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PX Stealth.. don't know anything about the BB!
Also have a stealth... have a 25 on the back and thinking of changing to a 27 for IM France
Tried 45 minutes on the turbo this morning (after testing the knee for 5 minutes last night on it) - felt OK, no real pain at all
Straight afterwards... lots of pain
Start with a physio on Saturday. Got a half marathon in 3 weeks in which I wanted to go under 85... can't see that happening though now... nor my marathon in 10 weeks time 
Hmmm I *think* that's a threaded BB. Reason I ask is I have an FSA crankset with 52/38 I've just taken off my bike, which you'd be welcome to give a try - it's a 30mm spindle though so may not fit...
On the subject of upgrading crankset, as you can tell I've just changed mine out. I went for shorter crankarms - mostly led by the thinking that I can get more aggressive in my position without compromising my hip angle at the top of the pedal stroke. Accordingly, I fitted a compact: the smaller radius of foot travel means a higher cadence for the same foot "speed" in three dimensions. Higher cadence, lower gearing.
shorter cranks are the way a lot of the top pros and elites are going - you're just a copycat TE.....
I never claimed to come up with the thinking. I just said that's what I've been led by.
Which half GB? Wokingham?
The only slight issue I have with compact is a bigger drop down when going to the small ring, but that's dependent on the rings you choose. In general you have a set-up that suits a wider variety of courses without having to worry about changing cassette.
True.. its impossible to transition smoothly between the rings. On the flip side, you don't need the small ring as much. I'm leaning towards sticking with what I've got.. especially with my first long distance race I suppose i'll not be pushing too high a gear anyway!
Yep CD, though it's currently looking unlikely. Havent ran a HM for 3 years when I ran 1:26... at the time I was running around 39 minutes for a 10km. Can rather comfortably run under 37 for 10km at the minute, possibly under 36... so was eager to smash a pb
Are you running London this year CD?
GB - you never asked me if you could run in my patch!!
Haven't ran in a week now
One small 45 minute session on the turbo left my knee in a lot of pain afterwards... physio isnt sure but thinks no running for a while... not good!
I'm getting fat, and can't run or cycle. In to the gym to lift weights it is then!
Of course! Wouldn't miss it.
GB - unless you're quite a weak cyclist (which I doubt you are if you're on this thread), you don't need a 27 on the back for IM France. There is one short sharp bit about 20k in, then the rest is all steady 5-6% type-stuff. I'm not particularly strong on the bike and never used the 25 even, apart from 30s on that bit near the start.
I just re-found this thread and read back a bit and did laugh at those charts analysing training load etc! I love stats but would never go into that sort of detail - hours per week is enough for me, and maybe counting the number of "hard" sessions per week.
He is. He's a very weak cyclist.
My road bike was a compact when I bought it. I didn't know what that meant. A couple of years later when I bought a power meter (two weeks before an IM) I got the cranks swapped over. I didn't realised I'd moved from a compact to a 53/39. I had no idea what this stuff was all about. I also purposely turned off any display of power information for the race as I didn't want to get confused by the numbers. I just let the thing record the data behind the scenes.
As for cassettes, I think I'm running an 11-28 cassette on my TT bike. Yeah there's a bit of a jump between some of the gears (which i've never found an issue) but I can often keep up a good cadence on the climbs and rarely spin out on downhills when I want to push. Seems to work for me.
I run an 11-28 as well, I won't normally spin out a 53-11 on the flats in any race so happy with it. I am alao not precious about running lower to be a 'real' cyclist as one person I met a few years ago put it.
In fact one of the classics was a few years ago I was chatting about set up with someone on a training ride and they asked what I was running as a cassette, I replied, 11-28, their reply, I thought you were a good cyclist ?
They didn't mean to be rude or condescending but it shows the naivety of some and the stereo types of others.
Whatever is comfortable and gets you up the hills and keeps you going on the flats will suit me fine thanks.
And as for the stats over the page, OMG ! that was too much for me and I don't mind stats, my training peaks now is lucky to get my uploaded files for my computrainer as its on a non networked computer and I have to remember to upload my swims and runs.
Interesting Padams... I didnt think I was a weak cyclist but after not training for 18 months I found myself being dropped on every hill the other weak during my only decent ride this year!
Am I right in thinking that you went with the road bike? Would you go on the TT if you did Nice again?
I have a full fat front chainring ans a 11-32 on the back!!! - raod and TT bike.
looks like a dinner plate on the back but I can get up anything spinning up it at a cadence of 80-90. Everyone else is blowing their legs to pieces cranking it at 50-60 rpm with max effort.
Yes it looks silly but so what - it works for me
and I am a reasonable cyclist
oh and stats / graphs..... I just love looking at a pretty blue line going upwards - helps in the motivation on the following week
GB - that's right, I went with the road bike with clip-on aerobars. Now I've done the course, I would go with the TT bike - at least half of the course is reasonably flat, I don't climb slower on my TT bike, and the main descent is actually not that technical. I didn't see many people around me on road bikes.
I went road bike as the coverage of IMFR the year before we did it showed most of the pros on road bikes.
I know a guy at the sharper end of the field, he was following immediately behind the guy who died at Nice last year. He stopped and was needless to say pretty shook up.
His story was basically thus: They were descending at pretty high speed but nothing crazy, it wasn't a very bad bend, the guy just misjudged an apex and clipped the inside wall. Not an argument against TTs, just to ride within your limits. And remember that punching tickets to the Big Island is all well and good, but at the end of the day it's a hobby...
First race of the year tomorrow! 2/10/2 mile duathlon. Heavy rain and wind forecast... Fun times.
Tough day yesterday with strong crosswinds and a lot of water on the road. Luckily no heavy rain during the race. Distances were 3k/15k/3k with a flat run loop and an out an back bike. Up a hill to the turn around then back down. The runs were okay. First onto the bike with about a 10 second lead. About 4k in and I was passed by 3 guys within a minute of each other. Didn't get near them again. They finished overall within 30s of each other and i was 2 minutes off in 4th. Average speed on the bike wasn't good but that can partly be blamed on rough conditions.. Good enough first race but more bike work is definitely needed.
A good sign that you were first onto the bike though!
Things are improving for me after this cold, think I'm getting back to some semblance of 'health'. When I did the FTP test on Friday as part of the Tour of Sufferlandria I was waaaay down on normal. Yesterday with that new FTP I found it pretty easy to complete the stage. I'm going to slowly wind the numbers back up...
First on the bike is good, but its not a run race
Losing 2-3 minutes over 15k is quite a lot in fairness! Little bit of extra motivation to work harder. I've another short duathlon in 3 weeks then the longer national champs in April to aim for. Plenty of time to improve.
Managed 4 minutes of running on Monday morning before knee was in pain
Another trip to the physio tonight... definitely out of half marathon in 10 days and not sure about marathon in 8 weeks now!!
Cycling, swimming... life (work) has got in the way
It's tough to live with injury, I can certainly empathise GB. 2012 was blighted from start to finish by my ankles - so frustrating. Trust me, take the recovery time and do rehab. Don't keep trying to exercise until it hurts again.
I've already exceeded the highest CTL I achieved last year despite the cold - attributable to starting the year with some base fitness (I had all of Nov/Dec '12 off) and some solid consistency since. This Tour of Sufferlandria lark seems to be working...
I'd echo TE's words there.. I tried racing last year just as an ITB injury was clearing. Left me injured for another 4 weeks. I've not gotten into the sufferlandia stuff. Did one session and it seemed good. Do you use a power meter or estimated power?
I was actually very close to buying a stages power meter but decided against.. I did upgrade from my compact though. Ordered all ultegra 6700 53/39 crankset, BB, 11/28 cassette and chain for under £200.. should hopefully fit the bike okay as long as i can figure out how it all fits together! It should be a nice upgrade considering i've never changed any of that stuff before!
Couple of questions.. will any 68mm threaded BB be fine on a stealth frame? Will SRAM Red shifters and deraillers work with Ultegra cassette/crankset?
I use a power meter. Nothing like doing the sessions with TrainerRoad to keep you honest. Have to say I was slow on the uptake w/r TR but I think it's going to have a very positive impact on my bike strength this year.
As far as equipment compatibility, I'd have thought any Hollowtech II Bottom Bracket would work, and I'm fairly certain SRAM plays nicely with Shimano across the board. I'm confident enough on neither to tell you what to go out and buy though