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Photo-story - Where my bike’s been


StreetCowboy

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I'd planned a not too strenuous ride up and down the highway a few km, detouring through a couple of housing estates - maybe 30 km or so.  Unfortunately one of the riders easily goaded me into trying one of the steep little hills that KL has in abundance.  Never again!  It was like THAT /.

1096344058_DesaParkCityOct2018.jpg.2306fe35bc70af9155ba03a3335664c4.jpg

Then we came home through the back road, which has a bit of construction site and ditch and unbuilt path to it - maybe that will keep him quiet about the planned plantation adventure for a while...

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31 minutes ago, damascase said:

Well, my bike did over 10.000km last year - with me in the saddle.........

Mainly in the far north of Thailand, where I took these pictures:

 

...

Great pictures.  It looks like great cycling countryside.

 

That's a lot of kilometres.  My target is 5,000+ km per year, and that needs going out diligently twice every weekend.

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Love the pictures and reports guys[emoji106][emoji2532]
We had some lovely sunshine in the Test Valley yesterday morning. However it was 2 degrees Celsius when I set off on my 38 mile ride. I wore every piece of my winter clothing just to keep warm. Still loved it[emoji1452]‍[emoji3603][emoji1452]‍[emoji3603][emoji1452]‍[emoji3603]

IMG_4391.jpg



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1 hour ago, MrTrip said:

Love the pictures and reports guysemoji106.pngemoji2532.png
We had some lovely sunshine in the Test Valley yesterday morning. However it was 2 degrees Celsius when I set off on my 38 mile ride. I wore every piece of my winter clothing just to keep warm. Still loved itemoji1452.pngemoji3603.pngemoji1452.pngemoji3603.pngemoji1452.pngemoji3603.png

IMG_4391.jpg



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Test Valley looks like nice cycling country - what is the New Forest like for cycling?

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To celebrate Depavali I fitted the bell, and went out to set a fastest time on my local 3 km loop in my suburb.  Unfortunately, I over-did the warm-up lap, and my legs said “steady on there, you can have too much of a good thing” 200 metres into the first incline on the racing lap.  So I got a Personal 3rd Best for the warm-up, and called it a day and went home for some bell-fitting.  I didn’t take a photo, so you’ll need to imagine the bike above with a small Cateye dinger fitted

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9 hours ago, Hank Gunn said:

Loving this thread and have been anxious to post. I have a cyclocross bike (shorter top tube for a less stretched out riding position among other things) and changed out the drop bars to these "mustache" bars and added the Brooks saddle. I used it as my commuter the last year I lived in the US (Silicon Valley, about 45 mi. south of San Fran.) then moved here to Buriram, Thailand 1 1/2 yrs. ago with my Thai wife. We're just on the edge of town, about 3km to the BigC, Makro, Robinsons, and about 8km into the "downtown" (pop. is ~ 30k). I have a loop that takes a back road out to the main east/west hwy (226) that goes to Korat in one direction and Surin in the other. It's about 10km out and 10km back. I've gotten the ride down from about an hour, to 55 min., to 54 min. then the last two times 53 min. (Not real exact as I just check my phone before tucking into my underseat bag and check it when I get back.) As my conditioning has improved somewhat, I decided to lengthen my ride and head east on that 226 towards the Buriram racetrack then head south about 1km to this park, called Khao Kradong. This is my bike parked at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to a huge Buddha statue and vista point. (There's also a very steep road that goes up to the top.) Riding to the park and back has basically double my ride (40km round trip) and I'm hoping I can continue it as my thrice-weekly ride now (rather than just the 20km loop). I'm 57 1/2 and way over weight, so my goal is to drop a good 30-35 kilos.

 

 

 

 

That's a smart-looking bike - and sounds like a couple of good routes.

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6 hours ago, n210mp said:

Nice bike Hank very similar to mine ( Photo of my 29er at Bansare fish dock yesterday)

 

Talking about bikes I have just bought a Carbon addict R4 frame and need wheels if anyone has any for sale (700) 

 

That's a big upgrade - is it getting a bit competitive with Texas Bob?  He's got you in the fashion stakes, for sure.

