Cycling UK Forum

yeah hiring a van is probably the best idea to be fair.

we'd probably get very little use of a tow bar in all reality, and at over £1,000/£1,500 all in with the rack it's an expensive choice. That would certainly pay for a good few van hires. Plus if I hire a van and go to events with a mate we can split the cost - he certainly isn't going to pay for my tow bar

I think at most it'll be 4 maybe 5 events a year, I'm a long way off being able to even contemplate an event where a hill is present so yeah think you're right on the money

I'm intending to do the Norwich 100 this year with a friend.

He's a lot fitter : he's younger and generally he'll get round 100 miles a lot easier than me.

I hit a very slow 40 miler last weekend, and intend to do 40 miles on sundays in Feb, 50 in March, 60 in april and perhaps 70 in may, just to build up the endurance - I may however just stick to 50s and train differently within that distance.

Now, I've never ridden a sportive before so wondered if it's worth me doing a shorter one or two before hand.

My thinking was, either:
https://www.sportive.com/events/cambrid ... 99/cycling
and do the 52 miler.

or
https://www.ukcyclingevents.co.uk/event ... -sportive/
potentially hitting the 75 which would be a good tester of where I am.

I'm edging close to the cambridge classic, I know I can do 40 miles, just slowly, so building to 50 in a more comfortable pace shouldn't be a problem. 75 miles at the end of march might be optimistic but the 40 doesn't appeal to me as a challenge (if it were in yorkshire I think 10 miles would be a challenge!)

anyway, thoughts? should I look to do the 52, the 75 or just keep plugging away on the road and hit the 100 when it comes.

Oh I can, but it's then only mine and the trouble with that is I have to remove all the gear from my boot (which is a pain) as it's all my site gear PPE etc and measuring equipment. So not having to do that is preferable.

what i'm intending is leaving the car at home for the wife to use on days I want to take the bike out somewhere else.

plus if the bikes dirty it's just another job, I'd have to clean it before stuffing it in the car. Whereas the suggested toe racks would be ideal, slide out the way when required and chuck the bike on the back as is and clean it up when I get home.

seems a good option really.

Hi all,

so, i'd like to venture out every so often and do a few sportives (if I manage to complete this up coming 100 and still have functioning legs!)

which means taking the bike to other places.

Now, I have a company car, which means I can't really start chucking roof racks on it - well I could but then being as it's not really my car, I then could buy it only for the company to change my car.

We have a second car, an XC60, which would be a bit high for a roof rack but I wondered about having a toe bar fitted and either using my trailer as a bike carrier or getting a toe bar bike rack.

I do want to keep the use of the boot - which sadly is only really half usable as we have a fixed dog crate in there. This is what's tipping me toward using the trailer - put normal bike racks on the top and fill it with spares I "might" need which then keeps the car clean and stuff (being the wifes car this is pretty key!)

anyone got any suggestions/examples of their setups.

needs to carry 2 bikes but perhaps expandable for future kids bikes etc.

well a start has now been made in assembly:


rear cassette is on, front derailieur is on, stem etc is on.
wheels and tyres sorted (what a pain that was!)

Tonight i'll fit the handlebar and ergos.

ah yeah i'll be doing both for sure.

I'm 95kg, want to get down to about 80kg, the cycling certainly helps.

I lived and worked in Norwich for about 4 years, cycled to work and outside of that so much that I ended up selling my car.

Now, it's not London so other than run ins with the odd bus driver/taxi driver that has the belief they rule the road it's not too bad.

Norwich as a city is fairly bike friendly, but the benefit here is that within 10 minutes cycling you're in the countryside and can have some really decent rides on quiet roads. There are clubs but to be honest I was too slow to keep up so didn't really get involved there that much.

Good bike shops, good coffee shops but then it's a city so I guess those two are a given.

I've never lived in Leicester so can't comment but I certainly enjoyed Norwich whilst I was there - I think if you liked Cambridge you'll like Norwich. It's not quite as good of course but a very viable sideways step.

see That’s the thing - I buy a frame and “bits” it goes slightly unnoticed - if I buy a “bike” I’d get “why do you need another one” etc.

So it’s worth the money there.

