Join in the fun; The Calorie-Count Cycling Club...

Welcome to all who have an interest in anything cycling of any kind.( road, mountain, commuting, stationary, whatever).

This is the place to come to ask that question you have been wanting to ask,

or tell that story about your latest adventure riding your bike,

find out how to use cycling to get in better shape, or anything else you can think of.

So, to start, tell us, what you ride, where you ride and what type of riding you enjoy.

Come back often too check out what's going on and see what's on everyones mind or add your knowledge to the group. 

 

The big club ride was called on account of rain.  I put in 15 miles of power intervals on the trainer in my basement.

I carry a spare tube and CO2.  I haven't been very successful trying to patch tubes, although I believe I have a few patches in the bag.  I have the Topeak Morph pump on the Aurora and I bought one for the Quest but it is still in the box.  The CO2 seems to be sufficient to get me through tube repairs on the road.  I also have a Crank Brother's pump with a presure guage on it but I don't believe that I could pump a tube up to 100 or so psi with that little thing.

I carry 2 spare tubes, 4 CO2 cartrides, patches, tire levers, a Thule Multi-Tool, and Quick Patches (those that you just stick on the tube and not not need glue). For emergency tire repairs I carry a couple of small pieces of old tire to stick inside the tire to patch a big gash in the tire. They have come in handy a couple of times. I have heard of the dollar bill method but have never tried it. Until recently I also carried a fanny pack with my cell phone, food, money, etc. but now have a small Topeak pack that attaches to my handlebar stem. I carry my cell phone and money in that and the food I put in my shirt pockets. Since the advent of CO2 I no longer carry a frame pump.

I finished last week with 230 miles and the Month of May with 760 miles. With the 36 I got in today before the rains came I am now sitting at 2208 for the year. My goal for the year is 6000 so I have targeted a minimum of 3000 by the end of June.

Good morning everyone, how's the gang today?

Well the rains came to Ohio yesterday, I was at the end of my driveway, on my way out, when the first drops hit. Didn't get any farther! So mother nature gave me an off day. unfortunatly I didn't us the time wisely and;

Found another good reason for riding a bike.  If your out riding, you can't be home eating, lost control of myself yesterday and ate like it was my last meal.  Amazing how much weight you can gain when you do that! Now I will have to go out and try to work it all backoff again,d**m!!

Well see ya all later, hope all is well with you and yours.

DAN

Yesterday I worked on the bike a little more, rode around some various neighborhoods in my area for about 5 miles, and then this morning I got up at 6am (a milestone for me) to prep me for the day I start bike commuting to work.

Also since I was up early I drove in today using the path I'd take to work (atleast the road portion of it).   Overall I think I have a pretty peaceful ride with only one hot spot of activity to be extra careful on.   Thursday I'm planning to ride in, unless I get the uncontrolable urge before then.

I'm going to drive home using my commuting path as well so I can check the reverse route.   It should mostly be pretty peaceful.   Still 1 hot spot but I can just walk back part of it (a hundred feet or so) and take a side road that'll get me to a light.   So it shouldnt' be too terrible.

The hills and stuff... nothing I can't do.  I ride up much much worse stuff than that.

Ok, so I am still riding my bike every day and I am loving every moment of it. I am also getting more in shape than I could have ever imagined. One problem though: Is there any way to protect my knees? I am finding that they hurt quite a bit and I am wondering if it is just because I don't have the seat at the right height or could there be a more serious problem going on.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

BTW, since getting my bike a week and a half ago I have dropped 7 pounds!!

Jane

Jane,

You may simply be pushing too big a gear. That is normally what causes knee pain. I would try to pedal at a higher cadence in a smaller gear and see if that helps the problem. If your knees are sore though it may take a few days for it to help. There are some good discussions earlier in the thread on cadence and gears that you should look at.

In terms of seat height you want to set the height so that when the pedal is at the bottom of the rotation you leg has a slight bend. Your bike shop can help you adjust the seat height if you feel uncomfortable doing it.

