I heard a cyclist comment today as they passed me that you need a gravel bike to get from storiths to barden now! A lot of debris about.
Printable View
I heard a cyclist comment today as they passed me that you need a gravel bike to get from storiths to barden now! A lot of debris about.
We saw those cars on the A65 and counted about 10 last friday morning as we made our way to Gargrave to test ride a tandem. Kate my wife was knocked off her bike 6 months ago and due to concussion has double vision that isn't improving. She has been happy on the TACX trainer over the winter but as she previously covered 8000 miles per year needed to get outside and pedalling. The tandem requires a bit more thought to ride but we enjoyed it and are collecting a new one this friday. Hopefully we will continue to ride up the French cols this summer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
I wish you both well with that SCOOT I reckon you will both find it a lot of fun:DQuote:
Originally Posted by SCOOT
Mrs Noel and I have a tandem. Neither of us is a keen cyclist, but we really like it. We've done a few 3 or 4-day breaks staying at hostels.
The big advantage is that no matter who's the strongest cyclist, you're always together. So there's no getting left behind or feeling like you're always waiting for the other person.
You should enter the tandem triathlon. That's certainly a lot of fun.
Fixed wheel?Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
Can't do fixed wheel tandem on the road, Graham. With the much longer wheelbase you have to stop pedalling on very bumpy ground to avoid clouting the pedals or cranksQuote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
***
On the subject of F/W, I thought I was going to total mine on Sunday. Whilst I can no longer be referred to as young and stupid, it was refreshing to find out that I have at least managed to retain half of the attributes.
For reasons that I clearly hadn't thought about enough, I chose to make my first ride in my brand new cycling shoes, with brand new SPD-SL cleats, on the F/W. Whilst you'd expect that with brand new gear, as opposed to well worn stuff, it would be harder to unclip your feet - this was most definitely not the case. Pulling away from stationary, out of the saddle and applying full power, I pulled my left foot clean out the pedal - which I have never done before.
The effect of suddenly releasing my left foot at full power caused the rear wheel to lift off the ground by around a foot. This caused the rear wheel to spin, and when it landed the sudden de-acceleration caused a hard-braking effect that almost put me over the 'bars. The bike almost stalled with my hands holding the brake hoods, and my right foot balancing on the one remaining pedal I was attached to at the very top point. I managed to sit down and re-attach my left foot, and then continued, nonchalantly, as though nothing had happened. The car that had pulled out of the turn directly behind me, rightly, gave me a very wide berth - probably not actually believing what he thought he'd just seen.
My audition for the circus is next week :)
Tandem pick upday tomorrow so maiden voyage on Friday. A nice local 42 mile loop taking in Hartside and Alston may be on the cards but if a few set up tweaks are needed this may be changed. Good to get encouraging remarks on here which settles my mind that it isn's such a daft idea.
Andy Beaty CFR
I am pleased to see you were composed enough to make clear notes.:)Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Unseasonably warm, so out on the Scott Solace today in bibshorts and short sleeves. Nice.
Up to Taddington and down into Millers Dale and up again to Tideswell, across The Anchor crossroads and down into the Hope Valley at Bradwell. Along to Castleton and it was so busy with folk, like Bank Holiday Monday.
I thought a midweek ascent of Winnats Pass would be nice and quiet but how wrong I was. I must have breathed in a years worth of exhaust fumes on the way up. It was hard work especially as there was no room to do any weaving so it was head down and grind up in a straight line. Once at the top I looked up and saw that the sky above was full of Paragliders taking advantage of the updraft along Lords Seat. I counted 24 of them.
Up to Mam Nick and a lovely descent into the Edale Valley. Everywhere looks so dry so I reckon a CR is on the cards for Sunday's Edale Skyline Fell Race. Down the valley to Hope and then uphill through Bradwell to Windmill where I took a left to Great Hucklow and Foolow. Over the "scratter" to Monsal Head and Ashford. A slight detour to Kirk Dale which gave me a nice downhill run home.
47 miles and 4,354 feet in 3hrs 18 min. Surprisingly few other cyclists about on such a lovely day. Two rest days now until Saturday.
Bit of a pain in the arse if you had an argument.Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
Yes, that's the other consideration. If the stoker says "brake", you can't ignore them. And the front rider needs to avoid any potholes in the road.Quote:
Originally Posted by mr brightside
We generally schedule in lots of cafe stops to keep spirits up and conversation friendly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr brightside
Do you take it in turn to 'drive'; sexual equality and all that?Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
I should declare that I've never ridden on a tandem, although in my racing days I regularly rode so close behind that it probably looked like I was riding one
Never cycled up Hartside, but have driven up it a few times. Should be a good test, and I hope it goes well for you - the weather forecast certainly looks favourableQuote:
Originally Posted by SCOOT
I'm always on the front. We're quite different heights so it works well not changing. I'd be fine swapping over, but Mrs Noel isn't as confident a cyclist.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Our main differences of opinion are around cadence. I like to spin whereas Mrs Noel likes to crank. Normally we find a happy medium.
There is a technical solution for this. Whilst there are many factors that influence your preferred cadence, crank length is a significant one. When I was waiting for surgery, and unable to pedal with standard 170mm cranks, I bought (by special order) 155mm cranks which I could ride. I geared down, expecting to ride slower but found I was riding just as fast as before but at a higher cadence; the bike just wanted to rev faster.Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
Whilst I've never seen a formula, the general rule is that shorter cranks feel 'right' at higher cadences whilst longer ones feel 'right' at lower ones. This gives you three options:
1 Reduce the length of Mrs Noel's cranks by 5mm so that her preferred cadence is higher
2 Reduce Mrs noel's cranks by 2.5mm and increase yours by 2.5mm
3 Increase your crank length by 5mm so that your preferred cadence is lower
Assuming your tandem has chains on both sides at the back pedalling position, then options 1 and 2 are too expensive. Option 3, however, is fairly cheap and if you are the type of tandem crew that freewheels around faster corners then there's no real downside to it.
Mainly for Graham's interest, I should state that I have the 155mm cranks I mentioned, 165mm ones that came with the bike I rescued from a shed (in a shocking condition), several pairs of 170mm cranks and 175mm ones that came with a very cheap bike 17 years ago. I have even mixed sets, riding a 155mm on one side, and a 170mm on the other (very difficult 'out of the saddle', but otherwise ok).
Mmmh. I did it today and then over to Draughton - 26 miles, 2600 feet, it being the 26th of course - on my skinny road tyres and I thought it as gravelly as it usually is.Quote:
Originally Posted by mr brightside
What has changed is that while the land slip is still there with signs galore saying Road Closed the bollards that previously did close the road have been moved to the side of the section where the road is slipping away so actually the road is passable.
Which is probably why I met six vehicles in the three miles or so! It did occur to me that the Duke of Devonshire's staff would not wish to take the long way round and so sooner or later the bollards would be moved - and so they have been.:)
So you've found an excuse never to do more than 31 miles or 3100 feet of climbing in a day - although you might get a bored at the beginning of the month.Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
We have a drum hub brake on the Campag equiped Mercian Tandem, controlled by the stoker - I disconnected it
Can't have braking when going downhill :)
We also have incompatibility - I'm a twiddler and Sue is not
Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
Presumably I'd need to do this without Mrs Noel knowing about, otherwise she'd realise she was being manipulated into pedaling faster.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
I'm reminded of The Twits by Roald Dahl, when Mr Twit convinces Mrs Twit she's got the shrinks by increasing the height of her chair. Classic.
Big ring of 56 to maximise the watts?Quote:
Originally Posted by brett
The affordable option I mentioned was to increase the length of your cranks; this would move your cadence 'sweet spot' downwards a few revs, and give you slightly more torque. Best of all, you wouldn't have to tell Mrs Noel and she wouldn't notice anything differentQuote:
Originally Posted by noel
Women always find out the truth in the end, according to Indiana Jones.
Maiden ride on the tandem went well. 35 miles with a variety of hills and flat. the route was a familiar one and was covered in more or less the same time as on our own bikes. The tuition from the shop sunk in and we managed without any issues.
The most important thing to remember is to change down to the smaller front chainring before it is absolutely necessary otherwise you loose too much speed when you start to go uphill and it will be too late. Also the one on the front ( captain) can't see the gears
The one we test rode had a triple chainring which was too much of a faff so ours has a 2 X 11 set up with a compact 50/34 on the front and 11/43 on the rear which gives a very wide spread of options.
