• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Bicycle age

I'm actually back on the weights, so power should come fairly naturally (with a bit of weight). Though obviously that means being not quite so fast on hills, but I'll live with it.

Edit - Apparently 180, I didn't see it go that high. That's only one off my max in theory, though I suspect it could have gone higher today.
 

Nikodemos

Member
So any sprung compact folding bikes apart from Birdy? I have a Strida and it's quite unpleasant on the pockmarked crap they call pavement here.
 
For road riding it's just needing a mixture of road & dirt, which we don't have a lot of. You can duck off in a few spots and have some fun, but not like you can put together a 15 mile loop of all dirt.

Mountain there's two trail systems within 20 minutes, but after that the closest is 45-60 away.
 

Mascot

Member
It feels like it to me right. Feeling burnt out as all hell from the routine of routes I have. Not a lot of variance within my area so I end up in the same patterns over and over.

I do my local woods 90% of the time, and tend to follow the same route. There's plenty of other trails that are rideable from home but I know I can door-to-door my go-to zone in less than 2.5 hours so it lets me plan it around other things. I do like heading off in a vehicle and exploring new routes but usually only with other riders, and only if there is more time available. I generally don't like spending more time in the vehicle that actually pedalling the bike though.
 

Addnan

Member
Damn. This ebike looks amazing. At what age do I switch... Hopefully another 40 years left in my legs, but I like that they look incredible already.

Focus-Project-Y_carbon-dropbar-e-bike-concept_prototype-all-road-gravel-cyclocross-adventure-bike_road-complete.jpg
 

Spanglo

Neo Member
Damn. This ebike looks amazing. At what age do I switch... Hopefully another 40 years left in my legs, but I like that they look incredible already.


No need to wait for the legs to get old... ebikes are great for training. You can dial in the amount of assist, as little or much as you want. They really shine for interval training, because you can peddle until complete failure, and not have to worry about conserving energy for the ride home. That allows for significantly longer and higher intensity intervals.

I was using my ebikes for my 19 mile commute to work, 900ft of elevation, 50 min moving time. I would push it hard on the way to work and home. It didn't take long before I started noticing massive improvements my road bike.

Ebikes are considerably heavy due to the motor and batteries, and that extra heft will make your road bike feel that much lighter and quicker.

Plus, it's just plain exhilarating to ride ebikes because you can cruise at such a fast pace, and that makes training even more fun.
 
I don't know if anyone here remembers me, I asked on this thread if it's possible to learn how to bike as an adult.

Turns out, you really can. Yesterday, I was accompanied by a few friends with a mission to teach me how to bike. Within 2 hours, I was biking. It was such an awesome feeling.

At one point I thought I'd never learn, then I kept at it, then I don't know what happened, I suddenly was able to balance and then pedal on the bike. Then I was moving away and away from my friends who were sitting beside the pavement, then I lost sight of them and they lost sight of me, and when I came back from the other side of the road, I was grinning widely and they were smiling too since I finally learned how to bike.

Still, I'm rough at it, can't seem to pedal up inclines yet, also can't reliable give that first kick on the pedal. Also no one bothered to teach me how to turn so I just go on wide arcs. Baby steps.

I am just happy I can bike now. Thanks to everyone who told me I can do it! :)

PS: I had a hard time pedaling at first and when I let a friend check the bike for me, the gear was on max so apparently that made the pedaling harder, heh.
 

frontieruk

Member
I don't know if anyone here remembers me, I asked on this thread if it's possible to learn how to bike as an adult.

Turns out, you really can. Yesterday, I was accompanied by a few friends with a mission to teach me how to bike. Within 2 hours, I was biking. It was such an awesome feeling.

At one point I thought I'd never learn, then I kept at it, then I don't know what happened, I suddenly was able to balance and then pedal on the bike. Then I was moving away and away from my friends who were sitting beside the pavement, then I lost sight of them and they lost sight of me, and when I came back from the other side of the road, I was grinning widely and they were smiling too since I finally learned how to bike.

Still, I'm rough at it, can't seem to pedal up inclines yet, also can't reliable give that first kick on the pedal. Also no one bothered to teach me how to turn so I just go on wide arcs. Baby steps.

I am just happy I can bike now. Thanks to everyone who told me I can do it! :)

PS: I had a hard time pedaling at first and when I let a friend check the bike for me, the gear was on max so apparently that made the pedaling harder, heh.

i remember you, congrats on joining the club, and everyone has a weakness cycling even if you've been doing it for years, it's a constant learning process more about what you are cabable of than the bike you are riding though :)


Edit...

In other news I grabbed a joint KOM on strava this morning, hopefully a slightly better day and a more concerted effort will give it to me alone :)
 
i remember you, congrats on joining the club, and everyone has a weakness cycling even if you've been doing it for years, it's a constant learning process more about what you are cabable of than the bike you are riding though :)
That's awesome, well done isaacnukem!

Thanks, you two :)

I miss biking even now and I'm really mulling buying a bike, but I guess I should practice a few more times. Every time I see a car even on the horizon I panic and I just make a beeline for the sidewalk, heh.
 
Well the place we went to is actually an offroad trail but we were the odd ones who biked at the pavement since I was just learning. But there was a path there unpaved which was downhill. I discovered it myself first, when I learned how to bike, and I fell off when I hit a ditch, heh. But I immediately called my friends and told them about the spot. Once I can reliably bike on pavement, I'll buy a helmet, a prerequisite for the offroad trail.
 

Teggy

Member
Paid $50 for the downtown Boston ride I did last year so I would force myself back on the bike. 2 weeks to get ready for a 40 mile ride, so not too bad, by my fitness level always drops off a cliff when I don't ride for a while. Got two 10 milers in this weekend and survived, so a good start. Looks like it's going to rain for the next 3-4 days, though, so I'll need to hop on the trainer.
 

ShapeGSX

Member
I've been training for my century coming up on Sunday by doing a couple longer rides. 75mi around Worcester (literally around) last weekend. 76mi and a climb up Mt Wachusett yesterday.

Yesterday's ride was frustrating. We were in a large group. We were out for 6 hours. We spent nearly 2 hours waiting for slower members of the group at intersections. At least we didn't slow the pace. 18.8mph average over 76mi with the Mt Wachusett climb in the middle is pretty darn good. I bested my previous ascent by 25 seconds and 236W average power. I was hurting. Started getting a stomach cramp part way up, which is not unusual for me. I dropped a couple friends who I consider to be very strong riders, so I was happy with that!

https://www.strava.com/activities/1168373803/overview

Last week's 75mi ride was a solo one, so the pace wasn't as fast, and I was hurting a lot more. Nobody to draft off of. :) Still managed to get a couple trophies. Not sure how since I was dead at that point.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1153571309

Then last Friday I went on a KOM hunt and managed to get 2! Close to a 3rd too. Just have to give it a bit more effort. Probably one of my best segment rides ever. :-D

https://www.strava.com/activities/1163520343/overview

segments by shapegsx, on Flickr

I'm very happy with the gains I've made this year. I just have to get on the trainer over the winter to ensure I don't lose them.
 

Gray Matter

Member
I've been training for my century coming up on Sunday by doing a couple longer rides. 75mi around Worcester (literally around) last weekend. 76mi and a climb up Mt Wachusett yesterday.

Yesterday's ride was frustrating. We were in a large group. We were out for 6 hours. We spent nearly 2 hours waiting for slower members of the group at intersections. At least we didn't slow the pace. 18.8mph average over 76mi with the Mt Wachusett climb in the middle is pretty darn good. I bested my previous ascent by 25 seconds and 236W average power. I was hurting. Started getting a stomach cramp part way up, which is not unusual for me. I dropped a couple friends who I consider to be very strong riders, so I was happy with that!

https://www.strava.com/activities/1168373803/overview

Last week's 75mi ride was a solo one, so the pace wasn't as fast, and I was hurting a lot more. Nobody to draft off of. :) Still managed to get a couple trophies. Not sure how since I was dead at that point.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1153571309

Then last Friday I went on a KOM hunt and managed to get 2! Close to a 3rd too. Just have to give it a bit more effort. Probably one of my best segment rides ever. :-D

https://www.strava.com/activities/1163520343/overview

segments by shapegsx, on Flickr

I'm very happy with the gains I've made this year. I just have to get on the trainer over the winter to ensure I don't lose them.

Nice work, I've been seeing your rides on strava, you're a great rider. That century should be no problem, you said it's mostly flat IIRC.

Coincidentally, I'm mostly like going to do a century on Sunday also. Let's compare numbers afterwards.

I'm sure you'll make me look like a noob lol
 

ShapeGSX

Member
Nice work, I've been seeing your rides on strava, you're a great rider. That century should be no problem, you said it's mostly flat IIRC.

Coincidentally, I'm mostly like going to do a century on Sunday also. Let's compare numbers afterwards.

I'm sure you'll make me look like a noob lol

Thanks man! :)

Sounds good! Are you doing the COVAC century? I have some friends doing that one.
 

Gray Matter

Member
Thanks man! :)

Sounds good! Are you doing the COVAC century? I have some friends doing that one.

That's the one. Sounds like a fun one and it's cheap so why not, my buddy and I are doing it.

I also planning on doing the bikefest century (which you have probably heard of it too) which is the following weekend.
 
My training slipped into the realm of disastrous tonight. I just had nothing in my legs (DOMS from weights yesterday didn't help), and to be honest, I just couldn't be fucked trying to work through it as best I could.

Twice I've quit a workout, just walked away from it because there just wasn't any point. Tonight was the second of those two.
 

teepo

Member
My training slipped into the realm of disastrous tonight. I just had nothing in my legs (DOMS from weights yesterday didn't help), and to be honest, I just couldn't be fucked trying to work through it as best I could.

Twice I've quit a workout, just walked away from it because there just wasn't any point. Tonight was the second of those two.

i think you might need a mental break from all the extreme cycling
 
Top Bottom