Commute, segment chase and the long way home

Two very different rides on the same day. This morning I just rode the 5 miles to work the most direct way I can. A little later than I normally ride I found it uncomfortably busy on the roads. Cars passed rather close, stuck out at junctions and there were several obstacles in the cycle lanes. Then once in Kettering Town Centre the problem was pedestrians who just don't look unless they can hear something coming. I had a fair old smack of road rage by the time I arrived.

The ride home, once out of Kettering was far more pleasant. For starters it's been a beautiful day, about as good as it gets for the English Summer. Better still today's weather has been the average for August in Brisbane, now if that's a normal day we're going to have a great month in Queensland. Did I mention that yet? Sorry if I haven't....we're having a family holiday in Australia for the whole of August.

One of my aims was a bit of segment chasing and a crack at reclaiming my KOM crown into Cransley. I didn't manage it this time but as this will be a regular route home there will be more opportunities. I was a bit knackered after the attempt so ambled the rest of the way home. On the way I took in the beautiful scenery and marvelled at pretty songbirds such as the goldfinches who inhabit our hedgerows. Life is good!

Beautiful Summer Scenes

Goldfinch- probably a favourite of Andy of C&DCYCLES 

Now I need. To plan Saturday's shop ride.

Happy Pedaling

Vroom Wednesday on a beautiful summer's evening

Ok so tonight we have a tale of misfortune and surprising preparedness which frankly was a bit of a surprise. Numbers were short this evening as the three musketeers; Frank, Jonesy and Beans left the shop to meet Matthew and I in Rothwell. I had a quick spin to warm up as I discovered before that joining others 'cold' is a bad plan.

We rode well up to Harrington and then on the Lamport straight Jonesy noticed that Darren had an issue with a very buckled wheel. We stopped and as I had one I handed the beans my spoke key. I asked if there was an obvious loose spoke but he can't have heard me because five minutes of spoke nipple twiddling ensued. I then enquired again if there was an obvious loose spoke and Darren was suddenly holding a broken spoke. Oh yeah there's one, it's a tad obvious! What happened next is just brilliant. Moments earlier I remarked "that's lovely new yellow bar tape, it would be a shame if something were to happen to it!" Beans looked at his now oily hands in horror. Oh dear Darren looks like that tapes about to get grimy...

Nipple twiddling plus look at that pristine canary yellow bar tape

Oh contraire mes Amis! Darren produced some vinyl gloves, which he carries for je ne sais quois! He popped them on and announced they'd be all the rage for the tour, just watch Chris Froome apparently. So Darren limped off and the four of us forged on. 

Like all good manservants Beans carries a gentleman's essentials

I enjoyed the rest of the ride, great blokes, good cycling. The average was ok and if you look at the segments we tore it up in places. Lots of PRs this evening which is always a good sign.

Another issue this evening is that I once again am guilty of listening to other cyclists. This time it was a comment on road cc about typical sportive riders with their arms held straight and rigid, sitting upright. Apparently real cyclists bend their elbows and and backs into their work. So guess what? I gave it a go, bending my elbows and back at every opportunity. What difference did it make? Jack all probably but hey I'm easily influenced.

The last mention of the night goes to Matthew who joined us to help his training for the Nottingham marathon. In six weeks he will attempt a 2.5 mile swim, 112 mile cycle and a marathon, al of which needs to be completed in under 17 hours. I'm knackered just thinking about it. Anyway good luck Matthew and 'Kia Kaha' - be strong!

Saturday C&DCYCLES shop ride cut short...storm coming!

Well the weather forecast for today is dire and as a consequence, Mrs Lindsley, the cake maker extraordinaire and all round splendid wife, who is the chair-lady of Friends of Rothwell Junior School decided to cancel family camp out. The last two have been lovely as around 20 families camped out on the school field and the kids were able to run wild for 24 hours. The other thing that made them great was that the FORJ committee managed to cleverly pick the right weekend.

The silver lining  to that cloud was that I didn't have to miss the Saturday shop ride for the second week running. Not that I minded missing last week's ride, I was busy, as you know roaring home the Champions of England. The weather forecast had improved and it was almost bright first thing this morning. It was then a race against time whether we could avoid the oncoming storm which was already wreaking havoc in the South West of England.

The view across our garden at 8am

So I set out to the shop where I met many of the special friends I've met through our great club. Of course everyone inquired had I recovered from last weekend yet? The answer is of course no. Andy (there's your mention,) was in a bad mood though. He put this down to hayfever. I know how he feels, I've taken loratidine and certirizine today but still present a snotty risk to anyone riding behind me.

Boughton House, home of the Buccleuch's (Buck-loo) pretty much the view from the A43

The route was lovely. heading out to Geddington past the impressive Boughton House and then following a significant chunk of the women's tour route through to the QOM climb at Harrington. Making it the second time in three days I've done that hill. Others in the group were obviously segment chasing here but I decided to save my legs and take it easy. I wish I'd gone for it now though as we approached Foxhall on the Mawsley road the rain started. At this point I dismissed rule 9 "if you ride in bad weather you are badass," as folly and decide dto head home rather than back to the shop. The rain wasn't bad at that point I just didn't see the point of getting caught out in the heavy stuff. I did miss the banter, tea and cake back at the shop and for that I'm sorry BUT it's hosing it down now. As the geezer in 'The Mummy,' says:

"Live today, ride tomorrow!"

