Road Cycling

BTW I know not to use the top tube in case anyone is wondering, was just on there for the pic.

Roady said:
Glad you've got the stand, actually quite jealous as my 'Jobsworth' is slightly unstable with it's 2 legs and doesn't have a magnetic tray... :o

Are you going to catch the ToB anywhere, think it goes very near you as goes through Gloucester and then heads south? I'm in 2 minds - I can either head to Builth Wells to catch the end of stage 4 (there is also a sportive in the day which finishes at the finishline which could be fun!). My original option was to ride down to Gloucester the day after and catch it somethere there at the roadside. Some of the club guys had mentioned it but I've not got the legs to do both! :rolleyes::D
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I wish I had it before I did the indexing and H/L settings!

Haven't thought about watching it but I could get my camera out I guess and go for a look! Where can I find detailed stage/timing information?
 
Roady said:
Ride 300 miles eating french bread? Interesting... :p:D

Forum job lot of ELEMNTS? :cool:

Awesome ride regardless mate, probably the 'biggest' we've seen here considering it was open roads & those conditions! Interesting writeup, sounds like you needed a pace-group rather than just a couple of riders. As well as some roving support to deal with things like that RD. Idiots will always be idiots - I bet they'll put some rules in place to stop that happening next year! :rolleyes:
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Cheers :)

I didn't mention the food. Each rest stop had a huge amount of stuff to dive into though the hot food wasn't quite as good as advertised (still good though). I ate so many damn bananas. Utterly sick of them by the end. Still, makes a change from being so full of flapjack that I literally can't fit anything more in. Sometimes we were cycling too fast and in too sketchy conditions to safely eat/drink though - at least it was hard to have the confidence too when you're that knackered.

I think they had a load of pace riders no-show on the day due to the weather forecast so possibly normally they have more. To be honest I think they did a good job for the most part and really all the issues encountered were down to a few idiots ruining things.

edit: If I knew the Elemnt was definitely more reliable that would actually be quite a compelling reason to move over :)
 
Sounds like a massive achievement, well done dude!

I've been pottering around Bordeaux this week. Thought I'd bring my bike with me so bought a new bike rack and drove the 8.5hrs over here. With the extended family, which is nice and each morning I get to go get the bread, which is a good excuse to get out. That said I just had to fork out 85 euros for a new di2 charger as the battery died on the first day. #firstworldproblems
So now I'm determined to get out each day until we leave on sunday morning.

Nice roads and scenery around here though, shame I haven't got time to go on some long ones, think the wife would kill me.

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Was nice to ride with the family but man they're slow as anything

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Might have taken us a "bit" off road... my bike loved it & yes my wife is pulling our 2yr old :p won't fit on my bike haha

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Dooksy said:
That route near Gloucester is part of one of the routes I take. It's about a 15 minute cycle ride from my house.
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Yup, really close! Looks like they follow the A4173 south (Stroud road on googlemaps?).

I had thought to ride down on the A417 which I know fairly well, but that would mean meeting the A40 where it's dual carriageway, with the option to follow it south right into Westgate. But that's where it's multiple lanes and will probably be very busy. Looking at the elevation profile there's a CAT 2 climb they do at 'Speech House' which will probably be a better place to go watch them (climbing = slower!), it's also followed by a food stop which could be fun to grab some bidons from! :)
FrenchTart said:
I think they had a load of pace riders no-show on the day due to the weather forecast so possibly normally they have more. To be honest I think they did a good job for the most part and really all the issues encountered were down to a few idiots ruining things.
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A pace vehicle infront 'setting the pace' would also work well, especially if they had communication with the pace riders/organisers etc etc. Then again I imagine in the better weather things would work much more smoothly & easily! Testing weather conditions will test everyone's resolve and sap additional strength. Did you eat the whole of london? How did the bike fare? :)

EDIT: Looks amazing Ross, can't believe you took her offroad with the trailer (and made her ride it) lol ;)
 
me being daft, I did not tighten the pedals enough, so the one on left got loose and by the time I noticed, I think I damaged the threading in the left crankset arm.

now I'm looking for replacement, as I will also be using new pedals, as suggested earlier in this thread.

The crankset in my Defy 4 is FSA Tempo 34/50, I had a look around and they sell the whole kit only, whereas I only need the left arm. Any place that sells that part only?

Another option is to ebay the whole thing, I've seen unused for less than 30. then either sell the right side or just keep as spare.

and last option is to buy new and upgrade to something better, but don't want to spend too much, maybe 50-60 max.

what's the best thing to do?
 
£27 for a 105 cassette or £47 for an Ultegra. I don't really fancy dropping down to 105 level stuff but I'm also finding it hard to justify the price difference just for the silver paint they put on Ultegra.
 
Roady said:
EDIT: Looks amazing Ross, can't believe you took her offroad with the trailer (and made her ride it) lol ;)
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Google maps made me do it... we got redirected due to an air show and we were riding through their crash zone, which then google took us through a forest/ massive off road. I have to say, my bike isn't really made for those conditions :p least she had a mountain bike!
 
kefan77 said:
me being daft, I did not tighten the pedals enough, so the one on left got loose and by the time I noticed, I think I damaged the threading in the left crankset arm.

now I'm looking for replacement, as I will also be using new pedals, as suggested earlier in this thread.
<snip>

what's the best thing to do?
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EDIT: FT is tired, as I don't believe he's responding to your question!

Ask around LBS, one of them will have a spare left crankarm! Doesn't overly matter if it's used - the right crankarm is obviously a bit more important. Although hunting around you should find someone selling the arms alone as it's usually cheaper to buy the crankset when replacing chainrings than the chainrings themselves... A LBS may be able to tap the damaged crankarm to rethread it.
randomshenans said:
Google maps made me do it...
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I'll have to remember that one... ;)
 
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FrenchTart said:
£27 for a 105 cassette or £47 for an Ultegra. I don't really fancy dropping down to 105 level stuff but I'm also finding it hard to justify the price difference just for the silver paint they put on Ultegra.
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105 for a cassette I reckon, difference between them is tiny. :) I'm trying to keep an eye out for a SRAM Red/Dura Ace cassette for my hill climb wheels though. Weight weenie time. :p
 
One More Solo said:
105 for a cassette I reckon, difference between them is tiny. :) I'm trying to keep an eye out for a SRAM Red/Dura Ace cassette for my hill climb wheels though. Weight weenie time. :p
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I was sold on Ultegra but you've made me reconsider..damn you :p

I'm back on weight loss and generally not just doing training that is about endurance now so I suppose that will benefit me more than the 70g I'll get from the Ultegra anyhow...

kefan77 said:
haha, sorry about the confusion. all clear now.
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Sorry about that. I didn't see your question when I posted :)
 
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