Franz first flight plus voodoo attack!

Me today

Today should have been a wonderous day and in many ways it was but also it was a day to hide under the duvet because somebody somewhere was sticking pins in a Richard shaped voodoo doll!

Fat lip

I started the day excited about my first ride on my new Focus 29er I've named Franz. Well he's German isn't he? Franz came with standard pedals and I like to ride SPD-M on an off road bike. I had a set of these on my old road bike that I use for turbo training so I decided to put them on Franz. In the process of doing this my inner chimp engaged in forcing down as hard as possible whilst placing my head in the way of a spanner most likely to come flying off the pedal. The result was I smashed myself in the face with a pedal spanner. Yeah it hurt a bit but hey rule #5 I got over it. I also managed to convince the Queen of Cakes she'd punched me in her sleep. So this will check if she reads my blog or just pretends and clicks like. As you can see the voodoo dude has just stuck a pin in my head because Lee will kill me when she reads this!

Franz

Front shot

Anyway you'll see from my routes I had some off road adventures to spice up my commute. I don't even know what the off road bit of my morning ride route is called. It's the bit round the back of the Glendon Industrial estate where the council have made a bit of an effort to create a useable public space. It's pretty good for round here but unfortunately I've been to Australia so I'm no longer easily impressed. It was great to get off road on Franz. The massive 29" wheels are a bit weird to start with but once you get rolling you build momentum very quickly. I loved it and arrived at work with a ridiculous grin. On the way into Kettering I saw Andy in the C&D Cycles van and a hearty wave was exchanged. Life felt splendid despite a numb face.

As part of my work day I was invited up to St.Mary's hospital to advise on facilities for cyclists. I got that honour by enquiring about facilities due to our imminent move and possibly because I'm a rare cyclist in a predominantly car based workforce. 

My ride home was in the dark but no matter I had my trusty One23 extreme bright. I decided to have a quick spin around Weekly Woods which isn't a massive detour and a combination of the new bike and a well lit ride in the woods was just brilliant. I loved it so given the chance of a bit more off road from Glendon to Rushton I decided it was better if I got home and saved that for another day. 

Then it happened. Front flat. I'd punctured on the first day out on a new bike. More voodoo. Those big wheels are really unpleasant when the air goes. I pulled into Glendon Hall driveway to get off the road and fix the problem. The first thing I discovered was that Continental Race King tyres are not easy to get off! At one point my tyre lever pinged off and I had to crawl round the undergrowth to find it. Finally once the tyre was off I located the source of the problem. A massive set of thorns had punctured the tyre in three places. Getting the tyre back on was less of a problem and then I went to put the wheel on. At this point my skewer fell out! Well that's a new one on me. Once again I'm crawling around on the floor trying to find a black nut in the dark which I may have trodden on and pushed it into the grass! Thankfully I found it, put it all back together and rode home. As a consequence of a loss of confidence I spent the rest of the ride convinced the back tyre was going down too. It wasn't at all!

So how do I feel now? I love the bike. I hate punctures and I especially dislike sorting things out in the dark even with my super nova of a bike light. You may also be wondering where all the footage from my new camera is? Well unless I get a new PC you won't be seeing that anytime soon. Please Mr voodoo stop sticking the pins in!

Happy pedalling

This ride we were mostly getting wet!

Top of Rushton Hill

So the plan today was to do some serious hills but from the start this looked in peril...I woke this morning to a downpour which was overwhelming my guttering. There was also a fierce wind making the clouds move so quickly they looked like they were on fast forward! I checked my favourite weather resource and frankly it looked like things wouldn't change all morning. For those of you who haven't found it this is a great weather resource: Pits-ford Hall Weather Station. We had some chat via messenger and as things brightened up a bit I decided to go for it also Steve reminded me of rules #5 & #9 http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/

Challenge number two then intervened. Having lovingly cleaned, degreased and oiled Clive yesterday I was surprised to discover a rear flat. I did my best at fixing this quickly but there was no way of being on time for the ride. Some frantic messaging and it was agreed I could meet the others at Rushton rather than the shop. So at the top of a very leafy autumnal looking  Rushton hill I met our leader, Steve, Chris B and newbie Steve. We happy few were the keepers of the cog prepared to battle elements and gravity.

