Deussen is a great place to ride up until about 10am. It is on Lake Houston and has extremely low amounts of traffic in and around the park. Once you hit about mid-morning it starts to get a little crowded so I only go here in the early AM.
Here is my route today:
According to the Gamin I did 25.33 miles in 1:35 minutes. However, I stopped a few times and took some photos to share how nice a Saturday morning can be in Texas. My actual ride time was around 1:26 minutes.
Onto the Pics:
In the driveway: One more pic of the Disc Rear and Zipp Front
Anti Monkey Butt Powder -- hehehe
Tires Pumped Up and Ready to Ride
Oh No! This is a lock on the port-o-potty door ... hello woods!
Lake Houston and huge parking area.
Not all Sand and Cacti here Folks!
Lake Houston again.
Proof I didn't steal these from the internet ...lol.
The Rare Road with a Bike Lane.
More Green!
Saw a Water Moccassin swimming here after this shot. Tried to get a pic but it dived when I walked up on it. It was at least 6 ft long!
Look Kids Buffaloes!
Caution: Do not F with the Buffaloes!
Still Smiling Afterwards!
For you Gearheads: Overhead of Clearance between Disc and Cassette.
Aside from seeing Buffaloes and Snakes it was a rather uneventful ride. This was the first time putting any distance on the new wheelset and also my first time ever riding on a tubular. The overall ride did seem to be less "bumpy" than previous rides here and I really like the way the tubular handled. I can see why other riders swear by them because the word to best describe the tubular is - Smooth.
As for the disc I spent a few minutes sprinting in front of the open area next to the lake and the winds were extremely high (25mph+). I rode back and forth a few times to see if the winds would make steering difficult. And quite frankly I could not tell a difference between the disc and without the disc. Now I did not take the disc off and go without so this makes my unscientific test even more unscientific, but I never even felt the wind push the tire - not even a little.
As for aero, I did a few intervals when I wasn't off snapping photos and was able to maintain 22-23mph in the same gears as I maintain that speed on a flat with my regular trainers. Once again, not scientific but if using the RPE method I'd estimate the effort to be the same with or without the disc and carbon front.
Overall, I do like this wheelset even if the performance is negligible, they still look damn sexy!
Okay, off to get in some laps - so much for resting up!
Thanks for Reading,
Jeff
That bike is a BAMF. If anything, you will only be intimidating your competition!
ReplyDeleteMan, I am starting to think about going tubbie more and more just for the higher PSI and "smoother" ride like you described. Can I get a loan? haha!
Oh, gettin' all fancy now with the garmin charts! I love those charts. The bike looks awesome even if it doesn't make an iota of difference. Like Andre Agassi used to say, "Image is everything." Looks like you had a fun workout on the bike with all those neat pictures. That lake or pond where you saw the water mocassin is one body of water I'd never get in. Patrick wouldn't either (LOL!).
ReplyDeleteWe did our hill ride today but i screwed up the data by first, forgetting to push start until mile 1 when i suddenly remembered and then forgot to turn it off when we made our one and only fuel stop at about mile 48 so the numbers are skewed. Ended up with 76.75 miles and 19.4 avg, 2203 ft of climbing. I anxiously await the monkey butt review :)
what about the butt powder?
ReplyDeleteEven if you feel "mahvelous" only because you look "mahvelous," that's OK with wheels!
ReplyDeleteAlso, you planning on including any off label uses for the powder or only conventional uses?
Love the bike, totally gorgeous. Can't wait to hear about the butt powder :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post, and what a lovely ride (both the bike and the location!) Look forward to the Monkey Butt Powder crtique! Cheers!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pics!! Your new bike is totally bad to the bone.
ReplyDeleteI love the pics! The area is very beautiful!
ReplyDeleteH Jeff,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you had a great ride! Woo hoo for the pictures:) You know how much I love the pictures! The biking route was gorgeous and you are looking good too:)
Interesting, did you feel any push to the side with the wind gusts and the disc?
ReplyDeleteNice pictures!!! Hopefully the buffalo are afraid of chain link, because I have a hard time believing that the fence would stop a charging BUFFALO!
Butt Powder review?!?!
That ride looks so beautiful! That must have been a great ride. And, your bike looks awesome!
ReplyDeleteLets be honest, you just love hearing the "vromph, vromph, vromph" sound it makes and you dont have to say "on your left" because other bikes will hear "vromph, vromph, vromph" and just get out of the way.
ReplyDeleteThanks SO MUCH for posting this. I bought a disc wheel in december. I still haven't ridden it, and I'm worried about wind.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a plan for flats? Pitstop? spare tubular?
Thanks for the photos. When I lived in the mainland I would go to lakes all the time to fish and camp. I miss it so it was nice to see the pics.
ReplyDeleteI liked you objective review of the wheels. Although the performance advantage is negligible I am sure it counts for those elite athletes where seconds make a difference in a race. For regular Joes like me, well, it would only make me look good going slow!