Cycling UK Forum

... what if I don't want to use Zwift? ...

With the Kickr, you can control the bike from the Wahoo app on your phone -- set the resistance, record the ride, etc. You can also use a Wahoo Elemnt GPS to control the trainer. Load up a route and it will show you where you are on the map, control the resistance to mimic gradient, and at the end give you a file that can be uploaded to Strava and looks just like you did it in real life.

A search on "Zwift trainer compatible" should tell you all you want to know. I'm guessing that most smart trainers will be compatible, otherwise they wouldn't sell very many. Chasing your ghost self is fun, and there's a lot of other stuff to enjoy on Zwift -- pace bots, group rides, etc. Personally I prefer Fulgaz, where you ride along to real filmed rides. I have a Wahoo, which had some issues to begin with (I think they must have had a bad batch of something) but customer service was excellent. I use it a lot over the winter, not so much in summer although it's still good on those summer days of pouring rain and howling wind . I don't really know enough about the various models to be of any use in helping you choose.

I've been wondering about treating myself, although I'm only a youngster (68). I've always been slow.

My two thoughts so far are: a bike based on a nice custom-built Mercian steel frame; or a Sturdy bike -- handbuilt titanium frame with 3D printed titanium lugs, handlebars, chainset etc.

I'd probably like to have a go at a modern carbon-framed, aero, super light, burn up on re-entry bike, but don't really have any urge to own one.

Other things that have crossed my mind: Moulton; ICE recumbent trike.

Happy thinking!

Peak flow varies quite a bit by height and age. I have asthma, I'm 5'11", now 68 and my PF is a whisker below 500. It was around 600 in my 30s. Leisure cycling -- or, more accurately, leisurely cycling, doesn't really stress your respiratory system that much, and one way to define your "endurance zone" for longer rides is an effort that leaves you enough breath to hold a full conversation while riding.

gcogger wrote: ↑22 Feb 2023, 11:59am ... paramedics told him the helmet saved his life ...

Sadly, paramedics, A&E nurses and even trauma doctors -- who should damn well know better -- are prone to making that sort of evidence-free comment. And, because they are professionals, they tend to be believed. Motorcyclists sometimes get told that their leathers saved their life, which is equally improbable.

Wrote to the Guardian expressing my view that Dan Walker was not a physician or an expert in the biomechanics of injury, and as he had no memory of the incident, he obviously didn't know anything about the precise mechanism of his injury, and so his comment was an opinion without evidence. My email hasn't made it through to the letters section of the website, and I'm not holding my breath.

softlips wrote: ↑3 Feb 2023, 11:42am ... Castelli Perfetto ... . Windproof and showerproof without being too warm.

I also have a Perfetto and I agree. The problem for me is that it doesn't let sweat escape as much as I think it needs to, so I get cold quickly at the cafe or puncture stop.

mig wrote: ↑2 Feb 2023, 9:25am do people change their riding style as they age? or indeed for a 'come back'?

Always been a spinner rather than a grinder. Now I find my cadence has gone up even more, possibly as my legs have got weaker. Recently started doing some spells of grinding to see if the strength might come back a bit.

Good on yer, Mick F.

Don't give up yet on longer rides (if you want to do them, of course ...). I returned to cycling 3 years ago when I was 65, after a break of a decade or two, when I found out there was an informal club in the village where I live. Bonked spectacularly the first time out with them, struggled to work up to 15-20 miles. But kept doing it, upped the mileage slowly. Last summer & autumn I was doing rides of 60-75 miles once a week. Even did a 100-mile hilly sportive -- so slowly that they'd all given up and gone home by the time I finished, but that's another story

cycle tramp wrote: ↑31 Jan 2023, 4:09pm Has anyone mentioned tweed yet?

No, but if I could find a tweed jacket with a design suitable for cycling, I might be tempted

thirdcrank wrote: ↑30 Jan 2023, 10:07am Here's some contemporary evidence

What a fantastic video! I wonder how the guy in the short sleeve jersey and shorts got on once it started snowing.

cycle tramp wrote: ↑29 Jan 2023, 10:56pm ... I think that concentrating on this fabric or that fabric is only part of the solution... design is equally important..

Totally agree. Maybe the problem is it's all designed by "non-sweaty" cyclists rather than the sweaty, cold and grumpy contingent like me.

Cugel wrote: ↑30 Jan 2023, 12:49pm ... gradually became shrunken and felted. This made them tighter and also gave a degree of wind and waterproofness ...

Back to "boiled wool" again -- still a thing, apparently, but expensive and doesn't seem to be widely available. Probably even better if you rub it all over with lanolin.

mattsccm wrote: ↑28 Jan 2023, 1:17pm Pointless trying to prove what works or condemning something really isn't it?

I was more hoping to get a bit of discussion going. For me, these fabrics have something of the Emperor's new clothes about them, and I wonder if the industry has taken a wrong turn by going down the route of outer shells that breathe, rather than wick. I'm also more than a bit envious of those for whom they clearly do work.

Sweep wrote: ↑23 Jan 2023, 9:23am ... there is a company I think which does some hybrid thing combining mesh and merino ...

Helly Hansen Lifa Merino

cycle tramp wrote: ↑22 Jan 2023, 7:37pm ... I wear (Shetland) wool jumpers when I cycle ... how can the thousands of years of evolution ... be wrong?

This set me thinking again -- not always a good thing

If this were true, then wearing sheepskin should be even better. Should be very warm and maybe breathable, but none too good in the wet. Anyone tried?

All very interesting, thanks to all contributors. Remarkably little support for the "conventional" (unvented windstopper/infinium) approach. I've just acquired cheaply from eBay a Buffalo "MTB cycle windshirt" -- essentially their cycle shirt without the pile lining -- and on first use it's noticeable how the moisture collects on the outside rather than the inside. I'm going to try this with varying amounts of insulation underneath, and see how that goes.