Road Cycling Essentials

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FrenchTart said:
Yeah. It's so easy to skip rest days but whenever I do actually take one I also feel infinitely better the following day.

Ah well, no rest days until Saturday for me this week... :p
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Getting enough rest makes a huge difference for me.

I generally take a minimum of two rest days a week - usually monday and friday. And out of the 5 days i do ride, only 3 of them will be hard efforts - either an APR or TT on a tuesday, hard interval session on thursday and then a fast club run on a saturday. The other two days i just ride however i feel, might still be quite a long ride or hard pace for a couple of hours but maybe also just an easy spin.

I've felt pretty fresh throughout the year so far doing that. Gives me enough scope to ease back a bit if i need to but also enough focus so i don't slack off.
 
I need to rest more, my hamstrings are permanently tight :/
I do have atleast one day off a week, but I commute. I can't remember the last time I had 2 days off in a row.

On a side note, I had a particular strange bike ride last night I thought I would share. To being with; I had a fawn jump out on me, fortunately I was only doing 14mph at the time so managed to stop in time.

I did about 10 miles more, and decided to call it a day and have an early night. So I made my way home. I approached a short climb, and saw a fellow cyclist just over half way up the climb. I caught him up, but before I could overtake he turned round to look at me, I said "Hello" but he didn't respond. So I overtook and said "Hello" again (still no response). I figured he wasn't very sociable, so carried on with my ride thinking nothing of it. After another couple of miles, something made me glance over my shoulder. The cyclist from earlier was hugging my back wheel as tight as possible. I'm a new cyclist, so quite frankly this scared the **** out of me, especially as I was doing around 25mph at the time on a poor road surface. I'm happy for people to sit behind me, but not unannounced like that.
Anywho, I tried speeding up, but he remained. So I slowed and he overtook me, as he was passing I shouted: "Can you talk?"
He turned and looked at me and said "Can I walk? No, I can't bloody walk I'm disabled, that's why I'm riding my bike".
I caught up with him, explained what I had said and why. We ended up doing another 10 miles together, before I turned off.
I suppose it will teach me not to talk to strangers, but to be honest after the initial disagreement, I enjoyed the company.

Would you guys hug a strangers back wheel without saying anything? Is this the norm for cyclists?
 
janp said:
Would you guys hug a strangers back wheel without saying anything? Is this the norm for cyclists?
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To me it's dangerous to do it unannounced. When I ride solo I behave differently to when I'm in a group, don't make any hand gestures to communicate, and feel you can freely alter your pace fairly sharply. No problem with people doing it as long as they let me know.
 
Guys, any idea where I can buy a replacement rubber cadence sensor strap for my Tacx Flow? It's a rubber ladder type thing arrowed below. I've lost mine and Tacx don't list them as spares on their site, neither do Wiggle etc, you need to buy the cadence sensor/wire in a pack that comes with a strap. Just wondering if anyone knew of something similar?

Ta, here's the strap:-

YPAyhdq.jpg
 
Draeger said:
Guys, any idea where I can buy a replacement rubber cadence sensor strap for my Tacx Flow? It's a rubber ladder type thing arrowed below. I've lost mine and Tacx don't list them as spares on their site, neither do Wiggle etc, you need to buy the cadence sensor/wire in a pack that comes with a strap. Just wondering if anyone knew of something similar?

Ta, here's the strap:-

YPAyhdq.jpg
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Thick elastic band?
 
Draeger said:
Guys, any idea where I can buy a replacement rubber cadence sensor strap for my Tacx Flow? It's a rubber ladder type thing arrowed below. I've lost mine and Tacx don't list them as spares on their site, neither do Wiggle etc, you need to buy the cadence sensor/wire in a pack that comes with a strap. Just wondering if anyone knew of something similar?
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I would drop them an email along with the photo and all that. If they are nice they may just send you a spare one.
 
Draeger said:
Guys, any idea where I can buy a replacement rubber cadence sensor strap for my Tacx Flow? It's a rubber ladder type thing arrowed below. I've lost mine and Tacx don't list them as spares on their site, neither do Wiggle etc, you need to buy the cadence sensor/wire in a pack that comes with a strap. Just wondering if anyone knew of something similar?
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I'm pretty sure my new Garmin sensors came with that exact strap. I used a different strap in the end. If it still in the Garmin box when I get home, I don't mind sending it to you?
 
My gears are playing up.

Currently the bike has a 9 speed sora double group set, but the front shifter is a triple (I don't know why but they built it like that). The front used to shift fine using just the first two gears but it has gotten progressively worse and now no matter what I do I have to go into the second click and then ease the lever over to engage the big ring.

I think maybe the derailleur is bent so I think I might change the shifter for a proper double one and change the derailleur while I'm at it. Does anyone know where I can get just a single shifter from? They only seem to come in pairs.

The only other thing I was thinking is that I want to upgrade to 105/ultegra but can't afford to do it all at once, would it be possible to just change the front derailleur and shifter while keeping the current chainrings and rear shifter/derailleur? Would it matter that the ultegra is designed for a 10/11 speed system? I'm thinking not as I don't see how the front derailleur world know how many gears are on the back..

Ta for any help. :-)
 
janp said:
I'm pretty sure my new Garmin sensors came with that exact strap. I used a different strap in the end. If it still in the Garmin box when I get home, I don't mind sending it to you?
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That would be awesome. Let me know if you find it m8, much appreciated. :)

Ian_Eb said:
I would drop them an email along with the photo and all that. If they are nice they may just send you a spare one.
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May give that a try, see what happens. :cool:
 
godinman said:
My gears are playing up.

Currently the bike has a 9 speed sora double group set, but the front shifter is a triple (I don't know why but they built it like that). The front used to shift fine using just the first two gears but it has gotten progressively worse and now no matter what I do I have to go into the second click and then ease the lever over to engage the big ring.

I think maybe the derailleur is bent so I think I might change the shifter for a proper double one and change the derailleur while I'm at it. Does anyone know where I can get just a single shifter from? They only seem to come in pairs.

The only other thing I was thinking is that I want to upgrade to 105/ultegra but can't afford to do it all at once, would it be possible to just change the front derailleur and shifter while keeping the current chainrings and rear shifter/derailleur? Would it matter that the ultegra is designed for a 10/11 speed system? I'm thinking not as I don't see how the front derailleur world know how many gears are on the back..

Ta for any help. :-)
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Probably just needs adjusted. Sounds like the cable has stretched over time and means you need the extra click to move up. A triple shifter is fine with a double crank.
 
Since we all love to see the damage done in crashes. I've finally managed to get some pics of my bike after my crash 2 weeks ago.

khIrigNl.jpg.png


What's the thoughts on the damage? LBS reckon with the force that has gone through the bars the frame will be a write due to it being carbon. What else do you guys think could be wrong with it?

Oh and my legs slowly getting getting less painful shame you can't replace/upgrade those :p
 
divaboy said:
Since we all love to see the damage done in crashes. I've finally managed to get some pics of my bike after my crash 2 weeks ago.

khIrigNl.jpg.png


What's the thoughts on the damage? LBS reckon with the force that has gone through the bars the frame will be a write due to it being carbon. What else do you guys think could be wrong with it?

Oh and my legs slowly getting getting less painful shame you can't replace/upgrade those :p
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It'll be fine. No need to even fix it - just ride with one of your hands at a 90 degree angle.

Seriously though: :eek:

Hard to say /re the frame. Some LBS places are overly paranoid about that sort of thing but given the nature of your accident and your injury I think I would want it checking out professionally before I trusted it.
 
divaboy said:
Since we all love to see the damage done in crashes. I've finally managed to get some pics of my bike after my crash 2 weeks ago.

khIrigNl.jpg.png


What's the thoughts on the damage?
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I'm no expert, but it looks like your handlebars are bent. And your shoes have fallen off.
 
FrenchTart said:
It'll be fine. No need to even fix it - just ride with one of your hands at a 90 degree angle.

Seriously though: :eek:

Hard to say /re the frame. Some LBS places are overly paranoid about that sort of thing but given the nature of your accident and your injury I think I would want it checking out professionally before I trusted it.
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Yep they basically said its as much on the phone. Such a shame as I love the bike/frame. But not sure id trust it 100% after the impact I gave it.

I can't stress enough about getting proper bike insurance, I did over a grands worth of damage it the car:eek:

Cost me £150 to insure it for £1500 no brainer IMO.
 
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