Well damn me!

Kieran_Burns

I'm not as unfit as i thought! 8)

Well that and the commuting gear must weigh a ton :shock:

I cycle 14 and a bit miles into work as much as possible (less over Winter I admit) and it takes an hour ish each way. I was getting the times down but still around the 1 hour mark so I was happy.

Anyway, my car has been off the road for a week with a mechanic mate of mine fixing the appalling work done by some clowns I thought knew what they were doing. He lives the same distance from home as work is and less than 1/2 a mile from.

Anyway - i go to pick up the car today and obviously cycle over. I take ALL the commuting stuff off: panniers, extra lights,(left at 10am in bright sunshine) extra bottle, and off I go.

Damn me if I'm not holding 20+ on the flats and am permanently one gear (sometimes 2) higher than normal.

I actually backed off at one point 'cos I thought I'd end up burning out, but got bored so upped the cadence again.

Managed the distance in 45 mins which has been the target time for my commute since I started (this included a short break for an altercation with an idiot lorry driver who reversed out into my path. His explanation: I had plenty of time. No you didn't you **** if you did I wouldn't BE here!!! :evil: )

Now I know I CAN do it, I'm gonna be gunning for that time fully laden, AND it means the weekend treks I want to start will be more fun than I realised

CiB

A worthy lesson. Take as much in to the office on non-cycling days and ride light. Weight is half the battle on a bike. Like Colin Chapman said of the Lotus 7 - make it simple, then add lightness. Unarguable.

Kieran_Burns

I've been actively thinking about how to keep the weight down now.

I reckon I could leave the bike lock tied to the railings (under cover and out of sight), take ALL my shirts in on a non cycling day, leave a towel and the toiletries somewhere (the somewhere is the problem.. I don't like walking through the open plan office in full kit) and I'd almost not need the pannier then

Hmmm....

wgwarburton

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I've been actively thinking about how to keep the weight down now.....

Good plan.

I reckon I could leave the bike lock tied to the railings (under cover and out of sight)

Are you worried someone will steal it?
Cheers,
W.

Kieran_Burns

more about - what you can't see you don't know about, plus the building admin women are.... touchy.... about mess. :?

girv73

To keep the weight down, I keep my locks locked to the bike rack at work and keep a towel, toiletries and a pair of jeans in the office (showers), so on bike days all I have is a tshirt, socks & underwear and some food to carry with me. It's still a hefty backpack though.

I use non-bike days to swap out towels and clothes as necessary.

Feltup

girv73 wrote:

To keep the weight down, I keep my locks locked to the bike rack at work and keep a towel, toiletries and a pair of jeans in the office (showers), so on bike days all I have is a tshirt, socks & underwear and some food to carry with me. It's still a hefty backpack though.

I use non-bike days to swap out towels and clothes as necessary.

Guess how I lightened my load even further this morning :oops:

girv73

That commando-fresh feeling?

Feltup

Yep got it in one!

Kieran_Burns

I did have a grin at one point on the way in as well today. While cruising up the bridleway, I saw this middle aged guy (says me) on his Argos full sus special. I've seen him a few times but usually he's stopped (he seems to be stopped an awful lot) or going the other way.

Well this time I saw him a goodly distance in front of me huffing along at his his top speed of... well I think I could walk faster to be honest. It's actually quite a comical sight in a cruel sort of way as he's not set the bike up at all (knees up by his ears and in this weird sit up and beg position) and I'm holding 16 at this point (rough surface post-ice)

I catch him just after the 2nd bridle gate and give a cheery "coming through!" and he moves over. Just as I pass him I swear I heard him say (sotto voce) "git", and I couldn't help but smile.

The thing is: I do see him out there an awful lot, and it's clear he pootles up and down from the local suburb at the top of the path. I'm tempted to take a small tool kit with me next time and set the damn bike up so he enjoy can himself more!

Bassjunkieuk

With family commitments I rarely get to go out on my bike as much as I'd like to so most of my cycling is done whilst commuting, which means having to be fully ladden for work.

At a minimum this involves my backpack with the usual personal items in and a clean shirt, boxers and the lock, all of which weighs me down quite a bit!

On the rare occasions I have gone out sans backpack it's an amazing feeling! I'm about 3 or 4 KG lighter and everything just seems so right :-) I once took a longer route home after dropping my laptop off at a mates house and taking in a nice hill just so I could enjoy the feeling for as long as possible one evening last year :-D

Great work tho KB, just goes to show what kind of level of fitness daily commuting - along with a smattering of SCRing - can do for you health :-D

girv73

On the topic of fitness, I was out for a road ride last Sunday with my friend. He's fairly fit but hadn't done much cycling whereas I'd kept up the commuting miles all through the winter.

