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Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Day 15

Today was a WFH day ;-)

I sat in my office all day without moving to far:-(

At 5 I went for normal lacock ride.

Trackme decided to drop of 2 key plots and the route appears as 8.2 miles instead of the actual 9+ miles.

Having been sat on my arse all day the ride was actually quite hard going today.

The front tyre did not appear to have any leaks.. I pumped it up and it has stayed up, weird!

I have actualy got used to wearing shorts and t-shirt on a rainy day.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Day 14

Today I was in Stevenage. It was good apart from the 3hour plus journey to get there.

When I got back home I had my first dilema, what does one wear to go cycling in the rain? wearing shorts did not seam sensible, but neither did jeans!.

I opted for shorts, t shirt and light rain coat and set of on the 10 mile Laycock route unfortunately the cloud cover stopped the GPS from picking up the satellites so NO trackme ;-(

After setting off I noticed the front tyre had gone down and was almost flat, I didn't want to turn around and give up so I pressed on. I did the 10 miles with a load of drag from the front tyre and when I got back I felt I could do it all again.

I got back and was soaked....but all in all I felt good.

I have uploaded all of the photies taken on the bike cam here (Under Bike_Cam) although they look a bit sad (Pictures of paths n roads) I think it will be good to do and link with the GPS when we do the ride.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Day 13

Travelled to work on motorbike today.

Lunchtime walk called of due to a drop of rain (Joys fault ;-)

Got home at 6pm (Cold) Went swimming, Managed about 15 lengths (I am a terribly bad swimmer)

Talked wifey round to letting me go on a cycle ride tomorrow ;-) as I will be in sunny Stevenage and not likely to go out for a walk at lunchtime.

It has been explained to me that I should not push myself all of the time and I need to exercise in waves.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Day12 (Sunday)

Went for a really nice walk at Lackham College, A Charity dog walk in aid of the Great Bustard Group It was really nice and much longer than I expected. (although a bit slow!) gmap of walk here.

We had lunch at Lackham , when we got back home I filled up the water bottle with nice cold, ice cold water, got the bike out, fitted the camera and started of cycling (Forgetting to fit the water bottle to the bike!)

Today was a first, I didnt plan my route ahead I knew I wanted to cycle on the cycle path to Calne and I remembered there was a way to get from Headington to Sandy Lane but I wasn't exactly sure how, So I just set of peddled and hoped!

The camera mounted on the bike worked perfectly as can be seen by this piccy

And this one...

Which is more than can be set for the GPS track ;-( it started of OK but then suddenly had me cycling in the middle of the Atlantic .....I corrected the Trackme DB to give the correct route although Time and directions are all bogus ;-( (The correction used the gmaps export as GPX and a fine fettle using excell and sql)

I actually cycled 18 miles ;-) The route was Chippenham, Calne, Stockley, Headington, Sandy Lane, Laycock, Chippenham.

I took a video cycling down Naish Hill ;-) (Compressed and converted to AVI available here)
Or Streamed here...

When I got back home, I emptied the water bottle (I was parched), Then cut the grass and cooked a Cider sauce to have with tea.

To have a look at my hacked Trackme go here (Ignore the time, Direction arrows and speed)

On another note my little finger started tingling yesterday..and eased of untill I cycled today...doing a bit of DIY diagnosis I have tracked it down the the Ulnar Nerve....and O found a nice description.

Ulnar Tunnel Syndrome, "Handlebar Palsy", is an irritation of the ulnar nerve as it runs along the heel of the hand on the ring finger side. The most frequent cause is gripping a bicycle handle bar for extended periods. Onset is gradual and the numbness occurs in the ring and little finger.

