11°C, brisk NW, rain getting heavier.
Three days since the last ride, and despite the weather, I went anyway. The Mustang rides well although quite heavy. It feels light at the front, quite racy really.
Rain.
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Mustang service.
12°C, light offshore breeze, dry & grey
Most of today was a much needed service for the Mustang. To Start with, it was filthy and neglected. So I started with a deep clean and lubrication. The chain was badly stretched so I put a KMC 8 on and then the gears skipped. That means the cassette is worn too. I do have a spare 12-28 so that went on. It’s meant as a stopgap (but I may keep it).
Then I did a longer test ride (10 miles) and it runs nicely except for a creaking saddle.
Storm Amy.
Kona Jake, 14°C, gales S. Some squally showers
Storm Amy has just blown over and is moving north up the Irish sea. The are fewer squally showers than this morning but those last ones were just as violent. On the bike, it feels like the rain is going into one ear and out through the other. Back home now,.it feels like I’ve ridden twice the 24 km shown above.
October ride.
17°C, growing S wind, dry though.
This van obviously dropped a wheel off the tarmac which drops away to ditches on both sides. The driver was still sitting inside, perhaps waiting for rescue.
Further on, I stopped an artic coming out of a farm who looked like he was turning towards the van. I warned him off that route and then rode off. A car pulled up and they told me the lorry had turned down towards the stranded van. We laughed, imagining the inevitable foul up. Oh dear.
Cool September 60k
Chilly 14°C tops. Light N breeze.
Paddy Wagon: a swift ride but there is probably some selection bias in that claim. I tend to ride this bike when winds are light, and light winds are conducive to fast rides. Today the overall average was 23.6kph, that’s only 1 kph below my best in August.
103km: Rivington-Aughton & back
25°C strong sun & easterly 10 mph
My legs said ‘go’, so I went. Average speed started out low at 20kph into the headwind then the hills. Horrocks Hill was first (Bannister Lane) and then you drop back down to Coppul. Then it’s Up to Irvington for the café stop. Coming back I took the back descent to Parbold.
What an exceptional day. Perfect weather (25°C full sun). The bike was good but lacked the lower gears. If this Campa transmission should play up, I may put the Tiagra 10spd on instead.
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Bannister Hill is 13%
22°C, light W 10mph, strong sun.
I chose this route partly to find the actual gradient. My GPS Speedo does report gradients (along with other stuff like temperature). After riding up this hill for 15 years, I finally know its gradient.
I’ve had an excellent cycling week. As you can see, my weekly target was met.
The first number is my record and the second – my target. 162.4 km is set because it’s 100 miles.
Fixie 24.7
22°C strong sun & light NW breeze.
Brighter sun had more heat in it but the air was 8 degrees lower. It felt just as hot to me unless in shadow. Anyway,. I’ve edged the average speed up a bit, 24.7 from 24.5kph.
24.5 kph & hot.
26°C, 3/5 cloud, light SE breeze.
No wind so I got the fixie out again. This was nearly 1km/h faster than yesterday, so that’s very encouraging. I had another road rage from a driver of a white van. He blasted the horn a few times & shouted something incoherent on entering Croston. I have no idea what that was about.
Another 23.7kph
22°C, sun & clouded over later, no wind & dry.
Rode another 23.7kph on the fixie. This matches last week’s ride but was much further. I caught up with a nice little group of roadies; a guy, his daughter & friend. They had nice modern road bikes in contrast to my 15 year old steel single speed.
He told me they were regulars at Manchester Velo and did National events too. I asked about their training while we were talking about Garmin data. They both had cadence & power meters but that was really only for the use of their coach. They typically did 10 hours a week and about 6k per year.
I was dead impressed which drove me on to set a pace after my cafe stop. I’m quite inspired actually.
Micycle 