Road Cycling

Trifid said:
I'd recommend focusing on diet and sleep and little less on time on the bike.
Click to expand...
I assume you mean for recovering from this cold... although, with the cold, I won't be going on the bike for the moment.

If it's more generally... 1) I already pay a reasonable bit of attention to both and 2) quite honestly, diet and sleep aren't going to improve my fitness to the point I can complete the 312!
 
Junglist said:
I've taken a step back and have realised to stop beating myself up when I can't get on the bike.
Click to expand...
This is what I need to be better at. I remember a friend telling me I'm a little Bulimic... he told me to watch Freddie Flintoff's BBC doc about it. Freddie points out bulimia isn't about sticking fingers down your throat, it's about an obsession with your weight, how many calories you eat, being obsessed with exercising etc. Now, I don't know the exact definition, but I do feel really bad when I feel I've not exercised and I should have. This weekend being an example and why I'm now ill. Maybe someone else would have woken on Saturday and thought 'Hmm, I'm not 100%, maybe I should take the day off and go easy...' Not me. The sun's out! Let's do 100km! Sunday was hard then too, such nice weather and I couldn't ride :(
 
AndyCr15 said:
This is what I need to be better at. I remember a friend telling me I'm a little Bulimic... he told me to watch Freddie Flintoff's BBC doc about it. Freddie points out bulimia isn't about sticking fingers down your throat, it's about an obsession with your weight, how many calories you eat, being obsessed with exercising etc. Now, I don't know the exact definition, but I do feel really bad when I feel I've not exercised and I should have. This weekend being an example and why I'm now ill. Maybe someone else would have woken on Saturday and thought 'Hmm, I'm not 100%, maybe I should take the day off and go easy...' Not me. The sun's out! Let's do 100km! Sunday was hard then too, such nice weather and I couldn't ride :(
Click to expand...

Oh I only do it now because my partner nags at me for moping around the house and looking out the window all forlorn! If it's sunny/dry out and I know I *could* ride even if I'm not feeling 100% or I have other things going on I'll beat myself up about what I could be doing and not what I should be doing.

If there is something I've learnt with cycling is that it's both amazing but infuriating with how many numbers are around it. Distance, time, elevation, power and weight. There's far too many things I find myself obsessing over and why? I don't race and the ship for being even a domestique sailed a long, long long time ago.

I got into cycling cause it's just an amazing way to spend some time with friends and then I realised it's the only form of exercise that i truly enjoy. But you can quickly forget that when you're trying to set a PB on all of your rides or set strava segments and then when I end up on focusing on that side it does the opposite for me of what used to be fun and get the endorphins flowing just makes me feel a bit pants!

Hope you feel better soon though, mate! You'll smash that ride :)
 
I think there is sometimes just bad luck involved in these things. I too get a bit narky when I can't exercise but thats partly because I work from home and exercise has always given me so many things I crave. Moving my body, improving in an activity, enjoying the outdoors, seeing my local area, trying hard at something, socialising etc. I agree that there are unhealthy obsessions but sometimes you just have to accept that your body doesn't work how you want sometimes and you go through phases of being ill that you can't have a huge amount of control over. You might tip yourself over the edge but hey ho, you probably would have got ill regardless unless you are doing something super silly.

As to eating, I do climbing and cycling. Both reward/punish you for losing weight. Luckily I hate the idea of being a stick insect so I have never worried too much about food. I weigh myself every few weeks and cut back a bit if I am going up and eat a bit more if I am going down. There is certainly a healthy perspective to have with food and I don't buy into this idea that you don't keep an eye on it. Thats the sort of crap people say and then nod when someone tells them how they put on 4 stone and "didn't notice". Of course you did. You just didn't care enough to do something about it.

I am currently sleeping poorly, legs are generally tired and I am generally tired. I think part of that is doing a bit too much in every area of my life. Part of it is the changing seasons making sleep a bit different and part of it is just the natural fluctuations. I slept pretty well for a few months there for no real apparent reason.
 
Junglist said:
Bet I can give you two reasons why you're not sleeping very well!

I know I have one good reason :o :D
Click to expand...

Haha! I wish I could blame it on them. For a while there it was the little blighters but currently they are being generally excellent. Gone (for now) are the days of actually having a proper wake up where I am up for 30 minutes plus to soothe them. The other night one of my boys was a bit sad in the night. 2 minute cuddle (mainly for my benefit) and down again he went.

I've always been a **** sleeper, its just extra bad now that I really need that sleep to recover from my busy life.
 
AndyCr15 said:
You may remember 3 weeks back I rode 80 miles and I'm convinced it weakened my body and I got ill for a week. Fever, nausea, headaches. Well, last weekend I went to Mallroca, rode 290 miles over mountains in 4 days and all seemed fine. Yesterday I woke with a slightly stuffy nose, but felt okay, so rode 64 miles... and I've come down ill again. (Sneexy, runny nose etc). I generally don't get ill, so I'm wondering what's going on. Has anyone experienced this sort of thing before? I'm a little concerned with the 312 in 4 weeks, this isn't the run in I was hoping for!
Click to expand...
In past years before long covid, I often used to get a lurgy of some sort around March, possibly as a result of pushing myself too hard in preparation for my outdoor season beginning sometime from mid March when it got a bit warmer (and far less wet/windy).

