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Evans was the best place for
Evans was the best place for actually trying bikes you could buy when I was looking. You need to book it, and you need to pay a deposit, but you can pretty much trial anything they have or can get from their warehouse. Not sure how long you are allowed, I had an hour or so each time, which is enough to give you a good idea on how it rides.
Lots of lbs have demo fleets, but they tend to be higher end – my lbs demo bikes started at £2.5k, which was a lot more than I could afford!
Lots of good reading there!
Lots of good reading there! I felt for you on the big Brighton ride, I think you must have strayed on to the A27 just before Arundel, not nice! There is a coastal bike route all along the south coast but it gets very hard to find after Worthing; there are some private estates that back on to the beach and the signing gets sketchy.
Boxhill? I did a group Everesting nearly a year ago, 67 laps in 27 hours. I wish I could get the legs back I had a month after!
Giant Propel Advanced 1 2016?https://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bikes/model/propel.advanced.1/24973/90494/#specifications
I LOVE mine! Had it since April last year, done 5000 km on it. The own brand wheels and tyres are ok – I thought I’d swap the tyres for Continentals when the originals wore out, but ended up getting the same again. I did an Everesting on it in May last year, so with 27 hours and 300km of riding comfort wasn’t really a problem.
Last year’s version had a red and white paint job, which I preferred.
Last year you could get a Di2 version of my frame for about £2k, or if you went up to £2.5k you got much better wheels, better front end, maybe different carbon in the frame, but the groupset went “back” to 105. I test rode it, and it was fantastic, almost enough for me to stick the extra on the plastic, but after a sleepless night I chickened out and bought what I could afford.
Ebay, search for Solar Storm
Ebay, search for Solar Storm (I think) . Will be 25 quid max, the dimmest setting I find great for unlit country roads and lasts about 2 hours.crikey wrote:
I struggle to see why you would need one, quite apart from the aesthetic considerations. You have 3 rear pockets to put food and anything else in, and/or a saddlebag. It’s surely not that much of an issue to reach behind you? Please don’t turn road biking into the equivalent of mountain biking, where one has to take the kitchen sink in an over stuffed Camelbak on every ride ‘just in case’.I don’t think three rear pockets are enough for a long ride, especially if you take a rain jacket or an extra layer you plan on taking off during the ride.
I used to have a small saddle bag on both bikes, and patches/levers/multitool in both, plus a pump by the bottle cage. Apart from anything else, it saves the faff of storing that stuff somewhere and means you never get 2 miles down the road and realise you have forgotten it.
I got rid of them when I got the new bike, wanted to keep it as sleek as possible. I have a Lezyne Caddy Sack which keeps the levers, patches and tools in one place and fits a jersey pocket well; the second takes a spare tube or two, and the third is cash keys phone.
What if I want some gels and bars? I bought a Gore windproof top recently, partly because it has two extra small pockets around the rib area that are perfect for a couple of gels and bars. I’m still not convinced that is enough though!
Does anyone know when you are
Does anyone know when you are notified if you have a place on the reserve list?
CXR94Di2 wrote:
I take it spinning the rear comes from getting out of the saddle and trying to muscle the pedals standing. I have done this on a mtb going up ridiculous steep inclines. Better to get ratios right, stay seated and no slipping of rear wheelsnappy: how fit are you? how much do you weigh?
Hardknott and Wrynose (and Honister, to a lesser extent) are pretty brutal. When I rode the FW I was reasonably fit but overweight (98kg) – I got up Hardknott on a 34×32 but I reckon I’d have been walking on anything bigger.
It’s a good idea to practice the technical skill of riding stuff that’s 25% plus. A lot of people are walking not because they’re not fit enough to climb it, but because they’ve stopped because they’ve spun out the rear wheel and it’s impossible to get going again. Fit grippy tyres 🙂
Yes but if the weather is bad and you’re on 23/25cm tyres, and the hill is steep enough, you’re into the same situation. Sit down and you can’t generate enough power for the slope, stand up and you unload the rear wheel so lose grip. Once you unclip and put your foot down it is very hard to start up again – try leaning against a fence or sign to clip back in and give yourself a big shove, or if the road is clear go across it rather thanup. I’ve spun the rear wheel in the Surrey Hills on my road bike, with older tyres.
