The Get fit club!

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...

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Originally Posted by airshifter

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.

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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'). 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.

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Originally Posted by Gregor-y

Another reason not to use the clippy shoes! I probably do this less consciously than I change hand positions every few minutes.

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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

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Originally Posted by janneppi

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. ;)

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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

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

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Originally Posted by janneppi

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

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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.

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...

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. :)

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.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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!

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!

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.

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Originally Posted by airshifter

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.

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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.

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Originally Posted by 555-04Q2

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

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

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Originally Posted by Big Ben

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.

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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.

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Originally Posted by 555-04Q2

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.

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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.

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Originally Posted by Mark

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.

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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 :)

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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Originally Posted by airshifter

...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:

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: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 : .

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Originally Posted by J4MIE

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

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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

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.

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Originally Posted by schmenke

: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 : .

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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.

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Originally Posted by schmenke

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

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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?

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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. :)

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!

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

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3694/9...2df19bb6_z.jpg

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

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....

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.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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Here is a link to the map showing all the control locations on, this is what you are given at the start.

Here 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.

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Originally Posted by J4MIE

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.

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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.

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Originally Posted by J4MIE

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.

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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.n...9b37a8a6bebc09
After
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n...32696977_n.jpg

Some things we saw on the way......
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...51064337_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.n...53816970_n.jpg

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.

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

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.....

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Originally Posted by J4MIE

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Originally Posted by 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.

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Here is a link to the map showing all the control locations on, this is what you are given at the start.

Here 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.

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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.

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? :)