Cycling Thread 2

[KTrain]

I ended up winning the KOM challenge at the Badlands Fondo. Fastest up the two big climbs. I won a gift certificate for altitude training at TCR.

Has anyone done altitude training before? I think I'll give it a try before another big cycling event in August and see how it helps.

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by KTrain

I ended up winning the KOM challenge at the Badlands Fondo. Fastest up the two big climbs. I won a gift certificate for altitude training at TCR.

Has anyone done altitude training before? I think I'll give it a try before another big cycling event in August and see how it helps.

Congrats!
Clearly you DON’T need that kinda training unlike me who desperately needs some return to fitness after a few weeks completely off due to business trip. Can’t believe how crappy the legs and lungs are after sitting on me @r$e for weeks, tons of bad food, poor sleep, and very long work days. Aside from injury this has been the longest no-exercise period in over a decade.

Any advice/encourage for return to action is appreciated!

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

Congrats!
Clearly you DON’T need that kinda training unlike me who desperately needs some return to fitness after a few weeks completely off due to business trip. Can’t believe how crappy the legs and lungs are after sitting on me @r$e for weeks, tons of bad food, poor sleep, and very long work days. Aside from injury this has been the longest no-exercise period in over a decade.

Any advice/encourage for return to action is appreciated!

Ha! It's like when I sunk the longest putt at a charity golf tournament (fluke, I'm terrible at golf) and the prize was a new putter. Maybe a new iron or driver so I don't have to take such long putts would have been a better prize.

Only word of encouragement is any ride is better than no ride. An easy spin around the neighbourhood would be a good mental start to getting back into it.

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by KTrain

Ha! It's like when I sunk the longest putt at a charity golf tournament (fluke, I'm terrible at golf) and the prize was a new putter. Maybe a new iron or driver so I don't have to take such long putts would have been a better prize.

Only word of encouragement is any ride is better than no ride. An easy spin around the neighbourhood would be a good mental start to getting back into it.

Yah I jumped back in pretty quickly… day 1 was an in-city 30km ride, day 2 was group ride which I CRAWLED home from, days 3&4 were light spins. Yesterday OMFG legs were sore and it was a hard shutdown. Today doing the commute thing but was tempted to soft pedal.

[Ryan Coke]

Congrats on the KOM Ktrain! Not that I’m surprised….

I remember riding with you and it made me feel I wasn’t a very good climber. I’ve since come to realize I’m a decent climber, but you’re exceptional.

Nice work.

[Northendzone]

Sunday was a fantastic morning to ride a bike. Comfortable temperature and very little wind

I rode from the SE along the canal to memorial and then looped back home. Wow, there sure are a lot of tents and encampments in the trees along the canal. But based on the number of bike around them they must be clubhouses for cycling enthusiasts. And that little bridge over Deerfoot felt sketchy to me and of course that little jog under Deerfoot is always a treat

Also saw a deer grazing in the middle of an industrial wasteland, it really looked out of place

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

Sunday was a fantastic morning to ride a bike. Comfortable temperature and very little wind

I rode from the SE along the canal to memorial and then looped back home. Wow, there sure are a lot of tents and encampments in the trees along the canal. But based on the number of bike around them they must be clubhouses for cycling enthusiasts. And that little bridge over Deerfoot felt sketchy to me and of course that little jog under Deerfoot is always a treat

Also saw a deer grazing in the middle of an industrial wasteland, it really looked out of place

I did the canal pathway to Chestermere for the first time since 2005 on Canada Day. Left early morning (5:30) and it was pretty perfect conditions for the ride, minimal wind. Definitely a lot more tree root bumps on the pathway than back in 2005, I wonder if the City and county will ever undertake repairs on them?

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I did the canal pathway to Chestermere for the first time since 2005 on Canada Day. Left early morning (5:30) and it was pretty perfect conditions for the ride, minimal wind. Definitely a lot more tree root bumps on the pathway than back in 2005, I wonder if the City and county will ever undertake repairs on them?

They seem to have fixed a few of the bigger roots close to Ogden and have more sections marked to be fixed.

The path north of 17th Ave SE is a mess though. You'll lose fillings going through there. I usually turn off to the overpass at 17th and go through Inglewood Bird Sanctuary.

[Northendzone]

I find it interesting that the path alongside the bird sanctuary and the rail yard has trees growing alongside it; however, no root damage

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

I find it interesting that the path alongside the bird sanctuary and the rail yard has trees growing alongside it; however, no root damage

I think it's the canal. The trees roots are going towards the water.

I bet if the trees were on the canal side we wouldn't have as much root issues.

[Icantwhisper]

That’s enough you guys, more cycling talk, less tree roots

[Icantwhisper]

Okay, tree roots are fine

[KTrain]

Tree roots are fine or tree roots conversations are fine?

[Icantwhisper]

Originally Posted by KTrain

Tree roots are fine or tree roots conversations are fine?

Conversations are fine and tree roots are fine as long as they are deep, deep underground

[Northendzone]

would sure be sweet to get my mtn bike out this weekend and not have to scrape 3 pounds of mud off of it post ride

[Northendzone]

S today I dragged my carcass out to bragg creek and managed to get my 56 yr old overweight butt around a lap of telephone, long distance, reconnect, Merlin and braggin’ rights in about 3 hrs.

Yes, there was some pushing involved, but I expected that.

Conditions were better than expected.

[bossy22]

My 12 year old is the opposite from his older brothers in that he's timid. Which is good. I'm tired of the childrens hospital emergency. They could ride anything with their little hardtails. Then I got them downhill bikes, and no jump was too big. Anyways, it was always a struggle to get the 12 year old out riding. Last November when Bow got some fuse's in, I ran and got one and yesterday was his first real ride on it. We just went to CNC and did FYI and EKG and back. He loved it. The new bike with bigger wheels was rolling over everything. He's stronger so he can power up the climbs. He was over the moon. We didn't go fast. He walked the bridges. It was a good day.

[Northendzone]

So I was giving my bikes a bath this afternoon and noticed a broken spoke on the rear wheel of both bikes.

Took both rims to the bike shop and the repair was $85 plus $15 at original joes next door.

Bikes are an expensive addiction

[RichieRich]

Keep eating at OJ's and you'll need more spokes.
Actually most spokes aren't terrible to repair yourself - just have to make sure you get the right length and go at it with a spoke tool and a lot of patience when truing the wheel. That said there's always one wheel (usually your first) that you really ###### up and so perhaps the OJ's route is best!

Actually I've found that spokes, because they're always in and out of compression/tension as you ride, do definitely get "tired" and sometimes a group will fail within a relatively close period of time. Mind you that was primarily with some bikes I'd ridden a lot through crap conditions (and a few winters).

[Northendzone]

the spokes are not terrible to fix, but i would then need to figure out what length of spoke i need, plus i would need to have the tools to take the cassette off.

i may do some reasearch to see if i have figure out that to do with this as it was annoying to ahve to run down the shop to get this fixed