Bicycle Fans - official thread for people who love riding th

cloggsy71

I rode 33 miles yeaterday with some pretty great hills. The spinning classes have really paid off. I can also tell a huge difference with my new bike. My Trek 7.5fx was great but the roadie is so much better. I felt fantastic on those hills.

Having the right bike for the job makes a hell of a difference doesn't it?

BryanAir

The wind has become my enemy. Okay, I am getting more exercise, but my commute to work was into a west wind and the forecast for the ride home will be an east wind. Enough complaining. After taking the weekend off my legs were stronger than ever. I was able to get over my steepest hill two gears higher than ever before.

naturelover365

I live in the city and have begun using my bike as my main mode of transportation again. Today I rode for about an hour just running errands. Cycling is so awesome!

whiskey9890

my legs are dead, didn't cycle to work last week due to my shifts (i am not getting up earlier to cycle to work, it aint happening) and when i got home there was always something to do instead of go for a peddle, so jumped back on the bike yesterday with very fresh legs and gave it my best shot, experienced peddling into the wind for the first time and also my first cross wind, but also managed to match my best time to work, going home mind i was shattered and just dawdled.

cut to today, i feel fine no aches and pains apart from a bit of saddle soreness but i expected that after a week off, so i get on the bike thinking i would be abit slower but not much. oh the pain!! my hips just felt like they were going to explode my thighs turned into blocks of lead, even my armsstarted to scream at me. in hindsight i think i should have jumped off the bike and drove to work but no i stuck at it. of course it started to rain just as i was about to head out so i threw my water proof trousers on to keep my legs dry so my legs were hot and bothered to start with but my word the ride to work was horrendous, i was riding into a headwind all the way as well and i managed to go almost a minute slower than my fist ride to work this year a couple of weeks back.

to make it worse, in 4 hours i have to cycle home again :sad:

gtm124

I wish our urban roads were more biker friendly so I don't need the added distraction of an ipod. I use a mirror with a good taillight (Dinotte) and sometimes wear a neon green reflective mesh vest. I want to be very visable, but living in a pretty much red-neck area it is never too safe regardless. One of my buddies got clipped by a side view mirror from a pickup truck. We have a bike path but it is only 5 miles in length so city riding is necessary. Once out in the county your main threat are unchained dogs.

hroush

Got my bike all fixed up over the weekend (that was much more trouble than it should have been), but went on a 14 mile ride yesterday and road to work this morning (about 5 miles one way).

gtm124

Got my bike all fixed up over the weekend (that was much more trouble than it should have been), but went on a 14 mile ride yesterday and road to work this morning (about 5 miles one way).

Good for you. Keep pedaling.

hroush

Got my bike all fixed up over the weekend (that was much more trouble than it should have been), but went on a 14 mile ride yesterday and road to work this morning (about 5 miles one way).

Good for you. Keep pedaling.

I will as long as long as the chain stays on and the tires stay aired.

BryanAir

Got my bike all fixed up over the weekend (that was much more trouble than it should have been), but went on a 14 mile ride yesterday and road to work this morning (about 5 miles one way).

Good for you. Keep pedaling.

I will as long as long as the chain stays on and the tires stay aired.

Then you put the chain back on and patch the tires and start pedaling again.

JohnDalton

I enjoy riding to work but broke my tailbone a couple of weeks ago so it's walking time again. Tried to ride and was ok for a short time but then......owww. With gas prices, bike and scooter sales are way up.

gtm124

It's a good idea to park your bike on a bike mounting rack to keep the tires off the ground. I have one in the garage with 2 bikes mounted. It helps keep the tires pressurized longer. The longer time between rides the more important the mounted bike rack becomes.

hroush

It's a good idea to park your bike on a bike mounting rack to keep the tires off the ground. I have one in the garage with 2 bikes mounted. It helps keep the tires pressurized longer. The longer time between rides the more important the mounted bike rack becomes.

I will definitely do this when I get my own place, but currently living in a small apartment with my wife I can't afford such spacious luxuries. I'm happy that my bike is inside the apartment (the reason why I needed to fix it in the first place). I'll try to remember to flip it onto the handlebars when it's at home.

yvonnej1

Been riding my daughters bike for the last 2 days as mine had a puncture when I went to get it out for my journey to work. Fortunately hers is almost identical to mine although a model down so mine has allegedly better gears, brakes etc. I certainly noticed that hers was faster and lighter to ride, but then mine is the city version with mudguards, a rack and panniers which all serve to weigh me down. It might have been fun enjoying her bike, but I certainly miss having the panniers to put things in, cycling along with my work bag and my sons school bags on my back isn't much fun.

This might already have been discussed on here - apologies as I haven't been able to go back and read all the posts- but what are peoples experiences with slime filled inner tubes or reinforced, puncture proofed tyres? Although I've only had 3 punctures this year that's 3 too many as far as I'm concerned and I want to try and prevent any more. I've read reviews that say the slime filled tubes are heavy and increase resistance and with my bike already feeling a tad heavy I don't really want to up the weight. I guess I might end up with some new tyres.

mrsyac2

I just got my bike for mothers day along with a k9 dog jogger that connects to it so I can run my dogs while I ride.

I love it- I actually got it on Thursday last week and as of today I have put over 50 miles on it already. It's a bit harder to reach long rides but today I did 6.5 miles and yesterday I did about 5. I am enjoying it though I feel like a kid again.

sillygoose1977

This might already have been discussed on here - apologies as I haven't been able to go back and read all the posts- but what are peoples experiences with slime filled inner tubes or reinforced, puncture proofed tyres? Although I've only had 3 punctures this year that's 3 too many as far as I'm concerned and I want to try and prevent any more. I've read reviews that say the slime filled tubes are heavy and increase resistance and with my bike already feeling a tad heavy I don't really want to up the weight. I guess I might end up with some new tyres.

All I know about slime tubes is that they are messy as hell. We stopped for a break at our downtown REI which is a major stop for cyclists in Denver. So there were about a hundred people milling about. My boyfriend had a flat and replaced his old tube with a Slime. When he used the cartridge to infalte it, it exploded everywhere! It looked like Shrek got shot. Just a little embarrasing. :blushing:

hroush

This might already have been discussed on here - apologies as I haven't been able to go back and read all the posts- but what are peoples experiences with slime filled inner tubes or reinforced, puncture proofed tyres? Although I've only had 3 punctures this year that's 3 too many as far as I'm concerned and I want to try and prevent any more. I've read reviews that say the slime filled tubes are heavy and increase resistance and with my bike already feeling a tad heavy I don't really want to up the weight. I guess I might end up with some new tyres.

I just took out my slime filled tubes as they deteriorated the rubber liner over the spokes, causing me to get a flat anyway. Also, it is (almost) impossible to patch a tube with slime in it because the slime won't allow the glue to adhere correctly. I say almost because maybe you could wipe enough away to get the glue to stick, but I don't know.

BryanAir

This might already have been discussed on here - apologies as I haven't been able to go back and read all the posts- but what are peoples experiences with slime filled inner tubes or reinforced, puncture proofed tyres? Although I've only had 3 punctures this year that's 3 too many as far as I'm concerned and I want to try and prevent any more. I've read reviews that say the slime filled tubes are heavy and increase resistance and with my bike already feeling a tad heavy I don't really want to up the weight. I guess I might end up with some new tyres.

All I know about slime tubes is that they are messy as hell. We stopped for a break at our downtown REI which is a major stop for cyclists in Denver. So there were about a hundred people milling about. My boyfriend had a flat and replaced his old tube with a Slime. When he used the cartridge to infalte it, it exploded everywhere! It looked like Shrek got shot. Just a little embarrasing. :blushing:

Shrek getting shot. Great imagery. That is cracking me up. :happy:

I don't know what got into me on my ride home, but I was feeling great. I really pushed myself and at one point hit my fastest ever speed of 28 mph and averaged 19.1 mph for the 11 mile trip. Before today my fastest average was 17 mph.

StuAblett

Better than Slime, IMHO is to buy a better tire and tube, they are NOT all the same. Better tires, have protective layers in the actual tire, some boast Kevlar etc but most better tires have this kind of puncture protection. If you keep your tires pumped up and you have good quality tires and tubes, and you are lucky, punctures are usually fairly rare. I ride in Tokyo a LOT and I've had one flat in the last year, and I did it to myself, I carry a box cutter on my hip at work, it fell out and just the tip of the razor knife was sticking out of the body of the knife, this hit my wheel in motion and I got a flat, talk about bad luck :sick: and it hit on the sidewall, if it had hit the tread, I'm sure my tire's protective layer would have not let the blade through.

There are lots of good brands out there, I really like the Schwalbe Kojak tires, (who loves ya baby!) they are super fast, very grippy and they have the protection too, also their Marathon tires are very well known for touring they wear forever and are bombproof!

Spend your money on good tires and tubes, you will have fewer punctures, but that being said, if you ride a bike, you will have punctures, learn to change out a tube, it should only take you 10 minutes with a bit of practice. I almost never patch a tube on the road, I carry a spare tube on the bike, a pump and two tire levers, with that, I can swap out a tube fairly easily. I carry a patch kit for the unlikely event of two flats, or the more likely event of someone I'm riding with not having a spare tube.

I think it was orginally devised for things like off-road motorcycle racing, so it they got a flat, they could carry on racing, but for every day cycling?

Avoid the slime. :bigsmile:

YMMV :happy:

cloggsy71

... averaged 19.1 mph for the 11 mile trip. Before today my fastest average was 17 mph.

That is an excellent average over 11 miles! Well done!!!

cloggsy71

If you want 'bomb proof' tyres, you need Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres. They are heavier than 'normal' tyres, but they are pretty 'puncture proof' if there is such a thing... See here: http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/c2-1071-schwalbe-tires-marathon-plus.html

cloggsy71

My ride this morning...

Mile 01 - Average 17.71 miles/h
Mile 02 - Average 19.12 miles/h
Mile 03 - Average 15.93 miles/h
Mile 04 - Average 19.91 miles/h
Mile 05 - Average 17.99 miles/h
Mile 06 - Average 17.68 miles/h
Mile 07 - Average 17.56 miles/h
Mile 08 - Average 18.13 miles/h
Mile 09 - Average 20.41 miles/h
Mile 10 - Average 17.08 miles/h
Mile 11 - Average 18.51 miles/h
Mile 12 - Average 19.56 miles/h

Average overall: 18.22 miles/h
Fastest Speed: 24.95 miles/h
Distance 12.8 miles

yvonnej1

Thanks for the input on tubes/tyres, it's kind of what I thought. I have been looking at the schwalbe marathon plus tyres but haven't seen the kojaks so I'll check those out too. The tyres that came on my bike were supposed to be reinforced and to be fair I didn't get a puncture for the first year but between the kids and I it feels like one of us is always getting a puncture lately. I know how to change a tube and would carry spares with me for a longer journey. I just hate going to get my bike out in the morning when I'm already running late for work or school and finding a flat. I think I could put up with a little more weight for reliability.

Lanfear

My ride this morning...

Mile 01 - Average 17.71 miles/h
Mile 02 - Average 19.12 miles/h
Mile 03 - Average 15.93 miles/h
Mile 04 - Average 19.91 miles/h
Mile 05 - Average 17.99 miles/h
Mile 06 - Average 17.68 miles/h
Mile 07 - Average 17.56 miles/h
Mile 08 - Average 18.13 miles/h
Mile 09 - Average 20.41 miles/h
Mile 10 - Average 17.08 miles/h
Mile 11 - Average 18.51 miles/h
Mile 12 - Average 19.56 miles/h

Average overall: 18.22 miles/h
Fastest Speed: 24.95 miles/h
Distance 12.8 miles

Wow. How do you get a MPH average for each mile? Is it the app that you use? My little cycle computer thing will give me the overall average for the ride but not per mile. Shame really my average would be much higher if there were no hills LOL. At the moment I average around 14mph which is really poor considering I've been cycling for over a year and have just switched up to a road bike. *sigh*

Shelle68

Now you guys made me to not be able to wait to get home from work and jump on my bike! Thanks!

BryanAir

If you want 'bomb proof' tyres, you need Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres. They are heavier than 'normal' tyres, but they are pretty 'puncture proof' if there is such a thing... See here: http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/c2-1071-schwalbe-tires-marathon-plus.html

Seeing as how I am carrying around 2 less pounds of bodyweight each week I might just be able to swing the extra weight of these tires. It looks like they have the 26 x 1.5 I need for my rear wheel, but they don't seem to have a 20 x 1.5 for my front wheel. This may be a silly question, but does a 20 x 1.375 wheel fit on the same size rim?

cloggsy71

Wow. How do you get a MPH average for each mile? Is it the app that you use? My little cycle computer thing will give me the overall average for the ride but not per mile. Shame really my average would be much higher if there were no hills LOL. At the moment I average around 14mph which is really poor considering I've been cycling for over a year and have just switched up to a road bike. *sigh*

Its the 'Cyclemeter' App on the iPhone

See here: http://www.abvio.com/cyclemeter/

teri1956

I ride almost daily from work to home - about 3.5 miles (I am fortunate to live in a small town in central California). Take occasional weekend 'round the neighborhood rides.

I have a recumbent bicycle. There are many styles - mine looks like the ones on this site: http://www.easyracers.com/
I've had it for 8 years.It appealed to me because of the wide seat and the back support. Having not been on a bicycle since high school ('74), I rode it 4 miles the very first day. It is comfortable and doesn't feel like I had been sitting on a post. I have a rear basket and panniers to carry my bags home.

Be safe and look out for those car drivers! Always wear your helmet!

BryanAir

I ride almost daily from work to home - about 3.5 miles (I am fortunate to live in a small town in central California). Take occasional weekend 'round the neighborhood rides.

I have a recumbent bicycle. There are many styles - mine looks like the ones on this site: http://www.easyracers.com/
I've had it for 8 years.It appealed to me because of the wide seat and the back support. Having not been on a bicycle since high school ('74), I rode it 4 miles the very first day. It is comfortable and doesn't feel like I had been sitting on a post. I have a rear basket and panniers to carry my bags home.

Be safe and look out for those car drivers! Always wear your helmet!

Good to see another bent rider on the forums. There aren't many of us for some reason. They are ever so comfortable. This is what mine looks like.

iplayoutside19

Is it OK if jump in here? I've mostly been running, and will continue to do so. However, since the weather has warmed up I've been biking a bit more. Once upon a time I went Mt biking on my Specialized Rockhopper 3-4 times a week, and that was when I weighed over 300 lbs. It's also when I lived in Denver and Kansas City where such trails are a quick ride/drive away. I now live out where it's flat, and trails are few. But you just have to be creative.

I still have and ride the Rockhopper. I commuted to work on it yesteday. 7.5 Miles one way. I found a dirt trail with a few hills on the way home. I'm not sure I was supposed to be there. But the property was owned by the city, and it was safer/fun than being on the street.

I didn't save a lot of gas commutting yesterday. But I burned close to 1100 calories, and had an excellent time. I think commutting apeals to my sense of adventure more than anything. I'm going to try and commute once a week during the summer. Get some recreational rides in, and ride with my family in town.

I prefer dirt, but will ride anywhere.

Shelle68

Is there any way to calcuate the calories burned given the length of time and speed ridden but on roads with hills?