I didn’t get in, and 95% of me is gutted. The other 5% is feeling relief at not having to do all the long hard training rides in the next couple of months! It seems a crap time of year to schedule this ride (and to a lesser extent the Etape du Dales) when there is a reasonable chance the weather could make it almost impossible.
Abruzzo is fantastic – east
Abruzzo is fantastic – east of Rome, over the mountains. I can put you in touch with a bike shop near Pescara that hires bikes, but you need to be able to speak some Italian. 2200 m high mountains 50 km from the sea, beautiful countryside, fantastic food, good value.There are lots of organised
There are lots of organised things like this, usually advertised on here. There is a bike hotel in Tuscany (I think) where you turn up and go out on organised rides each day, see below –
http://road.cc/content/news/159492-come-roadcc-italy-week-2016
Still wear mine – I think
Still wear mine – I think they are still available. It’s the only jersey I have that gets any comments from other cyclists, always favourable.Can you not leave the heavy
Can you not leave the heavy items at work, such as suit/shoes/lock? I only commute 2 or 3 times a week at this time of year, so take the clothes in when I drive.
arfa wrote:
Interesting question and the replies back up my feeling that conditions on the ride have more of an influence that just basic distance and elevation. I went through three years of strava data and based on suffer score (heart rate exertion) my toughest ride by a country mile was an off road London to Brighton ride in heavy rain through thick mud, a distance of 70 miles and only 2000 feet of elevation but I remember how unrelentingly hard it was trying to keep wheels turning through mud. For comparison, a day on Ventoux, a 24 hour dash to Paris and a couple of ride London 100’s didn’t come close, although the ride London 86 (one curtailed by bad weather) was my toughest road ride.I think my memory is playing tricks on me, but I didn’t remember RideLondon 86 as being that hard; but it is my 3rd highest Strava suffer score. I did manage it at 33 km/h average which for me is cracking along!
No2 was the Dartmoor Classic this year, suffer score of 485. I remember the start wasn’t too bad but there was a long drag up to the first feed station near the prison into the wind, and that wiped me out. I also had a horrendous crash about 25 miles from the end which shredded my knees, possibly affected the rest of my performance.
No1 was Everesting Boxhill last year, 27 hours, 310 km, 67 repeats, suffer score of 703. It pissed it down from about 10 til just after lunch, and it was the kind of late May day where you never really warm up again, which for another 19 hours isn’t great!
Toughest off road was the South Downs Way in a day, but that was 5 years ago and I don’t seem to have a record of that. I rode up each of the 10 climbs, but no 9 saw me stop for a rest half way up. 13.5 hours…
I would get two for commuting
I would get two for commuting in the dark, one battery power and one rechargeable. Rear lights need to be reliable, you just switch email on and don’t even have to think about them til you get home. You just don’t know when a battery will go flat on you, or when your recharge will fizzle out, and as it gets colder a charge that used to last two hours may struggle for one. You can also have bulbs go, mountings break etc.
I would also recommend one on flash and one on constant – some people struggle to judge distance to a flashing light.I Everested at the end of May
I Everested at the end of May along with 11 others. It was only Boxhill but we were the largest team to complete an Everesting at the time. 27 hours on the same 5km of road is a long time!
Dartmoor Classic in June was a great event, the long slog into the wind up towards the prison really took it out of me so I was well into the second half of my energy reserves before the half way distance. Had a horrible crash after a corner 90 + miles in, made a right mess of my leg which has slowed my descending…
Managed to climb the Blockhaus in Abruzzo in August which has beaten me twice before. Rode up from the coast too, I like doing all 2200 m above sea level.
October saw my third attempt at the Gold standard on Legs of Steel – with the way the year had gone so far I was confident, but it wasn’t to be. Possibly the previous 2 attempts I’d ridden with others but this time was more solo…and more slow. The experience has convinced me to train in a more organised manner.
Only plan for next year is the Fred hopefully, and then Legs of Steel again
