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How was your cycle commute?

Orang Utan said:
Bore off to the Strava thread all the same
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I would be infinitely lonely in there. :p

Isn't everyone on here keen to get as fit as they can ?
I'm a borderline obese 53 year old trying to find motivation to get as fit through cycling as I did through dancing to repetitive beats in my late 30s...
 
I am keen to get fitter. I do this by riding my bike as much as I can. Working out how many calories you have burnt is just another way to increase one's anxiety about it. Just ride harder and longer. Try and beat your own times. Don't compare yourself to others either as that leads to more anxiety.
 
Orang Utan said:
I am keen to get fitter. I do this by riding my bike as much as I can. Working out how many calories you have burnt is just another way to increase one's anxiety about it. Just ride harder and longer. Try and beat your own times. Don't compare yourself to others either as that leads to more anxiety.
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Ah, but if you don't know how many calories you've burnt, how can you know how many Big Macs and cans of coke you can consume?
 
Strava segment or not, I feel bloody lucky for my commute - not just a manageable hill in the morning, but an excellent view - with the odd deer, woodpecker or what have you and it takes me 4 minutes to climb it so it's a particularly dull video.

 
plurker said:
Have already ridden her 2 miles (to LBS who wanted £100 for forks!) and back...No visible signs of cracking / etc, and other than visual inspection not sure what LBS would do anyway? Though it's apparent, as you say, that it's been ridden into something pretty hard to bend forks that much!

I'm planning on doing as much of the work as I can myself - can't afford an LBS really. Seen some £12 forks on ebay - know they need doing.
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A decent LBS would be able to check the frame alignment with a frame guage as well as a visual inspection. It's probably fine but have a damn good look round all the lugs/welds at the head tube for cracks or blistered paint. Also feel underneath the top tube and down tube just behind the head tube, it should feel nice and smooth, any rippling means a bent frame. Those forks should do, but measure the length of your steerer tube first (drop the fork out and measure with a tape from where the headset crown race fits on to the top of the thread - the red forks say the steerer is 140mm long - your existing fork must be shorter or exactly the same for these to fit)
 
Orang Utan said:
I am keen to get fitter. I do this by riding my bike as much as I can. Working out how many calories you have burnt is just another way to increase one's anxiety about it. Just ride harder and longer. Try and beat your own times. Don't compare yourself to others either as that leads to more anxiety.
Click to expand...

Without external stimuli very few people can push themselves into the red zone where effective training occurs on a regular basis. If you just ride around yourself without reference to other riders or HRM/power data you'll get to very low plateau of fitness and then stay there.
 
weepiper said:
A decent LBS would be able to check the frame alignment with a frame guage as well as a visual inspection. It's probably fine but have a damn good look round all the lugs/welds at the head tube for cracks or blistered paint. Also feel underneath the top tube and down tube just behind the head tube, it should feel nice and smooth, any rippling means a bent frame. Those forks should do, but measure the length of your steerer tube first (drop the fork out and measure with a tape from where the headset crown race fits on to the top of the thread - the red forks say the steerer is 140mm long - your existing fork must be shorter or exactly the same for these to fit)
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Thank-you, this is helpful. Even the forks don't have paint cracks - which threw me at first "why's the pedal fouling on the wheel on turning!"
 
My super-strong back wheel is starting to get a bit loose, so I'll need to call in at the bike shop up the road and order a new wheel so I can have the current one re-built.
Either that or persevere with setting up vee brakes so I can use a non-disc wheel for a week ...
 
I rightly guessed that the light rain had completely blown over, and the forecast was for it to brighten up, but I still couldn't resist packing my raincoat - so I will be carrying it on my 20 mile extended homeward commute this evening. :p
 
I'm doing a two day cycle trip next weekend, with a friend. I've only done one day things before.
I think I have the route pretty much sorted now (thanks to fredfelt for the advice) - 85 miles the first day and 65 the second.

I was just trying to work out what stuff we should take with us?
We can't go full gentlegreen, as we are only taking a rucksack each.
 
gentlegreen said:
Cycling with a rucksack for 150 miles ? :hmm:

I take it you won't be carrying tents ?
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No tents.
Cycling to a ferry, sleeping on it, then cycling in the netherlands the next day. Then a few days based in a hotel.

I like camping. But not as a reward for cycling all day :)

I was thinking more along the lines of what tools and spares I need to have..
 
1. pump, tube, patches.
2. 4 and 5mm hex keys. (If I've recently had the pedals off I'll carry the big one too)

3. chain tool, links
4. Spare gear / brake cable
5. chain whip, cassette tool.

I never even go to the shops without the first two, but in practice I've rarely needed any of those on a run - but I have an over-engineered bike...

I doubt you'll have trouble finding a bike shop over there !
 
gentlegreen said:
1. pump, tube, patches.
2. 4 and 5mm hex keys. (If I've recently had the pedals off I'll carry the big one too)

3. chain tool, links
4. Spare gear / brake cable
5. chain whip, cassette tool.

I never even go to the shops without the first two, but in practice I've rarely needed any of those on a run - but I have an over-engineered bike...

