The Get fit club!

[GridGirl]

Jamie, 13 miles on a mountain bike might take a while. Depending on the terrain I would suggest putting some slick tyres on. :)

[Mark]

Jamie, 13 miles on a mountain bike might take a while. Depending on the terrain I would suggest putting some slick tyres on. :)

Since his bike has suspension and the likes, then slicks would be fine even if the surface is a bit rocky.

So you're talking, Sherburn, Pittington, Low Moorsley, Hetton, off road past Great Eppleton, then straight North across the A19?

[J4MIE]

Got it in one Mark. Seems the route with the least amount of hills...

Planning to buy a set of slick (or semi slick) tyres but will have to wait for pay day for that!

[Mark]

Got it in one Mark. Seems the route with the least amount of hills...


You've got quite a few ways you could vary that route with different roads and an off road path towards Hetton. I guess mixing it up is the way to keep it interesting!

[janneppi]

Got it in one Mark. Seems the route with the least amount of hills...

Planning to buy a set of slick (or semi slick) tyres but will have to wait for pay day for that!
I can donate some Schwalbe Ultremo's for you, two month of commuting and I lost confidence with them after getting two punctures on a rainy day. Now I'm switching back to trusty Scwalbe Durano's. Only one puncture in two years and even then I got home 15km on a slowly flattening rear.

Did a 1,5 hour mtb ride yesterday and I was knackered half way to the ride. 26C isn't the best temperature to do technical trails. :D

[GridGirl]

I can donate some Schwalbe Ultremo's for you, two month of commuting and I lost confidence with them after getting two punctures on a rainy day. Now I'm switching back to trusty Scwalbe Durano's. Only one puncture in two years and even then I got home 15km on a slowly flattening rear.

Did a 1,5 hour mtb ride yesterday and I was knackered half way to the ride. 26C isn't the best temperature to do technical trails. :D

Janneppi, I am surprised to hear about your Ultremo's. I've had my Ultremo pinks on for a little over a year and never had a single puncture having ridden in pretty much every weather condition in them. I have a replacement set in my garage if anything does ever go wrong with them but I think I'll be fine for many Km's yet. My other half has Ultremo reds and they had their first puncture in just under a year a few weeks ago but that was only due to a rock ripping a hole in the tyre.

[janneppi]

Even worse, I had more durable Ultremo DD's which have a puncture protecion layer. The first puncure was small sharp rock which pushed through the into the inner tube, second one was from the same spot, I guess the tyre had some damage which ate the new inner tube in 3km distance I did check for sharp objects before putting the tube in place.

Funny stuff, I put the new Duranos on both wheels 10 minutes ago, as I was typing this post, the rear inner tube blew up. :D

Quite a bang from 7bar to 0 in half a second

[airshifter]

I'm really shocked at the distances posted by some on this thread. I'm probably older than most, have old crap equipment, and have put well in excess of 800 Km in this month. Maybe I just see the bar of standards in a different way than some of the younger..... wait... hold on a minute..... this thread exempts powered vehicles? :laugh: My bad... props to everyone out there putting in the miles!

I'm hoping to dig my old POS bike out and start putting some miles in. My area isn't much for relaxing biking, far too much traffic and lack of close/good trails. But I might start beating the early morning stuff.

[GridGirl]

If only I had more weekend and less week. :p I actually do far more exercise in a given month than distance I actually drive. No sure on distance as a passenger compared to exercise though. Haha

[schmenke]

...I'm hoping to dig my old POS bike out and start putting some miles in. ....

That's exactly what I did! :laugh:

[ioan]

Visited Egypt last week and returned with what has turned into a nice digestive issue, so right now no sport since more then 2 weeks, yet I am sure I lost a couple of kilos! ;)
I'll be traveling again next week, so no sport again.
Maybe next week end.

[tfp]

I'm really shocked at the distances posted by some on this thread. I'm probably older than most, have old crap equipment, and have put well in excess of 800 Km in this month. Maybe I just see the bar of standards in a different way than some of the younger..... wait... hold on a minute..... this thread exempts powered vehicles? :laugh: My bad... props to everyone out there putting in the miles!

I'm hoping to dig my old POS bike out and start putting some miles in. My area isn't much for relaxing biking, far too much traffic and lack of close/good trails. But I might start beating the early morning stuff.

I once did an 11 mile run averaging about two minutes per mile. That was after I realised I left the GPS app on my phone switched on and I'd driven my car for a few miles :D

[airshifter]

Well I'm not a complete slacker.... 3 miles and about 400 calories on the elliptical today. Can't get hit by cars in the house, and can change terrain on the fly. :)

[schmenke]

Good job airshifter. It doesn't take much to maintain a reasonably healthy lifestyle.
I ran over 9kms in just over 47 minutes yesterday. Not world-recrd pace by any stretch of the imagination, but reasonable, I think, for my aging body :p .

[airshifter]

Still a decent pace schmenke. I usually don't run at all except on the beach... too many years of abusing my back and lower body. Swimming, biking, the elliptical, etc aren't as much toll on the body. Often I think I stay more in shape doing things around the house than I do actually exercising.

[Robinho]

Not cycled for 2 weeks due to feeling ill and it being dark and cold most mornings, but I have been out for a couple of short runs and played soccer twice. Back on the bike next week hopefully

Sent from North Korea using the dark network

[Big Ben]

I managed 52 km last week so I overshoot my weekly goal by 22 km :D . It all amounted to 195 km in June. It was by far the best month for me fitness wise. Unfortunately mapmyrun seems to be working quite poorly lately. i don't know what's wrong with it all of a sudden. It has problems following me. The km seem to be getting shorter and I get bogus split times.... however by the end of the run it's off only by some 300m.. it doesn't add up.

[Mark]

Slow start to the month saw me do 30 miles less than last month. Still I did a hilly 50 miles to finish the month yesterday but I was pretty tired at the end!

[airshifter]

4.25 miles on the elliptical for a bit over 600 calories. Took a short break, got some liquids in me, and did a bit over 11 miles on the bike for 580 more calories.

Biking sucks around here. No terrain, crap transitions all over, and the traffic gives you no choice but to stop too often. Hard to keep a decent pace when playing dodge ball with the cars.

[schmenke]

There’s a large nature park not too far from my home that has lots of trails for hiking, running and biking. A beautiful day there on the weekend.
The park is quite hilly with the south end overlooking downtown:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7315/9190521551_e33c59f8ca.jpg

Looking east provides a view of some of the hilly terrain, some of it quite steep. Killer on the quads :erm: .
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2871/9193318712_075042fb9b.jpg

[J4MIE]

There’s a large nature park not too far from my home that has lots of trails for hiking, running and biking. A beautiful day there on the weekend.
The park is quite hilly with the south end overlooking downtown:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7315/9190521551_e33c59f8ca.jpg

Great photo schmenke! :up:

I did 156km in June which is a massive difference to usual, quite pleased but would like to do better!

[airshifter]

There’s a large nature park not too far from my home that has lots of trails for hiking, running and biking. A beautiful day there on the weekend.
The park is quite hilly with the south end overlooking downtown:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7315/9190521551_e33c59f8ca.jpg

Looking east provides a view of some of the hilly terrain, some of it quite steep. Killer on the quads :erm: .
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2871/9193318712_075042fb9b.jpg


On my ride the other day all of the 90 feet of elevation change was at the local park... a much smaller more compact version of your photos. We aren't supposed to ride the hills any longer, but I forgot. :) Being we have had lots of rain they were mushy, and it was quite the burn on the quads. I tried at one point to go up the trail that had no grass, but it was steep enough to induce wheelspin.

There are a few decent trails in this area, just none I can bike to without a really long ride for a mountain bike. I might start hitting the state park and oceanfront areas some if I keep it up. I just hate to drive somewhere to ride.

[Mark]

Jamie,
Mountain biking isn't about distance in the same way I guess.

If you want a route try picking up route 14 which will take you from near your place up to Consett then turn onto route 7 back down to Birtley via Beamish.

Some of the paths a bit scetcky for a road bike but easy riding for yours.

There's loads of other off road gravel routes you can do plenty distance on. Just go to google maps and choose the bicycling overlay.

[Robinho]

288km's cycling and 28.25km running for June, although I had a week and a bit off the cycling cos I was feeling ill. I was also developing a sitting knee pain, but having spent time at the chiropractor and investigating various ways of stretching I discovered all I needed to do was lower the saddle by about 1cm.

If the weather permits I'm aiming to top 600km on the bike this month, I've started doing the full commute in one direction every other day, so a 40km one way, 4 times a week

Sent from North Korea using the dark network

[schmenke]

Jamie,
Mountain biking isn't about distance in the same way I guess.....

Indeed. In the nature park mentioned above, I'd be surprised if I managed 20kms that day, but man, what a workout! :erm:

[airshifter]

Indeed. In the nature park mentioned above, I'd be surprised if I managed 20kms that day, but man, what a workout! :erm:

Which leads to a question. Do any of the workout tracking apps account for downhill and uphill speeds and adjust for calories burned? Or do most simply average miles/time? I know Endomondo has settings for several types of biking, but I don't know what variables are involved. It may well even account for the variables of flatland biking with a mountain bike... I'm clueless.



The only thing that got my quads burning a little today was cutting through some real soggy area. I think it was worse than the hills the other day. Thankfully wet but enough vegetation to not be muddy. I may have to skip a day or two on the bike soon... my gluts are killing me. Not from muscle strain, but from not having been on that seat for any distance in a while! :)

As for me, a bit over 21.5 miles this morning on the BOMB (Beat Up Mountain Bike). I'm scoping some local rides that might be mroe traffic free, as the major bike routes have far too many full stops at intersections. Some of the transitions are bone rattling for paved trails... may as well be off the road.

[schmenke]

Which leads to a question. Do any of the workout tracking apps account for downhill and uphill speeds and adjust for calories burned? Or do most simply average miles/time? I know Endomondo has settings for several types of biking, but I don't know what variables are involved. It may well even account for the variables of flatland biking with a mountain bike... I'm clueless....

That is a very good question. The mapmyrun app tracks elevation, seemingly fairly accurately:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7286/9203587614_9a9ab8634c_c.jpg

Although whether it calculates based on GPS signal or simply the terrain data from google maps I don’t know.
I never use the app for cycling though; only running :mark: .

[airshifter]

If I could set a perfect pace I could test it and find out. Chances of that happening are slim. :)

[Mark]

55 miles today but felt like further as there was a huge headwind the entire outward leg. Doing 5mph in bottom gear on terrain I would normally be in the big ring doing about 15mph.

[samreddevilz]

I don't want to loose weight/ get fit because I am a good weight and in good form I just want to build up my muscles a bit.

Any ideas how?

Exactly bro. Anyone who has a bulky body doesn't want to lose that..... by no cost !! damn sure.....

[airshifter]

Another four miles on the elliptical and another 11 on the bike since last check in.

Somehow on my bike ride I hit a wrong button on Endomondo and ended up logging an 11+ mile cross training session in a little less than an hour. Close to 1800 calories. :laugh: Fixed it online and reset it to proper logging.

[Mark]

Had a week off work and managed 142 miles. Although been feeling a bit tired towards the end of the week.

Back in 1997 on my first bike I did a trip to Blanchland which took me all day and I remember it because it was the longest trip I ever did on that bike coming in a 55 miles. I recreated that, although starting from where I live now, and battled extreme head winds, to my surprise, 55 miles again :) .

[Robinho]

Really struggled this morning into work, I think it was the cold, but I just couldn't keep up any sort of decent pace, but it was 4 degrees when I started out.

I also ran a little experiment, strava logs my run to work at just 40km most days, endomondo at closer to 38km, although both running at the same time. I remembered to set the trip on the cateye computer before I started out and it was almost identical to the distance logged by endomondo, including the 1km splits, so it appears it is more accurate than strava and I am riding slightly slower than I thought as I tended towards the strava stats as they were obviously better!

Sent from North Korea using the dark network

[GridGirl]

3170

I did a Rapha womens 100 ride yesterday. Average temperative of 30 degrees and over 1700 meters of climbing with a mixture of category 2, 3 and 4 climbs. It was hard but yet more part of the Tour de France 2014 route.

I always find it is more accurate to record distance on a GPS and then upload to the likes of Strava and Endomondo. :)

[airshifter]

A bit over 14 more miles today on the BOMB.

I've realized why you only see road bikes in certain areas around here. Most of the trails suck, and the transitions would destroy a road bike in quick order. To really make time you'd almost need a hybrid with at least some suspension.

[TyPat107]

I just picked up a new Specialized Crave 29SL last Tuesday. I am against fan of single speed 29. Last night was my first race on it, 16.5 miles in 1:30 which was 1mph avg faster than over the same course last year. Not sure if it was the bike or the interval training I have been doing for bmx that netted the improvement. Granted my base fitness is way down from last year because of late season snow and a new baby.

[janneppi]

I did a 2,5 hour mtb ride with my brother-inlaw around the trails I used to ride ten years ago. A top gear top tip for you all if you want to feel beaten after a ride; go riding a xc ride in a bike park specced heavy bike with a bloody whippet in a xc bike. :D

[J4MIE]

:bounce: :bounce:Just managed to get past Daniel in the forum challenge, watch out Iain, I am coming for you, only 715km to catch you up :bounce:

[Mark]

Daniel seems to have given up!

Do some on road cruising to rack in the miles ;) . We'll have to arrange a ride out. This week I'm mostly doing climbing.

[Mark]

Perfect weather for cycling in the morning before work. It was 18C at 7am today!
Far too hot for walking at lunchtime however :(

[schmenke]

The weather has been ideal here lately. Low 20 deg. temps. I really have no excuse and need to start pushing the envelope a little more with my running :s .

I'm signed up for a 6km trail run in August, then the 10km Terry Fox charity run in September, then the 7km leg of this relay, at 1,400m altitude :uhoh:
Grizzly Canmore (http://www.grizzlyevents.ca/Grizzly_Canmore.php)

What have I got myself into? :s

[Iain]

:bounce: :bounce:Just managed to get past Daniel in the forum challenge, watch out Iain, I am coming for you, only 715km to catch you up :bounce:

I forgot all about that! I best go bang I'm a quick 10 miles shortly to keep ahead :D

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[janneppi]

What have I got myself into? :s

The terrible and wonderful reasons why I run long distances - The Oatmeal (http://theoatmeal.com/comics/running)

Does this feel familiar? ;)

[Gregor-y]

33 at 17:30 as I'm getting ready to ride home. It will be miserably hot all week. Maybe I should take the train.

[Mark]

I forgot all about that! I best go bang I'm a quick 10 miles shortly to keep ahead :D

Seem to be involved in a 3 way scrap with fizzicist and GridGirl for 2nd place behind Ibby

[Iain]

Seem to be involved in a 3 way scrap with fizzicist and GridGirl for 2nd place behind Ibby

I only did an 8 miler. Shortened due to excessive midges!

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[Lucy]

What apps do you use for it??

[Mark]

I use Endomondo and Strava.

[Lucy]

Thx, I'll try it ;)

[J4MIE]

Didn't head out last night as I decided to watch top gear. Today I've dropped the bike off at the shop for its free service, so will be without for a couple of days.

Was thinking about going for a run, but currently sitting with my feet up in the garden in the sun with a cool drink. Why would I move?? :)

[GridGirl]

Ibby is giving you a chance, hasn't been out cycling in the heat as he wilts and dies!

[Mark]

Ibby is giving you a chance, hasn't been out cycling in the heat as he wilts and dies!

Wuss! I was looking forward to beating him in the Strava climbing challenge, so far done 1684 metres, he's done zero! ;)

[markabilly]

I ran around the block, twice, yesterday night!! Was going for a third time, but then I seen this neighborhood watch guy in a red sweatshirt with a cell phone....

[Gregor-y]

My new frame is the same as my bent one but the quality of the paint is much worse. I've been all over the shift bosses, fork crown and brakes with a file scratching away blobs of paint that keep parts from fitting snugly. Now that's done I have to do some touch-up with a thin layer of paint and apply some rust-proofing to the tube interiors this weekend before starting to assemble everything.

It's been too hot to ride this week, anyway.

[janneppi]

Went for a walk while hitting balls in gopher holes. Despite taking 50 shots to complete 9 par 3 holes, i beat my friend who needed only 35. Stupidly complicated game. And not really something I'd concider a sport.

[airshifter]

Put a bit over 19 miles in today on the BOMB. Hot as crap... 90+ the entire time I was gone.

[airshifter]

Another 11+ miles today. We waited until later when it cooled down to about 90 degrees and humid. :) My wife joined me for the first six, and I went out and did another 5 and change at a quicker pace.

[Mark]

Strava had a climbing challenge for the last 8 days and I've done mostly hills all week. Today I did the route of a local sportive which is mega hilly 5,000ft of climbing in 50 miles.

[GridGirl]

Flat 111km ride out this morning. Will finally get back out on the bike now the Tour de France has finished, three rides in the last three weeks is a poor effort.

[airshifter]

Strava had a climbing challenge for the last 8 days and I've done mostly hills all week. Today I did the route of a local sportive which is mega hilly 5,000ft of climbing in 50 miles.

I'd have to drive too far to find enough elevation to even try that. Far too flat in this area.


Flat 111km ride out this morning. Will finally get back out on the bike now the Tour de France has finished, three rides in the last three weeks is a poor effort.

Well if you do three rides of that length, it's hardly a poor effort IMO. Life gets in the way of long rides and such too.



Are you two the harder core edge of the forum challenge riders? Just curious if there are a lot of serious bikers on here. I might have a chance if someone creates an old, fat tire mountain bike on the roads, in crazy heat category.... or I might still get stomped! :laugh:

[Mark]

Of the people here then I suppose so. GridGirl, myself and Gregor-y put in the most miles - that we know of.
fizzicist is also on my friends list but he seems to post here but once a year.
Ibby does more miles than that but he hasn't posted here for years.

[ioan]

... three rides in the last three weeks is a poor effort.

It is always subjective!
For example I didn't even get close to sitting on my bike since the 9th of June! That's more then 7 weeks. :(

[Big Ben]

Best case scenario: I end the month with just 20km less than in June. Not too many reasons to be cocky about July in my case. I also had a few festive days with plenty of intake... :rolleyes:

[Mark]

Planning on a 25mile ride with J4MIE tomorrow :)

[airshifter]

Logged over 24 more today with the BOMB. I am going to completely trash Ioan this month in bike miles.. well maybe... if he doesn't get on his bike at all. :)


Mark,

Please PM me the forum challenge Endo links. I'll probably get my butt kicked, but if there are any total slackers doing less miles I'll have to call them out if some old guy with a POS old mountain bike is putting in more miles!

[J4MIE]

Planning on a 25mile ride with J4MIE tomorrow :)

And I am planning a "try to keep up with Mark for 25 miles" cycle tomorrow :s . Go easy on me! :p :

[GridGirl]

Couple of category four climbs in your ride I see. On the plus side at least you have more gears to play with. :)

[Mark]

He did struggle a bit on the hills to be fair ;) . But Chris Froome would too if he had to push Jamie's tyres along the road, they're about a foot wide :D

Once we were on the gravel I was the one going slow

[GridGirl]

You've got to love the sound of tyre roar when you're on a mountain bike. :D Good resistance training though in some respects.

I went out and did a relatively quick 103km. Feels good to be back on the bike. :)

[airshifter]

You've got to love the sound of tyre roar when you're on a mountain bike. :D Good resistance training though in some respects.

I went out and did a relatively quick 103km. Feels good to be back on the bike. :)

In this area I can't see any good choice other than fat tires and tire roar. I don't think a lot of the skinny tired bikes would last well. So it's go slower and make it home or hurriedly break something most likely.


It is shocking the difference though. I was making some adjustments on the old POS the other day, and just the air flow off the fat tires was amazing. As compared to a decent road bike with skinny tires, my bike has got to be close to twice the effort at any speed over about 15 mph. 25 mph is pushing it, and that's if you have solid legs. :eek:

[Mark]

One year today since I restarted cycling :D . Been quite a journey in many ways since then.

Started on a Trek FX hybrid and now riding a road bike.

A total of 127 rides covering 1872miles.

I'm a lot fitter than I was and I've lost a bit of weight.

Here's looking forward to year 2 :)

[Robinho]

Not been out on the bike for a week due to weather and working away, but I had a couple of hours on track at the velodrome today - it was only an intro session with some guys from work but first time on a track, banking, and on a fixed gear track bike. It was really fun, if a little daunting to get up onto the banking. Weather permitting I hope to get a couple of runs into work this week

Sent from North Korea using the dark network

[Mark]

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/07/29/7abyhazy.jpg


At the top of Iveston Bank. Jamie ended up having to walk up as the screws holding the cage into his pedal had gone! Hence the stop for repairs.

[J4MIE]

Haha, I spent today hardly able to move due to muscle ache and a bit of sunburn! Quite enjoyed the ride but need to do more of that distance and work on the hills... I now have a shiny multi tool that should work when I need it to as well! :s

The scone stop was a highlight though I have to say ;)

[Mark]

The scone stop was a highlight though I have to say ;)

Thought you would like it, we often drive up there just for the scones ;)

[schmenke]

Best case scenario: I end the month with just 20km less than in June. Not too many reasons to be cocky about July in my case. I also had a few festive days with plenty of intake... :rolleyes:

Just returned from a week’s camping vacation. Although I (surprisingly) managed three morning runs of over 6km each during that time, most of the week involved excess intake... :uhoh:

Managed only 56kms in July :s . Still have a couple of days to go though :p : .

[Big Ben]

Just returned from a week’s camping vacation. Although I (surprisingly) managed three morning runs of over 6km each during that time, most of the week involved excess intake... :uhoh:

Managed only 56kms in July :s . Still have a couple of days to go though :p : .

Well... maybe August is going to be better.
I've done 152km this far... which is kind of ok. The only thing that's disappointing is that I've done very few long runs (that's 18 km for me right now). I think I should quit using mapmyrun because I get a little obsessed about how much and how fast I run. I only want to lose some weight and enjoy my runs.

[J4MIE]

Well despite my best intentions I went out for a cycle last night and found the going much easier, even up a few long hills - went down to first gear but I kept going and whereas even last week I would've got off and pushed, I made it all the way :bounce:

Then I've cycled into work this morning so just need to hope the rain stays away :s

[schmenke]

Well... maybe August is going to be better.
I've done 152km this far... which is kind of ok. The only thing that's disappointing is that I've done very few long runs (that's 18 km for me right now). I think I should quit using mapmyrun because I get a little obsessed about how much and how fast I run. I only want to lose some weight and enjoy my runs.

Did manage another 8km yesterday for a total of 64kms :mark: . That of course does not include the cycling that I’m trying to squeeze in between runs, and the hill-training I’m doing about once a week (where I don’t bother tracking distance or time).

[schmenke]

Well despite my best intentions I went out for a cycle last night and found the going much easier, even up a few long hills - went down to first gear but I kept going and whereas even last week I would've got off and pushed, I made it all the way ...

I know the feeling :) . I'm currently happily chugging up hills (running) that gave me a hard time earlier in the year :) .

[TyPat107]

Got my weeks worth of climbing in yesterday. 2500ft up in 5.2 miles. Not so much fun.

[schmenke]

Got my weeks worth of climbing in yesterday. 2500ft up in 5.2 miles. Not so much fun.

That's over a 9% grade. Impressive.

[Mark]

Well despite my best intentions I went out for a cycle last night and found the going much easier, even up a few long hills - went down to first gear but I kept going and whereas even last week I would've got off and pushed, I made it all the way :bounce:

It does get easier quickly!



Then I've cycled into work this morning so just need to hope the rain stays away :s

Keep doing that and you'll be rite. PS did you get that pedal fixed?

[J4MIE]

Keep doing that and you'll be rite. PS did you get that pedal fixed?

Got a couple of bolts and cut them down to size, they are far from perfect but will do for the moment.

[Robinho]

460km on the bike in 12 rides plus 17km running in 5 short runs for the month of July, plus I should get another 3km run this afternoon back to the station

Sent from North Korea using the dark network

[airshifter]

Got a couple of bolts and cut them down to size, they are far from perfect but will do for the moment.

Use some Locktite on them this time so Mark can't loosen them before a ride. :)

[Mark]

Use some Locktite on them this time so Mark can't loosen them before a ride. :)

I've been trying to get him to go clipless, even offered some SPD pedals for free, but no luck ;)

[J4MIE]

I've been trying to get him to go clipless, even offered some SPD pedals for free, but no luck ;)

I have a fear of ending up like this poor bloke :laugh: M74 Bike and Hike Fail - YouTube (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vtUG4izkyNo)

[schmenke]

... M74 Bike and Hike Fail - YouTube (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vtUG4izkyNo)

:D

Don't worry J4MIE, even a doofus like me, using SPDs for years, has never had a fail like that :laugh: .

[Mark]

I have a fear of ending up like this poor bloke :laugh: M74 Bike and Hike Fail - YouTube (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vtUG4izkyNo)


:D . That's because he was pissing about and not riding properly, that's how I ended up falling off in Spain. Although it wasn't quite as comical as that :D .

SPD do make a difference though, especially with hill climbing!

[Robinho]

I've had a couple of comical spills due to being clipped in, one I had already stopped, had one foot on the ground and over balanced in the other direction

Sent from North Korea using the dark network

[Gregor-y]

I've been trying to get him to go clipless, even offered some SPD pedals for free, but no luck ;)


I have a fear of ending up like this poor bloke :laugh: M74 Bike and Hike Fail - YouTube (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vtUG4izkyNo)
I was on a multi-day ride with someone new to clippy pedals that fell over like that with a loaded down bike. We actually had to get the thing off him and untangle his feet. I'm mainly afraid of that plus the image of trip-trapping around like the billy goats gruff when I'm off the bike.

[airshifter]

I was on a multi-day ride with someone new to clippy pedals that fell over like that with a loaded down bike. We actually had to get the thing off him and untangle his feet. I'm mainly afraid of that plus the image of trip-trapping around like the billy goats gruff when I'm off the bike.

That walking sounding like a tap dancer is comical too.

I need much better hardware before I concern myself with clipless pedals. I understand that they could help even with my old POS, but I can't see investing in them at this point.


Besides, real men don't need fancy equipment to ride a bike. :laugh:

[Mark]

I'm mainly afraid of that plus the image of trip-trapping around like the billy goats gruff when I'm off the bike.


You only get the tap dance style effect with SPD-SL pedals which have a stick out cleat and hard soles. The ones I have are SPD which are intended for mountain bikes and have a recessed cleat and normal soles, so they are fine for walking around in.

[J4MIE]

they are fine for walking around in.

Or pushing up hills ;)

[janneppi]

The ones I have are SPD which are intended for mountain bikes and have a recessed cleat and normal soles, so they are fine for walking around in.
At the moment I use SPD pedals and mtb shoes in my commuter(roadbike). I had to walk in 5km after a second puncture in my commute few weeks ago. They're not ideal for walking, but I can manage.

They are crap at pedaling the roadbike for longer distances though. :)

My little toe falls asleep after 90 minutes of riding. I'm trying to find some road pedals but I'm stuck deciding between plastic TIME Xpressos and Looks Keo's. TIME cleats sem to be more comfortable off the bike, but I broke two TIMe cafe cleats last year, so I'm not sure what to get.

[schmenke]

...
My little toe falls asleep after 90 minutes of riding. ...

Isn’t that due to the shoes, not the pedals :?:

My (aging and dodgy) mountain bike is equipped with SPDs and I wouldn’t ride without them, especially on hilly terrain :)

[555-04Q2]

Isn’t that due to the shoes, not the pedals :?:

My (aging and dodgy) mountain bike is equipped with SPDs and I wouldn’t ride without them, especially on hilly terrain :)

Who was mad enough to give you a bike riding licence? :D :p :

[555-04Q2]

My bike is sitting in my storeroom gathering dust. Haven't ridden it in a few years now, been to busy :( Maybe it's time to pull it out again and give it a whirl. If anything, this thread may have put a bee in my bonnet to ride again :)

[janneppi]

Isn’t that due to the shoes, not the pedals :?:
Both I think, the shoes isn't as good as my road shoe and spd pedals have much smaller contact area against the shoe which causes more pressure to the foot.

My (aging and dodgy) mountain bike is equipped with SPDs and I wouldn’t ride without them, especially on hilly terrain :) [/QUOTE]
I switch to flat pedals in winter time when spd's get stuck due to snow, but other than that I rider clipless. :)

[ioan]

I was on a multi-day ride with someone new to clippy pedals that fell over like that with a loaded down bike. We actually had to get the thing off him and untangle his feet. I'm mainly afraid of that plus the image of trip-trapping around like the billy goats gruff when I'm off the bike.

There are bike shoes that offer a rubber sole and have a recess for the spd cleats so you can walk normally with them. Really practical for both on and off the bike.

Edit: I see Mark has already cover this. Only that there are also other shoes that offer this not only mountain bike ones.

[ioan]

Both I think, the shoes isn't as good as my road shoe and spd pedals have much smaller contact area against the shoe which causes more pressure to the foot.


It is mainly the shoes. I have the same issue after riding more than 2 hours. The problem is that the sole does not support your metatarsal bones and these 'collapse' during the ride, especially after increased effort and will clip your nerves which gives you that awful pain and impression that your foot are falling asleep.
What you need to do is get shoes that are better suited for your feet.

[janneppi]

What you need to do is get shoes that are better suited for your feet.
I have really good road shoes, Specialized Comp somethings, stiff carbon sole, light and comfortable. My mtb shoes are Bontrager Something somethings, which aren't nearly as good.
The problem is that most shops in Finland only keep stock in children's sizes(both shoes I have are size 49 ;) ) and I'm not keen on getting shoes without trying them first.
I have been looking at some web shops for Specialized Rime shoes, but at the moment they cost way too much.

[janneppi]

Pih, 90 minutes of mountainbiking with my brother. 25C isn't the optimal temperature to go riding on very technical trails. Average HR was 138 and max 170bbm.

It felt we were walking more than riding in some sections, you had to be Dougie bloody Lampking to clear the boulder fields. Fortunately last third was very good trails and I discovered a new area to ride 10 minutes from home. :)

[airshifter]

Pih, 90 minutes of mountainbiking with my brother. 25C isn't the optimal temperature to go riding on very technical trails. Average HR was 138 and max 170bbm.

It felt we were walking more than riding in some sections, you had to be Dougie bloody Lampking to clear the boulder fields. Fortunately last third was very good trails and I discovered a new area to ride 10 minutes from home. :)

At least you found a new area to ride at.

I found a trail yesterday and explored it. Very short, lots of logs, and more bugs than you could shake off with a fire! I'd actually enjoy if I could find some decent single track or technical areas to ride at.

On the up side while exploring one far end of a trail I did flush a deer out from about 15 feet away.

[janneppi]

Considering I live in a more densely populated area just north of Helsinki it's a wonder there is so much forest still left. I'm on single track in less than 5 minutes from my apartment and I can get 2-3 hours of riding without doing same trails twice, and not having to venture much into people yards. :)

[Mark]

Doesn't sound heavily populated at all. ;)

110km in 'desolate' Northumberland for me today :)

[Big Ben]

I did it :D , I finally did it. Me so happy :p :. 21 km in 2h last night. I didn't think it'd be that hard tbh. It was just 3 km over my previous longest run but somehow it felt like my legs were gonna fall off when I finished

[janneppi]

Doesn't sound heavily populated at all. ;)

110km in 'desolate' Northumberland for me today :)

This is the area where I live, pretty much all of the local trails are in these three woodland areas surrounded by roads or housing areas. :)
http://goo.gl/maps/LIv5l

Today was the first day I rode to work since late June, morning ride was hell, my legs were still asleep. But in the afternoon I could do a 32km ride back home.

[Gregor-y]

I rode 40 Miles along the lake yesterday getting used to the new bike. I think the reach is too much since my neck shoulders ache a bit this morning. I already have a smaller stem on order and still want to lower the handlebars a bit, too. Once the fenders and racks go on it'll become my regular commuter and I can stop carrying things on my back and sweating so much.

Now that it's done I want to go and build another bike, taking advantage of all the lessons learned and using a nicer frame, components, and so on. Instead I really should devote that money to better camping equipment and planning some decent trips. I've got friends in towns 150 and 250 miles away that make feasible destinations, plus I need to plan my trip from Pittsburgh, or more importantly how to get myself and the bike to the start. Long distance trains all require bikes to be packaged and that seems to be the biggest stumbling block.

[Mark]

I rode 40 Miles along the lake yesterday getting used to the new bike.

Pictures or it didn't happen ;)

[schmenke]

I did it :D , I finally did it. Me so happy :p :. 21 km in 2h last night. I didn't think it'd be that hard tbh. It was just 3 km over my previous longest run but somehow it felt like my legs were gonna fall off when I finished

Holy cow, that’s a good time! :up: .

I'm still working my way up to 10kms :erm:
I recently ran just over 9kms in just over 47 minutes, although I don't think I could have maintained that pace for much longer :mark: .

[Mark]

I can cycle for over 100km and yet ask me to run even a single km? No chance! I give up after half that!

[mapo125]

uuuuuuuuupppppppppppppppppppp tinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

[555-04Q2]

:erm: Pulled my bike out my storeroom last night and cleaned off the 3 inches of dust covering it :p : Gonna give her a whirl this weekend :)

I'm lifting weights fit and well built but it's different to being cycling fit so not sure how I'm gonna do! Used to cycle 30 - 40 km's no problem, but that was a wee while ago!

[Iain]

Climbed a mountain yesterday and boy am I feeling it this morning! Could never have done it 6 months ago though.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[Big Ben]

I'm still working my way up to 10kms :erm:
I recently ran just over 9kms in just over 47 minutes, although I don't think I could have maintained that pace for much longer :mark: .

That's a good time too. Honestly, my best time so far for a 10k run is just under 49 min so speed is certainly not my strongest point. However the whole point is to get fit so that matters less.

[GridGirl]

Last day of the Strava 8km run challenge is today so tonight I will find myself running that distance just for the heck of it. May hurt tomorrow. :s

[airshifter]

A bit over 64 miles on the BOMB so far for the month. Still warm and really humid. Wish we had some longer rides away from traffic !

[J4MIE]

Owch Iain, coming down is the worst part... Aiming to go up Ben Nevis in the next month or two, want to try it again after giving up the last time a few years ago :(

[J4MIE]

Playing tennis on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings so rules out riding the bike into work those days as it finishes too late. Need to try to gain some arm muscles so I can hit the ball harder :s

[Mark]

Playing tennis on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings so rules out riding the bike into work those days as it finishes too late. Need to try to gain some arm muscles so I can hit the ball harder :s

Skip tennis and ride your bike instead ;)

[Iain]

Owch Iain, coming down is the worst part... Aiming to go up Ben Nevis in the next month or two, want to try it again after giving up the last time a few years ago :(

We came down the way we went up and it was like constantly going down stairs with all the rocks. Last time I did it, we walked down the loch side of the ridge and it was a lot better. Couldn't see the path for the cloud yesterday, so stuck to the main path back!

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[J4MIE]

Skip tennis and ride your bike instead ;)

Well heading into winter it's warmer running around indoors ;)

I am not very good at tennis though, tonight was the 'club night' with lots of doubles matches going on and I was so bad that eventually the girl I ended up playing with started shouting! The supervisor said he wasn't impressed as its meant to be like cricket and playing with manners etc, he must have felt sorry for me cos he offered me a free lesson :D

[Gregor-y]

I signed up the for the Four Star (http://www.fourstarbiketour.org/) bike and food event in two weeks. Since the entry fee was the same for each distance offered I just chose the longest (62 mile) option. It'll be a good way to break in the new bike with a full day of riding.
http://imageshack.us/a/img560/2685/0iqb.jpg

The only problem is the twelve mile ride from my house to the start/finish location. ;)

[Mark]

86 miles. Nice. Doable with plenty rest stops.

I've got a few events coming up.
55 miles flat along the coast
35 miles on hills and cycle path
60 miles on hilly roads
55 miles on hilly roads.

[GridGirl]

I went out and did 70km with a few category climbs today. Saw Josh Edmonson from Team Sky while I was out and he was absolutely monstering the road. Good job he was going in the opposite direction as it would have taken him less than 10 seconds to well and truly drop me. Haha

[janneppi]

I've had a pretty good week for cycling, three hours on the roadbike while commuting to and from work, plus three and half hour on the mountainbike. With better weather I could have done more on the roadbike, but it's a good start after a six week of not doing much.

[Mark]

Did 45 miles today but for some reason I wasn't on form at all. Felt like I was cycling with a puncture. But I wasn't it was just I wasn't up to it this morning. Distance wise it was easy enough I was just struggling for any sort of pace.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Okay lads, best way to build up your pecs?

I am being serious.

[tfp]

Okay lads, best way to build up your pecs?

I am being serious.

Bench press, incline, flat, then decline :)

that way you get the hardest one out f the way (incline) then the middle one (flat) then you've got the decline, the easiest.
Barbells will work but I am told dumbells work better (I've only ever used dumbells)

If you still have the energy after that, keep the bench out, take some weight off the dumbells and do some flys.

Apparently between 8 and 12 reps are ideal, if you can't do 8 with good form, take off some weight. If you can do 12 fairly easily, then stick some more plates on. You'll find your strength will build and perhaps every week you'll either add weights or gain a couple of reps.

but all that is worth around 20%. The other 80% is down to your diet.

And I'll be buggered if I knew anything about that.

Alternatively, ask Garry or Ioan. :)

[airshifter]

Bike ride from hell today. Decided to keep looking and find some trails, and finally did find a couple more crappy, root ridden trails. Enter hard rain, lots of thorns, lots more thorns and logs. Got soaked enough that it didn't matter any more but had to crawl along once back on roads due to lack of vision.

Rain eases then stops, and since I'm already soaked decide to keep riding. Get semi dried out fighting a headwind back on the roads, but figure it will be worth it on the return trip. Explore some more off road trails and find major bug infested area that would make you crazy after some time. Plenty more slick logs and roots and low speed crawling.

By the time I headed back the sun was out and the wind stopped, so it was like being in a sauna. It would have been just as comfortable wrapped in plastic wrap most likely. But that's biking around here this time of the year. :laugh:

Another 23-24 miles today I think. I'm at about 115 miles for the month so far.

[schmenke]

Participated in my first trail race on Saturday. I was pleased with my 57th out of 156 finish, especially considering that two days prior to the event the organizers changed the route from 6 to 9kms :mark: .

https://www.5peaks.com/assets/images/5Peaks%20Fish%20Creek%20Sport%209km.png

[airshifter]

Participated in my first trail race on Saturday. I was pleased with my 57th out of 156 finish, especially considering that two days prior to the event the organizers changed the route from 6 to 9kms :mark: .

https://www.5peaks.com/assets/images/5Peaks%20Fish%20Creek%20Sport%209km.png

Sounds fun. I'm not sure my rear rim would hold up to much quicker off roading. It's seeing abuse now. I better stick mostly to roads/trails and keep the off road stuff at a slower pace until I get some decent equipment.

Rode 30+ today, at about 155 miles for the month.

[schmenke]

Ouch. Being treated now for shin splints in my left leg :s .
Returning to the kinesiologist tomorrow for another round of treatment and heavy taping.
May have to ease off, or even eliminate, running for a while :s

The aging schmenke body is not what it once was :uhoh: .

[555-04Q2]

Ouch. Being treated now for shin splints in my left leg :s .
Returning to the kinesiologist tomorrow for another round of treatment and heavy taping.
May have to ease off, or even eliminate, running for a while :s

The aging schmenke body is not what it once was :uhoh: .

As the saying goes..."You're as old as the woman you feel". Trade Mrs schmenke in for a 21 year old and viola...you'll be good as new again :D

( Warning!: Mrs schmenke may take exception to this action and cause grievous bodily harm to your new found youth, relocation is recommended beforehand to prevent unwanted bodily injuries :p : )

[Big Ben]

Ouch. Being treated now for shin splints in my left leg :s .
Returning to the kinesiologist tomorrow for another round of treatment and heavy taping.
May have to ease off, or even eliminate, running for a while :s

The aging schmenke body is not what it once was :uhoh: .

Sorry to hear that. I sprained my ankle a year ago and those weeks of inactivity followed by months of very moderate activity were quite hard to take.
Get well soon :)

[janneppi]

I haven't really done any cycling on the road other than commuting,with longer route to home once a week. Today I decided to do a bit longer ride to keep my place in the workplace kilometer challenge. :D
Lack of kilometers really shows, i was knacked after a 66km ride, slow as hell too.

Might have to try to get back in shape.

[Mark]

66km isn't a bad distance at all!

I headed out on one ride today and ended up doing a completely different one as when I got to the top of the hill I could see the rain rolling in so decided not to head for the Durham hills but over to Northumberland instead and very nice it was. A pity the last 10 miles or so was all busy road which got me down after a while. 53 miles / 85km

[GridGirl]

85km Mark!!!! You are finally converting! :D

My ride yesterday ended up being very painful as I'm still suffering from when I got knocked off back in June. It was also blowing a gale. Our aim was to go climbing and do some of the climbs in next years Tour. However, cycling into a gale force headwind up category climbs was too much for my feeble girly legs and I wimped out of going up Holme Moss as I couldn't have cycled such steep gradients in such headwinds. I'm still surprised I wasn't blown straight over. :s Holme Moss will have to be attempted another day and when I'm not peddling squares. :)

[janneppi]

66km isn't a bad distance at all!

It is when it takes three hours. :(

I've been trying to find a suitable 5 km stretch of flat road to do 10 km time trial, 5km in one direction and then back. I need to figure out what kind of time I can manage. It's sort of a Cooper test for cyclists.

[J4MIE]

I realised this afternoon that I'd not been out on my bike for nearly two weeks, not had much spare time and I've been playing (or trying to play) tennis most evenings. So did go out but not for too long, only 14km. Need to get out more, off work next week so might take a trip out for a longer ride somewhere. Got new pedals to replace the broken ones and they feel much better, but my front suspension needs some cheese as it is squeaking quite a lot :s

[Mark]

85km Mark!!!! You are finally converting! :D


Only because janneppi was quoting in km. I had to look up how far my 53 mile ride was in km.

I had a better experience with the wind, in that I ended up cycling up a hill at about 18mph thinking I was mega strong, only to turn a corner and realise why I was going so fast when the massive side wind hit me. On the way down the hill got hit by a few gusts and got quite a wobble on, thankfully managed to stay upright!

[Mark]

I realised this afternoon that I'd not been out on my bike for nearly two weeks, not had much spare time and I've been playing (or trying to play) tennis most evenings. So did go out but not for too long, only 14km. Need to get out more, off work next week so might take a trip out for a longer ride somewhere. Got new pedals to replace the broken ones and they feel much better, but my front suspension needs some cheese as it is squeaking quite a lot :s

Got some SPD I hope? ;)

[Iain]

Only because janneppi was quoting in km. I had to look up how far my 53 mile ride was in km.

I had a better experience with the wind, in that I ended up cycling up a hill at about 18mph thinking I was mega strong, only to turn a corner and realise why I was going so fast when the massive side wind hit me. On the way down the hill got hit by a few gusts and got quite a wobble on, thankfully managed to stay upright!

I hate wind. It's as if I live in a wind tunnel. I have to keep planning routes where the wind is behind on the way back! Doing Pedal for Scotland in a few weeks, so been out on the back roads with my new skid lid. Thankfully the route should have the wind behind me!

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[airshifter]

I haven't really done any cycling on the road other than commuting,with longer route to home once a week. Today I decided to do a bit longer ride to keep my place in the workplace kilometer challenge. :D
Lack of kilometers really shows, i was knacked after a 66km ride, slow as hell too.

Might have to try to get back in shape.

If it makes you feel any better my pace yesterday was slower on a shorter ride. Granted I didn't really have a distance goal and was playing it by ear (thus conserving some energy) but the pace sucked.

As for finding a road to test pace around here that is wishful thinking. I can barely find 5km without major road crossing, much less in an area without major transitions and curbs to slow you down. Riding in traffic is a major roll of the dice, and I like my family too much to roll those dice with the idiot drivers around here.

Like others I hate going into the wind on the return trip. I really hate when winds shift so much that no matter what direction you are going it's a constant change of gears and you can't get a solid cadence going and get into the "zone" so to speak.


I have noticed after a month and a half of riding again that I can pull the higher ratios better, and spend more time on the big front ring. I'm still not pulling the highest gears on the flat, but for a mountain bike they are fairly tall.

[janneppi]

If it makes you feel any better my pace yesterday was slower on a shorter ride.
It does. :D

[555-04Q2]

Okay lads, best way to build up your pecs?

I am being serious.

Depends on what you mean by "build". Do you want to:

1. Get big?
2. Get big and build strength?
3. Look good with a bit of strength?
4. Look good only with minimal strength?
5. Look good with some stamina?
6. Look good with good stamina?
7. Be athletic?

There are different routines and reps vs sets rates that you need to perform to get the results you want. Doing the same exercises but in different ways can have several different results. It all depends on what you want, then put together a routine.

As tpf said, diet also plays a big role.

I work out for 45 minutes 4 days a week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday) and have a build cross between Brad Pitt and Mark Wahlberg which was my goal. I do the type of training that is required to get the results I want and it is so much easier to do than people think. I know a lot of people that just push heavy weights and binge on protein shakes and wonder why they don't get the body they require. It's because they aren't using a routine that gets the results required.

[J4MIE]

Well it was going to happen sometime but got my first puncture, tyre was totally flat when getting the bike out the garage. Having never fixed a puncture in my life I thought I did well to switch the tube - luckily I bought a cheap track pump as the one in my bag that I carry with me didn't work at all :s So only got just over 10km but better than nothing. Only another quick ride tomorrow evening then I'm off to Spa for a few days :D :bounce:

[airshifter]

Well it was going to happen sometime but got my first puncture, tyre was totally flat when getting the bike out the garage. Having never fixed a puncture in my life I thought I did well to switch the tube - luckily I bought a cheap track pump as the one in my bag that I carry with me didn't work at all :s So only got just over 10km but better than nothing. Only another quick ride tomorrow evening then I'm off to Spa for a few days :D :bounce:

I got a puncture today also..... 4 miles from home. My wife was home but I din't want to stink up the car so I pushed and jogged it home... I was out for the exercise to begin with. Time to get a bag with a spare tube and a couple tools, especially now that I'm taking some longer rides.



I'm leaning towards the CO2 cartridges rather than a pump. Does anyone here have any input on that? I'd prefer not to use the space for a pump when I need another water bottle. I'll probably get a below seat type bag and want to keep it minimal.

[Mark]

I got a puncture today also..... 4 miles from home. My wife was home but I din't want to stink up the car so I pushed and jogged it home... I was out for the exercise to begin with. Time to get a bag with a spare tube and a couple tools, especially now that I'm taking some longer rides.



I'm leaning towards the CO2 cartridges rather than a pump. Does anyone here have any input on that? I'd prefer not to use the space for a pump when I need another water bottle. I'll probably get a below seat type bag and want to keep it minimal.


Pump mounts the frame whereas CO2 cartridges are yet more space in the saddle bag. Plus they only work for so long, so you need to carry a pump too!

[GridGirl]

We used to have some cO2 canisters. My other half and one of his mates went on a mountain biking weekend in the Lakes and his mate inadvertantly took one of our saddle bags home with him. His mate lives over 200 miles away and next travelled up to see us by plane rather than by car. As a good friend he decided that he would return the saddle bag and its content to us. However, airport security had other ideas and confiscated the cO2 and multitools. I'm not sure what our friend could have managed to do with two cO2 canisters and some allen keys on a 30 minute flight but that day he was most certainly seen as a terrorist threat to the UK. We haven't bothered with cO2 since and just stuck with a regular pump. :D

Edit: I just remembered that the final cO2 canister was had was used as a jet to unblock our kitchen sink. Useful tip if ever you in such a situatin. :p

[janneppi]

I just bougth a co2 pump for my road bike few weeks ago. It fits nicely in the saddlebag along with a spare and tyre levers. I have a Lezyne minipump which I carried in a Mount that goes under the bottle cage. Now the pump is in my mountain biking backbag. :) I bougth the co2 cartridge after pumpin air into the tyre for 15 minutes next to a busy higway :)

[Mark]

Doing the Great North Bike Ride (http://www.greatnorthbikeride.com) this weekend. 55-60 miles (noone seems sure on the exact distance for some reason), from Seahouses down the Northumberland Coast to Tynemouth.

First ride in ages which will be relatively flat! Logistics is an issue for this one as all my rides start and end in the same place, except this one :crazy:

[schmenke]

Doing the Great North Bike Ride (http://www.greatnorthbikeride.com) this weekend. 55-60 miles (noone seems sure on the exact distance for some reason), from Seahouses down the Northumberland Coast to Tynemouth. ...

:up:

You soliciting donations Mark?

[Mark]

:up:

You soliciting donations Mark?

Nope :) . All all consciousness I'd only be asking for donations for something like 100 miles+. As it would be daft to ask for donations for something which is the distance of a normal weekend ride.

[schmenke]

Ah, I was under the impression that the event was to raise donations for childhood cancer research.

[Mark]

Ah, I was under the impression that the event was to raise donations for childhood cancer research.

It is, but it's also just a bike ride :)

[airshifter]

It is, but it's also just a bike ride :)

I can't speak for others, but I'd much quicker donate to a charity if the person does anything in exchange for the donation. The fact that you are paying entry fees and such is your part, so I wouldn't feel that you haven't done anything. Lager groups raise awareness and in retun raise money. :)



As for the pump vs CO2, thanks for the input from all. Now I'm just as confused as before I asked. Maybe I'll do both, but will check out the pumps before the fact. I guess I had some crazy vision of the CO2 making for a 1 minute roadside repair.

I'm also going to experiment with some sealant I have. In the case of yesterdays puncture it was a fairly long small nail. It pierced both the outer and inner part of the tube, and after bending put a third hole in it. I'm going to use that punctured tube and another to see how much the sealant product slows/stops the leaks in the tubes.

On the up side during the repair I rotated my rear tire to the front, which I've been wanting to do regardless. The rear wears much quicker due to the weight balance. I'm hoping now the fresher tire will stay on the center tread more and reduce drag and tire noise a bit.

[Gregor-y]

My front tire was flat on Monday after work. I finally denied my inner Scot and threw away the tube since it already had four patches and it looked like a seam was splitting this time. I usually have an extra tube or two along with a patch kit and pump in my bag.

[Robinho]

I carry 2 CO2 canisters in my saddle bag with a spare tube, the only time I have had cause to use one so far i messed up and attached the valve adaptor while it was open and let most of the Co2 out, rendering it pretty much useless, hence why I now carry 2. No pump tho, just some tyre levers, Allen keys etc. It is much quicker and easier process than trying to get 80-100 psi into a tyre with a hand pump, less of an issue on an MTB. Worth noting the advice is to replace the Co2 with fresh air when you get hone, although I don't know what the science behind that advice is!

[Mark]

I carry 2 CO2 canisters in my saddle bag with a spare tube, the only time I have had cause to use one so far i messed up and attached the valve adaptor while it was open and let most of the Co2 out, rendering it pretty much useless, hence why I now carry 2. No pump tho, just some tyre levers, Allen keys etc. It is much quicker and easier process than trying to get 80-100 psi into a tyre with a hand pump, less of an issue on an MTB. Worth noting the advice is to replace the Co2 with fresh air when you get hone, although I don't know what the science behind that advice is!


CO2 molecules are much smaller than those in air (which doesn't make sense to me but anyway), apparently CO2 will seep out of the tubes in a matter of about 24 hours, so if you fill up with CO2 then next weekend go to ride out, your tyres will be flat.

[Robinho]

Sounds reasonable to me as an explanation,

[Robinho]

Just completed the Perth City to Surf 12km run in 58mins, off the back of nothing more than a few runs, all less than 6km, and a lot of cycling. Feeling quite pleased with myself, but my calf muscles have gone on strike in protest and the unexpected distance (for them at least)

[Mark]

Great North Ride was great. Must have been 1000 cyclists at the start. After a while the fast guys got ahead and the slow guys dropped back and it was great flying along with others on road bikes on a flattish course.

I normally do about 13-14mph average but did 18mph this time and saved 50 minutes off my best time for 50 miles!

[Gregor-y]

Chicago was busy today. In addition to the Four Star ride I did there was the Wrigley Field Road Tour (100 miles) and a triathlon that completely ruined the lakefront path with gates and fences for the participants. And it was miserably hot (32 degrees) by noon.

[airshifter]

Just completed the Perth City to Surf 12km run in 58mins, off the back of nothing more than a few runs, all less than 6km, and a lot of cycling. Feeling quite pleased with myself, but my calf muscles have gone on strike in protest and the unexpected distance (for them at least)

Since you mentioned a lot of cycling, here's a trick that can help work your calf muscles more at the same time. Simply move your feet back on the pedals so the foot forward of the ball is on the pedal. You'll use a lot more calf muscle in that position, though it may overall hurt your pace if you are riding hard. I've noticed this just moving my feet around to give the sore areas a break.



As for me, almost 40 miles biking today on the BOMB. I think I should qualify for most miles on garbage equipment! Thirty miles mid day, then another 10 after dinner. If I had a decent light I could have done more easily this evening. I'm much more able to pull the higher ratios now after a couple months of some riding again and dealing with the wind better too. I think riding a fat tired bike with less ratios does actually have an up side of working harder to make distance or pace.

Cooler today and humidity was finally down to the 60% range. Rode to the oceanfront and enjoyed the trip, including being "stuck" behind a very fit roller blader with great legs. :) Should have gone earlier to enjoy the beach some, would have been a great day to watch the bikinis......errr... waves.


On a serious note... seems like half the bikers and joggers around here exercise to music, and zone out so bad it's almost dangerous to pass them. The ones not listening to music are almost as bad sometimes. :rolleyes:

[Big Ben]

Out of curiosity I bought a new battery for my scale. I was surprised to find out that all this running I've been doing in the last few months is even more efficient than anticipated. I didn't really measured myself before but I estimate I've lost close to 10 kilos in 4 months.. so yeah... for anyone who still has doubts... running WORKS :D !!!

[airshifter]

Out of curiosity I bought a new battery for my scale. I was surprised to find out that all this running I've been doing in the last few months is even more efficient than anticipated. I didn't really measured myself before but I estimate I've lost close to 10 kilos in 4 months.. so yeah... for anyone who still has doubts... running WORKS :D !!!

Well done, that is a good bit of weight to shed in such a period of time! :D

Long term the trick is to find the balance that works for you to keep that weight where you want it.

[555-04Q2]

Out of curiosity I bought a new battery for my scale. I was surprised to find out that all this running I've been doing in the last few months is even more efficient than anticipated. I didn't really measured myself before but I estimate I've lost close to 10 kilos in 4 months.. so yeah... for anyone who still has doubts... running WORKS :D !!!

Soon we'll be calling you Little Ben :p :

[Malbec]

Since last posting here I discovered the gear shift on my old mountain bike had stopped working, locking me out of top gear. Being a bloke the failure of this five quid plastic mechanism gave me the perfect excuse to replace the whole bike with a new hybrid. Bought a Bianchi Camaleonte 2 under my work cyclescheme system so its a total bargain and a lovely bike to boot, I can cycle a lot quicker and now try to cycle to work twice a week. I also bung a childseat onto the bike and take my 2 year old son for trips which is great for both of us, a fantastic extra work out for me and a great ride for him.

I've also entered myself into a half marathon but my training isn't going so well since I've got Iliotibial tract syndrome. When my knee doesn't hurt I do two 10-12 km runs a week and my times average at just over five minutes per kilometre but I'm not sure my knee will hold out for the full 20km...

[Gregor-y]

Since you mentioned a lot of cycling, here's a trick that can help work your calf muscles more at the same time. Simply move your feet back on the pedals so the foot forward of the ball is on the pedal. You'll use a lot more calf muscle in that position, though it may overall hurt your pace if you are riding hard. I've noticed this just moving my feet around to give the sore areas a break.
Another reason not to use the clippy shoes! I probably do this less consciously than I change hand positions every few minutes.

My local biking forum is full of rants about people not paying attention on bikes or on foot. There's a lot of city street commuting with a whole special section of gripes for people not following traffic signals, blocking other cyclists and pulling ahead of a line of bikes at intersections (now known as 'shoaling (http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2009/10/indignity-of-commuting-by-bicycle.html)'). Basically the things that would get someone driving a car in big trouble. I usually go shopping once a week and ride home through the city rather than along the lake and can see why it would be a cause for rage if that's what you have to deal with every day.

[janneppi]

Another reason not to use the clippy shoes! I probably do this less consciously than I change hand positions every few minutes.
Or use clipless pedals, good stiff sole cycling shoes and learn how proper pedaling technique, you get more power, more time on the bike and workout for more muscles when pulling up the pedal. ;)

Speaking of pedaling, I haven't touched my bikes since Saturday when pulled something in my back while doing maintenance on the mountain bike. Had to take two days off work and been eating pain killers the whole week. Fortunately it's getting better, yesterday I even managed to tie my shoe laces while standing. :D

[Gregor-y]

Or use clipless pedals, good stiff sole cycling shoes and learn how proper pedaling technique, you get more power, more time on the bike and workout for more muscles when pulling up the pedal. ;)

Hope you're feeling better. I've really considered ordering a stand to hold my bike off the ground so I wouldn't be bent over or sitting on the floor when doing any kind of cleaning or work.

I refuse to call those shoes clipless because they have clips built into them, so I call them clippys. And without them I've still spent plenty of time on the bike, even on terrible days like this:
http://imageshack.us/a/img827/2773/jhwb.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img819/8951/p8sv.jpg

[janneppi]

They aren't clips, they are locking mechanisms. :) I used to have clips and straps in my first mtb, but I soon switched to clipless and strapless. :D

[airshifter]

Or use clipless pedals, good stiff sole cycling shoes and learn how proper pedaling technique, you get more power, more time on the bike and workout for more muscles when pulling up the pedal. ;)

Speaking of pedaling, I haven't touched my bikes since Saturday when pulled something in my back while doing maintenance on the mountain bike. Had to take two days off work and been eating pain killers the whole week. Fortunately it's getting better, yesterday I even managed to tie my shoe laces while standing. :D

Being it's been many years since I've ridden a bike with clips and straps, and I've never ridden clipless, I can't deny that it would give more efficiency using more leg muscles. I'm not sure I would like them, since they isolate the area of foot contact and many people have more foot pain due to that.

Be careful with your back. I've had some back issues for years now and it isn't fun. I do certain stretches and exercises to minimize the chance of problems, but they can still happen. Usually when doing something unusual like your case. I've had a couple times that it got so bad that almost anything would send my lower back muscles into massive spasms.... not fun at all.


I've been off the bike for a few days doing some maintenance and repairs. I may have a bottom bracket problem that will put it out of commission for a while... hoping not.

[J4MIE]

Just been and done another mountain bike orienteering event in the Scottish Borders. I stupidly (stupidly!) offered to help lay out some of the controls last night for the second event tomorrow - unfortunately got a bit lost and only got one of the six done last night, so spent another 4 hours today getting them done, sadly I finished about 30 minutes before starting the five hour event today :( Was totally knackered (its a technical term :p ) and again chose an uphill route to start with, I should have turned around and given up but (stupidly :( ) continued to plod on and got lost when a track petered out through a field - very annoying!! So sat down for a bit and ate more than a few chocolate caramel digestives (my favourite!) and summoned a bit of energy to push uphill round the edge of a forest and got back to the finish with ten minutes to spare. Am heading home now as my weary legs have no chance of getting me round tomorrow.

Gutted as I've been looking forward to this one for a while.

I did however go (rather slowly) over a black route this morning which I was quite pleased with. I was even more pleased that there wasn't anybody around to see me fall off :D First time I've hit the deck with the bike, could see it happening but couldn't avoid - glad I had my full face helmet on as the scrapes on the chin part would've been painful I'm sure!

Will go back to Glentress as I really enjoyed it, but think I will avoid any sort of competitive cycling from now on...

[airshifter]

Just barely shy of 380 miles (610 km) for the month, with all but a few on the bike. A few walking and one walk/jog pushing the bike with a flat tire.

Fat tired, beat up, slightly bent mountain bike.

I'm going to have to at least find some solid rims for this thing or it will be out of commission in a couple more months of riding... if I'm lucky. With the days getting shorter will have to find a decent light as well, as the old one I have is crap. I can live without more ratios and overall better gear for now. Besides, when I pass someone on a bike worth $1000 or more it makes me smile knowing that money can't buy fitness. :)

[Mark]

Did the Durham Big Ride today. Not long at 25 miles but half of it on gravel path. I don't often take my road bike on gravel but it went well. Speeds of often 25mph as I was chasing down the guy in front.

There were lots of people doing the ride but only a handful on road bikes. At the start ended up getting bested by an 8 year old. But in the end I was the first to complete the course.

[airshifter]

Did the Durham Big Ride today. Not long at 25 miles but half of it on gravel path. I don't often take my road bike on gravel but it went well. Speeds of often 25mph as I was chasing down the guy in front.

There were lots of people doing the ride but only a handful on road bikes. At the start ended up getting bested by an 8 year old. But in the end I was the first to complete the course.

Just make sure to enter the adult class next time. Soon the kids will be questioning the side and facial hair of you being in the 13 and under class! :D

I would imagine that those small road tires are a bit shaky on gravel. What kind of pace did you end up with?




And for those not yet motivated, here is an angle to try.

5 fitness apps from off the beaten path | 5 fitness apps from off the beaten path - Yahoo! (http://shopping.yahoo.com/photos/5-fitness-apps-from-off-the-beaten-path-1377886767-slideshow/5-fitness-apps-from-off-the-beaten-path-photo-1377886747438.html)

Off the beaten path fitness apps! Run from zombies, try hypnosis, be shamed into going to the gym, or earn the love of an anime character! I'm not quite sure the angle of the daily butt workout, other than maybe you are supposed to enjoy the view? :)

The gym shamer is funny, it uses social media to broadcast your fails. Classic!

[Mark]

It wasn't too bad on the gravel. Obviously not as smooth as the road. On one segment I did 17mph average including having to give way to every road junction.

[Big Ben]

Well done, that is a good bit of weight to shed in such a period of time! :D

Long term the trick is to find the balance that works for you to keep that weight where you want it.

yeap... actually I find it harder to stay fit than to get fit :p . I lost 30 kg over a few years then got 8 back then lost 10 again.



Soon we'll be calling you Little Ben :p :

there's plenty of me for that not to happen.

[555-04Q2]

yeap... actually I find it harder to stay fit than to get fit :p . I lost 30 kg over a few years then got 8 back then lost 10 again.




there's plenty of me for that not to happen.

It's a lot easier to stay fit and in shape than most people think. Just 20 - 30 minutes of exercise a day and eating right (note I said eating right not eat rabbit food) will keep you in tip top shape.

[Mark]

It's a lot easier to stay fit and in shape than most people think. Just 20 - 30 minutes of exercise a day and eating right (note I said eating right not eat rabbit food) will keep you in tip top shape.


Of course, but it's easier to say than to do. Most of us lead lives where the amount of free time we have during working days is limited.

[555-04Q2]

Of course, but it's easier to say than to do. Most of us lead lives where the amount of free time we have during working days is limited.

It is easy boet :) . I have a hectic schedule everyday, a business to run, kids to run after, LIONS Club duties, neighbourhood watch etc. I'm up at 05:00 every morning getting my day started. But I still workout at least 4 days a week during the evening (normally from 8 - 9 pm) after the kids go down. It just takes discipline and a bit of planning, and it's worth it for the results you get :)

[Mark]

I would find that hard personally. After the bairn goes to bed at about 7.30pm I just want to sit down and watch TV with a nice cup of tea. No energy to start working out. The mornings however are a different story, I enjoy getting up and going for an hours ride before I leave for work.

[555-04Q2]

Mornings work too, I prefer to workout in the evenings though :)

[janneppi]

I did few minutes ride to test my back and it feels a bit off so I'm not taking the bike to work tomorrow morning. Shame, driving to work for a full week is beginning to get on my nerves.

[Mark]

Really didn't feel like getting out of bed this morning. Was a right struggle to get up, get into the shower, and get out of the door. But once I was on the bike 6 out of 7 personal best segment times, 'ave it! :D

[Big Ben]

I'm not much of a fan of the autumn but one great thing about it is that I don't have to wake up early for a run. Waking up at 6:40 just to run was a pain in the a$$. Temperature is just great when I punch out at 5 and there's a great place for running close to my office.

[J4MIE]

I don't function in the morning anyway, never mind exercising :s

[schmenke]

...On a serious note... seems like half the bikers and joggers around here exercise to music, and zone out so bad it's almost dangerous to pass them. The ones not listening to music are almost as bad sometimes. :rolleyes:

:wave: :erm:

I run to music, but stay well to the right of the sidewalk or path. I also expect cyclists to be equipped with a bell, as our city bylaws require.
I never cycle to music, though, and my bike is equipped with a bell. And I expect runners to stay well to the right :p : .

[schmenke]

I don't function in the morning anyway, never mind exercising :s

Ditto

I'm up at 5:30 anyways, just to get to work :s . There's no way I'm getting up any earlier to squeeze in a morning routine.
I usually endure the heat and do my runs after work, although on weekends I try for a reasonably early morning.

Set a personal best the other day, running 8kms in under 40 minutes, although that was in good weather on reasably flat terrain.
Sturggled with 9.2kms yesterday in 47:26 in heavy winds :s

[Mark]

If I'm doing a ride in the morning I set the alarm for 6am and I'm out by 6.30am. If I'm not riding then the alarm is 6.30am but take longer to get up.

A nearby rider on my Strava feed goes out 5.30am or earlier every morning. Not commuting just a ride. Now that's commitment.

[Big Ben]

:wave: :erm:

I run to music, but stay well to the right of the sidewalk or path. I also expect cyclists to be equipped with a bell, as our city bylaws require.
I never cycle to music, though, and my bike is equipped with a bell. And I expect runners to stay well to the right :p : .

Same here but it's still tough sometimes. I do my best to keep one side of the walk, usually right, so everyone else can easily avoid me but sometimes I meet some other guy riding a bike keeping the same side (his left of course) and expecting me to run around him. The funniest (not really actually) is that there's this place where half the sidewalk is supposed to be for pedestrians and the other for bikes.... but somehow almost nobody respects these signs. You have the classical group of morons who block the whole sidewalk and then the other classical moron going on the wrong side (actually most of them are on the wrong side) that usually expects me to go around him so actually I have to switch to the bicycle side.. and with plenty of luck I'll meet on that side the one man that follows the sign.

Luckily I do most of my running now somewhere I don't have to deal with bikes and too many other people.

[Big Ben]

Ditto

I'm up at 5:30 anyways, just to get to work :s . There's no way I'm getting up any earlier to squeeze in a morning routine.
I usually endure the heat and do my runs after work, although on weekends I try for a reasonably early morning.

Set a personal best the other day, running 8kms in under 40 minutes, although that was in good weather on reasably flat terrain.
Sturggled with 9.2kms yesterday in 47:26 in heavy winds :s

And spoiled people like me think that getting up at 6:40 is tough. Like Bart Simpson said it, I didn't evem know there was a 5 o'clock in the morning too :laugh: .. or something like that.

That's good pace... under 5 minutes per km.

I set my personal best this weekend too... but in terms of longest run. I managed to do 24k in just under 2h and 10 minutes... but time is irrelevant for me for these kind of runs as long as it doesn't take me too long to do them. I used to be kind of too optimistic about these long runs lately. For a while my long run was 18k every Saturday or Sunday... and every time I was under the impression I could have run more. In my super optimistic mind I thought 30k was within my reach... but then I tried a semi-marathon and boy it was tough. I could barely finish it. Of course, some days it's tougher than others

This latest long run was done on an almost empty stomach. After only 5k I start feeling like there was some sort of vacuum in my stomach. It's interesting how important, psychologically, the halfway point is. I had my doubts I could do the whole 24k, especially when I felt my belly was trying to suck me in from within... but once I got to 12k I felt like I was on the summit of a mountain and it was all downhill from there :D . Anyways when I finished I was finished myself. My mouth was so dry I could barely swallow, my throat and feet sore... and there was a Charley horse ready to bite at every step :laugh: ... yet I still don't have a final answer for the question. Why do I do it?

[janneppi]

I did few minutes ride to test my back and it feels a bit off so I'm not taking the bike to work tomorrow morning. Shame, driving to work for a full week is beginning to get on my nerves.
First bike commute in two weeks today and back feels pretty ok. If I can get up from bed tomorrow I can go mountainbiking on sunday. :)

[Mark]

Seems a few of us have been doing some events this weekend. Third Sunday in a row doing a cycle ride event for me. This one at 58 miles with all hills was the hardest. Still feeling it now!

[Mark]

Here's me hard at work, putting in maximum effort

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3694/9704633220_022df19bb6_z.jpg

[J4MIE]

Cor Mark, watch and not pull a muscle doing that :s

Despite a few reservations after the previous disastrous weekend, yesterday I went up to Kielder forest for another mountain bike orienteering event. Despite going for rallies several times a year for the past decade I didn't end up in any bits I recognised :s I (as usually) didn't get a massive points haul but someone in my class finished 45 minutes late so got all his points taken off him, so I wasn't last! Still having lots of trouble with hills and keeping a decent pace up, got beaten by a woman in the 60+ category :s

[J4MIE]

BTW did 41.25km which is the furthest I've done in one go so far. Did the last 10km in 40 minutes after realising the time and how far away I was, finished with 90 seconds to spare....

[airshifter]

How tough is the actual riding in those events J4mie? It sounds like a challenge either way, I just wondered if the actual riding is hard... or just figuring out in what direction to ride.

[J4MIE]

How tough is the actual riding in those events J4mie? It sounds like a challenge either way, I just wondered if the actual riding is hard... or just figuring out in what direction to ride.

Here (http://nembos.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/2013-wark-40000-working-drawing-with-controls-3rd-september.jpg) is a link to the map showing all the control locations on, this is what you are given at the start.

Here (http://nembos.mountainbikeorienteering.org.uk/2013/6-Wark/) is a link to the results (I am in class M21). There you can see the controls visited and if you click on the splits you can see the time it took to get to each of them.

I don't find it hard to navigate as I love reading maps, could maybe do with choosing a better (easier) overall route to get through more controls in the same overall distance - think that will hopefully come with more experience and learning from all the mistakes I'm making. I guess it's more important to keep a decent pace up over all the ground you cover, I tend to go quite slowly and get overtaken by most others and push up most hills.....

The riding isn't really that hard, and there are there are so many different directions to go round and on different types of tarmac roads, forest roads, forest tracks, singletrack and bridleways etc.

Seriously considering getting a road bike for next year which seems to be a better way of improving strength/stamina in my legs which is basically non-existant at the moment, even though I think I've improved quite a lot since I got my bike in May.

[Mark]

Seriously considering getting a road bike for next year which seems to be a better way of improving strength/stamina in my legs which is basically non-existant at the moment, even though I think I've improved quite a lot since I got my bike in May.

You don't necessarily need a road bike. More that riding on the road I think you put in a more consistent effort than you do when riding off road. But if you can afford it then why not, we can go on rides where you aren't being held back by your bike.

[Iain]

Seriously considering getting a road bike for next year which seems to be a better way of improving strength/stamina in my legs which is basically non-existant at the moment, even though I think I've improved quite a lot since I got my bike in May.

Stick some slicks on the MTB! Like Mark said, a few of us had events this weekend. Along with a friend and two of his workmates, we did the 47 mile Pedal for Scotland ride between Edinbugh and Glasgow. I was the only one running full knobblies, the others had skinnier road-based tyres on their MTBs. Took 4 hours 55 minutes to do, not bad at all. I reckon if we hadn't stopped and consumed the free milk and bananas at every stop, we'd have gone quicker, as it took a wee while to warm up again after those. Not to mention there were big hills after two of the feed stations! Just disappointed it's another year until the next one now! Still buzzing about it. :D

Someone mentioned walkers and joggers with earphones in, what about cyclists? There were a pair of teenage girls doing this event on their own and they both had headphones in, hogging the road and completely oblivious to what was going on around them!

Before
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/v/s720x720/1305274_10152185492614951_1107119009_n.jpg?oh=be02 693abf617b63340ce2907dd6afb5&oe=52317684&__gda__=1379054251_c839ca33cf0f98bf539b37a8a6bebc0 9
After
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1209393_567673903299752_2032696977_n.jpg

Some things we saw on the way......
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/999448_567651309968678_51064337_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/1236276_567682626632213_1953816970_n.jpg

[Mark]

Awesome :D. You won't have to wait until next year. There's always plenty of events going on. They can just sometimes take a little hunting down. Evans and Wiggle do MTB events.

[Iain]

Unfortunately I've missed the Tour de Forth! 66 miles from Edinburgh across the Forth, then the Clackmannanshire Bridges and back to Edinburgh!

[J4MIE]

Still not too late to enter the Tour de Ben Nevis on 21st September Iain ;)

Mark's right, there are lots of events on all over the place, just need to find them.

Keep meaning to buy different tyre s but never q unite get around to it. Though can see it not being long until the bike will be staying in the garage for the winter.....

[airshifter]

How tough is the actual riding in those events J4mie? It sounds like a challenge either way, I just wondered if the actual riding is hard... or just figuring out in what direction to ride.

Here (http://nembos.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/2013-wark-40000-working-drawing-with-controls-3rd-september.jpg) is a link to the map showing all the control locations on, this is what you are given at the start.

Here (http://nembos.mountainbikeorienteering.org.uk/2013/6-Wark/) is a link to the results (I am in class M21). There you can see the controls visited and if you click on the splits you can see the time it took to get to each of them.

I don't find it hard to navigate as I love reading maps, could maybe do with choosing a better (easier) overall route to get through more controls in the same overall distance - think that will hopefully come with more experience and learning from all the mistakes I'm making. I guess it's more important to keep a decent pace up over all the ground you cover, I tend to go quite slowly and get overtaken by most others and push up most hills.....

The riding isn't really that hard, and there are there are so many different directions to go round and on different types of tarmac roads, forest roads, forest tracks, singletrack and bridleways etc.

Seriously considering getting a road bike for next year which seems to be a better way of improving strength/stamina in my legs which is basically non-existant at the moment, even though I think I've improved quite a lot since I got my bike in May.


Great scoop on the event. It looks very interesting, and sounds like a good challenge of several skill sets.

As for the road bike... no need IMO. Resistance is resistance, and it really doesn't matter if you do it on a mountain bike with full knobbies or a road bike. I think one of the best things to build legs is to intentionally run taller gears on some rides. It's easy to overcome with so many gears to choose from, and cadence can overcome using lower gears. Treat the bike almost as if it's a fixed gear bike now and then, and you'll feel some solid leg burn if you work at it.

Naturally the road bike, or slicks on your mountain bike would improve your pace but that isn't due to being in better shape.... it's due to having less rolling resistance.

[janneppi]

I think the Best reason to get a road bike when riding on tarmac is that the riding experience is much more pleasant. you Don't go running in hiking boots do you? :)

[Mark]

Still not too late to enter the Tour de Ben Nevis on 21st September Iain ;)

Mark's right, there are lots of events on all over the place, just need to find them.

Keep meaning to buy different tyre s but never q unite get around to it. Though can see it not being long until the bike will be staying in the garage for the winter.....

You have the advantage in that you have the perfect winter bike, you could fit ice tyres on it and go anywhere. The tollerance of the rider to cold is more the issue ;)

[Mark]

I think the Best reason to get a road bike when riding on tarmac is that the riding experience is much more pleasant. you Don't go running in hiking boots do you? :)

This is true. People ask why do you bother having a light bike, if you want to get fit having a heavy bike is better, but a light bike is so much more fun to ride, and that's the important thing.

[J4MIE]

I have no tolerance to cold sadly :( Will probably be doing a lot more tennis indoors...

[schmenke]

J4MIE, Iain, that event looks like a lot of fun! I wish had something similar in our neck of the woods (pun intended :p: ).



Ran a timed city of Calgary corporate challenge 10km race on Sunday. Bib no. 2208. Quite pleased with my result, especially considering it was my 48th birthday! :D
http://www.startlinetiming.com/races/2013/ccc/oall.txt

[Gregor-y]

Get a heavy road bike. Cyclocross is all the rage in my area and there are a lot of people on slightly beefy road bikes with 32c tires and mountain bike brakes.

Or be a hipster and get a single-speed. With bonus points if it has no freewheel and no brakes.

[Mark]

Get a heavy road bike. Cyclocross is all the rage in my area and there are a lot of people on slightly beefy road bikes with 32c tires and mountain bike brakes.

Or be a hipster and get a single-speed. With bonus points if it has no freewheel and no brakes.

If I had the cash, and the space in the house (two are connected!) then I'd have a cyclocross bike too; and they don't need to be heavy, you can get a carbon one :D

[J4MIE]

Or I could get an electric bike to deal with the hills :bounce:

[janneppi]

Get a heavy road bike. Cyclocross is all the rage in my area and there are a lot of people on slightly beefy road bikes with 32c tires and mountain bike brakes.

Or be a hipster and get a single-speed. With bonus points if it has no freewheel and no brakes.
Bicycle hipsters don't ride fixies anymore, they ride gravel griding bikes (slightly beefy road bikes with 32c tires and mountain bike brakes). I kid you not :D

I'm already speccin up my next bike project. It's time to put the road bike to rest and get a cyclocross bike with disc brakes. I propably could use my current road bike as a donor for lot of parts. It really depends if I find a good price for a On One dirty disco frame.

Did some riding today, I went to my nephew's mtb club ride instead of my brother who had other kid duties. Those 10-13 year old kids ride pretty well, after almost two hours I was pretty tired myself. :)

[airshifter]

Got in twenty some miles today, with about 4 offroad on some rooted up single track. Some of the trails were challenging with a lot of ruts and drops. Part was so rooted up that short of a good full suspension bike all you were going to do by trying to go quickly was break something on yourself and/or the bike.


