[JollyJelly]

(Original post by jj193)
Harder? I think commuting by bike trumps Hills because it kills 3 birds with one stone:
Riding
Saving the planet
and finally.. you geussed it - commuting


Cav4sprintfinishtommorow

Fitness wise it's much easier, I've been overtaking couriers on fixies XD, It's the cars and other cyclists which want to kill you that makes it 'harder' lol. A taxi pulled out on me yesterday; Que brown pants

re Cav winning, I agree. Thought Basso was gonna win today, or Uran. Surprised Rodriguez took it. Loved that dig in the last 500m of the final climb by that little dude (can't remember his name :P) Putting bigger names like Scarponi on the ropes. Why did he leave it till the last 500m though?! Could have taken the stage, but apparently his descending isn't the best...still should have attacked earlier I think... The commentator said he may be testing the others to see what they'll be like on the mountain top finishes later on.

[Origami Bullets]

(Original post by Serentonin)
I live in the middle of nowhere so I don't have any city cycling experience at all. (seriously, I live right by exmoor, it's perfect for cycling) however I'm moving to Exeter in sept, and while it's not a busy city, it's going to be a lot busier than I'm used to. Any tips?

Make yourself look BIG - this article talks a lot of sense http://www.tibsnjoan.co.uk/Big.html

I don't think the article mentions it, but you also need to stay out of the 'door zone' i.e. when cycling alongside parked cars, allow enough space so that if they suddenly open a door into your path, you won't hit it. This often means cycling on the edge of, or slightly outside, the cycle path *sigh*

And (to quote Madeye Moody from Harry Potter), CONSTANT VIGILANCE!

[Origami Bullets]

(Original post by JollyJelly)
It's the cars and other cyclists which want to kill you that makes it 'harder' lol. A taxi pulled out on me yesterday; Que brown pants

I find a little adrenaline wakes me up in the mornings before lectures . . .

In all fairness though my route to uni has such a high concentration of idiots that cars pulling out 3 metres in front of me (or today, starting to reverse, at speed, into a parking space as I was trying to pull out around them) no longer actually gives me an adrenaline rush, because it's happened so many times

[JollyJelly]

(Original post by Origami Bullets)
I find a little adrenaline wakes me up in the mornings before lectures . . .

In all fairness though my route to uni has such a high concentration of idiots that cars pulling out 3 metres in front of me (or today, starting to reverse, at speed, into a parking space as I was trying to pull out around them) no longer actually gives me an adrenaline rush, because it's happened so many times

Haha, what woke me up was the fact I'm so competitive on a bicycle If I saw a dude ahead of me, especially if they had a proper road bike I was racing everywhere hehe.

[Irishguy2K10]

Shocked that Cavendish didn't win the sprint today I think the mountain stages have taken it outta him.

[Né Stig]

(Original post by Irishguy2K10)
Shocked that Cavendish didn't win the sprint today I think the mountain stages have taken it outta him.

There's no doubt the Mountain's would have sapped his energy, but Guardini ain't exactly a climber either. Cavendish got it wrong today; he basically wanted Geraint to deliver him to the line. Normally he goes 250metres out. It was barely a 100 today. He was never going to catch Guardini.

The next 2 days are going to see so many attacks. With 1 being a high mountain and the other being a summit finish, they need to make there mark before the ITT. I expect Scarponi to go off on one. Pozzovivo I also expect to attack. Rodriguez will tow the line.

Trust me. I even got 6th overall for Road.cc Fantasy Cycling today! Quite chuffed with that one.

[soutioirsim]

(Original post by Irishguy2K10)
Yea just the club league racing. I'm really enjoying the time trials and road races so far. When I get back from uni next year I want to do open racing, so quite a bit of gym work next year and see how I do

Nice, is the club league circuit racing then? Yeah I just done time trials so far this year but once I've finished uni this year and going to start some road racing (My license finally arrived!).

On a random note, I'm the new road secretary for the Oxford Uni Cycling Club!

[Irishguy2K10]

(Original post by soutioirsim)
Nice, is the club league circuit racing then? Yeah I just done time trials so far this year but once I've finished uni this year and going to start some road racing (My license finally arrived!).

On a random note, I'm the new road secretary for the Oxford Uni Cycling Club!

Yea just laps of a set route. Wednesday night was 4 laps of a 6.3 mile hilly route.... it was very hilly lol. My chain came of on the hardest of them lol Aye my next time trial is next week, 15 miles How are you doing at the time trials ? Happy days, I prefer road racing to tt's.
Nice one mate. Whats the club like... will you be at the BUCS hill climb in Ovtober/November ?

[levantine]

How do you guys stop yourself sweating sooo much in this really warm weather. I cycle for about a mile and find that im absolutely steaming and severely dehydrated already! and find that im knackered when i go up a slight hill!

and advice

[DH-Biker]

Had a moment of utter contempt for a set of riders this afternoon. For most of us we can get together on a Friday and today was exceptional weather so we all went out for a ride. We all met up at the base of the fell which has a large dirt 'square' as a car park and as we were chilling out down there for a while we had this van of XC'ers stop and set up too. Anyway, we were completely minding our own business and these two guys, out of no where, wandered over and no word of a lie said the following;

"Are you riding this fell too? On those bikes? You know that they wont take the run, right, its a really technical trail?"

We looked at each other, kind'a confused but replied, "Don't worry, these will handle it. The trail isn't that tough, the DH bit is, but the overall climb to it is easy."

To which the two men looked visably offended, coming back with, "We raced this trail last month, half of the guys didn't finish it."

I couldn't help myself at that point, my six year old cousin rode up this trail with me on an infant's bike. This time, though, the men looked like they were about to murder us, kept throwing out **** about how infantile and easy DH was, how it didn't deserve to be called a true sport, let alone a part of cycling. To which we pointed out that the birth of mountain biking was speed runs down California's fire roads, thus arguably DH is the birth of modern mountain biking. He said that it required no thinking, no strategy and no real skill...

It kind of bothers me when people claim DH to be so and it is certainly not the first time we've had it said to us.

If you saw a DH'er, do you consider them arrogant? I mean, I know a lot of arrogant DH'ers, as I do riders from other disciplines, but aside from these lot and a few others, there are no riders I even remotely have a disdain for. Usually I've found there's a mutual respect among riders because we're all doing what we love doing, it seems some are deadset on being utter *******s, however.

[DH-Biker]

On a lighter note, a friend of mine,Terry, tests cycling computers. Not just for physical attributes during riding but also for maintanence laterly too.

One thing he got his hands on to test was a computer-controlled wheel truing system which is awesome! Its dead expensive for what you can do yourself, but watching it work is really cool. It starts off by spinning the wheel at like six hundred RPM and then sets two lastrs along its rim, the computer screen you've attached it to runs the program and a digital image of the rim is set up and it highlights the damaged rims before the remote nipple-adjustment pins start setting it in exactly the right place for a perfectly trued rim, it then taps all the spokes to make sure they're structually integral. Its very similar if not identical to the models all the major bike companies use to create their wheels, so factories like Scott, Spec, Trek etc all use them. I'll get its name tomorrow but it comes in at like £650 for what could be done by hand, but again watching it work is awesome.

[Roobsa]

(Original post by levantine)
How do you guys stop yourself sweating sooo much in this really warm weather. I cycle for about a mile and find that im absolutely steaming and severely dehydrated already! and find that im knackered when i go up a slight hill!

and advice

Water. Pour lots and lots of water over your head. It's a glorious feeling.

[dhr90]

(Original post by DH-Biker)
Had a moment of utter contempt for a set of riders this afternoon. For most of us we can get together on a Friday and today was exceptional weather so we all went out for a ride. We all met up at the base of the fell which has a large dirt 'square' as a car park and as we were chilling out down there for a while we had this van of XC'ers stop and set up too. Anyway, we were completely minding our own business and these two guys, out of no where, wandered over and no word of a lie said the following;

"Are you riding this fell too? On those bikes? You know that they wont take the run, right, its a really technical trail?"

We looked at each other, kind'a confused but replied, "Don't worry, these will handle it. The trail isn't that tough, the DH bit is, but the overall climb to it is easy."

To which the two men looked visably offended, coming back with, "We raced this trail last month, half of the guys didn't finish it."

I couldn't help myself at that point, my six year old cousin rode up this trail with me on an infant's bike. This time, though, the men looked like they were about to murder us, kept throwing out **** about how infantile and easy DH was, how it didn't deserve to be called a true sport, let alone a part of cycling. To which we pointed out that the birth of mountain biking was speed runs down California's fire roads, thus arguably DH is the birth of modern mountain biking. He said that it required no thinking, no strategy and no real skill...

It kind of bothers me when people claim DH to be so and it is certainly not the first time we've had it said to us.

If you saw a DH'er, do you consider them arrogant? I mean, I know a lot of arrogant DH'ers, as I do riders from other disciplines, but aside from these lot and a few others, there are no riders I even remotely have a disdain for. Usually I've found there's a mutual respect among riders because we're all doing what we love doing, it seems some are deadset on being utter *******s, however.

Just ignore them, then show them how your bikes can take it and be quicker than them. Should keep them quiet.

(Original post by DH-Biker)
On a lighter note, a friend of mine,Terry, tests cycling computers. Not just for physical attributes during riding but also for maintanence laterly too.

One thing he got his hands on to test was a computer-controlled wheel truing system which is awesome! Its dead expensive for what you can do yourself, but watching it work is really cool. It starts off by spinning the wheel at like six hundred RPM and then sets two lastrs along its rim, the computer screen you've attached it to runs the program and a digital image of the rim is set up and it highlights the damaged rims before the remote nipple-adjustment pins start setting it in exactly the right place for a perfectly trued rim, it then taps all the spokes to make sure they're structually integral. Its very similar if not identical to the models all the major bike companies use to create their wheels, so factories like Scott, Spec, Trek etc all use them. I'll get its name tomorrow but it comes in at like £650 for what could be done by hand, but again watching it work is awesome.

Sounds interesting, maybe if I'm a millionaire I'll get one

[Irishguy2K10]

Cycling in Scotland next weekend

[dhr90]

A non cycling womans view of her cycling partner in a blog: http://blissdomestique.blogspot.co.uk/ This is well worth a read, pretty amusing.

[Irishguy2K10]

2nd in tonight's race

[lonelykatana]

(Original post by Irishguy2K10)
2nd in tonight's race

Nice one!

[Né Stig]

Even though I have just bought another vehicle, there is no substitute for cycling in glorious weather.

I am therefore hoping that the cleaning of my bottom bracket will pay dividends tomorrow when going up the naughtiest hills. The bloody creaking sound was doing my head in! Please please work...

[Roobsa]

(Original post by lonelykatana)
Nice one!

Jens Voigt quote in your sig?

This video is awesome for some motivation.

[Né Stig]

(Original post by dhr90)
A non cycling womans view of her cycling partner in a blog: http://blissdomestique.blogspot.co.uk/ This is well worth a read, pretty amusing.

I think every fanatical cyclist with a live in girlfriend or wife will have looked at the profile to ensure it wasn't theirs!

But loving the name: Rebecca Love Just Google it!

It does appear she knows a lot about bikes, so I am skeptical on whether this is a she and not a he, who is the 'cyclist' himself. In one section, she goes on about a headset and Nokon cables.

Not even my girlfriend could tell you what my wheels are let alone my groupset or at the other end my headset. She would think my headeset is a helmet!