Another good week

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

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

3009!

Not quite there

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

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

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

Tandem Ride

Jayne and I were finally feeling well enough to go out on the rebuilt tandem.  Karl, Alison, Joe and Ian called round this morning and we set off on a gentle 12-15 mile out to Barton Grange.  The pace was very leisurely.  Too much so for Joe, I think, but plenty fast enough for Jayne and I.

It was great being back on 'our' tandem.  There is something about custom built that just seems better than even a stock frame with a suitable fitting kit.  I took quite a few miles to get used to it again, particularly from a steering and cornering perspective.  I have a Panasela 1.5" front tyre on and even pumped up to 100lbs it still squirms a bit in the corners.  Maybe I need to push it up to 120lbs, but it is only rated to 8o, I think.

Anyway, it was a nice ride out in nice company.  Karl and Ian have been my "core team" for over 15 years and it is always a pleasure to ride with them.  Ian is a natural raconteur and piss taker, and is always entertaining company.

We stopped at Barton Grange for a bacon barm and a cup of tea, sat out in what was mostly sunshine, but a bit cool.  It is October though, so any sitting outside to eat is a bonus.  Alison, Ian and mile monster Joe went to do a loop round Beacon Fell or the Trough afterwards.  Jayne and I, together with Karl, headed home.

The pace was more gentle than if I'd been on my solo, but faster than Jayne and I would have been with her on her solo.  All in all, quite pleased.

Brake cables stretched horribly during the ride, to the point where I could hold the back brake on full, without and discernable effect.  When we got home, I tightened them up and have made some slight adjustments to the saddles.  At some point I must have bashed the bars because, even with the stem straight, the right hand side is nearer than the left.  Karl has some Midge (or possibly Mungo) bars off of his Pompino that I might try instead.  I might also get some Dia Compe 287V brake levers as they pull a bit more cable.

Later on we went for a quick pint at the Villa.  The back wheel seems to have developed some sort of rattle.  Not sure if it is just the rear mech out of alignment or what.  Will need to check it out.

All in all, a good day out.

Cheers

Tim