Author Topic: August Cycling Challenge 2015  (Read 23443 times)

jordanread

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August Cycling Challenge 2015
« on: August 02, 2015, 08:07:44 PM »
The cycling challenge for August 2015 is up and ready for you!!

If you logged miles last month, and selected "Remember Me" on the form, you have been added to this month's sheet already.

If you didn't log miles last month, or are a new participant
Click here to fill out the form.

You can access the sheet at this link.

I can manually grab your historical data too, so if it's off, just let me know.  If they aren't there within a day, or you have any other issues with the sheet, hit me up via email, Google+ Hangouts, PM, or just comment on this thread.

Happy Cycling!!

jordanread

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2015, 08:11:16 PM »
Also, I am going to switch up the order in which people are auto-added. Should it be alphabetical, highest miles closest to the left, or what? Do you have preferences?

johnny847

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2015, 10:29:52 PM »
Also, I am going to switch up the order in which people are auto-added. Should it be alphabetical, highest miles closest to the left, or what? Do you have preferences?

It's possible some people may get discouraged by this. Then again, it may be more encouraging to some folks!


I think the current arbitrary order is fine? What do you think the issue is currently?

ohyonghao

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2015, 11:23:31 PM »
Once I learned about pressing the Menu button, the one that is on the bottom between + and "Summary", the sheet got a lot easier to use.
« Last Edit: August 02, 2015, 11:38:28 PM by ohyonghao »

shesabikelover

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #4 on: August 03, 2015, 02:14:16 AM »
It sounds so exciting.I have my windsail bike ready.

Nancy

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #5 on: August 03, 2015, 04:06:14 AM »
Thanks, Jordan! I vote for keeping it unordered. People move their tabs around.

jordanread

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #6 on: August 03, 2015, 08:09:24 AM »
Team,

There isn't an actual issue with the order currently. It's just that when I create the sheet, I'll do a spot check on the people who were imported, just to be sure everything worked properly. I use a couple of new people, me, Nancy, Ottawa, and a few other random folks to ensure that the history bit worked. It's not so big of a deal now that I've moved the history (and everything almost always works the first time), it just was a pain to find a couple of things. I usually preferred it alphabetical, and people who filled out the form would always be to the left of everyone else (just the way it works), but the extra couple of seconds it takes me to find people doesn't actually cause me undue stress. I'll just leave it as is, since the last thing I want is people to be discouraged, and Johnny847 probably has a point. We're getting a lot of participants each month now, and I think that's awesome. In case you were curious, the second chart on the 'Historical Charts' page is just the number of participants each month, and we are almost always above 40 riders (drops down to between 30 and 40 in the northern hemisphere colder months). You are all an inspiration. If you have suggestions for additional stuff you want added (even to just general history or whatever) feel free to drop me a line here.
I have the following data available on a monthly basis:

  • Number of participants
  • Participant Mileage
  • Average Mileage
  • Number of months participated

Also, feel free to throw in suggestions for the Summary Sheet Question (i.e. this month it's about the most impactful moment on your ride). I usually just wing it and hope I don't reuse something two months in a row. Also, I was thinking about adding a 'SPARKLINE' somewhere, since it's a nice visual representation, but not sure what I would want to do. What do you all think? For an example, just look at the history column in my sheet. The cell a couple lines below this month's miles shows it.


ohyonghao

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #7 on: August 03, 2015, 12:07:07 PM »
Team,

There isn't an actual issue with the order currently. It's just that when I create the sheet, I'll do a spot check on the people who were imported, just to be sure everything worked properly. I use a couple of new people, me, Nancy, Ottawa, and a few other random folks to ensure that the history bit worked. It's not so big of a deal now that I've moved the history (and everything almost always works the first time), it just was a pain to find a couple of things. I usually preferred it alphabetical, and people who filled out the form would always be to the left of everyone else (just the way it works), but the extra couple of seconds it takes me to find people doesn't actually cause me undue stress. I'll just leave it as is, since the last thing I want is people to be discouraged, and Johnny847 probably has a point. We're getting a lot of participants each month now, and I think that's awesome. In case you were curious, the second chart on the 'Historical Charts' page is just the number of participants each month, and we are almost always above 40 riders (drops down to between 30 and 40 in the northern hemisphere colder months). You are all an inspiration. If you have suggestions for additional stuff you want added (even to just general history or whatever) feel free to drop me a line here.
I have the following data available on a monthly basis:

  • Number of participants
  • Participant Mileage
  • Average Mileage
  • Number of months participated

Also, feel free to throw in suggestions for the Summary Sheet Question (i.e. this month it's about the most impactful moment on your ride). I usually just wing it and hope I don't reuse something two months in a row. Also, I was thinking about adding a 'SPARKLINE' somewhere, since it's a nice visual representation, but not sure what I would want to do. What do you all think? For an example, just look at the history column in my sheet. The cell a couple lines below this month's miles shows it.

One thing I do on my personal sheet is include the totals for each column of "Recreational Miles" and "Car Replacement Miles" next to the "Total Miles" total so I can easily see how I'm doing on each one, and particularly how I'm doing on car replacement miles.  Not sure if anyone else would appreciate that total.  I usually bold the "Total Miles" total to have it stand out from the other two.  You can look at my personal sheet under the same name as this account to see what it looks like.

Nancy

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #8 on: August 04, 2015, 06:41:32 AM »
Ah, I see! Please do whatever is easiest for you, Jordan. I really appreciate your spreadsheet efforts! Thank you for keeping this challenge going!

crapula

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #9 on: August 04, 2015, 07:13:46 AM »
I second doing whatever works for you, Jordan, and if that means going alphabetical or just leaving it as is, that's fine with me.

Thanks again for putting this together!

crapula

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #10 on: August 04, 2015, 07:14:40 AM »
Once I learned about pressing the Menu button, the one that is on the bottom between + and "Summary", the sheet got a lot easier to use.

Holy crapula!  That's great.  So much less searching for my name.  Thanks for that protip.

jordanread

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #11 on: August 04, 2015, 08:22:42 AM »
Team,

There isn't an actual issue with the order currently. It's just that when I create the sheet, I'll do a spot check on the people who were imported, just to be sure everything worked properly. I use a couple of new people, me, Nancy, Ottawa, and a few other random folks to ensure that the history bit worked. It's not so big of a deal now that I've moved the history (and everything almost always works the first time), it just was a pain to find a couple of things. I usually preferred it alphabetical, and people who filled out the form would always be to the left of everyone else (just the way it works), but the extra couple of seconds it takes me to find people doesn't actually cause me undue stress. I'll just leave it as is, since the last thing I want is people to be discouraged, and Johnny847 probably has a point. We're getting a lot of participants each month now, and I think that's awesome. In case you were curious, the second chart on the 'Historical Charts' page is just the number of participants each month, and we are almost always above 40 riders (drops down to between 30 and 40 in the northern hemisphere colder months). You are all an inspiration. If you have suggestions for additional stuff you want added (even to just general history or whatever) feel free to drop me a line here.
I have the following data available on a monthly basis:

  • Number of participants
  • Participant Mileage
  • Average Mileage
  • Number of months participated

Also, feel free to throw in suggestions for the Summary Sheet Question (i.e. this month it's about the most impactful moment on your ride). I usually just wing it and hope I don't reuse something two months in a row. Also, I was thinking about adding a 'SPARKLINE' somewhere, since it's a nice visual representation, but not sure what I would want to do. What do you all think? For an example, just look at the history column in my sheet. The cell a couple lines below this month's miles shows it.

One thing I do on my personal sheet is include the totals for each column of "Recreational Miles" and "Car Replacement Miles" next to the "Total Miles" total so I can easily see how I'm doing on each one, and particularly how I'm doing on car replacement miles.  Not sure if anyone else would appreciate that total.  I usually bold the "Total Miles" total to have it stand out from the other two.  You can look at my personal sheet under the same name as this account to see what it looks like.
You know, that makes perfect sense. So much so that I'm starting to think it was an actual oversight. I'll make sure I get that added next month automatically.

Any other thoughts from anyone regarding the questions or the spark lines?

mathy

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #12 on: August 04, 2015, 08:29:54 PM »
I've gotten in some miles this month so far so I'm hoping to keep it up.  I sort of feel like all my miles are car replacement miles because a bike ride in the evening with my husband means less driving around finding entertainment.

ohyonghao

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #13 on: August 05, 2015, 10:52:56 AM »
I've gotten in some miles this month so far so I'm hoping to keep it up.  I sort of feel like all my miles are car replacement miles because a bike ride in the evening with my husband means less driving around finding entertainment.

I was just thinking about this yesterday.  I usually get 100+ miles a week on my bikes, and since I've been riding I've stopped driving 50-100mi round trips to go hiking, or do various other activities that aren't nearby.  Though they aren't direct car replacement miles in the sense that I would have taken a car to get there, they are indirect car replacement miles by replacing activities that would require a car to go somewhere.

jordanread

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #14 on: August 05, 2015, 04:56:33 PM »
I've gotten in some miles this month so far so I'm hoping to keep it up.  I sort of feel like all my miles are car replacement miles because a bike ride in the evening with my husband means less driving around finding entertainment.

I was just thinking about this yesterday.  I usually get 100+ miles a week on my bikes, and since I've been riding I've stopped driving 50-100mi round trips to go hiking, or do various other activities that aren't nearby.  Though they aren't direct car replacement miles in the sense that I would have taken a car to get there, they are indirect car replacement miles by replacing activities that would require a car to go somewhere.

I thought I already mentioned this, but apparently I didn't. The spreadsheet doesn't differentiate between the two; that's only individual sheets for your own stuff. If you feel like it's car replacement miles, mark it as such. If not, don't. What you said @mathy made me think the same thing. There are no specific rules here, but that sounds like car replacement miles to me. Granted, I view all miles that way (hence the gas saved bit on the main summary page), since by biking, we are kicking ass and not driving. Keep kicking ass.

Also, I had a fun post in the overheard at work thread. For the love of all that is...um...lovely, do not post in there if you use the participated or unread section of the forums (unless you already have in which case you are as screwed as I am). But here is what I posted in some car related foam we do on those parts:
In the next year or so, I might buy this:



Go ahead, talk shit, I can take it.
One day I also hope to own a picture of a sportscar

I want either the Z06 or targa-top coupe. Don't want the non-Z FRC or convertible. Who wants an FRC, come on?

Personally, I'm all about the (insert random collection of letters and/or numbers here). Because who wants that eh?

Just kidding, cars aren't my thing. I drive an '88 Sentra, and I'm totally fine with that, although I feel like I should bike anytime I drive. Now that I can get behind. I have an '02 Specialized RockHopper hardtail (redundant...I know) with an armadillo rear wheel and a stock front one.

I hate to make this thread even worse, but I've put over 10000 miles on this, and I think I win. I don't care what forum I'm on. :) I've already got my dream ride, and am 5 years away from FIRE.



ohyonghao

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #15 on: August 05, 2015, 05:29:42 PM »
I've gotten in some miles this month so far so I'm hoping to keep it up.  I sort of feel like all my miles are car replacement miles because a bike ride in the evening with my husband means less driving around finding entertainment.

I was just thinking about this yesterday.  I usually get 100+ miles a week on my bikes, and since I've been riding I've stopped driving 50-100mi round trips to go hiking, or do various other activities that aren't nearby.  Though they aren't direct car replacement miles in the sense that I would have taken a car to get there, they are indirect car replacement miles by replacing activities that would require a car to go somewhere.

I thought I already mentioned this, but apparently I didn't. The spreadsheet doesn't differentiate between the two; that's only individual sheets for your own stuff. If you feel like it's car replacement miles, mark it as such. If not, don't. What you said @mathy made me think the same thing. There are no specific rules here, but that sounds like car replacement miles to me. Granted, I view all miles that way (hence the gas saved bit on the main summary page), since by biking, we are kicking ass and not driving. Keep kicking ass.

I mostly used it to estimate miles saved with bike repair costs for commuting purposes.  Especially the first year when I started commuting there were additional startup costs for commuting, like rain gear, mud guards, oil, and such.  I also included my bike trailer, wife's bike, reflective vest, toe clips, plastic box on the back, seasonal tires and saddle rear rack.  I passed the break even point about 9 months through the year I believe and have been enjoying the savings ever since.

I now budget $50/mo for gas, whereas before we moved and I could start cycling we were running through $300/mo.  This year I haven't put anything else into the commuter other than an air horn and a new chain, so maybe $50 so far for this year of cycling.  Considering that I save $30/week in differed maintenance and gas I've stopped sort of keeping track.  At this rate I could afford to buy a new bike every year and still come out ahead of a car commute.

