Return of the Son of Tim's Blog

Ice Tyres

2012-01-29T15:38:00.001Z

I finally got to try my ice tyres, Schwalbe Marathon Winter. The forecast for the second half of the week was for sub zero overnight temps. Wednesday morning there was ice on the cars. I decided to go on the Pompino with the ice tyres. There were a couple of spots were it was a bit icy, but nothing to tax the tyres. Same for Thursday and Friday.

But by Friday evening, coming back from the pub, it was noticeably colder. We had arranged to go riding on Saturday but I got a call from Alison saying that Ian and Simon had got to their house and reported that the roads were quite icy in places. So instead of coming out to me and heading for the hills, I would ride to them and we’d go along the coast a bit. Riding out of Kirkham was quite hairy. There was a strip of ice alongside the rows of parked cars. Coming through Wrea Green the pond was frozen over and there was a big stretch of ice on road out of the village. I met up with the others and we gingerly headed into Lytham. There was some ice, but not too bad. We headed down the bike path to St Anne’s then on to Blackpool, Cleveleys and almost to Fleetwood. Apart from a short stretch from St Anne’s to South Shore it was bike path all the way, along side the sea. It was a bit slow through Blackpool and we were funnelled down into a couple of busy spots. Out by Rossall School the surface wasn’t great, pot holed and washed over with pebbles and sand from the beach, but on the whole quite a nice ride. We tend to forget we live near the sea.

So, did the ice tyres work? Its difficult to tell. I didn’t slip over, but neither did any of the others. I think I was a bit more casual about riding and there were a couple of stretches where I ploughed through while the others tended to pick their way with a bit more care. It’s going to be cold all week so I may get chance again to try them out, although I’m in Bristol for most of next week.

Miles for week – 133

Running total - 197

Baby Steps

2012-01-22T15:06:00.001Z

Finally managed to get out and do some miles today. Not a lot but its a start.

I was in Bristol at the beginning of the week, meeting my new boss after our latest round of restructuring. Lets see how long this one lasts.

I had to drive in on Thursday and Friday so no miles there.

Today the core team arranged to go out for a long ish ride. I wasn’t sure but said I’d tag along, see how far I got. There was a very strong wind blowing, but even with a 25mph tail wind I was struggling and holding everyone back. I got as far as Inglewhite but could not face the climb up to Beacon Fell. So I turned off and headed home on my own, zig-zagging through the lanes trying to avoid the wind. 28 miles in 2 and a bit hours.

At three weeks in to the new year I am 300 miles short of my target.

Tim

Big Fat Zero

2012-01-15T16:39:00.001Z

Zero miles this week! I’m been full of a cold earlier this week, took Monday and Tuesday off. I drove the rest of the week, we’ve not felt like riding over the weekend, but we did go for a walk over the fields today. I’m in Bristol next week, so that will be low mileage week as well, but hopefully by next weekend I’ll be fit to ride again.

One thing I did do this week was book a hotel in Bormio in the Italian Alps for a week in June. It is at the foot of the Stelvio and the Gavia, not far from the Mortirolo. A week of Giro d’Italia climbs. I’ll need to train if I’m going to survive.

Tim

2012 Starts Like 2011 Finished

2012-01-07T16:18:00.001Z

It has been very windy this week, 50-80 mph winds at times. Vey hard work. Jayne and I also seem to have got our colds back. I’m not too bad, just sore throat and coughing but Jayne is completely laid out. Both of us are knackered from lack of sleep.

Monday we went for a short ride out to Bond’s and back. It was Jayne’s first ride in about 6 weeks so we took it very easy. Fortunately we had a strong tailwind on the way out. At one point there was a real heavy shower of hail. Unfortunately we discovered the strength of the wind on the way back. It was horrendous. I think we averaged about 9mph. We were in and out of rain, bright sunshine or hail all the way home

I didn’t ride Tuesday, it was too windy. Jayne met me at lunchtime and we had our sandwiches on Lytham front. You could barely stand up in the wind. Wednesday I risked riding. The wind had eased a bit but I was still crawling into it, less than 10mph with my heart beat going like the clappers. Riding home was a tail wind most of the way. There was a bit of a hairy moment past a bridge and two farm gates where the wind was swirling around alarmingly. It was chucking it down with rain and occasional hail.

I’ve not ridden since, too windy on Thursday and too sick/knackered on Friday. Don’t think I’ll be out this weekend either.

Women’s Shoes

2012-01-02T20:33:00.001Z

I promised Jayne some new cycling shoes for Christmas. She has a few pairs for different stuff. A pair of Shimano boots with SPD’s for winter tandeming.

A pair of Mavic Creuze’s we bought in April for our Isle of Man trip, again SPD’s and again for the tandem.

Her favourite shoes are an ancient pair of flat soles Avocet shoes we bought about 20 years ago. The Avocets have been glued back together several times and are getting beyond repair.

They don’t look too bad but the soles are becoming brittle and the heals have split, so we decided to get her some new ones to replace them.

The big (little) problem is that she is a size 36 or 37 and it is very difficult to get shoes that size. The other problem is that for the solo bike, she doesn’t like SPD’s and wants flats to go with her half cup toe clips.

I know, we can get SPD shoes and not cut out the clip cover area. To fit the toe clips, the shoe needs a fairly pointed, a big bump toes MTB shoe will not fit in the clip. They also need to be fairly smooth soled so that Jayne can slide her foot over the ridges of the pedal cage into the cup. Together with the small size this was a huge challenge.

We tried Evans in Manchester before Christmas. They had two shoes in a 37 and one in a 36. The Specialized Tahoe in a 37 fitted well, but the other 37 was a proper road shoe, requiring a cleat. We also tried Hewitt’s, who are a touring specialist and from whom we got the Mavics, but they had no shoes that fit.

W went to Leisure Lakes on Boxing Day and rather than asking for specific shoes, we just said bring out all of your size 36 and 37 shoes, no stipulations about type or sole or SPD/Look/Whatever compatibility, just any 36 or 37’s. One shoe, a size 36, was found and was too small!

I the end, we decided to go on the Evans’ website and see what shoes with flattish soles and size 37 were available. We then rang our local (ish) shop and asked them to get them in. We requested three Specialized models, the Tahoe, Sonoma and Spirita Touring. The Tahoe is a casual/mtb shoe that Jayne had already tried and liked but was a bit concerned about the aggressiveness of the sole. The other two have fairly smooth soles and are very much touring oriented.

This morning we went out on the solo’s with Jayne wearing her Mavics with the SPD’s removed and the cover replaced. It is a little more aggressive sole than the Tahoe, so it was a good experiment. She got on fine with them although the toe was a bit big for the cups, which confirmed our feelings about the more MTB oriented shoes.

We headed out to Evans this afternoon and tried all three. The Spirita was a no go right from the off, Jayne barely got her foot in one before dismissing it. The Tahoe and the Sonoma were a closer call. The Tahoe had the MTB sole and more nylon/mesh in the uppers but fit nicely. The Sonoma had a much smoother sole, suede uppers, off set lacing and was generally a better built shoe, but it was wider than the Tahoe, didn’t quite fit properly and was a bit weird to walk in.

In the end she went for the Tahoe’s. I suspect we’ll save them till the summer, use the Mavic’s with the cleat cover over the winter for the solo and the Shimano’s on the tandem. We’ll see where the new ones fit in.

One weird thing we found was the sizing. Euro 37 should be a 4 or there abouts. These were listed on the size as follows

I think it might refer to a UK children’s size.

Cheers

Tim

That's It

2011-12-30T17:15:00.001Z

2011 mileage is done. Weather for the last few days has been pretty poor, rain and gales. I had to go in to work on Wednesday and it was hard work, even dangerous. We hoped to get out today but again rain all day. We did go for a walk but got soaked.

Anyway, my 2011 mileage topped out at 5117 miles. 4424 miles on solo road bikes, about 1000 of which were on the fixie. 648 miles on the tandem. The tandem miles were seriously cut short by my elbow break in the summer. It is still more difficult to manage the tandem than solos. My MTB mileage has been particularly poor, only three trips, again the broken elbow effect. I’ve not been on the MTB since my accident.

Highlight of the year is the Isle of Man trip once again. This is already booked for 2012, but due to other commitments it will be a quite different group.

Riding up to Scotland at the end of May was also great and has given me the touring bug a bit. Hence my ride down to my Mum’s which was a different kind of ride, being on my own, but enjoyable in different ways.

Next year I hope to do a bit more touring. As well as the Isle of Man trip, we have an extra bank holiday in June so a long weekend trip, probably up to Scotland, is on the cards. I would also like to do a couple of short solo tours like I did this year, maybe get the train out somewhere and ride home.

Happy New Year

Cheers

Tim

Nearly There

2011-12-24T20:35:00.001Z

All the pressies are wrapped and under the tree. I’m sat with a glass of wine listening to some Neu! on the turntable. Ready for Christmas

Monday was wet and windy. There was still some ice about and I went to work on the Pompino with the Schwalbe winter studded tyres on. I’m not sure how effective they are, I didn’t crash on the bits of ice, but would I have crashed without the tyres? I think I need some really icy conditions to be definite.

Tuesday was our work Christmas do. I didn’t stay late which was a good job. Some people were wrecked. The rest of the week was warmer and wetter. I rode in yesterday for a short day and got soaked. I had all my gear on the radiators but still didn’t get it all dry before I had to put it on again.

We got some disturbing news on Thursday that Ian’s daughter had had a riding accident and was in a bad way. Ian came out to the pub Friday afternoon to tell us what had happened. His daughter, Lizzie, is a very good dressage rider and was schooling her horse on Sunday prior to a competition. It seems the horse stumbled, either due to the claggy icy conditions or just poor footwork, and fell forward and over. Lizzie stayed on his back and was crushed underneath. At first they thought she’d broken her back, but after being air lifted to hospital, she was diagnosed with a broken femur and a badly bruised back. She’s had an operation to insert a rod into the femur and is now back home, battered and bruised but able to recover. Ian has aged 10 years!

He was able to get out today. Unfortunately I had to go and get the Christmas turkey so wasn’t able to go. I rang Alison who had also missed the early ride and so we agreed to go out to Beacon Fell together. I was knackered. It is the longest ride I’ve done in 4 weeks, 35 miles. The wind on the way back was very strong and the roads were under water in several places, but it was good to get out and ride.

Not sure how much I’ll do before year end, but its a respectable total even if I failed to reach my target.

Happy Christmas

Tim

Miles – 102

Total - 5104

5000 miles

2011-12-18T15:03:00.001Z

Illness, weather and work have made the last three weeks pretty meagre mileage wise. I did pass the 5000 mile mark this morning, no way am I going to get near 6000.

I spent most of last week in Winterthur or Bristol. The week before it was very windy and wet, with hail.

we set out for a short ride this morning but as soon as we got out of town, the roads turned quite icy. So we headed back towards the coast and The Beach Terrace Cafe for a cooked breakfast. We saw Joe out on the Lytham Fancy Dress 5K and Joe’s son Ben waitering in the cafe. A short trip back to Ian’s to pick up my car and we were done.

Tim

Still not right

2011-11-21T20:03:00.001Z

Third week and I’m still not right. I’ve got a chesty, phlegmy cough and I’m still knackered all the time. We did a very gentle 13 miles on Saturday, just to Bond’s and back by the shortest route. Sunday we went a bit further, but as we left Bond’s I was cold and never really warmed up til I got in the bath later. My legs ache far more than the 16 miles should make them.

I’m going to try to ride tomorrow, see how it goes. I think my 6000 mile target is unachievable now though, I’ll be over 500 miles short by the end of this week.

Tim

Sick

2011-11-07T13:12:00.001Z

Been laid up with a cough/cold/sore throat fluey thing since Wednesday. Just starting to improve but I don’t think I’ll get many miles in.

Mile last week a measly 28.

Total – 4809

Cheers

Tim

Week Off

2011-10-30T18:53:00.001Z

I’m aware I’ve been very lax in updating here since my big trip.

The tour down to my Mum’s was great. I got lost on the second day and ended up doing lots more climbing than I intended. I was really lucky with the weather, only really getting rained on at the end of that second day. Unfortunately I was straight down to Bristol on the following Monday, so failed to capitalize on any increase in endurance. By the following weekend my legs were knackered. I went round the Trough with Ian and Ross

Last week was half term and Jayne and I were both off. Jayne was not well at the beginning of the week, so I went out on my own Monday. The wind was horrendous and I ended up doing a bigger loop than I intended as I tried to find a route home sheltered from the wind.

Tuesday we went into Manchester to do some shopping in the morning and then went to see Wilco in the evening. Wilco were really good, a bit less frenetic than last time. Unfortunately as it was a no seater gig, Jayne didn’t see too much, but enjoyed it non the less.

Wednesday was nice and we got out to Bonds for a short ride and a tea cake. Thursday morning I rode into Preston to see if I could get my fountain pen repaired but the pen shop no longer do repairs. I rode home in the rain, quickly changed and went out again with Simon to do a quick spin out to Beacon Fell. Simon hasn’t been out for ages and after blasting his way out, struggled on the way back.

Friday was cold but sunny and so we headed up to the Lakes to do a ride we did back in the summer. This time we started at Levens and rode up through Witherslack and Winster to Wilf’s at Staveley.

As we came into Stavelely I noticed my rear wheel was a bit flat. By the time we’d eaten, it was obvious I had a puncture, so I took the wheel off and the inner tube out. The tube looked more abraded than punctured and when I found the corresponding place on the tyre there was a half inch patch where the tyre casing had disintegrated. I suspect that a stone or piece of glass had got embedded under the outer rubber and the casing and worn it away. I could push my finger through. Fortunately Staveley is home to Wheelbase cycle shop and I bought a new tyre. It was a pig to get on, but I managed, only to see the tyre immediately deflate. I’d pinched the tube getting it on. Much cursing and a second tube later, I could not get the tyre on. I was at it for 40 minutes before admitting defeat and taking it into the shop, where it took them 10 seconds to get it on. By this time it was getting late so we headed back through Crook and Underbarrow and down the Lyth valley back to the car.

Yesterday the weather was poor, strong winds and heavy showers. Simon and I headed out to cafe de Lune. The route back was once more a circuitous one to avoid a head wind. I got another puncture, different bike though. A quick swap of the tube and remount the wheel only to discover that the valve was not long enough to come through the deep rims I was running. Fortunately Simon had a spare and we were away again.

Jayne and I went out to eat last night at a local Italian restaurant. Unbeknown to us they’d just reopened with a new chef. The owner told us all about her trails and tribulations with the last chef, who was stealing, the temp agency chef, who was rubbish, the interviewees who either didn’t turn up, never worked in a restaurant or had run away with a travelling circus. The food was OK but not great. We won’t be rushing back.

Today Jayne and Karl and I had a gently ride out to Barton Grange. They are now in full Christmas mode and it was heaving. We had a quick drink and a cake then left.

All in all its been a pretty good week. Weather hasn’t been unreasonable for the time of year and I’ve got some good rides in.

Total for week – 220 miles

Year to date – 4781 miles

Shortfall – 164 miles

Cheers

Tim

Short Tour

2011-10-04T08:29:00.001+01:00

I'm heading off for a short tour through the Peak District, down to my Mum's then on to Jayne's Mum's. Hopefully I'll do a daily diary here http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1r4vFZo&doc_id=9582&v=F

Not sure how far it will be, about 350 miles I think.

Cheers

Tim

Mixed Week

2011-09-25T18:45:00.001+01:00

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

2011-09-19T08:58:00.001+01:00

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

2011-09-06T21:50:00.001+01:00

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

On the mend

2011-08-29T12:19:00.001+01:00

I’m slowly getting better, I can now bend my arm up pretty much as far as I could before. I can straighten it in some planes but not in others and I can’t rotate it or put too much pressure on the muscles in my fore-arm. It still hurts and I still need to be careful. I have been able to get out on the bike at last though.

Monday, Jayne and I rode out to Bonds for an ice cream. It ended up being the nicest day of the week weather wise and about 16 miles was just right for my first proper ride.

Tuesday we went up to the Lakes, just mooching around the shops. Wednesday I had to stay in to get new faster broadband switched over. Waited in all day, they finally did it at 3:30.

Thursday we did a lot. Jayne and I rode out to Barton Grange in the morning, stopping for a nice cake. 26 miles covered. Then in the evening me and Jamie rode to the Plough for me to initiate him into Bomber and Garlic Chicken, which he enjoyed.

Not done much since, mostly reading. Just finished Embassytown by China Mieville. Very weird and hard going in places but always good. I’v also just finished Simon Morden’s Theories of Flight, second in the three part Samuil Petrovich series. Set in a post apocalypse London of the near future, it offers some thoughts on science, society, AI and politics.

Miles for the last 4 weeks:

5.5

Total for the year so far 3375

Shortfall – 535

Cheers

Tim

Still Healing

2011-08-15T20:55:00.002+01:00

My knee is healing pretty well, just the deepest of the cuts still scabbed over. It still hurts if I kneel down, but otherwise OK.

My elbow is also much better. I almost have full movement back but it aches. On Saturday I tried to do some DIY and while trying to push a cable back into a clip, my arm spasmed and locked up for a second. Apparently I went white for a bit. Afterwards it was OK though. My little finger and ring finger go a bit tingly if I do too much.

I rode out to the pub on Sunday evening. It was OK apart from the right turn into the pub when I tried to look over my shoulder and only had my left hand on the bars. It seems I can't control the bike with my bad arm.

It was Jamie's 18th birthday on Sunday. Can't believe my youngest is 18! Got him an xbox and guitar hero. Spent most of Sunday trying to get xbox Live working through my router. How non-IT people cope with these things I don't know. It took all my knowledge to get it going.

Anyway 5.5 miles for the week. At least its something.

Zero Miles

2011-08-08T09:31:00.002+01:00

Still recovering. My arm is much better, although it did lock up completely on Saturday night. I can now bend it enough to be able to touch my face, so I can almost eat normally. I can't put too much pressure on it still, so cutting food is a bit of a problem, but manageable if I take my time. I thought my knee was healing nicely, a lot of the scabs are already coming off. However, the main deep cut feels very tight. I did some DIY yesterday and couldn't kneel down without it feeling sore. This morning I managed to open up the worst bit getting out of bed. It didn't start bleeding, just cracked the scab open. I'll have to see how it goes. Probably another week off the bike though.

Ouch!

2011-07-31T19:41:00.001+01:00

My mileage target will slip for the next few weeks. I think I may have broken my elbow!

