MFP Cycling Club

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  • Jax67
    Jax67 Posts: 323 Member
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    Hi all, well i have well and truly beaten my target of 500 miles for this year! I set it in march thinking it was a reasonable target and i have done 509 miles as of tonight!! Think i had better set it a bit higher.... i love cycling :happy: :drinker:
  • Jax67
    Jax67 Posts: 323 Member
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    Sorry to hear about your bike, Jax. :frown: Hopefully it's nothing major and I hope you get it sorted out soon. :wink:

    Becks it was a really cheap bike that i bought from my local supermarket, it cost me less than £20 after my staff discount. I have ridden it into the ground and now am in the market for a decent bike...... i have up to £800 to spend on a bike and accessories, do any of you wonderful people have any advice on what to look for? I mostly ride on the road, but like to go up a gravel road and along a pathway through some woods on one of my rides, it can get slightly bumpy but not horrendously so. Am i right in thinking that slick tyres would not be any good on this type of pathway?
  • tipusnr
    tipusnr Posts: 572
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    I mostly ride on the road, but like to go up a gravel road and along a pathway through some woods on one of my rides, it can get slightly bumpy but not horrendously so. Am i right in thinking that slick tyres would not be any good on this type of pathway?

    You can get treaded tires for road bikes (at least here in the states) but the real issue with gravel and thin tires is punctures and slipping side to side (even with tread). Getting kevlar in the tires and keeping the tires properly inflated helps.
  • gwynh
    gwynh Posts: 160
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    My fear of riding on gravel is the slipping side to side. i can't avoid the 150 foot gravel drive that gets me from my house to the road. If I hit the gravel in a small "dirt" pile, my bike will feel like it is going to jack knife. I guess my fear roots back to my teenage years when I was young and stupid. I road my MoPed down a dirt road and hit a thick patch of loose "dirt". I kept going but my bike stopped. I had major cuts, and thank goodness I had on a hellmet. There was a 2 inch long gash about 1/4 inch deep along the side of my helmet.

    Oh yeah, I have been doing internet research about my angry territorial dog problems. Some said use pepper spray. Some said get off the bike and use the bike a a weapon against the dog, picking the bike up by the saddle and handle bars. Problem with both of these ideas is with pepper spray, you could end up with the spray in your eyes and just anger the dog even more. With the bike as a weapon, I don't really want to stand there sparring against a mean dog. So, another site told me to yell "no" or "get back" sternly at the dog. Also, use my water bottle to squirt the dog. Today, I had to yell at a pack of dogs. One still didn't give in and I did the Squirt you in the face with the bottle of water. That seamed to work on that dog pack so I could race away. Farm dogs, what do you expect, I live in South Arkansas where there is no leash law outside the city. lol
  • tipusnr
    tipusnr Posts: 572
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    Well I only got one ride in this week (tomorrow starts a new week) so did not make goal at 58.11 miles. Ride did have a little bit of everything in it: sun, group riding (kept my speed down), rain, wind, gravel, hills, and coaching my wife through an asthma attack (the riding afterwards thing...I don't know anything about asthma!). Andrea got to ride stoker on a tandem for a short stretch (about 7 miles) and didn't much care for the lack of control. The pilot's wife is about the same height as Andrea and rode her bike. She is a more experienced cyclist and couldn't keep up due to the wieght and drag of Andrea's hybrid bike. She has worked too hard to be held back by the bike so we went down to our favorite bike shop and ended up getting her (supposedly) a better bike than I ride. Call it an early Birthday gift or whatever, if it keeps her motivated and moving toward being a better road cyclist so we can ride together more - it's worth the debt load. (I actually have 12 months to pay it off in even payments before incurring interest.)
  • StuAblett
    StuAblett Posts: 1,141 Member
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    Well I only got one ride in this week (tomorrow starts a new week) so did not make goal at 58.11 miles. Ride did have a little bit of everything in it: sun, group riding (kept my speed down), rain, wind, gravel, hills, and coaching my wife through an asthma attack (the riding afterwards thing...I don't know anything about asthma!). Andrea got to ride stoker on a tandem for a short stretch (about 7 miles) and didn't much care for the lack of control. The pilot's wife is about the same height as Andrea and rode her bike. She is a more experienced cyclist and couldn't keep up due to the wieght and drag of Andrea's hybrid bike. She has worked too hard to be held back by the bike so we went down to our favorite bike shop and ended up getting her (supposedly) a better bike than I ride. Call it an early Birthday gift or whatever, if it keeps her motivated and moving toward being a better road cyclist so we can ride together more - it's worth the debt load. (I actually have 12 months to pay it off in even payments before incurring interest.)

    Congrats on a good ride and adding another bike to your stable!!

    I went on a training ride today, it is hot and humid here but I went anyway, 22.5 Km average of 18.1 Km/h took me about 1 hour and 15 minutes I guess. Sunday, not so much traffic on the road, I want to do this ride every day, but I don't know if I can squeeze it in or not.

    You mentioned about you and your wife riding together, to day, along a river nice flat not so busy road, I came upon a husband and wife riding there NICE road bikes, they were both decked out in the latest and the greatest cycling gear, matching bikes/shorts/jerseys/shoes and helmets. The guy was obviously an experienced rider, the lady was NOT. The guy kept taking off and ended up being a 100 or more meters ahead, he would look back and then slow down and wait, like an impatient little kid. The lady was doing lots of things wrong, for one her seat was too low by at least 2 inches, which is a LOT and instead of shifting to a higher gear, to try to catch up (I'll give her kudos, she was trying hard!) she kept getting out of the saddle and kicking for extended periods, which just makes you tired. I really wanted to say something to the husband at a stop light, but he looked at me, a fat guy on a mountain bike and sneered, so no conversation was going to ensue. I wanted to ask him how much he had spent on his wife's gear and how he will feel about her NEVER going riding again with him, cause she was POed to say the least.

    So kudos to you tipusnr for taking care of your wife, you are a very smart guy!

    Cheers!
  • tipusnr
    tipusnr Posts: 572
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    Congrats on a good ride and adding another bike to your stable!!

    So kudos to you tipusnr for taking care of your wife, you are a very smart guy!

    Cheers!

    Thanks for the, unfortunately accurate, but still cute story. When we ride together - I ride sweep as there is no way I can lead and not pull away from her. We DID have on matching jerseys yesterday from a ride we both did and coordinating do-rags from Hell, Michigan.

    We actually won't be increasing the stable just yet as her first bike (from Sears) will be going to Third Hand bikes soon for someone else to get introduced to cycling. I'm sure the stable will grow though...eventually.

    As far as being smart (not so much) but I do learn and one divorce in a lifetime is enough! :-)

    P.S. For the non-metric: Stu's training ride is just short of 14 miles at just over an 11.2 mph average speed. Well done!
  • StuAblett
    StuAblett Posts: 1,141 Member
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    Congrats on a good ride and adding another bike to your stable!!

    So kudos to you tipusnr for taking care of your wife, you are a very smart guy!

    Cheers!

    Thanks for the, unfortunately accurate, but still cute story. When we ride together - I ride sweep as there is no way I can lead and not pull away from her. We DID have on matching jerseys yesterday from a ride we both did and coordinating do-rags from Hell, Michigan.

    We actually won't be increasing the stable just yet as her first bike (from Sears) will be going to Third Hand bikes soon for someone else to get introduced to cycling. I'm sure the stable will grow though...eventually.

    As far as being smart (not so much) but I do learn and one divorce in a lifetime is enough! :-)

    P.S. For the non-metric: Stu's training ride is just short of 14 miles at just over an 11.2 mph average speed. Well done!

    I got nothing against matching jerseys, i think that is kind of cool to be honest, but in the couple I saw, they did not have matching to each other jerseys, but a matched set of helmet, jersey, shorts, shoes and bike, oh, and the guy, guess what color his scheme was..... Yep, YELLOW leader jersey colors :laugh:

    Thanks for the translation on the Km/h to Mph, I forget about that, I was learning that stuff in Canada back when we had to learn BOTH. I'm happy to hear it was a decent pace, I really don't know, as I was riding by myself.

    Good to hear the old steed will live on with a new convert, not just sit neglected in the corner!

    Kudos!
  • LisaKC
    LisaKC Posts: 328 Member
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    We went on an early morning ride (it will be 100 by noon), a little over 21 miles. Haven't been on the bike in about a week, and I could feel the difference. Love it that the hills are not killing me any more! Hope to get in a few more rides this week.
    @tipusnr, you are a wise man.
    @stu, you're right that the wife probably won't want to ride much with him. Hopefully she'll find some biker chicks to work out with.
  • BarbieCat1
    BarbieCat1 Posts: 82
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    Hubby and I got out early in the Florida heat for a nice ride yesterday. We left at 7:30, but still... it was sweaty going. I opted to take the shorter route home with a friend because the heat affects me badly, so I only did about 18 miles, but he hadn't ridden in about 3 weeks and felt he ought to go the full 28 miles with the rest of the group to make up for the layoff. Big mistake. He made it home, but barely. He nearly collapsed after coming in the door ... a cool shower and nap revived him, but he should have paid attention to the weather condition and his layoff. Lesson learned, I hope. I recognize I'm particularly sensitive to heat... have had a few fainting spells after exerting when it's in the upper 80's [yesterday it got to 93 by midday] and have learned the hard way to pace myself carefully... but he is typical male... not exactly macho man, but still, doesn't want to appear a laggard to his buddies.

    Stu, good observation ... that lady is not going to want to ride her bike with her partner again. Why do some men do that? It's almost as if he's willing her to fail to "prove" his superiority. If he's such a hot shot rider, he should have made sure his novice wife/partner had some instruction, her seat adjusted properly, etc. Same thing sometimes happens with a parent and child.
  • StuAblett
    StuAblett Posts: 1,141 Member
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    Hubby and I got out early in the Florida heat for a nice ride yesterday. We left at 7:30, but still... it was sweaty going. I opted to take the shorter route home with a friend because the heat affects me badly, so I only did about 18 miles, but he hadn't ridden in about 3 weeks and felt he ought to go the full 28 miles with the rest of the group to make up for the layoff. Big mistake. He made it home, but barely. He nearly collapsed after coming in the door ... a cool shower and nap revived him, but he should have paid attention to the weather condition and his layoff. Lesson learned, I hope. I recognize I'm particularly sensitive to heat... have had a few fainting spells after exerting when it's in the upper 80's [yesterday it got to 93 by midday] and have learned the hard way to pace myself carefully... but he is typical male... not exactly macho


    Stu, good observation ... that lady is not going to want to ride her bike with her partner again. Why do some men do that? It's almost as if he's willing her to fail to "prove" his superiority. If he's such a hot shot rider, he should have made sure his novice wife/partner had some instruction, her seat adjusted properly, etc. Same thing sometimes happens with a parent and child.

    Yep, us guys can be really stupid sometimes....... ask my wife :wink: :laugh:

    It is hot and humid here in Tokyo too, and I left home around 1 PM dumb thing to do, but in the morning we have a date on Sunday to talk to our eldest daughter on Skype as she now lives in Canada with grampa and grama and will start attending high school in September, I can't miss that Sunday Chat, love to see and hear her on Skype! I guess I should get my butt out of bed earlier and go for the ride in the morning, but, Sunday is the only day I get to sleep in :ohwell:

    It is good that your recognized your limit and avoided the heat, this is a long journey we are all on, and one day of over doing it can cost you a lot more than being cautious, yes, I've (mostly) learned from my mistakes :tongue:

    I used to do a LOT of motorcycling here in Japan, had lots of friends from the American military that I'd go on rides with, a really good core group of guys. We always had one experienced rider up front (he knew where he was going!) and one rider at the back of the group as a broom, to make sure no one got lost etc. When we had a bunch of novice riders, we partnered them up with a more experience rider, and on the drink breaks and lunch breaks etc, the more experience riders would go over stuff with the novices, like "Brake before the corner, not in it" or "Look through the turn" etc etc. You cannot teach much to someone you cannot observe, and if you are 100+ meters ahead of them, how are you going to observe them?

    I really did feel bad for the lady, she was giving it a good go, but she was poorly served. I hope she burns his toast in the morning :devil:

    Cheers!
  • gwynh
    gwynh Posts: 160
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    P.S. For the non-metric: Stu's training ride is just short of 14 miles at just over an 11.2 mph average speed. Well done!

    Thanks :-)

    I want to go for a ride today, but it is my day off for resting. :grumble: I also wish I had a riding partner. My 12 year old just doesn't want to go on a long ride with me. :cry: And my husband calls me a nerd for wearing a helmet. No support there either. :sad:

    But I will ride tomorrow.:bigsmile:
  • skywalker
    skywalker Posts: 1,533
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    And my husband calls me a nerd for wearing a helmet. No support there either. :sad:

    I can tell you from experience that I truly believe I'd either be dead or a completely different person if I weren't wearing a helmet when I crashed 2 years ago. Skull vs. pavement at 18mph would not be a pretty picture. So, be a nerd! It's better than being a vegetable.
  • StuAblett
    StuAblett Posts: 1,141 Member
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    gwynh, my wife or daughters don't want to ride with me either, not their thing I guess, but don't worry about that, just ride, a partner would be nice but then you are stuck with their schedule :tongue:

    skywalker, I totally agree about helmets, I would not let my girls (wife or daughter) ride without one, don't care what they cost, a decent helmet is a must. They complained, said they don't ride that fast yada yada yada, I said OK, let's do this test, I'll tape your feet and hands to the bike, then I'll hold the bike up, with you at a stand still let the bike fall over sideways...... :devil:

    They would not be moving forward at all, so speed was not a factor, but all three of them would not take me up on the test and just wore their helmets :happy:

    Yesterday, I was cleaning up some stuff in our bedroom, and I thought "I have an old cycling jersey in here somewhere, a quick search and yep, there it is, I bought this back in Canada in about 1990, when I weighed 84 KG, so now I have my very own "Little Black Dress" of sorts like many of you gals have, it is way too small now, but one day! :drinker:
  • LisaKC
    LisaKC Posts: 328 Member
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    @gwynn, wear the helmet. When I crashed off road and separated my shoulder years ago, I was totally convinced that my helmet saved me from a far worse injury. I had a long recovery, but not nearly as long as a brain injury. In fact, there is new helmet in my near future. Looking for the coolest one I can find locally!
  • gwynh
    gwynh Posts: 160
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    Oh, I didn't mean to imply that I am not wearing a helmet. As my profile pic shows, I have a nice red one. It is just said that he made fun of me. :noway:

    My mother-in-law doesn't even want me to ride. She is scared of all the crime she hears about on the news. She thinks that someone is going to stop and kidnap/attack me. Truthfully, I take Taekwondo for self defense. The big scary dogs are more of my fear.

    I try to take the back roads. Avoiding high traffic roads as much as possible. I wish there was a cool biking trail somewhere.

    My first month of cycling has proven to be good. I have not lost 10 pounds as I had hoped (5 instead), but I know that I was building leg muscles. And as we all know muscle weighs more than fat. My clothes are fitting looser. Woo Hoo!!

    My troubles I have is on my day off, when I am not cycling, I find it hard to only eat 1200 calories. I try hard to stay away from the kitchen area, but phooey, I slip up and end up eating about 300 over. I think I will get on the gazelle machine and run for 30 minutes to make me feel better. Getting up now. Going to exercise.
  • Panda86
    Panda86 Posts: 873
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    :)
  • Panda86
    Panda86 Posts: 873
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    Haven't ridden much this past week :grumble: But I just don't feel safe without a helmet. My new one is coming in the mail (up until now I have been riding without one... yes, I know, I know). Also arriving will be my new bike computer. So as soon as I have both of those, I will be taking a ride up the highway (there is a very wide gap to ride in) to see how far I can go, so I know how much work I have ahead of me in preparing for the STOKR ride. Very excited :) I will take a pic of me in my hot new helmet when I get it :laugh: I don't mind looking dorky or nerdy. I look like a nerd even without the helmet :glasses: So my stuff should be here early this week, and then I will hit the road! Happy cycling, all!
  • skywalker
    skywalker Posts: 1,533
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    Lisa, totally agree. :drinker:

    gwynh, I did think you were wearing a helmet, just sorry the hubs isn't on board:grumble:

    stu, love the "little black dress" reference :laugh: You'll get into that jersey soon!

    Panda, can't wait til you get your new helmet and computer. That's exciting! :happy:

    As for me... I only did ONE 20.5m ride this week. Just had lots to do and, admittedly, was a bit lazy about riding, but a new week begins tomorrow. I've already registered for a 65mile cancer ride (Endure for a Cure) for next sunday and I plan on doing some shorter rides during the week to stay loose. I should easily have a 100+ week, provided I can finish the cancer ride.:tongue: It has some pretty good hills. Not Tour de France hills, but still...:noway:

    Wish me luck.... I'll need it :laugh:
    Happy pedaling!!! :drinker:
  • ClareRce
    ClareRce Posts: 79
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    Hello fellow cyclists. Checking in at only 59 miles this week. I mentioned earlier in the week that I had a collision with a bee; well guess what! The sting got infected and made the whole right side of my face swell up like a balloon. Not a good look and very painful. What with that and the coral infection two weeks ago, I've seen more than my fair share of ER here, plus had more antibiotics than anyone should be in the business of taking. I've had two days off cycling (Friday and Saturday) and only managed a measly 5.5 miles today popping into town.

    Next week is another week! But I do have friends in town. I've hired bikes for them but I'm not sure how fit they are .... I wouldn't push them too hard for the sake of getting my miles in, so I might have to leave them at Starbucks while I go off and do some manic miles! Then come back and have a skinny latte or something.

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