[Other Sport] Cycling geeks

[Bold Seagull]

Sigh.

It must be at least two months since you last bought a bike, so I guess the time is right.

I don't know if you've noticed, but there is one glaring problem with fixies. They have no gears.

Were you aware of this?

I've heard of people having a fixie with a front mech and 2 crank rings, fixed at the rear. Weird, but there you go.

 

[Miximate]

I am a relative newbie to regular cycling and have, this summer, just started to bike to work (Burgess Hill to Brighton). To date I have been using my Specialized cross trail hybrid (which I am delighted with) that I dusted down from the garage where it had been gathering dust for a couple of years. I'm now looking to get myself a road bike for < £500 and get myself up Clayton Hill & Carden Avenue a little quicker. I have spent some time on the tinternet and it seems that the B'Twin Triban 3 scores well in most areas and comes in under £250!
I did consider changing the tyres on my bike, but I still enjoy a bit of off road and gravel/dirt tracks when out with the family and mutt
Does anyone have experience of this brand is would you recommend it to a 6ft, 50yr old 15st bloke who is trying to keep fit!

 

[n1 gull]

I am a relative newbie to regular cycling and have, this summer, just started to bike to work (Burgess Hill to Brighton). To date I have been using my Specialized cross trail hybrid (which I am delighted with) that I dusted down from the garage where it had been gathering dust for a couple of years. I'm now looking to get myself a road bike for < £500 and get myself up Clayton Hill & Carden Avenue a little quicker. I have spent some time on the tinternet and it seems that the B'Twin Triban 3 scores well in most areas and comes in under £250!
I did consider changing the tyres on my bike, but I still enjoy a bit of off road and gravel/dirt tracks when out with the family and mutt
Does anyone have experience of this brand is would you recommend it to a 6ft, 50yr old 15st bloke who is trying to keep fit!

Have you considered buying a used bike on ebay?

£500 can buy you a good bike

 

[Miximate]

Have you considered buying a used bike on ebay?

£500 can buy you a good bike

Have considered it however, unless its local, you won't get the chance to try it before you buy. I'm not stuck on the idea of the B'Twin, it just seems to score very well for a budget bike. I dont expect to be climbing mountains or competing, its more of a commuter and social thing (Plus I like the idea of a new bike and the Manufacturers guarantee etc..)

 

[banjo]

Have considered it however, unless its local, you won't get the chance to try it before you buy. I'm not stuck on the idea of the B'Twin, it just seems to score very well for a budget bike. I dont expect to be climbing mountains or competing, its more of a commuter and social thing (Plus I like the idea of a new bike and the Manufacturers guarantee etc..)

http://road.cc/content/news/72001-best-entry-level-road-bikes-under-£500

Not sure how good any of these are but all under £500

 

[banjo]

http://www.worthingherald.co.uk/news/local/cyclist-airlifted-to-hospital-with-life-threatening-head-injury-1-6293118

blimey that's not good.

 

[strings]

I've got a B'twin (Triban 5). Love it, carbon fork and sora gears seemed to be good value for the £420 I spent and it is very 'upgradeable'. I just need to get out on it more...

 

[Ninja Elephant]

Sorry for the delayed responses fellas, and thank you for your responses and words of wisdom.

That's a fair old ride. Good luck. I'd suggest get in as many consecutive rides as possible so your legs 'know' that day 2 is not a rest day. Mix up the training (hilly, flat and mixed) as much as possible too, but gradually build it up. I have add asymmetrical aches and can't work out why. Training will see them off.

Thanks Moto, I only ended up doing about 15 miles on the Monday, I wanted to do more but didn't have the time - I did finish the day off with a cheeky trip up Elm Grove though, which was emotional.

A lot if not all of these pains could be due to the setup of your bike.

For example, I had knee pain and so I switched from SPD-SL pedals to Speedplay pedals and now that pain is completely gone. I possibly could have sorted it with lots of tweaking of the SPD-SL cleat, but I took the easy/expensive option.

Back pain could possibly be sorted by adjusting your stem (handlebar) height or length. Length requires a new longer stem, height may be gained by flipping the stem (if it points downwards), or by adding/moving spaced below the stem.

Or maybe these pains will sort themselves out with more miles.

There's plenty of guides online to help with the correct setup, or you could get a professional bike fit.

Thanks [MENTION=566]Bad Ash[/MENTION] - I've listened to the advice of yourself and others below, I have raised the seat and I'm going to think about raising the handle bars too - thinking about the back strain I was feeling. I have standard pedals (Boris himself came with racing pedals which I swapped out due to fear of death), but when I do the Norwich cycle I'll have changed them back I should think, they're the ones you put your feet into, which I'm reliably informed will help.

Why aren't you in the Geeks Strava club? (link in my signature)

If your aches and pains aren't teething trouble, you might want to have your bike 'fitted' to you.

Don't worry to much about doing the distance, if you can comfortably get within 20 miles you'll be fine the rest of the way.
As moto says keep at it but get plenty of rest.
On the ride eat well, drink every 15 mins or so.

I am now.

I will get Boris fitted as it were, are there any places you would recommend specifically?

On your aches and pains a good rule of thumb, especially for muscular pain, is how quickly does it stop hurting once you finish riding. When unfit (most of the time these days, sadly) I get a pain in my right Abductor Longus muscle (sort of front groin muscle area) after two hours without fail. If I stop for five minutes it gets better, it will start hurting again after an hour or so though. As I get fitter the time for it to start hurting gets longer and longer until eventually a four/five hour ride is no problem.

Your knee and back are probably the ones to be most careful with. It is definitely worth getting your bike fit checked if you can, as a poorly fitted bike makes life so much more difficult. A useful example here is saddle position, it seems like a very simple thing but so few people actually bother to adjust their saddle (horizontally rather than vertically) from where it is when they buy the bike. The first ride after I adjusted my saddle I was considerably faster than I had been before. The distance I had moved the saddle? Less than half a centimetre!

If you want to get a book on bike fit the best I have read is Medical Guide for Cyclists. He helped Lance Armstrong at some point in his career but ignore that as he does not tell you to take loads of EPO in this book

I'd also like to echo Moto's suggestion of doing consecutive days riding as that is what you are training for. I'd say you would be better doing two shorter days rather than one longer whilst training as the second is much much harder. Not sure how fast you want to go but if it was me training for this I would probably do one day training really hard, one day training really easy then two days off. Increase the DISTANCE (important, not time, you will get quicker) by no more than 10% for the next set of rides as this will take you too far out of your comfort zone.

Good Luck and enjoy it. I'll be in Norwich and will buy you a pint if our paths cross.

Thanks [MENTION=12656]Pantani[/MENTION]. I will look up the book, I'm starting fairly from scratch with regards to all this cycling lark, so any help and advice is greatly appreciated from people who know what's going on!

Just to clarify my spanner in the works over distance.

All I was meant was:-

Don't get bent out of shape over the exact distance to be traveled v distance trained for.

Eg If the journey is 2 x 80 miles, but Ninja has trained for and knows he can 'easily' do 2 x 65, although the extra distance may well be tough he'll still be able to do it.

The maximum distance I can ride at the moment is about 60 mile, which means I'm pretty sure I can ride 80 miles.
But I wouldn't attempt a 100 miles.

I don't really know at this stage. There were spells during the cycling where movement was an issue! But I only needed to stop once, when the knee was cramping up a bit. Other than that, it was fairly and surprisingly comfortable - surprising for both myself and my co-riders. I'm more of a runner really, and I'd run the Preston Park Parkrun 5km in my record time of 20:14 on the Saturday, which might not have been the best preparation!

I'm in, now.
Just back from a fruitless spin, and managed to catch the last 10km of ToB.




One other thing [MENTION=13055]Ninja Elephant[/MENTION].
Esp when starting out, you'll go out for a ride and for no reason it'll feel like 'Boris' has square wheels, and you have an open parachute strapped to your back.
C'est la vie.

If it really effects you, just have a couple of days off the bike (no more than that) and all will be fine.

Fortunately the opposite is also true, and for me at least, the sensation isn't just a newbie thing.
Someday's you'll ummm and ahhh about going out.
You'll almost force yourself into it, after a long bout of procrastination.
Then within 5 minutes it'll feel like you've sprouted wings, and you're wheels are barely touching the tarmac.

Happy days.

I'll look forward to feeling that! I'm planning on a fair old cycle tomorrow morning, before Southampton on Saturday. I'll either cycle TO there, or from there - and get a train in the other direction. I'm hoping to smash it out and get home for Match of the Day!

 

[Stat Brother]

Mud Sweat and Gears in Lancing (if it's still there) do a fitting.
I'm sure the chaps will tell you who in Brighton can help you out.

