Mixed Week

Its been a bit of a mixed week.  I had to go down to Bristol mid week, so didn’t get a full week’s riding in.  To top it off the fire alarm in the hotel went off  on Wednesday night.  By the time I’d woken up and got some pants on, it shut off.  Then, by the time I was back in bed, it went off again.  Repeat four times in the next hour.

I then had to drive home Thursday.  I was knackered and there was an accident.  What usually takes 3 – 3 1/2 hours took 5.  I didn’t feel like a ride Thursday evening.

Yesterday, was wet and I spent most of the day fitting STI gears to my Ribble.   I got some second hand Tiagra Shifters from Karl.

I’ve re-wrapped the bars in the original tape.  I’ve got some of that fancy Fizik tape, but I’ll wait til I’m sure the shifters are in the right place before getting Ian, who is a whiz at bar tape, to do it for me.  (see below)

I’ve got some cable stops attached to the downtube bosses.  I’ll need some frame protectors on the headtube though.

Finally, the rear cassette is a Taigra 9 speed mounted on a 7 speed freehub.  To do this, I’ve missed off the last but one cog, so it is an 8 of 9 on 7.  ie an  8 speed cassette that works with 9 speed shifters.  Its a bit clunky in one or two gears but otherwise great.  Need to try it out.

Now bar tape!  Earlier this year my friend Simon was entered for the Paris-Roubaix Sportive.  Unfortunately a few weeks before the event he had a massive crash, bashing up both himself and his bike.  I went round one weekend to help him fix it up and amongst other things we re-wrapped the bars with gel pads and new tape.  It took us ages, wrapping and re-wrapping until we were OK with the results.  Simon went of to Roubaix.  The bikes had to be scrutinized before being allowed in.  Our brake, gear, amateur headset pressing etc all got the OK, but not the bar tape!  The mechanic insisted on re-doing it and in about 30 seconds had unwrapped and rewrapped the tape to a far higher standard than I have ever seen.  I was shamed.

Today was Fleetwood Triathlon, which my friend Tim organizes.  I am roped in to manage the bike course again.  This means making sure the roads are closed and the junctions all have marshals as well as keeping an eye out for drafting and for riders in distress.  Its quite a tough day in some respects, especially towards the end when we are trying to open part of the road, but still keep the short course for the kids closed.  Some people can be very difficult.  All in all it went off OK and I managed to ride 42 miles on he 4 mile course.

Not my best week, only managed 92 miles, but still OK.  Does mean my shortfall increases though.

Cheers

Tim

Well on the Way

I’m definitely getting better.  Went to the fracture clinic last week and, although he said 4-5 more weeks before I’m back to normal, I can resume all activities.  Think I’ll lay off the MTB for a bit though.

Got some decent miles in at last.  The week before last was very windy and wet but I managed to ride most days and we did a couple of rides at the weekend.  We hit the best weather window on the Sunday, riding mostly in sunshine and a strong breeze.  By mid afternoon the wind had picked up and the rain started.

Monday was supposed to be the Tour of Britain stage into Blackpool.  I decided, despite the strong wind, to ride out to Oakenclough for the King of the Mountain spots.  I was blown out at an easy 20mph on the back of what turned out to be 40-50mph winds.  Getting to the first KoM point in plenty of time, I watched the marshals set up for a minute then decide to ride on to the Harris End KoM point about 4 miles up the road.  By the time I got there these marshals were busy tearing down the KoM signs and said the stage had been cancelled!  I carried on over the fell and chatted to some other spectators.  Those with suitable technology had been checking the blogs and twitters and yes, the stage was cancelled.  I rode back into the fiercest wind I can remember for a long time.  I think they made the right choice, it was hard to keep straight and riding in a bunch would have been a nightmare.  It took me twice as long to get home as it did to get out.

The rest of the week was the normal commute to work.  I did a brief spin on Thursday but the core team are still out in Verbier.  We struck lucky again with the weather on Sunday and rode out to Scorton in the best sunshine all week. 

All in all two good weeks

124 miles and 157 miles

Year to date – 4255

Shortfall – 488

Cheers

Tim

That’s More Like It

I’ve actually got some proper miles in last week.  Just riding to work in the main.  Monday was a public holiday but the weather was awful.  I did a quick 25 mile ride in the pouring rain with Joe and Simon.  My first fast-ish ride for 4 weeks.  It was OK but my arm ached by the evening.

No-one was up for the Thirsty Thursday ride, so I did a short spin on my own.  Met up with a guy with a knackered front mech, helped him fix it and rode for a bit.

Saturday was a wash out, but Sunday was a glorious sunny day, one of the best all summer.  We went out with Karl and Alison and their young neighbour who had just got a new bike.  His longest ride previously was about 5 miles.  Our 30+ miles was quite an expedition for him, but he managed.

Total for the week – 111 miles

Year to date – 3486

Shortfall – 539

Tim