Road Cycling Essentials

[Jono]

Ouch!! Did you get fully checked out at the hospital?

Yeah, just surface damage. Must be all the milk I was forced to drink as a child

I'm a horrible, obnoxious, grumpy patient though.
Road rash feels like really bad sunburn if you ask me, but after someone's been slapping it for hours.

I don't like pain. My poor girlfriend

 

[physichull]

Sounds like a rough incident and some nasty damage to the bike! Was it one of your treasured bikes that you can't bear to even get a scratch on or just a workhorse bike?

I'd be gutted if I crashed my bike and wrecked some of the components and scratched the frame.

Good job for cycling helmets eh!

 

[Russinating]

Glad to hear there's nothing broken. Still yet to crash in over 2 years (touch wood), dreading the day that I do.

 

[VeNT]

it'll leave a scar too I'll bet, talk to your GP about getting some silicon patches to stop it being a mess if you've loads missing.

 

[topgun06]

That sounds pretty horrendous. Not only your injuries, but the bike's injuries! Falling off hurts, and to rub it in a bit more, its potentially expensive.

 

[Lopéz]

Put the pics up Jono!

 

[Shimmyhill]

Chicken for tea?

I had a big off on my mtb when taking on a tabletop with a very fast approach (25+) and a massive brake failure - i wanted to scrub off some speed but when the brake snapped in my hand i kinda forgot about the jump and did a big superman into the floor

My knee took almost all of it and the skin is still a different shade of pink over a year later!

 

[Vonhelmet]

In non-crash related news I got out and did 15 miles in an hour this evening which I'm quite pleased with. I managed to put in a decent time on a segment I've been banging my head against for ages - I'm up to 8th on the leaderboard. I can probably climb a couple more places before it gets really tough going - my time is now 7:12 but that's over a minute off 1st place.

I think as winter starts to bite the main achievement will be getting out in the evenings at all...

 

[SexyGreyFox]

What should my tyre pressure be?
I've pumped them to 120 but it's now a rough ride.

 

[InsomniaCalls]

Depends on your weight, tyre width and personal preference. I'm 115 at the back and 105 front.

 

[Draeger]

I am 120 rear, 105 front. I'm 82kg if that helps. Higher pressures mean less rolling resistance which helps your speed but the trade off is a harsher ride over some surfaces. A higher pressure also helps prevent pinch flats.

 

[godinman]

I go for 110ish on both, I've never really experimented. There is some talk about a lower psi actually being faster over rough ground however...

 

[oli collett]

If you're riding on rougher roads you're actually going to have more rolling resistance at higher tyre pressures due to the vibration

 

[godinman]

Anyone doing Dr Fosters winter warmer in January? I might give it a go, it sounds like an un-scary way of joining the sportive gang.

We should also have an ocuk cycling meet sometime...

Also - Holy crap.

 

[kiteloopy]

Also - Holy crap.

Amazing.

Id be so up for that if I wasn't busy at that time.

Still registered for it tho.

 

[VeNT]

How much is it?

 

[Russinating]

280km per day is some slog.

 

[Berger]

280km per day is some slog.

Just a bit, looking at 10-12 hours ride a day....

 

[godinman]

Not sure how much it is, I've registered.

Once I'd finished the coast to coast I said I'd stick to short challenging rides (hills), but now I don't know...I'm rather bloomin excited by the idea, and slightly terrified.

It'd be 12 hours riding for me, plus stops, so something like 07:00 to 20:00 trip time going on the c2c.

 

[VeNT]

That's quite some average even over that timeframe! Keeping it up for nearly a week may be hard!