Cycling Thread - All Peddlers and Pedallers welcome.

[VivaLeBeaver]

Have started a new thread as the other one is very nearly full.

Woo! I am about to sign us up for Pedal for Scotland 2014. Well, DH will do the actual 47 miles, but the kids and I will do the 9 mile family ride. DS will be nearly 5 by then, and it'll be a good thing for them to work towards. I think I massively underestimate what they're capable of on bikes (and therefore so do they) so they could probably do it now - if we work towards it they could do it faster! And after that I'll be doing Ride Like a Grrrl again - anyone else doing that next year?

Hi all! Just wondering if any of you experienced road cyclists can give me any tips on entering & exiting cleats?

A recent ride included 3 falls & lots of difficulty even clipping in after unclipping . Luckily the only thing that was injured was my pride!

Any advice? I really want to be good at this, and confident, rather than crapping my pants every time I go out!

check your cleats ( on the shoes) are clean at the start of a ride, they do pick up grit. Also check they are firmly attached to your shoe.
If you are finding it hard to unclip try loosening off the spring tensioner in the pedal.

Getting clipped in first try is just practise practise practise, try if goofy ( not favourite foot first) every no n then, you might surprise yourself by being better at clipping goofy than regular. You can pedal before you are clipped in, its not the end of the world.

Thanks UniS! I'll check them for grit as I seem to be getting worse, rather than better. That could be it. I didn't realise that could happen.

I'm right handed/footed(?!), but do find it easier to unclipping with my left first, although I clip in right first.

I'll do as you say and practice more!

Oh, and the XC race sounds great! Well done your DS

Habbibu I'm hoping do Ride Like A Grrrl next year - would have done it this year but I was injured. I'm just back from half-term hols in Aviemore and have had two weeks of amazing biking. Still not managing huge distances by my standards but any ride up there is amazing. I think I rode part of the Ride Like a Grrrl course, the most amazing, single-iest single track I've ever ridden, it was ace!

However, two weeks of riding nearly every day has left my injured foot a bit achy and sore. I'm waiting on a physio referral as my toes feel all scrunched up even though they aren't and I'm hoping some stretches might help with that. But it was soooooo very good to be out on my bike again.

Oh, let me know if you do! I was really not v fit at all when I did it, and was miserable to start with on the road - coughing, and feeling cold and heavy, but then we turned off over a moor, with crazy boulderage, over a river, and then it was just ace. I grinned like a loon all the rest of the way. I can't recommend it enough. I was quite slow, and would love to up my time next year to about 2 hrs. Need to be a bit fitter!

Yy to ace biking in Aviemore - I like the road down from cairngorm ( the trail alongside it). Might take my bike next time we go to IL's nr Inverness and try Abriachan.

My fave Aviemore ride is up the track beside the road to the far end of Loch Morlich, round Loch Morlich and then down through Rothiemurchus to Loch an Eilien then back over to Aviemore. I think I did that about 4 times. The stretch through Rothiemurchus is my favourite bit of cycling anywhere (nothing to do with the fact that it's mostly downhill.....)

There is a kids dirt crit at Abriachan on the 17th of November if you're around then.

Oh, that would be good, but it'll be in the Christmas holidays we're next up.

That's a shame. I think we might do it - it is ds3's third birthday the following day and he has been asking to do another bike race.

All you lot are making me jealous - you all seem to have done more biking around this area and I bloody LIVE here

How does getting a 3 year old to race work? My 4 year old can ride a bike but just lie on the ground and scream if he wasn't winning!

Sorry WOULD just lie on the ground!

Well, on the dirt crit my and notin's kids did, the parents went round with the under 6's. Ds is convinced he won, despite stopping a good yard shy if the finish line.

DS (who was 6 at the time) did a wee fun race at the Aviemore MTB festival in August and DH got to go round the course with him too.

Ah ok that makes sense!

boy started racing at 5. he was quite happy to go off on his own, but some smalls do have a parent running with them.

Its all but impossible for kids to work out if they won or no. when age groups are racing together there may be 6 different races going on at once, boys and girls, U8, U10, U12. and some kids will finish earlier than kids who place higher by having done more laps.

boy always tells me he came 4th or 5th. I don't tell him that he came 6th out of 6. IF he gets a podium place its a nice surprise. Mind you, he got lucky on his first race and somehow managed to place 2nd. Hes only manged that twice more in 3 year and about a dozen races. He still loves being a bike racer. Its one of teh few chances he gets to ride really fast with no cars around.

Tbh when I do a race I never know where I've come either! He might be ok, if I lectured him to just ride as fast as possible and not worry about it. How long are little kids races?

crit/ road about 10 mins+1 lap for U8 . CX seems to be 20 mins. VERY occasionaly we come across a commissar who is new to youth races and trys to run a so many laps race, but they are often talked out of it and back to a time plus 1 lap race.

Do they do cx on proper mini cx bikes or do the little ones just ride mtbs?

Piffpaffpoff, - was that the one at Glenmore? It was fab. Ds3 was desperate to do the wee ones race, then when the time came he was too tired and didn't want to do it. Have you ever seen the Strider bike cup? I always wonder how many of the toddlers change their minds last minute!

Most of the wee ones at the dirt crit are only joining in because they have older siblings taking part in other races - there were even a couple on balance bikes. Ds did need pushing a fair bit, but he really enjoyed it. Despite only being two he lives and breathes bikes. He will watch youtube videos of Danny MacAskill and go and fetch his balance bike (even though he rides a pedal bike he still enjoys messing around on balance bikes) and try to copy what he's seen

Yes it was - It was great wasn't it? We were up for the weekend and decided to go along since it was on and we're glad we did. Both DCs did a timed lap, had a shot on the wooden track and I went on a wee ride out with the PetalPower ladies which was nice. Hopefully they'll do another one next year.

It was fanatstic. The dcs loved the wooden track and the dirt pump track, even though ds3 went face first into one of the rollers... We loved The Clan stunt team too, and the Trials biikes. 7 year old ds did a timed lap too, but his chain came off. I was really proud when he told me he put it back on by himself :)

I've bee out a few times with the wonderful petalpower ladies, but my bike has been broken for a while (needs new forks)

Which brings me to my next question: Can anyone recommend a hardtail mtb for about £400 for a 5'2" lady?

re what bikes do kids race on... it depend on the kids. in U8 there will be everything from bike shaped toys to mini CX bikes. some mountain bikes, some hybrids. A lot of Isla bikes. Even more Isla bikes as you go up to U10 and U12. because all 3 age groups often race at the same time its hard to tell who is a big U8 and who is a small U10. Even some U8s fit a 26inch wheeled Islabike Luath ( cross/ road bike).