Road Cycling

Soldato
Joined
11 Jun 2015
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Bristol
Had a lovely ride on the weekend. Nothing major and mostly flat but went through the longest cycling tunnel in the UK and had an ice cream on top of a aqueduct.

However it seems cycling and I are never without incident. The bike was faultless this time, it was nature who got me!

A wasp went behind my glasses and stung me right on the temple and now it looks like I've got an off shaped face! Amazingly, I've gone a good decade or so without being stung by anything. This year a bee flew up my shorts when cycling back from work and got me good and proper in the back oh my leg and now the wasp has got me on the face!
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Feb 2004
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18,139
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Hampshire
after months of umming and arghing i've finally plumped for the Rapha Shakedry jacket, Goretex one was more expensive in the end and the Rapha one looks marginally better, although hoping I won't need it much! Hopefully be here before I head to Spain next week!
 
Associate
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13 Nov 2012
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2,191
Had my first go on a carbon road bike on Sunday, I've cycled for years and this is my fourth bike now but I've never ridden anything as light and fast.

We bought the Kuota for my wife earlier this year as a stand in while her other carbon bike (not pictured) was getting checked for damage, which luckily it didn't have. We knew it was a little big for her when we bought it (I made it work with a shorter stem and lowering the seat post) but we had the idea that I could see how I like it and maybe start going on some longer rides with her.

We took it to the Brownlee Triathlon Centre which is conveniently 5 mins away from our new house. It was lot of fun, but I couldn't keep up with my wife on her TT bike. She's training for a duathlon on Sunday and has done tons of Tris and an Ironman, so she's in a different league to me. I did 15k in 45 mins while she did 26k in about 50 mins :p

Managed to grab a shot while there, need to do a little adjustment before I take it out again.

51527684708_c98bb5af6b_h.jpg
 
Soldato
Joined
24 Feb 2013
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East Midlands
Managed to grab a shot while there, need to do a little adjustment before I take it out again.

It may not bother you, but the bar setup looks odd. Few spacers but a positive stem with bars tilting upwards slightly yet hoods which look to be on the lower portion just slightly. In other words, all a bit counter productive to one another. This however may give you the perfect bar height and there's nothing wrong with it. I do like the colour though, black works well with it as a secondary.
 
Associate
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It may not bother you, but the bar setup looks odd. Few spacers but a positive stem with bars tilting upwards slightly yet hoods which look to be on the lower portion just slightly. In other words, all a bit counter productive to one another. This however may give you the perfect bar height and there's nothing wrong with it. I do like the colour though, black works well with it as a secondary.

I know it's a bit of a mess, as said it was previously set up for my wife so I quickly chucked a longer stem (only one I had available) on there just to take out for the ride, but I probably need a longer one without the rise.

I have a load of spare stems to test with it but we are in the process of moving and they're all at the back of a storage unit, once we're in our new place and I can organise things, I'm going to replace all the inner and outer cables along with the bar tape and set it up a little better then.
 
Soldato
Joined
23 Nov 2004
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10,646
First day with leg warmers for me, been out a few times in the replacement long sleeve tops vioracer sorted us out with.


Also witness a guy that came out flip himself over the bars today on his own.

We has just left the village that we start to go fast from and someone had turned back, guys waited up to let him back on and the guy who crashed had set off at a pace. I sprinted up to him to say back off, I started freewheeling and checking behind. He decided to swing into the side and unclip, look behind the hit his front wheel off the kerb then grab a handful of front brake :cry:. Bike handling skills aren't levelled up as high as his power that's for sure. Thank **** it was a grass verge.
 
Associate
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31 Jan 2018
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Bury St Edmunds
Had a checkup on Monday and some more x-rays 1 of the fractures has completely repaired the others are getting there and stable another two weeks I will be able to put my right leg down. Still hobbling on one leg on the crutches and able to get around well now.

The dr has cheered me up and said I will be able to start on the turbo in two weeks.
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Feb 2004
Posts
18,139
Location
Hampshire
First day with leg warmers for me, been out a few times in the replacement long sleeve tops vioracer sorted us out with.


Also witness a guy that came out flip himself over the bars today on his own.

We has just left the village that we start to go fast from and someone had turned back, guys waited up to let him back on and the guy who crashed had set off at a pace. I sprinted up to him to say back off, I started freewheeling and checking behind. He decided to swing into the side and unclip, look behind the hit his front wheel off the kerb then grab a handful of front brake :cry:. Bike handling skills aren't levelled up as high as his power that's for sure. Thank **** it was a grass verge.

not quite there yet for me, knee warmers this morning and evening though! Will get away without them for few weeks as I bask in 20c next week! :D
 
Soldato
Joined
20 Feb 2004
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21,198
Location
Hondon de las Nieves, Spain
Totally booking a trip to Javea next year to get some sunshine in and a wee trip to yellow house should it get a bit too much.

