It's IMUK here tomorrow. I went out for some CX fun this evening and rode through Pennington Flash nature reserve which is where they do the swim in a big old gravel pit. I'm going to get out for a proper ride tomorrow on the roads (on my "real bike" as I said to my wife earlier, much to her bemusement) but it's a right faff figuring out where I can go without getting stuck in all the road closures! The Bolton Council website helpfully points out that the M61 will be open and is an easy way to get past the closed roads. Um, cheers, I guess. I've managed to figure out a 30 miler that gets me over 2000 feet of climbing without actually going up the Belmont cat 3 that they'll be going up, though I will be very close to the far side of that climb so may see some riders going past while I'm out and about.
Road Cycling
- Thread starter FrenchTart
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Soldato
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That Cipo is ******* rank!
Ride with two guys that have them in nicer colours, still faster than one up hills
Ride with two guys that have them in nicer colours, still faster than one up hills
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Too much gin: check. Late night chainring installation: check (thanks @One More Solo).
Current plan is 5k of climbing in about 40 miles tomorrow. Not sure the likely hangover + squat/deadlift-ified legs are going to make a great combo for this
Current plan is 5k of climbing in about 40 miles tomorrow. Not sure the likely hangover + squat/deadlift-ified legs are going to make a great combo for this
Soldato
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- 9 Nov 2005
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- Southampton, hopefully not too hot, or too cold
Missed out on my Saturday ride plans due to British Airways failing to load my bike onto the plane Friday night
It turned up eventually today. Hopefully no damage!
I'm guessing you were flying over for Etape Du Tour 2017, came across an article on the Echo news site, about how too many passengers turned up with bikes to fit them all in the hope! Affected a local Southampton rider, who tends to be ranked high on Strava.
181km with ~3300m of climbing, stage (18?) for the Tdf pros in a few days time, Col d'Azoard is insane with 14km averaging ~7.5%!
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Soldato
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Wiggle have deals on Stages - 105 crank for 395 is a pretty good deal
I had planned to get up at 6 this morning to go out. As it was I woke up at 8:15 which didn't leave me enough time to get out. Fortunately both my kids decided to go out this afternoon which left me free so I've just got back from a quick ride. Bit of a bonus as well - it was raining this morning but it's lovely and sunny now, though really quite windy. I don't envy the iron manners slogging over the top of the moors. Anyway. I did 28 miles, 2240 feet, so pretty hilly. My average speed was looking pretty abysmal towards the end of it and I didn't fancy the last climb in the wind as it's super exposed up there and last time I was up there in the wind I thought I was going to die. I changed my route at the last minute to instead take in a really good descent - arrow straight, quite steep, about a mile long and crucially a great surface. I hit 45mph with ease going down there. Nice.
Steedie & I mutually agreed that lay ins were in order rather than an early start today... not sure we felt the same getting soaked through this afternoon but we definitely felt fresher at the start
Also made balance gains the last week. For some reason riding 'no-handed' wasn't clicking despite having done it plenty in my childhood. Safe to say it's now clicked and even took off a rain-cape on the move today without getting a gobful of tarmac
Also made balance gains the last week. For some reason riding 'no-handed' wasn't clicking despite having done it plenty in my childhood. Safe to say it's now clicked and even took off a rain-cape on the move today without getting a gobful of tarmac
Soldato
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So it looks like Claris has received a bit of a 'quiet' upgrade, noticed it on a few 2018 bikes but it seems to follow the mould of Tiagra 4700 and Sora R3000.
http://bike.shimano.com/content/sac-bike/en/home/components11/road/claris-r2000.html
http://bike.shimano.com/content/sac-bike/en/home/components11/road/claris-r2000.html
No escape from four arm cranks!
I used Claris on my crap bike for a year or so before the Tiagra 4600 trickled down from my best bike that I was upgrading to 5800. The Claris was great. Miles better than the 2300 it was replacing.
I used Claris on my crap bike for a year or so before the Tiagra 4600 trickled down from my best bike that I was upgrading to 5800. The Claris was great. Miles better than the 2300 it was replacing.
