Road Cycling

Roady said:
Great advice, I'd kinda assumed it was 2 lines but with 3 groups of riders (meaning probably less than 10 in each group) it would be silly, 1 line (like a TTT!) will make more sense & easier to understand (regularly rode a 3up last year with friends).
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In theory, there should be 2 lines side-by-side with one line of riders who are moving to the back going slower than the other line. In reality, it almost always turns into 1 pace line with a few individual riders moving back on their own. You'll soon find that you get more shelter by getting to the back of the pace line as fast as possible* rather than hanging out waiting for the next rider to pull off for you to tuck in behind.

*as I said before, not too fast to the back or the acceleration needed to match speed with the fast line will be too much and you'll be riding home alone.
 
I haven't done a long ride in preparation for my 100 mile at the end of the month so I thought I better pull my finger out - https://www.strava.com/activities/937550887

I'll be honest, it felt like a chore. Ride out was ok, first half of the return leg wasn't too bad then the familiar soundtrack of a fighter jet in my ears as it was headwinds the rest of the way. The last 10 miles were a mental battle more than anything counting off the time/miles. Still, it's done and it confirmed that my bike is still making a racket. I'll pull it apart on Thursday and see if I can get to the bottom of it.
 
One of the best bits of advice I ever got for fast group riding is watch the rider's back in front rather than their rear wheel. If you focus on the wheel then you'll twitch all over the place as the wheel jags about whereas the riders move comparatively less. This also encourages you to look up the road and anticipate hazards or changes in pace. Obviously use your peripheral vision and occasional checks not to overlap wheels. :)
 
lordrobs said:
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 :mad:

My old one has also gone back to being smooth as silk :confused: I'm heading out for 60 miles today so that will tell if it was all in my head or not.
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Ah, good news. On Sat I realised that I'd thrown away my new, non-knackered adaptor and kept the broken one. :rolleyes: I need to order another to see if I can sort out this annoying creaking.
 
First 10mile Time Trial in years and only been out on 3 or 4 short runs this year since being knocked off in 2015.

28:10 so 21.3mph average.

Did it on my 2nd hand road bike with TT bars and full road kit/locks/spares on and knackered tyres lol.

Really impressed as no Speedo so had to go on feel only. I find it so much easier to use a Speedo as something to judge against. Would have been happy with sub 30mins but nearly 2mins under i am really impressed.
 
helpimcrap said:
Really impressed as no Speedo so had to go on feel only. I find it so much easier to use a Speedo as something to judge against. Would have been happy with sub 30mins but nearly 2mins under i am really impressed.
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I don't exactly have a wealth of TT experience besides a Triathlon Relay bike leg but I didn't enjoy seeing my speedo. I actually had it as one of the smaller values on the Garmin and focused on heart rate/cadence and avg lap speed (6 lap course). I pretty much ended up ignoring the heart rate anyway as it seemed way too high (199bpm avg, 206 max) but efforts to reduce it felt like I was barely putting any effort in.

Interested to hear how people usually pace time trials without a power meter?
 
Speed is largely useless as it's entirely course/weather dependant. The only metric aside from power should be HR as it'll be largely independent of outside variables. It's not a good metric though as HR itself vaires by nature by due to your general state etc. The only real way to reliably measure is through power it is fully independent of all other variables.
 
I use it as a gauge on the flat with obviously descents being faster and hills slower.
It is mainly the average i have it on so i have a target i.e. 25mph+ etc when i used to have one years ago. I'm not blessed with money for top kit lol.
 
helpimcrap said:
First 10mile Time Trial in years and only been out on 3 or 4 short runs this year since being knocked off in 2015.

28:10 so 21.3mph average.

Did it on my 2nd hand road bike with TT bars and full road kit/locks/spares on and knackered tyres lol.

Really impressed as no Speedo so had to go on feel only. I find it so much easier to use a Speedo as something to judge against. Would have been happy with sub 30mins but nearly 2mins under i am really impressed.
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Not bad going for a fully laden work horse!

Lethal` said:
I don't exactly have a wealth of TT experience besides a Triathlon Relay bike leg but I didn't enjoy seeing my speedo. I actually had it as one of the smaller values on the Garmin and focused on heart rate/cadence and avg lap speed (6 lap course). I pretty much ended up ignoring the heart rate anyway as it seemed way too high (199bpm avg, 206 max) but efforts to reduce it felt like I was barely putting any effort in.

Interested to hear how people usually pace time trials without a power meter?
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I don't have a wealth of experience either but do train with power and will be focusing more on TT's this year. In the run up to last years club open 10 I had one trial run where my PM was playing silly buggers so I had to make do with HR only and found (conditions and gaining experience aside) I was actually faster. I think by staring at a power figure and most likely poor pacing as a result I wasn't allowing myself adequate recovery. Even if you were to use RPE instead of HR there's still some variability there in addition to the conditions.

On the actual day I used a combination of both, power to know what I could & should be pushing and HR to determine my longevity at certain intensities.

Thomas. PLease. said:
Speed is largely useless as it's entirely course/weather dependant. The only metric aside from power should be HR as it'll be largely independent of outside variables. It's not a good metric though as HR itself vaires by nature by due to your general state etc. The only real way to reliably measure is through power it is fully independent of all other variables.
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^this.
 
With that in mind the speed probably could have been fairly useful lap on lap as the wind stayed the same throughout though I appreciate most TTs aren't 6 laps!

I could have looked to keep it roughly the same down the long headwind section.
 
Well. That hurt! Chaingang really put into perspective how little fast road riding I've done this year! Got absolutely abused & dropped hard! :o

Lots of conflicting information around ended up with me waiting at the meet point from 5.50 and nobody else turning up until 6.15! Had a good natter and set off soon after 6.30. There were around 40 riders out so split into 4 groups. The first two went off with most of the guys I knew, some strong groups! First group mostly comprised of the race guys, second group with some the Tri guys, when it came for the 3rd group 6 riders readied up and then everyone looked around for a few more, some of them looking at me so I jumped on. Worst. Mistake. Ever! :D

After leaving town we turned towards Clehonger and started 'chaining' into the headwind, not really 'through and off' but a constant chaining action from the offside with around 5-10s max on the front, no elbow waving and hardly any shouts for holes (annoying!). I found myself sat at tempo just to keep in the group, hitting 400-500W just to move up the chain to the front. I wasn't recovering between efforts as riding at 250W+ when dropping back only gave 30s respite due to the small group. Just before Madley someone shouted to slow as thought someone had punctured, but after a minute or two of easy pedalling he was back (dropped chain?). I put a big effort moving up on a kicker before Madley, nearly popping, we took it fairly easy through the village (lots of parked cars & pot holes) but when the speed picked back up I tried to move up and just dropped off. Legs spent!

I cruised for a couple of miles solo recovering ready for the 4th group. As they came past the leader told me to hang on the back, their longer (10-12 riders) chain was working much smoother with longer turns on the front and lots of shouting for holes (constant on these roads!). I found the pace manageable even though after every rider dropped back I had to close a gap. I started to tire again and after the Bredwardine turn (with lots of loose gravel on the road) I backed off after losing rear wheel traction on the slope, I didn't try too hard to close the gap as I had several options to ride back rather than continuing from Letton. I knew one of the later stretches of road from Kinnersley would've dropped me at those speeds anyway! :o

After a breather (& txt the other half) I paced myself up Tin hill and did a fairly 'measured but effort' ride back along the main road (had to stop for an oncoming ambulance!) to keep the average up & get some training in. Legs actually feeling ok after the earlier efforts.

It was a tough intro to chainganging! I think I can manage the 4th group and probably the 3rd again once I gain a little fitness. Really need to work on tempo/recovery. These groups seemed to be 20/21mph and 270-350W for me, while being able to recover at around 250W which I currently can't do that well.

helpimcrap said:
First 10mile Time Trial in years and only been out on 3 or 4 short runs this year since being knocked off in 2015.

28:10 so 21.3mph average.

Did it on my 2nd hand road bike with TT bars and full road kit/locks/spares on and knackered tyres lol.
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Speed sensors are fairly inexpensive, think Decathlon used to do one for £20 or so? Great result and average anyway, well done! :D
 
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Bleurgh, weather is super crap and I'm dog tired so I've bailed on riding to my parents' today. There's a strong westerly wind and they live due west, so it would have been a real slog.

I'm down on miles compared to last year, and I've done no long rides yet this year. Need to sort it out.

In other news, the bike frame I ordered two weeks ago is being delivered today, the one day when no one will be in. Great work, guys.
 
Haha sods law with that delivery! Who's the courier? Some text and let you reschedule...

You'll get the miles in mate, your commute will see about that! Long rides will come with the better weather, we're still quite early in the year even though it feels like late spring.

Realised why I popped last night, hit 190bpm on the kicker. Really shouldn't have done that and gone so deep! I've not seen my HR that high on the road before, only a couple of times on the turbo (one of which I threw up!). I'm 37 in a couple of months! :E
 
Roady said:
Baptism
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You went out and got stuck in. That's the main thing. Don't let it put you off, see it as a beast to be tamed rather than being scared by it.
400-500w to get to the front and 250w on the wheel? That's ridiculous so either your PM is mental, your group is absolute mental and way above their threshold with mental efforts but either way that is not right.

On my first ever chain gang Touch told me to join the fast group and said I would be alright. I promptly ended up on the wheel of a guy in GB kit... Legitimate team GB kit. Didn't get dropped though but did think I may die a few times :p
 
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