your daily bicycle log

Cycling on the isle of white is lovely. Both on road and off. Some lovely downland riding.

Ed - there was an article in Cycling Weekly recently about the world's steepest street, which was supposedly in New Zealand somewhere, but I don't think it was quite as steep as 37%. I assume that's the result of imposing a grid system of streets on a landscape that really could do without it?

I've joined a club, got my British Cycling membership sorted, and am waiting for my racing license to turn up. I'm getting excited.

It's in Dunedin - I've met two people who claimed to have lived on it (perhaps in the same way at least 100,000 people went to the first Beatles gig etc.)

Rear flatted today crossing a maze of grooved trolley tracks on probably not the most properly inflated tires... first flat since may 08. maybe it's the holiday lbs?

3700 feet of ascent
Do you have a program or website to calculate this for you, or is this guesswork from looking at a map, Mark? I'd love to find something that can give me those stats. Google Maps Pedometer is handy for recording routes, and gives a profile of your route (with high point, low point, and starting altitude), but doesn't give any stats about total climb. GMP is set up for imperial units OR metric units, but not for that oddly British combination - I want to know my distance in miles, but my climbs in metres.

22 miles yesterday in really horribly freezing weather. Nearly came off when I hit some slush at the bottom of a hill. All the advice seems to be to do interval training to prepare for road races, but I'm a bit concerned about the sapping climb on the Hog Hill circuit where I'm hoping to race, so I've found a little loop with a nasty climb on it: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2481329. I only did it twice yesterday, but I'll try to build that up.

34 miles this morning, the first 20 on a club run.

you are going to race this year? nice!

3700 feet of ascent
Do you have a program or website to calculate this for you, or is this guesswork from looking at a map, Mark?

One of my co-riders had a Garmin 705 and that was where the figure came from. Of course, that will include 5 foot "ascents" and the like which you don't even notice - probably half the footage was accounted for by gently rolling roads and the other half actual more-or-less challenging hills and hillocks.

I did a 27-mile ride in the freezingness of Saturday morning, but it was how slow I was that bothered me more than how cold I was. Being alone means no-one to draft and no-one to keep my spirits up, but at least it meant that I got to eat an enormous curry in the evening without worrying about calories, sigh.

Its snowing hard and imabout to do dis here wish me well.

SNOW BIKE! BIKE LAWYER! DO IT!

I need fenders/mudguards.

Thx k that shit was bananas I just rode 4 miles to lite rail. It was ok if I rode in the tire trax about an inch of compacted slush but there was plenty traffic so if I popped onto shoulder I got also plenty 15 mph fishtailin footdabbin axxion in the 5 inch loose ruts. Need that DO NOT WANT pup gif for aggro suv meatheads.

First ride of 2009. I think the unfitness I've been cultivating for the best part of a year has finally caught up with me - at the top of a somewhat strenuous but not particularly long hill, suddenly felt all hot and sweaty and nauseous. Got off the bike with my head spinning, stumbled to a bench, and had a nice dry retch at the ground. Was ok to go after five mins and a bit of flapjack, but still, was decidedly unpleasant. Dunno if that kind of thing's par for the course for 'no pain no gain' fitness junkies but it hasn't happened to me before and I'd rather it didn't again.

par for the course? never. maybe at the end of a 4 hour race with a finishing climb.

ive have never got sick from only intense exertion. i have got sick from trying to rehydrate too fast, and from racing while ill (coff til u puke). no way could i get into something that made me vomit tho.

I didn't think so. Well, I'd better stop relying on my 'runner's physique' to get me through these things, and get out on the bike more often.

Hill + bonk = nausea?

Not usually for me. And I've always been bad on pre-race (not that we were racing) nutrition (aka breakfast).

Fenders purchased, REI employees are the nicest folks around. We have wind chill down to -2F right now and colder promised for the weekend so I might not get to use them in anger for a couple of days.

rode last night on the way back from getting a late dinner with friends. cold as balls. like, -20 cold. YOW

whoa did you have something covering yr face?

as i was freezing IN MY CAR on the way to work i actually wondered if gbx was biking this morning

i had a scarf! it wasn't too bad, tho. well, my hands were cold as hell, but i think i might invest in these: www.barmitts.com

also a pipe just burst in my house yay >:(

oh no pipes bursting is nightmare from hell

another one just went! (the handymen are here, tho, and it's just little copper pipes in the laundry room, not in the walls)

one of my associates had a pipe burst in his vacant home last month--he's in the process of remodeling. water ran for 3 days and filled the smallish cellar to 6 feet deep

omfg

i am so glad i was home! like, i didn't have class today, but that is not a normal thing---this could easily have been much, much worse

i like this:

http://www.rapha.cc/index.php?page=599

one of my friends had this happen while he was on tour in europe for a month, the whole house was pretty much trashed.

rapha: our prose is purple, our dudz is posh.

