Stunning weather here. Only issue is that I’m not sure which was the palest – my legs or my (white) jersey………
Wiscot
I have a strategy for such early season situations as the ghostly guns: a pair of super white shoes and socks. Certainly helps diminish the glare!
davidbeers
A women’s cycling icon of the late ‘70s/early ‘80s, Rebecca Twigg, has ridden a tough road for a number of years since winning two Silver Olympic medals. The author of this article in the Seattle Times has hinted at a possible effort for cyclists to support her. Watch this space…
So sad when anyone’s life goes off the rails but it’s got to be tough for any sportsperson who has to start a new life (usually quite young) when their sports career comes to an end. I’d like to think that more is done these days to prep people for the end of their sporting time but I’d guess the reality is somewhat patchy and varies considerably between countries too.
I’ve been riding my carbon tubs on my #1 for just about every ride the last two years. I had a fatal puncture a couple of weeks ago, so I have to wait for new tires. Stan’s sealant got me home, but the tire won’t hold full pressure anymore. So, I put on my Record/Ambrosio alum box section tubs last weekend – I had forgotten how good they feel, just wonderful. I won’t be in too much of a hurry to get the carbon wheels back on the road.
On my ride yesterday on a long uphill drag. Catching two other folk in the distance. As I near it seems that it is a couple and that the wife has been dropped by hubby some 50 metres up the road. The wife happens to be in a red jersey and black shorts, as am I. So as I pass I say “This might surprise your husband as someone in red and black passes him”. She replies “Yes, give him some real grief as you pass him”. Shortly later I pass hubby. Before I have a chance to say anything… Read more »
I think I’d have had to have pushed her, don’t think towing would have worked at the speed she was going!
sthilzy
My 13 year old Peldalwan leading me through Sandown racecourse (Melbourne) that I use to race with Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club as a Juvenile waaay back in 1985! Geez he’s got some kick! 45km/h out of the corner!
Sad news this week. We lost a friend and occasional riding buddy to Bowel Cancer, RIP Tim, my friend. May the wind be always behind you. Ride on my friend, it was a privilege knowing you.
sthilzy
Amen
Wiscot
I read that too. Pretty cool cruising around with BW and having a few coffee and cake stops.
RobSandy
Well now I’ve got some sort of diagnosis, it’s exacerbated asthma brought on by a lingering chest infection. Possibly since the illness at Christmas, probably not helped by my cracked rib after my argument with a car door. Anyway, antibiotics and bumped up asthma meds (TdF here I come). Fortunately I see an understanding nurse at my doctors who gets it that my breathing isn’t right even when my peak flow is around 700. It’s all fine when sub-threshold, but as soon as I go into the red my breathing is a real struggle. So racing is off the cards… Read more »
I finally, finally feel as if I’m over all injuries and illnesses and can start training. Our first RR of the year was last Sunday and I missed it – I was nowhere near race shape. Sad thing is, with any sort of form I think it’s the sort of race I could have placed top 10.
I’m not sure how motivated I am to Road Race this year – it’s more or less a whole day out, a whole load of stress and danger and the outcome is already known – I wont win.
Bummer about illness, injury, out-of-race-shape-ness, lack of motivation and so on, but I envy you about the road racing season having started. We are well over a month away from that here, today we have a weather and traffic warning due a massive blizzard!
I’m slowly getting back into it, and my legs are feeling fine but since Christmas I’ve felt like I just can’t get my breathing going properly. I have asthma so that sometimes happens but I feel like I’ve got a chest cold – but I’ve had it for months. Somewhat frustrating.
Errr – I’ll have to see if I can arrange something else for that weekend so that I’m not available……..!
RobSandy
The middle 200kms are supposed to be some of the best riding in Wales!
MangoDave
My fitness so far is poor this season. I’ll be near Wales in late May for a week, but I doubt I’ll have enough time to ride in the area. First trip to the UK for me.
RobSandy
Near Wales? Assume you mean England. Let us know if you want any tips for your visit.
Yeah I saw that too. What an idiot. I wonder whether he was an objector to road closures or something. He was lucky not to be seriously injured (or worse) and similar for the riders.
If that’s his normal mode of road crossing then surely he will soon be selected out of the gene pool.
Wiscot
I don’t think the pedestrian even looked in the direction of the riders. I think the police/marshalls have to be faulted too. They were not paying attention or doing their job. I’ve marshaled a few crits here in the US (part of the America’s Dairyland series) – one thing that always freaks spectators out is just how fast riders can go – in this case almost 60 kph. The woman with the dog was a scary moment too.
KogaLover
Ditto and ditto
KogaLover
Yo @Teocalli… I just want to upload a normal picture for my profile but why do I need to go via Gravatar. Me no wants to Globaly Recognised Avatar. Me wants to be able to hide in the pain cave.
This should now be fixed. If you go to your profile (top right) you should find an Avatar option and be able to upload an image locally (or even use an existing image in the media library).
KogaLover
Mmmm. I see 3 options when I click right upper on “Howdy, KogaLover”: KogaLover, Edit My Profile and Log out. Option 1 and 2 link to the same page, where I still only can see the Gravatar option to change the picture.
Ah – try again now I have tweaked the settings………….
KogaLover
Awesome!
KogaLover
Planning to go cycling for a week in Mallorca; last week April-early May, Saturday till Saturday. Anyone else happens to be there then? Will be alone so looking for some post ride recovery drink banter partner.
I had booked a place and then also booked an event that does the first stage of the Tour de France with my main cycling buddy and subsequently realised they were the same day.
Doh!
So will not be in Limburg this year.
KogaLover
Q: what page should I look at if I want to see all posts? I prefer not to have to go from page to page to see whatsa’been’happening?
Hmmm – you can’t! I guess that’s the downside of having more pages/topics but if you click on “Recents” to the right of “Comments” on top right of the page you can see the summary of what has been posted.
I wish the Plugin would let me change the heading for Recents but it doesn’t. Nuts that it does allow me to change the Comments one. Will have to complain to the authors on that one.
KogaLover
Hiya fellas, sorry for being absent for a couple of months. Partially because it’s skiing seasons but also going through some life-changing events (no, I started shaving my legs already a couple of years ago on my DEIS Natalis – Decisive Evening In Shower). Anyhoo, the ol’ V-site does not work anymore. Am I just late in noticing?
So in the middle of this unseasonal glorious weather my main ride buddy (who still has to work for a living) emails me – “I’m free tomorrow, you up for a ride?”. The only day in weeks it’s forecast to rain!
KogaLover
You worked hard for your #9 ride. Envy you… have to ski in the sun tomorrow….
I’m sure a few stray ones sit idle in some foreign field, but I’d imagine the vast majority are snapped up by fans/spectators. If you’re going to fine riders for littering, I’d fine the ones that dig into their pockets, find something edible and toss that without eating it.
The injury bit is real. I was up on Box Hill at the 2012 Olympics and a bidon was either jettisoned somehow or chucked close to where we were and where the riders were going at some speed. The bidon skidded across the road, hit the curb and bounced up into someone’s face. It was like the guy had been in a bare knuckle fight. It was lucky it did not hit his eye as it was just below and to the side but his face rapidly swelled up and probably needed a stitch or two. Nasty. PS – One… Read more »
Wiscot
They should fine a rider whose badly tossed bottle ends up in the peloton. Most can toss it far enough away.
RobSandy
Cold but sunny this morning. Perfect for trying to open my lungs up with a long low-threshold effort around the industrial estates of the outskirts of Newport. Nothing but glamour around our way.
Wiscot
I guess this is the place to post this: Iljo Keisse’s recent behavior. WTF? I’m a bit of a news junkie and live in the US but I can’t believe Europe is too far behind in the treating women with dignity/men behaving properly in public stakes. After Sagan’s pinchy moment a few years ago and the ongoing debate about podium girls, you’d think teams would be aware of this – especially if they have a US sponsor like Specialized who really don’t need more adverse publicity. Old timey Velominati might recall Specialized going after Dan in Canada for his Roubaix… Read more »
Agree, Lefevre should have sent him home immediately. Instead he made things worse and came across as a Dinosaur. Though that is probably doing Dinosaurs an injustice. His apology was way too late and you’d have to think that the sponsors instructed him to do so.
You’d have to hope that it did send out a warning to everyone else though.
RobSandy
Would riding a fair amount with a bent skewer make it more likely for that wheel to go out of true and spokes break?
Asking for a friend…
I would have thought only if the axle was also bent…………..the wheel should still seat true on the dropouts.
RobSandy
Ok. That’s one theory out of the window then. I’ve replaced the bent skewers anyway.
Basically, on my commuter I seem to constantly break spokes – it happens at regular intervals. And it’s happened on I reckon 4 different wheelsets. I have no idea why it keeps happening. Generally just the rear wheel.
