Road Cycling

[Kimi]

Which climb?

I cycled out to Reading for a BBQ via the Marlow stelvio back down to near Henley and into Reading the other day. Quite a nice climb you guys have there though road surface is terrible in places.

There was a descent from Cookham Dean that was quite fun but couldn't really go that fast as I didn't know the road and didn't fancy misjudging speed into a hairpin! A little bit wet too but it did look like a nice climb to go up as well.

Its one of the climbs up Remenham Hill that goes past the Flower Pot pub.

I just looked at your strava and that decent is absolute madness. I was on a charity sportive once, London to Oxford and someone came down that not knowing the hairpin was there. They went straight on and into the bushes, it happened just before i got there and he was coming out the bush, half a bike in one hand and the rest in the other!

 

[SoliD]

Hardknott Pass is by far the hardest climb I've ever done!

I only just made it up without stopping on a 34-25 despite being a lean 58kg. It would have been a lot nicer on a 34-28. The road is narrow with a terrible surface and there were lots of cyclists walking up and cars coming down. The descents off Hardknott and Wrynose are treacherous too.

We took a photo at the top that we're going to submit to Rapha...

I saw your photos on strava, was laughing quite loudly at the last one....

 

[Lethal`]

Its one of the climbs up Remenham Hill that goes past the Flower Pot pub.

I just looked at your strava and that decent is absolute madness. I was on a charity sportive once, London to Oxford and someone came down that not knowing the hairpin was there. They went straight on and into the bushes, it happened just before i got there and he was coming out the bush, half a bike in one hand and the rest in the other!

Oh wow! Glad I took it steady then - I had seen on my Garmin it was a zig zag road and thought it could be a bit sketchy.

That reminds me when I was doing ride for sport relief with work in the Surrey Hills a guy told me he misjudged this descent and had to bail into the road with the people walking the dog. Gravel surface and a blind bend so he was very lucky to stay upright.

 

[madindehead]

Which climb?

I cycled out to Reading for a BBQ via the Marlow stelvio back down to near Henley and into Reading the other day. Quite a nice climb you guys have there though road surface is terrible in places.

There was a descent from Cookham Dean that was quite fun but couldn't really go that fast as I didn't know the road and didn't fancy misjudging speed into a hairpin! A little bit wet too but it did look like a nice climb to go up as well.

Haha yeah. The Marlow Stelvio is nice. Not too steep, just consistent. It's a decent test of fitness. But yeah: some terrible road surfaces! Wish I had a Roubaix and not a Tarmac!

Finally getting over my cold. Need to try and get out in the mornings this week: Been severely lacking in time on the bike recently, and it is not ideal

 

[GSVBagpuss]

Has anyone made Team Sky recipe rice cakes? Are they supposed to taste like rice pudding?! Makes me think of school dinners! I don't think I got enough liquid out of them maybe and didn't compress enough to make them solid so they are a little runny still, maybe a more firm texture would help

 

[Kimi]

Ive made them rice cakes before and was very impressed. I think i cooked the rice a little to quickly so like you didnt get enough out, also thought they were a little bit runny/sticky. Taste great tho, I tried freezing them and tested one each month, theyre fine in the freezer until month 3 i found.

 

[Lethal`]

Haha yeah. The Marlow Stelvio is nice. Not too steep, just consistent. It's a decent test of fitness.

But yeah: some terrible road surfaces! Wish I had a Roubaix and not a Tarmac!

Yeah didn't mind it at all. I'll have to try a bit harder next time now I know the road... I wasn't really sure how long a 3.5 mile climb would be considering it's ages since I did anything similar... probably last was Col De Femenia in Mallorca!

I just looked at your strava and that decent is absolute madness. I was on a charity sportive once, London to Oxford and someone came down that not knowing the hairpin was there. They went straight on and into the bushes, it happened just before i got there and he was coming out the bush, half a bike in one hand and the rest in the other!

Grabbed the video from Saturday... you can see how slow I make the turn

In before descending on the hoods comment I need to sort out my brake lever reach... a bit too far for comfort.

