The biking thread

Orange lenses are happy, but deadly at night. Car lights are absolutely blinding with them on.

Now for story time, which I promise is the last one for a while :P

So having been to the Dolomites, next came a family holiday to the Pyrenees. On arrival I hooked up with some old school teachers, and the next day set out with them for a friendly ride. Strava is here. Gently down the valley and up the Col du Soulor, then a ridiculous road to the Aubisque :D Someone jumped past us, so I grabbed their wheel, then pulled for a bit and ditched them with a km to go. Felt good :P

20140727_114114_zpsb534e292.jpg


Down the valley and back up to Luz. Then had a nice break, followed by Luz Ardiden. Was surprisingly tired, went out too hard, so good effort. Road looks like this by the way:

P1000556_zps42e3f5c9.jpg


Met a couple of guys at the top and absolutely killed the descent. Loved it!!

On Thursday hired bikes again, with my brother. Towed him up the Tourmalet at a nice pace, not fast but he is only 15 so top effort. Strava is here again. Great descent on the resurfaced Tour de France road. Then in the afternoon best ascent, ever, the Cirque de Troumouse, 15km of pain and love. Here's me on the way up:

P1000573_zps759cf55e.jpg


Reached the top after a hard final section. Amazing. Headwind back home but didn't matter, fantastic day.
 
Shaun
Awesome @Emptyone 👍, looks like you have or are just about to run out of gears in that last photo.
Click to expand...

Gearing was 34-30, so lovely and low :) but still in the lowest gear, due to the last 3km averaging 10% with constant switchbacks. Hard effort but well worth it.

W3HS
That looks amazing. What a trip.

Good read also. 👍
Click to expand...

Cheers :cheers: I didn't want to write a piece too long because no one would read it :lol:
 
A personal cycling related story that gave me a laugh so I thought I would share it.

Yesterday I was in the supermarket checking out the health food bars thinking, these will be easy to store in my jersey and eat while on the bike.
After about a minute of reading the nutrition table very very closely on most of the bars I noticed a woman watching me like a hawk.
30 seconds or so on I hear an excuse me and she said.

"These ones here (pointing at an oat bar giving me a knowing smile) have the lowest amount of calories in them."

To which I replied.

"Oh thanks but I'm looking for the option with the most carbs and calories in them."

She gave me a look of total bewilderment, opened her mouth to say something and just walked off. :lol:

Last time I looked in the mirror I definitely don't look like I need to lose any weight.
Oh well it's nice to know people care I suppose.
 
Hehe, I like when that kind of thing happens. :)

At school one of my colleagues does loads of cardio at her gym and we're constantly looking for food with the biggest calorie and carb kick. It's become a bit of a battle with her training on nuts and Dorian fruit and me fuelling up on sticky rice and chicken breast, though to her advantage, I don't eat when I'm on the bike but I certainly can't afford to lose too many calories being my size!

I do try to get 3-4k calories a day but it's just too much effort sometimes to consume that much without getting really bored of eating.
 
Yeah I don't bother counting calories since I lost weight. Just eat what I want, would estimate it to be around the 3k mark a day though.
Did consume copious amounts of chocolate while watching the Tour de France of a night time though. Sometimes a family block to myself. :lol:
My weight hasn't changed in about a year now.
 
if I remember correctly you said you dropped a fair amount after getting on the bike. Do you think you've reached optimum weight now where you'll hover around as long as you stay cycling?

My weight hasn't changed either, not for the last decade. I peaked at 70kg at one point and haven't dropped below 65kg. Now I sit at around 68 which I'm happy with but according to 'popular body science' for 6ft 1 I should be heavier. Whatever. I'm happy with my size and weight and I just have to point out to those 'concerned' parties that I have the physique of a Tour rider - possibly some of the toughest and healthiest guys alive.

Edit: just bought some new gloves which means I now have an extra inch of arm to tan because is switched from MTB to road gloves.

And also decided to give my pride and joy a clean:
image.jpg
 
Last edited:
W3HS
if I remember correctly you said you dropped a fair amount after getting on the bike. Do you think you've reached optimum weight now where you'll hover around as long as you stay cycling?
Click to expand...

Yeah I pretty much think so mate. I seem to be able to eat whatever I want now and it doesn't matter.
It's actually more of a case of making sure I don't get too light. I've been pretty much smack on 60kg (171cm) for a long time now, last summer I actually dropped to 57.5kg for a couple of weeks. While the six pack looked great down the beach I thought I looked a bit skinny to be honest so I made a concerted effort to put a little bit back on. Happy with the way I look at 60kg.

