Category Archives: Summer bike

Cube; first ride (at home)

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19-22°C, cloud & sunny later.

Setup at home complete.

Before collection, the shop mechanic put a longer stem on and then boxed it up for the trip to England. Firstly, a few notes on the spec: it’s about 8.6 kg in weight, 60cm frame (I’d prefer a 62cm though that is only 5mm longer in reach).

First ride. out in England this turned into quite a long ride (56 miles). Note: I did 4 rides in Mallorca but the setup is slightly different. Now it has a Charge Spoon saddle and a 130mm stem. The fit is far better, the front hub lines up with the bars and I’m not sitting on the back of the seat so much. Reach is always a problem for me and this inline seatpost doesn’t help. I expect the longer stem would make it feel less twitchy in comparison

I had to include the climb up Bannister lane to see how it feels on that 8% incline. All is good! The most prolonged gange in comparison with my Columbus Max steel bike is comfort & weight. I am no longer predominantly in the lowest gears. In fact, on flat ground, I’m using the larger chainring mostly. The general feel is smooth with low surface buzz from tarmac.

I’m delighted.

Amber heat warning.

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This bike is now mine.

The weather is getting harder. Temperature is due to go over 35°C & humidity over 80%. That will feel very oppressive, even the Spanish are grumbling about it.

Today’s route was low level to keep on top of the building heat. Heat is a big deal this summer, or should I say – humidity. 37°C + 95% humidity makes it impossible to cool down anywhere.

Extremely hot Mallorcan  climb.

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30-43°C (indicated), stiff breeze

Chose the same short route as yesterday & this morning. It’s a good climb with an excellent view at the top. Nonetheless, the heat was intense at times.

Each day, the pattern is the same. Morning is misty (with very high humidity) and that clears somewhat in the afternoon to bright sunshine. There is no escaping the heat. It seems that hotels’ Aircon can’t even keep up. While out, sheltering under a tree is not enough either. There’s no escape.

Cleats.

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11°C, light cloud. Brisk southerly & dry

Used a chunk of the morning to service the cross bike. It has internally routed cables and those bits need care. The worst thing to do is lose the cable end inside the frame. I didn’t do that. My troubles were from a cable sheath end-stop stuck in the frame. That took ages to get out.

Anyway, I got out on the racelite and rode until I got tired: 45 miles.

Puncture!

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11°C, early heavy shower that turned sunny. Strong SW.

Started at 10am in good sunshine. Encouraged by a decent forecast I got the Racelite out. Only 15′ later, it was obvious that I had the wrong bike. For a while, that rain was heavy, not good on a bike 25c tyres & no mudguards.

Nevermind, it brightened up half an hour later. I went up Bannister Hill but had a problem descending the other side. A small puddle hid a pothole. Seconds later, the rear wheel was flat down to the rim. That’s probably the only puncture I’ve had this  year.