Road Cycling

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PermaBanned said:
Honestly, the only difference between the 300 and the 500SE is the carbon fork. It's a bit lighter and maybe a little bit nicer to ride on, but steel is fine on an entry level bike. You can get a cheap bike and understand its shortcomings, and still have a lot of fun on it. Or you can spend a bit more (maybe £100ish) and get something with carbon forks and a full shimano groupset that might last you a bit longer, but i don't really think the 500SE is worth it.

Besides, if you really do get into it you'll probably feel the need to upgrade no matter what you get ;)
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Thank you and the others for the advice. I have decided to just go for the Triban 300 for now. It should get delivered Wednesday.

Road cycling is something that I would really love to get into now that I can afford to. Although around my way there isn't much to boast about in terms of cycling routes.
 
valkynaz said:
Thank you and the others for the advice. I have decided to just go for the Triban 300 for now. It should get delivered Wednesday.

Road cycling is something that I would really love to get into now that I can afford to. Although around my way there isn't much to boast about in terms of cycling routes.
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Whereabouts is that? I'm sure someone can point you in the right direction.
 
Vonhelmet said:
Whereabouts is that? I'm sure someone can point you in the right direction.
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Runcorn, Cheshire.

Maybe it's just me being uneducated on the area but in my home town I haven't seen any good cycling routes.

I don't drive (yet, I'm taking my lessons now) so my range is pretty limited at the moment.
 
I had a very easy run with my dad today 40 miles or so but it was full of mechanicals. Cassette ring decided to unscrew itself, cable for rear mech decided to seize up.
So i tightened up the lockring and replaced all of the cables inners and outers. Just about finished and i snagged the rear brake cable. I had to cut it as it was badly frayed. So off to get a temporary replacement tomorrow from decathlon or evans.

The above sounds bad but i am glad it happens as the above would be a pain if it happened next week in Majorca climbing the road to formentor.
 
so backup lights, now I love USB lights sooo much! and both my backup lights are USB chargeable, except the lifeline front is crap! it has this issue where the light will be charged but it will refuse to turn on until you plug into power for a second or two?!

so say if I charge it and drop it in my bag, it'll work fine for a day or two and then go into this "hissy fit" mode where it just won't turn on, so this makes me think, what is the point of having it then? if I can't literally depend on it if my main light runs out! grr..

what a waste of money.
 
valkynaz said:
Runcorn, Cheshire.

Maybe it's just me being uneducated on the area but in my home town I haven't seen any good cycling routes.

I don't drive (yet, I'm taking my lessons now) so my range is pretty limited at the moment.
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From Runcorn you want to head south on to the Cheshire Plain - there's miles and miles of relatively quiet, relatively good quality roads. I appreciate you'll need to be confident of your abilities in terms of distance and you'll need some way of finding your way around, but that's where to aim for.
 
SoliD said:
I think I'm gonna tempt knee warmers and a short sleeve underlayer for the first time this year tomorrow!
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I'm out in a long sleeved base layer, arm warmers and a short sleeves Jersey and shorts today. In probably going to get bloody hot at some point but at the moment it's pretty cold out. Don't mind a roadside strip:-)
 
Took Maxeh out to Whiteleaf yesterday on what was overall quite a nice ride. I definitely felt the difference of being 3-4KG lighter than my last ride and as you can see, many trophies.

https://www.strava.com/activities/279742585

My speed on the flat and also comfort & ability to ride relatively fast (for me in comparison) has improved loads and I can climb 'okay'. Aerobically I'm fairly fit and recover pretty quickly from high intensity efforts but my ability to continue up tough climbs is poor. As soon as lactate sets in my legs just eventually blow and begin to grind to a halt.

Second time up whiteleaf and I had to stop twice, once involving an involuntary lay down :p where as Maxeh was able to keep going. After each stop, 1-2 minutes, I could spin quite happily for another 30/40 seconds and then seize up again like an old man.

I've done plenty of powerlifting (squats, deadlifts, bench etc) and lift as a primary form of exercise and prior to this I've come from a background of very high volume leg workouts involving a fair bit of pump & lactate work but this appears to have not carried over particularly well.

I made Maxeh suffer a bit on the flat to make up for being humiliated on Whiteleaf and comfortably put some respectable distance between us, several hundred meters. :p

I've been doing HIIT once a week on the turbo, 15 minutes of short sprints with a 5 min spin up & down before/after.

I'd like to get some lactate work in but don't have a great deal more time during the week.

Would it be wiser to just spend some time at a lower cadence in a higher gear and just sustain this/suffer for 10-15 minutes?

(I don't know if it's of any help but my MHR is around 178bpm with a resting HR of very low 30's. When riding and making good progress it sits around 145bpm, on a climb it's around 155-165bpm lactate begins to set in high 160's/low170's and I'm crippled at high 170's. - I do have mild asthma which interferes slightly on Whiteleaf it seems.)
 
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RHR in the 30s is incredibly low. Ultramarathon runners I know tend to be in the low 40s. Mind your max HR is also lower than I would expect (I'm pushing 40yo and my max HR is 190).

Any way, your issue on the hills sounds like lactate threshold; you just need to learn to suffer. Strength clearly isn't an issue. Intervals will help, and I'd recommend high cadence low gear as you don't need more strength.
 
BennyC said:
Took Maxeh out to Whiteleaf yesterday on what was overall quite a nice ride. I definitely felt the difference of being 3-4KG lighter than my last ride and as you can see, many trophies.

https://www.strava.com/activities/279742585

My speed on the flat and also comfort & ability to ride relatively fast (for me in comparison) has improved loads and I can climb 'okay'. Aerobically I'm fairly fit and recover pretty quickly from high intensity efforts but my ability to continue up tough climbs is poor. As soon as lactate sets in my legs just eventually blow and begin to grind to a halt.

Second time up whiteleaf and I had to stop twice, once involving an involuntary lay down :p where as Maxeh was able to keep going. After each stop, 1-2 minutes, I could spin quite happily for another 30/40 seconds and then seize up again like an old man.

I've done plenty of powerlifting (squats, deadlifts, bench etc) and lift as a primary form of exercise and prior to this I've come from a background of very high volume leg workouts involving a fair bit of pump & lactate work but this appears to have not carried over particularly well.

I made Maxeh suffer a bit on the flat to make up for being humiliated on Whiteleaf and comfortably put some respectable distance between us, several hundred meters. :p

I've been doing HIIT once a week on the turbo, 15 minutes of short sprints with a 5 min spin up & down before/after.

I'd like to get some lactate work in but don't have a great deal more time during the week.

Would it be wiser to just spend some time at a lower cadence in a higher gear and just sustain this/suffer for 10-15 minutes?

(I don't know if it's of any help but my MHR is around 178bpm with a resting HR of very low 30's. When riding and making good progress it sits around 145bpm, on a climb it's around 155-165bpm lactate begins to set in high 160's/low170's and I'm crippled at high 170's. - I do have mild asthma which interferes slightly on Whiteleaf it seems.)
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Lots more practice at longer periods of less intense suffering will definitely help but probably the main thing you need to improve at is pacing yourself (based on what you've said). Don't hit the climbs so hard at the start and you'll find you're able to keep going for longer, leading to a faster average speed going up them.

Turbo work will help a lot, especially if you do low cadence threshold/sweet spot efforts.
 
Asprilla said:
RHR in the 30s is incredibly low. Ultramarathon runners I know tend to be in the low 40s. Mind your max HR is also lower than I would expect (I'm pushing 40yo and my max HR is 190).
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Yep, considering until I started cycling in December my aerobic work was non-existent except for HIIT for short periods for a few months of the year, but challenging lifting throughout.

Lying down in bed:
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Duration of that nights sleep:
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No matter how hard I push or for how long I just can't break 180bpm :/

Any way, your issue on the hills sounds like lactate threshold; you just need to learn to suffer. Strength clearly isn't an issue. Intervals will help, and I'd recommend high cadence low gear as you don't need more strength.
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Thanks.

FrenchTart said:
Lots more practice at longer periods of less intense suffering will definitely help but probably the main thing you need to improve at is pacing yourself (based on what you've said). Don't hit the climbs so hard at the start and you'll find you're able to keep going for longer, leading to a faster average speed going up them.
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On reflection I probably do wade in to Whiteleaf a bit hastily, but not any other climbs on the route :confused:, perhaps it's an anxiety thing :p

Plenty of suffering coming my way then...

Isle of Wight Randonnee in May too :)
 
When I was training for IM my max HR came way down to like low 180s. I was constantly doing long z2-z3 stuff. Then when I did go for high intensity it just didn't go all that high. After concentrating just on cycling this year I can get it up to 195, just because I'm doing loads of high intensity stuff. Resting still remains 35-40 depending.

Off to gravesend for a Crit today. Getting the train there and will ride back if I feel ok. Totally overdressed for the ride to the station, it's gorgeous out!
 
sHo0sH said:
I'm out in a long sleeved base layer, arm warmers and a short sleeves Jersey and shorts today. In probably going to get bloody hot at some point but at the moment it's pretty cold out. Don't mind a roadside strip:-)
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****ging it up at the roadside is a favourite pastime of mine too! :eek::rolleyes:

BennyC said:
My speed on the flat and also comfort & ability to ride relatively fast (for me in comparison) has improved loads and I can climb 'okay'. Aerobically I'm fairly fit and recover pretty quickly from high intensity efforts but my ability to continue up tough climbs is poor. As soon as lactate sets in my legs just eventually blow and begin to grind to a halt.
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Your other training has obviously helped your strength, as tart mentioned it's your ability to 'suffer' you need to work on. I'm slightly similar although I'm coming from short commute riding where I can quite happily hammer it - any long distance riding/hills really kick my ass. I actually climb hills better when I'm tired (10-20 miles in my legs) as I pace myself before even starting climbing. Rested I 'attack' hills which normally means backing off/suffering and needing to pace myself long before the top - trying to recover while still climbing is something I'm struggling with but getting better at - I try and climb hills now by watching my cadence (85-95) and trying to keep my HR below 160. Before I'd attack at 95+ cadence and have to back off with my HR around 180+ which obviously takes a bit of recovering from (when not that fit) ;)

My commutes my HR is usually between 160-170 with my 'recovery' rides (1 a week, or when tired) with my HR around 145-155, I can't seem to ride with it much lower. My resting HR is around 40-45 and I'm regularly 100+ bpm before even a pedal stroke! :rolleyes:

Vonhelmet said:
Morning all. I hope you're all having more fun than me. I'm lost in the middle of nowhere in the fog. Bang goes that metric century.
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Thomas. PLease. said:
When I was training for IM my max HR came way down to like low 180s. I was constantly doing long z2-z3 stuff. Then when I did go for high intensity it just didn't go all that high. After concentrating just on cycling this year I can get it up to 195, just because I'm doing loads of high intensity stuff. Resting still remains 35-40 depending.

Off to gravesend for a Crit today. Getting the train there and will ride back if I feel ok. Totally overdressed for the ride to the station, it's gorgeous out!
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Good luck! Enjoy the weather!

I'm just plotting a route here before heading out, aiming at 30-35 miles with only a bit of climbing, did some hill repeats friday and my legs are not fully rested from snowboarding yesterday...
 
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