Official P&b Cycling Thread

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Anyone else daft enough to do Ride to the Sun last night/this morning? Fucking hell it was mental. The 9 mile stretch from Carlisle to Longtown was absolutely rammed with seething idiot drivers, deliberate closes passes and one near head on crash from some daft boot who tried to overtake on a blind corner. Once on the B Road things calmed down. The Met Office forecast failed to pick up two absolutely mental thunderstorms one of which materialised at the top of the Devil's Beeftub after Moffat, resulting in a total drenching, one poor woman having a dreadful crash and some worryingly close lightning strikes. We stopped after Tweedmuir at the "cyclo rave" as i was shivering so badly I could barely hold onto the bike, my pal was the same and could barely form a sentence. We were probably bordering on hypothermic. Dried out as best we could and just tried to hammer it to Edinburgh to warm up again (that took about 20 miles). Eventually arrived at Cramond about 90 mins before sunrise, demolished a bacon roll and left. I'd originally planned to cycle back to Forfar from Edinburgh as well, but the soaking and 20 miles of shivering trashed my energy and I couldn't be fucked with it. Just as well tbh. 

On the plus side at least we had a tailwind almost all the way 

[Gnash]

7 hours ago, Day of the Lords said:

Anyone else daft enough to do Ride to the Sun last night/this morning? Fucking hell it was mental. The 9 mile stretch from Carlisle to Longtown was absolutely rammed with seething idiot drivers, deliberate closes passes and one near head on crash from some daft boot who tried to overtake on a blind corner. Once on the B Road things calmed down. The Met Office forecast failed to pick up two absolutely mental thunderstorms one of which materialised at the top of the Devil's Beeftub after Moffat, resulting in a total drenching, one poor woman having a dreadful crash and some worryingly close lightning strikes. We stopped after Tweedmuir at the "cyclo rave" as i was shivering so badly I could barely hold onto the bike, my pal was the same and could barely form a sentence. We were probably bordering on hypothermic. Dried out as best we could and just tried to hammer it to Edinburgh to warm up again (that took about 20 miles). Eventually arrived at Cramond about 90 mins before sunrise, demolished a bacon roll and left. I'd originally planned to cycle back to Forfar from Edinburgh as well, but the soaking and 20 miles of shivering trashed my energy and I couldn't be fucked with it. Just as well tbh. 

On the plus side at least we had a tailwind almost all the way 

Heavy downpours, near misses with cars, lightning, hypothermia. Sounds amazing!

[Benjamin_Nevis]

5 hours ago, Gnash said:

Heavy downpours, near misses with cars, lightning, hypothermia. Sounds amazing!

Indeed. f**k knows how folk mentally get through 400Km plus Audaxes. Getting repeatedly soacked, sleeping in bus shelters and snacking on garage forecourts in desperation sounds absolutely shite. 

[The_Craig]

23 hours ago, Day of the Lords said:

Anyone else daft enough to do Ride to the Sun last night/this morning? Fucking hell it was mental. The 9 mile stretch from Carlisle to Longtown was absolutely rammed with seething idiot drivers, deliberate closes passes and one near head on crash from some daft boot who tried to overtake on a blind corner. Once on the B Road things calmed down. The Met Office forecast failed to pick up two absolutely mental thunderstorms one of which materialised at the top of the Devil's Beeftub after Moffat, resulting in a total drenching, one poor woman having a dreadful crash and some worryingly close lightning strikes. We stopped after Tweedmuir at the "cyclo rave" as i was shivering so badly I could barely hold onto the bike, my pal was the same and could barely form a sentence. We were probably bordering on hypothermic. Dried out as best we could and just tried to hammer it to Edinburgh to warm up again (that took about 20 miles). Eventually arrived at Cramond about 90 mins before sunrise, demolished a bacon roll and left. I'd originally planned to cycle back to Forfar from Edinburgh as well, but the soaking and 20 miles of shivering trashed my energy and I couldn't be fucked with it. Just as well tbh. 

On the plus side at least we had a tailwind almost all the way 

Aye, me! 

I was doing the ride solo but managed to tag along with a fella on the descent down to Tweedsmuir. At one point, I think I asked him not to leave me. Grim. Fucking grim. Although I seen a lassie getting huckled out of the pub and into a meat wagon in Penicuik then two lads scrapping in Edinburgh - that cheered me up somewhat. 

 

Although I did cycle back to Lanarkshire. 45km of abject misery. If I do it again, I'm getting picked up!

Edited June 27, 2022 by The_Craig

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Aye, me! 
I was doing the ride solo but managed to tag along with a fella on the descent down to Tweedsmuir. At one point, I think I asked him not to leave me. Grim. Fucking grim. Although I seen a lassie getting huckled out of the pub and into a meat wagon in Penicuik then two lads scrapping in Edinburgh - that cheered me up somewhat. 
 
Although I did cycle back to Lanarkshire. 45km of abject misery. If I do it again, I'm getting picked up!

Well done [emoji106]

I was fucked just cycling back up the hill from Cramond to Tesco. I'd probably just expended too much energy trying to recover from the Beef Tub descent trauma [emoji23]

The only minor criticism of the thing I'd have would be shifting the coffee urn to the Crook Inn from Moffat. A hot drink would have been a total lifesaver there.

[The_Craig]

1 hour ago, Day of the Lords said:

Well done

I was fucked just cycling back up the hill from Cramond to Tesco. I'd probably just expended too much energy trying to recover from the Beef Tub descent trauma

The only minor criticism of the thing I'd have would be shifting the coffee urn to the Crook Inn from Moffat. A hot drink would have been a total lifesaver there.

Aye, that hill was a bugger!

 

A warm drink would've been nice but it would've meant a longer stop and I just had to keep riding. I tried to take a video of the DJ and you can see the phone shaking I was shivering that much. I ate a banana, gubbed a gel and pedalled like f**k.

 

 

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Aye, that hill was a bugger!
 
A warm drink would've been nice but it would've meant a longer stop and I just had to keep riding. I tried to take a video of the DJ and you can see the phone shaking I was shivering that much. I ate a banana, gubbed a gel and pedalled like f**k.
 
 

Aye same here. We left the pub and tried to keep our group of 6 together for a while but after a couple of faff stops me and the other boy who was suffering badly decided to crack on and just basically horsed it to Edinburgh. I'll prob still do it again next year [emoji23]

[Gnash]

110 miles through North Wales today. Up the Great Orme at Llandudno - 23% max gradient after 60 miles is a bit nippy.

Survived a close call at a roundabout in St Asaph, where a driver completely ignored me and only a loud shout of 'woah!' alerted him to the cyclist he was about to kill.

As an aside, my minimum standard for a city is having an open cafe on a sunny summer afternoon.  St Asaph even failed on that measure.  To cap it off, the Co-op machine didn't accept my Scottish tenner. 

Shithole, don't go.

[Benjamin_Nevis]

110 miles through North Wales today. Up the Great Orme at Llandudno - 23% max gradient after 60 miles is a bit nippy.
Survived a close call at a roundabout in St Asaph, where a driver completely ignored me and only a loud shout of 'woah!' alerted him to the cyclist he was about to kill.
As an aside, my minimum standard for a city is having an open cafe on a sunny summer afternoon.  St Asaph even failed on that measure.  To cap it off, the Co-op machine didn't accept my Scottish tenner. 
Shithole, don't go.

That sounds worse than mine tbf [emoji23] BTW Longtown is full of seething thickos. Would not recommend cycling through it

[The_Craig]

10 hours ago, Day of the Lords said:

Aye same here. We left the pub and tried to keep our group of 6 together for a while but after a couple of faff stops me and the other boy who was suffering badly decided to crack on and just basically horsed it to Edinburgh. I'll prob still do it again next year

 

Saturday 24th of June 2023. Stick it in your calendar. 

Edited June 27, 2022 by The_Craig

[Archie McSquackle]

I did the shorter route on the Tour of the Borders yesterday in some pretty horrible wind and rain although it did dry up for the second half. It was my first of these closed road rides and thought it was very well run. I really enjoyed it and hope to do it again next year, hopefully with a better outcome on the Wall of Talla - that was horrific!

[Gnash]

Got the day off tomorrow.  Weather looks decent.  Roads likely to be quiet.

Just saying.

[Archie McSquackle]

Just don't tell British Cycling.

[Caledonian1]

Anyone else zwifting it this winter?

