Road Cycling Essentials

[sloth]

Finally got my road bike after about 4 weeks of faffing around with cycle to work stuff, a Focus Culebro 2013 (alu frame, carbon forks, compact ultegra bits).

Currently waiting on shoes, but couldn't resist a quick shot using trainers. Have only ridden mountain bikes before, so the speed it accelerates and climbs is crazy, and damn the bars are low! Brake and gear levers are a bit confusing for a total newbie too!

Going to have to order some winter gloves. My hands are particularly sensitive to the cold for some reason, and within 10 minutes they were numb. Any recommendations for a reasonably priced pair?

Obligatory daft kitchen picture:

 

[VeNT]

are rollers any better?

 

[DIABLO]

Finally got my road bike after about 4 weeks of faffing around with cycle to work stuff, a Focus Culebro 2013 (alu frame, carbon forks, compact ultegra bits).

Currently waiting on shoes, but couldn't resist a quick shot using trainers. Have only ridden mountain bikes before, so the speed it accelerates and climbs is crazy, and damn the bars are low! Brake and gear levers are a bit confusing for a total newbie too!

Going to have to order some winter gloves. My hands are particularly sensitive to the cold for some reason, and within 10 minutes they were numb. Any recommendations for a reasonably priced pair?

Obligatory daft kitchen picture:

Don't use that gear or your drivetrain won't last 5 minutes. The bike looks nice, always been fond of Focus bikes.

 

[sloth]

Noticed that after I took the picture, picked up from the shop in that gear...

 

[touch]

I did it!

I DID IT TOO!!!!

Well done guys.
Got mine finished off today as well.
Looking forward to giving the bike a break for a few days now

 

[Shadowness]

Well done!

Snap! Both my bikes are in the garage caked in mud and generally looking pretty mucky. A big cleaning session is on the cards I think.

 

[grudas]

so how do you plan your journeys? where do you go? i could simply point an arrow to the map in london and go there for the sake of it and it would be fun! but checking my phone 20 times during the journey would pee me off a bit i guess i need to get a bike mount for my s2 ?! has anyone got their phone mounted for nav?

 

[Shadowness]

I plan my routes online, I used to use MapMyRide, but it's got pretty crap recently. BikeRouteToaster seems a good alternative.

This is just to plan it, and measure the distance. I don't use GPS, I just try to remember.

Get a Garmin 805

 

[grudas]

i suppose its a bit easier to remember the route outside london and in less populated areas, but in london i find it a bit difficult to remember a long route unless i know the area and i really don't know much bar north/central/east london :/

i guess fallowing gps on a mobile phone is the easiest way to do it

 

[Thomas. PLease.]

I use GPSies.com or bikely to find new routes in my area, they both have a decent search function. Other than that I have plenty of routes in my head.

 

[R0B75]

Managed only my second ever 100k today.

Started out with bright sunshine but was very windy all day with a few heavy rain showers. It was really cold at times too. Pleased with my effort though and its given me the incentive to push towards doing 100 miles in 2013.

http://app.strava.com/activities/34761091

 

[helpimcrap]

I am jealous of these 100 milers - i will do it this year. planning a monster 200+ miles weekend including a skydive.

How often do you get punctures though for the regular 100 milers?

I went through a phase of getting 3 punctures on 3 rides in 3 bloody days! It's made me a little worried about distance rides as i had to see a mate on the last puncuture as an industrial staple went hrough the tyre and innertube!

 

[ShiWarrior]

touch wood, no punctures on my bike yet

talking of which gears not to use, i see when im on my club run, everyone uses the lower cog on the front and ALL the high cogs on the back, surely thats just going to stretch the chain out?

im always usuing the two front cogs to keep the chain level as much as possible

 

[weta]

I've really struggled with this challenge, probably won't do another until I've got my bike sorted out with some gears.

Well done to everyone who's taken part, successful or otherwise.

 

[ShiWarrior]

Done

I did pick a fairly flat route to be honest. Apart from that big climb 28 miles in, there wasn't much else challenging. Still had almost 5k ft of climbing too though, so certainly not Holland-like

I'm definitely getting quicker, and able to go for longer too. Really looking forward to doing the same sportives next year that I did this year to see the improvement.
When I did a 100k ride near the beginning of the year, I used all the food stops etc, and was pretty average. Now I could quick easily bash out a 100k ride without stopping at a respectable pace. Although getting a super aero lightweight bike may have helped a bit too lol

i think your the closesest person to me in this thread, fancy doing some sunday rides?

 

[topgun06]

touch wood, no punctures on my bike yet

talking of which gears not to use, i see when im on my club run, everyone uses the lower cog on the front and ALL the high cogs on the back, surely thats just going to stretch the chain out?

im always usuing the two front cogs to keep the chain level as much as possible

That's how I've always done it. Trying to keep the chain straight. Stretching the chain across a large distance will just wear out the links.

I see a lot of people doing it 'wrong'.

 

[explicit4u]

so how do you plan your journeys? where do you go? i could simply point an arrow to the map in london and go there for the sake of it and it would be fun! but checking my phone 20 times during the journey would pee me off a bit i guess i need to get a bike mount for my s2 ?! has anyone got their phone mounted for nav?

I'm in a similar situation, I've tried multiple times to plan a route on google maps at home and then remember it off by heart but I always end up getting lost and having to check my phone a few times and that really kills my momentum. I looked at the Garmin 800 but I couldn't justify spending £200+ so I think I'll settle for a good stem mount for my iPhone.

 

[Vonhelmet]

so how do you plan your journeys? where do you go? i could simply point an arrow to the map in london and go there for the sake of it and it would be fun! but checking my phone 20 times during the journey would pee me off a bit i guess i need to get a bike mount for my s2 ?! has anyone got their phone mounted for nav?

I ride with other people, so I pick up routes from them. Or I just explore. I usually have a rough idea of where something will come out, based on what I know of the area, so I'll just give it a punt and see where I come out. If the worst comes to the worst and I get lost or come out somewhere I'd rather not be, I'll turn round. Sometimes I look at a map to plan things out ahead of time, like there was a road that my group rides often pass, and we kept saying we should check out where it went, so I looked online and figured out where it could hook into one of our regular routes.

 

[grudas]

That's how I've always done it. Trying to keep the chain straight. Stretching the chain across a large distance will just wear out the links.

I see a lot of people doing it 'wrong'.

i only use the highest one at the front and 3-10 at the back

I'm in a similar situation, I've tried multiple times to plan a route on google maps at home and then remember it off by heart but I always end up getting lost and having to check my phone a few times and that really kills my momentum. I looked at the Garmin 800 but I couldn't justify spending £200+ so I think I'll settle for a good stem mount for my iPhone.

exactly! this is the problem with london it is confusing and spending 200-300 on a gps device is really not worth it in my eyes yet or ever really

bike mount does sound like the best option but battery life is a worry here.

 

[chanjy]

I have an Edge 705... seriously makes doing any long runs much much easier. Did 500 miles in France this summer and I only got lost once which is a miracle really!

They do cost though... but you seem pretty serious about the cycling so maybe it's worth it?