconds with most being in the 2-5 second range. That leaves around 23-26 seconds of brake recovery - a huge amount considering the temperature efficiency of such a large braking surface.
I did also clean my front pads up with a rough bastard file before the ride and inspection of the rims subsequently shows no excessive rim wear.
If you have read this far and are interested, I minimise brake wear in the same way I would in a rally car:
Short, explosive efforts on the brakes. There is an enormous amount of initial 'bite' in bike brakes. Trail braking will only lead to overheating brakes - it is inefficient and ineffective. Plus it will further reduce your confidence in descending as the brakes WILL heat up more.
Finally, I do want to say I descended Baw Baw without taking any risks. There are many blind corners and the surface is not ideal. Given a firmer grasp of the route and the knowledge that no one is coming, I would say a 6.15 is feasible.
I had a thought norbs,norbs wrote:I think a Baw Baw ride for ARSE would be great.
2 problems. It is too close to organise the time to get there. And it doesn't climb Baw Baw!Flinty72 wrote:I had a thought norbs,norbs wrote:I think a Baw Baw ride for ARSE would be great.
Maybe look at doing this before tackling Baw Baw itself, but then if your coming all the way to VIC you may just want to see what all the hype of that hill is about.
http://www.challengeseries.com.au/defau ... 0343/41057" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.challengeseries.com.au/defau ... 43%2F41057" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;