Cycle4Cynthia 2015...possibly the perfect day on a bike!

Well today didn't get off to a good start. I set my alarm for 05:00 and when it went off I must have missed snooze and pressed off. At 06:09 I woke up in sheer panic, not just because I needed to meet the guys at the shop by 06:45 but also because I awoke from a nightmare where someone else had done my ironing.

With no chance of meeting the rest of the C&DCyclesCC gang in time I set off on my own. Now I don't mind that at all. It says in my blog description I like riding in on my own and I do. It was a great solo ride to Althorp and I made it by about 08:15 which was plenty of time to get registered. When I arrived a large gathering of C&D lycra loonies were present and all doubled over with laughter as Steve was enjoying the attentions of a lady who may or may not have been enjoying his attentions back.

OK so editing after the day I've had is a bit of an effort so here's the pictures. I will pick up the story after the pics!

Steve and his new best mate

Pieces of food on a bike....erm good luck

Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder

Phil and Theo at the start

Dylan Hartley and Sam Dickinson

Yay here we go

there's a cheat here!

OOOOOh there's a contraption video later

Trying to keep up

Oh my god why am I trying to keep up?

OK so the main group of the C&D lads and lasses piled off to do the 50 mile route. Meanwhile I joined Phil 'the beast' Broxton and his son Theo to do the 25 mile route. Theo was an absolute star and I really do expect him to join us on a club ride in a few years. Theo should know he's an inspiration to others as SuperSam Lindsley wants to do the 25 mile route next year, Theo did not fail on an incredibly hilly route so big kudos young man. Check out the video below:

On route in Cycle4Cynthia there were plenty of standard lycra clad carbon/aluminium framed cyclists en route and then there were some alternative cyclists! Check this video out:




Well we got back to the start/finish in good time and then there was a real carnival atmosphere. I think I've been negligent here in mentioning who Cynthia is. Cynthia Spencer House is a hospice in Northampton for cancer sufferers. As such it couldn't be a more deserving cause. Marrying into a family that has suffered way more than their fair share from the C word has taught me that this is way more than a bike ride.It's a way of trying to help. So it's massive congratulations to the organisers for creating such a brilliant event. Pray you'll never need Cynthia Spencer Hospice or her sister unit in Kettering, Cransley Hospice and if your family ever does be grateful they have such innovative fundraisers that created the Cycle4cynthia bike ride.

After the main event I got to ride back with some of my favourite lycra loonies. We were knackered but in fits and starts we tore it up on the way back. I love this club and I can genuinely say the people I rode home with are some of the best.

All in all I think that's the perfect day on a bike. Solo ride. Help the youngsters ride. Ride with mates ride.

Happy Pedalling

Doing my own thing...

Well SuperSam has decided to go back to playing rugby, good for him I hope he does well. That left me with a decision...go out with C&DCCC for a Steve Sunday ride or do my own thing. Well I'm not feeling fast at all right now and I decided to give 'trying to keep up,' a miss. As my ride was a 30 mile bumble at 14mph average and their's was 60 miles at 18mph average I think I did the right thing. It's something I will have to work back up to.

Does that make my ride a bit of a flop? No not all. We get so obsessed with distance and averages and segments that we end up forgetting how nice it is to ride without pressure. I set off with a rough plan but no objective other than spending a couple of hours in the saddle. The weather, unlike yesterday was perfect for cycling: dry, light winds, not too warm. It really would have been squanderous not to get out.

As ever the highlights for me were the descents. Today I thoroughly enjoyed Rothwell to Desborough, Desborough Road Drop into Arthingworth, the quick section into Maidwell, from Maidwell to Draughton, the downhill section of the Old TT circuit, the descent onto the causeway and the hill from Orton back to Rothwell.

Doing my own thing meant I had plenty of opportunities to get shots of the beautiful landscape. A picture tells a thousand words so have a look at these:

That speed camera is under no threat

Maidwell to Draughton

Draughton to Lamport

The view from the top of the hill between Draughton and Lamport

Same place different view

Might as well have a bikie

View over Pitsford Reservoir

Pitsford water causeway

Shadow shot 

In other news today is the start of the tour of Britain. Wow what a finish that was! No spoilers, I'm sure someone will be waiting for the highlights.

Happy Pedaling

Best Hills in Northamptonshire?

