Just wondering if there are any cyclists on here?
I got into it in March as a way to lose weight and build up my leg muscles ready for a knee operation that I had in June. As I didn't know if I would keep at it after the operation, I just got a cheap mountain bike, and as I really liked it, I've now upgraded to a cyclocross (CX) bike. Managed to get a cracking deal on it, but due to it being in the shop for 2 weeks being repaired under warranty, I've only been riding again for about 2 weeks, but absolutely loving it!
Here she is! SRAM Apex groupset, and I put on Shimano m520 clipless pedals, but upgraded the cleats to multi release ones (saved me falling on my ass after I've stopped due to not unclipping my feet quick enough several times!
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/08/26/guja2a9e.jpg)
And here is a few pics of my ride down by the river a couple of days ago.....
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/08/26/edequnaq.jpg)
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/08/26/ubyhygap.jpg)
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/08/26/uvybuduv.jpg)
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/08/26/sa9e8aje.jpg)
And in winter when the trees loose their leaves, and the sky is grey, this bridge looks like something out of a Zombie film!
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/08/26/asujyda7.jpg)
Yup, not been out on the road bike in far too long though!
I've only ever ridden my road bike with cleats, figured if i got used to it without i may struggle, not had an incident yet touch wood :))
Are you on strava? http://www.strava.com/athletes/530202 (http://www.strava.com/athletes/530202)
I am a post-cyclist fusion runner.
I raced mountain bikes and road bikes before we had kids. Now I have a real career, and less time. Lame.
I had never even heard of clipless pedals and cleats before I started looking for a CX bike! I've only fallen off once, but that wasn't due to the cleats thankfully.
I'm on Strava, I'm having trouble with it now though as I've also just got a Bryton Cardio 60 watch, which stops the timer when my bike stops, but when I upload the files to Strava, it shows it as a full running time. Gonna try the auto pause on the watch and home that works for Strava.
Yup that is the way strava works, should get elapsed time and moving time.
I guess its to stop people stopping half way through a segment for a breather before carrying on.
Clipless is da shit!
I first clipped in into a pair of Look spd's way back in 1995 and haven't looked back! I can't ride "normal" pedals now to ride myself out of a paper bag ::)
What we consider our honeymoon, my wife and me put all our stuff in storage bought one way air tickets to London, packed along our bikes and camping gear and set off. We had a friend getting married outside Lisbon so we meandered our way down there in about 7 weeks. Eventually was getting too cold for our liking, alpine passses close dates were fast approaching and we were burning out so went back to Amsterdam where flights were plentiful and cheap to Toronto and bought tickets home. Cycled ~7000k, burned a ton a calories, met wonderful people everywhere we went, from downtown Paris to the smallest rural outpost, amazing people, sights, food, wine and beer... and roads, not to mention drivers who can share the road!
Great times!
dave
Great looking bike!
Mountain bikes here. Fell a couple times when i first went clipless, but it only takes a few rides to get the hang of it. Once you get used to it it's a way more efficient transfer of power.
Highly recommend Time ATAC pedals if you get the urge to upgrade. The Crank Bros. Eggbeaters are supposed to be great as well, but I haven't tried them myself.
Oh, and Sidi shoes get a thumbs up. I've had my old Dominators for many, many years and they're still holding up 8)
Quote from: davent on August 25, 2014, 06:49:01 PM
drivers who can share the road!
As someone who commutes by bike from the middle of Brooklyn to mid-town Manhattan everyday for work, I read these words but they do not make sense.
Seriously though, that sounds like an amazing trip!
I could've sworn we already had a bike thread somewhere on here.
But yeah, like Droogie, I'm also riding my bike around Brooklyn - an old Fuji Del Ray that was passed down to me from my dad. I just got the tubes replaced last week, and it feels great!
I biked to school pretty much every day. (Unless I could beg a ride off Dad in the morning, which meant both being an hour early, plus having to walk all the way home.)
The gear change wires are rusted solid on my bike, so you have to pedal like f*** to get anywhere, so I don't bother.
Quote from: slimtriggers on August 25, 2014, 07:06:35 PM
... The Crank Bros. Eggbeaters are supposed to be great as well, but I haven't tried them myself.
I've got the Crank Bros. Candy 3's on my single speed MTB and the Candy 1's on my cross bike. I really like them. It seems though that some people really hate the Crank Brothers pedals. I'm not sure why, but there definitely seems to be some personal taste involved. To me, they are really simple to get in and out of and I love how minimal they are. I think that I'll probably move to the Eggbeaters for the cross bike when it comes time to overhaul the pedals.
Quote from: Droogie on August 25, 2014, 07:29:02 PM
Quote from: davent on August 25, 2014, 06:49:01 PM
drivers who can share the road!
As someone who commutes by bike from the middle of Brooklyn to mid-town Manhattan everyday for work, I read these words but they do not make sense.
My wife was hit on her morning commute to work a week ago today. Luckily, she didn't get hurt too badly, but she's still pretty banged up and can't use her arm very well yet. The doc told her it would be about a month before she can ride again and we'll have to get her a new bike. The person that hit her was a just a bit too impatient and cut the corner before she had made it across the road and hit her from the rear. The driver of the car got ticketed for careless driving resulting in serious bodily injury, not a great tradeoff for about 2 seconds of impatience.
Quote from: stevie1556 on August 25, 2014, 05:28:10 PM
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Here she is! SRAM Apex groupset, and I put on Shimano m520 clipless pedals, but upgraded the cleats to multi release ones (saved me falling on my ass after I've stopped due to not unclipping my feet quick enough several times!
That's a nice looking bike and even better, that looks like a great place to ride!
I haven't fallen while clipped in, but I did get really close to it once when, in a sudden flash of idiocy, I inexplicably leaned to the side I hadn't released from when I came to a stop sign. I was just able to get my foot out in time to stop from going down.
Awww man! Sorry to hear about your wife, that is just horrible. Being (somewhat of) a cyclist, when in car I give all cyclists (and bikers as well) all the road I have to spare which sometimes prolly looks odd to the guy behind me but I know it feels good on the bike when you don't have your elbows banged up by car mirrors. ::)
On the subject of eggbeaters, I agree it's a personal thing. I gave them a shot about five years back but they just felt wonky to me and had way more float than I was used to. I'm sure they shed mud better than spd's but I don't ride in that kind of weather so I just opted for the more locked-in feeling of Shimanos.
Crank brothers pedals fail like crazy. Nothing like being 2 hours away from home on a 6 hour ride and have your pedal pull right off the spindle.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Yeah, I've also heard rumors of them being less than reliable lately but didn't want to muddy the waters and just offered my experience with them.
Quote from: muddyfox on August 26, 2014, 05:42:32 AM
Awww man! Sorry to hear about your wife, that is just horrible. Being (somewhat of) a cyclist, when in car I give all cyclists (and bikers as well) all the road I have to spare which sometimes prolly looks odd to the guy behind me but I know it feels good on the bike when you don't have your elbows banged up by car mirrors. ::)
Yep same here. I take wide arcs around bikes. We have enough cyclists around here that it's pretty common to see people doing this. Drivers overall are pretty good here. It's only a few that make it dangerous to ride.
I'm pretty paranoid about motorcycles. I used to ride and know how it felt to have people tailgating you on a bike. One of things that really pisses me off is when I'm behind a bike in traffic and someone in a car thinks the bit of extra room I'm leaving behind the motorcycle is enough space for them to squeeze into.
Quote
On the subject of eggbeaters, I agree it's a personal thing. I gave them a shot about five years back but they just felt wonky to me and had way more float than I was used to. I'm sure they shed mud better than spd's but I don't ride in that kind of weather so I just opted for the more locked-in feeling of Shimanos.
I started with Shimanos and I liked them too. The only reason I changed to the CB's was because when I needed new pedals on the cross bike they were on a really good sale, so I figured I'd give them a try. I've had the first set for about 3 years and they've been good. The set on the second bike's only been on for a few months.
I've seen comments about the Crank Brothers falling apart, also lots of comments about them taking more maintenance. I haven't had any problems yet and when I talked to the folks in the bike shops around here they didn't seem to think it was a big issue.
To me, how they feel and ride is a more important thing. Shimano makes great pedals and their system is really nice and does feel good and secure. The CB's do shed mud and debris really well, but the only time it would make sense to me to have that as a consideration in the buying process would be if you were going to race with them. My personal experience is that they are both really good.
Quote from: RobA on August 26, 2014, 05:23:34 AM
Quote from: Droogie on August 25, 2014, 07:29:02 PM
Quote from: davent on August 25, 2014, 06:49:01 PM
drivers who can share the road!
As someone who commutes by bike from the middle of Brooklyn to mid-town Manhattan everyday for work, I read these words but they do not make sense.
My wife was hit on her morning commute to work a week ago today. Luckily, she didn't get hurt too badly, but she's still pretty banged up and can't use her arm very well yet. The doc told her it would be about a month before she can ride again and we'll have to get her a new bike. The person that hit her was a just a bit too impatient and cut the corner before she had made it across the road and hit her from the rear. The driver of the car got ticketed for careless driving resulting in serious bodily injury, not a great tradeoff for about 2 seconds of impatience.
Very sorry to hear that! I have a close call almost every day—it's definitely dangerous. To be hit from behind must be awful—you don't see
anything coming. Glad the person got popped for it at least, but small consolation for the pain and injury. Here's hoping for a full and speedy recovery!
Biking still can't be beat for staying in (something like) shape though and staying off the subway, which has it's own significant drawbacks.
Quote from: Droogie on August 26, 2014, 02:53:21 PM
Biking still can't be beat for staying in (something like) shape though and staying off the subway, which has it's own significant drawbacks.
Yeah, there are tradeoffs, but the advantages to being able to bike for your commute well outweigh the downsides. Just the positives on your mental outlook are worth the risks. I could definitely see going with a bike over the subway.
Quote from: RobA on August 26, 2014, 05:23:34 AM
My wife was hit on her morning commute to work a week ago today. Luckily, she didn't get hurt too badly, but she's still pretty banged up and can't use her arm very well yet. The doc told her it would be about a month before she can ride again and we'll have to get her a new bike. The person that hit her was a just a bit too impatient and cut the corner before she had made it across the road and hit her from the rear. The driver of the car got ticketed for careless driving resulting in serious bodily injury, not a great tradeoff for about 2 seconds of impatience.
That really sucks! Hope she's back at it soon!
The hard part is the mental recovery, physically you can be fine and ready to roll but there's that doubt, even when you've done everything and are doing everything right to protect yourself, you still get blindsided by some idiot, so much totally out of our control.
Quote from: davent on August 27, 2014, 04:12:13 AM
Quote from: RobA on August 26, 2014, 05:23:34 AM
My wife was hit on her morning commute to work a week ago today. Luckily, she didn't get hurt too badly, but she's still pretty banged up and can't use her arm very well yet. The doc told her it would be about a month before she can ride again and we'll have to get her a new bike. The person that hit her was a just a bit too impatient and cut the corner before she had made it across the road and hit her from the rear. The driver of the car got ticketed for careless driving resulting in serious bodily injury, not a great tradeoff for about 2 seconds of impatience.
That really sucks! Hope she's back at it soon!
The hard part is the mental recovery, physically you can be fine and ready to roll but there's that doubt, even when you've done everything and are doing everything right to protect yourself, you still get blindsided by some idiot, so much totally out of our control.
Yeah, that is scary. Sometimes it's other bikers who are acting stupid, which is really disappointing. I expect most cars drivers to not be aware and/or give a shit about bikes, but a bit more often these days I notice a slight improvement. I always give a shout out to drivers who actually cede the right of way when making turns across the bike lane. Although it should be axiomatic that they follow the law and do the right thing, I still want to give encouragement and thanks for being considerate.
Quote from: davent on August 27, 2014, 04:12:13 AM
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That really sucks! Hope she's back at it soon!
The hard part is the mental recovery, physically you can be fine and ready to roll but there's that doubt, even when you've done everything and are doing everything right to protect yourself, you still get blindsided by some idiot, so much totally out of our control.
I'm sure she will be. She was missing riding the day after the crash. The mental bit is hard, although I'm guessing it's going to bug me worse than her for a while. I was already nervous about the section of her ride that she got hit on. I'm trying to convince her to take a slightly longer but safer path. Overall though, this is a really safe place to ride. Most of the drivers are aware of the bikes because we have so many. Also, really large portions of the bike paths are completely off the roads.
It's not like I really feel safe in a car either. We had one here a few days ago where a truck full of sand lost control and tipped over. It crushed one car and buried a couple of others nearly completely. Three more cars were partially buried. Incredibly, everyone survived. Totally crazy! Other motorists and the people living around the scene ran out and started digging the people out. I think only one person ended up needing to go to the hospital. It's one of those things that just mentally trips you up because they were all just sitting at a light and really couldn't do anything about it. Still, you've got to pretty much ignore the possibilities and keep doing what you need to do.
Quote from: Droogie on August 27, 2014, 02:59:34 PM
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Yeah, that is scary. Sometimes it's other bikers who are acting stupid, which is really disappointing. I expect most cars drivers to not be aware and/or give a shit about bikes, but a bit more often these days I notice a slight improvement. I always give a shout out to drivers who actually cede the right of way when making turns across the bike lane. Although it should be axiomatic that they follow the law and do the right thing, I still want to give encouragement and thanks for being considerate.
That cyclists around here can be really dangerous with each other. But this past Spring and Summer I've noticed a definite move to the cyclists themselves being much safer and more polite both with other cyclists and in their interactions with cars. I've had lots of instances lately where a cyclist will see me waiting for them at a stop sign and they'll signal to let me know they are turning and I'm safe to go. That was something that I rarely saw happening until recently. The cyclist also seem to be more aware that they can actually plow into each other if they both pull rolling stops. It's not like everyone has stopped with the rolling stops, but they at least seem a bit more careful when they start into the intersection. Overall, I'm really happy to see the increased awareness all around.