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[Psychotext]

Just bought my satellite tracker for my little adventure. Bit of peace of mind for the missus (she can get my progress live), and a bit of peace of mind for me (if the shit hits the fan I can press an SOS button to get help sent).

http://findmespot.eu/en/index.php?cid=100

 

[t-ramp]

Well, shit. Just got a flat on my mountain bike. Noticed a rumbling noise around a couple corners, and sure enough there's a little hole through the back tire. Just woke my roommate up to come rescue me.

 

[jakonovski]

I've put together a fix it up pack of sorts: a medium saddlebag holding a spare tube, tire levers, co2 canister, mini pump, patch up kit, multitool, sram powerlocks and finally an energy bar.

 

[Gray Matter]

I feel like a novice compared to some of you, riding 20+ miles at a time and like the post above me.

 

[Psychotext]

I've put together a fix it up pack of sorts: a medium saddlebag holding a spare tube, tire levers, co2 canister, mini pump, patch up kit, multitool, sram powerlocks and finally an energy bar.

Yup, if I was his housemate I'd have told him that it was tough shit. The only reason I'd help someone out is if they'd had a frame fail, run out of tubes / patches or snapped a derailleur etc.

At the absolute minimum you should be carrying a spare tube and a pump. Better still, a spare tube, a pump and some emergency patches.

In my case, for any meaningful ride...

Tube
Patches
Pump / CO2
Tyre Boot
Duct Tape
Powerlocks
Spare Hanger
Multitool
Zip Ties
First Aid Kit

On epics I add a spoke key, some spare bolts and a spare gear cable to that. For really, really long rides I also carry spare pads.

 

[jakonovski]

I have a spare hanger too! It's in a desk drawer somewhere, I'll have to fish it out. I also tried to put a first aid kit in there, but there's no room. So I keep it in my backpack.

Great idea with the zip ties and duct tape, I'm stealing that. How are you packing the tape without it becoming a terrible mess?

 

[Psychotext]

Either wrap it flat around a piece of cardboard or roll it around your pump.

 

[WedgeX]

When you lock eyes with a roadie as you pass them in the trailside grass on a knobby hardtail 29er.

The look of defeat.

When I first started riding a road bike in DC I had a lady pass me going uphill on some giant wheeled mountain bike. And generally motivation is enough to get faster but got dang there was no way. The lady was simply more awesome than I.

 

[t-ramp]

Yup, if I was his housemate I'd have told him that it was tough shit. The only reason I'd help someone out is if they'd had a frame fail, run out of tubes / patches or snapped a derailleur etc.

At the absolute minimum you should be carrying a spare tube and a pump. Better still, a spare tube, a pump and some emergency patches.

In my case, for any meaningful ride...

Tube
Patches
Pump / CO2
Tyre Boot
Duct Tape
Powerlocks
Spare Hanger
Multitool
Zip Ties
First Aid Kit

On epics I add a spoke key, some spare bolts and a spare gear cable to that. For really, really long rides I also carry spare pads.

Well, yeah, I only had him come get me since I knew it probably wasn't a major inconvenience. I mean, it was 11 o'clock, and he drove my car a few miles through town to get me. My backup plan was to just walk it 2 miles to the shop. And I do need to pick up some repair stuff, probably will do that pretty soon.

For now I just got a replacement tube, as well as some new flat metal pedals since the plastIc Wellgos are awful when wet.

 

[jakonovski]

Which new flats specifically? Everyone always uses only spds but I love flats.

 

[Psychotext]

Tried my friend's Saints the other day. Grippy bastards, very impressive.

 

[t-ramp]

Which new flats specifically? Everyone always uses only spds but I love flats.

Just some cheap Giants. Might be crap for all I know, so let me know if I should return them.

http://bikeworldiowa.com/product/giant-g-1-mtb-pedals-204935-1.htm

 

[Psychotext]

They're generally the freebies that you see on a lot of bikes. Probably better than the crappy plastic things, but some way from a "proper" flat pedal.

