It's Saturday so what else? It's the C&DCycles shop ride!

Always the best ride of the week it's another Saturday shop ride. The slow(er) ride was led today by Jamie 'effortless' Stockham. Jamie's riding style is to glide and he makes it all look very easy. He's the perfect leader because whilst he looks like he's doing very little he's going very fast!

Here's some great ride footage from Richard Wood's go pro. That's definitely a bit of kit I'd like to get hold of. However this video has far too much footage of some fat lad on his Forme Longcliffe 2.0. I'm going to have to work on that riding style, it's shocking!

For some reason the youtube clip doesn't show on some devices. If you have a blank box above please click this link YouTube video by Richard Wood

Some of the brothers from C&DCYCLES are now clearly blog mention chasing. It's like Strava segment chasing but worse as they try to get as many mentions as possible. With that in mind Andy your striptease to divert my request for a bigger ring really was unnecessary. I was going to mention again about your fantastic advice and service and repeat that we should all follow rule 58 and support our local bike shop. I'm still a bit disturbed though that it's base layer then bib shorts for you. It's not in the rules but if we could add to them it's definitely bib shorts first, for the full mankini effect and then all other layers to follow.

Big Steve is also guilty of blog mention chasing. His was more valid though. The Prince of Profanity is quite miffed that he only scored 65/70 for 'how sweary are you?' It was most amusing to hear his critique of the list in the Facebook Survey and unfortunately none of it is repeatable here. Needless to say both of us share a new favourite insult in 'douchecanoe.' As in David Moyes was a real douchecanoe for leaving Everton. Never mind the new man is indeed the canines crown jewells so alls well that ends well.

Enough of that nonsense. The ride today was a good one for a shop ride and especially welcome after the gradient bashing we gave ourselves yesterday. It was another fast ride for a Saturday with my average coming in at just under 16mph. 

If you read my blog of the shop ride from a while back where I mention that the sign points the wrong way for the historic church in Aldwincle (this is not another of Steve's words but in fact the name of a village,) then the last laugh is on me because there is indeed another church around the corner with a big English Heritage plaque on it. 

We split into two groups which were supposed to meet and then complete the route together but it sort of went wrong when we erm...went wrong and then we went wrong again so the fast lot caught us twice and then gave up the plan and we ended up back at the shop before them despite their average of nearly 18mph (when I grow up I want to be that quick.) Poor Frank on only his second ride in a few weeks looked ruined by the quick lads. Not half as bad as I'd have looked trying to keep up with that group Frank!

Back at the shop we arrived before 11am for the first time for weeks which meant that another of my wife's awesome creations had yet to arrive. However, when the long suffering Mrs Lindsley did appear with my personal favourite in her repertoire, apple cake, it was demolished in seconds. Big Steve was so excited he started quoting the Fast Show and some other things that sadly I also can't mention. If I say the cake was lovely and moist you can join the dots for yourself. Thanks again Lee, I really don't deserve you.

The tray of apple cake was full moments before

No ride home for me today because Niamh was competing in the Kettering Harriers Athletic Club Open meeting. That was well worth the trip because it was great to see so many athletes and our superstar had a massive personal best in the 800m knocking 12 seconds off of her previous PB.

All in all a great day.

Happy Peddaling

Richies Good Friday not a Sportive Brampton Valley Criss Cross

I planned this route then as an afterthought wondered if any of my biking brothers wanted to join me. Well I could not have been more delighted with the response. 6 of us (Matthew, Neil, Jamie, Iain, Darren and I,) set out from Rothwell and we picked up Phil in Old. Neil could only get a quick spin in and left us in Holcot meaning 6 of us did the majority of the route.

The crazy plan for the day was to sort of follow the Brampton Valley Way without actually using the Brampton Valley Way. From mine we went to Orton, then Loddington, then Old via Mill Lane (a really pleasant quite road,) from there up to Scaldwell, touching the outskirts of Brixworth, over the causeway to Holcot and then round to Moulton, finally through Boughton and down to Boughton crossing. That's the start of the Brampton Valley Way. For those who don't know the Brampton Valley Way it's a bike track from Northampton to Market Harborough using the old train line.I will definitely post a blog about using the Brampton Valley Way at some point this year, as it's another fantastic local resource but it's not suitable for road bikes.

So why did I want to do this? Well as the name suggests there's a valley involved and if you cross the track you'll very soon be going up hill as it's in the bottom of the valley. In short I wanted a route that was as testing as it gets round here. I hope the brothers in Lycra who joined me will agree it was a good workout.

No worries dude

So we headed up to Chapel Brampton and then back across the track at The Brampton Halt and up to Pitsford. The only disappointing thing about this route for me is we couldn't avoid using an A road at times. The majority of this was on the A508 Harborough Road. I think it should be obvious why this road runs parallel to the Brampton Valley Way. 

Cracking view, it all looked like this

Onto Brixworth again before taking on the mighty Spratton Hill. From Spratton we went to Creaton and then back to Brixworth up the segment known as the Brixworth Beast. A bit more A508 took us through to Lamport and then through the ridiculously pretty Draughton (I wouldn't live there though-no pub!) . 

Ooh a picture of me! Cheers Iain

From Draughton we again took on some lumps to get to Maidwell and then a slab more A508 before we could turn off and go past the Buddhist Centre at Kelmarsh (Boomshanka.) From Kelmarsh we crossed the Brampton Valley Way again but only knew this by the ventilation chimneys as it was in the Kelmarsh tunnel when we crossed it. Into Harrington and down Church lane took us up another significant lump before heading to Great Oxendon.

And another one

Quick stop at Draughton

My legs definitely already knew we'd had a good ride. It was a strong group of riders and I was struggling to keep up at times. As we headed to East Farndon I saw the strangest sight. A man on a bike was carrying a dog on his back in a kind of basket thing.  See the picture. It's bizarre what you see at times.

I really hope this dog has his own Strava account

 From Farndon we headed into Harborough which was busy so not the best bit of the ride. We crossed the start of the Brampton Valley Way in Harborough and then followed the road through to Braybrooke crossing the River Jordan (let my people go!) We didn't head up Griffin Road this time but to the next hill leading to Desborough Road. It's another significant rise and once again I was arse end Charlie to the stronger riders. Finally through Desborough we took the Rothwell Road for the last climb of the day and back to my house.

The most magnificent Mrs Lindsley's Beetroot and Orange Cake

At my house we were treated to Mrs Lindsley's marvelous hospitality with tea, coffee and beetroot cake! Beetroot you say? Yes Beetroot and orange with a cream cheese topping. OMG what a treat from the Queen of Cakes. Beetroot as we all know has anti cramp properties for cyclists so that's another benefit too.

What a ride! Nearly 100km and very definitely comparable to a Sportive route.

I'd like to say thankyou to everyone who joined me for this ride. I guess we've started another tradition of the 'Good Friday Ride.' A very enjoyable spin with good people.

Happy Peddaling

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Commute, commute, commute

Nothing that exciting about today's cycling. I ride to work and back. I could've gone out tonight but instead, as I'm getting out on Friday and Saturday and going to Franklins Gardens to see the Saints on Sunday I felt I ought to be a good husband and father and get some housework done. I have got stuff to discuss though.

The first relates to the sign above. Every day this week I have passed this sign encouraging drivers to think bike. Now this message originally related to our motorcycle cousins but as the Lycra loonie numbers have swelled I'd like to think they mean bike in every sense of the word. With that in mind it saddens me to report there was an incident for one of riders last night with a lorry going home from vroom Wednesday. Poor Jonesy took a torrent of abuse from a trucker and was intimidated out of the way. That's not on. I wish he'd rang the 'how's my driving,' number on the back of the lorry.