The big exception for me was late winter '22, where for a change I didn't catch anything until just after that insane heatwave in mid July. Consequently, instead of losing some of my winter gains through illness, I began my outdoor season in '22 in relatively great shape besides being ~83Kg instead of my hope of being 78-80Kg and I spent Mar-Sept challenging my best times on segments (typically 260-1210 foot categorized climbs) for fun and often beating them... Despite being 75-80Kg in 2017-2021.

The real surprise about '22 until catching covid in late September, that has remained long covid for me since, was that I had what I thought was proper flu in Oct '21 for three weeks which absolutely crippled me and I could barely turn pedals even in easiest gear. I was struggling to recover anything like my pre-flu fitness until after Xmas '21, with a single ~30min Zwift race per week leaving me a mess, on top of 30-60mins of z2 most days. It was Jan-Mar where I started ramping up the number of sub 20min Zwift Races I was doing and could effectively do ~4W/Kg for 20mins while aged 48 for the first time since picking up fitness cycling in '17.
 
Last edited:
Had a notification for last places on the Dragon Ride being available, must have put myself into a reminder thing when more came up. Anyone doing it? Dunno if I'll bother as a bit last minute and have a lot of family stuff planned - also a week before my Birthday so highly likely the other half will want to do something together...

But off to Florida (Disney) in 15 days...! Hey we're all pretty nerdy here, anyone spot any cool Disney/Nasa/Cycling tshirts recently?

Good social ride on saturday, good 2up with Mick as he wanted to stretch his legs (old ex-racer), few sweeps for one of our club leaders as she wasn't on her ebike and had chosen a semi-hilly ride. Someone else took us on a shortcut which involved walking through a field of cows, then over an ancient footbridge which is randomly in the middle of nowhere (stopped for a game of 'poohsticks' - as we'd also cleared poo off our wheels with them). Did a big long effort towards the end when someone had ridden off the front and missed a turn. Caught him, long decision before we turned around to backtrack then a chase to catch the group back up 90% me towing him. I was going well - love a good reason to chase! ;)

Earlier in the ride I had a moment, from almost stationary up a steep ramp/kicker (easily over 20%) and went pretty deep. Power was good but really struggled to get my breath back afterwards. Blaming the semi-stop before to wait for someone so my HR was pretty low and then getting carried away... Silly!

platypus said:
It'll be for a set of Hunt 50 UDs, 28mm middle of the spec should suit just fine.
Click to expand...
Pretty old tech, 19mm internal is very 'traditional' but I guess you are running rim brake. I'd go wider if you could and your frame takes it, but an OK price for some light wheels. Still think Hunt are a bit overpriced considering where they come from, but at least everything is made to their spec now so not much competition. Could argue they're on-par with other well known brands...

Also still not sure how I feel about carbon spokes...!

https://www.huntbikewheels.com/products/hunt-50-ud-carbon-spoke-wheelset £1049 and 1300g being 50mm deep and 19mm internal

https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Mavic/Cosmic-S-40-Rim-Brake-Wheelset/14FLL £900 and 1764g(!), 40mm deep and 21mm internal
https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Mavic-Cosmic-SL-40-700c-Wheelset_236350.htm?variations=colour:Black £1099 and 1630g, 40mm deep and 19mm internal
(an upgrade over the S40 above?)
https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Scope/R3-Carbon-Road-Rim-Brake-Wheelset/1450P £1300 and 1359g, 30mm deep and 21mm internal

Comparing Apples to Oranges I know - but here's the wide modern/cheap entry level zipp disc for similar money - the 50UD measures up well:
https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Zipp/303-S-Carbon-Tubeless-Disc-Brake-Wheelset/Q2BR £1090 and 1525g, 45mm deep and 23mm internal

DJMK4 said:
Had a ride in this morning, my gearing is skipping like mad still :( i swear its skipping 3 cogs within a space of a few pedals
Click to expand...
Still not indexed well then, but if it's moving that far with a single gear change it would point to something else, probably a bent hanger. It won't be your fiddling with the limit screws (they only adjust the limit, not the gears)

AndyCr15 said:
You may remember 3 weeks back I rode 80 miles and I'm convinced it weakened my body and I got ill for a week. Fever, nausea, headaches. Well, last weekend I went to Mallroca, rode 290 miles over mountains in 4 days and all seemed fine. Yesterday I woke with a slightly stuffy nose, but felt okay, so rode 64 miles... and I've come down ill again. (Sneexy, runny nose etc). I generally don't get ill, so I'm wondering what's going on. Has anyone experienced this sort of thing before? I'm a little concerned with the 312 in 4 weeks, this isn't the run in I was hoping for!
Click to expand...
I guess not impossible some virus you didn't 100% shift then even with your big week away - your weakened system after it just meant it came back. But more likely another illness/bug/virus type thing with very similar symptoms.

