Bicycle age

Just don't fall over. Even if I had the legs to ride it up, I'd think twice because it's so narrow that stumbling means you come right back down. Maybe in the summer when there's soft nettles cushioning your fall!

Totally going to try the cx side once it thaws though.
 
Took out the frankenbike today (Bought some incorrect parts, so had to run it with no front derailleur) . Was OK on the whole, but I lost the chain about 5 times. Didn't really consider that I should have grabbed a chain retention device (not running thick / thin).

I was awful on the trails to start with (first time doing technical stuff since winter break), but by the third run I was starting to get my mojo back a bit. Was trying out properly wide handlebars, which worked quite nicely indeed. I've been using XC style for ages and was long overdue a trial on the big boys.
 
I have five weeks to get in shape for a century after taking three weeks off for the surgery and I feel like I have FTSD (flat traumatic stress disorder) in that every single bump or low rumble in the seat is my tire going flat. It's fine, but it's maddening all the same.

One bit of good news is that I bought a Salsa Cowbell bar and I love the shallower drops. I also used the installation as an excuse to rearrange the cockpit and everything is much easier to access and I don't feel as strained. when leaning forward.

Now if only I could figure out my seat problem. I get some hot spots but (lol) I feel like the seat is in the right place when I sit on it so I'm not sure where I can move it, whether forward and backward or up and down.
 
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Riding indoors on the trainer has finally gotten to me. I've been inside since November, with less than a handful of outdoors since then, and I'm broken. Getting back on the bike this week after resting my knee has been a total mental fight and I'm losing. I need it to get back over 40 here before I can consider it though.
 
I bought my first "serious" bike late last December, and I'm afraid I'm starting to go into the deep end of "bike mania". The funny thing is, at first I couldn't even fathom what the difference was between a brand-name bike and a department store special and was loathe to spend $700 on the Trek hybrid I eventually bought. I was only planning to piddle around town, but then my hubby dragged me with him to the dedicated cycling roads near our place where roadies in cool gear whizzed past me at jet plane speed. I wanted their gear and their speed! I have since bought SPD shoes and pedals, and I'll be changing to shorter cranks this weekend (I feel my 170 mm cranks are too long as I'm pretty short in height and inseam).

I'm still woefully slow compared to your regular roadie but I've been making progress: average speed has remained more or less at 18 kph but I can now ride 42 km without feeling like destroying every muscle in my leg. I'm still terrible at any incline though. Improving but not by much.

I'm frothing at the mouth thinking about the proper road bike I'm going to buy...one of these days. N+1 ftw.
 
marimorimo said:
I bought my first "serious" bike late last December, and I'm afraid I'm starting to go into the deep end of "bike mania". The funny thing is, at first I couldn't even fathom what the difference was between a brand-name bike and a department store special and was loathe to spend $700 on the Trek hybrid I eventually bought. I was only planning to piddle around town, but then my hubby dragged me with him to the dedicated cycling roads near our place where roadies in cool gear whizzed past me at jet plane speed. I wanted their gear and their speed! I have since bought SPD shoes and pedals, and I'll be changing to shorter cranks this weekend (I feel my 170 mm cranks are too long as I'm pretty short in height and inseam).

I'm still woefully slow compared to your regular roadie but I've been making progress: average speed has remained more or less at 18 kph but I can now ride 42 km without feeling like destroying every muscle in my leg. I'm still terrible at any incline though. Improving but not by much.

I'm frothing at the mouth thinking about the proper road bike I'm going to buy...one of these days. N+1 ftw.
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My advice to you: take it easy and enjoy riding for the time being. If you enjoy it enough to consider getting into races then go to the next level, but be mindful of not turning into a fred.
 
It's all pretty strong (I have a mountain biking related heavy lifting routine), it's just evidence that I actually made use of it. :)

Looks like a good book though.
 
I'm betting on the difference between a 20 year old city bike and a new mtb being enough. Also, spring is going to kick in any moment now...
 
davidnic said:
Thanks mate, I will maybe buy this to get core strength back fast, I am back into training now I had 3 weeks off cause I had pneumonia and was hospitalise for a week.
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Even though the work outs may seem easy I would recommend going from Level 1 Phase 1 and working forward. I've been on Level 2 Phase 1 for the last two weeks and am still struggling mightily with two of the exercises.