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On 11/12/2018 at 7:06 AM, n210mp said:

Nice bike Hank very similar to mine ( Photo of my 29er at Bansare fish dock yesterday)

 

Talking about bikes I have just bought a Carbon addict R4 frame and need wheels if anyone has any for sale (700) 

 

Thanks for the complements gents. A little history: I had a mountain bike before that in Calif. for about 15 yrs.; only used it off-road a couple-dozen times then put road-biased tires on it. It was a great bike but since I began to use it pretty much exclusively for short road trips to the gym or around town some negatives popped up: with a front suspension, even tightened down to its stiffest setting, I felt like a lot of my pedaling energy was dissipated in compressing the forks on each pedal stroke; with an aluminum frame, even with the front suspension it felt like a stiff/harsh ride, and; with those bigger tires, even road-biased ones, there was a lot more rolling resistance.

So enter a couple of friends who are pretty serious bikers (one of the group, who had moved out of the area about 10 yrs previous, was a former pro BMX rider) and they had added cyclocross bikes to their large collections. I was a little familiar with the genre/sport and figured they'd be a little "beefier" than a straight up road bike, which would support my rather large size (fluctuating between 265-285 lbs the last few yrs.). I figured the tires/wheels would be especially stronger. As I did my basic research, I also learned that steel frames are becoming more popular again and offer just a slight amount of flex to add some comfort to bikes where weight isn't the primary need (e.g. cyclocross or loaded up touring bikes). So one of the guys (he actually was the officiant at my Calif. wedding) bought a steel-framed bike from a company called SOMA, which stands for South of Market, a neighborhood in San Francisco demarcated by Market St., where the financial district is located. They design bikes and handlebars but manufacture in Taiwan. So seeing his nice bike, I opted for the model just down from his (his has disc brakes and mine has traditional cantilever). As I mentioned earlier, I wanted a city/commuter/road bike, so changed the drop bars to their SOMA Sparrow bars (they can be reversed to offer a couple cm rise; I currently have them in the down/lowered position) and put the Brooks saddle on. I have a tail rack/trunk-bag combo that has small, collapsable panniers built in but haven't put it on here as I'm only doing the road rides now and haven't used it to go to the outdoor markets yet. (I may get a simple, single-speed bike for the wife so we can go to the nearby (2km) night market.)

So I was able to do that 40km loop again yesterday (Wed.) and even with a 10 min. water break at the park/half-way point, I'm pretty beat when I get back. My legs aren't too bad, but yeah it's a challenge. Hoping it gets easier as I go. Also, with those cyclocross tires, they're thicker than traditional road tires and while not as slow as full mountain bike tires, I definitely feel a little extra rolling resistance. So I think I'll eventually add some thinner road tires when these wear down or wear out.

 

Cheers

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2 hours ago, Hank Gunn said:

Thanks for the complements gents. A little history: I had a mountain bike before that in Calif. for about 15 yrs.; only used it off-road a couple-dozen times then put road-biased tires on it. It was a great bike but since I began to use it pretty much exclusively for short road trips to the gym or around town some negatives popped up: with a front suspension, even tightened down to its stiffest setting, I felt like a lot of my pedaling energy was dissipated in compressing the forks on each pedal stroke; with an aluminum frame, even with the front suspension it felt like a stiff/harsh ride, and; with those bigger tires, even road-biased ones, there was a lot more rolling resistance.

So enter a couple of friends who are pretty serious bikers (one of the group, who had moved out of the area about 10 yrs previous, was a former pro BMX rider) and they had added cyclocross bikes to their large collections. I was a little familiar with the genre/sport and figured they'd be a little "beefier" than a straight up road bike, which would support my rather large size (fluctuating between 265-285 lbs the last few yrs.). I figured the tires/wheels would be especially stronger. As I did my basic research, I also learned that steel frames are becoming more popular again and offer just a slight amount of flex to add some comfort to bikes where weight isn't the primary need (e.g. cyclocross or loaded up touring bikes). So one of the guys (he actually was the officiant at my Calif. wedding) bought a steel-framed bike from a company called SOMA, which stands for South of Market, a neighborhood in San Francisco demarcated by Market St., where the financial district is located. They design bikes and handlebars but manufacture in Taiwan. So seeing his nice bike, I opted for the model just down from his (his has disc brakes and mine has traditional cantilever). As I mentioned earlier, I wanted a city/commuter/road bike, so changed the drop bars to their SOMA Sparrow bars (they can be reversed to offer a couple cm rise; I currently have them in the down/lowered position) and put the Brooks saddle on. I have a tail rack/trunk-bag combo that has small, collapsable panniers built in but haven't put it on here as I'm only doing the road rides now and haven't used it to go to the outdoor markets yet. (I may get a simple, single-speed bike for the wife so we can go to the nearby (2km) night market.)

So I was able to do that 40km loop again yesterday (Wed.) and even with a 10 min. water break at the park/half-way point, I'm pretty beat when I get back. My legs aren't too bad, but yeah it's a challenge. Hoping it gets easier as I go. Also, with those cyclocross tires, they're thicker than traditional road tires and while not as slow as full mountain bike tires, I definitely feel a little extra rolling resistance. So I think I'll eventually add some thinner road tires when these wear down or wear out.

 

Cheers

Just keep your tyres hard - I ride 35 / 38 mm tyres at 85-90 psi, with alight tread on them.  

 

I don’t know how to quantify the difference in rolling resistance with my mate’s road bike, but I reckon his lower cross-section to weight ratio and fewer spokes make just as much difference

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3 hours ago, StreetCowboy said:

Just keep your tyres hard - I ride 35 / 38 mm tyres at 85-90 psi, with alight tread on them.  

 

I don’t know how to quantify the difference in rolling resistance with my mate’s road bike, but I reckon his lower cross-section to weight ratio and fewer spokes make just as much difference

Yeah, the max inflation on the sidewalls for these tires is 85 psi and I pump them up once or twice a week to 90 psi. ???? Definitely try to keep them as hard/pressurized as possible. Having said that, I think my next tires will be narrower; not necessarily the thinnest road tires possible but definitely thinner with a smoother tread. These current tires might be a 32 mm width and I may jump down to a 28 or something like that. (I'll have to look at the tires again.)

 

I'm also logging my mileage (in km) in an Excel spreadsheet (a bit "geeky" of me). I figure watching the kms mount up will keep me motivated. I'll especially need that as my wife and I are headed down to Ko Lanta for short 8 day beach vacation. (I'll try to make up for the missed rides by doing some swimming and beach walks.)

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2 hours ago, Hank Gunn said:

Yeah, the max inflation on the sidewalls for these tires is 85 psi and I pump them up once or twice a week to 90 psi. ???? Definitely try to keep them as hard/pressurized as possible. Having said that, I think my next tires will be narrower; not necessarily the thinnest road tires possible but definitely thinner with a smoother tread. These current tires might be a 32 mm width and I may jump down to a 28 or something like that. (I'll have to look at the tires again.)

 

I'm also logging my mileage (in km) in an Excel spreadsheet (a bit "geeky" of me). I figure watching the kms mount up will keep me motivated. I'll especially need that as my wife and I are headed down to Ko Lanta for short 8 day beach vacation. (I'll try to make up for the missed rides by doing some swimming and beach walks.)

I use Strava, which provides all sorts of geeky information, and is also a bit social.

 

I run 35+mm tyres on my cyclocross road bike, 35 mm on the mountain bike (but its too small for me so I passed it on to a friend) and 28 mm on my 'shopping bike' - a hybrid.  I don't notice the road bike is any harder to pedal, except for lacking the low gears for steep hills, and the riding position is a bit more aggressive - the shopping bike is set with the saddle deliberately slightly low due to the number of traffic lights and pubs around where I live.  

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To celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed, peace be with us all, We went down to Johnny’s for a kickstand for the mountain bike.

I can’t be bothered with the typing, so you’ll need to come up with your own joke about a longer stand.

37F6B3A0-E263-4013-8636-70DF783B6AF0.thumb.jpeg.cfda82bc945c248b24b050c08a8b8490.jpegYou can see the Cateye dinger as well. The only blot on the horizon is that we’re stopped at Green Dot, which is a Carlsberg pub, and it looks like it might rain; if we wait long enough.

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