Road Cycling

Vonhelmet · 19 Sep 2015 at 23:05

wez130 said:
I should hope not, I'm in the lakes and very rarely use my small ring! Only for the steepest (12%+) inclines. I always try and stay on the big ring.

Great for macho bragging but take care of your knees.

FrenchTart · 19 Sep 2015 at 23:23

Indeed. If you can drop down and maintain a more reasonable cadence then it is silly not to.

FrenchTart · 20 Sep 2015 at 08:46

Off for an easy 50/60 miler with a friend today. His cycling is really improving though so it won't be quite as relaxed a ride as last time he came out.

SDK^ · 20 Sep 2015 at 12:17

This morning I achieved a new 2 hour power PR : 250w

https://www.strava.com/activities/396117383/

Lethal` · 20 Sep 2015 at 12:26

Roady said:
Glad to hear it seems ok! Have you had the handlebar mount? Should be with you!

Yep - mentioned that somewhere above

All good - cheers! Gave it a test on some MTB ride yesterday.

To cycle or not to cycle today.. Clipless failed while mountain biking yesterday and knee landed on a rock.. can certainly feel it this morning

uv · 20 Sep 2015 at 12:32

crank/cassette ratios.. do I go with the bog standard 50/34 and 11/28, or do I go for something more exotic like 52/36 and 11/32?

wider range vs larger ratio jumps..

SDK^ · 20 Sep 2015 at 12:40

50/34 unless you're Pro cycling fit

Jono · 20 Sep 2015 at 12:55

I'm going 50/34 11-28 to 50/34 11-32.

I don't know if it's worth it but I"m sure I could feel a difference between 12-27 and 11-28. Maybe I just got fitter. I just could do with a bit more spinning power on hills

SDK^ · 20 Sep 2015 at 13:06

I use an 11-32 cassette with a long cage rear derailleur on rides with lots of steep long climbs. Grinding up is no fun.

On the flip side, I go with a 12-25 on flatter rides

physichull · 20 Sep 2015 at 13:29

Went out again for another 70km but with a few more hills in. Second time up Irvington and had forgotten that it wasn't actually that bad. I can definitely take more time out of it once I get to know it more.

Was pretty tired after yesterday's ride and my mate set off at a brisk pace, especially on the long drags up to Irvington, ended up pb'ing pretty much every segment on the way as a consequence.

Saw the aftermath of a nasty little incident at the bottom of the climb near Irvington Village Green Tea rooms on the way back with a cyclist laid out flat in the middle of the road not moving with a blanket over him, two cars parks around him. Not sure if they hit him or he just fell off. Went for a cake at the Great Barn and on the way back there was an ambulance and police. Looked very serious, hope the poor guy is OK because he was not moving.

Vonhelmet · 20 Sep 2015 at 13:46

Jono said:
I'm going 50/34 11-28 to 50/34 11-32.

I don't know if it's worth it but I"m sure I could feel a difference between 12-27 and 11-28. Maybe I just got fitter. I just could do with a bit more spinning power on hills

I think I might move to 11 speed on my better bike and move my ten speed kit over to my winter bike which currently has 8 speed. If I move to 11 speed I'll go 11-32, which will basically give me the 11-28 that I currently use plus a proper bailout/long hilly ride 32t.

Vonhelmet · 20 Sep 2015 at 13:48

physichull said:
Went out again for another 70km but with a few more hills in. Second time up Irvington and had forgotten that it wasn't actually that bad. I can definitely take more time out of it once I get to know it more.

Was pretty tired after yesterday's ride and my mate set off at a brisk pace, especially on the long drags up to Irvington, ended up pb'ing pretty much every segment on the way as a consequence.

Saw the aftermath of a nasty little incident at the bottom of the climb near Irvington Village Green Tea rooms on the way back with a cyclist laid out flat in the middle of the road not moving with a blanket over him, two cars parks around him. Not sure if they hit him or he just fell off. Went for a cake at the Great Barn and on the way back there was an ambulance and police. Looked very serious, hope the poor guy is OK because he was not moving.

That sucks. It can be a dodgy descent as you're going very quick at the bottom and if the cattle grid doesn't get you (I've seen guys laid out up there) then cars coming uphill on the blind bends can.

The worst bit of rivi is the straight drag up to the tree. The rest is manageable.

SoliD · 20 Sep 2015 at 14:30

Lovely little club run this morning, although left my house into the most ridiculous fog! Could barely see more than 10m! yet up the first climb was blue skies, then back down into the gloom.Didn't really get going until about 20 miles in! But felt like I bonked about 5 miles from home, Going to enjoy an afternoon on the sofa.

Point in this post was that I required a light, which made me very sad! Some pictures

https://www.strava.com/activities/396165663

physichull · 20 Sep 2015 at 14:45

Vonhelmet said:
That sucks. It can be a dodgy descent as you're going very quick at the bottom and if the cattle grid doesn't get you (I've seen guys laid out up there) then cars coming uphill on the blind bends can.

The worst bit of rivi is the straight drag up to the tree. The rest is manageable.

It was on a blind bend right next to the Village Green tearoom. A grim sight but not sure of how it actually happened. The road tightens so maybe he hit a car. I'm guessing

Vonhelmet · 20 Sep 2015 at 15:26

I nearly got nailed by a Ferrari of all things on the last bend at the bottom one time.

FrenchTart · 20 Sep 2015 at 16:25

Strava or Garmin Connect seems to be playing up - my ride doesn't want to feed through to Strava. Most of it was pretty slow but I went for a PR on one of the short climbs and would like to know how I did.

SoliD · 20 Sep 2015 at 16:27

FrenchTart said:
Strava or Garmin Connect seems to be playing up - my ride doesn't want to feed through to Strava. Most of it was pretty slow but I went for a PR on one of the short climbs and would like to know how I did.

Strava were doing maintenance earlier today, could be related.

FrenchTart · 20 Sep 2015 at 16:34

Sounds feasible. I may try manually uploading the .fit file f I get particularly bored later on

Phil99 · 20 Sep 2015 at 16:39

uv said:
So I'm buying a Di2 Ultegra groupset in individual pieces as it works out cheaper due to wanting hydraulic discs. Can anyone confirm that I've listed everything I need?

Ta!

Bleed kit for the hydraulics if you're setting it up yourself and you don't already have a shimano kit.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-sm-disc-br-m575-disc-brake-bleeding-kit/

plus you may want a syringe to do a bottom-up bleed, a top-down mavity bleed can be a bit of a pain so I also found the following useful:

http://www.epicbleedsolutions.com/products/bleed-kits/shimano/complete-kit/

physichull · 20 Sep 2015 at 17:51

FrenchTart said:
Strava or Garmin Connect seems to be playing up - my ride doesn't want to feed through to Strava. Most of it was pretty slow but I went for a PR on one of the short climbs and would like to know how I did.

I get this occasionally. Strava is still going slowly. This maintenance has been going on all day....at least it's still playing up with me.