Road Cycling

madindehead · 29 May 2016 at 15:46

Damn ok. I'm probably eating too much then. My "normal" weekend rides around around 70-80km, takes me around 3 hours. I eat 2-3 Eat Natural Breakfast bars as I go.

I guess I need to go after breakfast, and come back for lunch. Or if I do around lunchtime, eat lunch when I get back. 80km really shouldn't require too much if I eat well before? I always like to push myself, average 30 km/h (18 mph) on the flats, and I want to push myself more on the climbs here.

SoliD · 29 May 2016 at 15:57

madindehead said:
Damn ok. I'm probably eating too much then. My "normal" weekend rides around around 70-80km, takes me around 3 hours. I eat 2-3 Eat Natural Breakfast bars as I go.

I guess I need to go after breakfast, and come back for lunch. Or if I do around lunchtime, eat lunch when I get back. 80km really shouldn't require too much if I eat well before? I always like to push myself, average 30 km/h (18 mph) on the flats, and I want to push myself more on the climbs here.

Or have some lunch when you're out! Make the most of being somewhere you aren't going to go normally.

50 mile ride at a hard pace would probably just be energy drink and banana. Longer ride of 80 or so and I'd probably aim for nothing for the first hour then couple of bananas and bars. Possibly stop for some lunch and not bother with the bars. I usually head out early so only usually eat 45 minutes to hour before. If I'm riding evening tt will try to eat 3 or so hours before hand then gel 25 minutes before my start time.

Different strokes for different folks tho. I used to eat loads when I was first starting cycling but now much reduced.

Shamrock · 29 May 2016 at 16:10

This is another thing power meters are useful for - working out calories burnt.

Trying to decide how to manage my race nutrition so it's useful to know that 180km with 2000m cost me ~3300kcal.

madindehead · 29 May 2016 at 16:35

Shamrock said:
This is another thing power meters are useful for - working out calories burnt.

Trying to decide how to manage my race nutrition so it's useful to know that 180km with 2000m cost me ~3300kcal.

Haha yes. That is another string to my bow of justification for the other half

That brings me onto another issue: My BB in my Tarmac. I'm getting very confused about this. Although it's Specialized OSBB (which is BB30), apparently in a carbon frame, it's not really BB30 anymore, as it's 61mm wide. I've found a C-Bear OSBB (https://www.c-bear.com/bbchart.pdf), I need the OSBB61-86-R or OSBB61-86-C if I get the Rotor 3D+ cranks. Just need to find where I can buy one. Or if there is a simpler solution.

Lethal` · 29 May 2016 at 16:48

EverestNoFilter challenge still only at 52%. It's like it's missing half my rides this month :S

Taxi driver asked me this afternoon if I wanted to get killed. London's finest eh.

Vonhelmet · 29 May 2016 at 18:58

madindehead said:
There's something I'm really struggling to get right just now: How soon before riding and how much do you eat before going for a 3-4 hour ride?

Yesterday I did just over 60 miles in 4 hours. Before leaving I ate two weetabix and two slices of toast. En route I had 750ml of energy drink, an energy bar and a gel. I should have eaten more, but I'm really ill disciplined so my speed towards the end of a long ride always falls off.

booyaka · 29 May 2016 at 19:16

If a very early morning ride (6/6.30am), usually toast with peanut butter and jam & a coffee. When I get home a large bowl of porridge with fruit/honey to fill up.

If more normal time ride i.e 9am start - i'll have the porridge about an hour before I go and that does me for around 50/60 miles with maybe a gel and half an energy bar.

DanF · 29 May 2016 at 19:52

Really cramped up on day 2 of the tour of wessex. Had to stop and wait for it to pass before doing the last 10km. Pretty sure i just went out a bit too hot, power was closer to what I'd do on a 2 hour ride but was with a much faster friend so had to try and keep up.

Tomorrow will be interesting, it's only 100km so I'll just have to pace it super easy.

BennyC · 29 May 2016 at 19:58

PermaBanned said:
Every 30 minutes? Damn. I aim for every hour on 100k+ rides. For shorter rides I generally just have something around the half way point.

Depends how hard you're riding and which zones you're in. If you're not burning through carbs at 200g an hour then you won't really need to take many on.

If people are going to say 'an energy drink' or a 'breakfast' bar, rather than these just being arbitrary amounts it'd probably be more helpful to mention the calorie count

A breakfast biscuit can be 90 calories.
A gel usually 90 calories.
A nutrigrain bar 130 calories.
A granola bar closer to 180/200 calories.
A medium to large banana will be 100-150 calories.
A protein flapjack will be 270/300 calories.
A full blown flapjack will be closer to 400 calories.

