Road Cycling

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lordrobs said:
Bit of chain rub so I limited myself to 8 speeds so I'll have a tweak with the limit screws.
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I'll still check the limit adjustment but I've only just realised that the shifters have a trim function :o What a tool I am! :p

Oh and those bars! Damn! If I had just seen the pictures I'd have assumed some crazy corrosion of the bars rather than that coming from the rider!
 
So that's all the salty crap which had soaked into the bar tape. Eughhh!!

I changed my bearing in my front hub of my Fulcrum Racing 5. Easy peasy and nice and smooth :)
 
One More Solo said:
160psi sounds a hell of a lot for crappy British roads, but depends how much you weigh I guess.
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Thomas. PLease. said:
Quite, more is not always faster!
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True, but got to remember they're 21mm tyres and 320TPI, minimum PSI of 115PSI. 140 seemed to be spot on for me today.

So onto the TT, never done the course before, was planning to save some for the way back, but due to the lumps at the beginning didn't really work out that way so got my average power to 260W or so, and kept it there from about 4 miles onwards once it settled down.

Bloody windy day, and managed to place 13th with a 26:07, just under 2 minutes behind the winner. :D highest 10 mile power output. Looking forward to see what I can do on the flatter courses, as the lumps make it hard to keep the power constant.
 
PermaBanned said:
Going to need to be a bit more specific. Which shops is your scheme suitable for? What sort of budget? What sort of riding do you do? Are you after a speed machine or something more relaxed? How do you feel about mudguards/panniers?

Just an FYI, bike sizing isn't really based on height. It's actually dependant on a lot of things, but the main one is your inseam.
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Choice of shop would be Leisure Lakes Nottingham, budget is up to £1000.

Was after something where I can clock up some miles, wouldn't mind a speed machine if it fits the budget.

Don't really need panniers or mudguards, the bike would be more of a hobby / fitness since I quit smoking.
 
Well in that case, best thing to do would probably be to go to the shop and actually try out the bikes, see what you prefer. Get them to size you up properly too. If you want a shortlist you have a lot of options within £1000, on that site you're probably mainly looking at Cannondale, Cube, Focus, Lapierre, Specialized and Trek. Often they'll have an "endurance" frame set up in a slightly more relaxed geometry for sportives and the like, and a "race" frame which would have you in a more aggressive position that may be a little uncomfortable if you're not used to it. All about feeling it for yourself though. You might be able to find something with a full carbon frame but it's not the most important thing. Interesting to try though. Same with disk brakes.
 
As I may have mentioned I went out this morning for my first group ride today from a local LBS... There were two groups doing the same route so I hopped on the back of the slower second group... Supposidly 26 miles with under 1000m of climbing with the first group doing 18-19mph and the second (mine) doing 16-17. First group was busy, maybe 24 riders and all looked fast/young! My group was more of a mix, 16 of us, several guys getting back into riding, older guys etc etc. I chose this ride as most of theirs are 36 miles and 1500-2500m of climbing! :of

The pace was fast and me not having ridden in a group before I was soon at the back with one of the guys trying to keep me close/offering advice (defo needed!). I stayed in touch until the first prolonged steady climb, nearly blew up (within the first 8 miles!) So had to back off and pace myself to get up it, one of the guys had a chain/brake prob and had to stop so I was able to catch them up and have a breather, then we were off again! Several little climbs later (with me shooting off the back at each of them) we reached our midpoint and I asked one of the guys if I should drop (felt like I was holding them back!). He said not to be silly and asked the pace to be dropped slightly. The next part of the ride was a mixture of navigating junctions and some rough bits of road so I was doing okay...

Around 3/4 the way through there was another long steady climb after a short sharp one (which i'd already dug deep to get up at pace) and the long one about finished me. One of the other guys (on his newly rebuilt TCX) was struggling too, so he waved them on and stuck with me. Trying not to ruin his day I told him to go on and I'd meet back at the LBS, he told me to keep going and promptly threw up at the side of the road! Hahaha! He was ok but we had a steadier ride back (free coffee & biscuits back at the LBS!).

So much for the 26 miles and under 1000m of climbing... And the average speed! :rolleyes:

Surprised I stayed in touch as long as I did, it was a tough lesson but a good one! My longest ride on the road, only 1 brief stop, my first group ride and easily my fastest average pace for any real distance! :o

https://www.strava.com/activities/264134530
 
Feet not metres lol.

Well done sounds like it was tough, but you'll reap the benefits. Altho surprised an lbs would have a group so big. They should really know better.
 
A lot of people (and even clubs) seem to struggle with pacing on rides like that. If you're not looking at your speedometer fairly frequently it's very easy to start drifting ahead when you're meant to be riding at a slower speed than normal.

Not an excuse though - it's something that clubs really should get on top of (and some seem to).
 
FrenchTart said:
Pretty nice route all in all though despite having to go a little slowly as my riding partner is still suffering with his asthma atm.
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Does he take his brown/preventer inhaler? Last year I just took my blue/ventolin inhaler half an hour before a ride and still struggled a bit (I only get exercise induced asthma and its worse during hayfever season).

But so far this year I've been taking my preventer every day and its much improved my situation.
 
physichull said:
Does he take his brown/preventer inhaler? Last year I just took my blue/ventolin inhaler half an hour before a ride and still struggled a bit (I only get exercise induced asthma and its worse during hayfever season).

But so far this year I've been taking my preventer every day and its much improved my situation.
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He brings it along and I've seen him take it but I don't really know his dosing schedule or anything like that to be honest. The difference in his riding when it's playing up and isn't is really obvious though.
 
SoliD said:
Feet not metres lol.

Well done sounds like it was tough, but you'll reap the benefits. Altho surprised an lbs would have a group so big. They should really know better.
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Lol i'm always getting my feet and meters mixed up now i'm trying to use meters more (even have my garmin set to km and kmph)!

Was a good ride as I said and a route i'll do again myself (at my own pace). If I can get some hill practice in i'll be trying the same kinda distance (30 miles) as my benchmark as my target this year is to cycle to my parents place (26 miles with much more climbing) and my girlfriends parents (around 30 miles on a busy A road with 1 beast of a hill on).

The ride wasn't a club run, they're just a mixture of riders who are customers for one of the largest bike shops here. It's seen as a social thing to get people riding more together as there are around 3-4 other big clubs (including NFTO) who don't seem to want new riders. They only started these rides in November so I expect the great weather caught them off guard with the number of riders!

FrenchTart said:
A lot of people (and even clubs) seem to struggle with pacing on rides like that. If you're not looking at your speedometer fairly frequently it's very easy to start drifting ahead when you're meant to be riding at a slower speed than normal.

Not an excuse though - it's something that clubs really should get on top of (and some seem to).
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I think that's it, I really was the only new guy so they're probably used to doing a faster pace rather than the one advertised... But we all have to start somewhere! The wind yesterday really didn't help as it didn't let up... Then again it was cool enough to stop me overheating/blowing up! I came close a couple of times but I was probably slightly overdressed :)

I enjoyed riding at the back of the group (considering i've not even ridden with a partner before, all solo) as it made it much easier to see what the others were doing. 2 or 3 of them in front of me were doing signals for hazards/cars which made my life a huge amount easier as much of it was along roads I didn't know. I was able to mostly concentrate on my pace/cadence. Certainly being able to fall off the back without anyone behind me made it much easier - as well as the older guy riding to the right of me trying to encourage me to ride in the 'pocket'. I think he gave up after the first hill and just let me do my own thing (& left me lots of room!) :D

My legs don't feel bad today, didn't really have a lazy day after the ride so I think that helped. Off for a sponsored dog walk shortly so we'll see! Fingers crossed the rain they've forecast keeps off... :)
 
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