Road Cycling

[touch]

Considering the TransScotland race next weekend. Anyone else fancy it?
Start at Inverness castle on saturday morning, visit:
Braemar Castle
Old Inverlochy Castle
Inverary Castle
Newark Castle
Finish at Glasgow Necropolis.

You've got to visit the checkpoints in order but you can choose your own route between them. Looking like 330-350miles.

 

[Roady]

Woohoo, bit of a bonus at work, so I can get hold of an elemnt bolt sooner than planned. Hurrah! Roll on next month...

An early Welcome to the wild side, Wahooligan!

FTFY

So, riding my CX bike today around some local trails and a branch lodged itself into the wheel. DR might be knackered but the hanger is definitely fudged. Rather annoying. One of my friends with me managed to get things kind of working so I limped home stuck in easiest gear. 110 rpm to maintain 9mph. Excelsior

Derp. Hope it's just the hanger & replacement is easily sourced.

Potential dub question - if a rim doesn't have wear indicators, what's the best way to know when the brake track is EOL?

Strava says my wheels (Planet-X Model B) have done at least 7,500km, probably more with pre-Strava rides.

7500km is only, what? Just over 4500 miles? Doesn't sound much for a rim... Maybe a tyre, but not a rim!

It's worth nothing that some rims have a groove in the braking surface rather than the little round holes you get on others, which can be used as a wear indicator. After that you're left looking at the rim, as a rim gets thinner the pressure of the tyre on the outside of the rim surface will cause it to 'bend' outwards so the middle of the braking surface will go even more concave - basically, you need to check it with a pumped up tyre on it, as the surface will be less concave without one. If a rim gets really thin, although I've not experienced it myself, it'll flex under braking so will 'pulse' or 'shudder' as the pad grabs and releases the flexing surface rather than braking smoothly.

I've tried the Finish line ceramic stuff a couple of times now but I hate it. It looks nicer but the chain sounds very noisy. I tend to just default to Finish Line wet (green bottle) though it is quite messy and generally doesn't maintain a clean look.

I'm still trying to finish a bottle of the FL Green Ceramic I bought when I moved house and couldn't find my FL Green. It's lasting forever! It's a very dirty wet lube, think it's even worse than the normal Green for attracting dust/dirt.

I know it's been hot but even after a ten mile (fairly flat) ride, I'm ending up utterly exhausted, sweating like a very sweaty thing when I finish.<snip>

Is this just a case of building up stamina and not knackering myself out each time?

Strava links help more, if you have a HRM the suffer score can be a real indication! You're basically pushing yourself everywhere which is why you're struggling so much afterwards. Without settling and finding your 'sweetspot' you'll always end up tired afterwards - the constant changes of pace adding stress to your system which will already be stressed from the hot and humid weather. Keep riding and try to concentrate on maintaining a constant speed on the flats (where you're not at your limit, like say 70%) and you'll suffer far less. Put the efforts into the climbs!

 

[Roady]

Tough hot ride after work on tuesday night with Richie, not high pace but hot & humid conditions made things tough going. Around 1/3 of the way out we'd decided to cut the ride short and just spent most of it chatting rather than hammering along. Still drank around a litre of fluids. Had an odd twinge in my right thigh, like I'd pulled it so rested it as much as possible. I'm putting it down to the heat and humidity as hadn't really put any big efforts in which would've pulled/strained it. It felt ok afterwards and I had a training course yesterday (with an early start) so didn't ride, the commute this morning showed no signs so I'm considering it gone!

May head out again on friday if I get time. Can't ride saturday morning (getting a wood burner fitted & fireplace done) so I'm probably going to ride to the in-laws in Ludlow & back as we're due a visit on sunday (~25 miles each way). Should be the start of me increasing some of the mileage done in my rides for preparation for the imperial/sportive I have planned in a month time. I've probably left it a bit late!

 

[Feek]

Strava links help more, if you have a HRM the suffer score can be a real indication! You're basically pushing yourself everywhere which is why you're struggling so much afterwards. Without settling and finding your 'sweetspot' you'll always end up tired afterwards - the constant changes of pace adding stress to your system which will already be stressed from the hot and humid weather. Keep riding and try to concentrate on maintaining a constant speed on the flats (where you're not at your limit, like say 70%) and you'll suffer far less. Put the efforts into the climbs!

I do have an HRM, here is the Strava link.

Good advice there, thanks.

 

[merlin]

I do have an HRM, here is the Strava link.

Good advice there, thanks.

Others may disagree or may see something in the data but to me there's nothing particularly stand-out there - it all looks pretty ordinary, although the last sector or two spiked your HR.

It was pretty damn hot, you're on a hybrid, tyre pressures, fuelling, hydration etc - it all factors in.

 

[Roady]

if you have a HRM the suffer score can be a real indication!

I do have an HRM, here is the Strava link.

My bad, Suffer score is a Strava Premium feature. It calculates from your HR zones, your time spent in each zone to determine an effort level for the ride.

Totally agree with merlin's 'diagnosis' above - the end part of the ride judging by your speed & HR you sprinted with a huge effort? The rest of it was fairly varied effort levels, judging by your HR, as it was jumping and dropping.

 

[Vonhelmet]

I took the afternoon off work today for a ride, but due to poor planning I had to ferry my laptop in which meant riding my single speed bike with rack so I could carry a pannier. I set off for a flattish metric but it was hellishly windy. I ended up heading north and hitting some hills which was interesting on the single speed. I had to head back to the office to fetch my bag again so it was basically 50odd miles followed by my normal commute. I did over 2500ft of climbing in 64 miles which isn't much, but you feel it when you've no gears! I could have gone further if I'd not needed to be home, to be honest. I was still feeling pretty good at the end of it. I might try an imperial on that bike some time.

 

[Shamrock]

I need to reduce my stack with a low profile spacer. I found one online but it doesn't quite sit flush due to the headset compression ring.

Other than it looking not quite right, are there any risks running it like this? Water ingress? If not I'll just get it cut because I need the lower front end.

 

[BennyC]

Could probably find a rubber grommet that'd fit under that and reduce any ingress and make it less eye catching too.

TL : DR - decent human beings do still exist!

Spoiler

Spotted a slow flat late yesterday evening so, removed the stone, trimmed a tyre boot to put inside the tyre and fitted a new tube. First of the year after 3,700 miles. No issues this morning, still holding pressure. So set off early morning whilst it was cooler for my metric & then some.

8 miles in, flat rear. *Sigh*. On investigation it looks like the new tube I fitted yesterday has failed along one of the forming lines. C'est la vie. Out comes the CO2, which goes off in my hand Erghhh. Mini-Pump to the rescue. 80 PSI later and having sweat plenty. I'm off again.

(Last time I used my current Lifeline Valve, 2 canisters went off in my hand and bugger all went in to the tyre. Turns out having now tried at home the newer version accepts the canister and then has a threaded collar to open/close flow. Where as the previous version accepts the canister and disperses once pressed on to the valve stem which was much simpler.)

So being extra cautious and feeling a little concerned with 60m to cover and only 1 tube remaining, I ride 'carefully'. 10 miles later. Rear flat again. FML. Exactly the same place and what looks like a failed tube along the same form/mould line, ***** . Then I realise the boot I fitted, which I wouldn't normally and in hindsight not sure why I did... is actually cutting the tyre and what I thought was a form/mould line is actually just an impression of the boot Last tube in and 70 PSI with the mini-pump and I'm rolling again. (3 ***** ride past ignoring a shout for a spare CO2/tube if they had surplus).

My faith in humanity was restored about 10 miles later when I came across a middle aged chap and his daughter (no pics ). I asked if they could spare a tube or CO2 and turns out they'd just finished their ride and lived a mile down the road. 'Clive' my knight on a shining Pinarello chucks me a spare tube, top up of water and a track pump to boost the rear.

After that I didn't really care about the relatively crappy start to the ride anymore I managed not to go full ragequit at the roadside, I'm pretty well tempered generally and worse things can happen than having to call a cab but was just really made up that people in this world do still exist. Will drop something through his letterbox (not poo) as way of a 'thank-you' and return his tube this week.

Plonked the tube back through his door with this afternoons ride + a clif bar and some harribo, least I could do

On par tip tip 4,000 total & recreational (no commuting) miles so far this year on Sunday

 

[Sgt_Pepper]

Just ordered a Wahoo Bolt, have been using an Edge 25 which has been ok but with the most basic of route functions and the fact I want to start venturing a little further out into the world, the wahoo seems a good option.

Just need to get a good cadence sensor now as the Wahoo one I have is pap.

 

[Shamrock]

Could probably find a rubber grommet that'd fit under that and reduce any ingress and make it less eye catching too

I tried a rubber ring thing I had and it looked good but stopped the handlebars turning!

 

[Feek]

Others may disagree or may see something in the data but to me there's nothing particularly stand-out there - it all looks pretty ordinary, although the last sector or two spiked your HR.

It was pretty damn hot, you're on a hybrid, tyre pressures, fuelling, hydration etc - it all factors in.

Totally agree with merlin's 'diagnosis' above - the end part of the ride judging by your speed & HR you sprinted with a huge effort? The rest of it was fairly varied effort levels, judging by your HR, as it was jumping and dropping.

Yes, I was after a PR on that final stretch, it's pretty much flat and I gave it all I'd got.

Remember that the only real exercise I've done for the last four years is walk which uses a very different set of muscles than riding and for thirty years prior to that I'd put on bucketloads of weight and was dreadfully unfit. I'm much skinnier now (although I've put a bit back on from my 11.5 st minimum) but before last summer, I'd not been on a bike for many, many years.

I am riding pretty much exclusively on the road. I didn't think I would be when I bought a bike which is why I went with the Marasa. I have fitted much thinner tyres than stock though and they've got a lot of pressure in them but @merlin, you're right - it is still a hybrid.

I'll say what people are thinking..... "Should have bought a road bike"

 

[merlin]

I am riding pretty much exclusively on the road. I didn't think I would be when I bought a bike which is why I went with the Marasa. I have fitted much thinner tyres than stock though and they've got a lot of pressure in them but @merlin, you're right - it is still a hybrid.

I'll say what people are thinking..... "Should have bought a road bike"

Just keep cycling and you'll be amazed how quickly your cardio improves. Cycle regularly, even 10 mile jobbies will do you the world of good, twice a week if you can squeeze it in!

The main issue is that it's a 12 kilo bike, you'll feel that on any incline.

 

[Feek]

I'm trying to go out every evening after work, some nights I can't manage it but four or five out of seven isn't bad. I didn't realise the bike was as heavy as it is, I just weighed it and it's 12.75 kilos.

 

[MM-Seat]

I'm trying to go out every evening after work, some nights I can't manage it but four or five out of seven isn't bad. I didn't realise the bike was as heavy as it is, I just weighed it and it's 12.75 kilos.

Keep it up! Saw your weight loss thread a few years ago and was amazed at the transformation you made.

If the bug bites, you'll eventually get a full on road bike and be amazed how quick and agile they are.

 

[UTmaniac]

I'm trying to go out every evening after work, some nights I can't manage it but four or five out of seven isn't bad. I didn't realise the bike was as heavy as it is, I just weighed it and it's 12.75 kilos.

I started my fitness program in January on the Marassa's fat big brother, albeit using a pair of 29er road wheels (so bike was ~12Kg IIRC after a few upgrades like carbon handlebars etc.), I think all those ~30-60min rides linking up very local hills in hrm zone4 gave me great preparation for when I got my Cube road bike ~6 weeks ago and then started pushing my distance/avg. speed/elevation gains even further. Back in Jan, my rides were typically ~5-10 mils or so, tomorrow morning I'm doing my third 47-miler with five cat4 hills since Sunday.

Remind me/us what tyres you now have fitted and how much the tubes weigh, plus what the internal rim width of the wheels are. If you are using mixed terrain tyres like Schwalbe Landcruisers, a road specific ~28mm set of nice folding tyres and some lightweight tubes could easily reduce the bike by ~1Kg.

 

[Lethal`]

Plonked the tube back through his door with this afternoons ride + a clif bar and some harribo, least I could do

Reminds me of my ride in California the other week. I had rented a bike and they supplied in theory everything I needed to get back going again after a flat. Well, I ended up with a box staple in the tyre. Opened up the saddle bag they had fitted to find a Schrader 32c inner tube, some tyre levers and a co2 cartridge.. probably not even 700! The bike was running 23c tyres... Urgh. I did have some patches with me but I had left my mini pump in my suitcase. Fortunately I was on a route with a lot of cyclists going past on a Saturday morning and I managed to stop one. She only had more co2 so not too much help, then someone came along with a pump but it didn't want to work with Schrader. The guy in the house behind where I had stopped had come out and was sanding his fence. Eventually, he magicked an inner tube out of his pocket to my exclamation of "You just carry inner tubes about?". Turns out he had heard me over the fence. He then even offered to bring round a track pump. Meanwhile another cyclist stopped and ended up helping out by giving me his inner tube and co2 and making sure I got it fitted okay. He mentioned there is actually a bike shop just 10 mins walk away on the route... bit gutted I didn't go there in the first place. I told him to let me take him there and replenish his supplies but he was adamant I must just get going. Pretty nice! I did stop at the bike shop anyway to replenish my own supplies - $14 for an inner tube and co2

Spoiler: staple!

On return of the bike I mentioned and they realised they had given me an inner tube for one of their city bikes

 

[Feek]

Remind me/us what tyres you now have fitted and how much the tubes weigh, plus what the internal rim width of the wheels are. If you are using mixed terrain tyres like Schwalbe Landcruisers, a road specific ~28mm set of nice folding tyres and some lightweight tubes could easily reduce the bike by ~1Kg.

I'm using Conti Grand Prix 4 Season folding road tyres 700x28c and Schwalbe road inner tubes - Schrader 700 x 18-28c.

 

[merlin]

I'm using Conti Grand Prix 4 Season folding road tyres 700x28c and Schwalbe road inner tubes - Schrader 700 x 18-28c.

What pressures are you putting into them?

 

[Feek]

95 psi