UKC

Did my first pure road ride for about 10 years last night - albeit on an hardtail MTB with 32mm slick tyres - with the intention being I'm going to get a new road bike soon.

Some questions

1) How long do your wheels last ? I'd forgotten just how bad the roads in Sheffield can be, and really felt the potholes, even on MTB wheels, front susp and fairly big tyres.

2) How do you cope with the boredom on hills ? I quite enjoy climbs on the MTB - there's usually a technical challenge to keep me occupied. Not sure if I'm happy listening to music on headphones whilst on the road, but maybe a podcast ?

3) Is there any similar to Naismiths rule ? i.e. When walking 2000ft of ascent is considered the equivalent of 3 miles.

In reply to Chris the Tall:

1) I don't ride on the road that much, so pretty much forever!

2) Strava

3) I suspect that other factors are going to make any calculation practically useless - overall height gain over similar distances is going to be more or less difficult depending on the length of individual climbs, road conditions, temperature and endurance.

In reply to Chris the Tall:

1 - Don't know - I steer around the holes or get a pinch flat and hope my wheels survive (a pinch flat at 120 psi takes some doing, but I can do it - doesn't take long for the air to come out)

2 - Boredom on the hills? You're not pushing hard enough! Boredom on the flat - maybe

3. Not that I'm aware of, although there probably is - I just pick an average speed that looks compatible with the number and steepness of hills and try and stick to it. You'll soon work out how big a dent a hill will make in your average, and how hard it is to increase that average pace

In reply to Chris the Tall:

Boredom on the hills.... You're not ready grasshopper.

Cheers

Toby

In reply to Chris the Tall:

IMHO Riding with headphones on is a sure way to get a free ride in an ambulance (if you're lucky). It's bad enough listening for approaching traffic with the wind rushing through the vents in your helmet.

I never get bored on hills, I'm either trying too hard to keep up with the rest of the club, or trying not to fall off if it gets really steep!

In reply to Chris the Tall:
1/ Depends on the conditions you ride and how much you brake, but I have found the limiting feature is the rim braking surface. My old front wheel lasted 20,000 miles, the back wheel is still going...
2/ Try harder. Aim at a time on ascents you know or holding a pulse rate, speed or power on those you don't; it is hard to be bored when you taste blood on your breath
3/ I assume I will ride 20mph on the flat and add 1 minute for every 80ft of climbing. I make no adjustment for descent as your speed is usually limited by corners, traffic of lights, not the gradient. This works well on most terrain in the UK, but goes a bit wrong on the massive climbs/descents in the alps

In reply to ATRG:


Yep that seems about right - I make it that works out as 72m equiv to 1 mile (80 ft = 24m, 20mph = 1/3 mile per min), which would make my ride last night (18mls, 400m, 1:15) equiv to 23.5 miles or around 19 mph ave.

Or about half the pace of Tony Martin

In reply to Chris the Tall:
A couple of years ago I climbed the Tourmalet in a second less than double Andy Schleck's time from the 2010 Tour de France. That may have been my greatest ever athletic achievement - they are a different breed.

In reply to ATRG:


Aye, but what have they done on etc etc

In reply to ATRG:

Working out where to watch the 1st stage of next year's tour a friend of mine has suggested that if we ride to point A we can see them go past then ride a short cut to point B and watch them again he said "We'll only need to go half as fast as the peleton."

In reply to Hat Dude:

Did exactly that last year for the TOB in Surrey... we were on MTBs, and managed to see them 4 times in total (well 3 times properly, and once we could only really hear them due to the crowds and turning up seconds before they went through!) using bridleways as short cuts - one of the hardest rides of the year

Meditate on Rules 5 & 6. Welcome to the suffering!

In reply to Chris the Tall:

It's a zen thing. Eventually you'll get it, and then my son, you will truly be a man...etc.

In reply to Removed User:

Oddly enough I can do it off-road, but not on tarmac

In reply to Chris the Tall:

1) No idea. But try and avoid potholes and when going really fast downhill pray there aren't any.

2) Trying to concentrate away the burning sensation in my legs prevents anything even close to boredom. This works on the flat as well as uphill. On descents I'm too scared to be bored. If you're not hurting pedal harder until you do.

3) Not got a clue.

In reply to Chris the Tall:

You might find that you can on a road bike - it's a totally different feel to riding an MTB on road.

In reply to Chris the Tall: I do basically all my riding (except on the rare occasion I'm with someone else) listening to podcasts. It's just someone speaking in your ear, not loud music, so hearing isn't much of problem - in winter I have hats or ear bands over my ears anyway. If there's much traffic - uncommon where I live - I might just listen in one ear, and have my traffic side ear bud out.

In reply to TobyA: that's precisely what I'm thinking of doing.

In reply to Chris the Tall:

I think about things when I'm on the hills I think, random thoughts come and go, and I let them do their thing.

Just gone through 40,000 miles with about 6 spoke replacements and 2 bearings changes in that time.


I don't have to because I don't get bored
You'll get a feel for it if you've ridden similar terrain before but if the ride is long enough hills don't impact averages as much as you'd think.

In reply to Chris the Tall: 1) I use lightweight wheels 20/18 spokes mostly in The Peak, snapped one randomly (only once), I'll get stronger wheels when I kill them, probably 28's.

2) ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK!

In reply to Beat me to it!:
>
What set up is that on?

In reply to Chris the Tall: There is no boredom on hills, the only thing that exists in my mind when cycling up a stonking great hill is getting to the top

In reply to Chris the Tall:

While running, I find music on ipods irritating ,and don't do it, but podcasts don't interfere in the same way. A spoken voice still lets you listen to your breathing, the wind, the waves and the traffic and so on and can be a way of getting on with your mind's life while spending many hours hammering your body. I haven't done it for a while, but for a time I listened to Neil Macgregor's History of the World in 100 Objects and to many of Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time programmes. They were fascinating, and a welcome change form the 3.9, 3.8, 3.7 etc miles to go mantra I so easily settle into. The running time was about the only chance I got to do this. As a lecturer, I also listen to recordings of my own lectures sometimes, in an effort to help improve them, and cringe at the mistakes I make and ums and ahs I utter.

In reply to Chris the Tall:

What are potholes?

E

In reply to Enty:



Road acne.

Saw one today, not so much a pothole more an open cast mine. A good job there was nothing coming the other way as it was actually on my side of the road on a steep descent through trees. The worst I've seen in a long time, it was about a metre square and about 30cm deep.

More seriously, it's got to the point where I'm wary of riding roads at night if I haven't ridden them recently in daylight. I'm not racing so that charge can't be levelled at me but it shouldn't take a serious injury or worse to get the councils to fix these. I know you can report them but often the fixes are just temporary and just as bad as the original defect.

ALC

In reply to a lakeland climber:
I know you can report them but often the fixes are just temporary and just as bad as the original defect.

Or indeed, as in the case of the Nesfield road that's been knackered for at least a year, the council apparently discharge their responsibilities by putting some cones and spraying a bit of paint on the road rather than actually fixing it...