Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

Sarcasm? You need a loads of water when you're thundering round hills and trails I need about 1/2 to 2/3rds of a litre per hour - I can consume 2 litres and not even need a piss. You sweat by the bucket load.

...and you have to stop to use them!

 

Like RTT said, you don't know just how much you can dehydrate yourself until your legs are burning, your palms greasy, your back dripping and your eyes stinging from the yet more sweat that's defeated your eyebrows while you haven't been able to wipe, since you're hanging on to the bars grimly in the knowledge that if you let go or stop for just a moment then this hill is going to kill you...

 

Ok, i don't use bottles on my bike.
I have a 1litre sigg in my rucksack (which carries everything else).
If i drink enough in the morning, and enough when i come back the 1 litre will be fine for upto 6hours of cycling i find.
I usually only drink when i stop for lunch.

Saves the ditraction of constant drinking in little gulps while riding.

 

Bottles are fine if you're a roadie, just get good at knowing where it is so you can keep your eyes on the road.

 

You can sweat up to a litre per hour of heavy exercise. I've certainly used 2.5 litres in an hour on a scorching sunny day last year. In the winter though I can use probably 1/4 of that much. But yeah, it's definitely camelbaks for the win.

 

Or those awesome water troughs they have in the alps! They are so amazing after a huge accent!

 

Sod the lot of you then!
I will start the anti camel back group by myself then!

 

Cycling in London

Anyone know any good places to store my bike in London (nr Trafalgar Sq.)? I miss riding to work since I moved!

Sorry for hijacking the thread! - I use bottles and a mix of water and protein powder to keep me going when I'm out on a ride (roadie). I reckon their easier to clean out than camels.

 

Don't worry, you're not hijacking anything. This thread was just for discussion on all thing cycling.

I have no experience with London, but I used to keep my bike in a neighbours garage. I noticed they only used it for storage so I just asked them if I could stick my bike in there. I gave them a nice bottle of wine to say thanks.

 

The obvious question would be does your workplace have any spare space you could put the bike? If there's an underused store it could be worth asking someone, it will be a lot safer than leaving it on the street.

 

Darkreaper: Yes I thought that, unfortunately they don't (or don't want my bike cluttering it up?!).

I noticed on the tfl website there's something secure up at Finsbury Park which looks like just the ticket, shame there's not anything more centrally.

On my search I found a map of all on-street bike parking in westminster, if it's useful to anyone.

 

I got bored tonight after doing a ride up at Scar House near Pately Bridge in the Yorkshire Dales so I decided to use Google maps to map out all the routes I know up and around that area.

Google Maps

You can pretty much start from anywhere on the map and make your own way. I've marked the best starting points. (Leaving out Ramsgill because people parking there used to piss my Dad off when we lived up in Bouthwaite) Just follow the route around an area you think is suitable to your skill. Some routes will be fun either way your ride them. Some, not so much. You should be able to gather which way I'd suggest going by the words I've written on each line. For example: Super fast road downhill is better in the down direction. There is potential for a pretty epic ride all the way around the area. Totals about 20 miles. With an awesome little cafe on the way that does amazing Raspberry Pavlova.

Some photos I took on my iPhone.

 

only if you suck.

i used to ride with a camelback all the time, but lately i've been riding with bottles more and more. it's reallly nice not to have anything on your back

 

Question for the lot of ya: I'm getting tired of always having to rebuild my cross-land, and the 729 up front is just too heavy, what would you lot recomend? I'm thinking the Azonic Outlaw in gray, but am still open to ideas. Needs to be 20mm front, 135x9 out back.

Thanks.

 

In that price range I would go for a secound hand set of Hope Bulbs/Pro II on Mavic/Sun rims. Hope Pro II hubs on a lighter heavy duty rim like the Sun Single Track or MTX build up pretty light for what they're made for and considering how strong they are (so long as they're built properly).

I was running that setup until I built my Pro II on to 24" MTX rims for a street/dirt specific bike (have a set of Bulbs on old 26" Mavic 321CD for my main bike). The Azonics might be good (I wouldn't know TBH), but Hope hubs and Sun or Mavic rims are tried and tested and always have been good

Edit: By the looks of it there Pro DH team use Mavic and Sun for wheels (some running Mavic Deemax wheelsets), which says it all really

 

Just noticed your in Canada , so Hope stuff probably isn't common or cheap, is it?

 

You'd be surprised. Hope is actually very common, and is one of the options I was considering. Thanks for your opinion though, but I don't think I'll be going for single tracks (I've seen far too many of them break for no real reason).

 

Go MTX then . What sort of riding is it for anyway?.

I would go for butted spokes (stronger and lighter) and might be worth considering lighter tyres too if your current setup feels too heavy. Grams count on wheels as obviously rotational weight is much greater than static weight in term of how your bike feels.

Make sure you get them built by a decent shop if you're buying them new as the strength of a wheel is really in the quality of a wheel build (which im sure you know anyway).

 

I doubt I can go lighter tire-wise without just getting silly (Maxxis Ignitors).

Mainly I ride street, with a bit of everything else thrown in for kicks. But an MTX might work. Either that or like an 8-series Mavic.