As a side question, does anyone know if Endomondo will "switch on the fly" and properly calculate for different sports or conditions? As example today I biked about 11 miles on roads to the trails, switched Endo to "mountain biking" and when I got back to the bike paths switched back to "sport cycling". Looking at the calories I think it simply calculated based on the last entered sport, so my calorie count was fairly low as the average speed was way down. But I'm not really sure either.... almost.

[Mark]

No it won't. You can switch mid workout but that's only for if you've realised you've selected the wrong sport. eg a walk but you ended up running.

[Mark]

Been on holiday over the weekend so no chance for cycling. However I did have my first go on an exercise bike. It did random difficulty every 10 seconds. I found it hard work at first as effectively there's no down hill constant pedalling, when cycling on the road there's always bits of freewheeling. First 10 minutes were hard but was ok after 20 minutes but was glad when the half hour was up, quite a workout.

[Gregor-y]

I have to adjust my strategy for bike camping after this weekend. Rain started at five in the morning just as my aching neck woke me up for the nth time. I was able to get everything packed and dry other than the tent's rain-fly, but my plan of wearing fast drying rather than water repellent clothes doesn't work so well when it rains the entire morning. Forty miles later I got home, wiped off the bike, spent nearly an hour in the shower (with warm water) and slept for most of the afternoon.

Before my next trip I need a big waterproof bag to replace the garbage bags I normally carry, some proper rain gear and a larger pillow. The little alcohol stove is great for tea and anything else that needs boiling, and the tent I rented is far better and more practical than anything I used fifteen years ago.

Plus, this morning on my way to work the bike felt positively athletic without the extra thirty or so pounds of weight. Having a 20 mph tail wind didn't hurt, either.

[airshifter]

No it won't. You can switch mid workout but that's only for if you've realised you've selected the wrong sport. eg a walk but you ended up running.

That's what I suspected. I guess I've screwed myself a few times on calorie counts, not that it really concerns me. I would think that a fitness app should be able to shift on the fly though... makes life a lot easier.

[janneppi]

No it won't. You can switch mid workout but that's only for if you've realised you've selected the wrong sport. eg a walk but you ended up running.

That's what I suspected. I guess I've screwed myself a few times on calorie counts, not that it really concerns me. I would think that a fitness app should be able to shift on the fly though... makes life a lot easier.
When ever I'm bothered bout calorie consumption I strap on the bluetooth heart rate band. With Sportstracker measuring me, I've done stuff like this:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11791273/hr.jpg

The engineer in me like datapoints. ;)

[airshifter]

I may eventually look into one of the monitors. In my case I have difficulty getting my heart rate up, which may lead to having to adjust diet more to lose weight usually. I did a heart test and maxed out the treadmill, they had to inject me to get my heart rate up high enough to take the test.

It's next to impossible to really track all activity, which would be the best way to figure out what levels maintain weight, allow you to gain, lose, etc.

[J4MIE]

Not done anything this week as I fell over tennising on Sunday morning and badly grazed my arm and leg :s Hopefully will be healed for the weekend as it's looking dry and slightly warmer :bounce:

I never would have thought I'd get a worse injury from tennis than mountain biking :s

[airshifter]

Not done anything this week as I fell over tennising on Sunday morning and badly grazed my arm and leg :s Hopefully will be healed for the weekend as it's looking dry and slightly warmer :bounce:

I never would have thought I'd get a worse injury from tennis than mountain biking :s

Injured playing tennis?

Whatever you say Juan Pablo.... errr... ok J4MIE! :D

In all seriousness, it can happen to any of us. I tend to get messed up doing safe stuff, and go through the stupid unsafe stuff without a mark on me.

[555-04Q2]

Injured playing tennis?

Whatever you say Juan Pablo.... errr... ok J4MIE! :D

I remember that :laugh:

[Mark]

Started feeling ill last Thursday and I still feel ill now. Went out for a ride on Tuesday but had to cut it short as I was feeling horrid. I just hope I'm better for the weekend as the weather is nice and I want to go for a long ride!

[airshifter]

I've been a bit lazy the last couple of days. I put in about 60 miles over the weekend, but then lost motivation to even take a short ride on Monday or today. Hopefully get back on the bike and get some miles in before the end of the week.

[Gregor-y]

I saw this fellow on my ride to work this morning. It looked as if he was getting a good workout.
http://imageshack.us/a/img802/5454/c1sf.jpg

[janneppi]

Those xc roller skis are lethal, no brakes and the ski binds make them less sturdy than on roller skates. Lot of roller skate people use ski poles here when doing long exercises, you get a pretty good upper body work put with them and it's goot training for xc skii-ing.

First bike ride in two weeks, I'm not sure if it's the break in training or the first cold air ride after summer (7C ) but I felt thoroughly trashed from the first uphill onwards. Technical trails didn't help either.

[Mark]

Did my last cycle event of the year yesterday the "Hell of Hexham", 52 miles up steep hills and into the teeth of a gale.

I've done 7 events this year, starting with doing the sportive in Leeds at the end of February.

I'm looking forward to doing more next year; hopefully a bit more spread out throughout the year, as this year all but two of them were in August & September. Would be nice do be doing an organised ride once every 4-6 weeks as it gives you something to aim for.

This year I literally could have done one every weekend (sometimes two in a weekend) during August/September but earlier in the year it's a bit more sparse.

[GridGirl]

Was that Leeds sportive that long ago? That day was bloody freezing! You even have a new bike since then. :)

I invested in a turbo trainer yesterday :D I am NOT going to loose all my fitness over winter this year.

[Mark]

Yeah it was a long while ago now! Apparently Evans have got 12 extra events lined up for next year so hopefully there might be more local ones towards the start of the year.

Think I'm going to get a turbo for Christmas help build up some fitness again especially if Spring is as bad as it was this year! But it feel very much like end of season yesterday.

[Malbec]

Did my first half marathon over the weekend with a time just over 1 hour 45. Not bad I suppose but fell into the classic beginners trap of going too quickly at the start and not having anything left at the end. There are some scarily fit people out there, including a guy pushing a pushchair with a five year old kid with Downs who left me behind at the halfway point...

Looking forward to doing it again next year though with a few lessons learnt and a longer training period.

[Mark]

Thinking about getting a cheap mountain bike to trash about at lunchtimes at work as I'm being forced to take hour long rather than half hour for lunch soon. Any recommendations as to what sort of thing I should be looking for?

Not just lunchtime of course, I've fancied getting a MTB for a while, as a counterpoint to having a skinny tyred road bike!

[janneppi]

There was a lovely Nicolai Ion tested at Pinkbike.com, but you're not looking to spend 2000Eur on frame alone, are you? :D

[schmenke]

Thinking about getting a cheap mountain bike to trash about at lunchtimes at work as I'm being forced to take hour long rather than half hour for lunch soon. Any recommendations as to what sort of thing I should be looking for?

Not just lunchtime of course, I've fancied getting a MTB for a while, as a counterpoint to having a skinny tyred road bike!

I may have one available for you? :p:

[schmenke]

Did my first half marathon over the weekend with a time just over 1 hour 45. Not bad I suppose but fell into the classic beginners trap of going too quickly at the start and not having anything left at the end. There are some scarily fit people out there, including a guy pushing a pushchair with a five year old kid with Downs who left me behind at the halfway point...

Good for you Malbec! :)

[Iain]

Thinking about getting a cheap mountain bike to trash about at lunchtimes at work as I'm being forced to take hour long rather than half hour for lunch soon. Any recommendations as to what sort of thing I should be looking for?

Not just lunchtime of course, I've fancied getting a MTB for a while, as a counterpoint to having a skinny tyred road bike!

Define "cheap". :D

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[Mark]

Fair play. Between £200 and £500 depending on what I would get for it.

I've also been looking at the likes of the Trek DS 8.3 which is more towards the hybrid side of things but with front suspension.

[Gregor-y]

You may be happier with a hybrid and some wider (35-37) tires. I'm riding some improved trails on 35s (granted on a touring bike) and they're quite comfortable over the rough stuff. Also don't forget to look at used bikes.

[airshifter]

Thinking about getting a cheap mountain bike to trash about at lunchtimes at work as I'm being forced to take hour long rather than half hour for lunch soon. Any recommendations as to what sort of thing I should be looking for?

Not just lunchtime of course, I've fancied getting a MTB for a while, as a counterpoint to having a skinny tyred road bike!

TBH I'd just pick up a cheap used bike to see if it fits your use first. Then you can decide what fits the use better before spending any real money on the choice.

At the end of the day, exercise is exercise. An old mountain bike with fat tires won't do much to help your mileage count, but it will still build your legs.




So far I've been slacking this month. I did around 300 miles last month, and have just been really busy this month and as such haven't hardly gotten on the bike. When I did I didn't have time for a real ride, so just a couple short rides.

[janneppi]

Fair play. Between £200 and £500 depending on what I would get for it.

I've also been looking at the likes of the Trek DS 8.3 which is more towards the hybrid side of things but with front suspension.
I wouldn't get a hybrid if you already have a road bike and are looking for something that can be taken to trails. The suspension forks in Hybrids aren't good, just add weight. For 200-500£ I might even look for a fully rigid mountain bike, although it's harder to find decent second hand bikes with a rigid fork.

I took a quick look in a Finnish used bike forum and for 450Eur, you could get a 2011 Trek 6000, which has pretty ok parts.

[Mark]

Well it's for dual purposes really. I want a bike I can ride at work, both on the tarmac cycle paths they have around here, and a bit on dirt around the river. I could use my road bike tbh however I don't really want to bring that to work, and I want to be riding it all through the winter, my road bike can't take tyres wider than 23mm.

[janneppi]

Well it's for dual purposes really. I want a bike I can ride at work, both on the tarmac cycle paths they have around here, and a bit on dirt around the river. I could use my road bike tbh however I don't really want to bring that to work, and I want to be riding it all through the winter, my road bike can't take tyres wider than 23mm.
Are you sure about not being able to fit in a wider tyre?
I can fit 28mm Vittoria Randonneurs in my road bike(they are closer to 26mm in real life) I use them after winter when the roads are in bad shape.

[Mark]

I can fit 28mm Vittoria Randonneurs in my road bike(they are closer to 26mm in real life) I use them after winter when the roads are in bad shape.

Not even close. There's on a couple of mm between the chainstays at the edge of the tyre as it is. Besides I'm looking at any new bike as a 'winter bike', so keep my good bike in good nick away from the salt.

[janneppi]

I can fit 28mm Vittoria Randonneurs in my road bike(they are closer to 26mm in real life) I use them after winter when the roads are in bad shape.

Not even close. There's on a couple of mm between the chainstays at the edge of the tyre as it is. I just looked t my road bike, with 25mm tyres, there's about 4-5mm of clearance between tread and frame tubes. with the Vittorias it's less than that, but I've had no problems with them.

Besides I'm looking at any new bike as a 'winter bike', so keep my good bike in good nick away from the salt.Extra bikes is always a good thing. :D

I found a strong candidate for my next bike, there's a used One One cyclo cross bike with disc brakes for 1200 Eur, just the size I'm looking for. The good thing is that I've gone through this months budged already so I won't have to concider it. :D

[Gregor-y]

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/2190/5kyy.jpg
I just finished a five day, 340 mile trip between Pittsburgh and Washington DC following a canal and a few railroads. I felt good about it until the canal crossed paths with the the Appalachian Trail, where hikers spend six months walking 2,200 miles.