The bike also has 3 brakes. A disc front and rear and a v brake on the rear rim although we were told to only use that one as a parking brake or if the discs got too hot and faded on a long decent.
So it all looks promising for riding up and down the French cols this summer.
Apparently the Captain (me) has to issue the instructions to the Stoker (Kate) That was what we were told so fingers crossed on that one.
Glad to hear your 35 miles ride went well.Quote:
Originally Posted by SCOOT
I think you've made the right choice going for 2 x 11 rather than a triple, as I've never liked them. More trouble, more weight, and you end up with the pedals a long way apart for the stoker.
Totally agree with what you said about changing to the smaller chainring early. Where I live it's pretty flat, with the occasional short hill, so you can ride up them in either chainring depending on how fit you are, how large your rear sprockets are, and how big a chain angle you are happy to pedal with.
I mention this, as I was talking to a neighbour on Sunday who was just cleaning his carbon fibre Specialised bike with lower to mid-range Shimano kit (2 x 9). He's had it 5 years, from new, and only rides it occasionally. He went on to say, however, that he has broken two new chains on it. I couldn't understand this, as I've only broken one chain in 40+ years and it was my fault; I put the chain on the wrong way around (there's a directional element to fitting modern thin chains). On further discussion I discovered he tended to use the big chainring with the biggest sprocket - some bike shops will say this is ok, but then they'll be replacing the chain at regular intervals. The reality is, this is not ok and is a real chain destroyer.
Lovely range of gears, should be great for riding up French cols. No idea what the top speed going downhill will be, but you'll know doubt hear from behind - well in advance :)
Today whilst going up a gradient of approx 12% quite comfortably in 3rd, I popped it into 1st to see what it was like. Our legs were spinning like a washing machine and we were just moving fast enough to stop us from keeling over but it's good to know that it's there. At the other end of the scale 23mph can be sustained for a lot longer on the flat with an extra pair of legs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
I'll pay a lot of attention to the chains. The shop supplied a spare split link just incase, which makes me think that they will be more vunerable.
It's always nice to know that you've still got another gear left, and it can be very useful. The greatest amount of torque I have ever applied on a bike wasn't pedalling up Alpe d'Huez or Hardknott pass. It was on the flat stretch at the very summit of the Col du Mont-Cenis in stormy weather when I was hit, head on, by a constant 50mph wind. Bottom gear, standing on the pedals and going less than 1mph for about 20 metres.Quote:
Originally Posted by SCOOT
In the list of 'stuff you should take on every ride', the spare split link has been added in recent years. I think this is because the modern, very thin, chains have the rivets flush to the plates rather than overlapping by nearly 1mm. When flexed sideways, in a diagonal chain path, with torque applied the risk is that the plate will 'ping' off the rivet.
On a 2 x 11 setup I wouldn't recommend using the two extreme gears for both the large and small chainrings. I appreciate that from the front position you can't see this, so the 'change early' to the small chainring approach is especially important. I have noted that there are special chains for e-bikes; I don't know if they are any stronger, or if they would be suitable for a tandem.
The weather forecast was for rain and bitingly cold winds but knowing that could not possibly deter a fell runner off I set.
After 16 miles of rain and bitingly cold winds I remembered that I am retired and had no need to ride in etc... so I turned for home. Still, I am now over 600 miles for this year.
Anyway it was Dwars Door Vlaanderen today and I have Eurosport - so why ride when you can watch?
It was a great race and I will not reveal... other than to say that when Tom Pidcock was wondering why on his 53 he could not catch Victor Campenaerts going downhill he was told that VC was riding a 58.
"That's the reason then!" said local-lad Tom.
Although he didn't clarify if he could actually push a 58!
I may have mentioned this before... but has anyone done the Dun Fell Road from the Eden Valley up onto the top of the Cross Fell Range....? Seems to have a reputation on the internet as one of the toughest in England.
It's approx 5 miles and 2000-something feet once turning off the road linking the villages together. Road to nowhere (except a radar station) and a popular haunt of cyclists.
It's actually been a favoured training run of mine, a good hard 10 mile race up and down where you can just get head down and go at it without worry (except for cyclists coming down at 50mph!)
Have had some good races up against cyclists, they murder me up the lower section, but when it really pulls up in the 2nd half i have the upper hand.... i haven't beaten many cyclists down though!
Alston lad Laurie Lambeth "Everested" that road a while back which was 15 laps and 140 miles. A tough day out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Travs
I suppose it saves you from going up Hardnott Pass 30 times to get the same result.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Travs
I may have said before...but I won a race (against other runners) up L'Alpe d'Huez which was organised for tourists. On the flattish section leaving Bourg d'Oisans every cyclist shot away and they were all out of sight by the first turn but slowly as I kept grinding away at a steady pace to my surprise I started to overtake (some of) them, one by one.
I went back down by car.:)
I have just watched it Graham and as you say, a great race.Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
I notice that your "local lad" Tom has picked up that annoying habit, that the Yates brothers have, of saying "yeah" every 5 or 6 words when being interviewed.
Have a word!
Yeah!Quote:
Originally Posted by Llani Boy
Such verbal fillers can be annoying, but I find some more annoying than others. I particularly dislike "like", though innit and you know what I mean come close.Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
I read somewhere that a teacher tried to stop the use of "like" by pointing it out to his pupils whenever they used it. They got their revenge by counting up his use of umm and err - apparently just as frequent. It is strange that some fillers, such as "n'est-ce pas", almost seem sophisticated.
It seems the ambition for the modern sportsperson (footballers in particular) is to only talk in fillers and cliches. Obviously, we have a lot of respect for them, they'll be there or thereabouts by the end of the end. Obviously, I was so pleased with today's performance, it shows we've got a great team spirit and on our day we can give anyone a game. I'm just trying to do my best for the team and hope to keep injury free...
Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
Whilst i completely agree, the media have to take a lot of the blame...
They clamour for controversial and maverick comments. Yet when anybody says anything remotely interesting or controversial, they are absolutely lambasted for it in the press.
Its little wonder that any kind of independent comment is coached out of them by their clubs etc.
I'm disappointed to say I haven't cycled, or run, up Great Dun Fell. When I was regularly day-tripping, (for work), up the top end of the M6/M74 and beyond I didn't realise that this wasn't private or that it was tarmacked; definitely a case of 'the one that got away'.Quote:
Originally Posted by Travs
Some cycling sites name it as the toughest climb in the country, although others favour The Cowlyd at 3.1km and average of 13.6%
I've not done Great Dun Fell either but that's mainly because I rarely take my bike on holiday if I'm the area. Plenty of running/walking to be getting on with you know!
It does have a good reputation and no doubt the closed road is an added attraction. It is also one of the few UK climbs that could claim to be anything like you would find in the Alps. That said, I'm not so sure it is the toughest climb in the country. There are a few that are longer and plenty that are much steeper. The Strava segment lists it as 7.1km with an average gradient of 9% and maxing out at 20%.
I've long been a fan of Simon Warrens cycle climb books and I've ticked off quite a few mainly in Wales and the Midlands. Most of his rating I'd agree with and GDF gets an 11/10 but so does Bealach-na-Ba which he describes as 'the Holy Grail, the toughest and wildest climb in Britain.'
Yeees. Simon says it "reaches 25%" but I'm dubious.Quote:
Originally Posted by PeteS
I note he claims Rosedale Chimney has some 1 in 3 and he broke two chains climbing it. But then only gives it 10/10 after having written "this is the greatest climb in England.It is simply beyond compare".
I have 5 of his books and I have heard him give a talk and I think one has to remember he is trying to sell his books.
Richard Moore
Died this week at 49.
There aren't too many good writers on cycling I have on my bookshelf but he was one of them.
The Cowlyd is tough and worthy of note but I found Afon Ddu far worse. Having a particularly masochistic day, I followed those up with Bwlch-Y-Ddeufaen - a far more enjoyable climb and well worth it if you are in the area. I had planned the road to Nebo on the way back to Betws but saw sense and bailed out at Llanrwst. The Conwy valley is pretty much a cycling Mecca if you like brutal climbs. Oh to be that fit again!Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco