Commuting, vrooming, over the chimneys step in time!

Two rides today. The first was my standard ride to work with another PR on Glendon Burn, the second was the supercalifragilisticespiallidocious event that is C&DCYCLES vroom Wednesday. So why the delay with the blog, well frankly I've been distracted by Mary Poppins which has just finished on Disney Movies. Quite a lady, I'd love to take her for a ride!

Photo bombed selfie outside the shop

Vroom is the quicker ride and it lived up to it's name. I never enjoy the start though. Firstly there's too much traffic and secondly I need a bit of time to warm up, others seem to instantly switch on to vroom pace and I get left behind. I don't think I'll ever be the quickest, I'd just like those instant legs everyone else seems to have.

Tonight's leader was our own Burt the chimney sweep, Jonesy. However as Andy (mention) was there too we had our Mr banks to set the pace. Steve who could only be the talking umbrella was also giving his splendid new Boardman an airing. Just what our most improved rider needs, a quicker machine. He deserves it though. One day I'd like to be good enough to justify that sort of investment.

Steve's new beast

The route was enough to make me want to go fly a kite and the hill to a east Farndon definitely goes up through the atmosphere. Like I said I'm not the quickest the 22 PRs is definitely the sugar that makes my medicine go down. At the top of that decent climb, newbie Derek had spd moment and took one of those clipped in tumbles. Thankfully no harm was done.

Top of East Farndon Hill

My gripe of the evening is with my cadence sensor. I have no idea what rpm I was spinning because the battery was dead. So that's two weeks and I've killed the first battery. I'm not that impressed with that. I'd have liked to have known how hard I was working trying to catch the quick lads once again, out of Harrington I felt like I was making an impression when, wham, I got cramp in both calves. Never mind eh!

Another great night with C&DCYCLES cheers all...chim chimerney chim chim cheroo!

Standard commute plus strava mystery solved!

Quite pleased today. As it's Monday I had to lug a big old rucksack to work so the PR on Glendon Burn was a pleasant surprise. Even nicer was the beep beep from Andy in the C&DCYCLES van as I got into Kettering.

On the way home I decided to keep going with the 90rpm obsession but only from the roundabout at Glendon Industrial Estate because town traffic is a pain! During that whizz I hap an epiphany. The missing strava segment from last week is probably because it finishes too near my house. That's exactly the problem so I've recreated it outside my 'privacy' zone. I've also created a segment for the bit I was trying on this evening.

So last week I set myself two commuting targets and now I've got four. Numbers, numbers, numbers!

In the world of pro cycle racing it's been a bit interesting. Firstly big kudos to Laura 'the giggle' Trott and Peter Kennaugh on becoming the road race champions of Britain. No shocks really as they represent the big two in a British Cycling of Wiggle Honda and Team Sky. What is a big shock is the number of British riders in this years Tour de France. It's 3! I thought those days were way behind us. British cycling has been on a meteoric rise which I didn't think had peaked with sir Brad but there's the facts. In the year that two out of three grand tours started in the UK it's the lowest number of British riders since 2008. Is this the decline of British cycling or just a blip?

Happy Pedalling

Hi oh hi oh it's ride to work you know!

So I've managed 3days of bike to work this week, which is nice! Today was just a commute there and back. I have my eye on two segments heading into work, Glendon burn and finish hard. I have a plan to move up the leaderboard. Top of both of them is Mike Cowland who I know of but don't actually know. Also right up there are my friends Jamie, Sinbad and our very own Andy of C&DCYCLES. I'm not going to compete with those titans of two wheels but I think top 20 is a realistic aim. Watch this space for PRs on those segments.

I'm still persisting with this 90rpm malarkey. My legs feel a bit sore so it's definitely doing something. I'm guessing like all forms of exercise it will be a few weeks before it has any impact. Numbers, numbers, numbers.

I'm relieved to see the great tyre debate has concluded with David Tough purchasing 25mm gators. Having been their biggest fan I hope they don't let my Longcliffe 2.0 brother down. I like mine a lot which begs only one question...why am I considering upgrading to the 4000's? Never happy with what we've got are we?

I'm not including the strava because my commute route has been posted many times before. I'm also not riding this weekend because we are on a family camp out. I'm looking forward to a weekend of booze and barbecues but will miss my bike. A guest blog of the Saturday shop ride would be very welcome.

Happy Peddaling 

It's Wednesday, it's vroom, it's beautiful out!

You may wonder why I started in Burton...actually most of you guessed...forgot to start Strava. This was another great Wednesday with the lads. It started with Martin revealing to all that his favourite Spice Girl was Sporty Spice. We then got support from a lovely lady who said she'd followed us for years and thinks we're great. Bit of a busman's holiday for me, the lady clearly didn't know who we were and it was touch and go that she knew who she was herself. Nod and smile! I wish Andy (mention) was there to see it.

Only two disappointing bits to tonight's ride. It's hard work getting out of town on an evening ride and we rode down the horror road that joins Denford to Thrapston. Oh and Jonesy's bike! The squeak was so bad we couldn't hear cars coming up behind us. Sort it out Andy (mention.)

The group size and content was good. Mostly C&DCYCLES regulars but also nice to meet a newbie in David who is another inhabitant of Rothwell. Also good to hear that some of my blog readers are people I haven't ridden with yet. Plenty of banter, no incidents, pushing ourselves without risks and a beautiful summer evening.

Stuart, who I haven't ridden with for ages has clearly benefitted from a bike fit. In fact I don't know anyone who hasn't. The trend seems to be people have their saddle too high. I definitely need to book mine in at C&DCYCLES with Andy (mention.)

For me personally I'm continuing my experiments with cadence. No idea if it will make a difference in the long run it just feels like my legs are getting a good workout. Plenty of cups tonight so not too shabby!

Commuting, cadence and segment chasing

Not a lot to blog about really but I rode so I blog. Those are the rules. Good grief I have a lot of rules! Maybe I should do something about that. This was just a standard commute except now I have the cadence sensor which is the next thing in a long line of things which will turn me into an elite standard cyclist....erm well maybe not! Anyway following another of my rules that some bloke told me to so I should. I am now trying to pedal everywhere at 90rpm. To be more precise I change down under 85rpm and up over 95rpm. It certainly feels like I'm going faster but what's the reality? Well you can't take the averages from this ride because commuting is perilous and caution in urban areas prevents me from being glued to the bike computer. I did however have a crack at Rothwell Rise segment whilst maintaining the holy grail of pedal revolutions. I felt like I absolutely flew down that bit of road so thanks a bunch strava for not recognising that segment on my data! Something to do with inaccurate data at the start and finish points. Numbers, numbers, numbers! Why can't I just enjoy the ride, look at the scenery, do a bit of bird spotting? Who knows? All I know is I can't and I also know if you enjoy this blog you probably can't either!

major incident free saturday shop ride

The aim of the game today was to have a Saturday shop ride that started and finished safely with no repeat of the disastrous crash of last week. The route selected was the tried and tested Oundle loop and the plan was Big Steve to  lead and me to act as his tailgunner. However at the shop Andy wisely split us into two groups of 9 with Steve and I leading a group each. This decision became even more wise as we picked three more up at Grafton Regis. My tailgunner for the day was the ever reliable Iain Tingle and as soon as I realised this I knew we'd be ok.

Traditional stop at Barratts corner

Another angle

Traditional puncture

I had loads of flats with those tyres

The others caught us at Aldwincle

Steve is the man for fixing stuff - unless its IT

My my Simon that's a beautiful bike!

The ride went well from my perspective and I hope my group felt that way too. With my cateye stealth doing it's job I aimed to keep us at 14-16mph. Inevitably someone got a puncture and it was no surprise to me to see that it was David Tough on an identical longcliffe 2.0 to mine. He's still running the original Kenda tyres that the bikes come with. I ditched mine after a few months because it was just endless flats. Since switching back to my tried and trusted Gatorskins I haven't suffered a flaccid tyre. The drama for the ride wasn't over as we discovered a dog in a car near Twywell. All the windows were open but the poor thing still looked way too hot. It was difficult to know what to do with no owner in sight and especially as the dog was irritated by us being near the car. We didn't feel we could let it out with no lead available because it then ran the risk of being hit by a car. Since we left Iain has been back to check and the car had gone so I hope the dog was OK.