 

[Roady]

Any magic tricks for recovering Garmin 810 lost ride data?! I'm so annoyed with mine... it's really unreliable recently.

The couple I've had I've had to give up with, basically if none of the online web tools work you are stuck. My 810 even shows me the ride data, summary etc for the last one but when trying to view the route it freezes.

Most Garmin crashes seem to be down to dodgy SD cards - at least on my 810.

I'm on my 3rd card, anyone tried non class 10 cards?

Edit: managed to sort this out but yeah only got the first 45 miles

How did you sort it? I've added manual routes for my couple, the first I didn't even have a .fit file, the more recent had 'invalid start time' or some such nonsense but none of the time fixes I could find would fix it.

Mate of mine who is in Mallorca - I think he's lost his marbles...
https://www.strava.com/activities/553485109

Crazy stuff!

Some of the guys I occasionally ride with have gone to the Alps for a few days... Day 1 Ventoux from Bedoin and Day 2 Glandon/Alpe D'huez (had to bail on Glandon as a road was closed due to snow!). Really jealous but equally know I couldn't climb like they have... Maybe next year!

I'd had quite a busy week (almost 80 miles) but took rest days Fri & Sat so decided to go out Sunday. I'd set myself a couple of goals for the end of the month so did a local loop I could incorporate one of them (Haugh Woods) into. There were nasty gusty winds on the way out and my legs felt tired, as I turned East towards the climb the headwind really put me off & I chickened out after a couple of preliminary short climbs... As rain was forecast in the next hour I didn't fancy descending a wet road so looped back towards home, couple of climbs there really did finish my legs so quite glad I chose to head back even though the rain didn't amount to anything!

https://www.strava.com/activities/555072307

 

[Kimi]

The overlay on that video is awesome.
The apex on that hairpin coming up is mad, i think it goes up to 28% or something for a few meters.

Is that a Garmin Vibe? i tried to add a gpx file overlay to a go pro video using there software before but it kept on crashing.

 

[Berger]

I need to slam my stem, time to order one of these, as the bearing dust cover is massive.

Unless anyone know of any cheaper ones, as it's going to cost $40 for one bit of metal... A new headset is only $60 with bearings!

http://www.certifiedslammed.com/products/slam-that-stem-bearing-cover

 

[neilw]

Hardknott Pass is by far the hardest climb I've ever done!

I only just made it up without stopping on a 34-25 despite being a lean 58kg. It would have been a lot nicer on a 34-28. The road is narrow with a terrible surface and there were lots of cyclists walking up and cars coming down. The descents off Hardknott and Wrynose are treacherous too.

We took a photo at the top that we're going to submit to Rapha...:

Well done. I'm taking my Cube Road SL pro when I go up there for the 34-32 gearing

 

[physichull]

Well done. I'm taking my Cube Road SL pro when I go up there for the 34-32 gearing

Wish I had that gearing when I went!

I do like to deprive myself of gears....hence a 40 miler on the single speed planned for after work tonight!

 

[Vonhelmet]

I do like to deprive myself of gears....hence a 40 miler on the single speed planned for after work tonight!

Pffft. Do a metric on that bad boy and then we'll talk

I reckon if I fed myself well and picked a decently flat route through the Cheshire Plain I could comfortably do an imperial on mine. The gearing is so relaxed.

 

[One More Solo]

I'm not going to do a big write up of our trip to Mallorca as it will read the same as many others, but the abridged version would be:

-It's a great place to ride with enough challenging and varied routes to keep it interesting, although it's a bit tricky to do a hilly ride without going past that petrol station near Lluc at some point.

-Said petrol station wanted €2 for a can of coke, and the cafe at the top of Sa Calobra wanted €2.50?! Jokers. By contract, cafe in the square at Sineu charged us less than €7 for 2 coffees and cakes, brought out bottled water for our bottles and provided free oranges and unlimited biscuits. That was more like it.

-I ate more ham and cheese sandwiches than I care to remember.

-Puerto Pollensa is a great place to stay, lots of cafes/restaurants but very quiet at this time of year. Maybe not so great for a "lads" cycling holiday though.

-If Tolos didn't have Wiggo's bike on the wall people wouldn't go there. There, I said it. Service is abysmal if it's even slightly busy. Even when it was just us and one other couple we still had to go to the bar to pay after waiting 15 minutes for the bill for one drink. Also full of people on Colnagos who would have spent that money on a set of Ping golf clubs a few years ago if you get my drift.

 

[Lethal`]

The overlay on that video is awesome.
The apex on that hairpin coming up is mad, i think it goes up to 28% or something for a few meters.

Is that a Garmin Vibe? i tried to add a gpx file overlay to a go pro video using there software before but it kept on crashing.

Yep it's a basic Garmin Virb. Virb Edit should work with any compatible video file really - shouldn't matter that it's GoPro at all. After all though it is Garmin software so I'd expect bugs!

How did you sort it? I've added manual routes for my couple, the first I didn't even have a .fit file, the more recent had 'invalid start time' or some such nonsense but none of the time fixes I could find would fix it.

I found a .fit file of it in the Activities folder (on the Garmin not the SD card) then ran it through corrupt time tool on fitfiletools and it seemed to be fine... though it only got the first 44 miles of the 73 mile ride :/ It was definitely tracking the rest as I checked it 2 miles before home and it said 71 miles.

This only ever happens when following a course so I half suspect it's some OSM/Garmin compatibility issue. I might have to try a different version of the OSM map.

 

[Amps]

I'm not going to do a big write up of our trip to Mallorca as it will read the same as many others, but the abridged version would be:

-It's a great place to ride with enough challenging and varied routes to keep it interesting, although it's a bit tricky to do a hilly ride without going past that petrol station near Lluc at some point. Agreed

-Said petrol station wanted €2 for a can of coke, and the cafe at the top of Sa Calobra wanted €2.50?! Jokers. By contract, cafe in the square at Sineu charged us less than €7 for 2 coffees and cakes, brought out bottled water for our bottles and provided free oranges and unlimited biscuits. That was more like it. I got charged €3.50 for a can so think yourself lucky

-I ate more ham and cheese sandwiches than I care to remember.

-Puerto Pollensa is a great place to stay, lots of cafes/restaurants but very quiet at this time of year. Maybe not so great for a "lads" cycling holiday though.

-If Tolos didn't have Wiggo's bike on the wall people wouldn't go there. There, I said it. Service is abysmal if it's even slightly busy. Even when it was just us and one other couple we still had to go to the bar to pay after waiting 15 minutes for the bill for one drink. Also full of people on Colnagos who would have spent that money on a set of Ping golf clubs a few years ago if you get my drift.

The Colnagos are from Pro Cycle hire. They are this years fleet of hire bikes (they have loads) , and agree with the rest

 

[Berger]

Tightfisted Brits, a Coke in a petrol station in the UK would be about five quid, six with a slab of dairy milk strapped to it.

Same if you went anywhere in the Lake District.

Quit yer damn moaning, you had an awesome holiday in the sun

 

[touch]

-If Tolos didn't have Wiggo's bike on the wall people wouldn't go there. There, I said it. Service is abysmal if it's even slightly busy.

I'd agree that the service isnt brilliant but I think the food is a big attraction too, not just Wiggo's bike. It's usually worth the wait.

 

[Vonhelmet]

I'm selling a load of old stuff on eBay, including a mini pump which was second hand to me 5 years ago... eBay is whining at me that I ought to upload at least 3 photos of it to increase my chances of selling it. It's an old pump! How many photos can you take?? Maybe I ought to do some catalogue poses of me in my best gear on top of a mountain pumping up a tyre I've just repaired...

 

[One More Solo]

Tightfisted Brits, a Coke in a petrol station in the UK would be about five quid, six with a slab of dairy milk strapped to it.

Same if you went anywhere in the Lake District.

Quit yer damn moaning, you had an awesome holiday in the sun

Petrol stations in the UK are full of reasonably priced culinary delights, you take that back!