Pedal Power Thread

you're going to need a lot of extra bottle cages to keep to that hydration schedule... or one of those "team support cars" to follow you... :lol:
 
bastic said:
during ride on Sunday, I had cramps like never before...
we thought it might be food as I went on empty stomach.
But after conversation with a mate of mine, who is full time athlete, he says that cramps are result of dehydration.

1l of water for one hour of exercise and 1l after for every lost kg of weight
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Sounds like a lot Lukas, we didn't ride hard and the weather was quite cool. I was slightly dehydrated post ride, having had less than 750ml during the ride but didn't cramp up. I still think its more likely lack of food/electrolytes pre ride as well as a bike you were not entirely comfortable on. Still, I wouldn't take that as any sort of normal ride with the constant stop/start, more like a 50 mile long London commute! :)

My strava is http://www.strava.com/athletes/jim_swales by the way.
 
menthel said:
Sounds like a lot Lukas, we didn't ride hard and the weather was quite cool. I was slightly dehydrated post ride, having had less than 750ml during the ride but didn't cramp up. I still think its more likely lack of food/electrolytes pre ride as well as a bike you were not entirely comfortable on. Still, I wouldn't take that as any sort of normal ride with the constant stop/start, more like a 50 mile long London commute! :)

My strava is http://www.strava.com/athletes/jim_swales by the way.
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added you on strava ;)
need to use mine more often ...

I have to say I had not much to drink before or during ride...just bottle at first stop and less than half until second...so not much...
anyhow...need to get out more often :)
 
neil_g said:
Did you get your mech sorted?
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Had no time yesterday...hopefully today will take it apart again. I have a feeling that i attached it wrong to hanger -if it is possible :)
I think this screw is not pushing anything at the moment as on your photo...
 
neil_g said:
sounds like that screw might not be the right side of the sticky out bit then
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Yes,possibly
Maybe deraikeur was attached not like it should...
 
Any commuter/roadies out there- what shoes are you using for colder weather. My current SPD ones have lots of mesh and my tooties get cold despite my woolie boolies. I have people recommending boots but it seems a little extreme. ;)
 
Anti Tour Rant...

We live about 100 yards from the entry road into Exeter for the tour and the road (always overparked) is getting even more so. To top it off, it's the MiL's birthday (and has been since way before the tour's inception!) and we're taking her out for lunch. Problem 2 is that she lives up the road that the tour's coming down and so that road is closed to all traffic for the tour to pass. Shortly before lunchtime. To avoid this problem, we'll have to go the long way round (about double the miles) and go up the motorway. Problem 3 is that there's a sprint which is passing the bottom of HER road and the speed at which the road's likely to be reopened will be considerably slower that the psycholists who will be speeding through a 20MPH limit at about double that.

Oh, and the course is set to go right past the mosque at just before prayer time... Clever planning on that one, organisers!
 
menthel said:
Any commuter/roadies out there- what shoes are you using for colder weather. My current SPD ones have lots of mesh and my tooties get cold despite my woolie boolies. I have people recommending boots but it seems a little extreme. ;)
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Don't "commute" as such, but I do go out in all weathers for a couple of hours at a time on the MTB in foul weather, and I've found that the "bootees" - i.e. non-mesh shoes with a neoprene collar around the ankle work wonders...

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-mw81-gore-tex-winter-mountain-bike-boots/

for example

Of course, for the road, I've just got a tired old pair of Specialized carbon soled shoes, which have had all the vents covered inside with black gaffa tape, and a pair of Neoprene overshoes on top. Usually good for 4-6 hours hoovering around 0-4C... anything colder than that, and I'm on the Indoor trainer :)

(oh - just got a email this morning - wiggle appear to have a 30% off deal on bike shoes at the moment...)
 
I'm not a happy bunny, bikewise...

Back up a couple of pages ago I said I'd ordered a new 'cross bike from Planet-X. Well, everything was going smoothly, until they came to build the bike, and found that they had mis-counted their stock, and that they were 3 frames short of being able to fulfil their pre-orders. Guess who was one of the 3. They were very apologetic (as you'd expect - after all, they're losing a grand a pop on this mistake!) and did offer the build with their other carbon cross frame (the "On One Dirty Disco") but, a) I'd set my heart on the other one, and b) IMO the DD looks awful (a bit too much like a 29'er frame with road components - that rear triangle looks bogging!) and as an unashamed "bike tart" I just couldn't do it.

Big problem was that the next stock of the frame I want is not due until something like latte november/early december... So, I've taken the "refund and possibly re-order at a later date" route.

However... if anyone can point me towards a good looking Carbon framed Cyclocross Bike, with Shimano 105 oily bits, strong wheels (I may have lost a bit of weight but i'm still in3 figures on the Kg's) and Avid BB7 disk brakes in a 57cm ETT for under a grand, I'd be happy to take my hard-earned £ elsewhere :)
 
Bummer about the bike Mark. I don't know the CX market so can't help there.

As for the shoes, I think I need to find a shop and try some things on. Often best with this type of thing.
 
neil_g said:
shame, planet-x are normally very good at getting things right.
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Yeah - I've already got 2 of their frames, the V1 Cromo 456 and the Superlight Alu Road frame... Not to mention the original white SS inbred and the Pompino that I had to let go when 1 gear became a little too much for my busted knee...
 
I own a Giant NRS-1 XC (2005 model) and have just added a new bike for my mountain biking a Norco sight 3 SE for use around the Brecon Beacons and trail centre's. Found a vast difference in the ride quality soaking up the bumps on the Norco,s 140mm of travel compared to the 80mm on the Giant. Very happy so far after just two ride's but the 6lb difference and bigger tyre's require quite a bit of effort on the Norco. Keeping the Giant for XC etc
 
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Did 3 laps of Richmond Park today in 1hr 9 mins. Not too bad for a fat knacker, would like to do sub 1hr though.
 
Just ordered some castelli nanoflex bib knickers. Also accidentally ordered a sort sleeved yellow gabba to match the long sleeved one too. Oops!
 
menthel said:
Just ordered some castelli nanoflex bib knickers. Also accidentally ordered a sort sleeved yellow gabba to match the long sleeved one too. Oops!
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Autumn.... Bring it on :thumbs:

I've treat myself as well... (the sticker on the Ultegra Crank is the giveaway - it's certainly NOT the pedals :lol:)


Toys by The Big Yin, on Flickr
 
neil_g said:
garmin cadence and (wheel) speed sensor.
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Told you I had no knowledge of these things. I tend to judge my cadence on whether or not my knees are about to explode and my heart rate on whether or not I feel like I am about to pass out or die. ;)
 
GSC-10's been on since I built the bike, but yep - Jim nailed it... it's a Stages Power Meter crank...

I've been vacillating between getting one of these Shipped over from the USA, or getting a Power2Max Rotor chainset from germany, but last week I got an email saying that they'd finally sorted a UK distributor for the Stages, so that kind of nailed it.

Great idea, and it means I can still be a bike-tart and keep a "complete groupset" rather than having to have a non-group crankset ;)

it's a great idea - the only giveaway is the small plastic box on the rear of the crank, the blue and white transfer on the crank and a 28g weight penalty over the standard crank. Works with Ant+ (so the Garmin's fine with it) or Bluetooth Smart (so any iPhone/iPad with BT 4.0)

(and back to the subject of the GSC-10 - anyone spotted that there's no magnet zip-tied onto the crank ;-) - instead there's a small neodymium magnet attached to the back of the pedal spindle. Still registers the cadence, but it's so much neater, and as an added bonus, it keeps all the muck out of the hex-socket at the pedal back)
 
28g? What's an ounce between friends! 5 teaspoons of sweat... You could probably save some of that weight by using just one zip tie and a dab of superglue to fasten that sensor block.

Reminds me of a friend who was a keen MTBer and worked for a MotoGP team. He "borrowed for testing" a load of drilled Titanium bolts and fitted them to his MTB to save as much weight as possible. He was a bit miffed when I pointed out that the mud that would collect in the hollow bolts would almost certainly weigh more than the Ti that had been drilled out.
 
I'm far from being a "weight weenie" about the bike - frankly, it's a damned sight easier and cheaper to lose a kilo from me than it is from the bike... It's about as light as I feel happy with anyway - think it was under 7.5kg including the pedals and Garmin when it was built, so going much lighter starts getting pretty fiendishly expensive.
 
ok.
so finally got time to adjust deraileur...all fine but...I still think it is F- worded ;(
have a look on the photo

Untitled by Lukasz Baszko, on Flickr
 
TheBigYin said:
GSC-10's been on since I built the bike, but yep - Jim nailed it... it's a Stages Power Meter crank... I've been vacillating between getting one of these Shipped over from the USA, or getting a Power2Max Rotor chainset from germany, but last week I got an email saying that they'd finally sorted a UK distributor for the Stages, so that kind of nailed it. Great idea, and it means I can still be a bike-tart and keep a "complete groupset" rather than having to have a non-group crankset ;) it's a great idea - the only giveaway is the small plastic box on the rear of the crank, the blue and white transfer on the crank and a 28g weight penalty over the standard crank. Works with Ant+ (so the Garmin's fine with it) or Bluetooth Smart (so any iPhone/iPad with BT 4.0) (and back to the subject of the GSC-10 - anyone spotted that there's no magnet zip-tied onto the crank ;-) - instead there's a small neodymium magnet attached to the back of the pedal spindle. Still registers the cadence, but it's so much neater, and as an added bonus, it keeps all the muck out of the hex-socket at the pedal back)
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Got a link to the magnet?

I was thinking of getting a wahoo crank magnet, I don't like the way my garmin sensor leans outward and how far forward it has to sit. The wheel sensor is nearly on the rim :|

Camera Roll-414 by -neilgates-

On the bright side. I found some uk stock of the barfly mtb bracket :)

Camera Roll-415 by -neilgates-

bastic said:
ok. so finally got time to adjust deraileur...all fine but...I still think it is F- worded ;( have a look on the photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/lbaszko/9919710563/ Untitled by Lukasz Baszko, on Flickr
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Mech looks a bit twisted. Might be straighten-able...
 
they were just 12mm diameter 1mm thick circular neodym's from ebay - I got a pack of 10 for something like £3 posted - one tip - get them from a UK supplier - they're so powerful that the package WILL get stuck to something metal in the journey from china, and they'll get lost... The Supplier I bought them from emailed me to say they were getting posted that night, and if I didn't get 'em in 3 days,to let 'em know because they lose about 1 in 10 through 'em sticking to something in the sorting offices :lol:

Looking at your photo, using the pedal fixed magnet will allow you to move the sensor back a good inch along the chainstay, which will then allow the "arm" on the GSC10 to be hinged back toward the chainstay as well so it's less likely to pick up thrown-upwards debris... should work a bit better at least...

ETA : linky to the fleabay seller I used
 
bastic said:
ok.
so finally got time to adjust deraileur...all fine but...I still think it is F- worded ;(
have a look on the photo

Untitled by Lukasz Baszko, on Flickr
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That cage on the rear mech definitely looks twisted. If it IS the cage plates that are bent you MAY be able to straighten it (off the bike obviously, or you'll probably snap the mech hanger again) but I wouldn't put money on it. There's ONE correct alignment and an infinite number of incorrect ones - I wish you good luck, and frankly, what have you to lose - at the moment it's knackered anyway :shrug:
 
TheBigYin said:
That cage on the rear mech definitely looks twisted. If it IS the cage plates that are bent you MAY be able to straighten it (off the bike obviously, or you'll probably snap the mech hanger again) but I wouldn't put money on it. There's ONE correct alignment and an infinite number of incorrect ones - I wish you good luck, and frankly, what have you to lose - at the moment it's knackered anyway :shrug:
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might take it off tomorrow...
and order new 105 mech...another £4x to spend ;(

do I need to take chain apart to get it off ?
 
what does short cage in rear mech ???
 
look on the old one for the model no. if it says its (say) RD5700-S-SS (or RD5700-L-SS) it's short cage - if it ends in GS it's long cage. Just replace Like for Like...
 
oh - and to remove the rear mech - unless you've a "missing link" on the chain, IIRC you just undo the bottom jockey wheel bolt and take the jockey wheel out. It should be fairly clear from the exploded diagram I linked to.
 
Does anyone have any experience of oval chainrings? No doubt they're utterly pointless for my use but curiosity is possibly getting the better of me!
 
TheBigYin said:
look on the old one for the model no. if it says its (say) RD5700-S-SS (or RD5700-L-SS) it's short cage - if it ends in GS it's long cage. Just replace Like for Like...
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found my original order and it is short :)
 
TriggerHappy said:
Does anyone have any experience of oval chainrings? No doubt they're utterly pointless for my use but curiosity is possibly getting the better of me!
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They've evolved a bit since the old days of Bio Pace, the theory is that they smooth out power delivery through out the revolution of the chainset.
 
TheBigYin said:
they were just 12mm diameter 1mm thick circular neodym's from ebay - I got a pack of 10 for something like £3 posted - one tip - get them from a UK supplier - they're so powerful that the package WILL get stuck to something metal in the journey from china, and they'll get lost... The Supplier I bought them from emailed me to say they were getting posted that night, and if I didn't get 'em in 3 days,to let 'em know because they lose about 1 in 10 through 'em sticking to something in the sorting offices :lol: Looking at your photo, using the pedal fixed magnet will allow you to move the sensor back a good inch along the chainstay, which will then allow the "arm" on the GSC10 to be hinged back toward the chainstay as well so it's less likely to pick up thrown-upwards debris... should work a bit better at least... ETA : linky to the fleabay seller I used
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Ah cheers, magnets are on royal mails bad list so will see how they ship them in the morning.

Yeah that's what I'm thinking about a different magnet giving better position. The wahoo one sticks out more and can get further into the pedal for example
 
Time to prepare for winter on road and water-rowing.
Please help me in finding value for money.

Never used bibs...is there a 'winter ' version that is warmer? Most worried about my bum exposed to cold winds - not farts lol
Until now, I'm using mountain bike shorts that are waterproof and have padded insert.

I have plenty LS base layers so need something on top of them. A soft shell of some kind?

What do you cycle in during winter ?
Thanks
 
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