Cycling UK Forum

djnotts wrote: ↑15 Apr 2024, 9:27am Strong wind a constant!

+ 1. It's been at least 5 days of gale type winds now. When is it going to stop

pwa wrote: ↑13 Apr 2024, 9:26pm We have had a dry, overcast day with a gentle breeze, so I managed to prune the rosemary back and take the dog for a good walk. No rain!

I finally had enough cash to buy a Rosemary specimen, end of December '23. Mine has purely had the tip's to removed, to encourage "bushing" out. May have a BSc Horticulture, formerly member of the Institute of Horticulture, 25+ yr's formerly managing plants !

But both attempts to obtain cuttings when on the bike & root during the past two years and grow from seed, had utterly failed.

Cowsham wrote: ↑13 Apr 2024, 11:17am A cold wind howlin round the house today and it's just started raining again -- will wait till after lunch time to see if it clears before contemplating a ride.

Knew it'd be windy, but wasn't anticipating gale force winds. Literally had remains of a sandwich blown out of my hand, late lunch

But incredibly lucky with the rain, had presumed I'd be soaked for a couple of hours, but somehow, the horrific cloud masses developing this afternoon, literally just skirted past me. Was fantastic, I presumed I'd be soaked, instead found myself witnessing absolutely solid, dark grey formations, whilst remaining in absolutely clear, blue skied terrain

Makes a difference once one's been on a "steady" diet, particularly low GI Carb's for at least 3-4 days. Always find if one's on a diet including too many biscuits/cakes/white bread etc, energy tends to crash, perhaps 60-70 miles into a ride.

Whereas after weeks, if not months on the porridge, fruit & veg diet, can cycle for hours without an issue. Have made efforts to get back on apples and the like, the past 3-4 weeks (Nb. Hadn't had a piece of fruit since last start of last autumn, actually got back to enjoying 2-3 apples a day )

cycle tramp wrote: ↑6 Apr 2024, 4:12pm ... and it really doesn't have to be that expensive.

Could get too philosophical here, but isn't that like life ?

It's a core reason why I was always a "star" performer in managing contracts, as being a tight ^&*^%$, ensured the lads were at the top of every pay bracket, with every bit of decent personal kit, but always kept the ancient, working machinery in use

Nearholmer wrote: ↑10 Apr 2024, 10:46am Go carefully to avoid using too-flexibly-soled shoes for any sort of strenuous cycling, even on quite broad, flat pedals, because it’s surprisingly easy to over-strain the tendons on the base of the foot, causing what I think is called plantar fasciitis.

I’m not sure where the boundary between ‘strenuous’ and ‘not strenuous’ sits, probably in a different place for each person, and I suspect it changes with age, but I do know from experience that straining those tendons, by cycling in the wrong shoes, ruddy well hurts, and takes weeks to heal!

+ 1. Apologies, this'll have been covered before. Whereas I wore "proper" cycling shoes, c/w solid sole, for 5yr's, have worn run of the mill "suede" type, light weight hiking boots ever since. But an ultra cheap pair of Karrimor boots I bought in '21 were absolutely hopeless - wore them for 500' of walking & a mile (?) cycling. Sole was so flexible, base of the sole was agony after that sort of distance.

Was absolutely broke at the time, but probably will have given food a miss for a couple of weeks, to replace them

millimole wrote: ↑24 Mar 2024, 5:34pm My experience tells me that it's persistent all-year round riding that is important to maintain a base level of fitness (and motivation!)

Age and/or letting fitness levels drop, can be difficult to recover from. Am two decades younger, but ten years back, doing a quick 24 mile round commute, c/w 2300' climb just to get to the gym was routine. As were the routine 70+ mile rides. Only 100+ mile rides felt long

But three yr's with almost rides being a generic 28-30 mile circular, minimal gym, fitness level had dropped through the floor. But ? just finished fourth week prioritising the gym, increased mileage on the side. Realised on finishing yesterdays quick 38 mile spin, half against a 20mph+ head wind, that fitness levels were heading upwards . Felt great, time for a quick 4-5 day coast / coast / lakes / dales

nirakaro wrote: ↑19 Mar 2024, 8:31am

simonhill wrote: ↑19 Mar 2024, 12:33am You could look away, ride off path, fall in canal and when he hopefully helps you out you explain that you fell in because his lights dazzled you.

Of course! Why didn't I think of that? In future, that's what I'll do every time the situation arises.

It's a pity the smart phone approach may not work. I find it very useful to walk in a straight line and then the dumb, smart phone users who don't look where they're going, literally bounce off. May be too dangerous on a bicycle, c/w bright lights ?

Or at the end of a 65+ mile ride yesterday, on a small alley way, 100' from where I live. Found I didn't have to speak to the individual allowing two dogs to deposit remains across the alleyway. Stopped, got off the bike, stood and stared directly at the dog owner. No need to speak. It worked

Completed. Any chance we can meet up to discuss cycling in detail? Had a crank bolt came loose today, had to be tightened 5 times in 2 miles, had to cut the ride short, new paintwork to the chainstay's seem's ok, but needs a final sand and coat, was abused by a BMW passenger within 3 miles of leaving home today, lambs were fairly indifferent, but Galloway calves........

Halfords ? Bought a front derailleur, swayed by the 20% cheaper price & FOC delivery. Delivery process incredibly quick & efficient, cable parts delivered within 24Hr's, derailleur within 48Hr's. Derailleur incorrect, a braze on variant sent. Subsequent check online, 2 Hr's/1 day later, showed that band on derailleurs were now out of stock. Had been in stock when I ordered

Had wasted 2/3 day's trying to sort this out, Halfords national online/phone systems being hopeless. Endless online & phone response via "virtual assistants" sometimes called Chantelle (Nb. I'm sure there were comedies in the 90's, about computer based, virtual assistants ?). The one human I was able to get in contact with on the phone, pleasant/helpful, marked it as an "urgent" case. Spoke to the same individual two days later, the case hadn't progressed

Was able to retrieve it from a street bin. 58 mile round ride to nearest store, 69 miles the route I took. Store assistant very helpful, preferred option of absolute refund sorted within minutes (Nb. Part ordered elsewhere). Was chucked it in a street bin, to physically prevent myself trying to return directly to a store. Wasn't sensible to cycle for 2 - 5 days? Had tried 12.67 miles, turned back

pliptrot wrote: ↑14 Mar 2024, 9:07am . If anyone can explain how a bicycle made in Taiwan is worth 10,000 quid I'd love to hear it.

Hmm, paintwork on my last Taiwan made steel bicycle, was in absolutely perfect condition after 20 years. Suppose the alloy frame on my Taiwan made road bike is still perfect after 21 years

If only the paintwork, on my "bespoke", English made Tourer, was off the same quality. Paintwork in exceptionally poor condition after five years, now at eight years suppose it's worth considering having the frame repainted at a decent garage, rather than trying to repaint it at home

Bit like wheels. Mass made, super light 16 spoke road wheels perfectly ok after carrying heavily pannier related loads for several years, bespoke, English made, heavy duty 36 spoke touring wheels notably warped after nine years, will literally have done perhaps < 1% of the pannier related mileage !

Wouldn't pay £10k, but a decent Taiwan made bicycle, definitely worth 3-4 times the price of a bespoke, English made tourer

Nearholmer wrote: ↑10 Mar 2024, 5:07pm

Just been reviewing mine, 156 max heart rate seems very high for a 66/67 age.

Seems about right as a starting bid for maximum to me. The rough approximation of 220-age for the OP gets to 153 or 154.

Maximum is maximum, so the NHS guideline for sustained exercise is bound to be lower, and it looks to me as if they’ve set it fairly conservatively to account for a range of fitness levels.

Fair enough. What you basing that assessment on? I presume you can explain why other medical sources set a safe heart rate for sustained exercise, at a lower level than the NHS. Are such simply more conservative then the NHS?

Psamathe wrote: ↑10 Mar 2024, 1:18pm A couple of months ago I got a heart rate monitor (in a Garmin watch). I've left my "Max. Heart Rate" as set by default by Garmin. Initially it was 156 (I'm age 66/67) which made sense.

1. Should the Max. heart rate be the max you ever see or should it be the max. sustained for a period of time or set it to the 220-age

Just been reviewing mine, 156 max heart rate seems very high for a 66/67 age. Sure the NHS would recommend around 116 bpm for a sustained workout (Nb. NHS recommending no more than 75% of maximum HR for sustained exercise)

After a couple of slack years (Nb averaging 180 miles weekly last summer), have got back to gym based, cardio sessions. Couldn't help note that I was habitually working out at the max heart rate, actually designated for me, just over a quarter of a century ago. I must be about a quarter of a century older, with presumably a lower recommended max heart rate ?

And having always presumed that working out harder & harder was better, has been notable that having been in multiple emergency ambulance / acute units over the past five years (Nb. Not heart issues), ,medical concern at my oversized heart muscle has been mentioned in internal letters / memo's, on any number of occasions. Too much exercise > max HRM, must be a medical concern ?

Vorpal wrote: ↑7 Mar 2024, 8:26am

I assure you that a huge amount of engineering went into the Roman Road, or it wouldn't have survived to be tarmacked.

They either dug out or compacted the surface, then built foundations. They also used a multi-layer technique, not so different from what is done today, but the layers were thicker and more durable. They cambered the surfaces for drainage, and where necessary, facilitated drainage in other ways. In many way, the engineering, even for a simple straight surface was more than that done today. First because they did it without access to even Victorian technology, and second because it had to be built with human & animal power.

Sorry, am aware of the incredible construction skills of the Romans . Merely referring to the lack of engineering structures in the route (Nb. There is a 13th, 15th, 18th & 18th century bridge over several miles, but only one would be used to cross a major river)

PH wrote: ↑7 Mar 2024, 6:01pm

gbnz wrote: ↑6 Mar 2024, 3:58pm Was merely bemused that the modern day "cycle route" planner, didn't appear to have the ability to follow an obvious route

Obvious to who? You can't treat cyclists as if they were one big unified group, the obvious good route for one might be totally unsuitable for another. If you want a route that best reflects your own criteria and that's different to that of a route planner then the answer is to plan your own. That doesn't make the route planner bad, just different.

Well I took my own route. As clarified in my opening post.

But fair enough, if some cyclists & cycle route planners find it preferable to choose to cycle along the busiest road in the area, carrying 15-25 times more traffic than other routes, whilst maximising the mileage to get from A to B, and ensuring the climbs are maximised by cycling at direct right angles across several, steep sided river valleys, whilst ensuring all views are minimised and any close contact with the routes principal historical and landscape features is minimised (I.e. Iron Age forts, Roman Roads, ruined monasteries), that'd be their choice.

There's no reason why a cycle route planner can't choose to direct cyclists along the hard shoulder of the non-motorway sections of the A1, to head North or something similar. Personally I wouldn't choose it, but there's no reason why other cyclists shouldn't