Today as you can imagine I was very safety conscious and did a lot of thinking about how we ride as a group. To me, the group regulars need act as role models for any newbies on our ride. The key to a successful ride is communication. Hazards need to be communicated, as do approaching cars. 

The two conventions here are 'car front-car back,' or 'car down-car up.' It doesn't matter which you use, it does matter that riders are switched on to these calls. It's even more important when someone calls that people don't immediately turn to look because if you do your handlebars tend to follow your eyes and you veer sharply. Trust your fellow riders, if they shout car, there is a car. 

Our accident last week was caused by a rider going through the gap between other riders. I never want to see this again on a group ride. My preferred option is to pass on the right and let others know by announcing 'passing right,' or 'on your right.' Again it's best not to look over your shoulder to check this. Riding two abreast is ok but overlapping wheels with the rider in front isn't. That's how wheels touch and we know how that ends. 

As a leader I want to know what's happening behind me. If we are dropping someone I want to know before we start leaving them behind. 

Most people are familiar with the method for pointing out potholes and this is widely used in. less widely used is the signal for parked cars and other hazards such as dog walkers. For those we should be pointing behind our back to make people behind aware.

I know Andy will be formalizing the rules of group riding for our club and these are not intended as those rules at this stage. There just the ones I'm using at this time based on my experience and the research I did after last week. 

As I said I think we need to role model for others. We have a good club culture already but it doesn't mean we can't improve. My plan is to do the things I want others to do and and avoid things I don't want to see. 

On club culture there was tonnes of other lycra clad groups out today. Most said hello but a few seemed to look down their nose at us lot. I overheard one group (who I won't name because nobody is perfect,) commenting on a rider they were dropping:

"He'll be alright we don't want to bring our averages down!"

Our club isn't like that. The club motto is that no man gets left behind. I hope that never changes.

When we got back to the shop it was good to see Nathan looking fit and well. Hilariously Claire hadn't noticed our club Hagrid. I'm not sure how you miss him. Specsavers might be a good idea. Nathan had brought some cake for us and Heather supplied some too. Andy showed his Ninja cake skills balancing Heather's cake on the box.

New products

Time for some product feedback. I used the cateye stealth 50 for the first time today and I must say my first impression is good. Setting it up would have been a lot easier if I'd read the forums first rather than just diving enthusiastically like a labrador with a new bone. The best piece of advice I found was to chuck away the useless manual and watch the set up video. Once I did this it was all sorted very quickly. 

Clive was a very dirty boy and we can't have that can we. This time my cleaning product of choice was the dirtwash citrus degreaser. This stuff works just as well as the mucoff stuff but has the added advantage of a directional nozzle which I really liked. I lubed back up with TF2 plus+ a dry lubricant with teflon. As I haven't ridden it yet I can't comment on performance, i was suprised by how 'thin' the liquid is and how quickly it comes out.

The last piece of equipment I tested out was this splendid recovery food provided by my lovely wife. For once this was not cake.

Hopefully there's a lot more rides to write up next week!

Happy Pedaling

PS Whilst I've been writing this blog, Lee has knocked up this little beauty for tonight's 100 years of Brownies celebrations.

My wife is a genius

The ride after the day before

So I went for a little spin. Even smaller than I intended because I chose to ride to C&DCYCLES and have a chat with Andy about our eventful Saturday shop ride. To be honest I'm still shaken up about the crash and I think we need to have a strategy to prevent this from happening again. Those are private discussions that are inappropriate for wider audiences so that's all I'm saying for now.

The other reason for my trip to the shop was to make a purchase and get the cycle computer I've had my eye on. And here it is:

So what do I need that for? Well it's about numbers. As cyclists we are obsessed with numbers. Average pace, cadence, distance, top speed, suffer score, ritmo etc etc etc. I want another bit if kit that gives me yet more numbers and this is the one I've chosen. This excites me. I've not had a cycle computer since getting my current bike, partly because smartphones do the whole tracking thing and partly because I liked the shimano flight deck so much on my steel framed triple I didn't want anything else. So now I want to get out and ride and watch the numbers. It's always about the numbers!