Johns Cycling Diary

Blog moved...

2010-04-29T20:31:00.001+01:00

I have moved my blog to http://www.johns-cycling-diary.co.uk/

And I forgot to post to tell everybody!!!

24th April 2010

2010-04-24T21:23:00.003+01:00

I felt better this morning :-)

I got up and changed straight into cycle gear...A long sleeve top today (It was still a bit chill out!)

I headed of for the ChainGang at 9:20 for the 9:30 start, I was surprised to find only a handful of people there...

At 930 we headed of on the familiar route...It was a fair pace again this week (19.9 mph Average), with some people unfortunately taking some risks on corners and junctions :-(

As the ride progressed the weather warmed up and it was a very enjoyable ride...

The Garmin had the ride as 40.69 miles in 2 hours 3 minutes with an average speed of 19.9 mph, route here...

When I got back home, after a shower and change, I spent the afternoon snoozing in the sun..

In-between snoozing I finally got around to reading 'The Cyclists Training Bible'...more geared to training for road racing, but well worth the read anyway!

It explains some common sense things that I hadn't thought of! The main things I am now pondering are....weight training (winter), power training, diet (It appears my 2 a day Banana habit may not be a healthy option), recovery training and diet...

The book makes some sensible statements regarding the human body and the modern diet...

I have also been having some Blogger issues, I am finally going to make the move to Wordpress, I am hacked off with the sometimes flaky comment system and the lack of real customisation options...I have registered a new domain name and am in the process of re-organising my extensive web space :-) Once I am happy with things I shall switch it on...so to speak :-)

---------Edit----------------------------
No blog taking shape at www.johns-cycling-diary.co.uk Please have a look and tell me what you think so far....
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23rd April 2010

2010-04-23T20:03:00.004+01:00

Well I was sick.....I went to bed at 6:30 pm and slept right through to 5:30 am.

I felt a little tender and very de-hydrated when I woke up so I thought it was best to work from home today..

After work I cleaned and lubed the Merida in preparation for the weekend.

I still dont feel 100% at the moment so instead of going for a ride I went for a nice walk with wifey and Rosie (dog).

22nd April 2010

2010-04-22T18:22:00.002+01:00

I was supposed to go out for a ride with my son tonight...But I am not feeling very well :-(

I have a stomach ache...I even came home from work early......

Blah I hate feeling unwell.

21st April 2010

2010-04-21T21:51:00.003+01:00

Worked from home today...

Didn't do the club TT tonight, instead I planned to do a country lanes ride with Dave Carr and Andy Wiggins :-)

Andy and Dave pitched up at 5:30 ish and we set of at 6 for a nice 25 miles around the lanes

It was a very pleasant sociable ride...although I did find it difficult to slow my pace down...I normally try and get around this route as fast as possible!!!

The Garmin had the ride as 25.79 miles in 1 hour 28 minutes....route here...

When we got back home we had a lovely BBQ and chatted the evening away :-)

We have agreed to repeat the whole process again next Wednesday...This time I will sort out a route south instead of north...

20th April 2010

2010-04-20T20:51:00.003+01:00

Went to work today....but not to Warwick :-)

Instead I went to Benson in Oxfordshire....Nice to go somewhere familiar but different...

It was really nice to get up at a civilised time and get back home at a civilised time :-)

I stopped on the way home in Halfords and picked up a new cycle helmet..the old one has served 2 years service and has been dropped a few times...

I also picked up a set of pedals and a topeak pump...

When I got back home I fitted the Dawes Hybrid for wifey and swapped the SPD pedals for the new flat pedals..

I am now ready for the new bike :-)....unfortunately its not going to be here for another couple of weeks :-(

I am going to the Lake District on Hols in July and I was intending taking 3 bikes...Wifeys Mountain bike the Dawes and the Merdia Race, I am going to do the Fred Whitton 4 seasons challenge, and go cycling with wifey...Now I am only going to take two bikes, the Dawes set up for wifey and the New Merida Cross....I should be able to do the wifey leisure rides and the Fred Whitton on it...I hope!

When I finished all of my tinkering I settled down to play computer games, but my friends obviously got bored waiting for me and they were all gone :-(

19th April 2010

2010-04-19T21:26:00.007+01:00

Managed to make it out for the lunchtime walk, just a couple of miles as I didn't have a great deal of time...

When I got back home I changed into summer cycle gear then got straight out on the bike :-)

Redbikes suggested that all of my rides are flat...and thinking about it I have sort of drifted into flatter rides. So tonight I thought I would ride some of the local hills :-)

They are not mountains but they are steep enough...

The ride started out warm enough..

1900		13.7	°C	NW	8	mph			25	km	1015 hPa, Falling
2000		11.7	°C	NNW	5	mph			13	km	1015 hPa, Steady

Put towards the end it was starting to get quite chilly...

The Garmin had the ride as 18.64 miles in 1 hour 9 minutes with an average speed of 16.1 mph and a maximum speed of 46 mph :-) ....route here...

I am confident that Sunday's White Horse Challenge should not present to many difficulties now :-)

Two more pieces of news....

1) I have entered and paid for the O2E Champagne Supernova...16th/17th September 200 mile ride across France :-)
2) I have ordered a Cyclo Cross bike...A Merida Cyclo Cross 3

Plan is to do some more NCR rides and to have a go at Cyclo Cross at the end of the year :-)

And finally...Paul W took a photo of me on the 125k Audax......

18th April 2010

2010-04-18T16:01:00.014+01:00

Today was the day of the club 125k Audax, I had picked up the route sheet on Wednesday but I could not plot it on bikehike/ridewithgps as I kept getting lost :-( so I was either stuck with navigating myself from paper or tagging along with people that did the ride last year :-)

The weather for the day was perfect....REALLY perfect :-)

0900	5.7	°C	NE	1	mph	11	km	1015 hPa, Falling
1000	8.9	°C	WNW	1	mph	12	km	1015 hPa, Falling
1100	11.7	°C	SSW	2	mph	13	km	1015 hPa, Falling
1200	13.5	°C	ENE	1	mph	17	km	1015 hPa, Falling
1300	15.2	°C	E	2	mph	30	km	1015 hPa, Falling
1400	15.5	°C	NNW	5	mph	22	km	1014 hPa, Falling

I started of with shorts and short sleeve top and arm warmers and was a bit chilled, it was only just 5 degrees when I set off from home at 8:30..

I signed in as soon as I got to the Bath road car park then moved into the sun and chatted with Paul.

At 9 am we all set off, as is my constant desire I zoomed off and overtook everybody (Paul stayed on my back wheel)...I sort of knew the first bits of the route :-)

Thankfully as we reached Easton Lane we were overtaken by Andy and David and a nice group of ten or so formed...most of the start of my ride looked like this.....

I'm not complaining it was a cracking pace and they knew the way :-) The whole ride turned into a very social, enjoyable and fairly quick chain gang ride :-)
The first Control was at Sainsburys in Frome, we all self certified our Brevet cards, as I have reached that age I stopped to water the horses..

After Frome we ascended the only major climb of the ride 'Gare Hill' and I was very pleased with myself not to be dropped or lagging behind on the hill, in fact I got to the top reasonably quickly and ahead of the game :-) I even had time to stop and take photies of everybody else in our little group going by :-)

The countryside and weather was perfect, and sitting in a group I was being dragged along nicely :-)

We passed Shear Water and before I knew it we were at Longleat...

We all decided against stopping for a brew and a cake at Longleat instead opting to stop and sit in the sun at Brokerswood.

I have done a few rides through Longleat, but I normally stick to the roads I know, It was great to find that you can cycle next to the Lions enclosure and past the Rhino's, Hippo's and the Gorilla Island...

For some reason I found the climbs out of Longleat quite challenging, but I still managed to keep with the group....once we were out of the climbs I was sailing along again :-)

We passed a rather nice looking pub on the way to Brokerswood and somebody mentioned Cider :-) Now I was all up for stopping for a pint of the lovely cool apple juice...but the rest were not :-(

So I put the Cider thought to the back of my mind....but tea is just NOT the same...

We stopped at the Cafe at Brokerswood...David had remembered that it was his shout..I had bought the last teas and cake a few weeks ago...

I did the decent thing and reserved some prime sun soaked real estate (Chair and Tables)..he delivered my Bacon Roll and Cake to me :-)

Apparently he did not have enough hands to bring my tea as well, but as I was settled in the sun he did the decent thing and fetched it for me :-)

I do somehow think I AM going to pay big time for this charitable act....

After a rather pleasant sit in the sun it was a short (17 mile) ride to the Chippenham Sainsburys and the end of the Audax..

Andy picked up all of the Brevet cards from our little group to take to the club evening on Wednesday..

It was a nice short cycle home...then I cut the grass and finished filling in the pond in the garden...

Finally I had a shower and then sat in the garden with a nice cool glass of cider :-)

The Garmin had today's ride as 79.08 miles in 4 hours 25 minutes with an average speed of 18 mph, route here...

17th April 2010

2010-04-17T20:24:00.006+01:00

Got up and the sun was shining, I dressed in summer gear...the weather forecast was for 16 degrees...unfortunately it was only 5 degrees at present...

I finally got around to un-boxing the new cycle shoes as the old ones were looking a bit shabby

The new ones looked very shiny :-)

My only real concern was setting up the cleats in the right position...

I set fof for the Chippenham Cemetery at 9:15 for the 9:30 start and it was a tadge chilly, but I had high hopes for it to warm up :-)

There were a lot of people turned up for the chain gang so we split into two groups, a fast and a slow...I was of course in the fast group :-)

As the ride progressed it started to warm up nicely :-) I actually started to feel sorry for everybody else with their leg and arm warmers.

It was the fastest chain gang of the year so far...40.73 miles in 2 hours with an average speed of 20.3 mph, route here...

When I got back home I had a bacon sandwich and basked in the sun for a while...

At 1:50 I went out for a short slow ride with son, 16.11 miles in 1 hour 9 minutes with an average speed of 13.9 mph, route here...

The weather was absolutely perfect....

When we got back home I set about making a gate to replace the second garden gate...

16th April 2010

2010-04-16T20:47:00.004+01:00

Had Friday pub lunch, (Sausage,Eggs,Chips and Beans) I normally have something a little lighter but I was supposed to be going to a play in the Theatre Royal in Bath tonight...

I had worked through a couple of lunchtimes mid week and was intending to set of from work in good time....it didn't happen :-( I left work late..

Now I can't really remember agreeing to go to the Theatre, but wifey insists I was asked and I said yes. When I phoned home after setting of from work, wifey asked me if I would be OK going as I had had a long day n all.....Ohhh I looked at the warm sunshine outside of the car window and thought of a cycle ride....

I think wifey had realised I wasn't that keen on going and had offered my ticket to one of her friends :-)

When I got home I changed into summer cycle gear and I was off....I didn't fancy fighting with cars so I headed off down the country lanes.

I ended up doing the same ride I did with Dave Carr a month or so ago....and I flew....It was so fast and so nice, the bike was purring along, the gears set up just right...the only thing that would have made it absolutely perfect was a few more degrees in temperature and a little less wind.

1900		11.4	°C	ENE	11	mph			30	km	1026 hPa, Falling
2000		9.8	°C	ENE	8	mph			30	km	1027 hPa, Falling

I ended up doing the 25.8 miles with an average speed of 20.4 mph in 1 hour 16 minutes, route here...

It is certainly a nicer route than following the main road around Lyneham, it is a good TT speed training route but it has NO hills, so my benchmark speed course has to be my normal 20...

When I got back home, I gave the bottom bracket a look over to make sure all was well and I noticed a small amount of play, so I nipped up the crank adjuster a little...and the play was gone :-)

I was going to cook a bacon sarnie but I couldn't be arsed , so I ordered a small Donino's Pizza and Wedges instead...

This weekends weather looks gorgeous...I have a couple of rides planned for tomorrow and a 125k Audax on Sunday, its going to be greeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttttt :-)

15th April 2010

2010-04-15T21:44:00.005+01:00

Busy day at work, didn't manage to go for lunch time walk :-(

Didn't actually leave my desk all day :-(

When I got in from work, I ate tea, then went for a walk with wifey and Rosie (dog)

When I got back I put the Merida on the bike stand.

I gave it a clean and then set about changing the bottom bracket.

The job was not as difficult as I had imagined, although the caps were tighter than expected, it was a good job I had a BB socket as well as the BB spanner :-)

I cleaned up the chain rings, spider and cranks off the bike and re-assembled the lot.

I put the bike on the turbo and set the gears up, It all seemed a lot more positive...

14th April 2010

2010-04-14T21:33:00.003+01:00

Worked from home today :-)

I was intending to go out for a ride at lunchtime, but it was far to cold, so I gave it a miss :-)

At 5:30 I headed off to the Queens Field for the 6:15 sign in for the club 10 mile TT...

I got there early and signed in first, I got my number (1) and pinned it on my shirt...We were supposed to do the normal 10 route, but news of traffic lights was mentioned so the course was changed to the 'P' course, unfortunately nobody knew where it started or where it went :-)

The route was explained to us and I sort of grabbed where it went, as I was first up I had nobody else to follow...I pedalled to the start and waited...and waited...and waited, I started to get a bit worried that I was in the wrong place, a few more guy's turned up thankfully...and eventually the time keepers turned up and we were ready to go :-)

I set off straight into a headwind...downhill...

1800

11.1

°C

mph

1020 hPa, Falling

At Great Somerford the course turned right to Dauntsey, at Dauntsey the course turned left back on to the normal 10 mile course which at Great Somerford went back up the hill to the start point, it was much easier being blown up the hill.

It was quite interesting as I was finishing to see people starting, they all looked so serious!

My official finish time was 27:31, the Garmin had the ride as 10.13 miles in 27:55 with an average speed of 21.8 mph, route here...

I cycled back from the TT via the cycle club to pick up the route sheet for Sunday's club 125k Audax.

The total ride today was 25.7 miles in 1 hour 27 minutes with an average speed of 17.6 mph

13th April 2010

2010-04-13T21:51:00.000+01:00

Night Off, Played computer games :-)

12th April 2010

2010-04-12T21:01:00.003+01:00

Went to work today, didn't see the point in loosing a days pay...

Went out for my lunchtime walk, 3 miles...RunGPS decided to record absolutely nothing :-(

When I got back home I changed straight into long sleeve cycle top and trousers and went out for my 'Normal 20'...I had visions of going straight at the evens (20mph average) but the strong northerly put paid to that :-(

1800		11.0	°C	NNE	14	mph			15	km	1026 hPa, Falling
1900		10.2	°C	NNE	15	mph			15	km	1026 hPa, Falling

I was 5 minutes off the evens pace at the 10 mile point, I did push hard on the home straight but I was never going to make the time up :-(

The Garmin had the ride as 21.28 miles in 1 hour 9 minutes with an average speed of 18.5 mph, route here...

When I got back home I showered and changed then had salad for tea....interestingly my legs are aching now....but they didn't ache at all yesterday!

I noticed on the ride that the chain-rings appeared to be oscillating in and out as I was pushing the pedals down....The bottom bracket has gone again :-( Surely it should last longer than 3ooo miles? This one was a Dura Ace, the 105 one lasted 5ooo miles, I have just ordered another set of 105 cups.

11th April 2010

2010-04-11T19:22:00.003+01:00

Its amazing how rejuvenating a nights sleep is...I woke up this morning with NO ill effects from yesterdays ride, if it wasn't for the pain that wifey would inflict on me I would have considered going out on the club leisure ride...but I thought it would be safer to do NO bike things today :-)

We went out for a shortish walkies with Rosie (dog) then I set about tidying up the garden...all of this cycling has left it rather neglected :-(

Once the grass was cut and the garden tidied I spent the afternoon making and hanging a new garden gate (4 ft by 6 ft).

I had provisionally booked Monday off work as I thought I may be completely knackered, but as it stands I don't quite know what the fuss was about and I will go to work in the morning.

And on a final note...I was tidying my drawers up at work on Friday and I decided to bring my spare clothes home (I used to ride a motorbike back and forth and kept a dry set of clothes at work just in case I got soaked through). I think the jeans were about 3 years old...They are a tadge big for me now :-)

10th April 2010

2010-04-10T21:27:00.003+01:00

Got up at 4:30 am....put on short sleeve top with arm warmers and my light wind proof top and cycling trousers over shorts...It was only 4 degrees but the forecast was for it to be a scorcher mid afternoon :-)

We made it to the Watermoor Hall in Cirencester for 5:45 for the 6 am start, thankfully my leg was feeling 'normal' :-)

I picked up my Brevet card and at 6 am I was off....and as is normal for me I was off at the front :-)
It was Dark...I didn't want to put the back-light on the Garmin as power was going to be an issue as it was so I pedalled along with John he was doing the 300k on a fixie!

The sun started to rise pretty darn quickly and soon enough we were in some fantastic Gloucestershire countryside :-)

There were a lot of deer in the fields and it was a wonderful morning, if not a little chilly! I was really quite pleased I had the trousers and sleeves on..there were some people in shorts and short sleeve tops....

The first control was at the Tudor Rose tea rooms at Alcester (41 miles)...It was just about starting to get warm, but was far to soon for me to need nourishment so I got my card stamped and set straight on...

The next stage from Alcester to Atherstone was really interesting for me.....I did a training ride with Nathan and Joy in 2008, and this stage revisited some of the same roads. The control was at Winnie's Cafe (78 miles) I had a lovely cuppa and a round of Beans on Toast, I also took the opportunity to take off the wind-proof top, arm warmers and cycling trousers....I was in summer gear :-)

It seemed no time at all and the first 100 miles had been and gone :-) now the work began! The terrain was pretty flat on stage 3 Atherstone to Daventry...it was also pretty damn boring....As quick as the 100 was the 21 to the control seemed to drag....I also took a wrong turn and got lost in a Daventry housing estate :-(

Finally I made it to the control ...Roso Cafe (121 miles) and I had another cuppa and another round of Beans on toast...

I was warned that the next stage Daventry to Tackley had a killer climb as you leave Daventry.....well it was steep but it certainly wasn't a killer....This time the control was a pub....so I promised myself a cider and a pudding....it was also a reasonably short stage (34 miles).

It didn't seem to take too long to get to the control, but I welcomed the rest from the bike!

After the refreshing stop it was back on the road for the final leg..Tackley to Cirencester (36 miles), in many ways this was the toughest leg...1) it was new distance territory for me, 2) The place names were familiar to me but were dauntingly still a long way from home and I could place how far away they are from Cirencester! 3) My leg was starting to hurt :-( -But I wasn't going to give up in the last 30 miles!

Funny thing is that the last 35 miles was my fastest of the day! (16.6 mph average speed). It was a great success, the Garmin lasted the whole ride without issue, I made it around the 300K (191 miles) without collapsing in a heap, it was still daylight when I got back!

The Garmin had the ride as 189.68 miles (I kept on forgetting to restart the timer after the stops!) in 12 hours 9 minutes with an average speed of 15.6 mph, route here...

9th April 2010

2010-04-09T21:20:00.002+01:00

Did short walk to pub lunch :-) It was beautiful warm sunshine...

When I got home I changed into summer cycle gear and went out for a short ride with son..(10 miles)...we met wifey and daughter at pub and had food, son was knackered so loaded his bike in the car and he went home with wifey...I cycled home, arriving shortly after them :-)

The Garmin had the ride as 11.83 miles in 45 mins 46 sec with an average speed of 15.5 mph, route here...

My leg feels much better now, so I am going to give the 300k a try tomorrow...

The bike is all sorted..(It feels sooooo light and responsive after dragging the Dawes around last week :-)

I have cleaned out my camel back and loaded up the Torq gels and Fruit n Fibre bars....my only real worries now are a) will my leg be ok? and b) will the Garmin batteries last for the 200 miles?

8th April 2010

2010-04-08T21:28:00.002+01:00

Made it out for my lunchtime walk..It was wonderfully warm sunshine...3.04 miles...route here...

Another night off the bike :-( Leg is still twinging a little...

I went for a longish walk with Rosie (Dog), then spent a few hours cleaning and lubing the Merida in preparation for Saturdays ride...

7th April 2010

2010-04-07T19:42:00.015+01:00

First day back at work :-(

It would have been a perfect day for a cycle ride.....but I am being careful with my leg....

I desperately want to do the Heart of England 300k on Saturday...

I have been eyeing up a Cyclocross bike for the next NCR ride, I may or may not do....(NCR 8 Cardiff to Holyhead)

Whilst I still remember the NCR5 ride I thought I would summarise the ride and my thoughts...

I don't know how typical NCR5 is from any other cycleways but I do not think it is intended to be treated as a usable route....In the same way as the A1 or A5 roads.

The first 10 feet of NCR 5 gives an indication of how usable some of the National Cycle Route is...

It does however take on some very picturesque and quiet roads

It extensively uses pre-existing footpaths (that have not been adapted for the use of bicycles)

Quite lanes (Although there are less cars there are still cars and impatient drivers)

Canal tow paths...

And even muddy fields and byways

Every so often there is a shining example of how it could all be (Stratford-upon-Avon Greenway and Chester-Connaughs Quay)

But all with the exception of the footpaths, roads and fields are marred by the obstacles that are placed in the way to stop bicycles from traversing the cycleways....

I do understand the need to slow the bicycles down in the area of pedestrians and also to make it impossible for motorbikes/mopeds to use the paths, but some of the obstacles make it VERY difficult to get a bike through, I would suggest that children/elderly would NOT be able to in some cases.

I was very disappointed when the cycle paths were closed to find NO assistance on how to rejoin it, as a minimum all that was required was a few directions on a notice or even a map...

The NCR signs can be almost impossible to see, without a GPS and a pre-plotted route it would have been impossible to follow it! Even WITH the GPS it was bloody difficult!

I sometimes found it difficult to fathom why the cycle way followed some of the routes it did...The Canals were sensible, the Greenway and Chester cycle ways were a joy but doing a loop up hill around Bangor was strange and hard work...If it was to get a view of the mountains there were much better on the other side of the Menai

I found the 4 days 377.74 miles and 11,531 ft of climb of NCR 5 considerably harder than the 11 days 950.11 miles and 61402 ft of climb of JOGLE, and I am considerably fitter and more experienced now! The main reason it was harder was the terrain, the road bike rolls and can maintain 17 mph easily, the Hybrid on the rough tracks was difficult to maintain 12 mph, we could always argue that the weather conditions of Sunday and Monday didn't help and I would agree, but I am factoring in that on Fridy and Saturday I had a full on tail wind and it was still bloody hard work!

I did enjoy doing the ride and I do think that the National Cycle Routes are a good idea...but for it to work it needs better support, in some cases it was clear that the cycleway was a jewel in the crown, but in other cases it was equally clear that they were just to get the bicycles of the road...

And some of the cycle lanes were just down right comical and add to the scepticism of their true benefit.

It was sometimes very difficult to know where I was, if I was in a car I would get a welcome to Oxford or Birmingham sign, on the cycle path it was as if they didn't want me to know where I was!

It would be good to see a real end to end cycle infrastructure but I do not believe there is the political will or the money to actually make it work....

6th April 2010

2010-04-06T19:00:00.013+01:00

I didn't go cycling at all today! The tendon in my left leg is still aching, but not as bad as yesterday :-)

We spent the night in Snowdonia (Tan-y-Bwlch near Maentwrog), then set off home straight after breakfast... I did not feel well at all last night, I could hardly eat anything, I ended up going to bed at 8:30!

.....I suppose I should fill in the story for yesterday...then a few pictures from Sunday followed by what I have been doing today :-) I will write a full trip summary tomorrow...

Yesterday...NCR5 Day 4

I met up with Jon (Red Bikes) where we left off at Prestatyn, I thought the headwind on Sunday was bad enough, but Monday was hell.

It didn't take to long to cycle the couple of miles to the sea front, where the whole journey suddenly seemed worthwhile :-)

Although I should have realised that a sea front ride would include sand, and sand isn't easy to cycle on...On my first encounter I almost nose dived in....Jon seemed completely unphased by it.

The journey was incredibly slow going, in the first hour we had covered little more than 12 miles, as Jon hadn't had a particularly hearty breakfast and I fancied a Cuppa (and a Bacon Roll) we stopped at a beach-front cafe at Abergele...I also took the opportunity to text Joby of our current situation...

Once we were fuelled we struck on...

The head wind was still bloody painful!

As we approached Colwyn-Bay there was some more comical cycle lane painting....do they really expect people to weave in and out of the lamp posts?

At about 11:45 we finally reached Conwy Castle and met up with Joby...
As Joby had some local knowledge he had sensibly opted for the road bike, with the very strong head wind I was seriously envying him!

The original plan was to meet up and head over the Sychnant Pass, but as the head wind was so strong, Jon had the world's heaviest loaded bike and my left leg tendon was starting to ache again we opted to stick with the NCR 5 coast route.

Although having a two way cycle way (not wide enough) and cycling head-on to very fast traffic with no crash barrier was interesting.

A little further down the road we were taken off the A55 and on to a rather good purpose built cycle way...

After the toughest 40 miles I have EVER done the first signs to Holyhead appeared...

We rode on for another couple of miles then came across a farm shop / cafe that was celebrating its opening, near the entrance was a warm dry area where we could park the bikes and eat/drink

They had cider on tap :-) so I took the opportunity to have a pint and a sandwich :-)

After the stop we battled on again to Bangor where NCR 5 did another one of its interesting twists.....Joby did try warning us....but didn't insist enough!!!

NCR 5 took us up ferkin steep hills (I guess so you could see Snowdon) to then double back on itself, we ended up doing about 4 miles to cover 1 mile in distance :-(

But finally we reached another milestone....The Menai Bridge

At the other end of the bridge the cross wind was so strong that I had my left foot unclipped from the pedal and was using it as a counter balance...the bike was tilted 45 degrees for me to keep in a straight line, god knows how Joby stayed upright on the road bike?

After the Menai Bridge we headed north for a brief period and had the full on tailwind behind us for a couple of miles....it was sheer heaven!

As we turned back west the cross winds became more than a little dangerous....I needed to stop to stretch my left leg...it was starting to become VERY painful....but the views were awesome..

Jon also took the opportunity to take off the boil in the bag rain jacket and Joby made the sensible call to get picked up from Holyhead instead of attempting to cycle back Llandudno.

After the stretch my leg felt a little better so we continued on....The almost constant load was not helping...it was even hard work going down hill at times...

We stopped at a small shop to stock up on fluids, and we all agreed to make a direct B line to Holyhead, the wind was dangerous and we all wanted to finish, the people in the shop said we were about 17 miles from Holyhead....unfortunately none of us really knew where we were! and the only maps we had were electronic :-(

As we plodded along I came to the realisation that there were only two roads into Holyhead the A5 and the A55 and if we weren't careful we would be heading on to the wrong one...We came to a crossroads and I opted for turning right and taking us back onto the planned NCR5 route.

The finally the inevitable happened...after 370 miles.....a car was parked blocking the cycle way..

Then it was a slow and painful ride over the bridge to Holy Island...

A short ride through the Island...where we managed to lose Jon.....he decided to practise some of his mountain bike skills by traversing a major swamp, where Joby and Myself decided to divert using a nice tarmac surface...I don't think we were allowed to cycle through the golf club but if we were stopped I was going to pretend to be Polish :-)

Then it was on to the worlds biggest anticlimax......the end of NCR 5.....

The sign shows the way to......

The ferry terminal......

They could have least ended it at the sea front....

My Wifey and Joby's family were waiting at the end of NCR 8....at the sea front....

Hmmmmmm NCR 8....anybody fancy doing Cardiff to Holyhead on NCR 8 :-) now that goes over some mountains :-)

The Garmin had the ride as 77.6 miles in 6 hours 37 minutes with an average speed of 11.7 mph, route here....

Here are some photies from Sunday....

The Start of NCR5 at Stone

Back on to pleasant canal paths

But with ridiculous cycle barriers...

I though I had missed Jon....he said he was at a place called Hanley....thankfully there was a canal map on the canal....I hadn't got to Hanley yet :-)

I finally met up with Jon...It was a bit daunting he was riding a fully loaded bike weighing a ton and was still flying up the hills....

Some of the obstacles were a little more problematic for him than me....

Another muddy bog farm track that is titled as a cycle path!

Yet another closed cycle path with NO clue signed to how to rejoin it :-(

Flint castle....not far from my night stop, but like some fool I decided to do the extra 10 miles to Prestatyn.....it turned into the worlds toughest 20 miles!!!

Jon was starting to find dragging the ton of bike up hills a bit of a bind......I would have given up long ago...

And on to today.....

We got back home from Snowdonia at 12:30 ish, I went for a walk into town to get a haircut and my leg was still aching (Not really helped by driving nearly 200 miles...)

I then spent the first part of the afternoon cleaning the Dawes

Not only was it VERY dirty...

The cassette was full of sand...

It was all stripped down and cleaned (including jockeys) and was treated to a new chain, the old one was stretched...

After the Dawes was re-assembled, I started cooking tea...

As the Lamb shanks were simmering I cleaned up and lubed the Peugeot it was also treated to a new cassette and chain...

As I like the idea of doing another NCR ride I also started exploring the idea of a cyclocross bike, I find the Hybrid to hard on my hands and I need drop bars to get out of the wind....

5th April 2010 (NCR 5 Day 4)

2010-04-05T18:20:00.001+01:00

Short post, I will fill it in more tomorrow, when I have a web connection.

I completed the ride to Holyhead according to plan :-)

Started of the day where I left of yesterday with Jon, straight into a very tough headwind.

Met up with Joby at Conwy

Today was the toughest 70 miles I have ever done.

My tendon started playing up again at 30 miles, by the end of the ride it was very painful.

Thanks to Jon and Joby for a fun but tough day, pictures and more details to follow.

4th April 2010 (NCR 5 Day 3)

2010-04-04T21:25:00.002+01:00

Short post as I am knackered...

Got up early for breakfast, It was a continental breakfast so no big blow-out :-(

After my toast, pain au chocolate, yoghurt, cereal and croissants, I dragged the bike out of teh back of the car, lubed the chain and changed the very worn out brake blocks.

Just as I was about to set off I had a text from Jon (Redbikes) to say he was setting off, the plan was to meet up with him.....Problem was I didn't have a clue where he was coming from so had no idea where to expect to see him..

I set of up the A51 into a very tough head wind towards Stone to get to the start of the NCR5..

At Stone I joined the canal and had a very pleasant ride down the towpath, I was expecting to see Jon.....but didn't.

NCR 5 took me of the Canal and I was worried that I had missed him in a Zig where I should have Zagged moment, but it was ok...he didn't have a clue where I was and he mentioned some place I had never heard off and had not cycled through :-)

Some many miles later and on yet another Canal path we eventual met...

I thought I was having it tough with the heavy weight and very draggy Hybrid, his bike was heavily loaded and weighed a ton....But he was dragging it along as if it was a light weight road bike...

When we got to Hanley, the cycle route became almost impossible to follow...after doing some pointless loops we managed to find the cycle route and headed out into the country...

Even when you know where you are supposed to go the cycleways are not always easy to find!

We stopped for lunch at a riverside pub, they didn't do Bacon Rolls :-( I was forced to eat a steak pie!

It was reasonably impressive when we eventual found the cycle way out of Chester into Wales (The start point where we were supposed to get on it was closed....with no indication of where to go to join it....) As we were getting onto it a guy was also joining it on a road bike.....he followed us all the way to Queensferry...when we went our separate ways he remarked on how he had trouble staying with us :-)

When we got to Flint instead of turning off for my night stop I had decided to carry on to Prestatyn with Jon (I would drive there in the morning to save time) - What we should have done is ignore any NCR 5 signs and head straight down the Coast Road...we didn't :-( The 8 mile journey turned into a 20 mile journey as we headed inland up some really tough climbs...I was already tired and by right leg tendon was aching...Poor Jon was dragging a ton of bike up the hills.

I have to admit on one of the steeper stretches I stopped and walked....he did not...(In my defence my leg was killing me and I even found it hard to walk)

Thankfully just outside Prestatyn wifey had stopped to take some photographs of us, I opted to call it a day, I was cold and tired, I had ran out of drink miles earlier and I was starving hungry, poor old Jon had at least another mile to go...

Lesson learnt if you don't know where you are, don't follow the cycle way!

The Garmin had today's ride as 106.63 miles in 8 hours 39 minutes with an average speed of 12.7 mph, route here...

Photos and things will be added later when I can be bothered...

Sorry for not responding to any comments....I will do when I have a better interweb connection....but rest-assured I am reading them:-)

3rd April 2010 (NCR 5 Day 2)

2010-04-03T21:02:00.012+01:00

Woke up and got up earlier than expected :-)

Didn't get to sleep very early :-( The Falcon Hotel need to make up their mind if they are going to be a hotel or a disco....

I did have a descent cooked breakfast at 8 :-)

After breakfast I dragged the bike out of the car and cleaned/lubed the chain, the bike was looking pretty damn dirty after yesterdays off-road shenanigans.

I ended up setting of at 8:40, after some very quiet and pleasant lanes I turned onto the Stratford-on-Avon Greenway

It would have been perfect if it wasn't for the ridiculous obstacle courses at every junction.

After the Greenway the route followed the Canal into Stratford.

The cycle routed skirted the edge of Stratford, after Stratford it was a reasonably quick ride to Redditch and lunch with Russ :-)

I gave him a call and he came over to escort me to his mansion :-)

2 Bacon Sarnies and 2 Hot Cross buns later and I was off, I stopped and gave Clive a call when I was 7 miles from Bromsgrove...

After what seemed an age I finally met up with him at the top of a hill, and we were off, he set off at a fair lick and I was quite happy to maintain it :-)

Clive escorted me right through the centre of Birmingham and got me onto the canal path on the way out....Then we parted company and I continued on the Canal.

It was interesting, the Stratford Canal was very scenic and pleasant to ride down, the Birmingham Canals had a completely different feel.

It seemed like a very long drag from Birmingham to Walsall, and I have to admit not very pleasant :-(

I was quite happy following the route to Lichfield and then...

Great...they just closed the path, no diversion no redirection...just closed :-( I followed the main road and managed to rejoin the path about 2 miles down the road.

The cycleway followed a canal for a short stretch before heading down a path, and I encountered yet another cycle friendly feature :-(

Once I had got to Lichfield and the end of NCR5 (It restarts again near Stafford) I joined the A51 and had the fastest ride of the past two days to the night stop.

When I got to the night stop I was able to use a hose pipe and a brush to wash of the Dawes, it was in a very poor state.

The Garmin had the ride as 102.75 miles in 8 hours with an average speed of 12.8 mph, route here...

I am starting to see the cycleways with mixed emotions, some of them are fantastic and a credit to Sustrans and will help promote cycling, some are a safe alternative to major and dangerous roads and some I just cannot explain the motivation for them!

2nd April 2010 (NCR 5 Day 1)

2010-04-02T20:10:00.022+01:00

Got up nice an early, burnt some stodgy porridge for breakfast whilst I was finishing of some route details...

Loaded all of the kit in the car then set off to meet Rafe and Matt at the Wokingham Waterside Centre in Reading....Got there far to early as per usual!

Rafe and Matt arrived 5 minutes later, I unloaded the nice shiny,clean bike out of the car, put the last of my cycle kit on, then we were off - just a little bit of NCR4

Before the Start of NCR5

And the first (but not last) cycle friendly obstacle of the day...

We soon got into a good rhythm and Reading started disappearing behind us, Rafe's bike started making some interesting noises whilst changing gear, then on one of the climbs he decided to leave his chain on the road...

As he carries a mini workshop around with him as well it wasn't long before the offending broken and twisted link was removed and the chain rejoined...

The going was better than I had expected, the quiet lanes were ...quiet..

It seemed like no time at all and Didcot was visible on the horizon.

It was a lovely down hill from the Ridgeway, from the first glimpses of Didcot it seemed to take ages to actually get there!

The main roads to and through Wallingford were incredibly quick with the smooth road surface and strong tailwind being a welcome relief.

We followed the cycle route signs and not the GPS through Didcot (I am guessing the cycle route has been re-routed and OCM is out of date)

We followed the Thames into Abingdon then lost sight of the cycle route :-( We followed the one way system around the town centre and turned left back on to it....I still can't work out exactly how the route is supposed to go....Some of the cycle route signs are almost impossible to follow..

From Abingdon it was a very pleasant ride into Oxford...

And then we stopped for lunch...Rafe was very excited about having some vegetarian thing but the words Bacon and Roll had already been used...he had his thing..and I had mine :-)

Unfortunately the threatened rain began....and it started to get very wet and cold :-(

Rafe carried on with me for a few more miles then we headed our separate ways...Thanks Rafe it was fun :-)

I had a fair few very fast but very wet miles following the A44

At Woodstock the cycle route started heading cross country to Banbury...

The rain stopped and the sun came out :-) and I spied the first blue bells of the year :-)

Up-to this point the cycle way had been as I expected, a mixture of road, quiet lane, purpose built cycle track and re-use of byways and paths....Then came the unexpected..

Yes NCR5 crosses a muddy field....what you can't see in the picture is the steep muddy hill...I thought I had gone wrong...but nope all of the signs pointed this way...and when I had traversed the bog for a couple of miles it turned back into a track and the NCR5 signs were ever present...

The poor terrain was very energy sapping, unfortunately it did not stop here.....

By the time I got to the top the bike was covered in mud....and I was knackered!

Even the ford I cycled through didn't clean the bike much. I could have done with a downpour to wash everything off!

Just as I got to the Hotel the heavens opened...but by then it was a little to late, I wiped the main soil of the bike and chain then loaded it in the back of the car for security.

The Garmin had today's ride as 87.76 miles in 7 hours 3 minutes with an average speed of 12.4 mph, the poor terrain really is punishing!...the route can be seen here...

My first impressions of NCR5 are...some good bits, some bad bits and some bits that cannot in anyway be called a cycle path!

1st April 2010

2010-04-01T20:31:00.003+01:00

The Dawes is all sorted for tomorrow :-) Everything cleaned, checked, adjusted and lubed :-)

I did all of the wheel bearings, interestingly the rear bearings were in need of cleaning and lubing as well...That is ALL of my bikes have had dry freehub side bearings, I must keep a 3000 mile check on them!

Most of the kit is packed up and ready to go, unfortunately the weather forecast is rather unkind :-(

My Stats for March were...

Count:	24 Activities
Distance:	724.58 mi
Max Distance:	79.42 mi
Time	44:46:23 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:	18,554 ft ft
Max Elevation Gain	2,877 ft
Avg Speed:	16.2 mph
Max Speed:	40.3 mph
Calories:	52,090 C

I am currently doing more miles than I did this time last year...perhaps the 11400 mile challenge is actually possible :-)

By this point last year I had only done 1469.77 miles this year I have 1941.72 miles (I am only 59 miles off my plan) - I have some BIG rides in April so I should be back on track in no time at all :-)

31st March 2010

2010-03-31T20:52:00.004+01:00

Worked from home today...It was a very miserable and cold day :-(

I headed of to Queen's Field in Sutton Benger at 5:49 for the 6:16 sign on...I thought I would get there early and start quickly, as it turned out I got there quite late...It was a very strong head wind :-(

I paid my £1:50 and signed in .....13 th......I am not superstitious but was 13 :-( I pinned my number on my jacket and slowly pedalled to the start.

I patiently waited for the first 12 people to set off then I lined up at the start line...I set of with a fantastic tail wind :-) And a fantastic speed :-)

1800		3.5	°C	W	19	mph	33	mph	35	km	998 hPa, Rising
1900		3.3	°C	W	17	mph	29	mph	45	km	999 hPa, Rising

Unfortunately the fantastic tailwind turned into a killer side wind then a killer headwind :-(

At least nobody caught up with me :-)

It was quite funny to see everybody else wearing the bare minimum (It was bloody freezing) and all ancillary kit removed from their bikes, I was there with flappy cycling trousers and a flappy jacket, crud catcher mudguards still fitted and a full drink bottle :-)

I guess I have a quick and easy way of improving my speed, just lose the flappy clothes and carry less :-)

Even in the poor conditions and the flappy clothes etc I still turned in a reasonable time for the course...Officially my time was 27 min 59 sec for the 10 miles, the Garmin had the ride as 28 min 49 covering 10 miles with an average speed of 20.8 and a maximum speed of 27.1 mph.

I think under calmer and warmer conditions I will easily be back up to the 22-23 mph average for the course...so I am quite happy :-)

And here is the course...

For statistical completeness, including the ride to and from the TT I cycled 23.3 miles today...

30th March 2010

2010-03-30T22:10:00.007+01:00

I felt really tired and worn out today at lunch time, I did go out for my lunch time walk but only did the short 2.5 mile walk.

My new wheels turned up today :-). When I got home I had tea then spent some quality time swapping the tubes, tyres and cassette from the old to the new :-)

I put the bike on the stand and adjusted the brake blocks to match the rim location.

When I gave the wheel a quick spin it was noticeably smoother than the old one :-)

I did find the wear warning rather humorous...

Be warned falling bikes may cause an accident!

When I had finished tinkering I replaced the rather worn out and smelly bar tape with some nice squidgy new stuff :-)

I was going to sort the Dawes out for Friday, but I spent so long pampering the Merida that I ran out of time...So Thursday will be the final check, lube and adjust for the Dawes...

29th March 2010

2010-03-29T20:59:00.003+01:00

I found it surprisingly easy to get up for work today, it may have been partly due to me being so tired last night!

It was a tadge upsetting getting up in the dark again, but at least it would be a light evening :-)

I managed to avoid the lunchtime rain and made it out for a 3 mile lunch time walk, the RunGPS had a couple of duff plots and reckoned I had walked 3.5 miles in 55 minutes, route here...

The actual walk was 2.96 miles in 55 minutes, route here...

I left work at normal time and made good time home :-) I was back at 6:15...I seemed to faff about for a while before I got going!

I eventually got changed and out on the bike at 6:50, I set of on my first 'Normal 20' of the summer :-) ....OK in my little world BST means its now summer in Britain, wifey keeps on telling me its only Spring..

Luckily I didn't get to carried away with this light evening thing and put a high viz jacket and lights on the bike, it was starting to get very dark on my return leg.

I don't care what Lyneham Met office said about the weather either...

1900		9.2	°C	SSE	8	mph			15	km	992 hPa, Falling
2000		9.2	°C	SSE	9	mph			8	km	992 hPa, Falling

It was a 360 degree 20 mph head wind! By the time I got back home I was completely fecked!

The Garmin had the ride as 21.27 miles in 1 hour 15 minutes with an average speed of 16.8 mph, route here...

It has been an interesting couple of days riding on my different bikes, going back to the Peugeot today did seem an awful lot slower than the Merida, but I can't bring myself to take the Merida out in the crappy weather yet!

I ordered the new wheels yesterday.....a brand new pair of Shimano RS20s - A direct replacement for the replacement rear and an upgrade for the front.

Looking at the bearing it looked like either a lack of grease from manufacturer or the grease had washed out :-( I will have to keep an eye on the bearings on the new wheels.

28th March 2010

2010-03-28T17:22:00.003+01:00

Wayhay the clocks have changed....it is now officially summer :-)

I woke up at a sensible time (OK I woke up early but as the clocks have changed it turned out to be an hour later ...so I had a lie in :-)

I got changed into cycle gear and headed over to the Rugby club on the Dawes for the club leisure ride :-) I set of with the fast group at 9:30 by 11 we had done 22 miles and arrived at the tea stop, there were a few comments about the high speed....but I couldn't have been to blame I was on the Hybrid :-)

Just as we were leaving (I had a pot of tea and a bacon sarnie :-) the next group turned up...
for a complete change I thought I would follow the route in its entirety - I normally take a short-cut straight home.

The Route headed East...with quite a nice tail wind :-)

1100		9.4	°C	WSW	13	mph			30	km	1009 hPa, Falling
1200		9.9	°C	W	13	mph			30	km	1008 hPa, Falling

Then unfortunately we turned South West....straight into a rather strong head wind :-(

We kept on dropping a couple of guys of the back of the group, so we slowed up a bit, about 10 miles from home I suggested that the faster guys go on and I would go with the guys that were struggling, I made a very nice wind break on the Hybrid :-)

As the guy was going back to Grittleton we parted company and I rode the last 5 miles to the Rugby club by myself :-)

The Garmin had the ride as 52.22 miles in 3 hours 14 minutes with an average speed of 16.1 mph, route here...

When I got back home I had second lunch (A couple of Frankfurter Hot Dogs :-)

I had planned to go for a shortish ride with my son in the afternoon, with a potential pub stop to sample the last pint of Cider before the 10% tax increase....but he had made other plans :-(

As I had been granted authority by wifey for an afternoon ride and the sun was out and it's SUMMER and I wanted to get used to the Aero Bars again for Wednesday nights TT I thought I would take the Merida out for a blast :-)

Whilst doing my pre ride checks I noticed that the rear wheel bearing was very loose :-( I did a quick bodge job adjust (nipped it up a bit) then headed of out on the same route I did on Tuesday and Thursday...

What a stonking ride it was, at the 10 mile point my average speed was over 21 mph :-) The bike just felt so light and responsive after a morning on the Dawes...

At the turning point at Little Somerford I turned into a strong head wind, but I was still averaging over 20mph.

1400		11.0	°C	W	14	mph			35	km	1008 hPa, Falling
1500		11.6	°C	WSW	15	mph			40	km	1007 hPa, Falling

I couldn't hold onto the pace on the slight climbs and the average started dropping, at 20 miles the average was down to 19.9 (Bit of a shame it would have been nice to have my first 20 at 20 so early in the year!)

By the time I got back home the average was down to 19.2...Still I am quite happy, the bike was nice and I made full use of the Aero Bars...I think I may actually turn in a decent time on Wednesday.

The Garmin had the ride as 25.77 miles in 1 hour 20 with an average speed of 19.2 mph, route here...

It is quite amazing what a change of bike can make to a set course, on Tuesday with Dave the same ride in the rain with a strong SW took 1 hour 50, the same ride on the Peugeot by myself in the same conditions but working hard at it, I was down to 1 hour 30, today on the Merdia with summer tyres and riding in an Aero position it was down to 1 hour 20!

When I got back home I showered and changed the stripped down the Merida rear wheel bearings, the rear right is shot, the outer race is scored :-( - on the plus side all I have to do is replace the freehub as the bearing is part of it, but as the rim is already heavily worn I think I shall just replace the wheel set.

I cleaned up the races as best as I could, replaced the dull bearings with new ones, re-packed the bearings with fresh grease and re-assembled it, the bearing is now running free with no slack, but it will NOT last :-( So I will now be ordering a new set of wheels :-(

These things are just NOT designed to last :-(

27th March 2010

2010-03-27T20:39:00.007Z

Had a very late night last night....but still woke up far to early this morning :-(

I got up and changed straight into cycling gear...it is tough these days to know what to wear! I opted for long sleeve top, jacket, windbreaker, cycling trousers and sealskinz socks...unfortunately it was to much and I melted :-(

I headed of for the Chippenham Cemetery for the start of the chain gang, the Peugeot was noticeably faster with the summer tyres on :-)

The ride was a real pleasure, the pace was perfect and the Peugeot was rolling along with ease :-)

The Garmin had the ride as 40.72 miles in 2 hours 13 minutes with an average speed of 18.3 mph, route here...

When I got home I spent an hour on the phone (Skype) with my sister in Australia fixing her computer, then I showered, changed and went out for Morissons brunch and the weekly shop :-)

Mid afternoon I tidied up the hallway and fitted the Lidl bike hangers, now all of the good bikes have a permanent indoor home :-)

And still plenty of room to walk by :-)

All I have to do for it to be perfect is tidy the front porch and free up the door (We don't use the front door except to retrieve post)

I cooked tea for daughter n me (wifey n son went out), I also started preparing the beef in red wine pot roast for tomorrow's tea .

After all that I fitted the shiny new Red Krylion Carbons to the Merida...

They are a bloomin tight fit! I loath using levers to fit tyres but I had NO choice....if they are still up in the morning then at least I didn't pinch the tubes :-)

I am looking forward to the first club TT on Wednesday....it will be interesting to see how far off last years pace I will be :-)

26th March 2010

2010-03-26T22:09:00.012Z

I was in two minds whether to go out for a cycle ride when I got home from work, it was raining but that doesn't bother me....one look at the dry chain and the very dirty bike made my mind up..

I would have tea then clean the bike :-)

I also wanted to change the winter tyres for the summer tyres and change the freehub for the new one I bought from ebay...

Cleaning the frame didn't take to long...

Stripping the old freehub off was a breeze as I had only re-assembled it a week ago...

The new one arrived with a new hex bolt and bearings :-)

Unfortunately I got a bit carried away and stripped the jockeys down as they were a bit gunked up, the grease had almost completely washed out of them...As you can see the old freehub was very rusty and was worn out :-(

The wheel almost looked new with the new freehub assembled on it...

Over 2 hours later (10pm) the bike was back together...

With the summer tyres on :-)

I was hoping to fit the new (red) Krylion's to the Merida tonight as well, but I just spent so long fiddling with the Peugeot that I have run out of time :-(

I dont know why I bothered cleaning the Peugeot so thoroughly as it will be dirty within 100yds of tomorrows chain gang :-( But at least it is clean for now!

25th March 2010

2010-03-25T21:04:00.002Z

Got to work very early, I managed to crack the problem I have been working on all week :-)

I managed to get out for my lunchtime walk, 2.89 miles in 44 minutes with an average speed of 3.9 mph, route here...

When I got home I got changed into cycle gear, had tea, then went out for a cycle ride :-)

It was quite a strong southerly wind again...

1900		8.7	°C	S	16	mph	29	mph	30	km	994 hPa, Rising
2000		7.7	°C	S	15	mph			35	km	995 hPa, Rising

I thought I would repeat the ride I did with Dave yesterday...

The Garmin had the ride as 25.77 miles in 1 hour 33 with an average speed of 16.5 mph, route here...

It was bloody hard work and dark but I managed a reasonable 16.5 mph :-) Lets hope the southerly stays with us over Easter.

24th March 2010

2010-03-24T21:00:00.002Z

I had to go to work today :-(

I was hoping to get away at a reasonable time and get out for a cycle ride...but it didn't happen :-(
I didn't even get out for a lunchtime walk :-(

On the plus side I did upgrade the firmware on my phone and it is now working properly again...I even managed to get Orange Maps working!

When I got home I had tea then sorted my laptop out in preparation for NCR5 over Easter, mobile phone installed and set up as a modem, Garmin drivers installed and checked that upload/download working.

I managed to call Red bikes and make first contact :-)

23rd March 2010

2010-03-23T21:09:00.004Z

Worked from home today, I had a very busy day...nothing quite went to plan :-(

I did make some Bolognaise at lunch time and left it simmering all day :-)

Dave pitched up and we went for a very wet ride...

1700		9.1	°C	S	13	mph			1.6	km	1011 hPa, Falling
1800		9.2	°C	S	13	mph			2	km	1010 hPa, Falling

As it was 5pm I didn't fancy fighting with rush hour traffic on the main roads so I dragged him out around the chain gang/evening 10 TT route, it gave us a good chance to chat without getting run off the road by intolerant drivers.

When we got to Little Somerford we turned south straight into the headwind, it was quite tough going...

My problem was that I got stuck into the fight, head down and started powering along, I checked every so often that Dave was on my back wheel....and he was..........then he wasn't....

I slowed the pace a little to ensure that he could stick with me....I must realise that not everybody has been cycling all year...

The Garmin had the ride as 25.73 miles in 1 hour 40 minutes with an average speed of 15.4 mph, route here...

When we got back home, after a shower and change we tucked into a well cooked spag bol and garlic bread :-)

I REALLY enjoyed tonight's ride, it was great to get out and chat with Dave, it was also good to see how far I have come since the last time I cycled with him :-)

I am starting to think that I may be a real cyclist now......

22nd March 2010

2010-03-22T20:16:00.003Z

Managed to get out for a 3 mile lunchtime walk the phone and RunGPS had a hissy fit so it failed to track the walk properly...I plotted the route in Gmaps Pedometer to see how far I went.

I am seriously thinking about changing the firmware on the phone, it takes 15 minutes to boot up properly....

I finished work late and hence got home late, but I really wanted to take the Peugeot out and test the freehub...

I got changed as soon as I got in, faffed about sorting the lights, cycle computer and me out then set of for an 8 mile ride....I was surprised how much I enjoyed such a short ride!!!

Problem was it took longer to change before and after the ride than the ride actually took :-)

The Garmin had the ride as 8.36 miles in 31 minutes with an average speed of 15.7 mph, route here...

The freehub worked flawlessly, but if it does play up I have found a supplier on ebay that does them for £10 :-)

I will be working at home tomorrow and I have a good friend pitching up for a ride in the evening.....

21st March 2010

2010-03-21T14:12:00.009Z

Woke up far to early again this morning...but spring has finally sprung :-)

0900	7.3	°C	SW	6	mph	12	km	1017 hPa, Rising
1000	8.4	°C	WSW	8	mph	25	km	1018 hPa, Rising
1100	10.1	°C	W	9	mph	25	km	1018 hPa, Rising
1200	10.1	°C	W	10	mph	30	km	1018 hPa, Rising
1300	11.9	°C	W	8	mph	30	km	1018 hPa, Rising

I got changed into cycling gear...long sleeves but NO thermals for the first time this year :-)

I had breakfast then milled around the house tinkering until 9 then I set off for the rugby club for the start of the club leisure ride..

I decided to continue my NCN5 training by taking the Hybrid out...It looked nice and gleaming in the morning sun.

There was quite a few people out on the ride today...I guess it was the sun effect :-) A few people had a little dig at me being on the hybrid...but I set off with the fast group and stayed with them...doing my bit upfront where necessary :-)

I must admit it wasn't really a leisure ride...more of a high speed chain gang :-)..I don't think I helped as I was baiting Richard and Paul a little :-)

I did take a few photies along the way....I also had one taken of me....

I thought I was looking cool....a bit of an upsetting shock that I looked like a Lycra wearing gimp :-(

We got to the tea stop pretty damn quickly...I had a pot of tea and a bacon sarnie and we were leaving as the mid speed group turned up....there was no sign at all of the slow group.

As we got near the end of the ride Dylan suggested extending it a little to bump the mileage up to 50...as it was such a nice day and I had chores to do when I got home we turned left on Easton Lane instead of right...