I'd listen to the warrior geezer

I have only one compalint about today's rout and that's: "what flipwit in a planning department took the decision to surface dress the road between Geddington and the A6003 going through Newton?" A few months ago a proper tarmac surface had been laid here for the Women's Tour and it was a delight to ride on. With so many potholes and roads in disrepair why oh why did they decide to ruin this one? It's usually horrible riding on a road that has been recently surface dressed, it was even worse knowing this was an unnecessary piece of vandalism using tax payers money!

Not the actual road, just to give the idea

The garden looked a bit different on my return

Getting moist!

So was I justified in coming home early? Yes, yes I was. It's raining cats and dogs now, visibility is reduced and cars are all driving with lights on. I'm safe at home with a cup of tea. Some ride is still better than no ride!

Ok so that's not really what it looks like

This is!

No riding for me tomorrow as Niamh has an athletics meeting and frankly it's a massive proud Dad moment for me to watch her compete. I do know that there is a C&DCYCLES Sunday ride, to be led by Iain Tingle. The route looks great and I like the artistic genius with which it's advertised. So I'm kind of sad to miss it but it's for a good reason.

Very Good!

Happy Pedaling

Beautiful sunny evening with SuperSam at Pitsford Res

What a stunning day. Possibly the perfect English summer's day and definitely a good evening for a ride. Sam and I took advantage of big brother Joe playing football at Moulton and with bikes in the back of the S-Max headed to the fantastic resource that is Pitsford. Sam and I share an opinion on the bike circuit here and it's our love of the noise the track makes on the tyres. It's a very satisfying crunch especially if you corner at speed. Now speed was an issue for SuperSam tonight because his gears have gone qwerky, as is typical with a new bike. So that's a trip to see Andy at C&DCYCLES for the 6 week free service. The pictures tell the story so I'll let them do just that. I'm hoping the forecast for tomorrow is either wrong or we at least get away with it until lunch time because I'm looking forward to the shop ride. If not I'll have to settle for watching England v the All Blacks minus the players from those premiership champions Saints. Obviously they'll have a better chance next week!

Enjoy the pics
HappyPedalling

Nice sunny evening so time for a spin!

Bizarrely I haven't ridden for nearly a week. The weather has been a factor and I was a bit busy last weekend, celebrating with the Aviva Premiership Champions. I've actually ridden less so far in June than I had by this time in January. So on a rare dry night I decided that it was time for a quick spin.

Only a little route tonight with the most obvious feature being the Women's Tour Queen of the Mountains climb into Harrington. Now my time was woeful compared to the super fit ladies but sits about midway in both the full leaderboard and the people I follow on a Strava so I'll settle for that. Lots of PRs too so the reduced riding hasn't ruined me yet! As ever one benefit of less riding is you remember more just how much fun cycling is. Whizzing down the leafy lanes really does float my boat and as the forecast looks ropey for the weekend I think I better get out again tomorrow.

Clive was looking a bit shabby by the time I got home. Being too excited about other things, you know like Saints v Saracens, I'd neglected to clean him after my last ride. As that ride included both cow and sheep poo along with debris from damp roads that really is a disgrace. Anyway you'll note from below that I've done the right thing now.

clean Clive

On Tuesday night Andy really did earn his blog mention by coming to SuperSam's cub pack to help them attain their cycling badge. This was the maintenance part having completed the ride requirements at Rockingham. Andy in his official capacity as the C&DCYCLES manager did a first rate job. A very informative presentation that held the attention of even the most day dreamy cubs. I was proud of the boys and girls too, they can be a rowdy bunch but when required they really are a credit to scouting.

Andy at the Scout Hut

Ay carumba! How does this keep happening?

Oh ok you didn't think I'd only mention the Saints a couple of times did you? What a weekend! I don't think I'll stop smiling for months and the Saints cycling jersey will get plenty of ride time. The season's over now and I'm not disappointed because there's now more time to ride!

Happy Peddaling 

A circuit round Market Harborough with a glut of cat 4 hills

The main aim of today was to try some new roads. In that regard it was a total success and I can say I've unearthed some cracking routes, testing hills and beautiful scenery. The secondary aim was to discover how effective strava routes is as a guidance system. Now that wasn't as good. Fair play it's an addition to an already great free app but I found it quite disappointing. If you zoom in on my map you'll see lots of little spikes. This is where I went wrong. The reason for these errors is the lack of detail on the maps, the fact it keeps zooming out and no indication of when you need to make a turn. In short it is, compared to a sat nav, quite basic. I'm fairly sure if I'd programmed the route into the navigator app on my phone it would be better. So is Strava routes useless? No that would be unfair. It did get me round a route I only really knew a 1/3rd of. Had you asked me that after I went the wrong way and then ended up stuck behind a flock of sheep you'd have got a different answer.

