The biking thread

[W3H5]

Today I made the top of the local mountain in ~1:10 which is about 10 minutes slower than my best time. Had a twang in my left knee (again) for a few km but rode it off.

Spotted a really old bloke who came down when I was half way up and he then came past me going up with about 200m to the top. He was definitely over 50 and was putting younger riders to shame, including me.

In the full day light I had a much nicer time coming down that my last descent which was scary as balls in the pitch black. I did notice that my bike is either too small for me to be comfortable descending or I just need some new bars/ stem, but in general the bike feels tiny compared to the last one I had in the UK (which had a monster frame, to be fair) and I'm noticing how much my stroke is impeded by not having a few more inches to go higher on the seat post.

I popped into a dealer on the way home and had a look a some of their mountain bikes which were surprisingly reasonable but I've half talked myself out of it because of needing to buy a new motorcycle and my current bike doesn't really need replacing. I still might go ahead a pick one up if the missus agrees it isn't an unnecessary purchase.

 

[Carlos]

Kodak moment

 

[NINE_HUNDRED]

Who knew being outside could get so expensive I bought a new bike few days ago, was looking at upgrading for the past month or so and picked it up in the week. I think I need a bike rack for the car as well! getting it in the boot was tricky and not ideal when muddy.

Will get some pics posted on my next ride.

 

[W3H5]

I-ditched-my-big-ring-today,-leaving-8-gears=to-work-with-but-around-the-city-that-is-all-I-need.-Now-I-just-need-a-chain-tool-to-remove-the-front-derailleur-and-things-are-going-well.

 

[Small_Fryz]

So I'm the fattest and most unfit I've ever been in my life. I'm by no means old though I'm also no longer in my young 20's where fitness just magically happens.

I can't stand walking/running/jogging and going to the gym is also boring and I know I'll loose interest in a few weeks. I have always enjoyed riding, having owned motorbikes since I was a little kid. When I was still going to school I used to ride my BMX at the skate park / dirt jumps and ride it to and from school every day + all over the place on the weekend catching up with mates, easily racking up 40km per week on a single gear BMX.

So I decided to get into Biking as its something to do and something I enjoy and the by product will be getting fitter, especially my cardio which as you older members know, is very important for me.

So I did about 20mins of research on the internet which then made me an expert ( , good retail joke )and I walked into 99bikes and got this. (just so happens the guy who served me seem to think my choice was solid too). I'm sure if I spent 4 weeks scouring forums and markets I could do better but I just want to get in and involved. If the bug bites me I'll simply buy a better one next time and sell this one.

http://www.99bikes.com.au/merida-ride-disc-200-2016

Just so happens they had one left and it was a 52 which was perfect for me. So was meant to be.
Anyway I went for a 15km ride today to test it and my fitness out. Bike is good, me not so much . I'm aiming to ride it every morning for 30 - 60mins to build up my fitness and then once I'm comfortable with that I'll aim for longer rides on the weekends.

I'm fortunate to have a good mix of flat/mild hills terrain as well as some solid climbs around to push myself in the future.

Anyway I'm looking forward to exploring this avenue and changing my lifestyle to be more active and fit. I have been meaning to do it for years and finally hitting 86kg was the limit.

 

[Shaun]

@Small_Fryz I'll get back to you in more detail a bit later but solid choice on the bike and especially the decision you've made.

Been there done that and it's been an absolute life changer for me.
We'll soon strip the kg's off the frame if that's what you want. 👍

Oh just so happens two of my bikes are a 52 for when y'know you are down for the GP.

 

[V0RT3X]

We have a 2014 Fuji SST 2.1 in the store at the moment. I can get it for around $1,200. I would replace the seat and bar tape (I hate white bar tape) swap my FSA SLK crank on and put on my Reynolds R Four wheels. It has all Shimano Ultegra 6800 components which are great. I'd sell my Lemond Buenos Aires for around the same price, possibly $1,500.

The bike itself is very stiff and racey. Literally everything I hear about it says it's stuff and fast. One review I read from a guy I assume is a little older mentioned that it's stiff yes, but not uncomfortably so. He has a bad back and neck and said he had no problems so that's good. I'm not 100% sure if I should get it though. It's a good deal and it has a lot of the things I want but I'm just not sure.

 

[chuyler1]

Howdy all, signed on to this site after a long hiatus. Here in New England, it's fatbike season. I'm running 4.8" studded tires on a custom Chinese carbon frame. We get a lot of freeze/thaw cycles so the trails turn to 2 foot wide luges and it's a blast to rip down them. It's so much fun I rarely take out my downhill/alpine skis anymore. When it snows I make a pass around my local conservation area on back country skis. If there is a ton of snow I'll break out the snow shoes. After a few people have packed the trails, it's ready for the fat bikes and we keep rolling until the next storm comes through. We ride day or night, hence the battery pack on my top tube.