Me and Simon plus Ian, Ian’s nephew over from California, Daniel and Ian’s future son in law, Ross went up to Grizedale yesterday. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm and perfect mountain biking conditions. We decided to do the Fox, Greythwaite etc. to get away from the busy areas. The first few descents went really well. The tricky bit through the wall had filled in a bit and was rideable. Dan struggled a bit, using SPD’s for the first time. The drop down to Satterthwaite was fantastic twisty singletrack through the bracken and grass and occasional bramble.

Ross and Dan were knackered, so we decided to head for the visitor centre and maybe do a bit of the North Face back to the car.

On a not very tricky but quick section, I tried to duck round another bramble across the trail. I dropped my front wheel off the path, pinging myself over the handlebars and slamming into the ground on my right knee and left wrist. It jarred me up my fore arm and I felt my elbow go funny. When I tried to straighten it, it wouldn’t move, then suddenly crunched into place. I could bend it but occasionally it would lock out, as if the tendons were in the wrong place, before returning to normal. We carried on back to a fire road where we decided to call it quits and head home.

Simon’s wife and family were nearby with their caravan, so we headed there. The cut to my knee was far deeper than it first looked. Simo9n, and experienced first aider, cleaned me up and steri stripped the cuts.

I was OK to drive home, but ached and only had limited movement in my arm when I got home. Jayne said I had to go to A&E to get it checked out, so off we went. 4 hours later the doctor told me that the x-rays were inconclusive but showed “some degree of fracture”! The treatment is the same regardless, arm in a sling, rest and ibuprofen. So I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself. Today the elbow has swelled up quite a bit and is quite achy. My knee is much better, the cuts are still a bit weepy but seem clean and healthy and knitting together. Be a week or two before I’m back on the bike.

Miles for the week – 133

Running total – 3304

Shortfall – 146

Cheers

Tim

Week Off

2011-07-29T21:32:00.001+01:00

I’ve been off all week. Its been a mixed experience.

Sunday, I went out with Ian and Joe, to Chipping and back via the back of Beacon Fell. The wind coming back was horrendous but we made good time.

Monday, Jayne and I rode out on the tandem to Garstang. We needed porcini, proscutto and papardelle pasta for a recipe we were going to make. Booth’s in Garstang were bound to have these. They had none! In the end (Wednesday) we used ordinary dry mushrooms, lardons and snapped in half lasagne sheets. It was great.

Tuesday I was supposed to ride round the Trough with Ian, but only got 10 miles up the road before being recalled to home. the home stretch was done at an average of 20mph though.

Wednesday, Jayne and I drove pout to Chipping, then set off for Scorton. This was several climbs and quite hard, even if only 30 miles.

Thursday was a bit damp, so we had a stay at home day. Jayne went bowling in the evening and I went out to the Plough with Karl, Alison and Ian.

Today we' drove up to Stavely and rode out to Levens and back. Considering it is the busiest part of the Lakes, it was surprisingly quiet. A good 30 miles of country lanes

Off mountain biking tomorrow!

OK but not great

2011-07-10T20:16:00.001+01:00

I’ve had an OK week. Only OK, not great. Work has been difficult, looks like \I’m going to lose my best contractor and my best permie. I can’t compete with what they’ve been offered but it will leave a massive hole I’ll struggle to fill.

Mileage is mainly just work and back, not even every day. Friday I satyed in to get my hands free kit fitted in my car. This has been a nightmare to arrange. I put the order in Christmas! First of all they sent me a Parrot kit. I rang up to arrange installation only to find that it wasn’t certified with my phone. It would work with it and Parrot recommended it but Vodaphone didn’t certify it. So I couldn’t have it. So I ordered a different kit and was sent a Berry Uni-8 kit. I rang to get that installed. Sorry you need a de-install as well as an install voucher to take the old kit out. Another order for the de-install, for which the voucher eventually arrived. I rang again. Sorry the separate de-install and install vouchers are only valid if you’re taking a kit out of one car and installing in a different car, you need a combined de-install/install voucher! Eventually I got sent what should have been the right voucher, I rang again. Have I got all the necessary parts? Well I think so, I’ve been sent a box load of stuff. Not so! When the engineer arrived I handed him the box and he asked where was the rest of the stuff! I said that’s all I’ve got, so he told me to ring the installation order line. The woman there was really snotty, saying that I’d confirmed I had all the kit when I booked, I said I had a box of stuff, how was I to know it wasn’t everything I needed. The engineer took the phone off me and said “Just sent the stuff” and hung up. He could use some of the existing kit and all I needed was a snap in cradle I can fit myself. 6 months and I still don’t have a car kit fully working.

Jayne and I had a lazy weekend, we went out on the tandem yesterday, just into St Anne’s to go to Apple. Liam got me a £20 voucher for fathers day, so I thought ‘d get a new rear mech for the Ribble. I’ve put the compact double from Jayne’s Boardman on it, but the 105 rear mech doesn’t quite have the capacity, so I bought a Sora long cage mech. Fitted it this afternoon and went for a couple of short trial rides. Seems pretty good. I was worried that the 9 speed mech wouldn’t work well with the 7 speed chain and cassette, but it seems fine. Need to try it out over Boundary Hill. When I first bought the Ribble it had a 21-12 block and 42/52 front rings. I could get over Boundary Hill on that without much trouble. Now I’m wondering if a 34 front and 28 rear are low enough? Old age!

I’ve not reached my weekly mileage target again. Need to do better next week, but I’ in Bristol for 4 days so probably a poor week again. I need to go and do some long days, 70-100 milers to get back on track.

Miles for the week – 101

Year to date – 2973

Shortfall – 132

Cheers

Tim

Looking Better

2011-07-03T20:25:00.001+01:00

I’m gradually clawing back the missed miles. Last week 175, this week 164. There’s no secret formula, just getting out more and for longer. I should be at 3000 miles today. I’m not!

My regular crew are all out in France, cycling from the north down to Carpentras, spending a week there, then cycling back. I would love to have gone. Karl has sent me some envy inducing photos. I have had a good few weeks though. Last week I topped up my commuter miles with a couple of trips out to Beacon Fell. This week,a colleague was up from Bristol so we took him for a spin through the lanes, again to Beacon Fell. Jayne has had a cold for the last few weeks and is just getting over it so we’ve done a few short miles,out to the pub and back this last week.

yesterday Simon and I went up to Gisburn Forest and rode the MTB trail there. It was really good but I bottled a couple of sections, especially the north shore type stuff. We did ride hully gully though, which was amazing. Those berms are 30 ft from the bottom of the dips. It took some nerve for me to do these but I really enjoyed it once I got over the fear.

Last night we went to Simon and Catherine's for a really nice meal. Moule Mariner (SP?) followed by pasta with smoked kipper and then lemon sponge cake and strawberries. Delicious.

Today Jayne and I have done 30 miles of fairly flat lanes out to Barton Grange and back, then down to the pub.

All in all, I’m raking back the deficit and with a couple more weeks like these should get to a point where I am over target and can afford to miss a week or so, as long as work doesn’t get in the way.

Cheers

Tim

week – 164

To date – 2872

Short fall - 118

Poor

2011-06-19T21:28:00.001+01:00

Since my Scotland trip, I’ve been pretty poor with my mileage. This week I was away in Bristol. I took my bike but only rode it once. I was catching up with my shortfall, but have fallen back to over 200 again. Not sure how much I’ll make back in the next few weeks. My regular cycling partners are cycling through France for the next three weeks, Le Havre to Carpentras this week, a week around Carpentras, Ventoux, Alps etc, then a week riding back. I really wish I was there. Karl has promised to send envy inducing photos as often as he can.

Miles for week – a dismal 41

Running total – 2533

Shortfall – 227

Cheers

Tim

Scotland Trip

2011-05-23T21:30:00.001+01:00

Karl and Alison have a place in Moniaive in Scotland. Its about 150 miles from here by the most direct route. We decided to cycle up there. The plan was to ride to Alison’s Mum’s in Arnside on Thursday afternoon, Arnside to Penrith on Friday, to Moniaive on Saturday and then to Lockerbie to get a train home. Then Karl and I both had to work till five on Thursday so we decided that he would drive up and drop me on the way so I could ride a bit of the route.

I packed on Tuesday which was fortunate because I spent two hours on Wednesday night bailing out the scout hut where the main water supply had burst off the stopcock. We bailed about 700 gallons of water.

Karl picked me up on Thursday and drove me up to Milnethorpe. I rode the 5 or so miles along the estuary to Arnside.

Friday dawned wet and windy. The wind fortunately was a tail wind and the rain not too heavy. Karl had planned a route on quiet roads through Milnethorpe, bypassing Kendal, then up over Shap and down into Penrith. We were soon out on the back lanes.

Alison’s chain came off.

We stopped by this…

The weather cleared a bit, but it wasn’t great. The scenery was stunning though and we rode all the way to the bottom of the Shap climb on roads like this.

The climb up Shap was made easier by the howling tail wind but it was still a long slog up to 1350 feet.

The rain started again on the way back down. The stopped in Shap village for something to eat and a warm drink, then off again to skirt round the Lake District fells. Haweswater is the easternmost lake.

Round the edge of the Lowther estate…

And into Penrith for 46 hilly miles.

The forecast for Saturday was heavy rain and windy. The wind was there, but the rain stayed off til the afternoon. We headed out of Penrith heading first for Carlisle. It was mostly flat or down hill into Carlisle. We got a bit turned around in Carlisle but eventually got back out to quiet lanes at Rockcliffe.

We crossed into Scotland at Gretna, which is famous for people eloping there to get married under Scottish law.

We stopped to get supplies, thinking we still had 70 miles to go to Moniaive. At the rate we were going it would be a late finish. The next section was down tghe coast of the Solway Firth heading to Dumfries. It was more into the wind than we had been up til now and the wind was really whipping in off the sea. We ate our butties sheltering in an old churchyard.

After lunch the rain started. And didn’t stop all the rest of the ride. Fortunately Karl had mis-programed his Garmin and included a number of little circular loops when he’d tried to move off the main roads. That meant we had much less distance to go. We stopped in Dumfries for makings for tea and set off cold and wet for the last 20 miles. We eventually rolled into Moniaive just before six having done 80 miles for the day. After a quick shower and turning the heating up to max, I made chicken dijonaise for tea.

Next morning was bright and sunny. This is the view from the garden…

By the time we were ready to set off the rain had returned

Miraculously the wind had turned and was still a tailwind despite us now running 90 degrees to the previous day.

We got to Lockerbie in plenty of time to catch the train back. The original plan had been to go to Preston and ride home from there, but Karl had left his car at Arnside, so we got off at Oxenholme. The sun was shining and the wind had dropped, but it wasn’t to last. We were soon being lashed by stinging rain. The final drop into Arnside was back along the narrow hedge lined lanes.

You can see the road steaming.

We eventually got back to the car after about 45 miles. It was a fantastic trip despite the weather.

Total miles for the trip was about 170.

Miles for the week 208

Year to date 2190.

Very Poor Riding Week

2011-05-17T19:32:00.001+01:00

I’ve done very little this week. On the plus side I’ve still got a job. I had to go down to Bristol Tuesday/Wednesday. I did go for a run for the first time in ages while I was there, but it isn’t riding miles.

This weekend was forecast sunshine and showers. We were looking after Simon’s dog while Simon and family went to Harlech to do the triathlon. We decided to rebuild the shed. The shed started life as a 8’ x 10’ potting shed 15 years ago. Since then it has been dismantled, moved, cut down, rebuilt and moved again several times. A few weeks ago we got another 8’ x 10’ shed through freecycle. It wasn't in great shape but gave us enough wood to rebuild several sheds.

After dismantling the old shed, we started on the rebuild. The idea was to cut two more feet from the width and get rid of any rotten bits, replacing them with stuff from the donor shed.

By close of play Saturday I had the base and two sides done.

Sunday was very wet, but we needed to crack on to get stuff under cover. So we worked through the rain.

Eventually it was done

I was knackered. My thighs and hamstrings were killing me. I could barely walk on Monday. I’m slowly getting back to normal.

Home Again

2011-05-08T20:41:00.001+01:00

we got back from the Isle of Man on Monday completely knackered. We’d done fewer miles than last year but it seemed much harder, probably due to the phenomenal wind.

Tuesday Jayne and I went for a short 24 mile spin, very slow and easy. The wind was still strong, but we could coast down the slight drop from Roseacre that we had to pedal hard down the day before. Usually the tandem will coast down at 20-25mph. Shown how strong the wind was.

Wednesday and Friday were normal ride to work days. Thursday we found out if we still have jobs, fortunately I still do.

We’ve had a fairly lazy weekend, I felt I needed a weekend off, so nothing yesterday and just 10 or so miles today.

Total for the week – 104 (including 40 from Monday I recorded last posting)

Tim

Isle of Man

2011-05-03T20:15:00.001+01:00

After killing Jayne on the Sunday, I killed myself on Monday. Ian asked if I fancied a spin, he wasn’t feeling too good and didn’t want to do any big hills. I decided to take my recently rebuilt Ribble. I’m glad I did – 52 miles in three hours, big ring all the way out to Café de Lune, Scorton and back. I was knackered.

Our 2nd annual trip to the Isle of Man was planned for Friday and Nic and Elizabeth had expressed a desire to ride out with Jayne and I earlier than the rest, to meet them at or on the way to Conder Green. I rang Nic Thursday morning to confirm details and he said he was off in the afternoon did we fancy a ride. After a bit of humming and hawing, Jayne said yes and we headed of for a windy 25 miles out to St Anne’s, via the deli for some chorizo that they were cooking Friday night, and on to the Villa for a quick pint.

Friday morning we set out later than planned, Jayne and I on the tandem, Nic carrying most of Elizabeth’s gear and Elizabeth on her ancient but reliable Austrian MTB.

We were caught up by the rest at Little Eccleston and headed out into the increasingly strong wind to the cafe. Unfortunately it was closed til 12 for the Royal Wedding. Then the proprietor came out and said she’d be open in 10 mins, so we waited. And waited.

Eventually we decided we should press on to the ferry just in case. We stopped in Lancaster to grab comestibles then on to Heysham. Once again first passengers on. It was interesting and amusing to watch the ferry crew loading new cars destined for Isle of Man garages. They flew on, not sure if I would ever buy a car over there after watching them.

The ferry crossing was the usual 4 hours of beer, food and boredom.

Eventually, we got to the house on the island at about 7 and Nic and Elizabeth cooked up a fantastic Spanish dish of peppers tomatoes chorizo and poached eggs. Washed down with plenty of wine, we were setup for day two of our trip.

Saturday dawned with clear blue skies, warm sun and 40mph winds. It set the tone for the weekend. We headed of on a circuitous route to Peel. On the first steep climb, Jemima was dropped. When she finally got to the top it was to heap abuse on her husband. She couldn’t change into her small chainring. After some joint faffing, we realised that the extra bottle cage Graham had fitted for the trip was stopping the front mech from moving far enough. Removing it, we discovered another botch of Graham’s. While fitting the bottle cage, he had cross threaded the bolt, breaking the boss and making it turn freely in the seat tube. His only recourse had been to saw off the bolt head and secure the cage with glue!

After that, we had a fairly easy drop down into Peel. This is a small picturesque town with a large castle guarding the harbour.

It was exceptionally windy, the tandem was blown over. Some of us had fish and chips, others had locally caught and smoked mackerel sandwiches. We also met up with a couple from Frodsham on Hewitt’s like Karl’s. They recommended that we go to Niarbyl as it was quite pretty.

They weren’t wrong. It was at the end of a very steep hill though.

You could just make out the coast of Ireland. honest its in this picture.

It was a slog back up to the main road. And straight into the wind. On the map there looked like a short cut, but it was not marked as a proper road and we weren’t sure we’d get through. At the start of the road it was marked as a dead end, but there was a parking and picnic sign as well. We gave it a try. At first it was a narrow road into a steep sided valley, then it became a path, then singletrack and we started to worry. However, after a mile or so it turned back to a narrow, roughly tarmacked road through the trees. It was very pretty and sheltered from the wind.

Soon though, it climbed back out if the head of the valley and into the full strength of the wind. It was very hard work to get to the old lead mines at the top.

From here we retraced our steps from the morning, only to be confronted by a closed road. There was a junior cycle race on and the detour would take us miles out of our way. We waited. Ian began to fret over cooking the evenings meal, a moussaka. Eventually the road was opened and we headed home. It was a gruelling battle into the wind all the way. Hills that seemed inconsequential that morning had us in the granny ring. The faster guys headed off to get tea ready and we limped in behind.

Our reward for 40 miles of slog was buck fizz!

Then lashings of wine and moussaka. Followed by apple pie.

Sunday was once again sunny and windy. The previous days effort were telling and Jamima decided not to ride, as did Nic and Elizabeth. The ride out on Friday had been Elizabeth’s longest ride since childhood and she was concerned about getting home on the Monday. Jayne and I also decided not to go with the main group, who decided to head out to the Calf of Man. We thought a smaller trip round to Laxey and back might be a better bet. On the map there looked to be a route from near the back of the house to a reservoir and then on to the Laxey road via a public byway. When we got to the reservoir then route was a footpath. We decided to give it a go anyway as it was only a mile to the byway. We pushed some but road most of the way to the end of the path, only to be face with this on the byway.

Not rideable at all. I pushed for a further mile or so to the road, which fortunately had been relayed recently and was super smooth.

The lumpy stuff in the distance isn’t all sea, some of it is the Lake District.

A fast drop took us to the edge of Laxey and an exceptionally steep descent into the town. We only just managed to keep upright and brake had enough. At the Laxey wheel we saw that as National Trust members we could get in for free. Unfortunately our membership cards had expired the day before and we didn’t have our new ones. So we headed down into town to look at the remains of the lead ore processing plant.

It had its own wheel, all the mine workings and associated industry had been water powered as there was no natural coal on the island and few trees. It was quite a pretty place for a former heavy industrial landscape.

From there we headed down to Laxey Harbour where we met Nic and Elizabeth, who had come out by train. They were heading up Snaefel on the railway, but stopped long enough for a pint and something to eat.

Then it was home again on the rolling main road. We had to walk the last steep bit. Once back to the house we realised there was no wine or beer, so I borrowed Jemima’s bike and went down the steep hill into town. Coming back up with 6 bottles of wine and 12 bottles of beer was hard work.

The others had been out to the Calf, but realising the time and the strength of the wind, got the steam train back to Douglas and stopped for a well earned pint.

By special request Jemima had made vegetarian chilli and a sort of Eaton mess, which was wolfed down with little ceremony. We had to pack that night as we had an early start for the 8:45 ferry the next day.