Soldato
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- Newcastle/Aberdeen
Well, there's plenty of escape when most cheap bikes are going to use third party cranks and brakes regardless 
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There was a cyclist being packed into an ambulance just round the corner from my office this morning, with a bigass SUV parked up on the verge. It was at a junction, but it wasn't clear who had turned across who or what had happened. Hope he's ok :/
I also saw a chap in a full suit with a massive rucksack getting down low on his clip on aero bars. Bit random.
I also saw a chap in a full suit with a massive rucksack getting down low on his clip on aero bars. Bit random.
Soldato
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Saw that mate, well done!
I decided not to try the Bundy 200 or any of the other two rides that did 90-100 miles in the sun.
I only did 20 miles and I've got an extra burn/tan line! Think I need to stay indoors.
Managing to cycle to work most days at the moment, primarily for money reasons but it will help me get my miles up
Here's a link to one of the guys on the 200
https://www.strava.com/activities/1086921609
cracking effort well done.
I'll see your suffer score and raise it another 100...
https://www.strava.com/activities/1085977842 (not mine!!)
Soldato
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Was that the charity ride? If so what number were you as I drove past most of the 1-10 which seemed to be the quicker guys.
Thanks guys!
Sportive/Charidy ride report incoming:
A couple of stops I noticed my thru axle had worked itself a little loose. I thought nothing more of it the first time (as I'd maybe not done it up tight enough after cleaning the day before), but now I'm thinking I damaged the end caps/axle thread when servicing the freehub a couple of weeks back. I've got a new thru axle I'll fit first and see how that behaves, after that it looks like I may need to replace my hub - which would be the ideal opportunity to move away from SCS (opens up more future wheel choices).
Sportive/Charidy ride report incoming:
Around 140 riders out for the 93 miler and around 400 riders in total (4 different route lengths). My plan of doing ~10 miles prior didn't quite work out and I only had time for 5.4. Worked out well and was at the start in plenty of time. Did another 0.8 at the end circling around home as I had in the back of my mind that Strava would steal 2 miles. It didn't (this time) lol!
I carried too much kit all the way around as I was prepared for an afternoon rainstorm which we missed (only a few minutes of drizzle just after Kington). So I carried arm warmers, knee warmers, toe covers, nano shoe covers, packable jacket and 3 tubes more than I needed! The feed stops were better than planned so only ate 40% of the food I was carrying too! Just meant my HR was stupidly high for much of the ride, far higher than I'd expect although I didn't struggle with it sat up there in Z4 much of the time.
Starting off they grouped us into around ~30-40 riders and as one of the guys I was riding with had ended up in an earlier group I jumped in on second wheel in mine. Pace was fairly high out (higher than I'd normally pace) but I wanted to make the most of the group riding. Adam dropped back to me and we decided to ease up, dropping back behind the group with a handful of others. Sure enough as soon as the two golf course climbs came we started picking up riders shelled from the front group, around 12 of us riding well together. As soon as the steep kick of Wormsley all of the keen guys up front had burned themselves out and we passed and dropped probably 15-20 riders, most of them huffing and puffing pretty much blown up while we paced ourselves up the climb. Adam lives near so rides it frequently and I know how to pace it so I let him go (youngsters!), catching him on the descent.
We stopped at the first food stop in Weobley as I had to strip off arm, toe & knee warmers. We spent the next few miles before Kingsland chatting to the riders around us and forming quite a good group of 8-10 of us with 5 or 6 of us doing turns on the front into the headwind. Good social time!
Once turning at Bircher I semi knew the roads and what to expect, our group had split apart at that point, one of the 'Hereford Hobbiests' we'd ridden with had punctured (second since Hereford!) and they all stopped to wait for him. Adam, 1 other and I pushed on. Just before Lucton ELY (one of the local clubs) passed us and we jumped on their wheels for some free speed and banter. Once over Mortimers Cross there's a kicker of a climb, I was doing 450W and losing wheels rapidly so had to ease up! They were on a fast one!
Knowing the roads Adam and I rode from Shobdon to Bleddfa pretty quickly, we maybe should've paced it better but we were enjoying ourselves at that point, catching and passing maybe 10-15 riders in various groups, riding with each for a few minutes chatting before moving on. As we were over the border here the roads were fantastic, a stretch after Whitton was smooth and beautiful (only a few miles from where my parents live and I didn't know it!). I'll be back to revisit it at some point! The stop in Bleddfa was the last for a few miles so we stretched and stayed for around 20 minutes refilling bottles and preparing for what was to come.
From driving much of the area previously I knew the drag up from Bleddfa was a long one, the sun was out at this point but thankfully there was frequent trees/woods covering & sheltering the road. I just sat and spun it very measured & paced (1.2 miles @ 6%!). The turn soon after at Llanfihangel Rhydithon came up fast, we knew what was coming from some of the comments at the food stop... This was one part of the route I didn't know! The climb here was brutal, thankfully it was on quite a quiet back road with an ok surface, yet it was still an utter brute of a grind! The 3 guys we'd ridden the top of Bleddfa with dropped very early, Adam spun away in front while I settled into the long slow grind.
There was a fast descent into Llanddewi, the drop down to the village really needed some caution signs as I was chasing Adam down there at ~40 mph and had to come to quite a quick stop! Was very glad of my Disc brakes & a very brown chamois moment! We met up again with some of the Hobbiests at this point, semi knowing what was coming up I did a long turn on the front before Crossgates, distancing a few of them (oops!). After that came the fairly constant drag up to 'The Fforest Inn' (pub on the top of a high pass joining the flat Marches of the borders to mid-wales). I really struggled up here, thankfully a bunch of the Hobbiests were happy to give me a tow most of the way up. With several groups of cyclists on the road the traffic was slowed up, but the drivers seemed very patient and we got a fairly good tow from a van up the middle section - he dropped back from the row of traffic behind a group of riders in front to help us! Legend!
Adam had ridden on infront and stopped to wait at the summit, he was struggling with cramp in his shoulders while my knees were really feeling the long slog up. We set off on the descent towards New Radnor (near where I used to live), I jumped on the front and really enjoyed this! I did a long stint, trying to hold speed much as possible. Could see a couple of guys wearing high viz in front towards Walton, they worked well as a carrot! We caught them just at the base of a gradual climb to Nash Rocks, paced it easily and I offered to lead across to Kington, they waved us on. I was really in my stride at that point and accidentally dropped them, my legs in 'home stretch' mode!
We made our final food/water stop in Kington, having a good chat with several of the groups we'd ridden with, including the ELY guys who caught us (again!). They'd stopped for a coffee somewhere on the route and stayed there for over an hour! I would've loved a coffee & cake stop at this point... Had to settle for water & flapjack! The tail end of a rain shower caught us just upon leaving, thankfully only lasting 5 minutes. The drag up from Kington was steady after the prolonged stop, struggling to re-find any rhythm! Once on the descent I was in my element again, even dropping Adam before Eardisley!
Knowing the road up to Sarnesfield meant I paced it well (steady!), but some of the rough sections & pot holes really starting to take their toll. It wasn't until here (82 miles in) that my sit bones started to scream at me. Adam's thighs had begun cramping up so we took the homeward leg and climb through Mansel Gamage steady. We hadn't seen more than 1-2 riders since Kington but caught and passed a few stragglers from the 60 mile route along here, one of them with a support vehicle (broom wagon?) following who cheered us as we rode past. There was a final food/drink stop slightly off the route which we skipped, just wanting to get back. We picked up a few on the run in to the finish, Adam and I rolling turns just pulling them along, most of which dropped after a mile or two except one guy we almost finished with. We took the cycle path on the final section (chatting away) but both had enough in the tank for a sprint finish! I totally wrong geared it, dropping him at first before I spun out and he beat me to the line. Good fun to finish like that when people are cheering you on!
