MTB / Touring

Keith Willoughby said:

While I'm posting - saddles. To put it bluntly, my [censored] hurts,

Did 6 miles today, and it was much better. I put the saddle up half an inch, which seemed to help,
my legs are getting a little stronger so I guess I'm putting less pressure on the [censored] as I push on
the pedals; but most of all, I just relaxed and stopped clenching 🙂

Came back up the road (well, deserted dual-use path next to the road most of the way - I'm still not
100% comfortable on the road) and it was ridiculously easier to pedal on that than on the leaf-
coated Taff Trail. As I said, I haven't exercised in years, and I was struggling to reach 10 mph on
the trail, but was doing 13-15 easily on the tarmac, even though it was uphill.

Reached 28 mph coming down Caerphilly hill, which was . . . interesting, for me at least.

Going to try to cycle down to Cardiff bay on Friday. Aim high.

Anyone know if Valley Lines allow bikes on their trains? 🙂

--
Keith Willoughby flat222.orgkeithOpen ↗ "Suspected murderer of Tupac murder suspect murdered"

"Vince" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

As far I'm concerned, the world isn't ready to see - anybody - in Lycra shorts.

Really? Myra seemed to think mine were quite fetching...

Quoted message said:

Lycra short do more to make cycling look like a 'geek' activity than any other single
accoutrement. The worst possible combination being lycra shorts and hemet both of which are
invariably too small for the rider. You don't need special clothes to ride a bike, just
comfortable ones.

Like - er - padded Lycra shorts. The most comfortable clothes for long rides on an upwrong.

Quoted message said:

As for the tyres; it's just for leisure cycling so you don't need to go to town (well you do
but...), just look for ones with a continuous line of rubber on the centre line for smooth rolling
on the road.

My Stelvios have a continuous line of rubber on the centre line, and they certainly roll well. Theyt
last about fifteen seconds on a flint path before they puncture. Despite Kevlar bands. All tyres are
not equal.

--
Guy
===

WARNING: may contain traces of irony. Contents may settle after posting.
chapmancentral.co.ukchapmancentral.co.ukOpen ↗

Vince said:

As far I'm concerned, the world isn't ready to see - anybody - in Lycra shorts. Lycra short do
more to make cycling look like a 'geek' activity than any other single accoutrement. The worst
possible combination being lycra shorts and hemet both of which are invariably too small for the
rider. You don't need special clothes to ride a bike, just comfortable ones.

I do my day to day cycling in day to day clothes, and that's fine because they're comfortable my
hack bike reasonably so. But there's no getting away from padded shorts being *more* comfortable.
Generally it isn't the worth the bother of changing for me, so I don't, but if you want more comfort
it's a very reliable way of achieving it.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email hidden]
dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗

Vince said:

As far I'm concerned, the world isn't ready to see - anybody - in Lycra shorts. Lycra short do
more to make cycling look like a 'geek' activity than any other single accoutrement.

Whereas riding in 'normal' attire, whatever that is, on a lightweight racing machine makes the rider
look like a geek or a thief. To be honest with you I don't care what people think of me, if they are
prepared to judge a book by its cover then more fool them. Liberate yourself and take your cycling
to a new level.

The worst possible

Quoted message said:

combination being lycra shorts and hemet both of which are invariably too small for the rider. You
don't need special clothes to ride a bike, just comfortable ones.

Yebut, decent lycra shorts are comfortable clothes for cycling in, thats why they have remained so
popular for so long. Too many people whinge about bikes being uncomfortable, thing is they have the
wrong seat/shorts.

Quoted message said:

As for the tyres; it's just for leisure cycling so you don't need to go to town (well you do
but...), just look for ones with a continuous line of rubber on the centre line for smooth rolling
on the road.

--
The Reply & From email addresses are checked rarely. mseries.freeserve.co.ukmseries.freeserve.co.ukOpen ↗

Peter Clinch <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

When you go to get your tyres, sit on a few alternatives and see if anything strikes you as more
immediately and significantly comfortable. It might be the case that you're just not used to
sitting on saddles again so changing might not help, but OTOH if you have got the wrong shape you
may benefit a lot by changing, and sitting on a few is the best way to find out.

Problem is that at the moment he's likely to say ouch whatever he sits on. It's probably best to
wait until the worst of the tenderness has gone before comparing saddles.

--
Dave...

davebee said:

oops. I am running continental Grand Prix tyres which I think are slightly thinner than my vuelta
Airline rims. I haven't had any pinch flats or anything **yet** so I will hold my breath and
carry on praying. They are very nice tyres by the way, and work well in the wet or dry. but not
so good on ice.

