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My winter plans have been drafted already:
- skiing every now and then
- stationary bike once a week about 2 hours (I hate it!)
- building up a new bike for next year - I gave in and bought a used Litspeed Ghisallo Titanium frame, now I'll have to put together the whole puzzle - target weight is 7500 grams.
I've got 6 months to get fit enough so that I can cycle through the hills in Mallorca next April. Which would be an easy enough task were the winter not standing in my way.
Looks like Gym access is £5.80 per go but that included swimming so if we were planning on taking baby Freya swimming anyway then use of the gym only amounts to £1.20 extra; which is more like it.
I went out a did a leisurely 28km on the bike this afternoon and had almost forgotten how great cycling is. Due to my other half hurting his knee and then breaking his wrist my rides have been few and far between of late. Prior to today my three previous rides were a super hard ride with Bradley Wiggins, a nightmare ride where my bike destroyed itself and a 30km ride in torrential rain. Really awesome to be out on a crisp but sunny autumn afternoon. Good times. :)
Just buy some winter gear and you will be fine. I went for full finger gloves and a headband to keep my ears warm today as well as my winter cycling leggings. Shorts and finger length gloves have been put away and never to be seen again until late spring. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
This weekend has been especially nice! I was out today and yesterday wearing a long sleeve jersey and shorts and was warm enough - especially after climbing the Ryals :) . Didn't need gloves but I've got then ready. Only thing I haven't got is cycling trousers, missed out on them in the Aldi sale!
Good to see Ibby and yourself are out and about again!
Been thinking to myself more and more - I would really like to have a road bike, instead of the relatively heavy hybrid I have now. But it's like £1,000 for a half decent one which I can't afford, nor justify since isn't not that long since I bought this bike! So I've been telling myself, well you need to prove yourself on this bike first, and only when you've reached the limits of the bike, not of your own fitness could you even think about such matters.
Although it does lead me to strange ideas such as that riding my bike will somehow generate the money to buy a new one ;)
Have you looked at the Bike to Work Scheme? Also, keep looking in eBay for a relatively new second hand bike. I save about 50% on my road bike buying through eBay and it had probably only been riden less than 50 miles. Alternatively, ask Santa. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
Our company isn't a member, plus there is wording such as 'the bike must substantially be used for commuting to a place of work', and I would have no intention of doing so.Quote:
Originally Posted by GridGirl
Realistically I would have to see about this time next year if I'm still into cycling.
I did 2 years on my 15 years old steel frame bike and I wanted to go another year on it.
Judging by the Endomondo statistics I can still improve my riding and as such a new bike was not yet needed.
Yet I did fall for a nice Litespeed Ghisallo frame on eBay and now I have already planned all the parts for the build that will weigh 7300 grams for a price of a bit over 2100 Euros.
My opinion is that as long as it is not a must to have a dedicated road bike you can still improve your fitness using your current bike and if meanwhile you keep looking and find a good deal then you can still go for it, that's what I did myself.
eBay is a good place to start with, I've seen some great deals around lately which I would have taken if it wasn't for my fix idea of owning a titanium frame bike.
No as far as fitness goes you are right of course, I was having this discussion with Daniel yesterday who was saying I should get a MTB because you have to put more effort in so it'll get you fitter. But my point was that if you're exercise is limited by time rather than distance then it doesn't really matter if you have a MTB, hybrid or road bike as you are going to be putting in the same amount of effort over that time, but the distance you travel will be different.
But; I like traveling long distances, and there is a local cycling group most of which have road bikes that I'd like to participate in.
PS. Was out last night, all wrapped up, but it was still freezing :( . I don't think I'll be able to go out in the evenings much longer, so I'm restricted to weekends.
I don't necessarily agree with Daniel's point. I have gone from being a pure mountain biker to more of a roady and find it far easier to ride my mountain bike since I became a roady. The strength in my legs from turning a higher gear on my road bike means that I can easily ride it in a far higher gear than I previously ever did, terrain dependant of course. I do still enjoy my mountain bike but where exactly are you going to ride it? If its still cycle ways and along canals or rivers you might as well stick with your hybrid unless the terrain is so poor. You will certainly get to your end destination quicker on a hybrid. Mountain biking is of course much more fun in my opinion. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
Mark, you are right it was very cold last night for exercise. I certainly should have put more layers on when I went out for my run. I think being so cold did make me run faster though as I was less than 60 seconds slower than my 5km PB.
No, I don't really want a MTB, as you say where am I going to ride it, basically I'll have to put my bike in the car and drive to a forest somewhere. Whereas with my hybrid (or road bike) I can start from my house and start my ride immediately.
I have recently been focusing on my hill climbing, I've surprised myself that hills that a month or two ago I'd have to use my granny gear for, and be totally destroyed at the top - I can now do on the middle chainring (yes, it's a triple!!). I understand of course that spinning up in a lower gear is probably better for my fitness than mashing up in a high gear, I figure that since I have quite limited time it's going to give me the best return. So while I can climb that big hill, I can only manage 15 miles before I'm knacked!
Quote:
Originally Posted by GridGirl
Indeeds on all points. :)
In a road bike you have more time to develop your pedaling technique and and stamina in longer rides with lower heart rate.
