Tips for Bunch / Group Rides & My Pimped Commuter Bike

First off, today I pimped my commuter bike.

I felt like my bike was quite daggy in that it wasn't really a purposely black bike, but it also wasn't really personalised in any way.

I discussed my polka dot plans in a previous post.

While googling for pictures, I was inspired by this blog post by Oh Joy pimping up her helmet.

(which, happened to be a blog that I love and have been following for a while):

(via ohjoy.blogs.com)

She had trouble finding a polka dot helmet, so she bought some white circle labels and stuck them on a black helmet.

Being a crafty person in theory but a "perfectionist / not quite skilled enough to enact the vision" type person, sometimes my crafty ideas don't come off too well in real life, but I thought, hey, labels, I can do labels.  That doesn't sound too hard.

And it wasn't.

I went back and did the seat stay as well as it looked a little bare at the back.

I found the labels on ebay.

So, yeah, I'll keep you updated on how they stay on the bike, and whether they will shortly become grey dots...

Tips for Bunch / Group Rides

So, I'm at the stage where there is one Saturday ride I can keep up with comfortably (mostly due to the leader keeping the pace nice and steady at around 25 km/hr), but the other group rides I go on can be quite challenging to stay with the group (as most road cyclists like to ride around 27 km/hr).

I did a ride yesterday that was a bit harder than I usually do and it was good because it reminded me about the aspects I need to work on.

I need to work on recovering after climbing.  I tend to lose the group coming up out of a valley and then I cannot get back on the group.

After talking to some of the group, I got some tips.

1.  Stay at the front of the group.

(via www.adelaidecyclists.com)

It is much easier to ride at the front of the group.

This can be intimidating because as a slower rider, I didn't want to slow down the group or break up the group, however, it is actually much, much easier to ride at the front.

There is less "rubber banding" / stretching of the group at the front (every time someone slows down, this effect sort of gets bigger and bigger as it goes down the group).

And when you start at the front, with the hills, as a slower person, then you can drop backwards through the bunch (as the stronger riders overtake you) without completely dropping off the bunch.

Then, at the top of the hills, when everyone is slowing down and a bit unorganised to let everyone catch back on (ie. not back in the 2 lines yet), try and get back to the front of the bunch by going around the right.

2.  Change gears when the person in front changes gear.

(via cyclinggrannygears.blogspot.com.au)

If you find a good wheel to hang onto the back of - someone who rides a steady pace and communicates well, you can use their gear changing as a tip about when to change gears.

Learning when to change gears was a big step forward in my cycling.  

It's actually the biggest thing that helped me climb hills, knowing to change (down) into the small ring at the front and (up) on the big cog at the back at the same time - so you're still pedalling at an equivalent cadence but at a gear suitable for climbing - BEFORE you hit the hill.

I used to change gears once I got on the hill, and then you can stop pedalling, and lose your momentum, or even worse, drop your chain and have to stop the car.

Intervals

Now that I need to train up before I can join other rides, one of the guys suggested interval training.

20 minutes at a 8/10 intensity rating.

Then 10-15 minute cruising speed.

Then another 20 minutes at a 8/10 intensity rating.

Apparently it's horribly boring, but it will noticeably help..

I only have 1 pair of cycling socks at the moment - that I luuuuuuuuuuuurve:

But for this training, I think I need more socks.... yes....

The Athletic - PDX Socks

Wearing White & Finding The Cycle Within

(image via delightfulcycles.tumblr.com)

So I wore a white dress to work today.

Tempted fate.

And fate delivered.

One flat tyre later, I decided I hate hand pumps.

Except I already knew I hated hand pumps.

Which is why I had bought a CO2 canister (as we use on the road bikes) for this purpose.

Except I couldn't work out how to get the CO2 canister working.

Because I'd never done it.

I got home pretty grumpy.

I get grumpy when I think I should be able to do something and I can't.

Got home and engineer husband helped me get it working.

The trick was I needed to screw the opening further onto the Shrader valve and then push quite hard against the valve.

Now I'm good again.

I love my husband.

He makes things good again.  :)

(image via holykaw.alltop.com)

P.S.  On the upside, I rode home pretty slowly (17km/hr) because I was so worried about pinch flatting on my low tyre that I didn't break a sweat.

Up until now, I didn't think I was capable of doing it.

(Yes, I know I can just cycle slower, but it feels strange to me.)

It also helped that it was so late by that stage, there wasn't much traffic.

I guess the next challenge would be to cycle that slowly in the morning peak traffic.

I will now share with you an interesting article that I came across yesterday that resonated with me:

"You see, the problem is that you want to keep up with people who you can’t keep up with."

http://pelotonmagazine.com/the-ring/wankmeister-the-ride-is-inside-you/

 "You’ve only been doing this a short time and you’ve seen dramatic improvements that most people never see. But you make the terrible mistake of comparing yourself to people who are far above your physical ability. This causes you frustration because you want to be as good as they are, which in your mind means “as fast.” I could tell you right now that you’re much better than most cyclists I’ve ever met but because you equate good with fast, you can’t grasp my meaning or you think I’m flattering you or you think I don’t get it."

Totally.

Basically, you must cycle (and probably do things in general) for your own intrinsic reasons and motivation.

But we all knew that, right?  :)