Fitting An Engine

Carrera said:

Miguel Indurain and Ullrich favour big gears. You'll see Ullrich on the big chain ring climbing when everybody else is on the small ring.
However, when I ride on steep country lanes off the main roads I drop to the small ring as I have no choice. Some of the huge hills I do on my very smallest gear.
On main roads I'm always on the big chain ring.

And your palmares is?

Cannibal2 said:

First off, he squatted 600 cards and second, notice that the bike is pointing downhill... I'm sure he rides down the hill just to enjoy the aroma of swine.........

Let's flame the liar, I like HogRoast.
A Junior world chump in the gym and none of the lifters knew.

I don't compete as a cyclist. I didn't take up cycling till fairly recently. I never stated I was a professional rider at any time. So far as I know, not all cyclists on the forum ride professionally, correct?
Cycling was something I got into via other sports and I found I was reasonably good at it too, going by my own opinion. But I have to be honest that at over 40 years of age, it doesn't seem wise for me to go beyond recreational cycling.
Neither do I ride in any cycling club. I tend to go out alone when it's slightly dark and do my thing. But, hey, let's remember many sportsmen in this country used to be amateurs and Roger Bannister did very well in sports while keeping a full time job.

FredC said:

And your palmares is?

Carrera said:

I don't compete as a cyclist. I didn't take up cycling till fairly recently. I never stated I was a professional rider at any time. So far as I know, not all cyclists on the forum ride professionally, correct?
Cycling was something I got into via other sports and I found I was reasonably good at it too, going by my own opinion. But I have to be honest that at over 40 years of age, it doesn't seem wise for me to go beyond recreational cycling.
Neither do I ride in any cycling club. I tend to go out alone when it's slightly dark and do my thing. But, hey, let's remember many sportsmen in this country used to be amateurs and Roger Bannister did very well in sports while keeping a full time job.

So if I told you that the way you go about riding your bike is totally wrong, what would you say?

You don't have any concrete training routine I ever published so you could then make comments. Neither does Don specifically know when I ride, on what days or what I do specifically.
I don't train hard as I say all the time as Don seems to believe about me. Neither has Don got it quite right when he assumes I try to maintain peak performance throughout the year. I just train in Winter and prefer the road to rollers.
But on the other hand, I'm not a know-all. If I get offered advice that seems to me to be valid, I'll listen. For the time being I read a lot of cycling magazines and articles - not rocket science by any means - but it helps me.
I read some ideas by Lucien Van Impe quite recently and he was quite a climber in his day. I also have interviews with Francisco Bahamontes they called the eagle of Toledo, I think. All of Armstrong's books I read and enjoyed.
But I would never give people the impression I'm some kind of brilliant cyclist they should all look up to. I'd rather underate myself if anything. When I train on the bike I dress down and don't wear flashy cycling clothes.
That wouldn't help my image is some old geezer comes whizzing past on a f*****g mountain bike! 😉

FredC said:

So if I told you that the way you go about riding your bike is totally wrong, what would you say?

Carrera said:

You don't have any concrete training routine I ever published so you could then make comments. Neither does Don specifically know when I ride, on what days or what I do specifically.
I don't train hard as I say all the time as Don seems to believe about me. Neither has Don got it quite right when he assumes I try to maintain peak performance throughout the year. I just train in Winter and prefer the road to rollers.
But on the other hand, I'm not a know-all. If I get offered advice that seems to me to be valid, I'll listen. For the time being I read a lot of cycling magazines and articles - not rocket science by any means - but it helps me.
I read some ideas by Lucien Van Impe quite recently and he was quite a climber in his day. I also have interviews with Francisco Bahamontes they called the eagle of Toledo, I think. All of Armstrong's books I read and enjoyed.
But I would never give people the impression I'm some kind of brilliant cyclist they should all look up to. I'd rather underate myself if anything. When I train on the bike I dress down and don't wear flashy cycling clothes.
That wouldn't help my image is some old geezer comes whizzing past on a f*****g mountain bike! 😉

I think you took a picture of that bike while you were riding your scooter....

Carrera said:

Miguel Indurain and Ullrich favour big gears. You'll see Ullrich on the big chain ring climbing when everybody else is on the small ring.
However, when I ride on steep country lanes off the main roads I drop to the small ring as I have no choice. Some of the huge hills I do on my very smallest gear.
On main roads I'm always on the big chain ring.

Riding downhill helps...

Carrera said:

You don't have any concrete training routine I ever published so you could then make comments. Neither does Don specifically know when I ride, on what days or what I do specifically.
I don't train hard as I say all the time as Don seems to believe about me. Neither has Don got it quite right when he assumes I try to maintain peak performance throughout the year. I just train in Winter and prefer the road to rollers.

