Ultracycling

There's an article on it on CyclingTips. Didn't realise Ralph Diseviscourt held the record.

Lowest temp I've seen on the Insta stories was 9°

Neither did I. Thought Mitch still had it.

https://today.rtl.lu/sport/local/a/1548035.html

He'll be back in January https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2_ZEG4rqWo

good to hear this.

Jan will be hot as balls. He'll have other problems then.

The wind in the RaTN is getting stronger tonight and tomorrow with 80km/h (and more) gusts and rain showers. Most of the midfield will be right in the middle of it. Except voor cap 27 Paul Hesen who started in the Friday group (the 'slower' riders) but is way in front distance-wise. He just rounded the Zeeland corner.

That coast will have be fun in that wind yesterday!
I've done the bridges into a modest headwind and you get the full benefit of it. The sky is very big there.

Windy it is https://streamable.com/6iv57r

So Abdullah got sick on his attempt and hopes to do himself justice in January, not focussed on the record, just a solid ride.

They appear to have pitched a tent on a hill though. What's that about?

https://www.outsideonline.com/2422466/fatigue-resistance-research
No surprises, but interesting.

It's somewhere on this stretch https://goo.gl/maps/jJ6YdFFGzTZ64DEx6

If the weather is around as bad as it is down here, I'd be having nothing to do with it. 80km winds down here never mind near the coast.

Perfect cycling weather!

(for a fat fuck)

Saw a tree blown over in Fulham today. And it's definitely more sheltered there than on the Dutch coast

Bas Vlaskamp wins the RaTN again, in 3d 20h. He did it singlespeed this time with a 50x17.

Wow. First ever singlespeed winner of a self-supported ultra?

Houtchin's Tour Divide win was SS (and there's a whole SS class in that race)

https://bikepacking.com/news/alexandera-houchin-2019-tour-divide/

🙄 #hippyisalwaysright

Cutting aerobars question.

I've got some new extensions. They are J-bend and the ends come up pretty high - a good bit higher than my hands go - so I need to cut a bit off.

What is best - cutting it so that the Di2 shifter is in my hand, or so that my hand rests on a bit of aerobar with a small reach for the shifter?

If it was a TT bike I'd obviously do the former but not sure if having shifter in hand would be comfortable for long rides.

Cut longer. Ride it and then decide if you want to cut shorter?

I like my shifters "in hand" like my TT bike but at the same time I can simply slide my hands back towards me and grab the extensions if the road or wind or whatever suddenly gets a bit gnarly (but not such that I need the brakes/hoods obvs)

Cut longer. Ride it and then decide if you want to cut shorter

That is the sensible thing to do. I was being a bit lazy!

I've done the first cut. Probably did it a bit too short to have my hands clear of the shifters, but it seems ok on a ride round the block. Will set it up properly and do a decent test ride.

Surprisingly hard to find many relevant pictures on the net, but Mike had his shifters right in his hands on his IndyPac bike:

What shifters are you using? Now and again I check for prices but those things are stupidly expensive.