K thanks
well I went out yesterday to ride after work. weird, it was an off day and yet it was still a pretty good day. first off after about the first mile I was shifting my foot just a little and the crank hit my heel just enough to knock my foot off the pedal 
so whee there I went, but I landed it like a pro stayed on my feet :D. then about a mile later I just couldn’t seem to settle in the seat so I stopped and decided to raise the seat a little, Wow that felt much better so off I went. at the 4 mile mark I suddenly found myself needing to, well relieve myself. so into the woods I went ;). now I’m back at it and after a couple miles I needed to stop again to rest and reposition, back on and get to my starting point and finish the 8 miles, then I decided that even with all the stops I was making good time so I would ride a little more, I ended up riding about half way and turning around so my total ride for the night was 12.43 miles. also decided I don’t like riding after dark, even though my new lights on the front are great I have trouble with the shadows and keeping focused on the road. I found myself looking down too close in front of me to be able to ride comfortably at any speed
so here is my next question. I use cyclemeter to log and track my rides. it has an option to turn on stop detection, this removes the stop times and recalculates for your ride time and average speed. Is it fair to use this option or should I use real time only
example yesterdays ride
real time
ride time 1:37 hr
average speed 7.5
stop detection on
ride time 1:17
average speed 9.48
for 12.24 miles with top speed of 12.74
Yes it is fair to report either one. Your moving average is one thing and your overall average is another. On my 36er my moving average is normally in the range of 10 to 13 mph but for longer rides my overall average is closer to 8 to 10mph.
I record my rides on Strava and it has the “stop” function integrated.
In the app it typically reports the moving time and average speed based on that.
For me this is a perfect statistic to compare my rides.
On the Strava website (or when changing the activity type in the app…) it also shows total time.
For “segments”, which are compared with other users, it calculates speed based on the total time between begin- and end-points. As if it were a competition. The only way to make a fair list of fastest users.
OK I just didn’t want to go around saying I riding 9 MPH when it’s really only 7
but it make sense it is 2 different things
SO next question, this is more to just understand, not so much asking for advise.
when you ride long distance where do you have your seat set and why do you have it there, IE nose up, flat or nose down
The seat angle is a personal preference but most seem to prefer the nose up because it transfers more weight to the sit bones and less on more sensitive areas. Most of the weight will be at the lowest part of the saddle. If the nose is down more weight will be on the front part of the saddle.
Of course there is a limiting condition of how high the nose can be before other more sensitive body parts (mostly male) start to get in the way. That is where a flat saddle has a real advantage.
Maybe this is why I don’t see any advantage of a flat saddle - I couldn’t figure out why it’s such a big deal 
They’re also much narrower in the middle section. The main thing which annoys me about traditional saddles is chafing on the inside of my thighs.
rode another 12 miles last night, got a little better at handling the riding in the dark, but I’ll be glad when the days get long enough I don’t have to. I decided I like the idea of the handle bars for both hands and as everyone said the temp one I made isn’t good enough, mostly it’s too small and is too close to me to get comfortable. I’m trying to work on leaning forward to get more stable control. So today I am building a new one, I’m going to copy Jim T bar. I have some strong brass tubing I’m going to use and turn it up so if I UPD and the uni hits it will hit my main single bar first.
the link is from my last ride, this is my current state of riding skill on the 32. as you can see i’m still kinda all over the place with my speed. I have the new handle bar installed now and plan to try more leaning forward to get better control. I think right now I’m still riding too straight up because the wheel twitches back and forth a lot when I try to speed up and it’s like I just can’t settle in on a steady speed because I’m constantly correcting due to the uni tipping back and forward.
I’m open to suggestions as to thoughts to help correct this issue other than just more time in the saddle
You’re doing fine. Hopefully you will stick with it long enough to find a cadence you can relax at and maintain forever. The tortoise and the hare — it’s your choice. I’m satisfied with being an almost always finishing tortoise in amongst a field of younger excuse making hare.
If at the end of a training ride your cadence only varies around 2 mph I think you have found a foundation to develop.
Now is the time to build endurance. Wait until you can ride continuously at about 9 mph or so then start adding short sprints without falling below 8 in recovery. Pyramids work great for buildings your ability to increase speed. But first you need foundation miles.
DO NOT let the wood go numb. I’m usually fine for the first forty minutes. You will not want to deal with damage control.
Enjoy,
JM
3 Likes
Apart from spending more time in the saddle there is little you can do to get a more constant speed. The human body / brain / reflexes just need time to figure things out.
What I found is that constant speed is easier when riding slightly uphill.
Less backpedal action going on.
And inclines are also a good workout which could be beneficial in preparation for your event.
well that makes me feel better, at least I know I’m still on the right path
I do feel like it has gotten a little better since I added a handlebar, maybe the new one I just built will help even more.
I know I don’t need them yet but I went to my local bike shop to discuss adding some brakes and the next thing I knew I had brakes on the uni
I played with them just a little on my ride after that, figured out right quick to be really careful not to overdue it. I did pretty good but had 1 time I grabbed a little more than I thought and it was all I could do to not get face planted. I’m ready to challenge the viaduct where I ride now, it has scared me because it’s pretty steep and I know I couldn’t ride down it without brakes
also the handle bar did well but it was a little too far forward. this morning I took it off and shortened it a little bit and now I think it will work better.
regarding brakes: I have quite some “slack” in my brake so it does not react the very moment I grab the brake lever
This allows me to grab / hold the lever comfortably before applying the actual braking effect.
Yes, I wouldn’t say it’s a lot but I had some slack set up in mine as well, if I find it to be not enough I can shave down the shims at the pads to add more throw before they grab. I’ll post some pics later of my new set up. they used some nice parts to put it together. I’m real happy with it
You should be able to get any amount of slack you want by moving the shims from the inside to the outside and adjusting the cable, I think. But most of it is probably just getting used to the brake.
Looks like a pretty solid “budget” setup you have made yourself there, I like it.
It is good to see you got a caliper that was deep enough for your setup. If you can add some toe-in to the brake pads so they contact with the leading edge first that might also help with the grabbing
another day of riding after work, couple things changed both mental and mechanical
first I decided to pay attention and not try to ride fast but just steady, if that meant slowing down then so be it. after about a mile I remembered I wanted to raise the seat more and see how it felt so I stopped and raised it about 1/4 inch. right off it felt good or even better. after another mile I noticed I was riding much smoother. I’m still struggling to use the handle bar with both hands but I’m staying with it. so at the end of the 4 mile I U P D, I had turned to look behind me to make sure there wasn’t any cars before I crossed the road I leaned forward and left to cross and I guess I leaned too far forward. anyway the impact bent my new handle bar back some moving it closer to me, and WOW what a difference it made 
it was now more comfortable to use and I was able to ride with both hands much farther before getting out of whack or having to let go with one hand or the other to not loose position. I tried leaning forward while riding a few times but I am having a real hard time with that as it just feels all wrong and my knees feel like they come up too high and cause me to get off balance.
so all in all it was a good session. I have a long way to go, I know I’m doing this after a full day of work but I hit 13.44 miles yesterday and have to say I didn’t have much left in me when I stopped