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Learning in your 30s
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Last night I did my longest ride yet
http://www.strava.com/activities/74425823
I couldn't have done it on the Hybrid - my hands and shoulders would have been in agony.
2 hours for 47.6km but there was 664 metres of climbing according to Strava.
I did a loop from town, up through Stocking Lane, Viewing Point, Featherbeds, Enniskerry, Stepaside, Dundrum and back home.
I hit 65kph at one point! Considering I'm only willing to go fast if I can see miles ahead of me and the road quality is really good it was only for a very brief bit
I did most of Featherbeds to Enniskerry in the drops, which I really liked, and even did most of the mild climb from Enniskerry back to Kilternan in the drops too. It's great to have the alternate position and so far I only use tops when climbing in my lowest gear (so no need for brakes or gear changes!).
Reach to my drops is a bit short - I feel slightly jammed up - yet I don't want my hoods further away. That seems strange to me?
I'm looking forward to the clubs accepting new members come October - I'm happy that I have the fitness for the beginner's rides. I just need all the bike handling/group-riding skills!0 -
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Continuing to have fun with the cycling and have been persuaded by a friend to do the 105km route of the Joe Loughman Randonee in just under 2 weeks time.
The 50km route was too short but the 105km route is a bit daunting as when we agreed on this last week we'd only just done our first 50km cycle.
I did a solo 65km cycle last night with 830 metres of climbing - http://www.strava.com/activities/77744673 . It was a good chance to try out the gear that I'd be wearing on the actual cycle, train my stamina a little and provide a much needed confidence boost by increasing my longest ever cycle up to over 3/5ths of the Randonees distance rather than less than 1/2!
I got some good suggestions for cycling routes to take in this thread - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=86084678 . If you're not in a cycling club and don't know any cyclists it's hard to know where's nice to cycle. All the roads look the same on google maps!
I went out the R114 as suggested, turning left up the Liffey a few kilometres short of Blessington. That was the end of almost all the traffic - and it wasn't too bad to there. A long drag up-hill to Sally Gap, with mist on the hills, sheep wandering the roads and the landscape looking gorgeous - I barely noticed to be honest but it was lovely the odd time that I remembered to look-up and check out the scenery!
The road-bike continues to be awesome!
I have RSI from too much time with computers so I'm very concious of taking care of my hands/wrists/shoulders on the bike and after only 30km on a straight-bar hybrid my hands and shoulders are not happy. 3 hours on the road-bike yesterday and they were OK. No pain, some mild discomfort & tiredness but I'm not used to these sort of distances yet.
I spend most of my time on the hoods but do also spend a lot of time in the drops - when descending or even for long periods on the flat or gentle rolling terrain. I also use the tops when climbing if I won't be changing gears very often and there's either no traffic or I'm going so slow that braking won't be necessary Added to that, I used the very bottom of the drops a few times for fast consistent sections where I won't need to change gears much and have good visibility so I don't mind not being able to reach the brakes. I can turn my wrists more outwards in that spot and it's a significant change from my usual spot in the drops - the hooks really.
On top of that there's three minor variations that I use when holding the hoods.
It's great, I can change hand position every few minutes and try to do that rather than wait until I get tired in 1 position.
The issue that I had on the first test rides where the rear wheel would skid when braking on the road bike is long gone. I don't use the rear brake anymore
That solved that nicely In all seriousness, I do occasionally use it to slightly slow me when descending but the front brake works fine for that too and I almost solely use the front brake on the road bike and the hybrid now.
I also finally learned why road bikers remove their helmet visors - it gets in the way when you're in the drops! Forcing you to crane your neck up a fair bit further. So it's going to have to come off. That's a pity though - I like the visor, it helps keep bugs, rain and sun out of my eyes so I guess I'll have to wear the Lidl sun-glasses now.0 -
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Forgot to mention that I spent an hour or so in UCD last weekend with my wife practicing her cycling She's considering commuting to work but hadn't cycled from when she was 7, up until a month or two ago when I bought her a 2nd hand bike. She's not yet confident going on the roads but UCD is perfect for practicing.
She spent an hour or so pootling around while my twin boys - who've just turned 3 - and I spent the time walking around and looking at all the construction vehicles dotted around UCD. No less than 5 diggers, 3 dumpers and 2 loaders - one of which was driven up a ramp onto a flat-bed truck while we watched! A fun time was had by all
This cycling lark is contagious.0 -
Don't push your pace too hard on the day. Plan for about twice the time of the 65km. Best of luck...Continuing to have fun with the cycling and have been persuaded by a friend to do the 105km route of the Joe Loughman Randonee in just under 2 weeks time.
The 50km route was too short but the 105km route is a bit daunting as when we agreed on this last week we'd only just done our first 50km cycle.
I did a solo 65km cycle last night with 830 metres of climbing - http://www.strava.com/activities/77744673 . It was a good chance to try out the gear that I'd be wearing on the actual cycle, train my stamina a little and provide a much needed confidence boost by increasing my longest ever cycle up to over 3/5ths of the Randonees distance rather than less than 1/2!
Don't give up on the rear brake, just learn to use it more lightly than the front. In particular, you can control your speed on a descent with the rear and use the front for sharper braking as needed.The issue that I had on the first test rides where the rear wheel would skid when braking on the road bike is long gone. I don't use the rear brake anymore That solved that nicely In all seriousness, I do occasionally use it to slightly slow me when descending but the front brake works fine for that too and I almost solely use the front brake on the road bike and the hybrid now.0 -
I did the Joe Loughman Randonee yesterday - http://www.strava.com/activities/80981341
108.8km distance and 1,700 metres of climbing at 23kph.
It was pretty tough. I'm definitely undertrained for that sort of thing but it's coming to the end of the sportive season and I didn't want to wait till next year and I was confident that I was trained enough to get around.
Some highlights were:
- Ending up in a bus of about 14 people for maybe 15km. 10 of those were Bray Wheelers, 1 was me, and amusingly to me, one was my friend on his flat-bar hybrid, with gatorskin commuter tyres, child-seat mount and pannier rack. He had sensibly removed the panniers themselves for the day. We could keep up on the flat - as I'm sure the Wheelers were taking it comfortably but I fell behind them on the 2nd long climb we did with them.
- My friend keeping up with them on that 2nd long climb, stopping for a piss at the top, passing out and coming-to almost immediately in the ditch! He managed to break the nose guard on his glasses. There was still another 80 odd km to go by that stage
- The Shay Elliot - it was a lot easier than I expected. Not that it was pleasant but I'd been looking at strava segments on it and read people saying it's horrible in various places. It turned out to only be very unpleasant, maybe stocking lane levels of unpleasant. I was thinking that I might just stop and take a breather when I passed two lads and asked them how far there was to go. I didn't think I was even half way up by then but they told me that it was only another 200 metres or so. They then told me it was at least 5km more when I said I could kiss them but I can only assume they were hallucinating at that stage from climbing with 53/25 gearing or some such madness.
- Not having to stop or walk on any of the climbs.
- A friendly "I recognise that bike, how's it holding together" from what most have been a Boardsie. I was already in a slightly uncomfortable place by that stage keeping up with my friend and the boardsie disappeared off into the distance fairly lively.
- Tea, biscuits and cake at 65km. Lovely
The first 80km went OK but I had to work reasonably hard to keep up with my friend on the flat-bar hybrid. He's a stronger cyclist even if his bike is completely unsuitable for 100km spins!
A little while after the Shay Elliot and through the big, long, draggy climb for the next 15km, I really crashed quite hard. Struggled up any kind of incline even maybe 3% stuff really slowed me down but I could go almost full speed on any flat bits. I think my climbing muscles were completely banjoed.
I really need to learn how to stand-up while cycling - I know that sitting down and spinning is considered the most efficient way to climb but I've read that standing works different muscles and can give a brief rest to the usual set of muscles. So I would like to be able to stand and climb just for some of the steepest parts of long climbs or maybe for something like 1/5th of a climb. I don't know how to do it so I've got to go practice it but keep forgetting. I don't want to try it for the first time when I'm wearing cleats as I figure that's asking to fall over. So I need to wear normal shoes, find a hill nearby and pedal up it standing up Then do that lots more to build those muscles. It's on the to-do list
Feel pretty good today except my left knee feels stiff and weak. Not sore though, just over-used. Time for a week of very little cycling!
Pretty pleased, 108km and 1700metres climbing only 4 months and 5 days after learning how to ride a bike 0 -
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Thanks Gasco for the greeting, it was very amusing I'm amazed you recognised the bike!
