The Cycling Thread (9 Viewers)

[Moff]

So so pleased for G, and thoroughly deserved for all the effort and sacrifices over the years.

It truly means so much to him, and as skybluebeast said, his interview afterwards said it all, pure tears of joy and happiness.

A very popular winner, and our sixth win in seven years, after over 100 years without, not bad going and I bet the Sky team are loving the French jealousy!

 

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[Covstu]

So glad G has managed to win it, his interview afterwards says it all. It means so much to him. He is such a different winner to Wiggins who was arrogant (I love Wiggins by the way) and Froome who in my opinion is a complete stuck up arsehole. Think this one win be the most popular win within the peloton for many a year!

Thomas totally deserved it, been very consistent all the way through and a solid winner. Great speech on the podium too!

Disagree with the comments about Froome, the shit that he has put up with over the last 2 or 3 tours but he didn’t lose his rag and kept going, that behaviour had to start chipping away at him, still a great champion in my eyes

 

[Moff]

Thomas totally deserved it, been very consistent all the way through and a solid winner. Great speech on the podium too!

Disagree with the comments about Froome, the shit that he has put up with over the last 2 or 3 tours but he didn’t lose his rag and kept going, that behaviour had to start chipping away at him, still a great champion in my eyes

Great post Stu, I totally agree.

I think Froome has suffered very unfairly at the hands of the French, they don't seem to like a winner, and the abuse he has risen above has been disgusting and he has shown himself the better man. Listening to yesterdays stage he is not alone, I heard Ned Boulting recounting how Eddy Mercx was punched in the kidney by a fan, whilst trying to win his sixth tour and had to retire from the race. He never won the Tour again, whilst Bernard Hinault was spat at and abused in the Giro and Vuellta.

I had to laugh at a tweet from Thomas before the race started saying out of the Brits there were more Welsh riders than the others, with him and Luke Rowe making two. He said Cav was riding for the Isle of Man, and there were one and half English riders, Yates and Froome was the half!

 

[Christopher Michael]

Got out another 12 miles today on the road to full fitness. A broken chain half-way through the route didn't help my cause but I'm improving.

Can anyone recommend any clipless pedals and cycling shoes? Or a Coventry shop that could help with fitting?

 

[eastwoodsdustman]

I was using look pedals but use speed play zero’s now. I’d go for some look keos as they’re cheap to start with. You can get them new with cleats really cheap on ebay. If you are ok with them then you can always upgrade later on. There’s a bloke in Leamington who does bike fitting. Google it and he’s easy to find. You might end up spending on bars stem and saddles though.

 

[Covstu]

Got out another 12 miles today on the road to full fitness. A broken chain half-way through the route didn't help my cause but I'm improving.

Can anyone recommend any clipless pedals and cycling shoes? Or a Coventry shop that could help with fitting?

I use three different cleats at the moment!
Look cleats for my Garmin Vectors
SPD-SL for my shimano ultegra
SPD for when I switch to winter shoes

Use my look the most as it has the power meter but all three are good and easily available. You can pick up at Halfords for most of them nowadays.
I had a bike fit with GC cycling, they used to be near Meriden but I think they are Solihull way now. Very good but will set you back roughly a tonne.

 

[jimmyhillsfanclub]

I used to swap pedals all the time but can't be arsed these days......so I've standardised now and have SPD on both my Italian racer & my fixie.....

...but I still use quill pedals with toe clips/straps on my old falcon.......it looks weird without them.

 

[Covstu]

I used to swap pedals all the time but can't be arsed these days......so I've standardised now and have SPD on both my Italian racer & my fixie.....

...but I still use quill pedals with toe clips/straps on my old falcon.......it looks weird without them.

different bikes so rarely swap just when it hits about December and temperature drops so the winter shoes come out. Two min job really. Does mean that I have more shoes that a woman however!!

 

[jimmyhillsfanclub]

different bikes so rarely swap just when it hits about December and temperature drops so the winter shoes come out. Two min job really. Does mean that I have more shoes that a woman however!!

Ha ha.....know what you mean.....I've whittled down to 2 pairs now......my vittorias for road riding/racing & my chrome pros for commuting & general urban riding into town or the pub etc.

 

[duffer]

Ha ha.....know what you mean.....I've whittled down to 2 pairs now......my vittorias for road riding/racing & my chrome pros for commuting & general urban riding into town or the pub etc.

Funnily enough, I'm contemplating taking the SPD-SL pedals off my road bike, and going back to old fashioned normal pedals.

My reasoning is that I don't really like being clipped in, partly for safety, but also for comfort. Also, really I'm riding to get fit rather than to get fast. More than all this though, I know I'm a lazy git, and the more 'prep' I've got to do before getting the bike out, the more likely I am to avoid doing it!

I'm not saying I'm right by the way, kudos to everyone here who gets off their arse to put the miles in. I'm just trying to lower the barriers to getting myself back out there!

 

[eastwoodsdustman]

Funnily enough, I'm contemplating taking the SPD-SL pedals off my road bike, and going back to old fashioned normal pedals.

My reasoning is that I don't really like being clipped in, partly for safety, but also for comfort. Also, really I'm riding to get fit rather than to get fast. More than all this though, I know I'm a lazy git, and the more 'prep' I've got to do before getting the bike out, the more likely I am to avoid doing it!

I'm not saying I'm right by the way, kudos to everyone here who gets off their arse to put the miles in. I'm just trying to lower the barriers to getting myself back out there!

Its not just about going faster. They're more efficient especially up hills as there is lest energy wasted apparently.

 

[jimmyhillsfanclub]

Funnily enough, I'm contemplating taking the SPD-SL pedals off my road bike, and going back to old fashioned normal pedals.

My reasoning is that I don't really like being clipped in, partly for safety, but also for comfort. Also, really I'm riding to get fit rather than to get fast. More than all this though, I know I'm a lazy git, and the more 'prep' I've got to do before getting the bike out, the more likely I am to avoid doing it!

I'm not saying I'm right by the way, kudos to everyone here who gets off their arse to put the miles in. I'm just trying to lower the barriers to getting myself back out there!

Get yourself something like these duffer. Wiggle | Shimano A530 SPD Single Sided Touring Pedals | Clip-In Pedals

....means you can clip in on one side (SPD, not SPD-SL) or just ride down the pub in yer trainers or desert boots.....

...and as spd shoes have none of the undercarriage malarky you get with spd-sl, you can simply unclip one foot & safely ride it on the flat side in traffic or on a tricky surface or descent if the safety thing is an issue.

I used these for about a year after getting knocked off my bike.....helped with re-building my confidence in traffic.....

 

[duffer]

Its not just about going faster. They're more efficient especially up hills as there is lest energy wasted apparently.

An absolutely fair point mate, but trust me, I need to waste energy.

It's that or cut about 4,000 calories a day.

 

[eastwoodsdustman]

An absolutely fair point mate, but trust me, I need to waste energy.

It's that or cut about 4,000 calories a day.

I know that feeling well. I used to say to my lightweight mate that I ride with that to get a fair comparison he'd need to give one of his kids a backie to even the weight difference up.

 

[duffer]

I know that feeling well. I used to say to my lightweight mate that I ride with that to get a fair comparison he'd need to give one of his kids a backie to even the weight difference up.

I hate those skinny buggers that can just fly up hills. On the upside it's much easier for car drivers to see me when I'm climbing, what with my wider profile and bright-red glowing face.

I just wish those ambulances would stop following me around. It makes me nervous...

 

[Covstu]

I couldn’t stop using cleats, just feel more part of the bike and helps that slog up the hills. Using zwift has helped my ability no end and probably put an additional 50w’s on my legs. Great for winter or a quick hour in the evening.

 

[Christopher Michael]

I use three different cleats at the moment!
Look cleats for my Garmin Vectors
SPD-SL for my shimano ultegra
SPD for when I switch to winter shoes

Use my look the most as it has the power meter but all three are good and easily available. You can pick up at Halfords for most of them nowadays.
I had a bike fit with GC cycling, they used to be near Meriden but I think they are Solihull way now. Very good but will set you back roughly a tonne.

Took your advice and got some SPD-SL. I'm looking at investing in a new bike in October so I'll go for a proper bike-fit then

 

[duffer]

I couldn’t stop using cleats, just feel more part of the bike and helps that slog up the hills. Using zwift has helped my ability no end and probably put an additional 50w’s on my legs. Great for winter or a quick hour in the evening.

Thus bringing me up to a mighty 52w. Almost enough to light a small cupboard, except in the far corners of course.

 

[Christopher Michael]

Just signed up for next years Prudential RideLondon - Surrey 100 in aid of The Greyhound Trust. This year, the group raised £10,000 for the trust so the pressure's on for next year.

 

[Covstu]

Just signed up for next years Prudential RideLondon - Surrey 100 in aid of The Greyhound Trust. This year, the group raised £10,000 for the trust so the pressure's on for next year.

Ah good job! Wanting to do that for a few years myself but not the easiest sportive to get down too! Always good to have a target to aim for. My target this year was the Tour de Yorkshire which was amazing but after that I haven’t had anything proper to aim for. Just spent a great week in France and took one of the steeds across the water, some great scenery but only could do short 30-40 rides each day given the family was there!

 

[Christopher Michael]

Ah good job! Wanting to do that for a few years myself but not the easiest sportive to get down too! Always good to have a target to aim for. My target this year was the Tour de Yorkshire which was amazing but after that I haven’t had anything proper to aim for. Just spent a great week in France and took one of the steeds across the water, some great scenery but only could do short 30-40 rides each day given the family was there!

Definitely not going to be easy to get to. Especially with me moving to Lincolnshire next months. Trying to convince my mate to do it too so I can stay with him for the week's run-up to the event.

 

[Macca]

I have no idea what anybody is talking about but I still love cycling

 

[eastwoodsdustman]

In tile hill to see the tour fly past

 

[rob9872]

Cycling I get, but watching cycling I find really odd. Still some say that about football I suppose.

 

[stupot07]

Went to the start at nuneaton, now in wellesbourne waiting for them to come through!

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[Nick]

Went to the start at nuneaton, now in wellesbourne waiting for them to come through!

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

You should have got some cycling gear on and pretended you had beaten them there.

 

[eastwoodsdustman]

Cycling I get, but watching cycling I find really odd. Still some say that about football I suppose.

I only went as my other half wanted to see it. For some reason she was disappointed that she only got to see them for a few seconds! I did ask her what she thought she’d see as the go past at 25mph.

 

[Covstu]

We had a great day, did an 80 mile loop. Went from Cov to Nuneaton to see the start, love the way you can go right up to the buses, bikes and riders. We then went down to Burton Dassett to watch them on the KOM climb, it was very busy but a good atmosphere. Very enjoyable day indeed!

 

[Covstu]

Team Sky step down sponsorship in cycling as of 2020. Shocking news, will be interesting to see if they can find replacements or will this team fall apart?

It might bring some much needed balance to the sport or could easily be replaced by someone with the same volume of cash! Interesting times

 

[skybluebeast]

Beyond doubt they will find a new major sponsor to take on the team, it is too successful and makes plenty of money for companies to resist.
However I do doubt they will be able to find a company will to pump a reported 25 million a year into it which means that the team won’t be able to boast a large array of major talent which means imho they won’t be so dominate in grand tours.

 

[Covstu]

Beyond doubt they will find a new major sponsor to take on the team, it is too successful and makes plenty of money for companies to resist.
However I do doubt they will be able to find a company will to pump a reported 25 million a year into it which means that the team won’t be able to boast a large array of major talent which means imho they won’t be so dominate in grand tours.

Exactly they won’t be able to dominate which can only tip the balance from them. Can’t see Froome moving anywhere!

 

[skybluebeast]

Hopefully we get back to the more adventurous riding where we see riders ride away and attack for grand tour wins and not just grind down their opponents like the sky train has done for 9 years.

 

[Covstu]

Hopefully we get back to the more adventurous riding where we see riders ride away and attack for grand tour wins and not just grind down their opponents like the sky train has done for 9 years.

Yep totally, race radios are to blame for this rather than power meters. If you know where the opposition is you know what you need to put out, if you don’t know you need to use your judgement.

I think despite the criticism of team sky they have upped the reputation of cycling throughout the UK and the world. Most of today’s cyclists are on the roads thanks to wiggo’s TDF and Olympic wins

 

[Covstu]

Well done Thomas for winning SPOTY!

 

[Christopher Michael]

Started a gran fondo training plan on Zwift yesterday. FTP only 171 so I've got a long way to go