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Official OGBoards Cycling Thread

johnny miles said:
Thanks for the reflections. The bike shop owner basically says there is no getting Specialized to budge on which frame they send as a replacement, which is frustrating, and that they'll get my position replicated on the new bike pretty well. I suppose I'll give it a few rides, but if the handling/positioning doesn't feel right, I think my only option will be to try to sell the frame and get a road frame instead. Which is a hassle for me that I wish Specialized had the flexibility to take care of. I would've gladly accepted a less "nice" or valuable frame that better suits my needs (i.e., something from the Allez line) than to have to go through this.
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Sorry to hear they're not willing to offer a better solution. What size frame do you ride?
 
lbE08 said:
This is the feedback I've heard from people and experienced in others after leading multiple group rides from a triathlon shop in which TT bikes WERE allowed:
1. If you're riding in aero or ever tempted to, your hands are no longer at the brakes and you can't react. Bad things can happen.
2. ...so the natural solution is "don't ride in aero" but then the geometry of the bike makes you really twitchy/not very fluid in your handling, which is also dangerous in a group setting.
3. "Triathletes and TT cyclists are used to riding alone and suck at riding in groups." (this was what one road team had to say about triathletes in general, even on road bikes, in group riding situations... sadly, it's often true).

Obviously you can successfully ride a TT bike in a group ride, but for the most part it makes others really nervous for the aforementioned things. Many groups have a blanket "no tt bikes allowed on group rides" or if you have aero bars you're just not allowed to ride in them. Either way, I hate riding my TT bike as a road bike because the geometry/handling sucks (compared to my road/cross bikes).
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Yeah - in the aero position you have very little control over the bike (not just unable to reach the brakes, but because of the extreme weight forward position and your elbows and not hands on the bars you just have less control) and riding upright the bike geometry is a bit wonky and twitchy even in the best of circumstances. Twitchy bikes in a pack is quite dangerous. Throw in the fact that many triathlete only riders have little understanding of how to ride in a pack to start with and you have a nasty combination asking to put someone in a hospital.

There's a reason that aero bars are banned in every form of mass road racing - they are for individual events only.
 
paging vad

looking to do some cycling in europe this summer. locked in to lofoten islands in norway for a week in july. also considering cycling in central or western europe before/after. i know you've done some touring around europe, how do you get your bike from place to place? i ride a 63-64 so renting seems a bit trickier. i'm trying to convince my wife we should do a couple of treks in either spain/france or austria/germany. any suggestions on week-long or so routesor generally travelling with bikes in europe? will it be a huge pain in the ass in cities? if so we're thinking do a couple weeks outside of norway directly before or after then sending the bikes back to the states while we tour some cities.
 
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BUMP for vad and more deetz

we are definitely bringing bikes.

10 or so days cycling in france in june (thinking southern, maybe to san sebastion from bordeaux or barcelona from aix en provence)?
then heading to norway for a few weeks
then thinking of heading to croatia slowly through scandanavia/vad area. how feasible will it be travel in central europe with bikes? could we spend the month of august cycling/training down to croatia? any areas/routes in germany/austria/hungary that you would suggest?
 
the bordeaux > san sebastian trip sounds incredible

i guess you'd have to stay along the coast or else ride through the pyrenees a little?

either way, that trip would be silly awesome, going through the Parc naturel régional des Landes de Gascogne most of the way
 
deacphan said:
BUMP for vad and more deetz

we are definitely bringing bikes.

10 or so days cycling in france in june (thinking southern, maybe to san sebastion from bordeaux or barcelona from aix en provence)?
then heading to norway for a few weeks
then thinking of heading to croatia slowly through scandanavia/vad area. how feasible will it be travel in central europe with bikes? could we spend the month of august cycling/training down to croatia? any areas/routes in germany/austria/hungary that you would suggest?
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uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugghhhh do you feel the jealousy from my heart coming at you through the screen?!
 
it looks like if you stay along the coast you avoid all but like 1 bad climbing day.
 
deacphan said:
BUMP for vad and more deetz

we are definitely bringing bikes.

10 or so days cycling in france in june (thinking southern, maybe to san sebastion from bordeaux or barcelona from aix en provence)?
then heading to norway for a few weeks
then thinking of heading to croatia slowly through scandanavia/vad area. how feasible will it be travel in central europe with bikes? could we spend the month of august cycling/training down to croatia? any areas/routes in germany/austria/hungary that you would suggest?
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Cycling in central Europe is a hugely popular summer holiday thing ... so there's tons of paved bike paths, hotels, etc to service that type of holiday. The most popular tour is definitely along the Donau Radweg, which is 1,800km long and starts at the origin of the Danube in southwestern Germany and follows the river, going through Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary before turning south and going along the Croatian/Serbian border down to Belgrade and through Romania to the Black Sea. It's a completely marked trail with no cars and plenty of rest stops, etc (though I think once it gets into Hungary and lower on the river, it's a bit less organized than the Germany/Austria/Slovakian portion). The most popular portion of the path is the section from Passau in Germany to Vienna, and approximately 40,000 people ride that route each year.

Donau Radweg map:

Donau-Radweg-Karte.jpg



That path makes up the heart of the EuroVelo Route #6 ... there are 17 in total and can all be seen here: http://www.eurovelo.com/en/eurovelos ... you might be interested in portions of EuroVelo #8 and #9 (which both go to the Adriatic coast in Croatia). These are all EU funded and supporting cycling routes, which means official signage, maintenance, etc.
 
So for example ... you could start in Germany and take the EuroVelo #6 to Vienna, then start on EuroVelo #9 to Rijeka and then pick up EuroVelo #8 and go down the Croatian coast:

image


imageMap


image
 
Important to notice on those maps btw - what's in yellow is still in construction / not completely market / etc (Croatia is a brand new member of the EU for example, so many EU projects are not complete). Doesn't mean you can't use the EuroVelo path as a guide, but it's not the same as the fully completed sections.
 
Bookmarking for the future. Good posts, vad.
 
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Not sure who else is watching the Tour, but just wanted to say yesterday's DSQ call was (is) horseshit.
 
lbE08 said:
Not sure who else is watching the Tour, but just wanted to say yesterday's DSQ call was (is) horseshit.
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Missed the end yesterday, so I had to read about it today.

It's BS because Sagan has a right to his space?
 
That...and Cav was trying to go through a hole that didn't really exist.

Just an awful call...especially to remove the most interesting rider.
 
So I am thinking about getting a mountain bike. I have been riding road bikes on and off for a few years, nothing serious. Lately, too many people are getting hit by cars and it is kind of freaking me out. So much distracted driving! Plus I like the idea of getting out into nature a bit more.

Talk to me about what I should get. What features must I have? What should I avoid? I can't spend a fortune - maybe $1000... Would anyone recommend looking for a higher end bike that is used? Any other thoughts?
 
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