Cycling

[ChiTownPhilly]

...commuter bike? I still need to get one. I tried to find somewhere in the office they were cool with me stashing my race bike at, but got some push-back so just let it be.

That's my problem, too. I got more than "push-back" when I inquired- it was just a flat-out refusal. I work in a pretty high-crime city-- so bikes with 4-figure price tags would be a really attractive target, no matter how thoroughly I lock them up.

I also discovered the following from back in my [long-ago] college days (where I was lucky enough to successfully negotiate stashing my mount in my dorm-room): I noticed that when thieves weren't able to heist secured bikes, they would vent their frustrations by vandalizing them.

My commuter-bike is a really old, American-made real-steel bike that weighs about twice as much as my murdered-out CAAD-12. Biggest P.I.T.A. is that when I lock it up, I feel impelled to strip about everything I can off that bike before going into the office- lights/rudimentary speedometer/saddle bag- everything but the seat, basically.

 

[RayP]

I commute on my Look 675 Same as on the pic, just different wheels.

She's a beaut. A bit on the heavy side, but I love it to bits.

That's right.

Beautiful.

That's my problem, too. I got more than "push-back" when I inquired- it was just a flat-out refusal. I work in a pretty high-crime city-- so bikes with 4-figure price tags would be a really attractive target, no matter how thoroughly I lock them up.

I also discovered the following from back in my [long-ago] college days (where I was lucky enough to successfully negotiate stashing my mount in my dorm-room): I noticed that when thieves weren't able to heist secured bikes, they would vent their frustrations by vandalizing them.

My commuter-bike is a really old, American-made real-steel bike that weighs about twice as much as my murdered-out CAAD-12. Biggest P.I.T.A. is that when I lock it up, I feel impelled to strip about everything I can off that bike before going into the office- lights/rudimentary speedometer/saddle bag- everything but the seat, basically.

I probably could have got them to cave, but I was new at that time so didn't want to push it. We're in an industrial park that's crime free basically.... but I don't think they realize a single wheel of mine is worth more than any bike you'd ever see on a bike rack there.

 

[jorbjorb]

What do you guys use for bike racks? I have a sedan and it's kind of hard to fit one bike, definitely can't fit two. I ended up buying this thing for the price and I'm hoping it does the job.
https://www.amazon.ca/Allen-Sports-...UTF8&qid=1523970362&sr=8-4&keywords=bike+rack

 

[RayP]

Hit by a car again last night. Front shifter snapped off basically. Some idiot turned into the bike lane without looking, then came to a crawl as he was turning up into the driveway so he didn’t scratch the bottom of his precious bumper. Unreal. Then he blames me and says it my fault. Luckily our insurance agent said it’s pretty cut and try that it wasn’t my fault.

Tried to file a police report, but couldn’t. Waited for 3.5 hours for a cop to show up. Never did. Apparently there was an officer involved shooting elsewhere so pretty much all the cops were tied up with that. They said it would probably be a few more hours before a cop could make it out to me.

Was planning on going today to file a police report but supposedly since we swapped information and didn’t wait for a cop at the time it happened it’s now a civil matter and I can’t file a police report anymore. Apparently I was suppose to sit in the cold for 6-7 hours waiting for a cop to show up around 1-2am. What a f***ing joke.

 

[The Imp]

Will your insurance cover it without the police report? Or will his? Hope that you're ok. The pain from the sprain I got in Spain (hehe) is still bothering me, a month out.

That being said - Spring duathlon today. 6 km run - 20 km bike - 3 km run. The Triathlon bike has been unsheathed, disc wheel and all

 

[Nunymare]

Hit by a car again last night. Front shifter snapped off basically. Some idiot turned into the bike lane without looking, then came to a crawl as he was turning up into the driveway so he didn’t scratch the bottom of his precious bumper. Unreal. Then he blames me and says it my fault. Luckily our insurance agent said it’s pretty cut and try that it wasn’t my fault.

Tried to file a police report, but couldn’t. Waited for 3.5 hours for a cop to show up. Never did. Apparently there was an officer involved shooting elsewhere so pretty much all the cops were tied up with that. They said it would probably be a few more hours before a cop could make it out to me.

Was planning on going today to file a police report but supposedly since we swapped information and didn’t wait for a cop at the time it happened it’s now a civil matter and I can’t file a police report anymore. Apparently I was suppose to sit in the cold for 6-7 hours waiting for a cop to show up around 1-2am. What a ****ing joke.

Damn... that sucks. Hope you're ok, especially considering the "again" part.... Did he not see you, or just not care and feel the need to turn/pass you at any cost? That's a huge problem I think.... people thinking cyclists are stationary objects that they need to get around, which leads to shit like this.

I was turned into about a year ago while going straight when someone decided to make a left right across my line of travel and right in to me. Luckily it was a neighbourhood street and I reacted fast enough to turn sharply and only bumped him, but it was scary and unnerved me nonetheless (was going at ~30kmh too). Could have been way worse.

I'm always really weary of bike lanes for this reason, and will move out to the traffic lane if I'm moving at a certain speed.

 

[Havre]

That is ridiculous.

I hate riding along roads like that just because people "forget" and turn across just like that. Last year I had to stand on my brakes in a situation just like that. There were 3 of us and we were going 40kmh+ - so that would have been some crash if she had turned 30-40m earlier.

 

[RayP]

Damn... that sucks. Hope you're ok, especially considering the "again" part.... Did he not see you, or just not care and feel the need to turn/pass you at any cost? That's a huge problem I think.... people thinking cyclists are stationary objects that they need to get around, which leads to **** like this.

I was turned into about a year ago while going straight when someone decided to make a left right across my line of travel and right in to me. Luckily it was a neighbourhood street and I reacted fast enough to turn sharply and only bumped him, but it was scary and unnerved me nonetheless (was going at ~30kmh too). Could have been way worse.

I'm always really weary of bike lanes for this reason, and will move out to the traffic lane if I'm moving at a certain speed.

I'm guessing he never saw me. There is parking alongside that makes the bike lane difficult to see when cars are parked there, which there were. You have to make an effort to see if there are bikes coming down, which he definitely did not do because he didn't even hit the gas to try and get out the way. I don't think he even knew what hit him when he got out of the car.

 

[RayP]

I consider myself a pretty good climber, but not sure if that’s accurate or not... either way, I do a lot of it by my standard. At about 126,000 feet of climbing (38,404 meters) for 2018.

But man, some of these climbs I’ve been trying on the mountain bike have been wrecking me. Curious to see how much that will improve my climbing on the road bike when I get it back. I’ve had to walk my mountain bike up several of these hills/mountains I’ve stood no chance against, and not because I was in the wrong gear or they were just too technical.

 

[Havre]

I guess the pedaling technique is slightly different, but for normal humans I doubt that has much to say. I have never really switched much myself. I used to only go with a mountain bike, but after I bought my road bike I haven't really used my MTB much for proper training (partly due to moving as well - where I used to live it was much more suitable for MTB).

The only major difference I can think of is the average length/distance of a climb on a MTB is much shorter (at least typically). The longest I used to do on a MTB was a bit more than 2k (11%). And the worst 1.1k averaging 15.1%. I'm sure I would be a much better climber today if I still lived closed to those hills today.

 

[RayP]

I guess the pedaling technique is slightly different, but for normal humans I doubt that has much to say. I have never really switched much myself. I used to only go with a mountain bike, but after I bought my road bike I haven't really used my MTB much for proper training (partly due to moving as well - where I used to live it was much more suitable for MTB).

The only major difference I can think of is the average length/distance of a climb on a MTB is much shorter (at least typically). The longest I used to do on a MTB was a bit more than 2k (11%). And the worst 1.1k averaging 15.1%. I'm sure I would be a much better climber today if I still lived closed to those hills today.

Out here I can find climbs on the MTB that are longer than what I ever did in Atlanta. The two routes I’ve been riding each start with about a 15 minute climb, then it flattened out for maybe a 1/4 mile, and then have another 10 minute climb.

Then all rollers for a few miles, then a huge downhill that takes about 20 minutes to climb when I turn back around.

Doesn’t matter how steep the hill is on a road bike, I can keep my HR in check and at least in the 150s.

The ride I did Saturday on the MTB I spend 20 minutes with an average HR of 170 during that climb.

 

[jorbjorb]

Finally got some proper grip tape for my race bike. I think I botched the install but fixed it up with some hockey tape.

 

[The Imp]

Holy h-e-double-hockey-sticks! Last night's club training was 3x10 min @ FTP+, with 8 min off in between. After riding 20 km to meet up with the club, in strong headwind. I slept for four hours straight, right when I got home. My legs are still completely blown.

I think it'll benefit me in the end, but that felt... tough.

 

[RayP]

Had a 3700+ foot climb over the weekend.


Mercy.

 

[CanadianPensFan1]

I've been doing a ton of biking this season. I was off of it last summer .. not sure why. But kicking it hard this summer.

Just did a 110km today with my cousin. Wooooo.

 

[The Imp]

Got a 305 km sportive next weekend (the 30th)... Really dreading it.

 

[RayP]

Got to ride outdoors with a power meter for the first time today, as a buddy is letting me use his P1 pedals for the next month or two. I didn't have a very good ride, in fact this was a pretty awful weekend of training entirely due to some stress that has stopped me from being able to sleep, eat, and drink too much.

Even with that, my normalized power out there today was 217 for a ride a little under 4 hours. Wasn't sure what to expect since I haven't trained with power since I took the bike off the trainer.... and I've spent a ton of time climbing since I've been able to get on the roads. Pretty happy with that, and curious to see where it's at on a better day when I'm properly fueled, rested, and not hungover.

 

[The Imp]

Interesting, Ray. Keep us updated That must've been a fair TSS? What's your FTP?

I managed a TSS of 460 on the ride on Saturday. That was a looooong day in the saddle. To boot, the race marshall leading us off took a wrong turn, leading us back to the start line after 11 km. Ended up with a total of 310 km on the day.

 

[RayP]

Interesting, Ray. Keep us updated That must've been a fair TSS? What's your FTP?

I managed a TSS of 460 on the ride on Saturday. That was a looooong day in the saddle. To boot, the race marshall leading us off took a wrong turn, leading us back to the start line after 11 km. Ended up with a total of 310 km on the day.

TSS was 292. My buddy who is a much weaker rider than I am joined for the last 75 minutes or so so that lowered all my numbers prior to that.

Not sure what FTP is since the only power meter I have was my trainer, and I haven’t used that since February. My coach said I’ll do an FTP test on July 18th, to get a gauge of where I’m at for when he sets my race pace for July 29th.

I’ve got one more long effort tomorrow and then the taper begins.

 

[The Imp]

So the La Marmotte Pyrenees have come and gone. I got sick the last night before the race, and it was a DNS.

Having said that, the Pyrenees are a blast to bike. We were there almost a week before the race, training. Tourmalet is an absolute beast, 1400 vertical meters with no breaks, no letups, just grinding away. The terrain ranges from wonderful to stupendous, and services are reasonable in price and availability.

Did Hourquette D'Anzican, Aspin, and Tourmalet from the East on Wednesday. That was a tough day in the saddle - what they don't tell you about the Pyrenees is the heat. It might be your average summer day, but in the sun, on Aspin, our Garmins consitently read 35 degrees. My heart rate was going crazy, even at a moderate pace.

 

[TheMule93]

any mountain bikers here? what trails in Ontario do you recommend? Ive been to the hydrocut a few times (always a blast) but want to go elsewhere at some point

 

[RayP]

any mountain bikers here? what trails in Ontario do you recommend? Ive been to the hydrocut a few times (always a blast) but want to go elsewhere at some point

Mountain biker here, but not in Ontario, or anywhere near Ontario.

Finally got my mountain bike back yesterday for a ride after a month long debacle with a bike shop.

 

[TheMule93]

Mountain biker here, but not in Ontario, or anywhere near Ontario.

Finally got my mountain bike back yesterday for a ride after a month long debacle with a bike shop.

I want to go to BC some day, thats where all the trails are!

 

[RayP]

I want to go to BC some day, thats where all the trails are!

I was there in July, Whistler to be exact, but did not have any time to mountain bike.

I think next year I'm going to take a long weekend trip out there just to mountain bike. Flights are cheap from SLC to Vancouver, and not a long flight. Tons of really cheap AirBNBs near the village in Whistler to stay at in the summer, too.

 

[Mr Hockey]

I have been cycling a lot in the last 2 years, just in Toronto, streets and parks, very enjoyable