Road Cycling Essentials

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kieranv said:
That's shocking. A week or so's wait is fine, but 2?!? Especially when they have the bike in stock (unless I've read that wrong?)
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yep!

its instock (only 2 left) but needs to be "set up" but yes they have others to do first, so he said 22nd unfortuantly, i'll confirm it tommorow
 
The Secteur is the aluminium version of the carbon Roubaix.

I should imagine Sigma's workshop is pretty busy at the moment with the 2012s on sale and everyone getting their bikes in for post season fettling.

Still, two weeks on a new build is shocking.
 
So I did my first sportive yesterday, I now ache, a lot :p

http://app.strava.com/rides/24146069

I know it's not that far/quick but it was a fairly large step up for me, started cycling properly at the end of June, longest ride before yesterday being a 54.7km (iirc) so this was around double that :eek:

Glad I finished it, and kinda glad I did upgrade from the 44 to the '65' mile route, I was fine to the first food stop at around 49km, then even to the next one at 75km I wasn't doing too bad, but not far from starting out after the 75km one though my legs were just gone, and what followed was 20+km of pain and suffering :p

Now two weeks to go till the next one I've entered, which is more hilly I believe, and a choice of either 45 or 75 miles, after the pain of that I'm not really looking forward to 75 miles but surely 45 is definitely gonna be too easy now...
 
Speaking of hills, that Newbrook Rd one near us did me in today. Every time it levelled out I just saw more hill... I did manage to finish my round trip off by hammering it up the one near the cemetery though. I could barely breathe at the top of it.

Got 4th on that segment on strava though so I'm happy :D
 
Guys,
Need an advice on front lights.
Need something bright enough to see where I'm going in day hours of the day.
Thanks
 
SKILL said:
Now two weeks to go till the next one I've entered, which is more hilly I believe, and a choice of either 45 or 75 miles, after the pain of that I'm not really looking forward to 75 miles but surely 45 is definitely gonna be too easy now...
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When you lose the power in your legs very quickly the way you described, thats most likely down to running out of fuel rather than a lack of fitness.

Eat more next time and you'll be able to do 75 miles no bother.
Lots of pasta or rice the night before.
A good breakfast, but not so much that you feel bloated or ill.
Take food with you, dont just rely on the food stops. Bananas, fig rolls or proper energy bars are nice and easy to eat on the move.

Stay hydrated as well with an isotonic drink. I like to take 2 bottles, 1 with some sort of sugary energy drink (usually a high5 carb powder) and 1 with a lighter isotonic drink (nuun tablet or sometimes just plain water)
 
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VeNT said:
general opinion seems to be mudguards and wicking/quick drying material for your clothes are the best way
cheap waterproof tops make you sweat/boil etc
you're going to get wet, the important bit is trying to stay warm!
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[Damien];22913806 said:
I think the general consensus is exactly that. Just deal with it.

If it's raining you're going to get wet, and wet and cool is better than wet and too warm. Wear overshoes though because wet feet suck. Most of the water that gets your bottom half is what comes up off the floor anyway rather than from what's rained on you.

All I do apart from wear overshoes is carry a cheap waterproof jacket in my bag for when the really torrential stuff comes down.
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i see, well thats all i needed to know then! :) thanks!

I've been looking for a hybrid bike the past few days - budget max 350, best to be around 300 - only commuting nothing more :)

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pinnacle/lithium-two-2012-hybrid-bike-ec035872

this looks good + 50quid of accessories will help me get a set of mudguards and lights

anything else in that price range? don't care about suspensions and so on, just want a simple bike to do 18miles a day.
 
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Vonhelmet said:
Depends entirely on the hills. I bet if you looked hard enough you could find 45 miles that would break some of the best here.
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True, just looked at the profile and it's definitely hillier, well the 75 mile one is, the 45 mile one looks relatively light on hills really.

touch said:
When you lose the power in your legs very quickly the way you described, thats most likely down to running out of fuel rather than a lack of fitness.

Eat more next time and you'll be able to do 75 miles no bother.
Lots of pasta or rice the night before.
A good breakfast, but not so much that you feel bloated or ill.
Take food with you, dont just rely on the food stops. Bananas, fig rolls or proper energy bars are nice and easy to eat on the move.

Stay hydrated as well with an isotonic drink. I like to take 2 bottles, 1 with some sort of sugary energy drink (usually a high5 carb powder) and 1 with a lighter isotonic drink (nuun tablet or sometimes just plain water)
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I had considered that, but thought I'd done ok, here's a quick rundown of what I think I ate/drank:
Started with 2x 800ml water bottles with one nuun tablet and a high5 tablet, so no carbs just salts iirc
In the first 49km I ate one slice of banana malt loaf and an energy bar
Then at the stop a small bit of flapjack and finished off the water bottles, then made up two new ones again with no carb drink just tablets.
So I think the first segment was ok?

Then I may have made a mistake, in the next 26km I 'only' ate a slice of banana malt loaf and didn't even manage 1 full bottle.
Ate a slice of chocolate roll and half a banana, filled one bottle with energy drink this time and the other with a tablet again.

Then in the final ~34km I drank about 3/4's of both bottles, ate another energy bar and a slice of banana malt loaf.

Breakfast I struggled with as well, only managed a small bowl of muesli as I'm never up for food that soon after waking up.

I also found in the latter half of the race my knee was hurting, may need to tweak something on my setup or it's just an old motorbike injury that's not fixed right, had it once before but thought I'd got rid of it by tweaking the bike setup, but that pain made it even harder to keep going.
 
Get some gels. They'll be faster release than what you were eating. Although I suppose it depends on the type of energy bars you were eating. Carb drink is good, as well, like touch said.
 
grudas said:
i see, well thats all i needed to know then! :) thanks!

I've been looking for a hybrid bike the past few days - budget max 350, best to be around 300 - only commuting nothing more :)

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pinnacle/lithium-two-2012-hybrid-bike-ec035872

this looks good + 50quid of accessories will help me get a set of mudguards and lights

anything else in that price range? don't care about suspensions and so on, just want a simple bike to do 18miles a day.
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18 miles a day on 38c tyres will be tough. Try to look at a hybrid with maybe some 28c tyres for road use unless you are planning on commuting on bridleways etc?

I have a fuji absolute 3.0 and it's great for commuting, so something like that or one of the Boardman hybrids would be good, although that is a little over budget.
 
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