Road Cycling

grudas said:
I really can't stand cycling clothing! the sizes are ALL OVER THE PLACE.
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Just always wear/buy the same brand for basic stuff? Kinda what I've done with Sportful recently, their Large shorts & jerseys fit me slightly better than Large Castelli (not to mention I've found the shorts pads loads more comfortable). So I bought lots of Sportful base layers (summer and winter) along with whatever Sportful jerseys I spot in sales to make them cheap enough for commuting use... Have got a couple of good jerseys too but the majority of club/social rides I'll be in club jersey (Castelli/Santini) with Sportful shorts, base, warmers etc...
Vonhelmet said:
The London Road is dead cheap - just £191 at the moment for the frameset.
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Crazy low price on the London Road, hadn't considered a new frame could be *that* cheap! :eek:
merlin said:
This is only very loosely bike related but I have no lighting and no windows etc in my garage so it's blacker than a black cat when I go in on an evening to tinker with the mini bike fleet.
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No power in there you could run a portable light from an extension and hook it on something? A head torch (with some rechargeable AA/AAA's) could be a simpler/cheaper option than hanging cheapy LED strips around the place but if you were looking for something more permanent I'd get something like a leisure battery and 12V style LED bulbs. A car battery style setup (but a car battery is not made to be fully decharged between charges, a leisure battery is - think caravans etc).

http://www.screwfix.com/p/luceco-led-usb-rechargeable-site-light-10w-5v/5276k This looks cool. 3 hour runtime & has USB ports to charge other things from it. But 8 hour recharge time.
Shamrock said:
An entertaining read...

http://pages.rapha.cc/feature/dan-cravens-namibia-jersey
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Most of it just a rehash of stuff from the original cyclingweekly article. Sure I read a much longer writeup of it somewhere...
 
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Thoughts on GoPro Hero Session?

Quite fancy a camera for next year, looks nice and small as well.

One question, I've seen vids where people overlay speed etc using the garmin program, can this be done on that camera? Does it need to have GPS? :S
 
Jon33 said:
Thoughts on GoPro Hero Session?

Quite fancy a camera for next year, looks nice and small as well.

One question, I've seen vids where people overlay speed etc using the garmin program, can this be done on that camera? Does it need to have GPS? :S
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Use Garmin Virb Edit for that. No need for a Garmin camera... Just pull in the video files and a GPX/TCX log (you can get this from Strava/Garmin Connect) and match it up to the video.
 
xdcx said:
Yeah, wouldn't see the point in a side step bike wise Agree to TCR etc.
The Agree is a decent frame. There is a bloke selling one locally that's the year before my 2015 Agree frame and has Ulteg 6800 on it... I am tempted to buy it and have a summer and winter Agree :) It's a 2014 Agree Race frame with stock everything (Fulcrum 7's, Ulteg 6800 etc) reckon it would have been £1400 in late 2013 and he is wanting £775 on Gumtree for it now. Anyone reckon that is over priced? I'd not be spending more than £500 on that second hand to be honest, but he's reduced from £820 to £775, doubt he's going to take £250 off his price for it. Been for sale since start of October, so surely he see's he's priced it way too high as you can buy a brand new carbon frame with Ulteg from PX for about £200 more these days.

Looking at TT frames? (is it a TT you are after? Or an aero road frame?).

I replaced my Cube bars, which is a 56cm frame, they were 44cm I think as standard and downsized to 42cm Fizik bars which are narrow. The only size below that was 40cm. So that's why I say very narrow your bars must be but I will wager that different brands have different daft ways of measuring and reporting sizing on these sorts of things!
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Your Cube Agree came with 44cm bars? I've got a 56cm too.. Maybe Bikeradar is wrong about mine being 40cm then. I'll have to check later.

I'm tempted by TT bike but the overall cost puts me off a tad... once you add nice frame and wheels!
 
Lethal` said:
Your Cube Agree came with 44cm bars? I've got a 56cm too.. Maybe Bikeradar is wrong about mine being 40cm then. I'll have to check later.

I'm tempted by TT bike but the overall cost puts me off a tad... once you add nice frame and wheels!
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I have Fizik bars on now and they are narrower and they are 42cm... I really did struggle to find the size of the bars that came on the Cube but was sure I got info somewhere saying they were 44cm. I could be wrong though but the 42cm bars definitely are narrower.
 
xdcx said:
I have Fizik bars on now and they are narrower and they are 42cm... I really did struggle to find the size of the bars that came on the Cube but was sure I got info somewhere saying they were 44cm. I could be wrong though but the 42cm bars definitely are narrower.
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Yeah I do find it hard to believe I'm on the narrowest bars as my shoulders aren't very narrow. Weird how most bike specs do not mention handlebar width at all.
 
some brands measure outside-outside and some centre-centre. Difference is usually about 2cm, which gets really annoying when you don't realise while switching brands
 
Lethal` said:
Your Cube Agree came with 44cm bars? I've got a 56cm too.. Maybe Bikeradar is wrong about mine being 40cm then. I'll have to check later.

I'm tempted by TT bike but the overall cost puts me off a tad... once you add nice frame and wheels!
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I would be surprised if a 56 came with 40 bars that is very narrow.
 
Finally got back on the turbo last night, things were damn cold! -2 in my garage, even after plugging a little radiator in at lunchtime and leaving it on low! I rode on the turbo in overshoes! No joke! :eek: :D

Weirdly started on the turbo with just as many layers as I'd ride with outside - thermal shorts with leg warmers and trackies over the top. Base layer, jersey, long sleeve jersey and winter thermal jersey. Snood/face cover, headband and wooly hat! Stripped off layers as I rode but didn't overheat/melt at any point! :o :D
https://www.strava.com/activities/790127961

Did 'The Wringer' on Zwift. Chose this one as a test of my current fitness, as I'm semi-ill/recovering and need to get some volume and regularity into my turbo riding. I maybe should've done an FTP test, but I'm almost certainly going to use an FTP plan for the regularity side of things and many of those start with an FTP test or have it early on. Wringer's 12* 445W 30s intervals I found ok, some tyre slip but ERG mode on the Vortex Smart handles it well so I could hit them. The reducing time 110W gaps between each interval I found more tricky, mostly over powering them at 125-135W. This could be mostly due to my FTP details/settings from an outdated test (from my old turbo) than anything else, if I can 'rest' at 130W then so be it! ;) The reduced recovery time was ok, it's only in the last couple that I started to hurt but even then backing off to hit 110W didn't feel like it made much of a difference. Felt good at the end so extended my cooldown with a bit of a freeride.

During cool-down I bumped into a local guy I know also doing a cool-down, we did a bit of a 2up to practice riding alongside, worked well but he also fancied a sprint... He's much more powerful than me but with him acting as a bit of a lead out I was able to sprint past and hold him off with 500W for 20s or so. My legs were empty and both leaving so called it a night.
Got a 'Ride On' from Ross but didn't see you riding mate!?

Jon33 said:
Thoughts on GoPro Hero Session?

Quite fancy a camera for next year, looks nice and small as well.

One question, I've seen vids where people overlay speed etc using the garmin program, can this be done on that camera? Does it need to have GPS? :S
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Great camera, not used one myself but just be aware of the sacrifices you make having such a small unit (some battery life concerns, lack of features/options without smartphone etc). It's the only GoPro I'd replace my Garmin VIRB with as one of the main limitations I've found with my standard V1 VIRB is the size. Everything else is fantastic, but it's such a big heavy unit that all footage has vibration on it, although I'm very interested in a new mount made by Cycliq (the same guys who made the FLY12 and FLY6).

With my standard VIRB it has no GPS/accelerometer, any metrics are done via the Garmin software which picks the data from a Garmin Edge unit. The Garmin Pro/Expert/XE (whatever they're calling it this time) is the only one with it's own metrics. I'm unaware if the VIRB Edit software is able to retrieve that info from a non-Garmin unit, but as for editing the video (to add the overlays) it's capable of working at the file level (so people load footage from other cameras, like Gopro's into VIRB Edit and add the metrics from their Edge head units).
 
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Roady said:
Finally got back on the turbo last night, things were damn cold! -2 in my garage, even after plugging a little radiator in at lunchtime and leaving it on low! I rode on the turbo in overshoes! No joke! :eek: :D

Weirdly started on the turbo with just as many layers as I'd ride with outside - thermal shorts with leg warmers and trackies over the top. Base layer, jersey, long sleeve jersey and winter thermal jersey. Snood/face cover, headband and wooly hat! Stripped off layers as I rode but didn't overheat/melt at any point! :o :D
https://www.strava.com/activities/790127961

Did 'The Wringer' on Zwift. Chose this one as a test of my current fitness, as I'm semi-ill/recovering and need to get some volume and regularity into my turbo riding. I maybe should've done an FTP test, but I'm almost certainly going to use an FTP plan for the regularity side of things and many of those start with an FTP test or have it early on. Wringer's 12* 445W 30s intervals I found ok, some tyre slip but ERG mode on the Vortex Smart handles it well so I could hit them. The reducing time 110W gaps between each interval I found more tricky, mostly over powering them at 125-135W. This could be mostly due to my FTP details/settings from an outdated test (from my old turbo) than anything else, if I can 'rest' at 130W then so be it! ;) The reduced recovery time was ok, it's only in the last couple that I started to hurt but even then backing off to hit 110W didn't feel like it made much of a difference. Felt good at the end so extended my cooldown with a bit of a freeride.

During cool-down I bumped into a local guy I know also doing a cool-down, we did a bit of a 2up to practice riding alongside, worked well but he also fancied a sprint... He's much more powerful than me but with him acting as a bit of a lead out I was able to sprint past and hold him off with 500W for 20s or so. My legs were empty and both leaving so called it a night.
Got a 'Ride On' from Ross but didn't see you riding mate!?


Great camera, not used one myself but just be aware of the sacrifices you make having such a small unit (some battery life concerns, lack of features/options without smartphone etc). It's the only GoPro I'd replace my Garmin VIRB with as one of the main limitations I've found with my standard V1 VIRB is the size. Everything else is fantastic, but it's such a big heavy unit that all footage has vibration on it, although I'm very interested in a new mount made by Cycliq (the same guys who made the FLY12 and FLY6).

With my standard VIRB it has no GPS/accelerometer, any metrics are done via the Garmin software which picks the data from a Garmin Edge unit. The Garmin Pro/Expert/XE (whatever they're calling it this time) is the only one with it's own metrics. I'm unaware if the VIRB Edit software is able to retrieve that info from a non-Garmin unit, but as for editing the video (to add the overlays) it's capable of working at the file level (so people load footage from other cameras, like Gopro's into VIRB Edit and add the metrics from their Edge head units).
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Yea, had a crap riding week. So much going on this week around my birthday, which is today :p I've not managed much at all. Got my new Vortex through though, so now have 1 TdF vortex and one brand new normal vortex and still waiting on my Flux (no news yet!), and currently still my mates flow... it's like a cycling den in there.

I've also pulled my knee the other day. Hurting riding at the moment, though I did make it to work today on the MTB.

Got some new gear for my bday as well (a lot of Endura stuff I ordered previously so wife could give it to me for present) so was nice to have a hat on today. Ears were warmer!
 
randomshenans said:
Yea, had a crap riding week. So much going on this week around my birthday, which is today :p<snip>was nice to have a hat on today. Ears were warmer!
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :D

Have a great one, I wouldn't worry too much about your low mileage week, you deserved to have one after your 12hr Zwift session! ;)

Good point about the head side of things, a friend asked me how I coped with the cold and reeled off what I wore, he didn't wear anything and was really suffering from head colds from being constantly chilled by the freezing cold winds. What's everyone else do?

I layer my head depending on conditions, I wear caps even in the summer as I do sweat quite a bit and would be constantly wiping it out of my eyes without. I did wear headbands a few years back (as with my large head I struggle with many 'one size fits all' caps being far too tight) but now I have a couple of hats which fit and/or have elastic at the rear. These minus temps or those days with freezing windchill I wear a skull cap, usually with a summer cap over the top - I use the visor to block out some of the wind from my face and also to shield any low sun from my eyes (wearing clear lenses in my 'shades'). I wear a buff/snood/neck gaiter in any temperatures under 7-8 degrees, have found I suffer with chapped lips/cheeks without. In the colder weather I'll wear it pulled up over my head so it also covers my ears. With the cap I've got the coverage of a balaclava. :D
 
Freezing or below I wear a castelli windproof which also covers ears.

Above freezing just a helmet is sufficient I find. Chapped lips, lip balm?

I did notice the low sun this week was difficult so a cap might help there as sunnies weren't any use.
 
Bit late but saw 195 BPM last night when sprinting against David. Highest I've seen for 18 months at least. Used to consider 190 my highest. I'm 36!
 
So not cycling related (please be kind, I do ride a bike too!!) but I know a lot on here are knowledgable when it comes to Strava so thought I'd ask here too.

Anyone know how I can recalibrate a strava run from when I paused my watch?

Strava seems to think I ran a 4.37 mile as I paused my watch and unpaused it later on in the run. It's corrected the distance but the mile was probably around 6.30ish. (I can work it out if it's changeable from the elapsed time).
 
^ I expect strava works for run in a similar fashion to ride segments. In that you'll have a moving time. Stops people glitching/being silly to acquire KOM's/leaderboard rankings.

220-age is outdated (and retarded :p) for determining MHR.
 
Well thats it,its official, Ive just been elected as the secretary of the North Cheshire Clarion at the AGM! Pretty excited to become part of this as we are one of the bigger clubs of the north west, ranked pretty highly in racing of the north west, behind only Manc Wheelers and Lakes Cycling club (and various dedicated racing teams) we are 7th best in north west, 3rd if you dont count the dedicated racing teams. Always well represented across ALL age ranges at all manner of events in the nw. We also organise 2 audaxes per year and have just run the Stadt Moers CX event with over 300 riders attending.

Looking forwards to getting involved, and a new website is immenent too which I think is a cut above 99% of all cycle clubs websites, all from the voluntary efforts of one member.
 
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