 

[Shaun]

So I'm the fattest and most unfit I've ever been in my life. I'm by no means old though I'm also no longer in my young 20's where fitness just magically happens.

Right then you've picked the right sport to help with that, just have a look at any semi-pro and up road race and you won't see an ounce of fat.
No biggie mate, with a bit of effort and an eye on the diet you will drop 1kg a week easily, a bit more at the start.

I can't stand walking/running/jogging and going to the gym is also boring and I know I'll loose interest in a few weeks.

Cycling is a good choice here also, all subjective of course but I find it way more fun than what you mentioned.
Nothing quite like flying along and down hills after all the effort to get up them, especially fun overtaking cars.

especially my cardio which as you older members know, is very important for me.

👍
I know what you are saying but don't know how careful you need to be with it, might be worth a chat with your Doc?
Anyway if needed a heart rate monitor may be of assistance for you there. Garmin make a few wrist ones as well as chest strap versions. Just keep in mind if you need one and it does have to be accurate the chest strap version is more accurate. It will however also need a bike computer to be to see the actual heart rate, again Garmin amongst others make plenty of them. If you need any help here just yell out mate.

So I did about 20mins of research on the internet which then made me an expert ( , good retail joke

20mins is more than enough
Anyway you've made a solid choice on bike and to be honest once you get away from the Kmart bikes is pretty hard to buy a bad one these days. Sure what you've got is entry level and that's exactly what you want. The components on it are solid and won't let you down if looked after.

Just a few things basic maintenance wise.
Keep the chain clean by simply spraying some WD-40 or similar onto a rag and spinning the chain backwards through it.
Once it starts to get a bit noisy keep it lubed with some decent quality bike chain oil.
Baby wipes are awesome to clean the whole bike without needing to use water.
Follow up the baby wipes with Mr Sheen occasionally and it will always be looking spick and span.
If you get caught in the rain (some of us have a second bike to ride in the rain ) do your best to dry if as soon as you can around bearings and cables especially.

Down the track you'll need to learn a bit more about other bits and pieces but that will help at the start.

You may not be interested in the full cycling gear as in lycra and that's no probs but it is functional. Having pockets in the jerseys are handy but if you start to cover longer distances bibs (shorts) with a pad in them are a huge help. A happy gooch is a happy cyclist.

Strava is a great tool to help keep track of your rides and if you are a bit competitive it will push you along with the competition of the segments.

Oh and most importantly as per rule #2 I have to bring this to your attention.

Most importantly though mate, just get out there and enjoy riding your bike. Doesn't matter how far how fast (we like to tell ourselves that) you go. Oh and if you see another cyclist give them a wave and if they are stopped on the side of the road ask that they are ok.

If you have any questions just ask mate.

 

[W3H5]

Well done, Dion, for getting motivated. I know you already ride motorcycles and getting the same thrill under your own power is an amazing feeling.

There are plenty of ways to ride if you find that one particular way doesn't suit you, even using a road bike with the same set-up. From experience I can tell you there's everything from racing others through city traffic (similar to the alley cat thing they do in the US) all the way to a bit of light off-roading (with a slight change of tyres, called CycloX).

I myself have an entry level bike and never felt that it was 'not enough' although browsing bike shops for new parts and stuff becomes a weekly event.

Also, as @Shaun said, there's no need to go full Lycra, although non-specific cycling shorts/ trousers will lose the seat pretty quickly due to friction and wear. They're also not the most comfortable. I didn't fancy a full Lycra kit so bought MTB shorts (with loads of pockets!) to go over my chamois pants. Any standard sweat-wicking material will work for the upper half and are usually cheaper and more universal that cycling specific jerseys, if you was going to use it for any other activity.

Do enjoy, and welcome to the club. 👍

 

[Andrew R]

You've nearly even motivated me to bust out the old Diamondback Topanga @Small_Fryz. I'll have to drag all my bikes out for a photo but they're all 90's mtb's. The Topanga has the more road going tyres of the bunch though. With my first child on the way and family history of heart disease (Dad died before his 40th while being nowhere near overweight) there's probably no better time than now to get out there.

 

[Greycap]

After riding old utility bikes for a good 15 years and then upgrading into a quite serious MTB hobby (pictures can be found earlier in the thread) for the last five years I'm not sure if I made a great decision or a big mistake today, I ordered a cyclocross bike. While not a fully fledged road bike - roads here aren't good enough for one of those - I'd still expect it to be a better choice for road use than a mountain bike. Or if it isn't, there's always the option of selling it and knowing that it wasn't my thing.

Coming from a MTB background I think I'll give The Rules the finger and ride in the same gear I've used this far - MTB shorts, normal training T-shirts, even a helmet with a visor - it's basically a MTB version of a road bike after all.

 

[W3H5]

Coming from a MTB background I think I'll give The Rules the finger and ride in the same gear I've used this far - MTB shorts, normal training T-shirts, even a helmet with a visor - it's basically a MTB version of a road bike after all.

I ride road with MTB gear, although my helmet is a ski helmet and I do have Lycra undies with a chamois.

Even though it's a road bike with slicks it gets a fair bit of gravel and dirt riding thanks to the developing nature of this part of the world and the not so smooth, level or finished road surfaces. It does, however, mean I have to do a lot of cleaning after barreling through the grit as it gets into all the little nooks and crannies.

With a CX bike you should have the best of both worlds, although fitting a standard road bike with terrain specific tyres wouldn't be too different an experience.

 

[Greycap]

I wanted a cross bike mainly for two reasons, both related to everyday usability.

The first being that even if the modern day "endurance" road bikes are being designed with more generous tyre room in the frames I highly doubt they can take much more than 28 mm comfortably, I'm going to go for 35+ mm. Very little difference in rolling resistance on a non-perfect surface, the wider one may even be better, and they're undoubtedly more comfortable.

The second being that the gearing on pure road bikes is, frankly said, stupid for a recreational rider. I'm not in the shape I used to be (psoriatic arthritis took the edge off me and it's not coming back) but the most common setup for compact cranks, 50/34, has a big ring that's too big to get to the smaller cogs of the cassette in any other situation other than a hell of a downhill and a small ring that would have me riding in the three smallest cogs all the time. Normal cranks usually have 53/39 - a sensible small ring and an even more useless big ring. The standard 46/36 cross setup will give me a reasonable chance of using the big ring while keeping the small ring useful.

 

[W3H5]

The second being that the gearing on pure road bikes is, frankly said, stupid for a recreational rider. I'm not in the shape I used to be (psoriatic arthritis took the edge off me and it's not coming back) but the most common setup for compact cranks, 50/34, has a big ring that's too big to get to the smaller cogs of the cassette in any other situation other than a hell of a downhill and a small ring that would have me riding in the three smallest cogs all the time. Normal cranks usually have 53/39 - a sensible small ring and an even more useless big ring. The standard 46/36 cross setup will give me a reasonable chance of using the big ring while keeping the small ring useful.

I've currently got 28s and the comfort isn't too bad under 90psi even on a fairly rigid frame. They still aren't as nice on the rough stuff as a MTB or wider road tyre would be but I can't complain.

These days I do very little threshold work and prefer to spin at higher RPMs so recently I ditched the big ring (and front derailleur to boot) which I hadn't used much for a while anyhow. Even when I'm out on the highway I can ride at ~40kph on the smallest cassette gear. Plus there's less cleaning to do lol.

If I do decide to swap tyres for any reason (7 year old Michelin's are still on form ) I'd probably go for some treaded 'cross tyres for a bit more stability on the dirt and versatility around the city here where the roads are dirty and a bit broken.

 

[W3H5]

Today I thought I'd see how much fitness I'd lost since I left London. London's pretty flat and 80km (50miles) would take me roughly about 3 hours at a reasonable pace on a commuter ride with backpack, plenty of traffic light junctions and often rain. Elevation was minimal.

Today I went out to explore some roads I didn't know and had a jolly good time, just me, the bike and the road. I didn't ride too hard, stopped halfway for a 2 minute shop for Haribos and I did ache when I got home so it was certainly a good work out.

I think I might try the same route more often as the first half has a dedicated cycle lane and has very little traffic. The second half runs through a few towns and has more traffic and no cycle lane so I might do it in reverse to get an easy return leg.

According to Strava:
Average speed - 24.3
Top speed - 44.6

I'm rather hungry now but quite satisfied that my fitness hasn't dropped of too much.

 

[Shaun]

It's not too often a high level/world class race is in your own town.
It's that time of year again when the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race rolls into my home town.

Saturday is us plebs out on the course followed by the women. The main event of the elite men is on Sunday.
Anyway since I'm still on holidays and doing the ride again on Saturday I thought today I would go out and ride a fair chunk of the course in the hope of seeing some of the big hitters out training for Sunday.

Lucked out and saw a few and even managed to ride with Lotto Soudal for a while, they seemed friendly enough all saying hello but since they were out there training I sat on the back of them for about 10km or so and kept pretty quiet.

One of the segments from Strava today.
Pretty cool to see your name amongst some from the world tour. Me in second and I'll be reporting Stetina for cheating

That's one of many cool things about cycling, apart from the obvious health benefits and actually being fun the guys at the peak of the business for the most part are happy to let you join in.

 

[W3H5]

How far is your town from where the TDU was held recently, @Shaun? I quite enjoyed watching Cycling Maven's experience on YT and wondered how accessible it was to people in the general area.

 

[Shaun]

Accessibility wise by all accounts it's superb @W3HS , no cost involved to spectate and if you stay in Adelaide you can ride out to all the stages during the week.

Distance wise it's 700km from me so not very far really. I had discussed it with a mate about riding over there this year but for various reasons wasn't able to. It is however something I'd like to do though not in two days like the Maven did but probably more likely four days. Not sure if you watch his channel often but he's pretty good and much closer to me about 60km away.

 

[W3H5]

Not sure if you watch his channel often but he's pretty good and much closer to me about 60km away.

I watch him from time to time, I like his videos and he seems like a nice bloke.

 

[Greycap]

Speaking about The Rules, can someone shed some light on this?

Rule #57 // No stickers.

Nobody gives a **** what causes you support, what war you’re against, what gear you buy, or what year you rode RAGBRAI. See Rule #5 and ride your bike. Decals, on the other hand, are not only permissible, but extremely Pro.

Now I understand that "Obama rules" and stuff like that goes into the stickers category, but what is classed as a decal?

 

[W3H5]

Speaking about The Rules, can someone shed some light on this?


Now I understand that "Obama rules" and stuff like that goes into the stickers category, but what is classed as a decal?

I would assume stickers:

Where as decals:

Or something like that. Just my interpretation.

 

[W3H5]

Tan lines FTW. Not burns, as usually, I've adapted and acclimatized (also sun tan cream):

Knees are the same.

 

[W3H5]

Little bump.

I've had great time this week enjoying some (much) longer rides than usual and it's all a bit too late as my free time runs out and I start work in a few weeks. Still, more money for a new bike maybe.

As you'll see I've not been going fast, just enjoying the ride.

I do get a bit uncomfortable after the 100km mark so I think my saddle needs replacing with something more comfortable and I need to play with the stem length/ height so that I'm not too far forward which is causing me a neck ache. Or I could just buy a better fitting bike.

Has anyone had any experience with gels? I don't usually eat much other than a few sweets and a Coke but I'm tempted to see if I can go further with some gels.

 

[Shaun]

Hmm must have missed the notification for the thread.

@W3HS gels can be handy if you are about to hit the wall nutrition wise and for their size but personally I prefer some actual food.
Even pre bought energy bars are better but I make my own with dates, nuts, coconut and cocoa powder blended together and set in the fridge. Heaps cheaper and taste just as good.

Bananas are another go to along with museli bars and the sweets you mention. 👍

 

[W3H5]

@W3HS gels can be handy if you are about to hit the wall nutrition wise and for their size but personally I prefer some actual food.
Even pre bought energy bars are better but I make my own with dates, nuts, coconut and cocoa powder blended together and set in the fridge. Heaps cheaper and taste just as good.

Bananas are another go to along with museli bars and the sweets you mention. 👍

I do prefer actual food over gels or energy bars. Bananas I only like at a certain ripeness. Recently I've been stopping of on route and getting some curry and rice during a 5 minute stop. That's always a nice feeling after half a ride is down and the rice has lots of carbs for the return leg. Wash that down with a Sprite and it's all good.

I'll only have weekends to ride now that I'm back to work and yesterday I got all kitted up for a long one only to discover a rear puncture.
I have no spares at home after I replaced an old leaky tube last week and nowhere is open on Sundays to buy tubes.

I'll have to make up for it next weekend with a 200km day attempt. (no chance )

 

[NINE_HUNDRED]

@W3HS A good time to go tubeless! If that is even an option on road bikes? Everybody raves about it on MTB, I will convert one day..

 

[W3H5]

@W3HS A good time to go tubeless! If that is even an option on road bikes? Everybody raves about it on MTB, I will convert one day..

Yeah, they're actually really popular now days on road bikes but clinchers are what I know so I'll stick with them for now. Perhaps when I opt for a new bike I'll go down that route.

 

[Shaun]

Yeah you can get tubeless on a road bike but the actual rims need to be capable of it.
All my rims are capable but still haven't made the switch and still use tubes.

Clincher tyres are cheaper and tubeless still gives a weight penalty last time I checked.

 

[W3H5]

Clincher tyres are cheaper and tubeless still gives a weight penalty last time I checked.

Isn't that partly due to the sealant (slime) that line the tubeless tyres?