Cycling

[check_mate_kid_uk]

What can I get for $500 (road bike)

Do you guys fear impotence from sitting on your perineal nerves???

If you have a decent saddle and are seated properly then there should be no problems. I read somewhere that in tests done they found there to be few cases of impotence amongst cyclists then there are on average because the average person does not do very much excersize and there is a higher danger of impotence due to bieng unhealthy then there is due to cycling.

Thought not suprisingly they found that the elite cycleists, the profesionals that are out on their bike constantly (cycling 35 hours a week) did have a lower sperm count.

As for the bike, the one you asked about is a good entry levle bike, if you get seriously in to it you will eventualy want something better, but that bike is not bad at all so you would not be in any rush to buy something better. It will be comfortable to go fast or on long rides with it and if you decide you dont wnat to cycle, you have not spent too much money either.

I always buy 2nd hand. I do offroad cycling, i bought a £1200 (about $2000) for £450 (about $800) which i have had for sevral years now. I wanted to also start cycling a lot on road so i bought a £1500 (almost $3000) road bike for £600 (about $1000) but then didnt really get in to cycling on road so much, so sold it and bairly lost any money on it.

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Dehydration is the weight difference you see overnight.

Re-read my post.

 

[Road Demon]

Hi Francisco d'Anconia,

I'm not sure what the clarification was. I think this is what you meant, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Increased metabolic rate occurs for several hours after the exercise bout, driven by the hormonal response to exercise, not muscle damage. It occurs in both aerobic and weight training exercise.

I do agree with you that minimal muscle damage occurs with cycling as it primarly concentric muscle contraction. Running and weight training has alot of eccentric muscle contraction, coupled with the fact that the muscle fibers are absorbing force and tearing at the molecular level due to ground impact or the lowering of the weight. Either way the muscle is remodeled in response to the load placed on it.

I train alot at 'anerobic threshold', more correct functional threshold. It is actually more efficient in terms of burning more calories as well as causing a greater stimulus for adaptation and futher increased performance.

Cycling does burn 400-700 calories and hour. It just depends on how vigorous you do it. Usually the powermeter ~550/600 Kcal/ hour for me @ 62 kg, if you assume KJ is roughly equal to Kcal.

I agree he should go to his local bike shop and get fitted for the bike. Bianchi is nice bike, just that Trek are more common.

I agree with check_mate_Kid_uk. If your bike is set up right, you should have not impotence issues, if anything cardiovascular exercise will increase general blood flow. Lack of exercise, smoking, and high fat diets are what cause a decrease in blood flow and creates Impotence.

I cannot stess it enough is important to go to a good bike shop and get set up properly on the bike by a trained person. They will have you set up in a safe and comfortable position.

Also, try to find a local cycle club, they often sell high quality used bikes if you know your correct frame size, but again it might be best to spend a bit more to get the bike that fits your right at the local bike shop.

The lower sperm count might just a result of a decreased immune system in the professional riders, due to the great training load?

cheers

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Hi Francisco d'Anconia,

I'm not sure what the clarification was. I think this is what you meant, please correct me if I'm wrong.

You're spot on. Although Trek is more popular than Bianchis (thank you Lance), Specialized rules in my part of the country!

 

[Road Demon]

I would rather ride a Bianchi than a Trek any day. Bianchi has a better geometry. I don't see too many Trek bikes on the race scene. IMHO the price/performance ratio of Cannondale is hard to beat. Caad8 frames are quite a good value. Maybe next year I'll be on a Cannondale.

I have ridden about 20 different types of mid to high end road bikes, over about 10 different brands.

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

I hear 'ya about Bianchi over Trek. If you have a chance to run into a Specialized dealer, check out their Roubaixs or Tarmacs, you may be impressed.

Personally, my next road bike is going to be completely custom just to get the perfect fit. I was going down a Ti/Carbon cross from Seven until one of my buds showed me his Serotta the other day. Check this out, I think the ST will be my new luxery model.

http://www.serotta.com/pages/ottrott.html

 

[check_mate_kid_uk]

Bianchi get a bad name because there is cheap mass martet bike manufacturer with a fiarly simular name. Bianchi and trek are both good, specialzed, litespeed and cannondale are even better. There are many other decent ones aswell.

If you want something truely special you will get cinelli, colango or Pinarello

 

[SELF-MASTERY]

The biggest thing I fear in cycling is getting out of my neighborhood. I live in GA and it is hilly as hell. I've been riding around in the car looking for different routes and shyt hills hills hills everywhere.

 

[PeterNorthisawesome]

Best cardio is swimming cuz you use your whole body if you know how to swin correctly. Cycling is so much better than running cuz you don't apply pressure to your knees and joints! my uncle who was long distance runner when he was young now has knee and back problems cuz he weighed a lot and put too much pressure on the joints. So if your gonna do cardio do cycling, swimming and basketball and make sure it's intense for about a hour.

 

[check_mate_kid_uk]

The biggest thing I fear in cycling is getting out of my neighborhood. I live in GA and it is hilly as hell. I've been riding around in the car looking for different routes and shyt hills hills hills everywhere.

Going up hills is very good excersize, and fun on the other side going down. You will increase your fitness a lot if there are many hills and soon they wont be too much of a pain to go up.

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

The biggest thing I fear in cycling is getting out of my neighborhood. I live in GA and it is hilly as hell. I've been riding around in the car looking for different routes and shyt hills hills hills everywhere.

What's to be afraid of? Hills are made to be climbed just for the downhills! :woo:

 

[Upper]

I got myself a mountain bike but overestimated my height and ended up with a frame slightly larger. However I still have my saddle rather high up as I was told it's the right way to ride, with your legs almost fully stretched.

However I've been having neck strains and pelvis aches lately, and I'm not sure whether to lower or increase the saddle height? And should I point the nose up or down?

Could it be because of my stem actually? I'm thinking it might be because of the stem and not saddle.

 

[check_mate_kid_uk]

I got myself a mountain bike but overestimated my height and ended up with a frame slightly larger. However I still have my saddle rather high up as I was told it's the right way to ride, with your legs almost fully stretched.

However I've been having neck strains and pelvis aches lately, and I'm not sure whether to lower or increase the saddle height? And should I point the nose up or down?

Could it be because of my stem actually? I'm thinking it might be because of the stem and not saddle.

Pelvis strains would be because the sadle is to high so you can not reach the pedals properly and so your straining your pelvis trying to pedal.

The neck stains are from leaning over far to the handlebars, there may not be naything wrong, you might just not be used to it. Also i noticed if i cary a heavy bag with me with lots of water and stuff inside, my neck has more tendancy to hurt when i cycle long distance.

 

[Road Demon]

Hi Francisco d'Anconia,

I like specialized, had 2 'stumpjumper' mtn with XT. They make a nice bikes.

I have ridden three different Serottas: nhx, colorado2, and legend Ti. I'm familiar with ottrot as the shop I deal with is big Serotta dealer. Its kind of heavy but beautiful. They are nice, but not really what I would call responsive. Different strokes for different folks.

I have ridden 3 Ti frames. 1 serotta and 2 built by litespeed.

Seven cycles should make a nice bike, but I'd do full Ti, not a Ti with carbon rear triangle.

Iwould suggest to spend money on custom Rocket 7 cycling shoes! I got a pair of them and they are amazing. Perhaps the biggest performance investment, the shoes weigh in at 420 grams per pair, and they fit like a glove. They also make a superstocks at the same weight and build quality with hundreds of different sizes and width options ~ 400. Oh, yeah I even paid full retail for them at a different shop.

I suggest doing Rocket 7 custom shoes, get a powermeter (powertap Pro or Pro SL), buy a cannondale caad8 with Dura-Ace 10, speedplays, and get fit buy Andy Pruitt in CO, before buying an 6K Serotta bike.

My bike turn over so fast that I really don't get involved with. I'm riding a Felt team bike with dura-ace 10.

I was to buy a bike, I go for the Litespeed Vortex with Dura-Ace 10.

j

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Whoa, impressive! I own two "Stumpies" myself, both a HT and a FS. I also have an Allez AL/Cb and a full Cb Roubaix (my main ride).

I had been looking at the Seven Elium SG but I was just looking at the Serotta of a bud and what caught my eye was the pivoting system built into the dropouts to help dampen vibrations.

The one neg that I found was just what you pointed out, the weight. My Roubaix is about 16lbs give or take about 4-6oz. The Ottrott standart comes in at 19lbs! The ST is about $1200 more but I don't know the weight difference.

Either way, I still have a few months left in the season and that should give me enough time to do some more research and buy one off season and hopefully save a few deneros.

 

[check_mate_kid_uk]

I have a specialized stumpjumper aswell! Its the 2001 model so getting on a bit, i have put Hope mini mono front disc brakes on it.

 

[djbr]

cycling rules.

it is good to the environment, for your health, well-being, humor and sex life! lol

can't wait to get my new bike!

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

cycling rules.

it is good to the environment, for your health, well-being, humor and sex life! lol

can't wait to get my new bike!

Don't be too quick to laugh about the enhanced sex life, it does wonders for your stamina! For the longest time I just thought it was from riding for longer miles (50-100).

Just this weekend I realized that it'll have a lot to do with starting a ride/race and realizing that you have to take a leak but it's too late. Riding for more than 20 miles of bumps while holding it is a MAJOR workout for your pubococcygeus muscles!

What kind of bike are you getting djbr?

 

[check_mate_kid_uk]

Don't be too quick to laugh about the enhanced sex life, it does wonders for your stamina! For the longest time I just thought it was from riding for longer miles (50-100).

Just this weekend I realized that it'll have a lot to do with starting a ride/race and realizing that you have to take a leak but it's too late. Riding for more than 20 miles of bumps while holding it is a MAJOR workout for your pubococcygeus muscles!

What kind of bike are you getting djbr?

LOL! I never really need to 'take a leak' when im cycling. When you sweat a lot and dehydrate, you tend not to need to p!ss. Have you ever been in the desert and realsied you havent needed to go to p!ss all day, its the same thing.

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

LOL! I never really need to 'take a leak' when im cycling. When you sweat a lot and dehydrate, you tend not to need to p!ss. Have you ever been in the desert and realsied you havent needed to go to p!ss all day, its the same thing.

Nah, I usually sweat like a pig when the temperature gets above 85 degrees(f) so I hydrate like hell the day before and a couple of hours before the ride in addition to about 2/3 of a liter each hour during. If I forget to relieve myself at least 15 minutes before I clip in, I'm usually ready to bust a gut about 30-45 minutes later. So I ride that much faster so I can finish and get a load off my mind!