Today February 2012
StuAblett
Posts: 1,141 Member
I thought that we could start a monthly thread were you can just put down your thoughts, or your experiences for the day in your cycling and your goal for fitness as well, be that weight loss, fighting the skinny fats, or just better overall fitness, kind of a catch all for us cyclists, to keep in touch, kind of a daily chat over coffee if you like :drinker:
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I got in a good 28 minutes on deliveries today, that is the actual rolling time on my bike with the trailer I use to deliver beer etc to my customers here in Tokyo.
That is my bike and trailer set up.
It is really windy here today, and cold, for Tokyo with a high just above freezing. I was bombing down a nice road on a delivery when this gust of wind hit me, it was incredible, slowed me from 33Km/h to 22Km/h in about 5 meters, I had to shift down two gears just to keep going!
At least it was bright, sunny blue sky winter's day!
How was it for you?
Cheers!0 -
Hey Stu! Great idea. And as usual, great photo to go with your delivery story. Today's my first anniversary with MFP. I'm trying to use that milestone as a kick in the pants to get back to logging my food and making better choices. I'm 40lb down from where I was a year ago, but almost 10lb up from where I was in November. Where I am with my weight right now is where I have been for most of my adult life, so the next 30 lbs are going to be hard hard hard. Just looking for a little bit of "buck up camper, get back in the game"...0
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Hey Stu! Great idea. And as usual, great photo to go with your delivery story. Today's my first anniversary with MFP. I'm trying to use that milestone as a kick in the pants to get back to logging my food and making better choices. I'm 40lb down from where I was a year ago, but almost 10lb up from where I was in November. Where I am with my weight right now is where I have been for most of my adult life, so the next 30 lbs are going to be hard hard hard. Just looking for a little bit of "buck up camper, get back in the game"...
I'm right in the same place as you are, things are a bit wonky right now in life, huge changes going on for the family, nothing bad, just changes, and I too am up a bit from my lowest weight, but I'm just keeping on keeping on for now. I figure if I do my best to log, and not cheat too much, as well as keep in the habit of being here, when things settle a bit more I'll be in the right place to take this farther.
Cheers!0 -
Hey Stu! Great idea. And as usual, great photo to go with your delivery story. Today's my first anniversary with MFP. I'm trying to use that milestone as a kick in the pants to get back to logging my food and making better choices. I'm 40lb down from where I was a year ago, but almost 10lb up from where I was in November. Where I am with my weight right now is where I have been for most of my adult life, so the next 30 lbs are going to be hard hard hard. Just looking for a little bit of "buck up camper, get back in the game"...
Happy 1 year! Buck up camper, get back in the game! Seriously, you can overcome that last 30. Keep your positive attitude and you'll bust it out!
As of my weigh in yesterday, I am 5 pounds away from my goal of 125. That doesn't mean I am anywhere close to my strength and endurance goals. I have about 2 months to train for my first metric century and then another two months after that is my first 100 miler. Living in Colorado, it is pretty tough to do any actual outdoor training. I am trying to do at least 1 hour on the trainer twice a week and a spin class on Saturdays. I am breaking that up with circuit/strength training and yoga. I am starting to feel the effects on my body in both positive and negative ways. I hurt all the time but I can see and feel the difference. I am most worried about my mental strength for these upcoming rides. I am terrified I won't have the speed to be able to complete 100 miles. Oh, and I'm turning 35 at the end of the month and my doctor recently used the term "middle aged" with me. I know 35 is young, especially for cycling but it still seems to be a mile marker that makes me cringe.
