Show us your.......newbie progress!

[Osprey]

On November the 29th 2014 I I struggled around a15 mile ride today I did my first 50 miler and managed it in under 4 hours with 1200ft of climbing

Impressive loop you cycled there. How busy are the roads from Carmarthen? I,m regular on the kidwelly ferry side route but never Carmarthen back. I might try that from here for my January metric century ride.

 

[welshwheels]

There ok mostly all been down graded to 40 mph I used to commute to Carmarthen when I lived in kidwelly I didn't fancy the lane between ferryside and kidwelly past the holiday camp if I can avoid getting covered in cow shoot I will

 

[Leescfc79]

20mph winds and freezing cold so thought it would be perfect for my first ride of 2015.

http://app.strava.com/activities/238052342

 

[Big_Dave]

Not a bad start to the year (for me) having done 116 miles so far, (edit was out again tonight for a ride, now at 140miles). My target for this month is to do at least 254.8 miles (Based on 3000 miles for year divided by 365 x 31, February will have a target of at least 230.14 miles 300/365x28) I thought it would be better to vary the monthly targets slightly for some unknown reason .

 

[Mo1959]

No cycling today but I did fit a new chain and cassette ready for the next ride...........which may not be for a few days if the predicted stormy weather arrives. Hopefully it may not be as bad down this way as further north.

 

[welshwheels]

Yes I did this ride again

On November the 29th 2014 I I struggled around a15 mile ride today I did my first 50 miler and managed it in under 4 hours with 1200ft of climbing

. So that's 2 50 milers this week

 

[Stonechat]

Did box hill twice
Failed to follow planned route twice, so not quite as much climbing as I had planned
https://www.strava.com/activities/238768194
Very windy , was struggling to make 12 mph in the last few miles

52.19 miles 13.2 mph
2516 feet climbed

 

[Berk on a Bike]

As of today my (t)rusty steed lives in the conservatory. This move barely raised an eyebrow on Mrs. Berk. I fear I'll pay for it in other ways...

 

[Big_Dave]

As of today my (t)rusty steed lives in the conservatory. This move barely raised an eyebrow on Mrs. Berk. I fear I'll pay for it in other ways...

My bikes have lived in the house for the past 15yrs, and I can honestly say after all this time, the mrs will never get used to the idea but she does put up with it bless her

 

[Justinslow]

https://www.strava.com/activities/238821387
This afternoons/ tonight's ride, 41 miles, the first 20 rapid, the 20 home into a headwind less so.
Had my first clipless crash aswell when I dropped my bottle in a rather exhausted state in the dark, my first reaction was to stop Suddenly forgetting I was clipped in to retrieve the bottle, cue slow speed tumble to the right towards the middle of the road! Luckily nothing behind me, although someone coming the other way slowed down and must have wondered what the hell was going on seeing me sprawling on my side trying to protect my bike! Luckily no harm done to me or the bike, did shake me up a bit though. It does show up the perils of riding exhausted, in the dark, clipped in, in a strong headwind, lesson learned -be more careful. The wind nearly took me into the ditch several times aswell.
Anyway I made it home completely shattered, shaking and a little bit dizzy with my legs spent, so had a cup of tea with two spoons of sugar and a slice of home made fruit cake and a hot bath!
I must admit with about 10 miles still to go in the dark against the headwind I did swear rather loudly........lots, and say to myself what the bloody hell am I doing! Now looking back there is a feeling of achievement which I get on all my rides afterwards and sometimes during, which I guess is why I do it. That damn headwind though, just about did me in.
As an aside, I've just fitted crud road racer 2's and was well pleased with them, worked really well with a lot of water on the roads in places. As I've only got the one roadie, I couldn't put up with all the mess without guards (or waiting for dry roads).

 

[Eribiste]

I do find a stiff headwind to be somewhat wearing. With a hill, eventually one reaches the top, rewarded by the view, the achievement and the downhill rush back down again, but the wind just seems relentless to me. Like Justinslow, my steed has Crud rr2's fitted to protect me, and other riders when I'm doing audax' or sportives. They do their job well.

 

[Big_Dave]

I used to hate going out in wind for years mtb'ing, bearing in mind I have the surface area and aerodynamics of a double decker bus, although since taking up road cycling I have become a bit more tolerant of it, stick the bike in a low gear, spin and plod along, personally speaking you are better off dropping the speed and taking your time it requires a lot less effort, the actual affective loss of my average speed is around 10% in a headwind but in speed terms is only about 1mph to 1.2mph. but trying to improve your average speed by 1mph takes a lot of bloomin' effort. Ride safe folks

 

[Stonechat]

I think the loss of speed in a headwind depends on the wind speed
Yesterday was doing 12-13 mph on a flat road when I should have been doing 16-18 mph

 

[Justinslow]

One of my segments yesterday coming home - my best is 18 mph average over 8.1 miles, yesterday it was 13.3 mph, pretty much exactly what you said Stonechat!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@Stonechat as @Big_Dave says the required effort to maintain a higher speed is not worth the effort, I used to hate the wind when I started, but learnt as Dave says just to drop a couple of gears and find the right one you can spin at, the resultant loss of speed is not really important.