I noticed that Richards back tyre was almost flat so we pulled over for him to pump it up...where he then promptly broke the valve :-(

We had a nice 10 minutes in the sun as he changed the tube....then we were off again...

We followed the reverse chain gang route to Yatton Keynell where Dylan and myself headed back down the B4039 then rejoined the country lane that we had headed down earlier in the day...

The Garmin had the ride as 54.45 miles in 3 hours 12 minutes with an average speed of 17 mph.

When I got in I showered and changed, had a round of baked beans on toast then helped the family tidy up the house, I have tidied up the fire place and put the log basket, coal bucket and fire guard away... the hearth has been cleaned and re-oiled, lets hope the warm weather is here to stay!

After my chores were complete I set about washing the Dawes.....one ride and it was minging :-(

After a record cleaning time (for me) the bike was back as good as new :-)

As I finished cleaning the bike it was time to start cooking tea....no rest for the wicked :-(

20th March 2010

2010-03-20T12:23:00.007Z

Woke up far to early this morning, showered and got changed straight into cycle gear....the seasonal dilemma hit straight away.......thermals or no thermals???

I opted for half n half...thermals under the cycling trousers but no thermals under the long sleeve top :-)

I watched the million pound cycle ride on BBC iplayer...I had very mixed emotions...It was nice to see the scenery that I had experienced myself less than a year ago, and I was impressed with the dedication and commitment of 'The Stars' and the sum they raised for charity...But it was a relay...

At 9:20 I set of for the Chippenham Cemetery on the Peugeot, it was very overcast and windy but thankfully warm and dry.

0900	10.7	°C	SSW	13	mph	10	km	1002 hPa, Falling
1000	10.9	°C	SSW	16	mph	20	km	1002 hPa, Falling
1100	10.9	°C	SSW	14	mph	15	km	1002 hPa, Falling

There wasn't that many people brave...or is it stupid? enough that turned up for the 9:30 start..

We started of with a fair old pace nothing scary but not a dawdle either, I was enjoying the smooth ride of the road bike after last weeks Hybrid chain gang.

It was an interesting chain gang for a number of reasons...

1) The guy in front of me at one point went over a rather bad pot hole that wasn't pointed out by the guy in front of him and his back tyre did an explosive decompression...It was a very load bang!

2) The first time since I have done the chain gang that we had to change route..the road was closed between Seagry and the A429, we were undecided whether to continue down the closed road or not..but a police car/ambulance could be seen further up the road so it looked like it was closed due to an accident rather than repair so we rerouted.

3) We had a long stop as Tim's front de-railer fell to pieces as he was chaining down a gear on a steepish hill on the re-route

At least the unusual stop gave me the chance to go and water the horses as I was busting for a pee....on the way back to rejoin the group I was almost knocked of my bike by an eejut that looked and didn't see me as he/she was pulling out of their drive way.....Amazing as I was dressed up looking like a bright yellow creature from a different planet!

Also on the way back to join the group I noticed that the free-wheel hub was starting to free-wheel when it shouldn't be, i.e. when I was pedalling :-( It then caused a bit of a problem for the rest of the ride...every time I stopped pedalling when I started it would slip then suddenly catch...

Eventually we all set off again and the pace was good, I was concious of the slipping free-wheel that appeared to be getting worse :-(

When we turned south and onto the fosse-way we were hit by the straight on head wind...interestingly the guys in the front didn't start doing a rapid change over on the lead, although I wasn't complaining, it was good to be towed up the hill into the wind :-)

The rest of the ride was reasonably uneventful, but I did find it very tiring today...interesting really as I felt far more tired than I did after doing the chain gang on the hybrid last week?

The Garmin had the ride as 42.72 miles in 2 hours 27 minutes with an average speed of 17.4 mph, route here...

When I got home I showered and changed then went out for the weekly shop with wifey, we had brunch at Morrissons first :-)

When we got back home I started cleaning the Peugeot...once it was clean I had a look at the free-wheel hub.

I never realised they came off quite so easily, once you remove the axle its a simple allen bolt and the hub comes of the wheel...

The Park Tool website is a fantastic resource for stripping the bits down that you wouldn't normally touch...

(I forgot to take a photo of the hub removed....so here's the one from Park Tools :-)

I washed it through with white spirit then covered it liberally with 3 in 1...then reassembled it all..

The free-wheel appears to be working again...if it starts playing up I shall just replace it...But I won't know until next week, tomorrows ride will be back on the Hybrid :-)

After an afternoon of tinkering I tidied up then cooked tea with wifey......then spent the rest of the evening listening to Epica and writing this blog.....

Finally.....listen to this.....it is from Epica's Classical Conspiracy album....I think it is better than the original rendition...

19th March 2010

2010-03-19T21:57:00.004Z

Worked right through lunch so I could get away earlyish...

Ended up being in a meeting and didn't get away that early :-(

When I got home it was absolutely precipitating down, but as I had planned to go out for a ride I didn't want to let myself down!

1800		9.7	°C	SSE	13	mph			6	km	1006 hPa, Falling
1900		9.8	°C	SSE	13	mph			6	km	1005 hPa, Falling

I went out on the Peugeot and the tailwind was awesome :-) I didn't fancy climbing any hills so I picked a reasonably flat route and just pounded along...

I was a bit dubious that when I reached the furthest extremity of the route and started heading home that the awesome tailwind would turn into a fearsome headwind but it just didn't seem to happen, granted I slowed down but the expected slog just didn't materialise :-)

I got back home at about 7:30 which was very lucky for me as we had booked a table for 8 at a foody pub :-)

The Garmin had the soggy ride as 23.32 miles in 1 hour 22 minutes with an average speed of 17 mph, route here...

The ride felt REALLY good, I still don't understand how I can do a 20 mile plus ride in the rain and not feel soaking wet through?

18th March 2010

2010-03-18T20:08:00.001Z

Got home late :-(

Ate tea, went for a walk with wifey and Rosie (Dog), far to late to go for a cycle now :-(

17th March 2010

2010-03-17T21:15:00.004Z

Worked from home today :-)

Picked up the Peugeot at lunchtime, it has a shiny new BB (Bottom Bracket) - A little narrower than the original and now the gears change smoothly :-)

After yesterdays glorious sunshine we decided to have BBQ for tea today :-) - I do like a nice BBQ...

It took a bit longer to cook than I had expected, so I was a little late setting of on my bike ride :-(

As I was late I didn't have time to do my Normal 20 route, so I headed out on my 16 mile route on the Peugeot, extending the route to stop at the cycle club meeting...

It was REALLY easy going compared to the weight and drag of the Dawes, I am starting to think the hand issues and the drag of the bike may actually make the NCN 5 trip tougher than JOGLE!

The Garmin had today's ride as 19.7 miles in 1 hour 16 minutes with an average speed of 15.5 mph, route here...

16th March 2010

2010-03-16T21:13:00.002Z

Worked very late and got home very late :-(

Ate evening meal then played computer games for a couple of hours.....now I am feeling completely fecked :-(

15th March 2010

2010-03-15T19:59:00.004Z

I had my first cycling nightmare last night :-( I woke myself up in a real tizzy I felt I was falling of my bike and unclipped from my imaginary pedal and banged my hand on the bedside table, I was really confused!!!

Well today was my legs taking payback for the agro I gave them over the weekend dragging the Hybrid around the Wiltshire countryside :-(

They have been aching ALL day...I managed to get out for a lunchtime walk, I thought the light exercise would ease them a little.

I wanted to find the elusive 0.05 of a mile to make the walk a nice round 3 miles, I headed of in the normal way and when I got to Warwick police station I carried on down the main road...It all seemed sensible on paper head down the road take the first right and head up the main street, some how I missed the right and ended up in a new area...I was lost!

I have spent 4 days a week in Warwick for nearly 8 years and I don't know the place at all!!!

I ended up heading towards the castle, then I found familiar territory, I bought a ham salad baguette and a couple of bacon wraps from Gregg's bakers (I have been famished all day to), I ate lunch on my way back to work....I ended up doing 3.66 miles in 55 minutes, route here...

I wonder if I could do 4 miles in the hour?

When I got back home I ate tea, not so famished now.....The intention was to give the Merida a once over (The last time I used it it was dry but the road was salted), I had a quick look at it and its clean and no sign of corrosion on the chain/sprockets (I will give it a clean at the weekend)

During the day I have had a nice email conversation with Joby, he has suggested a slight alternative route in Wales avoiding some A55 action....I have amended the route to suit NCR5 Day4, he has also agreed to meet up with us along the way :-)

I just hope I remember to make all the phone calls I need to along the way!

I have bought in to another challenge ride.......This time I'm dragging my son into it as well ;-)
Hyde Park Corner to Yatton Keynell a mere 97 miles on 13th June 2010. We are planning to get out on the bikes together one evening a week to get him up to speed. I am quite looking forwards to it :-)

Looks like I may have a busy summer ahead!

14th March 2010

2010-03-14T16:27:00.010Z

Today was the club 100k Audax, It was also the Afghan Heroes bike tribute in Wootton Bassett, and our Audax route went down the same bit of road as the bikers at Brinkworth....

I set off from home far to early as per usual and was one of the first at the Bath Road car park..

I was togged up in multiple layers, the weather forecast was for it to warm up, but when I left home it was still only 5 degrees..

0900	5.7	°C	WNW	10	mph	30	km	1031 hPa, Rising
1000	7.4	°C	NW	10	mph	35	km	1031 hPa, Rising
1100	8.9	°C	WNW	13	mph	40	km	1030 hPa, Rising
1200	10.4	°C	NW	17	mph	40	km	1030 hPa, Falling
1300	10.4	°C	NW	15	mph	45	km	1029 hPa, Falling

So there was me in long sleeves and thermals...Paul W decided it was warm enough for shorts!

At 9 we set off....I was on the Hybrid and determined NOT to head off like a bat out of hell, I opted to ride along with Simon (Also pictured above) he sets a much more sensible pace...

We headed out of Chippenham towards Easton then across towards Lacock, we had a choice up the very steep but direct Naish Hill or take the shallower gradient but slightly indirect Bowden Hill, I was happy to do either :-) Simon initially opted for Naish, until he realised it was the kin steep one... As Paul was currently taking the lead the decision was in his hands.... he wimped out and took the shallow option :-)

He then motored on ahead like a man possessed passing everybody in front, I slotted the Hybrid into granny gear and wound up the hill using my new found high cadence technique :-)

When we got to the top we pulled over to wait for Simon, disappointingly being overtaken by everybody that we had overtaken :-(...eventually Simon appeared..It would have been VERY unsporting to give him a chance to rest so we set of again.....Simon, Paul, Dylan and me.

I was feeling surprising fresh and strong so took the lead....I must have made a fantastic wheel to sit on!

We made good speed through Sandy Lane, picking up two more club riders who didn't know the way...

Just after Headington a horse box pulled out in front of us, it was going at a perfect speed Paul and myself slotted into the slipstream and was dragged along at a nice healthy pace, I assumed the rest of the guys were sat with us....unfortunately I looked behind and realised we had dropped them :-( We had to slow down for them to catch up......so sad the horse box was going at a perfect speed...

We headed to Stockley, Blacklands then through Compton Basset, I spied some of our fellow cyclists ahead...and felt the need to catch and of course overtake...This caused a dilemma, I was trying hard not to race! but I must catch and overtake!!!

As we caught them we rode together for a while....we got the info for the first information control and one of them joined our little group as we headed on to Brinkworth.

We got to the main road at Brinkworth at about 10:50...10 minutes before the bikers were due to leave Hullavington, we stopped had a cuppa and a slice of cake....Paul was sensible and had the Beans on Toast - I thought I would grab some on the return visit - but there wasn't any :-(

I did tell Simon he was only supposed to have a slice of cake NOT the whole plate :-)

We set of at 11, and thankfully got to the right turn before they appeared :-) The road was wonderfully devoid of any traffic.

The next part of the ride took us on a north bound loop up to Long Newnton (For another Info Control), and around to Little Larkhill and Ashley. There was quite a strong head wind and I found the going of the Hybrid VERY tough.

When we turned back south and a nice strong tail wind I started flying along again :-)

We headed back towards Brinkworth, this time east of the village so when we crossed the road we would be heading against the motor bikes NOT with them...

When we got to the junction, there were lots of motorbikes.....I mean LOTS, there was a very party atmosphere with everybody out lining the road and waving and all the bikers waving back.

(I borrowed the photo from the beeb...but it gives you an idea of how many motor bikes were out)

We didn't have to long a wait at the junction and we were off back towards the control...I was waving at the bikes and they were waving and tooting back...It was really nice to have such a friendly party atmosphere...

We stopped at the control and had another cuppa and slice of cake (But no beans on toast ) Then we set off back to Chippenham.....I was now starting to feel very fatigued, the 28mm treaded tyres and the weight was starting to tell...The guys started to leave me.......but from somewhere I summoned some more energy and managed to catch them and hold on to them.

From Dauntsey we took the scenic route through the Great Somerford then joined the 10 mile TT route through to Upper Seagry, then it was the home leg through Sutton Benger and back to the Bath Road Car park..

We all signed each others Brevett Cards (Finishing at 13:30) and I collected them all to take to the club night on Wednesday.

The Garmin had the ride (including to and from the Start) as 66.83 miles in 4 hours 7 minutes with an average speed of 16.2 mph, route here...

When I got back home I put the hot water on, the family had drained it :-( Cooked myself some Ravioli on Toast (with some melted cheese :-) and had a nice cold pint of cider...

I had my shower then washed, inspected, degreased and re-lubed the Dawes....It now looks very shiny again :-)

I did find today's ride VERY hard work, I also have the age old tingling of the hands coming back again, something I haven't experienced since moving on to the road bikes. I was consciously changing hand positions but unfortunately there isn't enough!

13th March 2010

2010-03-13T11:56:00.019Z

I got up and dressed in the winter cycle gear, but it was almost too warm!

0900	4.2	°C	NNW	6	mph	20	km	1032 hPa, Rising
1000	5.2	°C	NW	3	mph	25	km	1032 hPa, Rising
1100	6.6	°C	NW	5	mph	25	km	1032 hPa, Rising

It was the first time this year I headed out without overshoes! My feet were toasty and warm in the sealskinz :-)

I decided to take the Dawes on the chain gang! I was expecting to be dropped in the first mile, but to my surprise I was holding the pace with ease! In fact in many ways I found it easier than on the winter road bike.

I thought the guys would look at me in disdain for bringing such a bike on the chain gang but I was pleasantly surprised when some admiring comments were passed :-)

I am seriously wondering why the hell I didn't use the Dawes on the chain gang over the very icy and snowy winter?

The upshot was I had a very enjoyable 40 miles on the chain gang, the ONLY thing I dipped out on was the sprint from Biddestone to Corsham, there was NO way I could keep up with the road bikes when they dropped down and went for it, but I caught up at the traffic lights and joined back in with the group.

A guest rider (from the London smog) was with us and I volunteered to lead him back to the start (He had parked his car at the Cemetery) so it gave me an extra mile :-)

The Garmin had the ride as 42.29 miles in 2 hours 19 minutes with an average speed of 18.1 mph, route here...

What a surprising and thoroughly enjoyable ride that was! I was gob smacked that I not only held on to the group but actually found it easy!

When I got back home I milled about for a while waiting for wifey to get back home from shopping, I helped unload the car, then cooked some Bacon Sarnies for wifey and me...and a few extra rashers for Rosie (dog) :-)

As the sun was out and it looked set for a gorgeous warm day and we had no plans, I grovelled to wifey to let me go out on an afternoon cycle.....like the man from Del Monte she said YES :-)

I really wanted to take the Dawes over some really rough terrain to satisfy myself that the wheels, tyres, frame, bits n bobs and me were up to the NCR5 job...So I sat down and planned a quick route to the Ridgeway then round to Wootton Bassett for a cuppa at the mother in law's, then on home...

I also wanted to gauge how the rough terrain would effect the average speed and the length of day on the NCR5 ride...

1500	10.1	°C	WNW	9	mph	25	km	1030 hPa, Falling
1600	9.9	°C	WNW	8	mph	25	km	1030 hPa, Falling
1700	9.5	°C	WNW	7	mph	30	km	1030 hPa, Falling

So I set off from home at 1:50 and headed straight out to cycle route 403, I already knew that the Dawes was more than capable of this terrain as I have used the bike between Chippenham and Calne many times before....

After a mile or so of rough but level gravel the track joins a road, then its a quick jaunt down the road before joining back on to another off-road section, this time its much smoother and wooded :-)

When I got to Calne instead of following on the cycle route I decided to head on the A4 and then rejoin the cycle route at Cherhill (In October I got bogged down at a rather unhelpful cycle way re-route-through a swampy part of field near Compton Bassett)

The cycle path past Yatesbury was nothing but a muddy farm track, probably OK for knobbly mountain bike tyres but a lot slippery with the Schwalbe Marathons (I hope it isn't wet in April!)

Then I came to the funniest part of the cycle path, a bit that I have pointed out before...not a path at all but a grass track down the edge of a field...

At the end of the grass track it turned back into a farm track...then a lovely quiet lane.

Once through Avebury the road stops and turns into a rather rutted chalk byeway.

My forward speed plummeted to about 5 mph, the rutted track was rather difficult to cycle along but I kept it going!

I carried on past the walking cyclists..,

At the top of the hill it the chalk gave way to a rutted grass track and the going got a little easier.

Then it ramped back up and got VERY rutted, I had no choice but get off and walk to the top of the rise, the smooth grass was to narrow to cycle on and the deep ruts were so deep that the pedals couldn't turn.

At the top there was a short stretch of smoothish grass then I joined the Ridgeway...

Then it was more rutted, slow and very rough uphill cycling...

Eventually the Ridgeway became less rutted and started descending, I am not sure if this was a good thing, the vibration through the handlebars was quite bad and I had to keep the brakes applied as I was more than a little concerned of sliding on the gravel.

I don't think I was going that slowly as the only other cyclists I saw were ALL going slower than me :-)

Eventually (Thank God) I reached the road I was heading for (The Marlborough - Broad Hinton road) then I had a really nice smooth and very fast descent down Hackpen Hill.