My second topic goes back to a conversation I was having on vroom last night. I love Clive, my Forme Longcliffe 2.0, it's the perfect bike for me due to being quite quick but also comfortable on long rides.  It's sales description is: 

"The perfect machine for any cyclist looking for a serious bit of kit to improve their fitness and get their endorphin kick! The Longcliffe 2.0 is also ideal for the experienced cyclist looking for a training bike with the best balance of high quality componentry without the need to fork out for the usual upgrades. In addition to triple butted AL7005 tubing we also feature a custom factory built Mavic Aksium wheelset and Shimano 105 transmission system."

Now that's all great but there's just one thing that nags me. The compact chainring 50/34 is great for the hills but I'm a downhill specialist and I feel I'm a gear light. Since switching from my steel framed triple, Bob (a lovely bike but built for my Dad whose 6ft 6" and I'm only 5ft 11 and 32/33rds,) there are segments I just can't beat. My belief is that's down to Bob having a triple chainring of 52/42/30. There's the problem right there...I'm now cycling with a bunch of blokes constantly talking about their bits of kit. A couple of years ago if you'd asked me about my gears I'd say they're shimano something or other (it was tiagra,) and I've got 27, three chain rings and 9 on the back, I didn't know what size but now I know it was 25-12. Now I'm acutely aware I'm running 105 10 speed 24-12. I'm looking at options Di2, Dura Ace, Ultegra etc. Here's my plan that I've got by doing way too much reading. 11 speed on the back and keep the compact. 50-11 being a bigger gear than 52-12 so I get a bit more umph but keep the compact for climbing. Now the options for this start at Di2 and having looked at some online retailers (for price purposes only Andy and Chris, I observe rule #58 support your local bike shop,) I think £1700 for the group set on an £900 bike is really a bit silly. There's an option at 105 though and I think this is what I'll do. Now the process starts proper. I have to talk to everyone about it. People will tell me that campagnola and SRAM do 11speed set ups. Others will say just change the chain rings. It will go on for ages and I'll change my mind a million times. It seems that if the number of bikes you need is n+1 where n is the number of bikes you already have then the bits on your bike that need upgrading are n+infinity where n is the number of bits you've changed already. As my long suffering wife remarked:"why did you get that bike if it wasn't what you needed?" It's not that simple dear (although it probably is!)

vroom Wednesday suits you sir

So on a glorious evening we happy few of the less popular but just as rewarding C&DCYCLES vroom Wednesday, the clubs faster ride, set out on another two wheeled adventure. It all started as it was meant to go on with Big Steve Major the last to arrive greeting us the only way he knows: "evening bellends!"

The route was a bit different for us heading towards Moulton on the outskirts of Northampton and the back along the A5199 through Chapel Brampton, Spratton and Creaton before heading to Naseby. The hill into Naseby is in my opinion the best climb in Northants. 

The banter had been flowing and I appeared to be stuck in a character from the fast show when I noticed an irritation on my face. So it was to howls of derision from my fellow vroomers that I announced in a slightly effeminate and camp way:
"Ooh I have helmet rash, it's quite irritating!"
The lads insisted this should be in the blog tonight, so there you go as promised it's in!

I'm not sure how we came up with the plan for tonight. It is however quite similar for my plan for Good Friday so, sorry about that. Also in the Spring evening sunshine the views were spectacular, especially the low sun over Hollowell reservoir. Unfortunately as this was vroom Wednesday there was no time to get many pictures.

I'm pleased with my ride tonight. Lots of PRs and some new targets for segment chasing. Also Lee knows how much I love the Wednesday ride so she's come up with a plan where I can go every week not just in school holidays. She's a special lady my wife. As I've said before I'm very lucky.

The weather looks good for a few more days so there's plenty more rides to come. I can't wait.

Happy Peddaling

roundheads and cavaliers

I've planned this ride for quite some time and the inspiration for it is really quite remarkable. On previous rides I've talked about Northants role in WWII and bits of hidden history. Well this is bigger than that. Because a few miles from my house the decisive battle in the English Civil War took place.

Luckily for me I rode to work again today so I was able to finish at 5 and get straight out for a couple of hours. I spent the day looking after other peoples mental health and then I got the sort of therapy I need. Two wheels and country lanes. Perfect.

It's bizarre to think that this chunk of rural middle England, bisected by the A14 was the site of such an important battle. This part of the country is so rural that between Great Oxendon and Clipston I was on a gated road (that's a road with a gate they they shut off when there's livestock in the field,) and I was having to dodge sheep and lambs. It's now all pretty villages, farms, oil seed rape fields, sheep and cattle. In 1645 it was erm...just like that apparently! So when the Royalist forces marched south from Leicester under Prince Rupert's command to engage the New Model Army led by Sir Thomas Fairfax advancing North from Oxford, I presume the good folks of Northants hid in their barns until the silly buggers had finished their squabble.

This battle was a big deal. Long before the American War of independence, or Monsieur Guillotine won humane psychopath of the year in the French Revolution, our MPs, mostly Protestant, decided our King, a despicable Catholic wastrel, had to go. We invented chopping kings heads off and republics and all that. However after the Parliamentarian leader Cromwell turned out to be a despicable tyrant, banning dancing and Christmas and treating the Irish so appallingly that his place in history ranks along side Pol Pot or hitler. So we went back to having a King. We just don't let them make the rules and stuff so everyone stays happy. Anyway in terms of modern democracy people point to this bit of history and like to selectively remember old potato face Cromwell for the good things he did and ignore he was the 'all Britain biggest git' winner two years running. So that explains his statue outside the Houses of Parliament (my history is sketchy but I think he tried to ban that too!)

Rightly Northants is proud of this piece of history. It's well marked with lots of informative signs. The viewing platforms are a nice feature and I guess they're sort of set at 'view from a horse,' height. There's even a campsite for the Sealed Knot, the English Civil War reenactment society. They meet regularly and I've even been held up on a ride once as they marched down the road.

The sealed knot

Sign for Prince Rupert's view, in Northants we have brown signs whoever decided that wants shooting

Authentic civil war bike rack

Explanatory sign pointing out some stuff

The view looking directly at the village of Naseby and Thomas Fairfax who was looking this way!

What it says on the sign

If you expand this it's readable

So is this

The church at Marston Trussell where bad stuff happened

More info

Explanation of the slaughter at pudding bag end

On one website I've read about a different slaughter at this pretty church. The Royalist baggage train was caught here and a group of cooks were apparently slaughtered, totally against the rules of war. Yes that's right whilst perfectly sane religious men, all believing God was on their side hacked chunks out of each other, blasted each other with muskets and impaled each other on massive wooden pikes there was an atrocity. This one shows how messed up these times were. The two theories are the soldiers mistook Welsh cooks for Irish and therefore it was perfectly ok to kill them or they wanted to rape the cooks who defended themselves with knives and of course were asking to get stabbed to death.

One of the monuments, a closer picture would be better but I wasnt riding up there or walking up in cleats

The bigger monument on the site of the windmill at Naseby

It's quite good to do a compare and contrast of the two views

The victorious geezer

Handy map

Authentic English Civil War chilli con carne almost exactly what cyclists ate to recover in 1645

Frankly the whole thing seems a bit mad doesn't it and some of you might be thinking: "enough of this history nonsense tell us about the ride!" Well it was fabulous. The site is like a bowl surrounded by typical rolling hills. It's a combination of ups, downs, flat bits and rollers. I loved it but I would wouldn't I? If your wondering how I managed to get PRs whilst only having a 13mph average, well it's the scenery isn't it. That and stopping for pictures. 

