Cycling Thread

[simmer2]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Which shorts from MEC are you guys sporting? Is the padding the same in all of them?

I bought some Maloja shorts there recently and absolutely love them.

They are a new brand in Canada but have been in Europe for 7 years now.

They have them at the Calgary location and online.

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

Another thing to note about bike shorts, a thicker chamois doesn't mean better.
Cheap shorts will often have a super thick chamois to make it look like they have a lot of padding, but it just compresses down to nothing, and doesn't do a thing except rub and make things worse.

A good chamois should be somewhat firm so that it actually provides cushioning once you put your weight on it.

I was thinking about what I posted yesterday, and I did a poor job. This is correct about the chamois.

i used to have a pair of bike shorts with a gel chamios - very comfortable.

[Devils'Advocate]

Okay, I think I am being crazy here, but I don't know yet.

Start in Jasper at 6am
Arrive at Rampart Creek hostel (141 km) 7pm

Leave Rampart Creek hostel at 6am
Arrive Banff (147 km) 6pm

I typically go 20km per hour, but this will be mountainous regions AND what is the point of going along the parkway if you are not going to stop and look at the scenery. I've done 140 in a day before and still had plenty left in the tank, but again, that's Ottawa terrain.

Still would have to figure a lot of stuff out (like how the heck do I get from Calgary to Jasper?) but if someone tells me that I am being TOTALLY unreasonable then I'll stop investigating.

[GGG]

Figure out the elevation gain on the icefields parkway and then decide if you can do it. This bike ride is on my list but I was thinking 2 days. (Bike tour groups take 4 but they are out of shape tourists who get rides in the support vans up the hill)There are no flat sections on the icefield parkway it is consistant up and down but if you are willing to do a 12 to 14 hour day I think you can do it.

[Northendzone]

I believe that riding from jasper to bang takes care of some of the huge uphill grunts.

Might be easier to land in Edmonton and take the bus to jasper. I can only imagine the sights you would see at the Edmonton bus depot.

[WilsonFourTwo]

After a prolonged search filled with analysis paralysis I have chosen the 2013 Specialized Tricoss Triple as my new (do everything) commuting bike.

I'm curious to know how far I should be able to push a local shop (in this case The Bike Shop) in terms of price or extras. Have plenty of haggling experience, but never bought never bought a $1000 bicycle before. Any tips would be helpful/appreciated.

[pylon]

I am tighter with my cash than bark around a tree, and would haggle with a brain surgeon if I required their service. The best I have ever done with an LBS on a new bicycle is 15% on a current year bike. Sometimes you can do a lot better on a leftover from previous years, but unless it is the exact size you need, never make a compromise on price over fit.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

I've ridden the new 7th St singletrack several times in the last few days. What an improvement. To get to 8th Ave Place, from the river I used to have to bomb through Mcdougall, through a few alleys, ride on street in full combat awareness mode. 4th to 8th was easily the worst part of my ride.

Now - no muss, no fuss - just some stop and go. Biggest thing is to watch out for cyclists passing and cars coming from alleys. Absolutely bliss. Riding it to 8th, I found that there was a reasonable gap to ride between traffic and parked cars up to 5th St SW on 8th Ave, thereby broadening the useful reach of the cyclepath to encompass a few of the big towers.

Put one of these up in the area of 1st St SW and I think it'd complete coverage of downtown nicely.

[Devils'Advocate]

FYI - My trip from Jasper to Banff was an abject failure as they gave me a crappy bike. I should have ridden around Jasper for a bit to get to see if it was comfortable to me or not. By the time I was 30k in I realized I just wasn't going to make it the 288k on that bike. So I turned around and returned the bike and I got a lift with someone to Lake Louise. So this morning I did Lake Louise to Banff and just finished the return trip this afternoon. You really do have some of the most breathtaking bike rides here in Alberta. I've been told that some of the best rides are the ones that were washed out.

[Northendzone]

So you popped into the bike shop, picked up a rental, left, and then headed down the ice fields parkway and then found out the bike was not comfortable......and here I was mad at my planning skills this weekend because we went out for a ride on the Redearth Trail outside Banff this weekend and I forgot to bring enough bug juice........

[Devils'Advocate]

Well, it was fine when I left the store. The pain in my back kicked in only after riding it for an hour. Learned my lesson,so in Lake Louise I tried the rental for about an hour (went from the village to the actual lake) before riding to Banff and back.

[Northendzone]

so how did you get from LL to Banff - hiway 1 or other?

[onetwo_threefour]

In case anyone is in the market, the Winners at Heritage and Macleod has some cycling clothing in. Some super nice Hincapie Signature bibshorts $99. Only a few and all XL or larger. They have some others for $70 which are also nice, but not the pro-level stuff, but with more sizes available. Really an unbeatable price for bibshorts. They've also got some really nice $40 long-sleeve jerseys from Nilani and others. I picked up a really nice fleece-lined long sleeve jersey for fall/early winter riding.

Not a tonne there in terms of selection but there's more of a size selection in the jerseys than the bibshorts.

This is high quality stuff for cheap. I usually only wear a large bibshort but, for the price/quality I picked up an XL in the signature.

[simmer2]

Originally Posted by onetwo_threefour

In case anyone is in the market, the Winners at Heritage and Macleod has some cycling clothing in. Some super nice Hincapie Signature bibshorts $99. Only a few and all XL or larger. They have some others for $70 which are also nice, but not the pro-level stuff, but with more sizes available. Really an unbeatable price for bibshorts. They've also got some really nice $40 long-sleeve jerseys from Nilani and others. I picked up a really nice fleece-lined long sleeve jersey for fall/early winter riding.

Not a tonne there in terms of selection but there's more of a size selection in the jerseys than the bibshorts.

This is high quality stuff for cheap. I usually only wear a large bibshort but, for the price/quality I picked up an XL in the signature.

I think there's a reason it is on for $99...

Plus Hincapie isn't a great quality brand, the shammy quality is not nearly what is needed to keep my parts comfortable!

[bossy22]

I got a pair of Rapha bibshorts for christmas. It feels like Angels are cradling my junk. The only bibshorts I can wear for 4+ hours without using dznuts.

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by simmer2

I think there's a reason it is on for $99...

Plus Hincapie isn't a great quality brand, the shammy quality is not nearly what is needed to keep my parts comfortable!

I can't comment on the comfort of your parts , and haven't ridden in the shorts yet, but I would say that, visually, the quality of construction and materials in the Hincapie signature line appears to be equivalent to my Giordana FR-C kit. It seems to have all the features that I love about my FR-C stuff, plus a couple of 'gimmicky' technologies that I'm not sure will help, but I don't think can hurt, like carbon fibre panels that are supposed to help maintain coolness.

The signature is Hincapie's top end line and is evidently the same stuff as worn by team BMC. I assume like a lot of brands that the lower end stuff may not be of the same quality construction, but all of the reviews I have seen praise the top-end stuff.

Again, haven't actually saddled up with the chamois yet, but it seems pretty high end to me and is supposed to be pretty technologically advanced in the signature line. Seems to have a nice density and cushioning and is well stitched and assembled.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I don't know if it's an apples to apples comparison if the lower end Hincapie is being compared with the high-end stuff, given the price point. I might hesitate to pay $250 for these shorts, bur I would hesitate before paying that in anything untested. For $100 I'm willing to give it a shot. They certainly seem miles ahead of my Castelli bibs from MEC which were a similar price.

At any rate, just thought I would throw it out there... I don't think you can read too much into the price point. I will grant you that Winners sometimes has unsellable crap from closed-down stores, but in my experience you can also find some nice stuff that just happens to be cheap.

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

so how did you get from LL to Banff - hiway 1 or other?

Bow Valley Parkway. AKA Route 1a. It was virtually deserted as most people take the 1.

[Northendzone]

i took the wife and kids out on sunday and we rode Redearth (the parking lot for this trail is about 20 km west of the town of Banff on hiway 1). I really enjoyed this trail.

the trail itself had more climbing that i thought it would as it is shaped a bit like a pyramid. Kids (son is 11/daughter 8) complained a lot, intially, but that being said, they both had single speed bikes. we wound up riding about half of the trail and then turning around. going back tot eh vehicle was fun as you hardly had to pedal. My daughter was pretty fierce on her bike and she was right behind me for the most part. she did have a bit of a crash though as she lost traction on a sharper turn with some loose gravel. Had to laugh at her as somehow her shoe came off and landed about 5 feet away from her.

The bottle of bug juice I grabbed was lower than expected, so lesson learned there as I am covered in bites. Other lesson I learned was that I need to strategically position myself at the edge of sharp turns to try and ensure my daughter does not have trouble braking and run off the trail and get herself into some trouble.

Looking forward to a couple of more trips out to Banff to try a couple of more family trails, and I hope to get out with a friend to really be able to hammer.

Can't beleive how easy it is to hammer downhill with a full suspension bike.

[bossy22]

Anyone doing the 24 hours of Adrenalin this weekend?

[Northendzone]

Spent the day today downhill king at silver star, fun stuff as it was 32 degrees and sunny. Got in 6 runs, had a pinch flat after carving up a sweet beamed section, and later on had an endo on a difficult and in enjoyable trail to close out the day. Felt like it took me 5 minutes to untangle myself from my bike.

During this vacation we also had a chance to ride the trestles of Myra canyon, unbelievable views.......