July 2016 Bike Cycling Bicycling Challenge
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The padded bike shorts will make a world of difference to your comfort - just be aware that sizing for cycle clothes appears to be based on the body shapes of elite pro stick figures, so you may have to go up a size from your normal clothing size.
[debates whether to include next bit, and decides oh what the hell...] Just in case you didn't know - cycle shorts are worn "commando" - otherwise you will get chafing in places where you don't want to be chafed. Sorry if that's TMI.
Being clipped in on the shoes makes (another) world of difference in being able to transfer power into the pedals, and ultimately if you can achieve nirvana souplesse, so you're efficiently and automatically using the full circle of the pedalling motion, ie pulling on the upstroke not just pushing down on the pedal. I'm nowhere near that yet, but when I concentrate on the pulling motion.... whooosh. The downside is that you should expect to fall over a few times - not when you're going fast, unless you're really unlucky, but when you stop and bodge the unclipping motion, or get suddenly baulked by traffic so you come to an expected stop - natural learnt reaction from years of cycling is to stick your leg out on the side you're falling towards... but that motion doesn't unclip your foot. It does get much better though - you anticipate and get used to unclipping in preparation for stops. And when you zoom away from stopped, clipping in without looking and powering away... that feeling is just wonderful.
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re: clipping in. It definitely teaches you humility - nothing like picking yourself up off the ground in front of dozens of motorists after you topple over for no apparent reason.
You can also take fun photos of your many bruises.
If you're new to a road bike though, I would put off clippless pedals for awhile. Get used to the new bike geometry first!
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I'm in for 250 miles again!
07/02 - 13.00 miles
07/03 - 15.00 miles
07/04 - 13.00 miles
07/07 - 12.25 miles
07/09 - 15.75 miles
07/10 - 12.00 miles...81.00 miles so far
07/12 - 15.00 miles
07/13 - 12.50 miles
07/14 - 13.75 miles
07/16 - 13.75 miles...136.00 miles so far
07/19 - 14.00 miles
Chris1 -
@UmmSqueaky glad I'm not alone!
Stop. Fall over. Bust your knee. "Nope, I'm fine. Thanks! That's the way this bike works". Brush off you bloody elbow. "No really, I'm fine". Get back on and ride out the pain and embarrassment. Check out your cool scars at home, alone. Next time I won't fall... repeat.1 -
In preparation for my return north, got in a nice long ride to/from the Rays vs. Orioles game Sunday, then returned up north for more commuting and expresso bike rides the past 2 days. Replaced my bottom bracket today, but still am hearing a slight click noise with each revolution. Suspect my pedal bearing is the culprit, but at least my shifting is now back to perfect up front.
7/1 - 28 miles
7/3 - 51 miles
7/5 - 52 miles
7/6 - 35 miles
7/7 - 32 miles
7/8 - 46 miles
7/9 - 50 miles
7/10 - 13 miles
7/11 - 44 miles
7/13 - 33 miles
7/14 - 17 miles
7/15 - 30 miles
7/17 - 50 miles
7/18 - 7 miles
7/19 - 39 miles
Total: 527 miles
Goal: 621 miles
Remaining: 84 miles
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7/5 - 21 miles.
7/6 - 23 miles
7/11 - 28 miles
7/12 - 27 miles
7/13 - 23 miles
7/14 - 10 miles
7/15 - 23 miles
7/18 - 28 miles
7/19 - 27 miles - flipping the commute routes - doing the 15 miles in the morning when it's cooler and the shorter route at night when it's hot. No rain tonight (although it was lurking in the forecast) so I biked to the lake after work to swim. Wore my tri kit for the first time swimming and it worked out well in the water. Unfortunately I feel horribly lumpy and fat in it out of the water, which will be something to mentally contend with before the race. Might end up throwing on a different shirt after the swim. I definitely got quite a bit of sun today, hoping I'm not burned tomorrow.
Month to date: 210 miles
Year to date: 2249 miles2 -
@UmmSqueaky glad I'm not alone!
Stop. Fall over. Bust your knee. "Nope, I'm fine. Thanks! That's the way this bike works". Brush off you bloody elbow. "No really, I'm fine". Get back on and ride out the pain and embarrassment. Check out your cool scars at home, alone. Next time I won't fall... repeat.
Heh yes that just about sums it up. There's a bit of a flight syndrome underlying it all - gotta get up and get moving to get out of danger.2 -
07/09 - 15.27
07/10 - 15.10
07/11 - 11.04
07/12 - 18.24
07/14 - 07.26
07/15 - 18.13
07/17 - 14.81
07/18 - 14.99
07/19 - 14.69
July total: 129.53
Goal for month: 300
Year to date: 2,058.95
Jan - 175.9
Feb - 343.3
Mar - 353.8
Apr - 363.4
May - 319.1
June - 316.20 -
I'm in for 250 miles again!
07/02 - 13.00 miles
07/03 - 15.00 miles
07/04 - 13.00 miles
07/07 - 12.25 miles
07/09 - 15.75 miles
07/10 - 12.00 miles...81.00 miles so far
07/12 - 15.00 miles
07/13 - 12.50 miles
07/14 - 13.75 miles
07/16 - 13.75 miles...136.00 miles so far
07/19 - 14.00 miles
07/20 - 15.00 miles
Chris0 -
@35dollars Don't worry about the TMI, I know that concept from the tighs/shorts I wear for long runs, so I had time to get used to the fact that the anti-chafing magic of special sports pants only works commando-style. Unless my mother ever stumbles accross this, in which case I have to say I'd never consider such a shocking behaviour!
@Elise4270 and @UmmSqueaky wow, sounds like I have something to look forward to with the clip-in pedals! Not that my legs aren't covered in scratches and bruises half of the time anyway, but usually not quite as spectacular as in UmmSqueaky's pic! But that adventure will have to wait a little longer; the local sports store I visited yesterday didn't have any bike shoes for women.
But I did buy some chamois pants, and in combination with moving the handlebar upeards by an inch, todays ride was a lot more comfortable. And fast! I wasn't even trying, still too focused on how to shift and avoiding potholes, but I still beat my 18:52 PB to work by almost 90s. Same for the ride home. That was fun
20.07.16 12.8km work and back
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@_nikkiwolf_ Wow! Speedy! You'll be even faster with the clip in shoes!2
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Happy Birthday to me. A present from my wife. Took advantage of the Trek summer sale.
Trek Emonda tlr5
Aluminum frame, carbon fork, Shimano 105 drive train, 11 speed, 50/34 chain ring, 8.4 kg / 18.5 lbs
I actually had decided on an all carbon S5, but they didn't have one in my size anywhere in the nation. So I went with this bike, which is essentially the same bike as the S5 but only with an aluminum frame. Drive train is exactly the same. This one is actually a little over a pound lighter than the full carbon S5.6 -
Just a few more ballpark commuting and gym expresso miles today.
7/1 - 28 miles
7/3 - 51 miles
7/5 - 52 miles
7/6 - 35 miles
7/7 - 32 miles
7/8 - 46 miles
7/9 - 50 miles
7/10 - 13 miles
7/11 - 44 miles
7/13 - 33 miles
7/14 - 17 miles
7/15 - 30 miles
7/17 - 50 miles
7/18 - 7 miles
7/19 - 39 miles
7/20 - 24 miles
Total: 551 miles
Goal: 621 miles
Remaining: 70 miles3 -
7/1 18.01
7/2 20.28
7/3 36.20
7/5 20.08
7/9 17.95
7/10 41.82
7/12 13.26
7/17 11.76
7/18 23.84
7/19 5.42
7/20 21.42
MTD: 229.86
Jan: 49.93
Feb: 177.8
Mar: 279.94
Apr: 198.79
May: 110.02
June: 238.86
Total: 1285.201 -
_nikkiwolf_ wrote: »There aren't any numbers written on them either, so I always had to look down towards the chain ring and the gears to see where I was at and where I wanted to shift to
Finally back on the bike after my little contretemps with the car on Saturday, I was thinking about this as I was riding into work, this morning. Before I started converting over to higher cadence/lower gear riding ( 3 or 4 weeks ago now), my normal tactic was to increase speed as rapidly as possible, and click up through the gears until I ran out of gears and then keep going in that gear until/unless it got too hard because of hills or traffic, and then click down into a low gear.
Now that I'm not doing that, I've found myself looking down at the cassette quite often to figure out which gear I'm in. But... my revelation this morning is, that it doesn't matter! Basically, the tactic now is/should be to keep the cadence at a comfortable (fairly high) level, and shift up/down around that rather than worrying what gear I'm in.
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@tcaley4 Happy Birthday and enjoy that sweet new ride!
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I'm in for 250 miles again!
07/02 - 13.00 miles
07/03 - 15.00 miles
07/04 - 13.00 miles
07/07 - 12.25 miles
07/09 - 15.75 miles
07/10 - 12.00 miles...81.00 miles so far
07/12 - 15.00 miles
07/13 - 12.50 miles
07/14 - 13.75 miles
07/16 - 13.75 miles...136.00 miles so far
07/19 - 14.00 miles
07/20 - 15.00 miles
07/21 - 15.00 miles
Chris1 -
Stepping back today after a heavy training load yesterday, so cut back my trail run, and just did 19 miles of commuting and 30 minutes of easier spinning on the expresso (@ 185 watts).
7/1 - 28 miles
7/3 - 51 miles
7/5 - 52 miles
7/6 - 35 miles
7/7 - 32 miles
7/8 - 46 miles
7/9 - 50 miles
7/10 - 13 miles
7/11 - 44 miles
7/13 - 33 miles
7/14 - 17 miles
7/15 - 30 miles
7/17 - 50 miles
7/18 - 7 miles
7/19 - 39 miles
7/20 - 24 miles
7/21 - 19 miles
Total: 570 miles
Goal: 621 miles
Remaining: 51 miles1 -
7/5 - 21 miles.
7/6 - 23 miles
7/11 - 28 miles
7/12 - 27 miles
7/13 - 23 miles
7/14 - 10 miles
7/15 - 23 miles
7/18 - 28 miles
7/19 - 27 miles
7/20 - 17 miles
7/21 - 17 miles - hot and humid so I'm taking it easy. Wore a tank top for the commute today and was rewarded with a particularly disgusting bit of sexual harassment. Apparently it's impossible for a woman to exist in the public sphere without being commented on. Bah.
Month to date: 244 miles
Year to date: 2286 miles1 -
Fri 01 - 4.77 miles
Mon 04 - 28.88 miles
Tue 05 - 35.34 miles
Wed 06 - 20.00 miles
Thu 07 - none
Fri 08 - 33.44 miles
Mon 11 - 33.68 miles
Tue 12 - 19.99 miles
Wed 13 - 41.56 miles.
Thu 14 - none
Fri 15 - 29.04 miles
Sat 16 - 17.99 miles
Mon 18 - no bike
Tue 19 - no bike
Wed 20 - unwell
Thu 21 - 31.05 miles. Finally!
Target for July: 500 miles - probably now going to hit about 425
MTD 295.74, YTD 992.69.0
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