Superb Christmas 🎄 of Cycling

Well Merry Christmas to everyone reading this blog. I've been lucky enough to get plenty of rides in and even though I won't complete the #Festive500 it's been a very rewarding time. Back to work tomorrow 😪. 3 days in and then 3 more days off! 

The action started with a cyclasylum group ride on Christmas eve. Having thoroughly learned my lesson from  the other day I turned up with seconds to spare to join the ride. Following the most persistent day of rain we spent much of the ride dodging floods.

We were in two groups and soon made it to Thrapston which was thankfully still above water. With my winter road bike out of action I was on my Forme Calver CX, the bike I used for the entire Christmas period because...well it's a great bike. I had to work harder than my group mates due to those knobbly tyres. This has to be good training right?

Titchmarsh 

Lilford 

Oundle

We had some floods to ride through but mostly the roads were dry if a little messy. We made our way back to Brigstock where an idea formed as others debated the best flood dodging route back to Kettering. I was on my CX so I thought...Geddington Chase...why not? I said my goodbyes and headed off road.

Common Buzzard?

only a bit boggy

lovely old tree

The chase was not exactly rideable. It wasn't exactly impassable either! I had so much fun slipping and sliding to the foot of the hill. The path up through the chase had turned into a stream and this was the grippiest line up hill. Then it all got easier into Geddington.

At the Ford a fire engine was pumping flood water back into the swollen river. It looked like they were practising for the Geddington Squirt, an annual event between Kettering Fire Brigade and the Geddington Volunteer Fire Service. This is another thing ruined by covid!! The squirt was made famous by James Acaster on Would I Lie to You. WILTY James Acaster

On Christmas day I was able to get out for my traditional ride. Just my standard 17 mile spin...it was good to be out but a bit sketchy in places due to ice.

Once safely home I put some Christmas presents to good use. First up I used the Christmas muc off to give my Calver a good clean. Then I got back into my Ride for Charlie Big Bobble hat.

Ride for Charlie

On Boxing day I wasn't taking any risks and actually got to K Town swimming pool car park with a few minutes to spare. We opted for a 10am start to ease those Christmas hangovers! Justin planned a superb route out to Creaton via Rothwell, Naesby and Cottersbrooke. Then it was back home via Brixworth, Scaldwell, Old and Loddington.

I started my morning with the breakfast of champions, boxing day trifle and my ride mates joked that I had mulled wine in my camelbak. I also forgot my phone so its lucky we went back past my house!!!

As I headed back to Loddington another thought struck...take the old road under the A14 and onto Violet Lane. However it wasn't quite as I remembered and I got a bit lost. Luckily some kind shooters, possibly worried they'd blast me, directed me into the Woodlands Hospital car park. From there I got back on track. Whilst doing that I got a KOM, well more like I stole it accidentally from Mark Skinner!

On Sunday I had a rest day but managed to pick up my new cyclasylum winter jersey. We've ordered these superb Gabba style jerseys from Hans at Vanelli and we're all really pleased. Of course I was nearly late meeting Mark to collect them...too busy fiddling with bikes and writing a quiz for tonight! Cheers to Mark for his patience and sorry again!!!

Today we opted for an off road ride. Andy P was going to plan things but has a close call at home with the current river level so I volunteered to do the planning. So I wasn't late we started in Rothwell! 

The plan was to stick to gravel as we suspected the fields would be heavy going. At Harrington we couldn't resist the bridleway to Arthingworth and as suspected the fields were...heavy going!!! Once in Arthingworth the need for mud was cured and we headed to the Brampton Valley Way. 

Like another recent ride we followed the BVW to Merry Tom Lane where I met the same person I'd seen last time! Totally unplanned, there was Helen!!!

From there we took a spin around Pitsford before taking a road route home. It was absolutely freezing but as ever great fun!

As I've said it's back to work tomorrow so that's it until NYD for outside rides. I'll try to get some rollers in but apart from that my cycling is done for 2020. 3000 ish miles done, it will sound a lot to some and not so much to others. Some of my cycling friends have done twice that and more. Anyway here's to 2021.

Happy Pedalling 

Heading into Christmas

It goes without saying that 2020 has been a bag of rusty old spanners. I think cycling is one of the things that's kept me going. As we head into Christmas in the cold and wet of England there's still plenty of riding to do. I'm trying to hit my year goal and I've optimistically signed up up for the Festive 500 challenge. So here's what I've been up to.

On Tuesday I made it to Corby Capers CX training. Those of us in tier 2 Northants benefitted from Phil and Dave setting up a cracking course with cambers, mud and a killer hill. Ridiculously our friends five minutes away in tier 3 Leicestershire weren't allowed to join in. The virus knows and does actually rebound at the border between Harborough and Braybrooke. Anyone looking at that Strava data and thinking that doesn't look much of a ride...come and have a go! Check out my heart rate data.

These are all age sessions so the oldies like me are mixed in with kids. It was great to see the dad and lad combos. It took real bravery to descend off the hill into no grip mud so kudos to the kids giving it a go. 

The next morning I went for a run which my legs advised me was a distinctly poor decision! I then hobbled around work for the rest of the day.

On Saturday I set out with the intention of joining the Cyclasylum ride. I mistimed it by a few minutes and failed to meet them at Rushton meaning I did the group ride route solo. This then became the most eventful ride. The route went a bit weird in Desborough but led to one of my favourite roads through Braybrooke and onto Market Harborough. I was loving that rolling road and my Forme Longcliffe was flying along with those American Classic wheels. In Harborough the route went doolally again on my Wahoo and I ended up practising some CX skills going over this railway footbridge...

The adventures kept coming as an old man driving round the corner to get his Daily Mail did the classic of looking for cars and not bikes and nearly turning straight into me. Fortunately I have a big gob and my shout stopped him in his tracks. The poor bloke looked shocked to bobbins and I feel a bit bad for calling him names but near death experiences do that to my reasonableness levels.

In better news the route got really nice heading into Medbourne where Mr Minney predictably sent us up Neville Holt. I realised I needed to tweak the front derailleur as it had some chain drag in full granny gear. Some lovely walkers gave me encouragement as I huffed and puffed past. I then took my banana 🍌 break at the top exactly where I imagined my missing friends would have done, a bit earlier in the day. 

Then the route took me through Great Easton and I instantly knew Mr Minney's sadistic route plan. Rocky flipping hill!

I changed down to Granny again and what was a necessary tweak suddenly appeared more serious. My rear mech was pulsing all over the place. I changed back to the big ring which fixed the problem but no way was I riding up Rocky in the big ring so I changed down and tried to nurse it up the hill. I was at the bit where you can see the sign at the top and got over confident...I stood up on the pedals and came to an abrupt halt with a sickening crunch. Initially I thought I'd ripped the derailleur off but then realised my entire back wheel was off, the derailleur looked wrong and the chain was all looped up. Some kind fellow lycra loonies stopped to help and kindly suggested this was due to "too much power." We got the back wheel on, the mech straight and I was able to tentatively proceed in the big ring. By the BP roundabout it felt okay again and I was riding normally. In Pipewell the chain got thrown off the bottom cog so evidently all was not well. I took it as easy as possible all the way home. One of those lycra sammaritans suggested I get it looked at, so I best seek professional help! I'm guessing I haven't set the wheels up correctly. Oh well it's only money...

On Sunday I decided on an off road route and once again got the Forme Calver out of the shed. It was a road route to start with, up to Harrington and towards Kelmarsh before that lovely descent to Arthingworth.

Form there I headed through the village and onto the Brampton Valley way. There were lots of walkers and fellow cyclists on this shared use path and as ever excited/scared children having an adventure in the Kelmarsh tunnel. 

Being multi use the Brampton Valley Way is not a place for high intensity training, racing or riding without care and consideration. I really enjoy the general atmosphere of friendly waves and thanking dog owners for responsibly getting their dogs under control. I don't have a bell so shout "ding, ding!" as I ride up behind groups of people. This is almost always responded to with the humour intended. The track was full of puddles so sticking to a dry line meant a bit of consideration for other users.

This brings me to the only downer of the day. As I made my way down the track another cyclist headed my way. I swerved round a puddle and moved back to the left and went to say good morning. Before I could get a word out the other cyclist snarled "left!" As you can imagine my response was swift and contained two words. I briefly considered chasing the bloke down and really giving him both barrels but common sense got the better of me. I have no idea why people need to behave like this. A walker a few metres on told me that the cyclist was rude to him too! Thankfully my mood returned to normal quickly and I was lucky enough to bump into an old friend for a chat! 

I met my friend half way up Merry Tom Lane and from there headed to Pitsford Reservoir which was just as busy and just as friendly as the BVW. I headed up the hill from the causeway towards Brixworth and then towards Scaldwell, then back to Lamport so I could get off road again. The fields round the back of Lamport and onto to Faxton were very muddy and hard to ride but great slippy fun. Then I encountered Phillip the dog. Poor Phillip is scared of bikes and ran round me in circles barking. Having been bitten earlier in the year I was wary of Phillip but there was no need, his poor owners clearly not expecting a lycra loonie in swampy fields were running round trying to catch frightened Phillip. As a dog owner they had my Sympathy! 

