"You might have a look at your gearing then."

21 speeds should be plenty of gears. Today was my first actual ride. Getting the body used to it - that will be the key.

I was exhausted at the point where I decided to walk.

You're just starting to get back in shape. Don't be impatient with yourself. It will come.

Cycling uses different muscles than walking or running. I don't entirely understand why or how this is, since there are only a few major muscle groups in your lower body. But when I was a very fit backpacer

Years ago was talking with John Howard. He said that the reason why he got into cross training was that he had just finished a 100 mile ride and was pulling up to where he was staying. A rain storm started to hit and he hefted the bike up on his shoulder and ran the 75 yards to the house through some grass.

Next day he was sore as could be and he could not figure it out. Finally realized that it was the sprinting the day before had used different muscles than riding a bike and then and there he vowed to take care of that. Several years after that he won the Ironman in Hawaii...

She's gonna be disappointed when she finds out you din't buy her any pedals ;)

I'm a Clydesdale too, but I still get in ~5K mi a year, and most of the little guys can't keep up, especially over the longer distances, on the uphills that's another thing though

My racer and distance bike
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355875466.jpg

around town
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355875510.jpg

pit, unfortunately stolen from my truck last summer
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355875534.jpg

You're just starting to get back in shape. Don't be impatient with yourself. It will come.

Make sure your saddle is high enough. If your legs are not fully extending at the bottom of the pedal stroke (just a slight bend at the knee, and a slight point of the ankle), your knees (quads) will be exhausted quickly. Just like waddling in a duck crouch is exhausting.

Start out using lower gears. Learn what 80 rpm feels like, and shift to keep your cadence at that level or higher. Pushing high gears with a low cadence will exhaust you quickly, and is tough on the knees. That applies when you're working - for just lazily gliding along, a low cadence is fine.

Just ride every day, or as close as you can. As you get fitter, you'll get lighter, and as you get lighter, you'll climb faster.

Riding on busy streets - you don't have to. I've been riding on city streets since I was 7 y/o and exploring downtown Vancouver B.C. on my little bike. You get used to it. I don't think it is any more dangerous than riding a motorcycle. Actually, fatality statistics show cycling is a lot less dangerous than motorcycling. If you're careful and very alert, I think both are reasonably safe, by my standards anyway.

In college I made a little extra scratch repairing sew-ups for the locals.
$5 each to patch and re-sew.
I could do it while watching TV in the dark, almost without looking. Had dried 3m weatherstrip adhesive all over my hands for a year.
I made almost as much money repairing sew-ups than I did working at the shop or building up racing wheels.
Polishing the races on campy and dura ace hubs paid pretty gud tho, $10 each and all it took was 15 minutes each a dab of crest toothpaste, and some Phil wood waterproof grease.

Is there still such thing as phil wood grease? that was the hot ticket back when I was yer age.
now GOML.

Lickbike.com | Phil Wood Waterproof Grease

There ya go

Tomorrow I'll fedex ya a pile of leaky sewups...

Phil Wood grease? That funny, I had some of that stuff. once you get it on your fingers, you can't really wash it off and the smell just wouldn't go away. I had many dinners with some PhilWood grease on my fingers.

LOL, I still have a tube in my tool box from the 80s. Found it funny that since (until 91) the hubs & BB were set up so you couldn't open them, that they sold grease..
The Phil Wood Spoke machines are great too:D
My long time Friend, Drew Johnson, former Cannondale rep & owner of City Cycle, here in Jax
World Famous City Cycle
puts some good deals on eBay on some nice bikes..
nutsboltswheels | eBay
If anyone is looking

This is his shop bike.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355878473.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355878515.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355878558.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355878603.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355878631.jpghttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355878783.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355878862.jpg

Thats da stuff. Back then Phil Wood specialized in touring hubs, they were great for tandems cause they were so heavy duty.
But they were sealed to keep the crap out so they had a little more drag than most folks wanted. On a big old heavy tandem you'd never notice but on a sprint bike it was obvious.

but their waterproof grease was da bomb.
it wouldn't separate like other greases if it sat for a long time either. Green tube cost about $6 IIRC.
That was 2 hours pay uphill both ways in the snow.


EDIT: BTW I could rebuild phil's sealed hubs too, my dad was a TV repairman and had the ultimate set of tools.
But the darned things lasted forever so I rarely got my hands on a set that needed it.

I only used it in my BB. Everything else got Campy grease. I never pay anything to Phil Wood hubs because they used them for wheel chairs. Campy "Stuper Record" was choice then Sun Tour ans then Shimano. I like seal bearing hubs. No more adjusting cones.

It's been over 30 years since I did one, you'll prolly get em back with built-in speed bumps. :confused:

Remember how we used to run our fingers around the inside of the tire carcass to find thorns?
One day I discovered you could find a large piece of glass the same way. Made a hellava mess. Had to get myself sewed up before I could sew up the tire.

Question: which cone wrenches do you need for a particular hub?
Answer: the ones on the very bottom of the pile.

LOL, I still have my Park Tool cone wrenches too..

Phil's were bulletproof, but I always loved Bullseyes & Campys, pretty much all I ever ran..
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355886070.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355886148.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355886319.jpg

Just watched the video. WTF is that bike?

Roadie? Nope, flat bar and upright riding position.
29er MTB hardtail? Nope, slicks and no room to put real knobbies on there.
Townie? Maybe for someone with too much money who wants to ride to Starbucks on a Sunday morning while others are on real rides.

Just figured it out: It's a great bike to hang in your garage next to your Porsche, so the owner can say, "look at me!" :rolleyes:

Also, I'm hoping the guy in the video was really nervous, a Porsche (car) engineer, or both. He certainly knew very little about bikes.

How about we let the car guys build cars, and the bike guys build bikes. K?

/rant

I got this bike on the road about July, and its now done about 2200 miles. Its a light weight alu frame, carbon bits, some nice but not fancy Mavic wheels, Ultegra groupset. It was a fun project and its turned out to be a great bike.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1355901843.jpg

Hey John,

Here is a good shape Raleigh Pro for a pretty good price! Just found it, do not know the seller.

Raleigh Professonial bike

Joe, don't tempt me. The row of bike hooks in the basement is filled, and I have a backlog of four bikes or framesets that need fixing or building up. Peugeot PX-10, Peugeot PY10-FC, Bianchi Speciallissima, Vitus 997 OCT. Then the boy will need a new bike in a year, he is growing. I am done with buying vintage bikes. For now. I think. Jeez, that one is pretty clean.

Javelin Varese road/tri bike

Hella bargain in Georgia.....:eek: