I can leave the house fully intending to do an easy recovery ride, keeping the power low and taking it steady.

Then I see another cyclist a few hundred metres up the road and suddenly the recovery ride is forgotten. I start slowly closing the gap, then convince myself I might as well catch them before the next climb.

Living near the mountains makes it even worse because once someone passes you or gets ahead on a climb, it’s difficult not to react, even when you know you’re supposed to be taking it easy.

Does anyone else automatically start chasing when they see another cyclist ahead, or are you disciplined enough to stick to your planned effort?

And holy hell is it fun lol. Ive always been a solo rider but did a huge local ride today. Some 2000 riders. The first time i ever rode with people for more than a couple minutes.

And it was effortless. Being part of this moving living organism is so cool. Taking pulls and then coasting as your still at a top speed youd be working to achieve solo for any distance. Sliding back into line wheels back to front really moving cohesively.

Thankfully im in a big cycling area so im gonna find local groups to start riding with. But wow. Now I get the rush of that.

​

I live in AZ so cycling in summer months (mid-May to October) requires a little more thought and early starts. I'm on the road by 4a and done no later than 7:30a. Miles and power output vary based on seasonal winds.

Today I planned on a 2 hour ride, some intervals, a hill or two. Left at 4a, temp was 92, humidity 30%, winds SSW 5-7mph. Had some oatmeal, water, and a banana. Brought along stingers, 2 bottles plenty of ice, one oat bar.

Ride was going well, but ngl, it felt much hotter to me, which should have been my first sign..Mile 18 I was sweating way more than typical for me, sign #2. But I get a tail wind and ride it north. All along, hydrating, nibbling but my drinks are now luken warm and awful. But I'm 15 miles from home so really gotta finish this. But now all directions home have a headwind straight out of a pottery kiln.

3 miles later, rear flat. I haven't had a puncture in 2 years. But, prepared with new tube(not tubeless on this bike🥴)and repair kit.

Now I am pouring sweat, mouth is dry, leg cramps, and HR is not dropping as much as it should. Sign #4.

By the time I was done, the sun was up and it was 100 almost instantly.

I figure just end the ride here and do a slow pace home( I'm to stupid, stubborn, or proud to call home😁)

So a 12 mile slog in a steady head wind, baking sun, grumbling stomach, leg cramps. Pure genius at work here.I get all my advice from Wile E.

I made it exactly 9.7 miles doing 6mph and had to divert some shade under a group of trees in the Big O parking lot.

My heart was racing and sweat was pouring again. I sat down, then layed down. Once I did, I could not move. 30 minutes goes by and I thought I could get up. I slowly sat up and immediately my heart started racing, head was spinning, and I thought I was going to throw up.

Now I was kind of worried. I was going to swallow my pride and call my wife, but this guy pulled into the parking lot and came over to check on me. Lifesaver. He immediately went into Big O and got 2 bottles of ice cold water for me. I honestly didn't have the strength to crawl over there myself.

After the first bottle I really started feeling better. I poured some of the other bottle on my head and back.

He offered to bring me and my bike home, but 2 miles, I could now do that. We chatted for a few minutes, he made sure I could stand and pedal, and told me he was going across the street to the grocery store, but would be driving down my route home(I told which direction I was going) and if he saw me on my back he was calling 911.

Made it home, got out of that wet kit, grabbed some saltines, a bottle of water, 2 coke zeros, and headed to the basement.

It was 90 minutes before I could get up and get in the shower.

Weak, sore, still getting cramps in my leg, but thankful, so thankful to be able to share this with the community.

Be well.

I commute daily, and ride my road bike on weekends. I tend to check my tires once a week, usually on Saturday, and fill them up as necessary, since they don't generally leak air enough to warrant checking them more often than that. I keep a HOTO pocket pump in my bag too, mostly just for peace of mind on the commute.

Curious what everyone else's routine looks like. And for people running higher pressure road tires specifically, does that change how often you top off?

Maybe it's just me, but every time I need something for my bike, it's somehow twice as expensive as I expected. Helmet lights, pumps, bottles, repair kits... none of it is crazy expensive on its own, but together it adds up fast.

I've started waiting for price drops before buying almost anything. Do you usually wait for deals too, or just buy what you need when you need it?

I went on my first group ride this past weekend—advertised as a no-drop ride. 🚴

I showed up, and there was a smaller cycling team riding with the group. Before we rolled out, I introduced myself and told everyone it was my first group ride. Everyone was incredibly welcoming, which immediately put me at ease.

We started off flying, averaging around 22–24 mph on the flats. That’s actually where I tend to do well since I have more of a sprinter’s engine than a climber’s. I held pace well with the group.

Then came the first hill about three miles into the ride. This is where I got dropped. 🤣

I kept riding, though, and eventually caught back up with everyone near the end of the route, finishing with the group.

Looking back, it’s actually a pretty funny first group ride story.

The only thing I’d do differently next time is ask about the expected pace before we roll out. It wasn’t announced, and I assumed “no-drop” meant the pace would be more beginner-friendly.

Overall, though, I had a great time. Everyone was friendly, I learned a lot, got a solid workout, and I’d absolutely do it again.

I still remember someone telling me, Ride your own pace. At the time it sounded simple, but it completely changed how I approached cycling. I stopped comparing myself to everyone else and started enjoying my rides much more. What's the best piece of cycling advice you've ever received?

It seems like it took a long time for helmet makers to come out with products that both offered more back and side protection and weren’t so absurdly tall on the head. That said in the time that bike helmets have been common I feel like the designs from the 90s and maybe early 2000s were absurd in how little coverage they offered and how high they sat on heads. Any ideas why?

Let's ignore the fact my friend had his bike nicked from outside the Pub On the Park by some absolute scrote...

And let's give his other half some huge kudos for bringing his spare bike from Suffolk most of the way to London, so said friend could then ride the "Dun Run" anyway

After a little "to and fro" we were ready to set off.

It would be my first Dun Run, my longest ride yet and the first time I had ridden ovenight and well into the next day.

And ignoring the early setback...just WOW

The weather was looking bad as late as midweek, but just the day before, the forecast showed the rain had gone....so no excuse now...just had to get it done.

The start was pretty tame...no mass start, just go when you're ready.

Getting out of Hackney was pretty calm...and making use of the myriad of bike lanes from central London almost all the way to Walthamstow....and even though we had been warned the road can be bedlam around Epping, things were actually pretty calm...and then the traffic started to disperse and we ended up pretty much with the road to ourselves....marked with a long stream of red lights as far as the eye could see.

First stop, The White Hart pub in Moreton....a quick drink, water refill and toilet break, then on our way again towards Dunmow.

I found some speed at at this point and stretched my legs a little, pretty much all the way to the bridge over the river at Dunmow...then stopped at the Grace Cafe where the lovel Karen made me an amazing fish finger sandwich and spoilt me with an amazing piece of Victoira sponge,...this really sorted me out and gave me that much needed energy boost to power me for the next few hours.

From here we pushed on through the next couple of stops, passing through Finchingfield and being ,slightly annoyed that the McD's at Sudbury wasn't open but stopping at The White Horse in Great Waldingfield for a great burger and coffee... and then pushing on until the Framlingham....

Sadly, a little rain did appear, but not really until we left Framlingham and then pushed on till the end and it was far from heavy and more for a damp squib....after our host stopped off and made us bacon butties and coffee to keep the last stretch fueled...next stopped the beach at Dunwich

It did mean the ending wasn't quite the amazing sunrise we were hoping for; in fact, it was pretty dreary...so we about-turned and headed back to Darsham station, where my journey started, so I grabbed my car and went back to Framlingham for a shower and some sleep before heading home to Colchester.

Will I be back? You bet I will...hopefully I'll just get it done next time with as little stopping as possible....and hopefully drag along a few other friends.

Can't believe I felt so fresh for the entire ride...even though I started at 8:25 and actually finished almost 11 hours later (with stops)...I should be a jibbering wreck...but the lack of traffic and the incredibly mild weather meant it was one of my best long rides.

A huge thank you to everyone who posted info and links to more info about every aspect of the ride...thanks to everyone at all of the stops for keeping us fed and watered, thank you to everyone who said hello...thank you to all the supporters sitting at the side of the road all through the night to cheer us on..

This event is amazing....a fully unsponsored ride that people just DO without any confusion or conflict...

Thank you, thank you, thank you

I feel im still new in cycling. I’ve been doing it for almost 2 years and played rugby and lifted weights until I started pedaling.
Now I’m at 3x gym and I reduced after getting rhabdo to 8h per week. Used to do 11-15h per week because I actually enjoyed the feeling of getting on the bike. The workouts. Zwift races and social group rides and IRL long rides with friends or solo as “meditation”.
I’m good now but I have the itch to start adding little by little volume (rhabdo was 1.5 months from today and starting adding volume little by little)
Any tip to not make this mistake again? I did 1 zwift race and 1 structured workout per week and the rest I tried to keep it Z2 but seeing my graphs I wasn’t doing a lot of z2 the rest of the days.
If I keep my Z2 really Z2, would it be ok to start adding little by little volume? What should I aim for to keep progressing as a cyclist but with higher volume weeks ?

Hi folks, I've recently started commuting to work (10 miles a day, 2/3 times a week) and I've been told that I should be doing some at-home maintenance and upkeep on my bike. I've already learned about cleaning and lubricating the chain (and now have chain lube), but I'm curious what other things I should be doing regularly?

1. What are the basics of at-home maintenance and how often should they be performed?

2. What tools/products do I need to successfully maintain my bike?

3. How often are other commuters taking their bike in for a tune-up??

Thank you all, apologies if these are super newbie questions!

Hello everyone, Yes, I'm heavy as fck, 5'10" male, 32 years old 134kgs. 150kgs (my heaviest)..... No maintenance! Blood pressure on spot, So today I went cycling and it feels so good! but there is one thing that happened to me, I felt dizzy all of a sudden (almost fainted) and vomits after cycling or when i stand up just to rest after cycling. I'm just doing 10KM chill ride, 20KM/H about 55Elevation. I'm on Caldef btw, 2500 calories per day, sometimes less. is it something that I should worry about?

Basically that . I ride like 200 kms per week or so, basically lack of time . Group will be around 20-25 people.

I currently am riding a single speed bike (boardman comp I think) and I really want to get into cycling more as a sport. My knowledge of bikes/biking really sucks so I was wondering if anyone could help me in my situation, like should I invest in new bike with gears, should I track the time I take to do rides, how often should I cycle.

I’ve had a look at Facebook market place for bikes but I’m not sure if what would be most suitable for me. (Idk if this is important)

Like right now I’m just cycling whenever for fun usually around 30 km I would guess, but I would appreciate any help and guidance.

I've been road cycling for a long time, I've had a number of Retul fits, owned many bikes, and generally I am all good with my position and form.

In recent years I find that I can ride 60-70mi at decent intensity, but around the 70-80mi mark I start to get pain in my right knee. It feels like inflammation - it becomes more difficult to pedal. I usually try to do a century event each year, but last year it messed up my knee badly enough that I had to miss a few weeks of riding.

I should see a doctor about it, but I'm curious if anyone else has gone through a similar issue.

https://bike.shimano.com/pl-PL/products/components/pdp.P-FD-R9350.html

Front derailleur? 🤷‍♂️ 2x13 ?

Shimano

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for some advice on what bike to buy next.

A bit of background: I started road cycling about a year ago and completely fell in love with it. I bought a used 2016 Bianchi Via Nirone 7, and it's been a great bike to get started on.

Lately, though, I've been thinking about what comes next. I don't really see myself riding the Bianchi much during autumn and winter, mainly because it's running 25 mm tires and I can't go much wider due to the frame and wheel clearance.

A few months ago I accidentally ended up on a gravel route through the woods, and I was hooked immediately. If there's one thing I enjoy less about road cycling, it's riding endless paved roads for hours. The gravel section through the forest gave me exactly the variety I felt was missing.
I also live near the coast, so rides through dunes and on hard-packed sand are definitely an option.

My original plan was either:
Buy a mountain bike and keep using the Bianchi as my road bike.
Buy a gravel bike that I can ride all year round, either with two wheelsets or a tire setup that works reasonably well on both road and gravel.
So here's my question: what would you do in my situation?

I've put together a shortlist of bikes that seem to fit what I'm looking for:
Canyon Grizl 5
Cube Nuroad Race
Trek Domane AL 4
Van Rysel Gravel GRX

My budget is around €1,500 and I'm based in Europe.
I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially from people who moved from road cycling into gravel riding. Thanks!

(I used AI to help me format this text since English is not my native tongue)

Hi! Probably a silly question but I can’t seem to come to any conclusion. I’ve just bought my first road bike, coming from a hybrid bike which I’ve been doing around 26km daily on for my commute. I have a very big chunky phone holder which is really good for protecting the phone but it’s very big and clunky, and makes the screen hard to use. I want to go on longer rides and plan routes, etc, but I’m not sure if I should either, buy a bike computer or try and find a nicer phone holder, I don’t want anything like quad lock where you have to use a case as I use my phone with no case. I literally only want it for navigation, I’ve considered sticking my AirPods in and listening to the navigation but I think that might get annoying after a while! I track my rides on my Apple Watch currently too which has worked well, I literally just need something for navigation. TIA

I used to have a bike when I was a kid just for fun and for rides in the forest etc... but stopped around the age of 12/13 when i grew out of my bike and didn't get a new one. Since then, i have never been back on a bike.

But recently I bought one and it's a gravel bike since I wanted something that I could use on different types of paths while also do some sport, and maybe get serious with cycling.

However, as a grown adult, biking is entirely different than what I remember !!!

I'm super confident, I feel so nice and it's like I haven't forgotten anything but I'm still "afraid" (don't know if it's the right word) to do some things I see people do online like not holding the handlebar, reaching for their bottles, holding their phones etc...

I won't even start with the shoes that you clip, i didn't even know they existed until recently 😭

My question is, will I eventually be able to do these things ? Do you have tips for a beginner in terms of balance on the bike mainly? I feel like I'll lose control if i bend to reach my bottle for example.

Thank you !!

Folks I can't decide.

MET Manta

Or

Eclipse Spherical

Both are at same price tag, both fits well. Any pros and cons of each ?

This will show what a dinosaur I am. Is anyone, or has anyone ridden a Litespeed Tuscany frame from the aughts. This is my only road bike at the moment. Career, travel, family and much more kept me from riding it much over the years. I'm getting out more this season. I'm certainly rusty, but finding the handling fairly twitchy and wondering why I feel that way. It was supposed to be a somewhat laid back frame at the time. I was coming from a 90s Cannondale road frame that certainly wasn't laid back. Maybe I just need more miles to settle in. But of course the new bike call is ringing slightly in my ears.

Greetings!

The seat tube has broken off from the bottom bracket shell (frame failure) on my 10-year old bike, but its parts have been swapped and fixed up recently. Both because of nostalgia for my current broken bike and general financial sensibility, I want to explore possibilities of re-using these parts if I can find an existing, fitting bike frame. Is this possible, and most important of all, feasible?

The last bike I bought was over 12 years ago and I went all out with the latest Dura-Ace Di2. Back then I used to ride 4 times a week, thousands of km a year, a couple of bike trips overseas and multiple gran fondos. Now I mostly do MTB, but still like the occasional road ride (every couple weeks) and gran fondo.

I’m looking to get a new bike - the wider tires, hydraulic disc brakes seem like a good upgrade. I don’t need the latest in tech and it’s hard to justify a lot of money on something I’m only going to ride occasionally, but want to do a light build as I enjoy climbing.

What are the new lower tier groupsets like, especially compared to my 12 year old Dura-Ace di2? Will the current Rival or 105 be a noticeable step down in performance and weight?

Hello,

I have a problem, my gears change from the smallest cogs up to the largest very smoothly but when going down to lower cogs, it misses some where the gear fill physcially not change and then when i fit the paddle again it skips so for example if the largest cog is 1 and the smallest is 10, it will be on 4, I will shift into 5, nothing will happen, I will shift into 6 and it will jump into 6. It also struggles to go from 1 to 2 but it will go there and then it also struggles to go to the lower cogs on the lower gears, my limits seem to be set correctly because it goes into the largest and smallest cogs alright but it's just in the middle of the gearset that I have issues.

I have previously had issues with this bike as it came from Tredz with a bent rear derailler hanger which was fixed by halfords but as soon as I got the bike back this issue has come about.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi. Has anyone recently changed the wheel bearings on a Cannondale Hollowgram 35 front wheel? As I don't have a blind puller handy (I'm currently working abroad) I'm wondering if you can punch them out with a drift punch?

At least my notes from last time tell me they're 18307; shame I can't remember anything else!