Weekday Rides and Ipoh Trip setup thoughts

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So it begins, the hardware war! BP acquired a Specialized Venge with top of the line gruppo (Di2) and wheels (lightweights). Francis acquire not one but TWO Pegorettis (Responsorium and Marcelo)....lord knows what he's gonna get to build them up. KL 'upgraded' to Reynolds DV46 wheels and Super Record Gruppo. Now I consider my equipment to be wonderful (and it took me along time to think and build it up, with much research and personal rethinking prior to buying) but wow, these guys blow me out of the water in a heartbeat in terms of procuring exotic parts!

Did 2 usual rides around coastal over the weekdays. Nothing special. I've made a u-turn on my initial plan of equipment choice for the coming Ipoh trip. This trip a bit special unlike last year's TOP; there is a massive 100% climbing day and an pure Flats Century ride. I initially planned to take my DA + Mavic wheels, compact crank and 12-27 cassette. This configuration is my pure climbing setup. Great if that was the case but I find that its not really ideal for me for flats riding some some reason. The gearing feels weird, the crank feels just not right as well. I just can't put a finger exactly on the issue....its all about the feel.

The best setup for the FLATS will be HEDs + DA Standard Cranks. I'm most comfortable with 12-25 cassette setup. Though the HEDs possibly are not ideal for pure climbs compared to the DA + Mavics, they are still a good 300-400g lighter, maybe not as stiff laterally. As for the gearing, a 39 x 27 will is close to a 34 x 50 gearing so I can get away without a compact if I use the 12-27 cassette option. Camerons only gets steep towards the end (8%-9% average perhaps) around the last 8km....otherwise its average grade I reckon to be about 5%-6% most of the way. I did it last year on a steel bike, much heavier wheels (1.9kg??), much heavier bodyweight (89kg??) and a 8kg fully loaded Carradice bag strapped onto the bike . I think going standards with a 12-27 is definitely no-problemo with a lighter bike + wheel + rider setup (minus the bag, thats about 13kg less!)....to put it positively!

So that's it. I'm going with my HEDs, DA7800 cranks (the bees knees!) and 12-27 cassette!




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