Route was great but the steep grind in the middle was really brutal, it'd be a better route missing that and the rough roads around Sarnesfield on the run back in to Hereford. Food/drink stops were superb and with much more than I was expecting (the stop at Bleddfa had enough hot food you could've had a meal!). The motorbike out-riders 'Hospice Angels' along with marshalls at some crossing points/junctions were also fantastic, really making life easier and made you feel that if you needed any help it wasn't far away. Huge kudos to Adam, we worked well as a team - him on the hills and me on the flats.
I carried too much kit all the way around as I was prepared for an afternoon rainstorm which we missed (only a few minutes of drizzle just after Kington). So I carried arm warmers, knee warmers, toe covers, nano shoe covers, packable jacket and 3 tubes more than I needed! The feed stops were better than planned so only ate 40% of the food I was carrying too! Just meant my HR was stupidly high for much of the ride, far higher than I'd expect although I didn't struggle with it sat up there in Z4 much of the time.
Starting off they grouped us into around ~30-40 riders and as one of the guys I was riding with had ended up in an earlier group I jumped in on second wheel in mine. Pace was fairly high out (higher than I'd normally pace) but I wanted to make the most of the group riding. Adam dropped back to me and we decided to ease up, dropping back behind the group with a handful of others. Sure enough as soon as the two golf course climbs came we started picking up riders shelled from the front group, around 12 of us riding well together. As soon as the steep kick of Wormsley all of the keen guys up front had burned themselves out and we passed and dropped probably 15-20 riders, most of them huffing and puffing pretty much blown up while we paced ourselves up the climb. Adam lives near so rides it frequently and I know how to pace it so I let him go (youngsters!), catching him on the descent.
We stopped at the first food stop in Weobley as I had to strip off arm, toe & knee warmers. We spent the next few miles before Kingsland chatting to the riders around us and forming quite a good group of 8-10 of us with 5 or 6 of us doing turns on the front into the headwind. Good social time!
Once turning at Bircher I semi knew the roads and what to expect, our group had split apart at that point, one of the 'Hereford Hobbiests' we'd ridden with had punctured (second since Hereford!) and they all stopped to wait for him. Adam, 1 other and I pushed on. Just before Lucton ELY (one of the local clubs) passed us and we jumped on their wheels for some free speed and banter. Once over Mortimers Cross there's a kicker of a climb, I was doing 450W and losing wheels rapidly so had to ease up! They were on a fast one!
Knowing the roads Adam and I rode from Shobdon to Bleddfa pretty quickly, we maybe should've paced it better but we were enjoying ourselves at that point, catching and passing maybe 10-15 riders in various groups, riding with each for a few minutes chatting before moving on. As we were over the border here the roads were fantastic, a stretch after Whitton was smooth and beautiful (only a few miles from where my parents live and I didn't know it!). I'll be back to revisit it at some point! The stop in Bleddfa was the last for a few miles so we stretched and stayed for around 20 minutes refilling bottles and preparing for what was to come.
From driving much of the area previously I knew the drag up from Bleddfa was a long one, the sun was out at this point but thankfully there was frequent trees/woods covering & sheltering the road. I just sat and spun it very measured & paced (1.2 miles @ 6%!). The turn soon after at Llanfihangel Rhydithon came up fast, we knew what was coming from some of the comments at the food stop... This was one part of the route I didn't know! The climb here was brutal, thankfully it was on quite a quiet back road with an ok surface, yet it was still an utter brute of a grind! The 3 guys we'd ridden the top of Bleddfa with dropped very early, Adam spun away in front while I settled into the long slow grind.
There was a fast descent into Llanddewi, the drop down to the village really needed some caution signs as I was chasing Adam down there at ~40 mph and had to come to quite a quick stop! Was very glad of my Disc brakes & a very brown chamois moment! We met up again with some of the Hobbiests at this point, semi knowing what was coming up I did a long turn on the front before Crossgates, distancing a few of them (oops!). After that came the fairly constant drag up to 'The Fforest Inn' (pub on the top of a high pass joining the flat Marches of the borders to mid-wales). I really struggled up here, thankfully a bunch of the Hobbiests were happy to give me a tow most of the way up. With several groups of cyclists on the road the traffic was slowed up, but the drivers seemed very patient and we got a fairly good tow from a van up the middle section - he dropped back from the row of traffic behind a group of riders in front to help us! Legend!
