Road Cycling

Soldato
Joined
11 Jun 2015
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Bristol
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.

I'm going to stick with tubes for a bit longer and hope that I'm more lucky in the future. It's my fault for not being as prepared and having a spare with me and resorting to fixing it!

Though looking at a cycling calculator, I probably suffered a pinch flat as it recommends at my weight (81kg) with 25mm tyres that I should be near 110 PSI. I never went that high!

I'm still a bit tempted to go Tubeless as it is my only real bike so I don't think I'd have the issue of sealant pooling but I suppose it's always a risk

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!



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

That sounds like a rapid pace for such a long duration! Awesome stuff
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2004
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Shepley
I'm going to stick with tubes for a bit longer and hope that I'm more lucky in the future. It's my fault for not being as prepared and having a spare with me and resorting to fixing it!

Though looking at a cycling calculator, I probably suffered a pinch flat as it recommends at my weight (81kg) with 25mm tyres that I should be near 110 PSI. I never went that high!

I'm still a bit tempted to go Tubeless as it is my only real bike so I don't think I'd have the issue of sealant pooling but I suppose it's always a risk

Hed's calculator gives 75 psi for the same weight and tyre width, so I think the only real answer is "it depends". :D
 
Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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28,068
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London
Don't suppose anyone has a bike shop recommendation for SW London? I think mine is in need of a service and Decathalon only do the basics, and not worth going to Halfords (where I bought the bike) as I won't see if for several months.

I have found a bunch of independent shops in and around Wimbledon/Wandsworth but they must be so busy, as I have yet to make successful contact with any after repeated efforts.

Edit - never mind, a couple of them got back to me.
 
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Soldato
Joined
23 Nov 2004
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10,646
Did nothing for a week and met a group for a long one today.

Lights went out at 4 hours in roughly, sat in to the services and told two guys who were niggling each other that I'd get them back once my food kicked in.

Pedalling through cramp pretty much all the way back, one of the guys clipped off the front and the other couldn't shut the gap so I lit it up and went straight past them all. Cramping in places I didn't know existed but I managed to stay away for about 8 miles or so. Hung my head in shame and went my own way home. :cry:

How long before I can show face again??
 
Caporegime
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London
Hhhhmm my legs are being a bit funny. I was sat down the other day and jumped out of the chair due to a painful cramp in my right leg. Thought it was just a one off but on a ride yesterday, I could feel both legs (but still mainly the right) tensing up and what felt like mini cramps. My body didn't seem to appreciate standing in certain positions after the ride, even laying down on my sofa wasn't comfortable. Google says age or possibly lack of water :o:cry:. Ride into work this morning was OK and I have only felt a twinge briefly once today.

I may have over done it, tweaked something and/or me starting weights this week hasn't gone down well. I suffer from hypermobility but it's caused almost no issues since I took up cycling last summer.

Edit - muscles above my right knee (front and back), plus I have just realised the muscle directly above my kneecap seems way larger than it's left counterpart.
 
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Soldato
Joined
20 Feb 2004
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Hondon de las Nieves, Spain
Well my cycling career has started terribly. I fell during a run on holiday and sprained my ankle pretty badly. Went to the hospital to confirm there's no fracture and am currently all bandaged up. Foot is still heavily swollen (injury on Friday), despite being elevated for a lot of the time, except for the journey home yesterday. Not sure if the bandage is a little tight and it's causing fluid to pool in my toes.

Debating taking the bandage off early (was advised to keep it for a week) and just using some compression socks/ankle support. Mainly as the bandage is so thick that i can't get any ice to the injury so feels i'm missing out a little on the recovery.
 
Associate
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31 Jan 2018
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Bury St Edmunds
Sorry to hear about your injury @Martynt74 my hip is still pretty sore and after seing the specialist the fracture is a little worse than i first thought. Seems the fracutre has gone into the hip joint so i won't be cycling for another 2 months, i wont be able to put any weight on the right side for another 6 weeks, so i am still getting around on crutches. If the fracture becomes unstable i will have to have an op to put it right. Sitting here in my office looking at by bike sat in the corner is jult killing me at the moment.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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Hereford
Wow it's been a while since I checked in... But work has been manic - also been ill. Little dude brought some cough thing home from Nursery and although I'm into my 3rd week am mostly ok. He's into his 4th and is about 99, the other half sometime between the 2 of us and has just finished antibiotics for a chest infection, so she's still struggling a bit. Think the infection has cleared but we all seem to have the cough back (again). Will be the 3rd or 4th time for us, but think it might be different 'bugs' just with similar symptoms as in the middle of it all we all had a few days of fever and aches like a real flu. Rubbish. Typical it coincided with a week booked off work last week too! I've only really skipped a few rides - done very little outside. Have continued with most of my Zwifting as the days coincided generally when I was feeling better. Also did a Zwift stage race last week so had committed myself to leading a team and couldn't really drop out. Felt good enough to ride, but my performance was down and just seemed to knock myself back a bit after each ride. A few days rest now and I'm feeling good again- maybe I'll Zwift tonight then?! :D :rolleyes: :cry:

My next question as this is where I failed today, what's the best food/fuel to bring with me? Half way through the hill I seemed to have hit empty. Passed a shop on the way back and got a ribenna and some skittles but I'd like to avoid that feeling again. It wasn't a complete bonk but one was near, luckily was mostly downhill after that point :o
You're best trying a few things yourselves as we're all individual.

Never forget the fundamentals of fuelling and what you're using for fuel. You've gotta fuel the engine! :D

Disclaimer: I'm no biologist or nutritionist!

For tempo/intense efforts that's generally glycogen stores in your blood/muscles/gut your body is using. For more base-level endurance riding your body will do the same (as it's easily accessible), before then switching to burning 'fat'. So you'll hear of people riding 'fasted' - to train the body to do this earlier and easier. There is a generally large reduction in performance when the body 'switches' to fat burning (runs out of glycocen), but that can be trained to have less of an impact by riding in that state. You may come across the term 'keto adapted' (fat adapted) - that's really the higher end of endurance where an athlete will be riding at quite high intensity using just their fat stores - the body trained to 'save' it's glycogen for higher intensity. But why I'm mentioning this - note your body will trim a bunch of 'excess' from just the base cardio work you'll suddenly doing several hours of. This is not technically fat-adaption.

Glycogen - the reason people like sweet things and use gels, is the sugar means they're very quick to digest and feel the 'boost' from. Almost straight into your blood stream. But they can be quite short lived, so having a good meal with plenty of carbs the night before a morning ride, or additional breakfast will give you more longer term fuel in your gut for those efforts for your body to replenish it's glycogen stores from. Alongside eating things like grains and museli/porridge even more so as they're more of a 'long term burn' your body digests and breaks down over a longer time period.

I rarely if ever have a ride when riding on training nowadays, stick to bananas and oat based bars in the main. Gels I keep for racing and the really hard sessions.

Same. I used to have a gel every intense ride, then gradually used them less and less. Only carrying for an 'emergency get me home'. I still may do that occasionally but only for a targeted 'epic' ride/sportive.

NAKD bars have become my 'go-to'. I've found the more natural I eat the better I generally feel afterwards and I'll snack all the way through like you - even 'just before home' as unless I'm hitting a mealtime I'm kinda fuelling to reach there rather than being empty/hungry as I reach home. I have had various 'side effects' from some electolyte drinks and gels. So bad I actually went off the SiS brand completely. I've had their tabs since without ill effects but would probably not even risk their gels again. I had the effects of laxative for several days from them - not great! I've had milder symptoms from other gels, but would 'risk' it just to get me home on an isolated ride.

I have a huge sweet tooth so I like the idea of having some Jellymen in my back pocket and just snack on those at set intervals to keep on top of things. Next time I do a morning ride I'll make sure I really eat the night before and in the morning. Eating at correct times and the right food is my weakest point in life
Lots of people I ride with swear by jellybeans or jellybabies. I'll occasionally have a few but not usually my thing to have something so sweet while riding.

10 weeks after barely being able to move with a broken back, I'm rather chuffed with my new PR on the steepest hill near me this morning, felt like I was flying up it. Also got all time best 30 second, 1 minute and 2 minute power records. Garmin also said I added 1 extra watt to my FTP despite a fair amount of free wheeling on the descents so probably a good uplift there too if I did a proper test.

On the negative side there was some proper bad driving at the start of the ride.
Great riding and well done with that recovery! Keep it up but don't strain yourself too much!

Went for a long ride today and came off the bike, there was some standing water on some concrete and wheels just came away and landed on my hip in hospital with a fractured pelvis no riding for 6 weeks :(
Rubbish! Good luck with recovery and healing up, see you on Zwift this winter then!

Cheers for this, i do feel like i've got it fairly well setup based on articles i've read. My issue is that i seem to be developing some kind of tennis elbow pain following longer rides. It begun after doing ~21 miles last Sunday, with some small aches around the elbow, then eased throughout the week to minimal levels, then on Saturday i did a 26.5 miles ride and since then there's discomfort to straighten my arm, all coming from the elbow, which is worse in the mornings and then eases throughout the day. My right knee also got achey towards the end of the ride, but i think that's more muscular as as soon as i finished that felt absolutely fine.

My particular route was a cycle track around Preston so quite windy with lots of turns/braking and quite a bit of uneven group which will have causes lots of vibration/shaking up the arm. I don't feel i'm gripping the bars too tightly and my left arm is fine, so wondering if it's aggravating an old injury (not that i recall anything). The main articles online around this seem to relate to wrist position when on the hoods, but when i'm relaxed this looks neutral so not sure where else to look.
You're still new to riding position and time in the saddle. It could be any number of things but until your body adapts more to riding you may not really find out and just end up diagnosing something completely bizarre as a 'cause'! :)

The knee is likely just a cleat position needs a little tweak, possibly saddle fore/aft, but I'd just move the cleat forwards or backwards a couple of mm or the angle first to see if it solves. Foot pain is usually cleat too far forwards, knee is usually a little far back. But those are with your position nailed and body adapted. Cleat position can be very trial and error - I wouldn't adjust it lots if you're not getting any foot pain.

You might not be gripping the bars too tightly and it could be the vibration, but it could also be your shoulders tensed or your elbow tensed even if your hands are not. Also elbow locked out over vibrations will not help, should be riding with a slightly bent elbow - treat them like minor shock absorbers on uneven surfaces...

Going to slowly start going further and further but I feel deliberately hill hunting at the moment will be more beneficial in the short term
You'll adapt to what you ride and you'll tend to ride more what you enjoy. I love hills, even not being good at them as I consider them challenges to complete. Equally I do get bored riding on the flat and fast roads if I do too much of it, but then I do find maintaining speed 'easy' compared to others... :rolleyes:

What is everyone doing for their insurance? Is it better to put it onto the house insurance or insure it specifically like a car?
Mine is on home insurance and always causes a large 'debate' every time renewal comes up. We're paying around £350 pa for it and I'm not 100% sure but the bikes are covered up to X value only adding £15-20 to the annual cost - regardless of the number we have, they just wanted to know the value of the most expensive and their upper limit was £2500 so that's what mine is listed as. I'd never be able to replace like for like with the current market prices!

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:
Awesome numbers mate and just shows what fantastic progress you've made! Chapeau! Slightly jealous! ;)

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?
Loads of benefit going to 28 and loads going Tubeless, but equally it's a bit more of a 'life decision' than the 'perfect choice'. Pro's and Con's.

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
Even tubeless I carry 1 tube with me and on a long sportive will carry 2.

The past 3 years I've had 1 tubeless hole which didn't seal (old sealant/bad luck). During that time I rode tubes last summer for 2-3 months and had 2-3 punctures. Far more punctures than I ever had before running tubes, so rubbish luck. So I'm still a Tubeless convert.

I may have over done it, tweaked something and/or me starting weights this week hasn't gone down well. I suffer from hypermobility but it's caused almost no issues since I took up cycling last summer.

Edit - muscles above my right knee (front and back), plus I have just realised the muscle directly above my kneecap seems way larger than it's left counterpart.
Probably your body just still trying to recover from a few ride strains and you doing weights has just extended that recovery needed.

The knee might solve itself, could be a sprain or something causing the muscle to do that. Rest would be the first bit of advice and if it doesn't clear or the twinges continue look for some specific stretching exercises and then a doctor/massage/sports therapist.
 
Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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London
Thanks @Roady - impressive level of responding. Not sure what's going on, struggled to stand on my right leg last night for a brief period whilst going for a short walk. Reminded me of when my leg issues started a good few years ago - my right leg suddenly stopped working one day and no reason was found - back to normal a few hours later. I think I can localize a bit better about which muscles; one that twinges feels like a muscle going from my groin down to my knee, on rides I have noticed at times what feels like liquid on my knee but under the skin. And going up stairs in my home or any that are more steep, calf muscles and ankles instantly feel stretched and soreness. Didn't cycle in today, if rest doesn't work - might go see a sports therapist.
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Apr 2011
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Barnet, London
Awesome numbers mate and just shows what fantastic progress you've made! Chapeau! Slightly jealous! ;)

Thanks. I followed up with a 440 at a Sportive 4 days later too :cry:

Last night was our branch 'staggered race'. I found a nearby 7 mile(ish) loop, did some maths on everyone's average speeds to work out staggered start times for the 6 of us to do 3 laps and in theory, all finish together in a crazy sprint finish!


Basically, there were 6 of us, the guy that started 40 minutes before the fastest guy did in fact win by 4 minutes, but then came the fastest guy just beating the second fastest in a sprint and me rolling in about 25 seconds behind them, just not being able to keep up on the final climb. The second slowest guy came in about 30 seconds later then we had a 3 minute wait for the last guy, so generally it worked really well and was fascinating to have strategy to work out. For example, guy #5 (second fastest) caught me just as we started the second lap! I jumped on his wheel and he pulled me for a lap. I took the front for the 3rd lap and slowed the pace a little, but that allowed guy #6 to catch us on the final climb...
 
Associate
Joined
21 Jun 2004
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1,603
Quick question - are chains fairly standard? I have done 2500km on the chain and swapped the freewheel to give a wheel for trainer and it is quite clunky. I am going to check the rear derailleur later, but I notice the chain is sitting up on the crankset so that I can see small air gaps for the first almost quarter of the the crank. The teeth themselves aren’t saw toothed or like the pictures I’ve seen online, so I’m guessing it’s new chain time?

Its a 7 speed bike so would any chain fit?

Thanks for any help
(Hopefully will be able to use cycle to work to get something more road focussed in 6 months time)
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Feb 2004
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18,139
Location
Hampshire
Quick question - are chains fairly standard? I have done 2500km on the chain and swapped the freewheel to give a wheel for trainer and it is quite clunky. I am going to check the rear derailleur later, but I notice the chain is sitting up on the crankset so that I can see small air gaps for the first almost quarter of the the crank. The teeth themselves aren’t saw toothed or like the pictures I’ve seen online, so I’m guessing it’s new chain time?

Its a 7 speed bike so would any chain fit?

Thanks for any help
(Hopefully will be able to use cycle to work to get something more road focussed in 6 months time)

No you would need a specific chain for 6,7,8 speed which I believe are all the same width.
 

fez

fez

Caporegime
Joined
22 Aug 2008
Posts
25,023
Location
Tunbridge Wells
Quick question - are chains fairly standard? I have done 2500km on the chain and swapped the freewheel to give a wheel for trainer and it is quite clunky. I am going to check the rear derailleur later, but I notice the chain is sitting up on the crankset so that I can see small air gaps for the first almost quarter of the the crank. The teeth themselves aren’t saw toothed or like the pictures I’ve seen online, so I’m guessing it’s new chain time?

Its a 7 speed bike so would any chain fit?

Thanks for any help
(Hopefully will be able to use cycle to work to get something more road focussed in 6 months time)

You want a 7 speed chain and you want to get yourself a chain wear tool which will tell you when its time to replace the chain. If you replace your chain before it gets too worn you will extend the life of your whole drivetrain massively. If you aren't careful you will end up having to replace the whole thing because your new chain will be trying to work on chainrings that are too worn. You should be able to get 2-3 chains to each cassette roughly.
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Jun 2015
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11,088
Location
Bristol
I think I'm going to give up cycling to Chepstow. I think it's a cursed ride.

My chain hopped off and got jammed between the small chainring and the frame and when I got it home I noticed it had bent. I suppose it's a good excuse to buy a new one but it's a bit annoying. Only had the bike a month or so and having to replace something so soon on an expensive bike is leaving a sour taste in my mouth!

It got me home and it was a lovely ride aside from that so I'll try and remain positive. Just one of those things!


Edit: now a bit of time has passed my initially calm mood has now switched to panic and expecting the worst.
Sorry the pictures aren't very clear but the silver thing is what I heard hit the floor when the chain came off and I presume it was there to protect the frame. The other picture is what damage has been done by the chain getting stuck between the chainring and frame.

N9AYP2q.jpg

Vl66ptc.jpg

Any ideas what I should do?
 
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Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2004
Posts
16,984
Location
Shepley
The silver thing is just there to protect the frame and it’s not unusual for them to come off when you trap the chain like that. The damage is a bit of a bummer but nothing that would concern me. On a black bike you could probably touch it up with some carbon filler and it’d be fairly invisible.
 
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