Plus I don’t think I’d save too much getting a chorus carbon bike, they don’t seem too frequent on fleabay etc but yes I could’ve spent half the price and been over the moon with a 105 bike quite easily

Fully excused. My old engineering lecturer would be completely on your side as would the many minus grades he gave me for exactly that reason haha

Simply put... yes most definitely.....

https://www.wiggle.se/battaglin-c12-plus-veloce-2012/

that's my bike (except I'd have red where they have white)

so looks to me 31.6 - that's what i've now ordered cheers all, happy I didn't buy the 32.0 I found

haha my bike build seems to have been a few of those - Favourite pump? Co2 or no Co2? Carbon Frame yes or no? etc etc etc

I need the wooden spoon award.

Vorpal wrote:

Hudson1984 wrote:My first ride of the year...well first ride in years!

Last time I rode more than 40 miles was 8 years ago, managed 14.5mph average.

Today, 11.6mph over 40. And I feel like death! Last 15 miles were agony.

Granted I set myself up to fail
It’s raining and I don’t have overshoes - feet were drenched by the third mile. Lesson learned
Left home before breakfast so rode with only an iso drink. Lesson learned I need to take more fuel

I’m training for a 100 miler at the end of May....got a lot of work to do! Feel a bit deflated as hoped my average would be higher but hey, only way is up (can’t get much slower after all - be rolling backwards!

40 miles on your first ride in years!?!

No wonder the last 15 miles were agony! Take it easy & work your way up to it. It may not seem like it, but you have plenty of time if you work at it consistently. If you injure yourself overdoing it, it will be much more difficult to be ready in May.

As others have said, don't worry about your average mph. That will go up naturally as you get fitter.

If I have been off the bike for a while, I don't usually try more than 25 miles for a first ride, and that's if I have been doing something else to keep fit. If I have had a medical problem that kept me from exercising, I might not try more than 10 or 15 miles.

If my first ride goes okay, I increase my distance by what I feel I can manage.

I have helped returning cyclists a few times, and some of them couldn't manage more than a couple of miles on their first ride! So, I'd say you are doing remarkably well, and have no reason to feel discouraged.

yeah last cycle ride on the road was 8 years ago and that was 30 miles, haven't ridden on the road since. I've done a bit on a turbo using Zwift but those are more workouts than anything.

it was tough, bloody tough but i'm glad I did it and looking forward to another go this weeked - with more food, and overshoes!

also got a new saddle coming as surprisingly nothing actually aches other than my seat bones. I'm also going to get a bike fit once the new bike is assembled. But I intend to only use that if the weather is nice.

The utility cyclist wrote:

Audax67 wrote:Can't remember my first 160k but on my first 200k I screwed most royally up. It was pretty flat so I budgeted for 25 kph with a 5-minute break once an hour, and subsisted largely on granola bars and hope. Ended up feeling sick as a dog and unable to eat even though I needed to, and so slaughtered that the missus had to come and scrape me up 5 km from home. The second one, though... I rode with a group, we stopped every 50k at a café and at 100k for a three-course lunch that lasted an hour and a half. We went over a couple of cols in Switzerland totalling around 2000 metres and turned in an average of 24.7 kph - a bit over 15 mph in £sd. I learned a hell of a lot that day.

I was young then, of course - 56 IIRC.

I thought 160 miles seems an odd number to do when talking about 100k rides, if you're going to refer to km can you just write km as to me and many other k stands for miles when referencing distances, the k being for a thousand paces (mille passus) that make up a mile NOT a kilometre!
thanks

I'd take K to be kilometer in all honesty. As it's an SI unit meaning thousand, so 160,000m or 160K, so 160K could be 160km or 160,000m and still read correctly - the way I read it anyway

So, new frame has arrived - but I need a seatpost...what sizes to they come in, just want to sence check what I see on the tape measure is correct.

fastpedaller wrote:You say you've gotten old - hold old (young) are you? Is the 1984 in your username an indication? if so you're only a youngster!
Just build up gradually, and has bee said above short bursts etc - It 'hits' the average speed, but hopefully you're in for the long-term gain rather than an individual ride. The main thing is to enjoy it!You'll soon get back into it. Good luck with you quest.

Ahh being daft really, last time I rode that distance I was in my twenties still. So not over the hill just yet

Certainly long term is the goal I’m glad I started on a 40 though, bursts I can do on a short distance. It’s the hills that come at mile 35 that are hard to tackle so it was great for mental growth.

Was a struggle from about 7 miles in hahaha