Road Cycling Essentials

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Or Home Bargains sell them for ~70p a packet.

Alternatively, visit the OCUK shop and gorge on the free packets on the counter whilst waiting for your order.
 
Not a great ride home today. Came out of the office late due to tedious meetings, found a puncture, repaired it and then remembered I had a track pump in the office so I headed back in. In the process of turning the bike back over I snagged the mudguard and ripped off one of the supports..joyous. Then when I got into the office the cheapo track pump I had for work jammed itself on to the inner tube valve and wouldn't let go. Eventually managed to break the inner tube whilst trying to rip it off.

So... then fitted my spare inner on my front tyre and cycled home with two tyres at low pressure. Awesome. Really couldn't be bothered doing a proper route after all that so I just did 3.6 rather than the planned 10-17. Suckage.

edit: Looks like that was my last inner and I'm kind of concerned that the rear tyre is on it's way out (third puncture since Friday). Zomgz/waa/etc.
 
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My wife took my girls to Heaton park this afternoon to go cycling. My elder daughter managed her second crash in as many weeks and knocked her chain off. Fortunately one of our Lycra clad brethren was on hand and helped out with getting them back up and running!
 
Had someone pull out in front of me at the bottom of a hill today, was far enough ahead that it wasn't a problem but a bit annoying; usually it's just aim at where the car is and by the time you get there it's out the way, or they see you suddenly and stop, go around the front of it.

Instead they started to pull out, saw me, and hesitated. Bit awkward at 30mph trying to judge if you have to go round the back or the front of the car, either hit the brakes or put your foot down please. Hesitating in the middle of the road and being unpredictable doesn't help anyone.

The roads in surrey certainly seem a lot better than in kent, smooth, not many potholes, lovely scenery. All the roads round kent seem to be hemmed in by tall hedges so you don't see a thing.
 
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I had a massive pedal strike this morning. Pedalling round a bend like I normally would on the track bike, but I didn't figure that the bottom bracket on my geared bike is a lot lower and WHAM! Took me a bit by surprise! :p

Phantom Shadow said:
The roads in surrey certainly seem a lot better than in kent, smooth, not many potholes
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Lol, you sure you're in Surrey? :p

NOBODY has a good word to say about the roads here. They are an absolute disgrace and the local councils ought to be embarrassed about them.
 
FrenchTart said:
Not a great ride home today. Came out of the office late due to tedious meetings, found a puncture, repaired it and then remembered I had a track pump in the office so I headed back in. In the process of turning the bike back over I snagged the mudguard and ripped off one of the supports..joyous. Then when I got into the office the cheapo track pump I had for work jammed itself on to the inner tube valve and wouldn't let go. Eventually managed to break the inner tube whilst trying to rip it off.

So... then fitted my spare inner on my front tyre and cycled home with two tyres at low pressure. Awesome. Really couldn't be bothered doing a proper route after all that so I just did 3.6 rather than the planned 10-17. Suckage.

edit: Looks like that was my last inner and I'm kind of concerned that the rear tyre is on it's way out (third puncture since Friday). Zomgz/waa/etc.
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Ready to get those vittorias? ;)
 
Went out for a pleasant 20 miles or so tonight, well, most of it was pleasant. The last 5 km left me fuming.

I was practically home, and was cycling at a sedentary pace, with a traffic island about 50 m in front of me. As I get closer I hear the sound of a loud engine, sort of like a lorry or a bus, so I glance back to see what is coming because I was becoming increasingly alarmed at how quickly it was coming up on me, bearing in mind the traffic island.

So I saw a tractor and it wasn't stopping for ****! Its front wheels were practically level with me when he "tried" to overtake me right at the traffic island where there was absolutely zero room to pass. He slammed on the brakes hard, then overtook me afterwards whilst beeping his horn, then he turned round in his seat and began vehemently mouthing something that I'm pretty sure wasn't "oh I'm sorry my friend, didn't see you there!". He then gave me the middle finger.

My blood completely boiled over because I had literally done NOTHING wrong. Usually if its a cyclist telling this story you get a one sided, biased opinion, but I really was doing absolutely nothing wrong. I then put the hammer down and tried to chase him down but he was too fast. I tracked him as far as Lowton so I suspect his tractor belongs to one of the farms just south of Lowton, with his reg beginning "MN". So if I EVER see that tractor again, I'll be having some serious words/putting his window through.

Never been so cross about a cycling incident in my life.

Another thing happened to me earlier in the ride when a young teenage lad in a silver Corsa left hooked me practically as close as anybody can left hook somebody when he wanted to turn left at a roundabout. Scared the life out of me and I could tell he did it on purpose because I could see him laughing in the mirror, along with his mates on the back seat.

You missed a cracker VonHelmet! :) On a plus note, I'm now only 15 seconds from your time on Shaley Brow! My quickest yet, so pleased about that. Overtook two chaps going up it, one had got off his bike so I said "well done mate, its a hard hill, took me four attempts to get up in one". I hope he took it in the spirit it was intended, he was quite a weighty chap so had done really well to make it up half way. Overtook another a bit further up, he then popped on my back wheel but I dropped him before the summit so was very pleased!
 
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Right, charity request...

In under 2 weeks I'm cycling in the London Triathlon with some colleagues from work to raise money for my employer's charity, the PwC Foundation. The Foundation supports various charitable bodies including Alzheimer's Scotland, Alzheimer's Society, Beyond Food Foundation who support the homeless, Groundwork who do environmental regeneration, National Literacy Trust and Wellbeing For Women, among others. Please give generously! Thank you!

Donation page.
 
Grr, it doesn't take PayPal. That means I have to make the effort to lift my right bum cheek to get my wallet out.

In other news I just bought a Gabba from PBK; 30% off.
 
FrenchTart said:
I'll order one for my rear if you order a pro4 endurance :p
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I dare to get these -;

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vittoria-zaffiro-pro-slick-tyres-twinpack/

I've got them now, light, grippy(in dry and wet-ish) a bit scary in VERY wet but then again I've managed no problems ;)

I would.. but I haven't had a puncture for months! and it sounds like you killed yours and have had punctures already?

on vittorias I managed to kill them so bad that the kevlar was showing and I rode for a week to work without punctures lol.
 
grudas said:
I dare to get these -;

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vittoria-zaffiro-pro-slick-tyres-twinpack/

I've got them now, light, grippy(in dry and wet-ish) a bit scary in VERY wet but then again I've managed no problems ;)

I would.. but I haven't had a puncture for months! and it sounds like you killed yours and have had punctures already?

on vittorias I managed to kill them so bad that the kevlar was showing and I rode for a week to work without punctures lol.
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To be honest I don't think I can bring myself to order some that are a "bit" slippy in wet after my experiences with gatorskins... I cycle a lot in rain and the gators slowed me down by a ridiculous amount. Are there any vitorrias that are meant to be good in wet? I'd seriously consider trying one.

I think I have indeed killed by back tyre. It's vaguely possible that I've just been unlucky these past few days but if I get another puncture on that tyre I will be replacing it. Hard to be sure exactly but I think I've done about 1.5-1.7k miles since I got the p4ends.

edit: I also like decent puncture protection as..well.. you can guess :p And 25mm.
 
FrenchTart said:
To be honest I don't think I can bring myself to order some that are a "bit" slippy in wet after my experiences with gatorskins... I cycle a lot in rain and the gators slowed me down by a ridiculous amount. Are there any vitorrias that are meant to be good in wet? I'd seriously consider trying one.

I think I have indeed killed by back tyre. It's vaguely possible that I've just been unlucky these past few days but if I get another puncture on that tyre I will be replacing it. Hard to be sure exactly but I think I've done about 1.5-1.7k miles since I got the p4ends.

edit: I also like decent puncture protection as..well.. you can guess :p And 25mm.
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it's just me! a lot of people review those and say that the grip in WET is great, then again I only had a chance to ride in VERY wet with these and maybe it just felt different with new bike and all that.. don't know I need to give them more time and more conditions to really rate them for grip, puncture protection wise they have been great.

personally I couldn't tell the difference between 23c and 25 :o
 
grudas said:
it's just me! a lot of people review those and say that the grip in WET is great, then again I only had a chance to ride in VERY wet with these and maybe it just felt different with new bike and all that.. don't know I need to give them more time and more conditions to really rate them for grip, puncture protection wise they have been great.

personally I couldn't tell the difference between 23c and 25 :o
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Maybe I'll try a vittoria out. Given the rate that I burn through tyres and all components (thankfully not spokes, yet, but I'm sure I will do soon enough) it's not like I would be stuck with it for very long if I didn't like it :p
 
FrenchTart said:
Maybe I'll try a vittoria out. Given the rate that I burn through tyres and all components (thankfully not spokes, yet, but I'm sure I will do soon enough) it's not like I would be stuck with it for very long if I didn't like it :p
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cmon.. it's only £20, how bad can it be? do it for me <3 :D
 
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