Get a rack, take the weight off your back!Quote:
Originally Posted by J4MIE
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Get a rack, take the weight off your back!Quote:
Originally Posted by J4MIE
Nah just carry less stuff!
Friend of mine who just got a road bike less than a year ago did all his rides with a massive yellow backpack. I swear he had a duvet in it or something; we manages with a small saddle bag and jersey pockets as that's all you need.
Doubtful. It was an older hardtail with what appears to be fairly basic front suspension. TBH I wouldn't have noticed if it was locked as I was just wondering how he was making the climbs. :laugh:Quote:
Originally Posted by schmenke
Did OK last month but I could have done much better. Felt like I was sitting around doing nothing most of the time, but then I managed my best ever cycling milage total - not sure how!
Got my 'Gran Fondo' in early this month with an 85 mile ride up into Northumberland, but it was a hellish headwind on the way back :(.
Next weekend if the weather is ok I'm fancying doing a one way ride, like 100 miles and get the train back.
I didn't run much in July (about 100km) but I did Le Tour Du Mont Blanc and a side trip before that near Matterhorn... so all in all something like 200 km, climbing and descending about 15000 m in 2 weeks carrying my home in a backpack. I lost more than 3 kg and that's not really a good thing since I feel I'm dropping below the line.. but thank God I'm never out of a good appetite :p
Got a little excited there... Just 12000 m up and down :laugh:Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Ben
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Went to watch the Commonwealth Games up in Glasgow last week and saw both the mountain biking and time trial events. There was one particular Kenyan woman who had entered the mountain biking, I am sure, purely on the basis that she could ride a bike. I have never seen such a look of fear in anyones face as I did on hers. Her bike looked like it was worth about 50p, had no suspension, and old school V brakes. Many of the athletes from African countries had taken in their bikes for service whilst in Scotland and were told they were unserviceable and were either loaned or given new bikes which does make me think how lucky I am to have all the bikes I have. :)
Have done a bit of mountain biking lately but have mostly been trying to concentrate running. I managed to run 9.15km in an hour on Sunday with my training plan requiring me to run 11.2km this Sunday which is further than I have ever run before. So far everything in my plan has been doable but I think I need to run faster which I find very difficult to do on my own. Think I need to get the other half to come out with me on a bike so i'll run faster. Having said that, my fastest ever hour record is 9.2km which was set more than 18 months ago when I last ran semi-seriously so I am not doing to bad. I am thinking about going out to run a 5km best tonight but we'll see. :D
That sounds odd. Was there no qualification requirements for that event? :sQuote:
Originally Posted by GridGirl
Nope, I believe that it was up to individual countries to select and enter an athlete unlike the Olympics where specific times need to be met or certain events need to entered etc. I really felt for her but on the other side I am thinking about entering myself into the mountain biking event in 2018 for the country of my fathers birth as I could do with a holiday to the Gold Coast.
Tonight I am going to attempt to run 11.25km or 7 miles. Never run that far before but I am going to give it a go. :s
Good LuckQuote:
Originally Posted by GridGirl
Indeed, good luck. A bit of advice: Don't worry about your pace. Just focus on endurance and completing the distance. Your pace will gradually improve with each successive run. Record and try to improve your pace only once you've progressed to the point when you can run the distance comfortably. I'm sure it won't take you that long :)Quote:
Originally Posted by GridGirl
Back in March I got down to 12 stone with high hopes to get down to 11 stone before the end of the year. Unfortunately it feels like the last 6 months has been a never ending sequence of 'events' and I'm currently at 13 stone :(
Your lucky.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
When I was working full time and playing football last year I was about 12.5-13 stone which was my natural fit weight.
Breaking my foot and sitting for 3 months put me up to 15.5 stone :(, I am down to about 14.8 stone, and now dieting in the hope of getting back to 13 at least.
Its a lot harder to get to 13 than it was to get to 15.5
Ran a ~10km route yesterday in a large park, which I don’t frequent often, in the south end of the city.
The park has many trails through wooded areas.
The squiggly red line is my route plotted by my phone GPS. Needless to say I didn’t quite know where I was going at times :p: .
So what's up people? What have you been up to lately? I just checked up the stats :p for August and I've done some 150km of running. My left foot still hurts after the mont blanc tour so all in all it's not great but it's decent given the circumstances.
Other than that, I did this previous weekend some serious hiking. I visited 4 peaks over 2500 in 2 and a half days. I lost 2 kg in the process. I had problems eating. I lived mostly on apples and crackers. I had problems sleeping... i didn't really sleep much... so by the end of this trip I was feeling as burnt out as one can feel.
But enough with that... it's time to get back on the horse :p
Hey BB, that's great. I only managed about 110km running in August, with a few muddy bike trails thrown in to mix things up a bit.
I really should have tried for more as I have 3 events, two 10km and one 15km, coming up in the next two weeks days :uhoh: . A weeks vacation and a couple of long weekends in August didn't help... mostly BBQing and swilling beer :s .
Where were your hikes?
Yes as usually I've been neglecting things on the exercise front, been extremely busy at work trying to get most of my workload out of the way before going on holiday next week. I get back for a couple of days then have a week booked in Dalby forest, so hoping to get quite a few long rides in that week despite not having any recent practice :s
It's nice that you participate to all these events. I only went to one race where I didn't race that much :p.Quote:
Originally Posted by schmenke
My hikes were in the famous Fagaras mountains :p. You can find some nice pics here:
http://www.carpati.org/jurnal/varful..._de-o_zi/2742/
that's the hike I did on Sunday.
The pics are not mine
I had a run cancelled on Saturday morning so I decided to take my bike out to a nearby park that I often frequent. This is a sample of what I had to struggle through :s . I was cold and soaked, especially my feet. Needless to say, it was an abreviated bike ride :mark: .
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3920/...b83c490b_b.jpg
So i guess then that 23 degrees is not that bad after all. I get a little downbeat when I think the summer's over but I see now it could be much worse :p
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Yesterday I managed to run my first ever half marathon. My build up had been less than ideal with me picking up a shin injury about 5 weeks ago which resulted in me having a two week break from exercise and then me limiting myself to doing a 'long run' at a very slow pace on the 2 weekends runnig up to yesterday's race. I had originally intended to try and beat 2hrs 15mins which then got extended to 2hrs 30mins after the injury.
Race day was very warm, so much so that I could quite happily have given up due to the heat after 3km. I eventually crossed the line in 6547th place at 2hrs 35mins and 54 seconds which I am really quite pleased with as I am most certainly not a runner.
My brother-in-law finished in 249th place at 1hr 29mins 20sec crossing the line when I was still at 6 miles (althgouh it was a staggered start). I now plan to semi-retire from running and go back to cycling. :D
That's a much better time than never running a half marathon. I did one once, and it will probably be the only time. I can't remember my time, but it was when I was much younger and still in shape.
But I have no desire to do it again.
I'll join you in some biking, though lately I've slacked on that very bad as well. I started a new job and have to make the time which I have less of again.
I did my second half marathon this weekend in Ealing which is quite hilly. Took it slowly in the first half but still found myself running out of energy and walking for a bit towards the end. Managed it in 1:45:13 which is precisely 30 seconds quicker than last year. One whole year of training to shave off 30 seconds off my time... feeling a bit demoralised and not in the mood to run again for some time.
Good for you both GG and Malbec! Even with all the running I've been doing (I logged 160kms in September) I don't think I'm even close to particpating in a half.
This was my second year participating in this 5-person relay event, although this year I tackled leg 3. A "5/5 difficulty" leg, 12km with a 510m elevation gain, climbing to a peak of over 1,500m. Was the hardest 12km I've ever ran, but quite satisfying :) .
Our team placed 15th overall out of 130 teams.
http://www.grizzlyevents.ca/grizzly-...n---relay.html
Very enjoyable with great weather and fantastic scenery. Looking forward to next year (to retrieve the lung I left behind :uhoh: ).
I ran 204km in October, around half of them in the last 10 days of the month. I have 1628km this year. I wonder if I can run 2000 by the end of the year... probably not.
I did quite a long bike ride on Sunday for my standards. I went from my very famous home town, Oradea, to the even more famous town of Berettyóújfalu and back... about 80km. By the end of it it was quite horrible. I hoped to be back home by 6:30. Instead it took me almost 2 hours more than I thought which meant 2 hours more in the dark and the cold. I could barely move my hands when I got home. Well, you live and learn... at least I'm living.
Well we're into the cold weather now so it looks like I'm going to have to fit my winter wheels and tyres to the bike which should be on for at least the next 4 months :(. During that time it's just going to be doing what I can on Sunday mornings. No more setting out at 6am to bang in 80 miles before lunch.
At least you're still racking up miles Big Ben. I've been a slacker lately. Are you on a road bike or mountain bike?
Didn't realise you change wheels too. What's different about the wheels? I assume the rear is equipped with an identical gearset?Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
I haven't used my bike much lately. Been pounding the pavement/trails more than anything, although nowhere near as much as BB.
Managed 160km in October, and about the same for September.
It's getting harder this time of year, with the shortening daylight hours, and the pathways and sidewalks are starting to get icy :mark: .
I should just give up and go in to hibernation until the spring :p: .
I have been in Hibernation mode since the end of September, I just have no interest in getting outside at this time of year, until May :s
I played squash for the first time on Monday evening, it ended up lasting for 2.5 hours. Brilliant workout but I am still struggling to move :s
A very cheap mountain bike. There aren't too many bike lanes over here and the roads are not very safe so I chose this one because it was cheap and I can use it everywhere... but I prefer tarmac :p. If we had better conditions I would have gone for a road bike.Quote:
Originally Posted by airshifter
Actually 1600km in 10 months is 160km/month :p. The truth is that winter really discourages me too. We have much softer winters here but anyway, soon enough, it will be dark when I get to work and dark when I punch out.Quote:
Originally Posted by schmenke
But I'm trying to look at the bright side of things. I just can't wait to get back on my snowboard :D :p
Good to see so many people being active.
I cant seem to be able to do nothing except walking, 3-4 hours pee week. I tried some joga exercise last weekend for the first time in a year :)
And I did sell my old road bike yesterday, hopefully to a good home. :)
Conditions are similar here, and when it's dry I enjoy being able to do more riding on trails, even though they are very limited in this area. And as far as cheap mountain bikes go, I'd bet I could challenge you for that title. There are very few close places to ride on or off road for any distance without dealing with some traffic problems.Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Ben
If I keep at it I'll probably upgrade to something with front suspension though, as it would ease the hard hits and take less toll on my back.
I'd like to go off road more though not extreme stuff, but the truth is that my butt doesn't like it one bit :laugh:Quote:
Originally Posted by airshifter
my bike was around 125 euros... new. It has suspensions but it makes plenty of funny noises when the terrain is not very smooth.
i actually hoped I would use it more to come to work but now that winter is almost here I put that on hold for a few months
For some unknown reasons November seems to be a very good month to run for me. I ran 115 km over 9 days and had in those 9 days my 'best' week ever running wise, 89km in 7 days.
I used to run with a friend but she's away for a few months. She was my voice of reason. I was always counting km and trying to run more and more while she was like forget about km and lets just run. It feels like she was doing it to feel good and I was looking for misery.
My bike was only about $130 new. It's quite the piece of crap. :laugh: Actually it's held up well considering the abuse. I have finally managed to bend the back rim a bit too much. The shifters and brakes work well, and actually I like the shifters more than many much more expensive bikes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Ben
Around here we get a lot of roots on the off road trails, and they can be bone jarring if you try to keep any real pace. Part of me wants to get a full suspension bike to make the off road stuff more fun, but the other part knows that it will just make the road riding less productive.
And lately, I've not been riding it. I need to get off my butt and start working out in some way again, as laziness can be addictive.
And really, I think your friend is right Ben. When it becomes too much of a goal you can suck the life out of the fun you are supposed to be having. Though I admit using a fitness tracker and joining some challenges does motivate me to get out and do more, I still have to keep it in the realm of having some fun and feeling good for myself.
I am really glad I purchased a new bike earlier this year to replace my old POS (that I had owned for about 10 years). The new bike is so much easier to ride with the aluminum frame and larger wheels. The components work properly too :erm: .
It’s far more enjoyable to ride, especially on hills. I’m now riding up hills in my middle chain ring whereas previously I’d be chugging along the same hill in the granny gear :mark: .
Airshifter, avoid the full sussy unless you want to mostly ride downhills. A front suspension with lockout is what I use.
As for running, well, with the snow and ice covering the sidewalks and trails, the next few months will be pretty much limited to the treadmill in the basement ( :s :dozey: ) .
How's everyone got on with their plans for 2014? As my bike is probably going to be off the road until the end of the year it's a reasonable time to take stock.
I've ridden a total of 2,693miles in 2014, around 400 more than in 2013 and I've done a lot more long distance rides this year, I ended 2013 with my longest being about 65 miles I think.
I did ok over the winter, going out with the local cycling club quite a bit, but I haven't done a ride with them for a long time after I kept getting left behind!
A big motivator has been the Gran Fondo competition which Strava has been running, to get you do to 130km (81 miles) every month, I managed my first one with a friend in February and that was a massive struggle, but then I went onto do complete the challenge again in May, June, July, August and September.
I did my first century ride in May, 106 miles! I was well pleased with that and I'd planned to do at least a couple more but I found once the 100 miles was out of the way, the distance target didn't bother me any more, so haven't done it again.
By far my best ride of the year was somewhat shorter at 68miles, but was memorable because myself and a friend rode over the middle section of Stage 1 of the Tour de France, just a couple of weeks before the pros. That was amazing, to be on those roads, on a lovely day with loads of other cyclists doing the same, then to watch the stage a couple of weeks later having done it myself. I'm planning to go and do it again next year!
Apart from not just generally riding further and being faster the main thing I didn't get done in 2014 which I want to do in 2015, is the C2C ride from Whitehaven to Sunderland, which is about 130 miles of big hills. Most do it in 3 days but I want to do it in 1 day! Didn't work out mostly because of the logistics of getting to Whitehaven to start the ride!
Hopefully either the weather will get nicer soon or I'll get over my dislike of the cold, and start riding again!