cameras, macs,... time for a cycling thread.
Posted by: Dan M on 19 November 2004
Is it me or is it a little slow and/or grumpy in the padded cell of late? You have to worry when a thread on plurals gets 5 checks 
So to liven things up, how about a cycling thread?
Feel free to comment on any of the following:
cheers,
Dan
So to liven things up, how about a cycling thread?Feel free to comment on any of the following:
- That Nixon fork looks way cool - lock it out or set the travel you want.
- TdF 2005 has supposedly been designed to make it hard for Lance, and he's already talking that he might take a year off to pursue other goals. Will Lance do the P-R, Giro and Vuelta?
- What's with Eki going after Tyler's gold medal - "It's not personal" - yeah right.
- Why are the Belgians so good at cyclocross?
- The 10th Annual Cascade Cream Puff registration opens up in Feb. -- who's signing up for the single speed category? 100 Miles - 50% Singletrack - 18,000 ft. of Climbing - 110 rider limit, so Steve G. don't hang about.
- If I were to replace my Gunnar, I'd get one of these made for me http://www.juniper-solutions.com/coconinocycles/
- Is the Pro Tour good for cycling?
cheers,
Dan
Alex,
My riding style might be described as cautious if to cowardly and I always ride well within myself. I did suffer a grazed knee today although rather embarrassingly I was not actually on my bike at the time and basically just fell over.
Anyway, after slogging all the way up the Col d'Crouch End (a serious undertaking on a 20" bike) I had about 20 mins at the park before getting rained out. Wooden skate ramps are fairly tricky things but wet wet wooden ramps should be used by scientists in need of something approaching the frictionless equivalent of absolute zero.
I was also hoping that some of the friendly kids would be there to give me a few tips. Instead there was one chinese guy who didn't speak a word of English and a lad who triad to sell me a Marin East Peak for "fifty quid".
I'd just about got used to riding up the quarter pipe and hopping over to the roll-in and it started raining. I guess I should try a peg stall or something first but it all looks terribly difficult IRL compared to watching it on the telly. In the meantime I am working on my signature trick which is called Riding Along
Matthew
The park in question can be found by clicking on this pic:
My riding style might be described as cautious if to cowardly and I always ride well within myself. I did suffer a grazed knee today although rather embarrassingly I was not actually on my bike at the time and basically just fell over.
Anyway, after slogging all the way up the Col d'Crouch End (a serious undertaking on a 20" bike) I had about 20 mins at the park before getting rained out. Wooden skate ramps are fairly tricky things but wet wet wooden ramps should be used by scientists in need of something approaching the frictionless equivalent of absolute zero.
I was also hoping that some of the friendly kids would be there to give me a few tips. Instead there was one chinese guy who didn't speak a word of English and a lad who triad to sell me a Marin East Peak for "fifty quid".
I'd just about got used to riding up the quarter pipe and hopping over to the roll-in and it started raining. I guess I should try a peg stall or something first but it all looks terribly difficult IRL compared to watching it on the telly. In the meantime I am working on my signature trick which is called Riding Along
Matthew
The park in question can be found by clicking on this pic:
You can't beat a ride through a beech forest at this time of the year. Only the swish of damp wheels punctuates the empty silence. Always another path or track to follow through golden carpetted amphitheatres. Beneath a canopy of stark, black-wet stems reaching gauntly for a golden flickering sun. Solitary birds mark your progress with low alarm or high indifference.
Then back by another way. Past exhasted timber-framed cottages. Pockmarking the old avenues to faded glory. Weighed down by season, labour and slow accumulation. Propped up by winter's star-cracked fuel against new winds.
So narrowly homewards on battered tarmac beneath regimented whitebeam and oak. Past resting, watchful farmhouses, muddied roads. Wet eyes fend off chill northern folds and fields now denuded of tractor and beast. Brave new-world, grey-white windmills stand staunchly determined amidst white-splashed, prairied furrows and a layered sky.
Past the calc-white church on the hump and the relief of the rutted gravel drive and the victory lap. A lower gear and then the resisting, defensive gate is awkwardly breached. To clap waveringly backwards against hawthorn and trim, prickly plum ans rose.
Alien legs crunch across glittering grass. To clatter stiffly over worn wooden threshold with bucking, recalcitrant bicycle. Still eager to be free. Rather than be stabled in the cold shed so achingly alone.
Truant cat stretches and leaves the doorstep to offer a stiff, formal welcome. And so in. To low, musty warmth, fresh logs, rowdy kettle and Elgar.
You had to be there I suppose.
Nime
Then back by another way. Past exhasted timber-framed cottages. Pockmarking the old avenues to faded glory. Weighed down by season, labour and slow accumulation. Propped up by winter's star-cracked fuel against new winds.
So narrowly homewards on battered tarmac beneath regimented whitebeam and oak. Past resting, watchful farmhouses, muddied roads. Wet eyes fend off chill northern folds and fields now denuded of tractor and beast. Brave new-world, grey-white windmills stand staunchly determined amidst white-splashed, prairied furrows and a layered sky.
Past the calc-white church on the hump and the relief of the rutted gravel drive and the victory lap. A lower gear and then the resisting, defensive gate is awkwardly breached. To clap waveringly backwards against hawthorn and trim, prickly plum ans rose.
Alien legs crunch across glittering grass. To clatter stiffly over worn wooden threshold with bucking, recalcitrant bicycle. Still eager to be free. Rather than be stabled in the cold shed so achingly alone.
Truant cat stretches and leaves the doorstep to offer a stiff, formal welcome. And so in. To low, musty warmth, fresh logs, rowdy kettle and Elgar.
You had to be there I suppose.
Nime
quote:
Originally posted by John C:
I did a mini-tour of the Surrey Hills today. Started off cold and fresh, half an hour in light drizzle, 2 hours in driving sleet, last 2 hours a bloody blizzard. Fell apart on one particularly nasty 18% incline, got lost near Leatherhead and diced with death on the A24. Arrived home and a combination of lactic acidosis and sudden core temp rise from 32 to 37 degrees in the bath led to a deeply unsettling attack of rigors. Going out again tomorrow.
John
John -
Respect!
Have you done the real Tour of the Surrey Hills? Highly recommended - usually second Sunday in August.
PS Tim D stop showing off please....
Tim
Steve,
I think a tourer would be a nice addition -- it's a shame to load down that nice racer with a rack and lights. I just got the new Excel catalog and that RLC is $600! So have they given up on V-brake attachments on these forks now? The RockShox Reba looks like it has similar specs but a little cheaper than you RLC, but surely V brakes are still the light weight choice.
What makes me laugh are the prices of some headlamps -- there are Nightriders listed at $470
Of course, this is just pennies to you pound/euro holders these days.
Speaking of spending money on bike schwag, after seeing Kryptonites being picked with a biro, I'm in need of a new lock. My "U-lock" rip-off is likely even more suspect. So, any suggestions from the local experts? I don't mind removing the front wheel if that's an issue.
cheers,
Dan
I think a tourer would be a nice addition -- it's a shame to load down that nice racer with a rack and lights. I just got the new Excel catalog and that RLC is $600! So have they given up on V-brake attachments on these forks now? The RockShox Reba looks like it has similar specs but a little cheaper than you RLC, but surely V brakes are still the light weight choice.
What makes me laugh are the prices of some headlamps -- there are Nightriders listed at $470
Of course, this is just pennies to you pound/euro holders these days.Speaking of spending money on bike schwag, after seeing Kryptonites being picked with a biro, I'm in need of a new lock. My "U-lock" rip-off is likely even more suspect. So, any suggestions from the local experts? I don't mind removing the front wheel if that's an issue.
cheers,
Dan
quote:
Originally posted by Tim Jones:
PS Tim D stop showing off please....
Tim
Well, since I'm showing off...
Mmmm...Bianchi Pista Chrome...Mmmmm
Cheers,
Tim
_____________________________
Os nid Campagnolo yw hi, dyw hi ddim yn werth ei marcho...
Still, it's not all cakes and ale...this what happens when you get switched on the banking at 50 km/h and use the sudden conjunction of your face and the steel handrail as an impromptu brake...
Cheers,
Tim
_____________________________
Os nid Campagnolo yw hi, dyw hi ddim yn werth ei marcho...
Cheers,
Tim
_____________________________
Os nid Campagnolo yw hi, dyw hi ddim yn werth ei marcho...
Ohhh, that's nothing,
A mere scratch!
Tim
A mere scratch!
Tim
Next time remember to back-pedal!
My mate had a full chrome Bianchi track around '64-65. Mine was a Hobbs "Blue Riband" before going over to a Jack Taylor lugless.
We used to run around everywere with 110" fixed gears so we could slipstream the buses and lorries between cities. Oh the exquisite pain of "staying on" on those long country straights!
Now the traffic is slower than a bike.
Nime
My mate had a full chrome Bianchi track around '64-65. Mine was a Hobbs "Blue Riband" before going over to a Jack Taylor lugless.
We used to run around everywere with 110" fixed gears so we could slipstream the buses and lorries between cities. Oh the exquisite pain of "staying on" on those long country straights!
Now the traffic is slower than a bike.
Nime