It was also fun to see if I can straight out beat my car miles with the direct car replacement miles, which is a bit more of a challenge than competing with my recreational cycling.

jordanread

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #16 on: August 10, 2015, 09:05:23 AM »
So this past Saturday I took a pretty damn good spill. I was a little pissed because the situation that I felt caused it was something that could have been avoided with just a wee bit of foresight. Short version is that I was checking to make sure that nothing fell out of my trunk bag, hit a rock, missed a bridge, and went down the side of a gully. Being clipped in, and on dirt, I was not able to stop before coming up to the large rocks, did a little jump (which is silly being clipped in), but it worked and I was able to lay down the bike as I went over. I will say that I fell quite well, tucked and rolled and all that, but scraped up my knee, my hand, and had some major road rash on the right arm. I was bleeding profusely, but got back up and rode on. I was livid just due to the circumstances. But give it an additional .4 miles, and I was smiling again. Crashes happen on occasion, and those don't make me mad. The situation did. However, biking is absolutely awesome, and any anger melts away with each spin of the tires. I'm still sore, but such is life. Being as instantly mad and angry I was made the cycling seem even better afterwards, and now I know without a doubt (not that I had any before...just wasn't sure if it was the heart rate or the biking...not the heart rate, as an FYI) how awesome this truly is. GoblinChief previously had his personal text set to "It's hard to be angry on a bike", and have to say that it really is. I hope you all continue rocking this, and have a safe and happy cycling month!!

Thegoblinchief

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #17 on: August 10, 2015, 09:23:16 AM »
Jordan - glad you're okay! I'd consider pre-emptively using some neosporin or equivalent ointment. Road scrapes are super dirty. I ended up with a nasty infection after my big crash last summer because I didn't do a good enough job with bandage rotations and wound cleaning.

jordanread

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #18 on: August 10, 2015, 10:42:20 AM »
I'm joining! For those who haven't seen in other threads I just bought a bike even though I haven't ridden since sometime in high school. I just moved an am now 3 miles from work so my goal is to get to where I commute by bike most days. But first I need to get to where I feel comfortable biking three miles at a time. My goal for August is just to get on the bike most days and commute to work at least once before the end of the month
Glad to have you!

jordanread

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #19 on: August 10, 2015, 12:31:29 PM »
Jordan - glad you're okay! I'd consider pre-emptively using some neosporin or equivalent ointment. Road scrapes are super dirty. I ended up with a nasty infection after my big crash last summer because I didn't do a good enough job with bandage rotations and wound cleaning.

Oh, wound cleaning is just pain, plus I used Hydrogen Peroxide quite a bit. Infection isn't a concern since I'm really good at cleaning wounds (read that: every last bit of dirt out, scrubbing them raw, and hurting like a MOFO). The aftermath sucks though. :) It won't stop me. Thank you.

TheContinentalOp

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #20 on: August 10, 2015, 02:03:59 PM »
Following up from last month, I took the bike grocery shopping again in Saturday. Still no trailer. I bought one weeks of groceries this time (actually more like 10 days) and the weight was manageable. Will probably stick to biking to pick up my food, at least until winter rolls around.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #21 on: August 10, 2015, 03:14:38 PM »
Following up from last month, I took the bike grocery shopping again in Saturday. Still no trailer. I bought one weeks of groceries this time (actually more like 10 days) and the weight was manageable. Will probably stick to biking to pick up my food, at least until winter rolls around.

Why stop in the winter? In winter, the great outdoors is a giant refrigerator/freezer!

aetherie

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #22 on: August 11, 2015, 06:31:43 AM »
Today I drove to work, after taking SO's mom to the airport for an early flight.

Bike-to-work streak #1: every weekday June 8 - August 10, minus 6 days of vacation.

Bike-to-work streak #2: starts tomorrow.

TheContinentalOp

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #23 on: August 11, 2015, 06:42:15 AM »
Following up from last month, I took the bike grocery shopping again in Saturday. Still no trailer. I bought one weeks of groceries this time (actually more like 10 days) and the weight was manageable. Will probably stick to biking to pick up my food, at least until winter rolls around.

Why stop in the winter? In winter, the great outdoors is a giant refrigerator/freezer!

It's not the cold that stops me. I biked from Philadelphia to Atlantic City on January 2nd this year. But if there's snow and ice on the shoulder and I'm forced to bike in the lane with cars, that's when I give up.

grantmeaname

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #24 on: August 12, 2015, 07:47:08 PM »
So I logged 0 miles in July (damn ear surgery) and now I don't have a sheet. Do I go to the new riders' link and fill it out again, using the same name as before?

Sorry if this has already been covered somewhere.

jordanread

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #25 on: August 12, 2015, 07:48:27 PM »
So I logged 0 miles in July (damn ear surgery) and now I don't have a sheet. Do I go to the new riders' link and fill it out again, using the same name as before?

