Road Cycling

Soldato
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A little meaningless unless they 'raced' it - they might have been taking it easy :)
Pete (7.5 guy) would've raced it, he's a machine and his club tend to chaingang everything. Christian (9 hour) guy is powerful, does a lot of CX & TT's but wouldn't have raced it. I'd expect my finishing time to be comparable to his if I rode it.

I walked up most of Hardknott, and Wrynose too. It's difficult to judge because I was already dying by the time I got there but I think Hardknott is probably the hardest climb i've done in the UK. Even the Bealach Na Ba isn't so bad.
Interesting! Would you do it again? Or just one of those '1 time only' rides?

Hardknott Pass does not look that evil, try Draycott Steep https://veloviewer.com/segment/659038 ;)
Pffft! Barely goes over 20%! Let the men keep talking until you've got something with 30% kicks in ;)

I'm measuring most of these against my steepest ('steepest tarmac road in the midlands') - Arthurs Stone https://veloviewer.com/segments/12116146 or the literally unrideable 'barely a road' smatcher climb where I used to live - https://veloviewer.com/segment/4142288

Hardknott is the worst climb I've ever done, just beating VoTT.

Both of those would be considerably easier with smooth tarmac and a 32T.
VoTT? Valley of the tears in gran canaria?
 
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Soldato
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Sufferlandria
Interesting! Would you do it again? Or just one of those '1 time only' rides?

I'm not sure. I'd like to do it again because I know I could do a lot better now and enjoy it more but I also never want to do it again because I had a horrible day the first time around :p

A few friends went down to do it at the end of November last year. I'd already used up all my annual leave so I wasn't able to go with them but I was definitely tempted.
 
Soldato
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25 Feb 2004
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Hampshire
I'm not sure. I'd like to do it again because I know I could do a lot better now and enjoy it more but I also never want to do it again because I had a horrible day the first time around :p

A few friends went down to do it at the end of November last year. I'd already used up all my annual leave so I wasn't able to go with them but I was definitely tempted.

Funny how you look back on riding and say I'd like to do some things again and others you wouldn't even contemplate. Same with the marmotte for me, was a fantastic event and by far the hardest ride I've done, I could do it again but I know we got so lucky with the weather I could go back the next 5 years and not complete it if it wasn't in your favour. Alpe d'huez was hard enough at the end after such a mild day I couldn't contemplate if we'd had clear skies and sun all day burning down on us or any sort of rain!
 
Associate
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21 Oct 2002
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UK
Perhaps try Bikeradar. Not a huge number of people on it but you only need one buyer! Otherwise it seems Facebook Cycling Buy/Sell groups are pretty popular.

Thanks. I wasn't a member before and didn't want to abuse the site to sell on there. Everything ended up on ebay. If anyone is interested in Garmins, fluid 2 trainers, aero bars, saddles and a Fuji transonic search for slinkie172 for some bargains.
 
Soldato
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18 Oct 2002
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8,420
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Hereford
Sorry, I misread the details of the Hardknott segment, it's been a tiring and stressful last two days at work.
No need to apologise, just didn't want you to miss how hard it looks! You've done Cheddar which is no walk in the park so I know you appreciate gradient! I've seen your reps! ;) :)

I'm not sure. I'd like to do it again because I know I could do a lot better now and enjoy it more but I also never want to do it again because I had a horrible day the first time around :p
I've got a ride like that, weather was horrific and the last 1/3 I was in survival 'just get home' mode including walking a climb I really need to revisit. Couple of 30%'s in the start which I think are wrong, it's not over 20-25%.

That's basically how I feel about a local climb that I failed at, after accidentally scheduling it into a route, when I first started cycling :D
Revisit! Conquer your fears! I had 5 attempts on Bredwardine before I completed it without stopping (one of those my Garmin screwed so I stopped after the steep part. It should've been 4). ;)

Anyone else bottle it today?!
Signing in!

With CVR last night and seeing the forecast I'd requested a lift into work ahead of time as the other half needed the car. I got soaked walking ~15 feet from car to office! :o
CVR went well, 6th in bracket C. 3 of the team in the top 7 after some fantastic teamwork thinning the huge 40 rider group through the flat race. Full report to follow in Zwift thread!

EDIT: Woke the baby when Zwifting last night according to the other half (I'm not convinced, he's slept though it before). I quote "you'll have the buy that quieter turbo trainer you mentioned". I'll take that as confirmation I can buy a Neo/Flux/Kickr! So if anyone spots any deals on them this week/next please give me a holla! :cool:
 
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Soldato
Joined
25 Oct 2006
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5,386
Revisit! Conquer your fears! I had 5 attempts on Bredwardine before I completed it without stopping (one of those my Garmin screwed so I stopped after the steep part. It should've been 4). ;)
I've actually been up it quite a few times since. Although, given the choice, I'll pick another way up / round it :)
 
Soldato
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18 Oct 2002
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England
I need to possibly tinker with my gearing, I've found climbing the REALLY steep hills a lot harder on the Emonda than my old Giant - the Emonda is 50/34 11-28, can't recall what was on the Giant - maybe same but 32T instead of 28T, the difference is really notable. Saintbury or whatever it's called last summer I had to stop two thirds up - my legs just couldn't take any more.
 
Soldato
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18 Oct 2002
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Hereford
Just grab a 32T cassette to swap on when you're hitting hills, there's no point going lower chainrings if you're already running 50/34! Big track guy like you should be using 53/39 anyhow! ;)

I run a 32T year round as I'm on 52/36 with lots of rolling terrain and I like hills. I'd probably swap to a 28T if I ever sort some aero wheels for chainganging and such. I have a 'spare' 28T on my turbo and it's not really needed.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Nov 2005
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8,620
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Southampton
Woke the baby when Zwifting last night according to the other half (I'm not convinced, he's slept though it before). I quote "you'll have the buy that quieter turbo trainer you mentioned". I'll take that as confirmation I can buy a Neo/Flux/Kickr! So if anyone spots any deals on them this week/next please give me a holla! :cool:

I chose to buy a Direto over a Flux because there are still plenty of reports coming in of issues with the Flux, which Tacx claimed to sort out a while after their release, but there are still buyers having problems.

On https://www.facebook.com/groups/1380212845399014/about/ (Direto group), there are a few owners that have had the belt slip off. Best price I can see is ~£625 from Athleteshop (used them last year for first time, no probs with fat bike tyre deal) but they don't expect stock until about this time next month, I got mine for £637 from Probikebit using a 15% code they sent me a week or so before Xmas.

Best Neo price seems to be £999 now, including Amazon, you could get it tomorrow on Prime. Halfords had a nice price before Xmas, but it was beyond my budget, so I didn't pay much attention (was it ~£900 including BC discount? Not showing at all online currently).
Edit: https://www.cyclerepublic.com/accessories/turbo-trainers/tacx-neo-smart-turbo-trainer.html doesn't look bad if you can take 10% off that £1125 price in-store with BC discount (never shopped there), if the free Tacx tablet holder is of use to you.
Edit: Just found the Halfords Neo deal from Xmas, it was good if you have that budget, £950 before BC discount... So might be worth waiting for, if you have patience https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/tacx-neo-smart-turbo-trainer-950-halfords-2865394
 
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Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2004
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16,984
Location
Shepley
@Roady definitely sounds like the go ahead to buy a Neo, do it! :)

The only "problem" with the Neo is it's so quiet and smooth that it really shows up any gaps in your bike maintenance. :p Turns out my NDS crank arm was borked and it was making a weird noise on every pedal rotation. It took me ages to narrow that down.
 
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