lycra fashion advice for fixed gear tosser.

shaungil

Here's a good way of testing the white gear. Applies to all sexes and sports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLtos4aWYy0

Lumen

shaungil wrote: »

Here's a good way of testing the white gear. Applies to all sexes and sports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLtos4aWYy0

Crikey.

Inspired by flickerx, today I ordered white bib shorts, arm warmers and knee warmers. And some tall white socks.

petethedrummer

Lumen wrote: »

Crikey.

Inspired by flickerx, today I ordered white bib shorts, arm warmers and knee warmers. And some tall white socks.

are you going to jump in the shower and make a video?

Raam

Lumen wrote: »

Crikey.

Inspired by flickerx, today I ordered white bib shorts, arm warmers and knee warmers. And some tall white socks.

Links please.

Lumen

Raam wrote: »

Links please.

Cannondale Le Carbon Tall Sock 9S400 2009 - Large - White
SockGuy Elite 3" Socks - L/XL - White
Castelli Thermoflex Knee Warmers Small White
Castelli Thermoflex Arm Warmers Small White
Assos FI Uno S5 Bibshorts

Lumen

Oh yeah, and these:

Assos Cover Sock White 2009



I agonised quite a lot over the whole SIDI vs Assos oversock thing, but in the end Assos were in stock and SIDI were not.

niceonetom

You should probably get a jersey too.

And this might help.

Lumen

niceonetom wrote: »

And this might help.

I'm taking on Godihatethehills as my Personal Skin Tone Consultant.

Raam

Some nice clobber there.

shaungil

petethedrummer wrote: »

are you going to jump in the shower and make a video?

and post it to youtube?;)

flickerx

@caroline, tom - whats the problem with the shoes? Forgive my ignorance. But they were cheap (cant believe they are £144 sterling at chain reaction - I got them for c$100, about 66 euros) and I liked the colour of them.

@tom - the yellow helmet is still with me. I'm partial to it. I'm definitely not ready for a road bike style helmet. They're just completely naff looking. I've only gone for a spin in the lycra on the track but it was very comfortable alright. I've got a couple of short videos from the session which I'll lash up here tomorrow.

@Lumen - glad to see I've started a trend, although admittedly it was the photo's of Raam's whiteness that turned me on to it.

I think I'll pass on the shaving of the legs.
It is the legs that I'm meant to be shaving, right?

niceonetom

flickerx wrote: »

@caroline, tom - whats the problem with the shoes? Forgive my ignorance. But they were cheap (cant believe they are £144 sterling at chain reaction - I got them for c$100, about 66 euros) and I liked the colour of them.

@tom - the yellow helmet is still with me. I'm partial to it. I'm definitely not ready for a road bike style helmet. They're just completely naff looking. I've only gone for a spin in the lycra on the track but it was very comfortable alright. I've got a couple of short videos from the session which I'll lash up here tomorrow.

The shoes are cool. They're intended for triathletes though, which is a bit of a sectarian issue for some cyclists. Giant velcro straps are a steppingstone to the dreaded man bra. If I saw them on sale for the price you got I'd have bought them too. Mavic are trés euro.

That track looks great fun.

Lumen

Talking of Mavics shoes, Cycle Surgery in Dundrum are selling those yellow ones Dirk was looking for.

You would want to see them in the flesh before committing. Honestly, they don't look good even on the shelf.

niceonetom

Lumen wrote: »

Talking of Mavics shoes, Cycle Surgery in Dundrum are selling those yellow ones Dirk was looking for.

You would want to see them in the flesh before committing. Honestly, they don't look good even on the shelf.

I think the yellow ones would look awesome with Orwell gear...

I haven't really seen them in real life though.

Have you seen these?

blorg

I like the yellow Mavics, I've seen them in the flesh both in shops and on other rider's feet. They are alas too narrow for me or I would have a pair.

@flickerx- as Tom says they are triathlon shoes. To a certain extent there is the 'real' cyclist/triathlete in joke but in practical terms they are not ideal for road cycling simply as they are designed for quick entry and exit which is unnecessary outside the transitions you need make in triathlon.

The retention system is arguably thus compromised compared with the ratchet found on other higher-end cycling shoes.

Having said this it is really a very minor niggle, a ratchet is nice but I have several shoes without and they do work fine. The price you paid was a bargain.

Raam

With cycling, there is always another door to go through in order to be "in the club".

Lumen

If you're bothered about wearing triathlete shoes (which is ridiculous, obviously) just use over shoes or cover socks.

These open up a whole new world of foot customisation.

Lumen

Raam wrote: »

With cycling, there is always another door to go through in order to be "in the club".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CNmrUMS5FQ

flickerx

niceonetom wrote: »

That track looks great fun.

Yep it was class. I was really getting fully into it by the end of the long session I was at. Here's a two minute video of me just on the "exercise session" (but there was definitely some informal racing going on! ). Thats me in the yellow helmet and the red jersey with a white stripe under the arm. The camera is focused on me all of the time.

At the start you can see I'm trailing behind this guy, mostly in black, who starts cycling up around the middle line of the turns, around 45 seconds in. This was the only line I was supposed to be on because I hadnt done 'track 2' induction which uses the full curve, and trains you up on harder stuff.

But as you can see in the video, all the time I'm catching him, and at 0:53 as we pass the camera, I'm right on his tail and catching him. I was getting frustrated coming into the back of him. I hadnt done overtaking in 'track 2' yet so I was unsure about how to go about it safely - I presumed it was just a case of doing the shoulder checks and going up and over, but I just didnt want to do it in case I freaked out another rider or the instructors.

So you can see me do a shoulder check to my right at 1:08, and then I took the inside lower track, and overtook him on the inside, then go back up to the middle line, after I do a shoulder check at 1:22, coming out of the turn. At this point I was able to accelerate away from him a good bit and enjoy the pace I wanted to go at.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Dj2miUIII

I cycled fairly hard for most of the night. I was pleasantly tired by the end of it, but not exhausted. I dont know if it has much effect or not but in my mind I felt that commuting fixed on the bike at home definitely gave me a bit of a lift up compared to other newbies there that night. The only stiffness/weakness I felt the next day was in my arms - the instructor warned me to relax my elbows but I couldnt find a good way to do it without losing grip/control on the drops.

I guess this is all probably fairly elemental stuff to people who've been on a track before, but I was (am!) still excited about it, its new and fun. I got a real buzz out of going up on the straights and down in the troughs, and whipping myself around the curves. But also I felt like I was doing proper exercise. I really wish there was a short indoor wooden track in Dublin. I know its fashionable to bitch about how crap Ireland is at the moment, but its depressing to think about how much money there was floating around in the past ten years, and how little infrastructure has come out of it.

Here was my flying lap right at the end. You do three laps, your last one is coming down off the top bit and building up the most speed you can, taking the lowest/shortest part of the track. My heart was really racing after this one. Good fun. I'm definitely going to go to Manchester or Newport some time soon, whenever I get a bit of money again (dole didnt come today due to industrial action...:( )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjr4UPFcnCI

abcdggs

How long were you in there for?? Must say i'm very envious, looks class!

Caroline_ie

I lived there for 4 years, never been to that track. Next time I go visit, I'll sure to give it a shot Woooooooooo!!

Chips Lovell

Are we going to see you racing the track league this year?

copacetic

niceonetom wrote: »

I think the yellow ones would look awesome with Orwell gear...

I haven't really seen them in real life though.

Have you seen these?

woah, are they runners with cycling shoes uppers? a new niche found!
the hipsters will be all over them like a rash if they come in non-yellow..

flickerx

So guess what? I got myself a second hand road bike a few months ago and have taken to it.

Here I am at the top of Ditchling Beacon a few weeks back, on the way from London to Brighton, waving hello to the boards.ie crew.

Looking forward to getting out more again when the snow melts away.

flickerx

This is the bike that I have. A Red Bull Pro SL, got it for 300 sterling, which I think was a pretty good deal. Anyone else ever heard of this brand? I looked them up before I bought it, and the reviews were good, but I dont ever recall coming across them before in Ireland.

Andrew42

flickerx wrote: »

I was a bit tired this morning but we also had pints on the ride and I had a couple more later on, so I'll blame that.
/QUOTE]

I don't know if anyone else has commented on this (I couldn't be arsed to read the whole thread) but you "had pints" along the way! you're a f**kin' genius, would you get into your car, go for a drive, and "have pints along the way" This is part of the mentality which gives cyclists a bad name, if you were involved in an accident with a vehicle along the way you'd be screaming blue murder (if you survived) at the crazy motorist who mowed you down cos you wobbled into his path! Cop the f**k on.

CheGuedara

flickerx wrote: »

This is the bike that I have. A Red Bull Pro SL, got it for 300 sterling, which I think was a pretty good deal. Anyone else ever heard of this brand? I looked them up before I bought it, and the reviews were good, but I dont ever recall coming across them before in Ireland.

Got set onto them a couple of years ago by a German friend who had their top end carbon road bike and ended up buying a hardtail MTB from them - Specialized spec at big saving over Specialized price - I'd recommend them

flickerx

CheGuedara wrote: »

Got set onto them a couple of years ago by a German friend who had their top end carbon road bike and ended up buying a hardtail MTB from them - Specialized spec at big saving over Specialized price - I'd recommend them

The bike has been good so far definitely. No problems whatsoever. From reading a bit more about them, seems like its a well known brand on the continent. Cant find any bad comments about them... but then again its difficult searching for info because results always bring up stuff about the energy drink.

flickerx

Andrew42 wrote: »

you'd be

Sorry, who are you?
No I wouldnt.

Raam

Redbull are a popular bike in Germany. They are sold by Rose.

http://www.roseversand.de/
http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/

I almost bought one, and I may yet.

flickerx

Which one were you thinking of getting?

In an ideal world I would have preferred to get a steel framed bike for doing a bit of touring, but having gone up a few hills I'm glad I had less weight to drag up with me. My friend was on a steel Bianchi, and I pushed it for her for a while up the steepest part of the hill... misery.

Raam

Probably one of the cheaper ones. It will be a holiday bike which I will leave in Germany.

Glencarraig

Raam wrote: »

Redbull are a popular bike in Germany. They are sold by Rose.

http://www.roseversand.de/
http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/

I almost bought one, and I may yet.

Just wanted to let you guys know that I compared prices between the Rose site and Chain Reaction for chainset, bbcups, shifters, brakes and front & rear changers, all Tiagra for changes I'm making to my winter bike (triple to compact) and there is a difference of €110 in favour of the Rose site, €369 for CRC, €259 for Rose, so are Chain Reaction just ripping people off ??