Road Cycling Essentials

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[DOD]Asprilla;26459270 said:
How are you putting pressure on the crank?

I get on the bike, apply rear brake and then stand on the right pedal.

Bingo.
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I'll give that a go. I just get incredibly frustrated with it because it seems a far more difficult system than it should be!
 
So I didn't go out yesterday, but I made sure I went out this morning
and I pushed the boat out that little further, and I ended up doing 40 miles today

4 rides this week, all around 30/35 miles except today

I shall keep doing 40 miles at a time now for a couple of weeks before going up to 45

I am getting closer to that magic 50 again

http://app.strava.com/activities/153779169
 
I bought some off brand Kmc link joiner/separator pliers on eBay for like £9, rather than spending that much on a tool for each job at Evans. I've not used them yet, but they look ok.

I'm at my parents for fathers' day, and my mum has dug out my sister's old skipping rope for my girls to play with, so of course I've had a go. How is it I can drag my ass up 1100ft of hill on a bike but jumping ten times in a row leaves me totally out of breath?! Ridiculous.

In related news, I've weighed myself on my parent's scales - we don't have any at my house - and I'm down to 73kg. I'd like to get to 70kg and maybe beyond, but we'll see. I'm 5'7" or so which is the same height as Purito, but I don't think I'll get down to his reported 57kg :eek:
 
'interesting day out' today.

about 50 miles (mine says 47 others say 52) this morning non stop except when we got to the top of the hill to come back down. 17mph + pace with lots of hills and a 45mph top speed.
Someone said I was a stronger rider but I didn't feel it today - legs were burning on climbs which annoyed me as my diet must have been wrong because I can go quicker than that one my own.
Also snapped a pedal again (2 Left ones in 2 days on both bikes!) so couldn't clip in. 25 miles home trying not to lose grip on left pedal and throw myself off bike.
And chain came off after about 5 mins this morning too....

BUT the great thing about today was I chose the faster non-stop group because they were doing routes used for hill climbs and I wanted to test out my new bars and effects on my shoulder. Little bit of pain but could still look over shoulder and do everything normal riders do!! SO CHUFFED!

Going back to Cat1 Cycling to report my findings and how much they've helped me with their 'out of the box' thinking about my 'disabilities'. (I will never consider myself to have a disability because it's not right in my eyes but limited arm movement has meant having extra time trial bars fitted as a very successful element and now having my knee rebuilt and all my big bones broken means my foot is turned in ever so slightly when I'm pushing on which has resulted in 2x left pedals snapping this week!) They tried various items in their shop on my bike to get a more exact idea of what they think would help and that was exactly the kind of help I needed!
 
London to brighton was good. Surprised just how much variation there was in bikes, from rusty old single speeds to very nice looking TT bikes with deep section wheels.

Ditchling beacon wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. About as steep as I could comfortably manage but I expected it to be a longer climb tbh. Managed 50.8mph going down the other side :D
 
Well I'm going away to visit a friend in Biddulph next weekend and just looked at the potential for taking my bike. Saw Mow Cop was near but somehow I think there is NO WAY that I could get up there. That's some steep shizz. Thinking of just cycling to Biddulph from my house instead and side stepping the stupidity!
 
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Trossachs Ton for me today:

http://app.strava.com/activities/153840466

105 miles and 6700ft of climbing in a touch over 6 hours, no stops.

Was hard work at times, not done anything like that distance this year so far as i've been concentrating on shorter and faster rides.

Enjoyed the climbing, but most of the flat seemed to be into the wind. Longline out of Stirling was good, Crow Road i've done a few times before, though i prefer it from the other side. My first time up the Dukes Pass today - and they made us do it twice just for good measure. I really loved that one, though the second time round was tough. The descent is amazing.

I could feel myself starting to bonk about 20 miles from the end, so slugged a couple of gels which just about got me home. Thankfully got in a wee through-and-off with two other folk doing the shorter route about 10 miles from home and that saved me tbh. I'd been pretty much on my own for the previous 90 miles to that point.

All in though, a really well organised Sportive and a cracking day out.
 
Typical, went out today for a little recovery ride after yesterdays excursions, took it easy on the way out aiming to do 35 or so miles, averaged just over 15 on the way out, with a bit of a headwind, turned to come back on the flat, and caught up with a guy on a lovely Cervelo S3.

Had a bit of a chat and said I'd let him crack on as I wanted to ease up, he bloody replied it's ok I'll ease up, gradually pace upped as we chatted away, and he showed me some new routes back, finished up with 48 miles at 16.8 mph in the end! Far too long, not very recovery esque, but he did say his carbon clinchers from farsports were very good! Considering the rest of the gear he had it was quite an endorsement.
 
Vonhelmet said:
I had a dream last night about having to get off the bike on a tough climb :(
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I headed out this evening to set my subconscious straight. Nailed it. The offending climb was the dreaded Ramsbottom Rake, and I managed a PR. The tarmac was wet so my rear wheel was slipping, so I had to manage my position on the bike quite carefully to keep my weight over the back end. The first time I did it I was sat way too far back, so had the opposite problem of losing traction at the front, and on that occasion I did end up giving up :(
 
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physichull said:
Well I'm going away to visit a friend in Biddulph next weekend and just looked at the potential for taking my bike. Saw Mow Cop was near but somehow I think there is NO WAY that I could get up there. That's some steep shizz. Thinking of just cycling to Biddulph from my house instead and side stepping the stupidity!
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I'll take you to the Rake one of these days. I've just been there this evening. Friends of mine use it as practise for Mow Cop ahead of doing the Cheshire Cat sportive.
 
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