Oh yeah, while on my travels this afternoon, as I was getting to the top of the cat 3 I was climbing, I saw a tandem with a man and a woman on it coming the other way. I've touched 40 going down that hill, so going down on a tandem struck me as a bold move! I gave them a thumbs up as I went past and the guy grinned - I'm guessing they must get it a lot.
Road Cycling Essentials
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Soldato
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Ah well, I'm looking at a minimum 8 week wait for an MRI scan of my knee (unless I go private which I'm seriously considering) - my physio has now moved from thinking I've got a ligament damaged to torn cartilage in the lower knee. Agony to hobble about on, off my work, hacked off and no more bike for me for quite possibly months. Annoyed is an understatement. I can almost feel my fitness levels plummeting as I sit here popping Ibuprofen.
Would be interested in this also. Hate to hear of injuries
I'm struggling to pinpoint it down to one particular thing. It wasn't anything to do with either my road or MTB as far as I know. It's been niggling me since the start of the year but got to the 'owww....!!! - that's bloody painful...!!!' stage a couple of weeks ago. I think the root cause was might possibly have been an injury I picked up at work in October last year taking part in compartment fire behaviour training, hauling an 18 stone casualty simulator up two flights of stairs through a 500 deg C heat barrier. I remember hurting it there in exactly the same place as it *smarts* just now but it went away and I thought nothing of it at the time. 2 days before it got really sore I had cycled my usual 36 mile commute with no issues so it kinda came out of no-where at me although as I say it has been creeping up on me if I am honest. I'm so hacked off being immobile as I'm normally a very active person.
Thanks dude, I've been seeing a private physio, yep. Had 4 treatments so far. Squealed a bit during them!!
Good luck with your ride tomorrow.
Worst comes to the worst, drill it.
Toughie A grade race this week. I rode the course solo last week to get a feel for it. 3 laps of a damn steep hill!
59.2km, 1041m elevation, average speed 32.4kmh, average power 262w, weighted power 289w.
First time round the climb OK, not too quick everyone stayed together.
Couple of guys threw a break out there on the ~15km between the ascents, three joined them to make a break of 5. Maybe got a minute on the rest of us to give a chasing group of 7. I took the time to have a gel and get a bit of strength for the climb. Came to the climb and a few blew up and we caught two guys who couldn't keep up with the pace of the break. We went up the climb 40 seconds faster than the first time round.
Two guys thought they could jump across half way up the climb as we had pulled the break back quite a lot, one guy made it but the other guy got caught between groups. I stayed in the chasing group which was down to 4 now but all these guys are quick on the flat. I counted on them pulling the break back on the downhill.
Onto the downhill and all was going well, started to smash turns through, we caught the solo guy and blew by him really quick. I had a bit of bad luck here, just did a longer turn and we had a bit of a break up in wheels on a few undulations. I lost the wheel and dropped a few lengths. At 60kmh that was it, the three guys I was with disappeared up the road.
I joined with the guy we had just passed and we swapped off turns. We could see the others catching the leading three to make a group of 7, but didn't have chance of catching them. He seemed pretty spent, but we swapped off, I was riding 300w which is about threshold, keeping a little bit back just in case they all started playing games and we caught them.
By the bottom of the last climb (finish at the top) the gap was out to 60-90 seconds so we had no chance of catching. About half way up the other guy just about blew up, I expected him to leave me here as he is lighter and a strong climber. Made it to the top but had some granny ring action to get me there to finish 8th from 12.
Could possibly have finished a spot or two higher if I hadn't been dropped but that's racing, maybe should have taken another gel as my time up the third climb wasn't so hot, just about packed up on the last half which is where it would have counted had I been with the group still. Lesson learnt every time!
59.2km, 1041m elevation, average speed 32.4kmh, average power 262w, weighted power 289w.
First time round the climb OK, not too quick everyone stayed together.
Couple of guys threw a break out there on the ~15km between the ascents, three joined them to make a break of 5. Maybe got a minute on the rest of us to give a chasing group of 7. I took the time to have a gel and get a bit of strength for the climb. Came to the climb and a few blew up and we caught two guys who couldn't keep up with the pace of the break. We went up the climb 40 seconds faster than the first time round.
Two guys thought they could jump across half way up the climb as we had pulled the break back quite a lot, one guy made it but the other guy got caught between groups. I stayed in the chasing group which was down to 4 now but all these guys are quick on the flat. I counted on them pulling the break back on the downhill.
Onto the downhill and all was going well, started to smash turns through, we caught the solo guy and blew by him really quick. I had a bit of bad luck here, just did a longer turn and we had a bit of a break up in wheels on a few undulations. I lost the wheel and dropped a few lengths. At 60kmh that was it, the three guys I was with disappeared up the road.
I joined with the guy we had just passed and we swapped off turns. We could see the others catching the leading three to make a group of 7, but didn't have chance of catching them. He seemed pretty spent, but we swapped off, I was riding 300w which is about threshold, keeping a little bit back just in case they all started playing games and we caught them.
By the bottom of the last climb (finish at the top) the gap was out to 60-90 seconds so we had no chance of catching. About half way up the other guy just about blew up, I expected him to leave me here as he is lighter and a strong climber. Made it to the top but had some granny ring action to get me there to finish 8th from 12.
Could possibly have finished a spot or two higher if I hadn't been dropped but that's racing, maybe should have taken another gel as my time up the third climb wasn't so hot, just about packed up on the last half which is where it would have counted had I been with the group still. Lesson learnt every time!
Soldato
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1. Buy Rapha Hardshell for £90 because it has massive grease stains on the back
2. Apply Pedro's Pro Degreaser
3. Wash
4. Admire good as new jacket
Win.
2. Apply Pedro's Pro Degreaser
3. Wash
4. Admire good as new jacket
Win.
SkodaMart
SkodaMart
Carry 2 spare tubes and a puncture kit as a last resort.
SkodaMart
SkodaMart
Anyone got a 64cm (25")
Reynolds 531 ST Dawes Galaxy?
Looking for geometry information? any help would be appreciated.
This guy is complaining it's too big for him.
I think it looks stunning! Looks perfect size to me, there isn't supposed to be much seatpin showing on a classic touring bike.
Reynolds 531 ST Dawes Galaxy?
Looking for geometry information? any help would be appreciated.
This guy is complaining it's too big for him.
I think it looks stunning! Looks perfect size to me, there isn't supposed to be much seatpin showing on a classic touring bike.
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Soldato
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- 22 Sep 2008
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- Burscough
[DOD]Asprilla;26082639 said:
Really?
I've recently got oily smears on my new dhb red jersey, which I was really annoyed with myself about as I'd only had it 5 minutes! Went through the wash, it was still there.
Racing is seriously good, but hard.
I thought I was ok on a road bike when I started a year ago. I could do 30kmh on the flat or a bit more OK.
I spent months being smashed by old blokes with a bit extra round the middle. They were stronger than me and had better race tactics.
However nothing beats winning a race, or putting someone else in the hurt box when you have a bit left in the tank. It never gets easier, just faster, but there is always someone stronger than you.
Soldato
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I don't race or anything like that, I just cycle for fun, but I am sure that the sentiment above resonates with all cyclists.
Is it normal for there to be only 12 people in a race?
Its rare for a race over here that isnt over the limit (60 riders) and having to reject further entries.
Although, we dont really split the fields into different grades like you. We have categories: 4, 3, 2, 1, Elite. You start as 4th cat and work your way up by getting points from doing well in races.
There are only really 3 ways different races get categorised:
-Elites + 1s + 2s only
-3s + 4s only
-4s only
Small town, struggle for big turn outs every week, only 40'000 in total so we get maybe 50 riders total on a weekend club race and maybe 100 club members all up.
The bigger events attract riders from further away to race. Next week I think there will be 50 in every grade at the criterium races, imagine will be graded to E grade plus juniors also.
I believe in sydney they will fill the grades every race at the various clubs there, which is to be expected when you have 4 million people there but they are 95% Crit races, road racing is more fun IMO.
Can you be downgraded in the UK if you don't get enough points for your cat in a year?
Really?
I've recently got oily smears on my new dhb red jersey, which I was really annoyed with myself about as I'd only had it 5 minutes! Went through the wash, it was still there.
My best white decathlon jersey has a black smear down the front, we'll have to share a washing load
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