newbie training and developing

[brett sleger]

Wow theres been a change i was given some money towards a bike as its my birthday coming up. So I had £150 sat there so I added another £50 and got a carrera tdf for £200. The guy had ridden it for 10meters then left it in his garage it had the cellophane still on the badge and the cable tie with the handbook still on the handlebars. With a slight scratch to the top tube it was perfect.
It weighs 11.7kg which I know in bike terms is deemed as heavy but compared to what im used to it feels light as.
I went for 20 mile ride yesterday afternoon after adjusting the saddle and I was very impressed! I must admit it took me sometime to adjust to the shifter/brakes being combined. I am looking at taking it out for a real test tonight. I had my two brother in laws with me last night which was like I was baby sitting constantly bringing them back into line one of them even hit a bloody parked car dopey boys haha. Was a fun ride just too slow of a pace for me!
Il add some info of my ride tonight im having to change my route for I am not going to even consider taking this baby onto gravel!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Don't get to hung up on weight, my Viking weighs about the same stripped down but with guards rack ect it can weigh up to 18-19 Kg's though 13-14 is more the norm, also it will be tougher than it looks, I took mine with the original Weimann XR18 wheels on really rough gravel with no ill effects, not what I ride on as a rule but just shows what the wheels can cope with.

 

[brett sleger]

Yeh I have the double wall rims it was such a smooth fast ride im looking forward to going back out on it tonight!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Yeh I have the double wall rims it was such a smooth fast ride im looking forward to going back out on it tonight!

Look forward to hearing more of your progress Brett.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@brett sleger
If you want you can export from endomondo as a tcx file and upload that to strava

 

[brett sleger]

Excellent I will have to look at that later then do you do that on your phone or on the pc? I know my acceleration is soo much faster which will help my average and I was riding along at a steady 23mph along one section of road. Got my fastest previous miles to beat now though!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

You can get strava for some phones.
If you go to more options tabs just above the map on the right. choose more options->export->tcx (the tcx will retain more info than a gpx usually), download that to your computer, create a folder and download all your rides and you can upload to any site you want, plus you have your own personal copy of your rides, I know a bit of a faff but once you have them you can back them up, as you can guess I dont trust on-line storage.

I guess any phone that has web browsing you can do the same, I dont use mobiles so I am guessing.

 

[Paul Gee]

Congrats Brett, got yourself a real road bike now, good result. I am sure your average speed will show great improvement. And a banana colour as well I presume. Yes, when I tested my new bike I didn't even know how to change gear - what a klutz. My old tourer has the gear changes on the down tube.
I certainly felt the difference in speed etc with my new road bike, but managed to strain my ankle on my first long ride! Suppose I had better check it is set up right for my height etc.
The problem when you get bike fit is that noccasional bikers are all much slower - though they don't all ride into parked cars!! Enjoy your ride tonight ...... watch out for speed cameras .......

 

[brett sleger]

Yes not everyone hits a parked car, the one that does it is the one who rides his bike almost as often as me which is scary he just wasnt paying attention though! i will have a go with a speed camera i dont think i will be big enough for it! I was thinking earlier could you get a speeding offence on a push bike?
Well i didnt go out for a ride tonight call me a fairweather rider but I decided not to go out in the thunderstorm with it being my second ride on my new bike as well but i have a free pass tomorrow night as the lady indoors is off out for the night so i will have a ride then if its nice! in the good news though i have taken this time to update my strava thanks to @Nigelnaturist i am all updated!

 

[brett sleger]

Had a fairly positive ride last night with an average speed of 14.19mph and avg pace of 4.13 min per mile. I also achieved a pb of 10 miles in 39.26mins as well as 15.19 miles in an hour and a 48.37min 20k which was all positive figures really. Im still gettin used to the gearing on the bike but it is improving! At least this time I went out on my own so I could ride at my pace!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@brett sleger
Well done.

 

[brett sleger]

@Nigelnaturist
Thanks im hoping to improve on that its interesting using strava to see how I compare to others locally I saw a large group of riders out last night which I was intrigued by I imagine they would be a group/club or something there must have been at least 20 of them!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@brett sleger
Probably, the local club here has a regular tues evening ride, and other days, apert from the wkend rides. You will improve Brett, it really is a matter of perseverance, don't let wind or rain put you off. If you need cycling gear ALdi/Lidl do pretty reasonable gear at decent prices through the year.

 

[brett sleger]

I wasnt sure about how well I will be able to ride in the wet its on standard duro tyres atm but I was going to look into some other tyres after these ones wear out. I spose the only way il know is going out in it! Yeh I do need to get some gear i noticed they had some when I was in there the other week but it was pre payday unfortunately!

 

[Paul Gee]

Yes, there is an Aldi right near where I live, and I have picked up some useful things from there during the past month, saving money.

I have yet to ride my new bike in the wet, it has 23mm gatorskin tyres and they are certainly a lot skinnier than the tyres on my old tourer. In fact the new road bike is a whole different thing to ride and will take some while to get used to. I am keeping the old tourer and may use it as a winter trainer. Being 50% heavier than the new bike it will help keep me fit - and slower!