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La Flamme Rouge **off topic discussion**

1…363364366368369…374

Comments

  • #10952
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 16,284 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123449516#Comment_123449516

    Really good thanks Seth, still a good bit slower than previously but back to doing hills and 100k efforts. Trying to get out four times a week, 3 x 1.5 hour sessions, one bigger weekend one. In for a scan again next week so should know more when I get the results. I did a few months of cardiac rehab physiotherapy that was also very helpful. I'm still on heavy enough meds and will be until next spring, after which there'll be a reduction all going well. Happy with where I'm at and loving the sunshine, keeping the work rate up if the weather turns crap will be much more of a challenge.

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  • #10953
    ednwireland
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 14,974 ✭✭✭✭ednwireland


    Bit of a shame but been off the bike since bank hol. Mon with the weather.

    14 stitches in my forearm from an accident with a hedge trimmer. The amoxicillin wiped me out !

    Stay safe out there

    Hopefully get out for a bit on sun

    My weather

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  • #10954
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 55,425 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    14 stitches? ouch.



  • #10955
    tomasrojo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 12,049 ✭✭✭✭tomasrojo


    People have inconsistent attitudes to risk anyway. Walking as a mode of transport has a broadly similar risk profile to cycling but no one usually reacts incredulously, gives you unsolicited advice or backhandedly talks about how brave you are for walking to work.

    People who play rugby, with its fairly elevated risk of spinal injury and concussion, don't get as much concern or disapproval either. If anything, people approve of that form of risk taking. Presumably partly because they don't play on the road.



  • #10956
    JMcL
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,832 ✭✭✭JMcL


     Walking as a mode of transport has a broadly similar risk profile to cycling but no one usually reacts incredulously, gives you unsolicited advice or backhandedly talks about how brave you are for walking to work.

    Walking does attract its fair share of attention from the "where's the hi-viz" brigade albeit not to the same extent, and less so in an urban context (though I've no doubt a lot of Journal commentards would want it mandated there as well)



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  • #10957
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 16,284 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    People have inconsistent attitudes to risk anyway. Walking as a mode of transport has a broadly similar risk profile to cycling but no one usually reacts incredulously, gives you unsolicited advice or backhandedly talks about how brave you are for walking to work.

    Similar risk per KM travelled, per hour at the activity, or in terms of number of accidents reported while engaged in the mode of transport? Also be interesting to know whether the primary common source of risk in both cases was cars and other vehicles. With walking, I wonder whether crossing the road while staring at the mobile phone is becoming the bigger risk factor, certainly seen a few near misses there over the past year.

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  • #10958
    tomasrojo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 12,049 ✭✭✭✭tomasrojo


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123463876#Comment_123463876

    Last I saw, similar risk per hour, cycling safer per km (which makes sense, given how much further you travel per hour)



  • #10959
    JMcL
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,832 ✭✭✭JMcL


    I've been watching bits of the Giro - live and highlights - on SBS. The ads they're showing in the highlights seem to be about 70% car ads, though "car" in a loose sense - most of them seem to be for pickup trucks that'd make Ford Raptors seem like little kiddie pedal cars. More cyclist/pedestrian hostile vehicles it's difficult to imagine.



  • #10960
    loyatemu
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 16,385 ✭✭✭✭loyatemu


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123468138#Comment_123468138

    useful for thundering through the outback, knocking kangaroos out of the way. But in reality mostly used for dropping little Bruce and Sheila to school in Erinsborough

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  • #10961
    retalivity
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 15,575 ✭✭✭✭retalivity


    Cycling gear was always expensive but it appears to have gone completely off-the-wall in the last year or so. Looking for a new rain/windbreaker jacket and thought i'd treat myself…but the prices for the 'premium' brands are mad

    POC: €200- €500 https://poc.com/en/product/the-supreme-rain-jacket-jasper-brown

    Rapha : €170 - €450+ (although I do like the EF jacket…) https://www.rapha.cc/eu/en/product/ef-mens-gore-tex-rain-jacket---switchout/CQO01XXMUL

    Castelli/Santini/Assos: €150 - €500+

    Might just have to stick with Decathlon!



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  • #10962
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 16,284 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123499462#Comment_123499462

    Lots of discounts out there on good mid-range brands if you rummage around, picked up a decent packable DHB waterproof jacket down from £99 to £32 and a couple of nice Northwave Force Jerseys for €29 and €21 from bike-discount.de Was planning on getting Galibier again but didn't much fancy what they had on offer. Don't really care much about the brand name so much as functional, comfortable and hard wearing.

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  • #10963
    JMcL
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,832 ✭✭✭JMcL


    https://www.sportpursuit.com/ offer big discounts on a lot of this stuff, a quick look showed almost 50% off Rapha gear with a Gore Tex rain jacket going for €185 rather than €350, similar for Castelli with a Perfetto Ros 2 for €170 - still not cheap, but less stupid.

    Annoyingly they require registration before browsing, but we've used them several times no problems - even with regards to returns which is always the acid test of online outfits.



  • #10964
    meat eating green
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36 ✭meat eating green


    Vinted is a good value source of cycling clothes if you have patience…



  • #10965
    cletus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,747 ✭✭✭cletus


    So, I'm not in a club, have never trained or raced, I just sort of go out and do what I feel.

    I do like stats, though, and I was thinking this afternoon about elevation.

    Is there some sort of agreed on metric or ratio in cycling circles when it comes to distance and elevation gain? I mean in terms of comparing the "climbyness" of one ride to another



  • #10966
    Luxman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 948 ✭✭✭Luxman


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123521151#Comment_123521151

    I don't know where I heard about the 1% guide, an 80k spin should have 800meters evelation. I used to do routes with this ratio and monitor (vaguely) my avg speed. Not as a performance metric, just curious.



  • #10967
    loyatemu
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 16,385 ✭✭✭✭loyatemu


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123521255#Comment_123521255

    Yeah, anything less than 1% I'd regard as a flattish spin, anything over 1.5% as a tough one. But I do live in Wicklow and it's hard to plan a route that is less than 1%

    A hilly spin is virtually always slower than a flat spin of the same length, as you never make the lost speed back fully on the downhills.

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  • #10968
    Wishbone Ash
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,145 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123521151#Comment_123521151

    Our 'run of the mill' club spins would usually be around 500m for 100k, 600m for 120k etc. so 0.5%.



  • #10969
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 16,284 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123521492#Comment_123521492

    Also do most of my cycling in wicklow and 1% to 2% is pretty typical. I do like the odd flatter spin but it involves more urban and suburban stuff for me which I'm less into.

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  • #10970
    Wishbone Ash
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,145 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123521637#Comment_123521637

    One of the advantages of solo cycling is you can suit yourself. When leading a club ride, you have to try to keep everyone reasonably happy. Some riders will get annoyed if there is more climbing than average and others will simply turn around and go home if they don't like the route.



  • #10971
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 55,425 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    as above, 1% has always been my threshold between a flat and a hilly spin.contrary to loyatemu, it's hard for me to hit 1.5% unless i head south and cross the liffey. but that involves cycling from D9 to say edmonstown road before the hills start, and that part is not really enjoyable.



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  • #10972
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 16,284 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123524598#Comment_123524598

    Same in reverse, if I want a flatter rural route I have to get through a fair bit of suburbia first. Usually head towards Tallaght, Saggart, Newcastle and the Grand canal, Kildare backroads. Occasionally head over the Liffey to Clontarf if I'm meeting a group.

    I'm mainly interested in exploring the quieter L-Roads and less technical gravel routes, Wicklow is the easier option for me there coming from South Dublin.

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  • #10973
    JMcL
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,832 ✭✭✭JMcL


    Had a quick look back over some of my typical recent spins, and the average seems to be about 1.2-1.5% This is in Waterford though the east of the county where lumpiness reigns (can we call them bergs?) rather than the Comeraghs which would tip that up considerably. I'd imagine Meath/Kildare/Laois etc. would be lower in general.



  • #10974
    Luxman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 948 ✭✭✭Luxman


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123524598#Comment_123524598

    I love Stocking Lane, Cruagh and up towards the featherbeds, but it's 25k cross town for me as well to get there. I did it regularly a few years ago but illness has prevented my longer spins, working to get back to it



  • #10975
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 55,425 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    a salient reminder to check your tubes. i stopped to play tube fairy earlier, to find out my spare tube had a hole in it. never used, was still in the wrapper.



  • #10976
    Acquiescence
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 218 ✭✭Acquiescence


    On that subject. My saddle bag broke in a spill a couple of years ago and I never bothered to replace it, not long after I just gave up carrying tubes altogether. I haven't had a flat since. Now granted I switched to tubeless about a year later but the point stands.

    My local roads consist in their entirety of interlinked potholes dressed with a constant and not insubstantial quantity of agrarian detritus.

    Its all very liberating. #notubemafia



  • #10977
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 55,425 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    you know you've cursed yourself by saying that.



  • #10978
    Acquiescence
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 218 ✭✭Acquiescence


    I have accepted that every tyre I own will dissolve in the coming days.



  • #10979
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 16,284 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123535628#Comment_123535628

    I quite enjoy spending one or two evenings a year checking and patching old tubes while having a beer and listening to some tunes. Simple pleasures. If I'm honest, it would never occur to me to check new ones.

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  • #10980
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 55,425 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    i can't be certain, but it may be that tube was rubbing on the inside of the spares bottle. i had it stuffed with tissue paper too to prevent things rattling around which in theory should have heped prevent 'chafing' on the tube - but i suspect it's been in there over two years.



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  • #10981
    Wishbone Ash
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,145 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123536184#Comment_123536184

    Happened me a few years ago when I had 2 tubes without wrappers in the saddle bag for months without use. The constant vibration caused them to wear and ended up being useless when I eventually needed one. Now I wrap them in cling film.



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