😉

The impression that I get from your posts is that you ride your bike to work, ride it to the canal to visit your boat, and ride it for training as well as lifting weights down the gym. Cycle training seems to consist of hammering away in the biggest gear that you can cope with on any given incline, and you are doing all this to be as fit as you can be (and fight Old Father Time).
You also work erratic shifts, often on nights, and spend too much time on the PC and not enough sleeping. You also indicate that you do not even give yourself time to eat properly. Recently you have been forced to stop because of illness, but this is hardly the same thing as having rest and recovery days.
Do you in fact follow any structured training program at all?

As I don't drive a vehicle at all I rely totally on my bike. I basically live on the thing.
I did my first ride today after my illness and it was basically O.K. It could have been worse, I guess. I was sweating on the first big climb and suffering somewhat but I got through it. I winded up stopping off after some time to visit my boat and try and find the engine number for my timer belt. Then I pumped out the bilge.
After that, it was a long ride back home.
Soon I'll be creeping my way back to some hard winter training in the highest altitudes of this country. That will be tough training indeed and major climbing involved.

Don Shipp said:

The impression that I get from your posts is that you ride your bike to work, ride it to the canal to visit your boat, and ride it for training as well as lifting weights down the gym. Cycle training seems to consist of hammering away in the biggest gear that you can cope with on any given incline, and you are doing all this to be as fit as you can be (and fight Old Father Time).
You also work erratic shifts, often on nights, and spend too much time on the PC and not enough sleeping. You also indicate that you do not even give yourself time to eat properly. Recently you have been forced to stop because of illness, but this is hardly the same thing as having rest and recovery days.
Do you in fact follow any structured training program at all?

There are some photos to come of what I consider to be the toughest climbs in this region. I snapped bits of road 2 or 3 months ago once I got to the top so people could judge the gradient.
Hopefully I'll have some pics of the fox as well.

Cannibal2 said:

I think you took a picture of that bike while you were riding your scooter....

Carrera said:

As I don't drive a vehicle at all I rely totally on my bike. I basically live on the thing.
I did my first ride today after my illness and it was basically O.K. It could have been worse, I guess. I was sweating on the first big climb and suffering somewhat but I got through it. I winded up stopping off after some time to visit my boat and try and find the engine number for my timer belt. Then I pumped out the bilge.
After that, it was a long ride back home.
Soon I'll be creeping my way back to some hard winter training in the highest altitudes of this country. That will be tough training indeed and major climbing involved.

If you are using your bike for all necessary journeys, then this should be enough to maintain your fitness level over the winter. If you start hard training the chances are you will be struck down again with one of the many buggy things that go round at this time of year.
Just give yourself a bit of a rest.

To tell the truth, Don, I was worried about that. Being so seriously ill made me wonder. Had I been training too hard and weakening my immune system? This is very common with cyclists. I heard of cyclists riding the TDF with bronchitis and kidney problems.
But I heard on the news today a whole school has been brought to a standstill as students report symptoms of the [censored]. People at work have been taken off duty too. They were phoning me to replace someone.
So, basically, I'm afraid I just got nailed by the same bug.
What I did notice yesterday was my fitness went down with the rest but my leg-strength was up. My legs were definitely stronger and my fitness down.

Don Shipp said:

If you are using your bike for all necessary journeys, then this should be enough to maintain your fitness level over the winter. If you start hard training the chances are you will be struck down again with one of the many buggy things that go round at this time of year.
Just give yourself a bit of a rest.

Carrera said:

You don't have any concrete training routine I ever published so you could then make comments. Neither does Don specifically know when I ride, on what days or what I do specifically.
I don't train hard as I say all the time as Don seems to believe about me. Neither has Don got it quite right when he assumes I try to maintain peak performance throughout the year. I just train in Winter and prefer the road to rollers.
But on the other hand, I'm not a know-all. If I get offered advice that seems to me to be valid, I'll listen. For the time being I read a lot of cycling magazines and articles - not rocket science by any means - but it helps me.
I read some ideas by Lucien Van Impe quite recently and he was quite a climber in his day. I also have interviews with Francisco Bahamontes they called the eagle of Toledo, I think. All of Armstrong's books I read and enjoyed.
But I would never give people the impression I'm some kind of brilliant cyclist they should all look up to. I'd rather underate myself if anything. When I train on the bike I dress down and don't wear flashy cycling clothes.
That wouldn't help my image is some old geezer comes whizzing past on a f*****g mountain bike! 😉

This is totally against the grain for me on here. Tell me what size chainrings you have. Then tell me what your block sprockets are .

David Millar actually won an ITT during the TDF while suffering from bronchitis, i have his post race interview on video, he can hardly speak....he just spits out one word at a time inbetween bouts of voilent coughing. ....asked if he he felt good at winning he replied, 'i feel like [censored], its sheer [censored] out there, one would have to be a masochist to take up this sport'...

tursn out that my dose of the skitters was simply down to too much curry and beer....whew!, nothing serious then...

Carrera said:

To tell the truth, Don, I was worried about that. Being so seriously ill made me wonder. Had I been training too hard and weakening my immune system? This is very common with cyclists. I heard of cyclists riding the TDF with bronchitis and kidney problems.
But I heard on the news today a whole school has been brought to a standstill as students report symptoms of the [censored]. People at work have been taken off duty too. They were phoning me to replace someone.
So, basically, I'm afraid I just got nailed by the same bug.
What I did notice yesterday was my fitness went down with the rest but my leg-strength was up. My legs were definitely stronger and my fitness down.

Probably I have the largest cassette they sell on my rear wheel for ease on the hills.
I also have a triple in the garage for sunnier weather.
There is only one hill in this region I doubt I could do except on a triple. I think it could kill me. Must be 30 per cent or more and a long climb up round several bends. Many lorries struggle like crazy to get up.
When I attack a gradient like that I find I can suffocate very quickly - maybe within 3 minutes if the effort is all out from point zero.
I once failed a climb and nearly died of suffocation. Then I retried it with a triple and did it easily.
The main ingredient is will-power to get up there.

FredC said:

This is totally against the grain for me on here. Tell me what size chainrings you have. Then tell me what your block sprockets are .

Carrera said:

Probably I have the largest cassette they sell on my rear wheel for ease on the hills.
I also have a triple in the garage for sunnier weather.
There is only one hill in this region I doubt I could do except on a triple. I think it could kill me. Must be 30 per cent or more and a long climb up round several bends. Many lorries struggle like crazy to get up.
When I attack a gradient like that I find I can suffocate very quickly - maybe within 3 minutes if the effort is all out from point zero.
I once failed a climb and nearly died of suffocation. Then I retried it with a triple and did it easily.
The main ingredient is will-power to get up there.

Answer my question, or can't you count either.

I'm thinking of selling my boat and throwing in the towel. This area is hopeless for boating. None of the boatyards are of any use and seem to have no engineers you can recruit. 🙁
Today I purchased a timing-belt for the volkswagen engine and the guy in the store thinks it may be the one for my engine - which he reckons was made in the eighties. It's a gamble as I only had a casting number to go on and could find no actual engine-number or any visible number on the old timer-belt.
At any rate, cycling is so much easier. If you need a mechanic it's easy to get one. If you need to buy parts you just go to Rourkes and they give you whatever is needed. Plus I paid 30 pounds for this tackle which I now have to find out how I can fit.
Maybe I will end up selling and spending more time riding the bike.

I'll have to count the sprockets. My bike is outside chained up. I just cycled to the engine-parts store as a routine visit.

FredC said:

Answer my question, or can't you count either.

Carrera said:

Probably I have the largest cassette they sell on my rear wheel for ease on the hills.
I also have a triple in the garage for sunnier weather.
There is only one hill in this region I doubt I could do except on a triple. I think it could kill me. Must be 30 per cent or more and a long climb up round several bends. Many lorries struggle like crazy to get up.
When I attack a gradient like that I find I can suffocate very quickly - maybe within 3 minutes if the effort is all out from point zero.
I once failed a climb and nearly died of suffocation. Then I retried it with a triple and did it easily.
The main ingredient is will-power to get up there.

It sounds like the main ingredient is a small chainring.
But how about you tell us the number of teeth on your chainrings, both for the double (eg, 42/53 or whatever it is) and the same for your triple. I take it the triple is on the other bike, or do you routinely change the right crank over?
Also, how many sprockets on the cassette and what range? Please give this for both bikes.

Don Shipp said:

It sounds like the main ingredient is a small chainring.
But how about you tell us the number of teeth on your chainrings, both for the double (eg, 42/53 or whatever it is) and the same for your triple. I take it the triple is on the other bike, or do you routinely change the right crank over?
Also, how many sprockets on the cassette and what range? Please give this for both bikes.

FFS Don, all chainrings have the number of teeth stamped on, he's braindead. I asked him what is block was and he doesn't know. Hehehehehehehe.