500km between xmas and new year

Thanks for the add Robbo. I’ve gone and joined the Wednesday Crit….

I’d be interested in joining some longer rides at the weekends. Endurance Z2 stuff. I’m doing a bunch of endurance based training at the moment so Zwift races aren’t really for me (unless they’re 2+ hours).

Username is R8JimBob88

Putoline here. Months between application in the summer and weeks in the winter. No more faff than cleaning and lubing with anything else.

Here we go again…. woke up yesterday with a raw sore throat again and the beginnings of another head cold. That will make it 4 colds, back to back in 5 weeks since 15th Oct.

I’ve never had anything like this before. I haven’t been terribly poorly as such but have been through all the usual symptoms over and over and it’s completely draining me physically and mentally – Sore throat, cough, sinus pain, loads of snot, fever on and off etc etc. I’m not convinced it’s one long bug as I do perk up for a day or two in between. But what are the chances of catching 4 colds back to back when I normally get 1-2 a year lasting about 5 days??

Wife and toddler have had a couple of matching symptoms too but much more mild than my own.

I eat healthily, take daily vitamins etc. I’m just loosing my mind over it now as it’s keeping me off my bike.

I was recently at a wedding and got introduced some some dude I’d never met before. I don’t think he had any intention of shaking my hand but his arm was at 90 degrees with his hand half open so I just went for it. I think he was more embarrassed by the fact that he thinks that I think that his handshake is more limper than a wet tissue

After a little research I recently bought a saddle stool. I seem to remember reading a fair bit saying the kneeling chairs weren’t particularly good for you.

Another local here. It would be a shame as it’s a great connecting trail to get from one side of the Peak District to the other. On the other hand it would immortalise my KOM along it so…. what matters most?

I like the look of it. I’ve owned an F-Si in the past and currently own a 2019 Scalpel Si. Not sure i’d own a hardtail again in all fairness. Not sure i’d have another Cannondale either. I’ve cracked 2 Scalpel frames so far and the Cannondale specific parts and overpriced tools needed to maintain it are a pain. I’m sure the WC racers that have to race on them are glad that they don’t have to maintain them themselves!

No idea what going on here but after almost 4 weeks I thought I was mostly over it. Woke up this morning with a raging sore throat, snotty head and feel pretty awful again. It’s almost like I’ve had 3 colds / viruses back to back where I haven’t quite managed to get over the previous one before the next thing comes along. Don’t know if it is just one long bug or several but I’ve never been so rough for so long before.

We’re all covered by the direct debit guarantee so no risk of loosing money from that perspective either.

Let’s not forget that lots of people don’t have any need for physical cash anymore. It’s far more hassle for me to go to a cash machine for £10 than it is to do a bank transfer for £10.

A bank transfer is as good as cash. Once it’s there it’s there. Just don’t be pushed into giving more than your sortcode, account number and your name.

Yes fine

I recently got the Ravemen PR2400 – I don’t think it’s been out long but it’s a HUGE upgrade from my older PR1600.

Proper smart bit of kit. Highly recommended

Think I’ve finally turned the corner now on day 19. Managed a gentle 45 min spin on the turbo for the first time which felt ok despite lots of coughing but no lumps coming up. I feel a fair bit brighter and less sinus pressure but I’m still very snotty… hopefully things will only get better now!

Also been wondering if there’s a better option than the spray on Nikwax stuff.

I can never get it to last anywhere near as long as the factory treatment.

What do they do at the factory?

Day 16 for me now. Pretty sure I’ve had two separate cold virus’s that have overlapped as I’ve never had anything last this long. Woke up this morning (well from 3am) absolutely crammed full of a cold. Yay back to square one. Been on the sofa asleep most of the afternoon. Haven’t really touched my bikes for over 3 weeks now which is telling is I tend to ride pretty much daily.

Fortunately little man is much better now but that means he’ll just pick up the next box set of viruses from nursery on Monday.

2 weeks into it for me now. Started with a sore throat, then a mild head cold followed by an incredibly painful chest with plenty of snotty lumps coming up. Thought I was getting over it and now it’s become a really fierce tickly cough with no let up for the past few days.

Wife and toddler have also caught it off me. We haven’t slept much for the last week. Pretty sure I caught it off our son in the first place. Just keeps going round and round and round oh the joys of nursery.

3 weeks since I re-herniated a disc in my back and this coughing is crippling me.

I’ve never greased or applied oil to a freehub before. I’ve probably got at least 25,000km on one set of hunt wheels at the moment and they still spin smooth and freely. Original bearings too and ridden in all weathers.

Genuine question – am I missing something? Would I gain anything with the extra TLC?

Probably gets more efficient after 20-30 miles is what you mean?

Love the guy and his attitude to cycling. His other adventures have been equally as entertaining.

I thought the pollen filter is just a filter for your internal blowers? Take the filter out and risk getting leaves blown in yer face. Maybe

I think it depends what stage of your training you’re at. I find FTP is only really useful for gauging long efforts at FTP or below. Anything above that I prefer to go off perceived effort.

Doesn’t Sufferfest do something called a 4DP test or something that scales all the different intensities to your ability? I’ve never done one of those tests but it sound way more valuable than your standard FTP test.

If I did a ramp test after a load of winter base training I’d probably score rather low as i think it relies more on your anaerobic abilities. On the other hand it’d probably score higher on a ramp test if I’d been training my Vo2 and anaerobic systems more such as during race season.

I think it’s as simple as calories in vs calories out.

Just riding more doesn’t always mean loosing weight. I ride a fair amount and average somewhere between 10-15hrs most weeks. The more I ride the more hungry I get and therefore I eat more. My weight has pretty much stayed at 75kg for as long as I can remember now.

If I haven’t ridden for a period of time due to sickness / injury etc my appetite reduces and I still maintain my 75kg.

If I want to loose weight I need to accept that I’ll probably be hungry some of the time.

I think there’s a fine line when it comes to the ideal weight. Generally you’ll be less powerful if you’re skinny but all that power isn’t needed to get you up those hills at the same pace when compared to a heavier / more powerful person.

I guess this is where w/kg is a useful metric if you have a power meter. If you’re w/kg is increasing and you’re still healthy then you’re on track. If you’re loosing weight but your w/kg isn’t increasing or you’re feeling unhealthy then you’ve probably gone too far.

I’ve had a toddler in nursery one day a week since Jan which has meant I’ve caught most viruses that he brings home… bad colds on 6 separate occasions so far this year.

February
May
July x2
September
October

A normal year is normally just one or two.

It’s the land of aero road bike. If I lived there the MTB would probably get used once a month max. The lanes are nice and quiet though, very popular with the roadie clubs and TT scene

I suppose I’m English but choose to identify as Chinese. That’s the way it works these days isn’t it?

I’ve done it years ago. Seem to remember a lot of road and lanes. No idea if the route is still the same.

I did the Calderdale MTB Marathon last weekend. Pretty similar I think. Going at full chat was motivating and made things more challenging. Massive turnout.

Aero is king, but rolling resistance is more king

My cat was doing the “I’m about to vomit” dance on my bed yesterday. I managed to grab him and run into the bathroom and throw him in the shower just as the vomit started to fly.

Vomit washed away down the plug ‘ole and all was well.

That’s a success worthy of noting.

Roych has been flattened as far as the last gate before the steeper Rocky section. The Rushup sunken track is worth a ride up or down but I tend to stick to the single track path right next to it. Even the horses prefer that to the main rocky track.

Just turn off Auto Upload. The ride will still be sync’d to the Wahoo app. Then you just go into each ride in the Wahoo app and export them to Strava whenever you want

It’s easy enough unless the nipples are seized and made of cheese. This is the case 99% of the time.

Easy enough is theory, in practice however…

I’ve ridden in some pretty shocking conditions and have never had my chain looking like that @kayak23. I do dry the chain with a rag rather than leaving it to dry and develop surface rust though. It’s also stored in a heated garage which probably helps.

I have some sids without a remote lockout. I enquired about upgrading to a lockout and have been informed that they have different dampers so it’s not a straight forward swap – £££

Unlikely to squirm at those pressures even under super aggressive corning. Unless you weigh 100kg+

Awesome race, brutal course. Tom is on another level to pretty much everyone else. That kid is going places!

A friend had a head on collision with a speeding car on Tuesday. Broken neck, back, fingers, both legs in multiple places amongst other horrendous deep lacerations.

Ambulance quoted 2 hours. He was going to die. Somehow he managed to call his wife who knew a local ex paramedic. They got to him ASAP and saved his life.

Ambulances were already attending an incident where someone had drowned in a clearly signed “no swimming” flooded quarry.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/louise-clark-763

I know, I have two brakes and the front one is ok! Whatever the problem is with the rear brake it’s the heat that then causes it to lock on. I’ll try a bleed

I have the 725 Steel version. Brilliant bike for the money but it was built with the wrong components and the way the bike was assembled was shocking. Outright dangerous. I emailed them and they didn’t give a hoot. Rear brake calliper was bodged to the frame with an assortment of wrong length bolts and a dozen washers… fortunately the bolts snapped before I rode it and not whilst I was riding it.

I’d buy again purely for the value but check the bike over 100% before riding it.