Its all good on a road bike .. more so with added fitness.

Being a fuller-figured gent, my aptitude is more for going downhill than up. Did the Tour of the Peak which highlighted aspects of a few types of climb for me – Cat and Fiddle is my kind of climb, long and grindy, set a tempo and see it out. Winnats Pass offers the challenge of “how steep can I ride up?”, a challenge I failed this year but one I wanna go back.to, hate them at the time but an enjoyable test. My least favourite is constant up and down, I’m too big a bloke to sustain that. 🙁

Oddly, although I’m rubbish at MTB DH, I really enjoy road downhill. I was lucky enough to have a few goes down The Tumble, and that’s a fantastic descent, get aero and max it out. There’s a great (but much shorter 🙁 ) downhill on my commute, regularly bust 50 on that according to Strava. I think I could bust 60mph on that if I can take the kink without a confidence dab – got four weeks to prove it….

Road – flat bits and climbing

MTB – anything

I’ve got my weight down to 13 stone 7 which is about the same as when I left School 21 years ago and I’m enjoying the climbing more.

Strangely the fastest I’ve done on a Bike downhill is 47mph on the Road on the MTB coming back to Bolton from Rivi about 1 in the morning. Fastest I’ve done on the Road Bike is about 37 mph, I just don’t feel as comfy descending on it as the MTB.

I did a bit of the Pennine Bridleway above Settle the other week and was descending when I thought ” ooh this is a bit fast ” checked the Garmin after and was doing 30 mph, that’s the fastest I’ve done off road.

Both are good and preferred to grinding out a flat into a headwind. Descents are usually hampered by bad sight-lines, crud on the road etc to really let fly though. Still fun though when the moments arise to really enjoy them. Only KOM on the road is a descent – can’t get anywhere near them on climbs. Still really enjoy climbs though, especially when I’m feeling good and climbing feels fluid and fast.

Now descending on a tandem is properly fun and bonkers speeds are easily and scarily attainable. 🙂

Climbing. I love it. You feel the pain creeping up on you. You look up and see the road steepens and the pain is there, all over your thighs. Caressing and stabbing them. Reminding you of those winter rides you missed because it was too cold or too wet or too windy. Reminding you that you’re weak. But that spurs you on. You dig deeper, gulp the air, push the pedals harder and you accelerate. The road slackens and you gather your breath.

Enjoy climbing but seem to be best at flattish stuff with corners, according to strava anyway.

Climbing. I love it. You feel the pain creeping up on you. You look up and see the road steepens and the pain is there, all over your thighs. Caressing and stabbing them. Reminding you of those winter rides you missed because it was too cold or too wet or too windy. Reminding you that you’re weak. But that spurs you on. You dig deeper, gulp the air, push the pedals harder and you accelerate. The road slackens and you gather your breath.

are you the Troy Queef of the cycling world?

Climbing. I love it. You feel the pain creeping up on you. You look up and see the road steepens and the pain is there, all over your thighs. Caressing and stabbing them. Reminding you of those winter rides you missed because it was too cold or too wet or too windy. Reminding you that you’re weak. But that spurs you on. You dig deeper, gulp the air, push the pedals harder and you accelerate. The road slackens and you gather your breath.

Post of the year!

Climbing. I love it. You feel the pain creeping up on you. You look up and see the road steepens and the pain is there, all over your thighs. Caressing and stabbing them. Reminding you of those winter rides you missed because it was too cold or too wet or too windy. Reminding you that you’re weak. But that spurs you on. You dig deeper, gulp the air, push the pedals harder and you accelerate. The road slackens and you gather your breath.

I’ll have what his having.

Enduroad? Sign me up!

SL’s on the MTB or SPD’s on road bike?

To peak or not to peak?

Oh.

Love both on both 🙂

mtb – the more technical the better, up and down gives you something to think about!

road – love the challenge of climbing and trying to stay with fast groups (i often get dropped uphill, sprinters build 🙂 ). Then thrashing the rest of the group down the dh’s. Not many people have confidence on a road bike, i do, and love attacking a dh at full gas with big ring spinning and tucking all over the place. 8th place down col du vence on strava this summer was damn good fun. The more technical hairpins etc the better, and ideally steep enough that i don’t need to pedal much 🙂