Road Cycling Essentials

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this guy just made me laugh haha..

Fixed gear (and chose the wrong one for commuting) or Leg day? :D

I love it when he overtakes you - Benny Hill much?! ;)

Red means stop ;)

/signed ;)

Although I am jealous - I'd love perfectly surfaced roads like that with a lane to myself! :(

Can see how you get your great average speeds!

Edit: Castelli Gabba 2 Convertible jacket listed as 'no longer available' on my Wiggle wish list, normal Gabba 2's are just 'out of stock'. A couple of sizes and colours left but are they phasing out the Gabba 2, or just the convertible?
 
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I always seem to be a bit thinly spread between bikes, cars, DIY etc. Do you guys have other hobbies aside from cycling or is it just cycling for you?

Cycling is my own proper hobby now, used to be triathlon but I've now moved to just focusing on cycling. Am interested in plenty of other stuff, but spend most of my spare time on cycling related things.
 
Red means stop ;)

yes it does! I do jump reds once in a while. no denying.. crossings mainly tho :)

Fixed gear (and chose the wrong one for commuting) or Leg day? :D



/signed ;)

Although I am jealous - I'd love perfectly surfaced roads like that with a lane to myself! :(

Can see how you get your great average speeds!

haha no idea! but me and my bro were both laughing as we sat behind him ;D

its only that stretch of the road, recently resurfaced! London is very random.. you've got some nice and perfect roads and then some very bad ones?!
 
It's okay Mr booyaka. This is a safe place. Feel free to tell us anything that happens to be on your mind.

:D:D

Ok - whilst we are on the subject - I've failed. Poor effort. I failed to complete/even start stage 2 of the Tour of Sufferlandria. Wife working 12 hour day shift yesterday, had 2 kids and a puppy to watch, so i'm out the tour already! Sufferlandians don't do excuses but i do!
 
:D:D

Ok - whilst we are on the subject - I've failed. Poor effort. I failed to complete/even start stage 2 of the Tour of Sufferlandria. Wife working 12 hour day shift yesterday, had 2 kids and a puppy to watch, so i'm out the tour already! Sufferlandians don't do excuses but i do!

Oops. I completely forgot that the tour was on :rolleyes: Ah well, now I can do the turbo sessions I want to do rather than be forced to do random ones :p
 
haha no idea! but me and my bro were both laughing as we sat behind him ;D

its only that stretch of the road, recently resurfaced! London is very random.. you've got some nice and perfect roads and then some very bad ones?!

When I rode through London the vast majority of road surfaces were way better than those in Manchester. Damn southerners - stealing all our tarmac :p
 
Also like fiddling with electronics/microcontrollers, got some some tiny 8 pin chips which im trying to interface with a temperature sensor and wifi module so i can check outside temperature before i go cycling.

Problem solved! ;)

Thanks for the suggestion.
Unfortunately, you're overestimating my morning willpower. A window-mounted thermometer involves getting out of bed and going to the window to check the temperature.

My wifi module can be checked on my phone from bed :p

"laziness is the mother of invention"
 
Thanks for the suggestion.
Unfortunately, you're overestimating my morning willpower. A window-mounted thermometer involves getting out of bed and going to the window to check the temperature.

My wifi module can be checked on my phone from bed :p

"laziness is the mother of invention"


Interesting. I didn't see your previous post originally but this kind of thing is something I've wanted to set up previously to monitor smoking/bbq and brewing. How far along are you? :p
 
I always seem to be a bit thinly spread between bikes, cars, DIY etc. Do you guys have other hobbies aside from cycling or is it just cycling for you?

Have majorly cut back in other areas to focus on cycling now tbh, used to be a season ticket holder up at spurs, which is a 3 hour train ride to and from, and then the game as a minimum, gave that up at end of last season, and given up with playing football now, as with cycling, don't have to rely on others to turn up, can just go and do your own thing.

Still mess about with my car and spend time on that in the summer, but have moved the majority of the time spent changing things cleaning it etc to now being on the bike or tinkering with them.
 
Interesting. I didn't see your previous post originally but this kind of thing is something I've wanted to set up previously to monitor smoking/bbq and brewing. How far along are you? :p
Not very far into it yet other than planning and buying stuff.

I have most of the parts:
  • AtTiny85 microcontroller
  • esp8266 wifi module
  • dht11 temperature+humidity sensor
Needs a battery or solar panel to power it (or, more likely, both).

I've got the attiny reading temperature from the sensor but not yet started on connecting it up to the wifi module. I'm not convinced the little microcontroller will have enough memory to handle this so i might need something a bit more powerful. We'll see how it goes, I have plenty of other controllers if I need something beefier.
 
Not very far into it yet other than planning and buying stuff.

I have most of the parts:
  • AtTiny85 microcontroller
  • esp8266 wifi module
  • dht11 temperature+humidity sensor
Needs a battery or solar panel to power it (or, more likely, both).

I've got the attiny reading temperature from the sensor but not yet started on connecting it up to the wifi module. I'm not convinced the little microcontroller will have enough memory to handle this so i might need something a bit more powerful. We'll see how it goes, I have plenty of other controllers if I need something beefier.

Sounds interesting. I wonder how well the dht11 holds up to very high RH as I could also do with something like this for a meat curing chamber.

My plan was to get sensors hooked up to an rPi or something via gpio but I never got round to getting the gear together. Part of the reason for the slightly more lazy approach was that I wanted to write a little bit of nodejs or something to keep a log of temp/humidity, possibly have triggers set to turn on/off fridge/heater/humidifier and present a simple web interface to control it.

Anyhow, I guess this is a road cycling thread so I'll shut up now :)
 
Tentatively started looking for a new bike. Really liking Merida's offerings, especially the Ride series with the dropped seatstays and the oversized headtube. Not the most competitively priced though...
 
Thanks for the suggestion.
Unfortunately, you're overestimating my morning willpower. A window-mounted thermometer involves getting out of bed and going to the window to check the temperature.

My wifi module can be checked on my phone from bed :p

"laziness is the mother of invention"

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wunderground.android.weather&hl=en ? :D

www.wunderground.com -
provides local & long range Weather Forecast, weather reports, maps & tropical weather conditions for locations worldwide.

I've always found it very accurate and was a fan before I even starting cycling. Certainly better than inbuilt android/iOS apps.
 
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Cycling is my own proper hobby now, used to be triathlon but I've now moved to just focusing on cycling. Am interested in plenty of other stuff, but spend most of my spare time on cycling related things.

And if you are anything like me, most of your spare money too!!

Grim commute home tonight in driving rain and headwind. Some days I am thankful my commute is only half an hour or so.

Cleaned my bike for the first time in ages over the weekend. Going to start keeping on top of it now and wiping it down. It needs to last as a winter and commuting bike so need to keep the salt off. Then in the summer it can watch from the stands once I get my new bike! Cannot wait for it to arrive....too excited!
 
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I always seem to be a bit thinly spread between bikes, cars, DIY etc. Do you guys have other hobbies aside from cycling or is it just cycling for you?

Photography is my main hobby which i combine at weekends with the football. Currently started to redecorate my house so my evenings will be spent doing that for the foreseeable future. I'm trying to leave Sunday open for cycling but with additional work in the form of overtime being done as well my spare time is at a premium. When the better weather hits and longer days I'll be spending it either on the bike or in the garden finishing that project off!
 
I always seem to be a bit thinly spread between bikes, cars, DIY etc. Do you guys have other hobbies aside from cycling or is it just cycling for you?

I can relate to that.

Guitar has always been my main hobby for the past 25 years - I've probably put more hours into that than anything. I used to play a lot of golf when i was a teenager but gave that up for about 15 years and then got back into it for a while maybe 8 years ago - play pretty rarely now. And always enjoyed gaming, though i get less and less time for it these days. So that's a few different hobbies to juggle.

And then i've got a gf, 2 step kids, a house, a 9-5 job with a reasonable amount of responsibility these days. It all adds up to less and less time to juggle all the things you want to do.

Since getting into cycling 3 years ago it's taken over more and more of my spare time. I'd say last year i was doing 9 or 10 hours a week average. I really enjoyed it and got into doing some more competitive stuff for the first time (and discovered i suck! :D ). But i've kind of made the decision this year that i can't dedicate as much time to it - other stuff that matters to me starts to get affected. You have less time for family, my guitar playing got a fair bit worse. I'd just rather prioritise that stuff a bit more i think.

So, plan for this year is to try and do less hours on the bike but be a bit smarter about the training i do. If i can get myself to around the level i was last year by training in a more focused way, then i'll be quite happy. But tbh i've no idea if it'll work out like that. I'm already seeing other guys i ride with knocking out massive long distance training rides that i just can't afford the time to do. So i'll just have to see how it goes really.
 
I always seem to be a bit thinly spread between bikes, cars, DIY etc. Do you guys have other hobbies aside from cycling or is it just cycling for you?

Cycling is pretty much it for me. I wasted a lot of time between the time my first child was born and hitting 40 not doing very much exercise, working and playing World of Warcraft. Then I found or rediscovered cycling. Initially it was MTB but soon I was getting my old Peugeot racer roadworthy and hitting the tarmac. Its been a great journey since then and one I am taking more seriously each year.

My kids are a bit older now but we are getting a new puppy as we lost our dog in October so that will be my other focus. Cycling has made me fitter, helped me cope with stress and anxiety, made me some new friends and given me something to spend my money on.

I have become disillusioned with Football and so cycling is my main passion in terms of participation and and viewing. I aim to spend more time riding this year but also be more disciplined in my training. It should also be a cheaper year as I don't really need any gear now. Some 50mm clinchers are in order though.

I still have a interest in tech, do a bit of gaming with my eldest daughter but cycling is my escape and helps keep me sane.
 
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