Roadeo! And hills!

[Patrick Moore]

I rode out to Mesa del Sol with Chris Young this late morning to try the Roadeo on some real hills; the longest one must be close to a mile of not at or over a mile, and a couple more were as steep or almost as steep and perhaps 1/2 mile each; steep enough to get into the 32 (34X32 with 27.3” wheel) early, to make you suffer, and to and wish for a bigger cog. (Not being used to the drivetrain, I kept looking down to see how many cogs were left.)

The 7-mile Tramway climb requires exertion, but as all the landscape between the River and the base of the Sandias, it’s a gradual and relatively shallow climb; I was able to keep to 2nd gear, 65”, standing as necessary, the last time I climbed it a month or so ago (3d = 72”, 1st = 54”).

Chris would pull away on the steepest bits with his 28/32, tho’ he was bolt upright on his much heavier Homer while I was elegantly spread over the bar on my Roadeo.

Again, I’ve not owned a derailleur road bike since my Ram some 12-15 years ago, and I’ve certainly never used competent “brifters.” I was amazed at how “natural” shifting is, even downshifting uphill under a bit of load (I’m too old not to have internalized the habit of letting up when shifting), and even shifting between the 50 and 34 and back on the front. BTW, the front indexing does have an inner and outer trim feature. 

I have to be careful not to fall into the sin of superfluous shifting, simply because this Ultegra R8000 system makes it so easy and “intuitive.” I like riding at different cadences and levels of torque and I don’t want to compromise the taste, skill, or habit.

As always, I was bugged (man) by the 2-t gap between the 20 and the 18 right in the middle of my cruising range: 76” and 68”; a 12 would give me a lovely 72” gear right where you always want it. I’ve got 14-30 and a 14-32 Ultegra 11 speed cassettes coming from Bike Inn in Spain; they should arrive by Sunday, God willing.

But very nice ride; the forecast rain held off, we got intermittent sun, and while we rode into a rather chilly SW wind on the way out, it was good to have the tailwind on the way back.

38.97 miles, clock running except for the ~ 20 minute pause at our Tingley Beach meeting point. 16.03 mph for the 5.91 miles from my house S to TB, 10.16 for the 28.79 from Tingley to MdS and back to the N/S bike path, including a very leisurely stop at the convenience store at MdS for icecream bars, at the nearby gym for the convenience, and for a sit-down to consume said ice cream, then 16.30 for the last 4.27 miles N along the bike path to Montano and W and N to home, after stopping the clock for a, well, another convenience stop in the woods.

The Roadeo is super plush (32 mm Stamped Pass ELs at 50/55 f/r) compared to the smaller-wheel bikes — at 27 1/3” tall, the SPs are almost 3” taller than the 559 X 28 mm Elk Passes (24 1/2”), and it certainly climbs better than the Matthews #1 road bike for dirt even with supposedly super fast rolling 48 mm Soma Supple Vitesse SLs —which I’ve given up on, after that first MdS ride with hills a couple of months ago; far more work than the same route on the Roadeo, even with a headwind up the Big And Steep Hill. Of course, the Roadeo weights slightly under 21 lb, even with PD M540s substituted for the lighter PD7410s because the spindles on the latter put my shoes too close to the black anodized crank arms; the M540s give you another 3 mm or so, while the Matthews #1 comes in at about 29 lb before bottles and luggage. But I think the tires make more difference. (And, for the record, the Thunderburts seem subjectively to roll on pavement almost as well as the Soma SVSLs. Will have some Soma SVSLs for sale.)

A great ride; thanks, Chris.

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

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[Patrick Moore]

On Wed, Nov 19, 2025 at 4:12 PM Patrick Moore <bert...@gmail.com> wrote:

… as always, I was bugged (man) by the 2-t gap between the 20 and the 18 right in the middle of my cruising range: 76” and 68”; a 12 would give me a lovely 72” gear right where you always want it.

 

19 t, obviously.

 

… 38.97 miles, clock running except for the ~ 20 minute pause at our Tingley Beach meeting point

 I forgot that the clock was also running for a ~10 minute convenience stop at the federal Valle de Oro National Wildlife Reserve, a pristine facility with cycling infrastructure South of ABQ; “pristine” includes the cans with clean floors and no paper towel litter (can’t always say the same for state facilities), and non-furloughed and friendly staff. Your taxes at work.

Making all the mathematical adjustments, total mileage was 38.97 at an average of 25.34 mph.

[Patrick Moore]

Speaking of longer rides on Roadeos, question about bathroom breaks. I generally drink quite a bit in the morning to make up for not drinking enough the night before, and I generally don’t eat in the morning; it’s not a program but just the habit of decades: eat a big dinner from 4 pm to 7 pm, don’t eat again until 4 or 7 pm the next day except for a couple of 20 oz mugs of strong coffee or tea with lots of milk and some sugar, and perhaps a snack — half a sandwich indicates volume — at about 11 am, tho’ I often forget that. I ate only 1/2 thin peanut butter sandwich between risingand returning home from the ride.

I made 4 “stops between our Tingley meeting point and the last 4 miles home.

My description of my regimen already prescribes a remedy, but if one doesn’t want to completely overhaul one’s habits, what else do people do to avoid inconveniently frequent bathroom breaks? I don’t think my age makes a big difference here, as I recall similar schedules on a “longer" ride with someone 22 years ago.

[Jim M.]

Sounds like a great ride! 

Well, back when all I had was a 5-sp freewheel, I never had to stop during a ride for "convenience". But I've noticed that as the number of cogs in the back increased, the number of convenience stops increased. Though possibly that's just correlation, not causation. 😉

jim m

arroyo de nueces

[Ryan Fleming]

38.97 at an average of 25.34 mph.? Wow! In my dreams..

But glad you're enjoying the bike

[David Hays]

I thought the same. Very impressive.

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