Bill excellent report, conveyed the feelings and congratulations. You asked "How much faster would I have been on a six-pound lighter bike?", Approximately 14 minutes assuming you were rode 7H 45M (1H 13M stopped) and using the 12lb weight reduction = 1 mph faster speed. 7H45M riding = 16 mph average. The possible 6# lighter is a 0.5 mph increase in average speed or a 16.5 mph average. 124M/16.5mph = 7.51H = 7H 31M, or 14M faster time.
Sounds like you would have had a great ride either way. John Hawrylak Woodstown NJ On Sunday, February 11, 2018 at 1:05:11 PM UTC-5, Bill Lindsay wrote: > > As I've said before, I'm pretty much an unracer. Last weekend I did my > first ever mountain bike race, so I called that un-unracing. Yesterday I > did my 22nd brevet with San Francisco Randonneurs, and since randonneuring > is not racing, unracing, or un-unracing, I'm calling it un-un-unracing. > The event was the San Francisco Randonneurs Valley Ford 200k. It's a > course I've done twice before and covers roads that I know well enough that > I didn't need to carry a cue sheet (but I did carry one). Compared to many > other SFR routes, this one is comparatively flat with under 7000 feet of > climbing. The route starts and finishes at Crissy Field below the Golden > Gate Bridge. Randos cross the bridge into Marin, head up around Nicasio > Reservoir out through cheese country into Petaluma, then shoot across to > Highway 1 and hit the Valley Ford Market up next to Bodega Bay. On the > return the skirt the oyster joints along Tomales Bay into Point Reyes > Station, and then take Sir Francis Drake Blvd through Samuel P Taylor Park > back to Fairfax and backtrack through Marin to the GG Bridge again. It > sounds like a pleasant day out on the bike and that's how I was feeling > about it. The weather outlook was 100% perfect, with the slight chance of > some wind. At the start in Crissy Field, it was in the low-50s and so I > decided to not bring knee warmers or a jacket. I wore a thin wool > baselayer, my lightest SFR shortsleeve jersey, armwarmers and my 'moonbeam' > reflecto-vest up top, Rapha bib shorts down below. I felt like a > minimalist wearing and carrying so little in the way of clothing. > > I had done 21 brevet-distance events before (200s mostly and a few 300s), > all of which on 650b bikes. I had a 58cm 650B A. Homer Hilsen, which I > used a lot in 2011 and 2012 events. I also used to have a Rawland rSogn, > which I used for a couple events. In 2013 I replaced my Hilsen with an > epic lightweight Rawland Stag build. Most recently I did a mixed terrain > 200k on a Niner RLT9 converted to 650B. This was going to be my first ever > 200k on a 700c bike, the longest tenured bike in my stable, a 56cm > single-top-tube, cantilever Rivendell Samuel Hillborne. I bought Sam in > December 2009, and it marked a complete reboot of my approach to bikes and > cycling. The Hillborne has gone through several build iterations over the > years. It's been a touring bike, a monster-cross, commuter, and now is set > up as a 1x9 all-road. A little while back we had a thread about sub-20 > pound steel road bikes and I weighed my Black Mountain Road bike at 20.5 > pounds and Sam at 30.5 pounds. With two full water bottles and some food > and two more tubes in my handlebar bag, Sam was probably closer to 35 > pounds. > > Executive summary, yesterday was probably my strongest day on the bike > ever. I think this is the first 200k where I never once had the feeling > 'Why am I doing this?' I never had that feeling of 'it's never going to > end' waiting for a control or a turn to approach. It's the first 200k > where I was actually a little disappointed that there wasn't more. I > honestly felt like I could have sat down for a nice meal at the finish, and > hopped back on the bike to do the course again, and just make it a 400. I > really, sincerely don't know what planing is. People describe it all the > time, but it has no objective meaning to me. Some people say a more > flexible bike than an overbuilt Rivendell will "encourage the rider to > pedal harder". I felt encouraged to pedal harder, and it was just me and > Sam out there. Did I have a great day? Am I fit? Or was Sam 'planing'? > Some people say a stiff heavy overbuilt Rivendell "pushes back on your > pedals and bogs you down on hills". The Tomales Bay section (miles 80-90) > of this course has countless 100-200ft rolling hills, and I would build > momentum on the downs, and hammer the ups, sometimes seated, sometimes out > of the saddle. Sam loved it, if a bike can do such things. The breezes > that were promised in the weather report didn't kick up until the > afternoon, and at that time those breezes were a tailwind pushing us home. > It felt kind of like cheating, but it was intensely exhilarating. I > definitely was in an excellent rhythm with my bike. Was it 'planing'? Or > do I not know what I'm talking about? The other 'first' was that this was > my first 200k with a 1x drivetrain, and it was fantastic. I ran a 42T ring > with an 11-32 9-speed Shimano cassette, shifted friction with a Silver > shifter mounted on the stem. I'm completely sold on 1x for the right kinds > of riding. I respect those single speeder and fixed gear riders who don't > even want 9 gears, and I respect those who insist they need one-tooth-jumps > across their gear range. I'm really happy to be finding that middle. > Again, it probably had a lot to do with the great day I was having, There > are a few short steep climbs back up to the Golden Gate Bridge at the > finish that I'm normally throwing into my lowest gear and spinning weakly > up hoping it will be over soon. This time, I was in my much higher 42x32 > (or the 28), and stomping it. > > I definitely didn't need my full metal fenders on that warm sunny day, and > I carried so little stuff that I could have easily done without my > handlebar bag and front rack. If I had used a tiny battery headlight for > the ~45 minutes of lighting I needed at the start, then I could have left > my dynamo lighting off. At that point Sam might have been 6 pounds > lighter. I finished in 8 hours 54 minutes, which was a personal best for > that route and my fastest ever SFR brevet. How much faster would I have > been on a six-pound lighter bike? Probably several minutes. How much > slower would I have been on a six pound heavier bike? Probably several > minutes. Would a lighter bike have made my best day ever even better? > Would a heavier bike have ruined my best day ever? It's hard to say. A > few randos playfully mocked my "touring bike". There were a lot of riders > doing just fine on conventional crabon bikes, and a few running even > tankier tanks than me. I'm using my Sam as my 2018 brevet bike because > it's so dialed in road feel. With 700x38 Barlow Pass ELs, the bike just > sings on the road. It's supremely comfortable, and it's a super reliable > build. > > Socially, I ran into Toshi all day. We bumped into each other at the > start, and leapfrogged a few times on the route. He finished at the same > time as me on his Roadeo, and seemed to have a great day as well. Here's a > photo at the turn at the Valley Ford store. I think Toshi and his Roadeo > are just out of frame to the right. > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bxdv5tXjatU/WoCEoBwNGjI/AAAAAAAADwE/bGH84HG-iQol9VWNd6WcvJ7tmsyZAnZjwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0155.jpg> > Bill when's-the-300 Lindsay > El Cerrito, CA > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. 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