Nice

We were over there last month. My parents live in Moraira. So many high end bikes flying around. Cervelo just seemed to be standard gear whenever i saw people out cycling.

We've come back pretty much confident that we're going to move over there in a few years. Can't wait.
 
Soldato
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10,646
Think I've heard about a nice cafe there, I know a guy who has a hotel and bike hire in Javea so should get a good deal.

It's all about the night life too since I'll be on holiday.
 
Soldato
Joined
20 Feb 2004
Posts
21,198
Location
Hondon de las Nieves, Spain
Think I've heard about a nice cafe there, I know a guy who has a hotel and bike hire in Javea so should get a good deal.

It's all about the night life too since I'll be on holiday.

Yeah, and i'd say Javea edges it on that, walking along the front at night is lovely. Particularly if the waves are coming in and just sitting watching people surf.

I'm making myself jealous thinking about it :( Just keep reminding myself we'll live over there soon!
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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8,420
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Hereford
Wow hadn't realised more than a couple of weeks had gone past since I caught up/posted in here but it has been a busy couple of weeks for work (Network/hardware support migration, Audits and now on security software migration from KES->Carbon Black!).

Anyone else still working fairly flexibly between home & office like me when previously just Office based? I've since got really strange browsing habits, almost different in the 2 'places' with me being much more focussed when at home and not really doing things like forums. Yet when 5 reaches I'm almost immediately shut down and done. When working from the Office I'll generally be browsing & forum'ing more so, (more likely to check in here!) yet I'm far more relaxed on time so quite regularly working through lunch and until 5.30/6 and thinking nothing of it? I think partly as my department is mostly based at home/WFH while most of the others are back, I'm just incredibly more focussed when at home to prove I'm more productive...? Weird. Guess I'm in a lucky position - my work being very accommodating and flexible, even before this happened. also the beauty of me being ~2.4 miles away. I'm there in sub 10 minutes using bike or car...!

Anyway back to cycling. I'm doing quite well at the moment, getting some consistency and also some general good volume to hold a good level of fitness and some marginal/slow gains. I think key to that has been maximising my time on Zwift, I'm doing far less group rides and more racing. Thankfully still getting myself out on club rides on the weekend. My other half recently switched her days of work and that's helped my Zwift riding schedule, although does mean I'm riding Tues, Weds, Thurs, sometimes Fri and Saturday/Sunday. So my only real rest/recovery days are now Sunday+Monday. I'm now able to ride ZRL on Zwift (Tuesday nights) where I struggled to fit it in before, but also maintaining the TTT I do on Thursdays.

Thanks @Roady - impressive level of responding.
I do tend to do a huge multi-quote. Kinda my thing! ;)

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!
Cool to see you actually pulled this off and sounds like you got it spot on for everyone to have maximum enjoyment. Great planning! Do you work in Logistics?! :D

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!<snip>
Any ideas what I should do?
It happens. Just one of those things, but being more sympathetic to your components and what their jobs are will aid them more - it sounds like although you weren't changing under full load, you where still putting some torque through. When it happened it's likely with less torque the chain wouldn't have come off. Just one of those things to learn, but also to be aware of going forwards. Certainly when you do your own indexing you'll be aware of how 'little' it can take for a chain to slightly over shift and then get pulled off. Chain catchers are available, but really not needed unless you keep doing it and can't get the indexing right. They're kinda a last resort and it's really a little late to add one now... But they're fairly simple so no harm if you like to buy an expensive bit of bent alloy to add a few grams. Dare I say it - I see Pro riders throwing chains far more than I have ever done. But they're really not a good example of a sympathetic rider to their equipment! ;)

It likely was slightly 'off' from the factory, but when all it takes is a fraction of mm to make the difference in the certain scenario you where in - you where just unlucky and very unlikely they'll offer you anything. They can't prove it was perfect from the factory, nor can you prove it wasn't. As soon as you've ridden it there's really very little recourse to what is an issue related to setup/rider experience/maintenance/drivechain wear/riding conditions/riding situations.

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.
From the damage it looks like chewed aluminium, not carbon. So maybe black nail varnish is a better cover up. The aluminium will go dark as it oxidises anyway. It doesn't rust like steel so isn't really damaged by being exposed to the elements the same (except maybe road salt?).

