I want to buy a road bike

[Incandenza]

I want to buy a road bike

San Bernardhinault wrote: I tried them once and, well, was underwhelmed. Clif Shot Blocks (and the Gu equivalents) are good, though. Not murderously sweet like the gels. (I may have mentioned this before - they're also excellent when you have food poisoning and can't digest food but need calories).

I was being a little sarcastic--the rebranding of jelly beans as an sports diet supplement is pretty amusing. The same goes for chocolate milk.

[Toro Toro]

I want to buy a road bike

Chocolate milk has actually been shown to work as well as most specialised recovery drinks!

I use the Wellman sports jobbies, at least in high season; they're a lot more expensive than standard vitamins to take all year around. They seem fine, though I'm not 100% convinced they do much that any other supplement won't.

[meregreen]

I want to buy a road bike

Interesting thoughts on fuelling during and after longer rides. A couple of weeks ago I completed the London Ride 100 and consumed enough sweet stuff to last me a lifetime.

Pre-leaving home I ate a bowl of porridge. While waiting to start I ate a banana. Thereafter I made my way through 2 bananas, 5 Zipvit energy bars, three flapjacks, 2 gels and 1 fig cake. Highlight of the ride food wise was when we had a lengthy wait at the foot of the first proper climb and my mate produced a bag of salted peanuts which we shared. It was the only non-sweet thing I ate all day. It was a hot day and I managed to get through at least 5 bottles of electrolyte drinks.

Anyway, here are my thoughts about the ride for any novices considering doing the same in future. Overall, it was a brilliant occasion. Cycling through the deserted, silent streets of London early in the morning was a surreal and memorable experience. The camaraderie on the road and the pleasure of cycling through the gently undulating Surrey countryside on a lovely sunny day made all the training worthwhile. The last hour, though, was a real struggle.

I'd set a target of 7 hours, but went off too quickly and reached the halfway point in 2 and half hours. Shortly after this we had a lengthy wait at the foot of Leith Hill, the biggest climb on the ride, while an air ambulance ferried away one of the cyclists.

I'm not sure if it was the delay causing me to stiffen up, but it was at this point that I started to feel a niggling knee pain. I'd noticed this on previous outings, but as we got towards the end of the ride it becomes increasingly painful. Someone had suggested I have a proper bike fitting - as that might explain the knee problem - but pre-ride I'd forked out over 200 quid on making sure the bike was in tip top shape, and I couldn't reality justify spending another £150 on the fitting. With hindsight, this was probably a mistake. Be interested to hear whether more experienced riders think it's worthwhile.

Other false economies included shorts and gloves. I should have bought more expensive, better padded shorts. This was a huge mistake. The last 20 miles my buttocks ached so much I did whatever I could to avoid sitting on the saddle. This I expected, but the pain in my hands was a surprise. By the end of the ride, every bump on the road was causing me pain in my left hand. Extra padding/gel on the gloves would have helped. I completed 100 miles in 6 hours 12 minutes, but the accumulated aches and pains meant the final hour was a real grind.

Other advice to newbies would be to be careful. There were a number of casualties littering the roads, many of whom needed medical treatment, some of whom looked in quite a bad way. Obviously, on a ride of this scale there was a huge range of abilities and experience. If I had one criticism it would be of the small groups of club riders - identifiable by their matching outfits - who rode at a speed that left little margin for error and who wrongly assumed that everyone would be familiar with road cycling etiquette.

One other tip: find someone to train with. It's hard to motivate yourself to get up at 6 in the morning when it's pissing it down outside. Me and a friend started as novices and went through the process together. I'm not sure either of us would have managed it on our own.

Non scientific anecdotal edit: after every training ride I downed about half a pint of chocolate milk. I never ached at all the next day. After doing the 100, I left it too late to rehydrate properly so drank loads of water and headed to the pub for several pints. I ached loads the next day.

[Toro Toro]

I want to buy a road bike

Awesome, well done!

I've heard really good things about that ride, will have to try in the lottery next year.

I had a load of trouble with my knee this year. Can you describe the pain a bit more? What you say is consistent with both a fitting issue and an overuse issue; if it started as you ramped up both volume and intensity in training (which is what happened to me) it may be a muscular imbalance thing, which is fairly straightforward to rectify. Worth remembering; just because it only starts hurting after 30 miles (or whatever), doesn't mean it's not doing damage before that, or on shorter rides. Because how would that work?

I've never had a proper fitting, just an informal one when I've bought a bike. And I tweak the position myself from time to time, though error may obvs creep in. Some people swear by them, some think them a waste of money; I'd guess a lot depends on the fitter, so make sure if you're using one to use one who you've had recommended.

Shorts; yes. Yes, yes, Jesus, yes. It's not something you'll really notice on a short ride, but on one much over a few hours a good pad is absolutely essential. I mean, a really long ride, your arse will hurt one way or another. Particularly if you're not used to it. But it hurts far, far less with good shorts.

People's mileage seems to vary wrt gloves. I pretty much always wear them, myself.

And yeah; big numbers, with varying levels of ability and experience - particularly of group-riding - are a recipe for accidents. They do usually ease off as the field spreads out, and a lot of rides will send the quicker riders off first precisely to avoid bottlenecking. That's one advantage of riding with other peopel, actually; you get used to cycling within touching distance of somebody, or six inches off their rear wheel.

[San Bernardhinault]

I want to buy a road bike

Well done indeed. A century is a serious endeavour.

A few related thoughts

- the only day I ever cycled on London's streets, deserted, was the Diana Funeral Day. It was utterly brilliant to have the city basically to myself, with no fear from buses or taxis or other maniacs.

- my knee sometimes hurts like fuck on climbs on long rides. But, as with most things cycling related, if I'm fitter and stronger it hurts less. Which leads me to believe it's a matter of form and the strength of the muscles. I know that when the muscles around the kneecap fatigue or weaken, they don't hold it in place so well, thus allowing nasty pains to develop. I have assumed (entirely unscientifically) that this is what happens to me.

- Hands can get really painful. All I know is that I sometimes need to shake them out if they're getting tingly. One thing I've discovered, with gloves as well as shorts, is that the amount of padding isn't really the issue. You can have a ton of padding and it can be useless; or you can have padding that suits you and it feels just right. And it's not just a cost thing - some expensive gear makes my arse and hands hurt like hell quickly, and some moderately priced gear works really well for me. So I think it ends up being a matter of personal taste and experience.

- And yes, riding on big rides there are always complete plonkers - either novices who think they can ride like the fast guys, so stick themselves "on someone's wheel". Except they don't realise they're overlapping wheels and have poor control and take themselves and the rider in front down. There are also loads of people who can't hold water bottles, for some reason. The early on the road can be littered with bidons that take a lot of negotiating.

And, of course, there are the macho wankers who start late but feel the need to hammer all the way in their teams, barging through crowds of slower, weaker riders, creating their own breed of havoc.

Generally, because of this, I tend to go off slow and cautiously, and only after 5 or so miles (or once its thinned out a bit) do I begin to accelerate to the right speed for a 100 miler.

The worst I've had of it was on the Tour de Palm Springs, which is a lovely ride in the desert, but there are 8000 riders; the start is out into the Banner Pass, which has a massive side-wind coming from the ocean that powers a huge wind-farm; and many of the serious team riders coming out from LA arrive late to the start and charge along the opening section. And the road surface is a bit mucked up by the desert weather. The end result is that you see lots and lots of relative novices on the ground. (Often people freaked out by the wind and not used to clippy pedals, trying to unclip and falling off).

[Incandenza]

I want to buy a road bike

A good friend of mine did the Tour of Palm Springs this year. He was not prepared for the long ride in that heat.

[Mumpo]

I want to buy a road bike

I travelled through London (Victoria to Euston) en route from Brighton on the evening of the London 100 and there were dozens of immaculately-clad cyclists attempting to navigate their cycles through the crowds. Up here in the wilds of the Cumbria borders cyclists tend to dress a little less ostentatiously. None of your fancy Southern peacocks.

Padding tip: I usually wear my detachable, padded MTB shorts liner under my cycling shorts for a reassuring layer of extra comfort.

[meregreen]

I want to buy a road bike

I'll definitely be shopping for new shorts and gloves.

As for the knee, the pain occurs at at the back of the left knee on the outside. It's persistent, but tolerable on short to medium rides. The first 50 of the 100 I didn't even notice it.

Googling suggests it could be because I've got the cleats set up incorrectly, but that is one of a number of possible explanations. Another could be that it is simply a legacy of playing too much football on unforgiving astroturf surfaces. Alternatively, perhaps I just need to strengthen the muscles around the knee by getting more miles in. I think a visit to a sports physio might be in order.

After finishing I said I'd never do 100 miles again, but two weeks on, I've already decided to put myself into the ballot for next year and started to look at alternative rides of similar duration.

[MsD]

I want to buy a road bike

Have you discovered the delights of the foam roller yet?

My personal trainer makes me use one, and a lacrosse ball, on my painful bits. It's excruciating but seems to work.

I have both bits of kit at home but whimper when I even see them. Definitely did help with certain problems, though.

In case you think I'm talking rubbish:

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowledge/article/izn20140807-Physiotherapy-Foam-Roller-Routine-0

(It sounds like an tight IT band problem, if it was there all the time it might be something more serious.)

[Toro Toro]

I want to buy a road bike

meregreen wrote: .

As for the knee, the pain occurs at at the back of the left knee on the outside. It's persistent, but tolerable on short to medium rides. The first 50 of the 100 I didn't even notice it.

Googling suggests it could be because I've got the cleats set up incorrectly, but that is one of a number of possible explanations. Another could be that it is simply a legacy of playing too much football on unforgiving astroturf surfaces. Alternatively, perhaps I just need to strengthen the muscles around the knee by getting more miles in. I think a visit to a sports physio might be in order.

After finishing I said I'd never do 100 miles again, but two weeks on, I've already decided to put myself into the ballot for next year and started to look at alternative rides of similar duration.

Yeah, that definitely sounds like a fit issue. Overuse/muscular imbalance will tend to manifest at the front, 'cause it results from the kneecap being pulled out of track. That's the one that strengthening & rebalancing the muscles will sort out; they won't really help a fit problem at all.

100 miles is actually a really nice distance for a sportive, actually. Apart from the nice round number, it's a serious achievement to work to for someone who's not done a great lot before, while for experienced/ambitious riders being a very tough day out without being so tough that it blows up a training plan. So you get a really good mix, and meaningful comparison with the elite guys. Too easy and they won't bother with it, too difficult and you'll barely be hanging on and surviving...

[Kevin S]

I want to buy a road bike

Had my first ever ride on a road bike on Sunday, round my brother's block on his new Marin. Did it with trainers on, so I can only echo Mumpo from page 2:

Mumpo wrote: They're devilishly tricky things to ride, these road bikes, aren't they. Dare say I'll have it tamed before too long, but it was bucking and frolicking all over the tarmac this evening. It didn't help that I was riding on clip pedals with regular trainers, I suppose.

"Skittish" was the word that came to mind, but after the initial realisation of that, certainly good fun too. It might have been because it was set up for my brother, but I found the most comfortable position to be the drops rather than the hoods, which surprised me.

Anyway, if anyone else is dropping in and looking to get a first road bike, I'm going to suggest a good place to look at the moment is here, which is Wiggle's remaining 2015 stock of Felt bikes. Superb specifications at all the price points and, for my money, probably the most attractive paint jobs of the main manufacturers.

[Gawpus]

I want to buy a road bike

Some light bike maintenance today: new brake pads, tires and handlebar tape.

Having been out for a quick test, the latter of those has made the most noticeable difference. I'd forgotten how much more comfortable it was having some padding that wasn't practically worn down to the bars.

[San Bernardhinault]

I want to buy a road bike

I got my bike back from the bike-doctor yesterday and took it out for the first ride today. The difference is astonishing. I hadn't realised the state it had gotten into - they got into all the bearings and relubed all the crappy stuff, and changed the chain because it had about 6000 miles on it. But most of all, the real derailleur hanger had apparently come loose and was just hanging off, so the gear changes were horrible.

It was like riding a new bike today. Even with temps that someone said were around 36 or 37C on the road this morning, and the fact that I'm lardy as shit and horribly out of shape right nowm, I was near my fastest pace for my normal ride north along the coast.

It turns out that maintaining your bike has value...

[Mumpo]

I want to buy a road bike

The days might still be sunny but it’s crystal fresh rather than sweltering, the last gasp of a thankfully protracted summer. I’m still out on the tarmac at every opportunity, but the long dark tea-time of the winter will soon put paid to that. My final target is the 100-mile Lancashire Loop in early October, then it’s a question of finding the odd weekend morning that’s dry and frost-free. Still, I haven’t had a bad first full summer of road biking – three full Sunday club rides, a tour of the Lakes (OK, a circuit of Windermere) and the 70-mile Trough of Bowland Terrier were the highlights, but the wonderful extended ride back from work every day along undulating countryside lanes has probably eaten up greater mileage, and more importantly made handling the bike second nature. Now I understand instinctively which gears I need, when to stand or sit, what cadence to hit and just how hard I can push myself. I can also roar up slopes that a year ago left me gasping. Thanks to advice on previous pages of this thread I’m also physically more comfortable on the bike – the saddle has gone up, my legs have adapted to the extra stretch and I can ride without excoriating my crotch. Oh, and due to the recent weeks of unseasonably late sunshine, I finally have something resembling colour on my legs. Nothing that constitutes a crisp tan line, but it does look like I’ve been standing for a few hours up to my lower thighs in a barrel of tea.

Thinking forward to next year already, and if I want to join a training group, or even race.

[Mumpo]

I want to buy a road bike

The dangerous flipside to all this is that I’ve now become properly addicted to long rides. Whereas at the start of the summer a ‘morning out’ meant ten or twenty miles, now it’s not worth getting changed unless I can do forty or fifty. I’ve already come a cropper a couple of times. The other week I did a Sunday club ride when I said I’d only be out for a couple of hours, and got home to find m’lovely wife had had to start putting up the garage guttering herself. Then last weekend I dropped my son off at his free-running club, hopped on the bike for a quick scoot around Wyresdale, went a little too far and got back to the carpark ten minutes after everyone else had gone home. Oops.

[San Bernardhinault]

I want to buy a road bike

I symapthise, Mumpo.

On today's ride, about 12 miles in, a spoke in my rear wheel snapped, causing the wheel to begin to wobble quite dramatically. I could have ridden on, but didn't want to completely ruin to wheel so called for the Wife-SAGwagon to pick me up. But 10 miles is nothing. It definitely wasn't a "real ride". I was just gently warming up.

Now the bike is back at the doctors, but I have a nagging suspicion that when I took it in 2 weeks ago they may have been a little too vigorous getting the wheel true and might have over (or under) tightened a spoke to get it straight. Because the wheel had been fine for 18 months until the shop played with it.

[Mumpo]

I want to buy a road bike

Bah. They cancelled the 100-mile ride a week next Sunday because there wasn't much uptake. Fairweather lightweights!

I told the organisers I might just do the 50-mile route twice over.

[Mumpo]

I want to buy a road bike

Quick question for you guys - does this look like a 2010 Cube Agree?



It looks a bit more up to date than that.

[Kevin S]

I want to buy a road bike

The little silver section on the front of the shifters, where they put the group set name, is from the last few years, isn't it?

[Kevin S]

I want to buy a road bike

'12?
http://road-bikes.gearsuite.com/l/1101/2012-Cube-Agree-GTC-Compact

[Mumpo]

I want to buy a road bike

Cheers, Kevchenko.

[Kevin S]

I want to buy a road bike

On closer inspection, actually 2010 looks right:
http://ridewithgps.com/photos/5308

Soz!

[Mumpo]

I want to buy a road bike

No worries. Would I be missing anything, any crucial development or feature, by getting the 2010 vintage rather then a newer one?

[Toro Toro]

I want to buy a road bike

Probably not; with a few exceptions, improvements tend to be pretty incremental and the result of refinements of tech trickling down from the pro ranks. A newer one will be a little better, but nothing earth shattering. The year-on-year improvement is almost never enough to justify the premium.

[VTTBoscombe]

I want to buy a road bike

Negotiations at home, to do l'Etape 2016; aren't going well, especially as I have already put my name down for L'Ardechoise in June.

I might have to pull the pity card out (getting older, legs failing, last chance etc, etc)

NB, Did 210km in Switzerland last week, (just south of Basle to Lac Leman) - hmm, swiss bike signposts , everywhere until you need them, it was supposed to be 180km.
Plus , in autumn, lovely sun in Strasbourg, autumnal colours everywhere, and I got low cloud all the way.
At least it wasn't too hilly.