Happy pedalling

a near miss with super sam and ninja niamh

Without trying to sound too dramatic Sam, Niamh and I are lucky to be alive. It should have been very safe. We were crossing the A43 using the pedestrian crossings designed specifically for cyclists to access Weekley Woods. The light takes an age from the traffic light going red to the green cyclist to tell you it's safe. As that happened today I said ok kids and we started to move, out of the corner of my eye a black BMW with no intention of stopping screamed towards the crossing. I yelled stop and luckily the kids did as the oblivious driver went straight through the red light. Other vehicles stared on in horror and then waved us over after the lights has changed green for them. Had that car hit one of us we were dead. I do hope whatever they were rushing to was worth one of our lives. I called the police later but unfortunately there was no camera coverage so nothing can be done. 

Once the fright had quietened we actually had a nice ride. It's a road ride from our house up to Glendon then cycle track to and through Weekley. It's nicely laid out and a good place to ride. On the way back we took the bridle path from Glendon to a Rushton. That's a nice trail ride with some downhills to provide a bit of fun. Coming out of Rushton Sam proved the new bike is working for him.

Despite the scare I would recommend this ride to anyone. Just remember not everyone cares about your safety so trust yourself and no one else.

Action shot on the good track at Weekley Woods

Bridle Path from Glendon

Approaching Rushton

Gran Fondo 4th Time Lucky

The plan for today was to join the C&DCYCLES shop ride and if I felt up to it, to make up the difference and complete the April 130km/80miles Gran Fondo. That plan succeeded but only with the help of some special people.

Firstly as a husband and father of 3 I realise that my time does not belong to me, it belongs to my family. Without my wife's support I wouldn't be able to ride as often as I do and I certainly wouldn't have a spare 6 hours to take on a Strava challenge.

Secondly I didn't even know if my bike would be fit to ride. The crunchy noise made me think the bearings in the head set were at best dry and more likely to be damaged. Andy at C&DCYCLES assured me if I got there early he'd have me all sorted by the 8:45 ride start time. He was true to his word. My worst fears were confirmed as Andy removed my forks with the frantic energy of a granny one number short of a full house. The bearings were indeed shot. Five minutes later new bearings were fitted and greased and Clive's steering was returned to it's former glory. I have no idea what they'll charge me for that job because it wasn't Andy's priority. He puts his customers and the club first and for that we should all be very grateful. I know I am! Whatever the cost it'll be worth every penny.





The bit to the right of Kettering was the shop ride and what a ride. I have no idea what we were all on this morning because that's the fastest Saturday ride I've been on. Vroom Wednesday on a Saturday some people have said. We were led again by Big Steve Major with Andy the magnificent mechanic taking the rear or 'tail gunner' as we say.

Outside the shop at the start

If the pace was high the banter was of equal quality. I have been asked by my son, what we talk about on rides. Well often it's bikes and cycling, sometimes it's sport and sometimes there's a smattering of smut. One such conversation involving the use of power tools in an adult movie took an interesting turn as we hypothesised whether Makita or de Walt would be the porn stars cordless tool of choice. Big Steve put us straight, it has to be de Walt apparently!

Quick stop at the Church in Clopton

For no reason other than we're both silly billies, Nathan I started racing on the hill heading back to Thrapston. He even went round the roundabout at the top to make sure he could overtake me again. That's not really acceptable behaviour for a shop ride but as it was a tallest dwarf contest and everyone was riding so well I'm not sure anyone else noticed. Finally as we realised we were just knackering ourselves we agreed on an honourable draw. Unfortunately for Nathan I have no honour and claimed the day by jumping him whilst he was having a chat on my favourite Warkton to Stamford Rd climb. All that stupidity did me good because I have PRs on segments where I normally struggle.

It says 'Historic Church' that way so that must be the modern church in the background

No slip ups at Barratt's corner

Back at the shop there was tea, coffee and cake washed down with lashings more banter. I went easy on Andy though because he's my hero today. (There Andy is that enough mentions!)

So off I toddled on my erm...tod! I really didn't have a plan but left Kettering on the A43 heading to Geddington, from there I went through Newton up to Great Oakley. As this Gran Fondo was about testing yourself I decided to go right at Great Oakley rather than go to Pipewell via the Southern Gateway.

These are the challenge instructions:

"For this Challenge, deviate from your normal routes and go after something more adventurous. Optimize for suffering and exploration, not comfort and convenience. Share stories from your fondo using the hashtag #fondoday. "

I didn't mean to end up on an industrial estate in Corby

I hadn't been that way before and now I know why. It just took me on a loop to rejoin the A43 and head into Corby at the euro hub. Not a route I'd recommend because it's a fast busy road with lots of lorries. That's the opposite of what I'm looking for. It didn't really float my boat riding round the industrial estate near Rockingham Motor Speedway either. 

I love this feature in Lyddington

Finally I left Corby and headed to Gretton, then Lyddington and round Eyebrook Reservoir via the Stoke Dry hill. I'd only been up that climb before and for me it's quite a test so I felt it needed my downhill skills unleashing on it. The only problem with that was the hill out of Lyddington is just as beastly and I shamefully dropped to granny ring. The picture of Eyebrook does not capture how spectacular the view was at Stoke Dry. 

The view across Eyebrook Reservoir

At this point I was still making it up as I went along with Ashley being my next vague target and then check the distance to plan the rest of my ride. Due to the disaster of Gran Fondo 2 where my technology gave up at 79 miles I took no chances. In the bike mount was my old Sony Xperia (awful phone don't get one,) and in my back pocket was the best smartphone I've owned, the Samsung Galaxy S4mini (iPhone users please don't bang on about how good your phone is, I'm a Samsung man now and it's unlikely to change.) the Sony gave up as I entered Ashley on just under 70 miles. So it was with dread I reached into my jersey pocket to check the Samsung. I shouldn't have worried, despite Strava running for 5 hours with all other apps on the go it was only down to 50% and it's still got some charge now! 

10 miles to go then. What shall I do? At that point the remnants of my scarcely seen common sense abandoned me...I know, Middleton then Rocky Hill. Fondo says I must suffer so suffer I did! A few moments later I was in the middle of the Rockingham Wheelers time trial. I got some bemused looks but lads just because you're on a £3k TT bike don't look down your nose at me. Your poo smells too! 

Yes mind out we can be foolish

Middleton Hill was hard but I was pleased because after all those miles there was no signs of cramp. Then I chucked my chain and the act of bending over to get it back on caused my right quads to lock up. A few big stretches and I was back on and before I knew in the foot slopes of the castle topped beast we know as Rocky Hill. Straight to granny but in the middle of my cogs, I clicked gradually up to the 24 as the climb progressed and then just hung on. I loved it. The pain was exhilarating. Look it's not the alps, it's not even the Pennines but for round here it's as hard as it gets. If you want an idea how steep it is there's a field on the left as you climb littered with cheap plastic sledges. You can just imagine on snow days the kids of Corby legging it down poundland to buy a sledge (not sure how much they cost,) and then having two or three goes before their McDonald's fuelled Xbox trained legs gave up and abandoning their purchase in the knowledge they'll get another one next year.

I've said before the disappointing thing about Rocky Hill is that it ends up on a fast road in an urban area but busy traffic negotiated I headed towards Pipewell. I checked Strava and at 124km I was sure I had enough in case there was a distance reduction when I finished. 

There was one last piece of excitement before I got home. A buzzard in the road noticed me at the last  minute and nonchalantly flapped off, it then got a bit panicky as I drew level with him. Those moments are made for a go pro camera, I really need to get one.

I got home, checked the Strava as 134km, clicked save and held my breath. It stayed at 134. Yes I'd done it. That's not my longest ride but I honestly can't think of one I've enjoyed more. What a great day on the bike.

Happy Pedalling!