Even the slightest mention of cramp sets off a little bell.
Just to reiterate, make sure you drink and to a lesser extent eat well.
I will bet my house most of us (with the exception of Pogue) don't drink enough while cycling, muscle cramp being a tell tale sign.
Bananas, flapjacks, maltloaf, are all favourite snacks for a long journey.

 

[Hamilton]

I am a relative newbie to regular cycling and have, this summer, just started to bike to work (Burgess Hill to Brighton). To date I have been using my Specialized cross trail hybrid (which I am delighted with) that I dusted down from the garage where it had been gathering dust for a couple of years. I'm now looking to get myself a road bike for < £500 and get myself up Clayton Hill & Carden Avenue a little quicker. I have spent some time on the tinternet and it seems that the B'Twin Triban 3 scores well in most areas and comes in under £250!
I did consider changing the tyres on my bike, but I still enjoy a bit of off road and gravel/dirt tracks when out with the family and mutt
Does anyone have experience of this brand is would you recommend it to a 6ft, 50yr old 15st bloke who is trying to keep fit!

No experience of that brand, but if you are seeking a bargain under £500 then it's well worth checking out Wiggle at the moment.

Evans also have a sale until 15 September. I know these aren't local bike shops, but there are bargains to be had.

There was a very good Felt on Wiggle's site for under £500.

 

[Stat Brother]

No experience of that brand, but if you are seeking a bargain under £500 then it's well worth checking out Wiggle at the moment.

Evans also have a sale until 15 September. I know these aren't local bike shops, but there are bargains to be had.

There was a very good Felt on Wiggle's site for under £500.

As much as I don't like the idea of buying a bike off t'internet, and even less so for a first timer.

£385 for a Felt with Sora (I didn't look at the whole spec) would appear, on face value at least, almost too good to be true.

 

[Bad Ash]

Even the slightest mention of cramp sets off a little bell.
Just to reiterate, make sure you drink and to a lesser extent eat well.
I will bet my house most of us (with the exception of Pogue) don't drink enough while cycling, muscle cramp being a tell tale sign.
Bananas, flapjacks, maltloaf, are all favourite snacks for a long journey.

When I first started cycling I did suffer calf cramps when climbing hills. Maybe it's just one of those things your body has to get used to. That said I do plan my nutrition much better now, and plan to have a nibble and drink every 5-10 miles. My main food is malt loaf (Soreen) in the handy school lunchbox friendly mini loaves or individual slices. I prefer the slices, slightly less dry (as not compete covered in a crust) and easier to swallow.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Anyone watching the ToB, its just gone through the town where I grew up (Chesham)!

Amazing racing.

 

[Stat Brother]

Just turned it on.

Anyone else and you'd have to say the Genesis fella is odds on, but somehow I can't see it.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Just turned it on.

Anyone else and you'd have to say the Genesis fella is odds on, but somehow I can't see it.

I think they'd be a bit pissed off as he's sat on most of the way - Brandle's to lose I think.

 

[Stat Brother]

It's nicely balanced for Brighton.
I can't see Dowsett giving it up, but they'll certainly be thundering around tomorrow.

 

[banjo]

The Sky rider didn't look good. Ouch!

 

[Motogull]

I'm no stranger to feeling light-headed after standing up from the sofa the same day of a ride, but not on a 'commute' day. I just had the grandmother of these. Anyone got any ideas or tips? An hour before I had a belting bolognese, so not through shortage of tucker.
[MENTION=22214]banjo[/MENTION], that article is sickening. Neither wearing helmets though.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I'm no stranger to feeling light-headed after standing up from the sofa the same day of a ride, but not on a 'commute' day. I just had the grandmother of these. Anyone got any ideas or tips? An hour before I had a belting bolognese, so not through shortage of tucker.
[MENTION=22214]banjo[/MENTION], that article is sickening. Neither wearing helmets though.

I would say a biggish meal within an hour is a bit close. Your body is sending a lot of blood and stuff to your stomach which is why you often feel tired after a big meal. So your body wants to concentrate on clearing your gut while you want to divert all that energy to you limbs - hence it could be why you felt light headed. I would always say a meal is best had at least 2 hours before a ride/exercise. Within an hour fruit / porridge / light snack is ok as your body will break that down quick. It would be my suggestion of what happened to you there.

 

[Motogull]

No, meal was after ride and an hour before it went very fuzzy.