Road Cycling Essentials

Status
Not open for further replies.
Vonhelmet said:
Hmm, electoral roll turns up someone on my street with the right name - I hadn't thought of that! Will have to give them a knock tomorrow.
Click to expand...

No problem, some delivery companies are absolutely useless, DPD had managed to deliver it, take a photo of the house they dropped it to, and get a signature, but not bothered to leave me a card. Good luck.
 
FrenchTart said:
The ride was fun. As my friend's asthma was playing up it was nice to have an excuse to take it easy on the climbs :p

I'm only half awake. ACL?
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anterior_cruciate_ligament

Although my achilles is now feeling worse too! Hope it's just an achey leg and I twisted/pulled it when my cleat came undone a few times on the trainer - one time it did hurt so maybe that's it rather than anything else.
 
Ahh right, makes sense.

My hamstrings and arches are still knackered from going on a run almost a week ago :eek:

Ah well, a week or two of rest after today.
 
FrenchTart said:
Rose have a very good reputation so with regards to that you'll be fine.

I might be being blind (not had coffee yet) but I can't see the model of disc brake that bike has mentioned. Once you're over £1000 personally I would say you should avoid mechanical disc brakes (with the exception of hybrid mech/hydraulics, such as TRP Hy/Rds).

Also, if you're planning to ride in all weather then mudguards eyelets presumably are a priority? Does it have any?
Click to expand...

I think you can upgrade them, but yes I would go for the hydraulic systems.

I think they come with eyelets, otherwise I'm happy with my SKS mudguards I have on my non eyelet roadie.
 
J273 said:
Ive just started build on my venge, which i bought ex-shop display. Ive noticed the frame comes with no internal sleeve as per the photo to route the internal cables.

y0WbkIQl.jpg



Is this necessary or am i ok to just route the cables naked?

Thanks
Click to expand...


You thread the cable through the plastic tubing. Once the cable has emerged at the other side you can remove the plastic tube. Just do this in reverse when removing the cable.

Managed to squeeze in a measly 26 miles on Saturday. It keeps the legs moving until I'm able to find more time. A few more gym sessions this week, maybe a run, a session on the torture machine...
 
Ahhhhhh!!! I somehow misread the post :(

Well in that case. Good luck threading it without the guide. It is doable but will probably have you wanting to throw the frame out of the window. I had enough trouble threading my internal cable down the down-tube to a relatively large hole at the bottom.
 
Shadowness said:
Hi chaps, long time no see!

I'm currently debating upgrading my very worn and rather tired winter hack. I said I would always upgrade to titanium, as it's incredibly durable, doesn't rust and very comfy. I've also decided I'm getting discs too, fed up with rubbish brakes in rubbish weather.

Does anyone have, or know about Rose bikes? It's a German direct manufacturer. I've had good experience with these before as my Canyon DH bike is epic.

The price is the main plus, check out this spec for not much over a £1000:

http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/bike/rose-xeon-dx-2000-761503/aid:761505

Not sure whether carbon is worth the extra as a winter bike that literally gets ridden through all sorts of weather.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

I've had a Rose Xeon CRS 3000 for the last year and a half - can't recommend them enough. Fantastic bike that goes like stink, amazing spec for the money, customer service was faultless from start to finish. They are also quite happy to swap out anything you aren't happy with once you get your bike, provided you're ok waiting a couple of days while you send it back to them and they ship the replacement.

There's a couple of other Rose owners on here as well, so i'm sure you'll get some other positive reviews.

Roady said:
Yeah I realise I won't know much for sure until i've done one but I also don't want to rush one or do one when tired... Or will that not matter a huge amount?
Click to expand...

I would do one as soon as you can. You're kind of wasting your time on it at the moment, as you're completely guessing your effort levels - defeats the purpose really. The whole concept of trainer road doesn't work until you do your FTP test to set the levels for all your workouts.

I'd simply have an easy day or a day where you don't ride, then do the FTP test the day after. You're v unlikely to be generating levels of fatigue with the riding you currently do that would impact on the test. You just need to grit your teeth and do it.

The two biggest issues for your first test are:
- Your pacing will suck, so you will almost certainly go out way too hard and then realise 2 minutes in there's no way you can sustain it. Everyone falls for that one!
- You're not used to dealing with the level of suffering involved in riding like that. I'd say a big part of the improvements i've felt in the last year is as much do to with my understanding of quite how much hurt i can endure as it is with my actual fitness increasing. TR helps a lot with that, but the fact i ride every week with guys that are much much stronger than i am is by far the greatest motivator.
 
Last edited:
J273 said:
Ive just started build on my venge, which i bought ex-shop display. Ive noticed the frame comes with no internal sleeve as per the photo to route the internal cables.

y0WbkIQl.jpg



Is this necessary or am i ok to just route the cables naked?

Thanks
Click to expand...

If no guide tubes,one of these may help

Park tool IR-1 internal cable routing

On the phone so linking proving difficult
 
FrenchTart said:
The SKS Race Blades? I used to use them and I hated them to be honest but if you're happy them that does open your options up a lot more :)
Click to expand...

