Author Topic: June Cycling Challenge 2016  (Read 5388 times)

jordanread

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June Cycling Challenge 2016
« on: June 01, 2016, 06:26:41 AM »
The cycling challenge: "June Cycling Challenge 2016" is up and ready for you to start (or continue) riding!!
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 directly 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 biking!!

jordanread

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2016, 06:32:00 AM »
So this month, I went ahead and made the question regarding cars passed on the commute. Next month I'll pick something else (probably based on some of the suggestions last month).

I had one additional question as far as preference goes. If you track your history (red/green columns), I don't think that keeping the current month at the bottom is as useful as putting it at the top, so I'm going to rework it for next month to do that. However, one of the things I was wondering about is how to handle the months moving forward. Should we do an ascending list like so:

Current Month
Last Month
Month Before
Etc...

That is what I think I would prefer, but the other option would be to still have the months go in the order they are now (descending), but with the current month at the top, like so:

Current Month
December 2012
January 2013
February 2013
Etc...


What is your vote/preference?

aetherie

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #2 on: June 01, 2016, 06:42:05 AM »
I vote for ascending list.

Although ideally I would vote for having a way to hide that entire column, because every single month is red. I'm trying here, spreadsheet; don't make me feel crappy for not measuring up to ohyonghao's standards!

jordanread

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2016, 06:52:36 AM »
I vote for ascending list.

Although ideally I would vote for having a way to hide that entire column, because every single month is red. I'm trying here, spreadsheet; don't make me feel crappy for not measuring up to ohyonghao's standards!

Everyone feels crappy for not measuring up to ohyonhao's standards :D. That being said, the colored column is only a comparison of your previous miles to the current month, not anyone else's, and the column just to the left of that is the monthly average.

I'll check yours right quick.

jordanread

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2016, 06:59:51 AM »
Aetherie, I just confirmed that those are your numbers from previous months. I spot checked Augusts numbers to make sure. The entire point of that column is that the more you ride throughout the month, the more you beat previous months. Take a look at how your column looks for last month. You, for example, rode more miles last month than in 6 of the previous months. However, if it's not something you want to track or see, I can potentially add an option to hide it. I thought it provided value, but I'm just one guy, and obviously I'm biased.

Also, and this goes for everyone, the way I designed this sheet is that you are more than welcome to "HIDE"* any column you want without effecting the functionality of the sheet. Don't delete the column, just hide it. I don't have time to check everybody's sheet, so if it turns out something should be an option (like something you do manually every month), just post here, and I'll see what I can do about making it customizable.

*Right click on the column letter of the desired column, and click 'hide column 'x''

Butterfingers

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #5 on: June 01, 2016, 07:06:45 AM »
I'm back in, after a long and unpardonable hiatus. New house, so slightly longer commute (15-mile round trip, versus 12.6 miles before). I will start on Tuesday. Hold me to it!

aetherie

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #6 on: June 01, 2016, 07:21:29 AM »
Aetherie, I just confirmed that those are your numbers from previous months. I spot checked Augusts numbers to make sure. The entire point of that column is that the more you ride throughout the month, the more you beat previous months. Take a look at how your column looks for last month. You, for example, rode more miles last month than in 6 of the previous months. However, if it's not something you want to track or see, I can potentially add an option to hide it. I thought it provided value, but I'm just one guy, and obviously I'm biased.

Also, and this goes for everyone, the way I designed this sheet is that you are more than welcome to "HIDE"* any column you want without effecting the functionality of the sheet. Don't delete the column, just hide it. I don't have time to check everybody's sheet, so if it turns out something should be an option (like something you do manually every month), just post here, and I'll see what I can do about making it customizable.

*Right click on the column letter of the desired column, and click 'hide column 'x''

Ohhhh I get it now. Sorry! I thought that since the My Miles column was right next to the Average column, it was comparing the two, and I'm always below Average... I guess I never looked at it toward the end of the month when it turned partially green. That's much better! :D

jordanread

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #7 on: June 01, 2016, 07:31:38 AM »
Aetherie, I just confirmed that those are your numbers from previous months. I spot checked Augusts numbers to make sure. The entire point of that column is that the more you ride throughout the month, the more you beat previous months. Take a look at how your column looks for last month. You, for example, rode more miles last month than in 6 of the previous months. However, if it's not something you want to track or see, I can potentially add an option to hide it. I thought it provided value, but I'm just one guy, and obviously I'm biased.

Also, and this goes for everyone, the way I designed this sheet is that you are more than welcome to "HIDE"* any column you want without effecting the functionality of the sheet. Don't delete the column, just hide it. I don't have time to check everybody's sheet, so if it turns out something should be an option (like something you do manually every month), just post here, and I'll see what I can do about making it customizable.

*Right click on the column letter of the desired column, and click 'hide column 'x''

Ohhhh I get it now. Sorry! I thought that since the My Miles column was right next to the Average column, it was comparing the two, and I'm always below Average... I guess I never looked at it toward the end of the month when it turned partially green. That's much better! :D
Yeah, I can understand that. I initially designed this on a desktop, and screen real estate on a mobile is so scarce, that some of the things that seem clear on a monitor aren't on mobile. The average miles are just to eyeball compare yourself. You can hide that column too. It used to help me when I was struggling to get started to try to stay above the average all month, so that's the only reason it's there.

This gauntlet is a challenge, and there is a slight competitive bit to it, but primarily, I designed everything to rate you against past you, not anyone else. I don't think I'll ever set a default that compares two different people. I might make it an option, but i don't like the idea of forcing people into that. Too much out of our control. But you know who you can control? You. I love sticking it to past me, and that's how I define progress.

ETF: small screen keyboard errors.
« Last Edit: June 01, 2016, 10:17:35 AM by jordanread »

jordanread

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #8 on: June 01, 2016, 07:32:56 AM »
Yuck. I'll fix the typos on that last post when I get to a real desk and a real keyboard.

Eric222

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #9 on: June 01, 2016, 08:26:45 AM »
I vote for ascending month.  I like to see the previous month's progress at the top.

Topped out at 280 for May.  Woot!

TrMama

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #10 on: June 01, 2016, 09:39:02 AM »
Another vote for ascending. Thanks for putting so much effort into the challenge every month, Jordan.

jordanread

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #11 on: June 01, 2016, 10:19:24 AM »
All right. Ascending it is. It will be in place by the challenge next month. Eric, I know you previously showed some interest in some of the edits and what not. Feel free to PM me or call me if you want to use this change as a collaboration.

Thanks for putting so much effort into the challenge every month, Jordan.

You are all very welcome!

EngineerYogi

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #12 on: June 01, 2016, 12:02:29 PM »
I like seeing the comparison too, my one long bike ride day this month definitely improved my numbers. I still need to work on consistency.

ohyonghao

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #13 on: June 01, 2016, 06:13:38 PM »
I vote for ascending list.

Although ideally I would vote for having a way to hide that entire column, because every single month is red. I'm trying here, spreadsheet; don't make me feel crappy for not measuring up to ohyonghao's standards!

Everyone feels crappy for not measuring up to ohyonhao's standards :D. That being said, the colored column is only a comparison of your previous miles to the current month, not anyone else's, and the column just to the left of that is the monthly average.

I'll check yours right quick.
Even I feel crappy sometimes for not measuring up to ohyonghao's standards.  I slipped a bit this month, 0.9mi shy of 750mi, which still leaves April and January in the red, what the hell was I doing in January to exceed 1000mi :-D.  I'll try to be better this month with getting the miles in.  Really starting to rock this commute, though sadly it's dropped down to 2 times a week.  I have a riding buddy now that is going to help keep me going mid week with some nice climbing rides.

Temps are back up this week and I'm pretty excited to get out there.  I have a friend in Arizona who posted their forecast for the week, starting at 100F and going up to 117F by Saturday.  I'm one of the crazy ones that loves riding in the heat.

TrMama

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #14 on: June 07, 2016, 09:57:09 AM »
So, even though I was the one to suggest "Most number of cars passed" as the question this month. I'm not entirely sure of the best way to calculate it. My commute includes 3.38 mi of congested 2 lane highway. This morning traffic was bad and that entire section was crawling at about 24mi/hr.

According to the chart below, there are about 54 cars/mile at that speed. So I probably passed 3.38*54*2 = 365 cars. Hmm, it felt like it should be more than that . . .

https://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/methods/highwaysfd.html

jordanread

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #15 on: June 07, 2016, 10:06:38 AM »
So, even though I was the one to suggest "Most number of cars passed" as the question this month. I'm not entirely sure of the best way to calculate it. My commute includes 3.38 mi of congested 2 lane highway. This morning traffic was bad and that entire section was crawling at about 24mi/hr.

According to the chart below, there are about 54 cars/mile at that speed. So I probably passed 3.38*54*2 = 365 cars. Hmm, it felt like it should be more than that . . .

https://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/methods/highwaysfd.html

Yeah, I lost count one of my first times. And that was just fun. I thought we might have an issue like that, but I thought something to myself:

"We pass too many cars to keep track. We are that much better and faster and more efficient. Awesome. The data may be difficult to get, but that difficulty is a sign of our superiority."


Also, does anyone remember the conversation a few months ago that we had on different cameras for riding? There was something that someone brought up that records like a looping 10 minutes or so. I'm asking because of this:

Well, it finally happened. After 6-ish months, Current got hit by a car on his bicycle commute to work.

He's fine, he says, as is his bike, but a lady failed to stop before turning right on red and ran into him as he was crossing. He ended up on her hood, but thank goodness she was just creeping along so no injuries except a bumped knee. The bad part is that she had a child in the car with her and began yelling at him to "Get the fuck off my car!" He pointed at her red light, then at his green light. She kept screaming, backed up, and then went behind him, up over the curb, to turn right. He said everyone else in the intersection stopped to watch the show. A guy who was also coming off the trailhead asked if he was okay, etc., and witnessed the whole thing. He offered to call the police to report it as a hit and run, but Current declined and went on to work. That's when he finally started getting pissed, lol. Honestly, I can't believe he didn't flip out and start screaming at her (that's his temperament when presented with a threat or a threat to someone he loves). He probably was still in shock.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'm more upset than he is.

So, anyone have any recommendations for a more Mustachian version of a Go-Pro?

The quote is from OS's journal, and she still appears to be searching about. Feel free to jump in there and post, or just post in here and I will copy it over for her.

I told her this challenge is filled with a bunch of bad ass people, so help me prove her right. :P

Nancy

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #16 on: June 10, 2016, 07:05:11 PM »
Jordan, my miles don't seem to be pulling correctly from the previous month's spreadsheet, but I'm not sure why. Could be I just don't know things.

jordanread

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #17 on: June 10, 2016, 08:29:47 PM »
Jordan, my miles don't seem to be pulling correctly from the previous month's spreadsheet, but I'm not sure why. Could be I just don't know things.

That is by design. In order to prevent the sheet from taking forever to load, all user history is static. It will occasionally update for a few days afterwards, but it's not actually linked to the previous month's sheet. I did build in some stuff so that I can force it if need be. I was initially going to provide a way for a button to appear on each person's sheet that would force the update from the history. There was an additional step that made that require a touch more work, and slowed things down. I still may eventually implement it, but for now, I'm sticking with a manual process. I went ahead and reimported your history, and it looks like it all matches up now. I might do an additional global update on the 7th of each month, that way I can get everyone's history if they entered extra miles after the creation of the new sheet.

If anyone else is having issues, just post in here and I'll get it fixed. Nancy, let me know if everything looks good!!

TrMama

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #18 on: June 13, 2016, 11:40:38 AM »
Also, does anyone remember the conversation a few months ago that we had on different cameras for riding? There was something that someone brought up that records like a looping 10 minutes or so. I'm asking because of this:


So, anyone have any recommendations for a more Mustachian version of a Go-Pro?

The quote is from OS's journal, and she still appears to be searching about. Feel free to jump in there and post, or just post in here and I will copy it over for her.

I told her this challenge is filled with a bunch of bad ass people, so help me prove her right. :P

A couple years ago I bought a Contour camera to mount on my helmet. It was a knee jerk reaction I made the week after I was threatened by a crazy person riding a gas powered bicycle. I never actually used it and ended up returning it. So no real user experience other than it was definitely cheaper than a Go Pro, but it didn't have a view screen. You have to plug it into another device in order to view video.

After I'd calmed down a bit, I came to the conclusion that defensive riding and keeping my cool are the things that are most likely to keep me safe from crazy people. I always carry my cell, and I'm not hesitant to call 911 when I need.

I also strongly disliked the idea of having another piece of equipment to maintain, keep charged and take up mental bandwidth. I know if I had to deal with the camera everyday, I'd just worry more about being the victim of an accident or attack. I decided that I really didn't need any more anxiety in my life. However, I fully support other cyclists who may make different choices.

TrMama

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #19 on: June 15, 2016, 11:33:18 AM »
Rethinking my decision not to ride with a camera today. I was cut off by some idiot who decided he could get to work faster by randomly pulling out in front of me onto the shoulder of the highway. He passed about 6 cars on the right, with me riding behind him and yelling out his plate#, and then cut back into the outside lane. I got his plate#, vehicle description and personal description and called him in. Unfortunately the plates didn't match the vehicle description so there's almost no chance the police will be able to track him down. I'm certain I remembered the plate# correctly, but maybe I didn't? Only other explanation is that the guy was driving with someone else's plates.

ohyonghao

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #20 on: June 17, 2016, 07:23:22 PM »
Seems to be the time for crazies out there.  I got my own story, I'm always nervous riding past a long line of cars with no right turn lane at a red light.  I was paying special attention to which cars had turn signals and which didn't.  The light turned green as I was approaching and the second car back didn't have a blinker on.  That didn't stop him from deciding to turn just as I was getting to his passenger door.  I screamed out and he panickedly changed course to go straight rather than plowing me down.

Other instances involve cars jumping into the bike lane to pass cars turning left on a particular street.  This hasn't happened when I'm near them at least, but I have my doubts over whether or not they checked the bike lane first before pulling such a maneuver.

But all is not bad, had some great rides out this week, and quite a few cars being very respectful of making right turns by first waiting for me to ride by.

Eric222

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #21 on: June 18, 2016, 06:43:12 AM »
It seems like I always have a problem with the cars that have just driven past me, then suddenly decide they need to turn/park/whatever very quickly.  Apparently, even though I was in their line of sight 30 seconds earlier, they think I've disappeared.  Cars in general are terrible at judging how fast a bike is going.

I had one car partially pass me, hit the brakes and basically swerve into a parking spot.  I literally bounced off of the car door (which was loud and left a nice bruise on my shoulder), stayed upright on the bike, and just kept biking.  I was too shaken up/paralyzed to think to do anything else.  This is my official 'close call.'

I've also had someone pass me, then slam on their brakes and turn right - I managed to stop about a foot before I slammed into their door.  Of course they saw me/heard me yell at them mid turn and stopped...right in front of me. 

Then there was the time that some idiot in a zipcar was parked in the bike lane at the bottom of a hill, in such a way I couldn't see him (I can't recall exactly, but I think there was a bus and the road curves just a bit).  I wasn't quite able to stop in time, so I hit the back of the zipcar with my hand to a complete stop - making a loud noise and scaring the shit out of the driver.  This one is partly on me, and I go more slowly at that part of my route now.  People are always pulled over in the bike lane (everywhere I bike) for some fucking reason.  It must be okay to stop if you can get halfway out of traffic, right?

Drivers here are crazy.  If there weren't a large number of bikers here too, it'd probably be too dangerous.  There is some awareness of bikers, due to the constant stream of us.  As it is, there are a lot of morons driving distracted and then suddenly realizing they see a parking spot or need to turn, etc.  I should get a camera....

<takes off annoyed biker hat, puts on city planner hat>
In reality, there are too many people that need to get around with too little infrastructure for people's current preferences.  Driving sucks and is very, very frustrating - the other drivers are terrible and traffic is awful.  It makes almost everyone (including past me) an aggressive driver, which is bad for everyone, drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians.  It's a vicious cycle.  But people like their cars, no matter how impractical - so mass transit is underfunded (and they are going to raise fares, because disincentivising mass transit makes sense), and driving isn't effectively discouraged.  Increasing numbers of people are biking, for which there is plenty of road capacity - and there are even advertising campaigns to promote it.  Places do need to increase the number of bike racks, but that is a minor concern.  I drove for years - I should have been biking the entire time.  I'm sure there are many people like past me - people who could get around other ways, but drive because it is the default. 

</long text rant> 

jordanread

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #22 on: June 18, 2016, 07:41:29 PM »
ohyonghao and Eric, I'll chime in with my own story here a bit later, along with thoughts and stuff. However, I'm off to go ride in the Starlight Spectacular, which merely reinforces my love of bikes. Especially considering that the police close down the street in some cases, and lanes in others, with this single event making me okay with my tax dollars being spent, and we have a freaking team!!! Not only do we get a discount on tickets (not that you have to buy them, but it's for a good cause, and you get breakfast after the ride), but I now have a few more people doing this for the first time. Only MXT and I are regular bikers, so Team RoadRash is a fitting name.

Stay safe and have fun all!!! I might post some pictures later.

Diniecita

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #23 on: June 24, 2016, 07:58:19 PM »
I'm excited to be a part of these monthly challenges. I don't bike a lot right now. I am going to try to start going to the library once a week and back home. Which is 20 miles round trip. I'm trying to find other things that I can do in town when I go. AND DH is getting me a new road bike for our anniversary! I'm so excited about that. Ive been looking at them for along time. I've been riding a mountain bike and I have to continuously pedal. Its not a great quality bike, but it's helped me get into better shape so I can make more bike trips into town.
I'd love to know how far everyone is from their work or where ever they are usually going. Thanks.

ohyonghao

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #24 on: June 25, 2016, 12:30:20 AM »
I'm excited to be a part of these monthly challenges. I don't bike a lot right now. I am going to try to start going to the library once a week and back home. Which is 20 miles round trip. I'm trying to find other things that I can do in town when I go. AND DH is getting me a new road bike for our anniversary! I'm so excited about that. Ive been looking at them for along time. I've been riding a mountain bike and I have to continuously pedal. Its not a great quality bike, but it's helped me get into better shape so I can make more bike trips into town.
I'd love to know how far everyone is from their work or where ever they are usually going. Thanks.
Congratulations on the anniversary!

Continuously pedaling is part of the plan even on a road bike, it's the most efficient way to maintain speed as acceleration takes more energy than staying constant.  I'll maintain a cadence of around 90-95RPM on the flats and only coast while coming up to lights, or when I need a bit of a rest going downhill, or the downhill speed is fast enough without pedaling.

I literally roll out of bed and into my office chair :-D.  For other places I go there is some bike testing that I have to go to an office for that is 10mi each way, then there are common routes out here that are around 30mi that I do on group rides, which usually makes it more like 40mi for me because the rendezvous point is 5mi each way from my house.  On the weekends I might go out and do 50-70mi a day.  Sometimes I ride to a friends house which is about 30mi each way through the forest and over the hill, then across the river.

I still recall the first time I rode to my friends house, felt like it took forever, the hill was long and hard.  I did it on a hybrid hard tail mountain bike.  It seems so weird to me to think back to returning that day and being in my bottom gear on that bike, a 22T in the front with a 38T in the back, which means that more than a single revolution is required of the cranks to get the wheel to turn one revolution.  Now I go up it with my 39T in the front and 28T in the back.

I've only been riding every day for two and a half years, with rides longer than 4mi starting less than two years ago.

For a first road bike a lot will start with a compact crank, 50T/34T in the front, whereas mine is a 53T/39T.  The compact can really help going up hills, even for me I've taken a compact out on a hill I do often and get faster times due to being able to maintain a higher cadence up the steeper portions.

Check out the chart here Speed at cadence and you'll see that at 50x12@110rpm cadence you'll be doing about 35mph, with an 11 you'd be doing 39mph!  With a 53x11@110rpm that goes up to 41.5mph.  Unless you're commonly exceeding 30mph (generally on a downhill slope) and wanting to go faster, there would probably be greater benefit with the compact than going straight to a 53/39.

I could go on all day like this.  In the end there's enough overlap in the middle spectrum that you'd only run into difficulties at the extremes.

Eric222

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #25 on: June 25, 2016, 07:33:16 AM »
...
Sometimes I ride to a friends house which is about 30mi each way through the forest and over the hill, then across the river.
...
I've only been riding every day for two and a half years, with rides longer than 4mi starting less than two years ago - she needed company, and biking is the best way to get there.
My friend injuring herself last month is how I racked up so many miles.  I love having streaks, but damn. That is impressive.

I'm excited to be a part of these monthly challenges. I don't bike a lot right now. I am going to try to start going to the library once a week and back home. Which is 20 miles round trip. I'm trying to find other things that I can do in town when I go. AND DH is getting me a new road bike for our anniversary! I'm so excited about that. Ive been looking at them for along time. I've been riding a mountain bike and I have to continuously pedal. Its not a great quality bike, but it's helped me get into better shape so I can make more bike trips into town.
I'd love to know how far everyone is from their work or where ever they are usually going. Thanks.
I'm 4 miles from my first job and 8 miles from my second job (8 and 16 miles round trip).  20 mile round trip to friend's place and to gf's place. 
Enjoy the new road bike!  Learn to take care of it, and it will serve you for years to come! 

Diniecita

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #26 on: June 26, 2016, 07:25:03 PM »
Thank you both for you responses. Eric222 and Ohyonghao- I also feel like when I biked to a friends (10 miles) it was SO far away. I'm about 10 miles from everywhere where we live. I'm getting better as I bike more.
We haven't bought the road bike yet. We are still looking. We aren't wanting to spend $1000 on one, and don't know a lot about them.
I was really thinking about getting this one.
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/windsor/wellington2-xv.htm
Any thoughts on this one? It's going to be my first road bike and I was thinking I could upgrade parts as needed after I put some miles on it.
Thanks.

driftxsequence

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #27 on: June 27, 2016, 12:05:48 PM »
Craigslist is a great place IF you know what you are looking for, and what size you need. fitment is very important especially the longer your rides get. I would recommend getting a rough fitment at a bike shop and then "shopping around" once they give you a rough size estimate you need. If you've already done this legwork, great! 

Also, the constant pedaling from a mountain bike to a road bike is so much different. Yes, you may still pedal constantly, but you'll be going faster - and ultimately getting to your destination faster :)

ohyonghao

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #28 on: June 28, 2016, 01:18:42 PM »
Thank you both for you responses. Eric222 and Ohyonghao- I also feel like when I biked to a friends (10 miles) it was SO far away. I'm about 10 miles from everywhere where we live. I'm getting better as I bike more.
We haven't bought the road bike yet. We are still looking. We aren't wanting to spend $1000 on one, and don't know a lot about them.
I was really thinking about getting this one.
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/windsor/wellington2-xv.htm
Any thoughts on this one? It's going to be my first road bike and I was thinking I could upgrade parts as needed after I put some miles on it.
Thanks.

Looking at that bike it uses indexed shifters rather than brifters that are used on most modern road bikes.  These require your hands to be on the flat bar in order to shift, which puts your hands away from the brakes.  I really like brifters, which allow for many hand positions while leaving you within reach of the brakes and shifters in almost all of them.

It's also a triple crank on the front with 52T/42T/30T.  That gives you not quite the same upper ratio as a full size 53T, but you can look at the bottom chainring 30T which is lower than the compact 34T.  This means that you'll be able to climb steeper hills at a slower pace while maintaining a higher cadence, around 7MPH@85rpm.

The rear cassette starts with a 14/28 cassette, so going back to the Speed Cadence site you'll see that the max speed you'd get at a comfortable cadence is 32MPH.  One consideration also is only having 7 gears, the stepping between gears may not be as smooth, that is to say you may feel your cadence is a bit high in one gear, shift up one and it may feel a bit low.  I see on Amazon there are 12/28 cassettes.  Of course, this is if you are unsatisfied with doing 32MPH, which would most likely be going downhill unless you're in a finishing sprint with your friends :-D.

For a comparison you could look at this bike on Nashbar.  At $549, it is $200 more than the $349 Widnsor, but is much upgraded compared to that.  Comes with brifters, a compact crank, and 11/25 cassette.  That means you'd be doing 9MPH@85rpm in the lowest gear, and could sustain 6MPH at a lower cadence if need be before dropping too low, so not quite as good as the triple from the windsor if your focus is making it super easy to spin uphill.  It would also give you roughly the same top speed with the 50/12 combination as the 52/14 would.

jordanread

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #29 on: July 01, 2016, 08:39:25 AM »
Team,

The July cycling challenge will be up by the end of the day, although hopefully within a few hours. I'll post a link to the new thread when it's ready. Sorry for the delay.

jordanread

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Re: June Cycling Challenge 2016
« Reply #30 on: July 01, 2016, 07:44:23 PM »
The NEW CHALLENGE is up!

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!