Cycle chat

[Replicant]

I carried this over from the 'What have you bought' thread.

Source of the post

Source of the post Not exactly today but two weeks ago I bought myself an Apple Watch3 as well as a Boardman CX Team bike.

Loving both of these so far. It is strange being on a road (cx) bike as I have not owned one since I was 14. Pretty much every bike I have owned for the last 20 years has been a full suspension MTB with at least 4" of travel. It is taking a little getting used too. The SRAM 1x gearing is fantastic too.

Have you bought the bike with anything in mind? There were a few times last year when I had to quickly change between the road and mountain bike which feels very weird as the road bike is so rigid and twitchy while the mountain bikes are very slack and feel like the tyres are flat. As much as I like the mountain bike I like riding the road bikes as well as the constant pedalling is good for fitness and it's feels rewarding being able to munch up the miles compared to the mountain bike.

I've got the Loch Ness race at the weekend which I'm not bothered about being able to do the distance but concerned about the speed as I made a big mistake erring on the side of caution and choosing a slower time thinking that gave me more time to do it but they run the order the other way round so I will actually get the least time to complete the race starting just ahead of the sweeper vehicle. I don't think I'll be signing up for any other road races as I don't like that pressure.

I am going to be doing a 100 mile charity ride in September and it is on the road too. https://www.velosouth.com/ 15000 cyclists on closed roads.

I did not fancy doing this on a full suspension MTB and I have had my eye on the Boardman CX Team for a while. A well specced bike that I can take up onto the South Downs in the summer.

What tyres do you use on your road bike John? I am a novice when it comes to road bikes. Mine came with 700c 1.35 Rapid Rob cyclocross tyres. However I was looking for something with a bit better rolling resistance but still capable on rough rough roads or gravel type track.

[Johnmcl7]

Good call on starting a new thread.

Definitely the right call to get a road bike for 100 miles on road as they are so much easier for long distances and more comfortable for the wrists as well as you've a few different positions you can move between. Also these days it's easy to get a decent road bike with hydraulic brakes which I much prefer in all conditions perhaps just because I'm used to them on the mountain bikes but I prefer that consistent feeling of control you get with hydraulics over the rather vague feel you get with rim brakes. 15,000 cyclists...wow! The event I'm doing at the weekend has 5,000 which to me is a lot as even the MTB races I've done with a 1,000 or so people are incredibly busy although I guess I won't actually even see most of the other cyclists.

I don't have any recommendations for mixed use tyres as I use my road bikes purely on road so they're on full slicks. I find I take enough of a beating on the road with that type of bike so stick with the MTB's for off road.

John

[Replicant]

Source of the post

Source of the post Dear blog,

Well I signed up to the Dulux London Revolution bike ride last week. A two day 300km ride around London in May.

I am in Estonia at the moment but flying back home later and today. Will be going for a three hour bike fitting tomorrow as I need to iron out some niggles and make sure things are set up correctly for long distance riding.

Dear Blog,

I was wondering if you had any cycle challenges lined up this year, that one looks pretty awesome. Are planning in doing it over two days or one go? I haven't signed up for anything at all this year as I got a bit carried away last year and did three events in a row which put me off a bit but I've been thinking I should get signed up for something to give me a task to aim for.

I'm curious to hear how you get on with the bike fit as it's not something I've done before but feel that I should as it's incredible how much difference a small adjustment can make, I find my rear end is sore for a while after particularly long rides but not sure if that's because I don't do enough of them or I need to adjust the seat. The fat bike has never been right after I changed the seatpost but no matter how many times I adjusted the height I couldn't seem to get it right so I decided I should change the seat which made it worse so it was back to the drawing board. Except I don't know what I've done different when I put the original seat back on but it's fine now so I seem to have accidentally sorted it.

John

Thought I would carry on here.

The bike fit was pretty interesting and I learnt more than a private doctor consultation two years ago. My right leg is longer than my left by about 1cm so I have had some spacers put it on my left foot spd shoe to lengthen it.

I also had a 10mm shorter stem and the saddle moved back to place me a bit further back on the bike. I am also trying out a new shorter saddle so there should be improved comfort in the gentleman’s area.