Oh well at least tommorow is a swimming day and wifey has banned me from cycling on Tuesday as its my forced day of. (and games night)

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Day11 (Saturday)

Today was a Good day ;-)

Went for a lovely 2 mile walk in Westwood (Took loads of photies of Blue Bells)

Got back and fixed the bike.
The tyres from daughters bike were 26 X 2.05 and the ones that came of the bike were 26 * 1.95, the rear axle shaft was bent AND the wheel was slightly to far to one side.

I replaced the shaft from the buckled wheel, Swapped front and rear tyres over (Back to the originals tyres) and sorted it so it ran centrally in the frame.

I did the 20 mile ride ;-) And I was OK, In fact so OK that I made up a camera mounting bracket for the bike ;-)


Only issue is my left knee started aching about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way round but I'm sure it just needs more exercise.

So I have done the 20 miles way ahead of my expectation.

I have now made some nice lean home made burgers and am about to sit in the garden with a nice cold cider and a BBQ ;-)

Don't forget trackme and Day11

Couldnt help but smile thinking about Lisa when I whent past Calne and Lyneham

Friday, April 25, 2008

Day10

Wifey bought me a new foot pump ;-) So I thought I would pump the bike tyres up properly. They were at 10 psi so I pumped them up to 30 psi.....

Hadn't realised that when I swapped the back wheel from daughters bike that I hadn't aligned it centrally and with the tyre pumped up properly the tyre started rubbing the frame......



A lesser person would have turned around and fixed it......But me being an idiot I continued on...I actually had to pedal down hill to keep the bike going! Uphill was a nightmare.

So I made it nearly 10 miles pedalling constantly!!! I was knackered.

I cycled down Naish Hill and it was terrifyingly steep I cannot believe I actually cycled UP it yesterday....

Have a look at trackme Day10 for a photy...

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Day9

Today was tough ;-(

went for normal walk to flo's and back at lunchtime.

I always feel physically tired after riding the motorbike to work, And I like to get out on the bicycle before having food. But Thursday is wifeys night out so got in from work and had to eat straight away (We like to sit down as a family), so didn't get out until 7pm, I thought i'd just do the ride to Lacock and back...but I got to the foot of Naish Hill and thought "I wonder if that's a steep as Bowden Hill?"...Well after scaling its very steep face the answer is....Its steeper! But I made it up it..All be it in 10 foot bursts....with a stop of a second or two to get my breath back..

So my legs are aching, my arms are aching and I'm knackered.
But I feel good...it would have been all so easy to not bother tonight....

For today's rout click here dont forget to select "Day9"

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Day8

Today was a good day ;-)

Worked from home today.

Got up at 6am and started work at 7am.
Managed to get my trackme server working at lunchtime ;-)

Stopped work at 4:30 and went for ride at 4:40. Bowden Hill is very daunting so I cycled up Derry Hill instead (Its a lot longer but NOT as steep)

I will maintain the GPS plots of my trips from now on ;-)

So I managed over 10 miles today...and I feel that I can do more....

Looking at doing the Chippenham - Calne - Lyneham - Dauntesy - Chippenham route at the weekend. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1829877

To keep an eye on how I am doing head over to http://joberry.dyndns.org
(Dont forget to select the training Day in the Trip dropdown and select Show ;-)

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Day7

Well the plan was to take Tuesdays off...but the weather was nice and I wanted to see what difference the 18 gear bike was.

I made it up Bowden Hill ;-) I was NOT knackered. The GPS track says I did 10.36 miles and I was prepared to continue! The gearing made a major difference.

Wifey took some pictures of me setting off.....





Got back and played computer games, and had a couple of ciders ;-)

Monday, April 21, 2008

Day6

Normal day..Up at 5:30. Cereal for breaky.

Used TrackMe on lunchtime walk and discovered that the walk to flo's and back is actually 2.5 miles.

Got home at 6:30pm Picked wifey up and went for Monday swim. managed about 15 lengths. Back at home 7:30pm.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Day5 (Sunday)

Up at 7:30, Normal House tidy session, Followed by Porridge.

went out for Ride at 930 ish set Trackme to 30 second uploads. (Works a treat).
Thought I would attempt to ride up Bowden Hill and complete the Chippenham - Lacock - Sandy Lane ring route.

I bit of more than I could chew. Bowden Hill should be called Bowden Hell it approximately 1 in 4 and I got about Half Way up before turning around and going back the way I came ;-(

On the plus side I have now realised that the Gearing on Big Yellow is complete rubbish.

The GPS plot showed I still did just over 9.2 miles, But I am now up to 13 mph ;-)

This afternoon I rebuilt an 18 gear twist grip Mountain bike, It was wifeys but had a buckled wheel, I swapped the wheels with daughters bike ;-) Now I have a well geared well oiled bike. I took it for a quick road test and w00t I can now go up hills ;-) So I expect to be able to do the Ring route By the end of next week.

My mission for this afternoon is to migrate the CSS and Web server into Linux so I can host my own TrackMe server. Then I can post the GPS plots of my travels ;-)

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Day4 (Saturday)

Got up at 7:30, made porridge for wifey n me ;-) , Drove to Trowbridge and took Rosie (Dog) for a walk along the canal, Tried out TrackMe, It works well and showed that we did 4 miles in an hour and a half.

Came home had some Beef and Veg Soup then when for a cycle ride at 2:10 pm, Arriving back home at 3:10 pm, Same trip as Wednesday, Just a little further (I thought I had done over 10 miles...Apparently I had done only 9.2).(Gmap of the route here)

I set the TrackMe to plot every 10 minutes...Its to slow and didn't work properly ;-(

Friday, April 18, 2008

Day3

Up at 5:30, Cereal for Breaky, Normal Lunchtime walk into Warwick (About 1 to 1.5 miles round trip) Ham Salad roll as normal. Drive by home at 6:00 pm to pick wifey up for swimming.
In pool at 6:30 Managed about 15 lengths (Crawl then Breast Stroke)
Back home for 7:15. (I am not a good swimmer)

My legs are still aching from Yesterday. So I don't really want to overdo it.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Day2



Got up at my normal 5:30am, Drove to work. Left there at 4pm arrived home at 6pm, Ate food.
Then took old yellow (push pike) out of shed.

Set of from home at 6:45pm and went down national cycle route 4 from Chippenham to Lacock. 4.5 miles ;-)

I actually made it there and back arriving back home at 7:45....w00t nearly 10 mile(s) in 1 hour..

Problem is I can only just walk now!......My knees are glowing red. But at least I have a pint of cider to celebrate ;-)

But on second day out over 100% improvement!.. Thank god tomorrow is swimming day!

Day1

Well yesterday was my official Day1 of training. As I was working at home and started at 7am I stopped work at 4. I cut my old push bike from the undergrowth in the garden shed, oiled the chain,pumped up the tires and washed it. Then I whent for my first ride in nearly 10 years.

I managed about 3 miles! My legs became jelly and I was out of breath.

I need to be able to do 90 miles a day!

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

The Bikes

Merida 904 (20) compact (2009)

Aluminium frame, Carbon Forks, Shimano 105 groupset,
700 x 23 Michelin Krylion Carbon tyres,
Profile Design Aero Bars, Shimano PD530 Pedals.
12/27 rear cassette, 34/50 chain rings, KMC chain

Peugeot Optimum 14

Steel frame, Steel Forks, Mavic wheels, Biopace chainrings, Shimano RX 100 groupset,
KMC chain, Shomano PD520 Pedals, 700 x 23 tyres

Dawes Discovery 601 - Triple (2007)

Aluminium frame and Forks, 105 rear mech, Shimano FD-R443 front mech, Truvativ Triple chain rings and crank, Shimano PD530 Pedals, Alex Ace 18 Rims, Shimano Deore Hubs, Shimano SL-R440 9 speed shifters, 48/38/28 Chain rings, 700 x 28 Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres