Road Cycling Essentials

[arknor]

Moving back to Newcastle tomorrow, used to riding around country roads with not too much traffic.

Has anyone in Newcastle got any suggestions on routes around 10-20 miles? Don't really fancy too much riding in busy traffic. Was thinking about taking a look at hadrians cycleway out to tynemouth

here's a route I started doing
http://www.strava.com/activities/76699100
the newcastle side follows the hadrians cycle route paths.

I'm not sure what route the Gateshead side of the river follows though but it's all cycling paths apart from a few roads that aren't to busy.

some of the paths along side the roads are actually a shared cycling paths but they are poorly marked....
just look for the little blue signs on lampposts and don't expect the path to have painted markings. (some of the path is so skinny you couldn't split it into separate lanes)
heres an example of that
[look behind the bus shelter] It's obviously there to warn people not to stand in the way where bikes are going to fly past as you are not allowed bikes on buses
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=ne4+...mw8vKFXJOFzAwYJkASw&cbp=12,90.21,,0,13.8&z=17
some whole sections of the path are clearly fine for cycling but they aren't marked at either even so if you have never done them before you will find your self wondering if you're even supposed to be one them and then all of a sudden out of nowhere pops a cycling sign on the path


here's a longer version that goes down to wylam
http://www.strava.com/activities/77590777
but on the way back up into gateshead a lot of the "path" is more of a dirt nature trail which likely is not suitable for roadbikes with skinny tyres.

I've changed the course coloor to black where the nature trial path was you could probably adjust the route and just go on roads to avoid that bit but if you do the short version and dont go as far as wylam then you avoid that bit anyway


I saw around 50 rabbits doing that route really early in the morning :O

I've not tried going to to tyne mouth yet but from wylam to > tynemouth will be all the hadrians cycleway route I guess if you want to avoid the gateshead side of the river..
all the good routes seem to be over towards the newcastle airport but to get there you need to go across busy looking roundabouts so I haven't tried any of those ones yet.
Heres an example of one of those
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1729048
the a167 roundabout doesn't look to bad but the the roundabout across the A1 near Kingston park looks a bit daunting for a newbie like me


There's this 40mile loop as well away from roads
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3182192
But I've not tried that one yet either

 

[iguanoid]

Did my first 50km on Friday morning to see how my legs would last. Not the most inspiring ride as it was just laps of the area i live, but managed to keep my average speed up over 30kph, and didnt feel at all bad at the end.

So i got up on Saturday and did it all again!

http://www.strava.com/activities/78821632#1592070286

Quite how strava calculates power output i dont know, has me pushing out 689 watts on a 400m uphill section. Was only just off KoM on that stretch though, think i need to get out tomorrow and bag it

 

[Gamefreak501]

Thanks all for your replies.

That is a seriously colossal amount of food in one day, let alone the need for mcdonalds as well! You need nowhere near that much for a ride regardless of distance.

I had a bowl of porridge for brealfast and some bread for lunch and went out and did 46 miles with threshold efforts this afternoon!

it is a lot of food :S I worry that having a small breakfast would make my body start eating through my muscle or fat so I think I overcompensated.

First point is, there's nothing really wrong about a McDonald's mid ride in that it's not going to be the root of your problems. It's probably not the easiest to digest but you'll be getting more than enough energy from it.

Your major issue is confusing lack of fitness with lack of food. That's not a dig because we've all been there, but realistically you could ride 45 miles on water if (and it's a big if) you're used to riding the distance and have built up to it gradually.

Food is important but there's a lot more to longer distance riding than eating enough, otherwise we'd all be stuffing ourselves and riding 300 miles.

The longest distance I did previously was 31-33 miles but we started earlier and finished earlier and I didn't eat nearly as much food.

That's an absolutely enormous amount of food. There is no way you struggled for lack of food. If I'd eaten that much I'd be struggling for feeling overly full.

You say it was a night ride. What time? Any particular reason? If you'd been up since, say, seven and then gone through to whatever time it would be dark enough to need multiple lights and nearly get written off by a badger, then you might just have been tired at the end of the day!

You could tire yourself out if you were doing 120 cadence or trying to climb 20% gradients in the big ring, but I very much doubt that's what's happening here.

How much experience have you got cycling? How long have you been riding? What sort of distances do you do? What sort of hills?

Thanks for your replies Vonhelmet and ShiWarrior - it seems a lot of food - I (stupidly) thought I'd need the extra calories and I'm used to eating shed loads of food because I used to weight lift regularly but it was definitely not the right way to go about it.

