Fitness

Welcome to all who have an interest in anything cycling of any kind.( road, mountain, commuting, stationary, whatever).

This is the place to come to ask that question you have been wanting to ask,

or tell that story about your latest adventure riding your bike,

find out how to use cycling to get in better shape, or anything else you can think of.

So, to start, tell us, what you ride, where you ride and what type of riding you enjoy.

Come back often too check out what's going on and see what's on everyones mind or add your knowledge to the group. 

 

Happy new year, cyclists!  ;)  I know this is somewhat the off season for you guys, but I need some help.  I don't know if you have noticed, but to date I have hosted 4 virtual races for the runners of CC.  I would very much like to get the cyclists involved, and want to host a relay style virtual duathalon for the spring.

Basically, runners can enter to run 5k or 10k, and cyclists can enter to run xx distance or yy distance.  And those who do both can sign up for both a running distance and a cycling distance, if they are so inclined.  Then, for the week surrounding our chosen date everyone is tasked to complete their chosen 'race', either on their own time or by actually entering a street race of some kind.  It's a good way to help people train for an event, to push newbies, etc.

What I need from you guys are two appropriate race length distances for cyclists.  Being primarily a bike commuter, I haven't paid as much attention as I should to cycling race distances.  I know I should, but I haven't.  ;)  So can you help a girl out with some suggestions, please?

That sounds fantastic!  Distances for cyclists vary a lot, so maybe more than 2 choices? 20, 40, 62 (metric century?).

Hi all,

I put on a new chain this weekend & thought I'd post a reminder for folks out there to check for chain stretch if you're riding a lot of miles. If you don't change chains once they get stretched, it'll wear down the rest of your components & lead to much more costly premature replacement of cogs & chain rings. 

My drivetrain was a little noisy & it had been a few thousand miles, so I put on a new one & it's silent & buttery smooth. Still didn't help me up the hills against that 10mph headwind this morning unfortunately!

Carry on :-)

Hi all, hope everyone survived the holidays. I was sick on christmas and in bed by 10:30 New Year's Eve, lol.

I have been out of the loop for a while because of some school stuff going on with my son. And then the cold hit - I guess I am a freezebaby. Yesterday it warmed up and I took the Trek for a spin. Then I really wanted to get out there tonight. When i opened the garage, it was pouring down rain (I mean serious bucket rain). Didn't stop me though and I am now sitting here soaked but feeling so good about getting back on the bike. We are supposed to have snow over the weekend but I really want to get some miles in.

Well, just wanted to let everyone know that I am still alive.

Jane

I never seem to get good life out of my driveline components. Chains die in 2000 miles or so (yes, I do clean and lube them). My cassette is shot (skipping noises and auto-shifting when I stand going uphill). This is after about 7,000 miles.

I got 3400 miles in last year, with about 150,000 feet of climbing. I'm aiming to double that this year.

I have read that 1000 miles is good for a chain but I am sure they will last longer.  2000 miles doesn't sound so bad.

I have had the Aurora in with toasted bottom bracket.  I had the shop give it a good overhaul.  The Quest is probably due for a new chain and maybe a tune up.  I put aero bars on the Aurora.  I am pretty happy with them except that I have a really stiff neck because of the riding position.  I was out on New Year's Day and again last Sunday.  Then I commuted on Monday.  By Monday night I was sick enough to stay home from work but I had just had 2 weeks vacation and did not want to suggest that riding a bicycle was hazardous to my health.  So I gutted it out this week.

I have a problem with my trainer.  I have gotten to the point that registering over 20 miles in an hour workout and my cadence is averaging in the 90's with peaks over 130.  So I am going to have to reconfigure it for higher resistance.

Panda:  I am not sure that I really want to get into the virtual race format.  For a week's riding, I would think something on the order of 100 miles.  60 to 70 miles would be about an average of 10 miles per day.  That would be pretty challenging for some folks.  But there are a lot cyclists putting in 150 to 200 miles per week.  What would be the payoff for committing to a double metric century or a triple metric century?

Panda, were you talking about the amount of running and cycling you do over a week, or a biathlon folks can do in a day, any day in the designated week?

I'm very new to the forum, and just starting my cycling training for the year.  I'm starting with 40 miles for the week, which is about 4 hours of riding for me; I'd say that's a beginner level.  A brand-new to cycling level would be about 20 I'd think, while a moderate level would be 60 miles/metric century, and advanced would be the full 100 miles.

Hi, everyone!!  Bet you all thought I'd vanished off the face of the earth,LOL.  Well still at it, cycling that is.  I have been riding alot, imagine that, finished up last year with a total of 12,000 miles, way too much!  This year I'm not going to keep track, it just makes you too obsessive.  Going to do some riding in Colorado this summer, Gmule told me last year about a ride called the Triple bypass in evergreen Colorado that I signed up for.  Look it up, it's quite a ride!

My weight got a little out of control, so I've come back to get it back down again before I ride the mountains this summer.  One thing I've found is that taking the weight off isn't too hard, but keeping it in control is a whole nother thing.

Glad to see so many of you are still here and cycling, hope all is well with you and you are being successful in your weight loss goals.

See ya all soon, DAN

Well, I finally found this thread.  carrihound sent me over, so here I be.  lol

I'm a bike mechanic/sales guy/internet guru at a high-end shop in Indy.   Spent the previous 7 years doing IT/web design work and eating on the go (ie: fast food).  So, I have a bit of "excess" to lose.

All of my bikes are from when I worked at the shop before - so, 2000 and earlier.  If you're interested, they are:

1. Rocky Mountain Vertex

2. Specialized Rockhopper (Ritchey tubing)

3. Marin Venezia (road)

4. Bianchi B.O.S.S.

5. Cannondale F500i

6. Trek 850

7. Schwinn MesaRunner (1980s)

8. Rutledge "Cruiser" (1950s)

9. Some kind of old mountain bike  (really, unknown.  was left at the shop with no stickers or other identifying marks)

10. KHS "Police" issue MTB

 

I live in Indiana and I'm a wussy, so I'm not riding at the moment.  It's 19° and snowing...  Once it warms up I'll be training to ride RAGBRAI in July, and then the Hilly Hundred in October.

 

Platypius, welcome to CCCC.  As a fellow hoosier cyclist, I am a veteran of many Hilly Hundreds myself although I haven't ridden it in a few years.  There are a couple of nice rides down in my corner of the state although it's hard to beat the Bloomington area for riding.  I am getting tired of the trainer and hoping that the weather will start improving soon.

I rode the Hilly last year.  However, as a vendor, I only get to ride one day.  I did the 40 mile Sunday route last year.  I'm hoping to have time to do the 50 mile route this year.

Oh, and since you're a "hoosier cyclist", check out my web site.  I'm trying to get all of us together so that we can share routes, discuss riding conditions in various parts of the state, etc.

www.hoosiercycling.com

 

It's been a while but I noticed the thread and figured it's time to update.  I haven't rode at all since moving to the new house and changing jobs late last year.  The weather is starting to change with some days in the mid 60's so I've been getting out to run lately but hopefully in the coming weeks I'll be able to find somewhere new to ride.

The company I went to work for, they were planning to build in the city next to where I moved to... but now the new location is a little futher away and down a much busier, higher speed limit, and winding two lane road.   I'm not sure I'd survive bicycle commuting on that road at all just because I'd end up in too many blind spots to 55+mph motorists.   I don't mind riding on roads if I can be seen for a good distance in advance or if the road is off the beaten path enough to get little traffic and lower the risks.

I've got one road route for just fun that I might try out.  It goes over one mountain and on the other side is a road that goes along the edge of the local river.  I think that could end up somewhat safe since it's not a direct route to anywhere except as a shortcut to those who live there to the outside world.  Maybe I'll try that out as my first ride this year and post some pictures.

It's good to see this thread isn't completely dead.  Hopefully it'll pickup more though in the next month or two as the weather changes.

I've just arrived in Vancouver from the UK. Someone has lent me a bike so that I can get about easier. I used to be a pretty good, confident cyclist doing a 40 minute commute on bike along a busy road and through a town center everyday but I have lost a bit of confidence, plus I'm having a hard time getting used to cycling on the 'wrong' side of the road (which is pretty scary).

Does anyone know of any nice cycling routes around vancouver away from heavy traffic, to get me started and build my confidence?

 

Thanks 

I did a quick google search and this site details the best trails in your area:

http://www.vancouverplus.ca/portal/feature/12 462/cycling_trails.jsp

Cheers! That's fantastic! Guess I was looking in the wrong places... No excuses now!

Platypius, I visited your site.  I'll have to check out the shop next time I'm in Indy.  The shops in my area are a little boring.  By the way, you mentioned in your blog that they served fried chicken at the lunch stops in the Hilly Hundred.  They have been doing this for as long as I remember and I think my first Hilly was 1983 so I assume that fried chicken is a 40 year tradition.  I'll have to admit that I've never eaten the chicken since it seems a little heavy to me for a mid-ride snack on a fifty miler. I'm good with a banana, a couple of fig newtons, and some sports drink.  Maybe I'd eat the chicken if it were a century. 

(For others, the Hilly Hundred is a two day ride with maximum routes of 50 miles a day. I did ride both routes in one day one year.)

Well, in order to be able to buy my new Masi this spring, I gotta get rid of all of my collected bike parts. (I really AM a packrat...) So, if any of y'all need some parts, or just want to help me get a bike that actually fits me (my current one is 3cm too tall), you can check out some of the stuff I'm making go bye bye at: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZoldhousegaze tte

 

If it looks like I'm going to get enough to buy the new one, I'll list the "old" one on there too. It's a 1998(?) Marin 56cm. Can't think of the model right now... the frame is made in Italy - something Marin only did for a couple of years. I don't want to list it until I can buy the new one though...don't want to be without a road bike.

 

Hey everyone,

I own a 2007 Carrera Vulcan mountain bike, I'm not too sure how many miles I cycle for, but I usually cycle approximately anything from 2-3 hours at quite a fast pace. How do you guys measure how far you've been cycling for? And also for anyone who owns an iPod Nano with the sport kit, does that measure how long you've been cycling for?

Any help is appreciated! 

Wow! Looks like we might be back in business.

Welcome, skinny.  Use a bike computer.  There were some pretty good discussions on this thread last year, if you care to dig thru the old posts.  Bottom line is that you can get what you need for about 25 bucks.  You can get super-duper models for up to $300 (or more).  Most bike shops not only carry them, they will mount them for you.  But really, getting one mounted and set up is not difficult.  You can also buy them on line.