done a 85km cycle on my mates Trek mountain bike version of this last summer before i got my racer. very comfortable but the lads were on racers and left me for dust 

 I meant long evenings

 

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Since I quit smoking three years ago I'd steadily put on weight and could see it continuing if I didn't do something more energetic than golf.

I was driving everywhere, like the 1 mile trip to the local shops/bookies etc.

I was driving maybe 6-10 miles everyday just doing routine stuff. 

Roll on the end of March!

SU.......have you considered buying these amazing inventions?.........apparently using them will allow you to cycle in the dark

 

Gonna try and cycle everyday for an hour and see how much i can improve the fitness

Just took it for a spin. Hands are sore, back sore (just to the position you need to take) and my hole is sore... f**k sakes 

Aye, that'll happen if you start going about in Lycra at your age.

In fairness I was tempted as well as I am f**king piling on pounds here, but fear of certain death in cycling in London put off. 

If your hands are sore it’s probably because you’re not relaxed and gripping the bars too tight. A set of mits will give you a bit more comfort, prefer not to wear them myself, will also give you stupid tan lines on your hands.

What weight are and what size are your tyres? You might be able to drop the tyre pressure a bit if you have half decent roads. 

Seeing as you have bought yourself the bike, treat yourself to a good pair of bib shorts, oh and don’t wear under ware under your shorts!! But your arse will be sore for a bit.

Did the shop at least try and set you up with a decent position on the bike? 

And what bike did you go for anyways?

i'd tip 90kg i reckon @ 6ft. bike frame size 56? tyres are 700 x 25.

sorry dont wear them? is that because they'll be rammed up your rock? 

Yeah they did help but the usual story, queue out the door, under pressure but sound lads. Got a few freebies.

Bear with me Shoco because i know you're an avid cycler. It's a Cannondale CAAD Optimo 105?

At 90kg probably not much scope to reduce tyre pressure for a bit more comfort. Probably 90 psi in front and 105 in rear.

The chamois in the shorts is designed to be against the skin, the jocks just create friction. I know it’s weird at first

Defo get yourself a pair of bib shorts and some cream to rub into your balls. 

other than that sign up to the premium level of strava and set out your routes and log them into your gps if you have one for the bike. download a programme for training and go from there. start off with 10km, to 20km to 30km and so on.

If you've your elbows straight and locked, every bump on the road will go straight to your back and shoulders. You'll be in agony after a spin on Irish roads. Make sure the elbows are a little bent, and don't grip the handlebars too much (hands should just be resting on them most of the time)

sound lads 

Have a Garmin watch and will get Strava going.

I am at 30km now comfortably from the last few spins but that was on the old bike.

Ill get buying the shorts so. 

Have a road bike for years and cycle in and out of work as well as leisure cycles, always wear shorts over my bib shorts   

Lycra is never necessary. Never. The majority of people become twats the moment they sit on a bike anyway!

The scientist was ahead of the game here before he got his bike 

A t-shirt probably wouldn't go astray either.

Those already :)

I'd be inclined to agree that cycling is not the most effective way to lose weight if that is your aim. It is time consuming to put in the amount of effort required to lose weight and then the food required to keep going often ends up in coffee and buns of some sort. I guess if you really enjoy it though, you won't mind putting the time in. Running and kettle bells are far more effective for weight loss.

I had a road bike, but got away from that type of cycling as I don't like the position and would agree that there is often a rare level of goon who takes up cycling. I've a good hybrid bike now, which is much more comfortable for cycling to work on and on my longer cycles allows me to take in views better.

Cycled east coast to west last summer and Mizen to Malin on the hybrid with saddle bags attached. Beautiful way to travel and less chance of punctures on the hybrid bike I find too. 

Regardless of speed or type of bike though you still need the cycling shorts for anything over 40km.

Cycle - 2hrs - 59k - 1565 calories

Run - 1hr - 12k - 1092 calories

So yes, running is more effective time-wise, but I wouldn't be able to keep running long enough to burn 1600 calories, whereas I can on the bike.

On the bike to work scheme that can come in for less than 500 euro though depending on what tax band you are on.  Plus can be spread out over the course or a year so 50% off and spread out over a period of time up to 12 months with no interest.  

My gaff to Baldoyle to portmarnock back to Sutton, up over the poxy hill from Howth village and up to summit, hit a nervous top speed of 35kph (laugh at me lads but new bike nerves) coming back down the other side of the hill down into Sutton, then out on cycle track to the wooden bridge in Clontarf then back to Elphin and through Baldoyle and home. 

Arse be in bits.

Justice hooked me up with an IV

Edit

54kph according to my Garmin. Kin ell.

Easily hit 50kph downhill on a racing bike, some adrenalin rush but yea scary... Thankfully all my falls have been at reasonable speeds 

Pretty sure Ger hared off at 70kph Pat man 

Haha few stops man. One of the lads on a MTB so we helped him out a bit. 

Yeah it’s a cracking stretch and when they extend to skerries and beyond it will be a good spin.

Hit 88.5 kph coming down mt.Ventoux in France, on a road I had never been on before, some buzz.

Took a few Strava KOMs today averaging about 50 on flat roads with a nice wee wind. 

Once you get a bit more confidence you’ll be grand with those speeds, just gotta learn to trust your tyres and brakes.

As said above, minute for minute you will burn more calories on a run, but you will always do more on the bike, I did a 25k run about a month ago and was 1300 calories, burnt 1200 this morning on the bike. I could get up and go again on the bike tomorrow but I wouldn’t be able to go for a run

Yeah but self employed, don't think I could get away with it.

3 hours with stops in Portmarnock for a coffee, summit for a 99 . 

Saw that there now, some going.  highest i've got to in the KOM's is 2nd and its on a fairly rapid downhill sprint. hitting just over the 60kph mark. Doing ok on times for this year stats. in a good few top 10 but the KOM's i'm way off. do all my cycling on my own but you do see a lot of lads riding just to beat times. i like to just cycling along around 30kph mark while these lads just cycle to the segment areas slow and then go hell for leather at the segment.

Going to upgrade the bike either at xmas or March next year when i head back to Oz on holidays. Bikes over there are much cheaper to buy with the GST you can claim back and the currency conversion. Looking at getting the Giant TCR Advanced Pro Disc or the Giant Propel Advanced Pro Disc. Paid over $4k for my own bike back in 2014 so im after getting good value for money out of it. prob only get about 1k for it now if lucky. 

 

out of curiosity what would your average heart rate be on a cycle compared to a run? I was 165bpm for a 10k run at the weekend. Would usually be sub 160bpm but hadn't done 10k in a few weeks. 

I don't really bother with them TBH, If i'm on a club spin then you ignore them, If i'm doing a structured session then you ignore them. If i'm just out for a spin and there's a decent wind I might have a go at one if its of any interest to me. Though with the lockdown there's a few of us here have been having a good go at the local ones for a bit of fun. That will stop now with the restrictions lifted today.

The TCR's are lovely bikes, love the frames and they still haven't gone for the dropped seat stays which is a bonus.

Not a fan of the propel, or any aero bike really, all look the same

I don't think you can compare them really, you get so much more recovery on the bike.

In saying that, i've done handicap races where i've averaged 175 for an hour!

My last run, 7.14km, 36:56, HR 146

Did a half marathon in March in 1:43:30 and HR was 168, but wouldn't normally run at that pace.

Yesterday just spinning on the Bike for 2:30 it was 138bpm,

Saturday doing a structured session aver age was 140, but during the 6x10 minute efforts the average was about 165

 

I've done an hour on an exercise bike (I know, like running on a treadmill isn't close to the same as being out) on a medium to high resistance and the heart rate was constant at 110bpm, and I was bucketing sweat!!  

Started with a couple of friends and first spin was 25km, couldn't walk for a day after it. Like anything else, the more you do the better you get. The average speed increases & the hills get a tad easier. Strava or a similar app is great for tracking it all & comparing your rides. Got a fall near the beginning of it all, got dehydrated/weak from not drinking enough so learned the hard way how important that & eating right on a cycle are

It's an enjoyable pass time but finding the time can be hard with kids etc compared to a 5k run or similar

Edit: Did 60k on Sunday morning. Heart rate on average was 158, peak of 198 on an absolute coont of a steep climb

Have a york fitness discovery cycle training bike at home. Knee's a bit goosed so have to stop road running for a bit. The console on the front has batteries in and is able to pick up my pulse when I grasp the handles.

However, when I cycle time, speed, distance or calories aren't being picked up. So it seems when the pedals are moving whatever wire is supposed to be run isn't getting through. Anyone got any ideas?

 

have you taken the handlebars off yet to make sure the wire is still connected? should only be one connection.

And reduced to every 4 years i heard 

Ronan McLoughlin has broken the eversting worl record set by Alberto Contador

Basically you have to repeat a hill until you gain the same elevation of Mt.Everest 8848m

I realise you're into your cycling, as am I, but are we giving this lad a pass because he's Irish? He's competing in an event where there are no doping control

The I would say they are on drugs obviously.

All pro marathon runner run marathons, i'd say about 1% of pro cyclists have actually attempted the everesting challenge.

The reason he gets a pass is:

1) He's an amateur, but not in the same way that you or me are as he's actually a former pro.

2) The record he broke, was also held by an amateur (albeit a from mutliple gand tour winner)

3) Everesting only really took off during the lockdown, it’s not an event, it’s just a challenge, 99% of people that do it are just trying to complete, it only became a thing during lockdown to see who could do it fastest

4) The everesting challenge is not something pro riders actually do, so he wasn't competing against them (completely different to comparing it to a marathon because all marathon runners actually run marathons!!!)

5) if all current pro cyclists were to try it, I would expect them to smash him time, only the lightweight climbers obviously, the sprinters would never be able to do it.

6) having seen his bike for the record, he saved a crap load of weight of it compared to what the previous record holder did.

7) As this was his second attempt, he changed the stretch of road to do it, making it shorter but steeper.

So for the reason above you cant compare to a marathon, there is absolutley no similarities at all.

Now if Froome/Bernal/Quintana etc were to attempt if and not beat his time assuming they had an optimum climb to do it on then maybe you could ask questions but a bit of perspective is needed.

It's basically saying an amatuer holds the 50k record because pro marathon runners don't run that distance.

Honestly sounds like hell

Yeah, mental torture aswell as physical! Average gradient was nearly 15%

Might be tempted to try the uphill hour challenge, same sort of thing, see how much elevation gain you can get in an hour, you just have to finish at the same point you started at

Not in a good way according to the Tour Doc