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!

Hello! Right, I'm an actual cyclist now instead of a lurker so feel I can post here!

Have lost just over 2 stone in the past few months so I've started cycling into work - every other day at the moment because it's a bit of a shock to the system to say the least... It's 5 miles each way so not very far but slightly uphill all the way back which is a killer at the moment but I'm hoping will get easier?!

I'm looking to buy a new bike - currently using my MIL's old bike - and I tried a Giant Comfort Sedona bike a bit ago and loved it, so am hoping to get one with the Cycle to Work scheme.

does anyone have any other recommendations though - something like the Giant Comfort? So I can compare?

Meanwhile I've got to go and get a helmet and rucksack this weekend - so far I'm winging it but any excuse to spend some money

Have a look at Decathlon for some really good value (but high quality) bikes and cycling kit and clothes.

DottyDot Don't get a rucksack! Get panniers for the bike - it's much better to carry your stuff on the bike than your back. The giant and similar bikes will all have a rack, there's lots of choices to clip on to those to save you carrying weight.

And cycling can easier - or you can just go faster, depends what you want :)

Thanks - good idea as I dont really want to be wearing a rucksack and cycling - too hot and sweaty as it is!

Right, so I'm now cycling in every day I can and I have some questions...!

1. Stopping at lights - so I'm often in a high (or is it low) gear as I've been whizzing along - say in 6th gear. How do I change down without having to slow down gradually - the bike doesn't seem to like going from 6th - 2nd, say... Do I have to do it gradually? I can start off in 3rd but no higher - legs won't do it!

1. Setting off when at the lights - I've noticed that once I've got going I'm pretty speedy - keep up with most other cyclists and stuff, but I'm rubbish at getting going - how the jiggery pokery do cyclists set off so quickly? Is it a case of starting in 1st/2nd gear and pedalling like mad, or are my muscles just not up to it yet?

Thanks for any advice - I'm still disastrously unfit but have really noticed the difference a fortnight of cycling has made - lost 4lbs last week... Plus I'm really enjoying it - although the cycling home for 5 miles on a mild but never ending incline does my head in each time - when does it start getting easier?!

Am hopefully going to order a Giant comfort expression this weekend - hurrah!!

Anticipate if you're about to stop and start changing gear to a low gear ready to set off again - as long as you're turning the pedals you can change gear so just slow down very gently to the stop. If you're in completely the wrong gear, you can just lift the back wheel and pedal whilst standing to get it to shift - only normally worth it if it's also uphill or something and you really can't get going.

Most people in town and city riding, sprint hard from the stop and then cruise along - this isn't actually necessarily that good for fitness (you're tiring yourself out with the sprints rather than getting a good aerobic workout). It may be that you don't have the right type of body to sprint from lights (sprinters are born not made, you can only change it a bit) or it could be that you're in the wrong gear, or it could be a contribution. It sounds like you'll be better spinning like mad, but it's individual you'll have to try and it see.

It will likely change.

And it never really gets easier - you just go faster - but it doesn't take that long to get it to a speed where you feel you're going fast enough and aren't killing yourself.

Thanks - I've always been a speed freak - love driving fast and am horribly competitive, so this is playing in to how I like to cycle - so my mind is at war with my very unfit body at the moment . Will try starting in a lower gear and pedalling like mad to get going quickly - although I kind of tried this on the way to work this morning and was much more knackered more quickly - was then a struggle to do the last part of my journey!

Ho hum. Will hope that I get fitter and lose some more weight fairly quickly and then might have a chance at keeping some speed up and not being overtaken by 6 million other bikes at the lights!

Ooooh a cycling thread!!! Can I join? Didn't even know there was a sports section!

This has inspired me to get back on my bike. I was a commuter cyclist in London for 3yrs and LOVED it, to the point of still cycling to work and back up til 7.5 months pregnant (albeit taking the longer flatter routes rather than challenging brixton hill.

We moved to California a few months ago and our shipment has just arrived - complete with bikes!! I only ride an old specialized hybrid and the only "gear" I've ever had is a decent Altura jacket. DD is 5months so a while til we can take her out, but DH takes DS to preschool in the trailer (he has a beautiful bianchi thanks to someone nicking his old specialized in soho last year and our insurance coming good) but there are tons of coastal and mountain bike trails we're keen to do.

I also really want to get DS riding - in your experiences did you go for like-a-bike types or "proper" bikes with stabilizers? He's 3.5....

Slowly working my way through the rest of the thread

Hello! Ds's are both great cyclists and cycle to school each day. They both learned pretty young on 'proper' bikes - ds1 had stabilisers but ds2 didn't cos he inherited ds1's by then stabiliser free bike . I think they adapt to what they're given so you might as well go for the real deal?

Sadly am looking forward to cycling to work tomorrow!

Anyone know if there's a calorie counter for freight/loaded cycling? Am thinking of trailer plus 2 kids! Or would proportions of body weight work? ie factor up by 1.5 if freight is half weight of cyclist?

