Ride(r) - Stockiemuir and being (not) a weight weenie

Sometimes, I really don't think this blog is getting my best. After a month or so of wanting to "step things up", I've actually got my act together and started proper interval training. Or, at least I would have, if I actually had a clue how to do so on the road. In the gym it's fairly obvious - set resistance, set speed, go until time's up. On the road, though, that interval could be at any time, and my rest periods could be into a heavy headwind. Even assuming I can scale things appropriately, I have the issue that when I do intervals, I don't kid around - anything less than full, leg-bursting effort isn't worth my time. This generally involves at any time longer than 90 seconds a heck of a lot of head-down tooth gritting and occasional gasps of pain (yes, in the gym. I know it's a bit distracting and funny, but that sort of effort hurts, is supposed to hurt, and that's how I deal with it, so go about your lives please). On the road, that's not generally an option - even if no-one else was around, I'd run the risk of falling off the tarmac. So far, then, for my really intense sessions, there's no record, and most of what goes up here are (to some degree) recovery rides. I'll work on it.

Today was just a quick jaunt up Stockiemuir (which I managed to storm without dropping below 14 kph on the first 3 switchbacks - not bad for a "recovery" day) in sporadic wind and squally rain. Even I couldn't stand going out without a coat today, despite the crosswind apparently of the opinion that it'd look better on the hedge on the opposite side of the road.

I wasn't the only guy out today, though. I was struggling with engagement on my new pedals when a young lad drew up alongside me before I'd even got to Ruchill park. Depressingly for him, at exactly that moment I "clicked", and was gone with a cheeky grin. Alas, he didn't chase.

The second was a gent on a steel frame climbing out of Milngavie, and as I breezed past him, I could tell from his wheezing that I was well away. I'm going to have to go on a club run soon, I think.

So, yeah. I have new pedals, and shoes to go with them, because (bless 'em) my venerable old set are a bit past their best and, to be frank, the creaking was getting a bit distracting. The shoes have been with me for 5 hard years, and the pedals 4, and together we've probably gone 25000 miles, off-road and on, so I can't complain about their durability. I'll probably still use them on occasions when I don't want to be skating on the floor whenever I arrive somewhere. I primarily bring this up, though, because I'd never actually thought about their weight.

As most people familiar with bikes know, the majority are sold without pedals, and their claimed and sold weights are sans pedals. The reason for this is fairly obvious - whilst a human body will contort to fit almost any saddle type or stem length you show it (though not necessarily comfortably), there's no way a round cleat will fit in a square retainer, so to speak.

Now, I'm not a weight-weenie. No, really! I like things to ride well, and if they happen to be a bit lighter then that's good, but I am well aware that I am by far and away the heaviest component in the system, and my weight alone can fluctuate by up to a couple of kilos in a day based on hydration levels. My basic philosophy, then, has always been: if it's less than the weight of a water bottle, don't sweat it.

Having said all that, Curiosity is my middle name, and with my complete pedal-shoe system off the bike and a kitchen scale near at hand, I decided to see what I'd been lugging around.

One and a half kilos.

That's two water bottles.

On my feet.

Alright, so I had a particularly heavy set-up. The shoes and cleats alone weighed over a kilos, and though I haven't weighed the pedals for the new set-up, the shoes plus cleats only come to 600g, so I'd expect the whole lot to be around the 900g mark. It still shocked me, though. At a very generous estimate, my bike weighs about 9kg (I don't have a scale big enough to know for sure at the moment), so I was lugging around an extra 17% of bike without even thinking about it!

So, there you go. Next time you're thinking about whether you want to put titanium bolts on your brake rotor, remember what's on your feet. Kind of puts things into perspective.

A very low perspective.

Good trails!

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