Road Cycling Essentials

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Have been thinking about my goals for 2013. I really want to do the Etape, but we've just bought a new house and money seems to be escaping my fingers like water at the moment - have any of you done it?

Looks epic. The sort of ride you could do once in your life and be happy.
 
Right, two punctures in two journeys = time for a knee-jerk reaction. I was going to wait until these tyres were worn out but they've got to go. I never pay attention to the posts on tyres so I can't remember if we ever reached a consensus on this one? Best for winter puncture protection? It's for the commuter, so lightness is not a priority. I'll probably step over to a 25mm as well, while I'm at it.

Just as a warning to people: Michelin Pro 3's at the moment, both punctures in different places from different stretches of road, similar small sharp piece of sand-like debris, basically the signature puncture in these tyres...
 
George Hincapie said:
Have been thinking about my goals for 2013. I really want to do the Etape, but we've just bought a new house and money seems to be escaping my fingers like water at the moment - have any of you done it?

Looks epic. The sort of ride you could do once in your life and be happy.
Click to expand...
The owner of the company I work for did it last year. He says that he was under prepared for it, and wishes he had gotten more training in, but he was surprised by just how hot it was. He said it was one of those things that he's glad he did, but would never do it again. I suspect you would fare better considering how often you ride, however. How much would it cost to do it? Would you insist on having a new bike for it? ;)

Jonny69 said:
Right, two punctures in two journeys = time for a knee-jerk reaction. I was going to wait until these tyres were worn out but they've got to go. I never pay attention to the posts on tyres so I can't remember if we ever reached a consensus on this one? Best for winter puncture protection? It's for the commuter, so lightness is not a priority. I'll probably step over to a 25mm as well, while I'm at it.
Click to expand...
As far as I am concerned, when it comes to commuting, it's all about the Schwalbe Marathon Supreme. I had them in 700x32c on my Pompetamine, which did about 4000km in two years with just a couple of punctures - one of which was caused by a shard of glass that would have cut any tyre. I have them in 700x35c on my current commuter bike, not had any punctures despite running over a lapel pin than somebody had discarded into the road. I simply pulled the pin out and kept riding; I'm fairly confident that a lesser tyre would have failed to prevent the pin penetrating the inner tube. You know the sort of roads I ride on, so you should have a good idea of how resistant these tyres are.

I concede that they are pretty expensive, but they last ages (some people get 10,000km out of them) and have great puncture resistance and grip. No 25mm version, but you can get them in 28mm which is still pretty slim.
 
George Hincapie said:
Have been thinking about my goals for 2013. I really want to do the Etape, but we've just bought a new house and money seems to be escaping my fingers like water at the moment - have any of you done it?

Looks epic. The sort of ride you could do once in your life and be happy.
Click to expand...

We should all make a note of our goals for the coming year... Then we can look back on them in a year's time and see how we've got on against them!

I think I'm going to be aiming for...

  • 3000 miles in the year
  • 100,000 feet in the year
  • At least one period of 28 days where I've climbed over 10,000 feet
  • At least one ride of at least 100km
 
I want to get on the track more next year, but it might be a bit tricky now I've moved away from Herne Hill.
 
George Hincapie said:
Have been thinking about my goals for 2013. I really want to do the Etape, but we've just bought a new house and money seems to be escaping my fingers like water at the moment - have any of you done it?

Looks epic. The sort of ride you could do once in your life and be happy.
Click to expand...

Etape is for beginners. Marmotte is what I'm looking at.

However, it won't be 2013. I too have just bought a new house and I'm trying not to think about the size if the mortgage repayments at the moment. Also, May 15th should bring yet more tangible proof that sitting on a hard saddle for hours on end in inclement weather doesn't negatively affect your fertility.

So, no jollies for me until 2014.
 
Vonhelmet said:
We should all make a note of our goals for the coming year... Then we can look back on them in a year's time and see how we've got on against them!

I think I'm going to be aiming for...

  • 3000 miles in the year
  • 100,000 feet in the year
  • At least one period of 28 days where I've climbed over 10,000 feet
  • At least one ride of at least 100km
Click to expand...

Go to the Alps and you can knock off those last two goals in one ride. :)
 
Goals for 2013

  • More miles than 2012
  • Take part in more Road Races, Time Trials and Crits
  • Take part in as many Sportives as possible
  • Ride more then 100km in a single ride
  • Do a lap of the Island (Guernsey) in under an hour (22.4 mile ride)
  • Get my weight down to 14.5 stone or less
 
Tyres:
Road Bike: Conti GP 4000s 25mm
Commuter: Conti 4 Seasons 25mm

I haven't really thought about next years goals too much yet, previous goals have been to simply do more miles than the year before.

However I've started taking cycling much more seriously this year and certainly have some aspirations which I'm considering:

London to Paris 24hr: http://www.london2paris24.com/
Etape: http://www.etape-cymru.co.uk/
End to End.

Otherwise beyond doing more miles again my main goal is to ride a double century.
 
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Just finished my final riding goal for the year yesterday.

For the last few years my target has been a century each month, yesterday I hit the bakers dozen. The previous two years I'd injured myself late in the summer to miss my goal. My 8th road century yesterday combined with 5 mountain bike centuries met my target :)

Yesterday was tough, I'd done a hard 45 mile SS MTB ride on Saturday and my legs didn't want to work. Temperature hovering around 2C and fog making visibility about 50 yards and I was thinking for safety I might quit and head home. I plugged on made it through, simple out and back ride to a mountain peak 50 miles from home :)

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/248783948
 
My 2013 goals are:

- 5000 miles. I should crack 3000 miles this year, 5k might be tricky as I travel abroad so much, but it's not called a challenge for nothing!

- Enter as many sportives as I can. Already booked into 2, I did the same ones last year so hopefully I'll beat my past times.

- Stop spending crap loads of money on cycling paraphernalia! I've spent enough this year, so only the essentials next year.
 
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