Ride Reports

biondino

Sewinman wrote:

I was taught a few things - I spend too much time in my big ring and should mainly be in the smaller one.

Only if you're mainly going uphill!

Sewinman

biondino wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

I was taught a few things - I spend too much time in my big ring and should mainly be in the smaller one.

Only if you're mainly going uphill!

I was told i should be in it most of the time and use the big one when descending. Been having pains in my knee which was attributed to me pushing the big ring all the time. It worked as my knees were fine after.

lost_in_thought

Sewinman wrote:

biondino wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

I was taught a few things - I spend too much time in my big ring and should mainly be in the smaller one.

Only if you're mainly going uphill!

I was told i should be in it most of the time and use the big one when descending. Been having pains in my knee which was attributed to me pushing the big ring all the time. It worked as my knees were fine after.

Interesting... I have to say the big ring is my default - I only switch to the smaller one when I'm struggling uphill.

I don't think JonGinge ever uses the small ring...

Sewinman

lost_in_thought wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

biondino wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

I was taught a few things - I spend too much time in my big ring and should mainly be in the smaller one.

Only if you're mainly going uphill!

I was told i should be in it most of the time and use the big one when descending. Been having pains in my knee which was attributed to me pushing the big ring all the time. It worked as my knees were fine after.

Interesting... I have to say the big ring is my default - I only switch to the smaller one when I'm struggling uphill.

I don't think JonGinge ever uses the small ring...

It was a sports physio who told me. Apparently the big ring drains glycogen or something and also puts strain on the knees. I used to ride exactly like you and hardly ever used the small one.

gtvlusso

Hmm - I am a big ring all the time (53) - I don't think I have used the 39 ring on my road bike ever.

Just get out of the saddle on hills...

I think my rear cassette goes up to 27 though?! Not sure.

Kieran_Burns

cjcp wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Hmmmm.....

I've just realised that a straight run to Ashbourne is in fact not that far. About equivalent to my morning commute, albeit with some hills chucked in)

Do you go up Middleton Top or whatever it's called?

You mean the place on the High Peak trail? I've been past it and onto the end of the high Peak trail (it's a gate) Nice little cafe there - ice cream and munchies to stock up on.

That's about another 15 miles on from Ashbourne up the full length of the Tissington Trail. I may have to leave THAT run until I really am fit!

Kieran_Burns

About the big ring / small ring debate - does it matter what ring you use as long as you are using the correct GI for the speed you are going at? I would think cadence was important not what ring you are using.

My tricross has a sizeable overlap on the gearing, with the highest gears on the middle ring being about the same as the middle gears on the big ring, so what difference would it make?

Sewinman

gtvlusso wrote:

Hmm - I am a big ring all the time (53) - I don't think I have used the 39 ring on my road bike ever.

Just get out of the saddle on hills...

I think my rear cassette goes up to 27 though?! Not sure.

Just read this...interesting.

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0965.htm

lost_in_thought

Sewinman wrote:

gtvlusso wrote:

Hmm - I am a big ring all the time (53) - I don't think I have used the 39 ring on my road bike ever.

Just get out of the saddle on hills...

I think my rear cassette goes up to 27 though?! Not sure.

Just read this...interesting.

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0965.htm

It is interesting.

There's a lot of debate out there on this - but TBH I'm surprised that they consider 80-85 RPM a high cadence - a lot of the other stuff I've read talks about 95+ as high...

I think in the small ring at 85rpm you'd not be going very quickly... and nobody likes that!

biondino

Sewinman wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

biondino wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

I was taught a few things - I spend too much time in my big ring and should mainly be in the smaller one.

Only if you're mainly going uphill!

I was told i should be in it most of the time and use the big one when descending. Been having pains in my knee which was attributed to me pushing the big ring all the time. It worked as my knees were fine after.

Interesting... I have to say the big ring is my default - I only switch to the smaller one when I'm struggling uphill.

I don't think JonGinge ever uses the small ring...

It was a sports physio who told me. Apparently the big ring drains glycogen or something and also puts strain on the knees. I used to ride exactly like you and hardly ever used the small one.

So what you're actually being told is that you shouldn't be mashing at a low cadence. Fair enough, but what ring you do it in is neither here nor there! Perhaps they are assuming that gearings are still what they were last century, with 52/42 chainrings and 11-21 cassettes? I assure you, with compact chainrings or wider-ranging cassettes it's really not a problem.

Sewinman

biondino wrote:

So what you're actually being told is that you shouldn't be mashing at a low cadence. Fair enough, but what ring you do it in is neither here nor there! Perhaps they are assuming that gearings are still what they were last century, with 52/42 chainrings and 11-21 cassettes? I assure you, with compact chainrings or wider-ranging cassettes it's really not a problem.

Yes, that is what I was told, it must have been that hill that made me forget. :roll:

jonginge

This comes up fairly often. Mashing itself doesn't hurt knees. Mashing with bad setup (wrong saddle height, not enough float in pedals) can and does damage knees. Muscle imbalances can cause tracking problems for knees: stretching is your friend.

Before the days of compact gearing the average GI was much higher and if mashing were such a problem several generations of cyclists would have shagged their knees. Funnily it's cyclists that tend to carry on with their sport until much later in life than most.

My knees are fine. I occasionally change down to the small ring. Did 150miles in RP last week in 52x16. My knees are still fine :P

jonginge

Oh, 52x16 on the flat isn't a mashing gear for me anyway. Cadences in the 90-110 range

roger_merriman

a lot depends on how you pedal i while far from fast very rarely bother to get out of the saddle, around this area it's a sign i'm fairly shattered if i have to. as normally i can just grind my way up on the saddle be that darkhill/broomfield hill in RP of winterfold/whitedown though it's far from fast!

Rich158

Ater two days of MTB action this weekend I ventured out on the Mad one yesterday morning for a hilly 60 miles and after 10 mins my computer told me it's memory was full so no stats :evil: only the fact that I started at about 8:15 and finished at 12'ish, so a good 4 hours saddle time.

Even so a good ride was had with a old club mate, who confirmed that several of the hills we hit were at about 25%, which really got the legs burning. The descents were also just as steep, and flying down country lanes through woodland, into blind corners, trustung my handling skills and ability to break really got the adrenaline flowing. It's the first time I've had to wait for someone at the bottom of a descent Dropping up and down onto the Pilgrims Way around Kent is great fun, and I'd thoroughly recomend it to anyone.

However once I'd got home I realised that my rear wheel was out of true again, less than 100 miles after the LBS had serviced it, with specific instructions to give it some TLC :evil: It's not the first time their wheel building skills have come into question so muggins decides to dig out his truing jig and have a go himself :? only to see his hamfisted attempts round of several of the nice soft alloy nipples. Still it's not problem and the wheel now has a nice set of slightly heavier duty DT Swiss brass nipples (once the garden shed had been turned upside down) and is ready for the ham fisted wrench monkey to have another go at destroying (re-building) it himself tonight :shock:

benno68

Had a good ride on Sunday - weather was great and managed to get my lazy @rse out of bed and in the saddle for 9:30am.

Went along the coast road through Wentlooge and up to Tredegar House before heading back along the A48 and then up through Cefn Mably, this was unchartered territory and threw in some fairly steep climbs, the road surface was pretty poor which made that bit harder for me. Then went through Lisvane, Llandaff and MTFU'd and just about scraped up Leckwith Hill (about 2 miles from home).

My legs were on fire when I got home, checked the computer - 37.85 miles (my furthest so far) - 2 hours 10 minutes. I'm happy with that but plenty of room for improvement.

itboffin

Wow explosion of updates today people, great work all I'm green with envy, nothing to report from me these days just back to plain old commuting

cjcp

According to Bikely.com, my nine-lap effort of RP yesterday amounted to 3,861ft of inclines. I've no idea how that compares anything.  :P

EDIT: I do now. For the Surrey Hills ride, Bikely says that the total elevation gain is 2,800 odd feet.

jonginge

Not sure I believe the RP stats. My garmin agrees pretty much with the Surrey hills totals but (consistently) says only 280-290m for 3 RP laps so ~2800ft for your 9. (Sorry)

cjcp

JonGinge wrote:

Not sure I believe the RP stats. My garmin agrees pretty much with the Surrey hills totals but (consistently) says only 280-290m for 3 RP laps so ~2800ft for your 9. (Sorry)

Then you need to buy a new Garmin. :P

Christophe3967

itboffin wrote:

Did Christophe3967 make it? is he still trying to find the coast?

Last seen heading North

Erm, north?

Left the office just after 5pm and headed out the usual way, via the Embankment. As ever, there was a brisk headwind, and for the first time it occurred to me that I was heading west and could be riding into this for some time. Arrived in Staines, missed the turn for Egham and in no time I was staring at the M4, wondering where the M3 was. :?

Wasted 45 minutes going round in circles in the Windsor -Eton- Datchet Bermuda triangle. At one stage I reached a T junction that signposted the M4 in both directions, but eventually managed to find my way to Sunningdale and the safety of the A30. After that it was pretty straightforward until I ran out of daylight 10 miles from Basingstoke. Why don’t yokels have street lights on A roads ffs? I hadn’t realised how little you can see even with a decent light, and the thought of hitting a pothole was worrying. So I decided to let the train do some work and have a breather.

Got to Basingstoke station and waited 40 minutes for the train to Poole, thinking that I’d relax with a beer, but the train was so packed with bikes and I had to stand in the aisle with mine for most of the two hour journey. :evil: Eventually arrived in Poole to a thick sea mist, which would keep me company for the hour or so I still had left to ride to Studland. The temperature had dropped to 6C but after last weekend’s KOTD fiasco, I was at least prepared for cold. It got even darker as I left the A roads, for B roads and then farm tracks but managed to avoid hitting anything, except a suicidal rabbit (well I think that’s what it was) and rolled up to the campsite at 1.30 a.m. to find everyone asleep.

So riding 86 miles after work (plus 14 on the commute in) can be done, but actually I’ve decided I like to see the countryside I’m riding though.

Some good reports on here guys. I'm going to follow G66's lead and get an engine fitted in time for the Dragon Ride

cjcp

Chapeau, sir. 8)

How did you find the late night riding? The times I've ridden home from work late (like, around midnight), my energy levels dip and the concentration seems to wane about 2-3 miles from home.

benno68

cjcp wrote:

Chapeau, sir. 8)

+1

Good effort!

Christophe3967

cjcp wrote:

Chapeau, sir. 8)

How did you find the late night riding? The times I've ridden home from work late (like, around midnight), my energy levels dip and the concentration seems to wane about 2-3 miles from home.

Pretty spooky actually, but that was probably the mist. I half expected to see Long John Silver appear from behind a hedge. Had to get off a couple of times to shine the light on signposts and eventually I found it difficult to balance, so yeah it does have an effect.

lost_in_thought

Nice one! Were you Mr Popular the next day then?

I have to say, I really enjoy riding around on little country lanes in the dead of night. I'll admit, too, that I often do so without lights. I know, it's stupid, but it adds to the fun and I dive off the side if I hear a car coming...

In fact, I think I've raved before about late night cycling in London...

Maybe it's because I'm often drunk when it's that late... :oops:

Christophe3967

lost_in_thought wrote:

Nice one! Were you Mr Popular the next day then?

I have to say, I really enjoy riding around on little country lanes in the dead of night. I'll admit, too, that I often do so without lights. I know, it's stupid, but it adds to the fun and I dive off the side if I hear a car coming...

In fact, I think I've raved before about late night cycling in London...

Maybe it's because I'm often drunk when it's that late... :oops:

V popular, as I managed to set off the car alarm trying to put the bike on the roof. I then had to crawl into the tent to find car keys to switch alarm off. By this time it was about 2.a.m. :oops: I don't think anyone was asleep by then. Stupid car.

Feltup

lost_in_thought wrote:

Nice one! Were you Mr Popular the next day then?

I have to say, I really enjoy riding around on little country lanes in the dead of night. I'll admit, too, that I often do so without lights. I know, it's stupid, but it adds to the fun and I dive off the side if I hear a car coming...

In fact, I think I've raved before about late night cycling in London...

Maybe it's because I'm often drunk when it's that late... :oops:

You'll love the Dunwich Dynamo for the dark stuff but the really nice bit is when the sun starts to come up and you can find a bench and sit there having a drink and watching the other riders cruise by. No stress just the whirr of gears and hum of tyres.

biondino

"other riders cruise by"? WTF? How can you let this happen! I'd be surprised if most of this board are now genetically unable to allow themselves to be passed, whatever the circumstances...

itboffin

MTFU it gets dark in the country, by some lights

The train???? WTF shame on you

cjcp

biondino wrote:

"other riders cruise by"? WTF? How can you let this happen! I'd be surprised if most of this board are now genetically unable to allow themselves to be passed, whatever the circumstances...

I think my genes are being mutated in this direction, yes.