I doubt you'll have trouble finding a bike shop over there !
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I don't think I'll bother with the puncture patches. Inner tubes cost £2.50, and for the effort it seems easier to just replace them. We were thinking of taking three tubes each (we have the same sized tyres). If I get any more than that, i'll just throw everything in the sea and walk it.

Got Allen keys.

Got a chain tool and a few links. I have had a chain snap on me before.. :mad:

Got some spare cables.

Do I really need a whip and cassette tool? Seems a bit over kill.. :)

Screwdriver, cable ties, tape, pliers..

I had a spoke break the other day.. Thats not the sort of thing I can fix at the road side.
 
If you're lucky the spoke will break in a place where you can tape it to the next one so the knobbly bits don't jam in the back of the free-wheel.
Admittedly it only happened the once - dropped the chain off the back of the cassette, cursed the damage to a brand new wheel, but naively carried on until the wheel locked up on my way through a roundabout with an idiot cager tailgating me...
 
Oh well, that was interesting.
I got back so late I was glad of my lights.

Basically I got stuck in conversation with someone who always goes on for too long he seems to be stuck in the 70s - but his dad in the 70s ...
2 hours !
A previous time - back in the winter I was dressed for speed.... I actually went down with the flu the next day.

And he was going on about the importance of clippy pedals and cadence....

I had to turn down the invitation to ride home with him (slowly - he's unwell and would want to rabbit even more) - I think he was slightly upset.. but I needed a pee by then and had to get my head in the right space - this is the nearest I get to a rave these days.

Return (initially largely uphill) music was "La Revancha Del Tango" :D



I have no idea what my cadence or heart-rate were - but I made good progress :D
 
I got really wet again on the way in. I don't mind it, but I ended up with a huge track of mud at the back of my shorts due to not having a mudguard. And somehow got bird shit on the bottom of my bag, I must have put it down on some when I was putting my shopping in the bag outside Tesco.
 
There's definitely something rumbling out there :)

Now if we can only get all the idiots and the timid off the pavements, we can have critical mass every day...
 
I ended up getting stuck at work until 8, though felt good getting something finished that has been hanging over me for ages.

Got a bit caught out by the falling light though, so had to switch to the canal for the last third then cut up a track across the golf course. I usually keep a cheap set of LEDs in my desk for such occasions but didn't think to pick them up (sun was still up when I left).

Last commute on the Pashley for a while, had a bit of a razz on the canal section as it was almost deserted (normally a dog walker/fisherman slalom). For some reason I keep finding little bursts of energy on the hills, it's an immensely satisfying feeling just being able to power on - not sure why it's so sporadic though, some days I'm just fucked and struggle up small inclines. Think generally I'm getting fitter, and with about 10kg less bike next week I'm looking forward to some nice sprinting.
 
joustmaster said:
I don't think I'll bother with the puncture patches. Inner tubes cost £2.50, and for the effort it seems easier to just replace them. We were thinking of taking three tubes each (we have the same sized tyres). If I get any more than that, i'll just throw everything in the sea and walk it.

Got Allen keys.

Got a chain tool and a few links. I have had a chain snap on me before.. :mad:

Got some spare cables.

Do I really need a whip and cassette tool? Seems a bit over kill.. :)

Screwdriver, cable ties, tape, pliers..

I had a spoke break the other day.. Thats not the sort of thing I can fix at the road side.
Click to expand...

You're going to the Netherlands not Mongolia. There is a bike shop every 200m there. Just take 3 inner tubes and tyre levers, you don't need drag any more crap around than that.
 
DownwardDog said:
You're going to the Netherlands not Mongolia. There is a bike shop every 200m there. Just take 3 inner tubes and tyre levers, you don't need drag any more crap around than that.
Click to expand...

it was the 85 miles over here i was more worried about..
And I need at least one allen key, as the bikes need to go in to bags to be stored on the train, on the way back.

Scotch egg is the highest priority on my list so far.
 
Ouch !
Cramp - thankfully I always manage to forget about that when I ride hard.
It was sharp and painful, but thankfully relatively quick to dissipate with me putting weight on it.

Just as well though as otherwise I would have been too late to put the bread on ready for 8 am.
 
A good solid ride this morning. I went up a hill I've been up a few times but this time decided to Wiggins it, staying sat down the whole time in a slightly lower gear. I don't know why, just to try something different I guess. I'm more built for getting out of the saddle a bit - shortish and fairly light - but this felt good. I might try it on something steeper next week, but in an even lower gear.
 
Fecking hell.
The usual fuckwittery on the way home - I waved a tailgating 4x4 past and just as I was indicating to turn right, some idiot had followed the driver though so I was holding it back with my right turn signal.
Much honking and swearing and threatening me with their car ensued.
They seemed somewhat intimidated when I stepped off the pedals and stared at them.

Tomorrow evening can't come soon enough - another of my evening 20 mile rides on the way home - to remind me of why I actually love cycling.

Meanwhile, as I hoped, the local cycling campaign's computer whizz kid is going to do something creative with the Strava evidence. I swear it's getting worse on the railway path all the time.
Cavendish, Wiggins and Froome have a lot to answer for. If the idiot wannabes would only leave off the dark shades on dull days it would be a start.
Thankfully I can't see many of them continuing into the winter.
 
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