Monday came too soon and at 6:45 we were dressed and breakfasting. After tidying up, Karl and a few others headed into town to get us booked on the ferry. we stayed and tried to stuff all the wine bottles into the recycling bin. Eventually we all headed out to regroup at the ferry. The uneventful crossing was punctuated by endless rolling news reports from Pakistan.

We got back to England and finally got some benefit from the wind, getting tailwinds from Lancaster pretty much all the way home. we tried several times to stop for ice cream but everywhere was really busy. we had to press on as several people had long drives and train journeys to get home in time for work on Tuesday.

In all another great weekend of cycling and friendship. Hopefully we can do it again next year.

Cheers

Tim

Miles for week – 220

Total – 1835

Today I Killed my Wife!

2011-04-24T21:20:00.001+01:00

Weather has been pretty good this week. For various reasons I didn’t get a ride in on Monday. Jayne has outstripped me this week, probably for the first time ever. However today might have been a step too far.

Tuesday she did a 20+ mile route, Thursday another 16 plus a trip to the pub. Friday we had to go out to Honeywell’s to get some beef for a Saturday meal with friends. 25 miles, but I was weighed down with 10lbs of beef.

Saturday we had a short spin, 30 miles, on the tandem.

Today we decided to go round the Trough. This is a 60 mile loop including some sizeable hills. The run out to Chipping was fairly easy going, 8 miles of climbing from the A6 to Chipping. The church there is very nice.

The route from Chipping to Dunsop Bridge is quite hilly. We started to struggle. It was getting warmer. We made it to Dunsop Bridge and the cafe for lunch. We had a good chat with another couple on a tandem who were also heading over Boundary Hill.

The ride up over Boundary Hill is tough, a mile or so of 1 in 4.

The first pitch isn’t so bad, but it soon steepens. The cars in the first pic are about half way up. We made it that far before having to stop. Jayne was knackered.

After this it was a bit easier and we got to the top without further stops.

On the coast down the timing chain fell off. One of the links had separated. We had no chain tool. Several people stopped but no one else had a tool. Eventually I managed to force the link back together. We carried on but were very dubious of my bodged repair.

It seemed to hold.

We eventually got home hot and tired but 60 miles done.

Jayne is very very tired.

Miles for the week – 157 (159 for Jayne)

Total miles – 1615

Next weekend Isle of Man!

Tim

Ribble

2011-04-17T21:46:00.001+01:00

Its been a fairly quiet week bike-wise. Not so work-wise and I may be after a new job soon.

This weekend I stripped down my Ribble. Without too many options, I decided just to clean it up and rebuild it as a road machine. The chainrings are the original, now 20 year old, ones, a bio-pace 42 and a 52. When I’ve got the money I will swap the rings for maybe a 38 and a 48 or 50. At that point I will also swap the cassette, chain and probably the jockey wheels on the derailleur.

I put what I had back together today. It is amazing how easy a 7 speed down tube shifter build is compared to the more modern configs.

Not too bad. The last pic exaggerates the top half a bit.

On a separate note, we have goldfinches in our garden…

Miles for the week – 120

Total – 1725

Cheers

Tim

New Bike

2011-04-09T21:01:00.001+01:00

Not mine,Jayne’s. Whilst she likes her Specialized Dolce there are a couple of small issues with it that are limiting. There is a fair bit of toe overlap. This isn’t usually a problem but there are a few places on our usual rides where there is a sharp right turn at the top of a steep hill. It is a busy junction as well and she is a bit nervous approaching it. The Dolce won’t take a mudguard either.

So Thursday night we went to Halford’s because they had offers on Boardman bikes. Their fi Hybrid is a bargain at the moment at £400. SRAM X5, Avid BB3 disks, aluminium frame.

It isn’t as light as the Dolce, but not far off. Its a compact double, so the gears don’t go quite as low as the Dolce. But it has no toe overlap, room for mudguards and eyelets for a pannier rack.

We bought it!

Today was warm and very sunny, if a bit windy. We headed out to Scorton. This would also be Jayne’s longest solo ride this year. We’d done it on the tandem several times. The ride out was good, wind mostly behind.

We stopped at the Barn for a coffee and tea cake, Jayne had a big piggy cream scone!

After our pit stop, we headed back via Pilling. We had a relatively easy ride out with the wind moving around so that as we turned south through Pilling to Great Ecc, we were headed straight in to the wind. Jayne started to struggle, but plugged doggedly on.

We finished with just over 43 miles, her longest solo miles this year.

On a separate note, my friends Simon, Derek and Tim did the Paris Roubaix sportive today. They all finished and are no doubt knocking back the Leffe with gusto, well done!

Cheers

Tim

British Summer Time

2011-04-03T19:32:00.001+01:00

The clocks changed on Sunday. So did the weather! On the plus side it is light til about quarter to eight,. On the minus side it has been a very windy week.

My big halogen lights and ten ton battery pack are stashed away for the occasional pub run. The bike seems so much lighter. It was been very windy though, gale force at times. The fixie wasn't always the wisest choice for commuting, but I stuck it out.

We put the KHS tandem up on eBay last week. Sold it to a bloke who wanted to ride with his daughter. Hope they enjoy it. Makes a big difference to the cluttered state of the garage.

Saturday morning I’d planned to meet Simon and Catherine and their friends Sally and Annie up at Grizedale. It was absolutely tipping down while I was getting the bike ready and the car loaded. It was looking to be a grim day. As I drove north, the weather improved slightly, but my mood didn’t as I forgot to pull off at the south Lakes turn and had to go on to the next exit and double back. I was now running late and running short of fuel. I got a text from Simon saying they were running late too. The garage at Newby Bridge didn’t have any diesel, hopefully getting some later that morning. I thought I had enough to get up to Moor Top and back. Grizedale was hosting an off road triathlon, canoe-mtb-trail run. The visitors centre and surrounding area was chocker, the North Face trail off limits. Fortunately Moor Top was too far away to act as an overflow car park. The others eventually turned up and we set out down the familiar route to Greythwaite. It seemed a lot more eroded and the tricky bit through the wall was only rideable if you hit the exact line (or were much better than any of us!). The weather had improved considerable and we were soon down to shirt sleeves. I had two stupid crashes, first one was just by riding into a tree stump, the second a slow speed front wheel washout. All in all a great day out. I managed to get diesel on the way back, but had to queue for 25 minutes at one of the two working pumps.

This morning was the Riby Triathlon. I was scheduled to man the railway crossing. There were three or four trains scheduled and I was to stop people trying to get through once the barrier was down and note down numbers so riders could be credited with the lost time. In the end only two riders were stopped, but I did have to spend the morning in the showery rain. It’s good to do though as volunteer marshals are what makes these events possible.

This afternoon we did a short trip out to Bond’s for a tea cake.

Miles for the week – 106. Still running short of my required mileages. Hopefully now the nights are lighter, we’ll get out some mid week evenings

Tim

Old Road Bike

2011-04-01T20:43:00.001+01:00

I've got an old road bike. Its a Ribble winter frame, 531, mudguard eyelets front and rear, about 19 years old. It has 105 throughout, but an old version, 7sp, downtube shifters, even Bio Pace chainrings! I've got other bikes, my Hewitt audax and my Pompino fixie, so I don't really need to hang onto the Ribble. But I've had it ages, ridden it thousands of miles and can't bring myself to get rid of it.

So, what do I do with it?

I suppose options are either a full retro-fetish rebuild to its original spec, or just tidy it up and use it as a pub run bike (but to be honest that is what the Pompino does) or spend a bit of money getting it to a modern spec? One possibility would be to fit different cranks and smaller rings and use it for the hillier stuff round here. I've probably got some old Sugino or Stronglight cranks from the tandems lying round in the bits bin. Or maybe another singlespeed. I used to run this as a fixie, maybe I could fit a bmx freewheel to the spare wheel I’ve got?

Any suggestions?

Tim

Best week so far

2011-03-28T20:00:00.001+01:00

It has been a really lovely week of spring weather, sunny and starting to get warm. I’ve been adding an extra mile or so to the route to/from work.

Thursday afternoon we were both off, so we rode out on the solo’s to Scorton. Friday was another nice day so I decided shorts were in order plus my lighter weight jacket. It was very pleasant in the morning but I arranged to meet Jayne at the pub after work. By the time we left, the sun had gone down and it was freezing! I could barely feel my hands and feet when we got home.

I rode over to Simon’s on Saturday morning to help put his bike back together. He had a nasty crash last week, trashing his fork, bars and saddle. We did what we could but struggled with the crown race. I spent the afternoon fettling mine and Jayne’s road bikes.

Sunday we decided to head out to Chipping on the tandem, but after the first two hills felt a detour to Scorton and less climbs would be a better bet.

All in all a very good week

173 miles for the week

1065 for the year to date, still 315 miles down though

Spring?

2011-03-20T18:13:00.001Z

It seems like spring is practically here. Daffodils are out, blossom starting to appear on trees. Thursday was really quite sunny and warm. Unfortunately I was in Bristol on a last minute trip for work.

Monday to Wednesday was the normal work week. I did get the 3/4’s out and my thinner rain top. It was still a bit chilly on a couple of evenings though.

Yesterday Jayne and I went over to Arnside to ride across to Kirby Lonsdale and back. It is a very hilly but nice quiet route. Five or six climbs got us into the granny gears, but we rode everything and felt pretty good. Weather was sunny and cloudy with a cold breeze blowing on the exposed fells. A good day out though.

We went into Kendal, supposedly to get me some new full finger gloves, cos I’ve gone through the end of mine. An hour later, £20 worth of books and £100 worth on gloves for me, gloves for Jayne and a rather nice pair of Gore 3/4’s for me.

Was hoping to wear my new 3/4’s today but it was raining and horrible this morning, so we went for a run instead. We’ve been doing 2 mins run 2 mins walk for 30-35 minutes for the last few weeks. Tried today to up to 3mins running, 2 mins walking. We managed two lots of 3 mins running, then had to step down to 2 lots of 2 mins running. But we did then step back up to 3 mins for the last two runs. Getting better, going faster and breathing easier.

Only 67 miles for the week though

892 miles total, 373 behind my target

Cheers

Tim

Knackered

2011-03-13T17:11:00.001Z

I am totally knackered. I did my normal riding to work in the week, apart from Thursday when it was blowing a gale.

Then I got an email from Nic asking if anyone was out at the weekend. Ian responded saying he and Simon were planning a big ride Saturday morning. I tentatively said I was in.

The guys arrived at mine at 8:40 Saturday morning. We hung about a bit for Nic, who was coming by train from Manchester, then riding from Preston. We eventually set off at 9 ish, heading to Longridge at quite a pace. By Broughton, 8 miles in, I was suffering. Then the climbing started Out of Longridge up Jeffrey Hill to Bridy Brow and the fast drop down the other side. It was a bit too gravelly to go fast though. Then on to Waddington and up over Waddington fell. I suffered some more before the 45 mph drop down the other side. Again we couldn’t go too fast due to gravel and cattle grids.

By this time, 35 miles in, I was really struggling and the small hills into Dunsop Bridge were hard work. Then we were faced with the 1:4 climb over Boundary Hill. I managed to keep going, but it was very hard. We stopped in Scorton for a cup of tea and a teacake, but were greeted with a heavy rain shower upon leaving.

Then it was a long slog into the wind back home. Just over 65 miles and three of the hardest hills in the area. I could barely walk. Nic came back to mine, got his bags then rode into Lytham to drop Ian’s Brooks spanner off and rode back to Preston, I would guess about 110 miles for him!

This morning we were rudely awakened by the phone at 9 o’clock, Alison asking if we were coming to Beacon Fell, they would be with us in half an hour. So we stuffed breakfast down and headed out. We were OK on the flat but as soon as the road started to rise at Broughton we were suffering. A puncture just before Inglewhite was a bit of a relief and gave us a breather. Then there was the 1:4 climb up to the Fell. We rode it but were knackered at the top. Bacon and egg buttie and a hot chocolate gave us just enough energy to stagger home. Coming off Beacon Fell there is a very steep road and I could feel the rear wheel of the tandem locking up, something almost unheard of.

All in all a very good but very tiring week. Both Jayne and I have done some running as well.

Miles for the week – 156

Year to date – 825

Still 325 short of where I should be though.

Cheers

Tim

Better week

2011-03-06T20:01:00.001Z

Finally, I’ve got some decent miles in. I have been home based all week and ridden every day. Weather has been cold but sunny and looking more and more spring-like.

Jayne and I went out on the tandem yesterday, heading originally to Chipping but the wind was strong. Instead we went to Barton Grange and had fruit tart and a cup of tea.

Today I went out to the Cafe de Lune with Alison. Headwind all the way there and all the way back! How does that happen? We were knackered.

But all in all a very good week. More miles this week than in the previous four combined. Still about 300 miles down on my target though.

For the week – 144 miles

Year to date – 669

Cheers

TIm

Shedded

2011-03-01T19:12:00.001Z

I was away again last week. I did get some runs in and felt pretty good. I’ve progressed to 3mins run 2mins walk, but on Tuesday my watch had died, so I couldn’t time myself properly.

I rode in Thursday and that is it.

Friday was a day off, but we had been offered a shed for free. Our shed is a bit rotten and needs repairing. The free shed also needs some repair, so I thought we might get one shed out of the two. When we got there, the shed was in much worse condition than we first thought. While trying to ease up the roof to see how it was fixed on, I managed to pull a huge chunk off. In the end we took the whole thing apart. It did make it easier to move, but was a lot of work.

There was a second smaller shed as well and we got that put together on Saturday, then spent the rest of the day tidying up the planks from the other shed. We didn’t finish, so Sunday was spent doing more of the same. By the evening the backs of my thighs and my hamstrings were killing me. Jayne’s arms were the same from moving the cleaned up planks.

So another very poor riding week, only 13 miles.

Year to date – 525 miles, way down on my target.

Cheers

Tim

Poor

2011-02-14T20:39:00.001Z

I am way behind on my target, over 240 miles short. And pretty poor at updating here .

Last week wasn’t too bad miles wise, I rode to work every day. The move from Thirsty Thursday to Tuesday isn’t going well, so far we’ve managed 1 week. Work is hectic and the potential moves to a new company are still not clear. I’m not overly worried as I am on a pretty good package if they can me.

Three weeks ago I was in Switzerland for a few days. I took my running shoes but we had heavy snow the day I arrived and it didn’t clear til the morning we left. We did some riding at the weekend to compensate,including a 60+ mile ride through the Trough. It was very cold. at one point Joe and another guy hit a big patch of ice, crashing to the ground, Joe on the elbow he broke the other year. After that we were quite cautious, which was a real shame because other than the ice, it was ideal loony descent conditions off Boundary Hill.

The week before last was OK. I was down in Bristol for three days. I took my running stuff and actually got out to use it. Two nights of 30 mins, 2 mins run 2 mins walk. I got Jayne out at the weekend doing the same. I think I might have killed her!

No riding this weekend, working in the garden. I did make this though

Its a raised veg bed. The pots have potatoes and onions in. We are going to plant garlic, carrots beans and kol rabi.

Cheers

Tim

Good Week

2011-01-16T20:03:00.001Z

I think I’ve had a pretty good week. I rode in every day. I did switch from fixie to audax bike on Tuesday because of the horrendous headwind. There was still some snow and ice about at the beginning of the week, but temps were back up to normal UK winter, ie 3-8 C.

Karl does yoga on a Thursday, so we decided to shift Thirsty Thursday to a Tuesday. With mixed results. On the plus side, I got away from work early and Ian and Karl were at mine for half six. It has been quite wet here and the farmers are also in full muck spreading mode. Ian said the traditional route was too muddy, so we diverted down Blue Moor, adding a mile or two. We were at the Plough by 7:15. However, none of us were really in the mood. Ian and I had a beer and Karl a glass of water. We had the traditional garlic chicken on toast, a massive chicken breast, I was totally stuffed. Then, rather than the usual several pints, by unspoken mutual consent, we set off home again. Several parts of the road were under water.

Saturday was supposed to be a tandem ride, but the rain was so heavy and the wind so strong we cried off. My friend Simon went mountain biking. He texted me in the evening saying he was taking his girls swimming on Sunday and that he would get less wet than his MTB ride.

Sunday Karl arranged for a gentle spin out to Beacon Fell. Ian and Joe would join us. In the end Karl was a no show, finally succumbing to his man flu. It was a good move, we got absolutely soaked. The bottom of the climb up to Beacon Fell was awash with run off. It was like riding up a waterfall. By the time we reached the visitor centre we were soaked to the skin. On the way down we went through several similar stretches and some deep water in places. By the time I got home I was soaking and freezing. But it was good to get out.

I reckon I have to do about 115 miles a week to hit my 6000 mile target. So far I am down about 20 miles. I am in Switzerland all next week, so by Friday will be nearly 140 miles down. That is a lot to get back so early in the year. I may have set too ambitious a target.

Miles for week – 119

Running total – 206

First Week

2011-01-13T21:06:00.001Z

The weather has improved remarkably, in temperatures anyway, back to typical wet and windy weather. I rode to work most days. We didn’t have a Thirsty Thursday ride.

Saturday we got out on the tandem. We headed out to Great Eccleston and the Courtyard Cafe, but when we got there it was closed til the following week, so we headed round to Bonds for a tea cake. The weather had been sunny but cold. When we left Bonds it had clouded over and gone very cold, turning to hail by the time we got back home.

Sunday we went out again, this time to the Weird Fish, which is under new management. The weather was windier than Saturday but still sunny.

In all 87 miles for the year so far

Cheers

Tim

Done

2010-12-30T17:15:00.001Z

I think my year is done. I’ve done down with the cold that seems to be doing the rounds here. I’m in work tomorrow, but will probably drive. So 5123 miles is my total. Pretty good I think

The weather has improved. It is 16 degrees warmer than Christmas Day! Snow has almost gone. They are predicting a return to sub zero temps again next week though.

I think my target for next year will simply be 6000 miles. Unless I can come up with something cleverer.

Happy New Year

Cheers

TIm

Happy Christmas

2010-12-26T16:39:00.002Z

Happy Christmas.

Its still cold and snow covered here. The roads are covered with snow and ice and pretty much unrideable. I don't think I'll improve my miles much. I have more than exceeded my target of 4500 miles and even my stretch target of 5000 miles, so I'm pretty pleased.

What should my target be for next year? I'm under some peer pressure to do the Harlech Triathlon in April but other than that I'm not sure. More miles? Different type of target? Any suggestions?

