Road Cycling

Shamrock said:
You should start racing! I'm considering joining a club to try my hand at it later this year but it depends on whether I get a London marathon entry and become a #runner again.

I was thinking Paceline RT but based on riding with Thom once I don't think I'm fast enough!:o
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More than welcome to join, but realistically unless you're committed to racing you're not going to get the best out of it. I.e. you probably need to be able to be doing >5k miles a year to be in with a shout of getting through 4th cat racing, and to be able to get onto the road where I'd imagine your lack of weight would put you in a fairly good position. But like I say you probably need to commit, so that you can actually improve enough to enjoy it, otherwise you may well just end up grovelling around on club runs and never really getting anyway.
 
Shamrock said:
You should start racing! I'm considering joining a club to try my hand at it later this year but it depends on whether I get a London marathon entry and become a #runner again.

I was thinking Paceline RT but based on riding with Thom once I don't think I'm fast enough!:o
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Find a local club with a large social aspect. There will be members who compete or that ride with the faster groups that can get you informed.

Never hurts to try a local crit on a simple circuit. Having tried it myself this season (1 road race and 4 or 5 crits) it's more than just riding fast or absolute power - racecraft, tactics, skill and a bit of luck all come in to play. I did get a buzz from it and pick up a few points but it was never something I wanted to actively pursue (with a view to TT) nor deemed the risk/reward acceptable. I am competative but I enjoy being able to ride my bike rather than sit out due to injury due to someone being reckless during a non-career-defining moment.

You can always try racing on Zwift but it's not quite the same ;)
 
Lethal` said:
Pretty much my perspective on it too.
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As it happens the races I missed from the crit series all had crashes, the road race I took part in had 5 (1 of which requiring and ambulance to A&E and the other I witnessed happen right in front of me and narrowly avoided) and even our club's first RR had a crash on the final lap in the sprint from someone trying to be a hero.

For me it adds an unacceptable level of risk to what should be an enjoyable hobby, with plenty of longevity. Cycling shouldn't be an impact exercise :p I would much rather ride fast in a small bunch on safe roads or throw in some 1 vs 1 sprints, break away from a chain gang etc to add an element of competition and excitement. Rather than hurtle round at 30mph on a course with 60 other riders, few of which have bothered to recon, squeezed into one lane (with live traffic in the other) with a lot less than me to lose!
 
Hard night tonight!

Pedalled home from work with the local strava king and my boss. Left me on the front and then 'attacked' me as I slowed up a climb.

Flying visit home then out to meet a busy chaingang group. Fast group, two abreast until the climb you hammer it up and wait at the top. First to the top as I'd expect being under a minute effort.

Swung off at a roundabout and waited on the Bundy coming along. Hard shift along with them, up the big hill and held on all the way round. Legs well and truly ripped off!
 
Thomas. PLease. said:
More than welcome to join, but realistically unless you're committed to racing you're not going to get the best out of it.
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I'm on 4400mi already and I spent the first 3 months running!:p But yeah, I think if I signed up, commitment to racing wouldn't be an issue. The problem is committing to the commitment!:D

On the commute this morning I asked a guy on a brakeless fixie where his front brake was, he didn't find it funny.
 
BennyC said:
You can always try racing on Zwift but it's not quite the same ;)
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Of course it is! That's why I'm a pro! lol ;)

BennyC said:
with a lot less than me to lose!
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I think this is it, certainly from some of the stories I've heard! My kit/bikes are too valuable to me for the crazy risk racing sounds to be, it also really sounds like a young mans game! Although I have thought that owning a fairly good/light alu frame I could try it if I really wanted... But I bruise easily as I'm a big girl! :o

Jonny ///M said:
Legs well and truly ripped off!
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Good riding buddy!

Shamrock said:
On the commute this morning I asked a guy on a brakeless fixie where his front brake was, he didn't find it funny.
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Lol, good work! :D Watched the GCN commuter thingy last night when they're in Berlin on Fixies. Looks quite fun! :o

inb4 tried a fixie & broke myself ;)
 
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Very disappointed in the lack of effort some of you guys have put into your slacking.

1,183.6 mi for the year! :cool: ;)

And that's without delving into how incredibly slow they've all been.
 
tedmaul said:
Very disappointed in the lack of effort some of you guys have put into your slacking.
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I'm currently under 2/3 of my 5year average miles-to-date:
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tedmaul said:
Very disappointed in the lack of effort some of you guys have put into your slacking.

1,183.6 mi for the year! :cool: ;)

And that's without delving into how incredibly slow they've all been.
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Nice work :cool:

I've gone something like 10k miles, 8k miles, 6k miles for the past three years. Probably on track for 5-6k again this year. You're right - I need to slack more.
 
Apparently I've done ~2681* miles this year so far, including commutes (and their extended routes back home) since ~Feb, pretty close to a guesstimate of my maximum annual commuting miles since my Xmas 2013 RTA (only joined Strava last September, so they didn't happen ;) ).

* Total may include some duplicate miles where I recorded same trip on on tablet and smartwatch, maybe ~100 miles.
 
I'm way down on previous years (3700 compared to 4700 last few years), but think majority of that has been down to racing through winter and kicking off my TT season earlier than normal, that and putting in a new kitchen hasn't helped matters. Although just checked and I appear to have done 20 times the running I've done previous years :P
 
tedmaul said:
Very disappointed in the lack of effort some of you guys have put into your slacking.

1,183.6 mi for the year! :cool: ;)

And that's without delving into how incredibly slow they've all been.
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Think I'm up about 1000 miles on last year and my most miles for any year so far at 2900 so far.

That John Campbells chaingang was quite good if you fancied a bunch that wasn't eyeballs out Michael, big bunch meets Tuesday 6.30pm across from the Bothwell bridge hotel at the monument. Two groups last night, think the fast group I was in averaged 19mph to where I cut off to meet the bundy which was then 22.5mph for the rest of the route.
 
I'm currently at last years mileage total : 3,800 miles.
Pretty happy with my fitness right now too, easily hold 250w for 2 hours :)
 
Very poor year so far for me, sat at around 2,300 miles so far.
My excuse is Jan/Feb I was ill, & until a few weeks ago I'd fallen out of love with cycling. Happy to report my enthusiasm has returned & I'm slowly getting back to fitness.
 
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