Road Cycling Essentials

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How does that work for riders like Cav? I know team work is another factor but to Sprint like he does in the last 250m after going 250km?!

Either way, I certainly felt like its impossible to sprint / raise my cadence / stand up on my bike after 60miles, trying to climb or even whilst going down hill!
 
Oof, 100 miles done on the Liverpool Chester Liverpool ride. I will quite literally feel that in the morning. The climbs in the middle section were quite hard work. I averaged just short of 15mph. I was limping for the last 30 or so, absolutely mullered. My brother in law had to give up at about 80 miles because he couldn't go on and we knew that if I didn't press on I wouldn't get back through the tunnel. Made it back with ten minutes to spare!

I'll upload my strava later...
 
Mr Jones said:
How does that work for riders like Cav? I know team work is another factor but to Sprint like he does in the last 250m after going 250km?!

Either way, I certainly felt like its impossible to sprint / raise my cadence / stand up on my bike after 60miles, trying to climb or even whilst going down hill!
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If you're sat in the middle of the peloton for 99% of the race it's not that hard work not anything like if you were doing it solo.
 
Vonhelmet said:
Oof, 100 miles done on the Liverpool Chester Liverpool ride. I will quite literally feel that in the morning. The climbs in the middle section were quite hard work. I averaged just short of 15mph. I was limping for the last 30 or so, absolutely mullered. My brother in law had to give up at about 80 miles because he couldn't go on and we knew that if I didn't press on I wouldn't get back through the tunnel. Made it back with ten minutes to spare!

I'll upload my strava later...
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First century! Nice one. Double next? :p
 
tedmaul said:
So, decided to have another go at that 100 miler though the Leadhills that went a bit wrong last Sunday.

Got it done this time:
http://app.strava.com/activities/65353984

Knackered now, and damn it's hot out there. It was grey and drizzling when i left the house this morning, but by the time i got to Sanqhuar it was scorchio - typically just in time for the real climbing to start.

Made it up the Mennock Pass to the highest village in Scotland. Was quite tough in the heat but felt alright once i hit the top. So decided to go up the private road that takes you to the radar beacon on top of the hill - about another 1000ft above the village. Was utterly brutal - 5km that seemed to go on forever, of just constant switchbacks on >10% inclines. I was out the saddle, grinding my way up for what felt like ages. Was 26deg up there too, so was slowly cooking. But i made it up without stopping - definitely the toughest climb i've ever done.

100 miles and 2000m of climbing later, I think ice cream and feet up for the rest of the day is now due.
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Nice one mate, I've yet to do that run but my boss uses it as one of his longer runs.

I got out and went over where I was the other day but it feels a bit harder doing stuff solo with it being a bit blawy.

http://app.strava.com/activities/65380214
 
Jonny ///M said:
I got out and went over where I was the other day but it feels a bit harder doing stuff solo with it being a bit blawy.

http://app.strava.com/activities/65380214
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I did a race on the part of that route round Stewarton yesterday. It would be very tough on your own into that wind.
We had the biggest team for that race with 6 riders and got a really good result.
So we were all on a high for another race we did today in Perth....and we all got smashed :p
 
Jonny ///M said:
Nice one mate, I've yet to do that run but my boss uses it as one of his longer runs.

I got out and went over where I was the other day but it feels a bit harder doing stuff solo with it being a bit blawy.

http://app.strava.com/activities/65380214
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Nice - did it blow the hangover away then? :D

I've never ventured over to that mearns->stewarton stretch before. Will need to check it out. Been round the eaglesham area and over the wind farm loads of times, but always tended to cut down the other way towards Galston.

Yeah, wind picked up a bit this afternoon. Nice and still this morning and a wee tailwind out to Glespin. But the headwind back into Muirkirk off the back of all that climbing was pretty tough.
 
I feel like I've got to a stage now where along with losing a bit of weight (swimsuit season innit) that I would benefit from some road clipless pedals as opposed to my M520s. My problem is that I have a very short, very stop-starty commute every day. Is there a big difference between the PD-R540 and PD-5700s, especially with regards to ease of clipping in/their balance etc?
 
touch said:
I did a race on the part of that route round Stewarton yesterday. It would be very tough on your own into that wind.
We had the biggest team for that race with 6 riders and got a really good result.
So we were all on a high for another race we did today in Perth....and we all got smashed :p
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Haha some come down then? As I said boss did the other race on the day and chucked it half way through I think.


tedmaul said:
Nice - did it blow the hangover away then? :D

I've never ventured over to that mearns->stewarton stretch before. Will need to check it out. Been round the eaglesham area and over the wind farm loads of times, but always tended to cut down the other way towards Galston.

