being comfortable or being uncomfortable - discuss.

[DCT]

im thinking about someone who wants to get better at cycling and takes it somewhat seriously....

although there are no mountains or big hills, do you run a compact and a 28 because its easier?
why not get stronger and suffer a bit more? if you're used to everything being easy, what do you do when something gets difficult?

we're always concerned about being comfortable, but isn't cycling an athletic endeavor? flip that stem up and put it way above the bars so its comfy and make the bike unstable?

[JeffS]

Everyone wants to be "better". At everything.

Training to be better for me is so many steps beyond wanting that they're barely related at all. Suffering for suffering's sake is a hard case to make to a person without a defined goal.

[Dorman]

Good one. At what point do we differentiate between people that have a clue about equipment and those that don't? I would assume that everyone on here has a pretty good idea about what is going on, but being completely obsessed with bicycles is a pretty small segment of the market.

Anyway, for me I run a 53/39 and an 11-23 cassette (Campagnolo drive) for virtually everything and I'm still pissed they won't make a 20 so I can have an 11-21 11 speed cassette. If you ride it enough the fitness will come and it will be normal. I am a little off my peak fitness this summer and had a 65 mile ride with 6,000 feet going up. I doubted myself and put on a 12-25 for that. I did the same ride with the 11-23 last year no problem.

Of course, we could also add weight into this pain equation. My Crumpton is 13 lb. 6 oz., my Bianchi is 14 lb. 5 oz. and even my aluminum Cervelo S1 is only 15 lb. 10 oz. Put me on an 18 lb. bike and I'm gonna start whining like a baby.

I suppose we should all train on 20 lb bikes with hard gears to maximize training and use the light stuff when it counts, but I love the way my Crumpton rides. Oh, and always ride into a hard headwind.

Take it from there.

[WFSTEKL]

Sound biomechanical fit on a bicycle is one thing, and it is usually the only thing when it comes to finding Zen on a bicycle. However I've always said, if you want comfort, buy a couch. Now, here is an observation. I just mounted some Grand Bois tires on my machine in preperation for D2R2. They are the green lable ones in size 29c. I did not purchase them looking for a comfort solution. It was simply a performance pursuit. I ride a steel Zank and have had all kinds of rubber mounted on it, including 27c Evo Pave tubs. However absolutely no tire I've used before has allowed me to roll over broken, missing, hole riddled pavement like these tires. They just brush it off like it doesn't exist. I was not expecting this result. As far as performance goes, these Grand Bois tires have allowed me to ride faster over shit pavement and gravel roads. So, performance is improved with the added benefit of a little extra "comfort". If you are riding a shopping cart as a solution to improve your comfort on the machine, I can't help you.

[pdxmech13]

My take is that cycling became the new golf for a while because to most people it is easy. They don't push themselves enough to make it truely hard. We are still seeing the cause and effect in the industry form this. Handlbars are still getting higher, gears are becoming lower. Hell I just got an internal memo saying the new standard weight for americans accoridng to a recent survey is now considered 275lbs and we will be accomodating this with newer internals on our suspension forks. America is fat and lazy!

[Badonkadonk]

pounding away on pedals, sitting on a tiny contact patch, and risking your health with cars on public roads while dressed like a circus performer is uncomfortable. the only way you make it worth it is thrashing yourself like a motherfucker until you can't go anymore. i don't get to do that as much as i'd like, but it sure is fun.

all of this biking stuff is very uncomfortable if you're doing it right is my opinion.

you wanna add to the pain, ride with people who are much fitter than you. torture, and awesome.

[classtimesailer]

Going slower is more comfortable. If the group slows down some after a hard effort, I'm more comfortable. On the other hand, if I get dropped, I am not comfortable.

[Too Tall]

D., you took the words right out of my head. I've been thinking about starting an similar thread for days and you beat me to it.
Apologies for making this about me here goes.
I make a small change on my Spectrum recently, the saddle is clapped out ;) That with changing to an setback seatpost put me into an slightly more aggressive position. When I'm riding easy and warming up the bike is not super comfortable to sit on, it bothers me some. Once I am warmed up and training hard the bike does not matter, the top tube could be an 61 or an 68 and who cares what length stem I have as long as everything is not hateful and I can turn corners!!! OK ok ok I'm being dramatic to make a point.

Bikes fit very differently when you sit on them and just pedal vs hard peddaling. In order of importance my fitness is a huge factor on how well the bike fits me for pedaling hard OR easy.

Go figure?

The above non-brilliance is just one reason I've got an quiver of bikes.

I'll replace the clapped out Arione saddle this week and retract all the above ;)

Infact "it" is an sum of all the little things unless you are hammering than that is all that matters.

[Justin Spinelli]

I'm most comfortable being uncomfortable.

[Shinomaster]

My old man still rides a heavy Bianchi up Harris Hill twice a week and likes the 39 more than a 34. I'm so proud.

[Badonkadonk]

My take is that cycling became the new golf for a while because to most people it is easy.

btw, the same people who started cycling b/c "it's the new golf" also suck at golf. i've been out on the course with a lot of them, and they talk exactly about golf while sucking the way they talk about riding while sucking. it's a disease.

[EricKeller]

I used to make fun of my dad when he asked me to read the fine print on something. This subject is similar. Not that I'm taking offense, but we do get older, and a lot of people take up cycling without the core strength of a 20 year old.

the stem makes you slower. I don't think a lot of people get that. Of course, riding with a position that's too upright will give you the strength and flexibility to move your position out and down into a more powerful position. Not riding a bike will not do this. Having said that, I wouldn't like to build a frame that forces someone into a position that they thing is going to be comfortable, but precludes them from setting the bike up with the position that will allow them to develop the most power.

The compact crank and an appropriate gear probably makes a lot of us faster. When I was younger, my winter granny gear was 42/24. I have been resisting putting lower gears on my bike until a hill whipped me so badly I was shaking for the next 20 miles. I was just being stupid.

[zank]

im thinking about someone who wants to get better at cycling and takes it somewhat seriously....

although there are no mountains or big hills, do you run a compact and a 28 because its easier?
why not get stronger and suffer a bit more? if you're used to everything being easy, what do you do when something gets difficult?

we're always concerned about being comfortable, but isn't cycling an athletic endeavor? flip that stem up and put it way above the bars so its comfy and make the bike unstable?

Who is this "we" you speak of?

Uncomfortable is not eating dinner for the past three months so that I can go faster during very uncomfortable moments this fall.

[pdxmech13]

btw, the same people who started cycling b/c "it's the new golf" also suck at golf. i've been out on the course with a lot of them, and they talk exactly about golf while sucking the way they talk about riding while sucking. it's a disease.

I'm not the golfer I once was but stepped out on the course not to long ago and couldn't believe the swings people had. I'm lucky I picked it up at the age of 6.

[Tom Officer]

Aside from just plain bad positioning, comfortable or uncomfortable is really just a state of mind. I never remember being
uncomfortable in the last 15 minutes if I was heading to the line alone. But I have plenty of memories of hanging onto the tail of an echelon while trying to stay out of the gutter and being very uncomfortable. Same applies to training, when the goal and focus were there I don't recall being uncomfortable, but if was in a funk and wondering why I bothered to race, no money, no recognition, etc….well then going fast was very uncomfortable.

[WFSTEKL]

I don't think that the topic about finding comfort on a bicycle is about toughness. It is about understanding how to integrate with the machine. Many of the dopes that you see riding shopping carts just have not been educated.

[jsmillerjr]

btw, the same people who started cycling b/c "it's the new golf" also suck at golf. i've been out on the course with a lot of them, and they talk exactly about golf while sucking the way they talk about riding while sucking. it's a disease.

I'll never understand why people have to act like an expert at something when anyone with a shred of common sense can see that they are just full of s**t! Makes me laugh but seems all too common in this day and time....probably is a disease

[maunahaole]

My old man still rides a heavy Bianchi up Harris Hill twice a week and likes the 39 more than a 34. I'm so proud.

Your old man sounds like he is tougher than nails.

[jitahs]

I'll posit a waistline of over 34" does not make cycling an athletic endeavour.

It becomes bike riding.

[Tom Officer]

The OT is a little misleading, I took it he was talking about suffering, not so much whether you have a cushy saddle. Clarify Darren!

I don't think that the topic about finding comfort on a bicycle is about toughness. It is about understanding how to integrate with the machine. Many of the dopes that you see riding shopping carts just have not been educated.