Road Cycling

Soldato
Joined
24 Apr 2013
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3,067
Anyone know of someone who repairs shoes? I was sure Alex Dowsett recommended someone but can’t find the tweet. Maybe I made it up.

I found one place but it’s custom artwork only on new or almost new shoes.

I was wondering about a minor repair (heel foam/cup coming apart) and maybe customisation or just let them choose. Mrs asking what I want for Xmas and drawing a blank, this could be something unique and funky while practical.

There isn’t anything wrong with the shoes just the heel needs minor repair from putting my feet in/out.

Seems wasteful to buy a new set of shoes for just that (these are Vaypor +) but it would need to be done properly as if it rubs or digs in then it would be a nightmare.

As Jonny said, Gallus Baffies.
Guy is amazing. I have certainly seen lots of examples where he has made some wrecked shoes look brand spanking new again!
 
Associate
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Cheshire
Hour and a half this morning at 6am. Frost on the shed so put my new Assos ULTRAZ Evo jacket on, lovely and warm but soon over heated. Definitely a nice jacket but best for slower/cooler rides, wahoo said 3-4c when I looked half way through. Raining now so glad I made it out, + not a being in sight :)
 
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Anyone else out today? Looking out of the window into the murk and damp, I don’t want to set off....I know I’ll feel better afterwards and I’ll only get angry playing escape from tarkov all day.
 
Soldato
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9 Nov 2005
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Southampton
Anyone else out today? Looking out of the window into the murk and damp, I don’t want to set off....I know I’ll feel better afterwards and I’ll only get angry playing escape from tarkov all day.

Trying to convince myself to try and do my first 100Km since mid September's fun ride up Cheddar Gorage and Burrington Combe, feels very daunting; not as warm as yesterday; plus I'm heavier and less fit than 2.5 months ago!
 
Associate
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Zwift this morning finishing off a small training plan then took the boy out for 40mins. Misty and cold but good get out all the same. Stop mincing and go for a spin if only a leg stretch :)
 
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Soldato
Joined
25 Feb 2004
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18,139
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Hampshire
An overdressed steady Z2 50mi today started off about 5c but felt warmer soon as I got going, but better than being cold. Busy again out on the roads, not sure if this is due to lockdown or not as I've not done much road riding of late. Roads were absolute filth all the way around though, a;though still not put my clip on mudguards on yet.
 
Soldato
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2 hours in 0 degree's on Saturday still on the good bike!
Think time is up though, yesterday morning there were piles of orange grit all over the roads.
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Feb 2003
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7,171
Location
Shropshire
An overdressed steady Z2 50mi today started off about 5c but felt warmer soon as I got going, but better than being cold. Busy again out on the roads, not sure if this is due to lockdown or not as I've not done much road riding of late. Roads were absolute filth all the way around though, a;though still not put my clip on mudguards on yet.

Lots of lovely filth to be found on my ride yesterday. Without full mudguards I suspect I'd have needed a hose down post-ride, never mind the bike.

wkDNx9qm.jpg

This picture (from Sunday) prompted me to look-up how old my winter boots are. Purchased January 2006 for... £40! Can't remember even having changed the cleats on them either.
 
Soldato
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Hereford
Damn! I thought my morning ride was cold at about 4°C... Did 58 miles and really felt it. I haven't felt good the last couple of mornings (just 26 miles yesterday), maybe I'm just a little under the weather (my temperature was fine) or maybe I've just cycled too much in the last couple of weeks. With the gym's =being closed, everything is cycling! Last week was one of my highest 'Relative Effort' weeks in some time at 750.
Haha, 4 degrees might be a bit 'cold', but throw in some sub zero winds, and/or lower ambient and it becomes a different thing altogether. You have to stop dressing 'to be comfortable' and start blocking out the wind/keeping the heat in. It's a hard balance, particularly if you are riding 'different' things in the same weather. For my short commutes I generally overdress, it's less than 10 minutes effort so I taper it, if I find myself overdressed. Thinking about it, I probably do the same with any leisure riding this time of year, as any group rides are generally an 8.30/9am start so always colder. But the rides are generally usually easier too (so easier to taper effort). But much of that could be me usually retaining my fitness (or even more likely building it) over the late autumn/winter months while others I'm riding with are decreasing.

How are you seeing Relative Effort scores for the week?

Have you got ice spike tyres fitted just in case, or does the tag-along trailor make you pretty stable?
Trailer I'm only generally doing the afternoon journeys with (other half starts work an hour after me so she takes mini^me in & I pick up), so unlikely to encounter ice. If it's *that* cold (or heavy rain) we'll generally use the car anyway. I can imagine it would make things more stable, although it doesn't balance the rear of the bike (fitting means bike can be lay on it's side still attached), there is a constant 'drag' there. It's more pronounced than dragging a brake (although feels like it at times), maybe more like riding off-road tyres on smooth tarmac. Track standing/balancing is best/easiest done on a slight gradient so it does feel 'easier' than without. Thinking about it I stand/balance more with the chariot anyway - at the roundabout on the run I do it's just easier/quicker/safer to already be clipped in. There's an additional 2-3s when moving from a standing start with it, so you don't want to miss a clip-in... Not exactly 'nimble' when towing a 19kg trailer with a 14.2kg kid in there! ;)

I've never used ice tyres, generally going for more grippy/wider/low pressure rubber and only having a few issues. Think I've only had 3 ice related falls in 8 years, 2 in the same winter and all of them at low speed. My commute is generally along well travelled/gritted roads. Cycle path can be very dodgy at times, but is straight and generally good visibility of the worst bits, so easy to take the road instead. I generally don't group ride when there's ice on the roads.

Just keep things ticking away at the moment mate, build that base up again solid. Don't try to burst out 100km rides when doing 2 (or 3) 20 or 30km spread over a few days will help you spread the fatigue, lower the strain and just knock you back less. Also maintaining that regular weekly 'total miles' will help with reducing the accumulated fatigue while doing it, while still building good power. I think what I'm trying to say it - don't push yourself too much/hard and end up getting ill again knocking yourself back further. Build an upward curve, avoiding any rapid spiral down if/when you do get ill. It's that time of year when it always happens to us, so prepare/shield yourself a little for it.

I find I’m ok down to -25 and if I’m there for long it’ll destroy me :eek:
Form on TP, or Strava? I've found myself building well/strong with my current riding on Zwift, but that has really been hovering myself around 0 form. Usually found the longer/intense strain from heavy group rides really knocked me down to those -25 figures and the times I did this year, I generally didn't build from them, just strain & recover. Felt good doing it, but didn't 'gain' much. I gained more riding solo, shorter & harder efforts then transferred that to Zwift and have found the same this autumn/winter. The consistency of harder/shorter efforts has done wonders for my sustained power and FTP this time around.

Although after all that the 40 mile Zwift race I did yesterday was brutal. I think I've become quite conditioned to hour long efforts, as that at 1.5 hours hurt like hell - while the power number are relatively low compared to what I'm seeing for an hour. Tough course for it with the rollers and tunnel ramps in there though, so probably chasing more wheels than I would normally be doing.

Juat bought a 4iiii from Mantel for £205. PayPal finance £50 for 4 months to help cash flow.

Also signed for my house so expensive day :D
Congrats & congrats! Did see them dip below £200 a few times but they where generally the R7000 170mm arm. Second hand pricing on the bay generally only £10/20 lower.

Anyone have any experience of Fast Forward Wheels? or Know anyone who has. Been thinking about getting some carbon rims but haven't been able to completely decide which brand to go with. Fast Forward have a black friday offer on works out at about 720ish including shipping form Holland.
Know lots of people who rate/love them. Generally more 'traditional' wheels, so thinner ID's and not any tubeless I've spotted. Nor disc for that matter. Might be why they've been off my radar for a while, as always loved the decals/designs.

or just keep power for training not racing.
You mean Zwifting ;) :D
 
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Associate
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421
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Form on TP, or Strava? I've found myself building well/strong with my current riding on Zwift, but that has really been hovering myself around 0 form. Usually found the longer/intense strain from heavy group rides really knocked me down to those -25 figures and the times I did this year, I generally didn't build from them, just strain & recover. Felt good doing it, but didn't 'gain' much. I gained more riding solo, shorter & harder efforts then transferred that to Zwift and have found the same this autumn/winter. The consistency of harder/shorter efforts has done wonders for my sustained power and FTP this time around.

It's strictly training stress balance - I use GC so that follows the Coggan naming conventions, but they're all measuring the same metric, that is, how much TSS above or below your CTL you are. If you're hovering at 0 that means your effort for the day matched your chronic training load so you should feel ok.
If you go massively over your CTL then you'll likely over reach and not really build from that. It's easy to build an artificially high CTL by doing huge rides once per week, but you'll not have the same type of physical adaptations as you would by riding in a structured manner 5 days a week, say. When I first joined a club I spent 2 years feeling totally destroyed every monday from the sunday club ride. It was only once I started adding in some Z2 work that I could cope with it.
You'd be amazed how fit you can get riding an hour a day at the top of Z2 power. It's just bordering on the uncomfortable/boring, but doable if you're motivated. A lot of people put loads of sprint efforts into their training for the sunday cafe run, madness! Doing the hour at Z2 gets you to a CTL of around 65 - If you want more you've got to either double up on training sessions, add a long weekend ride in, do some Z3 etc.
 
Soldato
Joined
23 Nov 2004
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10,646
Power meter came a day earlier, tracking wasn't updated and it had been left on my doorstep. Neighbour brought it to my door as I had no idea.

All fitted and updated, battery is at 50% out the box annoyingly but looking forward to some Z2 rides now I can pace it.
 
Associate
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20 Mar 2015
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Power meter came a day earlier, tracking wasn't updated and it had been left on my doorstep. Neighbour brought it to my door as I had no idea.

All fitted and updated, battery is at 50% out the box annoyingly but looking forward to some Z2 rides now I can pace it.
Do you know your ftp?
 
Soldato
Joined
23 Nov 2004
Posts
10,646
Only based on zwift which with my vortex could/will be inflated. 330w based on ramp test and 315w based on average power from races.

Last time I had a power meter I was around 4w/kg at 78-79kg.
 
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