Adam had ridden on infront and stopped to wait at the summit, he was struggling with cramp in his shoulders while my knees were really feeling the long slog up. We set off on the descent towards New Radnor (near where I used to live), I jumped on the front and really enjoyed this! I did a long stint, trying to hold speed much as possible. Could see a couple of guys wearing high viz in front towards Walton, they worked well as a carrot! We caught them just at the base of a gradual climb to Nash Rocks, paced it easily and I offered to lead across to Kington, they waved us on. I was really in my stride at that point and accidentally dropped them, my legs in 'home stretch' mode!
We made our final food/water stop in Kington, having a good chat with several of the groups we'd ridden with, including the ELY guys who caught us (again!). They'd stopped for a coffee somewhere on the route and stayed there for over an hour! I would've loved a coffee & cake stop at this point... Had to settle for water & flapjack! The tail end of a rain shower caught us just upon leaving, thankfully only lasting 5 minutes. The drag up from Kington was steady after the prolonged stop, struggling to re-find any rhythm! Once on the descent I was in my element again, even dropping Adam before Eardisley!
Knowing the road up to Sarnesfield meant I paced it well (steady!), but some of the rough sections & pot holes really starting to take their toll. It wasn't until here (82 miles in) that my sit bones started to scream at me. Adam's thighs had begun cramping up so we took the homeward leg and climb through Mansel Gamage steady. We hadn't seen more than 1-2 riders since Kington but caught and passed a few stragglers from the 60 mile route along here, one of them with a support vehicle (broom wagon?) following who cheered us as we rode past. There was a final food/drink stop slightly off the route which we skipped, just wanting to get back. We picked up a few on the run in to the finish, Adam and I rolling turns just pulling them along, most of which dropped after a mile or two except one guy we almost finished with. We took the cycle path on the final section (chatting away) but both had enough in the tank for a sprint finish! I totally wrong geared it, dropping him at first before I spun out and he beat me to the line. Good fun to finish like that when people are cheering you on!
Route was great but the steep grind in the middle was really brutal, it'd be a better route missing that and the rough roads around Sarnesfield on the run back in to Hereford. Food/drink stops were superb and with much more than I was expecting (the stop at Bleddfa had enough hot food you could've had a meal!). The motorbike out-riders 'Hospice Angels' along with marshalls at some crossing points/junctions were also fantastic, really making life easier and made you feel that if you needed any help it wasn't far away. Huge kudos to Adam, we worked well as a team - him on the hills and me on the flats.
A couple of stops I noticed my thru axle had worked itself a little loose. I thought nothing more of it the first time (as I'd maybe not done it up tight enough after cleaning the day before), but now I'm thinking I damaged the end caps/axle thread when servicing the freehub a couple of weeks back. I've got a new thru axle I'll fit first and see how that behaves, after that it looks like I may need to replace my hub - which would be the ideal opportunity to move away from SCS (opens up more future wheel choices).
Awesome to have an easy fix!
Rubbish, can't say I know it but pretty stupid place to put a segment. I know the guy with the KOM!
Beautiful bike, shame about the wheels! Know a local guy who swears by his Cipollini's, currently rides a RB1K, which I think you can get in those colours? His is red/white.this.....
On another note -
So much want........local bike shop built this today....they are supplying Cipollini frames now........
Off to see it in the flesh tomorrow........could be very tempted to switch all my current gear over to this......I'm in love i think......
Yeah the St Michaels Hospice ride, not even sure what my number was (lol). It's still attached to my bike. Unsure how you'd see peoples numbers when driving as they where not very big?! Fairly sure they're in the thousands, so may not have been the same ride? They did warn us that another Sportive from Aberyswyth crossed our route, but we didn't see any of them.
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Checked my number - 93160. It was well attended, but don't think there was 93,000 riders!
Where about's did you see people riding?
Yeah I think the 60 would be more enjoyable, the only shame is you don't really get out of Herefordshire to enjoy the great Welsh road surfaces!