I managed very little chatting to anybody during the spin itself - I was a bit reluctant to go within a metre of other bikes. People won't realise I'm moderately incompetent based on looking at me - I hope. I had a lovely swerve when opening my jacket at one stage so I can't open my jacket if there's anybody within 5 metres of me
The Bray Wheeler bus had less than a foot between each bike. Looked cool and efficient but I stayed about 1 metre behind just in case
Were you in the small group of maybe 6 of us - lead by 2 Orwell Wheelers - for a while before the food stop, wearing a blue jacket? It's good to hear other people found it tough too. I'd something of a secret weapon - I put a SRAM 12-32 rear cassette on about 2 weeks ago in preparation. Best. Idea. Ever
I think I can guess the descent you mean - the one where it was a single lane track with grass down the middle and two narrow channels either side of it that were the only bits free of gravel? That I did not likeThe real shock to me was that climb up Lickeen (I think), did not remember that on the map and the road surface on the descent thereafter, real bone shaker. 0 -
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October is here and that means new member time for Cycling clubs. I'm lucky enough to have two well regarded clubs in my area so I spent Saturday and Sunday morning out cycling with the both of them.
I've been looking forward to this for months now! Which considering I've only been on a bike for 5 months means for most of my cycling career
The two group spins were 90K on Saturday and 70K on Sunday, both very flat with Saturday's ride at 25kph average and Sundays at 23kph. Helpful bods abounded on both rides, giving instructions on how to do up-and-overs and hopefully how not to cause injury to anybody around you. I did find the group riding a bit tense as I was a little on edge about touching the wheel in front of me - which I hear is very bad news for the guy behind, i.e. me! That should hopefully improve quickly enough anyway.
Another crucial skill to be worked on is cake eating. Fortunately this is never something I've struggled with... Saturday's coffee stop involved chocolate cake while Sunday's a coffee slice. Different but both very enjoyable - just like the two clubs
Bizarrely despite riding 170Km in the last two days I found myself sitting on the sofa last night feeling like I hadn't been cycling at all and wanting to go out. It seems I've become addicted to chasing my sadist friend up the hills of Wicklow and any cycling that doesn't involve suffering up hills leaves my legs feeling like I haven't done any cycling at all.
Depending on what weekend mornings my wife can mind our twins, I'm going to head out some more with the clubs and probably join one of them.
I feel like this is a natural conclusion to this thread. I wanted to post this up as an aid and encouragement to anybody else in the same boat and there's no point in regaling you all with the story of me, the thoroughly mediocre club cyclist
The tldr version of this thread for any adults who want to learn to cycle is:
1 - Email Anne from http://www.rothar.ie and she'll have you riding a bike in twenty minutes She'll even provide the bike. There's no need to make things as complicated and detailed as I have, that's just my nature.
or
2 - Get a friend to teach you but make sure you and they check out a decent video like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP3DNPDKxOM . Just because someone can ride a bike doesn't mean they know how to properly teach someone to do it. If they suggest stabilisers, smile politely and back away 0 -
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It's a year and a half since I learnt to ride a bike and a year since I updated this thread. I'm updating as it's spreading!
About 4 months ago I taught my little (34) sister how to ride a bike.
She's now commuting to work - 7km each way - by bike about twice a week. She owns 2 bikes - a ridiculous city bike hybrid thing (beauty is in the eye of the beholder) for commuting to work/shops, and since last month a Giant Defy which is significantly fancier than my road-bike. Admittedly that's quite a low bar to be fancier than
We started 4 months ago with me running behind her in UCD. Cogging Anne from Rothar's very effective methods She was able to cycle a couple of dozen metres within about half an hour. Then it was just a case of a few more practice sessions in UCD before graduating to the Phoenix Park and after maybe 2 months to occassionally commuting to work.
Then after only about 2 1/2 months to an out-and-back spin with me from Dundrum to Enniskerry for coffee and cake on a loan road bike from Thinkbike in Rathmines. They're good guys in there.
Orwell continued their usual thing of being an absolutely amazing club by running a women's only 4 week introduction to cycling class starting at the beginning of October. Week 1 my sister really wasn't able for it - largely due to a lack of confidence - and she gave up half way through it. An emergency brother skills session around Dun Laoghaire harbour (not the pier!) and she was up to to braving the week 2 session.
The Orwell ladies were brilliant. Week 2 the Women's spin was split into three groups. The fast ladies who had done things like the ring of kerry already, the slower ladies, and then my sister who got a 1 on 1 to Enniskerry and then was able to hang on to the slower group on the way back.
Week 3 was even better and then there was a break week, so my sister decided to head out with the Orwell White group (ie the normal beginner group) and convinced me to come along. Handily enough I was enjoying a chest infection so I couldn't have done a faster cycle anyway!
The white group were doing 70km! A very flat 70km to Maynooth and back, but still, the most my sister had ever done was 28km. I said we could stick with them for as long as she wanted and then the two of us would head back together slowly.
However she's unbelievably stubborn and despite me suggesting periodically that now would be a good time to turn back we ended up cycling all the way to Maynooth and part way back with them before she bonked. The speed and distance was so much more than what she was used to and she just ran out of blood sugar. I recognised it when it happened but I hadn't really expected it - you can easily forget how 2 hours+ of (for her) hard cycling can really exhaust you, particularly when you yourself are taking it so easy. Mea culpa
So after 45km we had to drop off the white group but not before Orwell's President who was on the spin cycled back to us to check she was OK, give her some kind words of encouragement and tell her that she'd be very welcome back next week.
There was a crazy headwind and we made slow progress with me acting as wind-breaking domestique until we got to a petrol station where a can of coke resulted in a semi miraculous recovery. An effect that I know well myself - I remember crucifying myself on the Wicklow hills when I was only a few months into this and limping to a petrol station where a can of coke and an ice-cream would make everything OK again.
We made it back to Dundrum after 72km. Some step-up from 28km and she was in great form
Last weekend she was back out on the final women's beginner's spin and has now graduated to the normal beginner White spins, where I think she and a few of the other women's beginner spin graduates will be taking things handy together. I hope so anyway!
I can't express how grateful I am to Orwell. Decency runs through the entire club. Apart from the ladies running the women's beginner spins (including coaches, track stars & one of this year's Ras Na mBan competitors) there's also the club road race/hill-climb champ helping make things welcoming, random male racers or leisure cyclists helping out as extra leaders when needed and even the Orwell President giving kind words of encouragement and watching out for the beginners.
So that's the reason for the update.
As for me, since I last updated I've joined Orwell (great idea), done a 200km Audax (the Ardattin), done the Wicklow 200, organised long (110km or so) hilly (1500m+ climbing) weekly club cycles over the summer, come 30th out of 42 in the Orwell hill climb championship up Kilmashogue lane - in a very respectable time of 11:34 from the roundabout to the very top -, built another bike (a fixie) including even the rear wheel, generally had a lot of fun, met many very nice people and occasionally suffered unpleasantly while trying to go further or faster for no better reason than because I wanted to see if I could
Some year 0 -
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I'm really gutted to have missed the last Orwell Ladies Beginners! I stumbled across their site today after having a horrible first commute into the centre! Their group sounds like just what i'm looking for and can fully empathize with your sister quozl on the lack of confidence front.
I haven't cycled in nearly 20 years and thought with a work move commuting by bike would be a great option.... wrong!
After a test cycle yesterday morning with no traffic this morning was a scarrrry step up. Probably too large of a step as I know have a seriously sore bum and am currently dreading the trek home
If anyone has any suggestions for routes from town to Dundrum... away from the main death roads like Dundrum Road please let me know.0 -
I find Churchtown road - 1 road west of Dundrum road - a much nicer cycle Peachy. Dundrum road is pretty unpleasant. So if you can come Rathmines, Dartry, Churchtown road and then Dundrum you might find it nicer.
Don't worry too much about the sore bum, that's guaranteed to happen until your legs get strong enough to support more of your weight leaving less of it on your saddle. You may also have your saddle not set up quite right - weight should be on your sit bones not any soft central areas but even a perfectly setup saddle is guaranteed to hurt for the first few weeks unfortunately.
Hi Ho you should but unfortunately the women's group has just finished. You'd find a lot of friendly women (and men) in the regular 'white' slower club group though. It's where most of the women's group has graduated to. Some of them I'm sure are in the next faster group 'yellow' already. You need to be able to ride 60km though, which is a lot more than the women's group started at. If you can do 50km at 20kph on your own then you'd be well able for it - the coffee break in the middle is very helpful and you get a speed boost from the group pushing the air in front of you. If you're even half-way to that then you'd be surprised how quickly you can get to that standard if you're interested and I really would recommend Orwell 0 -
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