Road Cycling Essentials
- Thread starter Matutu
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If one was to look to replace some fair weather work commuting drives with some rides, where would be a good place to look? Had a quick scout on Evans cycles etc and besides a few older models, the starting price seems to be around £500 and then need to buy pedals and all the rest of the gear. Is this really going to be my starting price, other than second-hand?
Yeah.. You can get good starters bikes for 300-400, merlins bike for e.g or felt f95..
How far are you planning on cycling?
Commute is around 6 miles each way (Newton-le-Willows to St. Helens if anyone knows the area) so it's relatively flat. If I had a bike though I'd probably go on a few weekend rides with friends etc. It's not going to be heavy mileage initially.
Soldato
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Ha! That's like 2 miles from me, I live in Lowton.
Soldato
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Icy and very foggy and barely above freezing here!
Seems like its all I'm talking about at the moment, but its bloody depressing.
Man of Honour
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Looks like it's raining and/or light snow outside. Also stayed up a bit late and drank too much beer last night. Damn socialising getting in the way of my training 
Hello, sir! I'll probably need to find a few cyclists around here to give me motivation as I don't know any. I've got a friend who's thinking of getting a road bike too but that's it
Planning some 'threshold efforts' on the turbo today as it's too chilly here to get out today.
Found this whilst browsing and was going to follow it, as I now have a HRM & SC sensors.
Would appreciate any thoughts of suggestions for other suitable programs.
Found this whilst browsing and was going to follow it, as I now have a HRM & SC sensors.
Would appreciate any thoughts of suggestions for other suitable programs.
Not far from me - I'm in Atherton. I ride down your way from time to time - lots of flat country that way - and I ride North a lot to get to the hills.
For 6 miles pretty much any bike will do. In terms of road bikes, the felt z95 was the best bet last time we looked at this. It costs about £420 at wiggle, which is a great price. Decathlon is worth a look as well.
Associate
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Managed to get out this morning for a spin, didn't anticipate how much that fall had knocked my confidence, I didn't dare put any speed into corners and couldn't even get out of the saddle in the climbs as I felt unstable.
Got better towards the end, took the "killer" corner at about 5mph and was giggling to myself like a lune whilst doing it.
Got better towards the end, took the "killer" corner at about 5mph and was giggling to myself like a lune whilst doing it.
Tell me about it! I'm slowly gaining my confidence back! But it's been like 2+ months!! And I'm still slow as hell in wet.
Underboss
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managed 20 miles today
before that was last Wednesday was out before that was Sunday, before that was 2 weeks so I still haven't got fitness
weather better get better next week or im going to cry
before that was last Wednesday was out before that was Sunday, before that was 2 weeks so I still haven't got fitness
weather better get better next week or im going to cry
Bennyc said:
So this was interesting.
Made it up to the final 6 sprints @ 90/95% max HR which should have been 185BPM (based on a 220bpm - 25 (age) ), my right calf was cramping despite having had a good meal 90 minutes before and taken on two electrolyte tabs in my fluid throughout the session. My conditioning for cycling is improving but solid pedaling with no freewheeling was quite demanding.
I couldn't even get my HR up to 85-90% / 175BPM on the 2 minute tripples despite trying my best my quads were just giving up on me. Highest I saw was 170BPM briefly on one of the 2m efforts.
So managed a single flat out effort right at the end and then a nice long warm down.
I did train yesterday (assistance work for powerlifting) and end up doing some Atlas Stones at the GymRatz meet
....I took my Resting Heart Rate earlier in the week which came back at 38/39 BPM, perhaps my max HR is not as high as I think? I have done a lot of HIIT work on rowers/prowlers etc in the past (and despite very little cardio the intensity of my lifting is quite aerobic) or my lactate threshold is just not conditioned for cycling (believe me I can handle high volume & intense leg workouts) but this is a different kettle of fish for me with sustained lactate.
I will wear my HRM for some working sets in the gym and see how my heart rate compares...
Stopped during my warm up to pee
and then occasionally throughout to stretch my calf. Cadence dropped a few times when I stood for a little just to help circulation or fiddled with my screen.https://www.strava.com/activities/242770312
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/676651907
Calorie burn seems fairly accurate...
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I'm not convinced by your maths
That is just a rough guide anyway, you cant really use it to work out your hr zones/percentages from it. You really need to do a max HR test first.
I'm 26 and my max is 182bpm. That's around 7% difference from when I use the 220-age formula, which is quite a big difference when you're trying to work to a specific zone.
'220 - age' is pretty much meaningless - everyone is different. It would have my max hr at 182, when that's actually what i'd average over a 10 mile TT. I've seen my hr hit 195 on the road before. So my training zones would be way off if i used that formula.
You really need to do a test and set your hr zones based on that.
EDIT: (or just listen to touch
)Anyway, pretty snowy up here but i'm driving myself mental staring at the wall on the turbo so decided to head out anyway. Main roads weren't actually too bad so got 30 miles in and a wee first test of the new Garmin:
https://app.strava.com/activities/242785156
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