Special Blue Product

Having ridden this route before, I knew what was coming, especially as the Major's IT inability meant me creating a route on Strava, Ride with GPS and Garmin Connect for everyone in the club to pretend they hadn't seen. On that Andy P informed me that his Garmin tried to send him off road at the top of Neville Holt. I'm not surprised, they may make great products but their route planner is a pile of old pants compared to others that are in fact free. It took me several goes to get the route to go up Rocky Hill like it was advising against such endeavour. Anyway I arrived at the shop to see a grand gathering of regulars and a few newbies. On seeing my bottles loaded with special blue product, Steve introduced me to his green concoction. It was USN, so I usually like it but I'm not too sure about the green stuff. Possibly this had something to do with Steve adding a few extra scoops than recommended (like he needs more power!)

Steve has green smurf juice

Organisation was swift as Andy was away (He was actually busy trying to keep his hair on with righteous indignation whilst believing everything he reads in the daily mail,) . Steve took the quickies and I led the sensible people which is how things should be. 

 We rode out into the beautiful Northants countryside on a not so beautiful day. Summer has gone and Autumn is here, soggy and grey, oh actually it probably still is Summer after all.

It's pretty lumpy on the way to the first proper hill of the day. I always find Rushton Hill and Bringhurst quite a challenge and then we hit Neville Holt which tomorrow will be the scene of KCC and WVCC's annual hill climb race. They haven't chosen it because it's easy and if anyone tells you Northants is flat make them ride up this. That will shut them up. The thing is when Isaac Newton invented gravity to help apples fall out of trees, he had no idea what he was doing because bikes hadn't been invented. However what goes up must come down remains the true joy of cycling as after the agony of the hill comes the joy of the descent. The slope down to Eyebrook reservoir really is pure ecstasy to a downhill specialist like me.

Suffering

Rest at the top

 After nearly taking out a group of people having a photo in the road we rounded Eyebrook Reservoir and headed up significant lump two, through Stoke Dry. Up this hill I was supported by Stuart (aged 75) who advised me I'm doing everything right I just need to keep suffering! He's being kind, the problem remains that 92kg is too heavy for my legs. Myfitnesspal myfitnesspal myfitnesspal...I will get there!

The phenomenon that is Stuart

Another descent into the picturesque village of Lyddington where we passed an idea for a meal out next week as I've always liked the look of The Old Hart. I'll let you all know if we get there and if it's as good as it looks. Yes I know I said about Myfitnesspal but the kids are away so I want to take the Queen of Cakes somewhere nice!

From Lyddington it got quicker for a bit. A short climb into Gretton and then to the beast that is Rocky Hill.I always find this more of a mental challenge than physical. My mind tells me to give up when it gets tough and I have to tell it to get lost. I know as soon as I see the green sign at the top it's done and I just focus on stand a bit, sit a bit until I see the sign. Then you have to get away from Corby. I have nothing against Corby itself it's just those roads on the outskirts are not fun to ride on. I do however enjoy the A427 back to East Carlton. We always seem to get wriggle on down there. Then it was just back to the shop.

Barely Human

We found most of the fast group in the shop tucking into Mrs Lindsley's amazing cakes. Steve who apparently rode the whole route in his big ring (machine) described today's cakes as 'bang on.' The options were: Coffee & Walnut, Vanilla and Marrow & Chocolate. The latter wasn't too popular in the shop, possibly because Marrow is a quirky cake ingredient. However I can confirm it is delicious AND Fireman Pat (Gareth) next door who provided the marrow has described it as 'the future!'

Today's Cakes

At the start of the ride one of the quick lads dropped this light at the traffic lights. Not sure who it belongs to but Chris says you have 48 hours to claim it or it will be sold (I think he was joking, it's hard to tell.) More on Arkwright and his selling prowess he was trying to sell me my dream wheels (Zipp Firecrest,) just because I mentioned them. Apparent £1500 sounds a lot for wheels but it isn't really as with the mileage I do it's less than 50p a mile. Nice try Chris!

Whose light is this

Well I'm knackered. That route really is good as it gets round here and I'll happily do it again soon. Not sure what I'm doing tomorrow as it depends on the fickle nature of SuperSam and his 'will I won't I," attitude towards playing rugby this season. Whatever happens I'm riding somewhere somehow!

