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

[stevey]

Your a youngster then!

Tell you what guys/gals i am 47 but since taking up cycling to lose the weight (16st) i literally do feel 10 yrs younger.

Having many years of eating c**p and the booze i now have endless bounds of energy, and have not felt this good since my teenage yrs (much to the o/h annoyance sometimes)

 

[Hill Wimp]

Tell you what guys/gals i am 47 but since taking up cycling to lose the weight (16st) i literally do feel 10 yrs younger.

Having many years of eating c**p and the booze i now have endless bounds of energy, and have not felt this good since my teenage yrs (much to the o/h annoyance sometimes)

I know what you mean though some days, usually about 3/4 of the way round i feel i have aged 10 years. Doesn't last for long though as i just think about all the other things i could/should be doing and wehey my cadence increases, i turn left instead of right, away from home, and add more lovely miles onto the ride.

Served me well so far

 

[Mo1959]

@stevey Well done. It's a great feeling isn't it.

Walking the dog yesterday met a guy and his wife that I often meet walking theirs and having a chinwag. Mentioned how much better and fitter I was feeling since giving up stressful work and getting into the cycling and they both agreed that they could see a real difference in me which was lovely.

 

[stevey]

@Mo1959 I think it hit home yesterday went to o/h's sisters bbq and the people who we hadn't seen for around 6 months thought she had a new fella!!!!! i kid you not.

 

[Hill Wimp]

@Mo1959 I think it hit home yesterday went to o/h's sisters bbq and the people who we hadn't seen for around 6 months thought she had a new fella!!!!! i kid you not.

Bet you felt good.

 

[stevey]

Bet you felt good.

It was ok.... kept being asked "how did you do it?"

My reply was simple "cut out the crap proccesed food eat lean and seriously cut down the booze and bloody hard work" There is no magic pill or potion if you are serious and you wanna change only YOU can do it.

Same with the women at work do it for a couple of weeks then they realize its not easy loose interest then go to the sandwich van outside work

 

[Ciar]

Yesterday I visited Hadleigh country park with a few guys from a local MTB club, going by one of the guys stravas we did 18.8 miles, plenty of very quick trails and quite a few hairy moments, we even did some dirt jumping which I joined in on, fun until the third jump I stacked and slid along the ground for about 2 meters :-) now a tad sore left shoulder and hip and a big ole grazed/bruised arm.

Was a great day out though we even rode through the castle and managed to ride a couple of bits of the Olympic track, only part I regret was the met office misleading me and it not raining! It was a toasty day ;-)

 

[Shaun]

Well if you don't ask you don't get... I wonder if @Shaun might donate something... if they exist what about a cycle chat cap, dosen't have to be new? I'm sure one of us from the thread could collect it from him.

I think there are three CC jerseys floating around - have a look in the CC Jersey Relay thread, you should be able to find the current holders and ping them to see if they'd be happy to meet up and pass it on. Also, try the link in the first post of that thread - it should be a shorter thread detailing just the hand-overs.

Cheers,
Shaun

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Tell you what guys/gals i am 47 but since taking up cycling to lose the weight (16st) i literally do feel 10 yrs younger.

Having many years of eating c**p and the booze i now have endless bounds of energy, and have not felt this good since my teenage yrs (much to the o/h annoyance sometimes)

My age is under my avatar - it's due to change in the not too distant future! My head feels a lot younger though!

I have tried to stay fit-ish since my early thirties and I think I am doing ok. I'm by no means an athlete but I do notice that within my circle of friends of similar age that they are polarised between those that do some form of sport and those that don't with the latter generally being fatter and more prone to ailments. The latter also wear different clothes - baggy T's and bottoms whereas the former still wear 'fitted' stuff.

Saying all that my back hurts like hell today - there's another thread on that in Beginners.

I do rather like the low-impactness of cycling on my knees. When I am coming down off my beloved mountains it is obvious that my suspension is not performing quite as well as it used to!

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Was going for a light ride today (whatever one of those is) but it started storming last night (spectacular lightening over the mountains and our windows shook when the thunder was overhead) but my back hurts and Mrs SD has said that ...idiocy and yours truly are great bedfellows and she has 'banned' me for my own good!

However, it is still chucking it down so maybe the weather has saved me and I'll not have to cause a scene by ducking my 'ban'.

 

[stevey]

Time to clean the bike,

Ride today,http://app.strava.com/activities/70376167

 

[AndyPeace]

I think there are three CC jerseys floating around - have a look in the CC Jersey Relay thread, you should be able to find the current holders and ping them to see if they'd be happy to meet up and pass it on. Also, try the link in the first post of that thread - it should be a shorter thread detailing just the hand-overs.

Cheers,
Shaun

I've put a post in quoting who I think currently holds the Jerseys, though it looks like the Jersey's lulled in 2012. I couldn't get the shortened handover link at the top of the thread to work, came back with some error or other. We'll see what comes,
thanks

 

[araapatlio]

Well, that was a very enjoyable ride! A great way to spend a Sunday morning
http://app.strava.com/activities/70381672

33.5miles (53.6km) - a little bit (well, 10miles...) longer than I'd planned though!

I was riding in a loop and had two loops in mind, depending on how I felt, so I went past the first exit-point feeling good and I thought I'd go on to the next one, but I didn't realise that I should've taken a small left turn, to keep going north north west as the road bent north east, so I ended up going in an even bigger loop. As a result, I got a little lost (and as you can see, had to double back on myself at one point) - but it was a very enjoyable ride so it worked out really well!

Strava only recorded 25.2 miles of it - but I think I know why now as when I had finished, I looked at my phone and the battery was low, 11% and it pops up to tell me this and certain things switch off automatically - GPS presumably being one of them.

Average speed of 14.6mph for the part Strava was able to record, I make it 15.0mph average overall (given start/finish - stopping time and distance) as it was more downhill on the way back - so I'm very pleased with that.
My top speed was 34.2mph, which is very good (for me) especially as I did not feel at all insecure. Annoyingly, I'm sure there was an even faster descent on the way back that wasn't recorded by my phone.

I was very pleased with some of the segments, I broke into the top half, on the Fen Lane descent without pushing at all (133/308 and 150/333, same stretch, one segment shorter than the other) and the 182/437 on the following part. The climbs I really enjoyed, but didn't push hard on them as I didn't want to aggravate my knees (that is my excuse for appalling segments!). Knees still feel good - I think it was 20 miles on a bike that was too small for me that other day that did it.

I'm going to have to reposition the seat though, height is fine, just need it farther back.

 

[MaxInc]

Beautiful day today with temperatures perfect for cycling and just enough wind to keep you cool. Hope you guys are enjoying your Sunday.

The RS10 Wheels are beginning to get onto my nerves. I managed to bust another spoke during the club run today while pushing hard on a little hill. The wheel was so buckled that I had to release the rear brake to allow it to spin. This is the second time in 2 weeks. The group was supportive and offered to help by trying to release some of the tension on the opposite side but unfortunately none of the spoke keys could fit the Shimano nipples I decided to end my ride there rather than push my luck later on a fast downhill with no rear brake. I did coast it for another 10k until I got to a point where it was easy for my wife to pick me up.

I will probably fix the wheel one more time and if they keep breaking, I'll throw them in the bin and get something with a higher spoke count.

http://app.strava.com/athletes/2036239

On the positive side I was able to achieve 15mph on the first half of the ride and most of it in Z2 which is an excellent indicator to judge my overall fitness level. It wasn't long ago when I was gasping for air my legs were burning like hell after my first 1km ride to the grocery store, I'm still amazed how much the human body can adapt in such a short amount of time.

Didn't quite make it the 200km week as I would have hoped but I do have something better to celebrate and that is reaching the 1,000 mile mark since I started three months ago

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Beautiful day today with temperatures perfect for cycling and just enough wind to keep you cool. Hope you guys are enjoying your Sunday.

The RS10 Wheels are beginning to get onto my nerves. I managed to bust another spoke during the club run today while pushing hard on a little hill. The wheel was so buckled that I had to release the rear brake to allow it to spin. This is the second time in 2 weeks. The group was supportive and offered to help by trying to release some of the tension on the opposite side but unfortunately none of the spoke keys could fit the Shimano nipples I decided to end my ride there rather than push my luck later on a fast downhill with no rear brake. I did coast it for another 10k until I got to a point where it was easy for my wife to pick me up.

I will probably fix the wheel one more time and if they keep breaking, I'll throw them in the bin and get something with a higher spoke count.

http://app.strava.com/athletes/2036239

On the positive side I was able to achieve 15mph on the first half of the ride and most of it in Z2 which is an excellent indicator to judge my overall fitness level. It wasn't long ago when I was gasping for air my legs were burning like hell after my first 1km ride to the grocery store, I'm still amazed how much the human body can adapt in such a short amount of time.

Didn't quite make it the 200km week as I would have hoped but I do have something better to celebrate and that is reaching the 1,000 mile mark since I started three months ago

Well done on the 1000 miles: that's some going! I'm chuffed as i have now done over 800 miles for the year! Bit of a difference.

When I ordered my new bike way back in September last year (delivered November) I did look at having different wheels fitted with lower spoke counts (they do look quite nice) but was advised to stick with my 32's based on my weight, the state of my local roads and my occasional forays off road. I think these very low spoke count wheels are great for 10 stone whippets on smooth roads but alas I am neither the former nor have access to the latter.