4 different wheels sets, 1 rider. Hmm there is a common thread there somewhere…….. There is a guy in our club who seems to trash wheels/spokes on a regular basis and he commutes a lot too. Wheels that other folk use with no problems. Weird. That said, does the spoke always break at the same point eg at the nipple or spoke cross and could be due to alignment of the spoke. If it was the same wheel set then I’d suspect spoke tension issues once one spoke has broken – my buddy has had this so the other week… Read more »
Are you running a high tyre pressure on the commuter?
RobSandy
Yeah, my general fatness… Put it this way, I’ve done c.6000kms on the commuter, with constant issues with the wheels. I’ve done 14000km on my training bike on the same wheelset (Fulcrum Quattros) with no issues. I’d say the spokes mostly break at the hub but I’ve had some go at the nipple too. I’ve given up on taking them to the bike shop each time, I just replace the spoke and get it as close approximation of ‘true’ as I can. But even when I was taking them to bike shops each time I had a broken spoke I… Read more »
The only thing I can suggest is that once you have broken the first spoke you end up with mismatched tensions and so more then break. I have come across this before where it gets rectified when the wheel is rebuilt to distribute the stresses evenly – but that does not explain how your first spoke breaks…..
RobSandy
Yep, once it’s gone once I expect it to happen again.
The last time was on a brand new, virtually unused set of Bontrager wheels that I bought off a mate specifically because I was so sick of breaking spokes on the other sets I had.
I think maybe the way forwards is to get in the habit of regularly checking the spoke tension.
Folks, following feedback I have created a new page for general chat not connected to anything else on the site. It seems this was lost at the bottom of the Chiacchierio page.
Stunning weather here. Only issue is that I’m not sure which was the palest – my legs or my (white) jersey………
I have a strategy for such early season situations as the ghostly guns: a pair of super white shoes and socks. Certainly helps diminish the glare!
A women’s cycling icon of the late ‘70s/early ‘80s, Rebecca Twigg, has ridden a tough road for a number of years since winning two Silver Olympic medals. The author of this article in the Seattle Times has hinted at a possible effort for cyclists to support her. Watch this space…
So sad when anyone’s life goes off the rails but it’s got to be tough for any sportsperson who has to start a new life (usually quite young) when their sports career comes to an end. I’d like to think that more is done these days to prep people for the end of their sporting time but I’d guess the reality is somewhat patchy and varies considerably between countries too.
An article about Bradley Wiggins cruising around in Flanders……..
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2019/apr/06/bradley-wiggins-tour-of-flanders-cycling-climbs-cafes-flemish-ardennes?fbclid=IwAR2izmXZQhF2xWTrGhA4iblc5eRi6RukZxNyoeZaU0SD_C0wfLUgq97I3vI
I’ve been riding my carbon tubs on my #1 for just about every ride the last two years. I had a fatal puncture a couple of weeks ago, so I have to wait for new tires. Stan’s sealant got me home, but the tire won’t hold full pressure anymore. So, I put on my Record/Ambrosio alum box section tubs last weekend – I had forgotten how good they feel, just wonderful. I won’t be in too much of a hurry to get the carbon wheels back on the road.
On my ride yesterday on a long uphill drag. Catching two other folk in the distance. As I near it seems that it is a couple and that the wife has been dropped by hubby some 50 metres up the road. The wife happens to be in a red jersey and black shorts, as am I. So as I pass I say “This might surprise your husband as someone in red and black passes him”. She replies “Yes, give him some real grief as you pass him”. Shortly later I pass hubby. Before I have a chance to say anything… Read more »
You should’ve towed his wife up to him and then taken her past him.
I think I’d have had to have pushed her, don’t think towing would have worked at the speed she was going!
My 13 year old Peldalwan leading me through Sandown racecourse (Melbourne) that I use to race with Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club as a Juvenile waaay back in 1985! Geez he’s got some kick! 45km/h out of the corner!
Sad news this week. We lost a friend and occasional riding buddy to Bowel Cancer, RIP Tim, my friend. May the wind be always behind you. Ride on my friend, it was a privilege knowing you.
Amen
I read that too. Pretty cool cruising around with BW and having a few coffee and cake stops.
Well now I’ve got some sort of diagnosis, it’s exacerbated asthma brought on by a lingering chest infection. Possibly since the illness at Christmas, probably not helped by my cracked rib after my argument with a car door. Anyway, antibiotics and bumped up asthma meds (TdF here I come). Fortunately I see an understanding nurse at my doctors who gets it that my breathing isn’t right even when my peak flow is around 700. It’s all fine when sub-threshold, but as soon as I go into the red my breathing is a real struggle. So racing is off the cards… Read more »
Sounds encouraging to have a route forwards.
Not sure where to put this, so I’m throwing it out here. MSR by the numbers.
