Geekzone Cycling Thread

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#3317604 6-Dec-2024 15:09

Popped out for a "short" ride last weekend. 6 hours 50 mins later, crossed the Taupo Huka Hundy finish line, spent but happy.

Based on the previous two years events (85km and 60km) I estimated around 8 hours for the approx 100km course. So to smash that by a very solid 70 mins was very satisfying. I guess the indoor trainer and Zwift has been useful after all. :-)

The final 10km within the Craters park was probably the hardest. Using the Cyclone trails which is a spaghetti of up and down zig zags where you can see other riders not far away. I came to the conclusion that they were 1-10 mins in front or behind me and could not figure out which. So it made it hard to know if I should push a bit harder or not. It then turned out that they were equally likely to be the 60km riders on a different trail that interlinked with the one I was on and we both joined up near the end for the final km in the park, then 7ish km from the park to the finish.

Overall a fun morning on the bike which leaves me happy with where I'm at in my training with two of my five booked endurance events completed successfully. Still plenty of work to do but in a good place so far. :-)

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mattwnz

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#3317611 6-Dec-2024 15:30

I've been cycling for the last 5 months most days between 25-40 km , 4-5 days a week, and it has made a big change to my body. Lost 10kg and my VO2 has steadily risen to the 'mid point' of above average fitness on my apple watch. Although I had Covid for few weeks recently so it dipped back as I couldn't ride for about 2 weeks. But I have found that consistency is the key as it becomes an automatic habit. If you don't ride for a week or two, it is more difficult to get the motivation again.

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#3317616 6-Dec-2024 15:59

I can't ride for a few weeks, due to surgery on my face and leg.
It's been less than a week and I am already having withdrawals.

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#3321119 16-Dec-2024 10:02

Final event for the year, teamed up with an ultra running buddy to do the mixed teams duathlon on Crazyman.

Super hot pace off the start with the mid pack averaging 25kmh up the Hutt River trail from Petone to Haywards. A grindy 4km steep climb up to Boulder Hill before a rolling farm section through to Hill Rd where we descended down the the entry gate before hitting the singletrack climb up to Old Coach Rd and the last section of the Weta and Electric Avenue descent down to the Woolshed at Stratton St for the transition where I handed off to my teammate for her to do the 13km "mostly downhill" run to the finish on Petone Beach.

Solid day out for both of us with a final placing of 4th in the category. A sub 2 hour ride leg (28km, 755m vert) for me which I was super happy with.

Now to focus on the endurance training again as it's under 9 weeks until the Tarawera Ultra (100km run) then 10 weeks until the Faultline "Duathlon" (100km mtb, 50km run).

Feeling good about both. :-)

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#3321120 16-Dec-2024 10:10

geoffwnz:

Final event for the year, teamed up with an ultra running buddy to do the mixed teams duathlon on Crazyman.

Super hot pace off the start with the mid pack averaging 25kmh up the Hutt River trail from Petone to Haywards. A grindy 4km steep climb up to Boulder Hill before a rolling farm section through to Hill Rd where we descended down the the entry gate before hitting the singletrack climb up to Old Coach Rd and the last section of the Weta and Electric Avenue descent down to the Woolshed at Stratton St for the transition where I handed off to my teammate for her to do the 13km "mostly downhill" run to the finish on Petone Beach.

Solid day out for both of us with a final placing of 4th in the category. A sub 2 hour ride leg (28km, 755m vert) for me which I was super happy with.

Now to focus on the endurance training again as it's under 9 weeks until the Tarawera Ultra (100km run) then 10 weeks until the Faultline "Duathlon" (100km mtb, 50km run).

Feeling good about both. :-)

I do enjoy reading about your enduring mental illness.

I have no idea how you do it! Madness. I am hoping it wasn't as hot during your race as it was yesterday where I was!

Congrats on the 4th place, though...that's seriously impressive!

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geoffwnz

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#3321129 16-Dec-2024 10:30

Handsomedan:

geoffwnz:

Final event for the year, teamed up with an ultra running buddy to do the mixed teams duathlon on Crazyman.

Super hot pace off the start with the mid pack averaging 25kmh up the Hutt River trail from Petone to Haywards. A grindy 4km steep climb up to Boulder Hill before a rolling farm section through to Hill Rd where we descended down the the entry gate before hitting the singletrack climb up to Old Coach Rd and the last section of the Weta and Electric Avenue descent down to the Woolshed at Stratton St for the transition where I handed off to my teammate for her to do the 13km "mostly downhill" run to the finish on Petone Beach.

Solid day out for both of us with a final placing of 4th in the category. A sub 2 hour ride leg (28km, 755m vert) for me which I was super happy with.

Now to focus on the endurance training again as it's under 9 weeks until the Tarawera Ultra (100km run) then 10 weeks until the Faultline "Duathlon" (100km mtb, 50km run).

Feeling good about both. :-)

I do enjoy reading about your enduring mental illness.

I have no idea how you do it! Madness. I am hoping it wasn't as hot during your race as it was yesterday where I was!

Congrats on the 4th place, though...that's seriously impressive!

"Endurance mental illness". ;-)

I'm firmly in the "use it or lose it" time of life having turned 50 this year. And it keeps me off the streets, literally as I prefer trails.

Was quite warm with mid to high 20's. Ride leg was cloudy but that lifted off just in time for the handover so the runner had a much hotter time of it.

Unlike PGT earlier in the year, it was 4th of 9 mixed teams instead of 4th of 4.

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#3321145 16-Dec-2024 11:17

geoffwnz:

I'm firmly in the "use it or lose it" time of life having turned 50 this year. And it keeps me off the streets, literally as I prefer trails.

When my father was in his 50s I can remember him telling me that keeping fit at that age would carry into his 60s. He's now almost 80 and still regularly cycling.

I don't cycle myself, but I run and swim. Now that I'm in my 40s I'm finding that running is giving me some (admittedly minor) aches and pains that I didn't experience in my 20s and 30s. I've therefore increased my swimming and I'm finding that really good for keeping up my cardio training without putting a lot of stress on the body.

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geoffwnz

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#3321205 16-Dec-2024 12:16

alasta:

geoffwnz:

I'm firmly in the "use it or lose it" time of life having turned 50 this year. And it keeps me off the streets, literally as I prefer trails.

When my father was in his 50s I can remember him telling me that keeping fit at that age would carry into his 60s. He's now almost 80 and still regularly cycling.

I don't cycle myself, but I run and swim. Now that I'm in my 40s I'm finding that running is giving me some (admittedly minor) aches and pains that I didn't experience in my 20s and 30s. I've therefore increased my swimming and I'm finding that really good for keeping up my cardio training without putting a lot of stress on the body.

Unlike in our 20's and earlier, we are no longer made of rubber. Turns out that previously unheard of things like "Strength and Conditioning" are not only an actual thing, but incredibly useful for helping the main goals. Been adding 20ish minute sessions a couple of times a week and it's dealing with most of those random aches and pains that started happening.

My now mid 70's dad took up riding, I think in his 50's. He's put 12,000km on his e-bike in the last 4 years.

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mattwnz

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#3321383 16-Dec-2024 17:33

alasta:

geoffwnz:

I'm firmly in the "use it or lose it" time of life having turned 50 this year. And it keeps me off the streets, literally as I prefer trails.

When my father was in his 50s I can remember him telling me that keeping fit at that age would carry into his 60s. He's now almost 80 and still regularly cycling.

I don't cycle myself, but I run and swim. Now that I'm in my 40s I'm finding that running is giving me some (admittedly minor) aches and pains that I didn't experience in my 20s and 30s. I've therefore increased my swimming and I'm finding that really good for keeping up my cardio training without putting a lot of stress on the body.

Swimming is supposed to be a good non impact exercise. My brother was a middle and longer distance running national rep and he regularly had injuries from running a lot, which probably prevented him being more successful than he was. It can cause a lot of wear and tear, and he always had to get special shoes and orthotics due to the stresses it caused

I found that walking was giving me a lot of foot pain so moved to cycling instead. But cycling in NZ is not the safest. Something like Zwift for indoor cycle training though can be good, although you don't get the natural cooling breeze that you get with being outside.

I wish that there was more education on exercise as people get older. We instead seem to concentrate on sport of younger people, and you see some of these sports stars once they retire balloon out as they become sedentary. It would probably save billions on healthcare in NZ if we keep NZers moving as they age.

SheriffNZ

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#3321384 16-Dec-2024 17:35

I wish that there was more education on exercise as people get older. We instead seem to concentrate on sport of younger people, and you see some of these sports stars once they retire balloon out as they become sedentary. It would probably save billions on healthcare in NZ if we keep NZers moving as they age.

This!

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#3321415 16-Dec-2024 20:42

mattwnz:

I found that walking was giving me a lot of foot pain so moved to cycling instead. But cycling in NZ is not the safest. Something like Zwift for indoor cycle training though can be good, although you don't get the natural cooling breeze that you get with being outside.

I wish that there was more education on exercise as people get older. We instead seem to concentrate on sport of younger people, and you see some of these sports stars once they retire balloon out as they become sedentary. It would probably save billions on healthcare in NZ if we keep NZers moving as they age.

Road cycling can have its challenges but I've found there are ways of reducing the risk.

Choose roads with good width.
Avoid times of the day with low sun angles
Avoid busy times.
Choose a route that avoids busy/difficult intersections.
Plan your route to avoid right turns as much as possible.
Quiet suburban streets are good - do loops of a quiet area.
Stay away from kerbs
Be assertive with your road position, don't get yourself in a position where vehicles are likely to crowd you. Be prepared to take up a position in the middle of the lane to protect your space, but only do this when necessary for short distances and pedal as fast as you can. Also pick your time to make the move, timing is everything.
Don't ride listening to music or podcasts. You need know and hear what's going on around you.

As you get more experience you will feel happier venturing further afield.

It also helps if you can find someone else to ride with, preferably someone with similar ability speed wise.

I agree with you about becoming sedentary. There are sporting events for older people, events like the Masters Games. Unfortunately they don't get enough publicity.

Events like the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge, the Taranaki Cycle Challenge (not sure if it's still going) Rotorua to Taupo Flyer and a few others I don't remember are/were good events for getting people out and exercising not just the event themselves but the preparation for them as well.

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Technofreak

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#3321427 16-Dec-2024 22:06

I've just started looking for another bike to use on rail trail types of rides since we are planning on doing a fair bit more of this sort of riding

I have a Specialized Sirrus which I bought when I first got into cycling. It was a cheaper bike to get started on and I used it almost exclusively on the road. Later on I bought a dedicated road bike a Giant OCR which I really enjoy riding. After riding the Giant I realised the Sirrus is really one size too big for me. Hence the search for another bike.

It's not a have to have but front suspension would be nice as well as disc brakes. Also for the type of riding envisioned I think straight handle bars rather than drops would be better. Also weight is a consideration.

Specialized seem to have a poor selection in my size at the moment. Giant have a couple in my size (Medium) that seem to fit the bill, the Roam 1 and Roam 2.

I've only looked at these two brands so far.

Interested in others comments/thoughts and/or other brands

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mudguard

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#3321452 17-Dec-2024 06:32

Technofreak:

It's not a have to have but front suspension would be nice as well as disc brakes. Also for the type of riding envisioned I think straight handle bars rather than drops would be better. Also weight is a consideration.

Specialized seem to have a poor selection in my size at the moment. Giant have a couple in my size (Medium) that seem to fit the bill, the Roam 1 and Roam 2.

NB I have a huge Specialized bias. Though your post did prompt me to look at their website for hardtails and it seems they only make one. A Chisel. Traditionally Specialized don't offer great bang for buck component wise. How tall are you?

I had a look at the Roam 1, both it and the Chisel use of mix of their own brands. However quite a big price difference in Giant's favour. But out of the two the Chisel looks much more orientated towards mountainbiking (slacker head angle and lower gearing) than the Giant. Whether it's worth the extra money I don't know.

There will tonnes of brands doing hard tails like this. Funnily enough I only know the Chisel as they've realised a full suspension version that I'd quite like as a bike to cover a lot of kms.

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#3321535 17-Dec-2024 09:54

mudguard:

NB I have a huge Specialized bias. Though your post did prompt me to look at their website for hardtails and it seems they only make one. A Chisel. Traditionally Specialized don't offer great bang for buck component wise. How tall are you?

I had a look at the Roam 1, both it and the Chisel use of mix of their own brands. However quite a big price difference in Giant's favour. But out of the two the Chisel looks much more orientated towards mountainbiking (slacker head angle and lower gearing) than the Giant. Whether it's worth the extra money I don't know.

There will tonnes of brands doing hard tails like this. Funnily enough I only know the Chisel as they've realised a full suspension version that I'd quite like as a bike to cover a lot of kms.

The Chisel is quite bit more spendy. I don't want to tie up too much money in this. Around $1500 plus or minus was my thinking before I started looking. This isn't going to be a serious competition bike. Hence the Roam option being near the top of the list with my previous Giant experience.

I'm not into maintain biking as such and never expect to ever do it. Just rail trail type stuff for this bike.

I see the Chisel has 29" V 27.5" on the Roam. I'm not sure that 29" gives me much advantage for my riding I guess opinions may vary on this. I'd be interested to see the difference though.

If the Chisel was significantly lighter I might spend the extra. Giant don't quote weight. I will check out the Chisel anyway.

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Handsomedan

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#3321538 17-Dec-2024 10:00

Technofreak:

I've just started looking for another bike to use on rail trail types of rides since we are planning on doing a fair bit more of this sort of riding

I have a Specialized Sirrus which I bought when I first got into cycling. It was a cheaper bike to get started on and I used it almost exclusively on the road. Later on I bought a dedicated road bike a Giant OCR which I really enjoy riding. After riding the Giant I realised the Sirrus is really one size too big for me. Hence the search for another bike.

It's not a have to have but front suspension would be nice as well as disc brakes. Also for the type of riding envisioned I think straight handle bars rather than drops would be better. Also weight is a consideration.

Specialized seem to have a poor selection in my size at the moment. Giant have a couple in my size (Medium) that seem to fit the bill, the Roam 1 and Roam 2.

I've only looked at these two brands so far.

Interested in others comments/thoughts and/or other brands

I think it will largely depend on what you really wany from a bike.
You could get a short-travel full suspension bike with good anti-squat properties and make the most of being cushioned throughout the vast majority of your ride, or you could get any number of very good trail hardtails, but if you want something like a step-thru frame, or something taht comes with a kickstand, as opposed to a mountain bike that's almost fit-for-purpose, then you'll have a slightly broader search field.

Personally, I have gone eBike and that's all I'd consider now for something like a Rail Trail, but if that's not your bag you need to write up a bit of a list of what you really want from a bike - not just "front suspension and disc brakes", which I think whould probably be a given for any kind of off-road riding, even if it's just Rail Trail type stuff.
I'm thinking of things beyond just componentry and weight, but things like ride position, wheel size, tyre & wheel type, rack compatibility etc.
It all gets quite murky when you go down the rabbit hole.

Also - how much do you want to spend? That will have a massive impact on your decision making.

I agree that on the surface a Giant Roam or Marin DSX would fit the general bill, but maybe a dedicated Gravel Bike with flat bars may be better? Lots to consider.

I love New Bike Day.

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