I'd do whatever makes you happy - flats, baggies, a peak on your helmet, a Camelbak, whatever. I wouldn't use any of those myself on the road, I value the security of clipless pedals on rougher surfaces along with the biomechanical consistency of a repeatable foot/pedal position etc, but it's your call.
If you do go clipless, try backing the tension right off for the first few rides so you can unclip easily and also maybe spend a dull ten minutes leaned against a wall just clipping and unclipping your standing leg until it starts to feel like a more natural process and you do it automatically.
One of the old boys in my club, who was riding road bikes long before my stabilisers were off, reckons clipless pedals are the single best bike invention he witnessed (he's not old enough for gears or pneumatic tyres to be considered within his timeframe, but it might have been close 😉 )
His take on pedaling in circles is that it's not an action of pulling up on the back stroke that you need, rather a pulling through on the underside, between about 7 o'clock and 5 o'clock. Like Ken says - as if you're scraping dog shit off your shoe. It might 'only' add a few % extra but I'd be happy with a few % extra when I need it most.
And the tip for practicing it, is one legged pedaling. Not sure how easy that is on flats, I've never really used them since taking up cycling properly, but get on a flat bit of road or fireroad and unclip one foot and do sets with each leg, to give you the feeling of the motion you're looking for.
Metasequoia - MemberLooks to me that your avg for the loop is very respectable 27+ kph. I also ride this route, often starting up Applepie hill.
Shout if you fancy a pootle mate, email in profile. I live not far off the bottom of AP Hill. There's a decent bunch of road riders around here in the village too (email system for arranging weekly meets)
I'm fat, 42 and riding about in West Berks. I'm not going to get the maximum from a finite detail of pedalling efficiency of elliptical rings etc.
That's exactly why you'd benefit - you need it made as easy and efficient as possible 🙂
SPDs really come into their own when spinning along at 80-90rpm. It's sooo much more of a complete circular movement - I can't imagine doing it on flats. The idea of riding a road bike on flats just seems so wrong.
Plus the stiffness of road shoes is massively useful. They are completely rock solid so far stiffer than even stiff flat shoes. If I had to choose one piece of cycling specific clothing to wear, I'd choose the shoes without a thought. I'd rather ride 100km in a 3 piece suit with SPDs than full lycra with flats.
SPDs are on offer lately on Wiggle at £20, it'd be rude not to at that price.
plenty of places have the pedals for that money at the moment yes, but then you add in a pair of shoes at £50 and a pair of overshoes at £15 and it's getting more expensive.
I'm watching a few pairs of slightly used SPD-SL's at the moment and hope to potentially save a few sheckles that way.
but then you add in a pair of shoes at £50 and a pair of overshoes at £15 and it's getting more expensive.
Says the man that is going to drive all weekend to [s]walk[/s] pedal up some hills 😉 🙂
I've been using flat pedals for years on my road bike, nuts to what everyone else says! I've got SPD-SL's too (i found them better than SPDs) and the *only* time i felt they offered a real advantage is in a sprint finish in a race.
At all other times i think the efficiency is only an very minor negligible benefit, and didn't seem to affect average times over longer distances at all.
IMO - don't use stiff shoes with flat pedals. They work differently, the pedal is much larger and acts as the stiff bit.
then you add in a pair of shoes at £50 and a pair of overshoes at £15 and it's getting more expensive.
Not compared to the rest of your bike. And you don't need overshoes yet anyway, not cold enough.
SPDs really come into their own when spinning along at 80-90rpm. It's sooo much more of a complete circular movement - I can't imagine doing it on flats.
Poor technique 😉 Seriously though, if you can spin flat pedals well then you'll be making better circles when clipped in.
the *only* time i felt they offered a real advantage is in a sprint finish in a race
Check out the sprint out of the gate in BMX, all done on flats, cadences up to around 200rpm.
There's a decent bunch of road riders around here in the village too (email system for arranging weekly meets)
That out near Compton?
Yup.
I'm down in Newbury. You riding with crosshair? Did mean to go for a ride with him a while back but never quite managed it. Newbury RC are a good bunch, as are Didcot Phoenix, if you fancy that sort of thing.
mrblobby - MemberI'm down in Newbury. You riding with crosshair? Did mean to go for a ride with him a while back but never quite managed it. Newbury RC are a good bunch, as are Didcot Phoenix, if you fancy that sort of thing.
Yup, I know him fairly well 🙂 We were out the other day and he trounced me !!!! I'm coming for his crown though once he gets past his peak and starts slobbing round and getting fat again
I don't forsee me doing 'club' stuff, the social group here is plenty for me, has a mix of a couple of obviously seasoned ex-racers, a couple of big strong ox's and a couple of fat wannabees 😉 like me.
So, I imported the weekend ride into Strava purely out of interest.
I didn't set ANY records compared to my PBs on the climbs, I was between 50s and 1min slower on the major uphills than my previous best, which was probably set on my Giant XTC29er.
On Crosshairs "Drag out of Hermitage" I set a 1min 59. However TBH I was tiring a little by then as it was in the 2nd half of my ride. It put me a 480 out of 994 on Strava.
I have to say, I'm pretty bloody disappointed in the results... irrespective of what bike I was on, how far I'd ridden or the fact I was tired by then... .that's simply not good enough. (The 1min off my best, not the 480-994)
Grrrrr. thanks to you lot I now own some VERY lairy shoes
I have to say, I'm pretty bloody disappointed in the results... irrespective of what bike I was on, how far I'd ridden or the fact I was tired by then... .that's simply not good enough. (The 1min off my best, not the 480-994)
How long ago was that best? How's your fitness in comparison? Heavier? What was the context of the best effort? Was there much difference in conditions?
How long ago was that best? How's your fitness in comparison? Heavier? What was the context of the best effort? Was there much difference in conditions?
1 1 Aug 2013 6:38 8.4km/h
2 31 Aug 2014 7:30 7.4km/h
So about a year. Weight is about 2.5Kg heavier after a recent holiday... not that much I'd have thought. Bike was obviously different, I'd have been on a Spearfish that day I think as it would have been my MTB at that time. Conditions would have been distinctly similar although I expect I may have taken it easy and gone out with a direct goal of beating my best time on that climb as I was competitive with mate. Sundays was the latter part of a 50km ride.
I'm still unhappy either way...
Is that Streatley? That is pretty steep so weight makes a big difference. Also gearing on mtb may be more favourable for something that steep. Also as you say a bit more fatigue in the legs.
Yup that's the Streatley hill climb.
Just looking back at my times, I did that hill on two rides a month or so apart, one was a quick 30 mile loop, the other towards the end of a hilly 70 mile loop. The latter effort was 1:40 slower than the former. Point is Streatley hill is quite a test and a bit of fatigue (and whether you are pushing it!) can result in some big time differences.
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I'd be up for some 'STW does roady' local meets once the Brecon Beast is out the way.
Sorry Weeksy- Last years lapse was due to having a massive hernia so you'd better improve fast if you want to get back in front 😉
I ride Mtb SPD's on my road bike plus baggyish shorts and a visor 😉
I'm sure you will get used to them but your cadence is good without them and that guy on Tour de Berkshire on that weird bike was running flats.
SO today I replicated last Fridays ride.
some subtle differences today... I was a bit more used to the bike.... also I was running SPD-SL shoes/pedals. bought a pair of new Shimano R088 shoes and the R054 pedals that are doing the rounds at the moment everywhere. I felt better climbing and getting more drive. The pedals give you/me a bit of a numb toes feeling, so need to work on that. Didn't cause me any confidence or stability issues though which was good.
Overall speed today was 17.212mph. Which is better than the other day, but not by a huge amount. Felt a bit more windy on the way out/up today than last week though.
If you're getting numb toes then first thing would be to slacken off the front/middle strap a bit and see how you go on.
Next would be to look where you've fitted the cleats and consider moving them back towards the middle of the shoe. I know you can't actually mount them there but move them back a bit of the strap adjustment doesn't work for you.
You might also be 'gripping' with your toes a bit.
I'd be up for some 'STW does roady' local meets once the Brecon Beast is out the way.
Would be up for that 🙂
Thanks guys. I'll look into that.
Reading based, Newbury for work, closet Roadie here and I have been pootling about on a Carrerra "vanquish" for quite some time, just in the process of upgrading to something posher.
As for pedals, M520s and a good XC shoe are probably more than adequate, but I am going to start trying SPD SL now as well.
I Would also be up for a STW, Berkshire chapter, road bimble at some point (schedules permitting)...
Today was a 64km pootle taking in West Berks, Wantage, Newbury etc.
I need to ride smarter, not necessarily quicker. Once again I hit the pace too hard too fast. The pace overall was a chunk quicker than last week, up, down, flat, it was just harder. I found myself in no-mans land far too often. Out of the 6 riders there was Crosshair, Mike and James, all powering on. Flat speed I can pretty much match Crosshair at times, but then as soon as we hit a hill. *BOOM* I'm out the back and off the pace and left for dead. Now, often you could say "yeah well you're a big lad, what else could be expected"... but... I'm not the biggest... the 2 front-runners are both likely carrying more actual weight than me. Admittedly, they're training freaks at the moment putting in ridiculous hours/miles. You can easily tell.
Finding myself in no mans land meant I spent a fair chunk of time pounding out the miles alone. Crosshair was 100-200m ahead, Ben and our very experienced back-marker (who helps drag people back to the pace) were about the same sort of distance behind me, so I was doing all the work on my own.
Over the course of the ride according to Endomondo I did many PB's.... which is good (although to be expected too), but one was 1hour was 18.125mph for that hour, which I'm exceptionally happy with. Obviously that could have been a fairly flat/down section, but looking at the data/map it did involve 3 decent hills, one out of Wantage and then another just before a massive downhill into Lambourne. Then the fairly flat section that the Tri guys were using in the reverse direction to us.
Another section I did 10 miles in 30mins 58. Mostly alone ... but that's above my maths skills to work out my MPH average hahaha.
After that hour though, I really really struggled... I wouldn't go as far as saying I hit the wall.... but it was certainly a few bricks over there. I just couldn't get the drive/pace any more... standing up instantly dragged my legs into the cramp zone, which wasn't nice. So I left the guys to it and just eased off a little for 3-5km... I eventually made the ground back up, but in no part was there where I'd have done it alone, the lads eased off to make sure I was OK, giving me the opportunity to close back up.
A lot of this fatigue I think is down to 3 causes
1. They're quicker/fitter
2. I pushed too hard too soon
3. I need to ride smarter, not faster.
Or a combination of all 3 to a great extent.
Thouhgt I'd write a quick update on this.
I can't see I've 'got' the road bike thing still in all honesty, but buying it has taught me about my last year or so being almost wasted under training. It's taught me to push harder, longer and faster.
Integrated with the purchase I started back on the 5-2 diet. Along with the highest months mileage I've ever had, plus working hard on the spin bike I'm now setting PR's all the time on the bike, the scales have dropped from 15st 10 down to 14st 12. Which it's hard not to be happy with.
The road bike will remain for now.... but I still don't get it LOL.
Good weight loss, I think youve identified what makes road cycling appeal to many people.
"Hard Work Pays"
Nice one.