Happy Pedaling

Rothwell to Northampton via the Brampton Valley Way with SuperSam

This morning Sam and I rode the 15miles to Northampton for the UK's best Sunday lunch. We've done this ride before but it still remains a challenge for a ten year old. It started with the climb up the hill to Orton which Sam couldn't quite manage but to his credit he got a lot further than before.  It's a breeze after that with a fun downhill section through Draughton before picking up the Brampton Valley Way. On the way to Draughton I took Sam to two geocaches. The first is a bolt in a road barrier and the second is the pine cone pictured. We also found the ammo case on the bvw where I left the travel bug from Australia. All good stuff for quick breaks and keeping Sam motivated.

On the way I reflected once again on how fortunate my kids are.  Sam is only a week back from an amazing as scout camp and this week he's been tobogganing in Milton Keynes, sailing at Pitsford and bike ride today. Not a bad life is it? 

The other way we're fortunate is that the Brampton valley way is a tremendous cycling resource. Next time we'll go to mkt Harborough first and complete the whole route. 

The last thing to say is that this is the most important thing to me on cycling. I love helping Sam on his bike and I look forward to the day he can join us on a club ride. I bet he's no older than 14 before he's showing us how it's done. 

Ready for the off

Selfie with Sam Photobomb

Stop at the Lamport carpetbaggers war memorial

ooh what's this

My goodness a geocache

On the BVW at the old Draughton/Maidwell Station

Happy Pedaling!

Back in the Saddle Again...

I'm having a funny August cycling wise. Holiday and Scout camp have effectively eaten away my cycling time. I'm not complaining both those things were very enjoyable, it just means in the whole of August I've got out on two wheels just six times. That's not enough for me and it's affecting my cycling, back to normal now though so things will get better.

Today's route was created by Andy P and it was pretty nice. I particularly liked the opportunity to go down the hill through Tywell for a change and it's always good to test your strength on the Brigstock bumps. Plenty of other cyclists were out and this was nowhere more obvious than in Oundle with the mass of carbon and lycra gathered at Beans cafe. I've never really understood the cafe break culture in cycling, for me it gets in the way of a good ride. It's also clear that the message about not leaning bikes on the war memorial has not been heard.

The group at Brigstock before those ghastly bumps

Out on the ride today we were joined by Bob Mitchell. For those of you who don't know, Bob built my Dad's steel bike which I now own and I stopped riding due to the stuck seat post. Arrangements have been made and that post will finally be removed. Then I'm restoring Bob the bike to it's former glory for use over the winter. Bob Mitchel's bike was a thing of beauty. He was on a mostly titanium 'lightspeed,' with carbon front and back forks. This made me think about the evolution of the bike. We currently have several materials in use for frame building. Aluminium is the most versatile and as Bob told us the easiest to work with, Steel is still around but seen as a bit retro, Carbon fibre is the go to material for pro riders and ell financed mamils, titanium is great but expensive and Bob alluded to the complicated environment this needs welding in being the issue and then there are even wooden and plastic bikes being experimented with. Personally I'm excited at the prospect of a renovated Reynolds 753 steel frame, because it really is rewarding to ride.

Anyway I did some research and found a bit of bike material history. British cycling gives a brief explanation https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowledge/article/izn20131118-All-Cycling-Frame-Materials-0



Here's an interesting timeline http://www.ibike.org/library/history-timeline.htm this is pretty educational too https://www.exploratorium.edu/cycling/frames4.html

Tomorrow I'm really looking forward to another ride. SuperSam has decided that rugby is not the sport for him and he'd like to concentrate on cycling. I said we could have Dad and Sam rides on Sunday instead of rugby and he has jumped at the chance. His exact words were: "we're riding every Sunday from now on even if a dinosaur eats your bike!" The queen of cakes was puzzled how anyone could ride if a dinosaur eats their bike. The answer is simple N + 1! Anyway I'm sure that dinosaurs only ever ate bamboo framed bikes.

So I'd best recover well because tomorrow Super Sam and I will ride.

Happy Pedaling

Strange Sunday, really missed Steve

I'm not entirely sure what's gone on but there appears to have been a falling out overnight. That's right there is trouble in my cycling paradise. So instead of the usual merry band led by the capable Steve it was just Ken, Neil and I that set off from C&D Cycles for a Sunday spin. Ken is one of the nicest blokes you'll ever meet and as a fellow double centurion D2Der we share a common bond. Neil is, I think, my friend in real life but not on social media. Anyway there were never going to be issues for tissues with this trio.

Having lost our leader we quickly negotiated a plan to make use of one of Neil's old training routes. It suited Ken and I because we liked the sound of going through some of Northants prettier bits by heading West. 

Before heading off we were talking all things bike and I looked on enviously at Neil's Giant Propel. At which point he told me that the bike of my dreams had been sold and Ken told me that it had been reduced to that unbelievable price moments after we'd set off to France. Well, well, well I thought. Someone is winding me up here, I'm just not sure who yet!

 We set off through some glorious countryside with me being towed along by these marvelous chaps. To be honest I was relieved it was just us. A few weeks off the bike has really robbed my strength and I was still knackered from a pretty sedate Saturday ride the day before.

As per usual we encountered plenty of other road users. There were joggers (who rarely smile,) fellow lycra loonies (who usually smile,) cars (just miserable and inpatient,) and of course horse riders (normally the most cheerful of the lot.) We even saw some fellow C&Ders on route.

 As we cruised through Scaldwell it struck me once again that it was a cat 4 climb that never makes sense because as hills go it really is quite gentle. We then went down that monster in Brixworth before Ken and Neil blowing me away up the hill through Creaton. As we headed to Naesby and up what I feel is one of the hardest hills in Northants, Neil and Ken took it easy on me. I wish they hadn't! I would much rather have been left behind than be hanging like a dog as they had a pleasant chat without a noticeable increase in their breathing rate. That's them wandering off in the distance in the picture above, probably discussing what a nice view it was.

Having told us how great electronic shifting is it was nice to see Neil's chain come off. Even nicer that I managed to catch up and get it on camera!

Out of the historic village of Naesby we whipped down another hill I usually go up, past Fairfax's view and the monument etc. We then turned towards Kelmarsh and my legs just died on a really easy hill. The warning twinges that preempt cramp were there to see and once again I was thankful it was a gentler Sunday ride than normal. I've heard it takes 12 weeks to get fit and 2 weeks to lose it. Clearly my recent activity and eating habits have taken their toll. On holiday we played football and cricket and went swimming everyday. We also had a two hour surfing lesson which showed why surfers are in great shape. I also consumed way too much Brittany Cidre so I guess they cancelled each other out. Anyway, the only way to be fit for cycling is to keep cycling. I was telling the others about that magical Brittany brew and the strange tradition of drinking it from teacups so there's some pics to give you an idea.

I'm off to scout camp on Saturday and won't return until the following Saturday so it's another couple of weeks without club rides for me. I will however try to live a bit more healthy. I said fairwell to Ken and Neil in Rothwell and left my tenner to pay club fees with them. I hope Ken has the afternoon he was talking about it sounds great! Mine should also be good as I get a recovery Sunday lunch at Mum's, get some of my Dad's Kingsthorpe cider in a proper pint pot and get to discuss the humiliation of the Aussies with my Pap.

Happy Pedaling

First ride in a while...

Clive all prepped and loaded with special blue product

After a three week lay off it was great to be back on my bike and even better to be back out with C&D Cycles CC. Today's route was put together by our very own Andy who then went on to lead the obsessed with speed group. Jonesy led the sensible group and I brought up the rear.

On the way out of K-town

Lovely day

Conditions were near perfect for cycling so in true British fashion we moaned about it being too hot. I coped with the heat by consuming copious quantities of special blue product, the jelly beans took a hammering too. The route was good but not my favourite. I prefer to go North or West when we head south east it always seems to get a bit urban. However we did go through the cultural epicentre that is Raunds.

Mark had a mishap

blood!!!

In Rushden we stopped at some lights and Mark decided to use island bollard to lean on meaning he could stay clipped in. The bollard though had other ideas, it gave way and Mark had a comedy tumble, As is customary in these circumstances sympathy was handed out in small proportions and mickey taking led the way. As is also customary we all asked if his bike was OK!

Now I'm just being teased

On return to the shop it was membership time and people were happily parting with £10. That's exceptional value to be part of our great club. Chris also replaced yet another shoddy pair of altura gloves (never again,) which was very kind. Then I noticed the bike with my name on it has been reduced by £400! They really are teasing me now.

Lots of things happened during the last three weeks. Holiday food and drink have piled the pounds back on. It's not quite as bad as my return from Oz but a few weeks of self control and back to using myfitnesspal are in order. In that time Chris Froome won a second Tour de France and today England regained the Ashes from a dismal Australia just before the football season kicked off. In Rugby the warm up matches start today leading up to the 2015 RWC. So there's lots going on.

Well I'm off to recover well. For tomorrow it's a mystery tour with Steve. I'll need strong legs!

Happy Pedalling