Yeh Raceblades, albeit the long versions.

Never had a problem with them. Light years ahead of the other common plastic ones that attach to the forks/seat stays. The name of which has completely escaped me!
 
tedmaul said:
I would do one as soon as you can. You're kind of wasting your time on it at the moment, as you're completely guessing your effort levels - defeats the purpose really. The whole concept of trainer road doesn't work until you do your FTP test to set the levels for all your workouts.

I'd simply have an easy day or a day where you don't ride, then do the FTP test the day after. You're v unlikely to be generating levels of fatigue with the riding you currently do that would impact on the test. You just need to grit your teeth and do it.

The two biggest issues for your first test are:
- Your pacing will suck, so you will almost certainly go out way too hard and then realise 2 minutes in there's no way you can sustain it. Everyone falls for that one!
- You're not used to dealing with the level of suffering involved in riding like that. I'd say a big part of the improvements i've felt in the last year is as much do to with my understanding of quite how much hurt i can endure as it is with my actual fitness increasing. TR helps a lot with that, but the fact i ride every week with guys that are much much stronger than i am is by far the greatest motivator.
Click to expand...

I'm certainly not used to some of the suffering I see! ;)

Is the short test really worth it? (thinking do it one evening rather than the long test which I wouldn't have time for until the weekend).

FrenchTart said:
The SKS Race Blades? I used to use them and I hated them to be honest but if you're happy them that does open your options up a lot more :)
Click to expand...

Do you still have them? I'm tempted to try a cheap/SH pair and if they don't fit my Giant no biggie. Mainly looking at them for next winter as I can't fit bigger than 25mm tyres with the ones I have...

FrenchTart said:
Ahh right, makes sense.

My hamstrings and arches are still knackered from going on a run almost a week ago :eek:

Ah well, a week or two of rest after today.
Click to expand...

The day is finally here! Good luck & enjoy the 'rest' :)

Shadowness said:
Light years ahead of the other common plastic ones that attach to the forks/seat stays. The name of which has completely escaped me!
Click to expand...

Crud Roadracers? I found them ok, the Giant specific guards I have on my Defy are ok, just damn noisy and no better than the RRM2's when it comes to keeping the water off (ie ok, but not amazing)...
 
Last edited:
Roady said:
I'm certainly not used to some of the suffering I see! ;)

Is the short test really worth it? (thinking do it one evening rather than the long test which I wouldn't have time for until the weekend).
Click to expand...

Both tests actually take 1 hour in total as theres warm up/down sections. Tbh either test is going to really hurt, but if you've never done one the 8 main test is maybe a bit easier to deal with mentally.

Keep in mind though that for the eight minutes test you have 2 x 8mins to do, whereas the 20min test is just one single effort.
 
Shadowness said:
Yeh Raceblades, albeit the long versions.

Never had a problem with them. Light years ahead of the other common plastic ones that attach to the forks/seat stays. The name of which has completely escaped me!
Click to expand...

I was tempted by the Longs but they seem to have been discontinued/not available any more so I'm stuck with the Cruds at the moment (which are the ones I presume you mean when you talk about the plastic ones?). They're better than the regular RBs but I imagine the Longs are a massive improvement.
 
Roady said:
Do you still have them? I'm tempted to try a cheap/SH pair and if they don't fit my Giant no biggie. Mainly looking at them for next winter as I can't fit bigger than 25mm tyres with the ones I have...

The day is finally here! Good luck & enjoy the 'rest' :)
Click to expand...

I can't comment on the short test but it's probably worth it.

I don't have the race blades any more I'm afraid. After destroying the paint on one of my bikes and rubbing really badly on another I threw them away :p
 
I had an awesome weekend on the bike. Saturday was a little windy, but Sunday was beautiful, sun shining all day :)

Only did just over 80km (over the two days), but I put a lot of effort in, and my legs were certainly feeling it on this morning's commute. Sunday, I went riding with a friend that I hadn't seen for 10 years. I had Strava stalked him for a few days, and to be honest was a little nervous about keeping up with him. It took a lot of energy keeping up on the flats, but no problems on the climbs. We did a climb "Old Winchester Hill", that I've heard people talking about before, but never tried it myself. It's about 4 miles only averaging 2% gradient overall, but it spiked to around 11-15% at times. My perfect kind of hill, really really enjoyed climbing it. Certainly a spot I intend to re-visit during the summer.

Bike seems a lot better now on the 25mm tyre, I had to get someone to re-adjust the front disc brake, as it was rubbing slightly. The front disc rattles a little now, which seems a bit odd, but braking doesn't seem to have been affected. I'll see how I get on over the next few days. I'm clueless when it comes to disc brakes :)

Desperate to get out on a ride again today, have really re-caught the cycling bug again, but I'm stuck at work. Although cream cakes today as it's my birthday :D The family will want to celebrate later, but I'll try and do 30mins on the turbo.

Oh by the way, I've signed up for my first sportive. 100km round the Isle of Wight, on the 4th May. My longest ride was 90km, but I did that last summer, so looks like I had better start increasing my mileage.

Hope everyone else had a good weekend.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom