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The Cycling Thread

Good effort on the fitness Steve! It becomes addictive after a while and with that I've been hooked on watching all the cycling coverage on TV with the tour, championships, the Giro and others in between.

Just annoying now we're into the winter months, rubbish weather and darker mornings and nights.
I'd rather watch paint dry than watch cycling on TV. Its as bad as golf.

Good for fitness yes but its put weight ON for me. 84kg to ~90kg. My legs are considerably less chicken-like than they were before though.
 
It's funny, Peterborough doesn't have a Decathlon, so this one is at a small out of town shopping centre in Rushden Lakes, not far from Santa Pod..

Not sure why Peterboghorror doesn't have it's own yet..?
 
I was torn between a hybrid and road bike also. I went with the hybrid in the end as I primarily needed a bike to get to work and back, I use the cycle lanes when they actually make sense so had to factor in dropping off and mounting curbs plus the fact they’re generally muddy or slippery so skinny slicks are not suitable. That said I did change the tyres to cityjets as it is mostly road riding. I also changed the pedals so I could use cleats but found a set which would allow me to wear normal shoes also. It’s a compromise as I use the bike as an all rounder but I’m happy with it, I can do family bike rides and fast commuting (when my fitness level allows as If I’ve not ridden in awhile I struggle with the higher gears).

I have disc brakes but find them annoying as they squeal and act strangely in the wet, another reason why hybrid made more sense as I fitted mud guards to limit the amount of road dirt I was covered in by the time I got to work, not really a problem as I wore padded shorts and a proper top and changed when I got there. Seemed silly having a road bike and ruining the aerodynamics by fitting mud guards.

Milage wise it wasn’t much, 16 mile round trip, if I fancy a ride on my own I won’t do more than 10 as I get bored and think of all the other things I could be doing instead, which I won’t actually do anyway because I’m lazy and unmotivated. During lock down I took my 7 year old on bike rides to keep his fitness up as he wasn’t able to play football, he did really well as he rode a single speed bmx/mountain bike and was maxing out around 6 miles. He wants a new bike with gears but I think it can wait until spring now.
 
Made me sweat just reading through, just started looking at a decent full suspension mountain bike . Off road all the way for me . I can’t see myself and Lycra becoming friends.
Full respect for road cyclists but your braver than me , pot holes inconsiderate car drivers etc
 
Well that was an eventful end to the ride! 4 miles out from base and the 4 month old chain snapped apart leaving me stranded and freewheeling it back. Also, the weather was down for light cloud and 11 degrees which is was until mile 26 when you could see the heavy drizzle coming towards me! Luckily I factored a stop at a pub en route so I had a cuppa there. The couple of hours were sunny, all in all I still managed 52 miles when the chain departed so I managed to achieve the 50.

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It's fair to say I have a little bit of a bike obsession, 13 currently and with my sons race bikes we have about 20 in total now. It it were not for bloody bikes I would have got my 5 put back together years ago. Instead I've been too busy riding so the 5's just sitting there. Still one day it will be finished.

Here's a few highlights you might find interesting.

I was always a mountain biker but jumped on the gravel bandwagon and got this Cannondale Slate CX1. I cant leave anything OE so it's pretty heavily customised now. After getting this I was quite enjoying the mix of road and dirt and actually started to get more into road riding. 2018 saw me do the London to Paris 24 hour on the Slate but then that got me thinking....



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That maybe I needed a road bike as well. So this Cervelo joined the collection. Again virtually everything changed from standard.

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But my favourite still has to be my S-Works Stumpjumper HT. It's a bit old now, 2013 model, but it's simply the best mountain bike I have owned and I have had quite a few. Weight is about 9.5kg with the upside down RS1 fork. Can get it under 9kg with the original forks and a few tweaks.

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Bike is back together, I bought a couple of split links, inner tube and puncture repair kit as it had a slow puncture. Wheels off, gave it a clean and took it out for a 12 mile ride just to make sure it's A-ok. Bar slight adjustment on the gearing it's ok, oh I've also ordered new Continental Ultrasport 3 tyres as the ones on the Mavic wheels have seen better days, 28mm front, 25mm rear.

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Started sorting through some winter clothing as well as ordering new tyres.

Gore overarms, legs and cap, will order some Gore windproof overshoes as well
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Continental Ultrasport 3s, the newer versions of what I have already.
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Funny you post about tyres @Ricardo , I was today thinking about some winter tyres today.

Are those 28mm ones any wider Than what you normally run??
The Continental Ultrasport 2s came with the carbon wheels, the chap I bought them off does Time Trial riding and he said to me to ride the 28mm up front for better grip on turn in on corners especially when it's wet. He fitted the 25mm rear and 28mm front to the wheels then fitted the wheels to the bike, he also dialled in the gears so to be fair I had a result when buying the wheels 😃

You do physically notice the tyre width difference
 
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