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The Surly Road Cycling Thread


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MS 150 is  in the books. Thanks to those who donated. Resting is over and will get back to riding tomorrow.

Nasty headwind on Saturday. Completely demoralizing.

Thinking of doing that Lukemia charity ride around Lake Tahoe next year.  Anybody done it?

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On 5/3/2024 at 9:52 PM, Jiggy-Z said:

MS 150 is  in the books. Thanks to those who donated. Resting is over and will get back to riding tomorrow.

Nasty headwind on Saturday. Completely demoralizing.

Thinking of doing that Lukemia charity ride around Lake Tahoe next year.  Anybody done it?

I too did my first MS150 from Houston so we had tail wind/cross wind both days. The hardest was the last 14 miles into Collie Station. Holy shit the cross wind was brutal.  Rode with team sponsorship so had a cot and air-conditioned sleeping arrangement.  Didn't have to tent camp.  Saw several bad wrecks on Sunday due to wet roads.

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1 hour ago, APEX said:

I too did my first MS150 from Houston so we had tail wind/cross wind both days. The hardest was the last 14 miles into Collie Station. Holy shit the cross wind was brutal.  Rode with team sponsorship so had a cot and air-conditioned sleeping arrangement.  Didn't have to tent camp.  Saw several bad wrecks on Sunday due to wet roads.

Came from Austin, so Sunday was not bad at all except for my hangover.  I really thought Sunday was going to get canceled and behaved accordingly on Saturday to my own detriment.

I am really surprised Austin riders did not have a bunch of heat related issues on Saturday.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone done any road cycling in Vail area. Staying in Eagle Vail area.

I can do the Vail Pass to Frisco, but that is a long day from Eagle Vail ?72 miles with elevation elevation above sea level for this flatlander). Im going to do it but that cant be a regular thing since I have duties when the kids wake up at 11am or so and want to just be able to ride the whole way without doing any driving.

Any gravel stuff or extremely easy mountain bike stuff ( easy hardtail) close by in Eagle Vail/ Avon? Will bring both bikes. Thanks. I'll hang up and listen.

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27 minutes ago, Jiggy-Z said:

Anyone done any road cycling in Vail area. Staying in Eagle Vail area.

I can do the Vail Pass to Frisco, but that is a long day from Eagle Vail ?72 miles with elevation elevation above sea level for this flatlander). Im going to do it but that cant be a regular thing since I have duties when the kids wake up at 11am or so and want to just be able to ride the whole way without doing any driving.

Any gravel stuff or extremely easy mountain bike stuff ( easy hardtail) close by in Eagle Vail/ Avon? Will bring both bikes. Thanks. I'll hang up and listen.

Do the pass.  There is a trail so no cars.  Just do what you can.  Plus it will effectively be downhill one way.  

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51 minutes ago, EastHorn said:

Do the pass.  There is a trail so no cars.  Just do what you can.  Plus it will effectively be downhill one way.  

Plan on it. Both ways of course.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Back from Vail. Man, what a place!!!

We stayed in Avon and commuted to Vail (my kids were competing in the Go Pro Mountain Games)

Did Avon to the Vail Pass and back. 47 miles with 4000' of elevation change. Cool ride with the climb into alpine forest and snow on the way out and an easy coast on the way back.

Also did another interesting route from Avon to the Wolcott divide, which is heading west into canyon desert like terrain. 44 miles with 3500' of elevation change ( i think). Kind of a dangerous ride due to traffic and not much shoulder.

Altogether, managed 150 miles in 4 days of riding plus a few hikes. We are going next year for sure.

First 2 are vail pass. Then Wolcott.

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Elevation really didn't bother me all that much, but I was not in a group and I was stopping pretty often to take pics. Climbs were long but not too steep, although Vail Pass had a Category 1 climb 7% over 8 miles.

When I started cycling 2 years ago,  I never dreamed of all the cool places it could take me.

More pics:

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17 minutes ago, CycleTex87 said:

I wanted to do Vail pass so bad when I lived in Denver, but wife, small kids, etc. never had time.

It is worth it. I packed in a lot of riding and hill work before I went, but even with the inclines and elevation it felt great. 

I suspect the temps had a lot to do with that. I was working hard but was pretty dry when I finished and didn't drink near as much water as I do in Austin.

The heat really does take it out of you, especially with the high humidity of late.

It was so much fun. I felt like a kid out there just riding his bike to go see stuff.  I am really stoked to train hard and be ready when a cool opportunity comes along.

It also, just goes to show you, cycling is not just about packing in the miles and upping your speed all the time. Just get out there and ride and see where it takes you.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted (edited)
On 6/11/2024 at 11:53 AM, Jiggy-Z said:

Elevation really didn't bother me all that much, but I was not in a group and I was stopping pretty often to take pics. Climbs were long but not too steep, although Vail Pass had a Category 1 climb 7% over 8 miles.

When I started cycling 2 years ago,  I never dreamed of all the cool places it could take me.

More pics:

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That is amazing!

 

 

Meanwhile in Mexico

https://www.wired.com/story/silicon-valleys-fanciest-stolen-bikes-trafficked-mastermind-jalisco-mexico/

Edited by G650
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Posted (edited)

I like that story. Both my kids had their bikes stolen in college.  We had paid good money for both those bikes.  They weren’t super high end but they weren’t Walmart either.  We sort of wrote it off as a rite of passage, but the sense of violation and sting lingers a lot longer. 

Edited by CycleTex87
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On 6/11/2024 at 9:53 AM, Jiggy-Z said:

When I started cycling 2 years ago,  I never dreamed of all the cool places it could take me.

I live in CO and started MTB again last year. One of my early observations was exactly what you shared above. This last winter I realized I didn’t want to go 5 months without riding while trail conditions weren’t suitable. Borrowed a friends gravel bike and got into that. Bought a gravel bike to add to my growing collection this spring. Mostly ride gravel or non technical single track on it but occasionally do group road rides in the mountains. Yesterday was a doozie, 62 miles 6.5k elevation gain up to 11k feet. 

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3 hours ago, Bodhi said:

I live in CO and started MTB again last year. One of my early observations was exactly what you shared above. This last winter I realized I didn’t want to go 5 months without riding while trail conditions weren’t suitable. Borrowed a friends gravel bike and got into that. Bought a gravel bike to add to my growing collection this spring. Mostly ride gravel or non technical single track on it but occasionally do group road rides in the mountains. Yesterday was a doozie, 62 miles 6.5k elevation gain up to 11k feet. 

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Nice bike. I want to live on Colorado so bad for cool rides like that with amazing views.

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23 hours ago, Bodhi said:

I live in CO and started MTB again last year. One of my early observations was exactly what you shared above. This last winter I realized I didn’t want to go 5 months without riding while trail conditions weren’t suitable. Borrowed a friends gravel bike and got into that. Bought a gravel bike to add to my growing collection this spring. Mostly ride gravel or non technical single track on it but occasionally do group road rides in the mountains. Yesterday was a doozie, 62 miles 6.5k elevation gain up to 11k feet. 

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I need to get a gravel bike.  My fat tire works great for it, but it's just so much more work.  You wouldn't want to put in 50 miles on that fucker.  And we have nothing but endless gravel in the Midwest.

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2 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I need to get a gravel bike.  My fat tire works great for it, but it's just so much more work.  You wouldn't want to put in 50 miles on that fucker.  And we have nothing but endless gravel in the Midwest.

I actually use my gravel bike for my training bike. Gives me the option to dip off onto hardpack if I want.

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9 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I need to get a gravel bike.  My fat tire works great for it, but it's just so much more work.  You wouldn't want to put in 50 miles on that fucker.  And we have nothing but endless gravel in the Midwest.

I use my Ti  CX bike for almost everything by swapping wheels. I am seriously considering moving up to 32mm tires (from 28mm) in my road set up and forgetting about the swapping. I run a 1 x 12 set up.

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51 minutes ago, Jiggy-Z said:

I use my Ti  CX bike for almost everything by swapping wheels. I am seriously considering moving up to 32mm tires (from 28mm) in my road set up and forgetting about the swapping. I run a 1 x 12 set up.

I have 30s on my roadbike and 33s on my gravel, Ultradynamico Cava's. They roll pretty smooth. Biggest difference is really the aero penalty from the wider and shallower rims.

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1 hour ago, G650 said:

I have 30s on my roadbike and 33s on my gravel, Ultradynamico Cava's. They roll pretty smooth. Biggest difference is really the aero penalty from the wider and shallower rims.

Yes. When my carbon wheels were out of commission, I used my alloy gravel wheels which have 38s , for my road rides. With proper inflation, I noticed no difference in performance despite the alloys being much heavier. The 38 tires do have a nice smooth bottom, so that also helps v. more aggressive tread.

Really I was just pointing out that I was trying to whittle it down to just one bike, well plus a mountain bike.

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On 6/25/2024 at 4:09 PM, Orale said:

Anyone done a longer cycling tour in the Northeast? I'm exploring a two week scenic ride somewhere in the NH, Vermont, Maine area in September camping where I can. I'm looking at different routes here https://cyclingnewengland.wordpress.com/bicycle-touring/

 

Always wanted to do something like that out west. In fact, I built my bike for that specific purpose.

It's nice that it is fully supported so you dont have to cart a bunch of shit with you...which I also want to do.

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