Sorry if this has already been covered somewhere.
Yeah. Use the form. As long as you use the same name, your history will still be in place.

grantmeaname

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #26 on: August 12, 2015, 07:58:27 PM »
Okay, thanks. My history doesn't appear in the sheet fwiw.

jordanread

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #27 on: August 12, 2015, 07:59:18 PM »
Okay, thanks. My history doesn't appear in the sheet fwiw.
I'll take a look at that within a couple of hours. Thanks

jordanread

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #28 on: August 12, 2015, 09:38:20 PM »
Okay, thanks. My history doesn't appear in the sheet fwiw.

I've manually added your history, and did confirm that you have history on the history document. When I create the next sheet, I'll double check the form entry bit to ensure it works going forward. Thanks for the heads up.

Nancy

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #29 on: August 13, 2015, 07:28:39 AM »
Four riders tried to ride through me (swerved around) and over the two pedestrians in the crosswalk/middle of the street today. Funny bit, there was a red light just ahead of us that they went through as well. Of course, I caught back up to them by the next light. The streets are way too crowded and busy where I bike for that kind of nonsense.

jordanread

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #30 on: August 17, 2015, 08:36:01 AM »
Apparently I'm starting to rub off on DH, he decided to buy a bike this weekend and is already trying to map out a route to work. His commute would be much harder than mine since it's longer and less bike friendly roads but he seems up to trying it. We went out yesterday and did about 1.5 miles. We both need helmets but are going somewhere cheaper than the bike shop to get them, hopefully Wednesday.

Question that I could probably figure out with google: We both have 21 gear bikes and I'm not sure how to use them all correctly. I was told at a bike shop that since I'll be a relatively casual rider and our city is very flat that I should just leave the left side (front) on #2 and just use the right (rear) shifting so that's all I've been doing and it's been fine. DH was playing with his and slipped his chain. We got it fixed pretty easily and he thinks it's because he went from 2-7 to either 1-7 or 3-7 (I forget which). Do you need to be sequential? Go from 2-7 to 3-1? Was the guy right that I might as well stay in 2 with a 3 mile flat commute?

I cannot remember off the top of my head, but someone (Russ, maybe) broke it down in one of the challenges a while back. It was when there was a discussion on cadence. I can't find it right now, and don't know if I'm going to have time today to actually search for it. That being said, the discussion was also all about making sure your chain lasted forever. If I do find it, I'll post in here and let you know, but I haven't even been able to find the picture of when a dog went after me, and I know I posted that. On the spreadsheet, the (hidden) history sheet should have links to all of the challenges, just hide it when you are done.

Scotch & CPA

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #31 on: August 17, 2015, 09:09:16 AM »

Question that I could probably figure out with google: We both have 21 gear bikes and I'm not sure how to use them all correctly. I was told at a bike shop that since I'll be a relatively casual rider and our city is very flat that I should just leave the left side (front) on #2 and just use the right (rear) shifting so that's all I've been doing and it's been fine. DH was playing with his and slipped his chain. We got it fixed pretty easily and he thinks it's because he went from 2-7 to either 1-7 or 3-7 (I forget which). Do you need to be sequential? Go from 2-7 to 3-1? Was the guy right that I might as well stay in 2 with a 3 mile flat commute?

I cannot remember off the top of my head, but someone (Russ, maybe) broke it down in one of the challenges a while back. It was when there was a discussion on cadence. I can't find it right now, and don't know if I'm going to have time today to actually search for it. That being said, the discussion was also all about making sure your chain lasted forever. If I do find it, I'll post in here and let you know, but I haven't even been able to find the picture of when a dog went after me, and I know I posted that. On the spreadsheet, the (hidden) history sheet should have links to all of the challenges, just hide it when you are done.

First off, congrats on riding more and commuting! You shouldn't need to shift sequentially when using the front chainrings. Your husband's chain probably slipped because his front derailleur isn't adjusted properly.  This video should help you adjust it ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea03ChN-7Vg ).

As for discussing gearing and cadence, you need to figure out what works best for you. The starting point is understanding the gearing, and when/why to shift. The easiest way to think about your gearing is in ratios. The front chainring on your bikes have three rings, and your rear gears have 7. So If you know the number of teeth on the front and rear gears you can calculate your gear ratio. This is helpful because there is usually some redundancy in a 3 x 7 gear set-up. For example your middle front gear maybe a 36 tooth chain ring, and you may have a 18 tooth gear on the rear, this gives you a 2.0 gear ratio. This would be the same as being in a 28 tooth front chain ring (this maybe, but I don't know, your smallest front ring) and a 14 tooth in the rear. Anyway, the best advice I can give, is ride around and try out every single gear on your usual rides. Figure out what works best and is most comfortable. Using too hard of a gear consistently can be hard on your knees, but I wouldn't worry about it too much.

One more piece of advice on gear selection, try to avoid "cross-chaining" this is putting the bike in a gear where the chain is at it's most extreme angle. It would be the biggest gear in the front, and the biggest gear in the back (so the most teeth on each gear). The other is the small gear in the front, and the small gear in the back.

Hopefully this helps.

jordanread

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #32 on: August 17, 2015, 10:22:58 AM »

Question that I could probably figure out with google: We both have 21 gear bikes and I'm not sure how to use them all correctly. I was told at a bike shop that since I'll be a relatively casual rider and our city is very flat that I should just leave the left side (front) on #2 and just use the right (rear) shifting so that's all I've been doing and it's been fine. DH was playing with his and slipped his chain. We got it fixed pretty easily and he thinks it's because he went from 2-7 to either 1-7 or 3-7 (I forget which). Do you need to be sequential? Go from 2-7 to 3-1? Was the guy right that I might as well stay in 2 with a 3 mile flat commute?

I cannot remember off the top of my head, but someone (Russ, maybe) broke it down in one of the challenges a while back. It was when there was a discussion on cadence. I can't find it right now, and don't know if I'm going to have time today to actually search for it. That being said, the discussion was also all about making sure your chain lasted forever. If I do find it, I'll post in here and let you know, but I haven't even been able to find the picture of when a dog went after me, and I know I posted that. On the spreadsheet, the (hidden) history sheet should have links to all of the challenges, just hide it when you are done.

First off, congrats on riding more and commuting! You shouldn't need to shift sequentially when using the front chainrings. Your husband's chain probably slipped because his front derailleur isn't adjusted properly.  This video should help you adjust it ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea03ChN-7Vg ).

As for discussing gearing and cadence, you need to figure out what works best for you. The starting point is understanding the gearing, and when/why to shift. The easiest way to think about your gearing is in ratios. The front chainring on your bikes have three rings, and your rear gears have 7. So If you know the number of teeth on the front and rear gears you can calculate your gear ratio. This is helpful because there is usually some redundancy in a 3 x 7 gear set-up. For example your middle front gear maybe a 36 tooth chain ring, and you may have a 18 tooth gear on the rear, this gives you a 2.0 gear ratio. This would be the same as being in a 28 tooth front chain ring (this maybe, but I don't know, your smallest front ring) and a 14 tooth in the rear. Anyway, the best advice I can give, is ride around and try out every single gear on your usual rides. Figure out what works best and is most comfortable. Using too hard of a gear consistently can be hard on your knees, but I wouldn't worry about it too much.

One more piece of advice on gear selection, try to avoid "cross-chaining" this is putting the bike in a gear where the chain is at it's most extreme angle. It would be the biggest gear in the front, and the biggest gear in the back (so the most teeth on each gear). The other is the small gear in the front, and the small gear in the back.

Hopefully this helps.

Way more useful than my comment, so thanks for that. The "cross-chaining" thing was what I was referring to regarding the actual discussion.

aetherie

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #33 on: August 17, 2015, 11:00:34 AM »
Question that I could probably figure out with google: We both have 21 gear bikes and I'm not sure how to use them all correctly. I was told at a bike shop that since I'll be a relatively casual rider and our city is very flat that I should just leave the left side (front) on #2 and just use the right (rear) shifting so that's all I've been doing and it's been fine. DH was playing with his and slipped his chain. We got it fixed pretty easily and he thinks it's because he went from 2-7 to either 1-7 or 3-7 (I forget which). Do you need to be sequential? Go from 2-7 to 3-1? Was the guy right that I might as well stay in 2 with a 3 mile flat commute?

I have a ~3 mile commute and a 24 speed bike, and I regularly use 2-2 (steep, short uphill) through 2-7 (trying to go fast on a slight downhill). I haven't shifted out of 2... probably ever. But do what works for you, obviously.

ohyonghao

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #34 on: August 17, 2015, 12:21:18 PM »
Question that I could probably figure out with google: We both have 21 gear bikes and I'm not sure how to use them all correctly. I was told at a bike shop that since I'll be a relatively casual rider and our city is very flat that I should just leave the left side (front) on #2 and just use the right (rear) shifting so that's all I've been doing and it's been fine. DH was playing with his and slipped his chain. We got it fixed pretty easily and he thinks it's because he went from 2-7 to either 1-7 or 3-7 (I forget which). Do you need to be sequential? Go from 2-7 to 3-1? Was the guy right that I might as well stay in 2 with a 3 mile flat commute?

I have a ~3 mile commute and a 24 speed bike, and I regularly use 2-2 (steep, short uphill) through 2-7 (trying to go fast on a slight downhill). I haven't shifted out of 2... probably ever. But do what works for you, obviously.

My experience is the opposite.  I have a 27 speed and rarely leave the big ring on the front.  When I first started though I would get into the second ring on a 2% hill, but now I can just fly up that hill like it was flat.  With that said, I do race my bike too, so I may be a little different than your average commuter.

My best advice is to focus on the rear gears and shift up when it gets easy, and down when it gets hard.  You can start in the 2nd gear on the front, and if you are following my advice and try to shift up and find that you have no more gears then shift the front up one to the big ring(3rd gear), and shift the back down twice.  Honestly I don't even know what gear number I'm in while riding unless I hit the highest or lowest gear, the gear number isn't that important.  Without a cadence sensor just go on feel for how fast you should be spinning the pedals (cadence is the number of times you pedal per minute).  As a general rule try to count at least one stroke per second on the same side (I try to get 1.5 strokes per second, slightly harder to count, but would be 3 strokes per 2 seconds).

The way I generally think of it is that the shift from 2nd to 3rd in the front is worth about 2-3 shifts in the back.  If I expect to be speeding up a lot going down a hill I'll preemptively shift to the big ring since I know I would be shifting twice anyway.  Though now I never leave the big ring on my commuter.  (Sorry I keep saying big ring because on road bikes we (generally) only have 2 front gears, the small ring and the big ring).

Scotch & CPA

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #35 on: August 17, 2015, 01:30:38 PM »
Also, here is a link to my favorite recipe for energy bars for cycling. They're awesome for rides over an hour. I usually make a bunch and freeze them. They'll thaw in the summer heat by the time your ready to eat them. I assume they're great for hiking too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bTH-isW6Wk

jordanread

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #36 on: August 17, 2015, 01:45:37 PM »
Also, here is a link to my favorite recipe for energy bars for cycling. They're awesome for rides over an hour. I usually make a bunch and freeze them. They'll thaw in the summer heat by the time your ready to eat them. I assume they're great for hiking too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bTH-isW6Wk

Hey (half of my favorite things), do you have an actual recipe?

Scotch & CPA

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #37 on: August 17, 2015, 07:48:41 PM »

Hey (half of my favorite things), do you have an actual recipe?

It's in the description for the video, here is the cut and paste:

You will need:
Ripe bananas - 1.5 cups
Pumpkin seeds - 0.5 cups
Mixed dried fruit - 0.75 cups
Oats - 2.0 cups
Flax seeds - 0.5 cups
Sunflower seeds - 0.5 cups
Chopped almonds - 0.5 cups
Chopped pecans - 0.5 cups
Cinnamon and salt to taste

Blend the bananas, mix it all up and cook at 170ºC for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Allow to cool for ten or so minutes and the cut into bite/ride sized chunks.

zephyr911

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #38 on: August 17, 2015, 08:37:45 PM »
I gashed my leg with a machete on Saturday so I won't be doing much cycling for at least a week. Will there be a September challenge? xD

aetherie

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #39 on: August 18, 2015, 07:28:04 AM »
I gashed my leg with a machete

The Most Badass Injury Award goes to you, sir.

jordanread

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #40 on: August 18, 2015, 08:59:06 AM »
I gashed my leg with a machete

The Most Badass Injury Award goes to you, sir.

+1

Will there be a September challenge? xD

There is a challenge every month. I always post the next month's challenge link in the previous month. That means the last comment here will be the link to the September thread.

jorjor

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #41 on: August 19, 2015, 09:21:54 AM »
My experience is the opposite.  I have a 27 speed and rarely leave the big ring on the front.  When I first started though I would get into the second ring on a 2% hill, but now I can just fly up that hill like it was flat.  With that said, I do race my bike too, so I may be a little different than your average commuter.

The small ring is a beautiful thing. May your hard days be very hard, and your easy days be easy, lest you want to shave off your peaks. I used to go hard every ride, but I found that was missing that next gear when I really needed to turn it up. Since then, I've spent many a cold, dark, lonely hour cruising along in that small chain ring and I was never faster than when I was doing it.

mathy

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #42 on: August 20, 2015, 10:57:38 AM »
Does anyone have a 10 mile commute each way and could offer some encouragement?  How did you get started commuting on a daily basis?

jordanread

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #43 on: August 20, 2015, 11:10:54 AM »
Does anyone have a 10 mile commute each way and could offer some encouragement?  How did you get started commuting on a daily basis?

My former commute was 9.6 (ish) miles. As much as I've always liked biking, I didn't quite get the whole daily commute (meaning I slept in, didn't have enough time, aka excusitis) thing until my fuel pump broke (it was actually a short, but irrelevant) and I refused to fix it to force myself to ride in. That was when I truly came to love it. It took a self-induced external influence to get me to realize how much I loved it. Once you've done it for more than 3 weeks (ish), you'll come to love it.

Have you thought about what you feel you need?

jorjor

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #44 on: August 20, 2015, 11:30:19 AM »
Does anyone have a 10 mile commute each way and could offer some encouragement?  How did you get started commuting on a daily basis?

Mine is about 8, so not that far but close enough.

My best encouragement is...biking is fun! I sometimes have trouble with "Ugh, I'd rather just be lazy today and drive or sit here instead of ride" but then I'm always happy I rode once I'm doing it and once I'm done. The world is a beautiful place, and isn't it more fun to be out in it on a bike than sitting in a car?

aetherie

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #45 on: August 20, 2015, 11:46:19 AM »
It took a self-induced external influence to get me to realize how much I loved it.

My self-induced external influence is only having one car! Boyfriend takes it to work, so unless he's not going in for some reason... I can either bike or learn how to teleport.

(More realistically, in case of terrible weather, he can drop me off on his way. But we haven't had to do that yet.)

My commute is much shorter than 10 miles, though.
« Last Edit: August 20, 2015, 11:48:12 AM by aetherie »

jordanread

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #46 on: August 20, 2015, 11:51:56 AM »
Does anyone have a 10 mile commute each way and could offer some encouragement?  How did you get started commuting on a daily basis?

With my comments (which is not a valid option for normal people), and the comments from jorjor and aetherie, I feel like I have to ask:

What's stopping you from riding in? I get that you need us, but why? More appropriately, we're here to support you, and what limitations are you running into that we can help with?

Scotch & CPA

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #47 on: August 20, 2015, 01:37:44 PM »
Does anyone have a 10 mile commute each way and could offer some encouragement?  How did you get started commuting on a daily basis?

I don't have a 10 mile commute (20 round trip), but I do ride over 100 miles most weeks, so it's about the same. I rack up some of the miles of the basis of riding for fun (to parks, or out of the city, or wherever). Anyway, It helps to have a goal. If you think of the 10 miles as training to be able to go for a 40 mile non-stop ride, you stop viewing it as just commuting to work, and more as exercise with a goal in mind. I use Strava to track my rides and then I can look back at a section, and say, wow... I used to ride this a 15mph, and now I can do it at 20mph. For me, that was a huge motivator. Just being able to see the progress I accumulated from riding the additional miles. It will get easier, and you will get faster and more comfortable.

Hope this helps.
« Last Edit: August 20, 2015, 03:08:26 PM by Scotch & CPA »

grantmeaname

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #48 on: August 20, 2015, 01:40:50 PM »
Does anyone have a 10 mile commute each way and could offer some encouragement?  How did you get started commuting on a daily basis?
I just put down a deposit on a flat ten miles from my job this afternoon! Starting Monday I'll have a ten mile commute too. I've commuted by bike before, but only 5 miles and only intermittently in good weather. It's gonna rule!

jordanread

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Re: August Cycling Challenge 2015
« Reply #49 on: August 20, 2015, 01:54:20 PM »
So DH and I just agreed to do a charity poker run thingy....next Friday....it's about 20 miles over 4 hours. So yeah, this'll be interesting :)

That's going to be awesome!! I know you've dismissed your awesomeness, but seriously, you are doing great. Whether you are getting your SO to ride long distances, or riding distances yourself, this has all been great. I haven't looked at your mileage, but the things you talk about are great. Keep it up.

Am I wrong in assuming that other people here will also congratulate you? Doubtful.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!