Road Cycling

Anyone spotting many deals? Quite a lot landed on Sigmasports 'Clearance' last 2 days. Snagged some Rapha core shorts for £69! Have been happy paying 85-90 on them direct from Rapha when on deals, but hasn't been many this year.

I need to start looking at thermal/winter shorts replacements. My go-to Sportful NoRain 1 are no longer produced, the replacement NoRain 2 are thinner and lower coverage on the body with thinner more meshy straps so not as thick/weatherproof/warm for £20-30 more. Good for down to 6-7 degrees, much lower they're too breathable and need to wear a thermal tight over the top. Really pointless wearing them in freezing temps vs the 1, as the originals are good for a couple of degrees less which makes all the difference in UK winter!

Anyone used the Le Col thermal shorts? I've got a few pairs of Rapha thermal and 2 pair of Shadow, which are good for winter & wet weather... But the price no way I'll wear them commuting. I need something that costs less than £100 to buy several pairs of - not something more than double! :cry:

Martynt74 said:
Well the plan is a little more gravel. Am eyeing up this!

360K - Iron Gravel

irongravel.com irongravel.com
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Brave! Which course - I assume not the 360km!? :cry:

Martynt74 said:
First attempt at a proper gravel ride yesterday. Not sure I trust Strava classification of terrain.
I’d have struggled on my Hardtail on this given lack of confidence!

Was around 9% incline and felt scary being clipped in. Then had to walk in carbon soles shoes which wasn’t ideal!

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Haha yeah, that's more boulders than gravel! Reminds me of a 'backroad' I figured I could go over as a shortcut on my road bike. No chance 10%+ on loose gravel with road tyres! (actually considered walking it until it levelled off but didn't want to wreck my cleats like you!) :cry:
 
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Yeah. Went for the 360km version. Possibly stupid but can drop to the 200km if needed.

I had always wanted to do a 100mile ultra run before I was 40 (2026) which I now can’t do because of my foot so this is a decent equivalent to that. Maybe the year after I could enter Badlands which is 800km!

I’ve been eyeing up all the Redshift stuff and it’s 25% off at the moment but not sure I can justify the cost at the moment.
 
Martynt74 said:
@AndyCr15 clothing brand for you
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You're a couple of years too late :p

K79Dhd6.jpeg
 
Bought some pedal adaptors to use normal shoes on my Spd sl pedals.

Absolute game changer. Went out for a gravel ride and was nice just dropping my foot when things got sketchy.

Main issue being I was wearing my trail running shoes with really big thick soles which would catch the chainstay. Need to look for some stiff soled shoes I think.


Plotted a route covering part of the IG360. Some very narrow single track with big rocks but the 40mm tyres felt ok and I loved it. Some bits I had to walk and then I hit a 20% hill and turned around as was due to go for a ride with the wife and had no idea how long it’d take me to hike up it! Ended up throwing some intervals into the return section to make me feel better for wussing out.

Perfect conditions though. 18c and bright sun. Not too much wind either.

Already debating dropping to the 200km version. Not sure I’d want to be tackling that terrain in the dark.
 
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Martynt74 said:
Bought some pedal adaptors to use normal shoes on my Spd sl pedals.
Click to expand...

I've got a pair of these on order so the missus can use the Kickr bike without needing to buy spd-sl shoes in case she doesn't actually end up using it. Ordered them about 2 weeks ago and they still haven't arrived!

Martynt74 said:
Plotted a route covering part of the IG360. Some very narrow single track with big rocks but the 40mm tyres felt ok and I loved it. Some bits I had to walk and then I hit a 20% hill and turned around as was due to go for a ride with the wife and had no idea how long it’d take me to hike up it! Ended up throwing some intervals into the return section to make me feel better for wussing out.

Perfect conditions though. 18c and bright sun. Not too much wind either.

Already debating dropping to the 200km version. Not sure I’d want to be tackling that terrain in the dark.
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Curse you and your Spanish weather!
 
No. We got pretty lucky by all accounts.
The days of the worst weather weren’t even that bad here. Although we did comment that instead of the usual Spanish torrential rain for an hour which then clears up it was more British style of constant rain for maybe 2 days. Think that’s what overloaded places.

Guess being ~450m in the mountains helps as any rain just runs down to the coast.
 
Had a lovely ride in the Autumn sun today. Reminded me why I love cycling in the UK so much. Roads were ****, some of the drivers were **** but the scenery in the sun was stunning and all the autumn leaves were on the ground everywhere making the ground lovely shades of orange and red. Its going to be an ice rink in the next month or so when they all start to rot but for now...lovely.

One issue. I need some slightly better gloves. The ones I have currently are from gore and I think they are neoprene. They work OK but when the wind is chilly my hands suffer. Any recommendations. I'm not going to be going out in sub zero temps but I will go out between 5-10 degrees. Don't need super water proof but I do need wind proof.
 
fez said:
Had a lovely ride in the Autumn sun today. Reminded me why I love cycling in the UK so much. Roads were ****, some of the drivers were **** but the scenery in the sun was stunning and all the autumn leaves were on the ground everywhere making the ground lovely shades of orange and red. Its going to be an ice rink in the next month or so when they all start to rot but for now...lovely.

One issue. I need some slightly better gloves. The ones I have currently are from gore and I think they are neoprene. They work OK but when the wind is chilly my hands suffer. Any recommendations. I'm not going to be going out in sub zero temps but I will go out between 5-10 degrees. Don't need super water proof but I do need wind proof.
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I've got some Endura Pro SL Windproof gloves which work for me when I don't want full on winter gloves

Endura UK

Men's Pro SL Windproof Glove II - Black
www.endurasport.com www.endurasport.com

I also have some of the Endura shell gloves which I'll put over full finger MTB gloves to stop the wind

Endura UK

Men's Adrenaline Shell Glove - Black
www.endurasport.com www.endurasport.com

I am an Endura fan-boy, so my big winter glove is their Primaloft Waterproof but it needs to be very cold for them to come out

Endura UK

Men's Pro SL Primaloft® Waterproof Glove - Black
www.endurasport.com www.endurasport.com
 
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fez said:
Had a lovely ride in the Autumn sun today. Reminded me why I love cycling in the UK so much. Roads were ****, some of the drivers were **** but the scenery in the sun was stunning and all the autumn leaves were on the ground everywhere making the ground lovely shades of orange and red. Its going to be an ice rink in the next month or so when they all start to rot but for now...lovely.

One issue. I need some slightly better gloves. The ones I have currently are from gore and I think they are neoprene. They work OK but when the wind is chilly my hands suffer. Any recommendations. I'm not going to be going out in sub zero temps but I will go out between 5-10 degrees. Don't need super water proof but I do need wind proof.
Click to expand...

100% Brisker gloves are my favourites for the conditions you describe.
 
Gloves are all so expensive! But Endura always in deals. Have to say I like their Hummvee long fingered ones, but after 2 years they've not aged well. Fabric nearly worn through - from road bike use with standard tape with padding under it... They wouldn't do a season of MTB. Bought some of the mits version, they're nice but the velcro tab of one came unglued from the rubber strap else they'd be as worn as the long fingered as same material. But nice gloves for the £16-20 I've seen them for.

My go-to windproof last few years are Sportfuls... Current ones bought in 2016 (£22) something like 'Essential WS' (had no idea it was that long ago!) - probably the 1 version of these - https://saddleback.co.uk/products/sportful-past-ws-essential-2-gloves That's an ok price for them (£32) although mine look quite a bit thinner than those they're good for current temps - so anything below 15 and over 3-4. Much lower there's not enough insulation, so I wear Sotto Zero - which are so warm, I can't wear them in temps much over 5-6 degrees as they're too warm! Rubbish waterproofing, will probably replace them with the Fiandre version when the time comes. But as I'm leaning more and more towards Spatz kit will probably try theirs for that money...!
 
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Martynt74 said:
How long you over for?
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Arrive Monday lunchtime, fly back Saturday lunchtime. Only thing stressing me is the transfer. Trips I've done before have been with a group, so either the transfer is put on for us, or we get a cab/van and share the cost. I'm doing this with a company but they're giving no help in this respect. The best option looks to be rent a car at about £90 for the trip. It just seems like that's a bit of a hassle as opposed to just hopping in a cab, but a cab both was will be about £250.
 
Yeah, cabs are pretty expensive. There's a shuttle bus called Beniconnect which would get you to Ondara but then it's a bit of a drag getting from there to Jalon. €90 seems as cheap as you'd get it. Assuming the car is big enough for the bike box? I'd offer a list but the cost of petrol would be around €100 along when factoring in there/back. Depending on whether my Jeep is fixed i'd potentially have a car you could use (Kia Sportage), but a €90 rental probably offers better peace of mind than a 18yr old Kia :p

Weird that the company offers no support with transfers though. Is it a cycling specific holiday organiser?
 
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