advertisement


Cycling log - random events in the day of a cyclist II

That's what I found when I had a dropped bar gravel bike. While it could be ridden on reasonably rough stuff, you wouldn't necessarily want to. So for me that meant it was mainly useful for routes that had some proper off-road stuff that was useful in linking tarmac and/or towpath type stuff. I didn't do enough of those routes to make it worthwhile so ended up getting rid. I've set-up my Cotic Roadrat as a flat barred gravel bike and that's a lot better off-road than the drop-bar bike was, and it's pretty fast on gentle off-road stuff (although still not as fast as a proper lightweight XC MTB).
I still prefer flat bars for most riding. OK, if you want to race or do long road rides, maybe there is an advantage in drops. Touring though, I still prefer flats, with the terribly non-U bar ends of the 90s. Comfortable, lots of different positions, and OK the aerodynamics is poor. Well, it will be if you carry panniers. Meanwhile on the average Alpine tour, knocking off 60-100km in a day or so, depending on terrain, they are great.

I've never had a full-on CX bike though, so that's an itch I do fancy scratching at some point.
I know what you mean. The thing is I don't know what makes up a CX bike. The manufacturers don't either, when they briefly tried to get us all into CX bikes a few years ago, because we already had a MTB, and a hybrid, and a road bike, and there must be another segment, let's sell CX bikes. So they made alleged CX bikes with all sorts. Luggage mounts for Heaven's sake. Oh yes, because all the CX racers running round a muddy park in Bracknell in November have panniers, don't they? It obviously didn't have anything to do with the fact that they had the plans for old fashioned tourers floating about, and they looked about right with soft head angles and easy geometry. The other thing is that who on earth these days goes CX racing? Back in the 70's, maybe, or the odd Belgian these days, but it's a masochistic sport with all the glamour of, well, cycling and running through muddy puddles in a park in Bracknell. In November. So nobody bought CX bikes. Then they came up with the gravel bike, whatever that is, and thank Christ people actually decided they wanted one.

Very occasionally I see a CX bike out on the moors, generally being carried to the next farm track. I want to like it, but it doesn't look like fun to me. The closest I have got is fitting CX tyres to my bitsa hybrid single speed that I use to zip down the towpath and visit pals.
 
I still prefer flat bars for most riding. OK, if you want to race or do long road rides, maybe there is an advantage in drops. Touring though, I still prefer flats, with the terribly non-U bar ends of the 90s. Comfortable, lots of different positions, and OK the aerodynamics is poor. Well, it will be if you carry panniers. Meanwhile on the average Alpine tour, knocking off 60-100km in a day or so, depending on terrain, they are great.

I definitely prefer drop bars on the road, even for general riding and even for touring (although my current touring bike has flats with bar-ends). Partly that's for comfort reasons and partly because it is more aero and therefore faster. For shorter rides and for stop/start stuff I'm less bothered either way though.

I know what you mean. The thing is I don't know what makes up a CX bike. The manufacturers don't either, when they briefly tried to get us all into CX bikes a few years ago, because we already had a MTB, and a hybrid, and a road bike, and there must be another segment, let's sell CX bikes. So they made alleged CX bikes with all sorts. Luggage mounts for Heaven's sake. Oh yes, because all the CX racers running round a muddy park in Bracknell in November have panniers, don't they? It obviously didn't have anything to do with the fact that they had the plans for old fashioned tourers floating about, and they looked about right with soft head angles and easy geometry. The other thing is that who on earth these days goes CX racing? Back in the 70's, maybe, or the odd Belgian these days, but it's a masochistic sport with all the glamour of, well, cycling and running through muddy puddles in a park in Bracknell. In November. So nobody bought CX bikes. Then they came up with the gravel bike, whatever that is, and thank Christ people actually decided they wanted one.

Very occasionally I see a CX bike out on the moors, generally being carried to the next farm track. I want to like it, but it doesn't look like fun to me. The closest I have got is fitting CX tyres to my bitsa hybrid single speed that I use to zip down the towpath and visit pals.

Last year there seemed to be a lot of CX(ish) bikes getting used up here in the Pentland hills and I was seeing nearly as many of them as I was seeing mountain bikes. How many of those were sold as CX and how many as gravel I don't know though - although suspect it was more of the gravel bikes being pushed than anything else.

I've had gravel bikes and what I'd be looking for from a CX bike was something that was lighter and faster - and certainly I wouldn't be interested in rack, pannier and mudguard mounts although I would definitely prefer hydro disc brakes. It'd need to be lighter than my lightest XC MTB's for one thing (so under 10kg). Probably what I'm slightly cynically looking for is a bike that'd optimise my chances of taking KOM's on the right sort of trails. So far I've yet to find an off-road segment that my Specialized Epic isn't my fastest bike on, although some of those I'd have expected a gravel type bike to be quicker that it on (although that hasn't proved to be the case with the ones I've had).
 
Whatever the Youtube vids and reviews say, from the POV of a mountain biker, it's crap off road. Towpaths and gravel are fine, but anything bumpy is not fun

Gravel bikes are suited to tarmac, towpaths and gravel/forest roads. Anything more challenging becomes rather less fun and MTBs become the order of the day!
 
Gravel bikes are suited to tarmac, towpaths and gravel/forest roads. Anything more challenging becomes rather less fun and MTBs become the order of the day!
Agreed. Back in the 90s when I bought my first MTB they were not too far, in spirit at least, from the gravel bikes of today. No suspension, tyres of about 1.9", and generally used XC. Trail centres didn't exist, it was out on bridleways, gravel roads, forestry tracks etc. My 1995 MTB is still great for this kind of use. Indeed it's been pressed into service for such this year when the "proper" MTB has been out of action. I think that 90s MTBs and the current gravel bikes are what my mates and I should have had in our teens, had they existed. OK on road if tyres are well chosen, decent enough on light off road, robust and durable, done.
 
Nice tootle in the snow this morning:

Clipboard01.jpg

You ride two bikes simultaneously !? Respect. BTW that's not snow. This is snow (70" of snow in 3 weeks - ugh that was an awful winter).

https://www.boston.com/weather/weather/2015/02/10/the_great_snow_of_2015
 
You ride two bikes simultaneously !? Respect. BTW that's not snow. This is snow (70" of snow in 3 weeks - ugh that was an awful winter).

https://www.boston.com/weather/weather/2015/02/10/the_great_snow_of_2015


Yes, I have to do a sort of relay ride :D.
Actually, it's a small selection from our "Giant World Cuppa Team".

More snow yesterday. Quite tricky to ride in today, I think it's the first time I've had feet dipping into snow on each pedal revolution.
Thankfully we still only have 1/10th of Boston's snow.
 
I've bought, and started using, a Jetblack turbo trainer. If I want to use a cadence and speed sensor, will any sensor do the job? It'll need to connect to Strava on my iPhone.
There is a Jetblack sensor available, but finding out the specifics I'm after isn't easy.
 
You ride two bikes simultaneously !? Respect.
A few months ago I saw a lad biking steadily along with one hand reaching across to the stem of a second bike that he was taking with him. I was quite impressed. Nearly as impressed as I was to see another lad, somewehere else, wheelying through crawling traffic near his school and negotiating kerbs and side turnings without ever troubling the front wheel. Yes, it was rather irresponsible, but I have never learned the art of the lift it up and hold it wheelie.
 
That’s called a ‘manual’.

As a kid I could do them, but at my height a d weight I need more skill.
I think a "manual" is when you do it without pedalling, so you have to do it by weight transfer alone. Some of the extremely skilled riders on MTBs do that, downhill off road, in order to go down dropoffs and land rear wheel first and not risk going over the bars. Gits. If you use power to lift the bike up then it's a wheelie. I could only do those on a kid's bike, by sitting on the luggage rack and pedalling the thing would flip over very easily.
 
I've bought, and started using, a Jetblack turbo trainer. If I want to use a cadence and speed sensor, will any sensor do the job? It'll need to connect to Strava on my iPhone.
There is a Jetblack sensor available, but finding out the specifics I'm after isn't easy.
You will need a blue tooth speed & cadence sensor if you are using a Garmin.
 
Signed up for Zwift for my winter riding on the Wattbike and so far very impressed. It really does feel like a real ride with gradient changes, freewheeling, drafting and trying to follow other riders. Far more enjoyable than just the exercise routines I have been doing.
 
That looks ok, will do the job, I still think a GPS bike computer has advantages but they are more money.

I've just ordered a Wahoo SC. Seems to be well regarded and does what I need.

A bike computer would be great, but I'd spend £500 or so, and still take my phone!
 
I've just ordered a Wahoo SC. Seems to be well regarded and does what I need.

A bike computer would be great, but I'd spend £500 or so, and still take my phone!
I have a 520, think it was about £200 with the optional speed & cadence sensor (only needed for static bike). I still take my phone with me for obvious reasons but it is tucked away in a back pocket.
 
I have a 520, think it was about £200 with the optional speed & cadence sensor (only needed for static bike). I still take my phone with me for obvious reasons but it is tucked away in a back pocket.

I found that phones can struggle on longer rides as their battery life isn't great when the GPS is running. Some of my clubmates used them, but had an external power-pack attached.

I use an older Garmin Edge 810 for cycling and haven't felt a need to upgrade that as it does everything I need (including mapping & navigation which I use from time to time). Originally when I had a "dumb" turbo I did use it with the Garmin speed and cadence sensors but I don't now as I upgraded a few years back to a "smart trainer" (just a cheap one - I think it was sub £200) although I use it in conjunction with a power meter on my bike (and that provides power and cadence info although the smart trainer can also do that).

Zwift works pretty well with a smart trainer, adjusting the resistance to simulate hills, although you can still use Zwift without a smart trainer - usually with something like the Garmin Speed & Cadence sensors providing input to a computer using an ANT+ dongle. That's kind of what I do when using Zwift for treadmill runs - my treadmill is too old to link to Zwift itself but I have a Garmin footpod on one of my running shoes and that gives cadence info to the computer (also via the ANT+ dongle) which Zwift then uses to work out pace.
 
Bit disappointed with the headset on the Boardman, it started to sound gritty after only 3 rides.
I gave it a quick service and was amazed to see that the cartridge bearings sit straight on the carbon fibre. Is it normal for modern carbon bikes to have no headset cups?
(I had a carbon MTB that definitely had cups).
 


advertisement


Back
Top