Road Cycling Essentials

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Lead_Head said:
One thing I did notice was the amount of bike snobbery that exists in cycling. At every checkpoint a lot of people were having a good nosey around all the bikes parked up.
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Guilty as charged M'Lud ;)

I always have a good look at the bike whenever I see a road cyclist. My wife coined a phrase for this activity - 'Bogling' (Bike Ogling).

Just remember that, regardless of the bike, the cyclist makes 95% of the difference. I've pulled that percentage out of my arse, but most people will know where I'm coming from.

Oh, and don't hate on middle aged chubby guys in lycra, applaud them for getting out and doing some exercise :)
 
Lead_Head said:
One thing I did notice was the amount of bike snobbery that exists in cycling.
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snobbery ??? never.

always funny to see people have a moan when someone isnt dressed in full lycra, as aparently you must ride in full replica team colours to get the best out of your ride :p
 
Lead_Head said:
Did my first Audax ride yesterday, I cycled 74 miles in 4 hr 50 mins (including 2 lengthy stops for tea and cake and 2 smaller stops for a bit of food and to answer the questions), but was a 100km Audax. I tracked it on Strava using my iPhone but the battery ran out before the end which was frustrating, even though it was on 100% before setting off.
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I stopped using my Defy to track my rides because of this; a Garmin or other cycling specific GPS will typically last 10+ hours, which is usually more than enough. Admittedly there was another reason; I kept dropping the Defy, and eventually shattered the screen.

Lead_Head said:
Quite enjoyable, but the amount of old dudes in mega tight lycra was a bit off putting!!

One thing I did notice was the amount of bike snobbery that exists in cycling. At every checkpoint a lot of people were having a good nosey around all the bikes parked up.
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I'm surprised, I thought Audax participants were usually old men with beards and and sandals on old steel framed touring bikes. I was lead to believe that bike snobbery was left to the likes of sportive riders, who are old men with shaved legs and full team kits on pristine carbon framed TT bikes.
 
GAC said:
snobbery ??? never.

always funny to see people have a moan when someone isnt dressed in full lycra, as aparently you must ride in full replica team colours to get the best out of your ride :p
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You should only wear Team Kit if you have the Team bike, otherwise you just look like a tool IMHO.

There's plenty of quality non-Team kit from Rapha, Assos, Castelli, Shutt VR, Torm, Pearl Izumi & Endura*, so there's no need to look a mess.







* Other brands are available
 
god only knows what some of the serious cyclists think of me when im out and about as il wear all sorts of gubbins apart from lycra. end of the day i cycle to try and get in shape.
 
Just thought I'd post here for the first time seeing as I've started doing some cycling, mostly for fitness, at the weekend.

I'm really rather unfit and overweight, prior to January I hadn't done any real exercise for several years, then in January I started going to the gym and built it up to the point where I can easily do an hours cardio in the morning 4 days a week (30 mins cross trainer, 30 mins cycling)

Anyway, at the weekend I decided that I'd dust off the road bike I got on the cycle to work scheme at my last job (and did use occasionally for the massive 1.8 mile commute) and take it out for a ride. I set up a nice ~5.5 mile route in google maps that was mostly on very quiet roads, but is a bit hilly which is to be expected when I live in Dursley on the edge of the cotswolds :p

So I went out on Saturday and failed almost immediately, seems the front mech wasn't adjusted right so I couldn't shift down to the smallest chainring which doesn't help on the rather steep hill just around the corner, so walked up that and manually put it onto the 'right' gear and continued on, unfortunately this meant that the straights were slower than I should be able to do. Add in my lack of fitness and I stopped a couple of other times as well, not a great start.

Then on Sunday I made myself go out and do it again, this time after adjusting the front mech so I could change gear \o/, I also used Strava although I won't link to it as it's rather crap. But this time apart from one stop about half way through, and a minor if rather amusing in hindsight incident on the first hill, I made it much better, averaging just over 10mph on a course that according to strava has an elevation of 437ft over 5.6 miles.

So I now know I need to work even more on my 'actual' fitness above what the gym provides so I intend to get out more, but glad that I mostly made it yesterday and it can only get better from here :) The hills really kill me though (and I'm guessing my weight doesn't help here).