Also make sure you to read the intro stuff (it's pretty quick) so you better understand the idea and methodology behind the workouts. It's most definitely not just some "do 30 crunches and 5 minutes of planks every day" kind of plan.

I do the workouts three, sometimes four, days a week and also mix in a stretching routine on top of it. I'll usually do the stretching first and then go into the strength stuff. As someone who has big issues with patella femoral (aka runners knee) this stuff is necessary or I'll be on/off the bike every 3 weeks.
 
Finally persuaded a friend to get a mountain bike and we went on a ride. Rode the hardest I've ever ridden (he's in excellent shape, I'm not), complete with bruised legs from falling over. It was wet as fuck so rocks and roots might as well have been ice. I guess there's a limit to these fast xc tyres.

Feels pretty awesome though. Mountain biking is so rad.
 
Had a new course today on becoming a certified bicycle trainer. Today, it was all about trying out all kinds of activities we can use for training kids. Great fun. Playing tag with 8 bikers inside a small area (you're it if you put your foot down), having a race using only the lightest gear (hilarious!), going downhill in the local ski downhill area (scary!), learning how to go round a pump track, and so on. Most of the guys were 40+, but we had fun like little kids!

My arms are totally beat after learning how to do wheelies, manuals and bunny hops. I mostly did them wrong by trying to force the wheel up with my arms, but I did improve a little. Never tried them before. Tomorrow we're having another session, 8 whole hours.
 
Great couple of days of riding. Set 47 PRs at Coed Y Brenin yesterday and today I did a natural trail which was excellent too.

I've still not fully got my descending mojo back, but my improved fitness is clearly evident on the pedally stuff.
 
Did 45 miles yesterday on my dodgy tire. Got probably twenty miles into it before I realized it was slowly going flat on me. Not only that but I was so confident I had fixed the issue I didn't bring my portable pump with me. Bah. Luckily it was such a slow leak that I made it to a gas station with free air so I pumped it up and made it home alright.

I was following some Dan Henry markings on the pavement for a local ride and made it to the 25 mile-marker before I ran into construction that had paved over them. I made a best-guess as to what direction I should be going and guessed correctly at first but then poorly on my next turn. I didn't get lost though as I was fortuitous enough to land on the street I needed to cross anyway, just not in the right area. So it made a 40-mile ride a little longer but at least I knew where I was.

It was nice to ride for riding's sake, not just to get to/from work. I didn't have a pack on, the weather was nice for a change so I didn't have rain gear on, and I could just lay it all out. I averaged 15.5 which isn't terrible but not where I want/need to be for the rides coming up.

This weekend I am taking my son out for his first 'big' ride of 10 miles. I don't know what I'm going to do, probably put myself into a really high gear and spin it out so I don't push him too hard. He's not quite old enough to know about pacing really so he may try too hard and burn out quickly. It's going to be tricky.
 
Good luck with the kid ride. I must say it's pretty much the only thing that would make me regret not having kids. When I take my younger nephew out the plan is to stick myself in a nothing gear (low as humanly possible) and just watch him carefully to judge his fatigue levels.

I'm also planning on having multiple bail out points so that we can change route when I notice him tiring. I learnt from hard experience with my other nephew that having a kid blow up on you is a miserable experience for everyone. Was hard to persuade him to go out again after that too.

Oh, and this my sound like an odd question... but why don't you just replace the tube? :P There's obviously something wrong with the valve or something, it doesn't seem worth the hassle.

Or are you talking about tubulars or something?
 
allegate said:
Did 45 miles yesterday on my dodgy tire. Got probably twenty miles into it before I realized it was slowly going flat on me. Not only that but I was so confident I had fixed the issue I didn't bring my portable pump with me.
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Huh.

I don't think I'd feel comfortable taking off on any kind of non-negligible ride* without at least one spare tube and the tools to replace and fill it.

*I have a 3-mile commute, I guess I wouldn't worry much about a flat there.
 
I did replace the tube. There was a hole the next day in the exact same spot so I took the rim in and the shop said the tape needed to be replaced. Got another slow leak, replaced the tube. That one was good for a few days and I thought I had it licked when it started going flat yesterday. I'm sure I'm missing one or two steps as I went through several patches in the last few weeks.

At any rate, took my winter rims off and put my summer ones on and I shouldn't have this problem again for the forseeable future. At least until Fall, but by then I should have it figured right?

