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

[Cold]

Blimey, and you averaged 15.4mph. He must have been fit to overtake you on a mtb.

I was coming down a small hill and heard this strange noise turned round and he went flying past me and just kept going, I did try to catch him but the closest I got was about 100ft but he never slowed down so I gave up

 

[Reece]

Out with a few friends to do a couple of reps of Beacon Hill earlier. Set a target of 6.30 on the LFCC Beacon Hill segment. Went for it and came in at 6.19 so I'm happy. Next target is sub 6.

Also to add anyone looking at aluminium Road bikes check out Rose bikes online. Got a stunning 8kg Road bike at £840. Slight wait as ships from Germany but cracking bike.

 

[Harv]

Trying to get my other half in to cycling.

Just took her out on her second bike ride (first one on the roads):

http://www.strava.com/activities/134687276/overview

Nice leisurely pace.

 

[Nomadski]

@stevey - Lovely looking bike that, carbon too! Wonder why they dont give an option for Shimano cassette when the rest of the groupset is Shimano?

@L14M - Glad to hear your ok

Was going out for a ride, but warned of bad weather which seems to have held off round my area at least. Will probably go for a shoot around RP tomorrow as I have to concentrate on getting a job application sorted.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Thanks Nigel. I'm wishing I had gone out yesterday now. Might have got 3rd spot. Lol. In saying that, there could still be riders who are going to just enter at the last minute and log all their rides. In any case, my ambition was purely to finish and a top ten was a bonus so well chuffed.

Where ever you end up Mo its one hell of an achievement so I think you deserve this from all of us ( I thought there was a cup one), I manage 2/3rds of it in the end, I am still on target for the strava one. I also noticed @Supersuperleeds was up in the top 5 of night riding I think.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@stevey - Lovely looking bike that, carbon too! Wonder why they dont give an option for Shimano cassette when the rest of the groupset is Shimano?

It is said by some that Sram cassettes are better, I know this 9sp HG50 doesn't seem to shift as well as the 8sp one, could be its just new or not use to it yet ( I am a slow learner), or the 9sp sora not as good as the 8sp.

Well I just beat the forecast showers, I was dressed for them to, then the Sun came out, back in for the middle bit so it cooler, then the last 5 miles it got a tad warm.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

now trying to work out if I can get 304km done this week to complete the Spring Classics Strava challenge, having failed at the veloviewer one - it was the week out off ill & then no road bike that did me in! (@Mo1959 congrats on completing it!)
The problem is that I only have 2 * parent's commutes (140km) plus 2* into town commutes (40km) planned this week I was going to be going to Bristol with my OH on Thursday pm & Friday.. If I add on cycling to my mum's on Sunday instead of going by car, that will take me to 250km... think I may have to go searching for some more kms.... @Mo1959 can I borrow some of your's please? seems such a shame not to complete a 1,266km challenge by 50km or so! still the forecast weather for this week does not look too bad so may be I can try getting lost on a few journeys and see what happens

 

[welsh dragon]

Its raining here again, but at least I can exercise Indoors. I have started doing aerobic exercises again and it hurts.... ow

 

[Biggler]

I'm unfit and overweight too mate. Just keep plugging away start with a couple of miles or what you feel comfortable with and go from there

To be fair on myself my first ride this year was nothing like my first ride last year which was the first in about 10 years. That ride was 2miles and it was hell.This year I've even beat my nemesis Blakeston Lane hill on the first attempt. I'm surprised at how much 'fitness' I've retained.

I went out this morning and did ~10 miles on the new bike, I loved it, up hills felt a lot easier. I stuck to a newish housing estate with smooth roads and no traffic as I wasnt sure how I'd get on with the new shifters/brakes. - http://www.strava.com/activities/134660178

Been looking at the defy 5 as an entry bike to get into road biking, would interested to see how you get on with it and see a couple of photos if you have any

I got on well, had a little bit of cramp in my hands due to the new position but that went after about 3 miles. I've not got any other road bike to compare it to because this is my first but I'm happy with it. I was looking at the Specialized Allez and the Giant Defy 5. Giant won out in the end as I read it had a more relaxed riding position and I was already more than happy with my Giant Roam hybrid.

The only problems I was having was it felt like the gears were slipping in and out when in the lowest gear. I need to learn how to fix that myself so I'm okay with that happening, as long as it's not a bigger problem :P

I think my next purchase will be pedals/shoes... now I just need to read up on all the options!

And as requested...

 

[welsh dragon]

To be fair on myself my first ride this year was nothing like my first ride last year which was the first in about 10 years. That ride was 2miles and it was hell.This year I've even beat my nemesis Blakeston Lane hill on the first attempt. I'm surprised at how much 'fitness' I've retained.

I went out this morning and did ~10 miles on the new bike, I loved it, up hills felt a lot easier. I stuck to a newish housing estate with smooth roads and no traffic as I wasnt sure how I'd get on with the new shifters/brakes. - http://www.strava.com/activities/134660178


I got on well, had a little bit of cramp in my hands due to the new position but that went after about 3 miles. I've not got any other road bike to compare it to because this is my first but I'm happy with it. I was looking at the Specialized Allez and the Giant Defy 5. Giant won out in the end as I read it had a more relaxed riding position and I was already more than happy with my Giant Roam hybrid.

The only problems I was having was it felt like the gears were slipping in and out when in the lowest gear. I need to learn how to fix that myself so I'm okay with that happening, as long as it's not a bigger problem :P

I think my next purchase will be pedals/shoes... now I just need to read up on all the options!

And as requested...

That's a very nice bike.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@SatNavSaysStraightOn I am just in front of you on it by about 50Km after this mornings ride, currently stands at 27 miles a day, if I get chance to nip out later for a quick 10 miles I can get that down to 25.5miles which then becomes very doable, I just a little tired today as I have only a couple of hours sleep, and been up since 3am, also not stopped really since getting back in the saddle a week thur apart from Sat when I was in agony and Monday when my thighs killed, but I worked through that the rest of the week, some days have been very broken up like Thur/Friday where its been a matter of two or three separate rides in the day. Still I have managed 208.5 in 6 days out of the last 7 and 105 in 4 days out 5 (from a week Thursday to Sunday last ) since I came out of hospital.

@Biggler you will get use to them.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Out with a few friends to do a couple of reps of Beacon Hill earlier. Set a target of 6.30 on the LFCC Beacon Hill segment. Went for it and came in at 6.19 so I'm happy. Next target is sub 6.

Also to add anyone looking at aluminium Road bikes check out Rose bikes online. Got a stunning 8kg Road bike at £840. Slight wait as ships from Germany but cracking bike.

I'm yet to break 7 minutes on Beacon Hill. With the climbing challenge on Strava coming up I need to go do a few reps myself I think.

 

[BrianEvesham]

Not what I had hoped to do today but managed this between showers. So windy !
http://www.strava.com/activities/134727473

Need to re index my gears badly now.

 

[Stonechat]

Did a run today and the weather was never really as bad as forecast. Only problem was a few road-wide puddles on the quieter roads
http://www.strava.com/activities/134709856

33.3 miles at 13.4 mph - in a groups so some slowing and stopping
Just over 1000 feet of climbing

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Thanks Nigel. I'm wishing I had gone out yesterday now. Might have got 3rd spot. Lol. In saying that, there could still be riders who are going to just enter at the last minute and log all their rides. In any case, my ambition was purely to finish and a top ten was a bonus so well chuffed.

Same here, my only target was to finish it, any thing else is a bonus