From fixie commuting to racing by the spring

Crow92

The title pretty much says it all for me, thats the goal. I'm planning to get a road bike hopefully in the next month but I thought It'd be a waste not to begin to get some actual miles into my legs.

Currently on the fixie. It's a raleigh pioneer halo rear wheel, xero front wheel, 46 front ring, 16 rear ring and a total weight of about 13.5kg.

Today I had two spouts of cycling. First was the commute from the Gf's house into town, around town and back home. That was about 27.5km.

Second was a cycle tonight from home to the coast road, out to howth hill, around the hill (didn't know where to time from, only read the place there...next time) back up the coast road and down the malahide road home. That was 34.2km I did it in approx 90 mins so about 22.8km/ph.

so I did about 61.7km today, even though It wasn't in one go it was definitely the most I've ever cycled in a day...I'll see if I end up paying for it tomorrow morning.

Crow92

So My legs were very sore the next day, a little bit in the abdomin. Feels nice though.
Have only done about 40km during the last 3 days. Unfortunately for reasons beyond my control I had to take my gf's bike and bring it to work to fix a little thing. Which meant I left mine in her's where it still is =/.

The progression of getting a bike has lead me to decide to get the Planet X pro carbon sram rival bike.....Unfortunately the mother won't loan me the money for it. So I now must save up the money until about November to purchase the bike. Which sort of changes my plans of having a road bike to train with but it really shouldn't change the real objective of actually training.

I've decided that 70km on a fixie or 70km on a road bike it's still 70km so It shouldn't matter so that's what I'm going to do. This training log for now will be my 13.5kg fixie and I'll enjoy it:D

chakattack

Good man,

Fixed gear is supposedly great for winter training and you won't ruin your new bike with salt and grit.

Crow92

Currently in college doing a orientation course for some first years so haven't had a chance to cycle since saturday and won't until wednesday. I cycled over to dalkey from coolock with my luggage (about 25-30kg) on my rack very dodgey tbh. At booterstown I got a flat and had to get the dart.

I cycled from dalkey to ucd , repaired the puncture, only a 10km cycle I think but the wind, uphills and rain was a big downer coupled with the bag that weighed over double my bike.

I'll get some actual km's in later this week.

kumate_champ07

training for road or track? either way it would be better to spin a lower gear like 46:18 or 48:19.

Crow92

kumate_champ07 wrote: »

training for road or track? either way it would be better to spin a lower gear like 46:18 or 48:19.

Training for road. I noticed that my cadence was low enough with my gearing. Only thing with 46:18 is the pedal mashing going downhill but sure that'll be grand. Got any 18 teeth lying around I could buy off you? You always have stuff you go to get rid of :P

I cycled the route from coolock to dalkey again last night. 23.4km in 55minutes so that gets me to an average speed of 25.4km/hr. Good improvement from my 23km/hr the week before....a lot more effort this time though, was a sweat bucket when I got there.

kumate_champ07

No 18t for sale sorry! Downhills are tricky but fun, the high rpm is great training

Crow92 wrote: »

Training for road. I noticed that my cadence was low enough with my gearing. Only thing with 46:18 is the pedal mashing going downhill but sure that'll be grand. Got any 18 teeth lying around I could buy off you? You always have stuff you go to get rid of :P

I cycled the route from coolock to dalkey again last night. 23.4km in 55minutes so that gets me to an average speed of 25.4km/hr. Good improvement from my 23km/hr the week before....a lot more effort this time though, was a sweat bucket when I got there.

Crow92

Consistency has been the aim the last 2 weeks, to cycle everyday (I've never cycled 14 days in a row) So now my legs are feeling the toll but in a good way.

I've covered about 340km which is not a bad amount in my books. Still saving away for the racing bike, started a repair service over in college. Getting a bit of busines already so that'll be handy towards the bike fund.

Going to aim for 200km per week from now on.

Crow92

Joined The UCD bike club this week. Think the first spin is in 1-2 weeks. 10 euro to join and I'm insured for training with them.

I'm coming more and more aware and agitated at the fact that my fixie frame is only 50cm whilst I need a 56-58cm. Because I'm cycling more it's becoming more obvious. Might look into getting a second hand frame if I can as cheap as possible but As I'm saving for the road bike I'm not sure if I will.

Cycled 173km this week. Legs muscles feel very tired. Should I be giving myself a day rest per week? or Will I just get used to it?

Beasty

Giving yourself some recovery time will allow the legs to get stronger. 173km in a week on a fixie for someone that's relatively new is pretty good going. You would probably benefit from a few days off tbh

Crow92

So the plan was to buy the planet-x pro carbon with sram rival, so when Statler came along selling a planet-x pro carbon with (mostly) ultegra for 800 euro I jumped on it. bought it friday evening, was honestly scared ****less cycling home using spd shoes for the first time.

Here's the spec.

Brakes: Shimano Ultegra
Shifters: Ultegra
Chainset: Shimano 105 53/39
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Ultegra
Front Derailleur: Shimano Ultegra
Bottom bracket: Shimano Ultegra
Chain: Shimano Ultegra
Cassette: Shimano 105 12-25
Wheelset: Mavic Open Pro Rims, Ultegra Hubs
Pedals: Look Keo Max 2
Tyres: Continental GP4000s



It comes in around 7.5kg....gotta weigh it for myself. Still coming to terms with a road bike. Cornering and getting used to cross winds actually causing a bit of unbalance.

But couldn't be happier with the bike. Did my normal route from Clonskeigh to Coolock which usually takes 45-50 mins on the fixie, decided I'd give it a push tonight and put in a lot of effort. Made it in 29:58 minutes Door to Door. This is a trip I do most days so It'll be a good benchmark to see how I progress.

http://g.co/maps/akhvg

my computer says the journey was shorter though.
Distance: 13.71km
Riding Time: 29:58
Max Speed: 44.2km/ph
Average Speed: 27.4km/ph

Should be going out on my first spin with some people from the ucd bike club tomorrow. I Just need to get myself a good pair of padded short and I'll be pretty much set .

Starting 8/10/2011:
Overall distance: 54km
Total Riding Time: 2:16:18

Crow92

Out With ucd club again today,cycled from dalkey to ucd and then headed out at 10:15. cycled to enniskerry and somewhere around there, don't know the exact route, just we did a big lap and ended up back in enniskerry before heading back to ucd and then home.

Totalled 83.6km, longest spin I've ever done. Took about 3:52:00 at an average speed of 21.6km/ph. Coming back into Enniskerry. Glen view was the stretch of road. I hit 63.6km/ph, Not the best of roads. Absolutely terrified I will admit but was exhilerating.

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Glen+View&daddr=Main+St&hl=en&sll=53.19215,-6.175003&sspn=0.007019,0.021136&geocode=FXamKwMdY7ih_w%3BFSuoKwMdcteh_w&vpsrc=0&mra=dme&mrsp=0&sz=16&t=h&z=16


09/10/2011-16/10/2011

Total Distance: 321.37km.

Total Time (PX Bike):11:47:00.

Total Time (Overall):13:27:00

Average Speed:22.83 km/ph

Max Speed 63.6km/ph

Average Cadence:68.3

Max cadence:127


I feel my average cadence is a bit low, should I be spinning faster in a lower gear?
Hoping to get my average speed up by christmas. Giving myself a rest day tomorrow. Have been on the bike everyday all week. Cycling shorts should be arriving tomorrow and have a base layer, need to get a jersey.


P.S. Anyone have opinions on the amount of protein to have per day? 1g per pound or 1.5 per kilo? I weigh about 64 kilo's and 180cm tall if that helps?

kumate_champ07

Cadence does seem low. For protein Id say 1g per 1kg of bodyweight if your training hard. Ive experimented with protein intake over the years up to 4g/1kg(2weeks) and 3g/1kg for 5months, while not training Im usually around .4g/1kg.

At the moment I average 1g/1kg each day and Im weight training. Extra protein gets used as expensive fuel. 1lb of human muscle contains around 130g of protein, people forget that its mostly made of water. The fitness magazines who are backed by supplement companies that are part of a billion dollar industry like to make people think they need alot more protein. 'Nutrient timing' is key.

edit* I was 132kg at my heaviest, so my intake would have been extreme at times= 500g+ per day, over 6000cals. Im now much ligher tho at 112kg. My legs ache more now with squats than when I was doing 200km/week so I guess protein intake doesnt need to be raised much if you are just doing long distance. Extra protein would be fine if you are much lighter, not as hard on the kidneys

Crow92

So my last post the 16th of october was the last time I'd been out with ucd. Work and college took over and I'd no time to get out them on the weekends.
Anyways i've been fairly consistant in my cycling habits. As you can see by the christmas thread I've gottena new commuter bike (Planet X Kaffenback) and I've gotten extra mounts/sensors on it so my boardman computer is set up for my racer and commuter.

I've added just over 1,000 km more since october to bring the total to

1,465 km during the last 3 months which isn't too bad.
My average speed is about 23.5-24km, I'm hoping to improve this during this semester.

Two big developments is that my hours in work have been switched around so I have the weekends off so I'm gonna get out once a week with ucd cycling club now.

Also my first race is next week saturday :O I hadn't planned to but a week ago got an email about intervarasities with ucd, trininty and dcu out in corkagh park so I decided I'd give it a shot to get some experience. I just need to buy a full competition license (doing that tomorrow, Students get 50% off in the ucd cycling club whoo!) and I'm gonna get a jersey and bib shorts.

I'll write something either this weekend after the spin or next after the race.

*Edit*
Any tips for a firstime racer would be much appreciated

velo.2010

Crow92 wrote: »

Also my first race is next week saturday
*Edit*
Any tips for a firstime racer would be much appreciated

Enjoy it and don't be too disheartened if you finish down the field - happens to even the best pro's in their first race.

I see your from Coolock! Thats my old patch near the memorial park. I've been back a couple of times on the bike to have a look round. You could tell that seeing a guy riding around in lycra was not a regular occurrence to folk around those housing estates.;) Your shiny white PX must stand out. I guess you've taken pretty secure measures to keep it from being nicked?:)

Crow92

velo.2010 wrote: »

Enjoy it and don't be too disheartened if you finish down the field - happens to even the best pro's in their first race.

I see your from Coolock! Thats my old patch near the memorial park. I've been back a couple of times on the bike to have a look round. You could tell that seeing a guy riding around in lycra was not a regular occurrence to folk around those housing estates.;) Your shiny white PX must stand out. I guess you've taken pretty secure measures to keep it from being nicked?:)

I actually decided to do the 10 mile tt at boot inn tomorrow, starts at 10a.m. Haha you can still tell a guy cycling around on a nice bike in lyrca is not a regular occurence.

Well I keep the bike inside and a cycle faster than they throw rocks

Crow92

Just back from Boot Inn where we had the 10 mile tt.
Wind was bad to say the least,(met.ie says 39km/h westernly).
Two laps around the course heading into the wind each lap. I was 4th up, got ready and (sorta) shot off the mark.

Into the wind I could only manage about 21km/h then at the turn with a crosswind I was at 31km/h until I got the tailwind back and I was going about 52km/h, (I maxed out at 57.km/h) First lap went grand. My aim was to hit 30 mins, and I did the first lap in 14.55-ish by my computer.

Second lap into the headwind was very hard, just kept my head down as much as I could and trudged through it. Kept up around 20km/h, then at the crosswinds again I was up to about 30km/hr and hiting the 50+km/h with the wind behind me.

I was on time for just sub 30 minutes, on the home straight (lot of potholes on the road I might add) looked down and see my computer at 29.52 literally less than 50m from the finish line, going over 40km/h and then I don't know what happened. The bike went under me and I I fell on my right side and ended up on my back. A bit of road rash, a few obscenities shouted by me.

Two lads ran over and got me to stay sitting on the ground, I got up and went to sit down, then checked for the road rash. Back wheel has a broken spoke and the rim is buckled. There luckily doesn't seem to be any damage on the frame from what I can see. Everything else appears to be working fine so It's a matter of getting a new wheel build.

A nice man, think his name was john dropped me and the bike back to my house. I now wonder if they'll let my time count, hope they do after the fall and all. Very frustrating but I guess these things just happen.

So this was my first ever crash on any bicycle I've ever owned. (I hope
it's the last.)

Crow92

So the road rash is healing up nicely, not gone yet but it's getting there.
I had to get my rear wheel rebuilt this week. I found a mavic open pro rim in cycleways for 42 euro (inc. 10% discount) and Holyboy built it up for me

Woke up this morning at 8:45 with a stuffed nose and really not wanting to leave my bed. Turns out I had a slow puncture on my front wheel which I pumped up last night so I had to patch and replace that. Left the house at about 9:30 to head to Howth for the Interverasities TT up the Sutton side.

Got a puncture on the way on the rear wheel (so much glass in my area). Had to change over tubes and hope I didn't get a puncture during the TT.

I was the 15th person to start. (Just before the white line boards say is the official place). I wanted to make sure I stayed in the saddle for the whole way up and kept to it, trying to stay spinning at about 80-90 rpm and averaging about 20km/h on the first part of the ascent.

On the first dip I was flying down hitting a max of 50k/h or so before quickly having to switch back gears. I just kept it consistent and made it across the finish line (bout 20 metres after the boards offical end of the sign ).

My average speed was about 24km/h and I did it in 9:30. Happy overall with the time, first time doing it so Its a marker for future climbs.

Back to Boot in next week.....(If I can get over the fear of crashing out the same spot twice :pac:)

greenmat

Crow92 wrote: »

So the road rash is healing up nicely, not gone yet but it's getting there.
I had to get my rear wheel rebuilt this week. I found a mavic open pro rim in cycleways for 42 euro (inc. 10% discount) and Holyboy built it up for me

Woke up this morning at 8:45 with a stuffed nose and really not wanting to leave my bed. Turns out I had a slow puncture on my front wheel which I pumped up last night so I had to patch and replace that. Left the house at about 9:30 to head to Howth for the Interverasities TT up the Sutton side.

Got a puncture on the way on the rear wheel (so much glass in my area). Had to change over tubes and hope I didn't get a puncture during the TT.

I was the 15th person to start. (Just before the white line boards say is the official place). I wanted to make sure I stayed in the saddle for the whole way up and kept to it, trying to stay spinning at about 80-90 rpm and averaging about 20km/h on the first part of the ascent.

On the first dip I was flying down hitting a max of 50k/h or so before quickly having to switch back gears. I just kept it consistent and made it across the finish line (bout 20 metres after the boards offical end of the sign ).

My average speed was about 24km/h and I did it in 9:30. Happy overall with the time, first time doing it so Its a marker for future climbs.

Back to Boot in next week.....(If I can get over the fear of crashing out the same spot twice :pac:)

Good going. What was the winning time?

Crow92

greenmat wrote: »

Good going. What was the winning time?

I think it was approx 8:06 or so. The results will prob be up tonight.