Tim

More Snow and Ice

2010-12-20T16:25:00.001Z

I didn’t ride much this week, it was too icy. I’ve been trying to get some studded tyres but no one seems to have them. I had a bit of a scare on some frozen mud coming home on Monday and decided not to ride Tuesday. Wednesday was our team night out so I drove and left the car. Thursday I rode in through torrential rain and the odd bit of hail, got soaked.

Friday was cold and they predicted snow. I drove in again, planning to come home and ride out to the pub to meet Karl later. On the way home it started to snow quite a lot. I put lights on the P7 and rode that rather than either of the road bikes. It was a good choice. By seven there was an inch or so of snow on the roads. Karl came out on his Pompino and you could see his skin marks in the snow.

By Saturday morning there was a good 6-8 inches, which is almost unheard of round here. We were supposed to go mountain biking, but cried off.

It has stayed very cold since then, –4C maximum daytime temperature. It was –10C at 6 o’clock yesterday. Jayne and I went for a walk over the fields.

Total miles for the week – 24

Miles for the year – 5123

Not sure how many more miles I’ll get in this year.

Cheers

Tim

Another dismal week

2010-12-14T21:50:00.001Z

I was in Switzerland last week. Monday it was –5 in Manchester. All flights were delayed due to freezing fog. I eventually got to Zurich 2 hours late, to be greeted by relatively warm and very wet weather. Very un-Swiss winter weather.

I drove straight down to Bristol from the airport for two days of meetings and no cycling. The drive home was long and there were numerous accidents to slow me down, so I didn’t make our usual Friday beer.

Saturday I did a short hour spin round the lanes on my own. It was warmer than it has been for ages, no ice on the roads. We were out at Simon’s Saturday night, I drove and we left the car there. Sunday I just did a gentle ride out to pick the car up. There was ice on the roads again. Still can’t get ice tyres. Not sure how much more riding I’ll do if the weather doesn’t improve.

Miles for the week – 24

Miles for the year to date – 5099

Tim

Icy

2010-12-05T19:50:00.001Z

Its been a very poor week riding wise. I rode in on Monday. It was quite icy out so I stuck to the main roads, but even so, there were a couple of hairy moments. I was away Tuesday to Thursday, so no more riding. Friday was very icy, worse than Monday, so I drove to work.

Mileage for the week – a paltry 13 miles

I am off to Switzerland tomorrow for three days, then straight down to Bristol from the airport. So next week will be a very low mileage week again. Good job I’ve reached my total already, December is looking to be a light month.

Tim

Cold

2010-11-28T20:52:00.001Z

The weather has turned cold, its barely got above freezing all week. It has been very sunny and little or no wind though, but the sunny days don’t matter when it goes dark at 4 and you don’t leave work til half 6.

Anyway, apart from the cold, it was the normal weekly commute. My ribs are good enough to allow me to ride the fixie again, which I prefer in the icy weather.

No Thirsty Thursday ride as our friend Nic is moving to Manchester this weekend and we went to the Taps for a few pint to see him off.

Friday was a day off, so I decided to ride out to meet Jayne from work. It was still very cold, I had to keep off the really quiet lanes because of icy mud on the farm roads. Managed to get 20 miles, a club sandwich and a pint of Black Sheep at the Farmers Arms. This pub is in the village where we used to live and I’d not been in for about 15 years. It had changed hands recently and vastly improved, but the beer still wasn’t the greatest, maybe the first of the day, but not great. By the time I got home my hands were frozen.

While we were out Ian texted to see if anyone was out on Saturday. No one else was so we decided to head up to Grizedale. There was a light dusting of snow on the roads as we headed up, but turning off the Barrow road onto the back roads to Saterthwaite and Grizedale we were glad to be in Ian’s Landrover as the roads were thick with ice and compacted snow. Bit of a shock at Moor Top wher ethey had installed pay and display parking machines, not yet in service though. Not sure how that will affect visitor numbers in future though. We headed off to do the loop out east from Moor Top down Eel House and Greythwaite Hall. The going was a curious mixture of harder and easier at the same time. The snow filled in and softened the sometimes very rocky technical sections, the boggy sections were frozen, but just when you needed it there was no grip. We were very circumspect on the really tricky bits, choosing to walk rather than risk injury. The climb back up from Greythwaite Hall was an unrideable slog up what is usually a hard, slippery climb. The snow capped fells were a beautiful backdrop to the day though. We had to skip the downhill to Coniston due to failing light and general knackeredness. We got back to the car and got changed. Only the presence of others avoided a bare bottomed snow ball fight as Ian hit me with snow as I got changed. I had to retaliate.

Sunday we headed out for a short ride on the tandem. It was still cold. We only did ten miles, the roads were still quite icy and Jayne wasn’t happy. We took about 3 hours to thaw out.

All in all a reasonable mileage.

Miles for the week – 100

For the year – 5062 miles

Cheers

Tim

Woo Hoo

2010-11-24T21:26:00.001Z

5000 mile target achieved.

As of my ride home I am at 5001.45 miles for the year.

Better Weather, Better Miles

2010-11-22T20:44:00.002Z

The high winds of the previous weeks have finally died down. Its been possible to ride without too much concern for gateways, bridges etc which have proved difficult over the last few weeks.

The usual riding to work week went OK. Monday was the first really cold, frosty day, I decided to ride the main roads rather than my normal back roads to work. There were a few patches of ice but generally OK. Thirsty Thursday was called off again due to a mix of bad weather and people’s availability.

Saturday we set out to Scorton, over the Cartford Bridge, the flat way. We got there in time for a quick coffee and a toasted teacake. The Barn cafe is great, but you do have to run the gauntlet of tat that the gift shop sells. It was too early for proper lunch, so we headed on to Dunsop Bridge through the Trough of Bowland and over Boundary Hill. The climb out of Scorton was extremely tough going, I had nothing in my legs and was struggling all the way. The reward was the whizz down into Dunsop Bridge, for once with no cars to impede the 40+mph descent. We stopped at the cafe for a bacon and egg buttie. We ate quickly and got back out on the road. We still had a way to go, 30 miles for me, over 40 for Joe, and it gets dark now at about 4 o’clock. We went the shortest, least hilly way back. The Inn at Whitewell car park was packed, probably due to featuring on The Trip. We were struggling on every little rise the rest of the way home. I eventually got in at quarter to four, with 60 miles under my belt. Joe still had another 30-40 minutes of twilight riding to go.

Sunday Jayne and I decided to head out to Barton Grange on the tandem. I was cold and a bit damper than Saturday, but still a lovely winter ride. The roads were very quiet and it was just nice for the two of us to be out. When we got to Barton Grange it was absolutely heaving. They do a big Christmas tableau and have a massive Christmas decorations sale. The cafe was mobbed. We had a quick cake and cup of tea before fleeing back to the road. We had the wind behind going home.

Miles for the week – 156

Year to date – 4962

Only 38 miles to go to reach my target! Should easily reach this by Wednesday.

Tim

Wild Week

2010-11-14T21:27:00.001Z

Weather wise that is.

Monday morning was quite windy. I had to go to Bristol in the afternoon, so I drove in rather than ride.

Tuesday down in Bristol it was quite windy, but I arranged to ride with a colleague out on the Bristol – Bath cyclepath. We rode to Swineford, about 10 miles away and met another colleague for a few pints and something to eat. Ric’s fruit crumble and cream weighed heavier than my last pint and he struggled on the way back. Fortunately the ever increasing wind was on our backs on the way back to Bristol. The path is mostly unlit and our headlights picked out a fox, several cats and more than enough stealth cyclists.

I was in Bristol til Thursday afternoon. Wednesday was too wild to ride. As I drove home for Thirsty Thursday, the wind continued to increase as I came north. The final section down the Fylde was very rough. We decided once more to cancel. Over the evening the wind really picked up. Our fence was flattened, Lytham Windmill lost a sail and the lights in Blackpool were devastated, over £1M of damage, plus knock on effects to the electricity supply to the area. It was still too windy to ride on Friday, but I drove home then rode out to meet Karl for our regular Friday beer. It was hard work.

By Saturday the wind had dropped but the weather was still poor. Hail and rain put paid to a Saturday morning trip through the Trough. So we went to Tesco’s instead and bought wine, beer and bed sheets.

The forecast for Sunday was better and we headed up to Staveley with the mountain bikes. Karl, Alison and I met up with Ian, Mark and Alex to do either Kentmere/ Long Sleddale or Garburn. After getting round to Kentmere Church pretty quickly, we decided to do Long Sleddale. The climb up and over wasn’t too bad, but the bedrock section down into Long Sleddale was much tougher than I remembered and I bottled the really tricky section. As we rode down the valley, the sun dropped behind the fell and the temperature flowered considerably. As we climbed back over to the Kent valley we were back in the sun and a bit warmer, but the sun was very low and right in our eyes. It glistened off the surface water (of which there was a lot) and made picking a line very difficult. We slithered and slid and pushed our the top and down the single track descent back to Staveley. I pinch flatted trying to catch Mark and Alex, probably a good thing because they are younger, more skilled and on better bikes than me, there was no way I should even be able to keep up with them, let alone catch them. I was probably saved from myself and serious injury.

Whilst it was my poorest week for ages, given the weather I still managed something.

Miles for the week – 43

Running total – 4806

Cheers

Tim

Dark, Wet, Windy

2010-11-07T17:44:00.002Z

The clocks changed here last Saturday night. Which was great for an early late start on Sunday, but meant a return to winter commuting.

Monday was the last day of Jayne’s hols, so we headed out to Scorton. The weather was much better than forecast and we rode out over Wyre in warmish winter sunshine. Due to the early start we got to The Barn too soon for lunch, so a cappuccino and a tea cake had to suffice. We headed home via the hillier route east of the M6, but the hills soon took their toll on Jayne and our speed dropped. We did see a deer in the woods by the road though. 40 miles was Jayne’s longest ride for quite a while.

Tuesday back to work and back to wetter and windier weather. It was dark by 5 o'clock. I won't be riding home in daylight for the next four or five months. By Thursday the wind had got up to 30-40mph. We decided to forgo Thirsty Thursday. Karl was at yoga and the wind was rocking his car. I hadn’t set off home from work yet so didn’t really know how bad it was. Very bad. In the cross wind I struggled to stay on my side of the road, actually having to steer into the wind as well as lean to keep over. It was very hairy and the decision to cancel was a wise one. By Friday the wind had died down a bit but the rain was still with us.

Saturday dawned sunny and with little wind. We planned to go to the man made trail in Gisburn Forrest. The Red Route was a good mix of technical singletrack, twisty burmed forrest sections and open fire track. Not a long route at 18K, but great for a morning out. We’ll definitely go back, it will be much faster in the dry.

On the way back Karl and I stopped off in Clitheroe to visit the Belgian beer shop. We also saw two deer as we crossed Waddington Fell.

Today Jayne and I planned a gentle potter out to Scorton on the tandem. Karl and Alison joined us on what was a very cold but sunny morning. It was the first time out on the tandem in ages and the pace was so slow, we didn't stand a chance of reaching Scorton in time for Karl and Alison to get back to clean out their chickens. So we diverted to great Ecc and the Courtyard Cafe. Again excellent paninis and toasties before heading home.

This is my best week for over a month, but I am off to Bristol tomorrow, so I don’t think it will be a big week then. Not far to my 5000 mile target though

Miles for the week – 140

Year to date – 4763

Cheers

Tim

Best Week for a While

2010-10-31T19:16:00.001Z

I forgot to mention 20 odd miles out to Great Ecc last week, Cold but sunny and a nice stop at the Courtyard Cafe.

The start of this week was the usual trips to work. I rode the Pompino for a couple of days, but the lower bar position and lack of gears set my ribs hurting. Plus I was feeling the effects on the Saturday MTB ride, which was much harder in retrospect than I’d appreciated. Wednesday I used the Hewitt, much easier.

I’ve been off work since then, as Jayne has half term break. Thursday we went up to the Lakes with no 2 son to get him a tent for his 18th birthday. We settled on a MacPac Minaret after getting some very good service and advice from The Epicentre in Ambleside.

I thought I would be on my own for Thirsty Thursday, but Karl called at the last minute and we had our first proper night ride there and back. The lanes that are so familiar in daylight are suddenly strange and unpredictable. We came close to overshooting several corners.

Friday was set to be rainy, so it was ‘plumbing day’. I had several jobs to do, fix a leaky shower, fit an outside tap and replace a washer in the bath to see if that fixed the poor water flow. First problem – didn’t have a spanner big enough to get the shower valve cover off. Off to B&Q for a big pipe wrench. After a bit of swearing and a lot of oomph, the shower was back working. I thought I’d tackle the ‘easy’ job of the bath washer next. Second problem – the screw holding the tap top on was stuck fast and I rounded out the head. I had to drill it out, which took ages. Once out, the tap gubbins came off easily and I swapped the washer and got it back on quite quickly. Third problem – no water would come out! After taking it off again, I realised that the mechanism was knackered and would not wind back properly. So I went back into town to get a new mechanism. Apparently you can’t buy just the gubbins, you have to get a new pair of tap tops. Once home, the tap went on easily and water flowed. Success! Fourth problem – when I went to turn the hot water supply back on I noticed that the bottom of the airing cupboard was soaking. The valve to the water heater was leaking and had probably been doing so for a while. We shut of the heating and water again and called the emergency plumber. He eventually came and temporarily fixed the problem, but as it was heating, not plumbing could not do a proper job. It seemed OK, but we left the tray under the valve just in case. By this time I was fed up of plumbing.

Saturday morning and the tray had water in it, plus there was water dripping from another valve. We put a call in to the heating engineer, who could come between 12 and 6. So we went out for a quick 20 miler in the nice sunny weather. While we were waiting for the heating guy, I fitted the outside tap, not without a little swearing and scuffed knuckles. The guy eventually came at 4 ish. Turns out he is the organizer of the local BMX club and a bike fan. Once he’d replaced four valves and we were waiting for the heating system to refill, I took him to the garage and showed off my bikes.

This morning, Alison, Joe and I headed off to Chipping. Karl caught up with us at Inglewhite and we got to the Cobbled Corner Cafe quite early, despite the headwind. The Cafe was in chaos, they’d just had a coachload of walkers leave and a bike club run arrive. We just ordered coffee and cake otherwise, according to Alison, we would be waiting at least an hour for any hot food. The wisdom of this advice was soon bourn out by the service to other diners. The ride back was with the wind and much easier.

All in all a pretty good week.

Miles for the week – 119 miles

Mile for the year – 4623 miles

Cheers

Tim

Getting Better

2010-10-25T20:31:00.001+01:00

Another short week, but I’m headed in the right direction now. Monday & Tuesday were lost to work outings. I rode in Weds to Friday and didn’t hurt too badly. I’m off the Ibuprofen as well. No Thirsty Thursday ride, Ian is in California, Karl in Scotland.

Saturday we arranged to go mountain biking. Something gentle for me and Joe and something not too technical for Simon, as he starts a new job today and didn’t want to bash himself up for his first day. We decided to combine two rides and do Cartmel Fells and Whitbarrow Scar. In the end there were six of us, me Karl, Alison, Joe, Simon and Tony. Me, Karl, Simon and Tony were all on P7’s, Simon and Tony on single speeds.

There was a lot of road riding to link up the off road sections, but it was on nice quiet back roads, very unusual in the Lakes. Lots of climbing though. The descent from Witherslack Hall was fantastic, just wet and slippy enough to be challenging without being too technical. I flew down until I came to an enormous dog stood in the middle of the path. I was the size of a small horse, or at least seemed so as I approached a speed. Luckily the owner was there and pulled the dog off the trail as the rest came down. Another long and steep (1 in 4) climb got us up onto Cartmel Fell and another cracking series of downhill double and singletracks. The last one was a bit tricky with little or no back brake and being a bit timid because of my ribs. But we made it. All in all about 25 miles.

Total for the week – 92

Total year to date - 4504

Another poor week

2010-10-21T20:43:00.001+01:00

I’m pretty sure I cracked a rib or two last weekend. It still hurts to sneeze or cough. Last week was very hard as I still have a cold.

After the previous weekend’s shenanigans I decided to take it easy riding to work on the Hewitt. The weather is getting colder but it was largely a fine week. I rode most days, but got the train home on Thursday as on the same night it was my team’s project celebration meal, my friend Simon’s leaving do and the Sports and Social Committee free beer night. At the meal several of us were drinking wine and we got through the first bottle quite quickly, so I ordered a second bottle. Unbeknownst to me, everyone else was driving, so I had most of the second bottle to my self. I was gone! A couple of pints with Simon and I was well away.

Saturday was spent at Jayne’s Mum’s. Sunday we had an easy ride out to Great Ecc. Neither of us was good, I had my ribs and Jayne was recovering from a cold. We took it easy, arriving at the cafe at lunchtime. Soup, cake and tea/coffee later we headed out into a very cold afternoon. The sun came out just as we got home.

Miles for the week – 86

Miles for year to date – 4412

Still on target for 5000.

Cheers

Tim

Easy/Hard Week

2010-10-10T21:11:00.001+01:00

Its been a fairly easy week mostly. I’ve got a cold and haven’t been up to riding much. I rode it Monday to Wednesday, Monday on the Pompino, Tues/Weds on the Hewitt, cos I wasn’t feeling so good.

I was away Thursday and Friday, which was a real shame because we are enjoying a fabulous Indian summer, temps in the high teens and even early 20’s. I was at VMWare on Friday and had a 260 mile drive home on our wedding anniversary.

Yesterday we had planned an MTB trip. The original plan was to do the Whinlatter course as Simon is doing this in a Duathlon in a few weeks, but on the day he couldn’t make it. Instead, we decided to do a long, but not especially technical route out from Keswick, round the back of Blencathra and back up Whitewater Bash and past Skiddaw House. In the end there was just me, Joe, Karl and Alison.

The weather forecast was good, I only took a short sleeve shirt and a light rain/wind proof. As we waited for Karl and Alison Skiddaw disappeared into cloud and the temperature dropped a bit. By the time we got going I was worrying about extra gear. On the run out to Threlkeld along the railway path, we soon warmed up. We were in and out of cloud for the rest of the day. The run up to Blencathra Youth Hostel was wind assisted and not too difficult. I had a working 22 tooth inner ring so could twiddle up the 1 in 4 climb. At the top we came upon Paul unloading his bike from his van. He’d been up the previous day camping in his van and was about to start the same route as us.