 

Those fields were enough mud for one day and I got back on the road at the Harrington war memorial. I caused more walkers to jump out of their skin on the green lane to Orton before heading down the hill to Rothwell where yet more walkers acted as if I was a passing herd of elephants. 

Once home there was a couple of immediate jobs.

First off my bike needed a thorough clean. Nothing decreases a chainset like mud and a quick hose down, brush with car wash and a thorough coat of GT85 did the job.

The queen of cakes presented me with my towell so I could strip off in the utility room. Everything including my shoes and camelbak went straight in the washing machine for the second week running.

All in all that's a great fun filled, eventfull week of riding! I'm looking forward to the Cyclasylum Christmas Eve ride and we'll see how I go in the festive 500.

Happy Pedalling 

Turning 50, too much running, covid19 ruins things again and a return to riding!

I haven't written a blog for a while because I haven't done much riding. The reasons for this are lockdown 2.0 and completing a running challenge in November. Now though I'm firmly back on the bike as I try to finish horrendous 2020 on a cycling high and complete 3000 miles for the year!

Whilst lockdown 2.0 ruined November we lost coaching the kids at KCC Cyclones, Corby Capers cyclocross training, racing and group rides. For that reason I concentrated on a running challenge and completed 100km in a month for the first time ever. Helping me with that challenge was a long standing cycling friend, Jamie Stockham. Jamie and I shared a run around Pitsford on a couple of occasions. 

After a solo run around Pitsford I thought the challenge was over after experiencing a very tight achilles and calf. 

However with a lot of foam rolling and taping everything up not only did I get over it, my running got better and better each day. I always thought I needed more rest...it turns out I run better if I run every day.

In the middle of the challenge I enjoyed my 50th birthday. Again Covid19 ruined most of our plans but I still had a good day and was very lucky indeed.

Those delicious hoops of carbon are my most brilliant birthday present. Along with new bar tape, new pedals and a new saddle my Giant Propel has had quite the makeover!

The picture above shows how it looked in 2015 when we bought it. The wheels were not fitting for the bike then but a couple of years later I won some American classics which really ride well but...they're also not aero and so these Hunt 50mm Carbon wide wheels really finish the job. I've ridden the propel once outside since then and she's not coming out much between now and spring! I love those wheels though, you can feel they want to go fast and I could listen to that freewheel all day!!!

Lockdown 2.0 is over and now we're in tiers. We've decided not to run Cyclones until after Christmas. Corby Capers is back but only half of us can attend due to Leicestershire being in tier 3. The Leicestershire cyclocross league has been cancelled for 2020. A real shame for all those involved. Group rides are back here I tier 2!!!

Yesterday I opted for a solo spin, largely due to knowing that Mrs L wanted to get the Christmas tree 🎄. I didn't want to risk getting back late and getting a flea in my ear!!! 

Another reason was that I'd swapped those excellent American Classics wheels onto my trusty Forme Longcliffe. That upgrade means the Longcliffe is now an excellent 2nd/winter bike. It was cold and wet so massive kudos to the Cyclasylum riders who went out for a long group ride. Even bigger to my old cycling mate Andy Pendred who managed the sort of 100 mile ride that most of us save for a nice summer day! 

Today I took another of my mostly Forme fleet for a really enjoyable short off road ride. My Forme Calver is an absolute off road weapon. Its no wonder this bike is popular with cyclocross riders from the very best right down to well...me! No need for new wheels on this bike as it came equipped with Hunt Mason X disc wheels. One of the reasons I wanted Hunt on my Propel. 

It was cold, wet, slippy, windy and I absolutely bloody loved it. 

Not long after taking this picture at the Red Kite sculpture the real thing taunted me in Weekley Woods. For those of you who know how badly I want a good red kite picture, I could've touched this one! Anyway below is as good as I got!!!

That bird is definitely laughing at me. I tried some new kit out today having ordered new winter tights from Planet X at a bargain price. At first I was disappointed to discover they didn't have a chamois but then realised that the last thing you want to ride on is a cheap pad. Luckily I've had a few pairs of endura MTB shorts that come with a detachable inner short and a decent pad. So I just used a pair of those under the tights. Job done, nice and warm plus comfortable! These aren't as good as the Endura winter tights I used to have but they're also about a third of the price! Another thing I tried was aluminium foil to keep my toes warm as my cx shoes are not waterproof. Not sure how well it worked as the foil had disintegrated by the time I got home. Perhaps I need to go heavy duty.

So what next? Well I hope to get to Capers on Tuesday and out with Cyclasylum on Saturday. I've got 219 miles to reach my year goal of 3000 miles. I'm determined that gets done!

Before I go a big shout out to another good cycling friend David Wilson. He's started his own cycling blog the Davey Chain check it out, it's a good read.

Happy Pedalling