Road Cycling Essentials

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daveski said:
So the other week this turned up...

Then got this email through...

Then today this happened...


My first cat 4 race.

Quite a short one at only 30 mins plus 5 laps. The circuit was flooded so the course length was reduced.

Think I did ok, should have made more of an effort to stay with the bunch as the wind was fierce and I ended up spending 90% of the race riding by myself.

Anyway all aims for the day were met, I didn't crash, I wasn't lapped and I didn't come last :D
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Niceone! I did my first last year and got shelled out the back of the group two laps before the end. Hopefully do a few more this year, should be much fitter too.
 
So then my mini write up.

Last Friday I flew out to Paphos with my bike all wrapped up safely, the weather out there was about 15c but the forecast wasn't great for the week ahead with some rain and clouds (although much better than here)

I got to the apartment I was staying in and unpacked and set up the bike, took a little tour round Pathos to gauge the level of driving after hearing some not so good stories, these were true so I was very careful.

On the Saturday I went out but had to be back mid afternoon to go and pick a friend up from the airport, so I chose a 68 mile route I found on ride with gps, after a few detours and a bit of CX I was beginning to get quite tired after climbing for what seemed about 4 hours, but to greeted with some of the views, luckily my route started to head back, however a few missed turns and the time was ticking on, eventually getting back about 8 hours after setting off and completing 11,000 ft of climbing and 84 miles, a bit more than planned.

http://www.strava.com/activities/112001771

If you want to see the rest of my rides, please look at my strava profile.

IMG_20140201_121449_zpssqodcfzu.jpg


Once you got out of Paphos into the country the roads were surprisingly good, a few potholes here and there, but in the main no gravel, or hidden bumps.

Over the next couple of days I was actually pretty wiped out but managed to get a few shorter flatter rides in, but didn't have the same energy, so took it easy and got to a rest day which was a bit more chilled out.

I had planned to ride up Mount Olympus, but had heard reports it was pretty chilly up there, I decided to do a recce in the car, and was glad I did as the route was up up and up, with it getting to -3 at the top of the mountain.

IMG_20140203_161522_zps6esu9aib.jpg



Over the week I totted up just shy of 350 miles, and over 30,000ft of climbing, which I was happy about, could have done a bit more if I rested properly after my over exertion on the first day, I will definitely be heading back later in the year, as it is a friends apartment, so always available, will hopefully get a couple more to come as riding alone for that long was a bit lonely!



TL:DR version - head to Cyprus it is great for road cycling.
 
[DOD]Asprilla;25813657 said:
It's not. Be here when you dress for -3c the temp usually varies between -5c and 0c. In Cyprus you've got to dress for 15c to -5c and that's hard.

Cypress looks excellent.
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Precisely, my leg and arm warmers wouldnt have done me much use, last day I started at 15c at about 09:00 by about 13:00 I was up at 4000ft and it was 7, was very chilly, especially on the descents.
 
Club TT this weekend 15.1km or 9.4 miles, after my practice in the week I was a little worried about going off too slow.

Little bit of a tail wind on the way out, but it didn't feel like it until the turn. Paced myself quite well, was aiming to keep the Garmin showing 300w+ as much as possible. You don't realise your easing off on the flats or down hills without it, encourages you to grab another gear and keep smashing it.

I was off as slowest A grade rider, given I was the only one on a road bike that was to be expected too! I got caught by my 30 second marker at the turn around point, who then put maybe 10 seconds into me on the return into the wind.

Strava says a time of 22:54 (I had wanted to go under 23 and 300w+), 316w average, 603w max at the turn around. It really started to hurt in the last 3km, found myself looking at the Garmin willing the kays to tick down to the finish! Split for the first half at the turn was 325w average, so pretty consistent, slightly lower second half as I was fading a touch in the last few kays.

The winning time was a low 21 minute, that was full TT bike, skin suit and aero helmet, got to be worth a bit of extra time over a standard bike! One of the guys who did a 21:03 using a full TT setup has uploaded his power data to Strava and did 281w average.

Reading this article on BR, a full TT setup saves you a massive amount of power required to do 40kmh. http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/how-aero-is-aero-19273/ using their speedway data which is pretty similar to my figures on the road from today, 39.6mh average for myself and 316w, they got 40kmh and 306w, the full TT setup requires 70w less for the same speed!
 
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SoliD said:
So then my mini write up.

