Road Cycling Essentials

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SizEzE said:
Congrats on the TT entry by the way!

I'm looking at shorter term goals of actually using the bike, improving fitness and road craft. Medium term I may look at local clubs and competitions.
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Cheers.

Join a club now and you'll come on leaps and bounds. I wish I had done it much sooner. You'll learn so much in a short space of time and your fitness will improve much quicker than if you go out on your own.

Don't worry about getting left behind, a decent club will have rides catering for everyone and they will regroup at the end of every hill or straight, it's in their interest to keep you happy and get you to join.

Also, it's much much easier to ride in a group as you will always have someone to draft.
 
Back to the subject of essentials for a moment...

Any suggestions on a seat pack with all essentials in it?
I've got one on the MTB that came with tools, tyre levers, first aid kit and inner tube.
Need one for my impending road bike now and have yet to see anything decent.
 
emetic said:
got knocked off on my commute home last night :(
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Glad to hear there was no lasting damage. Had a similar thing happen to me back when I was 17 or so. Was travelling downhill FAST and saw a woman pull out of her drive on the left.

She looked left.... then pulled out and clipped my back wheel as I was already mostly past her and I flew off. Luckily there were no cars behind me and I came out with just grazes etc.

For the life of me I still don't understand how she managed to look entirely the wrong way then pull out...
 
[DOD]Asprilla;19544294 said:
I've got a medium Fizik iPak which is big enough for a spare tube, three levers, two CO2 canisters with a CO2 pump head and a lezyne multi-tool.

I like it.
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It is specific to Fizik saddles though (got one myself)
 
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:D
 
Z6 :)

Loving it so far, I didn't think carbon would make such a huge difference to ride quality, it inspires a lot of confidence.
 
Aye I noticed the orange nipples at the last minute there and realised it can't be the F4.

Fire a nice set of mavic wheels on it and it will be quite a bit lighter and more lively.
 
Originally I ordered a Z85 but there was a mix up and there were none left in my size so I was offered a cheap upgrade to the Z6. Plus it's on cycle scheme so I didn't want to add too much.

Need to change the saddle first and not a huge fan of the micro shifts so I might change them at some point.

The Mavic cxp22 are ok, it'll mostly be used for commuting so they seem fairly robust.
 
Today I cycled 59 miles (just short of 60 :(), and I've never cycled that far, tending to cycle around 30-35 miles and that would only be once every few weeks.

I don't think I was getting sufficient energy during my ride, despite eating some snacks (probably not the right energy food), and about 15 miles away from home I suddenly had little to no energy left in my legs. I was in the countryside so I wouldn't have any easy way of getting home other than walking or finishing the cycle. At one point I was struggling to cycle on the granny ring on lowest gear. I stopped for a while in some woods by the road just to rest and eat something before continuing, and still felt very low on energy. Soon after, I reached some downhill areas which meant I went a lot faster and boosted my spirits quite a bit. Eventually I regained my energy to use my normal higher gears and covered the last 12 or so miles at a much speedier pace.

It was quite a worrying experience, and I definitely need to be more prepared next time and packing enough of the right foods to ingest on the ride.
 
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Well done indeed!!!. It can be quite amazing and a bit of an eye opener as to how physically different it is when you "up" your distance for the first few times from your normal ride length. It gets easier the more miles you munch in one go. I'm shooting for my first "ton" this year. Keep at it and again, well done for the effort involved. :)

BlackDragon said:
I definitely need to be more prepared next time and packing enough of the right foods to ingest on the ride.
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You've hit the nail square on the head there. ;)
 
You were bonking (arf) and a similar thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago. It feels terrible and takes a lot of mental strength to get through it so congrats on soldiering on :) As Draeger has quoted, it's really important to take in the energy on the ride and keep hydrated before you think you need it as well as training well.
 
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What you eat before a ride is just as important (if not more so) than the food you take with you.
You need lots of carbs:
-pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, or similar before (but not too soon before)
-cereal bars, fig rolls, bananas and similar whilst your riding.
-drink lots of water as well
Dont wait until you feel hungry or thirsty before eating/drinking. Keep yourself regularly topped up.

Its also good to take something with you to have if you do bonk. Mars bars or jelly babies are popular. I usually take a packet of jelly for emergencies. Plenty of sugar in it for a quick boost and it fits nicely in pockets/saddlebags :)
 
olv said:
Originally I ordered a Z85 but there was a mix up and there were none left in my size so I was offered a cheap upgrade to the Z6. Plus it's on cycle scheme so I didn't want to add too much.

Need to change the saddle first and not a huge fan of the micro shifts so I might change them at some point.

The Mavic cxp22 are ok, it'll mostly be used for commuting so they seem fairly robust.
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Aye the z85 is a nice bike. Z5 would have been better due to the 105 stis. Sameframe though which is uhc which is better than the older uhm.

My bosses bb shell is spinning inside his carbon fibre ar1 frame.


From what I've felt so far and what I've been told you have to refuel before you're ****ed. Feels weird to be eating when you don't feel like eating.
 
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