Road Cycling

FrenchTart · 6 May 2015 at 13:48

topgun06 said:
Yes not looking brilliant.

So do you cycle into work in the morning, home at lunch, in again, and then home at the end of the day???

I've got another cycle home tonight as the car is still out of action.

Yup. It's 4 miles each way but I usually try to at least extend it out to be 20 for the day. On nice days I'll go out after work too. I find going home at lunch is pretty awesome for breaking up the day and helping me focus in the afternoon.

Around here the weather is meant to get a bit better around home time. Same for you?

Roady · 6 May 2015 at 13:49

fenderbass86 said:
I had this Rose delivered last Thursday, it would've been £1991, but paid the extra £400 ish for the wheel upgrade. But they have put the price up £100+ since. I know what you mean though, some of their bikes are a bit bland and uninteresting, the good thing is you can jazz them up a bit!

That looks awesome, totally unlike most Rose's I've seen! Di2 as well... Jealous! Hope you've got the riding gear in colours to match to the bike!

Draeger said:
Solved my shifter issues by managing to pick up a used pair of Tiagra 4500 9 spd's on eBay. Going rate on there seems to be around the £50 mark for a pair. No one really has a left one on its own for sale as it is the usual one to go *pop* when they go wrong. So £55 lighter in the wallet I should be back on the road soon.

At least you could always sell the right shifter for £20-30(?) to soften the blow!

Not sure how repairable shifters are, have you disassembled it to see if you can determine what's broken?

topgun06 · 6 May 2015 at 14:10

FrenchTart said:
Yup. It's 4 miles each way but I usually try to at least extend it out to be 20 for the day. On nice days I'll go out after work too. I find going home at lunch is pretty awesome for breaking up the day and helping me focus in the afternoon.

Around here the weather is meant to get a bit better around home time. Same for you?

Nice! I've been out at lunch time quite a few times, not recently though. I found that the afternoon flew by afterwards.

Hummmm, it is better in that it forecasts "Light rain" instead of "Heavy rain" at 6pm

topgun06 · 6 May 2015 at 14:12

Roady said:
Not sure how repairable shifters are, have you disassembled it to see if you can determine what's broken?

I don't know about Shimano, I guess they are. I've had my Campagnolo shifters in pieces before to replace the springs and spring carriers. Fiddly, but perfectly self serviceable.

physichull · 6 May 2015 at 14:17

FrenchTart said:
Pretty grim lunchtime riding. Very strong headwinds on the way home and a lot of rain. Tail winds on the way back were nice but I couldn't really take advantage of it due to how wet things are.

I dodged it all on the way in but its looking ominous on the way back. The BBC weather forecast predicts it will stop in the next hour though....please!!! Was pretty windy too!

FrenchTart · 6 May 2015 at 14:21

topgun06 said:
Nice! I've been out at lunch time quite a few times, not recently though. I found that the afternoon flew by afterwards.

Hummmm, it is better in that it forecasts "Light rain" instead of "Heavy rain" at 6pm

I also find it's pretty good for saving me money - I'm far too lazy to make sandwiches the day before but making lunch whilst I'm at home works out quite well.

physichull said:
I dodged it all on the way in but its looking ominous on the way back. The BBC weather forecast predicts it will stop in the next hour though....please!!! Was pretty windy too!

Agreed. I leave at 16:00 so it'd better stop

dodg3rman · 6 May 2015 at 14:40

Bloke off my watch at work is doing the C2C at the moment (the long one Wales to Norfolk). His 2nd day today and he skirted the Brecons and has just finished for the day in Worcester (101 miles). Cant imagine how nasty the weather must have been for him though , good average of 19 mph so must have been a tailwind I guess. Tomorrow they go to Cambridge (another 100+ day) and then on Friday they are left with 60-70 to get to the finish at Lowestoft. Rather him than me in this weather

daveski · 6 May 2015 at 14:41

Wet and windy for the ride home. Someone remind me why I don't drive to work?

grudas · 6 May 2015 at 15:26

daveski said:
Wet and windy for the ride home. Someone remind me why I don't drive to work?

balls

FrenchTart · 6 May 2015 at 15:27

That's an odd reason not to drive :eek:

topgun06 · 6 May 2015 at 15:55

Frenchie: What one earth?! https://www.strava.com/routes/2286759 :eek:

FrenchTart · 6 May 2015 at 15:58

It's a possible training ride route for our 24 hour cycle in June

Will probably extend it out to be a double imperial I reckon.

topgun06 · 6 May 2015 at 16:01

I don't know about "Total draft". Its more like "Total daft"!!

James07 · 6 May 2015 at 16:08

http://app.strava.com/activities/299231432

This is amusing me to no end ha

The1nonly1 · 6 May 2015 at 16:23

I'm after a good waterproof light weight jacket that will fit in my pocket. Preferably under the £50 mark. Anyone know of a good one?

Dunks · 6 May 2015 at 17:06

daveski said:
Wet and windy for the ride home. Someone remind me why I don't drive to work?

Not looking forward to it

Should be a tail wind though for some of it.

Vonhelmet · 6 May 2015 at 17:12

Roady said:
Not sure how repairable shifters are, have you disassembled it to see if you can determine what's broken?

topgun06 said:
I don't know about Shimano, I guess they are. I've had my Campagnolo shifters in pieces before to replace the springs and spring carriers. Fiddly, but perfectly self serviceable.

Campagnolo are legendarily fixable. I believe SRAM are theoretically fixable. Shimano, not really at all. I don't think they even sell spare parts. You'd have to buy one spares/repairs and hope the same bit wasn't broken.

Roady · 6 May 2015 at 17:22

dodg3rman said:
Bloke off my watch at work is doing the C2C at the moment (the long one Wales to Norfolk). His 2nd day today and he skirted the Brecons and has just finished for the day in Worcester (101 miles). Cant imagine how nasty the weather must have been for him though , good average of 19 mph so must have been a tailwind I guess. Tomorrow they go to Cambridge (another 100+ day) and then on Friday they are left with 60-70 to get to the finish at Lowestoft. Rather him than me in this weather

I'm in Hereford so he cycled not far from me here... Weather has been hit and miss all day, bursts of sunshine along with heavy showers. Winds have picked up as the days gone on, glad I'm only cycling 4 miles home! I used to live and work around the Brecon area, the winds would have been horrific and the rain very heavy with it... Not nice!

James07 said:
http://app.strava.com/activities/299231432

This is amusing me to no end ha

Hahahaha brilliant! Although you still got a 2nd fastest on a segment! Madness!

The1nonly1 said:
I'm after a good waterproof light weight jacket that will fit in my pocket. Preferably under the £50 mark. Anyone know of a good one?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/mens/cycle/...ts/?mi=0&ma=80&omi=0&oma=310&cc=GBP&ris=1&o=2

I can vouch for the DHB EQ2.5 it's my go to jacket when commuting, not that packable but it would *just* fit in a jersey pocket. When not commuting and taking a portable rain layer I have the DHB Active but it is very boil in the bag.

One option would be a jersey which is waterproof, like the Castelli Gabba or Sportful Fiandre NoRain. But they are out of your price bracket... Personally I've got some cheapy Aldi £16 water/wind proof jerseys with removeable arms, they are ok as a jacket replacement but personally I would call a jersey with a packable layer a better option.

Waterproof arm-warmers work (got Sportful NoRain arm & legs) but unless paired with an expensive jersey/shorts they are only of limited use in heavy rain, for showers they're great (and anything heavy/persistent I put my packable on).

J273 · 6 May 2015 at 18:15

Has anyone found any decent deals on Conti GP4 2's (25's) around?

Cheapest i can find is from bike discount.de @ £58 delivered - Can anyone beat that

Ta

arknor · 6 May 2015 at 18:34

Vonhelmet said:
I do have sections of road that I've ridden sooooo many times that I'm bored senseless by them, but until someone moves the "good" bits I'll have to put up with it. I'm trying to keep myself amused by pushing a bit harder on them or just finding new routes away from home.

yea I'm the same.
the fun hills are all about 20 miles away so I usually just stick to a route following the river and keep my rides around 20-30 miles

the majority of Newcastle is pretty flat so I once rode about 25 miles just to go up a cat 4 climb and ride back straight after reaching the top lol (Pretty sure it was the nearest cat 4 too)

I was desperate for a change at that point and couldn't be doing the same route over and over every few days