Aren't Bicycles Great.

armyknife

Nice that day is now noticeably lengthening, roll on Spring.

brat

Not getting the mileage in that I should at the moment, only 220miles this year (not including commuting.)


Weather and shifts hasn't helped, so I need to invest in a turbo trainer!


I do like top end stuff, so it'll have to be a Wahoo Kickr or a Tacx Neo direct drive unit.
If anyone has any experience of either, I'd be glad to hear of it!

midnitegremlin

armyknife wrote: »

Aren't bicycles great, a simple machine that let's people get places in a low cost, low impact way. Can even be maintained by people with limited mechanical skills like me.

I can't justify it as a regular means of travel in the British Climate. But they are nice for fun.

AndyBSG

My cycling mileage for last year was woeful.

In 2014 I clocked over 6,000 miles as I was commuting just under 90 miles a week then averaging 50 miles leisure cycling on the weekends.

Last year I changed job meaning I could no longer cycle to work, become a home owner meaning weekends are now spent on DIY & home improvements and also become a dad meaning evenings after work are spent changing dirty nappies, bath times and bed time stories...

Other than a quick cycle to the shops I think I only managed to get out cycling for longer than an hour on a dozen occasions so doubt I even broke the 500 mile barrier for 2015.

Net result is the two stone I managed to lose since taking up cycling has now almost all crept back on and my nice muscly legs are now back to flabby

Got both bikes going in for a full service this weekend and told the wife that as of the following week I will be going cycling as soon as I get home from work on two evenings a week.

Kernow666

bikes are great yeah & no road tax to pay

marleyboy

Bikes are good exercise and a means for one to get from a - b. However they become a little cumbersome when doing the weekly shopping, or taking the family on holiday, or the kids to school, or travelling down South to meet the parents, or going to a wedding, moreso for the bride.

Great for a Summer bike ride in the park and going to and from work.

esuhl

I get all my shopping home by bike. It's surprising how much you can fit in a couple of panniers -- more than I could comfortably carry myself.

Johnmcl7

I completed probably the toughest cycling challenge I've had this week by taking part in the Strathpuffer 24 which someone has uploaded a great video of here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrEDbSOjyA4

It's a 24 hour MTB event which has grown considerably in reputation for its punishing conditions both in the winter weather and the non purpose built trails which quickly get torn to shreds. I took part as a nine person team last year which was a good introduction and this year I did it 'properly' as part of a quad.

I thought I had a good idea what to expect but the warm weather coming after heavy rain made for an incredibly muddy course that even the fat tyres struggled with making it hard to keep the bike going even on the level. They'd changed the last section of the track trying to put a new trail in but it ended up like trying to cycle through porridge, pulling the bike to a halt and making such a mess I had to wash it every lap.

I also got off to a bad start crashing quite hard on the first lap although escaping serious injury (and pretty lucky as well looking at the video) but was pretty sore particularly as the bike has no suspension. I didn't manage to keep eating enough between laps so I just badly ran out of power on the last couple of laps making the energy sapping mud that bit tougher. I should feel pleased as I got all six laps in after thinking I was going to have to retire after the first and in a decent time but just didn't get the usual buzz on the last lap. That's it ticked off the list anyway...

John

armyknife

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

I completed probably the toughest cycling challenge I've had this week by taking part in the Strathpuffer 24 which someone has uploaded a great video of here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrEDbSOjyA4

It's a 24 hour MTB event which has grown considerably in reputation for its punishing conditions both in the winter weather and the non purpose built trails which quickly get torn to shreds. I took part as a nine person team last year which was a good introduction and this year I did it 'properly' as part of a quad.

I thought I had a good idea what to expect but the warm weather coming after heavy rain made for an incredibly muddy course that even the fat tyres struggled with making it hard to keep the bike going even on the level. They'd changed the last section of the track trying to put a new trail in but it ended up like trying to cycle through porridge, pulling the bike to a halt and making such a mess I had to wash it every lap.

I also got off to a bad start crashing quite hard on the first lap although escaping serious injury (and pretty lucky as well looking at the video) but was pretty sore particularly as the bike has no suspension. I didn't manage to keep eating enough between laps so I just badly ran out of power on the last couple of laps making the energy sapping mud that bit tougher. I should feel pleased as I got all six laps in after thinking I was going to have to retire after the first and in a decent time but just didn't get the usual buzz on the last lap. That's it ticked off the list anyway...

John

:cool:


Awesome adventure there, John.

marleyboy

esuhl wrote: »

I get all my shopping home by bike. It's surprising how much you can fit in a couple of panniers -- more than I could comfortably carry myself.

I used to be able to do that when I was single too. Now I have a family a couple of panniers just about carries the milk.