Paul's Bicycles Winston-Salem T2T Training Ride

Yo Andy we've missed you out there. Saturday was split 3 ways almost from the start. 2 of us were not even quite there at the start, 4 of us stayed together only very few miles, and I think we must have come in solo, solo, 2 and 2. More details later in my report. BTW, speaking of injuries, if anyone has signed up for T2T and can't make it for any reason, be sure to contact the MS Society soon and let them know so they can release you from any fundraising obligations. But hopefully everyone will be feeling uninjured and ready to go by Sep 5 and 6. There are plenty of course support folk (SAG vans, motorbike course monitors, HAM radio ops) to keep track of us even if we're not with other skaters and to take us from one stop to the next if we need that, even. The Tour is such a no-stress event, the only times I've been wired were because of my attitude about myself, not the Tour's attitude about me. OK, and of course I also might be short on sleep and high on worry for company coming to town for the tour, but it's still good stress. Anyway, the Tour to Tanglewood has always been wonderful to skaters, indeed. It's a great day to see over a thousand cyclists mostly in a great mood because they're out doing something they love and helping others at the same time.

Timv I'm sure you've heard me pontificate on everything, but just for the record, I've had 4x76, 4x80, 5x80, 5x84 and 3x100+84 setups. Once you try to learn double push, skating in some K2 4x80s on a short frame is tons of fun! As you know from autos and mobikes, the frame length makes a huge difference is turning and "push" and "squirreliness" and such. The 4x80 setup is sweet for carving, but I think it's the shorter frame that makes the difference, rather than the size of wheels. This same carvability is perhaps exactly speed wobble. On 4x80s Silver Hill outside Stone Mountain Village in Georgia is pretty exciting and a bit scary. Even on 5x80s I felt a bit like I was floating. On 5x84 frames, which are over 13 inches, maybe 13.5, I was amazed at how solid it felt. The same was true going up and over Stonewall Jackson inside Stone Mountain in the counterclockwise direction (from above). The point is that my 5x84 setup was incredibly solid feeling, even though the particular frame model was known to be not the strongest made. When I went to 3x100+84mm frames, I was surprised the first time over these spots again. I had that floating feeling again a bit, and was totally surprised. I was back to a 12.8 frame (same length as a 5x80mm frame) and at about the same height. I'd say that I'm a little less certain on the 3x100+84 setup when I go over Silver Hill. Add to that the slight increase in traffic over there, and I must admit that I softpedal it a bit (to use the bike term) at the top of Silver Hill. [Let me add that for several years I have adopted a policy of NOT tucking at the top of Silver Hill as well. It's a .75 mile downhill and staying in a tuck longer than necessary affects the 1.1 mile climb that follows in my opinion. So even when in a tuck, I'm trying to keep my legs bent but straighter than a severe tuck to keep them viable for the climb up to the rest stop and the 5-points at Lickety Split in Stone Mountain Village.] I'm still not certain that 3x100+84 is overall better than 5x84. I think it may be easier to climb on the 5x84 setup. For level ground, especially rough stuff, I think 100s are better. I'd like to try a 13.5" long frame with 100s or 110s on it. That might be the perfect setup, as long as just as low to the ground as 5x84. But if the double push is really important to you in terms of curvy swishy carves, that will be harder to do with a longer frame. With a longer frame you can still double push, but it will be a less curvy arc in general, in my opinion. This may actually be better of course! If the important part of the undercarve is straightening the underpush leg (and I think so), this can still be done of course!