Road Cycling Essentials

Status
Not open for further replies.
Soldato
Joined
28 Oct 2006
Posts
12,456
Location
Sufferlandria
What Fran have you got at the moment? Got any pictures of your position?

I have a planetx stealth. I dont have any pictures just now but i'm planning redoing it this week when i get time anyway.
The plan is to use an online calculator to get a rough position then put the powermeter on it and make some tweaks to get a good aero/power balance.

Any general tips on setting it up would be very welcome though, or if you know of a good calculator or guide for the initial setup?
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2004
Posts
16,984
Location
Shepley
Fast as hell, speed demon doesn't even begin to explain it! Going to grab a pair of trispokes and replace the front spinergy full time and swap between the disc on the rear (that thing really is a nightmare in windy situations).

I'm looking for some relatively long flat courses to see what speed I can build up to and maintain; it's a bit of a learning curve on the aero bars (I had some clip on ones, felt completely different), but now I'm getting used to them. I'd also be interested in finding a real steep, real long down hill run with no danger of hitting a wall/crossroads/other danger to see what sort of max I can reach on it! Does anyone have any recommendations in or near the Midlands?

Nice, but those Cervelo decals have to go!
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Jul 2007
Posts
5,492
Location
London
I have a planetx stealth. I dont have any pictures just now but i'm planning redoing it this week when i get time anyway.
The plan is to use an online calculator to get a rough position then put the powermeter on it and make some tweaks to get a good aero/power balance.

Any general tips on setting it up would be very welcome though, or if you know of a good calculator or guide for the initial setup?

I'll try and dig out the site I used when I was redoing mine, lets you upload a picture and plot the main points onto it giving you all the angles. It's not the best as there's massive variability in where you can plot the points each time on the hip and shoulder etc. The most help I had was by just uploading a video of me on the turbo and posted it on the slowtwitch forum and there was one particularly helpful chap who helped me. Ended up shifting a load forward, bars down quite a bit with a longer stem. Basically rotated me round the BB and sorted my issues. Much more aero more power and more comfy.
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Mar 2008
Posts
22,862
Location
West sussex
Went for a quick 20 mile ride around local park.. Got chased by this massive dog 3 times then the old dumb man decided to hide in the bushes and pepper sprayed me and my brother! Then he walked away and came back again this time with something in his pocket! Wtf... We rode off, thank god I realized what it was when he started spraying it and managed to cover my face so only throat/nose/left eye got some.. What the hell is wrong with people.. I was inches away from calling police!
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Feb 2004
Posts
18,138
Location
Hampshire
Also - think I saw SoliD at the lunch stop - would have said hello but then realised it could have been anyone in an AG2R jersey!! Hope you had a good ride

Nice ride, I had a good day, not quite as scenic a ride as I'm used to or as hilly, and I had some major stops as the people I was riding with hadn't done the miles I have been doing recently. The lunch was awesome, although the salami repeated on me a bit all afternoon, was my first sportive, but had a good time, no issues for me (luckily). Managed to bag a top 3 on one segment on the way back in, pushed with 4.5 miles to go on the instruction of the guys I was riding with and was flying so pleased I still had some left in the tank, a real jump from where I was at the beginning of the year.

http://www.strava.com/activities/79302219

Bit quicker average pace, but much more time stopped, although too much cake was consumed. I think it was me, I didn't see another Ag2r all day, tried to look for red castelli, but was almost as common as Sky gear :D
 
Underboss
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
32,238
Location
Oxfordshire / Bucks
Went for a quick 20 mile ride around local park.. Got chased by this massive dog 3 times then the old dumb man decided to hide in the bushes and pepper sprayed me and my brother! Then he walked away and came back again this time with something in his pocket! Wtf... We rode off, thank god I realized what it was when he started spraying it and managed to cover my face so only throat/nose/left eye got some.. What the hell is wrong with people.. I was inches away from calling police!

you do get them don't you mate! :p

seriously though, glad your ok, wtf is up with people!
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2004
Posts
16,984
Location
Shepley
Went for a quick 20 mile ride around local park.. Got chased by this massive dog 3 times then the old dumb man decided to hide in the bushes and pepper sprayed me and my brother! Then he walked away and came back again this time with something in his pocket! Wtf... We rode off, thank god I realized what it was when he started spraying it and managed to cover my face so only throat/nose/left eye got some.. What the hell is wrong with people.. I was inches away from calling police!

I'm so sad I left London. :p
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Mar 2008
Posts
22,862
Location
West sussex
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to come back. The only thing stalling me is the rude people, ridiculous traffic, pollution, tourists everywhere, gun crime, knife crime and outrageous cost of living.

;)

yeah I'd love to move out of london.. sadly that is not going to happen for a few years at least! finding a job outside london + relocating is quite a bit of work at this time!

out of interest isn't pepper spray illegal to carry around etc? I swear the guy would have got arrested if I was to report him.. not only that he also came back for more?! seriously we were riding around minding our own business when out of nowhere he sprayed the thing saying we can't cycle here when there's a sign on the ROAD right in front of him saying cyclists/pedestrians allowed...
 
Associate
Joined
3 Oct 2006
Posts
2,304
Location
London
I notice that Rapha currently have a sale on! I've been eyeing up their stuff for a while, and thinking about getting a Jacket to help me through the winter months. Any recommendations?

Also, whats the shop like in London? Has anyone been? I'll be down there with work in the not too distant future, so might see if I can go try something on rather than ordering two sizes and sending one back!
 
Caporegime
Joined
28 Jun 2005
Posts
48,104
Location
On the hoods
yeah I'd love to move out of london.. sadly that is not going to happen for a few years at least! finding a job outside london + relocating is quite a bit of work at this time!

out of interest isn't pepper spray illegal to carry around etc? I swear the guy would have got arrested if I was to report him.. not only that he also came back for more?! seriously we were riding around minding our own business when out of nowhere he sprayed the thing saying we can't cycle here when there's a sign on the ROAD right in front of him saying cyclists/pedestrians allowed...

Real pepper spray is banned as a firearm, yes.
 
Soldato
Joined
14 Dec 2003
Posts
5,683
yeah I'd love to move out of london.. sadly that is not going to happen for a few years at least! finding a job outside london + relocating is quite a bit of work at this time!

out of interest isn't pepper spray illegal to carry around etc? I swear the guy would have got arrested if I was to report him.. not only that he also came back for more?! seriously we were riding around minding our own business when out of nowhere he sprayed the thing saying we can't cycle here when there's a sign on the ROAD right in front of him saying cyclists/pedestrians allowed...

What a nutter grudas.. hilarious! That park is usually ok, right?
 
Soldato
Joined
22 May 2003
Posts
10,855
Location
Wigan
Well done, especially in the harder category race.
Are you riding alone or are you in a club with teammates in these races?
It sounds like you're doing a lot of work on the front.
It's a tough situation to be in: if you work to chase the break, the people who sat at the back and didnt do anything will be fresher and probably beat you in the sprint, but if you dont do any work, there's a chance the break wont be caught and even if your fresh for the sprint and beat the bunch, you'll still only be 4th.

Your main focus in a race should be to save as much energy as possible until you need to use it.
Try to be aware of everything that's happening in the race. How many riders went in the break? How many are working at the front of the bunch to chase it? If there are more working in the bunch, they'll probably bring it back, so you dont need to help them.
Work out the time gap to the break (check the time when the break passes a fixed point on the road, check again when the bunch passes, work out the difference) and keep doing that. Is the gap coming down? If so, you dont need to go and help chase.
Check out who you're racing against. Are those guys in the break the over-excitable type who sprint off only to blow up 5 miles later? Or are they the type of guys who can last a whole race in the break? Obviously you cant know everybody, but you can look through the start list and check out previous results to see who the strong guys are. Remember the numbers and if you see them starting a break, try and get in there with them.

Yeah, I've learnt quite a bit from racing in C grade, when to go and when to not.

I didn't do too many turns on the front as i was trying to save energy, but appreciate also that I need to build up my speed and power on the flat and sitting in the group doing not much won't help with that.

There were 4 from our club in B grade, with most clubs having 3-4 riders. 1 of our guys got in the break so we didn't need to do too much work really. He got second in the end, so worked out OK.

When its club racing its everyone for themselves if its a scratch race, and super tough if its a handicap!
 
Soldato
Joined
10 Nov 2003
Posts
14,034
Location
Surrey, by the river
I notice that Rapha currently have a sale on! I've been eyeing up their stuff for a while, and thinking about getting a Jacket to help me through the winter months. Any recommendations?

Also, whats the shop like in London? Has anyone been? I'll be down there with work in the not too distant future, so might see if I can go try something on rather than ordering two sizes and sending one back!

All of their jackets are great. I've got the Rain Jacket and the Softshell. Both are beautifully made and do exactly what they are supposed to. The Rain Jacket is my favourite and is the best rain resistant jacket I've every used.

I love the Softshell, but I find it a bit too warm most of the time. However, I run warm so keeping cool is an issue for me most of the time.
 
Soldato
Joined
24 Mar 2006
Posts
9,069
I've got to send my wheels back to PBK today for a refund. When I request a Royal Mail quote using "Medium Parcel" we're looking at around £23 postage. :eek:

But the thing is, the package exceeds the size requirements of Medium. I dread to think what the cost will be!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom