What a difference a week makes or...has Spring unsprung?

Weather wise this week has come as a bit of a shock. Okay so the week before was probably the freak weather for the UK in April. However, after having the world's biggest ironing pile due to the Queen of Cakes getting her entire summer collection back out, I really wasn't expecting to be sat writing my blog with the heating on and the log burner alight.

Also in contrast to last week it was mostly back to the rollers on workdays. Some people find indoor training boring but I'm not one of those people. I do tend to mix it up with intervals or by setting myself challenges but apart from that I'm just happy to sit and peddle.

Look no hands

On Friday SuperSam and I headed to Leicester for an evening on the new college circuit.

Ready to roll

The main aim of the evening was a training session for the older cyclones who are competing in the Silverstone 9up. It was also a chance for the dad's to have a go on the circuit. I know I've written about it before but this is the first time I've been able to get in a good few full laps. The surface is possibly smoother even than Silverstone Motor circuit. The lack of any road hazards means that a consistent pace is easier to maintain. I'm sure I could easily achieve an average in excess of 20mph on this circuit. My good cycling friend Andy Brown led the training session and the kids worked very hard. The Dad's did a near perfect demonstration of how not to: "team time trial!"

My weekend's cycling was at the mercy of a report deadline I have for Monday which means I definitely have to sacrifice a day off. The weather forecast was awful but when I saw the proposed route for Saturday's C&D Cycles CC group ride my mind was made up. As the route came through Rothwell and due to a late night I decided to join the ride in my home town. 

This was the start of frankly a calamity of errors. It was freezing cold and pouring with rain so I was in full winter kit. It's always more difficult to clip in with over shoes on so I didn't worry at first when I couldn't get my left foot in. Then I also couldn't clip in on the right...at this point I discovered I was not wearing my new road shoes but I had my cyclocross shoes on!!!!

Which are which???

A frantic change ensued with the added panic that I might be late for the ride! Come on though, you have to admit they're very similar looking. Fortunately I made the market square with a few minutes to spare and joined the group as they came through Rothwell. On the shoes...they're just what I needed and more great service and value from C & D Cycles.

The reason I was looking forward to this ride is because I spotted a couple of good hills we don't ride up often...OH MY GOD...I have changed! Normally the highlight of the route for me would be the superfast downhill between Sibbertoft and Theddingworth. However today I was excited about the uphills and specifically the 14% grind known as "Mill Hill Murder!"

This sign does not lie

The weather had clearly put a number of people off so we were in one mixed group. Naturally in such a group, a hill of this lung busting reputation meant a wait at the top for the faster riders. After taking possibly a world record 'comfort break,' the cold started to get to Pete. No matter though he has a special dance for such situations, which is where he went wrong really...he needed winter tights!

There is no scientific evidence this will warm you up

We were delayed setting off from the top of the hill by Ian's wet cold gloves which wouldn't get back on his hands! We rolled off slowly but no one came a long the road so we went back to discover Ian had a bigger problem. There was something wedged in his chain rings which all of our combined efforts just could not budge. Meanwhile Pete started to suffer at worrying levels.

Never a good sight!

Richard G managed to move what ever it was to a point where Ian was happy to carry on. In fact as helpful people of the day go Richard G definitely wins first prize...more to come! The road from there through to Lubenham (near Market Harborough,) is fantastic fast riding. I enjoyed it thoroughly but for others the cold and wet was starting to demoralise. Going this way meant we joined East Farndon Hill at a different place to usual. We still had to ride the majority of the climb though and I wanted to test myself again. So I'm really pleased to say this was one of my handful of PR's for the day. At the top of the hill, someone had a puncture...it was Ian AGAIN! I have no idea what he's done to offend the Gods of cycling but...repent Ian, repent!

N on this occasion can be seen to equal 4

Luckily for Ian, who had just discovered his saddlepack was not present, help was at hand. That 'love them or hate them,' item contained things you might consider essential, like levers, tubes etc. He did however have C02 so at least inflation would be quick. As I said earlier Richard G was the most useful person of the day and even pulled the thorn that caused the puncture out with his teeth! At this point we need to discuss the following equation for determining...how many C&D cycles riders does it take to change an innertube? The answer is N+5. Where N is the number on any given day to ensure the necessary collection of equipment and expertise to complete the job and the + 5 is how many are required to stand around taking the mickey! N is an unknown variable but the + 5 collection of piddle takers is mandatory.

Whilst all of this was happening, Pete started to look incredibly cold again, so we decided to split the group. Then Marcus also started to look poorly so we split the group even further. As our experts neared completion the incredibly handy CO2 was administered...the tyre promptly popped off the rim! With all the CO2 gone the tyre was refitted and then a relay of pumpers got it up to pressure. Finally we were on our way!

We were heading home via the shortest route on roads with an excess of standing water. However we were actually making good time when Graham and then Steve slammed into a crater of a pothole. Steve was alright but a few yards later Graham had a flat!

N + 5 all over again!

Having had some practise earlier I'd say that we were almost slick for this change. Heather had to lend Graham a tube because Ian had already borrowed Graham's. At this point I recalled how helpful Ian had been to me during a 120 mile sportive when it was my turn to puncture. My levers were useless that day and just for good measure I stood on his by accident, breaking it in half! The next time we met we had bought each other new levers without any prior discussion. That's cyclists for you, we will take the mickey but we also look after each other!

So was today a rubbish ride? Well not for me! I'm absolutely shattered but I would do it all again (not tomorrow though, that report really does need writing!) I do feel very sorry for Andy back at C & D Cycles who was waiting for us with cake. I was never going back to the shop but I guess most of the others had planned to do so. However we were all so cold and wet that everyone just wanted to get home. WE WILL make it up to you Andy!

My highlights from around the world of cycling this week include news of extreme athlete Sean Conway who is attempting to break the recorded for an unsupported ride across Europe. Follow his progress here!

Okay that's it for now.

Happy Pedaling

The most wonderful week of road cycling!

It really has been fantastic to make use of the better weather this week and get out for four really great road rides. I've already blogged about Tuesday so I'll just do the last three today. Before I get going I just want to say a massive thanks to our club leader Andy Ferguson for planning the "week of rides." It really was a genius idea, with a combined attendance for the week of nearly 100 riders.

Thursday night was a bit last minute with regards to planning as we needed to plot a route to avoid all the clubs out on Time Trials. We like to get on with the neighbours so taking a group ride through a TT was not something we wanted to inflict on anyone.

It was a stunning evening, more like June or July than April at the end of a hot dry day. There was a good sized group of us out and it felt just great to be messing about on bikes with my mates new and old.

It's been a theme for a couple of weeks that my legs felt absolutely great. I am absolutely determined not to let this level of fitness slip. I'm also determined not to forget the ethos of the club that no one gets left behind!

Lord Vader, the undisputed King of C&D!

Glynn and his amazing tattoo

 Riding highlights for Thursday include crossing the Holcot causeway and zooming along that lovely run into Loddington. The riding lowlight is that we ended up losing each other as a group with around 2/3rds taking a wrong turn. Eventually we all got back together but that's always a pain on a road ride.

There's my beautiful Giant Propel in an equally beautiful sunset. Just like on Tuesday I was absolutely buzzing by the time I got home. I also hatched my plan regarding socks. I have always ridden wearing trainer socks, because I like them. I constantly get comments from others about my lack of sock, I've been nicknamed the 'sockwomble,' and they quote velominati at me: Socks should be like Goldilocks...not too long not too short! What my cycling friends don't know is that I like socks, I have lots of socks and due to many factors I'm about to unleash full sockage!

On Saturday morning I arrived at C&D Cycles for the traditional Saturday morning shop ride. Initially I was like the bloke from the Subway advert and opted for the safe 'meatball marinara,' of the banter bunch and then just like that fast food hero I decided NO, today I will go for the beef and cheese or in this case the fast group (Richard fact: I have never had a subway.)

