newbie training and developing

[Nigelnaturist]

Brett, just checking your Strava, you must be cycling round the area of the Bikeathon. Is that a fairly flat route they will use?
Must look into getting Strava some time, looks very interesting and seems to give comparisons between you and other riders. Unfortunately I would have to upgrade my phone to use that, though my wife has the latest bells and whistle one so could download onto that, if permitted haha

You could try endomondo Paul, it runs on lower spec phones, once you have uploaded, you can download a tcx file and upload that.

 

[brett sleger]

Yes paul iv been using endomondo then uploading onto strava! Then I have it on both apps.
Yes paul it is a fairly flat ride most of the ride I do is on the route for the bikeathon with the exception of the 'tip roads' as they are always closed its all fairly flat with some steady hills roads arent too bad some bits are fairly smooth tarmac.
The path under the royal artillery way is a loose gravel bridlepath which I actually had the 6th best time for on strava using my old bike hehe. Its not part of a checkpoint so my idea was to ride to it then around it as I dont feel id be safe to ride as fast along there with my skinny tires on my new bike.
I join the route at royal artillery way then follow the outside of it up until east beach at which point I join the sea front and head down to the end at chalkwell

 

[Paul Gee]

Thanks Nigel, but my phone is stone age, will need a new one to run endomondo.

Up early this morning, big bowl of porridge (not too hot, not too cold!) with the intention of doing a longish run to start getting some prep for the bikeathon. With a 17 mile ride to the start don't want to be lacking by the end of it, and pleased it is not a hilly course. Now the heavens have opened so no ride yet.
The upside is I can shoot off and collect the spd pedals and shoes I ordered. My new road bike only had plastic flat pedals so hopefully I will feel the difference once I have mastered them.I went for mtb rather than road so I don't have to hobble around when not on the bike.

I'm glad I bought a second hand bike because that was only the start of the expenditure ..........

 

[Claud Roubaix]

Yesterday I developed from a cyclist who will fall off to one who has fallen off! Bit of a pedal unclip malfunction.
Very sore hip and elbow this morning.

Valuable lesson learned - unclip in good time approaching major road junctions!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Thanks Nigel, but my phone is stone age, will need a new one to run endomondo.

Up early this morning, big bowl of porridge (not too hot, not too cold!) with the intention of doing a longish run to start getting some prep for the bikeathon. With a 17 mile ride to the start don't want to be lacking by the end of it, and pleased it is not a hilly course. Now the heavens have opened so no ride yet.
The upside is I can shoot off and collect the spd pedals and shoes I ordered. My new road bike only had plastic flat pedals so hopefully I will feel the difference once I have mastered them.I went for mtb rather than road so I don't have to hobble around when not on the bike.

I'm glad I bought a second hand bike because that was only the start of the expenditure ..........

Well the N95 wasn't new, I have SPD a lot of people do. I got these shoes from Halfords last week.
with these pedals

 

[Phoenix Lincs]

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!

Well done. If you copy the address line of your strava data for a particular ride, and paste it into a message, we can all see your data without you having to type it out. Watch out, it can get addictive!

 

[Phoenix Lincs]

Nearly fell of my chair on the train just now when I opened a Map my ride email. Apparently I'm Queen if the Mountains for one of my local hills and one which had totally defeated me until Saturday when I had my bike fit. Before somebody says it, no I'm not the only female on MMR that's done it either .
Not bad for a Hill Wimp and thank heavens for the bike fitter.

Woo hoo. Very well done. My bike fit and a service (after a bit of an off a few weeks ago) is making a massive difference to my bike and the experience of riding it

 

[brett sleger]

@Nigelnaturist how are you finding the pedals then?
@Phoenix Lincs thanks! yes I will do that after tonight's ride off out for it in a min itl take up less room as well!
@Claud Roubaix thats not too great nothing too permanent I hope? I havent got the clips on mine atm!
@Paul Gee did you get out for a ride in the end today at all? It really did open up this morning id usually walk to work but it was soo bad I ended up driving in!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@Nigelnaturist how are you finding the pedals then?
@Phoenix Lincs thanks! yes I will do that after tonight's ride off out for it in a min itl take up less room as well!
@Claud Roubaix thats not too great nothing too permanent I hope? I havent got the clips on mine atm!
@Paul Gee did you get out for a ride in the end today at all? It really did open up this morning id usually walk to work but it was soo bad I ended up driving in!

No problems, if I get another bike I will get the A520 which are just single sided cleats, as I very rarely use the flats, even if I dont clip in first time ( it does happen more often than I want to admit. ) there is enough surface on the pedal to go round one revolution.
The A520 pedal.

 

[Hill Wimp]

Woo hoo. Very well done. My bike fit and a service (after a bit of an off a few weeks ago) is making a massive difference to my bike and the experience of riding it

Fantastic news i'm really pleased. Hurrah for bike fitters and many happy hours in the saddle.

 

[themosquitoking]

No problems, if I get another bike I will get the A520 which are just single sided cleats, as I very rarely use the flats, even if I dont clip in first time ( it does happen more often than I want to admit. ) there is enough surface on the pedal to go round one revolution.
The A520 pedal.
View attachment 27445

M530's are the same but double sided.

 

[Paul Gee]

Nigel, I got the M520, which is double sided. Just thought it would be easier having 2 'options' at connecting.
Fitted them tonight but not yet ventured out. The shoes I bought are Shimano MO64 MTB. As with most Shimano shoes they come up small so I got one size larger and they fitted perfectly. Hopefully have a go tomorrow. Not looking forward to the inevitable fall at some stage, as detailed by Claud above! Hopefully the combination of new bike and clipless will have a positive effect. What did clipless do for you?

Brett, managed to squeeze in a ride this evening, on my old bike as the new one is nearly clipless. Just edged up the average a tad, though nothing to write home about. Do need to up the distance though.

 

[themosquitoking]

Don't forget, you won't join us cool people until you've had three pedal related offs.

 

[brett sleger]

Iv gone clipless for now to allow me time to get used to the bike and avoid falls for now!
My ride tonight was a bit slower than usual had a real excess of headwind! I took a de tour to my usual route but managed to set a couple of good times with a top10 on one segment and a pb for fastest mile
I hope this works!
http://www.strava.com/activities/73422760

 

[Phoenix Lincs]

Don't forget, you won't join us cool people until you've had three pedal related offs.

Yay, I get to be one of the cool kids!