your daily bicycle log

10000*

Just disgusting. So insanely jealous.

Did the 250km around the bay ride today. 12km seems to be missing which I can only assume was the boat trip. Very fast ride a lot of good pacelines. The first and second 100km were, respectively, the 1st and 2nd fastest I've ever done. the 1st was under 3 hrs although mainly flat, wind behind and not having to take too pulls. Second hundred was more impressive as it was more rolling and I was more isolated, couldn't keep with the fast guys on the lumps.

Although it had an enforced 45minute rest on the ferry across the heads, the moving average was over 30km/h which was better than I hoped.

http://www.strava.com/activities/90146330

imagining your group riding in circles on the deck for exactly 12k while the boat travels 12k to port.

Outrageous effort, Ed, well done.

I did 30 miles in awful rain. Slowly.

I've done no cycling all weekend cos the rain is hellacious and I have no rain jacket, no booties, and I'm not flandrien

also yeah kudos on the 250k ride, awesome effort

Another 7 miles this afternoon, buggering around doing residential hill climbs round student town in jeans while Emma went running.

11 miles on Saturday up the long hill to Montrose. Discovering that my riding routine consists mainly of "hey look, yet another new cycling GPS/infographic app... let's go generate some GPX files!" *rides ten miles*

I'm on Strava now: http://www.strava.com/athletes/3238718

http://app.strava.com/clubs/fatmantii

Was "busted" by the filth not wearing a helmet while ago and though I escaped a fine by pretending I was a tourist it has made me not want to cycle.

guessing your username is a lie or the cops were arseholes above and beyond the call of duty since it's not a legal requirement over here.

I now live in vancouver, canada.they basically treated me like a criminal tho calmed when I told them i was here on vacation (which im not).

Yeah I think helmet laws are pretty stupid, even though I'd almost never ride without one.

I am 29 and have never wore one. I now have neither the cash for the helmet nor the fine.

Casually set a KOM in a pair of jeans on Sunday afternoon. BUT I had to set the section and only 11 other people have ever done it. Saying that, I'm 5+mph faster than anyone else.

Cos they're all students riding up a hill to campus.

Deliberately sprinted up another student-house-friendly residential street tonight (at 19.9mph) and then set it as a Strava segment so I'd be KOM. Is this bad?

Hope it's fine since I don't see myself getting KOMs any other way.

I went for an early morning group ride yesterday through a dense fog bank. Pretty cool with bike lights glowing, foghorns on the bridge.

49 miles this morning. Getting it in before the hurricane hits.

yeah not sure if we're getting the full ~hurricane~ but still got 45 miles in this morning just in case

I think of myself as being an ok group rider but I nearly caused a 10-bike pileup. I was at the front on a narrow bridge, someone coming the other way decided to pass without having enough time - was like a game of chicken but I had nowhere to go. Had to apply moderate pressure to the brakes at the last second (there was some anger and yelling behind me at this point) dude barely ducked out of the way. Shoulda braked earlier with more warning to the group behind me. Scary.

(Also, maybe big groups shouldn't do 20-22mph on the bridge ... )

I am going abt 7-12 miles a day (2.5 to bus to work in the morning and either 4.5 straight home after or 6.5 to downtown to do stuff/hang out and then 3.5 when I finally head back to my apt). When and how do I get sexy biker calves and butt?

Also guys it feels so good to be biking 7-12 miles 5 days a week

that's awesome, and sexy biker calves and butt are a state of mind, so rock them whenever.

rolled up easy on a strong looking youngster (to me that's under 35) who allowed me to pull at a consistent pace for a minute or two, and who then came by me medium hard standing, with clear gapping intention. i rolled back to him no problem and decided that i would stand and not stop pounding on him until he quit or blew up. 1:30 later he did quit, but lordy, i'm way to old for that shit. hardest effort of the year, i had to cut the ride short when i couldn't get comfortable after 10 minutes of recovery riding.

o/ \o

floated at the front of small group i led round my fave loop on sunday - in contrast to same road with ed a fortnight ago, where i was chewing stem to stay on his wheel (and failing at a couple of points, let's be honest).

how do I shot HRM

I've just started using one but not sure what to do w/the info

can I use it to go faster y/n

Y

basically you'll want to learn what your training zones are, and then find a training plan to get faster at particular durations or intensities, depending on your objectives.

for general fitness, hrm is sometimes useful to figure out when you are under-rested, or to keep you from coasting when you should be working a little harder.

