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

[LeeOsborne]

I would say very good, the most I have done recently is 63.63ft/mile over the course which was 2723ft over 42.8 miles @ 13.60mph, but it did include a cat4 climb.

Cheers, it's good to get some feedback on progress, etc. I averaged 12.8mph too over this. Not sure what a cat4 climb is but we did a couple of serious climbs, one of which, I have to admit, I used a telegraph pole to rest against for a few seconds, that was after about 45 miles though.
I'll keep going and hopefully improve a bit, once I get my bike back that is after today's little off

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Cheers, it's good to get some feedback on progress, etc. I averaged 12.8mph too over this. Not sure what a cat4 climb is but we did a couple of serious climbs, one of which, I have to admit, I used a telegraph pole to rest against for a few seconds, that was after about 45 miles though.
I'll keep going and hopefully improve a bit, once I get my bike back that is after today's little off

This was the cat4 I did
http://app.strava.com/activities/52110281#935955506
it's a classification of difficulty of a climb.

You will get better especially if you can do that sort of distance and elevation already, its just a matter of improving bit by bit.

 

[Andy Smith]

I can manage 17-18 over flat ground for that sort of distance, the routes I do aren't flat, there not hilly by any means, but flat there not. If you can show me away of getting any sort a decent bike on £25 a week, I will snap your hand off.
Besides I started with the aim of getting to about 15mph, so I can take my camera kit, which I can now do, give or take.

I do understand Nigel and appreciate it's not perhaps possible at the moment, but your right you did say you wanted to get an 'ave of 15 so well done on that. Apologies if my remark seemed a bit flippant, not intended I assure you.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

I do understand Nigel and appreciate it's not perhaps possible at the moment, but your right you did say you wanted to get an 'ave of 15 so well done on that. Apologies if my remark seemed a bit flippant, not intended I assure you.

It's ok, no apologie needed, I understand what you meant, the best I probably could do is the like of a triban 5A, or maybe 2nd hand. Lets see what the new gearing brings, I was quite surprised as to how easy the 40/52th rings were, admittedly, I have changed the teeth on gear 1 and 2 from 24/21 to 28/24 to help compensate, as it turned out gears 3,4, and 5 were so worn when I put the new chain on, I ended up using the rest of the gears from the MTB cassette I have, gave it a quick spin and everything seems fine, it's just the stepping from the 15th gog is a little steep than the road cassette i.e. it was 11/13/15/17/19/21/24 it is now 11/13/15/18/21/24/28 but the new (my original chain set 30/40/52 the one I just replaced was 26/38/48) has better stepping for example if I drop one on the front and one on the rear the over all effect is to go up one gear, I still have an ultra low 1st at 28" and a high of 124" .
The only problem is that the B.C.D. of the inner ring is an odd size, though to be honest i dont see it wearing out any time soon, unlike the other two.

 

[LeeOsborne]

This was the cat4 I did
http://app.strava.com/activities/52110281#935955506
it's a classification of difficulty of a climb.

You will get better especially if you can do that sort of distance and elevation already, its just a matter of improving bit by bit.

Ah, right, thanks Nigel.
I'll have to get onto Strava, seems everybody here uses it. I use Endomundo at the moment.
Here's my run from Sunday, at about 44 miles we hit a nasty little hill, legs were burning big style.
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/1...re=imperial&o=course&fb_source=feed_opengraph
I do slow quite a bit on steep climbs whereas a few people I go out with seem to do it easier. I might just be expecting too much of myself

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Ah, right, thanks Nigel.
I'll have to get onto Strava, seems everybody here uses it. I use Endomundo at the moment.
Here's my run from Sunday, at about 44 miles we hit a nasty little hill, legs were burning big style.
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/1...re=imperial&o=course&fb_source=feed_opengraph
I do slow quite a bit on steep climbs whereas a few people I go out with seem to do it easier. I might just be expecting too much of myself

You can (or could) export from endomondo to a tcx file and upload that to strava. I used Endomondo on the nokia N95 when I started tracking my rides in Aug, it wasn't the best at tracking, but all I had.
Dont be afraid of using a gear or two lower than you think and spinning faster, it harder to do IMHO than getting out of the saddle (but then when I started I couldn't really do that either), and sometimes you have to, but when you can do it you will general be a little faster.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Well I went out with the new drive train, and as I expected the gap between 15/18/21 is quite large, but overall it felt good, need to adjust front mech as it came off both on high and low changes, the rear range is such that there isn't so much changing on the front and even on just the 40th ring it covers most of what I do, so I guess a Sora 9sp triple might be ideal, now I have some experience of what is what.
The ride well I got a few p.b's 6 in total this I am pleased with as it is the mile or so to the house.
http://app.strava.com/activities/53059069#957924552
11's quicker 1.3 miles @ 18.8mph. avg grade 0.1%
This one was 15's quicker.
http://app.strava.com/activities/53059069#957924561
1.5 miles @ 17.4mph avg grade 0.1%
This one 5's quicker
http://app.strava.com/activities/53059069#957924554
0.4 miles @ 15.6 mph avg grade 1.5%
and this, whilst not as quick as Simon, I do seem to get quicker on it each time.
http://app.strava.com/activities/53059069#957924548
0.7 miles @ 9mph same speed as last time but 2's quicker. avg grade 4.7%
The whole climb for the last one
http://app.strava.com/activities/53059069#957924544
1.2 miles @ 10.8 11's quicker avg grade 2%
http://app.strava.com/activities/53059069

 

[MaxInc]

Ok, bragging time for me too hehe I managed my first top 10 out of 87 on a 1.7km segment that I've been doing part of my route. This is very motivating since I could have pushed to shave some of the remaining 20 seconds. Last week I only managed a disappointing 84 place so it's a jump worth celebrating ... hehe.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Ok, bragging time for me too hehe I managed my first top 10 out of 87 on a 1.7km segment that I've been doing part of my route. This is very motivating since I could have pushed to shave some of the remaining 20 seconds. Last week I only managed a disappointing 84 place so it's a jump worth celebrating ... hehe.

I don't worry about where I am, as it's usually the bottom 50%, but it's nice to see your p.b's improve.
Well done,

 

[Mo1959]

I don't worry about where I am, as it's usually the bottom 50%, but it's nice to see your p.b's improve.
Well done,

My sole Strava segment ambition is not to be last on any of them!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

My sole Strava segment ambition is not to be last on any of them!

I think I am on one or two.

 

[RWright]

I think I am on one or two.

I am last on one that must have had a race on it. I didn't know it was there and was stopping and climbing the hills from stops at the bottom and even went backwards a couple of times on it to get a picture, but it looks bad. There are a few times on it I think I can beat to get off the bottom but it is a tough segment with some fast race times on it. It is 6.2 miles and I only need to improve by 37 minutes to get KOM.

I just looked at it again, it might not have been a race but I recognize some of names of the riders at the top, they are good. Top 3 were at 24 mph avg. on it. I don't think I will ever get KOM on this one.

 

[spooks]

27 not so fast miles today. My legs haven't recovered from Dartmoor yet and I was cold because I was stupid enough not to take a rain jacket and ended up getting soaked through! I have a 42 mile ride planned for Sunday though which will be the longest yet (slightly weather depending).

 

[Mo1959]

I think I am on one or two.

Well, I must admit, if I narrow it down to just females I am too. There are half a dozen really fast women around here that actually leave most of the guys standing so if they have done a segment I am trailing way behind. Lol

 

[spooks]

Well, I must admit, if I narrow it down to just females I am too. There are half a dozen really fast women around here that actually leave most of the guys standing so if they have done a segment I am trailing way behind. Lol

I'm the opposite. It looks awful when I compare to men and women but when it's just women I shoot up the order. Usually against the men I'm somewhere around the 250 out of 300 level but against the women I'm steadily climbing my way up some of the lists and and top half in a few.