We started the night ride around 10pm - this is so that there is less traffic on the road and I guess less risk of breaking ourselves or our bikes. I was up since 7am that day - as I was working from 9am to 5pm and I do naturally start getting tired from 9:30pm onwards. I wasn't able to measure cadence but I think 90rpm is meant to be a good and efficient speed - and I do sometimes have a habit of going up too high a gear to the big ring then struggling before realising I need to go to the centre ring or the small ring.

I haven't got that much experience cycling - I've been riding properly for probably 3 months now thinking that the 8-12 mile runs that I used to do might help. Normally I do 20-30 miles. Actually, my 31 mile bike ride that I did on almost the same route 2-3 weeks ago seemed to go better - and that was on my rockrider 5.1 MTB which weighs at least 14kg and along the same roads but we finished up by 1am that time.

I think there is a more than likely a fitness & tiredness problem here more than anything. The two cyclists I was with said they don't doubt my strength but that I need more practice.

The route we took starts off in Old Wolverton, Milton Keynes, and takes us round to Newport Pagnall, Cranfield University, North Crawley, Salford, Brogborough, Aspley Guise, Woburn and Woburn Sands before going through Brickhill, Bletchley back to Old Wolverton and can be very hilly in places.

 

[Vonhelmet]

You were tired. Ride in the daytime or limit yourself to shorter rides in the evenings. You must be able to find somewhere that has a bit less traffic in the daytime if you're really that nervous of the traffic. That being said, I would recommend you do something to overcome that fear, be it riding a bit more in the daytime, going on a course, or whatever.

 

[One More Solo]

We started the night ride around 10pm - this is so that there is less traffic on the road and I guess less risk of breaking ourselves or our bikes. I was up since 7am that day - as I was working from 9am to 5pm and I do naturally start getting tired from 9:30pm onwards. I wasn't able to measure cadence but I think 90rpm is meant to be a good and efficient speed - and I do sometimes have a habit of going up too high a gear to the big ring then struggling before realising I need to go to the centre ring or the small ring.

+1 for just being tired then.

And while riding on a Friday night might seem good in terms of traffic, just bear in mind you're far more likely to encounter someone on the way home from the pub or similar that is in no fit state to be behind the wheel.

 

[Berger]

Missed my Saturday club race, but entered the Western Division Championships which was today instead. Had riders from about 5 clubs racing.

I got put into B grade (seems I am firmly there now!) which I was both pleased and disappointed with as it meant pain!

61km, 500m climb in 1 hr 41 mins, average of 36kmh.

Was a brilliant day, first day of spring, race start at 10am when it was 20c, by the time we had finished at 11:30 it was pushing 25c!

It was just out and back 15km each way on a back road, twice so 60km in total. Fairly undulating, no massive climbs, but some sharp pinches and a few longer shallow drags uphill. Going out was into a nasty headwind, from the start 2 riders jumped away after 5km, another guy decided to go with them when they already had a 100m gap. He made it over but I had expected him to pop.

The group seemed happy enough to let them go and tire as it would be a long way with only 3 riders on a windy course.

I was happy enough with that as I just wanted to keep up. I pulled turns going out, unfortunately I did the last one before the tight U turn. It's supposed to be neutral racing about 200m either side of the turn, but coming out of the U-turns people always put the hammer down. Having just done my turn it really hurt as it was uphill and we were going quick. Dug deep and managed to hang on, just sat on the back and skipped a few turns on the return leg to recover. I wasn't the only one who was missing turns, I'm sure that a few riders never did a single turn.

Just held towards the back of the bunch for the next 20km or so as I was a bit tired and could tell I was in trouble. We dropped one guy after about 35-40km. I got dropped 6km from the finish, little pinch just finished me, most people stood up and accelerated, I didn't really have enough in the tank to hold on. If I had managed then I would have probably been OK as it flattened out a bit so could have had a breather. I didn't come last so I was happy with that and I kept up as well as I felt I aught to. The three riders who jumped away at the start stayed away and took the podium places. They also took fastest time of the day, quicker than A grade!

Not sure what I would do differently next time. Maybe take a gel to have half way through to help me on the second half of the race. MTFU and ride the bike more too My training rides are normally around 90 minutes as that's how much daylight permits, so I'm only doing about 50km by myself, hence the increased distance put me into a bit of trouble perhaps.

As for what I ate.... one bowl of Coco Pops, a slice of "Cafe" style raisin toast for breakfast and a banana 45 minutes before the race. Had about 500ml of hi5 zero shortly before the start to stay hydrated, and drank 750ml of zero during the race (only wanted to take one bottle due to weight).

Here I am cruising after crossing the finish line, looking like death, but check out those ripped arms/legs and the old rusty 4wd in the background!

 

[One More Solo]

Good effort, been really interesting following your progress!

 

[Vonhelmet]

Does anyone else follow any pro cyclists on Strava? I follow a few, including Laurens ten Dam. He uploads all his rides from his grand tours, so at the moment he's uploading rides from La Vuelta. Yesterday's stage finished with a 9 mile 3000ft climb. As of yesterday, Laurens has the KoM with an average speed going up there of 15mph and a time of about 35 minutes. Second place is someone with an average speed of 11.5mph and a time of about 46 minutes. That must have been a hell of a KoM notification to get in your email!

 

[One More Solo]

Yeah, I've got a few on there. Think I also have Jeremy Roy and Thibaut Pinot off the top of my head. I posted this before:

http://www.strava.com/activities/67572956#1317037596

My time: 53:09
Laurens ten Dam: 31:11

Holy ****.

 

[physichull]

Just done my first long-ish Sunday ride:

http://www.strava.com/activities/79106032

Was fairly good but there was an absolute killer of a headwind all the way up the East Lancs from Bents Garden Centre to Lowton. Uphill and a huge head wind. Managed to pass one guy but it was really punishing for the likes of me! Hard work. Walked my bike across the junction at the Texaco garage but then found it really difficult to swing my leg over to get back on the bike!

One minor complaint though, my left forearm (near the elbow) hurts for some reason, its like its really tight but it is getting a bit better the more I stretch it out. Maybe because it was locked in one position for ages...

Edit: Pain has practically gone now. I think perhaps too much, too quickly springs to mind. 4 days off now then back to much shorter commutes would be a good idea methinks.

 

[Berger]

Good effort, been really interesting following your progress!

It's take me about 4-5 months to progress from being dropped/back of C grade to B grade.

Before that I thought I was a reasonable cyclist who just rode 2-3 times a week recreationally and did a longer sportif once a year. I knew the local club routes from Strava so practiced those before I joined which helped me for a few races in D grade.

With spring being here ill have to start training before work when it heats up. I think when the clocks change we go from Saturday racing to Sunday mornings.

I'd like to drop a couple of kg, get down to about 170lb, which is about 77.5kg. Don't think I can go much lighter than that.

 

[Chasser]

After yesterdays ride; http://www.strava.com/activities/78985268 I noticed that some of my chain-ring bolts had loosened a little. I tightened them up but a couple of the backs are spinning, I held them with a large screwdriver but is this a sign that they should be replaced or would loctitie help here?

 

[oddjob62]

it's normal to have to hold the backs when you tighten chainring bolts.

 

[uniQ]

+1 for just being tired then.

And while riding on a Friday night might seem good in terms of traffic, just bear in mind you're far more likely to encounter someone on the way home from the pub or similar that is in no fit state to be behind the wheel.

Tired + sugar crash it sounds like. That was a lot of sugar to consume for 45 miles. I would ditch the Lucozade & dextrose tablets and just take water.

 

[uniQ]

Went for a 45mi recovery ride to Castle Combe to watch the veterans racing. Lovely sunny day, 30p slices of cake and 20p a coffee. Can't go wrong

 

[Vonhelmet]

Ok, early warning FAO Damien, minty, physichull, and anyone else in the North West really. On Tuesday 17th September, stage 3 of the Tour of Britain is taking place in Knowsley. It's a ten mile TT. It kicks off at 12 and will run for 3 or 4 hours. I'm taking the day off work and I'm planning to cycle down and hopefully get a spot to watch from in the safari park grounds

Anyone else fancy it?

 

[platypus]

I'll be up for the weekend of the Grand Depart and stage 1.

 

[platypus]

Mr & Mrs P go for a ride (ooer missus).

I'd planned a longer ride today but wasn't feeling too well this morning so thought I'd do about 50 miles. The boss decided she wanted to come, and well I'm pretty impressed. It's the longest ride she's ever done by 33 miles, and whilst obviously we need to work on her average speed p) that is quite a ride. Maybe I'll make a cyclist out of her yet!

 

[Vonhelmet]

Mr & Mrs P go for a ride (ooer missus).

I'd planned a longer ride today but wasn't feeling too well this morning so thought I'd do about 50 miles. The boss decided she wanted to come, and well I'm pretty impressed. It's the longest ride she's ever done by 33 miles, and whilst obviously we need to work on her average speed p) that is quite a ride. Maybe I'll make a cyclist out of her yet!

Insufficient privileges to view your ride.

 

[NooBish AbbZ]

Came home with a Triban 5 this morning; just been for a cheeky 18Miler with my dad (he used to be a cyclist when he was my age) Now, not so much
http://www.strava.com/activities/79163147


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