Road Cycling Essentials

tedmaul · 2 Aug 2013 at 13:58

ShiWarrior said:
not been out for about almost 2 weeks

decided to go and do a Hill near me that I find is a good training hill
Done the hill twice in one ride, but today I ended up repeating it 3 times

got another PR on the climb
couldn't believe it!
http://app.strava.com/activities/71602731

Nice! I was in hill repeat mode last night as well. Been off the bike for a week or so injured so was good to get back out:

http://app.strava.com/activities/71461773

Just checking i still hate Sydes Brae, and i can now confirm i do.

ShiWarrior · 2 Aug 2013 at 14:02

Vonhelmet said:
So it does, how odd. It shouldn't, really, as per the Strava FAQs a climb should only be categorised if it's got an average grade of over 3%.

yeah it is odd, no idea why its doing that, that why I linked it here

tedmaul said:
Nice! I was in hill repeat mode last night as well. Been off the bike for a week or so injured so was good to get back out:

http://app.strava.com/activities/71461773

Just checking i still hate Sydes Brae, and i can now confirm i do.

Nice

5 times? ouch

platypus · 2 Aug 2013 at 14:05

nydryl said:
So jealous of you folk that can rack up so much climbing in such little distance!

Yeah it's **** living in such flat surroundings.

nydryl · 2 Aug 2013 at 14:32

tedmaul said:
Nice! I was in hill repeat mode last night as well. Been off the bike for a week or so injured so was good to get back out:

http://app.strava.com/activities/71461773

Just checking i still hate Sydes Brae, and i can now confirm i do.

Interesting, I could get to Sydes Brae in about the same time as it takes me to get to Eaglesham, and it looks far better for hill repeats than the moors. Might make that my next ride.

grudas · 2 Aug 2013 at 14:41

daveski said:
Even Grudas has done more climbing than me!

kiteloopy · 2 Aug 2013 at 14:56

nydryl said:
So jealous of you folk that can rack up so much climbing in such little distance!

Thats when the TT bike is worth its weight in gold.

Instead of focusing on elevation...focus on speed.

[Damien] · 2 Aug 2013 at 15:03

Year-to-Date
Distance 4,753.0mi
Time 288hr 23m
Elev Gain 145,646ft
Rides 291

Go me. All the flattish commuting miles really do skew the miles/elevation ratio though...

kiteloopy said:
Thats when the TT bike is worth its weight in gold.

Instead of focusing on elevation...focus on speed.

I suck at getting aero so I have to go for elevation instead.

tedmaul · 2 Aug 2013 at 15:24

nydryl said:
Interesting, I could get to Sydes Brae in about the same time as it takes me to get to Eaglesham, and it looks far better for hill repeats than the moors. Might make that my next ride.

Yeah, it's a good one - quite steep in the first third. More than Strava seems to show anyway - my gps was showing between 15-20% on the first bend about 100m in. Then the bulk of the first half is around the 8% mark before it levels out towards the top.

Put it this way, it was hurting.

Hopefully I'll see some benefit from it.

Where abouts are you? I take it you're coming in from south side of glasgow or something?

Jonny ///M · 2 Aug 2013 at 15:34

I hate sydes brae, that ******* made me feel sick because I hit it too hard too early.

I'd use less of a hill and do more of them at a quick pace though, the hill before the brown soil on the backroad from Strathaven road.

Depends on what hills you were to encounter in a race I guess but if you can nail it up slight rises it could work better than getting up the really steep bits.

Good job doing 5 of that loop though!

Edinho · 2 Aug 2013 at 15:47

uniQ said:
What was your Fred Whitton time? Do you have a Garmin/Strava link?

I'm sending my Four Seasons entry form over later, going to book accommodation and plan to come up within the next few weeks to have a go solo.

Just a sec...

http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/312122395

http://app.strava.com/activities/53942761

tedmaul · 2 Aug 2013 at 15:49

Jonny ///M said:
I hate sydes brae, that ******* made me feel sick because I hit it too hard too early.

