Road Cycling

Roady said:
@Lethal` you'll be pleased to hear that plans are afoot for The Tumble to be attempted on Monday! ;)
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:eek:

Do Caerphilly Mountain as well :)

Roady said:
Haha yeah we are... Although I really need to order some as I don't have a spare which I'll obviously need in a week or twos time (I mean who gets a month out of a chain anyway?). :p
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Surely there's 10 spare in your saddle bag?
 
Probably gonna get flamed here, but as i keep saying i am a newbie to road bikes. I am wondering if anyone can recommend a bike service plan? Looking at Halfords:

Prices start from £15/€18 for kids' bikes and £25/€30 for adult bikes and include freee fitting on parts and accessories bought from Halfords, as well as a free Silver Bike Service worth £50/€60.
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So for about £30 a year i get free fitting and an annual service - doesn't sound too bad?

My bike isn't a £10k Tour de France winner, but i would like to look after it as best i can (£600, but got it for a bargain price of £330).
 
The issue is you'll be paying Halfords prices and only able to get Halfords stock - costing you more and limiting your choice. So even if you do want to get it serviced by someone else rather than do it yourself it's a false economy.

If you buy from a local bike shop many of them will offer you up to three free services (including parts fittings). Plus they're not Halfords. Personally I'd go for something like that and then use that year to slowly learn how to do things myself. That's pretty much how I did it when I first got into cycling.
 
What do they even do at a bike service for a normal bike?

Bikes really don't need much 'regular' maintenance outside of keeping the chain clean and lubed. Also checking it over for safety, nothing you can't learn yourself.
 
BennyC said:
Potential pr0-hack for Elemnt users without Strava live segments...

Plot a route on RWGPS using cue items, deleted unwanted cues, insert custom cue items at the start & finish point of each segment. :cool:

Cue's should flag up in a similar fashion to TBT but I've yet to try this myself though will do soon.
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Tried this on today's club and can confirm it works :cool:

Insert a cue and it already has a comprehensive drop down list of options:

6Xyp2NHl.png.jpg


You can see my start & finish points for Bison Hill:

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Shows them in the cue sheet as you'd expect:

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And just like other direction cues you get a countdown in ft as you approach :)

Handy little hack for the Wahooligan's among us that know our money is better given to Training Peaks than Strava ;):p
 
Talk to me about gears please! As mentioned earlier, some forums mention beginners should ignore the big ring to start with - i did this and ended up cross chaining. So today i did a 10 miler and used the big ring throughout instead - i found this easier for set off and moving up the gears as speed increased.

How do you/how should i be using the gears? Big ring or small ring first?

No clicking noise when using big ring, but mosquito is still there!
 
I change gear all the time, my rings will be bigger than what yours will be but the same applies.

Start off in the small ring probably 4-5 down from the biggest cog, I then click up the gears/down the block until I hit the 14t sprocket which is the 4th up the smallest one.

If I need a faster gear from there I shift up the big ring at the front, click down two gears at the back/back up the block two gears to make the big jump at the front less big.

If I want it easier I'll go down gears until I'm in the 3rd biggest cog on the back, I don't want to cross chain so if I want an easier gears I drop to the small chainring and click up two gears at the back to make it less of a jump like before.

I spin my legs quite fast so I can sit comfortable in a small ring and 4th up the back at a decent speed.

You don't want to be grinding out a big/hard gear as you'll wear yourself out quick. You want to spin the gears almost as if you are pushing next to nothing. I try to keep the same cadence(RPM) and adjust the gears to suit. 85-100 being my average sort of range.

This below shows how you should go really.

 
A big crash for me today.
Coming down a Cat 4 hill I totally missed my braking - went across the road, hit the opposite curb, over the bars and into a nettle garden. I'm sitting here tonight in so much pain - my legs and arms feel like they are fire :(

Could have been much worse - lucky there were no cars and no broken bones or bike : Looking at the data the stop was 30mph to 0 :eek:

A member of my cycling club kindly took a photo :p I ended up right at the back just in front of the hawthorns.

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Ouch @SDK, gws!

Had spill myself yesterday, downhill sweeping right, the top of a cat4 if coming from the opposite way. Tyres had no interest in gripping to let me take the turn, despite losing speed on the brakes, understeered into hedge! Could have been so much worse, just scratches down my left side and holes in kit, I think I missed a tree in the hedge by metres.

Lovely holidaying couple stopped and gave me some wipes for my arm and leg, I then carried on to finally do "Bell Hill To Top" cat3 and then head for home.

Think I might be heading over to Petersfield again tomorrow to do the alternative cat3 route to the same summit.
 
ivrytwr3 said:
that's great - seems i need to work on my technique
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Ignore the first 4 lines of confusion in Jonny's post :p

Small ring if you're moving slowly or climbing/going up hill. Big ring if moving fast or descending.

Ultimately muscular endurance is your limiting factor and you'll have much more longevity in your legs from a fast spin with a lower amount of force than you will with a very slow spin and a 'grind'.

You know what cross chaining is now so try to avoid this or use it as a reminder when it occurs to shift up/down chainrings and adjust gears on the cassette at the rear :)

Eventually a bit like driving a car, you'll read the road and gear appropriately to maintain maximum momentum :cool:
 
SDK^ said:
A big crash for me today.
Coming down a Cat 4 hill I totally missed my braking - went across the road, hit the opposite curb, over the bars and into a nettle garden. I'm sitting here tonight in so much pain - my legs and arms feel like they are fire :(

Could have been much worse - lucky there were no cars and no broken bones or bike : Looking at the data the stop was 30mph to 0 :eek:

A member of my cycling club kindly took a photo :p I ended up right at the back just in front of the hawthorns.

36684598971_14a5ea6853_b.jpg
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Sounds the same as I did descending the Cat & Fiddle (Buxton side) 2 years ago at 40mph+ and overshot a sharp bend, shot across the road and was fortunate there was nothing coming the other way. I hit a barbed wire fence at 30mph according to Strava, which made a mess of me, and as it turned out later in the week after inspection, my titanium frame as the impact cracked the head tube. I had to ride 40 miles home covered in blood, but I think just the sheer relief I was still alive and adrenaline got me home. I still get flashbacks and back off on twisty descents ever since the crash. I hope you don't suffer any lasting damage, and get that bike checked!
I've posted it before but my brother took this pic after the crash https://www.dropbox.com/s/mqa0gelvdirn55b/idiot.jpg?dl=0
 
Got far too hot down here far too quickly yesterday, relative to my decision-making on what route to take to head back to Petersfield (after finally doing "Bell Hill To The Top" cat3 http://www.strava.com/activities/1151629360/analysis/5918/6789 on Friday... But after and unplanned wipeout just before the end of "River To Hilltop") to tackle the alternative cat3 segment route, "Full Little Switzerland A272 to Hawkley" http://www.strava.com/segments/8405920. It was ~25C by 1100 and some parts around here hit ~31C mid afternoon, I contemplated a short evening ride, but in the end reluctantly decided to hold off until this morning.
 
SDK^ said:
A big crash for me today.

Could have been much worse - lucky there were no cars and no broken bones or bike : Looking at the data the stop was 30mph to 0 :eek:

36684598971_14a5ea6853_b.jpg
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Lucky, reeeeal lucky.

When I was around 14 I did the same - t junction after a blind bend - couldn't stop - straight over junction and a motorhome missed me by about 2ft.

I think sometimes these things are sent as a little warning/reminder!
 
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