I knew the route would be good when I looked at it the night before and committed it to memory because I don't own a navigation device. This one was easy for me to remember because I have a mostly visual memory and knowing the roads well I could see the route in my mind. I was particularly looking forward to testing my new found legs on a couple of hills, but the main event was Hazelbech Hill which featured in last year's Women's tour. It does in fact still have names of riders painted on the road. I might be lighter and fitter but that hill still hurts. 

Due to the weather lots of people were out and about. In addition to us lycra loonies there was also a lot of walkers, joggers and horse riders. We learned from some of those horse riders that they want us to be noisy when approaching horses. That might seem counter-intuitive but the ladies on the dobbins told us that the horses are less likely to be spooked by us if they can hear us! 

Something much much worse than Pete Squires suggestively eating a banana happened at the top of the hill. Poor Mark got in a right pickle with his banana and the generously shared around jelly beans. Both his banana and a handful of beans ended up on the floor! The three second rule was applied to the beans, then it was extended and then totally ignored. The banana however remained on the floor!

Once the excitement of dropped food had subsided, attention shifted to Bruce's magnificent new steed. The wheels alone are stunning. Bike envy spread like the plague as we had a really good look at this spectacular Cervelo. 

On the way back to the shop w had a practise go at chain ganging. This is alien to the club because we traditionally pass on the right rather than let people through on the inside. It's also dangerous if the whole group doesn't know what's going on. We made it work though and had some great speed at times.

Because I needed to go back to the shop I stayed with the group through Rothwell and up Bunker Hill for the second time in the day. It's a much better climb on warm legs! My reason for going back to the shop was that I need new cycling shoes. More on that later! It was really nice to have one of those splendid Ice coffees before I headed home.

So what about the sock thing? Well the picture above is from last Sunday when I ripped my ankle open yet again on a bramble. It's time I leaned that lesson, trainer socks are for trainers. Longer socks are needed for cycling to protect ankles from this sort of thing. I've always thought that socks and shorts look silly...we're in lycra with a helmet on...it's impossible to look more ridiculous! Therefore I am going to wear proper socks from now on!

The socks above are from a sexual health promotion! They say: "put a sock on it!" The only way you can get them is to take a Chlamydia test! The sexual health team are not interested in testing the over 25s so I had to make a bargain with them. They let me have a pair for promoting the test to late teens that I work with.

At the shop on Saturday I tried to buy new cycling shoes. However they didn't have the size 11 (47) of the shoe I wanted in stock. However more are coming on Tuesday so I just need to be patient. My current shoes were purchased in 2013 and they have been the exclusive shoes for both my road bikes currently registered on Strava. That means that those cycling shoes have done over 20,000km! In the words of Fatboy Slim...we've come a long long way together!

Sentiment aside those shoes are knackered. I very nearly didn't go out on a road ride today because of the shoes. However it was suggested that duck tape would both work and be funny. So I taped them up!!!

Once the shoes were sorted my attention turned to socks. Staying with a theme I opted for a pair of oddballs socks today. If you don't know, oddballs are a company who sell undercrackers to raise awareness and money in aid of testicular cancer. They've branched out into some truly spectacular socks. Here's more about the cause and as we're a 98% male club, lads you need to check your tackle! oddballs

For the first part of the ride we were joined by Marcus and his 15 year old daughter Amy (apologies if this is misspelled). We need more ladies in the club and we also need to encourage as many young riders as we can. I did try to recruit Amy for cyclones but apparently she helps out at Brownies on a Monday so it's a non-starter.

I'd like to say that with young impressionable people around that we behaved ourselves. Of course not! A joke was made about not wanting to be our friends on facebook...it was then pointed out that young people only use instagram and snapchat. All that banter aside I really hope that Amy continues to ride and that we get to help her progress further.

Marcus and Amy left us at Mears Ashby not long after we'd ridden along a section of road called Moonshine Gap. I'm intrigued as to the origin of that name and will do some research to find out! A few miles earlier I had done some segment chasing on the short sharp ramp into Little Harrowden. I actually tried to chase down a moped to the amusement of all. It seemed like a good idea at the time!

From there we were the four amigos! Andy P, Mark C and Mike had what I can only describe as the best of rides. This was Andy's route and kudos to him for it. We ventured to places that don't feature on club rides often and to places that I haven't ridden since we did our massive 200 mile ride a few years back. The climb of the day was at Great Houghton. 

Salcey Forest was lovely to ride through and if you watch the video at the end you'll see that a number of classic cars passed us going the other way. The miles just flew by. 

We also passed a rider whose socks, in vivid orange, were even brighter than mine. He was also in full winter kit which must have been boiling. Mark hypothesised that he must be from a hot climate!

If you've read the blog recently you may have seen that a couple of weeks ago on a Sunday ride, Mark, Andy F and I (now known as the three fivers,) burst into a repertoire of theme tunes from the 80s and 90s. Mark said he was holding one back and as I thought I was doing quite well on a hill he came flying past doing the theme tune to the Six Million Dollar Man top quality ride banter from Mark!

The planned cake and coffee stop was the Boathouse near Earls Barton, they also have a facebook page here! This place is superb.

On Mark's recommendation, and perhaps we were all titillated by the name, all four of us had a Dirty Chai Latte. This is my new favourite hot dink in the world. No more flat whites. I'm a Dirty Chai Latte man now!!!

The cakes were also wonderful and just because I needed to try it, I had a sweet potato, feta and avocado muffin. The staff here are very nice and we very nearly recruited another rider for the club! Apparently we're not the only cyclists to have dropped in. I can see that this may become a regular for many cafe rides! It was a lovely spot, especially in good company.

From the cafe stop it was only another 15 miles back to the shop. We had a lovely burn up going the other way on Moonshine Gap and then came back into Kettering via Burton Latimer and the sweet smell of Weetabix. At the shop we met up with Nat and Andy and the banter ensued. In the best of British traditions it is not the done thing to over compliment a person. Therefore the congratulations I was receiving for my riding improvement are now being replaced by accusations. I mentioned that my new high cadence low gear approach on hills was an attempt to be more more Froome than Contador. This was instantly met with the comeback that only one of those is a PROVEN drugs cheat. There's also a theory that the duck tape holding my shoes together is in fact a sophisticated EPO patch delivery performance enhancing drugs via my big toe! Look everyone...that's not my jiffy bag...my wife has asthma, it's hers!

Another topic of conversation in the shop was about the need to ride to a round number. The bigger the number gets, the rounder we need it to be. For example, none of us would be happy with a 97 mile ride. You'll all be pleased to learn that I rode up and down the hill outside my house until my bike computer said 60 miles!

I also have to say yet another thanks to Andy Ferguson for yet more top service. The only thing wrong with my Giant propel is the stupid saddle stem adjuster bolt. I have a bicycle specific torque wrench but it won't fit into the bolt. This makes me anxious to adjust saddle height. So Andy did it for me as I wanted to try a slightly higher position.

Here's some video from today (only about a minute long so no need to save for later!)

I'm going to finish by thanking everyone I've ridden with this week. It's been an absolute blast. I know we can't do that every week but I think there's a lot more to come this year. Oh Mark...sorry I nearly forgot...

The dogs have not been neglected

This weeks ironing plans

I'm massively sorry if there's anything else I've forgotten. There's just been so much!

Happy Pedalling!

Which bike? Some post Cotswolds thoughts...

On reflection I should have waited before writing my blog after that tough ride in the Cotswolds. So many thoughts have occurred since then and the biggest one is: "Which was the best bike to tackle the Hell of the North Cotswolds route?"

maybe not this one

Before we look at that a bit more I need to mention that I've ridden twice since Sunday.

On Monday I got my MTB back out to accompany SuperSam to cyclones, which was only a couple of miles away from home so we rode there. I loved it on Bunker Hill when Sam sledged me with "going a bit slow aren't you Dad?" It was also good to see him out on the road on my faithful Forme Longcliffe. That bike has been excellent for me and I think it's got a lot of life in it to help Sam. Once at the Oxford University Press car park, Sam went off with the big kids and I helped out with the middle group. It was good to get the legs moving again and also good that I got the bike back out because I'd given it a thorough clean but neglected to oil the chain. That Cotswold mud had stripped it dry and rust was already forming. Lots of oil was applied whilst making sure this time that I didn't get any on the disk brakes.

Tonight I got out with C&D Cycles CC for a rare midweek group ride. Andy has planned to do a group ride every night this week to celebrate the predicted better weather. On a windy, damp night, you'd never have guessed that it's going to be sunshine all the way to the weekend. Clothing choice was very tricky but for me it was shorts weather, base layer and summer jersey. We must have had every other combo imaginable in the group. It was just that sort of weird weather!

A good group of regulars and a couple of faces I was less familiar with met at C&D Cycles at 5.50pm for an advertised 28 mile steady paced social ride. My only dislike with these rides is getting in and out of Kettering at that time of day is challenging. I was narrowly missed by a van rushing through a gap with no awareness that I was a split second from filling that gap!

Once out of Kettering things got good. This was ideal for me in terms of length, pace and fun. The wind made it odd in places as the usually very fast Desborough Road Drop was much harder work than usual. I'm always hoping to improve my time on that segment but I'm not sure I ever will. I think it was wind behind when I got one of my very rare top ten times.

With the wind almost behind us, Bairdy and I had some fun on the fast road into Loddington. We were flying along until a disappointing temporary traffic light spoilt it all. I headed home from Loddington feeling great after such a nice spin. Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of the ride was that in addition to being out with my mates we also had another newbie with us who seemed to enjoy the benefits of group riding.

So back to the Cotswolds and the best bike for the job debate. In the group we had a mixture of MTB and CX bikes. We can even have a direct comparison as I was on my Forme Ripley 1.0 and Andy was on his Forme Calver. Jason who was one of the best climbers on the day was on his Voodoo Bizango, a bike he describes as a "Halford's Special." Ashley who also had areal crack at the hills was on his Scott Scale. Chris, Josh, Will and Ian were all on CX. I don't recall the MTB bike Rob was on, all I know is that he was he only person who rode up absolutely everything.

Early into the ride we were on a rough steep track where full suspension might have been good. It was difficult to get traction and it was certainly Jason's opinion that full suss would help. At other times though we were on those rutted muddy trails where CX can be better.

Possibly the biggest factor was gearing. My 1x set up gives me a 34/36 combo for the steepest climbs. I did wonder if one of those dinner plate rear cogs would help. It's what Rob had with 48 teeth. I'm guessing he had the same chain-ring size so where my ratio was 0.9, he had the benefit of 0.7. In the roughest of terms that means I was getting 0.9 of one wheel revolution for every full crank revolution compared to 0.7 for Rob. Then if we look at Jason with his more traditional 2x set up he had 22/32 as his combo, which he described as: "sticking it in the wee ring!" That's probably the lowest ratio available to any of us at 0.69. I think Ashley had a 34/42 (0.8,) but I've guessed that from the specifications on the Scott website.

Of course there's a little more to it with wheel size and again I didn't notice if we were all on 27.5 or if someone had a 29r. I'm not saying I'd have managed the hills in the style of Rob and Jason if I had their ratios, because I suspect they had better engines than me (not an accusation of motor doping, I just think they're fitter!) However I am wondering if I would have fared better on my Focus 29r with it's traditional 3x set up. It's way heavier than the Ripley but has the lowest gearing, plus....29rs and rolling and all that...(just to clarify again, there's no way I'd take the Focus, I still really love the Ripley, plus the Focus now belongs to Sam.)

As for Andy on the Forme Calver. Well he has a 1x system with a 42/42 set. No maths is required to work out the figures there...it's 1. So he hadn't got quite the low gears we had on the mountain bike but it wasn't far off and he had a much lighter bike by virtue of being a CX rather than MTB. Even our club Mountain Goat didn't have enough gears to ride up every hill though. That probably says a lot about how tough it was. Josh really had to get the wattage out with 40/32 being his lowest gear.