Unfortunately I had the tail wind all the way up the Ridgeway where I couldn't use it, when I hit the smooth roads I was cycling into wind :-(

The road from Broad Hinton to Broad Town was really nice and quiet, there were signs all around saying the road was closed, I of course ignored them...if the road was blocked I would just get of and walk.....as it turned out it was NOT and was still clearly passable :-)

I stopped at the mother in law's at Wootton Bassett for a cuppa and to fill the water bottle up (The ridgeway had built up a thirst!)

From Wootton Bassett I came home via the lanes, holding a reasonable speed :-)

The Garmin had the ride as 41.24 miles in 3 hours 15 minutes with an average speed of 12.7 mph, route here...

It was a REALLY enjoyable ride, the bike and me held together very well, the ONLY issue was the saddle bag kept unclipping from the seat mounted clasp, I have remedied this with a strategically placed tie rap.

I am now confident that the bike and me are up to the job of NCR5 :-) - It just may be a little slower than I had hoped.

I don't think mountain biking is my thing, I prefer the speed of road riding....

When I got home I started cooking tea, had a shower then finished cooking tea....no rest for the wicked!

12th March 2010

2010-03-12T21:44:00.003Z

Didn't go for my lunchtime walk today, in fact I didn't move from my desk at lunch time...

I wanted to leave a little early so I could get back and go for a cycle in daylight :-) But I didn't end up leaving as early as I had wanted to :-(

I had a phone call mid morning from my son complaining the shower wasn't working, the pump was running but no water was flowing, I guessed it was probably the out let solenoid not opening :-(

I decided no matter what I was going for a cycle ride when I got home before I did ANYTHING else!!!!

When I got in I confirmed the remote PD, the solenoid was fecked, and the motor was on its last legs as well looking at the healthy spray of carbon from the brushes all over the inside cover :-(

I got changed fitted the powerful lights to the bike with the help of some insulation tape as padding then lost myself in my thoughts for a long meandering and VERY hilly 20 miles, interestingly although the Hybrid has more gears than I know what to do with it doesn't make the hills any easier at all!

The Garmin had the ride as 20.02 miles in 1 hour 34 minutes with an average speed of 12.7 mph and 1360 ft of climb, route here...

When I got back home I ate tea, then replaced the shower with a spare one (The mother in law bought a new one then a few months later changed her boiler for a condensing boiler, the power shower was no good for her, so we nabbed it for a spare :-)...A few happy hours later and I had a nice shower :-)

Don't quite know what I would have done if I couldn't fix it :-)

11th March 2010

2010-03-11T19:55:00.004Z

I almost managed a 3 mile walk at lunchtime :-) 2.95 miles in 52 minutes (Just need to find another pesky 0.05 miles!) Route here...

When I got home I put the Dawes on the turbo and did a little fine tuning on the front de-railer.

The intention was to have tea, go for a walk with wifey and Rosie (dog) to wifey's Thursday evening thang then walk on home and go for a quick hour on the bike.

Problem was I didn't get back home until 7:45, the decent lights don't fit on the Dawes handlebars (To narrow) and I didn't fancy freezing my bits off and fighting with the main road traffic so I decided to give it a miss tonight.

But I WILL go out tomorrow night!

10th March 2010

2010-03-10T20:40:00.006Z

Worked from home today :-)

I popped into LBS at lunch time and explained my gear change issues on the Peugeot, I believe that the chain line has shifted outwards by a couple of mm, I was interested in changing the bottom bracket for a sealed cartridge and perhaps getting a narrower one to bring the chain line back in.

He said...we can do that for you :-) So I dropped the bike of :-)

I also bought a set of plastic mudguards and a desent set of spoke keys (I didn't like the full bolt on SKS mudguards I bought last year, and my multi fit spoke key was pants!).

After work I fitted all the new bits n bobs to the bike...

I also moved the Garmin mount from the top tube to the handlebars, I was always a bit nervous of the garmin vibrating and twisting around the bars....But its almost impossible to use it to navigate when its on the top tube!

I also spent a few minutes truing the back wheel up, it had got a little out of shape....

After tea I set of on my normal Wednesday evening ride, on the Dawes! the first time I have been on a road ride on it in over a year...

It was a lot easier than I had expected, far more gears than I know what to do with! The rolling resistance was noticeably greater but not to bad.

The real pain was the head wind, there is no way to drop down and reduce the resistance...

I stopped of at the cycle club on the way home and registered and picked up the route sheet for this Sundays club 100k audax. I also had a cuppa and a slice of cake then headed on home just as the club quiz night started.

The Garmin had the ride as 23.89 miles in 1 hour 34 minutes with an average speed of 15.2 mph...route here...

The plan is to use the Hybrid exclusively now so that I can get some miles in on it in preparation for Easter weekend and NCR5...

9th March 2010

2010-03-09T21:40:00.002Z

Had loads of stuff turn up from wiggle today :-)

2 new bottle carriers for the Dawes Hybrid (The one on it is knackered!)
Set of lights for the Hybrid (A good set of cateye's....son borrowed the last set)
Bar tape for the Merida
Bar end mirror for the Merida

It was great...just like Christmas :-)

After the touchy feely with the new toys I ate tea then spent the night playing computer games...
Back to Counter Strike Source tonight :-)

8th March 2010

2010-03-08T22:28:00.003Z

A late and short post...

Got in, ate tea.....started looking at Peugeot gears....

Swapped front chain rings and cranks with newer Shimano 105 from same era (Bought from ebay a few weeks ago). Then had issues with front de-railer :-(

Swapped front chain ring from 105 back to Biopace.....still had front de-railer issues :-(

Spent lots of time re setting up front de-railer, it now just about works :-) Chain no longer appears to jump or get pissed off :-)

I will chalk it up as a minor success, although I never change up onto the bigger chain ring on the bike anyway so I dont know why I was bothered!

I had a really nice chat with a couple of guy's at Sustrans today, they have gone way up in my estimation :-) Thank you Alistair and James, They do care and are actively fighting to make a sustainable transport infrastructure.

I will now direct my efforts in highlighting how important the cycle routes are to the local council!

7th March 2010

2010-03-07T07:53:00.012Z

Oh how plans change!

Many of you will realise that I plan my weekends quite thoroughly so I can fit the most into them!

This weekend was planned to have Chain Gang Saturday morning, followed by walk, followed by bike maintenance...

Today was supposed to be leisure ride..The cycle club news letter said... "The Leisure Ride will be heading out to Woodborough via Roundway (45 Miles). Meet 9:30am at the Herman Miller Roundabout", Then back home for lunch, followed by a quick ride on the Hybrid to make sure it was all working ok...

Then late last night all plans were blown out of the water David Else sent me an email...
"I missed the chain gang this morning so I’m going out for about 4 or 5 hours on Sunday morning. Jacqui is coming too.
I know it’s late notice, but care to join us?
8.30am at Jacqui’s house
8.45 at the Cemetery
Direction Hungerford and the vale of Pewsey
Wind behind on the way back!

Well that was it...plan changed! I found myself getting up at 8 am.....It was a tadge on the chilly side!

0700

-5.4

°C

mph

1034 hPa, Rising

I dressed up in multiple layers, and took the Merida out to the Cemetery (I didn't fancy fighting with the gears/chain on the Peugeot and I did want to test the gears on the Merida :-)

The bike did look nice in the early morning sun :-)

I didn't have to long to wait before David and Jacqui appeared, and then we were off :-)

I had no idea how far we were going ...just 4-5 hours. I guessed that would be about 80 miles...

David said down the A4 to just past Hungerford to a place called Halfway then options for the return, either through Pewsey vale or Savernake.

The ride down the A4 started pleasant enough, if not a little cold! There was minimal traffic and the headwind did not cause to much difficulty, but as we passed Marlbourough heading towards Hungerford the A4 gets wider and faster, the traffic started to get annoying and there was a constant dust of salt being picked up by the speeding traffic.

It was quite a relief to pull off the A4, we headed down some fantastic little lanes, following the NCR4 route.

There was a Kayak race on the Kennet and Avon canal heading in the opposite direction to us (From Pewsey to Newbury), the only issue it caused us was the large number of support vehicles parked up and heading towards us.

When we got to Great Bedwyn the decision was made, we would head on to the Vale of Pewsey and to Woodborough to see if we could meet up with the leisure ride :-)

We cycled through Crofton, a place I haven't been to since a Primary school field trip I did when I was about 10, I have been contemplating for a long time why the beam engine that supplies the water for Caen Hill locks was built so far away from them....Obvious when you are there!! Its at the highest point of the Canal AND the river and Canal are alongside each other.

It was a really fast ride along the B3067 from Burbage to Pewsey, the tail wind was great :-)

At Pewsey we turned back across country to Woodborough, I suggested to David that we stop for a Bacon Sandwich and a cuppa, he wrinkled his brow and said 'no' and words like 'you don't want that'......Yes I did! I tried the puppy dog sad eyes, but the cool looking sunglasses I had on were hiding my eyes..so it didn't work.

A few moments later Jacqui suggested stopping for a cuppa......and it was a done deal....2 against 1 :-)

As we pulled into the Woodborough Nursery Cafe the leisure ride slow group were still there, we sat out side in the warm winter sun and I had a nice pot of tea and a Bacon Sarnie :-) The slow group set of as we were still eating and drinking....

We decided to follow the same route as the leisure ride back to Chippenham, through to Alton Barnes then Bishops Cannings past the Golf Course then Stockley, Headingtonm Sandy Lane...David and Jacqui were then going to Lacock and west side of Chippenham, I decided to head straight back to Chippenham in the hope of meeting wifey before she headed out for the afternoon.

We caught up and overtook the leisure group just past Bishops Cannings :-)

As I hadn't stopped to take any photos at all, I stopped at the top of Sandy Lane after David and Jacqui left me to take a photo of the now nice and warm almost summer day!

I arrived back home at just gone 2, just in time to spend 10-15 minutes with wifey before she headed out for the afternoon.

The Garmin had the ride as 79.42 miles in 4 hours 56 minutes with an average speed of 16.1 mph, route here...

Not a bad pace considering the temperature and the wind...

1000	-0.1	°C	NNE	9	mph	25	km	1034 hPa, Rising
1100	1.1	°C	ENE	14	mph	30	km	1034 hPa, Rising
1200	2.1	°C	ENE	13	mph	35	km	1034 hPa, Falling
1300	2.6	°C	ENE	11	mph	40	km	1033 hPa, Falling
1400	3.3	°C	ENE	11	mph	40	km	1033 hPa, Falling

Although when you were out of the wind, with the sun on your skin it felt fantastic :-)

I REALLY enjoyed the ride, it was great company and a great pace :-) Thank you David and Jacqui for inviting me....

When I got home I realised that I dropped a bar end somewhere on the route :-( So I ordered some new bar tape and ends from Wiggle when I got home.....I have been thinking about a bar end mirror for some time so I indulged in one of them as well :-)

I had a short rest, a cider, a banana and a cream egg, then thought what shall I do now???? I am home alone???

So I dragged the Hybrid out for a quick ride, I intended to cycle along the Wilts Berks Canal Path to Lacock and back....

But when I got to the rural start this was posted on a gate.....

I thought I would head along the path anyway to see how far you could get, and to see if there was an alternative on route...

It was still a lovely day and the path looked still well used.

Then as you get about 3 miles down the path you end up at...

They really dont want you to cross it!!!

Barbed wire coiled all around it.....

A real shame as it was a fantastic NO traffic route to Lacock that was used by an awful lot of people, I even managed to get wifey to enjoy cycling it during the summer....I see NO attempt at re-routing or re-opening it......the cycle route just stops......then re-starts in Lacock.

So I turned around and headed back home again...

The Garmin had the ride as 5.64 miles in 34 minutes....route here...

A real shame one of my favourite and most scenic routes, just goes nowhere and stops, I think I may contact, Wiltshire council, Sustrans and CTC and complain!

I wonder if most of my anger/upset it nostalgia this route was where I started re-inventing myself.....I remember this tree being struck by Lightening...

I also had plans for summer evenings in Lacock with wifey.......I am sure sustrans and cycling is just ticks in boxes for councils....they actually don't really give a toss!

6th March 2010

2010-03-06T18:45:00.006Z

I was woken up multiple times in the night, we had a couple of power outages and every-time the power came back on the front door bell rang :-(

I dragged myself out of bed at 8 am anyway and got changed into cycle gear.

I had porridge with wifey then set of at 9:15 to the Chippenham Cemetery for the start of the chain gang at 9:30.

I felt quite strong and fit on the chain gang...the Peugeot was having some gear issues - If I stopped pedalling when I started again the chain would jump :-( I will look for a stiff link/broken tooth/bent chain ring the next time I clean the bike.

As we turned right at East Tytherton the chain decided to fall off, I told the rest of them to carry on, I stopped refitted the chain and caught them back up :-)

Thankfully that was the only stop incident for me :-) I did take the action cam and recorded the whole ride, but I dont think cycling is a spectator sport and the vid is booooring!

The Garmin had the ride as 40.73 miles in 2 hours 12 minutes with an average speed of 18.4 mph, route here..

When I got back home I showered n changed and had Bacon sarnies for lunch :-)

Then wifey, Rosie (dog) and me went for a smashing walk 3.6 mile walk along the canal...

I managed to capture some fantastic tree reflections in the water

It was a bit of a shame we had intended to walk up the Caen Hill Locks and stop at the tea rooms on the way back, but that part of the canal path is closed as they are replacing some of the locks :-( So we walked the opposite way and I had to stop in the pub for a pint of cider instead :-)

When we got back home I dragged the Dawes out of the bike shed and gave it a going over in preparation for April.

The bike is in good condition thank goodness, but I am taking the opportunity to buy some new bottle cages and some lights for it :-)

5th March 2010

2010-03-05T19:59:00.007Z

My amazon.co.uk order turned up today...

Cycling in the UK a guide to the most popular Sustrans Routes....I was hoping it might help with planning and logistics of the NCR5 ride.....It wont :-( Nice glossy pictures but not much use!

UK Cycling route planner...a fold out map of the uk with the Sustrans routes on it.....may be useful to carry on the ride :-)

50 quirky bike rides in England and Wales...

or to give you its full title.......
"50 quirky bike rides for family and friends, free from freightlining juggernauts and white van road rage, in eco friendly, carbon neutral, naturally blissful thrills and hills, on a hunch over lunch, with winks over drinks, brooks beckon, waves lap, win whizzes - the most thrilling downhilling and appealing freewheeling, on trains, bridges, plains & ridges the odd, unique, eccentric and curious, from flying canals to haunted tunnels to underwater roads the longest, prettiest, bendiest, bounciest, rockiest, twistiest, zingiest, peakiest, prettiest, whizziest, bestest, bestest, bestest bike rides in England and Wales (ever)"

Now that's a good book worth the money :-)...I have already done all of the local rides listed in it...

My Haggard fan box set also turned up today :-) Shame wifey isn't a Symphonic metal fan...or I would be listening to it now....

Added a justgiving page for my chosen fund-raising ride of the year..
I am doing lots of challenging rides but the one that 'bothers' me the most is the Heart of England 300k (200 miles) in 1 day, so that's the one I am going to raise money on! IT should make the miles go easier :-)

My just giving page can be foud either by the widget or at http://www.justgiving.com/John-Berry

Taking a night of the bike(s)......

4th March 2010

2010-03-04T21:33:00.002Z

Worked from home today :-)

I hadn't noticed on my ride last night, but I had broken a spoke :-( I guess that may explain why the ride was so tough.

At lunch time I popped out to City Cycles and purchased some spokes, 5 of them for a massive 20p each.

I fitted the new spoke and re-trued the wheel. And now I have a few spare spokes to take with me in April.

After tea I got changed and went for a nice ride, I headed out on the same route as last night, at Foxham I headed onto the evening 10 mile TT course.

The Garmin had the ride as 25.17 miles in 1 hour 37 minutes with an average speed of 15.4 mph, route here...

3rd March 2010

2010-03-03T21:43:00.002Z

Spent a little longer at work than I had planned...When I got home I got changed and went straight out on the bike.

I only had time for an hours ride so I popped out on the lanes for a 16 mile ride, there was one hell of a head wind on the outbound stretch :-(

1900		2.7	°C	ENE	15	mph			30	km	1017 hPa, Falling
2000		2.0	°C	ENE	16	mph			28	km	1017 hPa, Falling

But the homestretch was great :-)

The Garmin had the ride as 16 miles in 1 hour 4 minutes with an average speed of 14.9 mph, route here...

Garmin connect is being irritating again so I have uploaded it to RidewithGPS.

2nd March 2010

2010-03-02T20:07:00.003Z

Tough day at work again, got home late again....

Not able to work at home tomorrow, I have to go into the orifice :-(

I am going for a cycle ride WHATEVER time I get back home!!!! I WILL NOT miss out on a Wednesday cycle!

Wifey finished of the plans for the NCR5 Ride :-) ALL accommodation is now booked :-) (Red we haven't done anything for you...I will email you the Hotels)

I am now thinking about doing the Fred Whitton four seasons challenge in July :-)

I am not in the mood for computer games tonight......

1st March 2010

2010-03-01T21:15:00.003Z

Had another tough day at work, but at least I managed to get out for the lunchtime walk :-)

2.52 miles in 48 minutes....

When I got back home I re-plotted the NCR5 routes....

Friday 2nd April... Setting of from Reading and stopping at Shipston-on-Stour...Accom Booked :-)
Saturday 3rd April..Shipston-on-Stour stopping at Lichfield...No Accom yet!
Sunday 4th April... Lichfield stopping at Flint...Accom Booked :-)
Monday 5th April...Flint finishing at Holyhead....Then heading straight to Snowdonia :-)

If the weather is kind it should be a nice warm-up for the Heart of England 300 the following weekend:-)

If anybody wants to meet-up along the way, feel free...I am planning to take it leisurely and enjoy myself :-)

The end of February was on me before I realised it and I forgot to publish my end of month stats!!! So here they are

Count:	15 Activities
Distance:	640.66 mi
Max Distance:	109.38 mi
Time	40:57:24 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:	23,538 ft ft
Max Elevation Gain	5,633 ft
Avg Speed:	15.6 mph
Max Speed:	40.7 mph
Calories:	46,162 C

28th February 2010

2010-02-28T17:04:00.009Z

I woke up with no ill affects from yesterday's little jaunt-et :-) so I asked wifey for permission to go out on the cycle club leisure ride..she said yes..so I got up and headed of to the start at the Wavin entrance for the 9:30 start...

As seems to be my habit of late I got there far to early...

The weather forecast for today was not kind and only 6 other guys turned up. I was a little taken aback the route sheet had us climbing some of the BIG local hills, I was hoping to have a nice leisurely flat ride - and I was on the Peugeot as I hadn't yet sorted the gears out on the Merida.

At 9:30 we set off, I was in front of course! I seemed to be making light work of the hills :-)

The weather was miserable, cold, wet and windy so when we got to Winterbourne Bassett we all decided to cut the ride shorter and head straight to Avebury, over Cherhill and stop at the Divine cafe for a warm cuppa and a bacon sandwich.

After the cuppa I was absolutely frozen and needed to get going to warm up...We decided to head back to Chippenham via Stockley and Headington, through Sandy Lane and down the main road back into Chippenham...

The Garmin had the ride as 41.05 miles in 2 hours 48 minutes with an average speed of 14.6 mph, route here...

It was nice to get out on the bike but it couldn't exactly be called a recovery ride! The head wind over Cherhill was very tough going...

When I got back home I showered, warmed-up, had lunch then started cleaning and sorting the gears out on the Merida.

The whole groupset was very dry and dirty...the rear and front de-railer were so gunked up they weren't indexing properly.

The whole lot was stripped down, meticulously cleaned, light oil applied to moving assemblies and everything was worked to ensure it moved properly.

The chain was cleaned, front de-railer was bent back into shape, rear jockeys removed, cleaned, re-lubed and re-assembled, the cassette was stripped down, cleaned, oiled and re-assembled.

All the brake blocks were changed....

Then finally the bike was put on the turbo

The rear gear indexing was re-set-up

Then the front de-railer limit stops adjusted for correct action.

27th February 2010

2010-02-27T18:29:00.009Z

Got up at my normal time...normal for a work day that is :-(

I had porridge for breaky and set of for Chepstow at 6 o'clock for the 8 o'clock start...I had intended to get there for 7 ish, but I had massively overestimated the time it would take to get there.

I arrived at the car park at Chepstow castle at 6:50...It was empty!

Although the Castle did look nice and it was very quiet :-)

I didn't have long to wait before people started turning up, I set about unloading the bike and sorting myself out.

As soon as the event organiser turned up I signed in, and stood back and waited for the 8am start...It was a very well subscribed event.

At 8 am I set off for the first climb of the day...I seemed to overtake everybody and found myself at the front, the climb was a nice warm-up.

The first Information control answer was noted, then it was full steam ahead to the first signed control at the Dog Inn at Ewyas Harold, thankfully I was with a group of other riders as I had mis-plotted the route on the Garmin, saying that my route would probably have been quicker ;-)

The next stop was The Granary cafe in Hay on Wye, nearly everybody else stopped for lunch, it was on 11:30 and the cafe was completely full, I preferred to press on and get the Gospel Pass climb done, so I stopped only to get the card signed and pressed on...

The climb started almost immediately after Hay on Wye, I changed gear (dropping off the big chain ring) and it whipped up and bent the front de-railer :-(

I stopped and made a road side manipulation, but I will need to set it up properly when I clean the bike...It was working but only just!

As the climb kicked up, I almost came off the bike, the back wheel skidded on some gravel :-(

I gathered my composure and got into a good rhythm, before I knew it I was almost at the top

...I had been bigging up the idea of the climb 5 miles and 1800 feet...but it seemed the thought was worse than the event!

The clouds looked awesome as they were being blown up the mountain slopes

I actually cycled into the snow line :-)

Once at the top the descent began, it was a 5 mile climb but a 25 mile descent :-)

Quite near the top of the descent is a cattle grid, I slowed and went over it, then the hill drops rapidly away (Roughly 25%), I suddenly had the bouncing, wobbly flat feeling from the back wheel :-(

I had punctured....

I did the normal, remove tube leaving tyre in place, pump up the tube, find the hole..then find the sharp object or hole left by object in the tyre...

The leak was very small in the tube, when comparing the hole position with the tyre there was nothing...no sign of any hole sharp object or anything????

I replaced the tube pumped it up and set off - I guess the cattle grid had done it??? although it wouldn't be a pinch puncture, the thing was at 110 psi!

I set of - down hill towards Abergavenny and the 3rd control, my intention was to eat something at the control....When we eventually found it, it was packed and the bike was left unsecured on a very busy pedestrian high street - So I opted to get the card signed and head straight on.

The expected climb out of Abergavenny was considerably worse than I had imagined, it was worse than the climb up Gospel Pass, it seemed to go on and on for ever.

By the time I had got to the top I was completely fecked....But at least there was only 7 miles of downhill to go!

I plodded on to the Chepstow Athletic Centre and the official end, stopping to buy a pint of full fat coke and a packet of cheese and onion crisps....The first packet of crisps I have bought in 2 years....and the last.

The Garmin had the ride as 101 miles in 6 hours 48 minutes with an average speed of 14.8 mph and 5,633 ft of climb, route here...

Bike is now completely minging and needs a bit of TLC on the gears...

26th February 2010

2010-02-26T20:51:00.006Z

Had a another really tough day at work...didn't even have a chance to break away at lunchtime :-(

I had my lunch brought to me!

When I eventually got home my legs were aching due to not moving! I am really looking forward to tomorrow's ride now!!!

I did intend to have a slow weeks riding but I never intended to substitute it with work...

I had a healthy portion of pasta and bolognese for tea then set about giving the Merida a going over for tomorrow, the cassette was replaced, the front mudguard removed (so I can get the bike in the car), the gears were adjusted to perfection and finally the tyres pumped up to the max :-)

After the bike was sorted I OCR'd the route sheet, increased the font size (I have reached the age where my eyes only work at arms length), laminated the output and resurrected the giant bulldog clips :-)

The only issue may be the rattling of the bulldog clips may get in the way of my tranquillity...

And just to remind you, here's tomorrows wee jolly :-)

25th February 2010

2010-02-25T19:04:00.002Z

I actually left work at a reasonable time and got home at a reasonable time :-)

Unfortunately I didn't make it out for my lunchtime walk :-( I have been far to busy...

I have decided to stay of the bike tonight and tomorrow, to save myself for Saturday....

Thankfully the forecast for Saturday isn't looking to bad...

Sat 27 Feb	Day		7 °C	S	8 mph		Very Good
Sat 27 Feb	Night		0 °C	E	14 mph	29 mph	Very Good

I will fit the new cassette tomorrow and give the bike a final going over in preparation for the mountain :-)

I ordered the chain wear tool as recommended by Rafe....so no more forgetting to measure the chain....I have also ordered a second chain, I will get the third next month.....I am determined to make the cassette last the year!!!!

24th February 2010

2010-02-24T20:57:00.004Z

Worked from home today...It was a really tough day and I didn't get everything done that I needed to:-(

My new cassette for the Merida turned up today :-)

I was in two minds whether to go to the cycle club or not, it was very wet and windy out.

1800		7.5	°C	ENE	7	mph			10	km	987 hPa, Falling
1900		7.0	°C	NE	7	mph			10	km	987 hPa, Falling

But I had to go and pick some paperwork up...there was no way I was going to drive there and if I was going to cycle I may as well go for the normal 20....

At 6:10 I set off for my 'Normal 20' ending up at the cycle club for the 7:30 meet.

I picked up the paperwork I needed and had a cuppa and a slice of cake :-)

I also got some advice about how to increase the life of the cassette, simple really, just use multiple chains and cycle them! So I am going to buy two more chains and cycle each chain every 1000 miles :-)

At 8 set of for the short ride back home.....

The Garmin had the ride as 23.87 miles in 1 hour 26 minutes with an average speed of 16.6 mph, route here...

Tonight was another one of those examples where the thought of going out was far far worse than the event, I ended up really enjoying it!

23rd February 2010

2010-02-23T20:46:00.002Z

Well the plan was to have a quiet week cycling so I could build some energy for the weekend..I never intended to spend my time working instead :-(

I did manage to make it out for my normal lunchtime walk...2.5 miles, route here...

Then I left work late...got home late....couldn't even be bothered to play computer games :-(

At least I will be working at home tomorrow, come rain or shine I WILL be going out for a ride tomorrow evening...

22nd February 2010

2010-02-22T20:16:00.004Z

Had a dreadful journey to work, got just over half way in (35 miles or so) and it started snowing, there was a light dusting sticking to the road...

As I progressed the snow got heavier, then as I descended the hill into Bourton on the Water the car in front did a rather graceful 240 degree spin on the sheet ice and fresh snow.

I managed to slow and stop without sliding to much, no vehicles could make it up the hill.

I was in two minds whether to continue or attempt to head home....I need not have worried as I climbed the hill to Stow on the Would the snow and ice disappeared...

I made it out for a bitterly cold lunchtime walk (2.73 miles), route here...

My intention was to set off early, just in case the roads were still 'interesting' but I ended up in a meeting and didn't leave work until 5:45.

So I didn't get home until 7:30 and needless to say I didn't contemplate going anywhere near a bike!

21st February 2010

2010-02-21T16:31:00.009Z

The plan for today WAS going to be slow leisurely get up, take dog for a nice slow walk, tidy the house up have lunch then if I felt like it go for a short cycle ride....

The plan fell to pieces....I woke up early and was feeling full of beans, wifey was not...I thought it might be a nice idea for me to go out on the club leisure ride...I passed the idea past her whilst she was still dazed and half asleep....she said yes :-)

I jumped out of bed, put multiple layers on, threw some breakfast cereal down my neck and headed of to the Chippenham Rugby club for the start of the leisure ride...The Peugeot hasn't got dirty this week yet, so I thought I would take the Merida....It needed a clean after yesterday anyway...

I arrived at the Rugby Club with about 5 minutes to spare, I paid the 10p for the route sheet, then promptly dropped my gloves in a puddle :-(

At 9:30 we headed of towards Chipping Sodbury via Badminton along some rather dirty and wet country lanes....both me and the bike were minging :-(

When we got to the tea room Simon and myself decided against stopping and headed on back towards Chippenham.....I had chores to do when I got home :-(

We followed the route sheet most of the way home until we hit the B4039 then we sat on the main roads back home.....with an absolutely amazing tail wind :-)

At one point I left Simon as if he was standing still..I dropped down onto the Aero Bars and shot of at 30+ mph....He did mutter an expletive as I shot past him :-)

It was nice to get out and I had NO ill effects at all from yesterday...if anything I felt even stronger and more energetic today...

The Garmin had the ride as 41.35 miles in 2 hours 36 minutes with an average speed of 15.9 mph, route here...

When I got back home I warmed up in the shower, had cheese on toast for lunch, tidied the house up then set about cleaning the bike up....

I even cleaned the rear cassette up, even though I have now ordered a new one...hopefully it will arrive before the weekend...

One day I may even get my bike cleaning down to under 2 hours....

So my first 150 mile weekend of the year has now come and gone...And I currently feel no ill effects at all......now I deserve some cake and cider :-)

20th February 2010

2010-02-20T18:01:00.017Z

Got up early'ish....Got changed into multiple layers of cycling gear, cooked some porridge for breaky....then set of at 8:30 towards Grove (near Wantage) to meet Matt and go for a nice ride around Didcot with him :-)

I am never quite sure how sane it is to set of on a 100+ mile ride when the starting temperature is -2 deg C, there was an unhealthy amount of ice on the cars and any water on the ground was in it's solid state.

Getting back on the Merida after being on the heavier steel framed Peugeot was like cheating, the hills were so easy and the bike so light.

The only minor issue is that the new chain jumps under load on the 12 tooth gear...guess I left it to long before changing the chain :-( On the plus side as I have been riding at a higher cadence I don't appear to use that gear very often any-more :-)

I needed to get to Matt's for about 11 or earlier to fit in the leisurely 25 and for me to get back home before dark, I was also a bit worried about ice on the roads, so I opted for a high speed main road jaunt down the A4, then onto the A4361 at Avebury to Wroughton.

The ride took me past Sibury Hill and through the Avebury stone circle

The air temp was still below freezing and the ground had a healthy covering of frost, but I had warmed up nicely, if anything I was too warm!

It was quite nice at Wroughton to get off the main roads and start heading across country, although ice in the shade was a bit of a concern...

I was starting to get a bit concerned that I wasn't going to make it to Matt's on time, then I reached Ashbury and my mind was eased a little as I only had 11 miles to Wantage and I still had about 30 minutes in hand:-)

I had to stop to take the obligatory photo of the Uffington white horse:-)

Unfortunately the sun was low on the horizon and the horse isn't clear on the picture...

Whilst I was stopped I took a pointless picture of the road :-) - There is a funny story about me and a Fiat Miafiori I owned and brake pads on these very corners :-)

The car decided to eject its brake pads whilst I was going down the hill, it also blew a massive hole in the exhaust in the same journey...I scrapped the car the same weekend.

From Uffington I was head down and powered to Wantage, through the town centre, then headed towards Grove...

I have never had an issue getting to places...towns etc...its always getting to the actual address that gets me...This was no different!

I passed right past Matt's front door and turned right...then cycled up the wrong road for a bit, before turning around and realising that Matt's front door was across the road in front of me :-)

I was invited in for a lovely cuppa, and we had a nice chat.....well I waffled on about bikes.....and me.....

Once the tea was drank we set off.....

I didn't really know what to expect, I had visions of a 10 mph slow bimble around Oxfordshire...
I was happily surprised to find Matt flying along in-front of me at 17-18 mph.

Matt is a big chap, tall and big framed, even when he has slimmed he will still be somebody you won't want to upset. I was quite happy sitting on his back wheel but I couldn't see the pot holes and detritus in front of him, so I did the decent thing and went in front :-)

The sun was out, it was warm, we were cracking along and it was great :-) We flew past a fellow cyclist as if she was stationary. A little before Didcot the pace got the little better of Matt and we pulled over for a chat and a breather..

After Didcot we pulled onto the A417 into a headwind and up some hills..

The pace obviously slowed a little, I was on a light weight road bike with 700 x23 tyres pumped up to 110 psi, I have also cycled a fair few miles, Matt was on a heavy upright bike, with wide heavily treaded touring tyres....

I cycled up the hills at my pace and was quite happy to wait at the crest, Matt did much better than I did when I started!

It also gave me the chance to take another obligatory photo of Didcot power station...

It was a nice steady ride back to Grove and Matt's house. I was fed some much needed energy (in the form of Beans on Toast) and another nice cuppa.....then I set of back the way I came...

As flat a Oxfordshire and Didcot was...the ride from and to Wiltshire goes over the Ridgeway....

It is steep and annoying.....and I had NO choice :-( The skies also darkened and the threatened wintery showers also fell....thankfully as I descended to Wroughton the skies cleared and the sun came out again :-)

I was in two minds when I got to Wroughton whether to follow my planned route over the steep climb of the A4361 or to wimp out and go via Wootton Bassett at the cost of a few more miles but NO steep climb....

I was still feeling surprisingly fresh and well so I did the righteous thing and followed the plan......Now that was a real hill!

And thankfully it was the last significant climb of the day as well!

I plodded on through Broad Hinton, Broad Town, Bushton and cross country to home...by the time I got to Stanley the sun was low on the horizon and the shadows were getting long...

The Garmin had today's ride as 109.38 miles in 7 hours 7 minutes with an average speed of 15.4 mph, route here...

It was a really nice day out, splitting the day into 3 parts certainly helped cope with the year's first 100.

Thank you Matt for a nice day out, the baked beans on toast was much needed and got me home :-)

Ohhhh I have now done over 1000 miles this year.....

19th February 2010

2010-02-19T21:49:00.004Z

Was very busy at work today so didn't even have a chance for pub lunch :-(

When I got home we went out for tea :-)

On return home I sorted the Merida out for tomorrows ride...The Chain had done far to many miles and the jockey sleeve bearings where very sloppy, so I changed the jockeys and the chain, gave everything a once over and lube....

I will be interested to see how I get on with the summer bike tomorrow....(Unfortunately the roads have been salted...so it will need a darn good clean when I get back!!!!)

18th February 2010

2010-02-18T19:46:00.004Z

Didn't go out for a lunch time walk today, it was snowing...

I stayed at work and had roast pork for lunch :-)

The snow started falling really heavily and was settling so I left work and headed home at 2:30...

As I crossed the Cotswolds the snow thankfully stopped...

When I got home I finished of some work, then had an hour on the Turbo...

I loaded up 'The Sufferfest - Downward Spiral' and gave it my all....by the end of it I was completely knackered!

The computer had the session as 1 hour covering 23.65 miles with an average speed of 23.6 miles and a maximum speed of 48.8 mph.

17th February 2010

2010-02-17T20:49:00.003Z

Worked from home today :-)

Spent ALL day on my arse in front of the fire, working on the laptop...

At 5:30 I stopped and cooked some Beef with Oyster sauce and Pak Choi with wifey..

After tea I hopped onto the Peugeot and headed out on my 'Normal 20' route, instead of heading up Sutton Lane - I carried on the B4069 straight to Chippenham (I didn't want to get the bike dirty!)

I headed to the cycle club - I had to hand some of the Brevet cards in from Sunday's Audax, I also needed to sort out some paperwork for the open 25 TT I am running in July.

The Garmin had today's ride as 23.67 miles in 1 hour 23 minutes with an average speed of 17 mph, route here...

16th February 2010

2010-02-16T21:58:00.003Z

Went out for the normal lunchtime walk...2.62 miles in 50 minutes, route here....

Night off, played computer games :-)

More or less finalised plans with Matt for Saturdays ride...It should be good....I will get to burn myself out on the 80 miles there and back....and have a nice leisurely 25 in between :-)

That will be the first 100 of the year, and should make the Gospel Pass mentally a little easier....I hope!

15th February 2010

2010-02-15T21:02:00.002Z

I ventured out for my normal lunchtime walk, 2.71 miles...route here, I dont think I am going to be able to push it to 3 miles :-(

I did stop and have a good chat with a narrow boat owner as I ambled down the tow path, I really do like the idea of living on a narrow boat.

I felt quite tired on my way home, but I still managed to get change and have a quick 50 minute session.

I gave 'The Sufferfest - Fight Club' another go......Although it woke me up, I did feel quite knackered at the end of it.