We've had a meltdown before on the bike with him so I'm wondering if that's where his hesitation is sometimes. He rides to school when it's nice out (and sometimes when it isn't) and that's about 4-5 miles one way so we should be good but you never know.

Cyclist attempting to break long-distance record is hit by moped

That sucks for the guy, especially the way the American was doing it.
HTupolev said:
Huh.

I don't think I'd feel comfortable taking off on any kind of non-negligible ride* without at least one spare tube and the tools to replace and fill it.

*I have a 3-mile commute, I guess I wouldn't worry much about a flat there.
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Thought I had it licked since it hadn't gone flat on me for two weeks. Not that I was riding much in those two weeks, just 5 miles or so to the bus station and back so nothing that was really stressful on the tires.

And yeah, I know I shouldn't leave without it anyway but when I packed my bag I just totally spaced on it. Felt dumb for the entire 2.5 hours if that helps. :/
 
Could have been some roughness / debris in the actual tyre. I've had that happen to me in the past. That said, if they said to replace your tape then I would be surprised if it was anything different.
 
Yeah. I used a cotton ball to wipe the inside down (the fibers stick really easily to anything at all) and then used a pick to get all of the glass shards and whatnot out of the rubber. Nothing went through and through, and nothing was on the inside. Also the tube was getting holes on both the rimside and the roadside, no rhyme or reason.
 
Set fire to it all I reckon. Start again.

Unrelated, I suspect someone wanted to steal the bikes from the top of my car when we were heading back from the ride. A van pulled into the carpark (we stopped for some food), couple of guys got out and headed towards the car. They must have only noticed we were sat in it at the last minute because they turned around, got back in the van and drove off.

Crazy thing is, we had considered sitting down for food but thought it would be too much of a risk. Looks like we made the right decision (as it was, I went in to order for both of us so there was always someone with the car).
 
Yup, have seen shit like that in person. The reason I pretty much stopped cycling on roads in a couple of areas near me (filled with scumbags).
 
allegate said:
Who wants to be pissed off?
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I don't know why I looked in the comments. The person who posted the video is actually accusing the negative people of "not having a sense of humor." Because random assault makes for excellent comedy, apparently.

Thankfully the worst I've experienced is the occasional shout. And most of these assholes can't conjure up a decent roar anyway.

//=================================

Edit: FENDERS WOOOOOO

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Even when it's not raining, the roads around here can have a nasty case of constantly alternating between slightly wet and dusty. It's pretty easy to repeatedly tar-and-feather everything everywhere on your bike; I've only gone on one ride since I last cleaned things out, and you could build a highway out of the crap that's stuck to the chain. This should help a lot.

The brake & fork design means that the clearances are crap; I'm basically getting 5mm in places. D:

Seems to be a decent visual fit though. :D
 
Just got the waypoints for the Welsh Ride Thing. Am super excited. :D

I think I might make two routes. One utterly insane one that does all of the waypoints, and one that's somewhat shorter just in case it's rainy.
 
Ohh shit, I've reached a point where I really have to go outside my riding comfort zone. It's been raining a lot lately and while muddy forest trails are ok, I just can't stand rocky stuff when wet, especially if there's elevation changes in any direction. While it is slippery as fuck, the problem is mostly in my head as I just can't bear taking them at any kind of speed. Which just ends up with me running out of momentum and dismounting. No falls yet, thankfully.
 
I bought a crappy $30 pair with three lens types from Nashbar. They're flimsy and chipped to hell but A. they're $30 B. they still block out sun C. they came with three lenses
 
After ruining seversl expensive pairs I bought a cheap set from eBay, £6 delivered with five sets of replacement lenses, bag, hard case, cleaning cloth, & lanyard. They're brilliant!
 
Psychotext said:
I've never made it through a ride without my lenses getting hit at some point... so yeah, fuck paying Oakley money for them. :D
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There was a 30% off friends and family sale going on at Oakley so I jumped on it once they were available...still a little pricey but at least I didn't pay retail for them.
 
I wear glasses so I have to wear the over-glasses sunglasses. They kind of look like this:

fit-over-my-glasses-sunglasses.jpg


Yeah, I'm stylish. At least with the helmet on it's not too bad looking. And I get them from Wal-Mart for $15 so I don't have to worry about them too much.
 
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