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Well that one hurt and just glad it was part of a Charity Event as I'd got various reasons for doing it. FRR 24 Hour Atop VenTop (planned 3 ascents with a target of 6h but realistically knew I'd be a bit over). Legs held up ok, feeding plan/strategy worked well. Will power and mindset was good. Pacing could be improved and would need to be much better to do more without some specific training & conditioning (did none this time). But still. Ow. Don't want to go up there again anytime soon!
went for a bike re-fit last night.
biggest change was this
<snip>
saddle tiny bit down and back
Haha, is that it?! How long since your first fit and was it with the same fitter? Good job to be that close if it was done yourself!
Yeah. Mines always well off.
I've never found Stravas estimated power very accurate. Especially now - without a PWM on the new bike amd seeing it again and just rolling my eyes...
https://www.strava.com/activities/325240794#7694840095 - 2015 early days, smashed myself up this climb 193W avg calculated 6:12
https://www.strava.com/activities/2711181602#67776436519 - 2019 so paced it well as tempo with a big climb later in the ride - 191w actual 6:29
https://www.strava.com/activities/11386097901#3224395019077154580 - 2 weeks ago, chatting to clubmates and riding it easy - 165W avg calculated 6:18
2015 I was likely around 10kg heavier and busted a gut getting up there (hit 180bpm), but the 2019 effort my weight & 'effort' would have been very similar to current, so the power shouldn't be that far out.
I've just had a rather nasty incident cycling into work with Range Rover threatening me on a narrow country lane. He said he sees me every day and thinks I ride too fast (I was plodding along at like 17mph
) before shouting about how cyclists think they rule the road etc etc. I don't commute daily, but it's made me a bit concerned if I see him again and he decides to do something stupid. I've therefore decided to invest in a camera finally. I don't intend to become CyclingMikey but it would be good to know I can also submit footage to the police in the event something does happen.
I don't intend to make any videos for pleasure. I only want to record my commutes. Are budget cameras worth it? I don't mind spending £300 if I need to. I know some of you use cameras, can anyone recommend a decent one?
I wouldn't worry about it, you've documented it and he sounds like just general road rage directed at cyclists he can't even identify and I expect other times it's directed at other cars/non-land rovers/horse riders/pednestrians/lorries/vans. He's just an angry little man compensating for something. Logged and move on, if anything happens it's documented.
But a camera is a good thing to have for things like this. Some people like them obviously visible as a deterrent (but lets be honest in the current landscape it could equally be a target). I've always taken the other angle - mine is fairly hidden under my bars and there 'all the time' - even riders I ride with don't tend to notice it. I don't fiddle with it very much (easy on&off) so very much have it for the 'what if' moments like this where it is worth having the footage to report it.
I don't have any real device recommendations other than liking what I use - but it's no longer available. So the easy starting point is - a Cyclic Fly 12. It's very similar in capacity and footage quality to what I'm using. If you want better, or have any other use cases for it (streaming/holidays/snowboarding etc) where you can justify spending more then go for Insta360 or GoPro. I wouldn't replace my camera with a Cyclic for that price, but I could justify a GoPro mini, while I don't know enough about the cheaper/budget/knockoff ones to recommend... But if I told you my Garmin VIRB (16MP) cost me £100 (with a 20% black friday and a 10% off voucher!) in a deal in January 2014... The fact that Cyclic cameras are similar quality and 3 times the price in current tech tells you a lot. The market has exploded since then.
Just as a heads up, there's a Le Col sale on bundles at the moment, which brings it down to £200 for a decent pair of bib shorts and jersey, plus a free base layer. And if you do the "Le Col Giro" Strava challenge you can get a further £50 off, which finally brings their stuff down to something like excellent value!
Good shout thanks!
I've got really weird proportions so have always had loads of saddle setback for comfort. It's good for that but crap for power. I've been trying to move it forward this year as it definitely helps with harder intervals. I found after about 5-6 hours it just concentrated everything in my quads and they completely gave up, so I'm going to move backwards again and spread the load more evenly. I find glutes/hamstrings are much slower to fatigue even if you generate a little less power.
I'm also going to move my bars up to save my back even if it makes it look like a shopper bike.
The mileage you do mate I wouldn't worry too much about 'aero gainz' from a tougher position on your main ride! Maybe an excuse to have a race/training bike for the harder stuff alongside it...
My front tyre keeps loosing pressure after that puncture the other day.
So i took it as an excuse to do something I regret doing since I got my new wheels. Treated the bike to new shoes and have bought the GP5000S TR with Tan walls. Hated having pure black wheels on my bike since it originally came with the regular GP5000
I love the look of mine, they really are not Tan though. Much more orange/bronze coloured and seems to darken slightly rather than get lighter & dirtier like others.
Rear puncture a couple days ago, the only place I could stop to sort it was a gateway to a farmers field
Digging mud out before I could clip back in
At least it's fairly sandy/dry looking stuff. Good growing & drainage soil with the red colour. You took it home with you for the garden, right?!
How much bottom pain is normal when cycling? I used to get some numbness down below after 2 hours but never really had pain.
Doing longer rides with new saddle (cut out) there is no numbness but I find after 2-3 hours I get pain at the point the sitbones contact the saddle. I thought originally it was just from the contact and I would get used to it/toughen up, but I found it slightly odd that there were times I could ride for 30 minutes seated with no pain at all, then have pain and repeat which made me wonder if it was nerve related (and no ulcers/skin damage) after. Is this normal and settle with time? Would a different saddle change it? It didn’t stop me doing a 7+ hour ride so not critical to spend big money right now, but nice to know if this is expected.
Through various saddles and shorts through the years... It is a combination of things. If I'd doing lots of Zwift racing (<1 hour) for a few weeks over winter than suddenly the weather says a 4 hour club ride is possible. It always hurts. The better weather and more longer rides under my belt 3-4 hours is fine (then it's the 6-7 hour ones which hurt!). So certainly 'time' and building it gradually can be a big help in mitigating if it's an impact/vibration related wear. But an actual 'pain' is worth investigating and likely a nerve.
My Bike fit a few months back highlighted a leg length imbalance which causes some extra saddle rock, which in turn causes some occasional saddle sores, but my main thing is nearly always tender sit bones. I've always suffered with both so quite accustomed to their recovery and also the steps to mitigate. I used to ride a narrow saddle thinking it was the 'best' (Fizik Arione) but have moved away to cutouts, finding the Specialized Power the best I've used so far. Bike fit also pointed at wide sit bones and the move to a 155mm wide Power (from standard 143mm) has given me a little more comfort again. My saddle sores tend to be more 'pad edge' of my shorts than actually near the sit bones and this wider saddle has moved them slightly further again - but I have also preferred wider & thicker pads finding them more comfortable through experience too (before the sit bone & rocking diagnosis)... So certainly for me it is a combination of things - certainly changing shorts 3 times (3 different pads) on Saturdays 7h ride I'm tender, but have not got a saddle sore from it (unlike the week before when I picked up a minor one in 1 pair of shorts during 7-8 hours of riding). Not very scientific comparison testing I know!
I had to glance down to replace the bottle, I looked back up and instead of riding parallel to a big stone wall, I was angled towards it
Ouch! Hope you rest up/recover easily and no more damage other than your kit & pride!
That'll teach you... Far better to be able to house a bottle in a cage without looking! But will admit I struggle with the same cage sometimes, especially if I have a slightly different (bigger) bottle there. I'll try twice and then just stuff it into my jersey/gilet until a more convenient point. Also later in a ride with an empty bottle will stash it in a pocket instead of glancing down.
I'll swap bottles between cages by stuffing primary into my jersey, move other from seat tube to downtube, then jersey bottle into seat tube. So only advice would be to have lots of time to use the tricky cage so you can fumble it and not need to look/rush. Calm and steady!