I finally, finally feel as if I’m over all injuries and illnesses and can start training. Our first RR of the year was last Sunday and I missed it – I was nowhere near race shape. Sad thing is, with any sort of form I think it’s the sort of race I could have placed top 10.
I’m not sure how motivated I am to Road Race this year – it’s more or less a whole day out, a whole load of stress and danger and the outcome is already known – I wont win.
Bummer about illness, injury, out-of-race-shape-ness, lack of motivation and so on, but I envy you about the road racing season having started. We are well over a month away from that here, today we have a weather and traffic warning due a massive blizzard!
I ought to arrange to come over to Cardiff or the Gower for a ride before you get too fit again!
Sounds good. I’m doing this in May if you fancy coming. http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/17-288/
I’m slowly getting back into it, and my legs are feeling fine but since Christmas I’ve felt like I just can’t get my breathing going properly. I have asthma so that sometimes happens but I feel like I’ve got a chest cold – but I’ve had it for months. Somewhat frustrating.
Errr – I’ll have to see if I can arrange something else for that weekend so that I’m not available……..!
The middle 200kms are supposed to be some of the best riding in Wales!
My fitness so far is poor this season. I’ll be near Wales in late May for a week, but I doubt I’ll have enough time to ride in the area. First trip to the UK for me.
Near Wales? Assume you mean England. Let us know if you want any tips for your visit.
Could be going to Lundy………
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/pedestrian-takes-out-majka-gatto-in-tirreno-adriatico-ttt/
WTF? As far as I can see, the pedestrian didn’t even look in the direction of the riders!
Yeah I saw that too. What an idiot. I wonder whether he was an objector to road closures or something. He was lucky not to be seriously injured (or worse) and similar for the riders.
If that’s his normal mode of road crossing then surely he will soon be selected out of the gene pool.
I don’t think the pedestrian even looked in the direction of the riders. I think the police/marshalls have to be faulted too. They were not paying attention or doing their job. I’ve marshaled a few crits here in the US (part of the America’s Dairyland series) – one thing that always freaks spectators out is just how fast riders can go – in this case almost 60 kph. The woman with the dog was a scary moment too.
Ditto and ditto
Yo @Teocalli… I just want to upload a normal picture for my profile but why do I need to go via Gravatar. Me no wants to Globaly Recognised Avatar. Me wants to be able to hide in the pain cave.
As far as I know that is the way WordPress works but I’ll see if I can find some option or Plugin that lets us use a local one.
Hmmm – just did a quick search and seems here are some Plugins I can look at. Will look next week or the following when I get back from Tuscany.
This should now be fixed. If you go to your profile (top right) you should find an Avatar option and be able to upload an image locally (or even use an existing image in the media library).
Mmmm. I see 3 options when I click right upper on “Howdy, KogaLover”: KogaLover, Edit My Profile and Log out. Option 1 and 2 link to the same page, where I still only can see the Gravatar option to change the picture.
Do you not see Avatar per the following under Edit My Profile……
Ah – try again now I have tweaked the settings………….
Awesome!
Planning to go cycling for a week in Mallorca; last week April-early May, Saturday till Saturday. Anyone else happens to be there then? Will be alone so looking for some post ride recovery drink banter partner.
I was toying with something like that sometime but possibly next year not this one.
What about Eroica Limburg this year?
I had booked a place and then also booked an event that does the first stage of the Tour de France with my main cycling buddy and subsequently realised they were the same day.
Doh!
So will not be in Limburg this year.
Q: what page should I look at if I want to see all posts? I prefer not to have to go from page to page to see whatsa’been’happening?
Hmmm – you can’t! I guess that’s the downside of having more pages/topics but if you click on “Recents” to the right of “Comments” on top right of the page you can see the summary of what has been posted.
I wish the Plugin would let me change the heading for Recents but it doesn’t. Nuts that it does allow me to change the Comments one. Will have to complain to the authors on that one.
Hiya fellas, sorry for being absent for a couple of months. Partially because it’s skiing seasons but also going through some life-changing events (no, I started shaving my legs already a couple of years ago on my DEIS Natalis – Decisive Evening In Shower). Anyhoo, the ol’ V-site does not work anymore. Am I just late in noticing?
Yeah you are late in noticing! Hence we set up this one.
Oooh – having said that it does seem to have gone completely at the moment. Bit of a shame really.
No problem @Teocalli, apologies accepted! Am back in bizness!
Welcome back. Hopefully life is better these days.
The V Site not working must be actually quite recent – I got onto it last week.
Seems to be back on again, although not all links work.
So in the middle of this unseasonal glorious weather my main ride buddy (who still has to work for a living) emails me – “I’m free tomorrow, you up for a ride?”. The only day in weeks it’s forecast to rain!
You worked hard for your #9 ride. Envy you… have to ski in the sun tomorrow….
Awww c’mon, really? http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/peloton-faces-higher-fines-for-tossing-empty-bidons-away/
I’m sure a few stray ones sit idle in some foreign field, but I’d imagine the vast majority are snapped up by fans/spectators. If you’re going to fine riders for littering, I’d fine the ones that dig into their pockets, find something edible and toss that without eating it.
The injury bit is real. I was up on Box Hill at the 2012 Olympics and a bidon was either jettisoned somehow or chucked close to where we were and where the riders were going at some speed. The bidon skidded across the road, hit the curb and bounced up into someone’s face. It was like the guy had been in a bare knuckle fight. It was lucky it did not hit his eye as it was just below and to the side but his face rapidly swelled up and probably needed a stitch or two. Nasty. PS – One… Read more »
They should fine a rider whose badly tossed bottle ends up in the peloton. Most can toss it far enough away.
Cold but sunny this morning. Perfect for trying to open my lungs up with a long low-threshold effort around the industrial estates of the outskirts of Newport. Nothing but glamour around our way.
I guess this is the place to post this: Iljo Keisse’s recent behavior. WTF? I’m a bit of a news junkie and live in the US but I can’t believe Europe is too far behind in the treating women with dignity/men behaving properly in public stakes. After Sagan’s pinchy moment a few years ago and the ongoing debate about podium girls, you’d think teams would be aware of this – especially if they have a US sponsor like Specialized who really don’t need more adverse publicity. Old timey Velominati might recall Specialized going after Dan in Canada for his Roubaix… Read more »
Agree, Lefevre should have sent him home immediately. Instead he made things worse and came across as a Dinosaur. Though that is probably doing Dinosaurs an injustice. His apology was way too late and you’d have to think that the sponsors instructed him to do so.
You’d have to hope that it did send out a warning to everyone else though.
Would riding a fair amount with a bent skewer make it more likely for that wheel to go out of true and spokes break?
Asking for a friend…
I would have thought only if the axle was also bent…………..the wheel should still seat true on the dropouts.
Ok. That’s one theory out of the window then. I’ve replaced the bent skewers anyway.
Basically, on my commuter I seem to constantly break spokes – it happens at regular intervals. And it’s happened on I reckon 4 different wheelsets. I have no idea why it keeps happening. Generally just the rear wheel.
4 different wheels sets, 1 rider. Hmm there is a common thread there somewhere…….. There is a guy in our club who seems to trash wheels/spokes on a regular basis and he commutes a lot too. Wheels that other folk use with no problems. Weird. That said, does the spoke always break at the same point eg at the nipple or spoke cross and could be due to alignment of the spoke. If it was the same wheel set then I’d suspect spoke tension issues once one spoke has broken – my buddy has had this so the other week… Read more »
Are you running a high tyre pressure on the commuter?
Yeah, my general fatness… Put it this way, I’ve done c.6000kms on the commuter, with constant issues with the wheels. I’ve done 14000km on my training bike on the same wheelset (Fulcrum Quattros) with no issues. I’d say the spokes mostly break at the hub but I’ve had some go at the nipple too. I’ve given up on taking them to the bike shop each time, I just replace the spoke and get it as close approximation of ‘true’ as I can. But even when I was taking them to bike shops each time I had a broken spoke I… Read more »
Yeah – ‘appen for commuting a set of Mavic Open Pro and a small forest of Stainless spokes is what you need…………pretty bullet proof.
I have a set of Mavic open pros with some bombproof spokes on Ultegra hubs, the ones that Rosebikes sell? Broke them. Broke them good.
You’ll just have to tame that Beast Mode!
You’re no help *winky emote*
The only thing I can suggest is that once you have broken the first spoke you end up with mismatched tensions and so more then break. I have come across this before where it gets rectified when the wheel is rebuilt to distribute the stresses evenly – but that does not explain how your first spoke breaks…..
Yep, once it’s gone once I expect it to happen again.
The last time was on a brand new, virtually unused set of Bontrager wheels that I bought off a mate specifically because I was so sick of breaking spokes on the other sets I had.
I think maybe the way forwards is to get in the habit of regularly checking the spoke tension.
Folks, following feedback I have created a new page for general chat not connected to anything else on the site. It seems this was lost at the bottom of the Chiacchierio page.
Feedback always welcome – I think!