Aren't Bicycles Great.

armyknife

John, nice ride and photos; I'm envious.

Johnmcl7

It's a great area for cycling both on and off road plus cycling is one of the best ways to appreciate the area.

My cyclops FibreFlare light arrived today so took it out for a run, I bought a Fibreflare rear light on a recommendation here and I find it handy as I can easily stick it on any bike and visibility looks good from the back and rear. The cyclops is a new model that has both a light strip and a forward pointing light although unfortunately it charges from USB unlike my rear one which is AAA powered and the front one is a lot smaller. Also the way the mounts are positioned the light has to sit on the front of the fork and not on the side as I'd planned which is an issue as my road bike fork is a flat blade shape.

On the bike though I think it looks quite good although it's for visibility rather than lighting up the road, it's a bit eerie the way it creates a shadow around the front wheel as it feels like there's a car behind:



John

brat

Been offline since Saturday... bloody EE... :mad:

On Sunday last, I ticked off one of my cycling bucket list, the Fred Whitton Challenge - 112 miles of Lake District passes with over 12,000 feet of climbing.

What an event! Over 2,000 riders putting themselves through hell to make the distance, to then be faced at 95 miles with the fearsome obstacles of Hardknott and Wrynose passes, when there's nothing left in the legs. The weather wasn't helpful, a blustery southerly picked up as the day progressed to make the southbound leg treacherous. It was mostly wet, and the roads were damp for the entire route which made the 25-30% descents tricky. The Hardknott descent is particularly scary, its wet 30% descents are peppered with areas of corrugated tarmac, presumably caused by cars braking in warm days. If you're lucky and your brakes are capable of holding you on the descent, the tyres then start to skip and skid, and bounce over the corrugations. Not for the faint hearted!

Sub seven hours is the domain of the classy riders. Sub 6.30 is for the elite only. I started in a group that had high ambitions, but was dropped after 35 miles. 45 of my solo remaining 75 miles were into a ferocious wind, gusting at 50mph, mostly a head wind, but sometimes a vicious cross wind.

I was proud that I didn't have to walk up any of the ascents. I finished in 7 hours 9 minutes, which made me 108th finisher, and 2nd in the over 55s.

Chuffed!!

Knackered!!





Ain't bikes great?!!

esuhl

Wow! Wow... wow... er... wow. Incredible! I don't know how you do it!

One serious question -- what does everyone do for water/drinks on such a long ride? Looks like you've got a litre-or-so on your bike... Surely that doesn't last for the whole trip?! And, judging by the photos, there weren't many shops around!

I've recently started planning some of my (much more leisurely) rides to go past Morrisson's -- two litres of their "own brand" water is 18p.

I was quite pleased with my 45-mile trip round the Surrey Hills last week -- that's the farthest I've done in a day. I'm not too good with eating/drinking sensibly and training regularly (as I just think of my bike as a bit of fun). But, with a bit of planning, I reckon I could push towards 60+ miles... maybe one day!

brat

You get to know how much liquid you need. On organised rides like this there are feed and drink stations, although those who are after a decent time tend to have friends and family at strategic parts of the route to pass drinks to you. I only used 1.75 litres of liquid, which is what I started with, although I exchanged a nearly empty one litre bottle for a fresh one half way round. So I carried about 750gm more liquid than necessary round virtually the whole route. That may not sound like much but it's heavier than my frame!

The temperature plays a big part in the amount of liquid consumed. I'd have needed twice as much liquid had it been sunny and over 16 degrees, but it was wet and cloudy and temperatures ranged from 7 to 12 degrees.

Johnmcl7

Edit - I should start by saying congratulations on a fantastic achievement, I'd be glad to finish the route never mind in a great time especially with all that climbing. Wet descents on my road bike scare the crap out of me which is why I was really fancying one with hydraulic disc brakes, I realise you still have the slick tyres but at least the discs give a lot more feel.

So what would you do if you're out on a long ride on your own on a warm day in the summer? For the 70 mile cycle I did at the weekend I took two water bottles and used them both, that was five hours of cycling at around 15 degrees and on some summer rides I've consumed them far faster so I was wondering how to handle longer rides as I'm thinking now I'd really like to do a century ride this year. I always carry a little shoulder backpack which I've been thinking I could use to carry a third bottle.

I was toying with whether to take a second bottle or not at the weekend as the two full bottles on the bike add quite a noticeable bit of weight even on my not so superlight aluminium road bike. I then thought I was being daft and I'll probably have consumed one before the worst climb and was certainly glad to have two with me.

John

Hanky_Panky

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

Edit - I should start by saying congratulations on a fantastic achievement, I'd be glad to finish the route never mind in a great time especially with all that climbing. Wet descents on my road bike scare the crap out of me which is why I was really fancying one with hydraulic disc brakes, I realise you still have the slick tyres but at least the discs give a lot more feel.

So what would you do if you're out on a long ride on your own on a warm day in the summer? For the 70 mile cycle I did at the weekend I took two water bottles and used them both, that was five hours of cycling at around 15 degrees and on some summer rides I've consumed them far faster so I was wondering how to handle longer rides as I'm thinking now I'd really like to do a century ride this year. I always carry a little shoulder backpack which I've been thinking I could use to carry a third bottle.

I was toying with whether to take a second bottle or not at the weekend as the two full bottles on the bike add quite a noticeable bit of weight even on my not so superlight aluminium road bike. I then thought I was being daft and I'll probably have consumed one before the worst climb and was certainly glad to have two with me.

John

Fluid consumption is a very personal thing, I simply couldn't have done 112 miles with only two bottles like brat. I tend to use about 1 x 700ml bottle every hour, particularly in the summer when it heats up. I surprised myself the other weekend when I got to about 20 miles (just over an hour) and noticed I had only used about two thirds of one bottle, but it was cool. I also think that the fitter I get, the less drink I need too although that could just be my mind playing tricks on me.

On longer rides i.e. more than 2 bottles, I always have some cash on me to buy water from a local shop and sometimes even take Nuun tablets with me too. Other times I've had them filled up at the obligatory coffee stop without any bother at all.

ETA: kudos for brat on doing the Fred Whitton, certainly beyond me.

Johnmcl7

I find it difficult with liquid consumption as I don't feel the need to drink that much but I've been warned a few times including on a skills course it was important to keep drinking small amounts regularly so I try to stick with that. Plus being a typical Scot I struggle to deal with the heat and do tend to sweat a bit when pushing hard

I managed to finish my 5x50 challenge (20k a day for 50 days), not much for the big cyclists but I found it was a lot more beneficial than I expected as it was good motivation to hop out for a couple of extra hours in the evening and push for bigger rides at the weekend. Aside from managing my longest rides yet I was surprised by the effect on my sleep, I had a busy few days where I was going out daily to get my miles up and sleeping far better than I can remember as I woke up early each morning. I see Bikeradar recently published an article on cycling benefits and sleep is one they mention as well:

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/article/30-reasons-to-take-up-cycling-23965/

I really want to keep going as I want to get a century done this year so will need to stay motivated. I'm really fancying this frame to replace my road and hybrid bikes:

http://www.planetx.co.uk/c/q/bikes/road-bikes/london-road

It looks a good multipurpose bike and in silver the frameset is £150, they have a Sram hydraulic build for £999 but I think a Shimano hydraulic build should be doable for a similar price. I've never built my own bike so the idea is both appealing and bit scary in case I get it wrong.

John

brat

Perfect day for a few hours on the bike. Took it up to the Langdales again. A speedy outbound followed by a good effort up "Wall End" from Great Langdale to Blea Tarn.

Short sleeved lightweight top and summer bib shorts. Tan lines developing nicely...:)

Ain't cycling great!!

The Langdales from Blea Tarn.

Marauder999

Planning on doing a C2C ride in one day next month.
Hope the weather holds out :cool2:.