Road Cycling

Soldato
Joined
25 Feb 2004
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18,141
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Hampshire
End of the day you've got to consider the risk of a bike. High theft volumes, relatively high costs to replace and probably quite a lot of injury costs make the claim values stack up and therefore the costs to the individual.

I pay about £400 per year for my house insurance and includes all my bikes (8 in total) to their value. Made my first ever bike claim last year and went through all fine despite it being me writing it off by riding into something.
 
Associate
Joined
21 Jun 2004
Posts
1,603
I watched a google video on Youtube last night from GCN, where they used the Strava auto route feature to create the toughest routes. Could be a good option for you if you have Strava Premium.

I really enjoy the auto route feature. The only negative is that it has a habit of choosing popular hill climbs. I was doing a horrendous climb and when looking through segments realised it was listed in the top 100 uk climbs. Obviously in OCUK style I set the fastest time (that day, at 10am….).
 
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Soldato
Joined
28 Apr 2011
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14,763
Location
Barnet, London
Took a mate in the car to a nearby village to ride from, to get some slightly different roads yesterday. He's quicker and fitter than me, so I knew it might be a challenge to stay with him, but bar one climb in the latter stages, I did. In fact, in the last 10 miles we set some pretty silly averages (for me) at over 21mph and 303Watts (this is miles 65 to 75, so we'd done quite a bit already). Strangely my legs came back for these last 10 miles and I even took the front for all of about 3 minutes as we were brining it home, until my hamstring cramped up! :cry:

Looking at Strava's relative effort, over the 1,400 activities from the last couple of years, I'd only been over 300 six times, with my previous two best being 325 and 384, both from my Lake District trip a month ago. Yesterday's RE was 436!!! :eek:
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Jun 2015
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11,093
Location
Bristol
Argh! Cycled to Wales this morning and just as we got near Chepstow I had a puncture. Repaired it but decided to cut the ride a bit short. The tyre then gave up on the way home so I ended up walking it back the last 2 miles.

So I've decided I'm going to order some tubeless tyres. I've always ridden 25mm wheels but is there much benefit going to 28?
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Apr 2011
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14,763
Location
Barnet, London
What actually happened to the tyre? If I cut short every ride I had a puncture, I wouldn't do half the miles I currently do :cry:

Also, what tyres were they? I've been quite impressed so far with my Corsa Graphene 2.0
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Jun 2015
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11,093
Location
Bristol
What actually happened to the tyre? If I cut short every ride I had a puncture, I wouldn't do half the miles I currently do :cry:

Also, what tyres were they? I've been quite impressed so far with my Corsa Graphene 2.0

oh it wasn't just because of the tyre but one of the people I was cycling with had to be back for a certain time and the delay kind of made us lose more time than it should've so we just decided to head back. Admittedly we were only 15 minutes from where we had planned to go to as the plan was to get to Chepstow castle and have a breakfast then cycle back.

they're continental GP5000. Not a bad tyre at all and I'll put them onto my fixie to replace the old gatorskins on there. I just got annoyed and it compounded my frustration as this morning I was watching a video about how tubeless tyres repair themselves.

the cheaper and sensible option would be just to keep extra tubes on me but I won't let that stop me throwing money at a problem if I think it can make me continue to be lazy :p
 
Associate
Joined
31 Jan 2018
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535
Location
Bury St Edmunds
Finally out of hospital so I’m out of action for 4-6 weeks. Wife has washed my bike for me and just seen it just a bit of a scuff on the bar time but other than that it’s survived it’s ordeal.

So seems like a winter on the wahoo once my pelvis allows.
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2004
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16,984
Location
Shepley
oh it wasn't just because of the tyre but one of the people I was cycling with had to be back for a certain time and the delay kind of made us lose more time than it should've so we just decided to head back. Admittedly we were only 15 minutes from where we had planned to go to as the plan was to get to Chepstow castle and have a breakfast then cycle back.

they're continental GP5000. Not a bad tyre at all and I'll put them onto my fixie to replace the old gatorskins on there. I just got annoyed and it compounded my frustration as this morning I was watching a video about how tubeless tyres repair themselves.

the cheaper and sensible option would be just to keep extra tubes on me but I won't let that stop me throwing money at a problem if I think it can make me continue to be lazy :p

You’re still going to need to carry a tube if you have tubeless, you just might not have to stop for every puncture.
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Jun 2015
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11,093
Location
Bristol
You’re still going to need to carry a tube if you have tubeless, you just might not have to stop for every puncture.

Oh I know that but in my mind, rightly or wrongly, it would save time in the long run.

Maybe I'm being too optimistic about them and expecting them to be a silver bullet to an issue they don't really solve.

Seems to be that they're mostly out of stock anyway so a trip to halfords to grab some more innertubes will be needed
 
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Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2004
Posts
16,984
Location
Shepley
Oh I know that but in my mind, rightly or wrongly, it would save time in the long run.

Maybe I'm being too optimistic about them and expecting them to be a silver bullet to an issue they don't really solve.

Seems to be that they're mostly out of stock anyway so a trip to halfords to grab some more innertubes will be needed

Might save you some time on a ride but the amount of time faffing in between rides made it annoying for me in the end. I just use latex tubes and GP5000s now.
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Jun 2015
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11,093
Location
Bristol
Might save you some time on a ride but the amount of time faffing in between rides made it annoying for me in the end. I just use latex tubes and GP5000s now.

I'm going to get some new inner tubes for now as most the 28c TL tyres seem to be out of stock for now anyway

What sort of messing about where you doing between rides? Just the expected pumping up due to pressure loss or was it more annoying than that? Did you not think the hassle was worth the supposed benefits of comfort and rolling resistance? Though I know when using latex the difference isn't as much when it comes to rolling speed
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2004
Posts
16,984
Location
Shepley
I'm going to get some new inner tubes for now as most the 28c TL tyres seem to be out of stock for now anyway

What sort of messing about where you doing between rides? Just the expected pumping up due to pressure loss or was it more annoying than that? Did you not think the hassle was worth the supposed benefits of comfort and rolling resistance? Though I know when using latex the difference isn't as much when it comes to rolling speed

As far as I’m aware latex and tubeless is the same in terms of rolling resistance. I run my tubes at lowish pressures anyway (70psi in 25mm) but don’t remember a huge difference going from tubeless back to tubes. This might depend on the tyre and width though.

The main issue for me was valves getting gummed up, having to refresh sealant which is a pretty messy job and having to patch punctures that wouldn’t seal properly. The first two were more of an issue because I don’t always ride the same bike or wheels, so I’d have to remember to rotate them every so often to stop the sealant pooling. If you just have the one set that won’t be an issue.

I see more benefit to going tubeless if you’re heavier and want the comfort, since running tubes at lower psi is going to give you a greater risk of pinch flats, or happen to puncture a lot.
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Apr 2011
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14,763
Location
Barnet, London
This morning I finally did the Etape D'Amwell 100km Sportive, that I booked almost 2 years ago. I got their nice and early and set out with the first bunch. Around 12 of us headed off at the front at a pretty good pace. In fact, the pace was faster than I can usually cope with, but it was generally quite flat so I managed okay. There was only one food stop, 48 miles into a 60 mile ride?! At this point I found out I was riding with everyone doing the 150km route! Also, we were averaging 19mph, so as I did the last 12 home alone, I finished with it just dipping into 18.7mph. This was still by far my fastest 100km. The elapsed time of 3:40 was 40 minutes quicker than by previous best!

Looking at Strava's relative effort, over the 1,400 activities from the last couple of years, I'd only been over 300 six times, with my previous two best being 325 and 384, both from my Lake District trip a month ago. Yesterday's RE was 436!!! :eek:

Also, I set a new RE best, beating Wednesday's ride with a 440 today! :cry:
 
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