Cyclists

[Geenius]

Thanks for the feedback. My long term aim is to do an Ironman (distance) event so feel the need for something a little more comfortable. Doing a sprint tri this Sunday on the old one and even the 14.5 miles or so on this one affects me. You've helped me make my mind up.

I'm probably not going to be doing any more racing this while season though, so will have a good 12 months of riding for pleasure/training before using it in anger.

[Surfr]

Try these guys for a 2 week trial of an adamo http://www.velovelocity.co.uk/category-24/filter/14/

[Geenius]

Thanks

[disciple]

I fancied one of those Adamos a while back, but ended up getting one of these instead :

Selle SMP Trk, £30 instead of £130.



Those Adamos struck me as over-priced, unfortunately like quite a lot of cycling related stuff, these trading in on old the perineum relief card.

Adamos may be the comfiest things that currently exist on God's Earth, I haven't tried one. But the Selle (along with other Selle's) achieve the same thing (if perineum pressure relief is your goal) without the exorbitant price tag.

Of course they might not do the job quite as well as the Adamos, but on the other hand they may actually do a better job.

[Surfr]

Hows the cycling going guys?

My car blew it's turbo and I resigned it to the scrap heap so I'm now on an enforced cycling commute every day while I wait for Volkswagen to build me a new car. It's done my racing timetable no good at all as I can't get to races in the evenings or weekends and my legs are pretty tired from the weekly miles by the weekend anyway. However I am getting stronger on the bike week by week and I've got another 6 weeks to wait for the car so theres more improvement to come yet. I managed 150 miles and 8,200 feet of climbing while commuting last week.

Hopefully I'll be back racing in time for the Welsh 50 mile, 100 mile and 12 hour championships as those are my highlights for the year.

[Rhythm]

Banned from running so all my commutes are by bike now. Only 14 miles per day but it's summat, I guess. Enjoying it immensely now that the sunny weather's here.

[disciple]

Enjoying it immensely now that the sunny weather's here.

Yeah, I'm a bit miffed I've had to stop cycling today due to rest period before a race this Sunday.

Sat in traffic in a car or cycling in this weather, it really is a no brainer.

[Surfr]

Big day for us tomorrow. We're hosting the Halfords Tour Series for the second year in a row. I'll be out manning road closures from 6AM then marshalling the podium for support races before watching the main event in the evening.

http://www.tourseries.co.uk/RoundInfo.a ... YTH&Id=370

Last year I managed to race the 4th Cat support race which got blown apart literally by gale force winds. This year its looking bright and sunny

Me suffering out in the wind alone last year:

[venusian]

Cool. I don't look for cycling to watch but I happened across that one last year (on the telly). Even the pros were having some anus clenching moments as their turned through the wind.

[Stuart B]

So, after a few years of sitting at a computer at work and driving home to do more of the same until it was time for bed I've decided to dig the bike out of the garage and actually physically do something

Did a couple of short circuits of 4.5 miles the last couple of days, and did a further 6.5 miles today.

If all goes well, I'm aiming to extend the distance and get a bit fitter with a daily ride - meshing that with work will be interesting, but we'll see what happens!

[5th Earth]

A question for cyclist 'softies: Has the whole fixed-wheel craze made it over to Europe, or is it strictly an American hipster thing?

[disciple]

Yes, it's been and gone, everyone hates a hipster now.

This is my fixie, 531SL frame, no rear brake, V rimmed wheels, Paul's lever, all the shit.

Got rebuilt into a geared bike a few years back.

[Viscount Charles]

The fixie obsession is very much an urban cool dood's thing - so you'll find them in the larger UK metropolises, clustered around the city centres, not so many amongst the MAMIL and touring classes in suburbia.

Meanwhile my monthly mileage target has crystalized at 400 miles per month - though I'm likely to miss it by a few miles this month due to long days in work and commitments at the weekend making it harder to get the miles in during May than it had been in April. I've still got 6 days to go, but looking at my work diary I can't see me logging more than another 30-45 miles, when I'm 80 short of the goal.

I've splashed out on a super funky Garmin 800, which doesn't lie about mileages in the same generous manner as my old cycle computer. I'm hoping to splash out on a Ti framed bike either later this year or early next, though I'm trying to put off purchasing to see if we're going to get affordable electronic shifting or disc brakes on road bikes. I don't need the "latest gear", but I would like to avoid some of the more obvious purchasing mistakes (I bought a rather nice pair of straight GS slalom skis just as the rest of the world decided that carving skis were the only way to go - I don't want to be left with a largely obsolete bike frame in the same way), and my betting is on both electronic shifting and disc brakes becoming the standard within 3 years or so.

Of course I can justify a new bike. The hybrid is great for rolling to work and back, but isn't really the right tool for a 40+ miler. And the second-hand road bike I bought has turned out to be far too big for me

[VNVObit]

The fixie obsession is very much an urban cool dood's thing - so you'll find them in the larger UK metropolises, clustered around the city centres, not so many amongst the MAMIL and touring classes in suburbia.

Meanwhile my monthly mileage target has crystalized at 400 miles per month - though I'm likely to miss it by a few miles this month due to long days in work and commitments at the weekend making it harder to get the miles in during May than it had been in April. I've still got 6 days to go, but looking at my work diary I can't see me logging more than another 30-45 miles, when I'm 80 short of the goal.

I've splashed out on a super funky Garmin 800, which doesn't lie about mileages in the same generous manner as my old cycle computer. I'm hoping to splash out on a Ti framed bike either later this year or early next, though I'm trying to put off purchasing to see if we're going to get affordable electronic shifting or disc brakes on road bikes. I don't need the "latest gear", but I would like to avoid some of the more obvious purchasing mistakes (I bought a rather nice pair of straight GS slalom skis just as the rest of the world decided that carving skis were the only way to go - I don't want to be left with a largely obsolete bike frame in the same way), and my betting is on both electronic shifting and disc brakes becoming the standard within 3 years or so.

Of course I can justify a new bike. The hybrid is great for rolling to work and back, but isn't really the right tool for a 40+ miler. And the second-hand road bike I bought has turned out to be far too big for me

well done on reaching the target mileage

From what i've read discs on road bikes is the next step though can't see electronic shifting becoming affordable anytime too soon

currently contemplating a new bike and like you kinda stuck waiting to see what's around the corner although more likely to go for a steel frame (Ti is expensive so it'll be cheaper for me to lose the weight than for the frame )

Like you I picked up a secondhand road bike and found it a bit on the small side (my back isn't quite so flexible) so will be looking at test rides before taking the plunge with the next bike

[tufty]

Like you I picked up a secondhand road bike and found it a bit on the small side (my back isn't quite so flexible) so will be looking at test rides before taking the plunge with the next bike

If it's got half-way decent gear on it, you can transplant it onto a "classic" steel frame that's your size. If you know where to look, and what you're looking for, that shouldn't cost you much more than a tenner, if it costs anything at all. There's some really nice Columbus and Reynolds frames from the "10 speed" boom around, many of them can be had for free, all you have to do is spread the rear triangles to fit a modern groupset and you're laughing.