Cycling

[bennydorano]

Was going to add this to my collection of jackets recently but changed my mind, more a general purpose winter jacket than a raincoat but can't go wrong for £40. If you lived in France Decathlon would be one of you're first ports of call for anything cycling related - very underated brand over here.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/500-winter-road-jacket-id_8545465.html

[grounded]

fellas, I'm after recommendations for a waterproof jacket without breaking the bank.

Not a bad jacket here..

www.wiggle.co.uk/endura-luminite-dl-jacket/

[illdecide]

Last time I recommended that cyclists should do some running once or twice a week, so following my own advice, I was out on Monday for about an hour. At one stage I found myself running 50 meters behind another guy for two kilometres. During that time he must have looked at his wrist at least 29 times. At first I thought he had some kind of a twitch or something, but then I realised that he was actually looking at his watch all the time. At one point he even stumbled as he clipped the edge of a footpath whilst looking at that watch and it made me wonder about how reliant many people have become on technology when out running or cycling.


During my career I wasn't a great one for technology. One year the team were all using these Avocet bike computers that had a sensor going down to the front wheel and I didn't even have mine connected. I found it a bit of a distraction.


Nowadays, when I go to sportives or corporate cycling events, I often meet guys with bigger dashboards on their bikes than I have in my jeep. They can rattle off all sorts of stats and numbers but sometimes they are the very first ones to go south when the road starts to rise uphill. Something that really brought this home to me was a chat that I had at a sportive one day with a guy that I have met at many events around Ireland. Normally he could turn up anywhere with a buddy of his. Last time we met he was on his own and I asked where his buddy was. The reply that I received disappointed me. His buddy had bought a power meter, found some training program on the internet and then turned around and told the guy who he had been cycling with every weekend for over ten years that they couldn't really train together anymore as he needed to do more specific sessions that weren't conducive to the type of training that they had a always been doing together. There are probably other guys out there at present like that, half delighted with the excuse for training alone that the Corona virus has given them to train only with their figures and numbers.


Sometimes I go to watch local races here in Ireland  At one race last year l met a guy who I knew, and asked how he had done in the race. Normally he is as strong as a bull so I was half expecting him to say that he had won or at least been in the top six. He shook his head when I asked and then told me that he wasn't able to stay with the bunch. I asked if he had been sick or anything like that. Then the explanation came and all was revealed. This guy is a pig farmer and works very hard all week long. In an effort to improve his performance he bought a Heart Rate monitor and this was the first race that he had used it in. He told me that when he looked down at one stage and saw some high number he knew something wasn't right, so he backed off and got dropped. If he didn't have the Heart Rate monitor chances are he would have just dug in, suffered on a bit and stayed with the bunch. He might have even gone on to get a result at the finish.


Technology has its place in cycling for sure. If a professional is preparing for a key race, along with his coach, he can look at his numbers and be able to tell pretty accurately how he is going. Training can be adjusted daily to suit and confidence can be built outside of that gained by race results themselves.


People who are really busy can also benefit from using technology to peak for events in the short term. They can do really specific training in short amounts of time to build power and physical fitness. However, they may be missing out on the skills and abilities that longer days in the saddle can only provide.


Turbo trainers are coming into a world of their own at present. People can do a form of a group ride on Zwift and it keeps them in touch with others along with maintaining and building fitness. You even have many professionals and amateurs alike racing on there at present. Will this transfer across to real world results when racing opens up again? Probably not. Some will burn themselves out, physically and mentally. Others may believe that they are going better than they really are and take a hit to their confidence when numbers stop matching results. By all means it is a very worthwhile training tool but it is not a replacement for the road.


You can't train for a wet and windy day inside your sitting room looking out the window. You can't learn to handle your bike on a slippery descent looking at a screen. You can't learn what clothing to wear to keep your body warm without overheating in freezing rain from inside a garden shed.


Cycling is a beautiful sport and a fantastic activity, for body and mind. I must have over 1 million km's in my legs by now, but I still look forward to pretty much every time I go out for a spin on my bike, except when its blowing a storm and lashing rain as it sometimes is here in Ireland. Even then, when you get back home and have a warm shower you get the good feelings again. I never get sick of cycling and still train three or four times per week. I enjoy the fresh air, the wind on my face and the joy of a tailwind on the way home. I still get a buzz from the gallop for a yellow signpost at the end of a weekend group ride. Adrenaline still courses through my veins as I push my bike towards its limit on a fast descent. Cycling to me is not just a numbers game, it is a way of life.

Sean

[illdecide]

Sean Kelly is old school alright but think he's right too

[Sportacus]

When I'm driving, cyclists go two wide and I have to pull out.  When I'm walking in two's they'd cycle  over the top of you.  Which is it?

[bennydorano]

Class article by Kelly, I know I'm am deadly for the stats, I often say if I'd no Garmin to look at I'd probably not go out thru the door. With age against me and being very average I don't get too hung up or worked up about things, but I see local (good) racing men currently knocking their bollox in atm and wondering what they're at.

[Orior]

When I'm driving, cyclists go two wide and I have to pull out.  When I'm walking in two's they'd cycle  over the top of you.  Which is it?

I think size of road and common sense should always prevail. As a cyclist myself I disagree with riding side by side and having 10 vehicles queued up behind. Cyclists with no bell are also a curse.

[LeoMc]

When I'm driving, cyclists go two wide and I have to pull out.  When I'm walking in two's they'd cycle  over the top of you.  Which is it?

Is it the same cyclists or are you just generalising?

[Sportacus]

When I'm driving, cyclists go two wide and I have to pull out.  When I'm walking in two's they'd cycle  over the top of you.  Which is it?

Is it the same cyclists or are you just generalising?

I'm doing a lot of walking and I've noticed about an equal split - some cyclists pull well out to go past, but quite a few come straight at you. I find it quite ironic as motorists are forever get cautioned for not giving cyclists space.

[illdecide]

Class article by Kelly, I know I'm am deadly for the stats, I often say if I'd no Garmin to look at I'd probably not go out thru the door. With age against me and being very average I don't get too hung up or worked up about things, but I see local (good) racing men currently knocking their bollox in atm and wondering what they're at.

I'm glad i read that as 3 months from my operation i was putting myself under a lot of pressure to try and hit higher average mph and TBH i just don't have the strength for it and it's getting me down. I'm just concentrating on getting miles back into the legs and hopefully over the next 2-3 months i'll be fit enough for the club run. This virus thing is a bollix but it def played into my hands now as i'd have got some beatings.
Went out today after reading that and never looked at my watch and just enjoyed the ride (well sort of, tired now). A 40-50 mile run is knocking me for 6 atm...I can do it but i'm lying on the settee like a busted flush all day afterwards

[imtommygunn]

Pavement cyclists in a city with significantly less traffic than normal is beginning to do my nut in. Bar one today they have never pulled in for me - usually I am walking with a buggy too. It's happened at least half a dozen times. I think 2 or 3 may have been the same guy. They're the only people social distancing doesn't work for. Walkers would get out of our way with the buggy so we can distance or if I'm running I will move to the road but the pavement cyclists never get off the pavement and I am not putting a buggy on the road.(I cycle a bit too but this is beginning to do my nut in as I would prefer a wee bit of distance between me and strangers these days for obvious reasons)

[illdecide]

Firstly you're not allowed/supposed to ride the bike on the pavement...
As a club cyclist I would never nor have i ever seen a cyclist that would cycle towards walkers...doesn't make sense.
In your defences...the amount of people that have taken up cycling since the lock down is unreal and a lot of them are not experienced on the road nor have they a clue of the dangers and what to look out for, I seen a group of about 6 cyclists today who where obviously just mates on the bike weaving all over the road trying to get up a hill that i was going down and that's what you're up against.

[Sportacus]

Firstly you're not allowed/supposed to ride the bike on the pavement...
As a club cyclist I would never nor have i ever seen a cyclist that would cycle towards walkers...doesn't make sense.
In your defences...the amount of people that have taken up cycling since the lock down is unreal and a lot of them are not experienced on the road nor have they a clue of the dangers and what to look out for, I seen a group of about 6 cyclists today who where obviously just mates on the bike weaving all over the road trying to get up a hill that i was going down and that's what you're up against.

"In your defences"?  Hardly, I know a bike when it's coming straight at me for longer than it feels comfortable, and there's plenty of Lycra and fancy gear so they aren't Johnny come lately's.

[bennydorano]

Class article by Kelly, I know I'm am deadly for the stats, I often say if I'd no Garmin to look at I'd probably not go out thru the door. With age against me and being very average I don't get too hung up or worked up about things, but I see local (good) racing men currently knocking their bollox in atm and wondering what they're at.

I'm glad i read that as 3 months from my operation i was putting myself under a lot of pressure to try and hit higher average mph and TBH i just don't have the strength for it and it's getting me down. I'm just concentrating on getting miles back into the legs and hopefully over the next 2-3 months i'll be fit enough for the club run. This virus thing is a bollix but it def played into my hands now as i'd have got some beatings.
Went out today after reading that and never looked at my watch and just enjoyed the ride (well sort of, tired now). A 40-50 mile run is knocking me for 6 atm...I can do it but i'm lying on the settee like a busted flush all day afterwards

I like a good solo, but a good club spin with a leisurely coffee stop would be heaven right now.

[on the sideline]

Hi fellas, would any of you recommend a good, reliable and secure mounted phone holder for a bike?
It's a mountain bike but only used on roads at the minute. Looking something strong that could also be used when I get back onto the trails. Thanks.