Soldato
Swiss isn't that steep aside from a couple of sharp ramps but the cobbles do get mossy which can make it a real challenge.
Road Cycling
- Thread starter FrenchTart
- Start date
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It was never 45%.
As one more solo said there's just a couple of short ramps and the cobbles are a little mossy (I slipped first time going up) but that's about it.
Soldato
Swiss is fine, unless it has been raining - in which case it's near impossible. If there's a car coming down and you need to pull over, it's tough to get going again, but I've ridden up way worse!
Caporegime
Obviously the article I read was vastly overstating things.
I still haven't ridden up Swiss. Next time I'm in the area with my CX bike I'll give it a go.
If its any consolation I finished digging out the garden and did some plumbing this weekend!
Associate
Slowly edging my way back into regular cycling again - managed to get out twice this weekend for about an hour each time. After a few years of being reasonably fit it's kind of weird having other cyclists pass me so easily. Just trying to take it one ride at a time and see how my body holds up. Feel ok today though and the weather was quite nice so made it enjoyable even if it was hard work.
Got a couple of days off at the end of the week, so will try and get out again then.
Got a couple of days off at the end of the week, so will try and get out again then.
Fantastic weather, 20 degrees saturday and up to 22 degrees on sunday! Some great riding this weekend guys, some good mileage! Kudos FT on getting some of that supreme stamina/fitness back. AbbZ for an EPIC ride around Snowdon (jealous!) and Maxeh's first Imperial, big milestone ticked off. Unlucky with your race Ben, but great PR's and KOM on the course! Race it again, use it for some 'racecraft' as you look strong enough to do well on that course. There'll be less nervous riders and crashes as time goes on.
I failed pretty spectacularly - got out for a slow group ride on saturday and that was it - https://www.strava.com/activities/932836780
As my BB/crankset was making a 'click' I rode with the Climb on Bikes social ride so I could get someone in the workshop to fix it before/after the ride. I would've loved to do one of the other hilly group rides as several of the faster guys were saving legs for the Aber RR and Hereford Duathlon on sunday, so I wouldn't have taken such a beating.
My click was all solved in the workshop after, thankfully!
Lots of fiddling around, but Tom ended up removing the spacer I'd put on to move the chainline out to to solve it catching the inner cage plate... As the crank spindle didn't have any extra length the spacer was putting too much pressure on things - the NDS pedal was pushed up against the bearing, the pressure on the bearing possibly causing it to click and making the pedals quite stiff. He also removed the Praxis bb shell as it was quite dry and could've been clicking so regreased and refitted. He also showed me that 11 speed front derailleur's have a 'drift support' (?) screw to alter the cage angle (in next to the spring), I'd never fiddled with it hidden in there before. He managed to tweak that enough, moving the rear of the inner plate to avoid catching the raised areas on the insider of the largest chain ring under pressure so the spacer wasn't required. Stupid Specialized OSBB problems! But now I know about that screw too! Have sourced one of the Praxis BB tools myself for future! 
The ride before that was a very VERY easy ride as there were several newbies along, one of which shouldn't really have been group riding as she was low on power/fitness and confidence riding clipless. Still, we pride ourselves on 'nobody gets left behind' so 3 of the regulars (me included) took it upon ourselves to shepherd her around. Quite enjoyed the 'team effort' it felt like and we were only a couple of minutes behind the rest of them at the finish. The ride leader (Jon) had taken us on a fairly rolling route with a fairly hard climb that really slowed everything down. Still, good social fun, giving me a good chance to get to know Paul who I'd ridden with a few times before but never really had much of a chance to talk to. For the 'big' climb up the Weobley side of the Golf Course (as our girl was walking) I dropped into 36*32 and rode it as slow as I could for some 'practice' (low speed/low cadence/gradient). Result - I'm able to ride much slower than walking pace on a 10% gradient! May attempt to learn how to track stand soon as I seem able to pretty much stop and hold myself.
I had hoped to get out again, but once all the garden chores were done saturday was a write off. Sunday while painting & moving the shed I twisted/tweaked/hurt my back so that put any thoughts of additional riding out of my mind. Boo.
Still, productive weekend and legs feel fairly good, going to see if I can get out (for the first time) on tuesday nights chain gang or thursdays 10mile TT. We'll see!
Didn't you get the helmet as well? Did that change at the same time/temperature?
I failed pretty spectacularly - got out for a slow group ride on saturday and that was it - https://www.strava.com/activities/932836780
As my BB/crankset was making a 'click' I rode with the Climb on Bikes social ride so I could get someone in the workshop to fix it before/after the ride. I would've loved to do one of the other hilly group rides as several of the faster guys were saving legs for the Aber RR and Hereford Duathlon on sunday, so I wouldn't have taken such a beating.
My click was all solved in the workshop after, thankfully!
Lots of fiddling around, but Tom ended up removing the spacer I'd put on to move the chainline out to to solve it catching the inner cage plate... As the crank spindle didn't have any extra length the spacer was putting too much pressure on things - the NDS pedal was pushed up against the bearing, the pressure on the bearing possibly causing it to click and making the pedals quite stiff. He also removed the Praxis bb shell as it was quite dry and could've been clicking so regreased and refitted. He also showed me that 11 speed front derailleur's have a 'drift support' (?) screw to alter the cage angle (in next to the spring), I'd never fiddled with it hidden in there before. He managed to tweak that enough, moving the rear of the inner plate to avoid catching the raised areas on the insider of the largest chain ring under pressure so the spacer wasn't required. Stupid Specialized OSBB problems! But now I know about that screw too! Have sourced one of the Praxis BB tools myself for future! The ride before that was a very VERY easy ride as there were several newbies along, one of which shouldn't really have been group riding as she was low on power/fitness and confidence riding clipless. Still, we pride ourselves on 'nobody gets left behind' so 3 of the regulars (me included) took it upon ourselves to shepherd her around. Quite enjoyed the 'team effort' it felt like and we were only a couple of minutes behind the rest of them at the finish. The ride leader (Jon) had taken us on a fairly rolling route with a fairly hard climb that really slowed everything down. Still, good social fun, giving me a good chance to get to know Paul who I'd ridden with a few times before but never really had much of a chance to talk to. For the 'big' climb up the Weobley side of the Golf Course (as our girl was walking) I dropped into 36*32 and rode it as slow as I could for some 'practice' (low speed/low cadence/gradient). Result - I'm able to ride much slower than walking pace on a 10% gradient! May attempt to learn how to track stand soon as I seem able to pretty much stop and hold myself.
I had hoped to get out again, but once all the garden chores were done saturday was a write off. Sunday while painting & moving the shed I twisted/tweaked/hurt my back so that put any thoughts of additional riding out of my mind. Boo.
Still, productive weekend and legs feel fairly good, going to see if I can get out (for the first time) on tuesday nights chain gang or thursdays 10mile TT. We'll see!
*drool*Fantastic ride today - first time I've seen my bike start to change colour too. Photo in link if you want to check it out
https://www.strava.com/activities/932747799
Didn't you get the helmet as well? Did that change at the same time/temperature?
Ah, the XL will be perfect for you then. There's very little between the L and XL I have, the majority of the difference is the shoulders and only a little in the body.
Totally depends on the seller on what they put on the 'contents' slip. I bought a load of spoke nipples and they came labelled as 'metal beads' escaping any duty.
Yup, the profile only shows one small ramp over 20% around 2/3 the way up. It does look fairly constant gradient the whole way up with no respite. Fun!
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Quick commute to my office this morning......normally it's about 20ft from the kitchen to my home office but I took the long route instead!
https://www.strava.com/activities/935899109
Up and out at 6.30am - brutal headwind on the way out, easier on the way back. Home before the wife and kids were even up!
https://www.strava.com/activities/935899109
Up and out at 6.30am - brutal headwind on the way out, easier on the way back. Home before the wife and kids were even up!
Soldato
Not sure if a 95 miles ride at nearly 20mph avg can count as recovery miles.....after a hard weekend cycling....but that was the plan before I left!
https://www.strava.com/activities/936258116/overview
https://www.strava.com/activities/936258116/overview
stunning pace on that long a ride!! Kudos
Long weekend for me today, so popped in to a small independent LBS I'd been meaning to visit and to my surprise they had a range of Bontrager shoes which I'd wanted to both see in the flesh & also try. One was slightly discoloured due to having sat in the sun for a bit so was offered 15%. And well they aren't white...
"Pretty in Pink" I think the saying is?
"Pretty in Pink" I think the saying is?
Soldato
I did the same amount of climbing in 24 miles yesterday (MTB though) and did not average 20mph
Soldato
This photo sums up how i felt about that ride
Cracking weather, shame my knee started to play up and i had to back out just before completing the 100! I just couldn't risk damaging it before IOW in a couple of weeks. I will crack 100 this year though.
Soldato
Edinburgh Bicycle's meme game is on point...
/
/You were spot on FT, adaptor in the box. Why Wiggle felt the need to state twice on their website that it didn't come with one I don't know
My old one has also gone back to being smooth as silk
I'm heading out for 60 miles today so that will tell if it was all in my head or not.Back is still playing up, actually feels ok when riding but prolonged shoulder glances do hurt. Doesn't help that this morning the other half was particularly chatty causing me to turn lots! She knows I'm deaf as a post when cycling too!
I'm in half a mind about venturing out tonight for the 'tuesday night chain gang'. Good weather so should be enough riders around for at least 2 gangs, hopefully 3. It'll be my first chain gang but the 18/19mph avg of the sometimes 3rd 'newbie' group should be easily manageable for me, so it should be a ride getting my chain gang skills rather than burying myself. If it's 2 groups the 'slow' group is 20/21mph and obviously a little more effort is required!
Problem I have is finishing work at 5:20ish - with a 15 minute ride home, then 20-25 minute ride back in to the meeting point with the gang setting off at 6. My option is skipping the ride home and going straight from work, grabbing what food I need at lunchtime to sustain me as really won't have enough time to eat before meeting them. If I end up in the medium/slow group I'll really be running on empty by then!
Any tips on a newbie to chain gangs? I've previously seen the GCN videos about it and I've done quite a bit of group riding so understand the concept.
You came through my neck of the woods too! I know Mordiford far too well as when getting into cycling I lived that side of Hereford (& south of the river) so regularly looped around there. Gimmie a shout if you're planning on riding that direction sometimes on the weekend again and I'll come say hi
I'm in half a mind about venturing out tonight for the 'tuesday night chain gang'. Good weather so should be enough riders around for at least 2 gangs, hopefully 3. It'll be my first chain gang but the 18/19mph avg of the sometimes 3rd 'newbie' group should be easily manageable for me, so it should be a ride getting my chain gang skills rather than burying myself. If it's 2 groups the 'slow' group is 20/21mph and obviously a little more effort is required!
Problem I have is finishing work at 5:20ish - with a 15 minute ride home, then 20-25 minute ride back in to the meeting point with the gang setting off at 6. My option is skipping the ride home and going straight from work, grabbing what food I need at lunchtime to sustain me as really won't have enough time to eat before meeting them. If I end up in the medium/slow group I'll really be running on empty by then!
Any tips on a newbie to chain gangs? I've previously seen the GCN videos about it and I've done quite a bit of group riding so understand the concept.
'Recovery' because it was 'almost' 20 mph average and 'almost' 100 miles?
You came through my neck of the woods too! I know Mordiford far too well as when getting into cycling I lived that side of Hereford (& south of the river) so regularly looped around there. Gimmie a shout if you're planning on riding that direction sometimes on the weekend again and I'll come say hi
Great ride and well done regardless, sorting the knee should be higher priority! Looks like you picked up some sunburn too lolThis photo sums up how i felt about that ride
Haha awesome, needed it when thatguywhogotbanned posted here about how great Halfords are (and worked he was an employee).Edinburgh Bicycle's meme game is on point...
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Soldato
....reviewing if I need a new pair of wheels or not.
Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbon
Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbon
Soldato
What attracts you to those specifically?