Road Cycling

[Jonny ///M]

Our roads are a tad smoother too... though saying that Surrey County Council have just covered 90%* of the roads in crappy surface dressing. Pretty damn dangerous in the corners or if you hit a big drift of it. They seem to have selected roads which were relatively smooth anyway and they haven't even managed to fill the holes!

* About 3 roads I rode on the weekend... but that's 3 too many

Aye I'd rather potholed roads over that stuff, go hot into a corner and you've no chance.

The road I was on during that Saturday ride is like a back road of a back road so actually had grass/weeds in the middle at a lot of points. Zero traffic for 13 miles 47 minutes which is ideal.

 

[Bear]

They chip and sealed loads of the roads round our way and in the middle of the road where no cars drive on, theres large piles of gravel. As these are country roads not a lot of cars travel down them so crossing the road to do a right turn can be quite a hazard as you have to cross this large ridge of loose gravel and if you come off on these new chip and sealed roads, you would get ripped to shreds

 

[xdcx]

Lads from the council were doing potholes in my street yesterday morning.... One was driving the pickup as the other shovelled it by hand out the back of it and into the massive holes. Just before giving them a little pat to flatten with the shovel to ensure a "proper job". Amazing.

 

[Jonny ///M]

Haha standard practice mate.

We had it for a while but recently within a mile of me a whole main road was fully tarmaced even though it only had very few potholes on the left. A whole stretch of dual carriageway is now smooth as silk and just last week 'the rig' hill loads of cyclists use was done with full tarmac

 

[Roady]

I did say to one to chill out man I wasn't going to run it over but I don't think it spoke English/Glaswegian.

I speak good cow though, giving it big moooos when close to them

I saw your rather brisk ride and had a gander at the elevation, yous are all cheating ******** down there

You've gotta Moo at cows and Baa at sheep. It's like an unwritten rule!

Cheating? I selectively chose the flattest roads I could for a fast loop! Ha!

With usual Hereford traffic (all roads routed over 1 multi-lane river bridge) my options are quite limited heading south where some of the best riding is when short on time (quieter rolling roads and quieter climbs). To head south over the river involves at least 1.5 hours to loop around and closer to 2 if using the city (not many bridges). Hay festival is on so one of the roads I rode was about the busiest it gets with 'foreign' East-West traffic (usual traffic/trunk roads here are North-South). Still wasn't too bad though as it's a good wide stretch of road so only a couple of close passes. Loop does feature 'Tin Hill' which is one of the usual/classic kinda draggy lumps around here. The loop is most of a 25TT course, which is known for being one of the faster ones around. The start part is an out and back 10TT which is known as being one of the hardest to pace because of the draggy return leg. See, flattest/fastest I have lol

Get some cleat covers, I'm riding every day and have to walk couple of hundred metres each way to my locker, cleat covers save them.

The faff it takes to get them on/off for a ~40 second walk I'll pass. To be fair my left wears at least twice as fast as my right (probably more) as that's the foot I put down. 2 Junctions and 2 other spots on my commute where I've generally gotta stop. Start/Stop traffic with the chariot doesn't help either!

Haha standard practice mate.

We had it for a while but recently within a mile of me a whole main road was fully tarmaced even though it only had very few potholes on the left. A whole stretch of dual carriageway is now smooth as silk and just last week 'the rig' hill loads of cyclists use was done with full tarmac

Yup, there doesn't seem to be much pattern of where they resurface things here. We just had 'traffic' calming speed bumps put in and a 20mph speed limit from a school extended through the village. Great. But they didn't put the bumps in around where most people cross the road (local shop & chinese), but there's 3 of them around a narrow slope in/out (admittedly next to the school). Annoyingly they don't have dropped edges for cyclists, one of them is just before the crest of the slope which kills any momentum. Means I won't ever get near that KOM!

 

[Shadowness]

Does anyone else suck up the cost of downloading photos taken of you at events?

A reasonable res image is £8!! There's 3 images I quite like, but £24!!!!!!

 

[One More Solo]

Tow bar bike racks, is anyone using one? I need a two bike carrier which still gives boot access so looking at the Thule 941. I was just wondering what people do in terms of security? Lock the bikes together then chain one to the tow bar itself?

 

[kiteloopy]

Does anyone else suck up the cost of downloading photos taken of you at events?
A reasonable res image is £8!! There's 3 images I quite like, but £24!!!!!!

Only the big ones, and only if there is one worth keeping.

 

[#Chri5#]

Tow bar bike racks, is anyone using one? I need a two bike carrier which still gives boot access so looking at the Thule 941. I was just wondering what people do in terms of security? Lock the bikes together then chain one to the tow bar itself?

Yes - I've had my tow bar rack for well over 10 years, if not closer to 15 (my current car is the 3rd one the rack has been used on). Doubt you can get my model anymore - it looks quite basic compared to a new Thule. It's been bomb proof over the years though, including a trip through France last year for Mt Ventoux. Mine locks onto the tow ball (mount, push an arm down, slide bolt over to lock the arm in place, then a standard padlock through two holes). I'll then lock the bikes to the vertical support loop with a reasonably thick cable lock (eg https://www.abus.com/uk/Mobile-Security/Bike-Safety-and-Security/Locks/Cable-locks/Cetero-970). If somebody started unscrewing bits of the rack, they could have the bikes off (still locked together), so I don't leave them properly unattended. I'll leave them to pay for fuel at a garage but when we stopped for food going through France, one of us would wait with the car.

I saw a 1st look / review of an Elite rack the other day which looked good

https://www.elite-it.com/en/products/bicycle-transport/towbar-bike-racks/monte

 

[Roady]

Does anyone else suck up the cost of downloading photos taken of you at events?

A reasonable res image is £8!! There's 3 images I quite like, but £24!!!!!!

Part and parcel of riding popular events! I've never ridden an event where I had to buy a photo lol

Tow bar bike racks, is anyone using one? I need a two bike carrier which still gives boot access so looking at the Thule 941. I was just wondering what people do in terms of security? Lock the bikes together then chain one to the tow bar itself?

Not using one, but previously wanted a Thule EasyFold for her to use as they're easy to mount and stash in small car boot. Crazy prices on them though! When reading through I did find that many of the Thule towball carriers wouldn't fit into the boot of our Fiesta very easily, but the EasyFold would. Well worth checking details/sizing if that's one of your requirements.

Why the 941 specifically? The 9502 is loads cheaper, but doesn't feature a lockable towbar mount like the 941, but they do an additional lock (Thule 957) which is a cheap addition (£20). It can't carry bikes heavier than 15kg but unless you're carrying an ebike most shouldn't be that heavy anyways?! Thule do lockable mount arm thingys but I'd be very tempted to use an additional D lock on the frame too (for what it takes).

EDIT:

I saw a 1st look / review of an Elite rack the other day which looked good

https://www.elite-it.com/en/products/bicycle-transport/towbar-bike-racks/monte

Looks ace, if they can get the pricing right!

 

[SDK^]

Does anyone else suck up the cost of downloading photos taken of you at events?

A reasonable res image is £8!! There's 3 images I quite like, but £24!!!!!!

If I like a few images then I usually just get the unlimited 'download all images' for £32

 

[SoliD]

Does anyone else suck up the cost of downloading photos taken of you at events?

A reasonable res image is £8!! There's 3 images I quite like, but £24!!!!!!

Nope, I'm not that vain.

Tow bar bike racks, is anyone using one? I need a two bike carrier which still gives boot access so looking at the Thule 941. I was just wondering what people do in terms of security? Lock the bikes together then chain one to the tow bar itself?

Yes, got a 4 bike rack here, uses couple of stabilising straps into the boot, but tilts and allows access. I then lock the bikes with multiple locks to the rack itself, the rack is locked to the tow bar, but they're never left unaccompanied for hours on end. I usually leave the rack on overnight quite often in the winter.

 

[Shamrock]

I paid for my Ironman photos but generally wouldn't bother for a sportive unless it was a truly exceptional photo.

 

[Shadowness]

Meh, I only a got a couple of lower res ones.

I'll definitely get some from my first 70.3 this week

 

[Roady]

Good luck!

 

[One More Solo]

Why the 941 specifically? The 9502 is loads cheaper, but doesn't feature a lockable towbar mount like the 941, but they do an additional lock (Thule 957) which is a cheap addition (£20). It can't carry bikes heavier than 15kg but unless you're carrying an ebike most shouldn't be that heavy anyways?! Thule do lockable mount arm thingys but I'd be very tempted to use an additional D lock on the frame too (for what it takes).

EDIT:
Looks ace, if they can get the pricing right!

Good shout actually. The 941 has a better tilting mechanism but realistically I probably won't need to use it that often, so reckon the cheaper option with the additional lock is the way to go. E-bike free zone so the worst it will have to deal with is our MTBs (shhhh).

 

[One More Solo]

I paid for my Ironman photos but generally wouldn't bother for a sportive unless it was a truly exceptional photo.

I'd agree with that. I've only ever paid for a picture from my first Fred Whitton (classic Hardknott shot) and then my finisher's photo from London-Edinburgh-London. The latter was a pro studio shot and included printing and postage for £30 or so, which I felt was good value for the memento.

Some sportive/TT photography is abysmal though. Spend 100 miles riding through glorious countryside and they'll get you a shot with a load of road furniture in. For TTs, no-one ever sets up on the right side of the road so a boring picture is made even worse given you get a non-driveside shot. There are plenty of amateur TT photographers that share their work for free on Facebook/Flickr and they often capture better, more interesting shots than the so called pros.

 

[Shamrock]

I've only ever paid for a picture from my first Fred Whitton (classic Hardknott shot)

Unfortunately, the shots of me on Hardknott weren't great. Shame as the weather and scenery was amazing and the same photographer took better shots of others. He just stood in a rubbish place for my ascent.

 

[One More Solo]

Unfortunately, the shots of me on Hardknott weren't great. Shame as the weather and scenery was amazing and the same photographer took better shots of others. He just stood in a rubbish place for my ascent.

Not tempted to roll back down and have another go?

 

[Roady]

I've only ever paidsposed for a picture from my first Fred Whitton

Edited for you.

Good shout actually. The 941 has a better tilting mechanism but realistically I probably won't need to use it that often, so reckon the cheaper option with the additional lock is the way to go. E-bike free zone so the worst it will have to deal with is our MTBs (shhhh).

Glad I linked it now, there's so many with crazy price differences all across the Thule range it's hard to make informed choices as just not aware of them all! We all know they're expensive when it comes to things like roof bars, but the features/design/functionality they have with their tow bar mounted units is pretty impressive. Still expensive for things like the EasyFold though, all it is, is a frame with hinged joins and a few extra bits of plastic!

With the road e bikes like the Bianchi and Ribble all coming in 12-15kg or so they're all compatible anyways.