Road Cycling Essentials

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Vonhelmet said:
Are you commuting to and from Manchester? What route do you take from Atherton to Manchester? How long does it take you?
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It's not Manchester, it's Warrington I commute to. It's bang on 13.5m according to google. There are routes that'd be shorter but they involve some dodgy roundabouts. I take the route through Leigh and Culcheth and past the prison. It used to take me 50 mins to an hour on my mtb. 41 mins is my fastest now on my cx bike.
 
[Damien];22862957 said:
It's not Manchester, it's Warrington I commute to. It's bang on 13.5m according to google. There are routes that'd be shorter but they involve some dodgy roundabouts. I take the route through Leigh and Culcheth and past the prison. It used to take me 50 mins to an hour on my mtb. 41 mins is my fastest now on my cx bike.
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Ah. I'm wondering about cycling into Manchester from time to time and want to find a route that doesn't involve (much of) the A580.
 
Vonhelmet said:
I think I'll be buying a trainer next year if I can. Is it the kind of thing you can buy second hand?
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I hope so. Just exchanged contracts on a new house today and I've already planned the garage as my man cave / turbo dungeon. I was going to ask if anyone had any recommendations for a trainer under £300, be that brand new or second hand.
 
Got my Aldi haul today

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Never actually been in an Aldi before. Felt a bit like a Racoon pawing through the sale bins which seemed to have no logic to the contents.

Had fun with the red winter jersey, I wanted a size small and as I was looking a store worker came over with a customer on the phone wanting exactly the same. I managed to grab the last one before he saw it :D Moral - Do your own shopping

I then had a blond moment where having got the cycling stuff I spent a couple of mins figuring where in town I could go to get some chicken as I couldn't remember seeing a supermarket anywhere!

Went for a 20 mile ride when I got back but it was too warm to try any of the new stuff out. First time this year I wanted it to be colder.
 
I honestly don't mind the rain, even heavy rain doesn't put me off. In fact I kinda like riding in it when it happens. As long as you have half decent kit on it can actually be quite fun and interesting.

The wind though.......now that's another matter entirely. My ride in to work in the morning is always accompanied by a WSW coming from behind me which is nice. However on the way home I get the same wind full in the face. Give me a calm day with torrential rain as opposed to a perfectly dry day with strong winds any day of the week. ;)

Tomorrow mornings commute looks sweet. 12mph WSW wind, dry all day. Lovely. Looking forward to it as I didn't manage to commute to work at all last week. :cool:


Vonhelmet said:
I think I'll be buying a trainer next year if I can. Is it the kind of thing you can buy second hand?
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There are usually a few for sale on the 'bay or in the Classified sections on Bike Radar or Cyclechat.

Be aware though, trainers aren't for everyone no matter how good an idea it would appear to be. I bought a Tacx Flow a couple of years ago, blew over £300 on it thinking it was the answer to my winter ride withdrawals. It wasn't. I found it boring as hell and it didn't help that every time I wanted to use it I had to drag the thing out and set it up as I had nowhere to leave it all set up for use (which I think was half the battle to be honest). I used it about 6 times and it's been in the loft ever since. I keep meaning to fetch it out again and give it another chance, maybe this year I will depending on how the weather goes.
 
Draeger said:
Be aware though, trainers aren't for everyone no matter how good an idea it would appear to be. I bought a Tacx Flow a couple of years ago, blew over £300 on it thinking it was the answer to my winter ride withdrawals. It wasn't. I found it boring as hell and it didn't help that every time I wanted to use it I had to drag the thing out and set it up as I had nowhere to leave it all set up for use (which I think was half the battle to be honest). I used it about 6 times and it's been in the loft ever since. I keep meaning to fetch it out again and give it another chance, maybe this year I will depending on how the weather goes.
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Cheers, I'll keep that in mind.

Maybe I'll feel happier about going out in the evenings once my brighter lights turn up.
 
I was about to say thet the flow looks like the one I'll end up with.

I should be able to leave the carbon bike on there all winter in the garage. I'm keeping an old TV and a cheap DVD in there as well to keep me entertained.
 
[DOD]Asprilla;22863190 said:
I was about to say thet the flow looks like the one I'll end up with.

I should be able to leave the carbon bike on there all winter in the garage. I'm keeping an old TV and a cheap DVD in there as well to keep me entertained.
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Get a Go-Pro and record some routes and play them back to yourself :D
 
Just been to aldi and picked up another set of reflectors and a set of lights. That front light's well bright. It's easily as bright as the cateye one I've already got on it.
 
Thought we had reached spring, gone from 27c on Friday, to a high of 14c today....

Plus 32mm of rain and wind up to 50kmh....

I managed a short ride, had to force myself out as have been away working this week so no ride time.

Looking at the Garmin Edge 500s. Is it worth the extra for the HRM/Cadence sensors, and if so, the standard HRM or "Premium" one for an extra £25 or so?
 
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[Damien];22862173 said:
Someone spec me a decent GPS bike computer. Not fussy about GPS directions. Just want one that records GPS well, and has HR and cadence sensors.
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I've been really happy with my Bryton Rider 40. I haven't used a Garmin unit but this seems to me to have all the features of the 500 (more actually if you include the training routines loaded onto it) and vastly cheaper. Evans are doing them for £110 at the moment with no HRM or Cadence but mine actually included HRM, so £30 for a Cadence sensor (a Garmin one as they are better than the bundled Bryton ones which only do speed OR cadence, not both), and I'll have the whole lot for £140 which is significantly cheaper than the Edge 500.

The web-based software is not as good as Garmin's but still very useful if a little clunky. Displays loads of information about the rides, routing works well, and uploads directly to Strava as well now.

I'd buy one again for sure.
 
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