Cycling Thread - All Peddlers and Pedallers welcome.

[VivaLeBeaver]

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

haha, the cycling Christmas list!

Sella diva flow gel saddle

Hi viz winter jersey - I just ordered an altura night vison one from wiggle and it's really thin so it's going back. I froze last weekend wearing my running kit on my bike! Anyone have any recs?

New gloves - small hands and my current ones chafe my thumb.

New tyres - mine (2008 Specialized Myka pro) is a women's specific mountain bike and the tyres it came with seem to lack a little in the grip department. I'm a bit grumpy about it as my husband's has better tyres and I take it as an insinuation that women don't get out on the proper trails!

I'm off on a short run this morning as I'm short of time before meeting up with friends. Anyone getting out on their bikes? Have you got your saddle and pedals yet Felix?

[runs off to look at ebay shops]

I've got my eye on some celeste speedplay pedals and bottles cages to complete the look DP has put his old saddle on the bike and he has old pedals too for the time being, but can't ride yet as we are moving house this weekend and I've been busy packing.

Xmas list looks good! Not sure about recommendations for warm kit but I believe you can get fleece lined shorts. DP has arm and leg warmers, winter gloves and a Castelli Gabba jacket which is meant to be good for keeping warm (not that he ever wears any of it as he's from the north east so reckons he can survive in thin Lycra shorts and jersey in arctic temperatures )

Bike coming on nicely then!
Recently got this:
www.chainreactioncycles.com/adidas-womens-response-full-zip-ls-jersey-aw14/rp-prod105614
And fully recommend, bit of a nod to the Celeste too!

That's lovely pipkin

I now have a saddle! Well I will once it's been delivered next week. Got this which has been reduced from 80 quid. We now have the turbo trainer set up in the garage in our new house (DP now refers to it as 'The Pain Cave') and moving bikes accross on Saturday so I should be able to have a little spin as soon as the saddle arrives. Yippee!

[Grin] at pain cave Felix, you'll be ready for miles and miles in the Spring.

Love the jersey pipkin.

I ended up keeping my thin but bright jersey when the brakes went on DH's car - he got first wear of it as he ended up cycling to work in the dark up the bypass (eeek).

This fell off my 'I'm on' list for some reason!

Just taken delivery of some fi'zi:k cycling shoes. Proper ones with the clips and everything They look like a cross between bowling shoes and tap shoes on acid. Still no pedals so can't use them yet. Will finally be able to get on the bike this weekend as we should be finished unpacking by then. Need to get DP to put my new saddle on and his old normal pedals and I'm all set. So excited!!

Hello! FelixFelix pointed me in the direction of this thread.

I use my bike for getting around, it's not fancy. Had a bit of a nasty moment on the way back from work today and wanted to remind myself that I'm not a nutter for riding a bike on the road.

Welcome Cowgirl! You're not the nutter, everyone else on the road is what happened today? DP does a 30 mile round commute on his bike every day and always comes in the house with a story about nearly being taken out by a random vehicle, even though he's lit up like a Christmas tree. The woman who pulled out in front of him yesterday received a nasty scratch down the side of her car after he had to unclip and stick his foot out to avoid getting squashed. She didn't even notice him! It scares the shit out of me every day.

It was 3pm so broad daylight. Was coming home on my usual route, coming up a narrow side road (plenty of parked cars). So I wasn't riding in the gutter, I also wanted to turn right at the end so signalled.

Then heard massive revving behind me and Mr Blue Car was right up my backside. Didn't fancy playing chicken with him so he basically forced me to pull in so he could screech past. He then stopped a bit further to yell at me that I shouldn't be riding 'in the middle of the road'.

I may have made some hand gestures as he went past...

Crikey, what an arsehole! This is why I'm scared of riding on the roads.

I've been back on my bike on the road for about 2 yrs, and that was a bit of a shock, not really had anything in that league before.

On more pleasant front, I'm looking to get a new bike and looking at this www.bristolbicycles.co.uk/content/bb2.php as it is my home town, and I know the people who set it up.

Ooh lovely! Which model were you looking at? (Sorry on my phone so it just loaded the main page rather than a specific one).

I need to go and look at them for real, but will be step through frame (like to ride in skirts)

Dropped of my "I'm on" list too!
Hello Cowgirl, nice bikes your looking at, the company has a really good reputation. Sorry to hear about you're run in, but glad your ok and it's not put you off. I'm genuinely considering a helmetcam!
How's the build coming on Felix? OH and I were mooching about on ebay last night and a Trek Madone frame popped up, would have been rude not to so I'm looking forward to getting that!
Also got a Christmas treat from the Shutt Velo ebay store - the Squadra Donne bib shorts to go with the top I bought a couple of months back. At least I'll look the part.....

Ooh it's good to see some nutters out there still cycling I've been bit hit n miss since my youngest DD started preschool in sept, the earlier pick up and poor weather has curtailed my commuting to work by bike. My fitness I built up in the summer is ebbing away and lbs going back on . Then tonight my lovely DH (who also cycles) said we couple go to xxx gardens tomorrow with the kids, and you can cycle there if you like? It's only 9miles one way on the road /country lanes I wouldn't have thought twice a couple of months ago but feel like I'm loosing my "road" confidence I had built up. My work commute is flattish cycle path and 90% off main roads.
Most of my cycle clothes are from Aldi even my DH bought some kit recently there and hasn't said a bad word! I have their fleece lined long trousers and they are great in under 5c mornings plus I use a fleece head band over my ears. When I do commute it's 6am ish start so it's brrr and dark but beautiful on those crisp cold days with moon still up...I love it! I have the cateye commute which has a temp gauge on it which I've found really useful for gauging layers .
On the pedals discussion I went for half n half pedals this year so one side clips in and the other doesn't. This is perfect for me as I don't like being clipped in if I have my DD on the back and I don't have to go up steep hills fully clipped in as when you need to stop I couldn't get my feet out in time!

Mine have outgrown the trailer so now we're on only short (daylight) trips. Great except 5 yo is 5mph - looking forward to increasing their range! Roll on the longer days. Ds1 did good mileage in bike seat (4000? yes really), and both did reasonable (1000) miles in trailer.

Pipkin you lucky thing! When will it arrive?

Ssmile I think you just need to take the plunge and get back in to it. I bet you'll enjoy it once you've taken that first step.

Champagne that is a lot of miles DP's friend has offered us his old child seat as his dd has outgrown it now so hopefully we will get some rides in after winter.

Good to see more people here I'm sure there's loads more cyclists on MN.

My bike is all set up now. DP has currently got me in my horrific Lycra gear and he's doing a bike fit on the turbo trainer in the kitchen need a shorter seat post, stem and smaller handle bars. They will do for now though. My crotch is killing!

Hope the bike fit is going ok Felix. My DH spent ages helping me get my new bike to "fit" then I carried a spanner to keep making tweaks to my saddle. I really need to set up our turbo trainer again as it only comes out for winter months when it's harder to get out. But it's SO dull doing it in cold shed brrr.

Wow that's some miles blue champagne with the bike seat and trailer. Have you done any cycling in France? We want to take the kids next year and need trailer friendly routes in brittany.

Maybe you know of this already ssmile there's a stretch of it just outside our house and gite, maybe help you to plan?

Gah, link here ; cycle-west.com/index.php

Happy new year everyone! Hope you all had a good Christmas.

DP has just set me up a Trainer Road account so I'll be doing some super serious turbo sessions from today Just collected my bike from the shop this week as had a new shorter stem and handlebars put on. Its really icy round here but I'm dying to actually get out on the road soon. Roll on spring!

Hello all - can I join in?
I am determined to get back into cycling in 2015!

I have both road and mountain bikes and used to do a bit of both, but my confidence has taken a bit of a battering after a couple of accidents/incidents in spring 2014, one of which resulted in a trip in an ambulance......so it has been a while since I have done any 'proper' riding (other than just popping to the shop).

My goals for this year are to get back on both bikes. In terms of road cycling, I would like to do a couple of sportives this year, probably starting with a fairly easy one and building up. I have done 90-milers in the past but I am nowhere near that fit nowadays so probably need to start at 30 miles then 50 then work up from there.

In terms of the mountain bike I just want to get some confidence back. I had a really horrible encounter with a very unpleasant man earlier this year, he basically told me I was a rubbish rider and to get off the trails (public designated MTB trails, I had as much right to ride there as anyone else). It was my first ride after my accident so I was being extra-cautious and going a bit slowly but that kind of attitude from others really puts me off. Not sure if it is just where I ride, but there seem to be a lot of really arrogant, unsupportive mountain bikers around here, and it tends to be the middle aged men who should know better and not the teenagers.

So any words of wisdom or encouragement to help me get some confidence back would be much appreciated.

Can I join too?

I've not really been on a bike since I was a teenager but wanted some sort of outdoors exercise and I'm crap at running. Went on a gentle 8 mile ride on NYD with a group so hoping to make it a regular thing as well as getting out on my own. Mainly sticking to canal paths when on my own.

First question, where might a size 14, 34G buy a cheap hi vis waterproof jacket? I ordered one from Wiggle in a 16 but it was too small even though the same brand tops fit fine

Well I went out and did 25 miles on my road bike this morning, despite the cold and pouring rain. I really enjoyed it except for the last few miles when my fingers were frozen

I just need to get better at making myself leave the house and get on my bike. I always find with exercise it's difficult to get the motivation to do it, but when I do it I really enjoy it. Bizarre.

It took me 2 hours to do the 25 miles which is not great (it is fairly flat as well, a few hills but nothing major). I think my slow speed was due to the heavy rain meaning I couldn't see very well and also still being very nervous after my accidents (I slowed right down and cringed every time a car passed me, I think I feel more in control and less likely to find myself wobbling into the car's path if I am going a bit slower) rather than to do with my fitness. At the end of the 25 miles I definitely felt like I could have done more apart from the fact I was in danger of losing fingers to frostbite, must buy better gloves and I didn't really feel like I was exerting myself particularly hard during the ride, I could have ridden faster if not for my fear!

Oh well, it's a start better than spending all morning on here

Does anyone have any super warm and not horribly expensive glove recommendations please?