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-   -   The Bicycles thread (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/bicycles/20785-bicycles-thread-48.html)

maps.google.com

I use that and plot my route out to get the distance.

Guys,

You all must drop into Bikeszone.com for the bakar, the camaraderie and for finding more riders. actually, the last can be done via dailymile.com as well - I am free_rider there. Let's add each other.

Its just a mind block. Last year, I used to struggle just doing the daily morning rides of pedalyatri group (20-22km in an hour). Nowadays, whenever I do cycle, its straightaway 40km in 1 hour 50 or thereabouts. Just a matter of getting used to, and technique.

Hope bblost you are using gears like 2-5 and not the likes of 3-7. The ideal cyclocomp is the sigma 1609 with cadence. cadence is extremely useful for us cyclists.

+1 to cadence. Totally agree with that.
@bblost, i guess you are getting much needed information on BZ related to your rides and pains. Good to see you there too.

P.S - @ phamilyman - You on DM?

Even i purchased a Treadmill from Peddlar's Point.
I still feel the mecca for cycles is Bank Street,though some hitech bicycle shops have come up around city.
I remember a Firefox dealer next to Ravi Cycles on Bank Street.Infact my BSA Foldman and Hercules ATB came from Ravi Cycles.
BSA Go on Raj Bhavan road is also good ,but strictly TI cycles brands only.I purchased a BSA Champ for my son at BSA Go last year.

Great going bblost, human power at work, motor bike at rest. Good for you.

I am going out cycle shopping tomorrow at Cochin. Hope to find a good one as recommended on BZ. Also hoping that the wife and the rest of the family will overcome the 'mental block' part. I am good at starting many things, but most related to health gets stuck in the way, so the trouble.

A big thanks to all BHPians of this thread. I m cycling again. I bought my cycle, used it for 10-15 days and stopped but after seeing this thread and talking to Abhijeet(Spitfire) I am cycling again.

I m using Firefox RoadRunner with 700C tires. For the last 2 days I m doing 12 Kms daily in the morning. I stay in kadugodi Bangalore and there is a beutiful road near my house towards . I do not see much traffic on these roads and to accompany me there is a wonderful cool breeze, so for last 2 days its been a good workout.

I have marked a distance of 3Km and I do couple of rounds (6+6).I m taking 1 break of 5 minutes after 6 Kms. I m planning to increase my trips to 15 Kms in coming days. I think I am comfortable in doing 12 Kms. Only one mishap happened today. I kept my car keys in my shorts and I lost them somewhere. I think it might have fallen somewhere on the road. Now at least one lesson learnt, to attach some kind of a pouch in my bike to keep some important stuffs.

Great location. That trail has some beautiful green trails. Explore more towards the SH35 through those villages.

Get a saddle bag. SADDLE BAG BASIC 0.4L Cycling Bags - Decathlon India

Very good use.

I am getting better every day. Earlier the 8 odd kms to office used to kill me. Now with getting the right gears, posture and nutrients I am doing it much more easier.

Oh good. I am not a very photogenic guy though :D

I read and I read some more on the internet. All seemed like some rules. So I thought let me listen to my body instead.

Being an athlete in my younger days helped.

So I started experimenting. Since I would be using the same route everyday (office), constant external factors. I knew the changes would show improvement or my body will tell me what's going wrong.

Somethings I did:

Myself:
Getting the right posture: Since I was used to motorcycles my posture was one of a certain crouch. What this did was did not give me enough feel from the top portion of my body. So I tried different stances but the best that worked for me was, straight arms + straight back. No crouch. Had to move back a bit on the saddle for this. Amazing results my legs felt much better.

Also there was a bit of cramping in my left leg only. So I made out the blood is not flowing too well to both my legs. So started wearing slightly loose fitting pants. Worked again.

I also experimented with the way I rest my foot on the pedal. The best way was to pedal only with the toes. This way the blood circulation got even better. I had to raise the saddle height a bit for this. With a flat foot though the ankle is more stressed - rotational + perpendicular forces. But with toes the pressure points shift from the ankles to the toes. And since they are more in number they take the stress better. The ankles dont rotate that much more too.

I also experimented with the way I breathe. Optimum way was to breathe only through the nose. Long drawn breathes and exhale from the mouth. Exhaling from the mouth also helps in maintaining a lower body temperature (I am guessing here) as I felt it. But this tends to dry the mouth. So I now have a piece of gum in my mouth. This helps keeping my mouth wet.

Other thing is conserve energy. Pedal only how much your body can take. Don't exhaust all your energy in that one blast, use your body energy gradually. Inclines need a fairly more reserve. Ride in higher gears and pedal slowly, really slowly. You body, legs immediately feel better. You can feel the energy surging as you slow down, again take long breathes as you do it and stop chewing the gum.

Oh... that's a long post. I will stop here.

The above techniques worked for me. I don't have any major training knowledge most of it was acquired when I used to play professional sports. But that's a good decade back. So had to relearn on my own.

And the above is only my observation for my style of riding I am not sure it would work for all.

The pro's please feel free to correct me.

boy o boy - why are we recommending firefox roadrunner to BHPians. Firefox is a brand that is unreliable and must be avoided except for the Target (their copy of trek 3700).

Spitfire,
The toes is a wrong way to go about it. The load bearing section is just below the toes.

Read here: BikesZone - Cycling • View topic - Pedalling Technique and Cadence: Help Needed Perfect Pedaling Technique [BIKE/SPLIT]

Guys - for cycling stuff - do drop into bikeszone.com - there's a very vibrant community of varied & passionate cyclists. Horses for courses. BZ for bicycles. TBHP for cars, life and everything else :)

EDIT: Check this bicycling zen out: http://surlybikes.com/blog/2514/ Its epic (courtesy BZ!)

Yea thats a long post and you sound like a physiotherapist :D I think I got an idea on what you are doing, let me try if it works for me.


I did not mention anything about toes, are you replying to spitfire ?

Is it :Frustrati ???

I did not think or do much RnD or ask any one here before doing the purchase. Anyways I feel comfortable in this bike. May be I m missing some better things which are there in other bikes. Let me build my stamina and become a regular cyclist, then I will upgrade.

I understand unreliability issues with Cars and Bikes but what can go wrong in my cycle. Is it the gears you are talking about ? I should be better prepared.

When I said toes I meant the toes + the front part of the foot. Just before the palm of the foot (If that is what it is called).

I will try and see what happens with only toes.

I have the same ID there too. But the guys in there dont have any class with respect to their replies. Some are good. But the majority act as though they are the ultimate authority on cycles. So didn't bother going there with my amateur questions and observations.

I saw a post where they called another person cheap and created some mocking award as the most cheapest person around. That is not a good sign for an online community.

I can give them back in full but like I said they are still low class or no class presently.

And surely no comparison to TBHP man. Even with cycles this one thread is much more beneficial then the know all attitude thrown around on there.

OYE!!! wait and see your stamina increase with these tips.

Wow reading all the posts it does inspire, am just waiting for the monsoon to pass...

In Bangalore, I never used to use the gears properly as I could manage the inclines without changing the gears. I learnt the importance of using the right gears to preserve energy and keep going when I went for a one day trip to Kudremukh peak covering 80 kms in a day. :D

The right way to pedal is using the toes, initially you may find it difficult to use toes instead of heel.

Actually i agree to this too. agree:

I'm there too, but sometimes its like every amateur or a noob wants to ask the same very 'Which Bike?' question and expect a sublime reply. I don't think that is anyways going in the positive heads at BZ, so the rudeness comes out. There are amazing people who can really help you tons which i can assure you.

At TBHP, the thread is the only way to communicate with fellow cyclists or provide any information. At BZ, its the whole community dedicated to bicycle related matters. So there tends to be know-all thrown around.

The bicycle thread on TBHP is a winner too.

I did post a link earlier on the thread regarding biking posture. Well here it is again,

BikeDynamics - Bike Fitting Specialists - Fit Guidelines

have some more if you'll want to read and have fun cycling, rather than hurting the bones.