Road Cycling Essentials

SoliD · 31 Jan 2015 at 14:58

Anybody living Windsor/Ascot way, apparently Wellington Trek have Northwave Arctic boots in stock at 50% off! IF you go could you get me a set in 10s with 2 bolt cleat set up please

physichull · 31 Jan 2015 at 15:11

Vonhelmet said:
Aye, the cafe at Rufford Marina is good.

The size of the cake portions were MASSIVE!!

£2 for a massive slice of cake! I was almost tempted by a slice of lemon drizzle cake, until the guy in front of me asked for some. I just thought she would cut a slice off, but no, she just handed him this huge block of cake!

Calpol · 31 Jan 2015 at 15:28

Pretty grotty ride today. Forecast wasn't great but looking out the window things didn't look too bad. Aimed to do two hours but the last 50 minutes was in driving sleet and snow. Totally soaked and fingers were getting numb. However my turbo sessions have definitely helped as I felt stronger and ended up with a respectable 35 miles. Given the awful conditions I was happy with that.

plan another decent sweet spot session tomorrow

https://www.strava.com/activities/248475486

Thomas. PLease. · 31 Jan 2015 at 15:57

Thomas. PLease. said:
My goals for next year:

Become a Cat 3 within the first half of the year - CHECK

Go sub 22min on a 10

Get my FTP above 350w

Not sure on mileage target, will have done nearly 5000km this year, so probably more like 8000km

Buy a new road bike to replace my ageing Giant

Just checked off one of my yearly targets. Raced again today in abysmal conditions and came 2nd, enough points to move up to 3rd Cat

Not bad for January alone!

Still working on the others, FTP coming on hugely, not sure about the 10 target yet though.

Activity link for anyone interested: https://www.strava.com/activities/248557859

Will do a full race report as per on my blog shortly.

PermaBanned · 31 Jan 2015 at 15:59

Tredz are doing another "spend X amount save Y amount" thing, which would have been great for me but i can't find anywhere in Aberdeen that stocks Merida bikes that i could try...

Jimbeam3678 · 31 Jan 2015 at 16:03

SoliD said:
Tried moving the saddle forward, or tilting it backwards first? Could be incorrectly placed which will definitely cause you issues.

Reluctant to move the seat forward as its set up as per my trek bike bit. At the moment seat is dead level. What's the thought process behind titling it slightly upwards?

Thanks for your input.

PermaBanned · 31 Jan 2015 at 16:17

You don't. Level or slightly downwards in certain, very specific cases. Seat will probably move anyway when you loosen the bolt. Could be that your saddle just doesn't fit you very well. Have you tried to measure your sit bones?

Shamrock · 31 Jan 2015 at 16:17

Thomas. PLease. said:
Just checked off one of my yearly targets. Raced again today in abysmal conditions and came 2nd, enough points to move up to 3rd Cat Not bad for January alone!

Still working on the others, FTP coming on hugely, not sure about the 10 target yet though.

Activity link for anyone interested: https://www.strava.com/activities/248557859

Will do a full race report as per on my blog shortly.

Congrats!

FrenchTart · 31 Jan 2015 at 16:20

Met a friend and nipped out for a quick spin: https://www.strava.com/activities/248571261

Didn't eat enough last night or on the ride (we couldn't find anywhere to get food for ages at one point). Combined with the headwind it was pretty horribly slow and hard work.

Jimbeam3678 · 31 Jan 2015 at 17:03

PermaBanned said:
You don't. Level or slightly downwards in certain, very specific cases. Seat will probably move anyway when you loosen the bolt. Could be that your saddle just doesn't fit you very well. Have you tried to measure your sit bones?

Taking my new bike in for a free service next monday so I'll see if they have a sit bone measurement thing.

Like I say been happening for 2 years or so , thought my skin would "man up" but clearly not

So too be clear your seat should be either level or slightly pointing nose down ?

FrenchTart · 31 Jan 2015 at 17:09

In 99% of cases completely level.

Roady · 31 Jan 2015 at 17:17

Vonhelmet said:
So, I had another bang on the turbo. Good grief, it's boring and terribly hard work.

I had another go at driving my heart rate up. I got to 193bpm. Last time I was worried about the bike wobbling so this time I upped the resistance rather than increasing cadence and that worked a lot better.

Edit: nm, need to work out my zones properly. Need to test my resting heart rate properly.

Looks good but your cadence seems low, was that intentional? My cadence goes all over the place on the trainer unless I'm trying to sweet-spot lol

Phil99 said:
As a gesture of goodwill for the wait, Giant sent upgraded forks and a new carbon seatpost. The upgraded forks were full carbon Overdrive 2 with 15mm thru-axle instead of Overdrive 1 carbon fork/alloy steerer and quick release. The LBS weren't exactly happy that I would end up with a mismatching colour scheme if we used the existing fork to be able to use my existing wheel, so that meant:

<snip>

Fortunately, the LBS were excellent and supplied all of the parts/labour free of charge! Just spent the morning installing compressionless cables for the disc brakes and re-indexing the gears. Running perfectly again now Not surprisingly the guy at the LBS said he would be happy if he never saw that bike again

Sounds like you had a result even with the hassle, I'm reassured now with my Defy 1 after hearing how good Giant were! Hats off to the LBS too, sounds like a good helpful one!

physichull said:
Club ride was good in the end, if a little bit Arctic!

Started off cold and got warm once we got going. Everybody splits out a little bit on the hills but gathers at the top then goes on again. Good news is that I wasn't the slowest rider out there with two others a distance slower than me (which was a relief if I'm being honest!).

Café stop offered some welcome respite from the biting icy cold wind and gorged myself on a massive bar of red berry granola which certainly boosted me for the return leg. Wouldn't have lasted otherwise. Was horrible walking out the door of the café (which offered some amazing cakes!) as it was so frickin' cold! Then we had to pose for a bit of a Strava photo, all stood over our bikes shivering!

Good return leg and felt strong in the end. Could have done another 20 km without an issue but I was glad to get home. My legs feel it a little bit and the rest will do me good, as did the chunky vegetable and leek soup I had when I got home!

In all, 82 km and 650 m elevation.

Nice ride and well done! Post the pic!

I've chickened out of riding today, intensionally as my quads are tired from commuting in those headwinds. Took our dog out with some friends for a long walk so my 'rest' day hasn't been lazy... Unsure what I'm going to do tomorrow as can't start on TR yet (waiting for ANT+ USB to arrive). I have a PC rebuild for a friend and my missus' laptop to sort out (what I'll be using for TR and I'm not convinced it'll be man enough for it :rolleyes). Anyone with any ideas on minimum spec for it?

SoliD · 31 Jan 2015 at 17:37

Jimbeam3678 said:
Reluctant to move the seat forward as its set up as per my trek bike bit. At the moment seat is dead level. What's the thought process behind titling it slightly upwards?

Thanks for your input.

You said you're slipping forward. It just sounds as tho the saddle is in the completely wrong position from the way you're describing things to me.

Vonhelmet · 31 Jan 2015 at 17:57

Roady said:
Looks good but your cadence seems low, was that intentional? My cadence goes all over the place on the trainer unless I'm trying to sweet-spot lol

Cadence was probably low because I absolutely destroyed myself getting my heart rate up so high and then had to recover at like 60rpm for a while haha!

FrenchTart · 31 Jan 2015 at 18:03

Vonhelmet said:
Cadence was probably low because I absolutely destroyed myself getting my heart rate up so high and then had to recover at like 60rpm for a while haha!

Your cadence doesn't look that bad to me. Obviously could be higher but as you said - you were trying to use high resistance to push yourself without spinning like crazy.

tedmaul's suggestion for Trainer Road is a good one btw

But I'm not sure if your turbo will work very well with it.

Vonhelmet · 31 Jan 2015 at 18:12

FrenchTart said:
Your cadence doesn't look that bad to me. Obviously could be higher but as you said - you were trying to use high resistance to push yourself without spinning like crazy.

tedmaul's suggestion for Trainer Road is a good one btw But I'm not sure if your turbo will work very well with it.

I'm planning to sell my turbo sometime in February to fund the single speed bike I'm building. By that stage I'll be able to ride outside much more often, so won't be needing it on those grounds. I'll then pick up a decent fluid one in autumn and get into it more seriously then. I think this year I'll work on training with my heart rate monitor and see how that works. Money money money... It's expensive this cycling lark!

FrenchTart · 31 Jan 2015 at 18:33

Vonhelmet said:
I'm planning to sell my turbo sometime in February to fund the single speed bike I'm building. By that stage I'll be able to ride outside much more often, so won't be needing it on those grounds. I'll then pick up a decent fluid one in autumn and get into it more seriously then. I think this year I'll work on training with my heart rate monitor and see how that works. Money money money... It's expensive this cycling lark!

Sounds like a good plan. As you say, it's getting lighter now and hopefully we'll all be able to get out a lot more in the coming months. Save the turbo stuff for when it's dark and miserable out there

I know what you mean about the expense...I'm still eyeing up that 4iiii power meter. I need someone I know to get one first so I can find out whether or not it's rubbish

grudas · 31 Jan 2015 at 19:10

looked alright while the rear had some air in it! until it decided to just go "meh" and went poof while standing lol.

how do you guys keep your bright tape clean? white/black? I can sorta get it clean-ish with "wonder wipes" but it wont ever go back to bright red it was..

SoliD · 31 Jan 2015 at 19:21

grudas said:
looked alright while the rear had some air in it! until it decided to just go "meh" and went poof while standing lol.

how do you guys keep your bright tape clean? white/black? I can sorta get it clean-ish with "wonder wipes" but it wont ever go back to bright red it was..

Retape every 5 minutes...

6thElement · 31 Jan 2015 at 19:26

Use black and not care until I've worn it through.