The computer had the session as 50 minutes covering 19.96 miles at an average speed of 23.9 mph.

I am hoping to ride out to Wantage to meet up with Matt on Saturday, I am hoping to get some bigger miles in before the Gospel Pass ride at the end of the month, so a quick blat to Wantage and back and a nice slow bimble around Oxfordshire should suit the bill nicely :-)

14th February 2010

2010-02-14T15:10:00.015Z

Got up early, had some breakfast cereal then headed down to the Bath Road car park for the cycle club closed 75k Audax, I wasn't to sure on how it would go - my legs were still aching a bit from yesterday's excursion.

At least the forecast snow hadn't arrived and it wasn't freezing.

0800	1.1 °C	NNW	6 mph	4.8 km	1019 hPa, Falling
0900	1.7 °C	NNW	6 mph	6 km	1019 hPa, Falling
1000	2.5 °C	N	8 mph	8 km	1018 hPa, Falling
1100	3.6 °C	N	10 mph	12 km	1018 hPa, Falling
1200	4.4 °C	NNW	10 mph	20 km	1018 hPa, Falling

Never wanting to be late for anything I set of from home at 8:30 for the 8:45 start, but it only takes about 2 minutes for me to get there!!!

I arrived, signed in then stood around for half an hour getting cold :-(

When we all kicked off at 9 am I was very restrained, I didn't shoot of like a bat out of hell, but sat sensibly behind Graham and Eric :-)

Unfortunately Eric didn't want to be at the front so he waved me by, I was then at the front :-(

To my great surprise I remained at the front going up Studley Hill, in fact I stayed in front going up Devizes Road into Sandy Lane, I had now warmed up and was flying along!

I broke the speed limit going through Sandy Lane , 31 mph in the 30 :-)

As we were heading towards Stockley the Garmin track had us turning left earlier than I had expected, I ended up going straight on, with everybody following. It was quite comical as I slowly slowed down (Warning everybody else of course) and turned around :-)

As we passed through Stockley I really started to get into a good rhythm, I thought everybody was with me....Unfortunately I appeared to have dropped them ALL!

I took the opportunity to pull over and take a photo or two :-)

It also meant I didn't look like a complete twat by racing of into the distance :-)

I managed to catch them all up quite quickly and overtook them again going up another hill, David held everybody up a little so I could take another picture or two :-)

Again I managed to catch up and slot myself in the front of the group, a lot of them didn't have mudguards on and I didn't fancy getting covered in road garbage, I was also in a good rhythm :-)

It was a quick dash through Devizes to Potterne, then cross country to Coulston before joining the B3098 to the Control at 'The Stables Tea Room' at Bratton.

A group photy was taken outside the Tea Room, it was suggested that we looked like the Village People, so I attempted to look like a village idiot....

We moved to the bikes for a more cyclist group photy...

Most of the guys opted to stop for tea, it was a tadge cold out for me to want to stop, David and a couple of others also wanted to press on, so we set off :-)

It was a bit more hard work as it was a head wind but only 10mph, so not as bad as yesterday.

The route from Bratton was one that I have done a fair few times, Bratton -> Steeple Ashton -> Hilperton -> Holt -> Atworth
Then up one of the most annoying little hills through Neston.

We stopped at the top as one of the guys was having gear issues, and I took another photy

It was then downhill to Corsham and Chippenham to the finish as Sainsburys

I then plodded on home at the same highish speed that I had done everything else at :-)

It was a stonking ride and I felt really good for ALL of it :-)

The Garmin had the ride as 49.1 miles in 3 hours 3 minutes with an average speed of 16mph, route here...

When I got back home I showered and warmed up a bit then had left over Bolognese that I cooked for tea last night, and some freshly cooked pasta :-)

Then I set about cleaning the rather dirty bike!

The sun came out as I was cleaning it and it was lovely and warm, I also managed to clean it in a rather quick time (for me)

13th February 2010

2010-02-13T19:54:00.010Z

Got up reasonably early, had porridge for breakfast, mixed up the doings for a Worcester Cider cake then went for a walk at West Woods with wifey and Rosie (dog)

It was a complete surprise to find a dusting of snow :-)

We saw three lots of deer, and I actually managed to take a reasonable photograph of one of them.

I used RunGPS to track the little walk :-) 2.96 miles in 1 hour 15 minutes...Route here...

When we got back home I had a bacon sarnie then got changed for cycling...

I ended up setting of at 12:30, I loaded the planned route into the Garmin started pedalling, apparently I was heading in the wrong direction ...I stopped reloaded the course then set off again....It confirmed the wrong direction so I headed off following the route...I realised that the route had me heading North...I was supposed to be heading south!

So I stopped and reloaded the route again, this time it loaded the correct route :-) once I had navigated onto the right track I was finally off....

It was potentially not a very clever plan to head south when there was a particularly strong northerly wind..

1300	3.5 °C	NNE	14 mph	40 km	1023 hPa, Falling
1400	3.2 °C	NNE	14 mph	35 km	1023 hPa, Falling
1500	3.1 °C	N	13 mph	30 km	1022 hPa, Falling
1600	3.4 °C	NNW	8 mph	30 km	1022 hPa, Falling

It was a nice and fast ride south! Unfortunately that was going to mean a tough slow ride north.

I was interested by the ICE sign...

It definitely wasn't icy, I do wonder about the logic in having a permanent sign for ice, why not have one for Sunshine.

The roads were superb....

And I finally managed to take some pictures of Snowdrops...in my mind the start of spring :-)

The roads through Longleat were superb.

After Longleat the plan was to head to Shear Water, unfortunately the road was blocked with a gate, so I headed straight to Warminster and re-joined the planned route.

The ride back home was as tough as expected :-(

The Garmin had today's ride as 63.41 miles in 4 hours 23 minutes with an average speed of 14.5 mph...route here...

I think the Garmin had a hissy fit earlier on as one of the courses I had copied to it was corrupt, I have now removed it, so hopefully it will play properly tomorrow.

12th February 2010

2010-02-12T20:20:00.002Z

I was planning to get out for a real proper night ride.....but I got home late and I really cant be arsed....so instead I am watching Pitch Black....I watched my fav film Chronicles of Riddick earlier in the week :-)

I have plotted a pleasant ride to Longleat for tomorrow afternoon,

Then I have the club 75k on Sunday so it should be another good cycletastic weekend :-)

11th February 2010

2010-02-11T17:31:00.005Z

Took the day off work today :-) Was busy this morning...stopped for lunch on the way home and I had a nice pint of Black Rat (Cider) and a lovely Haddock in cider batter with chips and peas at 'The Rising Sun' in Christian Malford.

When we got back home I got changed and took the bike out on the chain gang route, it was a hellish strong northerly wind...

1400	2.0 °C	NE	19 mph	31 mph	45 km	1023 hPa, Falling
1500	1.7 °C	NNE	19 mph		45 km	1023 hPa, Falling
1600	1.5 °C	NNE	18 mph		40 km	1023 hPa, Falling

I was struggling to maintain 15 mph :-( But the sky was reasonably clear and it was good to get out on the bike and blow the cobwebs away.

I did fit the ActionCam to the bike, but I really can't be bothered to edit the video and upload it, I have fitted the camera mount to the frame and it does appear to take a better more stable video.

The ONLY good thing about the strong NE wind was that I was blown UP the Fosse-Way at one point I was doing over 20 mph up the hill :-)

The Garmin had the ride as 40.7 miles in 2 hours 37 minutes with an average speed of 15.5 mph, route here...

Now I can have a night in front of the fire and TV without thinking about going on the bike :-)

10th February 2010

2010-02-10T21:04:00.003Z

Worked from home today:-)

Looked at the weather outside at lunchtime and it was cold and snowing...so I obviously didn't venture out!

The bottom bracket had developed a little play in it and I wasn't happy with the light lithium based grease I had used to pack the bearings, it's great stuff for the wheel bearings but a little too light for the larger slower BB bearings. So I spent half an hour stripping the BB down cleaning the shaft, bearings and outer races up, then I re-packed the bearings with some heavier teflon based grease. It was much thicker and stickier :-)

I had also purchased a BB peg spanner for properly adjusting the end cap when re-assembling the BB, and it worked perfectly :-)

I did have full intentions of eating tea early then going out for a cycle ride, but it still looked cold out and I was feeling cold! I didn't feel like going to the cycle club...

At 7:50 I decided to have a quick go on the Turbo Trainer.....the intention was to just do 45 minutes, but I got a bit carried away and did an hour.

I set the turbo to mid load, started up 'The Sufferfest - Downward Spiral', put the chain on the big chain ring (50) , and shifted the chain up and down the rear cassette as necessary, my aim was to hold a high cadence between 90 and 100 rpm.

The cycle computer had the session as 1 hour covering 23.63 miles with an average speed of 23.6 mph and an amazing maximum speed of 50.6 mph.

The route sheet arrived today for the Gospel Pass Audax on the 27th Feb. It's going to be a tough ride! I hope the weather is good, any sign of ice or snow and I'm going to give it a miss, sliding down a 2000ft mountain on a bike isn't my idea of fun!

9th February 2010

2010-02-09T20:42:00.002Z

Went out for my normal lunchtime walk, this time I remembered to start RunGPS.

I thought I would go for a slightly longer walk and see if I could do 3 miles...I was surprised to find that I was still nearly half a mile short...http://www.gps-sport.net/trainings/walking_228506

I ended up working late...and got home very late...now to tired to play computer games!

I'm now sat in front of the fire watching 'The Spirit' on TV

8th February 2010

2010-02-08T20:35:00.002Z

Considering I was so knackered this morning when I got up at stupid o'clock for work, I ended up getting home full of energy.

I thought it would be a good idea to make up some home made healthy'ish burgers for tea, I made some up and put them in the fridge to 'set', then I got changed - put 'The sufferfest' fight club on and had a VERY tough 45 minutes on the Turbo....

Yes I got the Turbo trainer out, put the spare wheel with training tyre on the bike, jacked the front wheel up with a healthy weight DB2 manual and cranked the resistance up to the 'Pepsi Max'....

I was doing nicely on the TT stretches of the video, when it came to the 'Hills' and I dropped onto the 50/12 I was actually working very hard to maintain 75 rpm.....I was completely fecked after 45 minutes!

The computer had the session as 16.88 miles in 45 minutes with an average speed of 22.5 mph and a max speed of 45.2 mph.

I have been contemplating my lack of hill climbing ability of late and I have realised I dont have a problem :-)...I have been riding a heavy bike with a severe lack of gear range, when I first started using the Peugeot I couldn't make it up a 1:6 hill, now I have no difficulty, I think when I swap back to the summer bike I may well be lethal to the competition :-) ...I hope anyway.

I have a mountain ride planned for the end of the month...(Gospel Pass 150k) I will be taking the Merida so it will be interesting to see how the extra gears help.

7th February 2010

2010-02-07T15:06:00.005Z

Today was the day of the Cycle Club open Audax....the Flapjack 100K.
It was a reasonably early start, I got up at 7:30 sorted myself and the bike out and set of at 8:25 to the Bath Road car park for the 9am kick-off.

(Thank's Paul W for the Photo, from left to right me, Simon W, Richard-'what hill' Buckley, Andy 'im doing fixed' and Dylan S)

We set off at 9, I of course had to be in front! There was a method in my madness, the first climb of the day was the steepest (1:6 Wick Hill) if I got there first I could climb it at my pace and the rest of the Wheelers leading pack would catch up and we could ride on together :-) It worked well :-)

The pace was stonking we were averaging about 19mph, unfortunately we were going too quickly, the first checkpoint at Brinkworth wasn't supposed to open until 10:10, we got there at about 10...

(The Flapjack was great :-)

We were forced to stop, I had my first slice of flapjack of the day and a nice cup of tea :-)

I set off from Brinkworth as part of the lead group but was quickly dropped on the climbs, I almost caught back up at Minety but had to stop at a junction to give way.

It was a very pleasant ride, some of the single track lanes were in fantastic condition, I arrived at the Kemble control a few minutes behind the lead group, and had a fantastic plate of baked beans on toast.

I set of from Kemble with the rest of the guys, and plodded along at my own pace, it appeared that I was the only one that knew the route :-) so I was setting the pace :-)

Some of the roads were absolutely atrocious, dirty and pot holed, but they were nice and quiet :-)
When we got to Sherston we had to stop and find the control!!! I had yet another slice of Flapjack :-)

I set of from Sherston with the lead group and navigated them to Castle Coombe, by which point they knew where they were going, so I let them race on ahead whilst I climbed the hill out of Castle Combe at my own happy pace :-)

I saw the flash of there white tops to the left as I followed the route and they deviated via Giddeahall :-) I ended up getting to the final control a few moments behind them.

At the last control I had my last slice of Flapjack and a cup of tea:-)

It was a fantastic ride, the weather was perfect...some of the roads were 'interesting' - but in many ways that made the ride even more memorable. I think it may be the first ride I have done where I have consumed more calories than I have used!

The Garmin had the ride as 66.27 miles in 4 hours 4 minutes with an average speed of 16.3 mph, route here...

Again Thanks to Paul W for the photies :-)

6th February 2010

2010-02-06T18:33:00.002Z

Got up early and had porridge for breaky, then set of to the Chippenham Cemetery at 9:15 for the 9:30 start of the chain gang.

It was a lovely warm morning and I felt really good and strong :-) It was a northerly wind so the start of the ride was in to wind, but it did mean a tailwind up the Fosse-Way :-(

It was a stonking ride, the fastest round time since October last year :-) 40.81 miles in 2 hours 9 minutes with an average speed of 18.9 mph...Route here...

Ohhh forgot to mention I saw the first Snow Drops of the year last night, and I saw more today, it always makes me happy, in my book its the first sign of spring :-)

Tomorrow is another Audax ride, the Chippenham Wheelers Flapjack 100k , I did the route back in November last year an really enjoyed it, it should be fantastic with other people and some tea and cakes at the control points :-) Unfortunately the weather is looking a bit drab for tomorrow.

5th February 2010

2010-02-05T21:15:00.002Z

Did the normal pub lunch 'Beef and Onion' baguette at the Cape.....just a short walk from work.

When I got home I fitted the new Garmin mount to the Peugeot, got changed then went out for a ride :-)

It was a miracle! I was given an hour and I made it back in an hour.....This NEVER happens! I always get a bit carried away :-)

The Garmin had the ride as 16.14 miles in 1 hour 2 minutes with an average speed of 15.4 mph.

4th February 2010

2010-02-04T19:48:00.001Z

Went for my normal lunchtime walk...

When I got home I had tea, didn't feel like going on the bike..so took dog for a short walk...

3rd February 2010

2010-02-03T21:34:00.003Z

Worked from home today :-)

Didn't move to far all day, my back ended up aching as I had been sitting on my backside all day :-(
After tea I set of for a pre-cycle club ride...

When I got to the cycle club I broke the plastic tang on the Garmin cycle clamp - So I couldnt get the Garmin of the bike.

When I got back home I used a cooking knife and managed to flick the tang down and slide the Garmin off - Wifey ordered me a new one from www.chainreactioncycles.com

The Garmin had today's ride as 23.9 miles in 1 hour 25 minutes with an average speed of 16.7 mph.

I have been considering some of my challenges this year, many may be considered by some to be a serious challenge...

NCR5 (Reading to Holyhead), Heart of England 300 (198 Miles - 1 day), Tour of Wessex etc etc..
I am wondering if I should do one or some of them for charity (Macmillan Cancer Support) ..what do you guys think?

2nd February 2010

2010-02-02T21:03:00.005Z

Night off, played computer games....L4D2 again :-)

Managed to get RunGPS working for my lunch time walk today :-)
http://www.gps-sport.net/trainings/walking_225426

It started me thinking about calorie usage and consumption....
RunGPS reckons I used 277Kcal

I walk to Warwick and normally buy a large salad box
(It is tough to work out the calories in an unlabelled, fill as you wait salad box)
but I reckon its about...

Beetroot 5 Calories
Cucumber 2.5
Carrots 5
Lettuce 3
Onion 3
Tomato 7
Pasta 100
Tuna (Plain no Mayonnaise) 40

I calculated the salad box is about 160Kcal but possibly as much as 250Kcal...It means I use more energy to get and eat the food than I get from the food!

Interestingly the two bananas I eat every day are about 108 calories each!!!

Hmmm I did say to myself I would watch what I eat...not count it in/or get hung up on it.......so no more mentioning of calories, but it was interesting.

My approach for the last couple of years has been simple, eat sensible portions, don't snack, don't take sugar, don't use butter, don't eat crisps, don't buy or eat anything dripping in fat. Now the thought of fatty, greasy, sweet foods make me feel sick...and its nice to eat healthily and feel full with a sensible portion.

The more you eat the more you have to eat to feel full!
The slower you eat the less you have to eat to feel full!

Easy to say, but I still remember the first couple of weeks when I stopped being a fool....I felt hungry all of the time!

Me in 2006

Me now :-)

1st February 2010

2010-02-01T20:26:00.002Z

It took ages to drive to work today :-(

I attempted to use RunGPS to track my lunchtime walk, it failed miserably to pick up a satellite :-(
But I was interested to see how far I actually go, so I traced the route in Gmaps Pedometer and am amazed that I actually walk over 2.5 miles every lunch hour....

When I got home I was in two minds whether to go on the rollers or not, as we planned to have tea a little later, I decided an hour wouldn't hurt.

I set the rollers up and started the Sufferfest video, but the bike just didn't feel right and I was lacking confidence in staying on the rollers :-( ....Its amazing what a week off them has done!

So I gave the bike a once over, I needed to adjust the front dérailleur, then I set the rollers up in the doorway and had a 45 minute session with Epica playing on the MP3 player...I did feel a lot more confident within a few minutes :-)

The computer had the session as 45 minutes with an average speed of 24 mph covering 18.06 miles, I pushed myself very hard for the first 30 minutes, then slowed down and took it reasonably easy for the last 15.

31st January 2010

2010-01-31T16:28:00.004Z

I do sometimes wonder about my sanity...It does not seem quite 'normal' to put the bike in the back of the car for a long ride....and then scrape ice off the windscreen...

It was cold.....VERY cold.....no REALLY....it WAS VERY COLD!!!

0900	-1.6 °C	SSW	6 mph	20 km	1006 hPa, Rising
1000	-0.6 °C	SSW	7 mph	25 km	1006 hPa, Rising
1100	0.0 °C	SW	7 mph	25 km	1006 hPa, Rising
1200	0.7 °C	SSW	6 mph	25 km	1006 hPa, Rising
1300	1.3 °C	SSW	7 mph	30 km	1006 hPa, Rising
1400	2.0 °C	SW	7 mph	30 km	1006 hPa, Falling

I was up at 6:30 and was on the road at 7:30 (the thermometer had it as -2). It was plain sailing getting to Ashton Keynes...finding 'The Bradstone Pavilion' was an entirely different matter, after driving round in ever decreasing circles, I gave in and started Tom Tom on the phone :-)

I parked up dragged the bike out of the car and re-fitted the front wheel and front mudguard and ambled over to the check-in, and had a nice cuppa and a biscuit :-)

I was in two minds to cycle from home to Ashton Keynes, but I didn't fancy the idea of an early morning freeze, but I must have been a wimp...one guy had cycled from Bristol...(at least 30 miles!!), another Guy had cycled from Cirencester (10 miles)and looked like he had hypothermia! (The water had even frozen in his water bottle!)

At 9am we set off :-) The roads were surprisingly ice free....I of course turned it into a race again!!! (I must learn that I don't have to be in the front)

It was quite a nice SW wind blowing and the initial pace was very nice.....I ended up hooking onto the back wheel of a local guy who knew the route and was holding a very reasonable pace (18-19 mph)

I ended up taking the lead a little and opened up a gap, at about 25 miles I saw the guy in front of me go down heavily on some ice...I opted for the stopping and walking approach! I warned the guys following and they followed my approach.

After the ice we re-grouped and the local knowledge was back in the lead :-) The first sign in was at 30 miles...We opted to not hang around (The idea of stopping and getting cold was not appealing) - I should have picked up some food though...in my rush to set of in the morning I forgot to pack any bars or gel's :-(

From the control we headed NW through Witney to Crawley....then we turned into wind and followed the Windrush Valley...It was very interesting and a little alarming to be cycling through places that I see signposted on my way to and from work.

At 48 miles we stopped at the Fox Inn at Great Barrington for the last Control (I was starting to feel a little hungry) but stopping for a meal in a pub was not really an option I would have cooled down to much and would have been in real trouble. Besides it was only 20 miles to the end - and there was food and drink waiting for me :-)

I set off promptly from the Inn, I was passed by the Cornium CC guys who flew past me up the hill as if I was standing still! I held a reasonably good pace heading south into wind, catching up and overtaking one of the guys who was dropped by Cornium peleton..

As Ashton Keynes drew closer I was starting to feel stronger and my speed picked up, I almost went sailing past the Bradstone Pavilion entrance.

It was a really nice friendly ride and I really enjoyed it, it was excellent to be in completely unknown territory :-) I think I may adapt the route a little for a summer excursion from home...

The Garmin had today's ride as 66.87 miles in 4 hours 26 minutes with an average speed of 15.1 mph, route here...

I felt really happy with my performance today, I was holding my own on a heavy steel bike, some of these guys were on lightweight carbon frames, the Cornium CC guys only arrived back 10 minutes ahead of me :-)

Ohhh a number of compliments were made about the Peugeot on the ride as well, it was remarked on the good condition and how well it had been maintained :-)

As it is the end of the month it is time to publish the monthly stats...(Real road miles only!)

Count:	13 Activities
Distance:	576.48 mi
Max Distance:	87.92 mi
Time	37:34:53 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:	19,482 ft
Max Elevation Gain	4,319 ft
Avg Speed:	15.3 mph
Max Speed:	40.2 mph
Calories:	41,534 C

Not too shabby considering the weather, if you include the rollers (294.75 miles) the months mileage is up to 871.71 miles :-)

30th January 2010

2010-01-30T17:39:00.004Z

As I am getting up early and travelling off for a cycle ride (Audax at Ashton Keynes) it was not particularly appropriate for me to rush out first thing on my bike this morning! So I didn't go out on the Chain Gang, wifey n me went out for a walk with Rosie (dog) instead...

The plan was to drive over to the Savernake Forest, go for a jolly long energetic march (My idea not wifey's) then stop in Marlborough on the way home for a nice warming brunch, and as soon as we hit home I could get changed and race out on the bike for an hour or three :-)

Rosie however was being a complete pain in the arse...so we stopped at West Woods instead.

Redbikes had me thinking about GPS software for phones, I have a paid up and valid licence for RunGPS. It was my original choice for cycle tracking and navigation (but I couldn't sort out the battery life/recharge cycle to suite the requirements for JOGLE) but I do a lot of walking as well as cycling so I thought I would put the software to use to track my walking distance...
We walked 2.5 miles and it was freezing cold! Although it was worth it as we saw two lots of deer :-) ...you can see the RunGPS trace here...

When we got back home I had a lovely bacon sarnie, and then set about making a traditional Bolognese for tea...(Interestingly it uses milk and white wine in the ingredients)- I kept the garlic but dropped the star anise and only used two sticks of celery (Celery is minging in my opinion!)

At 1 I finally managed to set of on my cycle ride :-)

I headed of on the Chain Gang route...with a few added hills and a little further distance :-) I did take the Action Cam, as I wanted to record the hills.....but as the camera is always level with the bike and both wheels are always on the ground...all hills look level....(I must build some sort of self levelling jig to mount the camera on)

I was really quite pleased with myself, I was holding a reasonable 15-16 mph into some reasonably strong winds.

1300	1.5 °C	NNW	11 mph	50 km	1002 hPa, Rising
1400	2.1 °C	WNW	11 mph	50 km	1003 hPa, Rising
1500	1.7 °C	NW	11 mph	40 km	1003 hPa, Rising
1600	1.8 °C	NW	8 mph	45 km	1003 hPa, Rising
1700	0.2 °C	NW	6 mph	40 km	1004 hPa, Rising

I was also quite pleased that I didn't venture out on the chain gang, even after a mornings worth of sun on the roads, there were still some 'interesting' patches of ice.

There was a nice tail wind up the Fosse-Way, the journey back to Corsham was nice and quick, the computer had the average speed at 16 mph for the 38 miles (Over the last couple of weeks the chain gang has been doing an average of just over 17 mph - So it was a good pace for a solo)

I decided that as things were going well I would continue on the extended route instead of returning back home directly :-)

The tailwind pushed me up Gastard Hill and I had a nice fast ride into Melksham, I was quite pleased to pull off the main road and start heading cross country at Seend, unfortunately I was now heading uphill into a headwind :-( I was still able to hold a reasonable pace, only scrubbing a few MPH off the average, by the time I got to the top of the hill at Sandy Lane I was only down to 15.8 mph Av and it was all down hill home :-)

The Garmin had today's ride as 56.43 miles in 3 hours 31 min with an average speed of 16 mph, route here...

I was feeling a little bit down about how poor my cycling had gotten, I was starting to find almost everything a struggle, but today I had a really good ride, I can start to see some of the summer performance :-)....I have to consider its colder, the bike is heavier, the tyres are grippier, its windier, I am wearing more kit, the road conditions are worse.....oh and I may not have been giving my body time to recover...(There may be a bit of truth in the recovery time is as important as the exercise time)

29th January 2010

2010-01-29T21:19:00.005Z

Another night off :-)

I have been tinkering with http://ridewithgps.com (Thanks Chas) for planning and saving my routes (since bikehike has stopped saving)..

It is almost exactly what I am looking for, a very sleek interface and very quick, it is also allows uploading and analysis of Garmin data - The only down side so far is lack of Open Cycle Map support...But I guess I cant have everything!

I have sorted out a route for tomorrow

The Audax (Windrush Winter Warmer) route for Sunday looks interesting :-) - It takes a fair time to convert a route sheet into a Garmin map...Especially if you dont know the roads!

I am looking forwards to getting back out on the bike over the weekend :-)

-----Update----
The White Horse Challenge entry is now open :-) So I have entered :-)

28th January 2010

2010-01-28T19:42:00.001Z

As I felt so good riding last night, the laying off the bike plan has obviously worked, so I am actually staying of the bike again!!!

Normal service will resume over the weekend and next week :-)

I am spending some quality time vegetating in front of the TV and sorting the route sheets out for the forthcoming Audax's.

27th January 2010

2010-01-27T21:46:00.004Z

Worked from home today :-)

Took one look outside at lunch time and the inner wimp shivered at the cold, so I turned around and went back to work in front of the fire...

After tea I got changed into multiple layers and heade of for a quick 20 mile then headed on to the cycle club. It felt REALLY good to be back on the bike after a couple of days off :-)

I wonder if the performance improvement I felt was down to....The clean bike, the re-greased wheel bearings, the couple of days off, the weather? I suspect its a little bit of all of it...

I haven't been able to upload the route or have a look at the stats for tonight as Garmin connect is being pants again! (Garmin Edge a great bit of kit let down by a) - The over priced maps (I make my own from Open Street Map) , b) - unreliable web service, c) - crap routing software).. I will upload the stats as soon as I can but it was about 22 miles with an average speed of 17 mph and a time of 1 hour 20 ish

I still intend to stay off the bike for the next couple of days, and take it easy on Saturday.

---Update---
I have now uploaded the route and...
23.91 miles in 1 hour 24 min with an average speed of 16.9 mph, route here...

Ohhhhh the bike stayed reasonably clean as well :-)

26th January 2010

2010-01-26T21:28:00.005Z

Night Off...Played Computer games :-)

L4D2 again :-)

I have been listening to Epica's new album "Design your Universe" for the past couple of weeks commuting...the songs seem to get better the more I listen....

25th January 2010

2010-01-25T21:14:00.012Z

I felt knackered all day :-(

The stretching of the legs on the lunchtime walked helped a little, but I think I should take it easy this week...I have a 100k Audax on Sunday (Not to far) and I want to enjoy it...

So instead of going on the rollers/going out for a ride, I noticed yesterday that the rear wheel bearings had a little play in them so I thought I would have a look at them....(The peugeot has maintainable bearings)

And for your boredom I photographed the ordeal :-)

Start of with the wheel off the bike...

With a flat spanner holding the inner nut undo the outer nut....

Then unscrew the inner race...revealing one side of bearings....Ohh they look a little dry :-(
Remove the shaft...

Count out the bearings.....nine....and clean and inspect them.

Then take out the other side bearings..and clean and inspect them.

Clean and inspect both outer races...

Pack with grease (I use a lithium based grease - some people mix with teflon/silicon grease to help resist water washout)

Put the bearings back in, the grease holds them in place :-)

Put the shaft back through and re screw on the inner race and the lock nut...dont over-tighten...dont leave it to loose...It should be tight enough to have no play but loose enough so that there is no resistance to turn.

Because the rear bearings were a little dry, I went on and serviced the front wheel bearings as well :-)

And as I was tinkering I sorted out the front shifter (It's not a modern thing but a simple down-tube leaver)...it was a little stiff so I stripped it down and applied a little light oil on it :-) Now its well smooth :-)

The plan this week is to stay of the bike Mon/Tues and Thurs/Fri...I may go for a short ride on Wednesday to the cycle club meeting (Although if there's any sign of bad weather I'm not taking any bikes out! they are all to clean!), I am going to give the ChainGang a miss this Saturday and go for a short afternoon ride instead...Then Sunday is the Audax :-)

24th January 2010

2010-01-24T18:02:00.027Z

I had planned a reasonably long ride today, long enough to get some miles in - but short enough to have an afternoon with the family....

After faffing around a bit I eventually got going at just gone 9 (Only about an hour later than I planned!)

The plan was to head cross country to the Bath - Bristol cycle way, then head of on route 10 down to Chew Magna lake, do a once round the lake then head back home cross country....simple!

Unfortunately I underestimated the slight head wind, the condition of the unclassified roads and the amount of climbing involved! (I was also a bit wary when I set off as it was only just above freezing - and there was a small amount of ice on the surface)

It was a gorgeous clear morning, with clear blue skies....Until I got near Bath...

And I started cycling in to some cold fog.....It did get very dense...
It was amazing when I broke through the top of the cloud, it made some nice photies...You can see all of the cloud in the valley...

When I got to Bath, instead of heading straight of in to the city centre I decided to follow the canal instead...

It was a mixed blessing, nice to be on the flat and level, but the surface is a little ruff, and I only have 700x 23c tyres....

Now the plan was to video the ride down the Bath-Bristol cycleway..it is superb...a really good quick surface and wide enough to allow cyclists both ways and walkers!...But the plan didn't work (I forgot to delete the old garbage from the memory card...and it was full)

I also started to realise that my plan for a quick morning ride was going very badly awry....I had been going for over an hour n half....and I hadn't even done 20 miles :-(

For all of the compliments I have for NCR4 (Well the Bristol-Bath bit anyway!) Route 10 is a completely different kettle of fish...the last time I went down it, it was bad.....this time it was dangerous! The pot holes were lethal! and there was so much loose gravel that it was interesting to stay up-right.

I did have to stop and take the obligatory photograph of the Pensford viaduct (Long since fallen out of use)

It was then more ups and downs to Chew Magna......

I was really starting to feel fatigued at Chew....I had a Torq energy gel and a Cereal Bar, just as I was leaving a group of fast cyclists went by.....So I gave chase...

Hmmmm they were very fast! I never actually caught them up....(my excuses are...I had already done nearly 40 tough miles, I was on my heavy winter bike, they were riding in a group....etc..etc..etc)

At least I turned from a head wind into a tail wind....I was also on some faster main roads....

That was until my planned route sent me cross country again (Generally as I am sure you already know..as the standard of road goes down the gradient goes up!) At least I now know I can make it up 25% hills on the Peugeot!

The 25% was just after the above photo....

Just after Monkton Coombe (and an awful lot more ups and downs) I headed back on to a canal path.

Things had been taking rather longer than planed, when I got to Bradford on Avon, I had a check on the saddle bag finances (I always carry £5 in change), unfortunately the last time I tucked into the bag, I didn't top it up afterwards, I was down to a pound... :-(

So the idea of stopping at the canal side pub in Bradford to eat (and possibly have a nice pint of cider!) disappeared.....I had no choice but to continue on home...

I dived off the canal path at the Cross Keys pub, and headed on to the B3109 and thankfully the last REAL climb of the day.

I headed back down the country roads to Great Chalfield and Atworth....

And then finally 5 and a half hours after setting off I made it back home....The Idea of spending an afternoon at home disappeared in the revolution of some pedals...

The Garmin had the ride as 72.29 miles in 5 hours 35 minutes with an appalling average speed of 12.9 mph (But there was over 4000 ft of climbing!), route here...

That was all very nice...apart from the grime from the country roads,cycle paths and canal tow paths had turned into grinding paste and was all over the bike.....so instead of sitting down and relaxing I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the bike :-(

And here is an explanation of why it takes me 2 hours plus to clean the bike....

The most important part to clean properly is the chain....never put fresh oil on a dirty chain..the oil will carry the grime into the chain and it will turn into a grinding paste....

I use a KMC missing link chain, it means I can take the chain off easily, and it's the ONLY way to clean the chain properly!

I put the chain into an old Gatorade bottle with some White Spirit and give it a shake, leaving it soaking whilst I clean the rest of the bike...

The frame gets a good clean with the wheels removed (I always use car shampoo, normally wash n wax - never use washing up liquid...it contains salt)

After the frame,brakes, dérailleurs have all been given a good clean, I spray some light oil on the dérailleurs, then a couple of drops of 3 in 1 on the brake pivots and the dérailleur parallel pins.

Then I start on the front wheel...

Cleaning the tyres, rims, spokes and hubs.

Then the Back wheel..

I start by removing the cassette

It gets cleaned in a tub using the white spirit that cleaned the chain.

The cassette and chain then get wiped dry with a cloth..in the summer they get left in the sun to dry, in the winter they get put in front of the fire to dry.

The jockey wheels in the rear dérailleur then get a good looking at, today they were very dirty and obviously lacked any grease in the bearings...so they were removed and cleaned in the white spirit....the bearings and caps got a good squeeze of silicon grease.

The rear cassette is the re-assembled and the rear wheel fitted.

Then the chain is re-fitted wiped down, dry lube applied, I keep the chain turning as the ethanol carrier evaporates, then the external lube gets wiped off.

I then apply a little 3 in 1 to the cable runs...

Then 2 hours later its all done.......ready to get dirty again!

23rd January 2010

2010-01-23T15:41:00.002Z

Got up and changed straight in to cycle gear...

I was not sure about going out on the chain gang this morning after experiencing all of the flood water yesterday.....but after the mammoth blow-out meal last night I HAD to go out!

Considering it took nearly 2 hours to clean the bike last night it was a shame that it was dirty within 10 minutes :-(

I started off ok, but as the ride went on I started to find it really hard work....Indoor training is great for spinning but does NOT help with the real world load...

As the ride drifted on I ended up sitting on the back....In my justification it was a fast ride...and I was on a heavy steel bike!

The Garmin had the ride as 40.86 miles in 2 hours 15 minutes with an average speed of 18.1 mph and a maximum speed of 29.7 mph, route here...

I'm trying to plan my ride for tomorrow, I usually use bikehike...but the site no longer allows saving so I have been looking for some alternatives...The best so far seems to be bikeroutetoaster
but I am having issues with it timing out :-(

I suppose I will find something suitable soon.....shame as I did like bikehike...

22nd January 2010

2010-01-22T22:54:00.003Z

Went out for evening meal, it was fantastic...Haddock in Cider Batter :-)

I'm stuffed now....

When I got back home I brought the VERY dirty Peugeot indoors and gave it a good clean and oil ready for the weekends use....

I think I take too long doing the bike cleaning chores....started at 9pm only just finished and its nearly 11pm...

21st January 2010

2010-01-21T21:09:00.004Z

It's wifey's night out, so when I got in from work I had evening meal straight away...

I faffed around for half an hour or so to let the food settle, then I got changed and had a quick hour on the rollers :-)

It was another 'Fight Club' session but I finished of the last 10 minutes with a middle bit of 'Downward Spiral' :-)

The computer had the session as 1 hour with an average speed of 25.4 mph covering a total distance of 25.46 miles...

I have now done a totally mad 12.5 hours on the rollers this year....I may have to clean the bike(s) tomorrow evening because I refuse to do more miles on the trainer than I do outside!