We did maybe a 22 mile loop together at an easy pace, but he was busted by about 15. I did the loop plus another 16 or so getting there and back. I wasn't in the office the next day, but I felt like I could have cycled no problem.

c12345

Slow down people!
You are all on the slippery slope that ends with titanium bolts on your empty carbon fibre bottle cage.

It will end in tears and an empty wallet.

il_principe

c12345 wrote:

Slow down people!
You are all on the slippery slope that ends with titanium bolts on your empty carbon fibre bottle cage.

It will end in tears and an empty wallet.

erm, too late I'm afraid. :shock:

il_principe

girv73 wrote:

On the topic of fitness, I was out for a road ride last Sunday with my friend. He's fairly fit but hadn't done much cycling whereas I'd kept up the commuting miles all through the winter.

We did maybe a 22 mile loop together at an easy pace, but he was busted by about 15. I did the loop plus another 16 or so getting there and back. I wasn't in the office the next day, but I felt like I could have cycled no problem.

I've experienced this with my Bro. He's very fit, but not cycling fit. He plays a lot of Rugby, so used to 80 mins of exertion as oppose to several hours. Obviously he lacks strength in the cycling muscles, but his fitness was far less transferable than I expected. Thank God; he's younger than me and I'd have been so shamed if he'd beaten me*

*it wasn't a race but I threw in a couple of sprints anyway, poor sod. :twisted:

bigmat

Cycling fitness is VERY specific. My brother can run a 3hr marathon but I can still whip him on a bike, especially on the climbs. On the other hand, my marathon training is not going well - get bored after a maximum half an hour and now planning to defer my entry to 2010 so I can forget about it and get out on the bike without a guilty conscience...

roger_merriman

it's also differs bike to bike, MTB to road racer, to track etc...

itboffin

jashburnham wrote:

c12345 wrote:

Slow down people!
You are all on the slippery slope that ends with titanium bolts on your empty carbon fibre bottle cage.

It will end in tears and an empty wallet.

erm, too late I'm afraid. :shock:

+1

c12345

rowing seems to be transferable into cycling, but not vica versa. I've been out with some *very* quicker rowers on bikes.

I've yet to find another activity where being a cyclist has given me the edge.

bigmat

I'm good on the rowing machine in the gym, I reckon that the bit that would slow me down would be the technique on the water but physiologically I reckon cycling to rowing probably does translate quite well.

cjcp

MatHammond wrote:

my marathon training is not going well - get bored after a maximum half an hour

That's entirely normal. I got dizzy going round Richmond Park. And you find yourself racing people going the other way, marking where you last saw them and then keep the "i'm not in any pain whatsoever" face as you go past. :oops: SCR...

Christophe3967

jashburnham wrote:

girv73 wrote:

On the topic of fitness, I was out for a road ride last Sunday with my friend. He's fairly fit but hadn't done much cycling whereas I'd kept up the commuting miles all through the winter.

We did maybe a 22 mile loop together at an easy pace, but he was busted by about 15. I did the loop plus another 16 or so getting there and back. I wasn't in the office the next day, but I felt like I could have cycled no problem.

I've experienced this with my Bro. He's very fit, but not cycling fit. He plays a lot of Rugby, so used to 80 mins of exertion as oppose to several hours. Obviously he lacks strength in the cycling muscles, but his fitness was far less transferable than I expected. Thank God; he's younger than me and I'd have been so shamed if he'd beaten me*

*it wasn't a race but I threw in a couple of sprints anyway, poor sod. :twisted:

Sound's like DDD can expect an easy ride then...

fossyant

c12345 wrote:

Slow down people!
You are all on the slippery slope that ends with titanium bolts on your empty carbon fibre bottle cage.

It will end in tears and an empty wallet.

Should have told me 20 years ago...still no better........ :shock:

markybhoy67

c12345 wrote:

Slow down people!
You are all on the slippery slope that ends with titanium bolts on your empty carbon fibre bottle cage.

It will end in tears and an empty wallet.

LOL, just got two carbon bottle cages the other day because they where going cheap on the bay. The wife thinks they where £4 pound each, she doesn't know they are carbon...

Just as well I do online banking and she doesn't see any statements