Out to Skiddaw House is a great little route, enough up and down and slightly tricky sections to make it interesting but fun and fast. The really tricky climb had been resurfaced and I shot off up it, only to die as the improved surface gave out. The others soon passed me, but on the rolling section I caught up again. The drop down from Skiddaw House to Mosedale and Mungrizedale is a grassy, boggy track interspersed with short rocky sections. Karl and Paul took off and I chased. Then I was on the floor, winded and with a big graze on my thigh and a couple of cuts to my knee. I wasn’t sure what had happened, but I think my front wheel went into a hidden rut and pinged me off. After that I took it easy for a while, the trail very rutted and boggy in parts. But I soon got my eye in again and we were flying. We stopped for lunch at a small clearing, sheltered from the very strong headwind. After my mishap, Alison was taking things very easily and Paul had to get back, so he headed off on his own. We followed a while later, whizzing down the gentle valley, the surface a mixture of good gravel track interspersed with occasional jaggedly bed rock sections. I lead through a section of rocky path which was also a major drainage path, with two or three inches of water. It was a blast, and I waited at the road junction for the rest. Eventually Alison appeared, saying Joe had crashed. In the middle of the wet rock garden section, he had just slid out and crashed down on his right had side. Even though his elbow pads he had lost a lot of skin on his arm and several bloody spots, his leg was a mess of lost skin.

We carried on climbing back over the low northern fells until we got back to the bottom of Whitewater Dash. Here we had a choice of either off road over the Dash, Skiddaw House and a fantastic downhill, or on the very scenic road back to Keswick. We chose the off road route and set off up the valley. The wind howled down making a hard climb impossible. It was demoralising, Alison wanted to turn back, but the great descent later urged us on. We struggled on, it has incredibly hard. We were met by some guys from the North East who we’d seen earlier in the day. Once up to the Dash proper, the gradient eased and Skiddaw gave us some respite from the wind, we plodded on up. The clatter down to the stream was brilliant, Karl tried and failed to cross the stream, Joe and I succeeded. The Geordie guys didn’t try apart from one on a Ti hard tail, who came a cropper mid stream. Up the last hill to Skiddaw House got us back into the late evening sunshine. From here it is mostly down hill through some fantastic double and single track. The final stream crossing felt a bit rough, I had a pinch flat. After quick tube change we carried on down the final twisty bermed drop into Keswick. My brakes were really acting up and I took it fairly easily.

A long ride, 30 miles and 7 hours. We talked very little on the way home. My ribs were hurting. After a bath and a beer I counted two cuts on my left leg, plus serious grazes to my left thigh, and two gashes on my right leg that I didn't even know I’d done. I thought it was mud at first. Today my ribs really hurt and my cough has got worse, aggravating the rib pain. We had an easy day today, cleaning the bikes and doing some easy maintenance.

Total for the week – 71 miles

Total for year to date – 4326

Cheers

Tim

Wet & Windy

2010-10-03T17:33:00.001+01:00

The weather has turned wet and windy. Typical Autumn weather here, with fronts coming in off the sea. I rode to work Monday to Wednesday through some horrid weather. Thursday my boss was up so I had to drive in, it was the nicest day of the week by far.

Friday I had started to go down with a cold, so I drove again. So very poor road miles this week.

We did get out today and do some mountain biking. I have finally got the P7 back on the road. Karl gave me some cranks, but unfortunately they were octalink and the BB he had was too wide. The local bike shop didn’t have one and reckoned on two weeks to get one in. I did a quick trawl of the on line shops, Wiggle didn’t have them, Evans were special order £40, SJS were similar, but Chain Reaction had one for £5 including postage. It arrived Wednesday and was soon fitted. I had a spin up and down the road yesterday and everything seemed fine. This morning, the ride out from Staveley was OK then at Ings, we turned up hill and I dropped into the granny ring. Immediate chain suck, with the chain coming round and jamming in the front mech. They are old rings, but didn’t seem too worn. I was wrong. Under heavy load the granny sucked constantly, the middle caught a bit but was useable. I was stuck in the middle ring for the rest of the ride. It was a wet day. When the path leading to the stream crossing is under deeper water than the stream, you know its wet. The P7 was great though, climbing was easy, apart from being stuck in middle. I was pretty please with my fitness as well. Despite having a cold and no low gears I rode practically everything, just some of the steeper, wetter rocks beating me. On the downs, I wasn’t as fast as Ian (on his new Ibis Mojo SL) or Mark, but kept up with Joe and Karl OK.

We were filthy when we finished. We hosed the bikes and ourselves down at Wheelbase, then I went in for a shower. I still need a bath!

Miles for the week – 57

Total for the year – 4255

Tim

Back to decent mileages

2010-09-26T20:35:00.001+01:00

After a poor week, I’m back to some decent mileages. Just work and back in the main. I had a migraine on Thursday so missed the Thirsty Thursday ride. Friday Karl was away, so no ride then.

Yesterday Jayne and I went out to the Courtyard Cafe at Great Ecc for a tea cake and a coffee. It was a bit cold while riding, Autumn is definitely here, but really nice and sunny outside the cafe.

This morning was the Fleetwood triathlon. I usually volunteer to manage the bike course. This basically means riding the course constantly, making sure all the side streets have marshals. We got off to a poor start with turn points only marked on the ground, no marshals or bollards/signs. This was soon sorted and the majority had a good ride. The real work for me started once the adults have finished. Tim (the organizer) runs a youth and kids event as well, with 5 different age categories doing different distances. My job was to make sure the turns were manned, sweep the previous wave and get the marshals home and the roads opened. These are not always mutually achievable tasks. In the first two hours I rode about 12 miles. In the last hour and a half I did another 25. All on a 3 mile course!

We rode out to the Villa for a well earned pint tonight.

Total for the week – 133 miles

Total for the year – 4198 miles#

Tim

Wilco!

2010-09-20T11:00:00.002+01:00

A very poor week mileage wise this week.

I rode to work on Monday but there was a howling gale and pooring rain. By Tuesday it had got worse, with 30mph winds gusting up to 50. I decided to drive. wednesday wasn't raining but the wind was still very high, so I drove again.

I was off Thursday and Friday to go up to Glasgow to see Wilco. My sister and her friend Kirsty came up on Wednesday. I cooked them lamb steaks in red wine, very nice. I was texting Ian with a pick up time for the next morning when there was a traffic bulletin on the radio. The Pope was in Edinburgh and driving to Glasgow for a mass on Thursday afternoon. All sorts of roads were closed. I quickly texted Ian with an earlier departure time. Ian's response F#@king Pope!.

We drove up Thursday morning and had no problems with the traffic, getting there nice and early. The drive up the M6 and M74 must be the nicest stretch of motorway in Britain, skirting the Lakes, the Howgills and the Borders. We checked in to the hotel and got something to eat. Then Jane and Kirsty went back to the hotel to freshen up and Ian and I headed across town to find somewhere to eat later and scout out the venue. After walking all round central Glasgow, we eventually found the venue and a nice looking Italian to eat.

If you are in Glasgow, the Fratelli Sarti restuarant on the corner of Renfield St and I think Bath St was very good. Their pre-theatre deal of two courses for £10 was great. Two courses plus two bottles of wine was £80 for 4.

We staggered out and walked down to th Barrowlands Ballroom. The support act was Phil Selway (SP?) from Radiohead. A bit samey, but highlights were a saw player and the finale where they gathered round the drum kit and all played some form of percussion.

Wilco came on about 9ish and played a blinding set. Nels Kline is the most demented guitar player I've seen in quite a while. Think Animal from the Muppets. They played a good mix of the new album plus stuff from right across their previous ones. Highlight had to be synthesiser Patel!

We wandered back to the hotel for a final drink before bed. Next morning we found a nice cafe that advertised Hot Porridge which Ian needs in order to function properly. Kirsty and I had the full fried, although I did make the mistake of asking for a full English, much to everyone's ammusement. Then it was back in the car for the 200 mile drive home.

This weekend has been rain and more rain, so apart from nipping up to the Villa on Friday, I've done no more miles.

Total for the week a dismal 19 miles.

Tim

Happy Birthday to Me!

2010-09-13T13:25:00.002+01:00

47 today. Don't feel a day over 50

Poor mileage this week, just 81. Most of the guys were away mountain biking in Switzerland, and the weekend weather was poor.

Went to Mancheser on Saturday and got some new gloves and a Gore cap. Also bought Neu! and Neu! 2 on vynyl, white vynyl even. Very good,

Miles for the week - 81
Total for the year - 4046

Tim

4000 miles!

2010-09-09T11:42:00.001+01:00

I passed 4000 miles on my way to work yesterday. Split roughly 1200 fixed, 1200 tandem, 1400 Hewitt and the rest MTB

Quieter Week

2010-08-30T18:49:00.001+01:00

A steady week of riding this week. No big miles, just riding to work. Our Thirsty Thursday ride was just me and Ian. we were both tired and so we just did a gentle ride out, not quite straight to the Plough, but not our recent spins over Beacon Fell.

I seem to have a lot of Allen keys.

I got my Pace forks back from Tim at Fork English on Wednesday.

I was a bit worried that Tim had left the steerer too long, but it was just OK.

Got them fitted to the P7 and started the final little bits of assembly.

Came to do the pedals and found that there was no thread left on the drive side crank. Years ago Joe had borrowed the P7 but wanted flat pedals on. So I gave him some really nice Campag off road pedals, which he proceeded to put on the wrong side, only noticing when he couldn’t get his feet in. Those pedals have been on ever since, kept in place only by dirt I think. Anyway the crank is trashed. Hopefully Karl will have a set lying around. If not, back to retrobike I think.

Mile for the week - 92

Total miles – 3857

Not many more to get to 4000, but I am off to Switzerland tomorrow. Hopefully back for Thirsty Thursday.

Cheers

Tim

Back to Work

2010-08-22T21:48:00.001+01:00

After two weeks off, I’ve been back to work this last week. Its been busy, 600 emails to respond to, that’s after I’ve filtered out the crap!

Mileage wise, its been OK. We move buildings which adds a few hundred yards to the journey, more if I forget we’ve moved. I rode all week, getting 68 commuting miles.

Continuing the theme for the last few weeks, we went early on Thirsty Thursday and did Beacon Fell. This week just me, Ian and Nic. Karl and Alison are off to the Hebrides this week touring. It is Alison’s first proper tour and they decided to use the run out to the Plough as a full dress rehearsal. We were expecting a dour mood when we got to the pub. It had rained all evening. But when we got there Alison was quite up beat, pleased with her performance and looking forward to their trip (!!!). We got a soaking 30+ miles in .

Saturday evening was supposed to be the Rapha Nocturne criterium in Blackpool. Nic and Ian both said they might go depending on the weather. We got up to blue skies and decided to go to the Lakes walking. As we pulled out onto the road Ian texted asking if we were going to go to the Nocturne. We replied yes and would be at his for 7 ish, i time to see the support race, the folder race and the pro race. He replied saying be at his for 5 and he would barbeque before hand, aiming to get there for the folder race. We rapidly changed our plans and went for a walk over Nicky Nook.

We rode out on the tandem to Ian’s calling in at Nic’s on the way, but they weren’t in. We got to Ian’s about 5:15 and they plied us with wine. We tried to get Nic and eventually he turned up sans Elizabeth at 6 ish. They’d been to Ingleborough and struggled to get home. Elizabeth was knackered. Nic came on his own. Ian’s barbeque was excellent, as were the three bottles of red. We eventually staggered off and got to Blackpool just as the folder race finished. By the time we’d got a spot on the barriers the Balckpool bike-hire race, using bikes from the bike hire scheme, had just about finished. I chatted about tandems with a drunk Scottish guy, Ian talked Independent Fabrications with a guy from the Dahon stand. Jayne and Nic got us coffees.

The racing was very intense, eventually won by Russell Downing, who nearly lapped the field. We rode back through the Blackpool traffic. Jayne wasn’t happy riding at night but we eventually got out of town and headed to Lytham. Ian and Nic stopped of at Ian’s to admire his Parlee frame that had just arrived. Jayne and I headed home.

As we headed into Moss Side, along unlit roads, Jayne yelped, followed by a loud crunching noise behind us. A car, coming the other way, had come round the bend on the wrong side of the road. It missed us by quite a way, but side swiped a taxi coming up behind us. We stopped when we heard the crunch, I thought maybe our pannier had come off. We saw the taxi stopped in the road. The car that had hit it didn’t stop. We gave the taxi driver our details and made sure the 4 elderly ladies in the taxi were OK. The driver was pretty shook up. Jayne had reinforced her fear of riding at night!

Today we did a gentle 25 miles out to the Courtyard Cafe in Great Eccleston. Tea Cake, coffee etc and away. 25 miles of easy pace.

Total for the week – 156

Year to date – 3765

Cheers

Tim

In Other News

2010-08-15T22:13:00.001+01:00

It was Jamie’s 17th birthday on Saturday. We went for a meal at Zio Carlo’s

Jamie wore one of my old suits.

Some Milestones

2010-08-15T21:57:00.001+01:00

I passed some milestones this week. Last week ended just short of 3500 miles and I hoped to quickly overcome that milestone. The week started poorly, with rainy weather. We were pretty tired from the weekend’s activities and had a gentle ride Monday.

for Tuesday we had arranged to meet Ian and Catherine for a trip out to Beacon Fell, with a further loop out over the Trough if we felt like it. This would be Catherine’s longest rides for a long time, due to a recurring back problem. We got out to Beacon Fell without too much trouble. Jayne and Catherine decided to head home for a 35 mile ride. Ian and I would press on to Chipping and back through the Trough and over Boundary Hill. We decided we would stop at Dunsop Bridge for lunch, but when we got there they were only serving drinks and cakes, no bacon butties etc. We decided to head on to Marshaw and the tea wagon there. Unfortunately that meant we faced Boundary Hill on a full stomach of Bacon & Egg Buttie and a mug of tea. We survived an flogged on into a tremendous head wind for a 60 mile round trip.

Thirsty Thursday was a short trip out to the Burley Arms on the tandem. Karl, Ian and Nic were all away. After another short spin on Friday, it was time to get ready for the Beer Tasting! This is a semi regular event where a number of work colleagues get together at our house. We have half a dozen belgian beers, gradually increasing in strength, with tasting notes and pizza and garlic bread. This time round only John, Chuckie, Mike and Andy were free, plus me, Jayne and my sister Jane. It rained, so we couldn’t sit out round the Chiminea, but a good night was had. The schedule was: Bruges Zot,6%;Witcap Tripel, 7.5%; St Bernardus Pater, 8%; Maredsous Tripel, 10%; Rochefort 10, 11.3%; Skaldis, 12%. We also managed to get the chiminea going as well.

Saturday, a bit hung over, we headed out to the rather excellent Courtyard cafe in Great Eccleston. Paninis and coffee saw us on our way to 25 miles.

Today we headed out to Scorton, going over Wyre and a flat route. The weather was the best we’ve had all my two week holiday. We rode out to the Barn cafe before heading back to meet Karl and Alison at the Villa for a pint.

As well as topping 3500 miles in total, we also topped 1000 miles on the tandem. Jayne probably has a bout 1800 miles under her belt for the year, pretty good!

Miles for the week – 186

Total for the year - 3609

Cheers

Tim

Back to Big Miles

2010-08-09T12:35:00.001+01:00

For me anyway.

I’ve been on holiday this week. The weather hasn’t been great but we’ve got out for a few rides. Monday Jayne and I rode out to Beacon Fell. Beacon Fell is a small fell about 18 miles from home. At nearly 900 feet, it isn’t a huge climb, but that is from sea level and most of the height gain is in the last few steep miles. A 35 mile round trip

Tuesday we went walking. Wednesday we went to the Weird Fish on the solo’s and Thursday out to Bonds on the tandem. Thursday evening was our regular Thirsty Thursday ride, but we extended again out to Beacon Fell. This time I was on the Hewitt and fared much better on the 40+mph descent.

Friday I went mountain biking with Ian, only my 6th or 7th mtb ride this year. We had planned on doing Garburn, but the rain was heavy and the cloud layer very low. We did the normal Stavely/Kentmere route. Fortunately Wheelbase has free showers so we got warm and clean before coffee and cake in Wilf’s.

Saturday was supposed to be the Rapha nocturne in Blackpool, but it had been cancelled. However people had arranged to come up for the weekend and we planned a longer ride. In the end 11 of us set out for Beacon Fell and onward to Oakenclough an the Trough. Unfortunately Steve broke a spoke coming over Oakenclough. Pete was on his longest ride ever, predicting 50+ miles before he got home and he agreed to guide Steve back to Lytham. The rest of us set off over Boundary Hill and bacon butties in Dunsop Bridge. Then home via Little Bowland and Chipping. We were pretty tired when we got home. 65 miles for me, up to 80 for the Lytham contingent.

Nic and Elizabeth put on a fantastic barbeque on Saturday evening. We rode down on the old tandem, leaving it there for Nic and Elizabeth to try.

Sunday was another mountain bike trip, up to Grizedale with Simon, Catherine, Karl and Alison. Some of the Saturday gang said they might come, but never materialised. It was a good hard ride, with some of the nicest weather for ages. I was pretty pleased with how I rode, but could feel my thighs burning, particularly on the rocky down hill sections. 20 miles

So my mileage for this week was:

Tandem – 35 miles

Mountain Bike – 34 miles

Road bike – 159 miles

Total for the week - 228 miles

Year to date – 3423 miles

Given a bit of decent weather, I should top 3500 by the end of this week.

Cheers

Tim

1000 Miles of Trash Talk

2010-07-30T20:39:00.001+01:00

We were set up for our usual Thirsty Thursday ride this week, when Karl announced that he didn’t have yoga and could go early. Ian had to see to his horses, but reckoned he could catch us up. We would spin out over Beacon Fell before hitting the pub!

6:15 came round and neither Karl nor Ian were here. I asked Jayne if I should swap my lights and bag over to the Hewitt audax bike. The dead pan reply was “Alison can ride Beacon Fell on here single speed!”. Fixie it was!!!

In the end Ian and Karl arrived at mine within two minutes of each other. We set out at a brisk pace with a following wind. After going under the M6, it was 5 miles of climbing, culminating in 1/2 a mile of 1 in 4. I struggled up the first climbs, keeping pace sort of with Ian and Karl. The final climb was a killer and they left me for dead. Oh for the artifice of the derailleur.

But worse was to come. After getting to the top of Beacon fell, there is a choice of two or three very steep, very fast descents. On a geared bike we try to keep above 30mph for the whole 5 miles. I managed to get to 27mph before my legs went and I was bouncing too much. But I’d made it up the hills.

Today, I passed the 1000 mile mark on the fixed.

