Shoes

km991148

Hey,

Do clipless shoes/ pedals make such a difference?

I am roped into doing the welcomehome dublin-wexford cycle and got in my longest spin yest (80kms) but it took almost 4 1/2 hours!!! :eek:

I can keep up a good enough pace for 40km-50km runs about the city but out in the wilds with real hills n stuff I aint so good;

so bascally looking to find a way to improve - I seen the aldi thread and for the price was gonna get the spd shoes and some cheap pedals - but will they help me that much??

I will be riding on a semi decent hybrid (good skinny tyres etc, but still a lump!)

km

Lumen

Clipless pedals feel better. If this makes you ride your bike more, this will make you faster.

Once you get to around 25kph average the biggest equipment thing slowing you down will be your non-drop handlebars, although don't discount the effects of proper bike fit, but proper bike fit is best done on a proper bike.

km991148

so just get my ass out and do some miles then!

gonna get a 'propper' bike soon enough (but not before this event) as I have done abut as much to the current one as possible;

thought it would be easy enough doing the 136kms ( imean I got all day!) based on my about town speed (ave of about 20-23kms/hour) for up to 1 1/2 hours - 2 hours, but that wee trip to roundwood yest near killed me (and ave closer to 15!) and that was on perfect weather as well...

Lumen

km991148 wrote: »

so just get my ass out and do some miles then!

gonna get a 'propper' bike soon enough (but not before this event) as I have done abut as much to the current one as possible;

thought it would be easy enough doing the 136kms ( imean I got all day!) based on my about town speed (ave of about 20-23kms/hour) for up to 1 1/2 hours - 2 hours, but that wee trip to roundwood yest near killed me (and ave closer to 15!) and that was on perfect weather as well...

Yes, steadily get the miles in to build your endurance and the speed will come.

That said you should definitely buy clipless pedals if you're remotely serious about cycling. They're just much more pleasant to use. Endless threads about this, do a search.

niceonetom

Do you think you're eating and drinking enough? When I first started pushing my distance up beyond cross-town stuff I didn't even know that it would be necessary to eat while on the bike. If your speed is dropping off suddenly after about 2 hours (for me anyway) it could be because you just run out blood sugar as fuel and are suddenly running on fats - and that's just slower and much less fun.

Other than that, it's just about building up the miles in the legs and learning how to pace yourself. If you a bigger chap that will apply tenfold once it starts getting hilly. A few minutes in the redzone will be paid for later in the ride with general tiredness and malaise.

You can expect your avg speed to get a flattering bump once you get into the swing of riding along in a group too btw, both from psychological factors and simply drafting other riders.

Shoes do make cycling more pleasant but their actual effect for most riders is very secondary to good fueling and good training.

ednwireland

i just got these
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=3759

havent put them on the commuter yet (off the bike with tendon trouble)

but use look pedals on the main road bike (once you get stiff soled shoes and clipless theres no going back)

eat and drink as well works a litre + an hour for me

km991148

I ate a couply of oaty flapjack cake bar things before setting out but ran out of drink about 10km on the way to roundwood on one big hill which didnt help matters, esp as it was about 3pm on probably the warmest this year! I also filled up on chocolate half way round which probably didnt help..

so yeah I guess I underestimated the nutrition;

will prob skip the clipless untill I upgrade the bike, and train as much as I can in the next 10 days (the ride I am doing is week on sat..). (still need to buy some stuff like a good pair of shorts!)

I guess on the nutrition front it should be the usual slow burners, high carb pastas oats nuts etc also what about drink, I have been taking ordinary cordial with added suger and salt?

Esroh

you could buy the pedals and then put them on the new bike when the time comes.

What you ate before you left was what most of us probably eat while On The Bike.Again search the threads for fueling info.
But dont be disheartened we all were there at the start.

km991148

Esroh wrote: »

you could buy the pedals and then put them on the new bike when the time comes.

What you ate before you left was what most of us probably eat while On The Bike.Again search the threads for fueling info.
But dont be disheartened we all were there at the start.

yeah, but so far I have spent a small fortune on stuff for this longer ride and am a little loathe to spend more, considering that I will get any new bike under the cycle to work scheme and thus a nice 40% off!

I will see how it goes this week, but I am also doing it with a m8 who has rarely cycled and decided to come along, however he has a ropey halfords bike(i.e. appolo 100£ job) and unless I leave him early on I will be paced about his speed..

off to call him and get him to up his mileage in the next week or so!!

thanks all for the advice, not too disheartened, but yeah wasnt exactly happy when it was starting to get dark a few kms from home last night!!

rebel.ranter

I am relatively new to the whole cycle training but I have noticed every little thing has an incremental effect on speed & endurance.
I dug out the MTB about 2 months ago after a prolonged absence from the saddle (read: years). Really struggled on the off-road tyres. I switched the tyres to road slicks & noticed an immediate improvement.
A few weeks later I invested in a fairly decent road bike (BTW scheme) & I was shocked to see my times for a known run tumbled. Now I am wondering why I ever bought an MTB! I think people are often misguided into buying an MTB because they "look" tough & durable. Even looking at the front crankset on MTB v Road bike it is very clear they are designed to do two very different jobs.
It probably helped that my LBS carried out a proper bike fit for me, making sure everything was adjusted to suit me.
Next noticeable improvement was bib-shorts & a proper cycling jersey. The bit of extra comfort just seemed to give me to urge to do that little bit better than wearing plain old t-shirt & casual shorts. It also gave me somewhere to store my bananas & bits n' pieces.
Next noticeable improvement were clipless pedals & shoes, I think just consistently having your foot in the right place on the pedal again gave another advantage in pace, power & endurance.
I might investigate power bars & the energy drink powders, etc. next. It might help as I extend the distances of my spins.

Having said all that I think the best improvements are gained by time in the saddle. I am slowly getting better at the hills the more I do the better I am at tackling them. I don't think I'll ever be racing but it is great to see the weight fall off bit by bit, I have more energy & I really enjoy the cycling.