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

[RWright]

I went for a very eventful ride up to my local shop (5 minutes ride tops). Shifter/gear cable popped out of the front dérailleur mounting. Didn't think much about it and thought it wouldn't be to hard to put it back on, 4 hours later and finally finding Park Tools guide I have it working again.

~Only problem now is rear is buggered. Tried changing gear and it wouldn't change to smallest cog, and when changing up the cassette it suddenly decided to park the whole dérailleur in between the rear spokes I don't think I have bent any, cross fingers.

Ouch, good luck getting it sorted out quickly and smoothly.

 

[Kins]

Well the back hanger was bent inwards, so wouldn't select smallest cog (or whatever your supposed to call the smallest on the cassette). straightened it somewhat with some brute force and ignorance and gone through the few stages of the Park Tools rear guide and after a quick panic that I had buggered up the front again, a slight tweak and all is smooth as silk..... ish!

Happy, steep learning curve but got there in the end.

 

[Reece]

Well some serious training for me once Xmas is out the way.

Received a message from a friend from my club, asking if I was interested in doing the wiggle sportive "the long one!"

I checked the website and said I'm interested. Next day he messages back saying all paid for and four of us doing it. 127 mile route with 9 major climbs! Looking forward to it though, even with having the 80mile no excuses sportive in march.

 

[BrianEvesham]

That makes my target 100k ride in april look like a jaunt to the shops for you!
Good luck with these Reece.

 

[Reece]

That makes my target 100k ride in april look like a jaunt to the shops for you!
Good luck with these Reece.

Cheers Brian.

91 miles is my best yet so the 80mile one should go ok and I've found 60 miles plus for me is just to keep myself well hydrated and feeding myself every 30mins after I've been riding 90mins, with bananas, fig rolls and gels etc

 

[Typhon]

The harder the ride, the bigger the endorphin release

True! Unfortunately once that had worn off and the reality hit me the next day though and I didn't go out. So it's just been one ride for me in the last two and a half weeks. I'm working from home now until the 7th of Jan so I need to get out and do some serious training. It's just a shame the weather has been so dreadful lately! It's starting to flood around here again and it's going to rain all tomorrow so I'm going to try and get out today and get a decent ride in, then perhaps try and go out on Sunday.

And wow Reece, 127 miles! I'm sure you'll manage it though.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Well some serious training for me once Xmas is out the way.

Received a message from a friend from my club, asking if I was interested in doing the wiggle sportive "the long one!"

I checked the website and said I'm interested. Next day he messages back saying all paid for and four of us doing it. 127 mile route with 9 major climbs! Looking forward to it though, even with having the 80mile no excuses sportive in march.

I can't decide whether I am jealous that I am not in a fit enough state to do this, or that you are just plain mad. Good luck with it

 

[BrianEvesham]

I am off now till after Christmas and have two very excited little boys waiting for Santa (I know, I have told them!)
It is a lovely sunny day here but I don't think I will get away with a ride out as I am needed to help "control" them.

I will get to fit the shorter stem that arrived yesterday though.

 

[Kins]

Did about an hour and a half, mainly pottering about looking for new (to me) cycle tracks. Dull and overcast day which made me think it would become cold and wet. It didn't so I sweated my proverbials off because I couldn't be arsed to stop and delayer. Bath and a beer and all will be right with the world. And I really need to buy some mudguards, I looked like I had been down the pit when I came home.

 

[simmi]

Yes! I am over the moon 100k on the shortest day!

http://app.strava.com/activities/33327813

With 3 rides over 50 miles under my belt I have been wanting to do the metric ton for a few weeks.
It was starting to look like I was not going to manage it in 2012.

I planned a route that was nice and flat a lot of it on opposite side of the river Trent.

I took it very steady 62.4 miles in 4:26:23 average speed 14.1mph.

I had planned the route on my Garmin edge 500 and when I was getting towards home I could tell I was going to come up about a mile short so had to alter my route a little to make it longer.
Has anyone else noticed this with their GPS? I had the same with my first 50, I took 2 wrong turn so added about a mile of extra distance and still only just made the 50.
It is no big deal will just have to add about 2% extra when going for set distances.

Does anyone know the next milestone after 100K, please don't say 100 miles an extra 38 miles would take a huge extra effort (and about a year to build up to it)

Going to lie down in a darkened room for a few hours, out on a Christmas do tonight so need to recover a bit first.

 

[Typhon]

Decided to do 26 miles as I did 19 miles last Saturday and I am still getting back into the swing of things. It's gonna rain all day tomorrow but it's (hopefully) going to just be overcast on Sunday so I'll aim for 30-35 miles.

http://app.strava.com/athletes/1148678

@Brian Bless them, I wish I could get that excited about Christmas thesedays! Hopefully you can get a ride out on sunday too.

@ Kins I am thinking about mudguards too. I normally get mud all over my back but today I got it all over my front and some in my beard too, not nice.

@simmi That's fantastic! Well done on your first 100k I sometimes have inconsistencies with strava for android but they mostly relate to speed, otherwise it's normally only 0.1% or 0.2% out from the distances on google maps. I don't think there is another milestone before 100 miles but you can just make your own. Perhaps 75 next?

 

[Kins]

Yes! I am over the moon 100k on the shortest day!

Great achievement, well done!

 

[BrianEvesham]

Well done Simmi on the 100k barrier, can't wait to get there in the new year ( and I will).

Typhon they are so wound up its painfull.
I did manage to fit the new shorter stem but have not tried it out yet. Did give the bike a good clean though.

 

[BrianEvesham]

Kins, I have been thinking about some mudguards for the T3 but not sure which ones to go for, I like the look and price of the crud road race mk2's which generally seem recommended on here.

 

[Typhon]

Well done Simmi on the 100k barrier, can't wait to get there in the new year ( and I will).

Typhon they are so wound up its painfull.
I did manage to fit the new shorter stem but have not tried it out yet. Did give the bike a good clean though.

Oh dear, sounds like you could do with getting out on the bike to get a break! I cleaned mine when I got back today too, it was literally more brown than red. You'd think I'd been mountain biking!