Show "Bicycle"

Man you are HOOKED
Last week I clocked in 75 miles. I'm trying to do 100 miles a week if possible. It's not as much as other cyclists, but I try and ride hard hills and make sure I'm at a high pace when on the flats. Also my diet has changed a bit, adding more carbs into the mix just to give me energy on the bike rides. My gym routine is also focused on lifting heavier now, with fewer reps, higher weights to maintain a a strong core and to keep the bulk down.

I also realized my current bike only has the original frame, brifters, brakes and rear derailleur, everything else has been customized! I find maintaining both the human machine while dialing in the mechanical machine to be lots of fun! On my group rides I try and determine other riders potential by looking at both their physical and cycling attributes. Some of these guys are monsters with insane levels of glycogen in their system. I find similarities to photography where the photographic eye (analog) coincides with the image process (digital). Some photographers have a keen photographic sense with a very good camera setup/post workflow to match...very much like the rider and the bike!
 
Today I did a quick 10 mile uphill grind at my favorite Hollywood sign viewpoint! Unfortunately my camera PASM dial was accidentally bumped into M mode and this was the best I could do to recover the raw file!

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Unlike Jonathan, my approach to cycling and pretty much everything else is a bit more sedate. I typically get about 20-30 miles a week on the bike, with a few brief sessions on the indoor bike added for good measure, although today I did a bit more than 24. My diet . . . eh, it could be better. My photography could best be described as "whatever happens, happens". But we're both enjoying life, so there's that. Here's my muse for the day:

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Unlike Jonathan, my approach to cycling and pretty much everything else is a bit more sedate. I typically get about 20-30 miles a week on the bike, with a few brief sessions on the indoor bike added for good measure, although today I did a bit more than 24. My diet . . . eh, it could be better. My photography could best be described as "whatever happens, happens". But we're both enjoying life, so there's that. Here's my muse for the day:

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I probably drink way too much coffee! :D
 
I actually did a "quaint" 10 miles this early evening to one of my favorite urban fire roads near my house. I'm usually the only bike I see here, even though I'm pretty sure it's an open fire road with public access (no signs prohibiting bikes). I'm guessing it's due to the ridiculously steep road hills just get here and I'm the only one crazy enough to ride a bike on these trails! :D

On a side note, my new project urban gravel bike is in the works! Just waiting on a few parts before making it's debut! ;)

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After weeks and weeks of horrible air pollution - caused by smoke from the wildfires burning across both Oregon and Northern California - we finally are having a bit of clean air for a change - clean enough to not have the outdoor air quality be 'unhealthful' (in the 'red' or even 'purple' zones). So I celebrated by getting on my bicycle for what seems like the first time in centuries.

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I hope this (relatively clean air) lasts here in Southern Oregon.
 
Ahhhh, Salsa Journeyman, no? I like those. Jealous.

I was lucky: I bought mine, lightly used, near the beginning of the statewide pandemic (in about March, 2020) - from a chap who had too many bicycles and had just moved to another place without as much storage room. He also happened to be an avid cyclist - and a Mercedes truck mechanic who maintained all of his bicycles with what I can only describe as an impeccable attention to detail. He also was generous and sold it to me for a very reasonable price. The 650b tires seemed wide to me at first, but they zip along happily on everything from gravel to dirt to smooth road. It's a nice bicycle :)
 
I finally put together my "gravel" spin on what a road bike should look like! It's sporting Shimano 105 5800 brifters, 105 5800 RD, FSA 50/34t crankset and an 11-32t 11 speed cassette. It has Ritchey flared gravel bars/seat post/saddle, WTB 29" thru-axle wheelset, Panaracer GravelKing plus TLC slicks, TRP HY/RD cable actuated hydraulic brakes and full CF frame and fork. Future upgrades will probably include a Shimano GRX rear derailleur, bigger rear cassette (11-36t 11 speed) and Shimano R7000 160mm crank arms/crankset with Ultegra press fit bottom bracket.

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I finally put together my "gravel" spin on what a road bike should look like! It's sporting Shimano 105 5800 brifters, 105 5800 RD, FSA 50/34t crankset and an 11-32t 11 speed cassette. It has Ritchey flared gravel bars/seat post/saddle, WTB 29" thru-axle wheelset, Panaracer GravelKing plus TLC slicks, TRP HY/RD cable actuated hydraulic brakes and full CF frame and fork. Future upgrades will probably include a Shimano GRX rear derailleur, bigger rear cassette (11-36t 11 speed) and Shimano R7000 160mm crank arms/crankset with Ultegra press fit bottom bracket.
LOL . . . I will never again feel guilty about ordering a few bike parts. :D
 
LOL . . . I will never again feel guilty about ordering a few bike parts. :D

So basically this bike was old, slightly damaged/returned inventory, but came with the wheels, groupset, brakes, pedals, etc. The only issue was that the fork was beyond repair and I ordered a carbon fork from Ebay and it took about 2 weeks to arrive. It has the same rake of 50mm of the old fork and I had my LBS cut it to size and I installed it torquing it to spec. Even with the purchased fork, I still came in way under what it would cost to build this bike from scratch or buy a complete bike new.

It's still rough around the edges and needs some tuning. I'm running a flat mount fork with a post mount brake adapter, but the tolerances are off by a few millimeters so I'll have to file the adapter down a bit since it's causing the rotors to rub with no room for adjustment on the bolts. Fit seems pretty good and I was actually surprised on the frame. I'm able to run a 130mm stem without feeling stretched and I even slammed it last night. Since I'm in an odd 'tweener height, I usually go with smaller frame and run a long stem/high seat post. It's actually a few pounds lighter than my alloy bike, but to be honest I don't feel much difference just yet. Maybe because I have my alloy bike really dialed in. The Shimano 105 RD is okay, but I much prefer GRX for shifting. The front 105 derailleur is fine though and it's set and forget. The Ritchey saddle is actually pretty comfortable on my rear despite being quite rigid. It's curved in a way that actually creates a good fit. I snagged the flared Ritchey bar from my single speed, which I'll probably end up selling and stick to just having two similar, but slightly different purposed bikes (even my camera gear is like that)!

I actually did a bunch of research prior to putting this bike together and for how I ride, I think it'll be a nice road bike which will be better suited for speed. I definitely realize I do not like 170mm crank arms. My 165mm arms on my alloy GRX bike are awesome and I'm able to spin like crazy. I have 105 160mm cranks ready to install on this new carbon bike, so I'll go even shorter with this setup.
 
So basically this bike was old, slightly damaged/returned inventory, but came with the wheels, groupset, brakes, pedals, etc. The only issue was that the fork was beyond repair and I ordered a carbon fork from Ebay and it took about 2 weeks to arrive. It has the same rake of 50mm of the old fork and I had my LBS cut it to size and I installed it torquing it to spec. Even with the purchased fork, I still came in way under what it would cost to build this bike from scratch or buy a complete bike new.

It's still rough around the edges and needs some tuning. I'm running a flat mount fork with a post mount brake adapter, but the tolerances are off by a few millimeters so I'll have to file the adapter down a bit since it's causing the rotors to rub with no room for adjustment on the bolts. Fit seems pretty good and I was actually surprised on the frame. I'm able to run a 130mm stem without feeling stretched and I even slammed it last night. Since I'm in an odd 'tweener height, I usually go with smaller frame and run a long stem/high seat post. It's actually a few pounds lighter than my alloy bike, but to be honest I don't feel much difference just yet. Maybe because I have my alloy bike really dialed in. The Shimano 105 RD is okay, but I much prefer GRX for shifting. The front 105 derailleur is fine though and it's set and forget. The Ritchey saddle is actually pretty comfortable on my rear despite being quite rigid. It's curved in a way that actually creates a good fit. I snagged the flared Ritchey bar from my single speed, which I'll probably end up selling and stick to just having two similar, but slightly different purposed bikes (even my camera gear is like that)!

I actually did a bunch of research prior to putting this bike together and for how I ride, I think it'll be a nice road bike which will be better suited for speed. I definitely realize I do not like 170mm crank arms. My 165mm arms on my alloy GRX bike are awesome and I'm able to spin like crazy. I have 105 160mm cranks ready to install on this new carbon bike, so I'll go even shorter with this setup.
Where do you find 165mm cranks? Everywhere I searched, they were crazy expensive. I run 175 on everything, basically because they are easier to find and pretty inexpensive, relatively.
 
Where do you find 165mm cranks? Everywhere I searched, they were crazy expensive. I run 175 on everything, basically because they are easier to find and pretty inexpensive, relatively.
I'm about 5'7" and can fit anywhere between a 49-52cm bike frame. Shimano GRX's smallest is at 165mm and 105/Ultegra come in as short as 160mm. For my height, 160-165mm is actually the recommended length. I prefer the smaller crank arms because I get little-to-no toe clipping and since I live in a very hilly part of LA, the torque advantage of long crank arms don't really offer much advantage when every direction is a hill. On my group rides it's a noticeable difference because I can spin faster without getting out of the saddle, hence conserving my energy better. We've done some long hill climbing segments where the more dedicated roadies in the group will fall back due to burnout. GCN has a few good videos talking about crank arm length that really go into detail the advantages.

I've ordered all my cranksets from either Bike Tires Direct or Jenson USA. They seem to receive Shimano stock regularly, but also sell out within a few days!
 
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