Mustang, chilly 5°C, moderate ESE, dry & grey

Firstly, some maintenance in the kitchen.

• Wheel off & take out the disc pads,
• Clean disc & pads with a solvent,
• Sand down disc & pads with emery paper,
• Clean again,
• Reassemble,
• Bed in the brakes on the first ride.

The ride was much colder than Tuesday, otherwise – no problem.

Result: reduced stopping distance! The cloths came out quite black: which is satisfying. Braking could be better still, but it’s not dangerous anymore. Encouraged, next I will buy some Mucoff rotor cleaner and scrub the others. Ideally, get new.pads from Tektro.

8°C, brisk E, cloudy but dry.

Fitness has returned. On the ride today, I recalled how I felt after 3 weeks off the bike in December. It weakened my arms the most, I could barely hold myself over the handlebars. Strange.

Today, I could wizz along (despite the average speed (shown above).

7°C, light SSW, no rain but feeling damp + milky sun.

Mustang, I’ve lowered the seat a bit to compensate for the effect of thicker clothes. Like on Tuesday, I stopped briefly to make further adjustments. I’ve been getting irritated with  jumping gears in the lower end. after  changing the cassette and chain, I expect better. As it was, I couldn’t trust  getting out of the seat for a surge. In the last 3km, I changed up for a final blast and the rear gear cable broke  at the levers end. That broken cable explains the bad gear shifts.

In response, I replaced the cable immediately on getting home. While at it, I may as well change the front cable too before the sun goes down. Not only.gas the nipple broken off, but the cable is frayed midway along.

How long is it since these cables were last changed. This was not my proudest moment. I had a cable break on the way home from Walsall in a previous job, but that was well over ten years ago. It’s ironic in a way, because I’ve kept a tighter maintenance routine recently.

Mid-winter in terms of temperature, so on average, it’s going to get warmer. Let’s hope the weather agrees to my optimism.

14°C, mostly dry and sunny, strong SW wind.

Mustang: I’ve loaded the Coospo page since I made a mistake with Mapmyride and didn’t start it properly.

The Mustang is going well. It has a good solid feel and at the same time, the handling is light at the front. The result is a feeling of confidence. On the other hand, the brakes are heavier.