cycling

[Paranoid__Android]

Ive just found a good way to keep fit:
I just went on a cycling trip for two weeks and travelled just over 1000 miles.

I have to say I have never felt fitter or more healthy in my life

anyone else done anything similar?

[Haistfu]

That's about 70 miles a day -- were you already cycling heavily beforehand?

[Durandal]

Actually 70 miles isn't an incredible amount to cycle in one day, assuming of course that the land is relatively flat. Then it might get a bit harder.

[Haistfu]

Actually 70 miles isn't an incredible amount to cycle in one day, assuming of course that the land is relatively flat. Then it might get a bit harder.

70 miles @ 15mph = 4.7hours. 15 mph isn't a fast pace, but not one that a casual cyclist could manage 5 hours a day for 14 days straight. Hence, the question.

[Paranoid__Android]

Actually 70 miles isn't an incredible amount to cycle in one day, assuming of course that the land is relatively flat. Then it might get a bit harder.

70 miles @ 15mph = 4.7hours. 15 mph isn't a fast pace, but not one that a casual cyclist could manage 5 hours a day for 14 days straight. Hence, the question.

well, id only ever cycled a 120 mile round trip over two days before.

and it got easier as I went along, but i did have to go over some pretty large mountains-the alps
this was the route, it probably wouldnt have been so long but we kept on getting lost and didnt really know the languages so had trouble with asking for directions
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en& ... 7ef939fc8d

[Quadropus]

After having a look at the google maps link, that seems like a really exciting trip! Did you take much time to stop in each place to see the sights and what-not?

I think that sometime in my life I will want to do a tour like this, possibly larger. (maybe to out-do my parents, they did 12000 miles around Europe - I am determined to beat this....)

Also, out of interest, what kind of bike did you use?

[Paranoid__Android]

I think that sometime in my life I will want to do a tour like this, possibly larger. (maybe to out-do my parents, they did 12000 miles around Europe - I am determined to beat this....)

If you did beat this I would be very vey impressed

Also, out of interest, what kind of bike did you use?

I was on a Raleigh hybrid

[armandtanzarian]

This is soooo my thread. I spent the month of June biking from Des Moines, IA to Philadelphia, PA, 1600 miles. It was the greatest thing I ever did.

By the way, if anyone does plan to do a cross-country trip across America, I highly, HIGHLY recommend the The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath and the Great Allegheny Trail. One kinda leads into the other, starting outside Pittsburgh into DC. I suggest you take a bus to McKeesport first though; that part of the trail is not done yet. But if you do it's 318 miles of awesome traffic-less biking.

I miss biking. The bike I used got stolen in Brooklyn halfway up the East Coast.

[Paranoid__Android]

By the way, if anyone does plan to do a cross-country trip across America, I highly, HIGHLY recommend the The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath and the Great Allegheny Trail. One kinda leads into the other, starting outside Pittsburgh into DC. I suggest you take a bus to McKeesport first though; that part of the trail is not done yet. But if you do it's 318 miles of awesome traffic-less biking.

I miss biking. The bike I used got stolen in Brooklyn halfway up the East Coast.

No way, im actually planning on doing that next year, as in the across America trip.
Ulucky about the stolen bike , its my greatest fear for that to happen on a trip.

[joeframbach]

This is soooo my thread. I spent the month of June biking from Des Moines, IA to Philadelphia, PA, 1600 miles. It was the greatest thing I ever did.

By the way, if anyone does plan to do a cross-country trip across America, I highly, HIGHLY recommend the The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath and the Great Allegheny Trail. One kinda leads into the other, starting outside Pittsburgh into DC. I suggest you take a bus to McKeesport first though; that part of the trail is not done yet. But if you do it's 318 miles of awesome traffic-less biking.

I miss biking. The bike I used got stolen in Brooklyn halfway up the East Coast.

Just a few weeks ago I did 2 sections of a 24-hour 18-team relay from DC to Pgh, to celebrate Pgh's 250th anniversary. It was most definitely finished. I even met John Surma (CEO of U.S. Steel), who donated land to help finish it.

To add to the cycling talk: Last night I took part in an "alleycat race" (http://www.pghalleycat.com), which was a 2-hour, 5-checkpoint race all across Pgh. Of course they picked all the steepest hills. Oakland to Pitt's Upper Campus to South Side to Schenley to Center/Negley to Shadyside. My legs still hurt.

[armandtanzarian]

This is soooo my thread. I spent the month of June biking from Des Moines, IA to Philadelphia, PA, 1600 miles. It was the greatest thing I ever did.

By the way, if anyone does plan to do a cross-country trip across America, I highly, HIGHLY recommend the The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath and the Great Allegheny Trail. One kinda leads into the other, starting outside Pittsburgh into DC. I suggest you take a bus to McKeesport first though; that part of the trail is not done yet. But if you do it's 318 miles of awesome traffic-less biking.

I miss biking. The bike I used got stolen in Brooklyn halfway up the East Coast.

Just a few weeks ago I did 2 sections of a 24-hour 18-team relay from DC to Pgh, to celebrate Pgh's 250th anniversary. It was most definitely finished. I even met John Surma (CEO of U.S. Steel), who donated land to help finish it.

To add to the cycling talk: Last night I took part in an "alleycat race" (http://www.pghalleycat.com), which was a 2-hour, 5-checkpoint race all across Pgh. Of course they picked all the steepest hills. Oakland to Pitt's Upper Campus to South Side to Schenley to Center/Negley to Shadyside. My legs still hurt.

Did you have to use the Montour Trail? Or can you now bike straight into Pittburgh?

[joeframbach]

This is soooo my thread. I spent the month of June biking from Des Moines, IA to Philadelphia, PA, 1600 miles. It was the greatest thing I ever did.

By the way, if anyone does plan to do a cross-country trip across America, I highly, HIGHLY recommend the The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath and the Great Allegheny Trail. One kinda leads into the other, starting outside Pittsburgh into DC. I suggest you take a bus to McKeesport first though; that part of the trail is not done yet. But if you do it's 318 miles of awesome traffic-less biking.

I miss biking. The bike I used got stolen in Brooklyn halfway up the East Coast.

Just a few weeks ago I did 2 sections of a 24-hour 18-team relay from DC to Pgh, to celebrate Pgh's 250th anniversary. It was most definitely finished. I even met John Surma (CEO of U.S. Steel), who donated land to help finish it.

To add to the cycling talk: Last night I took part in an "alleycat race" (http://www.pghalleycat.com), which was a 2-hour, 5-checkpoint race all across Pgh. Of course they picked all the steepest hills. Oakland to Pitt's Upper Campus to South Side to Schenley to Center/Negley to Shadyside. My legs still hurt.

Did you have to use the Montour Trail? Or can you now bike straight into Pittburgh?

It goes right into downtown Pittsburgh, to Point State Park. The Montour Trail starts around Clairton (south of McKeesport), so the GAP overshoots it. It winds around to within 1000ft of my house (huzzah!) and on past the Pittsburgh Airport. http://www.montourtrail.org/maps/maps.html

[Paranoid__Android]

Has anyone done any cycle tours across a mountain range- if so how was it?

[joeframbach]

Has anyone done any cycle tours across a mountain range- if so how was it?

I rode 150 from Pittsburgh to Lake Erie. Good Lord that has hilly. Monstrously hilly.
Not mountainous, but by my standards, it was enough to make my ass hurt for days.

[armandtanzarian]

Has anyone done any cycle tours across a mountain range- if so how was it?

I did Eastern Ohio, and while it isn't terribly bad its still painful. Remember, you're biking uphill carrying 30-50 pounds of stuff (depending on the length of your journey) for at least half an hour. Going downhill for half an hour is fun though.

Then there's the issue of roads, in hilly places the roads may be too narrow for you to share the road comfortably with cars passing you by. Finally, if you decide to try the Rockies you have to watch for altitude sickness, exhaustion brought on by thinner air etc.

[Paranoid__Android]

I may be cycling across the rockies later next year.

I have done a bit of mountain cycling but I have only ever gotten up to 1600 meters altitude, as far as i can tell the rockies go allot higher than that, what kinds of altitudes should i stay below if I wanted to stay alive and well?

[Stabable Offense]

I try to do 10ish miles at a time a couple of times a week(not including riding to class) which I know isn't a huge distance but I ride more for fun than exercise and usually its climbing up huge hills so I can woosh it back down them and lock in to a long skid at the end. I love my fixie.

[joeframbach]

I may be cycling across the rockies later next year.

I have done a bit of mountain cycling but I have only ever gotten up to 1600 meters altitude, as far as i can tell the rockies go allot higher than that, what kinds of altitudes should i stay below if I wanted to stay alive and well?

I've been told that altitude sickness is a function of change-in-altitude, not actual altitude. One can climb 4500m up Everest with less altitude sickness hazard than climbing 4500m up Kilimanjaro, because there is more room for acclimitizing.

In the Rockies? You shouldn't have much trouble at all. Peak-bagging the 14k'ers in Colorado on a bike sounds awesome.

[TheKrikkitWars]

Ive just found a good way to keep fit:
I just went on a cycling trip for two weeks and travelled just over 1000 miles.

I have to say I have never felt fitter or more healthy in my life

anyone else done anything similar?

yep for six weeks I cycled a 110 mile circuit daily , I went from 7 hours to 4 hours over that time. Now I live in hilly snowdonia, and 40 miles can destroy me.

Sub question:- fixed, vs hard tail vs suspension. (I'm a hardtail fan, ride it for XC and am looking at a DH hardtail too [yes they do exist] full sus is just too mushy for me.)

[joeframbach]

Sub question:- fixed, vs hard tail vs suspension. (I'm a hardtail fan, ride it for XC and am looking at a DH hardtail too [yes they do exist] full sus is just too mushy for me.)

Padding is for wussies. Give me a solid frame, nothing fancy.

[Paranoid__Android]

yep for six weeks I cycled a 110 mile circuit daily , I went from 7 hours to 4 hours over that time. Now I live in hilly snowdonia, and 40 miles can destroy me.

110 miles in four hours is incredible.
how did you find time for this-were you training for an event or something?

Sub question:- fixed, vs hard tail vs suspension. (I'm a hardtail fan, ride it for XC and am looking at a DH hardtail too [yes they do exist] full sus is just too mushy for me.)

I didn't understand a word of that-something about suspension...
generally I'd agree with joeframbach (although a suspension seatpost is quite nice) but it really depends on the quality of roads.

edit: XC= cross country, right that now makes a little more sense

yeah i would agree with you- go for the hardtail (dont like the looks of these DH machines)

[MotorToad]

Sub question:- fixed, vs hard tail vs suspension. (I'm a hardtail fan, ride it for XC and am looking at a DH hardtail too [yes they do exist] full sus is just too mushy for me.)

Preface: I just reread your question and I very much misread it before, but I wrote a lot and I don't want to just delete it because it might help someone else that's buying a first mountain bike. When I read "hardtail... XC..., etc" I mentally went straight to the Cannondale Scalpel and skipped a bit of the rest, I guess. Although with the adjustments and remote lock-outs available now I dont' see any reason to not buy a full suspension bike if you can afford it. For me, though, the money they're asking for mountain bikes went to a bike that says "Kawasaki" not "Trek." It's much easier to ride.

Suspension or not depends on the budget, and how and where you ride. There's really not a right answer. I have both a newer-but-cheap hardtail and a old-but-quality full suspension bikes. Specifically an Ibex Alpine 350 and a Trek 9000.

You do lose some energy from bobbing the suspension on the dinosaur Trek, but newer bikes aren't so bad. I'm pretty sure the 9000 was Trek's first suspension bike and it's definitely on the paleolithic side of bike evolution. The thing I like most about it is it allows me to get the bike off the ground and land without breaking spokes (see, the Earth and I have a finely-tuned and high-magnitude attraction for one another and I have gone through a set or three of rear spokes). Do you lose some pedal energy? Certainly. But I'm out there to burn calories anyway, I'm not winning trophies here. It's well worth the comfort and soft landings.

If I had unlimited funds I'd like to get something like Cannondale's Scalpel which uses kind if a semi rear suspension.

It's enough for spoke-saving impulse absorption but not so much that you're bobbing around like pedaling a canoe. Unfortunately not only do I not have unlimited funds, but Cannondale's Lefty fork gives me the heebie-jeebies so I wouldn't buy one anyway.

[TheKrikkitWars]

yep for six weeks I cycled a 110 mile circuit daily , I went from 7 hours to 4 hours over that time. Now I live in hilly snowdonia, and 40 miles can destroy me.

110 miles in four hours is incredible.
how did you find time for this-were you training for an event or something?

It was my summer holiday, I was very bored, the countryside round my house is beautiful, my bike was in the shed, and I had some maps... a plan was born. I never really expected to reach the level that I did, it just sort of happened, totally died when I went back to sixthform.

Edit: I'm not looking at a new bike myself (though I fear new forks are looming), I'm just curious as to peoples preference.

[armandtanzarian]

yep for six weeks I cycled a 110 mile circuit daily , I went from 7 hours to 4 hours over that time. Now I live in hilly snowdonia, and 40 miles can destroy me.

110 miles in four hours is incredible.
how did you find time for this-were you training for an event or something?

It was my summer holiday, I was very bored, the countryside round my house is beautiful, my bike was in the shed, and I had some maps... a plan was born. I never really expected to reach the level that I did, it just sort of happened, totally died when I went back to sixthform.

Edit: I'm not looking at a new bike myself (though I fear new forks are looming), I'm just curious as to peoples preference.

That's amazing. Even in flat Iowa 80 miles killed me.

[Paranoid__Android]

thats just what summers are for

[armandtanzarian]

I found the article my friend wrote about me. I let her interview me 2 months ago as a courtesy, didn't think she'd actually write something so long...

http://media.www.timesdelphic.com/media ... 4928.shtml

[Paranoid__Android]

Time to revive this tread

I'm cycling a 400 mile round trip, alone, I'm slightly nervous

[joeframbach]

Time to revive this tread

I'm cycling a 400 mile round trip, alone, I'm slightly nervous

Over how long of a time interval?

[Paranoid__Android]

Time to revive this tread
I'm cycling a 400 mile round trip, alone, I'm slightly nervous

Over how long of a time interval?

5ish days, the main problem will be the cold. it can get to about -5 C at night and ill be camping

[joeframbach]

Time to revive this tread
I'm cycling a 400 mile round trip, alone, I'm slightly nervous

Over how long of a time interval?

5ish days, the main problem will be the cold. it can get to about -5 C at night and ill be camping

Oof. Good luck. And take pictures.
I'll be doing the 350-mile Allegheny Passage from DC to Pittsburgh during spring break, early March. I expect that one to be mighty chilly as well.

Also, don't think I didn't notice your mixing of units. (miles and Celsius?)

[Paranoid__Android]

thats what happens in england, the road system is in miles and some liquids are measured in pints, but generally everything else is SI units

I guess i could post pics. Ill be leaving on the 5th of February.

[TheKrikkitWars]

I hope you have a good sleeping bag, having been wild camping in the unseasonable cold we're having atm (and planning to do so again this week), you'll need one.

[Paranoid__Android]

I hope you have a good sleeping bag, having been wild camping in the unseasonable cold we're having atm (and planning to do so again this week), you'll need one.

it's....ok, three season, but ill be sleeping in my clothes so ill be fine.
and my tent keeps heat in fairly well.

I think ill wild camp as well, cant be bothered to pay a campsite
its also more fun

[joeframbach]

I hope you have a good sleeping bag, having been wild camping in the unseasonable cold we're having atm (and planning to do so again this week), you'll need one.

it's....ok, three season, but ill be sleeping in my clothes so ill be fine.

Eh, there are two camps on this issue. Most people I've run into agree with this view:
If you sleep in the spankies in a well-insulated bag, the heat that your torso generates will be more apt to heat other parts of your body like your legs and feet, which are less able to heat themselves. If you sleep fully clothed, your torso-heat stays at your torso and you wake up with cold feet.
I usually sleep with a wool hat and gloves, and something to cover up with in case nature calls. The next day's clothes make a nice pillow, and they'll be warm in the morning.

[Paranoid__Android]

ok, that makes sense, I will try that out.

[TheKrikkitWars]

You'll survive the experience then, but I shudder just thinking about sleeping outside in a three season bag ATM (though it is warming up) I think this may be down to my experince in a highly suspect gelert 3 season in -12 last year. Never again will I leave the mountaineering bag at home during the winter.

Clothes in bags, are a good idea if: you suspect that the temperature will drop below the bags EN lower limit temp, are sharing with people you dont know, or need to be able to break camp quickly in case of emergency.
If your bag is going to be within it's limit temperatures, then sleeping semi nude will make you feel warmer all over (I tend to wear my thermal leggings).

[Paranoid__Android]

@TheKrikkitWars
How do you go about wild camping?
I've done it in europe before and just hid in woods along my route for the night, do you ask farmers if you can stay in their field for the night or what?

(my tent is dark green and so is completely invisible in the dark )

Oh btw, I'm cycling from Loughborough to Southampton and back.

[TheKrikkitWars]

@TheKrikkitWars
How do you go about wild camping?
I've done it in europe before and just hid in woods along my route for the night, do you ask farmers if you can stay in their field for the night or what?

(my tent is dark green and so is completely invisible in the dark :¡This cheese is burning me!:)

Oh btw, I'm cycling from Loughborough to Southampton and back.

Basicly you have to follow a variety of proscriptions, finding wild campsites can be hard work. If you think you're on somones land you should try to get permission, but its normally not an issue if you apply common sense.

You must be:
Out of sight of houses & businesses.
More than 100m from any road,

You should be:
Well away from livestock or crops.
Aware of any special considerations (phesant shoots is the big one)
Applying basic santiation rules.
Following the country code.
Certain that your tent/bivi bag will survive the conditions unharmed.

You should not:
Use an open fire
Bury tampons as per other human wastes, Put them in a sealed bag, and carry them out. (dunno if that is relevant to you)
Stay for longer than is absolutely necessary.
Use unpurified water, if taking water from a natural source: strain it (or allow to sediment and decant off) then either boil thoroughly (8 mins), or add water purification tablets, (a £3.25 box from an army navy store will do 50L).


Good luck and enjoy it, it's a very liberating experience.

[Paranoid__Android]

Cheers for that,

the only time I've wild camped in the UK was when I was absolutely knackered after a very long day of cycling, and just picked the first available place, I thought it was a random field at first but turned out to be a bird sanctuary on the coast, I woke up with possibly the most incredible view ever over the sea

[ndansmith]

I was a bicycle commuter last summer and fall, and I plan to return to the same when the weather clears up a bit. It is good for exercise and to get out any latent aggression from work before getting home.