My club's annual hill climb championship this morning. I managed to beat my PB by two seconds, though I was aided by a savage tailwind. The four previous seasons I've done it I've come second out of the riders from my club (and won a lovely shiny medal as a result), but this year we've suddenly got loads of good new riders so I dropped to fourth. An excellent photo of me grimacing as I sprinted for the line:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/harrysewell/10653226876/sizes/l/in/set-72157637274054075/

good work!

man, today was a crisp 70 degrees with a light breeze, i hit a local singletrack circuit that is just like a bike roller coaster. i did the first lap with my kids, it's perfect for them, yet still super fun for me on my cx bike, just pouring downhill through the scruboak with a view of the mountains behind it. then i did a second extended loop solo, and rode home the long way. euphoric.

normal ride to work that i do 1-2x a week, 40 miles, flat.

headwinds today that i don't know if i can describe as brutal, exactly, but i do know that i was panting and waiting for my heart rate to go down at every stop light. wasn't all the wind, for whatever reason i was just not feeling it at all. under-rested? (doubt it) mental weakness that needs to be scourged via hill repeats? (probably)

settled for what felt like a significantly lower pace, ended up being 16.6mph avg vs 18.3 from monday and i had plenty of time.

Did what I think was my first strava HC climb on Saturday. TBF it wasn't too hard, it pitches up to 14% near the bottom but averages only 4.5% for the total and is pretty gentle near the top, still 932m between the bottom and the top. I was part of a local series of group rides to do 7 climbs up to seven ski stations round here. Pretty fun all round.

http://www.strava.com/segments/6032081

Quick 30 on the Cube this afternoon as the roads were dry. Needed my lights properly for the first time too.

i've been told that mavic open pros are bad for cx tubeless, but i got some gorilla tape and stans cx rim strips and gave it a go on an antique 12 yr old rear wheel. i put a new vittoria xg (not tnt) and an old rear wheel with 30gm of stans, and blammo, tubeless. the tubeless conversion went great, i used 27 psi and did about 20 remounts, and spent over an hour on extremely tight smooth-medium rough singletrack. i had at least 5 rear wheel drifts and i had 2 hard bottom-outs. the way i bounced the rim, there's no way that i wouldn't have pinch flatted on a tube. i thought i might have burped one other time, but i did a quick inspection, no goop, no perceptible loss of pressure- i think i just folded the casing over.

the joke is that i found out why that rear wheel was on my shit pile- it needs to be rebuilt, there's like no tension on it. i can feel the whole wheel squirm due to lack of tension. :(

i went mtb-ing today for the first time in ages and got to spend like 10mins on my buddy's fatback (w/suspension fork no less) and i'm beginning to get why fatties are kinda awesome as plain old trail bikes.

correction ftr i was at 37psi, not 27psi, or else i'da been bouncing that rim ALOT.

tf is going on in london this month

6 deaths in two weeks : /

all due to buses/lorries, I think

Clocks just changed didn't they, not that that excuses anything.

Went out for a quick spin after work and got a puncture 9 miles in, while on a cycle path that runs alongside a dual carriageway. It was dark, it was 3 degrees centigrade, I phoned my brother and got a lift home.

was going to join local group ride on saturday morning but slept in due to having the gang over. rolled out of bed anyway and went for spin solo. get to bottom of first big hill and who should roll by but the local group ride. score

introduced myself and tacked onto the back. you go so much faster, who knew

Couldn't sleep last night but still got up before six for the group hill climb. 20 miler with a few distinct segments of hard effort with easier rolling (depending on the mood of the group) in between. And yeah I do go faster when I'm trying to impress people. The closest I ever get to intervals. Plus, the view!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7405/10949393826_e6a5349e5a.jpg

(that's from Sunday)

Have been getting bored of the flat unvarying 40 mile slog to work, was good to change things up.

Out tonight for midweek club run followed by pub visit. Bastard cold (-1c).

beautiful pic.

so, i got doored yesterday for the first time. not badly, the door bounced off my forearm, hip, then caught by pannier and rack. the bike stopped, i kept going and whacked my knee pretty hard and landed in the street, but nothing too bad. broke my rack and ripped a strap off my bag.

Shit, that sucks. How did the doorer react?

he was cool, it wasn't his fault imo, i was coming up the right side of the vehicle, relatively slowly. he was pretty pro actually, asking politely if i was ok and whether i had hit my head, was i SURE i hadn't hit my head, but didn't say much else. he stood with me for a good 4 or 5 mins, saying nothing else really.

the funniest thing in retro was the eddie murphy drunk guy getting sorta in my face while i was doubled, over i shit you not

OH DAMN, THAT DOOR IT GOT YOU! DAMN I SAW IT YOU DON'T LOOK WHERE YOU GOING YOU GONNA GET HIT BY THAT DOOR FOR SURE! DAMN THAT'S RIGHT, *whirling to passersby while the passenger and i try to ignore him* YOU SEE THAT DOOR GODDAMN I SAW THAT!!!111! etc. i just kind nodded to acknowledge his existence and said thanks, i was good.