The Cycling Thread

On the last Friday of September I was encouraged to go on a cycle ride by my flat mate.

I'm not even sure what it was in aid of but it's called Critical Mass in London.

Quite an interesting principle but can't say I agreed with it. I assume that it is to somehow promote cycling in London. It's a pretty cool idea, lots of people cycling around london, some people with trailers on their bikes with music playing and most of the pedestrians seemed to love it.

However, they do not stop at red light. We're not talking about one rogue cyclist here, we're talking about people blocking traffic at lights to allow the 2-400 train of cyclists to go past. The taxi drivers seemed very annoyed about this!

Anyway, it was quite an experience and I did feel like all of the drunk people on boris bikes were going to take me out and it was probably an average of 5-8mph so pretty boring.

As a side note, if anybody wants anything from wiggle - they are offering £40 off if you spend £200.

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so I decided I wanted to join the road bike world, so started looking around and ended up buying a specialized roubaix for £1,000 in the sale. managed to sell my old specialized fsr xc for £350 on eBay within an hour so was quite chuffed! just need to get out on it and get some miles in! planning on doing to the etape caledonia next year (80 mile sportive on closed roads) I'm pretty sure I'll get the bug and start buying lots of stuff. anyway any ideas for food training and stuff to start me off with?

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Originally Posted by malks

so I decided I wanted to join the road bike world, so started looking around and ended up buying a specialized roubaix for £1,000 in the sale. managed to sell my old specialized fsr xc for £350 on eBay within an hour so was quite chuffed! just need to get out on it and get some miles in! planning on doing to the etape caledonia next year (80 mile sportive on closed roads) I'm pretty sure I'll get the bug and start buying lots of stuff. anyway any ideas for food training and stuff to start me off with?

Welcome to the club, that's one nice Specialized and a great price too.

Food, what for, during the ride?

Miles, miles and more miles. Build it up, although at this time of the year I'm just doing small rides, just to keep ticking over

Thats a nice bike, the roubaix is on my list and i'd love to know what they are like to ride once you've done some miles, get some SPD's on it and get out there!!

sorry that was meant to say 'good' not 'food'. but yeah I'm planning on just getting out and getting some miles in the saddle.

I have spd's for it, I'm just using my mountain bike spd's and shoes to start with, I had a bit of bother with my knees getting them set up on my full sus bike, so don't want to start giving myself problems changing if I don't need too.

the price was the main reason I bought this bike, I was ideally looking at spending 5/800 but when I seen the shop had this at 1k because its last years model and the last one they had left of 2012 roubaixs, I thought why not!!

not the ideal time of year to start riding, but I'm just trying to think how fast I'll be by the time summer comes round! ha

A lot of people use the winter to get their base mileage up so if you want to be doing 80 milers regularly, I'd suggested doing slow(ish) paced longer than 80 mile rides.

There's a lot of theory behind training slower to go faster and it's because you have different energy systems (e.g. aerobic and anaerobic). Interval training is generally seen as a great way to increase endurance to a certain level, and performance at the top end (e.g. sprint training)

However, to increase overall average speed you need to work on aerobic system - specifically around zone 2-3 work which they say the best way to train is to go out for long steady rides!

I have no idea how true this is but read it in several places. Maybe some of the more experienced guys could shed some light?

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Originally Posted by EssexDave

A lot of people use the winter to get their base mileage up so if you want to be doing 80 milers regularly, I'd suggested doing slow(ish) paced longer than 80 mile rides.

There's a lot of theory behind training slower to go faster and it's because you have different energy systems (e.g. aerobic and anaerobic). Interval training is generally seen as a great way to increase endurance to a certain level, and performance at the top end (e.g. sprint training)

However, to increase overall average speed you need to work on aerobic system - specifically around zone 2-3 work which they say the best way to train is to go out for long steady rides!

I have no idea how true this is but read it in several places. Maybe some of the more experienced guys could shed some light?

Yes, lots of people do their base miles in the off season.

If you training too hard, by the time the better weather comes, you'll be burnt out.

Well my ride was completely ruined today by super rain which soaked me completely and made me return home as it was freezing. I'm looking at waterproof overcoats form wiggle which fit in jersey pockets but is there anything similar to keep the legs dry! Not going to let the weather stop me training again!

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Oh for hevens sake! man up or stay at home





















Only kidding

Difficult to buy something for your legs that fits in the back pocket, as well as the jacket too.

However in France I bought a pair of Sportful 'No Rain' leg warmers as we were heading out into some rain (I'd left mine at home) and we dashed into the bike local bike shop to grab some wet weather stuff.

We rode a further 12 miles in really heavy rain (read curtain rods ) and my legs were completely dry underneath the leg warmers, although my feet & shoes and bib short were wet trough. You could see the water running off them.

TBH I couldn't wear any flappy over trousers, so I would highly recommend anything under the 'No rain' banner

http://www.probikekit.com/uk/sportfu...FWXJtAodCR0A9w

Pricey, but worth it IMHO

I bought one of these after trying one on in Evans, and will fit in a rear pocket, bone dry underneath, no sweating. I bought it about £20 cheaper on Wiggle

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/gore-bike-we...l-jacket-2012/

Hardest thing to keep really dry is your feet, and probaby the best & cheapest way is some Sealskinz socks. I have seen them used as an overshoe, with a hole cut in the sock for the cleat