Winky's ride in Kansas

Great!

Brilliant effort Neil. You must be a bit saddle sore! 

Actually Winky that is an average speed of 23.6km/hr over 14 hours. Not bad since some of the roads you were on look a bit rough. Was it cyclocross or road cycling?

Great stuff Winky. bet the bath felt good afterwards.

One of the advantages of your big outdoors. We tend to have less of that sort of long distance fire-road type stuff here although Wales has a bit. Tends to be tarmac roads or full MTB type terrain around me anyway. I've yet to ride a cross/gravel bike although the latter is very trendy at the moment here.

Bruce

Well done. Looks very satisfying to have finished!

Pretty impressive, Winky, you must be in top shape. Were the wife and kids there to watch you?

Top Stuff Winky - The Gravel bike you got is proving useful.       Funny I was watching a video on Global Cycling network on Youtube yesterday and it was all about the bike one of the presenters was going to ride on it.Didn't know anything about it before.How  are you feeling ?

Kiwi cat posted:

Actually Winky that is an average speed of 23.6km/hr over 14 hours. Not bad since some of the roads you were on look a bit rough. Was it cyclocross or road cycling?

Gravel roads. Some of them pretty rough. The strong headwind for the last 160km was the real killer, though.

This is the Video that I mentioned Winki - Hope you like it

Tabby cat posted:

This is the Video that I mentioned Winki - Hope you like it

Yes, I enjoyed that video. She does a great job of capturing the spirit of the event.

Haim Ronen posted:

Pretty impressive, Winky, you must be in top shape. Were the wife and kids there to watch you?

Nah, just me. They weren't interested in a weekend in Emporia, for some reason. Darien was following my splits on the FB feed, though.

The first photo is awesome.

Minh Nguyen posted:

The first photo is awesome.

Salsa Cycles runs that photo opportunity (takes the photos and publishes them) as a promotional thing at a number of major gravel races across the US. It's totally free for participants, so I don't mind giving them a plug here.

https://salsacycles.com/chasethechaise/

Fabulous. 200 miles in one go is impressive. I never managed more than the occasional 100 mile cycle ride.

Minh Nguyen posted:

The first photo is awesome.

Indeed!

Out of interest Winky,

What gear ratios where you riding for the Kansas ?

And what tyre size and trye models ?

On my Focus CX bike I am on 36-46.    11-29  (10).  All Ultegra

And tyres 35 c  Schwable Smart Sams

Thanks for posting your Kanza really enjoyed reading it.

Tabby cat posted:

Out of interest Winky,

What gear ratios where you riding for the Kansas ?

And what tyre size and trye models ?

On my Focus CX bike I am on 36-46.    11-29  (10).  All Ultegra

And tyres 35 c  Schwable Smart Sams

Thanks for posting your Kanza really enjoyed reading it.

 

 

My gears were 50/34 compact and 11-30 cassette. I was able to ride 99.99% of the course pretty comfortably, with just one climb being quite a low-cadence grind for about 200m where a lower gear would have been quite useful. An 11-32 or 11-34 would have been fine, too - and probably what most were running if they had a 50/34. I chose the 30 because I wanted the (much) lighter weight of a Dura-ace cassette and because I am picky about cadence and appreciate the smaller gaps over the range (a 12-30 would have been even better, as the 11 is a bit useless on gravel, really). Your 36 x 29 low gear would have been a bit difficult (for me at least), perhaps requiring me to walk the aforementioned hill. the infamous Teter hill is longer (about 500m?) and was a first gear climb, too. But that was more about conserving energy. Muscling over it in a lower gear would have certainly been possible. There  were a lot of short climbs where a lower gear would have been useful, but not essential. I would not run a 1X, set-up although many do. I think the gear spacing compromises wold be just too great for me.

Tyres were Maxxis Ramblers in 40mm width. They were perfect. I ran them quite hard (~45 psi) compared to some others (many seemed to be running ~30psi), and suffered no flats. Softer tyres are going to be a bit more comfortable and maybe ultimately less fatiguing, but the risk of flats (especially sidewall cuts) will be greater. Traction is not really an issue for 99% of the course, and many people ran tyres with a more continuous centre tread for lower rolling resistance. I guess my choice was OK in that regard as both the men's and women's winners ran the same tyres as I did. I was glad of the 40mm width on sections where the gravel was loose and you want to float, rather than dig in. 35mm tyres would have just been that much harder to control in a few of these areas, and you'd have to run them even harder to avoid flats.

Thanks Winky for your very eloquent consise reply.

I can understand your comments about using a 11 on the Kanza as I rarely use it on my off road rides and have to say it's mainy 46 -17  or around that.Occasionally in the 36 on climbs.

Do love my CX bike as its such a good all rounder and so comfortable to ride and great fun to ride.I have a Klein alluminium road bike with a carbon fork and Mavic ksyrium wheels ( there is a pic in my profile page) but the majority of the time I use it for weekend road rides with mates and use my Focus for my work commute.

Seriously thinking about a Colnago C50 at the moment as I ve always yearned for a Colnago and some nice ones are on the bay at the moment.

BTW Peter Sagan won the Slovakian national road race championship yesterday he broke away and did 150 km on his own and treated it as a training ride....WTF ! ...he will still be wearing his Rainbow Jersey for the Tour De France though......love Sagan an absolute beast of a rider with so much charisma .

Wishing you a good day

Cheers Ian.    

Winky this looks rather tasty and very nutritious  going to make it for the weekend as going out on a long ride.

Tabby cat posted:

Thanks Winky for your very eloquent consise reply.

I can understand your comments about using a 11 on the Kanza as I rarely use it on my off road rides and have to say it's mainy 46 -17  or around that.Occasionally in the 36 on climbs.

Do love my CX bike as its such a good all rounder and so comfortable to ride and great fun to ride.I have a Klein alluminium road bike with a carbon fork and Mavic ksyrium wheels ( there is a pic in my profile page) but the majority of the time I use it for weekend road rides with mates and use my Focus for my work commute.

Seriously thinking about a Colnago C50 at the moment as I ve always yearned for a Colnago and some nice ones are on the bay at the moment.

BTW Peter Sagan won the Slovakian national road race championship yesterday he broke away and did 150 km on his own and treated it as a training ride....WTF ! ...he will still be wearing his Rainbow Jersey for the Tour De France though......love Sagan an absolute beast of a rider with so much charisma .

Wishing you a good day

Cheers Ian.    

Speaking of Colnagos, this is my road bike.

Thanks Winky

I remember you posting pics before of it.

What model is it  ?     Are you running a Record groupset on it.

Whats the built weight  ? and what do you love about it ?

Sorry for all the questions

She looks gourgous in a very understated way

Tabby cat posted:

Thanks Winky

I remember you posting pics before of it.

What model is it  ?     Are you running a Record groupset on it.

Whats the built weight  ? and what do you love about it ?

Sorry for all the questions

She looks gourgous in a very understated way

 

C59 with Super Record 11s. I don't know the weight but it's pretty light. Maybe just under 7kg would be my guess.

Enjoying reading your thread Winky. I was there once, traveling I-70 in a Ford LTD wagon from Ohio for my cousin's wedding. Mid-1970s summer, I was about 11-years-old. Hot and dry, nothing but sunflowers and corn to be seen along Kansas' gently rolling interstate passage. The houses all seemed to be ranches (single-story; it's tornado alley) and overall not well-kempt properties. The highlight of the trip for me was when we stopped in St. Louis and I got a ride to the top of 'The Arch'.

In hindsight, Kansas was a region probably still recovering from the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. There were the old town-centers with classic theater facades, as your photo shows. Places frozen in time where you could immediately shoot a scene from the movie "Bonnie and Clyde"; otherwise, I was happy to get back to my average, middle-class, rural Ohio. Even as an adolescent, I got a sense of better future prosperity there.

So 40+ years hence, I'm curious what your impressions were of Kansas (realizing that the geography hasn't changed). I have several cousins still living there, but we're not close. Any signs of progressivism, or did you feel like you were in a right-winged time-warp?

joerand posted:

Enjoying reading your thread Winky. I was there once, traveling I-70 in a Ford LTD wagon from Ohio for my cousin's wedding. Mid-1970s summer, I was about 11-years-old. Hot and dry, nothing but sunflowers and corn to be seen along Kansas' gently rolling interstate passage. The houses all seemed to be ranches (single-story; it's tornado alley) and overall not well-kempt properties. The highlight of the trip for me was when we stopped in St. Louis and I got a ride to the top of 'The Arch'.

In hindsight, Kansas was a region probably still recovering from the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. There were the old town-centers with classic theater facades, as your photo shows. Places frozen in time where you could immediately shoot a scene from the movie "Bonnie and Clyde"; otherwise, I was happy to get back to my average, middle-class, rural Ohio. Even as an adolescent, I got a sense of better future prosperity there.

So 40+ years hence, I'm curious what your impressions were of Kansas (realizing that the geography hasn't changed). I have several cousins still living there, but we're not close. Any signs of progressivism, or did you feel like you were in a right-winged time-warp?

Can't comment on the politics. Didn't raise it. Very friendly people, but I'm "just like them" and non-threatening in every way (visitor, too).

Landscape was very pretty. Greener than I could possibly imagine. Rolling hills a grassland and a few pockets of trees, mainly around rivers and creeks.

Large servings in restaurants. Matching patrons.

winkyincanada posted:

Large servings in restaurants. Matching patrons.

Matching patrons

Hopefully not a Starbucks on every corner. I'd like to think there are bastions in middle America where mom-and-pop shops still thrive.