Yeah, wind picked up a bit this afternoon. Nice and still this morning and a wee tailwind out to Glespin. But the headwind back into Muirkirk off the back of all that climbing was pretty tough.
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Nothing worse than a long stretch of constant headwind never mind after doing that route.

Just lay down for an hour and half. Need to go get my car from Blantyre nad get food :o
 
Jonny ///M said:
Haha some come down then?
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Yep, on saturday there was a couple of us in the break, my teammate won, i got 3rd and another teammate won the sprint from the bunch for 10th and a couple of others finished in the bunch.
Today, me and a couple of teammates got dropped and the rest of the team finished near the back of the bunch. :(

I need to work on my tan lines a bit. I only have 1 club jersey so for 2 days racing like that i need to wear my skinsuit one day. It doesnt have any pockets, so i stuffed gels up the sleeve of each arm. Only ate one of them so i now have some sharp tan lines, but unfortunately there is the shape the tab on the top of the gel packet sticking out on one arm :(

edit: photo
5bfh.jpg
 
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Russinating said:
I feel like I've got to a stage now where along with losing a bit of weight (swimsuit season innit) that I would benefit from some road clipless pedals as opposed to my M520s. My problem is that I have a very short, very stop-starty commute every day. Is there a big difference between the PD-R540 and PD-5700s, especially with regards to ease of clipping in/their balance etc?
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Commuting I'd stick with spd's.
 
Does anyone ever get prolonged numbness/pins and needles in their hands after a long ride? I cycled to Paris yesterday and still have a funny feeling in one of my fingers. Wondered what caused it, vibrations or hand position perhaps? The London to Paris route is fantastic though, I would recommend it to anyone wishing to do a jaunt a bit further afield.
 
Quick tyre question - I'm going to put something a bit slicker on the other half's old mountain bike since we're only doing path / very very light tracks (I'm running 700x28C on my hybrid and they're fine).

The MTB she has currently sports 26" rims, stamped 20x559. Am I right in thinking that pretty much any tyre marked as 26" and (e.g.) 1.25" would be fine in terms of fit and not going too low (I've gone off Sheldon's site for the width).

I presume I'll also need to change the inner tubes?

Thanks, and apologies for the novice questions.
 
Vonhelmet said:
http://app.strava.com/activities/65427367

There's today's ride.

It should be closer to 102 miles, and the elevation is a bit crazy. I need to run it through Strava Needs a Polish to fix it up a bit, because I was using my GPS logger rather than my phone and accuracy isn't great.
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Great ride dude! :cool: Bet that was tough, as it looks like you guys are getting it even warmer than up here.

Few pics from my 100 miler:

2qbamno.jpg

Reaching the highest village in Scotland.

2ed9ze1.jpg

Climbing up to the radar mast/golf ball about 1000ft above the highest village in Scotland. Where's my giant golf club when i need it?!

euoktj.jpg

The view back down to the highest village in Scotland.
 
ShiWarrior said:
Oooo

a nice Cyclocross bike has appeared on the bay today

Damien and Co, what's this worth?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=111113901480&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123
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Not sure off the top of my head tbh. I've never really looked @ 2nd hand bikes. My 2012 Crux Elite (race version of the Tricross) was £800 last August (end of season deal) if that helps in any way.


Vonhelmet said:
Oof, 100 miles done on the Liverpool Chester Liverpool ride.
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Well done mate. We ended up doing an extra 10 or so miles because of detouring to avoid you lot :p

Here's my ride on the Cheshire Cat. I honestly thought Mow Cop would be tougher tbh. I really psyched myself out thinking of that hill in the days before.

Mow Cop on my Canyon wasn't half as tough as The Rake is on my CX (not been up it on the Canyon yet). I stayed sat down all the way up, so the pics will probably not look as pro as if I'd have stood...
 
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