Happy New Year and Best Wishes to all. Here’s hoping for fewer lockdowns and reduced risk for everyone in the New Year. Wonder whether we will get anything like a near normal Classics Season in 2021. They are not far away and it would need a dramatic impact from vaccines to get things anywhere near normal.
HAPPY NEW YEAR to y’all! Can’t help but share two brags.
Got a short ride in today but enough miles to make it 7,600 (and small change) for the year. And all road miles. I keep my Zwift/virtual miles on a separate Strava account because IMHO it’s not “real” riding so not real miles or real elevation gain. https://www.strava.com/activities/4545491648
I managed to clear 4,000 miles for 2020. I suspect a significant majority were indoors on the rollers. It would be nice if Strave separated miles bit bike/medium for the year in the same way it does for total miles. Maybe if I downloaded the data to excel I could separate them but I can’t be arsed to do that!
Hey all! Just want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas (or however you celebrate) and a Happy New Year. Best wishes from my family to all of yours!
Hey all…been awhile since I have popped on here. I have slowly built up the supply chain coming into Haldy’s Handbuilt Wheels, and I now have a pipeline to get “Golden Tickets” for rims. 🙂 Any interest in getting some Nemesis( tubular) or Elegance( clincher) rim orders going? Let me know! haldy@haldyshandbuiltwheels.com
Welcome back. I’ve been a bit remiss (absent) lately too due to house moves and decorating. I need to finalise the OTRL results for 2020 which I will try to get round to this weekend. I need to get outdoors too – can’t remember the last time I was out. Many catching late afternoon time on the rollers these days.
Welcome back. Hopefully you’ve had some time to enjoy the Bixxis. I recently had a rear wheel failure, Crono F20 cracked. Looking to have a new set built up with the existing Record hubs. Nemesis is on my short list, we may need to talk.
This winter will be very interesting, to say nothing of next summer. For the first time since I got into road cycling I actually have a coach. I have trained with a group that had a coach make a training plan for the group as a whole before. This time however I decided I needed someone to taylor the training sessions to what I need to improve and to really tell me off when I slack. I’m beyond excited, got my trainer set up, bought new winter kit ($$$) and my cyclocross bike is standing ready with a new chainring… Read more »
Both are fine. No scratches on the bike and very few on me. Fortunately I wasn’t on my nice bike but on the “made for trying stupid things” cyclocross bike. This turned out to be a very stupid thing to try…
Incidentally, I tried to post a picture (not from the “try to ride through a tree” ride) to the Photos section the other day, but it hasn’t shown up. Could it possibly be stuck in a spam filter or require approval?
This was a .jpg file, the size was 5823kB. I can certainly upload it again, but I’m afraid the brilliant prose that accompanied it will be lost forever unless the system has a copy…
Stelbel build coming along between unpacking and sorting thinks in the new house. Checked out the drivetrain and dialled in the position on the rollers today. Actually fitted like a glove straight off. Just need to take a bit off the steerer but still leave some wiggle room above the stem for now. Then to hook up the hydraulics and will be good to road test. Will have to find some time next week for finishing up.
A bit of a grrr. No bolts for the rear brake calliper. You need to select the bolt length based on the frame mount depth and though I bought the frame and groups from the same source they have not included bolts of the correct length for the frame. A bit annoying, so have had to order off the ‘net, express delivery.
Hmm – the Comments plugin seems to have done an auto update. Unfortunately a by product of that is that all photos seems to have disappeared from old Comments. Not sure I can do anything about that. Sorry. Somewhat hacked off with the plugin authors over that!
So – unanticipated effects of lockdown/working from home – my commuting bike miles has reduced to zero but my ability to fit in really regular training and riding has increased. Net result; I’m back in really good bike riding form. Went out last night and took a KOM on a 40 minute hilly strava segment. Surprised myself.
A rough up…….it’s really hard to pickup the colour in a photo. For a steel frame that is one light frame. Don’t have my scales here as yet but will be interesting to see how it pans out.
Love the colour. Looks very real. Long term plan – it’s do-able for us to get across to the IoW, potentially with our tandem. At some point shall we go for a spin?
Sounds like a great plan when things get back to whatever normal will be. Would need the Lymington – Yarmouth ferry to restart as that one is suspended pending traffic picking up to the IoW.
In case y’all haven’t already seen this. Rigoberto Uran on his TT bike at 45 kph being drafted by a farmer in baggy clothes, boots, and a backpack. Just priceless!