Of those new roads 3329ft in 66 miles is a lot round here. I used granny ring more than anytime I can recall. I say my favourite uppage was the climb into Saddington, short and sharp and about as steep as we get. The top looked highly defendable and had earthworks.  Unfortunately a quick bit of research turned up nothing of note apart from a fictional treacle mine. Strange people in Leicestershire!

Top of climb out of Great Easton

Back towards Eyebrook

It was like this all the way round

Lovely hill just before I had to stop for cows crossing the road

And then there were sheep!

So the morale of the tale that I'm burying at the bottom of the blog in the hope Andy from C&DCYCLES doesn't spot it, is that if you really want a guidance system you probably do need a decent bit of kit like a Garmin. The messing about with a Strava routes dented my confidence and slowed me down. I didn't like that and was so relieved to get to Cold Ashby and roads I know.

Bit busy tomorrow

Happy Peddaling

Ps as if to prove what a beast of a ride it was I tried to stand up after finishing this blog. Both legs locked up with cramp and I was stranded like a turtle on it's back for ten minutes...ouch!

Warwickshire Wanderer 100km Audax + Extended Calender Event 100km

Another guest blog this time it's C&DCYCLES true endurance man, Phil 'The Beast' Broxton. I haven't got his html embed code yet for Strava so I will update this when I do. Until then here's a link to this epic 144 mile ride: strava link

Thanks Richard for the invitation to have a guest blog.

Having had a Dawes Audax bike since 1999, I finally did my first Audax last September. I've managed a few since then in different forms, which need describing in their own blogs.

This was a ride I'd spotted a couple on months ago starting from Meriden, the centre of England and the Memorial for Cyclists that died in the Great War. I first rode to the memorial with a late colleague Guy Barber and members of Northampton CTC in the late 90's.

After a later than planned start at 07:15, I was looking forward to enjoying the comfort of my new bar tape and being able to transfer my watts through a new chain and cassette... before I got to Spratton, my chain started skipping. After a few miles, i realise that my middle ring was worn, so could only use my large or small ring.

I had the option in Audax terms to 'Did Not Start' (DNS)    see   http://www.aukweb.net/ for details and ride opportunities. My membership number is n1678 if you'd like to see some of the rides I've completed.

As I rode through Rugby, I forgot not to use my middle chain ring as I went round a right hand bend with a bus behind me as my chain slipped again. Navigating through Coventry was a challenge, following my Garmin took me through some underpasses and rough cyclepaths.

The start time from Meriden was 09:00, I arrived after 09:30 and visited the memorial before checking in. I left the base after 10:00hrs with a time limit of 11:50hrs to get to the first checkpoint in Wellesbourne. Before then I stopped for a photo and treated myself to some sun cream. I then managed to arrive in Wellesbourne and check in at the church hall just in time - they reported that the last cyclists were about 20 minutes ahead of me. After a water refill i hit the road again, my glutes were burning from using my big ring.

I knew that the only significant climb was at Burton Dassett Country Park, which I first road alongside my C&D brothers as part of the Wiggle Circuit Breaker and my first 200km ride last October. It was the same hill, this time there was no wind, the sun was out, I've come to enjoy the challenge of hills, i kept breathing and pedalling.

The next stop was at Harbury Working Men's Club. Outside there were loads of cyclists enjoying their lunches on the grass. As I went in, I was chuffed to see a fellow Sky Ride Leader Ritchie Dixon from MK, who's one of my cycling heroes. Last year he completed the London-Edinburgh-London 1600km Audax in 4 days (over 200 miles per day). As we chomped on the provided cheese rolls, cups of tea and slices of cake, he advised that he'd left MK at 04:00hrs to ride to Meriden to do the 160km ride and planned to be home by 22:00hrs after riding 300kms - no sweat. He does this on his 2011 Ridgeback, which he got a great deal on last year.

 

I did the returning 30+ miles back to Meriden with Ritchie at a good pace and hit 100 miles. when we got back we were treated to beans on toast and endless tea. I then wished Ritchie a safe journey and headed back to the memorial, where i was interviewed by Ed Holt from CTC, who was riding a nice Pearson Fixie. He told me about 'shadow rides' he went on where he wouldn't plan a route, he'd follow his shadow at junctions, which was nice.

Home time, the ride back through Coventry then Rugby in the evening sun was nice, I stopped at a supermarket after Rugby and treated myself to a forgoodnesshake recovery drink and twin pack of pork pies. I later stopped for a telephone box shot for Xavier, who should be able to tell me where it was - I'd done my 200km target by this point.

I kept going and passes the Oswin's and resisted more water/tea and disrupting kid's bedtimes, then steadily finished my 12 hour ride on my namesake the 'Brixworth Beast'.

cheers Richard      

Phil  

I love the idea Phil that amongst all the sports nutrition that cheese rolls, beans on toast and pork pies were your fuels of choice. Very athletic indeed! Thanks mate, great guest blog. This place is really taking shape thanks to all the contributions from the club!

Happy Peddaling