The Fretboard Cycling Club

jonnyburgo

I love road biking, especially long steep climbs, I am not fast at all though, best time on a section up to Pym Chair near me is 11m 14sec, guys from Macclesfield Wheelers club are doing under 5 mins!!! Absolute animals. I just like grinding it out, sweating like fook. Feels like a real workout. I'm more or less a solitary rider and like to go out first thing in the morn, can't beat a sunrise over the Peak District. 

MooseAboot

I haven't tried this.  But removing the BB, flipping the bike upside down and filling the seat post with coke.  Overnight, then vice trick.

TTBZ

jonnyburgo said:

I love road biking, especially long steep climbs,

That's not for me! I hate big climbs on a road bike for some reason but enjoy it whilst mountain biking, there's usually more to concentrate on I guess.

The worst road climb I've ever done is the road up past the golf club at The Long Mynd in Church Stretton Shropshire. Feels like it's going on forever and I remember it being steep enough to feel like you could wheelie at any time if you lean back too far. That was on my mountain bike that was mostly used for riding DH too (so fat tyres and slack geometry), just horrible! Worth it for the descents that follow though and the off road climb back up through the valley was quite fun and loose! God I miss mountain biking, haven't done a ride like that for ages and loved that Long Mynd route.

@SUNBATHER - I would try some kind of penetrating lube (!) squirted in from the BB and left upside down overnight.

m_c

I'm one of the vindictive types who loves a good climb. I love the challenge on the road bike, and on the mountain bike love the reward of a good descent.
I am missing proper big days on the mountain bike currently. Can't wait to get back to 1000+m days.

Logie

I went over to Majorca a couple of years ago and stayed at the aparthotel in Puerto Pollensa for a 4 day cycling trip. We did the 6.5 mile Sa Calobra climb on the second day and that was gruelling. I'd not been on the bike properly for 4 months and just thought if I took it easy it'd be OK.
Took me an hour to get up in granny gear mode ( a decent club cyclist will do it in around 30-35 min. Bradley Wiggins is rumoured to have done it in 22 min ) but it's one of the most fulfilling/ distressing things I've ever done in my life. 
We had a near 30 mile cycle back to the hotel afterwards as well. Yaaay

Jaycee

@Logie ; that would be me on  a good day ,  like @m_c I like the challenge of a climb but I don't have climbers legs. 

Logie

@Jaycee ;
I said never again but I'll probably have another go. I'd like to do it with a bit of training under my belt to see if I can manage it a bit quicker but same here, I'm not a climber. 

thermionic

MooseAboot said:

I haven't tried this.  But removing the BB, flipping the bike upside down and filling the seat post with coke.  Overnight, then vice trick.

I have and it’s nonsense! I think it’s one of those early internet stories with no basis in fact (like the average person swallows 5 spiders during their lifetime as they fall into an open mouth while sleeping!) It’s allegedly the phosphoric acid in Coke, it does have a pH of around 2.5 but it’s too dilute to have any effect.

A technique that does work is to use sodium hydroxide - it will dissolve an aluminium seatpost completely over several days. This is not advisable with an aluminium frame obviously! I suspect the chemistry is the same though, with a cheap steel seatpost (usually it’s an aluminium seatpost stuck in a steel frame). A release agent like PlusGas or a plumber’s freezing spray, followed by brute force is the best bet. I once tried taking the saddle off and jamming the top of the seatpost into a drain cover as a makeshift vice but it didn’t work.

Using a hacksaw blade to cut the post into narrow sections is risky, especially in an aluminium frame. A friend of mine almost cut through the frame tube of his 1980’s Vitus trying this.

SUNBATHER

thermionic said:

MooseAboot said:

I haven't tried this.  But removing the BB, flipping the bike upside down and filling the seat post with coke.  Overnight, then vice trick.

I have and it’s nonsense! I think it’s one of those early internet stories with no basis in fact (like the average person swallows 5 spiders during their lifetime as they fall into an open mouth while sleeping!) It’s allegedly the phosphoric acid in Coke, it does have a pH of around 2.5 but it’s too dilute to have any effect.

A technique that does work is to use sodium hydroxide - it will dissolve an aluminium seatpost completely over several days. This is not advisable with an aluminium frame obviously! I suspect the chemistry is the same though, with a cheap steel seatpost (usually it’s an aluminium seatpost stuck in a steel frame). A release agent like PlusGas or a plumber’s freezing spray, followed by brute force is the best bet. I once tried taking the saddle off and jamming the top of the seatpost into a drain cover as a makeshift vice but it didn’t work.

Using a hacksaw blade to cut the post into narrow sections is risky, especially in an aluminium frame. A friend of mine almost cut through the frame tube of his 1980’s Vitus trying this.

I have also tried the coke trick, a few years ago. I've been flirting with the idea of a new bike but I really like this one and this seems to be it's only real issue (the post isn't even far off what I'd likely set it to anyway, which is why its ended up stuck). One thing you can do with coke though is clean minging parts with it. I got a used guitar that was caked in scum in the bridge and saddles, so I left them in full fat coke overnight and they came out gleaming, and I've had similarly good results with dirty oily brake calipers and bike bits. 

I'm not prepared to hacksaw it myself. I've contacted a local shop to see if they can have a look at it and maybe make some suggestions. 

Brio

Good to see everyone get the miles in. The last few days have rathe springlike. Tomorrow we’re back to the full on sog down here.

Logie

"Ooooh...weather looks nice today" I think, "I won't bother with my cold weather stuff".

Ride straight into a rainstorm 4 mile out!

Freezing, piss wet through and couldn't see a thing. I looked like an extra from Aquaman so I cut it short.

 Aaaarse

Neill

Logie said:

I went over to Majorca a couple of years ago and stayed at the aparthotel in Puerto Pollensa for a 4 day cycling trip. We did the 6.5 mile Sa Calobra climb on the second day and that was gruelling. I'd not been on the bike properly for 4 months and just thought if I took it easy it'd be OK.
Took me an hour to get up in granny gear mode ( a decent club cyclist will do it in around 30-35 min. Bradley Wiggins is rumoured to have done it in 22 min ) but it's one of the most fulfilling/ distressing things I've ever done in my life. 
We had a near 30 mile cycle back to the hotel afterwards as well. Yaaay

Been to Majorca many times on training camps, and Sa Calobra was always one of the highlights. 

I remember flying down the descent with two Spanish lads, weaving in and out of the cars and coaches.   If you've done it you may remember there's one bit where there's a rock overhang quite low on the left hand side, well one of these Spanish guys decides to overtake a coach at that point, I hung back as I knew what was coming, he saw the overhang just in time, ducked, and next thing I know his cap came flying back towards me.  This was pre helmet days, if he had been wearing a helmet I shudder to think what would have happened as he wouldn't have made it under the overhang.  

The climb back up was regarded as a race, and I thought I was a decent climber until a guy called Chris Young put the hammer down and made us all look stupid.  Chris was an international cyclo cross rider and IIRC won the Three Peaks three times so in hindsight I don't feel too bad.  

BTW is that funny cafe still there at the top of Soller?  We used to have a race up there too, but before they built the tunnel.  

Logie

@Neill ;

I'd be lying if I said I remembered much of the descent

The only bit I really remember is going through the rock formation that looks like a tunnel ( although it's open at the top if I remember ) about a mile or so from the bottom and then just after that there was a rock jutting out which was a bit of a heartstopper. If that's what you mean I can imagine that would smart if you hit it!

I was hanging out of my arse, blubbing like a toddler during the ascent so I wasn't really paying attention to anything but the road about 6 feet in front of me.

We did the Monastery climb and bimbled down to Alcudia and back the first day, Puerto Pollensa to Sa Calobra and back on day 2 and Formentor lighthouse day 3.

We were meant to go out together the next day but we went on the piss after Formentor and met Steve Parrish and his wife in a bar and got absolutely caned with them. He's a bit of a raconteur is Steve!
 I stayed in bed and my mate went off on his own next day but I don't think he went over to Soller.
It's a stunning place to cycle and we're planning on going back there next year if this shit show clears up.

Neill

Logie said:

@Neill ;

I'd be lying if I said I remembered much of the descent

The only bit I really remember is going through the rock formation that looks like a tunnel ( although it's open at the top if I remember ) about a mile or so from the bottom and then just after that there was a rock jutting out which was a bit of a heartstopper. If that's what you mean I can imagine that would smart if you hit it!

I was hanging out of my arse, blubbing like a toddler during the ascent so I wasn't really paying attention to anything but the road about 6 feet in front of me.

We did the Monastery climb and bimbled down to Alcudia and back the first day, Puerto Pollensa to Sa Calobra and back on day 2 and Formentor lighthouse day 3.

We were meant to go out together the next day but we went on the piss after Formentor and met Steve Parrish and his wife in a bar and got absolutely caned with them. He's a bit of a raconteur is Steve!
 I stayed in bed and my mate went off on his own next day but I don't think he went over to Soller.
It's a stunning place to cycle and we're planning on going back there next year if this shit show clears up.

That's bringing back so many happy memories @Logie. ; We generally stayed on the other side of the island, a place called Arenal and it was something of a cyclists Mecca.  There was a bar in town, "Paco's," and every club that had visited donated a jersey, mostly from the uk, so there were hundreds of club jerseys hanging from the walls and the ceiling, we had some fantastic nights there.   We used to go to Majorca in late February when the weather was about the same as a British summer.  One of the hotel waiters was a bike rider too and he would come out with us when he wasn't working, we'd all be there in shorts and short sleeve jerseys and he's turn up in his winter gear - gloves, overshoes, the lot!

Not sure which monastery climb you mean - there's a lot of them!  It's so long since I was there but would it be at Lluc?  I seem to recall a big climb with a lot of woodland which was absolutely lethal in the wet.  As you know in Majorca it's not recommended to go into the mountains when it rains, and one year we had a rider ending up in hospital with several breaks by not heeding this advice.  Some of the roads are slippery even when it's dry, I remember seeing one guy slide off going uphill...
  
Owing to a medical condition I can't fly anymore and I do miss those trips.  Apart from anything else it was a treat to ride on smooth roads..

Logie

@Neill ;

It was the Ermita de la Victoria actually. 

My mate had been before and he said it  was the site of a monastery but maybe he got his wires crossed. It's got a fantastic viewpoint and there was a lovely cafė there.

We went mid March and it was already in the 70's. Can't imagine doing those sort of climbs in summer!

Jaycee

Got a nice easy 20 miler in today, concentrated on the hills, got a few pr's on a few.

m_c

I managed 40 miles yesterday, and my first day with more than a 1000m of vertical this year.

Feeling kind of broken now, as had a bit of hellish week at work and was feeling a bit rubbish before I even left the house yesterday, but it was worth getting out for a decent spin up the hills with a mate.

gubble

I gave up cycling in 2014 but re-started last year (just before everyone went  bike crazy in lockdown)

I purchased a s/h Trek 1000 - which isn't the latest, flashiest, lightest of bikes, however I've really bonded with it and it's to me it's the best bike in the world.

I really enjoy going out after work for a couple of hours, riding around the new forest and the coast. I'm certainly not setting any distance or speed records but it does wonders for my head and is much healthier than sitting on the sofa.



When I go for a cycle with the family i don't use the road bike, until last week I had a seriously ancient and beaten up Raleigh mountain bike. Then I saw this Trek 4500 advertised locally so picked it up.

Brio

Yesterday was pretty good wasn’t it? A couple of hours in the sun 9n the singlespeed was great. Worth getting up early and getting my work out of the way. More of the same today.

drofluf

Did my first Zwift race this morning 117th out of 278 but it was hard work!