Road Cycling

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FrenchTart said:
Where's nice near Leigh/Atherton/Tildesley? On Sunday we're taking some fairly inexperienced cyclists over that way so if there's some nice green areas and/or recommended coffee/cake stops I'd really appreciate people pointing me in the right direction :)

edit: Nevermind... stuck doing the super overly done Tatton Park loop. Snore.
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Good job, as there's nowhere nice near there, and I say that as someone who lives in Atherton :p

Well, Culcheth and Croft and the like are nice if you go south of leigh.
 
Vonhelmet said:
Hurrah, I've got my price match code to get the shoes I want from Wiggle.

Has anyone used Northwave shoes? What's the sizing like? I'm getting very mixed reports from the Q&A on Wiggle, with some saying it's spot on and some saying to size up. I'm tempted to size up, like with Shimano, and then I can always swap them if needs be. That is, after all, why I wanted to use Wiggle, given their easy returns system...

Also, is there an easy way to figure out the cleat position I need with SPD-SL pedals/cleats/shoes? My SPD cleats were fitted when I had my bike fit. Is there any way I can figure out how to position the SPD-SL cleats on my new shoes based on the position of my SPD cleats on my old shoes?
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I bought northwave ones for the missus and had to send them back and size up one from her normal shoe size.

No idea if that applies to their mens shoes as well though, but you'd expect so.
 
I was going to suggest that we grab sandwiches and eat them there. The whole route wasn't great for road bikes tbh, though hopefully not utterly hideous.

I might still try out part of it some other time.
 
Dunks said:
Ordered that Planet X London Road I linked to earlier, taking the gamble with SRAM double-shift, although not that worried as it seems pretty straight forward and the Rival 22 groupset gets great reviews!

Hopefully the order goes smoothly :o
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If this helps at all I'm used to campagnolo chorus 2012 and Super record 2014

I tried Dura ace, 105, Athena and Force 22 at the London bike show.

I really liked Force 22 and the way double tap works. Infact I think my order of preference is Shimano<SRAM<Campag
I would buy a SRAM bike now no problems.
 
So, picking up the debate about Strava estimated power earlier this week.

Today I rode a similar distance with my Power Meter fitted and the average power for the ride is comparable to the Strava estimate from last Saturday.

Here are the numbers

Saturday Ride
Distance: 72 miles
Average Speed: 18.7 mph
Climbing: 1,500 meters
Time: 3 hrs 50 mins
Strava Estimated Power : 240w


Ride Today with PM
Distance: 70 miles
Average speed: 18.0 mph
Climbing: 1,000 meters
Time: 3 hrs 50 mins
Average power: 210w

To summarise; my ride today was 0.7mph slower, 500 meters less climbing and about 30w less overall. Doesn't seem Strava was too far out, for me anyway. If anything it was on the low side?
 
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Eliot said:
If this helps at all I'm used to campagnolo chorus 2012 and Super record 2014

I tried Dura ace, 105, Athena and Force 22 at the London bike show.

I really liked Force 22 and the way double tap works. Infact I think my order of preference is Shimano<SRAM<Campag
I would buy a SRAM bike now no problems.
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Current bike is Shimano, which I'll be keeping, so hopefully swapping between the two on occasion doesn't confuse things too much!

Cyclescheme certificate was approved by HR today (only took 1 day compared to 17 days last time), now just finance to approve the payment!

Excited.
 
I don't know if Thomas Please is the only person here that's done racing with British Cycling, but i was wondering what sort of bikes you see at those sort of races? Obviously there's the dentists with full carbon and deep section wheels, but are there many people on sub £1k road bikes? How do they compare? I assume there's not many on old restored steel bikes. Are downtube shifters even UCI legal any more? :D
 
You see a massive range really, as you mentioned there's the odd all the gear person, but there's plenty of normal alu road bikes and everything in between. At Cat 4 level I think the advantage in great kit isn't going to be all that noticable. I think you'd struggle with down tube shifters though!
 
My neighbour's son is now cat 3, but at cat 4 he was riding a caad 10 or a Carrera vanquish for some. Cat 4 can be quite crashy, I hear, so a crap bike can be a better bet!

He's now on a team with corporate sponsors so is riding a bright red Specialized Tarmac Expert :eek: with logos all over it.
 
Toolkit arrived today from Planet X

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Vonhelmet said:
Also, is there an easy way to figure out the cleat position I need with SPD-SL pedals/cleats/shoes? My SPD cleats were fitted when I had my bike fit. Is there any way I can figure out how to position the SPD-SL cleats on my new shoes based on the position of my SPD cleats on my old shoes?
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I used the drawing round my feet method...! Find something to sit on so your feet dangle close to the floor, rest them over a piece of paper angled straight ahead and draw round your feet.

The direction of the paper is straight ahead, which is where the cleats will point - so you can use the drawing to position your cleats so that with them clipped in, your feet are in their natural position.
 
Vonhelmet said:
Until you get to really high levels with tight margins, yeah. I could swap bikes with Froome and he'd still annihilate me.
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For sure, if you're doing a 3 week tour and the winning margin is seconds then it matters if you have DA groupset over 105 etc...
 
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