Anyway, kinda the reason for posting is for some advice/help:
Saddle, my god it's like sitting on a rock, is this just something to get used to or should I get a new saddle, and if so reccomendations? Note that I do have some padded lycra shorts (that I wear under jogging bottoms) but it's still rather unpleasant sitting down.

Brakes, the route has quite a bit of single track which is fine for the most part but on the downhills it's a bit worrying, I think I've got several year old Shimano Tiagra's (I'll check when I get home if needs be), but thinking it might just be a case of new pads?
 
Official times for the Bath 100 have been released this morning, got a time of 4:51:08 and finished #38 out of 128 riders which I'm more than happy with.

That's compared to 6:07:19 which is the only other 100km I've done which was the Exmoor Beast last October.

Edit: Photos now up!

TnNm9.jpg
 
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Lead_Head said:
Did my first Audax ride yesterday, I cycled 74 miles in 4 hr 50 mins (including 2 lengthy stops for tea and cake and 2 smaller stops for a bit of food and to answer the questions), but was a 100km Audax. I tracked it on Strava using my iPhone but the battery ran out before the end which was frustrating, even though it was on 100% before setting off.
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Turn off mobile internet. Strava or any other similar apps don't require it and it saves a hell of a lot of battery, not least because it's not constantly checking for signal but also because it disables all your other apps (mail, calendar, facebook etc) from updating. I used Endomondo on my 100km cycle yesterday and I had ~75% battery at the end (albeit on an HTC).
 
SKILL said:
Anyway, kinda the reason for posting is for some advice/help:
Saddle, my god it's like sitting on a rock, is this just something to get used to or should I get a new saddle, and if so reccomendations? Note that I do have some padded lycra shorts (that I wear under jogging bottoms) but it's still rather unpleasant sitting down.

Brakes, the route has quite a bit of single track which is fine for the most part but on the downhills it's a bit worrying, I think I've got several year old Shimano Tiagra's (I'll check when I get home if needs be), but thinking it might just be a case of new pads?
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Congrats on getting out and having a go. The first time I rode my mtb I couldn't even make it a mile up hill without having to stop and die at the side of the path.

If you have padded shorts on already then MTFU ;) Just need to ride the bike a bit and break your backside in.

Shimano Tiagra's should be more than adequate, my bike has Shimano Sora's and they have plenty of stopping power, make sure that they are actioning correctly and have good contact with the wheels I would say.
 
I thought the saddle response would be something like that, though I'm not sure I like the idea of 'break your backside in' :eek: :p

I don't really think the brakes themselves are bad, but I'm not really confident on the pads (and possibly tyres, going off a tangent). At the end of the ride I get a really steep and semi-bumpy downhill but it's only just over a cars width and twisty so don't really want to go too quickly down there but it feels like I'm on the limit of braking just bringing the speed down to <15mph, let alone if I encounter a car and have to stop.

For the rest of the ride the brakes are more than adequate, and I checked the action/contact etc and they seemed fine (although far more familiar with v-brakes, and that was a long time ago) just wondered if I could improve it easily/cheaply for that one bit :)
 
I've never really agreed with the whole MTFU when it comes to saddles.

Saddle comfort is dependent upon the width of your sit bones and that's not really going to change. Some shops do saddle fitting so it might be worth finding out about.
 
SKILL said:
I thought the saddle response would be something like that, though I'm not sure I like the idea of 'break your backside in' :eek: :p

I don't really think the brakes themselves are bad, but I'm not really confident on the pads (and possibly tyres, going off a tangent). At the end of the ride I get a really steep and semi-bumpy downhill but it's only just over a cars width and twisty so don't really want to go too quickly down there but it feels like I'm on the limit of braking just bringing the speed down to <15mph, let alone if I encounter a car and have to stop.

For the rest of the ride the brakes are more than adequate, and I checked the action/contact etc and they seemed fine (although far more familiar with v-brakes, and that was a long time ago) just wondered if I could improve it easily/cheaply for that one bit :)
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Make sure the saddle is adjusted correctly i.e level and the fore and aft position is correct. http://www.jimlangley.net/crank/bikefit.html
 
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