The problem with too-narrow tyres is that they can occasionally blow off. A decent tyre to rim width
ratio also allows the bike to corner as intended, because the tyre has the correct round profile.

Keith Willoughby said:

So, given that if I end up off-road, it'll be because I lost control whilst on an actual road -
can I do anything to make it a better road cycle that wouldn't be expensive? Specifically, can I
fit some smoother tires to it to replace the knobbly ones on it now? And would that help me any?
(They're 26x2.1, according to what's written on them. Does that mean those are the only size tires
I can use?)

Cheers.

I use Specialized Hemisphere Armadillo tyres for road riding, they can be pumed up quite hard, and
seem to have a reasonable amount of grip and the best pucture protection I've found - as my route to
work seems to consist almost entirely of broken glass and flint, this is quite usefull.

They cope OK with the odd bit of riding on dry dirt surfaces as well.

Valley lines trains used to allow cycles - that was a year or so ago - don't know if they still do.

In the summer months @ weekends there's a bus with a bike trailer runs from Cardiff to Brecon. You
can take bike to Brecon and cycle back down The Taff Trail.

Also try the coast road between Cardiff & Newport - 10 miles or so dead flat (apart from crossing
the railway bridge - height about 30ft!) with stopping off / change direction points at The Six
Bells, The Church Tavern or The Lighthouse (if you can find it).

Bung me an e-mail ([email hidden]) if you fancy a Sunday run thereabouts.

DTR said:

Valley lines trains used to allow cycles - that was a year or so ago - don't know if they
still do.

They do. The guard took me in his little corridor, because the train was fairly full. Wasn't
comfortable, but he was pretty chatty about the whole bike thing.

Quoted message said:

In the summer months @ weekends there's a bus with a bike trailer runs from Cardiff to Brecon. You
can take bike to Brecon and cycle back down The Taff Trail.

Interesting, thanks. Sounds like something I wouldn't mind trying. Makes more sense than cycling
half way up to Brecon and back.

Quoted message said:

Also try the coast road between Cardiff & Newport - 10 miles or so dead flat (apart from crossing
the railway bridge - height about 30ft!) with stopping off / change direction points at The Six
Bells, The Church Tavern or The Lighthouse (if you can find it).

Bung me an e-mail ([email hidden]) if you fancy a Sunday run thereabouts.

Thanks. I'm a couple of months away from that sort of thing, I'd guess, though, because I tend to
stop fairly often at the moment. It hasn't helped that I've had a cold/flu/horrible thing for over a
week. It's been an effort to climb stairs, so I haven't even been on the bike 🙁

--
Keith Willoughby flat222.orgkeithOpen ↗ "Too lazy to work, too nervous to steal"

Keith Willoughby said:

DTR said:

Valley lines trains used to allow cycles - that was a year or so ago - don't know if they
still do.

They do. The guard took me in his little corridor, because the train was fairly full. Wasn't
comfortable, but he was pretty chatty about the whole bike thing.

Quoted message said:

In the summer months @ weekends there's a bus with a bike trailer runs from Cardiff to Brecon. You
can take bike to Brecon and cycle back down The Taff Trail.

Interesting, thanks. Sounds like something I wouldn't mind trying. Makes more sense than cycling
half way up to Brecon and back.

Quoted message said:

Also try the coast road between Cardiff & Newport - 10 miles or so dead flat (apart from crossing
the railway bridge - height about 30ft!) with stopping off / change direction points at The Six
Bells, The Church Tavern or The Lighthouse (if you can find it).

Bung me an e-mail ([email hidden]) if you fancy a Sunday run thereabouts.

Thanks. I'm a couple of months away from that sort of thing, I'd guess, though, because I tend to
stop fairly often at the moment. It hasn't helped that I've had a cold/flu/horrible thing for over
a week. It's been an effort to climb stairs, so I haven't even been on the bike 🙁

No worries. Drop me an e-mail in the spring / summer. The only rules I have about cycling in company
are - start a trip together, cycle together, finish together (preferably at a pub - though that's
not a hard and fast rule!). There's also some good routes around Castell Coch and Caerphilly Council
do a leaflet about their cycle routes.

All the best.

On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 23:23:07 +0000, DTR <[email hidden]> wrote:

🙂Valley lines trains used to allow cycles - that was a year or so ago - )don't know if they
:still do. )

Seemingly: valleylines.co.ukvalleylines.co.ukOpen ↗
--
Comm again, Mike.