Road Cycling

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BennyC said:
BulkPowders/MyProtein/ProteinWorks + Quidco + Referral code (if you want :) )
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Thanks. Fire your referral over to my trust! Only got a couple of servings left and going for a ride tonight... I'm only using protein as a recovery after rides, not for anything else. Ease & quickness combined with cost are my main factors (ie flavoured powder) rather than any real quality/gain...
Lethal` said:
Inspected it and the cable end is stuck at the top of the cam in the shifter... great. Can't seem to get it out of there at all. I still have cable on the other side but pushing it through is just bending the cable.
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Rubbish! What shifters do you have? Can 'fish' the ends out of my 5800's but realise not all are similar.
xdcx said:
This is another one on the same hills as Blackfold/Abriachan, data looks tame as this is a tough and steep one - https://www.strava.com/segments/722796 - the KOM is a sexy bloke.
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Good work and that's a great KOM!

That's the only segment out of those with anything over 20%. Even then, only a small part. Are there nothing steeper around Inverness? No local 'hill climb' type places? I guess the point I was trying to make was - I'm looking at 20%+ sections with 30%+ kicks in them. I wrongly assumed there were lots of that kinda thing around in other 'hilly' places!? Hereford isn't exactly known for it's hills... :confused::eek:
ThaReaperGuy said:
I've done Dovers hill, and my chain kept slipping. :mad:

Was pretty hard, but could have got up it a lot faster... revisiting it soon!

https://www.strava.com/activities/510053453/analysis/2561/2752
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Showoff! :p It's quite near where a work colleague lives (Pershore) so I've said about driving over to meet him and then heading out that direction to conquer it! It's a little too far for me to ride out to (45 miles each way). I've got the Tumble half that distance away! :)

Went out for the Climb on Saturday Social. Was expecting lots of guys out (due to the nice weather) and as I was still recovering from holiday (+food poisoning) I wanted a nice leisurely ride with the 'slow' group. Pull up to the shop and only me and 2 others there... Doesn't bode well, as when there's only a few riders it's 1 fast group. Couple more arrive and then a couple of staff... Sure enough, only enough for 1 fast group! :rolleyes:

https://www.strava.com/activities/597893713

Some of the guys at the front had quite a close call with a tractor on a blind bend at around 16 miles in, this was after some very rough roads which someone in front obviously knew well... I was off the back at the time but with some of the comments afterwards I think someone may have come damn close to going under it! One of the guys asked to see my VIRB footage so chopped it out and uploaded for him (with an obvious soundtrack). Nothing too exciting but sharing it here too.

I punctured soon after this (just before the 19 mile marker) while off the back of the group (well I'd just dropped off and was chasing back on), sods law none of them noticed! Quick change (around 12 minutes) and I chased to catch up fully expecting them to have stopped at a junction (usual practice). Think things got a little confused (as there's normally a slower group who picks up dropped riders) and although a couple of them did stop further along they were near town so only hung around for 5 minutes. I used the chase as a bit of an exercise trying to hold my HR at threshold-ish (170bpm) on flat sections and was pretty toasted once I hit the slow town traffic/junctions.

Still, 18 miles at 19.5mph avg with the group out of town, tube change, 8 miles at 20mph avg solo.

Fairly happy with my efforts and think I'm 99% recovered from my food poisoning.
 
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Thomas. PLease. said:
You may have seen me then, I was racing in the support race, which was a bit of a joke really but there we go. Good fun to race on closed roads in front of a crowd still.
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Ah nice! How did people manage to crash 10 metres in on your race? I was standing just after the first corner... crazy.

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Roady said:
Rubbish! What shifters do you have? Can 'fish' the ends out of my 5800's but realise not all are similar.
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Ultegra 6800. The problem is it's not just the end left in - the end is still attached to the whole length of cable.. but the end has gone far up the barrel and wedged itself between barrel and plastic. Really hoping it's not a new shifter job just because no one can fish it out!

