Get Fit, Stay Fit, Feel Good - 2026

[two wheel tramp]

@two wheel tramp , which go fast tires are you getting?

Robert recommended these: the Conti GP 5000. I know I am a Conti fan and he said these would be faster than the Gatorskins I was going to purchase. I am curious to see how they feel. I've been riding my heavier Vassago around recently so the Trek will feel like nothing compared to that.

 

[augustiron]

, and adding toe cages to the pedals, which should give me a little more oomph.

Hmmm
I'm no cycling expert but seeing this raises a red flag in my head.
If you have been doing all your riding/training with flat pedals up to this point, the addition of clip in or cages can/will add additional stresses to the knee as you are now adding the lifting motion to your pedaling and will be asking muscles and other bits to do work they have previously not been doing.
Maybe long race day isn't the best time to incorporate this and it's something to incorporate into regular riding/training over time?

i know my knees feel it if I go from flat to clipped.

I'll leave it to cycle pros to chime in.

 

[two wheel tramp]

Hmmm
I'm no cycling expert but seeing this raises a red flag in my head.
If you have been doing all your riding/training with flat pedals up to this point, the addition of clip in or cages can/will add additional stresses to the knee as you are now adding the lifting motion to your pedaling and will be asking muscles and other bits to do work they have previously not been doing.
Maybe long race day isn't the best time to incorporate this and it's something to incorporate into regular riding/training over time?

i know my knees feel it if I go from flat to clipped.

I'll leave it to cycle pros to chime in.

Good point. I have ridden with cages in the past but perhaps will ride with my regular pedals for now. I didn't think of that.

 

[Mike95060]

I don’t think 3 bottles would get me through that ride twt. I think I would try for double that and the calories at least. Use the aid station as bottle refills and all the free glucose you can take. I would probably drink about a gallon of fluids in 68 or so miles. I sweat a lot.

GP5000's at the correct pressure and with either a tubeless set up or "fast" TPU tubes are going to feel amazing. I prefer tubeless because it has kept me from getting flats 99.99% of the time once the seal is established. Most of my tubeless setups do slowly leak which I honestly just live with. The ride feel and watt savings are really addictive.

 

[Mike95060]

Good point. I have ridden with cages in the past but perhaps will ride with my regular pedals for now. I didn't think of that.

What flats are you using? A good set of grippy flats are amazing. Touch points matter. These are on all my bikes, road and mountain. I love em.

at $30, these are hard to beat imho

Race Face Chester Composite Platform Pedals 2023

Race Face Chester Composite Platform Pedals 2023 :: Available in Colors :: From $29.99 :: Race Face Platform Pedals

www.universalcycles.com

 

[two wheel tramp]

What flats are you using? A good set of grippy flats are amazing. Touch points matter. These are on all my bikes, road and mountain. I love em.

at $30, these are hard to beat imho

Race Face Chester Composite Platform Pedals 2023

Race Face Chester Composite Platform Pedals 2023 :: Available in Colors :: From $29.99 :: Race Face Platform Pedals

www.universalcycles.com

I am using these purple pretties. They are quite grippy.

 

[Mike95060]

Those look rad.

 

[two wheel tramp]

Those look rad.

@PseudoTsuga ordered those when he built my vassago. i had purchased pedals for the vassago because these didn't arrive at his place before delivery because i was antsy to ride it right away when i got it. then i threw these on the trek so i'd have a bigger pedal under my injured foot. they are quite grippy.

i can't wait to show up on my $400 parts bin bike with all these serious riders.

 

[Mike95060]

I wish i was this cool.

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[Holeshot]

Good point. I have ridden with cages in the past but perhaps will ride with my regular pedals for now. I didn't think of that.

K's spot on. One day I'll tell you the story of how I lost a national championship to this very same thing: making a change before the (Jetski) race that was a significant change in handling...35 years later, I still kick myself. His point is one of the best in recent time in this thread, IMO.

 

[two wheel tramp]

K's spot on. One day I'll tell you the story of how I lost a national championship to this very same thing: making a change before the (Jetski) race that was a significant change in handling...35 years later, I still kick myself. His point is one of the best in recent time in this thread, IMO.

I took his advice to heart.

 

[two wheel tramp]

Sorry to double post but this is at @Mario ’s request because he was crazy enough to sign up and join me as my emotional support human for this ride.



I just saw this post from Mike earlier that I overlooked while we were talking pedals. I'd love for some other folks to chime in. FWIW, temps are supposed to be high 50s and cloudy.

I don’t think 3 bottles would get me through that ride twt. I think I would try for double that and the calories at least. Use the aid station as bottle refills and all the free glucose you can take. I would probably drink about a gallon of fluids in 68 or so miles. I sweat a lot.

GP5000's at the correct pressure and with either a tubeless set up or "fast" TPU tubes are going to feel amazing. I prefer tubeless because it has kept me from getting flats 99.99% of the time once the seal is established. Most of my tubeless setups do slowly leak which I honestly just live with. The ride feel and watt savings are really addictive.

I forgot to mention I have a 1.75 liter waist hydration pack that is going to come with me and also hold my sunscreen, snacks, etc. I am NOT wearing a jersey because it will make me extremely self conscious being fat in that much spandex.

For nutrition during the ride it seems like the standard is half the calories you burn. In my case, I burn like 550 calories an hour. I followed this approximate math on my ride to Mountain View a few weeks back. But maybe I'll eat a little more this time.
Burn: 3300
Consume: 1600-2000.
I figure I will pack a gatorade, and refill bottles with Skratch Sport Hydration, free at the stops. 30 grams/ 600ml of water, 110 calories per 600ml, 900mg of sodium per liter.

Mario says he gets cramping. I haven't experienced much of that. What should I put down my face hole the night before, in the morning, and after? We are full of questions. I am looking to have good energy levels. Mario doesn't wanna cramp.

Thank you all in advance.

 

[Mario]

Wow.... no wonder I cramp... I don't do even 10% of what you all do. You all can eat while you ride?? I can barely keep the water down

I am going to take this more seriously than the shitty planning I do for my weekend rides.

 

[stangmx13]

Cramping is due to muscle fatigue. Fatigue is caused by effort. Fatigue is also exacerbated by insufficient fueling, insufficient salts, improper warm up, dehydration, improper body temp control, and more. If you treat your body as well as you can, you’ll be less tired and will cramp less. If you don’t think you can make it to the finish without cramping no matter how much you eat or drink… slow down and pace better. But really, you should eat more sugar during an important event.

Not being able to keep water down during exercise can be a sign of dehydration and lack of salts. Maybe you screwed up the fueling hours ago and now your stomach has shut down. Drink and fuel early and often so you never get behind and never need to chug. Also, don’t start the event with a full stomach and avoid tons of fat, protein, fiber, and acids. Simple carbs for breakfast and a little protein and fat - and give it time to digest.

My coach told me to carb load for 1-2 days before my race with candy or drink mix. Complex carbs like pasta take a lot of water to digest, so you’ll either be heavy or dehydrated. Simple carbs are better, but we can only eat so much rice. So candy lol.

 

[Sharxfan]

My coach told me to carb load for 1-2 days before my race with candy or drink mix. Complex carbs like pasta take a lot of water to digest, so you’ll either be heavy or dehydrated. Simple carbs are better, but we can only eat so much rice. So candy lol.

My local AYCE sushi place would heartily disagree with that statement. Plus you have never seen a CoonAss tuck into a good gumbo.


So last night was the only gym night for this week per my master plan to golf this weekend and not be sore.

So it was bench press night. got in some good reps on the flat bench still pushing to break my PR from before but adding that 5 pounds killed me for some reason so did about 3 sets of 6ish reps flat bench. Got in a heavy for me 3 sets of incline and then some butterfly sets.

Headed upstairs and did some lunges and some other dynamic body weight movements to stretch didn't feel so stretched so I also threw in some static stretches to hopefully loosen up some more. Did my normal 5 minute warm up, then about 5 minute of 2 incline and a 3 pace. at ten minutes I lowered incline and increased pace to 4. and did 15 minutes then another 5ish or more for cooldown. Total for the session was 33 minutes 2 miles total distance and some calories burned. Next week I start to increase the pace but will only get probably 2 days in as we leave for Cali next Friday and will be there 2 weeks. Hoping to find a gym with reasonable weekly rates in Hollister so I can try to keep it up and burn off all the food places I already have scheduled to hit while I am there.

Did I mention I think I am coming down with a cold right before my golf trip which has been planned for at least 6 months? Fuck this cold and the forecasted scattered thunderstorms that are trying to ruin my trip.

 

[two wheel tramp]

Wow.... no wonder I cramp... I don't do even 10% of what you all do. You all can eat while you ride?? I can barely keep the water down

I am going to take this more seriously than the shitty planning I do for my weekend rides.

I was hitting a wall at 15 miles until Robert told me to bring a little snack of about 300 calories to power me through another 60-90 minutes of riding. He was right. I’ve put back a lot of muscle in the last two months and it’s because I’ve had the power to tackle (for me) harder/longer rides.

When I rode to mt view I had two bottles of Gatorade, skittles, a yogurt drink, a Starbucks canned espresso with sugar and cream, and some dried mango. I was mildly bonkish due to a lack of sleep the night before but I made it.

I started hydrating for this ride a few days ago just like I would for a hot summer track day. @Mario you might consider doing the same and I’m going to yell at you to hydrate during our ride as well as force feed you. I’ll stop by REi today for some high calorie small treats for you.

@Sharxfan can you take some zinc and grab a little echinacea tincture from Whole Foods to help boost your immune system? I’m going to hope you don’t get sick!!!

@stangmx13 thank you for sharing your knowledge.

 

[Holeshot]

Did I mention I think I am coming down with a cold right before my golf trip which has been planned for at least 6 months? Fuck this cold and the forecasted scattered thunderstorms that are trying to ruin my trip.

Blast it with high doses of Ascorbic Acid and Vitamin D + K2. Not bad to supplement with C, D, and K anyway...

Ascorbic Acid powder

Thorne Vitamin D +K2

 

[Mario]

Cramping is due to muscle fatigue. Fatigue is caused by effort. Fatigue is also exacerbated by insufficient fueling, insufficient salts, improper warm up, dehydration, improper body temp control, and more

This confirms what I have been believing for a while. Most everyone tells me "it is all dehydration, take some salt tabs" etc. I picked up cycling 2 years ago. I've been averaging now 3-4 rides a week, around 120-170mi per week. I had plenty of opportunities to test the dehydration theory. It might have contributed some, but none of the level that it made a major difference. First months of cycling I would start cramping at the 25mi mark. Half year I would reach 30-35mi. One year and I extended my rides to 40miles. Today I can complete 60-100mi without cramping. My hydration hasn't changed at all, but my endurance after 2yrs of training did and cramping is happening at much higher levels of exertion.

The only one contribution I haven't tried is fueling. I very rarely carb load (unless we count all the beer/margarita carbs, which are plenty ) and I never eat while I ride. So now I am going to use this ride to test how much impact fueling has on cramping. I don't believe it will have a major impact but hope I could push a bit further without cramping.

Carb loading started yesterday, 500gr of carbs a day (potato, pasta, oatmeal, rice). No meat (vegetarian) and removed most fat. Aiming for 3L a day for hydration. Going with this till Friday. Pre-ride I will do candy to top off. Still need to figure out fueling while riding situation, I have never done it.

This is the first large group ride for me and it will be a mental challenge. I am used to ride with faster riders and always end up overexerting myself. I am betting this has a high likelihood of happening too. My personal reference is a ride to Portola, 60mi 2,600ft loop that I can complete in 3hr 35min moving time. This saturday ride is 68mi 3,000ft (?) and I know adrenaline will kick in and might get a bit too excited and try to beat that Portola pace. Best case I can push it a bit further and end up with a massive grin in my face. Worst case, cramps kick in around 3hr mark and I blow the ride. We'll see.

Now to finish this disgusting oatmeal bowl

 

[Mario]

Forgot to add. Everyone knows that decals make motos go fast. Would flashy spandex with lots of logos make me go faster? Or should I go with my plain colored Lululemons?

 

[two wheel tramp]

@Mario there are three aid stations with hydration mix, fruits, m&ms, and pb&j. I will have some skittles, dry mango, and some sport gummies.

Look up sodium potassium pumps + sarcomeres. It’s neat physiology.