Just pondering making a purchase.. Halfords Pendleton Brooke. Any advice would be fab. I've got a budget of about £300 and prefer the look of a more upright bike but will mainly be on gravel canal paths so not sure if a heavier 'lady' bike is the right way to go?

If you have a Decathlon within a reasonable distance, go and have a look there. You get a hell of a lot of bike for your money there

...and they can advise on which of the many bikes they have would be most suitable.

Remember to budget in a pannier and mudguards (wherever you go) if the bike doesn't automatically come with one.

Not to mention lights!

And helmet if you don't already have one

Got on my hike for the first time yesterday since October! A bit wobbly and pulling along the trailer with DS for the first time but it was sooooooo good!

It's a mess though - I want to get it professionally cleaned and bloody DH is saying its expensive "clean it yourself"
A) when??!!! I have two small children permanently attached to me
B) there's no way I'll do as good a job as it needs
C) he got his bloody well professionally cleaned, why isn't mine deemed as important just cos it's not a swish £1000+ bianchi?!

OK, I am upping the ante - a friend of mine is cycling this, this year

www.aidslifecycle.org/

I'm going to sing myself up for next year. Issues close to my life and heart, getting back on my bike, something to work towards physically and emotionally, I don't work so I can have no money to donate to charity, this way I can send funds that way.

AM I mental????

or sign myself up....

Ooh a bike thread! I really need to get back into it more seriously. I'm lucky enough to live within 5 mins ride of swinley forest, and Windsor great park. Use one for road work, the other for mountain biking

I have a Dawes kalhari hybrid, which is for day to day stuff and riding round the great park, and a decathalon rockrider for mountain biking. I'd love to get a good road bike if I could get my fitness levels back up.

Agreed with the glasses for mountain biking. Ive ripped an earring stud clean out catching it on twigs, so dread to think what damage I could do to my eyes. That's left me with a lovely split eat lobe!

Someone mentioned an iPhone cycle computer app thing, is it good? And do you attach it to your bike? I do have a cycle computer on my hybrid but not on the mountain bike. What I really need is a compAas for the mountain bike too. I keep getting lost in swinley. I carry a compass and map but it is annoying keep stopping.

I am pleased this thread is still going. It had dropped off my active list and I feared it was dead.

I had far too long off the bike over the winter as I got a series of chest infections but have been picking it up from about Feb onwards.

I joined my local cycle club- am still getting dropped up the hills but am getting stronger and it is not by so much now.

I am also in the middle of a couple of long distance rides- last weekend DP and I did the Bournemouth to Brighton ride, which was organised by asthma uk. It was 140 miles over two days with a camping stop overnight. I thought I was going to be in absolute bits but actually didn't find it too bad at all. We did it in 11 hours of cycling and I was really pleased that even after 130 miles when we hit Devil's Dyke heading into Brighton I was able to keep pedalling and didn't have to walk any hills. I was very glad of my triple chainring on the front though!

Tomorrow DP and I are doing the Norwich 100. Should be fine, I think, especially with the lack of hills!

I would thoroughly recommend charity rides to anyone thinking of taking their cycling a bit further. They are organised all over the country now and are a great way to see new routes. They attract people of all abilities and you can do them totally at your own pace.

I would also recommend panniers for commuting. I got myself a set recently and they are great. I was worried that they would really affect the handling of the bike, but even though there was a headwind last time I used them, I hardly noticed any difference at all. It is really satisfying to be able to pass other cyclists who don't have panniers. The only time I noticed them was going up a steep section of hill and standing up on the pedals. The bike did feel a but heavier when I had it leaning from side to side but it was easy to adjust to.

Norwich? Norwich does actually have quite a lot of hills from what I remember! Maybe it avoids them? I grew up in Norfolk and really miss it, and can remember rolling down the hills overlooking the city. And sledging in winter!

I use panniers too. Have had panniers and a Dutch style front frame on my bike loaded up with shopping. Panniers def better though.

Chops - there are several iPhone apps for cycling now, depending on what you want to do. Some, like Strava are good for recording your speed and effort but not for navigating. There are others that you can navigate with but the battery doesn't last long and they are not as good at picking up a data signal as a specialised GPS device. Depending on your budget, a Garmin 500 or 800 is really the best way forward.

I'd love a garmin, but like you say, they are pricey. Maybe later in the year if I have some money and I actually start spending more hours on my bike I will get one.

This thread has inspired me to get out again. I will have to set my alarm tomorrow and get out. I love going at the crack of dawn, when I get almost get the park to myself.

I def get data issues in the park too, it is a phone black spot. Hadn't considered that.

You are right there are some hills in Norwich itself and you could probably put together a pretty punishing circuit around Telegraph Hill and Mousehold but the route of the ride heads out of the city pretty quick and goes around the north coast.

I was cycling in Norfolk over Easter and I think I found only about two hills that necessitated changing down from the big chain ring!