Vroom Wednesday...maximum wattage and some rule breakers

Tonight was a proper vroom Wednesday. I'm pooped. That's the fastest I've ever ridden and I'm really really pleased with an average of 17.5mph. I've not checked other peoples Strava yet but I'm guessing as I was near the back a lot most people whooped that. Not just the average though I got 27 PR's, that's massive.

 At times the train worked and we stayed together at others some of us got lost out of the back. This was a good route for vroom and if your wondering why it's not circular for me it's because I rode to work today which was another bonus. The weather was perfect. A warm pleasant evening with only light winds.

This route is actually a good route for any type of road ride. You don't need to go out and thrash this go out and look at the scenery, smell the flowers and take it all in.

So that's the formalities out of the way let us attend this evenings main business. What follows is a kangaroo court of cycling.

Ok so if you're not familiar with the Rules this is hopefully going to be a masterclass. By providing such information I myself conform to rule#2 lead by example: it is forbidden for someone familiar with the rules to knowingly allow another person to breach them. So onto this evenings heinous crimes. Rule #3 also states: guide the uninitiated, no matter how good you think the reason it is never ok to knowingly breach the rules.

Exhibit A: big Steve Major, the Prince of Profanity.

In breach of rule #17: Team kit is for members of the team

Exhibit B: rule #27 socks and shorts should be like goldilocks - not too long and not too short

Jonesy, too short, Andy (mention 1) way too long, Major spot on, Stuey Nichols a bit too long plus as a Tigers fan you instantly break all the rules it's in your DNA

C&DCYCLES selfie

This doesn't break the rules but probably should as we got carried away with current trends and did a selfie. Even worse I quite like this picture!

Hightower's perspective 

Another rule should be that Nathan is too tall to ride a bike, it can't be safe to see the world like this. No wonder he broke a spoke on his long suffering bike.

Recovery drink 1

The final rule that should be a rule is that just because a bloke tells you something who is also a cyclist it does not mean you have to listen. We're suckers for this. At a sportive a bloke told me that a pint of milk after a ride is a significant aid to recovery so without any research of my own I now down a pint of milk after every ride. This is either brilliant advice or a load of old tosh.

Recovery drink 2 (flake optional) 

Rule #47 drink Trippels don't ride triples:

"Cycling and beer are so intertwined we may never understand the full relationship. Beer is a recovery drink, an elixir for post-ride trash talking and a just plain excellent thing to pour down the neck. We train to drink so don’t fool around. Drink quality beer from real breweries. If it is brewed with rice instead of malted barley or requires a lime, you are off the path. Know your bittering units like you know your gear length. Life is short, don’t waste it on piss beer."

So you see that lovely pint of home brewed Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone is a real rule conformer. I'm lucky that my two main hobbies are brewing and cycling. I can't think of a better combination.

Happy Peddaling

Rule#58 Observed, New Product Tested

So tonight's blog is once again not a route but a clean up job. I popped into to C&DCYCLES to see Andy who last night bemoaned his lack of mentions in yesterday's blog. So I asked Andy, you know the manager at C&DCYCLES about cleaning products and then listened to Andrew Ferguson's advice and bought some Muc Off chain cleaner. 

Ooh ooh whats in the bag?

Good old GT85 and an aerosol of muc off chain cleaner

Then Andy asked me if I'd ridden yesterday. This draws me to one ponderance. You know Andy the man at C&DCYCLES who we trust when we once again need help with our bikes? Well, he apparently read my blog yesterday and he did mention there was a complete lack of Andy. Now my blog yesterday was about the ride I did yesterday so you'd think, Andy, who definitely read my blog would know that! My conclusion is that Andy from C&DCYCLES does not read my blog at all he merely scans it for his own name. Well Andy you're going to be busy with all the Andy spotting tonight.

So to tonight's quest. Having been distinctly underwhelmed by the pure pump spray degreaser I was looking forward to testing the less environmentally friendly, but apparently not tested on bunnies, Muc Off chain cleaner. For one thing it's definitely more expensive.

Dirty bits

Filth

So the before is above and the below is after. I have to say Andy's advice to lay the bike on it's side, spray on the product and walk away, then wash off with hot water, was spot on. That's right Andy from C&DCYCLES gave me some great advice. He also advised me to give the chain a good rub with a towel which I already knew and then Andy, you know Andy, said make sure you lube properly afterwards. He said that it's a common error to clean well and then under lube. It's GT85 on bits like the jockey wheels and then good quality oil on the chain and cogs. I listened Andy. I just hope that Pure oil is a better product than the degreaser.

I'd say that works

Shiny

Yep that's more like it

Wow! I hope the pictures show just how well the Muc Off works. Seems they're not just the big brand in bike cleaning, they make stuff that works. The first thing was the aerosol was loads better to use than the pump spray. With very little effort the grime just fell off. Sorry penguins I'm sold on this stuff! So cheers again Andy, great advice as usual.

Finally I can't believe I didn't know about this but I found a link to the radio 5live cycling programme, bespoke. A really good listen and they touch on a subject close to our heart. How to go faster. It's good to hear from some big names in the sport but also nice to hear the presenter going through tests that put him through hell. We all like to know that others suffer too don't we! Link below.

