Cycling / Running - Logs, Stories, & Pictures (any fellow cyclists or runners here?)

[Izack]

Inspired by your guys' pictures, I went for a walk with a camera over a few kilometres by where I live. I would have taken more pictures, but I met my uncle on a tractor and talked for a long time, then it started to rain.

Large images, so they're only linked here.

Beautiful view of the VIA Ocean Line:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26163846/walk/IMG_1240.JPG

Walking into the woods, had to turn back because the path is too overgrown:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26163846/walk/IMG_1241.JPG

Went back to the rails, but had to get off again for this guy:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26163846/walk/IMG_1243.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26163846/walk/IMG_1245.JPG

The road as I crossed it:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26163846/walk/IMG_1247.JPG

Some trees:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26163846/walk/IMG_1248.JPG

Uncle's driveway:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26163846/walk/IMG_1250.JPG

Back on the rails, here's a patriotic maple:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26163846/walk/IMG_1252.JPG
(There's a brown cow a little bit off-camera.)

The switch at one end of the sidings.:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26163846/walk/IMG_1254.JPG

More rails:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26163846/walk/IMG_1255.JPG

The family who lives here doesn't farm anymore, so the fields are growing over:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26163846/walk/IMG_1256.JPG

Didn't see this 'No Trespassing' sign until after I hopped over the ropes on my way out :shifty::
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26163846/walk/IMG_1257.JPG

A truck whooshes past at 100km/h. It's an interesting experience:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26163846/walk/IMG_1258.JPG

The front yard at the end of the expedition:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26163846/walk/IMG_1260.JPG

All in all, the walk was only about 5km round trip. Oh well.

 

[mojoey]

inspired by all of you i rode my bike from here, to estes park (uphill 99.999%) and back down. i had a camera taped to my bike, but i dumped it on a harpin turn going back down on Laramie county 6. and have a giant scratch on my leg. so no pics maybe next time
http://g.co/maps/yzd4e

 

[Tex]

Man!! You guys have some great places to explore and ride!

Izack; How can I compete with that? Amazing pics, great country up there!!

mojoey; That's gotta be tough cycling in the mountains, but amazing! Everything around me is flat, so I have to find overpasses to do any hill training. Sorry you crashed, hope you're OK and looking forward to the pics. :thumbup:


EDIT - I also got out and cycled again today. Only did about 24 miles, but had a nice ride. Average speed 15.8 mph, top speed 29.3 mph.

 

[Turbinator]

I went on this ride last week, I'll go again and post some pictures:

 

[DanM]

For some reason my chain/gears are making honking/buzzing noises whenever I peddle. Also, my breaks aren't very responsive. Does anyone know how I might solve these problems?

Thanks!

 

[Scruce]

For some reason my chain/gears are making honking/buzzing noises whenever I peddle.

I have this problem as well, it seems to happen when the pedal is being moved, but it does not make any noise when the bike is moving but the pedals aren't.

 

[DanM]

I have this problem as well, it seems to happen when the pedal is being moved, but it does not make any noise when the bike is moving but the pedals aren't.

Same here. Also, this bike was made in the mid 1980s, and as far as I know the only things that have really been changed on it are chain lube (not recently, though), refilling tires, and I replaced the brake pads in May.

 

[Turbinator]

Does the bike have gears? If it does, does the front derailleur touch the chain?
If it does you need to have your derailleur adjusted.


Maybe the back wheel needs truing, when you apply pressure on the pedal on the down stroke, does the back wheel yaw to the left?
If it does it might be rubbing against the left side of the back frame. If it is, it need to be trued or the back hub might be busted.

---------- Post added at 08:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:05 PM ----------

If you are hearing honking noises coming from your wheels, your brakes need to be aligned and properly tensioned.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Brakes: the cable has stretched, and needs to be adjusted. Use a crescent wrench to loosen the nut that clamps down on the cable, pull it taut, and tighten the nut again.
as for the noise when pedaling, Turbinator's right, your derailuer (sic) is rubbing. If you have a click shifter, that also has a stretched cable. Again, loosen, adjust, tighten.

PM me if you have further questions, as I repair bikes fairly frequently.

 

[FordPrefect]

Cool thread Tex! Great contributions so far!
I too do like cycling a lot, as it is a good and needed change from my daily office job.
Mostly, I ride from my home to the center of my home city Karlsruhe, Germany and back at least once a day, which equals to 21 kilometers.

Due to the nature of my track, I have to cross several roads and even a highway intersection, however in our region, biking lanes are very well developed and widely available.

Here's my ride, bought it last year from a good friend of mine whose hobby is to collect, buy bikes and parts off of ebay. It's a 1999 Specialized FSR elite Ground control, and despite it's age, in pristine condition. I am very happy with it. I literally fell in love with it after said friend of mine borrowed it to me for a big cycling tour we had 3 years ago, from then on I was talking his ears off, and eventually he agreed on selling it to me. :lol:

I took this photo in one of the really nice places in Karlsruhe, one of the few parks we have here.

But there's a lot more to explore around here, I'll try to snap away some photos while biking here soon.

Keep it coming guys, this is a fun thread!

 

[Scruce]

Does the bike have gears? If it does, does the front derailleur touch the chain?
If it does you need to have your derailleur adjusted.

Wow, thanks Turbinator, I adjusted the derailleur and now the bikes decides to make no noise now.

On another note, it's time for my daily 2K.

EDIT: Well, it looks like my sense of scale is completely wrong, It's not 2K, but 3.86K.

The route is visualised with a wall, yellow arrows mark the route.

 

[llarian]

Cyclist and runner both. In the last 20 months I've dropped 91 lbs (255 down to 164). Accomplished it mainly with Tai Chi, Chi Kung, Yoga and a vegan diet. Began running after I crossed 200 lbs. going down.

Now, I've switched back to a vegetarian diet (not strictly vegan) as I needed better protein control for the bicycling. I average 125 km/day and my time for 10 km is 46 min.

Not bad for 54 yrs old if I do say so myself.

Cheers all.

 

[Tex]

Cyclist and runner both. In the last 20 months I've dropped 91 lbs (255 down to 164). Accomplished it mainly with Tai Chi, Chi Kung, Yoga and a vegan diet. Began running after I crossed 200 lbs. going down.

Now, I've switched back to a vegetarian diet (not strictly vegan) as I needed better protein control for the bicycling. I average 125 km/day and my time for 10 km is 46 min.

Not bad for 54 yrs old if I do say so myself.

Cheers all.

Very impressive! Congrats on the weight loss and your times!! You're doing better than I am and I'm 26 years younger than you. I started around 195 pounds and have dropped to 175 pounds from the running alone. I'm also 6'2" though with a large frame and some muscle definition.

I never understood how anyone could pull so much demand from their bodies doing long runs and cycling with only a vegan diet. Both sides have good points about each diet, but IMO, it seems nearly impossible, impractical, and extremely difficult to get all the nutrition you need from only a vegan diet when you live a very active life style.

 

[Tex]

Today we have lots of rain showers around (we need it), so I had to time my run carefully. I was able to get it in though and managed 8.76 miles. Went for a slow and steady pace on this run. Because of the rain, it was really humid and I ended up seeing a little rain during the run anyway. My hamstrings also started cramping up in the 5th mile, which is odd because I never have a problem with them. Now I'm paying though... hamstrings and calves are sooo sore that I can hardly walk!

 

[FSXHD]

Hello! I just came across this thread. Very interesting!

I have a mountain bike from a few years ago that I bought through a local bike shop. It was made by a small company out east named Iron Horse Bikes. I had the shop customize it a little to add some higher quality parts. I put in some Shimano clips as well. I don't exactly recall the detailed specs, but I'll get those to you later along with a picture.

I use it mainly for offroad biking (what some may call mountain biking). A local forest preserve has a bunch of single track courses that I frequent. I also do some riding around town. Farthest I've rode without a break was 25 miles cross-country, but it isn't ideal because of the big offroad tires. I would like a road bike too, maybe for my birthday in the spring.

I would like to say I am in good shape. I can run a 6:30 mile, and I don't eat too much junk. I keep my legs pretty strong, but that's hard not to do with a bunch of cycling and some weight room exercises. I also play tennis. That keeps pretty healthy too.

Since the main topic is biking, here is an hilarious/insane video of a mountain bike race
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH9-O_frjbw"]UCI MTB World Championships DHI 2011 Champery Switzerland Danny Hart RUN - YouTube[/ame]

 

[PennyBlack]

Thats an awsome video FSXHD. Nice

---------- Post added at 12:04 ---------- Previous post was at 12:00 ----------

My hamstrings also started cramping up in the 5th mile, which is odd because I never have a problem with them. Now I'm paying though... hamstrings and calves are sooo sore that I can hardly walk!

That's one of the reasons why I'm going like a smail. Still at 3 laps but I hope to push to 5 (3.1km) soon enough.

 

[Tex]

Got out on the bike again today. Short fast ride at almost 17 miles... fast for me anyway! It was relatively windy for the first half of the ride, then I got some nice down wind on the second half. Average speed, 16.2 mph. Max speed, 32.5 mph.

I snapped a couple of pictures on top of the only "hill" I have to cycle over down here. It's a big bridge crossing the channel connecting Clear Lake to Galveston Bay.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Nice.

 

[PennyBlack]

Keep pulling those hamstrings Tex.
And that pick so reminds me of Silent Hunter III.

 

[Grover]

RE: bike maintenance:

dont be afraid to fiddle around and work out how things work, bikes are very simple (in most cases anyway), i learned to fix mine when the front derailer got mangled and the brakes needed adjusting, once you see how simple it is (have a half hour tinkering with a spanner) youll be able to fix most mechanical parts of it

and worst case: you get your dad to fix what you made worse