Road Cycling

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Trip out to Llangollen today via Prospect Tea Rooms. Windy with some showers on the way out but weather cleared to give some great views once finished climbing up to the café. It's a long steady drag with the worst bit the actual drive up to café once you turn off the road.

Weather got rather more 'interesting' after that, nasty crosswinds trying to blow us off the top of the hills then the scary drop into Llangollen which coincided with the forecast heavy rain arriving with a vengeance :rolleyes: not a pleasant experience with 60 miles left to get back home. It did eventually clear up and we got some decent miles with the wind behind us on smooth roads before reverting to some pretty awful country lanes, potholes everywhere and mud/cow poop thrown in for good measure.

https://www.strava.com/activities/528414115

Then my Garmin 1000 died after our second short café stop - had dropped to 20% battery so I'd charged it up to about 30% or so but once disconnected it switched itself off, came back on with the screen all faded and wouldn't come back to life at all. Even once I got it home it took ages before I could get it to respond, and then it was with half the text missing off the screen, battery value shown up reversed and all sorts like that. It's finally alive again now but has reset itself and lost everything stored on it :mad: :mad:

Overall have managed to get 3 decent long rides in this weekend with a century to finish off and a stage 1.5 cold. Legs didn't quite die today so can't complain too much.
 
PermaBanned said:
It's mainly personal preference, which is hard as you can't really try them out without buying into an entire system. That said, I don't really see much point in getting anything more than entry level pedals. The difference in weight will be pretty minimal, and the weight savings often just mean they're not going to last as long.
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Thanks.

I see such small weight savings on particularly expensive components compared to their lesser equivalents. Cumulatively these all add up but for the majority of us the cost/benefit I see being better spent elsewhere on more appreciable areas. E.g. 100g saved on Dura Ace pedals and carbon bars over Ultegra pedals and upgrade Alu bars, I'd rather a comfier set of shoes, saddle or clothing.

I'll shoot for the Ultegra as a middle ground :)

Roady said:
I think your final comment is probably why I think it's a good thing... It will really put into perspective (for a lot of the gym rat kinda sheep who probably diss cycling) just how hard high mileage and just how much suffering something like that takes. At the end of the day he's a tough guy and I'll be surprised if he doesn't complete it, equally he's more muscle than cardio and I think he'll really struggle. He's not exactly aero or got much time to shift weight in preparation...
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Having got in to Road Cycling as a former Gym Rat myself I can appreciate how much of a harder discipline it is and I had some respectable lifts for my weight/age.

I don't think Joe Public will every really appreciate it without experiencing it to some extent themselves but if it's positive publicity then I don't see any harm, except to him :p
 
xdcx said:
otherwise you are big ringing out the saddle at 400+ watts.
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If you're struggling to view your Garmin then you're not pushing hard enough!(tm) grudas
madindehead said:
Sorry, I should have clarified what I meant. Viewing the data is perfectly ok. But viewing the route on the map was hard. Not impossible, but a bit tricky at times. It's a purple line for where you're going, on a horrible map colour. Was just a bit weird, as I was going on new routes.
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Totally agree with you, colours are strange on the 810 and I half want to see what the Black/White/Monochrome mapping looks like on the lesser models. The mapping and navigation is poor in comparison to even a £60 car sat nav but it's all we've got... You'll get used to the Garmin mapping and colours, it just takes some practice!

Talkytoaster maps ftw. I've not tried the ones you mentioned (not heard of them before) but I think most of us on here are on talkytoaster? (they're OSM so probably very similar). ;)
SoliD said:
Wouldn't normally use them but for an Easter Sunday where else are you going to go at 4.30.
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I think this is it, majority of the times I've used them is when I couldn't get somewhere else due to opening times. Although certain things Halfords seem to stock certain maintenance bits at prices lower than anywhere else, Threadloc being one of them.
tl45 said:
https://www.strava.com/activities/528414115

Then my Garmin 1000 died after our second short café stop - had dropped to 20% battery so I'd charged it up to about 30% or so but once disconnected it switched itself off, came back on with the screen all faded and wouldn't come back to life at all. Even once I got it home it took ages before I could get it to respond, and then it was with half the text missing off the screen, battery value shown up reversed and all sorts like that. It's finally alive again now but has reset itself and lost everything stored on it :mad: :mad:
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Some great riding there! Beautiful part of the world!

Worth drying out the Garmin as I bet it's water/moisture related...
BennyC said:
Having got in to Road Cycling as a former Gym Rat myself I can appreciate how much of a harder discipline it is and I had some respectable lifts for my weight/age.

I don't think Joe Public will every really appreciate it without experiencing it to some extent themselves but if it's positive publicity then I don't see any harm, except to him :p
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To be honest my wording was a little off - I'd intended to mean the 'joe public gym type' not the Gym guys on here... I just hope they do more than a '20 minute' feature of just highlights, it needs some kinda video blog of his that includes some training, some of the riding and planning with some followup reflection/recovery kinda feedback. Maybe I'm just expecting too much of Dan! Although it would be good to see him suffer! ;)
 
Roady said:
Fairly normal price for them, basically if you can find them on a deal for £30 you're doing well. Same with the GP2000Sii's. Last set I got was a double pack from Rose for £59, although I did have to wait a couple of weeks for them to come in stock & arrive.
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I got a pair of GP4000Sii for £43 the other week from Sportpursuit when they were doing 20% off. They have 20% off again this weekend... not sure if they still have the Contis though.

