Tell us about your cycle today part III

magicbastarder

thread starter post

magicbastarder

went out probably a bit underfuelled. suffered towards the end (had put in a good bit of climbing) but that was a glorious evening. really hazy.

Just in from 37k @ 31kph with 400 up. Beautiful evening and just about enough time before the light faded. The wind caught me by surprise on the way home. My wife had surgery yesterday so I'm on kids duty for the foreseeable and any cycles will be short and in the evening.

Having said that, long, lovely summer of cycling ahead of us all! Can't wait.

Reality_Check1

Was a bit stressed because I was getting held up late in work and I really wanted to get out since it was such a nice evening. Eventually got out for a shorter than planned spin 44k @30kmph and 220 up. Had one crack off a local(ish) KOM but could only come 5th a full 15 seconds off the title - its a relatively short segment of 920m @2.2%. I reckon if I was to have any real shot at the local KOM's I'll need to get the weight down (currently 95kg )

magicbastarder

was the wind with you for it? was a 20km/h easterly; if it's an east to west haul, don't forget whoever grabbed it probably had a stronger tailwind.

Reality_Check1

magicbastarder wrote: »

was the wind with you for it? was a 20km/h easterly; if it's an east to west haul, don't forget whoever grabbed it probably had a stronger tailwind.

Nah to be fair it was a cross wind but its a fairly sheltered climb so not sure how much difference it would make. Ive only recently fitted a power meter to the bike and I set new 1, 2 and 5 min power PB's so still happy with the spin

sy_flembeck

50 odd @28kmh. Av speed was 33kmh at one point. Till I turned to come home - a sneaky wind I hadn't noticed.

A nice incident travelling on the N11 southbound. Came around the bend after Farrankelly Rd junction to see a motorway maintenance truck parked further up across the hard shoulder with the large arrow denoting that they were working in the verges. To be fair to the chap he obviously saw the Fly12 from good distance and immediately pulled right over out of my path. Saved me the dreadful dew moments of being forced out into what was a busy dual carriageway - while going uphill.

Gave him an immediate advance wave and got one back when I approached, to which I shouted a thanks. A small gesture from him but appreciated very much by me, especially as it's the first one of those vehicles that ever bothered to do anything except get in the way.

Jim Gazebo

65km for me. 23kph. Was a glorious day. Found the easterly wind tough going but feel I'm getting better at keeping speed up into the wind. The average suffered hugely in the last 15km. Legs really struggled, not for a lack of fuelling,, more a lack of fitness for that length, I felt fine just the legs were not with me. 700m of up.

Almost cleaned out of it by an elderly lady leaving her driveway. Pulled out on top of me, wasn't so worried until I realised she still hasn't seen me and kept coming towards me... Very close shave but just managed to avoid, lucky it was amongst road works and nothing coming on other side of road.

2lazytogetup

sunday morning rings around dublin city centre. nice bike lanes and very low car traffic. suggest doing it before lockdown ends. came from lucan along the grand canal which is paved.

amazing how much more bike friendly dublin city has become since the 90s

origianlly planned on doing bike sprints on phoenix park but had to abandon as felt like everycar in ireland was in there.

fat bloke

What a savage evening it was yesterday. Did 90k around and about, there and back. Some wind in it though, you certainly knew which way it was blowing!

sy_flembeck

sy_flembeck wrote: »

50 odd @28kmh. Av speed was 33kmh at one point. Till I turned to come home - a sneaky wind I hadn't noticed.

A nice incident travelling on the N11 southbound. Came around the bend after Farrankelly Rd junction to see a motorway maintenance truck parked further up across the hard shoulder with the large arrow denoting that they were working in the verges. To be fair to the chap he obviously saw the Fly12 from good distance and immediately pulled right over out of my path. Saved me the dreadful dew moments of being forced out into what was a busy dual carriageway - while going uphill.

Gave him an immediate advance wave and got one back when I approached, to which I shouted a thanks. A small gesture from him but appreciated very much by me, especially as it's the first one of those vehicles that ever bothered to do anything except get in the way.

Sneaky easterly. I was averaging 35kph on the way out and was sure I was ready for the Tour De France until I turned for home and got a right shock as the wind battered me the whole way back.

Daroxtar

An adventurous week or so...
Around the Christmas I noticed my heartrate monitor was malfunctioning a bit. I'd be motoring along and next thing my hr would drop from 130-140 down to 70 or so. Obviously that was wrong as no matter how good I was going I'd be hard pushed to do 250w at 70bpm. So I got a new hrm and low and behold, I was still getting the same readings. This would only happen for a whole and if I put in a good dig it'd come back up to 150 or more and normal service resumed.

Anyway cut forward to a few weeks ago and I started having palpitations. Usual triggers for that sort of thing, caffeine, inhaler for asthma, fatigue. Put controls in place and they didn't go away. So I had an ecg that picked up a few harmless ectopic beats, an echocardiogram that showed all good and then a 24 hour holter monitor and was advised do a spin on the bike to see if it triggered anything.

Got a call back the following day straight away and told I needed a treadmill test asap and no strenuous exercise or stress until further notice. Barrage of questions asking about blackouts, family history of cardiac problems (father passed away with cardiac arrest), dizzy spells, blurred vision..on and on it went. Needless to say that was pretty fkng stressful.

So I had the test and when I got up to speed the ecg showed palpitations galore of which I was fairly unaware. My hrm wasn't malfunctioning, it wasn't counting all the erratic beats I was getting. Luckily they are harmless but a nuisance. So I'm on a course of tablets and if they don't work I'll be having a catheter ablation done and hopefully that'll be the end of that. I can continue cycling away and doing physical work.

Major lesson learned, I'm officially a middle aged man who needs to keep a bit of a closer eye on things. Could easily have been an awful lot worse. Everyone should have a little check up whenever they can. Look after yourselves

Edit- nearly forgot, had a grand spin on Tuesday, shorts and a light Jersey. Felt good

buffalo

2lazytogetup wrote: »

sunday morning rings around dublin city centre. nice bike lanes and very low car traffic. suggest doing it before lockdown ends. came from lucan along the grand canal which is paved.

amazing how much more bike friendly dublin city has become since the 90s

origianlly planned on doing bike sprints on phoenix park but had to abandon as felt like everycar in ireland was in there.

"It was a lovely morning cycling around the city streets until I went to the park". Bizarro world! :pac:

MojoMaker

Get a handle on that AF Daroxtar, it can develop quickly into something very serious indeed. You're lucky you've identified it early - well done for getting into the medical community for an opinion, so many people don't until it becomes a really big deal to the point where your life is compromised.

Be prepared for a lot of tinkering with the medication to get the blend right as well.

secman

Daraxtor, hopefully the meds will do the job, i recently went through a 6 month period of cardio tests and am now on meds. It was fairly stressful awaiting results and more tests and the bombardment of the questions, all necessary though. Unfortunately i also suffer from back issues which tends to flare up badly every 6 months, and having only 3 weeks ago got clearance to up the intensity on the bike, it flared up again on Monday
Downside to being on my meds is i can't take any NSAIDS for my back issue, which always helped it settle down in the past.
Just as well you were using a HM monitor , best of luck with your meds, fingers crossed and all that.
If I was only middle aged

Seth Brundle

Pfft Atrial Fibrillation?
I had a 100% blockage which led to a major heart attack five years ago (in mid-forties).
Look at me now - if anything, it was the making of me.
You get used to the meds although I reckon that the BP reducers (even though I already had a low BP) affect my pace. Or at least, it feels like a good excuse for a slow pace
You'll be grand! Thank goodness your HRM warned you in time!

Seth Brundle

Had a lovely 50km spin in a breezy but warm Summer-like evening.
First time out this year without a base layer or a jacket - just a jersey (one of my boards jerseys no less!).
Traffic was desperate though. Not too many cars doing stupid overtakes, just the sheer volume of traffic - you'd be hard pushed to know that there's still a pandemic going on!

MangleBadger

Lovely evening for a spin. 45k with 830m up. First time doing Bohernabreena. Headwind for the last couple of km made it slightly less enjoyable.
Also pretty sure I’ve snapped my rear derailleur cable. As I heard a snap and now cannot switch gears down. Have not investigated it yet. Thankfully I was about 2 minutes from home.
https://strava.app.link/rNvKmhUzFfb

magicbastarder

if your RD cable snaps, the RD will return immediately to the smallest cog (i've never been sure what people mean by changing up and changing down, because some people mix up the concept between front and rear RDs)

MangleBadger

magicbastarder wrote: »

if your RD cable snaps, the RD will return immediately to the smallest cog (i've never been sure what people mean by changing up and changing down, because some people mix up the concept between front and rear RDs)

That is exactly what happened. Glad it wasn’t halfway up Bohernabreena!

magicbastarder

also could be that the cable slipped in the cable clamp, which would be an easier fix.

wheelo01

Oh what a beautiful day for it, great to get out in shorts and short sleeves.
78.5 km at 28.5 kph, into a fecker of a snakey headwind on the way home.
Drimnagh, lucan,maynooth, across to Naas road and home.

https://strava.app.link/cR83ZwnEFfb

Daroxtar

I'm lucky enough, it's not A-Fib, just PVCs and the meds aren't Beta blockers so while they do slightly reduce heartrate, they also slightly increase oxygen uptake so it balances out .
Did a spin this evening, 45km @ 33.5kmh. Not quite as warm as it looked but still a nice evening.

magicbastarder

well, you're fit at least!

Myself and the eldest saw a dolphin on our spin earlier. Yup, a dolphin in the river Boyne. Riding along and was tempted to turn off as there was a bit of a gathering and was worried someone might be in the river and certainly didn't want the child to see that so asked a lady jogging what was going on.

Maybe Fungie was just out doing local laps for the last year and decided to stop in Drogheda?

On a serious note hopefully the relevant people are monitoring it, I'd hate to think it was in trouble or anything.

magicbastarder

was it on a tidal section?

magicbastarder

magicbastarder wrote: »

was it on a tidal section?

For sure and very much in the middle of town, just at the park there. Less than 5km from the coast.

EDIT: Seems to have been reported https://iwdg.ie/browsers/showdetails.php?t=si&id=37279

They think it's a bottlenose. Sure looked like it from what we saw of it.

Seth Brundle

Headed down to the edge of the Blessington Lakes today - first time this year. Lovely weather and as usual, lovely scenery.
Had a route plotted through my garmin which involved 668m of climbing. Somehow, actually following the 77km course, I only managed 529m so I'm left feeling a little short changed.
At one point as I was climbing Boherboy/Lamb Hill, I pulled aside to let a truck pass. This killed my pace and I had to pull in further uphill, just outside the entrance to the quarry. A driver in an Audi estate pulling out and going my way offered to let me hang on to his mirror but I kindly declined.
Overall an easy pace of 26.9km/h but still managed to knock out a few PBs so happy with that.
A nice way to spend my afternoon whilst working from home!
https://www.strava.com/activities/5177964373

104km today. Flat!


Then took a tumble over a cycle lane bollard at a very slow speed. New rear mech hanger needed tomorrow but all in all, a good day!

wheelo01

Seth Brundle wrote: »

A nice way to spend my afternoon whilst working from home!

I've worked from home twice this week - dont ask how I got the double decker into the back garden

Reality_Check1

I wasn't even supposed to go out today because I have a decent spin planned with some friends tomorrow. Anyway I got out of work early and the weather was class so thought Id go for a short one. Lessons learned from earlier in the week and I headed into the teeth of that East wind on the way out. Felt fairly strong but the evening was so nice I just kept going - ended up doing a lap of the Hill of Tara and back home.

Totaled 69k with 477 up @ 28kmph. Gonna be in trouble tomorrow I feel :pac:

magicbastarder

wheelo01 wrote: »

I've worked from home twice this week - dont ask how I got the double decker into the back garden

i (genuinely) once convinced a colleague that some lads had stolen a luas by diverting the tracks into their back garden.

Seth Brundle

My wife has noticed that I got some sun today as there is a distinct line in my upper arms and thighs where my jersey and shorts ended. She's not impressed.
I'm not sure if she gets rule #7!

Got out for an hour last night and seeing as an easterly was blowing I headed for a busy local climb and went all out for the KOM. The stars aligned and I took it by 2 seconds and then spent five minutes at the side of the road, lungs burning, metal in the mouth and convinced I was going to puke. Came round and snailed home happy.

32k @ 26kph with 500 climbing.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5179597595

secman

No spin today or all week due to back issues but heading up to Citywest with my wife, she's getting vaccine jab today. I was also able to register for mine today . Glorious weather for cycling albeit a bit windy ftom the east. Jealousy is a terrible thing

dahat

4hrs with loads of wind that never materialised to a tailwind despite planning for it. Plenty out & about with a few groups that really should know better.

120km @ 30.2 avg with 1000m of up.

Nigzcurran

Went bananas today and got as far as newbridge from blanchardstown, took a few wrong turns on the way home and struggled a fair bit with my shoulders and back as the bike I’m using is a bit small and I’m not very comfortable at all. I’m going to try borrow a better bike off a friend as my new bike is still 3 weeks away from delivery unfortunately but the weather today was unreal today and I’m sporting a nice colour and I even got plenty of hellos off the lads on the fast bikes so good day all round. 100kms round trip which is a massive step up for me

Seth Brundle

Wasn't out on the bike myself today as I had some fit to keep me busy but went for a nice walk this evening.
However, between the walk and being out in the car twice, I was surprised to see loads of riders with base layers or jackets on. Today was scirchio - I cant understand how they were so overdressed.

fat bloke

Scorchio me ar$e!

I was out from 7am til 1.30pm, arm warmers, legs, baselayer, jersey and gilet and I never once wanted to shed anything. Warm in the direct sun alright but the chill in the air / wind never went away!

Or else it's just my old bones

Seth Brundle

Even my car was telling me at lunchtime that it was 17.5. Was seeing riders until around 6pm with the base layers etc.

rolling boh

Was out around Dunboyne this morning lovely out but not always warm bit of a breeze so would have found a jersey a bit underdressed defo weather for shorts though .

Plastik

Depends where you were and the direction you were going. I run warm so was in lighter kit than Fat Bloke, but it was only 5/6deg at Sally Gap xroads at 930 and there was a nip in the easterly.

Reality_Check1

Reality_Check1 wrote: »

Totaled 69k with 477 up @ 28kmph. Gonna be in trouble tomorrow I feel :pac:

yup I was in trouble! In fairness I only really struggled for the last 10k or so. We started early and was motoring well up around Johny Foxes, down to Enniskerry, Bray, Kiliney hill, Town and back to the starting point. Of all things a small kicker in Chapleizoid nearly beat me but legs were gone at that stage

Total of 101k with 927m up at 24km/hr

Home now post bath with a victory beer. Prob should take tomorrow off but the weather is sooo good.......

Nigzcurran

Weepsie wrote: »

I had a base layer and gilet. Always rather have too much than too little. It was lovely out, but the wind was still cool enough and seemed to like changing direction (or so it felt)

In fact. I never don't wear a base layer. Though I've very light ones for the summer.

I had a T-shirt and cycling shorts under a pair of less hideous shorts! Left at 9am and never felt the cold but never really broke a sweat either so seemed to be a good balance

magicbastarder

Weepsie wrote: »

In fact. I never don't wear a base layer. Though I've very light ones for the summer.

last time i was out - weds evening - i was wearing bib shorts (the most recent boards iteration) and a reasonably light long sleeved btwin top. but my temperature tolderance seems to be several degrees below average.

Reality_Check1

For those saying it was cold today - the back of my neck, quads and arms would beg to differ. I got scalded and I was wearing factor 50 :eek::o

this.lad

Went for a quick dart around this morning did 45k 400m elevation gain, that's kildare for you, 28km/h average which I'm happy with considering the head wind which seemed to be there the whole way round.

Met a group of about 20 from one of the clubs around, not drawing attention to themselves at all! No point getting excited over these things though. Better that than in a sheebeen looking at horse racing.

Had the shorts with a long sleeved jersey and needed every bit of it.

Later on one of the lads texted about going so off I went, short sleeves this time and roasting. Did 30km with 300m. We were slower going around, hes only getting back at it but suited me fine.

I made a big effort to stay at it this winter between indoor and getting out on dry days. Definitely paying off.

So 75km today, cool and windy in the morning but calmer and very warm later. All in a good day on the bike.

Nigzcurran

Nigzcurran wrote: »

I had a T-shirt and cycling shorts under a pair of less hideous shorts! Left at 9am and never felt the cold but never really broke a sweat either so seemed to be a good balance

If you don't like how cycling shorts look get yourself a decent pair of padded mtb shorts, you can get braces/suspenders for them so you don't need tie them at the waist or wear a belt. Super comfy and they'll look grand with a tshirt etc.

On the topic of base layers, I'd thoroughly recommend one Aldi still have loads left. It's one of those things you never knew you needed until you try one. It's not just for cold days either like others I wear them all year.

Wishbone Ash

Cracking day for a long ride. Did the Co Dublin perimeter in a sort of figure of 8 way today - 272kms with 2,400m climbing. I'm sore now - it has been a while.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5186241320

Wishbone Ash

Seth Brundle wrote: »

... Today was scirchio - I cant understand how they were so overdressed.

It was 1 degree in Garristown this morning.

secman

Think you were spotted at Hazelhatch ? Were you in a boards.ie. kit ?