Cycling UK Forum

Is anyone else doing this on Sunday?

Best bet really is to go for a towbar mounted one but if she hasn't got a towbar already you'll be looking at over £200 in total to get a towbar fitted and a bike rack.

Malaconotus wrote:I'd say that by advertising this route as a cycle route, encouraging cyclists to use the dual carriageway when a safer, quieter, equally convenient alternative exists the council has failed in a duty of care. I'd be very interested in whether this could be seen as criminal negligence.

Is it the council's duty of care though? Both routes are legal for cyclists and both routes accomodate cyclists, how is it the councils remit to try and tell us which one to use?

If you are legally entitled to ride on the dual carriageway and it is the most direct and easiest route why should cyclists be bullied into cycling down the residential road?

I'd take the dual carriageway every time in the same way I will take primary on a road where I feel I need to, even if there is a narrow cycle lane practically trying to bully me into riding in the gutter.

Not sure what you mean by 'having been lured'. Cyclists are legally allowed to cycle on dual carriageways so the answer to that by the council would be that they've not lured the cyclists into somewhere they can't cycle(such as a motorway) so how can it be dangerous?

Personally, i'd cycle down that road quite happily once the cycle lane ended and would prefer it to the climb on the alternative residential road that runs alongside it!

fluffybunnyuk wrote:I have found a way to reduce the bikes weight by 2kg

that's really not much of a reduction compared to my own bike weight reduction. I've reduced the total weight of my bike 106kg.... I got off of it!

You'll be hard put to find a 'mini pump' that can get up that high. I've got a Topeak mini morph which can get up to about 100 with a bit of effort.

Chances of getting one that goes that high AND has a pressure gauge would be pretty slim but if you find one i'll be interested to see it... and more importantly, what sort of extortionate price it costs(I'm not even sure i've seen mini pumps with gauges on)!

In all fairness, 120 psi really shouldn't be needed as a pump capable of 100 psi will get the tyres up enough for you to get wherever you need to go until you can get home and get to a proper floor pump.

Hi guys,

I'm looking to do the London To Paris next year but am having trouble finding an organised ride that has a reasonable price point.

The ones i've seen so far want a minimum sponsorship of anywhere from £1,500 to £2,500 which I simply won't be able to get anywhere near. I'd be much more comfortable doing one which just has a flat cost for the relevant accomodation/ferry charges etc.

However, I don't want to do it on my own.

Do organised L2P events exist that don't involve raising sponsorship?

If you're doing more than a couple of miles at a time then a spare innner tube, pump, puncture repair kit, multi tool and a set of tyre levers are pretty much compulsory IMO.

Changing an inner tube will only take about 5 or 10 minutes and really isn't very difficult at all... It's certainly a lot easier than being stuck in the middle of nowhere and having to carry the bike home from personal experience!

I had a similar problem to you being based in South Woodford and posted a thread here where there were some suggestions

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=77583

Personally, i've found it quite difficult to find any real meaningful climbs. There's some quite short but steep climbs and some quite long but easy slopes but no real area of consistent up and down hills.

Hainault is OK, Chingford Mount has a bit of a slope and you can find plenty of isolated hills so once you've cycled round the area for a bit you could generally come up with a route with a few climbs in.

Just after a few tips on how to service and clean a chain.

Done mine for the first time the other day by soaking it in degreaser, wiping it over with a cloth, running over it with a brush then putting lube on it and have the following questions.

- How clean should it be before I lube it? I got it fairly clean but not immaculate, especially on the bits in between the links. I spent about 10 minutes on it in total.

- Should I remove the chain to clean it? I just cleaned it while it was still on the bike.

- How do I lube it properly! I've got lube in a pump action dispenser rather than an aerosol so I just turned the chain slowly while pumping like made but because of the pump it seemed patchy compared to if I'd had an aerosol with a steady stream. If the cogs are coated liberally will it just transfer to the bits of chain that maybe didn't get a dose? It seems like I used a LOT of lube to try and ensure it was all coated.

- Is a chain scrubber worth buying? If so, any recommendations for a decent one?

"Seriously though ...does anyone know where I can find a good training plan for a serious workout over 6 months to get me up to a 15mph avg over longer distances."

Depending on how often you cycle and your current fitness you'll probably get up to 15 miles in less than 6 months.

I started cycling about 3 months ago, having not done any exercise in about 5 years and weighing over 16 stone, and managed a paltry 7.5 miles in my first hour and felt like I was going to collapse.

3 months later i'm now averaging 15 MPH over 40 mile rides and I really was a perfect example of an unfit slob so if I can manage it anyone can!

I was cycling 3 times a week with the following plan

Week 1
2 x 20 – 25 mins
Sat or Sun: 1 ½ hours

Week 2
2 x 30 – 40 mins
Sat or Sun: 2 hours (25-35 miles)

Week 3
2 x 10 miles
Sun: 25 – 35 miles

Week 4
2 x 10 – 15 miles
Fri: 5 miles
Sat: 30 – 40 miles (2-2 ½ hours)

Week 5
Mon: 8 – 10 miles
Tues: 10-15 miles
Thurs: 10-15 miles
Sun: 40-50 miles

Week 6
Mon: 10 miles easy recovery
Tues: 15-20 miles
Thurs: 15-20 miles
Sun: 45-55 miles
Week 7
Tues: 20-25 miles
Thurs: 20-25 miles
Sun: 50-60 miles

Week 8
Mon: 10 miles easy recovery
Weds: 15 miles
Sat: 20-25 miles
Sun: 55-65 miles

Week 9
Tues: 15 miles
Thurs: 25 miles
Sat: 45 – 55 miles
Sun: 60 – 70 miles

Week 10
Mon: 10 miles
Tues: 5 miles
Weds: 10 miles
Thurs: 5 miles
Fri: Rest

Best way to stop nuisance callers? Keep one of those air horn things they use to start races next to the phone and when they call just hold it up to the receiver and give it a good belt!

When you consider the qualifications needed to become a judge the sheer idiocy some of them display regarding cycling accident sentencing is disgusting

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/1 ... t_s_death/

Shocking sentence...

What sort of time are you looking at getting there?

You could park somewhere along the DLR line, there's a cheap(ish) car park at Blackwall station which is about 7 quid for the entire day and it's a pretty easy cycle from there of about 5 miles(Down Commercial Road/A13 onto London Wall/A1211).

Also, the DLR is currently letting you take bicycles on it as part of a trial they're running so if the weather is rotten you can just hop on at Blackwall to Tower Gateway

Audax67 wrote:If you start typing "why do cyclists" into Google's search box the first autocomplete topic is Why do cyclists shave legs? Lots of answers.

And the winner among all of those replies? Some guy who replied "Because it makes it easier for me to put the wifes tights on when i'm drunk on a Friday night"