The Audio-Talk Cycling thread.

[jack]

Email I got. Will let you bike types decide if its of interest:

I hope you are well.

I am getting in touch as I have found audio-talk.co.uk and was interested in a number of articles you have recently produced around cycling and bike maintenance. I’m currently working with an E Bike specialist in the cycling industry and was wondering if you be open to publishing a bespoke content piece written with the audio-talk.co.uk readership in mind.

The content provided would focus on high-value and relevant topics to your site and audience. Alternatively, I can provide you with insight or commentary for you to produce an article in your own words.

Is this something that might be of interest? I can send over more details and answer any questions you may have in the meantime.

Kind regards,

These are typically from freelance or commissioned writers wanting to place puff pieces on sites, thus creating back-links, so that the page rank of the sponsoring company (e bike business in this case) is improved and thus their Google search position improves. It's all about SEO.

We get them all the time on my digital publishing business. My advice: Ignore

[Ray P]

And, apart from jack has said, I really can't see the relevance of a piece on e-bikes or maintenance here as neither are discussion topics of the Audio-Talk cycling 'readership'.

[Nick]

Yep my initial thought was to ignore. But thought I would run it past you guys.

[Dave the bass]

Yep my initial thought was to ignore. But thought I would run it past you guys.

Agreed, Ta for asking though.

[andrew Ivimey]

Wot you've all said so far.

[IslandPink]

More quality from Tarling -

https://www.eurosport.com/cycling/europ ... tory.shtml

[Ray P]

Agreed, Ta for asking though.

Oi! Nick said 'bike types'...

[Mike H]

Currently in deepest darkest Norfolk with a view to doing a bit of cycling. (And I do mean 'a bit'.) After discussion with a friend in the Bantam club who also was/is a keen cyclist, he agreed transporting the bicycle to the area you want to ride around is a much better idea than trying to cycle there (also if camping is involved, which it is). Ergo I procured a bike rack for the Clio.....

0D0E5C5E-61E7-4B7F-8C88-3112FABC045A.jpeg (42.76 KiB) Viewed 14746 times

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Naturally expectations have greatly exceeded reality. For example, I thought I might 'pop over' and 'do' a bit of the Peddars Way, like I've seen chaps doing on YooToob.

HA HA HA! HA HA HA HA! HA HA HA HA!

10 -15 miles just to get there from the campsite I chose, then of course the same to get back. Not 'appenin'. At least not for this 69 year old with dodgy lungs from too many fags and who last rode regular when he was 16. And wasn't that brilliant at it then. So am pruning my ambitions accordingly and making do with little ride-outs. Really should have had more practice first.

Possible videos later (if you're good).

Aside: managed to bend the front rim slightly while it was still on the car carrier - turning into the tiny lane where the first campsite was (I've now moved to Reepham) a massive artic was coming the other way so I had to back up and move over at the junction, and still managed to push the front wheel into a fence. Fortunately an hour of tweaking the spoke nipples with a spanner had it straight again, but it did look a bit alarming to begin with.

[Mike H]

Here's the tyre mark on the fence - I'm surprised the tyre survived!

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[IslandPink]

Some trials & tribulations there Mike !
To be fair, 20 to 30 miles is a bit far if you haven't done much. If i'm not on the bike for a few weeks, I still start at about 45mins and work up again in 10 or 15min increments. But even a 30min ride is enough to add some useful training, we're not all like Ray !

[Mike H]

Yes I need to do more regular local trips for the practice I think.

[IslandPink]

Ray, I've just been watching more about the Shimano crank scandal - do you have any that are affected by the recall ?

[Ray P]

Some trials & tribulations there Mike !
To be fair, 20 to 30 miles is a bit far if you haven't done much. If i'm not on the bike for a few weeks, I still start at about 45mins and work up again in 10 or 15min increments. But even a 30min ride is enough to add some useful training, we're not all like Ray !

Mike, I agree with Mark's comments, you should start with what you're comfortable doing, then, as you get a little stronger, just push a bit further, but not too far. Remember, the aim is to aid your health and wellbeing, not put yourself in a box earlier than necessary. You'll probably be surprised at how quickly you start to feel more comfortable doing more if you keep it going reasonably regularly. When I resumed riding, I started with a 10mile local flat loop on my hybrid (like your own bike) and it took me 45-50mins of steady plodding - this week I rode 10miles in 26mins, though I'm not suggesting you have a similar target, just observing that it's never too late to take the benefits of regular workouts - I'm less than a handful of years younger than you.

[Ray P]

Ray, I've just been watching more about the Shimano crank scandal - do you have any that are affected by the recall ?

Mark, I only have one bike that might be affected and there's no sign of the issue, however, I do have a friend/colleague who has experienced it, just before the recall emerged - he was out on a club ride and noticed a creak, which he put down to his push-fit bottom bracket, but still did a steep climb and the coffee stop sprint before heading home! When he got home and started checking his bottom bracket he noticed the crack! He managed to get the bike shop to replace the crankset under warranty. He feels very chastened at the thought of might have happened.

I do have another Shimano crankset that I need to check though; it's a spare that I pulled it from one of my road bikes during Covid when it needed new chainrings, which were like hens teeth for a while. I replaced the whole thing with a NOS SRAM Force carbon crankset that I got for a really good price - it happens to look a lot better than the Shimano crankset it replaced too.

[Ray P]

https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/sh ... call/?s=08