your daily bicycle log

Hit a car at somewhere in the region of 20mph. My hip to its rear wheel arch. Luckily it was going very slowly; illegally parked car at a junction had caused it to pull out wide onto my side of the road.

I am battered and bruised but otherwise ok. Bike looks pretty ok too, but I've not ridden it since. Cube.

I am very, very lucky.

Holy crap! Gws!

48 hours later, and I've got some interesting purple going on around my hip, it hurts to laugh, my head hurts if inverted (obviously I don't invert my head that often), and I've got scabs on knee, elbow, and thumb, but other than that I am OK.

At work we have a regular Dr Bike session, where the uni pays a local bike shop to come and give bikes a 15-minute safety service, and that's, by chance, on today; it's also the bike shop I got the CDF from and who serviced the Cube last, so they know me well. Wheeled the Cube in today and got them to check it; there's a slight wound to the rear tyre from the skid, and the front wheel is every so minutely buckled (but still safe, and he reckon he can true it even more at the proper workshop), and other than that it's in perfect nick; scuffed bartape is the only evidence that I was in a crash at all.

Strava suggests I was doing 30mph+ only seconds before impact.

My wife is having a baby.

I am insanely fucking lucky.

stay well nick and plz leave those poor car drivers alone

Just looked at Strava in detail and I peaked at 39.6mph just seconds before impact, and had slowed to 20-28 as far as I can tell.

Fucking hellfire.

Nothing like a narrow escape. I thought I was being sufficiently paranoid, but I did a motorcycle safety course recently and there are plenty of risks I hadn't thought of (what if the sun is behind you and the driver can't see you?)

That's scary, Nick. I'm on holiday in Brittany & have managed to take my heavy commuting bike with me & squeezed in some brief (about 10 miles) rides. No helmet, no cycling shoes, no spare tube / tyre levers / pump, virtually no traffic. It's pretty much ideal, but obviously if I get a puncture (or worse) my lack of equipment will bite me on the arse.

Strava's being a bit shit this week, it takes hours to process uploaded rides

Did about 7 hours driving yesterday for a 50-mile ride up in the Peak District. Some serious climbing. Winnats Pass is savage.

savage, you say? we need a uk savageman triathlon then

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcqIgCJNjto

^that's insane

I'm supposed to be doing the 'Ride London' event on Sunday. 100 miles on the route of the Pro Race which takes place in the afternoon (plus I've got to ride to the start at the crack of dawn and ride home from central London afterwards). However, this is putting me off a bit: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/07/uk-severe-weather-warning-hurricane-bertha-flooding

Oh my God. Unbelievable rain. Lucky for the pros that it had eased off by the time they raced.

I cycled into town at about eight this morning to go for a swim in the serpentine and was v grateful for the London ride for closing the usually lethal vauxhall bridge and road.

got pissed on on the way back, mind. good stuff NBS!

Got my first KoM on Strava today. It's a segment that I was astonished to find only one other person had done, so a bit of a hollow victory.

Not sure where to post this, but here seems like as good a place as any. Rob, keen cyclist and good friend, has started a cycling blog about riding in Devon, and I'm gonna be posting there too.

http://theprimaryposition.com/2014/08/25/hi-my-names-nick-and-im-a-devon-cyclist/

gran fondo up on sunday. I've barely trained for it, again! like beyond commuteringering, no long rides for ages.

maybe see you there, which group are you riding in?

finally got my drive train sorted, changing the minimum number of components, teeth shouldn't be bent blackened and rounded

is this still on the BMC? shocker. I had bent teeth on the old commuter once, that was some truvativ nonsense.

I will be departing in the 20-25km/h group - should be ok to keep up with that, I reckon. actually going down tonight on the bus (lol) and planning on getting a ride in tomorrow: apollo bay - skene's creek climb from the GF - west through the otways, back around to apollo bay again. then chillax on the beach on saturday if weather's nice.

Still on the BMC, I'm too unemployed to replace drive train bits at sensible intervals

I'm in the 25-30kmh group which may end up being a little ambitious, although I surprised myself in around the bay.

bigger and more disciplined groups than around the bay too. if you can get in one that works you'll be flying.

I've got new drivetrain (compact!), new bartape, all nice and clean. feels like new bike again. considering it's had not much love since I got it, was about due.

did shorter ride yesterday up superb mostly unpaved road to near the rainforest, then down the skenes creek road late in the afternoon. went for the big loop mentioned above this morning, a total delight - saw two cars in 50km, beautiful deserted twisting roads through the rainforest.

one section about 80km in was one of those morale-sapping steady drags up a 10℅ gradient for a couple of ks, pretty happy there's nothing like that tomorrow!

Did the Amy's Gran Fondo today. I met haitch waiting for the Apollo bay transfer bus and chatted all the way to Lorne but lost him when he went for his number.

When I signed up for the ride I had a goal of doing it in under four hours, didn't think I'd trained enough but I managed to complete it in 3:51:12. Drilling it along the coast in the sunshine was just the best, even shedding my chain couldn't spoil the fun.

It's a really well organised ride, really beautiful scenery and the weather today was just perfect. Only complaint is about 40km of fast riding in the latter half of the ride is really rough tarmac and it really makes me want a domane or a roubaix, I was really feeling it in my lower back.

Been having fun on tubeless cx, raced my first race of year at 35/33 psi. Couldn't understand why it felt so squirmy and shifty- that's not v. Low pressure. I burp flatted the rear, thEn later crashed when the front basically rolled over (no burp tho). So I got a new tire gauge- turns out I was racing at 22/20. Hfs. Feel pretty good I didn't die.

Got a new bike, smaller with more aggressive steering - which is fine ... but since my weight is further forward, and maybe for other geometry reasons, the rear wheel is more likely to slip out. I've had this happen a few times on flat, wet surfaces (that I'd gone over a million times with my old bike without those slips.)

I descend like a scared kitten right now. Not sure if I can gradually learn to shift my weight back on descents, if I'll just get over it eventually, or if this is going to be an issue.

when youre riding down a hill at 15 mph and the road is shiny wet but textured but still not quite shiny enough is it, and no spray is coming up and so now you know youre actually on a huuuge sheet of ice 20 microns thick covering the entire street going towards a red light at an intersection with people turning right and you have like 10 or 15 seconds to think about how youre gonna handle this without breaking bones again.

it's sad, he liked to ride bicycles

what'd you do btw

i was on my station mtb with my pannier and flat pedals, so i just stood gingerly, put my left foot out and down and gradually hit the rear brake about 20+ feet out (i slowed but the rear tire broke free within a couple yards) and just slid tripod style (two tires and a boot) all the way through the crosswalk and stopped about 2 or 3 feet into the shoulder of the cross street. the car fixing to turn right knew i was there, and just waited as i slid by on its right. i then swung the bike to the right and got up on the sidewalk, which is a de facto mup going into the light rail station. ~exciting~

is your new bike road or flat bar? i spent years riding too small mtb frames that put too much weight on my front wheel, handling was terrible. ugh and narrow bars. lol 90s.

road. yeah i'd say "terrible handling" is fair. and my seatpost is extended the length of the seat tube ... so ...

holy moley btw

hello ILTRMB

currently doing around 8 miles a day on a Trek 7.3 road bike

I am a total noob at "real" bike commuting, this is my first week of full time riding (last year it was like once every week or so)

is there a thread on this board for stupid questions? I don't have any yet, but I'm sure I will. Just dealing with the Schrader (?) valves is hard enough.

ayup noob questions

although apparently i post noob questions here too

http://www.grandmasmolasses.com/wp-content/themes/grandmas/images/jar.jpg

I've got an eight week old baby, dunno wtf your excuses are.

barring a couple of trainer sessions, i've not really ridden since state champs cx. that's over a month, it is weird and my clothes don't really fit. didn't even need an excuse.

I've kind of disappeared into a netherworld. Massive work problems. Illness over Christmas. Repeated inclement weather at the weekends. And a temporary reversion to my previous existence as a matchgoing football supporter. I've scarcely ridden this year. I feel bad about it, but with ice/wind/snow/heavy rain forecast this weekend, it's not going to change any time soon.

I've got an eight week old baby, dunno wtf your excuses are.

my new story is that these sniffles are really keeping me from reaching my full potential

My new story is that I have great potential as a 200 pound tub of goo but that's still 28 lbs away so maybe I'll get riding again.

Being a new dad was like my fave thing ever and ages 1-3 are quick so my advice would be to forget bikes if necessary for however long the technology isn't going away.

Ok I think I'm coming across wrong but I hope everyone gets to where they wanna/need to be. *sips wine, eats chips ahoy cookie*

I was at the velodrome (the one used in the Olympics) tonight for a training session (accredited riders only). For the warm up activity we formed two lines and at the end of each lap the front two would drive up to the top of the banking, let the bunch come past, and then drop down and slot onto the back. My pair got to front for the second time and as we finished our lap I was the man on the outside, so I was behind the guy on my left as we drove up to the top. You have push quite hard to get up there, but he suddenly eased off. With no brakes and quite a lot of momentum I rapidly realised I was going to hit him - I desperately tried to go outside him but I would have got squeezed right into the barrier. I hit him then went tumlbing headfirst down the steep banking right into the bunch taking out and injuring several other riders in the process. Ouch. My neck is sore and I'm bashed up all down my right hand side, but other than that I'm OK. Some of the others couldn't continue though. Not great, considering we were about ten minutes into a two-hour session.

sorry to hear that. track does seem cool but scary.

the new velodrome in boulder/erie is in the process of opening but i doubt i'll ever get to use it. i now have a track an hour south and an hour north, and little realistic chance to make either work.

Ouch.

^ quite

I was always taught to fall to the right (uptrack) if it ever comes to that. Shorter distance to fall and gravity is helping you slow down. That track looks plenty wide enough to ride four-abreast without anybody getting squeezed into the barrier. It sucks he squeezed you out like that. Sounds painful.

I had my first track workout in a year (since my heart attack) on monday and it was amazing to be back out there.

Oddly, all my injuries (bruises and 'road' rash) are on my right hand side, but I can't work out how I could have fallen that way

made plans to do a 60 mile ride to work this morning. miscalculated my wakeup time and had to rush to get to the start point. or would have, if i hadn't woken up to a flat tire. mood was dark as i changed the tire, knowing i'd miss the ride. then cursed myself for lackadaisical maintenance as i noticed how dirty my hands were getting doing the change.

then i rode out to the ocean where everything was gray and overcast - not much wind though - before climbing a hill in the middle of the city where i saw three people setting out a blanket to have a breakfast picnic. normally a spectacular view of san francisco but today they'll be staring at the fog and imagining.

so, good start to the day.