Road Cycling

[Roady]

Was planning the gym tomorrow but I must have slept in a funny position as my neck is playing up

Old age! Hate it when that happens. Got something similar with my left achillies today, typical as it's ZRL later!

Yeah sorry I wasn’t clear I’ll be removing them! Found out my answer by looking through my purchase history.

Pedals, cleats, shoes and the types have not generally changed in the last 5 years (even last 15+ years!). Just cosmetically. So if you rode SPD-SL (shimano road) shoes and pedals back then, they are still the same fitting now. The same shoes, pedals and cleats will be compatible.

Road shoes are '3 bolt' (in a triangle format - 1 at the front and 2 further back) a non recessed cleat - you can fit Shimano SPD-SL, Look Keo, Time ATAC or Wahoo Speedplay cleats and the corresponding pedals to use these. If you bought 'Peloton specific' pedals and cleats, they are probably Look Delta cleat - but the shoes are still 3 bolt shoes so compatible with others if you wanted to swap.

MTB/Offroad/easy cleats are '2 bolt' and some of the cleats are recessed to make them easier to walk in. Shimano SPD is the only real type of cleat with these used although various different makes of pedals. Please don't get Shimano SPD and SPD-SL mixed up as they're not cross compatible (totally different pedals, cleats and shoes!)

I'm currently on a 114 day cycling streak and 213d for all activities. However, I'm away for work next week and this is likely to jeopardise this streak. Do I give up in advance or try and push through at the expense of evening socialising? The hotel has a basic gym that I could visit before breakfast or there is potential to escape for a bit at lunch and find a gym to sign up to for a few days at quite an expense (there is a soul cycle style gym about 10 minute walk from where I'll be).

Nice! I'd say get some lunchtime walks or post-work walks in to preserve your streak to take the pressure off. Maybe scout some gyms in case the hotel gym is rubbish so you can be flexible and plan at least 1 trip to the cycle gym... Then if the evenings socialising takes over you've committed to doing something healthy at least once while away!

 

[Roady]

Got something similar with my left achillies today, typical as it's ZRL later!

ZRL was brutal, but leg held up!

2x Greatest London Loop which meant 2x Box Hill. Got shelled second time up, but first lap took 41s off my PR I set in 2017 so pretty chuffed with that. Mega effort (6:59 @ 327W) and even then was chasing wheels at the top to make it back to the main pack. My second lap got dropped early, still equalled my old PR (7:40 @294W)

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Will put more details into the Indoor Riding thread

Weirdly my Riduck didn't put a 'ride report' thing into the description, anyone else had this happen? Zwift says I bumped my FTP from 270W to 274W, but Intervals didn't report one.

 

[fez]

Sounds like Ride London might be gone forever now. Sad state of affairs but not entirely unsurprising. With the normality of hating cyclists and the cost of events like this it was only going to be so long before they just couldn't be bothered to put in the world to make it happen. I'm not talking about the organisers but the people who they have to work with to organise it in councils and government.

 

[Vandle]

I do a fast group ride on a Thursday morning. Usually around 40 to 50 of us this time of year when the weather is good. Along to the bay then back to the city along beach road, I love it. 5:45am start.
I had a dream last night that I had three broken spokes. Two on the front and one on the back. Actually thought it was real. Alarm went off at 5:15 and got up anyway and was looking for a Zwift race to do instead while having a coffee when I realised it was dream. Got dressed in double quick time, made it to the start point as they had just set off. Floored it to catch them then sat at the back for 20 minutes recovering. What a dafty

 

[fez]

I do a fast group ride on a Thursday morning. Usually around 40 to 50 of us this time of year when the weather is good. Along to the bay then back to the city along beach road, I love it. 5:45am start.
I had a dream last night that I had three broken spokes. Two on the front and one on the back. Actually thought it was real. Alarm went off at 5:15 and got up anyway and was looking for a Zwift race to do instead while having a coffee when I realised it was dream. Got dressed in double quick time, made it to the start point as they had just set off. Floored it to catch them then sat at the back for 20 minutes recovering. What a dafty

Does sound like you guys have a good culture over there in some of the big cities when it comes to group rides and cycling in general. I watch the Nero show sometimes and the urban places look pretty nice to cycle in, especially with the nice weather.

 

[#Chri5#]

Does anyone have any ideas of the typical lifespan of an alloy handlebar? My Planet-X is still on the original handlebars which must at least 15 years old now and have done almost 40,000km according to Strava. It's lived on the turbo for a few years now, so seen lots of sweat. It will probably need some new bar tape soon, so that's the time to change the bars...

 

[fez]

Does anyone have any ideas of the typical lifespan of an alloy handlebar? My Planet-X is still on the original handlebars which must at least 15 years old now and have done almost 40,000km according to Strava. It's lived on the turbo for a few years now, so seen lots of sweat. It will probably need some new bar tape soon, so that's the time to change the bars...

I imagine they will last for a very long time as long as sweat hasn't got to them. You won't be able to tell until you take the tape off though.

 

[UTmaniac]

Does anyone have any ideas of the typical lifespan of an alloy handlebar? My Planet-X is still on the original handlebars which must at least 15 years old now and have done almost 40,000km according to Strava. It's lived on the turbo for a few years now, so seen lots of sweat. It will probably need some new bar tape soon, so that's the time to change the bars...

~20 years ago, the right side of the bars on my green Principia RSL suddenly sheared at the stem clamp junction, on the way to work on a shared path. Bike was ~8 years ago, how I stopped the drops going into the spokes, kept my balance and came to a safe stop on the shared path next to a dual carriageway was a miracle!

 

[Vandle]

Does sound like you guys have a good culture over there in some of the big cities when it comes to group rides and cycling in general. I watch the Nero show sometimes and the urban places look pretty nice to cycle in, especially with the nice weather.

Love the Nero show.

Yep, definitely feels like a more accepted culture. That ride leaves the same spot at the same time every single day. Tuesdays and Thursday’s are hardest. Wednesday less so. Monday and Friday more recovery for those that race semi professionally. Saturday is the Hell Ride that I can’t hang with for more than a couple of km. Totally unofficial, nobody organises it it just happens. Been going for decades. South from the city taking a full lane on a main highway then a turn to head back north along the beach where the pace goes up to 11, rolling turns if you can, hanging on if you can, most just do what they can then drop to their own pace. It’s such a good gauge of current fitness.
In Melbourne more than Sydney, the landscape is so diverse. You can go from the city to real challenging forest climbs or rolling valleys in the wine regions in about an hours ride away. You can get 2,000m elevation and home in a 4 hour ride if you like. Or just smash yourself on beach road and be home before 7am. Then we have mountains, like proper ones. 1,800m above the sea with a winding road linking them all together that are under a few feet of snow several months of the year but can reach 40 degrees in jan and feb. Challenging at the best of times.

Weather helps but it’s not what you’d expect. We still have winters and it gets to single degrees in the city. Drops below freezing in the valleys outside of town but for a lad that spent the first 29 years of his life living in Newcastle I can handle it!

 

[Trifid]

Nice! I'd say get some lunchtime walks or post-work walks in to preserve your streak to take the pressure off. Maybe scout some gyms in case the hotel gym is rubbish so you can be flexible and plan at least 1 trip to the cycle gym... Then if the evenings socialising takes over you've committed to doing something healthy at least once while away!

I was getting enough steps in - 16-21 thousand a day! I managed to get 25 minutes zone 2 in each day on the hotel gym's bike with its massive seat, no fans and in a boiling hot room, so managed to keep the streak going despite enjoying a few beers or glasses of wine the previous evenings. So my cycling streak continues!

 

[grudas]

Been running my pm with a 170mm crank length.. only realised today that the cranks are 165 on my boardman. Funny enough their website etc says 170mm so I used that as reference until I checked the stamping… cue some power PRs on the last ride

googling around calculation wise, the power should’ve actually dropped so maybe I got some genuine PRs.. as shorter crank in theory = lower power/ torque

 

[Trifid]

I thought I'd do a FTP test today as I'm starting a new training block and yesterdays effort felt a little easier. The test was with Wahoo Systm half Monty. I got further up the ramp test but struggled to recover and after a few minutes in the 20 minute constrained heart rate effort felt like throwing up which pushed my heart rate up. The end result was it said it added 8w to my 5 minute power but lost 2w on my FTP. As this didn't sit right with me I put it through Gemini with my previous test to analyse and went with it's recommendation of +5w on my FTP. I guess I'll adjust as I try with these settings next week.

 

[grudas]

25k mixed gravel and road. This time of year is a b it wet especially this year..

 

[fez]

Went out Saturday for 65km and it was surprisingly dry all things considered. A few large puddles in the road but by and large absolutely OK. Was expecting it to be far far worse. Was surprised that I barely saw any other cyclists out and about though. Weather has been grim here for weeks and usually when that happens all the cyclists come out of the woodwork.

Hope some of you chaps managed to get out as well.

 

[Martynt74]

I've done virtually nothing for 3 weeks. Was back in the Uk for 24 hours 2 weeks ago for a booze up and then came home with a bug which has knocked me off. Winds have been extreme over here recently with a lot of weather warnings and i've been doing stuff at the house at weekends.

Really need to get back into it and regain fitness. I did a few easy TR indoor rides which felt tough whilst i was ill and it's dropped my FTP by 30w!

 

[#Chri5#]

I imagine they will last for a very long time as long as sweat hasn't got to them. You won't be able to tell until you take the tape off though.

Have hedged my bets as I found Tweeks Cycles had a set of Deda Zero bars (new) on ebay for £17.

I suspect the current bar tape should be considered a biological risk when I take it off.

 

[grudas]

Went out Saturday for 65km and it was surprisingly dry all things considered. A few large puddles in the road but by and large absolutely OK. Was expecting it to be far far worse. Was surprised that I barely saw any other cyclists out and about though. Weather has been grim here for weeks and usually when that happens all the cyclists come out of the woodwork.

Hope some of you chaps managed to get out as well.

yeah saw a handful on my 25k loop, one of the roads is always full of cyclists but this time only 4. Saw a lot of horse riders which are always interesting to deal with, after one exciting encounter last year I just stop and move to the side for the to ride past these days..

 

[AndyCr15]

Hope some of you chaps managed to get out as well.

I had been planning a 75 mi / 12o km ride, one of my favourite routes and the forecast had been rather nice. Then, the night before, the forecast dropped a few degrees and I was less confident. Went on a club ride to our usual destination, but had planned an alternate route to a second stop, if it was nice out. It was lovely out so I went on and did just over 100km. I thought about how shattered I felt in the aftenoon though, even compared to riding up ridiculous mountains in Gran Canaria I thought it odd. When I was playing with Gemini this morning and gave it my gpx file from the ride, it said it was no wonder I was tired. It explained, for a big guy, the repeated short climbs in this area are the hardest thing for me, repeatedly pushing my HR up over 160. I guess the comparison is, climbing up Pico de las Nieves for 4 hours, is a steady effort with a more constant HR around 130 or 140. Hertfordshire is harder than Gran Canaria. You heard it here first

 

[Junglist]

It was quite nice in Bristol on Sunday. Sunny skies but a firm 0-3 degrees. So I cycled inside and watched Constantine instead!

Out of interest. Does anyone use a completely carbon saddle? As in one with no padding at all, just bare carbon? Toying of adding one to my parts list as it looks cool and I would've thought as long as your bib shorts are comfortable and the saddle fits, it shouldn't really make much difference?

 

[grudas]

It was quite nice in Bristol on Sunday. Sunny skies but a firm 0-3 degrees. So I cycled inside and watched Constantine instead!

Out of interest. Does anyone use a completely carbon saddle? As in one with no padding at all, just bare carbon? Toying of adding one to my parts list as it looks cool and I would've thought as long as your bib shorts are comfortable and the saddle fits, it shouldn't really make much difference?

back in the day when I used to commute I had a full carbon saddle, no padding at all. It was not great and left some real chunky sores - and my arse back then was built for hours in the saddle so it really proved how crap it was.

I of course have only tried that one and maybe the shape wasn't quite right but all in, not worth it imo.