I rode CX with MapMyRide+! Distance: 22.1mi, time: 02:30:15, pace: 6:5min/mi, speed: 8.8mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/927048337
Slow recovery ride along canals and paths. Largely repeated the route up to Wychnor and found it waterlogged in places, but not the same places as last time.
No punctures. 🙂
This part of the canal runs next to the river Trent, overspill pours into the river to the left of this photo. Nearby fields are also flooded.
9°C, windy with light showers and sun.
The chilly fevers have gone, so I took the bike out for a test ride. Three laps round the dog-walk field and then put the road wheels on. That makes about 5 miles I would say.
Tomorrow, I will ride a few miles along the canal to a tea shop. Ride slowly!
It looks a bit absurd with huge clearance around that 25c tyre, but once mudguards are on, that won’t show. Swapping wheels is dead easy, I am not proposing using these road wheels for the canal trip. However, they are silky smooth on the road, Great for commuting.
8°C, strong NW with heavy rain pm.
Scratch plans: no cycling, camping, nor hiking.
The weather is terrible and I am full of cold. Even cutting some planks for the fire, I was left exhausted. So otherwise, I can’t do much.
Here is my bike, whispering ‘can we go out yet?’ Imagine that in a voice like the snake from Jungle Book.
There it is, gathering dust instead of mud. That’s not right, I tell you.
I rode Arrow with MapMyRide+! Distance: 16.5mi, time: 01:07:07, pace: 4:05min/mi, speed: 14.7mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/916495469
Air quickly chilled tonight. Clear sky has let the little warmth escape into the blue. Venus lies near the thin crescent moon, a reminder of Friday’s eclipse.
I thought there would be more energy in my legs today, but no.
An idea, what about riding the cross bike in on the last day. After an earlier than usual finish, I could ride home on canals to get back.
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.
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 