Getting Older

Frank Wilson

Does getting older go hand in hand with purchasing shorter stems?

imposter2.0

No.

Andymaxy

I turned 18 and added a 10mm to my stem, so I'd say getting older and longer stem go hand on hand

pblakeney

Andymaxy wrote:

I turned 18 and added a 10mm to my stem, so I'd say getting older and longer stem go hand on hand

trekvet

If we lose back strength and body flexibility, then yes, but you can't chase down youngsters in that condition. I'd say getting older means, from experience, spending more time doing in-house exercises to mitigate the affects of aging.

sloppyschleckonds

Craving more cake, head tubes longer than your forks, thinking about Audax rides, lusting after a Colnago with Shimano gruppo, wondering what zwift is.

Frank Wilson

Andymaxy wrote:

I turned 18 and added a 10mm to my stem, so I'd say getting older and longer stem go hand on hand

We should set up a "stem swopping page" on here for those going shorter to swop with those going longer!

ugo.santalucia

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

thinking about Audax rides... wondering what zwift is.

Yep...

pblakeney

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

...Colnago with Shimano gruppo.

Wrong. Just simply wrong. And I don’t care what groupset Colnago uses in their promo shots, they are wrong too.

svetty

oxoman wrote:

Definitely not. It just means doing more stupid harder things to prove we are harder than the youngsters.

POTD!

davep1

PBlakeney wrote:

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

...Colnago with Shimano gruppo.

Wrong. Just simply wrong. And I don’t care what groupset Colnago uses in their promo shots, they are wrong too.

This should read "...craving anything with a Campag groupset".

philbar72

craving anything that takes slightly too big tyres for the frame, pipe and slippers (comfortable) cycling, discovering foam rollers and stretching and yoga, wondering whether disk brakes are worth it. not being bothered about aero stuff, getting an exotic Italian steed then having it written off by a complete chopper on a training day..., Audax, Cake, fried food on the club run, and getting out there and exploring, and having fun...

sloppyschleckonds

DaveP1 wrote:

PBlakeney wrote:

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

...Colnago with Shimano gruppo.

Wrong. Just simply wrong. And I don’t care what groupset Colnago uses in their promo shots, they are wrong too.

This should read "...craving anything with a Campag groupset".

davep1

philbar72 wrote:

craving anything that takes slightly too big tyres for the frame,

Did this with my Propel, stuck 25 mm tyres on it, found out the hard way the brakes needed a mod to work! Mind you, the guys at the Giant Shop learned from my experience too...

philbar72 wrote:

pipe and slippers (comfortable) cycling,

Nah, although when I can scrape the cash together for a winter bike it won't be as aggressive as the Propel.

philbar72 wrote:

discovering foam rollers and stretching and yoga,

Tried all of them but none of them really make much difference! A half pint of milk after a ride and a chilled out zombie like trance for half an hour is more like it

philbar72 wrote:

wondering whether disk brakes are worth it.

I decided they weren't; I could have had a bike with discs but then it would have missed out on Ultegra

philbar72 wrote:

not being bothered about aero stuff,

Might get an aero helmet when the current one is too old/grimy to take out in public

philbar72 wrote:

getting an exotic Italian steed then having it written off by a complete chopper on a training day...,

Thankfully, haven't been through this! I did have a 90's Olmo before the Propel, wish I hadn't sold it...

philbar72 wrote:

Audax,

Definitely no! Although if I was single I might be more interested

philbar72 wrote:

Cake,

Whilst I like cake, I think the obsession with coffee and cake is a bit wrong, there should be more pub/beer/crisp stops...

philbar72 wrote:

fried food on the club run, and getting out there and exploring, and having fun...

All this sounds good!

ugo.santalucia

DaveP1 wrote:

philbar72 wrote:

Audax,

Definitely no! Although if I was single I might be more interested

Resisting is pointless... my experience is that after the Fred, there is nothing else worth bothering in this country... until I began to look at Audaxes... then I can rest assured there are enough "challenging rides" to fill the next 10-20 years.

Others prefer to go the other route, which is that of doing the same rides over and over trying to progressively improve their best time... in my case it would be a complete waste of time and entirely weather dependant

Finally there are those who are not bothered about best time or doing new challenges... but that typically results in an obsession for the bicycle rather than for cycling, which in my opinion is the saddest way of ageing in this sport

webboo

So riding your bike for the sake of riding it. Is a no,no then :?:
Do you not ever just go for a ride.

ugo.santalucia

Webboo wrote:

So riding your bike for the sake of riding it. Is a no,no then :?:
Do you not ever just go for a ride.

When I am in Italy I do... doing the same rides over and over work for some and not for others, I need some more motivation.
I am aware that in my old cycling club they still do the same rides to the same cafe' as we did 10 years ago... horses for courses I guess

BTW: they are all very obsessed about bicycles

webboo

Who said anything about doing the same rides over and over again.

bianchimoon

ugo.santalucia wrote:

DaveP1 wrote:

philbar72 wrote:

Audax,

Definitely no! Although if I was single I might be more interested

Resisting is pointless... my experience is that after the Fred, there is nothing else worth bothering in this country... until I began to look at Audaxes... then I can rest assured there are enough "challenging rides" to fill the next 10-20 years.

I must admit to feeling this way, getting older and enjoying slightly gentler pace rides more. Keep saying I will start to do some audax rides, but never getting round to it. BTW would it be a bit silly doing an Audax my on aero bikes?

ugo.santalucia

bianchimoon wrote:

BTW would it be a bit silly doing an Audax my on aero bikes?

No... on shorter events, up to 200 km you see all sorts of bikes. this is for sure more aero than yours (and it was a 400 km)



Just make sure the event you choose doesn't have an "M" in the description, which means compulsory mudguards. Hardly any, these days

philbar72

DaveP1 wrote:

philbar72 wrote:

craving anything that takes slightly too big tyres for the frame,

Did this with my Propel, stuck 25 mm tyres on it, found out the hard way the brakes needed a mod to work! Mind you, the guys at the Giant Shop learned from my experience too...

philbar72 wrote:

pipe and slippers (comfortable) cycling,

Nah, although when I can scrape the cash together for a winter bike it won't be as aggressive as the Propel.

philbar72 wrote:

discovering foam rollers and stretching and yoga,

Tried all of them but none of them really make much difference! A half pint of milk after a ride and a chilled out zombie like trance for half an hour is more like it

philbar72 wrote:

wondering whether disk brakes are worth it.

I decided they weren't; I could have had a bike with discs but then it would have missed out on Ultegra

philbar72 wrote:

not being bothered about aero stuff,

Might get an aero helmet when the current one is too old/grimy to take out in public

philbar72 wrote:

getting an exotic Italian steed then having it written off by a complete chopper on a training day...,

Thankfully, haven't been through this! I did have a 90's Olmo before the Propel, wish I hadn't sold it...

philbar72 wrote:

Audax,

Definitely no! Although if I was single I might be more interested

philbar72 wrote:

Cake,

Whilst I like cake, I think the obsession with coffee and cake is a bit wrong, there should be more pub/beer/crisp stops...

philbar72 wrote:

fried food on the club run, and getting out there and exploring, and having fun...

All this sounds good!

that's possibly the most comprehensive response to a post I've ever had.

I didn't mention the other stuff I do like crit racing and time trialling and the most important, winning sign sprints

bianchimoon

ugo.santalucia wrote:

bianchimoon wrote:

BTW would it be a bit silly doing an Audax my on aero bikes?

No... on shorter events, up to 200 km you see all sorts of bikes. this is for sure more aero than yours (and it was a 400 km)



Just make sure the event you choose doesn't have an "M" in the description, which means compulsory mudguards. Hardly any, these days

Just been checking out the local AUK clubs websites, lots of interesting info and the routes they use, I'm used to regular 40 - 60 mile runs so a dry run of a 150 or 200k route is in order to see how I feel I see they say 15-30kph, is it simply a case of staying within those limits?

Brakeless

bianchimoon wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

bianchimoon wrote:

BTW would it be a bit silly doing an Audax my on aero bikes?

No... on shorter events, up to 200 km you see all sorts of bikes. this is for sure more aero than yours (and it was a 400 km)



Just make sure the event you choose doesn't have an "M" in the description, which means compulsory mudguards. Hardly any, these days

Just been checking out the local AUK clubs websites, lots of interesting info and the routes they use, I'm used to regular 40 - 60 mile runs so a dry run of a 150 or 200k route is in order to see how I feel I see they say 15-30kph, is it simply a case of staying within those limits?

On the card they give you at the start are all the 'controls' you have to visit with 'control open' times shown. The opening time is if you reach that control riding at 30kph non stop, the closing time is riding at 15kph non stop.

keef66

I must admit to a slight feeling of satisfaction after a 26 mile cold, wet and windy ride with my son. I'm 60 and he's 29. I was fuelled by porridge and toast, and made a good choice of kit for the conditions. He arrived sleep deprived, having eaten only left over curry for breakfast, and being wildly optimistic about his fitness, the weather and hence his kit.
I had to virtually tow him back for the last 5 miles, and he took about 2 hours to thaw out. I felt fine

I think I'll likely go the Audax route when I retire; my wife definitely doesn't want me cluttering up the house, and I'll be happy to oblige. Dynamo hubs are starting to look very sexy...

I need to start cultivating a beard I think

singleton

Frank Wilson wrote:

Does getting older go hand in hand with purchasing more expensive and unnecessary kit?

Fixed that for you.
And in most cases - yes it apparently does.

ugo.santalucia

bianchimoon wrote:

Just been checking out the local AUK clubs websites, lots of interesting info and the routes they use, I'm used to regular 40 - 60 mile runs so a dry run of a 150 or 200k route is in order to see how I feel I see they say 15-30kph, is it simply a case of staying within those limits?

Realistically it is impossible NOT to stay within the time limits. On occasions you might get to the first control a minute before it opens but it is rare. Pretty much impossible from the second control onwards.

Being slower than 15 Km/h also is very difficult, unless you have a mechanical early on before the first control. Time limits become an issue on 1000 km and longer rides, where you have to decide how long you can afford to sleep and still get to the next control before it closes... things like PBP or LEL

ugo.santalucia

keef66 wrote:

Dynamo hubs are starting to look very sexy...

You only need a dynamo on multi day events... on a summer 600 you can survive out of an LED light and a spare battery or two... I have around 7 hours worth of full on light.
That said, I'd love a SON dynamo hub and if it wasn't that my commuting bike is disc and my audax bike is rim brake, I'd probably get one

ben@31

Getting older....

1) It's now harder to recover. If I haven't done anything for a while I now feel stiff the next day.

2). Start to think rationally. Surely a proper bike fit is what matters and not the bravado bollox about stems. Is Campag really any better than Shimano? To be honest I've never noticed what groupset someone else on the road was using.

timothyw

ugo.santalucia wrote:

keef66 wrote:

Dynamo hubs are starting to look very sexy...

You only need a dynamo on multi day events... on a summer 600 you can survive out of an LED light and a spare battery or two... I have around 7 hours worth of full on light.
That said, I'd love a SON dynamo hub and if it wasn't that my commuting bike is disc and my audax bike is rim brake, I'd probably get one

Couldn't you just build a front with a disk hub and rim brake compatible rim? Then you could use it on either.

With a center lock hub it'd be quick to pop the rotor off and on as required.

ben@31

ugo.santalucia wrote:

keef66 wrote:

Dynamo hubs are starting to look very sexy...

You only need a dynamo on multi day events... on a summer 600 you can survive out of an LED light and a spare battery or two... I have around 7 hours worth of full on light.
That said, I'd love a SON dynamo hub and if it wasn't that my commuting bike is disc and my audax bike is rim brake, I'd probably get one

It would be cheaper an easier to carry one of those portable USB battery packs, in one of the back pockets of your jersey. At home I have different cable lengths from 2 or 3 inch to 6 foot.
Handy for the shite battery life of my Garmin 520 too, when I'm doing rides over 5 or 6 hours. All my lights are USB chargeable

term1te

I did change the stem on my commuting bike for one 2cm shorter last year. But I convinced myself that it had been too long for the previous 18 years...

You know when age is catching you up, when you only look at the age specific leaderboards on Strava.