I am still in love with my new bike!   It is ace!

I have done just over 140 miles so far this week, 130+ of them on the new bike.  It still seems like a very upright position, but then again, that is what I asked for.  I did a 20 mile ride Thursday, easy pace, pint of beer half way, and it was comfortable all the way.

I think my hands are too small to be really comfortable with STI.  I can change to the smaller sprockets fairly easily.  But I can't change up very well.

I am going to get a Carradice Barley saddlebag.  I have two Nelson Longflap bags, one on my Pompino and an old tatty one that I've put on the Hewitt temporarily.  I really like the Carradice bags and don't seem to suffer from problems that others have re their thighs hitting the bag or the angle being wrong.  The Nelson is great for going to work, I get my butty box, change of clothes and some bits of stuff in easily, but for a general day ride it is too big.  The Barley is about half the size, but still has the side pockets which I use one for tools, tube etc and one for a folding bag, emergency light and lock.

We did another long (for me!) ride today, about 55 miles out to Chipping and Dunsop Bridge.  It was a glorious day, sun shining and a gentle breeze.  We got to the cafe at Dunsop Bridge at lunch time and sat in the garden, eating bacon and egg on toast, tea cakes, lemon cake and drinking tea.  Joe and Ian recounted tales from the road from their Land's End to John o'Groats trip.

I am knackered, but still pleased with the new bike.

Cheers

TIm

After a poor start, I seem to have had another pretty good week.  In fact my best week's mileage this year at 126 miles.

Seeing as I have a stinky cold as well, it is good.  I went out Thursday evening for a 20 miler with K.  We stopped at the Plough for something to eat and ordered a toasted sandwich each, me chicken, him beef and onions.  When they came they were whoppers.  The beef and onions was about 2 inches thick.

I was starting to feel a bit iffy on the way home and woke up Friday with a sore throat.  It didn't really develop into anything til Saturday evening when I started coughing and sneezing lots.  I had a really bad nights sleep. 

I had planned a long ride this morning.  Karl and Simon came round early but I didn't really feel like going too far or too much climbing.  So we set out on a flat ride, with an option of some hills if I felt up to it.  We rode out into a steady wind, which seemed to be a head wind no matter which way the road went.  We ended up at Scorton for a cup of tea and a tea cake at the Proiry.  This is a bit of a cycling mecca.  The pictures on the web site are of quiet days.  There must have been 100 bikes outside this morning.  Cycling clubs have been meeting there for a hundred years!

At Scorton, we decided to head for home.  How come, despite riding in the opposite direction to what we had done all morning, the wind was still in our faces?  Eventually, I got home after 45 miles of snot and sweat.  I have been knackered all afternoon, but still managed to ride out for a pint before tea.

CHEERS

Tim

So, last weekend was my furthest ride (70 miles) for a long time, at least two if not three years.  And hard, 1500m of steep hard climbing.  So this weekend I planned to take it easy.  Then Karl sent out an email to the Core Team asking if we were up for a ride.

The plan soon became a road ride this morning.  Out to Chipping and through the Trough of Bowland, with a bail out option for Karl and me at Chipping.

Weather was good, warm, cloudy, and not much wind.  We set out at a steady pace.  Joe had my panniers on as a final shake down for his Land’s End to John O’Groats ride next week.  To make it more real, he had a full box of 50 Go energy bars in one pannier.  Ian was on his brand new Independent Fabrications touring bike, again in readiness for LeJog.  It is a cool bike, cream with red lettering, red Chris King headset and hubs, Brookes leather bar tape, Swift honey saddle.  Angry bees Chris King hub sound every time he free wheeled.

We got to Chipping in fairly short order, despite one of Joe’s panniers jamming in his spokes.  Eventually he took it off and shoved it in the other, newer and better pannier.  At Chipping we had a decision, do we carry on round the Trough or head back.  I was feeling OK and decided to carry on.

Dunsop Bridge came up pretty quickly and a stop for tea and tea cakes in the sunshine.  Then we set off to Marshaw and Boundary Hill.  Several miles of steep!  Although I stopped a few times, I rode it all and faster than last week. 

Then it was back to Scorton and a zig zag through the lanes to Myerscough and the familiar roads home.

Total distance 65 miles, so not quite the leisurely spin I had intended, but it was good to be out with the guys again.

Cheers

Tim

Whilst I ride my bike a lot, at least three or four times per week, recently I haven't been riding very far.  My main riding is to work and back, between 6 and 8 miles each way depending on the route I take.  On top of that Jayne and I have been doing a short 10 - 15 mile loop out in the countryside to the north of town.  My longest rides in recent years have been the occasional 20 - 25 mile mountain bike ride.  And by occasional, I really mean occasional.  My mountain bike hasn't moved for at least a year.

Going back about 10 years we had a regular evening ride, where we would meet at the Plough after riding between 5 and 10 miles each.  From there we would ride out to Chipping or Slaidburn or somewhere similar, have a pint in the local pub and ride back to the Plough for another pint then home.  Average distance 50 miles.  Then we cut the ride down a bit, only going to Beacon Fell or Scorton, before heading back to the Plough for maybe two pints.  Average distance 30 miles or so.  Then, as the group dispersed, we'd ride to the Plough, do a quick spin through the lanes and back for three or four pints and home, average distance maybe 20 miles tops.  Recently, the group has dwindled to Karl and I and the Friday night ride is to the Villa on the way home, quick pint or two and home, no more than 7 miles for me, less for Karl.

So, when a colleague and member of the local Tri Club sent out an email advertising their spring Sportif, 100K or 100 Mile distances, I rallied the troops and we signed up for the 100K.  Now this is at least 50K further than I have ridden in at least two years and maybe three or four!  I thought I would have time to train a bit.  I thought my new bike (with its triple chainset and low gears) might be ready.  I was wrong on both counts.  Apart from the aforementioned 10 - 15 mile loops with Jayne, the only longer ride I did was the other weekend with my youngest.

