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

[Thistledew]

Hi All

I thought I would start a cycling thread. It would be great if we could make it all inclusive, so whether you currently just enjoy bike rides but are interested in taking it further, or already train seriously, please post what you are up to and what your aims are. By sharing knowledge and experiences, hopefully we can spur each other on.

If you want to, please post a quick biog of how long you have been cycling, how much you currently cycle, and what your goals are.

And for those who wish to engage in a bit of bike porn, please feel free to post what sort of bike you ride!

Happy peddling!

Fingers crossed for the end of the week then. The £50 saved will come in handy for any accessories you want.

I can't wait for dd to go back to school so I can get some good rides in. Roll on Tuesday!

Thankfully the weather has been fairly rubbish up here so it's not like I've been sitting moping about all the lovely rides I could have been doing. Can't wait to hear how you get on on yours!

My Tricross is ready for collection!!!! I am SO excited. Going to get it tomorrow!

Thats great news! Have a good first ride!

Been out and done 9 miles today. Its a pleasure riding it compared to the mountain bike. I reckon I could have done twice the distance and normally on a mountain bike that would have killed me!

I'm getting more confident about it been more twitchy than the montain bike. Its just a shame that I can't touch the ground while sat on the saddle. I have to step down and straddle the cross bar at every junction. New pedals are on and they seem very good. Once I'm a bit more confident I'll think about clipping in.

Am definetly going to do a short tour next year, probably the North Norfolk coast one as it should be flat. I'm also eyeing up the EuroVelo 6 and thinking about doing that in 5 or 6 years time once dd has left school.

wow, all these cycling MNers!

just marking my spot for later

I have my Tricross!! I have been up and down the street on it so far and that will probably be all for today as it is blowing a gale here. However, tomorrow morning when DD is at nursery I shall go for a run along the old railway line path to see how it goes.

Great news.

I really need to work out how to raise the handlebars on mine. I've read how to, dh has had a go. He's normally good at this stuff but can't do it. Will the lbs snigger if I take it in and ask them to do it. I didn't buy it from them and I'm not going 40miles to the shop I did get it from.

Maybe I'll pay £100 and have a professional bike fit session.

Well Viva, they might but its possibly worth tolerating if it gets you a better fit. Funnily enough, DH and I were discussing custom fit at the weekend, someone near to us has started doing it and he's thinking about getting it done.

I'm going to brave the gales and go out for a few miles tonight. One thing I can say with some certainty already though is that I will be changing the saddle. It's not the most comfortable!

I never used the saddle. Bought a Brooks B17. DH laughed when he saw the saddle, he thought it was the one that came with the bike and said I'd be wanting to change it.

I gave him a and pointed out I'd paid good money. He was blathering on about how it was rock solid and would be bloody uncomfortable. Its been fine, no sore bum at all.

I think I am going to get a custom fit done. Slightly paranoid that most people this bloke sorts out will be serious road bikers. Will have to warn him beforehand that I'm not!

Hope the gales die down for you.

Well I went out! It's lovely and so fast! I had the saddle about 2cm too high which I have sorted now. I think I need to fiddle about with the saddle position and the handlebars might need to be adjusted a smidge. Love it though!

Well if you find out how to do the handlebars please tell me.

Viva I'm just going to tilt the bars up a couple of degrees towards me so I was thinking I'll just loosen the two bolts where they fix to the stem (?). I felt like I was just slightly over-reaching a bit tonight I've no idea if this will work or not.

Hi Viva and Piff

I am glad you are both enjoying your bikes. What fun!

WRT raising the bars, the proper way to do this is by buying and adding an extra spacer to the headset. If you look closely at the tube under where your stem (the bit bolted to the handlebars) joins the headset you will see that the headset is in fact a number of rings rather than one solid piece. Your local bike shop should be able to disassemble the headset, pull the tube up a little and add an extra spacer.

You may also be able to raise the bars slightly by turning your stem- it will have a slant in it and depending on which way up you put it, it will sit either slightly uphill from headset to bars or slightly downhill. If it is put on downhill you can just turn it the other way up.

I hope I am making a bit of sense!

Bear in mind though that on the Tricross you should not have your bars any higher than your seat. It may just take a bit of getting used to, or it may be better to swap the stem for a shorter one if it really is not comfortable.

On my new Tarmac (I must write up a proper review ) I have the bars a good couple of inches below seat hight, and that is not even a particularly aggressive position. It takes me a few minutes to adjust to the feel of it if I have ridden my Tricross the previous day.

Viva - I think it was you who asked about fitting a bike computer. I have mine fitted to the stem for exactly the reason that with the additional brakes there is not really room on the handlebars.

Thistle, my bars are about the same height as my saddle now so I probably shouldn't move them up then. It's just that my hands are still hurting even with padded gloves. I thought this meant I had too much weight on my hands and couldn't see how to rectify this without moving the handlebars up?

I don't think I'm stretching too much so don't think I need a shorter stem.

Maybe I will just need to get used to it. Dh wonders it might just be from not being relaxed on the bike.

Ive ordered a computer so hopefully that will be here tomorrow.

I think in that case Viva it is just a matter of you getting used to the new position. I remember my hands hurting to start with.

Try to remember to keep your elbows soft and not locked out, so that you use your core muscles to support your weight rather than your arms. I was definitely surprised at how much cycling on a road bike improved my core strength.

I think my core muscles are currently rather flabby so I expect my arms are having to work twice as hard. Hopefully that should improve.

Core muscles? Not sure I have any of those .

Lovely sunny day here, so heading out as soon as I've dropped the kids at school/nursery.

You soon will do, I promise you! I used to get backache if I stood up for too long- eg walking around an art exhibition. After 18 months of working at improving my cycling I no longer do.

I have back problems and the Physio told me to imrove my core muscles so hopefully this will help.

Back from 14 miles, most of which were spent gloating at how I was somehow exercising my core muscles without really realising! Anyway, bike report - continue to love it, it feels so fast after my MTB and any initial worries about stability and falling off are gone - although I was on an old railway line so pretty much went in a straight line for 7 miles, turned round and straight line back so nothing too difficult. I definitely need a different saddle, I have Terry's ones with a cutout section on my other bikes which are really comfy but I'm strugging to find them anywhere online. Will keep searching...

Glad you had a nice ride. I've not been able to go out today for various reasons, hoping the sun is still shining tomorrow.

Hi can I join in?

I recently bought a fold up bike and I have only been on it about 4 times

It is a hassle to ride with dd and she isn't used to riding, so now she is back at school, I am wondering if I should start riding!

How good is cycling if you are cycling slowly?

How often would you need to cycle to notice a difference?

Cycling slowly is still going to burn calories and build fitness. And as you do more you'll get quicker and be able to cycle for longer. Go for it!

I'm cycling twice a week and noticing a difference.

Hello everyone - mind if I join you too? I've decided to start cycling seriously, having been pootling (sp?) about for years - I used to commute (when I lived closer to work) fairly regularly, and have been enjoying the occasional bike ride with friends. But I bought a road bike on the C2W scheme in May, just before I got pregnant, then sadly became slightly less pregnant and as a result, have decided to sort my life out by getting fit and losing weight. So I now have a cycling based personal trainer with a bespoke program each week, and I'm hoping to do a ridiculously long sportive next summer in a respectably quick time (100 miles in, er, less than 6 hours).

So, week one of the training and my new road bike, which was fine in May and June when I last rode it is now ridiculously uncomfortable. TMI alert, but bejesus it hurts my fanny... its either pressing on the really sensitive bits or I have to sit to one side which causes chafing (despite liberal application of chamois cream). Any tips? Or does anyone know if there is a female bike fitter in the country... I'm not sure I could explain the problem to a man!

Oh yes, the vital stats - nothing too fancy, but got a Merida Race Lite (Shimano 105 groupset). Its the same geometry as the women's frame, just with a different seat which I've already switched for a womens one.