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/5live/bespoke/bespoke_20140424-2153b.mp3

Happy Peddaling

Legs feeling good again...

Cycling is a fickle mistress. There are days where you feel good but ride poorly and days when you don't feel up for it and then have a spectacular ride. Today I went out feeling strong and stayed that way. For me that's the nicest feeling of them all.

Before I talk more about today I need to go back to yesterday. I completely forgot to mention three things. The first was that after a couple of weeks in shorts I went back to full length bib tights and overshoes. That's our weather for you! The second is that it was Neil Hickford's birthday. Neil needs to slow down. He's 5 years my senior and his recent ride averages have put me to shame. Well Neil when I'm 65 and your 70, just you watch out! Lastly Steve Major who was once again doing a great a job of leading the ride, broke a spoke. We tried taping it up and fiddling with a spoke key to get the wheel rideable but Steve could only limp to his Dads house to get a lift home. Not sure how I forgot that lot. The truth is I gave so many thoughts of what to put in the blog and half of them are still banging around in the gap between my ears.




Feeling good I set out today to ride as fast as I could. Years of plodding around at 14mph did me no favours in the speed department. So my average of 16.5mph might be unimpressive for some but for me it's a step in the right direction. I also got a PR on Rushton Hill, a segment I regularly ride and have not been able to improve since May and now I'm 30th out of 367 riders and 3rd out of all the people I follow. I'm chuffed to bits. The weird one is I really really went for it on Desborough Road Drop. I was convinced I'd never been quicker and finally that KOM would be mine. Strava says no! 2 seconds slower than my previous best I'm still 2nd though.

It's not all about speed though. I did some familiar stuff for me going through our beautiful countryside and pretty villages. No time for photos so I've borrowed some from the internet.

Happy Peddaling

Pipewell

Arthingworth

Lamport

When we win the Lottery...Old

The Hare at Loddington, nice pub, good food!

Dancing Uphill

I've just finished reading this magnificent book. It's about the first British rider in the Tour de France. The man was a phenomenon. Whilst many of us struggle to creep over a 16mph on our carbon frames with 20 gears with all the other technical advances of our age, Charles on a steel bike in toe clips with sturmey archer 3 speed hub gears (remember those?) regularly hit 20mph plus on rides of 100 miles. The war wrecked his professional cycling career. He was finally allowed to race again when amateur rules were relaxed in the 1960's. He then set about kicking everyone's butts again. A great read recommended to me by fellow C&DCYCLES rider Iain Tingle.

My Granddad was also into cycle racing pre war. I've tried using the internet to discover if he ever raced with Charles Holland. I haven't got anything yet but I'll see if Dad has anything. I need to know!

Front cover

Back cover

They really raced on these gears!

The book is full of stuff like this

Saturday shop ride, same places different route...

The outlook for today's shop ride was quite gloomy and damp. This put some people off and a smaller than recent weeks group gathered at the shop. If you missed out due to the weather, well hard luck on getting it wrong, it turned into a lovely day for a bike ride. But then every day is a good day for a bike ride as a bad day cycling always beats a good day at work...unless of course you ride for a living and then frankly you are the luckiest person in lucky land.

With a smaller attendance it was decided to do just one group. On that I'd like to apologise to Rich who joined us for the first time today. We didn't do a good enough job of looking after you, we got way too splintered for a Saturday ride. 

The route was familiar but also unusual as we went in the opposite direction to our usual rides. Well done to Steve for thinking this up. However the road from Thrapston to a Denford is still a bumpy nightmare no matter which side you're on. To add insult to injury Martin achieved the feat of getting puddle water to spray off his rear wheel over my glasses and into my eye. He couldn't do that again if he tried! Other notable ride events were discussions about next weeks sportive, this blog, tyres and my ongoing what to do about my chain rings. The update is I'm still going for a 39/52.

I couldn't go back to the shop today and I missed the tea, cake and banter. C&DCYCLES is a great club to belong to. The path of true love does not however always run smooth and we have some issues to iron out. Anyone whose studied group dynamics knows there are always ups and downs with human interactions. A bit like the driver versus cyclist debate there are two sides to every story and with a bit of tolerance we can get back to being an awesome brotherandsisterhood of the bike.

Happy Peddaling 

Rich and Iain coming up the hill

Same bit, a little closer

Why did I bother cleaning Clive...you're right I gave him a once over today too!

No ride so I thought Clive needed some TLC

After last night's apparent nihilistic delusion (cheers Phil,) and my self perceived poor performance I decided the sensible option was rest not ride. That in turn meant there was no excuse not to give Clive a thorough clean and lube.

This is going to be quite a confessional and right off the bat I'm truly sorry. OK another area of knowledge I've acquired since riding became an obsession rather than a pastime is the need to clean your bike properly. Poor Bob used to get a monthly blast and wipe down with WD40 and that's about it. Since then I've learned that WD40, despite over 1000 uses, is an inferior product and not the choice of professionals. My water displacer of choice is now GT85. However blasting your bike even with GT85 is not good enough because despite the claims on the tin it isn't apparently an adequate lubricant. I've also learned that chains need degreasing before you oil them. Apparently that thick black tarry stuff I used to get on my fingers is not good for your drivetrain. So here's the first apology I don't do it often enough. I'm riding almost everyday and if the choice is ride or clean then I'm riding!

Clive the filthy beast!

Oh my days look at the state of the cogs and chain

So that was the state of things. Having mocked others for the use of products like Muc-off I finally gave in and decided to give some products a go. Here comes the 2nd apology. I breached rule #58 and bought some degreaser along with some oil in the same brand and GT85 in a 3 for 2 deal at Halfords. All I can say is I didn't mean to, I was just in there anyway and was dazzled by the deal.

For the frame, fork and wheels I just use some fairly liquid and warm water with a soft brush. I give the whole bike a good scrub down and then hose off the soap. Then I spray all over with GT85 and dry it off. I don't know if that's right or not, it just works for me. The chain, cogs, chain rings and derailleurs then get special attention. 

PURE degreaser

So is this stuff any good? Well for starters the spray trigger is completely pants. Every pump you have to pull the trigger back out and you get the citrusy detergent all over your hands. I can't say it's a radical improvement on fairy liquid. To get the chain this clean I spent a long time vigorously rubbing it with rag. It's all gone now so I'm going to try a different brand for comparison next time and yes C&DCYCLES I'll be a good boy and buy from you. 

That's looking better

I do however like the oil. It's easy to use, comes out at the right speed to oil the chain without getting it everywhere and the cap goes back on without getting oil down the side of the bottle. Yep that's my kind of product.

It's penguin friendly too

Now the next time I ride I'll be convinced everything feels better. I'll probably clean it every ride for the next few but it's only a matter of time before I relapse into old habits. Then again there's only one way to get the bike dirty...RIDE!

Happy Scrubbing

Guest Blog: Glen Nevis

On seeing Andy Brown's Glen Nevis ride on Strava I felt there was an opportunity not to be missed. I asked Andy to guest blog his two wheeled jaunt and I have to say his contribution is absolutely fantastic. I really appreciate this Andy. I'm sure that others will feel the same.

There’s a fine line on family holidays as to how much time you can devote to your own interests, and how much you need to spend with the rest of your family. After careful consideration of the fact that I have spent good money on the “Squires and Spires” 79 mile sportive in early May, I decided last Thursday that I would edge closer to that line. I persuaded my wife Sara that she would like to take the car, with broken suspension (apparently due to the weight of 5 bikes and a roof box!), to the garage to be fixed. Meanwhile, I whipped out the lycra and made a dash for Glen Nevis on the bike.

Ben Nevis from the road

We were staying near Fort William, about 460 miles north of Kettering. There are a number of busy and narrow A roads on the doorstep, so the quieter road up Glen Nevis was a good alternative for me. It is described as the most beautiful of the Highland glens, sitting as it does under the highest mountains in the British Isles. I estimated the return route was just under 30 miles, and I had exactly 1 hour and 50 minutes to get there and back again, before going out for a family meal. It is a bit of a climb as well – good training all in all. So the pressure was on!

Library picture of the Glen Nevis Road (Andy wasn't expecting this request!)

As far as scenery is concerned, the Highlands is the most jaw-dropping place I have ever ridden in. It is dramatic and expansive, with vast stretches of untamed land. The first section of the ride is a quiet lane, about five miles long, with (fairly) gentle rolling hills. It runs parallel to a short stretch of the Caledonian canal, which connects the west coast of Scotland to the east, via a number of lochs. But the most obvious aspect is the north side of Ben Nevis and three other ‘Munros’ – that is, Scottish mountains over 3,000 feet, of which there are 282, named after Sir Hugh Munro who documented them all in the late 1800’s. The Munros are all still snow covered on the upper reaches at this time of year, and although reportedly in cloud for an average of 300 days a year – we were able to see the tops every day.

Library picture if Andy had walked on from the car park

The lane joins the main A road into Fort William, but shortly before the town centre I rounded the western flank of the Ben, and headed up onto the Glen Nevis road. This is flanked on one side by the Ben Nevis range, and on the other by more Munros, the Mamores. The road to the car park is 6.5 miles long and gains 400 feet, so not a huge gradient, but there are some steep bits – indeed, I was forced into the ‘granny ring’ at the end. But it is well worth it. The walk at the end of the road is truly spectacular (if ever you get the chance, you must), but I had hit the halfway mark for my time – so the homeward journey beckoned immediately.

As close as C&D Cycles got to the top of a Munro

There being little in the way of quiet circular routes, the return was by the same way, and I arrived back just in time. Stravashowed that I had achieved a 17 mph average, and was second (ok, out of 23) on the Glen Nevis uphill segment. Well chuffed, although the tail wind up the Glen may have helped a little …

This is Rich again: Thanks Andy, great piece of blogging mate. For everyone else. If you fancy a go just message me and we"ll sort something out!

Happy Peddaling