Last Friday I flew out to Paphos with my bike all wrapped up safely, the weather out there was about 15c but the forecast wasn't great for the week ahead with some rain and clouds (although much better than here)

I got to the apartment I was staying in and unpacked and set up the bike, took a little tour round Pathos to gauge the level of driving after hearing some not so good stories, these were true so I was very careful.

On the Saturday I went out but had to be back mid afternoon to go and pick a friend up from the airport, so I chose a 68 mile route I found on ride with gps, after a few detours and a bit of CX I was beginning to get quite tired after climbing for what seemed about 4 hours, but to greeted with some of the views, luckily my route started to head back, however a few missed turns and the time was ticking on, eventually getting back about 8 hours after setting off and completing 11,000 ft of climbing and 84 miles, a bit more than planned.

http://www.strava.com/activities/112001771

If you want to see the rest of my rides, please look at my strava profile.

IMG_20140201_121449_zpssqodcfzu.jpg


Once you got out of Paphos into the country the roads were surprisingly good, a few potholes here and there, but in the main no gravel, or hidden bumps.

Over the next couple of days I was actually pretty wiped out but managed to get a few shorter flatter rides in, but didn't have the same energy, so took it easy and got to a rest day which was a bit more chilled out.

I had planned to ride up Mount Olympus, but had heard reports it was pretty chilly up there, I decided to do a recce in the car, and was glad I did as the route was up up and up, with it getting to -3 at the top of the mountain.

IMG_20140203_161522_zps6esu9aib.jpg



Over the week I totted up just shy of 350 miles, and over 30,000ft of climbing, which I was happy about, could have done a bit more if I rested properly after my over exertion on the first day, I will definitely be heading back later in the year, as it is a friends apartment, so always available, will hopefully get a couple more to come as riding alone for that long was a bit lonely!



TL:DR version - head to Cyprus it is great for road cycling.
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There are some decent hills up by the Kannavou reservoir for sure, ridden some of those roads myself. The climb out of Paphos and through Stroumbi seems to go on for ever as well. Nice riding round there for sure, and some stunning views.
 
Vonhelmet said:
FAO: physichull - I'm probably going out tomorrow afternoon if you fancy meeting up. We could meet down in Golborne and head up through Hindley and then past Haigh and Blackrod and over Rivington. It's set to be a bit windy and maybe drizzly but it should be ok. I'll see if Damien, who may still be lurking here, wants to come out as well.
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Hi Von, thanks for the offer but I'm afraid I have other plans this weekend with my gf (sorry for the late reply, I've only just noticed your post).

Would be definitely up for that though. Weather is in complete contrast to last Sunday....:(

In another note, just watching the Tour of Dubai highlights, seeing Peter Sagan throw his bike down in disgust because he crashed off REALLY grinds my gears (excuse the pun). So he may have buckled a wheel when he crashed, but really, people would kill for a bike like that! It really annoys me when people treat things like that with such contempt when things go badly.
 
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physichull said:
In another note, just watching the Tour of Dubai highlights, seeing Peter Sagan throw his bike down in disgust because he crashed off REALLY grinds my gears (excuse the pun). So he may have buckled a wheel when he crashed, but really, people would kill for a bike like that! It really annoys me when people treat things like that with such contempt when things go badly.
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:D
 
Just been to Leisure Lakes in Bury, had a look at the Specialized bikes.
The Sectuer is nice until you look at the Roubaix.

OMG! I thought I was against carbon bikes. It's a work of art and 58cm fits me perfectly.

Roubaix I think it is.

(However I will feel very silly riding one in this state of fitness)
 
SkodaMart said:
Just been to Leisure Lakes in Bury, had a look at the Specialized bikes.
The Sectuer is nice until you look at the Roubaix.

OMG! I thought I was against carbon bikes. It's a work of art and 58cm fits me perfectly.

Roubaix I think it is.

(However I will feel very silly riding one in this state of fitness)
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That's right, you set a budget and stick to it......

;)
 
grudas said:
-3? thats not too bad..
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That's alright for you to say, it hasnt been as low as -3 in London at all this winter!

For those of us who have had to ride in that sort of temperature, it's miserable.
It's less than 1 hour before bottles freeze and you have nothing to drink.
If it's wet, your drivetrain starts to ice up and you lose your gears.
Theres a good chance there will be ice.
You need to go slower down hills because of the ice so you can be freewheeling for 10-15 mins and that's when you get very cold.
 
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