It usually takes me a few weeks to get back into the swing of things but actually beginning to enjoy it now and even looking forward to some of the races.  I decided to drop down to D catgory again - last winter I got a message stating I was too powerful for D so went up to Cat C.  Problem was that I had sufficient power but my weight meant that I was never winning races and if there was any hill I would often lose the peleton and never catch-up again. 

My FTP was last recorded at 255w and would probably be the same or around that again.  My weight is still 98kg so really need to address that more than anything (just scoffed a lovely piece of caramel shortcake from Aldi typing this though)

Would be interested to hear how others go about their zwift winter plans - I often just go on a course for say 30 mins and try and get a decent average wattage....even if I conciously try and keep my effort low i still end up going for a KOM on a sprint...canna help myself.

 

[Gnash]

1 hour ago, Caledonian1 said:

Anyone else zwifting it this winter?

It usually takes me a few weeks to get back into the swing of things but actually beginning to enjoy it now and even looking forward to some of the races.  I decided to drop down to D catgory again - last winter I got a message stating I was too powerful for D so went up to Cat C.  Problem was that I had sufficient power but my weight meant that I was never winning races and if there was any hill I would often lose the peleton and never catch-up again. 

My FTP was last recorded at 255w and would probably be the same or around that again.  My weight is still 98kg so really need to address that more than anything (just scoffed a lovely piece of caramel shortcake from Aldi typing this though)

Would be interested to hear how others go about their zwift winter plans - I often just go on a course for say 30 mins and try and get a decent average wattage....even if I conciously try and keep my effort low i still end up going for a KOM on a sprint...canna help myself.

 

I love it for winter riding and race 2-3 times a week. I'm also doing the Zwift racing league at the moment, which anyone in any cat can join if they're in a team.

On the point about not winning races - afraid that's how it works for most riders! I'm comfortably in cat A and have only ever won 2 races... One I was the only cat A rider and the other was not cat enforced so I sandbagged in cat B.  

My aim is basically to do as well as I can and in cat A I'm doing well to beat half the field.  

As much as I enjoy racing, just riding around aimlessly really bores me. But I know some people just like to watch the 'scenery'.  Each to their own.

[Caledonian1]

6 hours ago, Gnash said:

I love it for winter riding and race 2-3 times a week. I'm also doing the Zwift racing league at the moment, which anyone in any cat can join if they're in a team.

On the point about not winning races - afraid that's how it works for most riders! I'm comfortably in cat A and have only ever won 2 races... One I was the only cat A rider and the other was not cat enforced so I sandbagged in cat B.  

My aim is basically to do as well as I can and in cat A I'm doing well to beat half the field.  

As much as I enjoy racing, just riding around aimlessly really bores me. But I know some people just like to watch the 'scenery'.  Each to their own.

I do agree with you about the point of races.  i always just try my best and delighted to get a really good workout -  feel so much better afterwards and energised.

I used to enjoy really long rides and did several sportifs and AUDAX but now feel its a case of been there and done that and most of my "cycling" is now on my wattbike in the winter. 45 minutes is my limit though.

Category A is very impressive.

[juansebastianvernon]

Any of you tried the Tour de Zwift routes? Stage 3 was a killer 

[Gnash]

8 hours ago, juansebastianvernon said:

Any of you tried the Tour de Zwift routes? Stage 3 was a killer 

I've been doing them.

Do you mean the long stage 3 route, ie half Ventoux?  That's one I've missed as I've been busy this week.  Assuming they do the catch up at the end of the series I'll do it then.

[juansebastianvernon]

Yeah the long stage. Think there is a couple of days catch up at the end.

[Archie McSquackle]

I'm looking for some general advice on turbo trainers as I've been meaning to get one for a while now and I intend to signup for Zwift. My fitness drops off over the winter and I end up having to start from scratch again every Spring. I've got a bit of money set aside from various birthdays and Christmas so am looking in the £300-£500 range (roughly, certainly not in the £1k+ range I've seen some of them at).

Am I better with wheel on or wheel off trainers? I plan to use my old Decathlon Triban 300 with an eight ring cassette and won't need to be taking it off regularly as I now use a new bike for my rides.  I've seen adverts for the Zwift trainer - is that good value?