The Rapha Festive 500

Cycling in the time of Corona thread

Take or leave the the BC interprtation, just pick the one that suits what you were going to do anyway.. https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/about/­article/20200512-about-bc-news-British-C­ycling-Updated-Coronavirus-Guidance-0

Groups should not pass into or out of ‘Stay at home’ (Tier 4) areas.

I think I've crossed it this year.

riding in low temps (i.e. just above freezing) - would I be better to run my wheels with wider tyres (32 front, 38 rear Vs 30s on the otherwheelset) or is it a much of a muchness ?

30s will be fine. You'll have a lot more fatigue with wider tyres, but maybe that's good?

think I'll stick with the 30s and just run them at a slightly lower PSI (60 vs the usual 80 I'd normally run)

Glad it's starting tomorrow and not today, pouring with rain all day here.

Horrid isn’t it, expecting a lot of standing water and floods tomorrow. Planning 60km before work and 100km after all being well.

Looks like London is due a lot of rain over night. I’m planning around 70km early.

I’ve yet to receive my AM return time.

Boxing day route planner

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Looks like it'll be cool but bright way out West in the orangey bit, which is nice as looks like it'll wet and miserable after Christmas

riding in low temps (i.e. just above freezing) - would I be better to run my wheels with wider tyres (32 front, 38 rear Vs 30s on the otherwheelset) or is it a much of a muchness ?

Riding in the cold tyres (and tubes) get stiffer/slower. I believe already stiff/slow tyres will be affected more than supple/fast tyres (but there are other valid reasons to run stiff tyres in winter).

‘Good’ tyre size and pressure relate to ride+bike weight and surfaces. I don’t see how temperature would influence these but maybe I’m missing something.

TL:DR just run whatever you’ve dialed in as comfortable, fast and safe. As you would any other temperature.

{ caveat : I’ll be riding the 500 on 40mm knobbly tyres so don’t listen to me }

Do kayaking miles count? Everywhere west and north west of me is cut off by flooding.

I think it was a grip vs rolling resistance type question?
A smaller tyre has more resistance at the same pressure, which might suggest more grip. That was my take maybe I’m over reading it.

Anyone got a flat circuit with minimal traffic lights in London?
Near city airport perhaps?

Obviously regents and Richmond but I’d like other options

Occasionally I've done a Salter Road loop in Rotherhithe. There's the odd light around Decathlon (Surrey Quays rd has far less traffic than Lower Road towards Surrey Quays Overground, and less angry driving) but the Salter Road section is pretty good. Haven't done it since they remodelled the roundabout at the tunnel entrance though, but outside of peak hours I'd imagine it's fine.

I used to live on Lower road so I know that bit well. Good option, cheers

Oddly enough I was looking at the river near me today in super high fast mode and thinking I’m glad I’m not kayaking today. I’m not actually a kayaker.

Oh I see. Grip on soft-surfaces/mud? Yeah you’re not wrong. Hard to generalise really - it sort of depends on the gloop.

Yet you didnt recognise that under-bridge photo i posted

Would that be the bridge you live under?

Re Salter Road loop, I used to live right by it and during daylight hours it's fine but I'd caution against it once the sun goes down; boy racers regularly scream down there at 50mph+.

84km up, out towards Chertsey. Pretty chilly at 5:30, warmed up. Quite a few heading out on my return.

Fuck me that was hard work, flooding everywhere. Went out before dawn and got stuck the wrong side of the valley from work with floods blocking every route across. Found the shallowest point after a 10 mile detour. Knocking the 100km after work ride on the head, I’ll have done about 80km with a direct ride home now. Just put my sodden winter boots on with a shudder.

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125km out to Christmas Lane and back. Very apt. Ice cold headwind on the way back, lovely.

ffff that was hard. 1 degree with a real feel of -3. stacked it (slowly) on a sheet of black ice too - lovely stuff. no major damage done thankfully. headwind was so strong on the way back it dislodged my contact lenses and I couldn't see for 5 miles wth. chasing my much fitter mate = felt like whitey'ing at several points. 120km in the bag tho