And to follow up: “That man has now been identified as Iván Dario, 54-year-old flower farmer who was on his way to work when he decided to hop onto the back of the Olympic silver medallist earlier this week.”
Funny how you can find something new right on your doorstep. So, there is a hill just south of the hill we live on and there are 3 routes over it. One is horrible, the other is truly horrible and today I took the third one for the first time on the way back home. Let’s just say I won’t be rushing back to take that route home again any time soon – unless I buy an e-bike. I really thought I was going to grind to an ignominious standstill and topple over sideways, just where someone was loading their… Read more »
Hmm – according to the UK climbs list it does not appear much – though in my defence the climb starts a bit before the official start with the way I came into it plus there is a slight down and another pitch up at the top.
119 Quell Lane Haslemere Gain – 88m Length – 1.1 km Average – 8% Max – 22%
When I did Flèche Buffoon https://pezcyclingnews.com/features/lessons-from-the-badger-the-truth-behind-fleche-buffoon/ (described as a half-length Liege-Bastogne-Liege) a couple years ago, the signature climb (there are 14 categorized climbs) was Uhlerstown. According to Strava, the segment is just under a half mile long and averages 11 percent. That’s deceiving/misleading. To begin, it really is an Ardennes like climb in that the road is narrow (basically a single lane that a car can’t drive up) and crap. The climb starts “easily” enough at the bottom but then just ramps up. The steep section (it’s own Strava segment) is ~2/10 of a mile and averages a mere 23… Read more »
Oooo – saw a post on Stelbel’s FB page that they seem to be back in production and had some bikes shown in Black and White in final phase of spraying. Finger’s crossed but maybe mine is not far away!
Had to share this from a FB group……remembering that in the UK gatherings are banned at this time. I near had tea/keyboard incident when I read it. “I thought i’d share my Zwift experience, amid the UK lockdown.. I don’t have my trainer in the house, its in the shed at the bottom of the garden, i use an extension from the house to the shed for power.. anyway tonight I was giving it all on Zwift London: (the PRL half), music was pumping.. all of a sudden there is a loud knock at the shed door, its the police,… Read more »
There are still a few idiots around but fortunately not too many. Having said that those anti lockdown protests in the US look a bit concerning. As I all too often say, no branch of society has a monopoly on idiots.
November 2013. Pitch dark, 9:50pm. I’m ten minutes from home on the freeway (dual carrigeway). 68 mph on cruise. Sweet, I thought, I’ll make the 10 o’clock news. Then a deer comes out of the west. Crosses two southbound lanes, the median and bounds into my lane. Bam! Totalled car, dead deer. Couple of folks stop to see if I’m ok. Cop finally shows up. Checks to see if I’m ok. I was – just shaken. Asks me if I want the carcass. “Eh . . . no thanks.” Ten minutes later a lady shows up and takes the still… Read more »
In the time we spent in Colorado I’ve seen people loading road kill Deer/Elk onto their truck and driving off.
Also heard of a guy on a motorbike that hit an Elk at high speed (he was going at high speed not the Elk). Luckily he hit it just behind the rib cage and cut it clean in two and he got away with just bruises. That was a new bike and they ended up giving him a new one as they couldn’t manage to clean all the mess out of it!
Wiscot
March 30, 2020 6:22 pm
So they’re talking about a Tour sans spectators. How the hell do you make that happen? It’s run on public roads for free. It’s not like a stadium where you can control entry.
That actually would be entertaining. Give them a day off between each race and let them change up their teams if they want to. Three different winners or someone win more than one race?? Lots of different strategies. Sounds like fun to me!
Maybe just allow subs so that all the contenders have max support throughout and have one overall winner. Would be a unique draw for all the GT contenders in the same field.
1. Three week tour with 1 week of Giro, TDF, Vuelta (in that order for travel)
2. Teams of 6 riders (would allow more teams to take part)
3. Each team can have 3 subs who can be recycled (would allow sprinters to switch out for mountain stages)
4. Jersey Winners must complete all stages
UCI/ASO – this is @OTR copyright and we seek Copyright Fees if you do this!
You could combine the jerseys too.
1. Overall – Yellow jersey with Pink and Red hoop
2. KOM – Blue Jersey with a white band with Blue and Red Polka Dots
3. Points – Cyclamen Jersey with two tone Green hoop
4. Junior – White with a Yellow, Pink and Red hoop
Gave myself an extra Exeat (Latin) for the week as the weather is nice, though very windy nd it is possible we may have more significant lockdown next week affecting cycling. Hope people stay away from popular spots this weekend. Noticed that the carparks to just about all the small moors around here are shut off. Seemed to be more bikes out than cars which was nice. France, Italy and Spain have banned cycling. I’ve seem talk of Belgium potentially limiting folk to 50Km rides. Here we can go for 1 local ride per day. They are clearly trying to… Read more »
I’d take solid rain for a week. Up here the menu reads rain all day tomorrow, then two days of gale force winds and below freezing temperatures, followed by snowfall all weekend.
Happy New Year and Best Wishes to all. Here’s hoping for fewer lockdowns and reduced risk for everyone in the New Year. Wonder whether we will get anything like a near normal Classics Season in 2021. They are not far away and it would need a dramatic impact from vaccines to get things anywhere near normal.
HAPPY NEW YEAR to y’all! Can’t help but share two brags.
Got a short ride in today but enough miles to make it 7,600 (and small change) for the year. And all road miles. I keep my Zwift/virtual miles on a separate Strava account because IMHO it’s not “real” riding so not real miles or real elevation gain. https://www.strava.com/activities/4545491648
Second brag is that two of my articles were in the top 10 for the year on PEZ. https://pezcyclingnews.com/features/pez-top-10-stories-of-2020/
Wishing everyone the very best in 2021!
I managed to clear 4,000 miles for 2020. I suspect a significant majority were indoors on the rollers. It would be nice if Strave separated miles bit bike/medium for the year in the same way it does for total miles. Maybe if I downloaded the data to excel I could separate them but I can’t be arsed to do that!
It can’t be that hard for Strava to code.
Merry Christmas to everyone. I still have some catching up to do on OTRL. I’ll get there!
Hey all! Just want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas (or however you celebrate) and a Happy New Year. Best wishes from my family to all of yours!
Hey Chuck: Merry Christmas to you and your family too and to all those who have enjoyed playing the OTR league.
We cab add FMB tubulars and Open Tubulars to that list of available items too. 🙂
Hey all…been awhile since I have popped on here. I have slowly built up the supply chain coming into Haldy’s Handbuilt Wheels, and I now have a pipeline to get “Golden Tickets” for rims. 🙂 Any interest in getting some Nemesis( tubular) or Elegance( clincher) rim orders going? Let me know!
haldy@haldyshandbuiltwheels.com
Welcome back. I’ve been a bit remiss (absent) lately too due to house moves and decorating. I need to finalise the OTRL results for 2020 which I will try to get round to this weekend. I need to get outdoors too – can’t remember the last time I was out. Many catching late afternoon time on the rollers these days.
Welcome back. Hopefully you’ve had some time to enjoy the Bixxis. I recently had a rear wheel failure, Crono F20 cracked. Looking to have a new set built up with the existing Record hubs. Nemesis is on my short list, we may need to talk.
Hit me up when you are ready!!
Weird but when I login Comments and Recent Posts disappear but are fine when I’m logged out. Trying to investigate but anyone else seeing the same?
Seems to be ok for me….
Hmm – looks like it may only be with admin access. That is weird.
This winter will be very interesting, to say nothing of next summer. For the first time since I got into road cycling I actually have a coach. I have trained with a group that had a coach make a training plan for the group as a whole before. This time however I decided I needed someone to taylor the training sessions to what I need to improve and to really tell me off when I slack. I’m beyond excited, got my trainer set up, bought new winter kit ($$$) and my cyclocross bike is standing ready with a new chainring… Read more »
The conclusion of this week’s science experiment is as follows:
There exists at least one tree through which riding a bike is not possible.
(Ouch…)
Oooooerrrr! Hope the bike is OK. Oh, and you.
Both are fine. No scratches on the bike and very few on me. Fortunately I wasn’t on my nice bike but on the “made for trying stupid things” cyclocross bike. This turned out to be a very stupid thing to try…
Incidentally, I tried to post a picture (not from the “try to ride through a tree” ride) to the Photos section the other day, but it hasn’t shown up. Could it possibly be stuck in a spam filter or require approval?
Can’t see anything pending and no photo in the media library. What format and size was it? Can you try again.
This was a .jpg file, the size was 5823kB. I can certainly upload it again, but I’m afraid the brilliant prose that accompanied it will be lost forever unless the system has a copy…
I’ll up the max file size limit as I’m not entirely sure how the media settings on the uploader translate to actual photo files.
Dang but that’s one dog in deep doo doos in the dog house.
http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/video-dog-chews-through-owners-specialized-carbon-fibre-bike/?fbclid=IwAR3l9RgMm8e090e3wlixSEfmvlrmkxxunfH5n5bnr9BEXxGwYohceaimNS8
Honestly … I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. But as a dog owner/lover, hard for me to get too mad at the dog.
Stelbel build coming along between unpacking and sorting thinks in the new house. Checked out the drivetrain and dialled in the position on the rollers today. Actually fitted like a glove straight off. Just need to take a bit off the steerer but still leave some wiggle room above the stem for now. Then to hook up the hydraulics and will be good to road test. Will have to find some time next week for finishing up.
A bit of a grrr. No bolts for the rear brake calliper. You need to select the bolt length based on the frame mount depth and though I bought the frame and groups from the same source they have not included bolts of the correct length for the frame. A bit annoying, so have had to order off the ‘net, express delivery.
Hmm – the Comments plugin seems to have done an auto update. Unfortunately a by product of that is that all photos seems to have disappeared from old Comments. Not sure I can do anything about that. Sorry. Somewhat hacked off with the plugin authors over that!
Got the pictures back. Though the avatars seem slow to load on this version. At least it all seems to be working again.
So – unanticipated effects of lockdown/working from home – my commuting bike miles has reduced to zero but my ability to fit in really regular training and riding has increased. Net result; I’m back in really good bike riding form. Went out last night and took a KOM on a 40 minute hilly strava segment. Surprised myself.
She is finally with me…………
From what I can see poking out of the wrapping that looks…spectacular…
A rough up…….it’s really hard to pickup the colour in a photo. For a steel frame that is one light frame. Don’t have my scales here as yet but will be interesting to see how it pans out.
Love the colour. Looks very real. Long term plan – it’s do-able for us to get across to the IoW, potentially with our tandem. At some point shall we go for a spin?
Sounds like a great plan when things get back to whatever normal will be. Would need the Lymington – Yarmouth ferry to restart as that one is suspended pending traffic picking up to the IoW.
Southampton-Cowes is running though?
Yup but not the high speed one at the moment.
Lymington – Yarmouth service restarts on 17th July.
Hi all. Checking back in after a bit of a break…How is everyone?
Most of the old crowd are still here, off and on. Good to see you back here.
Less emphasis on “crowd”, more emphasis on “old” !
Call it a group observing suitable social distancing for the current times?
In case y’all haven’t already seen this. Rigoberto Uran on his TT bike at 45 kph being drafted by a farmer in baggy clothes, boots, and a backpack. Just priceless!
https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-9-june-2020-274311#live-blog-item-16121
And to follow up: “That man has now been identified as Iván Dario, 54-year-old flower farmer who was on his way to work when he decided to hop onto the back of the Olympic silver medallist earlier this week.”
https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-12-june-2020-274449?fbclid=IwAR2TcRkOBo0ncUnPg4cvpNA1YdALx4hEUbFawi4MVFdCJWymVGmgVme6GaY#live-blog-item-16235
Funny how you can find something new right on your doorstep. So, there is a hill just south of the hill we live on and there are 3 routes over it. One is horrible, the other is truly horrible and today I took the third one for the first time on the way back home. Let’s just say I won’t be rushing back to take that route home again any time soon – unless I buy an e-bike. I really thought I was going to grind to an ignominious standstill and topple over sideways, just where someone was loading their… Read more »
Hmm – according to the UK climbs list it does not appear much – though in my defence the climb starts a bit before the official start with the way I came into it plus there is a slight down and another pitch up at the top.
119 Quell Lane Haslemere Gain – 88m Length – 1.1 km Average – 8% Max – 22%
When I did Flèche Buffoon https://pezcyclingnews.com/features/lessons-from-the-badger-the-truth-behind-fleche-buffoon/ (described as a half-length Liege-Bastogne-Liege) a couple years ago, the signature climb (there are 14 categorized climbs) was Uhlerstown. According to Strava, the segment is just under a half mile long and averages 11 percent. That’s deceiving/misleading. To begin, it really is an Ardennes like climb in that the road is narrow (basically a single lane that a car can’t drive up) and crap. The climb starts “easily” enough at the bottom but then just ramps up. The steep section (it’s own Strava segment) is ~2/10 of a mile and averages a mere 23… Read more »
oh wow – just need to get shipping sorted……..
Oooo – saw a post on Stelbel’s FB page that they seem to be back in production and had some bikes shown in Black and White in final phase of spraying. Finger’s crossed but maybe mine is not far away!
Putting this in Banter because … why not? My latest for PEZ. Review of the GORE C5 Cancellara kit. Love the look of this stuff. Although not billed as pro/race kit (that’s GORE’s C7 level), this stuff is race kit by any other name. But at a more reasonable price point. https://pezcyclingnews.com/technspec/be-like-spartacus-gore-c5-fabian-cancellara-collection/
Kudos to GT: 36 hours on the trainer for the NHS! He deserves more than one beer though!
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/geraint-thomas-raises-pound325000-for-nhs-after-36-hours-on-the-home-trainer/
Had to share this from a FB group……remembering that in the UK gatherings are banned at this time. I near had tea/keyboard incident when I read it. “I thought i’d share my Zwift experience, amid the UK lockdown.. I don’t have my trainer in the house, its in the shed at the bottom of the garden, i use an extension from the house to the shed for power.. anyway tonight I was giving it all on Zwift London: (the PRL half), music was pumping.. all of a sudden there is a loud knock at the shed door, its the police,… Read more »
Ha! Good one! Mind you, I’ve read reports of some seriously big parties going on in the UK . . .
There are still a few idiots around but fortunately not too many. Having said that those anti lockdown protests in the US look a bit concerning. As I all too often say, no branch of society has a monopoly on idiots.
Planning on doing a hills session on the rollers today.
I might turn the fan up too to add a bit more resistance……….
Not steep enough!
What kind of animal skin is that in the background?
It’s a Reindeer/Caribou. I got it for Mrs T for Christmas – or as I said at the time – I told Rudolf not to take the M25 after leaving here!
November 2013. Pitch dark, 9:50pm. I’m ten minutes from home on the freeway (dual carrigeway). 68 mph on cruise. Sweet, I thought, I’ll make the 10 o’clock news. Then a deer comes out of the west. Crosses two southbound lanes, the median and bounds into my lane. Bam! Totalled car, dead deer. Couple of folks stop to see if I’m ok. Cop finally shows up. Checks to see if I’m ok. I was – just shaken. Asks me if I want the carcass. “Eh . . . no thanks.” Ten minutes later a lady shows up and takes the still… Read more »
Ugh. At least it was not a Moose.
In the time we spent in Colorado I’ve seen people loading road kill Deer/Elk onto their truck and driving off.
Also heard of a guy on a motorbike that hit an Elk at high speed (he was going at high speed not the Elk). Luckily he hit it just behind the rib cage and cut it clean in two and he got away with just bruises. That was a new bike and they ended up giving him a new one as they couldn’t manage to clean all the mess out of it!
So they’re talking about a Tour sans spectators. How the hell do you make that happen? It’s run on public roads for free. It’s not like a stadium where you can control entry.
Nuts but the best idea I have seen to date is a late year tour 1 week each of TDF, Giro, Vuelta.
That actually would be entertaining. Give them a day off between each race and let them change up their teams if they want to. Three different winners or someone win more than one race?? Lots of different strategies. Sounds like fun to me!
Maybe just allow subs so that all the contenders have max support throughout and have one overall winner. Would be a unique draw for all the GT contenders in the same field.
Thinking about this actually it could work well.
1. Three week tour with 1 week of Giro, TDF, Vuelta (in that order for travel)
2. Teams of 6 riders (would allow more teams to take part)
3. Each team can have 3 subs who can be recycled (would allow sprinters to switch out for mountain stages)
4. Jersey Winners must complete all stages
UCI/ASO – this is @OTR copyright and we seek Copyright Fees if you do this!
I’m voting for you for President!
You could combine the jerseys too.
1. Overall – Yellow jersey with Pink and Red hoop
2. KOM – Blue Jersey with a white band with Blue and Red Polka Dots
3. Points – Cyclamen Jersey with two tone Green hoop
4. Junior – White with a Yellow, Pink and Red hoop
Gave myself an extra Exeat (Latin) for the week as the weather is nice, though very windy nd it is possible we may have more significant lockdown next week affecting cycling. Hope people stay away from popular spots this weekend. Noticed that the carparks to just about all the small moors around here are shut off. Seemed to be more bikes out than cars which was nice. France, Italy and Spain have banned cycling. I’ve seem talk of Belgium potentially limiting folk to 50Km rides. Here we can go for 1 local ride per day. They are clearly trying to… Read more »
Yup, lovely pic! Solid rain all weekend forecasted here. Good excuse to get into the garage for some pre-season maintenance.
Stay safe and healthy everyone!
I’d take solid rain for a week. Up here the menu reads rain all day tomorrow, then two days of gale force winds and below freezing temperatures, followed by snowfall all weekend.
More Zwift then…