So, with all of that information in mind am I going to rush out and change my rear cassette to get one of those monster cogs? Chris has been really helpful in pointing out that all the stuff I need to convert is easy to find on Ebay. No. No I'm not going to do that. In last years FNSS I can only think of one hill I couldn't get up. I couldn't do that even with the tiny gears of my 29r so a dinner plate really won't change that. If I lived and rode in the Cotswolds every day, yeah, I'd change my gearing. Right now I think the best bang for my buck is to knuckle back down on the diet, shift a bit more timber and work on my leg strength. If that doesn't get me there then I'll have a rethink!

So which bike was he best choice for the ride we did on Sunday? I still think that MTB had the edge. 

On that I became even more thankful for the great service I get from C&D Cycles. Today I spotted my Forme Ripley 1.0 in an advert for an online retailer. Forme list it's RRP as £1000 however this retailer was advertising at £1,165 claiming it to be a bargain as they'd reduced from their claimed RRP of £1,300. I'd hate to think that someone falls for that!

I'm hoping to get a few more rides in this week so we'll see what happens. I'm not planning any more bonus blogs though!

Happy Pedalling

Cotswolds Off Road Ride April 2018

From the left: Rob, Will, Me, Josh, Ian, Chris, Ashley and Jason (Andy was taking the picture.)

Today I went for the hardest ride I have ever ridden. It was just 67km in the end. We were going for over 100km following the route of 'The Hell of the North Cotswolds,' an off-road  sportive which took place last week. In that 67km we climbed 1448m. To put it in context, we went for a road ride in Northants last week, which we considered to be quite hilly, it was 92km and 1028m.

Nine of us met in the carpark at Snowshill and set off in good spirits on a foggy morning with high chances of rain. Andy Brown and Ian Bird had put our route together, to be fair this was like a typical Andy Brown hillfest times a million. Also in our group was Ashley, Josh, Will, Chris, Rob and Jason.

Unfortunately the heavy rain of April so far meant that we had a lot of soft ground to contend with at times. In between those times though, this was simply cycling heaven! Stunning countryside, lung busting climbs and thrilling descents!

At times we had to get off and push. Some of our hardy bunch were able to push on through on slopes like the one above. I wish my legs were that good...there are many pictures of me pushing like this.

In between the tracks and trails we also had a some good tarmac action. This made for faster rolling well until the next uphill bit came along!

Comedy moment of the day. People were lifting their bikes over this gate before one of our more pragmatic team members did the obvious thing and opened it!

As per usual on the ride there was a fair bit of fiddling. No punctures at all!

After a cafe stop in Winchcombe we went up the toughest hill I've ever ridden. On Strava it's shown as a category 4 slope and is called the 'Harvey Street Climb.' My legs screamed give up, it was a close run thing. My pain was kindly captured in the picture above by the Mountain Goat that is Andy Brown, he'd been there ages by the time I arrived. We went up even bigger hills later on but I have to confess I couldn't ride them and ended up pushing again!

The climbs were incredibly tough but there was two benefits. The first was the view and the second was those magnificent descents. In this picture I thought we'd gone as high as we were going to get...wrong! This is Prescott Woods which is very near the Prescott Hill Speed Climb https://www.prescott-hillclimb.com/info/usefulinformationforspectators those cars are cheats!

This is in fact about as high as we got. It's Cleeve Hill overlooking Cheltenham. By this stage I was completely shattered and the weather had started to get worse.

Once we'd navigated off of Cleeve Hill the heavens opened and it got really nasty. We'd already ridden for over five hours and weren't even halfway! So an executive decision was taken to get back to tarmac and then take a shorter route back to the carpark.

Shorter still involved a lot of ups and downs and the odd bit of re-inflation!

What's a ride without a ridiculous selfie?

Okay so I'm tired and seriously lacking in creative writing motivation. Just one more picture of the views so you can see what the whole point was. It would have been nice to see this on a clear day but it is beautiful regardless. The video below also captures the early stages of our ride before the virb battery ran out. I'd left the GPS tracking on which is a schoolboy error!

A massive thanks to everyone I rode with today. We had great camaraderie and as per usual a fair bit of banter. I hope we can go back later in the year and have a crack at the full route in better conditions. 

Happy Pedalling