I'd use less of a hill and do more of them at a quick pace though, the hill before the brown soil on the backroad from Strathaven road.

Depends on what hills you were to encounter in a race I guess but if you can nail it up slight rises it could work better than getting up the really steep bits.

Good job doing 5 of that loop though!

Cheers!

Is it this little section here you mean?

http://goo.gl/maps/ea9fK

That's about 10mins from my front door, so certainly a bit more handy. They also have Llamas or something in the field on the right near the top quite often!

I guess with Sydes, i tried to target something with a pretty steep section in it as i've not been riding long and i'm not particuarly strong. So trying to build up a bit of strength in the legs.

The long drag type of climb at 3-5% is what i tend to be ok with - i don't weigh much so i'm kind of built for that type of thing. Just get the head down and into a rhythm and i'm usually ok, even when it lasts for 5km or so. Where i struggle is when it hits 8%-12% or where you get short but v steep sections in the high teens or 20%. You need that bit more power, and i find it hard even over shorter distances like 0.5km or so. So i'm trying to improve on that.

Jonny ///M · 2 Aug 2013 at 16:00

Aye it's all what's best for you and your riding.

I'm crap at most climbing to be honest

uniQ · 2 Aug 2013 at 16:01

Edinho said:
Just a sec...

http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/312122395

http://app.strava.com/activities/53942761

Cheers, route looks great fun! Downloaded to my Garmin & posted my form off for the timer this afternoon. Just need to decide when to go this month and book accommodation

[Damien] · 2 Aug 2013 at 16:02

tedmaul said:
Where i struggle is when it hits 8%-12% or where you get short but v steep sections in the high teens or 20%. You need that bit more power, and i find it hard even over shorter distances like 0.5km or so. So i'm trying to improve on that.

I thought the lighter riders would breeze up the steep bits tbh. I know that when I do it though it's just a case of trying to rip the handlebars off and snap the cranks until the top. I dread to think what kind of torque goes through that frame on the 20%ers...

uniQ · 2 Aug 2013 at 16:12

Wanted an aero frame and been looking at the options but I keep coming back to this CR1:

http://www.westbrookcycles.co.uk/fr...scott-cr1-pro-hmf-road-frame-set-2012-p194664

It's not much more than Chinarello prices. Any other frameset offers worth a look?

tedmaul · 2 Aug 2013 at 16:12

[Damien];24706684 said:
I thought the lighter riders would breeze up the steep bits tbh. I know that when I do it though it's just a case of trying to rip the handlebars off and snap the cranks until the top. I dread to think what kind of torque goes through that frame on the 20%ers...

I guess they probably do when they've got a bit more strength in their legs. I'm just not there yet sadly. I just flat out lack power for lifting even my paltry 65kgs up a steep climb at a decent speed.

However, i've only been riding for a little over a year, and was pretty scrawny/unfit and smoking 20 a day for most of the time before that. I'm getting there slowly but surely though.

minty · 2 Aug 2013 at 16:18

Vonhelmet said:
I was trying to figure why I'd not seen you logging any rides on Strava! I was getting a bit worried!

I have been told to rest and no cycling for a month or two so instead all i can do is spy on everyone elses rides on strava. Otherwise i would have definately been joining you and Damien on some of the weekend and weekday rides

touch · 2 Aug 2013 at 16:24

[Damien];24706684 said:
I dread to think what kind of torque goes through that frame on the 20%ers...

For a short, hard effort on a steep hill like that, it's probably close to 1 horsepower.

Edinho · 2 Aug 2013 at 16:25

uniQ said:
Cheers, route looks great fun! Downloaded to my Garmin & posted my form off for the timer this afternoon. Just need to decide when to go this month and book accommodation

It isn't that hard tbh if you are fairly used to climbing toughest part is the boring bit after half way to Calder bridge.

touch · 2 Aug 2013 at 16:38

Edinho said:
It isn't that hard tbh

He lies! It's ******* hard!