Road Cycling

[Roady]

<snip>Got back home in sub 4 hours which is a decent pace for me. Nothing like being put in your place when you think you've had a decent few months on the turbo!
<snip>

As ever, I'm very late to the party but I'm now a huge fan of a buff / snood / multi-scarf. I got one of the Galibier Vuelta scarfs in with my bib tight order (bonus!) and having something to pull over my mouth / nose on descents or easy sections was heaven yesterday.

Good ride and time for it mate, 15/16 avg? Or lots of climbs in there to drag it down (cba to look back over Strava lol)?

Snood/buff/neck gaiter fan here too. I'm wearing one any temps below 14/15 degrees! Sometimes even over if there's windchill! In the sub zero morning commutes I wear two, a usual thin one pulled up over ears/face/mouth and then a thicker windproof (DHB windslam) over the top, just over my neck/chin. In the couple of below -5 (due to windchill) I cover my nose with the thinner and the thick came up over my mouth. Breathing through a windproof tight face buff/mask can be pretty tough though!

I bought one of these face masks a couple of years ago and have barely worn it 3-4 times. Don't bother with it!

I've got so many snoods and wear them that much I colour coordinate with my kit. Without them I get cold sores when slightly under the weather, less commonly with them. Also chapped lips and getting a chapped nose a couple of times is one of the worst pains in the world! As it usually comes with a runny nose!

I'd be paying it off now.

We're going to lose so much money .

UK Property? You might be surprised. Although you're living both sides, don't you have two bank accounts for that, or maybe that's the solution?

I still remember not so long ago when i got my 3rd bike and she had a go at me....seems such distance memory now....after a while, i just dont remember the 4th, 5th, 6th ...... lol (currently 8 bikes between us [3 mtb, 2 CX bikes and 3 road bikes], will be 9 soon lol)

Haha if only, most I got it up to was 3! One hybrid, one crashed road & new road.

Now its just old road bike (turbo bike) & my current. Both have done over 8500 miles each. Nothing really!

As my Diverge is a heavy 'do it all' I really want a light summer weapon (Tarmac) with some aero hoops, or something light and aero (new Venge I guess). Going disc thru axle so I can swap wheels around is the plan...

 

[pumaz]

My wife’s very very slowly taking up cycling, we went away to Mallorca last year and I took my own bike expecting to be riding on my own but unexpectedly she decided to hire one for a few days and enjoyed it (around 35 miles mostly flat around campanet etc.) anyway we’re going back again in May but this time with my club and she’s promised to get up to speed but I’m struggling to get to see she needs to do more than a couple of turbo sessions a week and she refuses to buy her own bike when she can just borrow one of mine! She’s a mystery to me lol

 

[SoliD]

I got one of the Rapha Deep Winter baselayers in the sale and the neck comes up over your face like a snood! It is lovely having that all there in one, keeps everything off! Need to find some cheaper alternatives as I only bought it because I had a voucher.

 

[Shamrock]

If you just start with 6 bikes from the beginning you don't have to worry about a female relationship at all!

 

[xdcx]

If you just start with 6 bikes from the beginning you don't have to worry about a female relationship at all!

If anything can be taken as the best advice ever given in the history of the cycling section of OcUK... this is it.
Females lead to nothing but utter devastation to your cycling ambitions/goals/desires/requirements. AVOID THEM. Don't obtain one like the world wants you to do you sheeps.

EDIT.... wtf have you put a SAD face on your post for?!?!?

 

[Shamrock]

EDIT.... wtf have you put a SAD face on your post for?!?!?

Sometimes you get bored of polishing your own crank.

 

[Jonny ///M]

Well said haha!

I think mines is pretty easy going with stuff then suddenly has a bout of being an ******** over the most stupid thing.

@#Chri5# I think a reliability is pretty much treated as a race, at least around here. I turned up to one that would have been about 5 groups of 20 but ended up 20 idiots setting off in damp conditions which turned into a snow storm. -2 degrees, 32mph on the flat on the left hand tyre track of a car that was white with fresh snow - a bit silly and still averaged 20.8mph for the 50ish miles.

I sat off the back most of the way out and after a mechanical stop me and my mate were on the front for about 13 miles pushing on to get our hands warm again.

If this is the weather when you're picking up your mate to go cycling should you go cycling???

 

[Saytan]

on a mountain bike? probably. On a fat bike, DEFINITELY.

on a road bike? nuh-uh

 

[xdcx]

Sometimes you get bored of polishing your own crank.

You're on form today!

@Jonny ///M that's a Zwift day. Yet more snow overnight for us as well. I've not ridden outdoors for an entire week....

 

[Roady]

My wife’s very very slowly taking up cycling, we went away to Mallorca last year and I took my own bike expecting to be riding on my own but unexpectedly she decided to hire one for a few days and enjoyed it (around 35 miles mostly flat around campanet etc.) anyway we’re going back again in May but this time with my club and she’s promised to get up to speed but I’m struggling to get to see she needs to do more than a couple of turbo sessions a week and she refuses to buy her own bike when she can just borrow one of mine! She’s a mystery to me lol

She needs a bit of a wake up call - arrange an 'easy' cafe ride with some of your club mates you'll be riding with on holiday, she'll get to experience first hand what the pace is going to be like and the fitness level required...

Mine rides, but as a method of transport to work and back. She's pretty fit and get some miles in doing 3*5 miles per week towing the baby chariot to work (little dude weighed at 12kg over the weekend! So towing an additional 15/16kg) and 3*5 miles solo home. So around a 5 mile commute, takes her around 25-30 mins chariot-less (around 20 for me @17/18mph). But I know she couldn't keep with a 15/16mph avg 30 mile non-hilly club ride! She won't even sit on my wheel doing 15mph the couple of times I've tried to get her out. I know she can do that speed solo with a little effort, just not used to riding with anyone else, or pushing hard.

I got one of the Rapha Deep Winter baselayers in the sale and the neck comes up over your face like a snood! It is lovely having that all there in one, keeps everything off! Need to find some cheaper alternatives as I only bought it because I had a voucher.

I've got a couple of these which are ace. Cost around £35 in a great deal a year or so ago, so the current price isn't that bad. Supremely warm, I only wore them the coldest days last week, had not really needed prior (so worn maybe 4 times this winter).

If anything can be taken as the best advice ever given in the history of the cycling section of OcUK... this is it.
Females lead to nothing but utter devastation to your cycling ambitions/goals/desires/requirements. AVOID THEM. Don't obtain one like the world wants you to do you sheeps.

EDIT.... wtf have you put a SAD face on your post for?!?!?

Shamrock needs lovin' too. Not just his bikes!

Pretty sound advice/observations. And how's your other half and your 16 month old boy? Haha, what happened sheep?

 

[xdcx]

I still get nothing but grief about buying my Kickr in 2016.... 4 days before Xmas. I honestly do not know what her problem is!!

Grief dishing has now shifted to the fact I bought a new front wheel. If I can afford a wheel, I can afford to fix the boiler apparently. It's just constant no logic nonsense like that which gets on me goat.

16 month old boy is an angel. I get no grief from him what so ever about my cycling. It helps that he is incapable of speaking English, but still, what a gent he truly is.

 

[#Chri5#]

Good ride and time for it mate, 15/16 avg? Or lots of climbs in there to drag it down (cba to look back over Strava lol)?

63 miles & 2600ft climbing - think I only needed the granny ring twice so plenty flat. Works out to be 15.978/mph, so I'm claiming 16 average

@#Chri5# I think a reliability is pretty much treated as a race, at least around here. I turned up to one that would have been about 5 groups of 20 but ended up 20 idiots setting off in damp conditions which turned into a snow storm. -2 degrees, 32mph on the flat on the left hand tyre track of a car that was white with fresh snow - a bit silly and still averaged 20.8mph for the 50ish miles.

I sat off the back most of the way out and after a mechanical stop me and my mate were on the front for about 13 miles pushing on to get our hands warm again.

I think Sunday was the first ride where I've been on the verge of chewing my stem inside 5 miles! Another local club has a RR 3rd March, so I might try that in the hope more people will be out if the weather is better. I can cycle down to the start, then at the 39 mile mark, I'm only 3 miles from home so can drop the last part (total route is 51 miles).

I've got a couple of these which are ace. Cost around £35 in a great deal a year or so ago, so the current price isn't that bad. Supremely warm, I only wore them the coldest days last week, had not really needed prior (so worn maybe 4 times this winter).

For Sunday my mid-layer was an old Aldi L/S Merino top. Loved the thumb-holes in the sleeves which avoided gaps between gloves and jacket.

 

[SoliD]

16 month old boy is an angel. I get no grief from him what so ever about my cycling. It helps that he is incapable of speaking English, but still, what a gent he truly is.

Same as you then? You lot need new partners!

 

[SoliD]

@Roady the pinnacle is rebuilt and may be ridden tomorrow if I can be bothered to go out in the cold!

Well I rode it, and it was horrible, forgot how much less compliant it is and heavy, had a few issues namely not tighting up the screw on the rear derailleur for the cable and it slipping midway through the ride. Got it back on and came home. The shifting was sloppy so swapped the chain out and put another derailleur on as the jockey wheels weren't spinning very freely, took off my 2nd layer of tape from the top half of the bars and then this morning I actually didn't mind riding it! Think the fact it was raining and I wasn't getting a soggy bottom helped!

 

[6thElement]

Woohoo! Congrats! Pics & of the build please

I'm weakening on my resolve to stay with mechanical shifting.

Etap is looking likely...

 

[Roady]

Grief dishing has now shifted to the fact I bought a new front wheel. If I can afford a wheel, I can afford to fix the boiler apparently. It's just constant no logic nonsense like that which gets on me goat.

Hahaha, then get the damn boiler fixed!

My current mindset when I get asked about something is rather than the usual 'I'll have a look and see if I can do it' (to then get hounded at least once a week until I do so), is to quote roughly the price I expect the repair to cost when calling someone in. Normally does the trick - to keep things quiet until I actually get the time to look! Although doesn't help when she then comes back with a quote for something you didn't even know she thought needed fixing (I'm sure she didn't even mention the garden fence had a problem, next thing I know there's a quote for £300 to replace 3 flippin fence panels - they can't be any more than £30-40 a piece!).

63 miles & 2600ft climbing - think I only needed the granny ring twice so plenty flat. Works out to be 15.978/mph, so I'm claiming 16 average
<snip>
For Sunday my mid-layer was an old Aldi L/S Merino top. Loved the thumb-holes in the sleeves which avoided gaps between gloves and jacket.

That's easily quoted as 'over 16mph, close to 16.5' with the Strava -0.2mph steal.

I've never had that issue - short arms & short legs! Generally find things fit me well on the arms although I quite often have to buy for 'girth'. I might be a medium, but my slimming down seems to have avoided the usual cyclist guns/shoulders which have remained a Large...! Thumb loops are great, my go to winter jerseys have them and I'll use them probably half the time. Great for some extra coverage if you've got lighter gloves and it's cold, or for the morning commute (so on the way home tonight they'll be tucked back in the sleeve). Most of my base layers are short sleeve, only a couple long sleeve (as linked before). Equally all of my jackets and winter jerseys have good cuffs which gloves fit over...

<snip>Think the fact it was raining and I wasn't getting a soggy bottom helped!

Mindset helps! Also all the little things can conspire against you, especially when the weather does too...! The damp roads this morning annoyed me as got a few more disc squeals than usual. I know it's probably the road salt residue around causing some extra corrosion, but my stiff legs didn't help, nor a rattly mudguard...!

I'm weakening on my resolve to stay with mechanical shifting.

Etap is looking likely...

*drool*

Although I've heard another 2 cases of broken batteries/plastic tabs/housing recently, alongside Shamrocks battery loss (think one of the GCN presenters also?). Not sure how isolated they are, but I don't know many people with eTap so at the moment I'm telling myself there's some kinda design fault/plastic fatigue in cold weather issue and I should only be looking at DI2...

 

[One More Solo]

@Roady it was my eTap battery that vanished, unless Shamrock was unlucky too. Weirdly though, I found it lying in my hallway a few days later. It definitely came off my bike mid-ride as I had rear shifting for half of it, and it had definitely fallen off when I checked why my shifting had stopped working. I can only guess that it came off, got wedged somewhere on my bike and then fell off at home. Genuinely baffling.

What I would say for eTap is I've used and abused my bike in all weathers and on rides from a 2 minute hill climb to London-Edinburgh-London, and it's been pretty faultless. After the battery incident, the rear mech failed (thankfully within warranty) and SRAM replaced it within a couple of weeks. It would have been quicker but ChainReaction customer service is diabolical. I was impressed because my bike has been crashed twice and dropped once and the mech had plenty of war wounds, and they replaced it no questions asked. The shifters have held up to a lot of abuse too considering they have all the transmission gubbins inside.

Having cabled a bike for Di2, I would never bother again having used eTap. Especially when you can do a single ring TT setup for ~£500 if you buy second hand.

 

[FishFluff]

My wife is quite understanding of my bike addiction. We had an arrangement that once we'd paid off our wedding debt I could buy my Bianchi as she knew I'd been lusting after one for years. I think it's only fair to discuss big purchases like that with her as realistically, that's £4k I could have put towards paying off the mortgage. The flip-side is that she's going on holiday without me this Summer with one of her girl pals. Fine with me as it gives me a week of solid riding time!

We also have a 'one in, one out' policy on bikes at the moment, but only because there's not really room in the house for any more than the 4 I currently have.

 

[merlin]

The flip-side is that she's going on holiday without me this Summer with one of her girl pals. Fine with me as it gives me a week of solid riding time!

£20 says it'll rain all week.

 

[Berger]

Fencing is cheap, the hardest part is getting it home if they are the big panels and you don't have a van but some places do free del!

As for the boiler i got boiler cover as I got sick of mine breaking, it's paid for itself this year so far!