Third Time's a Charm: Litespeed T3

[KWalker]

Strava link? What VAM? Instead of using HR why not just use a MMP curve power target?

[Delorre]

Very nice shots And have to say, took a look at the ride on strava, and those are impressive numbers for such a long climb and not being a climber!! I managed to hit a little over 300w on a 19 minutes climb in september this year, and that was 'almost' flat out, nowing we still had to do 3 other shorter climbs after that, but on the main + 1 hour climb next day, (we took it more easy), I only got something like 250w Avg So I know what effort it is to sustain such numbers...for us, mere amateurs.

[RyanH]

@kwalker I wasn't aware of that model. My fitness is a lot higher than ever before so I had to guess what I'd be able to hold. I knew 4w/kg was what my friend held in the front group last year so I targeted that while keeping an eye on my HR and RPE. It was a little surreal as the group of 4 that I was with, me and the other were chit chatting until near the end when he picked it up. It's a long ride and even to the top you still have 2 hours of rollers while descending to contend with so I didn't want to over do it.

https://www.strava.com/activities/766974467

[beeatnik]

^Dat World Famous Rose Bowl Aero Testing, doe.

Who did 4W/kg last year? The loud, little guy? And you beat your 2015 time by about 20 min, rite?

KUDOS.

[Calnago]

Those are great shots and impressive performance. Well done. Just get the photos unwatermarked. They look worthy.

[KWalker]

@kwalker I wasn't aware of that model. My fitness is a lot higher than ever before so I had to guess what I'd be able to hold. I knew 4w/kg was what my friend held in the front group last year so I targeted that while keeping an eye on my HR and RPE. It was a little surreal as the group of 4 that I was with, me and the other were chit chatting until near the end when he picked it up. It's a long ride and even to the top you still have 2 hours of rollers while descending to contend with so I didn't want to over do it.

https://www.strava.com/activities/766974467

There are many mean maximal power models in Xert and GC. Pacing by HR on an effort that length seems silly since your HR will drift a bit. Understood though.

260w AP correct?

[RyanH]

280w. VAM was 1100 for last 50 minutes of the climb.

[KWalker]

Word, I was just mouse-overing Strava and it showed 260 including the dips. Why did you choose this bike over your others?

Is there a Strava for the winner? Curious as to their stats.

[RyanH]

The main segment got messed up because we were standing around in it before the ride rolled out. Avg power was 282 with descending, rollers and all:



Here's the link to Seth's ride. He backed off and was in "cruise" mode after he dropped the short, loud one that beeatnik refers to. That was his third time doing that route that week.

As far as this bike over the others, I'll elaborate on that tonight when I have more than 3 minutes to myself. Today's been nuts.

[KWalker]

I figured something was up since there were so many dips early on.

[mrgray]

surely 4w/kg for that eternity does mean you are a climber (if you want to be). certainly i was dreaming if i could get there (4 w/kg) i'd be able to ride race @ westhead (hilly course here in sydney) without getting dropped.

[KWalker]

That doesn't mean someone is a climber at all. It's a steady state efforts and pure climbers can usually punch a bit. 280w is lower than the AP of many even flat Cat 3 road races I've done and right around or below (depending on weight) the NP of a standard cat 3 race if it's not slow and negative. Not that it's bad, but just providing perspective since a power for a duration isn't really a way to directly equate someone's phenotype as a rider especially if its not reflective of competition demands. Climbs in U.S. races rarely exceed 10 minutes and almost never 20 for amateurs and the gradient often is not high enough for weight to be the sole determinant. Even then at the Cat 1/2 level lots of winners on 'climber's courses' aren't won by climbers.

[RyanH]

Fortunately, as kwalker pointed out, most of our races feature a climb that is less than 20 minutes in duration. I'm not a climber, as you can probably tell from the pictures, I don't have that build. A friend of mine, who I consider a climber type, was telling me the other day that I need to increase my 20 min power (on a w/kg basis) to be more competitive next season. I don't think I agree as our races aren't controlled by the climbers and me being able to hold around 5w/kg should be sufficient. His point was that they will be fresher at the end, but again, I don't see the small dudes winning the sprint at the end.

I should have a revised power curve to post up in the training section at the end of this week but it looks like my power is up 5% almost entirely across the board over my historical PRs, which means I'm finally out of the shadow of my 2014 season.

With respect to the Litespeed and why I chose it? In short, it's different. It's not an Uber bike that I will want to replace each year, it's classic with a modern touch. Something about titanium frames, visually, puts a smile on my face. Carbon is neat but feels ubiquitous and mass produced, all except the R5ca felt that way to me. The T3 is very similar to the R5ca, but better when sprinting due to the stiffer chain stays and fork. Overall, I'm enamored with this bike. It's not aero, or light, but the way that I look at it is that I don't want to be in a position next year where I need marginal equipment gains to win a race.

[KWalker]

I know many, many cat 1's that have rather unimpressive w/kg, but have great tactics and know precisely how to avoid their limitations and use their power. Cat 3 races aren't really races in CA anymore, they're a tempo ride with shitty, negative tactics, and then a sprint. Last year was the worst. Power really doesn't guarantee results especially if a rider is not good at sprinting.

For some reason I thought you owned all the bikes in your signature and didn't see the Ex's thing. Sounds like a fun bike. I'm bored of carbon personally speaking. If there was an Allez Sprint disc I'd pull the trigger right away.

[RyanH]

I have a few things coming in (2016 SR and SISL2 SRM since my compact Quarq died) but I figured I'd post a few shots of how it looks most days:

With Reynolds 32's and Vittoria Pave 27mm Tubs:


Matte Vinyl to cover the painted bars:


Silca Impero pump. The smallest barely fit and it had to be flipped around:



Nice narrow cockpit: