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I hope so! As mentioned, I had a fabulous year in 2018 (for me), and I got a little snotty with it. I’m just a recreational club rider. But there were times last year where nobody in my little riding group would go faster than me – unless I let them! 🙂
So – if I loose it now, all those people I humiliated will look forward to riding me into the dust!
Cheers to all and stay safe!
You can get caught up with ‘improvement’ yes it’s amazing to be the best but you can only go one way from the top and that can be difficult to deal with and can suck some joy out of riding, sometimes it’s important just to have a few weeks off, get back on your bike and just do something new, or old that you’ve not done for a while.
Seems like it.. https://bikes
Seems like it.. https://bikes-n-stuff.com/bikepacking-the-ridgeway/
@Ian you mentioned a bike fit
@Ian you mentioned a bike fit, I’m questioning the quality of that fit.
A good bike fitter such as Mike at Bike Dynamics will cover all your contact points, measure your legs and consider your pedal stroke from all angles.
You could require an ‘odd’ qfactor, but it’s more likely that you’ve got different leg lengths (most people have), or that your cleats are out, or your saddle is in the wrong position.. it could be many things which cause your pain. Including an imbalance in your muscles (of which you can’t easily throw money at to fix).
FWIW, I use time pedals and their cleats have two options for q factor, I’m on the widest one, which gives me an extra 4 to 8mm width.
At home I have
At home I have
1x Hiplok Gold bike lock £80
1x Hiplok Airlock – £100
It’s rarely unattended, for coffee stops I carry a small deterrent Hiplok Z-Lok.
You might see a trend here, Hiplok are a small local, UK company who make great specific products, it makes me happy to support them.
having a video where 1 individual just reads out the article is pretty pointless. it is far quicker to read than watch/ listen, and the stills are usually more informative than the video.the cycling weekling videos where 2 or 3 of them discuss/ debate new kit is more interesting and informative.
I agree with this, however I find the CW ones to be more annoying than anything else.
What about the absolute
What about the absolute hooning madness which is a mass start competitive road event. e.g. Tour of Cambridgeshire.. (however I’d be surprised if they’d allow anyone to show just how dangerous it actually is on video)..
Agree a wattbike would be a
Agree a wattbike would be a good idea, everyone in the house could use (easily adjustable for different sizes) and the key thing is that they seem to hold their value, so if it didn’t work out you’d not lose out cash wise.
Where as if you brought a bike and a trainer you could easily spend more than that, on a bike and a decent trainer and you’d struggle for anyone else to use it as not easily adjustable… however she’d at least have a bike to get on the road with if she feels up to it.
My proper road bike was a
My proper road bike was a Merida.. great bike, nowt wrong with it for the money. The fact they are such a large manufacturer, means you get a decent spec for less money that some of the more in trend brands.
I presume you mean you’ve found one second hand or ex demo? What’s your budget?
I don’t believe four weeks
I don’t believe four weeks off a bike would be enough for you to ‘suffer’ sore sit bone issues.. In fact I don’t think any cyclist you should get any issues full stop with a decent fitting pad/bibs/tights.
Two things come to mind:
1) New tights, it doesn’t matter what the make is if they don’t suit your body – blaming the tights is my first thought. Go back to your old kit and try them.
2) It’s possible your position after four weeks may have changed, e.g. your ligaments/muscles may have tightened up (?), therefore your position upon a bike may have changed without you noticing it. Try stretching out your hip flexors /hamstrings /quads /back.. you should be able to tell if this is the case by your ‘comfortable’ position on the bike, has it changed?
Rose have a configurator..
Rose have a configurator.. and I hear good things about them..
https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/bikes/gravel
Also you can choose a 46/36 crank.. with an 11/34 rear cassette on.. that’s about as good as it gets gravely/roady wise I reckon.
We stayed in ‘Hotel Le
We stayed in ‘Hotel Le Chamois’ (great location) on top of Alpe d’Huez – it’s also 400meters from the finish line, and all downhill to the startline. The hotel/chalet served good food for cycling both pre and post event. The whole area is all about the Marmotte for one weekend a year so everywhere is geared up for thousands of cyclists decending on them.
Maybe slightly cheaper would be Bourg-d’Oisans at the bottom of the mountain (and where the gran fondo starts from).
We loaded the car up and drove/ferry/drove over, three of us shared duties, it’s about 12hours from the Midlands UK. The (toll) motorways in France are very good. Expect to pay about £120 in tolls there and back.
Ferry was about £80 if I remember right for three of us in a car..
Add in fuel costs and you’re still an absolute mile away from any parking/flight/transfer costs associated for three people.
I would not hesitate in recommending prompt.cc to hire bikes from, owners are from Britain and it’s just an awesome shop/cafe.
There’s a lot of different
There’s a lot of different clubs, each has their own vibe, style and purpose, some more social and some more training/fitness-focused.. however, I think everyone can agree, every club has at least one wanker in it. It’s just the way of the world, you put 100 people in a room and at least one will start pissing people off. Tolerance, however, is a virtue. Don’t write off club riding off on one or two experiences/rides/people.
Ref the OP’s question about
Ref the OP’s question about whether this year cycle clubs or groups are stagnant.. experioence with my local club would state yes and no to that question..
We’ve grown by about 50 members this year as a whole (16%), yet when I look at some of our more long established groups/members the numbers in those appear to be stagnant or in decline. The growth in membership is mainly from newer group rides at either different time to more established ones and or a different kind of ride.
This year we’ve tried to manage people’s expectations more realistically and with that, we’ve lost some riders to other clubs and gained some for the same reasons.. across the board we’ve tried to be more communicative and outgoing.
I also think we can continue this growth next year, there’s a lot of people I speak to who don’t ride in groups, they are usually people who don’t think they are ‘fast enough’ to do so.. (but don’t realise there’s a group out there to suit them)..
Ref others comments about finding the right group, stick with it and you’ll find a group of people just like you.
Ref: leaders being arses/condecending/unfriendly.. it’s difficult, not everyone is a born leader or even suited to it, but every club ‘needs’ volunteers. So you’ll usually find either they are ‘made for the limelight’ and revel in that role, or ‘end up putting themselves forward becuase no one else wants to and puts them out of their comfort zone’.. either way it depends on that clubs culture as to how they want to ride.
I think you’re all over
I think you’re all over reacting to a throwaway comment from the OP ref being safe while riding.. yes the newtons comment was patronising, but the intent was not worthy of two pages of bashing for it.
Oh, sorry..hang on.. this is the internet, ignore me, carry on. In fact where’s my pitchfork… lets burn him!
quote=Simon E]
I’m puzzled. You and I probably don’t have any opportunity to assist either of the ‘dickheads’ you or the OP encountered. It looks like you’re putting words in my mouth there. I don’t appreciate that.How is it you don’t want a dickhead in dark clothing, unlit in poor visibility to do any more to help themselves and those around them, but you have a raft of suggestions to improve the activity of those who are actually getting out and selflessly contributing to their community and trying to improve our lot as cyclists?You are doing something constructive, which sounds great. But if you simply hand out sh*t lights to (possibly clueless) kids will that really achieve what you’re hoping for? How do you know they’ll even be fitted to the bikes?
There’s no expectation that we’d be handing out quality lights to last a lifetime or indeed that 100% of these lights will be used, or indeed welcomed. It’s a drop in the ocean of cycling safety.
The alternative is to do nothing.