The biking thread

Very nice. I've always like the Yeti. I think @boiltheocean has one.

Today I made the moutain in an hour flat. Still off the top times by 20 minutes but I cut 4 minutes today just by taking water.
I'm going back up tomorrow and I'll be sure to eat a bigger breakfast; I was running on empty by the final 300m climb.
 
never been a big fan of full suspension MTBs mainly because I live in Michigan, so hardtails are the way to go here.
 
New MTB movie coming. Looks interesting.



It's supposed to have been premiered last month. I like that it's focused on building trails.
 
I'll be sure to look that one up. Hopefully it'll be as good as 'Where The Trail Ends' and 'Lifecycles'.
 
Sorry for bump...but Giro just started this past weekend.

Despite not having taken any big points outside of the team TT my money is on Contador.

Others look good for it at the moment, Greipel and Matthews already topping the score boards but I just feel like Contador will not allow himself to lose.

Plenty of crashes on the first road stage already (stage 2 in order) and hopefully they stop reruns of stage 2 and get on with stage 3 live when it starts.
 
Aye you can forget Greipel and Matthews once it's gets to the mountains.

Personally I'd like to see Porte win but think it is just out of reach. I agree Contador is the one to beat but don't discount Aru from Astana.
 
I've been keeping an eye on Aru since his season has been a strong one, but he needs the team to work for him too.

Matthews is on form so far on stage 3 though (in the break as I type). Still Sky and Tinkoff setting the pace as it has been the last few days.

Porte has the experience and if I remember correctly he took the Paris - Nice this year.

To be fair it's so hard to call at the moment. Anyone not at the front is risking a crash delay/ injury, even Kintana (the younger one), who is a good rider, has skinned himself which will no doubt hinder his performance.

If I had to say I'm sure it'll be a Sky, Tinkoff, Orica Greenedge, Astana or Etixx rider who take most of the wins including the GC win, so still a choice of some 40-50 riders. lol

For me, it's Contador, fresh of 40 days of altitude training and with a team who protect him the whole way. He's after both the Giro and the Tour de France this year and I just think he's got it in him.

Edit: Domenico Pozzovivo went down really hard on a decent about 40km from the finish. He hasn't moved at all and the medics have just received ambulance to take him to hospital. Didn't look good. Certainly the end of his tour, hopefully not the end of his life.

Edit: He's conscious and breathing for himself in hospital so should be ok, thank god.
 
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The Giro has been amazing so far. Last night watching Porte, Uru and Contador do battle for the GC was brilliant.

Today I scoped a new route to work so I can cycle now that I'm fully healed from crash damage. I'm still not sure if I'll use it over my original route through the city with the extra 5k from the new place I'm living.

New route pros:
- Less traffic so less pollution I'll be sucking up.
- Smoother, better quality road for the majority of the ride.
- beautiful scenery as the road avoids all built up areas.
- less traffic lights to slow down for.

And the cons:
- It's longer (45 minutes against 30 of the original route). Great for fitness, not great before work when I need my energy.
- More open leaving me exposed on a windy day.
- roadworks; two 200m sections are compact dirt, pretty rough stuff and aren't likely to be tarmaced any time soon.
- Narrower road. While there's minimal traffic the road is only two lanes for a lot of it so what traffic there is will be closer to me.

Overall I think I'll vary the routes depending on my mood and the time I have in the mornings.
 
W3HS
The Giro has been amazing so far. Last night watching Porte, Uru and Contador do battle for the GC was brilliant.
Click to expand...

Yeah it was good last night, mostly foxing though and I can't wait until they hit the real mountains to see what they really have. Porte looks the as fit as I've seen him and would love to see him get a breakthrough grand tour. The individual time trial on Saturday is going to go a long way to deciding this giro and I'll give Porte the edge there ever so slightly.
However overall I'm still leaning towards Contador.
Either way it's great viewing. 👍

As for your route @W3HS I say mix it up a bit when you can, as it's a commute it can soon get boring.
For the two rough sections just pretend you are in the north of France on the cobbles.
 
Porte could well go all the way, now that Contador has shoulder damage from a dislocation he might not be on top firm for the climbs. My money is still on the Spaniard though, his team have been unquestionable about keeping him protected and at the front of the pack.

My only concern with the dirt sections is that if it starts to rain I'll be riding through slop and if I'm not carful I could pick up a puncture on any of the loose gravel on the section.
 
Finally got this thing all together.

zZH28r2.jpg
 
W3HS
I've never used a coaster brake before. What's it like?
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If im honest, it doesn't stop as well as typical brakes, and I usually like to apply the brakes when I am getting on to stabilize myself, which I cant do with a coaster, but you can rip maaad skids and there are no visible brakes/levers/cables so it improves the look and is super easy to set up, where as most brakes are a bit of a pain.
 
Guys, a question: What do you eat before going for a long ride? Any suggestions? What works best for you?

I found out that the right meal before doing a 100km stint though the mountains makes the difference between feeling like death and switching on beast mode. The difference is nothing short of amazing.

Currently what works best for me is rice with lots of pre-hydration, approx. an hour before doing my stint. I tried many different meals like noodles, eggs etc. but nothing I tried works like rice does.
 
Chicken sandwiches.

I've ridden on all sorts of meals but home baked chicken breast in a sandwich always seemed to to give me huge energy reserves and left me feeling like I could do twice as much as I could on any other meal.

I like to get at least a litre of water in before hand and I sometimes take a coke when I'm on a return leg just for some sugar.
 
I'll give that a try, tastes way better than rice, thats for sure!

But I'm not sure sugar would be a good idea, at least for me, it tends to give me huge energy spikes but the drop off later kills me.
Once I climbed a really steep mountain for more than an hour, when I felt completely depleted I ate a dextrose bar. Oh boy, the next 15 minutes I felt like superman on coke but when the effect wore off I had to puke, lost my vision and nearly collapsed. :scared:
 
I used to eat tons of junk food and thought my wattage was ok. When I started home cooking eggs, chicken, pork and fresh meats with a little seasoning and put it in a sandwich I realised how much more potent those meals were for a ride.

I did a back to back comparison a few times. I ate my regular work meals, pretty much junk and fast food and then did 40k at ~35-40kph. The junk food left me exhausted and tired. The home cooked 'healthier' food resulted in very little exhaustion at the end and less dehydration too. Funny thing is that there were much more calories in the junk food yet they just didn't translate into power at the crank.

These days I ride my local mountain after a bacon and egg sandwich which works ok but I've done the best climbs on that mountain on hangovers with just an orange juice, water and some gummy bears. I guess my body just needs the sugar.
 
I took part in and completed the Isle of Wight End to End last weekend. 31 miles from one end of the island to the other off road in the wind, rain and mud. I completed the event in 3hrs 53mins which I'm happy with as it was easily my hardest ride to date. The Trek took it all in it's stride though, despite being set up for trail use as opposed to cross country, but I did miss the granny ring on some of the steeper hills towards the end!
Here's the route we took:

6cmwyV.jpg


I also found a good photo of the fastest section of the ride down from the highest point on the island on the track down the middle of the valley (the gravel trail just below the masts)

OSRm8l.jpg


I really need a bike computer so I can record my highest speed on that section.
 
Moglet
I really need a bike computer so I can record my highest speed on that section.
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A smarty pants phone and Strava would do that for you. :)

The ride looks awesome. Is it an annual ride?
 
TB
A smarty pants phone and Strava would do that for you. :)

The ride looks awesome. Is it an annual ride?
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I've already got Strava but the speed recording isn't the best on it, and it only seems to record my peak speed accurately which isn't usually on that hill. I guess I could just go out and ride only that hill and then see what it says mid-ride. 👍

The End to End is an annual event which raises money for a local charity called the Earl Mountbatten Hospice, they raised £700 this year. You have 2 options, the End to End which is 46km/28.6 miles (we did a bit more than that) and then you can do the 'And Back Again' which takes you back to the start point on any route you like. My time of 3hr 53 seemed good until I realised one guy did the entire route and back again in 4hrs 20mins! Some local people also put on a 'pitstop' halfway through the route where you could get free food & drink, a free bike wash & service stand and access to toilets.

It ended up being quite a muddy one, this was taken halfway through the first half!
1500927_815105551929922_8476214734637181891_o.jpg
 
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camber310515.jpg


My old trusty workhorse finally evolved to the present day. Originally it was a 3x9 with Alivio shifters and SLX derailleurs, then at one point a 2x9 with a 2x10 XT crankset but everything else (including the shifters) still original, and now a true 2x10 with new SLX shifters and an XT rear derailleur to accompany the already existing crankset. OK, the front derailleur is still the old SLX but as it works perfectly I didn't see any point in changing it.
 
Strava says I've done just over 15 miles this week. While nothing for a lot of you, that's got to be getting close to more than I did all last year.

I need more seat time.

And I found a road that literally goes nowhere:

Screenshot_2015-06-05-22-12-26.png


So I rode back and forth a few times. :P
 
Went for another ride today. This time covering 10.1 miles (16.25km) in exactly 47 minutes, averaging 12.9mph, no thanks to a 15mph head wind for half of it (and of course it had to be the middle half :crazy:).

6FcpgXH.jpg
 
Been riding the bike trails that I made in the valley and the hills near my grandparent's place. I prefer an elevation change over flat land 👍
 

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