Road Cycling

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Does anybody have any recommendations for a 25-40 minute midweek spin session?

I've currently been doing some speed/lactate work lasting 25 minutes including a 5 minute warm up and warm down in gears 10-14 around 85-90 cadence followed by 15 minutes of 3 work/rest intervals:

Gear 16 - 4 minutes (80% MHR)
--Gear 14 - 1 minute
Gear 17 - 4 minutes (86% MHR)
--Gear 15 - 1 minute
Gear 18 - 4 minutes (92% MHR)
--Gear 16 - 1 minute

Keeping cadence around a steady 80/as high as I can without blowing.

I feel I could benefit from improved pedaling technique so would quite like to work on this if anyone has any suggestions? I do push/pull and use my hips/hamstrings/calves/quads but usually find as one or two areas begin to tire the others pick up to allow for recovery and then vica versa. So if I could use them all in unicen that would be great :)

https://www.strava.com/activities/303097805
 
For improved peddling technique, have you set your bike up correctly? If your seat height and/or position is wrong it will encourage bad form and lead to injury.

Also, what kind of turbo trainer do you have? If possible I'd get Trainer Road and start using power-based workouts rather than HR-based ones. There are lots of instructional workouts included in TR that help you improve your peddling technique too. The Elements of Style Sufferfest video is also great for that iirc.
 
Thomas. PLease. said:
Raced in an E123 Crit last night, was expecting to get dropped like a stone as there were a bunch of PedalHeaven and Nuun Sigma Sport guys there, but was able to handle the pace fine, until I got a puncture after 10 miles.

Very frustrating, not having much luck atm.

Thinking of trying to swap out my carbon tubs for some clinchers now, as its becoming a massive pain in the a
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I saw that on Strava, what tubs are you using? I heard the Continentals are a bit more puncture resistant than Vittorias..
 
James07 said:
First KOM today, two lads at work set a segment from work to my house and then beat me for a bit of friendly fun, today I beat them!

Hard work but seriously chuffed to beat them! The seg is 9.7 mile long climbing 942ft!

http://app.strava.com/activities/303498327
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nice!

I got one too! was aiming to go from 2nd to 1st on that!

http://app.strava.com/segments/6509378?filter=overall

the funny thing is that the guy under me just got it two days ago !! haha bet he's looking at the "uhoh somone took your KOM" message now.
 
Berger said:
I saw that on Strava, what tubs are you using? I heard the Continentals are a bit more puncture resistant than Vittorias..
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Using 25mm Vittoria Corsa Evo CX, may go back to conti sprinters or competitions. Need to run sealant as well in the future, as it was just a slow puncture, so probably would have been fine with sealant.

Put Co2 in which was enough to ride home on, but its dead flat again now.
 
FrenchTart said:
For improved peddling technique, have you set your bike up correctly? If your seat height and/or position is wrong it will encourage bad form and lead to injury.
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I haven't had a professional fit but have used online guides and haven't had to adjust anything since I finalised my initial positions. Riding without issue/pain/grief. You're right getting this optimised would help and is on my to do list.

Also, what kind of turbo trainer do you have? If possible I'd get Trainer Road and start using power-based workouts rather than HR-based ones. There are lots of instructional workouts included in TR that help you improve your peddling technique too. The Elements of Style Sufferfest video is also great for that iirc.
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Just a CycleOps magnetic one, pretty basic but serving me well.

I'd seen TrainerRoad before so will take a look at it today. $99 is roughly £60-65 a year so little over £1 week which seems quite good value if it's rated highly?

If you can minimise the variables (tyre pressure and rear wheel crank against the turbo) then it looks to be fairly accurate & reliable too.:)
 
grudas said:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/100-...s-for-women-man-sport-cycling/1771326497.html

seem to be the ones! :) good reviews over-all tbh
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Great, thanks! Ordering now and maybe they'll be here for my holiday in 3 weeks...!

Vonhelmet said:
Hmm, it seems not. Not unless you PayPal me the money and then I pay it in myself! PayPal fees are prohibitive, I think. Bt make a big deal of how all the money donated goes to charity, while PayPal rinse you for fees
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FrenchTart said:
Tried to donate but the site is being dodgy about my card, sigh.
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I've had that problem with the BT donate before - hence me not wanting to use my card with it again! I'll happily Bank Transfer you some funds if you want to avoid PayPal Pete?

lordrobs said:
Been pretty slack with my riding recently but my body has decided to reward me by making my short ride (10 - 16 miles or so) average speed just tip over 19 mph without too much effort. Which is nice.

Not sure how much of that is riding with fresh legs or the bit of extra saddle height I'm riding with now.

Edit - Doesn't feel like that long ago I was celebrating being able to maintain 15 mph over 12 miles :o
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'It never gets any easier, you just go faster!'

platypus said:
I can ask the boss to see if she can get a set of frames only from somewhere?
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Staff discount? :o

How's this for a ride guys, check that average and the KOM haul! - Christian Knees - Tour of CA Stage 3, Sky drove the peleton to catch some early breakaways but couldn't catch Tom Skujins who soloed to victory.

Easy-ish ride in this morning, legs feel fine but my right achilles is quite painful now. Was fine when riding and I've had it similar before, fingers crossed it clears up today. Can cleat position cause this as I'm occasionally getting a numb couple of toes on my right foot after over an hours riding...?

Cleaned my bike last night, changed chain & serviced. Think my 'click' is sorted as my left pedal arm wasn't as tight as it could have been - seems ok this morning! Any tips on how to tighten it enough? It's listed as 25 nM or something crazy, my basic torq only goes up to 13! I've got it as tight as physically possible with my allen keys without using a bar or something...? :o

Chain changed from the standard KMC X11L to the SRAM X1 11, which seems great so far! Loads smoother so we'll see how it behaves. It's sorted my slightly 'rough' shifting I've experienced the last few weeks. Looks great too as the inner links are black with the outers being silver :)
 
platypus said:
I've got a set of Shimano RS80 C24s for sale if you're/anyones interested.
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Pretty sure they'll not be as cheap as the khamsin's, bit of a low spoke count for what I'm after too...

grudas said:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/campagnolo-khamsin-asymmetric-g3-wheelset/

is what I'd recommend! :) had them for like 6-7k miles now? and not a single spoke went poof, they're still as true as day 1, still spin like nothing else and the only reason I try to use them less is because the braking surface is getting to a point where it's going to pop soon haha :o
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Your recommendation matters a lot to me mate, although I'm cautious of the low spoke count and they're not exactly a 'wide' rim...? How have you found the comfort? I assume running 25mm's with no issue?

I'm thinking anything will be better than my Giants at the moment so the miles you've clocked up without any issues are a huge plus point. I won't be doing as high miles although the road conditions here will be worse than where you are! :o

grudas said:
nice!

I got one too! was aiming to go from 2nd to 1st on that!

http://app.strava.com/segments/6509378?filter=overall

the funny thing is that the guy under me just got it two days ago !! haha bet he's looking at the "uhoh somone took your KOM" message now.
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You smashed his average speed too! Tell Laimis to man up and get faster! :D
 
I continued my full service on my winter bike last night.

I've replaced the chainrings, removed and fully cleaned the derailleurs. Looking much better now.

The headset was shot. The trouble is that the outside of the bearing corrodes to the headset cup, and the inside of the bearing corrodes to the steerer tube. So when I remove the forks it destroys the seals and tears the bearing to pieces. So I've had to prise that out/off with a screwdriver. I think the anti seize paste I used last time helped a lot with removing them. I'm not too impressed that I have had to change the bearing after each winter... although I do not have mudguards...

I'll be wanting a new front fork soon. The front calliper bolt had pretty much seized into the fork. I struggled to get it out. The area surrounding the calliper doesn't look too brilliant. Its bubbling up and the paint is flaking off. :confused:

Anyway, it's just a case of rebuilding everything now with new cables, tape etc.
 
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Roady said:
Your recommendation matters a lot to me mate, although I'm cautious of the low spoke count and they're not exactly a 'wide' rim...? How have you found the comfort? I assume running 25mm's with no issue?

I'm thinking anything will be better than my Giants at the moment so the miles you've clocked up without any issues are a huge plus point. I won't be doing as high miles although the road conditions here will be worse than where you are! :o



You smashed his average speed too! Tell Laimis to man up and get faster! :D
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you're right, anything will be better than the stock wheels :) from my point of view I couldn't tell much difference comfort wise compared to r500's which I believe is the old version of "rs11" - those were poop and started popping spokes after 1k miles! hub was shot too after 2.4k which is when I went with campies!

I rode them with all kids of tyres, 23c, 25c and now 28c on my single speed(front only) and they have been fine! they're not the stiffest and they do flex but that's fine! the fact is that they're the strongest wheels I've had, the highest mileage and the best bang for buck! even my current set on my carbon which used to retail at around £200 popped a spoke after 3.7k ! - which is far from bad on that note.

I wouldn't worry about spoke count :) 20/24 is pretty normal these days! an trust me I've banged them through some hard potholes!

haha yeah, I did tell my brother to man up and get at least to a 2nd place ;) he's been riding that road for way longer than I have!
 
Thomas. PLease. said:
Using 25mm Vittoria Corsa Evo CX, may go back to conti sprinters or competitions. Need to run sealant as well in the future, as it was just a slow puncture, so probably would have been fine with sealant.

Put Co2 in which was enough to ride home on, but its dead flat again now.
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I noticed mine cut up easy on glass but wear ok on asphalt. I'd avoid riding them in the rain or in the gutter!

I'd put Conti Comps on my new tubs when they turn up if I didn't have two Vittorias. Vittorias are $35 cheaper though...
 
Berger said:
I noticed mine cut up easy on glass but wear ok on asphalt. I'd avoid riding them in the rain or in the gutter!

I'd put Conti Comps on my new tubs when they turn up if I didn't have two Vittorias. Vittorias are $35 cheaper though...
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Yeah, Conti's are way more expensive. That said, thinking about it now, that's the third Vittoria tub I've punctured, compared to nil Conti's *touch wood*
 
grudas said:
haha yeah, I did tell my brother to man up and get at least to a 2nd place ;) he's been riding that road for way longer than I have!
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Slow SS riders hey ;)

Thomas. PLease. said:
Yeah, Conti's are way more expensive. That said, thinking about it now, that's the third Vittoria tub I've punctured, compared to nil Conti's *touch wood*
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You've not had much luck with punctures recently! Same wheels? Fairly sure there's no dink/rough edge on the rim which might be damaging them or have you found a hole on the rolling surface?
 
Just your luck sometimes! Had a guy get a puncture a month on Conti Competitions for 3 months.

A few of the fast guys round here just use the Gatorskin sprinter tubs all the time and No punctures to report. One guy is on a second set once he wore out the first set.
 
Nice work on the speeds :)

Bit more of a measured pace for me after work today. Worked out at about 18.5 over just under 40 miles. Was hoping for more but I had a bit of a blood sugar crash about 25 miles in and had to quickly buy some food to keep me going :/
 
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