All this belongs to you because you are not a normal person. You are a cyclist.

often correct.

bib tights: c or d? i always found those sorta mockable, but i cant say why. maybe cause i dont use tights much.

I wear them when it gets below high forties in temperature. They're great! I honestly feel more of an athlete the more gear I put on (100% psychological), and with a fleecy ("roubaix") lining they really do work, even well below freezing. The bibby bit keeps the lower back and tum warm - there's no danger of a drafty waist (which I hate in any circumstances). You can wear base layers in or out of the tights - the only nuisance is peeing (though the dhb brand ones I have have a zip to make it easier, though still tricky).

hunter you rockin leg warmers, i assume? this is my first winter without tights (no tights in my team kit) and i feel leg warmers do an adequate job, provided that your bib shorts are roubaix fabric

i wear tights every day

short sleeve t-shirt, jeans, trainers today.

sup

actually just knee warmers almost always. i've got a fleecy backed pair of them that work very well for me, esp with booties.

but the weather here is v. different to midwest and northeast. esp if the sun is out, the temperature feels about 10 deg warmer than back there, no joke.

no knee warmers this weekend:

http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr222/Chass3ur/untitled.jpg

i dont understand those temperatures

Hunt3r is getting and unseasonable warm 16˚C, whilst I get a high of -14˚C

hi dere i am in minnesota, btw

An accident-prone 30 miles today. First I went over a cattle grid and my cateye computer fell off. By the time I'd noticed, doubled back, and picked it up it had been destroyed (by cars running over it rather than the original fall). Later the chain came off (not a big deal). Then I punctured the back wheel near the end of the ride, when I was already on my way to the bike shop to try to get a replacement computer. Puncture so bad (large shard of glass) that I needed to have the tyre replaced as well. Quite an expensive ride.

What tyres are ilxfolks using (on their road bikes)? My bike came with Continental Ultra Race fitted, which I thought was worryingly slick for this time of year, and I'm not surprised I've punctured already (after only 300 miles). The new back tyre is a Schwalbe Lugano.

i like schwalbe but i use schwalbe stelvio plus for a training tire (tyre)

anyone got any cold weather lube recommends?

I bought a bunch of torelli open tubulars for very cheap for training and they ride really nicely. I'm not sure they're still available tho.

Just 19 miles this morning (too many things to do today). Very mucky again - I'm paying the price for not having a winter bike with mudguards. I'm not that fussed about the fact I get covered in mud / oil / dirty water, but I'm a bit worried about my components (that's not a euphemism).

What tyres are ilxfolks using (on their road bikes)?

My brother strongly recommended the specialized armadillo to me yesterday

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/all-condition-armadillo-elite-tyre-ec001822.

Said it was a joy to ride on.

Two hours (lol hardcore) yesterday. Was hard work, but no vomming. Am getting much better at tackling wet tree roots.

Did 2 hours halfway up the canyon- been weeks since my last rec ride. I taunted yall about the weather here, but I rode so early it was still below freezing the whole time :/

Celebrating the lack of beardcicles with my first steel city ride. Chain broke at the trailhead at the bottom of the gulch. Nicelady with a bike rack portaged me up to the iron city bike store. New chain then off again round the point. You know what sucks about riding in snow, submerged train tracks, a minor spill. Taking a break for a primanti bros.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dotcommunist for live shots.

6 hours inside this weekend on the rollers :/

which I thought was worryingly slick for this time of year

Not sure what you mean. Slick tyres give you MORE contact with the road surface than treads, and narrow road tyres cut through water so you're never going to aquaplane. Are you also riding on mud (in which case get a tyre with a slick middle and knobbly outer) or ice (in which case don't get studded tyres as you'll only use them 2 days a year in a normal British winter)?

My brother strongly recommended the specialized armadillo to me yesterday

I have an Armadillo rear tyre on my Trek and while it's been fine (its predecessor, another Armadillo, developed a fatal hole in its sidewall though I never figured out why) it's pretty heavy and, I understand, slow-rolling. Comfortable though.

I use Schwalbe Ultremos on my main bike - they're light, completely slick and I haven't had a puncture in 2000 miles although the tyre surface is fairly cut up after 6 months commuting. They're at the expensive end, though.

i like this:

http://www.rapha.cc/index.php?page=599

― cutty, Friday, January 16, 2009 4:00 PM (3 days ago)

I quite enjoyed that because it's around the area I used to cycle a lot, Toy's Hill, Bough Beech, Goathurst Common and Hogtrough Lane. Still can't afford rapha gear though.

Thanks for the information about the tyres by the way, Mark - I'm getting a new bike and trying to work out which tyres I'm going to go with, so the more information the better.