Coast to Coast

[hillhead]

I was even in halfords yesterday drooling over the new 2011 boardman bikes!
Great value and reviews !
The hardtail pro 2011 is £999 and a superb cross country bike spec wise.
Top gearing, forks, brakes, wheels etc.
Maybe not hardcore enough for me but some buy for someone!!!!!
Light too.

 

[spooner68]

I'm a roadie. Trek 1.7C. Its my legs that are crap.

Giant Rock offroad, hard

tail of course. Solid and reliable no quirks down through the trees.

 

[hillhead]

My builder who I sub to was going to buy a £2400 specialised carbon road bike for a time trial on Tuesday night!
This cycling is getting big.

 

[spooner68]

My builder who I sub to was going to buy a £2400 specialised carbon road bike for a time trial on Tuesday night!
This cycling is getting big.

I got into it 3 years ago when I retired from cricket. I was tiling for a guy and he has about 20 bikes in his garage. Got chatting and he said to be around when his new one turned up in the morning. He and his (very fit and healthy)wife do Triathlons. A van duly turned up with a crate in it from Italy. It was a full carbon custom job. Gorgeous to look at and light as owt. I asked the question. How much. Oh, £4500 for the frame, rims about £900 each, groupset £1200 bits and bobs, oh, I dunno. £9700 in total. Hmmmm. Ok so how much faster will it go on your TT bit? Maybe 10 seconds. Hmmmm. Money well spent? Not so sure myself. Anyway they got me started and until I came off in July and smashed my elbow I loved it. Bit cagey now when I get above 45MPH, dont know how the pros do 55!

 

[hillhead]

Nice trek spooner, my local shop have to whole trek range in!!!!
I seen one at 7.5k. Lol.
Nice to afford that I bet.
I hit 31 mph on my hardtail last week, lol.
My local forest is great for a good 5 to 10 mile quick run through trees.
Do you clock many mikes up?

 

[chrisroe]

C2C runs pretty near to me. Some killer hills early on, 3 days you need to be able to do an easy 30 miles on the saddle on up and down roads and still breath, walk and talk at the end and the next day. Once you get past the North Pennines its actually pretty much all down hill to the coast on old railways. Sadly the first two days involve some muderous climbs in the Lakes and then again up and down and back up through the Pennines to Allenheads and on to the top above Stanhope. Nice cafe at Park Head. Then down the Waskerley. Smooth.

Good luck, wear a lid and make sure you use chamois gel or a banana

i had been warned it a bit of a ball ache to start with but looking forward to day three

out in durham after we finish anyone recomment some good real ale pubs

 

[chrisroe]

I'm a roadie. Trek 1.7C. Its my legs that are crap.

Giant Rock offroad, hard

tail of course. Solid and reliable no quirks down through the trees.

i reckon i will get a road bike after to keep the miles going ove the winter !

 

[chrisroe]

I was even in halfords yesterday drooling over the new 2011 boardman bikes!
Great value and reviews !
The hardtail pro 2011 is £999 and a superb cross country bike spec wise.
Top gearing, forks, brakes, wheels etc.
Maybe not hardcore enough for me but some buy for someone!!!!!
Light too.

the pro is the model im trying to get as i know someone who works at Halfords so their might be one with a nasty scratch on one that need to be given away

 

[hillhead]

The 2011 pro that I got my hands on yesterday had a scratch on the fork which I pointed out, lol.
Very nice bike.
Even the model below had near same frame etc and is £650.
The pro is the one but.
I'd Like the parts off it, lol

 

[spooner68]

Nice trek spooner, my local shop have to whole trek range in!!!!
I seen one at 7.5k. Lol.
Nice to afford that I bet.
I hit 31 mph on my hardtail last week, lol.
My local forest is great for a good 5 to 10 mile quick run through trees.
Do you clock many mikes up?

No mate no "Mikes" at all, its not my bag.

Got a large brood (17yrs to 19 months) so not a lot of time but generally used to try to get out for a 30-40ish on a weekend and a quick 13 once or twice in the week. Bit bloody hilly round here. Way off the pace after my accident, so only weekend 20 - 30 now. Lost a lot of work and money as a result of the elbow last year so my wife isn't quite so supportive of me going further or more often. Starting to train for the Cyclone at the mo. Just the 63 miler not the big one. Not a hope, maybe next year if I can get back in. Just need to force myself out the door on an evening after a hard days graft

 

[spooner68]

i had been warned it a bit of a ball ache to start with but looking forward to day three

out in durham after we finish anyone recomment some good real ale pubs

Tap and Spile, Dun Cow, Wetherspoons. Its the Tap for me though.

 

[chrisroe]

14 miles tonight using SPD for the 1st time only fell off three times not blood so happy with that

doing a biggie on sunday going to hurt

 

[spooner68]

2nd day after is the worst. The trick is to have a warm shower straight after then turn the water as cold as you can on your legs. About 5 mins each. Then go hot hot hot. Doesnt do you any good but it makes me laugh

 

[hillhead]

Shower then a good meal works wonders.
It's important to stock up on fuel before and during cycles too Chris.
The gels etc aren't bad.
You like my new avatar? lol

 

[chrisroe]

its Stella classed as a fuel ? if so fly me to the moon

 

[hillhead]

Believe it or not but i know a guy who drinks a couple before a ride too !
good fuel indeed. sweat more though,lol

 

[chrisroe]

right only had two bottle of stella last night before bed ate well good nights kip up for weetabix mad keen for it

put a little bit of pressure into the tyres just in case and ripped the valve off and as i only had the bike a day or two hadnt got chance to get spare inner tubes

not happy luckly the young lad who looks after my bikes only lives round the corner so i woke him just before nine and he fixed it for me

28 miles later good fun fantastic day mainly on roads today but a lot of climbs

back side v sore need more nappy rash cream

 

[Deleted member 9966]

how long is it taking you to do 28 miles Chris?

 

[hillhead]

Going well Chris, do you use padded shorts?
I see the mountain bike uk mag is offering shorts if you subscribe at only 20 quid every 6 months. They don't look padded but I was out with a lad who had padded undies on. Bloody good job they were by the looks.

 

[Deleted member 9966]

Going well Chris, do you use padded shorts?
I see the mountain bike uk mag is offering shorts if you subscribe at only 20 quid every 6 months. They don't look padded but I was out with a lad who had padded undies on. Bloody good job they were by the looks.

I have padded shorts Joe. They're good, but wouldn't say they make you much more comfortable :lol:

 

[hillhead]

I do use them myself Liz but have noticed the band at bottom tighten on my legs! Mustle growth maybe, lol.
My shorts are baggy with Lycra inners padded.
Oakley.
Padded pants with loose shorts for mountain biking maybe.
Or a back suspension, lol.

 

[chrisroe]

ggr depends on how much offroad we do / who is out with us three to four hours today but im not one to time it although we did 35 miles the other day with 6 of us and it took 4 1/2 hours but me and a mate did the same amount but more offroad bits on the same route and that only took us 3 and a pint hours

padded undershorts with moutain biking shorts baggy on top with a liddle (£8 ) base layer and british lions rugby top on top

did go out with padded undershorts and fully padded mountain bike shorts the other day by mistake felt like i was wearing the biggest nappy full to the brim v strange

 

[hillhead]

When sweating like a sow the last thing you need is a nappy rubbing your inners..:lol:

 

[spooner68]

Here's a funny thing and not something I've particularly considered before. I use wireless Cateye trip computer which gives me a lot of info, however I downloaded an app today Satsports-log (not free but V cheap) which uses GPS tracking. Now its pretty hilly around me which makes my trips a bit of a chore sometimes. Had an hour or so free so took off on a fairly stiff 11 miler. 51 minutes later I got back and checked the app. I had done 11.15 miles at an average of 12.8mph and a max of 37.4mph down a not very steep hill. Nothing special but a bit slow. Why?
1077 feet of climb, thats why. Blimey no wonder my average was low and my knees hate me.

Funny thing again though, I only decended 1055 feet. Strange.

Give the app a go if you do hills, its amazing how much climbing you do.

 

[hillhead]

I have a cateye computer onboard my bike too but it's about to come off as i have GPS MotionX app on my iphone which is superbly accurate.
It even shows the duck ponds in the forest which i go through,lol.