Road Cycling Essentials

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ArmoVanBuuren said:
Yes I'm doing ok, it's a little frustrating doing nothing when I've been used to being active 4-5+ times a week every week for the whole of my life. Learning how to watch lots of TV and do little is tough! I've crushed vertebrae 6, 7, 8 and 9 but luckily have avoided an op as the surgeon reckons because I'm in the "young" category at 29 my bones should heal quickly wearing the brace to straighten my spine and allow them space to heal. This is brace I have to wear (http://www.talarmade.com/products/396-bodymedics-cash-spinal-brace.aspx) which is not the most comfortable but it's manageable. Surgeon is keeping me braced for longer than usual as wants to ensure my spine sets straight so hopefully wearing it till december will work and my core muscles wont have wasted away! Hopefully it wont be the full 18 months like you've suggested and I can commence rehab december onwards, I'll go crazy doing little!

Wish you the best of luck with your recovery and looking forward to hearing about it and comparing notes.



I cut my lip so had 3 stitches in it plus was on tramadol for pain relief which made my stomach feel full all the time so lost 10kg so was down to 71kg which I considered myself 7kg underweight so was good having protein milkshakes as every day drinks and going to KFC at least once a week! I'm now at my ideal weight so trying to maintain this which is hard as I still have the cyclist hunger of wanting to eat everything as I know I'll burn it off:)!
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I was given the option to be fair to not have surgery and to let it heal but I decided to have the fusion due to it only being a single vertebrae, that way I can be totally sure that it will not fail in the future and according to the physio I will not noticed having the joints fused. I am nearly the same age as you (27), might seem rough having the brace on now but it's worth not rushing it! The 'downside' of me having the operation is I have now 4 lumps sticking out of my back where the bolt heads are pushing my skin out due to my skinny build.

Don't worry about the 18 months though lifting is off the table for a long time, I am currently limited to 5kg but I am building muscle so I expect the physio to say I can increase what I can lift next week. The worst part for me is sitting or standing for too long as it aches but that will go as I build strength. If there is anything you want to ask feel free to mail my trust email too.



ShiWarrior, If it makes you feel better I'm 5'11" and weigh 10st. :p
 
ShiWarrior said:
bottom line is, I'm not eating enough :p
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I would say if you've stayed at 11 stone for as long as you remember you're just eating enough.

I can guarantee that when you start weighing stuff you'll be surprised about your food intake. For instance if you weigh how much porridge you have it'll be double or triple how much you've listed. Same for the rolls a typical roll is about 180 to 200 calories.

Also guys no offence about all this talk but there is a huge thread on eating diaries etc can we move the chat over to there and keep this about cycling, this thread appears to have derailed in the last few days to talk about food intake and focus mark 2 keys and less and less about actual bikes. I know the weather has got poor but there's always good times ahead....
 
Meh, I don't really see how talking about food intake when related to cycling is a big deal. The car thing yeah, but that's like two posts.

I agree with you /re weighing the food, though if ShiWarrior is constantly unable to get the endurance together to do a medium length ride then it does point to malnutrition being a possible issue - given his weight and height.

grudas said:
And another crash! Seriously.. What is wrong with my luck lately.. Very lucky again but cmon!
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That really is crazy. Crash in a similar area?
 
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I'm guessing it depending on your cycling, mine is ~8.5 miles a day, 4 days a week... Average of 25-30 miles per week as my work commute (only recently done any amount of leisure rides).

I'm 5' 7/8" and 34.

I've been riding literally a year (maybe a week or two over) and before I started I was close to 15 stone and a 36"/38" waist. I wasn't that active and I've always carried weight without being 'fat', even when more active than I am currently (Office job).

Now a year later, I'm down to 13st ~3lbs (and have been for the last ~4 months). My waist is down to 32"/34" and still dropping (even without any further weight loss). I've not changed my diet, which is fairly healthy anyway, I suppose only change is eating more real/dried fruit for snacks instead of crisps/chocolate.

I can quite happily jump on the bike and do a 12 mile ride on the weekend and not feel it, but 3 days of commuting afterwards (like this week) really push me to a rest day (today). I probably could do 4 days but then my rest day would be friday (and saturday is my other rest day anyway!). Without the weekend ride I can do 4 consecutive days commuting but 5 hurts! :)

I'm more than happy as cycling hasn't been a big life change for me diet wise, yet it has been health wise. I'm not aiming to be a 'pro', but enjoying the activity with the save in car/fuel costs with the health benefits being secondary. I want to do longer weekend rides so I may change my diet slightly to help with that, need to start logging info to check how much I need really! ;)

I guess it's what you make of it, I know a guy same starting weight as me who's gone on a rapid diet (along with cycling) and other training and dropped 20 kgs in 4 months, but he's doing it for other reasons than I am.
 
FrenchTart said:
Cycling an average of maybe 30 miles a day right now and the amount of food I eat is probably too much. So hungry though :/
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I have a full bowl of cornflakes, probably 200g.

2 muesli bars, an apple, banana, tomato.

4 slices of whole grain bread with ham and salad for lunch.

Maybe 4-6 biscuits and 4 cups instant coffee over the day and one cup proper coffee.

Then normally meat, potato and two veg for dinner and a cake or ice cream to follow it up.


And yup I'm hungry all the time too!
 
FrenchTart said:
That really is crazy. Crash in a similar area?
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Saundie said:
It sounds like you are being reckless again :(
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not being reckless, I'd love to say that I was pushing it and crashed but nope! 100% ran out of luck,

DLR tracks in croydon, which I need to ride over on the way to gym, the massive amounts of rain washed off massive potholes and my front wheel jumped, landed on the track/metal and went from under me again! I saw my brother nearly crash in front of me and then I slowed down from 20ish to 15... before going of my bike and flipping over a few times in the middle of the road! luckily no cars! I'm paying more and more attention to the way roads are designed and I just here going?!?! look at this BS -;

EH

so I refuse to that that "cycle path" if you can call it that, which gets you straight on to the DLR track and then you have tram drivers sit behind you and go "you will get killed" though the speakers?! what is this?

so I obviously took the straight road, bus lane and then off to gym but as you can see the direction of the tracks literally pulled me of my bike, in that google street view pic tracks look in good shape, but right now they have mahoosive holes each side that will soon kill someone!
 
Tram tracks are the worst, if you have to cross them then do so completely perpendicular to the track, even in the dry.
 
It does look pretty decent. I've got my winter bike all sorted now I have had a new 'best bike'. Just need to get some mud guards. I can't believe I don't own any when I know it is the spray which gets your feet soaked so quickly! And its horrible when you're trying to get close behind one another with spray in your face.
 
Dunks said:
Tram tracks are the worst, if you have to cross them then do so completely perpendicular to the track, even in the dry.
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They're putting in a whole bunch more tracks around South Manchester. When I did my ride all round the outskirts of Manchester I had to take a lot of care for one long stretch as I was riding parallel to the tracks. If I'd drifted into the tracks I'd have been boned.
 
grudas said:
EH

so I refuse to that that "cycle path" if you can call it that, which gets you straight on to the DLR track and then you have tram drivers sit behind you and go "you will get killed" though the speakers?! what is this?

so I obviously took the straight road, bus lane and then off to gym but as you can see the direction of the tracks literally pulled me of my bike, in that google street view pic tracks look in good shape, but right now they have mahoosive holes each side that will soon kill someone!
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Personally I turn left down Cherry Orchard Road then right at the roundabout in order to avoid Lebanon Road. I have to confess, I have actually had an almost identical accident at the other end of the road, so I know how dangerous those tracks can be. Fortunately I now get to enjoy a 17k ride from St Paul's back to Croydon, so I don't have to worry about tram tracks any longer.
 
Vonhelmet said:
Apparently that frame will only take 23mm tyres. Bit of a joke for a "winter" bike.
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Don't you want thinner tyres for winter anyway? You're not going to get any grip on snow unless you have a fat bike, so you want your tyres to actually be able to cut through it and make contact with the road surface.
 
Do you guys have any suggestions for cheap 2nd hand road bikes, up to about £150? Thinking between getting a much lighter bike than my own, which I've just weighed in at about 16kgs. It's a Carrera MTB from Halfords with enormous knobbly tyres and disc brakes that keep sticking.
 
alexthecheese said:
Do you guys have any suggestions for cheap 2nd hand road bikes, up to about £150? Thinking between getting a much lighter bike than my own, which I've just weighed in at about 16kgs. It's a Carrera MTB from Halfords with enormous knobbly tyres and disc brakes that keep sticking.
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At that price you're probably looking at either more (frankly, rubbish) Halford's or supermarket bikes or older road bikes. Older bikes can be a lot of fun, but might need a bit of work to get/keep going.

Really it depends on what sort of riding you want to do?
 
Dunks said:
I don't think I'd fancy my chances riding any road bike through snow deep enough that I need to cut through it :o
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Been there, done that.. No, tyres won't "cut" through snow as such.. More along the lines of digging into snow as you go.. Which results in a very sketchy ride! But I managed my 20 mile commute that snowy day...
 
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