Show us your.......newbie progress! [4 Sep 2012 - 4 Oct 2014]

[Reece]

Thanks to @Phoenix Lincs and @Reece for the advice ride went well i have discovered my bike is inadequate in terms of gearing managed to stay with them on the flats bit on the hills was left totally though.

Thankfully waited for me at the top Overall very enjoyable experience

Ride for today
http://www.strava.com/activities/129773512

Nice one Steve.

You'll find whatever group you ride in or bike you're on the group always gets split in hills. Good of them to wait and shows they're a friendly and good club.

 

[Goonerobes]

Up @Mo1959 time today for the drive to Matchams Park & the New Forest Spring Sportive. Met up with a couple of mates & off we set around 7:50am on a crisp sunny morning for 62 miles around the flatt(ish) but beautiful New Forest on a mix of forest roads & country lanes.

Whilst I know that sportives are not everyone's cup of tea I must say that this was superbly organised with good marshalling & good signage & it was nice to ride with pals I don't normally ride with. There is still a lot of controversy surrounding this ride with the local NIMBY's but I didn't see one piece of litter dropped & most of the riders followed the instructions to ride single file, although some groups did still ride 3 & 4 abreast even on the inclines which was slightly annoying for anyone trying to overtake!

All in all a great days cycling & a good time had by all.

http://www.strava.com/activities/129800959

 

[stevey]

Nice one Steve.

You'll find whatever group you ride in or bike you're on the group always gets split in hills.

Thanks @Reece I don't normally have a problem with hills but the speed they went up no way

 

[Goonerobes]

Thanks to @Phoenix Lincs and @Reece for the advice ride went well i have discovered my bike is inadequate in terms of gearing managed to stay with them on the flats bit on the hills was left totally though.

Thankfully waited for me at the top Overall very enjoyable experience

Ride for today
http://www.strava.com/activities/129773512

Well done @stevey& as Reece says, it was nice of them to wait. It was every man for himself on our ride today!!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@stevey as I mentioned before about bike costing 10x mine, I think when I look at the hill segments the weight shows. the guy on the Onix with Shimano Ultegra and about at 2.5kgs less than mine stripped down I still have a better time on this segment (but this could be due to lights), by 2'30" http://www.strava.com/segments/2746413.

Glad you enjoyed the ride.

The spacers I have found out are a little more delicate on 9sp cassettes than the 8sp ones, broke two splitting the cassette, I have glued them if that doesn't I will thin a couple of 8sp ones, but it will be a while still before I can test it on the road, so it is now a triple 52-42-30 with 28-24-21-19-17-16-15-14-13 which means I will probably be using the 30th on the 21-16 range more than the 42 on 28-21 range as 30x16 is 49.31" and 42x21 is 52.6" (this also backs up my idea that there is actually no such thing a granny ring just gears for the right terrain) the overall gearing of the bike is the same as it was when an 8sp but much better stepping from 13-19 ( 13-14-15-16-17-19 instead of 13-15-17-19), and almost identical to when I had it on the touring cranks of 26-38-48 when I first started of 12-13-15-17-19-21-24, the range then was 28.49" to 105.2" currently 28.18" to 105.2" But I did ride with a rear 28th for sometime, but it was difficult making anything like a nice set of ratios.

As a comparison a compact 34x28 is only 0.9" shorter than my 30x24 but you would need to use a 12th for a longer high gear 50x12=109.58" opposed to my 52x13 105.2" meaning that to get the same mid to high end one tooth stepping you would still need to have the same low end as me and thats a 10sp compact.

 

[DavidD]

Was away for a couple of days there up to Callander, went to loch Katrine and hired a couple of bikes for a quick ride alongside the loch. Then drove the Dukes pass to Aberfoyle passed about 9 cyclists on way up as we were heading down into Aberfoyle, wife was surprised when we never caught up with the cyclist that was in front of us at the top of the pass until leaving the far side of Aberfoyle.

 

[Stonechat]

@stevey as I mentioned before about bike costing 10x mine, I think when I look at the hill segments the weight shows. the guy on the Onix with Shimano Ultegra and about at 2.5kgs less than mine stripped down I still have a better time on this segment (but this could be due to lights), by 2'30" http://www.strava.com/segments/2746413.

Glad you enjoyed the ride.

The spacers I have found out are a little more delicate on 9sp cassettes than the 8sp ones, broke two splitting the cassette, I have glued them if that doesn't I will thin a couple of 8sp ones, but it will be a while still before I can test it on the road, so it is now a triple 52-42-30 with 28-24-21-19-17-16-15-14-13 which means I will probably be using the 30th on the 21-16 range more than the 42 on 28-21 range as 30x16 is 49.31" and 42x21 is 52.6" (this also backs up my idea that there is actually no such thing a granny ring just gears for the right terrain) the overall gearing of the bike is the same as it was when an 8sp but much better stepping from 13-19 ( 13-14-15-16-17-19 instead of 13-15-17-19), and almost identical to when I had it on the touring cranks of 26-38-48 when I first started of 12-13-15-17-19-21-24, the range then was 28.49" to 105.2" currently 28.18" to 105.2" But I did ride with a rear 28th for sometime, but it was difficult making anything like a nice set of ratios.

As a comparison a compact 34x28 is only 0.9" shorter than my 30x24 but you would need to use a 12th for a longer high gear 50x12=109.58" opposed to my 52x13 105.2" meaning that to get the same mid to high end one tooth stepping you would still need to have the same low end as me and thats a 10sp compact.

Interesting
As I did settle for a compact but one with a 32 biggest rear, my slowest gear is 27.9"
I even got up the 18% gradient on White Downs
I was not so worried about the high gearing, I do have 50X 11 though if I needed it.
Too much of a wimp to go fast downhill anyway

 

[spooks]

Up @Mo1959 time today for the drive to Matchams Park & the New Forest Spring Sportive.
All in all a great days cycling & a good time had by all.

I was there too. Bit slower than you but then it was my longest ride this year by 25 miles! Had a few moments in the last 10 miles when I wondered why on earth I thought it was a good idea to give it a bash but overall had a good time. I need to find few cycling friends for next time.

http://www.strava.com/activities/129846587

 

[BAtoo]

First Metric Century today! Very pleased with myself but also somewhat achy! Also pleased with the 14.4mph average.
Got scalped by 4 from the local club going down hill - my excuse was I was having a breather! But I got some of them a bit later going up hill and along the flat at the top .
Also got the Garmin Live Track to work on my smartphone so my partner watched my progress. She noted I'd been stopped for a while in a village and was wandering about a bit & phoned to see what was wrong - just getting some food from the shop as I'd run out of energy & hadn't taken any food with me! Eats the phone battery though - full to 25% in 5 hours .

 

[Stonechat]

I was there too. Bit slower than you but then it was my longest ride this year by 25 miles! Had a few moments in the last 10 miles when I wondered why on earth I thought it was a good idea to give it a bash but overall had a good time. I need to find few cycling friends for next time.

http://www.strava.com/activities/129846587

I fancy new forest in autumn - think there might be one then

 

[spooks]

I fancy new forest in autumn - think there might be one then

Yeah that one goes from near Brockenhurst. I did it last year and it was good.

 

[Goonerobes]

I was there too. Bit slower than you but then it was my longest ride this year by 25 miles! Had a few moments in the last 10 miles when I wondered why on earth I thought it was a good idea to give it a bash but overall had a good time. I need to find few cycling friends for next time.

http://www.strava.com/activities/129846587

Well done @spooks, you can ride with us in October if you like?

Ps .It's interesting that you found 1000ft more climbing than I did!

 

[DavidD]

You seem to have a lot of good sportives down south seem to be few and far between up north

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Interesting
As I did settle for a compact but one with a 32 biggest rear, my slowest gear is 27.9"
I even got up the 18% gradient on White Downs
I was not so worried about the high gearing, I do have 50X 11 though if I needed it.
Too much of a wimp to go fast downhill anyway

So you see whilst I have what people call a granny ring, your lowest gear is actually lower than mine, but not called a granny gear. Someone did give me a definition of what is regarded as a granny gear and it was something low like 24". I have only ever really used the 30x28 on things greater than 15% and even those near me I usually get up on the 42x28 or similar (well toward the end of last year, as they are not very long), though usually I would be on the 30x19 or so more options to play with, the rear 19 is my most worn gear on the old cassette.

More good news, what I though on the Carleton's B.B. to be the same threads turns out it wasn't, probably just me being mardy when it came to protecting the threads, so since I have the old touring crank, I can get it set up much like the Viking was, as the rear stays will stretch enough for a modern set up. (more new wheels needed though), still not sure where I am going with it though, first job now is what colour I guess.

Also got the M.T.B. working though it too needs new wheels really, as the rear is screw on gears, told you it was cheap.

 

[spooks]

Well done @spooks, you can ride with us in October if you like?

Ps .It's interesting that you found 1000ft more climbing than I did!

No idea where I found the extra elevation. Probably it was channeling what I felt like I was climbing rather than what I actually climbed!
I should be a bit fitter by the october one with London-Paris and London-Surrey100 between now and then