You can find reviews at https://bikeradar.com and http://www.mtbr.com/reviewscrx.aspx

 

[t-ramp]

They're generally the freebies that you see on a lot of bikes. Probably better than the crappy plastic things, but some way from a "proper" flat pedal.

Yeah, I realize now that I should have done a bit of research first. I'll probably give them a shot, and then get some proper platform pedals if they're still lacking. What are some popular budget options?

 

[jakonovski]

Yeah, those are ok for light riding, but if you're going harder and/or longer you might get foot pain or grip issues.

Looking at that site, you might go for one of these:

Crank Brothers 50/50
http://bikeworldiowa.com/product/crank-brothers-5050-2-164028-1.htm

Giant branded pedals that look ok and are also cheap-ish:
http://bikeworldiowa.com/product/giant-original-mtb-sport-platform-pedals-204941-1.htm

I have super cheap NS Bikes Aerials which are great but might be a bit hard to find since they're a small Polish brand. In general you want something with metal studs for grip, and a large platform to support your foot.

edit: for a popular budget option, I hear great things about Nukeproof Electrons.

 

[Psychotext]

Probably the cheapest you can get that are half decent would be Stolen Thermalite or Wellgo V8 Copy.

Edit - Yeah, Electrons are good too.

 

[Gray Matter]

Just finished my first 20 mile ride. Feels good.

 

[Psychotext]

Good job.

 

[Gray Matter]

I was feeling so energetic that I went for another ride, was planning on just doing a few miles, ended up doing another 20 miles. This is the most fun I've had in a long time.

What have you done to me BikeGAF?!

 

[Mascot]

Cycling: the heroin for the masses.

 

[Gray Matter]

Cycling: the heroin for the masses.

Today alone, I've done ~44 miles. I'm impressed with myself.

 

[Psychotext]

Knee starting to play up more and more. Getting a bit concerning now. I gave it a good break after I hurt it, but it's not made much of a difference. All I can think is to start hitting the ibuprofen hard and start doing those stretching exercises.

 

[Mascot]

Knee starting to play up more and more. Getting a bit concerning now. I gave it a good break after I hurt it, but it's not made much of a difference. All I can think is to start hitting the ibuprofen hard and start doing those stretching exercises.

Tried ibuprofen gel instead of tablets? More effective for local inflammation. Got me through many tennis matches with horrendous tennis elbows and frozen shoulders.
Glucosamine gel is good for joints too.

 

[Psychotext]

Worth a blast. Cheers.

 

[Gray Matter]

The effects are kicking in, my right knee is aching.

 

[Gray Matter]

This seems to be the new version of mine:

click

Does this come with the sensor and the mount?

 

[Mascot]

Does this come with the sensor and the mount?

Yes it does.

Bad spill today. Landed hard flat on my back on concrete after overcooking a manual at speed. Winded. Shocked. Vomited. Rode home seven miles in a lot of pain. Think I might have chipped a bone in my elbow. Lower back already stiff and hurting like a mofo. Tore a chunk out of my saddle. Ripped shorts.

Silly boy. Rather lucky really.

 

[Gray Matter]

Yes it does.

Bad spill today. Landed hard flat on my back on concrete after overcooking a manual at speed. Winded. Shocked. Vomited. Rode home seven miles in a lot of pain. Think I might have chipped a bone in my elbow. Lower back already stiff and hurting like a mofo. Tore a chunk out of my saddle. Ripped shorts.

Silly boy. Rather lucky really.

Fuck that sounds horrible. Hope you don't have any long lasting injuries.

 

[jakonovski]

Ouch, I wish you speedy recovery Mascot!

Also, kudos to Gray Matter. You've now biked longer in one day than I have. I'll be aiming to fix that soon though.

 

[thomaser]

That sucks, Mascot. Hope it's nothing serious.

Had my first 100km ride for the year today! Excellent weather, and I was lucky to get five friends to ride with. Had an accident (on the only heavily trafficked stretch of road, of course) - the chain jumped off when shifting gears, and wrapped itself around the pedal arm. Was a long process to get it unstuck, and afterwards the chain kept "slipping" every once in a while. Just got the bike back from a tune-up, too. Will have to go back to the store tomorrow.

By the way, did you know that you can add photos you take on your trip to your Strava activity? The photos are placed on the map just where you took them. Nice way to show others how it looks where you ride Here's my ride today, with some rather boring photos.

 

[t-ramp]

That sucks, Mascot. Hope it's nothing serious.

Had my first 100km ride for the year today! Excellent weather, and I was lucky to get five friends to ride with. Had an accident (on the only heavily trafficked stretch of road, of course) - the chain jumped off when shifting gears, and wrapped itself around the pedal arm. Was a long process to get it unstuck, and afterwards the chain kept "slipping" every once in a while. Just got the bike back from a tune-up, too. Will have to go back to the store tomorrow.

By the way, did you know that you can add photos you take on your trip to your Strava activity? The photos are placed on the map just where you took them. Nice way to show others how it looks where you ride Here's my ride today, with some rather boring photos.

Do you still have to use Instagram for that?

 

[Gray Matter]

Ouch, I wish you speedy recovery Mascot!

Also, kudos to Gray Matter. You've now biked longer in one day than I have. I'll be aiming to fix that soon though.

Thanks. I've enjoyed every second of every mile. Now with my afternoons free hopefully I can squeeze in a ride or two during the week after work. And also thanks to you guys for advising, it would have been tough on my own.

 

[thomaser]

Do you still have to use Instagram for that?

No, you can add photos from your camera roll. Do you guys see the photos on my activity, by the way? Some people cannot see them.

 

[t-ramp]

No, you can add photos from your camera roll. Do you guys see the photos on my activity, by the way? Some people cannot see them.

Oh, nice. I did notice a few pictures on your rides recently.

 

[Psychotext]

Had an accident (on the only heavily trafficked stretch of road, of course) - the chain jumped off when shifting gears, and wrapped itself around the pedal arm. Was a long process to get it unstuck, and afterwards the chain kept "slipping" every once in a while. Just got the bike back from a tune-up, too. Will have to go back to the store tomorrow.

95% certain your limit screw is set wrong on your front derailleur. Save your self some money and hassle and learn how to adjust them yourself. It's not complicated.

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/how-to-adjust-a-front-derailleur-36198/

Yes it does.

Bad spill today. Landed hard flat on my back on concrete after overcooking a manual at speed. Winded. Shocked. Vomited. Rode home seven miles in a lot of pain. Think I might have chipped a bone in my elbow. Lower back already stiff and hurting like a mofo. Tore a chunk out of my saddle. Ripped shorts.

Silly boy. Rather lucky really.

It's obviously no help to you right now, but always cover your rear brake lever when you're trying a manual. Unless you completely fuck it up you've usually got time to panic grab a bit of brake, which will drop you back almost instantly. That said, I'm shit at manuals, so what do I know?

Have a bit of your favourite tipple to make up for it and get as good a night's sleep as possible. Hopefully you wont feel so shit in the morning.

 

[Mascot]

Yeah, no idea what happened. I was trying to manual all the way down this narrow lane that divides my local woods (it's about 3/4 of a mile long - with speed bumps!). The top was fine but it suddenly gets steep and I picked up too much speed, and probably wasn't paying attention. No idea how I suddenly flipped backwards. Happened instantly. Rather stupidly, my SPDs were engaged.

Think I'll give up silly stuff. Can't shrug the injuries off as easily as I used to.

Back is sore as fuck and stiff as a board (massive bruise going nicely purple) but it's my left elbow that concerns me. I'll see how it is in the morning. Twatted my left knee as well, it seems. Bike is A-OK apart from the saddle. It's a tough one.

Thanks for all the get-well comments, peeps! I'll be back.

Edit: and damn straight about the tipple - I'm nursing a huge single malt as we speak.

 

[jakonovski]

Manualing all the way down this narrow lane...are you sure you're not Rob Warner or Dan Milner or pick your own grizzled and handsome mtb guru?

 

[thomaser]

95% certain your limit screw is set wrong on your front derailleur. Save your self some money and hassle and learn how to adjust them yourself. It's not complicated.

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/how-to-adjust-a-front-derailleur-36198/

Thanks, you're likely right. The chain slightly touches the front derailleur on one or two particular gears. But the chain slipping happens on other gears as well.

I'll have a try fixing it myself before taking it to the shop.

 

[Psychotext]

Chain rub isn't unusual when you're at the extremes of crossover. If you're in the biggest ring at the front and biggest at the back for instance. Or vice versa. Even if you've setup the derailleur to minimise it, it should be avoided.

http://www.bicyclechainrings.com/crosschaining.html

 

[jakonovski]

For myself, I only biked to work and back today (election day + double pay = new FiveTen Kestrels next month), but it was a bit of a success because for the first time I managed the final climb home on my single speed. I've either finally lost enough weight or gained enough muscle to wrestle 42x16 up a semi-decent hill.

 

[TarpitCarnivore]

Big ups to the flat I got today cutting my ride short.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

Yes it does.

Bad spill today. Landed hard flat on my back on concrete after overcooking a manual at speed. Winded. Shocked. Vomited. Rode home seven miles in a lot of pain. Think I might have chipped a bone in my elbow. Lower back already stiff and hurting like a mofo. Tore a chunk out of my saddle. Ripped shorts.

Silly boy. Rather lucky really.

Damn, hope your elbow is OK.

Did 68 miles today in 5 hours flat. Moving time was 4:26 though, no idea how I spent so much time not moving. I got lost once or twice but nothing that seemed like it took up a lot of time. Maybe it's just easy to accumulate a little here/there when you're checking directions? Anyway, I feel like I'm ready for the century ride on the 2nd. It'll be the fourth or fifth time I've done it but this will be the first time I'll be doing it 'officially' and supported.

 

[Niks]

Hello bike gaf, ready to join your ranks/


heres my sweet ride. Had it for about a month.

Im still really new to the whole mountain biking thing so my legs scream with every little hill, but slowly and surely I'm making progress.
So glad I got bitten by the biking bug!

 

[Gray Matter]

It's going to be raining here in the next few days which means I can't ride my bike to work. It's going to be a long week.

 

[HTupolev]

It's going to be raining here in the next few days which means I can't ride my bike to work. It's going to be a long week.

How bad is this rain and how perfectly dry do you have to be?

If you're not ready to join FenderGAF, you could try throwing an Ass Saver on there.

 

[Gray Matter]

How bad is this rain and how perfectly dry do you have to be?

If you're not ready to join FenderGAF, you could try throwing an Ass Saver on there.

Just dry enough that I won't need a change of clothes, but it's going to be heavy rain so I'm not even going to try it. Back to taking the bus.

 

[Mascot]

Getting out of bed this morning was... interesting. Had to basically tip the duvet onto the floor and roll out of bed onto it, then onto the floor, then try to stand up from a crawling position.

 

[Psychotext]

Im still really new to the whole mountain biking thing so my legs scream with every little hill, but slowly and surely I'm making progress.

Wooh! Another one into the fold.

 

[jakonovski]

Im still really new to the whole mountain biking thing so my legs scream with every little hill, but slowly and surely I'm making progress.

It's like someone said: it never gets any easier, you just get faster.

 

[Psychotext]

It's like someone said: it never gets any easier, you just get faster.

Yeah, that's bollocks. It's true for racing, but for the rest of us, when you can choose to pick a gear that gives you some option to slow down (rather than being stuck in your absolute lowest gear and dying)... it makes a world of difference.

As you get fitter you also suffer for less time too, as you recover MUCH quicker.