The Audio-Talk Cycling thread.

[IslandPink]

Good effort.
I'll have to remember the Fosters trick next time I need to photograph the bike.

[Ray P]

Did another ride today, Scobswell hadn't seen the Thames for yonks so we just went out for a 12 mile local cruise in very nippy conditions.

Good to see you and Scobs' sticking at it Mr. B. Is the strength building? I think those Foster's cans are meant to pee into - the few times I've been given one that's what they've always contained.

My Covid jab on Monday evening left me feeling knackered and achy for a couple of days but this afternoon I treated myself to a virtual moutain ascent in Innsbruck - I'm just about back to normal now - and, thinking about Ed's little ditty, then did a lap of the Volcano circuit, lavaland!

[andrew Ivimey]

Ride with' working fine, cold but viable, off I set. I'm getting to 'appreciate the new bike. With tyres nearly 3inches wide there's no way, apart from falling out of an aeroplane, that I can achieve 20mph for more than about five seconds. So, I set off, straight to Halfords where I spent a very instructive 20 minutes watching a cheerful and friendly young man disassemble and clean the rear disc break.Now I know how to.... So off I set having also stuffed my face with a cappppppacino and almond croissant. I was near the river so set off to Danish Camp, back to main road and onto tracks behind the crematorium and through mile after through the wasteland of housing estates till far to the north west of Bedford I broke away to find the road had disappeared. But I wanted to cut across to Clapham Sainsbury to pick up something to eat for tea. I dragged the bike through what felt like Flanders Fields after a few months of German winter shelling mud mud mud. Up to the gunwhales in gooey mud I crawled to concrete, jumped aboard again yelling like a fiend and sped to Clapham but couldn't be asked with Sainsburys I pedalled with fury down the western bypass to Bromham Mill, further south I steamed to Kempston and back to the River, through Queens Park, the Mosque and the Gurdwara, backto Biddenham ( nouveau riche yukky architectural style, over the golf course, back up the bypass, back past Mr Sainsburys emporium, down past the railway station into town proper along Bromham Rd left into thingie St, then Tavistock Street, round to the oark and back to Bedford Towers. 20.5 miles.

Much better.

[Ray P]

It's been a lovely early Spring day so I treated myself to a mooch around some lanes around the Taunton area - 28 miles at 15.5mph. My legs were a bit tired after two big climbing rides on Zwift so I allowed myself to take it fairly easy and just enjoyed being out.

[IslandPink]

Andrew's ride sounds like a good Adam Watkins Youtube vid. Excellent !

I'd like to claim a 3hrs45 walk yesterday, during which I fell into a swamp, as a bike ride.
Is it OK if I promise to post a picture ?

[Ray P]

I'd like to claim a 3hrs45 walk yesterday, during which I fell into a swamp, as a bike ride.
Is it OK if I promise to post a picture ?

Oh, go on then!

I hope the picture involves you and the swamp!

[IslandPink]

I know a lot of people would vote for that. Unfortunately I wasn't too keen on getting the camera out with all the dirt around on hands, sleeves etc.

Here instead the little-known valley of the Nant y Ne on the SW side of Moel Famau -

[Dave the bass]

Plus one for swamp pics!

[jack]

Glad to see/hear you out-n-about young DtB.

Had the AZ jab Saturday evening. Felt crap for a few hours on Sunday, but 100% now.

[Neal]

Getting mine on the 18th.

Took some pics locally when out for a walk the other day, weather has been great.

[IslandPink]

Nice pics.

I thought this video was more interesting than most tech ones :

[IslandPink]

Went out today for a spin, weather very grey uninspiring. Did an hour & twenty on some of the usual roads. I could have done with one more item of clothing ( not sure which ) as I was a bit chilly from the start, and the NE wind was worse coming back. It would be a nice change to have some warmth around here, it's been very slow coming this Spring.

[Dave the bass]

Yup, chilly down the sunny sarf too.

Hard work today, usual route but 2.5mg less steroid made it feel a lot harder than it should be. Very tough week work-wise too, mentally and physically it didn't help the ride.

Departed: Mar 20, 2021, 11:11 am
Starts in: Dartford, England, GB
Distance: 13.8 mi
Elevation: + 627 / - 628 ft
Max Grade:
8.6 %
Avg Grade
0.1 %
VAM 329 Vm/h
Ascent time 00:34:48
Descent time 00:28:22
Total Duration: 01:04:51
Moving Time: 01:03:10
Stopped Time: 00:01:41
Max Speed: 27.6 mph
Avg Speed: 13.1 mph
Pace: 00:04:42
Moving Pace: 00:04:35

[IslandPink]

Good effort. 8.6% - not to be sneezed at - unless you had a tickle in your nose.

[Ray P]

I haven't mentioned it before because I wanted to see how things worked out but I had a bit of a scare a couple of weeks ago (07/03) after my free-range ride - blood in my urine, which is potentially something of a concern at my age (63).

Contacted my GP the next day (hopefully something we would all do?) and have had various tests. All the tests so far have checked out fine and there's been no recurrence so it looks like it was just one of those things - I've since found that the redness of their urine is something of a badge of honour for elite marathon runners.

Contacting the GP made her realise I hadn't been to see her for a while so I'm now on her radar and lined up for more general checks - that's fine apart from the loss of dignity - I'm clenching my buttocks at the thought. Already had an ECG, which was fine.

Anyway, as you might imagine, I was quite nervous of getting back on the bike after the initial issue and a little cautious but I'm now back up to speed and putting in good efforts again. Over the last fortnight all of my rides have been on Zwift rather than outdoors (weather and/or work demands) but last Sunday I rode the Zwift version of the Alpe du Huez climb again and earlier this week I did the climb the climb out of Innsbruck that featured in the UCI world chanpionships a couple of years back. I've been setting a few PRs on various segments when the Zwift data gets imported into Strava so it's looking good.

Because Zwift has more than an element of online game about it (it's data is very accurate if you have a decent static trainer though so no game aspect to that side of things) you pick up points and rewards as you clock up the miles and other 'achievements' and you can use these to 'buy' better equipment - my current virtual steed is a Specialized Tarmac SL7 with lightweight Melenstein wheels - that's pretty much as light and aero as you can get on a road bike. And, yes, Zwift 'knows' what you're riding and factors it into your speed/time so, all else being equal you will be a few seconds faster per mile than on on a heavier/less aero bike.