I rode fixed with MapMyRide+! Distance: 58.3mi, time: 03:37:10, pace: 3:43min/mi, speed: 16.2mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/913645993
Spring ride no.1: and it was a good one. With the summer wheels fitted and fresh brake blocks, the bike was ready. And, so was I.
There seems to be less gyroscope effect on these wheels. Out of the saddle, the whole bike is easier to thresh side to side while climbing or adding speed.
Only wish I added a few extra miles to make sixty.
8°C, light NW, white cloud.
I rode Arrow with MapMyRide+! Distance: 16.2mi, time: 01:08:00, pace: 4:12min/mi, speed: 14.3mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/911727235
Took one of the shorter routes back to my sanctuary. A headache started in the last hour at work. It lifted during the ride but returned later.
In fact, it went all night. A line of tense scalp and fuzzy mind affair. Could it be a migraine?
Even the following morning it was still present.
This gear is ready to roll now. 10 cogs have tiny teeth and the ratios are close together in this set: 11-25. The cassette doesn’t feel that heavy, but to be sure, I will put the wheel on the scales.
8°C, light NW, Clear.
Started cloudy on the ride in. But as the miles passed, clouds cleared. That boosted my optimism and correspondingly -speed.
The eclipse began just as I got out of the shower.
My pictures were taken on a mobile phone, but the images were projected from a telescope.
By the time the coverage was maximum 95%, we all felt quite cold. At school, we lined up the kids to view through through sun shades provided by the science department.
For me, a great eclipse.
I rode Arrow with MapMyRide+! Distance: 16.44mi, time: 01:09:37, pace: 4:14min/mi, speed: 14.2mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/908219365
Unbelievable, fourteenth puncture of the year! That’s more than I usually get in five years. I know random events easily occur in clusters, but that doesn’t stop the annoyance.
About ten years ago, this happened. I remember at least one per week for months on end.
I never found out why.
I was rather nervous for the last 6 miles tonight, my spare tubes were used up. As often in the past, I haven’t had a single puncture. They often come in twos. The replacement tube goes in, then the air, then the pressure goes back down.
If I were a beginner to this cycling lark, this many punctures could be enough to make me give up.
I rode Racelite 8 with MapMyRide+! Distance: 26.6mi, time: 01:48:53, pace: 4:06min/mi, speed: 14.7mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/905059519
Dry and cold: so took the summer bike out for the first time this year. It was more a test ride than anything. I certainly did not have energy to do anything ambitious.
It handled well but gear changes were heavy.
That cold easterly didn’t help. It’s going to take ages to warm up after. It’s times like these I wish there was a bath in my house.
Chores for later: with a good selection of cleaners and oils, this bike offer neglect reversal. The rear mech is bunged up with dry black paste. The cables seem worst, dry lube is good for that. I didn’t find dry lube works well on a chain (maybe on a track bike).
7°C. Light cool wind. Grey overcast.
New wheels, for the cross bike when commuting. I had them built up with Schwalbe tyres which promise resistance to punctures.
They are not especially light, and don’t need to be. They simply have to be reliable.
This Thought prompted me to weigh some of my wheelsets. I decided to weigh the front wheel since the gear cassette makes quite a difference when the ratios are not similar.
•CX disc with cross tyres: 1.83Kg#
•Raleigh disc with Schwalbe: 1.69 Kg
•Shimano Deore with Mavic A319 rims: 1.55Kg
•Shimano STX with Alexia: 1.26Kg
•Shimano R500 wheelset:1.23 Kg
•Mavic Aksium: 1.21 Kg
#These wheels are currently fitted with Slime inner-tubes which are considerably heavier than plain tubes.
Simply putting wheels on the scales is naive, the rotational momentum is often more important. I expect the CX wheels will fare worst on this score too. But with 11 punctures in their first month, I see no choice. It looks like both disc wheels have heavy hubs, but I am not troubled by that.
As expected, the Aksium came out best, but not by a huge margin.
6°C, still, dry and clear.
I rode Arrow home with MapMyRide+! Distance: 30.4mi, time: 02:00:10, pace: 3:56min/mi, speed: 15.3mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/899478955
After an annoying afternoon at work trying to get mailmerge to work properly, I rode home. Conditions were ideal, very dry, no real wind and not too cold.
Legs were full of energy, and I enjoyed the feeling of speed in 0in cool dark air of evening. In these dry conditions, the dust on roads is white. This is great, the lights have more effect, they reach further.
Today, despite a slow puncture, I totalled 40 miles. Result.
To cap it all, I caught a badger in the headlights. He scurried along the edge of a hedge. Curiosity, this was the same stretch of road that I encountered the bat last year.
Remember, I rode there and a bat flew along immediately in front of me in the same direction. Remember how enchanted I was?
The badger was charming too.
I like riding at night.
I rode fixed with MapMyRide+! Distance: 34.9mi, time: 02:16:11, pace: 3:59min/mi, speed: 15.1mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/896676871
Rain held me back for the morning, leaving less time to build some miles today. That means that on paper, the ride is unremarkable. But at least it marks the thousandth mile done before easter.
All those rides on the cross bike mean I had almost forgotten how comfortable the fixed gear bike is, especially on long rides.
13°C brisk SW. Sunny and dry.
Chamois cream Is a little secret held by cyclists. It’s not something to rub into the Chamois in your shorts, so a misnomer really. It’s rubbed around your arse. A cream that is mild anti-septic to reduce saddle-sores. Are you thinking it should be re-named? If it were called arse-cream, do you still think it would sell? A tube of whiteish arse cream? No!
In small print on the back, are the ingredients and a product warning:
Product Warning there are no product warnings with this product.
Lawers have left their footprints here haven’t they?
8°C, strong SW, Clear start but clouding over.
I rode CX with MapMyRide+! Distance: 37.3mi, time: 03:00:08, pace: 4:50min/mi, speed: 12.4mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/889388491
Again, rode the cyclocross bike in the strong wind. The fixed gear is daunting on exposed roads like these, an easy decision.
After only three miles, a puncture. By the canal, there was signs of recent hedge trimming, and it was blackthorn. The have especially long thorns that do not know about Challenge Grifo tyres. I have given in to desperation. Eleven punctures in one month, can you blame me? So, I bought Slime inner tubes. Anyway, the puncture. Those tubes have self-sealing goo inside. So I stopped canal-side and got the pump. I blew the tyre back up, and almost unbelievably, it stayed up.
Riding on the beach seemed appealing this morning. Last week it worked well, so why not again?
I will tell you why not, silt. First it gummed up the chain-stays then the gears and finally, it shed the chain. Even the wheels were hard to turn.
There was plenty of driftwood to use. It took quite a bit of prodding before the biggest lumps dropped out. I must have looked like one of those crows doing IQ tests on TV. Well, a florescent crow, you know the ones.
The tyre pressure remained! In fact, I added more for the tarmac section, and return.
This is the rear stays with most of the gunk removed.
Micycle 