Roady said:
Some of the guys at the front had quite a close call with a tractor on a blind bend at around 16 miles in, this was after some very rough roads which someone in front obviously knew well... I was off the back at the time but with some of the comments afterwards I think someone may have come damn close to going under it! One of the guys asked to see my VIRB footage so chopped it out and uploaded for him (with an obvious soundtrack). Nothing too exciting but sharing it here too.
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Bumpiest virb footage ever :p

I got a LifeLine Garmin/Gopro mount the other day. Going to send it back though as it pivots despite full tightness and don't think it will handle all the weight too well.
 
I'm quite tired after my two weekend rides, but I still had a pretty good run in as morning commutes go. Hopefully the ride home will be a bit quicker, as there's usually less traffic in the evening and it tends to flow more easily in that direction.
 
Strava kit... any good at 50% off? It looks a bit try hard for my liking but if it represents good value at half price I'd be tempted to pick up any plainer looking bits.

TBH I haven't looked in their store for ages so I'm not sure what they do now but I got a 50% off email after I uploaded yesterdays ride.

Feel fine today apart from sun burnt arms (forgot my sun cream :rolleyes: ) and a stiff neck!
 
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Roady said:
Good work and that's a great KOM!

That's the only segment out of those with anything over 20%. Even then, only a small part. Are there nothing steeper around Inverness? No local 'hill climb' type places? I guess the point I was trying to make was - I'm looking at 20%+ sections with 30%+ kicks in them. I wrongly assumed there were lots of that kinda thing around in other 'hilly' places!? Hereford isn't exactly known for it's hills... :confused::eek:
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Up here it's a rugged hilly area full of longish 10minute + climbs and such that are steep in the fact they have high average gradients over the length of the climb whereas down your way and in many places down England it seems there is lots of climbs less than a mile long which are insanely steep.

There is a couple of climbs over the Black Isle which are short and very steep which are the only classic kind of HC ones about here. But there is no end to amount of big long hard climbs here so can't complain, properly spoilt here.
 
Lethal` said:
Ultegra 6800. The problem is it's not just the end left in - the end is still attached to the whole length of cable.. but the end has gone far up the barrel and wedged itself between barrel and plastic. Really hoping it's not a new shifter job just because no one can fish it out!
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I had the same thing happen to me. I managed to free mine up by feeding the end of the cable back on itself, through the guide on the shifting barrel - essentially with the cable feeding out of the part where it would go in when putting in a new cable. Once I'd fed it through it was simple a case of yanking it extremely hard until the knuckle free'd up. Good luck!
 
Going to Cali said:
I had the same thing happen to me. I managed to free mine up by feeding the end of the cable back on itself, through the guide on the shifting barrel - essentially with the cable feeding out of the part where it would go in when putting in a new cable. Once I'd fed it through it was simple a case of yanking it extremely hard until the knuckle free'd up. Good luck!
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Thanks - This is pretty much what I was trying but I can't get the downwards movement on the cable to push it down the barrel so it just hits a barrier of plastic mould. It's in the bike shop right now.. I'll see what they say but not really looking to pay for a new shifter (probably a pair too?).

It's pretty much stuck up here, just behind that small hole.
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Why are these shifters designed so badly?! :(
 
right under it there's a small alen key(if I remember) bolt, remove that and the bottom part comes off, freeing up the shifter/cable etc and it's easy to remove it then.
 
Bear said:
Well, went out with the intention of breaking my metric duck and did it. I know it isn't as far nor as fast as you guys but I guess we all have to start somewhere. Not feeling as knackered as I was expecting luckily, so time for some smoked salmon and poached eggs :D http://www.strava.com/activities/598989378
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Awesome stuff, well done! :)
lordrobs said:
After making a big deal of it in my head it turned out that 100 (well... 99.1) miles isn't that big of a deal after all. https://www.strava.com/activities/599643344
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Another awesome ride, well done! Bit annoying it didn't tick over the 100 though! ;)

Re: The car stuff... Noticed the same again and again around here. All it takes is a couple of stupid riders combined with aggressive/impatient riders and nasty accidents can easily happen! We always blame the drivers but the blame doesn't wholly rest with them as there are some horrific cyclists around. Had one with a recumbent yesterday - pulled straight out from a cycle lane/pavement combo thing onto a very fast/busy A road without even looking. We were probably doing at least 55 mph and left some number 11's. Thankfully enough room that we didn't hit any oncoming cars when trying to avoid him! If we had been driving a larger vehicle (with slower reactions) he'd be dead, no question.

Couple of the mini-sportives (charity rides) I've done are mass starts and a total nightmare, bad/ignorant/uneducated/inexperienced/selfish riders a danger to themselves and other riders. Can only imagine what they're like for drivers (and we wonder why cyclists get a bad rap...!). Couple of more organised events and sportives I've done with staggered starts have been loads better.
whyscotty said:
Day one - https://www.strava.com/activities/597285570

Day two - https://www.strava.com/activities/598300231
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Great riding, well done! Really tempted to get over to Holland for some riding at some point...
 
grudas said:
right under it there's a small alen key(if I remember) bolt, remove that and the bottom part comes off, freeing up the shifter/cable etc and it's easy to remove it then.
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The 6800 shifters aren't that easy - the knuckle will be jammed in the top of the shifter, between the body of the shifter and the barrel. It is almost entirely inaccessible, unfortunately.
 
xdcx said:
England it seems there is lots of climbs less than a mile long which are insanely steep.
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I guess the main part of it is the roads themselves, down here they seem to take the most direct route - one benefit is that most A roads have a B road 'option' which is more scenic and a little more lazy... But when they're back road already the non-benefit is that some of them do some crazy climb straight up a steep gradient.

Thinking about most of the roads around mid-wales the climbs are much more gradual. Really looking forward to riding more of them! :D
Lethal` said:
It's pretty much stuck up here, just behind that small hole.
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Why are these shifters designed so badly?! :(
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grudas said:
right under it there's a small alen key(if I remember) bolt, remove that and the bottom part comes off, freeing up the shifter/cable etc and it's easy to remove it then.
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Fairly sure my 5800's open this way as I've seen the part mentioned. Crazy 6800's are so different! :(
Vonhelmet said:
Yay shimano. Want to repair something? Get bent. In time I'll buy a campag equipped bike for this sort of reason...
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Campag are really that much better? I can believe that SRAM are as they're a bit more forward thinking than most of the others...
 
Vonhelmet said:
You can properly dismantle Campagnolo shifters, etc, and they actually sell spare parts. Shimano will sell you spare shifters.
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My Campagnolo shifter completey snapped in half in my tiny little girly hand.
And I could not buy a spare, I had to buy 2 complete new shifter/hoods.
 
xdcx said:
Up here it's a rugged hilly area full of longish 10minute + climbs and such that are steep in the fact they have high average gradients over the length of the climb whereas down your way and in many places down England it seems there is lots of climbs less than a mile long which are insanely steep.

There is a couple of climbs over the Black Isle which are short and very steep which are the only classic kind of HC ones about here. But there is no end to amount of big long hard climbs here so can't complain, properly spoilt here.
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Those sound like fun. Those are the kind of climbs I'd like to be good at. Given I'm small and aiming to be submitted 60kg those climbs should suit me better when I hit the weight.
 
Roady said:
Thinking about most of the roads around mid-wales the climbs are much more gradual. Really looking forward to riding more of them! :D
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I did the Bwlch on Saturday (from Ogmore Vale) and that was a very pleasant climb. A quiet wide road up to the top of the summit, plenty of stray sheep, top views throughout (unlike the Tumble) and a steady gradient with an excellent open descent. Definitely one of the best climbs I have ridden so far in my short cycling career!!
 
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