Road Cycling Essentials

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physichull said:
Well that was a dumbass idea. Wasn't going to go out tonight, but changed my mind last minute, just going out for a gentle hour.

What a mistake that was. Got soaked to the skin half way round by heavy pounding rain in the form of enormous stinging raindrops. Wasn't fun, but managed to dry off by the time I got home.

And the hayfever when I got home....arggghghhghg!! My eyes!

Oh, and don't ride when full of pizza.
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Save the pizza for after the ride mate ;)

Looked really nice hot & sunny this afternoon till I got out of work when it decided to go cloudy. I seem to have spent the evening asleep, yesterdays ride catching up with me at last :rolleyes:
 
physichull said:
Well that was a dumbass idea. Wasn't going to go out tonight, but changed my mind last minute, just going out for a gentle hour.

What a mistake that was. Got soaked to the skin half way round by heavy pounding rain in the form of enormous stinging raindrops. Wasn't fun, but managed to dry off by the time I got home.

And the hayfever when I got home....arggghghhghg!! My eyes!

Oh, and don't ride when full of pizza.
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Did it rain on you? I got drizzled on a teeny weeny bit on my ride. I decided to take advantage of the good weather and do the full mast climb, as that's one I'd really rather not do in the wet. I beat last year's time for the climb by over a minute, which I'm very happy with. It is a tough climb... 3.6 miles long, 1087ft climbing, average gradient of 6% with a bit in the middle that gets above 15% for a short while.

I swear half the battle with climbs like that is mental. Obviously it is very hard physically, but I find I have to build myself up to it as I'm getting closer to the start of the climb, to reassure myself that I can do it, that I'll make it to the top in one piece. Particularly on a climb like that where beyond a certain point you're in the middle of nowhere and there's no-one there to see you, there's points when you round a corner and see it ramping up again and you just want to get off for a bit and you have to push yourself to keep going... Fun times. Anyway.

The descent down that climb is not much fun either. Some descents are great - sweeping turns, good visibility, good surface. Not this one! It's narrow, there's blind bends, cattle grids, speed bumps, gravel galore, bits where the edge of the road just crumbles away into a ditch and a grass verge. Some guy has done the really dodgy bit at 35mph - mentalist! I clocked a really slow time on this descent as I stopped to admire the view. I could make out Liverpool Cathedral in the distance, which is about 25 miles away!

I wasn't the only one who thought it would be a good idea to get up there tonight. As I was starting my descent I passed 5 other guys on road bikes heading up there. They were spread out fairly well that far up the climb, and a couple of them were absolutely storming while others were, well, probably climbing it the way I climb it :D I shouted some encouragement as I passed by. I don't know whether it helps other people but it always makes me smile when other people say something as they pass me, so I like to do it for people I'm passing. I just hope they don't think I'm taking the pee :p
 
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Vonhelmet said:
Did it rain on you?
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Err....just a bit!! Started just as I was going over Shaley (the easy way), then it really started hammering it down for about 15 minutes right back to Billinge. I couldn't see a thing because I was wearing my glasses and the wet roads on Shaley were terrifying to go down, I went fast on one bit thinking it would be alright, but no, the back wheel felt like it was squirming the whole way down in the wet. Brown trousers time.
 
Interesting little route that one Von, may try that myself if I do an ad-hoc round the Rivington area, then drop back down and carry on the rest of the loop over the tops to Belmont and back round. Sounds like the descent is one of those where your arm muscles get a workout as you're on the brakes for grim death all the way down.

You're right about a lot of climbing being how you approach them mentally. It's often very demoralising to see those walls of tarmac rearing up ahead of you but then in some cases the distance is longer than you think which makes the climb not actually as steep. If you accept it's going to hurt for a few minutes and don't constantly look up to the top of the climb that helps a lot too. and once you get familiar with some climbs you'll understand better where it's actually at it's worse and where it'll level out slightly to give some respite from the max effort. If you're able to try a gear above your lowest then you'll know you've always got something left in reserve if needed.

On our Sunday ride we did our best to give encouragement to people who'd had to give in and walk, as that still takes effort getting up the hill and having ridden as far as they had already. The really tough climb at Penbarra helped being the second time I rode it, and I gave our group a pep talk before we got there as to pacing themselves etc. It looked to rise steep after the nasty hairpin but actually wasn't as bad, but then it still drags on a good climb before you can finally complete it. We got some encouragement negotiating the tricky hairpin and it helped, just had enough air spare to pant a 'thanks' in return :)
 
tl45 said:
You're right about a lot of climbing being how you approach them mentally. It's often very demoralising to see those walls of tarmac rearing up ahead of you but then in some cases the distance is longer than you think which makes the climb not actually as steep. If you accept it's going to hurt for a few minutes and don't constantly look up to the top of the climb that helps a lot too. and once you get familiar with some climbs you'll understand better where it's actually at it's worse and where it'll level out slightly to give some respite from the max effort. If you're able to try a gear above your lowest then you'll know you've always got something left in reserve if needed.
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Interesting post. I am slowly coming round to this way of thinking, sadly, there is only one way of being able to fully understand it. Learning by doing, n'all that.
 
