Road Cycling

I don't think anyone has referenced Kj tbh? We're only ever talking about calories (or Kcal I guess in technical terms?)

Berger said:
approx 580kcal. A couple of small bananas and a piece of chocolate brownie was fine with some SIS go and another bottle water.
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That's interesting. That seems quite a short ride to consume all that, or am I getting numbers wrong here?

I burnt just over 2,000 cals in my ride yesterday and only consumed a brownie and flat white at the halfway stop. (And a bottle of water on the ride, with a SiS tablet in, but only 5 cals per tablet)
 
AndyCr15 said:
I don't think anyone has referenced Kj tbh? We're only ever talking about calories (or Kcal I guess in technical terms?)


That's interesting. That seems quite a short ride to consume all that, or am I getting numbers wrong here?

I burnt just over 2,000 cals in my ride yesterday and only consumed a brownie and flat white at the halfway stop. (And a bottle of water on the ride, with a SiS tablet in, but only 5 cals per tablet)
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That was 3hrs 40 minutes with a weighted average of 225w and an average HR of 149bpm for 2500kj burnt.

Banana medium 400kj each and same for the brownie, 600kj for an SIS Go 40g serving. Puts me about even on calories or slightly under, eat after 1 hr then approx every 45 minutes.

Distance isn’t a comparable measurement and without using all the metrics to measure output it’s just a guessing game.
 
Berger said:
I think it’s important to consider what measurement we are comparing here, if it’s kilojoules or kilocalories.
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Okay, so it sounds like when you say we should consider what we're talking about, none of us are talking about either of those? Tbh, I thought I'd seen kcal's referred to as just a different way (maybe the scientifically accurate way or something?) of talking about calories, but not if you only burnt 500 in over 3 hours,

**Heads off to google** Oh wait, it is? I don't believe you could put that much effort in and burn that few calories?

By comparison, my ride this morning -

3hr 56
AHR 125
Ave W 188
(Yes, I was taking it very easy)
Calories 2,646
 
Berger said:
I think it’s important to consider what measurement we are comparing here, if it’s kilojoules or kilocalories.

My ride last weekend, with HR and power, so I’d like to think the Strava estimate is close, 2400KJ or approx 580kcal. A couple of small bananas and a piece of chocolate brownie was fine with some SIS go and another bottle water.

With the longer rides you do need to get some fat adaption but can get round it by banging loads of sugar/carbs in although it won’t feel great.
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That’s not right. Strava’s energy output is equivalent to the work you’re putting through the pedals, so doesn’t need dividing by 4 once you factor in petaling efficiency. 2,500kcal is much closer to what you burned.
 
First ride with the garmin varia and I am completely sold. I see why people love them so much now.
 
AndyCr15 said:
Did you get the new one with the camera?
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I didn't but the reviews are not...complementary.

Sounds like the quality is a bit ****, the battery life isn't great and its really expensive. All around it feels like a lazy cash gram from Garmin.

This isn't scientific in any way but I feel like people were passing me more safely with it on. I don't know if it was the light that increases flashing as they get closer but it certainly felt safer.

Most dangerous part of my ride was when I came back to civilisation and some **** pull across me when I was going about 30mph and then a group of 4 teenagers crossed the road just behind him after watching me approach from 50m or so away. Rear wheel went sliding and a few seconds earlier I would have smacked into the side of that car probably still doing 15mph+.
 
Berger said:
Where am I going wrong then.

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Kj there is a measure of the work done. In theory, you would divide by 4 to arrive at your calorie expenditure, but the human body is only c25% mechanically efficient on a bike. In other words, 1,000kj of cycling work requires 4,000kj of energy to be consumed. 4,000kj divided by 4 is 1,000 calories.

Efficiency will vary between riders and I don’t think Strava uses a round 25% but that’s the general principle.
 
Can you tubeless guys spec me a decent but not super expensive track pump that'll be good enough to seat a tubeless tyre.

My old trusty that I've had the last 7 years is starting to play up and needs the head held onto the valve to work. So I may as well get a new one but don't really fancy spending the £100 on one unless I need to.
 
Any track pump should work fine. If you struggle to seat tubeless tyres then get one with a "booster" but otherwise, any track pump should be fine. I've had a £20 one for about 15 years now and it still works perfectly. Pressure gauge is even pretty accurate still.

Perhaps if you are using a pump all the time in horrible weather and travelling with it then the quality makes a big difference but mine has been largely mistreated and hasn't missed a beat.
 
Oh I'll just get a middle of the road one then.

The track pumps stays at home indoors so it won't be getting abused by the elememts. I keep a combination pump on me when I cycle
 
Topeak Joe Blow and use a CO2 inflator for the occasions tubeless tyres won’t seat properly.

I did make a ghetto tubeless inflator out of a coke bottle at one point. It was a fun project but the CO2 is probably safer. :D
 
This will be my forth summer cycling, is it my imagination or have these last two (so far) been really quite poor, or were the two before anomalies and much warmer and drier than usual? (I never really paid much attention to the weather before that! :cry: ) I do remember one of the summers was particularly warm. Grass was dying and turning brown all over the place for example. Last year, I only really remember one really hot week and it was the one week I've ever had to isolate! Now, we're into June and I was back in long sleeves on Wednesday...

It's not been a bad week off work though. After RideLondon I gave myself Monday and Tuesday off, but have then done 177 miles Wed-Fri, was going to have today off and then go back out tomorrow, but weather looks pretty bad tomorrow at the moment :(
 
Its been pretty wet and a bit colder than usual I would say but I prefer that to the usual british summer which is hot, humid and relentlessly grotty. I hate sleeping in the summer when the bedroom doesn't drop below 20 degrees at night because the house has sucked up so much heat during the day.

The countryside is utterly beautiful at the moment as well. Perfectly green as far as the eye can see.
 
It's been quite dire this and last year. I think the year you're on about was maybe 2020 where the summer was relentless and my local fields all turned to dried out brown grass. Not that I want it that hot when I'm cycling but I do much better in the warmth than I do the cold.

This bloody child (I do love her, I swear) has really hit my cycling progress though. She's now just starting to get into a bit of a routine but it's not just a case of hopping onto the turbo when I get a chance but even then, I feel like my body is willing but my mind isn't in it. Not that I want to wish time away but it'll be easier in a few months.
 
Junglist said:
This bloody child (I do love her, I swear) has really hit my cycling progress though. She's now just starting to get into a bit of a routine but it's not just a case of hopping onto the turbo when I get a chance but even then, I feel like my body is willing but my mind isn't in it. Not that I want to wish time away but it'll be easier in a few months.
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There is something to be said for just doing what you want to do in order to enjoy something. I used to be really into bouldering and would go 3 times a week and if I didn't I would be a bit grumpy and feel like I was missing out, getting weaker etc and I wouldn't enjoy sessions if I wasn't climbing well.

When COVID hit and all the walls closed for months I just got out of the habit and it was fine. I now climb once a week and really enjoy it. I climb about 90% as hard and enjoy it more because there is not pressure to perform or improve at any pace.

If training hard for cycling helps you to enjoy it more and the sacrifice is worth it then go for it but ultimately we generally do all these things to enjoy life. If you are forcing yourself to do something that you don't want to do for some perceived greater value down the road, perhaps you need a rethink. Its not like forcing yourself to train to get a better job where the benefits are forever and don't require constant upkeep. Any exercise gains are borrowed up to a point and if you stopped for a few years you would lose most of them.

Basically, do what is right for you and don't feel pressured to do something because you think you want to do it.
 
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