The wet roads and leaves made for some nervy downhills. We did make it to the infamous Neville Holt in one piece and what a great hill. Even Steve dropped out of big ring, I didn't even know his bike had a granny gear! More on that later. I'm really hoping when I resolve the IT issues I have some great footage of that climb. From there we went to Dry Stoke another smashing climb and then the rain came again! 

It was torrential and we made the decision to get homeby the shortest route. At this point Steve announced his three disappointments of the day:

1. Neil Hickford is to blame for the downpour

2. The use of granny gear

3. Making a sensible decision to head for home

However it was the right decision, because after we made it things got worse. Riding through Corby was horrible as half the road was a stream meaning we had to stay wide. The cars didn't seem to allow for this, they came past at pace and we got puddle splashed a few times. We did home safely though so as the kids say, live to fight another day live to fight again!

Happy pudlling

Andy's Amazing Adventure

Ok, I'm really pleased to announce its time for another guest blog and this one is an absolute smasher. Without further ado I'll hand you over to Andy Pendred:

http://www.strava.com/activities/212350031

After reluctantly taking up cycling three years ago to accompany my son on rides, I've gone from struggling up each & every hill to becoming hooked & actually enjoying hills -  although I still struggle up many! I started cycling with the C & D crew in January & found it hard to keep up but slowly & surely over the year I've progressed & can now hang on with the faster group & the Wednesday Vroomers. I've found the C & D riders to be a great welcoming bunch & I felt it was high time to get a club jersey. It turned out that the first time I wore it was on holiday in the Jura mountains, France & one of , if not the best ride I've done.

The ride started in the 'Petit Ecosse' lake area with the sun shining but quite cool with a grass frost. The scenery was stunning with ash,beech & pine forests just turning golden autumnal colours. The rest of the scenery is made up of towering rock faces & meadows with 'Milka' cows.

After climbing for a bit you then descend into Mouthe where you cross the border into Switzerland - thankfully no border guards on duty as I realised I'd got no passport with me! I then climbed steadily up to about 4200ft looking forward to the descent to Vallorbe but some dark clouds loomed ahead & I was soon enveloped in cold cloud so on went the rain jacket & lights. The one thing I had noticed in France was the quality of the roads - even these small mountain roads were better than English ones & the Swiss ones better still.

I had planned on a café stop at Lac de Joux but with the cloud still hanging around I pushed on to Vallorbe for a hot chocolate & cake fix. It was then more climbing  back into France through a manned customs post who waved me through. As I climbed out of the valley the cloud disappeared and I was back to warm sunshine, meadows and cowbells clanking everywhere. Next up was the climb to Mont D'or summit 4736ft and this was a corker of a climb. The climb itself is just under 4 miles with some of the gradients being 19 and 20 % with the steepest parts being near the top when my legs had had enough. I was determined not to walk any of it but had to stop a few times to get my breath but I did get there - to a round of applause from an old  guy who proceeded to talk very rapidly to me in French whilst I was slumped over my handlebars trying to breathe. I think he said what a great bloke I was coming over & conquering this mountain in the name of C & D Cycles. He then put his hand on my chest, obviously detected a pulse, said 'bon' & let me carry my bike the last 300m over the rocky ground to the summit !

On reaching the summit the view was breathtaking, above the clouds was a 360 degree view taking in the forests & lakes of the Jura round to the cloud covered Lake Geneva with Mont Blanc and the Alps beyond. After a rest it was a pretty rapid descent and then back to base through another mix of forest,meadows and rocks accompanied by sunshine all the way.

It was a brilliant day, my only regret being it was a solo ride, it was one of those you want to share.

A couple of years ago I could never have imagined doing a ride like this, I hope anyone just starting out who reads this far will realise anyone can do it.

Me again. I have nothing to add other than chapeau Andy!

Happy pedalling

Super Saturday Shop/club ride

Ok so I have a new toy in my garmin Virb elite camera. I think I have some great footage from today's ride but unfortunately our home PC is still running on XP and it's not compatible. So you'll have to wait. As I type I'm upgrading the PC. It's not a quick job!

I'm also enjoying a beer after a month off due to:

So one wheat beer in I'm hammered! Blogging in this merry state will present a challenge!

Right...so Andy 'Lord Vader' Ferguson, the c&dcycles shop manager and the man who conceived our wonderful club led the social/banter/beginner ride today. I was his tail gunner and I have to say apart from one challenge I think we made a great team. We have the same ethos and values when it comes to this ride: safety, togetherness, fun. Therefore it worked. We also understand the need to communicate.

On the ride today were some newbies; Wendy and Steve and I think they did great. Riding in a group is difficult especially learning the calls and signals. It was obvious that their confidence grew on the ride.

We had a couple of issues out on the route. One rider started to struggle and wants us to leave her. We don't do that! Rule one is no one gets left behind. Rule two is always observe rule one. Unfortunately we were so busy following rule one that we accidentally forgot rule one! That led to me and Andy heading back to find someone. However alls well that ends well and we found our missing man!

That's it for today! I need to sort the IT issues and tomorrow I have a big Steve challenge of. Epic proportions.

Happy pedalling

Wednesday

I'm currently pre-writing this in anticipation of some riding today. Right now it's drizzling outside and I'm not feeling the love for my commute to work. Luckily I don't have to go just yet so I've had a browse to see what gems I'm can find. The first of today's links is a real surprise. It's from The Times! I'm, given my liberal tendencies, more of a Guardian man and usually view one of Murdoch's publications with suspicion but Cities fit for cycling page is a great resource. Have a wander around on it, there's some great features. A browse of youtube unearthed something quite different and not something I'd recommend but hey it looks fun



and then I found a great piece on the inspiration for all bike mechanics everywhere:



It irks me a bit that the youtube feature on blogger just doesn't work (UPDATE: I may have just fixed this!!!) However the Vimeo one does and I found this recent cyclo-x race from the States. Here's the link to the page, http://cyclo-x.com looking out of my window I'd say it looks a lot nicer in California and I'd definitely have a go at this if I lived there! Probably the fancy dress ride though, those racers look a bit special.



2014 Surf City Cyclo-X Series Race 1 from Hans Kellner on Vimeo.

It's still drizzling outside, stupid soggy island! I need some miles today because I'm out for dinner tonight. Extra calories into myfitnesspal means extra portions in http://www.lesolives.co.uk

Ok this is what I finally achieved on an extended lunch break. Anyone concerned about the effect on the NHS should know I miss more lunch breaks than I take so the odd extension really isn't an issue. I was hoping to dodge the raindrops but I failed miserably. I was saturated, way beyond moist, super soggy, soaking wet! My average was abysmal and that's not lack of effort, it was just too wet to fly round bends and dash down hills. The lovely climb from Arthingworth was more riding in a stream than riding up a road. The weather may have been miserable but I felt great. I'm not sure that rule #14 is all that important all I know is the worst bit of riding in bad weather is getting started. The key is the right gear. With leg warmers, winter Jersey and rain jacket I was fine. Because I was too hot on Sunday I left the overshoes off and stuck to standard mitts. Once I got going it was fine and its a few more calories for the Tapas!

Happy pedalling

Thursday

Not quite my commute - check out more amazing images from Alain Delorme

I'm pre-writing again. Not sure what I'll do today bike wise other than the journey to work and back. The forecast looks a bit better for the next few days apart from 30mph winds on Sunday so some good miles are called for.

At dinner last night we were talking about some of the amazing videos of gifted stunt riders you can watch online. I was surprised to learn that people didn't know about Martyn Ashton's accident so I felt I needed to have a catch up on his situation. Firstly he finished Road Party 2 after the accident.



Road Bike Party 2 - Martyn Ashton from endurance Junkie on Vimeo.

From his facebook page I found the best blog I've ever read. His words and attitude are an inspiration and I found myself mouthing the word 'brilliant' as I finished reading. I hope you like it too!
Martyn Ashton - year one


A thought occurred to me as I splished and sploshed in the rain yesterday and that was that I'm engaged in turbo trainer avoidance. It might be I'm not ready for the road to nowhere or more likely I have sufferfest phobia. Yesterday would have been so much more productive on the turbo! Never mind eh!



Winter Friend or Torture Device from endurance Junkie on Vimeo.

I can't believe what I agreed to last night without the aid of alcohol...Janet Frost (mentioned by name so you best retweet now,) my former team leader and recent conqueror of the DeLoitte Lands End to John O'Groats, laid down a challenge. Well it was more asking really. On June 20th 2015 she plans to do the chase the sun ride. The keener eyed of you will realise this is the summer solstice or longest day. There's 17 hours of daylight and during that time you ride from The Isle of Sheppey to Somerset, the small matter of 200 miles. That's my cycling goal for next year sorted then! Yep I'm having a pop at a double century. My longest ride to date is 105 miles so this will require serious training, a lot more healthy eating and possibly a very long booze ban! We all need goals though don't we?

http://roadcyclinguk.com/sportive/chase-the-sun-ride-welcomes-all-comers.html





To today's riding. My ride in was the standard commute and then I did a bit extra on the way home. Given what I've said above I guess I'm going to need to do a lot more bonus miles. It was a nice little ride though, unlike yesterday it was dry. It was also warm. Today I'm back down to shorts, short sleeved cycling Jersey and standard mitts. The only concession to the time of year was the clear lenses in my eyewear. I picked up some trophies too so all in all I'm a happy MAMIL.

The day was topped off by cycling buddy Big Steve bringing round another stack of logs. At some point it will get proper cold and then we'll be fine because the log burner will be well fed! For his trouble he's quality controlling my beers whilst I head towards the end of  Macmillan's GoSoberforOctober. It's a tough job so thanks for your help Steve. 

More commuting tomorrow and then the bit that really floats my boat, the weekend club rides. 

Happy pedalling

Guy Martin tribute commute!

No STRAVA routes again because it's just the commute. This mornings ride to work is dedicated to king of lamb chops, master of speed, man who never says anything just once, Guy Martin. If you haven't managed to watched any of his Speed series, why have you been wasting your life? If you weren't aware that series 2 has started...WAKE UP! This is simply the best telly ever. He may be more famous for his motorbike racing but he's a serious cyclist and the only man alive who I still respect despite using the phrase 'push bike.' (Eurgh I feel dirty typing it!)

For more info check out this link - Guy Martin Speed - it's back!

Due to the wonder of catch up TV I watched it this morning. Well I tried to, the last quarter of the show was delayed by the wifi going down. Ooh I was cursing Virgin media! However I got ready for work and watched the last bit in my lycra, it felt more authentic that way.

When I set off I had an extra bounce in my pedals and the shows theme music was my commuting ear worm. Riding my bike is usually enough to put me in a good mood so the added joy of euphoria for the eyes made my day!

At work I managed to get my bike to work order forms signed so I'm soon to have some tax free spending power. All good there, preparing for bike shopping. I think you all know I'm doing that at c&dcycles!

The journey home was, due to the relentless advance of British winter time, in the dark. No problem there, with my trusty one23 extreme bright it wasn't a problem.

The legs however still feel stiff so I need to take my own advice and rest for a couple of days. This was clear from the latest Speed episode. You get fitter when you rest not whilst you're on the bike. Other bits of note were the skin calliper test and even though in his own words there's more meat on a butchers pencil Guy needed to lose an extra 5kg to be in peak condition for his challenge. I wonder if he uses myfitnesspal? Another interesting fact was that you can only absorb one litre of water an hour. So there's no point guzzling like mad! Anyway I'm not spoiling anymore of it, watch yourself it's flipping marvelous!

Happy Peddaling