Apart from the cycling the other huge factor I now figure was giving away the beer. Well not totally, I don't call myself a non drinker and never will but in the last year or so I count the number of times I've had a drink on one hand.
I won't go into details of what I did drink but it was way too much, I wasn't dependant on it as I just stopped drinking one day without issue but I will admit that I used to drink too much.
 
I guess I'm rather blessed with my metabolism which burns calories like they're made of petroleum. Or perhaps my pancreas is dysfunctional.
 
The recording is horrible, but my mate send it to me when I was asleep and I'm now at work and I have to show it :lol:


I hope he has some more cool footage, I rode in front of him the whole time and took a couple of jumps :dopey:
 
Got directed here by Shem,

Ordered a new bike yesterday.
2015 Kona Explosif.

explosif.jpg


It should be in before the end of the month.:crazy:

It's replacing the singlespeed Kona Unit if have been riding for the last few years.
Which by the way has made me a better mountainbiker.
Time to move on.

@Carlos to make you feel better here's a video I made in the snow.
It has me falling twice. And last year I broke my anckle on a spill. Carrying some extra metal now.

 
Last edited:
Gejabo
Got directed here by Shem,

Ordered a n

@Carlos to make you feel better here's a video I made in the snow.
It has me falling twice. And last year I broke my anckle on a spill. Carrying some extra metal now.

Click to expand...


I feel much better now! (didn't get an alert that you tagged me, strange) But you didn't have to cut out the first fall :D

Nice mountainbike! You'll post some photos when you have it?

And I now see you are Dutch (?), is that de Postbank where you are riding? Since you live in Arnhem.. I've been there once two years ago, need to go there soon again. Was a lot of fun and the apple cake on top of the hill at the restaurant is excellent :D
 
Shaun
A personal cycling related story that gave me a laugh so I thought I would share it.

Yesterday I was in the supermarket checking out the health food bars thinking, these will be easy to store in my jersey and eat while on the bike.
After about a minute of reading the nutrition table very very closely on most of the bars I noticed a woman watching me like a hawk.
30 seconds or so on I hear an excuse me and she said.

"These ones here (pointing at an oat bar giving me a knowing smile) have the lowest amount of calories in them."

To which I replied.

"Oh thanks but I'm looking for the option with the most carbs and calories in them."

She gave me a look of total bewilderment, opened her mouth to say something and just walked off. :lol:

Last time I looked in the mirror I definitely don't look like I need to lose any weight.
Oh well it's nice to know people care I suppose.
Click to expand...
:lol: The idea that someone might be looking for fuel rather than something to simply hork down evades so many people. I love carbs. I use carbs. I'm in better shape now than I was in high school (and I played [American] football) and a great deal is due to diet.

Rode a Scott yesterday with an 11spd electronic group. Seemed pointless to me a couple years ago as the bikes started getting more within reach--I can manage cages just fine--but boy howdy I fear I may be plunking down some dough for something similar. My Raleigh is almost ten years old...
 
Carlos
I feel much better now! (didn't get an alert that you tagged me, strange) But you didn't have to cut out the first fall :D

Nice mountainbike! You'll post some photos when you have it?

And I now see you are Dutch (?), is that de Postbank where you are riding? Since you live in Arnhem.. I've been there once two years ago, need to go there soon again. Was a lot of fun and the apple cake on top of the hill at the restaurant is excellent :D
Click to expand...
Yes it is the Posbank I'm lucky to live here, it's 15 minutes from my house.
And off course I'll post some pictures when it's here. :D
 
TexRex
:lol:
Rode a Scott yesterday with an 11spd electronic group. Seemed pointless to me a couple years ago as the bikes started getting more within reach--I can manage cages just fine--but boy howdy I fear I may be plunking down some dough for something similar. My Raleigh is almost ten years old...
Click to expand...

Was it Shimano or Campagnolo, do you recall?

The electronic stuff is fantastic. Considered it seriously when building my bike but decided to stay with the 11sp mechanical instead.
The current gen groupsets are brilliant and in reality when installed and maintained properly not for behind the electronic stuff at all.

For that reason I stayed mechanical as the price difference is pretty big, much bigger than the performance gain.

Having said that if money was no object I would have electronic in a heartbeat even though it's heavier than the mechanical counterparts.
 