If I'm riding significantly more than 2 hours I'll eat something roughly 60 minutes in and then again every 30 minutes. Anything less of moderate intensity I can do quite happily fasted (i.e. last meal was the evening before), though I've used IF (intermittent fasting) for close to 8 years now and am well adjusted to exercising in this un-fed state.

Got out again this afternoon as the sun finally came out. Shorter than I planned and binned all but the first climb as I really do need to recover!

https://www.strava.com/activities/592162648

Lethal` · 29 May 2016 at 19:58

Saw a kid earlier pulling wheelies on a Specialized Roubaix full carbon about 5 sizes too big for him. Almost definitely stolen... If only he wasn't so clueless he'd realise it's worth quite a bit or money and he'd be better off selling it..

You almost want to just nab it off them and try find the owner!

PermaBanned · 29 May 2016 at 20:20

You can't really absorb calories as quickly as you can use them though, so eating as many as possible in an hour isn't especially helpful.

Incidentally...

madindehead · 29 May 2016 at 21:13

I have these http://eatnatural.co.uk/bars/fruits-and-fibre-with-coconut-apricots-oats-and-spelt-flakes

They are 165 calories per bar, 20.6g of carb. I eat maybe 3 when I'm out on a 3-4 hour ride. So 60g over the ride. And a good few bottles. I've been pretty lazy at getting out recently, not good at all

xdcx · 29 May 2016 at 22:00

A 60km race in the Highlands of Scotland today.
Barely over 200m of climbing.
It is annoying how little climbing we do in a place filled with big daft hills and mountains.

alexisonfire · 29 May 2016 at 22:18

I'm similar to Ben and have always normally cycled fasted (last meal evening before) and its only when i know i'm going to be in the saddle for 3hours+ i eat something before. Normally eat around 150cal per 15miles.

xdcx said:
A 60km race in the Highlands of Scotland today.
Barely over 200m of climbing.
It is annoying how little climbing we do in a place filled with big daft hills and mountains.

That must actually be impressively difficult to route with so little elevation over that distance in the highlands!

xdcx · 29 May 2016 at 22:39

alexisonfire said:
That must actually be impressively difficult to route with so little elevation over that distance in the highlands!

You'd think so wouldn't you?

Every bloomin race is 300-400m tops! Nothing to cater for the skinnies

However in our stage race in July we are apparently nailing this 5 times! - https://www.strava.com/segments/1235917

Everyone is hating the thought of it and I am finally happy that a day for climbers exists. It's still not steep enough though.

madindehead · 29 May 2016 at 22:44

Still can't get a decent handle on what my bottom bracket is. Frame spec says OSBB, but the crankset info on the spec says BB30. Might get in touch with Specialized to find out. Total nightmare. Why can't we have one ****ing standard and stick with it.

Edit: I'm now sure it's just BB30. The Praxis M30 is for 2014-2015 "OSBB" frames and BB30 and PF30. That says to me that the 2014-2015 OSBB frames are just BB30. Just need a new BB30 bracket as the Praxis one only works with their Turn cranks.

Berger · 30 May 2016 at 11:29

Remove the cranks and look at the bearings?

They will have a part number stamped on them so you can then get the dimensions from that.

PardonTheWait · 30 May 2016 at 14:00

remy87 said:

Big fan of that, really nice. Love the bullhorns. I took mine off for drops a while ago but might swap them back soon for a change.

I got a rack and panniers this weekend for mine - sick of a sweaty back!

madindehead · 30 May 2016 at 14:40

Berger said:
Remove the cranks and look at the bearings?

They will have a part number stamped on them so you can then get the dimensions from that.

Hmm could do. I think I've nailed it down. The Praxis Works BB30/PF30 bottom bracket only works with BB30/PF30 and "2014-2015" OSBB. This says to me that the those OSBB bottom brackets are just normal PF30. The problem is, the Praxis Works M30 only works with Praxis Work Turn Zayante cranks.

When I get it to the bike shop, I get them to remove the BB. Then by looking at it, I'll know what it is. I can wait a day or two when I make the switch to pickup the correct BB.

oli collett · 30 May 2016 at 19:11

Had an intro session at Lee Valley velodrome earlier - was awesome.

I was a bit worried at first as I haven't ever ridden on a fixie before let alone the track, but once I got going it was awesome. We had at least 20mins 'free for all' which was good as most of the people there were quite steady so I could bomb it around