Edit: they've got the 4 seasons and the GP4000Sii for £59.99 per pair + you can use the 20% off discount code. Only today remaining. http://www.sportpursuit.com/catalog/product/view/id/730279
 
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Lethal` said:
I got a pair of GP4000Sii for £43 the other week from Sportpursuit when they were doing 20% off. They have 20% off again this weekend... not sure if they still have the Contis though.

Edit: they've got the 4 seasons and the GP4000Sii for £59.99 per pair + you can use the 20% off discount code. Only today remaining. http://www.sportpursuit.com/catalog/product/view/id/730279
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What's the 20% off code? And is their return policy decent?
 
madindehead said:
Just the handle bars :p:p The rest will be fine.

Even the pros don't use carbon handlebars (yes yes, weight limit) but they do prefer metal ones because they don't snap in a crash ;)
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The fella that causes the crash that snaps my bars will be the same fella reported murdered in the news. Death by carbon stab.
 
I'll be swapping cassettes between wheels later in the week. Other than the correct lock ring removal tool and a chain whip is there anything else I need?

I think my LBS put a little red grease on the cassette spindle last time so presumably this is advisable? If so which would be suitable from Wiggle? (I have copper grease but don't think its ideal).

Potentially stupid question with an obvious answer :p ...but can the lock ring removal tool can also be used for securing the lock ring with a socket/torque wrench?
 
BennyC said:
Potentially stupid question with an obvious answer :p ...but can the lock ring removal tool can also be used for securing the lock ring with a socket/torque wrench?
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Yes, just turn it the other way :p
 
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BennyC said:
red grease
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red grease is a lubricant, copper grease is anti-sieze. Copper grease is useful for things like pedal/creank interface, where you want to be able to remove it at some point in the future but not lubricate it! I also found copper grease was useful on the back of my old disc-brake pads (TRP spyres), as it stopped the shuddering.

Cassette spindles don't need/want to be lubricated, just put on a bit of the copper-grease, if anything at all.
 
xdcx said:
These will be with me tomorrow - http://www.wiggle.co.uk/fizik-cyrano-r1-carbon-road-handlebar/?sku=5360605612

Plus the seatpost.
Plus the bar tape.
Plus the matching stem that I won on eBay for £40.

Will I float up hills and then snap all my finishing kit in the sprint? :p
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Nice. I wasn't going to bother with carbon bars for my new build but got a cheap deal on some new FSA K Force. I've been impressed with them, ridiculously stiff but seem to absorb a lot of the road buzz which is nice (considering I had the same wheels and bar tape on the last bike I'm giving credit to the bars :p ).
 
Roady said:
Some great riding there! Beautiful part of the world!

Worth drying out the Garmin as I bet it's water/moisture related...
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The views were pretty good - from Prospect you can see right across the Cheshire plains, then over the hill onto Panorama View it's quite breathtaking too even with the hills merging into rain clouds.

The Garmin got a session in front of a heater, may have helped it come back to life but firing it up again this morning it beeped, showed a corrupted screen and is now dead again. It got wet yesterday, same as everyone else's on the ride but obviously it should be robust enough to still work.

My experience now after a few months of ownership of the Edge 1000 isn't positive - the touch screen especially is a massive step backward imho, it gets triggered by either rain or sweat dripping on I, which often causes it to bring up one of the screen set-up fields and then decides to lock itself so you can't get back to the screen you were on :mad: To stop this you have to lock it yourself and lose the ability to look at different screens during your ride. All the fancy wifi and Bluetooth features you leave turned off to maintain battery life on long rides. Mine was a Christmas present to replace my 800 which had stopped communicating via the USB port, after a ride where it got particularly wet. I see a rather frustrating pattern here.

And while Garmin support is apparently open today it's taking them at least an hour to answer the phone, on my second try now :rolleyes:
 
tl45 said:
The views were pretty good - from Prospect you can see right across the Cheshire plains, then over the hill onto Panorama View it's quite breathtaking too even with the hills merging into rain clouds.

The Garmin got a session in front of a heater, may have helped it come back to life but firing it up again this morning it beeped, showed a corrupted screen and is now dead again. It got wet yesterday, same as everyone else's on the ride but obviously it should be robust enough to still work.

My experience now after a few months of ownership of the Edge 1000 isn't positive - the touch screen especially is a massive step backward imho, it gets triggered by either rain or sweat dripping on I, which often causes it to bring up one of the screen set-up fields and then decides to lock itself so you can't get back to the screen you were on :mad: To stop this you have to lock it yourself and lose the ability to look at different screens during your ride. All the fancy wifi and Bluetooth features you leave turned off to maintain battery life on long rides. Mine was a Christmas present to replace my 800 which had stopped communicating via the USB port, after a ride where it got particularly wet. I see a rather frustrating pattern here.

And while Garmin support is apparently open today it's taking them at least an hour to answer the phone, on my second try now :rolleyes:
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That's a real shame, and just not acceptable to be honest given how much it costs. And it's the flagship product.

This is why I'm glad that Wahoo has at least launched a potential challenger. I like my 800 (except the maps as I was complaining earlier), but I want some of the 1000 features. Maybe the 25 (but having maps is convenient)
 
So, went out for a nice little ride this afternoon!

Incredibly windy! Some mighty headwinds at times, and some severe side gusts. Still managed a fairly respectable 27 km/h average speed.

This segment however is the biggest ego boost I think! 8th overall (2nd in my age group) and I didn't even know it was a segment! Only 8 seconds off the top spot! :D

Having done that ride, I've decided that wheels that are comfy are the most important thing around here. The road surfaces are pretty awful. The Ambrosio Nemesis tub rims, or the Excellight SSC clincher rims are looking VERY promising right now! Comfort over anything!
 
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