February is that crappy month where you know spring is just around the corner but you are still stuck in seventh circle of winter hell.0 -
Today was cold (-3c), but I had my winter tights on so didn't suffer the exquisite pain of my *extremity* thawing when I got to the office. I did 57.4km at an average 25.5kph. Not bad given I was wearing double everything. Skipped my planned 10km run at lunch as my knees and ankles are hurting since my 10km on Monday, and I didn't fancy a sub-zero run in shorts. But then I saw a portly chap from the office going out in his shorts and I felt like a wuss. Have vowed to redeem myself tomorrow, whatever the weather. Well, so long as the predicted snow doesn't show. Feeling in good shape for my first audax of the season in 2 weeks time. Doing it on fixed, The route is a bit of an a-road out-and-back bash. Should be fun nevertheless. route here - http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/668455440
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Today was cold (-3c), but I had my winter tights on so didn't suffer the exquisite pain of my *extremity* thawing when I got to the office. I did 57.4km at an average 25.5kph. Not bad given I was wearing double everything. Skipped my planned 10km run at lunch as my knees and ankles are hurting since my 10km on Monday, and I didn't fancy a sub-zero run in shorts. But then I saw a portly chap from the office going out in his shorts and I felt like a wuss. Have vowed to redeem myself tomorrow, whatever the weather. Well, so long as the predicted snow doesn't show. Feeling in good shape for my first audax of the season in 2 weeks time. Doing it on fixed, The route is a bit of an a-road out-and-back bash. Should be fun nevertheless. route here - http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/66845544
That is your commute :noway:
What kind of fixed ratio do you ride?
I need to start running again, I have a nice treadmill at my house, I guess I should take all of the wife's plants off it and spark it up again... :blushing:0 -
Well - i've had a day off today - spent it catching up with all the "domestic" stuff plus a little side project with photography. I'm a moderator on a photography Forum (yes, there is a life outside of MFP, Garmin Connect and the Bike...) and last year I decided to mark my Birthday with a "Travelling Camera" thread - I boxed up a plastic fantastic Holga film camera, 5 rolls of film and a bunch of prepaid return envelopes for the film. I then called for volunteers to shoot some pictures on film - a new experience for some of the members
Anyway - to cut things short, the second roll of film finally popped through the letterbox yesterday - so I just HAD to develop and scan the pictures, didn't I :laugh:
To be honest though, I'd had three pretty tough (for me) days on the bike - I've been trying to up my mileage, and the last three days have seen me manage 92 miles - not bad for someone who was averaging maybe 7-8 miles a day last August! Anyway, while I was waiting for the negatives to dry, I spent a while on the computer, going over my calorie burn figures etc. and had a little bit of a scary thought. I've been booking down the calorie burn from the Garmin, as an addition to the figure given to me for food rations by MFP. The problem is, as I understand it, the Garmin's figure is the TOTAL # of kcals burned in that 105 minutes. Which means If I add in this total to MFP I'm double-counting my BMR for that 105 minutes. It's not been over critical, as frankly, I've not been eating back most of the exercise calories - however - as the time on the bike is increasing, as is the number of kcals burned, obviously i'm going to have to begin to do so - otherwise i'm going to end up with the dreaded "bonk" 40 miles from home...
Also, it helps explain the "hole" in my figures - I'd calculated my food shortfall calories, added in my riding calories, totalled the figures up each month and divided by 3500 - the figure my Dr. told me constituted a lb. of body fat. And whaddya know - I was losing a bit less than I should have all the time. However, re-visiting the figures with the "BMR Adjustment" applied, and the overall accuracy improved quite substantially. At the moment, I'm not going to worry about this - it's quite a chunk of extra math/spreadsheet work, but as the miles increase, and the time on the bike goes up, the "buggeration factor" will become more material.
To put a few figures on it - yesterday's ride was 1h45m - and booked as 2116 kcal. My BMR per the MFP tools is 2239kcal/day or (2239/(24*60)=1.55486kcal / minute - or 163 kcal for the ride duration. So - I should have booked the ride as 1953 kcals instead.
So In summary: What We have learned today:
1) It was sunny and dry, and I should have gone out on the bike.
2) Old School film takes too long to dry, and leaves me too much time to think about things.
3) I need to keep busier, or I end up over-thinking things. :laugh:0 -
Big Yin, I totally get that obsessive counting/figuring/counting again thing. It's one of the reasons that I really like doing intervals on the bike. I get to obsessively count minutes and second.
The last few days have been spent dealing with nothing as fun as interval cycling (funny, no?); my back is all sorts of outta-whack. Chiropractor yesterday, massage today, chiro scheduled again for Monday and hopefully another massage on Monday as well. It's been so bad I have walked to work the last two days instead of cycling. Much easier on the lower back and helps warm it up/stretch it out before being at work all day (I'm a stagehand so work consists of a wide variety of physical activities - imagine a neverending list of housework, yardwork, home repair, that sort of thing. Like real life, only pretend. Including long periods of sitting around waiting for other things to happen). The sitting has been the worst recently. I've taken to lying on the floor with my knees bent when I can get away with it.
The neck was better today after the first chiro visit. Here's hoping the lower back will be better tomorrow after the massage....
Hope everyone has a good weekend.0 -
I told myself when i hit 70lb weight loss i was going to get me a road bike. Well im 2 lbs away so i picked up my new bike.Im going to wait to loose the 2 to take it for a long ride. Iv road several centuries in the north texas area but all on my hybrid. Im doing a 150 mile bike ride in May, hopefully ill be down another 30-50 lbs by may. I got a Cannondale Synapse Aluminum
Cant wait to hit the road0 -
No riding for me today as it was rainy but I did get in 3 days of riding this week and it feels good to be back on the road again. Need to take Fiona (my bike) in to the LBS for a tune up and new handle bar tape. She and I got in over 3000 in 2011 so she is due for a check up.0
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I told myself when i hit 70lb weight loss i was going to get me a road bike. Well im 2 lbs away so i picked up my new bike.Im going to wait to loose the 2 to take it for a long ride. Iv road several centuries in the north texas area but all on my hybrid. Im doing a 150 mile bike ride in May, hopefully ill be down another 30-50 lbs by may. I got a Cannondale Synapse Aluminum
Cant wait to hit the road
That's fantastic and you have a super new bike! Congratulations! And Piccolarj, nice work on 3k in 2011, it is definitely time to get Fiona checked out...0 -
I told myself when i hit 70lb weight loss i was going to get me a road bike. Well im 2 lbs away so i picked up my new bike.Im going to wait to loose the 2 to take it for a long ride. Iv road several centuries in the north texas area but all on my hybrid. Im doing a 150 mile bike ride in May, hopefully ill be down another 30-50 lbs by may. I got a Cannondale Synapse Aluminum
Cant wait to hit the road
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!0 -
I told myself when i hit 70lb weight loss i was going to get me a road bike. Well im 2 lbs away so i picked up my new bike.Im going to wait to loose the 2 to take it for a long ride. Iv road several centuries in the north texas area but all on my hybrid. Im doing a 150 mile bike ride in May, hopefully ill be down another 30-50 lbs by may. I got a Cannondale Synapse Aluminum
Cant wait to hit the road
Might be a warranty issue there...... no front wheel :laugh:
Sorry I couldn't help myself!
Congrats, that looks like a great ride, and you have EARNED it :drinker:0 -
No riding for me today as it was rainy but I did get in 3 days of riding this week and it feels good to be back on the road again. Need to take Fiona (my bike) in to the LBS for a tune up and new handle bar tape. She and I got in over 3000 in 2011 so she is due for a check up.
3000 MILES? fantastic, yeah treat Fiona to a nice tune up, maybe even a nice new set of shoes :happy:0 -
Big Yin, I totally get that obsessive counting/figuring/counting again thing. It's one of the reasons that I really like doing intervals on the bike. I get to obsessively count minutes and second.
The last few days have been spent dealing with nothing as fun as interval cycling (funny, no?); my back is all sorts of outta-whack. Chiropractor yesterday, massage today, chiro scheduled again for Monday and hopefully another massage on Monday as well. It's been so bad I have walked to work the last two days instead of cycling. Much easier on the lower back and helps warm it up/stretch it out before being at work all day (I'm a stagehand so work consists of a wide variety of physical activities - imagine a neverending list of housework, yardwork, home repair, that sort of thing. Like real life, only pretend. Including long periods of sitting around waiting for other things to happen). The sitting has been the worst recently. I've taken to lying on the floor with my knees bent when I can get away with it.
The neck was better today after the first chiro visit. Here's hoping the lower back will be better tomorrow after the massage....
Hope everyone has a good weekend.
Really sorry to hear about your bad back, it is something that I worry about all the time, we run a liquor shop, I'm 47 going on 48, all of our friends who run liquor shops, and over the years we have had many, all of them, over 50 have bad backs. I think it is because we are constantly lifting heavy stuff, (there is no such thing as "light" beer in my book!!). I try hard to NOT abuse my back but sometimes it cannot be helped. I hope you and you back get better soon!
Cheers!0 -
Well - i've had a day off today - spent it catching up with all the "domestic" stuff plus a little side project with photography. I'm a moderator on a photography Forum (yes, there is a life outside of MFP, Garmin Connect and the Bike...) and last year I decided to mark my Birthday with a "Travelling Camera" thread - I boxed up a plastic fantastic Holga film camera, 5 rolls of film and a bunch of prepaid return envelopes for the film. I then called for volunteers to shoot some pictures on film - a new experience for some of the members Anyway - to cut things short, the second roll of film finally popped through the letterbox yesterday - so I just HAD to develop and scan the pictures, didn't I :laugh:
To be honest though, I'd had three pretty tough (for me) days on the bike - I've been trying to up my mileage, and the last three days have seen me manage 92 miles - not bad for someone who was averaging maybe 7-8 miles a day last August! Anyway, while I was waiting for the negatives to dry, I spent a while on the computer, going over my calorie burn figures etc. and had a little bit of a scary thought. I've been booking down the calorie burn from the Garmin, as an addition to the figure given to me for food rations by MFP. The problem is, as I understand it, the Garmin's figure is the TOTAL # of kcals burned in that 105 minutes. Which means If I add in this total to MFP I'm double-counting my BMR for that 105 minutes. It's not been over critical, as frankly, I've not been eating back most of the exercise calories - however - as the time on the bike is increasing, as is the number of kcals burned, obviously i'm going to have to begin to do so - otherwise i'm going to end up with the dreaded "bonk" 40 miles from home...
Also, it helps explain the "hole" in my figures - I'd calculated my food shortfall calories, added in my riding calories, totalled the figures up each month and divided by 3500 - the figure my Dr. told me constituted a lb. of body fat. And whaddya know - I was losing a bit less than I should have all the time. However, re-visiting the figures with the "BMR Adjustment" applied, and the overall accuracy improved quite substantially. At the moment, I'm not going to worry about this - it's quite a chunk of extra math/spreadsheet work, but as the miles increase, and the time on the bike goes up, the "buggeration factor" will become more material.
To put a few figures on it - yesterday's ride was 1h45m - and booked as 2116 kcal. My BMR per the MFP tools is 2239kcal/day or (2239/(24*60)=1.55486kcal / minute - or 163 kcal for the ride duration. So - I should have booked the ride as 1953 kcals instead.
So In summary: What We have learned today:
1) It was sunny and dry, and I should have gone out on the bike.
2) Old School film takes too long to dry, and leaves me too much time to think about things.
3) I need to keep busier, or I end up over-thinking things. :laugh:
You still use film? Wow cool! :glasses:
I hear you about the calories it is a hard thing to figure out sometimes, I've got a Polar HRM/cycling computer, I use it to set my baselines for city riding or my trailer tugging duties, I wore if for about a week everyday while doing my deliveries and then figured out a baseline of the number of calories burned while doing the deliveries, this really helped as the MFP numbers did not relate at all, even the city cycling numbers, I live in Tokyo, so that is mostly what I do, all the stopping and starting really mess with your avg speed figures, make the MFP numbers very vague guidelines.
Cheers!0 -
Talking about tune ups and such I took my trailer into the Dungeon workshop on Friday night, and on Sunday night, about midnight I was finally done the tune up and modifications Tune up wise I took the wheels off and repacked the bearings, one was OK, the other was not good at all, but still serviceable, I also cleaned the brakes on both wheels. They are internal hub brakes as the wheels are from Japanese shopping bikes (called "Mama Chari" which is short for "Mama's Chariot") I then changed the hitch part of the trailer, again, to make it work better and I mounted the new dynamo powered rear lights on the trailer as well as getting them all wired up to run off my dynamo hub on the bike. I also checked the whole thing for cracks I found a couple, not substantial, but I spend the time to fix the cracks and do some more fixes on this and that. I moved the parking brakes for my trailer and changed how it works, I hope to build a new trailer this year sometime, and the new parking brake design is something I'll use on the new trailer.
It all works great, I'm pleased but I did spend a perfectly good Sunday working most all day on this thing, and some family duties, and then today, Monday, it is raining.... :grumble: Oh well, I got it done, and that is good.
Cheers!0 -
It has been cool in Tokyo, they are saying it is one of the coldest winters in Tokyo in a long time, but I have not noticed it this year, I think this is mainly because when I'm out there doing deliveries, I'm sweating on the bicycle keeping myself warm :happy: That and I'm much fitter than I was last year. Like I said, it was cool today, a high of about 8C/47F that is NOT cold in my book at all. I'm wearing a long sleeved drytech shirt, a regular cycling jersey, and a very thin windbreaker, after about 10 minutes I'm unzipping the windbreaker. I have some fleece tights for my legs, regular socks and some nice warm Shimano winter touring shoes. I also have some warm winter cycling gloves. Today was beautiful, 8C/47F sunny with a bright blue sky, I loved it! All these other people shivering on the sidewalk or cooped up in their cars stuck in traffic, I was riding along doing my deliveries with a big stupid grin on my face!
I also did my C25K run this morning, I am now very sure that running uses different muscles than cycling, as my legs were sore in new places :laugh:
I hope you are all staying warm and getting some miles in!0 -
It has been cool in Tokyo, they are saying it is one of the coldest winters in Tokyo in a long time, but I have not noticed it this year, I think this is mainly because when I'm out there doing deliveries, I'm sweating on the bicycle keeping myself warm :happy: That and I'm much fitter than I was last year. Like I said, it was cool today, a high of about 8C/47F that is NOT cold in my book at all. I'm wearing a long sleeved drytech shirt, a regular cycling jersey, and a very thin windbreaker, after about 10 minutes I'm unzipping the windbreaker. I have some fleece tights for my legs, regular socks and some nice warm Shimano winter touring shoes. I also have some warm winter cycling gloves. Today was beautiful, 8C/47F sunny with a bright blue sky, I loved it! All these other people shivering on the sidewalk or cooped up in their cars stuck in traffic, I was riding along doing my deliveries with a big stupid grin on my face!
I also did my C25K run this morning, I am now very sure that running uses different muscles than cycling, as my legs were sore in new places :laugh:
I hope you are all staying warm and getting some miles in!
Good for you for getting the run in! Great work
Thanks also for the good wishes about my back. It is getting better, though not as fast as I would like. I have taken a week off the bike but if the weather forecast is true for tomorrow, it is supposed to be clear and I am going for a birthday ride! I have the day off and nothing says "happy birthday" like some intervals on the windy 5k loop down on the river!
I'm in sort of the same boat as you, Stu, with the work. I'm a stagehand and that leads to an unfortunate combination of heavy/awkward lifting etc. and sitting around.
Hope everyone is having a good week.0 -
Hi Everyone
I did loads of riding last year, the longest was 74 miles shortest about 30. Did well in most of them and then did the King of the Pennines in September and hit a block. Anyways this year has got to be better and easier. i've started using the Tacx now which is helping as the weather outside is pants :grumble: I've been up the Galibier and Marie Blanque and part way up Alpe d@Huez. We're cycling La Marmotte in September and around the Alpes so I need to be able to get up the mountains pretty easily. Having said that, the hills in the Dales and the Lakes are harder to climb as they are so steep. The Alpes just seem to go on forever at a gradient of approx 10/12% so it's more a steady plod.
We've got more bad weather forecast for the next few days so cycling out is a no no and I'm honestly starting to miss it now. The feeling you get when you cross the line, be it in a sportive or just cycling around the block is awesome. x0 -
Hi Everyone
I did loads of riding last year, the longest was 74 miles shortest about 30. Did well in most of them and then did the King of the Pennines in September and hit a block. Anyways this year has got to be better and easier. i've started using the Tacx now which is helping as the weather outside is pants :grumble:
We've got more bad weather forecast for the next few days so cycling out is a no no and I'm honestly starting to miss it now. The feeling you get when you cross the line, be it in a sportive or just cycling around the block is awesome. x
I think everyone is tired of the weather! That is some great riding you've described and good on you for getting to it inside!0 -
Got a total of 72 minutes in tugging the trailer full of beer today, busy day, I also got my run in, the C25K thing, first time I ran a full three minutes in a LOOOOONG time, how sad is that
but I did it. Seems my running is helping my cycling too!
Hope you all had a good day!0 -
Well - today was a bit of a mixed one. I've pretty much sussed out a circular ride route, thats maybe 25 miles around, with my home in the centre of the loop. So - I can pretty much go out from the centre, pick up the loop, ride around back to where I joined the loop, then dive back home to the centre. Think of it as a kind of self-devised "ring-road" around my house. It's a great way of planning a ride, you can take it in either direction, and start it on whichever section means that you'll have a tailwind for the bits you want.
Anyway - todays weather wasn't looking all that pleasant, but I decided to go for it anyway. Mainly as tomorrow I'm going to a concert, and the venue is all standing - my knee is fine for riding, but to combine riding and standing around for 4 hours afterwards, and a couple of miles of walking to and from the venue would be a recipe for disaster. Soo - get out and ride then. My normal approach to the loop has been to leave the hardest bits of climbing to the last 10 miles of the 25, partly to ensure that I was thoroughly warmed up ready for them, and partly because if I faded out a bit, I could snip the end of the loop off. Today, I decided to pretty much front load all the climbing into the first 10 miles - a long enough ride to warm up, and then into the uphill sessions. After 5 miles or so, it started spitting with rain - not enough to bother with the waterproof, and it stopped before I'd have got the jacket on anyway. I was actually enjoying the ride so much, I couldn't have cared if it'f have been coming down in stair-rods, tbh - it was just one of those days when the legs are just churning. This continued right up to getting home.
Sadly, getting home was a bit earlier than I was hoping for. Riding along, I noticed that my front wheel was moving a little from side to side. Pulled over, and found that one of the spokes had come undone, and the nipple had dropped into the rim. The wheels are the "first generation" Fulcrum Racing 5's - maybe 4 years old, and the front wheel's a 18 spoke radial job. So - one spoke loose, and the wheel gets a little "floppy". So - I gentled the bike back home, pulled the tyre and rimtape, then shook the wheel until I got the nipple back out of the rim cavity. A dab of non-setting threadlock on the spoke, and re-fitted the nipple. 5 minutes of tweaking in the wheel-building jig and it's as good as new. A quick look at the rim's wear indicators though tells me that I guess this winter will be the death of these rims. I doubt that I'll be able to source the rims for a rebuild at a sensible price either. I can't complain though - they may only have done maybe 10,000 miles, but in their defence, for maybe 9,000 of those, they've had a rider that was well over 300lb's on them. The fact that they're still round and true pretty much say's they're a good wheel...
Anyway - that's todays ride report - all things considered a bit of a curates egg... good in parts.0 -
Yeah it sucks to wear out parts on a bike, but that is the way it goes, tyres, wheels, chains, brake pads, these things wear out and need to be replaced. Too bad you can't get the same rims, but maybe you'll find something else you end up liking. So you too build your own wheels eh? I recently built a wheel lacing stand for a buddy that builds lots of wheels, sure makes the job go faster!
No riding today, maintenance day, got to tear down my Alfine 8 speed hub for a service, it is slipping a bit. Yesterday it slipped once badly on me, the crank turned about 1/2 a rotation in 1/2 a second, I came crashing down, left hamstring on the top tube, I did not fall over, but darn it hurts a lot! No running today either, but we are going to Costco to shop, so I'll get lots of walking in.
Cheers!0 -
Took my hub apart to service it and found some badly worn internals, turns out Mr Shimano does NOT sell any of the small parts I need, I have to basically buy the whole guts of the unit. I'm not very impressed Mr. Shimano:mad:
Whole new hub costs about $250, I wonder what they will want for the major internal piece that is worn....? One year and about 3000Km of hard trailer towing took its toll I guess. Once I get it back together, I'll be taking it apart for a lube job MUCH more often.
I'd love to get a Rohloff hub, but $1800 is out of my price range!:sad:
No work related cycling for a while, I'll have to keep my running up and maybe go for a "Fun" ride to get the miles in.0 -
Yeah it sucks to wear out parts on a bike, but that is the way it goes, tyres, wheels, chains, brake pads, these things wear out and need to be replaced. Too bad you can't get the same rims, but maybe you'll find something else you end up liking. So you too build your own wheels eh? I recently built a wheel lacing stand for a buddy that builds lots of wheels, sure makes the job go faster!
It's just a shame that the rims have worn away, but the hubs are pretty much perfect - only to be expected from Fulcrum (seeing as they're actually campag. I suppose) Problem is, unless you can source a set of undrilled rims, or the originals, getting a 18 hole front and a 27 (yes 27- 9 spokes on the non-drive, 18 on the drive side) rear is out of the question. As to the building wheels - well - I'm from the vintage where unless you could build wheels, you weren't allowed to call yourself a bike mechanic, just a "shop monkey".
I've already got my eyes on my winter wheels for next year - a set of Hope hubs (mountain bike derived, but 130 friendly spacing - but well sealed cartridge bearings and fully user serviceable) and a set of 32h Mavic Open Pro CDs and DT-Swiss spokes. Problem is, I'll probably not want to swap back to the Ultegra "Factory Wheels" after riding them :laugh:0 -
Was a little confused if this should go here or on the "Ride Reports" tread, but since it involves achieving a goal, I figured I would post it here.
I am SICK OF WINTER. Although Tennessee winters are quite mild to those north of us, they are also quite wet. Wet plus cold equals no riding for me. My only goal this year is to ride more miles per month than I did in 2011. While traveling this last week, I stopped in to a bike shop about 70 miles from my home and bought a pair of shoe covers that were marked down for the end of season sale. Although it was only 35 degrees yesterday morning, the sun was shining and I was eager to try out the shoe covers and see if they could keep my toes warm for more than 15 miles (which seems to be my cold riding tolerance). After eating some hot oatmeal, I put on my baselayer, thermal tights, thermal jersey, jacket, and shoe covers and headed out. I only had a window of two hours, so I headed out to some nice hills and enjoyed the morning. While riding my 30-mile ride, I surpassed my February 2011 total of 227 miles and stayed fairly warm the whole time. Even though it was a good ride for winter, it was entirely too short. I am really ready for Spring and Summer.0 -
jrrflr I understand how you feel, I used to be from the great white north, but now in Tokyo I can ride almost everyday, some are on the cool side, some are on the stupid hot and humid side, but I can ride almost all the time!:drinker: (not trying to rub it in, just saying I get where you are coming from)
Went to the hospital for some check ups, a lump they are concerned about, so they are checking it monthly, I told them it is just a big ole chunk of fat but to be safe they want to check it out monthly, I get a blood test and an echo test.
My trailer delivery bike is down for repairs, :sad: I guess 3000+ Km of trailer tugging has taken it's toll on my Alfine 8 speed hub, when I opened it up, there were metal shavings everywhere :sad: I have to order some parts, so no trailer tugging deliveries for a few days.
I took my old single speed converted MTB for the 32 minute blast to the hospital and back, I just love the simplicity of that thing! Good workout, kept my pace up!
Cheers!0 -
Just starting out biking to lose weight. I've ridden about 36 miles so far this month. Had a couple of nice weather days when I was able to ride 10 miles. Today looks to be another. It's a nice ride from my house down the bay front then along a country road that takes me back out to the bay at another point.
Bought some bike shorts & gloves last night online. Next purchase will be a helmet for when I'm ready to brave the Farm to Market & Texas highways.0 -
<---- I treated myself to my goal weight reward this weekend. My original goal weight was 130 and I have held it for a couple of weeks. My new goal weight is 125 but it's not so much the number that is important as shedding a little more fat.
My dad and I had been planning to get a tattoo together for about 5 years and we just decided to do it this weekend. It will be a constant reminder of my cycling goals and accomplishments. The father/daughter pic is in my profile pictures. Wish my quads were as ripped as my 63 year old dad's. I'm getting there...
One month til my Moab metric century! :drinker:0
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