Once you've cracked a climb it's all downhill (pun intended) from there as after you break the duck you can tell yourself you've managed it before so why not again :)
 
tl45 said:
Once you've cracked a climb it's all downhill (pun intended) from there as after you break the duck you can tell yourself you've managed it before so why not again :)
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That's one way of putting it, another is that it piles loads of pressure on to never fail at it again!
 
physichull said:
Interesting post. I am slowly coming round to this way of thinking, sadly, there is only one way of being able to fully understand it. Learning by doing, n'all that.
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We'll definitely have to find some time to head up to Rivington and I can show you some of the climbs there. I should be out Wednesday evening if that's any good to you.

You could come out on a Saturday with the guys I ride with sometime, if you gave the club ride a miss. We are often up in Rivington.
 
physichull said:
That's one way of putting it, another is that it piles loads of pressure on to never fail at it again!
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So far I've only got off on two climbs - the Rivington cat 3 climb and The Rake in Ramsbottom, which is a short cat 4 with a good chunk above 20%. It would take a lot for me to fail on the Rivington climb now, particularly as I know it really well now. I would never say never on The Rake, though. I think that could defeat me again. It's just horrible. I need to head up there and do it again sometime actually, as it's been ages since I've tried.

See what happens? The worst climb I know of and I want to get out there and give it another go :p

I think these days what I've learnt is that I can tackle most climbs I'm likely to come across, and if they're new to me I'll just take it easy and start at a pace I'm comfortable with, so I've got somewhere to back off to if I have to.
 
Anyone else seen this?


BMX tricks and whatnot on a Boris bike. Clearly they've been modified - removing various bits, adding disc brakes - but I wonder how heavy they've ended up. They start out at about 23Kg and apparently the frame alone weighs 18Kg, so they must still be damn heavy. The rides must be very strong...

That or they're lookalikes. That seems more plausible now I think about it.
 
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I've come to the conclusion that i need a better water bottle! Last night when i was out for an evening cycle I went to take a quick drink and i squeezed the bottle while drinking and i heard a sort of snapping noise along with a bit of water hitting my hand. Yep, I cracked one of the bottles i bought after i got my bike.

I've got two (well one now) of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0036TGWYU/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I'm now thinking i should either get a completely rigid non squeezy bottle or a fully squeezy non cracking bottle.

Any recommendations on either? :)
 
I've always found the High5 bottles I've had as endless freebies work pretty well, though I tend to use them more in winter as I can't fit bigger bottles into the drinks holders on the Ribble after changing from the wobbly decathlon water bomb-chuckers.

I use the larger Elite 1L bottles which have never cracked even when dropped occasionally, they do smaller versions too.

elite-bottles-corsa-supercorsa-maxicorsa.jpg


Ironic I've got so many drinks bottles spare I can't give them away :rolleyes:
 
Derek W said:
I've come to the conclusion that i need a better water bottle! Last night when i was out for an evening cycle I went to take a quick drink and i squeezed the bottle while drinking and i heard a sort of snapping noise along with a bit of water hitting my hand. Yep, I cracked one of the bottles i bought after i got my bike.

I've got two (well one now) of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0036TGWYU/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I'm now thinking i should either get a completely rigid non squeezy bottle or a fully squeezy non cracking bottle.

Any recommendations on either? :)
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http://www.wiggle.co.uk/science-in-sport-800ml-water-bottle/

Serves me fine, nice and cheap:)
 
Derek W said:
I've come to the conclusion that i need a better water bottle! Last night when i was out for an evening cycle I went to take a quick drink and i squeezed the bottle while drinking and i heard a sort of snapping noise along with a bit of water hitting my hand. Yep, I cracked one of the bottles i bought after i got my bike.

I've got two (well one now) of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0036TGWYU/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I'm now thinking i should either get a completely rigid non squeezy bottle or a fully squeezy non cracking bottle.

Any recommendations on either? :)
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If you need some energy gels you get a bottle with this pack.

http://www.discount-supplements.co.uk/high-5-race-pack-mtb-triathlon-road#product_details
 
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