He is hoping to go to the local agricultural college to study small animal husbandry, interview on Wednesday.  By local, I mean about 10 miles away.  Whilst there is a bus, we have suggested he might ride in occasionally.  So the other weekend, when I was trying to fit in at least one training ride longer than 15 miles, I suggested to him we ride out and see how he fared.  On his mountain bike, wearing the typical Goth/Emo black jeans, black t-shirt, black hoodie, black suede shoes, we set off with a howling tail wind.  Despite the inappropriate dress, we got there in about 40 minutes.  On turning round, we were nearly knocked flat by the wind, so instead of heading straight back, we took a longer zigzagging route, trying to keep in the shadow of the hedgerows.  After limited success, we arrived home just ahead of the rain and 22 miles logged, my furthest single leg ride this year!

I set out in the afternoon to do a bit more, but 5 miles down the road, my ancient rear tyre exploded and I did the call of shame.  That was it, my longest training ride done.  I spent Monday/Tuesday in Switzerland and rode to work Wed - Fri.  My training was over.  I tried to cry off on Friday, stating that I had to drive the 200 miles to Bristol Sunday afternoon and couldn't possibly ride 100K in the morning as well.  It cut no ice with either my wife or my riding buddies.

So, 7:30 Sunday I was ready with my bike, my SIS energy drinks, fig rolls (fig newton's maybe in the US?), muesli bars, Fat Cyclist shirt etc ready for Karl to pick me up.  Eventually, Karl and Alison arrived at about 8:20.  Karl's pre race night regime of beer and Rose wine had scuppered an early start, whereas my regime of Erdinger Dunkel, La Trappe Dubbel, and Chimay Red had created my own internal alarm clock!

We signed on and went to see who else was there.  Amazingly, the whole Core Team was there.  As well as Karl, Alison and myself, there was Simon, Joe, Ian and Derek.  We milled around waiting (mainly for Ian!!) chatting with Paul Hewitt, race mechanic, provider of most of our bikes and proprietor of the shop where both my Audax bike and our tandem refurb are being done.  Nice guy, never smiles!

Out from the start, it was obvious that there was the fast group and the more than slightly hung over group.  After about 2 miles we hit the first hill and the fast guys disappeared.  Ian tried to hover between the two groups, before powering off to the lead group leaving Karl, Alison and me.  Then he returned to our group saying the others were pressing on.  We took it easy.  The outward 40 miles were pretty much straight into wind.  Longridge, Chipping and out to Chaigley went fairly easily, although any up hill was a bit of a struggle.  Then we came to the down hill into Chaigley.  I swept past Ian at quite a pace and he chucked it in the big ring to give chase.  Unfortunately, half way down, we swung right to climb Birdy Brow, 2 miles of 1 in 5 and a bit of a killer with numerous false summits.  Ian wasn't helped by being in the big ring and eventually had to pull over and drop gears.  I didn't help Alison and me, who were struggling big time.  We rode all the way but had several stops for breath.  At the top we had to scent mark the rocks, convinced that Simon would already have done the same earlier.

A fast and furious drop took us eventually into Whalley and the feed station.  We were dead last!  After topping up on sausage rolls, Madeira cake, malt loaf and sundry other goodies, and discussing the relative merits of a straighter or curvier banana re pocket security, we set off again.

The next big climb was the Nick O Pendle. A brutal mile plus 1 in 4 climb, fortunately with the wind, but still needing several breather/vomit/heart attack stops.  Unfortunately the side winds were so vicious that a high speed descent was out of the question, topping out at about 38mph.  Finally we were heading North West and had our backs to the wind.  Good job really as the climb over Waddington Fell was relentless.  Nowhere near as steep as the previous climbs, it was still hard.  I could see some riders up front and was heartened to see that I was very slowly reeling them in.  Until I realised they were walking, and had been all the time I'd had them in sight.  Eventually we overtook them and started to swooping descent to Dunsop Bridge.  Top speed was a bit low due to the unpredictable winds, but topped out at about 45mph.

Dunsop Bridge marked the lat big climb of the day, Boundary Hill.  Just as we started, the rain that had threatened all day began.  Then got heavier, and rained all the way up and over.  My speedo stops registering under 3mph.  For several passages, it read I, i.e. less than 3mph!  I was riding slower than I could walk.  Over the top and we were faced with 5 or so miles of wet slippery descending.  We kept it easy, under 30mph, but the satisfaction of covering the miles again was huge.

At this point it was obvious that the 100K (62 miles) was somewhat of an underestimate.  We had at least 15 miles to go and had already done 50 miles.  We linked up with two guys we'd been passing and repassing for a while.  Ian and the stronger of the two guys did a Jens Voigt and dragged us along for about 10 miles at 18-20mph.  Eventually the elastic snapped and we fragmented again. The final 5 miles was run off at a leisurely 12-15mph, although it felt a lot harder.

We finished having done 70 miles in about 6 hours 15 minutes.  I am shattered.  This is 3 times further than I've ridden this year, the furthest I've ridden for about three years and the hardest thing certainly for the last three years. 

It was good though.  I enjoyed riding with Ian and Karl and Alison, who really are my core team.  We never saw Derek, Joe and Simon after that first climb.  Apparently, Derek and Joe dropped Simon on the last climb.

After getting home, having a cup of tea and a shower, I set of to drive 200 mile down to Bristol.  After a long soak and several of the Belgian Recovery Drinks (from Leffe) I am almost back to normal.

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Let’s see if I can get out of bed tomorrow!

Cheers

Tim