Cycling Thread - pleasure peddlers to serious cyclists sign in here!

Oh you are all inspiring me to look at doing a charity ride so i have something to focus on. I was getting really fit uptill dec then had awful ride home from work and some health issues flare up and just felt my fitness drain away the last 3mths in the endless bad weather and dark grey days. I got my bike on the turbo trainer last week but the gears have ceased up abit. It was ok for the trainer but would not be ok on the road. We are going skiing in 2weeks time (with 2young DDs...must be mad!) i had really wanted to tter than this. i than I am now. We have a popular local ride in June which is 60 or 100miles. My DP did the 60miles a couple of years ago nearly killed him :o he hadnt accounted for the loonngg hills in the route. Prolem is i have an OP boooked in April so not sure how much this will knock me out fitness wise but longterm should make me feel a lot better :) so is 8-9wks long enough to train up for 60miles with hills? I can do about 20miles comfortably as that was my work commute roundtrip - last done in Dec!

Wish I was Lady but DP is taking me somewhere extremely cold!

There was lots of cake, but after 40 miles I was yearning for something savoury and hot so I had chicken curry in a cafe. I whizzed cheerfully home after that with a new lease of life! I was hungry most of the day so ate non stop and never got the misery dip. Progress I think.

Well done, LemonD! I hope there was lots of cake afterwards?

EASTER . . . is anyone in the Yorkshire Dales 30/31 March? If you'd like to join me for a little gentle mountain biking, then give me a shout. Mainly ladies, but well-trained men may be brought along, for gate-opening, puncture-fixing and other menial tasks

Well I decided to do the 100k Audax today and even though it was bitterly cold and there was a horrible headwind going out I survived and finished easily. I am so proud of myself! I even paid for the badge

I'm back and in one (frozen solid) piece.
Lady it was a quick cross channel raid with our Club to ride 60/70/80 miles and back on the ferry. I kept up and didn't moan too much even when it was hail/snowing. I even managed the longest ride with DP despite the 50 mile mood dip. But I ache now.

I'm wondering whether to enter a 100K Audax next weekend while he does the 200K. There of lots of nice people going who I can tag along with. It's nice getting fit enough to contemplate these things.

Poor nightshade! hope you are okay. thistle will you get a certificate? I love getting qualifications for stuff!

Ooch!!! at gravel rashy knee. Lots of anti-septic and cups of tea?
The standing still ones are the best/worst - I used to ride a big 650cc Suzuki and the only two accidents I had was when I forgot to put the stand peg down before getting off.... and at the time.
Am taking 'Chris' (yes for a Boardman bike, original..) out this afternoon on some hills to sort out his gear paddles, and to find out just how mean those brakes really are.

Thistledew - dunce here didn't know you could tune your gears. Is it to a 'C#' by any chance?

i fell off today...........at almost a standstill
we had stopped in a gateway briefly and was just getting back on to the road for the ride home and somehow i managed to slip the clain everything jammed my peddles didnt move and i was spat out the side! got up and back on no problem and rode home before checking myself for damage- i think i was too cold to feel anything! i have a puffy gravel rashy knee and a wacking great briuse and hard lump on the back of my calf and now it hurts

Very jealous of you all getting out there.It's been half term so not been able to get out all week and at the weekend it's my husbands turn to go out on his bike but it's just too cold and windy.May get on the turbo but my road bike has a problem with the cranks (cracking sound) so it really needs to go back to the bike shop,which means I prob won't have it at all next week.Grrrr.

I did an hour each way to work (I'm not exactly fast) and it was fucking freezing. Got back over an hour ago and am still trying to warm up. 4 pairs of socks and my toes still went numb.

Still glad I did it though.

Anyone been riding today? I was supposed to be recceing a ride but wussed out and went to the gym instead-just the walk down there was bone numbing! I am doing a 20 mile training ride on Sunday morning though, which I will be hunting out the thermals for! What are other folk up to?

Oh my giddy aunt!

I've moved from an old behemoth tanker of a bike, to a sleek, speedy, light-weight tea clipper. It's a double chain set Thistledew (so saves the weight, fiddle and duplication of some gear ratios without losing range as far as I can see). It instantly felt I was riding something 'flimsy' but soon realised I was riding something called 'progress'. I can lift it up and down on my index finger. The narrower tyres and the lack of suspension equals swifter reactions and an absurd level of responsivity.

The hydraulic disks means slowing/stopping almost on having the thought to do so. The handle bars are shorter than the old Trek but that'll help in filtering between cars and it doesn't lose anything in stability for it. ( and it comes with a cutesy little bell!) With 22 traffic lights and 5 round-abouts between home and work I don;t think I'll be v much quicker - just that I won't be flogging myself to get in and home, esp on our Peak District hills.

Tearing myself away from my new baby.....Lemon, where are you going to subject yourself to sub zero temps? Scandinavia? Iceland?

Pan,that bike is lush.I have a Specialized rockhopper which has disk brakes too.It's such a different feeling to my road bike.The weather here (Southend) is also set to be barely above freezing so even though I have plenty of warm winter gear I think the freezing wind will stop me getting out.It will be a weekend on the turbo me thinks!!

Lemon, if you're going abroad, why aren't you going somewhere WARM ???

The BBC reckon it'll be freezing here all weekend . . .

Ooh Pan what a beauty! I'd love disk brakes on my road bike for those hills! My hands get so cramped squeezing the levers.

I'm off cycling abroad this weekend. I think I may freeze to death! Packing thermals and balaclava and Seal Skins. Brrrrrr!!

Swoons at Pans new bike

And a big hello to all you cyclists out there...

I've a couple of mtbs and a couple of road bikes, though recent injury has meant I'm not riding so much right now. There's nothing good locally for the mtbs though Surrey hills is only an hour or do away for a bit of proper off road. The road bikes are for commuting only, no fun to be had dicing with death on the roads.

Those of who remember my thread about tasty road kill from a couple of weeks back may also remember that DH added sequins and glitter to a pheasants skull and attached it to his bike. Well, It fell off.

With these mudguards. They look rather handsome.

Did I say it's beautiful?

dobby, it's Christmas Eve at Pan Heights. Just back from Halfords after ordering thing of beauty. Boardman hybrid Team, 21" frame. Has hydraulic disk brakes. And it looks beautiful..
Due for delivery tomorrow. I feel about 10!

Hi everyone. Not been on much as I have been well, actually busy with cycling . More of that later (well, if anyone is interested, I have noticed i seem to kill this thread for several days at a time )

Pan, some good news about Halfords, they are set to start selling Pinerello bikes any day now - the brand that Wiggins rode last year so very good make. As Summer said though, Boardman bikes are also good value and if you let them know you are yourself knowledgeable about bikes, I have noticed they seem to up their game a bit. Let us know what you pick {smile]

I wish this blooming weather would improve. I am soo fed up of coming back from a ride with numb fingers,toes and usually backside!

I lost this thread. Found it now.

Havn't really been biking much lately. Though I did get a turbo trainer just after Xmas and have used that a bit.

Summer - yep, after an exchange of emails with Finance and HR, we are signed up to Halfords only, not the bike2workscheme. Still, it works out as a 'loan' agreement at 1%, which isn't three bad.
Naturally I have spent time salivating over the site, and getting myself all excited.

DP is just an addict! He has been collecting bikes all his life and hates selling them. In the last year he has bought a 29 er and a new Cona and a Pinarello and an ebay post office classic delivery bike and a Raleigh Chopper!! He has sold a tandem and a fixie but there are many more lurking in the back of the garage. He is about to give up the day job to spend more time cycling and hopes to earn some money from Bikeability. It keeps him fit and harms nobody.

Tonight I went on a cycle maintenance course run by my friend in the local bike cafe. It was very useful!

Thank for the advice about eating more. I think you may be right because I so want to weigh less and go uphill faster I am not eating enough cake at the coffee stops!

Well done nightshade it is hugely satisfying when you clock up a big ride and feel okay afterwards isn't it!