The biking thread

@TB firstly I understand what you mean by the top tube making it look like a woman's bike. A quick Google didn't give me a definitive answer but I don't think so.

It's what is known as a compact frameset and there's a whole discussion about them and to why they exist since they appeared. Just Google horizontal v's sloping top tube to see what I mean.

The bike itself gets good reviews for an entry level bike so you should be good there. As you say the components are lower end but to start out on they should be fine. I would however advise against changing gear while stamping hard on the pedals going up hill as it's quite possible the nether region will get to know the top tube quite well. :lol:

Besides if after a while you decide road biking is for you the first bike is never the one. Trust me on that from first hand experience.

Good luck and take it for a ride (if possible) before handing over the cash. 👍
 
I'm quite upset with myself after my first ride in months.

A while back (about 6 months) some of you might remember I mentioned a crash that injured my already buggered knee. I thought the knee was the reason I'd left the bike in shed collecting dust for the last few months but today I realised otherwise.

It's not too hot now so I felt it would be a good time to get back on the road and see how my knee was doing. I gave the bike a 10 minute clean up and safety check, aired up the tyres and set out for a 40km ride at a gentle pace.

It was then I realised I'm a shell of the rider I used to be and it's completely psychological. Any time I got around 30kph the bike felt so unstable, bumps in the road had my nerves on edge and the traffic I used to play with so dangerously now felt actually dangerous. Patches of sand and dirt covered asphalt had me over-thinking grip levels and my poise making me tense up and slow down. Riding just isn't the pleasurable pursuit it has been all my life, I'm now dealing with a fear that I can't rid myself of and my confidence levels are rock bottom.

I considered that perhaps the bike was out of shape but the last week I remember riding it I took it in to true the wheels. I made sure the tyres were at full pressures and everything was a tight as a drum. This leaves me to conclude that it's my confidence that was damaged long ago in that crash and no matter how many times I told myself "Grow a pair, Shem!" I just can't get past it.

What's strange to me is that I ride a motorcycle on the ragged edge daily to and from work and couldn't be happier dicing with traffic and out-running bigger motorcycles but on the bicycle it's like none of the experience I have from a quarter of a century of riding counts for anything.

I won't be giving up, but I am going to take the bike in to a specialist to see if the wobble is real or just in my head. I think I'll find another bike to borrow and see if I feel the same thing on another bike. That should give me some closure on the issue.
 
New bike, yay!

I say new, it's something like 20 years old. Specialized Rockhopper Comp that my friend kindly gave me, pretty much stock except for having narrow road tyres in place of the off-road tyres and there's no front brake fitted but I have it should I need to put it on.

I've done about 40km over the last few days and I'm pretty comfortable on it, both physically and mentally. I rode through traffic in some strong winds today and didn't feel to unconfident as I had on my Giant (which is still in Thai) after crashing it last year.

It's not much to look at but it's very smooth and the only tweak needed is the front derailleur as it has jumped off the ring a few times on an up-shift.

My new building has a cycle room where I've locked it up downstairs and the only pic I have is blurry so I'll get one posted when I get a clearer picture tomorrow.
 
Sounds cool! Look forward to the pics. I recently got a '93 Kona Cinder Cone to put together. 90's mountain bikes are awesome.
 
As promised:

image.jpg


It's not modern, it's not particularly fast due to the MTB gearing, it's not even 100% reliable yet because the derailleur needs adjusting but it is a smooth ride and it's still faster than the bus.

Excuse the monkey, that's not mine.
 
I managed to get to Cannock Chase again last week for the first time in just over a year and tried really hard to get a new best time on my favourite descent. I got cramp twice on the way down meaning I had to stop to flex my toes, but even with the 2 stops I still smashed my previous record so I'm pretty happy! :D

bIALhM.jpg


I would upload my GoPro footage but it's shaky as hell as I didn't tighten the chest harness enough.
 
So the weekend saw the second edition of the Cadel Evans great ocean road race in my home town. The Saturday morning gave us plebs a chance to ride course that the professionals would later race on. Like last year I wasn't about to let the chance slip.

I set myself two main objectives.
1. Go a bit quicker than last year.
2. Make it up a short but steep incline without having to get off my bike which I did last year.

So for number 1 tick, finished the 111km course with about 10mins less riding time but half an hour quicker all up as I didn't stop apart from a couple of nature breaks.

And number 2.
:D
Success also, for those familiar with Strava the segment is called the Melville Wall and for good reason. It's very short at only around 80M but with a gradient of a 20% average it is like a wall. The lead up softens the legs with about 150M at 10% (it's also around 105km into the ride) then it's a 90 degree turn onto Melville St that turns to about 25% within 10M. This is were I came unstuck last year as I rounded the corner and was met with a wall of people walking up the hill with their bikes forcing me to get off and walk also.

This year armed with that knowledge and that the road was closed I swung out wide and went around the pack walking. For 26 seconds my quads were screaming at me to stop, not this time Melville. About 3/4 of the way up I heard a yelp and a thud as someone behind hit the deck but didn't dare to look back to see if it was my mate out of fear that it would slow me down to a halt. At the top when I could look back I could see mate still coming and some poor guy trying to pick himself up.
Upon asking my mate it turns out the other poor guys chain broke which resulted in his gentleman's region having a rather nasty meeting with his bikes top tube. :scared:

As a reference to show much better the pro guys are they were going up in in about 13-16 seconds.

The whole ride was a blast but as an avid cyclist and fan there was three big highlights.
A fair few of the pro's were out on the course taking it easy and just checking it out.
We actually got to ride with Cadel Evans for about 10mins and have a chat before we moved on.

Next up we got to ride with Mark Cavendish and his team for about the final 5km crossing the finish line together.

To then top that all off I went up to my local coffee shop after the ride and word had obviously got around that the coffee is good as there were two smaller professional teams already there, Drapac and United Health Care.
Five minutes later Cavendish and his team also rolled in then shortly after so too did Team Sky. Peter Kennaugh (the eventual winner) spotted a couple of spare seats next to me and asked if it was ok to sit down, so he lent his bike up next to mine and we had a quick chat over coffee (seemed like a really nice guy) until I wished him well for the race and rode home grinning like the village idiot.
Pretty sure some of my bikes speed rubbed off onto his. :dopey:

Roll on next year.
 
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Shaun
Pretty sure some of my bikes speed rubbed off onto his. :dopey:
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:lol:

That sound bloody awesome. I don't think I'm the only one who is jealous. I saw some of the highlights of the race day on the TV last night but I'm tempted to watch the full race now.
 
@Shaun Awesome summary mate, I'm really glad for you that you not only ticked off both your objectives but also had the added bonus of rubbing shoulders with the world's elite 👍. Seems like your local cafe is the place to be :lol:.

I hope you introduced yourself to Cavendish and said "hi Sir Wiggins, cant I have your autograph" :dopey:
 
Anybody watching the Milan-San Remo tomorrow? For me it'll be the first race I've seen in full this year (providing my mum isn't watching the rugby) and I'm a big fan of the one day monuments. I missed the Paris-Nice so I'm hoping this will be a good race.

My money is on Cancellara. He's on good form. Few podium finishes in the last few years too.
 
W3HS
Anybody watching the Milan-San Remo tomorrow?
Click to expand...

Absolutely although I'll be recording it as it's on late here.
Cancellara it a good choice as you say his form is great.
It's a great race that is always pretty open for the chances of many riders. There's so many others to choose from with the likes of Sagan and Mathews in great form also.

Personally I'll be hoping for a Mathews win but as long as it's a good race I'll be happy.

If you get the chance to watch the last 40km of Paris Nice do it, it was an absolutely cracking finish.
 
Tour of Catalonia currently on and then Flanders! Looking forward to a good day of racing.

Turns out I was watching the 2015 tour of Flanders. :grumpy:
 
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Walking past a bookies I thought I'd drop a quid on tomorrow's race, one of my favourites of the year.

image.jpg


As a usually non gambling man I didn't realise that betting on a favourite would return such a poor yield of 300% should he win, which, on a quid, is bugger all.

Still, my main reason for it was to give me extra enjoyment. I love watching the monuments but having a cash incentive, however small, increases the fun.
 
Been a while since I last posted in here. I've done some rides during the winter period. Spent time in the gym training on intervals at 600W, training threshold and general strength. I maxed out 800W on the indoor cycling machines, but at 600W I am already running on its highest setting.

Anyway, today's ride:
120km in 4h15 @ 28km/h avg.

Considering it is still early in the season, and my bike is still on its heavy winter tyres, I'm feeling quite good about the ride.
 
W3HS
one of my favourites of the year.
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Yep can't wait, just noticed Eurosport are starting the coverage here at 6:15pm running through until 1:00am so they are showing the whole race.
That in itself will take some effort nevermind the guys actually riding it.

Am I sadistic in hoping that it rains just to see them suffer even more. :lol:

Cancellara is a good bet, good idea only putting a quid on it though as anything can and most likely will happen.
 
Shaun
Yep can't wait, just noticed Eurosport are starting the coverage here at 6:15pm running through until 1:00am so they are showing the whole race.
That in itself will take some effort nevermind the guys actually riding it.

Am I sadistic in hoping that it rains just to see them suffer even more. :lol:

Cancellara is a good bet, good idea only putting a quid on it though as anything can and most likely will happen.
Click to expand...

I'm glad I read this post early as I've just woken up and after reading this I turned on the TV to find that it's starting in 20 minutes, yeah the whole race! Excellent.
 
Dennisch
I love the spring classics. :D
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Couldn't agree more, as much as I love watching the big tours there is just something about the classics that make them so special to watch.

You would have been pleased with a Dutchy winning. 👍

To ad a bit of spice to watching I had entered a competition where the closest to pick the overall time won a $8,000 Canyon bike.
I was 3min and 9sec off the time, the lazy selfish bastards. :lol:
 
Dennisch
Completely forgot that the Giro starts in the Netherlands.

Dammit.
Click to expand...

I was going to post and tag you last night but it was too late and I went to sleep instead.

The prologue wasn't far from your neck of the woods so I expect some of the other early stages might be local.
 
Shaun
First three stages I think, you still have time. ;)
Click to expand...

W3HS
I was going to post and tag you last night but it was too late and I went to sleep instead.

The prologue wasn't far from your neck of the woods so I expect some of the other early stages might be local.
Click to expand...

My weekend has been planned. And it's full.
They come close to me tomorrow. About 25k away.

But I have seen the Giro the last time they were here, the pre race caravan is nothing to look at, just a bunch of vans trying to sell tshirts and stuff. Nothing compared to the Tour.
 
An action shots of me from this weekends racing at the 'Foot Out Flat Out' event, a mostly downhill dual eliminator on grass and dirt.

aZkM8I.jpg


vtUEOf.jpg


I finished near the bottom after getting eliminated in the first round and having fairly slow average times. I had a blast, though!

EDIT: After the event I went and did a quick run down a local route. So so close!
CKEnsL.jpg
 
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After Dumoulin, again a Dutch guy in the pink jersey.

Screenshot_20160521-185733.png

Oranje may suck at the moment, but at least we are doing great in other sports.
 
During a stage in Belgium today yet another accident involving motorcycles. 19 riders fell, 11 hospitalised and one, Stig Broeckx, is in a coma with possibly a cranial fracture.
 
Has anybody converted from a 3x to a 1x chainring on a mtb? I've been looking at a few videos, guides etc. and it seems fairly straight forward, just trying to understand all the things that may need to be replaced, costs and if it's worth it. I currently only ever use the middle ring up front which is what got me looking into it, plus it looks much nicer :)
 

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