Some help and advice please.

Anonymous

Hi, I'm new to this forum.

I recently got a road bike, its a Carrera Vanquish (2004) with 18speed Tiagra gears, got it for £255, I know not the most impressive road bike but Its my first one... ever.

Anyway I am 5Ft 9", and the frame size is a size S for small, which has got me worrying, as I sometimes get really bad lower back pains and also sometimes neck pains, tried adjusting the seat but now difference, I dont know how to go about adjusting the handle bars, seems I might need more spacers? People have been telling me to take it back to were I bought it from but I dont want to cause any problems so wondering if the size S frame really is causing all this or if its just because I'm not fully used to a road bike yet?

Another thing is speed, its really stressing me out at the moment that going into any sort of wind I'm slowed down dramatically, and today I have to go to college (10 Miles there and 10 miles back), and the wind is 23mph so I'm going to be slowed down to a crawl in this and it really stresses me out when it happens . People say its my fitness but I dont know, I dont see my self as that unfit, ok I'm 5ft 9" and weight almost 14stone, but I'm not all fat, I was udner the impression that with a road bike I would be able to at least achive a decent enough speed into the wind, 10-12mph? Before I had a really big and heavy Saracen Xray (2003).

Picture of road bike and old bike (left):


Note the handle bars, they are now properly adjusted horizontal

Thanks for looking, I hope this has been posted in the correct area.

Thanks.
Willz.

redddraggon

I've got a Large Carrera, and I'm only 5'8", although a medium would have a better fit.

TBH, you'll struggle to raise the bars more than a few millimetres, due to the lack of steerer.

I'd possibly recommend getting a longer stem, and keeping it flipped with a raise up (rather than down). The setup of the bike doesn't look too bad though.

guv001

I'm 5'9" and I ride a medium Giant and a 54cm Specialized which is a medium and I find that is the right size for me. Its got to be a personal decision though, do you feel comfy on the bike ? You could always get a bike fitting session..

fidbod

I think the frame is too small for you, which seems to be what reddragon is getting at in a roundabout way.

I would be worth taking it to the local bike shop and see what they think, a very long stem might help but I suspect you might be better trying to get hold of a medium or large frame.

As far as your point about wind, it happens to everyone unfortunately. I often end up screaming obsecenitys at the wind when it is very windy. Think of it like doing a really hard session in the gym. on a calm day you will absolutely fly along

Bronzie

I think you should probably have been sold a medium not a small. Sounds to me like they had old stock (2004 model purchased recently!?) in a small and have offloaded it on you. If you really don't want to take it back and at least try and discuss it with the shop, you're stuck with a frame that is not ideal. My advice would be to sell it and get one the right size from a shop that knows what they are doing. Ask on here for recommendations for a reputable bike shop in your area.

If you can't afford this option, at least make some adjustments to it until you get comfortable. Make sure the saddle is the right height (see this thread for advice http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12559352) and as Reddragon says, you can fit a longer stem with more rise, but this may adversely affect the bikes handling. You can't fit any more spacers under the stem unless you replace the forks as the fork steerer is already cut to height - this is a waste of money in my opinion on a frame that is too small anyway.

As for your apparent lack of speed...............well a road bike should be more efficient than your Saracen, but if you are sat bolt upright on it because its the wrong size then this wont help. Your fitness however is the ultimate limiting factor in deciding how fast you can ride into a block headwind. What sort of weekly or monthly mileage are you clocking up?

Anonymous

I feel comfy sometimes, but obviously when I get the lower back pains I feel very uncomfortable. And when I get down on the drop bars or try and push hard in the wind its no so much comfy anymore, its not totally unformfortable though, its hard to explain.

I'd say this week I'll be doing about 40 miles, but on good days like in the holidays I can do 20-40 miles a day and that was on my old bike. There is an Evans bicycle shop near me, I never realised but I know its easy to get there and I've hear they are one of the best?

I know with my road bike I can get better acceleration and deffenitly faster speed out of the wind, basically to put it short, the wind cripples me proberbly due to the reasons you said, when I get home first thing I am going to do is contact halfords, I hope they let me get a refund but I dont want to cause any inconvinience or arguments.

huggy

Can you slide the saddle back or fowards? That helped me on my bike when I started to get back pains, though from the sounds of things, you frame is small. I'm 5'10 and ride a Giant XL frame, and it fits perfectly.

Anonymous

huggy wrote:

Can you slide the saddle back or fowards? That helped me on my bike when I started to get back pains, though from the sounds of things, you frame is small. I'm 5'10 and ride a Giant XL frame, and it fits perfectly.

Hmmm, I dont know how to slide the saddle forwards?

I'm a 'n00b' when it come to bikes tbh.

Bronzie

Whilst I think the frame is definitely the wrong size for someone of your height, it could well also be that riding the road bike is a new position for your body to adjust to and this will take some time. The more you lean your upper body forward, the more power needs to be generated/transferred through your lower back and glutes.

You may find that doing some core strength exercises will help ease your back pain.

huggy

I would agree with Bronzie and say that it does take some getting used to.
As for sliding your saddle around, have a look at the saddle rails, where the saddle is clamped to the seatpost, is there any room for movement? Even a cm can make a bit of a difference.

Anonymous

I dont actually know if I am position right when I am on the bike, if possible I can take a picture with me on the bike on drop bar position and normal position and you can see if its correct? As then you can see for sure if its too small? Also does all this weird stuff propor people on road bikes wear actually help with speed? lycra? I dont really want to wear stuff like that as I'm not such a fan of wearing things like that.

huggy

Taking a pic is a good idea, go for it. Then we can see any particular problems. As for lycra, well its does make the ride more comfortable and yes, you go 1 - 3 miles an hour faster, downhill particularly with lycra. You wouldn't see loads of improvement with lycra unless you trained and raced a lot.

Anonymous

huggy wrote:

Taking a pic is a good idea, go for it. Then we can see any particular problems. As for lycra, well its does make the ride more comfortable and yes, you go 1 - 3 miles an hour faster, downhill particularly with lycra. You wouldn't see loads of improvement with lycra unless you trained and raced a lot.

Ok right when I get home I'll get some pics taken .

huggy

Here's something that might help you

http://www.cyclingforfun.co.uk/video-co ... sture.html

Anonymous

huggy wrote:

Here's something that might help you

http://www.cyclingforfun.co.uk/video-co ... sture.html

Thanks, will have a look when I get home, unfortunatly this computer I am on does not have flash player.

What does he mean by using the ball of your roof? I always used to cycle with my toes but now I use like the middle of my feet, just after the toeas thats the main part I have on the pedals. I think my back is arched aswell on the bike as I wondered if that was normal, I mean dont it cause problems later in life like hunchbacks?

huggy

The ball of your foot is just behind your toes, hard to explain but just google it. Sounds like you're using the right part of your foot anyway. You should try to keep your back fairly straight, some curvature is to be expected but you shouldn't look like a rainbow.

When you get home, try lifting off the saddle, and move to a position where you feel more comfortable, then you should be able to see where your behind is in relation to your saddle and frame. Then you can see how much needs changing to make your bike comfy.

As for back damage, if you ride and it hurts everytime then you will be doing some damage, but I don't know about becoming a hunchback, perhaps only in the morning after a long ride.

Anonymous

Ok I'll try adjusting the seat when I get home.

Does my weight mean I will struggle up hills? I weigh inbetween 13 and 14 stone and I struggle up hills, quite steap one on my way home and I can struggle up it at around 5mph. I was planning on shedding a couple of stone but I was planning on building muscle at the gym which would increase my weight? But surely not kill my chances of every improving on a bicycle?

Bronzie

willhub wrote:

Does my weight mean I will struggle up hills? I was planning on shedding a couple of stone but I was planning on building muscle at the gym which would increase my weight?

Yes. Your climbing will improve if you can shed excess weight.

Many argue that weight training has no place in a cyclist's training. Your ability to turn the pedals is limited more by your cardiovascular fitness than by pure strength. Putting on extra muscle (especially upper body) will not make you climb faster. Look at the pro cyclists - they look like Belsen victims at their race weight.

Anonymous

Bronzie wrote:

willhub wrote:

Does my weight mean I will struggle up hills? I was planning on shedding a couple of stone but I was planning on building muscle at the gym which would increase my weight?

Yes. Your climbing will improve if you can shed excess weight.

Many argue that weight training has no place in a cyclist's training. Your ability to turn the pedals is limited more by your cardiovascular fitness than by pure strength. Putting on extra muscle (especially upper body) will not make you climb faster. Look at the pro cyclists - they look like Belsen victims at their race weight.

The reason I want to gain muscle is not for cycling, I just basically want to gain muscle and loose the fat, but I dont want to be thin see.

huggy

I see what you mean, but remember, muscle weighs more than fat

Anonymous

huggy wrote:

I see what you mean, but remember, muscle weighs more than fat

Yeap thats what made me ask the question as I presume I'll get heavier, allthough surely if I can get plenty of muscle on it'll be easier for me to go faster anf do most things generally because I am stronger? I started going to the gym, other day I did like 15 mins on the bicycle machine at level 10, which was soo much harder than a 10 miles ride on my real bike, I was just sweating buckets!, then I did 7-8 mins on the rowing machine (2000M), then tried the running, now the running might be able to show me a lack of stamina? As I can only do about 2 mins maybe 3 at a push of constant running, other day I did about 1 min at 10mph.

huggy

I'd say I have the same ideas with my local gym. It is good to get muscular, just that if you get very muscular in your upper body then it will add weight that you can't use when cycling. As well as the gym, try swimming, it's excellent because it improves lower and upper body strength.

Rowing machines are good things for general fitness, and are quite good when mixed with other bits of training. Remember, just because you want to improve at cycling, it doesn't necessarily mean you need to train on the cycling machine, because you do a fair amount of cycling every week.

Running does show stamina quite well. I do a 'cooper test' sometimes. You have 12 minutes to run as far as you can. It's good to try it if you can, though it's not easy on a running machine. From what you say about your running (only 3 minutes constant) then you definitely need to improve your stamina, or you aerobic threshold, so you become less fatigued over longer distances. If your gym has HRMs then try to keep your pulse at around 150 - 170, thats the main range for increasing your threshhold. At sometime you should try a 1500m and a cooper test (not back to back though...) and post your times.

Anonymous

I am going to the gym tomorrow.

How long should I do each time I go to the gym on the rowing machine? I did 2000M in 7mins, but there is no difficulty change, you just pull harder to make it harder, when I go on the bicycle machine for 15mins at lvl 10 out of 25 that tires my legs more than when I go on a real bike..

I do weights aswell, I intend on increasing my strength as I believe I'm too much fat and not enough muscle at the moment.

I guess I am just going to have to live with the wind and hopefully if I bike into wind more often I should imprive, but at this moment in time it seems so hard to improve, I guess thats ebcause of the fact it takes a long time.

I find running much much easier on a treadmill, when I run like outside on a hard path my vision just shakes and it gets abit stressfull on the head and I cant do as much as on the treadmill.

huggy

2000M in 7 minutes is good, so I would keep that up, though try taking it slower (if you're shattered when you finish) and aiming for 3000M within 12-14 minutes. It's proven that if you kill yourself everytime you train, you won't improve as quickly as if you trained at a normal pace.

The 15 minutes of cycling sounds ok, though try to up it if you can, and put in a few sprints. If it has a round-counter (rpm) then try and keep it constant and put in occasional sprints around 100-120 rpm. I get the same thing, cycling machines feel harder than a real bike, so there's not much you can do to overcome that.

Try and do at least 45 minutes of continuous excercise, but as soon as it hurts (properly) and won't stop with a stretch then you should stop, stretch and go home.

As for weights, I'm not very clued up in that area, only that weights should be easy and regular, and you should stop if it hurts. Make sure you warm up and stretch, then at the end stretch. You need to keep hydrated constantly, and mix a bit of sugar with your drink to make it isotonic so it gets into your bloodstream quicker. A way of seeing if you are dehydrating/dehydrated is if your temples (on sides of your head) are normal or slightly depressed into your head.

Have fun and see how it goes!

Anonymous

After 15 mins on level 10 I'm well tired out, but I dont want to go any lower I mean lvl 10 out of 25, seems low as it is.

Will the gym benefit me going on sunday. monday, friday and possibly saturday?

redddraggon

willhub wrote:

How long should I do each time I go to the gym on the rowing machine? I did 2000M in 7mins,

When I was 14, and did rowing I did about 8min for 2KM, so 7mins is not bad for a non-rower.

Anonymous

redddraggon wrote:

willhub wrote:

How long should I do each time I go to the gym on the rowing machine? I did 2000M in 7mins,

When I was 14, and did rowing I did about 8min for 2KM, so 7mins is not bad for a non-rower.

I might give 5000M a try tonight but I'll try and pull not as hard, take it abit easier but that my problem I cant take stuff easy, yesterday I said to myself, I'll have a nice steady ride to college, the wind was pushing me, but instead I started bombing it.

huggy kindly sent me a routine last night that looks good, should give some improvements .

Dont know if I posted this yet, but I took my bike back to the shop, they would not return it, but I got a new stem for it, or just something to extend the stem, its alot higher I think, I might consider removing some of the spacers and if need be I'll cut some of the metal part were the fork sticks out when you remove the spacers? As then I think I can still adjust it to were it is more than high enough, but its a deffinate improvement and I dont think my back is bad anymore on it and this should ultimatly improve my riding experience, havent had time to properly test and adjust it as when It was dark at the time.

chopper1

dont worry about crawling into a head wind, just take it at a steady pace, keep your cadence up and dont turn to hard a gear, your speed will pick up as you get stronger, dosnt mean it'll be any easier tho!
Just think of the ride back when its behind you....gr8 fun!

Anonymous

chopper1 wrote:

dont worry about crawling into a head wind, just take it at a steady pace, keep your cadence up and dont turn to hard a gear, your speed will pick up as you get stronger, dosnt mean it'll be any easier tho!
Just think of the ride back when its behind you....gr8 fun!

Ride back is were its in my face , wasent today tho but I got a lift. When I got home I went for a ride, and well, the wind nearly blew me off, super speed out of the wind but into it about 4mph. and sometimes it stopped me dead it was that strong

huggy

It was windy in the south on my ride today, kept getting blown into the verge on long, exposed straights. I would hate do it with a disc wheel!

feel

Don't know what frame size a "small" is but would expect that you could make a few adjustments to get it to fit and remember a smaller bike is lighter 8)
Just had a look on Halfords website and they have small and medium vanquish's in stock.
It also says "but if you ask a member of Halfords staff at your local store, they will be able to help you with the problem and find the perfect size bike for you". If you have been sold a bike that you feel is too small for you they have a responsibility to remedy it.
Maybe just a longer, angled handlebar stem might be the solution. To move your seat back a cm you will probably find an allen bolt under the saddle and you will need an allen (hex) key to undo it. Although from just checking your photo it does not look if you have much backward movement left.
You can also get different seatposts that allow more rear movement, however if you need to change things i would argue that they should exchange your present ones for free.