Show us your.......newbie progress! [4 Sep 2012 - 4 Oct 2014]

[Batgirl]

Newfoundlands are indeed like bears! Aren't they amazing.. did you get to say hello up close? Their paw size is something to behold !

 

[Batgirl]

@Mummy3monkeys I think the hardest thing at their ages is letting go. My eldest has gone sailing on the tall ships regatta this weekend. I had to send him on a train to cornwall (we live in Essex) and trust that he would cope with changing train and finding the group at Falmouth.

@Batgirl we encourage our boys to cycle as much as we can. It helps if we bribe them with food and make sure we don't set out too early in the morning. I think it is so easy for kids nowadays to spend all their time sat in front of a screen. Even the 13 year old is capable of cycling on the road. He came on a lovely 8 mile ride with me today around country lanes about half an hour from our house.

I agree about the computer screens and the need to keep them active. Cycling just wasn't something I was confident in, or am yet to be honest as it's early days for me.

My eldest is in army cadets (they're all girls) , middle is in athletics twice a week and very active, and youngest is young but on the go all the time - we own 2 horses too so they ride their pony and have to keep him / groom / muck out. etc.

Also agree about 'letting them go' not quite that much but my eldest is 15 and she went on a 2 week army camp and does shooting etc within her training.. scares me if I'm honest, even more so to think she might go into the regular army but I daren't say that to her.. they have to be free to make up their minds and explore for themselves.

 

[Big_Dave]

Ours are 15, 9 and 4... no grandparents left and we moved to Wales from our family so no family for baby sitting. We're lucky now that 15 years old is good for babysitting but at the moment cycling is a solo thing I do. I would like to get bikes for OH and my middle and youngest also to learn to ride, but eldest has no interest in learning. I do feel like I've let them down not teaching them but not sure eldest ever had an interest in cycling.

We have a lovely cycle track so really hopeful I can get them out there without risk of roads.

It was my kids that got me back into cycling 15yrs ago, my daughter was 9 at the time and my lad was 6, all was great until they hit the teen phase then everything was boring lol, my wife no longer cycles due to serious heart problems, so I cycle on my lonesome which I don't mind because I can go at my own pace now I still ride the rail trails to exercise the dog, he's good for 20-25 mile runs.

 

[Nomadski]

Newfoundlands are indeed like bears! Aren't they amazing.. did you get to say hello up close? Their paw size is something to behold !

I did, I went up to the owner who was sitting down, and almost was eye level with the dog, to ask him what it was, and told him it was a beautiful dog. Wanted to get a photo with it, but a combination of not wanting to intrude on his peaceful afternoon, and a quite real fear it would eat me stopped me from doing so.

Also, forgot to mention in my post, but those who go up Box Hill will know they have those bike stand things you hook the saddle up to and let the bikes dangle.

Well my advice to anyone is not to use them, not at Box Hill anyway. 2 different children both had a go at a running monkey swing on the remaining bar, the first got the bikes shaking and he walked away sheepishly. The 2nd one minutes later managed to dislodge both bikes from their perch until the childrens parents embarrassingly put them back.

I didnt see any annoyed cyclist running up, so either they weren't expensive, or the owners were otherwise engaged...

 

[Stonechat]

OK here are my month's stats
371.55 miles
15,105 feet of climbing
Ave speed 14.3 mph
Average of 40.7 feet/mile

Chief feature was holiday in Cornwall
Lots of climbing there and did not cycle too much

Longest ride 57.3 mi

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@Stonechat
total 414.54 miles
16,607ft elevation
Avg sp 15.8,ph
40.5ft/mile
5 days of rain out of 14 days riding
Avg Cad 88.46rpm
Avg gear 60" or 40x17/18
max dist 53.21miles
MaxAvgSp for a ride 16.37mph
Max sp about 38mph.
Tamp Max 22.3, Avg 18.5, Min 11.6
Wind Max 19.8mph avg 4.98mph
Total rain 5.8mm

max elevation 2347ft avg 1186.21ft
Cals 22,084, 53.27cals/miles, 841cals/hr (subjective)
Avg HR 142bpm, Max 183bpm.

I ain't doing this next month. I will create a form in access

 

[bpsmith]

@Stonechat
total 414.54 miles
16,607ft elevation
Avg sp 15.8,ph
40.5ft/mile
5 days of rain out of 14 days riding
Avg Cad 88.46rpm
Avg gear 60" or 40x17/18
max dist 53.21miles
MaxAvgSp for a ride 16.37mph
Max sp about 38mph.
Tamp Max 22.3, Avg 18.5, Min 11.6
Wind Max 19.8mph avg 4.98mph
Total rain 5.8mm

max elevation 2347ft avg 1186.21ft
Cals 22,084, 53.27cals/miles, 841cals/hr (subjective)
Avg HR 142bpm, Max 183bpm.

I ain't doing this next month. I will create a form in access

This might open a can of worms, but, how do you get such detail in your stats? Avg Gear for example?

 

[Big_Dave]

here are my month's stats, bit of a poor show this month, usually hit getting on towards 400 miles/month
225.55 miles
11,988 feet of climbing
Av. speed 10.5 mph (includes mtb rides)
Av.Elev 56.1 feet/mile
Av.HR 128bpm, HR min 104, max 182
Av.Cals per ride 1259
Mx Spd 43.6mph
Av Cad 71.46rpm

 

[Lisat]

My progress has been that I have fitted spd's and took myself out for a gentle spin on familiar roads and only toppled off once. It also meant that when I couldn't I unclick going up a steep hill from the beach I just had to keep going. I felt like I was going to have a coronary at the top.

 

[Big_Dave]

What SPD cleats do you have, there are a couple of types if you have mtb spd cleat, sh-56 cleats are the better ones as they unclip easier at different angles (they are silver coloured) whereas the standard spd cleats (sh-51 black coloured) are harder to unclip even with the pedal in the weakest spring position

 

[Nigelnaturist]

This might open a can of worms, but, how do you get such detail in your stats? Avg Gear for example?

For most road bikes the formula is (mph*336)/cad this can be applied at any point in case you want to know a particular gear at ant given time, for example on a climb at 11.5 mph with a cad of 81.7 = 47.29 " to work out each in inches (front th/ back) *26.3 so the 47.29would be about 50x28
I have tables in excel and formulas in access, that work out all of it

You can see even though my gear is shorter this month because of the increased cad I am slightly faster, even though I have climbed more per mile.
The negative days rain is a glitch i keep meaning to sort it should be positive.

 

[Coggy]

So-so thanks, been better, but on the other hand been a lot worse, at least I am riding again and not taking nearly three months about like from last Dec to Mar.
34.13 miles @ 16.04mph with 38.85ft/mile

From Bryton
View attachment 54777
From Garmin TC

View attachment 54778

and yea I can believe it as it was quite difficult at times, especially the first 10 miles and the last 5 as these were into the wind.

However the 183bpm was when I was trying to get away from a guy on bianchi ( I failed ultimately), but I had caught him after he had overtaken me after a bit of a chase, and the peak was towards the second marker in this clip just where it gets less steep (not thats its steep, though when I started I crawled up it in the lowest gear I had)

View attachment 54779

a 2.4% grade at the time, 89rpm at 13.3mph so thats a 50.2" gear or 40x21 (for those on compacts 34x18 not that there are many 18th cassettes) you wouldn't want to be doing it on a 50th front as you would be in first or second.

Sorry but that just sounded like a foreign language to me Nigel. I have absolutely no
Idea what you were talking about !

 

[Big_Dave]

@Nigelnaturist I thought I was bad at looking at my stat's, but you have taken it to a whole new level, Respect (*Bows Down) I started logging rides on spreadsheets in '08, although now Just use strava/veloviewer and garmin. That reminds me why doesn't veloviewer have cadence logs?

 

[RWright]

I started using the Garmin express program and synced Garmin Connect to Strava. I like that I just plug in my Garmin to my computer and it automatically goes to both Garmin and Strava sites. I only have to go to Strava and put in the bike I actually ride (mostly for maintenance reasons but to check out some performance things too) because I am too lazy to change bikes in the bike computer settings before I ride. I am getting the fitness back slowly but just trying to be consistent for now. Hopefully I can pick things up a little more in Sept.



For August:
Count: 30 Activities
Distance: 377.86 mi
Time: 30:10:34 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 11,879 ft
Avg Speed:
12.5 mph

 

[SpokeyDokey]

What SPD cleats do you have, there are a couple of types if you have mtb spd cleat, sh-56 cleats are the better ones as they unclip easier at different angles (they are silver coloured) whereas the standard spd cleats (sh-51 black coloured) are harder to unclip even with the pedal in the weakest spring position

I agree with you.

Have posted this time and again but not sure anyone does much about it.

I think @Nomadski has posted it on a number of occasions.

With SH56's fitted there are no 'clipless moments'.

I think these should be the default beginners cleat - although why anyone would want to switch to SH51's after would be beyond me.

I'm not sure why 'clipless moments' generate such mirth - often the rider gets hurt plus the (often new & shiny) bike gets damaged too,