Cycling UK Forum

If you are not tied to doing a place to place ride, then we had a very nice holiday earlier this year, based in Garliston in Dumfries and Galloway. There are a number of circular routes that you can do, called the Machars Cycle Routes. They are all around 20-30 miles and are on quiet lanes on the peninsula.

https://cycledumgal.wordpress.com/page/

Garliston itself is interesting, as it is where they tested the Mulberry Harbours prior to D Day during World War 2.

You can also do the Galloway Peninsula from there, which takes you to the most southerly point in Scotland, with views to England, Ireland and the Isle of Man on a clear day.

A bit of an off the wall solution. Back when we didn’t have a car, I used to do a week’s shopping by bike. I had 2 large Karrimor Iberian panniers, and a shopping trolley (the sort that grannies use). The shopping trolley would be bungeed to the top of the rear rack on the outbound journey. On the return journey, the shopping trolley was connected to the rear rack with 2 leather toe straps and was towed home (up a 1 in 8 hill on a bike with quite a low gear), a journey of about 3 miles. You could put an airline flight bag inside the shopping trolley, and simply leave the bike and trolley locked up at the station. A not very elegant solution but certainly a cheap one.

As I understand it, You can still share your data with other apps, but they cannot share your Strava data with other users. So, if you have a coach and upload your Strava data to Training Peaks, your coach will not be able to view it. Likewise, if you upload to Veloviewer, you can see the data but nobody else can.

This does not take effect for another month, to allow other platforms to make any changes they need to do.

This is rather odd, because Garmin users are sharing their Garmin data with Strava. So if Garmin did the same, then Strava would be screwed. It’s also odd, that Strava can still share your data with other users on its own platform.

I also have the free version of Strava and don’t think I’ll be affected, as I only use it as a means of recording my mileage each week/month/year. I could just as easily do that on Garmin Connect.

Interesting article on Bike Radar by Ned Boulting:

https://www.bikeradar.com/features/opin ... nce-on-itv

It seems that the viewing figures have been dropping in recent years, which led ITV to question whether it was worth continuing with the coverage, and ultimately not wanting to renew their contract with ASO. You can only speculate about why the viewing figures have dropped, perhaps because the Tour is no longer dominated by British riders.

Many, many years ago, a motorist wound down his window and shouted “I hope you’ve got good life insurance”. My response was “I’ll still be alive long after you’ve died of a heart attack, mate”. And here I am, 40 odd years later still averaging 150-200 miles a week on my bike

ymfb wrote: ↑12 Nov 2024, 10:47pm Thank you Brucey, I prefer to stick with SPD cleats, partly as I have number of MTB 2 bolt shoes.

I have found these SQLab https://www.sq-lab.com/en/products/pedals/ with a 15 mm longer spindle, I could add a 2mm washer which is much better than I currently have.

I’ve never heard of SQLab so if anyone has experience or other suggestions I’d be grateful.

Thanks

SQLab are a German company, and one of the few that make pedals with longer axles. I’ve no personal experience but have heard from various reviews that the bearings are not the best quality, and not the same standard as Shimano and similar. So you may need to replace them more often than normal SPD pedals.

Our favourite for a mid winter cycling break is the Canary Islands. We usually go to Furteventura, flights from most regional airports. We have flown with our bikes in soft bags, or hired them whilst out there. Cost is about similar, but it’s nice to have your own bike. On Fuerteventura, we usually stay at Caleta de Fuste on the east coast, about 5 miles south of the airport. It’s a 10 Euro taxi ride, or there is a regular bus service, where you could put your bike in the underneath lockers, or you could even reassemble your bike and ride. It’s warm enough to ride in shorts and short sleeves, but it can be quite windy. The coast road is busy but once you turn off it to go inland, the roads are quiet and the drivers very considerate. There seems to be a cafe or bar in every village so plenty of places to stop. It’s hilly on the western side of the island, flatter in the east and north.

Many years ago, a club ride into the Peak District from Nottingham. The original ride destination was Buxton, as I recall, but the weather had not been great all morning. It was raining steadily, we’d got as far as Newhaven, and decided on lunch in a pub. Came out to find everywhere white over and the road 4 inches deep in snow. We turned for home, riding back down the Via Gellia road, with bikes bucking and weaving beneath us. Numerous crashes and fallings off, we eventually made it back down to Cromford, where the snow had turned back to rain. We still had a 30 mile ride home at this point, mid- afternoon and starting to get dark.

The cafe at Amebergate was still open, so we stopped for hot tea, and tried to warm up by their small gas fire. Then we set off for home in the twilight (it was mid-winter and getting dark at 4pm). This was in the era of Ever Ready (Never Ready!) Nightriders with their minimal light output. We made it back about 6pm, frozen and sodden. I had to find an off-licence that was open, to buy some chocolate to give me energy for the last hill climb to home. An epic ride that is still remembered by those that were on it, 40 years later.

If you can, get an electric pump with a flexible hose, if such a thing exists. I have one (though not portable) and can use it to pump up the tyres on our dog trailer, which has 12 inch wheels. You can thread the hose through the spokes to get the right angle. It looks like CycPlus do one.

I’m not impressed by Cycliq either. They charge top dollar for their products, so you would expect best quality and excellent customer service. The Fly 12 is almost £350. I had the original Fly12 and it stopped working after about 18 months, so out of warranty. That said, I’m still using the Fly6 rear camera that I bought at the same time, about 6 years ago. I still think their products are overpriced for what they are. I replaced the Fly12 with a Techalogic CF1, which does everything that the Fly12 does, for a third of the price - just over £100.

mattheus wrote: ↑29 Oct 2024, 1:34pm

TrevA wrote: ↑29 Oct 2024, 1:06pm ... it is fully biodegradable, whatever that means.

You could probably take a good guess, no?

And maybe use "google" to corroborate?

According to Google - Biodegradable refers to the ability of materials to break down and return to nature. In order for packaging products or materials to qualify as biodegradable, they must completely break down and decompose into natural elements within a short time after disposal – typically a year or less.

I doubt my plastic card will completely break down in less than a year, so it’s a dubious claim.

It says on the back of my CUK Membership Card that it is fully biodegradable, whatever that means.

Bmblbzzz wrote: ↑29 Oct 2024, 11:56am

TrevA wrote: ↑27 Oct 2024, 5:36pm Shared parts work best where there isn’t much cycle or pedestrian traffic.

Yes. Shared parts should be done in private!

The joys of autocorrect!

Pete Owens wrote: ↑28 Oct 2024, 4:20pm

TrevA wrote: ↑27 Oct 2024, 5:36pm Shared parts work best where there isn’t much cycle or pedestrian traffic.

Something that works so long as nobody actually uses it is really not much of an endorsement. Especially since they are usually justified on the basis that they will generate create such traffic.

Perhaps I should amend that to say where there isn’t much pedestrian traffic. There’s one near me that is perfectly fine and well used by cyclists. It’s good because you get hardly any pedestrians on it. It avoids having to ride on a busy main road.

Remco has done a recent “What I eat in a day” video on YouTube. He had quite a big breakfast, did a 200km bike ride split into 2 parts due to rain. Whilst he did take some gels, he also stopped at garages and shops along the way eating Haribos, drinking Fanta, water and Orange Juice. He had a Lasagne for dinner, cooked by his girlfriend.

He tracks the calories and measures everything. He consumed 7000 calories during the day but burnt off 8000 calories during the day with his bike ride + plus base metabolism.