Road Cycling Essentials

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so the squeaking problem i had from my chainset was the chainguard.. it is made out of plastic and under load it would make this "cracking" plastic noise?! took it off and now its quiet!

stupid thing.
 
Vonhelmet said:
If anyone fancies sponsoring me to cycle 100 miles, I'm doing the Liverpool - Chester - Liverpool ride on Sunday 7th July, with my brother in law. We're raising money for Christians Against Poverty, an award winning charity that provides free debt help and money management courses. Sponsor me at Justgiving. Thank you!

PS Please don't anyone be put off by the "Christians" in the charity name! Religion is why they do what they do, not how.
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I threw you a cheeky tenner :)

I've thought about getting sponsored for rides a couple of times but I never do in the end. I feel a bit weird asking for sponsorships for something I genuinely want to do and would do anyway. It feels like I'm conning people.

Not that I'm saying it's wrong in any way (and it's definitely not a criticism of anyone who thinks otherwise), I just feel like it makes more sense to me personally for it to be an incentive to follow through with something I really don't want to do.

Maybe it's just me...
 
[Damien];24464233 said:
I threw you a cheeky tenner :)

I've thought about getting sponsored for rides a couple of times but I never do in the end. I feel a bit weird asking for sponsorships for something I genuinely want to do and would do anyway. It feels like I'm conning people.

Not that I'm saying it's wrong in any way (and it's definitely not a criticism of anyone who thinks otherwise), I just feel like it makes more sense to me personally for it to be an incentive to follow through with something I really don't want to do.

Maybe it's just me...
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Cheers! I kinda know what you mean, in a way, but then part of my motivation with cycling is that it gives me a good way to raise money by asking people to sponsor me for something. I'd also only ever do it if I was genuinely challenging myself, so last year I raised money cycling 25 miles, which was the longest I'd done at the time, and this year it's 100, and next year I'll do a 2 day coast to coast or something. I'll do LEJOG before too long. I guess I'll eventually paint myself into a corner and have to cycle across Russia or something, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it ;)
 
ShiWarrior said:
Right, think my gears have now been adjusted

Difficult when you haven't got a stand, so doing it in the garden is a nightmare, may have to invest in a stand!!
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Until I can afford a stand I've been doing stuff by hanging the bike off my neck under the tip of the saddle. Not quite as good as having a stand as you can't adjust things while pedalling. Tried having the bike resting upside down but the problem then is everything is... upside down.:p
 
Shamrock said:
Until I can afford a stand I've been doing stuff by hanging the bike off my neck under the tip of the saddle. Not quite as good as having a stand as you can't adjust things while pedalling. Tried having the bike resting upside down but the problem then is everything is... upside down.:p
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hehe yeah that's what I ended up trying, still not easy!!
 
Had a long weekend of wedding attending and chauffeuring duties, wasn't expecting the weather to be nice nor will I be home *that early*, so made full use of the nice weather and went for a ride.

http://app.strava.com/activities/60766282

Didn't plan for that long a ride, was aiming for 15mile and back home to rest. I somehow forgot how to loop my way home and continued on till I reached Snaith before heading home, 33.3miles. Thoroughly enjoyed this ride nonetheless!
 
Stupid question maybe but how long off the bike would you say it takes to start losing cycling leg muscle?
Its going to be nearly 5 weeks in total by the time i go for a ride (off to Ibiza tomorrow for 10 days) so kinda dreading getting back on and realizing i'm probably going to be slowish compared to what level i was used too previously. :(
 
My first Sportive next weekend and whilst I don't anticipate the distance to be a problem, I am aiming to do the 102 miles in under 6 hours, which for me would be very good.

I'm also trying to do my bit for the event charities so if anyone would like to donate to my page below I would very much appreciate it :)

www.virginmoneygiving.com/RobEdwards
 
InQ said:
Stupid question maybe but how long off the bike would you say it takes to start losing cycling leg muscle?
Its going to be nearly 5 weeks in total by the time i go for a ride (off to Ibiza tomorrow for 10 days) so kinda dreading getting back on and realizing i'm probably going to be slowish compared to what level i was used too previously. :(
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If you're not eating at a deficit and not losing weight then I'd say you're not losing any muscle. Maybe you'll lose a bit of size due to sarcoplasmic reduction (you'll probably lose a bit of stored sugar/water seeing as it's not strictly needed) but myofibrilar structure should be unchanged.

Anyway, 5 weeks shouldn't make any difference really and there's nothing stopping you doing a few sets of bodyweight squats every morning to keep things primed.
 
[Damien];24464631 said:
If you're not eating at a deficit and not losing weight then I'd say you're not losing any muscle. Maybe you'll lose a bit of size due to sarcoplasmic reduction (you'll probably lose a bit of stored sugar/water seeing as it's not strictly needed) but myofibrilar structure should be unchanged.

Anyway, 5 weeks shouldn't make any difference really and there's nothing stopping you doing a few sets of bodyweight squats every morning to keep things primed.
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Cheers, yea i'm eating normally (infact probably eating too much crap like peanuts and crisps, more than normal! lol) and weight hasnt dropped or changed to much (10.5st to 11st is my normal weight range nowadays).

I think give it a week or 2 once i start again and i'll be back to where i was 5 weeks previous.
 
Shamrock said:
Until I can afford a stand I've been doing stuff by hanging the bike off my neck under the tip of the saddle. Not quite as good as having a stand as you can't adjust things while pedalling. Tried having the bike resting upside down but the problem then is everything is... upside down.:p
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I put a broom through the frame near the back and put it across two chairs, holds it fine. Pro tip.
 
InQ said:
Cheers, yea i'm eating normally (infact probably eating too much crap like peanuts and crisps, more than normal! lol) and weight hasnt dropped or changed to much (10.5st to 11st is my normal weight range nowadays).

I think give it a week or 2 once i start again and i'll be back to where i was 5 weeks previous.
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squat! :)
 
InQ said:
Stupid question maybe but how long off the bike would you say it takes to start losing cycling leg muscle?
Its going to be nearly 5 weeks in total by the time i go for a ride (off to Ibiza tomorrow for 10 days) so kinda dreading getting back on and realizing i'm probably going to be slowish compared to what level i was used too previously. :(
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You won't lose much in 5 weeks. If you ride (or run) a lot, the first week to ten days is spent knitting the muscles back into a fully recovered state. If you don't exercise from then on, the muscles start to degrade but you won't notice much loss in a month. You'll lose a bit of cardiovascular fitness, but you'll regain that in no time.

When I stopped riding to concentrate on my marathon training, I lost about 1/2 stone in total across a 4 month period. Quite a bit of that was mass off my legs and rump, but also body fat. I've pretty much rested since mid April, but I started riding to work again a few weeks ago. I've put most of my weight back on in about 3 weeks and I expect I'll be back to my original state of fitness in another couple of weeks.

I'm 35, so it probably takes me a bit longer than you younger lads too :D
 
Cheers all, as i said a couple of weeks tops should have me right i'd reckon. I'm 37 so not on the young end anymore but not over the hill yet! :D
Not been doing anything really since not riding, was thinking of doing a bit of running but never got round to it....lol
 
Please could someone point me towards some good sites or resources to learn how to

a) Set up a new hybrid properly
b) Service a bike

Thank you!
 
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