Tell us about your new improved government regulations compliant cycle part II

smacl

ED E wrote: »

If I was behind/beside you I'd instantly think you were a novice doing that.

Yep. I often find that the first car behind you does a proper overtake and the car behind them skims you with a close pass. Seems to happen almost every time going uphill from Lamb's cross to Lamb Doyles for me.

pjmn

55km spin this evening after work, lovely evening - averaged almost 29km

https://www.strava.com/activities/2515603816

saccades

saccades wrote: »

Handy 15km around Djouce - went over the bars as I was trying to clip in going down toro. Slightly embarrassing.

At least I know I set the torque on the bolt holding the brakes correctly as they swivelled around undamaged.

Wrist hurts a bit holding my beer.

Now dosed up on vimovo as my shoulder is in agony. Spin class tomorrow night.

positron

Combined commute to & fro into a single ride using Garmin's "Resume Later" feature - cheeky way to get a long ride. 115k in total, got rained on towards the end, and I heard loud creaking coming from a bike going in the other direction at one stage - and had a look - yeah that was a boardman bike too. My own boardman's bottom bracket is starting to creak again. Need to get that greased up before it craps itself.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2515357746

Going thru City Center in rush hour is some new level of insanity - it's absolute chaos - it's absolutely everyone for themselves. Cyclists jumping lights, DublinBike folks leisurely pedaling while on phone or whatever, away pedestrians jaywalking half of them talking on phone and the rest are looking at their phone as they walk, parked cars and blocked traffic making even walking hard at times, and oh, motorbikes doing whatever they can do in between all this.

Alanstrainor

pjmn wrote: »

55km spin this evening after work, lovely evening - averaged almost 29km

https://www.strava.com/activities/2515603816

That's great going!

My commutes today were brilliant, I convinced myself I'm getting fitter... then copped that my above average speed was mostly due to the below average wind! It was lovely all the same, I just let loose and blasted home to clear the head. It always works.

shaka

40 km recovery ride yesterday evening, down on strength, couldn't push hard if I wanted . Need to get my ass in gear.

LollipopJimmy

Commuting in this morning I was overtaken by a girl on a single speed, I was tipping along at around 25kph, she got in front of me and then just stopped to cross the road in between the stationary traffic, in trying to avoid her I turned in and flipped over the bars. Knee is banged up and some road rash but mostly ok. She seemed oblivious to the fact that stopping dead in a tightly packed cycle lane was a bad idea, it's not as if I was wheel grabbing either, she'd overtaken and then decided to stop

robyntmorton

Way to work: somehow double punctured in Stillorgan, and had to push the bike to work. Got the bike fixed by the local mobile cycle clinic and took it home this evening.

I may have been lucky, but Donnybrook was relatively quiet outbound. Not sure I'd want to be near a bus around the curves at the Garda station though.

Mickiemcfist

robyntmorton wrote: »

Way to work: somehow double punctured in Stillorgan, and had to push the bike to work. Got the bike fixed by the local mobile cycle clinic and took it home this evening.

I may have been lucky, but Donnybrook was relatively quiet outbound. Not sure I'd want to be near a bus around the curves at the Garda station though.

Yea you have to take the lane there out & inbound. Same going inbound at the junction of clyde road further up.

robyntmorton

Mickiemcfist wrote: »

Yea you have to take the lane there out & inbound. Same going inbound at the junction of clyde road further up.

I agree completely about taking the lane there! Still, it was an enjoyable spin home

saccades

Hill reps as the shoulder is still not quite strong enough for Mtb stuff, 640m in 22km at an ave 16ish.

5th rep was the fastest and 6th 2nd fastest. Go figure.

saccades

saccades wrote: »

Hill reps as the shoulder is still not quite strong enough for Mtb stuff, 640m in 22km at an ave 16ish.

5th rep was the fastest and 6th 2nd fastest. Go figure.

You thought it was curry chip for dinner during it and powered on then realised it was only tuesday so it would be spagbol and slowed down?

magicbastarder

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

Commuting in this morning I was overtaken by a girl on a single speed, I was tipping along at around 25kph, she got in front of me and then just stopped to cross the road in between the stationary traffic, in trying to avoid her I turned in and flipped over the bars.

this sounds like the start of a rom-com.

Justwinginit

Back on the saddle again after a 'break' for the turf. Been a couple of weeks. 25.7km avg 27.1kph.felt a bit out of sorts starting off, but soon got into the rhythm again. Surprised myself with that time... Another tomorrow methinks.... Damn, it is nice and warm out there...

LollipopJimmy

magicbastarder wrote: »

this sounds like the start of a rom-com.

Was nearly the start of a murder story. I lay on the footpath hoping for it to just swallow me up where I landed and a passer by just pulled me by the arm to my feet. I did thank him and I know he was only helping but don't move people when there is a possibility of injury

Thirdfox

So after getting all the kit assembled took my first "proper" long(er) cycle today.

Good news is that I should have no problems hitting a 20kmph/50km minimum standard for group cycles - today did 33km at around 20.8kmph average and had plenty left in the tank at the end - was still cycling at around 24-30kmph on the way home. The gps tracker said my top speed was 75.6kmph but I think that might have been a blooper - the cycle computer said top speed was around 50.1kmph (good fun!)

Pros:
1. Finally got on the bike (in proper (Lidl ) cycling shorts - yes they do make a big difference!)
2. Found I wasn't as out of shape as I feared I might have been .

Cons:
1. Had my second unclipping issue and no dog walker to blame this time - came up to the top of a steep (to me) hill and was putting so much effort in that I forgot I needed to unclip - braked when I saw traffic on the main road and timburrr x2.

Semi-pro(?):
1. I now have matching grazes on both knees :cool:

robyntmorton

5 1/2 commute cycles this week, with a mix of rock road and N11 through Donnybrook in and out.

Despite the double puncture on Tuesday morning, and having to walk half way in cleats, I'm pretty happy. The inbound is much nicer on rock road. I find myself able to keep up a pace I wasn't expecting on chunks of it, and despite not feeling as great this morning, managed a faster time over the same distance.

The outbound though has the cycle lane downhill from Foxrock church, which is an absolute fücking sh!tshow. I'm not quite sure what is worse, it or RTE to UCD!

On the bus tomorrow to bring home this weeks work clothes, but I'll be going again next week.

(If anyone sees me - I'll be on the black Merida with deep aero wheels, wearing either a charity Jersey or one from *whispers* Team Sky, give me either a hello or a push forward)

tuxy

robyntmorton wrote: »

5 1/2 commute cycles this week, with a mix of rock road and N11 through Donnybrook in and out.

Despite the double puncture on Tuesday morning, and having to walk half way in cleats,

This may help you in future, it worked for me before. Was surprisingly stable, just be careful on sharp turns.

robyntmorton

tuxy wrote: »

This may help you in future, it worked for me before. Was surprisingly stable, just be careful on sharp turns.

That could prove useful, thanks

Either that or I pay for a team car to follow me everywhere!

Thirdfox

Seeing as the weather was so good today hopped on the bike and tried a longer "spin".

65km round trip going from Dun Laoghaire harbour to Howth harbour - took a lunch break in the middle after reaching Howth. Finished it off by taking the N11 "hills" on the way back south - using the granny gears at one point (it was after 58km cycled after all in defence).

And third time's the charm - no falling off this time (it was starting to get embarrassing!).

New lessons learnt today:
1. the cycle path going to howth is lovely riding up
2. headwind is a major pain and I can understand how a gust can send Froome crashing with how much my bike was moving
3. hands can get sore after a few hours of cycling from being on the hoods - I shifted to going on the bar tops on the way back in "strong" headwind to give my thumb/forefinger curve a rest
4. under strong (for Ireland) sunlight sunscreen might be a good idea - I actually managed to get tan lines on leg and arms from the 3 hours I was outside

New question:
1. is "top" i.e. hardest gear relatively slow? I don't know how many RPMs I was doing (guesstimate 65-70(?)rpm) but that was only giving me around 30-34kmph on flat parts - do you normally go much faster than this? Is it that people are supposed to be hitting 80-100rpm etc. for speed or is 30-34kmph "enough"?

tuxy

Thirdfox wrote: »

New question:
1. is "top" i.e. hardest gear relatively slow? I don't know how many RPMs I was doing (guesstimate 65-70(?)rpm) but that was only giving me around 30-34kmph on flat parts - do you normally go much faster than this? Is it that people are supposed to be hitting 80-100rpm etc. for speed or is 30-34kmph "enough"?

Nice work that's great progress already!

Sounds about right if your bike has a compact crank. 50(front chainring) x 11(back cog) = 34 km/h at 60 RPM. Most people are comfortable at 80 - 100 cadence which would be 46 - 57.

I'd recommend upping your cadence to at least 80 average for the duration of the cycle. You may feel out of breath doing this at first but will build cardio faster and notice bigger gain to average speed and distance.

Also sore hands may be because you are not used to being on the bike for that long but could also be because your saddle is too far forward pushing too much weight onto your hands and wrists.

Taxuser1

First time poster, long time lurker. I had a lovely one hour spin at an average speed of 28kmph. In the hour I began with a balls out effort for 2 minutes with a two minute break before repeating. Three minutes later i sprinted for 30 seconds in the saddle, freewheeled for 15 before repeating that 6 times. After a four minute break I saddle sprinted for 40 seconds then freewheeled for 20 and repeated that 6 times. My final set repeated the 30 second seated sprint set and I them rode home in a specially designed body bag empty retching, crying for Mammy.

dahat

Taxuser1 wrote: »

First time poster, long time lurker. I had a lovely one hour spin at an average speed of 28kmph. In the hour I began with a balls out effort for 2 minutes with a two minute break before repeating. Three minutes later i sprinted for 30 seconds in the saddle, freewheeled for 15 before repeating that 6 times. After a four minute break I saddle sprinted for 40 seconds then freewheeled for 20 and repeated that 6 times. My final set repeated the 30 second seated sprint set and I them rode home in a specially designed body bag empty retching, crying for Mammy.

Ouch.

Weepsie

Had a day off work so had a little spin out to Howth and back via Malahide, Swords and Roganstown.

58 km in just over 2 hours at 27kmph.

Reporting because I smashed my Howth Hill time (Sutton side) by 45 secs and got it under 8 mins for likely the only time ever

North of 32

Today is the first day of my summer holiday. I spent half a day in town buying bits and pieces for Gran Canaria. My mini shopping spree left me shattered. I just napped the entire afternoon.

Eventually I dragged myself from the sofa, onto the bike and knew from the first pedal stroke it was the best thing I could've done. I love that feeling.

I wanted to target one particular strava segment. I gave it everything and overtook a couple of other cyclists while breathing like a dying donkey. I sound like a faulty Henry the Hoover when I'm in the red, sucking in air. But after my ride I couldn't find it in my list of segments. Looked like it hadn't tracked. Gutted. I checked again later on the website version and there it was, 'hidden'. I knocked 4 seconds off my PB and set the fastest time of the year. YES! Let these good legs last for GC.

triggermortis

Uneventful ride to work until I got to the airport and after overtaking a slow moving kind of cars, one pulled up alongside me, mostly on the other side of the road, rolled his window down and lectured me on staying to the left. I thanked him in my best French* and went on my way.


* my French is mostly English swear words...

ED E

Lovely day out west of Dublin today, overcast for a lot of it but perfect conditions for easy riding without sweating a baths worth.

pjmn

Nice spin out west - 78km @ 28kmph avg...

https://www.strava.com/activities/2528050937

silverharp

good one today 112km dublin-glendalough-wicklow gap and all the nice back roads around blessington lakes. used a HR monitor and cycled to the meter as far as glendalough, cycled a little slower but no breaks worked out the same timewise

secman

Headed from Tallaght to Enniskerry, roundwood, Laragh and up by waterfall to Sally Gap, left down to manor Kilbride and home. 107 km 1300 m avg 26.3kph.... tired