Proper update on Sunday (maybe)

Cheers

Tim

3000 Miles!

2010-07-25T19:48:00.001+01:00

I finally got over the 3000 mile mark. I thought I would get there last week, but circumstances left me 32 miles short of my target.

This week has been my normal commuting week and I should have topped the 32 miles by mid week. On Thursday, I was 1/2 a mile short when I got to work. Ordinarily I would have ridden round the car park a bit, but I had what I thought was an important meeting. Turned out not to be an important meeting after all.

I have had an ordinary week otherwise. Thirsty Thursday was the normal ride out to the Plough. I had Friday off, so Jayne and I rode out to the Weird Fish. Ian said he would meet us on the way, but in the end got there just after us. We’d raced, thinking he was ahead of us, he’d waited thinking the same, but in fact we were just ahead.

Friday night was eventful, leading to us staying up all night, so Saturday we took it easy.

Today we’ve been out for 20 odd miles on the tandem, just to Bonds for a tea cake. Still only a mediocre week though.

Miles for the week – 107.5

Miles for the year – 3075.5

Cheers

Tim

P7 Build Up

2010-07-13T21:25:00.001+01:00

I got round to putting the P7 back together at the weekend.

Decided to put the rigid forks back on until I can get some suspension forks with a 1” steerer.

XT V-brakes on the front

Stem and seat post were a bit rusty and needed some attention

Rear brakes are a pair of Dia Compe canti’s

Club Roost bars and XT brakes/shifters

A old rear mech and a Suntour XC top swing front mech

Old San Marco Rolls saddle

New BB, this was a pig to put in

Very good rear wheel from Karl, chain needs shortening

Front is the old one from the Marin

Just need tyres, gear cables, grips and the chain shortening

Tim

Mixed Fortunes

2010-07-11T21:37:00.001+01:00

My working week was pretty much as usual riding wise, 56 miles for the week. Weather was a mix of threatening and 60-80% humidity, difficult to dress for but not unpleasant. I missed out on the usual Thirsty Thursday ride. Ian had his sister over from the States, Alison had to do an emergency mercy dash to her Mum’s and Karl was in Italy, doing things like the Stelvio, Ghisallo, Mortirollo, etc. Poor him!

I had arranged to camp overnight with Simon, up in the Lakes. We have had the driest 6 months ever recorded, so what is the forecast for the weekend? Yes rain and more rain.

Simon picked me up at 9 ish and we headed up to Bassenthwaite village, getting there for 11 ish, we got the tents set up, then headed out to do Skiddaw. We didn’t have a map that told us how to get to White Water Dash (the start of the ride from this side), so we asked a local for directions.

We climbed gently out of the valley up to the moors and turned left as instructed. We were looking for a right turn into a glacial valley and with a view of the waterfall. Wee didn’t see it. Simon recognised some of the houses, but wasn’t sure. After a couple of miles, we accepted that we’d gone wrong and turned around. When we were almost back to the T junction, we could see the waterfall and realised if we’d gone right for 100 yards we’d have been right on the route. 6-8 miles of wrong turn, then we were on it. The first climb is a slog up a series of steps. Simon steadily pulled away. After the final gate was a steady off road climb leading to the drop into White Water Dash. The stream was very low and easily crossed. Not like when one of us endo’ed and came up 20 yards down stream, sans bar end and with a deep gash in the knee. We climbed easily up to Skiddaw House and down towards Keswick. Puncture! I don’t know how, because we weren’t going hard, but I’d pinch punctured my rear. After mending it we whooped down into Keswick and onto the railway path into Threlkeld and the climb up past Blencatrha Youth Hostel. After that is was a fast ride back to to Skiddaw House. Back though the Dash and climb up to the brow before 6 or so miles of down hill to Bassenthwaite. The rain started as we approached Skiddaw House and didn’t stop til we’d got back down to the village. We were cold and wet.

That evening, we went to the SinnInn and has an excellent meal of mushroom soup followed by chicken stuffed with cheese and mushroom, wrapped in bacon for me and gammon steaks for Simon. A couple of pints of Cumberland Ale and we were in bed for 9:30.

Next day started damp and drizzly. We packed up and headed for Hartsop to meet Tony and Paul. It got warmer but wetter. When we parked up at Harstop it was 20 degrees and heavy rain. By the time Paul and Tony turned up, High Street had disappeared in the mist and cloud. We debated an alternative lower level route. We still got soaked, but it was a nice ride. The big descent was long and loose. I crashed several times. I’ve twisted my knee and got bruises on both thighs. We got to the bottom in one piece, just! Then it was along the Ulswater lake side, an up and down track of wet rocks, roots and drop off into the lake. We were rubbish. I can’t remember how many times I crashed, but it was lots. Eventually we made it back to Hartsop and dry-ish clothes. A great weekend

Sunday, I can hardly walk. Every move out of a chair is torture. I’ve spent the bay putting the P7 back together, more on that later.

All in all a fantastic, if fairly low mileage week,

Miles for the week – 107 (subject to change after we’ve measure the mtb routes)

Miles for the year – 2885

Only 115 miles and I’ve topped 3000!

Cheers

Tim

Wet Wet Wet!

2010-07-04T20:17:00.001+01:00

I went out with Ian today, round the Trough. The weather forecast was not good, rain and wind, lots of both. Quite warm though. We set out towards the Cartford Bridge with the wind on our backs and had a pleasant spin out doing 18-20mph with ease. After crossing the bridge, we ramped our speed up a bit and were doing 20+mph all the way to Scorton. Whipped through Scorton without stopping and approached the hills. The rain started, just a fine mizzle at first but got steadily heavier. As we made the climb over Boundary Hill, it got worse and worse. The descent down the other side is usually a 40+mph adrenaline rush. Today it was 20mph with stinging rain lashed into our faces and a sketchy road surface. I kept my sunglasses on just to keep the rain out of my eyes. Once down into Marshaw, it didn’t let up and we arrived at Dunsop Bridge very wet indeed. I squeezed half a pint of water out of my gloves. Whilst we feasted on bacon and egg butties, soup, tea cakes and fruit loaf, the weather got worse. The run down the valley to Longridge was into the wind and rain. We were cold and very wet.

After Longridge, it started to improve a bit and we made good time into Broughton. Not long after, we picked up the stragglers from the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride. They were in a worse state than us, tired and wet but also on supremely unsuitable bikes.

Eventually, after 60 miles I was home and could get in the bath. Bliss! Ian had another 10 miles or so, but at least the rain had stopped, not like Thursday.

We did our usual Thirsty Thursday ride out to the Plough. Ian and Alison met me at our house and we had a fairly pleasant ride out. Karl met us later. After the usual pints of Bomber and garlic chicken on toast, we set off home. It threw it down. I only had alight Gamex top over my gillet and shirt. By the time I got home, I was soaked. The others had 5 and 10 miles more to do. I was probably in the bath with a glass of Chimay before Ian was half way home.

The rest of the week has been pretty normal. All in all an OK week.

Miles for the week – 174

Mile for the year to date – 2778

Cheers

Tim

Joe’s Bike Build

2010-06-28T20:03:00.001+01:00

As part of the deal for getting my P7 back from Joe, I agreed to build up another bike for him to keep at his place in France. I have an old Claud Butler frame in the garage, one of two my sister had. It was my first mountain bike, bought in about 1992. I had already overhauled the headset and put a newish bottom bracket in. The cranks from the P7 sat too far out. The front mech was also a top pull one. So I put some cranks off one of the boys old bikes and the mech off the original Claud Butler. Rear mech was the old XT one from the P7.

The front wheel needed the hub re-packing and the rim is a bit worn, but it seems OK. The rear hub seemed OK, but I just couldn’t get it tightened up properly, it was either too tight or too much play. Also, the dropouts on the CB seem to be a bit narrow and the quick release wouldn’t engage properly until I’d put a thicker washer in the stack.

Front brake were STX, rear LX, canti’s. No idea where the STX brakes came from, out of my parts bit, but only one set.

The rest of the kit pretty much swapped over from the P7. I still need to do the rear gears, I didn’t have a long enough cable. So nearly finished

Poor week again

2010-06-27T20:56:00.001+01:00

Despite the beautiful weather, it has been yet another poor week. I was in Switzerland Monday to Thursday. We did a bit of walking, but no riding.

I got back Thursday afternoon and we had our normal Thirsty Thursday ride, although it was just me, Jayne and Nic, the others were away in the Alps riding.

Friday was normal ride to work day. We were busy most of Saturday, but got out for about 16 miles in the afternoon. I did get on with Joe’s replacement bike and have finished all but the rear mech cos I didn’t have a long enough cable. Should get it finished soon though.

Sunday we had arranged to take Jayne’s bike to get its one month fettle. So we drove up to Kendal and dropped it off. I tried some shorts on but we went over to Wheelbase and Wilf’s. I ended up buying a pair of Altura Pro Gel shorts from Wheelbase and a pair of Northwave shorts in Evans. Jayne got a nice Fox shirt on sale as well.

We did about 16 miles again this afternoon, out to Daryl’s and back via the villa.

Not a bad week considering I was away for 4 days, but not great.

Miles for the week – 70

For the year to date – 2604

Cheers

Tim

Another mediocre week

2010-06-20T21:07:00.001+01:00

Despite glorious weather, its been another mediocre week. I rode in on Monday but had to go to Bristol Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday. I did get out briefly on Wednesday. I rode out through the docks and down the Avon gorge, then very foolishly for a man on a fixie, decided to ride up and over the suspension bridge. Not only that, but after riding up, missed the turn and rode down into Clifton Village and had to ride up to the bridge again! It was a very nice evening though.

Nobody was out Thursday, so Jayne and I rode out to the Plough on the tandem. It was a beautiful evening. I rode in on Friday, but my mileage was poor. I had hoped to top 2500 mile last week and was struggling to achieve it this week as well. Jayne and I went for a short spin yesterday but I was still a couple of miles short of the required total.

Today we planned to go out to the Weird Fish, and if I was back in time, to also meet up with Simon for a spin. In the end, we didn’t get away on time, the service at the Weird Fish was worse than its usual appallingly slow, so I texted Simon to say we’d maybe see him on the road. We met up with him near Myerscough and decided that the two of us would head up round Inglewhite for a bit of a climb and try to catch up with Jayne on the way back. Well we never caught up with Jayne. It was Simon’s first long ride in quite a while and he was paying the price for his fast start. But I did get the necessary miles in.

The rest of the weekend has been spent on a special project. I used to have an Orange P7. When I got my Marin full suss in 1999, I sold it to Joe, who was just getting into mountain biking. Joe subsequently also bought a Marin full suss and consigned the P7 to being a baby seat bike at his place in France. Karl and Simon and a couple of guys at work have all recently bought new P7’s and I was getting a bit nostalgic. I asked Joe if there was any chance of getting it back and last week he brought it back from France for me!

The agreement is that I build up another frame as a replacement. I will swap most of the parts over, but some won’t go, like the Suntour XC top swing front mech.

I spent most of Saturday stripping it down. It is a disgrace! I am not very fussy about maintenance, but his goes way beyond anything I would suffer. There was about a centimetre of play in the bottom bracket, same again for both wheels, play in the headset. It took me 15 minutes to wrestle the seat post out. The bottom bracket was a nightmare. I bought a new bottom bracket tool and even with it bolted in place and Jayne steadying the frame, I had to stand on the wrench to get it to undo. It was a mess of rust.

Eventually I got it stripped down. Today I started swapping the bits on to an old Claud Butler frame I had (remember the most expensive free bike ever?). It is going well. I’ve got cranks, mechs and bars fitted. I’ve overhauled the front hub and need to do the back. Should be good in a couple of weeks.

I’m off to Switzerland tomorrow, working unfortunately. So it won’t get any attention til Friday. Nor will my miles be very good next week either. I need to plan to take my bike with me in future.

Anyway, it turned out to be an OK week and I did top 2500 miles well ahead of schedule.

For the week – 101 miles

For the year to date – 2534

Cheers

Tim

After the Good Week …

2010-06-13T20:35:00.001+01:00

My poorest mileage since March, 57 miles. This was largely due to having a cold and therefore not riding in to work.

I had Monday off because it was Jayne’s birthday.

We had decided to go up to Arnside in the car and ride out from there. As we drove up, there were spits and spots of rain on the windscreen. We thought we might get wet. I had swapped the little Barley bag for the bigger Nelson so we could carry rain jackets and leggings. As we set up, the rain eased and we wouldn’t see it for the rest of the ride. The route had us going out on quiet back roads, over to Kirby Lonsdale. It was quite hilly, but not too extreme. The first big climb into Burton in Kendal was a killer and Jayne very nearly beat me up it.

From there is was a series of rolling climbs to the top of the crags near Hutton Roof. This is an area of limestone pavements and the crags support a unique ecosystem. Off the crags was 5 miles of down hill into Kirby Lonsdale. This is a pretty market town and tourist honey pot just on the edge of the Dales/Pennines. We stopped at the Mews cafe for soup and a sandwich.

We set off sans tea cake because we new there was a steep climb back up to Hutton Roof. Once off the busy A road, we climbed on very quiet single lane roads. The occasional motorist happy to pull over and let us struggle by. Once past Hutton Roof, it was a rolling, mostly down hill back to the A6 then more smaller hills over to Arnside. All in all, 28 miles and a deserved pint in the pub.

Looking out over the estuary to the Lake District (apologies for the poor pictures)

We packed the bikes up and headed home. We immediately ran into heavy rain and were told when we got home it had rained on and off all day.

I rode in on Tuesday, but my cold was getting a grip by then so I didn’t ride the rest of the week. We did our normal Thirsty Thursday ride. I was on my fixie for the first time in ages. We took it really easy on the way out, but a bit faster on the way back. I was first up Carr hill, first time ever I think. But I was knackered. Good job I only had a mile or so to get home.

I’ve not ridden other than this. I had hoped to top 2500 miles this week but it wasn’t to be. Jayne’s parents came up Friday and took us out to eat on Saturday. It was also club day here and Liam was in the parades with scouts and beavers.

57 miles for the week

2433 for the year

Cheers

Tim

Big week

2010-06-08T18:39:00.001+01:00

My best week so far this year, and I think probably my best week for years.

205 miles !!!!!

Yes, 205 miles last week.

It was a bank holiday on Monday and Karl and I were going to go up to the Lakes to meet some of the others. But the traffic was mad so we decided to do something local and headed for Chipping. The route appeared on paper to be fairly timid compared to some of the Lakes routes, but it turned out to be a bit of an epic. The ride out of Chipping was up through a parkland farm then up onto the fells proper. Several traverses and a long grassy decent got us to Hereden and the big push. I was knackered. But at the top we were faced with Ouster Rake. This is effectively a foot wide rut running down a peat and rock cliff face, at about 30%. It took nerve. Nerve it turned out I didn’t have.

I have a big bruise on my hip and 20+ miles under my belt.

The rest of the week was the normal commute and Thirsty Thursday, although only Ian could make it, Karl was away mountain bike guiding. We got away early and did a few extra miles.

Friday is usually pub day, but with Karl away Jayne and I went on a slightly longer ride out to the Running Pump for plaice and chips and a couple of pints.

Saturday Jayne and I went out to the Weird Fish for a tea cake and a coffee. Sunday I did a long ride through the Trough with Ian. Ian has a broken rib and is ten years older than me and still beat me up all the hills and towed me home when the wind got up.

Today Jayne and I drove out to Arnside and did a 25+ mile ride to Kirby Lonsdale, Jayne on her new bike!

205 miles for the week

2376 miles for the year

Jayne’s New Bike

2010-05-16T21:27:00.001+01:00

Got Jayne a new bike for her birthday. Its a Specialized Dolce Sport. 27 gears, additional brake levers, mix of Sora and Tiagra gears.

Isle of Man

2010-05-03T22:00:00.001+01:00

What a fantastic week. I did a few days riding into work, but easy paced, and we missed our usual Thursday pub ride in order to be ready for our weekend.

Friday morning we set off fully loaded for the Heysham ferry to the Isle of Man. The plan was that we would set out on our own to the Cafe de Lune and meet the others for second breakfast.

We arrived just before Ian, Joe, Nic, Karl, Alison, Graham and Jemima.

After soup and a sandwich, se set off again for the last 12 miles to Heysham. We were first on the ferry, waved to the front of the queue of cars and motor homes by the ferry crew. Ian was horrified to discover that all 8 bikes would be propped against each other and a large metal barrier, then lasted together with some rope. Ian’s shiny, expensive Independent Fabrications tourer was in for a rude introduction to ferry travel.

The four hour crossing was eased by several beers, bacon butties and constant micky taking. We arrived in the Isle of Man, relieved to see no damage to Ian’s bike and warm sunshine outside. The climb up to the house was a killer with full panniers. the last bit was 1/2 a mile of 1 in 4. We unpacked and sorted rooms and Karl and Alison prepared food. End of a good day. 37 miles for the day

Next day we planned to go through the scenic valley of Tholty Will. After two kilometres and 150m of climbing up the TT course to Creg-ny-Baa, we decided the gradient and the traffic were too much, and pulled of to reconsider our route. We headed off again towards Laxey, planning to turn off and head to Windy Corner. After most of the group missing the turn and forcing us to chase up a steep gradient, we got on the right route. This route was described as “difficult” in the official guide. We had sort of dismissed this as the usual over-stating by non cyclists. NOT! The descent required full drag brake and rim brakes to control, then a steep leg ripping climb. Then, when we got to the turn to Windy Corner, it turned out to be an unsurfaced track. A very steep unsurfaced track. We decided to stick to the bike route and head for Laxey and the big wheel. This “difficult” route proved true again with the climb to Ballaquine. 100m of climbing in 300m. Another metre and we would not have made it. But we did. Just. We met an old guy in his 80’s, still working his farm, telling us about his heart surgery and Mark Cavendish (who lives down the road) was disqualified from the Tour of Romandy for gesticulating rudely. The descent into Laxey was long and steep. The disc brake was getting a good workout.

Laxey Wheel is impressive, in continuous use for over 150 years. But £4 to get in was too steep for a 20 minute visit.

The gorse was in full flower all over the island. A beautiful vibrant yellow.

We headed out of Laxey on the coast road to Ramsey. More steep hills as we dropped in and out of steep river valleys running down to the sea. We looked like a Rapha photo shoot.

We stopped at the excellent Harbour Bistro in Ramsey for lunch. Then set out to do Tholty Will in the opposite direction to our mornings plan. It was the right choice. The initial climb up the valley was stunning, as the landscape slowly changed from lush meadow to heathland to mountain moorland. Then came the stonking climb. 100m height gain in 300m from the valley bottom to the reservoir, another 100m in 500m to the cattle grid then a further 200m in 2Km to Bungalow and the TT course. We didn’t walk any, but we had to stop three times. Some motorbike riders coming the other way were shaking their heads and saying “rather you than me”. By the top, I agreed with them. It was hard. Our reward was 7km of downhill back to the house. We had the drag brake on pretty much all way. Our speed topped out a 32mph but we could easily have done 50+. The TT guys do 150mph and struggle to keep their front wheel on the ground.

Back to the house and Jayne and I were on very tired cooking duty. But with plenty of wine and beer flowing, it went down well. No left overs.

We did manage to get through 8 bottles of red, a couple of rose and several beers between the ten of us. Nic realised he had to be up early to get the ferry home in the morning, but we all stayed up til well beyond midnight.

Next day we wanted to head out to Port Erin. I had heard that you could sometimes see whales and porpoises in the harbour or off the coast. The weather wasn’t too bad considering the forecast, 3/4 tights, short sleeves and a gillet for me. We soon went wrong, with new roads that weren’t on the map. Once back on route, we got onto a rolling set of hill, the worst of which was the Millenium way road, 100m climb in 500m. The Isle of Man is very pretty but very steep.

At the bottom of the climb, we discovered that Dens’ tyre had a bit of a bulge on it. Not good. Worse when we took a side road that turned out to be a mixture of gravel and cobble. The name should have been a give away, “The Rocky Road”. Dens walked to save her tyre.

We set off down a steep straight road, Jayne and I with the drag brake on, the rest streaming out ahead. Then we lost touch. At the turn, we could see Jemima and Alison ahead, no sign of Ian, Nic and Dens. Joe went chasing after Alison and Jemima, who had realised their mistake as he met them, but didn’t know where the others where. Joe shot off down the road in pursuit. We waited. Then Ian and co appeared from up the right road. They had been waiting just round the bend, wondering where we were. Still no sign of Joe. After a bit of a wait and a look at the map and no sign of Joe, we decided we had to follow him and find him. We set off down the road at quite a pace. Our top speed inched up to 35mph. Graham caught us up, Dens’ tyre had finally failed and the tyre burst. Eventually they came gingerly down the road. And Joe appeared from the opposite direction, having decided to give up looking and head back. We rolled down to Castletown hoping to find a Halfords or some similar big chain that might be open on a Bank Holiday Sunday. As we came into Castletown there was a garage where we thought we could ask about bike shops. As we approached we realised it was a bike shop. However, the bike side was closed, the woman behind the counter didn’t know if she could get us a tyre, whether they were priced, where she could find them, but with some sweet talk from Karl and Dens, she went to look and came back with a tyre. Dens’ trip was saved. By this time the sun had gone, the wind had picked up and it had gone very cold. We shot off to Port Erin. On the cliff top we were met by two other cyclists. Karl wanted a cafe tip and asked if they were local. The broad aussie “no” gave the true picture. It turned out that they were working just up the road from where we live and renting a place where Ian, Joe and Nic live. Ian invited them on our Thursday night ride. After a chaotic lunch in a very nice but poorly run cafe, we headed over the very steep cliff road to the southern end of the Island. We had to walk one section, it was just too much, 80m in 250m. After a gentle recovery over the cliff tops, we dropped to Cregneash and the road down to the Calf on Man. Some discussion ensued as to whether we would go. Then Jemima realised that it wasn’t an alternative route round to Port St Mary but a drop down to a dead and then turn around and come back. “F*@k that!”. The rest headed down, Jemima, Jayne and I set off to Port St Mary.

When we regrouped, we headed off on what we hoped was a fairly flat route home. The descent to Union Mills again had all three brakes on full. By the time we got to the main road, we realised it was only 1/2 an hour to Sunday closing time, the beer and wine stock was alarmingly low! The fast guys decided to shoot off into town. We followed behind. When we got into town, we had lost the others and just Jayne and I and Jemima and Graham were left to pick our way through town. We eventually ended up at Tesco’s. No sign of the others. I rang Karl. They had got 4 bottles of wine from Spa, but nothing else, Ian and Joe had headed to Co-op, hoping they’d still be open. I said I would buy some beer. I bought all the Duvel and all the Leffe they had out. Jemima bought some additional stuff they needed for their cooking turn that night. We only had a small pannier to carry 13 bottles of beer. We managed!

The climb back up to the house was excruciatingly hard. We had to walk the final 100m. The final haul from the three expeditions was 9 bottle of Duvel, 4 bottles of Leffe, 4 cans of San Miguel and 8 bottles of various red wines. Plus the bottle and a half of white still left.

Graham and Jemima’s lentil chilli was fantastic. I had hoovered mine of the plate before Ian had even started and was in for more. We had to be up early the next day, but demolishing the wine and beer stock became a challenge for some. There were some bleary eyes, delicate stomachs and tired legs the next day. We were almost left behind on the way to the ferry. Dens was on a later boat to Liverpool and very kindly agreed to finish off tidying up. We slogged up the first hill, I had to tell Jayne to ease up as I couldn’t match her pace. 4 Duvel and 2 Leffe were taking their toll. We eventually caught up with the rest at the ferry terminal, where Karl was sorting boarding tickets.

On the boat, things were a little less fraught stowage wise as the sea was very calm, especially calming for Ian.

We waved goodbye to the Isle of Man and set off back to Heysham.

Back in England we were grateful for the more gentle rolling hills. Cafe de Lune was packed so we set off for the Weird Fish. Soon we were questioning the lack of hills compared to the massive increase in traffic.. The Weird Fish was good but the weather turned again. We got our only ride in a very brief shower between Great Eccleston and Elswick, eventually arriving home tired but pleased with our long weekend.

Thanks to Karl and Alison for organizing things.

Miles for the week – 171

Miles for the weekend – 172

Total miles for the year – 1725

Cheers

Tim

Mixed Week when…

2010-04-27T21:38:00.001+01:00

It’s a good week when 126 miles is a poor week. I missed Tuesday, but otherwise had a full week of riding in to work. Karl couldn’t make Thirsty Thursday, but Ian and I did.

We planned to ride out to the Weird Fish on Saturday morning. Just when we were expecting Karl & co to arrive, we got a phone call. I assumed it was Karl saying he would be late, but when I came down, Jayne was in tears and Karl was outside. Jayne’s Mum had been taken in to hospital overnight. Jayne decided to go down to them. I told the guys I would catch up maybe. They set off and Jayne started packing some stuff for the weekend. Then Ian arrived, he’d missed the others. I told him they were up the road, so he headed off to catch up.

Its a bad week when your mother in law is in the cardiac emergency ward.

Jayne set off to visit and I got ready to catch up. I assumed they had gone the traditional route, so I set off down the more direct route, expecting to catch them maybe on Wood Lane. Nothing! I eventually got to the Weird Fish to find Ian just tucking into his bacon buttie. He had come part way down the traditional route but not run into the others. I ordered a bacon buttie and a cappuccino, Ian started on his Chocca Mocca. After about 10 more minutes, Karl and co arrived. Only Alison had been before, and she didn’t really know the route, so had taken them an a massive zig-zag through the lanes. After our coffees, Joe and Ian headed round the Trough and we headed home.

In the afternoon I went back to Hewitt’s to swap my frame pump for one that fits.

Jayne’s Mum was stable but under observation.

Sunday I did a quick spin out to the Weird Fish again, on my own. All the way out, it looked like rain. I only had my short sleeved shirt and gillet on. I wolfed down my coffee and bacon buttie and headed home. Half an hour after getting in, the sun came out and it was a beautiful day. I worked on a very rough and ready workbench all afternoon, then went for a well earned pint at tea time.

Some local wildlife, pictures are a bit poor.

Cheers

Tim

Miles for week – 126

Total for year to date - 1554

Two Good Weeks

2010-04-18T21:49:00.001+01:00

I had a 4 day weekend last week and we made the most of it. Friday we did a ride out on the tandem, out the the Weird Fish in St Michael’s. 26 miles in all. Saturday was a longer ride, out to Chipping and back. We met up with Tony at the Cobbled Corner Cafe. Sunday was a gentler ride, just me and Jayne, out to the Weird Fish again. Nearly 100 tandem miles for the weekend.

In the week, Jayne did lots of miles on her own. Yesterday I did a loop through the Trough. We crawled out, despite a tail wind. I really struggled to get up any climb. We barely made 12 mph average speed. We stopped at Dunsop Bridge for a cup of tea and a bacon and egg buttie before tackling Boundary Hill. My speedo goes down to 3mph. It stopped showing my speed! Going down the other side was much slower than normal, into a fierce head wind. Then we inexplicably found an extra burst of speed. For the next 10 miles we were flying, 20+MPH into wind. We stopped at the Weird Fish again before setting off back over Wyre.

Today we decided to go out to Scorton. We were going to go the hilly way, but were persuaded otherwise by the few short hills out to Myerscough. We ended up with about 37 miles for the day.

Last week – 155 miles

This week – 166 miles

Total – 1428 miles

Cheers

Tim

1000 Miles!

2010-04-04T20:51:00.001+01:00

I passed 1000 miles for the year this week. Not as much as I’d wanted, my target was 1250 for the quarter, to give me 5000 for the year. But given the poor weather earlier in the year, its not bad.

The first part of the week was the normal riding to work. Karl and Ian were away so there was no Thursday night ride. It was a very windy week though.

Friday we went walking in the Lakes. Managed to avoid the rain.

Yesterday we did a gentle loop out to Bonds on the tandem. 25 miles. Then last night Karl rang to say they were going out to recce the route to Heysham today. The wind this morning was horrendous, 25-30 mph off the sea from the north west. Head or cross winds all the way. Ian turned up on his new Inglis, a fantastic looking bike, curly lugs, olive green with cream lugs, beautiful. We headed out via Nateby to avoid the Cockerham marshes section and get a bit of tail wind. By the time we got to Cafe de Lune we were knackered. Heysham would have been another 15 miles into the wind, so we stopped for lunch and reconsider our plans. We rode down the Millennium path as far as Lancaster, then turned round. Back in Conder Green we were faced with a dilemma. Do we head back the way we came and into the wind, or via Scorton, much hillier and much longer but across the wind. We decided on the Scorton route. It was hard! We eventually got to Treales after a couple of hours of contouring through the hills. Then on the last descent into Kirkham, flat tyre! we could have changed it, but we were only a mile from home so we walked. Ian and Karl and Alison came back to see what was up, but we told them to press on. 58 miles for the day. Jayne’s best mileage for years. We are paying for it now. I’m supposed to be mountain biking tomorrow. I don’t think I’m up to it.

Miles for the week - 127

Year to date - 1107

Cheers

Tim

A week away

2010-03-28T19:18:00.001+01:00

I knew this was going to be a poor week. After two weeks of fairly high mileage, I was due to be away for most of the week. Birmingham on Tuesday, then straight to Birmingham airport on Tuesday evening to fly to Zurich.

I did ride to work on Monday, and to the pub on Friday, but only 18 miles. We got out yesterday for a short tandem ride and again again this afternoon, but only 30 miles or so in total. The weather was sunny but very windy, so quite a hard ride.

After getting up early all week due to being on Central European Time, I was looking forward to a lie in this weekend. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to happen. Saturday we were woken up by number 2 son heading out to a scout camp. This morning I had to get up early to marshal at a local triathlon run by a friend. Last night was also switch to British Summer Time, so 7 o’clock was really six. I’m knackered.

The tri went well, I was manning a level crossing, taking numbers for anyone delayed by trains, so they could have a bit of time removed to compensate. Fortunately the race was run exactly on time, and so we only had two trains to contend with and only 3 or 4 people delayed. Much to the disappointment of some who were hoping for a breather.

Anyway, snow forecast again for next week, my riding partners are away in Spain and US, so not sure how much I’ll get in.

Miles for the week – 48

Total miles - 980

Cheers

Tim

Tandem Miles

2010-03-21T20:31:00.001Z

We went out on the tandem today, heading for the Cafe de Lune. By the shortest route, it is about 40 milers. Unfortunately, from Pilling, it is about 10 miles of quite busy roads, it is a popular motorbike route and a scenic back road to Lancaster. We decided to try and find a back route to Glasson Dock. It was a beautiful morning, sunny with a slight tail wind. We got out to Cockerham in record time and pulled off onto the road out across the salt marsh. Suddenly, the slight tail wind turned into a huge head wind. We struggled down to the parachute centre only to find it a dead end. Then round turned back and headed to a different farm, to find no road but a possible footpath. We pushed down the path for 15 minutes or so until we came out on another road, all looking good. We headed inland then had a choice out back out to the coast or further inland. We chose the coast. Wrong! After doubling back into the wind, we found the road back to Glasson Dock. Lots of swans and a model aeroplane club. Then onto the bike path to Cafe de Lune. We must have seen about 15 tandems out, including one group of about 10.

The cafe was mobbed. Ribble Valley had arrived a bit before us and filled the place. We got a seat outside, but the sun had gone and the wind was rising. The Ribble guys left and we move inside, much to the confusion of the staff. Heading home was into the wind and much slower. After a tea cake stop at Bonds, we finally got home with 51 miles under the belt. The farthest we’ve done on the tandem in many years, probably before we had the boys (15 years!). Jayne is a bit stiff and sore and tired. (don’t ask about her bottom!)

Yesterday I went mountain biking with Simon. He was on his new Orange P7 singlespeed, a very nice bike. We set off up to the Lakes in steady drizzle. It didn’t lift all the way up. We were riding it the Cartmell Fells area. The start (in the rain) was a couple of miles of rolling road. Then it was up a steep grassy climb, typical Lakes with grass, mud and exposed bed rock. After a few wrong turns, we hit the fantastic downhill section. I was really pleased with how I rode it, but I had too much air in my rear tyre and not enough in my rear shock. It was still good though. and nice to be out with Simon. It never stopped raining though, until we stopped riding, when the sun came out.

The rest of the week was fairly quiet, but i got 70 miles in on the Pompino.

All in all quite a good week.

Total for the week – 134

Total for year to date – 932

Cheers

Tim

An OK Week

2010-03-14T20:49:00.001Z

I had an OK week this week. Not outstanding but OK.

It started quite badly. Monday morning I got 1 1/4 miles to work when my chain came off. I got it back on the front, but when I came to the rear sprocket (single speed fixed), the sprocket had come off. I have a Miche track cog on, which has a screw on carrier with a splined sprocket kept in place by a lock ring. The lock ring and the carrier had come unscrewed and the sprocket fallen off. I walked back home and swapped to my Hewitt.

The rest of the week I rode the Hewitt.

The Pompino hub was OK apart from the last few threads which were trashed. This meant that I couldn’t refit the Miche sprocket as there were no threads left for the lock ring. I ordered a Dura Ace one piece sprocket from Wiggle.

We were meant to go mountain biking on Sunday with a few of the core team. Unfortunately, it wasn’t panning out. But friends were up in the Lakes and free Saturday to ride. Unfortunately, my in-laws were up and we were due to go out for a meal early Saturday evening. If I could guarantee to be back by 4:30, I got a very begrudging pass to go.

I picked up Nic and Ian early Saturday morning and set off to the Lakes. It was a cold but sunny morning. We got to Clappersgate just at 10, where Heather and another Nic were waiting. No sign of the rest. Eventually Karl et al turned up after missing the turn of the M6. A turn they have taken 1000’s of times!

We decided to do as much of Castle Crags/|Tarn Hows/Loughrigg as we could manage. Alison and I decided to skip the tricky climb and head to the top of the crags on the forest road. We flew down into Sawrey. The climb up into Grizedale forest was hard and after a quick splash through a small stream, my rear tyre went flat. So we stopped for lunch while I fixed the flat.

Soon we were up into the forest. I was struggling, my legs were really heavy. But I got to the top of the drop down in to Coniston. The descent was fantastic. There is a line between in control and out of control. I was just over the line!

Karl got a pinch flat half way down. We waited. Then we set off on the road to the next section. Nic’s tyre was flat. We stopped to fix that. It meant we were too late to finish the ride. heather and some others headed off to do the rest. The rest of us headed back on the road. All in all, a beautiful day in the lakes. The sun shone, it was warm, the hills were glorious. And I managed to get back in time to go for our meal.

Today we did a quick trip out to the pub and back.

Total for the week – 107

For the year – 798

Cheers

Tim

Best Week Yet

2010-03-07T20:42:00.001Z

I’ve been at home all week. As a consequence I have had a very good week. I’ve ridden in every day. The weather has been dry but cold. A couple of days there was ice on the road which was a bit scary.

Thursday night was our usual pub run. Riding out was OK, a bit cold, but a beautiful clear night. The consequence of the clear night was that when we left at just after nine, it was freezing. -3C apparently. Karl’s water bottle froze.

Then Friday, Karl couldn’t meet me til later than usual. I left work earlier, so had a bit of time to add a few miles. I ended up with 70 miles of riding to work for the week.

Then this weekend, we got out on the tandem. We had arranged to ride out to Cafe de Lune on Sunday, about a 45 mile round trip. So on Saturday, we did a gentle 15 mile ride out to Bonds. Then we went into Preston to do a bit of shopping. I got a linen jacket for £21 that should have cost £90. We didn’t find any cycling sun glasses which we’d mainly gone to get.

This morning dawned very cold, but sunny and hardly any wind. Alison and Ian turned up at 10:30 ish and we set out to Cafe de Lune. It was cold but a great day. Overall we did 45 miles, coming back was quicker than going. The road surfaces were awful. But a nice day out.

Miles for the week – 144

Total so far – 691

Cheers

Tim

Poor weeks continue

2010-02-28T20:31:00.001Z

Yet another poor week. I was in Bristol most of the week, only rode in to work on Monday. I was supposed to take my mountain bike down to ride Cwm Carn in the dark. But I never got sorted with lights and was late leaving and just didn’t get the bike in the car.

We went out on the tandem today, 36 miles out to Scorton and back. It was another longish ride for Jayne and we are obviously better than previous weeks.

All in all 49 miles for the week.

Cheers

Tim

Yet another poor week

2010-02-21T21:50:00.001Z

I’m still struggling to get the weekly mileage up to a decent level. 74 miles this week. Still nowhere near the 100+ I want if I’m to reach 4000+ miles for 2010

This week is half term, so Jayne is off. I had Monday off but we went walking in the Lakes in the rain. Had a fantastic bacon & egg buttie at the Apple Pie Shop. Also bought a bamboo shirt! We’ll have to see how that goes.

I did a few days in work, then had Thursday Friday off. Thursday I had to go to the opticians. Good news is my distance vision is improving. Bad news is that this is at the expense of my near vision. We had a short ride on the tandem.

Friday morning, even though I was off work, I had to dial in to a voice conference in the morning. As soon as it was over, we set out on a 20 mile loop via Bonds and a cup of tea with a tea cake.

Down to Jayne’s Mum & Dad on Saturday. This morning we’d planned another 30+ mile trip out to Scorton with Ian. But when we got up, there was an inch or two of snow which isn’t that great on a tandem. So we called it off. Jayne and I went for a walk in the snow instead.

All in all an OK but not great week…

Mileage for the week – 74

Mileage for the year – 498

Cheers

Tim

Mixed Week

2010-02-14T22:09:00.001Z

Mileage wise I’ve had a pretty good week, but I have probably not had a worse week for how I feel.

It has been a cold, but dry and sunny week on the whole. I’ve ridden in every day, but I really felt rubbish. My legs were really heavy. I struggled most days to get my fixed gear turning and was fighting it most of the time.

We managed our Thursday night pub run for the first time this year, but again I was struggling. It was made worse by my bike lights falling off and breaking. I had to hold them on the whole way home.

Yesterday, Jayne and I rode out on the tandem to the Priory at Scorton. This was over 30 miles, the furthest Jayne had ridden for over a year. I was a bit worried because of my poor week. Was it worth risking taking Jayne out when I wasn’t feeling good. But it was a great ride, the weather was nice. We got to Scorton without any trouble. The ride back was harder but we got home fine, 36 miles, our furthest ride in a long long time.

Karl asked if I was up for a mountain bike ride Sunday. I wasn’t sure on Friday if I was up for it. But after our Saturday ride I was keen to go. While I really enjoyed the ride, I was definitely not up for it. We went out to Todmorden, where we met up with Ian, Nic and Steve. It was a hard day. The hills were very steep and I couldn’t get my low gears. We bailed on our planned ride cutting it short by a long way. But it was a great day out and a beautiful day.

Mileage for the week – 125

Mileage for the year – 424

Cheers

Tim

A Better Week at Last

2010-02-07T19:28:00.001Z

90+ miles for the week! At last some decent miles. I rode to work 3 days and the mileage was looking poor. But we got out on the tandem yesterday, just down to Bond’s and back but by a bit of a circuitous route, so got just under 20 miles in.

I wasn’t planning on going out today. We got up late and I was preparing a full fried breakfast, eggs, bacon, black pudding, mushrooms and toast, when I got a text from Karl. They were going out to Beacon Fell and back, be at mine for 10:15. We wolfed down our breakfast and I got changed. Then got a text saying Joe was running late. They eventually turned up at 10:45. The ride out was OK, but as we started climbing the mist came down and a damp chill soaked through us. A cup of tea at the visitor’s centre revived us, but not our clothes. On the 40mph descent, my sodden gloves froze. I didn’t get feeling back til this afternoon. After a quiet run through the lanes, I got back in time to watch Scotland loose to France.

I’ve still not warmed up properly.

93.5 miles for the week

299.5 miles for the year so far

Cheers

Tim

Poor start to the year

2010-02-01T20:50:00.001Z

Subject says it all really. The last two weeks have been pretty poor miles wise. I was down in Bristol again the week before last. I was supposed to be there Tuesday to Thursday, with the intention of getting back for the Thursday pub run. In the end I didn’t get back til Friday and even then was too late for the Friday beer with Karl. Then last week I was down there again for a couple of days and Thursday was our belated Christmas do.

There were a couple of highlights though. We got out and did some miles on the tandem. Sunday before last Jayne and I went out on our own and did a loop through the lanes in the morning, then went out in the wind and rain and cold with Karl and Alison to Bonds for a tea cake and cup of tea. 30 miles in all.

Then on Saturday, we rode out to Barton Grange. Unfortunately we got there too late for bacon butties, but had a nice bowl of soup instead. It was quite cold though. 27 mile.

On Sunday we tried to go out again but there had been a light dusting of snow. We gave it a go but after seeing a car sliding towards us out of control, we decided to go home. 1 mile

Annual total – 206

Cheers

Tim

First proper ride

2010-01-17T21:17:00.001Z

Alison texted me last night asking if I wanted to go for a ride today. I had planned to go out with Jayne on the tandem, but she said to go on what would undoubtedly be a longer ride.

This morning was damp but with watery sunshine. Four of the regular crew turned up. Alison’s bike computer was not working so she asked me to keep an eye on the speed, reign in Joe’s speedy tendencies. Then she and Joe shot off at massive speed, with the rest of us hanging in. The run out across the flat area was fairly easy. All the ice from the last week or two had gone. It was a pleasant ride out over familiar roads, the quick route to Beacon Fell.

On the run up to Carwags had some small patches of ice, but most had gone. Then as we turned into Carwags Lane, ice was everywhere. We ended up running in the clear car tracks on either side of an icy central lump. We were OK until the very top of the 1 in 4 climb, then ice spread across the entire lane and we unbeknown to me, the others walked and I risked a very dodgy traverse across the ice.

Then we got to the visitor’s centre/cafe and it was closed! We soon realised why when we set off to Scorton. The road down was sheet ice, unwalkable. We struggled down on the frozen grass verges. Eventually we got back onto rideable roads and it was probably the slowest ever descent to Wadecar.

There were loads of people out. The Priory was mobbed and we passed at least one large group coming away. Everyone wanted to be out after a couple of weeks of enforced staying in.

A tough ride back through Nateby and Our Rawcliffe was hard but eventually we made it back.

46 miles, hard.

65 for the week

110 for the year

Cheers

Tim

Winter is still here

2010-01-10T13:58:00.001Z

We are still in the grasp of some pretty chilly weather, well at least for round here. I rode in on Monday. It was pretty cold, below zero, but fairly dry. Tuesday brought snow. we never get snow here, certainly not 3 or 4 inches that fell on Tuesday morning. Jayne’s school was closed, Jamie’s college bus didn’t come. I worked from homer til they were home then rode in on my mountain bike. On the fresh snow, it wasn’t too slippy and I got in with only a few scares. I left early to get home before it got too dark. Wasn’t too bad on the way home, appart from overtaking cars blasting me with slush and the hail/sleet flurry just before I got in.

I stayed at home on Wednesday, but intended to go in Thursday. Unfortunately, my car wouldn’t start. I put the battery on charge and stayed at home. Karl rang to see if we were still on for our usual Thursday night ride. We’ve not been since the week before Christmas, so I said yes, despite the snow. We decided that Ian and Karl would drive round to my house and we’d ride out from here, just round some of the quieter lanes. The roads were like glass, but on the off-roads tracks it was great. Ian took a tumble on a particularly icy bit, going down quite hard. We got onto some quieter roads that had seen less traffic and therefore had less ice and more snow. It was brilliant. Then we got to the pub and it was closed because their heating had failed. We went off-road to get home, Ian taking another tumble, trying to get his foot unclipped on another icy bit. The last section was down through snowy fields and was great. Apart from a stile where I slipped as I was lifting my bike over and broke my light bracket. For the rest of the way, I had to hold the light and steer one handed. A great night out, finished off with beer and bacon butties at home.

Friday I chickened out again and went in the car. I drove out to our usual Friday swift pint at the Villa, and was roundly condemned by the regulars for not riding.

It is still icy and set to be cold for a week or so more.

Weekly miles – 36

Total miles – 45

Cheers

Tim

First Ride

2010-01-03T13:31:00.001Z

We got our first ride of the year in today. Temperatures have been hovering at about 0C for a few weeks now. The snow that fell before Christmas is largely gone, but there are still thick patches of ice here and there where it hasn’t melted. This morning was dry, bright and sunny, but still cold. We decided to go out on the tandem.

There was a tricky patch getting out to the main road, where ice still covered almost all the road, but once past that it was OK until we got up to the Derby Arms. Our side of the road, which was mostly in the sun, was OKish but the other side was a combination of unmelted thick ice with black ice in between. In a few places this spread over both sides of the road. It was a bit scary. On a tandem you have responsibility for someone else and you tend to go down much harder and quicker than on a solo. We decided not to do our normal route but to loop back to the main road, which should be ice free. This was not without its problems as it meant riding into the low sun. The sunlight glared off the road and you couldn’t tell what was wet and what was ice. We got to the main road and decided to stop for a coffee to settle my frayed nerves. After that it was a quick dash back down the main road and home.

9 miles in all. Not a lot, but enough in this weather.

3991 miles to go!

Cheers

Tim

In Summary

2009-12-29T12:33:00.001Z

I don’t think I’ll make it to 3500 miles for the year. I’ve pretty much stalled at 3300. Snow, ice and laziness have got in the way. Despite that, it is still my best biking year for ages. I’ve even done a couple of mountain biking trips.

Christmas was good. My sister and my Mum and dad came up. My Dad hasn’t been up for years, so it was good to see him. I got a Washburn Rover travel guitar. Hopefully it will encourage me to play more, the idea is that I will take it away with me when I go to Bristol.

We still have a couple of inches of ice on our road. It snowed the weekend before Christmas and it still hasn’t gone away. This is pretty unusual for round here, any snow at all is fairly rare.

I went out last week and did 40 minutes or so in the snow on my mountain bike. Hard work but great fun. Not been out since, too icy.

Not sure if I’ll get any more miles in this year, maybe a few to work and back on Thursday, but other than that, I doubt it. So 3300+ will be my 2009 total. I will have to set a higher target for next year, 4000 maybe. And do some more mountain biking.

Cheers

Tim

Winter is Here

2009-12-13T12:38:00.001Z

Winter has definitely arrived. Monday was proper icy. Only where the road was muddy or where water had been splashed from roadside puddles, but still real ice. And cold.

I was down in Bristol til Friday, but again it was pretty cold and icy. And foggy. Coming back from the pub on Friday night, the visibility was down to a dozen feet, made worse by the condensation on my glasses.

I had arranged to go mountain biking on Saturday with Karl and co. The plan was for Karl and Alison to pick me up at 8AM and drive up to Grizedale for a 9:45 start. If I’d had my mobile with me when the alarm went off at 7, I would have rung Karl and cancelled.

I’m glad I didn’t. It was glorious. As we drove round Windermere, the clouds and the mountains were reflected in the water. It was picture perfect. We met up with the others a bit late and exchanged the usual pleasantries and insults, before hitting the trail. The day was a nice mix of fire road climbs, fast loose descents and swervy singletrack. I was bitterly cold, not getting above freezing all day, but bright sunshine and no wind. The only real problem was that the short stretch of road we had to do was covered with black ice. Joe took a tumble when his bike just slid out from underneath him. Highlight of the day was Tony loosing his mobile, then finding it again. Lowlight of the day was right at the end. There is a short loop of the North Face Trail we could do before going back to the car. Alison didn’t want to do it, so headed back to the car park, while the rest of us hit the first of several short ice covered boardwalks. Not only were they unrideable, they were also largely unwalkable. At one point we were crabbing along sideways with our heals hooked over the edge in order to avoid sliding down. By the time we’d got past this and onto some rideable tracks, Alison rang to say she was lost. We retraced our steps, she retraced hers and by the time we found each other it was too dark and we had to head back to the cars. All in all it was a brilliant day.

Cheers

Tim

Pride before a Fall

2009-12-06T14:35:00.001Z

Not a literal fall, although I came close. Just two poor mileage weeks. Again work has got in the way.

Last week I was in London and didn’t get out too much. I only managed one and a half days of commuting and didn’t feel up to our usual Thursday ride as I didn’t get back from London til late ish. I had stayed in a really crappy hotel and didn't sleep particularly well, I never do.

The week before, I only did the Thursday ride and a short MTB ride on Sunday. I was knackered at the beginning of the week after the mammoth exertions of the previous week. The Thursday night was hard work, with strong winds and heavy rain again.

Sunday we went up to the South Lakes for a leisurely mountain bike ride. Forecast was for rain, wind, cold, sleet and generally poor. On the whole, it was OK. Very wet but not too cold. At one stage I was sliding sideways down the face of a rocky outcrop, while the trail went forwards. Not exactly out of control, but not in control either. But I survived. My second MTB ride in as many weeks, and in as many years!

Hopefully, I can still do the 3500 for the year, but it does mean doing 100+ miles every week from now on. And I’m in Bristol for 3 days next week.

Wish me luck

Tim

Another good week

2009-11-22T19:48:00.001Z

After the promising start to the week, the weather turned even nastier, wetter and windier. Parts of the Lake District, were I was on Tuesday have had severe flooding. Several bridges are either down or damaged.

I rode in on Wednesday in appalling weather, soaked to the skin when I got to work. Even on a radiator, my stuff didn’t dry out. It wasn’t too bad on Thursday, I got in and home relatively dry. But it was very windy. Karl rang me to see if we were going on our normal Thursday night ride, his car was being rocked back and forth by the wind. But we went anyway. It was a great ride out to the pub, 30mph wind on you back feels good. The ride back wasn’t so good, 10 miles of head on wind. I was on my fixed. I was knackered. Friday, I went in the car.

Karl had some friends over this weekend and yesterday we went for a ride. It was still very wet and windy. We rode out to the Cafe de Lune at Conder Green where we stopped for a egg, bacon and sausage barm. Delicious. We then set out across the wind, heading for Scorton, the Priory and a tea cake. However, when we got there, no one wanted to stop. We decided to press on to another cafe at Catforth, but by then the weather was awful, we were knackered and didn’t stop again. 50 miles of wet and windy, with no tea cakes. I don’t think my body can cope.

This morning we did a dozen miles on the tandem, just got caught in the rain on the way home.

Miles for the week – 145

Total miles so far – 3154

Cheers

Tim

First MTB in years

2009-11-17T21:03:00.001Z

I got out for more riding yesterday and today. The weather here is a bit variable to say the least.

Yesterday morning started grey, wet and windy, but by 11 it was bright and sunny, so I thought I’d get out for a spin. After being out for about 30 mins, the wind picked up again, the rain and even hail came lashing down. Or rather across, most of the rain was horizontal. Eventually it eased and I staggered round to Bonds for a cup of tea and a tea cake. Leaving the warmth of the cafe was a wrench, as was heading into 30-40 mph head wind. I finally got home after 22 miles in an hour and a half, knackered and soaking wet.

Today I had arranged to meet Catherine to go mountain biking. Catherine’s bike was at Bike Treks, so were going to head up to the Lakes. The overnight weather was gale force winds and heavy rain, but we woke up to light winds and sunshine. We decided to set off. This would be my first mountain bike ride for over 18 months. The last ride I did was a quick hour or so around Ashton Court in Bristol. I was a bit worried about how I would get on. Catherine was worried that her bike wouldn’t be ready. She’d meant to ring the day before but forgot, and we had to set off before they were open. Sadly, when we got there, the bike wasn’t ready, her forks hadn’t returned from the manufacturer. The did lend her a 2010 Specialized Stump Jumper FSR demo bike so that we could go riding though.

We set out to do a bit of Loughrigg. Not all of it, not the hilly, hard bits, just some of the nicer bits, just in case I wasn’t up to it.

Up the first road climb, I managed to stay in front of Catherine. It set the tone for the day. The drop down into Sawrey was basically down a stream. Although it wasn’t raining, by the time we got to the bottom, we were soaked to the skin. This was the second theme of the day, every off road climb or descent was a running river of rain run off. We got very very wet. But we decided to crack on but the hail and rain came down hard as we dropped in towards Coniston. It soon cleared and as we were ahead of my schedule and expectation we headed up the hills again. One more blast of hail and rain saw us into Elterwater and the slog up Red Bank. Then pretty much down hill home. One final obstacle was the big rock in Rydal water. There is usually a bit of rock sticking up to tell you where the route is. Unfortunately, it was fully underwater today. I rode straight into it and stopped in thigh deep water. This did allow Catherine to avoid me and the rock and ride through clean, but actually no less wet than me. Here’s a picture from a few years ago when the water was less deep!

That rock to my right was completely covered, by at least 8 inches of water today.

We headed back to Ambleside. Catherine returned the bike and I bought us bacon butties,mushroom soup, tea cakes and tea.

For my first MTB ride in 18 months, I was pretty please. Thank you Catherine for taking me out.

Cheers

Tim

Made it

2009-11-16T09:55:00.001Z

3009!

Not quite there

2009-11-10T21:22:00.001Z

A few weeks back I was not far off 3000 miles, I only needed 160 odd miles. In the last few weeks I’ve barely managed 40 miles a week. Work and sickness have got in the way. Nothing major, just busy at work and a bit flu-ey at home.

Anyway, I have 20 miles left to do. I’m going to see if I can do 3500, but with work being so busy, it might be a stretch too far.

Wish me luck

Cheers

Tim

Mileage Update

2009-10-25T10:54:00.001Z

My mileage for this year currently stands at 2851. This is nearly a 1000 more than last year and double or more than the year before. What has been responsible for this transformation?

Certainly not mountain biking. The last mountain bike ride I did was over a year ago, just before the Olympics in fact, a short evening jaunt around Leigh Woods in Bristol.

Nor was it tandem riding. we've got our Swallow back on the road now, but only for the last month, and we did very little on the KHS.

Having my Hewitt has certainly helped. I've done a fair few 50-80 mile rides since I got it, plus lots of shorter rides. I've also ridden to work every chance I had, helped by the economic downturn which has cut down work travel quite a lot.

Probably the main reason is that the boys are growing up and calming down. We don't go out expecting the house to be trashed when we get back anymore. So we feel happier going out further and for longer. Jayne and I have regularly done an hour in the evening or a couple of hours on the weekend.

It has all added up to a decent total. I set myself a target of 2000 miles for this year, seeing as I failed to get that last year. Then quickly revised it upwards after the first 1000 were done. My revised target of 2500 was met a month or two ago and I've revised it up again to 3000. Only 149 miles to do. If I really wanted I could do all of that next weekend!

Should I revise up again to 3500?

Cheers

Tim

Thursday Night Bike Ride

2009-10-17T18:31:00.001+01:00

All through summer we've been doing a regular ride out to the Plough on a Thursday night. A quick pint or two and a hot garlic chicken sandwich then home.

For me it is about 20 miles, Karl and Alison just over 25. Now that the nights are drawing in and due to work pressures, we haven't been out for about 3 weeks. So this Thursday, armed with new lights for Karl, we set out. It was a really mild evening, but cloudy and no moonlight, so once we were away from the town and out in the country lanes, it was pitch black. We really needed the decent lights. We went the quick way as we had set off late due to fitting Karl's light. But it was well worth it.

This is the view when we got to the pub...

Envy me!

Cheers

Tim