16°C, moderate W, full sun all day.
Excellent shorts bike ride day.
Easter Monday 42.
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Tag Archives: Racelite
Cleats.
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!
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.
3rd of three.
11°C, brisk SW, low sun & bright
Frequent but easy rides this week. It’s half term & I’m pretty free to choose when to go. The early sunsets are very apparent. I checked there was plenty of charge in the lights this time.
It’s almost November and conditions are good for the summer bike. Remarkable.
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.
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.
Summer hills
21°C, sunny with light W.
August roads are very quiet until home time. This is the best time of year to ride; warm, dry & empty roads. I had the energy to ride up Bannister Hill which was comfortable. However; later on, bad behaviour from divers was encountered. Firstly with repeated horn blasts from one and later a dangerous close pass on a bridge from another.
Found my legs.
22°C, sunny with a light breeze but humid.
I’ve been out for rides 4 times in the last 3 days. It’s going well, especially compared with a few months ago
This means my legs are ready for the summer holidays (which officially starts today).
Smooth road bike ride
18°C, moderate westerly & little cloud.
This ride felt like it should. For weeks, it felt like I was forcing myself to go. Today though, I rolled along smoothly and didn’t tire excessively.
Micycle 