@TexRex

Ah, very nice. 👍
I prefer the feel of the Shimano shifter hoods but purely on looks the Campy stuff wins hands down IMO.
Super Record carbon EPS. :drool:

I think SRAM is nearly ready to release their electronic group also, fully wireless from what I heard.
 
Gejabo
...here's a video I made in the snow.
Click to expand...

Nice scenery. It looks surprisingly like where I ride sled in the winter here in Minnesota. Many of our summer cycling/hiking trails double as snow machine trails (DATA trails) in the winter here. They have a groomer go through and smooth them out nice for the sleds. It's not uncommon to open them up and get up to 100mph down the straight shots.
I may have to have a go at them with my bike this winter. We'll see.
 
Shaun
@TexRex

Ah, very nice. 👍
I prefer the feel of the Shimano shifter hoods but purely on looks the Campy stuff wins hands down IMO.
Super Record carbon EPS. :drool:

I think SRAM is nearly ready to release their electronic group also, fully wireless from what I heard.
Click to expand...
Campy always looks better than Shimano. I've got Dura-Ace on my Raleigh Team and was looking into (albeit half-heartedly, it wasn't necessary and I ultimately didn't bother) a dress-up kit someone makes for the derailleurs and brakes. When I was last looking into replacing the Team, I considered a Militis with the SRAM Red groupo but didn't like the feel of the action...so I haven't really factored it into my bike selection since.
 
Just did my first 100km ride!! Barely survived with those super strong winds. BUT so much fun. Need to adjust seat hight some more and I'm going to get new shoes asap. The Sidi's I now have hurt my feet so much, looking into 'Lake' shoes. My dealer just started importing them and they look pretty nice. Any thoughts on this?

The ride is on strava but I forgot to record the first 20/30 km, but it's the same place as where I ended.

edit;
And how many men do you need to change a girl her rear tyre? :D
 
Last edited:
Carlos
Just did my first 100km ride!! Barely survived with those super strong winds. BUT so much fun. Need to adjust seat hight some more and I'm going to get new shoes asap. The Sidi's I now have hurt my feet so much, looking into 'Lake' shoes. My dealer just started importing them and they look pretty nice. Any thoughts on this?

The ride is on strava but I forgot to record the first 20/30 km, but it's the same place as where I ended.

edit;
And how many men do you need to change a girl her rear tyre? :D
Click to expand...

http://reviews.mtbr.com/the-angry-singlespeeder-why-strava-sucks :D:P
 
New around here so I'll introduce you to my bike. The Mk3 Raleigh chopper I purchased for 25 pounds from a local garage a few years ago. It's got a 3 speed and a lovely seat.
I took it apart and cleaned every single part then decided to spray it ford signal orange (did a rubbish job will try harder next time!). I'm deeply in love with this machine. For storage I've got two osprey Mk.IV Sharpshooter ammunition pouches which hold things nicely. Raleigh choppers came out in the 1970s in Britain and a lot of people had them so I'll hear people reliving their childhood days as I pass them.
DSC_0023.JPG
DSC_0024.JPG
DSC_0081.JPG
 
Gejabo
http://reviews.mtbr.com/the-angry-singlespeeder-why-strava-sucks :D:P
Click to expand...

Strava is beautiful, it allows you to collate rides, distances, set yourself goals and challenges for weeks and months. Plus you get to see how fast you are up climbs :sly: but it is a very useful tool. Plus if you know you're not the best it doesn't change that. Plus people who jump lights on a road bike need a serious talking to.

Carlos
But I need everybody to see what an upcoming superstar I am...
Click to expand...

No, it's so we can see how flat your country is :P but good job on the 100km 👍


Plus that is a nice chopper, though it looks in the first two pictures like you're taking it on a date ...
 
Emptyone
Plus that is a nice chopper, though it looks in the first two pictures like you're taking it on a date ...
Click to expand...
I take it on a date each time I ride it. (Edit) Metaphorically.

It's not got any suspension those springs are redundant, the Frame is damaged and cut up at the rear.
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

Katiegan
The BMX Thread
Replies
1
Views
2K
allent2
allent2
Hollow
Skincare Thread
2
Replies
39
Views
3K
Omnis
Omnis
sirjim73
The Nordschleife time trials thread
Replies
15
Views
4K
Alex p.
Alex p.
Nakano219
The Community Career Creator Thread [Accepting Submissions]
Replies
4
Views
876
sirjim73
sirjim73
Clinton Ducks
The Events & Features Wishlist Thread
Replies
8
Views
1K
Saf1
Saf1

Latest Posts

Back