Epoxy resin, or carbon filler on carbon frames, but they're not really clear. So people use nailvarnish after to colour code to their frames... It's safe to use 'nail varnish remover' to also remove it, but only standard strengths. The 'heavy duty' stuff or pure acetone although technically won't damage the carbon or resin of the frame, will eat other paint/lacquer so can make things look worse and not better! Maybe a light sand/file down of the lumps and then some nailvarnish over the top to hide it. But little point to fill it in with filler where it is. Quite right to wear/treat as a badge of honour and all you're doing is making less obvious. I've got a deep gouge in a similar area from a snapped chain, on my fluo yellow frame, just stuck a bit of black electrical tape over it. It's still there ~12 months later, I think! :D

Just got back in the early hours of yesterday morning from 5 days wild camping along the NC500 in Scotland. It was pretty tough but I do recommend it. I'll have to do a little write up in the Cycling Holidays thread soon.

View attachment OEg9hEU.jpg
Epic place to go and that's an even more awesome/epic picture, shame about the weather! But it was Scotland... :D

See so much hype around 'Bikepacking' at the moment. I can't think of anything worse as I hate camping, suffer spending a long time on the saddle and have a bad back just even thinking about not sleeping in a bed! :cry:

Thats a decent return on a drivetrain to be fair. 5.5K is a lot of mileage.
The rest of it was pretty sound advice but would pull you up on this... 5.5k (miles or km?) in good conditions on a well maintained drivechain is really almost nothing.... In poor conditions or poorly maintained it's can be a different matter! ;)

Thanks @fez. Got the bike back today, £303 for a full strip down and to replace the 5 parts :eek::p. He highly recommended Big Wipes for the chain. Going to look after it a bit better, get a chain wear checker and relax on the mileage for autumn and winter :).

As a first year, even with the added expense, it's been a blast. Well worth it for all the exploring/personal achievements I've done.
Sounds high but then without saying what the parts where and the current pricing on stuff really you're at the shops mercy. You can only realistically save money by doing it yourself and shopping around for stuff, but you lose the convenience and 'speed' of things then...

Fellow tubeless users...

Have you ever seen a tyre do this before?

NhrLAVal.jpg

It "punctured" last year and took a few goes to seal on a long ride. I think I posted about it at the time but I got home from the long ride it happened on with about 30psi left in the front. The hole re-opened a few times on subsequent rides, so in the end I got a DynoPlug Racer and stuck a worm in it. I noticed towards the end of my long ride last month this "growth" on the front tyre. I fiddled with it a bit in the garage and stuck another plug into a week or so ago. On yesterday's ride, I could occasionally hear an sealant bubble pop (like a Rice Krispie!) and even whilst moving, I could see something (almost a flap) build-up on the tyre but then eventually friction/wear would knock it off.

It's odd as a I don't understand where the surplus rubber is coming from. Two worms wouldn't have that much material to be pushed out. The tyre has done about 4000km and I have spare ready, so replacing it isn't a big deal.
I'd say 'Kill it with fire!', but it looks like you already tried...

All joking aside, I'd judge it to be a reaction between the sealant and the plugs. Maybe even the tyre compound itself getting eaten away by some chemical reaction between them all!

I'd just say avoid that combination of chemicals again...

Had a checkup on Monday and some more x-rays 1 of the fractures has completely repaired the others are getting there and stable another two weeks I will be able to put my right leg down. Still hobbling on one leg on the crutches and able to get around well now.

The dr has cheered me up and said I will be able to start on the turbo in two weeks.
Good to hear you've healed quite quickly and well, goodluck!

not quite there yet for me, knee warmers this morning and evening though! Will get away without them for few weeks as I bask in 20c next week! :D
I dug out the thermals 2 weeks ago, even thermal shorts for some of those rainy days but not really needed. Just was nice to be warm in the rain when commuting and having a bit of protection from the spray! Even wore the Spatz one morning. Last 2 weeks weather seems to be flipping back to 'late-summer' but with a certain chill in the air. Not to mention gloom from being overcast. Need to dig out the front lights! Someone at work said next week is going to go back to being normal autumn weather (rain).

We were over there last month. My parents live in Moraira. So many high end bikes flying around. Cervelo just seemed to be standard gear whenever i saw people out cycling.
Calpe & Xabia are well reknowned cycling destinations and many many pro teams have various training camps or are based there through the winter. Quite a few Pro riders live around there.
 
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Soldato
Joined
20 Feb 2004
Posts
21,198
Location
Hondon de las Nieves, Spain
Got out this morning. Have raised the stem using a ~10mm riser that was above the stem previously. I *think* it's helped to keep my elbows a little more bent and less tensed. Last night i also de-greased and lubed the chain/cassette for the first time.

Given how wet it is around these days, is it something i should be trying to do after most rides or just every now and then? Ride wise i'm generally only out for 10-12 miles at a time.
 
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