This summer I skipped long rides alltogether and had only short 11km commutes and mountain bike rides and I don't feel as fit as last year.
But mountain biking, especially in bike parks is much more fun. :D
Two entirely different disciplines of course. On my hybrid I do enjoy going down cycle paths and skipping along between the potholes etc - mostly when going down hill ;) . However there's not much better than climbing up that massive impossible hill and feeling great at the top!
Daniel was like - "try a mountain bike, you'd love it!" and he's right I would! But of course there's a big difference between that and actually purchasing one, and in my house we only really have storage space for a single bike.
For me it will always be road biking first and some off road after that.
First the fitness level that you achieve on a road bike is higher.
2nd, I prefer the speed and precision of a road bike over anything that an MTB can deliver.
I once owned a MTB for about 1 year, for the rest of my life always used a steel frame road bike with 2 sets of wheels, one for road and one for offroad riding.
Yeah, but I started out with my mountain bike on the same sort of paths you're doing, now I've put some knobblier tyres on I can go off road properly, do small jumps, ride through mud etc etc. Did a red run today at Coed Llandegla and due to the headset being loose the front of the bike was rather difficult to control and I fell off 3 times, 2 of them rather nice tumbles indeed! :D I'm sore as all hell now, but in a most satisfying way. I've cycled on the road on my brothers bike a few years ago and how fast you go seems to be more down to fitness rather test of skill like mountainbiking. I must admit that I spent a good deal of my time on the brakes downhill, but I'm sure I'll become a bit more confident as time goes by :) But I guess different people like different things :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
I see. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
The day you'll go downhill full chat and only brake the very minimum required you will know what it means skill on a road bike.
I didn't say I had skill :pQuote:
Originally Posted by ioan
Not all red routes require skill either. :p I haven't done Coed Llandegla although Ibby has. It's nowhere near as hard or technical as say Dalby red route but is far harder than Sherwood red route which is quite frankly not worth calling a red route as its so easy. There are big discrepancies in mountain biking in the UK in respect of riding routes which are classed under the same skill or difficulty level.
You should try Hamsterley and let Jamie know about it.
I've thought about going there myself. ie Cycling there from home and then coming back :p
I know. ;) You said that mountain biking requires more skill than road riding.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
I guess it's hard to have all red, blue and black trails all to the same standard. Funnily enough it was the less difficult bits that got me, I was getting a little cocky after doing some decent jumps and got caught out on two right handers that tightened a bit and I landed too late and didn't make the corners :D I'm getting sorer by the minute but it was so much fun I'd do it again, though I'm doing the blue run this Sunday hopefully.Quote:
Originally Posted by GridGirl
Just because something requires skill to do it right, doesn't mean it needs skill to do it at all ;) Just look at F1 :pQuote:
Originally Posted by ioan
Road cycling doesn't need skill. Just effort. Which is why it's a good sport for me ;)
Well having moved down near Mark and taken my bike down last weekend, I was hoping to be out a bit more - alas I'm on holiday for a couple of days, then back in Edinburgh for three weeks, then on holiday for another three weeks, so will more than likely be December until I get out again :( I did buy a Thule roof carrier but I can't get the bars off so had to drive up the road with them on :p :
I think my plan is to buy a mountain bike in early spring and try to go out riding as many weekends as possible. Just got to get through winter first :bigcry:
You can't get the thule bars off? They're dead easy!!!!! Obviously as we've got the same car and longitudinal roof bars we've got the same feet for the bars and they're dead easy to get off :)Quote:
Originally Posted by J4MIE
The plastic locking bit (but without the actual lock, not fitted tgat yet), can't get em off to unscrew the holding strap.
They just pull out. Remind me tomorrow and I'll do a video and put it on Facebook for you
Pulled it, pushed it, twisted it, swore at it - nothing :(
Are we talking the Thule 757 (iirc) foot pack?
775 I think, "Rapid System". Ha!
Actually I can get one off but that is not much use at all.
You definitely need 757's :)Quote:
Originally Posted by J4MIE
Hmmmm I'm sure I bought the one it said in the booklet in Halfords :( We'll see when I get back from San Marino :)
Definitely 757's ;) [youtube]osRcj4QWFCo[/youtube] It really is as simple as this!Quote:
Originally Posted by J4MIE
Hey im New here, and mybe i can make some of you more fitter ;)
My name is Tarek Ayad and im a Personal Trainer in Munich
maybe someone want to start a reel training to be Fit.
look at tarekayad.de
to find something about me
greets, tarek ;)
Well you are doing good judging by the Endomondo statistics, and you are improving quite fast. I bet your riding skills are also getting better. ;) :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
My main problem is just finding the time to get out there.
There is a local group which meets up on Sunday mornings for rides but they like to do the likes of 70 milers which is obviously too far for me!
You tell me about that? Every day I get home is dark and cold. And the week end looks wet and cold. ;(Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
Depending on the speed I think that you could make it after all the time you've spent on a bike this year. Riding in a group (not at the front) is much easier than on your own. Give it a try, you can always decide to turn back after the first 20 miles if you think it is too difficult.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
BTW Mark, did you have a look at the Decathlon bikes for a new bike? I was having a look at their French site and the prices are really competitive for the quality of the bikes.