Sandy

Thanks bunches Sandy. I will try that out. I figured I would definitely be sore simply because ANY kind of excercise in the past has been a big no-no. But I did not expect my knees to feel this way. It is not going to stop me. Rain or shine I will be out there. Gee, I have discovered that the birds actually sing when you are not zooming by them in a car, lol.

Jane

autismjtm,

1. It could be the seat height.
2. It could be the seat forward/backward position.
3. It could be the gear.
4. It could be OVERTRAINING.
5. It could just be all or some of the above.

Seat height is important but equal in  many ways is the position it is mmoving forward and back as this will  affect your knees almost more than the up and down movement based on  the height.

If you haven't rode much and just started riding every day for two weeks then overtraining definitely is in play here.   You need to build up to daily riding.   It's not as serious as learning to run, but it does require some days off of riding while your legs recover and giving the muscles a chance to develop.

If you are in the wrong gear then you'd be pushing too hard and then that would result in some knee pain maybe.

Hello guys and gals!  I haven't been able to do much riding lately because my husband has been gone firefighting and it is hard to leave my kids more often than I already do.  If I can't fit in a good ride by the end of next weekend then I am going to take a day of vacation and ride while the kids ar at their regualrly scheduled daycare! (Wooo Hoooo for paid leave!)

I have a question for all of you.  My husband rides a late 90's Bianchi, its a great bike but he wants to upgrade to something a little lighter, the Bianchi weighs in at 22 lbs without water bottles.  He has been looking at a Motobecane because the cost is less than a big name bike. 

Nobody we know around here rides one so my question is does anybody have any experience or any friends with experience with Motobecane and if so what is your impression of them?  We did see the model he wants at a local triathlon this past weekend but of course couldn't do more than glance it over and lift it up a little.  Any type of feedback will be taken into consideration.

On my way to work today I was stopped at a traffic light. When I looked down I found a packet of money and other stuff banded together. Inside the packet was a womans drivers licence, credit card, health care card and some cash. There was also a piece of paper with some contact numbers in it. I called the number to let her know i found her stuff and what would be the best way to return it. She was so incredibly happy that I had found her stuff and was calling her so she could get it back.  The really cool thing about this is that she is a fellow cyclist.

pozesara,

You may want to point your husband to bikeforums.net .  I also post over there now and yeah there are quite a few people that ride the Motobecane.  Some commute on em.

I like this group though because it's small and more personal.  So I'll continue to post in both places.

His old bike though at 22pounds is lighter than what I ride.   With lighter bikes, unless you are riding them stripped down, the weight difference isn't that huge.   He may want to consider lighter tires, tubes and so on to see a bigger difference in his rolling resistance.  Bianchi is a pretty respectable bike company.


gmule,

Greaty story.  Glad you took the high road.

Doing the right thing always comes back to you in the end.

Night - Bianchi is very respected.  His bike is a 63cm full ultegra aluminum frame so updating componentry to get it lighter would probably cost more than it is worth since the next step up is dura ace, very pricey stuff (also very good).  Another motivation behind this bike purchase is to get a carbon fiber frame, less road vibration. 

The model he is looking at is a full carbon, full ultegra.  The full bike weighs in at 16.5 lbs so the 5 lbs he takes off of his bike would be significant.  He is in excellent shape and can maintain a decent 17-19 mph on most rides.  The real concern is the quality, I mean the deal seems too good to be true.    The frame is not too much of a concern, I have kenesis frames on both my MTB and my Fuji and have had great experience, most name brand bike frames are made in Asia as well unless you are buying absolute top of the line.  I worry that maybe the components say shimano ultegra but are perhaps cheap knock offs or something.

He has looked through bikeforums.net and has found both great reviews and people violently opposed to the brand so what I am really asking is what is everyone's personal experiences or impressions, like I said nobody where I live rides one that we know.  I trust what people in this group have to say and throwing down $1500 to find out the deal really was too good to be true would be unfortunate for us.  Part of the reason we are looking at the motobecane is because we can't afford the price tag of the quality of bike he wants in a better known name.

gmule, As was stated, nice of you to return the found money, I always think, what if that was for medicine and I keep it from someone. That motivation pushes me to return it, without question!

pozesara, wish I could help with the moto feed back but don't have any experience with them. However, I do own a carbon frame bike, one thing to keep in mind is if you do damage the frame it is almost imposible to fix!  I have a large gash is my B-B (caused by a chain jumping off) that Trek has looked over, they feel it is of concern but are fairly sure that if it does fail it won't be catastrophic, as in fly apart, but may break at some point.  The point of this is that I wish i had just waited and saved a little more cash and got titanium. Just something to think about!

Well gang rain on sunday so I just took a day off, rain today so trainer was the only option 35 miles, threw in some weight work for good measure. Hope the weather clears up so I can get back outside, forgot how hard it is to ride that trainer.

DAN  

carrihound, I deflated and then reinflated the rear tire on my road bike with my Road Morph the same night I got it, as a test. Easy as pie. It's too long to mount on a beside-the-bottle-cage carrier. It really rides best as a downsized frame pump, but the fold-out foot and the fold-out handle make it really easy to use, and it has a short length of hose, so you don't have to worry about ripping the valve off of the tube when you use it. I have another Topeak pump on my MTB, but it's more of the conventional style (but still has a built-in gauge). It takes a lot of work to inflate an MTB tire with it, though. Beats pushing the bike back out of the woods. leinad, thanks for the praise for the TT. C crits again tomorrow. If I don't make some of the beginner's mistakes I made last week, I might finish higher. Chief mistake: don't chase down a break unless the other riders are strong enough to stay away (cause I'm not strong enough on my own!). 10-mile TT is a week from Friday. I got out for 3.5 hours on Sunday. First 45 minutes was with my son, who was trying out his new bike shorts and jersey, which he loved. Then I hammered a wee bit harder than planned for the next 2:45. I felt it today. I hope I recover for the crits tomorow--I don't seem to have time to do a recovery ride tonight. Danged customers and their problems!

Hey all!  I had a realization today.

I've only been on my bike once since a week ago Friday.  And it occurred to me that it's not been because I've been super tired in the mornings and have slept too late to commute.  That's true, I have slept too late.  But I think I didn't force myself out of bed because now that I have my new pedals I feel like I should use them, and I'll admit that I'm just not comfortable with the idea of it.  So I'm giving myself public permission to just use regular shoes for as long as I want to, and only switch over to the cycling shoes with cleats when I am good and ready.  :)  Because it's much more important that I keep commuting, keep riding, than that I am using the clipless pedals!

Go outside clip in and fall over. Get it out of the way and then enjoy the new pedals.

Mmm, yep, did that already.  Didn't enjoy it.  Don't want to do it in traffic.  :)  I could force using the pedals, but at the risk of not enjoying cycling for a while.  So I'm just going to be patient.  I'll look back on it an be amused one day, but in the mean time I'll be patient.  :)

pandajenn, smart approach. if the gear is keeping you off the bike, stay within your comfort zone until you're ready to change over. i have platforms on one of my bikes - there's no shame in it. OH, and the new hair cut is great!!

behanna, thanks for the feedback on the road morph pump. it sounds well-equipped. i can imagine it's tough to fully inflate a MTB tire with a hand pump!!! phew!

Thank you so much Nightc1. I may be overdoing it a bit here. It is just so hard for me not to get on that bike, lol. I never even thought about the seat position that way. I am heading up and down some fairly big hills (at least for a beginner) and I don't want to discourage myself.

By the way, I almost got run over today in an intersection. This woman took a right turn without even looking. She actually clipped my front tire. No harm but it really scared me.

Jane