Road Cycling Essentials

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Damn working away on business, then weddings this weekend means no chance of biking this week. Might have to fit it in for a midnight ride if I'm not too tired!

Anyone done something like that before? Avoid the backroads due to visibility...? Only have a simple Cateye EL130 and a bright Smart RL (+ 1Watt LED).
 
I rode in the dark in the evenings over winter. Just stick to well lot roads and make sure your lights are on and that you're wearing something reflective.
 
Mr Jones said:
Damn working away on business, then weddings this weekend means no chance of biking this week. Might have to fit it in for a midnight ride if I'm not too tired!

Anyone done something like that before? Avoid the backroads due to visibility...? Only have a simple Cateye EL130 and a bright Smart RL (+ 1Watt LED).
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yeah rode all winter in rain etc.. keep your position on the road, make sure you have a good light(Which you do) and that should do, obviously with a weaker light on front do pay more attention for cars as a lot of drivers simply don't notice it unless it burns their retinas out ;)

other than that really not much to say.. i still keep my rear on if it rains heavily during the day light just for that extra visibility in rubbish conditions.
 
daveski said:
Those of you who cycle every day, what do you eat for breakfast?

I had some cereal at 7ish, rode to work and now I'm sat at my desk thinking about going to the canteen for a sasuage cob. So hungry!
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Normally something small before I leave to get me through the ride, then something more substantial when I get to work. I can't eat a lot in the morning because it gives me stomach ache all day.

Usually it's a small bowl of porridge before I go (2-3 tablespoons of oats, max.), then half a can of beans or beans and mini sausages when I get to work, plus a mid-morning snack. It's 10 miles each way for me and that stretches me into about 3300-3500 calories a day, more if I run as well.
 
What are the views on the Boardman Performance MX Race over the normal Hybrid Comp? Spoken with a few friends who cycle who advised me to get something with some level of shocks so that I could at least come with them on some proper trails if I fancied rather than being stuck on very mild stuff.

I'm in two minds as to whether to bother, or just stick with the Hybrid Comp that seems to be universally loved. Both bikes are a fair chunk of cash, so I'd like to spend once and get it right!
 
Jonny69 said:
Normally something small before I leave to get me through the ride, then something more substantial when I get to work. I can't eat a lot in the morning because it gives me stomach ache all day.

Usually it's a small bowl of porridge before I go (2-3 tablespoons of oats, max.), then half a can of beans or beans and mini sausages when I get to work, plus a mid-morning snack. It's 10 miles each way for me and that stretches me into about 3300-3500 calories a day, more if I run as well.
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similar here.. but i eat nothing at work.. i do get CRAZY Hungry till 2pm when i go for lunch tho, and ill probably start getting some breakfast at work..
 
Makhaira said:
Shopping list has been created... Thoughts?

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2793861/halfords-shopping-list.jpg
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eh.. it looks like you're going for an actual mountain bike than something that you can use on some light offroad and commuting.

with shocks you will be loosing a lot of power because of the obvious suspension on the front.

IMO you either get something for the road which you can use for some offroad or get a separate bike for offroading.

that will work, but seriously flat no clip pedals, shocks etc.. it looks like you're equipping your self for some Forrest ride not an actual commute to work which you'll probably do 90% of the time :)

also try a helmet on before you buy it, so best of all take a trip to evans and get one that fits the best..

and 27ish quid for some cateye lights? jeebus.. :) get the cree q5's from ebay and a smart lunar r1 that will be a bit cheaper and better.

tbh id stick with advice you got an get the boardman comp hybrid.
 
Yea, I can swap the lights easily enough since I can easily spend my C2W allowance on the other accessories.

My reasoning was this grudas (more than happy to have the flaws in my thinking pointed out!).

- Advice on here was to make sure I went hybrid rather than MTB, partly to ensure I got a decent gear ratio for road work.
- Having done some more reading, my worry with the Hybrid Comp was that if I want to do anything more offroad based, I'm looking at a new bike potentially, since most of what I read was of the view that it was heavily biased to the "road" end of the hybrid range.
- That led my thinking to a more MTB biased hybrid, but with lockouts on the front to make sure that on a commute I didn't lose out.
- I took the advice on here r.e. the helmet and tried a few on at Halfords today - luckily that one was comfy.

Does that make sense, or am I being totally daft?

Cheers!
 
Not sure if I should create a new thread, but here goes ..

What do you guys do to train? I mean, who was it Damien? did a double century Ride ? not too long ago

how do you guys do it

but lets make one thing clear first, I will not cycle to work (used to it when I was in my early 20's, never again) I do it for enjoyment now

my main goal in the long run, is to be able to do a century ride (I will probably do it on a 100 mile sportive)

My main concern at the moment is my Heart Rate Zones and the ability to increase my threshold

I have finally got what im going to do when im out on the bike next, which is :

Warm up for 10 mins
4 mins at Tempo (Zone 4)
2 mins Recover

do this another 3 times

then 10 mins cool down

do this like once or twice a week

Thought and opinions?
 
ShiWarrior said:
Not sure if I should create a new thread, but here goes ..

What do you guys do to train? I mean, who was it Damien? did a double century Ride ? not too long ago

how do you guys do it

but lets make one thing clear first, I will not cycle to work (used to it when I was in my early 20's, never again) I do it for enjoyment now

my main goal in the long run, is to be able to do a century ride (I will probably do it on a 100 mile sportive)

My main concern at the moment is my Heart Rate Zones and the ability to increase my threshold

I have finally got what im going to do when im out on the bike next, which is :

Warm up for 10 mins
4 mins at Tempo (Zone 4)
2 mins Recover

do this another 3 times

then 10 mins cool down

do this like once or twice a week

Thought and opinions?
Click to expand...

TO be honest I don't have any structure to my training. I just go out and ride. My time is limited so intensity depends on how much time I have. If 2 hours then I try and push pretty hard. Eg on Monday night I did 37 miles at average speed 18.8mph. According to Strava I was 26% at threshold and 66% at tempo. On a longer ride I am trying to ride mostly at tempo. I don't have time for long recovery rides in Zone 2.

My advice to begin with is just to ride as much as you can, rest well in between and steadily build up your mileage/time on the bike. The rough guide is 10% increments. I do the odd interval session on the turbo but find it incredibly boring.

If i am shot of time or the weather is a bit iffy I will go and do hill repeats at some local climbs but thats about it. Tonight it was really windy here so I went out on the MTB for a change and tried to blast round a little circuit I have. I find Strava a good motivational tool for measuring improvement and getting you to push yourself.

Here's tonights little run.

http://app.strava.com/activities/60152903
 
Two best ways to improve your bike fitness are:

1) Ride your bike a lot
2) Long intervals. When most people hear interval they think 30 seconds or 1 minute. The absolute best session you can do for your fitness (imo) is 2 lots of 20 minutes riding at or just above your threshold level. The level of effort you're looking at is something that feels tough to maintain and by the end of 20 minutes you should really be holding on for dear life to keep it up. It'll be the worst hour of your life but it pays off pretty quickly.
 
ShiWarrior said:
Not sure if I should create a new thread, but here goes ..

What do you guys do to train? I mean, who was it Damien? did a double century Ride ? not too long ago

how do you guys do it

but lets make one thing clear first, I will not cycle to work (used to it when I was in my early 20's, never again) I do it for enjoyment now

my main goal in the long run, is to be able to do a century ride (I will probably do it on a 100 mile sportive)

My main concern at the moment is my Heart Rate Zones and the ability to increase my threshold

I have finally got what im going to do when im out on the bike next, which is :

Warm up for 10 mins
4 mins at Tempo (Zone 4)
2 mins Recover

do this another 3 times

then 10 mins cool down

do this like once or twice a week

Thought and opinions?
Click to expand...

I bought this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/193403083X


It's based around having around 6hrs a week to train, which works well for me as i have a family and can't dedicate 14 hours or something.

I tend to ride 3 or 4 times a week - 60-90mins on tues and thurs and then one or two longer rides over the w/end. W/end rides vary depending on other commitments - sometimes i ride a couple hours both days, sometimes i do one long 3 or 4 hour ride on one of the two.

There's a fair amount of waffle in the book, but the training plans themselves are good. You can follow them based on heart rate or power depending on what kit you have - obviously if you have a powermeter then it's much more accurate when setting training intensity. But i do all my training off of HR and as a beginner i've still seen big improvements so far this year.

There are different training plans depending on your objectives - whether you commute a lot, are aiming to complete your first century ride, have been riding a while and want to do more century rides in better times, or if you want to get into racing etc.

All the plans are based around high intensity interval workouts, interspersed with the odd longer less intensive ride. You do a fitness test before you start one of the plans and use this to work out your various 'zones' based on HR/Power that you'll then use over the 12 week plan.

I believe he trained LA at some point as well, so if all else fails, he can probably mail you some EPO if you ask nicely.

As an aside, I have just fallen in love with this:

http://www.wilierbikes.co.uk/2013/shopimages/products/extras/13ZU IZOARD XP ULTEGRA web.jpg

...and must now derive some plan whereby i can have it!
 
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