Road Cycling

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Going to be heading to the Isle of Wight early May and shall be taking the bike with me for the first time on a holiday :) I'd love to do a circle of the island but I know that's not going to be possible for me! I doubt I'd even manage east-west and back as only done 40 miles max in one hit so far.

Plus I don't think the wife would appreciate me leaving her with the kids for half a day whilst on a family holiday!
 
Roady said:
Like it, but wonder if they'll do a Welsh coloured one for Geraint Thomas, I'll grab one if they do - don't see the point of wearing Belgian colours if you're not from there and never ridden there? Or is that just me? :p
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Because the Belgian classics have massive amounts of history in the annals of cycling.

Whereas wearing Welsh colours would be.....silly ;).
 
Itchytrigg said:
Plus I don't think the wife would appreciate me leaving her with the kids for half a day whilst on a family holiday!
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Take their bikes as well and race them :p

Took a run out after work tonight. Weather was just dull with a few light spots of rain. Not much wind at all which was great! Change my intended route though, similar distance but opted for a few more hills. A shade under 21 miles, 1250ft elevation gain and averaged 14.3mpg which I'm quite happy with. :)
 
Urrrgh. Remember how I said I adjusted my cleats? Well, apparently I didn't tighten one of the bolts up enough. Rolled up to a junction earlier, went to unclip my foot and the cleat stayed in position but the shoe rotated 45 degrees. I then fell over and have a pretty badly bruised thigh as I really wasn't expecting it.

So embarrassing too as I was right next to a car whose driver wound the window down to ask if I was alright. Thankfully the bike was unharmed!
 
Calpol said:
Do you get a lot of punctures?
All I carry is a co2 thing, one tube, multi tool and tyre levers. All in my jersey pocket normally. I do have a saddle bag (bike scrotum) but I only use it on long rides where carrying 2 tubes would be a requirement. I have had 2/3 punctures in the last two years or 7500miles. Seriously - how hard is it to carry a spare canister in your jersey pocket if you are worried about it.
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Well it depends on how you look at it. If we look at flat bar bikes then I last had a puncture 18 years and god know how many thousands of miles ago. If we take road bikes I had a puncture after 79 miles... I'm sure this was just bad luck but I had become quite blasé about punctures up to that point.

I carry one spare tube and half a dozen patches with me. Part of the problem is that I don't wear cycling jerseys so I don't really have usable pockets. That said even when I have my soft shell on I hate stuffing my pockets with stuff :o As you say though an extra canister is probably the only precaution I need to take but I'm considering other options as I am a bit paranoid now.

Roady said:
Option 2 - best of both worlds! No point ditching CO2 now you have canisters and pump :)
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I think I'll do this TBH. It will free up my saddle bag so I can get my phone in. I'll keep the CO2 inflator in my MTB saddle bag. I'll have a look tomorrow as I'm dropping my wife off at the station and I've got a £20 Evans voucher.

Norwich is well catered for now with a new Cycle Republic that I need to investigate as well as a Cycles UK and a fair few independents :cool:
 
platypus said:
Because the Belgian classics have massive amounts of history in the annals of cycling.

Whereas wearing Welsh colours would be.....silly ;).
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I think they will do an Italian and French variant also over the space of this season.

I like that Belgian coloured jersey... But there is no stock what so ever :p
 
uniQ said:
Took a trip to the new Rapha Archive store today. Was absolutely heaving (unsurprising as it was opening day) but some good deals to be had. Best thing about it is sale prices all year round :)
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I hope they still have online sales too.
 
Roady said:
What kinda prices and how near are you? ;)
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Prices were between 40-70% off. Deep winter base layers were £40/£120 Hardshell jackets £100/£260. Also lots of new old/discontinued stock not available on the website was there also.

I'm a 30 minute drive away, also within cycling distance :)
 
platypus said:
Because the Belgian classics have massive amounts of history in the annals of cycling.

Whereas wearing Welsh colours would be.....silly ;).
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Oh I *get* that, I just don't see the appeal to spend quite a penny on a 'classics' jersey unless you've (1) been there to watch or (2) actually ridden them.

I'd quite like to track and ride some of the routes ridden in the ToB one day, but I wouldn't be wearing a British jersey while doing it! ;)

Derek W said:
averaged 14.3mpg which I'm quite happy with. :)
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Pretty poor if you ask me! That's a lot of water to be carrying! ;)

FishFluff said:
Urrrgh. Remember how I said I adjusted my cleats? Well, apparently I didn't tighten one of the bolts up enough. Rolled up to a junction earlier, went to unclip my foot and the cleat stayed in position but the shoe rotated 45 degrees. I then fell over and have a pretty badly bruised thigh as I really wasn't expecting it.

So embarrassing too as I was right next to a car whose driver wound the window down to ask if I was alright. Thankfully the bike was unharmed!
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Ouch! Watch that! I guess one thing with SPD's as there's 2 bolts they'll never rotate that far... I had one of mine work it's way loose and I'm sure it's now got more float/flex than the other... One of my jobs this weekend is to give my bike a complete service, including checking cleats (paranoid about it now) and tightening float/pedals etc etc

Berger said:
I hope they still have online sales too.
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They will as I doubt they'd want to lose their high profit margin new items, as I think the store is aimed at offloading old ranges and overruns. It's not a million miles from me (2-3 hours by car) so I may take a trip down there some time if heading that direction (Weston etc)

uniQ said:
Prices were between 40-70% off. Deep winter base layers were £40/£120 Hardshell jackets £100/£260. Also lots of new old/discontinued stock not available on the website was there also.

I'm a 30 minute drive away, also within cycling distance :)
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Sweet, much closer than most! It's an ideal location really next to the Mendips but I wouldn't imagine they'd get much 'passing trade' as there's no big shopping complexes or anything near...?

With those prices I think it's a question of 'when' rather than 'if' I head there, quite fancy me some quality Rapha kit! ;)
 
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Oh roady, I had two bottles of water.
























It's more to do with being 14 stone and 6ft 3 that's the issue, fat more than water carrying :p
 
Been out for a spin this morning, second Saturday morning ride Garmin has turned itself off after the first couple of miles ??

Went out for a run afterwards so going to enjoy lying on the sofa for the next few hours.
 
Ooh, my Torm clothes have arrived. Sizing is good and they look great. They feel nice snd hopefully the wool is worth the hype.

If the jersey turns out to be good I'll be picking up a long sleeved one sometime as the zip on my long sleeve cheapo aldi jersey is on the way out.
 
Berger said:
Last ones were Italian, Belgium, Japan and France weren't they?

I have the Japan one and wish I'd bought another in the sale, but if didn't really like the old Belgium one as it was very dark.
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Not sure, I just noticed the blurb on the current Belgian one

Team Sky tricolour jerseys
The Team Sky Country Jerseys are inspired by the leading cycling nations of Europe where the team train and race; Belgium, Italy, France and Spain. Constructed from a breathable stretch fabric, the lower half of each jersey’s tricolour pattern features a sublimated print celebrating key climbs, roads and landmarks from each country. Released in limited numbers throughout the season, from the Spring Classics through to the summer, to celebrate the year’s best races and racing.
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