I'm not one to talk, I've had a stuffy nose for what feels like since covid times. Mostly goes in the summer, bit of a sniffle most of the winter. This time of year wake up and have to blow my nose well soon afterwards, if I don't I get extra phlegm in my throat which causes me to cough. I've always blamed the cold air - I'm regularly clearing my streaming nose while riding in cold/damp air. I have no other symptoms 30+ mins after waking up.

Shadowness said:
Yep. Not really thrown anything useful my way yet. This morning it told me my average sleep stress was lower than the past month or something.
Click to expand...
Sounds pretty similar to the pointless stuff Whoop's says, but guess at least more accurate than Stravas which more often contradict themselves...!

From mine this weekend "While your average power was lower than usual at 118W, your relative effort of 139 suggests you worked harder than typical."

Ummmm... Not really AI. And although maybe accurate still pretty flakey for 'intelligence'!
 
Last edited:
Roady said:
I have no other symptoms 30+ mins after waking up.
Click to expand...
I think this is what tricks me. I don't think it's uncommon that I wake with a little something, but after a coffee and I've woken up, it's gone.
Roady said:
I'm regularly clearing my streaming nose while riding in cold/damp air.
Click to expand...
Same here, I assume pretty much everyone has this? I've seen others with this, even as it warms up. Maybe it's just the fresh air hitting the nasal passages?
 
Roady said:
Sounds pretty similar to the pointless stuff Whoop's says, but guess at least more accurate than Stravas which more often contradict themselves...!

From mine this weekend "While your average power was lower than usual at 118W, your relative effort of 139 suggests you worked harder than typical."

Ummmm... Not really AI. And although maybe accurate still pretty flakey for 'intelligence'!
Click to expand...

That's pretty possible though right? A couple massive hills that put you over the edge (like those 20% climbs!) and then a very relaxed ride would result in a really low average power but relative exertion from overdoing it on the hills.

Although i do agree in general it's a pretty pointless feature at the moment.
 
Martynt74 said:
That's pretty possible though right? A couple massive hills that put you over the edge (like those 20% climbs!) and then a very relaxed ride would result in a really low average power but relative exertion from overdoing it on the hills.

Although i do agree in general it's a pretty pointless feature at the moment.
Click to expand...

Is relative effort a measure of "how hard you went" though? Or is it just a measure of the work you did over the course of the ride. ie. a 200km ride in Z1 would be a massive relative effort vs a super hard 30km.
 
AndyCr15 said:
Same here, I assume pretty much everyone has this? I've seen others with this, even as it warms up. Maybe it's just the fresh air hitting the nasal passages?
Click to expand...

I've seen cyclists do that, never an issue personally. Never has been to be honest.
 
fez said:
I think the problem with all of these "AI" services is that they are almost all not actually AI. If all your training data was in their system and they trained their models on it then perhaps but thats really expensive to do and all of the "AI insights" I have seen from various platforms are super simple and would be achieved by a few if/then/else statements.

AI is the buzzword you need to include to get funding and look cool. Your boss wants it. He doesn't care if it isn't AI in the "proper" sense of the matter, he just wants to be able to stick AI in front of some product name or feature.

I won't be trying Garmin+ because I don't want to encourage super expensive hardware makers to start thinking of us customers as even more of a cash pinata to beat to death.
Click to expand...

yeah AI everything is getting boring lol.

no, garmin can do one. I have their 1040 and epix 2 watch and I'll continue using them but if they end up pushing useful features to premium plan, they're going to go in the bin and will never be bought again. Leaves very few options sadly but the fact is that their hardware is also very expensive, my understanding was that it was to offset the cost and allow non subscription plans but clearly that is changing. Imagine if we get to the point where we pay £1000 for a watch and a nice monthly on top to have all it's features. Insane. Apple(rubbish battery), coros, polar etc may become real alternatives for fitness focused people. - I know some have subs too. But hardware isn't as expensive as garmins.
 
Roady said:
Pretty old tech, 19mm internal is very 'traditional' but I guess you are running rim brake. I'd go wider if you could and your frame takes it, but an OK price for some light wheels. Still think Hunt are a bit overpriced considering where they come from, but at least everything is made to their spec now so not much competition. Could argue they're on-par with other well known brands...
Click to expand...
Yes, they may not be the best around but I got the pair in the sale and I'm happy with the price. They're for a cheap bike build before I really go to town at some point in the future.

Our businesses are almost into full profit at which point its going to be brand new bike time baby.
 
Anyone have any success with 3D printed saddles? (and Ideally not the cheap Aliexpress ones).

Might take a punt on a nice spec one, as a couple of people in the club rave about them. Not sure what you get for your money when you spend ~£300 on a saddles (not that I will necessarily spend that)
 
I've had plenty of luck with my cheap Aliexpress one for well over a year now. So much so I'm going to order another one from Ryet but a different shape.
 
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom