Road Cycling Essentials

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physichull said:
Interesting article on climbing here:

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/11/how-to-become-a-better-climber/

Points immediately to lack of strength in glutes and poor core strength (both of which were the primary things that the bike fit guy picked up on straight away).

Anybody got any good exercises to strengthen/work the glutes, without the use of a swiss ball?

Also, I virtually never ride out of the saddle (i.e. stood up on the pedals). I only ever do this as a last resort when climbing, but once I've done that I wear out pretty quickly. Would anyone recommend cycling out of the saddle more on my rides? By that, I don't mean, just to go faster, moreover, just maintaining a gentle speed but out of the saddle and in a slightly harder gear?
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One legged squats.
Bridges
Resistance band exercises
http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/noglutes.html
http://m.runnersworld.com/workouts/glute-strength
 
physichull said:
Von - not sure about Tuesday night yet as I am not sure whether I will be away (work). I can't usually do Wednesdays (cinema night with the Mrs) or Thursdays (pub quiz night) though.
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No worries. I'm usually out twice in the weekday evenings and one morning at the weekend, so I'm sure we can sort something out sometime. I'm usually out Monday and Wednesday, but it depends on what else is going on and what the wife is up to. Let me know about this tuesday, otherwise I'll give you a shout for next week.
 
physichull said:
Interesting article on climbing here:

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/11/how-to-become-a-better-climber/

Points immediately to lack of strength in glutes and poor core strength (both of which were the primary things that the bike fit guy picked up on straight away).

Anybody got any good exercises to strengthen/work the glutes, without the use of a swiss ball?

Also, I virtually never ride out of the saddle (i.e. stood up on the pedals). I only ever do this as a last resort when climbing, but once I've done that I wear out pretty quickly. Would anyone recommend cycling out of the saddle more on my rides? By that, I don't mean, just to go faster, moreover, just maintaining a gentle speed but out of the saddle and in a slightly harder gear? Maybe for a minute at a time twice on my commute and see how it goes?
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For all of the stuff mentioned in that article you can cure it by starting a decent beginner's gym routine. I started stronglifts in Februrary 2013 and it massively improved my riding by improving my core strength and abilities with regards to muscle activation. My average speeds on Strava might not look great but a lot of the time I'm leisure riding with friends :p I'm not a racer by any means of course but I don't get the same aches and pains that I used to get and I can do a fair few miles without parts of my body feeling like they're about to fall off.

If you're serious about doing any kind of strength building definitely go for a functional strength routine.
 
recommend me a set of clipless pedals and shoes? for £70 or under ?

will be used for commuting so need to be easy/fast to clip in/out.
 
grudas said:
recommend me a set of clipless pedals and shoes? for £70 or under ?

will be used for commuting so need to be easy/fast to clip in/out.
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I have just moved from Shimano mtb shoes and SPD pedals to Look Keo classic road pedals and Shimano R088 shoes - i really like the Look pedals and the shoes are not as hard to walk in as i imagined!

Look keo classic and DHB road shoes or Shimano R064 could be had for £70ish - even less for a set of mtb shoes and pedals.
 
Dont know why but ended up looking at disc road/cross bikes today for wet weather/winter use, only those with mudguard mounts though.

Narrowed it down to;

Rose Pro DX 4400 with SRAM Force 22;
http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/bike/ros...-Sj01-Sj02-Sj05-leW2-leW3-qzlj-qzlk-qzll-qzlm

Cannondale Synapse Disc 3 with Ultegra 6800;
http://www.evanscycles.com/products...sc-3-ultegra-2014-road-bike-ec054415#features

Rose is about 1kg lighter and the spec can be tailored quite a lot! Both are £1400.
Some 27mm wide chinese carbon clinchers with GP4000S II 28c and all would be sweet.
 
InQ said:
Dont know why but ended up looking at disc road/cross bikes today for wet weather/winter use, only those with mudguard mounts though.

Narrowed it down to;

Rose Pro DX 4400 with SRAM Force 22;
http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/bike/ros...-Sj01-Sj02-Sj05-leW2-leW3-qzlj-qzlk-qzll-qzlm

Cannondale Synapse Disc 3 with Ultegra 6800;
http://www.evanscycles.com/products...sc-3-ultegra-2014-road-bike-ec054415#features

Rose is about 1kg lighter and the spec can be tailored quite a lot! Both are £1400.
Some 27mm wide chinese carbon clinchers with GP4000S II 28c and all would be sweet.
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Did you notice that Canyon do CX bikes now?
£1500 with ultegra 11s
£1250 with 105
 
I've got a goal set. Apart from getting fit from this cycling malarky I'm also wanting to get out and about to take more landscape photographs.

The route I'm aiming for is this one (hopefully I've got the link ok!)

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?sadd...ZAMdJIDT_w&t=h&dirflg=b&mra=ltm&z=11&lci=bike

Its been years since i was last out there but I know its up up and more up so despite not being too far away its going to be a tough journey to get where i want to be!
 
Derek W said:
I've got a goal set. Apart from getting fit from this cycling malarky I'm also wanting to get out and about to take more landscape photographs.

The route I'm aiming for is this one (hopefully I've got the link ok!)

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?sadd...ZAMdJIDT_w&t=h&dirflg=b&mra=ltm&z=11&lci=bike

Its been years since i was last out there but I know its up up and more up so despite not being too far away its going to be a tough journey to get where i want to be!
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I can't comment on the route itself, but for planning routes, ridewithgps is pretty excellent.
 
My 2cents on the climbing convo, agreeing with everyone that says core fitness and doing hill repeats is the only way, doing squats massively improved my avg speed on rides (well I say massively but it definitely helped) but climbing still sucks due to core fitness

my lungs/aerobic system give up on climbs way before my legs get the chance too, and it seems (to me anyway) training core/aerobic system is the most difficult/time consuming

especially if you dont have access to a gym/pool
 
Vonhelmet said:
I can't comment on the route itself, but for planning routes, ridewithgps is pretty excellent.
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Cheers for the link, need to get a GPS thingymabob as well :p. Most of the journey is country road, its just the last part which is essentially farm track to Loch Lee that I wont be able to take the bike.
 
Who was it that built a bike using chinese components (frame and wheels)? I'm being dumb and failing to find the previous posts...

I'm not getting anything particularly soon but my weight goal is actually in sight and once I hit it I'm considering moving from my super heavy wheels to some shiny carbon ones from China...
 
How tight does the top bit of my headset need to be down on the headtube? I've noticed there's a bit of a gap there. Not massive, but enough for me to get my fingernail in. Is that a problem? If so, what do I do about it? I don't have a headset press, funnily enough, and I don't even know how to get a fork out of a headset, come to that. A job for the LBS, perhaps? Or do I just need to tighten the bolt in the top cap?
 
a gap is often caused by a weather seal somewhere, as long as you're tightening the top cap and theres no play in the fork you're fine
 
Vonhelmet said:
How tight does the top bit of my headset need to be down on the headtube? I've noticed there's a bit of a gap there. Not massive, but enough for me to get my fingernail in. Is that a problem? If so, what do I do about it? I don't have a headset press, funnily enough, and I don't even know how to get a fork out of a headset, come to that. A job for the LBS, perhaps? Or do I just need to tighten the bolt in the top cap?
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Hold the front brake and rock the bike back and forth, there shouldn't be any play really. If there is, nip the cap bolt up. If there's still play might be new headset time.
 
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